The Lesson of Jonathan

I Samuel 20.  This is the well-known historical account of Jonathan warning David.  So much grief, hatred, and love present in the same circumstance.  Love (Jonathan and David).  Hate (Saul and David). This is amazing.  David has been chosen over Jonathan because of Saul, Jonathan’s father.  Injustice abounds in my mind towards Jonathan (that’s my victim voice speaking) but grace abounds in Jonathan!  What a response, a right heart attitude.  We aren’t privy to his struggles, only his grace.  Powerful thought.  So much more can be said about this passage, but for me my instruction in righteousness was that “My grace is sufficient for you” and “God gives grace to the humble.”  

The Gospel According to Naboth

Read I Kings 21.  It’s the account of Naboth’s Vineyard.  I read this a few weeks back and God shed some light on it for me.

This is not about a greedy king and a stubborn (foolish?) neighbor.  Ahab wanted Naboth’s Vineyard. Naboth said no, and here’s why.  The law actually prohibited the selling of your inheritance except for provision for widows, I believe.  If a piece of land got sold, it was returned to the inheriting family in the Year of Jubilee.  Everything was set back to its original state in that year. 

In this passage, there was one who was disobeying the law (Ahab) and one who was obeying the law (Naboth).  Naboth’s obedience ended up costing him his life.   This sounds strangely like Jesus. Our pastor said, “Jesus is the only person, who for His perfect obedience, received the promise of death.”

Ahab tempted Naboth with promises he didn’t have a right to make.  Naboth, by God’s law, couldn’t accept if he wanted to (could not is past tense for “may not”…what would that word be? Mould not?)  In Jesus’ temptation, the devil promised things to Jesus that weren’t the devil’s place to give.  And Christ, by the Law, could not (i.e., may not, or was not allowed to) accept!  “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve,” was Christ’s final answer – quoting the Law for the third time – to the devil.

What a sobering foreshadowing of Christ in Naboth.  It’s beautiful that God is always pointing to the cross!  I also found it ironic that in both cases, while the law was their reason for obedience, it also became the reason for their deaths.  By the law, in the mouths of two or three witnesses, blasphemy could be established and this is what happened to both Naboth and Jesus.  Witnesses were called against both of them and it looked like the law had done justice, but the testimony was false.  Naboth died as a result of Ahab’s sin and Christ died because of mine.

There’s more.  Elijah is sent to pronounce judgment on Ahab.  Remarkably, Ahab repents and God delays the judgment.  The scriptures say Ahab went around in sackcloth and ashes and lay in sackcloth and went about “dejectedly.”  Strange word for repentance.  Sounds more like he was sorry for getting caught.  It’s probably a truer picture of our repentance than we care to admit.  And yet, less than perfect repentance is still met by God, who inclines Himself towards the humble.

Naboth.  Type of Christ.  Ahab.  Type of me and you.  What a true witness of Redemption…our need and His provision!

I’ll never read I Kings 21 or look at Naboth and Ahab the same again.

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16 (ESV)

This is one of the first verses I memorized in Sunday School. It is one of the most familiar verses in the Bible. Even people who never go to church may know this verse. What I found shocking was I have misunderstood part of this verse all my life!

The misunderstanding hinges on the little English word “so.” It is a reminder to me that every word of scripture is important. A little word like so can change the way you look at a verse and it does with John 3:16. I always thought that so was used as a comparative in this verse. God loved the world to such a degree but the Greek word intends a different meaning. God loved the world in this manner. Paul will use a similar construction when he says “God demonstrated (commendeth) his love (Rom. 5:8). So John 3:16 is less about how much and more about how did God show he loved the world. The how much comes into play in the gift itself. He loved his creation lavishly by willing giving his only Son. So the manner God shows his love is the giving of his Son to die for undeserving sinners like me. Finally this giving had a single purpose. Through Christ’s death all who believe can replace death with eternal life. For us that’s a really good trade!

To tie it all up, when God showed us his love, he sent his Son to live the life we cannot live, to die the death we deserve, and to end the tyranny of sin in our lives and defeat its penalty…death Do you believe this simple Gospel fact?

Random Thoughts

Some random thoughts

Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come.  (Rev. 14:7a)

There will be no judgments against God, Him who is eternal.  No wrongs committed by Him, no rights omitted by Him, from before the beginning of time until after the end.  THIS is glory…His glory.

He is eternally good, eternally just, eternally holy and righteous.  There is no chink in His armor, no weakness of character, no Achilles heel, and He can’t not get close to the sun “because He will melt,” for He is a consuming fire and He made the sun.  Worship Him and give Him glory.

How lovely are Your dwellings, O Lord of hosts! (from Psalm 84)

He inhabits eternity and it is not old and cobwebby.  It is magnificent, spectacular, a dwelling fit for Him.  Beautiful.  Refreshing.  Light.  Alive.  Free of impurity.  There is joy, singing, praise, and understanding.  All because He is there.  Hmmmm.  He is in me (another dwelling of His).  Do any of those adjectives fit me?  Something to think about!

Whatever the Lord pleases, He does…(from Psalm 135)

Christ Jesus chose to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with His Father.  I am In awe when I see Him in the Old Testament, (thinking of Micah 6:8).

The Lord stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.  Zechariah 12:1

Heavens…seen.  Earth…seen.  Spirit of man…unseen.  I was not present when He worked the seen things and I don’t need to be present when He works the unseen things in the hearts of others.  They will be visible after He works.  His work is sure.

Where does wisdom come from?

Where does understanding dwell?

It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing

And concealed from the birds of the air.

Destruction and Death say,

“Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”

God understands its way,

And He knows its place.

For He looks to the ends of the earth

And sees everything under the heavens.  Job 28:20-24

Death and destruction say that Wisdom is a rumor, but Wisdom is a revelation!   Divine Wisdom is the revealing of God Himself who is life, who sees the spiritually dead and redeems the dead who believe.   Beautiful.  

Blessed Are the Merciful

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Matthew 5:7 (ESV)

The beatitudes as they are named are a list of traits or characteristics that should mark the people of God. It is not a “to do” list but rather a “to be” list. Right in the middle of this list is mercy. I want to be merciful. I think I am merciful but am I merciful in the way God is merciful. Of course I’m not God so the answer is no. This beatitude is clear that the motivation to be merciful is remembering the great mercy we have been shown in redemption.

First, let’s look at the word mercy itself. The word carries with it the idea of the misery of the human condition and the desire to do something to alleviate the suffering. It is much more than pity. It is pity in action. God has been confronting me lately with people in need of mercy…orphans, homeless, jobless. This beatitude does not give specifics of how I am to act only that action is required

So what does God’s mercy look like? As in all matters spiritual God is the gold standard by which we must judge ourselves. Well his mercy is always lavish. The Bible is full of examples of God being exceedingly merciful to his creation. Grace is always associated with God’s mercy. Again the Bible gives many examples of God being merciful to people who do not deserve his mercy. A great example of this is the healing of the 10 lepers. Not only did God pity our human suffering he entered into our suffering in the form of Jesus. God not only saw our need for a merciful Savior but he himself became that merciful Savior for us.

Now how does my mercy differ from God’s? My mercy is given sparingly. I want to know what’s the least I can do and still look merciful. My mercy is rarely mixed with grace. I want a person to “deserve” my mercy. My first reaction to a person holding a sign asking for money is judgment not mercy. My mercy is more about pity and less about entering in. It’s much easier to feel sorry for someone in need than to actually invest in doing something tangible to relive their suffering. Of course I can’t be anyone’s savior but does my mercy for them compel me to point them to the one true Savior? Sadly in most cases it doesn’t.

Those that have been shown mercy are called to be merciful. Lord, open my eyes to those in need around me. Open my heart to love people like you love them. Give me feet and hands willing to act in meaningful ways toward those who are suffering.

The Authority of the Word

In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign. 

Facts about Azariah’s reign taken from II Kings 15 and Isaiah 1 and Isaiah 6:

He was 16 years old when he began to reign.

Did what was right in God’s eyes except he didn’t take away the high places.

He was also known as Uzziah.

Isaiah was alive during his reign.

The Lord “touched the king so that he was a leper to the day of his death.”

Isaiah was commissioned at the time of his death.

His son ruled for him.

“He lived in a separate house.”

When I read this passage, my first thought was why in the world God struck Azariah with leprosy when he was a good king?  God is so good.  He instructed me in righteousness even when I was dabbling in unrighteousness.

The notes in the ESV Study Bible say the Hebrew for “separate house” is literally “house of freedom.”  However, don’t think “vacation house.”  Think “freed of kingly responsibilities house.”  That’s hard stuff.  He was high man on totem pole.  Not only does he have a disease that labels him unclean by OT law, but now he’s relieved of his kingship.

God is right and righteous in all that He does.  Apparently Uzziah/Azariah did not “curse God and die” because of the leprosy that God gave him.  Rather, it looks like Uzziah/Azariah put himself under the authority of the OT law and declared himself unclean.  While he didn’t “move outside the camp,” according to the scriptures he did live in a separate house and relinquished his right to rule.  Maybe he wasn’t as noble as all of that meaning someone forced him to do these things, but I’m reminded every person is promised affliction and every person has a choice about their response.

More than that, God made me see how Uzziah/Azariah was a type of Christ.  Christ put Himself under the authority of the OT law.  He set aside His glory and was subject to the law and fulfilled the law and did it ungrudgingly. 

So my take away from this passage was just how much authority does the Word have over my life?  How much do I value the Word of God over my wants and desires and possibly my “rights”?  Maybe someone else made these decisions for Uzziah/Azariah.  The scriptures don’t tell us.  They do tell us about Christ though.  “Not my will, but Thine be done.”  He was equal with God but He put Himself under God’s authority and He suffered outside the camp. 

We cannot be selective in the passages we choose to obey. Now I’ve quit preaching and gone to meddling!!