Dwelling with His People

I was reading in Revelation 21 and in verse 3 we read, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." My thoughts immediately went to the Tabernacle and one of the purposes of the Tabernacle was to show the people that God was dwelling with His people.

Cities of Refuge - Part 2

This is the conclusion of yesterday's snapshot of grace from the Old Testament. Take time to read yesterday's post first.



First, the cities were accessible. The elders were not to choose cities that were difficult to reach but rather they were cities that could be reached quickly and easily from anywhere in the land. The Jordan River acted as a barrier so there were three cities on each side of the Jordan. The elders had to make sure that the roads to the cities were well maintained so that the one fleeing would not be delayed by improperly maintained roads.

The picture for us is that Jesus is our city of refuge and He is accessible to anyone who is accused and under the sentence of death. We are all accused by Satan and our only refuge is in our Lord Jesus Christ. He did not make it difficult for us to come to Him but we can call upon Him at any time or in any place. The pathway is always free from obstacles and barriers when we desire to flee to Him.

Second, there was safety within the city but that safety was only guaranteed when the accused stayed within the city. Jesus said that we were to abide in Him and as we abide in Him we have safety from the enemy of our souls. When we think we can stand alone against Satan then we are vulnerable to his attacks. We cannot stand against the accuser of our souls unless we stay within the gates of our refuge, Jesus Christ.

Finally, the city of refuge was available to anyone whether they were citizens of Israel or foreigners. Jesus, our refuge, does not make any distinction between people. He will welcome anyone who comes to Him. He will not turn us away.

Cities of Refuge – Numbers 35:6-15

The Israelites did not have prisons. The other nations around them did but not the Israelites. The prisons of Egypt were an integral part of how the descendents of Jacob ended up in Egypt. However, when God made a covenant with the Israelites He made other provisions to deal with wrong doers.

God’s way of dealing with wrong doers was to set up a number of cities which were known as the cities of refuge. These cities belonged to the Levites and the elders of those cities became the judges of the accused. If the elders found the person accused to be guilty of the capitol offense of which he was accused then they turned him over to the family of the victim and they carried out the punishment. However, if the accused was found to be not guilty then the accused had to stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. If the accused left the city then they were no longer under the protection of the elders and the elders were not responsible for what happened to the accused.

The cities of refuge are a wonderful picture of God’s grace. In our time of trouble we have a refuge that we can turn to and that is our Lord. We are all guilty and condemned to death but we are all free to flee to the city of refuge. God has made a way for our safety. There are some important lessons for us in this picture of grace.


Continued tomorrow - LW

How Shall we then Live?

This past week I talked to a lady who was confused by what she had read in the Scripture and what she had heard in a sermon at her church. Her question related to whether or not one could lose their salvation. I sent her the following that I wrote earlier.

The Bible clearly teaches that we are saved by faith and not by anything that we do and that we are to live our lives by faith. Paul in Galatians makes it clear that after we have begun in the Spirit that we cannot live by our own wills.

However, we are also told that we are to preserver the end and we shall be delivered or that we are to overcome as we read in the letters to the seven churches in Revelation.

However, there is one problem. If how we live depend upon our own efforts to keep ourselves in the faith then it becomes man’s effort and not God’s grace. So what is the answer? Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1:3-4 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” Then the next verse he says, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith.” Peter clearly saw that the Christian live is not by our strength but then there is something that we must do. IF this is confusing it is because we are trying to understand an infinite God with our finite minds.

How shall we then live? First, we must realize that we are saved by God’s grace and we are kept by God’s grace and we must rest upon this truth. Second, we must live as though our eternal life depended upon how we live even though we know that it does not.

Acts or Ephesians

Some of the Biblical scholars say that Joshua has it parallel in Acts in the New Testament as it speaks of the growth of the kingdom. I don't see it that way. I see more of possessing our possessions, what is ours in Christ Jesus. That is why I find the parallel in the book of Ephesians. What do you think?

"Just for me"

On Sunday we sang the the Thank You song. However, this song has one line in, no one word in it, that bothers me. It is the line "Thank You for giving Your life just for me". Now it is not that I am not grateful that Christ gave His life for me, but is it just me? I know and I believe that if I was the only sinner that Christ would have died just for me but I am not the only one. There is a subtle way in which we turn the focus from God to ourselves. There will be those that will argue with me that is not the case but more and more I am convinced that we are finding ways of keeping ourselves as the most important. My wife likes to change the line to "Thank You for giving Your life up for me".

Snapshots

I have always enjoyed taking pictures. Pictures tell stories and when you look back in an old photo album you find many wonderful memories. I have been including snapshots of grace from the Old Testament in my blog this summer. Too many people look at the Old Testament as harsh or legalistic but miss the many wonderful pictures of grace that are included. God has always extended grace to His people and we need to remember that He is a God of grace.

The General and the Servant Girl - Part 2

This is the second part of the snapshot of grace from the Old Testament that I wrote yesterday. Please read yesterday's post first.

However, there was a servant girl who overheard his cry for help and she told him about a prophet in her own country. This could be the time that she had prayed for since she had been taken away from her country and family. The enemy was getting his just desserts. But instead of seeing this as justice she saw it as a time to minister grace. She went to her master and told him about a prophet in her country who could bring healing to the leprosy.

Maybe she secretly hoped that the General would take her back with her but she did not even suggest such a possibility to her master. She told him unconditionally about Elisha. This was her ministry of grace. She offered life to her master without expecting anything in return.

What about the rest of the story? Yes, the General went to Elisha and received his healing. He had to humble himself before his servants and the God of Israel which he did not want to do until another servant told him that it was his only hope.

And what about the nameless servant girl? Was there a happy ending to the story for her? We are not told anymore about her. Her responsibility was done. She had ministered grace and as far as we know that is the end of her story here on this planet. But God does not necessarily reward us on this earth but He will reward us. I know that it was not the end of the story for the servant girl.

The General and the Servant Girl – 2 Kings 5

He was a great man. That is how the Bible describes him. He was the commander of the armies of Aram and had led many successful campaigns against the enemies of his king. Yes he was a great man but he was a leper.

How many great men and women have this “but he was”, “but she was” following an almost perfect description. He was a great leader but he had cancer. She was a great teacher but she was barren. He was a great baseball player but he injured his knee. She was a great singer but she developed a throat disease.

Then there are those that would be great but they have fallen into sin. He was a great politician but he got involved in an illicit affair. She was a great worship leader but she was a gossip.

Naaman was a great man but he had leprosy. How could he lead the armies if he was a leper and had to live as an outcast? His career was finished. His place would be taken by another and he would be forgotten.

Continued tomorrow - LW

The Party is Over

The party is over and everything has returned to normal. The past two weeks have been a time of celebration with family and friends but now everyone has gone home and the routines of life begin to settle in again.
The wedding is over, the honeymooners are home. The rest of the family has gone back to their lives.
The past two weeks have seen
Wedding plans,
wedding,
swimming,
trips to Toronto and Detroit and the grocery store.
BBQs
"I don't like chicken"
discussions around the church and God's Word
laughter
crying
games
"whose turn is it?"
"Make another pot of coffee"
visiting
swimming again
more BBQ
more swimming
"You're watching Tree House"
more discussions
visits with friends, family, children, grandchildren.
I loved it but now it is time
to mow the lawn
clean the house
do laundry
Bibles for Missions
Back to the Bible
reading
walking
I am glad that live is back to the routines but I am looking forward to the next time when we all get together again.
God has blessed us with a great family. Children who love God and their family. Though they are far away (except our daughter) we are close in love and affection.
I read in Psalm 47:4 this morning, "He chose our inheritance for us" and though I thought of the Israelites and Joshua I see that God has chosen an inheritance for each of us. God is so good.

"The Word of the Lord Came to Me"

This morning I was reading in Ezekiel and I noticed the phrase "the Word of the Lord came to me". I checked and found that it occurs 49 times in the book of Ezekiel. What struck me as significant is that many times we try in our own efforts to find what God would have us to do. Though we are to actively seek the leading of the Lord we must remember that it His leading and He will reveal it to us. The most important aspect of finding and knowing God's will is to be in His Word. Many people seek it in a mystical way but that leaves us open to many errors. The Word of God is consistent but we must be consistently in the Word.
Sometimes someone comes and tells you that God has told them and they expect that you will heed their word. Though their word may be truly from the Lord we must take that word back to God's Word and see if it is affirmed by Him.
If we trust our feelings we will be like many who have been misled in the past and are being misled today. I just listened to the testimony of one man who claims that his authority came to him from angels, a female angel. Is this consistent with Scripture? I find nothing in Scripture to reinforce his claim. If he claimed that his leading had come to him while spending time alone with God in the Word and then was able to show it from the Word then their would be a reason to listen to his message.
Paul said that "Christ died according to the Scripture". How did he know that? One thing is that he was a faithful student of the Word and God revealed it to him through His Word. He was like Ezekiel who said, "The Word of the Lord came to me."

Unwanted Grace

Last week I wrote about Jonah in my snapshot of grace and this week we received the following in an email from one of our missionary friends.

This morning, I read a newsletter from a missionary friend who has cancer
and in it she talked about God's "unwanted" grace they have experienced.
Intrigued, I found my way to a sermon by William Lawrence on the same topic.
You can read his detailed sermon outline on Jonah 1:1-3. Here are some of his concluding points. I needed these words! Perhaps they will encourage
some of you. For the whole sermon look at www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=5838

Unwanted grace is God's unrelenting call for us

* to take greater risk than we ever imagined
* to face stronger forces than we ever dreamed
* to fight bigger battles than we ever thought possible
* and nearly all of this is in ourselves!

We must face the greatest enemy of all: ourselves.

Why does God bring unwanted grace in our lives Unwanted grace always means death:

* the death of pride
* the death of self-confidence
* the death of self-reliance
* the death of false hope

Unwanted grace: the opportunity to become more than we ever dreamed we could become by becoming less than we ever thought we could.

CONCLUSION

Unwanted grace always brings us to one simple choice: the choice to be Jonah or Jesus.

All of us can be Jonah; there's nothing hard about running away from what we don't want. Unwanted grace always leads us to where Jesus went.

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours.

Unwanted grace always leads us to the cross-the decision to take up the cross, to follow Jesus to the grace we need to trust God for resurrection so we can become the men and women God wants us to be. If we resist this we will remain small, caught up in our self-centered and unresponsive hearts, thinking we have a corner on salvation, given over to pleasure and selfish ambition and a life-style of comfort and ease. We will be Jonahs: brittle, demanding, angry, self-centered, and unresponsive. But if we respond to God we will discover what unwanted grace really is:

The opportunity to be more than we ever dreamed we could by becoming less than we ever thought we could.

The Govenor and his Brothers - Part 3

This is a conclusion of yesterday's snapshot of grace from the Old Testament.

We may wonder why he went through the elaborate plan to reveal himself to them. Why he sent them back for his youngest brother; why he kept Simeon captive; why he returned their money; why he put his cup in Benjamin’s sack of grain. We have many questions but in it all he had a plan to show grace to his family.

The time came when he revealed himself to them. They were terrified thinking only of revenge or justice. They could not even hope for mercy but they appealed to him to show them mercy for the sake of their father. Joseph assured them that he was prepared to welcome them into his life only as brothers. He arranged to have transportation provided for the family to come to Egypt. He arranged for the best land for them. He arranged jobs for them and provided them with food.

Jesus, our brother, welcomes us home the same way. He will not deal with us in justice for our rebellion. He accepts us as His brothers. He accepts us with grace. We are accepted unconditionally. That is grace. When we deserved justice, He went beyond justice, He went beyond mercy and He accepted us with grace. He welcomed us into His family. He gave us the best He had to offer, we were made sons with Him and joint heirs of the Father.

The Governor and his Brothers - Part 2

This is a continuation of yesterdays snapshot of grace from the Old Testament. Please read that first.


But they were standing before him. He was in power and they were in need. They had come to him for help and now was the time that he could get revenge.

Joseph wasn’t interested in revenge. He did not even want justice. Justice would mean punishing them for their crime. He could easily take them captive and sell everyone of them as slaves. It would have been the naturally thing to do. They were on their knees bowing down to him just as he had dreamed twenty years earlier.

Joseph wasn’t interested in justice. He could easily show them mercy. He could reveal himself to them and send them back to their father and forget the whole incident. After all, he was now the Governor and they were peasant farmers. The merciful thing for Joseph to do would be to forgive them and send them away.

Joseph wasn’t interested in mercy alone. He wanted to have the relationship with his brothers restored. If he showed them mercy, they would always be in his debt. He didn’t want that kind of a relationship. He was their brother and he wanted to be loved as a brother. Mercy was not enough. He wanted to show them grace.

Continued tomorrow - LW

The Governor and his Brothers – Genesis 42 – 45

While imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, Simon Wiesenthal was taken one day from his work detail to the bedside of a dying member of the SS. Haunted by the crimes in which he had participated, the soldier wanted to confess to--and obtain absolution from--a Jew. Faced with the choice between compassion and justice, silence and truth, Wiesenthal said nothing. He looked at the dying SS member and turned his back and walked out of the room. But even years after the war had ended, he wondered: Had he done the right thing? What would we have done if we had found ourselves in a similar situation? Could we show mercy or would we have turned our back and walked out of the room?

Joseph found himself in a similar situation. It was a golden opportunity for revenge. They did not recognize him but he knew them. They hardly expected to find their brother as the ruler of Egypt. After all, he should have been dead years ago and if not at most he would be a slave somewhere.

Continued tomorrow - LW.

Roots and Wings.

On Saturday our daughter was married. It was a time to celebrate with family and friends. Our family was here for the celebration. Our four sons, their wives, a girl friend, and our grandchildren. Five children, four spouses, one girl friend and four grandchildren. When they were younger you spoke into their lives and helped shape them to be the people God would have them to be. When they are older it is a joy when they ask your advice or listen to your opinion. When they were young you gave them roots but you also gave them wings. They need the roots of family and stability but they need the wings of freedom.

Do Not Fret

Today I was reading in Psalm 37:7, "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." I was thinking about all those Christians who get upset when things are going wrong in the world. They are looking for ways to fix things and they usually look to politics for the fix. However, God says He is in control and He will make all things right in His time. That does not mean that we should not work for a better and more just world but we do not have to get in a fret about it when it does not happen. God is sovereign, trust Him.

The Disobedient Preacher - Part 3

This is the conclusion of the snapshot of grace from the Old Testament. Please read the last two day's posts first.

How often we act like Jonah. God has shown us grace so that we can be ministers of grace but instead of passing that grace along we do the very opposite. We get angry and wonder why God has not judged the sinners. God has not brought judgment on the sinners of this world because He is still giving them opportunity to repent. We cry for judgment and God gives grace. We cry for punishment and God shows mercy. So often we are like the prophet Jonah rather than the prophet Habakkuk who prayed, “In wrath remember mercy.” We turn that prayer around when it comes to our enemies.

How different was the prophet Nahum to also was sent by God to preach to the Ninevites. Unlike Jonah, Nahum went when God sent him but though he was obedient in preaching to the Ninevites they did not accept his message and God brought judgment against them.

One aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is long suffering. God is long suffering toward us and toward the world. He is a God of mercy and grace but there will be a day of judgment. Until that day we need to be ministers of grace to a sick and fallen world.

Jonah preached repentance and the people repented. Jonah desired judgment but God expended mercy. Jonah was extended grace by God when he deserved punishment and rebuke but He could not extend that to others. Are we any different?

The Disobedient Preacher - Part 2

This is a continuation of yesterday's snapshot of grace from the Old Testament. Lord willing I will conclude it tomorrow.




God is a God of mercy and when He wanted to extend that mercy to the people of Nineveh He choose a prophet to take the message to the people. Jonah did not act in a gracious manner as he would rather see the people punished than forgiven. So he ran away but God had other plans. In His mercy God intervened and sent Jonah on his way to preach to Nineveh. Jonah was a most successful preacher and the people of Nineveh repented and God stayed His judgment.

Jonah did not act graciously and He became very angry at God for showing grace to these people. He knew that God was a God of mercy and grace and that is why he did not want to obey. However, God was not only gracious to the Ninevites but He was also gracious to Jonah.

When the Ninevites repented Jonah became angry and went out of the city and sat by the city wall in the hot sun. He complained to God about the sun so God allowed a vine to grow up to give him shelter and shade. Then came a worm that destroyed the vine and Jonah was once again sitting in the hot sun. God tried to teach Jonah a lesson of mercy and grace but Jonah just did not get it. He was angry that God destroyed the vine and was angry because God had not destroyed Nineveh.

The Disobedient Preacher - Jonah

Why is it today that there are some preachers who love to talk about God’s love but ignore His judgment while there are others who will preach judgment but will not show mercy? They preach that AIDS or SARS is God’s judgment against a sinful people but they are reluctant to show that God wishes to extend His mercy and grace to everyone who will turn to Him. Some fire and brimstone preachers are like Jonah and want God to punish sinners rather than extend them grace. They want judgment today but God wants people to have time to repent of their sins.

Jonah was the reluctant prophet who could not accept the mercy and grace of God that was extended to the enemies of his people. God wanted to show grace through His prophet but instead He showed grace in spite of His prophet and in doing so He also showed grace to His prophet. In the end the Ninevites accepted His grace while the prophet did not. How often the people of this world are more willing to accept God’s grace than the people of God. This should never be as it is only by His grace that we can be part of the family of God.

Continued tomorrow - LW

Firm Forever

As I am going through the Psalms in the morning I came this morning to Psalm 33. Verse 11 says, "But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." There are certain attributes of God that I find more meaningful to me than others. One is the fact that He is the unchanging God. It bothers me that there are those who would teach that God has changed. If He is God then He cannot change. There are those who tell us that God will change His mind if we pray. This verse tells me that His plans are unchanging. So what changes when we pray? Some would say that if God does not change when we pray then why bother to pray. Is prayer about getting our will done or God's will?

What Love is This?

A friend send me this book and told me that I needed to read it. I think that she was afraid that I was becoming a Calvinist. So I read the book and I think I may be one of the few that read it cover to cover. There must be a reward for those who endure to the end.
I found very little love in this book but a great deal of anger. I am going to write a longer book review but let me say this about David Hunt's book. It is not a book I would recommend to anyone. It will not convince a Calvinist that he is wrong. Those that already distrust Calvinism will only be angered by this book. Those that do not know about Calvinism will certainly be confused and maybe even question theology. This book is of no help to anyone who reads it.
Before I began to read this book two relatives who are not Calvinist's told me not to read that book. In fact one who is very charismatic told me that they recommended to their people not to read it.
If you are thinking of reading it, don't. I know that there are many things about which he writes that are a problem but his approach is questionable at best. I am dismayed that we think we must have labels. Doctrine is important but we must know that some doctrines are held in tension in the Bible. If they weren't then we would not have to live by faith.

River of Life - Part 3

This is the conclusion of the snapshot of grace from the Old Testament. Please read the last two days first.

Sometimes we think that what we are doing is too insignificant to make any difference. Remember the stream as it flowed out from under the door of the Temple. No one would have believed that it would change the Dead Sea and bring it to life. No act of grace is too small.

We also need to recognize the grace that is shown to us not only by God but by others as well. The grace that is shown to us by others is not the same as the grace that is shown us by God in that He gives us grace through His Son Jesus Christ. However, we often miss out because we don’t acknowledge the grace of God or others in our lives. God’s grace can come to us in many unexpected ways. We need to develop the habit of looking for that grace.

As the river grew so are we to grow. Paul told us to grow in grace. Let us be like the river of life and grow in grace.

The River of Life - Part 2

This is a continuation of yesterday's post. Please read it first, the conclusion will be tomorrow, Lord willing.

The Lord gave Ezekiel many marvelous and wonderful visions. He had the mysterious vision of the wheel within the wheel with eyes around the rim. He had a vision about the Temple and those that worship there. One of his best known visions was the vision of the valley of dry bones. Finally the Lord gave him a marvelous vision of the river. The Lord had taken him in a vision to the Temple and there he saw water flowing out from under the door. It began as a small stream but after they had traveled a thousand cubits the water was ankle deep. He measured another thousand cubits and now the water was knee deep. After a third thousand the water was up to his waist and when he measured still another thousand it was a mighty river, too deep to cross, deep enough that he would have to swim.

The angel then led him to the bank on the river and there he saw all kinds of trees growing along the banks of the river. In the river there were many kinds of fish and the river flowed into the Dead Sea and made it fresh. The Dead Sea came to life with all kinds of fish.

This is a beautiful picture of the chain of grace. As we minister grace in a small way it begins to grow and with the growth comes new life. Grace is life giving even making the dead to live again as the river brought life to the Dead Sea. It should have remained salty even though there was fresh water flowing into it, but the water from the Temple brought life.

I will conclude this snapshot of grace from the Old Testament tomorrow - LW.

The River of Life – Ezekiel 47

Life for Ezekiel had been extremely difficult. He was a priest who was taken captive when the Babylonians conquered Israel. Unlike Daniel he was not taken to the court of the king but rather he was taken to work on the canals. He suffered a great deal from the Babylonians but he also suffered from his own people. God had told him that he would preach to a stubborn and hard-headed people but his audience was not the Babylonians but his fellow captives.

During the time of captivity he was struck dumb for over a year by the Lord as an object lesson to his people. During that time he had to lie on one side for three hundred ninety days and on the other side for forty days. Meanwhile he had to cook his food using animal dung for fuel. The Lord had told him to use human dung but that was so repulsive to him that the Lord allowed him to use animal dung instead. Even this was considered unclean to a priest but Ezekiel was obedient to his God. Later his wife died and the Lord commanded him not to mourn. If anyone needed grace Ezekiel was that one.

Continued tomorrow - LW