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Episodes
Monday Apr 29, 2024
Monday Apr 29, 2024
Psalm 65
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. A song.
65:1 Praise waits for you, God, in Zion. To you shall vows be performed.
65:2 You who hear prayer, to you all men will come.
65:3 Sins overwhelmed me, but you atoned for our transgressions.
65:4 Blessed is one whom you choose, and cause to come near, that he may live in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.
65:5 By awesome deeds of righteousness, you answer us, God of our salvation. You who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, of those who are far away on the sea;
65:6 Who by his power forms the mountains, having armed yourself with strength;
65:7 who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.
65:8 They also who dwell in faraway places are afraid at your wonders. You call the morning's dawn and the evening with songs of joy.
65:9 You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it.
65:10 You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop.
65:11 You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance.
65:12 The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness.
65:13 The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys also are clothed with grain. They shout for joy! They also sing.
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Saturday Apr 20, 2024
Saturday Apr 20, 2024
Psalm 91
91:1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
91:2 I will say of Yahweh, "He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust."
91:3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence.
91:4 He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart.
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91:5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day;
91:6 nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday.
91:7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you.
91:8 You will only look with your eyes, and see the recompense of the wicked.
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91:9 Because you have made Yahweh your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place,
91:10 no evil shall happen to you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
91:11 For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways.
91:12 They will bear you up in their hands, so that you won't dash your foot against a stone.
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91:13 You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.
91:14 "Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name.
91:15 He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him.
91:16 I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation."
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Friday Apr 19, 2024
Friday Apr 19, 2024
Psalm 88
If you can, as you read and listen to Psalm 88, feel the agony of the Psalmist and ask the same questions he does, particularly in regards to our recent troubles across the world...
Psalm 88
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth. A maskilof Heman the Ezrahite.
1 LORD, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
3 I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, LORD, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry to you for help, LORD;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, LORD, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?
15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbour –
darkness is my closest friend.
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Thursday Apr 18, 2024
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
Psalm 128
A Song of Ascents.
For you will eat the labor of your hands.
You will be happy, and it will be well with you.
Your wife will be as a fruitful vine,
in the innermost parts of your house;
your children like olive plants, around your table.
Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears Yahweh.
May Yahweh bless you out of Zion,
and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
Yes, may you see your children’s children.
Peace be upon Israel.
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Sunday Mar 03, 2024
Sunday Mar 03, 2024
Psalm 91
2 I will say of Yahweh, "He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust."
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day;
6 nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes, and see the recompense of the wicked.
9 Because you have made Yahweh your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall happen to you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
11 For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways.
12 They will bear you up in their hands, so that you won't dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.
14 "Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him.
16 I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation."
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Sunday Feb 04, 2024
Sunday Feb 04, 2024
Solomon the Wise prays to God, Dedicating the Temple!
2 Chronicles 6v1-21
What is the story so far?
History is important though, not only to learn the lessons from it but also as Christians, the Bible shows how God has acted in human history.
A brief recap of chapter 7.
From the first 3 verses of chapter 7, we read the Chronicler regaling one of the many great WOW moments of the Old Testament. The time when the glory of the Lord came down like fire and filled the temple to overflowing! The people fell down in worship of a great God, who was their God! This was followed by a great scene of abundantly joyful sacrificial worship to this God!
That must have been some prayer eh! Well, tonight as you may have gathered, we go back to looking at those prayers. Not in an exhaustive way, but to discover together what we can learn about God and His relationship with those who are His and seeing how this is relevant to us some 3 millennia later. During the intervening period, I wonder if Solomon had wrestled in his mind over what he prayed… Let us wrestle together now, in these prayers of his, albeit briefly. This is a key passage, a link if you like, between the Covenant that God made with Solomon’s father, David, including the building of a House for God, the Temple, and the glory of the Lord filling the Temple in 2 Chronicles 7. This reflects I think, the necessity and vitality of prayer in the unfolding of God’s will for humanity. The story is also regaled in 1 Kings 8 but with some nuance as you may expect.
A Covenant Making God
Down through history, the Bible reveals that God has made Covenants with humanity. A covenant is an important way to describe the progress of the relationship between God and humanity through the Biblical story. A covenant at the time of the Old Testament was a solemn commitment between the two covenanting parties to fulfil all the promises and obligations of the covenant. Covenants were common in all kinds of life, and not just between God and humanity. The idea comes from the sort of agreement commonly entered into in the ancient area round Israel between a high king, and a sub king or clan chief.
It is easy to see how a covenant is a good way to describe the relationship between God and humanity. God, who promises to protect and help the human with faithfulness, and the human who promises to worship and honour God with faith. The Covenants between God and humanity have several things about them regarding the relationship.
In these Covenants between God and humanity, God always took the initiative – sometimes by complete surprise. God has made certain commitments and has given His solemn promise to fulfil His end of the bargain. God waits for a response from humanity. God does not coerce or force but waits for humanity to take the responsibility of replying and acquiescing to God's covenantal promises through obedience, faithfulness and worship.
There are Covenants made in the Garden of Eden, Covenants made in history with Adam, Noah and Abraham, but we will fast forward to the Covenant between God and Moses before going onto His covenant with Solomon’s father, David.
The Mosaic Covenant
Why look at the Covenant made between God and Moses? We do so because there is a connection between that Covenant and the prayer of Solomon we are looking at tonight. Indeed the very Ark of the Covenant contained a gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and two tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. Charles Spurgeon commented “One is struck, with the fact that the language of Solomon is far from new, and is full of quotations from the Pentateuch (where the Mosaic Covenant is fully explained), some of which are almost word for word.”
This covenant is between God and humanity, in this case with the particular nation of Israel. It commences with the stipulation “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine” (Exodus 19:5). This covenant was to Israel in order that those who believed God’s promise, could know how to live righteously. Israel’s task was to bring the knowledge of God to all the world so that blessing might come to all humanity. In this, however, they were to fail and only when Jesus came as the perfectly obedient Israelite was it to become possible that all the world should be blessed.
This Mosaic covenant covered the three areas of life:
- The commandments were given so they would know how to relate socially to God correctly (Exodus 20:1-17)
- The judgments were given in order that they could relate socially to each other properly (Exodus 21:1 - 24:11 and in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy)
- The decrees dictate their religious life so that God could be approached by humanity on His terms (Exodus 24:12 - 31:18, and in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy).
The Mosaic Covenant was never meant as a means by which humanity could achieve salvation with God. It was given so that they could realize the helplessness of their own efforts, and their need of God's help as well as expressing their devotion to the Lord. Yet they still failed to bring blessing to other peoples. Galatians 3:22-24 explains that the Law was only a protective fence until through the promised Messiah, when humanity could be made right with God through faith. That Messiah we know to be the man Jesus Christ. More later though.
The Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7:4-17)
Now we fast forward to the Covenant which was in place as Solomon dedicates the Temple to God and is mentioned here. This covenant that God made with David, Solomon’s father. Three great things were promised:
- A land forever (2 Samuel 7:10);
- A dynasty without end (2 Samuel 7:11, 16)
- A perpetual kingdom (2 Samuel 7:13, 16)
Through the Covenants we see a God who is willing to interact with His creation and bless it. When first century Christians such as the Apostles Paul, Peter and John checked and thought over all the events surrounding the life of Jesus Christ, they searched their Scriptures (our Old Testament). It was as God the Holy Spirit illuminated their minds, that they wrote down and passed on the whole range of Old Testament promises which were fulfilled in God's Messiah and the world's hope - Jesus Christ and Him alone. That is why it is important for us as twenty-first century Christian Disciples to read our Old Testament as well as the New Testament. For by reading the Old Testament, new light is shed upon our own understanding of the New Testament. One of the fundamentals of understanding the Bible, is to let the Bible interpret the Bible.
There is one more Covenant of God which we are to look at tonight, but we will see that shortly! We press on with these prayers of Solomon.
There are 3 prayers here.
- v1-2 are opening words of praise to God
- v4-11 are the 2nd prayer
- v16-41 are the 3rd prayer.
We won’t go into any great detail tonight, you will no doubt be glad to know. We will get to about verse 21 I think. But with a very general overview, let’s look together and see what we can learn together from the wise man Solomon about God and about prayer. Charles Spurgeon said that “It is worthy of remark concerning this prayer that it is as full and comprehensive as if it were meant to be the summary of all future prayers offered in the temple.”
Part 1
1. Verses 1 & 2 - Solomon acknowledges God’s presence in the cloud
Here we see that Solomon acknowledges God’s presence in the cloud. The cloud of God’s glory has a long association with His presence. Solomon knew that the presence of the cloud meant that God dwelt in the temple in a special way. It was to be a special place to come and meet with God. It was symbolic of God living with His people.
2.Verses 3 to 9 – Solomon blessed the people and blesses God.
Here we see that Solomon blessed the people and blesses God. Solomon knew, affirmed and recognized that the completion of the Temple was the fulfilment of the plan of God and not of Solomon himself or indeed of his father David. God’s plan. David and Solomon were merely the human instruments, they were God’s arms and legs, but the work was affirmed to be God’s alone! God’s actions or work have confirmed His words, His promises! God’s hands were at work building the Temple as He guided and strengthened the human workers who contributed themselves to its construction.
Solomon recounts how their ancestors had escaped from Egypt in the Exodus 500 years hence. This shows its importance to the people of Israel at the time! Their minds were singing “If the Lord can bring us out of Egypt and rescue us, He will help us establish ourselves as a nation and build this Temple in order to worship Him. “
God is faithful to His promises. Down through the ages God has been faithful and keeping His part of the Covenant that He made with people. Later when we come to conclude we will see together briefly the promises of God for the Christian, including us today almost 3 millennia later.
Solomon now issues a statement concerning his father, David! Why David was not to build it. Though David, the mighty King had done extensive preparations for it, he didn’t actually complete it. The completion was left for his son, Solomon. Why? Because of God’s ideal of rest for his King and for his people. David had fought many wars and battles. It was part of his rest in God not to build the Temple. Solomon was spared the emotional turmoil of war, so could dedicate his energies to building the Temple – the House of God.
3. Verses 10-11 - Solomon presents the finished temple unto God.
And with verses 10 to 11, we see that Solomon presents the finished Temple to God. Solomon recognized that being the successor of his father David to the throne of Israel was significant. He then places the Ark of the Covenant, in its resting place in the Temple. The Ark of the Covenant was a physical representation of God’s promised presence with His people, the nation of Israel. It was a wooden chest clad with gold containing a gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. Solomon speaks of a God who fulfilled with His hands what He had spoken with His mouth. God had said what He was going to do, and then went and did it.
How are we doing at worshipping as we work for the Lord? Are we workers primarily and then click a switch to engage worship mode as we come here on a Sunday? Or do we consider ourselves God worshippers as we work? God wants worshippers before workers. In God’s mind, the only acceptable workers are those who have learnt the art of worship. Do you consider all you do as acts of worship to God? Everything you do as acts of worship to God? Because that is the kind of people God wants and desires, the kind of people who worship Him in Spirit and in truth and in all aspects of life – not just for a couple of hours on a Sunday. With those thoughts, let’s take a break now to sing to this amazing God we love, serve and are to keep our vision upon – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Part 2. Solomon’s prayer.
Verses 12-14 - Humility before and praise unto God.
.Here in verses 12 to 14 we see that Solomon stands before the altar of the Lord. Solomon did not dedicate the Temple from within the Temple itself because that would have been the wrong place. That was where only the Priest could go, so Solomon stands outside, raised up so that the throngs of people could see him. Before the altar, spreading out his hands in an act of symbolism - reaching out toward heaven in a gesture of surrender, openness, and ready reception.
Here Solomon recognizes that God was and is completely unique in all facets of being and expresses it. The false and pretend gods of the nations around Israel could not compare to Him in any way.
Verses 15-17 - Solomon recognizes God as the maker and keeper of promises.
Solomon commences now to thankfully praise God, because God has kept all His promises that He had mad in the past. Have you done that in your prayer life? Speaking out thanks for what God has done for you in the past?
He continues and calls upon God to keep the promises that He has now made. We are, as His people, to take on board God’s promises, take them to heart in faith, and then boldly and reverently call upon Him to fulfil the promises. Again, is that part of your prayer life? God promises and we are to appropriate, take hold of them and proclaim them, taking them on board in our life by faith, knowing that God fulfils the promises that He makes to people.
Verses 18-21 - Solomon asks God to dwell in this place and honour those who seek Him here.
Solomon now asks a question in this prayer! How often have you and I asked God questions as we pray, rather than just listing off our demands. God would reside in the Temple but not to the exclusion of other places. While God would have a special presence in the Temple, He would not be restricted to it. Solomon asks God to listen to His people as they pray and worship in this Temple dedicated to Him. When God hears the prayers made in the Tempe, Solomon implores that He would forgive His people and probably the greatest answer to prayer that they could expect.
Conclusion - Promises of God for the Christian
After such a prayer, how can we conclude? What are the challenges and comforts we have seen from this passage of Scripture? This Temple was destroyed about 400 years later by the Babylonians. It is long gone. What about David’s Covenant though? Was that ever fulfilled?
Remember David’s Covenant which we looked at briefly earlier on? Was that ever fulfilled? We can say that it has been! It was fulfilled gloriously in the coming of God, in the man Jesus Christ. When the great God did indeed come as a human being in the person we know as Jesus Christ. It is historical fact.
2 Samuel 7:12 predicted the birth of Solomon as David's successor to the throne, with his role being to establish David's throne forever (2 Samuel 7:13). We see this link to the man Jesus Christ, through the genealogies to both Joseph: who had a legal right to King David's throne (Matthew 1:1-17) and to Mary: who had a blood right to King David's throne (Luke 3:23-38). The land is the whole world, now potentially the sphere of the rule of Jesus (Romans 4:13); the dynasty was, through Solomon, eventually to be the eternal son, Jesus (Matthew 1:1, 6, 16; Luke 3:23, 31); the Kingdom is the kingdom of God, now established, and ever growing in the world in which we live. (Matthew 11:12)
All of which were fulfilled gloriously in the coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus the Messiah, the Saviour. Jesus Christ – fully God and fully human. Not just for the Jews but for all people of every race and language. Really that should make us go WOW in awe of our God. Our God is the God of history and has stepped into history as a human being.
The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Luke 22:15-20)
We see all this in what is called the New Covenant. Four features of this covenant are:
- Regeneration – God will write His law on the hearts of people. (Jeremiah 31:33)
- Restoration - God will be their God, and they will be God's people. (Jeremiah 31:33)
- Promised Holy Spirit – God will indwell people and they will be led by Him (Jeremiah 31:34)
- Justification – Sins will be forgiven, removed and remembered no more (Jeremiah 31:34)
This new covenant is sealed only through the perfect sacrifice of the God-Man Jesus on the cross. His death ensures the truth of this New Covenant. His death pays the penalty for the sins of all people. That is why we are to say yes to God and His New Covenant. This New Covenant can be contrasted with the Old Covenant, the Mosaic covenant that we looked at earlier, (Jeremiah 31:32; Hebrews 8:6-13) because this New Covenant finalizes and makes possible what the Mosaic Covenant could only point to: the follower of God living in a righteous life conforming to God's holy character.
Solomon asks in verse 18 “But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple that I have built!” In Solomon’s direct context, he was talking about the Temple which he was dedicating to God. In the overall context of the Bible, however, God did indeed come and dwell on earth. Not just with humans, but to be a human. Jesus Christ, the God-man. God keeps His promises and Jesus Christ is evidence of that. Oh that is so easy to forget when we are undergoing the trials of life. In what way does God keep His promises to us today?
Five quick statements.
- By faith, He is praying for us. God the Son, Jesus Christ is making intercessions for Christians (Romans 8:34). He knows our troubles and He feels our cares and knows what we are going through (Hebrews 4:14-16). Isn’t that simply amazing and oh how easily we forget.
- By faith - He will come to us. Have you ever felt like God is far away? Well you aren’t alone! Solomon’s father, David, often felt that God was far away and unconcerned with his life. Just a cursory look in the Psalms will reveal that. However he also knew that God would ultimately rescue him. Jesus always comes to us through difficult times. Although He may not come in the time we think He should come, because He knows when we need Him most.
- By faith - He will help us grow - Once, when His disciples were in the storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus came to them walking on the water (Matthew 14:22-33). The purpose of this incident was to show that Jesus would be leaving them soon, so they had to learn to trust in Him when He wasn’t physically present. One of those disciples, Peter, wrote later on in his life, “for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers” (1 Peter 3:12). How are you growing as a follower of Jesus? Not only in your knowledge but also in your transformation and development? As we are being transformed by the power of God the Holy Spirit into the image of God the Son, Jesus Christ, it is to the praise and glory of God the Father. Our transformation reveals God at work.
- By faith, He will see us through - Again, when the disciples were in the storm, Jesus said “Come” and Peter went with Him. This must have encouraged the other disciples, for upon seeing Jesus’ power they worshipped him. Whatever troubles you are undergoing are temporary, and Jesus will see you through. For various reasons 2015 for Youngmi and I started out as if it could be our annus horribilus. Yet it became our annus mirabilis instead as we saw God at work each day throughout the year.
- By faith, you have salvation - if you are trusting in Jesus alone for your salvation. By faith Jesus is praying for you, will come to you, grow you and help you through troubles. By being obedient to God, you and I are showing others our salvation and showing that faith, is not blind, but active. We can be obedient to Him by relying on His strength and wisdom. We are to be faithful to God and show it by being obedient to Him and getting on with the work we have been given, just as Solomon was in getting the Temple competed. Is your work worship or your worship work?
As we go out tonight, let us remember that God keeps His promises, He is listening to your prayers and He wants us to be in a dynamic moment by moment relationship with Himself. This great God wants you and I to be actively obedient to Him in all facets of our lives – our work, our play, our conversations, our worship and our relationships. If you are struggling in a particular area, get trusted others to pray for you and to hold you accountable – that is part of discipleship – part of following and loving God.
Our verse for the year as a Church is Psalm 105:4 “Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.” That was what Solomon did in the building of the Temple. That is what we are to do as well, as I am sure you are aware. Not only the Church here as a whole, but as individual followers of Jesus Christ. If we try to do it in our own strength we will fail. If we do it in the strength of the God we proclaim to love, worship, serve and glorify then we can – because all glory and honour will go to Him and Him alone.
As we go, are we ready in some way to tell others about this great God we claim is great and sing here in this fabulous building of our love and service? Are we ready to enable and encourage each other in the faith, and not just our friends and favourites, in some way as we see need? Are we actively engaging with the great God throughout each day, worshipping Him in all aspects of life and letting Him have dominion over every aspect of our lives as we put our trust fully in Him and in all aspects of life?
We are to be faithful to God and show it by being obedient to Him and getting on with the work we have been given, just as Solomon was in getting the job done.
As a general observation, most of the Church is scared of that word evangelism. We are not all to be evangelists like the Billy Grahams or Bruce Kitchings of this world, but we are to tell and show others about the God we claim to love and are in covenant with. Let’s go WOW the world, all of it, including our little corner here for God with the news of our God – the God who is outside of time who stepped down into time, into human history, in order that humanity could choose to follow Him or not - to be His children or not. Let’s keep our eyes fixed firmly on our God as we seek to enable and encourage – not just as a church body but also as individuals to all others that we meet. We are the Church on the hill. Let us, both as a church and as individuals, “Look to the LORD and his strength; seeking his face always.” Let’s go WOW for God together, heeding His advice and worshipping Him alone in all facets of life.
Are you tired and in need of comfort from all the challenges you are having to endure? Keep your eyes on God and allow Him to embrace you, comfort and lift you up. Remember that He is for you, He lives within you and you are His child.
Are you too comfortable? In need of a challenge to stop you becoming complacent? Ask God to help you overcome, to empower you and seek His face and wisdom. Ask for His strength to help you do what He has asked you to do?
The God we have comforts us in our challenges and challenges us in our comfort. We have an amazingly glorious God!
Let’s have a minute or two to bring ourselves before God and ask God to help you as only He can. Then I will close with a prayer before we go on to have our final song together.
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Saturday Feb 03, 2024
Saturday Feb 03, 2024
God pays a visit to Solomon!
2 Chronicles 7v11-22
Introduction
Yesterday we looked at David's final recorded public prayer in 1 Chronicles 29. We saw that David's God oozed greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty from all aspects of His very being! All of which are essential attributes of who He is: unchangeable and permanent. We discovered that this God is a God who gives and gives abundantly! The temple was yet to be built but the gifts from the King and the people had come in! People were waiting to start! Not only to build it but to serve within it! We came to the conclusion that we should pray not just for what God can give to us but also what we can give and do for our God! Giving not just money and goods, but our talents and imagination! Because from that, the community we live, work and worship within could be transformed to God's glory!
But now the Chronicler has moved on in his story! The remnant of Israel you may remember has returned from exile and the Chronicler is giving them an abridged version of history! The great king David has died, and his son, Solomon, is now on the throne. Solomon has had his first encounter with God and received the gift of wisdom! In Chapter 6, Solomon has prayed a great prayer to His God! We shall look at that in the podcast tomorrw.
Here, in our first reading, from the first 3 verses of chapter 7, we hear the Chronicler regaling one of the many great WOW moments of the Old Testament, when the glory of the Lord came down like fire and filled the temple to overflowing! The people fell down in worship of a great God, who was their God! This was followed by a great scene of abundantly joyful sacrificial worship to this God!
In the passage before us tonight, v11 to v22, the temple is now complete. Solomon is now probably sleeping in his palace. It has been 13 years since he prayed that prayer in chapter 6! No doubt, during those 13 years, many times has Solomon wrestled in his mind over what he prayed... Then, one night God Himself turns up.
Here the Chronicler reveals what God said to Solomon. The original readers/hearers are a remnant of the great nation of Israel, just returned to their land after being in exile! Probably wondering what happened, because under Solomon, the nation of Israel reached its pinnacle! Asking themselves questions like: Who is our God? Who are we, Israel, as a nation? Why are we in the situation we find ourselves in? The Chronicler is putting across his own theology as he writes this book of Chronicles! His theology, however, is consistent with the writings of the rest of the Old Testament and indeed the New Testament! So what does the Chronicler wish to convey to the remnant about this God from this encounter with Solomon?
1. A God of all History
The first thing I see, from this passage, is that their God is a God of history! All human history is covered beneath his throne - the past, present and future! a. God of the past! He is the God of Israel's past! God throughout history had made covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and here, God reminds Solomon of the Covenant that He made with Solomon's father, David! This covenant promised 3 things! That there would be:
- A land forever
- A dynasty without end
- A perpetual kingdom
b. God of the present But not only is He a God of the past, He is also a God of the present! He has heard the prayers and accepted the temple as a place of worship - v12 "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices." He is the God of the present because He is speaking to Solomon in Solomon's present! Visiting Solomon, probably while Solomon is snoring his head off!
c. God of the Future So God is a God of the past and the present, but also a God of the future! And because God is the God of the future, all things are under His control! Even v13 "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people", shows the God of the past, present and future being in control.
The Lord God says in this speech to Solomon, "I will..." several times! "I will hear!" "I will forgive!" "I will heal the land!" "I will open my eyes!" "I will establish your throne!" But not only of these humanly beneficial things but also Gods says in v20 "I will uproot you from here and send you into exile!" All in the future tense! And in v16 "I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there." Their God, who is the God of all human history - past, present and future - is from everlasting to everlasting! Nothing in the future is set rigidly! God may know what is going to happen but He also knows all that may happen as well! We see this through the tension of "If you do this, I will do this!" God is all-knowing, far beyond our human capacity and capability!
2. A God Who Lives!
So a God over all human history - past, present and future. So what else is there here about this God? This God is also a God who lives and lives dynamically! This God is not like the gods of Israel's neighbours - a mere inert block of wood, bone or stone to be lumped about, put on a pedestal, have many copies made, bowed to impersonally and chanted manically at. No! This God of Israel is a God who lives! This God lives and wants to live with His people! God is a God who exhibits His life in at least 3 ways from this encounter with Solomon!
a. A God who is Personal! This God is personal! Fourteen times, the Chronicler uses for God the personal pronoun "I" and fourteen times, he uses "me" or "myself." Twelve times, he uses the word "you" - on a single individual basis as well as a collective "you" on the basis of the nation itself. This God is personal to the individual Solomon, the King of Israel, but also personal to the nation of Israel. The Chronicler is intimating that no other nation had enjoyed a dynamic, robust and intimate relationship with their God, like Israel does! Our God is personal the Chronicler cries out!
Because He is personal, it cries out that He lives! This God wants to be intimately involved with the people and nation He has chosen for Himself. Read through with me as I share some of these with you and hear how intimate and personal this God is!
Listen for the ‘I' "I have heard your prayer; I shut; I will forgive; I will heal; I have chosen; I will establish; I have covenanted; I have given; I will uproot; I will reject; I will make This is a personal God! Listen for the ‘my' chosen this place for myself; among my people, called by my name; seek my face; my eyes will be open; my ears attentive; my Name may be there forever; my heart will always be there; an object of ridicule for my Name, Now listen for the ‘you', ‘their', themselves' and ‘they' you walk before me faithfully; humble themselves and pray; You do; Your father David; You observe; Your royal throne; their wicked ways ; if you turn away and forsake; you and go off to serve other gods; they have forsaken the LORD and they embraced other gods!
This is a personal, living and dynamic God wanting a personal and dynamic relationship with His people! Not some mere impersonal piece of wood, metal or stone like the gods of the surrounding nations to whom people babble!
b. A God who is Responsive! This personal God is also responsive! This God, the Chronicler writes, has responded to the worship of the people when at the beginning of this chapter, His glory filled the temple to overflowing! Their worship was pleasing to Him and He acknowledged this with fire! WOW - v1 "the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple!" That must have been an awe-inspiring moment when their living God did that! So awe inspiring that they continued in worship by singing and offering sacrifices!
This God responds to His gathered people! But this God also responds and appears to the individual, in this case, their King and leader, Solomon and with a personal answer to Solomon's own prayer we read in chapter 6!
Here in v17-18, God confirms Solomon's anointing as King and leader of Israel! He reminds Solomon of the importance of the Temple in the life of Israel and as a symbol of commitment to the Covenant of David. This is a direct response to Solomon's prayer we read in 6v16-17. God is personally committed to the line of David. Now that's all very well when things are going swimmingly and Israel is being obedient, following the commands and ordinances of their personal God! But what happens if they choose not to obey or serve him rightly? God administers judgement, but v14 offers a way back - of humble repentance. However, if they continue to sin and are not repentant, well that leads us to another part of God being responsive - God judges! And not unjustly or recklessly but with justice!
c. A God who Judges and Restores!
In v13 we see that disasters can be sent by God! Droughts and plagues can be used by God to bring people ultimately back to repentance. In v19-23, we see what happens if Israel abandons their God and continues in their sinful ways (v19)! God abandons them because they first abandoned Him and went away to embrace other gods - gods of non-personality! Then God uproots them from the land that He had given them and rejects this very same Temple which He chose Himself to be a place of prayer and sacrifice. That's the reason Israel was to go into exile, away from the land of promise. But if God is the God who judges and does these things, He is also the God who enables restoration! When evil befalls Israel, natural, social or political, it is because of their disobedience and God must judge it or He would be a pretty impotent, capricious, spiteful and fickle God if He didn't! So while God maybe the author of disasters, He is also the agent of restoration!
3. A God Who Expects!
This is a personal God of all human history who lives! This God judges disobedience but offers a way back through repentance. Part of His being personal is that this is a God who expects!
a. God Expects His People to be Holy!
How is this? Why does He judge? Because God is holy! He is of utter moral excellence and perfection. There is and can be no stain of sin and He must be totally separated from sin. Holy is what God is!! This holiness of God is seen in righteousness, which is holiness in action. God's actions conform to His Holiness. Justice deals with the absence of righteousness. Sin must be dealt with deal with it He will and must! If God were not Holy, He could not and would not be God! If He were to cast aside his Holiness even for the briefest of times, he would cease to be God!
b. God expects obedience!
Not only is God holy, writes the Chronicler, but His people must also be holy and be seen to live rightly! God expects obedience! Israel was to be a nation of light reflecting their great and living God to the surrounding nations! They alone had the law of the Lord and they were to live rightly and obediently before God and the surrounding nations! They were to worship this living God and Him alone! In v17, we see the request to walk with God alone and follow His decrees and commands - the law of Moses! In v19-20, as we saw earlier, there was the penalty for idolatry and abandoning this living God!
c. God expects prayers of repentance
Now you may be saying, yeah right, Dave... If God is just, and of grace, He will provide a way out of these judgments! But you know what! He does! The people can be restored! How can this be? Verse 14 is the key! This is a key of grace: "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." How does He restore? Through the humility and repentance of the disobedient! Even when this great Living God is angry! Prayers by the disobedient, consisting of humility and repentance are necessary, in order to enable God to forgive and heal the destruction of sin and disobedience.
In 6v32-33, we can see that anyone who acknowledges God's name and authority may pray with utter confidence that God would hear their petitions. Seeking God's face with humility is the key. What is repentance? It is a voluntary change in mind, in which the person and nation turn from a life of disobedience to living a life of obedience to God. It is done firstly in the Mind or the Intellect, where it is recognition of disobedience and guilt before God. Then, there is also at an Emotional level, exhibiting genuine sorrow for disobedience, a bit more difficult for us men!
Finally it's also an act of the Will - a decision to turn back to God from disobedience, self-pleasure and self-centredness. And what is humility? Humility is where total trust is placed in God alone, and He has priority in all aspects of life. Humility is a lack of pride and of total commitment to God. This is a living and holy God, who expects His people to be holy, reflecting His holiness and being prepared to make themselves nothing in order to be restored and for their disobedience to be forgiven.
Conclusion
What an awesome and great God this is! This is the God who is the God over all human history - past, present and future! This is a God who is personal and responsive! This is a God who is holy, commands obedience and yet accepts humble repentance! What a great and Almighty God! Not only those things but He is a God of grace! How do we see that?
This chapter from Scripture, 2 Chronicles 7v11-22, could well be a summary of all 1 & 2 Chronicles, if not the Old Testament and indeed all of Scripture! Some say that grace is missing from the book, just as some say that grace is missing from the Old Testament itself! But as we have hopefully seen, one aspect of God that shines through this passage is that He is a God of grace, with a message of grace as exemplified in v14! "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
But so what? What are we to do with and for this God? We are to be personally and collectively obedient to Him. Following closely to the leading of the Spirit and following our leaders, the pastors, elders and deacons as they seek to follow this great God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said "You can only learn what obedience is, by obeying." Lets be an obedient people. How do we do that? By loving God! How do we show we love God? By loving others, for as Jesus said, this sums up the whole Law!.
The community out there, which we are a part of, is looking at us. We have this fantastic new building, and I can guarantee you, that there will be some people out there, just waiting for this adventure of ours with God to fail. Let us not allow that to happen. One of the key areas of obedience concerns idolatry! Now we may not go off to other gods and worship them, as Solomon and ancient Israel did. But we can set up false idols of our own, both as individuals and collectively. Calvin wrote that "What is idolatry? It is to worship the gifts instead of the great Giver?" This is a beautiful building! But let us not worship it and consider it so sanctified even for a moment, that it becomes our idol of worship. Let us be thankful to God for the gift and allow Him to use it for the benefit of the whole community and not just for our own sake. Let each of us ensure that God takes first place over everything in our individual and collective lives. Let us worship alone our great living God who gives abundantly, rather than commit disobedient idolatry by worshipping the gifts of the Giver.
Then finally, let us hold our leaders up in prayer that they will be, collectively and individually, obedient to God! As Adam shared this morning, old hairy legs satan likes to stick his nose in and try to get leaders like Adam off track. Many churches have built new buildings, only for them to lie wasted shortly after, due to personal disobedience of the leadership. Lets not be one of those. The church I attended in Australia before coming to the UK, 21 years ago this coming Saturday, was very much like PBC is now! Growing, vibrant and they had just finished building a new church building! Everyone was excited and looking forward to the future! I am not going to say specifically what happened, but within 2 years that church was practically empty. In fact it is still going but it hasn't recovered to the way that it was. The leadership were found to have committed both personal and corporate disobedience and when it became public; it decimated the church and made it a public mockery. Those people who were in leadership are now restored back into a right relationship with God, but they had to find humility the hard way. Somebody asked me during the week, "If Solomon was the wisest man on earth, how come he fell into idolatry?" The answer I gave was not because he had so many wives and girlfriends. Nor was it, as suggested by a certain member of this congregation here tonight, the number of mother in laws. I think it was because he became proud, forgot not just who he was in God's eyes but he also forgot who God was! That led him to forsake the God of His youth and commit idolatrous acts.
Let's go from here, willing to be obedient to this great God, remembering who we are and who our God is. This great God we love and serve who is the God of all human history - past, present and future. This Almighty God, who is living, dynamic, personal, and responsive: who both judges and restores. This is a God who is holy and expects His followers to be holy, living obedient lives and being quick to seek repentance after disobedience. Let's go out into our community this week, being His voice and light, confident that our living God is within us, as we engage actively and passively with those who don't know this great God!
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Friday Feb 02, 2024
Friday Feb 02, 2024
David's Final Prayer
1 Chronicles 29:10-20
Introduction
Originally 1 & 2 Chronicles were one book. It was the final book of the Jewish Canon, probably written by Ezra and was also known as the "the events of the days", "the things omitted" which would suggest that Chronicles were to be regarded as additional to the books of Kings and Samuel. It's a book which was written for those from the nation of Israel who are now in exile, to remind them of their spiritual heritage - the journey & history of Israel as a nation.
For us though, not least I, it issues certain challenges to us all.I will be reading from the Authorised Version. It's the 400th year anniversary this year and as I read, you will see how much of its language has entered into our language today. Its influence on the development of English language is remarkable.
Here is the great king David!
The building of the Temple was to be ultimately achieved by his great son Solomon to do!
What has happened so far?
This house of God would be a community effort - King & pauper alike, giving generously and honestly!So here is David, a man, who despite his many faults, is described as a man after God's own heart. Israel's greatest king, saying this prayer of intimate praise & adoration to his God in front of the assembled throngs. This prayer, like his gifts of gold etc., could be said, to be David's legacy to the nation of Israel, to Solomon and by extension also to us.
1. WOW factor of God! (v10-13)
Verse 10 sets the scene "Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever." God is their father!
He is everlasting! Before Israel was, He is and always will be! He was to be their God and they were to be His people. God takes care of them as a father does His children - giving generously, protecting them and always being available for guidance & wisdom.
Verse 11 is perhaps the central verse of this prayer: "Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all."
The whole emphasis is on the LORD God! Greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty - all are yours O God - throughout the earth and the heavens! Yours is the kingdom! Not ours, but yours, O King! For they are attributes of a king!
God's greatness is vast, incomparable and unfathomable. God's power is that of a warrior: almighty, overwhelming yet alluring; and all power comes from Him to every dependent creature. God's glory is the exuberant and ecstatic magnificence of His very being! Victory shows God as an all-conquering hero: transcendent and supreme, to whom all creatures and creation are subject. His victories are irrefutable and undeniable. His uncompromising majesty symbolises a dignity, regency, splendour and awesome magnificence!
These things: greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty are essential attributes of who God is: indelible, immutable, unchangeable and permanent. God is a King in greater splendour than any of the excesses of King Louis XVI. If you don't know about Louis, go look him up and the scale of extravagance! This God is a mighty King to be exalted above all things and He is to be held in His rightful place: high and lifted up!As for the kingdom, whose is it? Is it Israel's? No! Is it David's? No! It is God's and His alone! His Kingdom is of total magnificence and greater than the Roman Empire to come! Even greater than the British Empire, which was never to see the sun set on it. Jesus is probably quoting here, in what we call the Lord's Prayer. So David's words resonate down through history.In this context however, David uses kingdom to symbolise the fact that the building materials, the amassed wealth, did not belong to Israel, but rather they were God's alone! God's kingdom shows His universal influence, authority and universality.
Everything is God's! Its all His! Nobody can say they own ultimate possession of anything! The only reason, to paraphrase David, "we have this amassed wealth to build the Temple is because we have the leasehold to it! God owns the freehold, its all His and because of His generosity we can build Him this house!And not only these material possessions, but also the imagination, ingenuity, craftsmanship, skills and talents - well they all came from God as well, so you craftsmen, bless God because God has blessed you with skilled hands to work on His house! Your strength is ultimately from His unlimited resources of strength!"
This is no impersonal statue or idol like the surrounding nations. This is the living God, awesome in all things yet willing to be involved in a personal relationship. This is the God, who through the Levitical Law, wants to live with His people of joy, to be their Living God! This God is the light of all things good, bright and blessed. He is the greatest of the greatest, truly incomprehensible yet also knowable. David is in utter adoration of this great God! I wonder if David knew that this physical Temple itself was only ever going to be a temporary building until the coming of the Messiah - when God would no longer dwell in a house made of gold and stone but rather live in human hearts.
It is out of His wonderfully glorious grace that the Lord God Almighty gave the gifts in the first place and the cheerful sacrificial response from His people in gratitude to Him was remarkable! All these things were given willingly - the possessions, the gold, the silver, the skills, the power and strength - all in service of the great God of Israel, the great Father of Abraham, Isaac, Moses and the other patriarchs.Surely, this is a God worthy of all praise, worship and life commitment! Each person praises differently and in different ways, so let's rejoice when we see other people praising God differently to our own style.
2. David - its all Him (v14-20)
"But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee."
Its all about God for David! He would say that I am only here because of Him! David has been reflecting on his whole life - from the time he defeated the Philistine armed only with a sling and stone. He sees his past failures, the utter depravity of those but also his repentant heart before a holy God.
The end of verse 14 again, "All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee", and this resonates down through history, in churches worldwide as the offering prayer.David exhibits great humility before God, and sets an example for his son, Solomon and the other people of Israel, to follow.
And then in v15 "For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding"
David acknowledges that Israel were only tenants in the Promised Land - on a leasehold agreement. They were a nation of sojourners travelling a journey, from their foundation as a nation onwards. It is like David was saying to the Lord: "We are here temporarily but You, O God, are here permanently. What an amazingly generous God you are, giving with such exceeding grace to us." David confesses they are but transient and aliens in the land God had given them. It is an image tying them to their patriarchs as they wandered in the wilderness, living only on what their God provided them with, as they looked for the Promised Land. It is also an image of an acknowledgement that all life is supremely dependent upon God and God alone. God was to be their God and they were to be His people - to be shining as a light to all nations as God's representatives.
Here is the mighty King David, bowing in humility before a great God whom he adores, serves and worships. He knew that his whole life had been one of dependence upon God for all things, and David was exhibiting this before his people. David's prayer was that the people of Israel would continue to depend on God but also exhibit that dependence and show how God supplied them graciously.
Not only for David but also for the Chronicler too! He was recording this for the people of Israel when they were in exile.The Chronicler reminds the people in exile to be utterly dependent upon God for all and everything. For the Chronicler, the building of the Temple was more a matter of the heart, and built upon the faith of God to supply. This faith was expressed in the building made of gold, silver, wood and other metals.It was due to God's generosity alone the Temple would be built and nothing to do with David and his people. It would have been a tremendous temptation to be filled with boastful pride about it. It was a test of people's hearts to see if they really did love their God.Then in the final words of this prayer, we see David praying for unreserved and enthusiastic giving from the people. He changes from acknowledgement to petition.In verses 18-20, David exhorts an outpouring of generosity from his people, from a heart filled with thanks - a heart acknowledging total dependence on God for all things - a heart & life of loyal obedience to Almighty God.
Solomon also was to be wholeheartedly obedient and devoted fully to God. A heart filled with peace with God, a life totally devoted to Him, exhibited with joyful giving. That's what David was praying for his people and for his son Solomon. Its also what the Chronicler was expecting from the people in exile as he recounts this to them. It was to be a community effort of devotion and obedience to an almighty God, on whom they were dependent for all facets of human life. Everybody giving what they could - out of riches or poverty.
3. So what?
Tonight's bible passage was a superb piece of thanksgiving. When was the last time you thanked God for all the things He has given you? How can we put this thanks and praise into action? Lets see quickly!
Firstly, I am convinced there are enough wealthy Christians sitting in churches in the West, who could make significant donations and virtually eradicate a lot of the poverty in the developing world and indeed their own countries. This would be active Christian giving on a radical scale. In biblical stories, such as this from 1 Chronicles 29, its always those who had the most, gave the most as an example to others of God's generosity. After all, God owns it all anyway and it's only given as a loan from God and not a transference of ownership.
As Christians, we are to desire to mature spiritually - growing in adoration, obedience and commitment to God. Perhaps the greatest indicator of today, concerns our giving. Giving is to be done whole-heartedly and cheerfully. It is also not so much about how much is given, but how much is left after giving and the attitude behind it. God looks beyond that which is given to the motive and attitude behind it. All our money and possessions belong to Him anyway, as we have seen, so giving is to be in response to this. Our money and possessions are a leasehold agreement not a freehold one. Giving done willingly is also not done to boost our own egos or for the feel-good factor, but rather to bring glory and honour to God as a thankful response to His giving all things to us.Many prayers seemingly go unanswered because God is waiting on people to be obedient to Him, in order to answer the unanswered prayers of others. .We are to be generous with everything we have, not just in the area of money but with our very lives. We all have time, information, knowledge imagination, gifts and talents. All these too are to be given back to God . That may well take radical action to do, but radical giving is what we are called to do. God has given everything so that you and I may live and have life, so by caring and giving, we will reflect that. Let's be radical church together and encourage others to be likewise.
But, as we have seen, it's not only about giving money and resources. Giving is also to include skills, information, imagination and knowledge. Remember, the priests and craftsmen were waiting to give in the building of and service within the Temple.Churches, particularly these days, need to capture the imagination of those looking for a church home, and get them involved. Involvement in such a way that it builds up commitment to God and a growing adoration of Him. If people are involved, they will stay. It means training them up, to be fit for service within the church. If training for service doesn't occur, then commitment and dedication to God is likely to be diminished. If the same people do the same thing year after year, that local church will eventually die out. Each local church is only one generation away from closing its doors permanently.Giving, as we saw in tonight's passage, is also a community affair. This Church is to be a community, both within the church and outside of it, where the strongest members support the weakest members.
But, as we also saw tonight, it is not just for leaders to give! Giving is to be for everyone! Every church has a fantastic array of knowledge, wisdom, possessions and imagination. Let us share that with people outside the church. Who knows what our caring and giving will do for them as it reflects the glory of God!Too often, we are found turning a blind eye to the suffering of others where the necessities of life are in sparse existence. Too often we neglect to give up our personal space, time, imagination, information and money generously to help the poor and needy in our local, national and global communities.By doing this giving collectively, we will show our faith to be real and practical. There are people out there in our local community just waiting for somebody to give generously to them. We need to be seen to be radically giving to all - of our money, our possessions, and also our time, imagination, knowledge, practical help, care and love.
Let us show our relevance to our local community and not be seen as just a curious gathering of people meeting on a Sunday.If you have ideas of how you can help the church here at PBC in anyway, then see the elders or the Pastor and talk to them about it.So if I could summarise all this up in one sentence, it would be something like this
"Ask not only what your God can give to you,
but what great things you can do and give to your God."
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Saturday Jan 27, 2024
Saturday Jan 27, 2024
Saturday Jan 27, 2024
Saturday Jan 27, 2024
Study 10: Study 10: Job 40:15 - end
Two surprising chapters
The book of Job ends with two very surprising chapters. The first because of its content, emphasising what has gone before and the second because it appears to stand the whole book on its head!
Here is the first part of the first of these chapters (which is actually in the chapter before). It is about Behemoth whose name means something like the ‘beast of beasts’. He is a terrifying creature, very like a hippopotamus with some supernatural additions.
As if that is not enough we now go on to read about the Leviathan. He is just as dangerous sounding as Behemoth, very like a crocodile, again with some supernatural additions.
We may well ask “what was that all about?” There is no other Biblical reference to Behemoth and not many to Leviathan, though it is possible to see that this latter is a sea or water monster. Both are possibly linked in the culture and literature of that area in that time with gods, the god of death and the god of evil or the Satan himself. Their dual role is strikingly similar to that of the dragon and the beast from the sea of the book of Revelation, the twin figures of evil. Both have power, strength and savagery far beyond human ability to match. Therefore, since they are the creation of the Lord, part of his world and under his control, they set a marker for power, which the Lord stands far beyond. Also, particularly with Leviathan who rules over the sea, which was the well-known symbol of the chaotic, they stand as markers of the chaotic nature of the Lord’s world. Thus they reinforce the statement made in our last study that this is an essentially chaotic world and it is no good pretending otherwise, however difficult it may be to fit that into a scheme of theology and our understanding of the ways of the Lord.
Now we come to the final words of Job in the first 6 verses of the last chapter. Job has finally come to a realisation of what he has been doing wrong and how he can remedy that. He now realises how high above him the Lord is, that all his attempted arguments against what has happened to him were a waste of breath. The Lord has a plan and a purpose for him, although he is unable to see what that is and how it will work out so that he could only see it as part of a chaotic world and accept that it is in the hand of the Lord. He is deeply sorry and upset by what he has done and said so he repents – not of sins in the ordinary sense but of his failure to acknowledge the place and power of the Lord in his life.
The author of the book of Job has brought it to a point, a single climactic statement in a way strikingly similar to the way John would do with his gospel many centuries later. John brings his book to the climax statement “My Lord and My God” by quoting the words of Thomas, obviously intending and hoping that his readers will make that same statement for themselves. Our author brings us to the statement of Job, “My ears have heard of you but now my eyes have seen you!” also obviously intending that we should echo that statement for ourselves. John continued by quoting the words of Jesus, “because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” and if our author had had access to those words I think he too would have used them. We are not going to see the Lord, not likely to do so any way in this life; we are not going to be able to understand all his ways any more than Job did; we are going to get confused by all we hear about him as Job did; but with the eyes of faith we can see him; with the knowledge we do have we can believe – and then we are blessed – his promise, not my assertion.
Question: when did you start hearing about Jesus? When did you begin to see him – to see him properly in the sense Job means? What was the trigger that changed you from hearing to seeing? Could you make that, which was the trigger event for you, into the trigger event for someone else?
In verse 7 we leave behind the poetic dialogues that have constituted most of this amazing book. We are back into the simple prose of the first 2 chapters and this part chapter – the frame of the poetic stuff. Here it is.
The obvious first reaction is surprise. Job has been right all along and his 3 friends have not (Elihu does not get a mention – a major reason for thinking the speech of Elihu was a late addition to the story). So Job, described as ‘my servant’ and thus equated with people like Moses and David, is to act as a priest for them. We must also note that if what these 3 guys said was all so wrong how can we define the truthfulness of scripture – inerrancy, suggesting nothing was in error, does not seem to be the best word to use in spite of its popularity.
And then we are told what Job’s future was. What has all the argument been about if Job was headed to such a lovely future? But is it really such a wonderful future? He gets exactly the same size family as he had before but the first family died and their deaths will have left a scar that will never completely heal. People are people and cannot be substituted one for one just like that. Not even if his daughters are now so much more beautiful than the ones he had before and have such wonderful names. And all those animals, just twice as many of each variety as he had in the first place, did that make life any easier?
We can have no possible expectation of six thousand camels etc. but we know things Job did not know. When Job said, “I know that my redeemer lives” it was only a hope. For us it is a certainty. Because we live after Jesus, who died, rose again and ascended into heaven to prepare a place for us we have a much superior hope to that of poor old Job. We have been told by the writer to the Hebrews that “we have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. We have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. We have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood.”
Yoiks, WOW, Hallelujah and Hooray.
One final comment: this is a great book of the Bible, perhaps unfairly neglected (that really means that I didn’t know it very well at all until I started looking into it for these notes!). Also, more than most of the scripture it will mean different things to different people. I have attempted to chart one particular way through it for my own good and, hopefully, yours as well. Don’t let it stop there. Read it, think about it, meditate on it for yourself and find your own way through this challenging and thrilling writing. May the Lord bless you in so doing.