Here I Am

One of the most emotional stories of the Bible is found in Genesis 22.  "Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!'  And he said, 'Here I am.' Then he said, 'Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.'  So Abraham rose early in the morning......"

This story has a heartbreaking beginning.  Imagine the pain that Abraham was feeling.  He had to travel a long ways, then climb a mountain and sacrifice his beloved son.  There are many points to be noted here, but the most significant will be left for last.  Notice that after being told to do this, Abraham starts early in the morning of the next day.  He didn't wait around to follow God's command.  And imagine how difficult it must have been for Abraham to get any sleep that night!

Another fact to be noticed is that the mountain that God sent Abraham on was the very same mountain on which Solomon built the temple.  This is the mountain upon which Jerusalem was built, the mountain from which king David reigned, and the mountain where Jesus was crucified.  Much of the Bible history revolves around this key spot, where modern day Jerusalem still stands.

And going back to the beginning of the story, it can be noted that when God called Abraham, he replied, "Here I am."  Abraham was not a shirker.  I'm sure that he would like to have hidden, or run; but that was not Abraham's way.

And then there is the most significant point of the story:  There is a direct correlation between this story and the story of God sacrificing His Son, Jesus.  Just as Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only and beloved son, God would generations later offer his Son to be sacrificed.  The key difference here is that God spares Abraham's son, Isaac, and lets a ram be sacrificed instead; but Jesus is not spared and gives His life to bring salvation to all....to all who would give their lives in service to Jesus. 

The story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22 had a great ending.  But the story of the death of Jesus, the sacrifice of His life, is quite painful.  And yet the ending is great here, too.  Jesus overcomes death by rising from the dead, walks on the earth for 40 days (Acts 1), and ascends to heaven to reign on the throne of God. 

We can learn from Abraham and try to imitate his great faith in following God.  And we can be ready to say, "Here I am" whenever God calls us to His service.

Thanks for reading.  See you next week. 

Between the OT & the NT

The Bible can be described in many ways including God's plan of salvation for man and the genealogy of Jesus.  But it can be noted that the Bible is a great history book.  The Old Testament begins with the creation, the first people and follows human history almost to the time of Jesus. 

There is a 400 year period between the OT and the NT which is not covered historically in the Bible.  Note that world history shows that during this period there are 3 major kingdoms ruling.  The first is the end of the Medo-Persian rule, then the kingdom of Greece including the reign of Alexander the Great, and finally the rise of the Roman Empire.  As the NT opens, the Romans are in power and are ruling Israel where Christ is born.

It is interesting that the Bible, while not giving detail of this 400 year period, it is does not totally disregard it.  The book of Daniel tells of these future kingdoms long before they come into existence.  Daniel 10:6 says, "...the prince of Greece will come.."  And Daniel 11:3 predicts, "Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will."  This is king Alexander.

The Bible knew and teaches what was to come during this 400 year period.  Once again we see that God's word is true.....always.

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love.  

The Second Gospel Sermon

Peter led the other apostles in making the first gospel sermon as recorded in Acts 2.  Then we get the second one in Acts 3.  Peter, still in Jerusalem, had just healed a lame man and the people were wild with amazement.  Verse 11 says, "Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed.  So when  Peter saw it, he responded to the people: 'Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this?  Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?  The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.' "  Peter here does two things: 1) he makes it clear that he and the apostles are not the power; it is God.  And 2) he convicts them of their wrongdoing; they killed the Savior. 

He gives the solution to the problem in verse 19: "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things...."  This is advice not only to these people, but to us as well.  We need to give ourselves completely to Him.

Then he quotes Moses in verse 22, "For Moses truly said to the fathers, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren.  Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.  And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.'  Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.  You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'  To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from you iniquities."

Galatians chapter 3 tells us that the "seed of Abraham" is Jesus Christ.  And it is through Jesus that all the earth is blessed; blessed in being able to receive all that Jesus is, all that He did for us, His grace and His salvation, and His peace.  We are the heirs of all these spiritual blessings.  Praise God.  

Thank you for reading again.  Bless you!

Death and resulting Pain

There is a great story in John 11 where Jesus loses a close friend, and His humanity is shown so fervently.  This is the story of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha.  John 11:5 says, "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus."  Jesus finds out in this story that Lazarus is sick.  He delays going to him for two more days, seemingly to let Lazarus die and to raise him to God's glory.  It is interesting to note that Jesus had close friends, friends that He loved and spent time with and showed great concern for, and friends who loved Him as well.

"Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if You had been here, by brother would not have died.  But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will giveYou.'  Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.'  Martha said to Him 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.'  Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?'  She said, 'Yes, Lord, I believe......' "

Later, Jesus said, " 'Where have you laid him?'  They said to Him, 'Lord, come and see.'  Jesus wept."  Jesus wept.  Jesus was so concerned that, even though He was about to raise Lazarus, He was touched by the scene.

And so, when we lose someone special, and I am feeling that today, we can at least know that Jesus understands.  He loved Lazarus so much.  And I sure know how He felt........

Question re: Old Testament non-Jews

I received a question regarding people of the Old Testament who were not Jews; did they have access to God, and does the Bible address these people.  The answer is that the Bible does address this, and they did have access to God.

We recognize that God did set aside the Jewish people, also called Hebrews or Israelites in the OT.  Starting with Abraham and his descendants, the OT follows the happenings of the Jews down through history.  And not only is the history recorded; God watches over His people, protects them as long as they sincerely try to follow Him.  It would seem that one major reason that these people are singled out is that they are the lineage, the family, the forefathers of Jesus.  This genealogy is recorded in Matthew 1 and Luke 3.  Jesus was born a Jew, and He lived that way.

As for the other people who were not Jews, we see many references to them throughout the OT, but they typically are idol worshipers and not followers of the true God.  In Romans 1, starting with verse 18, Paul is discussing the unrighteous people, saying, "..what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful."  He then goes on to describe in some detail the evil that men get into when they don't follow God. 

Another passage that gives us some understanding of the subject is found in Acts 17.  In verse 22, we find Paul in Athens talking to a non-Jewish audience about the true God.  The Athenians were idol worshipers and were quite confused about their beliefs.  Paul said in verse 26, "..He has made from one blood every nation of men...so that they should seek the Lord."  Speaking of idol worshipers, he says in verse 30, "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent." 

So in Romans 1, he says that God's attributes have always been visible to all people. In Acts 17, it is emphasized that the time for excuses is over.  All men are to follow God in the same way, i.e., through Jesus Christ. 

I hope that this helps.  Have a great week!

Worship the Lord

From the very beginning of man, our God wanted to be worshiped.  We see this with Cain and Abel where Abel offered an acceptable sacrifice to God, but Cain did not.  From this story we know that God had given instruction to these people about what He wanted from them in worship.  But all through the Bible we learn of the importance of acceptable worship and respect toward our God.

Leviticus 10 tells us the story of Nadab and Abihu.  They offered "strange fire," a type of incense to God, and He ended their lives because of it.  The punishment seems extreme, but these men knew better and took it upon themselves to violate God with strange worship.

Early worship consisted of building altars to God and making sacrifices.  Later God would give a special Law to the Hebrew, Jewish, people, brought to them through Moses.  In this process God set up priests and a High Priest to assist with proper worship.  He instructed them to build a tabernacle which would include the Ark of the Covenant.  The Ark was a box of about 4 feet by 2 and a half feet by 2 and a half feet; it was to be reverenced.  There were very specific instructions as to who could see it, when it could be seen, and how it was to be handled, and every Jew knew that.  In 2 Samuel 6 we read of the Ark being moved.  It wasn't being handled properly and trouble was about to happen.  Uzzah, walking along beside the Ark, saw that it was about to fall.  He reached out to steady it but was struck dead by God.  His action seems only reasonable, justifiable, from a human viewpoint.  But God had given specific instructions about how to handle His Ark.  Man has his (our) own ideas about what pleases God.  But we need to be looking at what He says, what He teaches and what He wants.

So we jump to the New Testament.  We learn that Jesus was a good Jew and that He kept the Jewish Law during His lifetime.  One of the last things He did before dying was to take the Passover feast with His apostles.  But after He leaves them, as recorded at the end of Luke and the beginning of Acts, a new age begins.  Followers become "Christians."  The "church" is born.  Sunday worship begins, where before it had always been on Saturday. Christians took the communion, the Lord's Supper, when they came together to worship, an example being Acts 20:7. 

So what is the message for us today?  First, we must recognize that worship is very important to God.  He wants it, and He wants it done His way.  And what is His way?  We go to His Word, the Bible, and see what He has His early followers doing in terms of worship.  They were meeting each week on Sunday, taking the communion to "remember" Him, preaching, praying, singing, giving a contribution as needed.  Thus, we should follow the example, the pattern given to us by these early followers.  We need to please Him with our worship.....and do it His way.

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love....

Micah

Micah was a prophet to Judah from about 735 to 710 BC. He brought a stern message to Judah about God's judgment to come.  He also talked about the coming fall of the Northern kingdom, Israel.

Notice Micah 6:6-8, "With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God?  Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?  He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"  He is telling us that God does not need our sacrifices, but He does want our hearts, our love, our dedication, our obedience.

Paul tells us in Philippians 2:1 on, "Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.  Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..."  This gives clues as to how we should live during our short time on earth. 

Let's listen to these wise words and try to live them daily.  Have a great week!