Two Messages, Two Men, and One Savior

I read through Acts earlier this month, and as I was reading I noted some similarities in Peter's sermon and Stephen's defense (before he was killed). However, after a bit more study, I realized that, while they indeed had several similarities, they had more differences--not in theological content, but in the setting, content, and response of the message.

Setting
Acts 2 is known for the incredible experience of the Holy Spirit. The disciples are gathered in Jerusalem after the resurrection of Christ, and as the Lord promised, He sends the Comforter to remain with them always. Peter gives this sermon by the power of the Spirit with the other eleven disciples around him along with "devout men from every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5, ESV). In response to the overflowing living Spirit in him, Peter stands and proclaims

Stephen's defense in Acts 7 falls under much difference circumstances. These are literally Stephen's last words, as he will be stoned after this message. He stands amond the people, elders, scribes, his false accusers, and the Jewish council. This message is his defense against those who claimed that he spoke against the holy place and the Jewish law. Those who behold Stephen's face marvel that it appears like an angel's.

Content
In response to the overflowing living Spirit in him, Peter boldly stands and proclaims the words of Joel, calling the Jews back to their heritage, and ancient promises given to them by the God of Israel. Basing his message on the fact that "everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved", Peter gives a short summary of Jesus' life, beginning with David's testimony. He points out that his hearers are the ones who crucified the Messiah, but though they rejected the One that David proclaimed would rise from the dead, there was hope for them in that Savior still.

Stephen's defense is much longer than Peter's sermon, but he gives a similar message. He begins at the very beginning when God first called Abraham to seek out a land that would be his descendants inheritance. Moving along into the patriarchal history, Stephen recalls the story of Joseph and his brothers and the Egyptian famine. Then comes Moses, the child found beautiful in God's sight, who was to be called of I AM to lead the Israelites to the land promised to Abraham's descendants. Stephen recounts how Moses was directed to create a tent in the wilderness in which to worship God. Then David took up the call and desire to fund the building project for a temple. Though he did not see the project begin or end, he paved the way for his Solomon who was designated to build the temple during a time of peace. Stephen, like Peter also quotes one of the Old Testament prophets, however, he quotes Isaiah, not Joel. Concluding with the quote from Isaiah stating that "heaven is [God's] throng, and the earth is [His] footstool", Stephen places a strong rebuke on the Jewish leaders for their continued rejection of Christ. As their forefathers did, these Jews were stiff-necked, uncircumcised, murderers, and betrayers. They slew the One who gave them their law.

Response
Perhaps the biggest contrast between Stephen and Peter's messages is the response. While they have many differences, both quote prophets, both recount the Jewish history, both describe the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, both offer salvation, and both are spoken to large groups of people through the power of the Spirit.

Peter's message, though shorter than Stephen's, falls on ready ears, and about three thousand believers were added to the church. There was fellowshipping and praying and communion among these people and they gave to the needy and praised the Lord inthe temple together every day. The Lord added to their numbers and they continued to grow.

Stephen's message produced a response of rage in resistant hearts and actions. He was cast out of the city and stoned. Yet in the midst of the physical and spiritual pain, there was glory. Stephen was given a vision of Christ seated at the right hand of God, and though he died for this bold message and rebuke, his words were not in vain. Two chapters later, the man who permitted and condoned Stephen's death would also see the glory of God and become one of the leading writers and spiritual figures in our New Testament--the apostle Paul.

Two men with two messages, yet each pointed to the same Savior.

May Quotes

In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words - than words without a heart.

-John Bunyan

What wings are to a bird, what fruit is to the tree, what the rose is to the thorn, that is praise to a child of God.

-Spurgeon

In true Christianity, there are no short-term commitments and no escape clauses. 

-John Blanchard

In order to receive grace, you must accept Jesus. Not the idea of Jesus, but the actual Jesus; the One who calls you to leave everything behind. The One who says that you must carry your cross, the One who spoke truth in the face of deceit. The Christ who clung unto a world that had let go long ago, Jesus who calls us beloved. If grace is an ocean, you must jump in! 

-T.B. LaBerge

A great white throne: Great, because of the causes that will be decided there ... white, because of its immaculate purity ... a throne, because a King will sit there. 

-F. B. Meyer

Take up the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and fight the good fight — to live by faith in future grace. 

-John Piper

Circumstances don't create character; they reveal character. 

-David Jeremiah

Only men who ken their weakness, find their strength in Christ alone. 

-John Knox

God's plans reach from an eternity past to an eternity to come. Let Him take His own time.

-William S. Plumer

The burden God places on each of us is to become who we are meant to be. We are most fully ourselves when Christ most fully lives in us and through us. The mother shines brightest with her child in her arms, the father when he forgives his wandering son, and the artist when he or she is drawing attention to grace, by showing the pinprick of light overcoming the darkness in the painting, or the story, or the song. The world knows darkness. Christ came into the world to show us light. I have seen it, have been blinded by it, invaded by it. I will tell its story.

-Andrew Peterson

January Quotes

To surrender a precious dream is a fearful thing, but to pursue anything but the full measure of the glory of God’s love is a wasted life.

-Joshua Eddy

Where God tears great gaps we should not try to fill them with human words.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We are secure, not because we hold tightly to Jesus, but because He holds tightly to us.

-R.C. Sproul

Enemy-occupied territory---that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.

-C.S. Lewis

It is not the mouth that is the main thing to be looked at in prayer, but whether the heart is so full of affection and earnestness in prayer with God, that it is impossible to express their sense and desire; for then a man desires indeed, when his desires are so strong, many, and mighty, that all the words, tears, and groans that can come from the heart, cannot utter them.

-John Bunyan

The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His. 

-Francis Chan

There is a living God. He has spoken in the Bible. He means what He says and will do all that He has promised.

-Hudson Taylor

Don’t you know that day dawns after night, showers displace drought and spring and summer follow winter? Then have hope! Hope forever, for God will not fail you!

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Too often we pay so much attention to what we need to do that we totally neglect the extent to which we are entirely dependent on the Spirit to do what we cannot do. 

-Jerry Bridges

Right now if this preacher died he would go to heaven. Not because I spent years in the jungles and the Andes Mountains of Peru. Not because of piety, devotion or Bible study. Not because of denominational affiliation, baptism, or participation in the Lord’s supper. If I died right now, I would go to heaven because two thousand years ago the Son of God shed His blood for this wretched man. And that is my hope.

-Paul Washer

In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold? (Psalm 147:16-17)

earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.

From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven? The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. (Job 38:29-30)

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter, long, long ago.

For to the snow he says, "Fall on the earth," likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour. (Job 37:6)
Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word! (Psalm 148:7-8)

God, heaven cannot hold him, nor the earth sustain;

But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? (2 Chronicles 2:6)
But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! (2 Chronicles 6:18)

heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. (Revelation 20:11)

In the bleak midwinter, a stable place sufficed:
the Lord God almighty, Jesus Christ.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:11-12)
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:23)

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
cherubim and seraphim thronged the air.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased." (Luke 2:13-14)

But his mother only, in her maiden bliss,
worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man, I would do my part.
Yet what can I give him: give my heart.

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. (John 6:37)

And the Word becamse flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Song from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. 

From the darkness came the Light of the Dayspring.

The One who created the wind, earth, water, and heavens came to live and die among us.

Immanuel: God with man. God with us. 

For nothing will be impossible with God.

A Bigger Picture, Part Seven

There are five steps or phases included in the lectio divina, which in Latin, means “holy reading” or “prayerful reading”.[1] This practice has roots in ancient history and it focuses on feeling and listening to God speaking to us and transforming our lives.[2] When used alongside the inductive approach to biblical interpretation, these steps are meant provide revelation from the Spirit in accordance with God’s written Word. However, it is important to remember that our feelings are not necessarily always in alignment with the Spirit, rather, we must conform our emotions to what the Word of God shows us through the Spirit.[3]

   

The first step, Silencio, refers to the reader setting a quiet time aside to prepare his heart to enter the Lord’s presence.[4] This step should be helpful in any sort of devotional time, because in this fast-paced 21^st century, people often forget how to sit alone in the quiet to study the Word and pray. Reading the Word is hearing God’s voice, and prayer is communication with Him, so it’s vital to set aside regular time to worship the Lord.

  

The second step, Lectio, focuses on choosing a Scripture passage and reading it slowly out loud.[5] The reader needs to concentrate on allowing God’s words to say what they say, rather than reading his own words into it. Also the reader needs to apply the words specifically to himself and not to others, as is so easy to do. This aspect would definitely be vital for a Christian, because it is important to make sure that one is right with God before calling others out.

   

Meditatio directs the reader to connect the Scripture with some part of his current life situation. Reading the passage slowly again and allowing the words to sink into his heart and mind, the reader can more closely focus on what principles God is teaching. This step could be concerning, as it may lead some readers to overspiritualize the text, but through careful study, the reader can glean the principles that God has revealed to us.[6]

   

After concentrated study on the passage, the fourth step, Oratio, tells readers to use this time to pray through the passage, asking God to show His truth and point out areas where actions and attitudes need to be aligned to His Word.[7] Praying to God allows the opportunity to speak honestly with the Lord and often times helps to pinpoint areas of struggle.

   

The last step, Comtemplatio, includes the aspect of prayer in surrendering the past, present, and future to God in light of the passage that was read. Through prayer the reader also should ask that the Lord would continue His transforming work in his life, and then thank God for all He has done and continues to do.[8]

In conclusion, these five steps pointed me back to the meaning of my personal devotions—that of time

alone with God through reading and prayer. In choosing the passage from Psalm 62, I was reminded of God’s eternal character. He is our rock and our salvation and our fortress. Our hope rests in Him alone. Our glory comes from Him being our one refuge. It is in the needed silence that we learn to trust in Him. He desires our prayers and He is pleased to answer them in His timing and His way for His glory and our good. Through these verses, God instructs us to entrust our life to Him and to render to Him the cries of our heart, because He will be a refuge for us. He has promised that, and because of that promise we can remain unshaken and steadfast in our hope.

---

[1] J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays, Grasping God's Word (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 231. /12.2.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid., 230./12.2.

[4] Ibid., 231./12.2.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

May Quotes

God has a purpose for your life. You have something to do here. 

-Pendragon (movie)

And wars are exhausting — especially long ones. That’s why you are often tired. Most soldiers who experience the fierceness of combat want to get out of it. That’s why you feel urges to escape or surrender. That’s why there are times you’re tempted to give up.

"But don’t give up. No, rather “take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded” (2 Chronicles 15:7).

-Unknown

Live as though Christ died yesterday, rose from the grave today, and is coming back tomorrow.

-Unknown

When a man comes to the point that he will no longer receive anything except from the hands of him who has the right to withhold, and in who giving alone lies the value of possession, then is he approaching the inheritance of the saints in light, those whose strength is made perfect in weakness. But some, for the present, can in no way comprehend such matters any more than the chickens in the yard. Their hour will come; in the meantime, they are counted the fortunate ones of the earth.

-George MacDonald (The Laird's Inheritance)

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.

-Unknown

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. 

 -J.R.R. Tolkien

If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don’t accept, because you will lose one friend; on the other hand, if two strangers come with the same request, accept because you will gain one friend. 

-Augustine of Hippo

Times will come in life when you’ll realize you’ve made a mistake. At that moment, you have two choices: You can swallow your pride and “pull a few nails,” or you can foolishly continue your course, hoping the problem will go away. Most of the time the problem will only get worse. …When you realize you’ve made a mistake, the best thing you can do is tear it down and start over.

-Joshua Harris

It is in the unknown that fellowship with my Lord is sweetest. It is in the unknown that God's mercy is most beautifully manifested. It is in the unknown that our faith is refined and comes forth shining more brightly.

-Unknown

Never did the Church so much prosper and so truly thrive as when she was baptized in blood. The ship of the Church never sails so gloriously along as when the bloody spray of her martyrs falls upon her deck.

-C.H. Spurgeon

Why did you do all this for me?' he asked. 'I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 

'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.' 

-E.B. White

He is your friend who pushes you nearer to God.

-Abraham Kuyper

Prayer is the greatest of all forces, because it honours God

and brings Him into active aid.

-E.M. Bounds

A Christian home should be a place of peace, and there can be no peace where there is no self-denial.

-Elisabeth Elliot

Because in the end, any book that comes the closest to the themes of good and evil in Scripture will always ring closest to our own hearts. The triumph of Ultimate Good is the theme of eternity. And God has written eternity on the hearts of men.

-Schuyler McConkey

Psalm 42

I have nothing of my own today, but we always have Scripture. Here's Psalm 42--a psalm I'm working on memorizing, and one that's often blessed me. It's a reminder that our spiritual thirst should be a thirst for the living God, and that though challenges and oppression will not cease, the Lord commands His steadfast love never to leave us. We have no reason to be anxious or cast down. Our salvation and hope is in God, and if that were the only reason to praise Him, it would be enough.

Psalm 42

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, "Where is your God?"

These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. 

My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.

By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to the God, my rock: "Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"

As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, "Where is your God?"

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Daniel Craig's recent CD included a song of this psalm, and I know it has blessed many already.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xabZxjJnj7g

January Quotes

We need to stay sound in doctrine, to stay safe in our morals. 

-Unknown

No matter happens, or what someone does to you, God's plan for your life can never be ruined...because God is in control.

-Unknown

When you’re in the furnace, you’re beyond the reach of those who are trying to harm you. You’re tried by fire, but you come out as pure gold.

-Dr. Bob Jones Senior

There is nothing like Christianity to make all men equal, to level such distinctions—but it levels by lifting to a lofty tableland, accessible only to humility. Only he who is humble can rise. 

-George MacDonald

There are some things you can only say to the Lord because he's the only one that can bear that much reality. 

-Jerram Barrs

God created the world out of nothing, and as long as we are nothing, He can make something out of us.

-Martin Luther

We are sinfully lost people and we have a scandalously merciful Savior.

-Unknown

Silence is pure and holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking.

-Nicholas Sparks

Good leaders must first become good servants. 

-Robert Greenleaf

Accountability is more than going to a brother or sister in the Lord and confessing failure. Accountability is going to them in the middle of a battle, before we’ve fallen, and asking for their help. 

-Paul Speed

A true friend unbosoms freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably.

-William Penn

As our knowledge of [God] and his infinite, transcendent value increases, we find that our esteem of ourselves as one of his beloved ones will grow as well.

-Johnson

We develop patience as we trust that God denies us what we think is good only because He has something better for us--both now and in the future.

-Joshua Harris

The evidence … the raw-bone, Biblical evidence that there was one time in your life that you repented unto salvation, is that you continue repenting until today, and continue growing in repentance.

-Paul Washer

You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He’s doing.

-Oswald Chambers

November Quotes

Forgiveness is the key which unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness. The forgiveness of Jesus not only takes away our sins, it makes them as if they had never been.

-Corrie ten Boom

My trust is in the mercy and wisdom of a kind Providence, who ordereth all things for our good.

-Robert E. Lee

For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ.

-Robert Murray McCheyne

You are what you want to become long before you get there.

-Steve Riddell

If you let something steal your thanksgiving, you let something steal your joy, and if you let something steal your joy, you let something steal your strength.

-Unknown

The choice before us is: Do we only give glory to God for the part of our lives that's going the way we want? Or do we worship Him, trust Him, and GIVE HIM THANKS, just because He is God—regardless of the painful, incomprehensible places we encounter in our journey?

-Nancy Leigh DeMoss

When you love those who hurt you by praying for them, in that process you are being washed by the love of Christ and no unforgiveness is allowed to stay.

-Jim Staley

The thought that there beats a heart in heaven that is always loving us, that there moves a tongue in heaven that always pleads for us; that there is an arm in heaven that always fights for us; and that there is a foot in heaven that will be swift to run for our defense--oh! this is a precious consolation.

-Spurgeon

Grace that cannot be seen, like light, and tasted, like salt, is not grace, but hypocrisy. 

-J. C. Ryle

We are the people who can't distinguish between doctrine and application, in terms of saying one thing and doing another.

-Albert Mohler

Although it is very right to think about the future, it is very wrong to be controlled by it.

-Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The clouds must break somehow, and the sun is always behind them!

-George MacDonald

October Quotes

He doesn’t promise an explanation, but He does promise to walk with us through the pain. 

-Courageous

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote was never lost.

-President John Adams

It’s sometimes in the storm, sometimes in the desert, sometimes in the agony, an’ sometimes in the calm, whaure’er he gets them right by themselves, that the Lord visits his people—in person, as a body might say. 

-George MacDonald

If we win, we praise Him. If we lose, we praise Him. 

-Facing the Giants

If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all; and the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it. Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us. 

-Charles Spurgeon

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. 

-Winston Churchill

To become another’s friend in the true sense is to take the other into such close, living fellowship that his life and ours are knit together as one. It is far more than a pleasant companionship in bright, sunny hours. A genuine friendship is entirely unselfish. It seeks no benefit or good of its own. It does not love—for what it may receive—but for what it may give. Its aim is “not to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45)....As he [Christ] loves us, he would have us love others. We say men are not worthy of such friendships. True, they are not. Neither are we worthy of Christ's wondrous love for us. But Christ loves us—not according to our worthiness—but according to the riches of his own loving heart! So should it be with our giving of friendship—not as the person deserves, but after the measure of our own character.

-J.R. Miller

Too often, people want what they want (or what they think they want, which is usually “happiness” in one form or another) right now. The irony of their impatience is that only by learning to wait, and by a willingness to accept the bad with the good, do we usually attain those things that are truly worthwhile.

-Joshua Harris

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Love is extravagant in the price it is willing to pay, the time it is willing to give, the hardships it is willing to endure, and the strength it is will to spend.

-Joni Eareckson Tada

Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are. 

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity. 

–Ulysses S. Grant

His Word!

Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm dedicated to expressing the goodness and glory of God's Word. The psalmist uses many terms when exalting the Word of God including "testimonies", "statutes", "commandments", "rules", "law", "judgments", "precepts", and "word". In describing the Word of God, the psalmist declares his joy, hope, and peace found in the written Word, for God's glory is revealed in Scripture.

As an acrostic poem, these verses are divided into 22 sections, each beginning with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. As I read through this psalm in the past week, verses 105-112 particularly stood out to me, as they described some important aspects of Scripture. Since we, as believers, are to continue to search the Word daily, perhaps these words will be an encouragement to you all to keep reading and studying the words that contain eternal life.

God's Word is a Light and Lamp
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." (Psalm 119:105, ESV)
Directing our steps, God's purpose and plans prevail over those of man. He guides and sustains us in our darkness just as He does in the light. We don't have to know all that is ahead--God does, and where His will leads us, His grace will keep us.

God's Word is Righteous
"I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules." (Psalm 119:106)
Here the psalmist here promises to keep the rules of God, for they are the only true and pure commandments that are worth fighting for. The relativity of the world provides no foundation, but in the midst of compromised truth, God's righteous rules provide a solid Rock.

God's Word gives Life
"I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word!" (Psalm 119:107)
Affliction, trials, tribulations, and general spiritual weaknesses drain our spirit, and here the psalmist cries out to the Lord. God's Word makes us alive to Christ, and gives us strength and perseverance when we are weary.

God's Word Teaches
"Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your rules." (Psalm 119:108)
The Lord has promised that those who ask for wisdom will receive it. By reading Scripture, communicating with God, and allowing the Holy Spirit to convict us we will be taught the rules of God. And as the psalmist bring his offerings, He praises the Lord. The rules of God should prompt us to praise and glorify God for who He is and what He commands.

God's Word must be Remembered
"I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law." (Psalm 119:109)
Though there was often danger, the psalmist says that nothing could move him to forget the Word. Scripture is that which will never pass away, and it is these Words that we are commanded to meditate on day and night in order to walk in God's way. It requires active remembrance and purposeful meditation to remember the law of God.

God's Word Protects
"The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts." (Psalm 119:110)
The society and culture around us present many temptations for us; we are constantly attacked with Satan's devices and only faithfully holding to that which is holy and true will lead us in the right path. We must know wrong from right in order to avoid evil, and if we are to stick closely to God's precepts then we must study them to have a deep knowledge of them.

God's Word gives us Joy
"Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart." (Psalm 119:111)
This is my favorite verse from the passage. Perhaps Calvin's commentary describes it best: "Without the Divine word all other things were in his estimation as nothing; so that he could willingly leave to others, riches, honors, comforts, and pleasures, provided he possessed this incomparable treasure." When we treasure God's testimony above all else, earthly inheritances and possessions become nothing to us. God's Word is our delight and it is that which completely satisfies our hearts. It brings us inexpressible joy and we live in the blessedness of God's glory. What we treasure shows where our heart is. When we treasure Scripture, our hearts find delight in Christ.

God's Word is Eternal
"I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end." (Psalm 119:112)
The psalmist here makes a conscious choice to turn his heart to the Word of God until the end of his days. The reward for him will be eternal. God's statutes will remain eternally, and so he commits to following them for all the days of his life. We can't do this on our own, but by drawing strength from the Holy Spirit and meditating on the Words of life, we, too, can fix our eyes on the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. It will be worth the wait.

Stay in the Word. Learn to meditate on it. Seek to make Scripture the joy of your heart.

David's Song of Praise

David didn't find security in his circumstances, kingdom, self-image, finances, power, friends, children, family background, or abilities. He found security in His God--a God who placed David in the line of the Messiah, and a God who fulfilled all His promises. Chosen as the king after Saul, David was perhaps an unlikely candidate for the throne--the youngest of 8 brothers. But God used him in mighty ways, regardless of his successes and failings. And David learn to trust in the God of his people, and he continued to praise God for who He was (is), and what He had done for him.

David knew the treasure of close, godly friends. He also knew the pain of confidants who turned on him. He knew what it was like when others supported him. And he knew what it was like when his sons fought amongst themselves for the throne. David knew peace and war. He knew dark sin and restoring forgiveness. He saw the power of God in creation and nature, and he knew the still small voice of conviction. He knew what it was like to be hunted, and he knew what it was like to be held in God's everlasting arms. David knew men who failed to keep promises, but he worshipped a God who kept an everlasting covenant with him.

And with that background, David wrote many of the Psalms we read today. Psalm 18 echos much of what we find in 2 Samuel 22, and as I read through David's life this week, it was a fitting conclusion to First and Second Samuel to end with David's song of praise to the Lord.

2 Samuel 22

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, 

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my savior; you save me from violence.

I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

(verses 2-4)

The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice. 

And he sent out arrows and scattered them; lightning, and routed them.

Then the channels of the sea were seen; the foundations of the world were laid bare,

at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. 

He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too might for me.

They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.

He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

(verses 14-20)

For you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness. 

For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.

This God--his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? 

This God is my strong refuge and has made my way blameless.

He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. 

He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great.

(verses 29-36)

The Lord lives, and blessed by my rock, and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,

the God who gave me vengeance and brought down peoples under me, 

who brought me out from my enemies; you exalted me above those who rose against me; you delivered me from men of violence.

For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to your name.

Great salvation be brings to the king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.

(verses 47-51)

At the end of his song, David points to the Messiah who would later come. 

The deliverance and ultimate triumph of David foreshadow that of the coming Messiah. At the end of his life, David looked back in faith at God's promises and forward in hope to their fulfillment in the coming of a future "king", the "anointed one". (MacArthur Study Bible, ESV)

This hope was the hope that David fortold of when he prophesied that the Christ would come and rule in the hearts of men one day. This hope was the hope that prompted David to pray these words before the assembly of the children of Israel:

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the gloy and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

(1 Chronicles 29:10-13)

Verses from David's Prayers

David knew how to pray. From being hunted constantly by enemies, falling into sin, and reaching the heights of joy, David's life provided just about every experience for prayer. And he took the opportunities to cry out to God. Perhaps some of the most well-known words of David come from the Psalms, and they are words Christians still read today. But this week in my devotions I read through 1 Chronicles and this book also includes a few of David's prayers as well.

Perhaps these verses can help direct us in how we should pray, as well.

Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? 

(1 Chron.17:16)

Awe over what God has done and the knowledge that he (David) is nothing in comparison to God's greatness.

There is none like you, O Lord, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. (1 Chron.17:20)

Recognition of God's supremacy and sovereignty.

And you made your people Israel to be your people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God. 

(1 Chron.17:22)

Recounting the history of God's greatness and faithfulness to a wayward nation.

And now, O Lord, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house be established forever, and do as you have spoken, and your name will be established and magnified forever, saying, 'The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel's God,' and the house of your servant David will be established before you.

(1 Chron.17:23-24)

Pleading that God would fulfill His promises like He said he would, in order that His name would be glorified and that the house of David would remain established in the Lord.

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours in the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

(1 Chron.29:11)

Acknowledging God's control and power over all the earth using words similar to what Jude later uses. "To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." (Jude 1:25) And also Jesus uses similar words in the Lord's Prayer. "And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent." (Colossians 1:18)

But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. (1 Chron.29:14)

Realizing, in humility, that what he and his nation gave back to God only belonged to God in the first place. 

I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. (1 Chron.29:17)

God searches the heart and knows it completely, and David later goes into more detail in Psalm 139 about this. Nothing can be hidden from God, and our actions, motives, and thoughts that result from the Holy Spirit's working in us are pleasing to God.

Then David said to all the assembly, "Bless the Lord your God." And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the Lord and to the king.

(1 Chron.29:20)

The people demonstrated the Lordship of Christ by worshiping Him as the God of their forefathers, and loyalty and obedience to David as their earthly king.

Say also: "Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise. 

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!"

(1 Chronicles 16:35-36)

A Prophet Without Honor

Mark is the shortest Gospel chapter-wise, and I finished reading through it yesterday and today. But before I got to Mark, I read through Matthew. Jesus visits His home town, Nazareth, and is rejected by His own people. They take offense at what He says and are astonished at his teaching. And Jesus says this, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household."

But He didn't just meet resistance and unbelief in Nazareth, for many people, homes, and towns refused to acknowledge who He really was. And as I read through Mark with that quote in mind, many of the accounts of Jesus ministry stood out to me as the Israelites rejected Him. He truly was a Man without apparent honor. He came to earth in a way that seemed dishonorable, and He died in earthly humiliation.

Perhaps the most forceful resistance came from the Pharisees, as they were the ones who ultimately rejected Christ and crucified Him. In Mark the scribes question Jesus' motives for healing the paralyzed man, and the scribes and Pharisees doubt Jesus when He goes to eat with the sinners and tax collectors. They accuse Jesus and his disciples of unlawful activity when they eat corn on the Sabbath, and they watch Christ to hope to accuse Him when He heals a man on the Sabbath. Other people beg Jesus to leave after he frees a man from the hold of demons. The Pharsees critisize Jesus disciples for not following man-made traditions, and though many are astonished by His teaching, their hearts are hardened to the truth. Those He ministers to can't decide if He's the resurrected John the Baptist, Elijah, or another of the prophets. And those who are so close to the truth turn away because it could cost them their material possessions.  His disciples consist of a bunch of men who don't understand His teaching and who fight for greatness among themselves. Men who betray and deny Him. And who leave His side at the moment they are needed most, even though they pledged their loyalty to Him. His forerunner, John the Baptist, is killed because of Herod's foolish oath. The most religious men of the time continue to defy the heart of the Gospel by selling and buying in His holy temple, and Jesus drives them out. He weeps when a friend dies and also when He looks out over the city He would have welcomed into His arms, but they would not believe. His brothers and sisters don't even believe in Him. He's captured by the people He will die to save. He's betrayed by one who had first-hand experience in the the love of the Son. He's denied by the man who proclaimed Him to be the Messiah. A ruler condemns Christ to death in order to please the Jewish leaders. He's dressed up in a robe and mocked. He's bears the curse of sin as He hangs on a cross. He's forsaken of God.

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom mend hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted...[he] was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many. 

(Isaiah 53:3, 7, 12) 

But the Son of Man who endured so much dishonor from His own creation, received complete and lasting honor when He was taken up into glory and seated at the right hand of the Father. His dishonor here was finished, and He now shares in the majesty of God. 

But there were some who honored the Lord and loved Him. There were the disciples that, for all their unloveliness, did follow Him in His ministry and carried on His message. There were those in the crowds who gave glory to God when they saw the sick healed. Two of His brothers write of Christ and are included in our Canon today. The wind and the sea honor and obey Him when He commands them to be still. The woman whose great faith prompts her to just touch Jesus clothing in order to be healed. The disciple that Jesus loved. The Syropheonician woman's faith. The disciple to whom it is revealed that Jesus is the Christ. The father who says "I believe; help my unbelief!" The blind man who receives sight and follows Jesus. The widow who probably didn't even know that Jesus was watching her give all that she had.  Mary who anoints Christ's feet in silent worship. And the women who loved Him enough to watch His death and then prepare His body for burial. And the disciple who admits "My Lord, and my God!"

The Prophet who came with a message for His own people was ultimately rejected. And though He was without honor in His home, He isn't anymore--that's why we have salvation. And so, too, it is with us. Jesus' followers were all without honor in their living and dying here on earth, but they were received into glory, and the shame of a temporary life compares nothing to the glory which shall come.

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.

Hebrews 2:9-11a

His Power!

     Since last week's post, I've read through the last chapters of Jeremiah up to the end of Amos. And most of these books describe the judgment, destruction, and rebellion of the Israelite nation. There is redemption and restoration promised, but they are sobering books nonetheless.

     However, one theme that I noticed mentioned by all the major and minor prophet authors was the power of God. And today I'm going to let Scripure speak for itself.

Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

Jeremiah 50:34

It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom,

and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.

He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

Jeremiah 51:15-16

The LORD gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations.

Lamentations 4:11

But you, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations.

Lamentations 5:19

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations.

Ezekiel 5:8

But behold, some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it. They will console you, when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 14:22-23

And my holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

Ezekiel 39:7

Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,

to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons;

he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise

and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things;

he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.

Daniel 2:20-22

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

Daniel 4:35

But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, 

and besides me there is no savior.

Hosea 13:4

You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

Joel 2:27

"Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!" For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth--the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

Amos 4:12b-13

     And we see God's power meet mankind's weakness at the cross, for there Christ demonstrated that He was given power over all things--even sin and death. And now He is seated at the Father's right hand, awaiting the Day of Judgment when He will gather together all His chosen and rejoice with them for all eternity. 

This is The Power of the Cross.

"I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."

(Ephesians 1:16-23)