Resource Manager Posted August 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 26 August 2011 1 Kings 21Jeremiah 481 Corinthians 7 "HAVE YOU FOUND ME, OH MY ENEMY" The above saying was spoken by Israel’s bad king Ahab to Elijah when the prophet challenged him as he took possession of Naboth’s vineyard – after his evil wife Jezebel had organised the death of Naboth. Yet Elijah had only “found” Ahab because God had directed him, he was acting for God. We must always be aware of that which Ahab was unaware, We read earlier this month of Jeremiah’s prayer to the LORD, “O great and mighty God … the LORD of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man (human beings), rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his (or her) deeds” [Jeremiah 32:18,19]. Ahab was a man of weak character, manipulated by an evil wife; both came to what we would call a ‘sticky end’! Their attitude, especially Jezebel’s, created problems for those associated with them. “The elders and the leaders who lived with Naboth in his city” [1 Kings 21:8] obeyed the wicked Jezebel when she required them to set a trap for Naboth and get “two worthless men” to bring false charges against him leading to his death [1 Kings 21:10]. There is a lesson in this for us – to avoid any situation which has the potential to oblige or force us to do something contrary to our conscience – for it is vital that our conscience is always activated to follow divine principles. Ahab had a no real conscience and it would be tragic if we ever found ourselves descending to a situation where we felt inclined to speak to a truly God fearing person, as Ahab did, “Have you found me, Oh my enemy?” [1 Kings 21:20] To quote Jeremiah again, “Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth …” [Jeremiah 23:23,24] The world around us is more unconscious of this than ever – and the challenge to our faith has never been greater.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted August 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2011 27 August 2011 1 Kings 22Jeremiah 491 Corinthians 8; 9 “IN THE LATTER DAYS” Today’s Jeremiah readings provoked our thoughts on the nations of the Middle East that are next to or near Israel – and the references to their restoration in “the latter days.” Yesterday’s chapter (Jeremiah 48) finished with “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the LORD” Modern Jordan (next to Israel on the east) covers the area of the ancient Moabites and more. At the time of writing it is the one Arab nation next to Israel that is still trying to live in harmony with the Jewish people. The capital of Jordan is Amman, or Ammon, the capital of the ancient Ammonites! It’s fortunes too will change according to today’s chapter (Jeremiah 49:6) “but afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the LORD.” The LORD then gives Jeremiah messages about Edom, which is in the far south of Jordan and into areas of Saudi Arabia. There is no reference to her restoration. Then Damascus the capital of Syria gets a mention, that “Damascus has become feeble” [Jeremiah 49:24]. God says, “I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus” [Jeremiah 49:27] and we understand that this city is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world (according to the National Geographic) and God’s prophecy through Isaiah (Isaiah 17:1) that it “will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins” is yet to take place. Then Elam, which is further east but is hard to pin down to a specific location, is mentioned at the end of the chapter with this remarkable statement, “but in the latter days, I will restore the fortunes of Elam, declares the LORD” [Jeremiah 49:39] It is thought to be in the very south of Iraq bordering into Kuwait and may be we can identify it with that nation. Now here is a remarkable thing! One hundred years ago, not one of the present nations in the Middle East existed! [not counting Egypt] There was no Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq or Iran!! The peoples in these areas were all part of the Turkish Empire. This collapsed at the end of the First World War (1918). Now, Israel is God’s fig tree (Joel 1:7) Note the remarkable thing Jesus said “Behold the fig tree and all the trees” said Jesus, “when they shoot forth and bud …. the Kingdom of God is nigh” (Luke 21:29-31). Jeremiah is naming at least some of these other trees. Of course, in predicting a restoration of fortunes “in the latter days” it is only of Israel we read much more detail of the nature and permanence of her restoration. -------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted August 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2011 28 August 2011 2 Kings 1; 2Jeremiah 501 Corinthians 10 “I AM AS YOU ARE” These are the words we read today of good king Jehoshaphat of Judah to the bad king Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel (1 Kings 22:4) when he joined with Ahab to help him fight the Syrians. In one sense those words were true, they were both descended from Jacob, from one or other of his 12 sons and, at least in theory, lived under the Law of Moses. By God’s decree, King Ahab died as a result of that battle. But, when you compare the record of Kings and Chronicles you see that Ahab and Jezebel’s daughter married Jehoshaphat’s son – and this son’s reign was a disaster and brought trouble to the nation. Jehoshaphat was rebuked by the prophet Hanani for helping the Israelites in the north, “should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD?” (2 Chronicles 19:2) On the surface the motives of Jehoshaphat might have appeared good in associating with Ahab, but he was only looking at that relationship from one perspective. There is a parallel situation in our own days when some who read the Bible diligently to unearth its true meaning may feel attracted to associate with and even work with churches who, on the surface, believe in God the Great Creator and His son, but whose beliefs and resultant faith is fundamentally different to that of the First Century believers. The detail in the Bible makes this clear. One example is the Bible’s clear picture that a believer’s hope of a future life is in resurrection to live in God’s kingdom here on earth when Christ returns: the phrase “immortal soul” is nowhere to be found in the Bible. Paul bluntly states and warns about a “different gospel” in Galatians (Galatians 1:6-9) stating that “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” Let us bear in mind the lesson of Jehoshaphat’s mistake. -------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted August 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 29 August 2011 2 Kings 3Jeremiah 511 Corinthians 11 WHAT ARE THE CERTAINTIES? What are the certainties in your life? The things in which you trust, the foundations to your thoughts as you think about your future, both your immediate and ultimate future. When you were young, and a few who read this still are, it was your mother and father who were/are a major part of your life. As you mature and become an adult, it is your career, the skills you have developed and the use you put them to - that largely occupy your minds. There is a sense of satisfaction, indeed pleasure in having healthy objectives as the focus of our main thoughts. Then certainties in planning usually develop around a marriage partner, it becomes the foundation on which that stage of your life is built, the home you acquire – the responsibility of children and so on. Our readings in the final chapters of Jeremiah, describe the collapse of that which was the ‘certainty’ in the lives of the ancient Israelites. Hundreds of years before - Solomon had built a magnificent temple; its interior glittered with gold. The presence of their God was there. It was unthinkable that it should be destroyed. Because of this way of thinking they had rejected the warnings of Jeremiah and tragedy turned their lives upside down – and for the next few days we will read of his Lamentations over this disaster. The last verse of 1 Corinthians 13 is remarkably relevant, “so now faith, hope and love abide; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) These are the abiding factors in our lives today, the only real certainties – if we possess them. If we do not have them, we are, in the end, doomed to tragedy – as the people of Jeremiah’s day were. We can misuse these – by having faith in the wrong things, hope for things which have no enduring value, we can love things which will not give us ‘certainty’. Most people today are failing to find the things which will give them certainty. May we keep reading God’s word; this will give us the foundation to build upon to achieve certainty in our minds. -------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted August 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2011 30 August 2011 2 Kings 4Jeremiah 521 Corinthians 12; 13 "THEY WILL CEASE ... THEY WILL PASS AWAY" Our Corinthians readings today and tomorrow are about how the first generation of believers received ‘spirit gifts’ to help them in knowing and serving Christ. We must realize that a large majority of the Corinthians had come from a pagan background and were struggling to leave behind the pagan lifestyle. Most had had no knowledge of the true God, most probably there were few if any scrolls of the Old Testament they could read. For this reason the Holy Spirit gifts were really essential in helping them to grow, but many were misusing these gifts and we read of Paul’s reprimands to them for doing this. In the middle of his admonitions is the marvellous chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, when he writes about the wonderful spirit of love. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong-doing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease” [1 Corinthians 13:4-8] Today we have those things which continue and note how the chapter concludes, “now faith, hope and love abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” The other special gifts had ceased, passing away. A factor in this would be the circulation of gospel texts and the letters of the Apostles. In the letter to the Hebrews, probably written by Paul who made the point that these gifts are “the powers of the age to come” [Hebrews 6:5] possessed we would think, by the saints who are reigning with Christ when “out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” and “He shall judge between many peoples” [Micah 4:2,3] and these “powers of the age to come” will be an essential factor in that judging. Recall again how the Corinthian chapter concludes with the things that abide! But when Jesus returns faith will be fulfilled and hope will turn into sight, into reality – but love will continue for all eternity. May we all live today so that we will become part of that wonderful time that is coming – dominated by love. -------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted August 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 31 August 2011 2 Kings 5Lamentations 11 Corinthians 14 "WOMEN SHOULD KEEP SILENT IN THE CHURCHES" Can we understand the reason why Paul says this to the Corinthians? Of course, it was not just to those in Corinth, he writes, “As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak” [1 Corinthians 14:33,34] This obviously means that a church service is the responsibility of males. Paul then stresses that they “should be in submission as the Law also says.” Submission might sound to be a dominating word – but we will encounter the same Greek word in tomorrow’s chapter [1 Corinthians 15] which describes the ultimate end of the Kingdom when “the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” [1 Corinthians 15:28] Jesus will be in submission to His Father! But they are one [John 10:30] and their teamwork will surely continue into all eternity. Paul goes on to state, “If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord” [1 Corinthians 14:37]. But these inspired words are unacceptable to many today. Can we turn a ‘blind eye’ to what is written in Scripture and has been followed until the last generation or so? No! But modern attitudes are all part of the unravelling of respect for the words that God has caused to be preserved, But his message is now spread into the entire world for the final ingathering. Remember how two days ago we noted Paul’s point “that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” [1 Corinthians 11:3] Christ chose 12 men to be his disciples and sent them out to preach [Mark 6:7]. But the women had their role as Mark 15:40-41 shows how certain women “followed him and ministered to him” also “many other women” right to the end, near the cross. John was the only disciple to do so. Galatians 3:28 is the one verse that, at first glance, might appear to give a different picture. Paul stated,“there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” There is a wonderful one-ness when we belong to Christ, but a slave does not cease to be a slave, they still have that role in life now: so too, the males and the females. It is team work; it is co-operation and not competition that being “one on Christ” must lead to. -------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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