TFTBR - October 2013

[Resource Manager]

26 October 2013

2 Chronicles 23
Daniel 4
Acts 2

“I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS …”

We have valuable thoughts in all our readings today.. In Chronicles we read how the priest “Jehoiada took courage and entered into a covenant with the commanders …” [2 Chronicles 23:1] so that the kingship was restored and the evil queen mother – Ahab’s daughter – was destroyed.

In Daniel we read chapter 4 and saw how parts of it were written by King Nebuchadnezzar himself who is humbled to bring him down from his excessive pride in saying, “Is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power” [Daniel 4:30]. He is humbled for seven years and then, he himself writes, “my reason returned to me and I blessed the most high and I praised and honoured him who lives forever” [Daniel 4:34] He now has a true personal perception, born of experience, of the one and only real God. Can we fully share his perception?

He writes,” … all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing and he (God) does according to his will … all his works are right and his ways are just …” [Daniel 4:35,37]

In Acts 2 we read how the Holy Spirit came upon the 12 apostles on the Day of Pentecost. As a result Peter is inspired to speak out a message that cuts the hearers to the heart leading to thousands being converted and baptised.

What is really challenging for us to think about - is Peter’s quotation from a Psalm of David [Acts 2:25] applying it first to Jesus, then to all the believers, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad … my flesh always will dwell in hope … you have made known to me the paths of life.” [Acts 2:25,26,28]

The more we read God’s word, may we more clearly see our Lord always before us so that we may not be shaken as our world disintegrates into chaos in these last days – as so many prophecies reveal it will.
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- DC

[Resource Manager]

27 October 2013

2 Chronicles 24
Daniel 5
Acts 3; 4

"HIS KNEES KNOCKED TOGETHER"

If you were doing a Bible Quiz and you were asked whose “knees knocked together” and why – what would you answer? Well, the answer is in today’s readings: it is one of several lessons as to how quickly humans can forget the evidence of the power and presence of God in their lives or in those very near to them.

King Belshazzar was probably the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 5 tells of “1,000 lords” gathered together by Belshazzar and drinking wine. They were using “the vessels of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar “had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem” [Daniel 5:1-2]. As “they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone, immediately the fingers of a human hand appearing and wrote on the plaster of the wall …” [Daniel 5:4-5]

It was such a dramatic happening that “the king’s colour changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together” [Daniel 5:6] His wise men cannot interpret the writing, but the queen mother comes in [Daniel 5:10] and reminds him of the now aged Daniel. He is called and arrives to interpret the writing, a message of doom – “you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting” [Daniel 5:27]. His kingdom is to be overthrown by Darius and “that very night Belshazzar … was killed” [Daniel 5:30]. How many will be “found wanting” when Christ returns?

Our Chronicles reading provides similar lessons. We read in 2 Chronicles 23 of the boy Joash who was preserved to become king. He was guided by the aged priest Jehoiada and did great work to repair the Temple which had been desecrated by his evil grandmother who had seized control of the nation and killed all the heirs, but he had been hidden.

“But Jehoiada grew old and died … He was 130 years old” [2 Chronicles 24:15]; the then “the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king (flattered him). Then the king listened to them. And they abandoned the house of the LORD” [2 Chronicles 24:17-18] and great trouble followed.

These events are lessons for us. This world has abandoned all meaningful belief in God – so will not God, maybe soon, create situations in which knees will knock together – and worse! The words of the prophets are that he will, let us heed the lessons of history.
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- DC

[Resource Manager]

28 October 2013

2 Chronicles 25
Daniel 6
Acts 5; 6

“UNLESS WE FIND IT IN …”

In Daniel 6 today we saw clear evidence that this wonderful man, now in his old age, was a man who had a regular prayer life, probably now more intense than ever. We read of those who are jealous of the opinion the king holds of him and how they look for ways to discredit his loyalty to the king. They confer together and decide; “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.” [Daniel 6:5]

They persuade the King to issue an ordinance banning the making of petitions (i.e. prayers) “to any God or man for 30 days except to you O King” [Daniel 6:7]. Now “when Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done previously.” [Daniel 6:10]

Those jealous of the respect the king had for him reported this matter to him. Because the king’s laws were treated as immutable their report led to Daniel being put into the Lion’s Den; his miraculous preservation followed.

The most significant lesson in this story for us is that Daniel was a man of constant prayer, daily in communion with the only true God.

In Daniel 10 we will read of his distress at the awesome visions given to him: a heavenly being then comes and says, “O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you: be strong and of good courage.” [Daniel 10:19]

In our Acts reading, we noted the reasons why the disciples decide to appoint deacons. The number of believers being baptised and joining the church had become so many that there is need for more and more organisation. With their appointment the disciples now said, “we will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word” [Acts 6:4]

This is an example to the effective operation of ecclesias – and a cause for reflection on the part of ‘elders.’ It also reminds us how those baptised on the day of Pentecost “devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers.” [Acts 2:42] How well are we following these examples? What are the grounds of complaint against us? Are there any that are parallel to those made against Daniel?
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- DC

[Resource Manager]

29 October 2013

2 Chronicles 26; 27
Daniel 7
Acts 7

"DO NOT HOLD THIS SIN AGAINST THEM"

What sin? The above words were uttered by Stephen as they took up stones to throw at him, he knew he was going to be killed. His speech in response to the High Priest, as we read today, was increasingly provocative – rather similar to how Jesus repeatedly uttered provocative parables about the Pharisees in the weeks prior to his arrest: for e.g. Luke 20:9-20.

The more you read the more you sense the challenging nature of the Master’s teaching. It reminds us of Moses in the wilderness and his increasing frustrations with the people. The time came when he said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered around him” [Exodus 32:26] These were the priests, the relatives of Aaron. As Moses became dismayed with the people then, similarly our Lord and our Heavenly Father must be dismayed today: how many who claim the name of Christ, who have come out from the world, are keeping genuinely close to the their Saviour in their wilderness journey? The wilderness is increasingly hostile.

Stephen’s speech, a history lesson reminding them of God’s involvement throughout the history of their nation reaches its’ climax when he challenges his hearers “Which of the prophets did not your father’s persecute?” [Acts 7:52] In every generation those who are really on the Lord’s side, stand out – because they stand apart!

Yet, the essential lesson we must take from this chapter is that we leave all attitudes of judgement to our Master. Stephen emulated his Lord, as he cried out as the stones began to hit him, “Do not hold this sin against them” .- his last words before he fell asleep – until the resurrection – his next conscious moment!

How many, especially the Pharisee Paul, then called Saul, will be there at the resurrection – among the sheep and the wheat – because Stephen’s dying prayer was heard. Paul’s word’s to the Philippians are so appropriate and challenging, - that “we may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” [Philippians 2:15] Let us all shine as brightly as we can, making sure we are on the Lord’s side.
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- DC

[Resource Manager]

30 October 2013

2 Chronicles 28
Daniel 8
Acts 8

“WHEN THEY BELIEVED … THEY WERE BAPTISED”

The enemies of the gospel thought they had had a great victory when they stoned Stephen to death; but when we assess what happened as a result, it was a great victory for the spread of the Gospel. We can see this as we take an overview of today’s 8th chapter of Acts.

We recall the 1st chapter , the words of Jesus to his disciples just before he ascended to heaven, he told them, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem …” [Acts 1:8] But he said much more than that “… and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

They had not done this, the community in Jerusalem had grown larger and larger – it’s very size creating difficulties that needed to be solved as we read in Acts 6:1-4. When we take an overview of the events we read of today we cannot help but see God at work. In one sense the stoning of Stephen was a tragedy, in another, it provoked a flood of activity in starting to carry out the final words of Jesus, for Saul (soon to become Paul), emboldened by the death of Stephen, became the leader of “a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” [Acts 8:1]

Saul “was ravaging the church, entering house after house, he dragged off men and women …” [Acts 8:3] But “those who were scattered went about preaching the word” [Acts 8:4]

The first area to benefit was Samaria. Philip played a leading role in this, “… when they believed Philip as he preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ they were baptised…” [Acts 8:12]

Later, under the guidance of the Spirit, Philip was caused to join an Ethiopian who was returning from worshipping at Jerusalem [Acts 8:27] and teach him how to understand Isaiah’s prophecy (in Isaiah 53) about the Messiah. When they eventually “came to some water” [Acts 8:36] he asked to be baptised, and after confessing his belief “they both went down into the water” [Acts 8:38] and Philip baptised him.

It is clear baptism involved going down into water – and being plunged under the water as a symbol of the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul stresses this in Romans 6:3-5. The concept of ‘christening’ was invented centuries later by the R C church, God’s word knows nothing of this, it is a human invention. The final chapter in the Bible is a warning against “anyone (who) adds to the words of … this book” [Revelation 22:18-19] Let us faithfully follow God’s word – recognizing that a central feature is the teaching of “the kingdom of God.”
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- DC

[Resource Manager]

31 October 2013

2 Chronicles 29
Daniel 9
Acts 9

“HIS MOTHER’S NAME WAS …”

At the end of yesterday’s chapter 28 in 2 Chronicles we read of the death of Ahaz, he had been such a godless king, probably the worst to reign in Jerusalem so that they did not put his body into the tombs of the kings. His 16 year reign had been an utter disaster. The point is made, “in the time of his stress he became yet more faithless to the LORD” [2 Chronicles 28:22] How tragic after his father Jotham had been such a good king.

Today we read how his son Hezekiah made immediate changes, “in the first year of his reign in the first month …” [2 Chronicles 29:3]! We ponder the causes of his motivation.

The chapter began by telling us that “His mother’s name was Abijah” The parallel passage in 2 Kings 18:2 simply names her as “Abi.” What an influence she must have been on him. Solomon reminisced in his proverbs, “When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother” [Proverbs 4:3] How many Abi’s of the same calibre are there today?

We also learn that Hezekiah was 25 years old when he began to reign which means that up to the age of 11 he had the example and probable influence of his grandfather the good King Jotham to lay the foundation for his mother to build upon in his later years. More lessons for us: grandfathers’ take note.

Hezekiah says, “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD …” [2 Chronicles 29:10] That’s an interesting way of putting it, can we openly say of anything, ‘Now it is in my heart to …’ commit myself to do or accomplish some particular thing?

Our thoughts yesterday highlighted the nature of a “covenant” in New Testament times. Jesus, as he handed the cup to the 12 disciples said, ”This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many”. [Mark 14:24] We accept that cup and agree to that covenant when we are baptised.

As priests in training for God’s kingdom, we are called to be “ministers of a new covenant” [2 Corinthians 3:6] to be centred on Jerusalem. Paul makes a thought challenging point when he told the Galatians, [Galatians 4:26] “the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother”

The Temple at Jerusalem, and the saints ministering from there will be “mothers” in training the world of that age in the ways of righteousness. But first the priests have to be trained themselves! How is our training progressing?
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- DC