Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: Genesis

  • Sojourners

    Sojourners

    Psalm 39:12 KJV

    Hear my prayer, O LORD,

    and give ear unto my cry;

    hold not thy peace at my tears:

    for I am a stranger with thee,

    and a sojourner,

    as all my fathers were.

    I have just moved, again: this time just across town near to my church family still, near to my wife and son, nearer to my temporary workplace and, I pray as in the words of the old hymn, Nearer My God to Thee.

    As we have been traveling with Jesus in the early days of His three-year earthly ministry as witnessed through the Gospel of Luke, Jesus has already taught the multitudes, enraged many local religious authorities and worked many miracles as evidence of His authority from God our Father in Heaven. Jesus has reported to John the Baptist evidence and confirmed to the multitudes and disciples that John is the greatest of all Prophets; for he has announced the earthly Presence of God the Son, Christ Jesus, Son of Man.

    We have also noted that Jesus of Nazareth left home under inauspicious circumstances, moved to Capernaum and continued to teach in many towns in many places and also on many deserted hillsides and seashores.

    For the three years of His earthly ministry Jesus truly had no home on earth. The Son of Man was a sojourner.

    Today we leave our consideration of Jesus’ early travels and the Gospel of Luke for a time.  Tomorrow, 5 May in the year of our Lord 2014, we will commemorate Ash Wednesday, the traditional beginning of Lent and 40 days of preparation for Easter. As we pause our look at Jesus’ thousand days before His final earthly trip to Jerusalem and the Cross, consider our connection to Christ’s place with no hometown here: as sojourners.

    I had asked yesterday, “How much do we owe God?” Perhaps you will recognize some of the following Old Testament scripture from a blessing of the offering at church; but note the sojourner here.

    1 Chronicles 29: 14 “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. 15 For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.

    These are the words of David in presenting an offering to the Lord at the public installation of Solomon as King at the Temple of the Lord.

    David lived much of his life (even as the anointed King) as a sojourner, fleeing Saul, fleeing Philistines and other enemies, even in a sense fleeing his own son, Absalom. Yet David knew he could never flee from God. When he sinned, he would always repent an seek God’s own heart.

    psalm 121

    David’s home was not his palace. David’s heart longed to dwell in the pastures of our God and the House of our Great Shepherd.

    Jesus, Son of David, was also a sojourner. He knew every minute and every day of His incarnate life that the Cross of Sacrifice awaited Him on an appointed day in Jerusalem.  Sojourners Jesus and David also knew our true home – a heavenly home of our loving God and Father -is being prepared for our return from this earthly pilgrimage.

    You may recall that Israel was God’s new name for Jacob. Jacob was also a sojourner.

    Genesis 27:41 Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42 But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee…

    Jacob’s Dream

    10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.”

    “The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

    16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

    18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, [House of God] but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

    20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house.

    And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

    Again, the sojourner Jacob makes an offering to God.

    The House of El Shaddai, God Almighty, is not in a place on this earth, but a place that is in Heaven.

    An even earlier mention of the sojourner:

    genesis_cave_of_machpelahGenesis 23:3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, 4 “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

    Commentary: Abraham stood up, &c.–Eastern people are always provided with family burying-places; but Abraham’s life of faith–his pilgrim state–had prevented him acquiring even so small a possession ( Act 7:5 ).

    (Much more could be said of this place (Machpelah) and of Jacob and Esau, dreams of Israel and dreams and of prophets.  Though the time draws near, this is not yet the time for God’s revelation of the false prophet.)

    Jesus was much more than just a Prophet. Jesus was much more than just a miracle worker. Jesus was much more than a great Teacher.

    If Jesus is NOT a liar, as is Satan and are false prophets, we must hear what our Lord, this sojourner on this earth has said – all of it, including: “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

    Jesus was worshiped by Abraham and David. Jesus was worshiped by prostitutes and tax collectors.

    Jesus IS and Jesus is worshiped by disciples and followers – sojourners and pilgrims in this temporal place, residing in failing flesh seeking the miracle of His breath of cleansing Life.

    A pilgrim in the world; a sojourner in the land

    Stranger and Sojourner (In the Old Testament):

    stranj’-er:

    Four different Hebrew words must be considered separately:

    (1) ger, the American Standard Revised Version “sojourner” or “stranger”;

    (2) toshabh, the American Standard Revised Version “sojourner”;

    (3) nokhri, ben nekhar, the American Standard Revised Version “foreigner”;

    (4) zar, the American Standard Revised Version “stranger.”

    I. THE GER

    This word with its kindred verb is applied with slightly varying meanings to anyone who resides in a country or a town of which he is not a full native land-owning citizen; e.g., the word is used of the patriarchs in Palestine, the Israelites in Egypt, the Levites dwelling among the Israelites (De 18:6; Jud 17:7, etc.), the Ephraimite in Gibeah (Jud 19:16). It is also particularly used of free aliens residing among the Israelites, and it is with the position of such that this article deals. This position is absolutely unparalleled in early legal systems (A. H. Post, Grundriss der ethnologischen Jurisprudenz, I, 448, note 3), which are usually far from favorable to strangers.

    It is the following ‘legal’ principle to which we refer as ‘the golden rule’ and to which Jesus pointed out to the Pharisee Simon, in whose home He dined while the sinful woman anointed His feet with oil: 

    1. Legal Provisions:

    (1) Principles.

    The dominant principles of the legislation are most succinctly given in two passages:

    He “loveth the ger in giving him food and raiment” (De 10:18); “And if a ger sojourn with thee (variant “you”) in your land, ye shall not do him wrong.

    The ger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were gerim in the land of Egypt” (Le 19:33 f).

    This treatment of the stranger is based partly on historic recollection, partly on the duty of the Israelite to his God. Because the ger would be at a natural disadvantage through his alienage, he becomes one of the favorites of a legislation that gives special protection to the weak and helpless.

    Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

    9 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.

    4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimonyagainst them.” 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

    The Cost of Following Jesus

    57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

    58 And Jesus said to him,“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

    59 To another he said,“Follow me.”

    But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

    61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

    “Follow me,” says the Lord, Christ Jesus. He IS a sojourner, yet more, He IS with you.

    Our Heavenly Dwelling

    5 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

    6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

    10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

    The Ministry of Reconciliation

    11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others…

    14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

    20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

  • Lord of the Sabbath

    Lord of the Sabbath

    Dr. Luke retells two stories of witnesses about Jesus and the Sabbath. (We should consider that the Good News is witness of the message of salvation, though the story of Jesus is not always chronological.) The time of these witnessed stories is not so important as the point.

    Returning (for this) to Luke 6:

    Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

    6 On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” 5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

    (We will return to this example of Jesus and David in a moment.)

    A Man with a Withered Hand

    6 On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.7 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. 8 But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.”And he rose and stood there. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

    “They were filled with fury and ‘discussed…’”

    Nothing like the mixing of politics and religion, but that is the background and subject of these discussions; therefore let’s once again take on this controversy of Sundays, Sabbaths and the time and place of worship of God. [The ‘Sundays’ link points to my earlier post on Exodus: Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.]

     

    Richard A Horsley, in ‘Scribe, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judes,’ points out: The attention to conflict, whether with external imperial powers or internally between scribes and priest or between wealthy elites and others, results in a story of endless power struggles…

    Horsley continues: ‘a credible picture of the diversity of Judaism in Hellenistic Palestine emerges… ‘conflict: this time between the priestly aristocratic rulers of the Judean temple-state and their scribal retainers…

    Jesus lived under the watchful eyes of several opposing religious and political views, the two mentioned here: Scribes and Pharisees. Perhaps your church has a ‘scribe’ or ‘pharisee’ who would go on and on over endless controversies of how and when to worship God.

    It’s certainly not only the Saturday vs. Sunday controversy or what ‘Christians’ ought to do or ought not do on ‘the Lord’s Day.  As more recent controversies: “The State shouldn’t sell liquor on Sunday. The mall used to be closed on Sunday. God help us if we don’t have football and other sports to watch on Sunday!”

    No, the Sabbath controversy (artificial and particular as it can be) is not new and sometimes results in ‘christians’ being ‘filled with fury’ or resigned to unrighteousness. Jesus encountered such controversies every day. In fact, like conservatives and liberals, the religious and political types enjoyed such ‘discussions’ as a part of their ongoing emphasis of beliefs. (Nothing new under the sun.)

    When the Bible (Hebrew Bible, Orthodox Bible, Catholic Bible or Protestant Bible – {Get the idea?}) mentions Scribes, Pharisees, Priests or other religious officials; understand that these men had ongoing differences in their views of God and worship.

    The simplicity of Jesus approach to the Sabbath (or Sunday) is evident enough in Luke 6:9 KJV

    I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil?

    Jesus answer is so intuitive: It it lawful to do good seven days a week and 365 days every year; and unlawful to do evil on ANY day.

    Doing good is not work and failing to do good is evil.

    Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath and you would not expect your doctor to take Sunday off if you had a heart attack or were injured in an accident on the way home from church or the Sunday afternoon sporting event.

    In the earlier example, Jesus addresses the Sabbath ‘work’ controversy a little differently. (Imagine these men following you and your family to a restaurant after church.) Jesus and His Disciples were hungry and broke open some grain in a field as they walked through it (perfectly legal: Deuteronomy 24:19-22). The question of the Pharisees for these poor and hungry sojourners or travelers (Jesus and the Disciples) was ‘should you prepare and eat food on the Sabbath?’

    Jesus then uses the example of bread prepared for the Temple of God and an incident with King David.

    breadLuke 6:4 KJV How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?

    Let’s examine this less-familiar reference a moment.

    Exodus 25:30  And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.

    Leviticus 24: 5 “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it… 6 And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord… 7 …as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. 8 Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly… 9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord’s food offerings, a perpetual due.”

     David is not a Priest or a Levite of the line of Aaron.

    David and the Holy Bread

    21 Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David trembling and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” 2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” 4 And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

    Or course, the Disciples are not Levite. Neither are Jesus and the Disciples in the holy place of the Temple. Yet the Pharisees did not recognize that they were in the Presence of Holiness.

    One earlier instance of the Hebrew use of this word for the Bread of the Presence.

    Genesis 14: 

    18 And Melchizedek king of Salem (where Jerusalem now stands) brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said,

    “Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
    Possessor of heaven and earth;
    20 and blessed be God Most High,
    who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

    And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

    Jesus is our Redeemer and High Priest.

    Later, Jesus would say, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” (See John 8.)

    Here Jesus closes all discussion on the Sabbath controversies of the Scribes and Pharisees with a remarkable statement.

    Luke 6:5 KJV And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

    Jesus’ most frequent reference of his person is “son of man,’ that is:  huios anthrōpos. How bold a statement for Jesus to say that He lord [kyrios] also of the sabbath.

    Jesus IS Lord.

    He IS either your Lord…

    the Son of Man, who is Lord even over the days of the week – yes, even our measured days

    OR He will be Lord at your Judgment.

    Will you acknowledge Christ Jesus as your Savior and Redeemer?

    Abraham and Lot worshiped the Lord after the destruction of Sodom. God judged the sinful men and sinful women of those cities, yet saved Lot and his children. He would save you, also… before the wrath of the Lord rains down on you and it is too late.

    Worship Him.

    The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. Is He also your Lord and Savior?

     

  • Esau I Hated

    Esau I Hated

    Malachi 1:2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.

    But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord.

    “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated.

    We pray to God: ‘Give me a blessing.’ ‘I cannot do this alone?’ ‘Please help me, Lord.’ We acknowledge God as our Father and as our Lord. The Lord, our Father in heaven then blesses us. He provides a loving mate. He provide godly guidance for our misguided children. He heals a dreaded disease. He provides job after job and puts food on our table. He places us in the congregation of Christians who care for our needs and for our soul. Again, and again, the Lord brings us blessing and not curse when we are not in the low place and do not even pray for blessing.

    And what is our thanks? What is our offering to the Lord? Do we cleave to our beloved husband (or wife)? Do we stand as example of Jesus in our instruction of our children? Do we give thanks to the Lord for healing our body? Do we witness at work of the Lord’s unfailing love? Do we thank Him for the food on our table as if without Him we could not be fed? Do we thank Him that someone does not have to feed us for our inability of health to hold even a spoon? Do we joyfully worship with our loving brothers and sisters in Christ on the Lord’s day? Do we gently guide our children to the house of the Lord?

    We fall back into our sins. We slide back toward the pit. We revel in the ways of the world and witness against Christ as our Lord. We witness against God our Father. We offer the sacrifice of our tithes and offerings to the gods of chance, the gods of addiction and the gods of our evil desires. We bow down and worship the gods of sin!

    But you say, “How have you loved us?”

    Do you understand as you trespass the blessing of the Cross that you sell forever His blessing and grace and love?

    Don’t you know that we are ALL lawbreakers? Don’t you remember what you were before you were adopted into the family of faith, the Household of God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord?

    God is NOT your Father and Christ Jesus is NOT your Lord (for no one will lord it over you) IF you witness against the love and sacrifice and blood of the Cross.

    You reject the Lord. Why, at the Day of your judgment, should the Lord not reject YOU?

    Some of us reject a God that could hate Esau… a God who would hate us. (I spoke to this earlier.) We think of Esau as just a man who lived long ago. We think of Israel as only a land and not a people chosen once by God who rejected God continually and rejected Christ Jesus forever.

    Paul, the Apostle to the gentiles, was once a man of Jacob, chosen by God over Esau.  He hated Christ Jesus, the Messiah of Promise and Blessing of the gentiles. God so loved the world; yet Saul of Tarsus hated the church.

    What if Saul of Tarsus had not finally bowed down to Christ Jesus as Lord? Would he not also be judged with Esau?

    Abram was changed to Abraham. Jacob was changed to Israel. Saul of Tarsus was changed to Paul the Apostle.

    Has God changed you for all eternity by the Cross of Christ Jesus?

    Or do you ask for God’s blessing, then quickly turn from the Lord?

    The books of the Bible, which we so carelessly neglect along with the armor of our salvation, point us so diligently toward salvation (being saved from our great curse of sin and death). Over and over the books of the Bible instruct us in that which we ought to have instructed our children and heeded in our own lives.

    GOD IS a Person. God our Father may hate, but most certainly God our Father does love those who truly love Him.

    Genesis 4: And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

    10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

    Does the Blood of the Cross not cry out against you when you offer to your sin that which is the Lord’s?

    13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden…

    Deuteronomy 11: 26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.

     Joshua 8:30-35 

    Joshua Renews the Covenant

    30 At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of the Lord…

    34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

    The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath

    7 And I heard the altar saying,

    “Yes, Lord God the Almighty,
    true and just are your judgments!”

    15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

    James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

    3 John 1:2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.

    Colossians 1:3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you…

    Pray also for me, that the blessings of God our Father, the Son Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will continue through His work in me, and that His own Blessings to my life may be renewed in His Spirit, obedience, faithfulness and love.