Tag: God

  • An Acceptable Sacrifice

    An Acceptable Sacrifice

    Psalm 50

    The Acceptable Sacrifice

    A Psalm of Asaph.

    The mighty one, God the Lord,
        speaks and summons the earth
        from the rising of the sun to its setting.
    Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
        God shines forth.

    Our God comes and does not keep silence,
        before him is a devouring fire,
        and a mighty tempest all around him.
    He calls to the heavens above
        and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
    “Gather to me my faithful ones,
        who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
    The heavens declare his righteousness,
        for God himself is judge. Selah

    “Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
        O Israel, I will testify against you.
        I am God, your God.
    Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
        your burnt offerings are continually before me.

    John 10: 17-18 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 

    No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

    I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

    Though Israel understood the power of the Lord to deliver them from Egypt and potentially from Rome, they did not understand the power of the King of the Jews to deliver them from sin.

    “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

    triumphal-entryMark 11:

    And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting,“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

    11 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

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    The LORD does not establish His Kingdom on earth (as it is in heaven) in the same sinful ways as man!

    Psalm 50: 

    16 But to the wicked God says:
        “What right have you to recite my statutes
        or take my covenant on your lips?
    17 For you hate discipline,
        and you cast my words behind you.
    18 If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
        and you keep company with adulterers.

    19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil,
        and your tongue frames deceit.
    20 You sit and speak against your brother;
        you slander your own mother’s son.
    21 These things you have done, and I have been silent;
        you thought that I was one like yourself.
    But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

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     Mark 11:

    Jesus Cleanses the Temple

    15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them,

    “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

    18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city.

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    Psalm 51: 

    13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
        and sinners will return to you.
    14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
        O God of my salvation,
        and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness…

    17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
        a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

    Psalm 68:

    19 Blessed be the Lord,
        who daily bears us up;
        God is our salvation. Selah
    20 Our God is a God of salvation,
        and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death…

    24 Your procession is seen, O God,
        the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—

    Psalm 69:

    For zeal for your house has consumed me,
        and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

    19 You know my reproach,
        and my shame and my dishonor;
        my foes are all known to you.
    20 Reproaches have broken my heart,
        so that I am in despair.
    I looked for pity, but there was none,
        and for comforters, but I found none.
    21 They gave me poison for food,
        and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

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    To be continued…

  • Reflections: Israel – a place in time

    Reflections: Israel – a place in time

    To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! – Romans 3

    Joshua 1 

    God Commissions Joshua

    After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.Promised_boundaries

    From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.

    No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

    2014.03.30-The-Ten-WordsThis Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.

    For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

    It is a covenant relationship with a covenant people chosen by the LORD. The Hebrew people about to enter the land of Israel promised to Abraham have ONLY to obey the LORD.

    Two basic commands for those entering the Promised Land:

    “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth

    “you shall meditate on it day and night. – Joshua 1:8

    Joshua 11:3 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.

    Yet between the days of Moses and Joshua, until the days of the Kings of Israel: Saul, David, Solomon and generations to follow; did the people of God not do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?

    And lest we become so full of grace as to not confess our own failings:

    Are Christians any better at keeping the Commandments of God as part of our speech or keeping it in prayer and our thoughts day and night?

    Chosen or adopted, each of us sins and we all struggle with obedience to God.

    Joshua 23:14 NKJV

    “When you have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you.”

    The LORD God is a personal God. He loves those who love Him and hates those who love other gods and do evil. He IS a God of justice, yet a God of mercy. He has compassion on those wronged and will avenge those to whom we do evil.

    What is your witness and covenant?

    Who IS your lord?

    To be continued…

  • Reflections: Knowledge vs. Life

    Reflections: Knowledge vs. Life

    Man – adam, and woman made from man to be one with man and with God – Eve: now have knowledge of good and evil.

    NO more Paradise on earth – NO more Eden; no more garden of pleasure hedged in by the boundaries of righteousness. We must judge good and evil for ourselves (rather than simply obey God’s command).

    James 1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.  24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

    Man is no longer the perfect, sinless mirror image of the Living God. Sin has clouded our vision and our judgement.

    Yet the Lord is still near to those who will seek Him. Remember, the Lord God is a loving Father of all mankind; Creator of all that is good, corrector of all that is evil in the rebellious child.

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    Genesis 4The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 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.”

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    The relationship has changed because of evil. Man is no longer naked in paradise, but revealed in our sinfulness to our Father of righteousness. And the loving Father advises those who would hear. Yes, obedience to God remains our option of doing what is good in the eyes of the Lord.

    Yet we fail. As in Adam, so also in Cain and in the deceitful hearts, sinful flesh and rebellious spirit of every Adam… the misled heart of every Eve.

    Our willingly broken relationship with God leads us further and further from Eden.

    Genesis 6: Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” …

    The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. …

    Do your intentions and choices of your heart ever grieve the heart of your heavenly Father?

    Genesis 6: 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

    What is God’s judgement of the wickedness of these last days?

    Will God much longer endure sinful men without love and sinful women with callous hearts toward the love and righteousness of Christ Jesus?

    God continued in faithfulness to those faithful in love and worship of the Father of all that is good. The LORD gave man a new hedge of protection in the Law – the Law of Moses, as it is called – The Ten Commandments.

    Deuteronomy 4 “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live…”

    Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ …

    11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone…

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    The LORD no longer walks beside Moses or the leaders of God’s people. The LORD appears to the Hebrew people as an awesome and fearful sight! The LORD speaks from the darkness of what they cannot see and commands obedience.

    The people confirm their faith; they make their solemn promise – a covenant not unlike the covenant of marriage – with the Lord their God.

    Yet do they obey?

    Is it so hard for us to NOT commit adultery?

    Is it so difficult for us to follow even TEN clear Commandments of the LORD God?

    To be continued…