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Tag: God

  • The Beatitudes and the Multitudes – Introduction

    The Beatitudes and the Multitudes – Introduction

    You may not have thought of the beatitudes as a teaching related to preparation for Christmas (Advent), but by intention of the Spirit that is exactly what is on my heart.

    The usual Christmas liturgy of church begins just after the following genealogy of Jesus Christ (which we tend to skip over, just like those in Numbers, Kings and other historical Old Testament Books of the Bible).

    After you skip through the generations of Joseph, Jesus’ step-father, we will look back just a little at the historical time preceding the coming of the Messiah to a lowly manger in Bethlehem of Judea, before proceeding to the early teachings of Jesus on true blessings (Beatitudes, as we call them).

    Matthew 1

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

    1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

    2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.

    And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

    12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

    17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

    Now look back some to the generations between the destruction of Solomon’s Temple (9th c. B.C.) and the building of Herod’s Temple.

    David had united Israel and Judah. Solomon’s sons divided the Kingdom of God’s chosen people into Israel (under Jeroboam) and Judah (under Rehoboam, Matthew 1:7). Without going into the many historical details of these nations over the centuries, Israel eventually came under the influence of Samaria, which fell in 721 B.C., and Judah, which fell in 587 B.C. The walls were destroyed my Nebuchadnezzar and rebuilt by Nehemiah in the mid 5th century B.C. Several accounts of these times are recorded in Ezra-Nehemiah and Daniel.

    Alexander the Great conquered much of the known world in the 3rd c. B.C. from Greece west to India, spreading the eventual Greek language of the New Testament throughout the middle east. For some 400 years, Parthia was the largest organized state on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire until it was later captured by Rome later in A.D. 113 (during the days of early Christianity; but the unifying language of Judea and most of the Roman Empire was Greek (not Latin or local languages).

    Two groups of Jews locked in civil war when Pompey captured Jerusalem (106-48 B.c.) Herod (who was a half-Jew) chose the right side in the Roman conflict and was appointed King of Judea in 40 B.c. Herod conquered ‘his Kingdom’ with the ‘help’ of the Roman army. {Much of the preceding source information from: Historical Atlas of the Bible, by Dr. Ian Barnes}

    Into this often contested arena of Nations and Kings and Emperors and gods of every imagination and evil inclination of man is born Christ Jesus, Son of the Living God, conceived by the Holy Spirit; born of a virgin in Bethlehem of Judea. For thirty years Jesus, Emmanuel (God With Us), lives among the poor and downtrodden men of Galilee.

    Into this scene, Jesus is anointed for His fulfillment of prophesy and sacrifice of the Cross, filled with the Holy Spirit and living a life of sinlessness, teaching man (adam”) how God has intended us to live. Into a difficult time and place, where a people of God thought they lived lives cursed by God, Jesus comes to a mountainside teaching with the Authority of God Almighty and the power of the Holy Spirit.

    To be continued…

     

  • A Calm with the Storm

    A Calm with the Storm

    Take note of the calm following a storm of winter. A God-imposed calm in the places of hustle and bustle stills the plans and activities of man. Snow covers the streets and does not relent. His blanket of purity glistens upon the rooftops and signposts. Innumerable distinct flakes of cleansing whiteness fall on all creation not covered, all creatures and dirt of life’s daily dirge.

    A poet may speak of the calm before the storm or a painter glisten the canvas with a scene frozen in time, but God only interrupts our imaginings of daily life, our comings and our goings, our breathing in and breathing out. Only God does bring the storm and only God does cleanse the creation. Only God has brought the tempest. Only God does bring the calm.

    From the boat of fisherman on Chinnereth or from above the lower heavens known to man, God does stir the sea, calm the storm, bring in the tempest of wrath and set still the storm of bright cleansing.

    Psalm 107:29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

    As it is and was, it will always be. The Lord giveth and the Lord takest away. So even with the storm and the cleansing. So even with the earth and the cleansing.

    Revelation 15 And I saw another sign in the heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

    And I saw as if it were a sea of glass mingled with fire…

  • We Gather Together

    We Gather Together

    Perhaps you know the Thanksgiving hymn, “We Gather Together.”

    Look to the lyrics of the hymn of thanks and give thought to them:

    1.	We gather together 
	to ask the Lord's blessing; 
	he chastens and hastens 
	his will to make known.  
	The wicked oppressing 
	now cease from distressing.  
	Sing praises to his name, 
	he forgets not his own.

2.	Beside us to guide us, 
	our God with us joining, 
	ordaining, maintaining 
	his kingdom divine; 
	so from the beginning 
	the fight we were winning; 
	thou, Lord, wast at our side, 
	all glory be thine!

3.	We all do extol thee, 
	thou leader triumphant, 
	and pray that thou still 
	our defender wilt be.  
	Let thy congregation 
	escape tribulation; 
	thy name be ever praised!  
	O Lord, make us free!
e
source: We Gather Together lyric

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing. Yes, that's what Thanksgiving is all about. Yet dig deeper into the text of this formerly well-known Thanksgiving hymn (many churches no longer offer a service of Thanksgiving) and find more for which to be thankful.

To begin, here is an interesting looking a probable emergence of the hymn: The Surprising Origins of "We Gather Together"

    “We gather together” is cherished as yearly opportunity for family gatherings; however further examination of the lyrics suggest an occasion of worship “to ask the Lord’s blessing.”

    Do you gather together with other Christians (not just family) regularly to ask the Lord’s blessing? And if you do not bless God, would it not be appropriate for God to curse you? Therefore, let us always give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

    And if we receive blessings from the Lord day by day (and we do, if you will take note of these), should we not thank the Lord each and every day even as was ask the Lord’s blessing on the food and full provision for our lives?

    “He chastens…”

    Chaste: there’s a word you don’t see in the Christmas ads on T.V. or anywhere else.

    Chasten:

    1. to be instructed or taught or learn, correct,
    2. of those who are moulding the character of others by reproof and admonition
    3. of God to chasten by the affliction of evils and calamities

     Revelation 3:19

    As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

    What does it mean that the Lord rebukes and chastens his beloved (you an me, dear brothers and sisters in Christ)?

    Perhaps you think that Thanksgiving is not a time for ‘rebuke’ from the Lord. Yet if we are unrepentant in our relationship to the Lord and in our relationships to each other, I can think of no better time for a loving Father to rebuke and correct His children, even adopted children through the Cross of our Lord, His only Son, Jesus Christ.

    He chastens AND…

    “… and hastens His will to make known.”

    “Thy will be done,” is the prayer we all pray.

    What is God’s will for you? Do you want to God’s will when you finally get around to it? Or if we listen to the lyric, it would seem that God would make haste in our measured days to make His will know to us.

    “The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.”

    A definition (as if we need a reminder): oppression – prolonged cruel or unjust treatment, mental pressure or distress

    The world surrounds us with wicked oppressing; but thank be to God for redeeming us from oppression of our our sin. Is anything more oppressing than sin? Yet by grace we may cease from distressing over the punishment of the Father we truly deserve.

    And what should be our response to the lifting of our oppression from us by the grace of the Cross?

    “Sing praises to his name…”

    Indeed, Thanksgiving is all about worship of God our Father and Christ Jesus.

    Thank God; for:

    “… he forgets not his own.”

    Colossians 1

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

    Verse 2.

    Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining…

    Encouraged?  You know this from the Christmas message:

    Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

    “… ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;”

    Jesus began the Kingdom. Jesus maintains His Kingdom. Jesus will return for His subjects… His family.  He will reign.

    We thought that we were losing out on life, but by accepting Jesus as our King we cannot be defeated.

    Hebrews 12: 1b-2 NKJV

    … let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

    “so from the beginning the fight we were winning; thou lord wast at our side,”

    Isn’t it comforting to know in our daily struggles that Jesus stands right there with us? It’s just one more reason to praise him.

    “all glory be thine!”

    Verse 3

    “We all to extol thee, thou leader triumphant,”

    ‘Extol.’ It’s an old word that has fallen from our vocabulary. It means to praise enthusiastically. Furthermore, it is appropriate to make mention of another old English usage that has fallen by the wayside. The King James Version of the Bible remains popular with many because of its use of ‘thee and thou.’ It is a proper reverence for God and Christ, lost in familiarity of worshipers bordering on disrespect. Our attitude of worship (as a church and in our family and personal life) should at the very least show God the respect due a father. Often, it does not.

    Jesus has triumphed over death… and He did it for us. IF Jesus is our Lord, He IS our leader triumphant.

    “and pray that thou still our defender wilt be.”

    We will be raised up with Him at the Judgment.

    1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

    “Let thy congregation escape tribulation;”

    Do you know what tribulation is really? According to the Oxford Dictionary, its a cause of great trouble or suffering.

    First century Christians suffered much tribulation from evil men opposed to Christ. Last century Christians will suffer a worse tribulation under the oppression of the Antichrist and the persecution by all those opposed to Jesus Christ as Lord. Yet we are victorious in Christ Jesus, who has overcome death, will defeat Satan, and rule a new heaven and a new earth. We will reign with Jesus our Lord!

    For this we ought to have much thanks giving.

    “thy name be ever praised!”

    And one final plea of the hymn (only it is not for freedom from tyrants):

    “O, Lord, make us free.”

     Are you part of the family of God? Or do you remain a slave to your sin?

    John 8: ““Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

    You may gather with ‘family’ and give brief thanks for too much food; but Thanksgiving is much more than this.

    Psalm 102:18-22

    Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
    so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD:

    that he looked down from his holy height;
    from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,

    to hear the groans of the prisoners,
    to set free those who were doomed to die,

    that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD,
    and in Jerusalem his praise,

    when peoples gather together,
    and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.

     Happy Thanksgiving.

    Praise the Lord.

    Jesus IS Lord.