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Judgment among the gods – Psalm 82

A Plea for Righteous Judgment

Where, O Lord, will we find righteous judgment, truth of testimony, a jury of understanding?

If not at the Throne of Heaven, give us gods among us with Your own heart for justice and mercy.

Have mercy upon us, heavenly Father, for all men are sinners. Yet let us know your love for righteousness by Your penalty of the guilty.

Vindictive man of dust, cunning woman of deceit:

Do you cry out for vengeance against those who have trespassed your rights, while you plea for mercy for your betrayal of good?

What jury will hear their guilt while overturning your own sin?

82:1 מִזְמֹור לְאָסָף אֱֽלֹהִים נִצָּב בַּעֲדַת־אֵל בְּקֶרֶב אֱלֹהִים יִשְׁפֹּֽט׃

Psalm 82: A psalm of Asaph.

God stands in the divine assembly;

he pronounces judgment among the gods:

“How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?

The LORD God Most High! Among other gods?

What can it mean to speak of a divine assembly? Who can judge? Who are these judges of men and women?

We cannot know or face Almighty God in this life. Man knows not the judgment of the Most High, justice which makes right all that is wrong. The plea of this Psalm cries out to the Judge of all, to his appointed rulers.

God takes His stand in His own congregation;
He judges in the midst of the rulers.
Psalm 82:1 NASB

The NASB translation of Psalm 82 may help clarify, referring to the other gods as the congregation of God, rulers over the judged who He also judges.

Almighty God has all Authority! He sits among other gods, rulers of that which the Lord delegates.

Justice required of other gods

3 Provide justice for the needy and the fatherless;
uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
4 Rescue the poor and needy;
save them from the power of the wicked.”

5 They do not know or understand;
they wander in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

Our earthly judges, rulers seated in the thrones of justice, must judge rightly, helping their own subjects. These other gods in our earthly congregations owe obedience to the God above all gods.

6 I said, “You are gods;
you are all sons of the Most High.
7 However, you will die like humans
and fall like any other ruler.”

I say: to the President, the Premier, the Prime Minister; to the King and Prince, the Queen and Empress: You are gods – rulers over men and women under your dominion. Yet know your Authority comes down from the Most High God of Creation.

Though you eat bread by the sweat of your subjects, you will return to dust and you will fall like any prince, your ashes returned to dust.

Our plea to God

He IS God! above all men, above all spirits, above all rulers of heaven and earth! Our Father God rules over the congregation of the other gods. We can ask for justice and we may ask for mercy. Yet in true humility and obedience all will bow down.

8 Rise up, God, judge the earth,
for all the nations belong to you.

The Lord will judge the earth and nations.

Until that Day, He appoints judges, gods among us, men and women subservient to Almighty God.

David also says:

86:8 אֵין־כָּמֹוךָ בָאֱלֹהִים אֲדֹנָי וְאֵין כְּֽמַעֲשֶֽׂיךָ׃
Psalm 86:8 KJV

elohiym ‘Adonay ma`aseh

Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.

David also declares:

For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
Psalm 96:4-5 KJV

Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
Psalm 96:10 KJV

The LORD יְהֹוָה Yĕhovah shall judge righteously.

He IS a God among the gods of the earth, even in the council of the rulers of the heavens and the earth.

The gods and idols of the heathen, other nations who do not judge righteously must bow down to the LORD God, for He will give the rulers of the lands true and just council.

God among other gods

Many men and women of many nations worship gods of many names. God appoints other gods, rulers and judges, over the heathen and over the faithful. These will bow down to the Lord God, as will all men of dust and angels worship at His Throne.

We are His created. Let us worship the Lord.

One Flock, One Shepherd

6:4 שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃
6:5 וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃
Deuteronomy – KJV

: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל‬; “Hear, [O] Israel”

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Jesus, Shepherd of Israel, Son of God

Controversy erupts in Jerusalem among religious and political leaders – controversy even to this day. The Messiah Jesus comes before us as Redeemer and Sacrifice for our sins.

He was and IS and will be God, Judge of all souls.

Yet in this incident Jesus stands accused as a Son of Man, a god among other gods appointed to rule over the Jews.

John 10:

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus then refers to the rulers of the Jews, as “hired hands,” judges who do not care for the lives of their flock. It’s no small insult to the leading religious authorities, who later will convict Jesus wrongly before their own court. This God will become the Perfect Sacrifice for the sin of the world.

Solomon’s Porch overlooking the Temple courtyard

God among the appointed gods

23 Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25 “I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them. “The works that I do in my Father’s name testify about me. 26 But you don’t believe because you are not of my sheep…

“I and the Father are one.”
John 10:30 CSB – words of the Messiah Jesus

The religious officials answer:

33 “We aren’t stoning you for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because you—being a man—make yourself God.”

34 Jesus answered them,
“Isn’t it written in your law, I said, you are gods?
If he called those whom the word of God came to ‘gods’—and the Scripture cannot be broken— do you say,
‘You are blaspheming’
to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world,
because I said: I am the Son of God?
John 10:34-36 CSB

Jesus escapes their stoning during the Festival of Lights to become the Sacrifice of Most Holiness during the Passover.

He IS the body and blood, shed for our sin.

Let us worship and bow down only to Christ, our Lord and Savior. He IS a God among other gods and He will judge their righteousness and ours.

Amen.

November 7, 2018
A Witness through John – King of the Darkness

And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 9:11

Light from Darkness

What do you believe about light and darkness, about good and evil, about God and the opponents of the LORD?

John begins his gospel much like Genesis with contrasts between light and darkness and introduces evidence of the presence of Christ and the Spirit of God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…
That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.
John 1:1,5 CSB

John compares Jesus to light, God’s answer to formlessness and darkness. Moses illustrates darkness in the beginning (Genesis) as chaos prior to God’s intervention by creation.

Genesis 1:

2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.

And the Spirit of God moved like the wind over the gathering wave of a deep unending sea.

And God saw that it was good.

Light and darkness, good and evil, God’s plan and chaos: always separated. The Apostle John makes this separation very clear to the church as he writes in his third letter:

3 John 1:11 Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.

Choose Light or descend into darkness?

We like the Apostle John because he points us toward Christ’s love for the world. His gospel emphasizes Jesus’ love with little mention of the devil.

Some christians and others of this twenty-first century doubt the existence of the devil or question the influence, if any, of Satan and demons. We think we know these influencers of evil from other books of the Bible and tend to dismiss demons and devils.

John’s gospel is all about the Light.

John 1:9 The true light that gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

Yet Jesus cautions us, pointing to contrasts between light and darkness, good and evil, and yes, between following Him or the prince of darkness.

Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”
“I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness.
John 8:12 & John 12:46

These warnings against darkness from the Son of God ought to be enough, yet the prince of the world would tempt us to worldliness.

These warnings from John’s gospel do not differ from those of the Prophets.

Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD!
What will the day of the LORD be for you?
It will be darkness and not light.
Amos 5:15 CSB

Revelation – ἀποκάλυψις apokalypsis

When we think of young John, the loving faithful follower of Jesus, we forget that he lived a long life as the only surviving Apostle. Rome finally banished John to Patmos where he received a terrifying apocalypse from the risen Christ.

Orazio Fidani, Saint John the Apostle, c. 1640-56

God judges the world; that is, those of the world who have turned away from the only Savior, our Lord.

Do you fear the uncertainty of darkness?

Consider the uncertainty of death!

Should God punish sin?

Dare you consider the darkness of death, experienced by your soul?

Judgement of the World

“Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”
Revelation 16:1

Last Judgement – Michelangelo

10 The fifth [angel] poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness.

People gnawed their tongues because of their pain

11 and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they did not repent of their works.

Judgement! And punishment, even after death.

No redemption from sin, no help from the beast or false prophet.

Certainly no post-death incarnation into a new or different body, not even that of a lowly animal. (Such selfish idolatry of those lost souls who strictly adhere to such ancient lies or worship false gods.)

John proclaims Jesus’ love for the world! Yet the world rejects Him, because their deeds done in darkness are evil.

And who is behind it all? Who would lead sinners into a place of darkness and evil since the beginning of the world? John tells us.

That Great Dragon of Darkness

12:9 καὶ ἐβλήθη ὁ δράκων ὁ μέγας ὁ ὄφις ὁ ἀρχαῖος ὁ καλούμενος Διάβολος καὶ ὁ Σατανᾶς ὁ πλανῶν τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην ἐβλήθη εἰς τὴν γῆν καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτοῦ μετ’ αὐτοῦ ἐβλήθησαν

He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him. – Revelation 12:9

Revelation 9: The Fifth Trumpet

The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth. The key for the shaft to the abyss was given to him. 2 He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great furnace so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.

The Dragon Thrown Out of Heaven

⁷Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, ⁸but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer.

You with eyes to see, souls seeking the Light of salvation: observe the terrible intensity of the battle between good and evil – Satan’s opposition to the Lord God and Christ Jesus. It is a battle to the death for our souls!

Yet by the mercy of the LORD’s Sacrifice of love on the Cross for you, Christ Jesus purchased victory eternal over the dragon of darkness.

⁹So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.

The many names of the evil one

He hides in the shadows of darkness and speaks lies to false prophets. We know this dark imitator of light by many names, confusing even more our blurred vision of his subtle evil.

The great dragon – δράκων from familiar imagery of Greek mythology to John’s audience. The ancient serpent – ὄφις , a familiar reference to the cunning tempter in Eden , a clear reference to original sin חַטָּאָת.

John clarifies the identity of the enemy with two additional names more familiar to us, first: the devil – διάβολος diabolos in the familiar Greek, which means slanderer or accuser. He is known as the tempter πεῖρα, one who would bring you to a trial or terrible experience. It is a word from a root word πέραν meaning, ‘to pierce,’ which contains significant symbolism in the war between good and evil, between Christ and Satan.

John’s second identification is the most familiar and most feared: Satan. The contemporary name in the Greek, Σατανᾶς Satanas, also known to fellow Jews, believers along with John, as Satan שָׂטָן.

Revelation 16:10 refers to Satan’s princely throne as ‘throne of the beast,’ θηρίον thērion, implying his wild, venomous nature, even brutal, savage and ferocious, sometime illustrated as a bestial man.

Is is any wonder that the evil one wants man, created in the image of God, to dismiss him as myth?

More names of the prince of darkness

While relating the prophesy known as the fifth trumpet, John refers to Satan as: ‘the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.’

Luke’s Gospel describes the actions of demons, evil spirits influencing a human soul, confronting Jesus.

28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said in a loud voice,
“What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!”
29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man…
31 And they begged him not to banish them to the abyss.

Deep in the darkness of the pit of the abyss sits the throne of its angel and prince.

John identifies the destroyer of souls as Abaddōn, from the Hebrew אֲבַדּוֹן ‘abaddown most associated with the sheol and the grave.

The LORD brings death and gives life;
he sends some down to Sheol, and he raises others up.
1 Samuel 2:6

Knowing its familiarity to the learned Greek culture of the Roman empire, John also refers to the prince of darkness as Apollyōn, the Greek adjective for destroyer.

War in Heaven

War in Heaven by Pieter Paul Rubens, 1619

Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer.
Revelation 12:7-8

Though Satan rules the darkness and entices sinners to turn against Christ Jesus and bow down at the throne of darkness, dare you doubt the consequence of the war between good and evil?

Michael and Satan, by Guido Reni, c. 1636

Revelation 19:

Satan and the false prophet are defeated and punished.

The saints then reign with Christ.

The Lord reigns over a new creation and a new Jerusalem.

The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will be no more…
Revelation 22:3b-4a

The Apostle John pleas to his beloved churches, to beloved saints who claim Christ. The commandment of God is love, as Christ has loved us.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.
1 John 1:5

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

October 31, 2018
A Witness through John – Samira سمير
“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Jesus told them.
John 4:34 CSB

Shopping for Groceries

If you’re reading the Gospel (Good News) wondering why Jesus did something or other you will often find mentions of food. John answers our cravings into the personalness of Jesus with stories using symbolism for food, signs like turning water into wine or feeding of the five thousand.

In our series on the Gospel and writings of John you may find satisfaction for your hunger to know why Jesus did what He did. We left off with John’s most famous story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus in Jerusalem at night.

John 3:

22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent time with them and baptized.

23 John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there.

John then continues his stories of witness with Jesus having a conversation with someone unexpected as they travel north through Samaria, a woman at a well. Even though John was not present, he tells us what they said and provides context into why their conversation is important.

This story connects the first journey of Jesus and the Disciples in their travel and mission from Judea and Jerusalem, then back to the Galilean towns where they live.

Food for Thought

I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1 Corinthians 3:2 KJV http://blb.sc/008Bfe

To begin, just a brief mention here from a letter of the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth.

Paul uses a Greek word τροφή trophē which the King James Version translates literally as ‘meat.’ Trophe figuratively means nourishment, which most Bibles translate symbolically as food.

We have more here than just milk or a little ‘evangelism moment.’ This is meat for the mature believer with ears to hear, nourishment for our famished souls.

Jesus’ teaching to the Disciples after this encounter with the Samaritan woman and Paul’s encouragement to the church are the same; that is, both provide food to the mature listener.

John 4:

When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John (though Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), he left Judea and went again to Galilee.

“He, Jesus, left for Galilee. John records that his disciples were baptizing (presumably in the Jordan near where the Baptist drew crowds). As at other times Jesus may have gone ahead and set a meeting place with the Disciples for a later time.

Samaria from Jerusalem via mountains or Jordan River valley wilderness

4 He had to travel through Samaria; 5 so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph.

Retelling the Gospel

John would have learned this Gospel witness in the time that followed; for only Jesus and the woman at the well were present at first.

In order to put this conversation into an observable context I have chosen the name of Samira for the woman at the well.

Samira means ‘someone you chat with in the evening’ (in this instance, a Samaritan woman).

يرة‎ – a conversation in Samaria with the Messiah

Samira سميرة‎ – a woman at a well in Samaria

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water.

Jesus: Give me a drink

Samira: How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?

Jesus: If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.

Samira: Sir (سيدى) (sayedy), you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this ‘living water’?

You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.

Jesus: Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again.

In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.

Samira: Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.

John’s later commentary

[John (to the reader): The men of Sychar told me how their wives resented the sinful life of this woman, but Samira later witnessed to me that Jesus lovingly smiles at her, then initiating their quick dialogue.]

Jesus: Go call your husband and come back here.

Samira: I don’t have a husband.

Jesus: You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’ For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.

[John: She told me she wondered if this man could have spoken with the men in town; then thought, ‘No, it is not possible; for he has just arrived from the Jerusalem road.’ It was then that she knew this was no ordinary traveler and drew some water from the well for this son of man, as prophets are called.]

Jesus, a man like no other

Samira: Sir, I see that you are a prophet.

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.

Jesus: Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.

But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.

Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.

[John: That was the same thing Jesus had just said to the Pharisee Nicodemus in Jerusalem.]

Samira: I know that the Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When he comes, he will explain everything to us.

Jesus: I, the one speaking to you, am he. [ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ λαλῶν σοι]

The Messiah, the Christ

What a remarkable encounter John records. The Apostle will retell this story of Good News for years to come.

Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, has come not only for those in Judea and Jerusalem, but to those of all of Israel, even the despised Samaritans.

John’s Gospel records:

27 Just then his disciples arrived, and they were amazed that he was talking with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

Of course these were questions John also wanted to ask Jesus, but did not.

The Samaritan woman returns to Sychar and later men and women from town come out to the well by the highway to meet the Messiah in person.

John now records a conversation with Jesus and the Disciples with a focus no longer on water, but on food.

31 In the meantime the disciples kept urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

“I have food to eat that you don’t know about.

33 The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?”

34 “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

The Disciples most likely failed to understand this connection between their literal food and Jesus’ symbolic meat of spiritual nourishment.

Why would Jesus even stop to talk to this Samaritan woman?

35 “Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, and then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you:

A Harvest of Faith

What is the harvest? What does the Messiah mean?

Jesus speaks now to John and the Disciples.

Jesus: Listen to what I’m telling you:
- Open your eyes
- and look at the fields, because they are ready for harvest.
- 36 The reaper is already receiving pay
- and gathering fruit for eternal life,
- so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
37 For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’

38 I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor.”

The Harvest they Witnessed

What did the Disciples likely see? Crowds of Samaritans, men and women coming from town to see their Messiah. These must have looked like a flowing sea of ripened wheat moving in waves toward them.

Yet what harvest did Jesus see in Samaria?

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
John 6:27 KJV

Jesus tells John and the Disciples that they must work in the fields. They must stop and tell the people they meet about the meat or the food of the Gospel, the Good News of everlasting life.

Other translations of John 6:27 read: ‘Don’t work for the food that perishes..’ or ‘Do not work for food that spoils..’

Jesus and the Disciples were traveling though Samaria. The Disciples nearly missed the harvest, Jesus tells them before dwelling there for two nights. We almost miss the harvest as well.

Work for the ‘food that lasts for eternal life,’ ‘food that endures to eternal life..’ This is the joining of the Reaper and the Sower in Samaria in John 4. It is the joining with Jesus after the feeding of the five thousand in John 6.

We have food – food the Son of Man has given us, “.. because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”

Samira, first fruits of an abundant harvest – food for the faithful

Along a road less traveled in a place unexpected on the way to where we thought we were headed, a harvest of faith appears. In a simple encounter Jesus simply asks a sinner:

“Give me a drink”

What is your answer, fellow Samaritan, rejected gentile, priest or Levite?

What say you, when a stranger approaches and asks you,
“Give me a drink?”

Will you ‘love your neighbor’ with the food of eternal life, as Jesus did for Samira, a mere woman by a well on His journey to the Cross?
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To be continued...
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October 24, 2018