Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: living

  • WE Have Been Here Before – Expectant

    WE Have Been Here Before – Expectant

    An Expectant Gift Premature

    Our anticipation of Christmas each year points more toward the expectant gift than the expected Messiah. The world rushes about all around us, no prophet has been heard from for centuries and evil prevails in the palaces of power.

    We tell the child to play this game and ignore that evil. You deserve fantasies of falsehood and the best gifts of nature. I will get it now even months before your time, so that you may have the riches you deserve.

    This time anticipating the holidays (of Christmas) even more than every day is a time of the expectant child hoping for the best diversions the life of busy parents can offer. Yet what of the expectant mother?

    Pregnant with an Unexpected Child

    When honor of men and respect of women mattered, when life itself and the vastness of the heavens and earth filled man’s heart with awe, and when a child was to be born to a daughter of dust — we awaited the time of her miracle, the birth of the unexpected child.

    Though we did not know when, all certainly knew why and the inevitable outcome of one more created small being was never a choice. Praise God and honor the father, husband to this expectant mother. May the LORD grant this beloved expectant mother a quick and natural completion to this miracle of new life.

    Unexpectant Pregnancies Forgotten

    Birth is always a miracle. Yet what of the out-of-the-ordinary births of the sons of man to women of little importance? What of the children of these expectant mothers none thought of any significance?

    Elizabeth

    After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived and kept herself in seclusion for five months. She said, “The Lord has done this for me. He has looked with favor in these days to take away my disgrace among the people.”

    The Gospel of Luke 1:24-25

    39 In those days Mary set out and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah 40 where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit…

    57 Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she had a son. 58 Then her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her his great mercy, and they rejoiced with her…

    … “His name is John.” And they were all amazed.

    Hannah

    We do not hear much about Hannah preached, probably due to our sensitivity to the political and social correctness of this day. Hannah, however, was favored by the Lord and also her husband as we shall see.

    1 Samuel 1:

    [Elkanah] son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite… had two wives, the first named Hannah and the second … had children, but Hannah was childless.

    Like all genealogies, including that of Jesus, history emphasises the man. This history of Hannah (one of two wives) once again connects to the favor of a woman, a humble and loving woman like Mary mother of Jesus.

    4 Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice [to the Lord of Hosts], he always gave portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to each of her sons and daughters. 5 But he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved her even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving.

    The Expectant Father

    Every man becomes an expectant father the moment he loves the woman of his desire, yet he hopes to have won her heart forever.

    A child is the blessing of the mother, but the nobility of the father.

    Roger Harned

    8 “Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah would ask. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

    10 Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. 11 Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Armies, if you will take notice of your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life…

    17 Eli [the High Priest and Judge of Israel, a descendant of Aaron whose name means “ascension” ] responded,

    “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request you’ve made of him.”

    Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, because she said, “I requested him from the Lord.”

    Hannah’s Prayer

    Hannah prayed:

    My heart rejoices in the Lord;
    my horn is lifted up by the Lord.
    My mouth boasts over my enemies,
    because I rejoice in your salvation.
    There is no one holy like the Lord.
    There is no one besides you!
    And there is no rock like our God.

    1 Samuel 2:1-2

    3 The boy Samuel served the Lord in Eli’s presence. In those days the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.

    Sampson’s story

    Like Samuel the Priest who anointed Saul and David, we also know the hero of an earlier story and his genealogy. Again, a humble woman of the Lord waits for the Lord’s blessing.

    This too is a story of patience for a couple possibly expectant of the Lord doing great things through their faith. And the name of Manoah’s humble and faithful wife is not even recorded here.

    Judges 13:

    The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight…

    2 There was a certain man from Zorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are unable to conceive and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son…

    6 Then the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. He looked like the awe-inspiring angel of God. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 He said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son…

    Manoah Worships The Angel of the Lord

    … and the angel of God came again… 10 The woman ran quickly to her husband and told him, “The man who came to me the other day has just come back!”

    11 So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”

    “I am,” he said…

    13 The angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “Your wife needs to do everything I told her…

    15 “Please stay here,” Manoah told him, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

    … (Manoah did not know he was the angel of the Lord.)

    The Angel of the Lord

    פלאיה דַעַת מִמֶּנִּי נִשְׂגְּבָה לֹא־אוּכַֽל לָֽהּ׃

    Tehillim (Psalms) 139:6 :: Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC)

    17 Then Manoah said to him, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?”

    “Why do you ask my name,” the angel of the Lord asked him, “since it is beyond understanding.”

    Judges 13:18

    19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord, who did something miraculous while Manoah and his wife were watching.

    20 When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the Lord went up in its flame.

    When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown on the ground. 21 The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.

    22 “We’re certainly going to die,” he said to his wife, “because we have seen God!”

    23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and he would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us like this.”

    24 So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 Then the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him…

    The Wives of Abram

    Here too is a controversial conversation concerning the Lord’s promise to a man with two wives. (Therefore, we seldom mention that part of Abraham’s story.) Though the expectant father Abraham received the promise of the Lord, he had to wait for its fulfillment.

    Each segment of Abraham’s journey of faith becomes partial fulfillment of the the Lord’s promises fulfilled in Christ Jesus.

    Genesis 15:

    Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

     וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אַבְרָ֔ם הֵ֣ן לִ֔י לֹ֥א נָתַ֖תָּה זָ֑רַע וְהִנֵּ֥ה בֶן־בֵּיתִ֖י יֹורֵ֥שׁ אֹתִֽי׃

    Genesis 15:3 Masoretic text

    6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

    Genesis 16:

    וְשָׂרַי֙ אֵ֣שֶׁת אַבְרָ֔ם לֹ֥א יָלְדָ֖ה לֹ֑ו וְלָ֛הּ שִׁפְחָ֥ה מִצְרִ֖ית וּשְׁמָ֥הּ הָגָֽר׃

    Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.

    3 After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived…

    Hagar the maid of Sarai, also a wife to Abram, despises Sarai. Abram continues to allow his wife Sarai to rule over his other wife Hagar the Egyptian her maidservant. Hagar flees their household and provision.

    Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

    Genesis 16:7 NASB – with additional links to ‘mal’ak’ ‘Yĕhovah’

    8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” …

    9 Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority… I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count… Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael…”

    Hagar: expectant of a child troublesome to some even until this day.

    Eve – Mother of Man

    וְהָ֣אָדָ֔ם יָדַ֖ע אֶת־חַוָּ֣ה אִשְׁתֹּ֑ו וַתַּ֨הַר֙ וַתֵּ֣לֶד אֶת־קַ֔יִן וַתֹּ֕אמֶר קָנִ֥יתִי אִ֖ישׁ אֶת־יְהוָֽה׃

    Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.”

    Genesis 4:1 WLC; NASB

    One cannot fully approach the topic of birth and the expectant mother without some discussion of the first woman. Once again we cannot take time here to examine man and woman and child closely.

    Nevertheless we should look at the Person of the Lord in Moses’ narrative of creation.

    And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

    Genesis 2:18 NKJV

    Genesis 3:

    Adam and Eve were not blind, for they saw the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Before that their relationship with the Lord was a personal one with a God who walked and talked with them.

    Just one command, but like all mankind since they were enticed by the sin of disobedience to the Lord.

    8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

    “Where are you?”

    “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

    “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

    “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

    “What is this you have done?”

    Sin’s Imagination Beguiled Me

    “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

    Her husband also ate and blamed her, while Eve explains that the image of Satan (the serpent) beguiled (KJV) her.

    Are you and I so different when we sin?

    We know and will not dwell on the curses of sin.

    21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

    Then the LORD God said,

    “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.

    Genesis 3:22a NKJV

    And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

    23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

    An Expectation of Blessing

    Surely the Lord God will do good and has a plan. So should we not expect His mercy to right the wrongs of the past?

    The Person of the Lord God touches lives of the faithful, expectant worshipers of God’s own promises. And we know that the Lord has been here – on earth, that is, in Person. Also note this from the Lord’s last conversation in Eden: “Behold, the man has become like one of Us.”

    The Lord God, therefore, IS plural. The LORD IS ONE GOD, yet plural in Persons and His mysterious nature beyond our knowledge.

    LOOK – behold – we have seen the Lord, for He has been here before. Surely the Lord will return as He said.

    The continued story is that of Christmas
the awaited birth of the Messiah Jesus.
  • The End of the Living – a letter from Peter – 7

    The End of the Living – a letter from Peter – 7

    Living toward the End

    Peter challenges persecuted believers to Suffer for Good and trust God to punish those who do evil. He then proceeds to warn of the judgement and the end of those living souls as well as for those who are dead.

    Just as the end of all life will come, so must the end of your suffering. The Lord will judge your living soul accordingly after the time of all expires.

    Who shall give account?

    5 Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.

    1 Peter 4:5 KJV

    The King James Version translates the Greek of Peter’s letter into words somewhat quait to our 21st century hearing. “The quick and the dead,” refers to the condition of all being judged after our death. Yet don’t miss the encouragement here in Peter’s contrast between believers and disobedient sinners, those who both infiltrate the church and persecute believers.

    the living

    Most versions of the Bible translate ‘quick,’ ζάω [zaō] as “the living.” From this we hear expressions like, “as I live and breathe” or, “[be] among the living.”

    Consider our more familiar references to ‘quick’ as the pace of something, even our quickly passing life. We tend to rush through our living of life more so than persecuted believers of the first century church. Yet we would do well in our quickness of life to consider its brevity.

    to give an account

    Perhaps in our money-driven daily lives of this 21st century we quickly think of accounting as it relates to buying and selling. This approach to Peter’s meaning is not entirely wrong, but you cannot buy your own soul.

    No good you accomplish in your quick days of living this life can outweigh the many sins of your living flesh.

    3:19 בְּזֵעַת אַפֶּיךָ תֹּאכַל לֶחֶם עַד שֽׁוּבְךָ אֶל־הָאֲדָמָה כִּי מִמֶּנָּה לֻקָּחְתָּ כִּֽי־עָפָר אַתָּה וְאֶל־עָפָר תָּשֽׁוּב׃

    Genesis 3:19 
    By the sweat of your face
     You will eat bread,
     Till you return to the ground,
     Because from it you were taken;
     For you are dust,
     And to dust you shall return.”
    - Genesis 3:19 NASB

    So how does God balance the good of your quickly dying flesh with the evil of our living soul?

    The writer of Hebrews cautions those who turn against the Lord, providing an accounting of the judgment of souls.

    And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

    Hebrews 9:27-28 KJV

    Peter assures us that whether we suffer for good, experience persecution for Christ or conversely if our daily living displeases God, know that all will give an account. Even the dead will give an account for actions against God during their lifetime.

    You must give an account even for inattentiveness to your living soul, for all will will give an account before the Lord.

    Your life will pass quickly, then you will die and be called to God’s Throne of Judgment of your eternal living soul.

    to him that is ready to judge

    1 Peter 4:

    Who will judge?

    To whom will your departed soul be required to give an account of your living soul?

    Peter’s encouragement to persecuted believers goes back to the reason for and objects of their persecution.

    Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same understanding…

    3 For there has already been enough time spent in doing what the Gentiles choose to do…

    … and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

    They will give an account refers to the gentiles who remain sinful. The Lord will judge every soul of those who decay in the flesh, yet some living in sin may be saved by your preaching of the Gospel.

    Just as Christ preached to those in the grave, so also will your redeemed life doing good preach the Gospel to those who remain sinners. Perhaps the Spirit will use you to bring some back to life.

    6 For this reason the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead, so that, although they might be judged in the flesh according to human standards, they might live in the spirit according to God’s standards.

    Who will judge our living souls?

    A Hebrew understanding of living relates more to the soul than to our flesh.

    Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

    So also it is written, “The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

    Genesis 2:7; 1 Corinthians 15:45 NASB

    When will it all end?

    Certainly the end appeared to be at hand as the Roman Empire fell into further decline during the first century A.D. Peter writes to those living as Christians persecuted for their faith in Jesus. He too would suffer further and then be crucified in Rome.

    The church to whom Peter wrote suffered in their home towns in Asia minor (modern Turkey) as if the end of their lives could be at any time. The church in Jerusalem suffered greatly and Jerusalem itself would fall into ashes and dust at the hands of its Roman oppressors.

    Perhaps the end of all things is near. [1 Peter 4:7]

    Even in recent centuries some have thought judgement near.

    In October of the year of our Lord 1962, some will recall that the world stood at the brink of destruction by nuclear missiles from Russia and the U.S.

    In September of the year of our Lord 2001, some believed that an attack of followers of the false prophet would lead us into the last days. Perhaps it has. The Lord knows.

    But in any case, our end will come to the measured days of our mortal life. All will end, and then the judgement. God only knows when.

    And like the followers of Jesus to whom Peter wrote, we also know:

    We will die in the flesh and then be judged. AND our soul is saved from our sin by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ! Thanks be to God!

    Who shall give an account?

    Everyone – the living and the dead – will give an account for their living actions during the brief years of our flesh.

    οἳ ἀποδώσουσιν λόγον τῷ ἑτοίμως ἔχοντι κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς

    1 Peter 4:5 Morphological Greek New Testament

    So since all souls must give an account, let’s look deeper into Peter’s text of his first letter to the church (whose believers understand Greek).

    but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

    1 Peter 4:5 NASB

    λόγος

    Trench’s Synonyms: lxxvi. λαλέω, λέγω (λαλιά, λόγος).
    lxxxix. φωνή, λόγος.
    xc. λόγος, μῦθος.

    Do you see it – the account you must give?

    It’s Greek root is from a verb legō, meaning to say, speak or affirm. It is the same word Jesus uses when He says,

    “But I say G3004 to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court;
    and whoever says G3004 to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court;
    and whoever says, G3004 ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
    – Matthew 5:22 – Strong’s G3004 – BlueLetterBible.org

    From ‘legos,’ the root of the word Peter and Jesus use, we see that all will give an account for what we say, in addition to what we do. Yet returning to Peter’s use of account, look closer. Do you see the noun Peter uses?

    λόγος

    Logos – 

    The KJV translates Strong's G3056 in the following manner: 
    word (218x), saying (50x), account (8x), speech (8x), Word (Christ) (7x), thing (5x), not translated (2x), miscellaneous (32x).

    You will give an account [logos]. That is, of speech they will give an account for slander and words of hatred. They will give an account for false teaching which goes against the precepts of God.

    We all know that keeping score means to give an account at the end of the game. This is no game, but a brief life for which we will give account to Almighty God.

    Jesus often used this word with the same meaning as Peter uses here to encourage persecuted believers.

    “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts G3056 with his slaves.

    Matthew 18:23 NASB

    Greek-speaking Romans and Jews of the first century also referred to a word spoken from the Prophets in this way. Many of the Jews believed John the Baptist to be a Prophet with such power of the word of God spoken directly to man through him.

    Logos – Accounting in Peter’s words

    Peter has already encouraged readers of his letter with this same (logos) accounting:

    1Pe 1:23
    for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word G3056 of God.

    1Pe 2:8b
    for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, G3056 and to this doom they were also appointed.

    1Pe 3:1
    In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, G3056 they may be won without a word G3056 by the behavior of their wives,

    1Pe 3:15
    but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account G3056 for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

    Therefore, Peter will continue by urging us how to speak and act, now that we are in Christ. (I will continue Peter’s first letter to the church from his advise continuing in 1 Peter 4:7, God-willing.)

    Christ – the living logos

    No men understood better the accounting and true word of God than Jesus’ inner circle of Apostles. In addition to Peter, these included James and John.

    Consider the accounting of the living and the dead to be made before Almighty God from the words of the Apostle John, only surviving one of the Twelve who was not martyred for Christ Jesus. You may read of it in his letters, Gospel, or in The Revelation of Jesus Christ to the church:

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,
    who testified to the word G3056 of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
    Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words G3056 of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

    John, like those to whom Peter wrote, suffered for Christ. And as a living soul for Jesus writes to seven of the same churches in Asia with exhortation as to how we much live as Christ.

    John’s Gospel to the church best solidifies the identity of God and Christ. In fact, John includes this same word as Peter has just used in his letter.

    In the beginning was the Word, G3056 and the Word G3056 was with God, and the Word G3056 was God.

    And the Word G3056 became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

    John 1:1,8 NASB Strong’s G3056 – λόγος
    logos
    To be continued...