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Tag: sins

Nehemiah 9 – The People Confess Their Sins
Today’s Short Take on Scripture focuses on confession.

Yesterday this personal conviction came to mind from imprinted corporate confession of the church. (You’re church may not use such a confession, but should they lead us in this way?)

Confession of Sin Before Communion

Corporate Confession of Sin by the Church
```
From the Anglican BCP [Book of Common Prayer] (public domain, source not secure)
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Minister and People
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Almighty God,
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
maker of all things, judge of all men:

We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness,
which we from time to time most grievously have committed,
by thought, word, and deed, against thy divine Majesty,
provoking most Justly thy wrath and indignation against us.
We do earnestly repent,
and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings;
the remembrance of them is grievous unto us,
the burden of them is intolerable.
Have mercy upon us,
have mercy upon us, most merciful Father;
for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
forgive us all that is past;
and grant that we may ever hereafter
serve and please thee in newness of life,
to the honor and glory or thy Name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
```
Excerpts Nehemiah 9:
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New King James Version; Неемія 9
 Ukrainian Bible; Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition; נחמיה The Westminster Leningrad Codex; Неемия 9 New Russian Translation
```
A corporate Confession of Sin after the jews rebuild the second temple

9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers..

And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God..

“You came down also on Mount Sinai,
And spoke with them from heaven,
And gave them just ordinances and true laws,
Good statutes and commandments.

“But they and our fathers acted proudly,
Hardened their necks,
And did not heed Your commandments.
They refused to obey,
And they were not mindful of Your wonders
That You did among them.
But they hardened their necks,
And in their rebellion [They].. [sinned: a long list of confession]
Nehemiah 16-17a – Corporate Confession of Sin by the people prior to rededication to worship of the Lord God

30 Yet for many years You had patience with them..

But we have done wickedly.
34 Neither our kings nor our princes,
Our priests nor our fathers,
Have kept Your law,
Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies,
With which You testified against them..

“Here we are, servants today!
Nehemiah 9:36a NKJV

For You are God, gracious and merciful.

32 “Now therefore, our God,
The great, the mighty, and awesome God,
Who keeps covenant and mercy:
Do not let all the trouble seem small before You
That has come upon us,
Our kings and our princes,
Our priests and our prophets,
Our fathers and on all Your people,
From the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.

“And because of all this, We make a sure covenant and write it;
Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it.”
9:38 [NKJV] (WLC 10:1)וּבְכָל־זֹאת אֲנַחְנוּ כֹּרְתִים אֲמָנָה וְכֹתְבִים וְעַל הֶֽחָתוּם שָׂרֵינוּ לְוִיֵּנוּ כֹּהֲנֵֽינוּ׃

My question for your COMMENT is:

How should the people confess OUR SINS?
Roger@TalkofJESUS.COM
March 4, 2022
For you will always have the poor – 4

ἀλάβαστρον – alabastron

The alabaster receptacle of the anointing oil

To understand why Jesus would say, “the poor are with you always,” we must understand anointing as commonly understood in the culture of the day.

People traveled to and from homes with no running water mostly by foot and anointing is often associated with washing or cleansing. Jesus instructs us to give to the poor. He cautions not to neglect washing or anointing ourselves with oil when we fast for the Lord.

MATTHEW 6:17-18

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

A common anointing

Anointing with oil along with washing up was part of hospitality, a godly attribute commanded of the Jews. Of course these various oils and ointments needed kept in some sort of container.

On special occasions a newly opened, expensive fresh oil was most appropriate. The ancients considered alabaster to be the best material in which to preserve their ointments. Breaking the box, probably means breaking the seal of the box. 1.

An earlier anointing

This scene takes place in the early days of Jesus’ preaching of the Good News in Galilee. Jesus cleansed lepers. Jesus healed a man who could not walk and a man who could not use his hand.

Crowds came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled with unclean spirits cured and all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

LUKE 7:

Jesus heals the servant of a Roman soldier by command from afar. Amazingly, Jesus raised the son of a widow to life from a coffin at his funeral! Healing – healing of every imaginable sort, cleansing of the body and soul by the hand of God!

36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

Jesus accepts our common anointing

There it is again, earlier in Jesus’ ministry, the alabaster flask of ointment. How does Jesus react here in the presence of his esteemed host?

44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

Consequently, Jesus admonishes his host for neglecting the very least of hospitality commonly extended to guests. He corrects Simon’s hesitation to honor a guest by instead praising the anointing by this woman. For she has done what Simon was obliged to do. And the Lord further emphasizes his authority by his peace of dismissal.

” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Anointed as a welcome guest, healer, one who revives the soul of one dead in the flesh. Jesus, anointed as a King given His due. And finally, anointed for his own burial, only to rise again to rule eternally.

To be continued…

August 12, 2017
An Acceptable Sacrifice

Psalm 50

The Acceptable Sacrifice

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹The mighty one, God the Lord,
    speaks and summons the earth
    from the rising of the sun to its setting.
²Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
    God shines forth.

³Our God comes and does not keep silence,
    before him is a devouring fire,
    and a mighty tempest all around him.
⁴He calls to the heavens above
    and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
⁵“Gather to me my faithful ones,
    who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
⁶The heavens declare his righteousness,
    for God himself is judge. Selah

⁷“Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
    O Israel, I will testify against you.
    I am God, your God.
⁸Not 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.

Mark 11:

⁸And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹And those who went before and those who followed were shouting,“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

¹¹And 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:

¹⁶But to the wicked God says:
    “What right have you to recite my statutes
    or take my covenant on your lips?
¹⁷For you hate discipline,
    and you cast my words behind you.
¹⁸If 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.
²⁰You sit and speak against your brother;
    you slander your own mother’s son.
²¹These 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

¹⁵And 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. ¹⁶And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷And 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.”

¹⁸And 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. ¹⁹And when evening came they went out of the city.

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Psalm 51:

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

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

Psalm 68:

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

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

Psalm 69:

⁹For zeal for your house has consumed me,
    and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

¹⁹You know my reproach,
    and my shame and my dishonor;
    my foes are all known to you.
²⁰Reproaches 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.
²¹They gave me poison for food,
    and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

+

To be continued…

March 31, 2015