Mark 7: Dogs and Children’s Crumbs

Today’s reading is Mark 7.

Admittedly, Jesus’s response to the Syrophoenician women is shocking. It seems out of character. He has consistently shown compassion to the most unclean. But He refuses a miracle and calls this woman a dog. What is that about?

The stage was already set for Jesus to work with a woman like this back in Mark 3:7-12. There we were told part of the crowd coming to Him was from Tyre and Sidon. No exception is made in that text regarding their sick being healed and their demons being cast out. Maybe we assume those crowds were Jews among the Diaspora in Tyre and Sidon.

When the Gentile woman begs on behalf of her daughter, Jesus says:

Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.
—Mark 7:27 (ESV)

We are left wondering why Jesus even traveled into Tyre and Sidon if He was going to dismiss the inhabitants in such a way. But, like the parables which arrest our attention and cause us to ask if something else is really being discussed below the surface, this shocking response causes us to pause and dig deeper before moving on.

Are we really to believe Jesus was against helping this woman until she outsmarted Him in a game of wits? I find that difficult to believe. Rather, it makes much more sense that Jesus allowed this scenario to play out in order to draw attention to a lesson His apostles needed to learn, the woman needed to learn, and we need to learn. What lesson is Jesus bringing to the forefront?

Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus teaches, “Do not give the dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you” (Matthew 7:6, ESV). How easily the Jews following Jesus might latch on to this statement. How easily they might say to themselves, “Gentiles are dogs. We shouldn’t teach the gospel to Gentiles.” Yet, now we see Jesus in a different setting giving the other side of this teaching. The Jews following Jesus have to moderate the one teaching with the other demonstration.

In Matthew 7, Jesus was not claiming the gospel is not for Gentiles. After all, the gospel may be to the Jews first, but it is also for the Gentiles (see Romans 1:16). The “dogs” then from whom holy things must be kept are not people of a certain bloodline or ethnic heritage. They are those who have demonstrated themselves hostile to the gospel no matter their ethnicity or nationality. Remember, in the limited commission of Mark 6:11, if people did not receive the gospel, the disciples were not to quit spreading the gospel. But at the same time, they weren’t supposed to simply keep trying to force a village, city, or people to accept it. They were to shake the dust of their feet as a testimony against the rejecters, but then they were to move on.

What a surprising point this would be for Jews of that day. A Gentile might indeed be the little dog under the table eating the children’s crumbs, but a Jew might be the wild dog from whom the holy things must be kept.

When Mark wrote his account of the gospel, Peter had already taken the gospel to the Gentiles. The meeting in Jerusalem in Acts 15 had already taken place. This story demonstrates for all that the apostles and Christians had not gone out on their own adding something to the teaching of Jesus by including Gentiles in the kingdom. Jesus had always demonstrated the good news is for Jews and Gentiles alike. Yes, to the Jew first, but also to the Greek.

And I praise the Lord for that because I’m one of those Gentiles. Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Mark 7.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Mark 7 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Revelation 21: A Priestly City of Refuge

Today’s reading is Revelation 21.

A Gold City with Bejeweled Walls

New Jerusalem, we are told, was as a bride adorned for her husband. When described as a city, that gets presented as a radiant city of light, with jasper walls, and streets of gold. Notice, the city itself is also described as “pure gold, clear as glass.”

Then we read the foundations of the walls are adorned with all kinds of jewels: jasper, sapphire, agate, emerald, onyx, carnelian, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, amethyst. What a shining array.

What significance does this bejeweled description have? If any? Are we simply to be awed at the beauty, wealth, and splendor of the city? Perhaps. However, I think we are supposed to draw connections to another ancient picture.

The Priest’s Golden Breastplate

According to Exodus 28:15-30 and 39:8-21, the high priest was to wear a golden breastplate adorned with 12 stones. Each stone was to have a name of one of the Israelite tribes engraved on it. The stones were sardius, topaz, carbuncle, emerald, sapphire, diamond, jacinth, agate, amethyst, beryl, onyx, jasper. They were to be set in gold filigree.

We find a very similar list of stones in Ezekiel 28:13. In this verse, Ezekiel compares the king of Tyre to Adam as a priest in the garden and declares “every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings” (ESV).

Admittedly, these lists of jewels set in gold are not exactly the same as the jewels set in the golden New Jerusalem with gates labeled for the twelve tribes of Israel. However, there is enough overlap to draw a connection. Comparing the Greek terms in Revelation 21 with the Greek of the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew scriptures, we find the following overlap: jasper, sapphire, emerald, carnelian, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, amethyst. Two-thirds of the stones are the same.

A Priestly Headdress

In addition to the breastplate, the high priest was also supposed to wear a special headdress. According to Exodus 28:36-38 and 39:30-31, the high priest wore a turban with a name plate on it. The name plate was inscribed with “Holy to the LORD.”

According to Revelation 22:4, the citizens of New Jerusalem are the ones sealed with the name of the Lord on their foreheads. We are not really surprised by this, are we? After all, this city is made up of a kingdom of priests (see Revelation 1:6; 5:10: 20:6). They are the same people who in Revelation 7:15 serve the Lord night and day in his temple. That is, they are priests.

Priestly Cities

In Joshua 20-21, when the Promised Land was divided and allotted among the twelve tribes, the Levites didn’t receive an inheritance per se. The Lord was their inheritance. However, they were given cities throughout the allotments of the other tribes. Some of these cities were set up as cities of refuge.

Someone who had accidentally killed another person could flee to a city of refuge and find protection. If the trial decided they did indeed kill accidentally instead of by murder, they could stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. When the high priest died, they were free to leave the city.

Our golden bejeweled city full of priests is precisely that kind of city. It is the priestly city of refuge. We who have sinned, having washed our robes in the blood of the Lamb are able to dwell in the city and find refuge. The accuser and avenger cannot harm us while we stay in that city. Of course, our high priest lives forever. We will live and reign there forever. But why would we want to leave that city?

In fact, that is precisely part of the problem in Revelation. Some of the Christians were stepping their toes into Babylon. Rather than staying strictly in the measured and protected city of God, the priestly city of refuge, New Jerusalem, they wanted to dwell, at least part time, in that other city. But know this, when the “manslayer” leaves the city while the high priest lives, death is the only outcome.

We have found the city built by God. We have come to the eternal High Priest who is the sacrifice for our sins. We have come to the priestly city of refuge. If we dwell there now, we will be blessed to dwell there forever under the watchful care and protection of our everlasting High Priest.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 21.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 21 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Revelation 18: Trading in Souls

Today’s reading is Revelation 18.

The Judgment on Tyre

In Monday’s post, one of the background passages I suggested you read was Ezekiel 26-28. Though this passage was written about the ancient seaside city of Tyre, the connections between that oracle and Revelation 18 is unmistakable.

In Revelation 18:17b-19, we read:

And all the shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, “What city was like the great city?” And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste (ESV).

See how similar this is to Ezekiel 27:29b-33:

The mariners and all the pilots of the sea stand on the land and shout aloud over you and cry out bitterly. They cast dust on their heads and wallow in ashes…in their wailing they raise a lamentation for you and lament over you: Who is like Tyre, like one destroyed in the midst of the sea? When your wares came from the seas, you satisfied many peoples; with your abundant wealth and merchandise you enriched the kings of the earth (ESV).

The parallels are clear. Babylon, like Tyre of old, would be judged. And the surrounding nations would not mourn the loss of Babylon for the sake of Babylon, but because the goose that laid their golden eggs had been cooked.

Trading Like Tyre

In Ezekiel 27:12-25, Ezekiel declared the extent of Tyre’s sea-faring trade. He listed 19 cities, states, countries, regions which traded extensively with Tyre. He explained these merchants traded in silver, iron, tin, lead, bronze, souls of men, horses, ivory, ebony, emeralds, purple, embroidery, coral, ruby, wheat, honey, oil, wool, wine, iron, cassia, calamus, lambs, rams, goats, precious stones, gold, garments, and carpets.

In Revelation 18:11-13, the voice from heaven declares the goods in which Babylon traded and by which the merchants and kings of the earth were made rich:

And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is human souls (ESV).

While the lists are not identical, the overlap is unmistakable. Babylon in Revelation, like Tyre in Ezekiel, was wealthy and made a certain class of people wealthy alongside her. But all this trade will come to naught when God brings judgment on her. And the merchants will mourn at their loss of wealth, not at their loss of Babylon.

A different Ending

Go back and reread the passages above from Ezekiel 27 and Revelation 18 describing the merchandising. Clearly, though the voice of heaven is anchoring its speech in the ancient oracle of Ezekiel, it is doing so to make its own point. It isn’t simply quoting and repeating. It is borrowing imagery to drive home a new point.

One obvious difference is the voice from heaven doesn’t use the same order as that of Ezekiel. Heaven’s voice seems to have a loose order that builds to a crescendo. It starts with inanimate objects of value, moves to decorative items, then to scents and spices, then to foodstuffs, then to living creatures. But notice the very end.

In Ezekiel 27:13, the trade of human beings is casually slipped in without emphasis in the long litany of goods and merchandise. However, in Revelation 18, the voice from heaven builds until it crescendos with the declaration that Babylon traded in “slaves, that is, human souls” (ESV). Allow me to share Robert Young’s more literal translation:

…and cattle, and sheep, and of horses, and of chariots, and of bodies and souls of men (Revelation 18:13 b, YLT)

Despite several translators making the choice to say “slaves,” the text actually says, “bodies.” Don’t neglect to tie this back to where the list began in vss. 11-12. As the list begins with *cargo* of gold, silver, etc., it ends with cargo of bodies and souls of men. Can you think of a more dismissive and degrading way to speak of trading in humans, what we today call “human trafficking”? They weren’t trading in people, but in bodies. However, heaven’s voice wants us to understand this was not merely a trade in bodies but in lives or souls.

The issue is not merely that among other trades they also traded in slaves. The issue is they traded lives, they traded souls. The first time “souls” is found in Revelation is Revelation 6:9 when we read of the “souls of those who had been slain for the word of God.” In Revelation 12:11, we learn about those who conquered the beast because they loved not their “lives” or “souls” even unto death. In Revelation 20:4, John saw the “souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus.” Yes, we do see this word used as an adjective to describe the “living” things and creatures that died when the trumpets sounded (Revelation 8:9) and the bowls were poured out (Revelation 16:3). But the emphasis in Revelation is clear. Souls are lives, human lives.

Babylon had slain and ended the lives of Christians. The beast had tormented the lives of disciples to death. But in like manner, their very means of business and prosperity was on the backs of the bodies and souls of men. They didn’t merely trade in goods, they traded in lives, in souls. Who mined the silver and gold? Slaves. Who milled the wheat into fine flour? Slaves. Who harvested the spices, who weaved the garments, who pressed the oil, who tended the animals? Slaves. Who lived and died in poverty and oppression so the merchants and kings could have their wealth? Slaves. That is, Babylon traded in the bodies and souls of men. The blood/souls of the martyrs cried out against Babylon. But so did the blood/souls of the traded cargo of bodies. While the blood of martyrs watered the seeds of Christ’s kingdom, we can say the blood of slaves watered the wealth of Babylon. And for that latter claim, Babylon would be judged.

Don’t Treat People as Commodities

Let us not be deceived. When we treat the bodies and souls of our fellow man as nothing more than commodities from which we can enrich ourselves, we are compromising with Babylon. James 5:1-6 demonstrates there will be those who own the fields and there will be those who work the fields. No doubt, those who own the fields will have more than those who merely work them.

However, in the context of James’s sermon on the pure and undefiled religion of loving God and loving our neighbors, he essentially parallels visiting orphans and widows in their affliction (James 1:27) with impartiality between the rich and the poor when they come in our assemblies (James 2:1-7) with giving to our needy brothers and sisters what is needed for their bodies (James 2:15-16) with giving living wages to workers (James 5:1-6). In other words, one way in which we can love our neighbors is to provide meaningful work for them through which they can actually make a living and provide for their families. Babylonians bring workers into their fields in order to line the pockets of the Babylonians and squeeze as much out of the bodies and souls of the workers as they can. Disciples bring in workers to provide a mutually beneficial means for loving, sharing with, providing for, and caring for the bodies and souls of the workers.

Let us take care not to get caught up in the sins of Babylon just for the sake of putting dollars in our retirement accounts or even food on our tables.

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 18.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 18 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Psalm 87: The City Whose Builder is NOT God

Today’s reading is Psalm 87.

God built and loves Jerusalem, the city on His holy hill Mt. Zion. However, He calls to mind some other cities or kingdoms: Rahab (a poetic reference to Egypt, Isaiah 30:7), Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, Cush.

Egypt and Babylon represented the two bookends of Israel’s enemies in the Old Testament. Philistia was a group of five cities smack in the middle of the Promised Land which were always a thorn in Israel’s side. Tyre was a sometimes friend whose commercial and material prosperity were a stumbling stone for Israelites at times. Cush was beyond Egypt and likely just represents another city/kingdom at the remotest part of the known earth. God says He recalls these cities/kingdoms to His friends. But why?

I can’t help but see “Babylon” in the middle of this list. You may be aware “Babylon” is a transliteration of the Greek name of the city. In Hebrew, we find a far more ancient name: Babel. That’s right, the city and tower built in Genesis 11 by people trying to supplant God with their own unity and technological ingenuity. From that moment on Babel/Babylon became the archetype of enemy for God’s people, God’s kingdom, God’s city. The Bible begins with the contrast between Eden and Babel, and it ends there, too. There is always the city whose builder is God. But there is also always the city whose builder is NOT God.

Surrounding Babel in Psalm 87 are these other cities/kingdoms. Egypt, some of whose cities were built on the backs of Israelite slave labor; Philistia whose five cities were a constant rival; Tyre whose material prosperity rivaled Jerusalem; and Cush a distant city which played little in the history of Israel but represents an unreachable enemy.

While these actual cities/kingdoms don’t exist today (perhaps an argument could be made for Egypt, and Iraq constantly wants to pretend to Babylon), the concept does. Babel constantly wages war with Christ’s heavenly Jerusalem. The pull of unity with the world, supplanting the wisdom of God with the technological ingenuity and philosophies of man, lingers. The Tyrian fixation on commercial and material gain over reliance on God tempts us constantly. The persecution of Egyptian taskmasters trying to browbeat us into submission will not go away. And whether the cities are near like Philistia or far like Cush, the thorn in our side of the staining worldly perspective always threatens.

But, these are not God’s city. Though they mirror, copy, and emulate God’s way, they are mediocre copies at best and deadly, poisonous substitutes at worst. Like Babylon in Revelation, they wage war and try to tempt us away from God’s city and from being God’s bride. But only God’s city wins.

Though these worldly cities attack and tempt, do not be moved. Hang on to Jesus. Stay in His city. In the end, we will win.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 87.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 87 prompt or improve your trust in God?

Psalm 87: The Victorious City

Today’s reading is Psalm 87.

When we take Psalm 87 as a singular literary unity, it is a beautiful psalm about Jerusalem on God’s holy hill, Zion. God founded it. God loves it. God says glorious things about it and so does everyone else.

However, we aren’t reading this as a singular literary unit. We are reading through the psalms one at a time. We’ve noticed a bit of story develop between the psalms. Surely, we can’t help but recall as we walked through the Asaph cycles (73-76; 77-83) noticing the focus on the Sanctuary and its destruction. In Psalm 74:2-3, Mt. Zion became perpetual ruins. However, in Psalm 76:2-4, another Zion psalm, God’s abode in Zion is established and it is more glorious than mountains full of prey. In Psalm 78:68-69, the Lord chose Mt. Zion, built His sanctuary there, and founded it forever. But in Psalm 79:1, the nations have entered Jerusalem and destroyed the temple.

When the Korah psalms began in Psalm 84, we read of a Levite longing to get back to his work in the house of God. But in Psalm 85, we recognize the Israelites have gone back into sin and need restoration again. Psalm 86 presents the prayer of the king seeking God’s deliverance. While it is an individual lament, as goes the king, so goes the people, and so goes the city. Then we read Psalm 87.

What do we find? An established city. A glorious city. A victorious city.

There seem to be two ways to read this psalm. On the one hand, Psalm 86:9 says, “All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name” (ESV). Some read Psalm 87 as the commentary on this verse, if you will. Rahab (a poetic name for Egypt), Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, Cush are welcomed into the city of God, submitting to Zion and YHWH. The city is so glorious because it becomes the home for all who will surrender to YHWH whether Jew or Gentile. What a beautiful picture. This seems to be the majority view on how to read the psalm.

The second way to read it recalls the first Korahite cycle beginning in Psalm 42. Recall that Psalm 84 mirrors Psalm 42-43 as the song of someone longing to get back to Zion. Then Psalm 85 mirrors Psalm 44 as the song of Israel fallen into sin for a second (third, fourth, etc.) time. Psalm 45 was the praise of God’s king and Psalm 86 is the prayer of God’s king. Psalm 46-48 are a set of Zion psalms in which God and His kingdom are exalted above the nations by judging the nations (see Psalm 46:7-11; 47:3, 8; 48:1-8). If mirroring that cycle, then this psalm should be read as Zion being exalted above the named nations. Though those nations had bragged about their citizens, in the end, Zion and her citizens will win the bragging rights.

Either way, Zion wins! Either way, God’s city is victorious. Either way, if you want to be on the winning side, you want to be in God’s city.

Whose side are you on?

Today’s reading is Psalm 87.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 87 prompt or improve your praise of God?

Psalm 83: A Prayer for When Enemies Surround Us

Today’s reading is Psalm 83.

Our psalmist’s cry is intense. A coalition of enemies has arisen against Israel beyond compare. The coalition reminds us of the one Jehoshaphat faced in 2 Chronicles 20. However, this one is five times as intense. The Asaphite mentions 10 city-states or nations: Edom, Ishmaelites, Moab, Hagrites, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, Tyre, and Asshur (Assyria). The thing is we can’t find any time in Israel’s history a coalition like this actually came against God’s people. While 2 Chronicles 20 may give us a pragmatic look at what facing this kind of enemy would be like, the psalm wasn’t likely written during that time. Though, no doubt, if already written, it would be a perfect prayer for that time. However, the mention of Assyria likely puts this psalm later than Jehoshaphat’s time.

Likely, our psalmist is writing in extreme terms. He pictures traditional enemies of Israel all gathering together at the same time not to describe the literal events but to describe the perceived danger. These enemies are from the north, the west, the east, and the south. God’s people are surrounded. What chance does Israel have against such an all-encompassing coalition? God is her only hope. And so the psalmist prays.

I can’t help but think of spiritual Israel’s plight today. Do you ever feel like Christ’s kingdom is surrounded by enemies? Does it seem like a coalition is against us? There are the militant atheists, the false Christianities, followers of pagan deities, false religions, activists for immorality, and even those who just think none of it matters. And while “tolerance” is the modern buzzword and “coexist” decorates a million bumpers, activists among all these opponents make it clear they want God’s kingdom in Christ wiped out and Christ’s name forgotten (or at least His teaching). Or perhaps, they tell us, they wouldn’t actually wipe us out if we would just submit and keep quiet.

What can we do? Exactly what this psalmist does. We can pray. And while the psalm was not likely written in the days of Jehoshaphat, the similarity between the two prompts me to look to those events in which Jehoshaphat admitted the enemy was too big for him and for his army. I love his prayer, “O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12, ESV).

Our enemy is cunning, baffling, and powerful. The casualties in this war discourage us sometimes to the point of desperation. At times it seems like we cannot possibly avail against the horde arrayed against us. But our God is bigger than all our enemies. He will fight on our behalf. We must merely show up for the battle and show up in prayer. Whether on an earthly battlefield or a cosmic one, our God always wins.

Hang on to Him no matter what.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 83.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What admonition do you receive from Psalm 83?

Even the Dogs

Today’s reading is Matthew 15.

Matthew keeps showing us that where the Jews struggled to respond properly to Jesus, Gentiles responded well. Jesus withdrew to a region of the Gentiles in Tyre and Sidon. At the outset, we might wonder why Jesus would go among a people He seemed to have no inclination of helping. After all, one of the women of the Canaanites in that region sought help and Jesus flatly refused. In fact, at first He simply ignored her. Then when she kept pushing, He said what seems to be one of the most offensive things ever: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Jesus calls this woman a dog. Wow!

However, this doesn’t deter her. Instead, she accepts the insult and works it into her argument. “Fine. I’m a dog. At least let the scraps of your abundance come my way the way masters do with dogs.” Jesus responds, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.”

Interestingly, when Jesus called the woman a dog, the apostles don’t jump in with, “Do you know that the Canaanites were offended when they heard this saying?” Yet, surely, what Jesus said about this woman was far more offensive than what He said about the Pharisees. The Pharisees didn’t like what Jesus said. They got offended, angry, upset and decided to act against Him, even try to kill Him. In contrast, Jesus said something truly offensive to this woman, but she hung on. She persisted in seeking a blessing from Him.

The lesson is not for us to be offensive and see how people will respond. Rather, the lesson is for us to avoid offense at Jesus. He may say and do things we don’t like. The reality is blessing comes from Him and from no one else. As Jesus had said when responding to the disciples of John in Matthew 11:6, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” That is, blessed are the people who don’t demand Jesus play by their rules. Blessed are the people who hang on to Jesus even when they don’t quite understand what He is doing and saying. Blessed are those who, when they don’t quite understand what He is doing and saying, realize the problem is with their understanding and not with Him.

This is important today. There are plenty of people today who have decided they are more moral than God. They don’t like some of His laws. They think His laws are immoral. They think the behaviors He calls sin and the people He calls sinners are pure and holy. They get offended. They decide to abandon Jesus. Don’t do that. If you want the blessing, don’t take offense at Him. Follow Him. It will all become clear in the end. And even if it doesn’t, eternity with Him will be worth it.

Tomorrow’s reading is Matthew 15.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family

1. What are your initial reactions to the chapter and the written devo above?
2. How would you have felt if Jesus called you a dog?
3. What kind of faith do you think it took for that woman to hang on even though Jesus called her a dog?
4. How can we grow that same kind of faith?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?

Intolerant

Today’s reading is Matthew 11.

Back in Matthew 10:15, Jesus had told the apostles whoever refused to listen to them would not fare even as well as Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of their judgment. Now, in Matthew 11:24, He says the same thing to the towns and villages themselves because they are rejecting His teaching. Remember, this is right on the heels of Jesus explaining the Jews were rejecting Him because He wasn’t dancing to their tune.

It will be more tolerable for Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon than for Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida because these latter three had seen more evidence. Jesus had done His amazing works among them. These towns of Israel had more access to God’s word, will, and work and would be judged more strictly.

Question: Where does that leave today’s towns, villages, cities, counties, parishes, states, territories, and countries? Admittedly, I am thinking from my experience in my own country, the USA. The Bible has been the highest selling book in the Western world for generations. We can find hard copies of the Bible for mere dollars. If someone has access to a computer (think: public library) or a smart phone, he or she can have a Bible for free. I doubt there is a single person in this country that hasn’t at least heard of the Bible. I doubt there are many that don’t at least know the Bible is considered to be the Word of God by lots of people. Where does that leave us?

We have all we need. We have the easiest and greatest access to it in all of history. Understand what this will mean for our day of judgment. As much as our generation wants to talk about tolerance, we need to know that the coming day of judgment will not be very tolerant for us. If we reject Jesus, it won’t be for lack of God shining the light on Him. God is not going to be very tolerant on us if we reject Jesus. In fact, He is going to be downright intolerant. By the way, lets not forget this is going to include this generation that demands Jesus play by their rules. We may convince ourselves we are following Jesus, but those among us who change the rules and remake Jesus in our own image will not be tolerated in the judgment.

Do you have ears? Please, hear what Jesus is saying to His generation and to ours.

Tomorrow’s reading is Matthew 11.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family

1. What are your initial reactions to the chapter and the written devo above?
2. Why do so many ignore the coming day of judgment?
3. Why do so many who ignore Jesus think that even if there is a day of judgment they will be tolerated?
4. What is the only way for us to be tolerated in the day of judgment?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?

More Bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah

Today’s reading is Matthew 10.

I get it. It’s not usual for a daily devotional reading to be centered around a passage of judgment. Usually, we try to find something uplifting and encouraging. Usually, we try to find something that makes the reader feel good. Every once in a while, however, we have to remember what is at stake. Judgment is coming.

Please, understand what Jesus is saying. Do you recall what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? Do you recall the intense judgment? Do you recall that only three people survived that judgment? Fire and brimstone rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot and his daughters were the only ones to make it to safety. How do you suppose the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah are going to fare in the final judgment? It is possible Jesus is actually saying, “Do you remember how awful it was for Sodom and Gomorrah on their day of judgment? That day was easier on them than the day of judgment on the towns of Israel who ignore My ambassadors will be when it comes.”

I have no doubt that was in part a reference to the coming judgment in 70 AD when God used Rome to bring judgment on the Jews and destroy Jerusalem. However, there is no doubt the ultimate fulfillment is for anyone who ignores the word of Jesus given through His apostles, the final judgment will be worse than it was or will be for those who were judged in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Please, understand what is at stake for us. Jesus isn’t saying, “I’m coming. If you don’t measure up, I’m going to judge you.” He is saying, “Judgment is coming. If you turn to Me, I’ll save you from it.”

Will you turn to Jesus? Can we help you do so?

Tomorrow’s reading is Matthew 10.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family

1. What are your initial reactions to the chapter and the written devo above?
2. Why don’t we like to think about a coming judgment?
3. Why do we need to think about the coming judgment?
4. What advice would you give to others to encourage them to turn to Jesus before the coming judgment?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?

A Song about a Bride

Today’s reading is Psalm 45.

This week, we are singing a song about a king getting married. But what good is a groom at a wedding if there is no bride. Sure enough, Psalm 45 doesn’t just sing the glory of the groom. At the groom’s right hand “stands the queen in gold of Ophir.”

In the original setting of this psalm, I wonder if this isn’t the whole reason for the psalm. Sure, it praises the king, God’s king. Sure, it explains why the king is blessed, God blessed the king. But notice the instruction to the queen:

Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty.

This is the most straightforward bit of instruction in the psalm. I can’t be sure this was written for Solomon’s weddings. However, think of where Solomon would have been if the wives he married had followed this instruction. Instead, they hung on to their father’s houses and their own people. They hung on to their gods. And Solomon fell. The wedding may have been beautiful, but the marriages became nightmares.

I can’t help but hear a bit of Ruth in that instruction. Ruth, a Moabitess, whose children up to the tenth generation weren’t supposed to be allowed in the congregation of God’s people. Yet, her great-grandson was the king after God’s own heart. Why? Because she forgot her people and her father’s house. She honored Boaz and submitted to him, his people, his God. I don’t know how beautiful their wedding was, but their marriage was amazing.

However, more than this, we know this psalm is about Jesus. Which means this psalm is ultimately about us, His church, His bride.

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Ephesians 5:32

God established marriage because it ultimately is supposed to demonstrate the truth of Jesus Christ and the church. We, the church, are His bride. We, His bride, are glorious with robes interwoven with gold, many-colored robes, led to the King with joy and gladness.

However, this is the kind of glorious bride we are, not because we are so glorious, but because our King, our Groom, sanctifies us by His own sacrifice for us.

…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Ephesians 5:25-27

That is our King. That is why we are such a glorious bride. But we will only be this glorious bride if we, who have become part of His church, His holy city, His kingdom, His bride will abandon the country from which we came. We must forget our father and our father’s people. We must surrender to our King. We must worship Him. Friendship with the world is enmity with Jesus. We can’t hang on to both. We must choose. We are the bride of Jesus Christ. Let us choose Him.

Let us not choose Him in some nebulous, ethereal, mystical sense. Let us choose Him in a very practical, real way. Let us choose Him today. Let us make today about Him, about pursuing Him. Let us abandon the pursuit of the world and its things. Let us go with Jesus.

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 45.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family

1. What are your initial reactions to the psalm and the written devo above?
2. Why was Israel’s king not supposed to multiply wives for himself? (see Deuteronomy 17:17) And why should he stay away from foreign wives?
3. Yet, if the king’s wife behaved like Ruth, the great-grandmother of David, how could the marriage be beautiful?
4. How do you think a good marriage portrays the relationship between Christ and His church? Why do you think God would even use that as a teaching tool?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this psalm and our discussion today?