December 2

2 Chronicles 1 Solomon is to be commended for several things in today’s passage. He recognized the greatness of the Lord, “Even the heavens cannot contain Him.” With that in mind and with the problems that I have with sin, I immediately see my need for sacrifice. I have offended a holy God. His wrath must be appeased. His judgment must be satisfied. Death is the only thing that satisfies His justice. Sacrifice is the only way that I can ultimately survive. Praise be to God that Jesus is the sacrifice for me. But Solomon seems to have gone to seed on sacrifice. There were other implements or pieces of furniture that were used by the priests in clearing the way to see the glory of God in the holy of holies. After the bronze altar came the bronze laver. Here the priest had to wash his hands and feet before entering the holy place. After the sacrifice was performed, the priest would clean himself and put on fresh clothes, but before entering the holy place he would wash his hands and feet to clean himself of the dirt collected on the way. This is typical of our lives. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. We are cleansed. But in our daily lives we encounter thoughts, attitudes and actions as we travel along that soil us once again. Those need to be dealt with if we hope to see the glory of God. Entering into the holy place we find the lamp stand which represented the light of God. It would reveal any uncleanness still upon the priest. Across from the lamp stand was the Bread of Presence. It represented the daily fellowship with God. In front of the veil into the Holy of Holies was the golden altar of incense, which represented the prayers of the saints. Behind the veil was the ark of the covenant with its mercy seat and cherubim. There above the cherubim rested the glory of the Lord when Moses first instituted the Tabernacle. It was from there that the Lord spoke to Moses. Now, look at what Solomon describes as he tells Hiram about the temple that he is building for the Lord. He lists burning incense, showbread and burning sacrifices. Is it just for brevity’s sake that he leaves out the lamp stand and the laver? Now, look at the whole of Solomon’s life. What do you see? On the one hand, there is tremendous wisdom and wealth and a great start at following the Lord. On the other hand, a staggering list of wives and concubines that goes beyond belief. His wives turned his heart to seeking other gods that was surpassed only by Manasseh. From the book of Ecclesiastes we see that in his carnality, he did not withhold a single fleshly temptation from himself. How could such a wise man do such foolish things? I submit to you that, metaphorically speaking, because he did not daily come to wash himself of the sin he had committed, or step into the light of the Lord to let Him reveal any uncleanness in his life, that the daily grime of his own sin built up and covered his heart and mind to the point that even as the wisest of men, he could not see his own sin. The glory of God following the day of dedication of the temple became progressively dimmer and dimmer until he saw it no more, and all he cared about was feeding his own lusts. How tragic! I am in danger of falling into a similar trap. Unless I come daily to wash myself at the door of His temple and then step into His light to let Him reveal any spot or stain, then I run the risk of letting the grime build up until all I see is my own lust. Then the glory of God is no longer my concern, but only my own glory. Lord, remove the grime from my life. Show me any spot or stain that needs to be washed away. Enable me to bask in Your presence. Accept the prayers that I send up before Your throne because they actually began at Your throne. Let me see Your glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john Proverbs 2 Really, it never ceases to amaze me. I occasionally have people who will call up the church for help because they are stranded on a long trip. Often they are moving because they did not have a job in one city, but ‘heard’ that there was employment in another. Often they left knowing they did not have enough money to make it to the next city, not very wise. Sometimes I want to scream, “What were you thinking?" When I left Stillwater, OK to Portland, for seminary, I had spent 2.5 years saving enough money to make the trip. I left without the promise of a job or knowing anyone, or having a place to move into. After one month I still had no job and I was out of money. Wise? Well I was going at what I believed to be His calling. Many would say it was not wise, but He was a shield to me. He kept us safe on our trip there. He kept us safe during our sojourn in Portland, and preserved our way while there. I know from experience and from His word, “He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.” That is His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john Malachi 1 Can I rest in the simple fact that He loves me? At the same time, can I dwell in the knowledge that He is a great King? Often times we let our thoughts be channeled by the world. Love according to the world is demonstrated by what one provides for the object of one’s love. Does love provide the right kind of housing? Does it provide food in proper quantities and taste? Does it provide the right clothing? Does it provide recreational activities desired? Does it provide time? When God says that He loves the poor of this world, and they remain in poverty (by our standards) does that mean that He does not love them? At what point do our needs have to be met in order for us to feel that God has demonstrated that He loves us? The word is very clear, “God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And again the Scripture says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” The greatest demonstration that He loves us is the cross. The greatest demonstration that He hates sin is the cross. Is it not interesting that to us, whom He loves, He says, “Take up your cross and follow Me.” The voice of love incarnate says, “Take up your cross and follow Me.” It is not about houses, food, clothes, recreation or even time. It is about giving ourselves. He did it first; we simply follow. So is he a great King? Do I really believe that He is a great King who loves me and will freely give me all things that are necessary to demonstrate that love? When I hang on to the things of this world, as did the people in Malachi’s day, rather than letting everything go to His hand, I am demonstrating that I believe one of two things, 1) He really doesn’t love me, or 2) He really is not great enough to meet my need. My mind tells me both of those statements are wrong. My flesh continues to grasp at the things of this world. That is why He says, “Take up your cross, and follow me.” I won’t win the struggle unless the flesh is crucified with Christ. He really does love, and He really is great, but He will not force me to let go. He wants me to voluntarily go to the cross. His glory wins the struggle. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john 1 John 1 Glory is a hard word to get a handle on. Ask any group of people what glory means, and you'll get a lot of definitions. But no one’s definition will probably be sufficient. The glory of God is just not something that is easy to handle. But part of the glory of Jesus is that He is glory made flesh. He could be seen, reasoned with, even handled. He is the glory of God made known in a way that humans can grasp the greatness of His majesty without being destroyed. When His glory is handled, grasped or comprehended, it naturally results in joy, fullness of joy. In particular His glory is light. Light reveals the nature of reality. When I was younger, God had blessed me with extraordinary vision. I could see a deer standing still a quarter of a mile a way and tell you when it flicked its tail. I could read very fine print. But alas, age is creeping upon me. I can no longer read my large print Bible without glasses. I have found that the amount of light makes a great difference in what I can see in print, on my clothes and even on my own face when I look in a mirror. With my diminished eyesight, light is very important for seeing reality of what is in print, what is on my clothes or the presentableness of my face. As we focus on His glory, we walk into His light. In the midst of His light we see the reality about ourselves. We see the sins we cling onto. We see the effect of sins on our presentableness. We have three options. We can continue to gaze at the ugliness of our sin that is revealed by the light. We can turn our backs on the sin and walk back into the darkness. Or we can confess the sin and continue to gaze upon His glory. The wonderful thing about confession and continuing to look for His glory is that as we do that, His blood washes away our sin. We become presentable! That is His glory for you! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John