Families matter to God. He desires a godly heritage be passed on through families from generation to generation. In the case of land ownership for the children of Israel in the promised land, that land ownership was to be passed on through the families. But how do you divide it among your children? When your children marry, to whose family does it belong? How do you trace it? The solution for Israel was to divide it equally among sons. Thus when my son would marry, he would have no claim upon the land of his wife’s family. When my daughter would marry, her husband would have no claim upon my land. Zelophehad had no sons. Was it right that there would be no one to carry on his heritage? His daughters asked a good question. Why couldn’t they receive his portion, so that he could have something to pass on. Ultimately, the land was a gift from God. It is desirable before the Lord that a man be able to pass on the gift that the Lord gives to him.
Families matter to God. He desires a godly heritage be passed on through families. It is different today. We are not passing on land. But he does desire that we pass on a godly heritage. If I pass on anything to my kids, I hope it is an experiential knowledge of the glory of the Lord. I may or may not have land of money to give them, but I hope they have experienced Him. If I can do that, I will have given them more than Bill Gates could possibly dream of passing on to his children. I serve a glorious King. I want to pass His glory on to my children, my children’s children, even my great grandchildren. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
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PSALM 137
In Psalm 135 we learned that God treasured His people, Jacob, Israel. In Psalm 137 His treasured people are in exile. This Psalm is written in the depths of despair by an exile. What had the exiles experienced? Their whole land was invaded. City after city was sacked and destroyed. Refugees, probably by the thousands fled to Jerusalem, the capital, for protection. The city was laid under siege for more than a year. Running out of food and strength, the king tried to make a break for it. It was unsuccessful. The city wall was breached. Many were raped, killed and pillaged. In ancient wars, it was not uncommon for even babies to be purposely killed. Many were taken on a 900 mile (500 as the crow flies) forced march to live the rest of their lives in in exile. Only the poor of the land were left in the land. I am sure that many were thinking, “If this is God treasuring us, I’d hate to see what He does to His enemies.”
In their day, the fate of the city was considered to be tied up in whether or not your god was stronger than the god of the invading army. The captors demanded songs of their captors in order to rub the noses of their captors in what they supposed to be the fact that their god was stronger than the captive’s god. How can you sing a song of praise to a god who is either impotent or does not treasure you? And so, this is the position in which the captives found themselves. How could they be anywhere but in the depths of despair?
This is where faith must step in. Faith is not a Pollyanna approach to life that colors the darkest of circumstances in rosy color hues. It recognizes the dark circumstances, but it refuses to believe the enemy’s lie that they are not treasured by God or that God is impotent. It looks beyond attendant circumstances. It trusts that God does indeed possess a reason for leading one through the horrible circumstances, and that reason is ultimately for my good and His glory. In the midst of those circumstances we must continually refuse the taunts of the enemy’s lies that he forces into our minds. We must take those thoughts captive by the power of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must tear down the strongholds of those taunts. He has given us weapons that are indeed powerful for tearing down those strongholds, but we must tear them down! That does not mean that He will change the circumstances. It means that He will change our mindset as we cooperate with Him! The exiles probably died in Babylon. Some of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren returned to rebuild Jerusalem and see better circumstances, but for the most part, they died in Babylon.
Did God treasure the exiles? Yes He did, but He was seeking to cure them and their seed of their idolatry, and he was somewhat successful! Israel has had little problem with literal idolatry since then. The things that I treasure, I want to keep them clean and pure. He was seeking to make them clean and pure. In His goodness He designs circumstances of our lives to cure us of our spiritual idolatry. In the midst of those circumstances we must not allow ourselves to succumb to the lies of the enemy, but we must look beyond the circumstance to what He is trying to accomplish. Even when we do not know specifically what He is working to accomplish, we must cling to the truth that it is for our purification for the praise of the glory of His grace. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
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ISAIAH 48
Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines glory with the following paragraphs.
GLORY — beauty, power, or honor; a quality of God’s character that emphasizes His greatness and authority. The word is used in three senses in the Bible:In verse eleven the Lord says, “I will not give my glory to another.” This is a repeat of Isaiah 42:8 where glory meant the honor and audible praise that should be given Him. In 42:8 it was being given to idols. Here in 48:11 it is in the context of how His glory is displayed through His people. From the very creation of His people Israel, God had intended to display His glory through them. He plagued Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt in order that they would know that He is the Lord (Exodus 7:17). But Israel had become stiff-necked and proud. They had stifled the glory due to the name of the Lord. Indeed they had given that glory to their idols.
1. God’s moral beauty and perfection of character. This divine quality is beyond human understanding (Ps. 113:4). All people “fall short” of it (Rom. 3:23).
2. God’s moral beauty and perfection as a visible presence. While God’s glory is not a substance, at times God does reveal His perfection to humans in a visible way. Such a display of the presence of God is often seen as fire or dazzling light, but sometimes as an act of power. Some examples from the Old Testament are the pillar of cloud and fire (Ex. 13:21), the Lord’s deliverance of the Israelites at the Red Sea (Exodus 14), and especially His glory in the tabernacle (Lev. 9:23–24) and Temple (1 Kin. 8:11).
Since the close of the Old Testament, the glory of God has been shown mainly in Christ (Luke 9:29–32; John 2:11) and in the members of His church. Christ now shares His divine glory with His followers (John 17:5–6, 22), so that in their lives Christians are being transformed into the glorious image of God (2 Cor. 3:18). Believers will be fully glorified at the end of time in God’s heavenly presence (Rom. 5:2; Col. 3:4). There the glory of God will be seen everywhere (Rev. 21:23).
3. Praise. At times God’s glory may mean the honor and audible praise that His creatures give to Him (Ps. 115:1; Rev. 5:12–13).
Consequently, the Lord asks, “How should My Name be profaned?” He straightens them out by reminding them that He is the first and the last. He is the One who called them. He is the One who will bring the Babylonians and the Chaldeans. He is the One who will humble the Babylonians and the Chaldeans. He is the One who will redeem them. He is the One who causes water to flow from the rock. He waters their thirsty lives. Yet, they gave His glory to idols.
How do we do the same? We do not make idols to which we physically bow down. But we do make idols. We think that our employment or business is that which sustains us and brings us comfort. We develop our careers and invest our money and think that we have built this comfort for ourselves. Or, if you have not yet developed your career our established your wealth, it is indeed that for which you hope. And you hope that you will do it by the power of your own hand. And God does indeed have a career and a job with which He wants to bless you. But it is not just for your enjoyment, it is for His glory. And when that career or wealth is established, we must give credit to Him and use all of our wealth for His glory. The same is true for every area of our lives. It is all for His glory. When we use it otherwise or attribute our accomplishments to ourselves, it is the same as bowing down to an idol, just like Israel did.
I want my life to flow with His glory; don’t you? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
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JOHN 6:1-21
I have a sister-in-law and brother-in-law that live in a North Philadelphia suburb. My wife's family all live in the area. We usually spend Christmas day north of Philly. I only go there once a year. I can never remember how to get there. There are so many streets, so many exits, so many turns, I get really confused. I have my brother-in-law send me directions. He knows how all the signs read at each exit. Thank goodness for signs. Without them I'd be really lost. So many streets give me a vague recollection that they might be the right one. But I often find out when I see the sign that it is the wrong one. Jesus came to show us the Father. He performed many signs with the express purpose of authenticating who He was.
The multitude followed Him because of the signs, not because of who He was. Ever thought about this meal recorded by John where He multiplied the loaves and fishes from the lunch of one boy? What was it like to break some off and hand it to the person next to you? Wouldn't it be amazing to break it and find that the broken piece grew as large as the one you gave away? How did it taste? Did it taste just as the boy's mother had prepared it? If so, I hope she was a good cook. If not, did the boy notice that it tasted better than the lunch his mom usually made for him? If you were part of the multitude and experienced this miracle and saw these signs, what would you do? You'd probably do exactly what this multitude wanted to do. They wanted to make Him the political king.
But Jesus wanted none of that. That was a much less glorious goal than that for which He came. It was a familiar street but a dead end. At this point He came not to remake political kingdoms but to remake hearts. He did not come to make a structure for a kingdom but to make people fit for the Kingdom. The signs pointed to something beyond the physical. Sure they included the physical but they pointed to a spiritual change that He required of us all. And He made it possible. The signs point to Him. The multitude is content to take that exit that says, "Easy Street". It looks vaguely familiar and it looks right. It doesn't matter to the multitude whether they find Him on Easy Street. It only mattered that the street was easy. What would it profit them to find Easy Street but not find Him? Nothing. His is the only lasting glory. His is the only worthy exit. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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