April 30

NUMBERS 7
“Cushing.” Now there was a bizarre thought. I immediately dismissed it from my mind. I had been reading Numbers 7. If you just read it, you may have reacted like me. You may have found the first 88 verses to be rather boring. So it was with me, until I came to verse 89. In the fall of 2006 I had been wondering for days about how we “hear the voice of the Lord.” The summer before I had thought I heard the Lord speaking to me, saying, “Return to the land of your fathers.” But nothing had worked out that would enable me to do that. I was questioning whether I had really heard the voice of the Lord. Then as I stumbled on verse 89, I began to meditate upon the typology of the ark and hearing the voice of the Lord. The ark is a type of the Messiah. The word ark simply means box. In Genesis 50:26 it is translated coffin. Think about it. The ark is a coffin. The ark is a type of the Messiah. In Jesus the Law is placed. Our transgression of the Law required our death. When we are placed in Jesus, we are buried with Him in His death. The mercy seat is placed upon the coffin. The blood of the atonement is sprinkled upon the mercy seat covering my sin. The blood of Jesus covers my sin. The Cherubim, the protectors and proclaimers of the holiness of God, overshadow the mercy seat. From this position of holiness where the transgression of the Law is hidden in the coffin and covered by the blood of the mercy seat, Moses heard the voice of the Lord. We hear the voice of the Lord from the same position—holiness.
As I was meditating upon this, “Cushing” popped into my mind. That was weird. Cushing is where my maternal grandparents are buried. I dismissed the thought and continued. Later in the day I collected my e-mail. There was an e-mail from my wife. It was sent about the time that “Cushing” popped into my mind. The e-mail simply said, “I had an overwhelming desire to look at real estate in Cushing and saw this house that I liked.” She attached the web page to the e-mail. This incident happened in October of 2006. Over the next year and a half, God made it absolutely clear that He had spoken to me. May 1, 2008 I moved into Oklahoma, the land of my fathers. It took a while to place things in order. God actually had to burn down my house, but that is a long story. But now, here I am, and I can do no else.
Where and when do we hear the voice of the Lord? Only from a position of holiness that is found in Jesus the Messiah. Isn’t He amazing? HE speaks to us! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Psalm 119:113-176
My wife and I have bought 6 houses in our lifetime. Each time we had to put down earnest money. That was money that we gave to the realty company which would show our good intentions about purchasing the home. In return for the money, the house was taken off the market until the purchase was complete. Once the seller accepted the contract and the money, he/she was not allowed to sell the house to anyone but us. Even if someone came along and offered more money, the seller could not legally sell to them because he had already entered into a contract with us. On my part, if I reneged on the deal, the seller would keep the money because he would perhaps have lost the ability to sell to someone else while the house was off of the market. Another word for earnest money is surety.
In verse 122 David asks the Lord, “Be surety for Your servant for good; Do not let the proud oppress me.” Does he have the same concept in mind here? I believe that he does. David knows his own heart. He knows what is in his heart. At the time of writing this Psalm, he knows the value of the word of the Lord. He knows the richness of the pleasure of walking with Him. He commits to His word and to Him. But he knows his heart. He knows that he will waver and flip flop. He asks the Lord to put down earnest money on His soul. He wants to know that God will be faithful to complete the deal when he wavers from the path. The blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the surety, the guarantee for us. Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 1:13–14:
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
David knows that he will need help to keep his end of the deal. He cannot do it without the direct intervention and help of the Lord:

133Direct my steps by Your word, And let no iniquity have dominion over me.
154Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word.
159Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness.
176I have gone astray like a lost sheep; Seek Your servant, For I do not forget Your commandments.

This great Savior of ours is the One who enables us to keep our commitments. That is what the Spirit does in our lives. As we commit ourselves to His word, He makes it live, gives us life, gives us power. It is our responsibility to rendezvous with Him in His word, to listen to the voice of His Spirit and to yield to His Spirit. It is his responsibility to empower us. What a deal! What glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ISAIAH 30
It was the spring of my senior year in high school. My older friend had sold books for this company the summer before. He had made a lot of money to pay for his college year and had now arranged for me to have this interview with the company so that I could also have opportunity to sell the books and to make a lot of money. It was the first time that I had ever been recruited for a job. The guy who interviewed me was using a high pressure sales technique to get me to agree to go to work for the company. He wanted a commitment to sell that night or the offer would be withdrawn from the table. “Look. You believe God’s will is logical, right?”
“Of course!” I replied.
“God wants you to be in school, right?”
“Yes.”
“You must be able to pay your tuition to go, right?”
“Of course,” said I.
“Would you agree, that you could make more money doing this in the summer than you can doing anything else?”
“I am sure I probably could.”
“Do you think that God wants to provide the best way possible for you to go to school?”
“Sure.”
“Can you think of a better way earn the money to go to school?”
“No, I can’t.”
“Then, you agree that logically this is the best way to go to school?”
“Probably.”
“If God’s will is logical and logically this is the best way to get the money, then why won’t you sign tonight?”
“I just feel like I should pray on it a while.”
“What’s there to pray about? God has already shown you through logic that this is the route that you should take.” The interview ended shortly after that.
Ahaz was seeking, considering an alliance with Egypt in order to gain help and relief from Israel, Syria or even Assyria. It seemed the logical thing to do. Egypt could be a powerful monster (Rahab) if she would engage herself against Israel, Syria or Assyria. It seemed the most logical course of action for Ahaz to engage Egypt’s help his northern enemies. After all, did not God want Judah to be secure? Was not enlisting Egypt to help the most logical course of action?
God’s will is always logical, but sometimes our logic does not take in to account premises which only God may know, or only God can fill, or which we ignore. One such premise is that the greatest good is the glory of God. If we ignore that one, then we will often take a logical path that produces less than the greatest good. The logical path for Ahaz was to go down to Egypt to get help. The logical path for my summer was to make a lot of money selling books to get tuition money for the next summer. Consequently Ahaz went to prophet that would tell him what he wanted to hear. So what is the best way to find out the premises that only God know, or God can fill or which we ignore. Isaiah tells Ahaz,
“In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Only by settling down before the Lord to hear His voice, only by being quiet before Him, only by drawing confidence from Him will we be delivered. In the place of quiet confidence before Him we will find what we need. All other paths lead to the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. But waiting upon Him leads to the joy of His glory.
By the way I did not sell books that summer, and God still met my need. I saw his glory in a fresh way. I graduated OSU debt free. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LUKE 21:1-19
I had the privilege of attending Explo '72 the summer before my senior year in High School. It was a great experience. I also seemed to be getting into situations where I had to exercise patience. They were handling large crowds, and even the best planning usually has its glitches. When you have to wait in line for each meal with 5,000 other teens, it can get a little testy. And shipping 80,000 people back and forth across the city of Dallas from various places to the cotton Bowl and back can be challenging. ON the whole, the organizers did an amazing job of planning and coordinating the event! But as you can imagine the logistics were overwhelming and we spent a lot of time hurry-up and waiting. It called for a lot of patience from everybody. Teens in particular are not known for their patience. Patience was a virtue which, as the week wore on, we had to learn. Patience was exercised in meal lines, bus lines and getting in and out of the Cotton Bowl.
Toward the end of the week, we had an hour or two of free time at State Fair Park, where the Cotton Bowl is. My roommates and I decided to ride the sky way. We were at the highest point when it broke down. We hung suspended in the air for what seemed like a whole hour. Patience was once again a thing we were learning.
The disciples were excited about being in Jerusalem for the Passover. Admiring the beautiful temple architecture (and it was an amazing thing), they commented on the temple beauty to Jesus. This launched a whole discourse by Jesus about His second coming. In the middle of warnings about the events preceding His coming, Jesus says, "By your patience possess your souls."
Now here is a patience that far exceeds waiting in hour long lines for a meal or bus or being suspended in the air for an hour. This speaks of a patience exercised in wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, persecutions, trials and martyrdoms. Where does one get patience like that? A bus line is a mere trifle compared to that. The implication is that it can only exist in view of the second coming of Jesus. Are we so convinced of his magnificent glory that we know that every trial which we endure during the wait will be worth the beauty that we shall experience at His coming? We were able to endure the long lines at Explo because we enjoyed the sessions in which we were involved. They were worth the wait. Is He worth enduring through war? Is He worth remaining steadfast in the long aftermath of disasters like earthquake or hurricanes? Is He worth enduring through the hunger of famine? Is He worth waiting for even through long pestilence or illness? Is He worth remaining faithful for during persecutions? If you do not think so, then I say you need to look at His glory some more. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

April 29

NUMBERS 6
I stood in her backyard and watched as she came toward me escorted by her father. It was his last act of authority over her. She was beautiful. She was wearing the traditional white dress for the occasion, and in her hands was a bouquet of yellow roses. We exchanged vows to each other of extreme devotion. The vows were to separate ourselves to each other till ‘death do us part.’ My life now ought to be lived to make her happy, to protect her, to smile upon her, to be gracious to her, to give her peace. In exchange for her devotion, I pledged to her my undying love, all that I am, and that which is most precious to me, I gave her my name.
While not a marriage vow, this ‘Nazarite Vow,’ as it is often called is described by Dr. Ronald Allen as, “An act of unusual devotion to God, based perhaps on an intense desire to demonstrate to the Lord one’s utter separation to Him.”* The more negative person would look at it and say, “Why should I have to keep myself from using any grape product, cutting my hair or touching anything dead?” Simply, one would do it to express one’s utter devotion to the Lord. Why would one want to do that? One would desire it only because one has found His great glory and tasted of it. That one taste makes the denial of any other thing worth it. If you have tasted of His glory, then you know exactly what I mean. So here it is, the Nazarite Vow. It is the vow of one who desires to give oneself in extreme devotion to the Lord.
I find it more than a coincidence that at the end of the Nazarite Vow description and requirements that the Lord instructs Aaron to bless the people with these specific words. Notice that in this blessing, the name of the Lord is repeated three times. As Christians, we read into this that the whole Trinity is desirous of blessing us. Yahweh, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, desires to make us happy. Those who have given themselves to Him receive His blessing, His protection, His enlightenment, His grace, His smile, His peace. When He desires to do this for us, why wouldn’t I want to devote myself wholly to Him? But wait! There is still more. He puts His name upon us! I have a new name now. It is His name. He wants to glorify His name. It is done in us! It is His desire that all the world should see extreme love and extreme devotion when it sees us. The normal way in which the world will see His glory before the Day of Judgment is as He has placed His name upon His bride. Hmmmm. . . will the world see extreme devotion or will it be sullied by our spiritual adultery? He is all about blessing His bride. What will our world see? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
*The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Numbers, Frank E. Gaebelein General Editor, Ronald B. Allen Numbers contributor, Regency Reference Library, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids Michigan, ©1990, p.749.
PSALM 119:57-112
One Christmas in 1961, my parents gave my brother and me a portable Roy Rogers stereo record player. My 11-year-old brother thought it was awesome. In my 6-year-old mindset, I was not so impressed. He offered me one of his other gifts if I would relinquish my portion of the record player. I was impressed with the offer, so I gladly took it. He became the sole possessor of the record player, and I became the possessor of toy doctor’s kit. At the time we were both delighted with our exchange. As the years progressed, I began to think less of the exchange and to realize that I had thought too little of my portion of the record player.
God’s law is more than a list of His commands of how He wants us to live and not to live. Rather, His law is a reflection of what He is like. So, the keeping of His law is not a “do and don’t” proposition. It is learning to dwell in His presence in such a way that we delight in what He is like. He remains our portion. Notice some of the things that David says about the law of the Lord:

72The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of coins of gold and silver.
75I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
92Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction.

When He becomes our delight, He becomes our hope and He enlightens our life (vs. 81 &105). That hope and enlightenment produces strength in adversity. Look at verses 61 & 62:

“The cords of the wicked have bound me, But I have not forgotten Your law. At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You, Because of Your righteous judgments.”

While the New Testament writers did not interpret this as a reference to Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail, it sure is reminiscent of their experience. These two men were preaching the good news in Philippi and having great success. As a result of that success, they were beaten and thrown into the dungeon. Most people who would be beaten and imprisoned for exercising free speech would be rather depressed, but not Paul and Silas. Why? Because the law and the gospel was more than a concept for them. It was a relationship with the living God! It was a delight to enjoy His presence while they suffered! At midnight, bruised and bleeding, fastened by chains to the dungeon floor, they joyfully raised up songs of praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because the law and the gospel was the presence of Jesus Christ. His presence was delight!
Often I think too little of my portion of the Lord. I trade His presence for the toys of this world. When will I ever learn? O Lord, teach me your judgments, knowledge and commandments for they are more than words on paper. They are what You are like. You are a delight! That is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ISAIAH 29
It is absolutely astonishing! The complexity of the DNA molecule is absolutely astonishing! I went on line to see if I could come up with a good illustration of that idea. As I began to read various scholarly articles, I began to see that I was completely out of my league. I am not illiterate, but I might as well have been as I read the various articles. I know enough from high school and college biology to understand the basic concepts about DNA, but I have not mastered the terminology. So, as I read the articles, I began to realize that I am not quite there, and it would take me a long time to really understand what I was reading. The articles might as well have been sealed to me.
When it comes to the glory of God, people are the same way. His glory is all around us and is self-evident. To some it is as though they are illiterate. It is impossible to try to read it. To others it is like handing a book to them that is sealed; they have the ability to read, but cannot open the book. Both are in the same boat; the contents of the book are closed to them. A problem erupts when I seek to worship the Lord when I really have not seen His glory. Like an illiterate child who has heard the story read so many times that they can sit down and recite the book, but they really are not reading. So too are we when we choose to worship the Lord in the manner in which we choose rather than seeing His glory first and letting His glory impel us on.
So was the problem with Israel in Isaiah’s day. They chose to bring their offerings and sacrifices before the Lord, but continued to live their lives as they pleased, rather than how the glory of God blew them. So too in the days of Jesus, the glory of the Lord should have blown them to honoring their parents, but the lure of following the Pharisaical practice of giving to the temple before meeting the needs of their parents invalidated the way God had instructed them to obey Him. Thus they were illiterate to the command to honor their parents in order to follow the established path of worship. Jesus quotes this passage to point out their illiterate spiritual hearts. They could not read how meeting their parents need first was a higher calling than giving to the temple treasury.
It would seem that seeing the glory of God is linked to a willingness to obey. Without an unfettered willingness to obey, there is little hope of truly seeing the glory of God. We seem to have it turned around. We seem to want to tell the Lord how we should worship Him. Is it really wise for the clay to instruct the potter in the fine arts of pot making for the potter’s glory? God’s glory is all around me. Why should I ever have any compulsion to tell him how to construct my life? Should I not rather position myself so that I can hear his instruction on how He wants to construct my Life? Lord, help me to be open to you and your glory! Put together Your amazing spiritual DNA in me. Reproduce the life of Jesus in me! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LUKE 20:27-47
The first funeral I presided over was for a lady, whom I had never met. I had no idea whether she was in heaven or hell. It was absolutely the worst situation in which I have ever preached a funeral. I was asked to preach it because our church had done a VBS that her grandchildren had come to. The next week she died. Neither the woman who died nor her son, the father of the children who came to VBS, had a church home. In talking with her son in preparation for the funeral, it was apparent that there was open hostility among extended family members. There was no grace in the home. It was a simple graveside ceremony. It was raining. The only ones who came were the dead woman's son, his wife and their daughters. I had asked the son what were some of the good memories he had of his mother. He had none. What do you say?
A colleague of mine gave me the best advice I've ever received in conducting funerals. I've followed it ever since. He said, "You want to accomplish three things: 1) To remember together the life of the departed and in remembering, to honor them for the way that they loved each of those left behind. 2) To try to reach out to each other to comfort one another. 3) To prepare ourselves to pass through the portal of death. I did my best to accomplish those things at that funeral. Obviously, I had to focus on the last goal. I preached the gospel.
Jesus is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob call (present tense) Him Lord. David calls Him Lord. David called Him Lord when he, David, was living upon the earth. Yet, Jesus, the Messiah, is the Son of David. David still calls Him Lord. The glory of Jesus is that He had great glory before He added flesh to His person! In Him is life! His life is the light of men. What brings Him even greater glory is that He shares His life with us! He takes our deadness, which comes from our refusal to exalt His name over our own, and He raises those who place their trust in Him to new life! He has made it so simple and so easy for us to share in that life. He Himself said, "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
Life is abundant in Jesus. One cannot dwell in His presence and not come alive oneself. Remember the Star Trek movie where they had the Genesis project? Spock is killed and given a 'burial' in the Genesis project. What happens? He comes back to life in the next movie. Nice science fiction, yes? But it is fiction. Jesus is the real Genesis. He is not fiction. He is real life. He who clings to Him, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Nothing can abide in His presence and not come to life! Now, that is good news, which is what gospel means. Even in the depths of the despair of death, at the worst funeral situation possible, there is hope. There is hope because of His glory--He is the God of the living!
I wish I could tell you that the grieving family embraced the gospel. They did not. They continued in the bitterness death. They could have embraced joy of the life of Jesus. But their own pride was more important to them. So Jesus let them have their own pride. As far as I know, they are still embracing their pride and bitterness rather than the glory of Jesus and His ability to raise the dead. Don't be that way! Focus upon His glory, not your pride. If you do, it will make your funeral a time of rejoicing rather than bitterness. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

April 28

NUMBERS 5
Yesterday I hit something in the road on the highway it sliced a hole on the inner sidewall of my right rear tire. As I sat on a bench at the Wal-Mart tire center, a very pretty young lady sat down next to me. She was on her cell phone. Obviously she was talking to her boyfriend or husband. Apparently from the part of the conversation, which I could hear, her boyfriend did not trust her. She was obviously resentful toward his lack of trust in her. She was texting someone else. From my end of it, he definitely had a spirit of jealousy.
The Holy Spirit tells us concerning the Scripture,

“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” And, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Do you ever wonder where the glory of Christ is in a particular passage? I mean, where is the glory of Christ in this law of jealousy? Maybe we could look at this passage this way. We the church are His bride. Is He ever jealous over His Bride? Is His bride faithful to Himself? His goal for us is to present us to Himself, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”
Shakespeare and many other literary figures write of the cuckold. The cuckold is often the object of scorn of many literary works and of movies. If the church is to present the glory of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world, and we have made Him a cuckold, what glory is that? It is the opposite; there is only shame. Here in the Old Testament, we find a solution for a man to find out whether or not he was cuckold. If he brought the test upon the wife, and she was unfaithful, it brought sterility to the wife and death. If he brought the test upon the wife, and she was faithful, she would be protected and fruitful, and he would be instructed to trust her from then on. Hmmm. . . Jesus does not need to perform a test upon His bride to reveal her faithfulness. He knows all things. He knows our faithfulness or unfaithfulness. If we are sterile as a church, is that a problem with His potency or our faithfulness? Have we committed spiritual adultery? James 4:4 says, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Maybe our sterility as a church is because we have failed the faithfulness test and we have made Him cuckold. God help us! His glory can only truly be revealed when we live in intimacy with only Him! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 119:1-56
A few years ago when my granddaughter was born my son and daughter-in-law asked what I wanted my grandchildren to call me. I told them, “Grumps.” I thought it matched my mental state at times. From time-to-time if find myself getting rather dour. What causes that state, and how do I get out of it? I know what causes it. Usually it is because I think things are not going the direction that I would like them to go. It can be a variety of things. I suspect that you could identify a few points where the same thing begins to happen to you. My focus gets off of the Lord and on to my desires. I begin to get grumpy. When it happens, I almost feel like I need a cleansing. How can I, an old man, cleanse my way? It is the same way a young man cleanses his way, Verse nine says, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.” One of His glories is that His word cleanses us. It can cleanse us of great moral failures and it can also cleanse us of the little things that nip at us and make us grumpy. When I ask Him, He will open my eyes to see the wondrous works of His hands. He uses His word and His Spirit to do it. He lifts me up! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ISAIAH 28
Are you familiar with the geography of the land of Promise in relation to its symbols concerning our relationship with Him? The small area of Palestine is intensely varied in its geographic features. From north to south we begin at the foothills of Mt. Hermon. Mt. Hermon catches the prevailing weather patterns from the Mediterranean Sea forcing the moisture to drop to the ground before the weather patterns can move on East. The fault line that forms Mt. Hermon slopes on down through the middle of Palestine. Consequently, the west side of the fault line is full of green valleys and luxuriant fields until it runs below sea level. So from North to South and from West to East, we move from a luxuriant climate full of abundant growth to desert conditions where life is bleak, hard and difficult. It is interesting to make the corollary that a study of the spiritual life of the people in the north to the south would yield the general rule that as physical abundance was present, spiritual vitality tended to dry up as physical abundance dried up spiritual vitality tended to increase. He warned Israel of that problem:

So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Deut. 6:12

Well, it happened. Samaria, the capital of Ephraim, sat on a hill shaped like a crown in a verdant valley of Israel. According to an article that I read in Biblical Archeology Review, Israel at that time was a major exporter of wine throughout the world. She had become intoxicated with her wealth and her wine. But he would not allow her to remain in her intoxication with the world—that is His glory. He sent His prophet to teach them precept upon precept. But they would not listen, but they just scornfully muttered it back to him. So He promises them they will hear the message again through stammering lips (the foreign language of the Assyrians). He offers them rest, but they refuse. The result? They are snared and caught in death. The apostle Paul interprets verse 11 to mean that the supernatural use of human tongues is a sign to unbelievers. He in effect is calling them unregenerate. They were part of His covenant family. But they were unregenerate. That is His glory. He will not allow His people to remain in the slop of the world. Lord, keep me out of the slop! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LUKE 20:1-26
It was a question of authority. I was substitute teaching in a shop class. Because I was the Substitute and not trained in the safety procedures of operating the shop machines nor trained in supervising shop students, I was not allowed to operate the machines for a class. The teacher had left some book work for the students to do. That would have been fine, but during the 5th hour I could not even get the students to sit in their seats to take role to begin the class. I did not even know the names of the students who were giving me the problem. In everything I said, it was as though I was not even heard. They ignored me completely. Fortunately the class was equipped with an intercom system. I called the office. Eventually the principal arrived. Even he had a little difficulty getting them to take their seats. But they did. He had authority that I was unable to wield. I was supposed to have authority by virtue of my office. But that authority went unrecognized from the moment I stepped into the room. The students were only interested in their rights. They thought they had come to shop class to work at the machines not do books. I told the principle on my way home that day that I would not be substituting that class anymore.
Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth. The chief priests, the scribes and the elders did not recognize Jesus' authority. They had no interest in yielding to Him. Jesus told them a parable about servants who reject proper authority. Then He ended with a quote from Psalm 118:22.

The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone

I think it is interesting that when Jesus left the upper room after celebrating the last supper with the disciples, having finished the meal, they sang a hymn and left. The last hymn of the Seder is Psalm 118. Perhaps this was part of what they were singing as they exited to go to the Garden of Gethsemane.
So where is the glory in this? Jesus does have all authority in heaven and earth. That is great glory. Why do we not submit to his authority? Probably because we think we can get away with not submitting, or we do not think that He has authority. Jesus having been rejected by the builders has become the chief cornerstone. When He returns in His glory, His authority will be visible. We will be submissive to His role call. He will bring judgment. Those who did not submit to His authority in this life will receive their final judgment. It will be glorious. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

April 27

NUMBERS 4
A friend of mine used to be part of a small group of men who brought famous Christian entertainers into Wilmington, NC. He asked me on occasion to help serve in security. I was there for the Rebecca St. James concert and for one of my favorites, Robin Mark. It was interesting for me to watch the roadies come in and set up the stage and equipment. They performed their tasks day after day for months on end as they accomplished their tour. They knew exactly what to do. They had their order for doing things and did them well. Each had their task and did it.
The Lord assigns traveling responsibilities for the tribe of Levi. Each family had their responsibility. There was an exact order that had to be followed, so that the holiness of God was not transgressed. With forty years of traveling in the wilderness, I am sure they became very proficient at their individual jobs. Eventually it became like clockwork. By the time David came around, they had centuries and generations which had passed where the jobs were neither taught nor performed. It lead to David transgressing the holiness of God and the death of one of his men.
The church is somewhat like the Children of Israel in the wilderness. We are a people of God on the move. The glory of God is designed to be in our midst. We move from place to place throughout life, and in so doing we are to let the glory of Christ shine from our midst. J. Vernon McGee has this to say about our responsibility:

As each Levite had his assignment, just so, every Christian has a gift and a job God wants him to do. I believe God will reward you for doing what He wants you to do. We are not to do what we choose to do, but we are to exercise the gifts that He has given us.

What would have happened if one of the Kohathites said, “I am tired of covering the ark. I don’t want to do it?” or if one of the Gershonites said, “I don’t want to carry the curtain?” or if one of the sons of Merari said, “I don’t want to carry this board?” Apparently something like that happened when David sought to transport the ark back to Jerusalem. The result was the holiness of God was transgressed, and a man died.
The Lord desires for His glory to shine in His church. What happens when we do not exercise the gift which He has assigned to us? His glory is seen in the discipline which He administers. It is not a pleasant thing. On the contrary, when we each submit to what He has assigned to us, the result is that His glory shines in a greater way. It is joy to see His glory unleashed. Let us make sure that we are doing the gift which He assigned to us. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 118
Mercy! Many of us instinctively know that we are in need of it; the rest just lie to themselves. His mercy, once extended, endures forever, and the Psalmist knows it very well! He calls out to the Lord, “Save now, I pray, Oh Lord!” (v.25) (translates into ‘Hosanna!’) He knows that he lacks the righteousness to enter into the gates of the temple of the Lord. He stands before the gates and throws himself upon the mercy of the Lord. Oh Lord, save me! I don’t have the required righteousness to come through the gates into Your presence. But when does the plea for salvation come? After the stone which the builders rejected becomes the chief cornerstone.
On Jesus’ triumphal entry the crowds and the children cried out, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” The stone presented Himself to the builders. They rejected Him. They bound the sacrifice (so to speak) to the horns of the altar. They crucified Him. God raised Him from the dead! That death and resurrection became the basis for mercy which pours out abundantly on those who will now kneel and plead for His mercy! He told us about it 1,000 years before it happened. Oh Lord, I receive Your mercy! Wow! Now that is glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ISAIAH 27
Throughout the millennia, one of the arguments used by the unbeliever to justify his unbelief has been the argument of the lack of justice in this world. If God is so loving and powerful, why does he allow the innocent to suffer and the wicked to escape justice? A few of the assumptions behind this reasoning are that the world has always been this way:

1. that justice must be meted out in this world to be just,
2. that there is no coming justice in the next world,
3. that I am not guilty of anything worthy of being judged as severely as the things which I have judged.

None of these assumptions are true. Nevertheless, most people hold to them quite severely.
Today’s passage addresses the assumption that there is no coming justice in the next world.

In that day the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong,
Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
Leviathan that twisted serpent;
And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.

It seems consistent with Genesis and Revelation to interpret “Leviathan-serpent-twisted serpent-reptile” to be Satan, the author and perpetrator of evil upon God’s kingdom. That Jesus will slay him is a reference to the time when he will be judged and cast into the lake of fire. Along with the twisted serpent will go the twisted world system and all those who refused to bow the knee to the Lamb of Glory. Yes, there will be justice performed. To assume any lack of it is to assail the glory of our Lord. For millennia now, the Lord has been preparing His vineyard, restoring His Kingdom, calling out His people. He does it in the midst of injustice where His people are struck, He prepares us. But one day all His enemies will be struck and slain. We will see the glory of his work. In the midst of it, He will remove our own wickedness. During the Millennial Kingdom, no one will live in a fortified city anymore because it will be unneeded. When He “slays the serpent,” at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, it will be complete. We will finally realize that all we need is Him. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LUKE 19:28-48
It was first grade, and my friend Jimmy had been sick for a while and had not been to school. I missed him and was hoping he would be there that day. The school bell rang signaling the start of class, and Jimmy hadn't shown up. A little while into class, the door opened, and Jimmy walked in. I was so surprised and excited that I blurted out very loudly, "Jimmy!" My teacher was not pleased to say the least. She rebuked me very sternly and asked why I did that. I didn't know how to answer, so I just shrugged my shoulders. Shrugging her shoulders, she sarcastically said, "What does that mean?" I was afraid to answer now, and I really did not understand why what I had done was so bad. She gave me a couple sentence lecture and then continued on with class.
I understand now that, when you are trying to mass educate children, there is a certain decorum that you must keep to control your class; otherwise, things can get out of control. What I had done was not bad. It was just that if everybody responded that way, there would be chaos in the classroom. The herd mentality would be shattered. There might even be a stampede. There is a time for joyful shouts and a time for solemn silence. The same is true in worship. There is a time for joyful shouts and a time for solemn silence.
Jesus was approaching Jerusalem on the Sunday before His crucifixion. He had carefully thought this through. He had prepared a colt to ride. Another Gospel tells us that He did this purposely in fulfillment of the 400-year-old prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. The people recognized the significance of it and were beginning to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Here He is a man who has healed the sick, the blind, the dumb, the lame, set the demonized free, fed the multitudes and even raised the dead. He has taught with great authority and is now headed to Jerusalem on a donkey's colt, through the Eastern Gate! This is surely the promised deliverer! They began to sing part of the Hallel in praise of the Messiah. He is the Long-awaited One. The long separation is now coming to an end! It was a time for shouting and celebration!
But there are always those who are concerned about shattering the herd mentality. They felt this was inappropriate. "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" they called out. Oh no! They are out of control! They are expressing their great pleasure at the coming of the Messiah! But of course these Pharisees did not believe Jesus was the Messiah. So Jesus made a very wonderful statement, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."
The Creator of heaven and earth was in the flesh and in their midst! The sinfulness of human flesh hid that fact from human eyes, but the rest of creation recognized it right away. Humans were created to praise and worship the Creator. We were created to cry out concerning the joy of His presence. The glory of our Creator is so great that if we should fail at our designed purpose, even the very non-sentient creation would take our place and fulfill our purpose because He is so worthy of honor and praise! A friend of mine used to have a rock under his communion table with a sign in front of it that said, "If you don't praise Him, I will!"
Yes, there is a time for silence before our Creator. But there is also a time of wild exuberant shouts of joy in praise of His name at His coming! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

P.S. I think it is really interesting that reading Ps.118 fell on the same day as reading Lk.19:28-48. Psalm 118 is the last Psalm of the Hallel. It contains the famous verses, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. . . Lord Save!. . . The stone which the which the builders rejected has now become the chief cornerstone. . . etc."

April 26

NUMBERS 3
I am often overwhelmed by the pendulum swing of the Lord. On one end of the swing we see His unbending justice and righteousness. On the other end we see His immeasurable love and mercy. His glory displays both. So too in today’s passage we see both extremes. “10 So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to their priesthood; but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death. . . 12 Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine.” Wow! Now that is extreme! Any outsider who comes near shall be put to death. Why? God’s purity is something He treasures highly! Since we are made in His image, our rejection of His holiness is extremely offensive to Him. Until that sin is taken care of, we are of great offense to Him! Yet, because we are made in His image, He loves us unconditionally. He desires us to be His. He desires to possess us. He chose the Levites and the sons of Aaron to be the ones who would ritually take away the sin of His people. He demands that purity and provides away to become pure. He jealously possesses His priests and servants. It is through them that He is able to come to His bride!
Jesus has become the Great High Priest who takes away our sin. We have become with Him a priesthood of those who believe in Him. He jealously possesses us. He has said of you and me, “You are mine!” He calls us to bring others into this great love! Wow! What glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 116-117
He looked me in the eye and said, “I just want you to know that I don’t like the way you are treating my brother.”
“How am I treating your brother?” I responded.
His open palm went up and he declared, “Enough said!” He ignored my question, my voice, and stormed out of the building. Such a response can be expected out of an immature child, or even and immature adult, but not out of a man in his sixties who has spent the bulk of his life in ministry and is a trained psychologist. He ignored my voice. It did not endear me to him.
Has your voice ever been ignored? The Psalmist says, “I love the Lord because He heard my voice.” If there is anyone in all of creation that I might expect to ignore my voice, perhaps it would be the Creator. After all as I look at the vastness of His creation and its overpowering complexity, I am convinced of my smallness! Why should He listen to me? Not only am I such a small thing in His finite creation, but He has a reason to be mad at me. I have rebelled against His authority and sinned against Him. According to His own justice, I deserve death. The Psalmist cries out to the Lord as he is about to die. The Lord heard his voice and delivered him.
I have called out to the Lord; He has delivered me from death and from the power of sin. Sin no longer has dominion over me. I will take that cup of salvation. It enables me to live victoriously over sin in this life. I can live this life in victory because He has heard my voice. I can call on His name and because He hears my voice, I can expect power to live victoriously. It endears me to Him. I love Him for it.
My death is precious in His sight. Physically I think that means that if I am walking with Him, my death is a valuable thing to Him. It will come neither before nor after the appropriate time. Spiritually, He desires the death of my old nature. It is precious to Him so that He can raise me to walk in newness of life. This infinite God desires to hear my voice. He desires to hear me call out to Him so that He might deliver me from and through death. Wow! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ISAIAH 26
In 2007 I was blessed to be able to spend a dream vacation with my family in Germany. The first castle which we visited was Rheinfels on the Rhine River which was still fabulous even in its ruins. For centuries it was the stronghold for the area and was never defeated. The outer courtyards were laced with underground tunnels as part of its defense. The idea was that once an invading army had breached the outer wall, the defenders could purposely fall back and let the army fill the outer courtyards to begin their work of trying to breach the next wall. When the defenders felt that a major part of the army had entered the courtyards, they could collapse the underground tunnels below the invaders and kill most of the army above. The castle was never taken until the French revolutionary army took it in 1794. It was surrendered without a fight and the army blasted it to pieces with their cannons which could penetrate stone walls. Until then, the city had been a source of peace for those who sought refuge there.
The song begun in Isaiah chapter 25 continues in chapter 26. The Lord is the strong city, castle, who protects His inhabitants. His walls are impenetrable and unscaleable. After years of ministry as a pastor, I am convinced that every person struggles with some kind of addiction that masters each one of us. For some that addiction is more recognizable to others because of how it destroys one’s life. If the master becomes destructive enough, we (as individuals in a culture) may retreat to different methods to find relief from those masters. It might be a twelve step method, counseling, a treatment center, self-help books, religion (anything from eastern mysticism, Islam, Judaism, to Christianity). It could be a retreat into a grab for power, wealth or pleasure. These all become masters over us which ultimately bring death and which cannot rescue us from ourselves or the destructive forces which come against us. There is only one person, one name, Jesus, who can deliver us.
Ultimately only He can deliver because we were made for Him. If we seek deliverance anywhere else, we incur His wrath. He lets us go to that for which we desire. Because what we desire is not infinite, it ultimately fails. Eventually the cannons of time blast the walls of our self-made fortresses and the masters which rule over us, and we are destroyed. But unlike those walls, He is a fortress to which we can run which cannot be destroyed, even by His own wrath. The result is that if we voluntarily leave our old masters and surrender to Him, He joyfully receives us to Himself and welcomes us into the interior court of His castle. The result is peace for those who have entered in. The key is simply surrendering all, being willing to let Him take all not just the select things which we want to give Him. He will keep us in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Him. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LUKE 19:11-27
Once, I misplaced my cell phone. I couldn't find it anywhere. I remembered having it when I bought my lunch at Wal*Mart. But when it came time to go home, I couldn't find it anywhere. I remembered having left it on. So, I called the number from my office phone. I couldn't hear it ringing anywhere. I thought it might be out in the van. I called the number again as I walked out to the van to hear it ringing. I couldn't hear it. I had that sinking feeling that I must have laid it down somewhere at Wal*Mart or the bank, which meant, there is a good possibility that it is gone for good. Traveling home, I reported my loss to Laura. She said, "Are you sure it’s not in the van?" I decided to check the van one more time. There it was. It apparently had fallen out of my pocket down into the step inside the door. I wonder why I couldn't hear it ring. I was delighted to find my lost phone.
Jesus delights in finding those who are lost. Walking underneath the tree of Zacchaeus, with great joy He looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house!" Zacchaeus became a new man because of that encounter. His life was filled with a new righteous lifestyle. Jesus delights in making our lives ring with righteousness. When others hear the ring in us, some of them are also drawn to Him, and He finds other lost ones. Zacchaeus was one of those that He found and made him to ring with righteousness. The ringing of the new righteousness of Zacchaeus brought others to the Lord.
Jesus delights in having gone to receive a kingdom. What are the basic elements of a kingdom? There are three, a king, a realm and subjects of the realm. Jesus is the King of kings. Jesus has the power to take the realm anytime that He wants to take it. Currently it is His glory to find those lost ones through us, causing us to ring with His righteousness. We are the way that He calls lost ones in order to find them. Are we letting Him ring through us so that He may call others? That is part of His glory. He makes His glory to ring through us in order to draw others. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

April 25

Numbers 2
Yesterday, I sat in a traffic jam. It took about thirty minutes to travel 3 or 4 miles. When we came to the point of the congestion, a car was being loaded up on a tow truck and moved out of the intersection. Apparently an accident brought a decrease in the normal order of things. Ever notice that in a long line at a traffic light that it takes a very long time for the twentieth car to be able to begin going? The lag time in human reaction from seeing the light change to when the car actually safely moves is such that is slows everything down. As the 20th car in line, I don’t expect to be able to clear the intersection before it turns red. However, if everyone could simultaneously move forward, eliminating the lag time, one could easily clear the intersection during the span of green time at the intersection. Can you imagine the logistical problems of trying to get 2,000,000 people to simultaneously break camp and begin moving?
God is a God of order. It is clearly demonstrated in his instruction for camping and how to break camp. Today he calls His body, His church, to move in an orderly fashion to fulfill His purpose in the earth. Sometimes it takes a massive coordination in how to break camp and move in unison. It is His glory to communicate to us to provide the coordination in order to complete the work. Are we listening to His instruction? He provides it, and that is when He is most glorified! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 115
Our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. A god made by man behaves according to man’s nature. Anyone who has studied mythology can observe this. The mythological gods think and act as supermen, but men none-the-less. Consequently within the myths, men manipulate the gods in order to get them act as men desire. We become like what we worship. If we worship a god of our own creation, one created in our own image, we simply become more of what we are really like. It is no wonder that many churches have become powerless to change lives. It is no wonder that many churches use manipulation to get their desired results. They do not worship a God who does whatever He pleases. They worship a god who uses programs and plans that are manipulated by men. Why? Because that is what they are like.
But this God who does whatever he pleases also desires to bless us. He desires to bless us so that we will praise Him. He desires that we should recognize Him for who He really is. It is only in that recognition that we find what we were created to be and do. Let us bless the Lord for he does whatever He pleases, and He is pleased to bless us. That blessing is that we should be become like Him. It is not that He should become like us. Is my focus on His glory transforming me into His image? If not, then I am focused on my glory not His. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ISAIAH 25
A couple of years ago, every Friday night I would teach an International Bible Study over at a Baptist Church. One Good Friday night, I walked into the church, and instead of the normal International Bible Study, the church was having a simulcast called ‘Secret Church,’ which had begun at 6:00 and would last until midnight. It was a flavoring of what the man teaches when he teaches in churches in countries where the Gospel is not allowed. When he teaches, there is not time for ‘entertainment’ upon which the American church has become so fat. Right after one of the teaching sessions the broadcast a recorded interview of a couple of pastors in India who live in an area of high persecution. They spoke of the high privilege which they have to suffer for the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have seen many other similar interviews from groups like VOM. What our brothers and sisters in other countries endure for Jesus makes our little problems pale in comparison. They endure much tribulation as is promised in Scripture.
One day a Great Tribulation shall come. It is spoken of in Isaiah 24. Coming out of the Great Tribulation the saints will sing the song of Isaiah 25. It is full of the glory of Jesus, but it is a song that comes out of His protection in experience, not theory. He will wipe away their tears. They will sing this because they have been able to wait upon Him. “Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” It was a long agonizing wait. But what enabled them to survive through the tears? Simply put, it was His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LUKE 18:18-43
Playing football as a senior in High School had its privileges. The local radio station interviewed two seniors every week and then broadcast the interview right before the game. We did not have many seniors on our team. So toward the end of the season they were scraping the bottom of the barrel for new interviewees. I was picked. We must have been really hard up for guys to interview. I wasn't exactly a stellar player. Indeed, I had never even suited up for a game until my senior year. That last year I was in the starting line-up only three times. The radio announcer asked me, "If you had it to do over again, would you do it?" I don't remember exactly how I answered it, but he summarized it by saying, "So it's kind of like being in the Army. You are glad you had the experience but don't really want to do it again." That summed it up pretty well. I really enjoyed the camaraderie of playing the game. But actual play time on the field, it just wasn't there. I gave up a lot of free time and put myself through a lot of grueling exercise and physical punishment in order to play that game. If game time was the desired goal, then it didn't happen.
In this incident with the rich young ruler, Jesus responds to the twelve with that familiar saying, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." The disciples were aghast. If it is that hard, who can be saved? Jesus explained that with God all things are possible.
You can just see the wheels in Peter's mind turning here. The rich young ruler wouldn't sell everything. But, the disciples had left everything to follow Jesus. Peter lets Jesus know what they had sacrificed. Jesus gave that promise that those, who have left everything for Him, will receive many times more in the eternal life to come.
If I had it to do over again would I? Even without this promise, I would. Why? Because every once-in-a-while I catch a glimpse of His glory. That makes all the difference in the world. I'll endure anything for that--even without the promise of reward. His glory is too rich! Reward is only icing on the cake. Have you caught even a glimpse of His glory? If you have, you'll agree with me. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

April 24

Numbers 1
I have frequently traveled from Stillwater, Oklahoma, to Cary, North Carolina, a total of over 1200 miles. Along I-40 I have passed through many large cities, Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, etc. At times I have driven on highways that were 5 lanes wide going both directions (a total of 10 lanes). The lanes have been flooded with cars, sometimes stopped because of the volume of traffic on the highways. At those times I am often overwhelmed with the multitudes of people. How can God know any of us intimately? Yet I am reminded of how little our planet is in this vast universe. If each one of those cars on the highway were representative of just one galaxy, then there still would not be enough cars to represent even a small portion of each of the galaxies in creation. The smallest galaxies contain around 10 million stars. The largest galaxies are estimated to contain about 100 trillion stars. There are about 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe. There are more than 1024 stars in the known universe! (I don’t even know the name for that number.) There are only 7 billion people on the planet. We are infinitesimally small in relation to the created universe.
Our God created each of those stars as well as each of the 7 billion people currently on our planet, which means, He is even larger still. Of course if He can create all that, then He is capable of knowing it intimately. But what assurance do we have that He wants to know us intimately? The declaration that He made at creation is the first assurance. He said, “Let Us make man in Our own image.” Out of the multitude of created things and created beings, we are the only beings said to have been created in His image. Whatever that image is, we possess it! Because of that image, we are important. Because of that image, the taking of human life without His permission is wrong. Because of that image, we are important to Him. Because of that image, we have chapters and books like this one in the Bible, the book of what is important to God. I don’t really care who the head of what tribe was in Israel 3,453 years ago, 8,000 miles from where I live. But it is important enough to God that He includes it in His communication to us. I think He does this to demonstrate how important each of us is to Him. In the midst of an overwhelming multitude of people, he knows us individually. Now that is incredible! That is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 114
What would God do to deliver me out of sin and into His holiness? Would He divide Keystone Lake to provide a way of escape? Would He stop the flow of the Cimarron to give me access to the other side? Would He make the plains of Oklahoma tremble with an earthquake that I might know His law? What would He do? He has already done far greater for Israel. Indeed, He has done far greater for me. He has divided the flesh of His own Son on the cross, raised Him from the dead, seated Him at his right hand, so I might be delivered. That provision is mine when I identify with Him. My flesh is, so to speak, divided with His, giving me a way of escape. As I identify with Him, He enables me to stop the flow of the power of the old nature and replenishes it with the flow of His life giving Spirit. I now have a fountain of life giving waters flowing out of me. What would God do to deliver me out of sin and into His holiness? What more could He do? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ISAIAH 24
The booming and shaking of my house and buildings from many small earthquakes were frequent occurrences at my house 1-3 years ago. At first we were not sure what was going on; we still are not sure. I have zero memories of earthquakes growing up. Bible believers cannot help but associate it with one of the signs of the second coming-an increase in frequency and intensity. One of the leading explanations for the increase in earthquakes in our area is that they are linked to new technology of drilling for oil. The new technology has revitalized the oil industry in Oklahoma, an industry which a decade ago, we thought had all but died. They were drilling like crazy around here. They were pumping water down into the earth under pressure to break up oil bearing rock. This allows the oil to seep to the top of the well where it could then be pumped out. The new technology is popularly referred to as ‘fracking,’ because it fractures the rock. Popular thought was that the combination of the fracking and the several year drought and the disposal of the waste water in deep cisterns in the crust created pressure changes in the bedrock and faults below creating the frequent mild earthquakes.

“Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste, Distorts its surface. . . . The earth is violently broken, The earth is split open, The earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, And shall totter like a hut; Its transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will fall, and not rise again.”

The description above from Isaiah 24 indicates that it might be referring to some of the same events as Jesus said that the sign of his coming would foretell as recorded in Matthew 24:7. Isaiah also speaks of other destructive things that are going to happen, such as:

1. The collapse of the economic system (Is. 24:2-3),
2. The collapse of the legal system (4-6)
3. The collapse of the entertainment system (7-13).
4. The righteous will recognize that his return is near and will offer up praise for it, but they will be on the verge of destruction because of their praise (15,16).
5. Ultimately these destructive forces lead to one culminating event, the Lord will return and judge the demonic forces on high and the evil political forces below (21,22).
6. Then He will reign upon the earth and it will be glorious (23).

Hmmm. . . sounds like some rough earthquakes ahead, but it will all work out for His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LUKE 18:1-17
It was a cold Sunday morning, probably the coldest of the year. I rolled, rubber-banded, and placed the newspapers one by one in my canvas bag slung over the front handle bars of my bike. Sunday papers were always at least three times as big as the weekly papers. I stuffed as many of the 180 papers as I could into the bag so that I would make as few trips as possible on my Sunday morning route. The papers themselves may have outweighed my 90 pound frame. Launching out into the 5:00 a.m. cold, it was difficult to gain speed with all the weight and without speed it was difficult to keep my balance. The cold stung my face as I pushed against the pedals. A few blocks from home, I had to slow down for a turn. Exhausted from peddling, the turn being a little tighter than I had anticipated, and the unexpected presence of some ice wrought the effect of loss of balance, and my bike went down. Try as I might I could not get my bike upright again. There was just too much weight on the handle bars. A passing policeman shone his spotlight on me and then drove on. He didn’t even stop to help. I was freezing and I couldn’t get my bike upright again. The papers were so heavy I couldn’t get the bag off of the handlebars. Frustrated I walked home. Walking into Dad’s bedroom, I awakened him, confessed my inability and asked for help. He graciously got up, dressed and helped me deliver my route. Man was I grateful.
Salvation is like that. Our sin has overwhelmed our ability to make our life upright and righteous. Try as we might we cannot restore it to the level of holiness required to enter into the presence of God. The sin is so wrapped around the handlebars of life and so heavy that we cannot remove it. There is nothing left but to walk home, to enter into the room of the Father and to say, “Lord, I am a sinner. Will you deliver me?” He is gracious. He is merciful. He delivers us. Like a child, unable, we ask. He delivers. That is the glory of our Lord. Like the tax-gatherer who recognizes the overwhelming greatness of His sin, we ask. He is gracious. He is merciful. He delivers us. That is His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
P.S. Thanks, Dad, for showing me in the simple act the love of the Father.

April 22

LEVITICUS 26
It is the nature of children to test the limits of their parent’s parameters for obedience. Different kids approach it differently. But basically every child tests the limits. Knowing where the boundaries are is part of how they find security. It is also part of how they learn right and wrong. It is also part of how they gain their family identity. You might even say, “Their family glory.” I listened to a testimony of a friend of mine the other day. In their family upbringing, attending movies at a theater was a sin. While in college, he and some friends went to see Ben Hur at the theater. When he went home to visit, his mother said, “The Lord showed me that you went to the theater.” She was angry. He was convicted. Is there anything inherently sinful with attending the theater? Well, no, but it is a gray area. Within his family identity it was wrong all the time.
Have you ever considered that it is the glory of the Lord that He should bless us and curse us in obedience and disobedience? We like the idea of blessing. We don’t want to think about the idea of cursing. It is indeed something to think about. Perhaps it would motivate me more toward obedience if I thought more deeply about the principles of blessing and cursing as it relates to God’s people. How far will a holy God allow His people to walk in disobedience before their disobedience clouds His glory to the rest of the world, and He does something about it? How far will He go in discipline in order to protect the family glory? Pretty far, just read this passage. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 112
I asked my mother about her paternal grandfather, Maxey. He was a simple farmer, but he seemed to have an inordinate number of descendants who were ministers, doctors, lawyers and educators. “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed.” I never met him, but from what I have learned from my mother and my grandmother, my great grandfather left a mighty legacy concerning the glory of the Lord. It passed to my grandmother, my mother, and to me. Now that is not to say that all his descendants are saints; indeed, I have at least one scallywag for a cousin. Of my grandmother’s children 3 were educators, and one was a doctor. The fifth married an educator. Of my grandmother’s 20 grandchildren there are 4 pastors, one missionary, one college professor, 4 teachers, a lawyer, a medical field professional, a fireman, 2 accountants, a shoe salesperson, a shop owner, and 2 oil field workers. I would say that at least in that line of my great-grandfather’s descendants, there are a number of “mighty on earth” people.
My grandmother prayed constantly for her grand-children. I still possess a letter she sent me when I was in college. She wrote of how she prayed for me in particular and all her grandchildren in general. I have often wondered what the relationship was between her death and the plethora of bad things that happened to her children and grandchildren in the year after she died. I conclude that our prayer covering was gone, and until we awakened to that fact and began taking up the prayer slack, we suffered. I don’t pretend to be able to completely understand the relationship between a man fearing the Lord and his descendants being mighty in the earth, but it is clear that there is a principle (to which there are always exceptions) between the two. That is part of the glory of the Lord that He would honor his relationship with one person to extend to their descendants. And I, for one, am thankful for it. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ISAIAH 22
I have never had a safety deposit box because I have never possessed anything of great enough value that I felt I needed to have that kind of security in order to possess it. I have seen the TV shows and movies where people have used them. I have been at the bank when people have come in to request to open their safety deposit box. There is a great amount of security that is required to access those boxes. It requires keys. Without the right keys it is near impossible to gain access to the box. At the bank one must approach the keeper of the vault, show the proper identification to access the box and sign to enter. The keeper of the vault can then give you access to the box. Finally, you must have a key to the box in order to open it.
The May/June 2009 issue of Biblical Archeological Review has a fascinating article concerning Shebna, Tracking Down Shebnayahu, Servant of the King by Robert Deutsch. It is quite possible that his tomb, referenced in this passage, was found in the Kidron Valley in 1870. Its inscription was translated in 1950 as, “This is [the sepulcher of ...] -yahu who is over the house. There is no silver and gold here but [his bones] and the bones of his slave-wife with him. Cursed be the man who will open this.” Also clay bullae (a clay seal put on documents to verify authenticity) have been found elsewhere which probably were used to seal documents sent by Shebna. The article is worth the reading.
Shebna was a man of great power as the servant of Hezekiah. As the chief chamberlain of the king, he bore the keys to the important rooms of the palace, including the treasury. As the door keeper, he possessed great power in Judah. Yet he abused his power. He was not content to be just a servant of the king. Instead of using the power to open doors for people to see the glory of the Lord, he sought to build for himself a sepulcher that would memorialize him as if he were a king. He sought to increase his own glory. The Lord does not put up with our seeking our own glory, so He replaced him with Hilkiah.
Hilkiah became a type of the Messiah, of Christ. In this prophecy the Lord first calls him His, “servant.” It is common particularly in Isaiah for the Messiah to be referred to by the Lord as, “My servant.” The Lord clothes him in garments worthy of the office. Notice in John’s vision of Jesus in Revelation that John makes special note of the clothing of Jesus (Rev. 1:13). The Father gives Him great authority by giving him all the keys of the King’s household (Rev. 3:7). What he opens, no one can shut. What he closes, no one can open. Open for what? Close to what? Open and close for that which belongs to the King. What belongs to the King? First and foremost it is His glory found in His offspring and His posterity.
The Father is looking for doorkeepers. He is looking for doorkeepers who don’t want their own glory, but who want the glory of the Father to hang on them. The Father hung upon Jesus all of His glory (John 1:14 and Colossians 1:19). Now He is looking for others through whom the glory of Jesus can shine. In Jesus all the riches of deity dwells. We can participate in those riches! As we do we can share those riches with others! He wants us to be able to open close doors with Him. He wants us to be door keepers to others. He wants us to open doors to others to experience His glory. He wants us to shut doors to others, doors which would subvert lives away from following him. As we do this, He receives ever increasing glory. In Jesus we the key to the best safety box in the Universe! Lord, I want to be doorkeeper! Use my life as a way of opening doors to others to Your Glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

A plaque on the West side of the Kidron Valley in the Old City of David.
A view of the village where the tomb is.
Another plaque.
A view from the plaque.
Zoomed in on the tomb entrances.

LUKE 17:1-19
I admit it. I was a Home Improvement fan. Tim the tool man Taylor was so much fun to laugh at and with because he was such a good caricature of men in general. He was always endangering or hurting himself in his quest for the best. We want our tool to be bigger and better than the next man's tool. We are always striving to show that we are the best. We are very competitive at heart. It is especially true in the ministry. I was the janitor of a large church for a year. One Monday morning while getting a cup of hot chocolate in the office, the secretary hung up the phone. She was really put out. I asked her what was wrong. She said the phone call was another pastor in town. He had a habit of calling every week to find out how many people they had in worship on Sunday morning. There were several churches that he called frequently to find out. Often times when I tell people I meet that I am a pastor, one of the first questions that I am asked (particularly by men) is, "How many members do you have?"
The disciples were concerned about the size of their faith. Rightfully they come to the Lord to ask Him to increase their faith. For some reason they felt their faith was too small. Now, these are men who have cast out demons, healed the sick and preached the good news of the kingdom, all in the name of Jesus. They are requesting to have their faith increased. Jesus gives a response that does not seem to fit the request. First He tells them if their faith were the size of a mustard seed (an exceptionally small seed) that they could remove trees by speaking to them. Hhmmm. . . Then He launches into a discourse about duty. Jesus, did I miss something?
The comment about the mustard seed implies that the size of one's faith is unimportant. Perhaps Jesus is saying in a nice way, "That's a dumb request. The size of your faith doesn't matter. What matters is the object of your faith. What matters is where you place your faith." Then the next question would be, "What is the object of your faith? Is it your Lord or your goal?" People have a difficult time differentiating between the two. Since we can't see our Lord, we tend to think that if we are promoting what we think that He wants, then we have our faith in Him. In actuality our faith remains in ourselves or what we are trying to accomplish. When we have real faith, it is not that we can order the Lord around to do things for us. He is not a genie in a bottle. A Lord does not come home from a long journey in order to cook his servants a meal. The Lord did not go on a long journey to the earth and to the cross and back to heaven so that He could wait upon us hand and foot to see what we might request of Him. He accomplished that journey so that we might have our focus fixed upon His glory and when He makes a request, we jump into action. And when this life is over, we will be so overcome with the greatness of His glory that when we look back at the things which we did in faith, it will only be things which we should have done anyway in light of the glory of our Lord!
When the disciples asked for greater faith, whose glory were they seeking to increase? I don't know, but I know when they get to heaven and when you and I stand in the glory of the Lord Jesus, we will not be able to say anything but, "We have done what was our duty to do." Why? Only because of the greatness of the object of our faith, our Lord Jesus Christ, were we able to do it. Even if we have uprooted mulberry trees with verbal commands, in light of who He is, we only did what should have been done anyway. Now that is glory I don't fully grasp, and maybe never will. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

April 21

LEVITICUS 25

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go;
I owe my soul to the company store.

According to Merle Travis, the line from the chorus "another day older and deeper in debt" was a phrase often used by his father, a coal miner himself. This and the line "I owe my soul to the company store" is a reference to the truck system and to debt bondage. Under this system workers were not paid cash; rather they were paid with unexchangeable credit vouchers for goods at the company store, usually referred to as scrip. This made it impossible for workers to store up cash savings. Workers also usually lived in company-owned dormitories or houses, the rent for which was automatically deducted from their pay. In the United States the truck system and associated debt bondage persisted until the strikes of the newly-formed United Mine Workers and affiliated unions forced an end to such practices.*
The word Sabbath means seven. We associate it with rest. God built into His calendar many different times and ways for us to obtain rest. He gave the seventh day as a rest from our work so that we may focus upon Him. He gave the completion of seven weeks from firstfruits as a festival to commemorate the beginning of the church. He gave the seventh month of the Jewish year for three different Sabbaths. He gave the seventh year as a year of rest for the land. He gave the year following the seventh Sabbatical year as a year of economic rest. This fiftieth year is called the year of jubilee.
Have you ever heard the old saying, “It takes money to make money?” Well there is a lot of truth to that statement. And when people run into rough financial times, whether through mismanagement or no fault of their own, it is the people who have equity that benefit. They gain the wealth of those with the problems. So how do you bring equity to the situation for the person with no fault? When there is fault, shouldn’t there be room for forgiveness? The principles involved in the year of Jubilee allowed for equity and forgiveness. It allowed for adjustments to be made within the society so that the gap between the super rich and the super poor could be closed.
Not only was it practical for the economy, but it also is a picture of our freedom and rest that we receive in Christ. It’s a picture of our forgiveness, which leads to release from bondage. Work as we might there remains a rest for the people of God.
We were in bondage to sin. Work as we might we could not earn enough to deliver us from bondage. Whether it is from what we inherited from our father Adam or whether we agreed with his sin by willingly committing it ourselves, we were in bondage. It is the glory of our Lord that He delivered us. He brought us rest. He is our year of Jubilee! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
*Wikipedia contributors. "Sixteen Tons." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 20 Apr. 2010. Web. 21 Apr. 2010.

PSALM 111
Five times in this Psalm (NKJV) the word ‘work’ or ‘works’ is used. Out of ten verses, that is every other verse. They are described as great, honorable, glorious, wonderful and powerful. The result of His work is verity and justice. It is said that His works are studied by all who have pleasure in them. The converse of that is that if I do not study His works then I do not take pleasure in them. Makes sense. I mean; I don’t study something unless I enjoy it, or I have to study it because I am in school or my job requires it. Do I have pleasure in the works of the Lord? Certainly I enjoy His creative works. They never cease to amaze me. Truly they can be called great, honorable, glorious, wonderful and powerful. The way He works with His people is also of great interest. When I reflect upon the way He has worked with me I understand that He is full of grace and compassion.
But you know, unless I actively call them to mind, I tend to focus on negative things and pain. I guess that is why I need to meditate on His glory. It is necessary for my wellbeing. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ISAIAH 21
Establihed in 1922 the USSR was dissolved in 1991. The USSR lasted 69 years. During that time Russian expatriates spread throughout the different countries of the USSR. The intermixing of former Russian people in the Ukraine seems to give Putin some verbiage in laying claim upon the Ukraine. The USA’s recent decline in military strength have emboldened Putin. Today, Russia is poised to continue its plunder of the Ukraine. Longstanding claims of ownership cloud the murky waters of détente. It is nothing new on the world scene. The number of years which can be counted in history in which there is no record of one nation assaulting another are indeed few.
Once again the prophet describes the downfall of Babylon which will one day destroy the nation of Israel. Babylon the oppressor will be destroyed by its neighbors Elam and Media. What will happen to the captives of Babylon when Babylon is destroyed? After all, after 70 years as captives in a foreign land, the lines of who belongs as citizens of what country become very blurred. How will the invaders treat 70-year captives? (Sound familiar?) The Lord wants the captives to know that in a situation of intense insecurity that He knows what is happening and He is guiding the course of human history. The prophecy is given 170 years before it happens for the encouragement of the captives who will be in a very volatile situation. Now that is amazing!
What would we say to believers in Ukraine who are looking at the continued possibility of Russia invading their country? I don’t pretend to know the right way for my country to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but I do know that Russia is in a very precarious situation before the Judge of all the Earth, for He will hold Russia accountable for its actions. Putin should beware for the Judge of all the Earth will do right! To the believers in the Ukraine, I would say, “Hang in there. God is guiding history. He will use this for His glory. Trust Him for the increase of the Kingdom of God in the midst of war! Through many trials and tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God!” Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LUKE 16
Okay, I admit it. I enjoy listening to Hank the Cow Dog. When my kids were little (before personal DVD players), we learned that listening to stories made traveling in the car so much easier. If you have never heard a Hank the Cow Dog book, you ought to try one. But be careful, you might get hooked like me. Hank has a book called The Incredible Priceless Corn Cob. The whole basis for the book is Hank's inability to determine what is truly valuable. Pete the barn cat tricks Hank into believing that the corn cobs from the table scraps are more valuable than the meat scraps. Of course this sets the stage for much of the conflict of the episode. It also is a platform to humorously reveal Hank's pride. It is amusing to me because not only is it so much like dogs, but it is also so much like humans.
The Pharisees really loved money and the things it could buy. (It sounds just like Americans, doesn't it?) As a result, they made fun of Jesus' parable of the unjust steward and His statement that you cannot serve God and money. Jesus responds with, "What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God." What we highly esteem is really an incredible priceless corn cob. And we are not just talking about money or the things it can buy. If that were the case, we would be satisfied with daily bread, shelter to be warm in the winter and out of the sun in the summer, safety from predators and with modest clothing to cover our bodies. But we are not satisfied with rudimentary provision. We always want more, something just a little nicer or bigger or better or newer.
WHY? We have bought the lie that our identity is derived from what we possess or accomplish. If I live in a certain type of house, I am someone. If I drive a certain type of car, I am somebody. If I dress in certain kinds of clothes people will notice me. If I have a beautiful woman (or women), then I am a real man. If I have power to influence people, then I am eternal. If I am used of God to build a big church, then I am something. If I don't have that house, I am nothing. If I cannot drive that car, I am nobody. If clothes don't look right, I am embarrassed. If cannot influence people, I am just a bump in the road. If my church fails, I am useless and of no value. So thought the rich man and so think we. It is an incredible priceless corn cob. I wonder, is God ever amused with our valuing corn cobs?
BUT, our identity is not derived from those things. We are created in His image. Our identity is derived from Him. That is why His glory is so important. As the moon cannot produce light from itself, we cannot primarily find our identity from each other but from Him. Yes, we are created in community to reflect His image, but our identity is found first in Him then in relation to each other. He must be exalted first. It is His glory that must first shine. Otherwise we are nothing but corn cobs--I've heard that they had a rather inglorious purpose before toilet paper. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

April 20

LEVITICUS 24
Light is that wave of energy which enables my eyes and brain to better understand the reality around me. Spiritual light is the wave of spiritual energy which enables me to better understand the reality of the spiritual world around me, and even myself. Jesus said at least two different things about light. He said, “I am the light of the world.” He also said to us, “You are the light of the world.” The passage today begins with the lampstand in the temple. Aaron was placed in charge of it. It was to burn continually. Just across the room from the lampstand was the table of the bread of presence. The LORD calls us into the light of His presence to dine with Him. There His light reveals our true spiritual nature. If we respond properly, His presence changes our own nature to be more like His.
As we sit in His presence, we gain a great appreciation for His name. Having an appreciation for His Name ought to change us. Here is a case study where the LORD is pointing out how things ought to change. Man who was half Hebrew, half Egyptian, blasphemed the name of the LORD. They brought Him to the LORD to see what ought to be done. Here in His presence, in His light, the LORD instructs them. He launches into a discourse on justice. But I thought the issue was blaspheming His name. Could it be that in His light that the LORD is pointing out something about them that is just as important as honoring His name? If man had been all Hebrew and not half-Egyptian, would they still have brought him to Moses for discipline? Would they have just overlooked it if he were all Hebrew? Or, would there have been some who would have been more strict because he were all Hebrew? Perhaps in the light of the LORD their inconsistent justice was revealed. The justice of the LORD is severe, but it is equal for all. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 110
In this Psalm David says that Yahweh says to his lord, “Sit at my right hand till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” I have many questions about this passage. Some are, “When did Yahweh say this to him? How did David hear it? Was it verbal? Was it through a prophet? Was it a voice in his thoughts? How did he know it was Yahweh? Does Yahweh speak to us in the same way? How do we know it is Him speaking in our thoughts?” While the Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus, Jesus quotes this verse and asks them how David can call his descendant his lord. Clearly Jesus understood the passage as referring to Himself. So in this passage, God the Father is speaking to God the Son. It speaks clearly of His glory.
First it speaks of His authority. God the Father commands the Son to sit at his right hand. In royal etiquette one does not sit at the right hand of a sovereign except at his invitation, and in so doing the sovereign is granting authority to rule with Him. Jesus has all the authority of God the Father to rule over the whole universe! Peter picked up on what Jesus had to say to the Pharisees when he quoted this verse. In His famous sermon on Pentecost Peter preaches to a once hostile crowd and says concerning Jesus:
“For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’ Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Wow! He is a gutsy fellow! But he could be gutsy because of who Jesus is and where He is seated. He has all authority in that seat. One day He will even use that authority to reverse the effects of death. Now that is authority. So what if I die? The One whom I trust has authority even over death! The writer of Hebrews (1:13) makes it absolutely clear that there is no other being that has greater authority than He.
The second thing that the Father speaks to in His Son is the Son’s role a priest. As a priest in the order of Melchizedek (King of Righteousness), He intercedes for those who volunteer to be among His ranks. I would be too afraid to come to the Son, if He did not have this role. My sin was like a fog horn before me sounding out to a Holy God that I had transgressed His holiness. My sin was like a dead skunk on the highway to holiness. The stench would make the holy God seek to eradicate me. My sin was like the putrid rotting flesh of the leper who had never been treated and was in the late stage of the disease. The mess could only be revolting to His holiness. Yet my King of Righteousness has taken on the role of being my priest. Unlike the Levitical priests who had to make continual sacrifices for themselves and for others, and who died and had to be replaced, my Priest is of the order of Melchizedek in that He is righteousness in Himself, and He has always been and always will be! He ever lives to make intercession for me! I do not have to worry about my sin. He has eradicated it. He intercedes for me!!!!!!!!
Authority and Priesthood, now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ISAIAH 19-20
The early church fathers had some interesting theories of interpretation. Usually their interpretations were quite fanciful in as much as they usually followed an allegorical method. Such method often leads to some very imaginative interpretations. Isaiah says, “Behold the Lord rides on a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt.” Jerome thought that the swift cloud was, “Certainly holy Mary, who was heavy with child by no human seed. Behold the Lord has entered the Egypt of this world on a swift cloud, the Virgin,” Homilies on the Psalms II (Psalm 77). But in a ‘historical, cultural, grammatical’ method of interpretation, when did God ever ride into Egypt on a swift cloud during or after the ministry of Isaiah? In a military sense the answer is never; although one commentator has suggested that perhaps it is a reference to Israel’s victory in the six-day war of 1967. While I don’t buy Jerome’s thought of the cloud being the virgin, I do think it is a reference to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do appreciate the early father’s attempts to compare Scripture with Scripture. For that reason I like Chrysostom’s thought:
(At the Mount of Transfiguration) The Father uttered a voice out of the cloud. Why out of the cloud? Because this is how God appears. For a “cloud and darkness are around him.” “He sits on a light cloud,” and “He makes clouds his chariot.” “A cloud received him out of their sight.” “As the Son of Man coming in the clouds.”
His voice comes from a cloud so that they might believe that the voice proceeds from God. Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 56.5.
Surely, Egypt did fall to the hands of a ‘cruel master, and a fierce king.’(v.4) In 670 B.C. (shortly after Isaiah’s demise) Esar-haddon, king of Assyria, subdued Egypt. Interesting, Judah was spared the invasion of Assyria, yet Egypt fell. After that time Egypt never again reached its former glory. Egypt’s economy was based up upon the stability of the Nile River. Isaiah prophesies the ruin of the river wrecking the economy. The other destructions seem to lead to a revival in Egypt (v.16-25) The exact interpretation of this has been given many fulfillments. However, Athanasius seems to view it as a prophecy of the triumphs of the gospel of Christ in his native land after the edict of Milan. He says:
The thing is happening before our very eyes, here in Egypt; and thereby another prophecy is fulfilled, for at no other time have the Egyptians ceased from their false worship save when the Lord of all, riding as on a cloud, came down here in the body and brought the error of idols to nothing and won over everybody to Himself and through Himself to the Father.
That is the glory of our Lord Jesus. He takes what seem to be giants in our lives, like Egypt was to Judah, and He reduces them to nothing. What seemed an impossibility in Isaiah’s day, that Egypt could ever be humbled, became reality within a few short years after Isaiah’s death. It was completely fulfilled within a few centuries of Jesus’ coming. What giant is there in my life? He will subdue it in due time for the praise of His glorious grace! He will use it to build righteousness in me! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LUKE 15:11-32
How do you illustrate an illustration--with another illustration? This is probably Jesus' best known parable. Its point is to reveal the awesome love of God for us. Can you imagine the impudence of the prodigal that he would demand his father's inheritance before his father had died and then move to a far country? He was communicating without words that the relationship he had with his father was of little value to him. He wasted all that His father had to give him physically on momentary pleasures. He treated the relationship that his father wanted with him as though it were meaningless and valueless.
Eventually he came to his senses. He recognized that not only had he squandered the wealth given to him but he had rejected the only relationship that was of value. He falsely presumed that his father would not be interested in renewing the relationship. Broken financially, physically, emotionally and spiritually he returned home. He no longer desired the wealth his father could give him. He didn't even think his father would forgive him. He just wanted to be home.
God is indeed a holy God. He will not tolerate us exalting ourselves above Him. So he lets us run away from home with all the wealth of His name. He permits us to squander it on wasteful living. He even allows us to reject a relationship with Him. He does this until we are broken, until we realize that the only thing that is of value is to be in His house, until His name is more important than ours, until we desire a relationship with Him. Then we can return home. To our surprise, He runs to meet us and rejoices over us with singing. The fact that we squandered His wealth is forgiven. That fact that we rejected His name is forgiven. What an awesome love!
Is His name more important to you than your desires, your name? The Eternal God deserves and demands that it should be. And it is only right that He should. After all, He is the Creator and we are the creatures. That is why focusing upon His glory is so important, otherwise we are exalting our names. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
P.S. Thanks Bill for the thoughts on the importance of His name.