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.