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