June 14

DEUTERONOMY 19
The dispensation of justice in this world is a difficult thing. We are all aware of folk stories of the Hatfields and McCoys. Generally it runs that one family begins to feel wronged by the other family, so they retaliate. The retaliation is a little bit stronger than the original offense in order to communicate to the other that they should not be messed with. Gradually or suddenly the retaliations explode until the acts toward each other are indeed horrendous. History is full of examples of this cycle as one nation rises up against another. Palestinian and Israeli confrontations are ones that are constantly in the news now. What really surprises me is that the media vociferously attacks Israel as an aggressor, when often (not always) Israel’s damage upon the aggressors is less than the Palestinians and is more surgical in hitting a military target than the Palestinians, and almost always in response to a Palestinian aggression. This passage addresses justice. Justice is a balance of the scale where moral acts are equal. Justice requires equality. The terms ‘life for lie’, ‘eye for an eye,’ and ‘tooth for a tooth,’ are examples of equality. For justice to be dispensed, it must not be more than or less than the equivalent act. Under the rule of law, justice must be equal. Israel was to be a country under the rule of law. They were to be sure that as such, justice was equal.
Jesus refers to verse 21 in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:38,39, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. As followers of Jesus, we are to understand that justice was carried out upon our sin but not upon us. In as much as He Himself bore our sins upon Himself, “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness— by whose stripes you were healed.”-1 Peter 2:24. Justice was carried out, but it was carried out upon Him in our place. We who have repented and believed in Him have received mercy not justice. Because we have received mercy, we likewise are to extend mercy to others. In so doing we reflect His glory in our lives. His mercy endures forever. May it also do so through us! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PROVERBS 14
It is the longing of our hearts for good to triumph. It is the stuff movies are made of. Strangely enough it partially what sometimes drives us to war. The Proverb tells us, “The evil will bow before the good, And the wicked at the gates of the righteous.” Hmmm. . . That is exactly what is going to happen. Philippians 2:9–10 tells us, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth.” It will happen. I will drink from the glory of this well on a daily basis. I will bow my knee now, so that on that day He will call me friend. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

JEREMIAH 9
At mid first semester in seventh grade I switched schools from Glencoe to Stillwater. School work had always come relatively easy for me so it wasn’t much of a problem. At the end of the first semester my grades were good enough for the honor roll except for one class, PE. I made a “C” in PE. How can anyone make a “C” in PE? I went to the coach and asked. He said that he graded on improvement. I just hadn’t shown enough improvement in my half-semester there to warrant anything better. I was aghast. There were a number of things he tested, 440, rope climbing, jump rope etc. The idea was to increase incrementally from one level of achievement to the next. Coming at mid-semester, I had wanted to prove that I was just as good as anyone else in the class. I was already in pretty good shape. I did the very best that I could in every event. If you are being graded on improvement, you want to do your very best on the last time you are tested and your very worst on the first time. But one event in particular had always stymied me. The gym wall had a wooden board attached to it. In the board were two pegs at the bottom and a number of corresponding holes going to the top. The idea was to go from the bottom to the top by using the pegs and going from hole to hole until one reached the top. I never could make it to the hole just above the bottom one.
Sometimes known as the weeping prophet, Jeremiah wishes for buckets of tears to shed for his people, who are being slaughtered. Why are they being slaughtered? Look at what verse 3 has to say:

And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies.
They are not valiant for the truth on the earth.
For they proceed from evil to evil,
And they do not know Me,” says the LORD.
They are not valiant for the truth. They proceed from evil to evil.

“Evil to evil” now there is an interesting phrase. What exactly does that mean? It is similar in construction to “faith to faith” (Rom 1:17) and “glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). In Romans the phrase is all about revealing the righteousness of God in us. In 2 Cor. The phrase is all about revealing the image of God in us. In Jeremiah it is all about revealing the deceit in our hearts. It is going from peg to peg. They go from evil to evil, peg to peg. What does it reveal? It reveals that they did not know Him.
He takes it to an even lower level in verse six, “Through deceit they refuse to know Me.” This is a consistent thread in Jeremiah in relation to our own hearts. We are so capable of self-deception. We tell ourselves that we know the Lord, and yet the pride of our lives is in our accomplishments and not in the knowledge of Him. How does one know that the pride of one’s life is in one’s accomplishments? If I were stripped of all my accomplishments and the reputation of my accomplishments, would I still be content with the mere fact that I know Him? Ultimately, that is exactly what Jesus did. He emptied Himself of His right to be worshipped as God by taking the form of a bond servant and going to the cross and dying for my sin and shame. He did it simply because He knew and loved the Father, and He knew and loved me.
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight,” says the LORD.
I am hanging in the middle of a spiritual peg board. I have no strength to go up from glory to glory. I only have ability to go down from evil to evil. I can only do one of two things. I can enter into a relationship with Him, where in getting to know Him, I learn how to allow His lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness to flow through me. In doing that, He strengthens me to go up the board from faith to faith, from glory to glory. In which case, I can only glory in my knowledge of Him, for He is the One working in me enabling me to do all righteousness. Or I can deceive myself and listen to the lies that I have been telling myself about what I deserve. The result is only the ability to descend down the peg board from evil to evil. The sad thing is, I don’t even realize that I am going down.
Who is this King who enters my life exercising lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness? He is my only claim to fame. He is my King of glory. In this I will boast! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ACTS 1
Luke says that Jesus appeared to the disciples during the forty days between His suffering/resurrection and His ascension speaking things pertaining to the kingdom of God. The Prophets had envisioned the Kingdom of God as a glorious Kingdom in which the Messiah would reign and Israel would be the head nation of the earth. All nations would come to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh.
Yet the only thing that Luke records of what Jesus said concerning the kingdom of God, is that in not many days they would receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then the disciples asked Him if it was at that time that He would restore the Kingdom. His reply was significant but a little cryptic in relationship to the kingdom of God.. He said,
It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

He was then gloriously lifted up into the clouds and some angels appeared to the disciples and told them that Jesus would return in the same manner in which he saw them leave. The glory of Jesus in the time being is that we should be filled or clothed with power from the Holy Spirit. Having been endued with power, we are to make disciples of all nations, building His church until the end comes. Right now, the glory of Christ is seen by the world only in His people who are filled with His Holy Spirit and are busy witnessing by their words and actions, making disciples, building His church.
Indeed our King is a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John