The glory of the Lord is such that He will avenge His own glory even if it means the destruction of His own people. He will not allow His people to wallow in sin. At the same time, He will not allow those who are not His to triumph over His glory. The ancients often believed that what happened on earth was a reflection of the struggle of the gods in heaven. Thus if the Philistines conquered the Israelites, it was because the god of the Philistines, Dagon, had defeated the God of the Israelites, Yahweh, in the heavens. In reality there is only One God. What happens on earth has nothing to do with a struggle of God, but has everything to do with how we perceive His glory and respond in obedience.
I cannot help but think that God has somewhat a sense of humor as He deals with the Philistines. They place ark of the covenant, the central symbol of the presence, glory and covenant of God, in the temple of their God, Dagon. In the morning they find the idol representing their god lying prostrate upon the ground before the ark. Hmm. . . must have been an earthquake. They set it upright again. The next morning it had fallen again. Its head and hands were broken off. Hmm. . . maybe something unfortunate is happening in the heavens. They still don’t get it. God strikes them with swellings. The Latin Vulgate says, “Swellings in their secret parts.” What might these swellings or tumors be? Boils? Hemmoroids? Cancers? STD’s? Whatever it is, they try to solve the problem by moving the ark closer to Israel. Maybe Yahweh will be satisfied if His ark is a little closer; send it to Gath. Didn’t work. Maybe it wasn’t close enough. Send it to Ekron. Didn’t work. Send it away from the city; maybe the people will not be struck with the swellings. Out in the fields rats came and ate their crops. Yahweh will not allow His glory to be trifled with. I personally think the way in which He dealt with them is humorous. It certainly is more gentle than He could have been.
What should they do? They realize now that they have offended Yahweh, and He is greater than Dagon. Give sacrifices to Yahweh, and send the ark back! They make gold images of the judgments He used against them. They hitch to cows together who have never been yoked before and keep their calves behind. The cows immediately leave the calves on their own and work in unison to head toward Israel. That would be an unheard of happening in their agrarian society! God reveals His glory to the Philistines, and He returns the ark to Israel.
The people of Beth Shemesh (House of the Sun) are delighted to see the ark coming back. They still have not learned. They treat the ark as a curiosity. They open it up and look inside it. They did not treat it as holy. Note how God deals so much more severely with them than He did with the Philistines. He kills 50,070 men of Israel as a result! That’s not funny. God expects His people to uphold and revere His glory. He holds us to a higher standard. We have been redeemed by the precious blood of His Son. He will not allow us to trample underfoot the blood of His covenant. That is something of which we should always be cognizant! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 45
The Lord is represented here as the One coming to His coronation as King. As He is described, we find that He matches the desire for a perfect King. What else could one ask for? He is a mighty warrior. Truth, humility and righteousness are the major cornerstones of His character. In personality He is full of gladness. In this election year would it not be great to have candidates whom we knew the foundation of their characters was truth, humility and righteousness? His righteous rule will last forever, not just 4 years at best. So how do we receive this perfect King? The daughters are exhorted:
Listen, O daughter, Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father’s house; So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him.
“Forget your own people. . .so the King will greatly desire your beauty.” This righteous King has called us out of a people of unrighteousness. If we wish Him to greatly desire us, we must desire Him more than our people of unrighteousness. He calls us into truth and humility. Do we really want a relationship with a King who is true, humble, righteous, attractive, strong? If so, then we must seek His glory more than our own. Is that really our desire? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
EZEKIEL 14
Noah, Daniel and Job, all three experienced unparalleled disaster, and yet all three passed through the disasters and were comforted that the Lord was righteous. Noah spent 100 years building a giant ark. During that time, he preached to all who would listen, but none listened. At the end of the 100 years he spent a year with his family sequestered inside the ark. The world as he knew it was destroyed when he emerged. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord to deliver himself and his family, but the rest of the world was destroyed. Was he comforted? Why did he get drunk?
Daniel saw his nation buckle to the king of Babylon. He and thousands of the best of Jerusalem were drug off to Babylon. He was separated from his family and all but 3 of his people. He was placed in a high pressure situation where the easiest thing would have been to forget about righteousness. He chose not to. The Lord delivered him and his three friends. Was he comforted?
Job lost his wealth, his children and his health; his wife and friends turned on him. Even in the midst of his questioning the righteousness of the Lord, he refused to curse God. He remained adamant that the Lord would deliver Him. The Lord did deliver him. Was he comforted?
These three men are held up as being unparalleled in righteousness, yet they were also unparalleled in experiencing disaster. Yet their great righteousness was insufficient to deliver anyone else. There is only one Whose righteousness is sufficient to deliver me. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. While I may see unparalleled disaster going on around me, touching my very life, if I trust in Him, He will deliver me through it, and He will comfort me. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
ROMANS 15:1-13
It is inevitable that, as we live together in the body of Christ on this side of heaven, that someone, who is one of our brothers or sisters in the body, will reproach us unjustly and they will believe that it is just. What do we do? We seek His glory. It is the glory of Christ that He bore the reproaches of those who reproached His Father. In the midst of that situation, as we seek His glory, He gives to us the patience and comfort through the Scriptures to enable us to bear those reproaches just as He did, so that we can with one mind glorify Christ, even with those who reproach us. Does this mean we do not speak what we believe to be the truth? No! But rather, we speak it in love, always looking for the Glory of Christ. Therefore when we are reproached, we have the ability to receive one another. Paul did it all the time in the Gentile/Jew issue.
He recognizes how important hope, joy and peace are in being able to unjustly bear the reproach of our brothers and sisters. It only comes through the power of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, Paul prays for us that we might be filled with them. Are you filled with them? If not, or if you need more, why not ask? It is the Glory of Christ to give those to us, so that, we might reflect His glory to others. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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