September 14

2 Samuel 10
“Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the LORD do what is good in His sight.” When your back and front is against two armies, I guess you only have two options,

1) trust in the deliverance of the Lord,
or
2) be cowardly and look for a different way out.

Most people look for a different way out. It takes courage to stand in the face of overwhelming odds and trust solely upon Him. It takes courage to see the glory of the Lord and to trust only in His glory. Most people look at the odds and are cowed by its power. What if what the Lord designs for us is to not be delivered from the odds but be delivered through the odds? You see, many times, the Lord receives greater glory if we walk through the trials. But when we go through them, we get to experience first had the excitement of the revelation of His glory. Is the revelation of His glory worth the trouble. I believe Joab and Abishai would give a resounding, “Yes!” Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Psalm 75
“We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.” As far as I could find, that is the only place in Scripture which talks about the name of the Lord being ‘near’. I can envision Him being near, but what does he mean that His name is near, and because His name is near, we should give thanks? It is God’s wondrous works which declare that His name is near. What wondrous works surround us? On a physical level, the more I observe the creation around me from the presupposition that He created it and sustains it, the more I am awed by the wonders He has performed. Think for example of the intricacies of the human genome. How many scientists did it take, and how many years of study did it take, to begin to understand the how it works? And we are only beginning to understand. Yet those DNA strands are responsible for the replication and communications of volumes of information that any one person can never fully understand. Yet our God designed and created it and knows it fully and simultaneously for every person who lives or ever has lived. Every time we see another human being, we should be reminded His awesome work in just creating them. His name is near.
On a spiritual level, He knows each human being intimately. Every time that I am in a crowd of millions (traveling through large cities), I am overwhelmed with how God desires to know each one of us intimately and has the ability to simultaneously communicate with each of us. I am unable to call by name more than a few thousand people. I am unable to say of more than a few hundred people that I am their acquaintance. There are only a few people that I can tell you what just some of their strengths and weaknesses are, who their kids and grandkids are. Those that I know intimately, I can tell you their strengths and weakness, their deepest desires, the longings of their hearts, are indeed few. I have to be near them constantly to learn those things. Yet Jesus knows those things about each one of us. He is intimately acquainted with all our ways. When He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He looked into the cup set before Him, He saw the sin of each one of us. He saw the iniquity of billions of men, women, boys and girls. It was near Him. In that same instant, He saw the wrath of His holy Father against that sin. The cup set before Him was to drink the wrath against that sin and die in our place. He was literally near; He became our sin on the cross that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. His name is near. How can I not give thanks? Having experienced His work of forgiveness, how can I not choose to judge uprightly? Having been washed of my iniquity, how can I not warn the stiffed necked of their boastfulness against God? Having been cleansed by Him, I see no logical basis for exalting myself. It is His glory that He will exalt those who trust Him. Thank you, Lord Jesus! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Ezekiel 44
I really enjoy fellowship meals at our church. We have one after communion at least once a month. We also have meals together almost every week on Wednesday nights. I just enjoy sitting down and conversing with others and finding out what is going on in their lives. It gives me a greater appreciation for them, and it enriches me as I get to know them. Would you ever like to just sit down with the Lord and eat bread with Him. Abraham did. The disciples did. What glory it would be to be able to do that!
Ezekiel had the privilege of seeing the glory of the Lord reenter a rebuilt temple through the eastern gate. Then the gate was shut for no one else to enter through it, except the prince. We do not know the identity of this prince. We do not know the identity of this temple. Many have put forth the idea that this gate is the present day eastern gate of Jerusalem, but remember the text says that it is the temple gate, not the city gate. Note that the present closed eastern gate of Jerusalem probably did not exist in the day of Jesus nor in the day of Ezekiel. Note that the temple described by Ezekiel has never been built. Note that the identity of the prince in Ezekiel is unclear, and it is unlikely to be Jesus. Will Jesus in the Millennium enter this temple (if it is this temple) to eat bread before the Lord? Maybe.
Some have put forth the idea that Jesus presented Himself as Messiah at the Eastern gate. (It probably was the eastern gate where He did that, but not the present day eastern gate. The present day eastern gate of the city wall was built in the 16th century by Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire.) I find difficulty in literally interpreting this passage as Jesus entering the temple. But what I do see is a symbolic interpretation referred to yesterday. The Lord seeks to share His glory with us. He wants His glory to dwell in and among us. He seeks to share bread with us to fellowship with us. Hence when Jesus addresses the church of Laodicea in Revelation 3, He says,

Revelation 3:19–21 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

As with Israel and with Laodicea, He will not permit His glory to be sullied by our sin. Hence He rebukes, chastens, disciplines us, as He did Israel, so that we may share in fellowship with Him. As in Ezekiel, only the pure may enter the temple to share a meal with the Lord. He purifies and cleanses us with His own blood so that we may eat with Him. A fellowship meal with the King of Glory, Wow! What glory! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
The Present Day Eastern Gate of Jerusalem:

The Eastern Gate from the inside:


2 Corinthians 7
Paul's confidence in the Corinthians rests in one thing, he has a glorious Lord who is leading them. The Corinthians had blown it in several areas. But the Lord brought them back. Paul trusted them because He trusted his glorious Lord! Man, they were one messed up church. In his first letter Paul records four different factions that were in the church. Many were belittling Paul's authority. They were boasting and fighting. They failed to exercise church discipline in a blatant case of immorality. They were taking each other to civil court to settle their disputes. They were failing to pursue constraint in behavior when it would cause the weak in faith to fall into sin. Wives were rejecting the authority of their husbands. There was drunkenness in the celebration of the Lord's table. The rich were despising the poor. The worship service was filled with disorderliness as a result of a misuse of the gifts. Some were even denying that there would be a resurrection of the dead! Most of us would have walked away from the situation. But Paul was confident in them. Why? Because he knew the glory of his Lord. He knew his Lord would bring the Corinthians back. And indeed, the Lord did bring them back. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John