September 27

2 SAMUEL 23
When you come to the end of your life and say your last words, what will you say? What could David have said? He could have boasted of all that he had accomplished. He could have said:

I rose from being a shepherd boy to building one of the greatest countries of the world in my region. I united my people under my leadership. I defeated the Philistines, the Amalakites, the Edomites, the Ammonites and the Syrians. I formed alliances with Egypt, Geshur, Tyre, Sidon and other countries. I ruled from the river of Egypt to Syria. I had many wives, sons and daughters. I built a new capital. I amassed great wealth for my sons to follow me.

But what did David say? He identified himself as one that God had raised up. He shared what God spoke to him about how to rule. He summed up what he had done with God’s instruction with this statement, “Although my house is not so with God, yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure.” He looked back over his life, and rather than boast upon his accomplishments, he saw the greatest significance in His life to be the covenant that he God had made with him. His greatest boast was the mercy and grace that the Lord had bestowed upon Him. Is that my greatest boast? Is that your greatest boast? If it is not, then I would say that we truly have not begun to grasp the glory of our Lord.
In contrast to him, were mighty men, men who had done wonderful exploits. One man had killed 800 men in one battle. One had fought so hard and so long in battle that his hand cramped in position in grasping his sword, and he could not let go. One stationed himself in a field of lentils and single handedly fought off an invading Philistine force when everyone else had fled. The list goes on, but what does David boast about? He could have boasted about killing Goliath or any number of other things, but his boast is in God’s mercy and grace. He had seen God’s glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 88
Wow! Talk about a dark Psalm! I have been depressed before, I don’t think it was ever to this extreme! It seemed to Heman (See 1 Kings 4:31 for a description of his wisdom.) that he was on the brink of death, alone and deserted. Neither loved one nor friend sought to comfort him. He was convinced that all that was happening to him was God’s intent and design. He is angry at God and angry at man. He describes himself as being under the waves of God’s wrath. And yet, he calls out to God for relief. He stretches out his hands toward Him. How does this reflect the glory of God? Deep inside, Heman knows that in spite of the wrath of God, that the Lord is merciful. He will not let go of Him. He knows that God’s mercy will triumph over justice! That is the glory of the Lord Jesus! He is God’s mercy incarnate. It is also fitting that the father has handed all judgment over to the Son. If we neglect His mercy, how shall we escape His justice. If I feel I am experiencing His wrath now, then I should call out to Him for His mercy! That is His glory. He is compassionate, longsuffering and full of mercy! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

DANIEL 9
Yesterday, I learned of yet another pastor friend of mine who had been fired from his church. He has decades of service on the mission field. He is a great preacher. He is a hard worker. He loves people. Yet once again, a governing board fires their pastor. Oh I am sure they had their reasons. And I am sure he had his faults. I certainly have mine. Every one of the prophets had their faults. There was the man of God from Judah who successfully prophesied against the Bethel altar of Jeroboam, king of Israel. Yet another prophet talked him into disobeying the Lord. A lion killed him. Elijah would have been labeled bipolar. He beat the prophets of Baal in a fire contest, called down rain after a three-year drought, beat the king in a marathon and then sank into a deep depression and ran south to hide. Most boards would have given him the right foot of fellowship. Elisha had quite a temper; I mean, he cursed the young men who made fun of his baldness. A bear ate them. Is there a governing board in the nation that would put up with that one? The sins of our church governing boards and our pastors are mounting up before the Lord like unsurpassable obstacles. Israel and Judah’s sins had mounted up before the Lord. They had killed prophet after prophet who spoke the truth, including Isaiah. They tried to kill Jeremiah, and would have, except the Lord sent men to intervene.
Jeremiah prophesied 70 years of desolation for Jerusalem. Daniel was a boy when they began. That is how he received his ticket to Babylon. Now he is well into his eighties. Recalling the prophesy and doing his math, he realizes that it is time for Jeremiah’s prophesy to be fulfilled. He begins praying about it. Look at his prayer!

4 And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, . . . 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. 8 “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. 10 We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. 11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. 12 And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. 13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 14 Therefore the LORD has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly! 16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. 17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline Your ear and hear; . . .

Daniel is one of the men in the Scripture for whom there is no fault ever recorded. Yet over and over again he confesses sin and guilt which was from different generations before him. He very personally identifies with the sin because he very personally identifies with his nation which is guilty. The American mindset would say, “But he did not commit those sins! He should not have to repent of them, and he cannot repent of them.” Is Daniel using a figure of speech or does he literally mean “we,” and “us?” Interesting concept! David, as king of Israel, repented for the sin of Saul, previous king of Israel. Why? Because God held Israel guilty under David’s reign for sin Saul committed. Ezra and Nehemiah are also examples of men who identified with sins of people from previous generations and confessed it as their own.
Why do all of these men confess sin of a previous generation? The answer is simple. There is such a thing as corporate identity. If there is corporate identity, then there is corporate responsibility. If there is corporate responsibility, then when the corporate responsibility is not met, there is corporate sin. Individual’s take care of their sin through repentance and confession. How does a corporate body take care of its sin? Their leaders as representatives of the corporate body bring the body together and they, speaking for the body, the corporation, confess the sin of the body and repent for it. That is what Daniel is doing. His request is for the nation, not just himself. He desires to know when God is going to keep His promise to the nation. For clear communication with God, we must be clean of sin. God does not regularly communicate with those who will not acknowledge, confess and repent of sin. This is a principle which applies to individuals and to bodies, corporations.
But what did it produce? God answered his prayer and sent the angel Gabriel to communicate to him what would be one of the most amazing prophecies in the Scripture.
What is translated 70 'weeks' could be literally translated 70 'sevens'. If each individual unit referred to as "sevens" by Daniel was one year, then the cutting off of the Messiah would be equal to 69 X 7 years or 483 years. Ancient calendars often consisted of 360 day years. In which case 69 X 7 = 173,880 days.
Calculating 173,880 days after March 5, 444 B.C.(the day the decree was given to rebuild the wall) = March 30, 33 A.D. According to Dr. Harold W. Hoehner this is the very day that Jesus made His triumphal entry in Jerusalem to present Himself as Messiah.
That is incredible! Daniel records this prophecy in approximately 533 B.C. some 89 years before the decree to rebuild the wall. It was at a time when nobody really thought Jerusalem would ever recover from the destruction of the Babylonians. Not only does he predict the rebuilding of the walls but he also predicts to the very day, some 566 years later, the cutting off of the Messiah. If that is not an acceptable testimony to the claims of Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords, then you won't believe any evidence, no matter how well produced. Daniel gives two dates, both to come after his death. Daniel tells the very number of days which will transpire between the two dates. The likelihood of that happening is just incredible odds!
Jesus is the King of glory/King of Love! He still wants to display His glory. Maybe the reason we do not see His glory displayed more often and in a greater way is because we are unwilling to repent, acknowledge and confess our sins corporately. Maybe there is unconfessed corporate sin of pastors toward congregations and congregations toward pastors. Hmmm, maybe we are part of the reason His glory is obscured. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

GALATIANS 6
Galatians is Paul's great letter on the nature of liberty in the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw a few days ago that liberty is the freedom and ability to do what is right apart from coercion and that the law can never bring liberty, only condemnation. Yet here we are told, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Is the glory of Christ that which He brings us into liberty only to enslave us with a new Law? May it never be! What then is the law of Christ which is both law and liberty? Jesus gave one and only one new commandment before His death. It can be found in

John 13: 34,35 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
And again in John 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
The Apostle John reiterates this in 1 John 2:8-11 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
And again in 1 John 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Is Paul contradicting himself? By no means! It is the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ to liberate us in order to enable us to fulfill His law. He has the ability to live His victorious life in us! On the plane of man to man, woman to woman, if we love one another as He has loved us, all of the law is fulfilled. There is no need to coerce one another. We are not condemned by the law because we are already doing it, fulfilling it. Yes, there will be times when the old nature rears its ugly head. Yes, there will always be times when Satan succeeds in breaking that love for one another. Yes, there will be times when the world's way of thinking holds sway over our thinking. But each time when that happens, The Lord's command is brought back to our minds through Paul's reminder. If we have broken the law, then we simply bring our sin back to the Lord and, if necessary, to the one we offended. Forgiveness is full and immediate from the Lord. He will work in us to make us able to love, even the most unlovely. Now that is glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john