September 28

2 Samuel 24
I have lived through 6 censuses. The US government depends upon an accurate census for many things. If I remember correctly, the original motivation for a census was so that we would know how to apportion representatives to each state in our Republican form of government, but it has also since gained a multitude of other practical uses, not only for the government but also for businesses and even churches. My little city of Stillwater was hoping against hope that our incorporated population would exceed 50,000 people. Doing so would qualify us for a number of grants to help us improve our quality of life. We fell short. Oh well. Comparatively speaking, Stillwater has a very high quality of life anyway. I took a church planting course in seminary where we were taught to use census information for helping to determine the need for a new church and for knowing how to devise ministries which would be useful to the population in which the church is serving. I have also used it for genealogical purposes. My great-great-great-grandfather is listed in the 1800 census in Davie County, North Carolina. It is recorded that living with his family was one non-white adult, perhaps a slave?
It is not certain what the sin is in numbering the people. Matthew Henry lists at least 6 theories which have been set forth. The text simply does not say what was wrong with doing a census. This much we know:

1) God was angry with Israel.
2) God moved David to number the people.
3) 1 Chron. 21 says that Satan moved David to number the people.
4) Even the violent Joab and his captains recognized that numbering the people was sinful. 5) David’s own heart condemned him after he had done the deed.
5) The sin was severe enough that God would kill 70,000 men because of it.

Does God take the death of even one man lightly, much less 70,000? This whole event is about the glory of God. What did David do that robbed from the glory of God? What was it about this sin that made the sin corporate rather than individual? I suggest this. After all the rebellions had been put down, the nation returned to its prosperity. In their prosperity they became proud and did not trust in the Lord. I suggest that David’s desire to number the people was the epitome of the pride of the people. He wanted to know just how strong his army was. He wanted to know how strong of a king he was. After an entire lifetime of depending upon the protection of the Lord, he wanted to know how big his army was. It was a sin that reflected the sin of the people. What was the sin? The sin was a lack of dependence upon God and a glorying in what they thought was their own prosperity.
When David saw the destruction his sin had caused, his heart not only condemned him, but he took the responsibility upon himself. Gad encouraged him to erect an altar on Araunah’s threshing floor. Araunah offered it for free, but David would not take it saying, “I will not give the Lord that which cost me nothing.” When one really gets a proper view of the glory of God, they will give anything including their very lives in exchange for it. How can I give to God something of no value to me? His glory demands that I give Him my all. No matter what census I take of myself, all that I have is pathetic in value compared to His great glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

The Temple Mount is a large area. It houses two large mosques. This is part of the area that lies between the two mosques. Some have suggested that in this area the first temple was constructed. Of course it was constructed approximately where Araunah’s threshing floor lay. Certainly the area looks nothing like it did in David’s day, but it is fun to sit there and try to imagine all the events of the past that have taken place within a few hundred yard radius of this place beginning with Abraham.

This is the Dome of the Rock. Muslim tradition teaches that the rock which the building surrounds is the rock upon which Abraham sought to sacrifice Ishmael. It sits to the north of the previous picture

This mosque sits to the south of the first picture.


Psalm 89
We used to joke in our Theology Proper class that the final exam would consist of one problem: “Define God and give two examples.” Who is like the Lord? By definition there can be no other being like the Biblical God. There is only One uncaused being. There is only One who can hold all things together by the word of His power. There can only be One who is Almighty, for if there were another as strong as he, then he would not have power over him. He would not then be almighty.
Every time that I look at pictures of the Hubble telescope, I am struck with awe of our creator God. If you were to hold a quarter out at arm’s length to the night sky, in the area that the quarter covers, the Hubble telescope could find a thousand galaxies (not stars), and that scenario could be replicated throughout the sky. The vastness, precision and order that our Creator has created is beyond my little mind. If we would turn our telescope in and turn it into a microscope, the results would be equally amazing. It has taken vast teams of scientists untold hours of research to unfold the complexity of a simple DNA strand. Yet that DNA performs functions which we cannot explain or replicate. The Almighty is far beyond anything to which I may compare Him.
But for the sake of helping mere men understand a little of what He is like, the Psalmist ventures to offer praise to His name. Unlike pagan gods, the Lord is faithful in His mercy, which He abundantly pours out upon us. He stills the raging sea. When we encounter times in our lives when it seems that we are about to drown in the circumstances of life, when there is just no more breath to be had, He stills the sea. When foes rise up against us and destroy our jobs, our lives, our families, our marriages, He scatters our enemies. When righteousness, justice, mercy and truth seem to be devoid in our government and culture, He at long last will arise and will prevail and will restore justice, mercy and truth.
The Psalm is universally considered by Jew and Christian alike to be Messianic. It clearly celebrates the David Covenant and God’s faithfulness to that covenant. Here are the essential elements of the covenant:

29 His seed also I will make to endure forever,
And his throne as the days of heaven. . . .
33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him,
Nor allow My faithfulness to fail.
34 My covenant I will not break,
Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
35 Once I have sworn by My holiness;
I will not lie to David:
36 His seed shall endure forever,
And his throne as the sun before Me;
37 It shall be established forever like the moon,
Even like the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah

The seed (singular) of David will rule upon David’s throne. His throne will be established forever. What then are we to make of the Babylonian destruction and the Roman destruction of the nation? What happened to David’s throne? Jesus could trace His lineage to David, but after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., we can no longer trace the lineage of David. Only Jesus is qualified to fill that throne.
There is some question of who is Ethan the Ezrahite mentioned in the title. If the Ethan in 1Kings 4:1 and 1 Chronicles 15 is the same Ethan, then they indicate that he is a contemporary of David. That would place the writing of this Psalm after the time when David brought back the ark to Jerusalem, at the height of David’s rule. But the end of the Psalm seems to indicate that it was written at the time of the exile. The term “Ezrahite” is misleading. To the English speaker it would indicate that he was a follower of Ezra. But actually it means, “‘A descendant of Zerah,’ or ‘arising out of the soil.’” The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906 says:

The name occurring in Psalms lxxxviii. and lxxxix. (in the titles); I Kings iv. 31; and I Chronicles ii. 6. In the last-mentioned passage the Authorized Version gives "son of Zerah." It is not probable that the Ezrahite of Kings, who was famed for his wisdom, was the author of a psalm of the tenor of Psalm lxxxix., which, moreover, must have been written during the Exile, when the crown of the Davidic family was, as it were, broken (Ps. lxxxix. 40). In the superscription to the preceding psalm, the Korahite Heman, also, is called "the Ezrahite"; that is, a descendant of Levi is spoken of as if he were a son of Zerah, who belonged to the tribe of Judah. The addition of "the Ezrahite" to the names of Heman and Ethan in the superscriptions to Psalms lxxxviii. and lxxxix. is due to an error.

Whether or not this name is an error is a whole other topic, outside the scope of this meditation. But this Psalm must have been written after the fall of Jerusalem, simply because that is the best way to make sense of verses 38-51. So the Psalm is a celebration by faith that the throne of David will be restored and the seed of David will sit upon it. Wow! In the darkest of circumstances, Ethan celebrates the promises of God. At a time when Israel had been faithless and it would appear that God had abandoned His covenant (and indication of faithlessness), Ethan takes his stand on the faithfulness of God and celebrates the faithfulness of the Lord!
Last night (2012) I watched on video the remarks of Benjamin Netanyahu to the UN in reply to Ahmadinejad’s remarks earlier in the week. Clearly we are on the brink of international disaster. Dark circumstances loom before us. Ahmadinejad has made it clear that his country is moving toward the extermination of Israel. Netanyahu has made it clear that some kind of intervention will have to be initiated within the next nine months. Revelation 11:16–18 says:

And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

Jesus will return when we will be on the brink of the destruction of the world. Hmm. . . He will set up His throne in Jerusalem and fulfill His promise to rule upon the throne of David. Whether or not you agree with that interpretation, you have to admit that it appears that we are on the brink of what could be one of the darkest hours of world history. Will we take our stand with Ethan and proclaim, “The heavens will praise Your wonders, O LORD; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints.”
Even if this does not happen to be the final apocalyptic battle, there are still events in our lives and communities that call upon us to stand and proclaim the faithfulness of the Lord in the midst of the darkest of circumstances. Yesterday at Stillwater Junior High, a young man took his own life on campus. For family, friends and community this is a very dark circumstance. Can we stand together and proclaim, “Lord, by faith we announce Your faithfulness to us!”? We should be able, for He is indeed faithful, and that is His glory! In His time, He will calm the raging sea! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Daniel 10
I remember a few times in my life when I have been absolutely exhausted and feeling as though there was no strength within me at all. I remember two-a-day football practices in 100 degree+ weather in High school going through conditioning exercises which we had dubbed “fifteen minutes of Hell.” It and the heat would suck the strength right out of us. I remember running a six mile race for extra credit for biology class. I remember days of construction work where I felt like I had nothing left at the end of the day. I also remember emotional weariness that sucks the strength out of the soul. How do we find strength in these times? Physical strength is renewed with water, food and rest. But from where does spiritual rest come?
This description of the messenger who appears to Daniel is almost exactly that description given by the Apostle John as he describes the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation 1. I would therefore consider this messenger to be the pre-incarnate Christ. Shall I speak of His appearance? Others have done a better job of explaining this description. Your own sanctified imagination could probably do better than what I could say on this page. But this I see; Daniel was mourning over sin for three full weeks. Perhaps they were the first three weeks of the first month of the year. In which case, it would have been the end of Passover and then the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. It is at this point that the Lord appears to Him. The vision of the appearance of the Lord was overwhelming and sucked the strength right out of Him. He fell on his face on the ground before Him. It was the word of the Lord when He spoke to him that strengthened Daniel (v.19).
Is it not interesting these two polar opposite effects the manifest presence always has upon those to whom He appears? First there is a great dread that comes upon those in His presence, and their strength is gone, then He touches them in some way and all is made right and strength returns. Then the communicate is ready to hear the instruction of the Lord.
Oh Lord, all I know is that I need to see You! I need your manifest presence to tear me apart so that I may be remade and strengthened in Your presence. I need to hear Your instruction. I am weary of my own inadequacies. I need to view your glory in a way that tears me apart and reorients and strengthens me. OH Lord will you grant me the privilege of living in Your glory? Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Ephesians 1
How do you write a little meditation on the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ on a chapter like this? It is more like a grocery list of many of the many things that are true of His glory. Each item on the list could have a book written on it. Let's look at them now:

He is full of grace toward you and me. Can you express to others how He has shown His grace to you? Speak His glory to others.
He is full of peace toward you and me. Can you express to others how He has shown His peace to you? Speak His glory to others.
He chose you. Can you express to others how He marvelous it is that He has chosen you? Speak His glory to others.
He predestined us to adoption. Can you express to others how marvelous it is that He has adopted you? Speak His glory to others.
He has a good pleasure to will ? Speak His glory to others.
Look what we have in Him--redemption, forgiveness of sins, the riches of His grace! Can you express to others what you have in Him? Speak His glory to others.
He has a purpose for everything. Can you express to others His purpose for you? Speak His glory to others.
He will eventually bring it all together in Himself. Can you express to others the hope that brings to your heart? Speak His glory to others.
He is worthy of our trust. Can you express to others how you have recently trusted Him? Speak His glory to others.
He has sealed us. We are safe until the day of redemption. Can you express to others the safety you feel because of the sealing of Holy Spirit? Speak His glory to others.
We will be the praise of His glory. Can you express to others the hope it brings to you to know that you are His purchased possession and that He is in the process of changing you so that one day your character and very life will bring Him great glory? Speak His glory to others.
His power raises the dead. Can you express to others how He has raised you from the deadness brought about by your sin and trespasses against His holiness? Speak His glory to others.
He has exceeding great power. Can you express to others the exceeding great power He has to create and hold the universe together and at the very same time, change your life? Speak His glory to others!
He is seated in the Authority of the Godhead. Can you express to others how you are seated in Him, and He is in the driver’s seat of the Universe? Who needs to be friends with any president when one is seated in the lap of the King of the Universe! Speak His glory to others!

Every principality, power, might and dominion, every name that is named in all of eternity is under His authority. Can you express to others a little bit of the vastness of His authority? Speak His glory to others! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john