December 8

2 CHRONICLES 8
Fascinating! Solomon observes all of the law concerning the sacrifices and the celebration of the 3 festivals; yet, he marries the daughter of Pharaoh. He knows that there is something wrong with marrying her because he will not allow her to live in Jerusalem. Listen to what he says concerning her, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the LORD has come are holy.” He will not even let her live where his father lived because she does not share the faith. Then why did he marry her? He united with almost 1,000 concubines and wives. He knew it was wrong but did it anyway. They turned his heart from serving the Lord. If Solomon in all his wisdom could succumb to such a temptation, how much more should I be wary of willfully turning from God?
Where is the glory of God in all of this? I’m really digging here. Could it be the tremendous longsuffering of the Lord? Could it be the tremendous grace of the Lord? I mean, Solomon is clearly disobedient in relation to his marriages and his sacrificing to other gods, yet the Lord does not remove him. Surely the longsuffering of the Lord is being tried here! Am I any different? Well, I don’t have any concubines, and I have only one wonderful wife, or any other kind of wife for that matter. I have not built any altars to other gods to burn sacrifices and incense there. But is any other sin I commit not just as grievous to the Holy God I serve? When I willfully sin, am I not trying the longsuffering of the Lord. Yes, I am. For that reason I should be motivated to not sin. But at the same time I rejoice that He is indeed longsuffering and gracious. Thank You, Lord! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PROVERBS 8
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:24, 27 & 2:7:

But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. . . 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— . . . 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,

In one sense, Christ is the personification of wisdom spoken of in Proverbs 8. In another sense, He is more than wisdom. But since we are looking at the glory of Christ, let’s approach Proverbs 8 as though it were the personification of Christ.
One of the first things that I see here is that wisdom ‘cries out’ from high hills, highway intersections, city gates, doors of houses and buildings. Unlike the adulterous woman who coaxes the naïve into her bedroom behind closed doors to gain her fill of unrighteousness, Jesus is in the open calling out to people everywhere in all activities of life and in every situation. He is calling them to come to Him. He is ever the great communicator! It is only my fixation upon sin that inhibits my ability to hear Him! He is calling to us from the very point of creation right up unto the present. His voice was never any clearer or plainer than when He was upon the cross. The cross thunders through the ages that God hates sin, and He loves people. The resurrection echoes that He has power to deliver us from the bonds of our sin. But clearly in order to receive the benefits of that deliverance, we must yield to His calling out to us.
Another thing that I see here is that that wisdom is involved in the creation of the universe. Jesus as the ever communicating Word is also the Creator. When we are investigating how the depths of the oceans or the crust of the earth, we are merely discovering His thoughts as He created the earth. When we investigate the minutia of the molecular, atomic and sub-atomic world, we are merely thinking His thoughts after Him. When we explore the vast expanse of the solar system, galaxy and universe, we are simply finding out how awesome He really is. All of these declare to us constantly His wisdom ad power.
A final thing that I would like to look at today is His value. He is more valuable that gold, silver, rubies or any precious stone. Why do I spend and waste the majority of my time upon the acquisition of riches, when I can have more of Him? Why do I not spend my time in the pursuit of Him and His Kingdom? Then He can give me what He sees fit for me to have for myself? A true understanding of His glory could only lead me in that direction. If He desires to give me the earthly riches of Solomon, He can do that. If He desires to give me the earthly riches of Lazarus, (the one who died at the same time as the un-named rich man), He can do that. The point is, He is truly all the riches I need. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

3 JOHN
In college I took a class called Philosophical Problems. The semester was divided into three main questions of discussion.

1. Is there a God and if so, what is He like?
2. Is there a basis for morality and if so, what is it?
3. Does man have a soul or an immaterial part of his being?

The professor was an agnostic and obviously read about and thought about the questions most of his life. Of course he was guiding the class reading and discussion to his conclusion, which was basically the same for each question. His conclusion was, "We don't know and probably cannot know." For him truth was an elusive thing that can only be found in the facts demonstrated by the scientific method. Never-the-less there were three or four of us in the class that stuck to our guns and argued against his conclusions. (Unfortunately we lacked training and experience in this.) Why did we do that? We did it because we had each had a personal encounter with the Truth, the person of Jesus Christ.
This is the only book of the New Testament where the name of Jesus does not appear. But the word truth or true is used seven times and love or loves is used thrice. John has sometimes been called the Apostle of Love because of his emphasis on love in other writings. Perhaps he might also should be called the Apostle of Truth. John, the one whom Jesus loved, is said by some to be the Lord's favorite disciple. Usually his writings exude with Jesus. John is known for his emphasis in his writings on the person of Jesus Christ. But here he does not even call the name of Jesus. John is the one who quotes Jesus as having said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. . . " Truth is the emphasis of this letter.
How does one walk in the Truth? The Truth is Jesus. Ultimately we walk in Truth by what I have been trying to do in these meditations on the glory. We walk in the truth by spending enough time in the Word every day until we see the glory of Jesus and what difference it makes in our life. We then seek to apply it to our lives and speak it to others. He is the truth. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john