November 8

Nahum 3
What a contrast between the ending of Micah and the ending of Nahum! Micah ends with hope as a promise of the forgiveness of sins is extended. Nahum ends with despair:
Your injury has no healing,
Your wound is severe.
All who hear news of you
Will clap their hands over you,
For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?
Micah was addressed to Israel and Judah. Nahum was addressed to Nineveh, Assyria. Both were accused of spiritual harlotry. God seems to frequently compare our sin to harlotry. What God values in us is that we reflect what He is like. There is such an unbreakable bond in the essence of the Godhead that if it were broken, the very universe would unravel. He created us in His image. Male and female he created us. Our marriages are to reflect that image in the oneness of our union. When we break that covenant relationship we mar part of the image of what He is like. That is one of the reasons that fornications and adulteries should be shunned among those who call upon His name. Our failure mars the image of God. It keeps people from trusting in Him.
The church is to reflect what He is like. The oneness of Him is to be reflected in us. That is why love and loyalty among the body is so crucial for the world to believe the witness that we profess. It is a witness that we are in communion with Him. Our disunity mars the image of Him. It is the result of spiritual harlotry, and it is spiritual harlotry. Our failure mars the image of God. It keeps people from trusting in Him.
Why was Israel granted repentance and Nineveh not? Part of the answer lies in the purpose and providence of God. Part of the answer lies in will of man. Nineveh chose not to repent. Israel partially remains today, and one day will occupy the land in belief. Nineveh was destroyed in 612 B.C., as prophesied by Nahum. Its destruction was so complete that for many years some scholars even questioned the existence of Nineveh. It was discovered by archeologists in 1845–1854. It is a silent testimony that those who curse Israel will be cursed. It is also a silent testimony that spiritual harlotry leads us to death both individually and corporately. God will display His glory either in love and compassion leading to life or in judgment leading to death. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

November 7

Nahum 2
When God becomes our enemy, our demise is certain and unavoidable. So it was with Assyria. This is part of His glory. He defeats His enemies thoroughly and certainly. I must remember that when I am tempted to think that He will not prevail. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

November 6

Nahum 1
What a contrast is today’s reading compared to yesterday’s final chapter of Micah. Last night as the fans were beginning to leave the football stadium after OSU’s narrow victory over Kansas State, we felt the rumbles of a 5.6 magnitude earthquake, whose epicenter was 40 miles southeast of here. Today we read:
The mountains quake before Him,
The hills melt,
And the earth heaves at His presence,
Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.
6 Who can stand before His indignation?
And who can endure the fierceness of His anger?
His fury is poured out like fire,
And the rocks are thrown down by Him.
The LORD is good,
A stronghold in the day of trouble;
And He knows those who trust in Him.
Yes, judgment and justice are coming. But it is good to know that in the middle of it, the Lord is good. He is our stronghold in trouble. He knows when we truly trust in Him. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

November 5

Micah 7
I love the way Micah ends:
18 Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy.
19 He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.
20 You will give truth to Jacob And mercy to Abraham,
Which You have sworn to our fathers From days of old.
Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

November 4

Micah 6
“Each blade of grass whispered to the other, “The king of Togo Togo has two horns!” You may have heard the old African fable which was used to teach children the value of keeping secrets. When God made His covenant with Israel, He used the covenant form of the cultural day. Part of that form was to call witnesses who would be able to come back later and witness both the covenant and its violation. He called the mountains and hills to be witnesses when He made his covenant with Israel. God is calling in His witnesses. The violation of the covenant can no longer be ignored. In the court room, He asks, “How have I wearied you?”
How could we ever be weary of a God whose glory is as great as our God's glory? It is simple; we put our eyes on something that is not His glory. Oh we may think it is, but it is not. Someone I know who became a Christian as an adult said that one of the things that turns her family off toward the church is that it is “cheesy.” Why is it “cheesy?” maybe because it is that we have exchanged the glory of our Lord for a cheap imitation. Oh it has many of the right words, but the Spirit of power behind the words is not there because His glory is not preeminent.
He fills out the problem a little later on in the passage: v.8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? Inwardly, they had forgotten justice. Their material possessions were more important than their obedience to the Lord in dealing with the poor, the widows and the orphan. Outwardly, they showed no mercy or pity upon the destitute. Upwardly, they thought the outward performance of the commanded sacrifices made them right before God. How had God wearied them? He hadn’t. They settled for a cheap imitation and refused to come to the true fountain of life.
It is God’s glory that He stands with arms open commanding us to return. When we put our eyes on something else, we may be fooled, but the world smells a cheap imitation immediately, and the world whispers to each other, “The church of Jesus Christ has two horns.” Lord, let me not be fooled with the imitation. Keep my heart hot to pursue Your glory! I easily forget justice and abandoned mercy. I easily become proud before You. Forgive me Lord, and let Your glory shine in me! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

November 3

Micah 5
Micah switches gears back to the future. In chapter 4 we began looking at the Millennium. Then he digresses back to the great battle which will usher in the Messianic kingdom where the nations that oppose the Messiah are crushed. Then in 5:1 he shifts further back to the future when Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem and finally strikes Zedekiah with a rod bringing a permanent end to the line of kings until the Messiah would appear. But He leaves Judah with hope. He catapults back to the future 582 years. Out of little Bethlehem, the birth place of David and only five miles from the temple in Jerusalem, he announces the birth of last and great ruler. Out of you Bethlehem, a little insignificant town, a town so small that it is not listed in the list of cities conquered by Joshua. Its only significance is that when the nation was on the verge of subjugation to the Philistines a young man came forth to lead the nation into victory and lead the nation to the status of a world power of the time. But that was the past. Micah takes us back to the future when the world is on the brink of being destroyed by those who follow the powers of darkness. A ruler will step forth from Bethlehem, and he will intervene.
I felt compelled to consult a commentary on this passage and came across something of great interest to me. This phrase, ”Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel,” what does it mean, “shall come forth to Me?” Listen to this from the commentary:
Willis, while maintaining the MT, offers an unusual interpretation based on parallels: “From you [a city] will come to me [a person],” meaning that the Messiah will come out of Bethlehem as an inferior king to meet Yahweh, his superior king, in order to submit himself to him. Renaud (La Formation, p. 224) objects that, among other arguments, all of Willis’s invoked parallels are located in a clear context of surrender, whereas here the context is one of victory, not surrender. Besides, none of the parallels use “l.” (to)
I suggest that they are both correct as long as we understand that the words ‘inferior’ and ‘superior’ do not refer to quality of person but to the concept of submission. The result would be that unlike other kings of Judah, the Messiah, Jesus, comes out of Bethlehem to submit Himself to the will of the Lord which results in overwhelming victory! Thus Willis is correct in terms of submission, and Renaud is correct in terms of victory. Jesus’ path to victory is through submission to the Father.
This one who submits to the Father is the One who is from everlasting. Immediately the words of Moses in Psalm 90:2, “Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” He who submits to God the Father is God, God the Son! Clearly this is one of the mysteries of the Universe! God the Son eternally submits to the will of the Father, God the Holy Spirit eternally submits to God the Son and God the Father. The love of the Son for the Father is proven by His submission to His will. The love of the Holy Spirit for the Father and the Son is proven by His submission to their will. The love of God the Father for God the Son is proven by His exaltation to His right hand, being given a name that is above all names and given as His inheritance those for whom He died. What great glory is seen in this eternal love affair, of which He has made us part!
This all sounds very cerebral, but there is a very practical side to this. Jesus’ submission is plastered throughout the New Testament. He Himself said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be serve, but serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Who was He serving? Us? Yes. The Father? Yes. He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does.” His submission was moment by moment and dependent upon the Father. His eyes were clearly fixed upon what the Father was doing.
His evening with the disciples before His crucifixion was filled with this, “So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.” What was He doing? He was cleaning them. He was talking about spiritual cleansing. Jesus’ death brought the cleansing that they needed. One among them was not clean, Judas. Did Jesus wash Judas’ feet? Yep. He served the one whom He knew would betray Him. The others were clean, except. Except what? Except the dirt that had come upon them from living their daily life. Think spiritually.
How do we clean each other’s feet? Think spiritually. If cleaning each other’s feet is at all possible, it is only possible if we are in total submission to the Lord Jesus Christ and to each other. What does that look like? It looks like Jesus
Philippians 2:1-111 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Does this look anything like our church, or the church in America? Where is the submission to one another? We approach church from a consumerism mentality. Does this church meet my needs or my family’s needs? Oh, I will take this entrée from this church, this dessert from this church, this fruit from that church. But am I committed to the people of this congregation? What if this congregation does not have a menu which I like? If they do not, then I will just go to one that has the right menu. Lord forbid if someone should point out my sin! If they do, then I’ll just go to another congregation. Am lowly minded enough that if my brother points out my sin, I won’t be defensive? Will I truly consider his point? Submission to one another is a forgotten concept much less work.
Yet, this is the glory of Jesus. He submitted to the Father. He calls us to do the same and to submit to each other, and in so doing, we reflect His glory. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

November 1

Micah 3
Because the Lord is just, he has set a chain of command in place in this corrupt human race. It is the duty of the leaders of a society to protect the poor, the innocent and the righteous. When the leaders corrupt their God-given role to twist it to their advantage, the anger of the Lord is engaged. The Lord is so furious with the leaders of Israel that he uses the simile of a butcher to describe the heinousness of their works. He describes them as cannibalistic fiends. As if they were preparing for a meal feasting on those whom they were charged to protect. Were they really doing this? Only in the most perverted of cultures does this ever happen. But the Lord is attempting to give greater impact upon the foulness of their works. Yet it appears that they did not heed the Lord’s warning.
Indeed they are unaware that the Lord no longer is among them. Happy with the money that they receive for ruling, teaching or prophesying, they continue on keeping up appearances that the Lord is among them, when He is far removed. But the Lord will not allow such nonsense, especially in His household. His glory is to plow them like a field. What do you do with a field that is unfruitful at the end of the season? You plow it under and start again attempting to use the appropriate seed herbicides, pesticides, fertilizer, and irrigation in the next growing season. And so, the Lord does with His people. It is part of His glory.
Lord enable me to uproot any foreign seed in my life. Uproot any foreign seed in this congregation. Make us fit for growing the fruit which You desire. Make us a field that displays the pleasant aspects of your glory rather than the justice that brings recompense to our evil deeds! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john