May 6

Numbers 14 It was a hot Oklahoma day. The sand was deep on the red dirt road. My bicycle tires were bogging down in the sand. My 8-year-old legs were worn out from our 6.5-mile-one-way trip to Yost Lake. It sounded like a great idea when my older brother suggested it. “Let’s ride out to the lake and back.” I think the temperature peaked out that day at over 100 degrees. When we were in eyesight of the lake, our dog Lucky headed straight for it and without hesitation dove in the water to cool off. The swimming beach was on the other side of the lake. At that time it cost $0.25 for non-members to enter. My brother and I did not have the quarter to pay, nor did we have our swimsuits with us. But the entrance guard was a friend of ours so he gave us some cool water to drink and let us sit in the shade of his guard shack to cool off a little while. Then we headed back home. Whenever we hit the thick sand, I did not have the momentum to keep the bike going. As a result, I had to get off and push my bike through the sand. I was exhausted and frustrated from pushing my bike. My brother was frustrated with me for not being able to keep up. He had the strength to keep going through the sand. I didn’t have it. A little ways down the country road we came across the railroad tracks. The railroad tracks formed the hypotenuse of a right triangle with the country road and highway as the legs. My brother had a great idea. “Let’s take the railroad tracks back. It’ll be a lot shorter.” He had no problem negotiating the railroad ties. I couldn’t do it. Now instead of pushing my bike through four miles of occasional deep sand, I was pushing it constantly on railroad ties. I was hot, tired, frustrated, crying and grumbling against my brother. I think, that was a day that I could identify with the Israelites. They had been almost a year and a half in the desert. The spies returned home with the news that while the land was indeed a land of milk and honey, the inhabitants were giants. Sitting camped in the southern Negev desert, they were hot, tired, dirty, and frustrated. They did more than a little grumbling against Moses. Joshua and Caleb sought to intercede for Moses and Aaron. The congregation picked up stones to kill Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb. They would have done it too, except that at the last moment God let His glory appear. He was ticked. They had not just rebelled against Moses, but against the Lord. Ever wonder what His glory looked like when it appeared? Whatever it looked like, it was scary enough to stop the mob action dead in its tracks. They learned a new form of the fear of the Lord. Do you suppose the children of Israel could hear the conversation which transpired between Moses and the Lord? When God appeared in His glory, why did He threaten to kill all the Israelites? He knows the beginning from the end. He knew that He was not going to kill them. Why did He threaten this? I think He wanted to instill a greater fear of Himself in the Israelites, and He wanted to teach us the importance of intercession for others, even those who would kill us. Jesus modeled that intercession upon the cross when uttered, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!” Stephen modeled it when he was dying and cried out, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” Moses unlike Jesus and Stephen was spared death at this point, and he was successful in interceding for them! What was his appeal? It was God’s own glory! After all, what kind of glory would it be if God took them out of Egypt only to kill them in the desert? This incident is recorded to cause us to know the importance of His glory! The Israelites also heard the delayed sentence which was pronounced upon them. Everyone except Caleb an Joshua, twenty years old and older would die in the desert never being able to enjoy what should have been theirs. So what importance do you think we should put on the glory of God today? I should put my everything upon it! Life may feel like I am bogged down in the sand. I may feel like I am pushing a bike across railroad ties. I may feel like grumbling against my brother. But remember, He wants to show His glory not only to me but also in me. So keep on pushing! He will show it! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

April 29

Numbers 6 I stood in her backyard and watched as she came toward me escorted by her father. It was his last act of authority over her. She was beautiful. She was wearing the traditional white dress for the occasion, and in her hands were a bouquet of yellow roses. We exchanged vows to each other of extreme devotion. The vows were to separate ourselves to each other till ‘death do us part.’ My life now ought to be lived to make her happy, to protect her, to smile upon her, to be gracious to her, to give her peace. In exchange for her devotion, I pledged to her my undying love, all that I am, and that which is most precious to me, I gave her my name. While not a marriage vow, this ‘Nazarite Vow,’ as it is often called is described by Dr. Ronald Allen as, “An act of unusual devotion to God, based perhaps on an intense desire to demonstrate to the Lord one’s utter separation to Him.” The more negative person would look at it and say, “Why should I have to keep myself from using any grape product, cutting my hair or touching anything dead?” Simply one would do it to express ones utter devotion to the Lord. Why would one want to do that? One would desire it only because one has found His great glory and tasted of it. That one taste makes the denial of any other thing worth it. If you have tasted of His glory, then you know exactly what I mean. So here it is, the Nazarite Vow. It is the vow of one who desires to give themselves in extreme devotion to the Lord. I find it more than a coincidence that at the end of the Nazarite Vow description and requirements that the Lord instructs Aaron to bless the people with these specific words. Notice that in this blessing, the name of the Lord is repeated three times. As Christians, we read into this that the whole Trinity is desirous of blessing us. Yahweh, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, desires to make us happy. Those who have given themselves to Him receive His blessing, His protection, His enlightenment, His grace, His smile, His peace. When He desires to do this for us, why wouldn’t I want to devote myself wholly to Him? But wait! There is still more. He puts His name upon us! I have a new name now. It is His name. He wants to glorify His name. It is done in us! It is His desire that all the world should see extreme love and extreme devotion when it sees us. The normal way in which the world will see His glory before the Day of Judgment is as He has placed His name upon His bride. Hmmmm. . . will the world see extreme devotion or will it be sullied by our spiritual adultery? He is all about blessing His bride. What will our world see? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

April 25

Numbers 2 Yesterday, I sat in a traffic jam. It took about thirty minutes to travel 3 or 4 miles. When we came to the point of the congestion, a car was being loaded up on a tow truck and moved out of the intersection. Apparently an accident brought a decrease in the normal order of things. Ever notice that in a long line at a traffic light that it takes a very long time for the twentieth car to be able to begin going? The lag time in human reaction from seeing the light change to when the car actually safely moves is such that is slows everything down. As the 20th car in line, I don’t expect to be able to clear the intersection before it turns red. However, if everyone could simultaneously move forward, eliminating the lag time, one could easily clear the intersection during the span of green time at the intersection. Can you imagine the logistical problems of trying to get 2,000,000 people to simultaneously break camp and begin moving? God is a God of order. It is clearly demonstrated in his instruction for camping and how to break camp. Today he calls His body, His church, to move in an orderly fashion to fulfill His purpose in the earth. Sometimes it takes a massive coordination in how to break camp and move in unison. It is His glory to communicate to us to provide the coordination in order to complete the work. Are we listening to His instruction? He provides it, and that is when He is most glorified! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

April 24

Numbers 1 I have been traveling from Stillwater, Oklahoma to Cary, North Carolina, a total of over 1200 miles. Along I-40 we have passed through many large cities, Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, etc. At times we have driven on highways that were 5 lanes wide going both directions (a total of 10 lanes). The lanes have been flooded with cars, sometimes stopped because of the volume of traffic on the highways. At those times I am often overwhelmed with the multitudes of people. How can God know any of us intimately? Yet I am reminded of how little our planet is in this vast universe. If each one of those cars on the highway were representative of just one galaxy, then there still would not be enough cars to represent each of the galaxies in creation. The smallest galaxies contain around 10 million stars. The largest galaxies are estimated to contain about 100 trillion stars. There are about 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe. There are more than 1024 stars in the known universe! (I don’t even know the name for that number.) There are only 7 billion people on the planet. We are infinitesimally small in relation to the created universe. Our God created each of those stars as well as each of the 7 billion people currently on our planet, which means, He is even larger still. Of course if He can create all that, then He is capable of knowing it intimately. But what assurance do we have that He wants to know us intimately? The declaration that He made at creation is the first assurance. He said, “Let Us make man in Our own image.” Out of the multitude of created things and created beings, we are the only beings said to have been created in His image. Whatever that image is, we possess it! Because of that image, we are important. Because of that image, the taking of human life without His permission is wrong. Because of that image, we are important to Him. Because of that image, we have chapters and books like this one in the Bible, the book of what is important to God. I don’t really care who the head of what tribe was in Israel 3,453 years ago, 8,000 miles from where I live. But it is important enough to God that He includes it in His communication to us. I think He does this to demonstrate how important each of us is to Him. In the midst of an overwhelming multitude of people, he knows us individually. Now that is incredible! That is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

April 19

Leviticus 23

            Feasts! Gotta love ‘em! I remember going to the Maxey reunion every summer as a kid.  It was held at a park in Guthrie, OK.  We always had this giant pavilion reserved for about a hundred people.  Everyone brought food, great food and lots of it.  Most of my first cousins from my mom’s side would be there as well as second, third, and so on cousins.  I didn’t know anyone but my first cousins, but that did not matter.  It was great food and great fun! While the children played, the adults caught up on relationships that had lain dormant for a year. Does our Holy God care about feasts? Is holiness somehow beyond festivities of feasts?  Absolutely not!

            This chapter briefly describes each of the seven Holy festivals given to Israel.  They reflect the Glory of our Lord in that they demonstrate how He prophetically works in history with the feast days of Israel. Each feast speaks of the Messiah.  Below is a simplification of the feast days and how they reflect God’s plan in the Messiah

Passover—the crucifixion and death of Messiah

Unleavened Bread—the fellowship we have with Messiah because of His death

Firstfruits—the resurrection of Messiah

Pentecost—the giving of the law, the giving of the Holy Spirit, the beginning of the church (two loaves)

Trumpets—Israel brought back into the land (future)

Great Day of Atonement—the work of Messiah upon the Cross for us

Tabernacles—the time when Israel is in the land (future)

            The Firstfruits can be kind of confusing.  Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary rather cryptically identifies this feast with Pentecost.  Yet, that does not really capture it.  Here is what The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia has this to say:

            The phrase “the first of the first-fruits” (Ex23:19; 34:26; Ezk 44:30), . . . is not quite clear. . . . It may mean  the first-ripe or the choicest of the first-fruits. . . . The priest waved  a re’shith of corn before the Lord on the morrow after the Sabbath in the week of unleavened bread (Lev. 23: 9-11).  . . .  At the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) seven weeks after the offering of the sheaf, bikkurim of corn in the ear, parched with fire and bruised, were brought to the House of the Lord as a meal offering (Ex 34:22-26; Lev. 2:14-16).

So then, it was kind of a divided holiday.  It began on the first Sunday following the Sabbath that fell during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On this day new sheaves recently sprouted in the field were cut and brought to be offered as a wave offering before the Lord.  This was the day that Jesus rose from the grave.  Paul, as a good Pharisee recognized this.  In 1 Cor 15:20-23 he is indicating more than that Jesus is the first to rise and stay risen from the dead.  He is the fulfillment of the Feast of Firstfruits.

            Fifty days later when grain had produced ripe heads, they were harvested and brought to the Lord.  The Feast of Pentecost was celebrated.  It was celebrated with two loaves of bread made with leaven.  This day is the creation of the church.  The Mystery is now revealed.  Jew and Gentile are blended together into one body.  The two loaves become one.  But wait a minute!  These loaves are made with leaven.  Leaven is a symbol of sin.  As in the parable of the tares, Israel and the Church through the centuries has had to wrestle with sin and evil in its midst.  Hmmmm. . . .

            The last three festivals fall in the seventh month. Seven is the number of completion.  The Feasts of Trumpets and Tabernacles look to the second coming.  One day He will return and we will sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev.19:9). The feasts will then all have found their fulfillment in History, and we will enjoy fun and renewed relationships in the presence of our Holy God.  In the mean time we have the privilege of hastening His Kingdom by spreading the good news of His of His glory.  Is it not amazing how He has it all planned from the foundation of the world?  Indeed we serve a glorious King.  Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john

April 18

Leviticus 22 “Aliens are all about rules.” If you enjoyed Lilo and Stich, then you know what I am talking about. It would be easy, reading through the Pentateuch, to think God is all about rules. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy sometimes seem like rule after rule after rule. But look at the oft repeated phrase from these books, “32“You shall not profane My holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel. I am the LORD who sanctifies you, 33“who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD.” But for this one recurring phrase, I might think that God is all about rules. A friend of mine, Corey, frequently says, “Every relationship has a set of rules.” Indeed that is true. I love my wife. I have never codified the rules we have for our relationship, but there are many, and rightly so. What kind of relationship would we have if I made love to other women? What kind of relationship would we have if I treated her like dirt, or she treated me like dirt? So with God, there are rules to a relationship with Him. The rules in the Pentateuch were established to give images which would guide the relationship between Yahweh and Israel for the next 1400 years. Most people who would read this meditation have no problem with understanding the boundaries that need to be set in couple relationships. Yet as I have done counseling with a few couples who have had nothing to do with a holy environment (not brought up in church, never attended church or read the Bible), I am often struck by what seems to me to be an amazing lack of understanding of what should be obvious relationship rules which should be followed in a couple relationship. They instinctively get angry at their partner when those rules are broken, yet they don’t seem to recognize that those rules apply to themselves in order to foster a good relationship. They break the rules which protect a good relationship, but don’t recognize their own culpability. Unfortunately, I have had a few ‘churched’ people who paddle in the same boat. But rather than focus on the rules today, I would like to focus on Him as the one who sanctifies us and leads us out of Egypt. The damage people do to one another by not following the relationship rules is lethal. It is filthy. It has to be cleansed in order for the relationship to be restored. So too in our relationship with the Lord, the damage we have done to our relationship with Him is lethal. It is filthy. It must be cleansed in order for our relationship to be restored. However, how do we cleanse ourselves? It is like trying to cleanse ourselves when we are in a desert with no access to soap or water. It just cannot be done. God knows. He takes the initiative to cleanse us. Can you imagine a man desiring to make love to a prostitute whose 100 previous customers were infected with AIDS, and then she rolled in a sewer before coming to the man? I don’t want to imagine it, but I believe that our sin makes us like that before our Holy God. It is impossible for us to cleanse ourselves of such filth. Yet his love for us is so great that He takes the initiative to cleanse us when we could not cleanse ourselves. That is what He means by, “I am the Lord who sanctifies you.” It is only right that in response to such great love that we should hallow Him and love Him back. He also is the One who took them out of Egypt. Living in Egypt is a picture of slavery, of being bound in sin. My brother used to raise and show pigs at county and state fairs. For the show we would always wash the pig and groom it to make it look nice for the show. However, as soon as we had the pig back home, it would always head for the pond or mud. Why? The nature of a pig is such that to remain cool it must have wet skin. Hence, if it is warm, it will always head for a pond or the mud. A pig is in bondage to its thermostat. It must remain cool. We are in bondage to our sin nature. We feel a compulsion to sin. But Jesus will deliver us out of that bondage. He sets us free. One would think that if we focused on His sanctifying power and His bondage breaking power, we would realize His awesome love, mercy and grace. Oh, that gives me such great hope! It tells me of His great glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

April 17

Leviticus 21 A few days ago, a bomb went off during the Boston Marathon. Since then, the TV airways have been flooded with images of what happened and is happening. Today at lunch I watched a special news report as I ate. They interviewed one of the investigators who has a master’s degree in video imaging. He talked about how within the last 5 years, how the everyday technology of video cameras, phone cameras etc. has increased dramatically in quality. Part of the process of trying to identify the bomber is a plea to any and everyone who has video of the event to turn it over to the investigators. They are literally combing thousands of video images to identify the bomber, stop him from any further travesty and bring him to justice. In the meantime, we are constantly bombarded with images on TV, making it impossible to forget about this tragic incident. Why was it so important that the priests had to differentiate themselves from everyone else in death, marriage and physical health? In the ceremonial law, to touch a dead thing or dead person caused ceremonial uncleanness. The priest’s job presented an image of God’s holiness. Physical death is part of the curse of sin. The wages or result of sin is death, separation. God is life, perfect union. The Father has granted for Jesus to have life in Himself. He is the giver of life. Jesus as our High Priest is the representative of life. He is the mediator between God and man who brings life. Since the priests of Israel were images of Jesus, they needed to be ones who were connected with life, except in the taking of the life of the sacrificial animal. The sacrifice of Jesus’ death was not arbitrary. It was deliberate and purposeful providing the substitute which we all needed. His resurrection secured the victory over death which we all needed. We receive that provision and victory when we are united with Him in His death and resurrection. So why did the priest have to keep himself from death? He was the image of the great High Priest who would defeat sin and death. His separation from death communicates to all the God is the author of life. His goal is to bring us life and not death. Why was it so important that the priests had to differentiate themselves from everyone else in marriage? God continually speaks to us in Scripture by the image of marriage. His people are His bride. The image is that the love relationship that exists spawns new life. Marriage is not just a proper form designed for releasing a hormonal urge for reproduction. It is a committed relationship which produces life which finds its beloved to be most thrilling and results in more life. Jesus wants His bride to be exhilarated with His love to the point that we reflect the love of the Trinity for each other. In the midst of that exhilaration, He produces new life. The priests of Israel were to be a symbol of that relationship. The Bride of Jesus is to be pure and spotless, not a whore, not divorced, not adulterous, not homosexual. The priest’s marriage was to reflect that purity. Why was it so important that the priests had to differentiate themselves from everyone else in physical health? The sacrifice was to be perfect. An imperfect sacrifice would not be sufficient in paying the debt of sin. Jesus, the perfect lamb of God, is sufficient to pay the penalty of our sin. The priest who presented the sacrifice had to be perfect as Jesus is perfect. He was an image, a symbol of the perfection of Jesus. The power of an image is incredible. That is why we are instructed to make no image to bow down and worship it. God knows this. He created us this way. Immediately following the special news report at lunch was a Drs. reality show. It was ironic that part of the theme of the show was the selling of a calendar which featured the 12 most beautiful male doctors of the USA. Sale proceeds of the calendar would all go to the American Red Cross. We went from images of destruction to images of beauty and healing. Images are so moving, so convincing, so powerful. In the instruction of the priests’ response to death, marriage and physical health we see a reflection of the Glory of our Lord Jesus. He is the life giver whom death cannot hold. He is the perfect lover who seeks and will obtain a perfect bride. There is no lack of commitment with Him. He is the perfect healer, bringing us all new life. As I experience death, imperfect relationships and declining health, I know that He will overcome it all someday. He has made it known even in the reflection of the priests. He is the perfect priest! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john