April 19, 2009
Scripture
Ministry:
Luke 24:7
Luke 24:7
In our first hymn, we sang “Himself he could not save, he on the cross must die”. That phrase, ”must die”, struck me. V7. He must be delivered into the hands of sinful men; He must be crucified. But that imperative also transfers over to to the last part of the verse. In order to save us, He had to die; but if there was no resurrection, there could be no salvation. The Son of God went to the cross and completed that work; but when we come to the resurrrection, the Scripture always credits it to God the Father. We can see how He so completely conquered death and triumphed over it. On that third day he rose again, and now has been “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high”. He is waiting till the time when he will come and take His throne. We should marvel, worship, and praise as we remember His death; but we also must remember that it is His resurrection that gives it its power and place. We rejoice in a living Saviour.
I’d just like to add a thought. John 14:3. He must go to the cross, He must rise again, and He must come again to claim His bride, for which He paid a great price. We can’t imagine what it will be like to be with the One who died such a despicable death in order to save us.
Hymn 53 – Weeping will not save me
Prayer
Last time we talked about how the windows of Heaven and the fountains of the deep opened up and the flood began. We saw how, previous to that, Noah and his family entered the ark, and how all the animals went in after them.
God waited one week before beginning the judgement. For 40 days and nights it rained. So, how long were they in the ark? Well, Genesis 7:11 says that they entered the ark when Noah was 600 years, 2 months, and 17 days. Ch. 8:14 says that the earth was completely dry when Noah was 601 years, 2 months, and 27 days. That means they spent about 1 year and 10 days in the ark. That seems like quite a long time! What do you think they did for all that time? Do you think they fed the animals? Can you imagine that we don’t know? The scriptures are silent on what Noah did when he was in the ark!
This gives us an interesting view of Noah’s life: as our story begins, we see Noah building. We know that he wasn’t only building: he was preaching as well. We can call this his testimony to the world. Now we are looking at a different portion of his life: the time spent in the ark. Who was in the ark with him? We know that God was there. This is the secret side of his life, the part that has to do with God. Noah is having communion with God. So we see two parts: his testimony to the world, which all could see; and his relationship with God, which was a secret.
But suppose we put ourselves in Noah’s place. You have a testimony to the world; those around you can see what you’re like. But do you have a relationship with God? Do you have a time and place where you can talk to the Lord and let Him talk to you? We can see what this did for Noah: ch. 8:1. This doesn’t mean that God had forgotten about Noah: it means He never forgot him; He always cared for him. We can have God’s strength with us throughout our lives if we have a time with Him daily. Do you have a secret life? I hope you do!
This prayer is part of Nehemiah’s secret life. As we look as his prayer, the obvious question is, what is he praying for? He starts by laying his soul bare before God. He doesn’t pretend to deserve anything; instead, he asks for mercy. He knew enough of God’s word to know that Israel wasn’t living up to God’s best for them, even though they were in Jerusalem and seemed to have successfully separated from the enemy.
In v. 6, he asks God to listen to his prayer, and to see his earnestness. He pleads with God to answer him. How good to know that God will never close His ears or eyes!
Nehemiah was asking for something that was close to God’s heart. He wasn’t asking for an easier life, or that things would go well for him. He was in tune with God’s desires. He called the Jews “Thy servants,” showing that he realized what was important to God. He also took a low position before God as he prayed. His prayer is not without detailed confession of what had gone wrong in Israel, but he also called on God to act on His promises to Israel. God had promised to judge them if they sinned and restore them if they repented. We can see that Nehemiah was burdened for the Jews, and there is no doubt that God was too.
At the very end of his prayer, Nehemiah give his request. Surprisingly, it isn’t for the people of Israel. He asked for mercy in the sight of the king. We know that Nehemiah was the cup-bearer: this was a very important task. Not just anyone could pour a drink for the king; the king had to trust that he wouldn’t poison him. Often, the king would make his cup-bearer drink from the cup first.
This is a very interesting prayer. He started by justifying God in His judgement; then he confessed the sin of the nation and made supplication. As we have said, Nehemiah is a praying man. And even though Nehemiah had an important job, God’s things were a higher priority to him. How important it is that we have our priorities right too.
Hymn 204 – A little talk with Jesus,
Prayer