September 12, 2010
Scripture:
Hebrews 12:2
I was thinking of this in connection with the emphasis our brother put on “the death of the cross” in Philippians 2.
Hymn 139 - Nothing but the Blood
Prayer
Genesis 25:27-28,
Last time we watched Isaac dig wells, but today we’re back with the whole family; Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob. These verses tell us that Isaac loved Esau. Why? Because Esau was a hunter, and Isaac enjoyed the venison he brought home. Venison is meat from a deer. Rebekah, however, loved Jacob.
Malachi 1:2-3
These verses in Malachi tell us that the Lord loved Jacob, but hated Esau. So Isaac is loving someone that God hates. Should Isaac do that? No, he is loving Esau for the wrong reason; and it will cost him later on. Esau was a man of the world. “The world” in this case dosen’t mean the planet that God made, it means the people who are living their lives without God. This system started with Cain. He went out from the presence of the Lord and built a city with things to occupy him, but he tried to do it without God.
We must be careful to avoid the things that God hates; things like disobedience and unkindness. We have to read the Bible carefully, so that we’ll know what to avoid. It’s a good lesson, and we’ll build on it as we go on with Isaac.
The early verses of this chapter prophesy about the Lord’s appearing, as we have seen. This is when He will come in judgement; He will judge all those listed in v. 5.
V. 6: The Lord does not change. Read Psalm 102:27; as this verse demonstrates, the Same is one of the names of God. It may seem that God changed as time went on in the Old Testament. However, what really happened was that God was revealing more of Himself as the Old Testament progressed. Both the New Testament and the Old Testament show the grace and judgement of God. How good to know that the God we met at salvation is the same God we will be with throughout all eternity. Sometimes, we enjoy change (for example, a new car), but very often, we resist change. We don’t have to worry about that with God. He will not change, His Word will never change, and His love will never change. There’s no fine print saying “Subject to change without notice.”
However, God’s people had changed, so He was calling them to return to Him. If they did, He would return to them. But they didn’t see it; they said, “Where did we go?” It’s so easy to fall away from the Lord. There was a young man in the meeting in Montreal who was a very bright, earnest Christian. However, he fell away from the Lord, and had to be put out of the meeting. He visited a brother, wanting to get right. He made the comment “It’s so hard to get back.” That’s very true.
God asked Israel to return to Him and bring Him the gifts they were required to; they were eagerly doing this in Nehemiah’s day; it is sad to see how far they had fallen in just a few generations. God didn’t want them to do this for His benefit; while He wanted them to honour Him, He also wanted to bless them for obedience. In v. 10, we can see the blessing He promised for following His word. We, too, should give God a portion of our lives; What are we doing for Him? If we spend our time digging into His Word, we will be rewarded. If we share what we learn with others, there will be even greater blessings.
Hymn 30 - Passing onward, quickly passing
Prayer