July 24, 2011
Scripture:
Ministry:
Let’s turn to a well-known passage: Genesis 22; I’d like to read a few words at the end of v. 8: *“God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.”* Let’s connect this to another well-known passage in Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” (v. 1). He is alone. Abraham and Isaac are a close picture of God the Father and God the Son here, but it is not quite perfect. God the Father led His beloved Son to Calvary’s hill. They went “both of them together.” From a past eternity, He was in the bosom of the Father: not only together, but in the place of closest affection. And so they come to a place called Calvary. And there man does his worst. But they are still together, for the Lord says, “Father, forgive them.” But after man did all he could do, God takes up the issue that is contained in the words, “we who were worthy, but do die.” The Lord takes our cause and bears our sins. That is when we hear, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” The Lord did not only ask this, but He also answered it, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (v. 3). The Lord took the punishment for our sins in those three hours of darkness, under the rod of justice, until finally—it seems—that God could ask no more. Justice is satisfied, by the only One who could ever do it. And he says, again in communion with the Father, He says, “into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Now we can render Him homage: “now with Him ‘Abba, Father’ cry.” We are brought into a relationship that only the Lord knew. Oh, how tremendous are these truths. Well may it bring us into His presence to praise Him!
Hymn 357 - A certain man of whom we read
Prayer
1 Samuel 26
We are still on the story of David. Abigail became David’s wife at the end of the last chapter.
So at the start of the chapter, the Ziphites came to Saul with information on where David was. Saul wanted to know where David was, so he could and go kill him.
David had been living in the wilderness at the time and he heard that Saul was coming to try to find him. Then David sent out some of his men to spy on Saul to see if he was really coming. A spy is someone that secretly searches out something or someone else. It turned out that Saul was indeed coming and he was quite close. Instead of running away, David went to Saul’s camp. Saul had brought 3,000 men with him and they had pitched their tents in a trench.
So David called a meeting with his men. David asked his men which of them would be brave enough to go down to Saul with him. Abishai said that he would go with David. Abishai felt secure going with David. He had a willing heart to serve: we can learn that as we are young, there are many things that we can do for our parents, such as taking out the trash, unloading the dishwasher, and other things. When we are young, we need to have willing hearts to serve.
The night came on and David and Abishai headed down into Saul’s camp. It seemed every one was sleeping, so they made their way over to where Saul was sleeping. David and Abishai came to where Saul was sleeping and Saul was lying on a bolster (or pillow), his spear was stabbed into the ground beside him, and a cruse of water was beside him. While they were they there, Abishai told David to kill Saul. David replied that it was not his job to kill the Lord’s anointed. We see that David was willing to wait. He told Abishai that Saul would die eventually. We need to learn that we should wait for God’s time. We might want to rush things; but the best thing is to wait for God’s timing.
David and Abishai took Saul’s cruse of water and his spear and then they left. When they had gone a piece away from the camp, David turned around and called to Abner. Abner was captain of Saul’s host. Once David had gotten Abner’s attention, he told him that he had not taken care of the king. He told Abner how he was in the camp and could have killed the king. He also told him that he deserved to die because he had not protected the king and he showed him Saul’s spear and cruse. As David was talking to Abner, Saul woke and recognised David’s voice. David asked Saul why he wanted to kill him. “What have I done?” he asked. Saul then said to David, “I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.” David told Saul to send one of the young men to come and get his spear and cruse back. We see David as a picture of the Lord here: the Lord prevailed over Satan.
May we each be willing to serve and wait for God’s timing in our lives.
Luke 6:17-23
We’ve seen the Lord heal in this chapter, even though the Pharisees didn’t like it because He did it on the Sabbath day. We’ve seen Him go up into a mountain to pray; and then become the leader of a band of twelve men, picked out of a multitude of followers.
Now our Lord descends to a level place where there is a great multitude from Jerusalem, Judea, Tyre, and Sidon. It was a great distance for some of them to come, and they came for two reasons: to hear Jesus, and to be healed of their diseases. The fact that they “sought to touch Him” reminds us of the woman with the issue of blood. She just touched the hem of His garment, and Jesus felt virtue go out of Him because she had faith to be healed. “There went virtue out of Him” here as well. Instead of virtue, Mr.Darby uses the word “power”.
The next part may be Luke’s version of the sermon on the mount, or it may be some other occasion. A case may be made for each. Matthew’s record seems to be more for the Jews, while Luke’s is for all men - Jew or Gentile. Matthew puts a couple of chapters between the beatitudes and the woes, but Luke puts them with each other. There is also a wording difference. Matthew says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”; while Luke says “Blessed be ye poor”. Luke is a bit more personal.
Poverty, hunger, weeping, separation; these are all things that the natural man shrinks from, yet they are characteristics of our Lord. These seem to be special instruction for those that Jesus chose to send out. There are a lot of organisations today that try to help the hungry and the poor; but our Lord - who was rich in all the glories of heaven - became poor for us. The comparison of these “bad” things (poverty, hunger, weeping, etc.) to the “good” things (being filled, laughing, etc.) also relates, in part, to the Millennium, when Christ shall reign in peace.
Matthew uses the term “the Kingdom of Heaven” exclusively, while Luke uses “the Kingdom of God”. The Kingdom of God is a moral state (“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3), and it is position “inside” the Kingdom of Heaven. We are to think more about heavenly things than these kingdoms, but we can learn things from them.
When we study scripture, it applies to the past, the present and the future. We can apply this passage to ourselves now. If we have riches that keep us from enjoying the Lord, they aren’t a blessing. Some of us grew up during the Great Depression, and feel that that was a blessing. It taught us to depend on the Lord and gave us lessons that strengthened our faith. The world thinks that money is power and affluence; but it’s also a curse if it hinders our spiritual life. Our Lord laid aside all of His riches. He was at the top, but descended to the bottom.
Isaiah 14:12-15. This passage is all about Satan. Can you see all the “I will”s? This isn’t like our Lord. Lucifer had a high position, but he wanted to go higher. He was wounded as a result of his pride, and will eventually be thrown into Hell. For now he still goes around as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We need to be on our guard.
Matthew talks about being “poor in spirit”. Satan surely wasn’t; look at all his “I will”s! The Lord, on the other hand, said, “Not my will, but thine be done.” The Lord has given some precious “I will”s to us and to Israel (which we can apply to ourselves as well).
“For yours is the kingdom of God”. Jesus has made us a kingdom of priests to God. When we seek our position in the Lord, we find that it’s a lofty one.
Once again, the Lord was poor. He didn’t have anything. To pay His taxes He had to send Peter to fish for money. Even so, He sold all that He had to buy the church. He gave His life for us.
Hymn 179 - Nothing but Christ as on we tread
Prayer