January 15, 2012
Scripture:
Scripture:
Let’s turn for a moment to Psalm 23. This morning we have been thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ and the cup He drank, which was full of our sins and iniquities. We as humans cannot evaluate how bad sin is; only a holy righteous God can. The Lord knew what that cup was like, and He asked for it to pass from Him. But then He said, “Not my will but thine be done.” He went to the cross and drank it all and as the hymn says, “Left but the love for us,” Read v.5b: “My cup runneth over.”
We have a cup, too. What is in it? Only love. Mary of Bethany is a perfect example of this. She sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His teaching. Then, she was the one who broke the alabaster bottle on His feet. How can we be like Mary? We can sit at Jesus’ feet by reading the Word and praying. It is the enjoyment of His love—and not simply the knowledge of it—that makes us respond to Him with our love. This type of love produces obedience. Mary knew what it was to have her cup run over. How glorious! May we know more of it! Let us enter into what it means to have our cup run over.
Hymn 352 - Oh won’t you come to Jesus while your young
Prayer
2 Samuel 9
I’d like to start with a story, about a little boy name Stephen, who was having trouble at school. At recess, a boy named Jim would be mean to him and called him names. Stephen didn’t like this, so he talked to his parents about it. Stephen’s parents prayed with him and asked the Lord what they should do. Then one morning Stephen had an idea: he asked his mother to put an extra cookie into his lunch box. His mother wondered why he wanted an extra cookie. Stephen told her that he wanted to give a cookie to Jim. His mother thought that was a great idea and she gave him an extra cookie. When Stephen gave Jim the cookie, Jim felt bad and apologized for being mean. Did Jim deserve the cookie? No, he didn’t; it was only because of Stephen’s kindness that he got the cookie.
Stephen was kind to Jim. In today’s chapter the word kindness appears quite a few times. Also, in today’s chapter, someone is given something that he didn’t deserve. This will be a good example to us of how we weren’t deserving of the Lord’s love; but He gave it to us anyway.
One day, David wanted to know if any of the relatives of Saul were still alive. Saul had been very mean to David and had even tried to kill him. After all this, why would David have wanted to know if there were any relatives left? When Saul died, Jonathan also died. David and Jonathan loved each other, and David wanted to know if there were any of Saul’s relatives alive for Jonathan’s sake.
Fortunately, there was one. His name was Mephibosheth and he was actually one of Jonathan’s sons. The sad part is that when he was young, his nurse dropped him while running and he had been lame ever since (2 Samuel 4:4).
Once David heard of Mephibosheth, he sent for him. Here we are see the kindness of David. We can also see the Lord’s love for us in David’s love for Mephibosheth.
I wonder what Mephibosheth knew about David and Saul’s relationship. While going to David, he was probably wondering what was going to happen.
Any fear that Mephibosheth had should have left right away. The first thing that David said was “Fear not.” David told Mephibosheth that he would restore to him all the land that had been Saul’s and that Mephibosheth would eat at his table forever. Mephibosheth didn’t think that he was worthy of David’s love. This is such a beautiful picture of salvation. There was nothing that we could do to earn salvation. Mephibosheth was part of the family then. And we have been brought into the family of God.
We have been blessed by what the Lord has done for us. David loved Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth did not just walk away from David’s offer and say, “No thank you.” We, too, shouldn’t walk away from what the Lord has done for us. May each of us draw closer to the Lord in our hearts!
Luke 9:28-36
Some people say, “Jesus contradicted Himself here. He said some of those there wouldn’t die until they saw the Kingdom of God. Well, all those people are dead and the Kingdom of God hasn’t come yet.” However, Jesus was referring to Peter, James, and John, who saw a preview of the kingdom in our section. It was eight days after Jesus said this that they saw it. Eight is the number of new beginnings; and the Kingdom of God is a new beginning to life on earth.
What happened was Jesus took that “inside group” of disciples up onto a mountain, and while He was praying He was transfigured before them. He had left all of His glory to take the form of a man, and now became transformed in glory and radiance. What a contrast to the manger! However, Jesus wasn’t alone. Moses and Elias (Elijah) were there talking with Him. These men had passed on long before; Moses had died on Mount Nebo, and Elijah had been taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. This, then, is a heavenly scene. There will be those that are already in heaven, and then - when the Lord comes - those of us that are still on earth will be caught up to Him. Peter, James, and John saw this scene, but they were sleepy. Some Christians are sleepy; they don’t see the glory of the Lord. There will come a time when they are awakened.
Now we would expect this passage to say that the Lord was talking to these two men, but that’s not the case. The passage says that they talked with Him. When we’re in heaven, we will have conversation with the Lord. That fact makes heaven much more intimate. Our children can come to us and tell us about their likes, their dislikes, and their desires. We can do that with the Lord right now, but so much more in Heaven!
Now that’s a wonderful fact for us, but it was a wonderful thing for the Lord to be able to talk to someone about His death. The disciples didn’t understand it; but Moses and Elijah did and it meant a lot to our Lord. He had mentioned His death earlier in this chapter to the disciples, but they had no comment on it. No one, it seems, understood, except Mary of Bethany. Maybe there were others that did, but we don’t hear of them. It must have been precious to our Lord to talk to those who realised that His work on the cross was the only basis for human hope. Moses (who represented the Law) and Elijah (who represented the prophets) had discovered this in glory.
This wasn’t the first time that Moses had been on a mountain. When He was on Mount Sinai, he had asked God, “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.” The Lord had told him, “No; but I will let you see my back parts.” Now Moses was in the presence of the glory of God! Later Peter wrote about this time in 2 Peter 1:16-19. He said, “We saw this. We were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” On this mountain they weren’t getting the Law, but rather seeing the grace and glory of the Lord in His approaching death through this transfiguration.
The two on the road to Emmaus didn’t know that the Law and Prophets told about Jesus’ death; but here Moses and Elijah are talking about it. The Lord had to explain it all to those two, and only after the Holy Spirit had helped them understand could they really enter into the truths of the Law and the Prophets.
On Sinai, God gave the Law. On the Mount of Transfiguration, He spoke through His beloved Son. That is the Object that He has given us to delight in. But the best is yet to come, because our object in glory is the same as the one that we have down here: the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Hymn 167 - I know not why God’s wondrous grace
Prayer