September 7, 2014
Scripture:
Ministry:
Let’s turn back to Genesis 2:21a, 22. What God took from Adam He used to make that which He gave to Adam. It is in this that we see the type of the Lord: His deep sleep at Calvary, out of which He received His bride. We are reminded of this in Ephesians 1:22b - 23. This was so that we could be made the completion of Christ: His body. That which He took, He gave to Adam. That which flowed from Christ gave Him His bride. We are that fullness “of him that filleth all in all.”
Hymn 167 - I know not why God’s wondrous grace
Prayer
Luke 20:9-16
The first word of the ninth verse—“Then”—tells us when this event takes place: at the beginning of the chapter, the chief priests and scribes were asking Jesus by what authority He performed His miracles. In reply, Jesus told this parable. It takes place in a vineyard planted by a “certain man.” This man rented out his vineyard to husbandmen. A husbandman, in Bible times, was a farmer.
Read Isaiah 5:1-4; Isaiah wrote this 800 years before Jesus told this parable. In this passage, the vineyard is a type of Israel. Israel had turned away from God and had become “wild.” So, in this parable the vineyard can be a picture of Israel. When the certain man sent servants to the husbandmen, they beat them, wounded them, and sent them away empty. Then he decided to send his son, who was a type of Jesus. He thought they would reverence the son. When the servants saw the son coming, they said, “If we kill him, we can get the inheritance.” So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. And that’s what Israel did to Jesus. They rejected Him and then they killed Him. And just as the man cast out the husbandmen, so Israel lost their place with God.
Acts 17:1-15
It’s a blessing to read in Paul’s epistle to these Thessalonians that they were ready to turn “to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven.”
Verse 5 in this chapter gives us a lot of action (took, gathered, set, assaulted, sought) and shows how being stirred up against God brings out the worst in people. Envy helped stir these people up, along with Paul speaking of Jesus’ resurrection—something that the Jews had paid a lot of money to silence—and claiming that Jesus was the Messiah. Not believing in something, though, doesn’t make it false. It only makes you an unbeliever.
The Jews had lewd, base, men that did their dirty work; and people like that are still around today. They triggered a riot and set the city on an uproar, showing their hatred for the Lord’s people. There are many places today where the Lord’s people are hurting, suffering persecution for Him.
The Jews accused the brethren of “turning the world upside down.” In some ways that was a compliment, for they acknowledged the power of the Lord working through his people. The Jews had searched for Paul in Jason’s house, but—when they couldn’t find him—they took Jason and several brethren to the rulers of the city and accused them of supporting “another king” besides Caesar. This troubled the people and the rulers, but they took security of Jason and the others and let them go.
Because of all this, the brethren sent Paul and Barnabas by night to Berea. It seems like the Thessalonians were a responsive people, but Luke tells us that the Bereans were “more noble”. They were good ground hearers. Their hearts were prepared, and they searched the scriptures daily. It’s important for us, not to just read the word of God, but to search it. It’s good to find New Testament types in the Old Testament, for:
The New is in the Old concealed / The Old is in the New revealed.
The Bereans probably searched the scriptures to see if they were persuaded of the truth that Paul preached. That’s important for all of us. We need to know what we believe and why we believe it. Searching is good, for God has promised in Jeremiah 29 that “ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” The atheist claims that there is no evidence for God, but that’s because he doesn’t want to see it. He’s not searching with his whole heart.
Faith came after this searching, for many Bereans believed the gospel. Not only Jews believed, either; Greek gentiles did as well, both men and women.
When the Jews from Thessalonica heard of Paul’s preaching in Berea, they came and stirred up the people again. The brethren once more sent Paul away, but this time Silas and Timothy stayed behind. Paul’s conductors brought him to Athens, and he sent a message back for Silas and Timothy to come as soon as they could.
The Thessalonian Jews may have stirred up the Bereans, but next time we’ll see that the Athenian idols stirred up Paul!
Hymn 31 – Precious, precious, blood of Jesus
Prayer