Archive for December, 2007

DEVOTION 8

December 4, 2007 · Filed under DEVOTIONAL MATERIALS

A DEVOTED PERFECT LIFESTYLE

Remember now, O Jehovah, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore (2Ki 20:3) AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION.

Hezekiah reiterated his perfect lifestyle before Jehovah with ease after prophet Isaiah has informed him about his imminent death. Among the Kings of Judah, Hezekiah was one of the distinguished kings whose life pleased Jehovah. We have a number of people who received accolades from God as perfect like Noah and Job. God Himself commended their devoted lifestyle of perfection. We see here Hezekiah seemingly “blowing his own trumpet before Jehovah”. This scenario depicts his audacity to proclaim his perfection before Yahweh. His among the few in the bible who whole heartedly revealed their effrontery in declaring their uprightness before God.

Scarcely will a Christians in this 21st century have the nerve to boast before God as Hezekiah did. In his prayer he appealed to his perfect walk before the Lord in genuineness and with a thoroughly devoted heart, and to his acting in a manner that was well-pleasing to God, in perfect accordance with the legal standpoint of the Old Testament, which demanded of the godly righteousness of life according to the law. This did not imply by any means a self-righteous trust in his own high merit; for walking before God with a thoroughly devoted heart was impossible without faith. We must rise up to the corridors where we as Christians can openly declare our perfect lifestyles before God without reservations.

The track of Hezekiah’s thought pattern was evidently abreast with the promise which God made to David and his successors on the throne (1Ki_8:25). He had been Fidel to the tenets laid down by God for the kings in Israel; and as he had been all along free from any of those great crimes by which, through the judgment of God, human life was often suddenly cut short, his great misery arose partly from the fact that he had reached the summit of his reign and he pants for a time to celebrate his achievements. He pleaded the fulfillment of the promise.

We can only plead our possessions in Christ as the “SONS OF GOD” if we are cleared from the ills and flaws that stripe us from God’s beatitudes and blessings. We must learn a great deal from the temerity of Hezekiah in declaring his “wholeness” before the God who searches the heart and identifies its hidden motives and reservations.

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DITTY 8

December 4, 2007 · Filed under DITTYS

DITTY 8: DISCUSS THE RELATIONSHIPS OF THE PROPHETS OF ANCIENT ISRAEL WITH THE THRONE (GOVERNMENT), THE TEMPLE (RELIGION), AND THE PEOPLE (SOCIETY).

THE PROPHETS AND THE THRONE

Some prophets like Nathan served in the court of the king and thereby functioning as an adviser to the king. Many of these prophets served independent from the kings and this gave them the leeway for them not to me manipulated surreptitiously by the kings. The kings confided in them in matters that relates with directing them with regards to God’s will and purpose for them.

Though only Samuel served as a priest and a Prophet, he installed Saul and David by anointing them.

They guard the throne from being unscrupulous and devious. Like Samuel, he served as a Priest and a prophet and his work entailed offering sacrifice to ablute any sin that has found its way into the throne via the king. They at frequent times warn the kings from their negative ways. They are the mouth-piece of God in revealing His plans to the kings of their day. Ezekiel was called as a watchman to the nation. A watchman’s role was to for see the evil that is in the offing and he will in turn inform the king about the impending doom or danger and again he will also stress on what the king must do to either avert this doom or the way to overcome it. They serve as God’s blessings and judgment to the people. Gad and Nathan served as prophets to the king (David). Elijah and Elisha served as critique and advice for the kings. In addition to serving the kings of their day, they served the Judges too and alongside that, they addressed Israel’s worship.

THE PROPHETS AND THE TEMPLE (RELIGION)

They also have the role of protecting the worship of Yahweh among the people. They enforce the worship of ONE God “the great shema”. The prophets protected the religion of Judaism in its most comprehensive sense, which includes a belief in the being and perfections of Yahweh, in the revelation of His will to the Israelites, in their obligation to obey His commands, in a state of reward and punishment, and in their accountableness to God. They also enforced true godliness or piety among the kings and the people. They made sure that righteousness is exalted in the nation especially, in their worship of Yahweh and Him alone. Like Elijah, they protected the monotheistic practice of Israelites. They also totally extirpate idolatry from among the people and they bring to book the culprits. They protect the tabernacle of God from being defiled and treated with contempt. They criticized vain worship (Amos 5:23-24) and priestly failures (Amos 7:10; Malachi 2).

THE PROPHETS AND THE PEOPLE

The prophets serve as mediators between God and the people. They represent the presence of God before the people. They are the voice of God to the people. They reveal God’s will and plan to the people. They also presents the supplications and plea of the people to God. They see to it that the typical Israel traditions and cultures are upheld in high esteem by the people. They serve as intercessors for the nation. They remind the people of the precepts and commandments of God and teach them about the way of right standings with God. Samuel served as leader pre monarchy to defeat the Philistines (I Sam. 7). The prophets’ messages called Israel to honor God. Their prophecies were not ONLY general principles but also specific words corresponding to Israel’s historical context. They called the people to covenant faithfulness which reveals an awareness of the law (Isaiah 58:6-9; Ezekiel 18; Micah 6:6-8; Hosea 6:6). They relayed God’s message to the people by deed as well as by word.

REFERENCE:

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.

Easton Bible Dictionary

Faussete Bible Dictionary

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DEVOTION 7

December 4, 2007 · Filed under DEVOTIONAL MATERIALS

PROTECTIVE CHARIOTS OF FIRE

And Elisha prayed, and said, Jehovah, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And Jehovah opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha 2Ki 6:17 (AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION-ASV).

Indeed our God is a consuming fire. His glorious presence is typified by the fire which serves as a protective hedge around His children, but the other side of this fire devours the adversaries of the children of God. Fire is both dreadful and devouring: that power which was engaged for Elisha could both terrify and consume the opposers of God’s divine will. Elijah gave a specimen of Divine justice, when he called for flames of fire on the heads of his persecutors to consume them. Elisha gives a specimen of Divine mercy, in heaping coals of fire on the heads of his persecutors to melt them.

Elisha’s servant lacked the faith of seeing beyond the seen. Habakkuk 2:4 says, “the just shall live by his faith”. Our perspective regarding Gods protective measures around us predetermines His presence of fire that will be our shield and buckler. We must have the FAITH to see the proximity of God’s presence with us like the three Hebrew guys Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Elisha therefore prays that his servant may be given a vision of the spiritual realm, and behold as if with the bodily eye, the angelic host which he himself believes to be present. Many times Christians lack the discernment to identify the power of God shielding us from the wiles of the enemy and by reason of this inability, we become fearful and intimidated by the arrows that fly by night and the noisome pestilence from the devil. We must not in any way blame God when we don’t experience His protection because God’s Presence is ONLY for those who BELIEVES THAT HE IS AND IS A PROTECTIVE SHIELD TO THOSE WHO DELIGENTLY SEEK HIM.

The fiery horses and chariots were symbols of the protecting powers of Heaven, which surrounded the prophet. The fiery form indicated the super-terrestrial origin of this host. Fire, as the most ethereal of all earthly elements, was the most appropriate substratum for making the spirit-world visible. The sight was based upon Jacob’s vision (Gen_32:2), in which he saw a double army of angels encamped around him, at the time when he was threatened with danger from Esau. The angelic host of heaven surrounds us everywhere we are or will go. As heirs of the Father and Joint-heirs with the Son, we are the apple of God’s eye and He will never leave us unshielded and unprotected.

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DITTY 7

December 4, 2007 · Filed under DITTYS

CHOOSE A KING FROM THE NORTH. SUMMARIZE HIS REIGN AND THE EVALUATION OF IT. WHAT COULD HE HAVE DONE DIFFERENT IN ORDER TO HAVE A POSITIVE EVALUATION FROM GOD?

JEHU

The founder of the fifth dynasty, of the kingdom of Israel, son of Jehoshaphat. 2Ki_9:2. He reigned over Israel 28 years. His first appearance in history is, when he heard the warning of Elijah, against the murderer of Naboth. 2Ki_9:25. In the reigns of Ahaziah and Jehoram, Jehu rose to importance. He was, under the last-named king, captain of the host in the siege of Ramoth-gilead.

During this siege, he was anointed by Elisha’s servant, and told that he was appointed to be king of Israel, and destroyer of the house of Ahab. 2Ki_9:12. The army, at once, ordained him king, and he set off full speed for Jezreel. Jehoram, who was lying ill in Jezreel, came out to meet him, as it happened on the fatal field of Naboth. 2Ki_9:21-24. Jehu seized his opportunity, and shot him through the heart. 2Ki_9:24. Jehu himself advanced to the gates of Jezreel, and fulfilled the divine warning on Jezebel, as already on Jehoram. He then entered on a work of extermination, hitherto, unparalleled in the history of the Jewish monarchy.

All the descendants of Ahab that remained in Jezreel, together with the officers of the court and the hierarchy of Eastward, were swept away. His next step was to secure Samaria. For the pretended purpose of inaugurating anew the worship of Baal, he called all the Bailouts together at Samaria. The vast temple raised by Ahab, 1Ki_16:32, was crowded from end to end. The chief sacrifice was offered, as if in the excess of his zeal, by Jehu himself. As soon as it was ascertained that all, and none but, the idolaters were there, the signal was given to eighty trusted guards, and sweeping massacre removed, at one blow, the whole heathen population of the kingdom of Israel. This is the last public act recorded of Jehu.

The remaining twenty-seven years of his long reign are passed over in a few words, in which two points only are material:

n He did not destroy the calf-worship of Jeroboam.

n The TransJordanic tribes suffered much from the ravages of Hazael. 2Ki_10:29-33

He was buried in state in Samaria, and was succeeded by his son, Jehoahaz.

WHAT HE COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENT

Destroying the golden calves erected by Jeroboam in Dan and Bethel was the hallmark which would have distinguished him from the other kings who reigned before him. He really did well in extirpating the worshippers of baal and the destroying the idols in his day but the only benchmark “the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat” was overlooked by him and consequently adored and he smiled at the calves erected by Jeroboam.

REFERENCE:

International Standard Bible Dictionary

Torrey’s bible Definitions

 

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DITTY 6

December 4, 2007 · Filed under DITTYS

READ DR. ISBELL’S ARTICLE “HISTORY AND WRITING.” ACCORDING TO HIM, WHAT IS THE BIBLICAL TEXT DISCLOSING? WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE BIBLE WITH HISTORY?WHAT THE BIBLICAL TEXT DISCLOSES

The text of the bible offers a moral evaluation of kings and events and not a chronicle or an annal that merely recorded what happened. The biblical narrative does not prove or disprove anything the stories presented in the bible. The biblical text is less concerned to be used as a source of “history” than it is to offer a prophetic, a moral, and a Yahwistic interpretation of the true meaning of history. The biblical writers also tell us openly that what we are reading in the Bible was not intended to be balanced and fair to all sides. The biblical text and data present dry facts and figures some of which can be checked and cross-referenced. These facts, though certainly integral to the literal artistry of the narrator, are not the most important element of the stories about each person in the bible.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE BIBLE WITH HISTORY

The bible doesn’t must not be approached as what scholars believe to be “meeting the standards of history”. The authors and editors of bible narratives were simply not sophisticated enough to understand what is meant today as “history”. It is often read that the lack of sophistication of the ancients that stands in the way of our ability to perceive the true meaning of their writings just because we are so modern. The writers of the bible may have thought they were writing history, but of course we know they were not.

The authors of the bible did not intend to write “history” as we might define the word in the modern world. They knew that they had not included many facts that historians might ask about, they readily inform us openly that we must research other literature if such facts are our aim, and they even mention by name the sources they consider most appropriate for learning these “facts”. The biblical narrative of the exodus is not “historical”. It is not a kind of historical evidence that can be used to prove or disprove anything. The book of the Prophet Isaiah was not concerned to give a complete historical background for Isaiah’s messages but anxious to record that the prophet offered advice of a religious nature to two kings facing political and military disaster.

REFERENCE:

“History” and “writing”, by Charles David Isbell, Director of Jewish Studies, Louisiana State University; August 2003.

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