We live in the most amazing of times. I know there are a number of people who remanence about the “good old days”. This is nothing new. We saw the Israelites do this after Moses led them out of Egypt.
But there is one clear way that these are the best of days. No other time in history have more people, tribes, languages and nations had access to the word of God. Thinking back to the days of Paul, letters had to be written on hides of animals and cost weeks if not months wages to produce and copy. Messengers were dispatched. People were gathered for the reading.
Today we can pull up dozens of different versions on our computers and phones. Bookshelves are filled with bibles. They are in virtually every hotel room in the Western world. Large print, pocket size, fully indexed, parallel, all readily available.
Yet how many people have actually read it? According to a Lifeway poll in 2017 90% of American households have a bible, but only 11% self-reported that they have read it at any point in their lives. We hear bits and pieces in church and hang verses on our walls, but would our habits show that we value the complete word of God?
When we teach kids we have learned it is far better to point them in the direction of what to do instead of simply pointing out what they are doing incorrectly. Instead of saying, don’t do that, we say, let’s do this instead. Maybe we need to do a bit of parenting and teaching in our own lives. Instead of sinning, maybe we should pull the bible off the bookshelf and open it up and read what God has to say in the entire story.
My Answers:
3.
a.
They were God’s chosen people, they were the receivers of the law and the temple and had the only means of forgiveness. They deserved it by ancestry. I have had many advantages of location of birth, family, the investment of church family, friends.
b.
They had something, handed down, to study and learn and see the attributes and the plan of God. The Word of God is the greatest gift given to me and to mankind. Without it we would rely only on the natural signs of God and not have the deep personal relationship that we otherwise can form.
4.
Abrahamic covenent (bless those…), The promised land and God’s promise to bless them in the land (if they keep His commands), Israel would never be rejected (there would always be a remnant).
The sins and unfaithfulness of some (e.g., those who killed Jesus for example) do not nullify God’s faithfulness and condemn all the people.
5.
My nature, my desire, is to attract temptation and evil. I am, by nature, sinful and unclean.
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
The Notes are Good 