02.3 Revelation – The perfect resume

The Perfect Resume

I have been interviewing people the last couple of weeks to hire a new employee to join our team at work.  It is an important job that has significant impact on our customers and I want to do my best to select someone with the right qualifications and experience for the job.  I review their resume, their past work experience and internships, their skills and experiences, trying to find someone who would be a match for the very important job.

In regard to the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ desired to reveal the revelation that God had given Him, to show His servants what must soon take place.  As with the rest of the bible, it would be written by a human inspired by the Holy Spirit.  But who should be the human to write down the words.

I think it is safe to argue that there never before had been nor every since has been any person more qualified for that task than John.  One of the sons of thunder, John was an avid and intimate follower of our Lord.  He was at His side during His ministry, at the transfiguration, at the last supper, at the cross, at the empty tomb, after His resurrection.  And John remained a witness and servant of Jesus, suffering persecution for the spreading of the gospel, but continuing to proclaim what he saw and knew.

This was not an accident.  When you think about it, you saw that John had been in an apprenticeship program since the day he left his father’s boat to follow the Lord.  All of the things he witnessed and all the experiences, tests, trials and triumphs of his life were preparation for this important job.  One that has lasting (and everlasting impact) to many people including you and me.

My Answers:

4. a.
M4: brother of james, son of Zebedee, immediately left boat and father and followed him
M17: was present with james and peter at transfiguration with Moses and Elijah
J19: at cross Mary and John: here is your son and here is your mother
J20: He was the first man to the tomb after hearing from Mary Mag
J21: Jesus specifically spoke to John’s life, His testimony is true
A4: courageous, with Peter, although unschooled and ordinary, spoke boldly about Jesus
1J1: His authority as a witness: heard, saw, looked at, touched – proclaim the life and eternal life
R1: God – Jesus – Angel – Servant John – testifies to what he saw, that is, the word of God

b. He is fully qualified for the job of testifying.  He was there, He stayed there, the revelation was delivered directly to him

5.
a.
They underwent suffering & persecution (as had John) for the sake of the witness of gospel.  Ttested false witness, persevered, endured hardships, not grown weary.  Afflicted, poverty, slandered, suffered, tested – continue to be faithful

b.
The same things happen today and people still persevere.  Not to the same degree in most places, but in others it is a constant struggle.  The power of the gospel and its impact on the lives of fully committed believers has not diminished.

c.
1. To be more faithful, 2. To be more bold in professing Jesus’ name, 3. To stand the ground of the gospel regardless of the attack 4. to be a good witness in thought, word and action. 4. To encourage and strengthen others

02.2 Revelation – Remember, Redeemed, Removed, Renewed

Remember, Redeemed, Removed, Renewed
Revelation Themes

As the conclusion to the amazing story of the bible, the book of Revelation is filled with victory.  It is a victory that can be shared by anyone who chooses the gift of being on the team.

The fact that the book opens with letters of warning to the churches shows the mercy and grace of our God.  That even in this final book, where John outlines the end times of God’s wrath and judgment, God tells him to extend an invitation again to put on the jersey of Christ and be clothed in His sacrifice.  John, in particular, calls the church to remember.  If you have ears – then listen.  This is important.  This is important enough that believers for ages have been willing to be afflicted, persecuted and subjected to suffering for the honor of staying true to the team colors.  Remember and repent.  You want to be on the winning team.

A game-winning, grand-slam, home run happens at the moment that the ball connects with the bat.  Yes, it has to fly through the air out of the park.  Yes, the players have to run the bases and touch home plate.  But, from the very moment of impact, the work is done.  In the same way, Jesus’ work of paying the price for sin and defeating death is done.  When He resurrected from the dead, He connected with a strike ball that has been on a victory trajectory ever since. We are redeemed. It is done.  But Jesus is not done, yet.  One of the central themes of Revelation is this run of redemption.  The best is yet to come as He rounds the bases and returns back to home plate on Earth, gathering every one of His team to rejoice in victory.

When He returns, it will not be a partial victory, but a final one.  Satan and sin will not, as the saying goes, “live to fight another day.”  Christ’s return is a time when Satan and evil are just defeated, but completely removed.  Those who have made the choice of evil, who have rejected the gift of Jesus and rejected God, are judged and will be found to be incapable of paying the price of their own sins.  They and all enemies of God and good will be removed, forever.

And, finally, the book of Revelation closes with the most amazing gift of all.  God does not leave us to clean up the mess of this broken world.  We are not left in a war savaged place, with the need to tear out and rebuild on top of the weak foundations of the past.  But, instead, God takes us to a new place.  A place of beauty and peace of joy and happiness.  We have nothing to contribute to it, it is a wedding feast and the one true happily ever after ending.

My Answers:

3.
a.
1. greetings from him who is, who was and who is to come. Jesus the ruler of the kings of the earth.  Look his is coming with the clouds, every eye will see him – Look, I am coming soon, blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy
2. Be faithful, Jesus knows about affliction, persecution, suffering.  He will give you life as a victor’s crown. captivity and death will continue, but be patient, endure and faithful
12. Dragon removed from heaven, triumphed over by blood of the lamb.  The woman who gave birth to the child was protected, dragon went off to wage war with her offspring.  Beast was given… (note: it did not take, it was given – it is not in control)
19. For the wedding of the lamb has come – blessed are those who are invited – white horse, rider was faithful and true, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
21. New heaven and new earth, God’s dwelling place is now among His people – new heaven forever, river of water of life, tree of life, see the face of God in the city.  no more night, reign for ever and ever

b. God dwelling with His people for ever and ever – the new Heaven

 

01.5 Revelation – Jesus: Prophet and Fulfiller of Prophecy

Jesus: Prophet and Fulfiller of Prophecy*
*(see bonus video at the end of this post)

God had no issue with pulling out the stops to deliver the prophetic messages he had for His people, especially when those messages were a call to repentance.  He placed prophets in camel hair eating locusts and honey.  He had them walk around naked.  He had them speak an act so boldly in opposition to human authority that they were thrown in with lions or dumped in blazing furnaces.  The message, not the messenger, was the critical thing and these servants did what was required of them by God for the message to be heard (and hopefully heeded).

With the eccentricities of the old testament prophets in mind, it can be tempting to dismiss prophecy as strange, odd, radical and even crazy.  We may be tempted to have these thoughts as we read about multi-headed, multi-horned creatures and flying mutant animals, massive death and destruction and plagues and the dead rising.

However, we need to keep one key fact in mind.  Jesus Christ not only fulfilled prophecy, but He acknowledged Himself as a prophet.  Jesus made no hesitance to explain that He was sent by God to deliver God’s message to His people.  He did this not only through words, but also through His life, death and resurrection.

Think, too, about how strange some of the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled seemed before His coming.  A virgin will be with child?  God with us?  He will lead Israel to greatness and rejected by Israel?  He will be the ultimate conqueror and pierced and killed, despised and rejected?

But, with the word of the bible and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can clearly see how these prophecies were and will be fulfilled.  We can see that the prophecy of God’s plan for salvation through Jesus, first arriving on a colt and then, at His return, arriving on a cloud are not contradictory, but simply point to two different times.  We can also see that all of this is not random, disconnected information, but all prophecy is ultimately about the one key thing that has always been God’s plan for mankind – to be fully reunited with Him in glory for all eternity, free of sin and suffering and death, for His glory as God.

My Answers:

11. Jesus – predicted His coming through prophecy from God

12.
a.
That the plan (the original plan) was for Christ to come, die, rise again, to prepare a place and time and to come again to bring those in His flock home

b.

That it is the climax of the story of God, the conclusion of the redemption but the beginning of the only true “happily ever after.”

Bonus

This video is an interesting presentation showing how Jesus’ fulfillment of prophecy is evidence on which to build faith.

01.3 Revelation – Why does God provide prophecy?

Why does God provide prophecy?

I’m a parent, so I get it that sometimes the answer to why really is because I know best and I say so.  God is under no obligation to explain why He does things.  But, there are times in the bible when He has chosen to share with us why, and in those we learn a lot about the attributes of God Himself.  Take, John 3:16, “for God so loved the world that…”  We see God’s love and His sovereignty over all things, His generosity and mercy and His sacrifice and grace.  Those attributes are consistent through everything else, because God is consistent.

So, in regard to prophecy, I think there are several things we can see from our own nature and the scriptures.

First, we seek enlightenment.  We hunger to know more about what is going to happen.  It gives us security and predictability, it is provides expectations and comfort.  When we gain this enlightenment from prophecy, we not only receive expectation and hope, but we receive assurance because God’s prophecy is reliable because God is reliable.

Second, we have been given God’s prophecy not only as a cerebral knowledge or philosophical enlightenment, but for practical application.  It is evidence on which we build faith and assurance.  It is promises that commit believers to a path (even to the degree of choosing to be killed rather than to deny Christ).  It is to be used for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training.

Third, it is a gift from God, a delegation of His knowledge and power, but not relinquishing His knowledge or power.  We have seen it so frequently in men, that we accept it as a slogan, “knowledge is power.”  Wicked men have always attempted to use knowledge to build themselves up into positions of control and power over others.  God has given us knowledge through prophecy that can be used for His purposes, but He has withheld knowledge that would promote wickedness.  Let’s face it, if God revealed that the second coming of Christ was going to happen on a certain day, we can all imagine how men would manipulate things up to the dawn of that day for their own power and control.  God’s gift of prophecy is not for man to use as a weapon against other men or as a way for us to have control or power over God – it is a gift, provided to draw us into a relationship with Him.

My Answers:

6. Profit, worry, lack of faith, lack of peace or contentment

7.
a.
Isaiah: God declared what would happen long ago, presented it, allowed others to take counsel in it.  God alone.

Amos: God is a personal God who seeks to reveal Himself and His actions to man through the prophets

2 Tim: Scripture is not just for knowledge but for practical application

Hebrews: Prophets did not denounce the prophecy given to them by God, they lived it out in faith and many suffered and died in that faith

1 Pete: Prophets searched trying to find the time and circumstances of the savior – their prophecy was for this time not their time

b.
It is accurate and true, worth living by and dying for.  We don’t know the timing because the timing is not the important element – the important element is that God is God and all of the stories all come back into His story.

8.
Is/Luke: Jesus, the messiah, would be born a son, to a virgin and He would be “God with us.”

Micah/Matt: Jesus, the promised one, would be born in Bethlehem, a king and ruler of Israel

Is/Matt: Jesus would suffer, be despised and rejected.  He would be fully man, a man of suffering and pain

9.
True prophecy is entirely true, it is entirely consistent with the rest of scripture and in particular God’s attributes and God’s nature and, in its time, it is fully and completely fulfilled

10.
It is evidence that speaks to the reliability of God and God’s word.  Because God and His Word are important, prophecy is important because it is God’s word.  We should not ignore any part of God’s word.

 

01.2 Revelation – Prediction vs Prophecy

Prediction vs Prophecy

The book of Revelation in the bible is a book of prophecy.  It is not science fiction.  It is not reflection or musings.  It is not an anthology or timeline or even a threat.  It is prophecy.

In this regard, it stands in good company with the other books of the bible.  There are 17 old testament books referred to as the books of the prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.  There is also prophetic words spoken in many others, from Genesis through the Psalms and even into the new testament.  Jesus not only quoted the prophets, but He himself was a prophet.

But, to understand this, we first need to understand the difference between prophecy and prediction.  There are two key distinctions between prophecy and predictions: source and reliability.

Prophecy always and only comes from God.  It is God delivering enlightenment about the facts of a future event to His creation.  It can be delivered by God through His own voice, through His own hand, through His word given to men, through His Son, or in any other way that God chooses, including a donkey.  The prophet is simply the one who delivers the message.  It is always the message, not the messenger.

Predictions are based on patterns.  All of science is centered around predictions.  When this, then that.  Because God is in all of His creation, He can and does reveal Himself through patterns, but this is different than prophecy.  Patterns are much more about the consistent nature and ongoing attributes of God, where prophecy is about specific intervening points where God will be taking action in the future of His creation.

The other key distinction is reliability.  Because prophecy is from God and God is fully in control, every prophecy will be fully and completely fulfilled, 100%, guaranteed.  Read that last line again.  Prophecy is not about what might happen, it is about what will happen, because it is a promise made by the one in control who never lies.  Predictions on the other hand are simply probabilities based on environments and assumptions.  Even our best scientific “facts” are limited by space and time.  The way things behave on land may be different than in the depths of the ocean or in outerspace, when standing still verses when travelling at incredible speeds, today vs a million years from now.  The word of God has now such limits.

In the same way, prediction is limited to patterns that we have observed.  Venturing out of those patterns in no longer predictions, it is guessing.  Prophecy, on the other hand, is the revelation of future fact.  The understanding that something has never happened before influences prediction, but it has no bearing on prophecy.  The reliability comes from the source and that evidence that past prophecy has never been wrong.  This is not to say that all past prophecy has already been fulfilled (if it was, then we wouldn’t be here studying the book of Revelation because we would already be living in heaven), but it does say that no prophecy has been incorrect.

My Answers:

3. Bible, weather, forecasting, polls, science, extrapolation, fortune tellers, horoscopes

4. Prophecy is from God not from man.  It does not have origin in human will, but spoken from God through humans carried to and through them by the Holy Spirit

5. Prophecy is evidence.  It is for the benefit of man to increase faith.  God revealed and fulfills it so man’s faith would (will) be increased.

00.0 Revelation – The Bible

When I used to travel for business I enjoyed reading Tom Clancy novels.  Clancy was a master of weaving threads into his stories.  You would be reading about a Russian submarine commander and then, with the turn of the page, the story would shift to a cargo ship in a storm which accidentally loses the ties on a piece of lumber which tumbles into the sea.  300 pages may go by before all of these separate threads suddenly merge into a final climax of the book.

But God, the greatest author, is the master of creating a tapestry of inter-joining threads through time.  He started with a single thread, “in the beginning, God”.  He is the thread, the origin of the story.  From here he spins Himself out into all of creation, the heavens and the earth, day and night, plants and animals, us.  He allows for darkness to exist, because He wants us to choose the golden threads of light.  But even when we choose darkness through sin, God still, like a master weaver, simply weaves that into His masterpiece to further highlight the brilliance of His gift.

We as humans, tend to think of this spinning and weaving as always going out and becoming bigger, wider, longer.  Stretching and expanding, spinning further and further out of control.  But the greatest author, God, tells a different story in the bible.  These multiple threads are not the conclusions in and of themselves.  Instead, there is one protagonist, one single main character, that interconnects every thread of life throughout eternity.  The point is not to spin off into a million or billion different stories, but instead to open our eyes to the fact that all of these different stories all lead back to a single, unbroken, thread.

In the book of Revelation, we see the climax of the story.  We see the author separate the dark from the light, we see the lifting and joining of every story and every soul who is connected through grace and faith.  We see the destruction of the darkness, but, more so, we see not only the salvation of God, but we see how everything, through all time, has not been about us, but it has always been about Him.  We think of the bible as books of law and poetry, as history and prophecy, but, it is actually a biography, written so we may understand God and God’s big story.

And, finally, while we reach the climax in Revelation, we don’t reach the conclusion, because, as we will read and study, that thread continues into the sequel, into new life in a new heaven and new earth through the same amazing, eternal God.

 

30.0 Moses, Reflection

Encountering God

What an amazing study it has been to delve into God’s word on the life of Moses.  There have been so many ways I have been encouraged and convicted, humbled and emboldened through this study.

Reflecting back, it was interesting to reflect on the 4 stages of Moses’ life that we studied this year: 40, 40, 40, Forever.  40 years in Pharaoh’s house in Egypt, 40 years as a shepherd, husband and father in Midian, 40 years as a prophet and leader to the Israelites and Forever in the Eternal Promised Land of heaven to continue to be in the presence of God.

Each of us goes through stages of life as well.  These are always easier to see in hindsight, but God continues to work us and shape us.  He is holy and His desire for the faithful is that we would be holy as well.

But through all of this, one particular event that moved Moses between life stages kept coming back to my mind.  It was the day Moses had an encounter with God at the burning bush.

Two things stood out to me in this.

Let’s go back to Exodus 3 starting in verse 4b: “God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then He said…”

First, was Moses’ response.  Moses’ response was obedience.  When called, he answered.  When told to take off his sandals, he obeyed.  Then God introduced Himself to Moses and shared the calling and mission He had for Moses’ life.  I believe one clear message from this is the life of a Godly Man is not founded on knowledge or good deeds, it is begun with an attitude of obedience.

How we fight being obedient!  We look to the right and to the left.  We stumble and fall.  We allow ourselves to get week by not staying in a daily walk with God and yield easily then to temptation.  But a position of obedience, on our knees, praying for ourselves and the people around us, is the position we can begin anew each day.

The second part of this is that Moses encountered God.  Encounter is an interesting word.  Our church (probably like many) has a mission statement that includes the words “encounter God.”  Looking at the definition of encounter, it has a couple of somewhat different meanings/uses.  The first is an unexpected meeting.  The second is to meet in conflict.  The second is very close to the root origin of the word: en = in, such as in the car or in the presence of and counter = contrare, opposition, such counter-productive or counter-intuitive or the French term, au contraire.

When we seek for ourselves and others to encounter God, we are seeking not for a warm and fuzzy experience, but for a convicting experience.  Our day to day lives reflect our sin nature.  We think of ourselves as master of our own life, master of our destiny, and we pay homage and bow down to any matter of false gods.  Where we invest our time, talent and attention reflects what is most important in our lives.  But an encounter with God convicts us of how “in confrontation” that lie is to the truth of God.

Asking for an encounter also means call for the unexpected.  But, so often, we fill our days up with so many “things” that we are far more likely to rush by the burning bush than we are to stop.  We, all too often, carve out a block of time in our so, so busy week, Sunday morning for example, and as God to yield to our desire to be in control and give us an “unexpected meeting” at that time and place as long as it doesn’t last more than 60 minutes because we have other things to do.  Surprise!

Yes, there were many things in the life of Moses.  Yes, God was faithful to him even before he was born.  But this encounter was pivotal and was simply the first of many encounters over the next 40 years.

If an encounter with God is truly want you want for yourself and for your family, your church, your workplace, your neighborhood, then start by being obedient.  Kick your shoes off.  Slow down and accept that God is in control, you and I are not.  Enter his holy place.  And, when you hear His call, answer, “Here I am.”

 

 

29.5 Moses 29, Day 5

Seeing through God’s Eyes

As Moses enters his last day of life at age 120, he is obedient to God and climbs a mountain.  From there we are told, “God showed him the whole land”.

First, I thought it was interesting how much this fit to the original promise of God to Abram that started all of this back in Genesis 12:1. “The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.””

Second, I was curious if the view from Mount Nebo matched the biblical account. There is a lot of guesswork in trying to identify any specific spot in the middle east.  This writing took place long before accurate maps and there were no GPS coordinates provided.  But, from my research, there appears to be fair agreement on the location of Mount Nebo.  It is a mountain rising from Jordan’s plateau with a current height of 2230 ft above sea level, keeping in mind that the dead sea to its west is 1401 ft below sea level.  A mountain range rises to the west of the Jordan river, blocking the due west view to the Mediterranian Sea, but there are sight lines not obscured by other mountains.  We also don’t know the effects of erosion or other shifts in the landscape over the past thousands of years.

Here are maps I found online.  The first is from Near East Tourism, http://www.netours.com/content/view/257/30/ and the second is from biblestudy.org  http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/division-of-promised-land-to-twelve-tribes-israel-large-map.html

Sightlines from Mt. NeboDivision of Promised Land to the Children of Israel

As you can see, keeping in mind the very rough nature of these maps, the recount of the view starts with “from Gilead to Dan“.  Gilead is a city to the north and Dan is both a city and a territory belonging to the tribe of Dan, which are no where near each other.  You can’t see the city of Dan from Mt. Nebo but you would get very close to the assumed northern border of the territory of Dan.  It goes on to say he saw “all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea”.  Today we can’t see “all of” Naphtali, but we can see part of it.  We can see Ephraim and Manasseh and the land of Judah.  We can see the Mediterranean Sea.  Following down the river through the Dead Sea, we can see, “whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.“

But look again at the wording of this.  He saw Dan, Naphtali, territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, the land of Judah.  Keep in mind, that when Moses is called by God to look over all of this land, the Israelites have not yet crossed.  They’ve taken a census, but they haven’t divided the land.  The amount of land they possessed west of the Jordan, at this point, was zero.

What God allowed Moses to see wasn’t just a bunch of dirt and rocks.  It wasn’t the cities of enemies or the struggles and battles that lay before the Hebrew people.  Instead God allowed Moses to see the land as it was promised and would be.  A land belonging to the tribes of Israel, rich with food and water and livestock and massive in its dimensions.  He allowed him to see their earthly home.

And then, as Moses was still being allowed to look through God’s eyes, he would have been allowed to see his own eternal home.

Many have used the term “seeing is believing.”  Show me with my own two eyes and I will be.  I need to see it to believe it.  But what we see at the conclusion of Moses life is the heavenly version of that saying.  Believing is seeing.  I need to believe it to see it.  It reminded me of the story of the Apostle Thomas in John 20:24-29 which concludes with Jesus saying, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The promised land for the Jews was a foreshadow of something bigger, better and everlasting.  Open your heart and open your faith so that you can see.  How do you need to ask the Lord to remove the blindness of your heart where your view is blocked by fear, doubt or disbelief.

My Answers:

10.
a.
Covenant promise, unconditional, Forever, Everlasting possession, to Abraham and his offspring.  The key is that while this covenant refers to a physical place, land that can be walked and measured by width and breadth, it also refers to something bigger and more significant and more eternal.  If the land was all there was to the promise, it would not be forever or everlasting.  The promise was not just of the physical space but in the spiritual realm, a promise of everlasting life and eternal communion with kinsman and the Lord.

b.
It was a foreshadowing of the promise of God to an everlasting home.  Our eyes are not focused on where we stand, but where we are going.  Where we stand, we are strangers and foreigners, but where we are going is a spiritual (and ultimately physical) forever.

11.
filled with the spirit of wisdom.  The Israelites listed to him and obeyed the Lord

12.
True greatness comes by serving the Lord, not by human strength.

29.4 Moses 29, Day 4

Avoiding Battles?

Deuteronomy 33:26-29 reads like a battle cry to rev up the troops to take up arms.  Look at the language:

  • He will drive out your enemies before you
  • “Destroy them!”
  • Ride across the heavens to help you
  • On the clouds in His majesty
  • You will live in safety, grain, new wine, heavens dew
  • He is your shield
  • Your glorious sword
  • Your enemies will cower before you
  • You will tread on their heights

All of this language convicted me of how much I hide from battles in my faith walk.  How often I don’t say something because it might come across the wrong way.  My fear and doubt of possibly offending someone that prompts me to not speak when I should.

I’m not talking about taking up arms to slay the enemy and I’m not talking about going out and picking fights.  But when you read this language of God, I think there is a message that we aren’t supposed to “just go along with the crowd so we don’t make waves” either.

It just made me think about the times I don’t speak up, the times I don’t speak Jesus’ name, the times I sit quietly in the midst of what I know to be sin, the times I fail to witness or to comfort or to just speak the truth.  Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.”  Am I so afraid of battles that I come across as ashamed of my faith and my Savior.

One of the central themes of the book of Acts, when the new Church was being formed, is the call to speak boldly. (see below).  Paul’s letter to the Ephesians calls us to be strong in the Lord and put on the full armor of God.

Are you like me?  Do you need to speak up?  Do you need to reach out?  Do you need to face the fight with the truth of the gospel instead of hiding it under a basket?

The greatest news of all in this, and throughout the bible, is that when we choose to stand for God, He always stands in front of us.  God never takes the position of having our back.  He always takes the front.  He may require us to take the first step into the water, but then He lifts us up to walk across it or parts it as we move forward.

Here are some of the bold references from Acts – Take Strength Mighty Prayer Warriors!:

Acts 4:29
Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
Acts 4:31
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Acts 9:28
So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.
Acts 13:46
Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.
Acts 14:3
So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.
Acts 18:26
He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
Acts 19:8
Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.
Acts 28:31
He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!

 

My Answers:

8.
Because they were the Lord’s possession, His portion.  He was their king.  He is holy.  There is no one like God.

9.
There is no one like the God of Jeshurun. He rides across the heavens to help you. On the clouds in His Majesty. The eternal God is your refuge. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you. “A people saved by the Lord.” He is your shield and your helper. He is your glorious sword.

29.3 Moses 29, Day 3

Blessings in The Old, The New and the Bridge

I think blessings are a lot of fun.  They are fun to receive.  They are meaningful to give.  Each day I’m thankful to God for all the blessings He has provided and I ask for His blessing and protection on friends, family, co-workers and those in need.

The question that had us compare the lists of the Tribes of Israel through Genesis and here in Deuteronomy really made me step back and think.

The first list in Genesis 29 is in birth order, from first born to last.  This is chronological and important for inheritance.

The second list in Genesis 49 is sorted by birth mother.  This is structured around the relationship that Jacob had with the women who gave birth to these sons.

The third list in Deuteronomy is roughly sorted by position in the camp.  The western tribes together, the northern tribes, etc.  This is structured around the relationship between the tribes and the temple of God.

So we have chronology and history.  The choices of the parents influence and impact future generations.  God’s promises of blessings to parents can span to their offspring.  We have relationships with each other and we have relationships with God and His presence in our lives.  All of these are important to God.

But there are exceptions in the last list.  Reuben, Judah, Levi and Simeon are not presented in the order of their position around the tabernacle as are the others.  I am not a bible scholar, but I think there may be a message in this.

Reuben was the first born.  He represents the inheritance.  The promise of God to Abraham, repeated to Jacob.  He reflects the continued fulfillment of God’s covenant relationship with Abraham.

Judah is the lineage of Jesus.  He represents the saving grace of Christ who came first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles.

Levi is the the priesthood and the law.  He represents justice and sacrifice and teaching; correlations to attributes of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

With this in mind, it is interesting that these three were pulled out separate and first.  First, Reuben.  As God came first Abraham and his descendents.  They were to be his people and He was their God.  Second, Judah.  The New Covenant of salvation through faith by grace.  Not because of who we are but because of what He has done.  Then Levi, the law bridges the old and new.  Christ said He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.

And what of Simeon.  Again, I don’t know, but one consistent biblical message is that each generation, each nation, each tribe, family and person gets choice.  They are loved by God.  They are desired by God, but they choose whether to receive God’s blessing or not.  Simeon was part of the southern tribes.  Members from the southern tribes were involved in most of the rebellions in the wilderness.  Simeon’s portion in the promised land is within the boundaries of Judah.  The tribe becomes somewhat scattered as foretold by Jacob in Genesis 49.

While all these blessings were to the tribes of Israel, I think it is important to note that they reflect God’s power and authority.  He had the ability to provide and fulfill each of these blessings then and He has that same power today in your life and in mine.

 

My Answers:

5.
Gen 29 lists in birth order 12, Gen 49 is blessings from Jacob, listed by mother – 12+2, Deut is blessing from Moses, listed roughly by position around the tabernacle (western tribes together, northern together), Simeon not listed, 11+2

6.
Reub, live not die
Judah, Lord help against foes
Levi, teach God’s law and incense
Ben, rest secure, shielded and loved
Joe, fruitful land
Zeb/Issach, treasures sea and sand
Gad, chose best, carried out Lord’s righteous will
Dan, lion’s cub springing on prey
Napht, blessed by God, SW land by lake
Ash, favored by bros, strong all his life

7.
teach God’s law, carryout His righteous will, be favored by brothers and strong all life, rest secure and be shielded and loved