Love Your Enemies & Repent of Your Heart (Luke 6)

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:27-36)

Some of the most famous words in history! How many lives have been transformed by these passages? How many were drawn to Christ because of them?

The theme of this sermon is the difference between a godly life and a sinful one. Notice He talks little of obvious godly rules, like, Tithe and Don’t steal, but instead He focuses on the heart and actions that directly come out of it like hate, envy, and bitterness.

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (6:27-28) – this is a hard command to simply follow if your heart’s in the wrong place. Thankfully, we can find our example in God Himself, who is constantly and daily blessing those who hate Him: “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45, similar context)

If we distill the passage from Luke, here are the marks of a godly, Holy Spirit filled life:

1. You will love your enemies, returning good for evil
2. You will be humble: “To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either” (6:29)
3. You will be generous, even to a fault (6:30)
4. You will do good (6:35)
5. You will not judge others or condemn
6. “You will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil” (6:35)
7. You will have hope despite present circumstances and even in persecution (from slightly earlier, in 6:20-23)
8. You will be like Jesus

Contrast this with Paul’s list of “works of the flesh” in Galatians 5: “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (19-21). Many of these arise from a sinful heart devoid of any real love.

These "heart" sins are sometimes easier to ignore because they're not as measurable by the people around us. If we had a different sin problem, like watching pornography, we have the possibility of being caught and led to repentance. But sins like jealousy, anger, and enmity can be hidden so well that even we don't realize how much we suffer from them.

Jesus taught that it is what comes out of the heart that defiles a person (Matthew 15:10-20). Proverbs says, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life" (Prov. 4:23). If we claim to be Christians and love God we should be passionately committed to reviewing our heart and repenting any sins like these we find. We should be passionately committed to a different way of life, a godly way of life, full of "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal. 5:22-23), the "fruit of the Spirit".

I wish my life looked more like Jesus’ sermon. Thankfully, I have the hope and peace in Christ that the more I submit to Him the more it will.

False Prophets (Ezekiel 13)

There is a lot wrong with Israel in Ezekiel’s time, enough for God to allow Israel to be invaded and conquered by the Assyrians. In the preceding chapters of Ezekiel God says:

“An end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you…Now I will soon pour out my wrath upon you, and spend my anger against you, and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations” (Eze. 7:6, 8)

“The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice” (Eze. 9:9).

“…I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols” (Eze. 6:9)

The first time God appears to Ezekiel he says this:

“Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendents also are impudent and stubborn…” (Eze. 2:3-4)

From these few quotes we see that Israel is full of injustice, abominations, idols, rebellion, impudence, and stubbornness. These are not positive qualities.

In chapter thirteen God condemns false prophets, mocking those who say, “ ‘Declares the LORD,’ when the LORD has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word” (Eze. 13:6). These self-proclaimed prophets “follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!” (13:3). They “have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel” (Eze. 13:4), when they should have been like sentinels, waiting for the word of the Lord.

When it comes to false prophets, Israel’s real problem is that they listen to them. That's always the problem with any lie: somebody believes it. God says, “You have profaned me among my people…by your lying to my people, who listen to lies” (Eze. 13:19). Only a fool believes a lie, and false prophecies turn us into fools.

Here are some things that I learned about false prophets from reading this chapter:

1) False prophecy hurts faith. It appears that such stunted logic (men creating prophecy and then being surprised when it is not fulfilled) is what leads to a popular proverb at this time, mentioned in the previous chapter: “The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing” (Eze. 12:22). What an arrogant saying! What a faithless saying! But it is something we often fall into, we often think, “Where is God?” “Where are His promises?”

2) False prophecy misleads God’s people. One of God’s biggest accusations in this chapter is that “they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash…There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’” (Eze. 13:10, 11-12).

At the end of the chapter God talks specifically about how it misleads people: “Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life” (Eze. 13:22). False prophecy can make a righteous man feel guilty and a sinner feel righteous.

3) False prophets are popular. And they get there by sugar-coating (or white-washing) things. False prophets don’t get popular because they are declaring the word of the Lord – in fact, looking at all the prophets it would seem that successfully delivering the word of the Lord didn’t make you a popular guy. False prophets are popular because they are saying what people want to hear. As Paul says in the New Testament, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Tim. 4:3-4). This was written at a different time in history, but the concept rings true then, in Ezekiel, and now. The reason some churches are so big today is because the preaching is only about wealth and prosperity and how God wants to bless you – and, admittedly, it is an enticing message. It’s much easier to listen to that “invitation” than Christ’s sobering words: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

4) False prophets are disobedient to God. Maybe this one’s obvious, but in making their prophecies they are dishonoring the living God by putting words in His mouth. Let me (fittingly), let God speak on this one: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations” (Eze. 13:8-9).

This one especially terrifies me. It’s never good to put words into someone else’s mouth, it will inevitably come back to reach you, and when it does, it will be painful. It’s a person’s honor that you are attacking when you put words into their mouth. Now, no matter how angry or vengeful your friend or whoever might be, imagine doing this to God. As the writer of Hebrews says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31).

5) False prophets are snares, dragging people to hell with them. Apparently there was a specific kind of woman prophet that God is addressing in the second half of this chapter, to whom he says: “Woe to the women who sew magic bans upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive?” (Eze. 13:18). I don’t know specifically what these women were doing, but apparently it was manipulative and misleading. God also says that these women “have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keep alive souls who should not live” (Eze. 13:19).

Thankfully, God is ever-watching and guarding of His people – even then, in a time of punishment. And of course, even now. There are other spots in the Bible where God condemns false prophets, but in this chapter He declares:

“Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.” (Eze. 13:8-9)

And at the end of this chapter God says something that, if I’m reading it correctly, is kind of funny to me (God always gets the last laugh):

“…therefore you shall no more see false visions nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. And you shall know that I am the LORD.” (Eze. 13:23)

I’m not sure if these false prophets were seeing visions – and if they were, it would have been from demons and not God – but if they were the type that like to act super-spiritual, the type that likes to act like they have a deep connection to the supernatural – in other words, they faked things a little for their reputation – then this is especially funny. God is going to put an end even to their fake visions. And that’s funny, because God ultimately has power over the lies we are told, and He promises to deliver His children out of such things.

I’ll close these thoughts with two things Jesus said that are especially refreshing after this semi-depressing and frustrating topic. It is in Him that we can find an ever-faithful prophet, an ever-faithful witness, who won’t lie or make up things and tack on a “Declares the Lord”. He is Truth incarnate:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7)

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

Jesus is Powerful (Mark 5)

Read it here.

I've had a lot of trouble connecting with God lately, especially when reading the Bible. I haven't picked it up very often and when I have it's been hard to get something out of what I'm reading. So I recently started Mark, a book that - in the past - I haven't been that interested in. That's sound logic, right? I'm having a hard time getting interested in what I'm reading so I go to a book that I don't find interesting...

Thankfully, God has been showing me that Mark is anything but boring. When I sat down to read chapter 5, I decided that once I was done I was going to write down one quality of Jesus the chapter revealed. That way I could chew on something and put a little thought into what I just read.

I didn't think the answer would be as clear as it was, but this chapter clearly demonstrates that Jesus is powerful.

The chapter starts with Jesus and a crazy guy. This guy is like Frankenstein's monster, the whole village is afraid of him - they try to chain him up but he just breaks free. This man is crazy, demon-possessed and all day and all night he lives "among the tombs" and where he cuts "himself with stones" (5:5).

As soon as the man sees Jesus he runs up and falls down before Him. "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me." (5:7). The guy everybody is afraid of is afraid of Jesus.

Jesus talks to the demon, and it turns out there is more than one: "My name is Legion, for we are many" (5:9). Then, in one of the bizarrest images in the New Testament, Jesus sends the demons into a herd of pigs, which all run "down the steep bank into the sea" (5:13).

Next we see Jesus on the other side of the lake, and he is going to a man's house to heal his sick daughter. A great crowd is with him, and one woman believes that if she can touch Jesus' garment, she will be healed. She touches it, and "immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease" (5:29).

Then it turns out the man's daughter is not sick, but dead. Jesus continues to the house, where He says, "Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping" (5:39). People laugh at Him (5:40). What a bizarre reaction: not just because it's Jesus and they know His rep for healing people but because their child is dead. What kind of mourning are they in that they have time to laugh at Jesus? Anyways, Jesus forgives them and goes in and with two words He raises the child from the dead. The girl gets up "immediately".

In every story people are afraid (5:15), in fear (5:33), and overcome with amazement (5: 42).

Stories like this are important, because sometimes we over-familiarize Jesus and think of Him as just "one of the guys" and everybody's buddy. Jesus does love us, and because of His death and resurrection we can know Him intimately, but that doesn't mean we should forget who He is:

"For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him" (Colossians 1:16)

You are my God (Poem)

Let me preface this: I don't really write poems. It's just difficult for me and I don't feel comfortable doing it, but in a recent Spirit-filled moment I penned a few lines. I was just trying to pour some of my heart out onto the paper, so for me, this was exciting. For my readers, I apologize in advance. But here goes:

O God, You are my God

And I will not serve another.

O God, in You I put my trust,

I will not serve another.

I will not bow down before a piece of wood

Or a carved image,

Or an idea,

Or a man,

I will not place my hope in the future,

Or progress,

Or an idea,

Or a man.

I will look to the only One who can and

will save me from death:

And to Him I write

To Him I live

To Him I run

And I will remember - always -

the nails that bore my sins

and pained my God instead of me

The greatest mystery: this unmerited exchange

So that God might live inside of me.

Community (Acts 2:42-47)

Read it here.

Jesus’ death brings life. Because of His death, which gives us second birth, there are communities, friendships, and relationships started that never would’ve existed otherwise.

What is described in this little paragraph of scripture are the fruits of the gospel: fear, awe, prayer, equality, sharing, charity, thankfulness, love, praise, and even favor with non-believers. The new Christians are delighting in their new life, they have been born again as Jesus promised (John 3:3) and non-believers notice. They don’t see people acting very pious and religious, they see people burning with love and compassion, sharing all that they own, going to the Temple to worship joyfully, not out of tradition, duty, or cultural obligation. Who wouldn’t want to worship the God these people worship? Who wouldn’t want a taste of their joy? If this God they worship is anything like them, He must be good.

This text doesn’t describe everyone going home to pick fights or picket or complain or tell people they’re wrong. The opposite happens, because these people have been changed at the center of their being to see their sin, in all its dirtiness, and Jesus, in all His worthiness. Their changed lives speak and profess the gospel in a way that matches whatever spoken words they could offer to non-believers.

In a country and time when Christians are on every street corner telling everyone they’re going to hell, we should take note of this text. We need to be loving, giving, and radiant with joy. If people hate us, they should hate us because of Jesus, not because of ourselves. In other words, they should hate us for loving them and forgiving them (because of Christ) not because we are shoving tracts down their throat.

This text is also a message about the importance of community. I'm in college right now, and I have several Christian friends who don't want to get involved in a church because they have one back home. I can't see how this is a benefit to anyone - they are missing out on the richness of a church community and the church community is missing out on the richness of knowing them.

God made us to live together (Genesis 2:18) and share life together. We're not supposed to be "Lone Ranger" Christians, we're supposed to be Christians together. I know because I've had to learn this for myself. My greatest times of growth and joy are when I'm spending time with other Christians, and I know it will be so my whole life.

If you look at Paul, who seems like the most independent guy in the New Testament - traveling from place to place, leaving behind his home - you find he wasn't alone! He was always with people and talking about people, his ministry was a community effort. Imagine if he hadn't seen the need for community, for spiritual support - how far would he have been able to carry the gospel before collapsing in exhaustion? Would we know the gospel today?

God has richly blessed us with community, and friendships, and other people.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!" (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)

Peter's Speech: Jesus (Acts 2:14-41)

Read it here.

This is the first time the completed gospel (except for Christ’s return) is preached. Peter draws from Scripture to explain Jesus as Christ. The effect of the gospel was the same then as it is now: “they were cut to the heart” (verse 37).

The men listening to Peter’s speech had heard of Jesus, His deeds were pretty well known. He was a rock star of the Mediterranean world. Possibly many of the people at this event had looked forward to Pentecost and the possibility of hearing Jesus preach, but then they found out that He had been crucified. (The way Peter describes Jesus’ murder is interesting, saying He was “killed by lawless men” (verse 23). These “lawless men” were the Pharisees, who were supposed to be the teachers of the Law).

Peter puts the guilt on everyone listening:

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:36)

Jesus’ blood is on the hands of all sinners, and if you study His life, if you see how He lived and loved and never refused to help somebody, it leads to guilt. Can you honestly say you’ve lived and acted like Jesus? That you’ve lived as selflessly and as righteously? No, we have all “fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But Jesus died for those sins and shortcomings.

What a dramatic, overwhelming action to react to. When we make a mistake and find out it causes someone pain we feel horrible. I can remember times where I was late to pick up my brother or sister from something and they were left waiting and waiting – in fact, there was one time where I was supposed to be home and my sister ended up waiting outside of a locked house for an hour.

Because of our sinfulness and our wickedness, Jesus died! Painfully! His death was terrible and agonizing, and on top of that, shameful. Crucifixion was not only painful but demoralizing, especially to the Jews. In fact, it was looked down upon so much that Roman citizens were not allowed to be crucified – they were “above” such things. So the King of Kings – whose “nationality” is greater than that of the Roman Empire – was hung on a tree on the side of a busy road like a common criminal.

The very nature of Christ’s death demands a response. Do you feel bad, but walk away? Do you spit on Him and say, “Serves him right”? The crowd needs to respond, and they do, asking: “Brothers, what shall we do?” (verse 37). If you like Jesus at all His death leaves you asking such a question. If you love Him you feel horrible, and you can’t walk away. Guilt weighs down on you as you realize a perfect man stuck Himself between heaven and earth (literally and figuratively, and, on top of that, literally in the figurative sense too – think about that one…) suspended by wood between God and man.

God, perfect and good, demands good. He demands justice, and as He looks down at us, as He looks beyond what any human eye can see and into our hearts we are judged rightly. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Psalms 119:126 says:

It is time for the LORD to act, for your law has been broken.

And again:

Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true. (Psalm 119:142)

Jesus was righteous and able to see our full brokenness and sin. And instead of walking away from our eventual death and destruction, He embraced it for us, interceding between God and man, taking the sins of all on Himself, a just man being condemned by a just God for an unjust, unholy, undeserving, and thoroughly wicked people (you and me and everyone we know).

But he was wounded for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquites;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush

him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10)

Jesus stuck himself in front of God’s wrath, embracing our death – and in order to truly live our response must be to embrace His.

Peter calls us to throw off sin and that which is an affront to God.

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ…”

Embrace His death! Do not walk away.

“…for the forgiveness of your sins…”

He has removed them “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12).

“…and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our god calls to himself.” (Acts 2:38-39)

This is the gospel: that Christ died, rose again, and promises eternal life and eternal fellowship with Himself, with God. It is called the “gospel” because it is good news, in fact, the best news we ever can (or ever will) hear.

And Now...The Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-13)

Read it here.

Jesus told the Apostles to wait, and they obeyed His commands.

How awesome that the Apostles, by faith, waited on the Lord. Jesus could have made them wait for a long time, like He did with Abraham and Sarah, or He could’ve been a short time. The point is sometimes we're made to wait, and whether it’s a long or short wait for us, God is never late – His timing is always perfect.

Pentecost! What a perfect day for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the third member of the trinity. Jews from everywhere (Acts 2:5-11) had come to Jerusalem for the holiday/festival/thing. They all spoke different languages and had different cultures – this is something we’re used to.

It’s hard to imagine the whole world speaking the same language, but at one point that was true. In the book of Genesis (chapter 11) Moses records a time when everyone on earth spoke the same language. Only man used this unity to defy God and build monuments to themselves. God saw this and decided to stop us in our foolishness by creating many different languages so nobody could understand each other. The great monument they were working on (the Tower of Babel) never got finished.

I bring this up because this event – the day of Pentecost – is a mirror event to the one in Genesis. At the Tower of Babel men attempted to glorify themselves so God confused their languages, but at Pentecost God brought together people in understanding so that Jesus might be glorified.

The Holy Spirit’s entrance is certainly glorious. Unlike and yet like the birth of Jesus the Spirit comes to humble people, not the proud. He does not come to Caesar, or Pilate, or Herod, or any other person in authority, He comes to the Apostles. Nowadays we have pictures of the Apostles every where, they have their own statues and stained glass windows, but remember – these guys were nobodies. They were fishermen, tax collectors, etc. They were blue-collar workers, they didn’t have a Ph.D. in Biblical Hermeneutics or New Testament Greek, they were lower class, poor, nobodies.

In the same way, Jesus came to earth among shepherds and the humble – Mary and Joseph. Jesus’ birth is humble, yet it is also glorious and a cause for celebration (Luke 2:13-14). The Spirit enters with a similar bang:

And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each of them. (Acts 2:2-3)

This is supernatural, it is amazing, it is beautiful. God is glorious and powerful and capable of anything. Here He enters the Apostles with glory, majesty, and beauty – what a beautiful sight this must’ve been. It is almost hard for Luke to describe because we don’t have anything similar to it in the natural world. This kind of thing doesn’t just happen

And so we meet the wonderful, glorious, all-satisfying third member of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. He comes down to reveal wisdom, to help, and He does it in a majestic and powerful way. Praise be to Him, the Counselor, the Helper! He is still moving and active today, calling us, beckoning us closer to Christ, inviting us to drink of His Word, filling us with the joy of God, and giving us the strength and ability to face the world in faith. Without the Spirit we would be empty – for it is He who calls us to Christ in the first place.

I think this is the member of the Trinity surrounded by the most confusion. Either we don’t really understand who He is or we have been given a distorted and crazy view of Him. But He is God. He is not less than God, a part of God, or anything else – the Holy Spirit is God. If you continue reading Acts, pay attention to His works. Ask Him to teach you more about Himself.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26)

God's Promises: World Peace (Micah 4)

The previous three chapters of Micah have been indictments against Israel and its prophets. The prophets are false and the country immoral and unjust, crushing the weak and glorifying the ruthless. Micah, through the power of the Holy Spirit, bravely condemns his people and their sins.

The tone changes in Micah 4 to one of redemption and promise. Here God lovingly makes promises that He will bring Israel together again and make them a light to the nations.

Here are the big promises I noticed from chapter 4:

1) Verses 1-2:

It shall come to pass in the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the

LORD

shall be established as the highest of the

mountains,

and it shall be lifted up above the

hills;

and people shall flow to it,

and many nations shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of

the LORD,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

This is a promise: “It shall come to pass”. But what exactly is it that will come to pass? What is the “mountain of the LORD”? When is the time when people will flock to the house of God with open and ready hearts? Is it yet to happen or has this happened or is it happening now?

Let’s start with the last question first: when is this supposed to happen? There is an image later in the chapter which is repeated almost identically in Isaiah 2:1-5:

…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore (Micah 4:3)

This image has come to represent world peace (check out this statue in front of the United Nations) or a time when war is unnecessary and weapons can be converted into everyday tools. I love this image and the fact that it’s in front of the U.N., but I don’t believe that such an age of peace will ever be ushered in by the United Nations. For a world of peace we need a world without sin and unfortunately the United Nations is made up of sinners – sinners stuck in a world of sin as much as the world they’re trying to fix.

But this world peace is coming (despite our futile and failing efforts) through the hand of Him who promised it. God is promising to bring in peace and change to the world through the only possible source – Himself. Only through Him can the world truly be 1) rid of sin – which means peace! – and 2) unified. If our problem is a lack of unity then we need not a unity through our common humanity (because, as we can see, it doesn’t work! we disagree too much) but a real and binding unity in the body of Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. So what we will have in common is not “We’re all human” but “We have been made one with God in Christ”.

Both of these passages from Isaiah and Micah were talking to God’s people about the time of the Messiah. Think about it – who has united the nations and led them to God? The “mountain of the LORD” described in verse 2 is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a place “exalted as a source of instruction, justice, and righteousness” (from the ESV Study Bible Notes). Ancient gods supposedly lived on mountains (like Zeus on Mount Olympus) but here we see God’s mountain – the place where He is rightly identified and worshipped – rising above all other mountains, “established as the highest of the mountains” (Micah 4:1). The true God will be lifted and exalted above all the other fake and false gods and He will be worshipped. He will became a focal point of humanity – which indeed Jesus has.

It’s hard not to see Him as the “highest of mountains” in human history – it is quite impossible to get around Him. He’s so important and so changed history that our calendar is divided into two time periods before and after Christ. Truly He unites people together – people from all different backgrounds and religions – and makes them the Lord’s.

But how come we don’t have world peace right now if this passage is about the Messiah? He came, didn’t He? Why isn’t there world peace? Well, this passage is about today – and think about it, because every day there are people all over the world streaming to Jesus and becoming children of God – but it is also about the last day. There have been instances when swords were no longer needed, but there will come a day – the last day – when swords or guns or tanks or A-bombs will never be used again and God will have ultimate mercy on those He made righteous through Christ and ultimate vengeance on those who refuse to turn from their sins. Both are a promise.

Think about this way: there will be world peace when all of God’s enemies are killed and gone. That idea might make you uncomfortable, but think about it: can there be world peace any other way? And if it still makes you uncomfortable, Why? If God is supremely good, why does that idea bother you?

2) The second promise is a rescue from Babylon for Israel:

Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion,

like a woman in labor,

for now you shall go out from the city

and dwell in the open country;

you shall go to Babylon.

There you shall be rescued;

there the LORD will redeem you

from the hand of your enemies. (Micah 4:10)

This is told to Israel in many other places in the Old Testament as they were conquered and forced to live in Babylon. This is God’s message of hope: Hang on, I will come for you.

So how do we live in the light of such promises? How did Israel live in the light of such a promise in Babylon? It must’ve changed everything! In Babylon Israel would have been under their control and their rule, subject to their culture (which was offensive in many ways to Israel). They were probably looked down upon, probably hated.

Right now as the body of Christ we are under slavery in this world – this is our Babylon, it is not our home. That can become extremely depressing unless we look to God’s promises. We have two important promises right here in Micah: God will draw the nations to Himself in peace and He will deliver His people out of the worst situations. If He said He will deliver us, He will. Look at history: less than a century after Israel was led to Babylon they were released and returned home.

God makes promises out of love and for our hope and joy, and it is ultimately in Christ that all of God’s promises coalesce. Praise be to a wise, wondrous, and merciful God!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord?

or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:34)

God is Just (Micah 3)

How relevant is Micah to today! Of course, it’s the word of God, so it is living and active, but listen to the words of this prophet! Through him the Lord denounces entire cities and cries for justice. Two things I noticed:

1) Ecclesiastes says “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecc. 1:9), and truly, fast forward from the time of Micah (the eighth century B.C.) to now and the same evil and injustice is happening. People have not changed, they are as wicked as ever and in the same ways as of old.

I don’t know a lot, and I put forth this idea humbly, but it seems like because of the spread of Christianity (and the millions of hearts and minds who have been changed by the Holy Spirit) the world has a heightened awareness of social inequality and injustice. I’m not sure if there’s any less evil now than before – in fact, I maintain that humans are as wicked as ever – but because of charities and organizations today (these things seem to be the product of Christendom) we are more conscience of worldly evils (even if we still commit them ourselves). For example, at my school there is a new major devoted to “human rights violations”, which basically means “people who are being sinned against.”

I’m excited that we live in a country with groups like Amnesty International and the Salvation Army, but many of the people in such groups do not do social action work for a love of God but for a love of justice – which is a shame because the only reason we know and understand justice is because God is just. Unfortunately many think God is lazy or inept to prevent violence or abuse, which is absolutely the opposite of the truth. Throughout Micah and the Bible God is good and just and the Hero of all history, speaking throughout generations that What you’re doing is evil, stop now or I will stop you. Our God is strong and mighty to save from any situation, and it is only through Him that salvation from injustice comes.

Hear this, you heads of the house of

Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel,

who detest justice

and make crooked all that is straight,

who build Zion with blood

and Jerusalem with iniquity. (Micah 3:9-10)

Replace “Jerusalem” with a city from today – what is Chicago built on? Is it built on blood and exploitation of the weak? What about the entire country? How does it thrive? Does it thrive by child labor, or prostitution? If it does, be sure that whatever nation in question will not be around for long. God will have justice.

2) Micah makes a distinction between false and real prophets. The false prophets cry injustice when they are not fed – when things aren’t going great for themselves – and a real prophet like Micah steps up and says everything’s going wrong even when it seems like everything’s going right. A real prophet may not be poor and oppressed, but that does not mean he does not care about those that are! Micah steps up and declares an entire nation guilty of not taking care of its children or poor.

Micah does this not out of an attempt to fix everything on his own, not out of a social program he’s started for himself, but out of a command from God:

But as for me, I am filled with power,

with the Spirit of the LORD,

and with justice and might,

to declare to Jacob his transgression

and to Israel his sin. (Micah 3:8)

We may be able to see evil and injustice around us but it is the Holy Spirit that gives us the power (and the opportunities) to do something about it. When we see suffering and injustice in our world we should not blame God but ask instead: “What would You have me do, God?”

A "Minor Prophet": Micah 6 & 7

I really enjoyed this section in Micah. I often have trouble getting into the "Minor Prophets", the books with crazy names like Zephaniah, Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi. But, fellow readers, fear not our cultural (or temporal) differences, because these guys who lived millenia ago were full of the Spirit and full of things to say. So let's look at Micah, chapters six and seven.

Beautiful words here in Micah and some challenging words from God. This is an important part of reading scripture: often times we'll run into things that challenge our beliefs. It's important to ask why this is and not to run from the Bible. I believe God uses these times of struggle and questioning to draw us closer to Him and to refresh our minds - minds that have been warped by sin and need constant refreshing. I need to continue to re-evaluate all my beliefs in the light of scripture and let Christ tell me the truth. As Paul writes:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

The first thing that challenged me in Micah was the harsh words against people. It's easy to criticize some groups of people - we can dismiss them as poor or lazy or whatever (and we all do this), but we still believe that humanity (as a whole) is not all rotten. There are intelligent, hard working people all around - surely they are not “sinners” or in need of a total heart change by God?

Micah writes:

Even the best and most honest of them are as worthless as weeds. (Micah 7:4 TEV)

I use to look up to people who were “religious authorities” – surely they wouldn’t need to do things like repent before God? No! Without a fear of the Lord they are as worthless as weeds.

I looked up to artists, musicians, filmmakers – yet they are nothing compared to Jesus. They die, and their glory fades along with them. Some are remembered longer, but are not around to enjoy their glory! Jesus died, rose again, and is reigning in glory forever.

The Lord asks us to “live in humble fellowship with our God” (Micah 6:8 TEV). Humility! We need to repent when we sin, not roll it away with silly platitudes like “We all make mistakes”. Our sin before God is not rolled away by us saying, “Let’s forget about it.” No, God says:

Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales

and with a bag of deceitful weights? (Micah 6:11 ESV)

Should God simply forget our sins? The answer from God that reveals Him to be all-loving and all-wise and a God of justice is “No”.

We have a very limited view of how damaging our sin is. If we sin against God, who is eternal, then we have sinned eternally. God is outside of time, and unlike humans He doesn’t forget. We have another funny platitude, “Time heals all wounds”. It doesn’t, we just hope it will and we hide behind that.

God is eternal and good and just and for our sins He demands blood:

Therefore I strike you with a grievous

blow,

making you desolate because of your

sins. (Micah 6:13)

In addition to God’s just punishment, we get the punishment of sinning itself:

You shall eat, but not be satisfied,

and there shall be hunger within you;

you shall put away, but not preserve,

and what you preserve I will give to the sword. (6:14)

Even if we start to do good things and we do them apart from God (Because of the sin that separates us) they will add up to nothing:

You shall sow, but not reap;

you shall tread olives, but not anoint

yourselves with oil;

you shall tread grapes, but not drink

wine. (6:15)

See, we are made by God to know and love and rejoice in Him. He surrounds us with gifts and gives us the joy of working (Genesis 2:15) and purpose. Then we sin, and rather than being humble and apologizing we run from God. Separated from God, our great joy, our life, is gone, so we try to fill it by living as we did before, turning to the gifts rather than the Giver and expecting happiness. But no, God says that that will amount to nothing! Olives will not make olive oil and grapes will not make wine.

But how then will we be saved from our sin, which is an eternal stain upon our soul, the thing that takes us – who are meant for eternity – into eternal death. So if our present state is so horrible, so empty, so destructive, what can we do? This is the fundamental question when it comes to sin. What can we do about it?

“With what shall I come before the LORD,

and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt

offerings,

with calves a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with

thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my first born for my

transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my

soul?” (Micah 6:6-7)

We can’t do any of that. Even if we gave our own firstborn:

Truly no man can ransom another,

or give to God the price of his life (Psalm 49:7)

But God can. God can be the ransom, the price for our lives. He can pay the price and save us from death. He alone in Jesus has the power to completely destroy our sin. I love this verse, which echoes of Genesis 3:15:

He will again have compassion on us;

he will tread our iniquities

underfoot.

You will cast all our sins

into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19)

God has completely trampled our sin, completely crushed it on the cross. He has not simply annulled it or cast it aside, He has absorbed all of our sins in Jesus Christ on the cross and crushed them.

The answer to “What can we do?” is “Nothing”, God has done everything through Christ, and our role is to turn to Him. We do not need to walk in shame and wallow in sorrow for being sinful, because we have a mighty Savior who is always at work and open to us at any time. We just need to lay aside our pride and admit our inability to do nothing.

But as for me, I will look to the LORD;

I will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me. (Micah 7:7)

The Wedding of a King (Psalm 45)

The heading for this Psalm calls it a love song, and in it we see a bride and groom prepared for each other. But with Paul’s words in the New Testament I think we can also see Christ and the church.

In large part this is because of verses 1-9, which describe a king. This could just be a king, a king like David or Solomon, but the language points to Christ. Verse 1 is almost a statement of worship:

“My heart overflows with a pleasing theme;

I address my verses to the king;

my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.”

Here I am to praise the King. The King described here has “grace poured upon his lips” (verse 2) which leads me to think that from his mouth grace is shared, and certainly Jesus’ words are full of God’s grace.

Also in verse 2: “God has blessed you forever.” Verse 3: “Gird your sword on your thigh, O Mighty one, in your splendor and majesty.” These are words that could be describing an earthly king, but they are also fitting to describe the King of Kings.

Verses 4 and 5 begin to blur the distinctions between this King and God. In fact, it seems as if the writer is writing about God here, because the King is doing things God does:

“In your majesty ride out victoriously

for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness” (verse 4)

God is the one who fights for the weak and the righteous. But this passage is addressed to the king:

“You are the most handsome of the sons of men” (verse 2)

This is about a man, and Christ is a man. This is about God, and Christ is God. If we continue to read Jesus into this text we will find more and more how He fits perfectly. His strength destroys evil:

“Your arrows are sharp

in the heart of the king’s enemies;

the people fall under you.” (verse 5)

Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, uses the same language:

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.’” (1 Cor. 15:26-27)

But then (returning to Psalm 45), in verse 6 the writer addresses this King (and I believe he is still addressing the king, because of verse 7) as God:

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness” (verse 6)

This can’t be describing David, because he died. This king is righteous, so that rules out a lot of succeeding kings…and they also died. No, this has to about Jesus, who rules by righteousness and whose throne is forever and ever. No other king can claim that.

Also, the writer calls him God, and in verse 7 he makes a distinction in Trinitarian language:

“You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness beyond your companions”

“God, your God” is addressed to the king the writer just called God. It’s Jesus and the Father. “God, your God has anointed you” – “Christ” means “anointed one.”

“…with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” The New Testament describes Christ as the most exalted, the most beloved, beyond anyone else – He is given a better seat than anybody else, He is held in a place of honor higher than anybody else. This can’t be talking about God the Father because God the Father doesn’t have any companions, which I mean as “equals” or “contemporaries”. Nobody else is like God, God has no peers or classmates from ’00. But Jesus, having become a man – while staying fully God – He can call other men and women peers and companions, and in Mark 3:34-35 Jesus calls those who do the will of God his brothers and sisters.

One last detail on verses 1-9: “your robes are all fragrant with myrrh” – I need to find out more about myrrh, like what the heck it is, but I can’t help seeing the Jesus connection here.

Now the psalm shifts to a bride and a wedding. Who could this great king be marrying? The language here also points to more than what’s on the surface, it points to the Church.

The writer tells the bride to “forget your people and your father’s house” (verse 10). That seems to be a small detail wedding in a regular wedding, but in Christ-Church language it is a call to the broken, the weary, the sinners. Forget where you came from, because you now belong to Christ.

For some reason the writer ties that into this idea: “and the king will desire your beauty” (verse 10). If we abandon sin and lift our lives and our hearts to God – if we accept Christ – we will be made righteous like Him. We, as a church, will be beautiful and pleasing to our King. And, “Since he is your lord, bow to him” (verse 11).

This leads to a wedding, and the Bible is full of wedding imagery. Jesus’ first miracle is at a wedding. In Revelation, at the end of time those made righteous by Christ (His church) are led to Jesus in the biggest wedding ever. A wedding is happy, and joyous, it’s about a covenant (and Jesus is the new covenant) and commitment. It’s a time of happiness – “With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king” (verse 15). We are happy at weddings because two together made into one are better than two apart. The Church needs Christ, and when He is finally here we will wonder how we ever got along without Him – that is, Him in the flesh, because He is already ever present (Matthew 28:18-20).

This marriage between Christ and the church, God and man, is celebrated throughout scripture. Isaiah writes:

“Fear not, for you will not be ashamed…

For your Maker is your husband,

the LORD of hosts is his name…

For the LORD has called you

like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,

like a wife of youth when she is cast off,

says your God.” (Isaiah 54:4, 5, 6)

Finally, the writer of Psalm 45 turns back to addressing the King:

“I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;

therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.” (verse 17)

Since He was born Jesus has been sought after to worship, His name has always been the most important and He is the most important person in all of history. “Nations will praise you” – just like Rev. 7:9-10 we see:

“…a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (verse 9).

Three Observations in Exodus 6

Three things stick out to me in this first part of Exodus 6 (read it here), before the genealogy. First is the way God identifies Himself. It never really stuck out to me, but God often identifies Himself throughout the Bible as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I think this little detail says a lot about God Almighty (Exodus 6:3).

Other false gods, gods created by human beings, are often the "god of" something. Venus is the goddess of love, Mars the god of war. These gods have power that is specialized and limited to a certain area, often an aspect of culture (Dionysus, the god of wine). Sometimes they are simply the personification of an emotion (Cupid).

The true God is Lord over all emotions or aspects of culture, Lord over all of creation. He controls the seasons, the weather, the planet's rotation and orbit, and He makes the crops grow, and on and on. He has a claim to any number of titles for Himself - any number of ways He can identify Himself to Moses, but He chooses two.

1) "I am that I am" (Exodus 3:14). God chooses not to say I am the God of (fill in blank). That right there would seem powerful enough. A god who controls volcanoes would be pretty powerful. But for God, the real God, that association alone limits His power. He is not just a God who controls volcanoes. He does much, much, much more than that and His power is far, far greater. The best way God can describe His greatness is by simply saying "I am who I am." Beautiful and incomparable.

2) God reveals Himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God associates Himself with people. This is incredible! This says volumes about who God is.

First, we see humility. God is far greater than Abraham, yet He identifies Himself with him. This kind of humility is a part of who Jesus is.

Second, we see God's grace. Who were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that the God of the universe identifies Himself with them? They were nobodies! They were sojourners in a distant land (Exodus 6:4). Abraham likely worshipped the moon and other false gods before meeting the true God. Then there's Isaac, a man who makes the same mistakes as his father with his wife (Genesis 26) and we see him playing favorites with his children; Jacob is so messed up that he doesn't get married until he's seventy - which he does after stealing his brother's birthright and tricking his father into a deathbed blessing. These guys were messed up and evil.

And yet God changed them. Because of God we who are in faith are called children of Abraham. The nation of Israel is named after Jacob. These men are some of the most famous men who ever lived because God changed them. When God says He is the God of Abraham, ISaac, and Jacob not only can MOses connect that this is the God of his ancestors but also that this is the God who took these messed up guys and made them into men of God. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their changed lives are a testament to God's wonderful, all-powerful grace.

So when God says He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob He is choosing what He will be identified as having dominion over. Now, unlike false pagan gods He does have power over everything, but He chooses here to show that it's people He cares about and His dominion is over their hearts. Praise God!

"I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." (Exodus 6:7)

This is the second thing that stuck out to me. Here is another big difference between all the world's false gods and the one true God. God is the only God who has ever said, "I will be your God." What an invitation and a promise! Here we see that God is not a distant, uncaring force to be discovered, He is a loving Creator inviting His children back to Him. "I will be your God." He says this throughout the Bible, often talking about the change that happens when we believe in Christ, are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and changed from the inside out (Deuteronomy 30:6, Ezekiel 36:26-29; 37:23; 37:27). God initiates, we respond. We don't search for God, nobody truly does! It is only by God's Holy Spirit that we come to God, only by His promise that He will be our God that we become His people. In other religions you have to make up your god and appoint them head over you. But with God it's the other way around. He appoints us under Him and as His people.

The last thing I noticed was something I underlined when I first read through Exodus:

But Moses said to the LORD, "Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?" (Exodus 6:12).

I wrote down near it 'God is patient'. Moses has already presented this fear to God. Sometimes the same things and fears come back, but God is very patient. We won't realize just how much until we get to heaven. But even now God's patience is seen in the dawning of each new day - because really the world should be destroyed for its evil but -

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

Thanks God for these revelations of Your character in Your word.

The Everlasting (Exodus 1)

I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while, so let’s do it. God, draw me nearer to You, help me think and meditate on Your beautiful word, for man cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from You (Deut. 8:4).

Exodus chapter one: our favorite family returns in the sequel to Genesis. God told Abraham in the book of Genesis everything that would happen to his descendents (the nation of Israel) in the book of Exodus and the following books of the Bible:

“Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nations that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” (Genesis 15:13-14)

One reason we can know that God is God and trust that He is in control is that He knows the future. At the end of the Bible Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). There, I just quoted from the beginning of the Bible and the end. God knew the very words that would be in Revelation when He spoke to Abraham in Genesis. He knew the events of the world and the Bible in between, He knew every person that would live, how that person would act, how all those actions would lead to the birth of His Son and He knew how people would react to all these events now, 2,000 years after His Son was born. This is incredible! He also knew every name that would be added to His kingdom, He knew our names before He even spoke to Abraham. In Paul’s words:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (Ephesians 1:3-4)

Before God made Mount Everest He knew my name and that Jesus Christ would die in my place, also dying in many others’ places; so that I could stand blameless before Him, so that my heart’s purest desire – to be with my Lord Jesus Christ – may be fulfilled. Praise God! Why does He do this? Paul goes on: “In love.” God does this in love for us, so that we may be blessed and so that He may be glorified. Before the sun was lit, He knew He would save me so that I may delight in Him forever.

Praise be to God! Our God is in heaven, He is in control forever! Never will His throne be shaken, never will He be defeated or overthrown, never will He be anything less of value than He is now, has been, and forever more will be.

In comparison the universe – all of God’s creation – is always expanding, according to astronomers. If the universe, which is simply God’s creation, is always growing, stretching to infinity, how much more infinite is its Creator! How much farther His power and might expands beyond the beyond, beyond the farthest reaches of space.

This reminds me of an old fear I had: What if God isn’t that great? Let me rephrase, I don’t mean to say, “not great at all”, but what if He is only great to a degree, and then it levels off? What if His power does cap off, even if (if God can be “measured”) it is at the millionth zero? Even at that power God would still have a number, a cap that He could not surpass. To me this is extremely unsatisfying – even if God still was the greatest Being in the universe, if He wasn’t infinite, but finite, only powerful and great to a certain degree, that would be disappointing (to say the least!).

Thankfully, this is not true. The Lord is as great as your feeble imagination can imagine, and He is infinitely more so! Our brains can’t even handle how deep and beautiful our God is, how many mysteries of His character have yet to be revealed, how unending He is!

Lord, you have been our dwelling

place

in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth,

or even you had formed the earth and

the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you

are God. (Psalm 90:1-2)

From never-beginning to never-ending. This is hard for me to grasp at times simply because I’m human and have a very limited perspective. Everything humanity knows has a beginning and an end, the houses we live in, the food we eat, even our own lives have a start and end date. History has a beginning, time itself has a beginning. And God created it all, so He gave creation its start date. Its hard and unnatural to imagine something without age – but God is! He tells Moses, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). He is who He is. He cannot be compared to anything. In fact, that may be why its hard to understand Him sometimes, because He is incomparable.

We often understand something by comparing two things. If, for example, I am looking for new music and find a band that looks interesting, I can get a quick understanding of what they are like if someone tells me, “They are like the Beatles” – a comparison helps me understand. Of course, once in a while you run into a band that is unexplainable, you simple have to listen to the, think about them, study them if you want to understand them. We like this, it is a rare thing to find something that is unique. But ultimately the bands we do think are unique aren’t, somebody else will sound like them (and, if nothing else, they are still playing music, which is not unique for a band). If it is the unique we are looking for, the only truly unique thing that has ever existed is God. Nobody is like Him. Nobody ever will be! If there was anybody else who has been around “from everlasting to everlasting” then they would already exist right now because they’ve always existed. But nothing besides God has existed forever. If somebody were to arise now to compete with God for His uniqueness and character they would automatically be disqualified from such a useless competition because they have a starting date. God does not and never will. And He never will have an ending date.

“I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14)

So back to Exodus. God, the Lord of history, brings the whole house of Israel to Egypt. Jacob, the father of Israel, knows God and is a believer. At the beginning of Exodus his family has become a part of a foreign culture with different gods and different beliefs. One of the themes of Exodus and one of the reasons I love it is because God uses the country, these people, these events, to show Egypt and the world who the true God is. How many Egyptians came to believe in the Lord at this time? I’ve never thought about that before, but in Exodus God is not only saving His chosen people from physical slavery and oppression He is also saving many Egyptians from slavery to idolatry and paganism by simply revealing Himself for who He is: “I am that I am.”

What we know about Egypt today is that they used to worship many gods. There were gods for the sun, moon, stars, life, death. It is interesting that this belief system has consistently been around in human history. Today people will pray to a stone god who is the patron god of (fill in blank) with sincerity the same way that people did thousands of years ago.

We are made to worship, we are made to glorify our Creator, but when we stop worshipping the Everlasting and start worshipping something with a beginning and an end date we are creating idols. And we do this all the time, whether we are bowing down before a carved statue or we are bowing down to the thing we love the most (like alcohol or sex.) We need to worship the right God, the One, the true God, who exists in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the God who frees and redeems lives, as we will see in Exodus.

7/4/09