Genesis 38
Judah marries Canaanite woman – has three sonsverses 1-5
And it came to pass at that time – that Judah went down from his brethren
and turned in to a certain Adullamite – whose name was Hirah
And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite
whose name was Shua and he took her – and went in to her
and she conceived – and bore a son
and he called his name Er
and she yet again conceived – and bore a son
and she called his name Onan
and she yet again conceived – and bore a son
and called his name Shelah
and he was at Chezib when she bore him
Judah’s first son, Er, was wickedverses 6-8
And Judah took a wife for Er – his first-born
whose name was Tamar
And Er – Judah’s first-born – was WICKED in the sight of the LORD
and the LORD SLEW him
And Judah said to Onan
Go in to your brother’s wife – and marry her
and raise up seed to your brother
Judah’s second son, Onan, was wickedverses 9-10
And Onan knew that the seed should not be his
and it came to pass – when he went in to his brother’s wife
that he spilled it on the ground
LEST that he should give seed to his brother
And the thing which he did DISPLEASED the LORD
wherefore HE SLEW him also
Judah sends Tamar back to parentsverse 11
THEN said Judah to Tamar – his daughter-in-law
Remain a widow at your father’s house
till Shelah my son is grown – for he said
Lest perhaps he die also
as his brethren did
And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house
Judah’s wife diesverses 12-13
And in process of time the daughter of Shua – Judah’s wife – died
and Judah was comforted
and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnah
he and his friend Hirah – the Adullamite
And it was told Tamar saying
Behold – your father-in-law goes up to Timnah
to shear his sheep
Tamar pretends to be a prostitute with Judahverses 14-19
And she put her widow’s garments off from her
and covered her with a veil – and wrapped herself
and sat in an open place
which is by the way to Timnah
FOR she saw that Shelah was grown
and she was not given to him as his wife
WHEN Judah saw her – he thought her to be an harlot
BECAUSE she had covered her face
And he turned unto her by the way – and said
Come – I pray you – let me come in to you
(for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law)
And she said
What will you give me – that you may come in to me?
And he said
I will send you a kid from the flock
And she said
Will you give me a pledge – till you send it?
And he said
What pledge shall I give you?
And she said
Your signet – your bracelets
your staff that is in your hand
And he gave them to her – and came in to her
and she conceived by him
and she arose – and went away
and laid by her veil from her
and put on the garments of
her widowhood
Judah sends payment for prostituteverses 20-21
And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite
to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand
BUT he found her not
THEN he asked the men of that place – saying
Where is the harlot – that was openly by the wayside?
And they said
There was no harlot in this place
Friend tells Judah he can’t find womanverses 22-23
And he returned to Judah and said
I cannot find her – and also the men of the place said
that there was no harlot in this place
And Judah said – Let her take them to her – lest we be shamed
BEHOLD – I sent this kid – and you have not found her
Tamar is pregnantverse 24
And it came to pass about three months after
that it was told Judah saying
Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot
and also – BEHOLD – she is with child by whoredom
And Judah said
Bring her forth and let her be BURNED
Tamar sends message to Judahverse 25
WHEN she was brought forth – she sent to her father-in-law saying
By this man – whose these are – am I with child
And she said – Discern – I pray you
whose are these the signet – bracelets – staff
Judah recognizes the gifts he gaveverse 26
And Judah acknowledged them and said
She has been MORE RIGHTEOUS than I
BECAUSE that I gave her not to Shelah – my son
And he knew her again no more
Tamar has twinsverses 27-30
And it came to pass in the time of her travail
that – behold TWINS were in her womb
And it came to pass – when she travailed
that one put out his hand
And the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread
saying – This came out first
And it came to pass – as he drew back his hand
that – BEHOLD – his brother came out – and she said
How has you broken forth?
this breach be on you
THEREFORE his name was
called Perez [breech]
And afterward came out his brother
that had the scarlet thread on his hand
and his name was called Zerah [brightness]
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 7 And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. (7451 “wicked” [ra‘] means adversity, affliction, bad, displease, evil, wretchedness, or wrong)
DEVOTION: Judah means praise. Here we have the father of the tribe that produced Jesus. The Bible doesn’t hide the sins of the children of Israel. Here we have Judah marrying a Canaanite woman. He has three sons by this woman. Two of his sons are wicked in the sight of the LORD. The Bible doesn’t give us the wickedness of the first son. However, it does give us the sin of the second son. It was the custom for brothers to marry the spouse of a dead brother to raise up a family for that brother. The first brother died and the second brother was to marry Tamar and give her a child, so that, there was an inheritance for the first son. He didn’t do it and God killed him for his disobedience.
Now we have Judah promising the third son, Shelah, to Tamar to raise up seed for the first son. He didn’t want to because he was afraid that the same thing would happen to him that happened to his two brothers. He was not going to keep his promise. Once we give our word we need to keep our word.
Tamar dresses as a harlot to trick Judah into having a relationship with him to produce a child to be a descendent of his first son. She gets payment for her act. She shows the payment when Judah wants to burn her as a harlot. Then he realizes that she was more RIGHTEOUS than he because she was faithful to her promise to raise seed to his firstborn.
We are not told what the wickedness of Er was. It was some sin that God punished with death. God takes sin seriously. This chapter shows one family’s sin.
Today it is not politically correct to call any action wicked. The Bible gives us lists of things that are wicked. The LORD has not changed HIS standard over the years. We all break the LORD’S commandments. We are all sinners.
Er displeased the LORD by his actions and the LORD slew him. Some sins were important enough in this time period to give a quick judgment. The Bible tells us that some sins are judged right away and others are judged later.
The Bible seems to teach that if those who are part of the family commit the sin unto death, God takes them. Living in sin is the continual action of an individual. Some sins are committed once and then a time period passes before they are committed again. Living in sin is a lifestyle.
When a follower of God has a lifestyle of sin God will judge him. This might be what happened to Er. We need to watch our relationship with the LORD. Are we keeping short accounts with God?
CHALLENGE: There are many teachings in this chapter that we have to watch for in our life. Commitment is one of those lessons. Once we commit to follow the LORD, we have to obey his commands
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 14 And she put her widow’s garments off from her, and covered her with a vail, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife. (899 “garments” [beged] means clothes, raiment, apparel, wardrobe, covering, wrap, outer garments, or vesture)
DEVOTION: People can be known by the clothes they wear. They say on some commercials that “the clothes make the man.” It is also true of women.
At this time period we find that there are special clothes for women who are widows. People could look at the way they were dressed and know that they had lost their husband.
In the culture of the day the widow would move back home until she was married again. In this case Judah had promised Tamar that when his third son grew up he would marry her to raise seed to her first husband who died because the LORD considered him wicked.
Now when Judah’s third son was grown Judah didn’t call for her to come and marry him. So Tamar took things into her own hands. It was within her right to raise seed to her husband.
Tamar had a plan. She would take off her widow’s clothes and dress as a harlot and sit in a spot where her father-in-law would pass. The thought was that he would see her and because he was a widower he would want to have a sexual relationship with her.
Judah didn’t know it was Tamar when he spotted her and when he went in to her but he found out later that it was her. So the clothes did make a difference.
Tamar received payment for her act and kept the payment for the right time in the future.
What does it mean to us? It means that God instructed Moses what to write in the first five books of the Bible. God doesn’t hide the fact that even those twelve sons of Israel were not saints. They were just as sinful as we are today.
Should Tamar have waited on the LORD before taking this wrong step to have a child to raise seed to Judah? The answer is YES. Do we always wait on the LORD to do the right thing? NO!!! We tend to be impatient and act before we think some things through. She did it and sometimes so do we.
We need to understand from Adam to present everyone is a sinner in need of salvation. Every one of us is guilty before the LORD. Every one of us needs to regularly correct our behavior before the LORD.
One fact that is given in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew is that five women are mentioned and Tamar is one of them. The list of five are interesting women in the history of Israel.
CHALLENGE: We need to do the right thing the right way according to the standards of the LORD. HE isn’t condoning doing the right thing the wrong way in HIS Word.
: 24 And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar your daughter in law has played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, “Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.” (2181 “played the harlot” [zanah] means to commit fornication, be unfaithful, to abandon someone to fornication, to act unfaithfully or treacherously or conceived of as living like a prostitute)
DEVOTION: In Deuteronomy 22: 21 we find that there is a judgment for any woman who is caught in the sin of adultery. She was to be stoned until she was dead. This was a command of the LORD.
Here we find that before the Law of Moses was given the woman who was caught in adultery was to be burned. Judah was ready to burn Tamar for being with child. He didn’t know at the time that the child was his own. He had thought that he had gone in to a prostitute. He was wrong.
Judgment can be easy when all the facts are not known. We need to be individuals who look into the facts before we make a judgment on a individual. It is easier to just believe a lie than to search for the truth about someone.
Judah fell into this trap and a lot of times we can judge people before we know all the facts. Even among our friends we can hear a rumor and believe it rather than going to that friend and asking them for the truth.
In school we find that many people will spread lies about us or someone else and people will believe them even it they are not true. As a believer we should not be individuals who believe something bad about someone, especially a friend before we have all the facts.
A true friend will stay close to a friend even in hard times. If our friend has done something wrong we should help them to overcome whatever is going wrong in their life. If they need professional help we can even try to help them get that kind of help through our parents.
CHALLENGE: Check out the facts of all the things you hear about your friends or family members. Don’t just believe the lies before checking them out. Judah found this out!!!
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 26 And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She has been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more. (5234 “acknowledge” [nakar] means recognize, to detect something accurately with the senses, pay attention to, pray regard to, or perceive.)
DEVOTION: Once the truth was known concerning the pregnancy of Tamar she was declared innocent in her actions. So it went from the possibility of being stoned to death to being declared righteous was just the truth of what really happened.
We are declared righteous because of the act of Jesus Christ. We are guilty of sin before the LORD. Tamar was guilty of the sin of deception even though her motives were right. Judah was guilty for not keeping his promise to her yet the LORD included Judah as the seed through which Jesus Christ would come.
It is amazing how forgiving God can be when we humans continue to sin and act before HE gives instructions. We are declared righteous because of the act of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins as our substitute.
Judah learned his lesson and never had any relationship with her again. We need to learn from our sin. After confession we can ask the LORD for HIS help to not commit that sin again. Our time here is to be one of growing in our relationship with HIM.
God knows that we are sinners even after we become believers in HIS Son. HE sends us trials to help us become more like HIS Son by resisting sin and serving HIM faithfully.
CHALLENGE: If you have failed the LORD in the past we are still given a future as we trust HIM for each day. We can be included in HIS book of life forever.
:27 And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb. (990 “womb” [beten] means 1 belly, womb, body. 1a belly, abdomen. 1a1 as seat of hunger, as seat of mental faculties, of depth of Sheol (fig.). 1b womb. [Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship].)
DEVOTION: We have twin sons, and have had a lot of joy and struggles with them as they grew up. You were always wondering which was which in the first years. Then we found out that had different personalities, and that allowed us to get to know them even better individually.
This is the second set of twins specifically mentioned in the book of Genesis. The first was Esau and Jacob. That did not work out so well, as they continuously vied for their parents’ affection. Now Judah has a set of twin sons through a one-night stand with his daughter-in-law Tamar. This is the point at which God shows His grace, since it would not seem at this point that Judah was godly at all (he is not pictured as a godly man in the book of Genesis). Perhaps the birth of these sons gets his attention.
The result is that the tribe of Judah becomes the predominant tribe within the nation of Israel, and takes over leadership from the tribe of Levi (Moses). David is a direct descendant of Judah, as is our Lord Jesus Christ. All of this seems an unlikely turn of events given Judah’s behavior. But one of his descendants, Boaz, acts in a most godly and righteous way, and sets the stage for the children of Judah to become what Jacob promises will happen in Genesis 49:8-12.
All of this shows that it is never too late to turn back toward God. It simply takes a step of faith and trust in Him and a desire to live life His way rather than our own way. Sometimes it is the birth of our children that bring us back to the values that we knew were true all along.
CHALLENGE: Are you needing to start walking with God again? Choose right now to repent of past sins and decide to live life God’s way! (MW)
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD (Jehovah)verses 7, 10
Sight of the LORDverse 7
LORD killed Erverse 7
LORD displeasedverse 10
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Adullamite named Hirahverses 1, 12, 20-23
Daughter of certain Canaanite: Shurahverses 2-10
Conceived : Er
wife Tamar wicked in sight of the LORD
LORD killed him
Conceived: Onan
spilled human seed on gound
killed by LORD
Conceived: Shelah
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Wicked verse 7
Spilled seed on the groundverse 9
Displeased the LORDverse 10
Harlotverses 15, 24
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Discernverse 25
Righteousverse 26
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Judah – three sons: Er, Onan, Shelahverses 2-30
Wife for Er = Tamarverses 6-30
Tamar to remain a widow
till Shelah was grown
dwelt in father’s house
told of Judah was in Timnath
took widow’s garments off
covered her face
Judah thought she was harlot
Took pledge from Judah
signet, bracelet, staff
put on garments of widowhood
had twins by Judah
Pharez
Zarah
went to sheepsherers to Timnath
friend Hirah the Adullamite
thought he went to a harlot
found out Tamar was pregnant
and wanted to burn her
found out he was the father of Tamar’s child
Pharez – son of Judah by Tamar – twin
Zarah – son of Judah by Tamar- twin
scarlet thread = should have been firstborn
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
DONATIONS:
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QUOTES regarding passage
12–26 Tamar’s plan resembles that of Jacob and Rebekah (ch. 27). Through a disguise she obtained a part in the blessing of the firstborn. In so doing, just as with Jacob and Rebekah, she obtained that which the patriarch should have rightfully given. Selah, the son of Judah, was of age (v.14), and Tamar should have been given to him for a wife (v.11). Thus, in the end, the continuation of the line of Judah was not due to the righteous actions of the patriarch Judah but rather lay in the hands of the “righteous” Tamar. Such has been a recurring theme throughout the patriarchal narratives. (Sailhamer, J. H. (1990). Genesis. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers (Vol. 2, p. 232). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
38:12–23. Thus the family’s future was placed in jeopardy. Tamar felt she would have to take matters into her own hands if she were to be granted the rights of the levirate custom. This system was later codified by Moses for the sake of preserving the name of the deceased (Deut. 25:5–10).
When the time seemed right, Tamar deceptively lured her father-in-law Judah into an immoral union with a temple prostitute, or so he thought (Gen. 38:15, 21). In pledge that he would send a goat for payment, he left his seal (which hung suspended from a cord around his neck) and his staff with her. When he tried to retrieve them through his friend Hirah (cf. v. 1), the girl was nowhere to be found. Again Jacob’s family experienced deception—this time by his Canaanite daughter-in-law! (Ross, A. P. (1985). Genesis. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, pp. 88–89). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
Morality. But this chapter has some practical values as well. For one thing, it shows how dangerous it was for God’s people to be in the land with the Canaanites. There was always the temptation to live like your neighbors instead of like the people of God.
There’s also a dramatic contrast between Judah and Joseph. Joseph refused to compromise himself with Potiphar’s wife (Gen. 39:7–20), but Judah casually slept with a strange woman he thought was a prostitute. We also see the continued “harvest” in the family because of deception. Jacob used a garment to deceive his father Isaac, and Judah and his brothers used a garment to deceive Jacob (37:32). Now Tamar used a garment to deceive Judah! (Gen. 38:14) We reap what we sow. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1997). Be authentic (p. 91). Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub.)
38:18 Your seal and your cord, and your staff. A prominent man in the ancient Near East endorsed contracts with the cylinder seal he wore on a cord around his neck. Her request for the walking stick suggests it also had sufficient identifying marks on it (cf. v. 25, “whose … are these?”). The custom of using 3 pieces of identification is attested to in Ugaritic (Canaanite) literature. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Ge 38:18). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
Ver. 18. And he said, what pledge shall I give thee? &c.] Being willing to part with any thing for the gratification of his lust: and she said, thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand; she asks all these, that if one should be lost, or fail of being sufficient proof, the other might: the first of these the Septuagint version renders, thy ring; the ring upon his finger, which had a seal on it, and was the signet of his right hand; so Onkelos and Ben Melech: the second word seems not so well rendered, since bracelets were wore by women and not men: Jarchi takes it to be a garment with which he was covered; so Ben Melech and the Targum, a cloak, which is not likely, that she should desire him to strip off his clothes: it seems to be either a covering of his head, a wrap of linen such as the Turks wear, or else a handkerchief he had in his pocket; and the staff in his hand was either his walking-staff or a shepherd’s crook or staff: and he gave it her, all the above things as a pledge: and came in unto her; not on the public road, but in some private place at some distance, to which they retired. Maimonides says, before the law was given, if a man met a woman in the street, and he and she agreed, he gave her hire, and he lay with her, and went away, and such an one was called Kedeshah, a harlot, the word used afterwards for Tamar: and she conceived by him; she proved with-child upon it. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 1, p. 248). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
She disguised herself as a temple prostitute. The Canaanite religion not only employed vile symbols, but it also ministered directly to the flesh, consummating worship in an act of immorality with a temple prostitute. Tamar, therefore, set herself up by the highway as a priestess of the local temple. She knew her father-in-law well enough to know that he would be a likely candidate for the services such a woman would offer. Sure enough, before long Judah came that way. With the loose morals of the world to guide him, and with a total disregard for the calling of God, he stopped and propositioned Tamar, not knowing, of course, who she was.
Her price was a kid of the goats, something Judah obviously did not have with him. Knowing her man, Tamar demanded security in lieu of payment and asked for Judah’s signet, bracelets, and staff. Judah was by now so hotly inflamed by lust that he parted with them readily.
The signet was his ring, used for impressing his signature into the clay tablets of the time; it represented his person. His “bracelets” were probably a valued chain of gold; they represented his possessions. His staff marked him out as a shepherd. In ancient times many people carried a staff, often carved with some identifying symbol such as an animal, a flower, or a bird. The staff represented his position. Judah could thus lightly forfeit person, possessions, and position for the sake of a moment of lust. He was well on his way to becoming a second Esau. Indeed, were it not for the fact that later he took his stand for Benjamin, it might well have been that he would have been as roundly cursed by the dying Jacob as were Reuben, Simeon, and Levi (Genesis 49).
Judah indulged himself and went on his way minus his ring, bracelets, and staff, minus what was left of his good name, and minus what tattered shreds of his testimony he had left. Again his friend the Adullamite showed up. Hearing about the harlot, Hiram offered to act as Judah’s go-between to take the kid to the woman and redeem the security Judah had left behind. Perhaps he wanted to meet the delectable young woman for himself.
But the temple call girl was nowhere to be found. The people from the neighborhood denied all knowledge of such a woman as Hiram described. Judah, of course, was upset, but not because he had transgressed against God, not because he had committed an act of immorality, but because he was afraid his reputation as a man of his word might be ruined. He fussed for awhile and then forgot the whole thing. Thus lightly do men sin. But he had ignited a fuse on a time bomb, and it was already beginning to burn down. (Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring Genesis: An Expository Commentary (Ge 38:15–23). Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp.)
FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
But it is truth that protects love from dissolving into mere sentimentality. Likewise, it is love that prevents truth from being reduced to impersonal abstractions. At some point or another, almost all of us will be put into the situation Piers Morgan asked Joel Osteen to consider. At some point, we will either attend a same-sex ceremony, or we will not. Declining to attend will come with undeniable relational consequences, but so would attending. As one believer who struggles with same-sex attraction recently told me, “It does not help when fellow Christians send mixed signals.” We cannot allow our love to lapse into sentimentality, even as we love those who plan to enter into what we know is not and cannot be marriage. Note carefully that Bonnie Clement spoke of the Bushes’ presence at the wedding as a powerful affirmation that the union was “real and normal.”
(George and Barbara witness a wedding by Albert Mohler)
IMPOSSIBLE PEOPLE by Os Guinness
Pressed consistently, neither of these two views faces up to the scale of modern diversity, and neither allows for the justice and freedom of people of all faiths and none. So they both fail for the same reason, through in different ways – Christians too often fail to argue for: the common good, the good of all (“Just us” rather than “justice”), and atheists too often fail to recognize that the vast majority of humankind are deeply religious, and these believers have rights too. (p.161)
In the US in the twentieth century, for example, the Lost Generation (of the First World War) was followed by the Greatest Generation (the Second World War0, and then in turn by the Silent Generation (postwar), the Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1980), Generation Y or the Millennials (1981- ) and so on. (p. 171)
But much of the run-of-mill renewal songs, which are repeated endlessly and constructed more on rhythm than melody, confine Evangelicals within a shallow theology, threadbare worship, fleeting relevance and historical amnesia, shuch music is another reason why many Evangelical churches resemble a field of quick growing, quick-disappearing mushrooms rather than a longstanding forest of oaks. (p.176)
Stephen writes (NY): We are the silent majority. We get no air time. We don’t burn things down or tear things up. We go to work and support our families. We love America. We want to protect the unborn. We salute the flag. We sing “The Star Spangled Banner”. We respect law enforcement and obey the law. We appreciate the military. We are the very backbone of this country. We believe all lives matter because that is what we learned from reading the Bible. We treat everyone with respect no matter what color their skin is. But we are invisible! Let’s be heard! It’s time to start making some noise.
FACING DEATH
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. 2 Timothy 4:8
The kingdom of God gives us power even to look into the face of death and to smile at it. We go out of this world in triumph and in joy. Consider what Paul says; this is power, this is not just a talker, nor just a man who has been writing all his life. Here is a man who has known the power; so he says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
So what about it? Have you known all this? This is Christianity; this is the kingdom of God, the power of God! Here, then, are the questions that we must ask ourselves. Do I know anything about this power of God? Is it obvious to those who live with me that the power of God is in me? Does my life show it? Are other people influenced by what they see? Can I say, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16)?
Has God made you anew? Do you know there is a new nature in you? If not, you are not a Christian; you are outside the kingdom of God, whatever your knowledge, whatever your interest may be. A Christian is a new creation born of the Spirit, born from above, born again–“not in word, but in power” (1 Corinthians 4:20). Have you known this? If you have, I need not exhort you to praise God! If you have not, then go to Him; tell Him you are dead and lifeless. Cry, “God have mercy upon me, a sinner.”
A Thought to Ponder: A Christian is a new creation born of the Spirit, born from above, born again. (From The Kingdom of God, p. 119, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
Esther 4
Esther learns of the plot to kill the Jews and plans to intercede.
INSIGHT
“I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” (4:16). Those are not the words of someone being melodramatic; they are the words of a realist who accurately assesses the situation. By law, no one can go into the presence of the king unless invited; to do so means execution. If the king chooses to extend grace to the person, he offers his scepter, whereupon the subject is to kneel and touch the top of the scepter. Esther has no idea what Ahasuerus will do. He deposed Vashti with a clap of his hands; he signed the edict to kill the Jews without asking a question. Though she has no other choice, Esther’s decision still takes great courage. (Quiet Walk)
Committed to Thy Trust
“O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith.” (1 Timothy 6:20-21)
Paul exhorted his disciple, Timothy, and by implication exhorts us, to “keep” (literally to guard or preserve) that which was placed in his trust. The context implies that the entire teaching of Paul is in mind, as well as Timothy’s position of ministry.
Not only was he to preserve truth, he actively was to “avoid” error. Systems of thought were available that masqueraded as “science” (literally “knowledge”). These systems were not merely neutral but were in opposition to the truth.
There can be no doubt that godless humanism (particularly as it finds its false scientific justification in evolution and uniformitarianism) has been responsible for the loss of faith in many professing Christians. Much of what is called “science” in universities today could better be described as “profane and vain babblings.”
But today’s students are not alone in their error. Back in the 1800s, when uniformitarianism, and later evolution, were first being championed by only a small minority of scientists, theologians led the way to their broad acceptance. Rushing to embrace Charles Lyell’s principle of uniformity and the concept of an old earth while still holding on to a charade of biblical authority, theologians proposed the tranquil flood and local flood concepts. Likewise, theologians proposed theistic evolution, the day age, and gap theories to accommodate evolution, and their theological grandchildren enjoy the majority voice at most evangelical seminaries today.
It is time that Christian laity as well as those standing in our pulpits today regain “that which is committed to [their] trust” and avoid “science falsely so called.”
(JDM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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