Hosea 3
Illustrating love of the LORD verse 1
THEN said the LORD
to me
Go yet – love a woman beloved of her friend
yet an adulteress according to the love of the LORD
toward the children of Israel
who look to other gods
and love flagons of wine
Hosea buys Gomer verse 2
SO I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver
and for an homer of barley
and an half homer of barley
Hosea has no physical relationships
with Gomer verse 3
AND I said to her
You shall abide for me many days
you shall not play the harlot
and you shall not be for another man
SO will I also be to you
Duration of time described verse 4
FOR the children of Israel shall abide many days
without a King and without prince
sacrifice – image – ephod – teraphim
Future hope of Israel verse 5
AFTERWARD shall the children of Israel return
and seek the LORD their God
and David their king
and shall fear the LORD
and HIS goodness IN THE LATTER DAYS
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 1 Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine (157 “love” [ahab] means desire, to breath after, to be inclined, to delight in, or have affection toward)
DEVOTION: Can you imagine what Hosea was thinking when the LORD told him to go buy his wife back from the slave market? She had left him for other lovers. She had played the adulteress well.
Yet we find the LORD telling Hosea to go buy her back and have her come and live with him again. He was not to have marital relationships with her but he was still to have her live with him.
This was an illustration of how much the LORD loved HIS people who had gone after other lovers. They were worshiping other gods. They were giving their income to other gods. They were avoiding HIM. They had no time for HIM.
This verse ends with the fact that they loved wine more than HIM. So we have a group of individuals who are supposed to worship the LORD but they love others more than HIM and love their partying more than HIM.
Does this sound like some people who call themselves Christians today? It seems that we have a low standard for those who are followers of the LORD.
Are we allowing our leaders to preach this low standard of Christianity? Are there pastors who think that it is OK with the LORD to love wine and run around on our wives? Is marriage sacred to the leaders of our churches? Is marriage always to be between one woman and one man? Should leaders condone any other marriage? Yet we find some that not only condone it but are performing them.
God has a standard that HE tells us is right for every marriage. We are to either keep this standard or not say that we are followers of the LORD. We can’t have it both ways.
CHALLENGE: Keep the standard of the LORD. Remember that today, as it was in Hosea’s day, the standard of the LORD is the same.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 3 And I said to her, You shall abide for me many days, you shall not play the harlot, and you shall not be for another man: so will I also be for you. (2181 “play the harlot” [zanah] means to commit fornication, be unfaithful, to abandon someone to, be a harlot, or to act unfaithfully or treacherously)
DEVOTION: Hosea was telling Gomer that she was to be faithful to him alone. She had a past but now he was talking to her about the future.
In this marriage and in all marriages the ideal is that both partners remain faithful from the beginning to the end of their marriage.
God was comparing the marriage of Hosea to the marriage that the LORD had with Israel. They had been unfaithful to HIM. They had gone after strange false gods. They had worshiped these gods without regard to what the LORD wanted them to do.
Now they were to change their ways and be faithful to HIM from this time forward. The past was done and HE was looking to the future of the children of Israel.
God was using Hosea and Gomer as an example of how a marriage is supposed to be. HE was forgiving their past and looking to the future relationship they could have together.
Israel needed to know that the LORD was giving them another chance to be faithful to HIM. HE wanted to show them HIS love and HE wanted them to love HIM back faithfully.
CHALLENGE: Today the LORD is working with the church. HE wants the church to be faithful to HIM and not worship false gods. HE wants their worship to be one that is pleasing to HIM. Can we say that the church we are attending is faithfully worshiping the LORD alone and that the leadership is seeking this type of relationship with the LORD? How much is the world influencing the church today?
___________________________________________________
: 4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. (3427 “abide” [yashab] means dwell, inhabitant, sit, remain, tarry, or to continue a certain state, condition or activity.)
DEVOTION: Sin causes judgment if there is no repentance. Judgment is a time when there is chastening for the people of God. During these times of chastening because of sin the children of Israel were not able to worship the way the LORD gave directions. They didn’t have a place to worship in their captivity. The Temple was destroyed. The priesthood was not functioning well. They were under the rule of a heathen nation. Things were different. This was going to last for a long time.
There are times when I hear people say that they don’t need church. In fact, some wish there was no church, so that, their Sundays would be free to do whatever they wanted without any guilt.
Well, that day could come even to America if we continue to bury our heads in the sand and look the other way when the laws of the LORD are being broken even in the church.
In many countries there are people bombing the churches. They are killing Christians with no penalty. They are praised by their religion. This could keep moving toward America. Should we be doing anything to prevent this from happening?
Yes, we should be witnessing for the LORD daily to those who are in our world. I just listened to a cousin give a testimony on a social network to the fact that God worked in her life while she was dealing with breast cancer. She gave all the glory to the LORD and asked anyone watching the video to make a commitment to the LORD if they hadn’t done it yet. That should be us on a regular basis.
CHALLENGE: If all believers presented the gospel to all their friends and just a portion of them became followers of Jesus Christ our world would be rocked. If you are looking forward to a time when there will be no churches keep acting just the way you are now.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days. (2898 “goodness” [tuwb] means good things, fairness, beauty, joy, prosperity, welfare or gladness)
DEVOTION: Hosea and his marriage were a type or illustration of the relationship between the LORD and Israel. Israel had departed from the LORD. They had worshipped false gods. They treated these gods as lovers. They concentrated on doing whatever they could for their false gods.
Now we see that Gomer had done the same thing in her relationship with Hosea. She had gone after lovers. She had been unfaithful. It got to the point in this relationship that she was sold as a slave. Hosea was commanded to go purchase her back. He had to pay the going rate for a slave – thirty pieces of silver. He had to do it with silver and with produce. Once he had purchased her, he told her that there would be a time of separation from any relationship with any man as well as himself.
This was a typology of what the LORD was going to do with Israel. They were going to be separated for a time period of captivity. They were going to lose every blessing they had experienced under the rule of David.
After a time of separation, the LORD was going to have them return to the Promised Land. They were going to have the good things that God had provided previously. They were going to reverence the LORD. They were going to have a King. This king was not going to be David but a descendant of David, the LORD Jesus Christ. HE was going to rule in the Millennial kingdom which will be a time period of blessing.
There is suffering now but there will be joy afterward for the children of Israel.
They will have to return to the LORD. They will have to seek the LORD. They will have to fear the LORD. These three words should describe our relationship to the LORD. Are we manifesting an attitude of seeking the LORD? Are we manifesting an attitude of fearing the LORD? Are we willing to return to the LORD after we have sinned? Are we confessing our sins on a daily basis to keep our fellowship with the LORD fresh? HE offers fresh oil or a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit to those who are confessed up.
We don’t lose our indwelling of the Holy Spirit but our filling and service depends on our having a good fellowship with HIM. If we leave our confession out, HE will have to chasten us to bring us back. We don’t like HIS spankings. The children of Israel didn’t like HIS chastening. HE used captivity on them. What is HE using on us today?
CHALLENGE: Explain the good things the LORD has done for you to someone who is struggling. Help him/her understand that trials only last for a time period. Confession is necessary for the blessings to flow again.
: 5 In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness. (NLT)
We are to stand in awe of the LORD every day. If we can look around our world and see HIS great creation we need to praise HIS name. The LORD has allowed me to see much of the United States that some people never get to see. Many people don’t travel more than 50 miles from their home all of their life. I have traveled across the United States many times. Each time I see the beauty of HIS creation.
The children of Israel knew all about the greatness of the LORD from their history but they still never appreciated all that HE was doing for them. HE took them out of captivity in Egypt and gave them the Promised Land. They lived there in a land of milk and honey and still worshiped false gods.
There is coming a day when the goodness of the LORD will just cause everyone to stand in awe of HIM. We just get a little taste of HIS glorious creation but a day is coming when the heavens will open up and the LORD will return and set up HIS kingdom.
__________________________________________________________
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)
Sacrifice verse 4
Ephod verse 4
Teraphim verse 4
_________________________________________________________
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 1, 5
Love of the LORD verse 1
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign, Plural name) verse 5
LORD their God verse 5
Fear the LORD verse 5
HIS goodness in the latter days verse 5
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)
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Adulteress verse 1
Other gods verse 1
Love flagons of wine verse 1
Harlot verse 3
Prostitute verse 3
Image verse 4
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Love verse 1
Return verse 5
Seek the LORD verse 5
Fear the LORD verse 5
Goodness verse 5
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Children of Israel verse 1, 4, 5
Shall abide many days
without a king
without a prince
without a sacrifice
without an image
without an ephod
without teraphim
they shall return and seek
the LORD their God
shall fear the LORD
Hosea verse 2
I bought her to me for fifteen
pieces of silver
an homer of barley
an half homer of barley
He said to Gomer
Abide with me
You shall not play the harlot
You shall not be for another man
I will also be with you
Price of buying back a slave verse 2
David their king verse 5
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
Latter days verse 5
_________________________________________________________________
DONATIONS:
Remember that all donations to Small Church Ministries are greatly appreciated. The treasurer will send a receipt, at the end of the year unless otherwise requested. Please be sure to make check out to “Small Church Ministries.” The address for the treasurer is P.O. Box 604, East Amherst, New York 14051. A second way to give to the ministry is through PayPal on the website: www.smallchurchministries.org. Also, if you can support this ministry through your local church please use that method. Thank you.
_________________________________________________________________
QUOTES regarding passage
4 In this verse Israel’s separation from God is portrayed by her loss of three pairs of things: “king or prince,” “sacrifice or sacred stones,” and “ephod or idol.” The first pair shows that Israel will be without an autonomous rule. The second concerns religious ceremonies. The “sacred stones” (maṣṣēḇāh) represent idolatrous worship, adopted from Israel’s neighbors (cf. 2 Kings 3:2; 10:26–28; 17:10). Thus the people will be without proper or improper means of worship. The third pair of things also represents worship, but in special reference to devices for searching into the future. The “ephod” contained the Urim and Thummim, a divinely appointed method by which the high priest could initiate an occasion of revelation (see 1 Sam 23:9; 30:7). The “idol” here in view (terāp̱îm) was a heathen import (cf. Gen 31:19–34) and was probably used for divination. ( Wood, L. J. (1986). Hosea. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Daniel and the Minor Prophets (Vol. 7, p. 183). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
____________________________________________________________
3:4. Gomer’s lengthy period of isolation was designed to portray Israel’s exile, when the nation would be separated from its illicit institutions and practices (cf. 2:6–7). The absence of king and prince implied loss of national sovereignty. The elimination of sacrifice and sacred stones meant the cessation of formal religious activity. Sacrifices, having been commanded by the Lord, were a legitimate aspect of worship when offered with an attitude of total devotion to God. However, in Israel sacrifices had become contaminated by their association with Baal worship (cf. 4:19) and by the people’s failure to obey “the more important matters of the Law” (Matt. 23:23; cf. Hosea 6:6; 8:11–13). “Sacred stones” (maṣṣēḇâh) had been a legitimate part of patriarchal worship (cf. Gen. 28:18, 22; 31:13). However, because of those stones’ association with pagan religion, Israel was forbidden to use them after entering Canaan (Lev. 26:1; Deut. 16:22). In direct violation of this covenant stipulation Israel had erected such stones as part of its Baal worship (2 Kings 3:2; 10:26–27; 17:10; Hosea 10:1; Micah 5:13).
Ephod and idol refer to methods of divination. In this context the ephod was not the garment worn by a priest, but a cultic object (cf. Jud. 8:27 and Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel. 2 vols. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965, 2:350). Idols (terāp̱îm), sometimes found in homes (Gen. 31:19; 1 Sam. 19:13, 16) or in a king’s collection of divination devices (Ezek. 21:21), were despised by the Lord (1 Sam. 15:23; 2 Kings 23:24). These two items (ephod and idol) are also mentioned together in Judges (17:5; 18:14, 17–18, 20) as part of the belongings of an Ephraimite’s personal priest. These instruments of divination were confiscated by the Danites and used in their unauthorized worship system (Jud. 18:27–31). (Chisholm, R. B., Jr. (1985). Hosea. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, pp. 1387–1388). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
___________________________________________________________
Hosea 3:3 suggests that Hosea didn’t immediately enter into intimate relations with Gomer, but waited awhile to make sure she would be true to him. It’s also possible that he wanted to make sure she wasn’t pregnant with another man’s child. But even this has a spiritual message attached to it: Israel today, though purchased by their Messiah (John 11:47–52; Isa. 53:8), has not yet returned to the Lord.
Israel today is without a king because she rejected her King and therefore has no kingdom. “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14). “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). She has no prince because there is no reigning dynasty in Israel. All the records were destroyed when the Romans captured Jerusalem in a.d. 70, and nobody can prove to which tribe he or she belongs.
The Israelites have no sacrifice because they have no temple, altar, or priesthood. They don’t have a pillar (image) or a household god (teraphim), because idolatry was purged from their culture during the Babylonian Captivity. (Like the Gentiles, they may have other kinds of idols in their hearts!) They lack an ephod (Ex. 28:1–14), because they have no high priest. The only High Priest God will acknowledge is the interceding Son of God in heaven.
But there is an “afterward”! Israel won’t stay “without,” for she will see her Messiah, repent of her sins, and say, “You are my God!” They will enter into that blessed relationship in which the Lord says, “You are My people!” This will occur in “the latter days” when the messianic King sits on David’s throne and judges righteously (Matt. 19:28; Luke 1:32–33). (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be amazed (pp. 20–21). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
____________________________________________________
3:4 without ephod or household idols. Idolatrous items of priestly clothing and objects of worship. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Ho 3:4). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
_______________________________________________________________
Hosea’s love for so unworthy and worthless a creature was to be a picture of “the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel,” who, professing themselves to be in covenant-relation with Him, yet “look to other gods and love grape-cakes” (ver. 1). The latter expression is the correct reading, in place of “flagons of wine,” which has no specific reference to idolatry. The cakes were expressive of the idolatrous relation they were sustaining, as the reader may see by consulting Jer. 7:18 and 44:19. It was thus they honored her who in that day bore the title of “Queen of heaven”—a title which in apostate Christendom has been given to Mary the mother of our Lord, and that in direct defiance of Scripture.
________________
The application is made by the Holy Spirit in the closing verses, “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim, afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days” (vers. 4, 5). In these two verses we have succinctly set forth their whole state for this entire dispensation, as also the future blessing that is to be theirs in the day of the kingdom, when it is displayed in power and glory.
The “many days” run throughout the whole present period until the fulness of the Gentiles shall be completed. (Ironside, H. A. (1909). Notes on the Minor Prophets. (p. 30). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers.)
__________________________________________________________
Ver. 4. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, &c.] Without any form of civil government, either regal or princely: without any civil magistrate, either superior or subordinate, of their own; being subject to the kings and princes of other nations, as the ten tribes were from their captivity by Salmaneser, to the coming of Christ, which was about seven hundred years; and from that time the tribes of Judah and Benjamin have had no kings and princes among them, for the space of seventeen hundred years, which may very well be called many days. This answers to the harlot’s abiding for the prophet many days, in the parable: and without a sacrifice; the daily sacrifice, which has ceased as long as before observed; and any other sacrifice of slain beasts, as the Passover-lamb, &c.; the Jews not thinking it lawful to offer sacrifice in a strange land, or anywhere but upon the altar in Jerusalem; and to this day have no such sacrifices among them, though they have no notion of the abrogation of them, as the Christians have; but so it is ordered in Providence, that they should be without them, being kept out of their own land, that this and other prophecies might be fulfilled: and without an image, or statue; such as were made for Baal, or as were the calves at Dan and Beth-el; and though the people of Israel were very subject to idolatry, and set up images and statues for worship before their captivities, yet since have nothing of image-worship among them, but strictly observe the command. And without an ephod; a linen garment wore by the high-priests under the law, to which the breastplate was fastened, which had in it the Urim and Thummim; and which were wanting in the second temple, and have been ever since; so that these people have been so long without this way and means of inquiry of God about future things, see Ezra 2:63. this may be put for the whole priesthood, now ceased in a proper sense; and so the Septuagint render it, without a priesthood; so that the Jews are without any form of government, civil or ecclesiastical; they have neither princely nor priestly power: and without teraphim; which some understand to be the same with the Urim and Thummim; and so the Septuagint render it, without manifestations; by which they are thought to mean the Urim, which according to them so signifies: but the word is generally thought to design some little images or idols, like the penates or household gods of the Romans, which were consulted about future things; and so the Jews commonly understand it, and some describe them thus, “what are the teraphim? they slay the first-born of a man, cut off his head, and pickle it with salt and oil, and inscribe on a plate of gold the name of an unclean spirit, and put that under his tongue; then they place it in a wall, and light candles before it, and pray unto it, and it talks with them.” But now, according to this prophecy, the Jews in their captivity should have no way and means of knowing future things, either in a lawful or unlawful manner; see Psal. 74:9. How the whole of this prophecy is now fulfilled in them, hear what they themselves say, particularly Kimchi; “these are the days of the captivity in which we now are at this day; we have no king nor prince out of Israel; for we are in the power of the nations, and of their kings and princes; and have no sacrifice for God, nor image for idols; no ephod for God, that declares future things; and no teraphim for idolatry, which shew things to come, according to the mind of those that believe in them;” and so Jarchi, “without a sacrifice in the sanctuary in Judah; without an image of Baal in Samaria, for the kings of Israel; without an ephod of Urim and Thummim, that declares hidden things; and teraphim made for a time to speak of, and shew things that are secret;” and to the same purpose Aben Ezra. The Targum is, “without a king of the house of David, and without a ruler over Israel; without sacrifice for acceptance in Jerusalem; and without a high place in Samaria; and without an ephod, and him that shews;” i.e. what shall come to pass. The Syriac version renders the last clause, without one that offers incense; and the Arabic version, without one that teaches. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 6, pp. 391–392). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
______________________________________________________________________
FROM MY READING:
Finally, freedom always faces a fundamental moral challenge. Freedom requires order and therefore restraint, yet the only restraint that does not contradict freedom is self-restraint, which is the very thing that freedom undermines when it flourishes. Thus the heart of the problem of freedom is the problem of the heart, because free societies are characterized by restlessness at their core. (A Free People’s Suicide, Os Guinness p. 20)
_____________________________________________________
Ezra 1
The Lord prompts the king of Persia to rebuild the temple.
INSIGHTThe Bible says that God “removes kings and raises up kings” (Daniel 2:21) and that “the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord” (Proverbs 21:1). We see a classic example of these truths in the book of Ezra. The Israelites are taken captive by the Babylonians for 70 years. During that time, the Babylonians are conquered by Persia. Then the Lord moves in the heart of the king of Persia to orchestrate the return of the Jews to Jerusalem. God is in control. Bad things will still happen; we live in a fallen world. But God is in control and history is moving toward His end. The ultimate needs of His children are met, and we have the promise of eternal life. Beyond that, we must cling to the fact that we are pilgrims, sojourners to another world—heaven, where our true citizenship lies. (Quiet Walk)
_____________________________________________________
PREACHING
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. Mark 1:14
The word preaching came in this way. When a son and heir was born to the emperor, a proclamation was made, and the word that was used for that very process was the word translated “preaching.” It was an announcement; it happened when the heir was born, when he came of age, and at his accession to the throne or to the imperial power. So what we are told here is that when John the Baptist was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee announcing, proclaiming, heralding. It was the particular work of the herald to do this very thing.
The word preaching is interesting, therefore, because it at once conveys this notion and idea. A herald does not make an uncertain announcement or get up and blow his trumpet and say, “Listen, we do not quite know what’s happening or what is going to take place, but…well, we hope that something is going to happen!” That is not heralding! No; the herald has a definite, specific message, and that is why he gets up and blows his trumpet. “Listen,” he says, “I have something to tell you.” Now that is the term that is used here about what our Lord did. It is also the term that is used about what the apostles did afterwards, and it is the word that has been used about preaching in the Christian church ever since.
So you see we start with a note of certainty, issued from the Imperial Palace. That was the first word uttered, not just a man getting up and saying, “Well, my opinion is that before long there will be an announcement.” No! He stood up with a bit of paper in his hand and said, “Issued by the Imperial Palace at such and such a time, we have the honor to inform you…” That is it. Preaching–the very word carries with it the whole notion of authority, an absolute unequivocal statement.
A Thought to Ponder: Jesus came into Galilee announcing, proclaiming, heralding.
(From The Kingdom of God, pp. 11-12, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
____________________________________________________
WHAT HAPPENS IN REVIVAL? PART 3
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. Acts 2:46-47
The next thing I notice is that the church is filled with great joy and a sense of praise. Read again the terms used toward the end of Acts chapter 2. “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people.” Now that is how the Christian church is meant to be. Great joy, great praise to the Lord Jesus Christ and to God, glorying in this great salvation, in the new life they have received, and in this sense of heaven.
It is but the simple pattern of what has been repeated so frequently when God has poured out His Spirit upon the church. I never tire of quoting something I remember reading in the journals of George Whitefield. He was preaching on one occasion in Cheltenham, England, and he said, “Suddenly the Lord came down amongst us.” Do we know anything about that? Do we believe in that sort of thing or that it is possible? Now George Whitefield, even at his worst, was probably the greatest preacher this country [England] has ever known. But there were variations, even in his ministry. On this occasion he was surprised himself. There he was, preaching and having a very good service, when suddenly he knew that the Lord had come down among them. That is the wonderful thing, and it resulted in great joy, praise, and thanksgiving. When the church is in a state of revival you do not have to exhort people to praise—you cannot stop them, they are so filled with God.
A Thought to Ponder: When the church is in a state of revival you do not have to exhort people to praise—you cannot stop them. (From Revival, pp. 205-206, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
___________________________________________________________
The Three Appearings of Christ
“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” (Hebrews 9:24)
Although we usually think in terms of two appearances of Christ, once at His first coming and again at His second coming, the ninth chapter of Hebrews specifically refers to three “appearings,” each involving a different Greek word. With reference to His first appearing, we read: “Now once in the end of the [age] hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (v. 26). The word used here means “to make manifest.” It is the word used in 1 John 3:5: “He was manifested to take away our sins.”
His second coming is the topic in Hebrews 9:28, where the word means to show oneself visibly. “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
But there is also a third appearing mentioned in Hebrews 9, and this is the one in our text referring to Christ’s present and perpetual appearance on our behalf in the presence of God in heaven. The word here means “to inform,” referring to His advocacy on our behalf as our “defense attorney,” so to speak. Not only did Christ die for us; not only will He come for us; right now, He is interceding for us!
This work of Christ on our behalf is vitally important, although we do not think of it nearly as much as we do His two other appearings. Thisappearing affects us right now, every day, and is of infinite value. “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1-2). “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
(HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
____________________________________________________________
Meditations after a Monday at Barnes & Noble John Piper
A trip to Barnes & Noble on my day off takes me beyond the Star Tribune and NPR in my daily culture dose of postmodern pronouncements. Consider Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation (Knopf, 2006). It is ranked as the fourteenth best seller in the nation at Amazon as I write (just behind Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion). It begins like this:
Later he says that not believing that man evolved from lower life forms is like not believing the sun is a star. Our nation is being overrun with anti-intellectual people who scoff at true science. The Intelligent Design movement is a scheme to replace science with religion by people who get PhDs to provide a cloak of respectability for their anti-science agenda. And so on.
What makes Harris’ book postmodern and not simply modern is that it treats Christian “fantasies” not merely as rational errors, but as dangerous cultural and political power plays. I have no desire to scoff at this book. There is too much right-wing, radio-show-type Christian scoffing. Besides, I am old enough to be Sam Harris’ father (I was twenty-one when he was born), and that makes me want to rescue a son, not skewer a peer.
Of course, he thinks I am the one who needs to be rescued. My concern for us evangelicals is not that we bash Harris but that we try not to give the impression that we fear science, and that we make clear that we want Sam Harris to have the freedom to say false things about us.
So my dip into Harris’ book was good for me. I may even read more. I don’t fear it. I wish he didn’t fear us. God, he should fear. But I will do all I can to keep my fellow Christians from playing God. As long as Christ’s kingdom comes not by the sword but by the Spirit and the Truth, I will resist the unholy union of conscientious church and coercive state. I stand with those who believe that Christ is the best foundation for a view of the state that refuses to enforce Christ. I also stand with those who believe that true science (not presuppositional secularism) will not contradict true biblical interpretation.
Then I looked at Diane Setterfield’s novel The Thirteenth Tale (Atria, 2006). I turned it over and read one of the most up-to-date pieces of postmodern counsel I have ever read. At first, I thought it was a blurb for the book from Vida Winter:
My gripe is not with lovers of the truth, but with truth herself. What succor, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story? What good is truth at midnight, in the dark, when the wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney, when the lightning strikes shadows on the bedroom wall and the rain taps at the window with her long fingernails? No. When fear and cold make a statue of you in your bed, don’t expect hard-boned and fleshless truth to come running to your aid. What you need are the plump comforts of a story. The soothing rocking safety of a lie.
No, Vida Winter is not a critic praising the power of this book. She is a character in the novel, and this is a quote from page five. Again, I feel no desire to be clever about the contrast between “hard-boned” truth and the “plump comforts” of a story. My main response is the feeling of wonderment that people today really believe this. And then I feel pity. And then a desire to find some way to shock them out of the trance. What shall we say?
First, this is good writing. Weak metaphysics, but strong metaphors. Listen for the consonance (the hard c’s) in, “What succor, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story?” Feel the sounds: “wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney” . . . “the rain taps at the window with her long fingernails.”
Second, the writer of this paragraph has probably never really feared for her life. And almost certainly not for her eternal life. “Plump comforts of a story” will not soothe if you have three minutes before your hijacked plane incinerates you on the Pennsylvania plains.
Third, I wonder why she equates “story” with the “soothing rocking safety of a lie,” instead of asking whether the greatest story might be true? Dorothy Sayers and C. S. Lewis have helped us see that the reason “myth” or “story” have such power is not because they replace truth but because they resemble Truth.
Fourth, I pray that those who see themselves in this paragraph will discover that 2,000 years ago the Truth became flesh and dwelt among us. He is “hard-boned” but not “fleshless.” His name is Jesus Christ. He is the center of the true story of God’s saving history. It is not the “soothing rocking safety of a lie.” That is why his story will bring “succor” and “consolation,” not just when the wind howls and the rain falls, but when breath fails and we slip through the lips of eternity.
Thank you, Barnes & Noble, for a good day off.
________________________________________________________________
2 Chronicles 35
The Passover, unobserved for years, is reinstated.
INSIGHT
Abraham Lincoln once said, “A man’s about as happy as he makes up his mind to be.” That may be an oversimplification; yet it states a basic truth: Often we must consciously decide what we want to become. Those who grow spiritually are those who have made a conscious decision to pursue spiritual things. Josiah, one of the great kings of Judah, is a strong reformer who tries to lead the nation in righteousness. In 2 Chronicles 34:31, we read: “The king . . . made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul.” Have you ever made the decision to follow the Lord with your whole heart? (Quiet Walk)
__________________________________________________________
Waiting Patiently
“I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.” (Genesis 49:18)
This heartfelt cry of the dying patriarch Israel expressed his lifelong, but still unfulfilled, yearning for the coming of God’s promised Savior. This is the first occurrence in the Bible of the word “salvation” (essentially the same in the Hebrew as “Jesus”). It is also the first occurrence of “waited for,” meaning, essentially, “looked for,” or “waited patiently and expectantly for.” This attitude of Jacob (Israel) has been shared by the people of God down even to the present day.
Significantly, the first occurrence of the equivalent Greek word in the New Testament expresses the same concern on the part of no less a man than John the Baptist when he inquired expectantly of Jesus: “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3).
Even though He has indeed come, bringing salvation, we still must wait patiently for the complete fulfillment of His promises when He comes again. It was the prayer of Paul that the Lord would “direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5).
It is not only believers who wait for “the redemption of our body.” Because of sin, “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” and “the earnest expectation of the [creation] waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God,” when it “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:23, 22, 19, 21).
Finally, it is significant that the last reference in the Bible to waiting for something once again deals with the same promise. “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 1:21).
It may seem long, but the promise is sure: “Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28). (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
____________________________________________________________
We now have a Facebook page for Small Church Ministries – please invite others to join us on Facebook. Thank you. Look for the logo from the devotionals.