Freedom is Good News Part 40

A few thousand years ago, an elderly father and his teenage son were walking up the side of a mountain, carrying only some wood, an ember to start a fire and a knife.  The father told his servants that he and his son were going on ahead in order to worship God and would return soon.  This worship would involve a sacrifice.

As they traveled up the path the boy turned to his father and said, “Father?”  “Yes, my son?” the father replied.  “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”  Father Abraham must have had a hard time controlling his emotions at this point for he knew what God had told him to do.  “And God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’”

With measured words and breath, (for this trek up the mountain was not easy for a man over a hundred years old) Abraham answered his son, “God will provide Himself a lamb for the burnt offering my son.”

This section of scripture, Genesis 22:1-14, is indeed a very difficult section to read.  As a father myself, I cannot imagine what must have been going through Abraham’s mind.  Abraham was later called the “father of the faithful” and I guess we can see why.  His faith was manifested in his obedience to God’s commands. (See James 2:20-24)

Let us fast forward some 2080 years and come to the banks of the Jordan River.  We see a rough hewn, rugged man waist deep in the water and he is baptizing those who are coming to him from the surrounding area.  All of a sudden he looks up and motioning to a couple of his disciples says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  Is there a connection here?  Jesus had already been baptized by John when this event took place and at His baptism there came a voice from Heaven, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased”.  May I add that this was God’s Son, His only begotten Son?  The parallels here are quite unmistakable. 

The question I must ask at this time is, why a Lamb?

Let us take a look at another unmistakable parallel.  Some several hundred years after the episode with Abraham and Isaac, God told another man, Moses, to have the Israelites, who were in bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt, take a lamb and sacrifice it.  This time they were to use the blood of the lamb and apply it to the door posts and lintels of the houses as a protection for the first born children.  The Israelites were to take a lamb that was without defect, cook it over a fire and eat it, “Eat it in haste it is the LORD’s Passover” (see Exodus 12 for this story).

The use of a “lamb” is one of the greatest themes in the scripture and we’ll take a closer look at this in our next article.

Freedom is Good News Part 39

Picking up the last line of our previous article, we asked the question, “But what about this ‘following Him’?  He was going to His death.  Must we follow Him there?”

The Greek word used here for “follow” literally means, “To be in the same way or path so as to accompany”.  Jesus used this word in saying that we must follow Him and be His servant:  “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.”  Wow!  I surely want to be where He is, but I’m not sure I want to suffer as He suffered.  And yet, I’m not sure he gives us any wiggle room.  We need to be on the same path so as to accompany Him. 

In the book of Luke, Jesus says it this way:  “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” 

Are we getting too deep here or is this really the way to follow our Savior?  Well, one thing we know is that we do have a Savior.  He gave His precious blood for our sins in order that we may have life eternal in His name.  And we also know that there is nothing we can ever do to merit or earn this salvation.  Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians chapter 2, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this, not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

OK, you say that you have accepted the blood of Jesus Christ, repented of your sins and have undergone the waters of baptism as Peter tells us to do in Acts 2:38.  What is this “following Him”?  What is this “denying self”?  What is this “taking up our cross daily”?

Perhaps we need to go back to the metaphor we looked at in our previous article.  The scripture we were looking at was, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  I tell you the truth, yes the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces much fruit. … Whoever serves me must follow me.”

Do you find that the gift God offers to us, His children, is worthy of our delight?  Does the thought of spending eternal life with our heavenly Father and His Son fill you with joy and gladness of heart?  Remember, Jesus, by His death, was to produce a tremendous harvest that is still bearing fruit today.  Remember, all who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death (Romans 6:3).  If you have undergone the waters of baptism, into the death of Jesus, then you have followed Him there!  And so the question begs to be asked, “Are you bearing fruit?”  Are you sharing this joy, this delight, with others so as to produce a harvest of righteousness for the glory of God?

Good news indeed!!!       

Freedom is Good News Part 38

It might be an odd thing to say that the death, burial and resurrection of someone is good news, but in the Gospel of John, a few days before the death of Jesus, John tells us that “there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast”.  These were either Jews from the Grecian Isles or they were God fearing gentiles from Greece.  We learn in the story (John 12:20-36) that these Greeks wanted to meet Jesus.  And true to form, when Andrew and Philip told Jesus about them, He used the opportunity to teach a lesson.

Jesus never really recognized this request but immediately replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  I tell you the truth, yes the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces much fruit.”  On the surface this is a very cryptic statement in reply to the request of the Greeks.  But let’s take a closer look.

Jesus first words were that His hour had come.  This is the fourth of nine statements in the Gospel of John concerning His hour/time.  The first three tell us that His time had not come.  This, the fourth, is the first to tell us that “the hour has come”.  We learn from this just what was on His mind: “The Son of Man is to be glorified”.  He knows the sacrifice of His life was at hand.  It is weighing heavily upon Him.  “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say?  ‘Father save me from this hour’?  No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.  Father glorify your name.” 

How beautiful this next statement is:  “Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.’”  The Father, seeing the heaviness of the heart of His beloved Son, spoke through the heavenly realm, such words of comfort.

But what about this “kernel of wheat dying”?  There are so many references in the bible, in parables, in blessings, in prophecies etc. about food.  Food for us is just something we stop at the grocery store and pick up, and yet in biblical times there was nothing more important than food and water.

This “kernel of wheat” is a metaphor applied to Himself.  It was He that was to die and so by His death much fruit would be produced.  The kernel of wheat “dies” when it is planted in the ground.  It sprouts, flowers and produces many more kernels of wheat.  Jesus, by His death, was to produce a tremendous harvest that is today, still bearing fruit.

We skipped over one statement in this episode, verse 25: “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.  My Father will honor the one who serves me.”  This is the concept of salvation and eternal life.  Yes, this is the good news that we can rejoice in.  But what about this “following Him”?  He was going to His death.  Must we follow Him there?

Until next time…..

Freedom is Good News Part 37

The death, burial and resurrection of the Son of God!  It really is quite a story.  It begins, well … before time began, actually.  We catch a glimpse of this in the book of 1 Peter 1:20, “He (Jesus Christ) was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” 

The Apostle Paul says it this way in his letter to Titus 1:2, “… the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness and rests on the hope of eternal life, which God, who can not lie, promised before the beginning of time.”  This understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done is really the crux of all that may be called “good news”. 

Do we really understand all of this?  No, I mean really understand what this means to us?  I try never to shy away from talking to others about this very important topic and yet when it comes right down to it, most people have no concept of the depth of love our Savior has for us!  Yes, we pay some lip service to it.  It is as a friend of mine once said to me, “most people only want 10 cents of Jesus Christ – just enough to salve their consciences.  They don’t want to change their lives so as to live for Him.”  I have thought of that statement a lot and I have thought of my own commitment to my God and His Son.  Paul in his letter to the Romans starts off with the statement, “Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ”.  James in his letter says, “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”.  In Peter’s second letter, he begins the same way – he calls himself a slave.  Now, we may read these statements and our translations use the word “servant” but the Greek word is one that means “slave”.  These guys were not fooling around.  They understood who their master was and they acted like it. 

The bible says that God changes not – He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  He is still the sovereign ruler over the entire universe.  The heavenly hosts around the throne of God are found to “fall down before God and worship Him who is seated on the throne.”  And it was not for angels that He gave up His life.  Should we behave differently?

In my previous article, I wrote a little bit about the 120 mile journey that Jesus and His disciples took as they wended their way to the city of Jerusalem.  He was going there to give His life up in a most horrifying death and even after telling these men about it four times, they still did not fully understand.  Do we understand?  We sit here with almost 2000 years of hindsight – do we fully understand?

The good news began before the start of time.  The good news came to Mary as she was with child.  The Good news came to the shepherds tending their flocks one night.  The good news came to the multitude of Jews living in the land of Palestine.  The good news came to 12 young men, 11 of who were to be sent out into the world to preach and teach.  The good news came to a man named Pilate and he washed his hands of it.  The good news came to 4 Roman soldiers who nailed Him to a cross after beating Him almost to death.  And now the good news is come to you – what shall you do with it?

Until we meet again ….

                                                                                Bill Rollins    

Freedom is Good News Part 36

In the previous article I mentioned that my favorite season of the year is spring.  I also must not fail to mention that it can be the busiest time of the year; with mowing the lawn, planting and weeding the gardens, spring cleaning and just plain getting ready for outdoor activities.

But what about spiritual activities?  For our Savior, the time in that spring when He was about to give His life for us sinners became extremely busy.  We don’t often consider His time frame that led up to His week of passion.  As I see it, His journey begins in the region of Caesarea Philippi, an area some 120 miles north of Jerusalem.  We see this in Matthew 16:13.  This is where Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  I believe we know the story – some said John the Baptist, some said Elijah, still others said Jeremiah or perhaps one of the prophets.  Once Jesus got all the rumors and common scuttlebutt out of the way, He got to the crux of the matter:  “But what about you?  Who do you say that I am?”  The disciples, who have now spent almost three and a half years with Him, had to answer differently.  Peter bravely said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  And we sit here with 20/20 hindsight and say, “no kidding Peter”.  But this was a bold statement for Peter to make and Jesus knew that he had stepped out in faith to say it.  Jesus told Peter that this was revealed to him by the heavenly Father.  But the line we are looking for in all of this is found in verse 21, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”  (Again, this was spoken 120 miles north of Jerusalem.)

Long story short, they make their way south to Galilee; about a fifty mile journey.  They are now 70 miles north of Jerusalem.  Chapter 17:22 tells us, “When they came together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the Son of Man is going to be handed over into the hands of men.  They will kill Him and on the third day He will be raised to life.”  This is the second pronouncement of His suffering.  Now they resume their journey to Jerusalem and on the way (chapter 20:17) Jesus takes the 12 aside and says, “We are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes.  They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified.  On the third day He will be raised to life.” 

The fourth and final pronouncement of His sufferings comes while they are in Jerusalem.  Again He takes aside His disciples and says, “As you know, the Passover is after two days and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”  These 4 pronouncements are made over the course of a long journey, a walk of over 120 miles.  He knew His destination and He knew His Father’s will.  During this journey He was mindful of you and me.  We are given freedom from the bondage to sin because of His sacrifice.

But we’ll talk more on this in the future – God willing.

Freedom is Good News Part 35

Do you have a favorite season of the year?  There are only four to choose from so we haven’t many choices.  The answer to this question depends, of course, upon who is asked, what the weather is like when the question is asked and where the one who is asked lives.  OK, so we live in Iowa.  The weather this day (that I am writing) is beautiful.  And since you can’t answer, I’m going with spring!!

Have you noticed the green lawns?  Sally and I have dozens of beautiful yellow daffodils at our front step.  Oh, the rhubarb is up and will be ready for pies in about another week!  I could go on and on – I like spring.  But there is a better reason to like spring.  Yes, there is a more marvelous, more wonderful, and a more spectacular reason.  This time of year brings to us a reminder of the greatest event; yes, the greatest miracle in the history of mankind.  The death, burial and resurrection of the Son of God!

Do you believe that?  If you do, do you live your life in accordance with that belief?  Let us take a look at the time frame surrounding this event that took place approximately 1987 years ago (give or take a couple years)?  Let’s begin in the book of Luke, chapter 22.  In verse 8 we read, “And Jesus sent Peter and John saying, ‘Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.’”  The Passover was the most important time of year for the people living in Judea.  This was for them a celebration and a memorial of the time when God brought their forefathers out of bondage in Egypt.  Jesus was getting ready to bring people out of bondage to sin. 

In verse 15 Jesus says to His disciples, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”  Did your catch that?  Jesus was about to experience a most excruciating death with beatings, insults, floggings, mockings and the torture of having His hands and feet nailed to a cross and still He says He was “eagerly desiring” to eat this Passover. 

He sat in that upper room with the twelve; and in the book of John 13:1 we read, “He knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love.”  Picking it up in chapter 14:1 Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled”.  He was going to His own death and He was comforting His disciples; not just once but 3 separate times (see verse 27 and 16:7). 

Jesus knew what was coming and He knew what He was doing.  “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying, ‘take and eat; this is my body; do this in remembrance of Me’.  In the same way He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”  (see Luke 22:19-20 and 1 Corinthians 11:24-25)

There is a lot more to come.

Freedom is Good News Part 34

Did you read 2 Peter 1:16-18?  You did?  Well good; then you know that Peter was talking about his experience with the two brothers, James and John, when Jesus was transfigured before them.  This episode is often called “The Mount of Transfiguration” and is found in Matthew 17:1-13.  To paraphrase the story, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up on a mountain and is transfigured, so that “His face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as the light” (notice the two similes).  Appearing with Jesus was Moses and Elijah and they were talking together.  There are other details but I’ll leave that for you to read.  Let’s see what Peter has to say about this!

Peter, in this letter, is striving to get across to the readers, the importance of growing in their faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness and love.  (This list is worth several articles for another time!)  If they would grow in these things, they would be effective and productive “in their knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Then Peter writes that if they would do these things, “they would never stumble and would receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord …” Oh yes, this is “good news”.

In verses 12-15, he tells them he wants to “remind them” (verse 12), “refresh their memories” (verse 13) and have them “remember these things” (verse 15).  I would say he felt this to be important!!  But he also wants them to know that he is not pulling these directives from thin air.  He wants to give to them his qualifications for this admonition. 

There were many things Peter could have drawn from in establishing his credentials; he saw the healings, the lepers cleansed, the blind receive sight and Lazarus raised from the dead.  He watched his Lord die on the cross and then saw Him resurrected.  He stood with the others upon the Mount of Olives and watched Jesus rise up into the clouds to be at the right hand of the Father in heaven.  But the event he used was the transfiguration.  “We were eyewitnesses of His majesty”, Peter wrote.  “We saw Him receive honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, Whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’”

Peter’s template, the type he chose to use in this letter, was not one that illuminated the past, but one that clearly shows forth into the future.  His experience on the Mount was for him a guarantee of the return of Jesus in all His glory.  He experienced a vision of Jesus in the company of a resurrected Moses (representing the Law) and Elijah (representing the Prophets).  And he heard the voice of the heavenly Father say, “This is my Son … listen to Him”.  And so he gives us this “type” that perhaps changed his life and then tells us to, “Pay attention to it, as to a light shinning in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (verse 19).  Friends and Brethren, I told you some time ago that this episode would not be just good news but, great news.  I for one am humbled by Peter’s words.

Until next time…… 

Freedom is Good News Part 33

Continuing from the previous article, let’s begin with a few examples of figures of speech.  The simile: a comparison using the words “like or as”.  The book of Revelation can be called “the book of similes”; there are somewhere near 60 uses of the words “like or as”.  One example: “His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters” (Rev. 1:15).  A metaphor is an implied comparison, such as “all the world’s a stage”.  In scripture we read, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35).

An analogy is the likening one thing to another, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5).  The allegory is a story where people, things or happenings hold a hidden or symbolic meaning.  The entire book of Ruth is an example of allegory; where Ruth is a type of the church and Boaz is a type of Jesus Christ.  I believe we are all familiar with the use of parables in the bible (see Matthew 13).  Then we have “types”.  In the book of Genesis, Joseph becomes a type of Jesus in many great and wonderful ways.  His story is told in Genesis chapters 37 through 50.  One example is in chapter 45 where Joseph makes himself known to his brothers and he tells them not to be distressed for having sold him into slavery for God was actually sending Joseph ahead of the family in order to prepare a place for them.  This is what Jesus tells the disciples in John 14:1-2 where He tells them not to be troubled because He was “going to prepare a place for you”.  The Old Testament gives us many “types” that point us to our Savior.  We see in Genesis 22 where God tells Abraham to “take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”  Isaac is a type of the Messiah who was God’s Son, His only Son whom He loved.  We learn later in the bible that this Mount Moriah is found to be at the spot where Jerusalem was to be and where Jesus was sacrifices as the “Lamb of God” (see 2 Chron. 3:1).

Last of all we have what I call “a template”.  The template is used for forming an accurate copy of an object that will appear in the future.  In one sense this figure of speech over laps with some of the others we have looked at but it also stands out in regard to something Peter saw and tells us about.

Sometime ago I was speaking to a group of believers and asked them what, in their opinion, was the greatest type or template in the bible.  We had some very good answers and after some discussion I mentioned that we have one of the disciples, Peter, tell us in his second letter, of his answer to this question.  Perhaps we would do well to pay attention to it!

It is found in 2 Peter 1:16-18.  God willing we will take a closer look at this “type” in our next article.  It holds for us some very good news.

Freedom is Good News Part 32

Figures of speech; we use them all the time, to emphasize a statement, to help explain a difficult idea and some times we use them to introduce a mystery into our conversation.  It is not always the best thing to blurt out the answer to every question but sometimes we should desire to get people to think about some conundrum we might have.

I have, in my bookcase, a 1000 page book by the 19th century biblical scholar E. W. Bullinger that deals with the use of “figures of speech” in the bible.  I have on another shelf a translation of the bible that is less than 1000 pages.  Wow!  Someone wrote a book explaining one aspect of the bible and it took him more pages that the bible itself!

Well, the bible is full of these figures of speech.  Bullinger tells us that there are 217 different types of figures of speech.  I’m not sure I understand them all.  But I do know a simile, metaphor, allegory or parable when I see one.  And I believe we all know that our Savior used many parables when He walked the face of the earth.  I have heard people say that He used them to make plain to His listeners some difficult idea.  But He was once asked why He used parables and He gave a very curious answer.  This is found in chapter 13 of the gospel of Matthew.  There are seven separate parables in this chapter and after He spoke the first one it says this in verse 10: “The disciples came to Him and asked, ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’  He replied, ‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  This is why I speak to them in parables.’”

Well that says a lot!  There were some people that were not supposed to understand what it was He was saying.  The Rabbis in Jesus day were known for not giving an answer but rather posing a difficult question and thereby forcing their disciples to think.  

I believe we have it too easy these days when we are handed answers to our own questions and are not taught to think.  Perhaps that is why we sometimes think the bible is hard to understand.  We just don’t want to think too hard.

I would like to take some time in future articles to consider some metaphors, analogies and parables and so come to what I call a living parable that the Apostle Peter used in his second letter.  This “living parable” is not just good news, it is great news!  Bear with me as we look at some “figures of speech”. 

Until next time…… 

Freedom is Good News Part 31

Not too long ago I was speaking to a group of believers and asked the question, “What is your ultimate goal in this life?”  There was silence in the room for a couple of minutes (I am sure they were striving to come up with the best answer possible.) and then a middle aged woman put her hand up.  And this is what she said, “My ultimate goal in this life is to have my Savior place His hand upon my shoulder and say to me, ‘Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master’”.

This woman, a true disciple of Jesus Christ, gave, from her heart, an answer that could not be improved upon.  This must have been the opinion of all the rest of the people in the room for there were no other answers but only nodding of heads in agreement.

This powerful answer was a quote from a parable that Jesus gave in Matthew 25:14-30.  Perhaps you are familiar with the parable.  It speaks of a man going on a journey and giving to his servants differing amounts of talents; one received 5, another 2 and one other 1 talent.  This parable never clearly tells the servants what they should do with the wealth but the one with 5 put his to work and gained 5 more.  The second, with 2, likewise put them to work and gained 2 more.  The third took his 1 talent and buried it so as not to lose it.  The ones that doubled it were commended with the very words, “Well done good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Enter into the joy of your Master!” 

Are you a “good and faithful servant?”  If you belong to Jesus Christ, if you have been purchased with His precious blood and if you call Him “Lord and Master”, then what are you doing with the talent He has entrusted to you?

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.  Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good …. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.”  1 Corinthians 11:4-11

I quote this scripture because it lets us know that if you have the Holy Spirit, serve the Lord Jesus Christ and obey the will of our God and Father, then you have received a certain gift from Him!  In this portion of scripture, Paul lists nine different gifts that are imparted to the brethren (see verses 8-10).  This is not a complete list, for Paul mentions other gifts in other passages.  But have you recognized your gift and put it to good use?

“My ultimate goal in this life is to have my Savior place His hand upon my shoulder and say to me, ‘Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master’”.

Wow!  Yes, that is good news and I’m not sure there could be any better.

Until next time……                                                  

Freedom is Good News Part 30

In our previous article we were concerning ourselves with the topic of “names”.  Our God has a specific name and that name from the Hebrew is “Yehovah”.  We looked at what this Hebrew name might mean when translated into English.  Moses asked God what His name was and God told Moses, “I AM THAT I AM.  This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’”.  This is not an easy concept to grasp.  God is who He is.  He exists because He alone has life.  We, His creation, exist only because it is His will.  We have life, only because He has given us life.

OK, so let’s move on.  Last week we mentioned that in both David’s Psalm and the book of Nehemiah we are admonished to praise the name of God.  Why should we praise His name?  Shouldn’t we praise His person and His works instead?

Well actually when we praise His name we are indeed praising who He is and what He does!  In the 1st chapter of Luke, after Mary finds out that she is to give birth to the Son of God, we have a prayer from her recorded in scripture.  Verse 46, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior … for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is His name.”  Mary’s statement about the holiness of His name is synonymous with the great things He has done for her.  In other words, we cannot separate the name of God from His works.  His name describes who He is!

It is interesting that after Moses asks God to tell him what His name is in Exodus 3, we have Moses asking to see God’s glory in chapter 33:18.  At this point God tells Moses that no one can see His face (His full glory) and live.  But God does tell Moses that He will cover Moses face with His hand, that He will pass by Moses and that He will proclaim to him His name.  “And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming “The LORD, The LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness rebellion and sin ….”  And so God proclaimed His name to Moses as a list of His personal attributes.

When the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness, they were told to worship God “in the place where I have placed my name.”  In the book of Isaiah 25:1, Isaiah says, “I will exalt you (O God) and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things.”  So in conclusion, let me go back to the start of last week’s article and ask, “Do you oft times praise God?”  When you begin a prayer, do you start by giving thanks and praising God?  Psalm 100 verse 4 comes into play here, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.”  Much of the time we come before our Father with our own requests; perhaps we should come before Him and offer our thanks, praise, honor and respect to the one with such an amazing name.

Until next time…… 

Freedom is Good News Part 29

Do you oft times praise God?  I’ve been thinking about this subject quite a bit lately because it is found in the bible almost everywhere we look.  I touched on this topic several weeks ago when we were looking at Psalm 103.  It starts off with, “Praise the LORD O my soul … praise His holy name.”  That Psalm was from David. 

Let’s take a look at what it sounds like from the mouth of God’s servant Nehemiah.  In the book that bears his name, chapter 9:5, “Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessings and praise.  You alone are LORD.  You made the heavens, even the highest heaven and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.  You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.”  This prayer of Nehemiah goes on for the rest of the chapter and is worth reading in its entirety, but for today, let us consider this opening verse.

It is interesting that in both of these examples we are encouraged to praise the name of God.  Have you ever considered that names are important?  My name is Bill.  Four letters that placed together make a certain sound that, when called out in my vicinity, will catch my attention.  It is a word that addresses me (and countless thousands of other people).  My given name at birth was “William” which, I am told, means “protector”.  But I’m not sure I have ever really protected anything.  The actual meaning of names today does not carry much weight.

However, names given in “biblical times” usually had great significance; so much so that God took the opportunity to change some of the names of His servants.  We all know the gentleman called Abraham, but his original name was Abram.  His wife Sarah was originally known as Sarai.  FYI, the name Abram meant “exalted father” and God changed it to Abraham meaning, “father of many”.  This may have confused Abram, because Sarai and he did not have any children up to this point.  At the time that God changed their names, He explained that they would have a son; Abram now was 99 years old and Sarai was 10 years younger!!!  This news brought laughter to Abram and so God told them that their son would be named Isaac, which means, “he laughs”.  And when he turned a teenager, Isaac said unto his father, “did you have to laugh at the news of my birth?  I would really like to have a name like William; protector”.  OK so I am joking here!!

But I digress.  What is God’s name?  And what is its meaning?  Why do His servants desire to have us praise this name?

The name of God, as He explained to Moses at the burning bush, is Yehovah.  Actually it is made up of the four Hebrew letters “Yodh He Vov He” (or in English YHVH).  In Exodus 3, Moses asks what God’s name is so he might tell the Israelites who was sending him.  “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM THAT I AM (or I AM WHO I AM).  This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you’”.

This is getting interesting, but we’re out of space.  Until next time …..

Freedom is Good News Part 28

“His kingdom rules over all.”(Psalm 103:19)  “Jesus came … preaching the good news of the kingdom.” (Matthew 4:23)

Is it good news to you that God’s kingdom rules over all?  It seems to me that somehow our human nature resents being ruled over.  Oh!  Maybe the word “resent” is too strong and we should insert the word “reject”.  Never the less, the question stands; do you reject (or resent) being ruled over?  In other words do you feel that God has no right to interfere in your life?  This really seems to be where Eve and then Adam started out.  And I think we pointed out, in a previous article, where that attitude led.  Suffice it to say, it hasn’t been good news!

There is an old saying in Latin, “Rex Lex or Lex Rex”.  “Lex” being the word for “law” and “Rex” being the word for “king”.  In other words, “is the king the law or is the law the king”?  In the United States we live by the rule of law.  To say it another way, the law is king, it applies to everyone – no one is above the law. (At least it’s supposed to work that way!!)  But in a monarchy it is just the opposite; the king is the law – what he says goes!  The bible tells us that God has set up a monarchy and so He rules over all.

Okay!  That’s where we started this article but we haven’t considered whether this is good news or not.  Several weeks ago we explored the idea that God was good and that He was good all the time.  May I suggest that if He is good all the time, then we have a wonderful King?  It has been said that the best form of government is a beneficent dictatorship.  In many ways, our God dictates to us and we have come to the understanding that He is beneficent. 

Our God is a loving Father!  He is more than just a loving Father; He is a perfect loving Father.  He wants us to succeed at what we do and to be with Him for eternity.  Do you believe that?  Then let me reiterate something I said earlier, “The laws that He has given to us are gifts from Him and are for our benefit.”  The book of Job addresses this comment; in Job 35:6, Elihu (the one friend of Job who is not chastised by God) says this, “If you sin, how does that affect Him?  If your sins are many, what does that do to Him?  If you are righteous, what do you give to Him or what does He receive from your hand?”  This says a mouthful toward the fact that God has given us laws for our benefit.  

The benefit is twofold; first, we learn how to act toward our neighbors (and they toward us) and secondly, but most importantly, we learn how our God would have us act toward Him.  This is summed up in the two great commandments, love the LORD your God with all your heart, strength and life and love your neighbor as yourself.

Well, I don’t know about you, but for me, the gift of His kingdom and its laws and commandments is really good news.

Until next time, think on the good things of God. 

Freedom is Good News Part 27

I was just reading over last week’s article and was struck by the words from Psalm 103:19, “His kingdom rules over all.”  These words caught my eye because I had been thinking about the title of these articles, “YES, THERE IS GOOD NEWS!”, and considering how the message that Jesus proclaimed to the people began with, “the good news of the kingdom”.  These two concepts crossed my mind at about the same time.  Let us, then, dive into these two statements and see where they take us.

Does God’s kingdom rule over you?  Please take this personally.  We, in this country, are very blessed to have the type of government that is in place, a constitutional republic.  But our familiarity with this type of government, one that is “of the people, by the people and for the people” actually might limit us when we consider just how the kingdom of God operates.  God’s kingdom is not a republic.  It is a monarchy!  In a true monarchy, when the king makes a decree it becomes a law and well, yes the subjects must obey.

How many rules and laws enacted through our secular government do you break?  We do not seem to do very well with speed limits!  That’s very obvious.  And do we really come to a stop at the many stop signs we encounter?  No, I’m not trying to point out the “speck in your own eye” while I have a beam in mine.  We have all broken a law or two in our time.  But what about God’s law?  Sometimes it doesn’t seem that we even care that God has given us His laws as a gift.  Yes, as a gift!!  Turn off the TV tonight and just sit and meditate quietly about how life in this society would improve if just one of the Ten Commandments were fully kept.  “Thou shall not steal”.  Not only would we not need locks of any kind but we would be safe traveling anywhere in any town.  Remember I said, “Fully kept.”  No one would try to steal another person’s life – “Thou shall not murder” comes into play.  It is an interesting exercise in meditation; try it some time.

So I repeat, “God’s laws are a gift” – all of them!!  And yet if asked, could you recite all of the Ten Commandments?  Do you even know where to find them in the Bible.

Let’s see what Moses had to say concerning these laws of God.  In the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 4, we read this:  “Hear now O Israel, the decrees and laws I’m about to teach you … Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God. … Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’…  What other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?  … Be careful and watch closely … do not forget … or let them slip from your heart … Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”  Typing that last line almost breaks my heart when I think of our youth today and how many of them have never been taught the ways of God.

And so I end on a sour note – but fear not, we will continue this next week.

Until then – yes there is good news!

Freedom is Good News Part 26

Do you sometimes feel as though the days of your life are as the grass of a meadow or the flower of the field?  We have been looking into King David’s praise of God in Psalm 103 and so we have come to verse 15, “As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field.”  At this point in the Psalm he compares our life with God’s love:  “the wind blows over it (our life as the grass) and it is gone and its place remembers it no more.”  However, in verse 17 he says, “But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear Him.”  God’s love never ceases.  Remember the previous article when we talked about how God’s love is as a father’s love?  At what point would your love for your children ever cease?  If we would learn to fear (i.e. revere / stand in awe of) God our Father we would experience the never ending love that He has for us.

I told you this Psalm is filled with good news!!  I hope you have gotten out your bible and read along with this study into Psalm 103.

In verse 18 we are told to keep His covenant and obey His precepts.  At this point my mind goes to something Jesus said when He was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness; “It is written, man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4)  When Jesus said this the only words that came from God and were written down were to be found from Genesis to Malachi (the Old Testament).  Do we wish to have life?  Then live by these words.  Paul said as much when instructing Timothy in his letter to him, “You have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:15-17).  The only scriptures Timothy had at this point were the same ones Jesus referred to in Matthew and if we would have it, the same ones King David is pointing us to in Psalm 103.

David then lets us know why this “fear of the LORD”, this “keeping His covenant and obeying His precepts” is to be our duty.  In verse 19 he writes, “The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.”  Our God is over all.  He sits on a throne, not on this earth or of this earth, but in the heavenly realms!  He is a king who rules over all of His creation.  And so David finishes the Psalm by including: the angels, the mighty ones, the heavenly hosts, His servants, all His works and everything in His dominion in giving “Praise to the LORD.  Praise the LORD, O my soul.”  And I can only say at this point, “AMEN”!!

Yes, God is good and His word is good.

Until next time, think on the good things of God. 

Freedom is Good News Part 25

If you’ve been with me these past two weeks, you know that we have been looking into Psalm 103.  We have seen that God is loving, compassionate and gracious.  He is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.  And I hope we have seen that these are not just things God has decided to do, but that they are inherently a part of His personality.

It would be a decidedly foolish thing for Him to do; create a beautiful environment for life, provide everything needed in abundance and create a life form to dwell there, all the while ruing the day that He did so.  No, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son….  God, our God loves us and wants us to come to love Him.

This is a beautiful Psalm!  God so loves us that (verse 10), “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.”  In other words it is we who have gone astray in our respect and love for Him and still, His love is bigger than we are!  His love is bigger than our foolishness.  His love is bigger than our sins.

Verse 11 says it all very well, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear Him.  As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” 

Jesus Christ while on this earth told us that we should call this great God of the entire universe, “Father”.  All of us have had a father and perhaps many of you reading this are fathers.  Some of us have had wonderful, loving fathers and other of us … well, not so much.  We do not live in a perfect world.  But God our Father loves us with an undying love; with a love that goes beyond our understanding.  And so in verse 13 we see King David using a metaphor that we can all grasp.  He informs us that, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.”

Oh, wait a minute here, didn’t we just read that there’s a condition to that love from God?  Doesn’t it say He has compassion on those that fear Him?  What’s up with this fear?  The word for fear in the original Hebrew has several nuances of meaning.  Vines Hebrew Dictionary has this to say about the word “yare” (fear):  “Used toward a person in an exalted position, “yare” (fear) connotes “standing in awe”.  This is not simple fear, but reverence, whereby one individual recognizes the power and position of the individual revered and renders him proper respect.  In this sense the word may imply submission to a proper ethical relationship to God.”  Yes, that’s a mouthful but I believe you see how this word is used in the Psalm. 

In this 21st century we sometimes lament the way children do not show respect for parents and elders.  Do you, as a child of God, show respect and fear for Him?

More good news to come, in this beautiful Psalm of David’s.

Freedom is Good News Part 24

Last week we began by considering that our God is good and that He is good all the time.  The vehicle we were using in exploring this topic was Psalm 103.  (Have you read the entire Psalm?)  This Psalm is quite beautiful in its entirety and really helps to explain so much of who God is and who we are in relation to Him.

I, for one, am amazed at how King David, in verse seven, has us read that God made known to Moses “His ways”!  It has been said that Moses is the author of the first five books of the bible.  (Actually God is the author and Moses the scribe.)  And as we consider what these five books contain, we see a beautiful preface to the entire bible.  God revealed to Moses first of all, the creation, then the flood, the calling of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt and finally, the Exodus from Egypt with Moses as leader and of course the wanderings in the wilderness.  As an overview, we get to see the perfect will of God in action.

But let’s get back to Psalms 103.  Verse eight begins, “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.”  A couple of comments here are in order.  First, this is a reiteration of God’s telling Moses, on Mount Sinai, what His name was:  Ex. 34:5, “The LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with Him (Moses) and proclaimed His name, the LORD (Yahoveh).  ‘The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.’”  David, of course, knew this scripture.  And secondly, David gives us a beautiful description of how he saw the awesome attributes of the wonderful God we serve!

Verse nine: “He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever.”  Yes, God is patient with us and always willing to reinstate us into His good graces.  The Israelites certainly tested God’s patience over and over again.  His patience did seem to wear out when He allowed first Assyria and then Babylon to take His people into captivity.  But even then He says through the prophet Jeremiah, “Your wound is incurable, your injury beyond healing …. But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds…. I will restore the fortunes of Jacob…”  (Jer. 30:12-22) 

Our God is a loving Father!  He is more than just a loving Father; He is a perfectly loving Father.  He wants us to succeed and to be with Him in eternity.  Remember how we started the article last week, “He knows our frame; that we are but dust.”  We will see this phrase a little later on as we continue our look at the 103rd Psalm.

Until next time, remember “God is good, all the time”.

Freedom is Good News Part 23

Do you know that God is good?  There is a song that, for the most part, our grandchildren taught us to sing.  The first few words are, “God is good, all the time; He put a song of praise in this heart of mine.”  It is a delightful song and I find it rolling around in my head from time to time.  For me, it is a reminder that, not only is God good, but that He is good all the time.  He is good even when I don’t feel good.  He is good even when things around me seem quite troubling.  He is good even when the nightly news tells me that the world seems to be falling apart.  Yes, God is very good!!

The good news is that this God and Father of ours, has all things under control.  As the scripture says, “He knows us; that we are but dust”.  That quote is from Psalm 103:14.  And for this week’s article, I would like to look into Psalm 103 to see just how good God really is.  Get your bible out and read the Psalm. 

It begins by telling us to “Praise the LORD” and to do it with all of our “inmost being”.  It tells us to praise His holy name and to forget not all of His benefits.  David then goes on to list some of these benefits:  He forgives all of our sins, heals our diseases, redeems our lives from the pit, crowns us with love and compassion, satisfies us with good things and renews our youth like the eagle.  That’s quite a list!  And some of us who are of a hoary head might question David’s enthusiasm.

In the opening word’s we are told to “praise the LORD”.  The word “praise” here is most often translated “bless”.  Have you ever felt that you could bless God?  In Hebrew the word literally means to bow the knee or to kneel.  Have you ever bowed your knee when you approached God in prayer?  Have you ever humbled yourself, in such a manner, before the mighty hand of God?  When you approach the throne room of our Father to ask for forgiveness, healing, redemption, a crown of love and compassion, do you look to blessing Him, bowing before Him, kneeling in His presence?  He is the creator!

In verse 6 of this Psalm we read, “The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.”  Some might say that they have felt oppressed and yet God never worked these things for them.  But when we, who “are but dust”, kneel before the one who created all the hosts of heaven, do we do so in poorness of spirit, meekness and purity of heart (see Matthew 5:3-8)?

David goes on, in verse 7, to say that He made His ways known to Moses.  Can we pause here and ponder this?  God, the creator of all things, “the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity”, who’s ways are higher than ours “as the heavens are higher than the earth”, stooped down to make known His ways to Moses.  And then He allowed Moses to write them down so as to be passed on to us.  This is good stuff and I am out of space.  We need to visit this Psalm again.

Until next time, remember “God is good, all the time”.

Freedom is Good News Part 22

We live in an interesting age.  Perhaps every age that has gone by might be labeled as interesting, but for different reasons.  Today we have an abundance of technology that in some aspects assists us in our day to day tasks, and in others aspects frustrates us to no end.  I have heard some say that our age must be one of higher intelligence than any previous ones because we have so much technology.  But the reality is that intelligence and technology really have no correlation.

In the beginning when God created mankind, the strains of DNA that make up our genetics were perfect.  And now some 6,000 years later after copies upon copies of this DNA have been made (where-in genetic mutations have allowed for defects and diseases) our physical make up is somewhat less perfect than when first created (i.e. we are a little dumber than our ancestors!)  But, hey, we have technology.

Is that a good thing?  Well, there are arguments on both sides of this question.  I remember when calculators first came out and we all relied upon them so much that we forgot how to add and subtract in our heads.  Automatic cash registers rob the cashier of the ability to count back change to the customer etc.  Our technology tends to create a laziness that is “dumbing us down”.

So what does all of this have to do with the bible and the good news we find there?  Good question, I’m glad you asked!!  The amazing technology that we have before us has allowed us to take our eyes off of our Heavenly Father.  And that is not good news.  We have in our hands the ability (if we have such technology as a “smart” phone) to access any number of bible translations and commentaries.  We could while away our “unbusy” hours reading and studying God’s word, learning more about His grace and mercy toward us.  We might even come to grips with one of His greatest miracles, the miracle of love.  But what do we need miracles for when we have technology?

In a previous column I wrote about “the ‘hole’ in my life that needed to be filled.”  And how this “good news” of the gospel was the only thing that would fit the bill.  There are a lot of things in this world that will try to make us think we have found something good.  But there really is only one thing; and that one thing is the love of God and the peace of God that surpasses all our understanding.  It is the only thing that will allow us to look right through the smoke and fog of bad news that seems to pervade our world today.

May God’s love find its way straight into your life and bring the true comfort we all need in this “interesting age” in which we live.

And friends and brethren, that is good news. 

Freedom is Good News Part 21

Have you ever sat down and just pondered the passage of time?  It is something that is unstoppable for us humans.  It is just one of the many things that have been ordained by God Himself.  Speaking of God ordaining things, I must wonder just what there may be that God has not ordained.  Do you consider God to be in charge of the universe?  I do.  He is the creator and the sustainer of all things.  In the beginning of the bible, the book of Genesis, God tells us that at the end of each day of creation, He pronounced it as good.  And at the end of the sixth day we read, “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.”

But soon after, in chapter 3 of Genesis we see that man (i.e. Adam and Eve) couldn’t even keep one commandment.  Yes, He has graciously given us 10 commandments, but to Adam and Eve He only brought forth one; “Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”.  They failed the test and that was not good!  I believe we know the rest of the story.  They chose to take upon themselves the knowledge of what was good and what was evil.  And so without God’s guidance in navigating, things went downhill from there.  At this point in scripture God puts the bible on “fast forward” and takes us about 1650 years in two chapters and so we come to Noah’s day.  Genesis 6:5, “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.  The LORD was grieved that He had made man on the earth and His heart was filled with pain.”  My friends, this was not good news.  God grieved and His heart was filled with pain!!  These are strong words that are used for God’s emotions.  Have you ever grieved?  It is not a pleasurable time.  Has your heart ever been filled with pain?  Same comment!

Some have wondered how a good God could allow bad things to happen.  Let me state right here that the bad things that happen on this earth grieve God and fill His heart with pain.  His hand is not here to stop the inebriated person’s car from starting and eventually killing an innocent bystander.  But I believe His heart grieves. 

I can answer this seeming dilemma in one word; freedom!  Adam and Eve chose a certain path and it was not a path of freedom but slavery.  And yet God (who “changes not”) still allows us the freedom to go out and get drunk and try to drive home. 

But God has now, once again, given us His true freedom through His Son Jesus Christ.  In Him we are free.  Free to not sin.  Free to love Him.  Free to walk before Him in true righteousness and holiness.  We all know that freedom is not free and Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice.  He paid the ultimate penalty for us so that we may once again be truly free.

And friends and brethren, that is good news.