January 13

Genesis 14; Matthew 13

Genesis 14

Ready:
Lord please bless this time in your Word.  Let me seek and find and may you cause me to search like for silver and gold and may you incline my ears to wisdom and my heart to understanding.  Teach me the fear of the Lord and let me find the knowledge of God.  I recall that Abram and Lot separated in the last chapter and Abram was trusting in you and he was remembering you even in his prosperity.

Reading thoughts:
I see Abram bringing salvation to a remnant among the sinners of Sodom in the way that Jesus comes to rescue us out of the world.  Lot is as an adopted son to Abram as I am an adopted Son to God.  I see Abram giving a tithe to the somewhat mysterious priest king known as Melchizedek.

Key Verses:

“14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus.” (Genesis 14:14–15, ESV)

“18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.” (Genesis 14:18–20, ESV)

I see the theme as- Abram remembers his family and risks his life to rescue them in the end to be blessed with success and with an encounter with Melchizedek.

Rumination thoughts:
v1-12.  There seems to be a battle breaking out that may have little or nothing to do with Lot or Abram but the bottom line is that it is impacting them.  Lot and his family and their belongings are all captured by the five Kings who invade Sodom.
v13-16.  Abram finds out and gathers his allies and his army and they make pursuit of the 5 kings and their armies.  In the night Abram attacks and by the grace and power of God he rescues Lot and all his family and belongings.
v17-20.  Here Abram encounters a mysterious figure in the Bible.  Some say this priest King had no parents but most agree that he simply did not have any noteworthy heritage (Hebrews 6:20-7:28).  Jesus comes later as a priest King in a similar way as this Melchizedek.  What is special about this priesthood is that it pre-dates the establishment of the Levitical or Aaronic priesthood under Moses.  The high priest will be the person who makes the offering of atonement each year for the people of God but this has not been established yet.  So this priest is somehow more transcendent and of a higher nature than the earthly ones to come.  Abram here makes offering to the priest-king and this establishes that the Melchizedek is greater than Abram.  This becomes important later because Jesus will tell the Pharisees that "before Abraham was, I am” and this establishes that he pre-dated Abram and is greater than Abram similar to the Melchizedek (John 8:56-59).  This priesthood is also royal and held by a king whereas the Levitical and Aaronic priesthoods are not that way.  All this sets up a different type of priest-king as a foreshadowing of Jesus’ role.
v21-24.  Here there is a contrast where the other King who comes to Abram, after being rescued by him, and he does not bring blessing and praise for God but he simply offers Abram stuff.  The first king feared God and was a righteous man whereas this king rules a land of wickedness and what he values are goods and money.  Abram was gracious with the first King and he even tithed to him 10 percent of all he had, but to this king Abram is discerning.  Abram denies the offer from the King of Sodom in favor of keeping his commitment to God.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
     1.  I hear Moses teaching that Abram valued family and he loved them at risk to himself even though they were unwisely living in the city of sin.  The implication I take is that we are expected to risk for the kingdom and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves and we are to not love our life so much that we are unwilling to risk it for others.  The significance for me would be that I need to watch for scenarios in my life where I need to take action that may risk my well being or my livelihood or my resources when there is a need.
     2.  I Hear Moses teaching that there is a priesthood that was before the priesthood that God will reveal to Moses.  The implication is that Jesus is this type of priestly king who comes not with an authority based on a lineage (Jesus was from the line of Judah and these were not the priests) but based on the authority of an indestructible life (Heb 7:15-17).  The significance for me is that I have a huh priest who never tires and who never dies and who ever lives to intercede for me!!  This means I have security and hope and joy and access to God always.
     3.  I hear Moses teaching that Abram sought after God and not after wealth or recognition.  I take the implication to be that a proper response to the miraculous provision of God in my life is to give back to him and to worship him and to honor him.  The significance for my life is that I receive from his hand every two weeks and I should be tithing from this blessing and honoring him in this way of worship to express that I value him over wealth and over the blessings he gives.

Response:
“Private”

Reaction:
“Private”

Matthew 13

Ready:
Picking up now where Jesus has just corrected the Pharisees concerning the Sabbath and has established that the church is a family in an even greater sense than our physical family.

Reading thoughts:
I see parables stacked on parables here and it begins with one that teaches a primary purpose of parables by reference to Isaiah and his call to be a mouthpiece for God.  I see Jesus teach about the impact of his Word upon the one who would hear it and on what God does with small things and how righteousness and wickedness dwell together in this life and how to loo at the world and how a judgement is clearly coming and how the revelation from the OT and the NT come together in the person of Jesus.

Key Verses:

“11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” (Matthew 13:11, ESV)

“22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22, ESV)

“41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:41–42, ESV)

“44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44, ESV)

I see the theme as- Jesus teaches those who will hear and he teaches about the way God works and how we are to understand the world and how to view Jesus as the culmination of all of the revelation of God.

Rumination thoughts:
    v1-9.  Here is the parable of the sower that Jesus himself will explain later.  The teaching here as Matthew gives it to us would seem to be for the purpose of knowing how a parable works and the purpose of it.  This comes in the next passage.
    v10-17.  Here Jesus explains that parables can be just as much for hiding the truth as they can be for revealing it.  SPOILER ALERT!- (there are different views here so please do not take offense if you disagree with me…but its my blog!  He he…) Jesus makes reference to the passage in Isaiah 6 where Isaiah is commissioned by God to be a prophet.  Comparing the citation with the actual text there are some subtle differences (partially due to the citations in the NT usually being from the Greek Septuagint) but it seems cleat that God is determining that in a broad sense that he will make the Israelites NOT understand the message of the prophet and that for a certain period of time this will be the case.  Paul clarifies for us in Rom 11 that this is until the fullness of the gentiles has come in since the Jews were to reject Jesus in order to bring salvation to the Gentiles.  Paul also makes it clear that this was not the case for every individual since there has always been a remnant that was not hardened but were elected to believe (Rom 11:7).  Some will place this election in response to God’s foreknowledge of their choice and I accept this view as Christian but I don’t believe it follows the revelation of God’s plan seen in Romans 9-11 and arguably throughout the Bible.  No doubt there is surely personal responsibility in rejecting God just as he held Pharaoh accountable from an earlier post but I think the belief requires God’s intention upon us to believe for the sake of his glory rather than something worthy he sees in us.  This topic can divide so we must ensure that we offer grace both directions and love one another regardless of how we take this.  
    v18-23.  Here Jesus explains how different people will react to he message of the gospel and it seems that there are various ways in which the word is kept from bringing about salvation.  Some will interpret some of the people (soil) as saved and others only the good soil as representing someone who is saved.  Either way, if we are in the thorns…we need to get out!
    v24-30.  Here is seems clear that there will be a co-mingling of sin and righteousness until the end when a judgment comes.  This has been taken by some to speak about people within the church who are not saved and others take it to more simply mean that in this present age there are both.  In both cases there is an understanding that Jesus will bring judgment and in the end the unbelievers will be separated from the believers just as Psalm 1 says that the sinners will not stand in the congregation of the righteous.
    v31-33.  These two quick parables seem to teach that God does huge and amazing things with very little resources.  We can bank on that in a ton of ways…
    v34-35.  Jesus declares that he is fulfilling God’s plan and he is revealing things that have been a mystery since the dawn of creation.  
    v36-43.  This is the explanation to the parable of the weeds that I already addressed.
    v44-46.  These are probably my favorite parables in the Bible and they give us an understanding of how to view life.  This life is to be about getting God and not about getting other things!
    v47-50.  This seems to be a restatement of the weeds parable and I have no time to inquire further today.
    v51-58.  I take this last parable together with Jesus being rejected because it seems very related.  He says that the old treasure and the new treasure are to be brought out and then he explains that his new revelation is not being received.  It seems clear that he is saying that his message is one with the old message and that they go together.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance:
No more time today...

Response:
“Private”

Reaction:
“Private”

Soli Deo Gloria!