January 8

Genesis 8; Matthew 8

Genesis 8

Ready:
Yesterday was the beginning of the flood where the righteous remnant was brought out from under the judgement of God.  The cataclysmic event that rocked the earth and killed everything on it was about 150 days running at the point that this chapter opens. Lord let me hear and see what you want me to know and let me see your redemptive plan unfold.

Reading thoughts:
I see a slow recession of the waters and a waiting upon the Lord by Noah and family. Moses begins the account with a summary from God’s perspective and then moves into Noah’s perspective beginning 40 days after he perceived that they had settled on some ground (Mt. Ararat).  Noah sends a scout and eventually determines that the land has been sufficiently dried and then Noah uncovers the main canopy of the Ark to see what the world looks like now that it has been washed from evil and in a way re-created by God.  Here God speaks to him and directs him to go out with his wife and family and like he told Adam and Eve at the initial creation “be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” Next Noah builds and alter to honor God and thank him for deliverance and he offers a sacrifice after which God declares a covenant that he will never again strike down all living creatures in this way.  

Key Verses:  

“1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.” (Genesis 8:1, ESV)

“15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”” (Genesis 8:15–17, ESV)

“21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.” (Genesis 8:21, ESV)

I see the theme as- God remembers his people and his promise and he brings deliverance.

Rumination thoughts:
        v1.  This first verse is big because it is similar to other places in the Bible where God “remembers his people”.  This is the beginning of a Biblical theme of “remember”. The concept of remembering is closely tied to covenant.  This is where an agreement is made between two people and the agreement rests on them remembering the agreement and acting appropriately in response from then forward and through many generations.  This strikes at Gen 6:18 where God first told Noah to prepare to build the ark and he said “I will establish my covenant with you…”.  God demonstrates this toward his people over and over and he asks his people also to remember him and his provision.  He wants his people to remember his commandments when we lay down and when we rise and to remember the mighty deliverance given from Egypt at the passover each year.  He wants us to remember what Jesus did on the cross when we eat the bread and take the cup.  The psalmist will often cry out that God would remember him when he feels lost or in trouble.  God takes serious the idea of history.  The Bible and all of Christianity is a historical religion.  All that we believe is grounded in history and events and specific people where God acted and moved and accomplished.  There are many times during Israel’s history when they did not remember and God’s judgment and discipline followed.
        v2-12.  So here is the slow receding of the waters and Noah’s testing of the situation to determine when to come out.  There is maybe a reference to a ceremonial period of purification of the earth where Noah waits seven more days after being convinced that the earth is dry.  This was the period of time that would be observed in waiting after cleansing for various reasons.  This could be highlighting the fact that God saw this flood as a cleansing of the earth from the wickedness that had so corrupted it.
        v13-19.  Here Noah and family come out of the ark and God speaks to Noah.  They are given a similar charge as God gave to Adam and Eve.  There is here a re-habitation of the earth again and a fresh beginning.  We have learned that God is just and righteous and holy and merciful.  There should arise in us an awareness already that mercy and justice do not mix.  Mercy is a setting aside of justice or a type of non-justice. Mercy is not injustice but it is certainly not justice.  The same problem occurred when Adam and Eve did not die spiritually and physically when they ate from the tree. God is choosing to deal with us not according to our sin and there is so far no just reason to base this upon.  Since our desire is for mercy we do not readily see this problem or notice that there is a problem with mercy.  Perhaps if it was my loved one who was killed by the drunk driver I would have a different view of mercy vs justice. Right here is how we read the Bible with a reference to the cross and the person and work of Jesus. He is the grounding for all mercy.  He is the reason that God can be both just and merciful.  Jesus received the justice due to us and so God can have mercy on whom he wills without damaging his justice in the slightest.  Nothing makes sense in the Bible without the cross of Christ.  Everything prior is looking forward to and everything afterwards is looking back to it.
        v20-22.  Noah has a proper response to what God has done in delivering his family here.  We see Noah worship God and make a sacrifice that is pleasing to the Lord.  It is only now that I went back and saw in verse 2 of chapter 7 that Noah brought seven pairs of clean animals and birds and only one pair of unclean.  He had prepared for this as God instructed.  He knew he would be making sacrifice to God.  Here Moses give a comment on something God does not really say but merely thinks…God thinks to himself that he is pleased with Noah’s thankfulness and reverence and he determines then to not again bring all creatures to an end like this.  I cannot take this to mean that he felt bad about doing it or that he wished he hadn’t or anything of the sort.  This would be misery if we had a God who was emotional and made rash decisions and was out of control.  The picture is not that, but God is always revealing himself to us and showing us more of how he wants to relate to us.  Throughout the Bible there are correlations between man trusting what God says and acting appropriately in response and how God either blesses or judges them in response to this.  Here God is blessing mankind on behalf of Noah.  It seems a proper response to mercy has begotten more mercy.

Response:
Lord thank you for being a God who remembers and a God who keeps covenant and who is truth.  Thank you for revealing to us your holiness and justice and even your mercy.  I look forward in this story to the revealing of your glory in the person of your Son where you unravel the mystery of your mercy that covers your people from the time of Adam’s sin until the curtain splits and your holy Son cries out “it is finished”.

Reaction:
Let me always remember your love and protection Lord.  Let me always remember how you have covered my sin and kept from me the wrath that is due to me.  Let me always remember what ends you have gone to in order to reveal yourself to me and to let me know you.  Let me remember you in the moments when the world or my flesh or the devil present me with non-truth.  Let me remember you and choose you O God.

Matthew 8

Ready:
I pick up after Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount where he is recognized to be teaching with complete authority that was unknown to the people before this.  Jesus demonstrated a knowledge and a way of speaking that was altogether different than they have ever known.  There indeed was no darkness or lack in him and he sees perfectly and completely and he is want of no wisdom or knowledge except for a very few secret things that in Jesus' humanity the Father has reserved (like the day and hour of his second coming).  Let me understand and apply your teaching here in Matthew Lord.

Reading thoughts:
I see Jesus demonstrating power and correcting misunderstanding.  He demonstrates his sovereign rule over people, the earth, and spiritual beings (demons).  He reveals the power he has to make us clean and to remove wickedness and to rule all our circumstances.  Looking over a text very broadly and putting occurrences into categories like this help me to get a better view of what is really happening in the big storyline.

Key Verses:

“2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:2–3, ESV)

“9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” (Matthew 8:9–10, ESV)

“11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”” (Matthew 8:11–12, ESV)

“22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”” (Matthew 8:22, ESV)

“26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”” (Matthew 8:26–27, ESV)

“29 And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”” (Matthew 8:29, ESV)

I see the theme as this- Jesus confirms the authority they heard in his voice and establishes his identity and his reign over all of creation for those with eyes to see.

Rumination thoughts:
        v1-4.  Here Jesus heals a leper and makes it plain that he has the power to purify and to make someone holy.  He can cleanse me and he can completely change what was true of me just a moment ago.  He does this by his unstoppable will.
        v5-10.  This story of the Centurion is awesome.  Here is a Gentile who knows who Jesus is even though he was not raised to believe in a coming Messiah.  This Gentile knows what authority is and how it works.  He shows Jesus that he believes him to have such authority over the universe in that Jesus could say the word from anywhere and heal anyone whom he wills to heal and the sin and the sickness will obey the voice of the King of Kings immediately.  Like a soldier receiving command from his general the sickness marches or stops, stands or sits.  The soldier is at the service of the commander.  Jesus sees in the heart of this Gentile a trust in his identity and the absolute truth of his Word.  The idea of Jesus “marveling” here is breathtaking and I come to this with a belief that faith expressed by this man is granted to him by God as a gift that was not his own lest he can boast (Eph. 2:8-9) but this does not lesson the amazement I have for the marveling and for the teaching that Jesus gives through this moment.  There has been none among the Israelites with a faith like what has been granted to this Gentile.  See Rom 12:3 regarding God assigning our measure of faith.  John 17:6 also helps here as I see Jesus referring to the Father giving Jesus his people out of the world and Jesus glorifying God in declaring that indeed they have kept the Father’s word (obedience of faith- this concept will come up more and be explained more later).
        v11-13.  Here Jesus teaches about how salvation comes to the gentiles because of the Jews rejecting him and he declares that many of the Jews (sons of the kingdom) will not be saved while many Gentiles will recline at the table with the Jewish patriarchs in heaven.  This is dramatic and sad but we do see in Romans 11 the hope of Israel being “grafted back in” to the olive tree and all of Israel being saved in the future (all those still living).  For the one who walks in obedience to the faith granted him by God though…healed that very moment.
        v14-17.  Here Matthew wants us to know that the healing Jesus does is related to his taking of our sins and uncleanness upon himself on the cross.  The reference to Isaiah 53 is interesting.  This chapter of Isaiah speaks plainly about the death of Christ on our behalf and how he takes the punishment we deserve.  Just right on the surface is the idea that we are deserving of the illness and the disease but that he takes it from us upon himself like he does our sin.  The visible change helps us to know what he accomplishes in the unseen realm of taking our guilt before God away.  I also see Peter’s mother-in-law responding to the healing my becoming a servant of the Lord!
        v18-22.  Here Jesus corrects a couple of misunderstandings.  He makes is clear that following him is not easy and is not something you do when it is convenient.  He also reached something about man in that he refers to the dead burying their own dead. I take this as a clue to the spiritual state of man being like a dead man walking.  We are born under the reign of sin and death and we are in need of new life by the Spirit of God as Jesus will teach Nicodemus later.
        v23-27.  The author of life was in their boat.  The Son of the Living God was feet away from them and he was so calm he was sleeping.  The circumstances were overwhelming them and they truly did not understand who Jesus was.  Jesus therefore gives them a mild rebuke for not knowing that he rules over all and that he is always aware of our concerns whether we can plainly see it or not.  At least that is what I am taking from this.  Here there are some implications that seem logical and make sense but I always need to be ready to give us something implicit if something explicit elsewhere in scripture overrules it or makes is inconsistent.  Jesus displays for these men his sovereign rule over the earth.  This plainly helps us to know the true nature of the idea that Satan rules the earth and is the “prince of the power of the air”.  Well, kind of.  He rules as far as Jesus allows him to and now farther.  He rules over the moral condition of fallen man except for the mercy of God to restrain us (Gen 20:6).
        v28-34.  Satan was defeated in the desert so any hope of the enemy questioning the identity of Jesus is lost.  Here the demons recognize and acknowledge not only the divine identity of Jesus but also his sovereign authority.  They are looking out for their own skin (pun intended) here as they make a case for what they know to be their future destiny based upon knowing that Jesus already refused to take short cuts and would not skip the cross in his ascent back to the throne and in his suffering to achieve complete authority and reign that was partially given over to the enemy by Adam and Eve.  The time of their torment will come but this does not stop Jesus from demonstrating his ability to cast out wickedness according to his purpose.  He sees fit to oblige the demons and send them into the unclean pigs.  Animal are deemed clean or unclean by God and there is no way to be purified like there is for mankind.  This becomes a stumbling block for the gentiles in the areas because it would seem that these pigs in the area are probably their livelihood and their food and perhaps something they sacrifice to pagan idols.  Perhaps for these reasons they beg Jesus to leave.

Response:
Lord you reign on high and you are the creator of all and ruler of all.  There is nothing over which you do not have dominion and even the things which you have allowed the enemy to exercise some level of dominion over you come and pluck from his hands at your pleasure.  You have the power to heal me and to make me clean and to change everything about me.  You can turn my heart and my mind and my flesh.  But you do not call me to be a fair weather follower who comes and goes on my own clock and based upon my own perceptions.  You call me to follow when it is hard and there is no comfort.  You call me to follow when it costs me.  You call me to follow at great expense sometimes.  You are not a genie waiting for me to make requests but you are the God of all creation who has called me out from the world and unto yourself for holiness and for worship.  Your authority is uncontested O God and I glorify your name.

Reaction:
Let me not delay in following and let me not stumble over difficulty or trials but let me trust and obey.  Let me fight the fight Lord and let me trust your authority to rule over all the circumstances that threaten me.  Let me have faith that you can say come or go and the heavens and the earth will move for you.  Let me have the faith of the Centurion.  Let me have the response of Peter’s mother in law.  Let me be cleansed like the leper.  Let me not bock when your purposes do not lend to my financial gain or comfort like the Gentiles at the Gadarenes did.  Thank you that my faith is in a person who walked among us and not in a force or a thought or any other impersonal being. Thank you for marveling at the faith of the Centurion.  May I please you today and always when I trust you O God.

Soli Deo Gloria!

January 7

Genesis 7; Matthew 7

Genesis 7

Ready:
Picking up with Noah after he was directed to build an Ark to survive the flood that God was going to send to kill everything on earth due to the wickedness of man.  This is a huge event and was a judgement of God upon mankind.  Mankind was less than 3,000 years old perhaps but wickedness was rampant and evil were their thoughts continuously.

Reading thoughts:
Noah is given clear instructions to follow with regard to saving every type of animal pair by pair.  Noah is faithful to do as God commanded even though it must have sounded crazy.  This was a very large ark but not an impossible feat…for God.  The flood comes and does what it is supposed to do and it takes 40 days and nights.  This would have been a scary time for Noah’s family considering what was happening to all mankind outside of that boat.  Of course since everything was happening according to what God had said they probably rested in their trust that he was going to deliver them precisely as he stated.

Key Verses:

“1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.” (Genesis 7:1, ESV)

“22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.” (Genesis 7:22–23, ESV)

I see the theme as sweeping judgment comes upon the wicked and the righteous remnant who trust in the Lord are delivered.

Rumination thoughts:
     v1.  God calls Noah righteous here but we know from Romans 3:10-18 that there has never been one righteous, other than Jesus.  So here as with other places in the Bible I must understand that the writers use the term righteous not to represent a perfect actual righteousness in their flesh bur a righteousness that comes from faith.  This is actually the righteousness of Christ accounted to them even though they don’t know about Christ.  This I refer to as passive righteousness that comes from outside of me.  There is also an active righteousness that comes from within but this is due to the indwelling Spirit of God and is not a perfect righteousness but is increasing as the Lord molds me and makes me more like Jesus (sanctification).  Here there could have been reference to either type of righteousness but the key is to know that Noah was still a sinner like me.  But whatever kind of righteousness this was in Noah, God used that as the reason for saving him from judgement here.
     v2-5.  This summarizes their instructions and Noah does precisely as he is commanded.
     v6-16.  Here the flood comes and Moses pins it down to a specific day in history probably so that we do not allegorize this into a mythological occurrence.  We see evidence of this flood on the earth by fish fossils on mountain tops and valleys cut into mountains and more.  Many theorize that there would have been a completely cataclysmic event and not a 40 day thunderstorm.  Picture the worst hurricane ever with simultaneous earthquakes and volcano eruptions around the earth.  “The fountains of the great deep burst forth” in verse 11 is where much of this conjecture comes from.
     v17-24.  It is done.  God wipes out mankind in judgement with water and only 8 people are spared due to righteousness.  This is a radical statement of the holiness of God and his hatred of sin.  God has displayed for all future mankind to see that he indeed judges sin and he will ensure that his children are righteous.  Later God will tell the Israelites through Moses “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy."

Response:
Lord you flooded the earth and destroyed mankind in a cataclysmic event to teach me that my sin is awful and defiles the earth.  You have displayed your wrath so that I will run to your Son.  You have made known this aspect of your holiness so that I will know that you do not trifle with wickedness or tolerate forever those who rebel against you.  You killed all flesh to teach us Lord and to reveal yourself.

Reaction:
Lord let me learn here of your holiness and let me understand that you are a consuming fire and an awesome God who created all and who has authority to take all life.  May you grant me to walk humbly before you and to trust in your Word. Thank you for saving the remnant and for bringing deliverance then and deliverance now.

Matthew 7

Ready:
Jesus appears to still be teaching his Sermon on the Mount here as I begin the next chapter.  He has so far turned the world upside down and told us to seek God first and to pray to him and to rely on him and to love put our treasures in heaven and to forgive others and to remain devoted in our marriages and to not seek glory that is his alone.  He went from teaching about relating to others to mostly about my heart and attitude toward God and now this chapter closes out his sermon.  Let me hear your message Lord and submit to do your will.

Reading thoughts:
Another series of teachings here that are clearly related and flow one to the next.  A good opportunity to see context here as he leads into each successive teaching.  He goes from judging to relying on him in prayer to how we fulfill the law by loving others to watching out for teachers of a false faith and the results of such a faith are then contrasted to the truth that comes only from submission to the authority of Jesus.

Key Verses:

“12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12, ESV)

“21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21, ESV)

“24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24, ESV)

I see the theme as how I think and how I pray and how I live matters because it reveals if I am under Jesus' authority or not and the one who is not has built a house on the sand and he will face destruction in final judgement.

Rumination thoughts:
     v1-6.  Here is a command to not judge but there is more to it than the plain statement because elsewhere we are told to judge (1 Cor. 5:12).  This is seen as early as verse 6 where we are to judge between who is a dog or a pig.  We will make judgements but if we are gracious then we fulfill this command.  Note in the story of the spec in the eye that eventually (verse 5), once the hypocrite pulled the log out of his eye, he still helped the other guy get the spec out.  This seems to be a clarification that we ought not to judge others of something we are also guilty of.  This matches Paul teaching in Romans 2:1-4 and 2:21-23.
     v7-11.  Ask, seek, knock.  The main thing I take here is to come continually to God in many ways and petition him.  He wants to hear from me and he wants to bless me. Jesus suggests that earthly fathers are evil compared to our Heavenly Father who gives good gifts.  This teaching of receiving what you ask for must be considered in full context of scripture because James says hat we often do not receive what we ask for in prayer because we ask wrongly to spend on our own passions (James 4:3).  Notice that in this teaching in Matthew the sons were asking for needs (food) not luxury or things to idolize and replace God with.  I should not expect God to feed my idolatry when I ask him for the thing I actually want more than I want him.
     v12-14.  Here the law is fulfilled by loving our neighbor according to Rom 13:10.  How we treat others here is immediately followed by a reference to salvation.  It seems that there is a close tie to my living the love of God and my salvation.
     v15-20.  Here I see that I am again expected to judge the quality of fruit in order to know false teachers.  Perhaps this relates to the verses above?  Maybe I should look for teachers to be lovers of others.  This concept continues into the next paragraph.
     v21-23.  This is a scary passage and it suggests that there will be people who think they are saved but are not.  They profess a confession of Jesus as Lord and even offer up things they did in his name as evidence of their faith.  Jesus gives a reply that should wake me up and cause me to consider my heart.  He declares to this group that although they claim to know him, HE never knew THEM.  He tells them to depart because they are workers of lawlessness.  No time to elaborate on this but suffice it to say that there is a sense in which Jesus knowing me is more critical than me thinking that I know him.  Am I making myself known to Jesus? How do I do this?  It is not about what I do but it is about being known by him.  So fruit is not known just by seeing some good works on the surface or some actions done but fruit is consistent because it flows from the heart that is surrendered to Jesus.
     v24-28.  Jesus here comes out against all previous wisdom and announces that he holds the words of truth, the words of life.  He declares that it is his word that must be heeded and that one who does not do as he has stated is a fool who will face destruction.  No winder the people marvel and acknowledge that he teaches with authority!  It is not enough to “believe” what Jesus says or to “believe” in him.  We are to act upon his commands and to walk humbly before him submitting our lives to him and making ourselves known to him in prayer and through being part of his body (the church).  We are to love others and to bear the fruit that matches the loveliness of the one we abide in. He says to obey his words.  He says that we will bear fruit evidencing our faith.  He says to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Do I do this?  Will I do this today?  Can I do this without prayer and submission?  Can I do this without first ever asking Jesus to be my Lord and savior and surrendering my life to him?

Response:
Thank you Lord for teaching me and for revealing so much about the way we see life and our relationships and how we relate to you in the Sermon on the Mount.

Reaction:
Let me surrender to you Lord and seek your first today and every day.  Let me not put trust in my actions or my good works but let me only rely on the righteousness of your Son and let me make myself known to you by laying my prayers before you in the manner you taught in the previous chapter as well as in this chapter about making my needs know and expecting to receive from my loving Father.  Cause me to live reliant on you and to love others well Lord.  Let me bear fruit consistent with this and let me stand form in a home built upon the truth of your Word.

Soli Deo Gloria!

January 6

Genesis 6; Matthew 6

Genesis 6

Ready:
In chapter 5 I saw the introduction of Noah and the righteous line of Seth.  I saw that it was about 2,600 years from creation of man to Noah’s sons being born.  There was one named Enoch who walked with you and who you took before he died.  Speak to me in the pages of this next chapter Lord and let me see how this story ties into the big picture and how I fit into it.

Reading thoughts:
There is a steep spiral down into wickedness in mankind with the exception of Noah and his family. God expresses his sorrow over the state of mankind and he relents determines to cleanse the earth of wickedness in order to allow Noah to re-establish mankind anew.  Noah is given the command to make ark and to preserve the animals during a destructive flood to come in judgement of man upon the earth.  Noah did as he was commanded regardless of how it may have looked to others who had never seen it “rain” before.  There are a few hard things in this text that deserve more discussion than I will have time for this morning.

Key Verses:

“5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5, ESV)

“13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.” (Genesis 6:13–14, ESV)

The theme is- That God is holy and he will not tolerate the unrighteousness of man forever, but he will preserve a remnant from his judgment who will be delivered due to his eternal plan to redeem his people.

Rumination thoughts:
     v1-3.  Here there are a few interpretations but I take that the “sons of God” are the righteous line of Seth who are sons of God by adoption.  I take the daughters of man to be the daughters of the line of cain probably through Lamech (the bad one).  So from here is is only Noah and his family that remains pure and does not mix with the unbelievers in marriage.  The unwise descendants of Seth chose their wives solely based on looks and ended up dishonoring God in their actions.  Seeing this corruption God here announces that he starts a clock for mankind whereby he will bring a judgement soon.
     v4.  Another hard thing here is this idea of Nephilim (giants) and the men of renown.  I take what John Calvin says about this and along with the interpretation I gave above I think the Nephilim were merely certain descendants from Cain and that they were living among the mixed lineage of Seth and Cain.  The might men of old, the men of renown is not a good name.  This is likely to refer to the evil men of power who assigned themselves such a name and who flaunted their power and lust and greed and wickedness.  This comes from context as I see the very next verse is a condemnation of wickedness.
     v5-8.  Here again is a difficult text.  God announces that he will destroy all life on earth due to the wickedness that has spread over the earth.  I take the terms “regretted” and “sorry” to be an expression for us like what Paul referred to in Romans 6:19 where he says “ I speak in human terms because of your natural limitations”.  God knows all and his plan is not thwarted here in the least so there cannot be a regretting in the sense that we know regret.  This is explained in human terms here and we are not to take from this that God was surprised or that he literally wished he had chose otherwise.  He is expressing to us his hatred of evil and we are learning here more about God’s holiness.  There are a few other places in the Bible where terms like this are used about God and it is clear that God will reveal a plan and then change it not because he changed the plan but because he was using his revelation of something to change us.  This happens with Jonah and the people of Nineveh for example.
     v9-10.  Here we see and island of righteousness on the earth in Noah and his family.
     v11-22.  Here God discloses the specific of his plan and directs Noah to make a way for survival for his family (to include the wives of his children).  I take here that the wives of his children were in the lineage of Seth and thus not “daughters of man”. This is the fulfilling of his naming by Lamech (the good one) where Lamech declared that relief from the curse would come through Noah. Remember that this happened before the proliferation of wickedness and this helps us see that God was not surprised by these events or needing to react as if not part of his original plan.

Response:
Lord it is clear that you intend for your people to be holy as you are holy.  It is clear that you intend to judge sin and that you will not bear with wickedness forever.  Let this be a clear warning to me and to mankind.  There had been no record of a law given after the expulsion from the garden so the evil was not in transgression of a specific recorded law but there should have been a passing down of the clear roles established where you are king and we are subjects.  We should have remembered that the men are to lead, provide, protect and love.  You made it clear to Cain that he must have self control and overcome the law of sin and death that would well up from within.  I recall that there had been no law given of not murdering but God expected Cain to know this was wrong and to control the desire for envious violence.  Noah’s family received the message and they were faithful.  The fear of God as creator who threatened death to the one who would not trust and obey was lost except in Noah and family.

Reaction:
Lord there is evil all around and I pray that you would preserve my heart and my family and cause us always to fear you.  Let me walk not in self service and selfish ambition but let me be faithful to you and let me love others as I love myself.  Let me consider your flooding of the earth and let me see that you have done this partly to show me your holiness and what I am spared of by your mercy.

Matthew 6

Ready:
Jesus seems to still be in the Sermon on the Mount here as I begin this chapter.  Please give me understanding and let me know you better in reading your Word.

Reading thoughts:
There is a lot here and little time.  I see lessons on how to give, how to pray, the need to forgive, how to fast, where to lay treasures, and what to concern myself with.  These are very practical lessons continuing in the idea of correcting wrong views of life.

Key Verses:

“1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1, ESV)

“33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33, ESV)

The theme is- Similar to the last chapter the theme here is that mankind misunderstands absolutely everything.  Different though is the way this chapter is entirely about relating to God whereas the last was more about relating to others.

Rumination thoughts:
     v1-4.  Here I see that I am not to try to bring attention to myself for praise or self-exaltation when I do the good works you prepare for me Lord but I should quietly go about loving you and loving others.  This is contrasted to the last chapter in verse 16 where you say to let my light sine before others that they may see my good works and give glory to the Father.  The difference is clearly where the glory is going.  Here you warn not to try to get the glory ourselves.  Like the rest of the chapter this text is really about how I relate to you and not to the poor.
     v5-13.  Here you teach us not exactly what to pray but how to pray and embedded in it is a requirement that we be forgiving since this is what we seek from you.  You show us that the first order and focus of our prayer should be about you.  I see that after the humble and reverent address the first three petitions are about your majesty and glory and kingdom and plan.  They are upward and outward prayers about God and spiritual life.  The next three are about me and my neediness as a fallen and dependent creature.  Hallowed means feel reverence for or to regard as holy.  This is to be the pattern of my praying.  I am to look to God and orient myself to his will and his kingdom and then to present my needs and seek help with my struggles to love him and love others well.  This looks nothing like presenting a laundry list but more like worship!
     v14-15.  Here is the breaking out of the forgiveness piece.  There is a clear link in loving God and loving others.  It seems that God is relational and his love for the Son breaks into our lives here and we are to understand that we are not alone.  We are to live in community and we are to love others if we are to be like God.  We are called to live not unto ourselves but unto God and others.  We simply will be forgiving if we know God and love God.  This is clear.  See 1 John 3:10, 4:21.  I am an image bearer and God loves mercy so much that he sacrificed his Son to show it.  Christians forgive. They do not ask how many times lest we want the Father to ask us how many times he shall forgive.  It again returns to fear of the Lord.
     v16-18.  Here I see that I should again not seek attention for attention's sake in my spiritual disciplines but it should be between me and God.
     v19-24.  My devotion will follow my investment.  Pastor Kent covered this well at the men’s retreat this year.  Where I invest my time and effort and resources is where my heart will be.  I can choose this.  But if I choose to invest primarily in the world and in material things then there will me desires and thoughts and dreams be as well. And you make it clear that where my attention is focused reveals the desires of my inner man.  My inner man cannot desire the world and claim to serve you!
     v25-34.  The key here is our focus and our seeking.  Verse 33 is the key.  Am I seeking what I can see and touch for the sake of comfort and security?  Or am I seeking God above all else?  Am I trusting him to provide for me like he does for the rest of his creatures or am I sacrificing a seeking of him in order to provide for this comfort and security for myself.  Am I too busy to seek after God?  Do I give him my left overs or is he my first and top order of business every day?  Do I claim that he is the priority of my life but then he does not end up the priority of my day?  When do I live that day that is my “life”?…maybe tomorrow?

Response:
Lord you teach me here to have a Godward focus to my life in all I do.  You teach me to relate to you with fear and trembling and to honor you and you show me how to pray.  You see my heart in all I do and you call me to rely on you and to seek you first. You want me to not do it on my own but in reliance upon you.

Reaction:
Let me wake each day and hunger for you O God.  Cause me to focus my attention on you and to give attention to my desires and thoughts and let me pray for the things I ought to pray for.  When I fail to pray rightly Lord, please intervene and may your Spirit pray for me as you promise in Rom 8:26-27.  Let me daily seek you and rely upon you for my satisfaction and security and comfort.  Let me continue to work and to provide for my family but from a place of gratitude for the provision being from you and from a place of contentment where I do not sacrifice time with you to gain up greater belongings or worldly pleasures or some late night TV.  Let your name be hallowed in my heart and mind O Lord. Let thy kingdom come Lord that you would rule in this heart and in this body. May thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven that your people would joyfully obey you with full trust and belief that you are faithful and righteous and good.  Please meet my physical and emotional needs here as I walk in a broken body Lord.  Grant me the grace and love to forgive others Lord because I know that you have forgiven me.  Protect me from the enemy and give me wisdom and discernment to not walk in the counsel of the wicked that I may not be led into temptation.  Be praised today in this worm Lord and may you reign forever.

Soli Deo Gloria!

January 5

Genesis 5; Matthew 5

Genesis 5

Ready:
I recall that in Genesis 4 I learned from Cain’s sin in the tragic death of Abel and from Lamech and Adam and Eve as well.  The chapter ended looking forward to the lineage of Seth as people began to call upon the lord again in his day.  Lord please reveal to me more of your story of redemption and our need for your rescue in these pages and let me see the message of the coming Messiah to save us.  May I recognize the lessons and encouragements that you intend for me here.

Reading thoughts:
Knowing who Noah is and what is to come I see here that we are being guided to the patriarch who will preserve humanity and therefore all human lineage again narrows through Noah and his wife in the story to come.  Something jumps out at me that there is another introduction speaking of the generations and the creation that tells me Moses is again beginning some significant section of history here.  Again, knowing that the next chapter brings an increasing corruption on the earth it seems this chapter describes the line of Seth that remained God-fearing and trusting of the lord. 

I see the theme as- Another offspring calls upon the lord and here is preserved a remnant of people who have faith in God and through whom the curse will be relieved.

Key Verses:

“22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.” (Genesis 5:22–23, ESV)

“28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son 29 and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”” (Genesis 5:28–29, ESV)

Rumination thoughts:
    v1-2.  Here is the intro that revisits creation and sets us off into a new chapter of history.
    v3-5.  The language like what was used to describe how God created man in his own image is here assigned to how Seth was fathered in the likeness and image of Adam.  Later in Paul’s letter to the Romans we will learn how death reigned through Adam and it was passed down to all his offspring in a way that we all inherit the sin nature of Adam and can be said to be “in Adam”.  Here now there is no mention of other specific children and their descendants because the concern here seems to be the lineage to Noah.  This can be because they are a righteous line and also because the others will fall off the map due to the coming flood.  Certainly people lived a long time back in this time and there are debates over why that I will not take the time now to consider.
    v6-21.  There is a repeating pattern here of living - fathering a specific son - living longer - and having other children.  Looking forward to the end of the chapter and adding up the years between each man fathering the specific son mentioned it appears that there was 2,612 years from Adam’s creation through ten generations to the birth of Noah’s sons Shem , Ham, and Japheth (assuming that everyone was mentioned in this list).  Since Adam lived 930 years that means he lived though almost half of this period!
    v22-24.  Here the repeating pattern is interrupted to announce something very special as I learn of Enoch.  There is very little disclosed here and much is speculated but what is clear is that Enoch had a special relationship with God.  Unlike anyone else, Moses announces that Enoch “walked with God” and that “God took him”.  Enoch did not have a record of death but instead he appears to have simply been taken up by God!  This makes Enoch a Biblical character to remember although not much else is known of him.
    v25-28.  The pattern resumes.
    v29.  Again an interruption to announce the naming of Noah.  Noah is the patriarch here who will extend the human race beyond God’s judgement of the flood.  Lamech named him this and declared that Noah would bring relief from the work and from the “painful toil of their hands”.  It seems like a reference to the curse of chapter 3 and I see here a reference to redemption.  Lamech seems to know that God is going to do an act of mercy through this son of his! 
    v30-32.  Pattern resumes and we conclude at the birth of Noah’s three sons having covered more than 2,000 years in one chapter.  This chapter is a bit of a time warp compared to the previous ones (other than maybe the eons that transpired in eternity before God created anything).

Response:
Lord I see you weaving together a history to show us that we are not descended from some unknown source or from many different races, but ultimately we come from Adam and through Noah.  We are made of the same sinful fiber as those who came before us and it seems that you save a remnant who fear you.  May my family be part of your remnant Lord who fears you and walks with you as Enoch did.  I see that you slow down to note when someone walks with you and when someone trusts and hopes in you.

Reaction:
Lord let me trust in your plans and hope in the future that you hold for me and let me leave a legacy to my children that they might be known as one who walked with you. 

Matthew 5

Ready:
I left off in Matthew with Jesus calling disciples and healing many people after being tempted in the desert while fasting for 40 days.  Jesus has just begun his public ministry and is now officially “on the scene” there in area of Galilee.  This is far ahead now of where I was just reading in Genesis as this is now the Messiah who came through that line of Seth as “God with us”.  Help me to hear and do what you instruct in your Word Lord and let me see what I should see here.

Reading thoughts:
There are a number of lessons here and I probably will not be able to give deep thought on all of them Lord.  This chapter begins the Sermon on the Mount. Beginning with the beatitudes Jesus addressed a crowd up on a hill where he sat and was joined by “his disciples”.  I take this to be the broad term, not simply referring to the 12 disciples, which had not even been entirely assembled yet.  The beatitudes give us an understanding that blessedness and the favor of God does not look like prosperity and health and an easy life.  He explains that we are to be salty and our lives are to be a message of hope to those around us.  He proceeds to give a number of lessons about life concluding with the statement that “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  A seemingly impossible task is handed to the one who would call himself a follower of Christ.

Key verses:

“17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17, ESV)

“20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20, ESV) 

“29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” (Matthew 5:29, ESV)

“44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:44, ESV)

The theme here is-  That mankind misunderstands absolutely everything.  We have been interpreting reality and even the law completely wrong.  Jesus proclaims that he is here to grant understanding and to reveal to us the reality that we have clouded in our unrighteousness.  He is here to tune our hearts and minds to God on his way to die in our place.

Rumination thoughts:
      v1-12.  The beatitudes basically teach me that God is the one who meets all needs and who makes all things right and who is to be trusted with all that we are.  There is no fixing of all our problems in this life apart from God.  I do not see this as a list of traits that we must develop in order to get to heaven.  I see this as a reality that Jesus presents that will be us because he is our all in all.  We need not drum up mourning or persecution or the like but we will indeed identify with these things in life and we can trust that there will be a day when our bodies will be redeemed and when all sin and suffering will be destroyed forever.  The first three teach me about how I see my relationship with you God.  The next four speak about me and how I relate to others. There is certainly no teaching here that God’s blessing brings health and wealth…not quite.
       v13-16.  I am to be salt and light.  I am to have the flavor of godliness and joy and a be a message of hope to the lost.  I do not seek attention but it should be plain to all that I trust in the Lord and that I am not destroyed when trouble comes and when duty calls.  The message of my life is not to be my satisfaction with the world but my trust in God and devotion to God despite my circumstances.
       v17-20.  Christ did not come to give me license to sin.  Christ came to fulfill the law…to keep it perfectly and to fulfill the righteous requirements revealed by God (Rom. 8:4).  Paul says in Romans that he did this for us and that Christ is the end (or fulfillment) of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom 10:4).  The law is still good and it teaches us to love God and to love others.  It teaches us righteousness and justice.  We are to live in this way despite the fact that the law cannot and does not save us.  The law’s purpose is not to measure our righteousness but to measure our sinfulness and the pharisees had that mixed up (1 Tim 1:8-11). Here Jesus declares that we must have a righteousness that exceeds that of the pharisees and this would have been a huge statement to these people since the pharisees were the most “righteous” people you could find, it would seem.  Clearly Jesus is calling out a different righteousness that is not our own and that is deeper than the surface or the outside of the cup (Matt. 23:25-28).
       v21-32.  Here Jesus picks up three of the ten commandments and exposes our misunderstanding of the law.  Like Paul clarifies in Romans 7, the law is spiritual.  The law cannot possibly be achieved in the flesh.  Jesus exposes the level at which the law functions is deeper than actions.  It is heart level.  With this in mind he admonishes us with a gospel message in the midst of the story about the man being dragged to court. He seems to allude to the fact that we too are being dragged to court for our breaking of this law and we will surely be found guilty if we do not settle with the accuser (the law) before we are before the judge (God) and then cast into hell forever.  We must settle this debt and this is exactly what Jesus is here to do for us.  Here the idea that the fine is not paid until paid to the last penny tells me something of the payment Jesus made on that cross.  There is also a message right on the surface that we need to deal with our broken relationships and we must mend wrongs that we have responsibility for.  The radical way in which Jesus expects me to deal with my sin is clear in verses 29-30.  It would seem plain here that I am not to settle for sin in my life but I am to hate it and to kill it if I would consider myself a member of God’s family.  Clearly I should not interpret this as a command to cut off limbs or gouge out eyes since the Apostles all kept their bodies in tact.  This is an example of exaggeration, which Jesus uses often to make a point.
       v33-37.  Jesus here teaches us not to make promises or take oaths based on things over which we have no control or authority.  We can only control ourselves and we must rely on our word as enough to validate our ability to come through.  This issue is a little tough however, because there are places in the New Testament where oaths are seemingly given by Apostles so this will come up later.
       v38-42.  Here Jesus teaches that I am not to fight for my rights in retaliation and that I am to be content with suffering wrongly.  I am to bless those that curse me and I am to overcome evil with good (Rom 12:14 & 21).  Some will force me and some will simply ask me.  Either way we are not to decide our actions based on what is best for us or on self preservation of my rights.  The idea is that I cannot live protecting myself from all harm or from anyone taking advantage of me…to do so is to be ruled by the enemy.  I am to be free to risk abuse and free to love without protecting myself.
       v43-48.  If I am to be like my Father then I am to be merciful and I am to love those who are not “worthy" of it.  Verse 45 explains what is known as “common grace” where God actually shows grace and mercy to all mankind and even this kindness is founded on the cross of Christ (Rom. 3:25-26).  For this reason Jesus truly did bring blessing to all mankind, not just believers.  God treats man in light of the sacrifice of his Son and always has (Psalm 103:10).

Response:
Lord turn this lesson into much more than information for my mind.  Pour into my soul what you would have me understand and how you would have it impact me. The end of the chapter brings me back to the beginning.  I am to be perfect as you are perfect.  I am to rely on you in all my weakness and in all my trouble.  I am not to live with license but in gratitude and hope.

Reaction:
Let me not hope in what the world hopes in Lord but let me find my rest in you alone. Let me love with a love that does not protect myself.  Let me walk uprightly not to earn my place but because I am a child of yours and I want to be like you O God.  Help me Lord to interpret my day and my thoughts and my desires according to your Word and let me love you and love others as you call me to here in this chapter. 

Soli Deo Gloria!

January 4

Genesis 4; Matthew 4

Genesis 4

Ready:
I recall the story of the fall Lord and Adam’s failure and how it was such a dramatic shift in the story of creation and blessing.  The serpent came and did his damage and now on to the next generation.

Reading Thoughts:
So here is the story of Cain and Abel and the 2nd chapter of man’s fall.  I see Lord that Adam taught his boys to fear you and to make offerings to you in thankfulness and this aligns with his repentance in naming Eve in the last chapter.  There seems to be something different about the two sons and only one receives your approval.  Let me learn from this picture Lord.  Cain kills his brother in envy and bitterness and he receives punishment at you hand Lord but not very severe in the sense that he lived and bore children.  You had not yet given any explicit law regarding murder but clearly it was already wrong and sinful. Cain has a great great great grandson named Lamech and he seems arrogant and cruel and he is a murderer like Cain, not to mention a polygamist.  I also see a third son coming and Moses writes about this son and how people began to call upon the Lord again in those days.

The theme is- That God wants our hearts and devotion and we must choose against the sinful reactions that will well up within us in opposition to God’s authority.  We are to trust in God always and do what is right in his eyes.

Rumination Thoughts:
    v3-5.  Here is the account of the offering made to God by both brothers.  For some reason Cain’s offering does not please the Lord and Abel’s does.  This probably has to do with the heart of each man and the resulting offering.  Verse 4 says that Abel brought the firstborn of the flock and their fat portions. I take this to mean he did not hold back and bring the runt or something he was flippant about handing over to God.  Cain’s offering is not indicated by Moses to have been of the “first fruits” but simply an offering of the fruit of the ground.  Later in Deuteronomy 26 the Lord gives instruction on giving offering from the first of the fruit of the ground and it includes much thanks and praise and worship of God. From the attitude in verse 5 where Cain becomes very angry it is clear that he was probably not worshiping God with this offering and giving thanks.  I think the state of the heart as the critical thing here though the offering itself should also match the thankful heart.  This is probably a picture of vain worship as Jesus speaks of in Matthew 15:8-9 where he says “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me.”  Hebrews 11:4 says that Abel, though he died, still speaks through his faith.
     v6-7.  Here Cain and God have some dialogue regarding his reaction to God not delighting in his offering.  God explains to Cain that sin is ready to pounce on him like a lion if he opens to door to let it in.  God uses the same phrase here as he did when he told Adam and Eve that her “desire shall be for your husband”.  Here sin’s “desire is for you” he says to Cain.  This refers to being against or challenging him.  In the same way as God says that Adam will “rule over” Eve here God tells Cain to “rule over” sin.  In the case of Eve Adam is (due to the curse) wrongfully ruling harshly over Eve in response to her sin of challenging his leadership.  In the case of Cain’s sinful desires we see that he is supposed to remain in control and not give in to the temptation to hand over his reaction to sin.  Cain is to rule his own emotion and responses as Adam is to stand up and lead even when leading is not easy and it means putting down personal desires or instinctively sinful reactions.  Man now has a corrupt heart but God makes it clear that he is yet responsible to control it.  Psalm 4:2-5 seems to be a direct teaching of how Cain should have handled this scenario.
     v8-16.  Here Cain kills his brother seemingly out of envy and bitterness.  Then God punishes him by sending him further away and making life even harder on him.  God takes away the thing Cain seemed to love more than God- growing fruit trees.  God actually declares that he will protect the life of Cain from others by threatening to take vengeance sevenfold for whomever would kill him.  This is the first mention of God’s vengeance on behalf of another in the Bible.  It closes with Cain going away from the presence of the Lord.  This verse is interesting because it indicates that Adam and his family were still enjoying some type of presence with the Lord in spite of their expulsion from Eden.      v17-24.  Cain has children and after five generations Lamech takes two wives and then becomes an arrogant murderer.  He even writes a song about his conquest of polygamy and murderous revenge!  In his song he refers to the story that must have been passed down from Cain about God’s promise to take vengeance sevenfold on anyone who would kill Cain.  Lamech, however, does not leave vengeance to the Lord and he even kicks it up to seventy-seven fold in his arrogance and anger.  This picture of revenge and Godless abandon that led to the idea of multiplying the threat to the one who was owed vengeance comes up again from the opposite angle in the gospels.  Jesus is questioned how many times one should forgive an offending brother and the suggestion to Jesus is seven times. Jesus, likely with Lamech in mind, responds with a need to forgive seventy-seven times.  I think his point was that asking at what point to stop forgiving is like asking how much to multiply vengeance.  Jesus was rebuking them for thinking that not forgiving is even an option…ever.  Because vengeance belongs to the Lord…not to Lamech and not to me.
     v25-26.  Here is the beginning of the blood line of redemption.  Seth is born to Adam and Eve and Seth’s line will eventually lead to Jesus!  Seth is the route from the first Adam to the second Adam.  Remember that Adam named his wife Eve for "mother of all the living”.  Note that 1 Tim 2:14-15 says that though Eve was deceived and became a transgressor, she will be saved through child bearing- if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self control.  Interesting that Adam did not strike down Cain and that they did not give up on having children based on this tragic experience. No…they had faith and love and holiness…they had self control and she gave birth to Seth!  Through whom would come the salvation not only of Adam and Eve but for all who would ever trust in his distant descendant Jesus!  Keep in mind, however, that the human bloodline to Jesus only comes through Mary since Joseph was not the physical father of Jesus (the Holy Spirit begot Jesus in the womb of Mary).  This is important because Jesus was born without being under the curse and without the corrupt nature that Adam passed to all his offspring. Corruption of original sin and the curse of God from the last chapter is therefore passed down to a child in the man’s seed and not by the mother.

Response:
Thank you Lord for this message of faith and devotion and thanksgiving and the lesson from Abel that we are to come to you with our best and that lesson from Adam and Eve to keep hope in God and to trust you in the worst of times.  Thank you for the lesson from Cain and Lamech that I have a sinful nature that wants to come forth and that wants revenge and that has an inclination to self rather than for God and others.

Reaction:
Let me, like Adam and Eve, continue in faith and love and holiness, with self control even in the hard times.  Please give me a thankful heart that does not hold back my best and that does not get bitter if I don’t get something I expect and let me not be envious of what others accomplish or the blessing that you pour on them.  Let me be thankful aways and constantly aware of my sin nature that desires to rule over me.

Matthew 4

Ready:
Yesterday was the scene at the Jordan where Jesus was baptized and this indicated the beginning of his ministry and his expressed acceptance of the mission before him.  We know that Jesus, Son of God, had accepted the mission as revealed by the incarnation but here we see that the begotten Son in the flesh, his human nature now united with his divine nature is also is submission to the will of the Father.  Jesus, though having two natures (very foreign to our experience), is one person and he is united in his purpose and his devotion.  Looking again to the outline in the introduction of the book in the study bible I am reminded that this chapter falls under a heading "Jesus the Messiah Begins to Advance the Messianic Kingdom”. 

Reading Thoughts:
The scene here shifts dramatically from the water of the Jordan to the dry desert where Jesus immediately is led into suffering by the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes you lead us here too O Lord.  The first act of ministry for Jesus is to suffer willfully in fasting and in temptation by his enemy, the devil. Satan came along, by the will of God, as indicated by Matthew’s narrative, and Jesus faces three temptations of the devil.  He resists and puts the devil in his place by quoting scripture and relying on the truth of God’s Word.  Here Jesus is prepared for what lies before him in the coming three years. Then a big shift again and Jesus is now back in town and he is impacted in some way by the arrest of John the Baptist.  He begins to preach the same message John had.  Jesus then calls disciples and starts to minister in synagogues and to crowds of people proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God and healing the sick and lame.

The theme in the chapter is this- Jesus stands resolute as he begins his ministry with suffering and then moves into proclamation of the truth and evidencing his power and authority to change lives and to bring wholeness to a broken people.

Rumination Thoughts:
     v1-11.  In Genesis I saw that Adam and Eve handed the keys to earth over to the devil and it is now fitting that Jesus walks straight into the devil’s playground and says "give me your best!”  There is a proclamation to the enemy here that the Kingdom of God has come down to earth and will not be ruled like mankind is ruled through the devil’s lies.  Jesus makes plain to the enemy his devotion and his resolve.  Like Israel's 40 years of wandering in the desert being purified and tested by God so Jesus enters the desert with 40 days of fasting and dependence upon God.  There are amazing parallels here with Deuteronomy 8:2-3 and the remainder of the chapter really (check it out).  Satan tries in three ways to thwart the plan of the cross in this scenario.  This serpent, “the craftiest of the beasts of the field”, knows Jesus from long ago when Jesus created him but Jesus is now in human flesh and Satan knows a thing or two about human nature.  Satan attacks this human nature in the same manner in which he tempts us.  All of the temptations are about bringing Jesus to rely and trust in himself and therefore to disobey the Father and abandon the purpose of his coming.
     He first challenges Jesus’ identity and power to perhaps entice Jesus by his obvious state of hunger to perform a miracle to convince himself of his identity.  This would have been doubting what God had plainly announced at the Jordan and it would have been breaking the fast that apparently was not over yet.  It is similar to what Satan said in the garden “Did God really say that?  Is that really true?” Compare with "Did God really announce that you are his Son?  Why has he left you hungry in this desert?  You gave manna to the Jews while they were in the desert and you gave them water from a rock too.  Why not do that now also? Just eat!” In this Satan tempts Jesus to rely on his deity to end his suffering but you see, Jesus came to suffer and die…and he knows it.  Jesus responds with a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3 and declares that his hunger is meant to focus him to rely on God, not food. He also indicates that he trusts the Words of God for life and he need not doubt what God has plainly stated.  Better to be sustained by God in obedience to his Word than to find supposed comfort and relief through disobedience.
     The second temptation was that Jesus would display himself to the Jews dramatically as arriving at the temple to rule and deliver them as Messiah.  This was not the plan that Jesus had come to subject himself to, and this would have been testing God to see if he would protect and support Jesus even in the breaking of his will.  Jesus rejects this and essentially says “nope- it is wrong to test God and it is right to obey him.”  Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 which was God telling his people not to test him again like they did in the desert when they demanded that Moses produce water in order to prove that God was still providing for them because they doubted this fact in light of their circumstances.
     The final temptation was to hand over the rule of the nations that Satan was given by Adam and Eve.  Of course Jesus bowing to Satan would not have accomplished this (the lie) but it would have extended Satan’s rule into the Kingdom of God (theoretically).  Of greatest importance, this would have been a perceived shortcut to gain the inheritance that God has promised to the Son with no need to suffer on the cross for the sins of his people. Not distracted by the lie of an easy way out and not fooled by the deception of what the result would be, Jesus plainly rests on the simple fact that God has declared that we are not to worship any but him alone.  In all cases here Jesus turns to the revealed will of God in his Word rather than to any secret knowledge or general principle observed in nature. Jesus does not rationalize based on the guy next to him or based on what will be most acceptable to others.  He does not rely on man’s definition whatsoever and he turns each time to the Word of his heavenly Father.  Jesus knows where truth comes from and he knows what is real and what is a shadow.  He has come to reveal this very thing to us!  “Be gone, Satan!” Jesus proclaims…and the enemy in all his fierceness obeys the command of the creator.  I presume this was an omnipotent command that effected his immediate removal rather than a mere request by the Son of God.  Jesus not only declares to the enemy and to us that he is resolute in his purpose and in his devotion to God but that he wields not a power of deception and coercion but an omnipotent rule of all things whereby his command is in the moment necessarily obeyed by whomever or whatever receives it. Wind, water, beasts, demons, dice, dead fish, live fish, and even human hearts.  There is no distinction…all things hear his voice and obey when he gives such command.  This is a power that the enemy fears and knows not.
     v12-25.  Briefly over the remainder of the chapter Jesus seems to honor John and to show the unity in their purpose by declaring the same message.  “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus calls his first disciples and they respond with what appears to be a surrender of their profession and a leaving of their family and they are given a mission to become fishers of men.  There is more to this story that will be revealed by another gospel later.  Matthew says in verse 23 that Jesus went about to the synagogues and among the people proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom and healing every disease and affliction.  Thinking on the whole picture of redemptive history and placing these events along the timeline it seems that the healing of the people is a clear message.  It has been said that the miracles were to establish his deity and the truth of his message.  Jesus himself clearly alluded to the fact that he healed to prove his power and authority that extended to forgiving sins. This clue helps with the big problem he came to take care of. He came to save us from our sins just like the angel told Joseph in the dream that convinced him to stick with Mary.  I take the healings as supporting that goal and end of saving us from our sins… and not primarily about taking away suffering or hardship or anything like that. I think he was showing mankind that he indeed has the power to heal us inside and out. He has the power to make us holy and whole.  He has all authority in our lives and he can do anything he claims to be able to do.

Response:
Thank you God for the work your Son came to do and for letting us see into the history of this earthly life of our King.  May you cause me to respond to temptation with the same resolve and dependence upon you and with the use of your Word and with a devotion to you that is unwavering O Lord.  Let me not forget the authority that you hold over the enemy even in this age where he rules the world and controls culture and brings such deception and distraction.  Let me trust you to have the ability to create holiness in me by my union with Christ.

Reaction:
Lord please strengthen my resolve to memorize scripture and bless my efforts in this.  Give me focus of thought and let me be wise in avoiding the devil’s traps and let me not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers as you warn in Psalm 1.  Give me sober thinking and let me be ever aware of the power of my King who lives in me by his Spirit. 

Soli Deo Gloria!

January 3

Genesis 3; Matthew 3

Genesis 3

Ready:
Lord in Genesis 2 you have setup roles and responsibilities clearly for mankind and it is under and by your authority that you set us out to rule this earth.  You delegated this to us and you have given us marriage and you have provided wonderfully.

Reading Thoughts:
As I read Lord I see your plan unfold even in the midst of our failure and the wickedness of the adversary.  I see a scene where your people that you gave authority to subdue and rule the earth and all that is on it defect and they place themselves under another authority, a false authority.  They surrender their role to Satan and they delegate to him the very role that you delegated to our first parents.  I see here how Satan became the ruler of this world and the prince of the power of the air. We were tasked as the rulers of the world but we gave it away in treasonous distrust and disobedience.  I see Adam’s miserable failure, just like mine would have been.  I see Adam fail to name his wife and to lead her and to protect her and I see him failing to subdue and rule the crafty beast who would come with a message counter to what Adam knows as truth.  I see the apathy and selfishness of Adam and his failure as a husband and a man. I see this crafty beast manipulating both Adam and Eve and in so doing he offers temptation through the very command that you gave.  He attacks Eve by causing her to question what God had commanded Adam prior to her arrival and she then seems to inform Adam of what she now believes based upon the wisdom of the world.  She buys the wisdom of the creation over the wisdom of the creator.  I see Lord that you placed a guard in the garden after their fall to ensure that they did not become permanently separated from you in order to make for the plan of redemption that you had purposed before this scene began.  Clearly Lord you could have placed the guard to begin with but you had purpose in our fall.  You had purpose in the wickedness that you knew was to beset us.  Let us be sorrowful yet always rejoicing O Lord for you have purpose in suffering!

The key verses are these-

“7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” (Genesis 3:7, ESV)

“9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”” (Genesis 3:9, ESV)

The theme is this- 
The tragic transfer of authority from man to Satan and the corruption of humanity in enmity toward God leading to expulsion from the place of communion with God…all for the very purpose of God to redeem a people who would know God in the riches of his glory!

Rumination Thoughts:
     v1-5.  Here Lord is the beginning of the corruption of humanity and our fall from innocence.  The enemy goes to the woman.  Eve had not received the command directly but through the advice of her husband she was told of this command (it seems).  So we see that Adam took to heart the command of God from the beginning.  We know that Eve received it from Adam because the command came prior to her creation.  Satan exploits this and goes to her to ask if God really said that.  He attacks both authorities over her at once in this.  He offers to her in that moment ad chance to rule over herself and to make her own determination of good.  I see plainly that she is the first to sin but is she?  Where was Adam?  Why did he not name her yet?  Why no child yet?  Why was he allowing the serpent to converse with his bride?  Why was the serpent not beheaded immediately. These responsibilities of Adam should have been clear but were not laid down like the law regarding the tree.  Eve was responsible to keep the law but it was Adam who bore the burden in this.  Adam was responsible for Eve.  Her sin is his sin by his failure to keep her safe.  Did he fear her opinion of him if her were to suggest that she not speak to the serpent?  What went through his mind?  Is it like what goes through mine when I see danger and I am too weak to take it head on?  The deceptive benefits of sin were shining and glowing and it would have taken a submission to the authority of God and a trust in his perfect provision to resist and to flee from the devil.  Satan bids us to believe his version of reality rather than God’s.  His is based on our supposed freedom but is really bondage to him.  We are a slave to the one whom we serve (Rom. 6:16).
     v6.  Appropriate verse number.  Here is the culmination of the fall of mankind.  Eve, deceived and believing in the benefits of the forbidden fruit in spite of the promise and warning from God through her husband, takes and eats.  Adam is right there with her watching and doing nothing.  He follows her lead and he eats as well, full knowing that this is wrong.  So they have surrendered their will to the enemy and they have thus dethroned God from their lives and now serve sin.  Man became self absorbed and broken and separated from God in that moment.  Yes their eyes were opened…
     v7.  This part was no lie.  They now understood what evil was…it was them.  They know that they are guilty and they are ashamed.  They are also aware of themselves like never before.  They no longer see the beauty in the other because they are too busy looking upon themselves in shame and uncertainty. They cover themselves and they are self absorbed.  I can picture the serpent slinking into the distance a bit and relishing the moment.  He owns the pinnacle of God’s creation and thus he rules the earth.  Satan had no chance until the command was given to Adam.  It was the command that allowed Satan opportunity to deceive.  No command means no challenge to obedience means no failure…and no knowledge of the riches of the glory of God.  This will be developed when we come to Romans.  This was no surprise to God.  He was not an absentee God unknowingly dethroned by a crafty beast that somehow operated outside of his awareness.
     v8-11.  The picture here is of guilt, and shame, and fear rather than trust.  The two had enjoyed fellowship with God but now feel a threat and know that they are responsible for something terrible. Rightly so…recall that God warned him that he would die the day he ate of the fruit.  God highlights our separation by calling for Adam as if he does not know where to find him.  He further makes it clear that it is Adam who bears responsibility in this mess.  God called to the man.  God knocks on the door of my home to inquire of the state of affairs and whomever answers is given the reply “where is Jeff?  I need to speak to him.” O Lord let me know this responsibility to the core of my being.  Let me bear this burden with resolve and with your power.  Let me understand whom it is I report to and that I have duty and responsibility.  Lord let me not be slack and let me not fear my wife or children and let me not fail.  I need more than what Adam had O God.  I need your indwelling Spirit to guide me and empower me and inform me and I need to meditate on your Word and be informed by truth.  Grant me strength to lead and to love sacrificially and let me take up arms against the enemy at first sight.  The enemy is a pitiful scoundrel God, it is you who bear the sword and have the power to kill my soul.  Let me not extend to the enemy the fear that is due to you.
     v12-13.  The pitiful excuses and the shunning of responsibility and the throwing of the bride under the bus!  The blaming of God himself!  Notice that no longer is there talk of the goodness of the fruit and the logical argument that convinced them.  All this is gone.  The lie was a lie.  The benefit disintegrates in their hands and the truth is now standing physically before them in the light of day.  There is darkness in their hearts plainly exposed.
     v14-19.  The curse upon the earth and mankind and the enemy is pronounced.  Living the design that God had graciously given us will now be a challenge and we will labor not in joy but in toil.
     v20-21.  Its about time.  Now Adam give his wife a personal name.  God then clothed them by killing an animal for a covering.  Note that God did not kill them as he had promised when the command was given.  “In the day you eat of it you shall surely die”. Nope- he killed a substitute.  From this moment the righteous God of creation has a problem.  Where is his justice?  How is it right to kill the animal instead of the guilty party and how does that help? Why does he not leave the plant as a covering?  What is he saying?  This was likely the first thing on earth to die.  Sacrificed to remove the shame of mankind.  Is there a reason that the record inserts Adam naming Eve right here the moment before God sacrifices an animal to cover them?  It seems awkwardly placed.  Is Adam repenting?  Is he expressing faith?  Is there hope that God has a perfect plan for all of this?  Did Adam appreciate his role and understand the implications before the fall? Can he see plainly that God has spared them and does he now repent and step up?
     v22-24.  Here God again converses within the trinity and gives us a window into heaven. It is plain Lord that the enemy was not lying about becoming like God in the knowledge of good and evil. You plainly affirm that this happened.  The enemy used truth and twisted it into deception by supposing that it would be good for them to distrust God.  To the contrary, you now take arms to ensure that man does not remain in this state of brokenness and corruption.  It seems necessary that man fell in order to know of evil and the meaning of righteousness and so your plan of redemption is better O God than a garden of Eden with no serpent.  Better that we know you than that we be ignorant O God but it is our own failure and sin that you have used to bring us unto yourself.  Our worst and the enemies worst is used by your omnipotent goodness to bring us to yourself more fully. You display your authority and power and you protect us in our plight and you ensure that we will now be on the road of redemption if we will but trust and obey with the faith that you have given Adam in his repentance.  Our first parents are expelled from the Garden but they take with them the gift of faith and repentance and provision.

Response:
Lord you setup our understanding of the world and the way sin and truth work.  I know that the world is under the authority of the devil and that it works to deceive me and to get me to remain under his rule.  I know that you call me out from the world and you bid me to repent and to trust you rather than myself.  You offer me a loincloth of skin and you give me a promise of hope.  You call me unto the responsibility for my family and you charge me to keep them safe and to teach them in your way. You teach me that this life will not be a pleasure cruise but that I can have peace and joy and redemption when I trust you.  I am on a long road to a place better than the garden O God and you are leading me by the hand.

Reaction:
Let me not look back and let me not listen to the lies.  Give me boldness and love and let me lead as a servant leader in my home.  Let me interpret the world according to the truth and let me see through the lies of the fruit before me all over the place and let me hunger not for food that feeds only my body but let me hunger for thee O God.  Your curse is my teacher and let me hear plainly the message to rely on you and to seek you and to know you.

Matthew 3

Ready:
In Matthew 2 Lord you work all circumstances and you ensure that your plan comes to fruition and you make it clear that there is an important mission that this child is on and it is on our behalf. 

Reading Thoughts:
The story here seems to have a number of characters.  There is John the Baptist, the crowds coming to be baptized, the pharisees and sadducees, and then Jesus (with an appearance of the rest of the trinity).  John is fulfilling his prophetic role of announcing the arrival of the Kingdom and according to Isaiah 40 he is making the path for Jesus to come and give the answer to the dilemma John presents.  John is announcing that we are sinners and that we are like grass that fades but that God is mighty and eternal.  We are not like him and he is coming and we have a problem!  We need to change our ways! There is a group that is mostly investigating what he is saying and John calls them out as unrepentant phonies who rely on their earthly heritage for their supposed righteousness. Jesus then busts onto the scene and there is a dramatic presentation of the Father and the Spirit participating with this baptism.

The key verses are here-

“8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.” (Matthew 3:8–9, ESV)

“14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.” (Matthew 3:14–15, ESV)

“16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”” (Matthew 3:16–17, ESV)

The theme is this-
The preparation and the initiation of the ministry of Jesus Christ, savior of his people.

Rumination Thoughts:
     v1-2.  This message of the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand must have been something odd. Wouldn’t people expect something more grand than a weird guy in the wilderness yelling at people? The message becomes clearer as we move along since he ultimately settles on it being the announcement of the arrival of a person- Jesus.  John is calling them to repent.  Presumably they would be repenting of sins according to the Jewish law of Moses and this would make sense if there was an imminent arrival of God in their midst and they have been in a wandering from his law.
     v3-6.  Matthew narrates here and gives us the insider information that John was prophesied about in Isaiah and the chapter there tells us about the fleeting nature of the creation and of all flesh and the enduring nature of God and how he will bring good news with his mighty hand.  It sounds like lots of people were hearing and listening and being baptized by John.  People were confessing sins and wanting to be free of their guilt.
     v7-10.  Here John deals with the religious establishment.  These two groups (pharisees and sadducees) were Jews that held to the Mosaic law and they are the spiritual leaders of the day.  John calling them a brood of vipers would have been dramatic because these were the men of God that the people would go to on Sabbath to learn from and to worship with.  These were the pastors and the evangelists of their time.  Yet John calls them vipers and tells them that they are unrepentant.  Jesus will use these same words in his encounters with them later.  There is a big clue that John gives here when he suggests that they will lean on being descendants of Abraham.  This would be a reference to the covenant that God made with Abraham and his offspring to bless them and to give them an everlasting kingdom.  This became license to the religious of that time and they considered that they had no responsibility in this covenant other than to follow some customs and rules (when people were looking).  The huge statement here is regarding the rocks being made into children of Abraham.  This is us!  We are the stones that the Holy Spirit exchanges for flesh and give us life and circumcises our hearts and makes us children of God by his work and not by the law.  This is made clear in Romans 2:29, Jeremiah 31:31-33, Ezekiel 36:26-27 and elsewhere.
     v11-12.  John’s baptism is different than what the Apostles will do.  John’s baptism precedes the resurrection and is therefore only symbolic of the washing of sin as in the purification that happens in the sacrifice at the tabernacle.  John is helping people to acknowledge their sin and seek cleansing. He says that Jesus will come and he will do something much greater.  Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.  Interesting though that Jesus does not baptize anyone.  He instructs baptism but until Jesus dies and rises- there is no true baptism to take place!  Jesus will bring a baptism that represents the judgement of God killing the flesh in a union with the death of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit granting new life in the believer who is born anew into the Kingdom of God as his child by promise, not by earthly heritage.  This is a union in death and in resurrection unto life.  This is the baptism that he instructs his apostles to perform after his resurrection.
     v13-17.  This is the amazing scene where the Son of God acknowledges why he is here on earth among his creation.  Jesus here submits to the Father and agrees to take on the sin of his sheep as he wades into the water of the Jordan and prepares to be symbolically killed by his creation.  Jesus never sinned.  He is the holy and righteous Son of the most high God and yet he asks John to baptize him. John is baptizing sinners needing to repent and be cleaned!  Why is Jesus doing this??  John recognizes the problem and refuses initially.  But Jesus, like he will later do with Peter, lets John know that this must be so. Jesus is asking that John submit to his role and symbolically slay Jesus with the judgement of God as if he were guilty of the crimes that his people were responsibly for. Jesus received a baptism of death in the river and when he come up we are told of a scene that foreshadows the most amazing truth of this universe.  The Son has been obedient unto death and the Father reveals his identity by raising him from the water and resurrecting him unto life.  Jesus comes up and the Father expresses his great joy and approval in his Son who has committed now to go to the cross.  The Holy Spirit comes upon him and we know that this Jesus comes with the authority and power of God and that he will die and rise and that he pleases his Father.  We know that we must listen to every Word he says like it is treasure from heaven.  Tying this into the ascension- the Spirit did not come until Jesus died (was plunged into the water) and rose and the sky opened to receive him in the ascension (though he did not leave this first time).  This will be the case later in the story. His identity is not made sure by the declaration of the Father until he is raised from the water.  This will be the case again later.  This baptism in the Jordan is the cross of Calvary 3 years early.  Jesus has set his face to Jerusalem and he will march to his death in obedience and love.

Response:
Thank you Lord for the sweetness of this passage and the joy that it brings my soul.  Thank you that you came to seek and to save the lost.  Thank you Jesus that you gave up your rights and you took on my sin and you died the death that would have killed me forever. Thank you for this foreshadow and for the way it clues me into the ministry you are beginning.  You are not here to teach good ways of living or to provide self help tips.  You came to die for your people in order to reconcile them to God! Everything in your ministry was to support that alone.  I cannot attain righteousness just as the pharisees could not Lord.  I need your righteousness and I need the new life that you gave me by your grace when I surrendered myself to you and trusted you.  Please continue to teach me in this story of the life of Jesus told by Matthew.

Reaction:
Lord you have raised my affections and given me a song.  I have a picture of this baptism scene in my mind that really happened in a real place where I can stand today if I had the resources to get there.  I can imagine watching this unfold and knowing what I know it would have been a tearful and absolutely unbelievable thing to see.  I don’t know if anyone saw or heard the dove or your voice O God that day but we have heard the testimony from Matthew and I am thankful.  Let me not trust in a label or in my obedience Lord but let me trust in the death and resurrection of your Son that has taken this heart of stone and made me new!

Soli Deo Gloria!