January 11

Genesis 12; Matthew 11

Genesis 12

Ready:
The previous chapter left off with the sons of Noah being dispersed over the earth in multiple languages and nations and Terah moving his family from Ur of the Chaldeans into Haran (stopping short of Canaan).  So thus far the lineage of interest is Adam to Seth to Noah to Terah to Abram, with others in between (like Enoch) but these are the main characters leading to Abram.  At this point the person that will be known as Abraham is still named Abram and he lives with his father Terah and it may have only been a few hundred years since the flood.  Lord let me see the wonder of your story here and give me ears to here the significance to my life and eyes to see your plan unfold as I know that Jesus is foreshadowed in all of the law and the prophets by the words of Jesus himself.

Reading thoughts:
I see in this chapter two main parts.  I see Abraham being chosen or “Adopted” by God from among offspring of Adam and Eve to be made into a select and unique people of God.  There had been a promise of an offspring from Eve that would crush the head of the serpent and it seems here now to be narrowed to Abram as he is called out from among the people of the earth, from among the descendants of Noah.  Lamech’s naming of Noah and believing that the curse would be relieved by Noah is coming further along now in God’s calling of Abram.  Abram responds to this call positively and he does as the Lord commands him.  Then I see a second part of this chapter where I get detail of Abram’s journey and his decision and his way of thinking is shown to me.  I see Abram choosing to protect himself in a rather unbecoming manner by giving up his wife to be as a wife to Pharaoh to save his own hide.  Interesting that Sarai goes along with this according to her husband’s will.  Here I remember that as a narrative story Moses is not writing prescriptively so as to tell me that everything recorded is being taught as good and for my instruction, but he write descriptively so as to relay a story to me that will include acts both good and evil by all characters so I can’t assume that what a “good guy” does is always good and recommended for me.

Key Verses:

“1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”” (Genesis 12:1–3, ESV)

“7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.” (Genesis 12:7, ESV)

“10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.” (Genesis 12:10, ESV)
“13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”” (Genesis 12:13, ESV)

“17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.” (Genesis 12:17, ESV)

“20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.” (Genesis 12:20, ESV)

I see the theme here as- God chooses and adopts Abram from among idol worshipers and makes a verbal covenant with him in keeping of his promise to Adam and Eve of an offspring that will conquer the enemy who brought sin and death upon them.

Rumination thoughts:
     v1-3.  Here there are a number of nations and languages on the earth that are all from the line of Noah and any of them could fulfill the promise of an offspring at this point.  But God specifically selects from among them Abram.  He is called out from a land and from a family where idol worship is practiced and most likely by Abram as well (Josh 24:2).  God give him the command to “go” to an unknown land that God will lead him to.  God also makes a promise to Abram involving him  1. becoming a great nation 2. being blessed 3.  having a great name 4. being protected by God by blessing and cursing of his allies and enemies 5.  becoming a blessing to all families of the earth.  So I take it that I should watch for these 5 things to be fulfilled from this point forward in the story up to and including in my lifetime and unto the great day of the Lord where Jesus returns.  These things may come in steps of fulfillment along the way but here God, who is truth, promises something to Abram.  He included the command so there is a sense here that this promise is dependent upon Abram obeying the command to “go”.
     v4-9.  Here Abram responds to the call of God and he goes and he takes his wife and the “people” that are with them (I assume servants and other family members) and specifically mentioned is his nephew Lot.  God again speaks to Abram and now he promises 6.  his offspring will have the land in Canaan.  Abram reacts by building an altar and worshiping God there where God spoke to him again.  He decides to pass through and settle toward a place called Negeb where he builds another altar and worships.  He seems to have a clear picture that he is not yet to go into the land but that he knows it is now given to his offspring.  At that point Abram was 75 years old.
     v10-20.  Here now the story shifts significantly so I know that there is something else that Moses wants me to get or to follow.  The message changes as the plot thickens and more characters are introduced.  There is a conflict of a famine that drives Abram and his bride into Egypt.  This is beginning to play out as a parallel to his descendants who will also end up in Egypt due to a famine.  But here we see something interesting in Abram.  Though he seems convinced that God will deliver what he has promised Abram still interprets that he must lie to protect himself.  It can be debated as to whether this was a lack of faith or if Abram simply figured that he was working toward making God’s promise a reality.  Like when he “went” to fulfill the promise so here maybe he wants to keep alive because he knows that God is doing a work and it seems to involve Abram making choices and taking actions toward that promise.  Like Josephs’s brothers years from now Abram is favored because of Sarai being in tight with Pharaoh just as Joseph was in Pharaoh’s court and offered protection and help to his brothers who arrived seeking relief from the famine (Gen 47).  But also like the Egyptian captivity of Israel where they were eventually abused as slaves Sarai is abused in the sense of being taken as a bride to another man to whom she does not belong.  Then the Lord afflicts Pharaoh with plagues very much foreshadowing what will come upon another Pharaoh in the future when Moses comes to bring the bride of the Lord out from the captivity of Egypt.  Pharaoh ends up sending them off with orders to his men, presumably to provide them with provisions just like the Israelites leave Egypt with gold and provisions when they leave with Moses about 400 years in the future.  So God works with error through Abram’s choice to lie and to treat his wife without the kind of regard that God would have expected but this becomes a visible pattern in the Bible that God uses our imperfect actions and even through the evil of the world he brings his good purpose and cause to fruition.  

Response:
Thank you Lord for the foreshadowing of your plan for your chosen people and for the establishment here of this people.  Thank you for the promises you have made to Abram and I pray that you would allow me to see clearly throughout this entire Bible how you keep these promises because you are truth and your word is authoritative and powerful.

Reaction:
Let me trust the circumstances and outcomes in my life to be under your control Lord and may I understand how my actions and choices play into your work and may I learn that you can and will accomplish your work in my life without my extra helping.  Yet when I blow it and sin and error Lord I know that this does not derail your plan nor does it put me outside of your promises.  Let me worship and rejoice as Abram did when you spoke and when you promised and when you gave him confidence.

Matthew 11

Ready:
Jesus has sent his apostles on mission and he has explained to them how to proceed and what to expect and it is not a rosy picture.  Now He moves on to other cities to teach and preach.

Reading thoughts:
I see Jesus calling attention to a passing of the torch from the prophets of the old testament to Jesus and his pronouncement of condemnation on those who reject God’s speaking through both the prophets and now Jesus.  I also see that Jesus calls those who would set aside the world’s wisdom and come to him like children and take the yoke of his grace rather than the heavy yoke of the law.  These who come to him will be given rest.

Key Verses:

“10 This is he of whom it is written, “ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:10–11, ESV)

“24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”” (Matthew 11:24, ESV)

“25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.” (Matthew 11:25–26, ESV)

“28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”” (Matthew 11:28–30, ESV)

I see the theme as- Jesus announces the transition of revelation from the law and prophets to the incarnate Word among them and he declares woe to those who did not and who will not either now receive the message, but rest to those who will receive it.

Rumination thoughts:
        v1-6.  Here is an interesting account that sounds like the mighty John the Baptist as he sits imprisoned may have doubts or at least is looking for further confirmation that he has been right in his assessment of who Jesus is.  I recall that John kept in the womb of Elizabeth when pregnant Mary come into her presence and the two “met” for the first time in-utero.  But now John, like all of us, is thinking to himself and is hoping for confirmation.  Jesus here responds with amazing love for this man.  Jesus first sends word back to him citing prophecies concerning the Messiah and therefore makes plain to John that he is who John has expected.  Then the story gets better as we see how Jesus speaks of John to those that heard this doubt or question coming from him.
        v7-15.  Jesus here defends John and declares to the world and all future reader of this book that John the Baptist is the greatest man ever to have lived on the earth!  My paraphrase of his comments..."Careful there you who would cast stones at John!!  This man is the last of the old testament prophets and he has prepared the way for me like nobody before him.  He came like Elijah and he has done the work of God among you.”  In verse 12 he says “from the days of John the Baptist until now” as if to designate some transition.  Well John is still alive so this is a unique transition and I take it to mean that John was indeed the final prophet of the Old Testament and now God will speak through his Son as described in Hebrews 1:1.  The prophet Malachi spoke of one who would come like Elijah and there was a common question as to whether John was actually Elijah come again but John himself refutes this and he clearly just came with a similar purpose.
        v16-19.  I take this paragraph to mean that there is no pleasing the one who is dead set to reject the message.  Like children who can’t find the right tune at either extreme to please their friends, God has given Israel a prophet who was very set apart and did not commune with sinners and they did not listen to the message.  Then God sent his Son who did commune with sinners and express the same message with compassion and mercy but still the majority of Israel does not listen.  There is no pleasing the one who wants to reject God.  I take the implication to be just that.  There is no arguing someone into trusting God, rather it is a work that the Holy Spirit does on their heart and our job is merely to give the message as faithfully as we can with joy and compassion.    
        v20-24.  I take this paragraph to be Jesus making it clear that knowledge brings accountability.  There can be an error here to watch out for however.  Seeing that someone who knows more about something is held to a higher standard in their response than the ignorant person does not mean that the ignorant person is not still guilty.  I take the context of the clear judgement of God falling upon cities that were known to be God haters to make it clear here that Jesus is not saying that these cities were not condemned as well (Gen 13:13, Gen 19:24-25).  We are talking about degrees of punishment being commensurate with knowledge. This makes sense with Rom 5:20 that says the law came it increase the trespass (knowledge of sin) and Rom 7:13 says that the law made sin more sinful.  Therefore, there remains an urgency to global missions.  Yes, the punishment will be worse for someone who has rejected Jesus outright with a full gospel presentation being made to them, but the truth is that what sets us on a course of judgment is not what we do with Jesus.  It is our sin nature and our rebellion before we ever heard the name of Jesus.  It is the completely free and radically undeserved mercy of God that I ever heard the gospel.  Now I owe it to every other human on the planet to extend that mercy to them because even without the gospel proclaimed to them they are accountable to God and remain under his wrath (Rom 1:18-21, John 3:36, Eph 2:1-4).  The great commission is real and the call to missions and evangelism is directed at me as much as to a missionary in India.  Before I am tempted to judge God or to doubt the plain meaning of this text I need to consider the additional context of Paul’s teaching in Romans (Rom 9:8-29, Rom 11:32-33, & Rom 4:13-25).  These texts help me see that it is the mercy of God alone and God does not owe redemption to a single person.  The way to become a child of Abraham is now through faith in Christ specifically, not just trusting God to send an offspring to deliver us like it was in the Old Testament…now we need to give our lives to the child born in Bethlehem because the offspring has arrived!  “It will be counted to us who believe in the one who was raised form the dead, Jesus our Lord…” so we need to spread this message.  Every New Testament scripture referring to Jesus being the only name and the need for the Son applies to those hearing this message (people alive after the death and resurrection of Christ) and not to the Old Testament saints who did not know who Jesus was and who did not confess his name... but they did trust in an offspring to come and they took God at his word.  How wonderful that the OT saints Simeon and Anna in Luke chapter 2 got to lay eyes on their salvation!!  Most OT saints were not this fortunate to see the source of their salvation (Luke 2:25-38).  These texts help me see that OT saints were saved by the blood of Jesus just like I am.  
        v25-30.  An interesting blending of concepts here in this paragraph where Jesus simultaneously says that only those who he chooses can know the Father and the Son but then immediately makes a broad invitation to anyone to come and take his yoke for deliverance from what oppresses them, namely the law.  Somehow hiding his will from the proud and independent (like Babel) and revealing it to the dependent and submissive is a gracious act of God.  This is gracious to the proud because 1. They are still alive and 2.  The salvation of the Gentiles comes back around and leads to the salvation of Israel as well (Rom 11).

Response:
    I have decided to make these last two sections private from now on in order to preserve the effectiveness and sincerity of my own devotion because I find too much mental distraction related to the fact that this is becoming public.  I recommend that you continue with these steps and I will therefore keep them on the posts but they will simply say “Private”.
    I may begin to post at the end of the rumination section the headings Meaning, Implications, and Significance where I can plainly list what I am taking away from the reading rather than it coming out partially in what I am making private now.

Reaction:
"Private"

Soli Deo Gloria!

January 10

Genesis 11; Matthew 10

Genesis 11

Ready:
After reading about Noah’s descendants that spread across the earth now Moses brings me back to see what event lead to this dispersion with the different languages and such. Lord let me hear your message and see the significance for my life.

Reading thoughts:
The chapter opens with the focus on the construction of a tower for the purpose of making a name fore themselves so their greatness would never be forgotten by their descendants that spread all over the earth eventually.  Knowing that God did not approve of the tower it seems that maybe this was a great arrogance and an effort to establish themselves apart from God (remembering God and his greatness from generation to generation might have been a better idea).  So the tower is a kind of humanistic expression of independence and accomplishment (compare to the space race maybe).  Maybe “we built that tower reaching into the sky”  would be like “If we can go to the moon…”.   I also see in this chapter a descending length of life from the first generation after noah living 500 years (Shem) to Abram’s father (Terah) living 205 years. I don’t know enough right now about biblical timelines and such to say for sure but just by adding up this timeline it looks like Noah was alive for about 60 years after the birth of Abram…of course there was a dispersion generations early across the earth and who knows if Noah and his descendant Abram were communicating.  I found some interesting information on the internet about linguistic studies of a protolanguage where linguistic scientists are suggesting the existence of an ancient language (protolanguage) that was the source of all languages on earth long ago.  Thinking back to the last chapter it is interesting that God divided the languages according to the grandsons of Noah…very orderly.

Key Verses:

“1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.” (Genesis 11:1, ESV)

“4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”” (Genesis 11:4, ESV)

“6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.” (Genesis 11:6–8, ESV)

I see the theme as- God disrupts mans errant attempt at independent greatness and self realization through the establishment of languages and nations.

Rumination thoughts:
Limiting my thoughts to the broad message in this chapter the main things I see here are below:
     1.  God does not approve of human arrogance and efforts of independence.  God was pleased with the sacrifice of Noah when they got our of the ark but not so pleased by this tower effort.  In some manner it appears that God saw a very negative impact of this coming together of man in their own prowess to establish a name.  I think the name of God was the name they should have been proclaiming.  Hard to say exactly and no time to look up what others have suggested on this today.
     2.  It seems that something drastically changed on earth due to the flood as the descendants seem to rapidly have a reduction in lifespan and it seems erasable to consider that this was a result of the food and the changes to the earth.  I imagine that the dinosaurs death and long life of the first people came to an end with the flood.
     3.  The creation of the nations is a giant step in the big over-arching story (sometimes called a meta-narrative) of the Bible.  In the end God seems to be more highly glorified by the coming together of many nations to worship than he may have otherwise been just by one people group.  It is to his praise that he is able to send messengers empowered by his Holy Spirit to the ends of the earth and to build his church across cultures and languages (See Rev. 7:9-12).
     4.  Moses leaves us at the end of the chapter looking at Abram and his family.  We see that there is a practice of marrying within one’s family still at this point since Nahor seems to marry his niece.  We see and early death of Lot’s father and Lot seems to be taken under Terah's wing.

Response:
Thank you for intervening and guiding your people into your wonderful plan of diversity and unity O God.

Reaction:
May we see through the color of skin and the language and the cultures and may we know that all mankind is made for your glory and all need Jesus as their King.

Matthew 10

Ready:
Jesus had asked the disciples to pray and consider the need for many workers to be harvesting for the kingdom after he was moved with compassion by the people who were lost and did not have faith in God.

Reading thoughts:
I see Jesus sending the twelve on mission and telling them that it will not be easy and he tells them that they will suffer (v16-24) and that there will be families divided over this challenging message that is not tolerant of falsehood (v35-36) and that they must choose Jesus over family (v37-39) and that there will be reward eternal for our living for God and for others (v40-42).  He stresses that they are not to fear because man cannot do any more than kill the flesh but God has authority to damn the soul (v26-28).  But this authority is wonderful because this all-powerful (omnipotent) God loves us and he is all-knowing (omniscient) and has the ability to sustain us and keep us and protect us (v29-31).  Since God is omnipotent and omniscient, our thinking of Jesus and our response to Jesus defines everything, including our eternal destiny (v32-33).  So this is back to the loving and gracious God who holds us accountable to love his Son.

Key Verses:

“1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.” (Matthew 10:1, ESV)

“5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 10:5–6, ESV)

“16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16, ESV)

“19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:19–20, ESV)

“28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:28–31, ESV)

I see the theme as- The all powerful and all knowing God has called the Apostles to carry a tough message to the people and he wants the message to be heard and to be honored regardless of the cost and he promises great reward to come.

Rumination thoughts:
     Again limiting my thoughts to a broad brush here due to time.  To the summary above I only add that I see the parallel in the message Jesus gave the apostles here with the theme in the Bible of salvation coming to the Gentiles because the King and his gospel was rejected by the jews.  Jesus had to die on the cross for the whole plan of God to come together (Acts 2:23).  Paul speaks of this idea that salvation was first to the jews and then to the gentiles (Rom 1:16 & 2:9-11).  He also speaks of the Jews rejecting Jesus, according to the plan of God (John 11:49-53), is how God brought salvation to the Gentiles (Rom 11:11) and would then bring it back around to the Jews (Rom 10-11 and summarized in 11:25-36).  It was necessary and therefore God hardened the Jews in order that they would reject Jesus (Rom 11:7-8, 25).  This hardening is like what he did with Pharaoh (Rom 9:15-18, Exod 7:3-5 & 9:34-35) and is not an active turning of the heart but a passive release of his mercy that keeps an unbeliever from being as evil as they could be without his restraint (person is accountable for their sin).  So it is a releasing and allowing the person to do what they would do from the sinful nature they have and this serves God’s purpose (see Rom 1:24, 28).
     Also to note is that they were not spreading the gospel of Jesus crucified and risen here in this chapter.  The disciples did not even understand what was going to happen and how salvation was actually to come.  Their message was simpler than that.  It was about the obedience of faith and it was an announcement of what Israel should have been waiting for.  It was a proclamation of the arrival of the bridegroom, the Messiah. They were announcing to the Jews that their long history and their long story from the promise to Abraham to their deliverance under Moses and the promise to David is being fulfilled!  This is a trumpet to awaken a people who has forgotten to pay attention to the Word of God and who are not waiting for the Messiah the way Simeon and Anna were waiting for him (Luke 2:22-38).

Response:
     Thank you Lord for those who were worthy of this message carried by the Apostles and by Jesus- those who recognized the offspring of Eve that would come and conquer and the Messiah who wold deliver Israel.   Thank you for your amazing plan of rolling out your identity and your mission with such wisdom and purpose that you would accomplish the salvation of all peoples through such an amazing denial and then eventual returning of the nation of Israel.  Paul sys it well in his response to this amazing plan O Lord…

“33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:33–36, ESV)

Reaction:
Though this message was to your apostles and their message was different than the message you have given us due to the full revelation of your plan, I pray that you would enable me and all the men of our group to serve as your workers in the harvest. Your gospel message is dividing and tough and you do not call us to lives of luxury and comfort but to lives like this…

“38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:38–39, ESV)

Soli Deo Gloria!

January 9

Genesis 9 & 10; Matthew 9

Genesis 9

Ready:
Noah has come out of the Ark and received charge from God to be fruitful and multiply. They have found the land to be dry and are re-habitating the earth in a kind of a re-creation and purification.

Reading thoughts:
So I see your covenant of mercy to mankind, your approval of eating meat, the verbal law of capital punishment for murder along side a reminder again to multiply and fill the earth.  I also see a strange account of Noah’s life and his family dynamics.  Noah curses the son who seemed to disrespect him and blessed those who looked out for him and gave him honor even when he was behaving poorly and was in a bad way. Interesting that 350 years of the life of the patriarch of the history of the world is summed up in a story about him being drunk and naked.

Key Verses:

“3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.” (Genesis 9:3, ESV)

“6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (Genesis 9:6, ESV)

“15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”” (Genesis 9:15–16, ESV)

I see the theme as- A promise of mercy to a fallen people who will need it.

Rumination thoughts:
     v1.  A return to the command given in the garden as a new beginning.  This time man knows that God judges sin righteously.  We know more of the justice of God by this revelation.
     v2-4.  Man will now be carnivorous and the animals will know it.  This is new and there is now a tension I suppose between them as there was no fear or violence between man and animal at that point.  This leads God to mention animals as murderers as well as man in the next verse.
     V5-6.  Here God requires a life for a life whether it requires the life of an animal that kills a man or another man.  Capital punishment is instituted by God and man is in a modern sense told to establish government.  Justice is clearly an attribute of God and he calls us to administer it among ourselves.  Later there will be clear rules for the witnesses and a legal system to protect the innocent (Deut 19:15).
     v7-17.  God determines and sets himself in covenant to never again flood the earth to destroy mankind.  This is a revelation of his mercy and it would seem that he must know we will need this understanding.  This is a redemptive promise that only foreshadows or vaguely explains how it works or why.  We know enough to know that God is just and that he yet has mercy when he is pleased to have mercy.  I recall that the Lord said in his heart when he received Noah’s sacrifice that he would not destroy all life again and also that he told Noah before the flood that he would establish a covenant with him…and now he does it.  So the sacrifice of Noah here could be, as the ESVSB notes suggest, representative of the sacrifice of Christ that is the basis of God’s mercy for all time.  It can be a picture here of God first determining that he will have mercy and save a remnant by mercy.  Then he indeed does spare and save them from death and then the sacrifice that made it all possible comes and then he honors that sacrifice into the future.  Just like Christ’s sacrifice came after many years of God’s mysterious mercy and now we enjoy the mercy of God knowing that is is rooted behind us in the cross.  This is the directional focus of redemption either forward to the cross in the OT or backward to the cross for us today.
     v18-29.  I take this to be an expression that things didn’t all go so hot from the time they came out of the ark.  This is about like life as we know it.  Sometimes we can blow a good thing in half a second.  Noah’s youngest son mocks his father and does not respect him and this sets him off.  Interesting that this youngest son’s son and subsequent descendants become the enemies of Israel.  These are the people that God drives out of the promised land with the Israelites.  The first born son, Shem, is blessed and it is him who will carry the lineage to Abraham.

Response:
Lord thank you for this picture of success and failure.  You bless and we blow it.  You promise mercy and we need it.  Thank you for the picture of redemption and the way that you base your actions on something future that you set out to accomplish and we benefit from it.  You designed a marvelous plan and we get to live in it.

Reaction:
Let me think to regard your mercy regular and to see the ways that I rely on it.  Let me honor my father and family always and let me look out for even those who are not doing right things.  Let me think more highly of others than myself and let me not expose or mock others in any way.

Genesis 10

Ready:
Continuing today here into the next chapter...

Reading thoughts:
I see that chapter 10 is chronologically out of sequence with chapter 11 to come.  This chapter focuses on genealogy and does not respect the scenario of Babel that actually happened before it.  Here I see the aftermath of babel with the nations being born and the sons of the sons of Noah dispersing over the earth with various nations and languages.

Key Verses:

“32 These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.” (Genesis 10:32, ESV)

I see the theme as- The earth is populated with diversity of tongues and nations from the blessed and the cursed sons of Noah.

Rumination thoughts:
     v1.  This is a simple summary of the chapter right at the outset and the beginning of the populating of the ravished earth.
     v2-5.  Japheth’s sons and their sons.
     v6-20. Ham’s sons and their sons.  Extra attention is given here to establish for us that this is the source of some of the wicked people on the earth that will oppress the Israelites.  Babylon and the Canaanites are included in the lineup and there are to be “mighty men”.  Perhaps giants?
     v21-32.  Shem’s sons and their sons.  Here is a summary although in the next chapter we will have a breakdown including ages and more detail for Shem’s descendants.

Response:
Lord you have your reasons for allowing wickedness and surely you use evil for good and I see the story playing out and leading toward Israel’s captivity and crying out to you.  You lead us to call to you O Lord and this is your mercy.  Hosea 6 explains that you tear us in order that you may heal us and so that we will run to you.

Reaction:
Let me be a quick learner Lord and run to you swiftly and let my descendants honor you.  May Asher and Anna extend a legacy of fearing the Lord and of seeking you hotly.

Matthew 9

Ready:
I pick up now after Jesus was asked to leave the area of the Gadarenes since he seems to be hurting their business by their pigs mysteriously running off cliffs.

Reading thoughts:
I see Jesus show that the faith of a community matters in the life of an individual and I see him declare that he came for sinners who know they need mercy and I see him announce his identity as the bridegroom of Israel, God himself, in the presence of whom there will be no fasting or weeping because the bridegroom is here!!  I see Jesus healing people as quickly as he can move and judging hearts in a moment as he disperses a crowd mourning a death differently than when he wept with the family of Lazarus.  Jesus here proclaims and displays that the Kingdom of God has come to earth.  He is compassionate and recognizes the need for laborers beyond on man.

Key Verses:

“5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”” (Matthew 9:5–6, ESV)

“11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”” (Matthew 9:11–13, ESV)

“14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” (Matthew 9:14–15, ESV)

“36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;” (Matthew 9:36–37, ESV)

I see the theme as- Jesus proclaims himself as the bridegroom and displays the coming of the Kingdom to rescue sinners who will acknowledge their need and put their trust in him.

Rumination thoughts:
     v1-8.  Jesus’ own city is now Capernaum based on Matt 4:13.  This is an abbreviated account of the man who is lowered through the roof by his buddies in Luke chapter 5. Matthew also calls out the fact that Jesus is responsive to “their faith” and not merely the faith of the paralytic.  Here is a wonderful picture of brotherly love an community and the impact of building one another up that we can have.  Our faith is strengthened by others just as Paul speaks of in Romans 1:11-12.  Jesus also makes it clear that he is able to forgive sins.  He reads the thoughts of the pharisees and he explains a huge reason for all the miracles that he is performing.  He wants to give visible, verifiable evidence of the authority that he carries so that they will believe it when he also claims authority to forgive sins, which is clearly an invisible act.
     v9-13.  The calling of Matthew (our narrator) the tax collector.  A very simple description of Matthew answering the call of Jesus without question.  He appears to leave his job and the next thing we see recorded is Matthew hosting a dinner for Jesus and some other disciples.  There are also a number of other people there that include shady characters and people who the religious establishment would not typically associate with.  These were sinners who knew they were sinners and who wanted help from this Jesus.  When the pharisees ask the disciples why the shady people are here and why Jesus is spending time with them Jesus spoke up, maybe from across the room, and told them that they are jacked up.  He makes clear that he is here to help those who are sick and who know it.  He tells them to think about having mercy on others rather than following religious rituals.  In other words, he rebuked them for not understanding that they are called to love others and they don’t recognize that they are failing to do this.  He comes to rescue those who admit their sin, not hide it or cover it with a bunch of outward actions.
     v14-17.  This is the heart of the chapter I think.  Here Jesus makes reference to Isaiah 61-62 where the bridegroom of Israel, their God, delivers them and delights in them and they rejoice in the Lord and exult in their God.  Jesus is asked why his disciples don’t fast.  Fasting before the coming of Christ was about sorrow over sin and a longing for the Messiah and a need for relief and it was an anticipation.  Well wait no longer!!  There is no reason for such fasting when God is with us!  Here he is…the long awaited Messiah is here and there can be no fasting for this is a celebration!  God has come to earth and he walks among us and we shall rejoice.  This is the message Jesus proclaims when he says that the Kingdom of God is here.  Fasting in the OT (old wine skins) was anticipatory of something that they were told of but had not tasted.  The new wine skin of the New Covenant arrival and work of Christ gives us a taste and a knowledge of his glory and now we fast since he has left to the right hand of the Father but it is with new wine skins and new understanding of our hope.  We no longer look forward to some rescue but we look back at the work of Christ and rejoice for “it is finished.”  My opinion on the wine skins interpretation here comes from a sermon by john Piper.  
     v18-34.  I don’t know how much time passed in this flurry of miracles but it seems unending and like he doesn’t get a breath.  In the end the pharisees blaspheme God by concluding that Jesus is working miracles by the power of the devil.
     v35.  Here Matthew summarizes the ministry of Jesus in teaching from the scripture about himself, preaching the good news of forgiveness, and healing to prove his identity, authority, and power to change everything, including our sinfulness.
     v36-38.  Now Jesus makes observation that this flurry in one town needs to spread and there needs to be more witnesses and more people declaring the kingdom.  He tells his disciples of this and they perhaps get the idea right away that he is talking about them stepping up.  "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few”…and he tells them to pray about this.  He was likely speaking to a broad group that is referred to as disciples rather than just the 12.  I am thinking that the 12 were among these and their hearts probably burned in hearing this and they came to know that they were called specifically for this ministry that Jesus spoke of.  The next chapter leads us on in their sending...

Response:
You are amazing and your arrival and announcement to the world is more plain to us than to these who watched it happen.  I thank you for the revelation of your scriptures that help us to interpret and know what it is you have done.  Thank you for coming as the bridegroom to Israel and although they did not recognize you this was for the salvation of the Gentiles and the good of the world.  You have changed everything Jesus and now we can fast with different focus and hope and understanding and assurance and joy.

Reaction:
Lord let me rejoice and be glad that the bridegroom has come and you have made atonement for my sin and you have conquered sin and death and I can now look back at your work with trust and delight.  Let me look forward also to your promises and the glory of the resurrection to come.  Let me be mindful of my sin and not hide it or pretend it isn’t there.  Let me love others and be merciful rather than distance myself from people who may have different troubles than I have.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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!