18 Pentecost - Sunday

first posted 10/02/04

Job 38:1, 18-41    The Lord answers Job
Revelation 18:1-8   The fall of Babylon  
Matthew 5:21-26    Higher righteousness

Job had thought that he was equal or superior to God because he believed that he was righteous and did not deserve his suffering. Job had challenged God to judge him; now God challenges Job’s qualifications to challenge God (Job 31:1-40; 38:1-17). God asked Job to prove that Job completely understands the vastness of the earth and the sources of light and darkness.

God reminds Job how brief mankind’s life is in comparison with eternal God. (How can Job hope to learn in his brief life everything that God knows?) God is the creator and master of the forces of nature: snow, hail, lightning, rain, frost and ice. God is the master of the stars and the astrological seasons (Mazzaroth: the Zodiac). Does Job think he understands and controls those forces? Can Job call forth rain and lightning by Job’s word? Who has made it possible for man to acquire wisdom and understanding? Mankind’s wisdom and understanding are minute in comparison to God’s. Would Job want to be responsible for providing for all the creatures of the earth?

John (probably the Apostle), who, while exiled on the Island of Patmos, received the revelation from Jesus Christ saw a vision of an Angel announcing the fall of Babylon. The Angel declared that Babylon has become a dwelling place of demons and evil spirits. “All nations have drunk (and fallen by) the wine of her impure passions” (Revelation 18:3a); the earth’s leaders “have committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth have grown rich with the wealth of her wantonness” (Revelation 18:3b-c, RSV).

John heard another voice from heaven, calling God’s people to come out of Babylon, lest they participate in her sins and share in her punishment, because God remembers her iniquities. Babylon will be repaid double according to what she has done. “As she glorified herself and played the wanton, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning” (Revelation 18:7, RSV). Babylon considers herself a Queen rather than a widow; she thinks she will never see sorrow and mourning. “So shall her plagues come in a single day; pestilence, mourning, and famine, and she shall be burned with fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her” (Revelation 18:8).

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:27) represents a summary of Jesus’ basic teachings. Jesus declared that he had come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). Jesus taught that righteousness is more than keeping the letter of the law. True righteousness is not merely refraining from murder, but from anger and insult, (which might lead to murder, and which kill love and brotherhood). We will be accountable to God not only for actual murder but for anger and insult also. So if there is enmity between yourself and others, be reconciled with them before you try to approach the Lord. Jesus advises us to be reconciled with our accusers on the way to court, so that we might not be accused before the Judge, and condemned to prison, where there is no release until the penalty has been fully paid.  

Job had judged himself righteous in his own eyes. Job denied that he possessed the sinful nature of all mankind (see entry for Friday, 17 Pentecost, even year). He thought that he was righteous because of his good deeds. He thought he didn’t deserve punishment by God. Job thought that since he was righteous, God must be doing wrong by allowing Job to suffer. Job concluded that he was as righteous as, or more righteous than God.

Job challenged God to judge Job, since Job was convinced of his own righteousness. Job thought he could dictate to God the terms of God’s judgment of Job. Job wanted God to conform to Job’s notion of righteousness. Job’s attitude demonstrated the “original” sin that led to the fall of mankind from fellowship with God: the temptation to be “like God” (Genesis 3:5); the desire to be God.

Babylon is the kingdom of this world, where individuals want to be their own god. Mankind wants to make his own rules, and dictate to God the terms of God’s judgment of him. But God is sovereign! He alone is God, and he will judge the Earth according to his Word. The Angel of the Lord declares God’s judgment upon Babylon, and warns God’s children not to participate in the sins of Babylon, or they will receive the same condemnation.

Jesus warns that salvation is not earned by keeping the letter of the law (or by doing good deeds). Jesus is the fulfillment of the law; apart from him we cannot ever fulfill the law. We are estranged from God because of our sin-nature, which we inherited from Adam. If we want to be reconciled to God, we must be willing to be reconciled to our fellow human beings (compare Matthew 18:23-35; Matthew 6:14-15). Jesus is God’s only provision for our forgiveness and salvation (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God’s plan of Salvation, sidebar top right).

As it is worldly wisdom to be reconciled with one’s accuser in hopes of avoiding trial and condemnation, so it is spiritual wisdom to be restored to friendship with God through Jesus Christ before the Day of Judgment. On the Day of Judgment those who have refused to be reconciled to God through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus will be thrown into the eternal death and punishment of Hell. There will be no release, because Jesus offered, on the Cross, the only payment there is for the penalty for sin.
 
Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the Holy Spirit since you first believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

18 Pentecost- Monday

first posted 10/03/04

Job 40:1-24   Will you find fault with God?
Acts 15:36-16:5    Paul’s second missionary trip
John 11:55-12:8    The anointing at Bethany

The Lord asked whether a faultfinder would contend with God (and expect to prevail)? Job responded that he realized his insignificance and yielded to God. Then the Lord began to challenge Job. The Lord asked if Job was willing to condemn God in order to justify himself.  God challenged Job to prove that he was God’s equal if Job expected God to vindicate Job. Job was not only no match for God; Job was not even the equal of other creatures God has made, but God is in control of all of his creation, regardless of how it may seem.

Paul wanted Barnabas to return with him to the congregations they had established on their first missionary trip. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark, who had accompanied them on the first trip (Acts ch.13-14) but who had left them at Perga and had returned home (Acts 13:13b), but Paul felt that John Mark had abandoned the work in Perga on the first trip and didn’t want to take him again. Sharp contention arose between Paul and Barnabas over this issue, and they separated from each other. 

Barnabas took John Mark with him to Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas (Silvanus) who was a leader of the Jerusalem Council and who had accompanied Paul and Barnabas with the decision of the council following the controversy over whether to require Gentile Christians to keep the Jewish Laws (Acts 15:1-35). Paul and Silas went through Syria, Derbe and Lystra.

At Lystra there was a disciple named Timothy, whose mother was Jewish but whose father was Greek. He was highly regarded by the Christians at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany them so he had Timothy circumcised, since the local Jews all knew that Timothy’s father was a Greek (Gentile). As they visited the churches in the region they made known to them the decision of the Jerusalem Council.

The season of Passover, (the commemoration of God’s deliverance from bondage and death in Egypt, celebrated in March-April) was at hand. Many Jews went to Jerusalem to (ritually) purify themselves before the feast. There was a lot of speculation and anticipation regarding whether Jesus would also come to Jerusalem for the festival. The religious leaders had given orders that if anyone knew Jesus’ whereabouts they should inform the authorities so that they could arrest Jesus. Six days before the Feast, Jesus came to Bethany to the home of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead, and his sisters, Mary and Martha.

They prepared supper for Jesus. Martha served, and Lazarus was at the table with Jesus. Mary took a pound of expensive ointment and anointed Jesus’ feet with the ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, filling the air in the house with the fragrance of the ointment. Judas, one of the twelve disciples, who later betrayed Jesus, criticized this extravagance, suggesting that the ointment should have been sold and the money given to the poor. Judas didn’t really care for the poor, but he used to steal from the moneybox. Jesus told Judas to leave Mary alone; there would always be opportunities to help the poor but there would not always be an opportunity to do something nice for Jesus.

Job was arguing with God. Job was criticizing God in order to justify himself. Job was not God’s equal, and Job was not even as powerful as other creatures God has created and controls. But God didn’t destroy Job in anger over his insubordination; God reasoned with Job.

Barnabas had been Paul’s only friend and advocate among the Apostles in Jerusalem just after Paul’s (Saul’s) conversion (Acts 9: 26-27). Barnabas had recruited Paul to help oversee the church in Antioch (Acts 11:25-26), they traveled to Jerusalem to deliver an offering from the Church at Antioch, and were partners on the first missionary journey to Asia Minor (present-day Turkey; Acts 13:14). But a sharp disagreement arose between them over the selection of an assistant for their second missionary journey.

Barnabas wanted to take John Mark, his cousin, who had gone along on the first trip but had quit mid-trip. Barnabas supported and encouraged Mark as he had previously supported and encouraged Paul. The disagreement caused them to separate from one another, but they did not allow the dispute to interfere with their ministry of the Gospel. Paul chose Silas to accompany him, and Barnabas chose John Mark. They divided the territory between them; Barnabas and Mark went to Cypress, and Paul and Silas went to Asia Minor. Paul and John Mark eventually were reconciled (Colossians. 4:10; Philemon 1:24).

At Lystra, Paul wanted to take a disciple named Timothy along as a co-worker and trainee. Timothy was considered a Jew because his mother was Jewish, but since his father was Greek, Timothy had not been circumcised. Although Paul believed strongly that Gentiles should not be required to be circumcised, and had in fact been involved in the Apostolic ruling on that issue (Acts 15:1-35), Paul had Timothy circumcised “because of the Jews that were in those places” (in Asia Minor where they were going; Acts 16:3).

Paul compromised, so that Timothy would not suffer persecution, and so that the Gospel would not be hindered. Paul did not betray his belief or values; he knew that true circumcision is a matter of the heart and not the flesh and that physical circumcision in itself means nothing. Paul later said, “In Jesus Christ, neither circumcision nor un-circumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). Although the doctrinal significance of “works-righteousness” that circumcision implies is not insignificant, in Timothy’s case Paul and Timothy weren’t trying to achieve righteousness through keeping the law. They were just trying not to provoke an argument and hinder the Gospel. Paul just didn’t let his strongly held opinion interfere with the Gospel.

The Passover was the celebration of God’s deliverance of the people from slavery and death in Egypt. Jews went to Jerusalem to seek ritual purification (the forgiveness of their sins through the Temple sacrificial system) so that they could celebrate the Passover. The Jews needed God’s forgiveness of their sins, but they were plotting to kill Jesus, the Messiah, God’s Son, whom God had sent to provide forgiveness eternally, to replace the Temple sacrificial system.

Jesus is the Passover “lamb” which was sacrificed once for all for the forgiveness of sin. Jesus is the “Moses” who leads the New People of God” from slavery to sin and death in the “Egypt” of this world, through the wilderness of this present life, into the Promised Land of Heaven. They were preparing to celebrate the Passover but they couldn’t see the connections.

Within the group of Jesus’ disciples there was argument over Mary’s gift and service to Jesus. Mary had done it for Jesus in love. Judas criticized it as an extravagance. Judas justified his criticism and even made it sound pious, by suggesting that the money could have benefited the poor. But it wasn’t love for Jesus, his brethren in the Lord, or the poor that he cared about. His only concern was himself. He criticized faithful followers of the Lord, showed no love for the Lord himself, coveted what had been given to the Lord and stole from the poor. Jesus patiently reasoned with Judas and gave him opportunity to repent. Are we loving followers of the Lord and encouragers of our brethren, or are we faultfinders? 

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? What kind of disciple will you prove to be? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the Holy Spirit since you first believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

18 Pentecost - Tuesday

first posted 10/04/04

Job 40:1; 41:1-11    The Lord speaks
Acts 16:6-15    The Macedonian call
John 12:9-19    Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem

Because Job believed that he was righteous, he concluded that God must be wrong for allowing Job to suffer, since Job felt that he did not deserve his suffering. Job had questioned God’s authority; now God questioned Job’s challenge to God’s authority.

Leviathan is the mythological sea monster which symbolizes chaos and the forces of evil. Could Job subdue the forces of evil? Man is no match for the forces of evil and chaos, but God is their master. No one and nothing can withstand God and prevail. Everything that exists belongs to God; God doesn’t owe anything to anyone.

On his second missionary journey, Paul and Silas had gone to Lystra where Paul invited Timothy, a disciple whom Paul had apparently converted on his first missionary journey, to accompany them. The Holy Spirit had forbidden them to preach the Gospel in Asia (modern Turkey) so they passed through the Roman Province of Galatia and the region of Phrygia to the region of Mysia in the Province of Asia (all in modern Turkey).

They attempted to go north into the Province of Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit would not allow them to go, so they went to Troas on the coast of the Aegean Sea. During the night, Paul had a dream of a Macedonian man beseeching Paul to come to Macedonia and help them. Paul and his group immediately concluded that the Holy Spirit was leading them to preach the Gospel in Macedonia. They sailed from Troas to Neapolis (on the coast of present-day Greece) and then to Philippi, which was a leading city and Roman Colony in Macedonia.

Paul’s group stayed there for a number of days. On a Sabbath, Paul and his fellow missionaries went outside the city to a nearby river where Jewish women and converts to Judaism in the area met for prayer. The missionaries proclaimed the Gospel to the women. One, named Lydia, from Thyatira, a seller of purple goods (clothing for nobility) who was a worshiper of God, believed Paul’s message and was baptized, along with her family. She invited the missionaries to stay at her house.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus and his disciples came to Bethany, which is only a couple miles from Jerusalem, and where Jesus’ close friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived.  News that Jesus was in Bethany attracted a large crowd to Bethany. The people came not only to see Jesus, but to see Lazarus, who Jesus had raised from the dead. The Jewish leaders planned to kill Lazarus in addition to Jesus, since Lazarus’ resurrection was causing many people to believe in Jesus.

 The next day the crowd learned that Jesus was on his way from Bethany to Jerusalem, so they took palm branches and went to meet him, crying "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel" (John 12:13b)! Jesus had obtained a young donkey and rode on it, manifesting himself as the Messiah and fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. At the time, his disciples did not understand the significance, but after Jesus’ resurrection, they realized the connection between what had been written about him in scripture and what had happened.

The people who had witnessed Jesus’ resurrection of Lazarus had testified to this miracle, which is what had attracted the crowd to watch Jesus enter Jerusalem. The Pharisees' reaction was that it seemed that the whole world was turning to faith in Jesus, and they were powerless to prevent it.

God created an orderly universe out of chaos and darkness [Genesis 1:1-2, (3-31)]. God created light and separated darkness from it (Genesis 1:3-4). Light symbolizes goodness; darkness symbolizes evil. Everything that exists was created by God and belongs to him. God is, whether we believe in him and obey him or not, and he doesn’t owe anything to anyone. God is sovereign.

Paul and his missionary associates were obedient to the Lord. The Lord told them not to preach the Gospel in Asia and so they didn’t. The Lord told them not to go to Bithynia so they didn’t. They had come to preach the Gospel, and they were looking for ways to do that in accordance with God’s will. The Lord showed them where he wanted them to go and preach.

When we choose to cooperate with God’s plan and seek his guidance, God will lead us, provide opportunities, and enable us to accomplish his plan. We must avoid the mistake of going ahead with our own plans for proclaiming the Gospel without seeking the Lord's guidance and empowerment.

God has had a plan for his creation from the beginning (John 1:1-5, 14). Jesus is God’s only plan for our salvation (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). The entire Bible bears witness to that plan.  Jesus is God’s anointed King (Messiah). Jesus comes in the authority and power of Almighty God. God has manifested himself to us in Jesus Christ in a way that allows each individual the freedom to believe or not.

God is sovereign, but he does not force us to trust and obey him. That is why God’s plan depends on faith. For those who need proof in order to believe, there is none; but for those who believe, there is abundant proof. It is only after we have believed that we are able to see the connections between Jesus and scripture.

The Pharisees discovered that they were powerless to thwart God’s plan. God’s plan is not dependant upon our approval; God’s plan will be accomplished, whether we accept it or not. We must choose whether to cooperate with God’s plan or not.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the Holy Spirit since you first believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

18 Pentecost - Wednesday

first posted 10/05/04

Job 42:1-17    Job’s restoration  
Acts 16:16-24    The disciples’ mission  
John 12:20-26    The cost of discipleship

Job had come to accept that God is sovereign and has a plan which cannot be thwarted (Job 42:2). Job quoted God’s indictment of Job from 38:2: one who obscured truth by speaking without knowledge (Job 42:3; see entry for Saturday, 17 Pentecost, even year), and confessed his guilt. Job quoted God’s questioning from 40:7, and then answers that up to that time Job had known of God by what others said about God but now Job knows God personally, having experienced spiritual communion with God (Job 42:5). Having experienced God, Job realizes his status in relationship to God and is completely humbled and repentant.

Then the Lord told Job’s friends that they had not spoken right of God to Job, and God commanded them to go to Job and offer a sacrifice and that Job would pray for them so that God would forgive them. They did as the Lord commanded.

Then the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, after Job prayed for his friends. Job was twice as well-off as before. Everyone in his family came and comforted him and fellowshipped with him, and they each gave him a silver coin and a gold ring. He had twice as many herd-animals, and he had exactly as many sons and daughters as before. Job’s daughters were the most beautiful of the land, and Job gave them a share in his inheritance along with their brothers. Job lived one hundred and forty years after his restoration, and saw his grandchildren before he died.  

Paul, Silas and Timothy had gone to Philippi on Paul’s second missionary journey. There was a place of prayer along the river outside of the city, and in going there the missionaries had encountered a slave girl who earned money for her masters as a fortuneteller. She followed Paul shouting that the missionaries were “servants of the Most High God, who proclaim…the way of salvation” (Acts 16:17).

She did this day after day, until Paul became annoyed. He commanded the spirit of divination to come out of her and it did so at once. Her owners realizing that she was no longer profitable for them, seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the magistrates. Paul and Silas were charged with disturbing the city and for trying to make converts of Roman Citizens which was against Roman law. The magistrates had Paul and Silas stripped and beaten with rods, with many blows. Then they were thrown into prison with their feet bound in stocks.

It was the Passover season, and Jesus had come to Jerusalem. There were also some Greeks (Gentiles) among those who had come to Jerusalem for the feast. These came to Philip, and asked to see Jesus. Philip, a native of Bethsaida in Galilee, went to his fellow disciple Andrew, who was also from Bethsaida, and Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus told them that the hour had come for the Son of man (Jesus) to be glorified.

Then Jesus told them that a seed must “die” and be buried in order to bring forth fruit; otherwise it remains unproductive. So also one who loves his life looses it, and one who hates his life in this world will have eternal life. Jesus told them that if anyone chooses to serve Jesus he must follow Jesus and do as Jesus does. God will honor anyone who serves Jesus.

God is the Creator and Sovereign Ruler of the Universe. God has a purpose for creation which cannot be thwarted. It is not sufficient to know about God; one must have a personal knowledge of God through his Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33-34; Matthew 3:11), only his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17).

Having come to a personal experience of God, Job became a priest and mediator on behalf of his friends to lead them to repentance, forgiveness and a personal relationship with God. When Job had interceded for his friends, God restored Job.

Job had more than he could have imagined or hoped, he lacked no good thing, and enjoyed a long, full life. The image of Job's restoration is the illustration of the promise we have in Jesus: we will receive abundant blessings beyond what we can imagine and we will be reunited with our family, even those who have physically died, in eternal life (provided that they have believed in Jesus).  

Paul, Silas and Timothy had come to a personal knowledge of God through faith in Jesus and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. They were on a missionary journey to proclaim the Gospel. The Gospel is not man’s ideas about God; the Gospel is God’s revelation of himself to man through Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The whole fullness of Deity dwells bodily in Jesus (Colossians 2:8-9). No one comes to God the Father except through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). No one knows the Father except Jesus and those to whom Jesus chooses to reveal him (Matthew 11:27). Anyone who knows Jesus knows the Father (John 14:7). The disciples had joined Jesus’ mission to be the intercessor, mediator and priest between mankind and God.  

The world offers alternatives to personal knowledge of and communion with God that result in conflict with the Gospel. God wants us to be led by his word; God wants us to seek and follow God's will and God's plan. God’s people are specifically warned not to seek the council of fortunetellers and mediums for that reason (Deuteronomy 18:10-11). The Gospel is going to encounter opposition in the world because the world profits from alternatives to the Gospel.

Jesus said that if anyone wants to see Jesus they must be willing to sacrifice their own desires and will and become obedient to Jesus in order to be fruitful for God’s kingdom. We must be willing to die to our worldly ambition.

Jesus came not to be a worldly king; he came to die on the cross as a sacrifice for our sin. He gave up his life, and he produced the fruit of salvation for all who trust and obey him. Jesus declared that those who love their life in this world will loose it, but those who are willing to give up that life, who recognize that it is not worth comparing to eternal life with Jesus, will receive true eternal life with him in Heaven.

Once we have come to a personal knowledge of God in Jesus Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit, we are to join Jesus’ ministry of intercession and mediation so that others will also come to a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. This is what God commanded Job to do, it’s what we saw Paul, Silas and Timothy doing, and it is what Jesus commanded his disciples to do. If we try to hang on to this worldly life we will loose eternal life; if we follow Jesus we will be blessed beyond what we can imagine.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the Holy Spirit since you first believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

18 Pentecost - Thursday

first posted 10/06/04

Job 28:1-28   The fear of the Lord is wisdom
Acts 16:25-40   Release from the Philippian prison
John 12:27-36a     Walk in the Light  

Man can mine iron and copper, precious stones, gold and silver. He can tunnel under the earth and find these things, which other animals are incapable of doing. He is able to overturn mountains and cut through rock, dam up streams and light up subterranean darkness. But where can wisdom be found?

Man does not know the way to wisdom, and it is not to be found on this earth. It cannot be bought with silver or gold. It is more precious than any material thing. Where does wisdom come from and where is understanding? Wisdom is hidden from all creation. God knows the way to wisdom, because he knows everything. At creation God established it and declared it. “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28).

Paul had cast out a demonic spirit of divination from a slave girl at Philippi, and the girl’s owners had arrested Paul and Silas and had them beaten with rods and imprisoned ( Acts 16:16-24; see entry for yesterday, Wednesday, 18 Pentecost, even year). Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns when an earthquake occurred, causing all the doors of the prison to be opened. The jailer awoke, and seeing the doors open and supposing that the prisoners had escaped, was about to kill himself with his sword. But Paul called out to him to not harm himself, because the prisoners were all there.

The jailer called for lights and rushed in, trembling with fear. He fell down before Paul and Silas and brought them out of the cell. He asked them what he must do to be saved, and they told him to believe in the Lord Jesus, and he and his household would be saved.

Paul and Silas told the Gospel to the jailer and his household. The jailer attended to the wounds of Paul and Silas, and he and his household were baptized. He brought them into his house and fed them “and he rejoiced with his entire household that he had believed in God” (Acts 16:34).

Jesus had come to Jerusalem knowing that he would be crucified. He told his disciples that the hour had come for Jesus to be glorified (by obeying God’s will that Jesus should be crucified; John 12:23, John 13:31-32). Jesus told his disciples that his soul was troubled (by the prospect of crucifixion) but he realized that he could not ask God to spare him from that because that was God’s purpose in sending him. Instead Jesus prayed that God’s name would be glorified through Jesus. A voice from heaven said “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (John 12:28). The crowd nearby heard the voice, but some said it was just thunder.

Jesus said that the voice had come not for Jesus’ benefit, but for the benefit of the eyewitnesses. Jesus declared that his crucifixion would mark the judgment of earth, and removal from power of the rulers of this world. Jesus said that when he had been lifted up (on the cross) he would draw all people to himself.

The crowd said that, according to scripture, the Christ was to remain for ever; they didn’t understand what Jesus meant by the Son of man, and that the Son of man must be lifted up. Jesus replied that the light would be with them a little longer, and urged them to walk in the light while they have light, so that the darkness might not overtake them. Those who walk in darkness do not know where they go. Jesus urged them to believe in the light while they have the opportunity, so that they might become children of light.  

What the world calls wisdom is false wisdom; true wisdom comes from God alone. The wisdom of God is the wisdom by which the world was created (see Proverbs 3:19-20; see Proverbs 9:10; 1 Corinthians 1:18-24; see entries for Monday, 3 Pentecost,eve year, and Wednesday, 4 Pentecost, even year). Jesus is the true wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). The real treasure we can seek and find in this world, which endures to eternity, is a personal relationship with Jesus (see entry for Sunday, 2 Pentecost, even year).

Jesus came to free us from bondage to sin and death. All have sinned and fall short of God’s righteousness (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10 ). The penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). There is a Day of Judgment coming when all who have ever lived will be accountable to God for what they have done in life (John 5:28-29; Matthew 25:31-46). Those who have trusted and obeyed Jesus will receive eternal life in Heaven with the Lord; those who have rejected and have refused to obey Jesus will receive eternal death in Hell with all evil. God loves us and doesn’t want us to perish eternally (John 3:16-17; Romans 5:8). Jesus is God’s only plan for our forgiveness and salvation (Acts 4:12, John 14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). Although we may experience persecution for the Gospel, Jesus will deliver us from it. Jesus turns our darkness into light and our fear into rejoicing.

Jesus was obedient to God’s will, even to being willing to die to accomplish it. If we follow Jesus in obedience, God’s Spirit will be with us and will reassure us. Jesus is the light of wisdom, understanding and righteousness. Darkness represents sin and evil. If we walk according to Jesus’ light we won’t stumble and we will avoid eternal death and destruction. Now is the time to seek the light of Jesus, while it may be found, so that we may be children of light and live eternally in the city of light in Heaven.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the Holy Spirit since you first believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

18 Pentecost - Friday

first posted 10/07/04

Esther 1:1-4, 10-19    The fall of Vashti
Acts 17:1-15   Paul and Silas at Thessalonica
John 12:36b-43   Conclusion of Jesus’ public ministry

During the reign (485 to 464 B.C.*) of Ahasuerus (Xerxes*) king of  the Persian Empire, in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his princes, generals, and provincial governors. The festival lasted one hundred and eighty days, during which the King displayed his royal glory and splendor. Then the King gave a banquet, lasting seven days, for all the people of Susa (his winter capital) in the garden of his palace.

On the seventh day the King summoned Queen Vashti, in order to impress the people with her beauty. But Vashti refused to come, and that made the King angry. The King asked his wise men and legal counselors for advice in dealing with Queen Vashti’s disobedience, and they said that the Queen had wronged not only the King but the people. They advised the King that the Queen’s disobedience would lead all the women of the empire to assert their independence. So they advised the King to depose her as Queen and choose another.

Paul and Silas had been released from the Philippian jail, and had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, arriving in Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue. Paul spent  three weeks there debating the Gospel with them, showing from the scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. Some of the Jews were persuaded, along with a number of Gentile worshipers and leading women. But the Jews were jealous, stirred up a mob and went to the  home of a man named Jason (where Paul and Silas had apparently been staying) to arrest Paul and Silas, but since Paul and Silas were not there, they dragged Jason and some other Christians before the magistrates.

The Jews charged the Christians with civil unrest and political rebellion, and Jason with harboring them. The magistrates required a security deposit (bail) and released them. The Christians at Thessalonica sent Paul and Silas to Beroea by night. Paul and Silas went into the synagogue at Thessalonica.

The Jews in Thessalonica were more receptive to the Gospel and they listened to Paul and Silas eagerly and examined the scriptures daily to verify what the Apostles said. Many of them believed, including Greek women as well as men. When the Jews of Thessalonica heard that Paul and Silas were in Beroea, they went there and stirred up persecution against them, so the believers sent Paul off to Athens, but Silas and Timothy stayed behind, with instructions to join Paul as soon as possible.

Jesus had come to Jerusalem knowing that he would soon be crucified. He had told his disciples that the time for him to be glorified had come. He had told the crowds to believe in him while they had the opportunity. (John 12:20-36a; see entry for yesterday, Thursday, 18 Pentecost, even year). Having said this, he withdrew and no longer appeared in public.

Although Jesus had done many miracles demonstrating who he was, many did not believe. (This was in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 53:1 and 6:10.) Many did believe, even among the authorities, but did not confess their belief because they did not want to be expelled from the synagogue. They cared more for the approval of men than the approval of God.  

Worldly rulers flaunt their wealth and power. They treat their friends vastly better than they treat the public. Their favor is arbitrary and subject to change at any moment. They make commands at a whim which must be obeyed unquestioningly, and the penalty is whatever those in power say. They use their power to impress and intimidate others.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ does not require unquestioning obedience. It can be verified by careful examination of the scriptures. The Gospel does not create class divisions; all are equal in God’s eyes. The Gospel can be and historically has been perverted by using worldly methods to advance the Gospel, but that is not the true Gospel demonstrated and taught by Jesus to his disciples. It was not the Apostles who were guilty of civil unrest at Thessalonica; it was their accusers, the unbelievers. The Apostles continued to carry on their ministry of the Gospel, regardless of the opposition against them They were not seeking worldly approval.

Jesus is not the world’s idea of a king. Jesus came to serve and give his life for his people. Worldly kings expect their people to serve and give their lives for the king. Jesus’ glory was to do God’s will; the world considers wealth, success and beauty as its glory. Jesus doesn’t demand our unreasoned obedience. The Lord is faithful; he will never fail or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5; Joshua 1:5).

Many people believed in Jesus but were afraid to confess their belief, because they cared more for worldly approval than for God’s approval. The truth of the Gospel is plain to see; refusal to believe the evidence of the Gospel in scripture leads to spiritual blindness. Are we trying to please the world, or are we trying to please God?

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the Holy Spirit since you first believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

The Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard Version, Ed. by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, Esther 1:1-9n, p. 603, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962.

18 Pentecost - Saturday

first posted 10/08/04

Esther 2:5-8, 15-23    Esther made Queen
Acts 17:16-34    Paul’s speech at Athens
John 12:44-50   Jesus’ concluding teachings

Mordecai was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, living in Susa (in present-day Iran). His great-grandfather, Kish, had been deported to Babylon with the people of Judah during the reign of Jeconiah, king of Judah, by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He had adopted and raised his cousin Esther (Hadassah) who had been orphaned.

The Persian King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) commanded all the beautiful young virgins to be gathered so that the King could select a new Queen to replace Vashti, whom he had deposed. Esther was among the young virgins, and was taken into the King’s harem, in the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem. Esther cooperated with the eunuch and he helped her advance to the best place in the harem.

Esther concealed the fact that she was a Jew, because Mordecai had told her not to reveal that; Esther was obedient to her foster father, Mordecai. Mordecai, employed as a palace gatekeeper, was able to check on her daily. When Esther’s turn came to go in to the King she followed Hegai’s instructions, she won the King’s favor, and the King made her his Queen. The king gave a great banquet in Esther’s honor, and he granted tax relief and gave gifts liberally to celebrate the occasion.

In his position as a gatekeeper, Mordecai learned of a plot on the king’s life by two eunuchs who guarded the door to the King’s bed-chamber. He told Esther and she relayed the information to the King, in Mordecai’s name. The matter was investigated and found to be true. The conspirators were executed, and the incident was recorded in the King’s record book.

Because of persecution for the Gospel which arose in Beroea, Paul had been taken to Athens to wait for Silas and Timothy to rejoin him. While waiting for them, Paul was upset by the idolatry rampant in the city. Paul debated the Gospel in the synagogues and in the marketplace daily. He met some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers who brought Paul to Mar’s (Ares;’ a Roman/Greek idol) Hill where there was a judicial council (Areopagus).

Athens’ culture at that time was one of intellectual curiosity. Paul told the men of Athens that he had noticed that they were very “religious.” Paul had seen their shrines, and noted that there was a shrine to an unknown god. What they had worshiped as unknown, Paul made known to them. Since God is the creator of everything, he doesn’t need man to make shrines for him to dwell in, nor is God dependent on mankind for anything. God has created from one (man; i.e. Adam) every nation, having established their boundaries and life spans, “that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet God is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27).

Paul used his formal education to quote from the Greek philosopher/poets Epimenides and Aratus* to show that they acknowledged one God as Creator, who is not far off.  Paul argued that God is not the creation of the hands and imagination of mankind. Paul said that God overlooked former times of lack of knowledge by mankind, but now has fixed a day when mankind will be held accountable. God has (revealed himself through and) appointed Jesus Christ to be the Judge, and has attested to him by raising him from the dead. Some of the Athenians were skeptical of the resurrection of the dead, but others were anxious to hear more; several believed and joined Paul, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris.

In Jesus’ final statement before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus said that those who believe in Jesus believe in God who sent Jesus. Those who know Jesus know God. Jesus is the light (righteousness, understanding, spiritual sight, hope and joy) of the world; those who believe in him will not remain in the darkness of sin, ignorance, spiritual blindness, hopelessness and despair. Jesus came not to condemn us but to save us. Those who don’t keep Jesus’ commands reject the salvation that Jesus came to bring. Those who reject Jesus’ words reject God’s word and God’s only plan of salvation, because all that Jesus has said and done has been in complete obedience to God’s will and command.  

God is not detached and remote from his creation. Instead of complaining about her lot in life, Esther trusted God and cooperated with her circumstances in the culture in which she found herself, so God was able to use her to bring deliverance through her to his people (see Esther 4:14).  She did what she could to the best of her ability and left the results up to God.

Persecution for the Gospel had driven Paul to Athens. Paul was alone, surrounded by a worldly, idolatrous culture, but he did the best he could with his circumstances. Instead of hiding, he interacted with the culture, using his education and experience (guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit) to present the Gospel winsomely, in the context of the culture, but without compromise.

In a culture devoted to philosophy and the search for the meaning of life, Paul showed that God’s purpose for creation, and the meaning of life, is to seek and find personal fellowship with God, through Jesus Christ. In a culture devoted to “religion” and the search for God, Paul showed that Jesus is the revelation of God. Paul did what he could to the best of his ability and left the results to God. Some scoffed at the idea of the resurrection of the dead, but others were anxious to hear more, and some were convinced.

God has not abandoned his creation. He is actively participating in it to restore us to fellowship with God which Adam had in the beginning and lost through disobedience (Genesis Chapter 3). The meaning and purpose of life is to seek and find God. God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world so that we might be restored to fellowship with God through Jesus. Jesus is God’s fullest physical revelation of himself to us. Jesus is Emmanuel; God with us (Matthew 1:23). Jesus is God’s only provision for the forgiveness of our sins and for restoration to fellowship and eternal life with God (Acts 4:12; John 14:6).

Jesus is our example of obedience to God’s will. Jesus came to save us; if we reject that salvation, we condemn ourselves. It is God’s will and intention that we be restored to life and fellowship with him, but he won’t force us against our will. Are we cooperating with God’s plan, or are we pursuing our own plans? Are we obedient to our adoptive Father, God, and loyal to our King, Jesus?  

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the Holy Spirit since you first believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18:20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

*The Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard Version, Ed. by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, Acts 17:28nn, p. 1342, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962.