John 17:6
I know this sounds like Yoda talking, but the fact that Jesus says “yours they were” shows that God didn’t CHANGE from the OT to the NT.
People belonged to God and were faithful to Him and experienced some sort of grace before Jesus came. It wasn’t the fullness of salvation that Jesus would finally bring about, but God wasn’t some angry, closed off deity like your Sunday school classes may lead you to believe. He’s been in the saving & redeeming & keeping business a long long time.
Tag Archive for 'OT'
I’ve been reading David Stern’s Jewish New Testament Commentary and listening to Dwight A. Pryor on the subject of Acts 2 and Pentecost. WOW.
text: Acts 2, John 14, Exodus 20-32
The parallels between what the Jews celebrated and taught from the traditions about Pentecost and what happened on Pentecost 50 days after the Last Passover are too crazy to be made up.
Pentecost was celebrated as the time when God gave the Torah to His people through Moses at Sinai. At that time, the people begged to not have God talk to them, but for just Moses to do all of the talking. At the New Pentecost, many many people wanted God to talk to them–and He did.
Rabbinical tradition taught that God’s voice was immediately split into the 70 languages of the nations whenever He spoke from Heaven. They said that happened at the top of Zion, so that the Hebrews and all of the aliens with them would understand what God said. VERY appropriate that on the New Pentecost, God would split His voice up for the nations through men. The Holy Spirit is no longer external, it’s within mankind, so the various languages will not come out of the sky but out of God’s people–His body.
There was fire at the top of Mount Sinai, and with His own finger God wrote out and signed the Covenant. 50 days earlier, at the Last Passover, God signed the Covenant in His Son’s blood, and sent the fire into His people on Pentecost.
Some of these events are sort of a parallel reversal. At Mt. Sinai, the people became tired of waiting and committed idolatry while Moses was on the Mountain that they wanted to flee from. The Levites executed 3,000 of them and so became God’s priestly tribe. From then on it would be Levites only serving before God in the Tabernacle and the Temple.
At the New Pentecost, there were thousands of people around that wanted to draw near to God during the feast of the Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks. Every adult male in ISRAEL had to come to this feast! Just like today, in the midst of any religion, there are hidden people that are genuinely seeking God with all of their might–whether they know of God sending Jesus to seek them out or not. That hidden remnant of genuine God-seekers were cut to the quick on that day, and 3,000 people were added to the Church. Those 3,000 were from all over the world, and they carried The Good News back to all of the nations in the world. They became the priests to the nations as God enlarged His tent (Take a look at Isaiah 54 to see why I’m crying at the Donut Bank as I write this).
Finally, at Mt. Sinai, God gave His people a way to live. The Torah was a way of life, not just rules, that when lived out, would make God’s people stand out in the world. The Torah would show off to the other nations of the world that God was the one true God, and people like the Queen of Sheba and others would come and see that the God of Israel was really the one true God of the Universe.
The Torah, however wonderful a guideline or framework for life that it was, could not change people from the inside out. God new that from before the beginning. Jesus said in His final talk with His disciples:
John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever
John 14:17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
On Pentecost that came to be, and The Great Internal Reminder/Teacher took up residence in His people. He is now living inside His Church to teach, guide, help, correct, cheer, rebuke, heal, and LIVE LIFE in the people.
In light of all of this, we can see how absolutely absurd it is to teach people to live by any method or steps, to teach people a “Christian Ethic” or a “Christian Worldview” or to force a political or philosophical agenda on people. Let us RUN to the Spirit. Let us CRY OUT to God to send His Holy Spirit into us with thunder and fire and move out into the nations to change them from the inside out. Let us THROW DOWN and THROW UP any teaching that depends on man’s desire, effort, self-discipline or ‘conviction’ and be filled with the Holy Spirit that changes people irrevocably. The 3,000 that were added that day didn’t added to have strong marriages or have financial success. They came because they knew what Peter said was true:
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
I don’t usually write at night but I just read across something and want to ink some of this out before I go to bed…
khesed/grace/mercy throughout the Old Testament is, by definition, costly.
that’s the statement I read tonight
It also involves hospitality, honor, and covenant. It is something that, when it happens, allows, or maybe even INVITES, the recipient to abuse the favor shown.
For instance. Abram shows hospitality to the three men walking by, and they share with him some secret: they are going to destroy Sodom. Abram, who has now been their host to eat and rest but also their guest to some very important secret information, abuses his right to this information and asks them if they would spare the city if such and such number of people could be found righteous in it. The three men do not object, but engage in the haggling for the spare-price of Sodom.
Lot does it with these same men when they come to his home. He hosts them, and protects them with what would be a very costly price (he offers the townsmen his own virgin daughters for sex acts so that they will spare the visitors he is hosting). Part of his hosting them is khesed simply because of that moment right there. If it isnt costly, it isnt khesed.
I dont have time tonight (in 9 minutes it will be tomorrow and Ill regret staying up so late) but Id be interested in other places in the scriptures where hosting a guest involves 2 things:
1. the guest boldly asking for more than the host originally offered
2. the host having to pay an extraordinarily high price (or at least trying to) for the sake of the guest.
Go!
In Ezekiel 16, God talks about finding Israel out in the field as he was passing by. She was lying in her blood-a newborn whose cord hadnt even been cut. This was the ancient method of abortion, to have the baby and then dump it in a field. They didnt even bother cutting the cord because if they were just going to let the thing die, why bother taking any care of it at all. The child and the placenta were treated with the same care. How awful.
I have seen the scarring, dismembering effects of poor medical care. Numerous people in poverty all over the world are crippled, blind, deaf, or dead simply because a completely preventable illness was not treated properly. I know a guy in Africa that had a little girl in his neighborhood that was being left to die of malaria. She was still a part of the family, etc, but they were just going to let her die in her fever. He paid the 72 for the medicine and she was treated and has now lived on for years.
So here is Israel, dumped out from the beginning in a field and left to die, and God cares for her. Not only that, but she blossoms into beauty. This girl should have been disfigured and scarred at the least from her poor care, but God cared for her to such an extent as to help her grow up beautiful too.
Twice God cleans Israel from her uncleanliness. First it is the uncleanliness of birth, second the uncleanliness of maturity (menstruation). Israel needed purifying at the beginning as they got rid of their Egyptian ways and idol dependance, but they needed cleaning again once they became a mature nation (actually they needed it again and again and again) so that they could be the Mother of Blessing to the whole world. (dont freak out-just keeping in the metaphor. Im not into that God is our Mother garbage.)
Israel needed to mature and be united with God, but as she matured she grew into new forms of uncleanliness. God purified her from those and cleaned her up, now not just making her a beautiful child but a beautiful bride.
Im going to stop there for today, because what Israel did after all of that is heartbreaking, and much more so when you realize what great things God has done.
Of course, its all a DIRECT parable into our lives. Who of us, when lost and without God, was anything more than a bloody child abandoned in a field? And who of us, after being picked up by God our Savior, has not been cleaned up and made beautiful? (even if, in the case of some of us, only in His sight 
)
Ezekiel 3
14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me. 15 And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar canal, and I sat where they were dwelling. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.
16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: 17 Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.”
Ezekiel saw this great vision and then went away bitter and sat among the people. He was overwhelmed and didnt tell anybody about it or share it for 7 days, then God came back and said , Look, I made you a watchman, you gotta tell people this stuff!
I found myself in Ezekiel 3, sitting around with a vision but bitter because Im overwhelmed among the people in exile that didnt have the vision. God IS telling me to quit being bitter. God IS giving me a chance to share the vision.
Cindy said, wow, whats next and I thought ahead to Ezekiel 4. I think I get to eat bread cooked over poop.
Great! she said.
And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. Ezekiel 2.5 ESV
Just like Jesus had absolute sovereignty and knew who He was and is who He is regardless of what other people thought or think, Ezekiel was going to be a prophet of God whether the people listened or not. There would be no question as to his authority or origins, but if the people chose not to listen, their judgment would be just.
How great would it be to live in such a way, that though people may argue or disagree, there would be no question that certainly God was present in your life?!
I think of the man born blind that Jesus healed, All I know is that I was blind but now I see. There is no denying the truth when it happens in real life right before you. Those that denied it in Jesus day knew the condemnation they would receive, ie. the rich man going away sad, the people shouting let the blood be on our hands, Caesar is our King!
Jer. 39:10 But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.
A commander of the Babylonian army sees fit to give land to people that are poor, but the people of Israel did not. They would not celebrate the Sabbath of the Land or return land to the family from which it came in the year of Jubilee.
What evil shame Nebuzaradan testified to when he gave the poor in the land vineyards and fields to work.
Jer. 20:1 ? When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,
Jer. 20:2 he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the LORDs temple.
Jer. 20:3 The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, The LORDs name for you is not Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.
Jer. 20:4 For this is what the LORD says: I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will hand all Judah over to the king of Babylon, who will carry them away to Babylon or put them to the sword.
Jer. 20:5 I will hand over to their enemies all the wealth of this cityall its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away as plunder and carry it off to Babylon.
Jer. 20:6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.
Wow.
The priest had the prophet beaten. Like it was a decree or a hit. And then hes imprisoned which means he would have just sat w/ his wounds for the night and not received any care or help or food, and then released.
The Jews took where their bodies were buried very very seriously, so for him to not have his body buried in Israel would be a real disgrace. Its like God doesnt even want their dead bodies in His land.
Is. 66:19 ? I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nationsto Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations.
Is. 66:20 And they will bring all your brothers, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORDon horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels, says the LORD. They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the LORD in ceremonially clean vessels.
Is. 66:21 And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites, says the LORD.
I read this and I am just amazed.
I get goosebumps and tears in my eyes.
Libyans, Lydians, and Greeks, and other people from the nations WILL BE SELECTED TO BE PRIESTS AND LEVITES.
In the 8th Century B.C., God tells the world that He is going to bust out of Abrahams ancestry and out of the tribe of Levi and call priests from the nations. That blows me away. I dont know why. I already know and experience GOD living IN me, so why am I so blown away that we are made into Levites.
I guess because that would have been such a crazy thing for Isaiah to say to the Jews then. That would be like saying Im going to turn these druggies on the street into the elders and preachers of megachurches. awesome.
Is. 51:7 Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts: Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults.
Is. 51:8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.
There are two main themes (I am thinking about today) through Isaiah 49-53
God is my avenger and He holds my payment in His hand. There are numerous places in here where he talks about moths eating things up. My wife pulled a shirt out of the closet just 2 days ago that had moth holes in it. The wild and amazing thing about moth holes is that most of the time you never see the moths.
David had the nickname mothbane when we lived in Asia, because any time he saw a moth he would kill it. Even if he was eating dinner. Even if we told him not to. The thing is, it wasnt the moths that we could see that were tearing up our clothes. The moths we could see were safely locked OUT of our closets. Its the moths IN our closets that were destroying our clothes.
I read all this stuff about evil men, and I cant help but think how unseen their destruction is. Its not obvious that God is fighting for the oppressed. Its not blatant to the world, or media especially, that moths are eating holes through the insulting, evil powers of this age.
Moth and Rust. They both destroy slowly, from the inside out, and both destroy because of poor maintenance. If people would give attention to their insides, to the hidden areas inside the locked closets of their souls, there would be fewer holes, and less hidden destruction.
