The Day "Praise of God" was Discovered

It happened this way.  Old Testament Jacob who successively married two daughters of Laban, one because he loved her, the other, because she was the older and it was required the older be married first.  Of course, Jacob didn’t know this local law and did not find out until the morning after the marriage was consummated that he had been presented with the older sister as his wife, whom he did not love.  To marry the woman he loved, Rachel, it was required Jacob serve Laban in an indentured relationship for seven more years.  Yet, in this instance, though Jacob must serve seven additional years, he was able to bring Rachel “into his tent” as wife, one week after he had married Leah. 

Jacob viewed this older sister, Leah, with antipathy perhaps for the whole of their married life, providing the foundation for a very dysfunctional family.  Still, God is sovereign and worked His will even in this circumstance.  This sovereignty manifest itself with Leah able to bear children, particularly sons, while Rachel was kept barren.

Each son born to Leah was given a name reflective of her state of mind in her relationship with Jacob.  Son #1, Reuben, literally means “See, a Son”, thinking Jacob would love her for giving him a son; nothing doing.  Son #2, Simeon, literally means “I am unloved”, or, more precisely “hated”; the reality of her relationship with Jacob is bearing down heavily upon her.  Son #3, Levi, literally means “attached” so she said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me because I have borne him three sons” (Genesis 29:34); sadly, nothing changed.  However, Jacob remained conjugally fully charged and this bore fruit in the birth of son #4, Judah.  At this point a significant attitude change happens in Leah.

Whereas with the birth of the first three sons Leah had looked to Jacob for love and acceptance, she made a critical attitude shift with the birth of this fourth son saying, “Now I will praise the Lord” (Genesis 29:35), and called her son, Judah which simply means “Praise”.  This shift was monumental in its consequences.  Coupled with the dying prophetic words of Jacob, “The scepter [symbol of kingship] shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:10), Leah’s naming of this son determined Israel’s dynastic line and from Judah would come the King of kings, the Savior of the world, even the Lord Jesus.

Concerning Leah’s attitude shift it is noteworthy that hers is the first instance of “praise to God” mentioned in the Bible.  Yes, where there had been notable moments of worship, particularly with Abraham, there is no mention of “praise to God”.  And of her offspring, none, absolutely none, was a greater “praise say-er” than King David.

About 470 years later after Moses had the people of Israel recount the “Blessings for Obedience” and the “Curses for Disobedience” in Deuteronomy Chpt. 28, he concluded with these ominous words, “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of all things; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you” (Deut. 28:47,48).

This puts a premium on “praise to God” which incorporates joy and gladness for the abundance of all things.  If you are a “believer” and have found life to be extra difficult, you may be running a “praise deficit”.

An Unbeatable Combination: Ask, Seek, Knock

If the Bible is not a guide for living, what’s the point of having it?  In fact, at ever so many points the Bible makes it clear “It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:22b).  Much more pointedly it says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).  One could actually conclude in a hurry that the Bible is all about the business of telling us how to live.  No passage of Scripture does this more comprehensively than Psalm 119 from which we take just one verse to illustrate the whole, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (verse 105).

This understanding of the Word became a launching pad for Jesus in His ministry in laying out certain principles of how to live and navigate one’s way through life.  Following His teachings unto themselves apart from a vital relationship with Him is vain, but following them under the direction of the Holy Spirit leads to life.  Let’s look at two of these life-giving verses.  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matt. 7:7&8).

These two verses seem so contemporary; so American, if you please.  We also need to be mindful of the fact Jesus is putting the weight of heaven behind His words.  So, Ask and keep on asking, for that’s the sense of the word.  Even in the “natural realm” how many times have you failed to receive a thing because you did not ask for it—perhaps you were embarrassed to ask.  Here, one is to keep on asking.  Other scriptures support this approach.  This applies in both the natural realm (everyday world) and the spiritual realm (prayer).

Next you are to Seek and keep own seeking.  Perhaps a good illustration of this point is Charles Edison’s quest for a filament for the incandescent light bulb.  Combined with the efforts of others, purchasing helpful patents along the way, and unceasing effort he developed a commercially feasible incandescent light bulb.  In his quest Edison was actually following a biblical principle.

Finally you are to Knock and keep on knocking.  Not too unlike seeking, knocking suggests the answer is just on the other side of the door, or, just beyond an immediate obstacle.  One is not to knock and quickly turn away, one must keep on knocking until the door is opened.

The consequence of doing these things:  “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matt. 7:8).   GO FOR IT!

C.F.:8)

 

It's Axiomatic: You Reap What You Sow

 

Where men dwell, from the most primitive “bush” hut to the noblest housing devised, one law prevails and is immutable:  You reap what you sow! (Galatians 6:7) All the elements of law are established in this simple, axiomatic truth:  cause and effect.  It could be wished all law were as comprehensive and exact as this.  Here there are no exceptions, no exemptions and it applies equally to all who draw breath.

Most often this self-evident truth is quoted with a certain sense of foreboding; intimating there is no escape from the consequence of perhaps some heinous deed.  And, indeed, this truth ought to be a deterrent to even the thought of wrong-doing, but it’s not.   That’s because one does not always see a direct correlation between act and consequence.  But history has shown the consequence is a very part of the seed sown and that’s exactly what God is saying, “Don’t kid yourself, you’re going to reap exactly what you’ve sown!”

The flip-side of this idea which seems so ominous on the negative side, is equally applicable and its consequences just as powerful on the positive side.  Though one scarcely sees this idea taught, but Ecclesiastes 11:1 does:  “Cast your bread(money) upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” Jesus was speaking to this same principle when He said, “Give, and it will be given to you:  good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.  For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38).

 

The "Scoffers" Part

Central to the heart of the Christian Faith is the teaching that Jesus Christ will “come again”.  Allusions to this tenet of faith, though most in a denigrating form, abound to this day.  Anticipating this condition, St. Peter said scoffers would come in the last days saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?  For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (II Peter 3:4).

Such scoffers, he continues, willfully forget that there was a flood interrupting the order of things and that we need to be reminded that “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9).

Were Jesus Christ to return right this moment, great multitudes would be turned into an eternity without God.  But the missionary/evangelism enterprise is moving forward with great energy in many nations.  The ultimate goal of this effort is to preach the “Kingdom of “God” (see article: ‘”Gospel of Kingdom’ Preaching Will Precipitate Christ’s Return [2/14/15]).  The ultimate goal of this effort is to preach the “Kingdom of God” to every ethnic group on the face of the earth then the end will come.

The end of this present phase of history, known as the “Gentile Period”, a period during which the promises of God, previously given exclusively to the Jews, have been enjoyed by the Gentiles (non-Jews) is probably far nearer than any of us dare dream. 

Do not be lulled into sleep thinking that things will always continue as they are, for they shall not.  The point being to address your souls to God with some awareness that He is far more ready to do business with us than we are with Him. 

"Gospel of the Kingdom" preaching Will Precipitate "2nd Coming"

Without question the Church (“the redeemed, called out ones”; not the ecclesiastical organization) plays a critical role in the “2^nd Coming” of Christ.  Jesus, Himself, said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).  Further, and as a critical commentary on these words Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).  Faithfulness to this 2-fold task is to hasten the coming of the Lord Jesus (2Peter 3:12).

A working definition will help in defining the Church’s responsibility, precisely, what is “the Gospel of the Kingdom”?  The definition comes indirectly as a result of two of John the Baptist’s disciples, sent by John when he was in prison, posing a question to Jesus, “Are you the Coming One, or do we look for another” (Luke 7:20b)?

His response.  “Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard:  that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Luke 7:24).  These statements, along with one other, casting out demons (Luke 9:1) are foundational to the “Gospel of the Kingdom”. These comprise the “message” of the Kingdom” and making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19) comprises the “methodology”.   

A 2^nd definition is needed to help clarify the Church’s responsibility:  “Making disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).  A distinction must be made between a “convert” and a “disciple”.  By dictionary definition a “convert” means “one who has changed from one creed, belief or opinion to a different one.”  The same dictionary states a “disciple” is “one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another”, in this case, the doctrines of Jesus.  Over-simplified, “converts” are to become “disciples”.

Presently it’s being said that preaching of the “Gospel of the Kingdom”, with signs and wonders attending, will spearhead the last great revival that will soon sweep over the earth.  Getting the “Gospel Message” straight in all its fullness is critical to this whole process. 

When “disciples” have been made of all nations (“ethnic” groups), or, more precisely when the last disciple has been made then Jesus will return.  The Church’s attentiveness to its given task plays a critical role in bringing Jesus back.

The Greatest Ambition--to Know God

 “Thus says the Lord:

                ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

                Let not the mighty man glory in his might,

                Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;

                But let him who glories glory in this,

                That he understands and knows Me,

                That I am the Lord, exercising loving-kindness,

                And righteousness in the earth,

                For in these I delight,’

Says the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:23 & 24).

This scripture bespeaks no superficial experience, nor is it a casual relationship, but rather a process of God’s coming into our being at the deepest level.  It is an interweaving of the Spirit of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords into the fiber, the core, the innermost part of our being until we declare, “. . .[we] are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens. . .of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:20-22).  Likewise, we understand the truth of Ephesians 5:30, “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.”

In our relationship with God we must move from knowledge to experience.  Zacchaeus, associated with being in a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus is Exhibit “A” of passing from knowledge to experience.  It was knowledge of Jesus that caused Zacchaeus to climb a tree to see Jesus.  That same knowledge caused him to gladly accept/extend an invitation to Jesus to come to his house.  So powerful was the impact of Jesus upon Zacchaeus that he made a life-changing declaration:  “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold” (Luke 19:8).  With this declaration, right there in his own household, Zacchaeus passed from knowledge to a life-changing experience.

Jesus called Zacchaeus and inasmuch as we can be bold to declare, as did Peter to Cornelius’ household, “In truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34), He calls you also.  It’s the grandest invitation in the world to come and know God!  Knowing “about” God is information; knowing God is experience.   

As Jesus called Zacchaeus, with a subsequent radical change in his life, so He also called “Saul” who, after a radical change in his life,  became the Apostle Paul, for whom “knowing God” took precedence over everything else said:  “. . .that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3, 10,11).

Both Zacchaeus and the Apostle Paul found what they were looking for and its pursuit became their greatest ambition.

Great Souls and Noble Thoughts

Great souls are made, they don’t just happen.  One of the great discoveries of this century is that man is the master of his thought and that by changing his thoughts, can change his circumstance.

Long ago the Bible declared this about man and his thoughts, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).  If you’re looking for a new charter of freedom, this could be it.  However, this statement presupposes certain Biblical understandings.

Initially, thought control outside a basic relationship[ with Christ cannot bring newness of life, but when the living Christ invades the human spirit, renews it and gives to it His life, the potential for newness of life is unlimited.  The shackles of growth are removed and the individual is in a position to experience rapid and radical inward growth because he is no longer battling himself.

The reason a person is no longer battling himself is because inward desires and thoughts which are contrary to the spirit of Christ are recognized as such and commanded by the individual, “In the Name of Jesus”, to go.  Additional struggle comes at the point where the individual first tolerates and then lounges around with (and otherwise “opens the door to”) ugly, selfish and evil thoughts.

Calling these thoughts what they are: “unclean”, and asking God’s forgiveness for indulgence in the same, sets the individual free to continue along a line of positive growth.  Circumstance, then, merely provides us with the opportunity to come into our own.

Be sure, growth will prevail.  As fertile soil will produce something, weeds if nothing else, so will our minds.  So, confident of the possibilities for growth and knowing that “. . .in due season we will reap if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9), then the challenge is to set ourselves to becoming that kind of person with whom we can keep good company.

That’s God’s desire for us also, to make of us, by working through our minds and spirits, those kind of people in whom all positive-thinking people find good company.  In short, God wants to make of us great souls.  He wants to make us like unto His own Son, Jesus—the greatest-souled person who ever lived.

 

The Jews, Our Elder Brothers

Do we realize, in the Church, what a great debt we owe the Jews? For through them God has given the Covenants, the Law, the Priesthood, the Prophets, the Savior and the Apostles, and, finally, no small thing, the Bible as we know it.

Even in their opposition to the Church, largely attributable to the Church’s historic and, in some circumstances, continuing persecution of the Jews, they serve to sharpen the “witness” of the church.  In this, they will not be persuaded of the truth of the Gospel except they see it radically lived out in the lives of those who would preach to them.  The Apostle Paul put it this way, “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall?  Certainly not!  But through their fall to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:11).

The awesome fact, and one almost beyond human comprehension, is that God has “elected” to let “hardness of heart” come to the Jews in order that salvation may come to the Gentiles (non-Jews).  See the Book of Romans in the New Testament, chapters 9-11, and specifically Romans 11:25.

Yet God has not forgotten the Jews as is evidenced by the partial restoration of their homeland—never mind that the world seems bent on taking it away from them.  Further, the final issues of this age will be played out with the Jews on center stage, not to their delight, for they will experience unimaginable trial and persecution—all on the way to the “restoration of the promises of God” to this people.  In this, the whole earth will be blessed.

Paul, through the eye of faith, sees His people, the Jews, being restored and puts it this way, “For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead” (Romans 11:15)?  When they come to embrace Yeshua as their Messiah; first, there will be inconsolable weeping for, “then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10b); next, in close proximity to this event, whether immediately preceding (most likely), concurrent, or, immediately following will be the resurrection of the righteous dead and then a glorious battle.

That battle, the Battle of Armageddon, will see Yeshua triumphing over all His enemies and the enemies of Israel—ushering in the “Millennium”.  What a glorious day that will be—but only for those who are on the right side of it.

Why Israel?

 That Israel should be chosen by God to stand before Him in a special relationship is as offensive to our corporate religious sense as ever it has been.  Consider this, the Lord God of Israel says, “See I have inscribed you (Jerusalem and, by extension, Israel) on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before me” (Isaiah 49:16).  Of what other nation and peoples can this be said?

Why need God have chosen any nation or peoples to stand before Him in a special relationship?  All too briefly, as the world was lost through the sin (rebellion) of one man, it must be won back by the obedience of one man (I Corinthians 15:22).  As the man who lost it all was first without sin, so must also the man who restores all things before God be without sin. 

In order to do this, meeting all legal requirements so that His own righteousness be vindicated, God entered into successive covenants (contractual agreements) with a people who came to be known as Israelites.  God could have done it with any peoples, but for His own sovereign reasons He chose the Israelites whom we now know generally as Jews.

Through this people a man would come Who, because of His sinless life before God, would be able to satisfy every righteous requirement of God, in order that all humankind could be restored to a position of openness and non-condemnation before God.  This man was a Jew and His Name is Jesus.  All this may sound like so much religious gobbledygook (“jargon”), but still it’s a fact.  The supreme fact is that Jehovah God, the only One, True God, is righteous and holy and He had to make provision for setting man free from His sin.  That was through the shedding of His Son’s precious blood.  Hebrews 9:22 puts it this way:  “And according to the law, almost all things are purged (cleansed) with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission (forgiveness).” Otherwise sin establishes an impenetrable barrier between God and man.

Hebrews further speaks of the order of things:  “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.  To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (9:27,28).

But there’s more.  Because there are covenant obligations to be met before the earth can yet enter into the fabled time of the Millennium, Israel is mightily opposed because these covenant obligations swirl about her, but, in reality, are for the benefit of all mankind.  This is why we are to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” and this admonition is followed with a promise, “. . . they shall prosper who love you” (Psalm 122:6).

Life Must Have Rules

By what rule, law, dictum does a person govern his or her life?  That one must have some sort of governance in life is suggested almost whimsically by this verse of Scripture:  “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18a).  One older manuscript renders this portion:  “Where Divine revelation, and the faithful preaching of the sacred testimonies, are neither reverenced nor attended, the ruin of that land is at no great distance.”

Some cultural values may impart a limited source of direction to a person’s life, but too quickly the bankruptcy of such ideas becomes apparent.  No, a person needs some spiritual direction (that’s because we are “spiritual” beings) in which he/she is confident, to which they can give themselves with some degree of abandon.

Enter, the faith of the Bible.  All about us, the Bible says, are proofs of a living God.  The heavens, the earth, the realm of nature, all give abundant testimony to a loving, wise, and enormously intelligent supernatural being.  That many of the questions we have about God might be answered, He literally fleshed Himself out in the person of Jesus Christ.

So clear was this representation of Himself in human flesh that Jesus spoke of Himself as the “light of the world” (John 9:5).  And the Bible says that some people don’t come to this “light” because they prefer “darkness”. 

Can you “see” it, are you walking in “darkness”, i.e., without the “light” of Jesus on your path? It need not be that way.  Listen to this invitation from Jesus, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden (with the issues of life), and I will give you rest.  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.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28 – 30).