2 Corinthians 3

WEEK 7                                           2 Corinthians 3

THURSDAY  Reflections

Paul says that people can read the Old Testament with a veil that keeps them from seeing Christ. Christ, Paul explains, is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Paul also makes clear that the New Covenant in Jesus isn't just a written law but written in our hearts. This change in our hearts doesn't just save us (implied) but transforms us into the image of Christ. Paul sees our relationship with Jesus as something that is transformational and ongoing. The question we need to ask is this: Is our relationship with Jesus transforming us? If it isn't, maybe we don't have a relationship. 

2Co 3:1-18
(1)  Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
(2)  Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
(3)  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
(4)  And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
(5)  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
(6)  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
(7)  But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
(8)  How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
(9)  For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
(10)  For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
(11)  For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
(12)  Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
(13)  And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
(14)  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
(15)  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
(16)  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
(17)  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
(18)  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

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Psalm 100

WEEK  7                                            Psalms 100

WEDNESDAY  Reflections

Psalm 100 is a psalm that I often preach during Thanksgiving week in the USA. The psalm is a favorite for many a generation. I can't help but wonder if it might not have been read on that first Thanksgiving. Yes, there is much debate on the morality of the settlers coming to the New World, but on that day Native Americans and Settlers celebrated together.

 

Whatever the past, Thanksgiving and every day is a day to enter the gates of God with thanksgiving.

Psa 100:1-5
(1)  A Psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
(2)  Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
(3)  Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
(4)  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
(5)  For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

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Nahum 2

WEEK  7                                             Nahum 2

TUESDAY  Reflections

Jonah preached, and Nineveh repented, but as with many others, they went back to doing exactly as they had. Nineveh may have seen Israel fall before them and Judah fall before Babylon, but God has said they are only marred, not completely destroyed. The Assyrians are going to be wiped out as a nation. This nation of lions will soon be gone. All of their strength and power are going to do nothing to help them since God is going to bring them down. The Assyrians were indeed wiped out by the Babylonians.  

Nah 2:1-13
(1)  He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.
(2)  For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.
(3)  The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.
(4)  The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.
(5)  He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared.
(6)  The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.
(7)  And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.
(8)  But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.
(9)  Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.
(10)  She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.
(11)  Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
(12)  The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.
(13)  Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

2 Kings 17

WEEK  7                                               2 Kings 17

MONDAY  Reflections

Here ends the kingdom of Israel. The northern tribes are captives. This chapter lists their crimes and what God had done. In the end, one priest of God was released to teach people about God. From this developed a people who feared God but also worshiped other gods.

 

Judah was left, but their day was also coming. They too would be judged. Judah had some good kings who led the people back to God; Israel had none and thus faced judgment sooner. God tried again and again to reach Israel, but they didn't return. Judah returned, but only for short periods; then they too returned to false gods. 

2Ki 17:1-41
(1)  In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.
(2)  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.
(3)  Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
(4)  And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.
(5)  Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
(6)  In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
(7)  For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
(8)  And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
(9)  And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
(10)  And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
(11)  And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:
(12)  For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
(13)  Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
(14)  Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
(15)  And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.
(16)  And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
(17)  And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
(18)  Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
(19)  Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
(20)  And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
(21)  For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.
(22)  For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
(23)  Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
(24)  And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
(25)  And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
(26)  Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
(27)  Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
(28)  Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.
(29)  Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
(30)  And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
(31)  And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
(32)  So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
(33)  They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
(34)  Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
(35)  With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:
(36)  But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.
(37)  And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.
(38)  And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.
(39)  But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
(40)  Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
(41)  So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

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Ezekiel 12

WEEK 6                                              Ezekiel 12

SATURDAY  Reflections

God has Ezekiel give a live illustration. He is to demonstrate a people going into exile. God even has him digging a hole through the city wall. He had the message he was to give these people when they saw him going out. Unfortunately, the people didn't want to hear or see the truth.

The people are so blind that they say the prophets are speaking, but nothing is happening. What really shocks me is that the people saying this are in exile. Twice, Babylon has defeated Judah and Jerusalem. Twice have people been taken into captivity. Twice, they have seen what has been prophesied taking place, and now they are saying nothing is happening. How blind can they be? They are like a person stuck on a sinking ship saying well we haven't drowned yet, so the ship must not be sinking. God is going to wipe away all doubt.

Eze 12:1-28
(1)  The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying,
(2)  Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.
(3)  Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.
(4)  Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.
(5)  Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.
(6)  In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.
(7)  And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.
(8)  And in the morning came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,
(9)  Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?
(10)  Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.
(11)  Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.
(12)  And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.
(13)  My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.
(14)  And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.
(15)  And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.
(16)  But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
(17)  Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
(18)  Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;
(19)  And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.
(20)  And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
(21)  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
(22)  Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?
(23)  Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.
(24)  For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.
(25)  For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.
(26)  Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
(27)  Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.
(28)  Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.

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