365 Reflections

Isaiah puts the cross of Christ in plain sight. Isaiah 53 reads like a passage straight out of the New Testament. The details of what happens to Christ are hard to miss even for a first-time reader of this incredible chapter. If we take time and back up to Isaiah 52 we find a few things leading up to the detail in Isaiah 53.  Isaiah 52:14 (ESV) As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— Jesus was beaten beyond recognition. Think of that. He was so disfigured that people could not recognize Him.  Isaiah 52:15 (ESV) so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Immediately Isaiah shows the impact of the Cross. Just as the cross is startling to many, it is also salvation to many. The nations are sprinkled in the blood and kings from nations throughout...

Isaiah 49:1–3 (ESV) Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. 2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. 3 And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” Isaiah 49 brings us to the second servant song in Isaiah. It's clear from the start, the servant has been sent to those who are far off for that is who he calls to listen. He was also appointed from before his birth to speak words that would cut. He was hidden for a time and now revealed in Jesus Christ.  Peter had this in mind when he wrote: 1 Peter 1:20 (ESV) He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you Peter is a Jewish fisherman that learned the Lord had come for those of other nations. He came in the flesh to reach those in the fles...

2 Samuel 24:10 (ESV) But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” David's heart is convicted of his sin of counting the military. He is given choices of punishment and he chooses to fall "into the hands of the Lord for (David knew) His mercy is great" (Verse 14). And so 3 days of pestilence captures the land and 70,000 men die. It should be noted that this number is 5% of the previously counted army. Modern people struggle with God's judgment but consider that only 1 in 20 members of the army perished while 19 in 20 remained. God's mercy FAR outweighs His judgment. When the Lord brings judgment upon the nation, He stops the destroying angel over Jerusalem and the future site of the Temple. This is significant. Scripture is speaking to something far larger than this current ...

The interplay of Jonathan and David is a picture of the Christian and His Lord. I believe at some times in the text David can show us a picture of Christ and then at other times Jonathan can. When we get to 1 Samuel 18, it is Jonathan's turn to show us Christ's actions for His Church. David is about to enter into a dark season. He's defeated Goliath but Saul's radar is already up about him. Having investigated his background Saul will grow more suspicious. Eventually, David will be celebrated more than Saul by the young ladies of the nation and the switch will be flipped. Nevertheless, the scripture gives us a beautiful picture of how God prepares His men for the rough seasons of life. Jonathan immediately takes to David. And in loving kindness, Jonathan gives David the very things he will need for his upcoming dark season: 1 Samuel 18:3–4 (ESV) Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the ro...

Deuteronomy 31 is not a cheery chapter. In it, God makes clear He knows Israel will depart from His ways very quickly and very extremely. It's as if there's nothing that could stop their disobedience and inevitable downfall. Consider that the main ramification of Moses' death would be vast disobedience nation-wide. Deuteronomy 31:16 (ESV) And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Deuteronomy 31:18 (ESV)  And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods. There is a way to read this passage on the surface without knowledge of Christ which makes you ask of God, "Then why even give the law?" But God's work of redemption was not finished in giving the law, i...

Don't believe the lie that doing what God wants is impossible. So often people want to say obedience is impossible to justify their disobedience. But God put it writing for His people so that they could bank on His promise - YOU CAN DO WHAT HE SAYS! Look at Deuteronomy 30: Deuteronomy 30:11–14 (ESV) “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you , neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. Before we go any further, please do not take this to mean you will be sinless. All have sinned. All have fallen short. There is no one who does good except Christ! But the words of this book are not mean to destroy your will,...

Deuteronomy 22:9–12 (ESV) “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. 10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. 11 You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together. 12 “You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself. So aren't we supposed to ignore laws like this as New Testament believers? Not if we are to understand our salvation properly. These laws in Isreal were instructing God's people to be a certain kind of people who lived and dressed a certain kind of way and always remember to maintain a singleness of heart regarding their God.  Sowing seed, the unequal yoking of animals and being clothed all find New Covenant counterparts in the teachings of Jesus, Paul, and the Apostles. Consider: First: Sow the right SEED: Mark 4:14 (ESV) The sower sows the word . We are indeed to sow the...

Deuteronomy 8:2–5 (ESV) And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord . 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. The root of discipleship is discipline. A disciple is one who is disciplined by certain events SO THAT they might do more important certain events. A soldier disciplines his body to run, crawl, hike, aim, shoot and press on in challenging circumstances. A musician practices rudimentary disciplines by re...

Numbers 17:1–5 (ESV)   The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers’ house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff, 3 and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers’ house. 4 Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. 5 And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.” The way God chooses to silence the grumbling of the people is quite interesting. Instead of more plagues and judgment, there is a simple event whereby a miraculous resurrection of a formerly dead piece of wood sprouts and bears almonds. It's about as clear a foreshadowing of Christ as you can get. But there's lots more to see in this picture.  First...

The clearest picture of Christ in the offerings has to come from the grain offering. Leviticus 2:1–2  (ESV)   “When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord , his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it   and bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord . The grain offering also most readily relates the idea that Jesus the true bread from heaven, would come in simplicity and poverty. Grain was the acceptable sin offering in Leviticus 5 for the poorest of the poor. Jesus was born in poverty. He lived a simple life. Yet in Him was the riches of God's glory.  The stipulations of the offering call for frankincense, a fine balsamic resin symbolic of holiness and devotion. God's Son would come with both...

The book of Exodus is the story of God's redeeming work to choose a people for Himself, to reveal Himself to the nations as He does so, and ultimately to dwell among them so that all may know the Lord is over all His creation and every nation. The book ends with Israel enslaved by a man who thought he was god. It ends with the people free with THE GOD in their midst. The temple is completed by Moses in Exodus 40 and there are notable things we should consider: Exodus 40:1–5 (ESV)   The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “On the first day of the first month you shall erect the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. 3 And you shall put in it the ark of the testimony, and you shall screen the ark with the veil. 4 And you shall bring in the table and arrange it, and you shall bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps. 5 And you shall put the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and set up the screen for the door of the tabernacle. Exodus 40:16 (ESV)  T...

Aaron and the high priests of Israel's history were to wear specific clothing as they ministered before the Lord in the Most Holy Place. Exodus 28:29–30 (ESV)   So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord . 30 And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before the Lord . Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly. The most striking feature of the priestly garments for was the breatpiece. Exodus 28:15–21 (ESV) “You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work. In the style of the ephod you shall make it—of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen shall you make it. 16 It shall be square and doubled, a span its length and a span its breadth. 17 You shall set in it four...

The promise to Abraham in Genesis 12: "I will bless you and make your name great... All nations of the Earth will be blessed through you." Centuries later, the children of Abraham are on the cusp of having their own land where they could live out the blessing of God on a particular people, so that other nations would see and hear of the goodness of God and turn to Him! In Exodus 23, God is about to send them in... And He says: Exodus 23:20–22 (ESV)   “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. 22 “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries... Exodus 23:25–26 (ESV) You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness...

We all have that moment when we try to read the Bible cover to cover. We come to the strange passages of Exodus 21 and following. These laws seems so out of touch, so unlike the God we know throughout the rest of scripture. Many people lose their confidence in the scriptures when they read these passages. Many use them to deny the Bible completely. But there's something we can learn about God from even the challenging passages that don't seem to represent Him in the same manner that other passages do. Exodus 21:20–27 (ESV)   “When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. 21 But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money. 22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But i...

Exodus 21:1–6 (ESV) “Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. 2 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. 3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. 5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever. The first thing to recognize when we come to difficult texts in the Old Testament is to remember one simple thing: We are not living in the Ancient world.  Today if I lose my job, there are unemployment offices to visit, food stamps to collect and soup...

Genesis 21:11–12 (ESV) And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. Sarah wants Hagar and Ishmael out. Her child Isaac has been weaned and the son of the slave woman is laughing and taunting him.  Paul will use this story to illustrate our salvation. Amazingly, he sees this passage as an allegory to compare works righteousness with God's righteousness. Hagar was Abraham's best efforts - his works to secure God's work in his life. But God would not let Abraham come to understand the promises of God depend on man's best effort. No. They are promises of what God will do for us, not what we will do for Him.  When Sarah demand Hagar and son be exiled, it says this was "very displeasing" to Abraham. The word is also translated, "wick...

Psalm 147 seesaws from one extreme to another in worship and praise of God. Psalm 147:1–6 (ESV) Praise the Lord ! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. 2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4 He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. 5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. 6 The Lord lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground. Notice the extremes that God brings together: The Lord builds up the most important religious city... with outcasts  (verse 2). He heals the brokenhearted (verse 3) while numbering and naming the stars (verse 4). His power and knowledge KNOWS NO LIMIT (verse 5)... but he bends down to lift up the humble (verse 6). God goes to extremes. It's what the Gospel is - the God of extremes. Paul said it like this: 2 Cori...

Psalm 119:33–37 (ESV) Teach me, O Lord , the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. 34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. 35 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. 36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! 37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. We are fallen. I think that is an understatement. We often do not realize how fallen we are. And the call to obey God is not just to do what's right, but to think it, and feel it, and do what's right right with the right motivation at the right time. That's a tall order. But it makes us realize just how fallen we are. It's good to admit your fallen. Otherwise, how will you ever get help? The Psalmist here has no problem telling God he needs help to obey the Word. He has already made it clear he loves God's Word. Now he's confessing that he lacks he means n...

Psalm 5 is another Psalm with "chaistic" structure. That's a fancy way of saying the first verse matches up to the last verse, the second verse matches up to the second to last verse, and so on. When right in the middle is Verses 7-8. Before we look at verse 7 and 8 we need to see what's around them. David's Psalm contains alternating segments about the wicked and the righteous. The Lord hears the prayers of the righteous (1-3), but the Lord detests the wicked (4-6). The wicked lie, flatter and are filled with violence at their core (9-10). But those who hope in God will sing, will worship, and will be covered by the Lord (11-12). David is surrounded by good and bad options. Be someone who does good or be one of those who does evil. How do you live in the midst of a world like that? What crowd will you regard as your people? David actually choses neither. His plan is simple, draw near to the Lord... Psalm 5:7–8 (ESV)  But I, through the abundance of your s...

You know the hardest thing about preaching to Americans? Is the fact that most of us are pretty decent people. That the system of America, for the most part, rewards you for being upright and moral and kind and compassionate and helpful to other people. And that's what makes it so hard to preach the gospel to Americans. Because most Americans believe they are good enough for God. And nothing could be further from the truth. Paul writes to the Ephesians in chapter 2 to remind them of their status before Christ saves them. He says: Ephesians 2:1-3 (ESV)   And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  You were "dead ...