365 Reflections

On the heels of announcing a comeback for the exiles in Babylon, Jeremiah is the first prophet to announce a New Covenant between God and Israel. The enormity of this moment cannot be overstated. The Covenant of Moses in the Law was epic. It had defined Israel as a nation for 1000 years. Over that time, Israel failed again and again to keep their end of the bargain. The die was cast in their hearts. They could not curtail their actions. They needed a deeper work of God in the heart.  That is what they get.  Jeremiah 31:31–32 (ESV) “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. Jeremiah is clear: The problem with the Old Covenant was the people. They couldn't stop sinning. This is our pr...

Isaiah 66:7–8 (ESV) “Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son. 8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children. Amazingly, Isaiah ends on a euphoric note of hope. God will bring a miraculous resurrection to Israel and one day she will be born. Now I happen to believe the fulfillment of that text happened on May 14, 1948, when Israel declared itself a state, and the U.S. President recognized her sovereignty moments later against the wishes of his cabinet. Biblical History was made and the world changed forever.  Isaiah does what a lot of prophets in the Bible do. They spoke of things to happen in their generation and the ultimate things to happen much later. The fact is, God was so gracious to His people, that He fulfilled their comeback prophecy twice, separated by 2400 years of hist...

We don't live in a culture of covenants. We should. They are all over the Bible and they were serious. They were also intended to save and bless people. We turn to another troubled moment for David to see how. David's troubles with rebels turn into troubles with the Lord. In 2 Samuel 21, there's a three-year famine n the land and the Lord tells David why: 2 Samuel 21:1–2 (ESV) And the LORD said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. It should be eye-opening to modern people that the Lord would hold Israel accountable for the mistreatment of a people group from a generation ago. But the Lord is not LIKE US. He is perfect in justice and will r...

Jonathan and David present many pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ for us. In previous posts, I have related David to the Church as those "in Christ" and Saul to the world's systems/governments and domain. Now Saul stands in many ways for not just the system of the world but the evidentiary wrath of God imposed upon the community of men who have forsaken His Word and sought their own adulation. Remember how Romans 1 describes the wrath of God - not as some sort of future state of the ungodly (although it is) - but as a present handing over to the desires of men's hearts: Romans 1:24 (ESV) Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts t o impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, Romans 1:26 (ESV) For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passion s . For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; Romans 1:28 (ESV) And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a ...

Exodus 34:8-9 (ESV) And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”  How do you respond to knowing God? How do you respond to His compassion, grace, love, faithfulness as well as his just, righteous and certain judgment on the wicked? Hopefully the way Moses does. Having asked to see God's glory and being put in place by God to partake of as much of it as he could, Moses bows, repents and asks for God's blessing knowing full well, the only way the nation will survive is if God forgives them and comes with them,   "for it is a stiff-necked people". Then Moses prays YET AGAIN for the people of Israel. Moses has now prayed 5 times since the golden calf. He is learning how heavy the responsibility is to lead and feed God's people. He is ...

I love what Paul is doing in Galatians 3.  Pastorally taking his flock through the scriptures and the realities they point toward in Christ. He begins with Abraham... the covenant of faith. Then he gets to the law.  And here's where things need to be cleared up in the church - EVEN TODAY. For the law is a source of devastation or pride. I am proud when I keep it and devastated when I break it.  There is no middle ground. Churches have split because of the law.  For one person feels inevitably that their good behavior makes for a better Christian and they should tell others what to do.  And then the truth comes out and we find their secrets were worse than everyone else's. But there is another thing the law does.  The law presents a standard.  A standard for us to reach for and inevitably miss.  Isaiah Thomas said, "Everybody wants to be perfect."  And Jesus came and said, "Be perfect."  Why?  Because our inner desire to ac...