Isaiah 55:12 the trees of the field will clap their hands

Isaiah 55:12  “For with joy you will go out, and in peace you will be led forth; The mountains and the hills will break forth before you a shout of joy, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.  [translations mine except where noted]

A lot of Christians don’t like reading the prophets of the Bible.  They find them depressing.  Constant judgment and condemnation.  There is certainly a lot of that in them, but there are also descriptions of what God wants to do in people’s lives that you might not find anywhere else.  In God’s appeal to people who reject Him, He often shows them what they are missing.

When we read passages of judgment, we tend to think of God’s displeasure toward people for failing Him, and it can be easy to think of ourselves as failing God as well.  But rather, this judgment is for people who should have known better and they then reject God.  God often then highlights what it is that they have turned their back on.  The interesting thing here is that Christians are often surprised by what it seems that they are missing.

Isaiah 55 begins with a general call to all people.  We see in the verses that follow that God’s heart is for all people and not just Israel. 

Isaiah 55:1,2  “Hey! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. ² “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?  Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance.

Are you thirsty?  God wants to quench it.  You want sustenance and satisfaction?  You can have it without cost. 

Some will stop right here and say, wait, aren’t we’re supposed to take up our cross, forsake all, and follow Jesus?

Same thing from a different perspective.  When the disciples left their nets to follow Jesus, it wasn’t something that they had to figure out on a calculator whether they could afford the cost or wanted to.  When you find the One who has the words of eternal life, how can you not leave everything else, so to speak, to follow Him?

Verses 6 and 7 are a little clearer on what this buying wine and milk without money looks like.

Isaiah 55:6,7 (NASB95)  Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

It’s all about seeking God, not your own way and your own thoughts, but God and His ways and thoughts.

Thoughts?  Forsaking your thoughts and thinking God’s thoughts?  God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours like the heavens are higher than the earth.  Isaiah 55:8  How can we do that? 

God’s Word in our lives can accomplish all that God wants for us and in us.  Isaiah 55:10,11  “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; ¹¹ So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, but do what I desire, and succeed in what I sent it.

And then we come to our verse: Isaiah 55:12  “For with joy you will go out and in peace you will be led forth; The mountains and the hills will break forth before you a shout of joy, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.  [translation mine]

The word for joy here has the connotation of mirth.  It’s not this quiet sense of feeling good in your heart.  It’s this kind of joy that breaks out in laughter and even giddiness at times.  I don’t want to paint a Christian life that is based on or run by emotions, but I am seeing more and more that emotions are something not to be belittled or neglected.  I don’t think this is emphasized in the Bible because it is not the goal, it’s a byproduct.  When people make it their goal, they end up seeking the emotion and not God.  But Christians often have God but lack the expected emotions. 

Emotions can tell you a lot about the state of your Christian life.  I know there are often difficult times in life, but joy is an essential part of what it means to know God.  If there is little or no joy, we are missing something big.

The word for peace here is shalom, that Hebrew word which encompasses everything that is good: wholeness, peace, fulness, contentment, wellbeing.  Joy and peace.  Two markers.

The best part here is what happens with nature.  It’s like all nature is sharing your joy, God’s joy in His creation, especially in those humans who freely have come to love and enjoy the presence of God.  We think of nature as either inanimate objects or non-sentient things, but as part of God’s creation, God’s life and power envelops and energizes them.  This is no pantheistic sentiment, but just an extension of the awesomeness of our God.

I’ve been a Christian for a very long time.  Why did it take so long to learn about joy?

 

 

Luke 10:42 One Thing

Few things can be boiled down to one thing, but this is what Jesus seems to be doing here in this passage:

Luke 10:41,42 ⁴¹ But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled/distracted about many things; ⁴² but one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Some English Bibles say that a few things are necessary, but really only one.  If you try to read all the reasons why one reading is better than the other, your head will start to hurt.  The reading I have above is the modern consensus of the best text.

Martha had welcomed Jesus into her home.  No mention is made of the disciples.  They don’t seem to be there.  Martha was bustling about, trying to be a good host, but her sister, Mary, just sat at Jesus’ feet and let Him teach her.

Martha started to get annoyed that she was doing all the work, and her sister just sat there with their guest.

So she decides to speak up.  Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work.  Tell her to help out a bit.

And this is where our verse comes in.

Jesus repeats Martha’s name when He addresses her.  Martha, Martha.  We do that when we very gently want to correct somebody.  Jesus didn’t actually say that Martha was wrong.  He wants to show her a better way, but He does refer to her work as worrying, (unduly) concerned, being distracted, troubled.

And what is this better way?

Literally, sitting at the feet of Jesus hearing His Word.

Now some people will understand this as Bible study.  Spending a lot of time reading and studying the Bible.  I don’t think that’s what He’s saying.

I use a lot of books as reference where their authors do Bible study for a living.  I learn a lot from them, but it’s the difference between a scientist and nutritionist describing my dinner in terms of chemicals that my body will process in various ways and actually eating the meal.

Bible study becomes Bible study; we’re working to understand the text better, but there is always that next step where we see what difference that makes in our lives.  Bible study can be done like an archaeologist who looks at ancient writings and tries to decipher them.  It’s very easy to get caught up in the meaning of words and how verses connect to each other that we fail to make the final step where the Word touches our hearts.

When Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples, and by extension to us, He told them/us to make disciples of all the nations by baptizing people and teaching them to observe whatsoever He has commanded us.  He didn’t tell them to teach them the Bible.  He specifically mentions His own words. 

Why?

When we read the Words of Jesus, He constantly tells us to do things.  When you just read the Bible, you can read chapters and chapters and never once be told to do anything.  Like here where He tells Martha/us to stop worrying about so much stuff and spend time with Him.  Today that would mean reading the gospels a lot but also being attentive to that still soft voice that He still uses to speak to us.

That’s the one necessary thing.

Yes, I will tell you over and over to learn the Bible.  When you know the Bible, you will see the parallels between your life and the Bible constantly, and it will give you direction on how to live your life. 

But then the Pharisees were Bible scholars as well and missed the whole point of it.

I think a special emphasis on the life and words of Jesus can keep that from happening.

 

 

Mark 4:38 Don’t You Care?

One of the reasons that the Bible is so important is that it often explains circumstances.

For example, in Mark 4, the disciples were in a boat that was in danger of sinking.  While a lot of people in a similar situation might say something like, Things happen, a Christian will want to know why it is happening.

The disciples saw this as a sign that maybe Jesus didn’t really care about them.  They saw Him do incredible miracles, but now they are sinking in a boat, and their first response is: Don’t You care?  We are about to die, and you’re not doing anything?

And Jesus then turns the discussion around and asks them some questions:  Why are you timid?  Don’t you have faith yet?

The obvious question here is what does the one have to do with the other.  What does whether Jesus cared about them have to do with faith?

How many times do you look at your life and think that things could have, should have been different?  How many of you now are in a situation that is less than desirable, and you’re thinking: why is God allowing this?  Why didn’t God do something about it?  Or, why is God doing this to me?

And I believe that Jesus’ answer to those questions would be the same answers as to the questions of the disciples. 

Why are you timid?  Don’t you have faith yet?

The disciples were in a life-or-death situation, and Jesus turned it into a question of faith.  The disciples were looking at circumstances that were unfavorable, and Jesus talks about faith.  The disciples were questioning God’s care for them, and Jesus talks about faith.

But what does that mean?

It means first of all that we should never interpret our life circumstances in a way that questions God’s care for us.  In fact, there is a passage that uses this same expression to affirm God’s care for us. 

1 Peter 5:5–7 (NASB95) ⁵  . . . God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. ⁶ Therefore be humbled under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, ⁷ casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

English Bibles insist on translating the verb about humbling as a middle [humble yourselves] where it is clearly a passive [be humbled].  But that’s a question for another time. 

It’s the last part that is important here.  God cares about us, so we can cast all our anxiety [worry, care] on Him. 

God expects us to respond in these situations with faith, which in this situation would be a confidence that God will deliver us. 

I know that some Christians will say that that is too strong of a statement, that sometimes God chooses not to deliver us. 

That would take a lot of space here to discuss that, but if God indeed might choose not to deliver us, then I don’t think Jesus’ question was a valid one.  If God might be willing to let them die in the storm, would that then have been improper to ask if Jesus really cared for them?  I don’t think so, but some might disagree. 

But what was it that showed the lack of the disciple’s faith to Jesus?  Was it thinking that Jesus didn’t really care about them or that they thought they were about to die? 

But Jesus asked them why they were timid.  That had nothing to do with whether Jesus cared about them and everything to do with whether they believed their lives were in danger. 

So back to the original point.

When we look at life, our lives, and wonder whether God really loves us, why He allowed certain things to happen to us, He wants us to respond in faith.  But what does that look like?  Well, it’s certainly not timidity.  Where we are afraid of the outcome.

And this lesson is addressed to me as much as anyone.  My response is not timidity.  It’s usually sadness.  Same thing.  It’s a questioning of God’s goodness and His care. 

And Jesus’ response is the same.  Why are you sad?  Don’t you have faith yet?

Am I saying that all sadness is a lack of faith?  No, that would be too broad of a statement.  But if a person is sad, they need to ask the question whether that sadness is related to a disappointment with God because they question whether God cares for them.  And Jesus might ask them the same question He asked the disciples: don’t you have faith yet? 

Now notice how after Jesus asks the disciples if they had faith yet, the subject keeps coming up again.

In the next chapter, a woman is healed, and Jesus tells her that her faith had saved her.  Mark 5:34 She had had this condition for 12 years.  She had gone to doctors, spent all she had on them, and was still sick.  It doesn’t say whether she prayed and asked God to make her better, but I would assume she did.  Yet it persisted until she got faith to be made well.

In Mark 5:36, a man’s daughter had just died.  Jesus tells him to stop being afraid and just believe.  But Jesus was there.  So what difference would it make whether the father was afraid or believed?

But then in the very next chapter, Jesus was in his hometown.  It doesn’t say Nazareth.  Maybe it was Capernaum.  I didn’t research the issue.  But Jesus was UNABLE, UNABLE to even do one miracle there, except for healing a few sick people, and He marveled at their unbelief.  Mark 6:5  Seems that faith matters even when Jesus is present.

In Mark 6:37, they had thousands of people there, the hour was late.  The disciples suggested that maybe they should dismiss the crowd so they could go find something to eat, and Jesus tells them:   YOU give them to eat.  [The YOU is emphasized in the original text.]  Unless Jesus was just kidding them, that would have involved a miracle which He then did for them.

Later in that chapter, the disciples are crossing the lake in a boat again, and Jesus walks out to them on the water.  The weather was stormy, but it immediately becomes calm.  The disciples are totally beside themselves, but Mark then makes an unusual statement.  Mark 6:52  They didn’t understand about the loaves, but their heart was hardened.  One time before in Mark, somebody’s heart was hardened, and it was the Pharisees, and Jesus had just healed a man on the Sabbath.  Mark 3:5

And don’t forget about Pharaoh from the time of Moses, the most famous instance of a hardened heart.

This passage doesn’t explicitly mention faith here, but the loaves thing is mentioned again in chapter 8, and it’s all related.  So a hardened heart kept them from understanding, and a lack of understanding kept them from believing.

Mark 8:14-21  They had forgotten to take bread, and they thought Jesus was upset at them for that.  And Jesus reminds them of the two times where He had fed thousands of people from a few sandwiches, and He asked them:  Don’t you understand yet?

Just like they didn’t have faith yet, they didn’t understand yet.  Understanding would have given them faith.   Twice He had multiplied the loaves.  Why are they worrying that they forgot to bring food?

The disciples were afraid of dying, and Jesus asked them why they don’t have faith yet.

The disciples question whether Jesus cared for them, and He questions their faith.

A woman who had been sick for years, who went to every doctor around, found faith and was finally healed.

A father whose daughter had died was still told to just have faith.

Thousands of people needed to be fed, and Jesus tells the disciples to feed them, before doing it Himself.

The disciples forgot to bring food, and Jesus reminds them of what happened when thousands of people didn’t have food.

I think maybe we err when we think our faith demands that we know exactly how things will turn out, and that often discourages us when they don’t.  But faith should cause us to be strong and hopeful even when things look hopeless and even when we may have contributed to the problem.

Faith says that God is enough, God can turn any situation around, and He cares for me enough to do it.

Luke 8:25 Where is your faith?

I don’t think churches talk enough about faith.  They are afraid people will end up disappointed if things don’t happen the way they expected.  I don’t see Jesus having that same problem.

In Luke 8, Jesus was in a boat with the disciples during a storm, and they were in danger of sinking.  Jesus was sleeping, and when they woke Him up, they said that they were perishing.  Or, roughly translated, we’re going to die.

And Jesus asks them: where is your faith? 

The disciples saw a grave situation, but Jesus expected them to not look at it with fear but with faith.

Two more times before the end of this chapter, Jesus talks to people about faith, and three times in this same section people are said to be “saved,” though from different things.  So Jesus’ question about where is their faith extends far beyond the boat.  It wasn’t just a question like that they shouldn’t have been afraid, since He was with them.  It’s more like, why did you even have to wake me up?  Whether that meant that they could have and should have commanded the storm to be still themselves or whether it just meant that they should have been able to trust God to take care of them in the storm, the question about where is your faith extends to every aspect of our lives.

Here Jesus rebuked a dangerous storm, and it became calm immediately.

When they arrived on the other side of the lake, they were met by a man who was demon-possessed and extraordinarily violent.   Jesus cast the demons out of the man, enough demons to drive a herd of swine into the sea.  And the man was immediately of a right mind.  The man was then described as having been “saved.”

Jesus is soon mobbed by a large crowd, and one woman fought her way through that crowd so she could touch Jesus.  Other gospel accounts say that she had said to herself that if she but touched His garments, she would be “saved.”  Mark 5:28

She was able to finally touch His garment, and she was instantly healed of a long-standing condition that doctors were unable to resolve.  Jesus felt power going out from Him, but He didn’t know who had touched Him.  Luke 8:44-46

We act so often like God is sitting on His throne, sorting through our prayer requests whether to answer them or not, but here was a lady who just believed and her request was answered without even a conscious decision on the part of Jesus.

And Jesus then tells her: Your faith has saved you.  Luke 8:48  You couldn’t even call it an answer to prayer, really.

Then immediately after, Jesus enters the house of a man whose daughter had just died. 

And what are His words to the father?  “Don’t be afraid.  [Literally, stop being afraid.]  Only believe, and she shall be saved.”  And Jesus then raised her from the dead.

In this short section of Scripture, people are saved from danger, demons, disease, and death.  Three times faith is mentioned as being important in each case. 

Stop worrying about whether you have enough faith or not, or even whether things turn out exactly as you had hoped.  Just focus on God, His power, His love, His grace, and His willingness to come to the aid of His people.  And stop being afraid.  Just believe.

 

 

Psalm 34:19 Complete Deliverance

We tell our kids and our congregations that God will be with us in all our trials and tribulations, but I don’t think we tell them enough that God wants to deliver us out of them rather than just letting us live with them.

Psalm 34:19 ¹⁹Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

The Hebrew word translated as ‘afflictions’ here can mean everything from evils, miseries, distresses, and afflictions.

Too broad?  The Greek Old Testament translates all the different Hebrew words for troubles in the Psalm here as ‘tribulations.’ 

So we could translate the verse as “Many are the tribulations of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all.”  Not some, not most of them, all of them.

I think many of us are afraid to say or teach that God will deliver us out of all our tribulations.  We are afraid that it might not happen.  I know that Philip Yancey wrote a famous book called Disappointment with God.  And I have been disappointed with God at times as well. 

But then again, my disappointments had nothing to do with God not delivering me from tribulations.  I’ve had disappointments from things not happening the way I expected.  But those weren’t tribulations. 

Does this include sicknesses?  I’ve had a heart attack, 3 strokes, cancer twice, stage 4 cancer once, a fibrosis diagnosis.  I never, ever thought I was going to die or be disabled.  I know though that you can’t take one person’s experience and simply make broad generalizations to everybody else.

But I teach the Bible.  I don’t see where the Bible talks about preparing yourself for disappointment with God by not trusting Him to deliver you from your problems, whatever they may be. 

Six times in this psalm it speaks of God’s deliverance: from all my fears [or, terrors] v.4, all his troubles [distresses, straits, oppressions, afflictions, tribulations] v.6, a general rescuing because of God’s angels having settled in all around you v. 7, all their troubles again [same as verse 6] v. 17, He saves those who are brokenhearted and crushed [or, contrite] in spirit v. 18, and then our verse: out of all their afflictions [tribulations] v. 19.

On top of all that, there is a challenge to taste and see how good God is.  v. 8   Like, put Him to the test!  Two verses saying that those who fear and seek God will not lack anything or any good thing. vv. 9,10

Verse 15: The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry for help.  [ שַׁוְעָה shav - ah´  cry for help]

In Matthew 14, Peter got out of a boat and walked on water briefly, because Jesus told him to come.  He sank when he looked at the storm rather than at Jesus.

It’s the same thing here and everywhere else in your life.  You either look at your problems, or you look at God.  And part of looking at God is looking at His Word and standing on it.  If the Bible says that God will deliver you out of all your tribulations, your troubles, your fears, then expect Him to do that and stop worrying about stuff and begin rejoicing in the God who works on your behalf.

 

 

 

Mark 12:30 Loving God

Do you love God?

I’m going to take a wild guess here and say that a lot of you have never really thought about it.  We worship God, we praise God, we serve God.  We fear God, but love? 

We should, because it’s the single most important thing you can do in life.

Somebody asked Jesus that question.  He worded it slightly differently, but he asked: Which is the first commandment of all?  Mark 12:28

And Jesus’ answer: Mark 12:30  you shall love the Lord your God out of all your heart, and out of all your soul, and out of all your mind, and out of all your strength.  [I translated it a little more literally.  I think the prepositions convey a slightly different sense than we are used to.]

If you were to hear a sermon or read a book about loving God, I am sure they will quote you John 14:15: ¹⁵ “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

But that doesn’t mean that a person who keeps God’s commandments loves God or that you can measure your love by how diligently you keep His commandments.

Certainly, anyone who loves God will want to keep His commandments and will do them.

But that’s not our question. 

Do you love God?

God didn’t create human beings in His image, so that they would keep His commandments.  There weren’t any commandments when He created them.

So why did God create human beings?

To praise and worship Him?

Oh, they will, but I don’t really think that was the reason He created them.

Before I give my answer, I am thinking that I may need to put a cautionary note here first.  I’m not sure this lesson is for everyone.  I do think people need to know about it, and I am sure there will be some people who won’t like this.  I might ask the question why I didn’t learn about this 50 years ago.

I’ve mentioned before how that I hit rock-bottom spiritually in 2017.  Couldn’t pray.  Didn’t even want to talk to God.

The first step in repairing my Christian life was to focus my attention to the greatness of God as Creator.  I’ve had that much of my life but wasn’t thinking much about it.  This was nothing I did.  I was reading Ezekiel, and I can’t even find the exact passage now, but I was struck with the sense of the greatness of God.  As Creator, He is worthy

I am thinking that what I am about to share is only for those who have a strong sense of the awesomeness of God.  You should know about it, but this is still new to me in many ways, and I am seeing that there is still much to learn about it.

It’s not something that I can point to in a lot of verses and make a doctrine out of it.  Now that I’m seeing it, I am seeing it in more verses in the Bible. I’m sure I’ll be talking about this more in the future now that I think I learned something.

Read Genesis 3:8:

8 And they [Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

What was God doing?  Was He doing anything differently from what He had always been doing?  Was this the first time He did this?

So what was He doing?  It looks like God would just come to the garden to spend time with Adam and Eve.  What we would call today hanging out.  Where we are conscious of His presence as we would anyone else who might be with us, and we talk with Him throughout the day like we would with anyone else who was spending the day with us. 

We often prayer into a formal conversation with well-defined parts: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication (ACTS).  And an ending.  When we’re done.

I’m saying that most of the time we’re never done. 

Yes, certain times you might hear of some big need or problem, and, yes, you might pray like Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah, Aren’t You God in heaven?  Aren’t You the Ruler on the earth?  And you make a request and finish it with Jesus’ Name. 

But most times it’s more ordinary stuff.

I was walking the dog.  I told God what a beautiful day it was. The trees were beautiful.  I thanked Him for our dog.  She’s a good dog. 

I pray for people I see on the street, at the store. 

I do the songs, and I know the phrases. I just think God likes it better when I say my own things.

Look at Psalm 27:4,8 (NASB95)  ⁴ One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple. . . .  ⁸ When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.”

This may look like I am just picking verses out of context.  I skipped three verses in the middle here.  No, I always know the context of verses I use.  I wanted you to see David seeking God just for God and not for the prayers he wanted answered.

David’s life had a lot more going on in it than mine has had for a while.  I am finding it’s easier to transition into heavier prayer when you’ve already been praying most of the day.

I’m sure I will have much more to say about this as time goes on.

John 1: 1 Who is Jesus?

The question of “who is Jesus?” is easily the most important question in the field of religion.  He is said to be the savior of the world, so who or what is he?

Humans are the highest form of life apart from God.  We are created in God’s image.  What can be higher than that?

Are angels greater because they are powerful spirit beings?  But Jesus didn’t come to save angels.  He came to save humans.

Are elephants and lions and tigers and whales greater than humans, because they are bigger and stronger? 

So who or what is Jesus?

If Jesus were just a man, many of the things He said or were attributed to Him would be problematic, because He would have to be crazy to think that He could forgive sins.  And how exactly could a man atone for the sins of anybody?  He would have His own sins that would need to be atoned for?

Is He an angel?

Hebrews says that Jesus is better than the angels.  Hebrews 1:5 (NASB95) ⁵ For to which of the angels did He ever say, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to Me”?

No, He’s not an angel.

Another possibility is that Jesus was more than a man but less than God.  A created being, along the lines of angels but greater, or at least the greatest of the angels.  Some would even call Him a god. 

This last teaching is based on John 1:1-4.  [Unless otherwise noted, all the translations in this paper are mine.   I have tried to be as literal as possible.  This shows where the original texts place their emphasis as well as limiting my ability to read something into the passage which is not there.]

John 1:1–4

¹ Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. ² οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. ³ πάντα διʼ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν ὃ γέγονεν. ⁴ ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. 2 This one was in the beginning with God. 3 All things through Him came into being, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

The first verse has the words: and the Word was God, literally, God was the Word.  The word order is reversed in Greek, putting the emphasis on the word God.  Ancient Greek did not have an indefinite article: a, or an, and the word God here does not have a definite article.  So theoretically it could be translated ‘a god,’ though I haven’t seen a Greek grammar book that would translate it that way.  They note that words that don’t have articles and appear first in a clause like this (a to-be clause) emphasize the nature of the thing, in this case that the Logos was of the essence of God.

But let’s assume for now that ‘a god’ is the correct translation here.  This god is eternal, just like God.  The text says that in the beginning was the Word.  Notice the words ἐγένετο, ἐγένετο, γέγονεν in the text.  They all mean ‘came into being’, the last is a perfect form that emphasizes something’s continued state after having come into being.  These words are not used in reference to ‘a god’ but to all other things. 

I’ve seen a translation that says ‘all other things came into being through Him.’  The word ‘other’ was added; it is not in the original text.  The problem here is that the text already said that the Word did not come into being.  In the beginning it already was.  You can’t say that it came into being before the beginning.  That’s an abuse of language.  The text should have then said: In the beginning the Word was created, because that would have been the true beginning, the start of everything that God created.  It doesn’t make sense to have a beginning before the beginning.  What was it the beginning of?  Well, the beginning of when God starting creating things.   Before then God always existed, so there was no beginning until God did something outside of Himself: a creation.  If the Word was His first creation, then the text would have said:  In the beginning God created the Word.  But then Genesis 1:1 says that: in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  But the Word existed before then, because John 1 says that everything was made by Him.  So He already had to have been there.

Well, is He God or a god?

Rather than pull verses from all over the Bible which can appear like I’m taking verses out of context and misusing them, I thought it best to just focus on one part of the Bible.  In Isaiah, God is addressing the nation of Israel over the subject of idols, false gods, and the gods of the other nations. 

Isaiah 43:10–11 ¹⁰ “You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. ¹¹ “I, I am the Lord, and there is not besides me a savior.

[When the English Bibles prints the word Lord, it stands for the name of God יהוה.   Biblical Hebrew did not have vowels in the text, so there was always a question on how to pronounce it.  At some point, somebody used the vowels from the word Lord אֲדֹנָי and read that with the consonants, and it came out Jehovah.  Some Bible scholars today think Yahweh is more likely how it was pronounced.]

So here in this passage, God, the Lord, Jehovah, said that there was no God formed before Him or after Him.  And that there is no Savior but Him. 

But what about Jesus?  Nope.  God says that He is the only Savior.

Isaiah 44:6 ⁶ “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And besides Me there is no God.

Isaiah 44:8   ‘Do not tremble and do not be afraid;  Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it?  And you are My witnesses.  Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock?           I know of none.’ ”

Isaiah 44:24      Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth.  Who is with Me?

Isaiah 45:5      “I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; 6      That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me.  I am the LORD, and there is no other,

Isaiah 45:18      For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), “I am the LORD, and there is none else.”

Isaiah 45:21      “Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together.  Who has announced this from of old?  Who has long since declared it?  Is it not I, the LORD?  And there is not another God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me.  22  “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.  23   “By myself I have sworn, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.

Isaiah 46:9  “Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is not another God;          and there is no one like Me,

 

So Jesus is not a mere human being.  He is not an angel.  He is not a god.  So what exactly is He?

We are not going to fully grasp this with a human mind, but we can get a rough idea.

In Genesis 18, 3 men came to Abraham.  They sat down and ate with him.  Two of them later left and went to Sodom, and Abraham was left with the One who turned out to be God.  The other two were angels.  The God of the universe was sitting there in human form talking with Abraham.

In Jesus, God became a human being, from birth, to live a life under the law without sin, so that He could redeem those who were also born under the law but with sin.  Only in this way could He redeem all of mankind with one sacrifice. 

In Revelation (ch. 5, 19-22), He is worshiped with the Father.  In Revelation 5, all of heaven worshiped Jesus. 

Revelation 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” 6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!” 14 Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Psalm 23:6 Goodness and mercy

Many of us have memorized the 23^th psalm, and for good reason.  It’s short, easy to memorize, and it presents in an outline fashion some important facets about our life with God. 

I titled this lesson ‘Goodness and mercy’, because we remember those words from the psalm, but if I were to translate that verse, I would not use those words.

Psalm 23:6 (NASB95)  ⁶ Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I don’t remember the last time I heard the word ‘goodness’ used in a sentence.  If you saw the Hebrew word by itself, you would translate it as ‘good.’  So, to me, saying that goodness will follow me doesn’t mean as much as saying that ‘good will follow me.’  I want to know that I am not screwing up my life.  Good is coming out of it.

The second word is mercy.  I wrote about this recently in another article.  Mercy means to help a person in need who might otherwise not be able to help themselves.  The person need not be emotionally involved when they help that other person.  It’s just the right thing to do.  In the article, I wrote of compassion, where a person feels another person’s pain and then acts.  Not because it is the right thing to do necessarily, but because they share that person’s pain.

Here the word translated as ‘mercy’ means lovingkindness.  The person who shows lovingkindness also shows mercy, but they actually care about you, and show it kindly. 

But that isn’t the best part.

These things, good and lovingkindness, don’t just follow us, they pursue us.  That’s the Hebrew word translated ‘follow.’  Pursue.  It’s saying that God wants to do good things in your life and is working on it.

A big question that Christians have is how involved is God in their life.  We don’t see Him, we hear from Him from time to time but never as much as we want to.  Is God waiting for us to make the first move?  Does God spend more of His time waiting for us to pray for things before He acts, or is He always working in our lives in the background?

These are questions I have been asking a lot in the last few years.

I’m going to take a wild guess and say that a lot of Christians reading this will not feel like God is working in their lives or that good and lovingkindness is pursuing them.

Go back to verse 4:

Psalm 23:4  ⁴ Even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

This tells me that these experiences are not automatic.  Do you see good and lovingkindness pursuing you?  Christians don’t automatically approach dangerous situations without fear.  It’s a decision they make at some point in their life when they believe that God really wants what’s best for them and God will protect them.  And I think we need to believe in God’s care before we really see it.

A good first step starts right here.  Can you believe that God wants you to know good all your life and that He always treats you with kindness?  It may sound obvious, but you have to dig down real deep and see what you really feel about this.  I didn’t say what you think about it, but what you feel about it.  That says whether what you think has gone down into your soul, and you have found your rest with God.

Then go back through the rest of the psalm.  Do you sense God leading you?  Are you finding rest?  The very act of calling God your shepherd shows a level of spiritual maturity that I think many Christians never attain.  It means you’ve given up the idea that your life is in your hands.  That your place in life is ultimately dependent on what you do, your choices, your efforts, your skill set. 

It’s a freeing feeling to think of God as your Shepherd.  The hard part is thinking that He wants good things for you.  You’re afraid that if you just let go and trust God that many of the things you really want in life you won’t get.

If you’re not there yet, you need to look at what the Bible says and at some point, you have to decide if you’re going to believe it.  Oh, we may believe the part about having eternal life. because that is a long way off for most of us.  But verses like this, I suspect we won’t really be conscious of good and lovingkindness pursing us until we take that step and believe it.  It’s then that we become conscious or more conscious of God working in our lives on a day-to-day basis.