The Only Cure for Evil Hearts
May 26, 2020 at 2:28 pm | Posted in Jeremiah | 4 CommentsTags: backsliding, commentary on Jeremiah, evil hearts, Jeremiah 3, Salvation, Sunday School lessons on Jeremiah
Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
Jeremiah 3:14
As a grammatical matter, the remedy for backsliding sounds like it would be “front-sliding.” If you’ve slid back, the opposite would be to slide forward, but, no, the Lord had Jeremiah tell the people that the antithesis to backsliding is “turning.” This referred to a turning of the heart. The Lord wants our hearts to be in tune with His heart, and He even is willing to give us – because we are wayward, helpless, even dumb, sheep – shepherds (pastors).
And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
Jeremiah 3:15
If they would turn their hearts, He would feed their hearts with what dumb sheep’s hearts need: not strength, not enthusiasm, not prizes, not just a temporary deliverance, but knowledge (Bible truth) and understanding (how to apply that truth). We don’t just need Christian friends. We don’t need a cleaner environment. We don’t need a better culture. We don’t need someone who seems to have his act together to imitate. Human beings need new HEARTS. Why? Because our hearts are sick? Broken? Mixed up? Not functioning properly? No, it’s even worse than that. Jeremiah was initiating a heart ATTACK:
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
Jeremiah 3:17
The root cause of their problems was their EVIL hearts. Our evil hearts don’t just get lead astray by evil influences. No, they IMAGINE evil. They produce their own, fresh evil. Come to grips with this: Apart from Christ your heart is like an evil factory, producing evil 24/7.
Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Jeremiah 3:22
This is a call and response. The call comes first, but how can an evil heart even respond the right way? Because the Caller – and the Caller ONLY – produces that response.
Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
Jeremiah 3:23
Salvation is IN Him. It’s in Him from start to finish. We don’t find it on the hills of vanity (family, friends, job) or on the mountains of vanity (government, church, influence). We find it in God. He doesn’t just show us salvation, or tell us the way to salvation. He IS salvation.
Did Jesus Cancel Our Debt?
May 22, 2020 at 8:58 am | Posted in John, Uncategorized | 3 CommentsTags: Colossians 2, John 19, paid in full. the Crucifixion, payment for sins, tetelestai, the death of Christ, the payment for sin
Question: I heard a song that says Jesus cancelled our debt. Is that correct?
Answer: It is correct in a sense, although a little nuance might make it more theologically clear. Just before Jesus died on the Cross, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), and He used a form of the Greek word tetelestai, which was used back then to mean that a debtor’s obligation to pay back a financial debt was “finished” – similar to the way you will sometimes see a mortgage instrument or promissory note stamped “paid in full” today.
Jesus, on the Cross, paid the complete price that all of His people would ever owe to God as punishment for our sins against Him. In that sense, if you have truly trusted Christ unto salvation, then your debt has been cancelled, but it is important to remember that it wasn’t cancelled because God decided to stop being just and overlooked our sin. It was cancelled because it was actually paid for fully by Jesus Christ as the perfect Sacrifice and Substitute.
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Colossians 2:14
Our salvation was not accomplished because God stopped being holy and just. It was accomplished because Jesus took our sins upon Himself and bore them in His body on the Cross, allowing both them and Himself to be nailed there for the satisfaction of God’s justice and wrath.
For those reasons, while it is not technically incorrect to say that Jesus “cancelled our debt,” it might be better to say that He cancelled our debt by paying for it in full with His life and blood.
The Lack of Respect for Jesus
May 20, 2020 at 2:02 pm | Posted in Luke | 6 CommentsTags: Christ's trial, commentary on Luke, Herod, Judas, Luke 22, Luke 23, Pilate, Sunday School lessons on Luke
Jesus was betrayed by Judas with a kiss. A kiss of greeting was not uncommon among men in those days.
Then took they him, and led [him], and brought him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off.
Luke 22:54
Peter and Judas both betrayed Jesus. Both were sorry after having done so, but Peter repented and Judas did not. It’s not enough to be sorry and feel bad; true repentance involves confession and turning to back to God.
Luke’s acccount says that they took Jesus to the high priest’s house. Caiaphas was the high priest. John 18 tells us that they took Him to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiphas, first, probably because it was nighttime, and they wanted to consult about the best way to handle Jesus’s execution.
And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him.
Luke 22:63
This was not a legal interrogation. It was a brutal beating by a gang of vicious thugs.
And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? And many other things blasphemously spake they against him. And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying,
Luke 22:64-66
This seems to indicate that they beat Him throughout the night, giving us tremendous respect for the physical toughness of Jesus in His humanity. Thus began sort of a human pinball game where Jesus was marched around Jerusalem being humiliated, back and forth from Annas and Caiaphas (two religious authorities) to Herod and Pilate (two government authorities) while they tried to get Him to admit that He claimed to be God, so they could execute Him for the crime of blasphemy, or to deny that He claimed to be God, so that they could call Him a liar. Jesus had a whole other purpose.
Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.
Luke 22:67-71
It is obvious that they understood Him to be claiming to be God incarnate, which is exactly who He was. Jesus was and is God. He claimed to be God when He had a reason to lie, when He could have possibly saved His life. Muslims, Mormons, other cults, and many heretics deny this, but it is true.
Jesus was then taken before the Roman authority.
And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate.
Luke 23:1
Jesus did not not deny that He was King of the Jews, but Pilate clearly understood that He was not claiming to be a political king. He was not trying to overthrow the Roman government, which is what Pilate really cared about, so Pilate declared Him innocent.
Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.
Luke 23:4
No one ever found any actual fault in Jesus. Pilate had no real interest in getting involved until he heard a certain word: Galilee. That caused his ears to perk up.
And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean.
Luke 23:5-6
Galilee was a poorer region and had a reputation for spawning rebellion. Also, Herod the tetrarch was over Galilee, and Pilate could kill two birds with one stone: patch up a bad relationship with Herod and get rid of a potential source of more problems from Galilee.
Herod was at Jerusalem for the Passover. This was Herod Antipas, the son of the Herod who had tried to kill Jesus as a baby.
And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.
Luke 23:8
He was exceeding glad to see Jesus, which sounds very hopeful, but he was a type of what the old preachers called a religious trifler. These people come to church to see a show, or to hear a story, or to find something amusing or something that can make for a good anecdote. They are worse in some ways than those who will not come to church at all. There was a time when Herod had been at least somewhat fearful of God, but his conscience was now seared. He was wicked in his insensitivity to spiritual truth. Jesus was not a performer for triflers, and He never kowtowed to those who were willingly ignorant: spiritually deaf to truth but desiring to see some sort of religious show.
Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.
Luke 23:9
Jesus knew his heart, as proved by his subsequent treatment of Jesus:
And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.
Luke 23:11
“Set at nought” means they counted Him as trivial, unworthy of any respect. Herod’s and Pilate’s politcal alliance came at a high cost.
And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.
Luke 23:12
In the past, when I’ve studied the hours leading up to the Crucifixion, I’ve pictured myself standing there beside Jesus every step of the way, pleading with the Jewish leaders and the Roman authorities and the angry mob to let this innocent Man go free. But I’m afraid that we miss the point if we read the account that way. The fact is, Jesus was suffering for OUR sins during the torture He endured. When I am guilty of pride, that’s me having a turn punching the blindfolded Savior in the face (Luke 22:64). When I love things more than God, or myself more than other people, that’s me sitting with Herod humiliating the Son of Man (Luke 23:11). When I am dissatisfied with what God has given me, and I covet what someone else has, that’s me loudly demanding that the spotless Lamb be crucified (Luke 23:21). When I look with lust at someone other than my spouse, that’s me sneering at the suffering Messiah (Luke 23:35). Let’s honor the One Who shed His own blood for our souls.
Meeting up for a Drink with Jesus
May 18, 2020 at 3:53 pm | Posted in John | 4 CommentsTags: commentary on John, evangelism, Jacob's well, John 4, living water, Samaritans, Sunday School lessons on John, the woman at the well, witnessing encounters
He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria.
John 4:3-4
The “must needs” is an interesting description. Jewish people were highly prejudiced against the Samaritans, whom they considered apostate half-breeds from the resettling of Assyria after the conquest of the 10 northern tribes of Israel. Most commentaries portray Jesus as not wanting to take the shortest route from Judea to Galilee, but feeling compelled to do so in order to keep this “divine appointment” with the woman at the well. This has been challenged by showing that Jewish travelers often went this route despite their abhorrence of the Samaritans, but either application is possible, and both are likely.
Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
John 4:5
This area is mentioned in the Old Testament, and it was probably about a mile from the well, so it was a decent walk, but could be made in one day without too much trouble.
Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
John 4:6
The well itself, dug by Jacob some 2000 years before this incident, is still there today. Imagine a well being serviceable for 4000 years and counting! The “sixth hour” is most likely noon. However, there is some disagreement about whether the Holy Spirit is referencing, through John, a Jewish reckoning of the hours of the day, or the Roman system of timekeeping. There are context clues which lend the most credence to the hottest part of the day – the least likely to encounter other water-bearers – being described, which means the noon hour, rather than dawn.
There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
John 4:7
Why would she come at noon, and why would that fact be highlighted? Because she was either embarrassed, or unwelcome, to come to the well with the other women of Sychar, who would have known about her scandalous marital and sexual exploits.
(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
John 4:8
The Disciples’ trip into town to buy food shows that the Jewish people did have SOME dealings with the Samaritans.
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
John 4:9
“No dealings” here has a general reference, but the specific reference may be to using utensils, such as a water dipper or bucket. There was a time in America’s not-too-distant past when people exemplified a sinful bigotry in refusing to drink from public water fountains used by people of different skin colors.
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
John 4:10 (emphasis added)
Note how Jesus utilized the opening of an “everyday” conversation to pivot the discussion to spiritual truth. The “gift of God” is both Jesus and His Gospel. It is metaphorical “living” water, but it is symbolized by the double meaning of “living” water: spiritual, eternal, life-giving water, and fresh, running, potable water. The reference to the physical and earthly points to a deeper reality.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
John 4:11
Here the woman mistook the figurative and the spiritual for the literal and physical. Nicodemus and others did the same thing with Jesus’s teaching. Also, note the very pointed contrasts between the Samaritan woman and Nicodemus. One was a man and one was a woman. One was considered ceremonially and religiously “unclean,” and one (as a Pharisee) was supposed to have been the prime example of ceremonial and religious “cleanliness.” One would have had a reputation for morality and thought to be above reproach, and one was known to be immoral. One was wealthy and influential, and one would have been poor and uneducated. Jesus is the Savior of all types of sinners.
Evil Energy Drinks?
May 15, 2020 at 9:46 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 4 CommentsTags: Antichrist, caffeine, energy drinks, mark of the beast, Monster energy drinks, Revelation 13
Question: You brought a Monster energy drink to church. Did you know it has the mark of the beast on the can? We shouldn’t promote anything Satanic.
Answer: I did bring a Monster energy drink to church. I drink one of those about once every five or six weeks, and I have brought them to Sunday School or Tuesday morning men’s prayer meetings, or other morning church activities on several occasions. I don’t drink coffee, but there are times (not often, like I said, maybe one day out of every 35-40 days) when I like to have some caffeine in the morning, and energy drinks have a lot of caffeine and sugar and probably other stuff that is not very good health-wise (which is why I only do it once in a while). I used to drink Rock Star energy drink because, to me, it was the best-tasting one, but it said “party like a rock star” on the can, and, let’s face it, that’s false advertising in my case. I haven’t really partied like a rock star since my sixth-grade birthday party.
So I switched to Full Throttle, which has a citrusy, although strongly medicinal, taste.
Finally, I found Monster tea-and-lemonade flavor, which actually tastes like tea and lemonade (except with melted iron ore mixed in).
It doesn’t make me twitchy, but it does keep me alert in the morning if I didn’t sleep well the night before and have to go to court or teach Sunday School.
A while back someone showed me where “a lady on the internet” said that Monster energy drinks have “the mark of the beast” from Revelation 13 on the can. This is supposed to be a number (666) that signifies the Antichrist, and that the people who will be on earth after the Rapture and during the Tribulation will have to wear on their right hands or foreheads in order to buy or sell things. From this, people associate the number as being satanic. The Monster energy drink cans have three monster claw marks on them, which, I thought, was supposed to symbolize a monster (full of caffeine, sugar, and adrenaline, no doubt) tearing his way through a wall. I guess this appeals to their target audience, which are mostly young men into skateboarding and skydiving and cage fighting and other “extreme” sports, not elderly Sunday School teachers and lawyers trying to stay awake during a three hour drive for a court hearing that starts at 8:00 a.m. If you don’t see the connection between the monster claw marks and the “mark of the beast” from Revelation 13, you are not alone. Neither did I, until the lady on the internet pointed out the Hebrew symbol for the numeral 6 looks a bit like a monster claw mark. Who knew?! So, with three marks vaguely resembling Hebrew sixes on my favorite energy drink, I was faced with a tough choice: go back to putting duct tape over the phrase “party like a rock star” or continue supporting the devil. I did neither, because, while we all know that “ladies on the internet” are very knowledgeable about almost everything, they do occasionally make a mistake. It turns out that Revelation 13:18 is describing the number six hundred sixty-six, not three consecutive numeral sixes. So, even IF Revelation 13 was originally written in Hebrew (it wasn’t; it was written in Greek), then it would not be written to look anything like three monster claw marks. I honestly think the so-called resemblance between a Hebrew six and a monster claw mark is purely coincidental, although, if you hear of anyone being tempted to worship Satan because of my morning beverage choice, please let me know, and I will stop immediately out of Christian love (I Corinthians 8).
As an aside, let’s suppose that the devil decided to get out of the “stealing, killing, and destroying” (John 10:10) business, and stopped opposing Christ’s Gospel and God’s kingdom, and stopped trying to tempt people into sin, and stopped trying to ruin lives and destroy families, and instead he got into the energy drink business. Not to be irreverent, but I would think we should rather want to encourage him in such endeavors.
Turning, Not Burning
May 13, 2020 at 10:18 am | Posted in Jeremiah | 4 CommentsTags: Biblical repentance, commentary on Jeremiah, idolatry, Jeremiah 3, King James Version, repentance, Shakespeare, Sunday School lessons on Jeremiah, true repentance
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 3:1
God never condoned divorce, but in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 He allowed Moses to regulate its practice among the people, and one of rules was that if a divorce did happen, the husband was not allowed to take back the wife again. He was not allowed to remarry the same woman. In Jeremiah 3:1 God used the word “return,” which is one of the key words in Chapter 3, along with the words “turn” and “backsliding,” to describe the how God viewed the people’s attitude.
It was as if God’s wife had run off – and not just for another man – but to pursue vain physical relations with MANY lovers. But He is God, after all; He delights in forgiveness. Why would He balk at welcoming back His repentant bride? All Jeremiah had to do to answer this question was to wave his arm up at the surrounding groves on the hills.
Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
Jeremiah 3:2
Jeremiah was demonstrating the difference between outward repentance (which is really not repentance at all) and true repentance, which starts in the heart and results – invariably – in outward evidence of changed ways and hatred of the idolatry that led the sinner astray in the first place.
This is a good test of repentance and true faith toward God: Do we now hate what we – in our sin and idolatry – used to love? Or are we still trying make some sort of compromise or trying to negotiate with God (or our own hearts)? False repentance is more offensive to God than no repentance.
Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
Jeremiah 3:3
Because of the historical period in which it was translated and because of the poetic and dramatic brilliance of some of its language, various scholars have from time to time argued that Shakespeare was secretly in charge of the English translation of the Bible that we know as the King James Version. I believe that this theory, while certainly intriguing, has been pretty well debunked. However, for those familiar with Shakespeare’s ability to turn a phrase, I will admit that there are times when certain terms do jump out with a certain Shakespearean flavor. Jeremiah 3:3 is one such example. When Jeremiah accused the nation of Judah of brazenly calling upon God without showing any shame over their ongoing idolatry, he said that they had a “whore’s forehead.” Shakespeare, who had a penchant for having his characters use insults like “a toad’s liver” or “an eel’s skin,” would have most likely approved.
People in Jeremiah’s day called upon Yahweh when it wouldn’t rain – as a last resort – but they didn’t really “turn” back to Him. True repentance is always a 180 degree turn. The Deuteronomic Covenant warned against turning to the left or the right when it came to strictly obeying God’s commands.
The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
Jeremiah 3:6-7
Israel’s sin and idolatry was certainly wicked, there was no disputing that, but the difference was that Judah had the well-known and obvious example of what happened to Israel, and what happened when she refused to repent – to “turn.”
And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
Jeremiah 3:8-9
This reminds us of the reference to the people calling sticks and stones their father in Chapter 2. God made sticks and stones: they could be used to glorify him or they could be used to defile the land. I wonder how many of our luxurious possessions today were given to us to be used for God’s glory, but are instead being used by us to defile the land. Sticks and stones could be used for building, for warfare, for altars for family worship, for all manner of Godly endeavours, but the people were using them for places to sacrifice their livestock and their children to false gods, and to commit fornication and idolatry. The Book of Jeremiah shouldn’t be taught as one long spiritual beatdown, but we do need to make application, and remember to use things and to love people, not vice versa. We wouldn’t intentionally worship our sectional sofa or our family pet, but if we’re not using those possessions to love and serve God and others, we will love and worship the possessions themselves by default.
And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 3:10 (emphasis added)
Feignedly means fake – things done with “dissimulation” like in Romans 12. Jeremiah 3:10 is the first time that the word “heart” appears in the Book of Jeremiah. I believe that the theme of the “heart” is a a key – possibly THE key – to really understanding the whole book, and when Jeremiah attacked the hearts of the people here, he specifically addressed two problems:
1. A divided heart
2. A fake heart
“Turning” without really turning is not turning, and spiritually turning with half a heart is not really turning either. I don’t think feelings should be our guide for progressing or regressing in the Christian life, but we do need to frequently – maybe constantly – be guarding our hearts, examining our hearts, asking God to unify our hearts, and preaching the Gospel to our hearts. This would be a much more Biblical approach than asking God to “set our hearts on fire.”
And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Jeremiah 3:11
Backsliding seems to imply “moving away from,” without “turning away from,” and this is another description of what angers and grieves God: paying homage to Him in appearance only – and even with our words and our posture – while slyly “walking away” from Him and walking after vanity.
Canaanite Daylight Savings Time
May 11, 2020 at 3:33 pm | Posted in Biblical Days, Joshua | 5 CommentsTags: Biblical battles, Biblical miracles, commentary on Joshua, hail, Joshua 10, miracles, Sunday School lessons on Joshua
In Chapter 9 Joshua concluded an uneasy peace treaty with the Gibeonites. Previously, God used a failed attack on Ai as the springboard for a greater victory that followed. Now He would use Joshua’s mistake in failing to pray for wisdom and in falling for the trickery of the Gibeonites as the basis for a much easier and faster campaign of conquest against the southern nations of Canaan. These nations lived in walled cities, so a series of seiges would have proven costly and time-consuming, but:
Wherefore Adonizedec king of Jerusalem, sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying, Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.
Joshua 10:3-4
What was supposed to have been an alliance to oppose the Israelites turned into a revenge-team-up against Gibeon. The leaders of Gibeon, naturally, turned immediately to their newly-formed covenant with Joshua and called for help.
And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us. So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour. And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee. Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.
Joshua 10:6-9
How would the Israelites defeat the concerted forces of all these nations at once? They would do it the same way they had accomplished everything that had been successful for them since crossing into Canaan: by courageously believing God’s Word and acting upon it in faith.
These principles of courage and conquest are linked in the Christian life, as well. We believe God, we act in accord with our belief, and we overcome our enemies (sin and Satan) in God’s power.
How did God demonstrate His power in this particular situation? First, He physically and miraculously and personally joined the battle.
And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.
Joshua 10:10
The Lord is metaphorically described as the warrior doing the actual fighting. He threw the enemy into confusion and chased them.
And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
Joshua 10:11
At first it sounds like God threw boulders from the sky, but then they are revealed to have been hailstones. These accounted for more deaths, although the Israelites were still fighting too. This was a quadruple-miracle: (1) the supernatural confusion of the enemy troops; (2) the successful fighting of the Israelites against presumably superior numbers; (3) the hailstorm itself; and (4) the fact that the hailstones somehow only hit their opponents and not the Israelite soldiers.
Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.
Joshua 10:12
This was bold on the part of Joshua, but also astute. Whatever conditions existed were favorable for the complete annihilation of the entire southern alliance of Canaan, if only the day were long enough.
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
Joshua 10:13
What exactly happened is not clear. Did the sun and moon stop shining? Did their movements change to follow the rotation of the Earth? Did the Earth’s rotation stop or significantly slow down? Did God do something supernatural concerning the refraction of light? Did He miraculously alter the tilt of the planet? God controls all elements, celestial bodies, astronomical principles of movement, light itself, and all of creation, so, however He did it, this was clearly a miracle… and yet the Bible makes it sound as if there was an even greater miracle that day: God did what He did in response to the prayer of a mortal man!
And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel.
Joshua 10:14
In a sense, Joshua was a shadow or a type of Jesus. He pointed to a time when God would answer the greatest prayers of a Man (who was also God).
And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal. But these five kings fled, and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah.
Joshua 10:15-16
Joshua had these kings trapped, and he allowed them to remain there while the battle continued, but he had great stones rolled into the mouth of the cave so they could not escape, and he set guards.
And all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace: none moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.
Joshua 10:21
All their enemies were silenced, and (note the pun) none dared open his mouth or move his tongue until Joshua commanded that the “mouth” of the cave be opened.
Then said Joshua, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings unto me out of the cave.
Joshua 10:22
He put them face-down on the ground and had the captains put their feet on their necks to demonstrate the totality of the victory, but also for an action sermon to encourage the people that this was how the Lord would cause them to treat all their future enemies in the land.
And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.
Joshua 10:25
Joshua told the people what God had told him. He didn’t elaborate or embellish. He didn’t try to “freshen up” God’s Word or get fancy with it. I hope that you are passing along to others what God has told you in the Bible. It’s worth memorizing it, or at least understanding it fully and faithfully. Paraphrasing God’s Word can be very dangerous.
Joshua put the kings to death and hanged their bodies just as he had done with the king of Ai. Then he put them back in the cave and made another memorial out of stones at the cave entrance.
And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.
Joshua 10:42-43
The Devil’s Favorite Children
May 6, 2020 at 3:39 pm | Posted in Joshua | 3 CommentsTags: commentary on Joshua, Gibeonites, Joshua 9, Satan's devices, Satan's schemes, Satanic attack, satanic strategy, seekers, Sunday School lessons on Joshua
In Joshua Chapter 8, having dealt with the sin of Achan, God’s people implemented God’s sophisticated battle plan in a second attack on Ai. This time they were successful in wiping out Ai, and God allowed them to keep the plunder. They captured Ai’s king, put him to death, and hanged his body. That chapter shows us the need for God’s wisdom not only in great endeavours, but in every endeavour. It also teaches us about the importance of killing all the sins in our lives, including the “king” of our sin – our biggest (or most favorite or most intimidating or oldest) one.
And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof;
Joshua 9:1
The alliance of these normally-antagonistic nations is a clue that Israel was now going to be facing not only earthly, military enemies, but unseen enemies in the spiritual realm. The world, the flesh, and the devil are the three main enemies of Christians, and they often join forces in concerted attacks against us.
That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.
Joshua 9:2
Satan is a divider, and he likes to try to divide the Church, but he does not mind if – and even encourages – his followers to work together in a sort of unholy unity, which is why we have to be on our guard against attempts to unify spiritual beliefs and methods through compromise.
And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;
Joshua 9:3-4
The gathering of intelligence reports and a plan involving craftiness do not, by themselves, necessarily indicate demonic activity, but the deception involved in the Gibeonites’ plan does strongly imply it. They were acting on information that was readily available through natural means, and they were pretending to be distant foreigners when in fact they were true-blue Canaanite pagans who were clearly on Joshua’s hit-list for extermination. Instead of a battle strategy, they devised a strategy of deceit. Satan is evil and illogical, but he’s not unintelligent.
And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy. And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us.
Joshua 9:5-6
The Gibeonites were lying, but their lie was supported by a kind of superficial, shallow visual evidence. I don’t want to tell you never to believe your eyes, but don’t believe your eyes to the exclusion of seeking God’s wisdom. Things are often not what they appear.
And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you? And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye?
Joshua 9:7-8
The instructions for the Canaanite conquest, found in Deuteronomy, clearly forbade making treaties and entering into covenants with the pagan inhabitants of Canaan. The instructions were courage, carnage, and conquest – they did not include compromise.
And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth.
Joshua 9:9-10
This was a smart tactic on the part of the Gibeonites. If they had really been from a faraway land, they wouldn’t have known about the destruction of Jericho and Ai, but they would have known about Egypt, Heshbon, and Bashan. They may have even known about Rahab’s successful conversion from enemy to Israelite ally, although her profession of faith in Yahweh had been genuine, and the one made by the these Gibeonite ambassadors was part of a ruse. These were sneakers masquerading as seekers, and infiltration, rather than initiation, was their goal. The devil has children of whom he is proud. They are the ones who want to hurt Chrsitians and the Church. He has other children of whom he is ashamed, such as addicts and criminals and obvious devil-worshipers who only want to hurt themselves. This is the first really clear indication that the Gibeonites had inside (probably Satanic) information. They knew about the rules in the Deuteronomic Covenant which addressed with what sorts of nations and tribes God’s people could, and could not, make treaties and covenants. They were forbidden from making treaties with their close neighbors, although they were allowed to make treaties with very distant tribes and nations.
Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us. This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy: And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.
Joshua 9:11-13
This is another clue indicating Satanic deception: a little truth was mixed in with their lies to make them palatable, and even able to withstand some shallow scrutiny. Their clothes WERE old, and their shoes WERE patched and ragged, and their wineskins WERE worn out, and their bread WAS crusty and moldy… because that’s what they brought when they left home, not because it became that way over the course of a long journey.
And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.
Joshua 9:14
Snap decisions, unconsidered in prayer and Bible study, are very dangerous. We praise people who have the ability to “think on their feet,” but Godly wisdom comes from thinking on our knees.
And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes.
Joshua 9:18
Now Joshua and the leaders were faced with a tough decision: honor their oath which bound them to a violation of God’s will, or break their word which itself was a violation of God’s Word.
But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them.
Joshua 9:19-20
They decided to honor the treaty, but:
And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them. And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among us. Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.
Joshua 9:21-23 (emphasis added)
Was this really a curse, though? From the Gibeonites’ point of view, they didn’t get to keep their freedom, but they did get to keep their lives, and, in a great instance of God taking evil and sin and error and Satanic scheming, and using them for good, these Gibeonites became servants providing firewood and water for use in Tabernacle worship, continually exposing them to the great and glorious truth of Godly worship. We can only speculate, but perhaps so much proximity to the truth led at least some of them to true salvation.
Teachers Sharing TMI?
May 4, 2020 at 9:18 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 4 CommentsTags: Biblical discretion, discretion, inappropriate sharing, personal information, principles for teachers, teachers and students, teaching
Question: My kids’ teachers seem to be sharing an unusual amount of information about their own personal lives. Should this concern me?
Answer: I’m hesitant to sound too authoritative on this for three reasons. 1. You didn’t specify whether the personal information about the teachers is being shared by the teachers themselves with all the teachers’ students generally and publicly, or just with your kids individually and privately. 2. I’m a “Sunday School” teacher, not a “regular school” teacher, and I teach adults, not kids, so this is outside my realm of expertise. 3. I have a personal bias based on being a parent of school-aged kids for something like 24 years now.
1. I would be more concerned if your children are being singled out for private conversations with any of their teachers about the teachers’ personal lives. That would be a red flag to me. We would expect adult teachers to have other adult friends, counselors, advisors, or family members to share their personal lives with, and the idea that they feel comfortable sharing “TMI-type” details from their personal lives is troublesome for a number of reasons, including an unhealthy blurring of the teacher-student authority structure on one end of the spectrum, all the way to possible “grooming” or predatory behavior at the other end of the spectrum. We don’t like to impute ill motives to our children’s teachers, but, as their parents and protectors, we have a solemn duty to be vigilant.
If, on the other hand, your child has a teacher that just likes to talk about herself/himself in class (in front of the class as a whole), this may not be as potentially dangerous, but still raises questions of why class time is being spent on personal venting or the like. Is the teacher using her/his own life experience as an example or an object lesson, or does she/he just get a kick out of being egotistical before a captive audience?
2. We have several friends who are terrific teachers. I would love to hear some input from them on this. I’m probably guilty of talking about myself too much in Sunday School, but I try to stay focused on the lesson, and, since we’re all adults, there’s no danger of my abusing the teaching position by inducing another adult student to inappropriately trust me by sharing questionable details about my life.
3. When I was a kid (can you hear my “grouchy old man” voice?) we knew next to nothing about our teachers’ personal lives. My best friend ran into his second grade teacher at the Piggly Wiggly with her husband, and was shocked because he had no idea she was married and thought she lived at the school. We called our teachers by their last names, not their first names. If one of our teachers had told us she was having marital problems, had filed for bankruptcy, drank too much wine on the weekends, or the age she lost her virginity, we would have been expelled from school just for being there to hear about it. I am using those somewhat extreme examples because those are all things that various teachers over the years have shared with our daughters and/or their classmates. Maybe it’s because I’m old, but I thought all those were inappropriate to share with students. That’s why I’m admitting I’m biased on this issue.
I did, out of a sense of fairness, try to do some research in this area, and I was surprised. I thought that teachers sharing TMI would be roundly condemned by all educational authorities, but nearly every single article, blog, teaching journal, and guidebook I found online actually RECOMMENDED that teachers share personal information about themselves with their students. The reasons given had mostly to do with “gaining their trust” and “building rapport.” Goes to show what I know! Still, though, for the record, I see it as a major red flag, and I wouldn’t encourage it. The Bible, to my knowledge, doesn’t address the issue with any specific precepts, but I did find a number of verses and principles showing the wisdom of being “discreet:” Psalm 112:5; Proverbs 1:4; 2:11, 3:21, 5:2; 11:22; Isaiah 28:26.
There are two other issues, not specifically spelled out, but implied, by your question, that I would like to address. First, I would caution parents to be wary of teachers texting students, even in group texts with groups of students, where personal information is shared. There is something about the perception of privacy in text-messaging for young people that lends itself to speaking openly about things that ought to be kept private. Second, teachers should not share personal information about students from their school records, whether it is a health issue, a behavioral issue, attendance records, disciplinary problems, or the teacher’s personal opinion about a student, with other students or with the parents of other students. There are actually laws about this, and it is very unprofessional.
The Deep End 
Living Your Best Life
May 28, 2020 at 2:06 pm | Posted in John | 5 CommentsTags: Best Life Now, commentary on John, deity of Christ, deity of Jesus, Jesus the Life, John 10, John 11, resurrection of Lazarus, Sunday School lessons on John
John 10:12-19
I have discussed before the “division” that Jesus caused and still causes today as He drives a wedge between the true and the false, between the spiritual and the worldly and the fleshly, between man-centered religious expectations and the truth that God’s righteousness requires a sacrifice for sin.
John 10:22
Many thought that talking about the fact that no one could take His life from Him, but that He could lay it down and take it back up again sounded like crazy talk, but:
John 10:21
The incontrovertible evidence of His miraculous healing power being used for a noble purpose was still there to be dealt with.
John 10:22
This festival is not found in the Old Testament. It originated in the intertestamental period. After Antiochus Epiphanes defiled the Temple in Jerusalem by setting up a pagan altar a “freedom fighter” named Judas Macabbeus led a group of Israeli fighters to overthrow him and rededicate the Temple. It is celebrated today as Hanukkah, with the menorahs or lamps burning in people’s homes for 12 days.
John 10:23-24
They demanded that He spell it out for them, whether or not He was claiming to be the Messiah, so, while knowing that nothing would cause them to change their minds about Him – neither His teaching nor His miracles – He nevertheless stated His Divine identity clearly.
John 10:25-31
This time Jesus did not escape, but stayed to speak with them, and reasoned with them from the Scriptures for a while. Of course, they still didn’t believe, so eventually He did escape.
John 10:39-40
This is an inclusio, indicating that the key turning point in the Gospel of John – the break from Jesus’s early ministry and the transition to the final days on earth – is probably not at the end of Chapter 11, as most commentators say, but here at the end of Chapter 10 and on through Chapter 11. John starts off with the ministry of John the Baptist, and here returns to it to show that John’s preaching about Jesus was true.
So far in our study of the Gospel of John we have seen Jesus show Himself to be the bread of life, the water of life, and the light of life. Food, water, and light are all necessary for life, but now we will see that Jesus IS the life. Lately I’ve been seeing people post pictures of themselves, their friends, their family members, even their pets, with the curious caption, “Living my/his/their best life.”
If Jesus is truly eternal, abundant Life personified, then, by necessity, you can’t be living your best life apart from Him. Get your life on the right track by knowing and following Him.
John Chapter 11 is where we find the account of Lazarus (probably not the same Lazarus from the story of the rich man and Lazarus from Luke 16), a man who was part of a family that was especially close to Jesus, a family from Bethany (one of the Bethanys in that area) near Jerusalem which Jesus had left for the time being because of the attempts of the Pharisees to kill Him.
John 11:1-2
This lets us know that at the time when the Holy Spirit inspired John to write his Gospel, the account of Mary anointing Jesus’s feet with oil, which will happen in Chapter 12, was already well-known.
John 11:3-4
God had brought about Lazarus’s (temporarily) fatal illness so that both the Father and the Son ccould be glorified through it, a situation similar to the man born blind. Jesus’s miracles throughout John had been increasing in power: from turning water into wine, to feeding the multitude, to healing the lame, to walking on the water, to giving sight to the man born blind. Now He was about to perform the greatest miracle so far.
John 11:5-6
This does not sound like an act of love to us, but Jesus had a greater plan and He loves with a greater love.
John 11:7-11
Jesus referred to death as sleep, which was not an uncommon euphemism, but, again, His words were misunderstood as being merely literal.
John 11:12-15
We do not think of death, much less the death of a loved one, as an occasion for gladness, but Jesus wants His followers to have transcendent faith-fuelled joy, not merely temporary happiness.
John 11:16
This indicates that the nickname, “Doubting Thomas,” may be something of a misnomer.