Week of 6 Easter - A
This is a Three-Year Lectionary based on the Lutheran Book of Worship 3-year Lectionary (for public worship), "Prayers of the Day..." (Propers), p. 13-41, Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, 1978. It is based, with only minor variations, on the Revised Common Lectionary, used by many denominations, including the Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches:
http://www.commontexts.org/
and:
http://www.commontexts.org/rcl/usage.html
The daily readings are the Propers (Lections) for the following Sunday, so that the daily devotions can prepare us for worship. Additional Lections are from Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, "Scripture lessons for Matins and Vespers," United Lutheran Church of America, General Rubrics VIII. Scripture lessons for Matins and Vespers, p. 299 - 304, Philadelphia, 1918.
The previous 2- year Bible Study based on the Lutheran Book of Worship, Daily Lectionary for personal devotions p.179-192, Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, 1978, is available at:
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Podcast Download: Week of 6 Easter A
Sunday 6 Easter A
First Posted April 27, 2008;
Podcast: Sunday 6 Easter A
Psalm 66:1-6, 14-18 - Thanksgiving for Deliverance;
Acts 17:22-31 - The Meaning and Purpose of Life;
1 Peter 3:15-22 - Discipleship;
John 14:15-21 - The Baptism of the Holy Spirit;
Psalm Paraphrase::
Let all God's people rejoice; glorify his name with singing and give him great praise! Let us acknowledge his awesome deeds and his great power. His enemies tremble with fear before him. Let all the earth worship and praise the name of the Lord.
Look and see what the Lord has done; his works are awesome beyond mankind's ability or understanding! “He turned the sea into dry land; men passed through the river on foot” (Psalm 66:6).
I will keep the promises I made to the Lord when I was in trouble. I will give to the Lord offerings and sacrifices. “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:17-18; see Conditions for Answered Prayer, sidebar, top right).
Acts Paraphrase:
Paul was forced to flee to Athens from persecution for his preaching of the Gospel. While he was there waiting for his helpers to come to him, he observed the shrines and idols of the Athenians. His custom as a Jewish Christian missionary was to go to the local synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath and preach the Gospel, showing how Jesus fulfilled the Bible scriptures of God's promised Messiah (Christ; both mean “anointed”), God's “anointed” Savior and eternal King. In Athens he went to the local public forum, the Areopagus, and began proclaiming the Gospel from the cultural perspective he had observed in Athens.
He began by saying that he had noticed that the Athenians were very “religious,” and he had even noticed that they had a shrine to an “unknown God.” So Paul was proclaiming the God they had worshiped as unknown.
The one true God, the God of Israel, is the creator of heaven and earth and everything in them. God does not need humans to build shrines for him, or to do or give anything to him, because God himself has given life and breath and everything to all people of the world. “And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us"(Acts17:26-27).
Paul had been formally educated, and he quoted from memory from Greek writings of Epimenides and Aratus to make the point that it is in God that “we live and move and have being,” being God's children (since he is our creator).
Since we are God's offspring, we shouldn't imagine that God is like gold, silver, stone or wood, fashioned by the art and imagination of humans. God overlooked our ignorance in the past, but now God commands everyone to repent (turn from disobedience to obedient trust in God). God has fixed a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness (doing what is good and right and true, according to God's Word), by Jesus Christ, whom God has appointed. God has verified that Jesus is the Christ, the righteous judge, by raising him from physical death to eternal life.
1 Peter Paraphrase:
The Apostle Peter was making disciples of Jesus Christ, according to the Great Commission Jesus gave to his disciples (Matthew 28:19-20), to be carried out after they had been “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8) by the gift (“anointing,” baptism) of the Holy Spirit.
Peter taught new believers to reverence Christ in their hearts, and to always be prepared to defend their faith to anyone who challenges them, but to do so with reverence and gentleness.
Christian disciples are to live according to Jesus' teaching and example, resisting the temptations to do things contrary to God's Word, so that when the enemies of the Gospel abuse and persecute us it will be they who are put to shame by our righteous behavior. It is far better for us to suffer unjustly for doing what is right than for us to suffer deservedly for doing wrong.
Jesus is our example of righteous suffering for the unrighteous. Though he was sinless he died for our sins, so that we could be attributed with his righteousness and be able to enter into God's presence. Jesus died physically but was raised to spiritual, eternal life.
In the days of Noah, the people didn't give heed to Noah's warning of God's judgment and the call to repent. God was patient with them during the time it took for Noah to build and prepare the Ark (120 years;* Genesis 5:32; 7:6).
Noah and his household, only eight souls, were saved from condemnation through the Flood. Christian Baptism is the modern equivalent, which saves us not as physical, but rather, spiritual cleansing of our conscience by our appeal to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus has ascended into heaven, at the right hand (place of honor) of God, with absolute authority over angels, powers, rulers and regulations in heaven and on earth (except God the Father, of course; see 1 Corinthians 15:27).
John Paraphrase:
After the Last Supper with his disciples, and knowing that he would be betrayed that night, Jesus began his farewell discourse to his disciples, to prepare them for what would soon take place.
Jesus told them that if they loved him they would keep Jesus' commandments, and Jesus promised to intercede for them with God the Father, who would give them “another counselor,” the Spirit of truth, who would be with them forever. Worldly people cannot receive the Spirit of truth because they don't know or recognize (divine, eternal) truth, but Jesus' disciples know him because he dwells with them and will be within them.
Jesus promised not to leave his disciples desolate (bereft; comfortless); Jesus promised to come to them. Jesus said that the world would no longer see Jesus, but his disciples would; then they would know that as Jesus lives (eternally), they will live also. In that day they would know that as Jesus is in God and God in Jesus, that they would be in Jesus and Jesus in them.
Jesus said, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and manifest (reveal) myself to him” (John 14:21).
Commentary:
God is God and Lord of heaven and earth, whether we acknowledge him or not! Those who have come to know him and have experienced his deeds of deliverance and help will worship and praise him with thanksgiving.
Two of God's great acts of deliverance were delivering his people from bondage to sin and death in Egypt by parting the Red Sea so that his people could pass through on dry ground, but cutting off their pursuers. Then, after their nomadic forty years in the wilderness, God parted the waters of the Jordan River, so they could enter into the Promised Land on dry ground. God is the Creator of everything in heaven and earth, including ourselves, who has supernatural power beyond our human ability or understanding.
God has specifically designed this Creation with the intention of creating an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey him. This present world is limited by time. This lifetime is our only opportunity to seek and come to know God our Creator, and this is only possible through Jesus Christ, by the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit. Only Jesus gives the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17).
We are spiritually “reborn;” “born from above” (John 3:3, 5-8), through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). Jesus Christ has been part of God's plan from the very beginning of Creation and has been designed into it (John 1:1-5, 14).
God has no obligation to hear and respond to us unless we are willing to acknowledge, trust and obey God (Hebrews 11:6). God does not listen to the prayers of those who don't hear and obey God's Word (Psalm 66:18; see Conditions for Answered Prayer, sidebar, top right).
Paul didn't waste any opportunity to present the Gospel, and he did it within the context of his circumstances, by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Paul (Saul of Tarsus) is the prototype and example of the “modern,” “post-resurrection,” “born-again” disciple and apostle (messenger; of the Gospel), which we all can be (Acts 9:1-21). He presented the full, one and only Gospel, but changed the way he presented it according to the circumstances.
The one and only true God has power and knowledge beyond human ability. Idols are the creation of human imagination and craftsmanship. Idols cannot do anything even for themselves. They become a burden to their worshipers. In contrast, God needs no one to advise, provide or help him. Instead, he is the source and provider of everything.
God has been progressively revealing his purpose for Creation from the very beginning. This is not a Creation that has gone “wrong” or is out of God's control. The disobedience of Adam and Eve came as no surprise to God (Genesis 3:1-24). Since then he has been revealing his provision of forgiveness of sin (disobedience of God's Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10) and salvation from eternal condemnation, which is the penalty for sin (Romans 6:23; see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).
In the record of Noah and the Flood in the Bible, God deliberately intended it to also be a parable, a metaphor, of life in this temporal world. Noah is a forerunner of the Christ, who calls the people of the world to repent and turn to obedient trust in God's Word. God had a covenant with Noah to save those who trusted and obeyed God, through the waters of the Flood, by the Ark. Those who did not listen to Noah's proclamation of God's Word perished! Only eight people were saved out of hundreds of thousands.
Christian Baptism is the the “New Red Sea,” the “New Flood” through which we can be saved from slavery to sin and eternal destruction only by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ, who is the “New Moses,” the mediator of the “New Covenant” (“Testament”) of grace (unmerited favor; a free gift; Matthew 26:28 RSV note “g;” Ephesians 2:8-9; Hebrews 9:20; KJV “New Testament;” see title page, RSV p. iii, New Testament, Thomas Nelson & Sons, Camden, N. J., 1952).
Jesus gave his disciples his final instructions before his crucifixion. Jesus said that their obedient trust in keeping Jesus' teachings would reveal their love for Jesus and prove that they were Jesus' disciples (John 13:34-35). Jesus promised to send the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit only to his disciples who trusted and obeyed Jesus' teachings (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit would be their counselor who would teach them and lead them into all (divine, eternal) truth, help them remember Jesus' commandments (John 14:26, empower them to know and do God's will, and give them the appropriate Word of God at the moment it is needed; and he speaks through his disciples(Mark 13:11; Luke 12:11-12). The Holy Spirit is also the comforter who provides divine comfort, assurance and peace.
Jesus said that he would no longer be seen by worldly people (because he would physically die), but his disciples would see him (because Jesus promised to manifest -reveal- himself to them; John 14:21). Then they would be certain that Jesus is eternally alive, and that they would also live eternally.
After his resurrection, Jesus' final instructions, the Great Commission, before his ascension into heaven was for his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they had received the promised gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8), and then to go into all the world and make (“born-again”) disciples and teach them to obey all that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:19-20).
Peter, one of the original twelve disciples and apostles (messengers; of the Gospel), was carrying out Jesus' Great Commission. He was teaching new believers to know, trust and obey Jesus' teachings, to know God's Word and to resist temptation to do what is contrary to God's Word (which is the definition of sin). He was teaching them to know and follow the example and teaching of Jesus.
Peter taught them that the whole Bible is God's Word and is intended by God to point to Jesus Christ, God's “anointed” eternal Savior and King. The Bible is filled with “word-pictures” of God's plan and purpose for Creation.
In our culture today there are a lot of people who are very “religious,” but who don't know God individually and personally by the indwelling Holy Spirit, or even from reading the Bible. There are lots of nominal “Churches” whitch are failing to make disciples of Jesus Christ and teach them to obey all his commands (see False Teachings, sidebar,top right). They teach that one is automatically “born-again” by a ritual of baptism, without the requirement of obedient discipleship.
Many nominal “Christians” pursue modern idolatries such as career, success, power, status, wealth, material possessions, pleasure, home and family. Anything or person one loves as much as or more than the Lord is idolatry. Is one putting the Lord first in one's priorities by spending forty or more hours a week on a secular career and another forty hours a week pursuing pleasure and material things, and an hour or two in Church on Sunday, provided that there isn't something else going on? Is one who loves the Lord unable to give thirty minutes a day to read, meditate and pray on God's Word?
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
* “Noah, ”Easton's Bible Dictionary, digital module:
http://shepherdboy.byethost12.com/HTML_Bible_Tools/EBD/T0002700.html#T0002741
See Free Digital Bible Study Tools, sidebar top right homepage:
http://shepherdboy.byethost12.com/index.htm#Links_to_Free_Digital_Bible_Study_Tools
Monday 6 Easter A
First Posted April 21, 2008;
Podcast: Monday 6 Easter A
Psalm 47 - King above all Nations;
Paraphrase:
Let all people sing and shout and clap their hands in joy! The Lord, the Most High, is awesome, the great king over all the earth. He subjugated all people and nations under us and gave us the great heritage of Jacob (the patriarch of God's people, and the inheritor of the blessing), whom God loves.
“God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm” (Psalm 47:5-7).
God reigns over all the nations of the earth, and over all rulers. He is on his holy throne and all the princes of earth are are subjugated to the God of Abraham.
Commentary:
This psalm was probably composed originally for a religious processional, with the Ark of the Covenant, symbolizing God's presence, ascending the temple mount in Jerusalem.
The Lord is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the sovereign ruler of all Creation. Many do not yet know and acknowledge his kingship, but the rulers of the earth reign by his forbearance.
Jesus is the fulfillment of God's Word (John 1:1-5, 14) of the eternal Savior and King, who reigns eternally on the throne of David (2 Samuel 7:5-13; Psalm 89:20-29). Jesus is the Lord God, made visible in human flesh (Colossians 2:8-9; John 20:28).
Jesus has “gone up with a shout,” in his entrance into Jerusalem the week before his crucifixion, which we celebrate as “Palm Sunday” (Matthew 21:1-16). He is the “Son of David,” the heir to the throne of David and the promise of God (Matthew 21:9, 15; John 12:12-15). They crucified Jesus, mocking him as the “King of the Jews” (John 19:15, 19). But Jesus rose from physical death to eternal life, and ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9), where he has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).
Jesus' ascension into heaven on a cloud was without public fanfare, and was witnessed only by his disciples. Jesus has promised to return, on the Day of Judgment, and he will return in the same way he ascended (Acts 1:11), “with the clouds.” When he returns he will return the same way, in the clouds, but with the sound of a trumpet, and every eye will see him Matthew 24:30-31; 1 Corinthians 15:52)
God has given us a great heritage through Jesus Christ. Those who believe in (trust and obey) Jesus are the New Israel, the heirs to the inheritance given through Jacob, and the ones whom God loves (John 14:21, 23). Our inheritance is the forgiveness of our sins (disobedience of God's Word (Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8-10), salvation from eternal destruction, and eternal life in the presence and fellowship of the Lord in Creation restored to paradise (see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).
Jesus is going to return on the Day of Judgment when he will sit on his throne (Matthew 25:31-46) and will judge the physically and spiritually living and dead (1 Peter 4:5). In that day everyone who has ever lived will bow to him and acknowledge that he is the eternal Lord of Lords and King of Kings (Philippians 2:10-11).
In that day it will be too late to change our eternal destiny. Those who have trusted and obeyed Jesus now, during this lifetime, will be “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8), now, in this lifetime, and will receive eternal life. But those who have refused to accept Jesus and have refused to trust and obey Jesus will spend eternity in eternal destruction and death in Hell with all evil.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
First Posted April 22, 2008;
Podcast: Tuesday 6 Easter A
Acts 1: (1-7) 8-14 - Jesus' Ascension;
Background:
Both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts were written by the same person, probably Luke, a physician. Acts begins where the Gospel of Luke ends, with Jesus' last instructions to his disciples and his ascension into heaven. Theophilus (“lover of God”) may either be the name of a specific person by that name, or it may be addressed to any reader who loves God.
After his resurrection Jesus was among his disciples for forty days, demonstrating that he was truly alive, and teaching them about the kingdom of God, opening their minds to understand the Bible scriptures about Jesus and his resurrection (Luke 24:45).
Acts Paraphrase:
As Jesus prepared to return to heaven he gave his disciples the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), to go into the whole world and preach the Gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sin to all nations, and make disciples, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:47), but commanding the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they had received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, &8). Jesus told them that John the Baptist had baptized with water (for repentance), but before many days the disciples would be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
His disciples asked Jesus if he would restore the kingdom to Israel at that time, but Jesus told them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority” (Acts 1:7). But Jesus told them that when they had received the “baptism” of the Holy Spirit they would be empowered and guided to testify to Jesus and the Gospel, spreading outward from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and beyond, to the end of the earth, and the Book of Acts is the record of that fulfillment.
As Jesus said this, he was lifted up and disappeared from his disciples' sight in a cloud as they watched. As they stood watching, two angels asked them why they continued staring into the heavens. They told the disciples that Jesus would return in the same way that he had departed.
Commentary:
Jesus had ascended from the Mount of Olives, about two miles outside of Jerusalem.* The disciples returned to Jerusalem to the upper room where they had been staying. The eleven remaining disciples of the chosen Twelve were Peter, James, and John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas the son of James (not the Judas who betrayed Jesus). They were together with the women and Mary, Jesus' mother, and Jesus' brothers, spending time in prayer as they awaited the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was with his disciples for forty days after his resurrection, and he appeared to over five hundred eyewitnesses (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). He taught them the significance of what had happened in relation to the Bible scriptures, which they had been unable to understand before his crucifixion.
The disciples had been fully trained; they just needed to wait until they had been equipped and empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Only Jesus baptizes with the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only his disciples who trust and obey Jesus(John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).
This is the pattern Jesus intends the Church to follow. New believers are to be “discipled” by “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciples until the believers are “born-again,” before being sent out in ministry. Sadly, this is not what is happening in many nominal “churches” today. Discipleship is not “optional;” it is not just for certain “super-Christians.” Jesus' mission to the world cannot be carried out in human strength and wisdom. It must be by the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit within Jesus' disciples (Zechariah 4:6b).
The Jews had been awaiting the Messiah, hoping that he would be a political king who would deliver Israel from Roman domination. The disciples wanted Jesus to give them a schedule of events of when Jesus' kingdom would be established.
This same error persists in parts of the Church today. People are attracted to the “End Times” prophesies and get stuck speculating on the signs of Christ's return and the details of the “Rapture,” instead of devoting themselves to being disciples, seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit and proclaiming the Gospel to the world by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The Second Coming is a part of the Gospel, and people need to hear the whole Gospel. People need to know that there is a Day of Judgment coming, but the appropriate response is to learn to know, trust and obey Jesus; not to just sit around speculating on how soon he's coming; not to stand around staring into the heavens looking for his return (Acts 1:7, 11a; Matthew 24:36).
Jesus' ascension into heaven went unnoticed by everyone except Jesus' disciples. Jesus has promised to return, and he will return the same way, on the clouds of heaven. But his return will be with great power and glory, and everyone will see. It will be a day of great joy for his disciples. But for those who have refused to accept Jesus as Lord, and have refused to trust and obey him, it will be a day of terror (Luke 21:25-28; Matthew 24:29-31)! In that day there will be no place to hide, and it will be too late to change our eternal destiny.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
* “Bethany” Easton’s Bible Dictionary, digital edition:
http://shepherdboy.byethost12.com/HTML_Bible_Tools/EBD/T0000500.html#T0000545
see Free Digital Bible Study Tools, sidebar top right, homepage:
http://shepherdboy.byethost12.com/index.htm#Links_to_Free_Digital_Bible_Study_Tools
Wednesday 6 Easter A
First Posted April 23, 2008;
Podcast: Wednesday 6 Easter A
Psalm 110 -- Victorious King;
Paraphrase:
“The Lord says to my lord; ‘Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool’” (Psalm 110:1).
The Lord sends forth the King’s power and authority from Zion (the temple mount; the City of God; the Church; the eternal kingdom). The King will reign in the midst of his enemies. His people will freely serve him on the day that he leads his army in holy array. His youthful vigor will come upon him like dew “from the womb of the morning.” God has sworn irrevocably that his king will be a priest in the order of Melchizedek.
God is at his right hand. On the day of his wrath, kings will be shattered. He will execute judgment on the nations and fill them with corpses. He will shatter heads throughout the earth. “He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head” (Psalm 110:7).
Commentary:
This Psalm is attributed to David, the great shepherd-king of Israel. It may have been used in coronations.
God invites his Messiah (Christ; the one “anointed” by God to be his eternal savior, king and priest) to ascend to his throne at the right hand of God, in the City of God in heaven. His power goes forth from Zion, and he reigns in the midst of his enemies, until they have all been vanquished. Thursday is Ascension Day, the day, forty days after Easter, that the Church celebrates Jesus’ ascension to the right hand of God in Heaven.
The Messiah is coming on the Day of Judgment, leading a vast, supernaturally powerful army of angels. His people will submit to him and worship him in that day. He will be eternally youthful in vigor. God’s promise is irrevocable and true. He has made his Messiah his eternal high priest, like the priesthood of Melchizedek.
On the Day of Judgment, the Messiah will completely destroy all his enemies. He will be completely vigilant and will not let anyone escape unnoticed.
Jesus used Psalm 110:1 to refute the Pharisees (Matthew 22:43-45). Peter used it, in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, to show that Jesus is the Lord’s “anointed” Savior and Lord (Acts 2:34-36).
Melchizedek is the king and priest of ancient Jerusalem (Salem) who came out to Abraham as Abraham returned from defeating the alliance of Chedorlaomer, king of Edam and three other worldly kings. The alliance of the four kings represents the worldly kings of the four compass-points. The kings had taken Lot, Abraham’s nephew, and Lot’s household and possessions captive, and Abraham had pursued and recovered them.
Melchizedek came to Abraham bringing bread and wine. Melchizedek’s name means “king of righteousness,” and his title, King of Salem, means “king of peace.” He is a symbol of an eternal king and priest because he had no recorded birth or death or genealogy. Abraham gave him a tithe (a “tenth”) of the spoils of his conquest. Melchizedek prefigures the Messiah, whom God has made our eternal king and priest who has defeated the worldly kings who held us captive (Hebrews 6:19-7:28).
Jesus has promised to come again on the Day of Judgment. In that day he will execute judgment on all the earth. His people will be glad to submit to him and worship him, but his enemies will be utterly vanquished. He will shatter kings and human authorities throughout the world, and fill the nations with corpses, in fulfillment of God’s Word (Matthew 25:31-46; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).
The depiction of one who drinks from the brook while keeping his head up recalls the selection process the Lord told Gideon to use to select his army (Judges 7:4-7), and which describes the Lord’s vigilance. He cannot be distracted from his execution of justice, and no one will be able sneak past him.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Thursday 6 Easter A
First Posted April 24, 2008;
Podcast: Thursday 6 Easter A
Ascension Day*
Ephesians 1:16-23 -- Name Above All Names
Luke 24:44-53 -- Jesus’ Ascension
Ephesians:
Paul prayed with thanksgiving for the believers in Ephesus, that God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, and that their spiritual eyes might be enlightened so that they would know the hope they have in God’s call, the great riches of their inheritance with the saints, and the greatness of his immeasurable power working in us who believe; the power by which Christ was raised from the dead and enthroned at the right hand of God in Heaven. God has given him authority, dominion and power far above any other, and a name which is above every other name on earth and in Heaven, in this age, and the age to come. God has placed all things under submission to Christ and has made him the head of the Church, which is his (spiritual) body; “the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:23).
Luke Paraphrase:
Jesus appeared to his disciples over a period of forty days (Acts 1:3) after his resurrection, and he told them that everything about the Messiah in the Jewish scriptures (The Old Testament of the Bible) had to be (and was) fulfilled. “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45), and told them that it was therefore necessary that the Messiah suffered and was raised from the dead on the third day. Jesus told them that the Gospel, repentance and forgiveness of sins (disobedience of God’s Word), should be preached to all nations and people, beginning from Jerusalem (and spreading outward).
His disciples were eyewitnesses to the ministry, crucifixion and resurrection (and ascension) of Jesus. Jesus promised to send the promise of God the Father (the indwelling Holy Spirit) upon them, but warned them to stay in Jerusalem until they had been filled with the Holy Spirit, the divine power from God in Heaven (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, &8).
Then Jesus led them out to Bethany (on the Mount of Olives; a Sabbath day’s journey from Jerusalem; Acts 1:12). He lifted up his hands and blessed them (and was lifted up into heaven on a cloud; Acts 1:9). The disciples returned to Jerusalem and spent their time in the temple praising God.
Commentary:
Paul (Saul of Tarsus) is the prototype and example of a “modern,” “post-resurrection,” “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciple (student) and apostle (messenger; of the Gospel) of Jesus Christ, as we all can be (Acts 9:1-23). He was “discipled” by a born-again disciple (Acts 9:10-17) until he had been born-again, by the gift (“baptism;” “anointing”) of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the “power from on high (Luke 24:49b). He was “discipling” the believers at Ephesus, urging them to seek the “infilling” of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom (Isaiah 11:2) and revelation of the knowledge of Jesus (John 14:21, 23, 26).
Jesus is the light that enlightens us spiritually (John 1:9), through his indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9), which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).
It is through the indwelling Holy Spirit that we can know with certainty that Jesus is eternally alive and that because he lives, we too will also be raised from physical death to eternal life with him; the inheritance we share with all the saints (“born-again” believers). It is through the indwelling Holy Spirit that we experience the supernatural power of God working in and through us; the power that raised Jesus from the dead and lifted him into Heaven and enthroned him with power and authority over the entire Universe.
Jesus is the name above all names, in this world, and in the universe; in this age, and the age to come. This age is the Messianic age; the temporal age; the age of salvation. The age to come is the eternal age, where we will either live eternally with Christ in God’s kingdom restored to perfection, or we will die eternally in Hell with all evil.
In this temporal lifetime we have the freedom to choose whether or not to trust and obey God’s Word. There is a Day of Judgment coming when we will have no choice but to obey; we will have no choice but to confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11), and do what he commands (Matthew 25:31-46). In that day, at the end of our lifetimes, it will be too late to change our eternal destiny. In that day, all things will be under subjugation to Jesus’ authority and power.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), who fills all in all. The Holy Spirit is the head of the Church; the Church was born spiritually on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13). Christians are spiritually born on the day they receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The Church is the body of “born-again” disciples of Jesus Christ, guided and empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the risen and ascended Jesus, the Spirit of Jesus who confronted Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:5). It is the Holy Spirit who opens our minds to understand the Bible (Luke 24:32, 45).
The Book of Acts is the historical record of the Ascension of Jesus, the birth of the Church, and the spread of the Gospel from Jerusalem, through Judea, through Samaria, and outward to the farthest corners of the world. Jesus promised his disciples that they would receive the promised “baptism” of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and that promise was fulfilled (Acts 2:1-13). The rest of the Book of Acts is the history of the divine power of the Holy Spirit working in and through Jesus’ disciples.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
*Ascension Day is the day that the Church commemorates the ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven, and his enthronement at the right hand of God as the eternal king and priest of God's eternal kingdom.
Friday 6 Easter A
First Posted April 25, 2008;
Podcast: Friday 6 Easter A
1 Peter 4:12-17; 5:6-11 – Encouragement Amid Persecution;
Background:
This letter was written to encourage Christians in northern Asia Minor (Turkey) who were undergoing severe persecution under Roman Emperor Nero. Christians are still persecuted in parts of the world today, and even in “Christian” nations they need to be willing to endure suffering for the Gospel.
Paraphrase:
Let us not expect that, as Christians, we can avoid sharing in suffering for the Gospel, but let us rejoice that as we share Christ’s suffering we can be assured of sharing in his glory when he is revealed. If we are reviled for the name of Christ we will also be blessed because of the Spirit of glory and of God that dwells in us.
Let us not be guilty of deeds justly deserving punishment, like murder, theft, wrongdoing or mischief-making, but if we suffer for being Christian we shouldn’t be ashamed, but let our behavior glorify God. “For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God” (1 Peter 4:17).
So let us humble ourselves under God’s discipline, so that in time he will exalt us. We can commit our worries to the Lord knowing that he cares for us. Believers must be committed and watchful, because Satan is like a hungry lion on the prowl, looking for an opportunity to devour us. We must resist him, knowing that our Christian brethren throughout the world are required to experience similar suffering. “And after we have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you. To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 5:11).
Commentary:
Jesus doesn’t guarantee that life in this world will always be pleasant. In fact we cannot expect better treatment in this world than Jesus received. If people hate Jesus they will hate his followers too. A smooth, pleasant life is not the mark of God’s favor, as many people assume.
But the Lord doesn’t leave us comfortless. He gives us the indwelling Holy Spirit, who encourages and comforts us, so we can experience hope and joy in the midst of trouble. Because of his presence within us we can be certain that even physical death cannot keep us from sharing the inheritance we have in God’s eternal kingdom.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the week of his crucifixion, he went first to the temple, and he began to drive out those who had corrupted it with commercialism, making profits on the sale of animals for sacrifice, and changing secular Roman coins for Jewish, which they required for offerings.
In many ways the nominal “Church” today is in a similar condition. In some cases, ordained ministry is a “career choice.” In some congregations leaders and members consider the church as their personal empire, to be run for their personal benefit.
This is the period of time in which the Lord is beginning to work by his Holy Spirit to cleanse the Church and cast out corrupt practices in preparation for Christ’s return. We should be sensitive to and cooperate with the Holy Spirit to cleanse and revive the Church.
Christians are to be disciples of Jesus Christ. We are to learn to know, trust and obey Jesus. We will have to surrender what we think we want in order to do what he wants us to do. Discipleship requires humility, discipline, commitment and effort, but the eternal rewards will be well worth it. God wants us to succeed as disciples and he is abundantly willing and able to restore, establish and strengthen us, as we give him dominion over us individually and personally.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Saturday 6 Easter A
First Posted April 26, 2008;
Podcast: Saturday 6 Easter A
John 17:1-19 - Jesus' High Priestly Prayer;
Paraphrase:
After Jesus' farewell discourse to his disciples, he closed with prayer. He prayed to God his Father, acknowledging that his hour had come (to be obedient unto death on the cross). He prayed that God would glorify him so that he could glorify God, since God had given Jesus power over all human flesh, to give eternal life to those God has given him. Those who know God as the one true God, and Jesus, knowing that he is the one (Savior; Messiah) God has sent into the world, will have eternal life. Jesus had glorified God on earth, and had done what he was sent to do. Now Jesus asked God to glorify Jesus in God's presence with the glory he had before this world was created.
Jesus has made known God's name to the men God had given him (his disciples). All things belong to God and God has given them to Jesus, and they have trusted and obeyed God's Word. They have learned that everything Jesus has said and done is from God; and they have accepted Jesus' message, which God has given to Jesus. His disciples have learned the truth that Jesus has come from God the Father and that Jesus has been sent by God. Jesus prayed specifically for the disciples that God had given Jesus. All that God has belongs to Jesus and all that Jesus has belongs to God. Jesus is glorified by his disciples.
Jesus will no longer be in the world (physically), because he is returning to his Father in heaven, but his disciples are still in the world. Jesus prayed that God would keep them in God's name which he has given to Jesus, so that they will be one, as Jesus and God are one. While Jesus was with them physically he guarded them in God's name, and only Judas, the son of perdition (Hell; eternal destruction), who chose his destiny and thus fulfilled scripture, was (eternally) lost. Now Jesus was returning to God, and his disciples remain in the world. Jesus prayed that they might have the joy of Jesus fulfilled in themselves.
Jesus has given them the Word of God. The world has hated them because they are not conforming to worldly conventions, but following Jesus' example. Jesus didn't pray that his disciples be removed from the world, but that they be protected from evil and the power of Satan. They are following Jesus rather than following the world. Jesus asked God to sanctify (spiritually cleanse; dedicate to God's service) them in divine truth, which is the Word of God. Jesus has sent his disciples into the world to carry on the mission which God sent Jesus to begin. Jesus consecrated himself so that they could also be consecrated in truth.
Commentary:
Jesus' mission is to give eternal life to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the message that we can have forgiveness of sin (disobedience of God's Word), of which we are all guilty (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10), and salvation from eternal death; eternal destruction (which is the penalty for sin; Romans 6:23). God has given to Jesus all who are willing to accept, trust and obey Jesus. Those who receive eternal life are those who recognize that God is the one true God, and believe and come to know with certainty that Jesus has been sent by God into the world as the Messiah (Christ; God's “anointed” eternal Savior and eternal King).
Jesus has accomplished his purpose. He taught his original disciples the Gospel, and showed them how to continue his mission of proclaiming the Gospel of Salvation to the world. He prepared them to receive the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which they were to receive after Jesus has risen from the dead and returned to heaven. The guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit is essential to his disciples to enable them to carry on Christ's mission (Zechariah 4:6; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8).
Jesus had to die on the cross to complete his mission. His death on the cross became the one and only sacrifice acceptable to God for the forgiveness of our sins. His death on the cross and his resurrection demonstrate that physical death is not the end of existence; that life after death is possible (and that eternal death is the alternative; Hebrews 9:27; John 5:28-29; Revelation 21:8). Jesus' death on the cross made it possible for his disciples to receive the gift (“baptism;” “anointing”) of the Holy Spirit (John 16:7). His death on the cross opened a new way into God's presence (symbolized by the tearing of the veil of the temple; Luke 23:45b) which is only possible through Jesus Christ by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Only Jesus gives the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).
Jesus has been God's one and only plan (Acts 4:12; John 14:6) for our salvation and eternal life from the beginning of Creation (John 1:1-5, 14), and has been designed into Creation. Jesus glorified God on the cross, and God began to glorify Jesus in Jesus' resurrection and ascension.
Jesus made God's name (his identity and character) known to his disciples. Jesus is the fullest revelation of God to the world in human flesh (Colossians 2:8-9; John 20:28). Jesus is the name God gave to his (only begotten) Son. The name, "Jesus," and the word for “he will save” are similar in Hebrew and Aramaic (the language Jesus spoke). Jesus means Savior (Matthew 1:21). Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah that the Messiah would be called “Emmanuel” (“Immanuel”) meaning “God with us” (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14).
The indwelling Holy Spirit continues Jesus' guarding of his disciples from evil, keeping them in God's name, and keep them following Jesus' teaching and example. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, his disciples experience the fulfillment of the joy of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the fullest revelation of God and Jesus personally and individually to Jesus' disciples.
The indwelling Holy Spirit sanctifies Jesus' disciples, opens their minds to understand and obey the Word of God (Luke 24:32, 45), and leads them into all (divine, eternal) truth (John 14:15-17, 26; 16:13). The indwelling Holy Spirit guides and empowers each disciple so that together in unity they accomplish Christ's mission and God's will. Divisiveness and dissension within the “Church” is not of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus' disciples can expect from the world treatment similar to that which Jesus received. We are in the world to complete Christ's mission. We can't “hide out” inside the Church to avoid conflict with the world. Nor are we to compromise the Gospel in order to “get along” with the world, or to conform to worldly standards. But we aren't to go into the world with the Gospel unarmed by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The conflict is spiritual, and requires spiritual weapons.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
