From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening ...
Song of Solomon 1:7
Tell me . . . where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon.
These words express the desire of the believer after Christ, and his longing
for present communion with Him. Where doest Thou feed Thy flock? In Thy house?
I will go, if I may find Thee there. In private prayer? Then I will pray
without ceasing. In the Word? Then I will read it diligently. In Thine
ordinances? Then I will walk in them with all my heart. Tell me where Thou
feedest, for wherever Thou standest as the Shepherd, there will I lie down as a
sheep; for none but Thyself can supply my need. I cannot be satisfied to be
apart from Thee. My soul hungers and thirsts for the refreshment of Thy
presence. "Where dost Thou make Thy flock to rest at noon?" for whether at dawn
or at noon, my only rest must be where Thou art and Thy beloved flock. My
soul's rest must be a grace-given rest, and can only be found in Thee. Where is
the shadow of that rock? Why should I not repose beneath it? "Why should I be
as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?" Thou hast
companions-why should I not be one? Satan tells me I am unworthy; but I always
was unworthy, and yet Thou hast long loved me; and therefore my unworthiness
cannot be a bar to my having fellowship with Thee now. It is true I am weak in
faith, and prone to fall, but my very feebleness is the reason why I should
always be where Thou feedest Thy flock, that I may be strengthened, and
preserved in safety beside the still waters. Why should I turn aside? There is
no reason why I should, but there are a thousand reasons why I should not, for
Jesus beckons me to come. If He withdrew Himself a little, it is but to make me
prize His presence more. Now that I am grieved and distressed at being away
from Him, He will lead me yet again to that sheltered nook where the lambs of
His fold are sheltered from the burning sun
Galatians 4:8
(8) Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them
which by nature are no gods.
Prior to God's intervention in their lives, when they did not
have a relationship with Him, the Galatians (in particular) and the world (in
general) were in bondage to and slaves of the Babylonish system, even a worship
of demons—"so-called gods" (I Corinthians 8:5).
In the New Testament, there are two Greek words that are
translated as "to know"—ginooskein (NT: 1097) and eidenai (NT: 1492). According
to Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament, ginooskein is knowledge
grounded in personal experience or apprehension of external impressions. It is
used to describe relationships, even up to the most intimate of
relationships—marriage ("And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived").
Eidenai, the word used in Galatians 4:8, is a mental perception in contrast
with conjecture or knowledge derived from others.
The Jews at least knew of God and knew about God, but they did
not really know God in terms of having a relationship with Him. He revealed
Himself to Israel when He brought them out of Egypt and gave them the law, and
the knowledge that such a God existed never really passed from all of the
generations. After a remnant of the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin,
returned to Jerusalem from captivity, they restored the proper worship of God
and began adhering to the law that He had given to them. Later, various sects
(Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, etc.) arose and began putting their own spin on
the original God-given law. They wanted to make absolutely certain that they
would not transgress His law in even the smallest degree, so they would not
have to go back into captivity.
What developed was Halakhah, which was loosely based on the Old
Covenant but contained ordinances and judgments that are far from God's
original ideal. This, in combination with Hellenism, developed into what is now
called Judaism. So at the base of all this, the Jews at least know that there
is one true God, but their emphasis on Halakhah made them reject Christ when He
came as a man. There was at least a "mental perception" (eidenai), even though
there was not a real relationship (ginooskein).
The Gentiles, on the other hand, did not even have a concept
(eidenai) of the true God. They worshipped and served a wide variety of pagan
deities, and in actuality, this worship was inspired by and centered on demons.
In the letter to the Galatians, Paul was addressing not only the dangerous
slide into Judaism, but also the return to pagan rites inspired by Gnosticism.
David C. Grabbe
.
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
daily devotional
Evening...
2 Samuel 18:23
Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi.
Running is not everything, there is much in the way which we select: a swift
foot over hill and down dale will not keep pace with a slower traveller upon
level ground. How is it with my spiritual journey, am I labouring up the hill
of my own works and down into the ravines of my own humiliations and
resolutions, or do I run by the plain way of "Believe and live"? How blessed is
it to wait upon the Lord by faith! The soul runs without weariness, and walks
without fainting, in the way of believing. Christ Jesus is the way of life, and
He is a plain way, a pleasant way, a way suitable for the tottering feet and
feeble knees of trembling sinners: am I found in this way, or am I hunting
after another track such as priestcraft or metaphysics may promise me? I read
of the way of holiness, that the wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err
therein: have I been delivered from proud reason and been brought as a little
child to rest in Jesus' love and blood! ? If so, by God's grace I shall outrun
the strongest runner who chooses any other path. This truth I may remember to
my profit in my daily cares and needs. It will be my wisest course to go at
once to my God, and not to wander in a roundabout manner to this friend and
that. He knows my wants and can relieve them, to whom should I repair but to
Himself by the direct appeal of prayer, and the plain argument of the promise.
"Straightforward makes the best runner." I will not parlay with the servants,
but hasten to their master. In reading this passage, it strikes me that if men
vie with each other in common matters, and one outruns the other, I ought to be
in solemn earnestness so to run that I may obtain. Lord, help me to gird up the
loins of my mind, and may I press forward towards the mark for the prize of my
high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Morning...
Psalm 138:5
They shall sing in the ways of the Lord.
The time when Christians begin to sing in the ways of the Lord is when they
first lose their burden at the foot of the Cross. Not even the songs of the
angels seem so sweet as the first song of rapture which gushes from the inmost
soul of the forgiven child of God. You know how John Bunyan describes it. He
says when poor Pilgrim lost his burden at the Cross, he gave three great leaps,
and went on his way singing-
"Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! blest rather be
The Man that there was put to shame for me!"
Believer, do you recollect the day when your fetters fell off? Do you
remember the place when Jesus met you, and said, "I have loved thee with an
everlasting love; I have blotted out as a cloud thy transgressions, and as a
thick cloud thy sins; they shall not be mentioned against thee any more for
ever." Oh! what a sweet season is that when Jesus takes away the pain of sin.
When the Lord first pardoned my sin, I was so joyous that I could scarce
refrain from dancing. I thought on my road home from the house where I had been
set at liberty, that I must tell the stones in the street the story of my
deliverance. So full was my soul of joy, that I wanted to tell every snow-flake
that was falling from heaven of the wondrous love of Jesus, who had blotted out
the sins of one of the chief of rebels. But it is not only ! at the
commencement of the Christian life that believers have reason for song; as long
as they live they discover cause to sing in the ways of the Lord, and their
experience of His constant lovingkindness leads them to say, "I will bless the
Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth." See to it,
brother, that thou magnifiest the Lord this day.
"Long as we tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand."
Genesis 21:12
(12) And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight
because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said
unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Genesis 48:16
(16) The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my
name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let
them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
Genesis contains two significant prophecies about the name of the
Israelite peoples. In the first, Genesis 21:12, God tells Abraham to send
Ishmael and his mother away, "for in Isaac your seed shall be called." Paul
repeats this twice in the New Testament (Romans 9:7; Hebrews 11:18). On the
surface this seems to mean that God would consider Isaac's progeny to be the
true sons of Abraham, and this is true. But it means so much more! It also
means that Israel would call itself by the name "Isaac" i! n later times.
The second prophecy concerns Jacob's blessing on the sons of Joseph. In
his prayer he asks God to "bless the lads; let my name be named upon them, and
the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac" (Genesis 48:16). This confirms God's
words to Abraham, only this time it is specifically directed toward the
birthright tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. The descendants of Joseph would bear
the names of the patriarchs, particularly Isaac.
Amos, written less than a half century before Israel fell, uses the name
"Isaac" twice to refer to Israel:
The high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of
Israel shall be laid waste. . . . Now therefore, hear the word of the LORD: You
say, "Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not spout against the house of
Isaac." (Amos 7:9, 16)
Israel may have already been calling itself "the house of Isaac" or "the
sons of Isaac" even before their overthrow and captivity.
After Assyria fell, ancient records tell of a new people living around
the shores of the Caspian Sea. These people were variously known as Sakai,
Sacae, Sagetae, Sakki, Scyths, Scythians, Scuths, Scuits, Scolotoi, and Scots.
In his book The Tribes, Yair Davidy writes:
SACCAE was the contemporary Middle Eastern term for Scyth and the name
is believed to be a derivative of 'Isaac'. The appellation 'Saxe' or 'Saxon' is
a further development of the same name. (p. 128)
Sharon Turner, author of History of the Anglo-Saxons, agrees, "Saka-Suna
or the Sons of Sakai abbreviated into Saksun, which is the same sound as Saxon,
seems a reasonable etymology of the word 'Saxon'" (p. 87). It takes no great
leap of reason to conclude that "Saxons" is a corrupted form of "Isaac's sons."
Where do we find the Anglo-Saxon peoples living in these last days? In
the very same place the Bible tells us Israel would be: northwestern Europe and
its colonies!
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
From Israel: Present
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