Reading 1 – 1Ki 21:3

“Naboth replied, ‘The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers’ ” (1Ki 21:3).

The Jews could not permanently sell their land, but only lease it until the year of Jubilee (Lev 25:23). To sell land is to presume its ownership, but the true Israelite knew that Yahweh was the only real “owner” of the Land. Naboth only held the property in trust for Him.

Naboth’s rationalizations might be imagined:

The Law is often ignored anyway; Selling the land will bring me material gain; and I must protect my family.

Yet against all these arguments Naboth is steadfast to the Law of God.

Likewise, we must learn to look at our SPIRITUAL inheritance from the LORD; we must not “sell” it — no matter the price offered, or any other inducement to part with it, or any threat to us if we don’t give it up! It is absolutely priceless.

Reading 2 – Jer 48

“The prophet Jeremiah reviews the neighbouring nations to Judah, and pronounces divine judgment. Jer 48 is against Moab, because they did not wisely benefit from their long period of peace (v 11). They thought they did, by fortifying their cities, establishing their worship, building up their wealth. But these were the very grounds of complaint against the nation (v 7). So the prophet declares that:

They will be invaded by Babylon: vv 1-5. Therefore they were urged to flee: vv 6-10. Consequently Moab would become desolate: vv 11-25. The reasons for divine judgment are given: vv 26-30. A lamentation for Moab is expressed: vv 31-39. The Babylonian invasion is pronounced: vv 40-46. There is a restoration for Moab: v 47.

Moab and Ammon were closely related to Israel, being born of the incestuous union between Lot and his two daughters (Gen 19:31-38). Moab signifies ‘from a father’, and Ammon ‘son of my people’. In his treatment of Moab, Jeremiah reproduces some of the language of Isaiah 140 years earlier (cp Isa 15;16), and applies them to the Babylonian invasion as Isaiah did to the Assyrian. Though closely related to Israel, even in language, the Moabites showed hostility to them on Israel’s original approach to the Land, and refused them hospitality, on account of which they were denied entrance into the congregation of Yahweh to the tenth generation (Deu 23:4). They hired Balaam against Israel, and used their women to entice Israel from their allegiance (Num 25:1). But a latter-day restoration of Moab is seen in the redemption of natural Israel (Jer 48:47), who have acted as did Moab formerly” (GEM).

Reading 3 – 1Co 7:26,27

“Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are… Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife” (1Co 7:26,27).

Some historians say that it was a localized plague or epidemic that was taking away many Corinthians at this time.

“It is a great mistake to think that Paul discountenanced marriage because upon one occasion, by reason of certain distress, he gave exceptional advice. To the Hebrews (Heb 13:4) he wrote of marriage being honourable in all, and the word he used has been rendered ‘had in reputation’ (Act 5:34); ‘dear’ (Act 20:24); ‘precious’ (1Co 3:12); ‘most precious’ (Rev 21:11); and similarly in fourteen texts. Besides, Paul expressly commanded the young women to marry (1Ti 5:14). Who were they to marry? Surely not old brethren — or the medically unfit — or the alien young men! No: marriage is honourable in all. Brother Roberts was right in concluding as he did: ‘I always felt that marriage was something that lay in my path before I could enter upon the earnest work of life. And, now I see how serviceable it has been in every way for the work that has been done.’ How many of us who have been Christadelphians practically all our lives can say Amen to those conclusions?” (FG Jannaway).

Reading 1 – 2Ki 5:13,14

“Naaman’s servants went to him and said, ‘My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, “Wash and be cleansed”!’ So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy” (2Ki 5:13,14).

“It may seem strange and incredible that God would connect such a momentous change [covenant relationship, and forgiveness of sins] with a trivial and (as some regard it) ridiculous observance [baptism]. An earnest mind, however, will not stop to reason on the matter when once satisfied that it is the will of God, especially when he remembers that it is one of the characteristics of God’s dealings with men that He selects ‘weak things, things despised, yea, and things that are not’ (1Co 1:27,28), by which to accomplish important results — that it may be seen that the power is of God, and not in the means, and that true obedience may be secured in His servants. It was not the eating of the fruit in itself — apart from the divine prohibition — that constituted Adam’s offence. It was not the mere looking at the brazen serpent in the wilderness that cured the serpent bitten Israelites. It was not Naaman’s mere immersion in Jordan in itself that cured him of his leprosy. It was the principle involved in each case that developed the results — the principle of obedience to the divine law, which is one prominent feature in all God’s dealings with man. Obedience is the great thing required at our hands: ‘Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams’ (1Sa 15:22).

“It matters not what the act may be; the more unlikely the thing required, the more severe the test, and the more conspicuous the obedience, even if it be the offering up of an only son, or the slaughtering of a whole nation. In any case, and at all hazards, obedience must be yielded. God is not less exacting in this respect under the Christian dispensation than He was under the law; but, if possible, more so” (Robert Roberts, “Christendom Astray”).

Reading 2 – Lam 1:1

“How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people” (Lam 1:1; cp Isa 3:8).

Well-known among students of ancient history is a medal struck by a Greek artist of the Roman Court to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and Vespasian in 70 AD. It is called “Judea Capta” (“Judah Subjected”), and it depicts a powerful soldier standing triumphantly over a helpless woman, who sits destitute upon the ground. How did this come about? Let us ask ourselves and learn the answer well. It came about because Judah neglected its true strength — the Lord their God.

What do we naturally think of when we hear the words “many people”? Ideas that come to mind are a party, or a market place — people milling around, laughing, joking and empty of serious thoughts. This is how Isaiah pictured this same city, Jerusalem — “full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city” (Isa 22:2); a city, in fact, thoroughly opposed to the Divine will, and heedless of her impending punishment: “And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: And behold (instead) joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die” (Isa 22:12,13).

To those who thought in their hearts, “Peace and safety”, came instead sudden destruction (1Th 5:3) by the wrath of God: “I will make your cities waste… desolation”, He had threatened through His prophet Moses (Lev 26:14-16, 31-35). But the people had continued to delight themselves in every imaginable form of wickedness until it was too late (Note the summary of Nebuchadnezzar’s destructions in Jer 52:12-23 — and remember that he was merely God’s “servant” — Jer 25:9 — to perform this).

”As a widow”: The city of Jerusalem had lost her husband, her lord and her protector (Jer 2:2). All of the pains associated with widowhood were hers — an absence of her “husband’s” favor and protection; sorrow and grief; a pitiful feeling of helplessness (Isa 54:6; Hos 3:3, 4).

Let us remember why such things came upon Jerusalem: “Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves (ie, into slavery), and for your transgressions is your mother put away” (Isa 50:1). “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you” (Isa 59:2).

“She that was great among the nations”: Israel, in its beginning as a kingdom, was lavishly praised by Hiram of Tyre (“this great people” — 1Ki 5:7) and the queen of Sheba, who saw Solomon’s wealth (1Ki 10). The united kingdom of Solomon’s time must have been very nearly unsurpassed in commerce and power. And the kingdom of Judah continued to prosper at times in the years following the division of the kingdom.

“How is she become tributary”: We are perhaps too accustomed to viewing Judah, during the period of the kings, as having much less majesty and authority than she actually had. Only when we realize what a magnificent position she once occupied, can such a phrase as this have its proper effect upon us. Just as God brought the splendor of Egypt and Babylon to the dust, so was He able to humble Judah. The word “tributary” refers to personal servitude (the same word as in Josh 16:10; 17:13). Compare Lam 5:8,13,16. The princess had become a “slave” (NIV), a “vassal” (RSV).

Reading 3 – 1Co 14:40

“But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (1Co 14:40).

“The brother or sister who sincerely loves God will endeavour always to be punctual in the observance of His requirements and appointments. (Unavoidable lateness is exceptional, and need not here be considered.) To be late at the meetings when we could have been early is indicative of indifference and carelessness in regard to the things of God. The meetings are of God’s appointment for the benefit of His children. The latecomer not only himself loses much of this benefit, but hinders those who are punctual in receiving the good. Usually the meetings commence with collective thanksgiving to God; is it not manifestly irreverent, and consequently displeasing to Him, that the privilege should be disturbed by latecomers, who with a little thought and care could have been present to unite in prayer and thanksgiving? Christ is our example in all things, and there is more than a suggestion of punctuality in the record that ‘when the hour was come he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him’ (to eat the Passover) (Luk 22:14)” (WJ White).

Reading 1 – 1Ch 3:1-9

“These were the sons of David born to him in Hebron: The firstborn was Amnon the son of Ahinoam of Jezreel; the second, Daniel the son of Abigail of Carmel; the third, Absalom the son of Maacah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; and the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah. These six were born to David in Hebron, where he reigned seven years and six months” (1Ch 3:1-4).

There were six sons of David born in Hebron: the same as list in 2Sa 3:2-5, with one exception — “Daniel”. Daniel is called “Chileab” in the KJV mg and in 2Sa 3:3: despite a considerably different appearance in English, this is due to a very slight corruption of the same name in Hebrew.

*****

“David reigned in Jerusalem thirty-three years, and these were the children born to him there…” (1Ch 3:4,5)…

The three lists of the 13 sons of David born in Jerusalem have some slight discrepancies, which are outlined below:

* Sons #s 7 and 8 may have died in infancy, and thus are not listed in the two 1Ch listings.

Reading 2 – Eze 16:49

“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy” (Eze 16:49).

“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:28,29).

The sins of Sodom are plainly written in the scriptural record: they include sexual sins and perversions, it is true. But also — as may be seen in Ezekiel — they included pride and patriotism; unimaginable luxuries; leisure time for frivolities; and “disobedience to parents” (cp 2Ti 3:2).

Finally, “they did not help the poor and needy”: There was malnutrition and starvation in a land of plenty — where many possessed the means to alleviate the sufferings.

If any of this sounds a bit familiar to western ears, then surely it is no accident!

Reading 3 – Luk 12:16-21

“The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ‘ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (Luk 12:16-21).

This man, in terms of the base standards of the world, had made a success of life. He became rich because of the productivity of his labor, and the fruitfulness of the ground he owned. But did he ever stop to think of why his land yielded its fruits in such abundance? Did he ever reflect upon the fact that “the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God” (Heb 6:7)? Job did, and concluded: “If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much… this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above” (Job 31:25-28).

But in contrast to Job, the rich man, having more food than was sufficient for him, did deny God: trusting in his own labor, he seemingly gave little thought to the One who so greatly blessed the land upon which he worked. Thus, he was a failure.

Leo Tolstoy once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer who was not satisfied with his lot. He wanted more of everything. One day he received a novel offer. For 1,000 rubles, he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day. The only catch in the deal was that he had to be back at his starting point by sundown. Early the next morning he started out walking at a fast pace. By midday he was very tired, but he kept going, covering more and more ground. Well into the afternoon he realized that his greed had taken him far from the starting point. He quickened his pace and as the sun began to sink low in the sky, he began to run, knowing that if he did not make it back by sundown the opportunity to become an even bigger landholder would be lost. As the sun began to sink below the horizon he came within sight of the finish line. Gasping for breath, his heart pounding, he called upon every bit of strength left in his body and staggered across the line just before the sun disappeared. He immediately collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth. In a few minutes he was dead. Afterwards, his servants dug a grave. It was not much over six feet long and three feet wide. The title of Tolstoy’s story was: “How Much Land Does a Man Need?”

Reading 1 – 1Ki 11:1-3

“King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter — Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.’ Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love… and his wives led him astray” (1Ki 11:1-3).

It was not merely that he had “many wives”, but that they were “foreign” women, securing the throne by political and marital connections with occupied nations; but these wives also introduced spiritual adultery into Israel. So the story of Solomon’s sad decline is recorded, to remind us that, in spite of Solomon’s greatness and wisdom, the temptations of his position were too much.

The Scriptures abound in warnings against alien marriage: The sons of God marrying the daughters of men resulted at last in the Flood (Gen 6-9). Abraham and Isaac, faithful sojourners looking for the Kingdom, opposed such marriages for their sons (Gen 24:3; 28:1). The Law of Moses forbade the yoking together of the clean ox and the unclean ass (Deu 22:10). Moses said to take no alien spouses (Deu 7:3,8). Ezra (Ezr 9; 10) and Nehemiah (Neh 13:23-29) tell us of the evils of such alliances, and Paul has stressed the deviation of such a union (1Co 7:39; 2Co 6:14-18).

Those who are courting or are contemplating marriage must remember that complete happiness can be achieved only when it is “in the Lord”. History and experience show that where there is no unity of thought and purpose, whether it be between God and Israel, Christ and the ecclesia, or between a husband and wife, there may follow a break in fellowship and unity. How could it be otherwise? That is the sadness and the tragedy of divorce or separation.

When the Israelites were delivered from Egypt they were told that they should not “make marriages” with the peoples of Canaan. Moses gave the reason in words which are relevant today:

“Thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods…” (Deu 7:3).

Paul had much the same thing to say when he wrote: “Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?”

Marriage, properly understood and lived, is a part of the divine fellowship in which love, patience, sympathy, understanding and service can be truly learned, and happy is the couple from whom these flow to the rest of the household of faith, for their reward will be the eternal blessing of the Father.

In being prepared against the “problem” of “alien marriage”, it is not sufficient merely to quote one or two passages like “only in the Lord” and “be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers”. We should see far more clearly than that. It is the general realization and appreciation that to marry “outside” is willful disobedience to the Lord who bought us, and it is a failure to understand the loftiness of our calling. We are invited to be the Bride of Christ. How then can we be associated in the closest intimacy with one who is not a member of the called-out ones in Christ? The whole of the Word of God requires this necessary separateness.

The Lord knows all our circumstances and He arranges that which is best for us. If in all our ways we acknowledge Him, He will direct our paths. “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him” and the Psalmist assures us that finally “He will give thee the desires of thine heart”. If we thus “rest in the Lord”, then we can rest assured that in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, those are the best for us in the ultimate. If other conditions were better, then the Lord would bring them to pass.

It may be, perhaps, that celibacy is best for us — the Lord knows. If, on the other hand, marriage with a true companion is the better condition, then the Lord will see to it that the proper partner comes along. Sometimes such comes to pass later on in life. Place the whole matter in the Lord’s hands and leave it there. Above all, don’t try to short-circuit the Lord: after putting it in His hands, don’t rush hastily into a marriage pretending it is the Lord’s doing. When the Lord moves in the matter there will be no mistaking it, and then one may say: “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

Reading 2 – Jer 37:1

“Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim” (Jer 37:1).

“Zedekiah was a small man on a great stage, a weakling set to face circumstances that would have taxed the strongest. He was a youth at his accession to the throne of a distracted kingdom, and if he had had any political insight he would have seen that his only chance was to adhere firmly to Babylon, and to repress the foolish aristocracy who hankered after alliance with the rival power of Egypt. He was mad enough to form an alliance with the latter, which was constructive rebellion against the former, and was strongly reprobated by Jeremiah. Swift vengeance followed; the country was ravaged; Zedekiah in his fright implored Jeremiah’s prayers and made faint efforts to follow his counsels. The pressure of invasion was lifted, and immediately he forgot his terrors and forsook the prophet. The Babylonian army was back next year, and the final investment [encirclement, siege] of Jerusalem began. The siege lasted sixteen months, and during it, Zedekiah miserably vacillated between listening to the prophet’s counsels of surrender and the truculent nobles’ advice to resist to the last gasp.

“The miseries of the siege live for ever in the Book of Lamentations. Mothers boiled their children, nobles hunted on dunghills for food. Their delicate complexions were burned black, and famine turned them into living skeletons. Then, on a long summer day in July came the end. The king tried to skulk out by a covered way between the walls, his few attendants deserted him in his flight, he was caught at last down by the fords of the Jordan [Jer 39:4,5; 52:8], carried prisoner to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah away up in the north beyond Baalbec, and there saw his sons slain before his eyes, and, as soon as he had seen that last sight, was blinded, fettered, and carried off to Babylon, where he died [2Ki 25:7; Jer 34:3; 52:9,10]…

“A weak character is sure to become a wicked one. Moral weakness and inability to resist strong pressure was the keynote of Zedekiah’s character. There were good things in him; he had kindly impulses, as was shown in his emancipation of the slaves at a crisis of Jerusalem’s fate. Left to himself, he would at least have treated Jeremiah kindly, and did rescue him from lingering death in the foul dungeon to which the ruffian nobility had consigned him, and he provided for his being at least saved from dying of starvation during the siege.

“He listened to him secretly, and would have accepted his counsel if he had dared. But he yielded to the stronger wills of the nobles, though he sometimes bitterly resented their domination, and complained that ‘the king is not he that can do anything against you.’

“Like most weak men, he found that temptations to do wrong abounded more than visible inducements to do right, and he was afraid to do right, and fancied that he was compelled by the force of circumstances to do wrong. So he drifted and drifted, and at last was smashed to fragments on the rocks, as all men are who do not keep a strong hand on the helm and a steady eye on the compass. The winds are good servants but bad masters. If we do not coerce circumstances to carry us on the course which conscience has pricked out on the chart, they will wreck us” (Alexander MacLaren).

Reading 3 – Mar 11:15

“On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there” (Mar 11:15a).

In keeping with Passover command and ritual, Jesus was purging the leaven from the house of God (Exo 12:19).

“The action of the Lord in cleansing the temple is often quoted as an example of righteous indignation. Yet in all the four records (Mat 21, Mar 11, Luk 19, Joh 2) it is nowhere stated that the Lord was angry. Certainly it was not righteous indignation which drove back those soldiers, ordered to arrest him (Joh 7:46); nor was it righteous indignation which made armed men retreat and fall to the ground in Gethsemane (Joh 18:6). Was not the same power at work in the temple incident? But even if we concede that the Lord might have been expressing righteous indignation, what right have we unrighteous ones to claim that we can also show righteous indignation? It is more likely that we are confusing righteous indignation with wrathful feelings of revenge, personal provocation, and wounded pride. Certainly the Lord never lost his temper. Every word and action was under complete control” (Percy Bilton, “The Christadelphian” 114:218).

“He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves” (v 15b).

We may well imagine the tables of moneychangers, overturned by Jesus, while the coins fall on the floor (Mat 21:12; Luk 19:45; Joh 2:14). Compare this incident with another not too many days later, when Judas threw the 30 pieces of silver into the temple (Mat 27:5). Imagine the coins clattering and clanking along the floor, while the priests scurried here and there to gather them up.

In both cases, this was money paid for “sacrifices”!

Reading 1 – 1Ch 17:16

“Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: ‘Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?’ ” (1Ch 17:16).

“When we take the lowest place and ‘seek not high things’ we need have no fear of falling. Pride is the destroyer of men’s souls. We rise in the balloon of our own self-esteem, only to fall to earth when our vanity is punctured. Most of our ‘taking offence’ and our super-sensitivity at criticism are but flowers which thrive in the garden of pride. The Man who became the world’s outcast and bore the scorn of a people who should have reverenced him, had no pride to lose. He took no offense. Having become the servant of all, he had taken the lowest place. From the height of heaven the Spirit of God came to his lifeless body in the tomb of Gethsemane and called him to come forth. ‘Friend, come up higher,’ the words of the Lord’s own parable, were exquisitely fulfilled in the Master himself. Exalted and given a name which is above every name, he received the blessing of immortality and was caught up to heaven to the presence of God the Father” (Harry Tennant, “The Man David” 35).

Reading 2 – Eze 29:3,4

“Speak to him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams. You say, The Nile is mine; I made it for myself’ ” (Eze 29:3).

Like the king of Tyre and his people, Pharaoh and Egypt had also been guilty of pride. He had become like a great river monster (Heb “tannim”, probably a crocodile of which there were many in the Nile) because he had taken credit for the Nile River, the lifeblood of the nation. Rather than giving God thanks for this resource, the king had proudly claimed responsibility for it.

“This was [Pharaoh] Hophra’s [Gr ‘Apries’] arrogant self-image. Herodotus implied that Pharaoh Apries was so strong in his position that he felt no god could dislodge him. In his reign he sent an expedition against Cyprus, besieged and took Gaza (cf Jer 47:1) and the city of Sidon, was victorious against Tyre by sea, and considered himself master over Palestine and Phoenicia… This arrogance had also shown itself in an attempt to interrupt Babylonia’s siege of Jerusalem — an attempt thwarted by God” (Expositors’ Bible).

“But I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales. I will pull you out from among your streams, with all the fish sticking to your scales” (Eze 29:4).

The LORD promised to remove Pharaoh and his lieutenants and subordinate princes (the lesser “fish” clinging to him) from their land, as a fisherman pulls a crocodile out of the water with hooks. Normally people caught crocodiles by placing hooks in their jaws and then dragging them onto land where they killed them. In the delta region of Egypt, the Egyptians worshipped the crocodile as a god, Sebek, which they believed protected their nation (cf Eze 32:2; Psa 74:13; Isa 27:1; 51:9). Thus God promised to destroy Pharaoh, Egypt, and the god supposedly responsible for their protection.

Reading 3 – Gal 3:13

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’ [Deu 21:23]” (Gal 3:13).

“Redeemed” is the Greek “exagorazo”, which literally means ‘to buy out of the agora, or marketplace’. This is one of the most powerful pictures, or parables, in the New Testament: that of the sinner as a “slave to Sin”, where “Sin” is personified as the powerful but ruthless Master to whom allegiance is owed — who brutalizes his “property” and gives it at last only “death”. “I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin” (Rom 7:14). In this metaphor Paul is recalling the words of Jesus: “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (Joh 8:34).

“But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Rom 6:17,18). Christ has come into the “agora”, or marketplace, and purchased the sinner out of his bondage; now he has a new Master (Christ himself), and a new life.

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.” In addition to being redeemed from sin and wickedness and the world and men (Tit 2:14; Heb 9:15; Rev 14:3,4), man was also redeemed from the Law of Moses (Gal 4:5), and from the “curse” of that Law (Gal 3:13).

But the Law itself was not evil (it was holy and just and good: Rom 7:12-14). However, the Law brought into focus and highlighted man’s sin — in effect, making him a “sinner”. Thus it came to stand — by metonymy (putting the cause for the effect) — for his sin.

By coming under the curse of the Law — more or less artificially, and in the manner of his death only — whilst living a perfectly righteous life… Christ effectively removed that curse, and made it meaningless. And thus he did the same for those who are “in Christ” also.

Reading 1 – 2Ch 2:11

“Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon: ‘Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you their king’ ” (2Ch 2:11).

What an extraordinary communication from a Gentile king to Solomon. It suggests that Hiram may have been a true and righteous proselyte to the faith of Israel. In his letter, he declares that Solomon was of such a character that his reign would be a special blessing from God to his people. Such was the character of Solomon, in those early days before he “left his first love”, that even this Gentile monarch could see that he was bound to he a blessing to the people. How wonderful it would be if our characters were so transparent, so true, and pure, and good, that all who knew us might feel that we were a blessing to those among whom we dwell.

Also, Hiram distinctly recognizes that every blessing comes from God. If Solomon is a blessing to his subjects, Hiram attributes that to the fact of God having placed him where he was. Now, if one who was once an idolater could trace a blessing back to Yahweh as its source, what sort of pseudo-“Christian” must those be who never do anything of the sort, but trace it to what they call “good luck”, or to “chance”, or to anything rather than to God! We must never forget… whenever there is anything of good, anything of excellence, anything of spiritual profit, that comes to our door, we should praise and bless the God who gave it. We are all too apt to complain of Him when we suffer, and ready enough to attribute our afflictions to Him. Surely, then, when mercies come to us plentifully, we should magnify and glorify the name of the Lord our God from whom they come. We should say of every mercy, just as Hiram wrote to Solomon, “Because the LORD loves His people”, He has done this.

Reading 2 – Eze 39

Eze 39 retells the story of God’s attack and defeat but with a slightly different emphasis from that of the prior chapter. Not much attention is given to the attack itself (merely vv 1,2), whereas a great deal of space is devoted to describing the massive slaughter of Gog’s forces. In a sense, then, Eze 38 concentrates on the threat from the powers opposed to God and His people, while Eze 39 concentrates more on the deliverance of God’s people from that threat. The end of the chapter dwells at length on Israel’s restoration (vv 21-29), especially on the immediate (pre-Gog) era of that restoration. Thus the chapter starts with the distant future but ends in the nearer future, with the promise of return from captivity to the land of Canaan and the greater truths which that return points toward.

Reading 3 – John 5:39

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39).

This verse is often misquoted, and misapplied. It is not a simple exhortation to “read the Bible”; for one thing, the Pharisees already did this, regularly and diligently. Rather, Christ’s words should be read as his rebuke of the “Jews” — as if to say: ‘You search the Scriptures, because you THINK you will find eternal life there. But you refuse to see that those same Scriptures testify of me! And you do not come to me, that you might truly have life.’

It is never enough to be knowledgeable in the Scriptures in a theoretical sense. The study of God’s Word must lead us to embrace Christ, with our whole heart and mind. Knowledge by itself is sterile. But intimate, personal experience of Christ brings about deep and lasting changes in our lives, and leads on to the eternal life that may be possessed only through him.

Reading 1 – 1Ki 12:20-24

“When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David. When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin — a hundred and eighty thousand fighting men — to make war against the house of Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon. But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: ‘Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, “This is what the LORD says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing” ‘ ” (1Ki 12:20-24).

God is in all things; there is neither power, nor life, nor thought, nor existence apart from Him. “For in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). And all things are upheld by His might. He is in the earthquake and the great storm, but He is also in the gentlest breeze.

God is even to be found in events which seem to be produced merely by the sin and the stupidity of men. This breaking up of the kingdom of Solomon into two parts was the result of Solomon’s sin and Rehoboam’s folly; yet God was in it: “For this is MY doing!” God had nothing to do with the sin or the folly, but in some way which we can never explain, in a mysterious way in which we are to believe without hesitation, God was in it all.

The most notable instance of this truth is the death of our Lord Jesus Christ; that was the greatest of human crimes, yet it was predetermined by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge (Acts 2:23), and it was right and proper.

How, then, was “this” — the rebellion — God’s “doing”? It was His doing in two ways:

It was a matter of prophecy. The prophet Ahijah had prophesied that the ten parts of the rent garment which were given to Jeroboam should be symbolic of the ten tribes that would be given to him when they had been torn away from the house of David. The prophecy was now literally fulfilled (1Ki 11:29-31). It was a matter of punishment. He sent it as a punishment for the sins of the house of David, of which Solomon had been guilty when he set up other gods in Israel, and divided the allegiance of his kingdom from Yahweh by introducing the gods of Moab and Ammon and Egypt. And so God ordained this “evil” that He might punish the greater evil of idolatry on the part of his servant Solomon.

There are some events which are especially from God, although at first look it may seem incongruous. And in this we may take comfort. Even that which appears “evil” or disastrous (Isa 45:7) is nevertheless from Him, and it is right — because it serves His own purposes, which we may only dimly comprehend, or even not comprehend at all. Accepting this general principle, even when we cannot see how it might work out, we learn to trust in Him in all things; for He alone knows the end from the beginning: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).

Reading 2 – Jer 38:6

“So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud” (Jer 38:6).

“While the performance of our part is necessary, the accomplishment of final results is all of God, who can prosper or frustrate the devices of men or leave them altogether to their own ineffectual ways. Nevertheless, the experience of both Moses and Joshua shows that if God gives men opportunities, He expects them to discern and enterprisingly use them. There is a time to stand still and see the salvation of God, but it is not when He proposes to work by us. All the promises of God presuppose active, diligent, courageous, and caretaking cooperation on the part of those to whom they are made. Where we are in circumstances which makes this exercise on our part impossible (as when Jeremiah was in the pit in the court of the prison, sunk to the armpits in mire) — prayer and waiting is the not unavailing alternative” (Robert Roberts, “Ways of Providence” 333).

Jeremiah sank into mire physically, but was delivered, while Zedekiah was sunk in mire spiritually (cp v 22), with no escape!

Reading 3 – Mar 12:42

“But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny” (Mar 12:42).

“It is easy to make offerings to the Lord which cost us little or nothing. The poor woman’s meagre gift was the greatest of all because it was so real a sacrifice. In the light of Christ’s judgment there are probably few of us who have given much. There may be some of us who have never really given anything. But there are those who have. Many mites have since been added to the two that fell into the temple treasury; offerings rich in their meagreness because they represented all the giver had to give. For the most part those gifts have remained unnoticed amid the welter of more obvious givings; where they are discovered they are sometimes scorned. But there is an unseen watcher who sees and knows, and in the fullness of time those children of the Kingdom whose poverty has excluded them from so many material blessings will be welcomed by the One who became poor that they might be rich” (Melva Purkis, “Life of Jesus” 312).

Reading 1 – 1Ch 27

David also organized his army (vv 1-15), Israel’s tribal leaders (vv 16-24), his administrators (vv 25-31), and his counselors and advisers (vv 32-34). He did all this to insure the future stability of the kingdom, so that God’s promises could be fulfilled without unnecessary opposition or confusion. The writer mentions 12 tribes, but in this list these include Levi and the two halves of Manasseh. He omits Gad and Asher in this tally (vv 16-24; cf 1Ch 7).

1Ch 22–27 records David’s preparation for the fulfillment of those covenant promises made to him — which would be fulfilled in part after he had passed off the scene. His preoccupation with God’s promises and his preparations for their fulfillment served as a good example for Chronicles’ original readers. David’s zeal for the house of Yahweh reflected his zeal for the reputation of his God. He truly put God’s glory before his own personal ambitions.

Reading 2 – Eze 36:11

“I will increase the number of men and animals upon you [the mountains, and the land, of Israel], and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you AS IN THE PAST and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the LORD” (Eze 36:11).

Israel is to be restored “as in the days of old”, or “as it used to be” (Amo 9:11) — so that the golden era of David and Solomon will be typical of the restored glory of God’s Kingdom. The past (the history of David and Solomon) and future (God’s coming Kingdom) are thus compared:

Jerusalem is the throne of Yahweh (1Ch 29:23; Jer 3:17). One king rules over a united nation (1Ki 4:20; Eze 37:22). Israel is a multitudinous, powerful nation (1Ki 4:20; Mic 4:7). Israel is the chief among the nations (1Ki 4:21; Mic 4:8). Gentile wealth flows to Jerusalem (2Ch 9:23,24; Isa 60:11). A greatly fertile land (1Ki 4:22-28; Isa 35:1,2). The nations are under submission to Israel (1Ki 4:21; Psa 72:8). Israel dwells secure and at peace (1Ki 4:25; Eze 34:28). Jerusalem is the center of wisdom (1Ki 4:34; Isa 2:2-4). Jerusalem is the center of worship (2Ch 9:23; Zec 14:16). A temple is erected under royal supervision (1Ki 6; Zec 6:13). The work of building is assisted by Gentile laborers and materials (2Ch 2:2,17; Isa 60:10,13). A righteous high priest officiates (1Ki 1:34; Heb 7:11,12). Great building activity (1Ki 9; Isa 65:21,22). “Satan is bound” (1Ki 5:4; Rev 20:2). Israel is a blessing in the midst of the land (2Ch 9:26; Isa 19:25). The king is noted for his piercing, unerring judgment (1Ki 4:29; Isa 11:3).

Reading 3 – John 1:47

” When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, ‘Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false’ ” (John 1:47).

“The day came when one of these apostles was impelled by the Spirit to give an estimate of his Master’s life in these words, ‘Who did no sin, neither was GUILE found in his mouth’ (1Pe 2:22; Isa 53:9). What came to be a high mark in the life of this sinless man from Nazareth, he once saw latently in an unknown man (Nathanael) from Cana. Later on, when the man of Galilee makes water into wine, the guileless man from Cana will know that, uniquely, some good thing has come out of Nazareth, and he will confess it guilelessly” (Dennis Gillett, “Genius of Discipleship”).

Reading 1 – 1Ch 12:16-18

“Other Benjamites and some men from Judah also came to David in his stronghold. David went out to meet them and said to them, ‘If you have come to me in peace, to help me, I am ready to have you unite with me. But if you have come to betray me to my enemies when my hands are free from violence, may the God of our fathers see it and judge you.’ Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the Thirty, and he said: ‘We are yours, O David! We are with you, O son of Jesse! Success, success to you, and success to those who help you, for your God will help you.’ So David received them and made them leaders of his raiding bands” (1Ch 12:16-18).

At this time David was probably in the stronghold of Ziklag, which the king of the Philistines had given to him. Here he received a welcome addition to his band. David was an exile; and it is not every man who cares to cast in his lot with a banished prince. He was an “outlaw”, and his king would have killed him with his own hand if he could have found opportunity. The many who were on Saul’s side, because of its convenience and ease, spoke very bitterly of David, and, wishing to curry favor with the king, they slandered him whenever possible and for the least offence. Few respectable people care to associate themselves with a person who is in evil repute, no matter whether he may be on the side of right. Many to whom he had done no harm were eager to betray David, and sell him into the hand of his enemy. So it has always been, that men seek their own gain, and do not really care to whom they “sell out”, so long as they get a good price. In these circumstances, it was no small thing for a band of men to unite themselves with a man with a price on his head.

And there were potential betrayers all around: the men of Keilah plotted to deliver him up to Saul. The fortunes of David were at a low ebb, and so when these men came to David they did a very brave thing — which he would be sure to remember in the later days of his triumph and glory.

At the present moment our Lord Jesus, the Son of David, is “in hiding”, so to speak. Among the men of this world he is not yet enthroned, and they care little for him — if they even give him a passing thought. Though he is “king” in God’s heaven, yet before the eyes of the majority of men he is still despised and rejected. His people are yet a feeble few, and often in serious straits themselves; his kingdom is ridiculed, his claims are scoffed at by the intelligentsia, and his yoke — though easy and light — is rejected. This is an age of blasphemy and of rebuke for our Lord the King. And so they are the brave and the few, the band of brothers who will stand with Christ in the day of his exile.

Men will be greatly rewarded in the future if they take up his cause now, and go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. Blessed are they who are not ashamed this day to bear the name of Christ, and to profess him in the sight and hearing of the world. They will be mine, he says, in the day when he assembles his “jewels”.

Reading 2 – Eze 25

In Eze 25 through 32, seven nations mock at Israel, and the hidden Glory of God strikes them down:

Ammon (Eze 25:1-7); Moab (Eze 25:8-11); Edom (Eze 25:12-14); Philistia (Eze 25:15-17); Tyre (Eze 26:1–28:19); Zidon (Eze 28:20-26); and Egypt (Eze 29–32).

Other prophecies of Gentile nations are usually grouped together: such as Isa 13–27 and Jer 46–51.

Reading 3 – Luk 22:59-61

“About an hour later another asserted, ‘Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.’ Peter replied, ‘Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: ‘Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times’ ” (Luk 22:59-61).

In the “mirror” of Jesus’ face Peter saw himself — what he truly was; and he could not stand the sight.

*****

He looked at me. Right at me.

It was not a look of disgust or anger or even rebuke. It was a look that just said, “I know.”

The hours and days after that are so painful that even today they are hard to talk about. The shame, the fear, the utter sadness that overwhelmed me then comes flooding back in the memory today.

In the days following, I thought about how he had looked me in the face and said, “When you are converted, strengthen your brethren.” At the time, I thought: ” ‘WHEN I’m converted?’ What does he think I have been doing the last three and a half years? I gave up my family, my house and my business. Could anyone be ‘converted’ if it wasn’t me? What more could I possibly do?”

When he told me I would deny him, I was so brash and self-confident. Others may do that, I said, but I never would. So sure was I that this was true. So sure I was that I was the greatest disciple. So sure I was that mine was the place at his right hand. So sure I was that I would even die for him!

It was only a matter of hours really when he gave me the look. It wasn’t long, just a glance really. But how that look has changed my life.

A few weeks later by the lake, he asked me if I loved him. Not the kind of love that we might have for friends, but completely devoted love. A love that meant I would do anything for him. Remembering that look, all I could speak of was my affection for him. I could not go down that path again unless I was sure… completely sure of my love.

Now he is gone. It has only been a little over a month since that night, but what a month. I have begun to understand much of what he said that I did not understand before. Most of all, I have discovered that all of this is not about me, but him. It is not my glory that is important, but his.

I was so afraid that night, but not today. Today, I feel his strength rising up within me. They can mock me, beat me and even kill me. But they cannot take from me my faith and conviction. In the end, they cannot take my life but for a time.

So today I must speak. It is the feast day, so the temple will be filled. I must do what I did not do that night. I must proclaim him to be the Son of God. I must tell people that the Kingdom is coming. I must tell them that I am his servant. I must depend on his strength to get me through this because I have learned so well that this strength does not come from me.

I must remember the look.

(References: Luk 22:32,61-62; Mar 9:33-34; Joh 21:15-17; Act 2)

(Kyle Tucker)

Reading 1 – 1Ki 7:40-42

“So Huram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of the LORD: the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars…” (1Ki 7:40-42).

Four hundred brazen pomegranates complemented the two great pillars of Stability and Strength — Jachin and Boaz — at the entrance of the Temple. The pomegranate is a very special fruit in the divine imagery: it is the essence of all fruit. It was on the border of the High Priest’s robe (Exo 39:24), with the golden bells of salvation and praise. Cut through transversely, the pomegranate has twelve sections, arranged around the center like the camps of the twelve Tribes around the Tabernacle. It is full of white, pearl-like seeds in a red fluid, and seems to represent a multitudinous unity purified in the blood of the Lamb. In the Song of Songs, the Bride is said to have temples like the halves of a pomegranate (Song 4:3; 6:7); the eastern pomegranate is light golden brown with a tinge of pink, and the physical resemblance is striking. Also, the association of the multitudinous Bride with the pomegranate and the Temple is, in itself, a powerful and thought-provoking spiritual image.

Reading 2 – Jer 33:14-16

“In reference to this good time which is near at hand it is written, ‘Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel, and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness’ (Jer 23:5,6; 33:14-16; Eze 48:35; Isa 24:23). The Kingdom of God, then, has existed once, but, for the present, exists ‘no more’ [Eze 21:25-27]. It existed from the fourteenth to the twenty-eighth generation [Mat 1:17], a period of rather more than a thousand years; but it has been extinct upwards of two thousand five hundred years — a time so long that the promise of its restoration has become a mere fable, or speculation, in the estimation of the world! But the believer in the gospel of this kingdom rejoices in the sure and certain hope of its restitution, and glorious and triumphant existence for a thousand years, at the expiration of which kingdoms on earth will be no more, but God will be all and in all” (John Thomas, “Elpis Israel”).

Reading 3 – Mar 7:32-35

“There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. After HE TOOK HIM ASIDE, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, ‘Ephathah’, which means, ‘Be opened.’ At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly” (Mar 7:32-35).

“The Lord God has given His Son the tongue of the learned that he might speak a word in season to him that is weary. Sometimes our ears are dull of hearing, and when they are we usually find that we have also an impediment in our speech. To take us away from the multitude to the isolation of a sick bed, or into that mental detachment which comes from solitude, is perhaps the only way towards healing which will give us ears to hear the joyful sound of his Gospel, and voice to speak forth his praise” (Melva Purkis, “A Life of Jesus” 204).