Reading 1 – Exo 36:1-5

“So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the LORD has commanded. Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work” (Exo 36:1,2).

Those who have received ability from the Lord are at the same time being called to the building of the LORD’s “tabernacle” — which is the house in which he dwells, the community of believers. Ability and willingness, along with resolution, are the tools to be desired in the call of builders in God’s house. The talents we are entrusted with must not be tucked away in a napkin, but put to use. Why do we have our gifts, if not to do good with them?

*****

“They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work and said to Moses, ‘The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done’ ” (vv 3-5).

The materials which the people had contributed were delivered by Moses to the workmen. They could not “create” a tabernacle — they could not make it out of nothing — they could not work, unless they had something to work with and upon. And so the people therefore brought the materials and Moses put them into the hands of the builders.

Morning after morning the people brought more freewill offerings, until there was more than enough. What a testimonial to their loving service, and to their desire to forward the building of God’s house! Like the Macedonians at a much later date, “their overflowing joy… welled up in rich generosity… [and] they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will” (2Co 8:2-5).

Reading 2 – Psa 95:3,4

“For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods” (Psa 95:3).

Yahweh is above all the “gods” (“elohim”) of Egypt. Here is an allusion back to the first Passover (Exo 12:12). The ten plagues seem to have been designed by God as direct attacks upon the specific “gods” of the Egyptians, to show that their “power” was no match for His.

Perhaps there is a double meaning here: God is above both all human rulers (“elohim”, as in Psa 82:1,6) and above all man-made “gods” (Isa 40:18-20; 45:21,22; etc).

*****

“In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him” (Psa 95:4).

To God belong both the “depths” and the “heights” (RSV) — and so we should rejoice in both trials and blessings. And if the greatest extremes (both of the physical creation and of the lives of His children) belong to God, then of course everything else between those extremes likewise belongs to Him.

Reading 3 – 1Co 6:19

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” (1Co 6:19).

Temple worship in Israel was an awesome prospect, especially when the glory of God’s presence filled the most holy place! Imagine your fear, your sense of frailty, your concern for personal purity, if you were called to serve inside the Temple of God. As the law prescribed, the priest who entered the holy place was to make offering for his own sins before standing before God to offer sacrifice for the people’s sins. And sins committed outside the Temple would have to be covered before worship could take place. Imagine then the calamity that would occur if a worshiper actually committed sin inside the Temple. It would be an atrocity of the worst kind. To commit sin in the Temple would be unthinkable — and possibly fatal! With this picture in mind, Paul addressed believers who were immersed in the immoral and sexually-oriented culture of Corinth. To them the picture of committing immorality inside a place of worship would hit home, since temple prostitution was common in Corinth’s pagan religions.

What must have had the greatest impact on Paul’s readers, though, was not simply the distasteful idea of a person sinning inside a place of worship. It was the fact that their very bodies were now the temple of the Holy Spirit! This meant that for a believer to commit any kind of immorality would be the same as a worshiper committing sin in the most solemn place of worship. The rationale is clear: if our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, then we must not profane that temple with any sort of sexual immorality. The alternative is to “honor God with your body,” in the same way that a place of worship would be put to its proper use.

Reading 1 – Lev 19:18

“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD” (Lev 19:18).

In answer to the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luk 10:25), Jesus cites this verse: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Luk 10:27). When this answer elicits the follow-up question, “And who is my neighbor?” (v 29), Jesus responds by telling the parable of the good Samaritan (Luk 10:30-37). In his parable Jesus makes it very plain that “neighbor” must not be restricted to ‘fellow believer’, but that it includes especially those with whom we feel we have little in common — even those whom the most “upright” Jews despised — the Samaritans!

In taking this broadly inclusive point of view, Jesus is only following the context of the Lev 19:18 citation: in Lev 19:33,34 it is clear that “neighbor” includes the “alien” — that is, the Gentile: “Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt.”

The final reminder in this verse, “I am the LORD”, has a two-fold significance here: (1) “I, the LORD your God, am holy” (v 2) — therefore you must be holy also; and (2) “I am the LORD”… who loved YOU when you, in Egypt, were no better than “aliens” to ME (v 34): you were worshipers of idols, and ignorant of My Name and promises; yet nevertheless I still loved you!

Reading 2 – Psa 119:83

“Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget your decrees” (Psa 119:83).

This refers to a dried, cracked wineskin, blackened with the smoke of affliction and suffering: compare Lam 4:8: “Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.” Skins filled with wine were hung at the tops of tents, where it was smoky and hot, so that the wine might mature. This is a beautiful allegory: while the skin (the outward man) ages and grows less useful and more brittle and unsightly, the wine inside (the inner man!) matures and develops perfection of character.

In Christ’s parable, constructed along similar lines, the skin symbolizes the “outer man” of the believer, which is but the receptacle for the “wine” of the teaching and spirit of God: “Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved” (Mat 9:17).

Reading 3 – Luk 2:1

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world” (Luk 2:1).

Luke is an inspired historian, who can therefore look into the heart of things and think on a grand scale. The story he presents is a fascinating interplay of Roman imperial authority and obscure Jewish compliance. But even the decrees of mighty Caesar are bent to the Divine purpose. Augustus, with all his armies and bureaucrats, is no more than a servant of God. For centuries the religion of freedom was destined to contend against the despotic power of a great empire, a totalitarian state which never hesitated to make the lowly masses subservient to its own will. (Such states have not gone out of style, and will not, as long as man is left to rule his own affairs. They have changed their names and ideologies, but not their essential characters.) Even in his birth the founder of the new religion was tossed to and fro at the whim of the emperor.

When he went to his death thirty-odd years later, it was again as a mere random piece of humanity, to be “processed” by the same state, one among many misfits and criminals impaled by Roman nails on Roman crosses.

The state had its purposes, but God had His. Each purpose was fulfilled, but how different they were! In ordering the enrollment, the state was seeking to achieve greater control over its subjects, and to lay the groundwork for taxation. God made use of these materialistic enterprises to fulfill the prophecy given by Micah, that His Son would be born in the little town of Bethlehem, thereby becoming governor and shepherd of Israel (Mic 5 :2).

Reading 1 – Num 16

“One of the most serious threats to the unity of the nation… was the affair of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. It arose directly because a purely fleshly reasoning caused the men concerned to press their personal importance to the detriment of the good of the nation as a whole. They fell into the error of ‘not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God’ (Col 2:19). Their action was based upon premises that seemed sound enough: ‘All the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them’ (Num 16:3). These were the words on the lips of the ‘250 princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown’, men who according to the record, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram ‘took’. Much lies concealed behind those words! One can imagine the secret meetings, the passing on of information from mouth to mouth, the fomenting of trouble, the sowing of discord, and all because Korah, being a son of Levi, desired to play the part assigned to others of his tribe, and Dathan and Abiram thought their tribe, the tribe of Reuben, deserving of greater pre-eminence than that to which God had called them!

“What is the relation of all this to ourselves as a community?… Our heritage is no less [than that of Israel], for the same God is working towards unity in Christ in the Ecclesia, which is both a body and a commonwealth….The people of Israel had a history of fragmentation and division which began in the wilderness and for which there are two principal reasons: Firstly, they had no sense of devotion to the Lord, whose Name was revealed in His mighty acts of power and compassion on their behalf….Their loss of the vision of the Divine glory caused them to yearn for Egypt, and ultimately to refuse to believe that they were the people whom God would bring into the land of His promise. They fragmented because they had no faith in the purpose of their calling.

“The other reason for their disunity was their failure to keep in mind, much less to comprehend the concept of the unity of their people, or to realize that the purpose of God was not with individuals or with tribes as such, but with ‘all Israel’, to whose wellbeing individuals and tribes contributed by playing each their several and necessary parts. Any fellowship other than that which acknowledges that one is our Head and all we are brethren is still, as it has always proved to be, a fellowship of opposition which leads to further fragmentation within the dissident group itself. As far as we can tell from a survey of our own history and that of Israel, there is no exception to this principle” (AH Nicholls, “The Christadelphian” 115:42,43).

Reading 2 – Pro 12:10

“A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel” (Pro 12:10).

This is a good verse, and an insightful one. The plain fact is… the animal can almost never do anything to hurt the owner, and will — one way or another — probably be as devoted to the master whether it is hurt or not. (The devotion, or even “love”, of some horses, or dogs, for their masters has become legend — the stuff of great novels.) So to care for one’s animals — whether it’s a farmer with work and farm animals, or the pet owner — is to demonstrate, to some degree, that we are conscious of a God in Heaven, who takes notice of what we do to others.

There can always be a measure of self-interest in our “doing good” to others: perhaps we invite others to dinner, knowing full well that they will invite us in turn. Perhaps we give to charities, knowing that others will think better of us for doing so. Perhaps we are courteous and “kind”, knowing that little acts like this will “oil” the wheels of commerce and business… and help us materially. Perhaps we “feel the pain” of others, in some kind of pseudo-sympathy, merely to “get on” in the world. Perhaps we act friendly merely to “pick the pockets” of the beguiled buyer.

Somewhere in this list of “small kindnesses” there is really “cruelty”… because we may have stopped caring for others, and are only caring for ourselves, advancing our interests, making more money, whatever… It is then that “the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel”, as the proverb says.

So if you want to know if a man is really kind — deep-down, honestly “kind”, and not just “self-interested” — you might want to see how he treats dumb animals, or even how he treats people who can’t do anything to hurt… or help… him.

Reading 3 – Gal 2:21

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Gal 2:21).

“This may be one of those verses that you casually glide by in reading, but it is a concept that has tremendous implications for the person who will but study its meaning.

“The initial implication for the verse is simple. The Judaizers, believers in Jesus who taught that salvation still came through following the Law of Moses, had put themselves in an untenable position. They had, in effect by their teaching, made Christ’s death on the cross meaningless. Paul states the logic as follows: (1) If salvation comes by the Law of Moses, and (2) we already have the Law of Moses, then (3) Jesus did not have to come into the world to save us, and thus (4) his death was meaningless. The Judaizers had made the Law of Moses the thing that needed to fill the ‘salvation gap’ — the gap between baptism and salvation in the Kingdom. In other words, it was fine to believe in Jesus and become baptized as taught by Jesus and the apostles. However, the Judaizers inserted a step between baptism and the kingdom that enabled salvation. Their stopgap was the Law.

“We readily see the logic and validity of the argument when we apply it to the Law of Moses, but do we see it when we apply it to other things? Do we see that we commit the same error when we take that verse and subtract ‘the law’ and put something in its place? For example, let’s take out ‘the law’ and put in ‘works’ and see if the logic still holds? ‘I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by works, then Christ is dead in vain.’ The logic again is irrefutable. Isn’t this the logic of Eph 2:8,9?: ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.’

“The fact is that everything — EVERYTHING — that can be done for us in the way of salvation… was done for us on the cross by Jesus Christ. We might be able to take ourselves out of the way of salvation by refusing to act on our ‘faith’, but we cannot do anything more to save ourselves than we did when we believed and were baptized into the saving name of Jesus. When we appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, it is not to see if WE have saved ourselves, but to see if we have keep the precious gift of salvation that we were given in an appropriate manner… or have we buried our talent in the ‘earth’ of our flesh?

“All human-created fillers for the ‘salvation gap’ — works, Bible study, being nice to our neighbors, etc — as important as they may be, will not save us because that work has already been finished. When we do those things (and rest assured we MUST do those things), it is not to save ourselves, but because we have been saved. These acts of faith must be done or we do not possess the faith that saved us in the first place.

“We fear this position because it hurts our human pride. We have nothing to brag about (which is the point in the first place). We also fear, like Paul’s Judaizing opponents are quoted as saying, ‘Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?’ This too is a complete misapplication of Scripture. Having our names written in the Book of Life is not about license to sin, but about understanding the process of salvation. The last thing we want to do is be guilty of teaching that ‘Christ is dead in vain’ ” (Kyle Tucker).

Reading 1 – Exo 39:43

“Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the LORD had commanded. So Moses blessed them” (Exo 39:43).

Moses inspected the finished work, and saw that it was all very good — it had been completed just as the LORD had commanded. This language echoes Gen 1:31: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” In this correspondence of language, it may be seen that the building and furnishing of the tabernacle parallels the creation and peopling of the earth… because this was a “re-creation” of God’s world.

So Moses blessed the workmen in their work, just as God had blessed the man and woman in the beginning, as well as the seventh day (Gen 1:28; 2:2).

Reading 2 – Psa 102:15,16

“The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory. For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory” (Psa 102:15,16).

As a prophecy of the coming kingdom this is wonderful. The return of Christ will — eventually — cause all kings and other powers to acknowledge and worship him (Psa 72:10,11; Isa 60:3,9-12). He who was merely (if that is the right word!) King of the Jews will have then become King of the whole World (Rev 5:8-14; 11:15; 12:10; 15:4; Phi 2:8,10; Dan 4:17,25; Isa 24:23; 26:9; 45:23; Psa 22:27-29; 86:9; etc).

And it appears, from Zec 14:4, that Jerusalem will have been largely destroyed by an earthquake, and will need literally to be rebuilt before it can become the city of the Great King (Mat 5:35). But this is also a reference to the “new Jerusalem” — the embodiment of the glorified saints (Gal 4:26; Heb 12:22; Rev 21:2,9,10). In the last and best sense, it is there, through them, in immortal human beings which enshrine His character, and that of His Son, that God will truly appear in all His glory (Rev 21:3; 22:3,4)!

Reading 3 – 1Co 10:13

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1Co 10:13).

“I am not going to try to convince you that you should relish, enjoy or otherwise celebrate adversity, but simply to realize that it is good for you. Because we grow in our faith and develop our characters, therefore we can have a sense of joy in adversity. In a way, each trial we go through is a gift from God — a gift of adversity. Some of these are small gifts while others are big gifts. They are all gifts in that God is working with us…

“What we are promised in the Bible is that we can get through the trial. Maybe we will not get through it with our life, our sanity, our wealth or our family, but we can make it through with our salvation. We are promised that ‘No trial has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tested beyond what you are able, but with the trial will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.’ What does this mean? Can we survive all trials? Yes and no. Eventually, one trial is going to take each of our lives. The promise is not that we can survive physically or emotionally, but spiritually. During the first century, as the Apostles were being murdered one by one, they did have a way of escape from their torturers. Their escape was death. Perhaps we long for a little better escape path than death, but in some cases, that is all that is provided. The promise is that each trial will be conquerable from the point of view of our salvation — period” (Kyle Tucker).

Reading 1 – Exo 38:8

“They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting” (Exo 38:8).

“After the altar of burnt offering, there is a laver or large vessel, filled with water, at which the priests have to wash (or lave) before entering into the tabernacle to perform its services. As the Lord Jesus and the saints are the antitypical Aaron and his sons, the significance bears on them; and bearing on them, bears also on all who will finally be reconciled to God… After sacrifice, washing — purification, making clean. This is no accidental order of events. In the popular conception of things, sacrifice would be enough, for the whole burden of their preaching is that the blood of Christ is the only essential for a sinner’s salvation…

“This is not an enlightened statement of the case. The blood is only an element in the process of reconciliation: after reconciliation must come reformation, if the reconciliation is to continue in force. The sinner must ‘walk worthy of the vocation wherewith he is called’ (Eph 4:1), and, if he do not, he will be rejected: so Paul says (Heb 6:8), and in preaching thus, he only re-echoes the plain teaching of Christ, who says, ‘Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away’ (Joh 15:2). ‘If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love’ (Joh 15:10). The unprofitable servant is to be cast out (Mat 25:30). We must walk as children of light (Eph 5:8) otherwise ‘we shall die’ (Rom 8:13)…

“Life after introduction to Christ is, therefore, a probation. This is the lesson of the laver. It is not enough to have God’s righteousness declared in sacrifice, and endorsed in our baptism into the death of Christ: we must wash in the laver. We must conform to the exhortation, ‘Wash you, make you clean: put away the evil of your doings’ (Isa 1:16). Literally this is done by subjecting the mind to the influence of the word of God. The word of God is always spoken of as the cleansing power (Joh 15:3; Psa 119:9; Eph 5:26), and, in actual experience, it is found to be so. Kept clean by the word, we shall be qualified for admission into the holiest, in the change to the incorruptible” (RR, “Law of Moses” 151,152).

Reading 2 – Psa 100:2

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs” (Psa 100:2).

“Delight in divine service is a token of acceptance. Those who serve God with a sad countenance, because they do what is unpleasant to them, are not serving Him at all; they bring the form of homage, but the life is absent. Our God requires no slaves to grace His throne; He is the Lord of the empire of love, and would have His servants dressed in the livery of joy. The angels of God serve Him with songs, not with groans; a murmur or a sigh would be a mutiny in their ranks. That obedience which is not voluntary is disobedience, for the Lord looketh at the heart, and if He seeth that we serve Him from force, and not because we love Him, He will reject our offering. Service coupled with cheerfulness is heart-service, and therefore true. Take away joyful willingness from the Christian, and you have removed the test of his sincerity. Cheerfulness is the support of our strength; in the joy of the Lord are we strong. It acts as the remover of difficulties. It is to our service what oil is to the wheels of a railway carriage. Without oil the axle soon grows hot, and accidents occur; and if there be not a holy cheerfulness to oil our wheels, our spirits will be clogged with weariness. The man who is cheerful in his service of God, proves that obedience is his element” (CHS).

“Have one simple aim in life: serve God. This is the key to joy, here and hereafter. This alone has permanence. Natural life is composed of changing conditions and ended dreams — until at last all collapses in death, and the utter emptiness of it all is made pitifully manifest. It looks so interesting and attractive at first: lovely babies, carefree laughing children, active intensely-living young people, successful adults. But what is the point in it all? All ends at last in sickness, senility, death. What a mockery is anything that does not have permanence! Only one thing has permanence. Only one thing will be left when all the glitter of natural life is gone. Only one thing gets better and stronger and more valuable as life ebbs and the inevitable end comes to all. Serve God! Make that the spring of every action. Gradually, logically, methodically eliminate everything else from the spectrum of your supposed ‘interest’ and ‘enjoyment’, for this alone is real and lasting. Everything else in the world will fail you — yea, cruelly mock you — at the end” (GVG).

Reading 3 – 1Co 8:1

“Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1Co 8:1).

“[Paul] was not condemning knowledge, but simply stating a truth. Knowledge of the right kind is excellent, but even that may tend to inflate the individual who possesses it. Men may be puffed up even by their knowledge of the Scriptures, especially if their reading has been ill-balanced. Much charity is needed to guard against this evil and to make knowledge lead to edification. There are people who will say that it is only the dangerous ‘little knowledge’ that puffs men up, while those who have studied deeply are truly humble and never boast. This thought has been stated often, but it is not true. Indeed it would be difficult to define the words of such a saying. All the knowledge of mankind is only little. The most ignorant and the most cultured are only separated by a few degrees. It is quite true that intelligent people perceive the ugliness and folly of blatant boasting and so if they boast they do it more skillfully. Or it is possible for a man to feel himself so superior to the common run of humanity that he finds no pleasure in the admiration of the multitude. His detachment is a form of pride, and he may fall into the worst of errors by being puffed up against God” (Islip Collyer, “Principles and Proverbs” 128-129).

Reading 1 – Exo 37:1

“Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood” (Exo 37:1…).

“[The] first and most characteristic feature [of the ark] is its capacity as a container. It was constructed to receive the tables of the law, inscribed by the finger of God: and afterwards were placed in it Aaron’s rod that budded, and a golden pot containing a sample of the manna with which God fed Israel in the wilderness for forty years. On the basis of which things concealed in the ark, rested the blood-sprinkled cover lid or mercy-seat, overshadowed by the cherubic figures bearing the glory of God.

“Taking these items separately, we shall see the most perfect correspondence between shadow and substance. The Christ-body [meaning ‘all of those believers joined together in Christ’] in the largest sense is a container and not a mere utensil of beauty. It is not a mere society of beautiful men and women ignorant of God and interested only in themselves. It is a society with internal contents to make it precious to God and advantageous to man.

“First of all, the law of God, as represented by the tables of stone, is enshrined in every heart. It is this that distinguishes them from the ordinary run of human beings. The ordinary run of human beings is fitly described in the words of Paul: ‘The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness unto him’ (1Co 2:14). Also, ‘The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be’ (Rom 8:7). What a dreadful picture. It is ugly and true. A man that is not subject to the law of God is an abortion even now: how much more if such a one were immortal. Such a one cannot become immortal. The ark with its tables of stone inside is a prophecy that excludes it. It is obedience to divine law that makes a man beautiful to man and well-pleasing to God, and fit for divine use in the age to come. The purpose is to give the earth into the hands of an order of men who have learnt obedience as the first law. Paul testifies that even Christ ‘learnt obedience by the things which he suffered’ (Heb 5:8), and Peter describes the accepted members of his body as ‘obedient children, not fashioning themselves according to the former lusts in their ignorance’ (1Pe 1:14). The Psalms are full of the enunciation of this principle: indeed we may say it shines everywhere in the Scriptures: ‘The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart: none of his steps shall slide’ (Psa 37:30). Christ affirmed of himself that it was his meat and his drink to do the will of Him that sent him” (LM 110,111).

Reading 2 – Psa 96:8

“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts” (Psa 96:8).

“To divest ourselves of all pride of achievement and to humble ourselves before the Father is a prerequisite to worshipping Him; for this ought to be our first reason for praying to Him. The scientists who unravel some of the secrets of the molecule and the genes; the astronomer who peers out into frighteningly vast space; and the astronauts who photograph the beauties of nature’s colours on earth, all proclaim the wondrous and mighty works of God. They unfold for us a multitude of reasons for our humble worship of the Father, and the Psalms must often put into words for us what we feel about His Majesty” (John Marshall, “The New Life” 94).

Reading 3 – 1Co 7:12,13

“If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him” (1Co 7:12,13).

In this section, Paul is answering questions from the ecclesia (1Co 7:1). The believers had probably asked something like: “What is the position of a man or woman already ‘married’ under Gentile law at the time of his or her baptism? Is he or she to be considered by the ecclesia as a married person? Or should the ‘marriage’ entered into before learning the Truth be considered no marriage at all? If this is the case, can such a new brother or sister take steps to end the legal union and leave the unbelieving partner?”

In a situation like that described in Acts, where “many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized” (Act 18:8), there would inevitably be a number of cases where one mate accepted the Truth but the other did not. How were they to react in this difficult situation? In answer, the apostle Paul describes the unbelieving partner as “a wife” or “a husband” who believes not. That is to say, he regards the brother or sister concerned as being truly and properly married to his/her partner, no matter under what situation or what law the ceremony had been performed. This ought therefore to be the attitude of the ecclesia in the matter. If two people are regarded as married by generally accepted law, then the ecclesia should also recognize them as married — with all the Scriptural implications that such recognition carries with it. Thus the apostle lays upon the one believing partner in such a case exactly the same obligations to maintain the union (vv 12,13) as he has previously laid upon two believing partners (vv 10,11). The baptism of one partner in an existing marriage does not give that one any authority or right to seek to terminate the marriage — in fact, the apostle Paul teaches the very opposite: the believing partner should use the marriage relationship (and the practical application of the spiritual lessons of marriage), even in trying circumstances, in such a way as to seek to bring the other to salvation (v 16)!

Reading 1 – Lev 3:2

“He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting” (Lev 3:2).

By laying his hand on the head of the sacrifice before killing it, the offerer was to establish a close, personal link between himself and the sacrifice. First of all, it was to be his property (Lev 1:2); and secondly, he was to touch it and handle it, thus identifying himself with it.

All this is figurative of our relationship with Christ, who is the true and complete and final sacrifice for all sins. First of all, Jesus is one of us: his Heavenly Father made him a man, born of woman, born under the law (Gal 4:4), and thus possessing our own sin-prone nature (Rom 8:3; Heb 2:14). The Father did this, so that the Son, in his perfect life and self-denying death, could overcome that nature that was subject to sin.

Secondly, we emphasize this relationship in baptism, when we identify ourselves with his death, burial, and resurrection (Rom 6:1-4). Thus we show that he belongs to us, and we belong to him. In this way, and this way only, his sacrifice will have meaning for us — figuratively, we lay hands on Jesus, and he becomes OUR offering!

And thirdly, we remember that great sacrifice, and renew our connection with it and our dedication to it, in the regular breaking of bread. Thus — in a spiritual sense, we lay hands on Christ as we partake of the bread and wine — and he becomes “that… which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched” (1Jo 1:1).

Reading 2 – Psa 104:15

“Wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart” (Psa 104:15).

This could be better rendered: “And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, MAKING HIS FACE TO SHINE AS WITH OIL, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.”

Following the AV mg (and other authorities), this verse describes not three products, but two: (1) wine that gladdens the heart of man, “to making his face shine; and (2) bread that strengthens man’s heart. Thus this verse mentions the two great gifts — bread and wine — by which we remember and celebrate our fellowship with the Father through His Son. Each Sunday the bread and wine are the means of memorializing the strength and joy of our new life in Christ.

Reading 3 – 1Co 12

“The body is one” (1Co 12:12). It is the Father’s wisdom generally to place believers together in “families”. The ecclesia is more often the object of concern than is the individual standing alone. We are all, whether we like it or not, members of a body. No man should live to himself; that would be selfishness, stagnation, sterility, and a direct contradiction of Paul’s elaborate allegory. The most important lesson of our spiritual education is to learn to think and to act unselfishly as part of the One Body, and not selfishly as a separate individual, even as regards our own salvation.

The body is one, yet it has many members (1Co 12:14). Some are less beautiful or more feeble than others (1Co 12:22,23), but these too are necessary. “God hath tempered the body together” (1Co 12:24); these individuals have been welded together with the ecclesia. In faith and obedience they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Those for whom Christ died must not be treated haughtily or indifferently.

Reading 1 – Deu 2:15

“The LORD’S hand was against them until he had completely eliminated them from the camp” (Deu 2:15).

This was the “pruning” (which is the meaning of “Zered”: cp v 13) of the murmurers over 38 years. “His power was exerted in a way of wrath and vengeance on them, for their murmurings at the report of the spies; and therefore, it is no wonder they were consumed, for strong is His hand, and high is His right hand; and when lifted up it falls heavy, and there is no standing up under it, or against it: it smote them with one disease or another, or brought one judgment or another upon them: as the sword of Amalek, by which many were cut off, and the plague at Shittim in the plains of Moab, in which died 24,000; besides the destruction of Korah and his company, which was quickly after the affair of the spies, and the plague at that time, of which died 14,700; and thus, by one stroke after another, he went on to destroy them from among the host until they were consumed, even all of them but two” (John Gill).

Reading 2 – Pro 29:20

“Do you see a man who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Pro 29:20).

“We can bring ourselves into line if we frequently raise the question: what is our aim in speaking? Speech may be with the object of giving instruction, or putting questions to receive instruction, or it may be in the ordinary amenities of social life. We can think of nothing else unless it is mere self-expression, a talk for the love of talking. Where is there room for any ill-feeling to be expressed in any of these opportunities for speech? In the ordinary amenities of life there is surely every reason for good feelings which may be revealed freely with only good effects. If anyone is so unfortunate as to find ill-feeling at home, then a desperate effort should be made to avoid any aggravation of it. Words provocative of anger are always out of place in the home, but they are especially to be deprecated when such provocation has already begun. If a little fire started in a dry corner of the house, no man would be fool enough to throw petrol on it. It is strange that men should often be so ready to feed that more terrible flame, which, as the apostle James says, is set on fire of hell. Homes have been wrecked and lives made sad by the folly of hasty and ill-tempered speech. It is perfectly true, as the wise man says, that there is more hope for a fool than for a man who is hasty in his words” (Islip Collyer, “Principles and Proverbs”).

Reading 3 – John 12:8

“You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me” (John 12:8).

It has been said: “Since Jesus said, ‘The poor you have with you always’ (John 12:8), and we cannot change the world, why should we bother trying?”. But Jesus did not say, “Forget the poor because they are always there.” He said, in effect, “You will always have opportunities to help the poor.” When Jesus was present, his followers lavished gifts upon him, and they did well. But now that he is absent, we may forget that we can give gifts to Jesus just as well by helping his poor brethren. Who would ignore the needs of the Master? But now he sits at the right hand of God, and he no longer needs the cup of cold water, the food, the clothing. But someone else — who bears his holy name, or might — does!

Reading 1 – Num 13:31–14:4

“But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.’ And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, ‘The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.’ That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, ‘If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!’ ” (Num 13:31-14:1).

Spiritually, they did “die in Egypt”, for they never completely left. Physically, they died in the wilderness, short of the Promised Land (Num 14:28,29) — all that generation, except for Joshua and Caleb, perished before reaching the land God had promised to them.

*****

” ‘Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?’ And they said to each other, ‘We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt’ ” (Num 14:3,4).

Egypt was the symbol of sin and bondage (Joh 8:34; Rom 6:16; Tit 3:3; 2Pe 2:19). It had held their fathers in bondage, until death, and now although this generation was “free” of Egypt — physically — it still held their souls, their minds, and their hearts in bondage; and they would never really escape!

“One bold push forward, and their feet would tread on their inheritance. But, as is so often the case, courage oozed out at the decisive moment, and cowardice, disguised as prudence, called for ‘further information,’ that cuckoo-cry of the fainthearted” (J Sidlow Baxter, “Explore the Book” 1:179).

Reading 2 – Pro 10:22

“The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it” (Pro 10:22).

Does this mean that there will be no trouble in life for those who are blessed by God? Of course not! It means that — while there will inevitably be troubles in life for EVERYONE — the special spiritual blessings that come from God will never add more troubles to those which must come.

“Material blessings, however real and desirable they may be, always bring an accompaniment of sorrow. It is a blessing to live as a human being, but ‘man is born to trouble’. It is a blessing to have good parents, but the better they are the sadder it is to lose them, and go they must. It is a blessing to have health and strength, some say the greatest of personal blessings, but the strong man who has never ailed feels most keenly the loss of strength when his time comes. It is sad for a man to be cut off in his prime while still he had seemed capable of doing good work, but it is still sadder for him to live on until all powers have failed. Yet in merely human life it is one end or the other for all of us. It is a great blessing for a man to find a ‘help’ ‘meet for him’. The Proverbs express this thought more than once. ‘Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.’ Yet from this blessing arises the most poignant sorrow that a human being can experience, for the years pass by like the turning of the pages of a book, and the time of inevitable parting is only a few leaves further on.

“It is a great blessing to have children, yet all parents experience the addition of sorrow, for even if the children all live, even if they are strong, virtuous and fortunate, they have nevertheless entered an evil world, the way cannot be all smooth for them and parents must share their troubles and anxieties as long as life may last. So even at the best there is an addition of sorrow and too often we do not experience the best. Disease and death or folly and misfortune so often add to the sorrows of parents.

“If we wanted to imagine a human being who should be free from all such pain, we should have to think of one without blessings, without friends or companions; one leading an animal life and finding it hard work to live at all. He would have no real sorrow because he had no real joys, and death would not be an enemy, because life had never been a friend.

“Sometimes we have seen the close of an unusually serene and happy life. It seems that nearly all possible blessings have attended. Husband and wife have spent an ideal married life and have grown old together without any serious failing of their mental powers or any of that hardening angularity which so often mars the last chapter. They have grown mellow with the advance of years, and when nearly all of their generation have passed away, they have lived feebly on, commanding the love and respect of all who knew them. Then one day the messenger of death has arrived, hastening as if to make up for delay. One of the lives is taken by disease and the other nickers out through the shock of parting. ‘They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death were not divided’, as we heard quoted over the grave of such a pair. A sympathetic observer remarks on the sadness of the end. The one spared by disease could not survive the shock of separation after so many years of close companionship, and so quickly followed to darkness and silence. It is rightly described as sad, and yet it is the best that human life has to offer. It is far more sad to be torn in two while there is still sufficient strength to survive the shock and so live on. Saddest of all perhaps for life to become so painful that death is a release…

“It is so with all ordinary blessings of life, but not with the special blessing offered by God to all who will hear His call. Spiritual riches which can be ours even now, bring no conclusions of disgust or sadness, nor any fear of being robbed. They will not save us from the sorrows of human life, but they will help us to bear the pain. They do not arrest the process of decay in the dark streets of a Gentile city, but they give us hope of a better city to come” (Islip Collyer, “Principles and Proverbs” 191-194).

Reading 3 – Luk 23:11

“Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate” (Luk 23:11).

The KJV calls these soldiers “men of war” — a phrase which is true enough to the original text, but is especially apt, as an example of supreme irony! What “men of war” they were! Courageous and unrelenting in their mockery of a man who could not — or, more precisely, would not — defend himself!

We cannot help but remember that an earlier Herod — father of this one — had sent his “men of war” out to the village of Bethlehem, where they seized the babies from their mothers, and butchered them (Mat 2:16)!

The world has such “men of war” today — they may be seen executing innocents and raping young women, stealing from the poor, and polluting themselves with every vice, in the “third-world” backwaters of the world… whose sole claims to legitimacy are cheap uniforms and deadly weapons, who serve men every bit as vile as the Herods.

May the true “Man of war” return soon, riding on a white horse, and leading the armies of heaven, to destroy once and for all such would-be “men of war” (Rev 19:11-14)!

Reading 1 – Exo 21:5,6

“But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges [or ‘before God’]. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life” (Exo 21:5,6).

Christ is the servant of his master — that is, Yahweh — and because he is without sin, might have “gone free” from the penalty of sin, which is death (Rom 6:23). But because he loves his Master — and because he loves his “family” (you and me!) — he willingly and lovingly submits to the Father’s service for his whole life, including the anguished death upon the cross. And all so that you and I can belong to him, and he to us, forever.

Figuratively, then, Christ is the slave whose ear has been pierced, and whose life has been devoted, wholeheartedly and without reservation, to his Master (Psa 40:6; Heb 10:7-9).

Reading 2 – Psa 74:16

“The day is yours, and yours also the night” (Psa 74:16).

“The night of affliction is as much under the arrangement and control of the Lord of Love as the bright summer days when all is bliss… His love wraps the night about itself as a mantle, but to the eye of faith the sable robe is scarce a disguise. From the first watch of the night even unto the break of day the eternal Watcher observes His saints, and overrules the shades and dews of midnight for His people’s highest good. We believe in no rival deities of good and evil contending for the mastery, but we hear the voice of Jehovah saying, ‘I create light and I create darkness; I, the Lord, do all these things.’ [Isa 45:7]

“Gloomy seasons of religious indifference and social sin are not exempted from the divine purpose. When the altars of truth are defiled, and the ways of God forsaken, the Lord’s servants weep with bitter sorrow, but they may not despair, for the darkest eras are governed by the Lord, and shall come to their end at His bidding. What may seem defeat to us may be victory to Him” (CHS).

Reading 3 – Mark 7:21,22

“For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly” (Mar 7:21,22).

“Envy” is, in the KJV, translated “an evil eye”.

“When the Householder in the parable rebukes the labourers who grudge the latecomers equal pay, he says, ‘Is thine eye evil, because I am good?’ [Mat 20:15] Are they greedy and envious because he is generous? The evil eye results from an attachment to earthly treasure which corrupts the spirit and blinds the heart. The ‘good’ or ‘single’ eye, on the other hand, is that of the liberal man whose vision is unclouded by greed and his mind not divided by envy” (LG Sargent, “Teachings of the Master” 210).