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April 20

Reading 1 - Deuteronomy 3

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v. 5 - There is rare evidence here of the extent of the fighting which God did on behalf of his people. We are told of no casualty record for Israel for this war, only of the utter destruction of the enemy every time - every walled, gated and barred city, and a great many unwalled towns - and they took them all. What's more they didn't increase their numbers by keeping the people alive as slaves, etc. They were to be destroyed - It was God's command. This supports the report of the spies. Num.13:28, Deut.1:28. As long as we destroy the world and remain pure to the house of God, we know that we are offered the same protection. Deut.20:17-18, Num.21:2, Ps.135:10-12,19-21.
Peter Cresswell
v.11 - Here we see the end of an age - the age of the giant. The end of all those who had dissuaded the ten spies from bringing a good report. The proof that the two faithful spies' reports were correct is here now. In this short time every one of the race of the giants is now removed.
Peter Cresswell

v.11 Og is singled out for mention because he was at 'Rephaim' and Israel were in process of destroying them. It is interesting that the Philistines are in the Valley of Rephaim at the time of the slaying of Goliath. 2 Samuel 5:18

v.17 Chinnereth is the ancient name for the Sea of Galilee Numbers 34:11 here Joshua 13:27 19:35 After the conquest of the land the name does not occur again.
Peter Forbes
3:9 There are only two places in Scripture where 'Hermon' and 'Shenir' occur together. This is one of them the other is Song of Solomon 4:8. We might like to try to work out why.
Peter Forbes
:8 In reminding Israel of their success at the battle mentioned Moses is encouraging the nation before they cross Jordan.
Peter Forbes
2002
LEAVE NO SURVIVORS

As Israel began to take the land on the east of Jordan, Og the king of Bashan and Sihon the king of Heshbon marched out against Israel. Israel engaged in battle with them and the LORD handed them over to Israel. Moses said, "At that time we took all his (Sihon's) towns and completely destroyed them - men women and children. We left no survivors." And about Og, king of Bashan, Moses said, "We struck them down, leaving no survivors."

The fact that they left no survivors may seem a little harsh, but God had warned them that leaving survivors would tempt them to leave the LORD their God and worship the idols of the people who lived there before. Later on as they conquered Canaan some of them relaxed their efforts and found the temptation just as God had said.

God has called each of us from a life where we served sin and had no regard for God to a life of complete devotion to him. To achieve this we need to clean out our old way of life and get rid of all the things that will tempt us away from God. It's no good just cleaning up and putting things away. We must do as Israel did and remove the temptations completely, leaving no survivors.
Robert Prins

Reading 2 - Proverbs 30

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v. 8 has always been a favourite of mine. It seems to epitomise the correct attitude, and supply the right reasoning for us to stay in a fully-informed perspective. We should not asked for riches, but equally it is appropriate not to be in poverty that might cause us to contravene the law in order to survive (v.9). Here Agur is asking for God to provide a perfect background against which he can worship - surely the sign of a man who has his sights set on the right things. Ps.62:9-10.
Peter Cresswell
v.5 - drawn from Ps.18:30 is repeated here to remind us that it is the purity of God's word that gives it its power to protect. We are kept safe by the very nature of God's promises - the fact that what he has spoken He will have to perform, because He doesn't lie. This is purity of purpose. This is what gives us protection.
Peter Cresswell
v.1 Proverbs 30 & 31 provide the inspired insights of two men not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. These two chapters read as narrative rather than individual proverbs.
Peter Forbes
:18-33 In reflecting on the things which appear so natural in this life the wise man is able to see the wonder of God working in the world. It is in the simple things of life that God is seen.
Peter Forbes
:3-4 reads very much like the way in which God challenges Job and the next comment :5 reinforces the lesson that God wishes to teach Job - that He is righteous and that man is in need of recognising that He can do as He wishes with His creation. So we might ask whether Agur's words are an inspired comment on the book of Job.
Peter Forbes
If there were two requests we could make of God for this life, these would be two at the top of the list.

"Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise I might disown you and say,
'Who is the LORD?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonour the name of my God."
(Proverbs 30 v 7 - 10)

Fortunately our God is not a genie in a lamp that grants its owner three wishes. He is a great God who hears and responds to all our requests. So there is no need to be afraid of asking him for what we need. These two requests are very important to our ability to lead a godly life.

In today's society it is so easy to get struck by falsehood and lies. We both hear, believe and speak them. James says that if we can control our tongue we can control our whole body, and this prayer will help. Our world is also plagued with both riches and poverty. Let's not seek to dishonour God by either.

If we are kept from lies, poverty and riches we will be well on the way to eternity.
Robert Prins

Reading 3 - John 13 & 14

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13 v.4-15 - Comparing this with the other gospel records leads us to conclude that this act of Jesus was a practical response and example (v.15) to the disciples in answer to their question (Luke 22:24-26) about which of them should be the greatest. Let us be sure that we learn from this example too and remove all human megalomania from our ecclesias. Acts 8:10, 1Cor.13:13, Heb.8:11.
Peter Cresswell

13 v.5 Jesus washed the disciples feet because the disciples had been arguing about who would be the greatest [Luke 22:24] earlier in the evening. Often actions speak louder than words!

14 v.1 'let not your heart be troubled' is a continuation of Jesus’ words to Peter in the previous chapter. Jesus had told Peter that he would deny him but continues immediately to comfort Peter with these words. Luke 22:32 shows that Jesus also told Peter that he had prayed for him at this trying time.
Peter Forbes

We should realise that the Last Supper took place the night after the meal in Bethany where Jesus was anointed. Those who shared both meals were, to all intents the same people. The disciples and Jesus. So the washing of the disciples feet which was reminiscent of the anointing of Jesus' feet would have reminded the disciples of what had happened the previous night. We are expected to see the link because of the similarity of language between the two meals.

13:2 Judas Iscariot Simon's son 12:4
13:4 supper 12:2
13:5 Poureth Matt 26:7
14:5 wipe them 12:5
13:6 (Peter) said 12:4

We must ask how our patience matches up to that of the Lord. We know that Jesus 'learnt obedience by the things which he suffered'. [Hebrews 5:8] and that 'tribulation worketh patience' [Romans 5:3]. Do we see our tribulation developing or shortening our patience?

The Questions
13:36 Peter 'Whither goest thou?'
14:5 Thomas 'How can we know the way?'
14:8 Philip 'Shew us the Father'
14:22 Judas (not Iscariot) 'How wilt thou manifest thyself to us and not unto the world?'

Unless we appreciate that individual questions are asked and unless we consider the questions themselves we will not be able to make sense of the rest of the words Jesus spoke in the 'upper room' precisely because they were answers to specific questions raised by the disciples.
Peter Forbes

13:5 John has Jesus washing the disciple's feet which should alert us to the event in Chapter 12 where Mary anointed Jesus' feet.

14:31 'arise let us go hence' marks the point in the narrative when Jesus and the disciples left the upper room.
Peter Forbes

AS A SERVANT

Jesus. Our Messiah, our Saviour, our Lord, our Master, our Shepherd. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, and the Son of God. Jesus is so much greater than any one of us no matter who we are or what we do. Yet if we had been in that upper room in the evening when Jesus and his disciples had the Passover meal and the last supper, this great man would have washed our feet too. What a humbling experience that must have been to the disciples who were there – especially as they had been arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom. Now, here was their Lord washing their feet like a servant when they were the ones who should have been washing his feet.

The answer to their argument about who was to be the greatest in the kingdom was Jesus. He would be the greatest in the kingdom. Yet he came to them as a servant, as an example to all who want to be great. He came to serve and we should serve each other too.

Jesus said, "Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you… Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."

So just as Jesus came as a servant, let us become servants to each other.
Robert Prins

WHATEVER YOU ASK

Just how powerful is the power of prayer? Jesus told his disciples to believe in him, "or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves." This gets us to thinking about the miracles that Jesus did: Turning water into wine, raising the dead, healing the deaf, blind and lame, feeding the multitudes and many more. If we had been there and seen them, we would have been astounded and they would have challenged us to believe in him, just as they challenged the Jews. Amazing miracles.

Then Jesus continued, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

This is an incredible promise! It is a promise of power that, when it is used to the glory of the Father and the Son, is far greater than we could ever imagine. That power has been promised to you and me. Jesus has promised it. Do we believe his promise? Do we believe it enough to step out and ask in faith for what we need to show forth the glory of God?
Robert Prins