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April 24

Reading 1 - Deuteronomy 8 & 9

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8 v. 5,6 - The direct consequence of a recognition that God chastens us it that we obey him. God dealt here with his people as if he was a Father (v.5). How much more so then with us, as we are under the new covenant, which brings us through Christ so much nearer to Him. The people did not recognise God as their father (Isa.1:3). So often we must learn from their mistakes. 1Cor.11:32, Heb.12:5-11, Rev.3:19. Let us remember that it is God's love for us that causes Him to rebuke and chasten us.
Peter Cresswell
ch.9:2 - I fear I have dwelt on this theme a lot lately, but I find myself as I get older, overcome with a sense of the enormity of the problem that God has taken away for me. The enemy - human nature - both in its constant problem within myself and in its manifestation throughout everything I see aound me makes me fearful that I can overcome. Verses like this give the answer. Of course we are afraid at a human level of the giants of the world that threaten us, but with God everything is possible.
Peter Cresswell

8 v.2 - 6 That the past had to be remembered by those who were to enter into the land shows that we can learn from the failings of others. This generation watched their parents die in the wilderness. They had to blend their own experiences - manna clothes etc.: - with what they had seen happen to their elders. This is how chastening worked for them. That they had to keep the commandments shows that the experiences of life have to be measured against the word. That it was to 'prove' them is an idea which Jesus uses when speaking to Phillip. [John 6:6] at the time of the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus knew what he would do [John 6:6] so the questions about bread was for Phillip's benefit. He needed to realise that he had to learn. Israel were in that position in the wilderness. It is also our position during our 'wilderness journey' now. We should see the book of Deuteronomy in this light - a reminder of our life's experience and God's involvement.

9 v.14 The seeming all embracing phrase 'under heaven' has a quite specific use in Scripture. The following references demonstrate the universality of Yahweh's judgement. Genesis 6:17 Exodus 17:14 Deuteronomy 7:24 here 25:19 29:20 2 Kings 14:27 Not that it always speaks of the whole world as a place but rather that the judgement that is to come is complete. Thus the use in Ecclesiastes 1:13 extends this principle to speak of those things which are happening in His domain. The two New Testament references Acts 4:12 Colossians 1:23 expand the theme to show that the Father is indeed concerned with salvation for those who will see that life without Christ is vanity.
Peter Forbes

8:8 The land is described in terms of the produce of the ground is described. This is what God was going to give them. This contrasts markedly with what Israel hankered after in Egypt (Numbers 11:5)
Whereas the 6 items of Numbers 11:5 are not sufficient for life the 7 listen in Deuteronomy 8:8 clearly are.

9:5 Yet another reminder of Joseph's words (Genesis 50:24)
9:25 We learn something new here. The historical account of the turning back into the wilderness (Numbers 13-14) does not indicate that Moses prayed for the people for 40 days. This gives a further insight into Moses' care for the people.
Peter Forbes

8:16 And so we see again the experiences that Israel benefited from were for there good. Of course it would require them to think about what was happening if they were to benefit (Hebrews 12:11)

ch 9 - By the time that Moses spoke the words recorded in Deuteronomy Moses knew that he was not able to enter the land. So his warnings (:21, 25) take on greater significance. Moses, who had prayed for them in their sin, was not going to be able to pray for them when they were in the land.
Peter Forbes

2002
NOT YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

Moses left Israel in no doubt as to their worthiness to enter the promised land. He said, "After the LORD your God has driven them (your enemies) out before you, do not say to yourself, 'The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.' No, it is on account of the wickedness of the nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or integrity that you are going to take possession of the land ... understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people."

In the same way that God gave the land of Canaan to Israel even though they were stiff-necked sinners and could not earn it, so he has promised to take us into his kingdom when Jesus returns. But again, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Not one of us can earn our way into the kingdom by the things we do, because at the same time we sin, and the wages of sin is death. It is not our righteousness that will earn us the kingdom, but the grace of God, his forgiveness and love.

Let us give thanks to God that his love covers a multitude of sins. Hallelujah!
Robert Prins

Reading 2 - Ecclesiastes 3

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v. 10 - which reflects ch.1:13, is the very purpose of the book - that we might be exercised in it, to circumvent the need for us to experience it first hand. These words, although to us they seem over simplified and blatantly obvious do nevertheless cut to the very heart of our human problem of sin and selfishness. It is good that we should be exercised in these words, and the sooner we can realise that in our short lives, the more life we have left to dedicate to our Lord, instead of to ourselves. Ch.2:26, Gen.3:19, Heb.12:11
Peter Cresswell
v.11 reminds us of the finite nature of our thinking. We are not able to find out all of God's purpose from beginning to end. But it goes further than this, I feel. This verse infers that naturally we would find nothing. It is God, we are told, that gives the increase (1Cor.3:6,7). We should be daily grateful to Him that he has chosen us to reveal these secrets to.
Peter Cresswell
v. 1-7 The cyclical nature of events in life may seem pointless. However they are ordained of God in the lives of His servants that they make be 'exercised' [3:10]. If we do not see the hand of God in the events of our life then our life is truly vanity.
Peter Forbes
3:19-22 Whilst we often use this passage to prove that man does not have an immortal soul the main focus of Solomon's words is to advise us that without God man is no better than the beasts. It is the very fact that God is willing to work with men and women that means that they can be better than beasts - but is they are not interested in His offer of salvation they are no better than beasts.
Peter Forbes
:10 We saw in Chapter 1 that the events of this life are for our benefit. Solomon returns to this point here.
Peter Forbes

Reading 3 - John 20 & 21

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20 v.17 - It seems strange that Jesus denies Mary the chance to touch him when in v. 27 Thomas is invited to touch him, although he didn't, and I suppose Jesus knew he wouldn't. I wonder why this was - does it relate to the rule regarding the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden? Gen3:22-24.
Peter Cresswell

20 v.28 My Lord and my God. Thomas, on this appearance of Jesus to the disciples when Thomas was present, appreciates that the others were correct when they had claimed that they had seen the risen Lord. Therefore he exclaims 'my Lord and my God.' How are we to understand that phrase? The context is that of the risen Lord. The other disciples had not just said that they had seen Jesus alive but doubtless they would also have explained the significance of the resurrection to Thomas also. Against this background the following passage is helpful. Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:54 shows us that this passage speaks of the resurrection of Jesus and the victory that he achieved through it. The passage in Isaiah continues:- Isaiah 25:9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Notice 'this is our GOD' 'he will SAVE US' 'this is the LORD' Thomas, in his exclamation, 'My Lord and my God' is expressing the sentiments and teaching of the passage in Isaiah and attaching the fulfilment to the risen Jesus. The phrase 'He will save us' catches the meaning of the work of Jesus as it is explained in:- Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. The passage in Isaiah 25:9 continues 'we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation'. We notice that on the first occasion when Jesus appeared to the disciples and they knew who he was:- John 20:20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Whereas we might think that 'glad' is a rather inadequate word to describe the feelings of the disciples on that occasion John is, by the spirit, drawing our attention to Isaiah 25:9 'glad'. Thus we see that on these two occasions when Jesus appeared to the disciples, the second time with Thomas present, Isaiah 25 is seen to be fulfilled. Thomas' exclamation is a demonstration that he understood this.

21 v.3 We should not assume apathy on the part of Peter when he says he is going fishing. The disciples had been told to go to Galilee and Jesus would appear to them there [Matthew 21:7] so whilst they were waiting for him to appear they did not sit about idle. Remember by this time they had spent a lot of time with Jesus in Jerusalem for they remained there for almost two weeks.
Peter Forbes

20:19 There s a powerful contrast between the 'evening' here and 'the cool of the day' (Genesis 3:8) which was doubtless the evening On that occasion Adam and Eve hid because they were afraid of God. Here the disciples are hiding for fear of the Jews but God is manifest n their midst in the person of Jesus. Whereas Adam and Eve were afraid of the voice of God the disciples were 'glad'.

21:7 What do we think actually happened when Peter realised the stranger was Jesus. His fisher's coat would have been heavy to keep out the cold night winds. Would you put on a heavy overcoat before swimming? There was another occasion when Peter was in a boat and he saw Jesus. On that occasion he climbed out of the boat and walked on the water.
Peter Forbes

20:30-31 Shows us that the details of at least John's gospel were written for a very specific reason. Me must read the gospel with this reason in mind.

21:8, 11 Whilst it required two boats to bring the fish to shore Peter was able, on his own, to drag the net out of the water. Now the nets full of fishes would have been lighter when in the water than when on dry land. What is happening here?
Peter Forbes

John 21:11 John's precise detail, exactly 153 fishes, has to be significant. The only other place the number occurs is 2Ch 2:17. Here, the thousands of those 'strangers that were in the land of Israel' (1Ch 22:20) who David gathered to help prepare for the building of the temple. The number is huge, and has an added 600, but Michael Ashton (C/1996/p256) suggests the Heb. text may in fact be just 153 as in John. Apart from being a more probable figure for those strangers David employed doesn't it make the allusion in John exciting. There the fishes represent the Gentiles the disciples as 'fishers of men' (Mat 4:19) gather and who. with them, will prepare the future building fitly framed together for God (Eph 2:22). Attention being drawn by Jesus to the precise number of fish would make the link Chronicles unmistakable, especially if one of the daily readings recently in the synagogue! Note John later in a vision saw an evil woman sitting on great waters which later are shown as representing peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues (Rev 17:1,15).
Derek Palmer