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August
6
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Reading
1 - 2Samuel 24
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here to Listen
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v.25
- It is quite obvious that we have to take this to heart as an example and
use it to show us the mercy of God. The whole thing was quite openly administered
by God (v.1)
that the people might be punished. He automatically included David in the
punishment as presumably he held him to some extent responsible for Israel's
actions, as their king.
Peter Cresswell |
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v.3
- This issue was well known throughout the land to be against God's will,
and yet God moved David to do it so that the people might receive the punishment
for their sins. Sometimes God's ways are beyond our understanding, but we
have to accept them as right at all times because we know they are. Here
we see that the end justifies the means in the righteous eyes of the Lord
God, but can well understand Joab's reaction!
Peter Cresswell |
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v.8
- Whereas David requested the whole land to be numbered Joab did not perform
the task completely. [1
Chronicles 21:5,6]
Peter Forbes |
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24:20-24
This area of David's life shows wonderfully what sacrifice is. He could,
one might have thought, gratefully accept the generosity of Araunah. However
David shows his understanding of sacrifice saying that he could not give
in sacrifice something that did not cost him anything. We should appreciate
that our sacrifice must cost us. This is what is behind Jesus' words about
going the other mile.
Peter Forbes |
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:2
'number' here is the Hebrew word for 'count' whilst in :4
the word signifies 'muster'. This might provide a clue as to why the numbers
differ between here and 1
Chronicles 21:5. There would be a difference between the total number
of people and the number of those eligible to go to war.
Peter Forbes |
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"LET
US FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE LORD, FOR HIS MERCY IS GREAT" -David
David had sinned by counting all the fighting men of Israel and Judah. It
was one of those things that God had said not to do in the law. Once the
counting had been finished, David realised his sin, confessed it, and asked
God for forgiveness. However, even though he was forgiven he still had to
face the consequence of his sin. He had to choose between three years famine,
three months of being overrun by enemies or three days plague.
David seems to have had no hesitation about which choice to make. "Let
us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let
me fall into the hands of men." So God sent a plague on Israel and
70,000 people died. We don't know what it would have been like if David
had chosen either defeat by his enemies or famine, but what we do know is
that God is full of mercy. From that we can assume that things would have
been much worse is David had chosen a different way.
The lesson for us lies in the David's total trust in God and in his mercy.
So when we are faced with our sin as David was, let us confess it and ask
for forgiveness and trust our lives to the great mercy of God.
Robert
Prins |
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| 24:1
- The He moved David against Israel The he is Yahweh.
Interestingly in the parallel account in Chronicles it is Satan. So God
is the sahtahn, the adversary of this passage 1Ch
21:1
24:24
- I once helped a Plymouth Brother who was a labourer at the University
where I worked. He asked me to help him do a sign for their meeting hall.
I prepared a template for him and he duly did the job successfully. Later
he asked what he owed me. I replied that I was happy to help him do a
service for his church. His face was instantly grave, he quoted to me
'I cannot give to the Lord of that which cost me nothing'. I think his
attitude should make us pause. When we are tempted to use our employers
materials (envelopes, photocopying facilities, telephone etc), for the
truth, we should find a way of paying, perhaps by contributing to the
Petty Cash box, with our employers knowledge, so that the same principle
we have here is sustained.
Derek
Palmer
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Reading
2 - Jeremiah 27
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here to Listen
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v.5
- The idea of 'stretching out' is used a number of times by Jeremiah
when describing God's power of creation. It seems a good way of comprehending
the immortal from our mortal standpoint. Jer.10:11,12,
27:5, 32:17, 51:15.
Peter Cresswell |
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v.6
describes Nebuchadnezzar as God's servant. It seems that much effort by
God was put into bringing Nebuchadnezzar to an understanding of his own
position of humility in the sight of God. He revealed to him the whole of
the future of the world. Does this mean that Nebuchadnezzar is amongst the
chosen? Unlikely as this might seem, Daniel 4:34-37 records the last words
we read of this man and presents his salvation as a definite possibility.
Peter Cresswell |
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v.
1-11 - It appears
that the messengers from Edom and Moab Ammon and Tyre got more than they
bargained for. Whilst we do not know why they came they were certainly under
the threat of the Babylonians. They were given the same opportunity as Judah
to accept the captivity. Such words must have been difficult to accept.
Often we are called upon to accept teaching which runs counter to human
thinking. Do we readily accept it?
Peter Forbes |
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27:12
So again (like Chapter 24) Jeremiah is preaching a message which would sound
like treason.
Peter Forbes |
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Whilst
:1
says 'Jehoiakim' it would appear that more rightly it should be 'Zedekiah'
- see Vs
3, 12, 20 and Chapter 28. This is then consistent with :6
which speaks in the immediate context, of the nation being taken to Babylon.
Peter Forbes |
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GOD'S
PLAN, OUR CHOICE
God told the people plainly through his servant Jeremiah that they had a
choice of two futures. They could either serve the King of Babylon, who
was going to come against them and be saved from the wrath of an angry and
powerful king, or they could refuse to submit to him and die a horrible
death. The encouragement they were given was to submit to God's will and
serve the king of Babylon.
When God has a plan he will see it through, no matter what resistance he
gets from mere men. He created the earth, the people and the animals on
it and he does whatever he likes with it. His plan for tomorrow is to fill
the earth with his glory and to eliminate all wickedness and sin. Our choice
is to either go along with that plan and to fill our lives with good to
show God's glory, or to resist it, fill the world with wickedness and accept
the consequences of a wicked life.
God's plans will always succeed, as has been shown throughout history. Submit
to his will today.
Robert
Prins |
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Reading
3 - Mark 1
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here to Listen
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v.12,13
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The temptations are dealt with swiftly in this gospel - 2 verses, but we
do pick up that it was immediately after his baptism. It is a good job we
have the other account as Matt.4:11
tells us that the angels did not come and minister until he had proved himself
before the adversary in his own strength. If we had Mark's record alone,
we would be forgiven for thinking that Jesus had the help of God's power
to overcome his temptations, and if so he would not have been tempted like
we are. The choice to give in to temptation or not has to be our own. Heb.4:15,
5:2, Isa.53:4,5.
Peter Cresswell |
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The 'beginning'
catches the concept of creation. Here are some examples of the use of 'beginning'
746 in the New Testament which relate to the creation. 746
Matthew
19:4 Matthew 19:8 Mark 10:6 Mark 13:19 2 Peter 3:4
1
v.4 - Notice
John was in the wilderness - not in the city where the people were. Effort
is required on the part of those who wish to be associated with His plan.
Peter Forbes |
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1:15
The 'time' that was fulfilled is the time spoken of by Daniel [9:25].
Mark is wishing to inform us that the coming of Jesus is actually the fulfilment
of the promise of the coming of Messiah.
Peter Forbes |
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:13
Whilst the details of the temptations in the wilderness are not detailed
we have an interesting contrast with the words of the tempter. The tempter
invoked Psalm
91:11 (Matthew 4:6) we know that Jesus resisted the temptation - we
see here that God sent angels to minister to Jesus.
Peter Forbes |
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Mark
1:1 Beginning Gk. 'arche' [746],
can apply to time as our AV but carries the idea of prime as in the sense
of importance. So we find it in Archbishop, the primate of the
church, in architect the principal designer of a building. The
verse could read, 'The most important element of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
[he is] the Son of God. This takes us before the birth narratives,
to the ideas of Jesus as promised in the prophets [Isa
7:14]. The concept of Jesus as God's Son we are used to, but when Mark
wrote it was revolutionary. See now how every thought in this ch.bends to
prove this point.
v2
The testimony of Malachi, [Mal
3:1] 'A messenger from Yahweh'
v2
The testimony of Isaiah [Isa
40:3] 'prepare a way for Yaweh'
v3-8
The testimony of John 'one mightier than I' (all men counted John a prophet)
v11
The testimony of God himself, 'this is my beloved Son' .
v12-13
The testimony of the angels, they ministered unto him
Every paragraph from this point points to Jesus' unique status.
Derek
Palmer |
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