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January 10

Reading 1 - Genesis 19

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v. 16 - God's mercy here stretches to offering that last little push required for us to walk away from worldliness. This chapter already contains two examples of similar urging - v.3 v.8. The angels led them out - God wanted them - the four of them - to be saved. No-one else in the city was worthy of salvation. This is a true calling of God. John 6:44 Ps.86:15 Lam 3:22 Mic.7:18,19 Eph.2:4-7.
Peter Cresswell

v.10-11 - Here we see a wonderful picture of the way God deals with us. He pulls us in through the door (Jesus - John10:1-11) into the fold, and leaves those who are without and blind where they can do us no harm. Should any one of them recover their 'sight' and find the door, then doubtless it will open to them as it did to the apostle Paul.
Peter Cresswell
From the record it would appear that Lot went to Sodom and became a judge in the city - v9 as he was sitting in the gate v1 - the place of judgement - Ruth 4:1,10-11. In this position he 'vexed his righteous soul' 2 Peter 2:8. From this we learn that the servant of God has no place trying to solve the world's ills.
Peter Forbes
:17 'Escape to the mountains' is quoted by Jesus (Matthew 24:16) in the Olivet Prophecy - likening the situation in Jerusalem before the Roman invasion AD 70 to Sodom before it's destruction.
Peter Forbes
DON'T LOOK BACK

There was no time to waste. Lot and everyone he could persuade to come with him had to flee the city. The LORD was about to destroy the city and if there was any delay, they would be caught up in the destruction that was to come on Sodom and Gomorrah. There was no time to pack their bags, collect their belongings, take souvenirs or memoirs - it was run or die.

It all came down to a choice of what was more valuable - life or possessions.

We have the same choice to make today. Our decision may not be so urgent but it is just as important. We can choose to live for Christ and gain life or we can choose to live for our possessions and everything that makes life what it is now, and reject the offer of life. The decision is clear cut. Choose Christ and live or choose the world and die.

Lot, his two daughters and his wife chose life when the rest of the city chose to stay and die. But the attraction of what she had left behind was too great for Lot's wife and, we read, she "looked back and became a pillar of salt." When we have chosen Christ, let's not look back at what we have left behind, but "press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3 v 14).
Robert Prins
Genesis 19:1 - "and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom" - the last step in Lot's steady decline, is now here noted. Six fatal decisions had brought Lot, and the ecclesia with him, finally right into the city of Sodom.
  1. Genesis 13:10 - "Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan" - When Abram lifted up his eyes, he was shown "the world" - Romans 4:13 - and the Father promised him the earth for an inheritance - Galatians 3:16,29.  Poor Lot lifted up his eyes and looked down into the valley of Jordan, and was persuaded to move down into the "world" that God would one day destroy.
  2. Genesis 13:11 - "Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan" - As the previous verse explains, Lot chose an area of the land that was similar to the country from which he had travelled, "the garden of the Lord" in Ur of the Chaldees; which was not unlike the delta region of Egypt, from which they had just returned. Some suggest the "Zoar" here should really be "Zoan" of the Nile Delta.
  3. Genesis 13:12 - "Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain" - While Abram continued to "dwell in the land of Canaan," Lot is moving his family, and the Ecclesia that is with him, back into city life. Given that we know the end of Lot's wife, is it too harsh to conjecture that the pilgrim life was not for her, and her constant petitions to her husband wore away at him, until finally she ends up where she really longed to be.
  4. Genesis 13:12 - "and pitched his tent toward Sodom" - Every step is bringing this family closer to disaster. It is with good reason the next verse begins with one of the Bible's BIG little words.  "BUT............. the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly!"  What a dreadful description Heaven has given us here of the inhabitants where Lot was leading his family. Does this description sound familiar of the world in which we live? So where does our heart dwell? In the land with Abram? Or in things of theis "world" with Lot and his family?
  5. Genesis 14:12 - "Lot... who dwelt in Sodom" - Oh, Lot! What have you done? Why are you here? If you chose Sodom because of it's safety, then why are you now captive to marauding kings? If you chose Sodom for it's advantages, then you must also share Sodom's miseries. The pilgrim life may not be as exciting, but it is not nearly as dangerous either.
  6. Genesis 19:1 - "and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom" - Lot's spiritual descent is not unlike the decline noted in Psalm 1.  "Walking in the counsel of the ungodly,  standing in the way of sinners, sitting in the seat of the scornful." Perhaps Lot believed that he could change the character of the city by having a hand in it's government. Not likely! For the hearts of these sons of men was fully set in them to do evil, and no amount of exposure to this one lonely man was going to change their [collective] lives. Their thinking is revealed in v9.
Genesis 19:9 - "This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge" - Roth. 'and he must always be acting the judge.' Ungodly men do not welcome the "interference" of Godly principles in their lives. 2Peter 2:7-8 tells us that "righteous Lot was worn out with the lascivious life of the wicked; (For their lawless deeds were torture, day after day, to the pure soul of that righteous man -- all that he saw and heard whilst living in their midst)" [so Weymouth translates]. Do we find the world we live in "torture" and petition our Father daily to bring on the changes He has promised will surely come with His Glorious Kingdom?
Cliff York
The filth which was in Sodom had to go. There is no room for such behaviour in God's land
David Simpson

Reading 2 - Psalm 22

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v.9,10 - We think it is our decision don't we? We turn to God and are baptised - it is our free choice - and so it is - but God knew about that choice from the moment we were born (and before that, since the beginning of time) so we were always chosen ones, which gives lifelong (and eternal) protection - from cradle to grave and on to the kingdom - Isa.46:3,4 Isa.49:1 Jer 1:5 Gal 1:15.
Peter Cresswell
v.26 - This is an interesting observation of David's. It certainly isn't this current body that will live for ever, as we will be given a new one, so David says it is our 'heart' - see also 69:32
Peter Cresswell
Whilst v1 might cause us to think that the Psalmist thought that he had been forgotten by God it is clear that as the Psalm proceeds that he did not think like this because he observes [v21] that he knows that God has heard his prayer.
Peter Forbes
:4-5 To help him to be confident that God will take care of him the Psalmist remembers that God has taken care of His people in the past. We should have the same confidence based on our own experience of God's care for us and the knowledge of how He has worked in the past.
Peter Forbes
Psalm 22 - Again the heading that appears to be attached to this Psalm, actually belongs as a subscription to Psalm 21. The words "A Psalm of David" signal the true beginning of Psalm 22. This Psalm is part of a group of three Psalms that link together around the theme of the shepherd.
 
Psalm 22 = 'The Good Shepherd' who lays down His life for His sheep. 
Psalm 23 = 'The Great Shepherd' knows the needs of all His sheep and labours to bring them to safe pastures.
Psalm 24 = 'The Chief Shepherd' who is now King of Glory, to whom all praise and honour is due.
 
Psalm 22:27 - "and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee" - The word "kindreds" is the same as the word "families" used in the promises to the Patriarchs Gen 12:3, 28:14. It describes that 'circle of relatives' who have become related to Christ out of every nation on the earth because of the work that was accomplished through His death.
Cliff York

Reading 3 - Matthew 12

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v.30 makes it clear that the position regarding whether we follow God or not is very black and white. We either do or we don't, there is no middle ground - no fence-sitting is allowed, or even possible Mt.6:24 This never has been allowed - Jos.24:15. The opposite statement, found in Mark 9:40 and Luke 9:50 confirms this. If there was room for a shade of grey in this black and white statement, it would come out here - you can hear the listener saying "Well, not necessarily ... " There is no middle ground - not even a tight-rope on which to teeter. 2Cor.6:15,16. The Laodiceans tried and failed miserably - Rev.3:14-16.
Peter Cresswell
:28 In saying that he casts out devils by 'the spirit of God' Jesus is reminding his critics of the awareness that the Egyptian magicians had [Exodus 8:19] in the face of Moses' miracles. Consequently Jesus is saying that those Egyptian magicians were more perceptive when seeing the hand of God at work than were his critics.
Peter Forbes
:34 This is the first time Jesus has referred his antagonists as 'vipers'. He will do this again in his summing up of their attitude at the end of his life (23:33)
Peter Forbes
Matthew 12 - The Pharisees' true character is revealed in this chapter. Jesus allowed His disciples to pluck ears of corn as they walked, as was allowed under the Law - Deut 23:25 - but the Pharisees deemed such action "unlawful."  Yet they had no qualms about holding council together how they might "destroy Him" ..... on a Sabbath Day!! Matthew 12:14.
 

Matthew 12:7 - "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice" - The Message Bible renders this 'I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual.'

Matthew 12:36-37 - What do you think Christ meant, when He warned the Pharisees that "every idle word" that is uttered, we must give an account of at the Great Assize? Can it mean that we will be required to justify every "lighter moment", the foolish jesting if you like, that often creeps into our speech? Or is Christ warning of something of far greater importance than flippant speech? Surely, discourse tending to innocent mirth, to exhilarate the spirits, is not idle discourse; just as the time spent in necessary recreation is not idle time. The word "idle" conveys the idea of "being unemployed" in the Greek, cp Matt 20:3-6. It is a word descriptive of that 'which produces no good effect, and neither is it calculated to produce any'. Thayer tells us that it carries the idea of "pernicious" [suggesting "highly hurtful, ruinous, unsound, noxious" ] in Matt 12:36. This has led some to suggest that our Lord is warning that every "unfounded, unsound, or pernicious reasoning" we hold concerning Christ, His character, His mission, or His commandments, will need to be explained by us to Him at the Judgement [Mercy?] Seat. "For by your (Grk. "logos") 'reasonings' [about Christ] shall ye be justified; and by your (Grk. "logos") 'reasonings' [about Christ] shall ye be condemned". For a classic example of "reasoning" that has no foundation at all in the Word of God, examine the "reasoning" [about Christ] supplied by the "wicked and slothful servant" in Matt 25:24-30 & Luke 19:21-27 to justify his inappropriate behaviour toward his fellows.

{For further excellent thoughts on this subject, please read pages 20-23 of 'Principles and Proverbs' by Bro Islip Collyer.}

Cliff York