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July 3

Reading 1 - 1Samuel 15

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v.11 - This concept of God repenting him that he had done certain things [here, v.35, Gen.6:6, etc] is one which I am sure we have all struggled with from time to time. If it were not for Ps.110:4 and similar passages, we may feel that he would even repent that he had made you and me. Men may let us down (and do regularly) but God's covenant is truly binding on both sides.
Peter Cresswell
v.3 - The instruction Saul is given here is not just for him in his circumstances in his day but for all of us. To follow God effectively, we must each utterly destroy that in our lives which might turn us from Him.
Peter Cresswell
v.22 - A recurring theme in the Scriptures is the fact that Yahweh does not want animal sacrifices. This is not to be taken to indicate that he did not institute sacrifices. He did, but they were added to remind Israel of their sinfulness, and not primarily as a means of pleasing Yahweh. [Jeremiah 7:21 - 23] However Israel saw the offering of sacrifices as a virtue in themselves and forgot that the offering of the sacrifice was an advertisement of their sinfulness. Samuel had to reprove Saul on this point. Saul spared the Amalekites, in direct contravention of the word of Yahweh on the flimsy pretext that the people saved the animals alive to offer to the Lord. Saul lost the throne because he saw a virtue in sacrifice rather than obedience. [1Samuel 15:22 - 24] This principle can be seen in other parts of Scripture [Psalm 51:16 17 Proverbs 21:3 Isaiah 1:11 - 17 Hosea 6:6 Amos 5:21 - 24] Jesus reinforced this point be appealing to some of those Scriptures to show that the leaders of his day had also missed the point. [Matthew 9:13 12:7 23:23] However David understood that Yahweh wanted obedience. [Psalm 40:6 - 8] David was a pattern of what Jesus was to be like [Hebrews 10:5 - 9] Nor is the principle unrelated to our walk in Christ as we are to be living sacrifices [Romans 12:1 - the end of the letter] Our obedience is to the constraints of the gospel, some of which are laid out in the remainder of the letter.
Peter Forbes
15:3 The command to go and utterly destroy Amalek was a consequence of the comment (Exodus 17:14) which was a direct result to the way that they had treated Israel in the wilderness. Therefore Saul should have been even the more zealous to perform the word of God. Hence his disobedience is even more astonishing.
Peter Forbes
:7 This is the only mention geographically, of Havilah outside Genesis 2 - which is before the flood. So we ask. Are the place names that are given in early Genesis as they were after the flood or is Havilah in the days of Saul in the same place as it was before the flood?
Peter Forbes
GO ALL THE WAY

It is easy to fall into the same trap as Saul when what we want conflicts with what God wants. Saul was given instructions as to what God wanted him to do. It wasn't as if Saul completely rebelled, rather, he just carried out Gods instructions as far as he thought he needed to (or maybe, wanted to). In other words, what Saul did was to water down God's commandments until it suited himself, without completing the work God had given him to do. Then Saul justified himself by giving upright sounding reasons to cover his lack of obedience.

So instead of totally destroying the Amelekites, as he was commanded to do, he saved the best with the excuse that he was going to sacrifice it to God. When Saul's excuse failed to convince Samuel, he made more excuses, blaming his men for his actions.

The lesson for us is that we must do what is completely right - even if we don't like it or think it is needed. Only doing part of what we should is as bad as rebellion. And we can't fool God when it comes to making excuses for our action or lack of action. He knows the real motives of our heart, no matter how fine our excuses might sound. When we obey, let's go the whole way and complete the work God has given us.
Robert Prins

Reading 2 - Isaiah 59

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v.10 - This is the state from which we have been called to the light of the gospel. Let us be sure that this is not us. Constant daily contact with and meditation on the Word will ensure that we remain within our calling - the right light [ch.2:5] not the wrong light [ch.50:11]. See also 1John 1:7, Rev.21:24.
Peter Cresswell
v.9 - The language here is in stark and direct contrast to that of ch.9:2. Constantly God's word reminds us of the side of the fence on which we should abide. Daily our reading of it reminds us of the attitudes that God will and will not accept.
Peter Cresswell
v.2 - Continuing the theme of release from bondage and the day of atonement Yahweh explains that despite His outstretched arm to save the sins of the people had separated the people from Him. Notice the order. We are separated from Him, not the other way round.
Peter Forbes
There is an amazing contrast in this chapter.

59:7 has men running to shed blood
59:20 has the redeemer coming and turning ungodliness away.

The contrast marks the needs of man and the wonderful provision of our Father.
Peter Forbes

:2 It is our actions that estrange us from God, not the other way round. So we have caused the breach but God is seeking the reconciliation!
Peter Forbes

Reading 3 - Matthew 3 & 4

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4 v. 4 - Let us remember that when Jesus was tempted he turned to the scriptures to answer his temptations. Remember that we are exhorted many times to do the same. Rom.15:4, Eph.6:17, John 6:63.
Peter Cresswell

3 v.2 - The phrase 'kingdom of heaven' is unique to Matthew's gospel and is found in the following places [Matthew 3:2 4:17 5:3 10 19 20 7:21 8:11 10:7 11:11 12 19:12 14 23 20:1 13:11 13:24 31 33 44 45 47 52 16:19 18:1 3 4 23 22:2 23:13 25:1 14] We realise that when John came preaching repentance and the kingdom of God he only had the Old Testament and the revelation that he received as a prophet to guide his understanding of what he was preaching about. We might ask 'how much did he understand?' He was able to declare that Jesus was the 'lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world' [John 1:29] But we do know that the prophets, and the angels for that matter, had a limited knowledge of the purpose of God and had a desire to know more. [1 Peter 1:10 - 12]

4 v.3 - 'if thou be the son of God' as a temptation is seen also at the end of Jesus' life. [Matthew 4:3 6 27:40] This marks the point that whilst the devil left him for a season [Luke 4:13] He was continually being tempted. It might be that we are not told about the continuing stresses that Jesus was under but we are told about the work that he did that we might understand that we should not dwell on our own problems but rather concentrate on the problems of others. 'If' is the recurring word in the temptations. as if Jesus is questioning his own position with each of the trials.
4 v.13 - And so Jesus, and presumably his family, moved to Capernaum from Nazareth. See also [Matthew 9:1] Family tree of Joseph and Mary [taken in part from The Easter Enigma - John Wenham - A fascinating book]

Peter Forbes
this is my beloved son
Psalm 2:7
in whom I am well pleased
Isaiah 42:1

The way in which Matthew links these two Old Testament passages gives us an insight into how we should relate Isaiah 42 to Psalm 2.

4:8 The 'high mountain' of the temptations contrasts with the 'high mountains' (Revelation 21:2). It was the joy of the kingdom which strengthened Jesus in the temptations.
Peter Forbes

ch 3 - If we were seeking to advertise something special we would doubtless select a prominent place to stand and speak. Not so John. He was down by Jordan away from centers of population. Why? God is not looking for 'passers by' to accept His call. He is seeking those who will be willing to put some effort into learning about Him.

4:9 Whilst the 'devil' offered Jesus 'all the kingdoms of the world' they were already his for the asking (Psalm 2:8). Likewise we have wonderful things promised to us so let us not be deceived by the apparent benefits of things we might think we can have now. Eve and then Adam made that mistake.
Peter Forbes

THE FRUIT OF REPENTANCE
When the Pharisees and Sadducees came to John to be baptised by him, John had a strong message for them. He said, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
In their baptisms they declared that they had decided to change their way of life and were now going to turn back to God. But what John told them was to make sure that their decision showed in their actions. It is no use looking at our heritage and thinking that can save us - we must be God's people both in word and in actions. If we say we are going to be God's people but then don't act like it, we end up just like a good looking fruit tree that only has bad fruit. Let us not get caught in the same trap. Stop pretending and produce good fruit.

"IF YOU HAVE REALLY TURNED FROM YOUR SINS TO DO, PRODUCE FRUIT THAT WILL PROVE IT"
There is only one way to tell if a person has really changed. It is not by what they say or preach. It is not by what they do when they can be seen in public or when they think that someone is looking. The way to tell is if a person has really changed is if they have changed in their whole life - little private things as well as the big public things, when they can't be caught out no matter where or when you try to catch them, when the attitudes and opinions of others change toward them.
The people John the Baptist was speaking to came to repent for their sins. If we have accepted Christ then we need to have repented from our sins too. There are too many people who say they are Christians and who have not changed the way they live. They may go to church on Sunday and say grace before their meals, but then they go out and get drunk, read pornographic magazines, are ruthless in business, or beat their children and wives. Would Christ accept that?
Now that we have turned our faces from our sins, let us produce good fruit to prove that we have changed. Produce good fruit first in the small private areas of life and then in public where everyone can see. Be consistent.
Robert Prins
ch.3 - Here we find that as soon as John sees the Pharisees, he addresses their worst fears about the coming King, which is that “he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” v 12, a fulfilment of what we saw yesterday. He warns them that the axe is laid at the tree which does not bear fruit. The fact that the scribes and Pharisees tried to kill Jesus right from birth, even though they knew and believed the prophecies regarding him, shows us quite the depth of their wickedness, and quite how much they feared his power. This sort of wickedness is shown over and over again in scripture by those who deliberately sought to fight against God’s purpose, even though they knew and believed the prophecies. We have for example Jezebel and Athaliah who, knowing of the promise of God to keep a descendant of David on the throne continually, tried many times over to wipe out all traces of that kingly seed. How fitting then that we find the men in Jesus’ time who have the same mindset, trying to do exactly the same thing to the one who was the final promised “son of David”! See 2Kings 11:1-3.

A further point to ponder:

Salvation for mankind was not to come through mankind, but through God. God signified this by claiming Jesus as His son in verse 17. John said that the baptism of Christ was different to his, because Christ was the son of God, and he wasn’t (John 3:30-31).

ch.4 - Why did Jesus go to “Galilee of the Gentiles”, as soon as he heard that John was in prison? What changed with the passing away of John? Similarly in John 4:1 Jesus departs to Galilee and Samaria once the Pharisees realise he is has more followers than John. Is Jesus signifying that it is now time to go to the gentiles, because God’s stiif necked people have had their chance? Again in verse 24, “his fame went throughout Syria”. Most of the prophecies of Christ speak of him going to the gentiles.

A further point to ponder:

What do you think was going through the dizzy, hazy, spinning mind of Jesus after forty days in the wilderness? Stones! How marvelous a proof of the devil being ones own thoughts it is, that all his temptations involve stones, tripping over them, or falling over!
Robin de Jongh