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June 26

Reading 1 - 1Samuel 5 & 6

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5 v. 6 - Emerods, which strictly translates to haemorrhoids, probably referred to infectious boils of a serious and potentially fatal nature. They were a clear demonstration of the power of God, which he caused to follow the Ark wherever it went, causing them to give it back after just 7 months. God also spoke to them through their own priests and diviners (6:2), and led the kine that pulled the cart (6:12), thereby proving, by the sign set up by him through the words of the diviners, that he was indeed the force behind their sufferings. At least they learned from the experiences of Egypt (6:6).
Peter Cresswell
6 v.19 - Here we have a carrying out of the promised action of God for those who look upon Him - Exo.19:21. In Exodus, the people kept their distance and no evil befell them but here these men of Bethsehmesh were overcome with curiosity and looked into the holy things of God and suffered much death for their action. We have to remember in this day and age of tolerance and social compassion, as it were, that the God we worship only loves and cares for those who turn to Him.
Peter Cresswell

5 v.6 - Even though the capture of the ark was a punishment from Yahweh the actions of the Philistines were not justified. Therefore the hand of the Lord was heavy on them.

6 v.9 - Bethshemesh was in the land of Judah see v1 [Joshua 15:10] Given to the sons of Aaron see v 13 [Joshua 21:13 - 16] It was the place where the Ark rested when it returned from the Philistines [1Samuel 6:9 12 13 15 19 20]
6 v.13 - The wheat harvest was at the time of the feast of weeks [Exodus 34:22]
6 v.17 - 'and these are ...' causes one to conclude that the book of Samuel was written some time after the event and the writer is now referring to the items found by the ark which would still be seen in the days of the writing of 1 Samuel.
Peter Forbes
ch 5 - Whilst the ark had been settled in Shiloh there was no rest in Philistine country. It went from :1 Ashdod to :8 Gath and then to Ekron, each of the cities being plagued when the ark was there. The ark, which the Philistines thought would be a wonderful trophy, actually became a stumbling stone to them.

6:16-17 The mention of the five lords of the Philistines and the five cities seems to indicate that the Philistines, rather than sending the ark to all of the five cities decided that the ark was 'too hot to handle' after only three cities had been plagued. The five mice indicate that all five lords felt that they were guilty even though they had not had the ark in their city.
Peter Forbes

5:3,4 'fallen upon his face to the earth' is quoted (1 Samuel 17:49) to speak of the fate of Goliath. Their God was dead and this prefigured their champion.

6:19 So even though the men had seen a great deliverance and doubtless (or maybe not) realised that God had brought the ark back they still violated the sanctity of God by looking into the ark. Maybe they would justify their actions by saying that they wanted to check if the two tables of stone were still there. We can always justify our actions can't we?
Peter Forbes

Reading 2 - Isaiah 51

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v.3 - This idea of comfort from God is quite a common theme in Isaiah: 12:1, 40:1,2, 49:13, 54:6-8, 61:1-3 (relates it to the work of Jesus) 66:10-14.
Peter Cresswell
v.16 - We are frequently reminded in scripture of this very important lesson that the words spoken by the prophets were indeed the words of the Lord God Himself. It is important that we grasp this direct revelation and reverence God's word as a result, as it is God's words, not those of the men that penned them. 50:4, 59:21, Deut.18:18, John 3:34, 8:38-40, 17:8. We can infer from this last reference that the faithful passing on of the words of another could also fit this argument. Let us then be sure to do just that.
Peter Cresswell
v.11 - This is the middle of three occasions when Isaiah speaks of 'everlasting joy' Isaiah 35:10 51:11 61:7 The recurring them is to mark that despite the traumas of the Assyrian invasion there will be a glorious age for the faithful. This will be when the captivity of Zion is finally turned.
Peter Forbes
Another echo in Zechariah where the prophet is encouraging the people on their return from Babylon.

51:3 The Lord shall comfort Zion Zechariah 1:17
Peter Forbes

:17 The call to wakefulness is against the background of Jerusalem having been judged by God. Whilst the people who heard Isaiah's words may well have thought that the Assyrian invasion was the judgement that was but a foreshadow of what Jeremiah calls 'the time of Jacob's trouble' (Jeremiah 30:7).
Peter Forbes
OUR COMFORT
Israel has had their share of fear and terror. Throughout time, after they had turned away from God, their enemies had come in and brought them to their knees, killing, raping, looting, burning and driving them into exile. God's point in this chapter is that Israel's enemies are only mortal. In the end, they too will drink the cup they have forced on Israel and will be reduced to terror themselves. God has promised to comfort Israel, and, being the eternal, living, all-powerful God, he will fulfil his promise. He shows us a picture of Israel in their comforted state: "They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away."
The same promise of comfort, I believe, applies to us. We should not fear what men can do to us or be dismayed by the problems we face in this life. All this is only temporary and will pass away to make room for something much better. God is our comfort and he will fulfil his promises.
Robert Prins

Reading 3 - Revelation 12 & 13

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ch. 12 - We can all relate to the way that the woman and her child (quite obviously Jesus) escaped from the power of sin, here in the form of the red dragon. The child was simply caught up to God, but survival for the woman was only at God's hand. A place was prepared for her (v.6). She was given wings to escape there (v.14) and the wrath of the dragon is diverted away from her in v.16. By these great and wonderful acts she was accounted worthy. It is the same for us. John 14:1-4.
Peter Cresswell

12 v.7-11 - The battle is won, not by might nor power but by 'the blood of the lamb' marking the way in which we were redeemed. We cannot buy our salvation [1 Peter 1:18-19] nor can we win it by our own strength [Romans 5:6]. It is a gift through faith. [Romans 5:1]

13 v.9 - The call to listen with open ears echoes Jesus' repeated use of the idea in the gospels [Matthew 11:15 13:9,43 Mark 4:9,23 7:16 Luke 8:8 14:35] and in earlier chapters in Revelation [Revelation 2:7,11,17,29 3:6,13,22 13:9] And contrasts with Israel who were 'dull of hearing' because they had closed their ears. [Zechariah 7:11]
Peter Forbes

the woman ... her seed
Gen 3:15

So here we are - right back in the garden of Eden - seeing the long planned salvation through the seed of the woman

in their foreheads
Eze 9:4


Ezekiel sees men who have the seal of God in their foreheads. The beast seeks to cause men to change their allegiance. So that instead of thinking about God and His purpose all were to worship and think about the beast.
Peter Forbes


great ... dragon
Eze 29:3
having ... ten horns
Dan 7:7
drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth
Dan 8:10

The way in which Ezekiel - speaking about Egypt and Daniel 7 - speaking about the Roman Empire and Daniel 8 - speaking of the Greeks are drawn together shows that this chapter is speaking of a force which manifests characteristics of all these nations.

The use of Daniel in this chapter highlights the value of understanding what Daniel is speaking about before trying to sort out what Revelation is talking about.

beast rise up out of the sea
Dan 7:3
ten horns
Dan 7:7
the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard
Dan 7:6
a bear
Dan 7:5
of a lion
Dan 7:4
a mouth speaking great things
Dan 7:8
to continue
Dan 8:13
to make war with the saints and overcome
Dan 7:21
tongues and nations
Dan 3:4
worship him
Dan 3:8

Peter Forbes

WORSHIP GOD.

The Bible tells us over and over that we must worship the Lord our God and worship him only. It also tells us that we must not worship idols, people or anything else that might be set up in opposition to the one true living God.

As Christians then, we need to concentrate our attention on the Lord our God and on his Son, Jesus Christ. We need to make sure that they take the Number One place in our lives and that all our worship is reserved only for them. We need to make sure that our worship is true and not just a matter of lip service because the time may come when the whole world will be carried away with the worship of a false god, which Revelation calls the Beast. We read that "All the inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast - all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the lamb that was slain from the creation of the world." And, "He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed." And later, "... and cause all who refuse to worship the image to be killed."

Let us resolve now to make sure our worship of God is true and strong so that we recognize false worship when it comes and can stand firm in our faith.
Robert Prins