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June
5
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Reading
1 - Joshua 23 & 24
Click
here to Listen
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23
v.16 - It is a demonstration of the insight that God gave to Joshua,
that causes these last words of Joshua to move from warning to prophecy.
No longer do we read If ye do in any wise go back ... (v.12),
but now it is demonstrated that Joshua knows what they will do. It must
have been a very sad way for Joshua to end his life.
Peter Cresswell |
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24:7
- There would be, presumably, a few there who would have been children at
the time of the crossing of the Red Sea and would therefore remember the
time of slavery in Egypt. It would be their parents' generation that died
in the wilderness. As little ones they would not be among those cursed to
die and not see the land. Joshua and Caleb were the only ones of the responsible
generation to be granted entry to the land, but the generation below them
would surely have survived. Were all of these born in the wilderness?
It seems unlikely.
Peter Cresswell
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23
v.10 The comment
on how the people had delivered the land one man of you shall chase
a thousand echoes the words of Moses in the plains of Moab [Deuteronomy
32:30] How
should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except
their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up? And reminded
the people that they had not taken the land through their own strength.
Chapter
24 The way
in which Joshua gathered all the people together and spoke with them is
reminiscent of Moses in the whole of the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy
as Joshua 24 provides a summary of elements of Yahwehs deliverance
of the people to remind them of the goodness and faithfulness of their
God. We should review our lives regularly to confirm in our own minds
our awareness of the goodness of the Father in blessing us in so many
ways. Unless we repeatedly reflect on these things we will forget the
goodness of our Father.
Peter
Forbes
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| 23:16 |
served
other gods |
Deuteronomy
28:36 |
| 23:16 |
perish
quickly from off the good land |
Deuteronomy
28:21 |
The twofold
use of the language from Deuteronomy 28 is a reminder of what would happen
if Israel were faithless.
We have
commented earlier (Chapter 15) that there is an overlap between the book
of Joshua and the book of Judges. Here is another section.
Joshua
24:29-31 is paralleled in Judges 2:6-9
Peter
Forbes
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23:10
The promise that one would chase a thousand echoes the ideas of the blessing
of Leviticus
26:8. One of the few times that the blessing are presented as having
been fulfilled on Israel.
24:1
Presenting before God was at the tabernacle. There is nothing mystical
about this so this verse helps to explain what happened in the time of
Job (Job
1:6)
Peter
Forbes
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Reading
2 - Isaiah 29
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here to Listen
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v.10
- The times we have this picture of the senses being dulled to the message
of God. This is an act of God here as a punishment - that they should not
understand. (v.11-14,
ch.6:9,10). Let us beware, lest our wandering from the path that leads
to life brings us a similar punishment and the light of hope goes out for
us too. Let us thank God while we do have understanding for granting us
the sight of the light of the gospel, and respond positively by continuing
to search it out diligently.
Acts 28:26-27, Rom.11:8, 2Cor.4:4
Peter Cresswell |
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v.1-8 - If it were not for our knowledge of the grace and mercy of God,
reading passages such as this could be quite frightening in their implications.
It shows us the strength of the Lord and the lengths to which he will go
to destroy His, and our, enemies. We are to fear the Lord, but we have been
called to a knowledge of the gospel and as such are called upon to love
Him. In many ways the result might be the same, but the motivation and state
of heart are complete opposites. Let us be sure our desire to obey God is
out of love and not fear.
Peter Cresswell
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v.1
Ariel <0740>
is lion - where David lived is Jerusalem.
The link between Ariel and David reminds us to the
Judah is a lions whelp [Genesis
49:4] lion
of the tribe of Judah [Revelation
5:5]
Peter
Forbes |
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29:3
The promise that the Lord would camp against Israel was fulfilled in the
coming of Babylon against Jerusalem which is depicted in Ezekiel's enacted
parable (Ezekiel
4:2).
Peter
Forbes
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The
blindness of Israel meant that the message would be taken to the gentiles
- Lebanon (29:17)
- so Isaiah, speaking quite clearly of the way in which the message would
be spread to the gentiles, provides a context, not just verses, for the
New testament to quote to show that God always planned to offer salvation
to the gentiles.
Peter
Forbes
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Reading
3 - Hebrews 12
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here to Listen
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v.11
- I have to pick out this verse as it one that I turn to so often. Let us
note from this that the important response we should have to chastening,
as well as recognising that it is from the Lord and for our good, is that
we should be exercised by it. If we are not, then we cannot
expect to obtain the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Note that we can
equally exercise ourselves in the wrong way 2Pet.2:14.
Peter Cresswell |
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v.3-4
The Hebrews were reminded that despite the persecution that they were suffering
Jesus suffered more. Also [12:4-11]
their experiences were part of God's chastening. They would only benefit
'afterwards' if they reviewed how God was at work in their lives [12:11]
Peter Forbes |
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12:1
Again by using 'is set down at the right hand
' quoting Psalm
110:1 we are reminded why Jesus is to be viewed as more excellent than
the law of Moses. He is a priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Peter Forbes
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Notice
the repeated exhortation 'let us' 12:1
- twice -, 28.
The exhortation is personal. The things that Paul is discussing are not
merely academic issues. They are things that have to be put into practice
in the life of the believer.
Peter Forbes
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THE
VALUE OF HARDSHIP
We give our lives to the Lord, we repent, we are baptised, we live as good
a life as we can and still nothing seems to work out right. We think that
if we are truly God's people, servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he
will help us through our problems. With God on our side what difficulty
could we have? Yet difficulties, problems, trials and bad things do happen
to God's people and it can be difficult to understand why. Why me? What
have I done to deserve this? It may even try our faith to the limit. We
may not understand why God is treating us this way all the time, but from
this chapter we can see at least one of the reasons he allows us to go through
trials and have bad things happen to us. It is for discipline so that we
will improve and become more pure for God. "God is treating you as
sons. ... If you are not disciplined ... then you are illegitimate children
and not true sons."
"God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however,
it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been
trained by it."
So let's not grow weary and loose heart, but endure the discipline that
God gives us and become more pure, holy, righteous and peaceful people for
him.
Robert
Prins |
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