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March
30
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Reading 1 - Numbers 12 & 13
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Peter Cresswell
Peter Cresswell
12 v.5 There are five occasions when the Glory of the Lord appeared in the book of Numbers. On each occasion it is because of the rebellion of the people. Numbers 12:5 14:10 16:19 42 20:6 Israel were told that the glory cloud would appear to quell their murmuring. Exodus 16:7
13:26
- 27 Whilst
the spies acknowledged the beauty of the land they did not believe what
Yahweh had said unto them. The showing of the land by Yahweh was to give
them a foretaste of the land that they were to receive. However because
of the flesh they looked for the problems rather than the blessings that
would flow from faith.
Peter
Forbes
13:4-15
Here we have the names of all 12 spies sent out to spy the land. Without
looking can you remember their names? - Doubtless you can only remember
Joshua and Caleb. The lesson for us is that if we want to be remembered
for good then we must believe like Joshua and Caleb did.
Peter
Forbes
12:2 The complaint of Miriam and Aaron was, to some extent true. Aaron had, in act been Moses' mouth piece speaking the word of God (Exodus 7:1) - the problem with Aaron and Miriam's criticism was that it was based on jealousy and was used as a pretext for a different complaint - they really wanted to complain about the Ethiopian he had married. The lesson for us is that we should speak abut what really is the issue rather than avoid the real issue and simply complain about our feeling of injustice - that we have not got the importance we feel that we deserve.
13:31
The lament 'We be not able
' was the downfall of Israel. God never
told them that they would have to take the land by their own strength.
He had told them 'I will give
' Exodus
6:8 Leviticus 20:24 How often do we forget that 'it is your father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom' (Luke
12:32)
Peter
Forbes
When the spies came back from exploring the land they made their report. It was a good and fruitful land, the fruit was great - it took two men to carry one bunch of grapes! It was just as God had described it to them, "a land flowing with milk and honey." The land was so good it had also produced giants and the giants were the reason for the huge "BUT" in the report of the spies. "The land is good," they said, "BUT the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large ... they are stronger than we are. ... The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size ... we seemed as grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."
All the people were distressed after this faithless report. They had forgotten that God had rescued them from the strongest power on the earth and had promised them the land. "Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."
Often we come across seemingly impossible problems just as Israel did in this case, and when we do, let us remember that with God's help "We Can Certainly Do It!"
Robert Prins
None of the children of Israel had ever been into the land of Canaan. God had promised to take them there and described it as a land flowing with milk and honey - something they could only dream about. Now, as Moses sent the twelve spies into the land, they were the first people to see it for themselves. Their report was just what the people had hoped for. "We went into the land to which you sent us and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its' fruit." And at that stage they would have showed the people the huge bunch of grapes they picked, carried between two men. This was the first glimpse of the promised land for the children of Israel.. They hadn't seen it themselves yet, but it was certainly an exciting foretaste.
Like Israel, God has given us little glimpses of the kingdom through his word and his creation - enough to whet our appetites and know that the kingdom is what we really want.
But when they heard of the challenges that faced them going into the land, they chickened out. They thought it would be too hard. And, unfortunately many people who have heard what God has offered also chicken out when they find out that it will take effort and faith to receive what God has promised.
So let's be like Joshua and Caleb whose faith in action allowed them to receive the promised land.
Robert Prins
Reading 2 - Proverbs 8 & 9
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Peter Cresswell
Peter Cresswell
8 v.34 there are a number of times when 'blessed is the man' is found in Scripture. A review of those occasions Psalm 1:1 32:2 34:8 65:4 84:5,12 94:12 112:1 Isaiah 56:2 Jeremiah 17:7 Romans 4:8 James 1:12 will help us to understand how to please our God.
9
v.8 'Rebuke'
is the correct way to deal with error. Leviticus
19:17 However
there is no point rebuking one who has no respect for the Word of God
Proverbs
9:8 However
those whose rebuke is to be heeded is that of the 'wise' Ecclesiastes
7:5 This instruction
from the Old Testament forms the basis for the warnings and exhortations
in the New Testament. 1
Timothy 5:20 2 Timothy 4:2 Titus 1:13 2:15
Peter
Forbes
ch.8
- The theme of this chapter is 'wisdom' :1,2,3.
So the 'she' :16
etc: is wisdom. In fact throughout the whole chapter 'wisdom' is personified
as a woman. So :30
the one who was 'by him' again is wisdom. Wisdom was with God as the thing
that He delights in. If this is so then 'wisdom' - that is the wisdom
of God - should be our delight also.
9:3
'Wisdom' has her companions. They are 'maidens' that is those who associate
with wisdom are virgins who have not been defiled. In fact the identify
with the woman who is 'wisdom'. If we wish to be amongst those who are
the chaste virgins presented as a glorious church to Jesus [2
Corinthians 11:2] we must associate ourselves with the things of the
'wise' now and avoid the 'strange woman' of Proverbs
7.
Peter
Forbes
8:5 From a worldly point of view the 'simple' are those who are unable to fit into this life well. They tend to be viewed as lacking understanding - even that they cannot be taught. What a wonderful way to describe those who want to serve God. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our minds were such that the influences of the world were not able to instruct us because our minds were so steeped in the things of God - God's wisdom as seen in Scripture?
9:11
the promise of the multiplication of days for the one who holds to 'wisdom'
matches Exodus
20:12. So 'wisdom' and keeping the commandments are the same.
Peter
Forbes
The things that are most valuable to us should be the things that we spend the most time, energy and resources to attain. To many people money and riches are the most valuable, so they spend hours working and investing to increase their wealth. To others, lifestyle is important, so all their resources go into their houses, cars, boats and the things they do.
Here we read of the worth of wisdom. It's value far exceeds all the temporary things that could fill our lives. Wisdom says, "Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies and nothing you desire can compare with her." (Proverbs 8 v 10 - 11). If it is the case that wisdom is more precious than all the things we usually aim for, then it stands to reason that we should spend more of our time, energy and resources getting wisdom instead of getting all the things that are of much less value. We also learn that "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." (Proverbs 9 v 10). So let us from now on set our priorities in the right order. Let us first put our resources - our time, energy and possessions - into what is really important. Let's get to know the fear of the LORD and get wisdom.
Wisdom is worth much more.
Robert Prins
Reading 3 - Luke 22
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Peter Cresswell
Peter Forbes
22:2,3 The feast in Bethany when Jesus was anointed slots in between these two verses when making up a chronological record.
22:7 This is the next day - so the feast in the upper room took place the day (night) after the meal in Bethany.
22:11 'Guestchamber' is the same word found 2:7 'inn'.
Peter Forbes
Peter Forbes
The preparations had been made for Jesus and his disciples to eat the Passover. When the time came "Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." This was one of the moments that Jesus had been longing for - a time of quiet intimacy between the master and his disciples. The Passover meal was the one event that Jesus was looking forward to in his last few hours of life, and the thing that made it all the more desirable was to spend it with his best friends around a meal of celebration to God.
After he had taken the bread and the cup and given it to them, he said, "Do this in remberance of me." So once a week we meet together to observe his commandment as we join with other believers and share the signs he has given us - bread and wine.
Do we do this with the same attitude as that of Jesus? Jesus eagerly desired to share these moments with his disciples and we must eagerly desire to meet with him, and with our brothers and sisters, to do the same. So let's make sure that the next time we participate in the feast on the Lord's day, we come with an eager desire to do what he commanded.
Robert Prins
In other places, the word Upper room from Gk:"hupersion" corresponds to the Most Holy Place, as in Acts 1:13,9:36-41,20:9.
:16,18
- "I will not any more eat thereof", "...drink of the fruit...".
Christ eats fish in Luke
24:42-43.
He is here refering to not eating or drinking of the passover. This he
will not do until he does it in the temple meal Ezekiel describes in
Eze 44:3.
Matt
Drywood