Fri, 31 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Leviticus 3

¹ “If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD. ² And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar. ³ And from the sacrifice of the peace offering, as a food offering to the LORD, he shall offer the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, ⁴ and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. ⁵ Then Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering, which is on the wood on the fire; it is a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

⁶ “If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD is an animal from the flock, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. ⁷ If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before the LORD, ⁸ lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it in front of the tent of meeting; and Aaron’s sons shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. ⁹ Then from the sacrifice of the peace offering he shall offer as a food offering to the LORD its fat; he shall remove the whole fat tail, cut off close to the backbone, and the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails ¹⁰ and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. ¹¹ And the priest shall burn it on the altar as a food offering to the LORD.

¹² “If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD ¹³ and lay his hand on its head and kill it in front of the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. ¹⁴ Then he shall offer from it, as his offering for a food offering to the LORD, the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails ¹⁵ and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. ¹⁶ And the priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is the LORD’s. ¹⁷ It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”

In Leviticus, Moses is recording for us the rules for how to approach God under the Old Testament sacrificial system. God lays out very explicit regulations on what to do under the ceremonial law. In today’s passage we see the rules for the peace offering.

What do we learn from this?

The peace offering was a celebration of God’s blessing, as the person who brought the offering got to share in eating the animal that was sacrificed. It was not done in response to some sin, but was symbolic of fellowship with God, and thus it is sometimes called a fellowship offering. It was a celebration of being at peace with God.

But even in this peace offering, there is an element of atonement. The person bringing the offering was to lay his hand on the head of the animal, clearly displaying the concept that the animal represents the person bringing the sacrifice. This animal dies in their place, showing that they know they deserve to die because of their guilt before God, but another is substituting for them and bears the penalty for them.

Where is Christ in this passage?

We are not naturally at peace with God. We are born sinful and under God’s wrath. The only way we can be at peace with God is for someone to bear the guilt of our sins. That is the whole point of the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament. An animal couldn’t bear the sins of a person then anymore than it can now. But the animal sacrifice showed that there was going to be a sacrifice of a substitute that would truly pay the price for sin.

The sacrifice that would come would be the perfect substitute, symbolized by the requirement that the animal be without blemish. This perfect sacrifice personally bears the penalty for sin, and grants peace before God. This sacrifice is Jesus Christ.

Thu, 30 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Philippians 4:4-7

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵ Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We have come to the end of Paul’s joyous letter to the church in Philippi. Paul writes this letter while he is imprisoned in Rome, but yet he continues to encourage the church and to spur them on to joy in the Lord.

In today’s passage, we see Paul explicitly order us to rejoice regardless of our circumstances. How can Paul, while in prison, facing a death sentence, encourage others to rejoice in the Lord? How can we have joy regardless of the problems we face?

Paul tells us how: by committing our situation, whatever it is, to God in prayer.

What do we learn from this?

God doesn’t promise to change our circumstances just because we pray to Him. He doesn’t automatically do whatever we ask, just because we prayed. He isn’t a vending machine where we put our prayers in and out pops whatever we asked for.

But God does promise that something will change when we pray. We will be changed.

We are to pray about whatever is bothering us. Don’t be anxious, he tell us. Instead of being anxious, we are to commit our concerns to Him. The result? God promises to give us peace in the circumstances. The situation might not change as a result of our prayer. But God promises that He will give us His peace as we bring our cares to Him. As we pray, He changes us by calming us and giving us peace.

So what should we do if after praying, we still feel anxious? The answer is as simple as it is obvious: Pray some more. Whenever we are anxious about anything, we are commanded to pray about it, and commit it to Him. So if we continue to feel anxiety, we should continue to pray. In this way, God promises He will grant peace to His people.

Where is Christ in this passage?

We receive God’s peace as we are in Jesus Christ. All those who come to the Father by way of faith in Jesus Christ are adopted into His family. They are saved from eternal damnation and are promised a home with Him for all eternity.

If He has done all of that, and if He promises to bring everything about for our ultimate salvation, and for His glory, we can learn to trust Him to do what is best for us in every circumstance, no matter how bad it might be. We can learn to leave our worries with Him and to take up His peace as we come to Him in prayer.

Wed, 29 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Proverbs 16:25

There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.

This proverb tells us that people have a sense of what is right. They have a sense of what they should do. But it is fundamentally flawed.

What do we learn from this?

What is it that is born into us, that we all inherently think is right, but in fact leads to death? I contend that this is our sense that we can earn God’s favor. We all know we have offended God. We know we have broken His law. We know we are guilty before Him. But we think that if we do enough of the right things, God will accept us despite our sins.

We see this attitude all the time as people say that if your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you will be OK on the day of judgment. You see it in the attitude of giving money to the church or by doing some special act of service that will get you back in God’s favor. You see it in the thought some have that attending church twice on a Sunday will make up for a lot of sin through the week.

But if you think you can earn God’s favor by doing your special acts to outweigh your bad one, you are wrong. You can not atone for your guilt before God by being better. This is the way that ends in eternal death.

Where is Christ in this passage?

The way that seems right to man ends in death. But God’s way leads to life. God has provided the way for us to be right with Him. It is not by us doing more good deeds, for we never could do enough to atone for even one sin. In fact, it is not in us doing anything at all. Our salvation is all based on what Jesus Christ has already done for us. We are called to place our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation, but we dare not trust in our faith to save us. Our faith isn’t the one big work that cancels out all our bad deeds. No. Our faith is itself a gift from God, and it does not save us. It is the instrument through which God brings us salvation, but the cause is God Himself. He saves us through the work of Jesus Christ who lived and died and rose again on our behalf, earning our salvation. This is the way that leads to life.

Tue, 28 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

John 18:12-14

¹² So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. ¹³ First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. ¹⁴ It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.

Jesus is about to stand trial before the Jewish religious leaders who have arrested Him. They take Him to the home of the high priest’s father-in-law. John reminds us of the high priest’s statement, “It is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish“.

What do we learn from this?

John tells us that even though the high priest was not a believer, in his position as high priest, God used him to prophesy about Jesus’ death.

God can, and does use those who are not His people to accomplish His purposes. He does not limit Himself to only working through His own people, but He uses all people and events to accomplish His ends.

We see this not only in the words of the unbelieving high priest, but also in the actions here in this chapter. The high priest is consenting to the execution of Jesus Christ, an evil act that accomplishes God’s intended purpose of the salvation of His people. God uses the sins of this unbelieving religious leader to do exactly what He wants to have happen in the world.

Where is Christ in this passage?

The high priest prophesied that Jesus died for the whole nation. John tells us that Jesus’ atoning work is not limited to ethnic Israel: … not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. Jesus death is to save His people from all time, and from all nations.

Mon, 27 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Exodus 38:1-7

¹ He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood. Five cubits was its length, and five cubits its breadth. It was square, and three cubits was its height. ² He made horns for it on its four corners. Its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze. ³ And he made all the utensils of the altar, the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the fire pans. He made all its utensils of bronze. ⁴ And he made for the altar a grating, a network of bronze, under its ledge, extending halfway down. ⁵ He cast four rings on the four corners of the bronze grating as holders for the poles. ⁶ He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. ⁷ And he put the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar to carry it with them. He made it hollow, with boards.

This is our second time through the description of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The first time was God’s instructions on how to build them, and we are now in the description of how the Israelites complied with these instructions.

Between these two descriptions we have the episode of the golden calf, so it is very striking to see how God forgives the sin of the Israelites and consents to abide with them despite the golden calf.

In our passage today we see how the Israelites built the altar of burnt offering.

What do we learn from this?

The altar of burnt offering sat outside the tabernacle, where the ark of the covenant was. Although God is omnipresent, the ark was considered His special dwelling place, and so when the people came to the tabernacle, they were coming to the presence of God.

The altar sat between the people and the tabernacle, and only the priests could go beyond the altar to enter the tabernacle. People could approach God but only by coming to him by means of the altar and the priests who presented the offerings on behalf of the people.

God is forgiving of the sins of His people, as we see by the fact that God continued to abide with the Israelites after they built the golden calf, but only because of the death of a substitute and a mediator who will successfully plead for the people before God.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Why don’t we still have an altar where we sacrifice animals as a prerequisite to our worship of God?

All the offerings under the Old Testament sacrificial system pointed to Jesus Christ as the Substitute. He is the reality of which all the animal sacrifices were simply a picture. Jesus Christ died in the place of His people, completely paying for all of their sins, and forever abolishing all further animal sacrifice.

We don’t have an altar anymore because of the work of Jesus Christ.

Sun, 26 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Ephesians 6:1-4

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), ³ “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” ⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

As we come to the end of the book of Ephesians, we have Paul’s instructions for the family. Paul ended the last chapter with a discussion of the relationship between husbands and wives, and today he deals with the relationship between children and parents, and workers and employers. In our meditations for today, we will consider what Paul tells us about children and parents.

What do we learn from this?

The family is very important to God. He has established it, and as we saw yesterday, the relationships within the family display the spiritual relation of the church and Christ.

In God’s order of things, children are to submit to their parents. Why? First of all because it is the right thing to do. To disobey your parents is wrong. It is a moral issue, and unlike the ceremonial law that was fulfilled in Christ and we no longer have an obligation to keep, we are still under the requirement to obey our parents. Paul reminds us that obedience to parents is the fifth of the ten commandments. It (like the rest of the ten commandments) is a moral law, and as such, we are required to keep it. Obeying your parents is the right thing to do.

But Paul also points out the element of promise in the command. There is a principle here: obedience is better than disobedience, and there are consequences to obeying and disobeying. God blesses obedience, and He curses disobedience.

We know from the book of Job that there isn’t a one to one relationship here. We don’t see that every disobedient child lives “short in the land” and every obedient child lives “long in the land”. But we do see that there are consequences to our actions, and in general, children will be happier and more blessed as they obey their parents. Paul is being very practical in pointing out that it is to your benefit to obey this command of God.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Children are to obey their parents in the Lord. This means that as they are obeying their parents, they are in fact obeying the Lord. They are obeying Jesus Christ by obeying their parents.

This is no surprise to us as Jesus told us, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.” Do you love Jesus Christ? If you do, you will obey His commands. He commands that you obey your parents. Therefore, as you obey your parents, you are displaying your love for Jesus Christ.

Sat, 25 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Proverbs 12:10

Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast,
but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

Those who believe in evolution are a terribly inconsistent lot. They talk about how nature “improves” the species by killing off those that are weak and letting reproduce those that are stronger and better. By this standard, people should have no regard for animals that are going extinct, for they are not fit to live. Nor should anyone have any regard for the death of any animal (or person), for just by the fact that they died shows that they were not fit to live (survival of the fittest, you know). Yet, turn on the nature shows on TV and you hear the evolutionists bemoan the extinction of species due to the mistreatment of mankind. If they were consistent with their philosophy, and really believed evolution “improves” species they wouldn’t care what animals became extinct.

The Biblical standard stands in sharp contrast to the logical applicaton of the Darwinian philosophy.

What do we learn from this?

God has set people as caretakers of the earth. We are to have dominion over it, and to subdue it. As such, we are responsible for the animals of the world. We must care for them and manage them, for this is our God given duty.

The proverb before us today is dealing with our treatment of our own animals. The author of the proverb probably is primarily thinking of livestock, rather than pets. But a righteous, Godly person will be concerned about their animals. They have to be concerned, because it is God’s command to us to keep the earth and subdue it. The ungodly, on the other hand, will be cruel, even to their livestock. They live out the Darwinian philosophy in their treatment of their own weaker animals.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. This is His world. He has appointed us as regents under Him to subdue the world. Our only authority in the world is that which has been delegated to us by King Jesus, and as such, we are under His authority, even as we are working to bring the world into submission to our will.

Fri, 24 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

John 14:1-7

¹ “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.” ⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

There used to be many things that you just couldn’t do or say as part of polite society, but those restrictions have slowly been falling away. More and more things that were formerly a cause for shame are now openly celebrated. In fact, it seems the only thing that can not be tolerated anymore is intolerance. The people who say that their way is right, especially when it comes to religious matters, are the most despised people, for they are considered narrow-minded, judgmental, and (worst of all) intolerant.

But what of Jesus?

What do we learn from this?

Jesus tells us that He Himself is the way, and the truth, and the life. He is the way to God. You can not get to God any other way than through Jesus Christ, for, He says, No one comes to the Father except through me.

This is either the height of arrogance and blaspheme, or it is the truth. But whatever it is, it is not tolerant of other views. There are not many ways to God, with Jesus showing us one of them. The way to heaven is not a smorgasbord where you pick your favorite way from the many offered. No. According to Jesus, there is only one way to God, and that is through Him.

Where is Christ in this passage?

There is no salvation in being good enough. You can’t earn it by doing the right things. You can’t find it in some other religion espousing some other god as taught by other prophets. All the other ways that purport to lead to God in fact end in destruction.

There is only one way to God. As intolerant as it might be, according to the words of Jesus Christ, He is the only way to the Father.

Thu, 23 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Exodus 34:1-9

¹ The LORD said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ² Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. ³ No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” ⁴ So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. ⁵ The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. ⁶ The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷ keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” ⁸ And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. ⁹ And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

It is after the episode of the golden calf. Moses is still interceding on behalf of the people of Israel that God would accompany them and abide in their midst despite their unfaithfulness.

In this context of unfaithfulness, repentance and restoration, God grants Moses his wish. Moses had asked to see God. But God doesn’t reveal Himself in the way we might expect. Instead, God declares His name.

What do we learn from this?

When God reveals His name to Moses, He declares His character. He is describing Himself. This is who God is, according to God Himself.

God’s declares that He is loving and merciful, but He is also holy and just. He loves His people and shows grace and mercy to them. But He is holy, and He hates sin. He must punish the guilty, for He is just. He can’t ignore sin. He can’t sweep it under the rug. No. He must punish sin.

Where is Christ in this passage?

How does God solve this dilemma: He is loving and merciful, seeking to show grace to His people, while at the same time being bound to punish the guilty? All of God’s people are guilty, and therefore, He must punish their sin. How then can He show them mercy and spare His people, whom He loves, from eternal punishment?

It is only through the work of Jesus Christ that God can be merciful to His people while still being just and punish their sins. Jesus Christ takes the guilt of the sins of His people upon Himself, bearing the full punishment as their substitute.

God does not let the guilty go unpunished, because His people are no longer guilty. Their sins are punished at the cross, and His people have the righteousness of Christ. His people are righteous, because of Jesus Christ.

Wed, 22 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Ephesians 2:1-10

¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience– ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved– ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2 is an amazing chapter. Paul tells us so much just in the ten verses we have listed here. We could be kept busy thinkin about this for quite some time. But we will just think about one small part of what Paul tells us here. Paul tells us the effects of Original Sin upon us. We are all born spiritually dead.

What do we learn from this?

All of us come into this world spiritually dead. In our natural condition, we are dead in our trespasses and sins. We aren’t sick. We aren’t impaired, or disabled. We don’t need something to help us get better. We don’t need to be rescued. We don’t need to do something that will fix or cure ourselves. When you’re dead, there is nothing that can help you. There is no fix or cure for being dead. You can’t make yourself better.

The only solution to our problem of being dead is for God to make us alive. We don’t do that to ourselves. God must do it. We are no more able to make ourselves alive than Lazarus was able to bring himself back from death. We can only come to life spiritually as God works within us to give us spiritual life. Just as Jesus called Lazarus to life again, so God must call us to life, or we will remain spiritually in the tomb.

Where is Christ in this passage?

God has made us alive together with Christ. Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for the sins of all of His people, and then He was raised again to life. And in our spiritual resurrection, we are joined together with Jesus Christ, our Substitute and Savior.