My Weekly Devotional Notes for the Week of July 1–7, 2018 from My Reading of God’s Word, the Holy Bible:

My Weekly Devotional Notes from My Reading of God’s Word, the Holy Bible:

I will use my usual format for my devotional notes from my daily Bible reading for the week of July 1–7, 2018 using the “Reading Plan from Alistair Begg from “Truth For Life” broadcasts; and I will try to post them as often as I write them but not every day as I did before this time. I will write them down when the Holy Spirit shows me something that strikes me to say what it means to me for that day! In the words of Martin Luther, This is “not so much a commentary as a testimony of my faith in Christ.” Mine, too! The main commentary I now use is the Reformation-Heritage KJV Study Bible (RHKJV Study Bible) and its study notes as it explains a lot of things I do not know about any given passage; but the rest is my own devotional comments.

 

Joshua 3:

 

“Crossing the Jordan (3:1—4:24); Chapter 3: The priests, carrying the ark of the covenant, lead the people across the Jordan on dry land into the Promised Land” is the title of this chapter by my KJV Reformation Heritage Study Bible, page 307. First, the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant over the Jordan River before the rest of the people crossed over after it. The LORD Yahweh told them that He would be with them as they went into the Promised Land as they went across the river with dry feet on the dry river bed of the Jordan, which was a miraculous thing since at that time the river was overflowing its banks all along the river “all the time of harvest” (verse 15). Verse 7: “And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee” as “The LORD would use the supernatural crossing of the Jordan to confirm Joshua’s leadership as being equal to that of Moses” (The KJVRH Study Bible, 308). “Joshua 3:10 is a wonderful reminder that even though ministers change, God’s Word remains constant. The word that Joshua gives to the people on the eve of their crossing the Jordan is the same that Moses had given them earlier (Deut. 7:1-2). Nothing had changed except the mouthpiece. God’s Word is forever settled in heaven (Ps. 119:89), and the authority is in the Word and not in the spokesman. How have you seen this to be true in your own life?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 3,” 308). Is this true in the church as well?

 

Psalms 126, 127, and 128:

 

More Psalms or Songs of Degrees or Ascents into Jerusalem. “Psalm 126: The psalmist reflects on the blessings of God in restoration,” means that this Psalm was written sometime after one of the restoration of the temple and the public worship of the LORD their God, maybe during the reign of one of the godly kings such as Josiah or Hezekiah; but I am not at all sure of this since I am not a church historian of the Old Testament. Actually, the Psalm speaks of the “LORD turned again the captivity of Zion” (verse 1) as being a dream coming true so it probably was written after the exiles returned to Jerusalem from Babylonia as this was at the end of their captivity in Babylon when King Darius set them free to return to their home land. The one great verse, which is quoted in the NT as well, is verse 5: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy” (or a variation of this verse), which was exactly what happened to the believing Jewish remnant that returned to Jerusalem to repair the walls and the temple in the City. “Many are the tears of God’s children, but God promises them that their mouths will be filled with laughter. This is gospel optimism, for Christ has taken the curse of sin and won the promised blessing (Gal. 3:13-14). Whenever the Lord has done great things for us, we should praise Him for the glory of His grace. One day all our sowing will come back in the harvest, and we will shout for joy. How can we cultivate an optimistic view of life that is based upon God and the gospel?” (Ibid., 866). Do you have an optimistic view yourself?

 

Psalm 127: “Every facet of life must be founded on God” is the truth found in this short Psalm because when the Psalmist Solomon starts out by telling us that unless “the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (verse 1) since only the LORD Yahweh can and will protect those whom do the LORD Yahweh’s work His way no matter if it is in building and maintaining a house (of the LORD’s?) or in defense of the faith of God in others around you, etc. I can readily understand verse 2: “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep” as I like to stay up late at night, but now that I am retired, I don’t get up very early the next morning; but when I have to do so, then I feel very tired the next day. I was speaking to a Christ-fearing woman yesterday after church about how she looked kind of tired and she said that she hasn’t been getting the required 8 hours of sleep at night, and she needed to go to bed a lot earlier than she was doing at this time. That is what Solomon meant by this verse, and he was an expert at building things, and especially his own elaborate house; one for his wife, the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt; and the temple. Then he goes on to say that “children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the youth” and how happy are the men whom have “his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate” (verses 4-5), which seems to be true of many Christ-followers, and especially of those in the ministry of the Gospel and missionary work around the world. Solomon was also an expert at having many children (as was his dad, David), and with over 600 wives, that kept him very busy at home as well as at work in his overall command at those in his tremendous building programs. One application of this passage is: “If manual labor and physical procreation cannot succeed without the Lord, how much more do we need His grace to build the living house of the Lord, construct the city of God, and multiply the family of God. Apart from Christ we can do nothing (John 15:5). What reasons can you give why Christian service requires both prayer and work?” (Ibid., 866).

 

Psalm 128: “The Lord promises to bless the home that fears Him” is the truth found here in order to be blessed by the LORD, we need to fear Him (in awe, reverence, praise, worship) and walk in His ways” (verse 1) when we labor with our own hands, “it should be well with thee” (verse 2); and have a fruitful wife who has several children around their dining table. Then the Psalmist repeats the thought of verse 1 in being blessed are those whom fear the LORD; and that the LORD “shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children’s children, and peace upon Israel” (verses 5-6) as not only His promise to believing Israel, but also to us in His church body today whom love and serve the LORD Yahweh and His Son Jesus Christ. Do you?

 

Isaiah 63:

 

“The Coming of the Heavenly Warrior (63:1—64:12). Chapter 63: The prophet declares the Lord’s vengeance on the enemy and then prays for fresh displays of God’s faithfulness for His people,” the title given to this section of Scripture in which we are still reading of the glorious coming to the earth as suffering Savior Messiah, and then reigning over the whole earth as a Victorious Messiah-King. In the first part, Isaiah speaks of the Lord’s “day of vengeance. The day of the Lord (43:8; 61:2), when He brings justice against His enemies (see note at 2:12). Year of my redeemed. The time when God brings full salvation to His people (see note at 35:9). God’s judgment upon the wicked coincides with His salvation for the righteous”; and in verse 5: “wondered…mine own arm brought salvation. This language, repeated from 59:16, identifies this bloodstained figure as the divine warrior, the only Savior” (Ibid., 1026-7). This time is upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah-King’s return to this earth to bring complete salvation to those whom believe and trust in Him, and complete death and destruction to all of those whom do not believe nor trust in Him; in other words, this is on the last Day of the Lord or the Lord’s judgment upon the whole earth. Then Isaiah speaks of the children led through the wilderness, in the days of old, by Moses whom rebelled against the Lord and “vexed His Holy Spirit: therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them” (verse 11). When a person, a group of people, or even a whole multitude of people, are fighting against the LORD Yahweh and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, guess who the final Victor is going to be in this fight? But to the people the LORD God led through the valley, by His Holy Spirit, and of whom “the LORD caused him [them] to rest, so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name,” and even though “The people of Thy holiness have possessed it [the Promised Land, I guess] but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down Thy sanctuary. We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by Thy name” (verses 17-19) but the LORD said about all of us that “Surely they are My people, children that will not lie: so He was their Savior. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them [us]; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old” (verses 8-9) so that we believers, as the true believers in the LORD God of old, when all of us persevere in the faith the Lord gives to us, He will persevere in saving and redeeming us forever and ever by His mighty hand! Amen and Amen!

 

Matthew 11:

 

“Chapter 11: The ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus are compared. Christ curses the unrepentant cities and invites the weary sinners to come to Him for rest” is the title given to this chapter by my Study Bible, page 1374. For this chapter, I will rely a lot on the study notes of my KJVRH Study Bible since there is some material here in which I don’t understand on my own; but we believers should always compare Scriptures with other Scripture that we do understand; and rely on the Holy Spirit to understand and apply it to our lives. Matthew starts out by saying that for now, the Lord Jesus’ instructions to His disciples has ended; and so He instead went out to teach and preach in the cities surrounding them. Many times, we believers need to temporarily postpone the excellent and biblical teaching we receive from church on the Lord’s Day (Sunday) in order to do the work of the Lord in giving out the gospel to many people of whom we know or meet; and then making them the Lord’s disciples (which only the Lord Jesus through His Holy Spirit can actually do—see verse 27 on the fact that “Literally, “the one to whom the Son [Jesus Christ] wills to reveal.” Like the Father (v. 25), Christ is free and sovereign to reveal God or not reveal Him to each individual as the Lord chooses” (Ibid., 1375). But then afterwards, we believers need to be fed again God’s Word on the next time our church meets in order to rejuvenate our souls, bodies, and our minds with the Word of God so we can then go out into our communities again to witness to those in need of God’s salvation in their lives; and this is (or should be) a continuous cycle of hearing and learning the Word of God, and then sharing what we have heard and learned with others around us (and don’t leave out the importance of teaching our families the Word of God as well so that all the generations of our families will know and love God and His Word to them). Then John the Baptizer, who was imprisoned (by Herod, I think?) sent two of his disciples to find out if this Man Jesus was truly the Christ or Messiah; and the Lord then pointed out the work He did as proof of Him being truly the Messiah-King. Verse 6: “And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” is especially important in this day and age since many people are offended by other people in many somewhat miniscule ways today; but to be offended by knowing and loving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is bound to happen to men and women around us, but it is also the difference between life and death eternally depending upon the beliefs of the people whom hear about the gospel and especially about the Cross. My Study Bible notes say for verses 12-14: “kingdom…suffereth violence. Many people were striving to enter into the kingdom through repentance and faith (Luke 13:24)” and “all…prophesied until John. All of the Scriptures serve a prophetic role” (Ibid., 1374), which is what is happening today as well with many people trying to get into the Kingdom of God, but then many are trying desperately and unsuccessfully to enter His Kingdom by their own works, which does not work at all as it is entirely by the grace of God that we believers are chosen by Him to be a part of His Kingdom (Ephesians 2:8-9) and not anything we can ever do on our own efforts or our own terms with God the Father. Next, He states the fact that we can see all through the Gospels (and today as well) that the Lord Jesus Christ, and through His Holy Spirit, works with “a worthless, rebellious person who seeks pleasure in food and drink but deserves death (Deut. 21:20; Prov. 23:21)” (don’t we all deserve death because of our awful sins?]; and not the self-righteous and proud people whom think and act as if they didn’t need Him as “Christ spoke of Himself as the divine wisdom calling the foolish to Himself (v. 28; 12:42; Prov. 8—9; Luke 11:49). Children. Christ’s works, which publicly vindicated Him as righteous (justified)” (Ibid., 1374-5) before His heavenly Father. Thank You, Lord Jesus Christ, for doing so in our lives, as believers in You, and I pray and ask that You will do the same in all of our families, friends, and neighbors as well. Amen and Amen! Lastly, the Lord casts curses or woes on all the unbelievers living in several cities in the area when the people there saw His miraculous works and heard His preaching to them the gospel, but still didn’t believe in Him; and then He told those of whom knows the Son of God (Himself), knows also His Father in heaven since they are “he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him” and for them (and us) to come to Him with our heavy burdens and labors, and He “will give you rest” (verse 28), meaning that “salvation requires submission to Christ as one’s Lord, Master, and Teacher (Jer. 27:8, 11-12; 1 Tim. 6:1). my yoke is easy. Following Christ is the best life that could ever be lived, for He is a gentle and humble King who serves His people (meek and lowly; 20:28; 21:5; contrast 1 Kings 12:4-16). Through hard on our sins, Christ’s commandments lead in paths of pleasantness (Prov. 3:17)” (Ibid., 1375). This is also what the Psalmist who wrote the Psalm 119 experienced as he uplifted what the Law (Word) of the LORD Yahweh did and meant to him as he meditated upon His Law (Word). Also, Psalm 1:2-3: “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bring forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” Is this true also with your life in loving, walking with the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and spending time in the Word of God to learn more and more from Him so you, believer, can become more and more as He is in holiness and in the beauty of being a part of His church as His bride?

 

Joshua 4:

 

“Twelve stones are taken from the Jordan to erect a memorial for following generations to be reminded of the Lord’s mighty act in behalf of His people” and “
The Memorial Stones” are the titles given to this chapter by my two Study Bibles.

The reason they were to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River to remind them and their children about how the waters were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant by the LORD Yahweh as “these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever” (verse 7); and “that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever” (verse 24). Do you, parents, have some kind of “family altar of witness” in your home? It is “as a means of fostering a spiritual curiosity among their children and teaching them to fear God and obey Him, which ultimately and primarily involves obeying the gospel in repenting of their sins and believing in Jesus Christ. God has set the home as a principal place of religious training, both by precept and example. What can you be doing to pass on your faith stories?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 4,” 309).

 

Psalms 129, 130, and 131:

 

These Psalms are still of those of “Songs of degrees or ascents” that the Jewish pilgrims sung on their pilgrimage up to the City of Jerusalem for the 3 major feasts of worship and celebration for the year by them. Psalm 129: “The psalmist reflects on God’s goodness in delivering His people from afflictions,” the title given to this psalm is something we believers should do as well in our modern lives, and especially maybe before we go to church to worship and celebrate the Lord’s goodness and mercy for us, which would add to what we will learn in church about the pure and holy goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ and what He’s done for us on the Cross of Calvary. I was not a believer yet when during my youth but I was sometimes somewhat afflicted by others in school and even bullied by those whom were “bigger” than I was; but again, not for anything spiritual of the Lord Jesus because I was still dead in my sins, and still very much a part of the world, and not of the Lord Jesus Christ. The author of this psalm also was afflicted many times from his youth until now, but “Yet they have not prevailed against me” (verse 2), which was what happened to me growing up as well but not for the same reason. At the time I didn’t know that “The LORD is righteous; He has cut in pieces the chords of the wicked” and “those who hate Zion [will] be put to shame and turned back” (verses 4-5) since I didn’t know the LORD Yahweh until later in my life but this psalmist obviously did know Him even in his growing up, youthful times. Just as the apostle John told the Christ-believers not to “receive him [who “does not abide in the doctrine of Christ” but is a false teacher or prophet] into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds” (2 John 9-11); this psalmist is telling the rest of the pilgrims on their journey “Neither let those who pass by them say, ‘The blessing of the LORD be upon you; we bless you in the name of the LORD!’” (Verse 8), probably because since they don’t know or believe in the LORD Yahweh anyway so it would be a waste of time and breath in doing so! The end of an application of this song or psalm is: “Christ knows this: the Roman soldiers truly plowed His back with horrible wounds (Isa. 50:6; 53:5; Matt. 27:26; John 19:1). Yet in it all, God was righteous, carrying out His plan for the salvation of His church, the exaltation of His Son, and the destruction of His enemies. What afflictions are you or your loved ones enduring? How can this psalm help?” (Ibid., 867). Then, in Psalm 130 entitled: “The Lord is merciful and ready to forgive those who confess their sins” and “Waiting for the Redemption of the LORD” by my two Study Bibles, the unknown psalmist cries to the LORD Yahweh out of the depths of His soul for Him to hear his voice and to “be attentive to the voice of my [his] supplications” (verse 2) to Him. Thank God for His goodness and His mercy towards our sins as His people when He forgives them, or if the LORD did mark (meaning “literally, “watch over, keep in custody, or keep a record of” them, from the notes on verse 3 from my KJVRH Study Bible, page 867) our iniquities and sins, “O Lord, who could stand?” (verse 3) meaning “Who will be able to defend himself? No sinner can be justified before God by his own efforts (143:2)” (Ibid.). Only God alone can pardon our guilt of our sins (Mic. 7:9;; Luke 5:21) so that we will fear (in awe, reverence, worship) Him with “childlike reverence and submission to the Lord springs from knowing His grace (Hos. 3:5; Jer. 32:40), for His grace is glorious and awe-inspiring (Gen. 28:15-17; Eph. 1:6)” as we wait upon the Lord with “hope with eager anticipation, an act of faith (27:14; 40:1; Isa. 26:8)” and “watch for the morning. Illustrates the expectant anticipation.” (Ibid., 867-8). We wait even “more than those who watch for the morning” (verse 6) as we both wait and watch for the Lord Jesus Christ in our souls, as our hope in the LORD just as Israel has for His mercy and plenteous redemption He has for us as His people, and as “He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (verse 8), and us as well. When I worked as a security guard during the summer months when I wasn’t teaching school, I know what it meant to watch eagerly and hopefully for the morning to come so I could punch out my time card, and go home to sleep for the day had finally come in which I anticipated every time I was on all night shift; but this isn’t nearly as much as we believers should be eagerly watching and waiting for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth both to take us home to be with Him in His glorious heaven, and to judge the rest of the world in their unbelief and unfaithfulness. He will finally come for us just at the right time, and then will take us believers home to be with Him in heaven forever and ever so it is well-worth the wait for this to happen to us. Amen and Amen! Now in Psalm 131, entitled “David confesses and exhorts us to a childlike faith” or our “Simple Trust in the LORD,” can we believers say to the LORD the same things that David did as he penned this song? That our hearts are not high and haughty nor our eyes lofty (thinking way too much and high of ourselves) “neither do I [we] concern myself [ourselves] with great matters, nor with things too profound for me [us], such as things we may concern ourselves with them when they are not in the Holy Scriptures instead of thinking and meditating upon God’s Word. This reminds me of the class I had to take in general philosophy to get my general education courses completed where I went to college, and we were forced to discuss and write papers on such topics as we had to “prove” that the professor (and I use that term very reluctantly in this case) was holding a piece of chalk in his hand, or how many angels are able to sit on the head of a pin, etc. but it also means that when there are divine things or thoughts in the Holy Scriptures that are far, far above our finite minds, we can then figure them all out by our worldly thinking and without having to spend a lot of time meditating on the Scriptures and comparing this with other Scriptures in God’s Word; and probably still only the very intellectual people will figure it out anyway. But David didn’t spend nor waste his time doing so but instead had a simple trust in the LORD, which is what we believers all need to have as well. And instead of either worrying about these things or getting all bent out of shape because of them, David calmed and quieted his soul before the LORD, and accepted them as a part of the Word of God as his hope (and Israel’s and ours) is “in the LORD from this time forth and forever” (verse 3) as he (and we) put our simple trust in the LORD our God and know that He will always be with us, care for us always, and will work everything out for our own good (Romans 8:28) and for His glory. Amen and Amen!

 

Isaiah 64:

 

“Isaiah prays for a manifestation of God’s presence and power,” the title of this chapter of Isaiah, which Isaiah wants the LORD Yahweh to “rend the heavens! That You would come down!” so that “the mountains might shake at Your presence” (verse 1)…. “To make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!” (Verses 1 and 2), which reminds me of after the LORD Yahweh gave Moses His Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, “Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off…. And Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.’ So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:18-21). This was a very fearful and trembling time for the people of Israel, and they being fearful of the LORD Yahweh didn’t sin against Him at that time, but they soon lost that fear and awe of the LORD, and gave Aaron, Moses’ brother, their gold in order to make a golden calf idol to worship instead of the LORD their God. We are told in the Book of Hebrews to draw near to our God instead of being afraid and drawing back from Him just as Moses did as we are told to “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16), which they couldn’t do during the times of the Old Testament; but the Lord Jesus Christ and His final sacrifice of Himself on the Cross, opened up the way to come close and draw near in intimate fellowship with the LORD Yahweh, now our heavenly Father. Amen and Amen! Isaiah goes on to say that the LORD is “indeed angry, for we have sinned—in these ways we continue; and we need to be saved” (verse 5) by Him (see Romans 3:23 and 6:23) since “we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities” (verses 6-7), which reminds me not only of the above verses in Romans, but also of Psalm 14 that declares that the “LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call on the LORD?” But then the psalmist David declares, “God is with the generation of the righteous. You shame the counsel of the poor, but the LORD is his refuge” (verses 5-6); and then he calls upon the LORD to bring salvation to Israel and come out of Zion; and then “When the LORD brings back the captivity of His people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad” (verse 7) in Him. Thus, and I am sure that Isaiah would also agree with this, that it is impossible for a person to save Himself no matter how many “good works” he does towards others, as he or she is a dead person in their sins and iniquities before God; but with God, He can save them from their sins and iniquities, and no longer “be furious [with us believers in Him], O LORD, nor remember iniquity forever; indeed, please look—we are Your people!” (Verse 9). “But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand” (verse 8) so we believers just have to have the patience of Job, and do the work the Lord Jesus Christ has given us to do, as did the apostles of the Lord; and soon we will be in heaven with Him and enjoying His presence forever with us, and the blessings and benefits of the work He has given us to do here on the earth for His honor and glory. Amen and Amen!

 

Matthew 12:

 

“Jesus teaches concerning the Sabbath, warns against blasphemy and unbelief, and encourages faith and perseverance among His disciples,” the title of this chapter in which the Jewish leaders are challenging the “Authority of Jesus (12:1-50)” (Ibid., 1375). In actuality, the Lord Jesus Christ is challenging some of the Jewish leaders’ man-made laws regarding their religious traditions, but this only makes them more furious with Him and they desire to catch Him at saying or doing something wrong so they can turn Him over to the Roman government to put Him to death. Most of us (including myself) can praise Him when He stated that “in His name shall the Gentiles trust” (verse 21), because that means that He has and will save many Gentiles as well as eventually, those of the Jewish faith; but instead of believing and trusting in Him themselves, the Jewish leaders turned against Him and accused Him of blasphemy against His holy Father in heaven when in reality, the Jewish leaders were the ones that blasphemed against Him and wouldn’t be forgiven of their sins because they “blasphemed against the Holy Spirit” (verse 31). We believers do not need to speak many things to others “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I [Jesus Christ] say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (verses 34-37); in other words, be very careful of what you are saying to others, and only say good, wholesome words that help build up others in the faith of the Lord. Amen and Amen! Do you, believer, do this in your Christ-following life?

 

Joshua 5 and 6:1-5:

 

“Chapter 5: Circumcision is renewed, the Passover is celebrated, the manna ceases, and Joshua encounters the captain of the Lord’s host” and “The Second Generation Circumcised” are the two titles given to this section by my Study Bibles, indicating that the first generation of Israelites, whom came out of Egypt and wandered around the wilderness for some 40 years, didn’t take the time to obey the LORD their God in circumcising their children so it had to be done by Joshua instead of Moses. Moses, himself, almost died because he hadn’t circumcised his sons before he took over the leadership of Egypt so I assume that it wasn’t a big thing for the Israelites not to circumcise their sons in obedience to God’s Law, but it was for God to have His men’s children circumcised before the LORD as a sign for the covenant He gave to them to be His people, and He, to be their God of who they would love and obey. The baptism of God’s chosen people is today a sign of them being God’s chosen people, and this takes the place of the person(s) being circumcised as one of two signs or ordinances or sacraments that God gave us His people (the other one is the Lord’s Supper or the Communion Supper) in order to bless us and to reveal to ourselves and others that we are in reality God’s chosen people here on the earth as well as to remember Him by our doing them in obedience to His Word. Lastly, the Commander of the army of the LORD stood before Joshua, as Joshua asked Him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” And His answer was: “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come” (verses 13-14). This was no other than the Lord Jesus Christ, “a preincarnate appearance of the second person of the Trinity,” in who Joshua bowed down and worshiped “since God is the only legitimate object of worship,” and ‘my Lord’ is “not a title of deity specifically, but it does express Joshua’s recognition of one who is his superior” (Ibid., 310). Then Joshua is told to “loose his shoe” or “‘take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy” And Joshua did so” (verse 15) as he worshiped the Lord. This is the second time one of the leaders of God’s people has been told by the Lord to take off his shoes for he was standing on holy ground. Do you know where the first time a man of God was told to do this (and he obeyed)? That’s right, it was at the burning bush in the desert where Moses met the LORD Yahweh and was commissioned by Him to lead the captive Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Then in the first part of chapter 6, Joshua is given instructions on how he and the Israelites would destroy Jericho by walking around the city seven times while the priests blew their trumpets, and then in the last time, blowing the last trumpet, “all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up [against the no walled city without any protection] straight before him” (verse 5) as they defeated (actually, the LORD Yahweh defeated) Jericho and destroyed it (all except for Rahab and her family whom they brought safely out of the city (Joshua 6:23, 25) because of her faith in the LORD God in hiding the spies. This is a kind of strange way to fight against a city but the Israelites did it God’s way anyway, and their God gave them the victory over the city. They were obedient to do it God’s way, and thus He gave them the victory they desired. The same thing for us when we do our work (and everything else that we do) according to God’s Word, then He will bring His victory in our lives both for our own good, and for the honor and glory of the LORD Yahweh. The third application, the “Christophany” appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ to Joshua, “underscores the importance of meeting with Christ Himself. The sacraments serve as helpful visible signs of spiritual truths, but there is no substitute for experiencing and enjoying a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, to worship Him and to listen to His Word. “What saith my Lord unto his servant” (v. 14) ought to be the sincere question of every believer every time he opens the Scripture. The bottom line is that we all need a place we call Gilgal. What can you do to help develop a daily habit of meeting with your Lord?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 5,” 311).

 

Psalms 132, 133, and 134:

 

These are the last of the Songs of degrees or Ascents, which were sung by the Jewish pilgrims going up to Jerusalem to celebrate and worship the LORD Yahweh on the given festivals or celebrations for the year. Psalm 132 is entitled “David expresses his zeal for the ark of God that it might be in its rightful place” and “The Eternal Dwelling of God in Zion.” The prayer in this psalm is asking the LORD to remember David who desired with his whole heart to make a place (a temple) in which the LORD would inhabit for ever by His ark being there; and then the psalmist goes on to say that they found the ark “in the fields of the wood” (verse 6), “perhaps Kirjath-Jearim (“city of woods”) where the ark temporarily stayed (1 Sam. 7:1-2)” (Ibid., 868). They will go into his tabernacle (tent): we will worship at His footstool” (verse 7) as they call for the LORD to arise and go into His rest; “Thou and the ark of Thy strength” as His “priests be clothed with righteousness; and let Thy saints shout for joy. For Thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of Thine anointed” (verses 8-10). A “Word Study: shout for joy” concludes: “It is used to summon the heavens, the Gentiles, and most frequently the people of God—collectively and individually—to rejoice in God’s blessings (33:11; Deut. 32:43; Is. 44:23; Zech. 2:10). Our loud rejoicing in the Lord is based on His greatness and His goodness to us (5:11; 145:7; Lev. 9:24; Is. 12:6).” (New King James Version Bible, “132:9 Word Study: shout for joy,” Online Edition). Lastly, the psalmist tells the Israelites that “the LORD hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation. This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy” (verses 13-16), in which now days is where the believing church, the bride of Christ’s body, rests in these precious promises from the LORD Yahweh’s tremendous love for His people as He dwells within them (through the Holy Spirit) and dwells along side of them forever as His enemies are clothed with shame, but “upon Himself His crown shall flourish” (verse 18). This one short psalm gives us believers plenty of reason to shout and to sing our praises aloud to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen and Amen!

 

“Psalm 133: David describes the beauty of unity among God’s people” and this is true today in the church as it was so for God’s people united in the tabernacle (and later, temple) worship and praise services to give God all the honor and glory; and only by “divine grace amazingly makes the impossible, possible (2 Chron. 30:12; Jer. 32:39; John 17:23; Eph. 2:11-12).” (The KJVRH Study Bible, 869). As this unity is both “like the precious oil upon the head” and beard of Aaron, “The holy anointing oil used to consecrate the priests (Ex. 30:25, 30), a symbol of the Holy Spirit empowering people for sacred work (1 Sam. 16:13; Isa. 6:1; Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38)…. Thus unity equips God’s holy people to serve Him” and “like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion” (verse 3), as “a symbol of God’s power to give and renew life (110:3; Isa. 26:19; Hos. 14:5)…. The images in vv. 2-3 picture that which is excellent descending from top to bottom and affecting everything touched, for spiritual unity in Christ is a gift of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:3). Life for evermore. The Spirit-worked blessing God gives to His unified church on earth is just a foretaste of the fullness of blessing they will know in the kingdom (Rom. 8:23; 2 Cor. 1:22).” (Ibid., 869). “Unity, based on truth, is most desirable. It is to God’s glory and His people’s good, and therefore we must never do anything to produce discord or division. Since the Holy Spirit is the source of love and peace, we must constantly pray to be filled with the Spirit, and the whole church needs to pray for further outpourings of the Spirit. Is this a petition in your daily prayers? Is it a petition regularly heard in our prayer meetings?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Psalm 133,” 869).

 

Psalm 134: “The psalmist exhorts God’s servants to praise Him,” the title given to this psalm, is characteristic about this group of psalms as well as the “Call to Worship” psalms before this group (Psalms 95 through 106) as the psalmist calls “all you servants of the LORD” (verse 1) to bless the LORD, and to “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD” (verse 2); and this is for us to do as well, even if we go to a believer’s church of “laid back” and quiet people as I do! The common reason for doing so, in which many psalms state the same reason, is that “The LORD who made heaven and earth” who will “Bless you from Zion!” (Verse 3). One application given to this psalm is that “very special attention should be given to public worship since man’s chief end is to glorify and enjoy God. Just how much do we love God’s house and how devoted are we to Sabbath [Lord’s Day] worship? Tiredness can sometimes hinder us in worship, but it should never be an excuse to leave it off altogether. Godly priests saw it as their duty to worship even at night, and we do well to be as zealous and keen as they were.” (Ibid., 870).

 

Isaiah 65:

 

“Judgment and the New Creation (65:1—66:24); Chapter 65:The prophet declares the salvation of the Gentiles and a remnant of Israel and then predicts the new Jerusalem” and “The Righteousness of God’s Judgment” are the two titles given by my two Study Bibles. The nation not called by the LORD Yahweh’s name, but they sought and found Him, is the Gentiles; or as my Study Bible says: “The nations had no desire for the Lord, but the Lord of His own sovereign initiative gathered the Gentiles into the church by the grace of Christ (Rom. 10:20)” (Ibid., 1028) were welcomed into God’s family by Him; while the Jewish nation of Israel, of whom He had set His presence with them on His holy mountain, they are for the most part, rejected by Him, and “You shall leave your name as a curse to My chosen; for the Lord God will slay you, and call His servants by another name” (verse 15); or as the apostle Paul put it much later, that a veil has been placed over most of Israel’s eyes so they won’t come to know or believe in their Messiah-King Jesus Christ; and this has happened to most of the Jews all through their history of rejecting their Messiah-King in whom many of the Gentiles (non-Jews) have accepted His salvation in their lives, including you and I. Then comes a beautiful and magnificent description of God’s “Glorious New Creation” for those whom do know and believe in Him as their Lord and Savior, the Kingdom of God in all of His righteousness, and in our “joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying” (verse 19), in other words “The finished work of the Messiah results in a new creation as the old creation, cursed by sin, is replaced by a new, Eden-like order of righteousness and salvation (4:5-6; 45:8; 51:3, 6; Rom. 8:19-22; 2 Peter 3:13; Rev. 21:1). not be remembered. The sins and miseries of the past will no longer dominate one’s experience, but the hearts of the believers will be full of hope and joy…. The new creation begins not with outward and universal glory but with the transformation of sinners with a new, inward peace and joy in the Lord (57:19; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 2:10, 15; 4:24)” (Ibid., 1029). “God’s redemption of sinners will ultimately result in the transformation of the universe into a new creation unharmed by the curse against man’s sin. If this fallen world retains much beauty and pleasure, to a much greater degree will the new heavens and the new earth be a paradise of happiness for the church. All our desires will be satisfied by the God who made us. However, before we can enter into the new creation, the new creation must enter into us. We must be created anew in Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit. One fruit of this new creation is a new joy in the Lord Jesus, a spiritual delight in the loveliness of Christ. Another fruit is that we truly become one of the servants of the Lord, doing His will. Are you part of God’s new creation? How do you know?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 65,” 1029-30). In other words, have you been born again into the Kingdom of God by the Holy Spirit of God (John 3)? If so, then you are and will be a part of God’s new creation, but if not, you need to be born again by the Lord Jesus Christ to be a part of it now and forever. Amen and Amen!

 

Matthew 13:

 

“Chapter 13: Jesus teaches about the kingdom of heaven by using parables that both conceal and reveal the glory of Jesus. The Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven (13:1-58)” is the title for this section of the Scriptures, starting out with the well-known “Parable of the Sower (13:1-9)” and then the “Purpose of Parables (13:10-17).” In this parable of the sower, as God sows the seeds of His Word to our hearts, there are various ways in which our hearts either accept or reject His Word; and only in the last way when the seeds of God’s Word “fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Verses 8-9) the Word of God in his or her hearts, and then to believe and do what it says to do in our lives (James 1:21-25). Do you, believer, know and then do what the Word of God tells you to do and say to others around you? Next, the Lord Jesus Christ explains to his confused disciples why He is speaking parables to them, and the crowds of people whom are around them; and what these parables mean to them. These mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven are only given and understood by those whom are His disciples or followers, and not to those whom are not His. This is simply the sovereign Lord’s choice of whom hears and understands His parables, and whom doesn’t; and this even has a certain “time frame” to understanding them since even the “many prophets and righteous men [of the OT] desired to see what you see [namely, the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation and works upon the earth], and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it [the same]” (verse 17), as “under the prophets the mysteries of the kingdom were only partially revealed, but Christ’s teaching is their full manifestation (Rom. 16:25-26; Heb. 1:1-4; 1 Peter 1:10-12)” (Ibid., 1379). Then He teaches more about the Kingdom of heaven in several parables of the Kingdom; and each of them explains something more about either those whom are the subjects of the Kingdom of God, or what will happen when the final manifestation of God’s Kingdom will come upon the earth. Lastly, those whom know Him as part of their human family or neighbor reject Jesus, but not as the Man-God who had taught them in their synagogue, “so that they were astonished and asked, ‘Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?’” (Verse 54). Since He was considered as “a prophet…without honor except in His own country and in His own house,” He “did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (verses 57-58). This is one of many very sad verses in the Gospels, or Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ when the people around Him rejected Him instead of receiving Him as their Lord and Savior. How about you, what do you, do in your life?

 

Joshua 6-7:

 

Joshua 6-7: “The Conquest of Canaan (6:1—12:24)” as “The Central Campaign (6:1—9:27)” and “Chapter 6: Jericho is destroyed with all its inhabitants except Rahab and her family” are the titles given to this section and chapter of Joshua. Since “Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in” (verse 1) as “Jericho was closed and staying closed. It was in lockdown. Jericho—ironically known as the city of palms—was under a sentence of destruction” (Ibid., 311) as the LORD told Joshua that He has given Jericho into his “hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor” (verse 2); and then Joshua repeated the instructions from the LORD Yahweh on what he and the Israelites were to do to destroy the city, adding to these instructions that fact that they were not to individually take and enjoy the “accursed things,” all of the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron” spoils of war for themselves, but they “are consecrated to the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD” (verse 19). And so the Israelites by Joshua’s leadership did exactly as the LORD told them to do, and the LORD Yahweh gave them complete victory over the inhabitants of Jericho, except for Rahab and her family when they hid the Israelite spies, and they promised to save her and her family from this destruction. This is an important part of the chapter since “Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho” (verse 25); and afterwards, Rahab, now a Jewish believer, became a vital part of the whole genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ in birthing Boaz whom by Ruth (another heathen woman turned Jewish believer) who became King David’s grandmother, which ultimately led to the “Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ” (Matthew 1:5-16), the Son of God and the Messiah. These people were faithful to the LORD their God, and God used them for the virgin Mary’s birth of her first-born Son, Jesus Christ. This virgin-birth of Jesus has only been done one time in the history of mankind, and won’t ever be repeated, but when we believers are faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ, then one never knows how God will use us to love and promote His Kingdom among the people living here on the earth just as He used Rahab way back in the early days of establishing His people, Israel, and much later, bringing His Son into the world; and He will use us when we are faithful to Him as well as we “Ask God to give you victory through grace and the will to live by faithful obedience” (Ibid., 312). Then, in chapter 7: “Israel suffered defeat at Ai because of Achan’s secret sin that was discovered and punished by death,” the title given to this chapter in which Achan disobeyed the LORD God by hoarding all of the spoils of war against the small city of Ai for himself, but he was later discovered (after the Israelites were defeated by their much smaller army) and the Israelites “stoned him with stones, and burned them [all the family and things belonging to Achan, including the spoils of war] with fire, after they had stoned them with stones” (verse 25); and upon doing this, so “the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger” against Israel, and the place where this all happened “was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day” (verse 26). This “illustrates the lex talionis principle of eye for eye. As Achan had done, the Lord would do to him. It is always a fearful thing to get from God what is deserved…. He sinned alone but all his family suffered the consequence. The effects of sin are pervasive and tragic” (Ibid., 314). My KJVRH Study Bible concludes one application of this passage with “The narrative also underscores the fact that secret sins are openly known by God, and in His time all sin will be detected and dealt with. Paul said, “Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after” (1 Tim. 5:24). One way or another and sooner or later, all sin is exposed and its penalty executed. How can knowing this help you in your own battle for sanctification?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 7,” 314).

 

Psalms 135, 136, 137, and 138:

 

“Psalm 135: The psalmist exhorts God’s people to praise Him and extols God’s unique power in contrast to the worthlessness of idols,” the title and theme of this psalm as the first part of it is a call to God’s people to “praise the name of the LORD; praise Him, O you servants of the LORD! You who stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God” (verses 1-2); and why should they (and we) do this praising Him? The answer: “Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing praises to His name, for it is pleasant. For the LORD has chosen Jacob [Israel, the church] for Himself, Israel for His special treasure” (verses 3-4). As if the psalmist hasn’t given us enough reasons for us to praise the LORD, he goes on with many more reasons, such as: “our LORD is great, and our LORD is above all gods [idols]. Whatever the LORD pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and all deep places” (verses 5-6), and then the psalmist expounds on this by giving several examples of the LORD doing whatever He pleases in all of creation, and in mankind as well; and all for the good of His people, Israel and the church (see Romans 8:28) all for His great and forever enduring name; and His “fame, O LORD, throughout all generations” as He judges His people, and has “compassion on His servants” (verses 13-14). According to the Scripture, the LORD Yahweh has already judged all of His people through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, when He judged Him on the Cross for all of our sins, and then accepted His Son as the final and complete Sacrifice for all of our sins to be forgiven by Him; and all of this He did because of His great love and compassion for us as His people just as He had for His believing Jews in the Old Testament, He has for us whom believe upon Him in this NT age of His grace. Amen and Amen! In the next section, the psalmist tells how dumb and stupid all of the idols, the work of men’s hands are, and the fact that “Those who make them are like them; so everyone who trusts in them” (verse 18), which is just as true today as back when the psalmist wrote these words to ancient Israel. The apostle John, when he was an old man, wrote to the church three letters, and concluded his first one with these words for our instruction: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (1 John 5:21). Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, are you obeying in your life these instructions from God’s Word? Lastly, the psalmist tells all of those of Israel (and us of the church) to “Bless the LORD…. You who fear the LORD, bless the LORD! Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the LORD!” (Verses 19-21). We believers need to praise and bless the LORD Yahweh as well in our lives of faith in Him; but are you doing so for everything and everybody He brings into your presence?

 

“Psalm 136: “The psalmist repeats many of the thoughts of the previous psalm, but with a constant refrain of praise to God for His eternal love,” the title given to this psalm, which gives many more reasons to bless the LORD our God and to “give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” (verse 1), and the last part of the verse is the refrain for the whole psalm. “his mercy endureth for ever. Literally, “forever is His covenant love and loyalty” (106:1; 107:1; 118:1-4, 29). This refrain occurs in every verse. God’s faithful love that He demonstrates in goodness, kindness, and mercy is a fountain that never runs dry (103:17; Lam. 3:22-23).” (Ibid., 871). “This psalm provides a pattern for praising God’s faithful love. It begins by reflecting on who God is both in His goodness and greatness (vv. 1-3). The psalmist enumerates His amazing works (v. 4) of creation (vv. 5-9), redemption (vv. 10-15), and leading His people to their inheritance (vv. 16-22). It concludes by considering the gracious and compassionate nature of His love to the lowly, and the breadth of its blessings (vv. 23-25). Why is it good to praise God with songs that recount His great works in history and highlight His attributes?” And concludes the second application with this question for us to answer: “What reasons from God’s work in your own life motivate you to say to God, “Thy mercy endureth forever”?” (Ibid., 871-2).

 

“Psalm 137: The psalmist laments the bitterness of being in exile” in Babylonia, in which the psalmist condemns those whom want to hear their songs from Jerusalem just to mock or torment them with their “mirth” (verse 3), or “jubilation” (Ibid., 872). This is a very sad and bitter psalm against the Babylonians as their (and God’s) enemies and one of “a cry for justice against the cruelty of Babylon (2 Kings 25:7; Lam. 5:11-12), an implicit prayer that the wicked should receive what they have done to others (v. 8). Though God has a special kindness for children (Matt. 19:13-15), children are not exempt from the consequences of sin (Ex. 11:5; Matt. 24:19; Luke 23:27-29).” (Ibid., 872). “Cyrus, who led the Medes and Persians to conquer Babylon, was specially helped by God to avenge His people (Isa. 45:1-4)” (Ibid.). One excellent application of this psalm is: “Sin brings inevitable consequences. Vengeance is the Lord’s. Though the enemies of God’s people may mock at their sufferings, one day the Lord will bring back on the wicked what they have done. Even as believers may weep over the persecuted church, they can also rejoice that Christ is coming and will make all things right. How can this hope enable us to wait patiently and not take personal revenge?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Psalm 137,” 872).

 

“Psalm 138: David praises God for answered prayer and expresses confidence in the Lord’s continuing mercy,” the title of this psalm, and the theme of praising God for His answer to your prayers is the one attitude that we believers always should have in our lives. For the LORD Yahweh has “magnified Your Word above all Your name. In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul” (verses 2-3). God’s Word being magnified in vital importance even above God’s own name is what the psalmist is pointing out this truth to us, so believer, do you see and know the importance of knowing and obeying God’s Word in your life? Even “all the kings of the earth shall praise You, O LORD, when they hear the words of Your mouth” (verse 4) so is this the same for you, believer, as well as the rulers of the earth? Do you join them in singing, “of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD” (verse 5)? Verse 4: “All the kings…shall praise Thee.” Christ’s kingdom will encompass every nation and the greatest of men will honor the Lord (72:11; 102:15; Isa. 52:15; 53:12; Rev. 21:24).” (Ibid., 872). And “138:6 high…lowly. God’s very majesty moves Him to give grace to the humble (Isa. 57:15).” And lastly, “138:8 perfect. Bring to completion His purposes. mercy. Same word as “lovingkindness”(v. 2). works of thine own hands. God’s people are His workmanship (100:3; Eph. 2:10).” (Ibid., 873). “Christians must not fear to confess Christ before the world, and give praise to God in the presence of great men and women (Matt. 10:18, 26, 32-33). Though the rich, powerful, and celebrities of the world may be regarded as gods, they will die like all other men (82:6-7). They need to hear of the glories of the only true God, so that they can be saved and give Him the praise that He deserves. Is there anyone around whom you find it very hard to speak to about the Lord? Why is this? How can you overcome that fear?” And “2. God has chosen to invest His glory in His Word, not to make the Bible into God, but so that people will honor the Lord in the way they honor His Word. A mark of true conversion is receiving the Holy Scriptures not as the word of men, but as the powerful and authoritative Word of God (1 Thess. 2:13). How should this affect our attitude when we hear the preaching of God’s Word? How should this affect the way that preachers study and proclaim the Word?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Psalm 138,” 873).

 

Isaiah 66:

 

The last chapter of Isaiah entitled “The Lord declares judgment upon all who are unrepentant of their sins, but He promises great blessings upon Zion” by my Study Bible on page 1030. This is what happens to all of the people whom see and know the LORD Yahweh and His Son, the Messiah-King Jesus Christ as we believers are given by the Holy Spirit to have “poor and of a contrite spirit [within us, see Matthew 5:3-8] and who tremble at My Word” (the Word of God, verse 2). This is the opposite of those whom are idolaters and “blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations, so will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; because, when I [The LORD Yahweh] called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight” (verses 3-4). Yes, they do believe in the delusions and fears that come their way; but since they chose to do evil before the LORD, He does not delight in them nor their choices and they are not saved by Him for His glory. Then “The LORD Vindicates Zion (or Israel in this case)” as the believing Jews are brought to Him and receives His comfort, “and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem” (verse 13) by the LORD Yahweh; and this will even be the “peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream” (verse 12) that is given to those whom believe and trust in the Lord. When the LORD comes against His enemies “with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword the LORD will judge all flesh; and the slain of the LORD shall be many” (verses 15-16) while they will be consumed together with other unbelieving evil and wicked people. The LORD Yahweh will send those whom escape His judgment to various places far off from the holy land, those whom have never heard of His fame nor seen His glory will then “declare My glory among the Gentiles” (verse 19) and then all of the brethren will bring an offering to the house of the LORD; and He will make the new heavens and the new earth for those whom “shall come to worship before Me,” says the LORD; but the rest, the enemies of the LORD all will be exposed for having “transgressed against Me, for their worm does not die, and their fire [of hell] is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh” (verse 24), thus ends the existence of all of those whom are unsaved as they will all receive God’s judgment against them and their sins and transgressions; but those saved throughout all of the ages of mankind (including Gentile believers) will be in the presence of the LORD God in His new creation of the new heavens and the new earth forever and ever with Him. Which will you be, reader, as “every human being will either end up worshiping the Lord in the new creation forever or suffering horribly in hell without intermission or end. There is no third option. This reality presses upon us two other great truths of this chapter. 1. First, it calls us to consider whether we are saved by grace. Salvation is not about external things like being in a church building or bringing an offering. It is a matter of a heart humbled by God’s majesty, broken under the weight of one’s sins, and submissive to God’s Word (vv. 1-2). Is this a description of you? Are you headed for eternal worship and joy or for eternal damnation? 2. Second, it calls us to consider the great mission of the church to all nations (vv. 18-21). It began with faithful Jews, the apostles, and other disciples of Jesus Christ, who gave themselves to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Yet the mission continues for the church today. The only way for sinners to escape hell and gain heaven is by the gospel of Christ. How are you using your abilities and resources to send the gospel to all nations?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 66,” 1031).

 

Matthew 14 and 15:

 

“Chapter 14: John the Baptist dies. Jesus performs several miracles confirming His teachings and declarations as the Son of God,” the title given to this chapter showing that indeed the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the sovereign Ruler and King over all of the people of Israel, and everywhere else in the world. John was a “trouble-maker” for the ungodly and adulterous marriage between Herod Antipas, the ruler of the area, and his second wife, Herodias, who had been his own brother Philip’s wife (Lev. 18:16; 20:21); and his wife was the one who really hated John and got his head cut off, which was a “form of death reserved for terrible wrong-doers. John the Baptist died as an accused criminal, much as Jesus would.” (Ibid., 1381). In just about every church that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, there are at least one person similar to John in stirring up the others in the church in hopes that they will all follow and obey the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word to them, and that’s very well to have such a person or persons such as this among you; but just as long as the person(s) don’t produce divisions in the church among all of the saved people for this is forbidden by the Word of God, except in certain situations as the main part of the church becomes very “liberal” and doesn’t believe or do God’s Word any longer, and then the believers there are called out by the Word of God to “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18); but a very few maybe “minor” points in church doctrine, which are more of a disagreement type nature, are not good reasons for the church body to divide against each other; but unfortunately, this happens a lot in many churches even today. We believers all need to also recognize that Jesus Christ’s many miracles, in the Word of God, are for the proof that many people need to know and believe that He is God as well as perfect Man; and that His mission here on the earth was to preach the gospel as well as to heal many people whom came to a believing and trusting faith in Him; and eventually, to be nailed to the Cross in order to be punished by His heavenly Father for our sins, which we deserved to suffer for them, but He did it all for us believers in Him. We know and believe that “Jesus is Lord and God. Though a prophet, like Moses who saw the Lord divide the sea and provide manna to Israel, Jesus is far greater than Moses, for Christ walked upon the sea and enabled Peter to do the same. Therefore, it is right that we worship Him in our prayers and praises. Do you delight to worship Christ with holy fear? If so, then remember that your greatest act of worship is to trust Him. What can we learn from Peter about honoring Christ by faith?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 14,” 1382).

 

Chapter 15: “Jesus teaches about true defilement and the nature of genuine faith, again performing several miracles. Further Teaching on Discipleship (15:1-20)” is the titles given to this chapter. The Lord Jesus’ teachings were very much different than the Jewish leaders whom taught the “tradition of the elders,” which were passed down in time from “not Old Testament law, but human customs that the disciples were not following” (Ibid. 1382); and this caused many of the Jewish leaders to jealously hate the Lord and want to put Him to death because He wasn’t afraid to challenge their wrong teachings even in front of a vast crowd of people in Jerusalem or elsewhere. The Lord Jesus Christ knew the hearts of the people He healed, one being the Greek woman of Canaan who had a daughter “grievously vexed with a devil” but at first He didn’t answer her nor her need to have her daughter healed; but finally she told Him the “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” and “then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour” (verses 22-28) so the Lord Jesus Christ even healed Gentiles at that time, even though He was not “sent [to them] but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (verse 24). My KJVRH Study Bible has a study note on verse 24: “lost sheep of the house of Israel. In submission to God’s redemptive plan, Christ focused His ministry upon the spiritual needs of the physical offspring of Abraham in the land (9:36; 10:6) before sending the gospel to the gentiles as well (28:19).” (Ibid., 1383). Do you know the first apostle who was commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to take the gospel to the Gentile people? Yes, it was the apostle Paul, who really loved his own Jewish people as well, but he went to the Gentiles to bring them the gospel, and the Holy Spirit added them to the church in great numbers throughout the whole gospel age of God’s grace from the early church until now in the world. I am very glad this happened since I am a Gentile-believer in the Lord Jesus Christ with whom the Holy Spirit through God’s Word to me (as I read through the Gospel of John) brought me to know, believe, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord; and into His church as well. How about you?

 

Joshua 8 and 9:

 

“Chapter 8: Following the Lord’s instructions, Joshua reveals and executes the strategy leading to Ai’s destruction after which he erected an altar for sacrifice and read all the law of Moses to the nation” is the title of this passage from my Study Bible, page 314, and it describes very accurately what happens in this chapter following the Israelites’ former defeat because of the greediness and disobedience of Achan, of whom they stoned to death. I have heard some experts of warfare say that what Joshua did in his strategies of warfare against his enemies in the land that they were excellent strategies, and that many generals in history have used these same techniques successfully in battle warfare. For verses 2-8, my Study Bible said: “Although the strategy for defeating Ai did not entail the same supernatural intervention as Jericho, it was nonetheless the divine plan. Unlike Jericho, the contents of Ai were not under the ban; they were the spoil for the people. This casts a shadow of irony over Achan’s sin; in due time, the bounty he sinned to obtain could have been his by divine sanction.” (Ibid., 314-5). When we believers are in battle against our enemies of temptation, our flesh, the devil, and the world, if we know and follow God’s Word in our battles, then He will provide our successful victories in overcoming these temptations to sin against Him just as the LORD Yahweh did for Joshua and the Israelites all through His battles with the natives of the land in which He promised them. It is when they either didn’t know God’s Word, or chose not to obey it, that they (and we) get in trouble and are not victorious in overcoming these sins and iniquities in our lives. Then Joshua built an altar before the LORD God to give the sacrifice of thanksgiving for Him giving them the victory; and also the sacrifices and burnt offerings unto the LORD in which were “written in the book of the law of Moses. He didn’t stop at building this altar, though, but “he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them” (verses 34-35). My Study Bible has this application about the importance of hearing and knowing God’s Word in all believers’ lives: “The reading of the Law (at that time the totality of inspired Scripture) to all the population is a reminder of the importance of the Bible for the life and welfare of every believer. As the leader of the people, Joshua was devote himself to the Word of God (1:8). But it was just as important for the people to listen firsthand to what God had to say. Similarly, it is not just the obligation of the minister to read and obey the Scripture, but every believer should read it thoroughly and regularly. How can you give God’s Word a more prominent place in your life?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 8,” 316).

 

Now for “Chapter 9: The Gibeonites deceptively seek peace with Israel, resulting in a covenant that spares them from destruction but places them under servitude. Alliance with Gibeon (9:1-27)” is the title given to this chapter in which the Gibeonites, natives of the land in which the Israelites were to destroy, pretend and lie to them about their origin being outside the land, and Joshua makes a peaceful covenant not to destroy them. The big mistake Joshua and the Israelite elders made here was that they believed the men from Gibeon, took of their food with them, and “asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD” (verse 14) and so were successfully deceived by them. We believers again need to know and believe the Word of God in our lives in order to help us meet and confront deceptively false teachers and prophets of these times, as well as to see what the Holy Bible says for us to do and say in our daily lives. We need to do as did the Bereans when they heard the apostle Paul’s teaching of God’s Word, that “these were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” resulting in them learning God’s Word and “therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men” (Acts 17:11-12). Do you see this happening in your believing church today as you search out God’s Word to make sure that your pastor or minister is teaching you the whole and correct Word of God? Then, in just three days, they learned that they had been deceived by the Gibeonites, but Joshua kept the covenant he had made with them; but made them servants whom cut and hauled wood and water for them, “as the princes had promised them” (verse 21). “Joshua 9:25 [“And now, behold, we are in thine hands: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do”] expresses the proper sentiment of all who have been delivered from the sentence and bondage of death: surrendering to the will and good pleasure of the new master. The Gibeonites gladly became servants to those who by covenant oath had spared them. So Christians, who by a greater covenant and oath have been delivered, ought gladly to surrender themselves to the service of Jesus, the new Lord and Master. In the light of grace, how can you find joy in serving Jesus?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 9,” 317).

 

Psalms 139, 140, and 141:

 

“Psalm 139: David acknowledges God’s infinite perfections and expresses his desire for their personal application” as “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David” are the titles to this psalm that shows that God sovereignly knows everything, but His “such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it” (verse 6) nor can he (or anyone else) ever flee from God’s omniscient presence wherever one goes, God is there and knows exactly where the person is; not that this is a belief in a god’s presence in everything in nature, such as in a piece of wood, stone, etc., but He is God whose “power, active in providence to rule all things” and is “omnipresent or present in all places (1 Kings 8:27; Isa. 66:1; Jer. 23:23-24)” (Ibid., 873). The fact that He knows everything about you and me is comforting to the believer in Christ Jesus as He knows all our weaknesses and strengths, and yet He has forgiven us for falling into our sins and transgressions because we are just human beings; but this fact is also dreadful and brings terror and judgment to the unbeliever because He knows all of their unforgiven and unrepentant sins as well, and thus judges the unbeliever for them. We all were made by Him as was David’s who praised God “for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them” (verses 13-15), a perfect argument against abortion or murder of the unborn still in the mother’s womb of protection. God thinks of us all of the time in such precious and great ways so that we cannot even count the ways He does so since they are much more than even the numbers of sand (on a beach); and “when I [we] awake, I [we] am still with You” (verse 18), that is, all of those whom believe and trust Him as Lord and Savior of their lives. Then David calls out against his enemies, of whom he hates “them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies” (verse 22) just as what was said about the difference between the two brothers, Jacob and Esau in Romans 9:13, 18: “As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated’” and “Therefore He [God] has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens [their hearts against Him, as God did against the Pharaoh in Egypt in the Book of Exodus, etc.]. Well, there goes that terrible falsehood many so-called Christ-believers like to tell other people that “God loves you” when it may or may not be true to that particular individual just as it was true to Jacob (Israel) but not to Esau, his brother. God chooses us for His merciful salvation, or let’s those whom are not chosen “go on by” His salvation and live for themselves and their own sinful pleasures as He has done in many places in His Word. Lastly, David calls out for God to search him and know his heart, to try him and know his thoughts (or “anxieties”); and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (verses 23-24); and this is very important for every Christ-believer and follower to do likewise in our lives and our walk with the Lord. Amen and Amen!

 

“Psalm 140: David prays for protection and expresses his confidence in God’s vindication,” the title for this “Psalm of David,” as David calls out for the LORD Yahweh’s deliverance from the violent man who only has mischief in his or her heart, and they are continually “gathered together for war” with their “sharpened tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips” (verses 2-3) with their many lies, deceits, and violence towards others. “The corruption of fallen mankind infects human speech with hidden evil such as hatred, deceit, and pride (cited Rom. 3:13; cf. James 3:2-12).” (Ibid., 874). After David has further described those whom are his enemies, and the wicked, violent snares they lay to catch him, David goes on to tell of the goodness of God and His vindication against his enemies. David is certain that this will happen against them so “that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor” and so “Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto Thy name: the upright shall dwell in Thy presence” (verses 12-13). Do you, believer, give thanks unto the precious name of the Lord our God; and seek to dwell in His presence here on the earth as well as eternally in His glorious presence in heaven?

 

“Psalm 141: David prays for God to hear his petitions and for protection from the wicked” as a “Psalm of David.” This is similar to Psalm 140, but has to do more with David’s relationship with the LORD as to whether He hears his prayers or not; and what David is going through when the righteous even strike him with their rebukes so he won’t incline his heart “to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men who work iniquity” (verse 4) for to David, the rebukes of a righteous person are in kindness, and will be “as excellent oil” felt good to be put on his body. We believers also need to listen and pay heed to rebukes of righteous people plus coming from the Word of God to us on what we are doing wrong or sinful against the Lord, and that we must put them to a stop in our lives in order to follow and obey the Lord in our walk with Him. David continues to pray “against the deeds of the wicked” (verse 5), but his “eyes are upon You, O GOD the Lord; in You I take refuge; do not leave my soul destitute…. (And) let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I escape safely” (verses 8, 10). The latter part of these verses (verse 10) has been illustrated quite nicely and in a humorous way in many of the older cartoons for children on TV, and notably, my favorite one called “The Roadrunner” in which all of the traps that Wile E. Coyote sets to catch (and then eat) the Road Runner always seem to backfire and catch Wile E. Coyote in them instead, even when he uses some absurdly complex contraptions such as from “Acme Corporation” to help him catch the Roadrunner. This is exactly illustrates what David is praying against his enemies in this (and other) psalms as he concludes this psalm: “Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I escape safely” (verse 10). “Prayer is vital and must never be neglected, particularly in difficult times. The storms of life should always drive us into the harbor of God’s presence. Notice what David asked God to give him: salvation from sin, accountability from godly friends, rescue from the traps of the world, and judgment upon the wicked. How often do you pray for such things?” (“Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Psalm 141,” 875).

 

Jeremiah 1, 2, and 3:

 

“The author of the book is Jeremiah (whose name means “Jehovah appoints or establishes”), a prophet of the living God who came from a priestly family (1:1-2; 2 Chron. 35:25; 36:12, 21-22). Jeremiah’s ministry began in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, king of Judah (1:2), which most accept as being 627 BC, and it lasted for about forty-seven years, covering the reigns of several kings and the first part of the captivity (chs. 40-44). Jeremiah’s writings are not in chronological order…. Theme: Judgment for breaking the covenant and restoration by God’s faithfulness (Jer. 1:10). Purpose: To encourage repentance from sin because of impending judgment and trust in the Lord as the only hope for salvation…. Jeremiah is the longest of the prophetic books, and is written in both poetry and prose. The book contains various literary types, including sermons and visions. A large portion is autobiographical, describing various incidents in Jeremiah’s life. We are, therefore, given a great deal of insight into his character, enabling us to identify much more readily with him as a man. Like Moses, he made excuses and was reluctant to accept the call and commission of God (Jer. 1:6; cf. Ex. 4:10). Whereas Moses ministered before the nation entered the Promised Land, Jeremiah was a teacher of the people before they were removed from that land into exile…. There are also parallels between Jeremiah and the apostle Paul (Jer. 1:5; cf. Gal. 1:15-16). Both had a love for the lost and desired the salvation of their nation but were rejected by their own people…. He preached an unpopular message and was prepared to suffer the consequences of being faithful to the Lord. Oh for men like him today! His spirituality is evidenced throughout the long ministry that the Lord gave to him…. His pointing to the coming Messiah as “the Lord Our Righteous” (23:6; 33:16) and to the new covenant (31:1-40) show that the only basis and hope of salvation have always been through God’s grace in His Christ. This surely ought to bring joy to the heart of every true Christian! In addition to his message, Jeremiah himself, as a type or picture-prophecy, points to the Lord Jesus in that he, like the Savior, was a suffering servant. No one except the Lord Jesus was ever treated with more contempt by Israel” (Ibid., 1033-4). “Chapter 1: God calls Jeremiah to the prophetic office, giving him both instructions and promises for his ministry” (Ibid.) just as our God through His Son Jesus Christ calls us to specific ministries in the world around us, and to God’s own people, and then gives us the gifts of the Holy Spirit to do the work He has given to us to do, regardless of whether we are official church pastors or not, we still have specific ministries both within and without the church to serve others around us. And even “covenant children” within the church have certain duties to perform for the sake of God’s Kingdom, including being submissive to their parents and learning the Word of God and how it applies to their lives as Jeremiah’s excuse of being “a child” (verse 7) was not acceptable to the LORD Yahweh as Jeremiah would be sent and speak whatsoever the LORD commanded him to speak. It was not going to be an easy ministry for Jeremiah but in reality, no ministry for God is going to be an easy ministry, not in this world of hatred and contempt for the things of the Lord Jesus Christ for the world will hate you just as much as they hated our Lord for the Lord Jesus Christ told us this would happen to us. But He also told us that He would never leave nor forsake us, and so this should be at least part of the motivation for us to continue on in our ministry regardless of what happens to us. Then in chapter 2: “God’s Judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem (2:1—25:28)” and “Judah’s sins are set out in the form of an indictment that would be brought before a court of law. The Backslidden Nature of the Nation (2:1-37)” in which “This chapter resembles a legal document, based on the covenant between God and His people” (Ibid., 1037); but guess whom breaks the covenant with God that He made with them? If we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and know Him as our Lord and Savior, then our God has made and ratified His covenant through the shed blood of His Son Jesus Christ for us as believers in Him; but how many times have you broken His covenant with God even today, let alone all of yours and mine history of our Christian walk with Him? Have we believers always “loved the Lord thy God with your whole minds, souls and hearts; and your neighbor as you love yourself” in outward ways as well as inward, spiritual ways? Since we haven’t even kept this one commandment of the Lord’s, then we should be very thankful for the Lord’s forgiving mercy for us, as He was for sinful Israel and Judah at the time Jeremiah wrote these words to them. The believing remnant of Israel and Judah will be restored to their “pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? And I said, Thou shalt call me, My Father; and shalt not turn away from Me” (verse 19) as they lie down in shame and confusion with “shame or disgrace. Recognizing that Jehovah is the only source of salvation (v. 23) involves confession of sin” (Ibid., 1040) and obedience to the “voice (or Word) of the LORD our God” (verse 25), which is the same for us today as for Israel and Judea in the days of Jeremiah. Have you confessed your sins before the LORD Yahweh, our heavenly Father, and have started to obey His Word to you (with the help of the Holy Spirit), then you are one of the Lord Jesus Christ’s chosen people. If not, why not do these things in order to have a good and intimate relationship with the LORD Yahweh through His Son Jesus Christ? Lastly, in “Chapter3: “After a description of the nation’s sin, the Lord commands repentance and gives promises to the penitent,” Jeremiah pleas again and again for those whom call themselves “God’s people” to return to Him since if they don’t, then their time of “Judgment Is Coming (4:5—6:30)”; and this is the same thing possible to us here in this country we love, but if we believers don’t turn to our God (as neither Israel nor Judea did), then He may tear us apart from our country and send us into exile in some foreign land, as He did soon to Judea, and before this time to Israel), to chastise us so we will hopefully learn our lesson of obedience to Him and His Word. I really can’t say if this will happen to us or not since I’m not a prophet of God, but it might happen to us since many of us have a very hard time learning from historical events that took place before our time here on the earth; but whether or not this happens to us and our country falls down, the fact of the matter is that as we say we are God’s people, and so we need to obey Him and His Word to us. Amen and Amen!

 

Matthew 16 and 17:

 

“Chapter 16: Jesus is rejected by the Pharisees and Sadducees and warns His disciples against them. Peter makes the grand confessions of faith in Christ, who announces His passion, death, and resurrection. Jesus’ Message Rejected and Accepted (16:1-28)” is the title of this chapter. First of all, the Jewish leaders seek a sign from the Lord Jesus showing them who He is, but the only sign He gives to them is “the sign of Jonah” (verse 4), which tells them that for 3 days He will be in the grave (Jonah was in the big fish for that long), and after 3 days, He will be resurrected from His grave just as Jonah was vomited out of the fish to live again; but they didn’t either know what He meant by the sign or obviously didn’t accept it from Him. Then He warned His disciples against the “leaven” that is, false teachings and men’s traditions and not God’s Word, against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees; but the disciples thought that they had taken any bread with them, but it was the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees in which they had to beware of that false doctrine. We, today, do not have to worry much or any about such doctrine, but we do need to beware of all false doctrines in and outside the true and believing churches today; and not only be aware of it but to get rid of it from amongst true believers or it will eventually destroy the churches it affects. Yes, most churches have doctrine within them, whether they think so or not, and this doctrine shapes the church in either a true or false church, depending on what it says to them. The church I attend uses a subordinate doctrinal confession of faith called the “Westminster Confession of Faith,” but it is subordinate to the Word of God in its usage in the church, but does keep the churches under it’s influence from being under bad or false doctrine being spread in the church; and I like it for that reason. Does your church have a formal or informal doctrinal statement about their faith in Christ? Then Matthew writes about Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah; and he is absolutely correct in his confession. In verse 18, my Word Study Bible has a study on Peter here saying: “As Peter and rock are one word in the language spoken by Jesus (Aramaic), the wordplay in this verse can be duplicated only in languages that also have one word for both. In Greek, the word for Peter is petros (meaning “stone”); the word for rock is petra. Some commentators have indicated that, though the two words are nearly synonymous, Jesus intended a distinction—Peter is but a fragment of the whole, while Christ Himself is the entire rock. Thus it could be said that the church would be built on Christ, the Rock. Be that as it may, at least it can be said that the context allows that the rock upon which the church is built is Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Son of God” (New King James Version Bible, “16:18 Word Study: Peter”). Verse 20 says that “Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ” or the Messiah; probably because if they had made His messianic claims known, then many of the people would have made Him their earthly King but He is our heavenly King-Messiah instead, even as He rules sovereignly over the earth and the whole universe. Who do you say that the Lord Jesus Christ is to you? Since Jesus told His disciples several times about His coming death and resurrection, but the disciples didn’t believe Him until after it happened; and then they were set on fire to them taking up the Cross and to follow Him, all before “the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works” (verse 27), but first those rewarded had to belong to Him and in His heavenly Father’s grace and mercy since that is the only way they could do good works for His glorious Kingdom is to first believe and trust in Him as their Lord and Savior. Do you?

 

“Chapter 17: Jesus is transfigured before His disciples in preparation for His death and subsequent glory. He performs several miracles and teaches about faith in Himself as the Son of God. Jesus’ Transfiguration (17:1-13)” which is the title for this section of Matthew’s Gospel. A few of His favored disciples experience this transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ, as they experience the obviously spiritual presence of Moses and Elijah as well, they got very nervous and Peter, as their usual spokesperson, said that he wanted to make three tabernacles (tents) for them; but then came the awesome and mighty voice of God the Father commending the Son Jesus Christ as He said from the clouds: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Verse 5) And then the disciples were very much afraid and fell on their faces before Him in worship and praise. Then the Lord came and touched them and then told them to arise and not to be afraid; and when they looked up, “they saw no one but Jesus only” (verse 8), which again reminds me of the modern song: “Lift Up Your Eyes and See Christ Above” by the Sovereign Grace Music, even though the song is mostly about the Lord Jesus Christ on or after dying on the Cross, it also shows Him as the exalted High Priest, “Where He has prepared His great wedding feast. We’ll drink of His joy and rest in His love and take heart! He will love us forever” (from “All We Long to See,” released May 1, 2003 by Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI) with all rights reserved). Again, do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your exalted High Priest, and so will be there at His tremendous wedding feast awaiting us believers in heavenly glory? Then a man came to Him asking for His merciful healing, which His disciples failed to perform, and so the Lord healed the boy and told the disciples that they had failed because of their unbelief as well as that “this kind [of demon possession] does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (verse 21), which evidently they failed to do. We also must do all of our ministries before the Lord for His honor and glory, and to do them after we have had much prayer (and possibly fasting) before Him. Then the Lord Jesus once again predicts His betrayal and death by the hands of men, and then on “the third day He will be raised up” (verse 23), which made the disciples exceedingly sorrowful at their “losing Him” but they were exceedingly glad and joyful after they saw Him resurrected from the dead; and this reminds me of a couple of passages from the Psalms: “My [God’s] voice you shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up” (Psalm 5:3), and especially “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5)! How true in all of our believers’ lives, but also very true in the lives of the early disciples when they experienced His resurrection, which brought them all joy in their hearts, after the mourning and weeping for when He died on the Cross and was dead and buried before them. Have you, believer, experienced this fact in your own life of faith? Lastly, I was thinking of the last section of this chapter in which “Peter and His Master Pay Their Taxes” especially during our last “tax season” ending on April 15^th of this year; and I wished that we could get enough money to pay our taxes by the Lord and Master Jesus Christ performing some kind of miracle in providing the money for us; but in actuality, He did by giving us jobs so that we can work hard and provide for all of our needs, including paying taxes that are required for God’s people to pay them (see Romans 13:1-7); and for us on retirement pensions, He has provided them for us to use for providing for ourselves (and for many, their families) as well as in paying taxes to the government that exist under the authority of God as God’s ministers to us to do good and not evil for others around us (Romans 13:1, 3-4), even though many times, our government officials do not carry out their proper ministry in which God gave them to do, probably because many of them do not even recognize the Lordship that the LORD God has over them. But we believers should recognize this Lordship He has over our lives, and submit ourselves to His being our Master, and even involving paying the taxes we owe and submitting ourselves to the governing authorities, and not resisting them (Romans 13:1-2) as we submit ourselves as “Living Sacrifices to God” and not to be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). Amen and Amen!

My Weekly Devotional Notes from My Reading of God’s Word, the Holy Bible for the Week of June 23–30, 2018

I will use my usual format for my devotional notes from my daily Bible reading for the week of June 23—June 30, 2018 using the “Reading Plan from Alistair Begg from “Truth For Life” broadcasts; and I will try to post them as often as I write them but not every day as I did before this time. I will write them down when the Holy Spirit shows me something that strikes me to say what it means to me for that day! In the words of Martin Luther, This is “not so much a commentary as a testimony of my faith in Christ.” Mine, too! The main commentary I now use is the Reformation-Heritage KJV Study Bible (RHKJV Study Bible) and its study notes as it explains a lot of things I do not know about any given passage; but the rest is my own devotional comments.

 

Deuteronomy 29:

 

“Chapter 29: The past reviews God’s care of Israel, the present exhorts unto faithfulness, and the future expounds results of unfaithfulness,” and “The Covenant Renewed in Moab” are the two titles given to this passage by my two Study Bibles. Study notes on verses 1-4 give the basis of this chapter, saying: “Idolatrous nations saw their gods but saw none of their works. Israel did not see God but beheld His works—yet they could not recognize His glory in His works without the work of the Spirit to give them spiritual sight and hearing (1 Cor. 2:9-14)” (Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible, 293), which is the exact same thing for us believers as well in this church/gospel age. Moses is calling this second generation of Israelites to renew the covenant with the LORD Yahweh, their God, and for them to be taught diligently to their children and grandchildren as well (see Deuteronomy 6:7-9); and when they fail to keep them and are unfaithful to the LORD Yahweh, He will overthrow them in His anger and wrath, and will “bring on it [the land and people] every curse that is written in this book. And the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.” (Verses 27-28). Moses here is seen as a prophet of God since what he said would happen several times to both Israel and Judea, and the final time in 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army and the temple destroyed. One application of this chapter is “1. Warning against departure from God’s law, Moses equated cursed actions with one who says, ‘I walk in the imagination of mine heart’ (v. 19). Thereby he identifies the root of sin: the hardness of the heart. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it and its secrets (Ps. 19:12; Jer. 17:9)? Those who follow their own hearts ignore God’s law, resulting in sin (Prov. 3:1-8, Mark 7:15-23, Rom. 1:20-21). The heart departs from the Lord (Jer. 17:5). How can we overcome our own hearts?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 29,” 293-4). The last time (in 70 AD), Judea and specifically Jerusalem, lost out and were defeated because of the majority of Jews rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah-King; so what do you think of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah-King, and who He is and what He has done for you?

 

Psalm 119:49-72:

 

More on the value of learning to know and to practice the Law (Word) of the LORD God because the Word of God brings us comfort in the midst of our afflictions and gives us life (eternal), especially when we believers do not turn aside from His law; and we should remember the judgments of the LORD, and comfort ourselves with them when they bring indignation or horror to those of the wicked whom have forsaken the law (Word) of the LORD Yahweh. We are not to forsake the Word of God, nor to run away from Him and His Word, but rather, believe in it and do it in our lives in obedience to the One we believers love and obey. These “Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage” as we, too, “remember Your ame in the night, O LORD, and keep Your law. This has become mine, because I kept Your precepts” since “You are my portion, O LORD; I have said that I would keep Your words” (verses 54-57), and so I will keep them with the help of the Holy Spirit, and I hope that you, believer, feel the same way about obeying the Word of God because we love Him as He first loved us, and gave Himself for us in the Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross at Calvary. All through the Word of God, the Scriptures point to Jesus Christ as the Son of God, because He is the Word, the logos, the eternal Word of God, and the True Light to the world in John 1: 1-13; and so when we believers love and obey Him through His Word to us, then we are obeying Him as we have Him as our Lord and Savior throughout eternity. Next, the Psalmist goes on to ask for God’s mercy and favor (blessing) from Him according to His Word as the Psalmist thought about his ways and “turned my feet to Your testimonies. I made haste, and did not delay to keep Your commandments” as he has “not forgotten Your law” (verses 59-61) even at midnight, he “will rise to give thanks to You, because of Your righteous judgments” as “a companion of all who fear You, and of those who keep Your precepts. The earth, O LORD, is full of Your mercy; teach me Your statutes” (verses 62-64). Let this, O LORD Yahweh, be more and more the way I go as I grow in the wisdom and knowledge of You through Your Word, LORD, and at all times and in all places, give You thanks for Your Word as well as Your merciful yet righteous judgments. Amen and Amen! One study note I want to include here on this section of Psalm 119: “119:71 good for me that I have been afflicted. Suffering is the rod of God’s loving discipline to bless His children with growing obedience to His Word (Prov. 3:11-12). (Ibid., 860). So let’s remember this, believer, the next time we have been afflicted and are suffering something from the world that the LORD our loving heavenly Father is using this to bless us His children with our need to grow in obedience to His Word in our lives. Amen and Amen!

 

Isaiah 56:

 

“Chapter 56: The Lord promises blessing for the holy and exposes the greed of the watchmen. Promises to Faithful Outsiders and Rebukes to Blind Leaders (56:1-12)” and “Salvation for the Gentiles” are the two titles given to this Scripture. Being a saved Gentile now, I prefer the latter title since it better describes my life and myself before and after the LORD Yahweh saved me through His Son Jesus Christ; but the other title is maybe better for the Jewish believers whom believed and were saved back in Isaiah’s day. Notice in the chapter, the One who is doing all the action in it to give us His covenant, to speak to us about His name and call us to serve Him, bringing us believers to His holy mountain (Zion) and making us “joyful in My house of prayer” (verse 7), and in gathering the outcasts of Israel, and saying “Yet I will gather to Him others besides those who are gathered to Him” (verse 8), meaning not only the outcasts of Israel but also the Gentiles whom believe and trust in Him as their Lord and Savior. This reminds me of when the Lord Jesus held a feast for the people around Him but many of them made excuses not to come to the feast so He told the disciples (and us) “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:13-14); but how many of us do this in our lives even though this is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ told us to do? We need to remember that at one time, before we were saved by the Holy Spirit bringing us to God, we were the poor, maimed, and unfit people for the Lord’s salvation; but He choose us and called us not because we were anything but foolish, but because He loves us as “those who are called, both Jews an Greeks [Gentiles], Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:24-25). Thank You, Lord Jesus Christ, for calling and choosing us whom believe and trust in You, to Yourself by God’s wisdom and power from the Holy Spirit of God, even though most of the world considers the gospel foolish and weak, we believers have found it just the opposite as the wisdom and tremendous power of God in our lives, and in what we do and say to others around us. Amen and Amen! Then my RHKJV Study Bible has a very good application on the leaders of Israel back in Isaiah’s day as well as the leaders, elders and pastor(s) of our churches today: “Leaders, both religious and civil, have significant responsibility and are liable for their failures. Isaiah indicts those who are blind, dumb, and sleeping. They are not watching for signs of danger. Sadly, there are many in the ministry today who are like this, and they must bear a large measure of responsibility for the weakness and ineffectiveness of much of the professing church today. We need to pray that the Lord would deal with those in leadership, which either He would awaken them and give them a holy zeal for the gospel or remove them from office. If the Lord has blessed you with a faithful pastor, pray for him continually.” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 56,” 1020). Do you, believer, pray continually for your pastor, the one the Lord Jesus Christ has graciously given to you to lead this portion of the flock of God?

 

Matthew 4:

 

Entitled “Chapter 4: Jesus is tempted by Satan in the wilderness. His public ministry commences with His preaching of repentance and the calling of His first disciples” and “Satan Tempts Jesus” by my two Study Bibles in which both of them describe what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ as He begun His ministry after His baptism by John in the river Jordan. This account by Matthew begins with the holy Son of God, Jesus Christ, being “led up of the Spirit. As the Spirit led Israel in the wilderness (Isa. 63:10-14; cf. Ex. 13:20-21; 16-17). God does not tempt people to sin (James 1:13), but does test them (Gen. 22:1) by putting them in situations of temptation (6:13). tempted of the devil. Jesus is a real human being, and His temptation should be taken as real temptation (Heb. 4:15)” (Ibid., 1361). Hebrews 4:15-16 describes this as well as all the other times of the Lord Jesus Christ’s temptations to sin as: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly in the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Amen and Amen! Now, how did our Lord Jesus successfully fight all of these temptations of the devil, which included all of His needs for His hunger (having fasted for 40 days and nights); for the might and power that would be given to Him if He tempted “the Lord thy God” (verse 7); and for all the kingdoms of the world would be given to Him (if by shortcutting His suffering and dying on the Cross was taken by Him) by the devil if He would just worship him? He successfully fought against each temptation by quoting the Word of God to the devil, and what the Word told Him was the right way to live and act before His heavenly Father, which He did so perfectly without sin; and we believers should do the same thing in our lives to fight off the temptations to sin that come our way either from the world, our ungodly flesh, or the devil, which cause us to sin against the Lord. First, we believers need to know and believe the whole Word of God, and then use the Word as our tremendously powerful and effective way to fight off all temptations to sin against the Lord. Next, the Lord Jesus began His ministry as He “began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (verse 17), meaning that He is the Kingdom of heaven and we must know and believe in Him in order to be saved, and a part of His Kingdom as His chosen people. He then chooses His first disciples, whom were fishermen by trade, and tells them to “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” and “They immediately left their nets and followed Him” (verses 19-20). My Study Bible has an excellent application on this passage: “Though these men would be specially trained by Christ for apostleship (ch. 10), Christ’s call is essentially the same in every age: “Follow me.” Discipleship involves submission to Christ’s teaching, fellowship with His person, imitation of His ways, and setting aside everything that hinders our allegiance to Him (vv. 18-22). He has a right to each of our lives. He alone deserves to be followed. The life of faith is one of following the Lamb wherever He leads (Rev. 14:4). What does this mean in your life right now?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 4,” 1362).

 

Deuteronomy 30:

 

“Chapter 30: Moses assures God’s mercy to the penitent and issues the final warning to heed God’s covenant” and “The Blessings of Returning to God” are the two titles given to this chapter by my two Study Bibles. Our return to the LORD our God to obey His voice (Word) “with all your [our] heart and with all your [our] soul” (verse 2) is the same for us believers today as it was for the Israelites about to enter into the Promised Land; and I can think of several reasons why this is true for us, the first is that the LORD Yahweh’s covenant with us as His people is the same one He made through Moses to the ancient Israelites (starting actually with Abraham in the Book of Genesis) and we believers are expected to do the same as the Israelites, and that is to love the LORD our God with all of our hearts and with all of our souls, and this hasn’t changed; the second reason is that we, as a nation, thankfully haven’t been sent into the captivity of another nation (at least yet), but we believers have been taken out of the captivity or being slaves to sin, and have been given new lives by our Lord Jesus Christ for eternity to learn how to be holy unto our God, and honor and glorify Him through our new lives by and in the Holy Spirit of God. Thirdly, “the LORD your God will (has) circumcise(d) your heart and the heart of your descendants [children, grandchildren, etc.], to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (verse 6) unto Him for His honor and glory all the days of our lives, and this hasn’t changed either for us as well as the Israelites. There are several more reasons why we, of God’s people, are the same in God’s covenant with Abraham, Jacob, Moses, etc. as the ancient Israelites were back in Deuteronomy so can you, believer, think of some more that I haven’t mentioned? Next, Moses says to them (and us) that “the LORD your [our] God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. And you will again obey the voice of the LORD and do all His commandments which I command you today” as He makes us abound in all the work of your [our] hand in the fruit of your [our] body, in the increase of your [our] livestock [or the work that you do to earn a living to pay for food, clothing, and shelter since we are not anymore primarily an agricultural society], and in the produce of your land for good. For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law [actually, for us the whole Word of God], and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (verses 7-10); and again, these things are as much valid and necessary for us today as it was for the ancient Israelites. Next, Moses explains that the Word of God (the Law of God at that time) is not far away from anybody nor is it hidden from us, but since the Lord Jesus Christ has brought God’s Word to us, and has given us the Holy Spirit in order to obey His Word; then it is indeed “the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it” (verse 14) in our lives of faith in God. Then Moses sets the choice of life (obedience to God and His Word) or death (for disobedience to Him) before them (and us), and then tells what will happen to both groups of people, as the ones whom choose life will be blessed by God, but the ones whom don’t and choose death will “surely perish” (verse 18) from the earth, which is the same thing for us today. The first thing we need to do to love and obey the LORD Yahweh and His Son Jesus Christ, is to believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior; and then secondly, He will give each of us whom believe in Him His Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us through the rest of our lives as we are then obedient to His Word. We, too, as believers in the Lord, will live and multiply our lives with not only descendants from us, but also others whom also are drawn to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior; and most of us are also given long lives in order to love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ as we do “cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land” (verse 20) where the LORD Yahweh put you and your family. I have lived much longer than I’d originally thought I would mainly because of the wicked life I led before I was saved by the Lord Jesus Christ; and I give the Lord all the honor and credit for keeping me still going and living for almost (early next month) 71 years that He has, and I praise God for the new life in Him that He’s given me! Do you, believer, do the same in your life? One application my RHKJV Study Bible gives us is “The Lord has linked together love for Him, obedience to His commands, and experiencing His blessings (v. 16). We should see these three as inseparably one. Let us never divide what God has joined. Love and law are not opposites but one. To love the Lord is to obey His laws. To walk in His ways is to be blessed by God. It is not merely the way to happiness, but it is our happiness to love Him and do His will. How would seeing love, obedience, and joy as one change the way people think about religion?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 30,” 295).

 

Psalm 119:73-96:

 

This whole Psalm is about the worthiness and goodness of learning, knowing, reading, studying, and meditating on the Word of God in our lives. Now many of the world’s people do not believe that the LORD Yahweh created and fashioned them, so they also don’t pray to Him to “Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments” (verse 73); but we believers know the LORD God who created and fashioned us, and believe and trust in Him, so we can then pray to Him for Him to give us understanding in learning His Word, and in applying it’s precepts to our lives of faith. For those whom read this but do not believe in God’s creation of the world, in Genesis 1 and 2, they need to get out of the “primeval swamp” that you maybe thought in which you were supposedly “evolved” from it, and not to believe in any of this nonsense, but rather believe that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), and created you as well on this earth; and that you need to believe and trust in the Creator Jesus Christ, as your Lord and Savior, and then you will have eternal life through Him instead of death and perishing from the earth if you don’t believe in Him. Next, the Psalmist gives many reasons why it is good and excellent to know, believe, and practice God’s Word in your lives; but I will only give a few of them here (and the rest you will have to discover for yourself). We believers whom believe and trust in God’s Word are given hope in His Word; God’s merciful kindness and tender mercies (instead of His judgment); delight in His law (Word); to be humble and not proud, and ashamed in our lives; a blameless and unashamed heart before Him; His salvation and comfort; not to have His judgment upon you; faithfulness; God’s help; His revival of us “according to Your [God’s] lovingkindness” (verse 88) so that we will keep the testimony of our mouths to tell others about Him; God’s Word and His faithfulness are forever and “endures to all generations; You [God] established the earth, and it abides” (verse 90) as we are God’s servants here on the earth; He gives us life through His precepts of His Word; He saves us through them; and we (along with the Psalmist) “have seen the consummation of all perfection, but Your [God’s] commandment is exceedingly broad” (verse 96), meaning that His commandments, His Word, covers every part of our lives and tells us what we should do or say in all of our experiences in our lives. Wow, what other Book but the Holy Bible, the Word of God, can claim all of these things for our lives? There are no other books that can even begin to do this for us believers, and we need to hold onto God’s Word as the primary source of all knowledge and wisdom of God in our lives of faith in Him. Amen and Amen!

 

Isaiah 57:

 

“Chapter 57: The Lord issues a strong rebuke to Judah because of their continuing idolatry” and “Israel’s Futile Idolatry” are the chapter headings given by my two Study Bibles. Isaiah starts out with those believers of the covenant with the LORD God upon their death, “brings the godly into peace, releasing their spirits from this evil world as their bodies wait for the resurrection (rest in their beds; 26:19)” (Ibid., 1020), which happens to us believers as well, when we pass away, our souls are released from this evil world, and go to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, awaiting our new resurrected bodies to join our souls there when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back to the earth to take us home to eternity in heaven, and make all things new (1 Corinthians 15; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; etc.). I can hardly wait for this to happen as then I will see and be with the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever! Amen and Amen! Next, Isaiah speaks of those whom make idols their gods to worship instead of worshiping the one LORD God Yahweh, and how futile this is for them to do so, where the righteous believers “shall enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness” (verse 2); but the “wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. ‘There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked’” (verses 20-21). So, reader, do you wish to have peace in your life, the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:7); or no peace at all from the world that has not ever known peace and reconciliation to God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son? Next, Isaiah speaks more about the peoples’ futile beliefs in idols that cannot do anything for them; and how they are trying to “earn” their own way to heaven, which is impossible to do so (but the way of every religion except Christianity); and the fact that God “will not contend with them forever” but they will be struck down by Him in His anger as “he [or she] went on backsliding in the way of his heart” (verses 16-17). And yet some backsliders will be healed by God and also led and have restored “comforts to him and to his mourners” as He “create(s) the fruit of the lips: ‘Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,’ says the LORD, ‘and I will heal him’” (verses 18-19), giving hope of healing and restoration even to those whom backslide away from their LORD Yahweh, and go to worship other god-idols instead of Him. One application of this chapter is: “This is a chapter of great contrasts between the depths of man’s sin and the greatness of God’s grace. Were it not for God’s grace, sinners would have no hope. The statement in v. 18 highlights the wonder of grace as God says, “I have seen his ways, and will heal him.” What God sees is sin and depravity, nothing worthy of His love and goodness. But in spite of what He sees, He is willing to save and make peace. That is what makes grace what it is: God’s favor that He gives to those who are so undeserving of it. It is not by works of righteousness that any are saved but only because of His grace. How does God’s grace motivate believers to praise Him?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 57,” 1021). Thank You, Lord Jesus Christ, and praise You for who You are and all that You have done for us in working Your salvation in us wholly by Your grace, and not by anything we can do to “earn” it (Ephesians 2:8-9)! Amen and Amen!

 

Matthew 5:

 

Entitled “Jesus pronounces His humble disciples to be the blessed heirs of the kingdom of heaven, and teaches the relationship between the moral law and God’s kingdom” is the title given to this passage by my Reformation-Heritage KJV Study Bible on page 1362. Matthew starts out in His “Sermon on the Mount” by teaching how blessed His disciples are as they come to Him and follow Him as humble, hungry for righteousness, merciful towards others, pure in their hearts, peacemakers towards other people, and are even “persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (verse 10). It seems kind of strange to me that as His disciples, when persecuted by the world that hates us, that we can be blessed by this, but this is true since we then know that we believe and have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, which the world hated and crucified on the Cross, so this makes us even more sure of His great love, compassion, and mercy upon us and that we are definitely His chosen people when the world also hates us as it does Him. Not that we believers should go out of our ways to make sure that the world hates and persecutes us for our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is a sign, when persecution comes, of our faith in Him, and strengthens our faith as well. For the word used here some nine times, “blessed: This Greek word is derived from the root mak, which means “large” or “lengthy,” and means “fortunate” or “happy.” The Greek word was used in Greek literature, in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT), and in the NT to describe the kind of happiness that comes from receiving divine favor. The word can be rendered happy. In the NT it is usually passive; God is the One who is blessing or favoring the person.” (New King James Version Bible, “5:3 Word Study: blessed”). Are you a child of the God who blesses you? Only those whom believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ are His blessed children, so are you? Then Matthew goes on in the Lord’s teachings on “Believers Are Salt and Light” to the world as we help influence the world around us with them seeing our good works and glorifying our “Father in heaven” (verse 16); again, not that we are saved by our good works in glorifying our heavenly Father, but once we are saved only by His grace towards us, we are led out of gratitude towards Him to do good things (works) towards other people in the world, and towards our worship of Him as our Lord and our Savior as Christ fulfills all of the Law of God in His perfect life and His perfect submission forever to the will of His (and our) heavenly Father. Next, Matthew writes about breaking two of the Ten Commandments (the Law of God), numbers 6 about murder, and 7 of adultery; and tells all of us that our hearts are guilty before the LORD Yahweh of breaking these commandments (actually all of them) even if we do not ever literally break them by murdering or committing adultery with somebody else. He says this because of our guilt for breaking the Law of God, which He completely fulfilled, so that He will be our Lord and Savior, and our Substitute for us before our heavenly Father in His forgiving us of all the times we have broken the Law in our lives since the Lord Jesus Christ never broke it even one time before Him. In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ is our Substitute as His sacrifice, once for all times, makes us believers totally forgiven for all of our sins, including those against the Law of God so let’s rejoice in Him and thank Him for being the Substitute and our Sacrifice for our sins against Him. Amen and Amen! Next, Matthew speaks both of “Marriage Is Sacred and Binding” in verses 31-32; and that “Jesus Forbids Oaths” for verses 33-37 where we believers are to “let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one” (verse 37); in other words, to always keep your word when you tell someone else that you are going to do such and such, or in any other situation you promise something to another person. We believers also need plenty of merciful forgiveness from our Lord Jesus Christ for often breaking our vows or oaths to other people as well so we need to ask Him to forgive us for these things and He will do so since we are His children. Then Matthew speaks of the Lord’s words in going the second mile for somebody else in need, and to “Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away” (verse 42); and then in loving your enemies and praying for “those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (verse 44) since the Lord Jesus wants us “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (verse 48), which is something, a goal, we believers all should be working on developing in us, and towards others, with the help of the Holy Spirit and plenty of prayer; but also something we will not see the final results until we are completely perfected when we are like Jesus, and with Him forever and ever in heaven. Are you working on this particular aspect of the Christ-believing and Christ-following life, believer?

 

Deuteronomy 31:

 

“Moses commissions Joshua and laments that Israel will ultimately break the covenant. Moses’ Farewell (31:1-13)” is the title given to this section of the Scripture. Moses was then 120 years old and too old to cross over the Jordan River with Israel to take and occupy the Promised Land so he commissioned Joshua to lead the people, and told him several times to “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go this people to the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed” (verses 6-8); and we believers are to not fear nor be dismayed, but to know that the Lord Jesus Christ is with us and won’t forsake us even as we near death, and once we pass away, we will be carried into our “Promised Land” of heavenly glory to be with our Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen and Amen! Next, Moses speaks about the very important task for parents to teach their children the Word of God, as my RHKJV Study Bible notes: “31:11-13 Without mass printing, there were few written copies of the Law (Pentateuch); thus public reading was important. The public reading was evidence of Scripture’s canonical authority as the rule of faith and obedience for God’s people. Other biblical exhortations call for audible reading of Scripture (Neh. 8:4-8; 9:3; Luke 4:16-21; 1 Tim. 4:13; Rev. 1:3). This ensures that every generation would hear the Word of the Lord” (Ibid., 295). Are you, believing parent(s), teaching your children the Word of God? Are you, believing grandparent(s), teaching your grandkids God’s Word? It is of vast importance that the next generation hears, knows, and believes in the Word of God so the believing church will stay alive after the present generation passes away into heavenly glory; and this is done for all the generations to come until the Lord Jesus Christ returns to take all of the believers, both dead and alive, home to be with Him forever and ever. Amen and Amen! Then, as Moses wrote a song to teach the children of Israel, he put Joshua in charge of the congregation to lead them over into the Promised Land with courage in the strength of the LORD Yahweh; and taking the all-important ark of the covenant of the LORD your God with them “that it may be there for a witness against them” (verse 26) when they turn away to other idol-gods and greatly sin against the LORD in the new land, which they will do as they forsake the LORD God and break His covenant which He has made with them; but they will then be devoured by God’s anger and wrath since “they have turned to other gods” (verse 18). So “Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this [his] song until they were ended” (verse 30) as the song continues in the next chapter 32. Are we believers also staying true and obedient in love towards our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; and are we getting our strength and courage from Him through His Word and the Holy Spirit? We are not all called to be leaders in our church, but we still need to have courage and strength from the Lord just as Joshua did, and as we seek to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and to do as He tells us to do, and say as He tells us to say to the others around us. Amen and Amen!

 

Psalm 119:97-120:

 

Much more about the wonderful strength and blessings from the LORD Yahweh, through His Son Jesus Christ, when we read, study, know and meditate upon God’s Word in our lives; and we are taught these precepts of His Word by the Holy Spirit. Do we believers love His Law (Word of God) nearly as much as did this Psalmist when he started this section: “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day” (verse 97) so we think about God’s Word, chew on it (so-to-speak) as we meditate on what it means to us, and how we can apply it to our lives all the day long as did the Psalmist? Several of the benefits of learning the Word of God are mentioned in this whole Psalm 119, but some of those in this section are: they will make us wiser than our enemies, and are ever with us (in our hearts and minds); we will have a better understanding than all of our teachers when we meditate on these God’s testimonies, and we will understand even more than the ancients because we keep God’s precepts (and this is especially true since we now have the whole Holy Bible and in our own language to read and study); it will help us to restrain our feet from going “every evil way, that I [we] may keep Your Word” (verse 101); and not to depart from His judgments; and “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Verse 103). Then the Psalmist goes on with many more benefits we can have from knowing, meditating upon them, and doing God’s Word in our lives, including being “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (verse 105) so we will go the right direction and not turn from this path of the LORD God’s to sin and do evil against Him; and even when the wicked lay snares for us to fall into them in sin just as they are doing in their lives, we can say with the Psalmist: “Yet I have not strayed from Your precepts” (verse 110) and that “Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes forever, to the very end” (verses 111-112) when we believers are with the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever in heavenly glory. Can you say these things and mean them from your heart as you read, study, know and meditate upon the whole Word of God with rejoicing in your heart?

 

Isaiah 58:

 

“The prophet contrasts true and false fasting and directs to the proper keeping of the Sabbath” and “Fasting that Pleases God” are the two titles given to this chapter from my two Study Bibles. Fasting is an almost lost “art” to most Christ-believers today but in reality the same truth to practicing it for today is as was in Isaiah’s day, except for the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ said of fasting that it is only to be seen by God in Matthew 6:16-18, and not by men around the one fasting (because “they have their reward,” Matthew 6:16) but rather, done in private with no other person but God knowing that you are practicing it (“in the secret place; and your Father [God] who sees in secret will reward you openly,” Matt. 6:18). Also, the Lord Jesus told His apostles that while He, the Bridegroom, was with them, they didn’t have to fast, but once He had gone home to heaven, then His followers could fast (Matthew 9:15); but the same rules as Isaiah lays down here for proper fasting for the Kingdom of heaven’s sake are also valid for us believers today, even though most of us enjoy the Lord’s blessings of food to us too much to in reality, practice fasting. I have tried it myself after looking at this passage and others on the subject, but didn’t do very well since I am older now and couldn’t stay hungry and strong enough to survive without food; but I believe it is an excellent way to not only get right with the Lord Jesus Christ, but also to drawl closer to Him, and so I will maybe try it again in my life but I’m not telling anyone when that might be. Fasting is not to be done for selfish or self-serving reasons, but rather, for serving others whom are in need, and sharing with them your food and “To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke” upon others by sharing the gospel with them and praying for them. Then we will also see the light and glory of the LORD, which “shall be your [our] rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am’” as “you take extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall be dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The LORDo will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail” (verses 8-9 and 10-11). The latter part of verse 11 reminds me of what is promised the righteous person who meditates on the Word of God night and day, in Psalm 1:3: “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” So maybe proper fasting, along with reading and meditating upon God’s Word, is the way of becoming “well watered” with God and will receive His blessings upon the ones that practice meditating on His Word along with their fasting from physical food to eating the spiritual food of His Word instead. The application of this chapter by my Study Bible concludes with this note: “We learn here that outward devotion without a true change of heart is worthless in the sight of the Lord. Let us ensure that our worship is real and born out of a heart of gratitude to God for His grace and mercy to us. To that end, learn how keeping the Sabbath [the Lord’s Day] is a safeguard to spiritual worship. If we observe the Sabbath as the day of rest and spiritual delight that God has designed for our good, our worship will be spiritual and not perfunctory show. What does it mean to call the Sabbath a delight?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 58,” 1022).

 

Matthew 6:

 

“Jesus continues teaching on the kingdom of heaven, especially the inward character of it” is the title given to this passage continuing the Lord’s “Sermon on the Mount.” Matthew starts out with what my Word Study Bible calls “The Model Prayer” or the prayer in which the Lord Jesus Christ taught His disciples to pray, in verses 9-13, in which, I believe that we are to pray that prayer both as the Lord gave it to us, and as a model for our other prayers as well. Matthew speaks of giving alms (or money, tithes and offerings, etc.), forgiving others, and fasting (see above on fasting from Isaiah 58) as acts we disciples or followers of the Lord Jesus Christ should do in secret so that God (and not men or women) will reward you from heavenly glory. Then Matthew gives a longer section on how we are to lay treasures up not on the earth, but for a heavenly reward; and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, instead of mammon or money, since the Lord will look out for His people and take care of us much better than even was Solomon arrayed, so our job should always be not to worry, but to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Verses 33-34). Do you, believer, do these things in your life, such as seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness instead of worrying about everything in your life?

 

Deuteronomy 32:

 

“Moses’ sermon-song extols the Lord and rebukes the wayward. Song of Moses (32:1-52)” is the title given to this chapter by my KJV Reformation Heritage Study Bible (KJVRHStudy Bible, the correct name for it) on page 296. Why this song was written is in the first study notes of this section, as “32:1-44 In cultures lacking print media, songs play an important role in transmitting knowledge to future generations. God employed this technique to give Israel an understanding of her history and of the Rock from whom her blessings, both past and future, came. These truths committed to song would pass from generation to generation, like the recurring yearly rains that refresh the earth (v. 2; cf. Ps. 78).” (Ibid.) I sure wish that I could hear all of this song (43 verses) Moses wrote but unfortunately they didn’t have any recording devices (nor electricity to run them) back then so we don’t have any idea what it sounds like except for the fact that I’m sure it sounds “Jewish.” Moses wrote at least one more song—Psalm 90, which is entitled: “The Eternity of God, and Man’s Frailty; A Prayer of Moses, the man of God” but we don’t know what this prayer-song of his sounded like either. First, Moses asks the heavens and the earth to listen to “the words of my mouth” (verse 1) as the creation speaks to them of Moses’ doctrine, and because “I [Moses] proclaim the name of the LORD: ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteousness and upright is He” (verses 3-4). Then Moses describes how blemished, perverse, and crooked is the generation of men and women, and how foolish and unwise the people are since they don’t realize that the heavenly Father has purchased them (by His free salvation for them), made and established them (by His Son’s perfect life and cruel death on the Cross), as shown then by the priest’s offerings and sacrifices to God at the mercy seat of the tabernacle, and later the temple; and finally at the Cross at Calvary where the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and iniquities. Amen and Amen! Thank You, Lord Jesus Christ, for dying for me and taking my place before the wrath of God the Father upon my sins and iniquities! Then Moses sings of the great wickedness of men and women whom were supposedly “the LORD’s portion of His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance” (verse 9) and they were led by Him and provided for all of their needs by the LORD Yahweh; but “they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faith. They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; they have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols” (verses 20-21) as the LORD God “will heap disasters on them,” and will waste them with “hunger, devoured by pestilence, and bitter destruction” (verse 24) upon them both with the animal beasts of the land, and their enemies from different lands or nations. This is just as God promised them would happen, as the curses, when they started worshiping other idol-gods, and it did happen to them several times in their history, including the destruction of Jerusalem and their temple by the Roman armies in A.D. 70 as many of the Jewish people were destroyed mainly because of their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah-King. But Moses continues as he sings the truth: “For the LORD will judge His people and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their power is gone….” (Verse 36) and their idols are no longer their refuge and their worship since they (we) “now see that I, even I, am He and there is no God besides Me” (verse 39) so the LORD God is the only One we can and will worship as the true and thrice-holy God. Lastly, Moses tells us to “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people” (verse 43) as he ends this long but unique song he wrote for the Israelites to help them remember who their God is in each generation. The last verse reminds me of the songful cry of the martyred believers before the throne worshiping God in Revelation 7:11-17 whom are “before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them…for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (verses 15-17) as God revenges them for their deaths at the hands of their enemies (Revelation 8, etc.). Whether you are or will be a martyr for the Lord Jesus Christ or not, will you be there at the throne of God and serving Him day and night in heavenly glory? Only if you know and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will you be there all because of God’s mercy and salvation He has for you as His chosen son or daughter. Amen and Amen!

 

Psalm 119:121-144:

 

Another section of how great and lovely is God’s Law (Word) to those whom believe and trust in Him and His Word to us. In a word study on “Law: Although usually translated law, the noun torah is derived from the verb yarah, meaning, “to teach,” and should be understood as carrying the idea of “instruction.” The term can refer to any set of regulations, such as the instructions of parents (Prov. 1:8) or of a psalmist (78:1). But usually the word refers to God’s law. The writer of Ps. 119 expresses great love for God’s law, because it led him to wisdom and righteousness (119:97-176). In the NT, Paul also praised God’s law because it pointed out his sin and made him realize his desperate need for a Savior (Rom. 7:7).” (New King James Version Bible, “Word Study: Law”). Do you see the Law of God working in you in the same way it did with the apostle Paul? According to the Psalmist in this section, God’s Word provided protection from those of his proud oppressors; he (and we believers) are dealt according to God’s mercy and His teaching us His Word (through the Holy Spirit); shows God’s actions against those whom consider His Word void or nothing (to them); it teaches us to consider what is right, and to hate every false way; are wonderful in keeping our souls (with our God); gives us His light and understanding (even to the simple-minded); God looks upon us with His mercy, as His “custom is toward those who love Your name” (verse 132); He directs our steps by His Word, and redeem us from men’s oppression so that we may “keep Your precepts” (verse 134) as the LORD God’s “face shine(s) upon Your servant, and teach(es) me Your statutes” and we cry “because men do not keep Your law” (verses 135-136). They also show the LORD Yahweh’s righteousness and upright judgments; His testimonies (of His works), which “are righteous and very faithful” (verse 138) and cause us to be consumed by zeal (for God’s Word) “because my [our] enemies have forgotten Your words” (verse 139); God’s Word “is very pure; therefore Your servant loves it” even though we are “small and despised, yet I [we] do not forget Your precepts” since God: “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth. Trouble and anguish have overtaken me [us], yet Your commandments are my delights” and the “righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; give me understanding, and I shall live” (verses 140-144) eternally with You, my Lord. What other book or books can do all of these things for us as believers in the LORD our God and His Son Jesus Christ? The apostle Paul says that only “All Scripture [God’s Word] is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” in 2 Timothy 3:16-17; and so there is no other book or books that can do all of these things for and to us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. I desire for you, reader, to read the Word of God and to see and know what God’s Word will do for you in giving you eternal life, as well as all the above things that are good and excellent for you. Amen and Amen!

 

Isaiah 59:

 

“The prophet describes the heinous nature of sin and points to the only Savior of sinners” and “Separated from God…Sin Confessed…The Redeemer of Zion” are the two Study Bible’s titles for this very important chapter of Isaiah, which speaks of our iniquities that have separated us from our God in which His judgment awaits those whom don’t confess and then repent from their sins (which we all in “our transgressions are multiplied before You,” verse 12), and come to the LORD Yahweh through His intercessor, Jesus Christ, from whose “arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head” (verses 16-17), as the Lord Jesus Christ saves us by His own righteousness when He lived and died for us and our sins on the Cross at Calvary. Since the “’Redeemer will [has] come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,’ says the LORD,” (verse 20) the LORD Yahweh has given us believers His covenant with us that “’My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,’ says the LORD, ‘from this time and forevermore’” (verse 21), in other words, this is the LORD God, our heavenly Father’s covenant with us, and the signs of His promised covenant with us are: His Holy Spirit upon (in) us; His Word of God in our mouths (and our hearts); and the tremendously comforting promise of His being with us forever, as well as our children, grandchildren, etc. Some thoughts of application for this chapter are: “Sin separates us from God because He can have nothing to do with iniquity. Do not think that God will bless you if you continue unrepentant in sin. Sadly, mankind is conquered by sin. No one seeks justice and truth, but the entire race is quick to sin, meditating on iniquity, and in constant strife with God and each other. No one in the entire human race is qualified to save himself or another person from sin. The Lord saw this, and took on the full responsibility to come and work salvation and judgment as the divine warrior. Christ, the Son of God, is the only Redeemer of God’s elect. If you are trusting in yourself or in another person to save you from evil and bring you happiness, you are like one leaning on a spider’s web to keep you out of hell. How does this chapter call us to trust Christ alone for salvation?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 59,”).

 

Matthew 7:

 

This is the ending section of the Lord Jesus Christ’s “Sermon on the Mount” in which my KJVRH Study Bible entitles: “Jesus finishes preaching on the law and the kingdom of heaven. Afterward, the crowds marvel at His authority and teaching,” page 1367. It starts out with one of the hardest, at least for me, to do in order to conform to His standards for His children in the Kingdom of God, and that is to “Judge not, that you be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (verses 1-2). That doesn’t mean we are never to judge anybody else, because if it did mean that, then we believers would never see the needs of another person, such as a backsliding brother or sister, or one that breaks the law(s) of this land, etc. Nor would we be able to try and help our brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, which we are commanded to do in several of the apostle Paul’s letters in the NT. But we do need to judge ourselves first, and then confess and repent of our own sin(s) before we judge others and help them to overcome their sin(s) as well. Next, the Lord Jesus tells us how to enter His way, the narrow way to the Kingdom of God and heavenly glory when we “Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking” and if we do so, then “it will be opened to you” as our heavenly Father gives us the “good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (verses 7, 11-12). If we believers would consistently practice these things in our own lives, and towards others, then I am sure this world would be a much better and happier place for all of us to live and enjoy His creation. But, unfortunately, we believers are sinners as well as the rest of the world, so we, too, need to confess our sins and repent from them before the Lord; and then we can enjoy the good and close fellowship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Then He tells us that we will know false prophets (and false teachers as well) by the results of their false teaching whether or not they bear good or bad fruit in those of whom they teach. Then the Lord Jesus Christ teaches that not everyone who calls Him “Lord, Lord” will be saved nor enter into the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do His Father’s will (verse 21); and if you don’t know or believe in Him as truly your Lord and Savior, He will declare these fateful and final words to you: “’I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Verse 23). I do hope that you do know Him as your Lord and Savior, and seek to practice His heavenly Father’s will while on the earth so that you will never have to hear those awful and final words of His to depart from Him for an eternity in hell and damnation! I am not judging you for your disbelief in the Lord Jesus Christ; but the Word of God does and will judge you, if you are an unbeliever in Him, and refuse to know and believe in Him as your Lord and Savior. Next, He speaks of two houses, with the one built on the Rock (of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ) still standing through the many strong winds and storms of the world, which will easily cause the other house built only on the sand to fall down in a great and totally destructive fall. Are you building your life, and your loved ones, on the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, and His salvation for you and your family; or are you only building your life in the foolish ways of the world, which will eventually all come to an end? Lastly, “when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (verses 28-29). Are you, believer, still astonished and marvel at the teachings in God’s Word, and especially from the Lord Jesus Christ’s mouth to us? “Christ’s teaching amazed people (13:54; 19:25; 22:22, 33), as would His miracles (8:27; 9:8, 33; 15:31; 21:20), for He came not only as a messenger of the kingdom, but as its sovereign King (8:8-9; 96).” (KJVRH Study Bible, 1368). These should amaze us as well since He is all believers’ sovereign King Jesus Christ! Amen and Amen! One application of this passage, I think, is worth mentioning here: “Christ did not teach the people the way that the Pharisees did—by endless recitation of other men’s opinions. Rather, He taught with authority. When we read God’s Word, we cannot simply sit back to have our ears tickled. It should expose our sin, show us God in Christ, and drive us outside of ourselves to seek mercy with this King. How have you been convicted to be a “doer” and not a “hearer” only (James 1:21-25).” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 7,” 1368).

 

Deuteronomy 33 and 34:

 

“Moses blesses each of the tribes of Israel. Blessing the Tribes (33:1-29)” and “Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel” are the two titles given for this chapter 33 before Moses dies, which according to my KJV Reformation Heritage Study Bible, “Blessings before death were common (Gen. 49) and very important to the recipients of these godly and prophetic blessings from a man of God; and came from the LORD God Himself to His people because “Yes, He loves the people; all His saints are in Your hand; they sit down at Your feet; everyone receives Your words” (verse 3), as the way the LORD Yahweh blesses us, as His chosen people, even today, and especially through His Word to us. These are kind of an earthly as well as a spiritual blessing to each of the LORD God’s tribes, as today He gives us as His people as the apostle Paul says: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephesians 1:3-4) so today He blesses us as His people with both physical as well as spiritual blessings from above. Are you one of those of whom the Lord Jesus Christ loves and He blesses you just as Paul said in Ephesians 1? To find out more about these blessings today, why don’t you read the whole chapter of Ephesians 1? One application of Deuteronomy 33 is: “A leader’s proper role is to selflessly bless his followers. Moses chose “to suffer affliction with the people of God” and esteemed “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt” (Heb. 11:25-26), so that he might bring Israel into the blessings promised to them centuries earlier. Fathers and leaders are to be “used up” for the good of those placed under their authority. Jesus Christ is the premier example of this.” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 33,” 299). The last chapter 34 of Deuteronomy is that “Moses views the Promised Land and dies. Conclusion: Moses’ Death and Joshua’s Succession (34:1-12)” and “Moses Dies on Mount Nebo” are the titles given to this last chapter by my two Study Bibles. One question that comes to mind to many people is did Moses write this chapter (as he wrote the rest of Deuteronomy) ahead of time about his own death and the succession of Joshua to be the new leader of Israel? My Study Bible has this study note on this question: “34:5-9 The report of Moses’ death in a book which he authored is not problematic. Moses had many “assistants” (Ex. 18:13-24), an absolute necessity for a man handling his responsibilities. Surely scribes were among them, who recorded “the words which Moses spake unto all Israel” (1:1). It is reasonable that they would conclude their record by reporting Moses’ death, burial, the mourning that ensued (v. 8), and the transfer of authority to Joshua (v. 9). Divine inspiration guaranteed canonicity and preservation.” (Ibid., 300). Today many people write “obituaries” about their loved one(s) who has passed away so what would you write if you had to write your own obituary about yourself? Would you write that you were faithful at loving and following the Lord Jesus Christ, and being obedient to His Word? My KJVRH Study Bible gives an excellent application for this chapter to us: “Moses, whom the Lord knew “face to face” (v. 10), experienced divine intimacy unknown to any other leader except Christ (18:18; John 1:17-18; Acts 3:20-23; Heb. 3:4-6). Yet the Son of God reveals the Father to whomever He pleases (Matt. 11:27). He enables us to know the true God, and such knowledge gives eternal life (John 17:3, 6; 1 John 5:20). One day, believers in Christ will also know God face-to-face (1 Cor. 13:12; Rev. 22:4), and intimacy with Him will be their eternal joy. How does that give us hope?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 34,”). Will you be there facing God face-to-face personally as one of His many children, in heavenly glory, because you know His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior; or will you face Him in His judgment of you because you do not know Him not as your Lord and Savior?

 

Psalm 119:145-176:

 

This is the concluding section of the longest chapter and psalms in the entire Holy Bible; and it concludes the same way it has started in loving and praising the LORD God for His wonderful Word to us. Back in the Psalmist’s day, the believers only had the Law and, depending when the Psalms were written, at least part of the poetry (Psalms, Proverbs, etc.) that was written for the believers’ instruction and enjoyment of God’s Word; but now we have the completed canon of Scripture, including both the Old and New Testaments; and so we believers should enjoy and be instructed on the whole Word of God even more than were the believers back in this OT days. Do you enjoy reading, studying, and meditating upon the whole Word of God in your life today? Since much of what the Psalmist said about his love and enjoyment of God’s Law (Word) has been repeated from the previous sections of the Psalm 119, I think that I will instead of commenting upon it verse by verse, I will jump to the application of it to our lives: “This psalm, as an Alphabetical Psalm [in Hebrew but not in English], was evidently meant to be laid up in the memory and heart. God’s Word is a great treasure and it is good, not only to meditate on, but also to commit to memory (v. 11), so that, in a time of need, it can be readily recalled. Since in nearly every verse God is addressed, we are reminded that along with reading the Bible we need to be praying. Our prayer should be that God, by His Holy Spirit, would reveal wonderful things to us, so that we derive from Scripture great and lasting profit. Although believers pass through many changes in this life, it is important to realize that God’s written Word is settled and remains forever the same. To our great comfort, it is truth unchanged and unchanging. What is one verse in this psalm that especially comforts or challenges you? How can you make it a prayer? One excellent book, in which I am currently using for my devotions, is by Gordon J. Keddie, and is entitled: “Prayers of the Bible: 366 Devotionals to Encourage Your Prayer Life” (Crown & Covenant Publications at 7408 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA. 15208; 2017). I’ve noticed that Dr. Keddie does not give a devotional on Psalm 119 as such, but he did write about most of the prayers used in the Scriptures in which we, too, can pray the words used in God’s Word, making them our words of the Scriptures, which is the whole excellent idea of the book. Do you pray the prayers of God’s Word back to Him? Since these are God’s will and testimonies of His Word in which He wrote for us, He will surely answer these prayers when He hears them prayed from our lips. Amen and Amen!

 

Isaiah 60:

 

Entitled “Chapter 60: The Lord promises great blessings and glory for His people; The Coming of the Lord to Zion with Glory (60:1—62:12)” and “The Gentiles Bless Zion” by my two Study Bibles; this blessed chapter about the Lord’s light and glory to come to Zion to both the believing Jews and Gentiles whom “shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (verse 3). Back to verse 1, “shine. Become light or be enlightened. God’s glory comes shining in Christ to save and transform His people (9:2; 35:2; 40:5; 42:6-7; Mal. 4:2; Luke 1:78-79; John 8:12; 12:36; 2 Cor. 4:6; Eph. 5:8; Rev. 21:11).” (Ibid., 1023). Has the light and salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, come upon you in order to save and transform you into His likeness as He gets us believers ready to go home with the Lord Jesus Christ in His presence forever in heaven? The last living apostle of the Lord Jesus, John, was given a vision of what verses 4 through the ending verse 22 is going to happen to both the righteous and godly believers, as well as those whom are evil and wicked (“For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined,” verse 12) in the great Book of Revelation, and especially in the latter part of the Book; and it will happen to everyone whom has ever lived or still lives on the earth when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again to the earth to judge the wicked and evil people, and take those whom He has made righteous and godly before Him, home to be with Him forever and ever in heavenly glory. If you have never read the Book of Revelation, or want to find out what is going to happen to you and your loved ones, then I would sincerely suggest that you sit down and read through it; and it is a Book that has promised a blessing upon all “who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3); but be sure to ask for the Holy Spirit’s help, when you read or hear it, so you can better understand what Revelation is speaking to us believers; and the Holy Spirit will greatly bless you with both wisdom and knowledge of this Book in your lives (as He does with all of the Holy Bible). This chapter 60 of Isaiah is basically about the same thing (but in different words) as is the Book of Revelation, and that is the “Victory of Jesus” over the whole universe, heaven and earth. I just received a very excellent book of devotions on Revelation given the same title as the overall theme of the Book, “Victory in Jesus: A Devotional Commentary on the Book of Revelation” by Donald R. Johnson (a pastor, not the more famous actor) and it is published at Free Grace Press of Conway, Arkansas, 2018 (this excellent devotional I bought from Reformed Heritage Books at https://www.heritagebooks.org/ whom also published my great KJV Reformation Heritage Study Bible). Anyway, back to Isaiah 60, this “Messianic Chapter” is about both the first coming of the Messiah-King the Lord Jesus Christ to provide His salvation to us whom are desperately in need of salvation from Him; to His Second Coming in which He is the complete Victor over all people and things as the believers’ “Holy One of Israel” and of heaven where “The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in His time” (verses 19-22), of which John quoted many of the ideas in his Book of Revelation, especially in chapters 21-22. We should always pray the same prayer as did the apostle John about hastening the time of the Lord Jesus Christ’s second coming: “He who testifies to these things [Jesus Christ] says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Amen and Amen!

 

Matthew 8:

 

“Jesus performs several miracles in His early ministry in Galilee and gives several prominent lessons” from the section on “Jesus’ Ministry in Galilee: Teachings and Miracles (8:1—11:1)” as the title for this chapter. Remember when reading and studying through the Gospel of Matthew that one of the apostles, Matthew, wrote these words about the coming King Jesus Christ to the earth as the King over His spiritual Kingdom of God. This fact shows up in writing about so many teachings and miracles that the Lord Jesus Christ taught and performed miracles as the “Christ (is) the exalted King who teaches with authority [Matt. 7:29] and confirms His message with miracles. However, Christ is also the lowly servant, who bears His people’s sin as a substitute (v. 17) and has nowhere to lay His head (v. 20). He is glorious as a King yet approachable as a servant. How necessary and suitable a Savior Christ is! How does this encourage you to trust Him?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 8,” 1370). I hope that He is a “necessary and suitable Savior for your family, friends, and your life as well. If so, why don’t you share what the Lord Jesus Christ means to you with those around you whom do not yet know Him? This is exactly what Matthew was doing when he wrote this wonderful and instructive Gospel, or the Good News about the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you notice that this chapter 8 ends with the very sad news about those in a whole city in the country of the Gergesenes (as I understand this to be a predominately Gentile and not Jewish area of Galilee) as “behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw Him, they besought Him that He would depart out of their coasts” (verse 34) as they asked their Creator to leave their area and to leave them alone as my Study Bible notes: “8:34 besought him that he would depart. The same verb used of the demons begging Christ (v. 31). Sadly, most people have more in common with demons than believers (v. 5). Coasts. Region” (Ibid., 1370). Please, I beg you, believer, not to let anything or anyone come between you and the Lord Jesus Christ in your life as that would be idolatry, and the LORD Yahweh forbids His people from committing idolatry or the worship and bowing down to other idol-gods. Put the Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost in your life, believer, as you obey His Words to all of us to “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:33-34). Do this in your whole life, and the Lord Jesus Christ will bless you for all of eternity! Amen and Amen!

 

Joshua 1:

 

This Book of Joshua is the starting book in what is called the “Historical Books” of the Holy Bible and they cover the early history, later Monarchy history, and the Exile and Post-Exile history of Israel and Judea in this OT collection of books. “Most conservatives, as well as Jewish tradition, attribute the book of Joshua, the successor of Moses. Joshua 24:26 states explicitly, “Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God.” “Date: 1406-1386 BC. It is generally assumed that the events of Joshua cover approximately twenty years. Dating the conquest is inseparably linked to the exodus… Theme: Conquest and inheritance: God fulfills His promise to give Israel the land of Canaan…. Purpose: To show God’s fidelity to His covenant promises and the necessity of living by faith by relying on and acting on the reality of the promises…. The Promised Land symbolizes the inheritance and spiritual rest that belongs to God’s people in the experience and enjoyment of His presence (Heb. 4:8-11).” (The KJV Reformation Heritage Study Bible, 303). “The Entrance into Canaan (1:1—5:15) Chapter 1: God gives specific orders to Joshua about the conquest assuring him of His abiding presence and unchanging promise, and Joshua then orders the people to prepare for the crossing of the Jordan. Personal Instructions for Joshua (1:1-9)” (Ibid., 305) is the whole title for this chapter. The author starts out by reminding himself and the Israelites about to enter into the Promised Land that since Moses is now dead, he (Joshua) has been chosen by the LORD their God to lead them into the land of promise so he needs to “Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.” How would Joshua accomplish this conquest of the new land? Only if “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (verses 6-8). This is the only possible way that any or all of us will be successful in our Christ-following lives, in doing what He has given us to do in our ministry to Him and others around us, is to first and foremost, read, study and meditate on God’s Word night and day, and to observe to do what it tells us to do; and there’s no other way but this way. We cannot turn either one way or the other, as to our own plans without God’s help, but must go straight ahead in going and doing it His way, as my Bible notes puts verse 8: “The command to “meditate” upon it (v. 8) means to make it the basis for daily and lifelong plans (cf. Ps. 1:2).” (The Believer’s Study Bible, 297). Is this a picture of your life, believer, which you have given all of your life to be spent the way that the Lord Jesus Christ wants you to go? Verse 13 speaks of the rest God is giving them, meaning “A symbolic reference to the land of promise (Ps. 95:11). The rest is associated with the enjoyment of both a cessation of hostility and the presence of God. That is one key reason the nation could not possess the land in unbelief” (The KJV Reformation Heritage Study Bible, 305). We believers can rest in the Lord while we are still at war with spiritual weapons against the world and the devil for our Lord Jesus Christ has already won the war we are involved in as Christ-believers; and so all we are doing now is simply a “mop up operation”! (I got that from a sermon I heard and remembered a long time ago but don’t remember now who said it to us). Then Joshua concludes this speech to the Israelites about to enter the Promised Land with his telling them that there won’t be any “rebels against his command and does not heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage” (verse 18). My Study Bible concludes one application of this passage with: “It is imperative, then, that ministers know God’s Word so that they can effectively communicate that Word to the people. However, the instructions for Joshua to meditate on and obey God’s Word constantly as the means for successful living is a paradigm that should be followed by all of God’s people. How can you follow Joshua’s example in his attitude toward God’s Word?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 1,” 306).

 

Psalms 120, 121, and 122:

 

These are all Psalms or “Song(s) of Degrees, or Ascents,” meaning that they (Pss. 120-134) “are called the Pilgrimage Songs and have traditionally been understood to be part of the liturgy associated with pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for the three great feasts of the old covenant religious calendar (Ex. 34:22-23; Deut. 16:16)” (Ibid., 863). They are all very short songs sung to the LORD Yahweh (maybe so that the walking pilgrims to Jerusalem could catch their breaths after singing one Psalm before going on to the next one?) and call for the LORD their God to take action for their sakes (to help them, etc.) or against their enemies and false accusers, which the first one, Psalm 120, says that the Psalmist was in distress when he cried unto the LORD, and He heard him and delivered him from the “lying lips and from a deceitful tongue” (verse 1) from the slander of his enemies. In verse 5, “both [Mesech and Kedar, as ruthless nations surrounding Israel] are used figuratively to represent the psalmist’s feeling of isolation in a hostile world, even though he resided in Israel” (Ibid.). But in verses 6-7, the Psalmist speaks of “Godliness [that] leads people to live quiet lives of work and devotion (Rom. 12:18; 1 Thess. 4:11; 1 Tim. 2:2), but Satan provokes sinners to lies and hatred (John 8:44)” (Ibid.). Do you, believer, sometimes feel isolated in a very hostile world to your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, then trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and go ahead with living quiet lives of work He’s given you to do, and devotion to Him knowing that He is always with us each step of the way as He promised us. Then in Psalm 121, “The Psalmist expresses his confidence in God’s protecting providence,” the title given to it by my Study Bible, the Psalmist starts out in verse 1 with “lift up mine eyes. A gesture of prayerful dependence (25:1; 123:1; 143:8; Lam. 3:41; Mark 7:34; John 11:41; 17:1). hills. Or “mountains,” probably a reference to Jerusalem (125:2).” (Ibid.) Then he asks and answers his chief question of “Where does my help come from?” with the answer in verse 2: “My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth,” in other words, “my help comes from the almighty Creator (124:8)” (Ibid., 863-4). Is the LORD Yahweh the One who you turn to Him for His help in a time of need in your life? If you are a believer in Him, He has promised through His Holy Spirit to always be with us as both our Comforter and our Help. An excellent application of this Psalm from my Study Bible ends with these words of help and comfort: “If believers in ancient times could cling to this promise, how much more should we who trust in the incarnate Lord Jesus. If God did not spare His Son, but gave Him up for all His elect, then surely He is totally for them and will work all things to their good and ultimate glory in Christ (Rom. 8:28-32). When do you feel most in need of this assurance? How can you use this psalm to find peace in those times?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Psalm 121,” 864). Then, in “Psalm 122: The psalmist expresses joy for being in Jerusalem and solicits prayers in its behalf” (Ibid., 864), which reminds me of when the Lord Jesus Christ told the daughters of Jerusalem not to weep for Him, but instead to “weep for yourselves and your children” (Luke 23:28) for the times are soon coming that they, and their City and temple, will destroyed by their enemy; and this happened in AD 70 by the Roman army. But long before that event took place, the Psalmist told the Israelites to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love Thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces…. Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good” (verses 6, 7 and 9). They went into the temple, the “house of the LORD” together and were glad to do so “Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good” (verse 9). Are you, believer, glad and joyful to be able to enter into the church (house) of the LORD Yahweh through His Son Jesus Christ to worship and praise Him, as was this Psalmist? One very excellent reason why all believers should meet together in the house of the LORD is given at the end of verse 4: “To give thanks to the name of the LORD.” Amen and Amen! An application of this Psalm is: “The joy of public worship revolves around the presence of God. For Israel this was the temple and throne of David and his sons. For Christians, this is the Lord Jesus Christ, reigning through His Word and Spirit. Our joy in worship comes from exercising faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:8-13). When you engage in worship with the church, are you drawing near to the Father by faith in Christ in the power of the Spirit? How can you tell?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Psalm 122,” 864).

 

Isaiah 61:

 

“Chapter 61: The prophet details the work of the Messiah and the blessedness of His kingdom” and “The Good News of Salvation” are the titles of this passage of Isaiah. You have probably heard some of these verses quoted before this reading, such as verse 3: “To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified” (emphasis mine) but it means that the Lord’s salvation is going to change peoples’ lives, those whom believe and trust in Him; and we believers will be made completely different (in the end) than how we are now, all for His honor and glory. Amen and Amen! I love it when the prophets include the Gentiles in the whole picture of those saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, and in verse 6, Isaiah says that we will all “named the Priests of the LORD; men shall call you [us] the Ministers of our God; ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves” as 1 Peter 2:5 and 9, Peter declares us now all “priests of the Lord and precious in His sight (and Revelation 1:6; 5:9-10 do the same), as “There would no longer be a priestly class in the line of Aaron, but all of the Lord’s people would be priests” and “Ministers of our God. Those who serve the Lord” (verse 6). The results of the Lord’s salvation is found in verse 11: “For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the LORD God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” I’m not at all sure that Isaiah even understood what He wrote down from the LORD Yahweh in these prophetical sayings of what would happen in the future to both God’s chosen people, and the wicked and evil on the earth (actually he most likely didn’t, as Peter said in his second letter: “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:19-21) but Isaiah and all the other OT prophets of God still would agree with what Isaiah said about the Word of God and God’s salvation for them when he said: “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (verse 10). Do you agree with this assessment of your salvation that comes from the Lord in your own life, and are you clothed with Christ’s righteous robe as your garment of His salvation? Are you a part of His church, which is currently getting ready in anticipation of His Second Coming, to be a part of the bride of Christ’s in the coming “Marriage Supper of the Lamb of God”?

 

Matthew 9:

 

“Chapter 9: Jesus again performs several miracles and teaches His disciples the nature of His mission” is the title given to this chapter in which all of His miracles are to show that He is the Messiah-King and the Son of God; and His mission is mentioned in verses 12-13: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.’” Who goes to the doctor just for the fun of going, and when one is sure that he or she is healthy and not sick? Well, we also will be drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit only when we are in need of His merciful forgiveness, when we repent from the awfulness of our sins against the Lord who is completely holy and sinless; and otherwise, we will not be drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ if we do not see our great need for Him to forgive us of our sins. His mission when He came to this earth is also to teach His disciples about Himself and the Kingdom of God, as well as in healing many people whom were sick and in great need, as He did with several men and women in this chapter, and even casts out demons from several demon-possessed people with His great compassion upon all of the people following and listening to Him. “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” Then the Lord Jesus told of our mission as His disciples: Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest’” (verses 37-38). We believers do not have to be sent to a foreign country very far away (though some will be called to do so in their lives), but to witness to others, in our own families and our neighbors, etc., and give them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ so they, too, can be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew, later at the end of His book, calls this “The Great Commission” for all of His disciples in that “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen” (Matthew 28:18-20). Are you, believer, being obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word to you, as one of His disciples, to go out into your houses, apartments, neighborhoods, cities, and even other nations (if called to do so), and make disciples there where the Lord has planted you in their midst? This Great Commission is for all disciple-followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not just for pastors, teachers, and ministers of the Word in foreign countries; but for all of us whom know and believe, and not only hear but do the Word of God in our lives! Amen and Amen!

 

Joshua 2:

 

“Chapter 2: Rahab conceals the two men sent to spy out Jericho, and they in turn repay her with the promise of deliverance from the city’s destruction” is the title given to this section of the Scriptures, as it shows “Rahab’s confession and appeal for clemency” when she “acknowledges the Lord’s might displayed in what He has done for Israel (vv. 9-11), recognizes His majesty as God of heaven and earth (v. 11), and pleads for mercy (vv. 12-13)” even though she is considered a foreigner of Israel and the church because she is from Jericho (and not Israel itself), “the last encampment before crossing the Jordan, located almost directly east of Jericho, which was on the west side of Jordan” (Ibid., 306) in the land of Cana. “Rahab is a wonderful example of the power and sovereignty of grace. She appears to be an unlikely candidate for grace, but that is the point. She is a vivid picture of all who are dead in sin and who are made alive by the greater Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ. The depths of her sin magnify the beauty of grace. From every appearance Rahab was without hope, a citizen of a doomed city, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, a stranger to the covenant promise. But God sovereignly directed the spies to her house. Indeed, God had put the “scarlet cord” there in eternity long before the spies arrived. Although Joshua sent the men to spy the land, they had a commission from God to preach to Rahab. Significantly, James refers to them not as spies but as messengers by hearing the Word of God and that hearing comes through preachers (Rom. 10:12-14). How has God’s sovereign hand reached out to you?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 2,” 307).

 

Psalms 123, 124, and 125:

 

More songs of degrees or ascents as the Jewish pilgrims travel up to Jerusalem for the three feasts or celebrations that the LORD Yahweh commanded them to attend three times a year. “Psalm 123: The psalmist looks to God’s mercy in the trial of mockery” as the Psalmist looks up to the LORD God “who dwell in the heavens…. As the eyes of a maid in the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, until He has mercy on us” (verses 1-2). This reminds me of the well-known song called “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” by Alan Jackson, in which the weary and troubled soul in darkness with no light from or in themselves (first stanza) is exhorted to “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” He gives us His mercy even when we are “exceedingly filled with contempt” and “our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud” (verses 3-4), when the LORD Yahweh looks upon us to save us from our sins, and to give us His life eternally through His Son Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross, and all through our Christ-following lives, and even unto everlasting life with Him in heaven. My Word Study Bible has a word study on “mercy: This term signifies an act of graciousness to someone in need, from a person of superior rank or circumstance. The writers of wisdom literature frequently commend showing mercy to the needy (112:5; Prov. 14:21, 31; 28:8). But most of the references to mercy in the Bible have to God as the direct agent of mercy. The Scripture records God’s mercy being sought on numerous occasions, often using the phrase familiar from the psalms of lament, “Have mercy on me” (4:1; 6:2; 25:16; 51:1; 86:16). God shows His graciousness in many ways, including the prevention of harm, the bestowal of family and possessions, and the communication of divine law (119:29, 124; Gen. 33:5, 11; 2 Kin. 13:23).” (New King James Version Bible, “123:2 Word Study: Mercy”). Believer, are you not glad and rejoicing that our LORD God is merciful to us sinners whom know and believe upon Him as our Lord and Savior?

 

“Psalm 124: The psalmist reviews God’s deliverances from enemies,” the title given to this short “A Song of degrees of David” by my Study Bible, 865. Is not it very great for those of us whom belong to Him as His children to be able to claim and know that “the LORD who was on our side. The basis of the believer’s confidence (118:6; Rom. 8:31).” (The KJV Reformation Heritage Study Bible, 865). Not only “when men rose up against us” whom wanted to “swallow us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us” (verses 2-3), but also when we are overwhelmed and almost “drowned” by the many waters, streams, and swollen waters of the turmoils, problems, and strife in our lives that almost overwhelm us many times, and “would have gone over our soul(s)” (verse 5) if the LORD Yahweh wasn’t on our side to prevent them from overtaking and overwhelming us. We believers need to realize the fact that “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (verse 8) so, as He helps us to escape the “snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped” (verse 7), we must then join David in saying: “Blessed be the LORD” (verse 6). What else can we say then this that David said since the LORD is definitely and positively on our side? Amen and Amen!

 

“Psalm 125: The psalmist describes the safety of those who trust the Lord,” the title by my KJVRH Study Bible on page 865. Since “the LORD Yahweh is on our side (Psalm 124:1-2), then it follows that we believers “who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion” where He lives forever and ever (in heavenly Zion), and so since Mount Zion “cannot be moved, but abides forever,” so “the LORD surrounds His people from this time forth and forever” (verse 2) as we put our trust and faith in Him as our Lord and Savior. “Thus God’s people must abide in Him because they are the kingdom of the Lord” (Ibid., 865). As we, whom read and study God’s Word, and particularly the Old Testament, can see and know that the “scepter of wickedness,” though it may be on the “land allotted to the righteous,” it will not rest nor stay there forever “lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity,” but it will be replaced by “those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts” (verse 4) as the LORD shall lead the workers of iniquity, and the “scepter of wickedness” away from the His righteous people; and so there will be “Peace be upon Israel” (verse 5) when this happens. We just need to be patient and await this to happen to us, as God’s chosen people, as well as to Israel on the Day of the Lord Jesus Christ’s return to this earth. One very true application given to this Psalm is: “Whether we need protection against an evil that we fear, or provision of some good that we desire, the Lord is sufficient for all our needs. His power and righteousness surround His people like impassable mountains. He will give peace to those whose hearts trust in Him and do good [sic]. However, those who live in sin will be led away to destruction. How can this psalm help Christians when their lives are shaken by difficulties? How can it help people who are tempted to run to sin or worldly security when trouble threatens?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Psalm 125,” 865-6).

 

Isaiah 62:

 

“Chapter 62: The Lord declares to His people that their salvation is drawing near,” the title given to this chapter by my Word Study Bible, page 1025. This whole last section of Isaiah’s prophesy is about the LORD Yahweh’s call for us to believe and trust in Him, and to encourage us in the salvation He offers to us through His Son, the Messiah-King Jesus Christ of who He sent to the earth to live and die for us for our salvation from our sins, including this chapter. Isaiah calls the people of Jerusalem, for the sake of Zion, to be righteous going forth as brightness, “and her salvation as a lamp that burns” (verse 1); and until this happens, Isaiah said he would not rest in bringing this good news (of the gospel) to his people. There had been some revivals in the faith of the Jews living in Jerusalem all through their history, but for the most part, the Jews believing in only the LORD Yahweh as their God and Savior (and not a whole bunch of other idol-gods) didn’t prevail and so Jerusalem, Judea and Israel didn’t as a whole, believe in Him and so faced the many curses of disobedience to their covenantal LORD God, which Moses spoke of them way back in the Book of Deuteronomy long before Jerusalem was even built. So Isaiah then turns to the Gentiles whom “shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD will name. You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God” (verses 2-3), which is very beautiful and meaningful to us believers whom are Gentiles by our human nature and not Jewish; but we are still a valuable section of God’s chosen people as we trust and believe upon Him as our Lord and Savior. We believers, whether Gentile or Jewish, are now “called by a new name” (“Christian”?), and are “a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God” (verses 2-3), which shows just how vastly important and valuable we believers are to the LORD our God! I love the fact that Isaiah says this to us: “For the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married…. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (verses 4-5); and so the bride of the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ and His bride, the church, is the delight of the LORD Yahweh, the heavenly Father. Are you a part of His bride, the church, and so are a delight to God the heavenly Father? All of us believers, in the end of human history as we know it now, shall be called “The Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD; and you [we] shall be called Sought Out, a City Not Forsaken” (verse 12); and whom shall this be but only those sought out by the LORD our God and redeemed by Him to be His chosen people forever and ever, whether believing Jew or Gentile. One excellent application of this to us is that this passage speaks of “One of the most beautiful pictures given to us of Christ’s relationship with His people is that of a marriage of mutual love and delight (vv. 4-5). Salvation is not just a matter of legal verdicts and rescue from danger but of bringing people to the Lord so that He may love them forever. One of the fruits of the Spirit is joy in the Lord. How should the Christian life reflect this spiritual marriage?” (Ibid., ““Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Isaiah 62,” 1026). Amen and Amen!

 

Matthew 10:

 

Entitled “Teaching on the Nature of Discipleship (10:1—11:1). Chapter 10: Jesus sends out the twelve apostles to preach the kingdom. In addition He teaches the people concerning various issues” by my KJVRH Study Bible on page 1372. After the Lord Jesus Christ chooses His twelve disciples and gives them “power against unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease” (verse 1), He sends them out to preach that “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (verse 7) as well, and tell them that they are to abide with those whom receive them and salute the house (greet them with the “declaration of God’s blessing on those who believe the gospel (Acts 10:36)” (Ibid., 1372), which is the same today as it was back when the Lord walked on this earth. If they didn’t accept the disciples nor their teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, then they were to “shake off the dust of your feet,” which was a “Jewish custom when reentering the Holy Land from a foreign country, symbolizing separation from those who were unclean and outsiders.” (Ibid.) Now days, of course, we believers are to bless them instead of cursing them, as all through the New Testament, the Word of God tells us to “bless those who persecute you and do not curse” (Romans 12:14); “bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you” (Luke 6:28); and “being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat” (1 Corinthians 4:12-13) so we bless them, and try to give out the gospel to them, but we do not join them in doing wrong and sinful things in their lives nor listen to their bad counsel; and we should instead, delight in the Law (Word) of the LORD, and in His Law (Word), we should meditate day and night (Psalm 1:1-2). Then the Lord Jesus Christ tells us, as His disciples or followers, what we should and should not do in our lives; all summed up by verses 37 to 39 as we, “considering the division that the message of the kingdom causes, no one should presume to lean on their family relations [for our salvation]. A disciple must love Christ supremely, above all others (Phil. 3:7-9)…. (And) Jesus’ disciples must willingly embrace and endure the cost of following Christ and becoming like Him” as even the “least of His disciples (little ones), is equivalent to receiving Jesus because it is in His authority and commission that they go” (Ibid., 1372) out and receive His people into fellowship with themselves. Even giving a “cup of cold water” to someone needing it, is worthy of a reward from heavenly glory. “Were it not for Christ and the mission He gave to the apostles, we would all be completely in the darkness of paganism. On the apostles the foundation of the church was built (Eph. 2:20). After Christ’s ascension, the church was spread abroad by the apostles as an enlargement of God’s nation, Israel, among all peoples. This is what God had promised to Abraham, that in him all the nations would be blessed (Gen. 12:3; see Gal. 3:8). What does this chapter teach us about missions? How are you and your church implementing these principles?” (Ibid., “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship: Chapter 10,” 1374).