​What Is the Meaning

of

Shekinah Glory?


Shekinah Glory is a visible manifestation of God on earth,

whose presence is portrayed through a natural occurrence. The word shekinah is a Hebrew name meaning “dwelling” or “one who dwells.”

Shekinah Glory

​means “He caused to dwell,” referring to the

divine presence of God.

​First, God had given Moses and Aaron specific instructions about the

Tent of Meeting and the

movement

of the

Ark of the Covenant.

"After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the
holy furnishings and all the holy articles,

and when the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites are to come to do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the Tent of Meeting”

(Numbers 4:15).

No matter how innocently it was done,

touching the ark

was in direct violation of God’s law and was to result in death.

This was a means of preserving the sense of God’s holiness and the fear of drawing near to Him without appropriate preparation.

Notice how David took men with him to collect the ark, rather than allowing the Levites to bring it to him. That was a great mistake, since it ought never to have been put upon a cart, old or new. It was to be borne upon men’s shoulders, and carried by Levites only, and those of the family of Kohath

(Exodus 25:12-14; Numbers 7:9),

using the poles prescribed. Failing to follow God’s precise

instructions would be seen as (a)


not revering God’s words when He spoke

them through those such as Moses,

whom He had appointed; 

having an independent attitude that might border on rebellion, i.e., seeing and acting on things from a worldly, rather than a

spiritual, perspective; or disobedience. 

Second, the ark had stayed for a period of time at Abinadab’s house (2 Samuel 6:3), where his sons, Uzzah and Ahio, may well have become accustomed to its presence. There’s an old saying, “familiarity breeds contempt,” that could apply in this case. Uzzah, having been around the ark in his own home, could very likely forget the holiness that it represented.

There are times when we, too,

fail to recognize the holiness of God, becoming too familiar with

​Him with an irreverent attitude. 

Third, the account

tells us the oxen stumbled

The cart didn’t fall and neither did the Ark, just as the boat carrying Jesus and the disciples rocked fiercely in the storm, though it wasn’t necessarily in danger of sinking (Matthew 8:24-27).

And yet, just as with the disciples who failed to put their faith in their Master, Uzzah, for a moment, felt it was his responsibility to save the integrity of God, and that our almighty God somehow needed Uzzah’s assistance. He presumed that, without his intervention, God’s presence would be dealt a blow. As Job asks, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God?” (Job 11:7).

“His greatness no one can fathom”

(Psalm 145:3).

“His understanding no one can fathom” (Isaiah 40:28).

Moses lost his right to enter the promised land because he felt his intervention was needed when he struck the rock, instead of speaking to it as God had commanded (Numbers 20:7-12).

We need to listen carefully to what God has to say to us, and in obedience strive to do all He commands. Yes, God is loving and merciful, but He is also holy and He defends His holiness with His power, and affronts to His holiness sometimes bring about His holy wrath. “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

Something of God’s

presence in the Ark of the Covenant

seems to be lost in the church today. In the time of Moses, the people knew the awesomeness of God’s absolute holiness.

They had witnessed great miracles when the ark was with them. They respected that God’s ways and thoughts are much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). In truth, the more we try to bring God down to our worldly way of thinking or reasoning, the further away He will seem to us. Those who would draw near to God and have Him draw near to them are those who approach Him in reverence and holy fear. Uzzah forgot that lesson, and the consequences were tragic.


​Paul, in his prayers


“for saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in

Christ Jesus”

​ (Ephesians 1:1, ESV),

asks that God “may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation,

so that you may know him better” (verse 17). 


he desires for them to be given the

spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Since Christians receive the promised Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation (John 14:17), the spirit of wisdom and revelation that Paul prays for cannot refer to the initial gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s reference could easily be to an attitude or frame of mind (although the NIV and ESV capitalize Spirit, other translations such as the NASB and BSB translate it as “a spirit,” and the NLT simply has “spiritual wisdom and insight”). If not the Holy Spirit, then what does Paul ask for in his request for “the spirit of wisdom and revelation”? The key is in the phrase that follows, “in the knowledge of him” (ESV), or “so that you may know him better” (NIV).

Paul had commended the Ephesians for their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love toward all the saints (Ephesians 1:15),

but now he is asking God to give them a

deeper and greater understanding of

the mysteries of His character and will,

​ to know Him more thoroughly and intimately.

Now that they have the Holy Spirit in their hearts, Paul desires Him to grant them more understanding and greater insight.

The “wisdom” is a better understanding of the doctrines of God, and the “revelation” is a clearer picture of the divine character and will. In the NLT, the prayer is that believers would have “spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.” The AMP translation has

Paul asking that God “may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation [that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight]

into the


TRUE


knowledge of Him.”

God is infinite, and He can never be fully known by finite creatures. We all need wisdom from above. No matter how far we may advance in our understanding of God, there is an unfathomed depth of knowledge that remains to be explored. Scripture is full of admonitions to grow in our knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 2:2; Ephesians 4:15).


Paul outlines some of

the mysteries he

wants the Ephesians to understand

through this spirit of wisdom and

​revelation.
​

He desires them to grasp “the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance” (Ephesians 1:18). This is the hope of eternal life, which Paul refers to as the “upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14, ESV). We inherit the riches of eternal life through Him who saved us and called us to holiness in Christ before time began (2 Timothy 1:9). Paul also prays the Spirit will reveal God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19)—power so great it raised Jesus from the dead. It’s a power that we can only comprehend as we possess the

 spirit of wisdom and revelation.

The spirit of wisdom and revelation is not some mysterious blessing given to a special few, and it is not the ability to speak as a prophet. Rather, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to help the people of God understand the things of God more fully and completely.

The term word is used in different ways in the Bible. In the New Testament, there are two Greek words translated "word": rhema and logos. They have slightly different meanings. Rhema usually means “a spoken word.” For example, in Luke 1:38, when the angel told Mary that she would be the mother of God’s Son, Mary replied, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word [rhema].”

Logos, however, has a broader, more philosophical meaning. This is the term used in John 1. It usually implies a total message, and is used mostly in reference to God’s message to mankind. For example, Luke 4:32 says that, when Jesus taught the people, "they were amazed at his teaching, because his words [logos] had authority." The people were amazed not merely by the particular words Jesus chose but by His total message.

"The Word" (Logos) in John 1 is referring to Jesus. Jesus is the total Message—everything that God wants to communicate to man. The first chapter of John gives us a glimpse inside the Father/Son relationship before Jesus came to earth in human form. He preexisted with the Father (verse 1), He was involved in the creation of everything (verse 3), and He is the "light of all mankind" (verse 4). The Word (Jesus) is the full embodiment of all that is God (Colossians 1:19; 2:9; John 14:9). But God the Father is Spirit. He is invisible to the human eye. The message of love and redemption that God spoke through the prophets had gone unheeded for centuries (Ezekiel 22:26; Matthew 23:37). People found it easy to disregard the message of an invisible God and continued in their sin and rebellion. So the Message became flesh, took on human form, and came to dwell among us (Matthew 1:23; Romans 8:3; Philippians 2:5–11).

The Greeks used the word logos to refer to one’s “mind,” “reason,” or “wisdom.” John used this Greek concept to communicate the fact that Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, is the self-expression of God to the world. In the Old Testament, the word of God brought the universe into existence (Psalm 33:6) and saved the needy (Psalm 107:20). In chapter 1 of his Gospel, John is appealing to both Jew and Gentile to receive the eternal Christ.

Jesus told a parable in Luke 20:9–16 to explain why the Word had to become flesh. “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

In this parable, Jesus was reminding the Jewish leaders that they had rejected the prophets and were now rejecting the Son. The Logos, the Word of God, was now going to be offered to everyone, not just the Jews (John 10:16; Galatians 2:28; Colossians 3:11). Because the Word became flesh, we have a high priest who is able to empathize with our weaknesses, one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin (Hebrews 4:15).

First and foremost, the woman of Revelation 12 is identified as Mary, the one “who brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron . . . [the one] caught up to God and his throne” (Rev 12:5). Revelation 12, however, also uses imagery that reveals the woman to be Daughter Zion, the Queen-Bride of Israel, and the Mother of the Church.

In likening the woman to the Queen Bride of Israel, his description of her echoes Isaiah, who said that Israel would be arrayed like a radiant Queen Bride (Is 60:19–20, 62:3–5). Solomon’s bride in the Song of Solomon is similarly described (Songs 6:10). John drives this point home by telling us that the woman wears a crown of twelve stars, an obvious symbol of the twelve tribes of Israel.

But, throughout Revelation, the twelve tribes are also reckoned as signs of the twelve Apostles, the representatives of the new Israel, the Church (Rev 7:4–8, 21:12–14). So, just as Daughter Zion was a symbol of the chosen people of God—Israel—the woman in Revelation is also a symbol of the new people of God, the Church. Paul, in language similar to that of Revelation, called the Church “the Jerusalem above . . . our mother.” He also spoke of the Church as the Bride of Christ (Gal 4:26; Eph 5:31–32). Likewise, John referred to the Church as a “Lady” (2 Jn, v. 5). The woman of Revelation, however, is more than a symbol for the Church. She is also its mother with “offspring” in addition to the one male child to whom she gives birth. And those children are described in Revelation as those who believe in Jesus.

In Revelation 12 we see a great battle which is a dramatic portrayal of the fulfillment of God’s promise in the Garden of Eden. The serpent lies in wait beneath the woman, preparing to devour her off spring. The birth of her son becomes the occasion for mortal combat. During the battle, the woman flees into the desert—to a place especially prepared for her by God. Later, after the devil’s defeat, John sees the woman given eagle’s wings to fly to a place in the desert where she would be nourished by God.

John’s language recalls Jesus’ words to his Apostles in John 14:1–3. The language of preparing a place is also often used in the New Testament to describe the destiny God has planned for his children (Mt 20:23, 25:34; 1 Pet 1:5; 1 Cor 2:9). John’s words also evoke God’s care for Israel in the wilderness (Ex 19:4; Deut 1:31–33, 32:10–12, 8:2–3).
​
The picture Revelation paints serves as the biblical outline for the Church’s dogma of Mary’s Assumption. Mary is Daughter Zion, the woman who gave birth to the world’s Savior.

Because she is the New Eve, she is free from the shadow of sin and its consequences. This includes the long-term separation of soul and body that exists for the rest of us as we wait for the resurrection of the body at the end of time. Mary has been taken up into heaven by God to join her Son in the place He prepared for her. And in that place, as Christ the King’s mother, she sits at His right hand, wearing the crown of the Queen Mother.

Additional scriptural evidence for Mary’s Assumption lies in the fact that there are at least two foreshadowings of it in the Old Testament as seen with Enoch and Elijah.


Transporting the Ark Man's Way (6:3-10)

When David learns that Obed-Edom is being blessed with the "dangerous" ark at his house, David realizes that the ark itself is not the problem. He wants that blessing in the City of David!

He begins to research in the Torah about how the ark is supposed to be transported, and discovers:

"No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the LORD chose them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before him forever." (1 Chronicles 15:2)

This is the way the ark was carried across the Jordan River as Joshua led the people into the Promised Land (Joshua 3:3; 6:6). However, since this had been hundreds of years before, people had forgotten. Nevertheless, instructions for carrying the ark are found several times in the Pentateuch (Numbers 4:4-15, 19-20; 7:9; Deuteronomy 10:8; 31:9).

Specifically, the Kohathite clan of the Levites is charged with carrying the sacred objects from the tabernacle,

and it just happens that Obed-Edom is a Levite from the Kohathite
town of Gath-Rimmon (Joshua 21:20-24).[193]
​
David now instructs the Levites:

"It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the LORD our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way." (1 Chronicles 15:13)
​
He makes sure that the priests and Levites consecrate themselves according the Torah before this ceremony (1 Chronicles 15:14).


​Then David tries a second time

​

​


https://www.oneforisrael.org/get-involved/



I've been storing up for my Missions Trip

Goal!

I likewise encourage everyone to

support this cause in

proclaiming the Gospel,

the FIRST STEP, as


Gods Word Clearly Indicates 

in achieving

worldwide revival


 I encourage anyone

who has a desire to see world revival-

including in America,

to help accelerate that process by

supporting the mandate that God deems

first priority

in his

revealed will and Word


“But indeed I also count all things loss for the

excellence of the knowledge of


Christ Jesus my Lord,

for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,

and count them as rubbish,

that I may gain Christ …” 

Philippians 3:8.


The knowledge of

Christ Jesus

has a revolutionary effect“


My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge ...” Hosea 4:6.




The knowledge of God is

God’s light


By the revelation of the Spirit,

Paul received

this

precious knowledge of Christ



Jesus that far exceeds all

other knowledge


Everything he had previously learned

or looked up to in

this world

now became rubbish and a loss for him.


The true knowledge of

Jesus Christ

has a revolutionary effect on people’s lives.

It makes an end of loving the world and the things that

are in the world.

Paul also prayed fervently for the Ephesians that they

might receive

enlightened eyes of the heart

and

the spirit of wisdom and revelation

in the

knowledge of Him.

(Ephesians 1:17-18.)


The knowledge that Jesus died on Calvary as atonement for the sins of the world is well known. However, the way that Jesus went, from the time He learned to discern between good and evil as a child until He cried out,

“It is finished!” on the cross, is less known and rarely preached.

The way that Jesus went

The way was consecrated through His flesh. (Hebrews 10:20.)

Now we can boldly go the same way, right into the sanctuary.

In the old covenant it was impossible

for a person to deny himself and

preserve a perfect conscience. (Hebrews 9:9-10.)

This would be just as impossible today if sin in the flesh,

against which the law was powerless,

had not

been condemned to death in Jesus.

(Romans 8:3.)


But God be praised that sin in the flesh

can also be condemned

in us through faith in what

transpired in Christ.

The life of Jesus can now be revealed in us to the same extent that we bear in our bodies the dying of Jesus over our self-life.

This is how we increasingly partake of divine nature

 and are transformed according to the image of Jesus,

from glory to glory.

(2 Corinthians 4:10; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Peter 1:4.)


In the power of an eternal Spirit Jesus could always say,

 “Not My will, but Yours, be done.” 

Luke 22:42.

We can also say the same thing in the power of the same Spirit;

thus, we deny ourselves daily, take up our cross,

and follow in His steps, and in the end,

we come to where He is in His glory.

(Luke 9:23.)

The impossible is now possible

What was impossible in the old covenant has now become possible.

Now we can be fully preserved according to our conscience.

If we suffer with Him and endure,

we will also be glorified together with Him

and will inherit all things with Him.


(Hebrews 2:18; 1 Peter 4:13; Romans 8:17.)

When Paul’s eyes were opened to this blessed

way of the cross and self-denial that leads right to the

throne of the Father and of the Son,

​he ran as if only one wins the prize.

As long as he was on earth, he also encouraged each and every one to run this race. He exhorted everyone day and night to forsake everything of their own and live a God-fearing life, keeping the commandment pure and blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing.

(1 Timothy 6:11-14.)


The true light

and the

right

knowledge of Jesus Christ


are now breaking through the darkness of unbelief in these days.

It will be quite impossible to hinder this light from shining. Of course, those who are quite comfortable in the religious semi-darkness will cause a considerable stir when the light shines in;

they will try to push it away by maintaining that it is false doctrine and a hard and judgmental spirit.

Yes, it is quite certain that the light judges

and that the

true knowledge of Christ will definitely become

unrecognizable

to those who have been blinded to

spiritual discernment


However, the upright rejoice greatly when light arises in their hearts.


Straining Toward the Goal

Brothers,  forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to

what lies ahead, 

press on toward the goal

for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.


Let those of us who are mature think this way,

and if in anything you think otherwise,

God will reveal that also to you.

Only let us hold

true to what we have attained.


Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 

For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears,

walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame,

with minds set on earthly things.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior,

the Lord Jesus Christ,

who will transform the lowly body to be like his glorious body,

by the power that enables him even to

subject all things to himself.
​

Therefore, my brothers,

whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,

stand firm thus in the Lord,

my beloved.

Paul has not yet arrived at his goal.


The Greek verb used here, teleioō, can refer to

being perfected,

being completed, or reaching a goal.


Paul’s athletic imagery

in these verses likely captured the attention of the Philippians,

whose proximity to Greece exposed them to the

Greek athletic games.

For Paul, the ultimate goal is

knowing Christ’s resurrection power

and

dwelling with Him in the age to come

(Phil 3:10–11, 21).


The Prize of the Upward Call of God

The Greek adjective used here, teleios, is related to the verb in v. 12.


In this case,

Paul probably is

calling on mature believers to

adopt the

mindset he has just described


Paul regularly presents himself as a model for believers to follow

(compare 1 Cor 4:16; 11:1; Gal 4:12).


In Philippians, he also praises others who are

worthy of imitation—Christ,

Timothy, and Epaphroditus (Phil 2:5, 22, 25, 29). 3:18

These enemies seem to be different from the group that was promoting circumcision for non-Jewish believers (vv. 2–3). Paul associates them with sensual pleasures and shameful behavior (v. 19), suggesting they are libertines rather than keepers of the law.

Theology of the Cross

Paul assures the Philippians that such people will face divine judgment.

Their God is their Bell.  Roman citizenship was highly prized,

but

Paul encourages believers to embrace

a far better identity

as citizens of God’s kingdom.


Most residents of Philippi probably lacked Roman citizenship

(see note on 1:1).

For any believers who did hold Roman citizenship,

Paul’s statement here presents

a challenge to look beyond their

earthly

status and show highest allegiance to Christ.



Citizenship in Heaven

In the Roman Empire,

the emperor was known as the savior and lord.

By applying these titles to Jesus,

Paul is calling the Philippians to

live under

the authority and reign of the universe’s

true Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.


It was likely this kind of message that

landed Paul and Silas in jail

in Philippi (Acts 16:21).


Savior DPL 3:21 Those who believe in Christ will be raised and their bodies will be transformed

(Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 15:20–22, 51–54).


This explains why Paul writes that distinctive markers,

such as circumcision,

do not hold value in Christ

(Gal 6:15).


Temporary signs pale in comparison to the glorious transformation

that is shown to true believers through revealed glory

and continued sanctification 


Paul repeats his call for Christian unity, the letter’s dominant theme

(compare Phil 1:27–30; 2:2–4; 3:15–17).

Overview of Philippians 4:1–23 LRC:P 4:1 See note on 1:27. 4:2

Paul names two women who had worked with him (v. 3) and apparently were at odds. Their quarrel might have been a key reason why Paul wrote this letter.

Euodia and Syntyche could have been leaders in the Philippian church.

By addressing their dispute in a letter to the entire congregation,

Paul is encouraging

accountability


The motif of maintaining joy in the midst of suffering

is common in Paul’s writings


(Col 1:24; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:6; 2 Cor 8:2).



How can we guard our minds by thinking about whatever


is right?

The word for

“right”

in the original Greek language means


“just, that which conforms with justice,

morally right, proper.”


And “just” is how the KJV and NKJV translate it.

Specifically, the term relates to our relationships with others.

One commentary suggests that thinking on

whatever is


right

refers to fairness between


“all parties involved, that which

fulfills all

obligations and debts



Thinking right thoughts


steers one away from quarrels and dissensions

to

think of the needs and rights of the other party”



(Anders, M., Galatians—Colossians, Vol. 8, Broadman & Holman, 1999, p. 262).

Another commentary explains

that a person


“is ‘just’ . . .


and therefore right when he

gives to God and to his fellow men

what is their due.


He accepts and performs his proper

duty to

God and man”


(Loh, I. and Nida, E. A., A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, United Bible Societies, 1995, p. 134). In other words,

“think on whatever is right in the eyes of God and people”

or

“think about what is fair for all involved”

is an excellent way

to understand Paul’s meaning.



Earlier in the epistle, Paul urges the church,


Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.

Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to

your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus”

(Philippians 2:2–5).


 Christ is the ultimate authority on right thinking:

The word right can also refer to being righteous. 


Psalm 11:7 tells us that God Himself is

righteous and loves and rewards justice in His people.

When Paul says to “think about these things” at the end of Philippians 4:8,

he means to

“consider, give thought to, and reason out” these virtues.

Next, he says, “practice these things”

(Philippians 4:9, ESV).

As believers, we are to think about what is right and

then reason out how to

“put on the new self, created to be like God in


true

righteousness and holiness”

(Ephesians 4:24).

The goal of filling our minds with whatever is right is becoming 

like Christ—the Righteous One

(1 John 2:1; Acts 3:14).

As we are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2),

thinking on whatever is right, we begin to

“put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge

in the image of its Creator”

(Colossians 3:10).

​What we draw near to God, 


He reveals Himself to us.

God does not hide 


Himself from the seeking heart.



Our relationship with the living God is grown

through the

word of God, scripture, through reading

That is where he is first found,

then we grow in understanding of his thought process,

each time we read and apply the Bible in context,

it comes through studying doctrine. 

The result and purpose for Studying sound doctrine is to know God

and have a relationship with him.

That’s the only way to grow a relationship with God.

The Word is God. He’s not a lost, distant man

in the sky that can’t be found, he’s illuminated in the good book.

And once we do understand his nature and will,

we can live according to his will, so that his will is fulfilled. 

We will know what to do and how to respond.

We won’t be seeking or lost, we have the answers. 

We can not speak things into existence, we discover what exists.

Studying the Bible is your relationship with Christ,

which is how we interpret and apply the message

So that we can then pray spoken words and recognize

his work and nature. When we recognize his work and deeds, we

can praise and glorify him accordingly. If we aren’t doing that,

then we aren’t recognizing it, and can't know what we don’t see.  

That is the growing spiritual seed,

it begins with faith, and grows and evolves into developing an

​understanding the whole Word of God in unison
​through
reading and applying., and recognizing what that is. 

It’s like laying down a foundation of bricks,

reading, digesting, and applying.

Contemplating and discovering.

Knowing “what” “words” are, can only develops into

existence when they are

applied through living experience. 

God is The Word. That is his manifestation and relationship.

That is where we go to seek, knock, and find. 
​
That is the only way to understand God, and the

only way to draw near to him. 



In his letter to the church in Rome,
​

Paul quotes an astonishing statement from the Psalms:

“There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God”

(Romans 3:11).

How can Paul, and David before him, make such a sweeping declaration?

Of all who have ever lived, not even one person has really sought after God?

There’s no question that billions of people have sought after a god,

but they have not always sought after the true God.


This fact ties directly to Adam and Eve’s sin

prompted by Satan’s deception.

Throughout the history of mankind, the treachery promulgated

by Satan has been so thorough that the

natural man can perceive only bits and pieces of

the

real truth about God.

As a result, our conceptions about God are blurred.

It’s only when God chooses to reveal Himself to us that the

pieces begin to fall together as our eyes are opened to truth.

Then, truly seeking God becomes possible.


Jesus tells us in John 17:3,

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God,

and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

Here Jesus is telling us that our continuing to seek God, desiring to know Him more, is the essence of true life, eternal life. The most important thoughts our minds can entertain are thoughts of God, because they will determine the quality and direction of life. Seeking God, then,

is an ongoing responsibility and privilege for all Christians.

But we also know that seeking God is not always an easy thing to do, not because God is elusive, but because our minds are saturated with misconceptions and deceits planted by Satan and reinforced by the culture, not to mention the sinful nature of our own hearts and the general deceitfulness of sin (Jeremiah 17:9; James 1:13–15). But the good news is that these mistaken beliefs are done away with through coming to know God and growing in our relationship with Him. This starts when we turn to Him for salvation and put our trust in Jesus Christ. When we are saved, we receive the indwelling Holy Spirit who helps us to know God and even transforms our hearts to want to seek Him (Ephesians 1:13–14; Philippians 1:6; 2:12–13; Romans 8:26–30). 


Romans 12:2counsels, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” We learn the truth about God and seek Him through reading His Word (the Bible). We seek God also through prayer and in times of worship. We seek God both individually and corporately. Spending time with other believers in Jesus who are also seeking God is important to help us continue to seek Him

(Hebrews 10:24–25).

Second Chronicles 15:2–4 is instructive for us. This passage was written over two thousand years ago to a people like us: “[Azariah the prophet] went out to meet Asa and said to him, ‘Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them.’”

Their instructions were simple: when they sincerely sought God, things went well, but when their desire to seek Him waned and eventually ceased altogether, their world came apart. Sin increased, morality declined, and contact with God ceased. The admonitions to the children of God of that time are clear to us today: “If you seek him, he will be found by you.”

This profound principle is repeated throughout Scripture

(Deuteronomy 4:29; Jeremiah 29:13; Matthew 7:7; Acts 17:27; James 4:8).


The idea is that,


when we draw near to God,


He reveals Himself to us.

God does not hide

Himself from the seeking heart.


“But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29).

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).


​Every Christian recognizes that there are important stages in the Christian life. Just as we are physically born, go through school, and get a job, so spiritually we are born again in Christ, grow in holiness through the Holy Spirit, and go to be with God forever. The terms Christians use to describe these important moments are justification, sanctification, and glorification. These three words are used to describe the Christian journey from new birth to resurrection.

First, we should remember what these words mean. Here are some definitions:

• Justification is “an act of God whereby He pronounces a sinner to be righteous because of that sinner’s faith in Christ.” We are justified, or declared righteous, at the moment of our salvation.

• Sanctification is “the process by which Christians are set apart for God from the rest of the world, or the process by which Christians are made holy.” Progressive, or experiential, sanctification, as it is sometimes called, is the effect of obedience to the Word of God in one’s life. It is the same as growing in the Lord (2 Peter 3:18) or spiritual maturity.

• Glorification is “God’s final removal of sin from the life of the saints so that they stand faultless before Him in glory in eternity” (Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17). At Christ’s coming, the glory of God (Romans 5:2)—His honor, praise, majesty, and holiness—will be realized in us; we will have direct and unhindered access to God’s presence, and we will enjoy holy communion with Him throughout eternity.

As mentioned above, these three words describe the full process of salvation. As Christians, we were justifiedwhen we confessed Christ and believed (Romans 10:9), we are sanctified as we grow in holiness through the work of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:11–32; Galatians 5:16–24), and we will someday be glorified when we are resurrected into eternal life (Colossians 3:4). Justification is a one-time event, sanctification is a process, and glorification is a future event.

If you are a Christian, you are guaranteed all three steps (see Romans 8:29–30). You are forever justified, you are being sanctified, and you will for sure be glorified (1 Corinthians 6:11). All three of these amazing things are from God’s grace, not because of anything you have done or will do to earn them (Ephesians 2:8–9). You cannot earn your justification, you cannot achieve your sanctification, and you cannot merit your glorification. God makes all these things happen out of His love for you, by His grace alone (Romans 3:24; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Philippians 2:13; Titus 2:11). If you are trying to achieve any of these three things by your own power, you will inevitably fail. Instead, ask God for His grace, rely on His power, and walk by the Spirit.

If you are not a Christian, then you may be trying to have these things by your own merit. You may be trying to feel righteous before God, be good in your life, and leave a lasting legacy after you die. But you cannot do it on your own (Romans 3:10–20)! God does not want you to “try harder,” but to come to Him in faith. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Have you had your sins forgiven? Have you accepted God’s gracious gift of eternal life? If not, why not start today?

The way of salvation is simple, and it is only through Jesus Christ. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10:9–13).

The Bible has a great deal to say about servanthood because the central theme of the Bible is the Servant of all—Jesus Christ. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). When we give Jesus Christ His rightful place as Lord of our lives, His lordship will be expressed in the way we serve others (Mark 9:35; 1 Peter 4:10; John 15:12-13). How can we demonstrate love for God? Our love for God will be expressed in our love for others. “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5).

True leadership is servanthood, and the greatest leader of all time is Jesus Christ. Servanthood is an attitude exemplified by Christ “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:6-7). The five words in the New Testament translated “ministry” generally refer to servanthood or service given in love. Serving others is the very essence of ministry. All believers are called to ministry (Matthew 28:18-20), and, therefore, we are all called to be servants for the glory of God. Living is giving; all else is selfishness and boredom.

It has been rightly stated, “Rank is given you to enable you to better serve those above and below you. It is not given for you to practice your idiosyncrasies” (General Bruce C. Clarke, USA, Ret). Let’s serve others by serving Christ (Colossians 3:23-24). God the Father has served us by sacrificing Christ on the cross for our sins, and we should serve others by giving the gospel and our lives to them (1 Thessalonians 1:5-6). Those who desire to be great in God’s kingdom must be the servant of all

​ (Matthew 20:26).

In 1 Corinthians 2:16, Paul quotes Isaiah 40:13 and then makes a statement concerning all believers: “We have the mind of Christ.” Having the mind of Christ means sharing the plan, purpose, and perspective of Christ, and it is something that all believers possess. 

Having the mind of Christ means we understand God’s plan

in the world—to bring glory to Himself, restore creation to its original splendor, and provide salvation for sinners. It means we identify with Christ’s purpose “to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10).

It means we share Jesus’ perspective of humility and obedience (Philippians 2:5-8), compassion (Matthew 9:36),

and prayerful dependence on God (Luke 5:16).


In the verses leading up to 1 Corinthians 2:16, we note some

truths concerning the mind of Christ:

1) The mind of Christ stands in sharp contrast to the

wisdom of man (verses 5-6).

2) The mind of Christ involves wisdom from God,

once hidden but now revealed (verse 7).

3) The mind of Christ is given to believers through the

Spirit of God (verses 10-12).

4) The mind of Christ cannot be understood by those

without the Spirit (verse 14).

5) The mind of Christ gives believers discernment

in spiritual matters (verse 15).



In order to have the mind of Christ,

one must first

have saving faith in Christ


(John 1:12; 1 John 5:12).

After salvation, the believer lives a life under God’s influence. The Holy Spirit indwells and enlightens the believer, infusing him with wisdom—the mind of Christ. The believer bears a responsibility to yield to the Spirit’s leading (Ephesians 4:30) and to allow the Spirit to transform and renew his mind (Romans 12:1-2).

In many places in the New Testament, the apostle Paul refers to himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ” (e.g., Romans 1:1; Colossians 4:12; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 4:6). The Lord’s half-brother Jude refers to himself in the same way (Jude 1:1). Rather than capitalize on his close relationship to Jesus, Jude relegated himself to the status of a servant. Jesus’ family, friends, and chosen apostles refer to themselves as His servants, the plain implication being that Jesus is Lord.

“Servant” is a translation of the Greek word doulos, which means more literally “a slave or bondservant, someone who sets aside all rights of his own to serve another.” Because the word slave carries such a negative connotation to our modern sensitivities, we often choose the word servant instead. However, servant does not quite capture the real meaning of doulos. Paul said he was a “slave” to Christ.

In ancient times, slaves were purchased or born into a slave family and served the master until they died or until the master decided to free them. Some slaves had developed such a close and loving relationship with the master’s family that they wanted to continue serving, even when they could go free. That’s the idea Paul and others were conveying when they referred to themselves as servants of Christ. The Lord has bought us with a high price (1 Corinthians 6:20), and those who come to know Him desire to abandon all rights to Him and choose to serve Him faithfully.

A servant of Christ knows who is the King. A servant of Christ is one who has voluntarily set aside his or her personal rights in order to love, serve, and obey the will of God in Christ Jesus. Servants of Christ die daily to sin and fleshly desires, allowing Christ’s life to flow through them (Galatians 2:20).

To be a servant of Christ is to seek His will in all things. Our primary desire every day, as servants of Christ, is to honor and glorify the One who bought our freedom from sin (1 Corinthians 10:31). This means we must die to ourselves (Luke 9:23), renounce our right to direct our own lives (Luke 6:46), and seek ways to bring our Master pleasure (Psalm 37:23; Proverbs 11:20). Just as a master in ancient times took on the responsibility of caring for his bondservants, so our Lord says that He will provide all we need when we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33; Philippians 4:19).

Our Master, Jesus, has given us instructions in His Word and expects those who profess His name to know them. As we learn more, we do better. Servants of Christ put into practice all they learn about pleasing their Lord. While He has specific jobs for each of us according

to the gifts and opportunities He provides,

some requirements are universal for anyone

called to be a servant of Christ:


• Continue in faith.

• Destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.

• Take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

• Pursue holy living (1 Peter 1:14–16).

• Daily crucify the lusts of the flesh (Romans 6:1–6).
​
• Love brothers and sisters in the faith (1 John 3:14–15).

• Store up treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19–20).

• Eagerly await the Master’s return (Revelation 22:20; 2 Timothy 4:8).



Servants of Christ do their work humbly and selflessly,

desiring only to please their benevolent Master. There’s no pretension, no self-importance, no compensation-seeking in true servanthood. Jesus reminds us of the lowly place a servant occupies: “You also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’” (Luke 17:10, ESV).

Servants of Christ consider their lives on earth as a brief time of preparation for eternity. The hardships and struggles we must face while in the flesh will be far outmatched by the glory and reward awaiting us (2 Corinthians 4:17). Just as a servant who loves his master lives for the master’s approval, so servants of Christ live for the moment He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master!” (Matthew 25:21, 23)

The Christian life is never easy, but the difficulties do not negate the joy. We consider Jesus, who “for the joy set before him . . . endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). God has set us free from the slavery to sin. The victory is ours (2 Corinthians 2:14). Through the Holy Spirit, believers receive encouragement, strength to persevere, and reminders of their adoption into the family of God. We know that our “present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed” (Romans 8:18).

The apostle Paul’s singular ambition in life was to know Jesus Christ experientially. More than merely acquiring superficial head-knowledge, Paul wanted to connect with Jesus on the closest possible relational level: “My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10, HCSB).

Nothing else in life mattered to Paul. He was willing to lose every earthly possession and pursuit for the sake of intimately knowing Christ (Philippians 3:7). He considered “everything else worthless,” labeling it “garbage” compared to “the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” His supreme objective was to “gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). For Paul, to experience a relationship with Jesus in this way meant sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings, even if that meant death.

In Galatians 2:20, Paul reiterated his desire to share in a dynamic, all-in union with Jesus: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul taught believers that “the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:5, NLT).

The early apostles believed that participating in the fellowship of Christ’s suffering was part of our preparation for sharing in His future glory. To his student Timothy, Paul explained, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12, NLT). Peter urged believers not to “be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world”

(1 Peter 4:12–13, NLT).

In Philippians 2:5–11, Paul told believers to have the same attitude or mindset as Christ. Our preparation for heaven involves becoming like Christ, being conformed into His image (Romans 8:29; Philippians 3:21). Jesus embodied humility and obedience to God as He walked a path to death. The very purpose God sent His Son was to suffer and die for us that we might be saved (1 John 3:16; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18). To be like Christ, we must enter the fellowship of His suffering and death “so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies” (2 Corinthians 4:10, NLT). Paul informed Christians in Colossae, “I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church”

(Colossians 1:24, NLT).

We should not be shocked to encounter trials in this life because following Jesus inevitably leads to the cross. One commentator urged, “We must be ready for—and we cannot hope to avoid—the downward path of the Crucified” (Motyer, J., The Message of Philippians, InterVarsity Press, 1984, p. 169). Jesus told His disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me”

(Matthew 16:24, NLT).

Taking up our cross means being willing to surrender our lives and even die for the sake of following Christ. Jesus didn’t paint a rosy picture of discipleship. Instead, He said, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?”

(Luke 9:24–25, NLT).

Just before Paul spoke of the “fellowship of His sufferings,” he said his goal was to know Christ “and the power of His resurrection.” As we share in hardship and persecution on our downward path to the cross, Jesus is our co-companion on the journey. He promises never to leave us alone (Matthew 28:20).

Christ is a living Savior who pledges to impart His resurrection power and give us the strength to endure and even overcome


(Romans 8:11; Philippians 3:10; John 16:33).

The short answer is that “glorification” is God’s final removal of sin from the life of the saints (i.e., everyone who is saved) in the eternal state (Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17). At Christ’s coming, the glory of God (Romans 5:2)—His honor, praise, majesty, and holiness—will be realized in us; instead of being mortals burdened with sin nature, we will be changed into holy immortals with direct and unhindered access to God’s presence, and we will enjoy holy communion with Him throughout eternity. In considering glorification, we should focus on Christ, for He is every Christian’s “blessed hope”; also, we may consider final glorification as the culmination of sanctification. 

Final glorification must await the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13; 1 Timothy 6:14). Until He returns, we are burdened with sin, and our spiritual vision is distorted because of the curse. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Every day, we should be diligent by the Spirit to put to death

what is “fleshly” (sinful) in us (Romans 8:13).

How and when will we be finally glorified? At the last trumpet, when Jesus comes, the saints will undergo a fundamental, instant transformation (“we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” – 1 Corinthians 15:51); then the “perishable” will put on the “imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:53). Yet 2 Corinthians 3:18 clearly indicates that, in a mysterious sense, “we all,” in the present, “with unveiled face” are “beholding the glory of the Lord” and are being transformed into His image “from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Lest anyone imagine that this beholding and transformation

(as part of sanctification)

is the work of especially saintly people, the Scripture adds the

following bit of information:

“For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

In other words, it is a blessing

bestowed on every believer.

This does not refer to our final glorification but to an

aspect of sanctification by

which the Spirit is transfiguring us right now.


To Him be the praise for

His work

in sanctifying us in the Spirit and in truth
​

(Jude 24-25; John 17:17; 4:23).

We should understand what Scripture teaches about the nature of glory—both God’s unsurpassed glory and our share in it at His coming. God’s glory refers not merely to the unapproachable light that the Lord inhabits (1 Timothy 6:15-16), but also to His honor (Luke 2:13) and holiness. The “You” referred to in Psalm 104:2 is the same God referenced in 1 Timothy 6:15-16; He is “clothed with splendor and majesty,” covering Himself “with light as with a garment” (Psalm 104:2; cf. 93:1; Job 37:22; 40:10). When the Lord Jesus returns in His great glory to execute judgment (Matthew 24:29-31; 25:31-35), He will do so as the only Sovereign, who alone has eternal dominion

(1 Timothy 6:14-16). 


Created beings dare not gaze upon God’s awesome glory;

like Ezekiel

(Ezekiel 1:4-29)

and Simon Peter (Luke 5:8), Isaiah was devastated by self-loathing in the presence of the all-holy God. After the seraphim proclaimed,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Isaiah said,

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my

eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

(Isaiah 6:4).

Even the seraphim showed that they were unworthy to

gaze upon the divine glory,

covering their faces with their wings. 



God’s glory may be said to

be “heavy” or “weighty”;



the Hebrew word kabod literally means


“heavy or burdensome”;


Most often, the Scriptural usage of kabod is figurative

(e.g., “heavy with sin”),

from which we get the idea of the “weightiness” of a person who is

honorable, impressive, or worthy of respect. 


When the Lord Jesus became incarnate, He revealed both the “weighty” holiness of God and the fullness of His grace and truth (“and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” [John 1:14; cf. 17:1–5]). The glory revealed by the incarnate Christ accompanies the ministry of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:7); it is unchanging and permanent (Isaiah 4:6-7; cf. Job 14:2; Psalm 102:11; 103:15; James 1:10). The previous manifestations of God’s glory were temporary, like the fading effluence of God’s glory from Moses’ face. Moses veiled his face so that the hard-hearted Israelites might not see that the glory was fading (1 Corinthians 3:12),

but in our case the veil has been removed through Christ,

and we reflect the glory

of the Lord and seek by the Spirit to be like Him.


In His high priestly prayer, the Lord Jesus requested that

God would sanctify us by His truth

(i.e., make us holy; John 17:17);


sanctification is necessary if we are to

see Jesus’ glory

and be with Him in eternal fellowship



(John 17:21-24).

“Father, I desire that they also, whom

you have given me,

may be with me where I am,

to see my glory that you have given me because

you loved me

before the foundation of the world”

(John 17:24).


If the glorification of the saints follows the pattern

revealed in Scripture,

it must entail our sharing in the glory

(i.e., the holiness) of God. 


According to Philippians 3:20–21, our citizenship is in heaven,
​and when our Savior returns He will transform our lowly bodies “to be like His glorious body.” Although it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, we know that, when He returns in great glory, we shall be like Him,
​for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).

We will be perfectly conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus

and be like Him in that our humanity will be free from

​sin and its consequences.

Our blessed hope should spur us on to holiness,

the Spirit enabling us.


“Everyone who thus

hopes in Him

purifies himself as He is pure”

(1 John 3:3).

Jesus’ command to “take up your cross and follow Me”

is a call to self-abasement and self-sacrifice.

One must be willing to die in order to follow Jesus.

Dying to self is an absolute surrender to God.


After Jesus commanded cross-bearing, He said, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:25–26). Although the call to take up our cross is tough, the reward is matchless. Nothing in this world is worth passing up eternal life.

Wherever Jesus went, He drew crowds. Their view of who the Messiah really was—and what He would do—was often distorted. They thought the Christ would immediately usher in the restored kingdom (Luke 19:11). They believed He would free them from the oppressive rule of their Roman occupiers. Some hoped He would continue to provide free lunches for everyone (John 6:26). Jesus’ statement that following Him requires taking up a cross made people think twice about their motivations and level of commitment.

In Luke 9:57–62, three people seemed willing to follow Jesus. When Jesus pressed them, however, their commitment was shown to be half-hearted at best. They failed to count the cost of following Him. None were willing to take up their cross and crucify upon it their own interests.

Jesus’ apparent attempts to dissuade people from following Him surely limited the number of false converts and insincere disciples (see John 6:66). But God seeks “true worshipers [who] will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). Jesus’ call to “take up your cross and follow Me” serves to screen out the disingenuous, double-minded, and dissembling.

Are you ready to take up your cross and follow Jesus? Consider these questions:

– Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your closest friends?
– Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means alienation from your family?
– Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your reputation?
– Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your job?
– Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your life?

In some places of the world, these consequences are a reality. But notice the phrasing of the questions: “Are you willing?” Following Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean all these things will happen to you, but the disciple of Christ must be willing to suffer loss. Are you willing to take up your cross? If faced with a choice—Jesus or the comforts of this life—which will you choose?

Commitment to Christ means taking up your cross daily, giving up your hopes, dreams, possessions, and even your very life if need be for the cause of Christ. Only if you willingly take up your cross may you be called His disciple (Luke 14:27). The reward is worth the price. Remember that, as Jesus called His disciples to “take up your cross and follow Me,” He, too, bore a cross.

Our Lord led the way.

Just as an anchor stops a ship from drifting with the winds and currents, keeping our eyes on the hope of heaven (2 Corinthians 4:16–18) and the “pioneer and perfector of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2), who is Jesus Christ, will prevent our souls from wavering and wandering in times of pressure and turmoil. God has “caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary,

​you have been grieved by various trials”

(1 Peter 1:3–6, ESV).

As believers, we have “a living hope” and “hope as an anchor” that holds secure because it is tethered to the steadfast Word of God and the unchanging, reliable character of God. He is faithful, and His promises are true (Joshua 21:45; Psalm 33:4; Hebrews 10:23). One commentator imagines the anchor’s rope extending “from heaven’s heights back down to earth, where faithful people can ‘seize the hope set before us.’ Like rock climbers scaling an imposing height, Christians steady themselves by trusting God’s promises, holding on for dear life to this cord of hope” (Long, T., Hebrews, John Knox Press, 1997, p. 78).

​With Jesus Christ as our anchor, no power of darkness and no earthly opposition can harm us (Romans 8:31–34).

We live with hope because we possess the Holy Spirit inside us as a guarantee of our redemption and full adoption as sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:23–25; Ephesians 1:11–14). When this “earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling . . . so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 5:1–5).

​Calling on the name of the Lord is basic for salvation and presupposes faith in the Lord. God promises to save those who, in faith, call upon His name: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13; cf. Joel 2:32). Everyone who invokes the name of God for mercy and salvation, by or in the name of Jesus, shall be saved (Acts 2:21). “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, NLT).

Using a person’s name expresses familiarity and helps connect one person to another. The first thing we do upon meeting someone is to extend a hand and introduce ourselves. This builds familiarity for future interactions. To call upon the name of the Lord is a sign of knowing Him and a way of connecting to Him. There is a difference between knowing about God and knowing Him personally. Calling on the name of the Lord indicates personal interaction and relationship. When we call upon the name of the Lord, as a form of worship, we recognize our dependence upon Him.

What saves a person is not the action, per se, of “calling upon” the name of Jesus; what saves is God’s grace in response to one’s personal faith in the Savior being called upon. Calling on the name of the Lord is more than a verbal expression; it is also shown in the heart and in deed through repentance. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out” (Acts 3:19).

Calling on the name of the Lord is to be a lifelong pursuit

(Psalm 116:2).

God commands us to call on Him in times of trouble (Psalm 50:15). The one who “dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1) and has God’s promise of blessing: “‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him’” (verses 14–15).

Those who refuse to call upon the name of the Lord are also described in Scripture, along with the results of their disobedience: “Will the workers of iniquity never learn? . . . They refuse to call upon the Lord. There they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to fear” (Psalm 14:4–5, BSB).

Even as rebellious or ignorant people neglect to call upon the name of the Lord, He is willing to hear them and accept them. God wants to be found; He is ready to be known: “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that was not called by my name” (Isaiah 65:1, ESV; cf. Romans 10:20).

In 1 Corinthians 1:2, those who call upon the name of the Lord are identified as believers: “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours.” Calling on the name of the Lord is one of the marks of a Christian.

In summary, those who call on the name of the Lord are those who recognize Him as Savior. Whether it is a first-time calling upon Jesus’ name for forgiveness of sins or a continuous calling as the relationship progresses and grows, giving Him lordship over our lives in surrender to His will, calling on the name of the Lord is vital to spiritual life. Ultimately, calling on the name of the Lord is a sign of humility and dependence on God our

Creator and Redeemer.


Matthew 21:22 - And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Leviticus 13:45

“The leprous person who has the disease

shall

wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose,
and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out,


​
“Unclean, unclean”


Mark 3:28–30:

"Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their

sins and whatever blasphemies they utter;

but whoever

blasphemes against



The Holy Spirit

can never have forgiveness, but

​ is guilty of an

eternal sin—for they had said,



"He has an unclean spirit."


​Leviticus 13–14:


Leprosy


Leviticus 13–14 addresses the disease of leprosy

From the descriptions in these chapters, it appears that

leprosy

included several different infectious

skin diseases.

For more information about leprosy, see “leper” and “leprosy”

Leviticus 14


Compare the Cleansing of Leprosy

to the Cleansing of Our Sins


Because leprosy was so visible and involved the

decay or corruption of the body,

it served as an excellent symbol of sinfulness.


Sin corrupts someone spiritually

the way leprosy corrupts someone physically


Leviticus 14 describes what a man must do

to be ceremonially, or religiously, clean

after being healed of leprosy.


We can see parallels between the process of being

cleansed of leprosy

and how we overcome the effects of sin. 

(a) cedar wood is known as something that helps preserve
other things from decay and corruption;

(b) the color scarlet is red, reminding us of blood, which is
the symbol of life and the Atonement;

(c) hyssop was used in the Old Testament as a purifying plant; and

(d) blood and water are symbols of birth (see Moses 6:59).

Verse 9. Newborns usually have little or no hair, except for on their heads. What might the message of this verse be?

(see 3 Nephi 11:37)

​​Verses 10–14. Recall similar symbolism in Exodus 28–29.   Verses 15–18.



The olive tree

is an emblem of peace and purity,

and the

olive oil became a symbol of the 


Holy Ghost ​and doing

righteous deeds and acts of service

(see D&C 45:56–57).


How is this part of the process

of

becoming clean from sin?


Ultimately, what makes repentance possible?  


​ Leviticus 14, when an individual

acquired leprosy, he or she was required to


​live outside the camp


The same is true of sin.


When we sin, we cut ourselves off from



Full communion

with the

Lord and His Church.



We may not be permitted

to take the sacrament

 or

receive a temple recommend



 The steps in becoming


ceremonially clean of leprosy


​are found in in Leviticus 14

https://living.alot.com/entertainment/30-times-god-unleashed-his-wrath-in-the-bible--17169


​
Things that God absolutely hates – 7 abominations to the Lord


Proverbs 6:16-19, NIV There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.



God is angry when we suppress or ignore



​The Truth



​
Romans 1:16-20,

For I AM not ashamed of



The Gospel

for it is the

Power of God for Salvation

to everyone who believes,

to the

​Jew first ​and also to The Greek

​

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Mark 3:5,ESV He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

Hebrews 11:6, KJV But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.


God is mad when we don’t honor him, when we dishonor him

Romans 1:21, ESV For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

John 2:14-16, ESV In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

John 11:32-35, ESV Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.

 
Angry God is angry when we give his glory away to another

Romans 1:22-23, ESV Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Jeremiah 9:23-24, NKJV Thus says the LORD: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.​


God is sad when we don’t repent of sin

Genesis 6:5-6, ESV The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Ezekiel 18:23, NKJV Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? says the Lord GOD, and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
Ezekiel 18:31-32, NKJV


Cast away from you all the

transgressions

which you have committed,


and get yourselves

anew heart and anew spirit


For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the Lord GOD. Therefore turn and live!

 
In Summary 

Things that make God sad are things that show that we’re not living the way he desires for us to live. What makes God cry? Things that make God cry include our sin, our hurt, and our pain and grief.

It is always helpful to remember that God’s commandments for us are for our own benefit, God loves us so much and he always wants what is best for us. God wants us to glorify him in all we do… Dear Friends, we can trust him :)!
Jeremiah 29:11-13, NIV For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Amen.
​


15 Times God

​Unleashed

​His Wrath in the Bible
​


God's wrath is not a reckless rage, an uncontrollable anger,

​a senseless fury, or an unjust vengeance.

The wrath of God is a precise and controlled response

to the belittling of his holiness.

Everyone who perishes under the wrath of God

in eternity will not be because God lost his temper

with them and mistreated them.



15 Times God Unleashed His Wrath in the Bible


​There is no shortage of fire

and brimstone

to be found in the Bible.


It's clear from the opening pages of Genesis that God gets angry sometimes,

and he's not afraid to show it.

Believers, doubters, and everyone in between have been debating what it all means for centuries, but one thing is for certain:

when it comes to wrath, no one does it like God.

Here are 15 examples

from the Bible of times when God unleashed his wrath. 



Jesus Curses a Fig Tree

Jesus had just arrived at Jerusalem amid great fanfare and great expectations, but then proceeds to cleanse the Temple and curse the barren fig tree. Both had significance as to the spiritual condition of Israel.

With His cleansing of the Temple and His criticism of the worship that was going on there (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17),

Jesus was effectively denouncing

Israel’s worship of God.

With the cursing of the fig tree, He was symbolically denouncing Israel as a nation and, in a sense, even denouncing

unfruitful “Christians”

(that is, people who profess to be Christian but have no evidence of a relationship with Christ).

The presence of a fruitful fig tree

was considered to be a symbol of blessing and prosperity for the nation of Israel. Likewise, the absence or

death of a fig tree would symbolize

judgment and rejection.

Symbolically, the fig tree represented the spiritual deadness of Israel, who while very religious outwardly with all the sacrifices and ceremonies, were spiritually barren because of their sins. By cleansing the Temple and cursing the fig tree, causing it to wither and die, Jesus was pronouncing His coming judgment of Israel and demonstrating His power to carry it out.

It also teaches the principle that religious profession and observance are not enough to guarantee salvation, unless there is the fruit of genuine salvation evidenced in the life of the person.

James would later echo this truth when he wrote that

“faith without works is dead”

(James 2:26).

The lesson of the fig tree is that we should bear spiritual fruit

(Galatians 5:22-23),

not just give an appearance

of religiosity.


God judges fruitlessness,

and expects that those who have a relationship
with Him will

“bear much fruit” (John 15:5-8).



​Sodom and Gomorrah 


According to the Bible, Sodom and Gomorrah

were two cities situated on the Jordan River that God

destroyed in the Book of Genesis.

After God informs Abraham of his plans, Abraham pleads for the city but is unable to find even 10 righteous men worth sparing. God ultimately destroys the cities with “fire and sulfur,” although he does spare Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family as a courtesy to Abraham
. 
However, not even all of Lot’s family escapes God’s wrath. As they are preparing the flee the city of Sodom, an angel of God instructs them to not look back as they ride away.

Lot’s wife can’t resist

though and does--

at which point she is turned into a

pillar of salt.

No one can say for sure why salt, but it’s clearly not an ideal situation regardless. 

​
Humans are usually the objects of God’s wrath, but that’s not always the case. For example, in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark,

Jesus is hungry and finds a fig tree.

When he sees it has no fruit to give, he curses it by saying,

​“May no fruit ever come from you again!” 

This narrative remains a bit enigmatic to this day, but ultimately
we’re left with a story about a God yelling at a tree.
It’s not the most fantastical display of his wrath,
but it’s definitely the most unusual. 



10 Plagues of Egypt

In the Book of Exodus, the Israelites are being held as slaves in Egypt.

God instructs Moses to tell Pharaoh to, “Let my people go,”

and when Pharaoh refuses, he unleashes a torrent of

10 plagues on everything in Egypt-

-land, livestock, plant life, and even people. 

These plagues include turning the Nile river to blood, afflicting humans and animals with boils, and plunging the land of Egypt into perpetual darkness.

The story reaches its climax when God sends an angel of death

to kill the

firstborn son

in every Egyptian household.


Things did not go so well for God in the years between Adam and Noah. Adam himself disobeyed God, and that pretty much opened the disobedience floodgates for every human that came after him. In Genesis chapter 6, God goes as far as to say that he regrets creating humankind and devises a plan to wipe them out with a global flood. 

From God’s perspective, this works like a charm--he set out to destroy humanity and accomplished his goal. However, even God’s wrath has its limits, and therefore he spares Noah and his family and establishes a covenant with him that he will never destroy the earth by a flood again. 


God Curses Cain

In the Book of Genesis, Cain and Abel are the
first two sons of Adam and Eve.

After offering individual sacrifices to God, Cain is enraged to
learn that God prefers his brother Abel’s sacrifice over his own.

Naturally, the correct response is to murder Abel. 

When God finds out what Cain has done,
he springs into wrath mode and

levels a curse at Cain. For his misdeeds, he will be forced to

​wander the earth for the rest of his life.

On top of that,

he also places a curse on anyone who attempts to murder

Cain--ensuring that the punishment will last

until his old age. 



The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath

The Book of Revelation often reads like one big bundle of wrath, but there are some spots that are more wrathful than others. Case in point-

-the seven bowls of God’s wrath found in
Revelation 16 which correspond to
horrific plagues released upon the earth. 

At this point in the narrative, we’ve already been through

two other sets of plagues,

but the third and final set found in the
seven bowls really take the cake.

They include

poisoning all bodies of water on earth,

darkness over the kingdom of the antichrist,
and a global earthquake--complete with 100-pound hailstones. 

In the Book of Revelation, God’s primary antagonists are the

two beasts--a beast from the sea and a

beast from the Earth.

Since the book was written, Christians have been debating on what these two figures represent, but regardless of who they are, things don’t go well for them. 

Near the end of the book, the

two beasts attempt a war with God.

When they inevitably lose,

they are thrown into

“the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.” 


The Assyrian Captivity 

After God gives the Promised Land to the Israelites in the Old Testament, the unified kingdom of Israel splits into two.

In the northern kingdom,

they have a tendency to worship other gods,

which is obviously a problem for God.

So, he enlists the help of the enemies of the Israelites--the Assyrians. 

King Tilgath of Assyria conquers the northern kingdom,

causing its people to go into exile.

God had told the Israelites before that he would

take the land from them if they disobeyed,

and he made good on his promise. 



Moses & Others Not Allowed to Enter Canaan

Remember all that wandering in the desert the Israelites did?

That wasn’t a lack of GPS--it was God’s wrath. In the

Book of Numbers, 12

Israelite spies are sent to scope out Canaan, the

land God had promised them.

When their report is all doom and gloom,

the Israelites don’t really want to enter.


God isn’t thrilled,

and so he forces them to wander in the desert for

40 years until

that generation of complainers

had died. 

Poor Moses, God’s right-hand man,

gets denied entry

for even pettier reasons.

Once when the Israelites were thirsty, God instructs Moses to

speak to a rock, at which point it would give water.

Instead, Moses in his anger strikes the rock. And for that alone,

he never gets the chance to enter the land that God had promised

him and all the Israelites. 



Jesus Cleanses the Temple

For the most part, Jesus is deserving of his “meek and mild” descriptor.

​ But there are few times in the Gospels when he flips that

(among other things)

on its head. 

In all four Gospels, there is an account of
Jesus entering the Temple at Jerusalem, where

he proceeds to

flip tables and shout at the

money changers doing business there.

The specifics of his ire

vary from Gospel to Gospel, but it’s clear

that God was not down with

the commerce going down in the Temple. 



The Golden Calf

God may have kept Moses out of the Promised Land,

but for most of his life, the two were on the same page--especially
when it came to the disobedience of the Israelites.

The story of the golden calf in Exodus is the

perfect example. 

While Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving

the 10 Commandments from God, the rest of the Israelites

were growing restless--to the point where they gave
up on this Yahweh character and

decided to construct a

golden calf

to

worship instead

Moses and God are none too pleased.

God suggests

complete annihilation,

​but

Moses has a compromise-


-he ground the calf into powder,

put it in water,

and forced the Israelites to drink it. 



David & Bathsheba 

When David commits adultery with Bathsheba and then

has her husband killed, it’s clear David is going to be punished.

But really, David himself makes out okay--instead,

God punishes him by hurting those around him. 

As punishment for adultery, David and Bathsheba’s

unnamed child dies shortly after it is born.

However, God would go on to punish more of David’s children

for the murder he was responsible for. 


Ananias & Sapphira

Ananias and Sapphira can be found in the Book of Acts,

and they prove that

you can’t pull a fast one on God. 

In the Book of Acts, the early church pooled

their money and resources in common.

Ananias and Sapphira sell a plot of land

and give most

of the proceeds to the church but keep some for themselves.

When Peter calls the two out, they both drop dead on the spot. 


Phineas the Priest

God makes it very clear that the

Israelites are supposed

to worship no one but him,

but they just can’t seem to get

the message.

In Numbers 25, it says that



Moabite women

seduced the Israelites

into

worshiping their gods


God sends a plague that kills 24,000,

and it only

ends when Phineas the priest impales an unlucky couple
who happen to show up at the wrong time.

It’s one of the more gruesome accounts in the Bible. 



Elisha and the Bears

In  the Book of 2 Kings, Elijah is carried up to Heaven

in a chariot of fire,

at which point Elisha takes over as a prophet of Israel.

As he is walking to Bethel, a group of young people tease him,

telling him to


“go up bald-head!”


How does God resolve the issue? Bears, of course. 

Just then, two bears emerge from the forest

​and maul 42 of the young people.


Baldness is clearly

​a serious issue for God. 



​“God is love. That is His Nature and His love is not provoked,

“God’s anger is different…

The Bible never tells us that God is wrath.

It tells us that He is slow to anger

(Psalm 103:8).”



What Makes God Angry?



1.) Failure to Revere His Holiness

David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. (2 Samuel 6:5-7)

Take this passage one section at a time. First, “all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord.” The mood was great, and everyone was happy! Second, Uzzah commits what the Scripture says was an “error,” and touches the ark of God. And third, God strikes Uzzah down.

You might think, What is God doing? The oxen stumbled! It wasn’t really Uzzah’s fault. I have the same thoughts, and I am certainly not an expert on this passage. But I do know this: God is perfect and all His actions are righteous. He makes no mistakes. He never overreacts.

This passage then communicates, as I see it, that God’s holiness is serious business. Any offense, minor or major, unintentional or intentional, made a person liable to death. Fear the Lord, and honor His Holy Name with the utmost reverence.

And this is exactly why we praise Jesus. We are all liable to death, each one of us has fallen short of the glory of God. But God sent His own Son to provide a refuge for us, and Jesus took on the full wrath of God at the cross for the sake of those who believe in Him.


2.) Idolatry

You have done evil above all who were before you

and have gone and made for yourself

other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger.”

(1 Kings 14:9)

Idolatry is not only against the Ten Commandments,

not only bad for our spiritual development,

not only foolish and hopeless but also something that

makes God angry.

Imagine a Christian, married man tempted toward lust. God convicts Him, and the man knows it is against God’s Word. He senses that he’d keep himself back from fruitfulness in the spirit by engaging in the flesh. And he knows it is all fake, false, and foolish. Yet he continues.

He may wake from his stupor in sin when he confesses to his wife, and she rightfully says, “You have hurt me tremendously. And I am angry with you.” There is grace here!
She could respond with indifference, not caring for the marriage or for the state of his soul. But her anger is an act of grace because it is a catalyst bringing the man back into right living.

God’s anger, which we provoke when we trust in

anything other than His name,

aims to bring us back into right relationship with Him.

It is an act of tremendous grace.


3.) Sin, Injustice, and Crime

Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die.” (2 Samuel 12:5)

David had sinned greatly. God described what David did:
You despised the word of the Lord… struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife. (2 Samuel 12:9)

Before God said this to David through Nathan the prophet, God first had Nathan

tell David the story of a rich man who stole a poor man’s only lamb.

I once heard someone say that humans have a

stronger judicial sentiment (ability to see wrong in others)

than moral conscience (ability to see wrong in ourselves).

This seems true here with David.

Though he was living in sin,

he could still see and judge sin clearly in someone else.

David reflected the righteous judgment and anger of the Lord in his response to the story.

He was provoked to great anger by the sin, the crime,

the injustice

committed by the rich man.


Don’t provoke your Lord

​ to anger by sin, injustice, and crime.

Honor the Lord

by hating sin, injustice, and crime—and

trust Him


to be the perfect Judge the world desperately needs

Offer Your Anger to the Lord Jesus says,


For with the judgment you pronounce

you will be judged


(Matthew 7:2).
​

Is there a better passage to demonstrate this truth than 2 Samuel 12:5?

The man that was the rightful target of David’s righteous anger was himself!



This is why Jesus Christ is the


Judge
​

Because only He can measure up

to the measure by which He judges


​

​https://bibleproject.com/podcast/god-of-our-own-making/?utm_source=web_social_share&medium=shared_podcast




Of all the biblical examples of

what not to do,


the one that seems the most brainless

might be the one we are most likely to imitate.

It’s the story of the Israelites
​

worshipping a golden calf after

​witnessing

overwhelming evidence of

​the one true God.


What motivated those people to give their gold jewelry to their priest and have him make them a statuesque god they could worship so they could feel God was near? Some scholars believe they really wanted to honor God, just needed something in front of them to feel like God was in their midst. But God’s response of wanting to annihilate the people for their offense is a sobering reminder and warning of how God views our attempts to put anyone or anything in His rightful place.

What Happened in the Bible with the Golden Calf?Exodus 32 records the incident of the golden calf. After witnessing the mighty wonders of God in delivering His people from Egypt, the Israelites began to feel that their leader, Moses, had abandoned them. For 40 days Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the written law from the Almighty God, with smoke and darkness covering the mountain. The same God who brought 10 plagues upon Egypt so that Pharaoh would let the Israelites go, and the same God who parted the Red Sea to let His people walk through it on dry ground appeared to be “far off” so the Israelites decided to create a god of their own. They asked Aaron the Priest (Moses’ own brother) to “make us gods who shall go before us.” They gave Aaron all their gold jewelry (the plunder God gave them from the Egyptians when they fled that land) and Aaron melted it down and made a statue of a golden calf. He then built an altar upon which he erected the calf and proclaimed a “feast to the Lord” the next day. The people burnt offerings and then danced and partied before the god they had made in their own image (verses 1-6 ESV).

God was repulsed at their sin of worshipping a created image as if it were the one True God (and the One who had delivered them from Egypt), and His wrath “burned hot against them.” After Moses begged God to show mercy on His people, God relented, but allowed His sword of judgment to kill 300 Levites, signifying how serious God is about expecting spiritual leaders to be responsible and not tolerate sin in their camp.

What Does the Golden Calf Symbolize?Scholars believe the golden calf may have been modeled after Apis, the Egyptian fertility bull-god. That would have been a symbol the Israelites were familiar with after their years of slavery in Egypt. Although Aaron may have presented the calf as a symbol of the true God – he built an altar for the idol, designated it as sacred, and called for a “festival to the Lord” (verse 5) – God considered it a corruption of themselves and wanted to consume them out of His wrath.

According to the commentators of the Life Application Study Bible, “even if we do not make idols today, we are often guilty of trying to make God in our image – molding him to fit our expectations, desires, and circumstances. When we do this, we end up worshipping ourselves rather than the God who created us – and self-worship today as in the Israelites’ time, leads to all kinds of immorality.”



How Can You Find the Golden Calf in Your Life?

You and I don’t melt down our jewelry and make physical statues and call them God, yet we sometimes give up what is important to us to prioritize the temporary, worthless things of this world. We tend to spend money on precious possessions like expensive cars, high tech toys, beautiful homes, or name-brand handbags, and then invest our time and energy and more money to keep them safe, secure, and spotless. Anything we love, think about, or serve (with our energy and time) can become a golden calf in our lives. Anything that we raise up in the place of God, revere, desire, or consider more valuable than our relationship with God can become an unknowing golden calf in our lives.

Our golden calf can be success, productivity, fame, the approval of others, or anything we strive for more than our

spiritual growth and our closeness with God.

Sometimes we make our children our golden calf when they become our no. 1 priority and we stress about their health, their wellbeing and their happiness, more than we desire to please God by trusting Him with our children’s lives.

A husband or wife can put their spouse in that position of worship if they obey their spouse’s desires over God’s, seek to please their spouse more than they seek to please God, or simply desire their spouse more than they desire God. Some wives put their husbands in the position of God, expecting them to meet all their emotional needs and expectations, instead

of letting God meet their emotional needs.

At times, work becomes our golden calf because it creeps into the no. 1 spot on our priority lists and consumes our time and energy and we put everything else beneath that. Maybe money is your golden calf because how much you have (or don’t have) determines your security or contentment level or because every ounce of energy you have is going toward making more, paying off debt, or saving up for something you desperately want.
Here are seven ways to identify and eliminate the golden calf in your life.

1. Ask God to show you daily who or what is most important to you.Jesus said the greatest commandment was to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”

(Matthew 22:37).

One way to do that is to pray, “God, how is my heart before You today? Are you still my top priority and in the place where you should be?” Then seek to love Him first and foremost and all the other things will fall into place (Matthew 6:33), including being less likely to erect a golden calf.

2. Assess what you worry about or spend most of your time thinking about. Jesus said, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”

(Matthew 6:21, Luke 12:34).

​If your heart and mind are consumed with worry about your children or obsessing over your body image or weight or the number of followers you have on Instagram, that will tell you a lot about who and what you worship.

Colossians 3:1-3 tells us to set our minds on things above. If you are longing for Jesus, longing for Heaven, and living with eternity in mind, you clearly have God in the right place and there isn’t a chance you’ll be erecting a golden calf and worshipping something temporary or far less worthy than Him.

3. Acknowledge Him daily through praise and thanksgiving.When you daily praise the Almighty, you are reminding yourself that He is God and you are not. First Thessalonians 5:18 tells us to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Being thankful for all things keeps us in perspective and reminds us that everything we have has been given to us. That humble and grateful mindset keeps us from making, erecting, or worshipping a golden calf out of a lack of contentment or feeling we should have more than we do.

4. Abstain from whatever consumes you, causes you to sin, or competes with God in your life.Jesus said if your right eye causes you to sin tear it out and throw it away, and if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away (Matthew 5:29-31). Sounds severe, right? Yet He was expressing that our eternity is far more important than our temporary discomfort or full-on struggle in order to avoid temptation and habitual sin. Addictions can easily become our golden calf. That’s why Step No. 1 in the 12 Step-Recovery Program for AA is that you acknowledge you are not God of your life and surrender to your Higher Power – which is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Only One who can give us strength and power to overcome addictive behavior and He is the only One who belongs in the No. 1 place in our life – not alcohol, drugs, pornography, sex, gambling, shopping, caffeine, or whatever might hold power over you.

Allow a friend into your life by sharing with them how you might struggle in this area. Choose a friend who will pray for you and hold you accountable. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 tells us: “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” Bring someone alongside you to help you eliminate the golden calf of addiction in your life.
5. Absorb God’s Word and let it become what you feast on.Romans 12:2 commands us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

We make idols of our desires when we become conformed to this world. And we can make God into our own image when we are more familiar with the world and its ways than the Word of God and His ways. The best way to renew our minds and be transformed to the will of God rather than this world is to be fully saturated in the Word of God. A person transformed by the Word of God is much less likely to erect a golden calf and worship a false god in their life.

6. Adopt the practice of waiting upon God.It was the Israelites’ lack of patience and unwillingness to wait on God that caused them to turn away from God and make up one of their own. They got tired of waiting – waiting for Moses to return from the mountain, waiting to find out what they should do next, waiting while it seemed to them that God was silent. Do you get impatient waiting on God, too?

In Psalm 62, David sang: “My soul waits in silence for God alone; From Him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I will not be greatly shaken” (verses 1-2). And in verses 5-6, David again proclaimed: “My soul, wait in silence for God alone, For my hope is from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, My refuge; I will not be shaken” (NASB).
​
Those words were penned by a man who waited on God, worshipped God, and earned the description by God as “a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do’” (Acts 13:22 NIV). You can eliminate the golden calf in your life by simply waiting for God and His purposes in your life, not trying to go after them on your own.

7. Address the people-pleasing areas of your life.Aaron obviously feared the Israelites’ response if he didn’t do what they asked of him. But rather than holding to his convictions and principles, and standing for truth and worship of the one true God, this Priest appointed by God caved to the expectations of the people. Do you fear people more than you fear God? Do you desire to please them more than you desire to be obedient to, and thus please God? When people are big in your eyes and God is small, that equates to erecting the golden calf of people (and their opinions and approval) over the God who created people. External pressures by others to take up life on your own instead of depending on God may lead you to adopt your own golden calf that takes the place, respect, service, and time from you that only God deserves.

As you live by Jesus’ command in Matthew 22:37 to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength you will be ensuring that no one takes His rightful place in your life. And, as you surrender your heart and will to Him daily and make sure the Holy Spirit is on the throne of your heart, you will be ensuring that yourself (or anything else) doesn’t take the rightful place of God and become an object of worship in your life.

I believe that one of the ways the stories and teachings of the Bible speak to our world today is in how they criticize the dynamics of idolatry. The biblical stories often portray violence and injustice having roots in idolatry. Trusting in things other than the creator God who made all human beings in the divine image leads to a diminishment of the value of some human beings—a prerequisite for injustice and violence. Torah, the prophets, and Jesus all emphasize the centrality of loving the neighbor as part of what it means to love God above all else.

I think that the writings of Paul the apostle are also an important part of the critique of idolatry and the envisioning of peaceable life. This is the first of a three-part series of posts on Paul’s critique of idolatry. Especially the book of Romans emphasizes idolatry and how to overcome it. Noting the importance of idolatry in Paul’s thought helps us recognize how closely connected Paul was with Jesus and the Old Testament prophets. All too often, Christian theology has tended to see more discontinuity between Paul and his predecessors than is warranted—or helpful.

The struggle against idols characterizes the biblical story from the concern with “graven images” in the Ten Commandments down to the blasphemies of the Beast in Revelation. Certainly, at times the battle against idols itself crosses the line into violence and injustice. However, for my purposes here I will assume that those accounts stand over against the overall biblical story. When anti-idolatry takes the form of violence, a new idolatry has taken its place. Our challenge is to seek to overcome evil without becoming evil ourselves.

The critique of idolatry

We find in the biblical critique of idolatry perspectives that are important, even essential for responding to the problems of violence in our world today. If we use violence as our criterion, we could say that whenever human beings justify violence against other human beings, they give ultimate loyalty to some entity (or “idol”) other than the God of Jesus Christ. It could well be that forces that underwrite violence today—loyalty to warring nations, labeling those outside our religious or ethnic circle as less than fully human, placing a higher priority on gathering wealth than on community wellbeing—are contemporary versions of the idolatrous dynamics that biblical prophets condemn.

In the first three chapters of his letter to the Romans, Paul offers an analysis and critique of idolatry that I believe remains useful today. Paul takes on two types of idolatry. First, he criticizes what I will call the idol of lust in the Roman Empire that underwrites violence and injustice. And, second, he critiques the claims of those (like Paul himself before he met Jesus) who believed that loyalty to the Law requires violence in defense of the covenant community.


This task of resisting demands for ultimate loyalty unites biblical prophets (including Paul) with present-day Christians who seek to further life in the face of death-dealing violence. Modernity did not create death-dealing idolatries so much as give them new impetus. The task of breaking bondage to the idols of injustice that Paul engaged in remains ours today.

With his analysis and critique of idolatry in Romans 1–3, Paul helps us in our needed work to deconstruct our idols. To support this assertion, I will engage in a close reading of this text and draw a few brief conclusions for our present appropriation of Paul’s argument. I will read the text straightforwardly, with the intent of showing how what Paul writes challenges the idolatries of his day—and in doing so, help us come to terms with the idolatries of our present.


Paul’s program

Paul begins his argument with a programmatic statement in 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel;

​for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.” When Paul asserts that the “gospel” has to do with God’s power bringing about “salvation” he appropriates common imperial terms. “Gospel” and “salvation” both point to what the emperor takes responsibility for. For Paul, though, the true gospel and genuine salvation come from God, not from Caesar.


“Salvation” is based on faith—or, we could say, faithfulness.

The point is neither “belief alone” as in intellectual assent or the accumulation of good deeds that gain salvation. Rather Paul has in mind an integration of belief and practice. “Faithfulness” includes intellectual affirmation of the reality of God and Jesus as the core truths of reality (the “renewed mind” of Romans 12:1-2) and trusting commitment to God as the center of the universe and practices of love and justice, mercy and compassion, generosity and care.

When he writes salvation comes “to the Jew first and also to the Gentile,”
Paul endorses the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants (Israel). As with the promise to Abraham, Paul here points to the purpose of the calling of Israel—to bless all the families of the earth—first Jews, then Gentiles.
Paul continues his programmatic statement in 1:17: “In the gospel the justice of God is revealed through faith for faith.” The term translated “justice” is also often translated “righteousness.” However, the connotation of “righteousness” has tended toward the personal and has hidden the obvious social ramifications of Paul thought. With dikaiosyne tou theou Paul has in mind a cosmic transformation that brings together the personal and social in a unified transformative intervention by God to bring healing to all aspects of creation—a transformation better captured by “justice” than “righteousness.”

Paul here links “justice” closely with “salvation.” In the Bible, God’s “justice” describes how God works to bring healing in the face of brokenness—“restorative justice.” Certainly Paul understood God’s “justice” to be the characteristic of God that leads to salvation (not punishment) for God’s enemies (see Romans 5:1-11 for the affirmation that the justice-making work of God affirmed in 1:17 and 3:21 specifically includes God’s enemies).
Paul announces that God’s “justice” has now been “revealed.” The term translated “revealed” (apokalypsis—the word from which “apocalypse” comes) in many cases in the Bible indicates an epoch-defining, transforming message from God. For Paul, God “reveals” that in Jesus the kingdom of God has been made present. Those who receive this revelation will never see the world the same again. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “when anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see everything has become new!”

The “revelation” of “salvation” and “justice” in Jesus Christ reemphasizes that for Paul, trust in Christ is a direct alternative to trust in Caesar. These are two “kings” contesting the same terrain—the ultimate loyalty of human beings. Paul claims that for those with eyes to see, the transforming work God does in creating a peoplehood out of Jews and Gentiles has been made visible and is worth their deepest commitment.

Paul asserts in 1:17, the “just shall live by faithfulness.” He believes that trust in God leads to blessing all the families of the earth as promised of old. As the letter to the Christians in Rome will reiterate throughout, this faithfulness most powerfully should be characterized by the coming together of Jew with Gentile, united by a common commitment to the way of Jesus. Paul strongly desires that such a new community be clear in its witness in the heart of the Empire.


Idolatry I: The nations (Rome)

After this introduction, Paul turns to the big problem, the problem of idolatry. He analyzes dynamics that move people from the rejection of truth, then to lack of gratitude, then to trust in created things, then to out of control lust, and finally to injustice and violence. This dynamic itself expresses “wrath” that has to do not with direct intervention by God but with God “giving them up” to a self-selected spiral of death.

As Paul will make clear in 5:1-11 and 11:32, God’s intentions toward humanity are completely salvific—even when human beings position themselves as God’s enemies. Hence, we make a mistake if we interpret “wrath” as God’s punitive anger aimed at people God has rejected. We should understand “wrath” to be redefined by the gospel. “Wrath” characterizes how God works in indirect ways to hold human beings accountable, “giving them up” to the consequences of their giving their loyalty to realities other than life and the giver of life.
In 1:17 we have the salvific “revelation” of God’s justice. In the next verse, we have the suppression of truth that leads to the “revelation” of God’s wrath. With “justice,” people see created things for what they are (pointers to the creator), not false gods worthy of ultimate loyalty. Such sight leads to life. With “wrath,” the act of giving loyalty to created things results in truth being suppressed and a spiral of lifelessness.

Paul alludes to two different ways to see created things. They can be seen as pointers to God, who is the one authentic object of worship—not least because of God’s creative work. Or they can be seen as themselves objects of worship or ultimate loyalty. God has built within creation itself directives that should lead to “justice” (linking “justice” here with a basic stance of gratitude towards life that encourages kindness, generosity, and wholeness in relationships). Many people have not lived in gratitude (1:22) and as a consequence brokenness characterizes much of human life.

The “revelation” of God’s wrath (1:18) concerns God giving those who trust in idols up to descent into self-destructive behavior. The revelation of this wrath, thus, is not so much about direct punitive action by God as about the dynamics when people trust in lifeless things and thereby lose a connection with life.

People make an “exchange.” They trade their humanity as God’s children for “images” that resemble created things. This trade leads to an exchange of justice for wrath that leads to an exchange of justice for injustice, of life for death. This exchange, Paul insists, is not necessary. God has shown the world what is needed. “What can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them…, seen through the things he has made” (1:19-20). However, when human beings exchange “the glory of God” for images that resemble created things, they lose their ability to discern God’s revelation. The dynamic identified in Psalm 115 becomes all too apparent, where people become like the lifeless images that they worship.

Paul’s statement that “God gave them up” (1:24) points to how God’s love implies that the only way God can relate to creation is to respect human freedom. However, when people “freely” choose idols, they actually compromise their God-given freedom. they thereby voluntarily enter into bondage to the idols they elevate to divine status. Paul does not say that God takes revenge by taking away our freedom. Rather, he tells us that by the nature of reality we become like what we trust. Our trust in lifeless things leads to lifelessness.

When created things are worshiped, they no longer reveal the God who stands behind them and gives them their meaning. The paradigmatic expression of this dynamic for Paul is how inter-human love—which indeed reveals God in profound ways—comes to be reduced to lust, and relationships become unjust, broken, contexts for alienation.

Paul writes that “for this reason” (1:26) God gave those consumed by lust (the “lusters”) “up to degrading passions.” When they exchange trust in God for worship of created things, the lusters are led into “unnatural” behavior. What is unnatural is when intimate human relationships become occasions for death and alienation instead of life and wholeness.

We should recognize the political background here, remembering that Paul wrote to the Christians who live in the belly of the beast, the center of the Roman Empire. It is quite possible that he had in mind the recent history of the Roman emperor’s court and its profligate sexual behavior that had scandalized many. When the emperor Caligula went down, many understood this to be an act of cosmic vindication. Paul sees lust as the problem (not “homosexuality” per se) because of how it diminishes humanness, reflects worship of “degrading passions” rather than God, distorts the revelation of God in the human, and fosters injustice. Such lust seems to be an inherent element when people put their trust in hierarchical political structures.

In 1:28, Paul once more refers to the dynamic where “God gives them up,” in this case to a “debased mind.” They can’t seereality as it is. The revelation of God’s love becomes wrath for them rather than whole-making justice. When people trust in things other than God, their ability to think and perceive and discern is profoundly clouded. Paul refers to “things that should not be done” that result from “the debased mind” that results from “God giving them up (1:28) that results from “exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles” (1:23). The reference to “things that should not be done” points ahead to the vice list in 1:29-31 with a wide-ranging description of injustice and violence—the injustice and violence of the Empire’s leaders and those who trust in them.
In this discussion of idolatry in Romans 1:18-32, Paul challenges his readers to see the nature of their would-be Benefactors as God’s rivals. These Benefactors claim to act on behalf of the gods and for the sake of “peace” (they use terms such as Good News, Savior, and Pax Romana). They desire people’s trust and loyalty and worship. These Benefactors are actually profoundly unjust and violent. The Pax Romana’s “peace” is actually based on the violence of the sword—it’s a counterfeit peace.

When “created things” are worshiped, the progression moves inexorably toward injustice—suppression of truth (1:18), refusal to honor and give thanks to God (1:21), darkened minds (1:21), the exchange of God’s glory for lifeless images (1:23), being “given up” to lusts that degrade their bodies (1:24), the worship of the creature rather than creator (1:25), degrading passions (1:26), shameless acts (1:27), debased minds (1:28), and profound injustice and violence (1:29-31).
The Powers that exploit this progression into idolatry replace God as the center of people’s lives and as the objects of worship. In doing so, they so distort people’s minds so that instead of recognizing that those who practice such injustice deserve judgment people instead “applaud” their unjust Benefactors (1:32).


Paul’s agenda in relation to Rome

This critique that Paul develops is interesting on several levels. Most obviously, he begins his letter to the Jesus followers in Rome by challenging their possible inclination to have a benign disposition toward their political leaders, the Empire’s elite. He appropriates the Empire’s language to establish a contrast between Jesus’s message and the Empire’s message. Jesus is the true “king” and deserved recipient of loyalty, not Caesar and his minions. Trusting in Jesus is the way of “justice” and trusting in Caesar is the way of “wrath.”

Paul develops a devastating argument concerning the dynamics of idolatry. Without proper gratitude toward the creator, people become vulnerable to trusting in the creations of human hands—such as humanly created kingdoms that demand ultimate loyalty, even worship as was the case with Rome. These kingdoms are not God’s agents as they claim but are idols. Giving loyalty to such idols leads to the inevitable descent into a spiral of injustice and violence. Paul’s likely allusions to the devastating behavior of the Roman elite support this analysis.

It does not take much imagination to see connections between Paul’s critique of idolatry in the Roman Empire and our current context in the United States. We see the spiral of consequences when people give loyalty to an imperialistic nation state with its runaway militarism, when people give loyalty to an economic system that enriches a few at the expense of the many and at the expense of a despoiled physical environment, and when people refuse to reverse centuries of systemic discrimination that have left so many vulnerable and hurting.

As we continue on in the book of Romans, though, we will see there even more than a perceptive critique of the political idolatry of first-century Rome (an important critique that in and of itself remains an important part of this letter—and an important context for a proper understanding of Romans 13 and its comments about “governing authorities”). Paul’s critique in chapter one sets us up for a further critique in chapter two that might cut even closer to home for his readers then and now—a critique of what we might call “the religion temptation.”  




​

The Euphrates River,


​a lifeline to millions, is slowly disappearing, and with it,

​ the hopes and dreams of an entire region.

But what is causing the river to dry up?

Is it just a natural occurrence or something more sinister?

And what do scientists mean

by a "horrifying discovery" beneath its once-flowing waters?

As the world watches in fear,

the prophecy that foretold of the

Euphrates' demise appears to be coming true,

leaving us to wonder:

what other secrets lie hidden beneath its dry riverbed,

waiting to be uncovered?


The seven vials, or bowls,

that are found in the

Word of God

shall be poured out by seven angels.

​


1) The River Euphrates


The river Euphrates occurs


​21 times

in the Bible

and has quite a powerful story. The first mention of it

is in Genesis 2:14 where the Euphrates

is described as the fourth river that

defined the


boundary of

The

Garden of Eden.


The Garden of Eden was where Yahweh

had formed and placed

Adam and Eve.

The garden had every tree that was pleasant and good for food and it contained the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The Garden of Eden, bounded by the Euphrates was the area where Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent and as a punishment for their sin in eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they were driven out of it.

The next mention of the river Euphrates is in Genesis 15:18.

Genesis 15

contains a number of promises made by Yahweh to Abram. In v18 one of these promises is that Abram’s seed were to be given land that extended from

“the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates”.

​What is interesting about this promise is that from the time of the nation of Israel coming out of Egypt right up until their dispersion after AD70 they did not control the land up to the river Euphrates. As we go through the passages related to the river Euphrates the reason for this becomes clear.


When the Israelites

first enter the Promised Land after

their

journey out of Egypt


Moses instructed them in Deuteronomy 1:7 to go and possess the land that extended

“unto Lebanon, unto

the great river,

The river Euphrates”.


Israel were intended to have the land that extended up to the river Euphrates in accordance with the promise made to Abram. This promise was reiterated a number of other times. “Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours; from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be”

(Deuteronomy 11:24).

It is important to look at the context of Deuteronomy 11, it is a chapter that contains blessings and cursings. There is a condition given in Deut 11:22 that precedes the promise of v24:

“IF ye shall diligently keep all these commandments

which I command you, to do them,

to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways,

and to cleave unto him; THEN will the LORD

drive out all these nations from before you”.


This idea ties

in with what happened to


Adam and Eve

in the

Garden of Eden

There is a requirement of Yahweh’s people to keep His commandments in order to gain the blessings from Him.

After the death of Moses Yahweh reiterates the same words of Deut 11:24 to Joshua in Josh 1:4 that Israel was to possess the land

“even unto the great river, the river Euphrates”.

Joshua is told to be strong and very courageous to
observe to do all

the Law that Moses commanded for it is only

“THEN thou shalt have good success”

(Josh 1:7-8).

Euphrates is made until the time of


King David


In the described

division of the Promised Land

by

The twelve tribes

it is interesting that no tribe was allotted land

from beyond

Mount Hermon

up to

The river Euphrates


Joshua chapters 13-21 describe the division of the land. The tribes with their inheritance furthest north were Asher and Naphtali (Joshua 19:24-39) which contained the northern cities of Tyre and Kedesh respectively.

This left the area from Baal-gad just below Mount Hermon

all the way up to

the river Euphrates open for any tribe to possess.

Joshua 11 and 12 describes the area that was possessed during the early conquests and included Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon and the land below Mount Hermon (Josh 11:17;12:1 & 5).

The land still to be conquered is described in Joshua 13:1-6

and included all the

land further north than Mount Hermon.


In Judges 18

some from the tribe of Dan were searching for an inheritance and they alighted on Laish, an area that was quiet and careless and they sent 600 Danites who took the city. While Judges 18 is largely concerned with the events surrounding Micah and the graven images verses 1,9 and 10 give us insight into how tribes could extend their inheritance from the areas that they had been allotted in chapters 13-21.

The area allotted to Dan was much further south,

just to the east of Jerusalem,

however it was felt to be too

small for a growing tribe

so they searched to spy out the land

in Judges 18:2. 


The next mention of the river Euphrates is in 2 Sam 8:3 and 1 Chr 18:3where King David went out to smite Hadadezer as “he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates”.

The Syrians went to help Hadadezer and

King David

slew 22,000 of the Syrian army.

David then placed garrisons in Syria and they became servants to David and “the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went” (2Sam 8:6, 1Chr 18:6).

King David recognised

that the land of Syria right up to the river Euphrates

was an inheritance of Israel

and for this reason Yahweh blessed his

endeavours to possess it.

Israel’s control over Syria was of limited duration and

by the time of Solomon Rezon a servant of

Hadadezer reigned over Syria

​ (1 Kings 11:23-25).

The reason

for the loss of Syria was that

Yahweh was angry with Solomon

because Solomon

had turned away from Him

(1 Kings 11:9)

and adversaries were then raised up against Israel including Rezon.

Throughout the time of the successive kings of Israel

the Syrians continued to

be a source

of conflict and trouble to Israel.

King Josiah is another king who also fought over this area.

In 2 Kings 23:29 Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went to war with the king of Assyria over this land and king Josiah takes the opportunity to also go out to war over the land. However Josiah had no success and was slain at Megiddo.

The king of Assyria then took control over this land

(2 Kings 24:7)

four years later. 2 Chr 35:20 has a parallel record of this battle and adds in the phrase “when Josiah had prepared the temple”. Josiah certainly perceived it as a righteous action to regain possession of the inheritance of Israel. In 2Chr 35:21-22 Josiah is warned by Necho of Egypt not to go out to war as God was with Necho. King Josiah would not accept that Yahweh was with Necho, Josiah even goes to the extent to disguise himself in battle.

As the events show Necho was not preserved by Yahweh as Necho loses a second battle to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah (Jer 46:2).

The next record of the river Euphrates is in Jeremiah 13. Jeremiah is told by Yahweh to go to the river Euphrates and to place a girdle there and to recover it after many days. While the girdle was buried there it deteriorated and the girdle was likened to the state of Israel and Judah, it was marred and profitable for nothing (Jer 13:7). The events of Jeremiah 13 predate the events of Jeremiah 46 in the paragraph above and this gives us insight into why king Josiah lost the battle against Necho. While Josiah was righteous the nations of Israel and Judah were not. Israel and Judah were then put to flight before their enemies, the Egyptians, the Assyrians and the Babylonians. This follows the lessons of the cursings and blessings experienced the Garden of Eden and written in Deuteronomy 11.

Jeremiah 46:10 describes a sacrifice, a day of vengeance in the north country by the river Euphrates. In the first instance this is referring to the time of Nebuchanezzar, but it has a later application.

The river Euphrates is key to understanding good and evil and that Yahweh will fight to maintain justice. Jeremiah 51:63 is the last reference to the river Euphrates in the Old Testament.

Jeremiah is told to write a book of all the evil that was to come upon Babylon and to cast it into the river Euphrates. In the same way that the book sunk in the water, so was Babylon to sink. Israel’s evil was destroyed by Egypt, Assyria and Babylon and each of these in turn were also

destroyed for their evil.

There are only two more references to the river Euphrates and both of these are in the book of Revelation. Revelation 9:14 and 16:12 describe a sixth angel. In the first instance the sixth angel has a trumpet and the second instance the sixth angel has a vial. Revelation 9 is concerned with repentance from evil works of idolatry, sorceries, murder, fornication and thefts.

The sixth angel holding the trumpet in Rev 9:14 looses four angels and these angels oversee works that slay a third of men.
Despite a series of terrible afflictions in Revelation 16:11 the people would still not repent of their evil deeds.

For this reason the sixth angel pours a vial on the river Euphrates.

This has the effect of drying the river Euphrates

and three unclean spirits like frogs emerge.

It is these spirits that gather

the kings of the earth together to Armageddon.

From the time of the Babylonian Empire control over the Euphrates in the region of Syria was exerted by the Median Empire, Persian Empire, Alexander the Great, Seleucid Empire, Parthian Empire, Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Sassanid Empire until the Islamic conquest in the mid 7th century which brought it into the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire controlled the area until WW1 when the Allies gained control over the area dominated by the Ottoman Empire and it was partitioned. The area of Lebanon and Syria became a French Mandate, while the British Mandate covered Mesopotamia and Palestine. Under the French Mandate both Lebanon and Syria gained independence in 1943 and 1946 respectively.

Returning to Revelation 16:12-13 three unclean spirits come out of the mouth of the dragon, beast and false prophet. This refers to the French influence of liberty, equality and fraternity coming from the three sequential phases of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. The French Mandate and the gaining of independence over the Euphrates is at a time that leads into WWII and then into Armageddon. 

Rev 16:19 describes the division of the “great city” into three.

The “great city” refers to Jerusalem.

The armistice line of 1949 split the city into two,


one half controlled by Israel

and

the other half controlled by Jordan.


In 1967 Israel regained control

over all of Jerusalem

and ousted the Jordanian army.


The division of the great city into three refers to the division between the Jewish, Islamic and Christian influences.

There are four quarters

in the Old City of Jerusalem, the Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian. The Armenians consider themselves part of the Christian quarter, making a total of three divisions not four.

The Jews worship at the Wailing Wall, Moslems worship at the Dome of the Rock and

Christians at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

In conclusion it is worthwhile to consider the meaning of the word Euphrates which means to “break forth” and “rushing”. Breaking forth has connotations of a bursting out resulting in a sudden change.

Through the whole Bible it is associated with a

boundary that contains a Promised Land,

but when evil occurs the boundary is lost and trouble results. At the time of Armageddon it becomes a boundary of

the final battle ground

​where Yahweh contends between good and evil.

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https://churchoftheholysepulchre.net/
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There is undeniably

sacrifice in leadership


John Maxwell, Christian leadership expert, put together a

study Bible that teaches you biblical leadership principles.

This excerpt comes from that study Bible,

and delves into the sacrifices Moses made while being in leadership.

Here’s the passage he’ll be covering: 

Exodus 3:1–4:13.



Sacrifice in Leadership:

A Leader Must Give Up to

Go Up

Many leaders want to climb the corporate ladder,

hoping that freedom and power wait at the top.

They don’t realize

that leadership really requires sacrifice.

Leaders who want to rise must do more than take an occasional cut in pay; they have to give up their rights. That’s true of every leader regardless of profession. Talk to any leader, and you will find she has made repeated sacrifices. The higher that leader has climbed, the greater the sacrifices she usually has made. Effective leaders sacrifice much that is good in order to dedicate themselves to what is best.

Leadership demands constant sacrifice. It is an ongoing process, not a one-time payment. The circumstances may change from person to person, but the principle doesn’t: Leadership means sacrifice.

What price are you willing to pay to become a more effective leader? Many leaders keep so busy pursuing their vision and rallying their people that they give it little thought. But leadership always requires sacrifice; no one achieves success without it.

How was Moses able to give up so much and make such great sacrifices without growing bitter or resentful toward God? And what made him willing to return to Egypt as God’s servant after he had enjoyed the best the country had to offer? A quick look at Moses’ life shows how God molded him into an effective leader.


1. Moses was alone with God. 

Had Moses stayed in Egypt, would he have listened when God called him? Who knows? But Moses’ exile in Midian gave him 40 years of reflection time. When God finally appeared to him in the burning bush, Moses had grown quiet enough to hear God’s voice.
Leaders in our day take too little time to get alone with God. Most seem continually on the go and rarely quiet themselves. If that description fits you, change your habits and set aside some time to be alone with God. Don’t force God to send you to the desert to get your attention.


2. Moses was honest with God.

By the time Moses met God at the burning bush, no trace remained of the cockiness characteristic of his life in Egypt. He knew his weakness. When God told Moses that he would bring the people out of Egypt, the chastened man replied, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Ex. 3:11). Only as an older man, humble before God, could Moses be of any use to God.
The Lord can use you, too, if you will look at yourself honestly, admit your weaknesses, and humble yourself before God.


3. Moses was hungry for God.

What does it take to make someone really hungry for God? It’s different for each of us. Some desire to know God even from childhood. A personal tragedy may realign the priorities of others. And some never turn to God. For Moses, it took four decades in the wilderness.
Could Moses have given up all hope of doing something worthwhile with his life before God finally spoke to him? Probably so. A person can’t be staunchly self-reliant and hungry for God at the same time.


4. Moses was broken by God. 

God did not force Himself or His will on Moses.

God waited

for Moses to willingly come to Him: 

“When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look,

God called to him

from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’”

(Ex. 3:4). 

Once Moses had turned to God, he could be broken.

Brokenness involves two things:

removing inappropriate pride and self-reliance and

building healthy God-reliance.

God tamed Moses’ self-reliance and pride in the desert,

but to create trust He had to break the man’s fears.

Moses dealt with different

kinds of fear in his encounter with God:

• Fears concerning himself. Moses doubted his own value (Ex. 3:11). God responded by assuring Moses of his purpose.
• Fears concerning God. Moses feared who God might be. He wanted to know His name and character (Ex. 3:13). God responded by overwhelming Moses with His presence.
• Fears concerning others. Moses then worried about how God’s people would respond (Ex. 4:1)—hadn’t they already rejected him? God responded by demonstrating His power and commitment.
• Fears concerning his ability. Moses doubted himself—both his speech (Ex. 4:10) and ability (4:13). God responded by providing him with a partner, his brother Aaron.

With his willfulness broken, his fears overcome,

and his purpose reaffirmed,

Moses finally placed himself in the hands of God.



Moses’ Sacrifices

Life is filled with trade-offs—but you can trade up only if you have something to sacrifice. Moses had to sacrifice his status and his material possessions to get prepared for his life purpose. And then to fulfill it, again he had to sacrifice. The second time he relinquished the security and safety of obscurity in the desert to return to his boyhood home.


The Sacrifice of Leadership

If you desire to lead—if you hope to find and fulfill the purpose for which God created you—then you must have something to give. Keep growing and building your personal assets and hold lightly the things God gives you. And remember: You may need to sacrifice them at any time to answer His call.



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