kjv@Psalms:55 @ @ RandyP comments: In this case, David's enemy was a one time confidant, someone his equal that he had trusted in the affairs of the kingdom. This may not be the same type of enemy that we would have, does not have the same political effect, but, we feel the similarity just the same. The context must remain the extreme positions that these two men held and the severity of one man turning to injure the reputation of the other, the king. By the time David prays for a destruction, he is speaking in the plural.
kjv@Acts:28:16-31 @ @ RandyP comments: Paul must of had some respect from these Roman Jews to have gathered such a meeting at his invite. What began as an opportunity to clear the air concerning what they may or may not have heard about him became a opportunity to evangelize. Th meeting lasted several hours.
kjv@Acts:28:27 @ @ RandyP comments: ...and should be converted... converted to what? The complaint is that Christianity is something new, that Judaism is being added to, the Law is being removed/diminished. The Law is not diminished it is being fulfilled in one person. It is not being added to, it is being completed in the manner it itself has long prescribed. It is not something new if it's leader is someone anticipated ever since kjv@Genesis:3:15.
kjv@Psalms:66 @ @ RandyP comments: Affliction serves the purpose of purging and cleansing in the life of believers. It is not a bad thing other wise we'd likely go back to the way we were before. This way we've not only learned to depend solely on God, been removed from our selfish and ill advised motives, seen the hand and operation of God, but, also have some investment into the process. The praise and prayer offered becomes real and sincere, organic and experiential instead of merely academic.
kjv@Psalms:71 @ @ RandyP comments: We are reading this as it appears in the order of the book of Psalms and not in the chronological order of his Davids life. It will be interesting in the next devotion to see where David is at in his life when he pens this. We know by I reading thus far of Samuel Kings and Chronicles that there was a good part of his life in exile being hunted by Saul or later his son. These may be some of the enemies which he writes of so frequently of. It can be the spiritual enemies while he is on the throne as well.
kjv@Romans:4 @ @ RandyP comments: This law of faith not only separates us from our Jewish brothers but also our Muslim; it is our dividing point in many respects. Their reward is essentially boiled down to "God owes them" because of their obedient works. They do what He commands them and He is obliged/indebted to pay them back. God is committed thus only to their blood seed or proselytized seed. It is our belief that God owes no man no thing, that what He does give us is freely given of His own supreme grace through and for the establishment of His own son Jesus Christ's reign and lordship. We have the entirety of the Bible including the accounts of Abraham and David to confirm this Law of Faith. It's reward is available to all peoples who like Abraham hope beyond hope in imputation and God's providential grace. The story of Abraham thus becomes a prophecy of God sacrificing His son in substitution for reasons of His own love and grace and not because of indebtedness to some percieved goodness we may or may not of performed. The difference is huge!
kjv@Psalms:78 @ @ RandyP comments: By Asaph. The condition of man's heart, even the heart of God's chosen/faithful, is reviewed. Rebellious, if by them than how much more are we? After all that God had done, after all that God had made them into, after all that God had done both peaceably and violently to correct them, they sinned still and did not believe Him for His wondrous works. They forgot, refused, tempted and provoked, believed not nor trusted, lusted, kept not His commandment/testimony, were not steadfast in His covenant. By denying Christ Jesus to this day, what would make us to think that this is any different today, that somehow now they've got it right, have evolved to a higher more trustworthy plain? Gentiles are just the same though they haven't been exposed to this measure. We know from scripture however that they will one day come to the fullness of their covenant with God in the Lord Jesus.
kjv@Psalms:79 @ @ RandyP comments: It is one thing for Judah to be corrected by the Lord and for Him to use neighboring nations as His instruments. It is quiet another for those nations to puff up, to think that it was by their hand, that the God of Jacob is silent, that they are somehow better. Their ill intentions may have been used by God but, that does mean that they are excused for intending and coming against His anointed. We know that as the hearts of Judah is turned back to God and their prayers are cried out that God will once again move in their favor for His covenant and His own name sake.
kjv@Psalms:80 @ @ RandyP comments: Just as the shepherd's flock in the previous chapter, the picture of the vine has been used in many places in the Bible, used by our savior in fact, and is a good way of describing what has happened and what will happen to Israel. This account suggests that it was brought out of Egypt, land cleared aside and planted. The vine elsewhere is also pruned and trimmed by a husbandman to produce it's greatest fruit and gentile believers are being grafted into it. It may feel to them like they are being ransacked but, in the bigger picture they are being seasoned and groomed into something grand.
kjv@Psalms:82 @ @ RandyP comments: The poor and the needy are a constant theme in our reading. There are a great many reasons one might be poor and needy or fatherless and afflicted. I have known people that I have tried to help that even with my extra resources that just don't know any other way. In some respects it seems as if this exhortation is more about working to keep the wicked off their backs. By accepting the persons of the wicked, by not realizing who they are and what they are doing and calling them out we are dealing unjustly with poor and needy. An entire and large sub economy is built around serving the poor either as false recipients or providers that have little to do with actually helping the poor. The system grows exponentially but the truly needy are ill served. Our good intentions are used by the wicked to serve their darker purposes.
kjv@Romans:9 @ @ RandyP comments: It is difficult for us to perceive that God will do whatever He will and that we are subject to that. Even when we rebel against the notion He is the only sovereign one. He has done no wrong for there is no wrong for Him to do. We are His vessels, some to honor others to dishonor.
kjv@Psalms:100 @ @ RandyP comments: TSK has some good notes on what we should know tsk@Psalms:100:3
kjv@Psalms:101 @ @ RandyP comments: David was a king and a politician. Can you imagine a king or politician now days saying something like this? or publishing it in a song book? In the kings house especially there is such an importance to setting the mood and timber of those serving and surrounding the throne. Not every ruler is strong enough to to do this as it creates many enemies but, it certainly has great advantage.
kjv@Psalms:102 @ @ RandyP comments: David frequently considers not only his own mortality but God's eternity. Here he includes our universe as well. The earth and heavens were made to perish and be replaced. The children of His servants shall continue and their seed be established. By sequence, it tells me that our final dwelling is somewhere beyond this present universe.
kjv@Psalms:107 @ @ RandyP comments: Then they cried unto the Lord. Over and over we see men working themselves into desperate situations. Most of their own making, some as a consequence of the stormy waters where they conduct their business. God brings them low, they cry out, God does merciful acts to deliver them. To observe this is to understand the lovingkindness of the LORD. Where then do we stand today? What can we do? Well just as frequent is the refrain "Oh that men would praise the LORD...."
kjv@Psalms:109 @ @ RandyP comments: This world is filled with the truly poor and needy. There are countries we can think of that are in a constant oppressive state, countries where it's own refugees are congregated in camps just across it's borders, some for years and decades. We pray for them of course but, what to pray? There are people in the name of the Lord that are standing up for these people but they are lied against, falsely detained, immobilized. We pray for them but, what? There are those that are at the root of this. What shall we pray for them? David must have been square in the middle of some of these skirmishes. Is it wrong for him to pray this? Wrong to sing about this in the congregation? Will the wicked man ever change his ways once he has tasted blood in the waters?
kjv@Psalms:115 @ @ RandyP comments: They that make these idols are like unto them and so are those that would trust in them. So what idols have we made today? What idols have we trusted in today? What preconceptions? What false notions? What religious forms and identities have we taken on that are similarly vacant? Where have we imagined a vain thing? Where have we placed anything other above our God? The people of Israel had done it; even after their tremendous experiences with God. Time and time again it was their down fall. What is it that makes us think that today this is no longer a factor in our lives? That we've gotten it all figured out? That we are somehow different from them? Perhaps this false illusion is one of our many idols.
kjv@Psalms:118 @ @ RandyP comments: It is common to think of righteousness as something personal that you build up with good works. Here we find righteousness as a entry way that has been opened which one person, the subject of this psalm walks into. Who is this person that does not die but declares the works of His Lord? If we think of Jesus as the one the nations and wicked have come against like bees, if we think of Him as the head cornerstone they've refused, Him that will execute the judgement against these haters, the sacrifice bound to the alter, then we see how that entry way has been made. Now then by this gate the righteous plural can enter in as well. His mercy does endure for ever!
kjv@1Corinthians:7:14 @ @ RandyP comments: Their salvation still requires belief and repentance just as the rest of us. This sanctification he is speaking of is of a setting apart. There are varying levels of sanctification. The unbeliever and the household are being blessed tangibly because of the blessing of God toward the believer and the children are raised in a better and more wholesome environment. It still would be better however that they all believe.
kjv@Psalms:131 @ @ RandyP comments: When the heart is haughty and the eyes lofty the soul takes upon itself a great deal, increasingly large matters it really has no business in. I think of the political campaigns we are suffering these months ahead of elections. Presented are entire shopping lists of big and grandiose ideas/programs that each and everyone of us knows will never once be addressed. So why are we making concern over them, why to the near exclusion of the things that we would be able to address? This same type issue is true in our individual hearts as well. Oh yes, grand dreams and visions, miraculous intentions, marvelous causes, big and frequent squawks and chatter. It hardly ever results in any more than that. For some though, a new found calm and quietness, a weaning from the demanding tantrums of a suckling child, a trust and obedience to a more modest constantly maturing godly nature.
kjv@1Corinthians:8 @ @ RandyP comments: The principal is that knowledge is likely to puff us up. The example illustration is eating food offered to idols. The knowledge may be correct that the offering to idols means nothing, but so is the knowledge that some believers will be offended by it (right or wrong). Instead of puffing up about it and insisting to be right, bend towards the matters of another's conscience. What other areas can we apply this principal to?
kjv@Proverbs:3 @ @ RandyP comments: In many of the proverbs I notice that the child or the son is receiving the teaching and lives it forth through a process of correction and refinement. There is a personal reward continuously in that. The reward from others seems sometimes to come later as a man, sometimes much later. So often our youth are looking for the reward of others here and now to make their personal reward; correction is not part of the equation at all.
kjv@Proverbs:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Like all scripture the proverbs take some digging into. Meaning may not be immediately obvious especially when two proverbs take the same point from two different directions. In a sense many of these appear as generalities when taken individually. But if taken as spring boards toward a greater reverence/fear of the Lord, the sum brings true wisdom/understanding; somethings that the casual reader will not spend time to consider.
kjv@Proverbs:13:12 @ @ RandyP comments: If our hope is in something that has no possibility of coming forth or is not in the will of God or is not pursued in a manner pleasing to God or we never diligently pursued it the heart will remain sick. One must be honest about what is deferring the hope. Who, what, when, where, how, to what extent and to whose glory seem to be the appropriate questions.
kjv@Proverbs:14:6 @ @ RandyP comments: There are some that pride themselves in their scientific and analytical technique but, that gets them nowhere further toward an answer if they are still are at the core scoffers/scorners at heart. They can talk circles around most of us lesser educated but, really what do their words actually say that this simple proverb does not?
kjv@Proverbs:15:18 @ @ RandyP comments: tsk@Proverbs:15:18 has some interesting links to some Bible characters known for their ability to appease strife.
kjv@2Corinthians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: God causes us to triumph in Christ. He causes doors to open of the Lord and makes manifest the savour of His knowledge. To some that means life, to others death, to us sufficiency to speak forth. At times it requires strict obedience to those placed above us and at times it allows for forgiveness by proxy. There is great sorrow of heart and great joy as well, but, there is always thanks to God in all things.
kjv@Ecclesiastes:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Just days ago we had read kjv@1Corinthians:15 that the righteousness of God in putting us through this corruption was to break us down, have us die to ourselves that we might germinate to a spiritual plant/being (be born again). Here it says similarly the travail God has given the sons of men to be exercised with. From the observation from heaven it is a unnecessary and righteous thing and from our sense it is a grievous and sorrowful thing. This is because of the weight with which we invest ourselves into making something carnal out of this present corruption. We do not see the things under heaven as they were before nor the things as they will be. All is vanity, but, God submitted us to this vanity because of a much greater righteous hope kjv@Romans:8:20-23.
kjv@2Corinthians:10:3-6 @ @ RandyP comments: This is all one sentence. These items are connected as one. The idea of obedience coming before revenge is just as vital to the statement as the means of our warfare. tsk@2Corinthians:10:3-6 has some good links to look to.
kjv@Ecclesiastes:7 @ @ RandyP comments: Solomon has spent a great deal of time considering the ends of things. Sure they seem right to us here and now but, what of it in the end? He concludes that while somethings are better, some are wiser, all things are temporary, that they all end as vanity. Not everyone goes as far as to consider these things, the thought being "what does it matter?". It matters to the life to come and the abundant entrance ministered unto us into Christ's eternal kingdom kjv@2Peter:1:11.
kjv@2Corinthians:11:1-15 @ @ RandyP comments: The fact that Paul has been addressing these things throughout this letter must mean that somebody(s) were accusing Him him of such. Other Jesus's are what we still face today. Selling another Jesus often involves placing doubt upon character of the saints of the true Jesus. Paul is attacked even today by numerous groups presuming to have a clearer definition of Jesus. It is not the same Jesus however.
kjv@2Corinthians:13 @ @ RandyP comments: There is a fine line between edification and destruction when addressing situations like this. The sense that Paul has is that his accusers are attempting to rattle him, make him say something or do something that would turn out to their advantage. By challenging him to prove himself as an Apostle their hope is to make him over react or be over bearing enough to push people away, show that he is operating from his own pride and sense of possession. There is also the chance that he may shy away and underplay the situation as well. We, much like Paul, must be prayerful, direct and and Spirit led in these situations too.
kjv@Galatians:5 @ @ RandyP comments: For Paul to say be not entangled in the yoke of bondage means that it is quiet possible to if not likely. It is something that we must guard ourselves from. In this case it centers around our perception of what justifies us in the end, the Law or Grace. In other ways it seems to be in resembling too closely the ways of this world or reverting back into our fleshly appetites and habits. The works of the flesh are manifest as are the fruits of the Spirit.
kjv@Isaiah:14 @ @ RandyP comments: Removed from the context of the passage the section on Lucifer can be looked at as a description of the Devil; which may or may not be the author's intent. In context, we might think of it as a description of the king of Babylon who had similarities to the Devil and may have been heavily under his influence. The remainder of the prophecy in context namely the desolation of the city of Babylon has for a long time been fulfilled; the city ruin only recently haven been located by aerial satellite in Iraq. Plans are being made by some to rebuild it. It is mentioned again in latter day prophecy.
kjv@Isaiah:16 @ @ RandyP comments: The thought of invading troops walking freely through our streets is something we as Americans have not had to face. The long dreaded enemy of the Moabites, the lords of the occupation, doing as they pleased to whatever or whomever they pleased is one thing, but, to have it told to you three years in advance and to be told why another. You would know that you had done wrong!
kjv@Philippians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Christ is being preached, by Paul's life and by his death, by others responding to Paul's absence some in contention some in love, by the churches outreach and operation even under extreme persecution. Some would think that they have the upper hand but, who has the upper hand over God? Is this not how He said it would be? Is this not a necessary part of our sanctification to share in His sufferings? Is He not sovereign and in complete control? Has any one or anything snuck up on Him that he had mistakenly underestimated or poorly considered? Of course not, for Christ is preached!
kjv@Isaiah:38 @ @ RandyP comments: The king was suffering from some disease causing the skin to boil. Indications are that it was making him to be bitter towards God. Hezekiah had been a good godly king, the right man for the times at hand in Judah, but, not even that keeps one from suffering deadly illness, the curse of Adam. We cannot say that bitterness caused this cancer. We cannot say that the illness was intended to bring to light a hidden bitterness that then could be dealt with. We can not say that Hezekiah's illness was intended to stir the faith of the others around him. For then we would have to say the same about anyone of us. Though these things may have resulted, we can say that God dealt with everything that happened with the good of His plan and love for His servant in mind. The same would have been true if Hezekiah would have been called back into the Lord's rest.
kjv@Colossians:4:3 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord makes evangelical opportunities to speak for those that are watching for them. For most of us that means the daily one on one talks. For some that means the larger event or location based individual or team efforts. The fact that Paul asks us to pray for these means that the Lord does seek these types of prayers.
kjv@Colossians:4:12-13 @ @ RandyP comments: Some are given the burden of prayer. It does not say what other positions or responsibilities this person may of held. To be saluted as a warrior of prayer and acknowledged for a particular burden for some specific congregations is illustrative of how Paul's team operated.
kjv@Colossians:4:16 @ @ RandyP comments: There are other epistles that Paul wrote. Perhaps several. Perhaps daily. Paul was not attempting to write for inclusion into some soon to be published New Testament collection. He was not seeking to dominate the other writers with his massive content. He was addressing the needs of the people and congregations that he was placed directly over (Romans possibly being the exception - perhaps planted by acquaintances that he had discipled). His letters were treasured enough that people kept hold of them. By the time the Testament was canonized several years after his death there were enough of these verifiable copies still circulated for them to be included into what we hold today as scripture. Many of these other letters, though I am sure were treasured have either been lost or cannot be accurately verified as there were many plagiarizers of his name and authority even yet today.
kjv@1Thessalonians:3 @ @ RandyP comments: It is hard to know how people will react to pressure. You work hard to establish something. You may have to step aside knowing that the work is not yet completed but progressing forward. You hope and pray and send envoys to check in now and then, but, it is a nerve racking ordeal no doubt. The pressure these early churches were under was considerable. The forces (even Satanic) specifically following the team of Paul extreme. The hindrance mentioned may not have been so much upon the team being able to travel there as much as what their arriving might have brought. Were they ready? Was the lack in their faith something to do in the armament of believers against the Satanic warfare being experienced?
kjv@Isaiah:58 @ @ RandyP comments: The fast and the Sabbath are mentioned together in one passage. We see illustrated how easily the fast can be contorted into something lesser that it is not. The true fulfillment of the fast is much more wide spread than we most often allow. Can the same be said of the Sabbath then being that they are placed within the same prophetic declaration? Is this the fast He has chosen? Is this the Sabbath He chosen?
kjv@Jeremiah:1 @ @ RandyP comments: At least in Jeremiah's case he was chosen out before he was even formed in the womb. In this case chosen to be a prophet. And he became a prophet at a very early age with great impact and miraculous confirmations. How much further amongst us does this extend? We are not told directly here. Are we chosen before the womb? This argument is used pro and con in the abortion debate. The suggestion that a mother's rights trump God's (even if not pre-selected in every conception, merely rather on the possibility) should cause alarm. Only the hardened soul can completely wipe this fact off the board without at least some resemblance of consideration. Then there is the consideration that even if not chosen, even if not chosen to be a prophet or great historical figure, God saw fit for that conception to occur.
kjv@Jeremiah:2 @ @ RandyP comments: The language of these pictures paint an indelible image that cannot be erased nor altered no matter what translation. Withered vines and broken cisterns, insolent camels and wild asses, brides in harlots attire, butchers stained in blood declaring themselves innocent. These things cannot be mis-interpreted into being something better or good about the state of Israel/Judah. The Lord is extremely upset there can be no doubt.
kjv@Jeremiah:2 @ @ RandyP comments: We have it that Israel had crossed the line quiet some time ago. The Lord requests that they look back to a time very early on 'the love of their espousals' that He seems to view fondly. If we look back we see that even in that time Israel didn't seem so faithfully betrothed. Yet the Lord has waited. He has been more than patient. If that was a fond time for Him just imagine how bad things must have been now at this critical point.
kjv@1Timothy:1 @ @ RandyP comments: This letter is a interesting change of focus from Paul's previous. Those letters were written church congregations and regions of churches. This is personal letter to one of Paul's dearest team members, a man that he has taken on somewhat as his protégé. We are afforded a look into a much more personal and professional part of the Apostle's outlook. Much like two artisans/composers comparing insights/notes, the elder to the younger.
kjv@1Timothy:2 @ @ RandyP comments: Hard as it is to understand, Paul's restrictions upon women teaching were not because of some hatred or prejudice he had upon women. We see from his letters that many women loved him and that they held important positions in his ministry team. Paul honestly expresses his reasoning, a fact that cannot be denied, Eve was the one deceived not Adam. How that further plays out in the daughters of Eve is not so clear but, it must be considered. To inflame one's self, to jump hastily to the womans defense can be just as much a proof of what Paul is cautious of as it is proof against. One must also consider the types of women drawn to a woman pastor, who might see her position for something she does not intend, and what the make up of the church then becomes. The verse actually does not forbid women from teaching per se, it forbids a teaching that gives an feminist impression or that could be percieved to be in conjunction/tainted with usurping authority over men.
kjv@Jeremiah:10 @ @ RandyP comments: Is it not in God to have feelings as well? We go about as if we are the only ones that feel violated and forgotten and grieved and spoiled. Is it that He is unaffected by what we say and do or is it that it just doesn't matter to us? Is it even in our way to direct our own steps? We demand of Him to be righteous enough not to be affected by these things that we do, to be above it all, but not of Him to be righteous enough to actually do something about all of this.
kjv@2Timothy:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Timothy appears to be suffering some type of affliction leading toward possible discouragement. There is a constant resistance towards the gospel, the greater the accomplishments the greater the push back. No doubt Timothy's ministry is having an impact judged by the resistance it is receiving. Paul is encouraging Timothy not to hold back or shy away from what his ministry is facing, the Lord has not left him high and dry. What good is it to do all of this good and yet give it up because of some resistance? The Lord Himself suffered such, it is a sign of righteousness.
kjv@Jeremiah:30 @ @ RandyP comments: Interesting that Jacob is mentioned here with all he was put in subjection to. We know how Jacob was finally made to prevail; not against his masters but with and for his masters to the miraculous deliverance of his own people. When is this to come? Has this all ready come about? Or is this something yet in the making?
kjv@Jeremiah:32 @ @ RandyP comments: I find it hard to believe the claims of some cults that the Jews are apostate beyond repair and that they themselves are now the true Jews. What has the Lord drawn them through? When were they scattered? When did their fathers do only wrong? They may be saved in the knowledge of Jesus Christ but, undoubtedly, they are not the Israel/Judah spoken of here. The Lord will put His fear into their (the Jews) heart that they will not leave Him anymore.
kjv@Jeremiah:33 @ @ RandyP comments: The Branch of Righteousness (Christians take to mean Jesus) grows unto David (comes down dwells among us in the flesh) executes judgment/righteousness in the land (some would take to mean an earthly rule but could mean a spiritual rule as well) Judah will be saved (again could mean spiritually) and Jerusalem dwell safely (spiritually secure in the knowledge and spirit of the risen Christ) David shall never want a man on his throne (because Jesus has moved the Davidic throne to the eternal kingdom, the right hand side of God the father, the God/Man rightfully sits on it forever more) neither shall there be needed any sacrifice or offering (for the God/Man on the throne has become unto us our final sacrifice, the complete atonement that the Father provides for us all). If this is not so, I see no other way that this covenant has not been broken or ceased for over two thousand years. Do you?
kjv@Jeremiah:34 @ @ RandyP comments: At this point, even when they do something right, they turn from it to do wrong. What good can be done unless they are purged clean?
kjv@Jeremiah:35 @ @ RandyP comments: We are given an example of proof that it is within the heart of man to keep some form of covenant, that it is a matter of choice. This example was a very difficult and sacrificial choice. The right choice is always rewarded. Judah long ago had made their choice. God could have carried out their chastisement long ago, but, He has been careful to let us know that He has gone more than the extra mile towards them before executing this. It has given us plenty of opportunity to realize that this is not only the way it must be, it is also done for their ultimate good. We should see the certainty of our own depravity and the need for the Lordship of His Son and the redemption provided by the gracious gift of His Son's own blood.
kjv@Jeremiah:37 @ @ RandyP comments: Have you ever had someone do everything they could against you only to later come back to you for advice? Jeremiah asks the obvious "why do you come to me, where are all your prophets, why not ask them"? Did Zedekiah really think that Jeremiah for the sake of some possible friendship or for the chance of being released would have anything other to say than what had already been said?
kjv@Jeremiah:38 @ @ RandyP comments: In the end, the Lord has still given the king a choice. He can surrender himself without a fight and live or he can fight and die and his household be mercilessly brutalized. We like to think that freedom of choice always involves something more than that. Look at Jeremiah the prophet of God. What choices did he have remaining? He had done just as God had said; where is his safe out? What makes us think that somewhere there is a better outcome? That we can negotiate or force our way into some dreamy personal victory or acceptable compromise? Most often, the only choices we have are the choices left to us.
kjv@Jeremiah:46 @ @ RandyP comments: Egypt is in a bad spot. Not only are they being cursed for harboring the adulterous remnant of Judah (who were told not to go into Egypt or they would be a curse) they are judged by all the gods and idols of their own making. Surely the Lord has not kept this secret from them, we have some evidences of His dealings with them from this and other prophets. Other nations should be warned of this as well. When they see what and why this has happened to Egypt they should realize that this could be them as well.
kjv@Jeremiah:48 @ @ RandyP comments: The conditions in Moab are just the same, pride and false gods. If not for the pride perhaps one would see that what has happen to the others may happen to them as well. If not for pride one might sense that something consistent and immense is happening in the region having to do with the God of Israel.
kjv@Jeremiah:52 @ @ RandyP comments: What does this completion of judgment mean in the grand scheme of spiritual things? Does it mean the the experiment is over? Israel is finished and we move on to plan B? Does it mean that God has learned from His mistakes and will start up in a different fashion again? Or does it mean that there is something vital for all of mankind to understand? Something of our depraved sinful nature that even with promises, even with miraculous deliverance and provision, even with tremendous blessing and tremendous cursing and every sort of intention revival and effort, none of this has any effect upon the true core nature of man's deceptive heart. The heart does not obey because it cannot. The heart cannot be spiritual because it is not. All that we intend and invent and contrive is but utter vanity. What is blind cannot see. In this unfamiliar light we sense that only by His grace and by His election are we separated from this wretchedness.
kjv@Ezekiel:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Though we are not the prophet specifically being addressed we should assume that there is a responsibility in the same sense of ours to our stiff-necked generation as well. A man may well die in his sin regardless, but, that is not for our interpretation. Our concern is that he is presented with the Gospel and has the opportunity whether he accepts it or not to choose not to die in his sin otherwise his blood in some measure is on us.
kjv@Hebrews:10:1-23 @ @ RandyP comments: Nowadays, minus the temple, there is no way for Jews to perform their sacrifices. I am sure that they have used some of these same scriptural quotes to justify their position, that the sacrifices weren't really needed in the first place. The problem for them still would be that there is no remission of sins without the sprinkling of blood. The Christian followers have not ceased from the sprinkling of blood, it is that the blood now is the blood of God's chosen one, the sacrifice He Himself provided as with Abraham, Jesus Christ. His sacrifice is once and for all and complete.
kjv@Ezekiel:8 @ @ RandyP comments: Imagine this seeing this vision as the elders of Judah sat there in the parlor before you. It wouldn't surprise me if they were there to tell him how things were going to be if he didn't stop with all the rhetoric. Before the vision you might be thinking 'well these guys know what they are doing', 'intelligent people can see things different ways', 'how could all of them be wrong and only me right', 'hmmm...maybe some compromise is called for'. Then with the vision seeing these men the way God sees them? This is such a curious passage!
kjv@Hebrews:11:1-19 @ @ RandyP comments: Faith is most commonly defined as something we believe or hope for. Here it is better defined as something that totally moves us and shapes the course of things to come, a leaving of ourselves to commit/pursue the greater promises laid before us. Faith is a both a destination and the road/process of getting there. It is it's own country.
kjv@Ezekiel:14:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Does this mean that God lies? That He deceives? Think of it this way, if He created the mental faculties to believe the truth when they heard it couldn't it also be said that these faculties could also be used to believe their own vain imaginations rather than the truth? If God made certain things to be more enticing than others to guide man along the straight and narrow, cannot that gravity toward be corrupted and converted to something else? If that which is meant for good can be used for harm, if that which locks men's hearts into good instead can lock them into falsehood, cannot it not be said then that God in this sense has made it so?
kjv@Ezekiel:24 @ @ RandyP comments: Their eyes/desires are upon one thing. And when that one thing is taken away suddenly it's stare then shifted upon their sons and daughters and their own iniquity certain. Why must it come to this? I am asked why a person must fall to such depths before they see way to the Lord? It is implied that there is something wrong with a Lord that is only the Lord of the fallen. Rather, there is something wrong with the heart of a man that can not see the Lord while in his strength and youthful prowess/splendor, that his sinful and proud and arrogant nature must be ground down and disrupted, laid bare upon a table of self desperation before seeing light. The Lord of the fallen indeed if to be Lord of such souls at all.
kjv@Ezekiel:34 @ @ RandyP comments: The flock here is identified as Israel. The Lord had set shepherds over them; they fed themselves on the flock instead. Some were driven away, some lost, some diseased, many scattered. Their good pasture was trampled and their good water muddied. These shepherds are no doubt spiritual and civic leaders. The answer is that the Lord himself becomes the shepherd; He is the Good Shepherd. In the end, when His glory is come, He will set David over them (David is not the Shepherd himself). There is a shame of the heathen that they bare (perhaps that the heathen recognize this Shepherd before they do).
kjv@1Peter:2 @ @ RandyP comments: Peter sketches out what it looks like to live outwardly in faith. Essentially it is to live as Christ who had committed Himself entirely to Him (The Father) that judges righteously, not reviling nor threatening, baring the sins of others. Having then this picture of Christ's submission to the Father, we likewise behave in all of our outward dealings not reviling nor threatening, baring the sins of others. Listed are some examples of that kind of living.
kjv@Ezekiel:36 @ @ RandyP comments: Israel is blessed more in the end then in the beginning not because of their goodness but because of His holy name. How can this be true if the Israel spoken of here is someone other than the Jews as some cults claim? They claim that the Jews are apostate, it says here that they will be given a new heart of flesh. They claim that God has moved on, it says that the prophesy directed to the mountains of Israel and the land that will be fruitful. Like the Edomites, these cults presume that it is over for Israel, that they are the true Israel, that they will inherit what was once the Jews. Theirs is not some special higher knowledge of the will of God it is a resentment.
kjv@1Peter:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Again Christ is given as the absolute example. Not only how He acted, but, how He saw Himself in the role of obeying The Father. Having this mindset more naturally produces these particular actions and influences this certain outlook. The picture is complete in the symbolism of water baptism, the good conscience answers to God, dying to the flesh and alive to the Spirit, fully immersed in sanctification. In the same way, whether in marriage, or business, or fellowship, conducting all daily activity being willing to suffer unjustly for His good rather than be condemned for participating in their bad. To the hope of perhaps saving some of their souls along with.
kjv@Ezekiel:38:2 @ @ RandyP comments: We see some of these names appear again in Revelations. Here they often interpreted to be a confederacy of mid Asian Baltic and Caspian tribes/states Rosh (Russia) and Meshech (Moscow) Gog and Magog (northern). I do not know of a particular king in Ezekiel's time that this would be addressed to, many believe this to be addressed to a pre-tribulation president. It is not completely agreed upon however.
kjv@1Peter:4 @ @ RandyP comments: So should we go out a stir up some suffering? The gospel is preached that men dead to Christ might be judged as men of the flesh. They are this to begin with, their reaction once presented condemns them all the more. One does not have to go out purposely to stir things up, the Gospel of Christ does this by itself. By presenting the Gospel in it's truest form man's very nature is stirred against Him/Us.
kjv@Ezekiel:40 @ @ RandyP comments: What is the importance of these details to us today? That God has a great many (if not all) details planned out; that He is trying to tell us something needed to be known. Consider that this temple fell and was desecrated just as the first and yet it is not a mistake that God gave it such detail and foresight; it is all part of a much greater plan/dialog. Often physical things and events described in the Bible are shadows/pictures/blue prints of things occurring in the spiritual world put into a language we could more readily understand. I have heard men like Dr. Vernen Mc Gee attempt to show how the Temple, the things of it, the predetermined rituals spell out a spiritual description of salvation and atonement; things like the 'holy of holys' that only the high priest was able to enter after being cleansed once a year. North gates, south gates, having to go in one gate and out another, tables and hooks, borders of pomegranate and palms, etc..., they all have their meaning in a spiritual sense. The thing for now to know is that Jesus is the complete fulfillment of all of these descriptive types. To go back and rediscover what each of these types means is to study what Jesus was able to accomplish and who we are in Him; for us each detail measured out precisely.
kjv@Ezekiel:42 @ @ RandyP comments: It may be that having seen the original temple that Ezekiel's contemporaries would have known how this Temple would have differed from the first. Perhaps they are following along in their mind right and left and forward as Ezekiel's vision goes. Many men today would be able to study comparisons of the two even the third yet to come, but it would be interpretive, their best guess. index:WEBLINKS temple has some videos and maps of the Temples in the bible search - images and bible - video sections.
kjv@2Peter:2 @ @ RandyP comments: The righteous souls are vexed by the ungodliness surrounding them. This is much of our tribulation. In particular are a type of godless that once knew of the Lord's righteousness yet returned to their own vomit becoming more unrighteous than before. They seem to elevate themselves to positions of influence in the secular community and cause great anguish with purpose upon the remaining faithful. This may or may not include a host of false teachers also. There is swift judgment upon them though perhaps not as swift as we might sometimes hope. They do however unwittingly perform a function of solidifying and growing our truer faith and resolve.
kjv@2Peter:3:15-16 @ @ RandyP comments: It has been the doctrine of some cults (even the universal church at times) that the unlearned masses must be kept from the holy scrip based on the possible misinterpretation and destruction it might cause them identified by this passage. The context however of this passage in light of kjv@2Peter:2 is more properly of those who once knew of the Gospel/Grace of Christ but chose not to continue, turned to oppress and afflict and teach falsely after their own increased unrighteousness and gain. Paul's writings in particular are targeted by these cherry picking wicked souls as points of fierce contention, points of apparent contradiction, points to slander and attack. Peter here stands up for Paul in uncompromising fashion and therefore endorses the distribution of his works. The general masses are greatly helped rather by the availability of unfiltered scripture, their trust in leadership deeply enhanced in the things that are not easily understood by the things that are. Those who are going to fall away are going to fall away any way. Disputes and factions may arise amongst us over certain points as we try to become learned, but, even that is used to challenge and stir and put essential truths into our remembrance. Challenge does not mean destruction, challenge means hunger and thirst and utter trust in the most certain hope of an eventual divinely revealed answer.
kjv@Daniel:3 @ @ RandyP comments: It is hard for us to imagine the heart of a king that would be driven to do this, either put in the furnace those that don't worship him or latter cut up those that don't speak amiss towards Jehovah. I guess from a tactile sense a king must test the heart of his people. In another sense he must puff himself up beyond mere mortal to remain in solid control. It amazes me however that the masses blindly go along with it and carry their power to his feet. I know that this is a different culture, I know that their system of beliefs go different directions, yet the same basic mentality flourishes today. The people hold the power but, for the sake of something undetermined that they presume to gain, they bow to such a conceded and arrogant man.
kjv@Daniel:3 @ @ RandyP comments: What is it about the appearance of the fourth figure that made even such a godless man come to the conclusion that it was the Son of Man? Apparently the Son of Man is not such a foreign concept to other religions and cultures. Apparently there is something universally identifiable about Him. We are not told what physical features were evident. We are not told whether others drew the same conclusion. We do know that such a conclusion would be humbling to man that sought for the masses to worship himself. It must have convincing enough at least for a time for him to make the second decree. Could he have spun this to his own political advantage?
kjv@Daniel:4 @ @ RandyP comments: A thought about free choice... Nebuchadnezzar had twelve months to consider the interpretation of his dream. For some the dream alone would be enough to alter/soften their hearts, or so we would hope, but, is that actually true? Daniel as much as said some sort of lessening would be possible. It was not ever said though that this chastisement would ever be avoidable, that the choice was totally his. It could be that over the course of twelve months Nebuchadnezzar did everything that he thought would hold this off only to realize that he was still under it's shadow. He may have hardened in the end. Therefore it is evidenced that as much as Nebuchadnezzar may have thought that he had changed, he had not actually changed; the pride was still deep within him. Our circumstances may be similar, God may be trying to remove a destructive trait or element from our heart. We may try (and be given time) to extract that ill on our own, but, until it is given into God's hands it is never really removed; it simply lays hidden producing further atrophy/paralysis. Where then is free choice? It is in accepting the way things must be. It is all things given into His hands.
kjv@1John:4 @ @ RandyP comments: If I were to ask nearly any non-believer 'what is God?' the near unanimous reply would be "God is love". If I were to ask then 'what is love?' I would receive a multitude of varying replies mostly having something to do with tolerance for their sins. The question then to ask is 'doesn't that mean that love is whatever one wants/needs it to be?' or better 'that God is whomever we want/need Him to be?'. What kind of god can we ourselves make up? Is your wife whomever you wish her to be? Is your son? Is there any other working relationship that you know of that is determined by what you wish it to be? Are we not individual? Do we not have structure and backbone, interests and opinions and needs of our own that you yourself have to accept navigate and familiarize your self with? Isn't that the beauty of relationships? Why should it be any different with God? We love God because he first loved us. It was not our minute and varying personal perceptions of God with which He loved us, it was His gigantic eternal design for present and future, a love that would redeem us from our sins and set us aright into eternity. It was not our selfish 'I need you to be this' love or 'do this now for me or else' love or 'if you even exist' love for His love came before our love. What then is love? God is love? What is God? Creator and perfecter and possessor of our souls in whom no darkness dwells and in that He is absolute love.
kjv@Daniel:9 @ @ RandyP comments: The math if we understand one day to be one year correctly is exact, 490 years from the year of this vision to Christ's baptism, 434 from Ezra's rebuilding of the temple. Christ the Messiah is in Jerusalem but is cut off (not for himself but for our sins) and then shortly (AD70) the city and temple are destroyed. There is an unrevealed number of years of desolation (current) followed by a confirmation (or tribulation) of seven years. I am told that many Jews of the time by this prophecy expected the Messiah on this same schedule and by some Jews expectation even today He is nearly 2000 years late. When the veil is lifted they will understand their confusion as to Jesus (1 Messiah appearing twice lamb and ruler instead of 2 at once).
kjv@2John:1 @ @ RandyP comments: It really wouldn't surprise me if there weren't a great number of these letters written to various individuals by all of the Apostles. What is surprising is that this one was still able to be verified years later when the New Testament was canonized. This great lady must have been extremely well known, must have cherished this and taken such good care of it. She must have shown it to some influential people as well. I can see her eyes light up when she would begin to recount receiving it.
kjv@3John:1 @ @ RandyP comments: We should know that not everyone in the fold is for the fold. John may have written some of these smaller letters in part to gather intel and to make sure that the things/persons that he had sent were being received and used. He has taken the time to develop networks of 'wellbeloved' and so should we. We should be participants in this network that our true spiritual leaders are maintaining as well. Who knows, maybe one of these letters will be arriving at our desk one day.
kjv@Jude:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Contending for the faith once delivered begins with praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping oneself in God's love, looking for His mercy unto eternity, having compassion for some, making the difference, saving some with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. The fact that we would have to contend with others supposedly within our own faith means that it is not an easy list of things to do. We are warned that these apostates have crept in unaware and that there is a certain advantage and admiration inherent for them to do so. They are defined as dreamers defiling the flesh, despising dominion, speaking evil of dignities. They preach out of what they know naturally.
kjv@Revelation:2:8-11 @ @ RandyP comments: Nothing said about what the church in Smyrna is doing right or wrong, only what they have been and what some will be suffering for Christ's namesake. Be thou faithful unto death He exhorts.
kjv@Hosea:13:2 @ @ RandyP comments: There is something to be said about the heart of men wanting to worship something tangible that he can touch. Real or not it is there to fix his eyes upon and place his hands around. By the skill of craftsmen, these idols can be intricate and artistic. They can depict stories and triumphs and passionate emotions. What does that say about our heart though? And what does it say about our God who forbids such images to be made of Him?
kjv@Revelation:3:1-6 @ @ RandyP comments: Works? What works? I thought that everything was strictly by grace? The church at Sardis is of great concern. Individuals remain that have not left or deserted and they shall be rewarded, they are exhorted strengthen that which remains, but, what about the rest of them? Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved by grace however we that hear are exhorted to overcome. Our faith is planted in circumstances that necessitate immediate growth and action, from which our faith only grows stronger. If there are not these works and actions the local church body itself dies away. Avoiding and/or ignoring the work that must be done because of some personal tantrum is spiritually immature.
kjv@Revelation:3:7-13 @ @ RandyP comments: Philadelphia on the other hand is a church that will be kept from the hour of temptation that the earth will suffer. They are being opposed by a temple of Satan hiding under the cover of some Jews yet have exhibited strength, kept His word (of patience), and not denied His name. Notice how none of these churches have it easy, but, some hold fast, hold true, gain the Lord's strength and overcome.
kjv@Joel:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Joel was a prophet for Judah at the time of Isaiah and Amos and king Uzziah. The region faces a terrible plague like few ever seen, it sounds like a plague upon a plague. Not many of us have experienced a plague or drought, what little I know I've been told from grandparent survivors and some study of the 1930's dust bowl. They are times of great soul searching, there is nothing to do but pray and wait them out. People are changed however. They become thankful for the simple things, frugal and thrifty and inventive beyond end, engaged with family and neighbors and community. They set the table of viewpoint for generations to come. They also become much closer to God. They are reminders of how much/deeply we need God's mercies in so many ways, how much we miss them when they are partially withheld.
kjv@Revelation:4 @ @ RandyP comments: If you have ever been blessed with revelation you know that your attention to detail is un-human. The things that you remember are remembered because there is divine meaning planted in each and every little thing, they are sealed in your memory because they are meant to be sealed. There is no doubt coming out that you are granted occasion to be a part of something foreign and miraculous and you want to go back into it without letting the moment get away from you. You try to get back into it for days, but, eventually realize that it has ended. It may be the only revelation you ever again receive or it may be years until another. Part of you however searches for it again in your dreams, in strange little occurrences, in voices you think that you might of heard. John here receives perhaps the greatest and most complete revelations ever recorded. The imagery and symbolism and threads tied to other bible prophets and covenant history that God uses is utterly mind blowing. John must have been exhausted afterward beyond human strength.
kjv@Amos:6 @ @ RandyP comments: For some Israelites here, the conditions don't seem to be all that bad; beds of ivory, bowels of wine, music upon their porches. One might say that their gods have blessed them well. What gods? Like their gods, is this not all by their selfish imaginations? Is this not all by their deliberate stiff handed taking? Today we package it as assertiveness, as going out and getting what you desire, as the eye of the tiger, virility and fertility. These are the same pictures that many other gods portray, they are symbols of a darker wisdom. Yes, it brings some prosperity, but, it destroys many others, it is at other's expense. And for what? A moment on a roof top looking down on all the soiled masses. Oh my what a view.
kjv@Revelation:6 @ @ RandyP comments: From our limited perspective it would be quiet logical to wonder why anyone would want to become worthy in order to open up such judgments upon mankind. Our perspective limits the nature and effects of our sin. Becoming worthy meant dying to take these natures and effects away. Our perspective limits the fact that for ions these judgments have been held off to one seven year period. Till now we have tasted enough judgment to see the need to repent but, little of the judgment that sin actually deserves. If God's mercy is not enough to turn us, if His occasional and limited judgments upon us are not enough, if His word and testimony are not enough, if His grace and provision is not enough, if the love shown in the giving of His own Son is not enough, even for having the threat of these predetermined judgments opened, what then is there that would be enough? At some point can it not be said that the remainder of mankind will not turn? Thus is the truest nature of sin exposed; it will not let go and it limits everything down to it's own justifications. Why not then this judgment? If seen from the perspective of the heavenly host looking down on this, one would have to ask why hasn't this judgment come already.
kjv@2John:1 @ @ RandyP comments: It really wouldn't surprise me if there weren't a great number of these letters written to various individuals by all of the Apostles. What is surprising is that this one was still able to be verified years later when the New Testament was canonized. This great lady must have been extremely well known, must have cherished this and taken such good care of it. She must have shown it to some influential people as well. I can see her eyes light up when she would begin to recount receiving it.
kjv@Amos:7 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord repenting does not mean the same as believers repenting from sin. The suggestion would be then that the Lord somehow was going to do something evil and was talked out of it. The truth is simply that the Lord changed His mind. It may for instance not have been His plan to begin with and that He was using this discussion as a teachable moment (what if I). I remember as a father proposing different forms of discipline with my children to get them to think about their wrong (what if I take away television privileges for a week?). Another way of thinking it is that the Lord had options, out of these options he was going to do this (and would have been within His rights to do so) but, chose rather to do that.
kjv@Amos:8 @ @ RandyP comments: A famine from the word of God. You would think that the word of God is exactly what they need, that the word of the prophets would increase or that the initial scrolls would be uncovered or something. The problem is that they've had the word all along and have chosen not to do anything with it. It is often true that you never really hunger or thirst for something until it is taken away. You don't realize how much you needed it until it is no longer there.
kjv@Revelation:8 @ @ RandyP comments: The prayers of the saints; thy kingdom come... thy will be done... on earth as it is in heaven... thine is the power and the glory. Special pause is given to acknowledge that this is precisely what the saints have prayed for all along. To get to the answer of those prayers from here this judgment must first take place. Perhaps we didn't fully realize the depths of sin's nature or the fierceness of the spiritual war all around. Perhaps we thought God could just change this thing and that, otherwise everything else is cool. There are however some drastic changes that have to occur beginning with the elimination of evil; an evil that runs deep. Remember God is light and Him there is no darkness. How then can He dwell amongst us if there is yet evil in our midst? Evil must be judged and use of these natural forces should make it clear to the inhabitants that this is none other than THE JUDGEMENT so clearly prophesied.
kjv@Jonah:1 @ @ RandyP comments: These mariners certainly had seen many of tempest before enough to fear for their lives. Something about this tempest though told them that it was being caused by someone on this ship. Today we might be amused at simplicity and superstition of these seafarers, but, when it comes down to the facts they were precisely right.
kjv@Jonah:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The fish here may or may not have been a whale. People dispute this story often because of the uncertainty of this fish. But we are told that this fish was prepared by the Lord. It may have been been prepared as in being placed into the same locale, prepared as is being able to swallow without chewing, prepared as in having an air pocket provided if Jonah is alive inside this belly and not dead, prepared as in being something completely out of the ordinary beyond our experience or consideration.
kjv@Micah:1 @ @ RandyP comments: We are back into the time of Isaiah looking at primarily Judah. There is a consistency amongst the prophets as to why it's judgment, idolatry and graven images. Here Micah points to a similarity between Samaria (the north country) and Jerusalem. One wouldn't expect to see the same idols and images in Jerusalem that would be seen in filthy Samaria, but, in this time one does. If Samaria is judged then why shouldn't Jerusalem? Samaria's incurable wound has come to the gates of Jerusalem. The many cities addressed here are all in Judah near to Jerusalem, some having historic interest.
kjv@2John:1 @ @ RandyP comments: It really wouldn't surprise me if there weren't a great number of these letters written to various individuals by all of the Apostles. What is surprising is that this one was still able to be verified years later when the New Testament was canonized. This great lady must have been extremely well known, must have cherished this and taken such good care of it. She must have shown it to some influential people as well. I can see her eyes light up when she would begin to recount receiving it.
kjv@Nahum:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The name of the country changes. The time changes. The name of the prophet changes. The problem with false gods and false imaginations remains the same. One might ask, really what can the Lord be so mad about? Gods other than Him. One might say, well this is Assyria, what are they going to know about some Hebrew God? Nineveh knows all about Jehovah (see: Jonah)(they have already turned to Jehovah at least once). There is not much by now that any nation should not know about Jehovah. Do you think that Jehovah would be so angered and jealous if they had not had plenty of knowledge and opportunity?
kjv@Zephaniah:1:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Those that say things like this are typically hiding behind something that they know they shouldn't be doing. These men are settled on the dregs of wine called lees. In order to do this they have to say and believe that. To them, God is simply not engaged or attached. What does God care about little old man? It makes perfect sense to a man awash in the bottom of a keg.
kjv@Haggai:2 @ @ RandyP comments: Every generation seems to have it's spiritual project; much larger than any one person. They must learn to rely on the Lord and clarify the will and resolve towards spiritual matters. It is never a side project, something to work on when other successes have left you the time. Things are constantly needing to be rebuilt or repaired or restored or re-established. Battles are to be fought and won and obstacles spiritually overcome. Often specific men are called upon to lead such efforts, but surely it is a group process. God is willing to shake the heavens to make such projects work.
kjv@Revelation:16:15 @ @ RandyP comments: This is not the first time the Lord has described Himself as such. It should be taken literally that to these people at least He will be believed and perceived to be a thief stealing away all that they have left and hold dear. Coming suddenly from nowhere and without warning as some interpret it cannot be scripturally supported when it has taken this many years to develop, judgment has so precisely and frequently measured out, and men know that it is such but will not repent. No their decision was made and their fate sealed when they took the mark of the beast to begin with. This is a matter of their utter shame and His absolute Glory.
kjv@Zechariah:2:7 @ @ RandyP comments: kjv@STRING:daughter+of+Babylon kjv@STRING:daughter+of+Zion some interesting contrasts and detail.
kjv@Zechariah:3 @ @ RandyP comments: The Angel of the Lord and Satan stand near Joshua the high priest. The Angel intends to change the filthy clothes of the priest (cleansing) and alter his mitre (position of authority). The Branch (Messiah) will remove the iniquity of the land in one day. Satan not only knows the plan but, is powerless to stop it. (some details as to the stone tsk@Zechariah:3:9)
kjv@Zechariah:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Jerusalem is a cup of trembling to all around it. Seeing what the Lord has done makes it as a burdensome stone. Seeing what the Lord has done makes them fearful in themselves. Those that burden themselves with it are cut in pieces. From this point of world view, imagine how astonished they will be when the Lord puts it all back together, when Judah and Ephraim and the house of David again for no humanly reason becomes His power and might. In the midst of a spirit of grace and supplication there will be a mourning in Jerusalem for the one, the only Son, they had pierced.
kjv@Revelation:20 @ @ RandyP comments: What is this life here and now? It is a book being written. In it are the stories of our lives, the spiritual fruit that the Lord was able to produce in us by our abiding. If not abiding then no fruit. If not His works (the works He had predestined that we walk in) than no works at all. It is said that all paths lead to God. Here all paths are recorded in the book of life and lead to His judgment, wheat from tare, sheep from impostor. When Jesus declared that one must be born again of spirit and water, these then are the names written favorably in the book of life. Their rebirth in Him has produced works and fruit some one hundred fold.
kjv@Zechariah:13 @ @ RandyP comments: The question may come to mind that if the Lord can cut off the names of idols and lying prophets in that coming day why doesn't He just do it now? The answer may lay in the object of a process we are being brought through to be able to identify and desire this ourselves as well. It is one thing for Him to cut off when no one knows what He is doing and why He is doing it and many possibly be angry or taken back by it, it is another to have everyone on board and aware and even participants along with Him in cutting it off. We are told here of parents willingly striking their wicked prophet son through. We are told here of a refining fire. In effect, what good does it do for the Lord to cut something off if it grows right back again? If it means cutting off more people than already need be cut off? If it can serve a better purpose temporarily being allowed?
kjv@Revelation:21:8 @ @ RandyP comments: There are those that say that the Bible does not teach of Hell. Or that God's love is unconditional, that He will not allow even the more deserving souls to be lost. There is the hope amongst some that having seen all of this, having better understanding of the sin nature, having seen God face to face, having understood His will and process, that even these would have the needed change of heart and gladly accept their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Perhaps for the intellectual atheist or agnostic. Perhaps for those deceived all this time by others. For some perhaps so, but, what about the remainder? What about those who blame God? Those who yet cling to their universalism or false god? Those who cannot forgive themselves or refuse release from their lusts and cravings?
kjv@Malachi:1 @ @ RandyP comments: After this many years and this much history, it can still come back to the Lords consideration of Jacob and Esau. Something about Esau He hated and his descendants alike. Jacob He loved even though it has been a constant struggle. The descendants argue with the Lord at almost every turn when He says that they are doing this or that. Then there are the gentiles who the Lord wants to look on Him honorably, but, the religious inconsistencies of His chosen alter that perception. If Esau be this way and Jacob be another why does the Lord even continue with them? I believe the answer would be the same no matter who He choose, it is a matter of the truest nature of sin, the spirit of man is at complete enmity with God in all cases. In fact, the best results obtainable may be from Jacob's seed. Remember that is not from these people that the Lord will be praised it is from the actions of Lord upon these people, His incarnation and redemptive plan. The gentiles may be the first to see and bring Him honor, but, the lines of the two brothers will someday wonder what it is that the gentiles see and begin to wonder and look into it themselves.
kjv@Malachi:2 @ @ RandyP comments: One can almost sense what religion has become to them; an alter to shed their tears upon. I suppose that tears are well and fine but, what about the wholesomeness of their offering? If all one does is cry and complain and petition and yet goes about their lives in the same sinful way, making dirty offerings with dirty hearts and hands, what good is this religion? The two parts make one whole. It is not just emoting your fears about what concerns come against you, it is how the strength of the Lord is always sufficient. It is not just this sacrifice you made or that offering you gave, it is about the sacrifice that He made and you wholehearted submission and faithfulness to living in it. One without the other is a means of dealing treacherously with self and master. When religion is only a crying alter, the alter becomes more and more a place where everyones evil is declared as good. This treacherous form of religion wearies the Lord. The fear is best placed in His judgment and not just His pity.
kjv@Matthew:1:1-17 @ @ RandyP comments: The human ancestry of Jesus is not as dry a reading as one might expect. It flies by in 16 quick verses, but, the personal histories of these individual lives cover an amazing 42 generations. You can imagine someone someday reading over your descendent's genealogy and skipping over your name as dry and inconsequential. What is important here is the lives, the lifetimes, passions and interests and occurrences, successes and set backs, wishes and desires, health and sickness, riches and poverty, sin and righteousness, freedom and captivity. Much like our lives, these people had the hope that despite everything that this life or at least the lives of our offspring was leading to something good. In these peoples case it lead from a promise to a patriarch to a fulfillment of that promise the living Messiah.
kjv@Genesis:3:1-5 @ @ RandyP comments: A great many things are given and allowed in the garden. One simple thing is not. It is the one thing that often occupies our mind. People are to some extent defined by what they can't have, by what is forbidden just as they are defined by the fear of death. Not only is there what is forbidden, there is what is threatened, and there is someone readily willing to deceive.
kjv@Genesis:3:1-5 @ @ RandyP comments: The deception is a subtle twist of words over the meaning/extent of death. If the serpent had said that she'd die spiritually first, be exiled from the garden, live her and her generations in toil and turmoil, suffer famine and war and horrid transgressions from one another, and die a slow degenerating sometimes cancerous death, the deception would not have been as inviting. What is at question here is whether God would stand behind what He said and follow through; if so why? The why gets us into areas far beyond the thoughts of man.
kjv@Genesis:7:11 @ @ RandyP comments: It was water from below earth's surface perhaps super heated that broken through the crust that flooded the atmosphere raining doing heavily as it cooled. Much of the life that was was drowned in the instant and place where it stood. Geologic and fossil records today can be read if willing to suggest the same, something traumatic, catastrophic and global. If gap theory is believed this then would be the second lesser event of this type.
kjv@Genesis:8 @ @ RandyP comments: Our understanding of what wickedness means and what it means to God surely differ. We severely reduce it down to bite size pieces that we think we have some control over. Now that wickedness has been drowned away does it not come right back? Later, when it is legalized and sacrificed away does it not come right back? This isn't God making a series of experiments as to what might rid us of these tendencies, this is God speaking directly to us saying 'this is what is wrong and this is how serious it all is'. You can't solve this or justify it away, you can't swim your way passed this. And He can't help you by the one vessel He has made available unless you are willing enter it.
kjv@Genesis:9:22-24 @ @ RandyP comments: The language or translation seems to be holding something back here. If Ham only saw (caught a glimps), why does it say Noah knew what the younger son had done to him? There was some type of violation or deeper shame committed to warrant the severe curse that followed. In seeing it may be in how he saw and in telling it may be in how/what he told his brothers. Or else it may be something worse.
kjv@Genesis:9 @ @ RandyP comments: The faith of a righteous man can help to deliver his children, but, those same children still have to make the decision to receive salvation each one themselves. We see too often the case where the righteous are followed by rebellious even evil sons, some for a spell, just as many continue to their own ruin. It is not the fault typically of the righteous (though there are always things that could have been parented better) it is rather a frequent tendency of one's self image to take a completely opposite course than the parent. We see it with the rich and successful, the powerful, the popular, the learned, the influential, the benevolent, why not then the righteous?
kjv@Genesis:12 @ @ RandyP comments: This is the beginning of what we call the Abrahamic Covenant. It is a covenant based totally upon God's grace; the land will be a gift, the seed will be a gift. The Lord leads Abraham away from his kin to show him this land. The seed will not begin to come for another 20 some years and the land not for another 450+ years. In the mean time Abraham and Sarah stumble trying to make it happen on their own.
kjv@Genesis:13 @ @ RandyP comments: We are seeing now a repetition of alters built at places where either the Lord has appeared or where He has spoken. We see these personal alters as the places to call upon the Lord. There were priest such as Melchizedek in the day, no Levitical priests yet, no temples, no Mosaic Law, no written scripture, perhaps some oral tradition (not mentioned), feasts and Sabbaths (?). From Cain and Abel we know that there would be some form of offerings. This is a glimpse into the religious life of Abraham at that time.
kjv@Genesis:15 @ @ RandyP comments: Abraham believes enough to be inventoried as righteous yet he asks for reassurance. How strong was his belief? We can expect the same. The Lord strengthens his faith by allowing him deeper into the future prophecy showing more of the grit and hardship his seed's seeds will face. Sometimes belief in what will be is fed by more of what will be, not necessarily some direct tangible evidence. But, then the Lord also lights and burns Abraham's offering right before him. It all began however with a certain measure of belief in the Lord Himself. That then extends into the assurance of what He is able and will do.
kjv@Genesis:16 @ @ RandyP comments: I think it is a part of all of us when considering God's promises to rationalize how God would be able to do that unless I do this (fill in the blank). Though we may start out strong in the trust, after delay, we begin to think that God is waiting for me to do this, or that He has left it up to me, or that He must have meant something other; well you can see how the purer form of trust dissolves. Like Sarah, we can create a lot of turmoil and anguish for ourselves. I don't see this as a peculiar fault of Sarah, it is more of a trait in all of us. This is not to say that there may not be something that we do need to do, it means we should continuously seek the Lord's direction and wait upon His answer before proceeding.
kjv@Genesis:18 @ @ RandyP comments: Perhaps our ears can't hear it but there is a cry to a city. Perhaps some cry more than others, but, cry none the less. There is justice and judgment and the effect of such. From that effect a noise calls out from the streets and alleys and market places to the heavens above. What does the cry sound like in your city? There are people within the city whom believe the Lord and it is woven in to them as righteousness. For the righteousness they believe certain in God they perform judgment and justice with an equal hand; standing the gap between the oppressed and the wicked. It is for these people few though they may be perhaps that a city is saved from outright ruin. There are also the men who please the Lord by engaging Him with petitions for the righteous. Though He will always do what is right, He loves to hear His people petition Him so.
kjv@Genesis:18 @ @ RandyP comments: Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Of course not. Is there anything that He will not do? Yes, sin. Did Abraham or Sarah ask this blessing of Him? Did they ask Him to spare a city for sake of the righteous? No and yes. There are times we can ask Him to do something for us that as long as it doesn't ask Him to sin and is in agreement with His further plan that He'll gladly do. There are things that we ask that are intended to bend His will, demote Him as servant to our whim and pleasure, things based out of fear or pride or foolishness or ignorance that He certainly will/can not be part of. There are times where His grace alone must be sufficient. There are times when He intends to do for us great things that we don't even need to ask.
kjv@Genesis:21 @ @ RandyP comments: I know that everything works according to God's purpose in the end here, but, I find it interesting that Sarah's poor decision of giving her servant Hagar to Abraham in the first place and then her poor (perhaps jealous/threatened/guilty) reaction afterwards is driving the story forward. The Lord needs to place a separation between the two lads (covenants) and uses this humanness as the vehicle. In a spiritual sense we need to keep the covenant of grace separated from our own efforts to force by our own hand the same covenant to happen. It may take the Lord working through some our humanness to get us to see this as well.
kjv@Matthew:4:1-11 @ @ RandyP comments: Tempted - as in tested, examined. Of - as in by, from. Was there a chance that Jesus would not pass the test? Think of this as you examining a mirror. Is their any chance that it will not pass the test of being a mirror? Not if it is a mirror. Can you entice the mirror to be something else? An orange? By examining the mirror, you are testing your understanding of what a mirror should be, evaluating by your understanding if this is indeed a mirror. Satan is testing his understanding of Jesus just as we would. Literally, does the text say that He was being examined by God? Or by the Devil?
kjv@Genesis:25:34 @ @ RandyP comments: We have a spiritual birth right similar to what is discussed in this passage. Any number of us at any number of times have sold our rights for mere morsels of common bread and drink thus in effect despising our birth right. What is the intellectual make up of this? Could it be our narrow perception of our Father's love and wealth? What this birthright means? Could it be our own appetites? Is it that we feel that in the long run we have no right or that our right is somehow ordained to be given another? Some would say in this case 'didn't God make it so?' to which I reply 'didn't God foresee?'. In Jesus we not only have the opportunity to be born again but, also to be born into an inheritance of saints. Where does this heavenly birthright stand with you today?
kjv@Genesis:27 @ @ RandyP comments: It amazes me how far some people have to go to pull off a deception. Wouldn't there have been a better way? Had Rebekah all along told Isaac the Lord's desire, had Rebekah this time confronted him soon as she heard, had Jacob petitioned his father to seek the Lord in this all important matter. Really, ask yourself, was the Lord's will ever in danger of being crossed up by the verbal blessings of Isaac? Why not then just trust, pray, fast if you have to, be honest and open and vocal, prove yourself worthy of a father's blessing.
kjv@Genesis:28 @ @ RandyP comments: It may seem that the Lord is talking and revealing things directly to these patriarchs every day. You think about it though in terms of a 100 to 120 year lifetime there are just a few notable occasions, and those moments set the course for the remainder of years. The Lord's direction seems to occur almost despite the decisions and reactions of the involved parties. These are good people no dout, don't get me wrong, but, they end up doing some odd even at times deceptive things. No wonder the outsiders are fearful. Is there someone you know that you are somewhat fearful of because they are a loose cannon, but, somehow they seem doubly blessed?
kjv@Genesis:30 @ @ RandyP comments: Some fun at the Jacob household huh? In the context of a single chapter I am sure our lives would sound pretty crazy as well. This home however? This is reality television material here! Seriously, life is what it is. God has to work in it and on it and through it and around it and somehow by the end make it work to His purposes. I am just glad it is Him that does it. I'm just saying!
kjv@Genesis:33 @ @ RandyP comments: Jacob had left the land previously in fear of Esau for his life. Now he returns cautiously by order of God. Esau seems surprisingly willing to accept him. The two jostle for gifting favor to each other. The Lord may want us sometimes to do something though it may be uncomfortable, though we may not feel the timing is right. Think if Esau had not been so cordial; would it still not be important for Jacob (us) to proceed forward anyway?
kjv@Genesis:35:1-4 @ @ RandyP comments: Jacob takes on the role of a proper spiritual father. He leads all of his children, as old as some may be, as a whole. He insists that they put away their strange gods, to be spiritually pure, to be circumspect in their dress and adornments. He became inclusive of them participating in the spiritual projects and worship that he himself was driven to accomplish. He set the tone and pace and they indeed followed along.
kjv@Genesis:36:1 @ @ RandyP comments: dict:easton Edom - some future background.
kjv@Genesis:36 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord had promised to make Esau a mighty people. He did; Edom. The history between these two brother states is as long and combative as any brother to brother family relationship. Edom would be asked to do something and they would simply refuse because it was Israel etc... The list here goes through several generations.
kjv@Genesis:37 @ @ RandyP comments: The harder we work against something at times, the quicker it comes to be. Did anyone stop to think that the dreams Joseph was dreaming might be from God? Did Jacob? If anyone did, their judgment was clouded by the image that they had of their brother/son. It is one thing to dislike a sibling but, to dismiss that God could work through them is another. Some brothers became uncomfortable with outright murder; that would have been a good place for them to check their intents, but to substitute murder with slavery and forgery not much different.
kjv@Genesis:42 @ @ RandyP comments: I have often puzzled over the allowance of Joseph to treat his brothers in this somewhat mean and deceitful manner. Jacob was a trickster in his day and now he is being tricked himself. Not to say that I would have reacted any better (probably worse) given the situation, but, wouldn't you like to hear him discuss his thought process now after the fact?
kjv@Genesis:43 @ @ RandyP comments: Others have suggested that Joseph is testing his brothers hearts to see where they stand. After all of these years would they still be of the heart that led to selling a brother into slavery and faking his death? Had they learned anything? Had they changed? We saw that there was remembrance of the event and suspicion that this current problem may be the pay back. We are seeing some effort today by them to do what is right even in the midsts of some oddities beyond their control.
kjv@Genesis:47 @ @ RandyP comments: We should be mindful as to just how serious famines can be. Within the first year the people of Egypt had sold Joseph their cattle and by the second year had sold all but the priest' land. This is a sanitized way of saying that they were absolutely desperate. The dust bowels of Great Depression are the closest thing we Americans have seen to this, not nearly as devastating but requiring a buy back program from the government for many as well, some had to walk away from everything.
kjv@Exodus:5:3 @ @ RandyP comments: The Hebrews are in somewhat of a predicament. When asked who God is as of yet they really don't have the experience of God to describe who He is or what He has done; most everything He has promised to them remains future tense. How would you convincingly describe God to another at this stage in your faith. Instead, Moses and Aaron appear to the ruler as rebel rousers leading their people to idleness and fantasy. This test is as much for the Hebrews sake as it is for Pharaoh.
kjv@Exodus:6:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Just as the people have little working field knowledge of Jehovah they have little knowledge of Moses. All that they know is that the ambition of Moses has made their bondage much more harsh. When we today read this we kind of know how the story is going to progress and we see the peoples hearts as immature and disbelieving. Stepping into their shoes though one can see that from their immediate vantage point that they are absolutely right. The key then for us to learn is that of vantage point. While something may appear to us to be a certainty in one direction, they actually could be opposite and with good reason; it is all a matter of vantage point.
kjv@Exodus:10:7 @ @ RandyP comments: I think of some of the people that I have come across whose lives are utterly destroyed at yet seemingly they are oblivious to it. The mind/heart has a shrewd way of justifying itself even in the midst of desolation. Men that have lost absolutely every thing to drugs and alcohol living drink to drink behind a dumpster thinking that they are somehow better off this way, that it is everyone else that has the problem. God's mighty works are not simply finding ways to show off but, illustrations of just how far the human heart will go to avoid/disobey Him and His call.
kjv@Exodus:10:20 @ @ RandyP comments: Hardness can be the mere thought of the Lord, what the Lord represents, what the Lord expects one to do. Once of this mind, anything said or done, even suggested, only goes to harden all the more. This Lord represents something other than what Pharaoh wants a lord to represent. His lords expect little from him other than to stand firm like their statues against any other. Reasoning and tangible proofs have little effect.
kjv@Exodus:13:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Think of what the perception of God was before these acts. He was mostly full of promises. He had accomplished some necessary judgments (flood, Sodom), talked now and then to direct an individual. This is the first though that He had revealed with a mighty hand a entire people; first He had used one people to show forth His power to all other people and thereby spread the prophesy of the coming Christ. Now He will be right on top of these chosen people for a time to show us His precise nature.
kjv@Exodus:14:20 @ @ RandyP comments: There are a number of secular (even some theological) scholars that have gone to great lengths to explain how the parting of the sea may have happened in natural terms. None of these go to explain the prerequisite element of the Angel of the Lord and Pillar of Fire keeping the Egyptians at distance from the Israelites as they prepared to cross the dry land. If you are going to explain one thing by natural terms, you must be able to explain them all.
kjv@Exodus:16:4 @ @ RandyP comments: Have you ever wondered if the dry spell that you are going through now is a time where God is seeing whether you will obey His command or not? There may be a section of time in advance where your expectations are not met when you begin to murmur. And maybe you think you are murmuring at somebody (a boss or a spouse a pastor) but, really you are murmuring of God. The problem may be in your expectations. Then there is a second phase where God in His wisdom has provided an answer for you. Again it may not be what you expected; instead it is an intermediary answer as in this case to see if you will perform the steps mandated in the frame of heart that is needed. Again the problem comes with one's expectation. When following the deliverance of God one must expect that our own expectations and His may differ grossly. His offering may not be the final answer all at once, it may be a series of processes that lead us to His ultimate answer. In our own personal wilderness experience, not only do we need learn to trust/depend on Him, to be thankful for anything when do or do not have, but, also to obey what He has impressed upon us to obey.
kjv@Exodus:16:35 @ @ RandyP comments: Not to get ahead of ourselves, but, it was forty years of Manna only because of their disobedience and lack of trust. Since the chapter began with God wanting to prove whether they would obey or no, we should know that almost immediately from outset onward the answer was no. For the manna obedience was somewhat locked in, it would spoil overnight and not grow on Sabbath. For the many other things God was doing the obedience was more voluntary. You have to remember also that these people were in a desert isolated from foreign influences and still had these disobedient tendencies. Is our nature any different? Where do we stand in our proving yet today?
kjv@Exodus:18 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord instructs us Himself one to one. He instructs through the counsel of others as well. Moses had taken too much upon himself. Not only was it bad for his health and endurance it was bad for the people he was trying to lead. Notice that the Lord did not tell him this, the Lord used his father in law. The Lord did not object. Perhaps Moses had been praying for an answer but was too busy/distracted to listen for it. Perhaps the Lord had told him but, he did not receive it for some reason. Maybe the Lord choose this method from the beginning to develop Moses in the areas of friendship and counsel that he needed developed himself. Regardless, the point for us to take is the importance of counsel, of grooming trust relationships, of allowing opportunity to receive, of being able to compare and line up with the known word of God and correctly decide. Not just any counsel mind you, not just the advice we want to hear, the right godly counsel.
kjv@Exodus:20:5 @ @ RandyP comments: The curse to third and fourth generations is tied specifically to the iniquity of utterly hating God as shown in the worship of other gods. I would think that this would be someone having already known of God and His mercy systematically choosing not retain God in their thoughts rebelliously worshiping the creature rather than the creator. We are not told what the curse will be here but, scripture suggests that the fathers are given over to that which is not convenient kjv@Romans:1 , their generations perhaps suffer after their consequences. Note that the threat of this was not enough to keep many from this; a testament to man's evil heart.
kjv@Matthew:12:38-45 @ @ RandyP comments: We tend today to see the gospel as pertaining to individuals and salvation, which in part it is. Jesus is shown here as also seeing the gospel in terms of groups and cities and generations. Just as a man can be inhabited/possessed/re-inhabited so can collective movements and generations. Individuals think and act and behave within groups. Unclean spirits think and act and behave in similar conjunction. In Jesus' time He saw a perfect storm of the two mounting against Him. Though He could be convincing to some individuals one on one at this time, it would not be until His death and resurrection that the true forces driving individuals within masses could be dealt with.
kjv@Matthew:14:1-12 @ @ RandyP comments: This passage almost reads backwards. At some point earlier the disciples of the Baptist told Jesus and His disciples the outcome of John's imprisonment - beheading. The crew is aware of the circumstances therein. What is happening now that Herod Antipas is associating Jesus with as a haunting of John. We do not know how this becomes known (perhaps one of Herod's servants) but, it does.
RecentComments @ kjv@James:2:21 @ RandyP comments: Justification can be thought of on two scales, one being made right with God overall (this is by faith and faith alone), the second as proof one to another of our pre-existing overall faith (the faith that I have can be proven to you by the works that this faith has executed on/through me). If faith has not produced demonstrable works, one must wonder if that having been made right with God actually exists. For, the "made right with God" faith will unalterably cause corresponding demonstrable proofs. The larger scale justification is all important first and foremost, each of us must be made right with God by the imputation of Jesus' own righteousness covering over us. This is the justification Paul largely speaks to us of. The smaller scale justification then (and only then) is inevitable should this first condition be met. This is the obvious point James here in chapter 2 furthers.
So many unbelievers today look at Christian faith as a dead thing. One response is that they (unbelievers) want that to be. The opposing response might be that perhaps on an observable scale it indeed is dead is if we (Christians) have not the works to counter their disbelief with. Dead in this inference is to mean unprovable or yet to have tangible effect, not necessarily that the faith in some smaller but saving form does not exist.
![[pBiblx2]](/img/menu.png)
![[pBiblx2]](/img/pbiblx2_logo3.png){kind=logo}