April 22nd readings

~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
Joshua 24:1-33 ~ Luke 21:1-28
Psalm 89:38-52 ~ Proverbs 13:20-23

Old Testament - Today we finish up the book of Joshua!  What a book.  I have definitely learned much from this book this year.  And today's readings are no exception.  Chapter 24 is a wonderful closing to this book where the Israelites renew their covenant with God.  Verses 25 through 27 are awesome - "So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day at Shechem, committing them to a permanent and binding contract between themselves and the LORD. Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. As a reminder of their agreement, he took a huge stone and rolled it beneath the oak tree beside the Tabernacle of the LORD.  Joshua said to all the people, "This stone has heard everything the LORD said to us. It will be a witness to testify against you if you go back on your word to God."

It's great to read verse 32 and realize that Joseph's wishes from 200 years earlier of being buried in the Promised Land came to fruition!  It is amazing to realize the Israelites carried Joseph's bones with them throughout the 40 years in the desert to fulfill this wish -  "The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought along with them when they left Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the parcel of ground Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor for one hundred pieces of silver.  This land was located in the territory allotted to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph."

New Testament - Bible.org's commentary on our Luke chapter 21 readings today titled "Jerusalem in the Last Days" is at this link.

Psalms - Psalm 89 verse 48 is something important to keep in mind as I think it does help us think about how we are really living our short earthly lives - "No one can live forever; all will die.  No one can escape the power of the grave."  Knowing this, how are you living your life?  Are you living your life with love?  Are you loving God and loving other people with all that you are?  Are you living your life intentionally?  Are you living your life as God would want you to live your life?  Anne Lamott (Traveling Mercies author) wrote a book called "All New People", which I have not read.  However, I heard her speak live this past year and basically she stated - "Just keep in mind that we're not going to live forever.  100 years from now on this planet?  It will be all new people."  That is an interesting thing to keep in mind...  100 years from now...  all new people.  Hopefully this is a fact that encourages each of us not to waste our precious time here on things that are not of God!  No one escapes the grave.  Our condition is terminal.  (But of course our condition can be eternal through faith in Jesus!)

Proverbs - Wow. Today in Proverbs chapter 13 verse 20 we read – “He who walks with the wise grows wise.” There is so much wisdom in this verse. Basically, you can boil this down to “choose your friends with care” – but I think there is more going on here. This life we each live really is so short. And there are so many people in our lives that we can choose to spend our time with. And I think it would be very wise on our part to attempt to spend quality time with quality people. Wise people. Otherwise, we can get swept up in a myriad of pop-cultural distractions and cares. And who we choose to hang around with a lot is who we too shall become. Don’t get me wrong – there are clearly times that we are called to minister or serve or love or spend time with people that may not appear “wise” – at first glance. I think if you truly are ministering or serving or loving someone who is down and out, you may be surprised how wise a down and out person can be – sometimes I think they can be closer to God in some ways. So – I’m just saying don’t insulate yourself with only spending time with people who appear worldly & wise. :) Wisdom and wise people truly can be found in the most unlikely of places. Last point I’ll make on this verse. When I read this verse – “He who walks with the wise grows wise” – it makes me think of how important it is for each of us to be attending a church each and every week. The church is the body of Christ. The church is truly “wise.” And if we ourselves are not walking with other believers in the body of Christ by investing in a church on a weekly basis, then I think we are at risk of getting swept up in the pop-cultural cares of this fleeting world. Church is wise. Attending church on a weekly basis is wise. I believe attending church on a weekly basis will make you wise. Are you walking with the wise? Will you walk with the wise?

What verses or insights jumped out for you in today's readings?  Please post up in the Comments section below!

Grace,
Mike

Comments

[Vance Brown]

I completely and heartily agree with this statement:

"And if we ourselves are not walking with other believers in the body of Christ by investing in a church on a weekly basis, then...we are at risk of getting swept up in the pop-cultural cares of this fleeting world. Church is wise."

Of course, we are the church, the Body of Christ. The church is not perfect in behavior. But, thank God, that we are what we are by the GRACE of God!

Those who are truly the church seek to live the way that the Father through Joshua calls us to live: in regular, ongoing surrender

Joshua 24 (NKJV)
13
I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’
14
“Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! 15
And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

NOTE:
I note verse 13: "I have given you a land for which you did not labor..."

This reminds me of another inheritance, which the Father sovereignly made to include another verse 13:

Colossians 1 (NKJV)
12
giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
13
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

OH... that I would always see the inheritance I ALREADY HAVE IN CHRIST. How could one possibly turn from Christ and not surrender to the Lord Jesus once they see the true wealth of spiritual riches that Jesus paid for and bestowed on those who trust Him?

I Corinthians 2 (Amplified)
12
Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to] the world, but the [Holy] Spirit Who is from God, [given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God.

~~~

Joshua 24 (NKJV)
32
The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem...

NOTE:
There is a historical reality in confirming God's covenant.

The so called "Gospel of Judas" got me thinking about the importance of the
of the dual reality of the Lord Jesus: the historical reality and the spiritual reality.

I found an interesting news article on this Christian news website: www.agapepress.org/

The name of the article is, "The Gospel of Judas: A Betrayal of the Truth" Below is a small quote from the article.

"The Gospel of Judas tells an entirely different story than the one recorded in the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In this writing, Judas is the hero and not the betrayer of Christ. Instead, he is depicted as Christ's best friend -- the only one who really understands Jesus -- the one who turns Jesus over to the authorities for crucifixion at His behest -- helping Him shed his fleshly body and return to the spirit world."

"The teachings of The Gospel of Judas are Gnostic in origin. The Gnostics were a sect that believed only a select group of people was privy to a secret knowledge. THE MATERIAL WORLD TO THEM WAS A TRAP -- SOMETHING FROM WHICH TO ESCAPE TO ENTER INTO THE SPIRIT WORLD."

"As Hanson notes, the teachings of the 'Cainite Gnostics,' the group responsible for the Gospel of Judas, were characteristic for 'rehabilitating disgraced biblical figures, including Cain, the Sodomites, and Judas.'"

"Although Gnostics appeared to be Christian, there is nothing about their teachings that resembled what the apostles actually taught and passed down to the Church."

Note this key quote from the article: "THE MATERIAL WORLD TO [the Gnostics] WAS A TRAP -- SOMETHING FROM WHICH TO ESCAPE TO ENTER INTO THE SPIRIT WORLD."

Since they saw physical matter as evil, in their view Jesus could not possibly have been divine and also wanted a human body.

Yet, God's covenant has always had a historical reality. The physical bones of Joseph and the physical and historical grave site of those bones was a place where people could go and see evidence that could not be denied that God keeps His promises.

Consider how important the physical body of the Lord Jesus is to the NT.

In particular, note that the books of Colossians and I John were written specifically against the error and heresy of gnosticism.

Colossians 1 (NKJV)
21
AND YOU, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet NOW HE HAS RECONCILED
22
IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH THROUGH DEATH, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—

I John 4 (NKJV)
2
By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come IN THE FLESH is of God,
3
and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come IN THE FLESH is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

~~~
Also consider this from Hebrews:

Hebrews 10 (NKJV)
19
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20
by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, THROUGH THE VEIL, THAT IS, HIS FLESH,...

22
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,...
23
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works

FINAL NOTE:
If Jesus were not truly human, then He could not be our equal substitute or equal representative. Jesus had to be human because we are humans. Humans (Adam and Eve) allowed themselves to be
deceived through temptation, and only a human could later overcome the enemy by defeating temptation on behalf of humanity.

JESUS IS FULLY GOD AND FULLY MAN. Anything less is less than what man needs and less that what God requires.

Also, Jesus was not simply a real human who was temporarily "endued" with the "divine" or the "Spirit" which then later left him.

No...
Jesus and the Father are one. He was crucified precisely because He claimed to be God.

Vance

[Mark H]

Mike, I and others have asked before if you can arrange an RSS Feed for the comments so we can easily keep-in with discussions. But I gather it ain't easy with Typepad.

But today I found this:

http://www.mailbucket.org/

e.g. If you could tell Typepad to email comments to [email protected] then we could pick-up a Feed at mailbucket.org/oneyearbibleblog.xml (and you could publish the Feed URL on the site).

Does Typepad support emailing of comments? It would be great if you could set this up.

TIA

[Ramona]

Joshua 24:1-33

Every year that I have gone on this journey, I am always amazed at the things that stand out to me. Although I have gone on a read-thorough-the-Bible-journey over thirty times, I am amazed at the things that I constantly uncover. Things that were there all the time, things that on my first journey I either chose not to see or could not see things that I have read before but now am just discovering. God’s Word is ever pregnant birthing new thoughts and new perspectives.

Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt in olden times beyond the Euphrates River, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates River and led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his offspring. I gave him Isaac, (Joshua 24:2-3 AMP).

In the midst of my depravity, God called me out from those who worshiped gods that were not God, just like He did Abraham. Called out from the midst of depraved influences, God incubated Abraham in the comfort of His womb. The womb He had provided, Cannon, to give birth to His people, His Word by way of the Law, His Words through the Prophets, and finally, His Word, Jesus Christ. Then, as stated in the fourth verse of this chapter, they were sent down to Egypt, “And I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau. And I gave to Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.” (Joshua 24:4 AMP)

For some strange reason I have gotten stuck with and am drawn to the history of mathematics. I am currently reading a book called, Mathematics for the Million: How to Master the Magic of Numbers by Lancelot Hogben. This is my second book on numbers having read Isaac Asimov’s humorous book, The Realm of Numbers. I’m not sure the purpose of my sudden fascination with books like this, but I have learned that besides working through problems that presented themselves in the ancient world, the learned priests elevated the art of numbers, specifically Geometry to a priestly endeavor. All the work of the Babylonians and the Egyptians laid the foundation for every current young scholar’s (grades 1 through 12, and up) nightmare or dream in the handling of numbers; they also laid down the groundwork for the building of Temples, pyramids, etc.

Abraham and his descendents, having no use for numbers, other than counting his sheep, cattle and other such stuff, was a nomad. But down in Egypt where geometry (geo – earth; metry – measuring—where we get the word meter) would be used to calculate the “plumb” line needed to create and measure “right” angles to successfully build its temples, Israel would get math lessons needed to build up the country God had Promised her, in Egypt. I may be called far from my Promise to learn something, you may be called into situations that may become “slavery” for God’s purpose to build His Kingdom upon the earth.

And He made from one [common origin, one source, one blood] all nations of men to settle on the face of the earth, having definitely determined [their] allotted periods of time and the fixed boundaries of their habitation (their settlements, lands, and abodes), So that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him, although He is not far from each one of us.
(Acts 17:26-27 AMP)

Grace and peace,
Ramona

[luciano Del Monte]

With reference to the brevity of life, and that 100 years from now there will be a whole bunch of brand new people does sure put life in perspective.

Not sure who said it, but it bears repeating, "Only one life it will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last."

[John]

joshua 24

We have come full circle. Shechem was the place where Jacob challenged his followers regarding foreign gods. Joshua is making his speech at the same place. Possibly the stone was set up near the place Jacob buried the forign gods.

Gen 35:2-4
"So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone." So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem." NIV

Eleazar's death set free all those who had fleed to "cities of refuge" and declared innocent by the congregation.

Joshua 20:6
"He is to stay in that city until he has stood trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest who is serving at that time. Then he may go back to his own home in the town from which he fled."

Phinehas vs.33
I am not sure of this, but were not the Levites, in general, given cities with some small pastureland outside each city. How is it Phinehas is alloted the city (or possibly just a word for "hill")?

[Phinehas was the one who took the javelin and slew the "couple at Peor, thus stopping the Lord's wrath.]