Genesis 50:1 - Exodus 2:10 ~ Matthew 16:13-17:9 ~ Psalm 21:1-13 ~ Proverbs 5:1-6
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Old Testament - Today is a big reading day! We finish up Genesis and begin Exodus! Genesis chapter 50 verses 19 & 20 stood out to me as Joseph spoke to his brothers: ""Don't be afraid of me. Am I God, to judge and punish you? As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil. He brought me to the high position I have today so I could save the lives of many people." Again, I am impressed with Joseph's character here. His brothers seemed to think that Joseph hadn't really forgiven them, and that he was waiting to get back at them after their father had passed away. But, I think we see here that Joseph had truly forgiven his brothers! It was water under the bridge. And not only had Joseph forgiven them, but he saw the power of how God turned something bad into something incredibly good. I wonder about this in our lives today - do we truly forgive other people like Joseph forgave his brothers? Or, do we maybe hold some piece of unforgiveness within us? Maybe we keep bringing up the wrong that somebody did to us? Maybe we do this to make them feel a bit guilty from time to time? Will we instead fully forgive and fully move forward?
One interesting side note in chapter 50 was the embalming of Jacob & Joseph. Embalming was an Egyptian custom - not a Hebrew custom. Some commentaries suggest that Jacob & Joseph were likely being respectful of the Egyptian customs of the day. The Egyptians believed in an afterlife - and believed that the embalming allowed the deceased to utilize their body in the afterlife. Below is an illustration from the 13th century "Psalter of St. Louis" of Jacob´s corpse being laid in the tomb by his twelve sons:
~Exodus~
Author: Moses
Date: 1420 or 1220 B.C.
Content: The book of Exodus deals with the significant facts surrounding Israel’s emergence as a nation. Moses’ great leadership is described as he accepted God’s call to return to Egypt in order to lead God’s people to freedom. God sent the ten devastating plagues upon Egypt because the Pharaoh refused to obey his command. The ceremony of Passover was established during the last plague and became a memorial of God’s deliverance for all time to Israel. The Israelites crossed the sea and arrived at Mt. Sinai where God gave the Ten Commandments and the plan for the tabernacle, and the covenant was renewed the nation.
Theme: The power of God over evil is clearly shown when God defeats the enemy of his people by delivering them from bondage, but God expects that we trust and obey him in return. Worship in the Tabernacle and adherence to the law were two aspects of Israel’s obedience. (Above commentary is from Tyndale Publishers “The One Year Bible Companion” pages 1-2) Terrific in-depth commentary on the book of Exodus can be found at bible.org at this link.
In Exodus chapter 1 verse 12 is awesome: "But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more quickly the Israelites multiplied!" It's amazing how when God wants people to flourish, they flourish! Even in the midst of oppression. This verse kind of reminds me of the flourishing of churches over the centuries and even today where the body of Christ is still often oppressed. It flourishes! Praise God for flourishing his people then - and now!
In Exodus chapter 2 we are first introduced to Moses, who is the author of this book of Exodus - along w/ the overall first 5 books of the Old Testament - also known as the Pentateuch or the Books of Law. A fun little Bible factoid for you in Exodus chapter 2 verse 6 is that this is the only mention anywhere in the Bible of a baby crying! :) "When the princess opened it, she saw the baby. The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one of the Hebrew children,” she said."
Bible.org's commentary on Genesis chapter 50 titled "The End of An Era" is at this link, and commentary on Exodus chapter 1 titled "Pharaoh’s Fears and Israel’s Faith" is at this link.
New Testament - Today we read about Peter’s confession of Christ in Matthew chapter 16. In verse 15 we hear Jesus ask: ““But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” And then in verse 16 Peter replies – “Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” I believe this is a question that is asked of each of us today as well. Who do you say that Jesus is? Is your answer the same answer as Peter’s? If not, will you pray to God about who Jesus truly is? Below is a fresco from 1481 by Pietro Perugino of "Christ Giving the Keys to Peter" from verse 19:
In verse 18 we read - "Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." Praise God for Jesus instituting the body of Christ, Jesus’ church! And all of the powers of hell will not conquer the body of Christ! Do you praise Jesus regularly for the church you attend? Do you pray for the ministry of your church regularly? Do you pray often for your pastors / ministers / priests? Do you pray for others that attend your church? Do you pray for those that will soon be coming to attend your church? I have to say - I absolutely love my church. I honestly cannot imagine what my life would be like without the church. I met first met Jesus thanks to the church about 6 and a half years ago. And Jesus changed my life forever. Thank God for the church! I realize that some of you may feel that some churches have some issues and so you don’t go to church at all at this time. However, I honestly do believe that we are called to be in community with others in a church – be it a big church, small church, house church, etc. - and that you really can find a great church if you search prayerfully. Trust me, they are out there! If you are not currently attending church - maybe because of bad experiences you had at another church in the past, will you pray about this with Jesus? Will you attend a different church again soon? I honestly believe it will bless you immensely to attend church again on a regular basis. Also, I am reminded of a classic line from Billy Graham – "If you ever find the perfect church, please do not join it. You’ll mess it up!" :) Indeed, there are no perfect people out there, and hence no perfect churches. But let us be the church anyway! The church may be a majestic mess, but it is Majestic indeed! And I do honestly believe that the body of Christ is the "hope of the world". Please be an active participant in this Hope.
Verses 24 - 26 are so powerful today: ""If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?" Wow... there is so much going on in these verses... I pray they speak to you powerfully as well? Do you want to follow Jesus? Will you put aside your selfish ambition? Will you shoulder your cross? Do you know what your cross is? Are you trying to "keep your life" in any area of your life? Or, will you give up all of your life - every area - to Jesus so that you will find true life? Is there anything that this world has to offer that is worth more than your soul?
Bible.org's commentary on today's readings in Matthew chapter 16 titled "Peter's Confession and Christ's Church" is at this link and commentary on chapter 17 titled "The Transfiguration" is at this link.
Psalms - Psalm 21 today follows up Psalm 20 from yesterday - yesterday's being a prayer for victory for the king as he goes out to battle - and today's being a psalm of praise for victories granted to the king. I like the credit given to God in verse 1: "How the king rejoices in your strength, O LORD! He shouts with joy because of your victory." The king is not rejoicing in his own strength. He is not claiming victory as his. He is giving credit to God! How about you in your life today? Do you give credit to God for the blessings and gifts he has given you? Do you shout for joy and rejoice simply because God is in your life?
Proverbs - Today we read in Proverbs chapter 5 verse 6: "For she does not care about the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn't even realize where it leads." For some reason this year, as we've been going through the One Year Bible, the idea of "paths" keeps jumping out at me over and over again. Every time we read about paths now in the Bible, it stands out to me. And here it does again. The idea of paths in the Bible seems to clearly indicate that there are good paths - straight paths - paths through the narrow gate - paths of life - that we can choose to take. Or, unfortunately, there are also crooked trails and we don’t realize where they lead. Or we can take our eyes off the path. Or we can stumble on the path. How about for you? What type of path are you on these days? Is it a straight path? Are you keeping your eyes straight ahead on the path and focused on the prize? Will you pray to Jesus regularly to keep you on the straight path? Will you allow God's Word, the Bible, be a lamp unto your feet and a light on the path of life that you walk each day?
Worship God: Based on our Matthew readings today, I was reminded of a childhood song that goes something like "Peter built the church on the rock of our faith, his banner over me is love!" Remember this song? Well, I found it on YouTube. The second is 9 minutes long, but I encourage you to watch it all the way through. And, let me encourage you to participate in this video. When he encourages everyone to stand up, please do! :) Have fun!
Is God's banner over you? Click here and get under God's banner of love!
Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture this week: "I have hidden your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11 NIV
Comments from You and Questions of the Day: In our Matthew readings today Jesus institutes the church. I'm curious what your thoughts are on the church today? And I'm not talking about any one denomination - I mean church as the overall "body of Christ" Christian churches worldwide. Big churches, small churches, house churches, cathedral churches. Do you personally go to church regularly? Why or why not? Have there been periods of your life where you have not gone to church regularly? Have these been good or not so good periods of your life? What would you say to someone now who might be reading this blog who does not go to church about church? How might you encourage someone to go to church? Why does it matter if they go to church or not? Also, what verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings? Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!
God bless,
Mike
Matthew 16
Peter's Confession of Christ
Three things:
18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,
1) Rock - In Aramaic the word for rock would have been the same. However, the Bible (NT) is written in Greek for a reason. The richness of the Greek language much of the time has more than one Greek word for our English word.
This is the case here. Peter's rock is a stone. The church's rock is a massive stone, large crag, just plain big. So what is Christ building His church on?
Eph 2:20
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
God's Household - believers - assembly - Church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. It is not the men themselves - but what they taught and proclaimed - God's Word.
2) and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Gates here in the Greek is the gates that keep people in. These are the prison gates of Hades, not hell. It does not say Gehenna. Hades is the place before the cross where everyone's soul went after death. Had a good side, a large seperation, and a bad side.
The prison gates of Hades will not be able to overcome it (the church). Why? because death was defeated at the cross, and the believers when they die will now go to heaven. Hades will not prevail over the church. Although wicked will still be there until Gehenna is created and they are cast into that different place.
3) I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[e] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will beloosed in heaven."
The keys are not only for Peter but also the apostles, and in Matthew 18:18 - the church.
What are the keys to the kingdom? They are the teachings of knowledge based on God's word.
Luke 11:52 "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."
Peter, the apostles and even the church will have the ability to teach correctly God's Word, which will allow people entry into heaaven.
"bound" thing is badly translated. Most scholars agree it is "shall have been bound in heaven" (perfect tense). Same for loose. Based on teaching of God's Word whatever is bound or loosed - Heaven is in agreement, because His will is being done on earth and in heaven. We have no authority it is all based on the acceptance or rejection of God's Word.
Posted by: John A. | January 24, 2009 at 10:00 PM
Matthew 17
Transfiguration
Unfortunately there is a man made chapter break here between 16 and 17. There is no such break in Mark 9 and Luke 9.
In Matthew 16:27 it says Son of man will come in His glory. In 16:28 it says some here will not die till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom. Kingdom can also be translated "royal power".
That is exactly what happened when the three apostles saw Christ transfigured. They saw Christ in His glory and royal power. Why three apostles - it takes two to three witnesses in Jewish law to verify an incident.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
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- Don't be hard on Peter here. It was the feast of tabernacles, and offering to build three shelters/tents was not that crazy an idea.
- Moses, Elijah, Jesus. Representing the Law, the Prophets, and the New Covenant?????? Perhaps.
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Pre-Trib People
If you hold the PRe-Trib view it is also symbolic.
- Moses - representing the dead believers.
- Elijah - who was carried up alive to be with God representing the people raptured.
- Apostles - representing the believers on earth after the rapture.
- Christ - the vehicle of it all in His Glory.
Posted by: John A. | January 24, 2009 at 10:16 PM
My thoughts on Matthew 17:1-8
Whenever I read about the transfiguration in Matthew, Mark, or Luke, it brings me such a feeling of joy and comfort. I think about how Peter, James and John must have felt when they saw Jesus in all His glory and how each of us will feel when we enter the Kingdom and see Jesus in all His glory. How marvelous it will be to look upon my resurrected and crowned Savior on His throne!
I think what it must have been like for Peter, James and John to not only see Moses and Elijah in their glorified human form but to recognize and know them as well and how we will do the same. I can imagine walking down the street in the Kingdom and passing one of the great leaders or prophets of the Old Testament or one of the apostles in the New Testament and to see, recognize, and know them. This also says to me that if we recognize them then we will also recognize those saints that have played a part in our lives. All of our loved ones that centered their lives on Jesus Christ and have passed on before us will be in the Kingdom when we arrive and we will see them again and recognize them as well. We will even be able to talk with them again as Jesus talked with Moses and Elijah. What a joyous occasion it will be when we enter the Kingdom!
I feel that the transfiguration was given to us for two purposes. First to assure us that Jesus Christ is the one and only true Messiah and secondly to assure us all saints are or will be with Christ whether they be the saints or old or the saints of today and upon my passing I shall join them in the Kingdom. Praise the Lord!
God Bless!
Pat
Posted by: Patsy Ray | January 25, 2009 at 05:26 AM
Yes, i do agree that the church is a beautiful 'thing' that God started, and yet why is it that 'the local church' for many people has become such a source of pain on many levels. Perhaps people expect too much of 'their church' without putting much back into it. If we are members of a family we all have responsibilities and 'chores' as it were, but there are also 'perks' that come from being in right relationship with each other.
I do find it puzzling that Jesus spoke only twice about 'church' throughout the 4 gospels, but spoke abundantly of the kingdom of God/heaven. What's up with that? Perhaps the local church is the outpost of the kingdom of God, or perhaps the local church is one of many beautiful expressions of the kingdom of God on earth. MY struggle is when we say that the only way God shows himself is ONLY through the local church, and put everyone else in the 'para category.' as if all our multiplicity of denominational preferences were actually what Jesus had in mind. Let's be careful not to insist on a 'church form' as being sanctioned by God when we are really emphasizing our own preference.
having said that, i believe we must be associated with a local community of believers whether you find them in a cathedral, a 'box or mega church', house church, campus group. God has many expressions of His Spirit at work in believers as 1 corinthians 12 teaches us.
Posted by: Luch | January 25, 2009 at 05:57 AM
Luch,
Interesting thoughts on the church--I share many of your concerns regarding the fragmentation of the body of Christ through denominationalism. Especially in light of Christ's prayer in John 17, I feel we are missing the mark:
"I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in Me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as You and I are one—as You are in Me, Father, and I am in You. And may they be in Us so that the world will believe You sent Me.
I have given them the glory You gave Me, so they may be one as We are one.
I am in them and You are in Me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that You sent Me and that You love them as much as You love Me. -John 17: 20-23
I'm reading a book called "Reimagining Church" by Frank Viola right now. It's given me much food for thought regarding the institutional church. Philip Yancey has also written a book about his experiences and thoughts on the Church. I love His church, the community of believers across the world and I love the local church, though I recognize it's been a source of many ills along with blessings. Mankind is good at making a muck of things.
Truthfully, I don't feel like I've come to the bottom of the matter in my heart yet. Scripturally, I believe it's clear that that we need to be in a community of other Christian believers...the NT "body" metaphor pretty much establishes that in my mind. I DO believe that His body can take many forms and that authenticity has got to be one of its hallmarks, no matter what shape it takes. I am leary of authority driven individuals within the church, because Christ was too.
I suspect we do expect too much from the church and too little from ourselves. In our entertainment driven society, I worry that we have become spectators, back seat drivers, when we need to be out walking through His world in ways that require sacrifice of self.
Posted by: Elizabeth | January 25, 2009 at 08:05 AM
Praise Be to God , I am just making a comment , pertaining to the picture you posted of the body of Christ, I notice there is not one black person in this picture , I have just started this one year Bible Blog, But I must admit I am so tired of people confessing to be Christians as long as it fits in their little imaginary minds of what christianity is. So many people will be left behind and I pray I am not one of them. God is a sprite there is no color. Please understand this. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other , but since you posted this picture at least ,post one that does include all of the imaginary colors. Be Bless in the mind.
Posted by: Lillie Brown | January 26, 2009 at 06:05 PM