November 6, 2012

“Not One Stone Will Be Left Upon Another” (11/6)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Mark 13.

“As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down’” (Mark 13:1-2).

It is common for man to be impressed with the beauty and greatness of physical, man-made structures. This was the reason for this disciple’s remark on this occasion. As they left the temple, the disciple noted the impressive buildings that surrounded them. There was nothing necessarily wrong with this. But Jesus wanted to be sure that His disciples kept the proper perspective about such things.
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September 29, 2012

God’s Laws Apply to All (9/29)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Nehemiah 11-13; Psalm 126.

“On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. So when they heard the law, they excluded all foreigners from Israel” (Nehemiah 13:1-3).

This instruction regarding the Ammonites and Moabites is found in Deuteronomy 23:3-5. When the people learned that “none of their descendants…shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 23:3), they excluded them from being able to enter the assembly.

Unfortunately, Eliashib the priest apparently believed that he and his relatives were exempt from this command.
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September 18, 2012

Undocumented Priests (9/18)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Ezra 1-3.

We hear people today talk about “undocumented immigrants.” This term refers to immigrants who have come into this country but do not have the necessary papers (documentation) showing that they can legally be here. This has led to a great political debate about what to do with these “undocumented immigrants” – deport them, grant them amnesty, ignore their lack of documentation, etc.

When the Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, they had to deal with another “undocumented” group. Certain priests did not have the appropriate documentation showing their ancestry and, therefore, could not prove that they had a lawful place in the priesthood. Notice what was done with these undocumented priests:

“Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name. These searched among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood. The governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim” (Ezra 2:61-63).

Notice a few points about the undocumented priests.
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September 3, 2012

"Her Priests Have Done Violence to My Law" (9/3)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Ezekiel 22-23.

When God condemned Israel for their sins, there was plenty of blame to go around. The following passage mentions the priests and why they shared responsibility for the unfaithfulness of the people.

“Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them” (Ezekiel 22:26).

The Lord told Ezekiel that the priests had “done violence” to the Law. Similarly, there are preachers and teachers today who do violence to the law of God. Notice how this happens:
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August 15, 2012

A New Covenant (8/15)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Jeremiah 30-31.

Many Jewish Christians in the first century had a hard time giving up the Old Law in favor of wholehearted devotion to the gospel of Christ. Similarly, there are some Christians today who desire to hold onto parts of the Old Law that have not been carried over into the New Testament. Yet the following prophecy from Jeremiah makes it clear that a change was coming in which the Old Law/covenant would be taken out of the way.

“‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the first covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares the Lord. ‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more’ “(Jeremiah 31:31-34).

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June 14, 2011

Do Not Go Back to the Old Law

Many professed Christians try to go back to the old law to determine what God requires of them today or to justify practices for which they can find no authority in the New Testament. Despite the fact that the Old Testament contains prophecy telling of a “new covenant” (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and the New Testament tells us the old law was “nailed…to the cross” (Colossians 2:14), many will blur the lines between the two laws; but this is dangerous. Let us notice a few reasons why.
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September 6, 2010

A New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31-32

Some have a misunderstanding about the nature of God’s covenant with us today. Has there been one everlasting covenant throughout the history of mankind? Or is the covenant currently in force today different from the one we read about in the Old Testament? If we consider one of the prophecies from Jeremiah, we will get a clearer picture of the nature of the new covenant which is currently in effect.
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