Devotion 3.21/122: Romans 3:22b-23: Short

Read Romans 3

Romans 3:22b-23: There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I read a story by John Phillips:

     ‘Paul describes sin as a coming short of the divine standard.

Two men went to the recruiting office in London to join the guards regiment. The standard height for a guardsman was a minimum of six feet. One man was taller than the other, but when they were measured officially both were disqualified. The shorter of the two measured only five feet seven inches and was far too short; his companion measured five feet eleven and a half inches and, stretch to his utmost, as he did, he could not make it any more. Nor did his pleas avail. It mattered nothing that his father was a guardsman, that he promised to be a good soldier, that he had already memorized the drills and knew the army regulations by heart. He was short of the standard.

            Yes, he is taller than his friend (just like some people may seem holier than the rest of us) but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that he is taller, he still isn’t tall enough and there is nothing he can do about that. There is nothing he can do to grow any bigger. Thus he failed to obtain his goal. Likewise, it doesn’t matter if we are Jew or Gentile, male or female, employer or employee, a missionary, a relatively good person, or what have you… for we have all sinned and thus fall short.

We know that “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22b-23) and we also know that we “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). This is good news. Like so much in this world, it is not ‘what you know’ but it is ‘who you know’. Now to some this sounds unfair but when you take into account that no one knows enough to actually pass the test and merit salvation, then we really do appreciate this grace.

Now God loves the world so much that He did send His only begotten son so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. He sent His son into the world to save the world not to condemn the world (John 3:16-17) and since He did that at such a great personal expense, let us please accept that gift today and let us not be ashamed of this good news (Romans 1:16-17), let us let all our friends and family know that the Lord our God loves us all. He has purchased this special gift of salvation for every one of us and all we have to do is not decline it; so please let us each accept that love present, that gift of eternal life today.As we accept this gift, our lives will never be the same again.                                      

Devotion 3.12/114: Ecclesiastes 9:11: Mandolins

Presented to River Street Cafe, 20 November 2017

Read Ecclesiastes 9:11

Jethro Tull won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental, beating the favourite Metallica. The award was controversial because most people rightfully do not consider Jethro Tull hard rock, much less heavy metal. On the advice of their manager, who told them they had no chance of winning, no one from the band even attended the award ceremony. Their front man pays the flute and their band’s logo is a silouhette of Ian Anderson playing the flute.

When asked about the controversy Ian Anderson quipped, "Well, we do sometimes play our mandolins very loudly." And their label, Chrysalis, responsed to the criticism by taking out an advertisement in a British music periodical with a picture of a flute lying in a pile of iron re-bar and the line, "the flute is a heavy metal instrument."

In 1992, when Metallica finally won the Grammy in the category, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich joked, "First thing we're going to do is thank Jethro Tull for not putting out an album this year"

Ecclesiates 9:11:

I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift

or the battle to the strong,

nor does food come to the wise

or wealth to the brilliant

or favor to the learned;

but time and chance happen to them all.

This is grace. It is our job to enjoy our labour under the sun, as Ecclesiastes repeatedly reminds us throughout. We must work hard; we should enjoy our work for we must remember that at the end of the day, everything good does not directly correspond to our effort, influence or anything else. Our blessings are due to the grace of God alone.

When have you experienced the grace of God recently?

  

Daniel 1-5: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.

Presented to The Warehouse Mission and Corps 614 Regent Park of The Salvation Army, 26 February 2017 by Captain Michael Ramsay

  

I have a challenge for us today: I will say a famous quote and you will tell me whether it is from the Bible or somewhere else. Bonus marks if you can tell me where else it is from or the scripture reference as the case may be. Bible or Not Bible?

·        An eye for an eye (Matthew 5:38)

·        3 strikes you’re out (baseball)

·        Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s (Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17, Luke 20:25)

·        Turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39, Luke 6:29)

·        The shoe/boot is on the other foot (19^th Century)

·        Beware of the Ides of March (Julius Caesar by Shakespeare)

·        May the Force be with you (Star Wars)

·        The writing is on the wall (Daniel 5)

Today we are chatting about, ‘the writing on the wall’? We know from where in the Bible that quote comes; do we know to what it is referring? It comes from the book of Daniel (Chapter 5). Immediately prior to the destruction of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire, a mysterious hand writes these words on the wall that they can read but the phrase, as such, is one no one can understand. The words themselves may have been common enough but no one knew what they meant written as they were.[1] The words spoke to the fact that their empire about to end. In very short order the Persians would attack and conquer Babylon. The expression, ‘the writing on the wall’ thus refers to the warning signs of a calamity that will strike (or any impending event).

Daniel is a very interesting book. Chapters 1-4 of the Book of Daniel deal with King Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans; what do we know about King Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans?[2]

• Their Royal City was Babylon
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the 7 wonders of the world; Nebuchadnezzar had them built for his wife who was homesick
• Nebuchadnezzar and the Chadleans (or Neo-Babylonians) were instruments for the destruction of Solomon’s Temple (This was the first temple; later there would be 2 more temples in Jerusalem – Zerubbabel’s and Herod's – and one more in Israel/Samaria that was ironically destroyed by Jewish nationalists.)[3]
• Nebuchadnezzar was a military conqueror who was involved in the final conquest of Judah
• They deported the Jews (were used to initiate the exile)
• Nebuchadnezzar is important in Biblical history, he is mentioned by Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel here in the Bible

You’d think with all of this he would be considered a ‘bad guy’ in the Bible but that is not the focus of the story of Nebuchadnezzar here. Quite the contrary. Chapters 1-4 of Daniel read like a story of true concern or even a love story for Nebuchadnezzar, embedded in HB which itself can be read as a love story between God and Israel. The Bible as a whole can be read as a love story between God and humanity and/or even a love story between God and all of creation. Chapters 1-4 even show how much God loves the Chaldeans, the Neo-Babylonians, who destroyed the Temple, razed Jerusalem, conquered Judah, and deported the Jews. The Bible’s whole love story between God and humanity – even the Chaldeans – could probably even be subtitled  with this warning of ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin'. ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin' was what was written on the wall. It was the warning that God gave to Babylon on the eve of her destruction. Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.

About God's warnings even earlier in the Bible: Thousands of years prior to Nebuchadnezzar, according to the book of Genesis, do you remember Abram and the territorial blessing God gave him? God promised Abram that his descendants would inherit the Promised Land because, ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin', the writing was on the wall for the Amorites who at that time lived in the land. God was going to remove them. God, however, would leave the Amorites there presumably until their last possible opportunity had passed (Genesis 15:15).[4] But even so, ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin', even then, the writing was on the wall.

Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin: Do you remember the Exodus? Do you remember the reason God said he sent the plagues? The Bible says, He said he did it, among other reasons, for Pharaoh’s benefit. He did it so that Pharaoh might know that the LORD is God (Exodus 8:10; cf.14:4,18). Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin: The plagues served as the writing on the wall for Pharaoh: Israel was about to leave Egypt for that Promised Land from which He was about to remove from the Amorites.

The LORD used the Minor and the Major Prophets - and even the Pentateuch (cf. Leviticus 25:23) - to provide the warnings, ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin', the writing on the wall for Israel that she, herself, in turn was going to be displaced from the Promised Land just as the Amorites before them unless they heeded the warning.[5]  They did not (cf. 2 Chronicles 36:20-21).[6] The LORD then used Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, who are mentioned in our text today, to remove them from the land.

Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin: are there times when the writing has been on the wall in our own world and possibly we didn’t see something that we really should have seen coming.

The Trump presidency might be one example on an international scale. Many  were surprised by that camp’s election but the writing was on the wall. There are a lot of disgruntled, marginalized Americans who were looking to speak out loud enough for the world to hear them. One party had been in the White House for eight years and there were many people fed up with the establishment - they've had the same group of people, from only two extremely similar parties ruling that country since their civil war. Fear, racism and prejudice have always run deep in the United States. We remember the Communist witch-hunts; lynchings; and that their congress, senate committees and Supreme Court upheld for a long time the fact that when Jefferson said all men were created equal, he didn’t mean people of colour.[7] The media, intentionally or not, flamed that always present prejudice significantly in their recent electoral cycle. We may have been surprised by Trump’s election -or the attention it is getting or the way it came about- but, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, whether you like it or not, the writing was on the wall.

The same with Br-Exit. The world was surprised when the UK voted to leave the EU but there was the same writing upon the wall there.

Or going back a few years now: the second Iraq War. This was not a surprise to anyone I think. As soon as George W Bush was elected, the writing on the wall, I think was there for all of us to read that he was going to complete the US re-conquest of Iraq.

In our own lives people - friends, relatives, or even ourselves have run into health problems when we refused to follow the doctor’s advice. Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin: When the doctors, like Daniel, read the writing on the wall during our check-ups, we shouldn’t be surprised if our health fails if we don't listen to them. I have seen this particularly with friends with diabetes or heart conditions. I have seen heart attacks and amputations follow because friends simply don't follow the doctor's advice. Even though it is plain to see they just don’t heed it: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin

And tragically, sometimes we miss the writing on the wall when our friends, loved ones, or we ourselves fall back into addiction. ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin’, the warnings are often there but for whatever reason we miss them, ignore them, or don't know what to do with them.

The same can be said for the tragedy of many broken marriages and other relationships in our communities today.

The same can be said for students who earn a failing grade. Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin: the writing is usually written on the wall well before the ’F’ written on the report card.

The same can be said before the police show up at a domestic dispute or before your bosses’ boss shows up to take your keys.

Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin: Many times God himself writes the warnings into our lives but – as plain as they may be to see – like the Chaldeans of Daniel 5, we don’t understand it.

There is much more to these words we have been repeating - Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin - though than just this. Their meaning can be narrowed even further than we have been using it. They can mean more than just 'the writing on the wall': these actual words can be used as more of 'fait accompli'. Here is a more precise textual interpretation, what these words themselves actually mean:

• Mene, means 'numbered', 'counted out', or 'measured' but can also be interpreted as a unit of money
• Tekel, similar to 'sheckle', literally means 'weighed' but can also be interpreted as a unit of money
• Peres, means 'to divide' and the plural here written, ' Pharsin' can refer to a division of money.

Just as we are coming up on tax time and Dean and Iris are making sure that everyone has their year-end tax receipts, these are financial words plastered on the wall in the text here: Numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided. This image would be like a major corporation in today's world being audited and the government who, upon looking at their books, finds that the balance sheet doesn't match up and something really isn't right, and so orders the company to be broken up and its parts sold.

Daniel 5:26-28 “Here is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peras: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

This is more than just a simple warning; this is a reminder of all that has occurred in the first four chapters of Daniel and all that the Lord has done to provide for the salvation of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans. Chapter 1, after using the king to conquer Judah, God sends top advisors to Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, who then are set apart as holy. Chapter 2, God through Daniel reveals and then interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream that He had given him. Chapter 3, God shows Nebuchadnezzar through Shadrack, Meshack, Abendego, and the fiery furnace that indeed God is the only person or thing worthy of worship in the whole world and then in Chapter 4, as Nebuchadnezzar becomes so full of himself to believe that what has been accomplished through him was actually accomplished by him, the Lord still extends him the grace, the mercy, and the opportunity to be humble, submit to the Lord and experience forgiveness and salvation. Even if his heirs here decline it, just like the heirs of Israel and Judah, after so much grace and forgiveness were removed from the Promised Land; it certainly does appear that the king may have experienced both that salvation and even eternal salvation.

There is hope here and it is a good hope and it is not a new hope. There is hope for us. The writings in the Bible and in our lives are an encouragement from the Lord to turn and return to Him. God loves you even as much as he loves Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel, the Chaldeans, the Israelites, and the Judeans. If we are living outside of his salvation in some way it is not 'fait accompli'. Just like he gave the the others opportunity and opportunity and opportunity to avail themselves of salvation and plenty of warnings before ‘the die was cast’ that salvation was available, so too with us today. If there is any way that we have been weighed and found wanting, I invite us to bring that to the Lord; it is not too late. If we are here today, it is not too late to read the writing God has written on the wall of our lives, to read it, heed it, and live out that glorious salvation here, now, and forever. All we need to do is open our eyes, see the the Lord is doing and accept His Salvation.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] cf. G. Coleman Luck, Daniel, Everyman's Bible Commentary. (Chicago, Ill: Moody Press, 1958),70., Gleason L. Archer, Jr., The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Daniel/Exposition of Daniel/V. Belshazzar's Feast (5:1-31)/D. Daniel's Interpretation (5:17-28), Book Version: 4.0.2

[2] Cf. Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1935), 218-225.

[3] Gail R. O’Day, The Gospel of John, The New Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 9, ed Leander E. Keck, et. al. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995),563. Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, John 4:1-26,39-42: Good News for Samaria and the World!, (Swift Current, SK: Sheepspeak.com, 19 April 2015), on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2015/04/john-41-2639-42-samaritan.html

[4] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ''When God is Bound", Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 52, December 2007 – January 2008, p.5-10. On-line:

http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_052.pdf

[5] Captain Michael Ramsay, "A Holy Environment", Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 72 , April – May 2011, p.38-39. On-line: http://www.armybarmy.com/JAC/article8-72.html

[6] Cf. NT Wright, The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the meaning of Jesus' Crucifixion,  (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2016),118-119 about the restoration of the Kingdom.

[7] Cf. Jefferson Davies, The Rise of the Confederate Government, (New York, NY: Barnes and Noble, 2010), Part I

Week 26: Galatians 3:24: Freedom

A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 26 March 2015

Read Galatians 3:23-26

The Galatians are at risk of being trapped again by the Law. Paul is desperately, in this letter, trying to point them to freedom.

This raises a question: If the Law is something that traps us, why did God give us the Law? Why were God’s people expected to follow it for hundreds of years? Did God want to trap us?

Paul speaks of people being imprisoned and guarded by the Law. He says that the Law was our disciplinarian, our custodian, or some translations even say our schoolmaster. This is interesting because the word in vv. 24-25 that is translated these different ways probably can best be rendered ‘tutor’ and tutors –unlike guards or disciplinarians- were not considered bad people in Galatia. They were good guys: servants protecting, teaching and helping children.

I look at the historical role of the Law like a storm cellar. It is a place to hide in a storm. When Sin entered the world like a tornado bringing death and destruction to everything in its path, the Law was given to us for protection (3:19, cf. Ro 5:20).

People were dying in this storm so God built this storm cellar of the Law for our protection. He gives it to Moses and says, “In there, take everyone. Quick. Hurry!”

Moses does and people remain in this safe, albeit somewhat cramped and confining, shelter for a long time and then something happens… Jesus, through His death and resurrection, defeats Sin. He calms the storm. It is finished.

The storm is over; Jesus freed us from the cellar of the Law. It kept us safe during the storm but it is of no use now that Sin and Death have been defeated. Jesus rose from the dead offering us new life so let’s leave the storm cellar now and experience the freedom of life with Christ.

With that in mind, I have another question: are there times when, like the Galatians, we are tempted to return to the confines of the Law or a contemporary equivalent? Are their ways in which, even though life is carrying on outside the storm cellar, we refuse to walk in the freedom of Christ? What are some of the rules, special days, and traditions which we have that can – like the Law or a storm cellar - cut us off from our freedom in Christ (4:10)?

www.sheepspeak.com 

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[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, Galatians 3:19-25: Don't be a McChicken, Presented to Nipawin Corps of The Salvation Army on 20 Jan 2008, Tisdale on 27 Jan 2008,and Swift Current on 26 Aug 2011 On-line: 

http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2008/01/galatians-319-25-dont-be-mcchicken.html

Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38: De Vine Final

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 24 Nov. 2013
by Captain Michael Ramsay

This morning is our final morning of our teaching on the lineage of Jesus as laid out in Matthew and Luke. One thing that always comes with a teaching unit is a final exam: so let’s see how we do.

 Matching Test[1]

1. Adam and Eve     
2. Noah                                       
3. Abraham
4. Judah and Tamar
5. Rahab
6. Ruth
7. David and Bathsheba
8. Josiah
9. Zerubbabel

     
  A.  He built an ark

2. He built a temple
3. He died in battle
4. She was a Moabite
5. He was from Ur of the Chaldeans (Iraq)
6. She was a Canaanite prostitute
7. They were the first people
8. He is their child’s legal father and grandfather
9. He was a king; she may have been a Hittite

The people who we chose to look at in our nine part sermon series on the lineage of Jesus were some of the more interesting names in the list: some of the ones that we have quite a bit of information about in the Biblical record. We also picked them because we thought their stories really help to underline two key points that God seems to emphasize through Jesus’ genealogy:

1)      There are consequences for our actions; however, God will not forsake us in difficult times (Deuteronomy 31:6; Judges 1:5, 16:2; Romans 3:3-4, 6:23; Hebrews 13:5).

2)      Salvation is offered to the whole world, including and especially the marginalized and those in distress (Luke 19:10; John 1:29, 3:16, 4:42; Acts 2:21; Romans 5:6, 6:23; 1 Timothy 2:3-6; Titus 2:11).[2] And including each of us as well.

 1. Adam and Eve

The first people who we looked at in our series on the lineage of Christ were Adam and Eve.[3] They were the first people that God created and God loved them and God gave them a very important task or two. Do you remember what he asked of them?

1)      Take care of the earth (Genesis 1:28b)

2)      Multiply, bringing the news of God to the ends of the earth (Genesis 1:28a)

3)      Save the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; don’t eat it yet (Genesis 2:16-17).

 The first people disobeyed and even tried to deceive their Father. They sinned. They defied Him even after He had created this whole garden for them and even after He had given them each and everyone of the animals to name and all save one tree from which to eat. God did all this and they still defy Him (Genesis 2-3). This makes God very sad and so:

1)      There are consequences for their actions but God does not forsake them in the ensuing difficult times.

2)      Salvation is offered to them; including and especially when they are in distress.

 The consequences are, of course, ‘the fall’ (Genesis 3). They are removed from the garden; they need to work hard to get the earth to produce fruit. There is now pain in childbirth. However, God does not forsake them. He provides them with clothing and protection as they enter into their new world. He offers them salvation right in the midst of their distress. Even when they notice that they are naked and want protection from the elements, it is God who provides the clothing for them (Genesis 3:21). He does not forsake them and He will not forsake us. He offers them salvation and He offers us salvation.

 

2. Noah

The people of Noah’s time, like Adam and Eve, are asked to take care of the earth and to multiply and thus bring the good news of God to the ends of the earth (Genesis 9:1).[4] The people of Noah’s time, the Bible says, ‘were only evil all the time’ (Genesis 6:5-7). This makes God very sad and so

1)      There are consequences for their actions: God feels the need to drown the world in His sorrow (Genesis 6-8); however, God does not forsake people in these difficult times.

2)      Salvation is offered to them. When they are in their greatest distress, God enables Noah to build an Ark to save not only humanity but also the animals of the earth (Genesis 6-8). God does not forsake them and He will not forsake us. He offers them salvation and He offers us salvation.

 In our homily that was a part of this series, we also noticed how the first thing recorded that Noah’s family does upon experiencing their salvation is to commit another grievous sin to do with Ham ‘uncovering Noah’s nakedness’ (cf. Genesis 9:18-29).[5]

1)      There are consequences for their actions: Ham’s descendants - Canaan is cursed; however, God does not forsake the people in difficult times (Genesis 9:25).

2)      Salvation is offered to them; when they are in their greatest distress, you will notice that the Canaanites are especially chosen to be a part of the salvation for the whole world in that they are in the direct lineage of Christ: possibly Tamar and definitely Rahab is a Canaanite chosen especially as part of Jesus’ lineage (Genesis 38, Joshua 2-6).[6] You and I are also invited to be a part of His life and His family.

 3. Abraham

Abraham is the first name mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1:2). The other names mentioned today came from the Lukan account (Luke 3:23-38). Abraham is a righteous man. Just like God tells Adam and Noah to fill the earth spreading the Good News of God’s love to the ends of the earth, God does the same thing around Abraham’s story (Genesis 11-25). The prelude to God’s covenant of Salvation through Abraham is the tower of Babel episode (Genesis 11:1-9).[7] The people, instead of moving like they were told, disobey God by staying put and building a tower for their own fame and glory.[8]

1) There are consequences for their actions: God confuses the people’s languages and sends them out in spite of their rebellion (Genesis 11:8). God does not forsake them in the following difficult times though.

2) Salvation is offered to them including and especially when they are in distress. God, as recorded in Genesis 12:3, proclaims the Good News of Salvation for the first time in the Scriptures. All the nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham. And, of course, this is fulfilled in the lineage and life of Jesus who is the Christ. He does not forsake them and He will not forsake us. He offers them salvation and He offers us salvation.

 

4. Judah and Tamar

Judah is the oldest son of Israel not to disqualify himself from his birthright. He however does do some pretty awful things in his life, including initiating the sale of his younger brother into slavery (Genesis 37:26-28), but he nonetheless still receives the birthright Also of note, however, is the fact that it is not only he that is here mentioned.[9] Tamar, his child’s mother, is also mentioned. This is quite significant. Tamar is Judah’s daughter-in-law and he deals quite harshly with her. According to the customs of that time and place, when Tamar’s husband (Judah’s son) died, Judah was required to provide his other sons to her so that she may have an heir and so that this heir might look after her in her old age. It is mentioned numerous times throughout Genesis 38 that God is displeased with this unwillingness to provide an heir. Judah eventually even sends Tamar away and so:

 

1)      There are consequences for his actions. Tamar dresses up as a prostitute and Judah has relations with her (Genesis 38:12-19); however, God does not them in these difficult times; He provides an heir.

2)      Salvation is offered to Judah and salvation is offered to Tamar. When they are in their greatest distress, God enables Tamar to conceive a child who becomes an ancestor of Jesus, God’s own son. Judah then invites Tamar back into his household and Tamar and her son are saved (Genesis 38:24-30). God does not forsake them. Abused and abuser both, God does not forsake them and He will not forsake us. He offers them salvation and He offers us salvation.

 5. Rahab

Rahab is a secular Canaanite prostitute in a doomed pagan city. Foreign spies sneak into Jericho where she lives with her family and the foreign spies come to visit the local prostitute (Joshua 2-6).[10]

 

1)      There were consequences for the Canaanites as we learned from the Noah episode (Genesis 9:25-29; cf. also Genesis 15:16); however, God does not forsake Rahab and He does not forsake the Canaanites in difficult times.

2)      Salvation is offered to Rahab, a marginalized prostitute, at her time of distress as her whole city is destroyed. And more than that God chooses this Canaanite prostitute to be an ancestor of our Lord and Saviour. God uses the Canaanites to bring salvation to not only the Israelites but also to the whole world (Matthew 1:5, Hebrews 11, James 2:25).[11] He does not forsake them and He will not forsake us. He offers salvation through and to them and He offers salvation to us.

6. Ruth

Ruth is a Moabite.[12] Moabites, like the Canaanites, were at best marginalized and at worst cursed. Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, abandons the land promised to the Israelites and flees to Moab. She and her husband leave the land that is their inheritance.  Her sons marry foreigners and then her sons and her husband die (Ruth 1:1-5).

 

1)      There are consequences for her actions; Naomi and Ruth both suffer some very difficult times (Ruth 1); however, God does not forsake them in these difficult times. 

2)      Salvation is provided for marginalized and distressed Naomi and for Ruth, her daughter-in-law, and ultimately for the whole world (Ruth 2-4). God chooses this Moabite – from the land of Balaam (Numbers 21-24) - to be an ancestor of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. God uses the Moabites to bring salvation to not only the Israelites but also to the whole world.[13] He does not forsake them and He will not forsake us. He offers salvation through and to them and He offers salvation to us.

 

7. David and Bathsheba

David is the most famous king of Israel.[14] He is the warrior king who fought to expand his nation. He is the man. David has many wives and God could have chosen any of them to carry on the line of salvation. God however chooses Bathsheba and the significance of God’s choice should not be missed on the readers of the Gospel of Matthew. Look at Matthew 1:6b: It says there that the Messiah’s ancestor is David and (what does he call Bathsheba?) Uriah the Hittite’s wife. David takes this foreigner’s wife and has relations with her and then murders Uriah, who is a famous war hero. Matthew wants us to be very much aware of this as he mentions not only David but also Bathsheba and he mentions her not by name but as someone else’s wife. David comes together with Bathsheba through adultery and through murder (2 Samuel 11). David exploits his position and he takes advantage of the marginalized in the kingdom.

 

1)      There are consequences for David’s actions: his first child by Bathsheba dies (2 Samuel 12:15-23); however, God does not forsake Bathsheba and God does not forsake David in these difficult times that David created.

2)      Salvation is offered to David –the powerful- and salvation is offered to Bathsheba –the powerless. And ultimately this Bathsheba who is taken by this king who murdered her husband, this Bathsheba – who is probably a Hittite (2 Samuel 11:3), Bathsheba is chosen by God to be an ancestor of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. God uses this Hittite to bring salvation to not only the Israelites –her son was King Solomon under whose reign Israel’s territory and power reached its height- but God uses this Hittite to bring salvation to the whole world. He does not forsake her and He does not forsake David and He will not forsake us. He offers salvation through and to them and He offers salvation to us.

 

8. Josiah

Israel is long destroyed and Judah is in its death throws. Judah has so forsaken the LORD that they have even forgotten Him and they have even lost the Scriptures and the Book of the LORD. Israel and Judah have become evil by the time Josiah comes to the throne (2 Kings 21).[15]

 

1)      There are consequences for their actions: God does not spare Judah (2 Kings 23:26-27). The country is erased from among the nations for the evil that was done but even then God does not forsake them in the ensuing difficult times.

2)      Salvation is offered to them especially when they are in distress. God uses Josiah to lead His people back to Him before He disperses them among the nations (2 Kings 22). This way they have God with them. While they are at their lowest point, they can turn to Him and lean on Him in their distress. God is there for them even as they are suffering the consequences of their actions. He does not forsake them and He will not forsake us. He offers salvation to them and He offers salvation to us.

 

9. Zerubbabel

Zerubbabel is a descendant of David while the people of Judah are without a nation-state. He is a governor and he and a High Priest who oversee the rebuilding of the Temple (which was where they came to believe that God lived and which was originally destroyed shortly after the death of Josiah). It is during Israel’s exile and then life as a conquered people, it is at this point that they start looking for the Messiah who will be the Saviour of Judah, Israel, and the whole world. Today, the lineages of most of the Israelites have been lost forever from human records. Contemporary Israelis are predominantly descended from North American and European Jews: they aren’t even Semitic. According to Al-Ha’aretz, a prominent Israeli newspaper, as well as many well respected contemporary scholars, most non-Arab Israelis today are descended not from the Israelites of old but rather from the Khazars, people who lived in the Caucasus mountains: they aren’t Semitic; they are Caucasians. Contemporary Israelis are not ancient Israelites.

 

 However, that being said, when Jesus returns, the Lion of Judah will rise and Israel and the whole world will have a King. That is who the Messiah, the Christ is: He is the one who will rule the whole world from His throne in Jerusalem and we know that this Messiah is none other than Jesus Christ. He is the King of all the nations and it is by no accident that Jesus has in his lineage Judean Israelites –both privileged and otherwise, Moabites, Canaanites, and wives of Hittites. Jesus, who is the saviour of the whole world, has in his lineage even the most disparaged and disadvantaged people. Jesus, the King of Israel, Judah and the world, is descended from the peoples of the world and He is Israel’s saviour and He is our saviour. He is the saviour of the whole world and one day He is coming back and when He comes back every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; so:

 

1)      Even though we live in a world filled with the consequences of humanity’s actions, God neither leaves us nor forsakes us;

2)      Salvation is offered to all of us even now; including and especially when we are in distress. In our time of need, our Lord is here. He will neither leave us nor forsake us. We are grafted into His vine. We are invited to be a part of His Salvation.

 

Let us pray. Thank you Lord that you are no respecter of men (Acts 10:34). Thank you Lord, as it records as far back as Genesis 12:3, that salvation is for all the nations of the earth. And thank you Lord for your promise that whosoever believeth in you shall not perish but will have everlasting life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] 1G, 2A, 3E, 4H, 5F, 6D, 7I, 8C, 9B

[2] Cf. Joel B Green. ‘The Gospel of Luke’. NICNT. Vol. 3. (Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 25.

[3] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Genesis 1-4: God: Creator, Governor, and Preserver of All Things', presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 26 Feb 2012). Available on-line:

http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/02/genesis-1-4-god-creator-governor-and.html

[4] Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Genesis 6:5-7: This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you,’ presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 10 June 2012). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/06/genesis-65-7-this-is-going-to-hurt-me.html

[5] Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Genesis 9:18-29: Idiomatic Noah,’ presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (29 Sept 2013). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/09/genesis-918-29-idiomatic-noah.html

[6] Cf. Thomas W, Mann, The Book of the Torah: The Narrative Integrity of the Pentateuch, (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1988), 66-68., re. Tamar

[7] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Genesis 11:1-8, 31-12:4: So that we can make a name for ourselves’, presented to the Nipawin Corps of The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Nipawin, SK: 14 June 2009). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/06/genesis-111-8-31-124-so-that-we-can.html

[8] Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, The Book of Genesis, (NIB I: Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1994), p. 412 where he argues that the primary sin here is the unwillingness to move and the ‘making a name for themselves’ is secondary.

[9] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Thanksgiving at Judah’s House,’

presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 13 Oct. 2013). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/10/thanksgiving-at-judahs-house.html

[10] Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Rahab the Redeemed (Joshua 2&6, Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25),’ presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 25 September 2011), the Weekend of Prayer to Stop Human Trafficking  (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 20 October 2013)  Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/09/rahab-redeemed-joshua-2-hebrews-1131.html   

[11] Cf. Richard S. Hess, Joshua: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL.: InterVarsity Press, 1996 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 6), S. 89

[12] Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Ruth 1: Footprints in the Snow,' presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 27 October 2013). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/10/ruth-1-footprints-in-snow.html

[13] Cf. Jessica Tate, “Ruth 1:6-22: Between Text and Sermon,” Interpretation 64 (2010)

[14] See Captain Michael Ramsay, '2 Samuel 13-18: Taking Matters in His Own Hands: the Story of Prince Absalom,' presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps (Sheepspeak.com: Nipawin, SK: November 18, 2007). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2007/11/2-samuel-13-18-taking-matters-in-his.html  and Captain Michael Ramsay, '1 Samuel 17:46 – 47: The Battle belongs to the Lord,'presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps (Sheepspeak.com: Nipawin, SK: July 6, 2008. Presented to Swift Current Corps on May 2, 2010 Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2008/07/1-samuel-1746-47-battle-belongs-to-lord.html

[15] Captain Michael Ramsay, 2 Kings 22:1-23:30 (2 Chronicles 34-35): Josiah’s Preparation for Israel’s Life after Death. Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Currrent: 10 November 2013). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/11/2-kings-221-2330-2-chronicles-34-35.html

2 Kings 22:1-23:30 (2 Chronicles 34-35): Josiah’s Preparation for Israel’s Life after Death

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 10 November 2013 by Captain Michael Ramsay
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 Tomorrow is Remembrance Day. I trust that many of you will be marching in with us at the Comp High School at 10:30am. You are invited also to join us for the 8:30am service at the Cenotaph. The Salvation Army will be leading both services as, of course, we have been providing the chaplaincy for RCL Branch #56 for the previous 5 years.

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 Last year it was bitterly cold outside on Remembrance Day. I remember it quite vividly. A number of us got frostbite on our ears including myself, the mayor, and Maxine. I always looked forward to seeing Maxine at Legion events. The poppy tea was yesterday but, as far as Legion events go, it is the Mothers' Day tea that I'll always remember because every year they had a door prize of some flowers. I think each year I told Maxine that if my daughters won the flowers she would have to come to church in the morning to present them with their prize and, as far as I remember, we won every year; so we knew that Maxine would be in church at least that one Sunday each year. Many of us miss Maxine as she received her 'Promotion to Glory' just a month or so after Remembrance Day last year. I am sure she was met with, "well done my good and faithful servant."

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 Along these lines, in my preparing for both today and tomorrow's ceremonies I ran across some interesting pieces of information about a number of people who lived and died in Canada’s wars - especially the 'Great War', the 'war to end all wars', the 'first world war'.

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 When World War One broke out Canada was a very small and sparsely populated country of just over 7 million people. Most people were farmers or involved in other primary industries. Many young boys headed off the farms here to serve in the war. I also read stories of bankers and teachers and minors and scientists and athletes and very young men from across the country who put their jobs, their careers, their parents, their girl friends, their new wives, their young children, and their whole lives on hold until they returned home from the war - only many never did return home from the war. They were never to be seen again by their wives, their children, their brothers, their sisters, their mothers, their fathers.

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 66 976 Canadians died in World War 1. That was almost 1% (0.92%) of our country's population: meaning that in a city then with a population of 17 000, like Swift Current is now, 170 people would have been killed in the war. If you lived in Canada during the war, you would know more than one person who did not return. I want to share one of the many stories I happened read about people who left their homes here on the Canadian prairies to die in the mud of Passchendaele:

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Stanley Richard Shore (Private, 27th Battalion, CEF) was born in Manitou, Manitoba, on December 16th, 1896. He received his education in the Brandon schools and in the King Edward School, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He was employed by the National Trust Company, Saskatoon, for a short period, but in order to complete his education he resigned and returned to school. In October 1915, at the age of 18, he entered the service of the Bank of British North America in Saskatoon. Previous to his enlisting for overseas service [in the war] he was attached to the 105th Regiment. He enlisted in April, 1916, as a Private in the 183rd Battalion, Canadian Infantry, and headed overseas. On the 183rd Battalion being disbanded in England he proceeded to France with a reinforcement draft for the 27th Battalion, Canadian Infantry. He was killed during the attack on Passchendaele Ridge on November 6th, 1917.[1]

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 He was only 20. He was a banker. He was a prairie boy. He was killed in the mud on Passchendaele Ridge. He is just one of the almost one percent of the population of Canada who never returned from his European adventure.

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 Today on Remembrance Sunday, quite by providence, certainly not through any intent or design on my part, we are looking at a good man, who like Stanley Richard Shore, and like so many other good men throughout history, was killed in battle when he was still young.

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Today, in part, we are going to eulogize King Josiah. Josiah was the last great King of Judah and Israel. He was a good man, who was used by God to do many good things and he really was the last significant ruler of Judah or Israel. Not long after Josiah was killed, his country was wiped off the face of the earth forever. It would never stand as an independent nation again.

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So who is this King Josiah that we have added to our branch of the lineage of Christ that we are growing above the altar in the sanctuary here? Who is this King Josiah whom we are going to commemorate what the Lord has done through him today?

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Josiah had an interesting home life growing up to say the least. When he was born, his grandfather was the King of Judah. His grandfather, King Manasseh, was the longest reigning of all of the kings of Judah. He was popular with many of the people and Manasseh was among the most evil of all of the kings to ever rule Judah (but cf. 2 Chronicles 33:10-13).^[2] 2 Kings 21:9 records that Manasseh even led the Israelites (Judeans) to do more evil than even the people who lived in Canaan before God removed them because they were evil. And now because of the evil in the kingdom of Judah during Manasseh's reign, God decides to remove Israel from this land just like He removed the nations before them (Genesis 15:7-15).

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King Manasseh died when Josiah was about six years old and then Josiah’s dad, Amon, became the king of Judah. Amon - 2 Kings 21:21-22 - did evil just as his father had done and King Amon abandoned the LORD, the God of his ancestors (cf. Chronicles 33:21-25). His servants then, only 2 years into his reign, murdered this evil king. This evil King Amon however was also very popular with the people of Israel/Judah, so they killed those who plotted against him and they placed the young  Josiah on the throne.

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Josiah was only eight years old when he became the last significant king of Judah (ca. 640 BCE). Then in the 18^th year of his reign, when he was 26 years old, he sent a servant to the Temple, to the House of the LORD, to collect some money, to pay for repairs to the building. It was then that the High Priest told Shaphan, Josiah's servant, that he had found the Book of the Law in the House of the LORD.[3] This is interesting because in all of the years of the evil reigns of his father and grandfather - 57 years - plus all of the years of Josiah's reign to date - 75 years altogether - somehow they had lost the Scriptures. Probably for at least a half of a century, I would guess; they didn’t even really know about the Book of the Law anymore let alone the Scriptures contained within them. Israel and Judah had become so evil that they seem to have forgotten the Lord altogether.[4]

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When they find this book, they read it and they then franticly try to figure out what to do with the Word of God. They read it and they realize just how evil their nation has become; they read it and they fear for their lives; they read it and they fear God. The King, 22:18, is penitent; he humbles himself before the LORD; He tears his clothes and he weeps before the LORD. He seeks out any remaining prophets of the LORD to ask what he can do for the LORD.

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As part of Josiah’s coming to faith here, as part of and as a result of his repentance, he is better than any of the kings before or after him (2 Kings 22:25). He reads the Scriptures to the elders of his people. He makes a covenant with the LORD to follow the LORD - 23:3 – “keeping His commandments, His decrees and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All the people joined in the covenant.”

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Josiah turns his whole life and his whole country over to the Lord: he destroys the altars to and images of the false gods in his country; he deposes the idolatrous priests; he destroys the houses of the male shrine prostitutes; he removes the [war] horses that he, his father and his grandfather, the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun [god] at the entrance to the House of the LORD. He then burns the [war] chariots - his era’s equivalent of the tank. He burns the chariots of the sun with fire. He pulls down the evil temples and he defiles the evil high places. These are totally unparalleled reforms in all the history of Israel and Judah. He destroys the state sanctioned worship of false gods and he re-institutes the state sanctioned celebration of the Passover feast to commemorate the LORD’s saving the first-born sons and delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt. He puts away all the mediums, wizards, teraphim, idols, and all the abominations in Judah and Jerusalem.[5] 2 Kings 22:25 records, “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.” Josiah is quite a king. This is an unparalleled repentance and a great testimony to God, to the LORD.

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But, all that being said, Verse 25 is followed by Verses 26 and 27: “Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to arouse his anger. So the Lord said, ‘I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’” Then, Verses 29 and 30a, “While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Neco faced him and killed him at Megiddo. Josiah’s servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb” (cf. 2 Chronicles 35:20-27).[6] Josiah's life here is over. Josiah’s reign in Judah is over. Two chapters later, the two books of the Kings are over. And two chapters later the two countries of Israel and Judah’s time is over. It is finished.[7]

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Josiah was a great king. Josiah loved God. Josiah served God like no one else in the histories of the countries of Israel and Judah. Josiah started his reign as an eight year-old boy and he finished it as a devout servant of our God. Josiah, like so many of our Canadian soldiers of the 19^th, 20^th, and 21^st Centuries (as before), left his family behind, left his people behind, left his work behind, left those who loved him behind. And Josiah left his reforms behind to march into a battle from which he and his reforms would never return. He marched out into a battle from which his country would never recover. Josiah’s son did evil in the eyes of the LORD. Josiah’s son only reigned 3 months. The very few remaining kings of Judah/Israel were then nothing more than vassals of Egypt and Babylon, until the LORD finally removed them from His land.[8]

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This is a sad story on this Remembrance Sunday. God used Josiah to accomplish so much good in reforming Israel and Judah. Josiah then marched off to a battle from which neither he nor his reforms ever returned. So many good Christians marched out to battles from Canada in the 20^th Century and now the country to which some never returned is no longer devoted to God the way it was when they laid down their lives for God, for King and for country.

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So what can we learn today from Josiah - the late great king of a long gone kingdom who marched out to war and never returned? So what can we learn from Josiah - the late great king of a long gone kingdom who marched out to a war from which his country never returned? I think what we can learn is this: Josiah experienced God’s blessing in the midst of the death throws of his nation and so can we experience God’s blessing in the midst of whatever we are experiencing.[9] And even more: Israel and Judah were evil for a long time before God wiped them off the face of the earth. Before the LORD scattered them away from God’s land forever, God used Josiah to bring God’s people back to the LORD. If God had not instituted Josiah’s reforms, no one today may have ever heard of the LORD at all. Remember that Israel/Judah had forgotten the LORD. But the LORD didn’t forget them; He reminds them who He is just when they need Him the most. Just before the people are deported to many parts of the world, they return to God and so God is with them in their deportations and God is with them in their suffering and God is with them in their captivity and God is with them in their slavery. Throughout all of their hardships for centuries to come God is right there with them. And through this they begin to look forward to Jesus. They begin to look hopefully, longingly and expectantly to the coming of Jesus, who is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings; He is the wonderful counsellor, mighty God, everlasting father and prince of peace whose government will never stop ruling and being peaceful (Isaiah 9:6).

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And this is the same for us. Just as we have been looking at Ruth and Naomi the previous few weeks in Bible study, so it is with the people after Josiah and so it is with us today. No matter what evil, no matter what hardships, no matter what trials, no matter what tribulations we suffer, Christ is right there with us.  He is our comfort and our strength. And one day, one day He is coming back and then every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and then there will be no more tears and there will be no more suffering forever more in His Kingdom to come.

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Many of us here have already promised God that we will serve Him forever but if there are any here today who have not yet bowed to Jesus as King and made Him Lord of our life, I invite us to do this today for God promises that no matter what is happening in our lives today and no matter what will happen in our lives tomorrow, God will never leave us nor forsake us. Jesus loves us.

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Let us pray.
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www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Norm Christie, For King and Empire: The Canadians at Passchendaele October to November 1917 (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: CEF Books, 1999), 36.

^[2]Cf. Donald J. Wiseman, 1 and 2 Kings: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1993 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 9), S. 311 for an interesting discussion of this in light of 2 Chronicles 33.

[3] Cf. Nadav Na'aman, 'The discovered book and the legitimation of Josiah's reform,' JBL, no. 1 (2011): 47-62 for a good discussion around content and dating of ‘the Book of the Law’.

[4] Cf. Bruce C. Birch, Walter Brueggemann, Terence E. Fretheim, Daniel L. Peterson, A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2005) 322-323

[5] Cf. Jonathan Ben-Dov,' Writing as Oracle and as law: new contexts for the book-find of King Josiah.,' JBL 127, no. 2 (2008): 223-239 esp. p. 238 for an historical discussion of his reforms.

[6] Cf. 2 Chronicles 35:20-27 for a more detailed account of Josiah’s death in battle.

[7] Choon-Leon Seow, The First and Second Book of Kings, in NIB 9, ed. Leander E. Keck, et. al. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1999): 287 points out that salvation is not meted out on a basis of works.

[8] Patrick J. Wilson, 'Between Text and Sermon: 2 Kings 22:1-23:3,' Interpretation 54, no. 4 (2000): 415, “Beyond rewards and punishments God calls us to a particular way of life. Josiah understands this even as he stands by the pillar to read the book of the covenant, which consigns his kingdom as condemned property. But for those who hear, it is an invitation to life with God.”

[9] Patrick J. Wilson, 'Between Text and Sermon: 2 Kings 22:1-23:3,' Interpretation 54, no. 4 (2000): 415