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| This book is well organized in a Greek homiletic sort of way.
The first chapter introduces his thesis which is the greatness of Jesus.
He quotes, without citing, the Old Testament extensively. The author wants us to know that Jesus is God and that the Old Testament is full of references to him. He extensively quotes Psalms. Are the quotes in the New Testament the only places where the Old Testament refers to Jesus?
If you are reading Hebrews 1 along with me here are the quotes:
Psalm 2:7 - I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. (KJV)
Psalm 2:7 I will announce the LORD'S decree. He said to me: "You are my Son. Today I have become your Father. (GNB)
Psalm 104:4 he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.
The angels are God's servants. But his Son will be different, more glorious. He is not like the angels.
Psalms 45:6-7 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; (7) you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; (ESV)
Psalms 102:25-27 In the beginning, LORD, you laid the earth's foundation and created the heavens. (26) They will all disappear and wear out like clothes. You change them, as you would a coat, but you last forever. (27) You are always the same. Years cannot change you.
This whole psalm 102 can easily be seen as a reference to Jesus. No one else could satisfy these qualifications.
Psalms 102:12-28 Our LORD, you are King forever and will always be famous. (13) You will show pity to Zion because the time has come. (14) We, your servants, love each stone in the city, and we are sad to see them lying in the dirt. (15) Our LORD, the nations will honor you, and all kings on earth will praise your glory. (16) You will rebuild the city of Zion. Your glory will be seen, (17) and the prayers of the homeless will be answered. (18) Future generations must also praise the LORD, so write this for them: (19) "From his holy temple, the LORD looked down at the earth. (20) He listened to the groans of prisoners, and he rescued everyone who was doomed to die." (21) All Jerusalem should praise you, our LORD, (22) when people from every nation meet to worship you. (23) I should still be strong, but you, LORD, have made an old person of me. (24) You will live forever! Years mean nothing to you. Don't cut my life in half! (25) In the beginning, LORD, you laid the earth's foundation and created the heavens. (26) They will all disappear and wear out like clothes. You change them, as you would a coat, but you last forever. (27) You are always the same. Years cannot change you. (28) Every generation of those who serve you will live in your presence.
Isaiah 51:6 Look closely at the sky! Stare at the earth. The sky will vanish like smoke; the earth will wear out like clothes. Everyone on this earth will die like flies. But my victory will last; my saving power never ends.
Even the earth will wear out before Jesus does. He is forever.
Psalms 110:1 The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at my right side, until I make your enemies into a footstool for you."
Psalm 110 is also all about Jesus. This is the psalm that refers to the priest of Melchizedek. Hebrews will refer to this extensively later.
Psalms 110:1-7 (A Psalm of David.) The LORD saith unto my lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. (2) The LORD shall send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. (3) Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of thy power: in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth. (4) The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. (5) The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. (6) He shall judge among the nations, he shall fill the places with dead bodies; he shall strike through the head in many countries. (7) He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
Another parallel allusion:
Joshua 10:24 And it came to pass, when they brought forth those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the chiefs of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them.
Jesus is referred to extensively in the OT. He is God. He is God's son. He existed from the beginning.
He will rule over the whole world. | | |
| I have run across Gideon twice recently and love the story. It's a great story. There is so much about human nature and God's nature in this story. I am guest speaking at an retirement home service this Sunday. I think I will speak about Gideon.
I heard this as part of the Sunday evening service Judges 6:11-24a. The reader actually read some of what came before but I do not have this on the service bulletin.
"The angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hid it from the Midianites. (Notice Gideon was wise here. Fear had nothing to do with it. He could not win this batter. Why fight a losing battle?)
The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you you mighty warrior." (You know Gideon does not deny here that he is a mighty warrior. This just starts him on a rant. Gideon is probably willing to go to war, if only he knows he can win.)
Gideon answered him, "But sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian." (The angel got him worked up. Gideon is incensed here. He is incensed at their situation. He is incensed at God. God can use this kind of passion. Be careful what cause or problem gets you incensed. God may send you to fix it.)
I did that the other night. I spoke to a person about how blessed they were. That got them going. They went on to tell me how bad things were. They were looking at all the bad but I was still right they were very blessed in other ways.
The angel does the same thing here. He knows what to say to get Gideon going. Isn't it strange that Gideon opens up like this to a perfect stranger?
Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hearby commission you." He responded, "But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manassah, and I am the least in my family." (Judging by the fact that he owns a winepress and has wheat to threash this is probably an overstatement at best. Gideon wants assurance that he will win. He is not willing to follow up on a losing cause.)
The LORD said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them." (Notice we have switched from "the angel of the LORD" to simply "the LORD".) Then he said to him, "If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you." And he said, "I will stay until you return."
(Gideon goes in and prepares a meal which becomes a sacrifice. This seems a lot like Abraham's meeting with the three men (angels) and the oak of Mamre. It's hospitality. And its a test. Gideon openly speaks of a sign here. He remembers Abraham's example, perhaps, and knows that this will get him the understanding that he wants. Is he speaking to God or not? We too should test all spirits. God is patient and waits. Cooking an animal kid this has got to take hours. Then when the angel burns up the food Gideon freaks out.) | | |
| It's the geek in me but for a sermon to be memorable I have to learn something new. It doesn't have to be earth shattering. The bar is not that high. It can be a new aspect a new angle on an old truth.
Sermons that review what we have already heard are necessary and can be great. But they were not be memorable. We need sermons like that because we have not truly learned what we have been taught before. We are still sinning, missing the mark. We need to be reminded.
So a good sermon might not be memorable.
I want to gush though about HF's introduction(s) to communion. We do not use a set written prayer but we do communion once a month. There does have to be something of a preparation. We need to make it clear that this is important. We must not take the Lord's Supper without preparation, without taking it in a faithful manner.
A written prayer gets old. Each time we take communion using a set prayer we may pick out one thing to meditate on. Or we may just daydream through the whole thing. That's our loss though.
One could space out through a more extemporaneous introduction too. Maybe its harder though, maybe not. Either way it is our loss.
But I want to repeat, HF did a great job of finding a good scripture to underscore his little message. And he finished strong. It is harder than it looks to do it right. But he did great. | | |
| Solomon "lived large". How can a man really, completely love one woman well? But Solomon has women from many nations. Seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines! David had many wives but Solomon was ridiculous. Solomon also built his house, "Forest of Lebanon", larger than his dad's house. Was he competing with his dad?
His wives were part of his policy of allying himself with all his neighbors. The author criticizes Solomon by quoting Exodus 34:16 and Deuteronomy 7:3. Solomon held fast for a while but later in life he was persuaded to worship with them. He was persuaded to make altars for these wives so that they might worship the gods of their nation. Unfortunately many people saw his example and followed his lead.
I suspect Solomon's gift of wisdom finally went to his head. Wisdom is not sufficient without humility. The source of wisdom is God. When we forget that we are liable to do foolish things. Jesus spoke of our being a branch of a vine. The vine is God. We must be attached to the vine, where we get sustenance. We cannot be wise without staying with God.
Solomon's pride made him think he was different from other men. His book of Ecclesiastes gives me reason to think this is so. Because God gave his wisdom he thought he was immune from the temptations that other men fall victim to. But Solomon got jaded. He got cynical. His power and riches gave him the ability to do things we can never imagine. Yet it was not enough to satisfy.
Only God can satisfy. And yet we want to experience everything in the world. We want to try everything under the sun, as Solomon bragged that he did.
But let us be satisfied with God. Can we do that? We should but we get tempted, don't we? Let us take a negative example from Solomon. Let us be satisfied with one wife. Let us enjoy the wife (or husband) of our youth. | | |
| I heard Limbaugh for a few seconds while riding in the car.
He described it in words I wish I had thought of. "It was petulant. It was self serving. He baited Republicans. There was nothing in it to encourage us."
I heard the last two thirds of the speech. I would agree wholeheartedly. It was not presidential at all. Obama had no intention of trying to bring the country together. Isn't that what a state of the union speech should try to do?
He is power hungry and is annoyed at anyone who tries to limit his power. He thinks all of us who oppose him are little gnats he can simply swat away. | | |
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