Ezek 37:1-3 (NIV) The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know."
"If We Are The Body"
It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in
Trying to fade into the faces
The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know
CHORUS
But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
There is a way
A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances tells him that his chances
Are better out on the road
CHORUS
But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet goingWhy is
His love not showing them there is a wayJesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the Body of Christ Chorus (2x)
If we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
Jesus is the way
(lyrics/song by Casting Crowns)
How can it be that the body of Christ is sometimes just like that song? What a message in that song, so often the Body has wounded itself, tortured itself, amputated itself. It is crazy, the body of Christ should be doing what Christ did when he was here, reaching out, caring, helping, serving. So why is His body sometimes so clickish, sometimes so negative and faithless, often time so hurtful and destructive?
In a way God’s church today is like the valley of dry bones. A useless dead army, when we should be the best equipped, best organized, most elite army ever. To look at the condition of the Body of Christ today, and know where we should be can be depressing. We may say, the Christian Church is dead and hopeless. But I love the conversation Ezekiel had here with God. God showed Ezekiel this valley full of dry bones and said, can these bones live? Ezekiel was skeptical, he did not say, they could or couldn’t live again. So then God made Ezekiel prophesy in verses 5-6, “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.” Clearly, God is saying that He can take His Church, acting like a dry dead body, and make it alive again.
So then the question is why would God let his Body get in such awful condition, dead, and nothing but a pile of dry bones before He promised to bring us back to life again? Wouldn’t it have been easier if He had healed His church when we began to show signs of getting sick? Then we would have been so much more productive over all these years. But Like Martha when she told Jesus, after Lazarus died, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. John 11:21 (NIV) The story is told that Jesus intentionally did not come and heal Lazarus when he got sick. After He had heard that Lazarus was sick and near death he stayed where he was for two more days. When He finally arrived at Lazarus’ home Lazarus had been dead and in the grave for four days. Why did Jesus come so late? According to what God told Ezekiel, the reason He brought life to the dead bones was the same reason He let Lazarus die. In order for all to know that the LORD has done it.
When the church is restored and all the body of Christ is filled with strength and power no one person can say “Look what I have done.” Everyone will be forced to say that this great thing must be from the LORD.
Compare the body of Christ the way it is now with the way it should be? What are some steps you can take in order to make a difference and move your Church closer to God’s ideal?
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Matthew 5:44-45
Matt 5:44-45 (NIV) “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
We arrived in Taipei early Friday morning just as a typhoon was about to strike Taiwan later that morning. There are two types of typhoons, fast moving typhoons that cause allot of wind damage and slow moving typhoons that bring lots of rain and flooding. This was a big typhoon, they say the biggest typhoon in Taiwan in 5o years, a category 4, but it was slow moving and on the southern part of the island dumped over 5 feet of rain. When we finally arrived on the campus of Taiwan Adventist College on Saturday night we were told that we brought the rain with us when we arrived to Taiwan.
We did not understand what they were insinuating at first, even slow moving typhoons can be hazardous, we had been told that 14 people had been killed by this typhoon alone. Were they saying that by coming we brought evil upon them? No, it turns out that in the Taiwanese culture, rain is considered a blessing, and they were telling us that when we came we brought them a blessing. In fact, before the typhoon hit there was a shortage of water, the government was considering rationing water. But with the Typhoon came the blessing of fresh water.
Because God cares for the unrighteous as much as the righteous He causes the sun and the rain to be a blessing to both the evil and the good. God is love and God’s love is unconditional. Likewise, as sons and daughters of God, we are told in order to be like our Father in Heaven we should be a blessing like the rain, unconditionally falling on everyone around us.
My family and I have taken on an enormous challenge here with this new move to Taiwan. There are 24 million people living in Taiwan, and only 2700 Seventh day Adventist attending church on a given Sabbath morning. There are few young people in the Adventist churches here; it appears that they get caught up in secularism and leave the church. Couples here are choosing not to have children or just one child and focus their time and energy into working, making money and enjoying life, so the small little churches are shrinking smaller and smaller year after year. In the past Buddhism and Taoism have been traditionally the dominant religions in Taiwan. But now we are facing a force that is even more of a difficult challenge to confront, which is secularism and a post modernism combination added into the Buddhist culture. We need to make Christianity appealing to a materialistic culture that has its roots in Buddhism; how do we do that?
The only thing I can figure out to do is to lift Jesus and proclaim Him as the true blessing, the God who loves us so much that He pours out His grace like rain down on us. Lift Him up in prayer and ask Him to give us wisdom, strength and guidance to know what to say how to act and what to do. Lift Him up in faith and trust in the Lord that He will make us into a blessing and accomplish mighty things through us because we trust in his power and strength.
Discuss the value of Christianity above materialism? Share some examples of how you can share Jesus in a post modern world?
We arrived in Taipei early Friday morning just as a typhoon was about to strike Taiwan later that morning. There are two types of typhoons, fast moving typhoons that cause allot of wind damage and slow moving typhoons that bring lots of rain and flooding. This was a big typhoon, they say the biggest typhoon in Taiwan in 5o years, a category 4, but it was slow moving and on the southern part of the island dumped over 5 feet of rain. When we finally arrived on the campus of Taiwan Adventist College on Saturday night we were told that we brought the rain with us when we arrived to Taiwan.
We did not understand what they were insinuating at first, even slow moving typhoons can be hazardous, we had been told that 14 people had been killed by this typhoon alone. Were they saying that by coming we brought evil upon them? No, it turns out that in the Taiwanese culture, rain is considered a blessing, and they were telling us that when we came we brought them a blessing. In fact, before the typhoon hit there was a shortage of water, the government was considering rationing water. But with the Typhoon came the blessing of fresh water.
Because God cares for the unrighteous as much as the righteous He causes the sun and the rain to be a blessing to both the evil and the good. God is love and God’s love is unconditional. Likewise, as sons and daughters of God, we are told in order to be like our Father in Heaven we should be a blessing like the rain, unconditionally falling on everyone around us.
My family and I have taken on an enormous challenge here with this new move to Taiwan. There are 24 million people living in Taiwan, and only 2700 Seventh day Adventist attending church on a given Sabbath morning. There are few young people in the Adventist churches here; it appears that they get caught up in secularism and leave the church. Couples here are choosing not to have children or just one child and focus their time and energy into working, making money and enjoying life, so the small little churches are shrinking smaller and smaller year after year. In the past Buddhism and Taoism have been traditionally the dominant religions in Taiwan. But now we are facing a force that is even more of a difficult challenge to confront, which is secularism and a post modernism combination added into the Buddhist culture. We need to make Christianity appealing to a materialistic culture that has its roots in Buddhism; how do we do that?
The only thing I can figure out to do is to lift Jesus and proclaim Him as the true blessing, the God who loves us so much that He pours out His grace like rain down on us. Lift Him up in prayer and ask Him to give us wisdom, strength and guidance to know what to say how to act and what to do. Lift Him up in faith and trust in the Lord that He will make us into a blessing and accomplish mighty things through us because we trust in his power and strength.
Discuss the value of Christianity above materialism? Share some examples of how you can share Jesus in a post modern world?
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
John 15:7-8
John 15:7-8 (NIV) “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
My very limited experience with peach trees and blueberry bushes on our property in Michigan helped me realize some important lessons illustrated in this passage. God makes the flower appear on the branch, bees pollinate the flowers and fruit appears. Pruning helps, fertilizing helps, watering is essential, and sunlight is essential. God sends the sunshine and the rain. God created a system that allows nature to take rotten food and worms turn it into compost that fertilizes the soil that allows the trees and plants to absorb nutrients. In the same way, God provides all our spiritual needs. The farmer prunes the dead or useless branches once a year. Only healthy branches that remain connected to the tree bear fruit. Farmers pride themselves in techniques that produce larger and more abundant fruits but really the farmer cannot make the tree produce any fruit. God does it all.
In our spiritual life, God produces all the fruit, we need to be a good branch that remains connected to God to avoid pruning. If there are things we know we can do to help make larger and more abundant fruit we should do them.
God answers prayer, “ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” God is like a loving parent he wants to give us whatever we want. Ask God in prayer, He will provide all or emotional, spiritual, and physical needs that are for our enduring good. But being a wise parent he knows to only give us the things that is for our ultimate good that will help us grow and bear more fruit.
What a time of celebration for the God when the harvest is ready, when all the fruit can be picked and collected in the barns. When we are mature and ready for use! God made it all happen! This farming analogy demonstrates how God is glorified when His people mature into a right relationship with him and the yummy fruit of our lives can be enjoyed by all.
In your experience, what are some things you have done that has made your life's fruit, juicer, larger, and more delicious?
My very limited experience with peach trees and blueberry bushes on our property in Michigan helped me realize some important lessons illustrated in this passage. God makes the flower appear on the branch, bees pollinate the flowers and fruit appears. Pruning helps, fertilizing helps, watering is essential, and sunlight is essential. God sends the sunshine and the rain. God created a system that allows nature to take rotten food and worms turn it into compost that fertilizes the soil that allows the trees and plants to absorb nutrients. In the same way, God provides all our spiritual needs. The farmer prunes the dead or useless branches once a year. Only healthy branches that remain connected to the tree bear fruit. Farmers pride themselves in techniques that produce larger and more abundant fruits but really the farmer cannot make the tree produce any fruit. God does it all.
In our spiritual life, God produces all the fruit, we need to be a good branch that remains connected to God to avoid pruning. If there are things we know we can do to help make larger and more abundant fruit we should do them.
God answers prayer, “ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” God is like a loving parent he wants to give us whatever we want. Ask God in prayer, He will provide all or emotional, spiritual, and physical needs that are for our enduring good. But being a wise parent he knows to only give us the things that is for our ultimate good that will help us grow and bear more fruit.
What a time of celebration for the God when the harvest is ready, when all the fruit can be picked and collected in the barns. When we are mature and ready for use! God made it all happen! This farming analogy demonstrates how God is glorified when His people mature into a right relationship with him and the yummy fruit of our lives can be enjoyed by all.
In your experience, what are some things you have done that has made your life's fruit, juicer, larger, and more delicious?
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Exodus 4:2-4
Ex 4:2-4 (NLT) The Lord asked Moses, "What is that in your hand?" "A shepherd's staff," Moses replied. "Throw it down on the ground," the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back. Then the Lord told him, "Reach out and grab its tail." So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd's staff in his hand.”
Moses’ staff was nothing but a common shepherd’s rod. Staffs as well as other personal belongings were used by people back then as items that identified them. In a similar way, today we can be identified by our car, or our house or clothes that other people recognize as ours. It is a funny thing how we become attached to our little things. A cook may have a favorite cutting knife, a physician may have a special stethoscope, a carpenter has a favorite hammer, a mechanic has a special tool box, and maybe you have a special possession like a laptop or a Bible. This story illustrates that whatever possession that we hold dearly in our hand, we have the opportunity to throw it down and give it to God. After Moses threw his rod on the ground – the rod of Moses became the rod of God. With the rod of God back in Moses’ hand Moses preformed supernatural signs and miracles. With the rod of God Moses called down plagues in Egypt, he divided the Red Sea, he struck the rock and water flowed out.
As Christians we are told to “seek first the Kingdom of God.” If we are doing this, then one of our most prized possessions should be the Kingdom of God, a possession we should be most notably identified with. Jesus told his disciples to “go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” Matt 10:6-8 (KJV)
When you are seeking the Kingdom does your relationship with God flow both ways, in as well as out? Too many times we only allow the Kingdom to flow into us and not necessarily out to others. If this is your experience then, throw it down. Give it back to God, who gave it to you, and throw it down! When you give it back to God, the dry dead wood of our spiritual life will become like a living hissing snake, a living hissing relationship with God is a dangerous thing to the world around us. But we can do as Moses did and grab it by the tail and share it with those around us to show them that our relationship with God is real.
Share some things in your life you could throw down and give to God? How do you think God could use them through you once He gives it back to you?
Moses’ staff was nothing but a common shepherd’s rod. Staffs as well as other personal belongings were used by people back then as items that identified them. In a similar way, today we can be identified by our car, or our house or clothes that other people recognize as ours. It is a funny thing how we become attached to our little things. A cook may have a favorite cutting knife, a physician may have a special stethoscope, a carpenter has a favorite hammer, a mechanic has a special tool box, and maybe you have a special possession like a laptop or a Bible. This story illustrates that whatever possession that we hold dearly in our hand, we have the opportunity to throw it down and give it to God. After Moses threw his rod on the ground – the rod of Moses became the rod of God. With the rod of God back in Moses’ hand Moses preformed supernatural signs and miracles. With the rod of God Moses called down plagues in Egypt, he divided the Red Sea, he struck the rock and water flowed out.
As Christians we are told to “seek first the Kingdom of God.” If we are doing this, then one of our most prized possessions should be the Kingdom of God, a possession we should be most notably identified with. Jesus told his disciples to “go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” Matt 10:6-8 (KJV)
When you are seeking the Kingdom does your relationship with God flow both ways, in as well as out? Too many times we only allow the Kingdom to flow into us and not necessarily out to others. If this is your experience then, throw it down. Give it back to God, who gave it to you, and throw it down! When you give it back to God, the dry dead wood of our spiritual life will become like a living hissing snake, a living hissing relationship with God is a dangerous thing to the world around us. But we can do as Moses did and grab it by the tail and share it with those around us to show them that our relationship with God is real.
Share some things in your life you could throw down and give to God? How do you think God could use them through you once He gives it back to you?
Monday, August 3, 2009
Psalms 84:11
Ps 84:11 (NIV) “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”
How does Yahweh Elohiym illustrate the sun towards His people? God illuminates our life’s path showing us the right way to go. He brightens our world, filling in the dark shadows with light. Many people have experienced depression from the lack of sunlight during the wintertime; medical professionals call it seasonal affective disorder. But the sun, like Yahweh, invigorates us with warmth and life, you might say that light is nature’s pep pill that fills us with energy. Experiencing Christ working in our life is like when “The sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” Mal 4:2 (NIV)
Yahweh Elohiym is also a shield to protect and defend all those who trust him. God does not promise to give us everything we think we want, but He will not withhold anything that is permanently good. He will give us the means to walk along his paths, but we must do the walking. When we obey Him, He will not hold anything back that will help us serve Him.
What kind of situations have you experienced where you felt restricted, or penned up spiritually like in a stall? Describe times in your spiritual life where you have leaped like a calf released from the stall?
How does Yahweh Elohiym illustrate the sun towards His people? God illuminates our life’s path showing us the right way to go. He brightens our world, filling in the dark shadows with light. Many people have experienced depression from the lack of sunlight during the wintertime; medical professionals call it seasonal affective disorder. But the sun, like Yahweh, invigorates us with warmth and life, you might say that light is nature’s pep pill that fills us with energy. Experiencing Christ working in our life is like when “The sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” Mal 4:2 (NIV)
Yahweh Elohiym is also a shield to protect and defend all those who trust him. God does not promise to give us everything we think we want, but He will not withhold anything that is permanently good. He will give us the means to walk along his paths, but we must do the walking. When we obey Him, He will not hold anything back that will help us serve Him.
What kind of situations have you experienced where you felt restricted, or penned up spiritually like in a stall? Describe times in your spiritual life where you have leaped like a calf released from the stall?
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Revelation 3:17-18
Rev 3:17-18 (NASB) “you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.”
In the beginning, at creation, Christ was the one who brought forth light out of darkness. He created light, when there was nothing but darkness at all. Then Jesus came into this world to be “the light of men.” “He is the light of truth, “the true light that gives light to every man.” He came into this world to shine light in the darkness of people’s hearts, but the darkness did not understand it. (John 1:1-9)
The most remarkable story is told of Christ healing a man born blind in John Chapter 9. To understand the setting, of which the healing took place in John 9, we need to look back to the last events in the previous chapter (John 8:33-59.) Jesus had an impassioned discussion with the Pharisees. Jesus angered the religious leaders more that afternoon than at any other time in His ministry. He offered to set them free (8:36) “If the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed.” They argued back, "we are sons of Abraham we were never in bondage." Jesus told them they were “servants of sin” (34.) Then he implied in (39) that they were not Abraham’s seed because they did not do the works of Abraham. In (42) Jesus suggest God was not their spiritual Father either. But His most pointed words were given in (44) when he tells them strait foreword; “You are of your Father the Devil.” Still the Pharisees put up with Him until (58-59) “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM. “Silence fell upon the vast assembly. The name of God, given to Moses to express the idea of the eternal presence, had been claimed as His own by this Galilean Rabbi. He had announced Himself to be the self-existent One, He who had been promised to Israel, "whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity." (Desire of Ages, E.G. White, p. 469-470) “Then took they up stones to cast at Him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by” (9:1) “and as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.”
“When the Pharisees drove Christ from them, he went to this poor blind beggar. Some of the ancients make this a figure of the bringing of the gospel to the Gentiles, who sat in darkness, when the Jews had rejected it, and driven it from them.” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary, on John 9:1-7: Sight given to one born blind) Another respected author Ellen G. White in her book The Desire of Ages, places these two events as happening directly one right after the other. Here is a little lesson for us to learn from Jesus in this story. No matter how busy we are, we may feel like we are running for our life to get to the next place, but as we “pass by” someone who is in need, we should take the time to “do good” toward them. And we should never be too busy not to notice long sorrowful faces crying out for someone who cares.
Jesus notices this blind man, and immediately has compassion for him. But his disciples, who noticed Jesus looking at the blind man, they do not offer to bring him to Christ to heal him. Instead they bring up the old argument concerning him. “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that this man was born blind?” According to the Talmud, “There is no death without sin, and there is no suffering without iniquity.” (The Seventh Day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, pg. 996, notes on John 9:2 (quoted from: Shabbath 55a, Soncino ed., p. 255)) Also, “A sick man does not recover from his sickness until all his sins are forgiven him” (The Seventh Day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, pg. 996, notes on John 9:2 (quoted from: Nedarim 41a, Soncino ed., p. 130)) The Jews taught every sin had a particular punishment, therefore we see Christ’s disciples more interested in theological debate than mercy for the poor blind man.
Jesus said (9:4-7) “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.” (KJV)
When Jesus said “The night cometh” He wanted to stress to His disciples just how soon His ministry was about to end. “From the Feast of Tabernacles to the Passover the following spring, when Jesus was crucified was about six months. Three years of His ministry was in the past and but half a year remained.” (The Seventh Day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, pg. 980, notes on John 7:33) Jesus made the point that now was the most suitable time to heal this man, it would be now or it would possibly never happen. But this day was the Sabbath day, and the Jewish traditions for healing forbid such an anointing. Any unusual anointing was forbidden, in the case of the blind man there was not an emergency. Jesus stood defiant against the Jewish traditions, and the Jews considered this act to be illegal. Yet Jesus was teaching that doing good was a necessary work, because the Sabbath day was a day when only works of necessity should be done.
When Christ made the eye salve he spit on the ground and made clay. He could have cured him with a word, but he chose to do it this way. He spread the clay upon the eyes of the blind man, one observing this act would believe the opposite of healing would take place, it is more likely to cause blindness than to cure blindness by applying clay to his eyes. But often spiritual principles are opposite from human principles, like the spiritual idea for men to need to feel blind before He can give them sight. The Apostle Paul was shown that he had been persecuting Jesus before his conversion. Paul was zealous for God but was spiritually blind and for three days after he met Jesus he remained physically blind, as a reminder of the lesson he needed to learn. Paul had learned this lesson well, he wrote in 1 Cor. 1:27 “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.” (KJV) And 1 Cor. 3:18-19 “If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” (KJV)
The origin of the clay is a noteworthy fact as well. Clay used by Jesus is not any ordinary clay. Clay from the Creator's hand has much more power than ordinary clay; it was Christ who first made man out of clay. Before Jesus had made the first Adam out of clay, but now the Second Adam was using this same material he had created man with to cure the man born blind. An illustration of the ultimate cure of God, curing the eyes of faith, we are born with blind eyes of faith and faith in Jesus bringing us to salvation. The design of the gospel is to open man’s eyes, to see by faith not by sight. The eye salve that Christ is preparing to do this work is not made of His spit but of His blood. And just as the blind man was told to go and wash in the pool of Siloam, we are to be washed by the blood of the Lamb, and “sent” (interpretation of Siloam) to share the blood of Christ to others. The blood that heals us is from the wounds we gave him. From nails on His hands and on his feet, and the lashes we put on His back and upon His chest. We wounded Him also on His head with the crown of thorns, and in His side with a spear. What? You may ask, When did I do those things to Christ? But our eyes that cannot see are like Paul’s eyes on the road to Damascus. Christ may say to us “Why did you persecute me?” To see salvation we need to see with and not just through the eyes.
The Pharisees were so angry at Jesus, so filled with hate they brought this man who had been born blind before their council and questioned him. The objective of the Pharisees was to persuade this man to think that Christ had some how tricked him. The Pharisees had fresh in their minds all Christ had told them and had done against them. Christ had told the Pharisees they were not “Sons of Abraham but sons of the devil” and had heard with their own ears Jesus pronounces himself to be the Eternal I AM. Then immediately after this Jesus anoints this blind man’s eyes, an act forbidden upon the Sabbath day by the Jewish traditions, of which the Pharisees maintained and enforced. In their hardness of heart they refused to see. They would question this former blind man, try to intimidate him, and trying to confuse him, and make him deny Jesus. “The Pharisees were spiritually blind, and were leaders of the blind. The physical blindness that Jesus had healed in the man born blind, was not as dangerous as the moral blindness of those who had evidence piled upon evidence in regard to the divine character of the world's Redeemer, and yet who closed the eyes of their understanding, and refused to see, because they were too self-exalted to be instructed by Christ. They claimed to be learned in the Scriptures, to have spiritual eyesight, yet they made the plainest specifications concerning Christ a different matter from that which the records testified. The light of the world was shining amid the moral darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. The darkness that blinded the minds of the Pharisees was much more deplorable than was the darkness that blinded the eyes of the man who had been born blind. “ (The Signs of the Times, November 6, 1893, paragraph 2 Article Title: Danger of Spiritual Blindness)
As the man born blind was questioned by the Pharisees he “became a witness for Christ. He answered the Pharisees in words that were a cutting rebuke to his questioners. They claimed to be the expositors of Scripture, the religious guides of the nation; and yet here was One performing miracles, and they were confessedly ignorant as to the source of His power, and as to His character and claims. "Why herein is a marvelous thing," said the man, "that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this Man were not of God, He could do nothing." The man had met his inquisitors on their own ground. His reasoning was unanswerable. The Pharisees were astonished, and they held their peace, --spellbound before his pointed, determined words. For a few moments there was silence. Then the frowning priests and rabbis gathered about them their robes, as though they feared contamination from contact with him; they shook off the dust from their feet, and hurled denunciations against him, --"Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?" And they excommunicated him from the synagog . . . Jesus heard what had been done; and finding him soon after, He said, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" To the Savior’s question, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" the blind man replied by asking, "Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?" And Jesus said, "Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee." The man cast himself at the Savior’s feet in worship. Not only had his natural sight been restored, but the eyes of his understanding had been opened. Christ had been revealed to his soul, and he received Him as the Sent of God” (Desire of Ages, E.G. White, p. 474, 475)
When Jesus told the Pharisees in John 8:12 “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” He was suggesting to them that they were blind and He could give them sight. After he healed the blind man He said, “"For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." Christ had come to open the blind eyes, to give light to them that sit in darkness. He had declared Himself to be the light of the world, and the miracle just performed attested to His mission. Some of His hearers, feeling that Christ's words applied to them, inquired, "Are we blind also? "Jesus answered, "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin." If God had made it impossible for you to see the truth, your ignorance would involve no guilt. "But now ye say, We see." You believe yourselves able to see, and reject the means through which alone you could receive sight. To all who realized their need, Christ came with infinite help. But the Pharisees would confess no need; they refused to come to Christ, and hence they were left in blindness,--a blindness for which they were themselves guilty. Jesus said, "Your sin remaineth."” (Desire of Ages, E.G. White, p. 475)
Describe what you think it means to see with and not through the eyes? Compare the blindness of the Pharisees with the man born blind? Why is moral blindness worse than physical blindness?
In the beginning, at creation, Christ was the one who brought forth light out of darkness. He created light, when there was nothing but darkness at all. Then Jesus came into this world to be “the light of men.” “He is the light of truth, “the true light that gives light to every man.” He came into this world to shine light in the darkness of people’s hearts, but the darkness did not understand it. (John 1:1-9)
The most remarkable story is told of Christ healing a man born blind in John Chapter 9. To understand the setting, of which the healing took place in John 9, we need to look back to the last events in the previous chapter (John 8:33-59.) Jesus had an impassioned discussion with the Pharisees. Jesus angered the religious leaders more that afternoon than at any other time in His ministry. He offered to set them free (8:36) “If the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed.” They argued back, "we are sons of Abraham we were never in bondage." Jesus told them they were “servants of sin” (34.) Then he implied in (39) that they were not Abraham’s seed because they did not do the works of Abraham. In (42) Jesus suggest God was not their spiritual Father either. But His most pointed words were given in (44) when he tells them strait foreword; “You are of your Father the Devil.” Still the Pharisees put up with Him until (58-59) “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM. “Silence fell upon the vast assembly. The name of God, given to Moses to express the idea of the eternal presence, had been claimed as His own by this Galilean Rabbi. He had announced Himself to be the self-existent One, He who had been promised to Israel, "whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity." (Desire of Ages, E.G. White, p. 469-470) “Then took they up stones to cast at Him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by” (9:1) “and as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.”
“When the Pharisees drove Christ from them, he went to this poor blind beggar. Some of the ancients make this a figure of the bringing of the gospel to the Gentiles, who sat in darkness, when the Jews had rejected it, and driven it from them.” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary, on John 9:1-7: Sight given to one born blind) Another respected author Ellen G. White in her book The Desire of Ages, places these two events as happening directly one right after the other. Here is a little lesson for us to learn from Jesus in this story. No matter how busy we are, we may feel like we are running for our life to get to the next place, but as we “pass by” someone who is in need, we should take the time to “do good” toward them. And we should never be too busy not to notice long sorrowful faces crying out for someone who cares.
Jesus notices this blind man, and immediately has compassion for him. But his disciples, who noticed Jesus looking at the blind man, they do not offer to bring him to Christ to heal him. Instead they bring up the old argument concerning him. “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that this man was born blind?” According to the Talmud, “There is no death without sin, and there is no suffering without iniquity.” (The Seventh Day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, pg. 996, notes on John 9:2 (quoted from: Shabbath 55a, Soncino ed., p. 255)) Also, “A sick man does not recover from his sickness until all his sins are forgiven him” (The Seventh Day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, pg. 996, notes on John 9:2 (quoted from: Nedarim 41a, Soncino ed., p. 130)) The Jews taught every sin had a particular punishment, therefore we see Christ’s disciples more interested in theological debate than mercy for the poor blind man.
Jesus said (9:4-7) “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.” (KJV)
When Jesus said “The night cometh” He wanted to stress to His disciples just how soon His ministry was about to end. “From the Feast of Tabernacles to the Passover the following spring, when Jesus was crucified was about six months. Three years of His ministry was in the past and but half a year remained.” (The Seventh Day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, pg. 980, notes on John 7:33) Jesus made the point that now was the most suitable time to heal this man, it would be now or it would possibly never happen. But this day was the Sabbath day, and the Jewish traditions for healing forbid such an anointing. Any unusual anointing was forbidden, in the case of the blind man there was not an emergency. Jesus stood defiant against the Jewish traditions, and the Jews considered this act to be illegal. Yet Jesus was teaching that doing good was a necessary work, because the Sabbath day was a day when only works of necessity should be done.
When Christ made the eye salve he spit on the ground and made clay. He could have cured him with a word, but he chose to do it this way. He spread the clay upon the eyes of the blind man, one observing this act would believe the opposite of healing would take place, it is more likely to cause blindness than to cure blindness by applying clay to his eyes. But often spiritual principles are opposite from human principles, like the spiritual idea for men to need to feel blind before He can give them sight. The Apostle Paul was shown that he had been persecuting Jesus before his conversion. Paul was zealous for God but was spiritually blind and for three days after he met Jesus he remained physically blind, as a reminder of the lesson he needed to learn. Paul had learned this lesson well, he wrote in 1 Cor. 1:27 “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.” (KJV) And 1 Cor. 3:18-19 “If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” (KJV)
The origin of the clay is a noteworthy fact as well. Clay used by Jesus is not any ordinary clay. Clay from the Creator's hand has much more power than ordinary clay; it was Christ who first made man out of clay. Before Jesus had made the first Adam out of clay, but now the Second Adam was using this same material he had created man with to cure the man born blind. An illustration of the ultimate cure of God, curing the eyes of faith, we are born with blind eyes of faith and faith in Jesus bringing us to salvation. The design of the gospel is to open man’s eyes, to see by faith not by sight. The eye salve that Christ is preparing to do this work is not made of His spit but of His blood. And just as the blind man was told to go and wash in the pool of Siloam, we are to be washed by the blood of the Lamb, and “sent” (interpretation of Siloam) to share the blood of Christ to others. The blood that heals us is from the wounds we gave him. From nails on His hands and on his feet, and the lashes we put on His back and upon His chest. We wounded Him also on His head with the crown of thorns, and in His side with a spear. What? You may ask, When did I do those things to Christ? But our eyes that cannot see are like Paul’s eyes on the road to Damascus. Christ may say to us “Why did you persecute me?” To see salvation we need to see with and not just through the eyes.
The Pharisees were so angry at Jesus, so filled with hate they brought this man who had been born blind before their council and questioned him. The objective of the Pharisees was to persuade this man to think that Christ had some how tricked him. The Pharisees had fresh in their minds all Christ had told them and had done against them. Christ had told the Pharisees they were not “Sons of Abraham but sons of the devil” and had heard with their own ears Jesus pronounces himself to be the Eternal I AM. Then immediately after this Jesus anoints this blind man’s eyes, an act forbidden upon the Sabbath day by the Jewish traditions, of which the Pharisees maintained and enforced. In their hardness of heart they refused to see. They would question this former blind man, try to intimidate him, and trying to confuse him, and make him deny Jesus. “The Pharisees were spiritually blind, and were leaders of the blind. The physical blindness that Jesus had healed in the man born blind, was not as dangerous as the moral blindness of those who had evidence piled upon evidence in regard to the divine character of the world's Redeemer, and yet who closed the eyes of their understanding, and refused to see, because they were too self-exalted to be instructed by Christ. They claimed to be learned in the Scriptures, to have spiritual eyesight, yet they made the plainest specifications concerning Christ a different matter from that which the records testified. The light of the world was shining amid the moral darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. The darkness that blinded the minds of the Pharisees was much more deplorable than was the darkness that blinded the eyes of the man who had been born blind. “ (The Signs of the Times, November 6, 1893, paragraph 2 Article Title: Danger of Spiritual Blindness)
As the man born blind was questioned by the Pharisees he “became a witness for Christ. He answered the Pharisees in words that were a cutting rebuke to his questioners. They claimed to be the expositors of Scripture, the religious guides of the nation; and yet here was One performing miracles, and they were confessedly ignorant as to the source of His power, and as to His character and claims. "Why herein is a marvelous thing," said the man, "that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this Man were not of God, He could do nothing." The man had met his inquisitors on their own ground. His reasoning was unanswerable. The Pharisees were astonished, and they held their peace, --spellbound before his pointed, determined words. For a few moments there was silence. Then the frowning priests and rabbis gathered about them their robes, as though they feared contamination from contact with him; they shook off the dust from their feet, and hurled denunciations against him, --"Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?" And they excommunicated him from the synagog . . . Jesus heard what had been done; and finding him soon after, He said, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" To the Savior’s question, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" the blind man replied by asking, "Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?" And Jesus said, "Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee." The man cast himself at the Savior’s feet in worship. Not only had his natural sight been restored, but the eyes of his understanding had been opened. Christ had been revealed to his soul, and he received Him as the Sent of God” (Desire of Ages, E.G. White, p. 474, 475)
When Jesus told the Pharisees in John 8:12 “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” He was suggesting to them that they were blind and He could give them sight. After he healed the blind man He said, “"For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." Christ had come to open the blind eyes, to give light to them that sit in darkness. He had declared Himself to be the light of the world, and the miracle just performed attested to His mission. Some of His hearers, feeling that Christ's words applied to them, inquired, "Are we blind also? "Jesus answered, "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin." If God had made it impossible for you to see the truth, your ignorance would involve no guilt. "But now ye say, We see." You believe yourselves able to see, and reject the means through which alone you could receive sight. To all who realized their need, Christ came with infinite help. But the Pharisees would confess no need; they refused to come to Christ, and hence they were left in blindness,--a blindness for which they were themselves guilty. Jesus said, "Your sin remaineth."” (Desire of Ages, E.G. White, p. 475)
Describe what you think it means to see with and not through the eyes? Compare the blindness of the Pharisees with the man born blind? Why is moral blindness worse than physical blindness?
Saturday, August 1, 2009
II Chronicles 15:2
2 Chron 15:2 (NIV) “The Lord (Yahweh) is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.”
God is with us. At Jesus’ birth the Angles of God announced in Matt 1:23 “and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” If you would look at all the major religions of the world you would find that Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius and Moses all identified themselves as teachers or prophets. None of them were God. Jesus is unique, He is the only leader of a world religion the Christian church, born as a man but has existed before the beginning of time as God. “So you see, God is with us. He is our leader.” 2 Chron 13:12 (NLT.) Jesus is God and He eagerly wants, no craves a relationship with us, we are told that when you “come near to God, He will come near to you.” James 4:8. We have this promise, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jer 29:13-14 (NIV.) Jesus Himself has said in Matt 7:7-8 “Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” No other god of any other religion has such an intense desire for a loving, personal relationship with us.
What other god loved mankind so intensely, that it would become a man so it could die to restore a right relationship between us and him. Only Jesus, “greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 (NIV.) Paul explained, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ Rom 5:6-8 (NIV.)
Jesus said of himself, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:14-15 (NIV.) “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:27-29 (NIV.)
What are some of the ways you are seeking God? Describe some actions that you think may be a way of forsaking God?
God is with us. At Jesus’ birth the Angles of God announced in Matt 1:23 “and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” If you would look at all the major religions of the world you would find that Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius and Moses all identified themselves as teachers or prophets. None of them were God. Jesus is unique, He is the only leader of a world religion the Christian church, born as a man but has existed before the beginning of time as God. “So you see, God is with us. He is our leader.” 2 Chron 13:12 (NLT.) Jesus is God and He eagerly wants, no craves a relationship with us, we are told that when you “come near to God, He will come near to you.” James 4:8. We have this promise, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jer 29:13-14 (NIV.) Jesus Himself has said in Matt 7:7-8 “Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” No other god of any other religion has such an intense desire for a loving, personal relationship with us.
What other god loved mankind so intensely, that it would become a man so it could die to restore a right relationship between us and him. Only Jesus, “greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 (NIV.) Paul explained, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ Rom 5:6-8 (NIV.)
Jesus said of himself, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:14-15 (NIV.) “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:27-29 (NIV.)
What are some of the ways you are seeking God? Describe some actions that you think may be a way of forsaking God?
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