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Free Daily Bible thoughts by Rev. Stephen Thompson

Daily Bible thoughts 668: Friday 25th July 2014:

 Isaiah 24:14-23

” Chapter 24 begins the long apocalyptic vision of the Day of the Lord, which continues until chapter 27. It seems impossible to give it any certain historical background, and it was probably intended to be an ideal description of the last great judgment which will engulf the whole world. The horizon is very black except for the bright gleam of light that appears in verse 23, and which leads on to the burst of praise in chapter 25, just as chapter 12 follows chapter 11.” Search the Scriptures p.293

Ultimately there is going to be a new heaven and earth (2 Pet.3:11-13; Rev.21:1). There the ”LORD Almighty will reign (Is.24:23) in the new Jerusalem (Rev.21:2-5) In this holy city the light of God Himself will be so bright that the sun and moon will not be needed (Rev.21:22-24); they will be ”abashed” and ”ashamed” in the light of God Himself (Is.24:23). God’s reign on this new ”Mount Zion’’ will be glorious, as Isaiah had earlier prophesied (2:2-4). But before that there are terrible times to come for the whole earth. A chapter which began with a message of judgment for all people in the world (1-3), concludes with similar words for ”the powers in the heavens” (21; see Eph.6:11, 12).”That’s when GOD will call on the carpet rebel powers in the skies and Rebel kings on earth. They’ll be rounded up like prisoners in a jail, Corralled and locked up in a jail, and then sentenced and put to hard labour.” The Message.

There is hope however, for a remnant will be saved (14 – 16), and they will come from ”the ends of the earth” (16; see Mark 13:26, 27). In (16) Isaiah says ”I waste away”. He is speaking as a representative of this godly few who will be spared. They too will suffer before the end. But the ungodly ”people of the earth” will not escape God’s judgment (17, 18). ”Terror and pits and booby traps are everywhere, whoever you are.” The Message

In (18-20) Isaiah describes the ‘shaking apart’ of the earth. Not only will the earth’s inhabitants be ”burned up” (6), but the earth itself will be destroyed (2 Peter 3:7, 10; Rev.6:12-14).

Although we cannot fully grasp how all of this will be worked out, it is obvious that serious times lie ahead for the world before the glorious return and reign of Jesus over all the earth, and in the new universe to come. It will be hard on believers in the run up to the end, but it will be utterly devastating for those who do not have true faith. Judgment must come because of sin (5, 6: sin leads to a ”Therefore”. It has consequences. See also 20)

As believers we have to face the truth about sin and what it is going to lead to. But we do not need to be pessimists; we can be optimists. Let us keep our eyes focused on Jesus and all that is to come when He reigns. Someone summed up the book of Revelation like this: ”Things are going to get a lot worse before they get a lot better; then things are going to get a lot better after they have got a lot worse!”

We do well to maintain this balanced vision.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for giving us a map by which to navigate the future. Help us to always follow you as our ‘Captain’, and we trust you to get us safely home.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 667: Thursday 24th July 2014:

Isaiah 24:1- 13

This speaks of a comprehensive judgment (1-3) affecting all kinds of people in all strata of society. God will have no respect for people’s social and economic status. In the preceding eleven chapters Isaiah has talked about the judgment to fall on particular nations; but here he looks ahead to a judgment that is going to come to the whole earth at the end of history.

”The Lord made the earth and is King over all the earth (Ps.47:2), so he has a right to do what He pleases. He will punish sinners because they have not respected His covenant…or cared for the earth as faithful stewards of His gifts. They have disobeyed His will, claimed the earth for themselves, and abused it selfishly.” Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.466

These are sobering words (4-13) and there can be no doubt as to the cause of the judgment (5, 6). We have sinned against God, and the earth is cursed. When the first man and woman disobeyed God, the sin principle came into the world, and we have lived and worked in a world under the curse ever since. Not everyone will be destroyed in this prophesied calamity, but very few will be left (6b, 13). In (10) we read about a ”ruined city” lying ”desolate”. It’s been said that this city represents all cities: human society in general. In the book of ‘Revelation’ John calls this representative city ‘Babylon’, the symbol of all worldly power that sets itself up against God.

I don’t know exactly all that this judgment will entail, but who can deny that we deserve it. Undoubtedly, coming before the big Day of Judgment, there are’mini’ days of judgment. Much of this comes in the form of reaping what we have sown. Having given God up, He has given us up to experience the consequences of giving Him up. We have told Him to get off our backs and said we don’t need Him. He then says, ‘Okay, see what it’s like to live in a world that you are trying to shut me out of.’ To some extent we make a kind of Hell here and now. God allows us to head for the far country and the pig food, if that’s what we want. Some parts of the world look and feel more Hellish than others, but the whiff of the evil one is everywhere. Not only have we broken God’s laws, but in doing so we have also broken creation’s laws. We have not looked after the world as God told us to, with due care and consideration. So nature is getting her own back, and the scary thought is that there is probably much more to come. It is not just that we break God’s laws, but we break ourselves on them.

”The landscape will be a moonscape, totally wasted…The earth turns gaunt and grey, the world silent and sad, sky and land lifeless, colourless. Earth is polluted by its very own people, who have broken its laws, Disrupted its order, violated the sacred and eternal covenant. Therefore a curse, like a cancer, ravages the earth…the good times are gone forever – no more joy for this old world. The city is dead and deserted, bulldozed into piles of rubble. But that’s the way it will be on this earth. This is the fate of all nations: An olive tree shaken clean of its olives, a grapevine picked clean of its grapes.” From The Message.

This chapter is to be taken seriously. The judgments have fallen on the other nations mentioned in preceding chapters, and this should drive us to our knees to plead with God for mercy.

But as we shall see, there will be survivors, and all those who trust in Christ have a wonderful hope to cling to. Even in the face of such a gloomy outlook there are those who can sing because they see beyond it.

Prayer: Lord have mercy on this world; Christ have mercy on our nation; God have mercy on me, a sinner.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 666: Wednesday 23rd July 2014:

 Proverbs 22:12 – 16

Yesterday we saw the importance of good talk (11): ”God loves the pure-hearted and well-spoken; good leaders also delight in their friendship.” The Message. The next proverb (12) deals with its opposite: ”God guards knowledge with a passion, but he’ll have nothing to do with deception.” The Message. What this proverb seems to mean is that the Lord will ensure that the truth will prevail over the words of the false. He will vindicate the truth. That is good to know. Come to think of it, that is exactly what God did in the resurrection of Jesus. In raising Jesus (”the truth” Jn.14:6) He was vindicating Him in the face of the irregular human verdict based on lies. The truth will out. It will prevail. It is self-evident that lying is a mug’s game. Liars get caught out. They have to tell more and more lies to cover their earlier lies, but they always get exposed in the end. So stay with God on the side of truth. Indeed determine, with God’s almighty enabling, to be scrupulously honest.

The lazy person always has an excuse for not working; for staying in bed (13). These are often hollow and ridiculous excuses. ”The loafer says, ”There’s a lion on the loose! If I go out I’ll be eaten alive!” ” The Message. As someone observed, they talk about the lion outside, but forget about the ‘lion’ within (1 Peter 5:8) who will surely ”devour” them if they don’t change their ways. In church life we need to ensure that we are not making empty excuses for failing to do pressing work that we really ought to be getting on with.

Proverbs has a lot to say about the danger of adultery. If we heed it, we will do our utmost to stay far away from even the possibility of temptation. Here is another aspect (14). It is one way God’s judgment on a life is worked out. As Paul shows in Romans 1: 18-32, when men give God up, God gives men up; He gives them up to things like adultery. He allows them to reject Him and choose their own way down an ever more slippery path. He takes off the ‘handbrake’ and allows them to start rolling downhill.

Children, left to their own devices, will incline towards folly because of their inherent sinful nature (15). Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can this be properly subdued, but parents also have a role, under the influence of God’s Spirit, to correct and train their children in God’s ways. ”Young people are prone to foolishness and fads; the cure comes through tough-minded discipline.” The Message. It is a sad thing to read that the old priest, Eli, did not discipline his boys as he should have done, with disastrous consequences (1 Sam.3:13). May God help us as parents, for we surely need all the aid we can draw from him. To raise children well is probably the greatest, and hardest, calling in the world.

The people who extort money from the poor, or who try to bribe the rich will ”both come to poverty”. God will punish the oppressor. Sooner or later he will lose his ill-gotten gains (Jas.5:4, 5). On the other hand, the briber will end up squandering his wealth for nothing. We have been warned!

Prayer: Lord, I can see that your way is best. Sometimes the way of the world is appealing, but I know that it is wrong. Help me to always walk in the road of heavenly wisdom rather than being diverted down the pathway of human folly.

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Daily Bible thoughts 665: Tuesday 22nd April 2014:

 Proverbs 22:7-11

We continue to finger the precious ‘pearls’ of wisdom hanging on this Biblical ‘string’.

Verse 7: In our indebted society, surely this is motivation to go without rather than live on ‘tick’. The ability to have now and pay later has done a lot of harm, where used irresponsibly. It is a fact of life that power and wealth go together, and all too often the powerful do not use their resources for the benefit of the needy. In Bible times the poor often sold themselves to their lenders in order to pay off their debts. ”The poor are always ruled over by the rich, so don’t borrow and put yourself under their power.” The Message. (See also verses 9 and 16).

Verse 8: As we are regularly disturbed and unsettled by the news headlines we need to remember this proverb. The Bible is a realistic Book. It faces the fact that we live in a world in which there are those who sow ”wickedness”, but it is also insistent that we will reap what we sow. It is a much repeated principle in Scripture. Evil is boomerang – like and will rebound on people with great velocity. ”Whoever sows sin reaps weeds, and bullying anger sputters into nothing.” The Message.

Verse 9: ”A generous man…” has much to teach the ”rich” (7) who dominate the poor. You don’t have to have a lot to be generous. Here is another repeated Biblical principle which I would express like this: you can’t out give God! ”Generous hands are blessed hands because they give bread to the poor.” The Message. I believe that serving the poor in some form is a non-negotiable part of Christian discipleship. And for those who are blessed with much there is an even heavier responsibility. Consider also Prov. 11:24, 25: ”The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.” The Message.

Verse 10: ”Kick out the troublemakers and things will quiet down; you need a break from bickering and griping.” The Message. This is more easily said than done, but there comes a point in church life where, after all due process, with time and patience for people to change their ways, this has to be done. It is a sad day when such surgical removal has to take place (and, hopefully, a rarity), but sometimes it just becomes inevitable for the health of the body. The ‘cancer’ will spread if not removed.

Verse 11: Kind words that flow from a pure heart will open all kinds of doors. We are not thinking here of manipulative and deliberately flattering words. This is about genuine people operating out of a true heart. Whoever you are, it’s nice to know that there are those around you who are for you; who love you and have your back. They are not being sycophantic and pursuing their own agendas. They are just good people and their words bless you. Who does not need such friends?

Prayer: Lord, I am again aware of just how much I need your wisdom and not my own. I thank you for the beauty of the wisdom that shines in just a few verses of this wonderful book. It causes me to crave more and more of your perspective.

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Daily Bible thoughts 665: Tuesday 22nd April 2014:

Proverbs 22:7-11

We continue to finger the precious ‘pearls’ of wisdom hanging on this Biblical ‘string’.  Verse 7: In our indebted society, surely this is motivation to go without rather than live on ‘tick’. The ability to have now and pay later has done a lot of harm, where used irresponsibly. It is a fact of life that power and wealth go together, and all too often the powerful do not use their resources for the benefit of the needy. In Bible times the poor often sold themselves to their lenders in order to pay off their debts. ”The poor are always ruled over by the rich, so don’t borrow and put yourself under their power.” The Message. (See also verses 9 and 16).

Verse 8: As we are regularly disturbed and unsettled by the news headlines we need to remember this proverb. The Bible is a realistic Book. It faces the fact that we live in a world in which there are those who sow ”wickedness”, but it is also insistent that we will reap what we sow. It is a much repeated principle in Scripture. Evil is boomerang – like and will rebound on people with great velocity. ”Whoever sows sin reaps weeds, and bullying anger sputters into nothing.” The Message.

Verse 9: ”A generous man…” has much to teach the ”rich” (7) who dominate the poor. You don’t have to have a lot to be generous. Here is another repeated Biblical principle which I would express like this: you can’t out give God! ”Generous hands are blessed hands because they give bread to the poor.” The Message. I believe that serving the poor in some form is a non-negotiable part of Christian discipleship. And for those who are blessed with much there is an even heavier responsibility. Consider also Prov. 11:24, 25: ”The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.” The Message.

Verse 10: ”Kick out the troublemakers and things will quiet down; you need a break from bickering and griping.” The Message. This is more easily said than done, but there comes a point in church life where, after all due process, with time and patience for people to change their ways, this has to be done. It is a sad day when such surgical removal has to take place (and, hopefully, a rarity), but sometimes it just becomes inevitable for the health of the body. The ‘cancer’ will spread if not removed.

Verse 11: Kind words that flow from a pure heart will open all kinds of doors. We are not thinking here of manipulative and deliberately flattering words. This is about genuine people operating out of a true heart. Whoever you are, it’s nice to know that there are those around you who are for you; who love you and have your back. They are not being sycophantic and pursuing their own agendas. They are just good people and their words bless you. Who does not need such friends?

Prayer: Lord, I am again aware of just how much I need your wisdom and not my own. I thank you for the beauty of the wisdom that shines in just a few verses of this wonderful book. It causes me to crave more and more of your perspective.

 

 

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 664: Monday 21st July 2014:

2 Corinthians 11:7-15

We saw recently that the church faces the perennial danger of deception (3, 4), therefore we need to walk around with our spiritual ‘antennae’ activated, so as to be able to detect it. (At the same time, it is also good to be alert to the possibility of becoming obsessed with error, and of seeing heresy everywhere because you are always looking for it! There is an appropriate balance to maintain.) The church at Corinth was being influenced by some men Paul referred to as ”super-apostles” (maybe that is what they called themselves. It is how they saw themselves.) Paul has no hesitation in calling them out. He says that they are false leaders(13) preaching a false gospel (4) and he knew it came from a false place.

There is a personal devil and he is a master of disguise and deception (14, 15). If the devil can transform himself into ”an angel of light’’ just think what he can do with the people whose strings he manipulates. There are modern day preachers whose message is a Jesus of their own imagining and whose gospel is one of their own invention. But ultimately all the bad stuff they are rabbiting comes from Hell (even though they probably don’t realise it.) As someone said, it is possible to be sincere, yet sincerely wrong. Paul gives a dire warning about the ”end” of such ministers (15b). We should not be surprised (although we will always be saddened) by clergy who do not preach ”the truth of Christ” (10). Let the Bible always be the plumb-line by which we test everything. If their messages do not line up with Scripture then we must smell the danger and avoid it.

One mark of a false teacher is that he (or she) fleeces the flock. They are in it to make as much money for themselves as possible, and they do it off the backs of their ‘fan base’ that idolise them, flocking to their meetings and conferences, and buying their books and C.D.’s etc. Paul believed in the right of the minister of the gospel to live off the gospel. However it was a right he regularly did not insist on if he thought it might become a hindrance to his ministry. In Corinth, other churches supported him so that he could freely serve the Corinthians. However, some of them were being won over by the false teachers whose ministry was costing them ‘an arm and a leg.’ ”And I’m not changing my position on this. I’d die before taking your money. I’m giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing ”preachers,” vaunting themselves as something special.” (12) The Message.

They should have been able to tell the difference between the true and the false, but they couldn’t. So let us take warning from this and stay on guard.

Prayer: Lord God, I want to know your Word so well that I can detect when something is false and avoid it.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 663: Friday 18th July 2014:

2 Corinthians 11:1- 6

”…this is the passion of God burning inside me!” (2) The Message.

Christian leaders should have a burning passion:

  • For the church’s faithful devotion to Christ (2): It should matter to us greatly that people we shepherd might love Jesus with ”sincere and pure devotion” (3b). We don’t want to see the church distracted by other ‘lovers’, or going off ‘arm in arm’ with other gods. We want to watch, in the church, a growing love for the Lord; a blossoming, fruitful and happy marriage. Paul always had a sense of the last day, and his accountability to God for the church/ministry entrusted to him. Something of that is seen here, I think. A proper understanding of our responsibility will give us this kind of intensity: ”I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy.” (2a).
  •  For the church’s doctrinal purity (3, 4; see also Gal.1:6-9): See, in verse 3, the close connection between mind and heart. You might think Paul would express concern for their hearts being led astray. But no, it is their ‘‘minds’’ he focuses on. There is such a big emphasis in the writings of Paul on the place of the Christian mind. Churches must be well taught because there are still people who preach another Jesus and another gospel, and it comes from another spirit than the Holy Spirit. (Here is one reason why we need the discerning of spirits). There are purportedly Christian people who are preaching stuff that is all out of plumb with the Word of God. Leaders have got to care deeply about this reality, and do what they can to protect the church from deception. The possibility of being ”deceived by the serpent’s cunning” has hung in the air since the Garden of Eden. The devil sells his lies very persuasively (”exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter…” The Message.) The problem in Corinth was that they were being influenced by the ”super-apostles” who set themselves up as superior to Paul (5, 6). Paul recognised that he didn’t have ”that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much” (6). There is the perennial problem in the church of good people being won over by style and not checking out the substance. If the packaging is exciting, some believers won’t worry too much about the content of the parcel. It may turn out to be the old serpent from the Garden inside that oh so pretty box!

As a leader, you may not be funny; you may not be able to reel off a string of engaging anecdotes; you may not have the most winsome communication skills. None of this really matters too much. But what is of great and eternal importance is that you should stick like superglue to ”the truth of Christ” (10).

Prayer: Help me Lord to love your church and do all I can to protect ‘her’ from error and infidelity.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 662: Thursday 17th July 2014:

 Isaiah 23

Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician (i.e. modern day Lebanon) cities that brought great wealth to the nation by shipping and trading. Tyre was a port city built partly on an island just off the Mediterranean coast, and Sidon was a second port city forty kilometres north of Tyre. How incredible that such a successful economy (8) could collapse. But it did, and the world should take note and consider. In (16, 17) Isaiah compares Tyre to a prostitute offering herself to the highest bidder. The chief goals of the people of Tyre were to gratify themselves and accrue wealth by any means possible. Does that in any way resonate with anything we know today? The passage movingly expresses the grief of the people at their losses (1, 6, and 14: ”Wail”). The city was evacuated of joy (7). It’s been said that people who cry over very little else in life will weep over the loss of money. (The Message talks about ”buckets of tears”.)

It is important to see that Tyre and Sidon were brought down because of their pride. That’s the big lesson for us to grab hold of. The central section brings us to the kernel of the problem: ”Is this the city you remember as energetic and alive, bustling with activity, this historic old city, Expanding throughout the globe, buying and selling all over the world? And who is behind the collapse of Tyre, the Tyre that controlled the world markets? Tyre’s merchants were the business tycoons. Tyre’s traders called all the shots. GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies ordered the crash to show the sordid backside of pride and puncture the inflated reputations…nothing left here to be proud of, bankrupt and bereft Sidon.” The Message. As someone said, people may think that they control the economy and what they do with their profits, but God is in charge and has the final say.

Isaiah could foresee a day when Tyre’s riches would no longer be hoarded for her selfish enjoyment, but would be lavished on God and His people (18). Wealth in itself is not evil, but what Isaiah condemns is:

  • The proud disregard for others that hoards wealth;
  • The pride that regularly comes with having wealth;
  • The pride in the commercial/business ability to make money;
  • The pride of success that gives no glory to God

God hates pride however it manifests itself.

To understand what should be the Christian attitude towards wealth and material prosperity, look for example at 1 Tim.6:6-10, 17-19. We should not make it our ambition to be rich, but if God blesses us with much, generosity is not an option.

Prayer: I ask that pride will have no place home in me. My desire is to sweep it out of the ‘house’. Help me Lord, for I can never do this alone.

 

 

 

 

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 661: Wednesday 16th July 2014:

 Isaiah 22:15-25

Remember Haman, and be careful not to live for your own honour. No position is permanent. Death will remove some from what they are currently doing. Retirement will come for many. But also there will be those who find themselves forcibly removed from the roles they love and benefit from, by the Hand of Almighty God. At this point in chapter 22 Isaiah’s vision changes abruptly. It narrows down to focus on one man, ”Shebna”, who was an official of King Hezekiah (15-19). In his pride, he prepared a tomb for himself fit for a king. But instead of having a royal burial in Jerusalem, Isaiah saw that he would be sent away to die in a foreign land (17-19). He would become an exile. ”Man proposes, but God disposes.” ”You’re an outsider here and yet you act like you own the place, make a big, fancy tomb for yourself where everyone can see it, making sure everyone will think you’re important. GOD is about to sack you, to throw you to the dogs. He’ll grab you by the hair, swing you round and round dizzyingly, and then let you go, sailing through the air like a ball, until you’re out of sight. Where you’ll land, nobody knows. And there you’ll die, and all the stuff you’ve collected heaped on your grave. You’ve disgraced your master’s house! You’re fired – and good riddance!” The Message.

There is nothing surer than that one day you will be replaced (20 -25). This is true of good and faithful leaders as well as the Shebna’s of this world, who strut in the glare of the spotlight. But Shebna was to have his place filled by a man called ”Eliakim”. The latter would be held in high honour, and all his family would benefit as well (2 Kings 18:18), but eventually his honour would be taken from him (25). All worldly honour is temporary and will blow away like smoke on the breeze. Even the most famous are really only ‘famous for five minutes’. But the honour that comes from God is permanent. ”He’ll have the run of the place – open any door and keep it open, lock any door and keep it locked. I’ll pound him like a nail into a solid wall. He’ll secure the Davidic tradition. Everything will hang on him – not only the fate of Davidic descendants but also the detailed daily operations of the house, including cups and cutlery. ”And then the Day will come…when that nail will come loose and fall out, break loose from that solid wall – and everything hanging on it will go with it.” ” The Message.

The ”key to the house of David” can be understood both literally and symbolically. The steward of a king had the power to ‘open and close’ doors – to make decisions on behalf of the king. The key, therefore, symbolised the authority of the steward. Both Shebna and Eliakim, it appears, misused their authority, and it was taken from them. Jesus, the true and final heir to David’s throne, is the rightful possessor of the ”key of David” (Rev.3:7). He has given that ‘key’ (authority) to His church (Mt.16:19; 18:18). We must not use it to advance our own glory, but the glory of the true owner of the key, the Lord Jesus Christ. If we misuse our authority, we can’t expect to get away with it. All stewards will be held accountable (Mt.24:45-51).

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the role you have given me by which to serve you. Help me to live for your glory, and not cling to a sense of power and status for any egotistical reasons. Help me to always remember that the highest position on offer in the Kingdom of God is the lowest: that of a servant

 

 

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