Tag Archives: 2 Chronicles 35-36:23

August 4, 2014 Bible Study — The Lord Is My Stronghold, Whom Shall I Fear?

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 20:20-21

    No matter how bad someone’s parents have been, if that person curses their parents they will have their light go out. If we spend our lives blaming our parents for the bad things in our lives rather than changing our behaviors in order to correct those problems, we will continue to experience the bad things.

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Psalm 27:1-6

    The Creator of the universe provides me with light to see. My defenses are built by Him and He will protect me. Why should I be afraid of anything? Those who seek to harm me will stumble and fall in their attempt to damage me. It is they who will suffer from their plots and plans against me. I can remain confident, no matter how powerful the force assembled against me. Even if my enemies are able to muster the entire world against me, they will still have insufficient power to overcome my Defender, who is the Lord. All I need to do to remain safe is seek the Lord and His will. If I do that, it is foolish to fear anything else.

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1 Corinthians 1:1-17

    Everyone who calls on the name of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior has been made holy by God, has been made a saint. Every group of Christians has every spiritual gift that they will need. Whether that group is one, or three, or hundreds, whatever gifts and talents are necessary is possessed by sufficient numbers within that group to accomplish whatever task God has set for that group. God has provided us with the knowledge and the appropriate way of speaking to serve His purposes. When God calls us to a task, let us not fear that we do not have the means to accomplish that task, He will provide us with whatever is needed.
    Yesterday, as we looked at Paul’s conclusion to his letter to the Romans, we saw that we should stay away from those people who cause divisions by teaching things contrary to sound doctrine, contrary to the teachings of Christ. Today, in his opening to his letter to the Corinthians, Paul warns us against dividing into factions. The Church today has failed to heed his warnings. That is why it is divided into denominations. However, Paul addresses those who think they are avoiding this failing by being “non-denominational”. Some say, “I follow Luther”(Lutherans), others, “I follow John Wesley”(Methodists), still others, “I follow Menno Simons”(Mennonites), and some say, “I follow only Christ”(non-denominational). We are not called to follow these separate teachers. We are called to be united in thought and purpose.
    This call to unity is difficult because we are also called to be faithful. There are those who will use our desire to be united to attempt to get us to accept teachings which are counter to God’s. So, let us seek to be unified with those who are allowing God’s Spirit to guide them in seeking to do His will, who are serving God and teaching the Gospel message to those around them. But let us avoid those who are creating divisions by teaching things contrary to God’s word.

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2 Chronicles 35-36:23

    Josiah called the people to celebrate the Passover. He brought the people together to worship God and celebrate His deliverance of their ancestors from Egypt. The people celebrated in a great festival of worship honouring the Lord. Unfortunately, shortly after this, Josiah failed to seek God’s guidance when King Neco of Egypt marched across his land to do battle with the Babylonians. Josiah marched out to do battle with the Egyptians. In the battle, Josiah was wounded and died. Those who succeeded Josiah did not follow his example of faithfully serving God and the land soon fell to the Babylonians. This is a warning for us that we can easily fall from a spiritual high if we fail to continuously seek God’s will for our lives.

August 4, 2013 Bible Study — Called To Be Saints

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

Rose of sharon plant flowering
Rose of sharon plant flowering

2 Chronicles 35-36:23

     When Josiah had gotten his restoration of the Temple well under way, he announced that the Passover feast would be held in Jerusalem. He gave orders organizing the priests and Levites so that they could perform their duties efficiently. The Passover festival held by Josiah was a time of great joy and worship of God.
     Sometime after this, King Neco of Egypt was marching against the Babylonians and passing near Judah with his army. Despite Neco’s assurances that he was not going to attack Judah, Josiah entered into battle against him. Josiah was wounded in battle and was taken back to Jerusalem, where he died. Josiah’s son Jehoahaz was made king. However, he only reigned for three months when King Neco took him captive and put his brother Jehoiakim on the throne. The passage tells us that Jehoiakim did evil in the sight of the Lord and King Nebuchadnezzar came and took him captive. Jehoiakim was succeeded first by Jehoiachin, then by Zedekiah. Each of these kings did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and the people became ever more unfaithful. God sent prophets to call them back to him, but they did not listen. Finally, King Nebuchadnezzar came, destroyed Jerusalem, and took the people into captivity.

Rose of sharon bud
Rose of sharon bud

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

     Paul starts off by stating his credentials and that he is writing to the church in Corinth. Paul says something very important here. He says that the church in Corinth was called by God to be His holy people; that is, saints. But, Paul tells us, this is true not just of the church in Corinth, it is true of everyone everywhere who calls on the name of Jesus.

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     There is a great song by Wayne Watson called “People of God” which takes what Paul is saying here and puts it into musical form. I won’t quote it here because of copyright, but you can go read the lyrics and listen to it here

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     Paul goes on to thank God that the church in Corinth has been blessed by God with speech to suit every purpose and the knowledge to serve God according to His will. They do not lack any spiritual gift that might be necessary to carry out God’s will among them. This too is true of the church everywhere.
     Having finished his introduction, Paul gets into the heart of why he is writing to the church in Corinth. He writes that he has been told that there are factions among them. That various ones among them are lifting up the teachings of one or another teacher of the early Church as being authoritative while that of other teachers was not. Paul is writing to tell them to live in harmony with one another. The Church should be united in mind and thought.
     What Paul is writing about is denominationalism. Some people are Baptists (or Methodists, or Brethern, or Catholics, or…) and anyone who is not Baptist (or whatever denomination that person is) is going to Hell. Paul is writing to tell the Corinthians (and us) that such an approach is wrong. Of course, some Christians try to say, “Well, he’s not talking to me. I’m non-denominational. I’m not part of any denomination. I just worship Christ.” Paul doesn’t let them get off that easy, see verse 12:

Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.”

Christ was not divided and those leaders who we look to as the founders of our various denominations were not crucified for us. We were all baptized in the name of Christ, not some other leader.

Rose of sharon flower and bud
Rose of sharon flower and bud

Psalm 27:1-6

     The first verse of this psalm says it all:

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
so why should I be afraid?
The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger,
so why should I tremble?

There is no one and nothing I need fear except for God Himself. Nothing can happen to me that is against God’s will. No matter what anyone wishes, no matter what happens in the world, nothing can harm me in anyway against God’s will.
     I will strive to live all my life by what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego told Nebuchadnezzar when he threatened to throw them in the fiery furnace:

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

Rose of sharon plant with early spring growth
Rose of sharon plant with early spring growth

Proverbs 20:20-21

     I can only say that I have seen both of these proverbs play out in real life.

August 4, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

2 Chronicles 35-36:23

     Josiah called the people of Israel to celebrate the Passover. He provided a large number of sacrifices for the Passover. In addition, his officials provided even more. The priests and Levites prepared the Passover lambs and gave them to the heads of the family divisions. After they provided for the people, they prepared them for all the priests and Levites in such a manner that those whose duties were otherwise (musicians, gatekeepers, etc) did not have to leave their posts in order to celebrate the Passover. This whole thing was an example of the leadership taking an attitude of service.
     Josiah’s reign ended when Neco, the king of Egypt, marched to battle against Babylon in support of the remnants of the Assyrian Empire. Josiah went out to prevent Neco from marching through his lands (the only practical way to get from Egypt to where the Egyptians were planning to confront the Babylonians) despite Neco telling him that he had no interest in fighting him. Josiah was killed in the battle. Josiah’s son, Jehoahaz succeeded him. However, Neco took him captive on his return from his defeat by the Babylonians and placed his brother, Eliakim (who was renamed Jehoiakim) on the throne. Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years, until Nebuchadnezzar took him captive and placed his son, Jehoiachin, on the throne. However, the following spring, Nebuchadnezzar sent for Jehoiachin to come to Babylon and replaced him on the throne with his uncle Zedekiah. We are told that during this time period the people did progressively more evil, turning to worship of other gods led by the kings that reigned during this time. Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar came and took the remaining populace into captivity.

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

     Paul begins his letter to the Corinthian church by telling them that they have been called by God to be a holy people. Not only did God call us to be a holy people, He made us holy through Jesus. Paul tells us that God did this for the Corinthian believers and for those who call on the name of Jesus everywhere. Paul tells them that God has given the Church in Corinth many gifts, including eloquent words and knowledge. He says that God will keep them strong until the end. I believe that Paul is being genuine here, despite the rebukes he writes this letter to give them. Paul is telling them that they are doing well, before going on to tell them that they have areas that need improvement.
     Paul then gets to the first issue that he wants to confront them about, their divisiveness. He condemns them for dividing into groups and justifying their arguments on the basis of, “Paul taught this.” “Oh yeah, well Apollos taught us to do it this way.” “Well, you’re both wrong, Peter taught it differently.” “Well, I don’t follow any man-made rules. I just follow Jesus.” Does that sound familiar? While I think right now the Church in the U.S. is not as bad in its divisiveness as at sometimes in the past. However, I find it interesting the number of people who use this passage to justify their hostility to denominations who never notice that they are doing the same thing. Paul is not particularly attacking denominations (although denominations came to be partially out of what Paul is condemning). Paul is talking here about the human tendency to set up our way as the only right way and to try to say, “You don’t do it right. That makes me better than you.” Paul is telling us here that we should strive to live in unity with one another and recognize that we are all equally sinners before God. However, he, also, points out that some of the people crying “Unity, unity,” are just as divisive as anybody else.

Psalm 27:1-6

     This is a psalm for us to remember in times when we are tempted to fear. While the psalm reads as the expression of a confident person, I sense a bit of “whistling past the graveyard” in it. I think the psalmist was looking at what was going on around him and felt fear. But he thought about it and said, “I trust God, what is there to fear?” In the face of his fears, he reviewed his belief in the power of God. As he did so, his fears diminished and his joy in serving God increased. The same can happen for us. If, when fear begins to rise in us, we remind ourselves of God’s great power and His promises to care for and protect us, we will find our fears receding. If we praise God and strive to serve Him in the face of our fears, those fears will be pushed aside and we will realize the joy of serving God.

Proverbs 20:20-21

     The New Living Translation says that if you insult your parents your light will be put out. Other translations say that if you curse your parents. I think either way this is hard to get at the way we use words today. This is talking about calling down evil upon your parents. It is curse as in wishing that something nasty happen to them. And from looking at the various translations, I think the sense of what will happen is a descent into metaphorical darkness as if your eyes had been put out. The result will be like trying to find your way in a cave with no light source.
     The second of today’s proverbs tells us that those who receive wealth at a young age will likely fail to learn important life lessons.