Using Young's Literal Translation Bible Readings 365 for serious Bible students
Temporada 1
por Sally Ann Jackson
Jesus says to the Sadducees, "Ye go astray, not knowing the writings, nor the power of God" This is a judgment which could fall on all of us. We need to know the writings, the Scriptures, with long and faithful study, and meditate on them and seek to understand with the help of the Holy Spirit, and we also need to seek to know the power of God. Then we will not go astray, we will not get things wrong in our understanding of the Scriptures and the power of God. The Sadducees did not believe that there will be the rising again . Jesus proves from the Scriptures that there is, for God is not the God of the dead but of the living. He is not the God of the dead Abraham, or the dead Isaac, or the dead Jacob. That would be a senseless, pointless, macabre, sinister person to be. But God is God of the living. Alleluia! The Sadducees were wrong in their mocking the idea of "the rising again", by giving a foolish question of how it might be for a woman who had married 7 different men. We see mocking as a reaction to the preaching of the gospel by Paul - it is one of the reactions people will have when they hear this gospel: Jesus died for our sins according to the Writings, and that he was buried, and that he hath risen again according to the Writings (1 Cor 15:3-4) But when people believe the gospel, they are saved from God's judgment of them, as mockers and scorners and disbelieving, rejecting, insulting and ignoring people will not avoid God's righteous judgment of them. Beware! Jesus gives the Sadducees a straight answer and one we can take note of, that in "the rising again" they do not marry nor are given in marriage, "but are as messengers of God in heaven." So our job, under God, in the rising again will be to take God's truth to every situation on earth during the reign of Jesus on the earth when he returns (I Thessalonians 4:14). Our time on earth is to prove our worth in doing this now that we may be rewarded in the age to come - well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord
"For many are called but few are choice" Few prove worthy. Few are quality. Few are choice people, committed in obedience to the service of Christ. The last four words are generally translated 'but few are chosen.' This is another example of where the object and the subject are reversed: the object is the one making the choice. God gives out the invitation and the invited make their choice, just as He had shown his wonders to the Pharoah but the result is Pharoah hardens his heart. It sounds from the translation that the calling person is also the one doing the choosing. But the words that follow show that the ones who are invited make the decision: theirs is the response to the invitation The first of those who are called to his marriage feasts "were not willing to come". We can be called but refuse to be chosen, so we cannot be chosen. Our willingness is a necessity for our being chosen. In the second example of those called has an added detail about the feast which make it more attractive, inviting and enticing, "my dinner I prepared, my oxen and fatlings have been killed and all is ready" but they, "having disregarded, went away, the one to his own field and the other to his merchandise" . They disregard, they are not interested, they pay no attention, it has not appeal for them, they do not listen or bother to respond. They are busy getting on with the things they find more interesting - 'the one to his own field' and the other to his merchandise. You cannot serve both God and Mammon. The marriage feast has no appeal for those who want to make money, who are preoccupied with how to do that, or to indulge in to what they own, "his own field". If we are busy about the things of the world, we can have no time or interest in stopping in order to answer the invitation to God's marriage feast. And what of the rest who were called? The Scripture says: " having laid hold of his servants, did insult and slay them." These ones persecute, insult and kill those who interrupt them and make sure they will not waste any more off their time make and will not occur again by killing the servants of God. From God's point of view, these ones are not "choice". They are not worthy of the invitation. But if we read the words as 'few are chosen' it sounds like God is making the choice whereas it is us who make the choice . The sentence could be continued 'few are chosen because they are not willing to leave what they want to do in their lives and come to a marriage feast instead.
What an exultation is this Song of Moses which the children of Israel and Moses sing and speak. They tell of the wonder that God has done in rescuing them from the Pharoah, and of His judgment of Pharoah and all his force whom God covered in the depths of the sea as He commanded the waters to. We should sing this too when we understand the wonder of our salvation: "My strength and song is JAH, And He is become my salvation: this is my God and I glorify Him, God of my father and I exalt Him. Jehovah is a man of battle; Jehovah is His name. " Alleluia! God will cast Satan and his force which followed him in rebellion against God into the lake of fire: the destroyer, the liar, the accuser of the brethren, the murderer from the beginning, the one who rose up against God to seek to seize his throne, Lucifer, who had light and beauty given by God, but evil was found in him, who opposes all God does and works with death and destruction, with war and anger, goes out to deceive the whole world will be destroyed for ever. As Jesus saw Satan cast out of heaven, so we will see God cast him into the lake of fire. Alleluia! As David also sang in Psalm 18, God judges in righteous anger and takes us to Himself: "He sendeth from above - He taketh me, he draweth me out of many waters. He delivereth me from my strong enemy, and from those hating me. For they have been stronger than I. " (vs 15-16) As the hymn pronounces "I am weak but thou art mighty" (Guide me oh thou great redeemer) Give Him the glory great things he hath done!
Many times we hear God say to Moses that He has strengthened Pharoah's heart so that He might do mighty wonders and show that He is God. In English we typically understand things literally. We take each significant word and assign it equal value rather than understanding the whole. Thus English lawyers can be found nit-picking over individual words to prove or disprove a point but in European law there is a purposive approach, so that the intention of the law is looked for, not the meaning of the individual words the law is made up of, and judgment made accordingly. Thus we should be aware that the purpose of God is that, knowing the Pharoah's heart, He can demonstrate His sovereign power, because the Pharoah will not be changed by anything he sees or hears. If God used his power where someone could be open to change their position it would be to force that person to submit, it would be blackmail or an abuse of power, or exercising domination over another being who is much less powerful than himself, bullying or frightening them into submission. God will not do this. He will never overrule someone's right to decide freely, their moral right to choose. There is no way someone like this is going to change. We see this as we watch the Pharoah's reactions. Even when the final plague of the death of all the firstborn, human and beast, causes the Egyptian people to rise up and urge him to let the Hebrew people go, he does so out of reaction not decision and shortly afterwards he realises what he has done, forgets the cost to his nation and people, and pursues Moses and the people he has let go, seeing only that his workforce is gone and seeking to undo that 'mistake'. So what is the meaning when God says 'I have strengthened the Pharoah's heart.' It is Pharoah's reaction to God. The effect of God on Pharoah is that Pharoah becomes more entrenched in resisting any understanding that he, Pharoah, has One greatly superior in power and majesty to him. Nothing can dissuade him, move him, shake him or reason with him. God can rightly continue to demonstrate his power so that HIs own people will have the opportunity, taken justly by God, to experience the awesome power of God and to rightly fear him and to bring judgment on Egypt and its gods. For Pharoah, it is inconvenient when a plague hits but he only has to ask Moses and it will end. He even says that he has sinned, understanding, wrongly, that the plague is punishment but his reaction is to find the way to return to the status quo where he is in charge and any discomfiting thoughts are put aside. His servants see that it is the hand of God and he should stop trying to fight God but he has a heart that will not change. What is this condition of the heart that refuses to know God? The chief priests and the scribes see Jesus heal the blind and the lame in the Temple. The Scripture says that they saw "the wonderful things" that Jesus did , so they should have been filled with wonder and praise, but their reaction is to be displeased. What is going on in their heart and why? For both Pharoah and Pharisees we see that they had power and position. They had an understanding of their own position which was full of pride, and which they were determined not to lose. Though they saw "the wonderful things" they could not wonder at what God does and who He is because they alone were important; they would not listen or humble themselves to lose their position because one greater than them was before them. They had an immutable sense of their own rightness and rightfulness of their position to judge and act according to their own will, to keep what they assumed was theirs as their right. Beware of these characteristics in ourselves! If we judge from a position of superiority, beware! Humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Be subject to Him and His will and He will bless you
The Passover in Exodus and Jesus telling his disciples that "the Son of Man shall be delivered to the chief priests and scribes and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the nations to mock and to scourge and to crucify and the third day he will rise again" reflect on one another. How good it is to read the Old Testament and after it follow with reading the New Testament! In doing so, we see the way that all Scripture points to Jesus foretelling what is to come and how God's "age-during" desire is to rescue His people from living in a place where He is not known or followed and to bring them out into a place of blessing and plenty, of security and safety. This was David's experience who continually prayed to and put his trust in God. As in today's reading from Psalm 18, David rejoices that his cry to God to save him from his enemies is heard and his life is saved. "I love Thee, O Jehovah, my strength. Jehovah is my rock and my bulwark, And my deliverer, My God is my rock, I trust in Him: My shield and a horn of my salvation, My high tower, The 'Praised One' I call Jehovah, and from my enemies I am saved." There is no better thing in life than for us to "rise up and follow HIm"
When things are going well for us, when we prosper, when our health is good, when where we live is blessed with a benign climate, when there is order in nature and damaging insects or disease do not destroy our crops and food, we are not driven into the arms of God to fear Him and honour HIm. Even here when a disaster ceases at the intercession of Moses, Moses knows that the Pharoah and His servants are "not yet afraid of the face of God". But when things do not go well for us, when illness or loss or grief hits us, then we may remember God and turn to Him in our hour of need. We may then spread our palms towards Jehovah, and pray that He will remove that which we feared which has come upon us. And whatever we go through, God will be with us, His rod and staff they comfort us. We will not be afraid under the wings of the Almighty. Some say that God is in control of everything so that anything that happens in our lives is the will and purpose of God. Not so! This is a monstrous doctrine and leads to terrible interpretations and explanations, that say that somehow this tragedy or loss in our lives is within the "mystery of God", that it was His purpose that our child should die in a car accident or our parents from a cruel illness, that people may starve in war or the rain does not come so that harvests fail, or storms or fires or earthquakes or volcanoes or tsunamis destroy all that we own. God has so established things that we have free will and this is freedom of choice, and He has purposefully withheld HIs own power and authority so that whatever happens in the world is according to human choices, and spiritual forces against God and His creation, for God is opposed in both the spiritual realm and on earth where the effect of these spiritual forces are worked out. For to have real choice there must be the possibility to choose good or evil. And in our ability to choose, His authority can be prayed for by us, to request that God bring His power to bear on the earth. We, who believe, and have the gift of the Holy Spirit, God's own life and power living within us, may also exercise His authority as servants under Him. Jesus tells the people, when the Pharisees have said that Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons, that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, "but if by the finger of God I cast forth demons, then come unawares upon you has the reign of God. (Luke 11:14-20) We cannot command the reign of God to come but as we live in obedience to the King, we find the power of his reign comes unawares. "we have not the wrestling with blood and flesh, but with the principalities, with the authorities, with the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, with the spiritual things of the evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12)
At first Pharoah's heart is ignorant, " Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken to His voice, to send Israel away? I have not known Jehovah and Israel also I do not send away" (Exodus 5:2) As he hears Moses tell that "the God of the Hebrews hath met with us", a revolutionary thought for a kingdom which worshipped remote gods which neither speak nor hear, the Pharoah's only understanding is that Moses is seeking to free the people from its works. As God continues to reveal himself to Pharoah through Moses' words and the extraordinary events that God brings as Moses holds out the rod of authority in accordance with God's words and commands, we see Pharoah's reaction is to harden his heart. It is one thing to be ignorant of God but when that ignorant heart is not open to learn, is not humble to listen, is full of its own judgement and prejudice, that is to block the way for God to soften our heart and to hear His voice call us to Himself. It is in this meaning that God says, "I will harden his heart". It is a result of encountering God, not of God acting upon him. For God does not override our moral choices, does not make us become anything but what we choose to be. There is always a choice. Pray that our hearts might be softened by God, that we might have hearts of flesh and His law will be written in our hearts that we might choose to do what is right and pleasing in His sight. "This is my beloved son. Listen to Him." Someone somewhere has explained the effect God has upon a person's heart in this way: God is like the sun which shines on butter and on clay; the first melts before Him in humility and recognition of our own sinfulness, as Peter said " Depart from me for I am a sinful man, oh Lord (Luke 5:8); the second dries and hardens and cracks before Him in pride and self-righteousness and superiority, thinking we are better and know better and judge better than God, "Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken to His voice".
If we do not forgive others, the result in us is that we are delivered to the inquisitors till we have paid to God all that was owing to him, We open the way for the accuser of the brethren, Satan, to have the right to release his inquisitors to question us continually about our wrong-doing. We do not have peace with God but a perpetual torment of accusation and guilt. We are to forgive each one his brother from our hearts their trespasses. This is so important a teaching, a principle we must live by, that Jesus in teaching his disciples how to pray tell us to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" Those people who have forgiven the perpetrators of great evil against them, even the murder of members of their family, are not then held under the additional pain of thoughts of anger and bitterness and revenge but are able to live and grieve and seek to turn to good what had been purposed for evil. We have seen this attitude of heart in Joseph in forgiving his brothers and seeing instead that God brought good out of what human beings intended as evil for God is in the business of reducing the harm to us when we put our trust and hope in him and do not live in hatred of those who have done us wrong. In his book, Beneath the Cross of Jesus, A. Leonard Griffith tell the story of a young Korean exchange student, a leader in Christian circles at the University of Pennysylvania, who was murdered by a gang of eleven teenage boys. All of Philadelphia cried out for revenge and the district attorney planned to seek the death penalty for the arrested youth. And then, the following letter arrived, singed by the boy's parents and twenty other relatives in Korea. "Our family has met together and we have decided to petition that the most generous treatment possible within the laws of your government be gien to those who have commited this criminal action ... In order to give evidence of our sincere hope contained in this petition, we have decided to save money to start a fund to be used for the religious, educational, vocational and social guidance of the boys when they are released ... We have dared to express our hope with a spirit received from the gospel of our Saviour Jeus Christ who died for our sins." When you forgive, you are no longer a victim but a victor. (quoted from God's Little Devotional Bible, published by Honor Books.
God's name is "I am". He always is. He is ever present. He is the living God who speaks and hears and acts and feels and chooses and responds and initiates - just as we do , for we are made in His image. But, unlike us, He is the creator of the heavens and the earth and everything in them. He is the great I AM. We live and die, but God is above and beyond and around all things. He is worthy of glory, and honour and praise, and also to receive our love and to be obeyed and the One we should desire to please and delight. We shall be His people and He will be our God.
What trouble our imaginations can make for us. The Pharoah who ruled Egypt many years after Joseph imagined that the Hebrews, who had become very numerous, could join with an enemy and attack Egypt where they were living. As a result he brought great suffering to the Hebrews, making them work as slaves harder and harder, and then killing the baby boys. In the time of Noah, God sees "that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart (is) only evil all the day". Things are invented in the heart, imagining what we might do and imagining what others might do and these imaginings become forceful to action and if the imagining is evil then the action which follows it will be evil. Do not believe imagination; it is fiction not fact.