Sunday 29th December 2024
Read Psalm 89
If you don’t have a bible at home you can find the readings on a website such as www.biblegateway.com or an app such as YouVersion
This Psalm is titled “A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite”. He was a Levite whose father was Zerah and he had four brothers (1 Chron 2:6). Apart from his authorship of this Psalm he is mentioned in 1 Kings 4:3 as one of the wise men of Israel.
In the Psalm he sings of “the Lord’s great love for ever” and speaks of the covenant that God made with David to establish his line for ever and make his throne firm through all generations. This covenant was fulfilled in David’s greater Son, Jesus, and the whole Psalm hints at so many things in Jesus life; “Who can live and not see death, or who can escape the power of the grave” (v48) – it was Jesus of course. The glory of the Messiah who was born at Christmas time is that he was set on the road to resurrection in which all his people who follow him will share. No wonder Ethan finishes with “Praise be to the Lord forever! Amen and Amen”.
READINGS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
As you read the Bible Stop; Read; Ponder; and Pray.
Monday Acts 28:1-10
Having arrived safely on Malta Luke says they found they were welcomed and helped with kindness and because it was raining and cold they were very glad of that support. There are times where Christian people are helped and benefited by people who do not know the gospel and it is there that we realise that God uses all manner of people to help us. We need to give thanks for all help and assistance that we receive. It is also a word about how we help refugees in need, some who arrive on our shores today by boat with little to their names.
Then came the episode with the snake which fastened onto Paul’s hand as he was gathering wood for the fire. The superstition of the people came to light as they thought it must be a judgement by the gods on Paul yet after a while, when he was still well, thought he must be a god himself. Things may happen to us day by day which are not necessarily linked to any particular thing in our life.
Publius, the chief official of the island gave Paul shelter and hospitality and was blessed by Paul’s prayers and healing hands laid on his sick father which gave rise to many on the island bringing sick people seeking his prayers and healing services.
Doubtless much was done on the island of Malta during the three months that Paul was there but Luke doesn’t say any more. Some of the earlier visits of Paul to towns and cities around the Eastern Mediterranean have much more said of them. We ought to bear in mind that it is not always the most visible or memorable of situations that count for the most in the work of the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul speaks of the body of Christ and its many members, some parts of the body with less honour we treat with special honour, and the unpresentable parts with special modesty, telling of God giving greater honour to the parts that lacked it. Who knows but that some unknown early believer from Malta became a great ambassador for the gospel in later years?
After three months of wintering on the island Luke tells us of the Alexandrian ship with figureheads of Castor and Pollux which eventually took them to Puteoli in Italy about two- or three-days South of Rome. Its notable that there were believers there who invited them to stay a week and thereafter on the way North they were met with some from Rome who had travelled South to meet them showing that there was a well-established Church in Rome. At last he arrived at Rome and was given reasonable freedom under a guard of a soldier.
Wednesday Acts 28:17-31
Now he is in Rome, Paul calls together the Jewish leaders. We should note that Paul’s name had become known across the ancient world certainly among the Christians but also within the Jewish community. He explains that he was arrested and given to the Roman authorities who found nothing to charge him with but because of the Jews insistence of getting rid of him he appealed to Caesar. He tells them that he is not going to counter-charge against the Jewish people. The leaders in Rome say they had received no letters from Jerusalem concerning him but they knew that many were talking about “this sect” as the called the growing Churches,.
On arranging another day to speak to them, a larger group arrived and he spoke from morning till evening explaining the kingdom of God from the scriptures of Moses (the book of the Law) and from the prophets. If Paul did this present day believers need to read and get to grips with what the Old Testament says about the Kingdom of God because that is what the New Testament is built upon.
Some believed but, as elsewhere, some argued against, and in their disagreement Paul quoted from God’s word to Isaiah about the people of Israel that they would have hard hearts closing their eyes to the truth. This is always the result of preaching the gospel, discord results. Paul says, “if you won’t listen, I will go to others” meaning the Gentiles and he is still in Roma two hears later when Luke finishes his long narrative for Theophilus who the book, along with his gospel, is for (Acts 1:1).
The Kingdom of Israel – it’s decline and fall.
What is the “Kingdom” that the Bible speaks about – the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of heaven, the Kingdom of Israel. It is the realm over which there is a king, a head, or ruler. In a cosmic sense God is the Ruler over everything (see Genesis 1 or Hebrews 1). The story of the Bible is that God was going to create a kingdom over which he was going to make man a king or head. His eventual plan would be to unite his kingdom with man’s so that the two would become one. Because of the failure of man to accept this, leading to his rebellion and the breakdown of that kingdom, God chose a man through whom he would bring a king in due course to unite both heaven and earth. That man was Abraham, and his descendants became that little earthly kingdom that was going to give birth to God’s unifying king.
The Old Testament is the story of that little kingdom which grew, struggled with God’s plan, and became the object of bitter attack from without and within
The books of Samuel and Kings tell us of that kingdom and we are going to pick up the story again reading in 2 Kings.
Thursday 2 Kings 1:1-8
We finished reading in 1 Kings on the 14th of July this year with Ahaziah, the son of Ahab becoming King of Israel (the Northern kingdom) while Jehosaphat was king of Judah (the Southern kingdom”). Remember the kingdom split in two after the reign of Solomon.
The chapter begins with an account of an accident Ahaziah had and what he did about it. He feels though the lattice of his upper room severely injuring himself and he sent messengers to go and consult Baal-zebub, the God of Ekron, to see if he would recover.
The messengers didn’t get that far because God told Elijah to go and meet the messengers and tell them to go back and say, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!’”. That certainly gave him the answer to his question.
When the messengers returned with the not particularly helpful message, the King asked them who they had spoken to and when they described him, Ahaziah knew at once who it was – Elijah the Tishbite,
The truth is often not acknowledged yet the heart of people know when something is true. Ahaziah wanted to suffocate this voice and so sent captains of 50 men to bring this troublesome prophet to him. When the men arrived with their summons to him to give himself up (v10), his response was not in mere words but in a summons to God to judge his supposed captors and fire came down and judged them. When the third captain came he pleaded for his life and that of his men and God said to Elijah to go with them and not be afraid.
Boldly, he repeated his message face to face with Ahaziah challenging him as to why he was seeking help from a false God, the God of Ekron, and not the Lord. “Is there no God in Israel for you to consult?” was his challenge. It must be the same challenge to anybody then or now, ther is only one God and He it is who should be consulted on all matters of life and death. Ahaziah wouldn’t and the message of God through Elijah came true. He had followed his parent’s Ahab and Jezebel in their wickedness and his brother, Joram, followed him as King.
Saturday 2 Kings 2:1-18
In this chapter we come to the departure of Elijah and the introduction of his successor as prophet, Elisha. Elijah means Jahweh is my God, while Elisha means Jahweh help. Both men are big and important figures in the Old Testament. The narrative tells of the departure of Elijah in a whirlwind and his end being known by other prophets (v3). Elisha who has been his companion sticks by him to the end.
Just like the narrative of the children of Israel entering the promised land under Joshua, Elijah causes the waters of the Jordan to part for him and Elisha to cross, but they are crossing over in the opposite direction to Joshua. It comes as a symbol that the people of God having departed from Him, the prophets are showing that the land is being taken from them.
The phrase about a mantel falling on someone which is still used today comes from this passage where Elijah passes on his position in Israel as a prophet of God to Elisha. The song “Swing Low, sweet Chariot” comes from this passage too as it speaks of God sending his chariot to gather Elijah up to himself. Elisha’s call “My Father, my Father! The chariots and horseman of Israel!” which has been commented on in different ways but possibly he is referring to Elijah as being to Israel like the armies of God. Taking the mantel of Elijah he returned into the land over the Jordan as they had left it and the company of prophets from Jericho acknowledged him as being the successor of Elijah. They wanted to find Elijah but Elisha told them it would be in vain because God had taken him. Sometimes we need to let go of faithful figures of the past as we learn to live in the present with God’s guidance through others.
