Archive for May, 2007

Isaiah 1:18-20 - “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.  If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.”  For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

This passage, from the opening chapter of Isaiah, originally addressed the Israelites during a period of disobedience and backsliding from the Lord (around 700 years before Christ).  For us today, it provides a vivid picture of the nature of our sin and our need for the Lord’s salvation.   continue

1 Corinthians 11:29-32 – “For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.  But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.  When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”

At the Last Supper, Jesus took bread and the cup and distributed them to the disciples at the table.  He broke a piece of bread and passed it around.  Each took a piece of the same loaf or piece of bread.  Jesus said to take it and eat it because it spoke of His Body.  The same bread was then inside each person who was present.  Jesus was teaching an important lesson.  Jesus Himself is the Bread of Life, and as He indwells each one of us – as we receive the Bread of Life in our souls – he united us spiritually with the other people who have the same Bread of Life (Jesus) inside of them. continue

1 Samuel 17:40 – “Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.”

When David was preparing to fight Goliath, he refused the fancy royal armor and weapons of Saul (1 Samuel 17:38-39).  Instead, he ensured his victory by first kneeling alone at the brook and picking five smooth stones to use in his slingshot.  This is a prophetic picture of how we need to use spiritual weapons to fight our battles with our own fleshly tendencies and attitudes.  Just as the stones in the stream were smooth from the constant flow of water over them (and their smoothness made them effective in the sling), there are certain spiritual disciplines through which the Holy Spirit flows abundantly, and which are very effective in overcoming the internal obstacles to our faith.  We call these the Means of Grace because they open a conduit for God’s grace to flow more abundantly into our lives.

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Ezekiel 5:3 - ”But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.”

This passage describes both the judgment of God on sin, and the grace of God for his faithful servants.  The biblical pattern is for judgment on the world, and deliverance for the saints, to come simultaneously, by the same stroke of God’s hand.  See, for example, Isaiah 61:12, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God…” continue