Skip to main content

Numbers 8-9

Numbers

8:1-26  -  The Levites were ‘set apart’ for God (14). They were ‘a gift to Aaron... to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting...’ (19).  We are to work together as a team. ‘Yield yourselves to God...’ (Romans 6:13): Help each other to be better servants of Christ. The ‘lampstand’ (1-4): ‘Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’ (Psalm 119:105). Without Christ, the living Word, we remain in darkness. With Him we ‘walk in the light’, in the joy of His salvation (John 8:12; 1 John 1:7). ‘Service for the people of Israel’ (19): As servants of Christ - He ‘came not to be served but to serve’ (Mark 10:45) - , we are to serve others for ‘Jesus’ sake’ (2 Corinthians 4:5). To those whom we serve, we say, ‘We are your servants but you are not our lords’. Jesus is Lord: It is ‘as the Lord commands’ (22).
9:1-23  -  God’s people were ‘in the wilderness’ (1) - No longer in the land of bondage, not yet in the land of promise. This is our situation.  The Passover directs our attention to the death of Christ, ‘our Passover Lamb’ (4; 1 Corinthians 5:7). The Cloud directs us to the return of Christ - ‘He is coming with the clouds’ (Revelation 1:7; Matthew 24:30). God’s people are guided by the ‘cloud’ and ‘fire’ (15): Not one without the other, but both together. We need both grace and faith: Not grace without faith, not faith without grace. God is ‘able to keep us from falling’ (Jude 24) - This is grace. We are to keep ourselves in the love of God (Jude 21) - This is faith. ‘Kept by the power of God through faith’ (1 Peter 1:5).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Romans 1-3

ROMANS 1:1-32 -  ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith’ (16). Do you think it was easy for Paul to maintain such commitment to Christ, such confidence in Christ? What kind of world did he live in? – A world of ‘ungodliness and wickedness’ (18-31). Many times, Paul could have given up in despair – ‘There is too much ungodliness and wickedness all around me. How can I go on?’ When you feel like giving up, when everything seems to be so difficult, remember Paul. Remember his longing to ‘impart some spiritual gift’, his desire to ‘reap some harvest’ his eagerness to ‘preach the gospel’ (12-15). Let us say, with Paul, ‘God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Galatians 6:14). Let us be ‘set apart for the gospel of God’ (1). 2:1-29 -  None of us can ‘escape the judgment of God’. None of us can ‘presume upon the riches of His kindness’(3-4). We dare not come to God like the...

1 John 5:1-21

1 John  5:1-21  What a great blessing we receive through faith in Christ - ‘Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God’ (1). Our life as God’s children is not a life of tranquility. We face conflict, real conflict - a battle. In this spiritual warfare, we have God’s promise of victory. In verse 5, we have a question: ‘Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?’. The answer is contained in the question. Our victory is in Christ. We are not victorious because our faith is so strong that we couldn’t possibly fail. Many times, we fail. We take our eyes off Christ - and we are defeated. What are we to do? - when temptations seem to be so many and so powerful. When you feel so weak, let Christ be your Strength. ‘With Christ within, the fight we’ll win’.

1 Kings 5:1-7:12

1 Kings 5:1-6:13   -  Do you ‘rejoice greatly’ when you hear the Word of the Lord (5:7)? God wants to ‘establish His Word’ among us (6:12). He wants to establish His presence among us. He is ‘the Word made flesh’. He ‘dwells among us, full of grace and truth’. He is ‘Emmanuel’ - ‘God with us’ (John 1:14; Matthew 1:23). As you read about the building of the temple, remember God’s Word: ‘You are God’s temple… God’s Spirit lives in you… God’s temple is holy… you are that temple… your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you… We are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will live among them…’(1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16). ‘A dwelling place of God in the Spirit’ - That’s what you are (Ephesians 2:22)! 6:14-7:12   -  Solomon took seven years to build ‘the House of the Lord’ and ‘thirteen years’ to build ‘his own house’ (6:37-7:1)! What are we to make of this? Are we more concerned with pleasing ourselves or serving God? I...