OT Prophecies...

Kind of a random thought today, but here goes...

We all know the story of how Jesus had His beard pulled out of his cheek. You remember, it says that in Matthew... I mean in Mark... or was it Luke... must be John... Nope. None of those places tell us that Jesus had His beard pulled out. It is Isaiah 50:6 that says that. It is an Old Testament prophecy about Jesus giving His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. At the same time it is also Isaiah saying these things...

Another illustration: Psalm 22. The Psalm begins with "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" This was quoted by Jesus on the cross. Then, reading through the Psalm, we find that these very words could have been spoken by Jesus on the cross, including the piercing of His hands and feet - even though crucifixion wasn't even invented yet! He speaks of parting His garments, about the people mocking Him, and saying, He trusted God, let Him deliver Him, etc.

But, then we get to Psalm 69:9. John 2:17 says that the first part of this verse referred to Christ, "For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up..." when Jesus overthrew the tables in the temple. And then Romans 15:3 says the second half of this verse was referring to Christ, "The reproaches of them that reproached me fell on thee." Ok, great, no problem.

So, let's go a verse earlier, Psalm 69:8. "I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children." That's neat that it doesn't say, "my Father's children." Mary did have other children with Joseph, and Jesus was not accepted among them (confirmed by John 7:5). Besides, can you imagine growing up with someone that never did anything wrong... I'm sure my brothers felt the same way growing up with me, but that's another story.

So, we go another verse earlier, Psalm 69:7. "Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face." Jesus on the cross did take shame (Heb 12:2) and reproach.

A verse earlier, Psalm 69:6. Nothing too special, just a request that those that wait on the Lord not be ashamed for my sake.

A verse earlier, Psalm 69:5. "O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee." Uh oh... I think we are now back to David only here, and not Jesus any more... Ok, I don't 'think' I am sure. Jesus never sinned.

Ok, so my question is this. How can we determined when the context of a prophecy that was fulfilled ceases talking about the prophecy and is only talking about the immediate context? Or, another more specific question, How do we know that Jesus had His beard pulled out? What if Isaiah's prophecy of the Messiah stopped before or started after that phrase?

Just a random thought I had...

Pride & Contention

Proverbs 13:10: Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.

Webster's 1828 dictionary defines contention as: Strife; struggle; a violent effort to obtain something, or to resist a person, claim or injury; contest; quarrel.

I used to have in my mind that contention encompassed all disagreements, but in reality it comes into place when having a differing opinion turns into strife or a struggle. I can strongly disagree with a brother about something, and that is not sin (Though, it may be for him, if he disagrees with me, I mean, come on...). However, when that disagreement grows into strife, and I begin to exercise a "violent effort to obtain" the agreeement that I'm right, then I can know that it was my pride that caused the contention.

Disagreements and varying opinions aren't necessarily caused by pride, but contention is. It's not my problem if someone disagrees with what I believe to be right. I can teach my viewpoint, I can present the differing stance that I hold to my brother, in love. That would be the right way - otherwise, "Only by pride cometh contention."

Just a thought...

Poor and Needy

I was reading my Bible yesterday, and the thing that stuck out to me was this, I am needy. Now, that's not a big deal, except for this thought: I needed the Bible to tell me that.

You see, my life is pretty good. I have a beautiful wife and family, great friends, a good job, plenty of food, a house, two cars, good health... Things are good. It would be easy for me to look at my life and say, I don't need anything. But, the Bible says that I'm needy.

Now, I recognize that God is the source of all, that by Him all things exist, etc. I have that knowledge already. I have the knowledge that I need Him for everything, yet my daily life too often does not rely on Him for things - I'm all set.

God really wants us to recognize that we need Him. Sometimes He does things to help us remember that... like when my car broke down last night :) It was a small, but perfect reminder that we do NEED, and that we do need to rely on God to meet our needs.

Lord, increase our faith.

Just a thought.

Missing Out...

So, I have this friend from church that was unable to be at First Bible's grand opening service at the new church building. It was a special day where we had our founding pastor, Pastor Mullen, visiting. We gave Pastor Grace a plaque, dedicating this new auditorium as the George P. Grace Auditorium. We had a lot of other old timers come and visit, and it was really a good time. My friend missed it...

We also have this men's conference coming up at church on October 19th and 20th. (Signup is at the north welcome booth by the way.) Brother Billy Wood from Grace Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia will be preaching at the Men's Conference that weekend . My friend won't be able to make it to the Men's Conference either. Even though God used Brother Billy to be instrumental in my friend's life in a major way...

My friend is a missionary. He was at a church in New Jersey this past weekend and will be in Prospect, New York later on in October during the conference. He is going to be missing out on a lot that goes on around here. And I happen to know that he loves being around First Bible.

For those of you that don't know, I'm referring to Michael Barone specifically. And, you know what, I have another friend that was out of town during our big dedication as well, Kevin Pestke. Now, these may just be small things, but these men and other missionaries all around the world, have given up much to be obedient to what God has for them. I admire their faith that they would be willing to look forward to a city not made with hands.

Lord, increase our faith.

Just a thought...

How Foolish

Everyone is familiar with National Atheist Day, right? The first of April?

Well, I was preparing for Home Bible Study on Friday night, and we were learning about 'salvation.' What better place to learn from than from Romans 3. I think vss. 9-28 may be one of the best passages to expository teach on the subject of salvation... I'm sure others could be mentioned.

I was reading in Romans 3, beginning in 10 where it says, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

Recently, my daily Bible reading had me read through Psalm 53, so I recognized that Romans 3 was quoting that passage. Psalm 53:1 is the verse that says, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God..." (Hence, April 1st, April Fools Day is National Atheist Day.) Anyway, Psalm 53:1 continues, "...Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good... Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

I learned something... Psalm 53 talks about the fool. It is foolish to say there is no God, and it is foolish to become filthy, etc. But I think the two go together. I think that when a Christian sins, they are actually saying in their hearts... There is no God.

Now, I know that statement is not completely true. Paul always believed in God and struggled with the flesh. Regardless, to some degree, when we are faced with temptation and are given time to consider it, and we still sin - I think we are saying in our hearts... There is no God... and since there's no God, it's ok for me to do this.

Lord, increase our faith.

Just a thought...