Tag: The Old Testament
When was Joshua written?
They have put no difference between the holy and profane
They have put no difference between the holy and profane (Ezekiel 22:26)
Let justice roll on like a river
What does it mean to “let justice roll on like a river” (Amos 5:24)?
“Let Justice Roll” might be a good title for a new song hitting the music charts. More importantly, the prophet Amos used this phrase in his inspired prophetic message. “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:24).
Many of the prophetic books in the Old Testament call the Jewish people to repentance. The prophets received word from the Lord that He would bring judgment upon His people because they had turned away from Him so greatly. God sent these prophets to warn His people about the day of the Lord and call them to true repentance.
In this context, we find our prophet Amos. He sees the sin of the people, and he is sent by God to warn them to turn away from sin lest they be judged. He calls them to let justice roll—the land should be flooded with justice. As it is, the land is thirsty for justice.
Upon examining Amos 5, it is apparent what sins the people were committing in Amos’s day. One of their sins of injustice was taxing the poor unfairly (Amos 5:11). The court system was unjust because judges and witnesses were taking bribes (Amos 5:12). The innocent and the poor were being oppressed by the corrupt justice system. “Let justice roll on like a river,” God said, but they were damming the river up and creating a desert of injustice.
Yet, these same corrupt people who oppressed the poor and innocent proudly entered the temple to give sacrifices to the Lord and to celebrate His holy festivals. The unrighteous people came to worship God with corruption in their hearts and on their hands. God despises this (Amos 5:21–23)! He sees their sin and evil hearts. God hates that they oppress the poor and have ignored God’s laws about treating them fairly and generously (Deuteronomy 15:7–8; Proverbs 14:31; Leviticus 19:9–10). In the Amos passage, God rejects their sacrifices because those offering them are unrepentant (Amos 5:21–23).
God hates the pretense of the Israelites’ worship in Amos’s day. They are fulfilling the cultic practices so that they can be “good with God.” Yet they continue practicing evil and unrighteousness. Their hearts have not been changed by God’s law or His love. They ignore God’s decrees about living a godly life and mistakenly think that burning incense to the Lord and attending the festivals will keep them in good standing. God would rather have true justice than outward conformity to His laws. “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice (Proverbs 21:3).
God’s law for His people was always about loving God and loving others. In the time of Amos, it seems that His people had totally missed the point. The prophet Hosea reveals the heart of God in this matter: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). God provided the sacrificial system for His people because He knew that they would sin, and He wanted to provide a way for their sin to be cleansed. In Amos’s day, the people used God’s sacrificial system like pagan religious systems. They didn’t follow God’s moral law, and they assumed perfunctory obedience to the letter of the law would suffice. They were stuck in a legalistic religion.
After God communicates His disdain for their pretentious religious practices, void of true repentance, He says, “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:24). God wants the land to be refreshed and nourished by justice. He calls His people to be full of justice and righteousness. The poetic language urges them to be overflowing with these traits. God wants to see them turn away from their wickedness and restore righteousness and justice to the land.
The prophet Amos warns the people of God that they must follow God’s law or else He will send judgment upon them. Amos calls the day when God will judge “the day of the Lord.” Later, both Israel and Judah suffered the devastation of exile and judgment because they failed to heed the repeated warnings of the prophets.
Eventually, God graciously sends another prophet to His people—John the Baptist—and he also preached repentance. Then Jesus came to once and for all be the sacrifice for the sins of His people if they repent and believe in Him for salvation (Hebrews 10:10). It is during the future reign of Christ that we will see justice roll on like a river.
Glorious appearing
What is the glorious appearing in Titus 2:13?
Christians are a hopeful people. The Bible instructs us to be “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
The book of Titus is largely concerned with how people conduct themselves in the church—not the church service but in the community of believers known as the church. While chapter 1 gives instructions for church leaders, chapter 2 focuses on the individual members: instructions to older men (Titus 2:2), older women (verse 3), younger women (verses 4–5), younger men (verses 6–8), and finally slaves (verses 9–10). (We know that many of the early believers were slaves. In fact, slaves at times out-numbered free people in the Roman Empire, and ultimately everyone was considered a slave of Caesar.) Then verses 11–15 conclude with instructions that apply to everyone in the church.
Just before the mention of the glorious appearing of Jesus, we have a challenge to live in a godly manner: “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:11–12). However, living in a righteous manner in this present age is not just an endless grind. We live with an expectation of something to come—something that could happen at any time. We live with a “blessed hope”: the glorious appearing of our God and Savior. Jesus is coming again.
Of course, we know that, when believers die, their souls go to be with Christ in heaven, but that is only a temporary state (see 2 Corinthians 5:1–5). One day Christ will return, and believers who have died will be resurrected; those who are still alive will be given new, perfected bodies (1 Corinthians 15:50–52). This will happen at the glorious appearing of Christ.
This same glorious appearing is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:14–17:
For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
This event is also called the rapture. The word rapture, before it gained a theological usage, simply meant “to be caught up or carried away,” which aptly describes what will happen to believers when Christ appears.
The glorious appearing is when Jesus Christ appears on the clouds to rescue those believers who are alive and to resurrect believers who have died. This is the glorious appearing of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13 describes Jesus as “our great God”—a strong statement of the deity of Jesus Christ. The way the verse is constructed in Greek, this cannot refer to two separate people as in one called “Our Great God” and a second person called “Our Savior Jesus Christ.” The glorious appearing is of one Person who is described as both “Great God” and “Savior,” and His name is Jesus Christ.
It is in view of the any-moment return or glorious appearing of Jesus that we can live the way required by the earlier verses in Titus 2. The final verse of the paragraph further clarifies who Jesus is and what He has done: “Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14). We are redeemed and purified, even as we live in this sinful world, but that redemption and purification will be evident and perfected when Jesus returns. We live in the process now in light of the culmination then—the glorious appearing, which could be any time.
Shelter of the Most High
What is the shelter of the Most High (Psalm 91:1)?
In Psalm 91:1, the psalmist declares that, even in the face of overwhelming danger, the person who places his trust in God will live in safety because God Himself will be his protection: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’” (Psalm 91:1–2, ESV).
In this passage, the psalmist uses three names for God that attest to His divine character: “Most High” (El Elyon in Hebrew) stresses God’s utmost sovereignty and strength; “Almighty” (El Shaddai) depicts His self-existent, all-sufficient ability to do what He says He will do; and “God” (Elohim) emphasizes His supremacy and invincibility.
The believer who lives, dwells, and constantly abides under the shelter of the Most High God can rest safely in His strong and sure protection: “For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection” (Psalm 91:3–4, NLT). The Lord promises to protect, deliver, save, and defend those who love and trust Him (Psalm 91:14–16).
God is a “Mighty Warrior who saves” all those who depend on Him (Zephaniah 3:17). As the “Most High,” He unequivocally levels every possible threat. Whatever He promises, He will do (Joshua 21:45; Psalm 145:13; Hebrews 10:23). Because He reigns supreme over all creation, no one can thwart or undermine His plans and purposes for His beloved people (Numbers 23:19; Isaiah 55:11; Romans 4:21).
In the original Hebrew, the noun translated as “shelter” in Psalm 91:1 means “a suitable place for hiding; covering; protection.” The same term appears in Psalm 27:5: “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock” (see also Psalm 31:20; 119:114). God alone is the true refuge of believers (Deuteronomy 33:27). His sheltering presence is our “hiding place” (Psalm 32:7), “refuge” (Psalm 16:1; 61:3; 142:5), “fortified tower” (Proverbs 18:10), and “fortress” (Psalm 48:3; 62:6–7). Isaiah pictures Him as “a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat” (Isaiah 25:4). No matter what life throws at us, God has us covered.
The shelter of the Most High vividly depicts the divine protection afforded those who live in intimate, daily fellowship with God, trusting in Him and depending on Him with their lives. Such a close relationship with God inspired the psalmist to say, “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 36:7, ESV). We may face danger or persecution, but we know we are safe under the protective covering of our supremely powerful God.
The apostle Paul expressed a similar sentiment: “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9, NLT). Believers are never alone, shaken, or defeated if they dwell in the safe retreat of God’s sheltering presence (see Romans 8:31–39).
The shelter of the Most High does not guarantee immunity from trouble, danger, or threat, but it does offer the promise of God’s presence and protection amid hardship and peril. If we return home again and again to abide in His presence (see John 15:4–9), we will experience healing and renewal of strength (Psalm 23:3; 51:10–12; 73:26; 112:7–8; Habakkuk 3:17–19). We will also discover a spiritual stronghold to launch a counter-attack on our enemies (Psalm 9:9; Joel 3:16; Ephesians 6:10–20).
The shelter of the Most High is God’s promise of protection to all who trust in Him. Those who live in continual communion with the Lord are constantly safe. Under His sheltering wings, they find rest and protection now and forever (Matthew 11:29; Psalm 37:28).
Sing to the Lord a new song
What does it mean to “sing to the Lord a new song” (Psalm 96:1)?
Psalm 96 may hold the key to understanding why worship has continuously evolved throughout history, and new songs have ever been written and sung to the Lord. The psalmist declared, “O sing unto the LORD a new song: Sing unto the LORD, all the earth. Sing unto the LORD, bless his name” (Psalm 96:1–2, KJV).
Many other psalms unite in the refrain: “Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him” (Psalm 98:1). David intoned, “I will sing a new song to you, my God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you” (Psalm 144:9). “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy,” insists Psalm 33:3. Again and again, God’s people are encouraged to “Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people” (Psalm 149:1).
In each of these passages, new means “original,” “fresh,” “one of a kind,” and “never seen before,” or, in this case, “never heard before.” God is a creative God. He’s always doing something new—like saving, intervening, answering prayers, and working miracles. Through the prophet Isaiah, God said, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18–19). Right before this, the Lord declared, “Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth” (Isaiah 42:9–10, ESV).
When we are born into the family of God, He makes us new creatures in Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul explained, “The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17; see also Galatians 6:15). To the Corinthians, Paul said, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Ephesians 2:10).
One thing our inventive God loves is for His newly created people to express innovative, spontaneous, and unrehearsed praise and thanks to Him. Singing unto the Lord a new song is the natural reaction of an individual who is newly saved and transformed by the Lord: “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD” (Psalm 40:3, ESV).
The “new song” we sing does not have to be a newly composed worship number. The new song is merely a fresh response of praise and thanks—one that matches the freshness of God’s goodness and mercy, which are “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23). A new song springs forth unrehearsed from the heart of a worshiper who has been struck anew with wonder at the greatness of God and the salvation He has provided. When we see the mighty hand of God working in a way we’ve never observed before, we can’t help but burst forth with a song we’ve never sung before.
A new song has been heard from people of every generation—sung by a choir of born-again believers who have tasted and seen the goodness and salvation of the Lord. From days of old and for all eternity, followers from every tribe, language, people, and nation sing unto the Lord a new song (Revelation 5:9). Throughout the earth and before the throne of God in heaven, we can hear the redeemed singing a new song to the Lord (Revelation 14:3).
Bless the Lord O my soul
What does it mean to “bless the Lord, O my soul” in Psalm 103:1?
Psalm 103 opens with this rousing exhortation: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” (verse 1, ESV). The same command to “bless the Lord, O my soul!” is repeated in the next verse (Psalm 103:2, NKJV), at the end of the psalm (verse 22), and twice again in Psalm 104, verses 1 and 35. Psalm 103 begins with an individual blessing the Lord with his soul, and it ends with the angels and all of creation joining in (verses 20–22).
The phrase O my soul refers to the author’s total being—his inner self. The New Living Translation renders the meaning of soul here in Psalm 103:1 more transparently: “Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.” When we bless the Lord with our soul, we are praising Him with our whole hearts—with all that we are and everything we have within us.
In addition to “soul,” the Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon gives several English meanings for the original Hebrew word (nephesh), including “heart,” “myself,” “self,” “the breathing substance,” “living being,” “inner being of a person,” “the man himself.”
To “bless” the Lord is to praise Him. The author of Psalm 103 reminds himself and the people of God always to remember to praise the Lord with wholehearted concentration for His love, goodness, compassion, forgiveness, and salvation: “Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!” (Psalm 103:2–5, NLT).
We bless the Lord with our soul when we shake off apathy, absentmindedness, and any negativity that may have crept into our lives. As we use our minds to remember all that God has done for us, we stir up a passionate response of praise and worship that bubbles up from our innermost being.
When the people of Israel recognized that the Lord had not dealt with them according to their sins, they praised Him enthusiastically for His unfailing love: “He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:7–12, NLT). In the same way, when we wholeheartedly give voice to our thankfulness for God’s mercy and grace toward us as sinners, we bless the Lord with our soul.
Psalm 103 is profoundly evangelical and a favored anthem of sinners. Similar exhortations to bless the Lord with our whole being can be observed throughout Psalms: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:5; see also Psalm 42:11; 43:5; 104:1). From the people of ancient Israel to the humblest of sinners today, we bless the Lord with our soul when we think of God’s graciousness toward us and His abounding, steadfast love: “The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust” (Psalm 103:13–14, NLT).
We bless the Lord with our soul when we don’t hold anything back in our praise and worship of Him: “My heart, O God, is steadfast; I will sing and make music with all my soul. Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies” (Psalm 108:1–4).
Youth is renewed like the eagle’s
What does it mean that youth is renewed like the eagle’s (Psalm 103:5)?
In Psalm 103, King David lifts his own heart and leads all future generations of believers in praise to God for His great compassion and mercy. David’s personal experiences and relationship with God form the basis of his declarations about the goodness of God’s character, reminding himself and others to praise the Lord because “he forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!” (verses 3–5, NLT).
David’s heart soars as he remembers, above all, God’s forgiveness of sins and deliverance from death. He marvels at the Lord’s love, mercy, and all the good things God has poured into his life. David was probably advancing in years, but the profound experience of God’s grace and goodness sustains him, making him feel young, strong, and free like an eagle gliding high among the clouds.
David’s sense that his youth is renewed like an eagle’s strength resounds in the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:29–31).
In Scripture, the eagle symbolizes strength, vitality, and speed and is an appropriate metaphor for the transformative power of God’s forgiveness, deliverance, and mercy. Just as the eagle can swiftly attack from above, swooping down and ascending again to the heights, God’s grace can quickly and decisively change our lives, lifting us from a pit of despair. Like David, when we place our hope in the Lord and praise Him for His forgiveness, goodness, and love, our spirit is renewed, and it feels as if we have the strength and vitality of an eagle.
David may have recollected the Lord’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt. God told Moses on Mount Sinai to say to the people, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Exodus 19:4).
In Deuteronomy 32:11, God’s protection and concern are depicted “like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft.” The Old Testament is full of imagery featuring the eagle and its swift movement (Deuteronomy 28:49; 2 Samuel 1:23; Jeremiah 4:13), its powerful, far-reaching flight (Proverbs 23:5; Isaiah 40:31), and its tender care for its young (Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11).
When David said, “My youth is renewed like the eagle’s,” he acknowledged that God had sustained him and satisfied his soul with such goodness that, even in old age, he felt young and strong. He was content. His life was overflowing because His God was enough. Similarly, Paul learned the secret of contentment by depending wholly on Christ for his strength (Philippians 4:12–13).
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream
What is the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2?
At certain times, God has used dreams to communicate with people. One of those people was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Daniel 2 tells how Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, in which God provided an overview of world events in the millennia yet to come.
Character Backgrounds
King Nebuchadnezzar reigned from 605 to 562 B.C., greatly expanding the Babylonian Empire, conquering Jerusalem and deporting the Jews in the process. Daniel was one of those deported from Israel and granted an education in the king’s palace. When God granted Daniel the wisdom to interpret the king’s dream, it launched Daniel’s long career as a political leader, trusted adviser, and well-known prophet.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Threat
One night, Nebuchadnezzar awoke frightened by a dream. The king called for his magi to interpret the nightmare. This was standard procedure in a culture that placed a high importance on dreams and their meaning. However, he added an unprecedented requirement: “Tell me what my dream was and interpret it” (Daniel 2:5). So, not only did the royal wise men have to provide the interpretation of the dream, they had to recount the dream itself. The penalty for failure was death: every magician, enchanter, sorcerer and astrologer in the kingdom would be executed. The worried magi replied, “What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men” (Daniel 2:11). When Daniel heard of this, he was determined to prove God’s power to the king (Daniel 2:18).
Daniel’s Response: The Dream
Daniel asked the king for some time to discover the dream, and then he proceeded to pray all night with three of his fellow exiles. God revealed the dream to him, and Daniel and his friends praised God (Daniel 2:19-23). The next morning, he went to the king and told him about the dream.
The dream featured a huge, glorious statue of a man. Its head was “made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay” (Daniel 2:32-33). Then a rock cut “not by human hands” (Daniel 2:34) hit the foot of the statue, and the whole image “became like chaff on a threshing floor,” while the rock “became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35). This vision, by the way, gives us our modern idiom “feet of clay,” meaning “a hidden fault or weakness.”
Daniel’s Response: The Interpretation
Daniel’s interpretation, given to him by God, explains that the statue represents a series of kingdoms, each less glorious than the one before, as indicated by the decreasing value of the metals. Daniel identifies Nebuchadnezzar as the head of gold, stating that God had given Nebuchadnezzar much power (Daniel 2:37-38). The next kingdom to arise will be inferior to Babylon, as will the next. “Finally, there will come a fourth kingdom, strong as iron. . . . It will crush and break all the others” (Daniel 2:40).
Finally, the feet of mixed clay and iron “will be a divided kingdom” (Daniel 2:41). During the time of this final world empire, the “rock” will smash them all to bits, a prediction that “God . . . will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44). All previous earthly kingdoms will be brought to an end.
The Dream 2,500+ Years Later
The first four kingdoms have been identified as the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman Empires. This identification has come from the workings of history matching further prophecies. Daniel already said that Babylon, specifically Nebuchadnezzar, was the head of gold (Daniel 2:38). Babylon fell to the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians (Daniel 5:26-31). Greece became the successor to the Medo-Persian Empire (Daniel 8:20-21; 10:20 – 11:14). The “iron” empire can only be Rome.
Opinions differ on the fifth empire. Some have tried to identify various periods in Europe’s history as the clay-and-iron feet; others claim the feet represent the divided remnants of Rome before supposedly being “conquered” by Christianity. Still others believe that the clay/iron empire is yet to come: the kingdom of the Antichrist will be a “revived Roman Empire.” The last theory seems to be the best. We know, according to Revelation 17:12-13, that the Antichrist will lead a coalition of ten nations (the statue’s ten toes?). And we know that Christ will defeat the forces of the Antichrist (Revelation 17:14). After that, Jesus will set up His kingdom—the rock smashes the image—and the kingdoms of this world will “become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).
Many scholars have contrasted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2 with Daniel’s vision in chapter 7. Both passages reveal the coming world kingdoms, but the symbolism is strikingly different in each. The pagan king sees the kingdoms of this world as a towering work of art, impressive in size, value, and grandeur (albeit with feet of clay). God’s prophet sees the same kingdoms as bizarre, unnatural beasts, terrifying in aspect and behavior. It’s a difference of perspective: where man sees a stately, glittering tribute to himself, God sees a menagerie of aberrations. “Let us not be desirous of vain glory” (Galatians 5:26, KJV).
