posted on Thursday February 25 2010
Right now I'm in Leviticus in my OT section of my Bible reading plan.
I noticed an implication of God allowing the poor to bring a lesser offering if they can't afford the prescribed offering:
But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and a tenth of...
The implication I see is that the two male lambs was not the actual atonement for sin. If two lambs without blemish are required to atone for sin, shouldn't that be an absolute standard that can't be compromised?
This dilemma points to Christ. The animal sacrifices were a pointer by God that sin is gross and heinous, and atonement for it is bloody, expensive and gruesome.
posted on Saturday January 30 2010
This morning I read Mark 6, and read "A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household" that Jesus quoted in Nazareth.
Yesterday morning, I read in Mark 5, "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you."
And it made me ponder the mixture of these two verses. Their seems to be a sense in which the people who knew you growing up, you ought to go witness to them. God intercepted your life, and your hometown friends should know about it. And there is another sense, it seems, that a man that God has gotten ahold of can have the Spriit of God in him, but his hometown peeps have a hard time taking him seriously.
posted on Thursday January 07 2010
Perhaps there should be a Bible reading plan that went slower through the highly significant* portions of the Bible more slowly. I just started the ESV Outreach Bible reading plan that starts Genesis 1 on January 1. It's been covering 2 chapters a day since.
Today included the blessing of Abram by Melchizedek (huge event!), and God's promise and covenant with Abram (huge event!) (Genesis 13-15). Every day since January 1 has included such mega-events in the history of the world, and the plan of salvation that you almost feel its coming too fast.
*but who could know what's "highly significant"?
posted on Thursday December 17 2009
Jerusalem seems to be a Big Deal in the Bible.
Today I read Psalm 137 in my Bible reading plan. It's the one that has two classic verses: how shall we sing the songs of Zion while in a foreign land? and Blessed be whoever dashes the Babylonians infants against the rocks.
But perhaps the most mysterious verse:
Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy!
"Above my highest joy" is really strong language. It's the language reserved for God alone in our affections.
So what's the deal with Jerusalem?
Let me speculate: Jerusalem (and Zion) is the epicenter and capital of God's plan for us, his people. Sometimes my heart wonders off to imagine life with God, his people, and his creatures in a great city--big, bright, secure, marvelous.
For a while Jerusalem was the city of cities. The temple was there with God's presence, and from their God's king reigned in the most powerful and prosperous nation on earth. People traveled to Jerusalem just hear the wisdom of Israel's king who could explain all the great questions of life.
When the new heavens and the new earth arrive God's plan is for an amazing city that's he's calling New Jerusalem. It's going to be awesome!
And I don't think he's got any problem with us, in a sense, feeling like exiles from our home city and longing to be there. To love Jerusalem is long to be with God and his people in a great kingdom where everything works right.
posted on Friday December 11 2009
Michael Hyatt, leader of Thomas Nelson Publishers, was impressed* by the new SI Tablet book/magazine/news reader device.
While hestitant that his first instinct is right, he predicts that the new wave of e-readers will kill paper books as color TV killed black-and-white TV ("Once it happened, there was no going back. Everyone wanted a color TV.")
The case for the paper book's longetivity
I only have one reason, that God likes paper books and left multimedia content out of his word. So I expect human beings to still be very connected to word-only books that don't have pictures and movies built in.
(Hyatt probably believes this too, and his article is more focused on how hard it will be for business to make a profit on word-only paper books going forward.)
*If you read the article, and play the video demo, cut it off after a minute too avoid sexy images
