Wounded Healer: A great victory looks at first like defeat

Today's reading: Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53:3: He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

In at least ten places, New Testament writers identify Jesus as the suffering servant. In one instance, Philip corrects an Ethiopian official who wonders if the servant refers to an ancient prophet (see Acts 8:26-35). Isaiah 49-55 includes vivid scenes of the servant's sufferings, predictions that find their fulfillment in Jesus' death on the cross.

Indeed this chapter reads almost like an eyewitness account of Jesus' last days on Earth, even though it was composed centuries before Christ's death ... The physical description-the Bible contains no other physical description of Jesus-is shocking. The servant "had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him" (Isaiah 53:2); he was "like one from whom people hide their faces." (Isaiah 53:3).

The Success Test

"But remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your forefathers, as it is today" (Deut. 8:18).

Muhammad Ali is considered the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. He won 56 of his 61 professional fights and knocked out 37 opponents. His most famous catchphrase was, "I am the greatest!"

One day, Ali was seated in an airplane when the flight attendant came up the aisle to make sure that all the passengers had their seatbelts fastened. Reaching Ali's seat, she asked him to buckle up.

"Hmph!" the champ sneered. "Superman don't need no seatbelt!"

When Bad Things Happen to Good People

PERRY STONE

One of life’s most perplexing mysteries is why bad things happen to good people. We have all heard the stories of how the most dedicated teenager in the church was abruptly killed in an automobile accident, or how the beautiful young mother with three children is stricken with cancer and suddenly passes, leaving her infants to be raised by loving family members. Why the righteous suffer has always been an enigma.

There is no one set reason or explanation as to why bad things happen. However, after years of ministry, I have some observations as to what may, at times, help prevent bad things from occurring:

1. Avoid making wrong choices. A shortcut through a dangerous part of the city is not a wise choice. Leaving your wallet or purse on the seat of your car while you stop at a convenience store for a restroom break is foolish. Mowing the grass on a riding mower on a steep hill can get you killed. The barrel of a gun is not a small telescope to look through. When people make unwise choices, they can open the door to difficulty or tragedy.

Like Ephraim and Manasseh

“He blessed them that day and said, ‘In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: “May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.”’ So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.” — Genesis 48:20

This Torah portion for this week, Vayechi, is from Genesis 47:28–50:26 and 1 Kings 2:1–12.

Every Friday night, when Jewish families gather around the table to celebrate the Sabbath festive meal, parents bless their children. To the girls we say, “May God make you like Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah.” To the boys we say, “May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” It’s easy to understand why we choose to bless our girls to be like the great Matriarchs. But why don’t we bless our sons to be like the holy Patriarchs? Why do we choose Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, instead?

Ephraim and Manasseh accomplished something that no one else in the covenantal family had. Isaac and Ishmael were brothers, but they weren’t able to live together. Ishmael was banned from Abraham’s home. Jacob and Esau were twins, and they, too, had their share of sibling rivalry. At one point, Esau wanted to kill his brother. Next came the twelve sons of Jacob, and as we know, their relationship with Joseph wasn’t perfect either. Their jealousy of Jacob’s favorite led them to sell Joseph into slavery.

Can our prayers cause God to change his mind?

Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened - Exodus 32:14

Scripture teaches that God does not change his mind, but he sometimes adjusts his answers to fit our response. The Bible contains many examples of this: the Hebrews on the outskirts of Canaan (see Nu 14:11–23; 1Sa 15:29); Hezekiah’s repentance on behalf of Israel (see 2Ch 29:3–10,36) and the sparing of Nineveh (see Jnh 3:1–10).

Experiencing God’s will is dynamic. As with any interpersonal relationship, God’s relationship with humanity involves unexpected twists and turns. God modifies his responses to ours; we adjust our responses to God’s. So, in a sense, it can be said that God sometimes changes his mind in response to our prayers.

Written in Ink

I said, "I will never break My covenant with you." JUDGES 2:1

In the summer of 1997, I was sitting at my computer writing an article, praying and asking myself, How can we rebuild the family in America? I wasn't just pondering this because it was my job to do so or because I had spent my entire adult life focused on this calling and endeavor. More importantly and specifically, I was thinking about my oldest daughter's wedding, which at the time was just a few days away. Was there something I could say or do that would help Ashley and Michael begin a marriage that would go the distance?

That's when God brought to mind the concept of covenant, which means literally "to cut." Many scholars believe that in Old Testament days, a covenant between two people was often made by splitting an animal in half, laying the two sides apart from each other on the ground, walking between these bloody pieces and pledging, "May God do the same thing to me if I break my covenant with you" (see Genesis 15). Well, I thought that would make a real mess on the church carpet, but I still wanted to incorporate "covenant" into their wedding ceremony in some visible way.

A Wife for Isaac Why did Abraham want his son to get a wife from a far land?

In the passage in question, Abraham told his eldest servant:

Genesis 24:3-4
 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

Although we might call Haran a far country from the land of Canaan where Abraham was, he calls it "my country". Abraham had stayed in Haran for a number of years and it became his country. In addition, he had extended family here. That is where the servant was to look in order to obtain a wife for Isaac. The immediate purpose for going to Haran in order to find a wife is so Isaac can have a wife that is of his kindred.

Of course, there must another reason behind this thinking. What was wrong with the women of Canaan? Why was it that when Esau married women of the area that it was "a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah" (Genesis 26:34-35)? The answer lies in the biblical precept of marriage to women of a false religion. Those who marry women whose family worships other gods will more than likely introduce these false gods to her husband. Consider the following passages:

Exodus 34:15-16
 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

Deuteronomy 7:3-4
 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

1 Kings 11:4
 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

Abraham and his family in Haran knew of the one God of heaven and earth. Clearly, he wanted a wife for his son who would not lead him to serve false gods.

By application, we who are Christians are to marry other Christians so that we will not be drawn away from the faith. 2 Corinthians 6:14
states, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" Surely, one application of being unequally yoked is being married to one who is lost. In addition, 1 Corinthians 7:39 says of the widow, "she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord." That is, she is free to marry as long as it is to one who is a believer. We should teach this precept to our young people so that they might serve the Lord all their days.

David Reagan

gotquestions http://www.learnthebible.org/a-wife-for-isaac.html

Do Blessings and Curses Affect New Covenant Believers?

Do Blessings and Curses Affect New Covenant Believers?

"And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good" (Jeremiah 32:38-41).

The innermost desire of God is to accomplish the best for us in our lives, because we are entered into a blood covenant with Him. He wants to draw us unto Himself, to teach us to trust and totally depend upon Him. He wants to brings us into a relationship where we are at one with Him.

Drawing us to Himself is God's purpose for "cutting covenant" with man. His desire is to fill us with Himself: His love, His blessings, His nature as expressed in Jesus, and His grace (Ephesians 1:23, 3:19, 4:13). In this covenant relationship, He desires that we delight ourselves in Him, that we love Him with our entire beings, that we know He is all in all to us.

Many Christians want to claim all of the "blessings of Abraham" but forget about the curses that are also listed in Bible. There are curses that come upon us if we fail to keep our part of the covenant (Deuteronomy 28; Leviticus 26). However, if the Old Covenant simply was swallowed up in a better covenant, or fulfilled in Jesus, then the new covenant--also a blood covenant--still has all of the same "clauses" or parts as the old. A blood covenant is a blood covenant.

The part that changed was how the covenant was sealed, memorialized, and received. As you study these aspects of the Old and New Covenants, you will notice many striking similarities between them:

The Old Covenant was sealed with circumcision in the flesh of the male heads of households, which covered all of the women in that house as well.

The New Covenant is sealed by "circumcision" of the heart (Romans 2:29), which happens when a person is born again, adopted into the family of God through a blood covenant. The entering in to this covenant with God is publicly displayed through baptism, much like a wedding ceremony publicly seals the marriage covenant between a man and woman.

What the Old Covenant emphasized outwardly, the New Covenant emphasizes inwardly. Yet, all along, God has looked for those who are His, through more than a mere fleshly ritual. Even in the Old Covenant, what He was really after was the hearts of His people:

"Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem" (Jeremiah 4:4).

The Old Covenant was memorialized by Passover, signifying that those under His covenant blessings were not susceptible to the curses, plagues or judgments that God reserves for those who oppose His ways. People under His covenant are blessed, while those that are not under His covenant are cursed when their "iniquity" is full (Genesis 15:16). That means the wrath of God in judgment falls when they have refused all the attempts of God to bring them to repentance and there is no other possibility of their hearts turning to Him.

The New Covenant is memorialized by Communion (Luke 22:15-20), the Passover meal that Jesus ate with His disciples during the Last Supper. Today, when we partake of Communion, we are partaking of a type of the Passover meal that the Israelites ate. The ritual of Communion does not save us, but as we mix this tradition with faith towards God, we receive the blessings of Covenant with Him. As with circumcision, the real issue once again, is our hearts toward God. That is why Paul warned that we must partake of Communion in a worthy manner and check our hearts before partaking of it.

"For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged" (1 Corinthians 11:26-31).

The Old Covenant was "received" by the animal sacrifices. However, once again, the person's heart also was involved. One could sacrifice animals for their sins, and still have a rebellious and unpleasing heart towards the Lord. Without a heart toward God which was manifested in willing obedience, the Covenant promises were null and void over that person, tribe, or nation. Disobedience to the Lord brings the curses. Today we see the fruit of disobedience to God’s laws manifested in various curses in people’s lives. Broken family relationships, extreme poverty, lack of self-discipline and many other similar things are part of the curses that we see in the world today. Being willing and obedient, however, allows God’s people to "...eat of the fat of the land" (Isaiah 1:10).

The New Covenant is received by faith in the one-time, eternal sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary (Romans 10:9,10). Though Jesus died for the whole world’s sins, many will never receive the benefits of it because they do not believe in Him. Even many Christians who are under the blood of Jesus do not fully understand, nor believe that the blessings of the New Covenant can really be theirs. From the beginning, those who entered into a covenant with God, followed more than mere outward directions given by God. Always, these directions and religious traditions were to be mixed with faith, hope and love. Otherwise they mean nothing to God.

Born again Christians are children of Abraham by faith (Galatians 3:29) through His Promised Seed, Jesus, (Galatians 3:2,19). However, without a heart manifested in willing obedience, the promises are null and void. This means the curses automatically begin to operate.

In the next issue of the Overcoming Life Digest, we will examine various aspects of the blessings and the curses and how God’s covenant partners can walk in all the blessings He has for them.

(Continued next issue)

Note: This teaching is continued from last month's Overcoming Life Digest. See Table of Contents for Archives.

(Excerpt from the book entitled: COVENANT God's Guarantee for Victorious Living by R.S. "Bud" Miller)

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