Archive for March, 2013

Tweets & Rants 17 March 2013: Matthew 26:36-56; Romans 11:1-24; Psalm 64; Deuteronomy 6-8

Matthew 26:41 The last thing Jesus tells the disciples to pray is that they would not enter into temptation. We are very weak in our flesh. Our spirit is so willing to do the things of God, yet our flesh is so weak and fails often to do the will of God.

Our temptation is often to trade in God’s will for a less painful existence.

Matthew 26:42 Gethsemane is about the will of God. Jesus prayed for the cup to pass but surrendered to God’s will. He had to die on the cross in order to redeem mankind from sin.

We must be willing to take upon us whatever God has willed for us, whether it be good things or bad, in order that His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 26:52 God’s will was for Christ to suffer and die on the cross. This indeed was not the time for swords, but for God’s will to be done. The Scriptures had to be fulfilled.

We mustn’t live by the sword. The sword serves its purpose of self-defense but it is not the means we are to use to change the world.

Romans 11:5 In this church age a remnant of Israel is part of the church by faith. God has always kept a remnant of Israel. It is silly to think the church and Israel were not intertwined in faith. Were the disciples and Paul not Israelites?

Romans 11:15 Paul is making the point that the Israelites have been rejected as a nation to receive the benefits of God. Their failure and rejection has meant riches and acceptance of the Gentiles. When Israel does turn to God in repentance it will be a great thing in this world.

Romans 11:21 The Gentiles stand by faith and should take care that they continue in the faith. God will not spare us if we fall into unbelief and failure as Israel once did. He will cut us off as well.

Psalm 64:2 The thing we seem to be least aware of today is the fact that wicked and powerful people plot very secret and evil things. We act as though we would know what they are doing, but we do not. We need to seek God’s protection from their wicked plots.

Psalm 64:7 I’m amazed at how quickly I’ve seen the plans of the wicked come to nothing in this world. Their wickedness is so bad that even God Himself is at war with their evil deeds.

Deuteronomy 6:4 Here is the beginning of the shamah (Hebrew=hear). Jehovah Gods one Jehovah. The Trinity is one God. Father, Son and Spirit are one Jehovah.

Deuteronomy 6:5 The best way to think of this is like so, love God will ALL that you are. If any of you doesn’t love God, correct it, and bring that part of you into loving obedience. Your mind, body, soul, and spirit should love God. Your entire being should love God.

Deuteronomy 6:7 We are to be diligent in teaching our children the law of God. Every situation we come upon we should look for a way to impart God’s law to our children. Whether we’re sitting around the house, walking/driving down the road, resting, or rising we should be talking to our children about God and His law.

Deuteronomy 6:8 We should keep things about ourselves that will recall to our mind the law of God. The Hebrews wore scripture boxes on their right wrist and on their forehead (the mark of God). Our thoughts and actions should be God-centered.

Deuteronomy 6:9 We should decorate our homes with the word of God so that we will always have His word before our eyes and in our minds and in our hearts. I have Scripture hanging in my office at work to remind me.

Deuteronomy 6:12 The single greatest danger we face when God has given us prosperity is that often we forget about God. May we be cautious to always remember the slavery to sin that He has so graciously delivered us from into the life we now live in Christ Jesus.

Deuteronomy 6:16 We are not to put God to the test. We are in no place to force God’s hand to work in our lives. Anything and everything we receive from Him is an abundant gift of His loving and special grace and we should treat it as such.

Deuteronomy 7:2 As Israel was to devote the nations of Canaan to destruction, so also are we to devote the vestiges of sin within us to destruction. God wants us to be totally free to serve Him.

Deuteronomy 7:6 God has done the same thing with us. Just as Israel was chosen, holy and separate…so also is the church today as 1 Peter 2:9 states we are so in order that we can proclaim God’s excellencies to a dark world.

Deuteronomy 7:7 It is not because Israel was the greatest of nations that God chose them. There was honestly nothing in them that caused Him to choose them.

The same goes for us. We bring nothing to the table. As a matter of fact, He has to bring us to the table. He didn’t choose us because of who we are, He chose us because of what He wants to do in our lives.

Deuteronomy 7:22 God would give Israel the land little by little lest they be overcome by wild beasts.

So also Christ works in us to cleanse our lives, little by little, bringing us along the road to sanctification.

Deuteronomy 8:17 We should beware lest somehow our heart would say that we had brought ourselves deliverance from our sin. Christ alone has delivered us from our sin.

2013
03/17
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Tweets & Rants 16 March 2013: Matthew 26:17-35; Romans 10; Psalm 63; Deuteronomy 1-5

believes that Jesus is the main character of Daniel 9:24-27…He ended all sacrifice and offering by offering Himself. Mat 26:28 @WeeManWest

finds it unfortunate that sometimes a generation has to pass before the church can move on. Mat 24; Det 2:16 @WeeManWest

Matthew 26:18 God had prepared a “certain” man to take care of the Passover preparations through. We never know who that “certain” man is that God is going to bring into our lives.

Matthew 26:21 I’ve tried to place myself in that room, among His disciples, as He made this statement. I would almost think that initially the room would be silent in a stunned quiet. The hammer has essentially dropped. How would we respond if we were in the room?

Matthew 26:28 Jesus holds the first Lord’s Supper. We continue these today. Jesus’ words are what I’m drawn to in that He says His covenant is with many. This should call to our minds Daniel 9:27 in which the Prince who is to come of Daniel 9:25 makes a strong covenant (strong because it is in the blood of Christ) with manny for one “period” or covenant.

What brought this covenant into place? Daniel 9:24 states that it is about the holy city (Jerusalem) and that the 70 weeks would finish transgression, put an end to sin, atone for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy and anoint a most holy place. This indeed is exactly what Jesus accomplished when He died on the cross! He is the anointed one in the text who comes and in cut off (He died on the cross).

Next we see that the city of Jerusalem and its sanctuary were to be destroyed, this indeed did factually occur in 70AD. It would take place in a war. It would leave the place desolate.

It says that he, which could refer to either the anointed one or the prince, will put an end to sacrifice and offering. Did not Jesus Christ bring all sacrifice and offering to an end with His own blood shed on the cross? Yes, He did indeed.

So who is the one who made desolate? The priests who would continue to make the offerings of the Law when the offerings had been brought to an end.

Matthew 26:31 Not only would there be one betrayer, but all of Jesus’ disciples would fall away. He would truly be left with nothing as Daniel’s prophecy stated.

Romans 10:4 We are so blessed to have Jesus Christ. He is the end all for those who believe.

Romans 10:9 Properly understanding what Paul is saying here is essential. We believe or have faith in our hearts. That faith will work itself out in our thoughts, words, and actions. Yet our unbelief is shown by our inaction.

A true belief in the resurrection of Christ will move our actions in Christ’s will.

Romans 10:18 The gospel had gone out to all the nations of the known world in Paul’s day. We should live with the goal of such thing happening again in our own.

Psalm 63:3 In an honest moment most of us will confess to loving our lives. We love the people in our lives, the things of our lives. Yet the love of God is so much better than this life. Believing this will truly motivate us in our walk with Christ to praise and worship.

Deuteronomy 1:8 The time has come, the wandering is over, Israel is about to take possession of the land they have been promised by God.

Deuteronomy 2:16 That generation had to pass before Israel could move on. Unfortunately, a lot of our churches are trapped in the same manner.

Deuteronomy 3:21 The vitories over Sihon and Og were intended to serve as a witness to Joshua, that God would give him victories in the same manner after they cross the Jordan into the promised land.

Deuteronomy 3:26 Moses had bugged God enough about going into the land. God would show Moses a final mercy and allow him to see the land from the mountain.

Deuteronomy 4:3 God will not tolerate compromise among His people. We cannot be wishy-washy fence-sitters. We are either with God or we are against Him.

Deuteronomy 4:6 God is exalting Israel for the sake of His name. His purpose in exalting this nation is that His own name would be exalted by all the nations because of them. God’s purpose for Israel was His own exaltation. Israel failed in that purpose and now God is using the church for His own exaltation. May we not suffer a similar fate!

Deuteronomy 4:22 Moses here serves to us as a picture of the Law. The Law can bring you to Christ, but only faith in Christ can bring you into His promises!

Deuteronomy 4:35 God did a special work in Israel that has never, and will never be repeated for the purpose that all would know that He alone is God!

Deuteronomy 5:29 God desires that we would have obedient hearts. We should desire the same for ourselves.

2013
03/16
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Tweets & Rants 15 March 2013: Matthew 25:31-26:16; Romans 9:1-33; Psalm 61-62; Numbers 33-36

always reads this passage and is left totally convicted! Mat 25:31-47 @WeeManWest

thinks we should be thankful that Christ satisfied God’s justice rather than decrying how unfair His mercy seems. Psa 62:12 @WeeManWest

Matthew 25:37 I think here we see the righteous, not as those oblivious to their good works, although that may be partially the case, but rather as those so aware of their own wickedness and failure to do good that they are humbled by the mercy of God.

Matthew 25:44 These are they who had kept accounts of the good works they had done. Yet, the sum of their salvation is not in good works but in the mercy of a holy and just God.

Matthew 26:11 Poverty can always be used as an excuse NOT to do something that may be expensive or costly. We must realize that there will always be poor among us in this world until Christ’s age comes.

Matthew 26:16 Judas is lets himself out for hire to betray Jesus. It seems he was offended by Christ in the matter of the anointing at Bethany. I can’t help but wonder if Judas was breathing the word hypocrite under his breath on his way to betray Jesus.

Romans 9:6 Paul is making a very pertinent point for our day. We give unconditional support to a nation simply because they are called Israel. Paul makes the point that simple descent from Abraham isn’t what God is concerned about, nor is it what we should be concerned about.

Romans 9:8 The children of Abraham, the ones we should be concerned with are the ones who are children of promise, through faith.

Romans 9:16 Again, Paul touches on the sovereignty of God. God chose Jacob over Esau before they were ever born. God raised Pharoah up for the purpose of hardening his heart to show God’s power. God is the one who shows mercy, man doesn’t demand anything from God, nor does he inherit a birthright from God.

Romans 9:21 God has full right to take the same lump of clay and make both good and bad pots. Israel, the same lump, has produced a lineage of faith and a lineage of unbelief. God made them this way.

Romans 9:22 What if God chose to endure patiently the wickedness of those who were prepared for destruction in order to glorify Himself in those who were not? He is God and He is sovereign. He will show mercy to whom He will show mercy.

Romans 9:29 Paul knew prophetically what was to come for Israel and Jersualem. He knew desolation was coming. God mercifully left them with a remnant or they would have been utterly destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Romans 9:30 Gentiles were attaining what God had intended for Israel to attain, a righteousness by faith, not by works nor by lineage…but by faith alone.

Psalm 61:2 When we are overwhelmed and drowning the one refuge we may have is that we need led to the Rock that is higher than we are, our God who is above the fray.

Psalm 62:1 Our souls should wait silently for the salvation of God. We should wait for Him alone and trust in Him alone for our salvation.

Psalm 62:6 Though the entire world around us be shaken, we remain unshaken in the fortress that is our God.

Psalm 62:12 One thing we cannot miss in all of God’s mercy is that He is just. That is why Jesus is central and important. God’s justice had to be satisfied.

Numbers 33:53 After 40 years of wandering, God is giving them a place to possess and settle.

Numbers 33:55 The inhabitants that are not driven out in the conquest would remain as barbs and thorns to Israel. The same is true for us. Whatever remnants of our old life we allow to remain will continue to prick and inhibit our life in Christ until they are removed.

Numbers 35:6 The Levite cities were to be cities of refuge where people were to flee who believed a killing they had committed was done in self-defense or by accident.

Numbers 35:30 The death penalty was not taken lightly. The accused had right to trial and had to be convicted on solid evidence from multiple witnesses and even still had the right to flee to a city of refuge.

2013
03/15
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Tweets & Rants 14 March 2013: Matthew 25:14-30; Romans 8:18-39; Psalm 60; Numbers 31-32

believes that we find our greatest effectiveness for Christ’s kingdom when we accept His Lordship over His kingdom. Rom 8:30 @WeeManWest

believes that we show our understanding of Christ’s Lordship when we are willing to suffer all thing for His kingdom. Rom 8:37 @WeeManWest

is assured, if God is able to deliver 12K men from war harmless, so He is able to keep all who trust Christ in His hand. Num 31:49 @WeeManWest

Matthew 25:15 God gives each of us the responsibilities we have in this world on the basis of our ability. God has foreknowledge and knows us totally and He gives to us in accordance with what He knows we will produce. God entrusts those of us whom He knows will produce more for His kingdom more responsibility in His kingdom.

Matthew 25:27 God gives us His kingdom for the purpose of reproducing it. We are without excuse. He has not called us to preserve His kingdom, He promised to do that Himself. He has called us to cast the kingdom out like seed in a field, not store it in grain bins.

Romans 8:18 Our present suffering pales in comparison to the glory that God will reveal in us. He will certainly reveal His glory in us. This is part of our hope.

Romans 8:27 I’m glad to know that I don’t have to remember every prayer request in full detail. The Holy Spirit intercedes. I also know that I can lay before God the desires of my heart because I know that the Spirit intercedes for me in those desires that are in line with the will of God.

Romans 8:28 As far as the will of God is concerned and His people are concerned, all things work together to achieve His will and do good for His people. How willing are we to accept that our own death may be the best thing that ever happens to us and simultaneously the most productive thing for His kingdom in accordance with His will?

Romans 8:30 Unless we are in touch with the full sovereignty of our God this verse will make no sense. However, just like the parable of the talents, God knows who is going to respond to Him and how they are going to respond to Him. He knows this because He made each one of us as we are and know us intimately.

Romans 8:31 What does this mean? Does it mean we will have no more trials, troubles, persecutions, or martyrs in our midst? No! What it means is that in all those things God is working FOR us to bring about His will and kingdom through us. He is continually working on the side of His kingdom in accordance with His will. We must willingly accept whatever He has chosen for our role to be in that and fully embrace what it means for our lives…even if it means our own death.

Romans 8:37 In all what things? In tribulations, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, and even death as he quotes Psalm 44:22. No matter what Satan throws at us in order to destroy Christ’s kingdom it will be conquered through Christ. His will be done, His kingdom come. God sent His own Son to win this battle for His people. He will certainly use all things at His disposal to insure His kingdom come.

Psalm 60:4 Christ is God’s banner set up for us to flee to from our sinful, depraved, desolate and meaningless existence.

Psalm 60:11 All manner in which man tries to bring about his own salvation is worthless vanity. We cannot save ourselves. We must accept the salvation God has provided.

Psalm 60:12 As we go about daily, we are conquerors. Even if we give our lives we have the assurance that our blood will not have been shed in vain, but will have been shed in the accomplishment of His kingdom.

Numbers 31:16 Balaam still managed to turn a profit. He advised Balack to send the women of Midian among the Israelites to lead them astray so that maybe they would be defeated.

God’s kingdom prevailed.

Numbers 31:49 What a statement to God’s victorious power. 12,000 men go to war, 12,000 men return from war.

So it is with Christ, none who are in His hand will be snatched away by the enemy. Not a single one!

Numbers 32:5 The tribes of Reuben and Gad decide the land outside of the promised land is better for them. They ask for it. They swear an oath to continue fighting with all of Israel to conquer the promised land. Yet, their inheritance will be outside of the land.

How often are we driven by our sight to fall short of the promises of God!

2013
03/14
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Tweets & Rants 13 March 2013: Matthew 25:1-13; Romans 8:1-17; Psalm 59; Numbers 28-30

believes the people in Noah’s day, and in Jesus’ day, ran out of time to repent…please repent while there is time! Mat 25:13 @WeeManWest

thinks we must examine ourselves to determine whether we live for our own pleasure or for the pleasure of God. Rom 8:8 @WeeManWest

Matthew 25:3 This assumes or presumes that all of the virgins had oil available to take with them. The five foolish virgins chose NOT to take extra oil with them. They chose to ignore what was necessary.

Matthew 25:13 If we continue the context of the days of Noah this makes more sense to us. In the days of Noah, the days leading up to the flood were the time for repentance. Once the flood was upon them it was too late. The same principle applies with this parable. The time to repent and turn to Christ is now.

Those in Jerusalem, who hadn’t heeded the word of the church and hadn’t fled the city when the Christians did would indeed share in the destruction and desolation of the city. Their time was up.

So also, in our day, this is the day of repentance. Now is the time to turn from our sinful lifestyle to the living God. When He returns it will be too late.

Romans 8:1 We must understand the power of this statement. We have to stop beating ourselves up every time we fall short and understand that we will NEVER have it perfect until we are made perfect. We must accept what God has done for us in Jesus Christ and abide in His work and quit trying to build up our own works.

Romans 8:3 God did what we cannot in Jesus Christ. He fulfilled the Law and in His own death made the way for us to be righteous by faith in Christ.

Romans 8:8 We are no longer to live driven strictly by our flesh and its desires but now we have been given the Holy Spirit to drive us toward holiness.

What are we giving ourselves to, our flesh or His Spirit. One leads to the destruction of our walk in Christ the other leads to holiness and the pleasure of God.

Our lives will either please our flesh or please our God. Are we truly living for the pleasure of God?

Romans 8:9 The person of faith has no excuse. We have the Spirit of God dwelling within us. If we lack the Holy Spirit then we do not belong to Jesus. We are capable of living by the Spirit for the pleasure of God because His Spirit dwells within us and will guide us into holiness.

Romans 8:14 Being a Christian is not about a decision you’ve made or a sacrament you’ve kept. Instead it is about a series of daily decisions you make to be led by His Spirit. His Spirit creates the desire and ability to follow His lead within us by grace through faith.

Romans 8:17 Would we honestly consider our existence suffering with Christ? When we put to death the works of death, the works of our flesh, we will suffer. Whether it is the suffering of our internal struggle with the flesh, the inner battling within us of the flesh and the Spirit that wage war in us like Jacob and Esau warred within Rebekkah’s womb; or it is the external struggle with those intent on putting a stop to those who live by faith. We will indeed struggle and suffer in this life.

Psalm 59:13 We see a glimpse into David’s heart in this statement. This was the heart that was after God’s own heart. God desires to be known as God to the ends of the earth. God has a missionary heart…do we?

Psalm 59:17 In our struggles and suffering, God is indeed our Strength. He is a fortress for us to abide within and the very fiber of what holds us together in our troubles.

Numbers 28:6 We see the daily offering, in the morning and in the evening was considered the pleasing aroma, a food offering to God.

We should daily seek to please God with the offering of our lives given to the will and obedience of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit it is impossible to please God.

Numbers 30:2 God expects that when we give our word we will keep our word.

2013
03/13
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Tweets & Rants 12 March 2013: Matthew 24:36-51; Romans 7:1-25; Psalms 57-58; Numbers 23-27

remains locked in this perpetual internal war between his flesh desires and the will of God. Rom 7:22 @WeeManWest

Matthew 24:37 Am I the only one who finds it interesting that Jesus compares His judgment coming against Jerusalem to the days of Noah and mentions specifically, marrying and giving in marriage? We mustn’t forget the story of the Nephillim and the rebellion against God they invoked among mankind.

The theme here is that life went on as usual without a thought toward God. The focus of existence was on what to do rather than on the worship of God. So it was in Noah’s day, so it was in Jerusalem’s last days.

Matthew 24:41 In Noah’s day, who was taken away from the earth and who was left on the earth? The wicked were taken from the earth in the flood and Noah was left on the earth to repopulate it in his new covenant in which he, in a sense, inherited a new heavens and new earth.

In the coming of the Son of Man in judgment against Jerusalem and Israel the unbelieving among Israel and Jerusalem were taken along with the old covenant system and who was left? The church and the new covenant!

Matthew 24:48 We should live the opposite of the days of Noah. Our existence should be God-centered…though He may tarry…we should live daily with Him on our minds and in our hearts.

Romans 7:4 It’s quite clear that either we are alive under the Law, or we have died and been resurrected into a life that is not under the Law but instead under the Spirit in Christ Jesus.

Romans 7:11 The Law creates our awareness of what is right and wrong. Sin seizes upon the opportunity to lead us into unrighteousness. The Law exposes what sin is already doing in us. In order to be free from both we must die in Christ.

Romans 7:15 We have each been in that place in which we have thought to ourselves, “why in the world did I just do that?” Sin still lurks in our flesh seeking to trap and enslave us to its will.

Romans 7:22 We delight in the law of God and in the goodness of God and yet within ourselves we are at internal war with our flesh that seeks to impose against the good things God is doing in us and turn us to captivity to sin.

Psalm 57:1 Has God truly become our refuge? Are we fully vested in Christ Jesus or are we holding back, still dependent upon our own skill and ability?

Psalm 57:5 In all that we are we should seek that God would be exalted.

Psalm 58:1 Wicked people find it impossible to be righteous in their judgments. We will note, just from the political processes of our day, that instead of justice and equality our leaders instead favor one group over another for political gain.

Psalm 48:11 The reward for the righteous is knowing that one day God will settle accounts with mankind. Justice will come.

Numbers 23:8 God alone has the sovereign authority to bless and curse.

Numbers 23:21 We must keep note of this statement for Balaam was quite certainly paying attention to it when he instructs Balack in order to still turn a profit on this venture.

Numbers 25:3 Israel was to be the covenant executioner of the Moabites for such activities and now instead has joined with them in these activities.

Numbers 25:11 Phinehas was jealous with a godly jealousy for the worship of His name alone and put an end to the plague and as such would secure the priesthood to his family.

Numbers 25:18 The Midianites are to be destroyed for having acting so deceptively among the Israelites.

Numbers 26:2 Now, 40 years later, that all the prior wicked generation has been removed (probably the last vestiges wiped out in the plague), it is time to muster up the army for invasion.

Numbers 27:18 Moses is soon to die and is going to appoint Joshua, a man full of the Spirit, to lead Israel into the promised land. Joshua and Jesus have the same Hebrew name.

Moses (the Law) can only bring us to the promised land, we need Joshua (Jesus) to bring us into the promised land. The Law makes us aware of sin and righteousness, Christ provides our righteousness and deals with our sin.

2013
03/12
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Tweets & Rants 10 March 2013: Matthew 24:15-35

has but one word of caution to the church when reading Matthew 23-24 and that is to heed the warning of Romans 11:21-22! @WeeManWest

Matthew 24:16 We cannot miss the specificity of this command. Those who are in Judea. That is a specific place in which Jerusalem and the Israelites lived in Jesus’ day. This enforces the context from Matthew 23 and Matthew 24:1 that Jesus was speaking to His disciples about the coming destruction of Jerusalem that they would indeed see happen in 70AD.

Matthew 24:18 Jesus’ instruction was that when these things begin to occur in Jerusalem the only option will be to flee for their lives. They will have to forsake everything if they hope to survive.

Such isn’t a bad principle to apply to ourselves today. Would we be able to leave all of our possessions behind if our lives depended on it?

Matthew 24:27 Jesus is talking about His coming in covenant judgment against Israel and Jerusalem. He is not speaking of His return. The Roman armies invaded from the east, instead of the more natural west.

Matthew 24:28 Two notes here. Jesus is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem. He is letting His listeners know that indeed Jerusalem would be full of corpses and that that vultures/birds of prey.

However, another note is that the word in the Greek used here is the word for eagle. Eagles don’t happen to go after carrion, yet the eagle was the Roman Military standard. The “eagles” on the roman standards (flags) would surround Jerusalem before it would be destroyed. Luke says this very thing in his account of Jesus teaching.

Matthew 24:29 After the tribulation of those days, the days of vengeance in which Jerusalem would be left desolate and full of corpses surrounded by birds of prey, we immediately see a reference to both a literal and symbolic understanding.

The sun, moon, and stars would be blotted out by the fire that would engulf Jerusalem as Rome burned Jerusalem to the ground. Anyone who has been close to a fire at just one location should be acquainted with smoke’s ability to block out the sun. I recall how dark it was in New York City in the days that followed 9/11 as that cloud of smoke covered the city.

Imagine what impact the smoke of an entire city being burned down would have on the sky. Enough of an impact that the sun, moon, and stars would be unseen until the city was burned down.

The symbolic reference requires us to understand the symbolism in Scripture of the sun, moon, and stars. In order to get this understanding we must return to the book of beginnings, the book of Genesis.

When God created the ‘lights in the expanse of the heavens’ He designed them to “be for signs’ (Genesis 1:14) and they were also to ‘give light upon the earth’ (Genesis 1:15) so we should recognize the immediate symbolism.

Then two great lights are made, a greater one to ‘rule the day’ and a lesser one to ‘rule the night’ (Genesis 1:16) and a reason for their ‘rule’ is given in that they are to (Genesis 1:18) ‘rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.

What we see is the symbolic picture presented to us in the sun, moon, and stars as the religious authorities put in place so ‘rule’ and ‘separate the light from the darkness’.

Then we arrive at Joseph’s story.

Joseph dreamt that the sun, moon, and 11 stars bowed before him. Jacob (Israel) realized the dream represented himself, his wives, and his children bowing before Joseph.

Israel, given authority by God to shine its light in the world, lost its place of authority in the kingdom and was shaken and darkened in its day of covenant judgment in 70AD.

Matthew 24:30 The sign of the Son of Man appears. What is the sign? It is the great cloud of smoke raised up as Jerusalem is burned to the ground. He is coming on the clouds of judgment. Those clouds are dark clouds of billowing smoke as the city was burned to the ground by the Roman armies in 70AD.

At this billowing plume, all the tribes of the land, specifically the tribes of Israel, will mourn when they realize their day of judgment has come.

Matthew 24:31 He will send out His messengers with a loud trumpet. This is the dispersion that would take the church OUT of Jerusalem and into the nations. We are part of His messengers still today gathering His elect from the four winds.

Jesus was stating emphatically that the new age, the Gospel age, was soon to come upon the entire earth. However, the Law age had to come to an end, and it did so decisively in 70AD.

Matthew 24:32 As if anyone had missed the point that this was about Israel, Jesus brings in the fig tree which is one of Israel’s national symbols.

Matthew 24:34 Jesus repeats Himself from Matthew 23:36 so that it couldn’t be more clear. The very generation Jesus was speaking to was indeed going to see Jerusalem destroyed and desolate suffering covenant vengeance, the coming of the Son of Man on the clouds of judgment. He could not have been any more clear!

His word came to pass, 40 years later (a generation, i.e. the wilderness wandering) Jerusalem would lie desolate.

2013
03/10
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Tweets & Rants 9 March 2013: Matthew 24:1-14; Romans 6:15-23; Psalm 56; Numbers 21-22

thinks Balaam is probably best described as a prophet for profit who made a donkey of himself! Num 22:32 #itscheesyIknow @WeeManWest

believes the context of “these things” is the desolation and destruction of Jerusalem that Jesus had just prophesied. Mat 24:1 @WeeManWest

Matthew 24:3 The “things” the disciples are asking Jesus about pertain to the context. Jesus had just prophesied the blood vengeance upon Jersusalem, its desolation, and the destruciton of its temple. They want to know when it is going to happen.

Jesus’ coming and Jesus’ return are two separate Scriptural concepts of which one cannot differentiate without understanding the writings of the prophets.

Jesus’ coming is about His vengeance, His judgment, which He had just prophesied was going to come to Jerusalem.

Jesus’ return will occur at the last day of His and the Final Judgment will occur at that point.

The end of the age? What age? This is not pointing to the end of time but rather the end of the age they were in that was dominated by the Law and the Temple in Jersualem. When would that age end? 70 AD!

Matthew 24:14 After giving the disciples a series of signs that have been obeserved in every generation since, He gives them a very specific sign. Gospel proclamation in all nations.

The early church was able to achieve this feet, though on a limited scale, as Paul quotes in Romans.

I do believe that before the end of this age, the age that began with the cross, we will again encounter…and hopefully be a part of…a final great movement of the gospel.

Romans 6:16 This rule applies not only in the realm of sin and righteousness but also in the realm of life. Where is your obedience? If you are obeying God you will be clean and clear from obedience to the many forms of idolatry in our day.

We are a slave to whomever we choose to obey. May we choose obedience to Christ.

Romans 6:22 Our life focus becomes Christ Jesus and living out His righteousness in this dark world. Such is the best fruit imaginable.

Psalm 56:1 We desperately need the grace of God at work in our lives. We are trampled and attacked yet God is graciously working out things in this world for our everlasting benefit in the age to come.

Psalm 56:9 What greater assurance can we have than this, that in all the trials we face, God is for us. Even if the trial takes our very lives we know two things: #1 He will have His day of judgment and vengeance; #2 He is our reward.

Numbers 21:5 They loathed the food of God. How rebellious we are?

Numbers 21:9 God allowed a plague of serpents to come among the people. If they were bitten they died. When they plead for mercy God instructs Moses to put a bronze serpent on a staff and to tell the people to simply look upon the bronze serpent when they are bitten and they will live.

We are all bitten by the serpent and sin is killing us. Yet, we simply look to the cross in which Jesus Christ hung the serpent and we will live!

Numbers 22:22 God was angered because Balaam went. Balaam knew that God was not going to allow him to curse Israel. Balaam went because he thought that surely he could turn a profit out of this venture.

Numbers 22:31 Balaam was blind to God’s interference in his journey. God had to allow a donkey to speak to him to deliver him from his maddening quest for wealth. Balaam could now see the angel of the Lord standing with his sword drawn to strike him down.

Balaam had thought his donkey was making a mockery of him, yet his donkey was merely trying to spare his life. It was Balaam who was making a donkey out of himself.

Numbers 22:32 Balaam was a prophet for profit. He was perverse in his quest for wealth.

Numbers 22:35 Balaam was permitted to go, yet he was only allowed to speak to them what he is told by God. Balaam will break this covenant chasing wealth as we will see.

2013
03/09
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Tweets & Rants 8 March 2013: Matthew 23:25-39; Romans 6:1-14; Psalm 55; Numbers 18-20

believes that Jesus’ kept His word, Jerusalem was burned to the ground by the Roman in 70AD. Mat 23:36 @WeeManWest

believes the context for Matthew 24 is Matthew 23, Jesus was speaking specifically about that generation of Jerusalemites. @WeeManWest

Matthew 23:25 The Pharisees made an outward show of religion, but on the inside they were a mess. Jesus says they were full of greed and self-indulgence. True religion is free from greed and self-indulgence.

Do we have greed? Are we prone to indulge our own selfish desires at the expense of others? We may very well have a little Pharisee within us as well.

Matthew 23:28 The Pharisees inner problems also consisted of hypocrisy and lawlessness. They were outwardly the keepers and enforcers of the law and yet inwardly they were the hypocrite, breaking the very law they punished others for not keeping.

Churches are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. We ourselves are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. The rules always seem to point and apply to someone other than ourselves.

Matthew 23:32 They did indeed spend the next 40 years filling up the measure of their fathers guilt in their persecution of the church.

 Matthew 23:35 The sentence of blood vengeance was soon to come upon Jerusalem. As a matter of fact they would ask for it as Jesus stood before Pilate.

Matthew 23:36 The vengeance of God did come upon that generation as the entire city was burned down in 70AD by the Romans.

Matthew 23:38 Jesus speaks to this city that killed prophets and stones those sent. This same city is the one that Jesus had spoken about in several parables. Jesus now promises that it was going to be left desolate. His word came true in 70AD.

Romans 6:4 We have new life for we have been raised in Christ Jesus’ resurrection. We share in His resurrection just as we share in His death. Sin is inescapable otherwise.

Romans 6:7 We cannot understand Paul’s point unless we grasp the full weight of this statement. We absolutely cannot be set free from our sins unless we die. The law carries weight while we live. So how do we die and find this freedom? We die on the cross in Christ.

However, we were also raised from death in Christ. He is the first resurrection. He is the firstfruits. We share in the first resurrection in Him and as Paul describes in Ephesians, we reign in Him as well.

Romans 6:11 Paul says we must, by faith, consider ourselves to have been dead in Christ and raised from the dead in Christ if we are ever going to have power to be set free from our sin. We share in Christ’s resurrection which Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15 as the firstfruits and the first resurrection. Please don’t miss the powerful value of the experience you have shared in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:14 Sin only loses dominion when we die as Paul just wrote in verse 7. Sin will have no dominion over us who have escaped from the law through death and resurrection. We are no longer under the law by grace through faith.

Psalm 55:13 One of the most destructive trials we can endure is the trial of betrayal. Betrayal cuts us to our very heart.

Psalm 55:21 This is a fitting description of how the betrayer’s speech is so painful to endure. While they appear to be with you and on your side they are instead drawing a sword against you.

Psalm 55:22 Do we have this assurance today? We must trust that God will keep us as His own, that He will never allow us to be moved away from Him.

Numbers 18:19 All the holy contributions given to the Lord at the Tabernacle belong to the priests and levites for their food.

Numbers 18:20 The priests and Levites are not to own land among Israel for God Himself is their portion. They are His and He is theirs.

Numbers 18:26 The priests and Levites were to present to the Lord a tithe of the tithe, basically, a tenth of the holy gifts.

Numbers 19:9 Here we see that the ashes of a flawless red heifer were required for the water of purification.

Numbers 19:12 If someone became unclean because of a dead body they would have to be washed on the 3rd and the 7th day. We have a picture of the dual resurrection. The first resurrection is Christ and us in Christ by grace through faith, the second is on the last day at His return.

Numbers 20:12 Moses and Aaron are now disqualified and will not lead Israel into the promised land. They honored themselves by saying they would bring water out of the rock and then hitting it rather than speaking to the rock as God had commanded.

2013
03/08
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Tweets & Rants 7 March 2013: Matthew 23:13-24; Romans 5:12-21; Psalm 54; Numbers 15-17

believes that when we give our word we should do everything in our power to keep it, even if it costs us. Mat 23:16-22 @WeeManWest

wonders if it is more evident to others that sin/death is reigning in his life or if it is grace/Christ reigning. Rom 5:21 @WeeManWest

thinks we lack thanksgiving because we are looking at our circumstances from our perspective and not God’s. Psa 54:6 @WeeManWest

Matthew 23:13 The scribes and Pharisees taught in such a way that they prevented people from entering the kingdom of heaven and were not even entering themselves. They taught traditions and rules that kept people from coming to God. Their system was about the rigors of religion rather than about getting to know God Himself.

Matthew 23:22 A loophole had been invented to allow people to be unfaithful to their oaths. If we make an oath, regardless of what we have sworn it upon, we should keep it for the glory and honor of God. God keeps His word and if we are His so also should we.

Matthew 23:24 We tend to focus on making sure we’ve given our full measure of 10 % to God. Yet, God is not as interested in that as He is in that we are just and merciful in all of our dealing with other people. We tend to do the least we are responsible for doing.

Romans 5:14 Death spread to all men because all men sinned and thus death reigned on the earth. This section is about authority.

Romans 5:17 Death reigned because of Adam’s sin, yet because of Christ’s free gift of justification to us, we reign in this life through Christ. His authority is our authority. We reign with Him in the here and now.

Romans 5:21 Sin reigned in death but now grace reigns through righteousness. The flows from the righteousness of Abraham that is by grace through faith…hence grace reigns. God is so gracious to us. If we really could see just how sinful we really are we would be humbled and thankful that God has been as gracious to us as He is.

Psalm 54:1 There is power in His name for His name is the only name under heaven given among men by which we may be saved (Acts 4:12) .

Psalm 54:3 We face so many people every day who do not set God before themselves. He is in none of their thoughts or actions unless they get in a real bind and then they cry out to Him.

Unfortunately, we encounter a lot of people like this in church and if we’re really honest in the deep corners of our hearts we will admit that we ourselves are one of these people as well.

Psalm 54:6 Thanksgiving is the one thing that should flow free and easy from the life of the believer. If we aren’t thankful it is only because we have lost His perspective and are instead dwelling on our own perspective on our circumstances.

Numbers 15:15 God prevented the persecution of the traveler or visitor in the midst of Israel. The same laws were to apply to all men. There must be equality.

Numbers 15:30 The law was different for the person who was in rebellion against God. Such a person was to be cut off from Israel without a sacrifice. This is a sin leading to death.

Numbers 15:39 We should help ourselves by placing in our path reminders that we are to keep the word of God and not follow after our own hearts and eyes. We so easily follow our own desires right into trouble then come back to God for a bailout. We need a constant reminder that we need God’s perspective on our lives.

Numbers 16:11 Korah leads a rebellion against Aaron. Korah says that all men are holy and should not be kept from the tabernacle. Moses points out that it was not Aaron who set himself apart but rather it was God. Korah wasn’t grumbling against Aaron but against God.

God has done the same in our day in Christ. We are priests in Christ. We didn’t put ourselves there but God placed us in Christ. Those who speak against our special place are not our opponents, but rather in are rebellion against God.

Numbers 16:14 Moses was not a fault. If they had obeyed the Lord and gone into the promised land to begin with they would be claiming an inheritance. Because they failed to believe in God they have instead inherited dirt. This is the victim mentality! It always has to be someone else’s fault instead of your own!

Numbers 16:48 Aaron stood between the dead and the living to stop the plague. As if seeing Korah and Dathan and Abiran slain for their rebellion wasn’t enough, the congregation grumbles and rebels against Moses and Aaron once more. This time God plagues the congregation killing 14,700.

Christ, our High Priest, stands between the living and the dead stopping the plague of death due to our own sinful rebellion against God.

Numbers 17:10 God ordains the staff contest to show who is set apart by Himself as the priesthood. Aaron’s staff brings forth ripe almonds overnight.

This pictures Christ for us in that he hung himself on a rod and dead and yet where death was life came as Christ rose from the dead after being in the tomb. He is risen as our High Priest and His resurrection is the “sign for the rebels” that He truly is the High Priest chosen by God as watchman over our souls.

2013
03/07
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