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Bible Reading Plan thoughts: Eliphaz claimed to have been given a word

Posted on January 11, 2018 by elizabethprata

Our Bible Reading today brings us to Job 3-4. The speeches have begun. Job’s friend Eliphaz reproves Job for insisting on his innocence. To bolster his argument, Eliphaz claims to have had a vision or dream coincidentally on just this topic, coincidentally just recently. (Job 4:12-16). In relating this information, the words Eliphaz chooses to use are interesting. He said, “Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.” Barnes’ Notes explains word, secretly, and little-

And mine ear received a little thereof – Dr. Good translates this, “And mine ear received a whisper along with it.” Noyes, “And mine ear caught a whisper thereof.” The Vulgate, “And my ear received secretly the pulsations of its whisper” – venas susurri ejus. The word rendered “a little,” שׁמץ shemets, occurs only here and in Job 26:14, where it is also rendered little. It means, according to Gesenius, a transient sound rapidly uttered and swiftly passing away. Symm. ψιθυρισμός psithurismos – a whisper. According to Castell, it means a sound confused and feeble, such as one receives when a man is speaking in a hurried manner, and when he cannot catch all that is said. This is probably the sense here. Eliphaz means to say that he did not get all that might have been said in the vision. It occurred in such circumstances, and what was said was delivered in such a manner, that he did not hear it all distinctly. (Barnes’ Notes on the Bible)

Some say Eliphaz did not really have a revelation from God, that he was simply using this claim to bolster his argument. Others say he truly did have a revelation, that it was truly from God. Here are two stances, yea and nay.

Argument that Eliphaz really had the revelation and that it was from God:

Some indeed have thought that this was a mere fiction of Eliphaz, and not a real vision; yea, some have gone so far as to pronounce it a diabolical one, but without any just foundation; for there is nothing in the manner or matter of it but what is agreeable to a divine vision or to a revelation from God; besides, though Eliphaz was a mistaken man in the case of Job, yet was a good man, as may be concluded from the acceptance of a sacrifice for him by the Lord, which was offered for him by Job, according to the order of God, and therefore could never be guilty of such an imposture; nor does Job ever charge him with any falsehood in this matter, who doubtless would have been able to have traversed and exposed him; (Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible)

Argument that Eliphaz really did not have the revelation and/or that it was not from God:

Apparently the words Eliphaz claimed he heard in his dream are given in these verses. For three reasons it is doubtful that the words were a revelation from God:
(a) “a word” (v. 12), not “a word of the LORD,” came to Eliphaz;
(b) the word came “secretly” (i.e., in an elusive manner, v. 12); and
(c) the message seemed to picture God as unconcerned about man (vv. 17–21).
Zuck, R. B. (1985). Job. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures

Personally, I tend to the latter, that Eliphaz did not receive a revelation from God. The above 3 evidences are pretty compelling to me. Going back to Barnes’ Notes, that the word Eliphaz uses indicates some of the message slipped away before he could catch it, Does God mumble? No, He does not. But one cannot be dogmatic. In the end, it doesn’t matter, because the words are recorded and there they shall remain.

However, a caution for us today. We know the canon is closed. God is not speaking now, except through His Son, the word (Hebrews 1:1-2). However, plenty of people who claim to be elders or teachers, august persons as Eliphaz truly was, say they have a received a word, or even a “fresh word” which they use cravenly to bolster their arguments.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap“. (Galatians 6:7, KJV). If you use God as a cover to imbue some sort of status or honor or importance to your words, you will reap a whirlwind which will rain down upon you. God spoke to people frequently in the former days, and Eliphaz’s claim of direct revelation went unremarked by Job. But as Hebrews shows us, today is another matter. Be careful.

eliphaz whisper

encouragement, Uncategorized

Bible Reading Plan thoughts: Our tender God?

Posted on January 10, 2018 by elizabethprata

Our Bible Reading Plan today brings us to Psalm 3-5. I was struck by this scene-

O LORD, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
many are saying of my soul,
“There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah

But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
I cried aloud to the LORD,
and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah
(Psalm 3:1-4)

David is running from Absalom, his son, who wanted to kill David. How heartbreaking when your own child seeks to murder you! Absalom had undermined David and sought to usurp David from the throne and take it over. At a tipping point, David feared for his life and fled Jerusalem. He composed this Psalm.

David was dejected and depressed. He was surrounded by enemies which were Absalom’s allies. David couldn’t trust anyone. But David had God. David notes that he has God’s protection as a shield, His glory, and His tenderness.

God’s tenderness?

David has enough of a relationship with Jehovah that David could express it in terms this intimate- God cares for each of His people so much that He veritably lifts our head. He lifts us out of our despondency. God- the lifter of my head.

the one who lifts up my head: A lifted head signaled confidence and pride (27:6), while a lowered head signaled defeat and disgrace (Judg 8:28). Barry, J. D., Faithlife Study Bible (Ps 3:3).

When we’re despondent and depressed, our head is down. Our shoulders slump. Our countenance is low. In Genesis 4:5b when God rejected Cain’s offering, it says,

So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast
down

What the verse made me think of is when a toddler is upset and crying and sad. You go to them and you wrap them in your arms, and you want to talk to them, but they’re looking down or away. You take your hand and cup their chin and you raise their face to yours. We are a lifter of heads to our children, and so, God is lifter of heads to His children- us.

He is tender. Matthew Henry explains how God lifts our head:

Joy and deliverance: “Thou art the lifter up of my head; thou wilt lift up my head out of my troubles, and restore me to my dignity again, in due time; or, at least, thou wilt lift up my head under my troubles, so that I shall not droop nor be discouraged, nor shall my spirits fail.”

If, in the worst of times, God’s people can lift up their heads with joy, knowing that all shall work for good to them, they will own it is God that is the lifter up of their head, that gives them both cause to rejoice and hearts to rejoice. ~Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume.

old testament, Uncategorized

Bible Reading Plan thoughts: And the walls fell flat?

Posted on January 9, 2018January 9, 2018 by elizabethprata

jericho1
Our Bible Reading for today is Joshua 6-10. It’s the famous scene where Joshua and his army are commanded to march around the city of Jericho for six days. On the 7th day they were to march around it 7 times, shout, and the LORD would make the walls fall flat.

The walls were about 7 feet high, with a ditch around that, and atop a steep incline. The wall was actually a double wall. Towers were built into the walls, and anyone attempting to climb the hill and attack would be at a severe disadvantage.

It must have been unnerving for the Jericho-ites to see the Israelite army marching around and around day after day, the tension heightening, the strangeness of the scene increasing their apprehension. It was a good lesson for the Israelite army too. Obedience in the face of a strange command. Its fulfillment promised blessing, though, and would be a tremendous miracle.

And it was!
jericho

Some people say that such a thing could not physically happen. Others say that archaeology does not confirm what the Bible says, that Jericho never even had a wall. In both cases, these are not a problem for the Bible believer. We believe God, therefore we believe what He says in His inspired word. The walls fell flat? Yes, the walls fell flat. Praise God for His mighty and mysterious ways.

Joshua 6:21 says that all the people and animals in Jericho were then killed by the sword. (Except Rahab and her brethren). It’s always rough to read something like that. But the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says-

It should be remembered that the Canaanites were incorrigible idolaters, addicted to the most horrible vices, and that the righteous judgment of God might sweep them away by the sword, as well as by famine or pestilence. There was mercy mingled with judgment in employing the sword as the instrument of punishing the guilty Canaanites, for while it was directed against one place, time was afforded for others to repent.

God is good, He is gracious, and He is merciful. He is also righteous judge, and if idolaters refuse to repent, and continue idolizing the devoted things, then their sin will be paid with death. Joshua’s march shows that obedience brings blessing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Further Reading

Answers in Genesis: The Walls of Jericho

prophecy, Uncategorized

Bible reading Plan thoughts: The First Mourning

Posted on January 8, 2018 by elizabethprata

Our Bible Reading Plan for today includes a text from Genesis 4. The first murder- Cain killed his brother Abel. Yesterday we read that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and this has been true of all humans ever born or made, including Adam and Eve, with the sole exception of Jesus. The wages of sin is death.

Shortly after the Fall, we see all the sins begin to rear their head; lying, blame, guilt, jealousy, rebellion, and murder. Cain did not fear God. He argued with God and was irreverent with Him. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Soon after, he killed his brother.

A scene which is not in the Bible but must have happened, was depicted in the painting called The First Mourning (Adam and Eve mourn the death of Abel); oil on canvas 1888 by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Here it is:
800px-Bouguereau-The_First_Mourning-1888
God had said when He told the First Parents not to eat of the fruit that on the day they eat of it they shall surely die. They did die, spiritually. Their physical death took place many years later. Adam lived over 900 years. That is a long time to remember. Eve, the mother of all the living, was now the mother of the first to die.

When they discovered the body of their son lying lifeless on the ground, they must have mourned. They knew what death was, since God had killed an animal and given them its skins to wear for clothing. They must have killed animals in order to eat, since having been thrown out of the Garden. Abel was a keeper of sheep. Their death was graciously staved off, but their son! O, their son! Their original sin comes back to haunt them in a devastating way. I wrote about this scene in 2014:

We know both of them were familiar with death. Their spiritual life died the moment they disobeyed (“surely you won’t die” the serpent lied in Genesis 3:4). They were familiar with death because God killed the first animal to make clothing out of its skin (the first sacrifice to cover them in their sin). We know they must have killed an animal themselves because they had to eat.

And then…the blood of their son. The Bible does not record the discovery of Abel’s body, nor his burial (as far as I know). But perhaps the scene looked like the one above.

Oh, the searing pain of losing a son! A pain that would be replicated again and again through history as sin took its toll on a million mothers in epochs to come! A grief that the Father Himself would know soon enough!!

The first death was of a beloved son.

The last death was of a beloved Son.

Praise our Holy Savior for His death, for through Him we have life! Praise our Resurrected Savior for vanquishing sin!

charles spurgeon, Uncategorized

Do you make notes in books? Here are a few thoughts

Posted on January 7, 2018 by elizabethprata

spurgeon collage

From Charles Spurgeon’s Autobiography

DIARY, LETTERS AND RECORDS – COLLECTIONS AUTOBIOGRAPHY DIARY, LETTERS AND RECORDS, by His Wife and His Private Secretary To the Students of the Words, Works and Ways of God

In addition to the letters manuscripts, photographs, and autographs of the authors, which Mr. Spurgeon preserved in his copies of their works, whenever he could obtain them, he also wrote his own name in many of the volumes, with an expression of his opinion of their contents. There are, perhaps, among his books, some hundreds of these inscriptions; many of them are autobiographical, and for that reason deserve a place in the present work. It is worthy of note that, while this chapter has been in course of preparation, the compilers have met with an interesting article by Mr. Andrew Lang, entitled “Scrawls on Books,” which shows that he approved of the custom which the Pastor so extensively observed.

Among other things, he wrote — ”The practice of scribbling on fly-leaves and margins has many enemies. I confess that I am not among these purists. I like to see these footprints on the sands of literature, left by dead generations, and to learn from them something about previous owners of books, if it be but their names …. We should all write our names, at least; no more of us may ever reach posterity…. As a rule, tidy and self-respecting people do not even write their names on their fly-leaves;, still less do they scribble marginalia. Collectors love a clean book, but a book scrawled on may have other merits.

Thackeray’s countless caricatures add a delight to his old school-books; the comments of Scott are always to the purpose; but how few books once owned by great authors come into the general market! Where is Dr. Johnson’s library, which must bear traces of his buttered toast? Sir Mark Sykes used to record the date and place of purchase, with the price, — an excellent habit. These things are more personal than book-plates, which may be and are detached by collectors, and pasted into volumes. The selling value of a book may be lowered even by a written owner’s name; but many a book, otherwise worthless, is redeemed by an interesting note. Even the uninteresting notes gradually acquire an antiquarian value, if contemporary with the author. They represent the mind of a dead age. and perhaps the common scribbler is not unaware of this; otherwise, he is indeed without excuse. For the great owners of the past, certainly, we regret that they were so sparing in marginalia.”

The first volume of the Autobiography, (page 254) proves that Mr. Spurgeon commenced, quite early in his, ministry, the practice which Mr. Lang commends, for the inscriptions in Dr. Gill’s Commentary, there quoted, date back to 1852. In Martin Luther’s Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, is written — ”This volume is one of my earliest friends; — needs no letter of commendation. — C. H. SPURGEON, 1852.”

The following remarkable commendation is inserted on the fly-leaf of the first volume of A Compleat History and Mystery of the Old and New Testament, logically discussed and theologically improved, by Christopher Ness — “Reader, — Here is something worth all thy time, though thou read it all day long. Give eyes and heart a feast here. Here is goodly word painting and rich heart-breathing. — C. H. SPURGEON.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I pray you find a similarly beloved book (in addition to the Bible), where you read it all day long, accept it as a feast, with good word painting and rich heart breathing. 🙂

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Bible Reading Plan thoughts: All have sinned and fall short

Posted on January 7, 2018January 7, 2018 by elizabethprata

romans 3 sunday

(Bible Reading Plan for Sunday is Romans 3-4).

Romans 3:23 is a familiar verse to us. For all its familiarity, don’t let it skim in and out of your mind as you read.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

All.

Even you.

Especially me.

Genesis 6:5 says that

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

This verse doesn’t stand for just that pre-deluge time. (antediluvian). It’s for all time. As then, now people now live in a time of great wickedness, their hearts’ every intention thinking evil, all the time. That is the natural state of unsaved man. For saved man, it’s the natural state we resist against, with the aid of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

So, all have sinned and fallen short.

The Strong’s definition for the word fallen short is:

5302 /hysteréō (“failing to fulfill a goal”) means to be in lack and hence, unable to meet the need at hand because depleted (“all run out”). This state of lack (insufficiency, privation) naturally results when a person misses out on what is vital.

I grew up during the time when American stunt performer Evel Knieval was active. He was a guy in a Captain America-type suit who would line up a zillion semi-trucks and go really fast on a motorcycle and jump them. He was always jumping something. Of course, being a daredevil stunt performer, his feats had to become increasingly daring to keep his audience.

In 1974 he decided he wanted to jump the Snake River Canyon. This is a 1600 foot jump. A motorcycle can’t jump that far so Knieval invented a ‘sky-cycle.’ His contraption was a bucket seat attached to a steam-powered thrust engine. Knieval attempted the jump in August 1974. He fell short. The parachute accidentally deployed and the sky-cycle was dragged by winds back to the launch site.

We all fall short, all the time. If we think our Bible reading will get us into heaven, it won’t. If we think our good deeds will get us in, they won’t. If we think our donations and charity will get us in, they will not. God’s glory is so far and so high, there is nothing we can do to arrive into His light and dwell there. Our sin prevents it. We are unrighteous.

Fortunately, Jesus came to live, die as the perfect sacrificial sacrifice for sin, and be resurrected. His cross bridges that gap. We don’t have to strive, construct contraptions to get across, or worry if our own merits and good works are enough. Jesus is enough. If we are in Him, we will never fall short- because He didn’t.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. (Romans 3:21-22)

biblical resources, Uncategorized

Resources on Depression and the Christian

Posted on January 6, 2018 by elizabethprata

depressed
Depression is something Christians don’t talk about much. Some are embarrassed by it, deeming it a weakness. Others believe that they are supposed to present a joyful countenance all the time, every day. Others adopt a plan of fake it till you make it.

So I was surprised and heartened to read Drew Dyck’s heartfelt sharing of his own journey through a long-term depression which was also punctuated by panic attacks. Mr Dyck is an acquisitions editor at Moody Publishers and a senior editor at CTPastors.com. He’s the author of Yawning at Tigers (2014) and Generation Ex: Christian (2010).

It’s always risky when one is open about something that some parts of society stigmatize. He muses on some of that in his article, as he shares the lessons he’d learned. His article is here:

You Can Break Your Brain … And 4 Other Things I’ve learned from My Struggle with Depression and Anxiety

Did you know that the Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, suffered from depression? It seems strange that on the surface, this man who was a global success at preaching, writing, pastoring, founding colleges, orphanages, and married to a wonderful woman, could ever be depressed. But he was. There are numerous resources available recounting it, including many of his own writings, but this can get you started:

The Anguish and Agonies of Charles Spurgeon

Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a physician and then a preacher. In 1960 he began preaching on depression in a lengthy sermon series which can be listened to here. The sermon series was also made into a book, “Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure”. The Amazon blurb introducing the books states,

[Lloyd-Jones] carefully and compassionately analyzes an undeniable feature of modern society from which Christians have not escaped — spiritual depression.

What robs Christians of the joy that is theirs? Why does faith’s vitality drain away, leaving melancholy and anxiety it its place? In the sermons, Lloyd-Jones explores the cause and the cure.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones Spiritual Depression series

David certainly had his own ups and downs. We read in Psalm 43:4,

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Mr Dyck says that prayer and Scripture were a tremendous source of comfort in the valley (especially the Psalms). It would be wrong and neglectful of me to leave off the Bible itself as a resource. Especially the Psalms.

depressed guy
Though the Bible is its own premier resource, Mr Dyck shares that the person suffering from depression “finds it hard to even muster the energy or concentration to engage deeply in spiritual practices.” He advises asking others to pray for you when your depression sinks you too low to open His word.

Therefore we have the greatest resource of all: the Body of Christ in prayer and supplication, appealing to the Great Physician, Jesus, in prayer.

All these resources and more are available to you if you happen to be suffering from persistent panic, anxiety or depression.

Further reading:

Insufficient Help, Part 1: Grace To You’s recounting of a depressed, suicidal young man seeking help from church counselors in addition to doctors and secular therapists, who eventually took his own life. The church was sued. Did the church offer insufficient help? Are Biblical counselors qualified to use the Bible in therapy?

Overwhelmed by Anxiety? A blog series on attacking the anxiety that is attacking you.

encouragement, Uncategorized

Bible Reading Plan thoughts: The Women in the Genealogy

Posted on January 6, 2018 by elizabethprata

In our Bible Reading Plan we come to Matthew 1-2 today. Don’t hate the genealogy. Don’t skip the genealogy. Since we are told that all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work, (2 Timothy 3:16-17), it means that the genealogies are also instructive. Here are a couple of thoughts that came to my mind as I read it.

1. Women are mentioned. In a society so patriarchal as to render the women invisible, the feminists say, here are some women added to the holiest of genealogies, the line of Christ.

2. The particular women mentioned by name. In Matthew 1:3, we read: “Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar” verse 5 has both: “Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab”, verse “Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth”, and verse 6b has “And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah”.

These women are outcasts, as John MacArthur’s commentary calls them. Tamar was a Canaanite daughter-in-law of Judah who dressed as a prostitute to trick Judah for various convoluted Old Testament reasons. As the Commentary concludes her story, “God’s grace fell on all three of these undeserving persons, including a desperate and deceptive Gentile harlot.”

Rahab was a Gentile and a professional prostitute. However, she feared God and protected the spies when they came to Jericho. As a result, God rained down grace by including her in the Messianic line, making her the mother of Boaz, King David’s great-grandfather.

Ruth was also a Gentile. She was a Moabite and a former pagan, who had no legal right to marry an Israelite, but God’s grace swept her into the family of Israel and into the Royal line through Boaz and she became David’s grandmother.

3. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. Did you catch that? Bathsheba is mentioned, but not named. That jumped out at me.

Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and later, Mary are mentioned by name. Not this one. Of course we know she is Bathsheba, who bathed naked on the rooftop under the lascivious eyes of David. Incited, David contrived a way to put Bathsheba’s husband Uriah at the front lines, David committed adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah was killed at the front lines, David took Bathsheba for his wife, and then the son from this illicit union died in infancy. Their second son was Solomon. But God’s grace was sufficient to keep ‘the wife of Uriah’ in the royal line and she became ancestor to the Messiah.

The genealogy of Jesus Christ is immeasurably more than a list of ancient names; it is even more than a list of Jesus’ forebears. It is a beautiful testimony to God’s grace and to the ministry of His Son, Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners… If He has called sinners by grace to be His forefather,s should we be surprised when He calls them by grace to be his descendants? The King presented here is truly the King of grace! ~John MacArthur

Don’t skip the genealogies. 🙂

generations

matthew 1 verse1

prophecy, Uncategorized

Bible Reading Plan thoughts: Isaiah, Israel, and that Vision

Posted on January 5, 2018 by elizabethprata

Today’s reading is Isaiah 1-6. Reading the Prophets is tough on the heart. It’s true that there are interpretive difficulties with reading them, because of the history. Sorting out which king and which nation and to whom God is speaking given that the ancient names have gone by the wayside, can be demanding on the serious student.

Also, often in the Prophets there are interpretive difficulties given the nature of prophecy itself. There are different timings of the fulfillments of the prophecies. Some happened in the past. Some are dual-layer prophecies, like the Lord’s first and second comings, or prophecies that have happened in the past and will happen in the future also. Some are prophecies solely for the future.

The interpretive difficulties usually can be resolved with prayer, study, and the aid of the Holy Spirit. It’s a head thing. But the content of the prophecies, they are hard to read because of the mourning that goes along with them. Who can’t but mourn when they read this from Isaiah 1:7-8,

friday isaiah 1 verse

Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.

Don’t just let the word lie on the page and be head knowledge-history. Apply the words to our life. At the present time of this writing, North Korea is said to be close to creating a nuclear bomb. North Korea has sworn to use their bomb on America. So what if God allows North Korea to be successful? What if America lies desolate, when NK sends a nuke or a dirty bomb or an EMP over Miami, New York, and LA? When those cities or others are burned with fire? When we are overthrown by foreigners? It could happen. It could absolutely happen.

The reason the LORD promised those things to Israel is because of what is said in Isaiah 1:4,

Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.

So the mourning is over our personal sin and our national sin of rejecting God. It’s thinking of the terrified Israelites, living in a wasteland, carried off, or starving in a besieged city. It’s recognizing His just perfection when punishing nations for their rebellion, even us. It’s sad.

Then comes the magnificent vision in Chapter 6. What to make of the cherubim, the wings, the resounding praises of God’s holiness. We swing from desolation and sin, punishment and despair, to the temple ringing with majesty and power!

When Isaiah saw this he fell down and said in Is 6:5,

Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!

Job and Peter had the same reactions when they realized they were in the presence of the LORD. (Job 42:6, Luke 5:8). Other translations of the Isaiah verse say “I am undone”, “I am ruined” etc. The Hebrew word is “to be destroyed”. There really is no describing how vast the distance between sinful man and God in His glory. Matthew Henry says,

All vain-glory, ambition, ignorance, and pride, would be done away by one view of Christ in his glory. This awful vision of the Divine Majesty overwhelmed the prophet with a sense of his own vileness.

And yet, there is grace. He sent a Mediator to bridge that gap between us lowly sinful creatures and Him in His height and glory. The Prophetical Books follow the pattern of promise, sin, punishment, redemption. The books always end with hope. Indeed, as the Spurgeon devotional this morning is titled:

A Wonderful Guarantee
I will strengthen thee. (Isaiah 41:10)

The guarantee is that God will not leave or forsake us. If we mourn our personal and national sin, as Isaiah did, then we can turn and look upward through this glorious glimpse of chapter 6, of God on His throne, sovereignly ordaining all things coming together for the good of those who love him. In the beginning it was good. In the end it will be good.

prophecy, Uncategorized

Bible Reading Plan thought for the day: They came to present themselves

Posted on January 4, 2018January 4, 2018 by elizabethprata

job 1 thursday verse.jpg

Satan fell. (Isaiah 14:12, Ezekiel 28:11-19). We do not know when, because the timeline for God’s creation of the universe and all its beings (including angels) is not specifically mentioned in scripture. We know that they were already created when God created the world, because they praised God for it. (Job 38:6-8). We know none of them had fallen by the conclusion of the sixth day when God saw all that he had made, and declared it very good.

By the time Genesis 3 came, though, satan was a fallen, evil, sinful creature. Revelation strongly intimates that he caused a third of his cohorts to fall with him. (Revelation 12:4).

However as we see from today’s verses in the Bible Reading Plan, satan and his cohorts to this day still have access to heaven. They still appear to God. They still stalk the heavenlies and strut in the holy place. God allows this for His sovereign purposes. In another example separate from today’s, we see that God used a lying spirit to deceive Ahab, (2 Chronicles 18:18-22). Satan and hsi demons come and go in heaven.

One day, and what a day that will be, God will SHUT the door of heaven and satan and his third of hosts will not be granted access to heaven any longer. This will occur in the Great Tribulation, as depicted in Revelation 12:7-17. In fact, this rejection enrages the devil so much that he redoubles his efforts to overcome God’s people and His kingdom. The persecutions and evil events already occurring on earth at that time turn to massive and horrific evil as many millions of believers are martyred. Revelation 12 again.

Whether satan is presenting himself before God in heaven or tormenting His people on earth, whether it is the Great Tribulation or just nowadays, God is fully in control. You see in the verses in Job that God set limits to satan’s actions, and satan adhered to them.

God is sovereign, and if you are a believer in Him, with the Holy Spirit in us as a seal of His guarantee of redemption and eternal life, you have already overcome the devil- because Jesus did.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Colossians 2:15)