For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE
If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.
Eschatology is the theologian’s word for the study of last things. Theologians, like other scientists love their big words. Ever try to read a medicine package?
Classically, eschatology covers all the Bible has to say regarding what happens from the moment of death, through the intervening time before Christ’s return, His return, the resurrection from the dead, final judgment and the new heavens and the new earth. All of it reminding us that He has had a plan for the end of the ages all along. His plan for humanity wasn’t cemented into a perpetual Eden. He was aiming at more from the beginning.
And one problem that creeps up in our study of God’s Word, is how we can take what God does at one point in time, and assume that is the way it is supposed to be for all time. A case in point is that of Adam and Eve. We forget that Adam was not God’s endgame that simply went wrong. Romans 5:14 reminds us, Adam, was a type, a precursor or prototype of the One who was to come – Jesus, The Son of God incarnate.
And as is true of all such types and shadows, there are similarities to the one the type was pointing to, and contrasts. So along with our readings today in 1 Peter 5:12–2 Peter 1:2 and Jeremiah 29–31 there are some stunning contrasts between the first Adam in the Garden, and the Last Adam Jesus on the cross in Luke 23:26–49.
We’ll look at just 3 of those contrasts today on Through the Word in 2020. I’m Reid Ferguson.
As the old hymn goes:
Could we with ink, the oceans fill
And were the skies, of parchment made
Were every stalk, on earth a quill
And every man, a scribe by trade
To write the love, of God above
Would drain the oceans dry
Nor could the scroll, contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky
Let me note just 3 stupendous contrasts, and let your heart soak them in today.
1. When Adam sinned, he hid himself from God. Red with his own guilt – he tried to avoid the face of God.
In contrast, Jesus went TO God, when laden with our guilt. “Father forgive them” He cried. And then, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” The unfathomably brave Jesus, facing the wrath of God, red with our guilt – unflinching that we might go free.
2. Adam tried to cover himself so as not to be exposed. He sewed those flimsy, foolish fig leaves together as though they somehow could cover up the cataclysmic change which had come as the result of his disobedience.
On our behalf, Jesus was stripped naked and exposed to the world. Sin was not to be covered – even though it was not His own sin, but ours. Everything had to be out in the open. The shame that sin is and the heinous results of it had to be laid bare. He was shamed in our place. So the Word says “everyone one who believes in Him will not be put to shame.”
Oh blessed Jesus!
3. Adam pointed the finger at his wife as the reason for his fall. Then, at the God who gave him his wife.
Jesus instead took the whole of our guilt upon Himself, that His Bride might be covered. He refused to separate Himself from us even when it meant His death. Owning us as His bride regardless the cost. He hid us behind Himself while the just fury of God’s own holiness hurled it fiercest condemnation upon Him.
To write the love of God above, would drain more than the oceans dry; it would deplete the whole of creation in all of its vastness.
For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE
If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.
It’s a pretty observable phenomenon in our culture today that short-range thinking predominates. How can I get pleasure -now? What is the shortest track to success? Instant wealth. Even social connections via social media seem aimed at getting instant or immediate responses. Texts, emails, Tweets, news, you name it. Things like waiting in line are considered almost abusive. Currently the threshold of how long someone is willing to wait for a web page to load is 2 seconds. One report I recently read said that 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if it takes any longer than 3 seconds to load.
Out of our 4 texts today Jeremiah 5:14–8:17; Psalm 122 and Luke 22:31–34 – 1 Peter 1:3–12 shows us that this tendency is nothing new. And calls us to consider again the long view. To wait for the glories of the Resurrection, of eternal satisfaction rather than immediate gratification.
More on that today on Through the Word in 2020. I’m your host, Reid Ferguson.
As Solomon once said, there is nothing new under the sun. It’s true. So it is Peter has to remind even 1st Century Christians that being born again is not the end. It is only the beginning. We are born TO – a living hope. Hope beyond this life, and stretching into the full eternity of the next. He has made us into new creatures that we might be inheritors of what He has stored up for us.
Sadly, it is easy for us to be influenced by the World’s grasping after having all we can get now – even as Christians.
The so-called Prosperity Gospel is nothing other than a baptized version of get rich schemes. And others get caught in a web of trying to bring about Heaven on earth. Trying to gain power in society, promoting some sort of Christian rule over the secular world. And this sort of thinking proliferates whenever we feel powerless or marginalized. We hate feeling helpless. And the pinch of the immediate robs us of our vision for what God has called us to place more before our eyes.
So Peter writes to a people who are both elect in Christ, and exiles on earth. He sees no contradiction in those twin realities. For we are both of those, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, as part of how we are set apart from the World by the Spirit, so as to obey Christ above all, and to know His cleansing from our sin in His blood.
So if we can’t necessarily look for power or prosperity in our present lives – what can we look forward to? To a living hope, secured by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So that we might one day obtain an inheritance that is:
IMPERISHABLE – Can NEVER die or end. Has no temporariness to it.
Is UNDEFILED – possessed of absolutely no corruption whatever – nothing which makes it less than absolutely perfect in every way.
And is UNFADING – perennially fresh and new. Never losing its luster and shine.
And what else about this inheritance – whatever it might be? Well, it is kept in Heaven for all of us who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Hang on Believer. No matter how diminished you may be at present – this, Christ has guaranteed for you in His death and resurrection. It is waiting for you. Kept for you. Guarded for you. It is in Heaven, not here. And it will be yours in due time.
For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE
If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.
The sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross for sinners, is the most climactic moment in human history. At the very moment when man was committing his most heinous crime – murdering the very Son of God – God was providing in that Son the means whereby humankind’s most heinous sins could be forgiven. It truly staggers the mind.
I’ve little doubt it will take all eternity for us to search out all the depths and implications of the Cross. But one aspect stands out especially in our reading today in Luke 22:14-30. It is significant that Jesus died on the Passover.
More on that as we consider our Luke passage as well as Jeremiah 2-5:13 and James 5:13-1 Peter 1:2. I’m Reid Ferguson, and this is Through the Word in 2020.
It is a curious thing to me that Jesus died at the Passover, rather than on the Day of Atonement. Some day, I hope to be able to unpack the reasons behind that more fully. To me, the Day of Atonement makes more sense. But to the all-wise God, Passover was more fitting. And in considering that fact, at least one glorious aspect of Jesus’ death gets spotlighted in a profound way. It’s wrapped up in the idea that The Lord’s Supper is typified in and built around the theme of – deliverance.
The death of Jesus Christ on the Cross not only addressed the matter of our guilt before God. Though that too is of supreme importance. But it also signaled the nature of the Believer’s deliverance. Even as the first Passover was all about deliverance.
In fact, the types and shadows go back even further. In Genesis 14 when Melchizedek met Abraham after his victory over the kings who had raided Sodom, they share a meal foreshadowing the Passover of Exodus 11. Why? Because there had been a great deliverance wrought – freeing Lot and his fellow citizens from capture.
Then we come to the 1st. Passover in Exodus 11. And there, the spotlight is on Israel’s deliverance from the slavery of Egypt.
It is on the anniversary of that deliverance that Jesus institutes The Lord’s Supper. Which calls us then to pick up on that deliverance theme in considering His dying as our Passover Lamb. As the One whose blood protected all who Believe even as the wrath of God was being poured out once again. On Christ.
And what is the nature of the Believer’s deliverance? At least 4 come immediately to mind.
1. Rom. 7:21-8:1 / Believers in Christ Jesus are delivered from the law of sin and death. We have been delivered from the dynamic of “sin and you will die” to “Believe and you will live.” And hence there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ by faith.
2. Col. 1:11-13 says that Jesus has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His Dear Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
3. 1 Thess. 1:9-10 tells us that when we turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from Heaven, whom He raised from the dead – this Jesus is the One who delivers us from the wrath to come. From God’s own final judgment on all sin.
4. Lastly, Heb. 2:14-15 reports that all those in Christ are delivered from the fear of death. Death cannot hurt us any more. It can only be the means to bring us to our full reward in Christ.
Ponder those today Believer. Delivered from the law of sin and death.
As we come here this morning, my heart is burdened in that I am – both personally and in regard to you all – mindful of the turbulent, troubling, and disturbing time in which we find ourselves. As a nation, and as The Church.
The current complexities and debates surrounding Covid-19 and how it’s to be understood, managed and responded to;
Violence erupting all over the nation and not least of all here in Rochester itself;
Racial tensions at an all time high;
The dreadfully contentious Presidential election just before us, with last week’s spectacle;
Corruption and what appears to be ineptitude in every part of government: National, State and local;
Leaders acting like spoiled children;
Mixed signals from experts and agencies;
Morally failing leaders in Christian circles;
What Al Mohler often refers to as the moral insanity which has gripped our culture;
The truly unpredictable future of the way of life most of us grew up with and assumed would be passed on to those behind us;
Economic instability;
None of these even yet touching on the personal trials, tribulations and challenges each of us faces today.
And all these tensions can even foment divisions among Believers.
The internet is rife with Christians sniping at other Christians over every conceivable difference – destroying the genuine unity we are called to promote and work for.
Where is Christ in the midst of all this chaos?
How are Christians to think and respond to such a chaotic point in time?
And my goal this morning is not to try and formulate a “Christian” perspective or answer to each of the individual things we are facing right now.
It is to back us up for a moment, to gain some perspective. To view all of this through a quite different lens than mere, personal perception. To speak to us not as American citizens, but as Christians, as God’s people living in this present America as we await Christ’s return.
And hopefully to remind you all that God’s people in all the generations before us have faced wickedness, insanity, upheaval, disaster, national and even global chaos before.
That God has always had His people.
That He has been with His people in these places before.
That He will be with us as each of these unfold in our generation.
And that our hope and stability cannot be found in political parties, platforms or personages; nor in movements, legislation, judges, revolutions or even absolute unanimity on every point.
And I hope to do so by taking us back to a time when God’s people were under great judgment by God. And how the faithful among His people found their stability and means to live rightly and confidently before Him, in the midst of social, political, religious, moral and military chaos.
Back to the time of Daniel.
Who was Daniel and what was his situation?
Daniel was part of the Jewish nobility taken captive to Babylon in the siege of 605 B.C by Nebuchadnezzar. He is there with 3 close friends, as well as huge numbers of other Jewish people.
Now this downfall of Jerusalem was many years in the making.
They had endured a parade of yoyo leadership. Good kings followed by wicked kings followed by good kings – on and on.
But there had come a tipping point.
After the reign of a very good King, Hezekiah, who for the most part was a godly and powerful reformer in turning his nation back to God from idolatry and all sorts of sins – came his son Manasseh.
Scripture testifies that it was Manasseh’s sin that broke the proverbial camel’s back.
2 Kings 21:1-7
2 Kings 21:1–7 ESV
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.” And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.
After him, the King who led the best and most complete reforms in Israel arose – Josiah. But God had had enough. And even after all his reforms, we read: 2 Ki 23:26–27
2 Kings 23:26–27 ESV
Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. And the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”
But there’s one more note on that. For the truth is, leaders never sin alone. They have a populace which goes along with their sin. And so it was in this case. Je 16:10–13
Jeremiah 16:10–13 ESV
“And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ then you shall say to them: ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
The people had become a people who held no law above themselves – even the Law of God. Instead, “every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me.”
The plague of personal, human autonomy.
Sounds a bit like today doesn’t it?
Well this is what brought Daniel and his 3 compatriots along with the rest of the exiles into Babylon.
About 3 years into this captivity, the very pagan, brutal and despotic Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream.
He was so distressed by it – he demanded that his counselors not only interpret the dream for him – but actually tell him what the dream was. If not, they would all be killed. Daniel and his 3 friends would be among those killed.
At this point Daniel asks for some time from the king to meet the demands.
And then Daniel & his 3 friends begin to pray to God for mercy to avert this slaughter, and as a result Daniel is made aware of the dream and its interpretation.
Daniel then tells the King his dream is about four world empires (Babylon being the 1st) which are to come. All four will at last be brought to extinction by the advent of another kingdom which is not man-made. That kingdom will last forever.
And all through the book there is a display of remarkable wisdom, nuance and instruction in the way Daniel and his companions responded to this extremely hostile environment into which they were thrust.
There is a passel of them we can’t unpack today. They would make a great study on your own. If you want that list – email me.
How Daniel manages this – and don’t miss this – this is the key point: How Daniel does this is uncovered for us in the prayer recorded for us as he was seeking God in the chaos. The key insights of which we get in here in ch. 2.
It all has to do with the all governing vision of God he had. That he saw and understood God and His ways. That his own thinking was so mastered by this vision of God – that he could be steadied and confident in the face of absolute, chaotic uncertainty.
Not a vision of God in the supernatural sense. The unshakable knowledge of the God of the Bible he has been exposed to in the Scriptures.
So we read: Daniel 2:17-18
Daniel 2:17–18 ESV
Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
And when this prayer is answered, Daniel prays today’s text. This fabulous lesson of seeking Christ in the Chaos. IN a true emergency of life and death.
It is, if you will, a sort of 7 step circle, for it ends where it begins. And its insights could not be more useful for us today in the present chaos of our time and place.
One thought before we unpack the prayer.
You will note how Daniel asked his friends to seek mercy from God in this mystery – in the unknown – in the midst of their chaos.
As Daniel will pray again in Ch. 9 after he understands from Jeremiah’s prophecies that the 70 years is nearly up – although he was probably between 15-17 when captured – note how he owns the sin of his nation as his own: Daniel 9:5-15
Daniel 9:5–15 ESV
we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
He recognizes that the chaos they find themselves in the middle of – is because of sin.
And that they need mercy for their sin.
And that it is ALL their sin. There is no finger-pointing or saying “but that was all before I was born!” It was their national sinfulness that brought them to such a place.
A massive consideration for our own situation today. One we need to unpack another time.
But oh what a God of mercy He is!
So how does Daniel pray in the chaos?
How can we pray best in the chaos? By praying to the same God revealed in Daniel’s prayer.
1. Worship – He begins with worship.
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.
God is ALWAYS worthy of praise. No matter what the circumstances.
Christians in the midst of chaos must never abandon worship. Must never stop reminding themselves that they are God’s and we are His and that He remains on His throne.
When this escapes our minds, we can’t help but be thrown by what is going on around us.
We desperately need to remind ourselves that He remains worthy of our praise over and over and over.
When we stop seeing and worshiping a God greater than our situation – we are at a loss to address the world with anything substantive.
We’ll panic like those around us, and fall back upon desperate, human measures to deal with what is at its base – a spiritual problem.
Daniel’s God is unchanged and worthy to be blessed in the midst of the chaos.
2. Ascription – He recalls key attributes of His God.
“to whom belong wisdom and might.”
This 2-fold ascription is absolutely necessary to a right mind in a world gone mad.
Our God is wise in ALL He allows and brings His people through. Even when our own sin is directly tied to our trials.
And God still has all the power to meet the circumstances. He is mighty.
To the naked eye, Daniel’s circumstance was absolutely beyond the reach of any conceivable answer.
But when they prayed and sought God for mercy, an answer came from the God who remains powerful in the face of the impossible.
Beloved this as true today for you and me in the midst of today’s madness.
Our God remains wise in having brought us to this hour, and He is mighty to work in it the fullness of His plan.
Remind yourself often passages like Proverbs 21:30
Proverbs 21:30 ESV
No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel
can avail against the Lord.
OUR plans, OUR desires, OUR thoughts of how things ought to go might go to ashes – but His cannot and will not.
Daniel entered into worship and ascribed to God the wisdom and power that belongs to Him even in Daniel’s present chaos.
3. Seasons – God appoints and controls the seasons of life in which we live.
“He changes times and seasons”
Kingdoms rise, and kingdoms fall.
Cultures rise and cultures fall.
Ideologies come and gain prominence for a time and then morph or disappear.
Experts divide human history into a number of epochs:
Pre-history – before writing systems.
The Stone Age with about 8 divisions like Paleolithic, Mesolithic etc..
Ancient History.
The Middle Ages.
Modern History and so on.
And God is God in all of them. Over all of them. Moving in all of them.
So much so that Paul on Mars Hill can say to his hearers then and to us now: Acts 17:26-27
Acts 17:26–27 ESV
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
You and I live in this place at this time – in this Nation, State, City and especially at this moment in history with all of its strangeness and complexity specifically to facilitate our seeking out God to know and find Him.
He knows you and knows what is most ideal to drive you to seek Him.
This chaos isn’t random, it is in His hand to make you despair of this world so that you will find your hope and security in Christ and Christ alone.
Daniel had come to realize that his new experience of God was directly tied to his own exile, captivity, probable mutilation, forced service to a pagan King and the 70 year season of Israel’s judgment.
Who knows but that we too – as the Church might be living in the midst of God’s dealing with America for her sins? But that He is the one who changes the times and the seasons, that He is behind the shifts in epochs of human history – is without question.
And so we can trust Him as those who have gone before us did in their seasons.
As Ecclesiastes 7:10 says:
Ecclesiastes 7:10 ESV
Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
We lack the wisdom of knowing how God is the God of history – even our present history – when we imagine the mythical “good old days.”
You and I never lived at a better time than right now to seek the face of God.
Worship, Ascription, Seasons and…
4. Leaders – God appoints all those who come into political and governmental leadership.
“He removes kings and sets up kings”
Now we need to make no mistake here – so let me jump to the most direct application I can: No matter who wins this coming Nov. 3 – It is God who installs or removes leaders.
We campaign and dialog and vote and all of that – which is all right and good and well – but the ultimate outcome has to do more with God carrying out His ultimate plans and purposes than with our short-sighted, immediate understanding and agendas.
Whether that be for more general blessing, or in judgment. And I am in no position say which that is given either of the candidates. I just know God is at work. He never abdicates His position as ruling in the affairs of men in this regard.
As Paul reminds his readers regarding the governing authorities of his day: “there is NO authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted BY God.” (Rom. 13:1 – Emphases mine).
And while we cannot unpack all of the complexities of how we today might interact with our own government, the basic principle here is both powerful and necessary for us to grasp.
On its face, Daniel’s statement needs no qualification.
He knew it well from Israel’s history. The people set up their kings – good and bad, but for Daniel, God was at work. He’s the one who removes and sets them up.
As you read your Bible, especially the Old Testament prophets, take note at how often God addresses the leadership not only of Israel but of many pagan nations.
Cyrus of Persia is called “God’s anointed.”
In Isaiah 10 – Assyria and its king Sennacherib are “the rod” of God’s own anger, though they haven’t a clue that’s so.
In 1 Kings 11, God anoints wicked Jeroboam King over Israel in its civil war against Judah.
In 2 Kings 9 Jehu – another wicked man is set apart by God to rule.
Jeremiah says that Nebuchadnezzer is the means whereby God Himself will fight against Judah in judgment.
And after his humbling Nebuchadnezzar declares: “the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.”
Jesus will tell Pilot that even Pilot’s authority came from God.
This is vital for us to grasp as we are in the midst of this confusing, rancorous, wildly chaotic Presidential election.
Whatever the outcome, God is at work. And we can trust Him in it.
Worship, Ascription, Seasons, Leaders…
5. Knowledge – We are never left without full counsel for what we are to be about.
“He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding”
Wisdom, God’s wisdom Proverbs 1:3 tells us is for the purpose of instruction in righteousness first of all.
God gives us wisdom and knowledge in accordance with how to be about seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, irrespective of what is going on around us.
His chief concern is not wisdom for the voting booth, investments and the like – but in living righteously before Him in the weirdness of the days in which we find ourselves.
Our problem is, we are more interested in straightening out the culture, the political system and societal ills, than we are in growing in the likeness of Christ.
We have the Word of God so as to be taught in the truth as it is in Christ: reproved of our sin, corrected from our sinful errors, trained in walking righteously – defined as being equipped for every good work.
So as Daniel is working through navigating the totally foreign world of pagan captivity – his concern is how to serve God well there – not how to fix “there.”
And may it be so for us.
He gives wisdom. He gives knowledge. For what we need. For what we were designed for. For His ends and purposes.
I don’t assume He will give me the wisdom to understand Covid-19 and all of its ramifications – but I DO expect wisdom on how to be sure I am honoring Him in the strain the current situation brings into my life.
How to keep trusting Him. Resting in Him. Committing the outcome to Him. Worshiping Him. Serving Him. Rejoicing in Him. Growing in Him.
And avoiding contentiousness, resentment, foolishness, carelessness, fretfulness, comfort sins, enmity, strife, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions and “whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.” (1 Tim. 1:10)
The wisdom to place our priority on the spiritual, when the chaos of the day tries to drag us kicking and screaming into the arena of the temporal every second of the day.
Maybe you’re not as tempted to get all wrapped up in the current political madness as I am – to want to rise up and shout back at every idiotic post and news broadcast.
But He has made us for better things. Higher things.
Daniel got wisdom to: Avoid defiling himself with the King’s meat. How to approach his handler when the decree to execute the wise men came down. And above all – to seek God in the face of the impossible.
Worship, Ascription, Seasons, Leaders, Knowledge…
6. Illumination – Light for a reality that transcends the World.
“He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him”
John says that Jesus is the true light, which gives light to everyone.
As we understand Him, His mission, His teaching, His plans and His purposes – He gives us light into deep and hidden things.
He knows what is in the darkness – and if you would really see clearly what is going in in the frenzy of this current moment – you must see it in the light of Him.
Light dwells with Him alone.
How do we explain the current state of affairs? Only as we understand a world in rebellion against God.
Psalm 2:1-3
Psalm 2:1–3 ESV
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
The word “rage” here includes being in tumult and commotion.
Rest of heart and soul and mind can’t be present while people continue to refuse the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Beloved, don’t look for sanity from this world given this state of men’s hearts. We know what is at the root of the chaos. We know it is the darkness of soul that is the result of rejecting God in Jesus Christ. And we know our response to it all is to plead for the Gospel to have greater and greater effect until the Day Jesus returns.
And we know 2 Timothy 3:12-13
2 Timothy 3:12–13 ESV
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
So what are we to do? Here is light: 2 Timothy 3:14-15
2 Timothy 3:14–15 ESV
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Now I want to be clear here – as Daniel closes his prayer he says: Daniel 2:23
Daniel 2:23 ESV
To you, O God of my fathers,
I give thanks and praise,
for you have given me wisdom and might,
and have now made known to me what we asked of you,
for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”
Don’t misread his point.
His rejoicing isn’t in just understanding the King’s dream. It is in understanding what the King’s dream meant.
For in the unfolding of the dream, Daniel comes to understand that God had already set out how there would be these four world empires which would come on the scene – the first of which they were in right then.
And then, regarding that last empire: Daniel 2:44
Daniel 2:44 ESV
And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,
Daniel understood that God was the God of all history – of all governments – of all world empires – and how it would all end in the conquering Kingdom of Christ.
The very same light you and I carry into this absolutely insane hour in which we live.
That Kingdom which was set up when Christ came shall never be destroyed. It shall never pass to some other people – i.e. it will never fall or be conquered. In fact, it will see the destruction of all the kingdoms of the earth.
The Kingdom which Jesus said even the gates of Hell cannot overcome.
The Kingdom to which everyone born again by the Spirit of Christ belongs.
And so, as Daniel will spend the rest of his life in captivity, and in the chaos of Babylon itself being conquered; of stranger and more wicked kings to serve under; and dangers like the lion’s den or his 3 friends going into the fiery furnace – he worships.
7. Worship
He comes full circle. His God is all wise and all powerful.
His God rules the times and the seasons of human history.
His God is the one who determines who will be in governmental authority at any given time.
His God gives him wisdom and knowledge to live uprightly even in captivity, serving a most pagan King.
His God gives him the light of truth in a dark and deceived world. In the very heart of darkness itself with no Temple, and no access to God appointed worship.
He knows where it is all going and how it will end.
And all these are ours too as we find ourselves in the whirlwind of the chaos of our day.
And so, for all those who are Christ’s, we come to the table that demonstrates so graphically these very truths in power.
We do what Jesus called us to in the face of the chaos that took Him to the Cross.
With these simple words as He bid us to take the bread and the cup in remembrance of Him.
He died in the vortex of human chaos – but in the perfect plan of the Father as the substitute sacrifice for our sins.
And He bids us remember that reality – until He comes. We do this as Scripture says to “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
Since He is the Lord of history – He will consummate it all when He returns. And we trust Him as the Lord of all times and places – to bring it to pass.
By faith in Him coming again at the right time, even as Romans 5:6 says: “at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE
If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.
The Bible has a lot to say about God’s glory, about His name or His reputation. And in reading through chapters 46-49 In Isaiah, we read this remarkable portion in Isa 48:9-11Isaiah 48:9–11 ESV“For my name’s sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
God takes His glory seriously. It seems only fitting that we do too. But what does that really mean? We’ll try to scratch the surface of that a bit today on Through the Word in 2020. I’m Reid Ferguson.
Along with our Isaiah passage this morning, we also have Luke 21:1–9 and James 2 to consider. But it is the Isaiah passage just cited that I’d like to highlight today. For the glorifying of God appears to be a topic of some confusion.
To some, it appears as though God has an ego problem. After all, He announces that the reason why He has been so patient in dealing with Israel’s sins is that He’s done so for His own sake, lest His name should be profaned. But ego isn’t the issue in any of this at all.
If God had a big ego, when you turned over a leaf it would have a little label on it “Designed by God.” He’d plaster images of Himself all over or in our day, certainly have a reality TV show. No, He is so humble that many claim they cannot perceive Him even in the display of His genius and power in Creation. Though in truth, they are denying the obvious.
The reason why God is so jealous for His name is because as the source of all good, and because He can bestow no higher good upon His creatures than Himself – love demands He be seen, grasped and rejoiced in for who and what He is. And this then dictates what it really means to “glorify” God.
Quite simply God is most glorified, where He is most revealed.
Glory is not something added to Him – it is the outshining of His being. When He speaks here of keeping Israel for His own name’s sake or glory, He is not saying “so I’ll look good”. He is saying, “I AM faithful. That is my nature. And I am determined to reveal that about myself. I will not go back on my promises or let them fall to the ground. I will be glorified (revealed) that all may know Me and trust Me for who and what I am.”
God doesn’t need a public relations team to make Him look good. He just needs to be seen as He is. And as we read in Hebrews 1:3, He is seen best in Jesus Christ. Because He is the “radiance of the glory of God, and the exact imprint of His nature.” And why 2 Cor. 4:6 tells us that the knowledge of the glory of God is found in the face of Jesus Christ.
Jesus revealed the Father fully. That is how He can say in John 17 that He had glorified the Father on earth. In doing all the Father’s will – He made the Father known. All of which finds its absolute apex in the Cross. When not just the faithfulness of God is seen in the fulfillment of His promise of redemption, but His holiness is seen in judging sin, His mercy in the atonement made in Jesus’ blood, and His grace in requiring it to be proclaimed to the world.
Glorify Him today Christian – make Him known. Declare His goodness and glory in the cross of Christ.
I’ll be away until next Thursday. Until then, keep reading!
For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE
If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.
The Bible is God’s Word. All of it. And once completed, the canon of Scripture was meant to be read as a whole. We cannot now detach or read the Old Testament without the light of the New Testament any more than we can read the New without the background of the Old. Countless errors crop up when we do either of those things.
But in reading the whole of God’s Word, we also need to note how and when certain things change. The Apostle Paul in Romans spends a lot of time helping his readers understand what remains constant between the two, and what changes. This is bound up in understanding that much contained in the Old are types, shadows and promises, which in the New are finally brought into fullness and completion. And one of the places Christians really need to grasp this is fleshed out for us in Hebrews chapter 10. The glory of a perfected conscience.
We’ll talk a bit more about that today on Through the Word in 2020. I’m Reid Ferguson.
As Hebrews 10 unpacks the reality that the promised New Covenant of Jeremiah 31 has now come to pass, the Writer references how under the Old, Mosaic covenant, Believers, even the most devout and punctilious could never be made “perfect” – as vs. 1 says.
Of course that raises the question – in what sense was the one who sacrificed for his or her sin not “made perfect?” And in what sense is the Believer in Christ NOW made perfect?
Under that old system, as they made their sacrifices according to the Law, they received forgiveness. But that is not the same as having their guilt removed so as to be pronounced righteous in the eyes of God. The forgiven are still guilty, only pardoned.
But Christ has come that guilt itself might be removed. This is why Paul in Philippians 3 can say that he counts all of his previous religious life as completely worthless. Why he counts all of his old law-keeping rubbish. He does so so that he might gain Christ – and being found in Him having a righteousness that is not his own. But instead, have that righteousness, the guiltlessness that comes through faith in Christ – the very righteousness of God Himself.
We receive a perfect, not a provisional righteousness.
Oh glorious Christ!
John MacArthur draws a good analogy to help us understand something else of inestimable value here. He likens the old system to taking medicine. As long as I have to keep taking it, I am not cured, but being treated. But once I am cured, I no longer need to take the medicine.
The OT sacrifices had to be taken continually. But Christ has died once for all. The cure has been wrought.
But! – I hear some say: “We still sin don’t we?”
Yes we do.
Some of the symptoms of our old condition linger. Some of the after effects of the sin remain. But we need to remember that the cure has been received, and from this moment on, all is recovery. We are no longer being treated for our inherent sinfulness.
Christ the cure has been received by faith. We are in full remission. Sin can never again be the fatal disease it once was, even though great damage has been done.
Now, the blessed Spirit is administering all sorts of measures to bring us to where even those remnants are being reversed. And Christ’s promise is to complete the work He has begun in us. Until the perfect righteousness of Christ which is ours by faith, is at last completed in bearing His image without spot or wrinkle.
For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE
If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.
God saves people individually. Each of us from Adam’s race need personally redeemed from our sins. Modern Evangelicalism has been keen on preaching a Gospel that needs to be individually appropriated. The old saying that God has no grandchildren is true in this regard. We see this individual aspect in today’s reading in Luke 18:9-17 where Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Each had to stand on their own before God – just like you and I will. And by what means we’ll be justified before Him is of cosmic and eternal importance.
Then we encounter passages like Hebrews 9 where ramifications of Christ’s High Priestly work are teased out in larger proportions. Christ has been offered but once to bear the sins of many – and will return to save all those who are eagerly waiting for Him.
Proverbs 22 brings us back to individual applications of wisdom. And then Isaiah 12-14 opens up the door to understanding that God deals with nations too – and not just individuals. And it is this global reality I’d like to spend a minute on today on Through the Word in 2020. I’m Reid Ferguson.
From the time of the Reformation until today, there has been a great recovery of understanding how personal faith in the atoning work of Christ is essential. No one else’s faith saves me. Some years ago I heard a young woman state at her mother’s funeral that she knew she would be OK with God, because her Mom walked with the Lord and prayed for her. Another time I conversed with someone who was sure that because she had several immediate family members who were priests and nuns that she too would find special favor with God. Both were bereft of a Biblical understanding of salvation and what it entails. It is a superstitious understanding and sort of the inverse of guilt by association – righteousness by association. We forget that even Jesus’ own brothers were lost until they finally came to believe in Him.
But back to Isaiah. For one of the prominent features of that amazing book is how it addresses any number of nations AS as nations, and depicts God dealing with them for national and collective sins.
Today’s section mentions the Babylonian empire and how God intended to punish it by bringing another empire on the scene to conquer it. And backing up to chapter 9 we see God stirring up Assyria to punish Israel for its sin, and then how God will decimate that empire because it acted against Israel out of its own viciousness.
Now the point I want to get to is simply this: For Christians, as we look at the World today and the nearly 250 countries which exist on our planet, none of them are operating apart from the sovereign oversight and plan of God. Global geo-political activities are not somehow conducted out of God’s sight or void of His superintendence. From the technically smallest nation – Vatican City at 0.2 square miles to the 6.6 million square miles of Russia. The declaration of Rev. 1:5 that Jesus is the ruler of kings on earth is not hyperbole. No nation makes its laws, carries out its policies, governs its people, or interacts with other nations minus God’s awareness and acting hand.
For blessing or for cursing.
This is true for our nation as well.
No more, and no less than any other.
Something to be well considered in the upcoming election. Whether we receive leadership for blessing or for judgment – God is at work.
But make no mistake, our nation is being judged as are all others. And God is at work, as in all others.
How given to prayer then ought we to be, that we might be a nation which serves and does not spurn our God.
For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE
If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.
If your head didn’t explode today after reading Proverbs 21, Luke 18:1-8, Psalm 119:121-128, Hebrews 8 and Isaiah 9-11, then I don’t know what to say. In these portions of God’s Word we were met with such high, lofty, holy, transcendent and glorious realities that we could spend a lifetime trying to digest just what’s there.
Jesus’ exhortation to prayer and how the Father is so willing to hear us and answer. David’s example of loving God’s commandments above fine gold. The wonders of the New Covenant in Hebrews 8. The assurance that all of the plans and promises of God will come to pass because there is NO wisdom, understanding or counsel that can avail against the Lord. And then the revelations of the coming Christ in Isaiah 9-11 – with that oh so familiar and amazing announcement: “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Join me for a few thoughts on Isaiah 9:6 today on Through the Word in 2020. I’m Reid Ferguson.
You may never have heard the name Lancelot Andrews before, but more than any other individual, he was responsible for the unparalleled English and its cadence as we have it in the King James version of the Bible.
Andrews not only loved the music of English, he was a master of Latin, Greek, Hebrew and most of the languages of Europe in his day.
In a sermon of his on Isaiah 9:6 he summarized the importance of it this way: “So Christ loved us, that He was given;” “so God loved us, that He gave His Son.”
We are met with this divine conspiracy of love to save the lost. The Son wholly willing to come and die. The Father wholly willing to send Him to that end. What a glorious thing this salvation is. Unfathomable love.
So allow me to set our hearts on this portion in verse today.
For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE
If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.
What does God want from me? Have you ever asked that question yourself? Or heard someone else ask it? It’s a most important question. A right question. And the answer holds the difference between Heaven and Hell. Between mere religion and true salvation. And the answer not only demonstrates the amazing condescension of God to fallen human-kind, but holds the key to the very reversal of the Fall itself.
The word faith in our day, has become something of a wax nose. People use it in a variety of ways: to refer to some sort of amorphous spirituality, as referring merely to a positive outlook, for belonging to some religion or religious group – as being part of a faith community and even just as a vague belief in God or the Bible.
Interestingly and most importantly, the Bible never once uses faith in such ill-defined ways.
Faith in the Bible always, without exception refers to acknowledging that God has spoken, that what He has said is true, and ordering one’s life in concert with what He has said. This is why Scripture can tell us that apart from faith, it is impossible to please God. Or if I could put it in a nutshell, what does God want from you and me? To be believed. And not believed vaguely – but so as to trust His promises, listen to His warnings, grasp His character, fear His judgments, and seek His blessing and rewards. To understand who and what He is and why He does all He does by virtue of what He has said and revealed about Himself in His Word. To be – believed. And to act as though what we’ve heard must be acted upon appropriately.
Why is this kind of faith so essential? Because failure in it is what led to the Fall in the Garden.
Adam and Eve disbelieved God and His warnings, and believed the Enemy and their own reasoning above what He had said. And from that day to this – that inherent distrust of God, and disregard for His revelation is at the core of all human sin. And all that sin brings with it. Had our first parents believed Him, and ordered their lives in accordance with what He said – the Fall would never have happened.
So it is in salvation, we’re brought back to this most crucial place. Will we believe what He has said about our guilt, our sin, our impending judgment and the Gospel of the cross – of believing the revelation of Jesus’ substitutionary atonement and be reconciled to God by believing and obeying it? Or not?
This, is saving faith.
But note this from our Hebrews portion today. How God’s promissory covenants are for our sake, not His.
He, who cannot lie, who is infinitely holy, in order to cement His promises in our minds – makes overt covenants or promises. He swears to us. He doesn’t do this as a necessary part of His nature. His intention is sufficient. But because we are fallen, unbelieving and faithless, He confirms such promises with signs and seals, and makes covenants for us to bolster our faith. They are a concession, not a necessary mode of acting on His part.
He does more than just wait for us to believe as we ought – He steps forward, makes His promises and then swears an oath before us so that we might know that His promises are sure, and cannot be broken.
What does God want from you? To be believed. Nothing delights Him more.
For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE
If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.
Have you ever had someone call you out on a trait of yours that really needs correcting? It happened to me at my ordination council. One of the wise men there to examine me said his biggest concern about me was that I was formulating answers before questions had even been fully asked. He was right. And his wise rebuke has stuck with me the nearly 40 years since. Positively I trust.
Based on that one would think our key passage today would be Prov. 27:6 – “Faithful are the wounds of a friend”. Instead it comes out of our reading in Proverbs 18 and specifically vs. 13: “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.” And while that verse fits the scenario above, it also has another very important application.
I’m Reid Ferguson and we’ll think on that a bit more in a moment on Through the Word in 2020.
Luke 17:1–4; Song of Solomon 8:8–Isaiah 2:5; Hebrews 5:11–6:12 and Proverbs 18 are before us today. And I had a tough time deciding which passage to go to. But seeing it is all God’s Word and provision for us, I guess we can’t go too far wrong no matter which we choose. He is so good!
Now as I already mentioned, I have often been guilty of giving answers before I hear other parties out fully. It is a tendency in me – and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone. We can want to be heard and understood, rather than to hear others and fully understand them.
Thinking about it even now makes me want to pray: “Father – Help me to Listen, listen, LISTEN! And forgive me for the way I do this.”
But we can err even here too. There is a flip side we dare not ignore. It comes home to us in our evangelism. And in this case, we need to guard those who hear us from giving an answer before THEY fully hear.
No doubt, this is the cause behind many a spurious conversion.
In other words, we need be sure those we speak to on behalf of Christ, understand as clearly as we can make it – just what exactly is being discussed.
Let us tell them and press home the essentials.
The reality of their condition in light of creation and the Fall. That their greatest need is not spiritual therapy, but forgiveness of sin – for their rebellion against God’s right to rule and reign over them as His creation.
That the world is in the state it is in because of God’s just judgment upon mankind. That all stand condemned apart from Christ.
The nature of grace and mercy being extended in this call to pardon; and what is meant by words like reconciliation, regeneration, sanctification and glorification.
The necessity and accomplishment of Jesus’ substitutionary atonement. Of justification by faith. Our guilt placed on Him so that His righteousness might be accounted to us by faith.
The implications of following Christ Jesus. That there is a cost to be counted. It might well cost them friends and family, and that they will be entering a perpetual battle against indwelling sin.
And the reality of balancing off our great hope in the coming Kingdom of Jesus against both the offers and the trials of this present world.
If they “believe” too quickly – without knowing the facts, it will end in shame.
We need to be clear on what this salvation we are telling them about really is. That we are calling them to turn from their idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
ResponsiveReiding 