Micah 7 - God's everlasting love

"Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy."
 Micah 7:18

Here is the culmination of all of the prophecies of Micah who was deriding Israel for it's lack of faith and discussing God's judgement on the nation, on the outcasts.

One of the greatest biblical signs of the Messiah is also mixed into this little prophet's book. Out of Bethlehem the Messiah would come, who's beginnings are from everlasting, He is from old - in other words, He is the Ancient of Days, written about in Daniel. This is the greatest prophecy about Jesus and his birth. This is why, I suppose,  the wise men knew where to look for the Messiah or new king.

Even though the prophet Micah speaks of destruction, the very end of the book signals God's profound love and mercy in spite of the rejection and sin of the nation. This is what gives all of us pause. Even when we are wronged, and vilified by others, God tells us to be like Jesus and show mercy. When we are shown mercy we should show mercy. When we are loved we should love. When God's love is everlasting, our love should be everlasting.

These are the challenges of the minor prophets to the nation and to us. We are grateful to God for His mercy shown to us through Jesus Christ. But God asks us to do juslty, to love mercy, to show kindness and forgiveness to all.

In the day when Christians are being persecuted, vilified, under attack and sometimes, killed, it is up to us to live as Christ did, by saying and living a life of mercy, even to those who persecute us. Ultimately, everything is in God's hands. Even the bad things are in God's hands. If we fight men, we may be fighting against God. We should show mercy when shown mercy and love because we are loved.

Jesus, after the resurrection, came back to the very ones whoe drove the nails in His hands. He didn't just run up to heaven after the resurrection. He came back to Peter who ran away from Christ who was on the cross. He redeemed Peter on the shores of Lake Galilee. Jesus could very well have picked a new leader, but He chose the one who ran away, Peter. Jesus forgave Peter, so we should forgive those who persecute us.

The Lord's word to Micah is about God's mercy and His character of lovingkindness and everlasting love. Maybe we can take a little of what we're given and give it out to others. Love one another as I have loved you- Jesus Christ.

Two, outside the camp- what were they thinking -Numbers

26 But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." 28 So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, "Moses my lord, forbid them!" 29 Then Moses said to him, "Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!" Numbers 11 NKJV
What an interesting story we have here, sandwiched between the ongoing complaints of the Israelites for "meat." Oh that we stayed in Egypt and ate the cucumbers, garlic, onions, fish lamb stew, roast beef, all kinds of pastries and delicacies. The grumblings from the people was normal from a human perspective; however, it sounds like they were on a cooking show. and then... Moses says- you want meat, I'll give you meat - until comes out of your nostrils. I'll give you so much meat that it will cover the landscape and it will rot in the streets because there's so much. Even while it is still in their teeth it was laying all over the ground two cubits high - they up to their knees in quail. Moses was thoroughly perturbed with these people and he doesn't hesitate to say so.
So what is this story of Eldad and Medad, doing right in the middle of this narrative? Why did God write this story here? It almost doesn't make sense, as though it was written this to warn people that if you're going to grumble, God will pour out His Spirit on you. We understand God wants to help Moses, but what about the story of the two, outside the camp, how does it fit in? It almost doesn't make sense to put this story here in Numbers 11, when Moses is writing about the incessant grumbling of the people for meat.  Now we know from the story that Moses couldn't carry the weight of looking after these people and God instructed him to call all 70 leaders so God could put His Spirit upon them - to help Moses care for, and lead, the people. This might be the point, but you also see at the end of this section that they "never prophesied again." So if the goal of putting God's Spirit on them to reduce the burden on Moses, and to make them prophets like Moses, it was a dismal failure. God poured out His Spirit only this one time, but it never happened again. If the point was to help Moses administer the Israelites, with the power of the Spirit, then it was a failure because they never prophesied again. What then was the point of this story of Medad and Eldad?
To me the story has a deeper meaning about trusting in God's ongoing presence. God was beginning to teach them something that every Christian, and Jew should understand - God was with them. God's presence was not just at the tabernacle or just with Moses or even just with the cloud and the fire. We begin to see that there is an instruction in this section- almost like a warning a stop sign that says 'Stop" and think for a moment. What is the real story here and we need to ask why did Moses insert this story right in the midst of the grumbling narrative.
Let's examine the two individuals in this story, Medad and Eldad. In the Hebrew, their names ring with the idea of love and God's love. Israelite names usually denote some character of the person or some idea of their destiny- usually Hebrew names imply God's purpose or plan for the individual. We also see this in the story of Jacob when God changes his name to Israel- from one who struggles with God to one who loves God. The Lord changed Jacob's name to conform and confirm his destiny and character. This was the story of the struggle of Jacob with the angel, and it was here that the Lord changed his name to conform to his destiny. We see this with many characters in the bible. Peter, in the New Testament is another good example- where God changes his name from Cephas to Peter. This conforms his name to his destiny. For Eldad and Medad, meaning of their names gives the reader of the story some understanding that they were probably "lovers of God" and didn't avoid going to the tabernacle because they were sinners or unclean or trying to avoid God's presence. If they were unclean, it's likely the story would have taken a different course. I could see Moses saying, Medad and Eldad were unclean, so because of this, the Spirit of God would not or could not, rest on them; however, their names indicate something deeper- almost as though, they loved God and were dedicated to God and His love. It's more likely they were busy ministering to the people, or helping a poor person, or administering to the sick.
Because of this, I believe, they were not procrastinating, they were not unclean, or sinners or even sent outside the camp because of manslaughter or committing adultry. They were two guys who loved God, they loved his presence, and I believe they were busy doing the work as in ministering to the children of Israel - otherwise, as in other stories in the bible, the narrative would have been much different. If you recall the story of the two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, who basically were drunk and disorderly while ministering at the tabernacle, and God killed them because of their behaviour. The bible is replete with stories like this. This story was reported to instruct the Israelites to hallow God's presence at the tabernacle.  I'm sure, if Medad and Eldad were unclean or disorderly, that the story would have sounded much different. Moses would have reported their behaviour to instruct the Israelites to hallow God's presence here as well. The fact that no such reporting is here, tells us that these guys were truly "Lovers of God," as their names imply. The Jewish Talmud, typically reports this type of narrative and uses these omissions to instruct Jewish readers.
If these men were unclean the story in Numbers would have sounded something like this: - Medad and Eldad were unclean, they were sleeping with Midianite women etc and when the Spirit of God rested on the 70 elders - Medad and Eldad were left out. God judged them unworthy of the Spirit of God. From my perspective, the reason they did not come to the tabernacle was a lot more than the narrative implies, because, obviously the Spirit of God would not rest on them if they were unclean or unholy; in addition, the fact that this story is sandwiched between the narrative on the grumbling nation, tells us it's an important story that needed to be told. God's presence, no matter where and when it happened is instructive to the nation of Israel. When God shows up, no matter on whom and when, it is an important event to be reported.
It is also incredibly instructive to the Israelites, to understand that the Spirit of God rested on these two elders even when they were not at the tabernacle and they were not even close to Moses. They didn't even need Moses to lay hands on them to receive the Spirit of God. Even Moses implied this when he said "Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His spirit upon them." The only time God's presence was around centred on the person of Moses. So in other words we begin to see God's presence outside of the tabernacle and didn't need Moses to lay hands on them. This also mirrors the events in the book of Acts when Peter was trying to figure out if he should lay hands on the gentiles to receive the Spirit of God. What a surprise to Peter when God poured out His Spirit on the gentiles too. Peter didn't even have to lay hands on them to receive the Spirit of God. This type of foreshadowing is typical of the prophetic in the bible. One story is so similar in type to another that we can see that God was getting us ready for His work and we can recognize it as God's because of the similarities. This is similar to the Jewish teaching in the Talmud ( a commentary on various scriptures- written by Jewish teachers over many centuries). They also see types and anti-types in the bible. When Christians do this, however, they are accused of distorting the scriptures when we see various types and foreshadowing about Christ ( read Isaiah 53 and see if it doesn't sound like Christ to you)  It is clear from this passage in Numbers that Moses' intent was to lessen his load of leadership and caring for the people. Moses also implies this when it says in verse 17, "Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone."Moses needed a break from the work and he needed help because he was doing everything alone. He said "They weep all over me." He was exhausted because of the burdens of leadership.  I think we can see that Medad and Eldad were already "doing" the work of leadership and caring for the people, because they were so busy "doing" it that they didn't have time to have the Spirit imparted to them at the tabernacle. We see that God was not a respecter of time or place, God was working through these guys and they needed the Spirit of God and so God imparted it to them anyway, right where they were. They didn't need Moses to impart it because God really is the giver of all good gifts. They were imbued with power from on high right where they were- and they prophesied. A similar story happened on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God fell on the disciples in the upper room. They were fasting and praying - doing the work of the kingdom, when the Spirit of God fell on them. The disciples would have recognized the story in Numbers as the same type of narrative, where God's Spirit falls on them. In Numbers it was all about meeting a need - imparting power to those who need it. In the case of the disciples it was the need to minister to the church- in the case of elders in Numbers it was to do the work of  leadership. Again as Moses said- everyone should have the Spirit of God. The disciples recognized the same need in the new Christian church- that all men should have the Spirit of God. The story in Numbers is the foreshadowing of the Spirit of God being poured out on all men (and women). We shouldn't look at the story in Numbers as an aberration becasue it seems out of place in the narrative about God's provision of meat; we can see it's really about God' s provision of the Spirit of God. The children of Israel wanted meat but what God wanted to provide was His everlasting presence. The story reminds us that just as Moses said that all men should be prophets - what he was really saying is all men should have the Spirit of God and manifest His presence where ever we are - in the church, in the world, working, parenting, loving, preaching, cooking, it's all about God's presence everywhere and this is the story of Medad and Eldad- God's presence with us - everywhere.  Next time you read the book of Numbers, read it with a different lens- the lens of God's presence - see how God was trying to speak to the Israelites about His presence. I know Numbers has a lot of, well numbers, but it is also a book about God's presence. If you look for it you'll find it. 

Interesting Markian scriptures

Mark 10:34 and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again." 
Notice the 4 specific things that Jesus prophesied about himself - mock, scourge, spit and kill. 
If you read the passion narrative in each of the gospels, you will see that this step by step prophetic word closely follows what actually happened during the trials of the high priest, Pilate and Herod. They mocked him by insinuating that he was the "Son of God," and a King. They scourged him and put the crown of thorns on His head. The soldiers spat on Him and mocked Him. Finally he was crucified.
It seems like Jesus saw the story unfolding before Him before it even happened. It was a prophetic story with the outline and sequence all laid out. I imagine, God sees the whole of eternity at one time and then picks out the story to give to the prophet - in this case, Jesus who prophesied His own death and resurrection. Why didn't the disciples get it? Why didn't they understand what was going to happen. Couldn't they foresee the story before it happened? Why didn't they understand? My guess is, the story was not understood because it was not meant to warn them right then and there, but to serve as a reminder after the fact, that Jesus was really the King, the Son, the Prophet, the Priest and the Lord God. 
Sometimes prophetic purpose isn't immediately understood; only in hindsight can we really see the purpose of the prophetic word.
Many prophetic words can only be understood when the word is completed because our minds are somewhat darkened by God himself. If the disciples had really understood the prophetic word, they may have tried to prevent the will of God by not hindering Jesus to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. This would have been a tragedy. The disciples might have risen up in action to prevent the crucifixion of Jesus, thus thwarting the ultimate will of God. This is why, even though many times the enemy tried to kill Jesus, by throwing Him off a mountain or by pushing Him off of a cliff or even hiding himself from the crowds so that he wasn't prematurely killed by the Romans. In addition He didn't want Jesus to die under Herod's malevolent hand, like John the Baptist. 
All in all, this scripture in Mark, reminds us that God knows the plan, the future and even the intimate details; however, it is not for us to manipulate God's will or plan, only to trust and obey, even if things seem to be outside our understanding, we must still trust that God has a plan and that all things work out for our good.
The flip side to this, the book of Job reminds us that even when God's plan seems to be counter to our own plans or our thinking, that God is the God of the whole universe. Even though we are limited in our understanding, we can't just blame God for bad circumstances. God's will be done - and He will accomplish His perfect will even when it contradicts our thinking and our plans. He knows the plans He has for us, not for evil but for good.
Mark's style of writing is full of dramatic imagery, action and emotion. This scripture is atypical of his writing style - he uses very succint and dramatic words to describe the actions of our Saviour. In this scripture, it is obvious that the essence of this scripture is to get the right words and the right flavour of the prophetic. It's obvious that Mark does not use unnecessary language to describe the action or sequence of events. We know that we get to the very heart of what Jesus was saying and we can trust that Mark recorded what Jesus actually said.
This scripture excites me because of the culmination of the final events and magnificent finality of the the events and also because we now understand how much Jesus is on the inside of the story, communicating with the Father. Jesus is not a casual observer, with events unfolding without His foreknowledge, but He is an active participant, willingly allowing the Godhead to take the story to it's final conclusion. Jesus is not being carried along by unknown events, unable to change the story, He is letting the Godhead unfold the events one step at a time and with logical clarity of mind and purpose. Events and actions were not happening, to Him; they were guided by Him. He was the director and the actor; the protagonist and the antagonist. Satan thought he was killing Jesus for his own purpose; however Jesus fooled him by willingly offering up Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. The Godhead used the actors in the stage to complete His good work and we, who are reading the story understand things in the story that the disciples did not get. We almost want to insert ourselves into the story in order to warn the disciples of the story behind the story, the resurrection story.
Each step of this drama was written long before time began. God's story of redemption was already written when Eve bruised the serpents head, and now it culminates in the final victory over death, when Jesus was crucified and resurrected.
All of this in one little scripture in the book of Mark.
Amazing, eh! 

The Kingdom of God

I did a cursory study of the Kingdom of God (heaven), in the New Testament and I found many metaphors, symbols and similes. Just in Matthew alone it is called a: mystery, sower who sowed, grain of mustard seed, leaven, treasure, net, separated from the world, for the righteous, treasure, good seed, merchant seeking beautiful pearls, dragnet (not the movie), householder, for little children, hard for the rich to enter, like a landowner who went out, taken from you, like a king, like ten virgins who with lamps, like a man traveling, present with power, at hand (or near depending on the version you are reading).

 I believe, based on this specious reading of scripture that you would concur with me that, the kingdom of God or heaven, as it is varously translated, is not something easily grasped or understood. Even the disciples were told that that it was given to them to understand the mysteries of the kingdom, but to the unlearned and wicked, Jesus would teach in parables. Why would he do such a thing? Why wouldn't he just tell them that He was doing something different, like replacing the Law with a new Law of the Spirit. Why didn't he just make it plain to them, as in the plain truth of the kingdom. Why teach through metaphors and symbolism?

In my work with companies, a lot of what we do is to help develop a new thinking paradigm -which is called the "Thinking Way," or a developing a Learning organization. The way we do this is by helping develop the skills of individuals to identify opportunities for improvement through rigorous attention to everyday identification of problems/opportunities. We call this developing a Learning culture. Now culture is not something you can see or feel, but you know it when you see it. It is developed, by people, through daily repetition and re-inforcement.

I believe this is what Jesus was doing with the disciples. He was teaching them a new culture, a new pardigm. Instead of just giving them the answer, He was teaching them to see what the Kingdom of heaven was like so they could see it themselves and would be able to teach it to others. All of the questions they asked Jesus, like why don't you just tell us plainly- Are you the Christ? - were attempts by Jesus to teach them a new way of thinking. He wanted them to live and breath the kingdom - not just head knowledge but actual living of the Kingdom.

He could have given them a prescriptive version of the Old Testament ten commandments and thereby get acceptance of a new updated collection of laws. Or he can try to get their heart involved by getting deeper into their souls by the ongoing questioning, reinforcing by miracles and signs, and the deeper teaching about what the kingdom of heaven was like. The Old Testament was like a slogan you see in many organization that read something like this - Vision - we will be the best company in our city. It's a nice sloga, but what does it really mean, how do you actually become the best company? Will slogans change people's hearts and minds so they start to live the slogan, or is there a better way?

I believe the better way to teach new thinking, is like Jesus did. He did it through actions, questioning, coaching, and metaphor. This is the way to get into the behaviours and thinking of people. Doing it explicitly by telling people what to do is not effective for long term change. This is what Jesus was all about - changing the world through the kingdom of God and doing that through people.

When thinking about all the metaphors for the kingdom and the frustrations of the apostles, think about what it takes to develop culture and you'll see that Jesus was all about changing culture and thinking of the whole nation of Israel and eventually the world.

Nest time you read the Sermon on the mount, read it with the kingdom in mind. Jesus was inaugurating a new kingdom and it was a kingdom based on His kingship and His mercy to us. If we simply read the scriptures and say we are in the kingdom because of our good deeds and perfection, we are missing the point. Jesus is the only perfect and sinless one, our role is to proclaim His perfection, His holiness and His righteousness - not ours since ours is as filthy rags.

The Jesus culture is a new life being lived by millions of Christians based on the new way of thinking - a culture of CI- or continuous improvement- always striving to do His will on a daily basis- as it says in scripture we strive for holiness and perfection - we're not there yet - but He is.

Ring the Bells

here is a powerful tradition in Christian churches to be a witness to the world through a variety of symbolic and iconic techniques. One of these is the ringing of bells.

When I was growing up in Galt Ontario, every Sunday morning, no matter where you were in the city, you could hear the bells ringing, telling the faithful (and the unfaithful) to remember God and the Lord Jesus. And yes, to come to church.


This strategy mirrors the Islamic tradition of calling the faithful to prayer 5 times a day through the use of a Muzzein or Adnan which is a faithful person, of inscrutable character (sometimes a blind person, who cannot be blamed for staring into people's homes) who goes through the town proclaiming a "call to prayer to the town or city. Not to be outdone, many Mulslim countries are using technology to call the faithful by using radio, television and the internet to call out to the masses- 5 times a day.

In Muslim countries, this is not seen as an inconvenience but a part of their cultural and religious heritage. As I said in the beginning, my culture and religious upbringing, included a call to prayer, and church and holiness, was through the ringing of bells on a Sunday morning and at other times as well.

At the end of WW1 and WW2 the bells rang throughout all of Britain. At many events of any significance in a countries history, bells proclaim times of solemn remembrance and of vital victory- reminding the people to bow and pray- to stand up and shout- to think and ponder- and to attend a special event. We can't lose this part of our religious and cultural heritage.

Many people will say that churches should just forget about this part of it's activities - it bothers people trying to sleep in on a Sunday. They will say that most people in North America rarely enter a church except for weddings and funerals. Why would we want to bother them and their right to privacy - their right to peace and tranquility - their right not to be bothered by those religious nuts who trumpet their message on street corners. People don't want to be bothered by the noise on a quiet Sunday morning or evening if such is the case.

The historical case is obvious, bells were used to remind disparate groups of rural people in long ago villages and communites. We have so many other ways to call people to prayer and church attendance, today. We use technology, why would we resort to an old fashioned bell to announce special events and a call to the faithful.

The point is, the church is a vital part of the fabric of North America. We are letting accommodation get in the way of vitality; the church has a "cause celebre" a famous right to bother our society by announcing Christ's triumphal return after his resurrection. We have the most famous cause to celebrate of any community, in any country, of any religion, in the world.

We have reason to celebrate and announce the call to prayer and the call to attend church and the call to community to think about Christ.

If you think community prayer is not important read the following story about a call to prayer in a U.S. community:

"And so has the state of South Dakota. In 2004, Republican Governor Mike Rounds proclaimed a state-wide day of prayer to ask for rain for the drought-plagued state. So the people of South Dakota prayed on May 23. And lo, it started to rain. And rain. And rain. For fourteen straight days, it rained. It rained so much that the parched ground couldn’t handle all the water. Some areas of the state flooded and Governor Rounds had to call in FEMA to assess the damage.

So a call to prayer, using whatever means necessary, using the Bells of churches to remind the faithful and the unfaithful or our Christian faith and our Christian obligation, is not only necessary but our rights as citizens to proclaim our faith.

If somebody says we don't want to bother people by ringing bells on Sunday, remind them it is better to ring a bell now, than to neglect the trumpets of Christ, later.It is time for churches to ring the bells, ring the bells loudly and ring the bells often.

If the Muslims can call their people to prayer five times a day, we should be able to call Christians to prayer at least once a week, on Sunday, the day of our Lord's resurrection.Ring the Bells, tell your pastor or minister, that to ring the bell is to announce Christ's triumph over sin and death, and why should the devil have all the good music.

Musings on Christian faith: Avodah - A Powerful Hebrew word that has the stra...

Musings on Christian faith:
Avodah - A Powerful Hebrew word that has the stra...: "Avodah - A Powerful Hebrew word that has the strange mixture of worship/work/service. In some verses the word, Avodah means work, as ..."

Avodah - A Powerful Hebrew word that has the strange mixture of worship/work/service. In some verses the word, Avodah means work, as in to work in the field and to do common labor: Exodus 34:21 – “Moses renewing the covenant with God says, “Six days you shall work (adovah),” Psalm 104:23- “Then man goes out to his work (avodah), to his labor until evening.” In other verses, Adovah means worship, as in to worship You, O God. Joshua 24:15 – “but as for me and my household, we will serve (avodah) the Lord.” Exodus 8:1 – ‘This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship (avodah) me. Taken together, Avodah suggests that our work can be a form of worship where we honor You, Lord God, and serve neighbor. “What a powerful image to think that that the word for working in the fields is the same that was used for worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Israelites understood that work could be a way to honor God and neighbor, to serve God and neighbor, and yes, to worship God and serve neighbor. Avodah. ” ~Avodah Institute Taken together we begin to see what God is describing is our relationship with Him. In the Hebrew language, it is not always clear what is exactly meant in the English, so many lexicons and translations have tried to find the closest word based on the context of the verse. That's why there are some discrepancies between the various translations of the bible.  Some would argue that because of these differences, we can't really know what the original writers meant when they wrote the bible. This is far from the truth, as scholarship of biblical texts is actually getting closer to the original text as more and older documents are found that help the translators to know the true meaning of the bible texts.  To me, this scholarship, the textual, and scholarly review of texts is, in itself an act of worship. I used to think that if someone studied the bible and then wrote out their sermons, that they weren't really inspired the same way my first pastor was when he would speak out the bible and preach without any notes. I was, at one time anti-scholarship because I believed that these scholars weren't as inspired as someone who used to just stand up and preach without preparation. Certainly now, I can tell you the most inspired sermons I've heard are written in books and educational materials and scholarly tomes that attempt to describe our faith and beliefs by studying the ancient scriptures and writing about our faith in Christ as saviour and God as the Creator of the universe. By the way the best sermon I ever read was a very thick book called "God" by Andrus Brakkel, a Dutch pastor in the 17th century. To me this is worship of the highest degree. This is high worship. This is what the Hebrew means by the connection between work/worship/service. This is a tremendous connection and it gives rise to the thinking that there are many forms of worship and many different expressions. That's why giving, and writing, and singing, and playing an instrument and silence and painting, and eating, and parenting and lighting a candle, and marriage and baptism and communion can all be acts of worship. It's all about the atitude of the heart. An act of worship has more to do with the direction or meaning of the heart than the actual act of worship itself.  If you lived as an ancient Hebrew, you would get this connection because everything you do would be a testament, a recognition of God's grace. That's why even today, the Jews will say a prayer before they get up out of bed. Even the act of washing ones hands after going to the bathroom is an act of worship that recognizes God's sovereignty in giving you life and giving you water and sanctifying you for one more day. The gift of life that God gives each and every day is a testimony to God's mercy and the things we do to thank him for it, take many forms. Try saying thank you more often, to God for every good and perfect gift comes down from your Father in heaven.  We can worship Him every hour upon hour upon minute upon every day and with everything we do, We Worship Him.