Reading from Sunday, July 18

Lordy Lordy I am behind. I was sick last night and too tired the night before that, so here I am four days behind again.

Well, let's see what kind of damage we can do...

Reading for July 18
1 Chronicles 26:12-27:34
This section outlines many of the various jobs which were filled by all the people of Israel under King David. We see the Treasurers, Army Officials, Tribal Officers, and King David's miscellaneous helpers and court staff. One of the interesting things that stuck out in the army section was this bit:

²³ David did not take the number of the men twenty years old or less, because the LORD had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky. 

It's interesting that:

A) There was still a sense of some sort of morality when it came to wartime, and
B) That similar restrictions are in place today, yet America sends out it's soldiers at 18. The common argument - "not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to take a life."

Romans 4:13-5:5
Wow, this is about as deep and rich as you can get in regards to Bible text. In these dozen or so verses, Paul captures the entire history of the Jewish/Christian faith. He also continues the faith versus law debate here. I think this would be a good time to bring up something that I have been thinking about for a while now.

There is such emphasis on following God's law in the Old Testament. Everyone who was blessed was someone who followed God's law, while everyone who was cursed or killed or whatever, was someone who broke God's law. So there was this centuries long battle between God and man with man not being able to follow God's law because of the inherent sinful nature. Then, when Jesus comes around, there are groups of people who are strict followers of God's law - these are the Pharisees and other religious leaders of the time. Now, you would think that these people would be highly regarded in the community for their strict adherence to the law, and likely they were very well regarded by the populace; but not by Jesus. Nearly every argument in the gospels takes place between Jesus and one of these religious leaders, and 99% of the time, it is an argument about a specific law that Jesus appears to have broken. So I think I can understand when these people started getting a little ticked off - they had been scolded for thousands of years for not following the law closely enough, and now, when they are following the law very closely, they are once again the bad guys. Also, let's not forget that Paul himself was one of these religious leaders, and one of the most ruthless ones at that.

OK - wow. Again, this may take a couple read-throughs to really grasp, but take a look:

 ¹³It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

 ¹⁶Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

This is such an intricate and delicate idea that I want to make sure the point isn't lost here. Up until this point, I have perceived Paul's and Jesus' messages as an extreme de-emphasis of Jewish law. But now I see how closely the two play together.

On one hand we have faith in God and Jesus Christ - our great, unseen deities. And through that faith alone, we are redeemed and justified before God.

On the other hand we have the law - which is still just as relevant as it was before. In verse 15 there we see "where there is no law there is no transgression." Extrapolating that a bit - where there is no law, there is no need for Jesus.

So because of our own nature, we are doomed to break God's law over and over - the transgression. Because of those transgressions, Jesus came into the world to save us from our own sin. And because of Him, we are able to be reunited with the God who loves us. All it takes is a little faith.

Wow - read this slowly. It is incredible.

¹Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

I seriously just read that like 10 times and got something new out of it each time. In the words of Milhouse: "It's so thick!" 
 
Psalm 14:1-7
David repeats himself

We saw a few nights ago, a very similar set of verses in Psalm where David said there is "not even one" who does good, and we see it here again.

 ² The LORD looks down from heaven
       on the sons of men
       to see if there are any who understand,
       any who seek God.
 ³ All have turned aside,
       they have together become corrupt;
       there is no one who does good,
       not even one.

This, I think, is the evidence of the need of a Savior for Israel, and by extension, the whole world.

Proverbs 19:17
 ¹⁷ He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD,
       and he will reward him for what he has done.

Yes, I think I liked everything I read tonight! There was nothing that I disagreed with in any of the readings - that may be a first.