Friday, January 17, 2025

Year One, January 18

I Am a Sojourner With You1
Genesis 12:1-8
1Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
God elected Abram. Therefore in due time he called him and separated him to himself. All of God’s chosen must also be like their spiritual father Abram and be separated from the world and dedicated to the Lord.2 All of his chosen spiritual descendants must follow in the same path as the father of the faithful.
4So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. (The same grace that chose him made him obedient. There was only one way for Abram to inherit this blessing. He followed the divine command and left everything.  He turned his back on his past life and cheerfully followed his Lord.) 5And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. (It is not enough to begin the journey, we must continue to the end.)
6Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. (The Lord promised to give the land to the patriarch,3 but Abram did not actually own a single foot of it. Unbelief would have thought this inheritance was more shadow than real; but “faith is the assurance of things hoped for,”4 and makes us content to wait. The Canaanite is still in the land, yet we are correct to believe that all things are ours.)
7Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. (Abram was careful to continue the worship of God wherever he might be placed. Go where we may, let us not forget to give devotion and obedience to God.)
Abram acted without delay. His reason is found in:
  
Hebrews 11:8-10
8By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
Abraham had to leave idolatrous Chaldea. We must also separate ourselves from a world that is controlled by the wicked one. He understood he was like an outsider in this temporary life and we must too. This world is not our home where we can relax. Ours is the life of a traveler until we reach “the city that has foundations.”5 Abraham pitched his tent and wandered up and down in the land as a stranger, not as a citizen of Canaan. We do not have a permanent city here, but we look for one in the future. Those who find a place to rest here do not have one in heaven.
  
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
14Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”
Oh, that the Lord would make us, as a family, separated to himself.
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1 Psalm 39:12
2 2 Corinthians 6:16a, 17a, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. ... ‘Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord.’”
3 patriarch - A man regarded as the father or ruler of a family. Bible patriarchs include Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jacob's twelve sons.
4 Hebrews 11:1
5 Hebrews 11:10

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Year One, January 17

The LORD Reigns1
Genesis 11:1-9
1Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen2 for mortar. 4Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” (They wanted to establish one huge government and make this tower the center of it. Their intention was that the tower would keep the people from being scattered abroad. They had forgotten the command to, “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”3 Ambition was at the heart of the plan. They hoped to build up an empire by centralizing all mankind that, like their tower, would defy heaven itself.)
5And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.
To God their huge tower was a mere nothing. He is said (to use the language of man) to come down from heaven in order to see such a trifle.
6And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
How easy it is for God to frustrate our plans and bring about his own purposes, despite any opposition. What happened the moment God “confused their language”? The scene has been very graphically sketched by Bishop Hall.4 “One calls for brick, the other looks him in the face, and wonders what he commands, and how and why he speaks such words as were never before heard. Instead of brick he brings him mortar with a reply to him as little understood. Each scolds the other, expressing his anger in words only he can understand. From argument they fall to quiet requests, but still with the same success. At first every man thinks his fellow mocks him; but now aware of this serious confusion, their only answer was silence, and ceasing. They could not come together, for no man could call them to be understood; and if they had assembled, nothing could be determined, because one could never understand the other’s purpose.”
9Therefore its name was called Babel,5 because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
An appropriate comment on the events at Babel can be found in part of Psalm 33.
  
Psalm 33:10-22
10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
13 The LORD looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
16 The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
Our hope should not be a tower of Babel or in ourselves. Let us depend on the Lord our God who is our tower of protection.
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1 Psalm 99:1
2 A black, sticky tar-like substance.
3 Genesis 1:28
4 Probably Anglican Bishop Joseph Hall (circa 1600).
5 Babel sounds like the Hebrew word for confused

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Year One, January 16

He Remembers His Covenant Forever1
In this passage we have more details about the gracious promise God made to Noah and his descendants.
  
Genesis 9:8-17
8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9“Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11I establish my covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
To those who have been saved in Christ no future destruction is possible. They are forever safe from the floods of wrath.
12And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations. 13I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, (The sign of the promise is seen in cloudy times when faith needs a reminder of the Lord’s faithfulness the most. If there is no cloud, there is no rainbow. It is worth having a cloud to have God paint a rainbow on it.) 15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it,” (This is better than seeing it ourselves, because God will never see it with forgetful eyes.) “and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
God made the rainbow to be a lovely symbol of his truthfulness. It is a bow unstrung, because war is over. It is a bow without a string, because it will never be used against us. It is a bow turned upward, so that we may direct our thoughts and prayers to heaven. It is a rainbow of bright colors, because joy and peace are revealed by it. Blessed arch of beauty, always be the Lord’s preacher to us.
We will now turn to a passage in the prophets where the promise of God’s grace is linked with this rainbow.
  
Isaiah 54:4-10
4 “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed,
be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
5 For your Maker is your husband,
the LORD of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.
6 For the LORD has called you
like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
says your God.
7 For a brief moment I deserted you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
8 In overflowing anger for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
  says the LORD, your Redeemer.
9 “This is like the days of Noah to me;
as I swore that the waters of Noah
      should no more go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,
and will not rebuke you.
10 For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
From this time on, let us be ashamed to doubt the Lord. These trustworthy signs should give us an overwhelming confidence in the faithfulness of our unchangeable God. Only let us make sure that we are exercising true faith in HIM.
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1 Psalm 111:5

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Year One, January 15

Return, O My Soul, to Your Rest1
Genesis 8:1-12, 15-22
1But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. (The Lord did not forget the ones saved in the ark. First, he remembered Noah, and then those who were with him. The Lord remembers his dear Son, and then us because of him.) And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, (How easily are all things arranged by the Lord’s providence.2 Winds and waters move at his command, whether for the deliverance of his people or for the destruction of his foes.) 3and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, 4and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
6At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. (This disgusting bird delighted in the decaying flesh of dead animals it found floating in the water, just as wicked people find delight in sin.) 8Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. (The dove is like our worn out souls. After being saved by grace, they find no contentment in polluted things, but return to Jesus, who is their peace. He graciously draws us to himself when we are too weak to come on our own.)
10He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore. (Surrounded by the new and restored world the dove could live at liberty. In much the same way, born again souls flourish when they are surrounded by holy things.)
15Then God said to Noah, 16“Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh--birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth--that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. (He did not come out of the ark until he was instructed to do so by the same voice that called him into it. “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way.”3) 19Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.
20Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (Before he built a house he built an altar. God must be worshipped first in all things.) 21And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
Noah’s sacrifice was pleasing to the Lord and the beginning of a new covenant.4 The offering of the Lord Jesus on the cross will always be “a pleasing aroma,” and for his sake the covenant of grace is made with all those who are saved. Are all of us a part of the covenant of grace?
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1 Psalm 116:7
2 Providence  - Usually, when used with a capital “P” it refers to God; when used with a lower case “p”, it refers to God’s will, his divine intervention, and his predetermination (predestination).
3 Psalm 37:23
4 covenant - A promise, guarantee, pledge

Monday, January 13, 2025

Year One, January 14

My God, My Rock, in Whom I Take Refuge1
Our last reading showed us Noah saved while the whole world drowned. Let us now think about the special protection the Lord gives to his own people. The psalmist sings about this so sweetly in:
  
Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
When a soul is brought into sweet fellowship with God, through the blood of Jesus, its real dangers are all over. It is and must be, safe forever. Noah was protected the moment he entered the ark, and we are too, as soon as we are in Christ.
2 I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
What a picture of tenderness. Like the little birds, we hide underneath the wings of God.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
Some dangers are obvious. Other evils are hidden. God’s people are protected from both. There are some false religions that would, if it were possible, mislead even the very elect. But the elect will not be fooled, because the Lord keeps them safe.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.
Noah saw the ungodly world destroyed. No doubt, this led him to be even more committed to praise God for the grace that had rescued him from the same sin and resulting destruction.
9 Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge--
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone,
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
Those who want to see us destroyed will be overthrown. Their power and cleverness will not bring about our defeat.
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.”
We will experience trouble in this life. There is no getting away from that. But prayer is the answer every time! It will bring the right assistance for every danger. When we conquer the trials we meet, we honor the Lord who helps us through them. There is also honor given to believers who remain faithful during times of trouble.
16 “With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
God’s righteous saints may live many years or few, but how long we live is not what matters. The good we achieve and the fellowship with God we enjoy are what are most important.
As a family, let us thank God for protecting us from serious illness, from sudden death, and from fatal accidents. God has promised to be involved in our lives. The privilege of coming to God in prayer and the promise of being accepted by him when we do are two of the most precious things he has given us. If we are really God’s children, then a guard of angels is hovering over us right now. We may rest assured that whatever dangers are near us, we are kept safe under the wings of God. Therefore, as Christians, we should be very calm in difficult times, and show by our holy courage that we have a definite reason for our confidence.
Parents, keep this psalm in your hearts. Children and young people, treasure it in your memories. It is more precious “than gold, even much fine gold.”2
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I I Samuel 22:3
2 Psalm 19:10

Sunday, January 12, 2025

Year One, January 13

I Give My Sheep Eternal Life1
Genesis 7:1-5
1Now the LORD said to Noah, “[Come]2 into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. (When the Lord said, “Come,” it implied that he was already in the ark and indicated he would be there with his servant. It is also suggestive of the gospel invitation, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’”3)
2Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. (Christ is the ark of our salvation, the unclean will be sheltered as well as the clean. Noah had the privilege to bring them in. Likewise, every believer has the privilege to work for the saving of souls.)
4For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
  
Genesis 7:11-23
11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14they and every beast according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. (It was wonderful that all these creatures willingly entered the ark. It is even more wonderful that sinners of all kinds should be led by sovereign grace to find safety in the Lord Jesus. They must come when grace calls.)
15They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in. (What a blessed thing for Noah. Those whom God brings into Christ, he takes care to shut in so they will no longer go out. God did not shut Adam in Paradise; Adam threw himself out. And every one of us would leave Christ, if the Lord had not in mercy closed the door.)
17The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits (or over twenty feet) deep.
It was then too late to enter the ark. Dear friends, may we never put off faith in Jesus until it is too late. It will be an awful thing to find ourselves lost in a flood of wrath, with no eye to pity us and no arm to save us. Yet that is what will happen “if we neglect such a great salvation.”4
21And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22Everything on the dry land in whose nostril was the breath of life died. 23He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. (As there was no safety outside of the ark, so there is no salvation outside of Christ. The Lord grant that every member of this family may flee to Jesus at once and be saved by faith in him.)
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1 From John 10:28
2 New King James & King James read, “Come.”  ESV reads, “Go”. The Hebrew means “to go in, enter, come, go.” - Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary
3 Revelation 22:17
4 Hebrews 2:3