19 Pentecost - Sunday B

First Posted October 11, 2009

Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29  -- The Spirit of the Lord

Psalm 135:1-7, 13-14 -- Lord of Nature

James 4:7-12 (13-5:6) -- Godliness versus Worldliness

Mark 9:38-50 -- Warnings of Hell

Numbers:

The people of Israel in the wilderness complained to Moses about the constant diet of manna, and longed to have the meats and vegetables they had in Egypt. Moses was angry with their complaining, and he complained to God about the heavy responsibility God had given him to lead the people. Moses knew he could not provide for their physical needs and desires by himself. Moses was so discouraged that, if the Lord would not help him, he asked the Lord to kill him, so that he wouldn’t have to experience his misery any longer.

The Lord told Moses to choose seventy elders and leaders of the people and bring them before the Lord at the tent of meeting (the portable house of God; the tabernacle). So Moses told the people what God had said and the seventy were gathered before the Lord. God took some of his spirit that he had given to Moses and put it upon the seventy, and they immediately started to prophesy.

Two men, Eldad and Medad, were enrolled in the seventy, but had remained in camp. They too received the anointing with the Holy Spirit and began to prophesy in the camp. A messenger reported this to Moses, and Joshua the son of Nun (one of the two scouts who had returned a favorable report about the Promised Land), one of Moses closest assistants, suggested that Moses should forbid Eldad and Medad from prophesying. But Moses asked Joshua if it were Moses (or himself) that he was jealous for, and declared that it was his prayer that all God’s people should be prophets (filled with the Holy Spirit, to proclaim God’s Word).

Psalm:

The Psalms are prophecy, inspired by the Holy Spirit. This psalm was used in worship and is an example of ecstatic praise in worship. The psalmists, like David, the great shepherd-king, had close relationships with the Lord and the psalms are testimonies of their personal experience.

Anyone who has walked in obedient trust in the Lord will come to know that the Lord is abundantly able and faithful, and he is worthy of our praise. The Lord is the Creator and ruler over the forces of nature. The name (the character and person) of the Lord is eternal. The Lord has compassion on his people and will deliver and vindicate them.

James:

The author of James is exhorting his hearers to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Believers are to submit themselves to God. We are to resist Satan and he will flee from us; we are to draw near to the Lord and the Lord will draw near to us. We must confess and repent of our sin (disobedience of God’s Word) and doubt (unbelief in God’s Word). If we truly humble ourselves and mourn our sins the Lord will lift us up and exalt us.

A believer who speaks evil against another speaks evil against the Law (the Word of God); they have failed to keep the Law and have become a (an unjust) judge. There is only one righteous lawgiver and judge (the Lord), so who are we to judge our neighbor?

Worldly people make plans for themselves for the future, without acknowledging that their plans are subject to God’s will. No one can be certain for tomorrow; our lives are like mist, here momentarily and then gone. So, we should make our plans in accordance with God’s will. Otherwise, the plans we make for ourselves are arrogant boasting and evil. Anyone who knows what is right and does not do it is guilty of sin.

The rich of this world ought to mourn for the misery that is coming to them (in the Day of Judgment). Their riches are rotten and their fine clothes are moth-eaten; their gold and silver have turned to rust and will be evidence against them and will consume their flesh like fire. They have stored up punishment for themselves in the Day of Judgment. God knows the wages the rich have withheld from their laborers. The rich have lived in luxury and pleasure, fattening themselves up for their own slaughter. They have condemned and killed the righteous, who has not resisted them.

Mark:

John, the Apostle, told Jesus he had seen someone who was not a member of the disciples, exorcising demons in Jesus’ name and had told him to stop. Jesus said not to forbid such people, because anyone who does a great thing in Jesus’ name will soon be unable to speak evil against Jesus. Jesus told his disciples that anyone who did the slightest favor for them because they were Jesus’ disciples would be rewarded by God.

Jesus said that whoever causes the least disciple of Jesus to sin would receive worse punishment than we can possibly imagine. Jesus said that, if we could keep from sinning by cutting off a hand or gouging out an eye, we would be better off to do so, rather than to sin and be condemned to Hell, where decay and destruction is eternal. All are “seasoned” with fire (hard testing) in this life. Disciples must keep that “seasoning” (of faith through trials) or they will not accomplish what the Lord has called them to do, and will become worthless. So we are to hold on to our faith and be at peace with one another.

Commentary:

Moses is the prototype and example of a spiritual leader of God’s people. He had to have the Spirit of God and fellowship with the Lord to fulfill the responsibility God had given him. Moses realized that he wasn’t sufficient in himself to meet the need. When he asked the Lord for help, the Lord showed him what he needed to do; he was to choose people from the group and make them Spirit-filled leaders. (Moses was a prototype of a “born-again” disciple, making “born-again” disciples.) It was God who gave them the Spirit, as Moses followed God’s command.

Joshua was Moses’ close assistant. Joshua trusted and obeyed God; he was one of the two faithful scouts of the Promised Land, and who had urged the people to trust and obey God’s command to enter and possess the land. But Joshua wanted to keep his status and position as Moses’ second-in-command. Moses, on the other hand, was glad for Spirit-filled, Spirit-led helpers. It is God who dispenses his Spirit, and Moses was not going to forbid those who God had chosen to use what God had given. Moses prayed that God would pour out his Spirit upon all God’s people

It wasn’t until Jesus had completed his mission on earth that the answer to that prayer became possible. Jesus had to accomplish his act of sacrifice for our salvation, and then ascend into heaven before the Holy Spirit could be poured out on his disciples (John 16:7). The Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples was the birthday of the Church, and the beginning of the fulfillment of Moses’ prayer.

Since that day, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon all of the People of God; the people who trust and obey Jesus are his disciples who receive the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17), which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34). It is the job of the Church to make “born-again” disciples, which is only possible by “born-again” disciples. In order to make disciples we must first become born-again disciples ourselves. The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).

Only “born-again” disciples can testify to the goodness, faithfulness and power of the Lord from their personal experience. The author of the Letter of James was a born-again disciple who was “making disciples” of Jesus Christ. He was telling his hearers what they must do to become “born-again” disciples. They must turn away from worldly ways and start living according to Jesus’ way.

The apostle John was like Joshua; he thought the “church” should rebuke people, who weren’t members of their group, who were proclaiming Jesus. If the exorcist were not a Spirit-guided and empowered believer he would have no power (compare Acts 19:13-17). Jesus’ name is not a magic incantation by which the user can gain power. Jesus warned that calling him Lord didn’t make one his disciple, or save one from eternal condemnation (Matthew 7:21-25; Luke 6:46). The Church does not need to be afraid that someone will misappropriate the power of the Holy Spirit (although it is possible for people to fake, but only among the “un-reborn”).

Jesus’ warning of Hell shows the seriousness of following Jesus’ teaching and example in obedient trust. Christians can’t continue to live according to worldly standards. The Lord gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit to cleanse our sinful hands and purify our sinful hearts, free us from doubt, and to make it possible for us to trust and obey Jesus (James 4:8); to know and do his will. But the gift is only given to those who are seriously committed to follow Jesus in obedient trust.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

19 Pentecost - Monday B

First Posted October 12, 2009

Psalm 128 -- Obedience Rewarded

This psalm is one of the Songs of Ascents, which were probably intended for use in pilgrimages to Jerusalem. It is also categorized as a “wisdom psalm,” teaching divine truth.

Those who fear the Lord and obey him will be blessed. We will see the fruit of our labor; we will be happy and well satisfied. Families are one of the ways the Lord blesses his people.

May the Lord bless us from Zion, his holy hill. May we see the prosperity of Jerusalem (the Church is the New Jerusalem; the City of God). May the Lord bless us with long life and the satisfaction of seeing our grandchildren! May there be peace upon God’s people.

Commentary:

The message throughout the Bible is that those who trust and obey the Lord will be blessed and that those who rebel and reject the Lord will be punished. That’s not always obvious, because it does seem that the wicked thrive and go unpunished, for a while. But from an eternal perspective this lifetime is brief; we’re here today and gone tomorrow. God’s punishment of the wicked is coming at the end of physical life.

It is also widely believed that we can’t know for sure whether there’s a God or heaven until we die. That is false! Those who trust and obey the Lord receive the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit through whom we have a personal daily fellowship with the Lord and we are “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) to eternal life which begins now. Our spiritual eyes are opened to see spiritual truth and the spiritual kingdom which is coming. Only the “lost” who are going to eternal condemnation in Hell are unaware of what awaits them.

It is by the Holy Spirit within us, only by obedient trust in Jesus Christ (John 1:31-34; 14:15-17), that we can experience the real, satisfying, eternal fruit of our labor. It is the Holy Spirit who guides us and empowers us to build and strengthen the Kingdom of God, which is the only work which matters for eternity, and the reward for that work is eternal. It is the assurance of the Holy Spirit within us which gives us real peace and the certainty of life beyond physical death. The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).

In the American society today, in many families the children are raising themselves, because both parents are working. Many of these young people have no moral “compass;” no standard of right and wrong to guide them, which is only provided in God’s Word. Many of those children are looking for spiritual satisfaction in all the wrong places and things. There is only one way to spiritual fulfillment and fellowship with God, our Creator, and that way is only through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6).

Families are intended to be a great blessing to us, from our spiritual Father who wants to adopt us as his own children; his “family.” What we do with our families which God has given us in this lifetime matters for eternity. The picture of the family gathered around the table is an image of what we can expect in eternal life only if we pass on the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our families now, in this lifetime.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

19 Pentecost - Tuesday B

Genesis 2:18-24  --  Creation of Woman

God made creation as a “garden” for mankind. Everything was created to support and serve mankind, and mankind was given dominion over creation. God created man and woman to compliment each other, and to work together; to make a family unit.

The “picture” of woman created from Adam’s rib illustrates how fully man and woman are designed to complete and fulfill each other. She fulfills the empty place in man and he sustains her as part of his own flesh. They are designed to become a family that nurtures and supports their children, who then form a new family and repeat the process.

I am utterly convinced that God intended from the beginning of creation to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly choose to trust and obey him. The meaning and purpose of this lifetime is for us to seek and to come to know and learn to trust and obey God our Creator. This world is a “garden” intended to produce eternal children of God.

God has designed this creation so that we will have the freedom to choose whether to trust and obey God or not. God’s way is totally good; it is mankind who introduced evil in to creation by disobedience of God’s Word. God allows and tolerates sin (disobedience of God’s Word) and evil in this present world so that we can learn by trial and error to distinguish good from evil, and learn to live according to God’s way. But God has fixed a time-limit on us and on this creation. He will not tolerate sin and evil forever. He won’t allow sin and evil into his eternal heavenly kingdom.

We were born into a world that was created “good,” (Genesis 1:31) but which has become a spiritual wilderness because of mankind’s sin. God’s eternal kingdom will be Creation restored to paradise as it was intended by God.

God designed us for heterosexual monogamy. Homosexuality* is a “choice;” an “error” that humans choose to make (Romans 1:26-27).

Jesus Christ has been God’s one and only plan for our forgiveness and salvation from his eternal condemnation (Acts 4:12, John 14:6) from the very beginning of Creation (John 1:1-5, 14). All of us have sinned and fall short of God’s righteousness (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10), and the punishment for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

We have been given physical life in this creation and the opportunity to seek and find eternal life; the opportunity to be “born-again” to spiritual, eternal life by obedient trust in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus gives the gift of eternal life (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17).

God doesn’t want anyone to perish eternally, but he has given us the freedom to choose for ourselves, and has given us his Word, the Bible, and the “living Word,” Jesus Christ, the fulfillment, embodiment and example of God’s Word in human flesh (John 1:1-5, 14). No one will be able to claim that he did not know God’s plan; God has revealed it clearly. The only ones who don’t know God’s plan are the ones who reject and refuse to believe it.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

19 Pentecost - Wednesday B

First Posted October 14, 2009

Hebrews 2:9-11 (12-18) -- Pioneer of Salvation

Although Jesus is superior to angels, he was humbled for a while as a human and has now been glorified and honored above all, because he was willing to suffer and die, so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone. Since everything in Creation exists by and for Jesus, it was appropriate that he, having been made complete and mature through suffering, should be the pioneer of our salvation, leading many sons to glory. Jesus, who sanctifies (purifies and dedicates), and those who are sanctified, have one origin (in God), so Jesus considers them brethren, fulfilling the Word of God in Psalm 22:22 and Isaiah 8:17-18.

Since we are flesh and blood, Christ, the eternal Son of God, became flesh and blood, that through experiencing physical death he might destroy Satan, who has the power of death over us, so that we might no longer be enslaved all our lives by the fear of death.  Since Jesus’ mission was to humans, rather than angels, he had to be made like us in every respect, so that he could become our merciful and faithful high priest in God’s service, paying the penalty for our sins and restoring us to fellowship with God. Since Jesus experienced the same temptations as we do, he is able to be merciful and to help us when we are tempted.

Commentary:

Jesus Christ is the fulfillment, embodiment and example of God’s Word in human flesh (John 1:1-5, 14). God has designed Jesus into the very structure of Creation. God has been progressively revealing himself to us in Creation, in the Bible, and in Jesus Christ, the “living Word” of God, and ultimately and personally in the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which is only given by Jesus Christ (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, every “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) Christian experiences a personal fellowship with Jesus Christ and testifies that Jesus has risen from physical death to eternal life. It is through the gift of the Holy Spirit that we are “adopted” into God’s family.

Jesus’ physical life on earth is the ultimate example of obedient trust in God’s Word. Jesus’ resurrection demonstrates the reward for obedient trust in God’s Word and the reality of life after physical death. Jesus is the “New Moses” who comes to lead us out of the “Egypt” of slavery to sin and death, through the “sea” of baptism, through the spiritual “wilderness” of this lifetime, through the “river” of physical death, and into the eternal “Promised Land” of God’s kingdom in heaven.

Jesus told his disciples three times, as recorded in Mark (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:32-34), that he would be crucified, buried and rise again. Jesus also warned that the consequence of not following him is eternal death (John 5:28-29; Matthew 25:31-46). Jesus’ word is the Word of God (John 14:10, 24); it is eternally true. Jesus is the only way to God and eternal life (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).

We have all sinned (disobeyed God’s Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10), and the penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). God sent Jesus to show us how to live in obedient trust in God’s Word, and to make it possible for us to do so by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 5:8; John 3:16-17; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we can know with certainty that Jesus lives, and that we have eternal life through his indwelling Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

19 Pentecost - Thursday B

First Posted October 15, 2009

Mark 10:2-16 -- Marriage and Divorce

The Pharisees (a leading faction of legalistic Jews) asked Jesus a question about the Law of Moses to test Jesus (to obtain evidence they could use against Jesus to destroy him). They asked Jesus if it was legal for a man to divorce his wife. In reply Jesus asked them what the Law of Moses said (since they considered themselves experts in the Law). They replied that Moses had allowed divorce. Then Jesus replied that Moses allowed divorce because of the hardness of human hearts. Jesus said that from the beginning of Creation God had made male and female, and they leave their fathers and mothers and are joined to each other in the flesh, so that they are no longer two individuals, but one in flesh. What God has joined humans should not tear apart.

At home away from the crowds, the disciples asked Jesus about the issue, and Jesus told them that anyone who divorces a spouse and marries another commits adultery.

People were bringing children to him be blessed by him, and his disciples rebuked them, but Jesus rebuked his disciples and told them not to prevent children from coming to him. He told them that the kingdom of God belongs to such. Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it. Jesus took the children in his arms and blessed them.

Commentary:

The Pharisees considered themselves righteous because they thought they obeyed the Law of Moses. They considered themselves superior to Jesus because in their eyes Jesus didn’t obey the Law, primarily by healing on the Sabbath and by associating with “sinners.” Pharisees kept the small details and outward obedience of the Law but missed the great principles the Law was intended to teach. Moses allowed divorce because the people were unable to love others as they loved themselves (one of the two Great Commandments; Mark 12:28-31).

The Law of Moses is God’s Word, the core of the Jewish Bible (which with the Prophets and Psalms constitutes our Old Testament). Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of God’s Word who was perfectly obedient to God’s Word, even unto death on the Cross, and the example of God’s Word lived out in human flesh in this world. (John 1:1-5, 14).

God’s Word is divine wisdom, by which the world was created. Divine wisdom is true wisdom; not what the world falsely calls “wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:17-25; 2:1-8). Jesus is the Wisdom of God in human flesh. Jesus and the Bible teach that God designed us for heterosexual, monogamous marriage. God designed man and woman to fit together, sexually, emotionally and practically. The image of God forming woman from Adam’s rib is an illustration of how God intended man and wife to fit together (Genesis 2:20b-24; entry for 19 Pentecost Tuesday B-year). God designed a man and a woman to be joined in marriage in order to create stable families to raise children who would repeat the process.

God has designed this creation to allow us freedom to choose whether or not to obey God’s Word, and to learn by trial and error that God’s way is our best interest. Homosexuality* is a “choice;” an “error” that some humans choose to make (Romans 1:26-27).

Jesus is God’s way, who has been built into Creation from the very beginning (John 1:1-5, 14). We have a choice of whether to follow Jesus’ teaching and example or not. Trusting and obeying Jesus leads to eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom; rejecting Jesus and refusing to trust and obey God’s Word leads to eternal condemnation and death (John 5:28-29; Matthew 25:31-46). Jesus is God’s only provision for our salvation from eternal condemnation (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

God has always intended from the beginning of Creation to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly choose to trust and obey God. The world was designed by God as a “garden” to raise “children” of God. God is our father because he is our creator, whether we acknowledge him or not. God offers us adoption into his eternal family through obedient trust in Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ blessing the children is a “picture” of what God wants to do for us. He wants us to come to him through Jesus like innocent, trusting children and be blessed by him. God cares about families. He wants to see children raised to know and obey his Word. We are seeing in our culture now the results of divorce, single parenting, same-sex couples, and “absentee parenting” where both spouses work fulltime. These are all examples of “worldly wisdom.” The results are an alarming number of children who have no sense of right and wrong, and no concern at all for life. A lot of children have lost their innocence and trust.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

*homosexuality: See 1 Timothy 1:10; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Romans 1:24-27; from two Greek words meaning “men bedding (or conceiving) with men” (Strong’s #730 & 2845; see Strong’s #733); i.e., “sodomites,” after the city of Sodom, destroyed by God for its homosexual practice (Genesis 19:4-5 (24-25); men who have unnatural sexual relations with men (and, by extension, women who have unnatural sexual relations with women). The KJV translates as: “men defiling themselves with men.”

19 Pentecost - Friday B

First Posted October 16, 2009

Genesis 28:10-17 -- Jacob’s Ladder

Matthew 9:1-8 -- Jesus Heals

Genesis:

Isaac was living in the Promised Land as a semi-nomad. His son Jacob was sent back to the land of Abraham, his grandfather, to Haran in present-day Syria, to get a wife from among his own people instead of marrying one of the pagan local Canaanites. Jacob left Beer-sheba which is in southern Israel and camped the first night at Bethel (Genesis 28:19).

During the night Jacob had a dream of angels ascending and descending on a ladder which reached to heaven. He beheld the Lord who told Jacob that he was the God of Abraham and Isaac. The Lord repeated the promise he had made to Abraham and Isaac to Jacob, promising that the Lord would give the land to Jacob and his descendants, who would be as numerous as the dust of the earth. All the people of the earth would be blessed through Jacob. God promised to be with Jacob wherever he went, and would bring him back to Bethel. God vowed not to leave Jacob until he had accomplished what he promised.

Jacob awoke and realized that God was with him in that place and he hadn’t realized it. Jacob was awed by God’s presence, and declared that the place was the house of God and the gate of heaven.

Matthew:

Jesus returned by boat to Capernaum (his own city since Nazareth had driven him out; Luke 4:16-30). People brought a paralytic to him on a stretcher, and when Jesus saw their faith, he told the paralytic to take heart, because his sins were forgiven.

Some of the scribes (teachers of scripture) said that Jesus was blaspheming. Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked whether it was easier for Jesus to tell the man to rise and walk, or that his sins were forgiven. Jesus told them he had pronounced the forgiveness of the man’s sins so that people would know that “the Son of man” (i.e. Jesus) had authority on earth to forgive sins. Jesus then told the paralytic to rise and take his bed and go home and the man did so. The crowds who witnessed his healing were awed and glorified God, “who had given such authority to men” (Matthew 9:8).

Commentary:

God has intended from the very beginning of Creation to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly choose to trust and obey him. Jesus Christ has been God’s one and only plan to accomplish that purpose from the very beginning (John 1:1-5, 14). God designed this Creation to allow us freedom to choose whether to trust and obey him, and to learn by trial and error that God’s way is our best interest.

The Bible is the record of God’s plan for this world, which he has been progressively revealing. As we set out on the journey of life, God wants to reveal himself to us as we trust and obey him. The meaning and purpose of this lifetime is to seek and come to the knowledge of and personal fellowship with God (Acts 17:26-27), and this is only possible through Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

God has given us great promises in scripture. He has promised to give us an inheritance in his eternal Promised Land and to go with us wherever we go and bring us back to the Promised Land, if we will trust and obey his Word. God wants us to trust and obey his Word so that we will discover for ourselves that God is good and his Word is absolutely reliable and true.

Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the vision of Jacob’s ladder (John 1:51). Jesus is the gate and the way to heaven and personal fellowship with God. Jesus is the way from which the blessings of God come down to us. “Angel” can be understood as “Spirit” (consider Acts 12:6-16; note v. 7 and v. 15). Jesus is the only one who “baptizes” with the Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17), and it is the Holy Spirit by whom the Lord goes with us wherever we go in this lifetime and brings us finally to the heavenly Promised Land. It is by the gift of the Holy Spirit that we individually and collectively become the house of God.

Jesus came to heal us spiritually and restore us to true, spiritual, eternal life. His miracles of physical healing and feeding were intended to show that he has the power and authority to heal and feed us spiritually.

All of us have sinned (disobeyed God’s Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:5-8), and the penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). God has designed his Creation so that none of us are worthy of his favor, so that he can give it to us abundantly as a gift to be received by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

The healing of the paralytic is a picture of what God wants to do for us spiritually. When we come to Jesus in faith and obey him we are freed from bondage to sin and death and are “re-born” (John 3:3, 5-8) to spiritual, eternal life. Those who have been “healed” and “re-born” are called to be friends of those who are spiritually “sick” and “dead;” to testify to them that Jesus can forgive our sins and give us new eternal life, and to bring them to Jesus and to obedient trust in him.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?