Ezekiel 2:6,7 "And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions, neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house. But you shall speak My words to them WHETHER THEY LISTEN OR NOT, for they are a rebellious."
Sabina Wurmbrand, from A PASTOR'S WIFE sure came to mind when I read that verse this morning. What a brave woman to speak God's Words to her prison guards and interrogators and to her fellow prisoners.
And as moms, we need reminding that we answer to God, and He would have us speak His Words, whether they listen or not.
Please give me Your Words, Lord, and season my tone of voice with Your Passion, Your Desire, and Your Inflection. Make my face reflect those words, and make Your Love shine through. In Jesus name. Amen.
I have to believe that the entire Old Testament was committed to Jesus' memory as He grew and walked on this earth. He was Perfect and took God's direction from Scripture. They were His marching orders, His comfort, and His confidence. And when Jesus read and committed to memory these words, He was given the courage to stand up to the Pharisees and all those who had misread and misapplied Scripture. And if/when He sat on a scorpion, I doubt it stung Him. We stung Him when He died for us on the Cross.
And I was surprised to find this verse in the Old Testament. Oft quoted at funerals, I thought it was a New Testament verse. Hosea 13:14 "O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight."
Showing posts with label thorns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thorns. Show all posts
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
A Riddle and A Proverb or Two
Second Kings 14:9 And Jehoash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying: "The thorn bush which was in Lebanon sent to the cedar which was in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son in marriage.' But there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trampled the thorn bush.
Proverbs 15:19 The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.
Proverbs 22:5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse, He who guards himself will be far from them.
(why does the victim mentality jump out at me from those two proverbs?)
Proverbs 26:9 Like a thorn which falls into the hand of a drunkard, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
(Again, is it just me or God's sense of humor---when was the last time a thorn just fell into your hand??)
Song of Solomon 2:2 Like a lily among the thorns, so is my darling among the maidens.
(beautiful? arresting? prickly? Or, as the Veggie Tales might say, "sounds sticky". And here at Easter, none of those Easter lilies had thorns...could this be a foreshadowing?)
Proverbs 15:19 The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.
Proverbs 22:5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse, He who guards himself will be far from them.
(why does the victim mentality jump out at me from those two proverbs?)
Proverbs 26:9 Like a thorn which falls into the hand of a drunkard, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
(Again, is it just me or God's sense of humor---when was the last time a thorn just fell into your hand??)
Song of Solomon 2:2 Like a lily among the thorns, so is my darling among the maidens.
(beautiful? arresting? prickly? Or, as the Veggie Tales might say, "sounds sticky". And here at Easter, none of those Easter lilies had thorns...could this be a foreshadowing?)
More About Thorns
Genesis 3:17 Then to Adam He (God) said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it', Cursed is the ground because of you, in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both THORNS and thistles it shall grow for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
I am not a plant expert, but thorn bushes are mentioned in the Bible. Plant experts would probably tell us that bushes that sport thorns do so to discourage animals from eating their leaves. Thorns are a defense mechanism, right? The next mention of thorns in the Bible reveals their highly combustible nature:
Exodus 22:6 If a fire breaks out and spreads to thorn bushes, so that stacked grain or the standing grain or the field itself is consumed, he who started the fire shall surely make restitution.
The fire might be used to get rid of thorns, but got out of hand?
The next mention of thorns in Numbers 33:55 uses the phrase thorn in your side---as Christians, the picture that springs to mind is Jesus pierced on the cross. A soldier thrust a spear into Jesus' side revealing that Jesus was already dead because out came blood and water, the blood had started separating.
Just before Joshua died, he warned in the book of Joshua chapter 23 that: The Lord has driven out great and strong nations from before you...for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you. So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God. For IF you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know with certainty that the Lord your God will NOT continue to drive these nations out from before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and THORNS in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you. Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth...
Again, this double meaning for us looking back to the cross, for those thorns in that crown shoved down on Jesus' skull got dangerously close to His eyes. And it points to how in control Jesus was at His death. None of His bones were broken. None of His eyes were poked out. The very thorns He created were used to pierce His brow. And the Joshua account even foreshadows the whips that flayed Jesus' back of skin. The Roman cat-of-nine tails had a tendency to rip skin and muscles out of the back. Jesus took what we deserved. And stayed alive to be nailed to the cross--another tree.
Whoa--this is too much---the dying words of King David in 2 Samuel 23 verses 1-7 includes this theme, this connection with thorns and a spear and I don't think David knew he was foreshadowing the Cross.
2 Samuel 23:1-7 Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares, and the man who was raised on high declares, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, "he who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God, is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through sunshine after rain.' Truly is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in all things, and secured, for all my salvation and all my desire, will He not indeed make it grow? But the worthless, every one of them will be thrust away like THORNS, because they cannot be taken in hand; but the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they will be completely burned with fire in their place.
Do you suppose David wondered at these last words? The phrase near the beginning, "and the man who was raised on high declares.." what or who?? I see Jesus raised on high on the cross, and now resurrected on high at the right Hand of God, don't you?
And Jesus made it possible for the worthless to be given eternal life. Remember how Jesus was nailed to the cross, His Hands unable to remove the crown of thorns pressed into his skull? Look again at verses six and seven: "But the worthless, every one of them will be thrust away like thorns, because they cannot be taken in hand; but the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they will be completely burned with fire in their place."
Is this verse telling us of the future? That the soldier who thrust the spear in Jesus' side will also remove the crown of thorns and burn it with fire? Or is this talking about the future of the enemy who gathers at the last battle to try and wipe Israel off the map? Maybe both.
I am not a plant expert, but thorn bushes are mentioned in the Bible. Plant experts would probably tell us that bushes that sport thorns do so to discourage animals from eating their leaves. Thorns are a defense mechanism, right? The next mention of thorns in the Bible reveals their highly combustible nature:
Exodus 22:6 If a fire breaks out and spreads to thorn bushes, so that stacked grain or the standing grain or the field itself is consumed, he who started the fire shall surely make restitution.
The fire might be used to get rid of thorns, but got out of hand?
The next mention of thorns in Numbers 33:55 uses the phrase thorn in your side---as Christians, the picture that springs to mind is Jesus pierced on the cross. A soldier thrust a spear into Jesus' side revealing that Jesus was already dead because out came blood and water, the blood had started separating.
Just before Joshua died, he warned in the book of Joshua chapter 23 that: The Lord has driven out great and strong nations from before you...for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you. So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God. For IF you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know with certainty that the Lord your God will NOT continue to drive these nations out from before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and THORNS in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you. Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth...
Again, this double meaning for us looking back to the cross, for those thorns in that crown shoved down on Jesus' skull got dangerously close to His eyes. And it points to how in control Jesus was at His death. None of His bones were broken. None of His eyes were poked out. The very thorns He created were used to pierce His brow. And the Joshua account even foreshadows the whips that flayed Jesus' back of skin. The Roman cat-of-nine tails had a tendency to rip skin and muscles out of the back. Jesus took what we deserved. And stayed alive to be nailed to the cross--another tree.
Whoa--this is too much---the dying words of King David in 2 Samuel 23 verses 1-7 includes this theme, this connection with thorns and a spear and I don't think David knew he was foreshadowing the Cross.
2 Samuel 23:1-7 Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares, and the man who was raised on high declares, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, "he who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God, is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through sunshine after rain.' Truly is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in all things, and secured, for all my salvation and all my desire, will He not indeed make it grow? But the worthless, every one of them will be thrust away like THORNS, because they cannot be taken in hand; but the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they will be completely burned with fire in their place.
Do you suppose David wondered at these last words? The phrase near the beginning, "and the man who was raised on high declares.." what or who?? I see Jesus raised on high on the cross, and now resurrected on high at the right Hand of God, don't you?
And Jesus made it possible for the worthless to be given eternal life. Remember how Jesus was nailed to the cross, His Hands unable to remove the crown of thorns pressed into his skull? Look again at verses six and seven: "But the worthless, every one of them will be thrust away like thorns, because they cannot be taken in hand; but the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they will be completely burned with fire in their place."
Is this verse telling us of the future? That the soldier who thrust the spear in Jesus' side will also remove the crown of thorns and burn it with fire? Or is this talking about the future of the enemy who gathers at the last battle to try and wipe Israel off the map? Maybe both.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The Thorn Connection
(Stephen is speaking) Acts 7:30 And after forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning THORN bush. And when Moses saw it, be began to marvel at the sight, and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord: I AM the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. But the Lord said to Him: Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is Holy Ground. I have certainly seen the oppression of My people in Egypt, and have heard their groans and I have come down to deliver them, come now, and I will send you to Egypt. This Moses whom they disowned, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the THORN bush. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel: God shall raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.
Matthew 27:29
And after weaving a crown of THORNS, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand, and they kneeled down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
Matthew 27:29
And after weaving a crown of THORNS, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand, and they kneeled down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
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