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."
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Saturday Thirty Years Ago
It was on a Saturday, but April Fools Day. But, we have been celebrating Saturday-versaries ever since, and what a wonderful adventure it has been.
There were a few questions you forgot to ask me. You forgot to ask me about my math skills, and do I believe in chiropractic? Oh, and can I sing and stay on key??
But, other than that, we learned together.
It is kinda neat how today we received a wedding invitation from your nephew. How fitting. He was at our wedding, only still baking. And from the questions and comments he is making, he'll do fine.
Thirty years married and our house is too quiet this weekend. Second son at rotc drill. So, I set the dishwasher humming and the dryer has a lovely squeak from the garage. Thank you, dear, for thirty years. Thank you for being my best friend, and best lover, and best Scrabble player...
There were a few questions you forgot to ask me. You forgot to ask me about my math skills, and do I believe in chiropractic? Oh, and can I sing and stay on key??
But, other than that, we learned together.
It is kinda neat how today we received a wedding invitation from your nephew. How fitting. He was at our wedding, only still baking. And from the questions and comments he is making, he'll do fine.
Thirty years married and our house is too quiet this weekend. Second son at rotc drill. So, I set the dishwasher humming and the dryer has a lovely squeak from the garage. Thank you, dear, for thirty years. Thank you for being my best friend, and best lover, and best Scrabble player...
Friday, March 28, 2008
Twelve Thorns of Isaiah
Isaiah uses the phrase, briars and thorns. I wonder if he means those stickers like we have in Texas? Stickers ride into our home on the shoelaces of tennis shoes. When our boys rode bikes, stickers would ride home on their bike tires and jean pant legs.
I will have to wait for the learned one to explore Isaiah, as he is planning to do for future Sunday School lessons---and of the twelve references to thorns in Isaiah, he might be interested to note the middle one, the one that foreshadows Jesus, in my opinion.
The first reference to thorns defines for us exactly who are the thorns and who are the vineyard.
Isaiah 5:5,6 And I will lay waste, it will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed, for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
Briars and thorns replace the lush vineyards in the next four thorn references. Isaiah 7: 19, 23, 24, 25.
Now the next references to thorns are also closely linked to the four of the five times the phrase, "His Hand is Still Stretched Out".
Isaiah chapter 9 has the phrase, "His Hand is Still Stretched Out" in verses 12, 17 and 21. Thorns appear in verse 18: For wickedness burns like a fire, it consumes briars and thorns, it even sets the thickets of the forest aflame, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. Isaiah 9 is heavy with foreshadowings of the coming Messiah Jesus. And Isaiah 10:4 has the last of the five "His Hand is Still Stretched Out" and thorns in verse 17: And the Light of Israel will become a fire and His Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.
Great imagery, eh?? Too delicious.
Here are the other thorns references in Isaiah:
Isaiah 27:4
Isaiah 32:13
Isaiah 33:12
Isaiah 34:13
These speak of sad judgment, desolation, abandoned places. But, in the last of the Isaiah thorn references, promise that all will be restored:
Isaiah 55:13 Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, and it will be a memorial to the Lord, for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.
The next verse gives us our marching orders: Thus says the Lord: Preserve justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come and My righteousness to be revealed. How blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who takes hold of it, who keeps from profaning the sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, "The Lord will surely separate me from His people." Neither let the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." For thus says the LORD: To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, to them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, and a name better than that of sons and daughters, I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off. Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath, and holds fast My covenant, even those I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer....
And I know that eunuch in the New Testament was found reading Isaiah, but couldn't it refer to any childless this side of heaven? And another of my favorite phrases---cling, hold fast--precious to a mom who once had a clinging vine named Ben.
I will have to wait for the learned one to explore Isaiah, as he is planning to do for future Sunday School lessons---and of the twelve references to thorns in Isaiah, he might be interested to note the middle one, the one that foreshadows Jesus, in my opinion.
The first reference to thorns defines for us exactly who are the thorns and who are the vineyard.
Isaiah 5:5,6 And I will lay waste, it will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed, for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
Briars and thorns replace the lush vineyards in the next four thorn references. Isaiah 7: 19, 23, 24, 25.
Now the next references to thorns are also closely linked to the four of the five times the phrase, "His Hand is Still Stretched Out".
Isaiah chapter 9 has the phrase, "His Hand is Still Stretched Out" in verses 12, 17 and 21. Thorns appear in verse 18: For wickedness burns like a fire, it consumes briars and thorns, it even sets the thickets of the forest aflame, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. Isaiah 9 is heavy with foreshadowings of the coming Messiah Jesus. And Isaiah 10:4 has the last of the five "His Hand is Still Stretched Out" and thorns in verse 17: And the Light of Israel will become a fire and His Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.
Great imagery, eh?? Too delicious.
Here are the other thorns references in Isaiah:
Isaiah 27:4
Isaiah 32:13
Isaiah 33:12
Isaiah 34:13
These speak of sad judgment, desolation, abandoned places. But, in the last of the Isaiah thorn references, promise that all will be restored:
Isaiah 55:13 Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, and it will be a memorial to the Lord, for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.
The next verse gives us our marching orders: Thus says the Lord: Preserve justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come and My righteousness to be revealed. How blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who takes hold of it, who keeps from profaning the sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, "The Lord will surely separate me from His people." Neither let the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." For thus says the LORD: To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, to them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, and a name better than that of sons and daughters, I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off. Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath, and holds fast My covenant, even those I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer....
And I know that eunuch in the New Testament was found reading Isaiah, but couldn't it refer to any childless this side of heaven? And another of my favorite phrases---cling, hold fast--precious to a mom who once had a clinging vine named Ben.
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!"
Choose Life
Deuteronomy 30:11-20 This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach. It is not in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will go up to heaven, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?" And it is not across the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?" But the message is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may follow it. See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity. For I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and multiply, and the Lord you God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not listen and you are lead astray to bow down to other gods and worship them, I tell you today that you will certainly perish and will not live long in the land you are entering to possess across the Jordan. I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. CHOOSE LIFE so that you and your descendants may live, love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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