February 1, Reading Notes

Exodus 13:17-15:18

Ex. 13:17-14:9

The Lord led Israel, and in a way that made no sense to the Egyptians. Introduced here, is the cloud and the pillar of fire which will be with them for another 40 years.

What we should think about as disciples, is when God leads us in a way that makes no sense to others, He has His reasons. We should be confident in following Him, not in “knowing” why He’s leading us into a dead-end.

There were many reasons for this stage of the wandering, the most important being to make a covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai, and to form them into a nation. It will take God about a year to get them in shape with order and laws (religious and civil) and policies and government and a central place to worship. By the time they hit Kadesh Barnea, He has them ready to go.

Pharaoh and his boys are mad. With a hardened heart, his foolishness is intensified to the point of complete irrationality. If they haven’t beaten God yet, why do they think this is a good move? But now, the final step to Israel being without threat in the wilderness will be accomplished. With this next defeat, the Egyptian military will be reduced to a national police force just trying to rebuild and protect a ruined country.

Ex. 14:10-14

God says He will get glory from Pharaoh. When you read Romans chapter 11, the issue of God “using” Pharaoh (and the unbelieving in general) comes up. And just to be fair, we all have a hard time imagining God twisting someone’s mind to do His will without giving them a chance to believe. In all of what we understand and do not understand, all the conflicting thoughts of God’s election, foreknowledge and our freewill will come together and will prove, as Paul says, “God’s righteousness.” In a sense that we don’t see, in the angelic world God is in court and the accuser searches God’s actions to see if He is playing according to the rules. I think this is why the angels attest to God’s holiness. It’s not because they’re assigned this duty for our sake, (for great verses and great songs), but for them, and the issues at play in the angelic conflict, God’s holiness and righteousness is important to them.

A key verse on this is Romans 9:22 “What if God, desiring to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” So here is my thought. What if God, in His foreknowledge, knew that a child to be born would never accept Him in faith and would always be in rebellion? In God’s vast wisdom and planning and foreknowledge, He could surely move events around that person and even use that person’s responses to His purposes. Paul’s point is that God would have a price to pay also, that is, enduring the rebellion of this person for 70 years. God could just “snuff him out.” If you’ve been a school teacher or had a horrible tenant in a rental house, you’ll know enduring this kind of rebellious person is not a delight. We think God can just “put this out of His mind,” because He’s in outer space or someplace, but I don’t think so. God is here and I think sin seriously grieves God. We’re just used to it.

Also, regarding freewill and God’s ability to “direct” us, you wonder what rights we really have. For example, in the last election, they did surveys on how different groups voted. There were the ethnic groups, and then gender groups and religious groups, but I never found one on how the prison population voted. I’m sure that would have been a substantial block of people and it would be interesting to see what issues were important to them and, so, how they voted. Oh, that’s right, they can’t vote. They lost the right to vote because of their crimes. In all societies, those guilty of crimes lose rights and often their freedom. They have the basic rights (basic defined by the culture) but many freedoms are removed. We’re “guilty” too, right?

Now, if you look at the entire scope of things biblically, that is “in reality,” our biggest foe is Satan, standing before God and proving, by what we do, that we deserve judgment and death. Whatever role Satan was supposed to have for good, has been used by him for evil, giving him power when we mess up, like giving the board of directors the right to run the company because the true owner is in jail (and they put him there). Along with this, God had to save us, not violating any rules of righteousness and justice. Satan watches this. Yet God does have the right, since we are guilty before Him, to direct us and manage us just like you would direct people in prison who have lost their rights because of their crimes. For those who will never trust or obey Him, He is perfectly free to direct as He pleases. Look at Pharaoh, the wealthiest and most powerful man on earth at that time. All of that privilege was also from God. He hardened His own heart against God. He was already in rebellion, and that being the case, God made it worse and engineered Pharaoh’s actions, as a guilty man, to lead to God’s glory. Anyway, that’s just my take on things.

I wonder how the people of Israel could doubt God when there was a pillar of cloud/fire right with them. Miracles do not make people believe. Sometimes they only expose the heart of unbelief.

Note that instead of crying out to the Lord, they go after Moses.

Ex. 14:15-31

An amazing event and the lesson for us as disciples, is to follow the Lord no matter what. God can deliver.

15:1-18

My only observation here is that this song is very heartfelt, I’m sure, but the people will soon forget all this and complain. Emotion is never the measure of true devotion and commitment to God. Being a disciple means giving up your life to follow Christ in the Harvest. Following Christ has less to do with emotion than raw devotion, love and faith. I love emotion, but seeing this reaction of the people and seeing how much the church loves worship and is allergic to reaching lost people, I don’t put any weight on great bands and worship in church. I think we are conditioned to think that feeling gushy toward Jesus is the goal. Jesus says, “why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?” And below, there is a parable to this effect.

Matthew 21:23-46

Matt. 21:23-27

I remember reading this the first time and identifying with the irrational hardness of heart of the Pharisees. They were afraid to give a straight answer, just like Pharaoh, and just like I used to be without Christ.

Matt. 21:28-32

This parable underscores Jesus’ first principle of discipleship; obedience, not emotion; following, not talking.

Matt. 21:33-46

I’ve often thought that this entire scenario is irrational on the part of the people running the vineyard. Why would they get the land if they killed the heir? There is no rational reason. In the same way, when suppressing the truth is the goal, there is no rationality. We might see this on the part of unchurched people where it is pitiable and understandable. Where it is hits us as disciples the hardest, is when you see this kind of suppression and irrationality on the part of believers, churches and leaders. I have been in churches where there was no fruit, but rather a rigid, self-righteous guarding of the truth and church tradition. In those churches I have felt that they knew nothing of the love of Christ and true mission of the bride, and that if Jesus had shown up, they would have opposed Him and thrown Him out.

Psalm 26

As disciples, following our savior in the harvest, can we bow our heads and say these words to Him with this sincerity and meaning?

Vs. 6-8 mention something important to David and us, praising God and being in His dwelling, tabernacle, whatever. It’s a way of saying “to be close to you.” Whether we find it in a room or in a chair in a corner, I think it needs to be the constant yearning of a disciple to be close, confined, connected to Christ, quiet and alone, to enjoy His presence. As important as the harvest is, the strength of our hearts, what gives us the ability to withstand the conflict and pressure of this earth, is quietness with the Lord, with His Word, in prayer in that place where we meet Him.

Proverbs 6:16-19

So, as a disciple, which of these do you need to avoid. I found a couple.

If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link Every Day in the Word. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.” 

I'm writing these comments to and for those at New Song who are following a One Year Bible and involved in a discipleship cell. We're meeting weekly and discussing the texts, not necessarily my comments. We're growing together, learning to become and make disciples who make disciples. We will all be leading others in this process and training them to do likewise.

The comments I'm writing are in no way exhaustive, but meant to give some leading thoughts on how the text applies to us as disciples and to encourage and stimulate our growth in reading the Bible, with the effect that we will grow as disciples and encourage the growth of others as disciples growing in the word. If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is, the commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.

I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible, in fact, no one in our church reads the version I do, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.

Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.