God Will Bring Justice for Every Believer
Many Christians are suffering for their faith in this world. Even in countries without active persecution, Christians are excluded and face problems for simply being faithful. God cares deeply about this. Pray to Him about this. Ask for justice to be done. You can confident God knows your situation and listens.
Ahab and Jezebel and their family ruled Israel as tyrants; we read of their exploits in the latter part of the book of 1 Kings. They were not satisfied with setting up an alternative religion to Baal instead of worshipping the true God. They went much further than this, seeking out God’s prophets to kill them (1 Kings 18:4). True believers went into hiding so that Elijah thought he was the only one left (1 Kings 19:14).
What do you think the faithful believers in those days prayed for at night? I am sure they prayed for the downfall of the rule of Ahab and Jezebel. They wanted God to get the glory He deserved from his people. They would pray that God would care for them.
Naboth was one of these faithful believers who was killed by Ahab and Jezebel (the full story is in 1 Kings 21). He stood up against a king who wanted to take his land, even though God gave it to him as an inheritance. Naboth was executed on trumped-up charges and his sons were also killed to ensure the crown got to keep his land. This act of injustice led to a promise of the fall of the house of Ahab in a bloody and terrible way.
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On Numbers and Living for God Through Christ
Numbers also reminds us of the pervasiveness of sin and our need for a savior. It can be frustrating to read a book like Numbers because we just want the people to behave and the heroes to act like heroes. But they often do not. The only consistent hero in Numbers is Yahweh, God himself. Everyone else fails or shows themselves to be flawed. How we need to come to God in humility, asking for grace to live in God’s world without making a fool of ourselves! Numbers helps us in these ways and many more.
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, [24] The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” – Numbers 6:22–27 (ESV)
The worst thing about the Book of Numbers is its name. Those who expect a divine spreadsheet will be disappointed because the book contains much more than that. Numbers contains stories of plagues, miracles, espionage, political intrigue, divination, war, talking animals, and angels. And that is only a start. Far from being a book devoted to lists of names and tabulations, Numbers continues the story of the people of Israel’s exodus from Egypt and narrates the rest of Israel’s time in the wilderness.
This series continues to work through the books of the Bible, landing now at Numbers. An unsuspecting reader coming off of Exodus may expect Numbers to be a generally happy book, narrating how the people of Israel followed the freshly revealed glory of Yahweh into the Promised Land. But Numbers does not do that. Instead, we find in Numbers the story of how an entire generation failed to enter the Promised Land because of disobedience.
The Big Idea of Numbers
I have taught that the big idea of Numbers is that Yahweh is his people’s guide to the promised land. Although the passage cited above does not explicitly address Yahweh’s guidance of the people, it does address his intention and disposition toward his people. It also addresses Yahweh’s guidance and leadership of the people as a whole as he directs their way to Canaan.
The blessing Yahweh commanded the priests to pronounce upon the people represents a distillation of the hope of God’s people at all times and in every place. There is no greater hope than to see the face of God. It is shorthand for the entire experience of being fully in communion with God.
An Outline of Numbers
Numbers can be divided into three main sections according to the people’s location. The story picks up where Exodus leaves off at Mount Sinai, then tracks the people in the wilderness while the first generation dies off, and ends with the journey to Moab as the next generation finally prepares to enter the Promised Land.
Chapters 1-10 cover less than a year’s worth of time while the people are getting organized and ready to depart Mount Sinai. In this section, the people are divided and arranged in camps to prepare for their move. More instructions are given to the priests and Levites with various jobs assigned and various offerings made. The time at Sinai ends with the people celebrating Passover and departing from Sinai under the direction of Yahweh.
Chapters 10-20 cover the people’s journey to and stay around Kadesh Barnea. This is a span of about 38 years. Many interesting things happen during these years. Yahweh strikes down many in a great plague after raining quail on them (ch. 11). Aaron and Miriam find themselves in trouble for questioning Moses’ leadership (ch. 12). Spies are sent into Canaan to scope it out, only to return and recommend that the people not try to take it.
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What Is a Woman?
Though our culture is confused, we don’t have to be in doubt. You can know the truth and not be pressured into adopting modern reinventions. God has made the definition of a woman clear through both special revelation (Scripture) and general revelation (creation). He made her. He made him too. Male and female he created them.
The year 2022 signaled the start of a surprising controversy over how to answer the question “What is a woman?” It’s surprising because until the last few seconds of human history, the answer was never in question. With the rise of the “trans women are women” mantra, many people seem to be in doubt.
In March of 2022, U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson refused to define a woman when asked. Her response: “I’m not a biologist.” Does that presume only biologists know the answer? Many educated scientists squirm when pressed to define a woman because if their answer is “an adult human female,” that disqualifies biological men who “identify” as women. Being politically incorrect, that answer would jeopardize their reputation and possibly end their careers.
Numerous definitions for “woman” have surfaced over the last few years. I’ve noticed that these definitions fall into one of three categories: They’re either circular, absurd, or accurate.
First, some definitions of a woman are circular.
This mistake occurs when someone attempts to define a word but then uses the word they’re trying to define in the definition. For example, defining nuclear power as “energy derived from a nuclear source” is circular because the word you’re trying to explain, “nuclear,” is used in the definition. Transgender advocates often make the same mistake when they define a woman. They claim, “A woman is anyone who identifies as a woman.” That definition is circular. After all, what is that thing—a “woman”—that the person is identifying as? They need to avoid the term “woman” in their definition if they want to provide a meaningful explanation.
Second, some definitions of a woman are absurd.
Cambridge Dictionary has recently amended its definition of a woman: “An adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.” Notice they’ve replaced “woman” with “female.” Though this averts a circular definition, it creates a new problem. “Female” is a reference to biology—a person who has XX chromosomes and reproductive organs that make bearing children possible. What does it mean for a man, who has XY chromosomes, to identify as a person who possesses ovaries, a uterus, and breasts when he doesn’t? It’s absurd.
This is similar to when 69-year-old Dutch TV personality Emile Ratelband decided to identify as a 49-year-old and demanded the courts change his legal age. It’s absurd. No amount of sincerity, hormones, or surgical intervention can make him younger. He can make cosmetic changes to his body that make him look younger, but he’ll never become younger. That’s because age is a biological reality that can’t be changed. In the same way, a person’s sex is a biological reality that can’t be changed. A man can make cosmetic changes to his body to make him look like a woman, but he’ll never become a woman.
The other problem with Cambridge’s new definition is that a woman can now be someone who had a “different sex at birth.” What sex might that be? Male. That means a woman can now be defined as someone who was the opposite of a woman—a man. This is absurd because it makes the word “woman” meaningless when someone who is the opposite sex can be a woman. It’s like saying parallel can be defined as perpendicular lines. Such confused definitions reduce the meaning of words to absurdity.
Third, some definitions of a woman are accurate.
Prior to the last few seconds of human history, defining a woman was uncontroversial. People accepted the dictionary definition: an adult human female. They recognized that women have XX chromosomes, while men have XY chromosomes. Though this definition is accurate, it has some liabilities.
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One Difference
Is Lazarus cursed? Certainly not, Lazarus has a name. He may bear the humiliation of Christ in this world but he does not bear the curse, his Lord bore that for him. And if you are in Christ, the same is true of you. If He knows your name, then you are not cursed. You are known. I don’t know what could be more refreshing than to be known by the living God. Lazarus has a name.
The story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 is well-known. So well known is it that we read over the details without giving them much thought. So, let’s slow down. Let’s linger over a few details and in the process, we may find ourselves spiritually refreshed. But how might we approach the text? Well, if we were going to look at the whole, we might break it up this way:
1. Ante-death (vv. 19-21)
2. At death (v. 22-23a)
3. After death (vv. 23b-31)
What is more, each part is worth an extensive look, and we may take that look over the next couple of posts. However, for this post, I would like to look at the first several verses or what I have called, Ante-death. Of course, this simply means that we are going to look at the rich man and Lazarus before or prior to their deaths. But how? How shall we make such a comparison? The answer is in the text. Luke nicely breaks down the comparison for us. For example, he compares these two men on the basis of life’s necessities: Clothes, food, and dwelling.
Clothes, Food, and Dwelling
It is the case that in the first century, whitened wool was exceedingly costly because it was time consuming to make. The same could be said for the purple worn by the rich man in the story. But he didn’t simply wear purple. He also wore fine-linen. Now, this is interesting because this word meant under-garments. In fact, this was the Calvin Klein of undergarments in the first century! In other words, the rich man was fantastically adorned and comfortable. By contrast, Lazarus’s clothes are not mentioned. Instead, we are simply told that the man was covered by or clothed with sores. He was not comfortable.
When it came to food, the rich man was not lacking in extravagance. The rich of the first century enjoyed occasional feasts but this man feasted sumptuously every day! However, by contrast Lazarus longed to eat what fell from the table of the rich man. Joachim Jeremias, in his book on the Parables, suggests that this was not crumbs that fell from the table, but a loaf of bread was kept on the table for guests to use as napkins. When finished with a piece, they would simply cast it to the floor.
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