The Seven Streams Method: Recent Episodes
Serena Travis
The Seven Streams Method is an innovative way to go through the Bible in a year using Seven Streams that correspond with the days of the week. Narration by Serena Travis. Commentary by Drake Travis.
Download Deuteronomy 33-34 Today is our final journey in the World Stream reading from the Tree of Life Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, what a finish, what a life, what an inspiration we see in Moses. We pray our lives are fruitful and dedicated to blessing and guiding so many while walking with You. Amen. What of the blessings that Moses pronounced upon the tribes would you like Moses to pronounce upon you? Moses talked with God. We have the exact same privilege to talk with God too so do this, and be blessed. [you do realize that "The Nation Stream" has an extra day and it needs to be fit in today because the year needs to end in Revelation] 33 - Moses paused and said a blessing for each of the Tribes of Israel. His blessing for Reuben: May he live - (and it is glaringly lacking anything else being said). For Judah: you will be gathered together and defended. For Levi: You will know and teach the Word and have blessed resources. For Benjamin: You will have rest and shielding For Ephraim & Manasseh: Since you are from Joseph, there will be blessing and bounty on every front plus wholesale victory. For Zebulun & Issachar: you shall receive abundance from the sea and land [sand] For Gad: Anyone who gives to Gad will be blessed. For Dan: They shall be a lion cub from Bashan (this was not altogether complimentary as Dan led the way into idolatry and were overrun first by Assyria) For Naphtali: there is favor and blessing from the Lord that grows and grows. For Asher: he will have favored status, be endowed with plenty and luxury and have ironclad defenses surrounding you. Yes, God will provide grain and wine for Israel, the dew of heaven will fall on the land and God will protect you. You shall not fear as you remain in my blessing. 34 - Then Moses was taken from there by God, east of Jericho, high in Moab, and shown the entire Promised Land. God kept His promise to Moses and assured him that what He pledged would be Abraham's land would certainly go to Abraham's descendants. [This would begin in a month plus four days!] Moses life ended and the eulogy is reknown. Clear health and senses, sound, strong, saintly. And no one walked with God and talked with God as Moses did. The wonders that were performed by Moses are still amazing to study 33+ centuries later.
Download John 20-21 Today we complete the Christ Stream reading from the Tree of Life Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
And with this we triumph. As Christ has risen from the dead, so shall we as we embrace Him fully. Hallelujah and Amen. 20 - Mary (Miriam) goes to the tomb for ritualistic reasons - to tend to the body. She isn't prancing down there and thinking, "oh boy oh goodie, I wonder if He's up yet...!" No, she arrives and is surprised to find the stone rolled back, the tomb empty, Jesus not there - not anywhere. And you do realize that the stone rolled away is for our purposes. If it wasn't it would lead to eternal ghost stories that skeptics would embrace more than they would Jesus Himself. But back to the original point, we know Jesus doesn't need the stone rolled away to get out. And He isn't Yosemite Sam in there, alive and trapped and screaming, "let me out! Let me out of here!" When Miriam goes and finds the Disciples, Peter and John bolt for the tomb. Again Peter is bold and stomps into the tomb - reckless as usual. Though John did get there first because he runs faster (and is determined that you know that!) You gotta love that 'boys will be boys' factor. When we read that the face cloth was rolled up and in place there's a Jewish culture issue here that westerners don't see right off. When a Jewish man departs from a dining setting, if he is done and not returning, he throws his personal cloth (napkin) onto the table and you are free to clear his place setting. However if he is returning, he rolls up his cloth neatly and lays it beside his setting. In the tomb, Jesus' face cloth is set by the stone where He was laid to rest because ... you guessed it, He Is Returning! John saw that and immediately knew Jesus was alive. But notice that the other disciples went home for they did not understand... And Jesus told them ?how many times? about his death and resurrection in this last three years?! The disciples are like over-grown elementary kids in this regard; they can listen all day and, in certain ways, not hear a thing. It will hit them all eventually. It is rather touching that Jesus appears to Miriam first. She is going to be the most evangelistic about it so may as well tell her first. Does it strike you that she didn't know the angels were angels AND she didn't know Jesus was Jesus? Everyone was so resigned to his death being final. It was that gruesome a few days ago - we would have been the same way too. Mary realizes that Jesus is Jesus when He calls her name. btw, When did it hit you? When did you realize that Jesus is Jesus Christ the Savior? When did He call your name? Do you remember? John records Jesus in two more appearances in this chapter. The Disciples are in a locked room still afraid because of the Judean leaders that would troll, find, and crucify (also!) the followers of the false Messiah that was just crucified the prior Friday. [This is one of the reasons Jesus had to appear to the women first - there was no death threat on them and they were far more free to spread the Resurrection news. So Jesus appears to most of the Disciples -- they are in a locked room and He did not use a door! And they are happy as kids at a candy store to see Him. They later found and told Thomas who was resolute in his need for proof. We know what happened and we know what Thomas' reaction was once he saw and touched Jesus' scars. Careful about accusing Thomas as "the doubter". His journey to faith came a little tougher than the others. But he never doubted again. And because he once doubted, and wanted confirmation, we never have to. Thomas went as far as India in his journeys with the Holy Spirit; evangelizing for Jesus. His spirit and joy and soulish resolve to evangelize to the end had him raise up an army of feverish disciples that completed the task of taking the gospel all the way across Asia to where Shanghai is today! And Jesus did so many more miracles. None who met Him ever doubted anything again. Their faith was bolstered enough to invade and infiltrate and transform the Roman Empire - which they did in time. You can visit Thomas' tomb where he was martyred with spears in Chennai, on the east coast of India. 21 - Later Jesus is found in Galilee. John mentions seven of the 11 Disciples are up in Galilee (not 12; Judas Iscariot is gone). They are fishing through the night, catching nothing then get advised to throw nets on the "right side". Have they heard this before? Have we? They pull in a record haul and this time the nets don't tear. Three years ago, they tore. They couldn't handle all the blessing - now they are ready for all the blessing the Lord is going to heap on them. Keep that in mind: we need to be ready for more blessing before receiving more blessing. God doesn't pour out so that it is simply wasted because we don't know what to do with it. Then Jesus has a necessary conversation that can be condensed to "Peter, you can't trust yourself - but you can trust me. You've been committed - you need to be surrendered now." Jesus tells him, 1] feed my lambs. 2] take care of my sheep. 3] feed my sheep. Jesus is calling him to comprehensive care of the growing Church. [1] When young lambs are fed they grow to sheep. [2] When they are full grown they still need to be sheered, taken to pasture/water and kept from wolves. [3] When they are secure in all this and full grown sheep -->they still need to be fed. Peter is being called to life-long ministry ... which he fulfills wonderfully. And as John finishes his gospel he tells that Jesus did so much more that would fill the whole world were it all to be told. However, we now know enough to believe with all our hearts and lives. We also have His Word, this Word to take to the whole world. Let's do so.
Download Download Malachi 2:17-4:6 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the Tree of Life Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, the passage today reminds us that your commands are not burdensome. Trying to put life back together after straying from your commands is what is burdensome. Keep us in Your care, Your Spirit, and your Will. Amen. This is the final word of the Old Testament and it delivers the heat. God had just finished scathing them in the prior verses for dumping their wives, taking up with foreign women [since those ladies were more, uh, "IN-ter-essss-ting"] - having been raised in a sex-cult atmosphere. THEN they would come in to the Temple [wacky-wife-n-tow], lay down their paltry offerings and then wonder why Malachi stuck it to them just as God would roll his eyes, so to speak. And amid all the pathetics. Malachi continues:
2:17 - "excuse me people?! You come in to my Temple like this and expect what? a pat on the back? What do you think I am anyway?!" 3 - The Lord is coming and He is bringing a Message [btw, Adonai Tzva'ot means "Lord of Hosts"; the one who rules all the 100,000,000 angels of heaven!] He wants all the sinful tendencies, the iniquity, the transgressions to stop and stop now. And He also wants all of those living back in Israel again to stop blathering their dopey inquiries to God while steeped in their sinfulness, "huh? whaa- God? uh, are we offending you at all? Perhaps YOOOOU God are the one with the attitude problem?... It isn't us with the problem? ...Iszzz it?" We all just heard the expansive list of sins that were being exercised in Israel/Judah/Jerusalem. And the people thought that they could plead ignorance. Gimme-a-break. Plus the people were not tithing, wondering why prosperity eluded them, wondering why pests were eating their crops, wondering why God was upset with them. Drake was visiting a church in the mountain states a few years back and was asked to help with the offering routine as they were helping build up a pastor's fund for struggling parishes in the area. The plate was passed and it went by a couple who was dressed to the nines. The man feigned to be jolted as the plate reached him. Then he pompously scrolled through scores of "hundred$" in his wallet, and "alas!" here were two one dollar bills that he plucked out and rubbed together to prove that he was give TWO dollars, not one. [What he was actually doing was making sure that a third ONE dollar bill didn't escape his grasp]. And he thought that no one present (including God) knew that that same month he dropped $9million on a chalet (a palace!) in an exclusive ski resort town. He also had just purchased new porsche [ca. $130K] for his wife. And just ask him - he did this because she de-ZERVES the best of everything! uh huh. It's theft in plain sight/broad daylight when people think they can steal from God. 4:1-6 - All this needed to stop for judgment was coming. The Day of the Lord, sometimes called "The Day" is mentioned five times in Malachi. God was going to scorch all the disobedience from the land. He was going to turn the fathers' hearts back to their deserted children. [Remember many had ditched their wives for foreign women - and where do y'think this left the children from their original Hebrew wives?] Yes, the children were lost and going astray. God was scolding their derelict fathers and they would receive it, and repent, or God was going to curse their land with utter destruction. He was about out of patience. [Malachi 4:1-6 in most versions is Malachi 3:19-23 in the TLV version]
Download Ezekiel 47-48 Today we complete our journey in the Prophetic Stream as we read from the Tree of Life Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Today we finish the Prophetic Stream. Ezekiel has been describing the rebuilt Temple since chapter 40. This occupies the remainder of his book that we finish today. It is probably overdue to mention that some view this Temple as what will be during the Millennium; the 12 tribes occupying Israel again, and animal sacrifices have resumed as in Solomon's day. Others view Ezekiel's Temple as figurative of the whole Christian Era wherein the glory of God is ever expanding, sprreading, flowing outward to cover the earth. Again, this Temple does follow Solomon's pattern in some ways. As we end this portion of scripture today, the city of Jerusalem is 7.5 miles square. The pattern is a model of sorts to the one described in Rev. 21 that we will read in a couple days. What does this all mean? When and where is this? Just know that it's Good News of good things God is doing. It cannot be stated for certain what exactly God is going to do. Let's enjoy and worship our God more and not demand that all analyses be final before we can enjoy Him. Jesus said we would see the Kingdom if we become as little children - it doesn't say we need to become as engineers in order to see Him. And be certain of this: our perspectives will never alter what He has had planned since the foundation of the world.
47 - Nothing enhances a property like a water feature! and here water flows more and farther and deeper the more it flows. Note that it is flowing east from the Temple's threshold. The movement of God was always to go west in Genesis, so this tends to mean that the cycle of God is coming to completion. And notice that this water purifies and brings life even to the Dead Sea once it reaches it. This is marvelous. God operates this way and will continue to do so as news of Him spreads over the earth like water. In Joel 3 and Zechariah 14 and Revelation 22 we hear of God doing great things with water in the end of days. Best thing to do is prepare for the wonders ahead by anticipating them and preparing for them. The remainder of the chapter (and the book) is how the land of Israel shall be outlined and apportioned among the tribes. Keep in mind, this is being written in 570 B.C. and the 12 tribes is the entire reference point for the Hebrew mind. It hearkens back to Jacob's 12 sons. So to describe the coming events in any different way would be sheer puzzlement. All this factors in to what God is going to do because we know that it has not happened in full as of yet. 48 - The measuring and apportioning continues as each of the tribes is listed and the lot of land is measured off. The mindset they are speaking to is intended to have us feeling provided for with space enough and food enough. The nightmare of displaced peoples is that they have no place to go and nothing to eat. The totaly opposite of that is true here in Ezekiel's description; the do have a place and they have plenty. And the city, a total of 7+1/2 square miles, is the home of God now. It is even named "God lives Here." God says this to end the Major Prophets so that when we read this we feel relieved, "oh good. God is here!"
Song of Solomon 5-8 Today we complete our journey in the Wisdom Stream reading from the Tree of Life Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis The breathless love story continues. These two will never know happiness outside of each other. They are living inside of a dream that God had created in the Garden of Eden. It is a romantic love that completes one another. It requires a sealed commitment inside of a monogamous relationship. And like in Eden, there must be no barriers between or distractions from this commitment. The relationship needs to be "sold out", all in, and no plan "B". This love, as in all married relationships, is something to be celebrated. It is set up by God to provide us with strength each step, elation to be alive, wistful about the past, hopeful for the future, and understanding God yet better. 5 - Most of this chapter is her raving about him. His stately nature and build. His looks, his skin, his hair - What's the phrase? is it, "she finds him super delicious"? ha! oh dear. She goes on and on describing him. And she is telling this to her lady friends in the city. One commentator calls them the Palace Women. They were at times a choir. Some may think this strange. But think this through, what do ladies who are of age and looking for love talk about when they get together? BOYS! I heard of a Bible Study of young married women in the midwest called, "Who's Next?" The question they are asking is, who is going to announce that they are pregnant ... next? By the way when the Pastor of the church shared about this Bible Study with my husband it was the 1980's. The Bible Study had commenced early in The Great Depression. It was still going about 55 years later!. The average age of the ladies was now 77. Talking about God and their love lives started it all. How's that for wonderful ? 6 - Much of the romance and passion of love is the managing of departures and arrivals. That is the beginning of ch. 6. Then The Song of Solomon goes on extensively - this time it is him monologuing about her. He is basically noting that her beauty is the talk of the land. And then he goes on to describe her in salacious ways that need no further description. The old English poet Robert Blake once said that the woman's body is too much to bear. And it's true. Men who marry and commit for life, and then experience their wife, are changed for life. Men aren't shallow for being this way. They are lustrous and rich and lively and loving. This factor of the wife spurs them at heart to march onward through life and accomplish great things that are good and right. Married men simply do better, are healthier, happier, more productive, more charitable, more wealthy, they live longer, and are more kind. And, might as well get real about this, it's what Solomon describes in S/Sol. 6:4 -thru- 7:9 -- 7 - --this is what sparks men to commit for life. One Spanish proverb says, "he who loves one woman, loves the whole world." He needs nothing more or different. And you gotta love that sign that hangs over the country estate explaining where this whole fascinating plantation gets its inspiration: "All Because Two People Fell in Love". We get this, don't we? Then the final four verses and going into the next chapter - - 8 - - - we hear her simply longing to be with him. In her mind, the whole countryside is her bridal chamber. She wants him all the time and everywhere and thinks of him all the time and everywhere. Remember, he is the King of the land. He isn't a 21 year old who doesn't yet have his own plot of land to manage and has all kinds of free time. There aren't 4-5 day weekends all over the calendar to prance through gardens wearing just a kilt - though he'd probably prefer that. The insinuation is that they would love to be enraptured with each other all the time, but there is a whole life to manage along with sundry duties and responsibilities that are to be tended to along with his love life. Her point is valid...there are regular times that they will need to get away and he needs to forget that he is the king of a country. We see that these two value their love as something to be protected; fiercely protected. We see the interweaving of business dealings in their relationship as the vineyard is referenced. And it is well noted that she brings peace into Solomon's world. Ahhhh love
Esther 5-10 We are in the Nation Stream reading from the Tree of Life Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord Jesus, you are our Savior. And it is inspiring to see people step up and do the work God has called them to do to save the innocent; others who have been sentenced to die. We pray that Esther inspires us to be better missionaries. Amen. 5 - Queen Esther went to work planning how she was going to rescue her family and her people. Her plan was not to go brash here but to go stealth. Remember the man who hatched the plan to kill the Jews was Haman in Persia. He is the one who had to be stopped. The King; Esther's husband had the power to do that. So she had to get to the King even though he had not summoned her. But to go to him unsummoned left one'self open to the gallows. She walked the gauntlet, was invited in, and had her conference with the king. Notice that her beauty was what gave her leverage. Her gracious heart came through and that showed all over her face. She and the king had affection for eachother and that steered the heart of the most powerful man on earth. Ladies today can learn here. The culture has trained modern women to stomp their feet, roar like a lion, demand this and that, demand equality (which never will exist), and get ugly about feminine rights. All this does is paralyze the culture and eventually eradicates faith from a people. Learn from Esther here. Take note of her first tactic and therein is the doorway to the results she needs. She gets the kings ear and the king is willing to give her anything - up to half of all he owns! Would you like the richest man on earth to make you an offer like that? See how her gracious nature and faith come in to play? The pathway to the outcome she needs is well established by her wisdom and grace - not ugly assertions. So Esther requests a banquet for the King and Haman and her [only to build Haman's confidence]. Haman at the same time is getting more and more angry at Esther's uncle Mordecai - not knowing the two are related! Mordecai will not bow to Haman when he walks by and it's making Haman mad with rage. So Haman works a plan that his wife schemed out and a gallows is built to execute Mordecai on as soon it can be arranged. Keep note of where that woman's plans led her existence... 6 - About that time the King is reminded by his chroniclers that it was Mordecai that saved his life; foiling an assassination attempt some time ago. So the king honors him parading him through the streets for saving the king's life and Haman gets the job of guiding the horse! Ha! Haman wazzzz enroute to the palace to convince King Ahasuerus to hang Mordecai. And Haman ends up leading Mordecai on horseback in a regal parade. Haman is so bothered by this he is ready to eat a boot. Speak of sticking his foot in his mouth! it is mere moments later that the king's servants arrive to escort Haman to the banquet for him, Esther, and the King. ... oh boy. What's up next? 7 - So here is Esther, her husband the King, and Haman enjoying the finest food and wine on earth, when Esther has a request of King Ahasuerus. This is 'day two' of a banquet so everyone is well fed and satisfied. Perhaps Haman was still bothered since he was just walking the king's horse in a regal parade with Mordecai atop the horse. But nonetheless, he is dining with the king and queen. [Remember that Haman is totally unaware that Esther and Mordecai are blood relatives!] Esther has a request and the King is altogether willing to give her anything. Another tip for ladies here to not follow the current culture but to follow biblical culture. Our men want to see us happy and content and satisfied. And being gracious opens doors. Being impetuous stresses out our men who then have trouble operating productively ... and where then does that leave all of us? OK. Point made. Esther then asks that she and her people be spared from the annihilation plot. King Ahaseurus demands, "who plans to kill you all?" Esther then points to Haman and announces, "HIM!" The king is beyond rage. This is at least the second death plot that has been undertaken in his kingdom that he was not privy to. The first is against him, remember? The king orders Haman to be hanged and can you imagine being there trying to contain the glee while telling the king, "oh, uh, King Ahaseurus, there is a 75' tall gallows by Haman's house..." Reminds us of Proverbs 28:10, "he who leads the upright along an evil path will fall into their own trap." 8 - Haman was gone now but his order was already dispatched and circulating. It needed to be countered, caught up with, and headed off before people started on a spree of killing Jewish people in their territory. King Ahasuerus ordained this be done to preserve the Jews. And notice what happens to Mordecai who opted back at the start to not bow to a pagan wretch, but to live by principle. Mordecai is honored with wealth and treasures and he is granted Haman's estate! Then he is made #2 man in all of Persia. Do not the Psalms and Proverbs and Jesus tell us over and over that this type of thing happens for God's people?! 9 - Haman's antiSemitic orders going out before the King sent intercepting dispatches merely revealed the Jewish resentment across the 127 Provinces that King Ahasuerus ruled over. This sentiment would prove to be fatal had action not been taken. It also revealed that there were hundreds of hearts bent on killing Jewish people right there in the Citadel of Shushan. So the King allowed those who hated Mordecai's Jews to be stopped. They were killed in a counter strike. 800 Jew-haters in and around Shushan were killed, all 10 of Haman's sons, and 75,000 more across the Empire were also disposed of. The great change in the atmosphere toward Jews in the Persian Empire and the miraculous turn of events led to the Feast of Purim. It is a feast the Jewish people still celebrate today. 10 - And that is the wonderful story of how things turned aright for the Jewish people in Persia, how Mordecai was exalted and honored, and how Esther's heart for God and God's people made for a great rescue. It's one of the greatest rescues of a people the world has ever seen.
Deuteronomy 31:30-32 We are in the World Stream reading from the Tree of Life Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord, we have come to a great part in the Bible when the Law is complete and the now world has a guide for right living, economics, law, behavior, military, justice, agriculture, family, worship, scheduling, holidays and more. May we be grateful that you have come to guide, to restore and to save us. In Jesus, we give thanks, Amen. Moses had just finished writing the Law in the Book they are to embrace, study, and live by. This was the centerpiece of their culture. To this day, the True Jewish Nation is called, "The People of the Book." Moses completing this book was an occasion to be celebrated. And to memoralize this event through singing a song became the perfect benediction. It's like singing a song at the end of a worship service. The nation sang a song of deliverance in Exodus 15 right after crossing the Red Sea. We see Moses sharing his eloquence in Psalm 90, Deborah singing to celebrate the defeat of a scoundrel in Judges 5, and David breaking out in song numerous times. This was a great way to instill this moment and the import of it all in the minds of the nation and its people of all ages. Everyone knows that the lyrics of a song will go in to young mind perhaps decades before the words can be deciphered for what is being truly said. So Moses has this song for the nation of Israel. They are to sing it together and keep their mind on God's Word.
31:30 - the occasion is introduced 32 - and the song commences. The highlighted points are as such. ~The Worship of God is to be heard throughout the earth. ~He is true and right. The problems of earth is our flaw, not Him. ~We, as a people, must remember our heritage. ~God has been good to us from the start, calling us to Himself. ~God is our guide and Provider, showering us with bounty. ~Yet in their satisfaction, they became complacent with God. ~and worse, they began sacrificing to idols and serving demons. ~So God turned His face away and left them to themselves, to suffer puzzlement and worse. ~For their sins, God will heap calamity upon them. ~He would have wiped them out, except they are supposed to stand for God - and what would the enemies of Israel say? [God was trying to reach them too eventually] ~Realize, forever, that God is God. ~He rides upon Heaven in all power and will avenge those who are against Him. ~God will also avenge those who pester His Chosen Ones. [end of song] Moses then presented this song to the people of Israel reminding them to sing it and use it to remember to "do the Law of God", for this Law is your life! Yes, following this Law will have you living long in the land with the Lord. Moses is then told to go climb to the top of Mt. Nebo and view the land that he brought the people to - but would not enter himself. The one misdeed of Moses from Numbers 20:10-12 is what bars him from entering Canaan. In a larger sense, however, Moses had done his job. He was to take them out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. Joshua was to take them in. Samson/Deborah/Barak was to help them through the "Centuries of the Judges", David was to expand the borders and the worship, Solomon is to build the glorious Temple, Elijah is to be a blazen torch amid the darkness, Josiah is to bring great reform, Nehemiah is to rebuild the Wall of Jerusalem ... each has their part. If Moses were to also take them in the land, conquer all the Canaanites, build the Temple, assume all territory between the Nile and the Euphrates - Moses would be a charactre that would loom so large that the matter risks eclipsing Jesus and the need for a permanent Savior. So yes, it is sad to see him come to the edge of destiny, only to be blocked from crossing the Jordan and entering. But in God's Providence, it is the way it had to happen.
Revelation 12-17 We are in the Church Stream reading from the New Century Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis The five verses prior to our reading today [Rev. 11:15-19] took us beyond the Final Judgment Day; the glorious consummation of history. Then here we are with so much sounding catastrophically similar to last week. That is because chapters 12-19 is a mirroring repeat of Rev. 6-11. Today's reading in Rev. 12-17 took us back to the start of the Tribulation and goes through it again. This time the visions illustrate for readers a series of scenes that were not included in 6-11. All of this relates mostly to the situation befalling the souls on earth who flat out will not repent and come to God even amid their misery. Like the Bible has been telling us since Adam/Eve, there is something wrong with man - and he needs a Savior. This is going on still in Rev. 12ff. Only this time, amid the hailstorm of trouble, man obviously needs a Savior and his behavior across the globe screams, "no way!" at God. 12 - The woman (Israel) is about to give birth to a child (Jesus) and a dragon (Satan) is crouched. waiting to devour the child. We've heard of this before? --> Christ the Lord came to earth and Herod immediately went on a hunt to kill Him. 1400 years prior, Moses; "Savior" of the Old Testament era is born and Pharaoh is ready with an edict to kill him. Here, Christ is ready to return to earth and set up His rule and as the preparation and the time is drawing near - what do you know, the Devil Himself is waiting to do violence and block the arrival. He always hates a Savior arriving! The reference of 1,260 days is equivalent to 3+1/2 years; 42 months, This is half the Tribulation Period. The war in heaven when the Dragon is flung to earth and sweeps 1/3 of the stars from the sky, is reminiscent of Ezekiel 28:12ff and Isaiah 14:12ff.; other fascinating comparisons about the Devil's/Lucifer's rebellion. This is all trauma in a big way, but the faithful triumph regardless. The dragon on earth soon hunts for the woman who hides in the desert. The dragon wants Israel obliterated, for Israel will deliver the Savior. 'Sounds like Mary and Joseph fleeing Herod, going through the desert and hiding in Egypt. But the dragon cannot find her so he embarks on killing all her children (those who follow God).
13 - The two beasts of this chapter are prompted by the Devil to overtake the earth. They comprise a diabolical Trinity of deception that is truly powerful and evil. The first beast symbolizes speed, strength and authority on earth in its three animal characteristics equating political power. The heads, crown, thorns are loaded with blasphemy. Some surmise a link when cross-referencing this beast with Daniel 2:33, and 40-43 plus Dan. 7:7, and 7:24. The head wound/healed is intimated in Gen. 3:15. This is his duping of the wounded, dead and risen Christ. And the beast gets the whole world to believe and follow him. He's a demon-possessed politician; the antichrist. The second beast lives to further get the decieved to follow the first beast. It poses as a lamb yet is a false prophet. Notice the desperate attempt to imitate Christ while fighting Him and scheming to kill the people of earth?! This second beast forces all to register and receive a 666 mark. It is a trinitarian number ... but one shy of 777. That is the Devil: faking it, close in resemblance to the work of God, similar enough to deceive, yet way offthe truth. Think of it, God told us this liar is coming. He told us near two millennia ago, so that no one is deceived. People getting deceived by this beast is going to be no fault of God. It's strange and sad how people enjoy being lied to, isn't it? 14 - This chapter gives us the big picture through the end of the book. Then ch. 15ff fills in the rest of the details to the end of history as we know it. Just keep in mind that the chronology of the visions given in ch. 14 and the matching visions given in greater detail from 15 onward are not presented in the same order. We are told of the 144,000 faithful who have not succumbed to worldliness, the evangelizing/preaching to the whole world, the doom of those who are committed to Babylon and will fall with it. There are the doomed who worship the Beast. Those who died in the Lord in this difficult era are blessed; assured of Eternal Life ['remember Rev. 6:9-11?]. There's the gospel Harvest, and by contrast there's the bitter harvest; the grapes of God's wrath. The blood is going to flow deep and far ... on a biblical scale. Again, 14 is the overview, 15-19 is the fill-in of the chaos 15 - The seven angels and the last seven disasters are announced. However there is a stirring worship announcement and interlude before the flood of the final seven disasters pour down. It is a victorious song that assured the saints that the coming terrible plagues were not for them. God was NOT angry at His own. The fact that no one can enter His Temple during this time is most likely the assertion that none should even try to avert these coming judgments. Humanity has been so evil for so many millennia, that nothing but judgment is going to work on these marauders. Time to let the punishment fall! No one shall be pitied. 16 - The seven judgments roll out as such: 1] boils/sores on all who have 666 2] death reigns over the water as the sea turns to blood 3] all fresh water turns to blood 4] the sun/solar flares create great heat on earth to scorch. 5] there is great darkness and pain on humanity 6] matches the other sixth trumpet where the 200Million man army crossed the Euphrates River and marches on the land of God. In this one, the Euphrates going dry makes the sixth trumpet able to happen. This army is gathered by false prophets that emerged like frogs and, well, we just read it. Crazy stuff! 7] The grand finale~ is natural disasters of earthquakes, signs in the sky, and 100 lb. hailstones doing colossal damage, destruction and killing. The earthquakes level every building, every mountain, every island on earth. Imagine what they did to this army of 200Million. Thus all the blood. And here as through all the other calamities, the people are cursing God. 17 - Next we are shown [in long form] what is going to happen to Babylon, The Great; The Prostitute that leads the whole world astray; that delights in perverting people and deceiving plus killing God's faithful who profess Jesus.. This is symbolized by a woman riding a red beast. Keep a distinction in your thinking, the two beasts introduced in ch. 13 are: -Babylon The Great & -Mystery Babylon. B/G is the political system. M/B is the false religious system. Satan loves manipulating people through corrupt politics and liars operating within a religious system. [And did you know that people argue about politics and religion?] The red beast this woman rides has seven heads and ten horns. These heads and horns correlate to things on earth; Mountains which are kings and kingdoms. Oddly, the beast is not here, then here, then dies, then rises again - notice the imposter is still mocking Christ through trying to duplicate. The seven mountains are kings that actually become eight kings. Their timing, operations, and interrelationship is as tangled as an angry octopus. The ten horns are kings that will come and cooperate with the beast for a short time to war against the Lamb of God and His Jesus-followers. The ten horns will be defeated. Btw, the prostitute has sway over all people, tribes and languages but then is going to be devoured and incinerated by these 10 horns/kings who actually hate her. Yes the timing of ch's 17&18 is very tangled. And take note that the entities under the Devil's domain devour eachother, as is typical. We will finish this section on "Babylon", then the Final Judgment, and Heaven upon completing the Bible next week. And we are all encouraged to shout "halelujah". The changes, the trauma, the wild things coming that we read about each day are going to be huge beyond what you have ever known. So you better hang on to God. Hear this! - - You BETTER hang on to God. -Deuteronomy 29:1 - 31:29 - The time in the desert is drawing to a close. Moses leadership will soon be gone. All you have ever known since Egypt is Moses. And he's departing! Dilemma's approach. Life and Death are offered to you (both of them want you!). Battles are coming on the horizon for you. Things are going to get "hairy"! So you better hang on to God. -Nehemiah 13 - Esther 4 - What was facing the Jewish people in Europe in the 1930s and 40s was looming for them in Esther's day yet more bold and imminent. Haman wanted them all dead, now. And Haman had the king's ear. Death was approaching fast and it would come at the hands of the world's toughest empire who had all the Jews as captives. There was no one 'else' to call for help. It was time to hang on to God. -Song of Solomon 1-4 - this may seem peculiar to assert that these two must hang on to God. Yet it is imperative. Millions of people on earth are murderously angry at those they have shared erotic experiences with. We either invite God into our love lives, and follow His directive and invitation or we keep Him away at these junctures. Then what was supposed to make us so happy creates a trap of misery. So hang on to God and feel the love. -Ezekiel 44-46 - The Rebuilt Temple is a reality that is true yet ethereal in its timing. Students of Scripture are not sure when exactly this Temple is to take place. Yet it is apocalyptic; to be revealed later. Whenever it is, we want to be in and about God's business when He is doing this, not preoccupied with lesser things. Best way to be involved with Him is to be with Him; hanging on to Him so to take part in the things of God. -Malachi 1,2 - The Hebrews are back in Israel, following the Exile. The Babylonian seige was 140 years ago. But all is not well. They are not honoring God, His rules, the Temple, the sacrifices, the offerings, nor eachother. And they are acting weird toward God when He confronts them. God is warning them that they better hang on to Him; don't break trust with Him like they were doing. Remember, God knows how to send enemies on the disobedient. -John 19 - Ad Jesus is crucified, the 12 were being walked through their toughest assignment ever. They would lose their leader, their God, teacher, healer, mentor/coach, dearest of friends. Now what? They had planned to go on with Him and build a whole new world. But He's dead. And things were not going to make sense for a bit. Now what do they do but hang on to God? -Revelation 12-17 - As the world is taken in to its most cataclysmic era since Noah's flood, the worst of events are stacked and ready to happen. This is Tribulation Part II and it is simultaneous with the first phase explained in Rev. 6-11. It's beyond horrible. The world is becoming a virtually uninhabitable place, and yet people still live here. 'You noticed the subtle verses between all the mayhem where the people who follow Jesus are protected? What are they hanging onto?
Download John 19 We are in the Christ Stream reading from the New Century Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, you paid it all this day. All to you we owe. Our sins have left a crimson stain. You washed us white as snow. We are forever grateful. Amen. 19 - Pilate is perplexed. He wants to let Jesus go free. Pilate perceives correctly in announcing that he sees no fault in Jesus. By then Annas and Caiphas had pumped up the crowd with the fake news that Jesus was the one who's going to cause the country to be overrun by Romans if they don't kill Him immediately. Pilate surmises that a whipping will satisfy the crowd; the mob that has been manipulated and is manic by now. Their demanding the death of Jesus is a tidal wave of emotion that had inundated the city. Jesus returned from being punched by the bone crushing fists of crazed mercenary torture specialists. He has been beaten with lead studded whips and is bruised and bleeding to the point that killed many men by now. His face is so swollen it was grotesque to see Him [Isaiah 52:14 prophesied this]. Some thought, "Jesus? is that still you?" Pilate's hopes are deterred as the crowd is still demanding Him to be crucified. Can you believe the comments that Jesus has for Pilate even during his 'walk' through such a cauldron of betrayal and pain?! It had to have made Pilate's blood run cold. And still ... Pilate tries to release Him. He truly wants Jesus to go free. And this isn't because Pilate is a docile man. He was given this assignment by Rome to 'play Senator of sorts' over Judea because he was quite comfortable with violence. But Jesus' condemnation unto death grated against whatever sense of justice Pilate possessed. The people still are screaming for Jesus to be crucified. They threaten Pilate to be seen as an enemy of Rome if he frees Jesus. Pilate was already in a jeopardized position because Rome had read him the riot act if any more rebellions broke out. So this possible threat stung him at the heart level. The Jewish crowd is in such hysteria that they declare Caesar is their only king. <-- can you believe they were so crazed as to make this statement? Pilate's resolve was gone by then. Annas and Caiphas manipulation of the crowd had worked. The "courts" had been pushed to the brink and Jesus is handed over to be crucified by Roman soldiers. It was illegal to have any other entity mete out death on a criminal. We have taken the painful walk through Jesus' death for the fourth time this year. It was in Matthew 27 on April 07, Mark 15 on June 09, and in Luke 23 on September 22. The most pivotal event in history takes place as we read it again today. Remember as He suffers crucifixion, He is dying so that those of us who follow Him don't have to die. "The King of The Jews" sign is put over his head in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Jesus knew all these languages as well as Aramaic. A criminal is also crucified on either side of Him to further illustrate the insult. His clothing is dealt with as prophesied in Psalm 22 1,000 years ago. He shares a heart-breaking word to His mother and to John. It's a touching reminder. It's also unreal that Jesus has the wherewithall to remind others to take good care of eachother in the days ahead! Jesus is offered a drink from a sponge right before He dies. When He says, "it is finished" it was and he breathed his last. He seemed to die in an unnoticed manner because the soldiers make the rounds to break legs so that the condemned hurry up and die and can be taken down before the sabbath begins that evening. I say "unnoticed" because when they reach Jesus after breaking the criminals' legs, "they saw that Jesus was dead..." The spear in his side confirmed what medics will say even today. Jesus was suffocating on the Cross - up to the point of death. His burial is lead by Joseph of Arimathea. Some research indicates that this may well have been Mary's brother; Jesus' uncle. Nicodemus also joined the process. Can you somehow imagine the agony, the passion, the puzzlement and the grief of carrying Jesus from Golgotha to the Garden Tomb?! Jesus the Messiah, the Healer, the Savior, the marvelous, the Rabbi, the King, ... Jesus .... is now dead. Covering Him with spices and wrapping Him in grave clothes had to be something that left Joseph and Nicodemus empassioned and breathless and weeping to exhaustion. The job was soon done. The stone was rolled over the opening. And the world went silent. Legend says the angels bowed their heads. Legend says hell gasped, as they knew the guilt of man's sin would then fall upon them. They had been killing guilty men all through history. This time an innocent man died, so guilt now is transferred to them and is irreversible. Legend says that the dogwood trees were white the world over until Jesus died. Upon His resurrection they took on a range of hues between white and pink and red. The discussions about Christ's death will never be complete. The compulsion for artists, no matter their beliefs, is that they all want to do a crucifixion scene at least once in their career. This draw to the Cross - what is it? No event has put more musicians to flight than Jesus' death. It's the most popular scene ever gazed upon. The place of Golgotha/Calvary and the tomb can be visited today and you are encouraged to do so. Embrace His death. This must happen for us to rise again with Him.
Malachi 1:1-2:16 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the New Century Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord, we pray that the offerings of our lives, a contrite spirit, is acceptable to you. Amen. Israel was back in their land and had been for about a century now. Nehemiah had finished the wall. The Jewish people thought that the Messiah would come soon now. And yet there were attitudes among the Hebrews that would bar any Messiah coming the way they wanted Him to arrive. Malachi is living/prophesying in the block of time between 450 and 400 B.C. The Jewish people were not rampantly idolatrous as they were 200 years prior but the problems were that they were neglecting the house of God. The priests were lackadaisical, ill-attentive, and not fervent in their assignments at all. The population was somewhat lethargic spiritually as they were following their priests lead. So here they are thinking that Messiah coming would fix everything to make them vibrant and glorious again - like in Solomon's day. Messiah was going to come one day, but he would pronounce judgment on such attitudes as theirs' v.s. endow them with God's glory. Basically some serious "house-keeping" is in order come Malachi's day. This is not a generation that had earned any trophies, not at all.
1:1- 14 - It doesn't take Malachi long to address Israel's passive aggressive whining and they are on a bogus lament, "God, you say you love us, how is it that you love us?..." I must say, I sit here and roll my eyes as I read this. But God is a bit more patient than the rest of us. And, hearing this, don't get distracted by the "I hate Esau" wording as to what is really being said. God had prescribed that Babylon come through and destroy Easu and Judah. And it happened. But here is Israel inhabited and living and growing again, while Edom [Esau's land] is a desolate area as it still is 2400+ years later. So God is quick to retort their pathetics akin to, "don't tell me I don't care about you and imply that my love has gone to another! Save that prattle for someone who isn't listening!" [yes, that wording is accurate!] The Priests were not training the people right. The altar was disrespected, the offerings were sick and lame, their fires then were sending up an aroma that had Him plugging His nose. God even exclaimed, "just shut the whole thing down!" It's unreal when God gets to this point, isn't it?!. The people were not giving God their best by any means. They were bringing God their leftovers, if you know what I mean. How many of you would rummage through your rag box or dirty laundry basket to gift a pair of socks to an endeared loved one for Christmas? Well THIS is what the Israelites were doing to God with their offerings. And God had had enough of it. So God makes it known that in His next great moves, He is going to open the door to welcome other nations who do honor Him. 2:1-16 - Malachi is next prompted by God to "give the business" to the priests. They neede serious exhortation. They are so disgustingly derelict in their duties. If you ran a kitchen they way they were running the priesthood, absolutely no one would eat in your kitchen; not a soul. The illustration God uses as to how He is going to punish them is grotesque. No comment needed, you just read it, yeeeesh. Malachi also nails the matter of them dumping the wives that they've had since they were young and taking up with foreign women; pagans who were raised in all manner of religious filth. But this was intriguing to many of the disgruntled Jewish men who were past their prime. God hated this trend like He hated Esau's shunning him in 1800's B.C., like He hated Edom's treatment of the Israelites when Moses brought them through in 1300's B.C. This is how much God hated them ditching their wives for "interesting, spicy" women. Too many of the Hebrew men were doing this, and other cruel things, and bringing junk to offer to God, and then going to the prayer altar and slobbering/crying/wailing to God "why don't you accept meeee?" God more or less said, "oh, please! Knock it off!" And next week, we will see how the Old Testament ends . . .
Download Ezekiel 44-46 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading from the New Century Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord of Heaven and earth, your plans and ways are beyond understanding. Build our faith and increase it through a knowledge that understands that your ways are even greater and higher than we know or understand. Amen. The final nine chapters of Ezekiel [40-48] are the vision of the rebuilt Temple. Ezekiel is telling of a temple that didn't get built after the exile. And it isn't Herod's temple from the first century; That one was flattened by Romans in 70 A.D. just as Solomon's Temple from ca. 950 B.C. was flattened by Babylonians in 586 B.C. This is a vision of a Temple that will be an item to behold during the Messianic Era; is it in the Millennium and yet there are elements that do not seem to fit a Millenial Era temple - and I hope we can employ that term without triggering too many arguments. Of those nine chapters, today we read about the fifth, sixth, and seventh of these chapters. It is not a simple nor straightforward layout not a simple interpretation.
44 - The gate that is talked about here in the first three verses is the gate [as it happened] that Jesus came through for the Triumphal Entry days before His Crucifixion. It has been mortared shut over the centuries by those hostile to Christ; to Judaism, Christianity as they thought themselves smart to make sure Christ doesn't return through here (like He said He would). The Muslims who did this centuries ago are not privy to Ezekiel 44, they are simply thinking they are out-foxing Jesus. Let them play their games, you might say. But after this gate detail is mentioned, Ezekiel sees the glory of the Lord in his vision. Then the remainder of the chapter is spent reminding the priests of their rightful duties. Since the divided Kingdom they have had quite a habit of forgetting to follow or teach the Law. God will have no more of this. And in the era of this rebuilt Temple, with God's glory even more a dynamic, is He going to let the priests go lax on their assignments? Hardly. The minutiae of the steps they are to take are eerily similar to what is laid out in Leviticus, btw. 45 - As the land is allotted there will be land set aside for the Temple that is much more than it has been. Jerusalem and its perimeter is apparently much bigger. The priests shall have their place. And 'the ruler' (some translations call him "the Prince") will be granted a notable portion of land. The powers-that-be in Jerusalem are near scolded in their warnings to be be fair and just, and to stop the cruelty. They still have offerings to bring forth. There are feasts to observe, and the Passover was to be celebrated along with the other feasts. If we are in the Messianic Era during all this, is the Law for unconverted Jews to follow? Are they for the Christians to exercise so to commemorate all that Christ has replaced through his sacrifice long ago? It is ambiguous and Ezekiel does not confirm it for us. This certainly keeps the discussion upended and lively, doesn't it? 46 - The rigorous details of the worship services, the feasts, the offerings and the priestly duties continue through this chapter. The offerings are to be regular, daily, seasonally, annually. The Temple details tell us it is a Temple that is yet to be built. The sacrifices are clearly reminiscent of the second millennium B.C. It leaves one pondering what millennium we are in ... then when we go straight into a fountain of life as we do next week {Ez. 47ff], it goes right back to sounding like the Messianic era. Perhaps this is ethereal verbiage to have us musing about how God is going to distill all of history into a cohesively unified concept that reaches back AND forward through all history through is only begotten Son...? Perhaps this is the point that encapsulates the truth without being specified? Well, Ezekiel wrote this final vision and finished it up in 570 B.C. And here we are 26 centuries later still discussing it. It could be his way of keeping our minds on the ever unfolding plans of God. If that is what and why he did it this way, it is still working. For we are still reading and discussing "this Temple."
Song of Solomon 1-4 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the New Century Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord God, you love us in same the way that we are to be completely enamored and hopelessly "lost in love" with eachother. Thank you for loving us so much. Thank you Jesus. Amen. Here begins the final assessment of Solomon's love life (a scenario that was immense and tangled) He got into a polygamous mess because he had the power to have more wives though it was not wise nor blessed. Solomon came to the end of it all and realized that he should have just found his every need and dream and desire in this one woman. ALL the others were simply a waste of time that drained his life, withered his soul and blurred his walk with God. It is intriguing to have this colorful book in the Bible. Let it be known that the way one treats their espoused is the way one is in their prayer life also. Whether rich and deep and real and passionate OR phoney, callous, sporadic and aloof, one's love life and prayer life are as linked as our image in life is with our image in the mirror. It will show and be an exact replication; i.e.our love life and our prayer life are very linked. 1 - It's evident right from the start that this woman is crazy about her man. She wants to be held and kissed and ravished. Remember that country song? " ...a woman needs someone warm to hold..." Her heart is racing to be taken into Solomon's palace. The Cinderella syndrome is the stuff of legend: this woman too has had to work during her days. She isn't "a princess" who was pampered in the palace and all absorbed in herself. And do you catch Solomon's comment of where she fits on the beauty scale? She is the most beautiful of women - more beautiful than any he'd ever seen. Solomon has known 1,000 regal women and though the experiences gave him his professional opinion, it isn't a virtuous part of his resume~. Nonetheless, he knows what he is talking about in calling her the most beautiful. And she is a whole new adventure for Solomon. She is from the outdoors and here they are getting "acquainted" in the outdoors - in a meadow. She is far more than just another woman on his list. She takes over Solomon's heart and eclipses all other females for him. 2 - She claims she is one "among the lilies and roses" - Solomon replies that all other women are thorns in comparison to her. Solomon knows what a thorny issue "other women" are - yes it's another professional opinion coming from Solomon. This isolated love is ecstatic and therein begins a theme that is recited several times in S/Sol. for emphasis. "do not wake love before it's time for love." Yes, love is like a bonfire, a road flare that cannot be put out once lit. While fire keeps life alive on earth, it must be contained; kept in the stove. In the wrong place, at the wrong time, it will burn everything to the ground. Those with disastrous love-lives know what this means! On a good note, these two are longing to be together, always seeking eachother. When they can't be together, their thoughts are consumed with eachother until re-united. As for the "little foxes that spoil the vine" motif - it is encouraging people do deal with the irritations, the obstacles, the problems, barriers (at any level) in their relationship. This is clear advice to keep enemies of your relationship away and neutralized, whatever their source. 3 - Here's a strange passage. She cannot find him. Many times in the cycle of a love life, one of them goes through a strange season, emotionally, physically, spiritually. And it severely affects the other one as well. This is also time to search eachother out. Look for eachother. Husband and I have been in church life for a combined century and we have seen this happen to both wives and husbands. This is here in the Bible to urge us to be fervently seeking eachothers' well being even when these seasons hit. Don't fold arms and resign, "well they went odd a week or a month ago, I'm calling an attorney..." Stop that jive-talk! Help them through it. What kind of hearts do we have if we will not hang on through valleys and treks through the shadow of death? This is not time to run elsewhere, it's time to pray, and wait and work while longing for a return to the journey of love that all dream to be sailing upon. The picture of Solomon returning, being carried on a regal bed of cedar and silver and gold, draped with purple linen carried by strong men is quite a scene. It's also worth her waiting for him to come home. 4 - This is symbolism and detail that needs no extra comment to describe what is being said. If love is feast, it is Thanksgiving day for these two! No dish is left untouched, unturned, untasted. It is a lovesong turned anthem chorus as these two are besides themselves. Solomon is thrilled to the core with her; her life, her soul, her beauty and he tells her so. Ladies need to hear from their man how beautiful and valued they are. And Solomon gushes all through this chapter with vivid description of her beauty. Everything about love leaves these two breathless and longing for more of eachother. And as mentioned in the intro above, does our prayer life leave us wanting God more and more. All this earthly love is God priming us for when we see Him in all His glory. And in that day all we are able to do is fall on our faces in worship; completely unable to do anything different, anything less. It is like Solomon's bride gushing, "I am faint with love!"
Download Nehemiah 13 - Esther 4 We are in the Nation Stream reading from the New Century Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord, we see people who are caught in dilemmas - for we have been there ourselves. What an inspiration Esther is to step in for your people in this critical hour - and for Nehemiah to rise to the occasion as he did. We realize this is the family of God at work; our family. Amen. Neh. 13 - Nehemiah returns from a time with Artaxerxes and finds all kinds of shekanery in process back in Judah. Men had hitched up with foreign wives who had been raised in a cauldron of squalid paganism. Y'can hear their excuses, "yea, but she was so prrrettyyyy....". That was going on plus rooms in the Temple area were being used for storage facilities by someone who in no way deserved such privileges. The Temple grounds were being misused, and desecrated, people were not paying in their tithes. As for the Sabbath, the attitude of some was, "yeah, right, whatever...!" Nehemiah comes back to town (like Clint Eastwood - if you can picture this) and he set everything straight despite the obstacles and whining or excuses. If leaders would be so forthright today, what a change the world would see. Not one to then ride off into the sunset, Nehemiah lived long and led virtuously for God's sake the rest of his days in Judah. And he passed on around 413 B.C. Esther is a surprise book, as is Ruth. Biblical history is marching along in all its colorfrul splendor [and gore] and then Ruth is dropped in there. It's a book stating'oh, by the way' let me tell you about the heavenly grace and virtue of one of Jesus' great great grandmothers". Esther is another, "oh, by the way, let me tell you about a wonderful maiden-turned-queen who stepped to save our nation from being annhiliated." Esther happened before Ezra and Nehemiah though it is listed in the Bible after them. Just so you understand, Esther is made queen in Persia in 478 B.C. Ezra went Persia to Jerusalem in 457 B.C. Nehemiah did the same in 444 B.C. Esther 1 - What paved the way for Esther to become queen was that the current queen cops-an-attitude and won't obey the King during a moment at the end of a protracted feast celebrating his greatness. Don't get distracted by all the gender tension prattle that marks the current culture today. The issue isn't that men are loud and bossy and get more so after several drinks, nor that women who are their own women (hear them roar - 'won't be bossed around no more), This is not the issue. The matter is that the way is being cleared for Esther to step into one of the most latently powerful positions on earth. And surprise - there's a vacancy on the queen's throne. 2 - Esther is gorgeous and chosen to be taken into the king's realm for her year of beauty treatments. Now, any of us enjoys a spa day here and there. Well, eat your heart out folks, Esther has a spa-YEAR!! and is given numer-ous tenants. When her 'time with the king' arrives, he is smitten and she is chosen to take the top place; Xerxes dubs her the new Queen. The favor of Esther skyrockets when she relays an assassination plan to the king that her uncle discovered. It proved to be true and the men behind the plot are hanged. The king favor and trust undoubtedly grew toward Esther. And it's interesting that he still did now know her origin, nor that she was a Jew. 3 - The plot develops as a certain Haman is promoted in the kingdom, and Esther's uncle Mordecai won't bow to the chump as he walks by. Haman's heart isn't right as we learn. Mordecai knows this and won't pay him homage. Mordecai is obviously Jewish and his ethics stink in Haman's mind. Who's in the wrong here, Haman or Mordecai? The current culture has the same ire toward Evangelicals. Why? Because we don't bow down to the tide of secularism and ludeness that is being taught in the government schools, by the media, and is all signed off by politicians as it has for generations. Do any of us need to be more like Mordecai today v.s. remaining silent about the crass pop culture? Haman is mad as murder at Mordecai. He wants him and all the Jews killed because of it. He gets political, pulls a duplicitous stunt, and gets the king to sign off on this plan. StressStressBaby 4 - The gavel had been dropped, the Jewish nation was on death row and time was running out. Mordecai got word to Esther the Queen... it was becoming clear that a devastating plot was unfolding at a runaway rate. Mordecai gives Esther a word that becomes among the most famous lines in all literature. You know it and we've all heard it much of our lives, " ... for such a time as this...!" it makes chills go up your spine. What is Esther going to do? What would you do? The pagans on the loose across the world are out to close churches, demonize pastors, ridicule Christians, tax and threaten them into silence. execute every one they can find between Morocco and Burma/Myanmar. Paganism and bad religion is forced into the minds of the young all over the world while prayer to the God of Abraham/Isaac/Jacob/Moses/David; prayer to Jesus is vehemently censored. Are you going to remain silent so (in your mind) you don't ruffle feathers at work and can thereby hang on to your 401K? What if Esther did this?
Deuteronomy 29-31 We are in the World Stream reading from the New Century Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord Jesus, you are good and true, all the time. And we thank you for that. Amen. 29 - Moses gathers them for final reminders and briefings. It is very late in Moses' life. He is 120, time is running out for him and he must say these things on behalf of God who had brought them this far. He has them recollect that they have been fed and clothed (without farming or weaving!) this last 40 years in the desert. They've been blessed and cared for as well as protected from heat/cold/enemies. They have suffered when reverting to idols. They've been blessed as they saw God work mightily in their favor. Moses told them the immensity of their calling and testimony as they stand in for the Lord God to be a light to the nations - and most of the world traversed through here, so it isn't a trifle assignment! God was placing them and He had a worldwide strategy for doing so. Simply put, they must adhere themselves, their lives, minds, families/children to the teachings of the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses - who was speaking to them still.
30 - The issue is driven even deeper as Moses asserts that God is even going to love them back, even if he has to do reparation on them and bring them back from captivity that they drive themselves into. Yes, God is that true. Yes, people will prove to be that fickle, dull-headed, disobedient, and shallow. "Hey, we're nearing the end of dress rehearsal, folks! Show time will be go time in no time! The curtain is raising and you will go in and the fight is on - and God will be with you. Just obey and win.!" This isn't difficult. God asks nothing of you that is too hard for you. Stay on the straight and narrow. Certain death awaits the soul who strays from my path. God WANTS to bless and establish you - you must let Him do so .... by way of your obedience. 31 - Moses starts to say his goodbyes. He more or less declares that his time is up, Joshua will take it from here and the Lord leads you; His Nation. Did you catch the epochal event when Moses takes all he has written and hands it to the priests? That document he wrote was the centerpiece of the world God intends to work through. It is the manual for monotheism. It went to the Priests/Levites and it was up to them to relay all that was parlayed from God. Those who would adhere to this document would find life, while those who shunned it would do so to their own demise! It was read, but not enough. Nehemiah's day it was read to the people comprehensively. But the gap between Moses and Nehemiah was too long of a patchy run for biblical illiteracy. The people couldn't say that God or Moses failed to tell them. Then God called Moses and Joshua to the tent of meeting and gave them a sobering word about the people's penchant and hopeless tendency to disobey. Astonishing isn't it?! Nonetheless, they were to be given an anthem; a song to sing that would help remind them and rally them to walk with God in His Covenant all their days. God had a word of encouragement for Joshua, and a word of sobriety to the Levites who were likely not going to be the responsible men they were called to be as leaders. As the Italians say, "whaddaya-gonna-do?"
Revelation 7-11 We are in the Church Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord, those who are against you have such woe coming to them. While those who are for you have protection and covering that can be relied upon. We thank you for putting us in the "latter camp". It's much better being behind Your barricade than behind enemy lines. Thank you Jesus. Amen. 07 - We've come to an interlude within the first seven seals that have inflicted terrible suffering on the earth. The first six of the seven seals are spelled out in the prior chapter. The seventh commences in chapter eight. Here there is a moment of pause. There is a section where God's protection is declared on those who have His seal on their foreheads. [This is in clear contrast to those who have '666' on their foreheads]. This is God preserving His own; people who have come to Him even during the Tribulation. The Church has been raptured away from this in case you were wondering where all the Believers are. The other part of this chapter is John's vision of paradise (so far) where God has gathered His own from every tribe and tongue and nation (the reverse of Babylon if you will). It is angels and elders and paradise and God's children beyond number worshipping. It is a colossal scene that seems to spread wonder across an entire galaxy in terms of its size. God is merely giving pause in here to encourage His own --> that He has a plan for them that is beyond this world and magnificent in its scope. This scene is a vitally important vision to share with the church, presently as in the first century, amid a Roman government that is taking sadistic delight in tormenting them. It is an ensuring vision that pertains to the church in every century. 08 - The Seventh Seal is opened. It is segmented into seven trumpets that contain more horror than the first six combined. But the chapter opens with a scene that makes the heavens fall silent for half an hour. [Some have joked that this is proof no women had arrived yet], but the angels and the rest are stunned at what is coming next. Prayers are sent aloft, the incense is released and then the angel sends fire to the earth along with thunder, lightning, and earthquake. The succession of events that follow leave the mind wondering how anyone ends up surviving. Fire falls like the world has never seen as ALL grass is burned by hail, fire, and blood. One third of the entire sea turns to blood and there's death in the ocean; big time. Fresh water is destroyed, contaminating/killing untold amounts of people. There is also cataclysmic events regarding sun and stars and this affects earth. Interesting to glance back at Genesis 1,2 and see Creation take place in succession: vegetation, water, land, sun and stars. That is Creation. Genesis 7,8 tell of "un-Creation" as God needs to inundate the place so Noah and family can start over. In Rev.8 we are read of basically a "de-Creation". Man has been so rebellious and uncooperative for so long that it's time to chemically destroy the place: pelt it, burn it, ransack it. It's a sorry picture really. Y'ever wonder if the enviornmentalists are going to sue God for all these deeds? What court will they take Him to? The "Save the Earth" / Friends of the Earth / Granite-Planet support group network / and all the rest of them will be quivering in caves. 09 - the end of the final chapter tells of an eagle that screeches, "that was nothing compared to what is coming!" The fifth trumpet releases demonic flying scorpions that torment all on earth for five months straight. No place to hide, nowhere to run, none are allowed to die - all suffer at what Satan has released here. Joel talks about locusts coming before the Day of Judgment. Egypt experienced locusts as a warning of their imminent end (Exodus 10). The sixth trumpet brings the next terror; an army of 200Million is loosed on the earth and they kill 1/3 of all remaining humans. The fourth seal back in Rev. 6:4 killed 1/4 of the earth. With a third of the remaining gone, half the world's population has now been removed. Death seems to be reigning on earth anymore. Do the survivors see/realize/know that God is the Lord? No. They barrel-on-ahead with their witchcraft, theft, murder, cult-sex & idolatry. 10 - this chapter is another interlude of sorts. Remember the interlude between the sixth and seventh seals? This is one between the sixth and seventh trumpets. The angel is announcing that what is coming next is set to happen and no one will be able to stop it. God has delayed his rage against rebellion long enough. This is final warning - just to warn you - as God does. But there is no way out for anyone looking for relief. [Similar to hell itself] 11 - John is to measure the Temple' inner court; that is to assess the worshippers even in these difficult days. Notice there is no interest in the outer court. God has had enough of the fringe people. My husband and I have been in church for a cumulative century; for more actually. And we know about the fringe people; the tares who just like being around true believers but don't want to become involved for real themselves. They sit on the edge, in the back, come late, leave early, are often there but "never there". God not with these people. God then raises up two witnesses who have evangelistic power that is terribly great. Though the verbiage is mirrored in Zechariah 4, it is not stated who these two are but it will become clear in time. They are fiercely protected while doing great exploits ... then they are killed, lay dead before a fascinated world, then resurrect and are carried away to God. Verses15ff then declare that the Kingdom of the World has all been conquered and surrendered to the reigning Christ. The elders worship, the Ark in heaven is opened and it is a glorious powerful scene! You may be thinking how this [at the middle of the book] can sound so 'final' - when there are 11 chapters left in Revelation. The literature follows a typical biblical pattern of repetition, as Genesis 1 & 2 are different descriptions of the same process. Rev. 6-11 runs in the same current and chronology as does Rev. 12-19. You are sensing it right that the worship service John witnesses in John 11 is the same one he witnesses in John 19. Again, Rev. 12-19 is a repeat of Rev. 6-11. So next week the imagery will sound familiar as to what we read this week and on into our finishing the Bible in two weeks from today. The Thread Through the Streams "Your decisions today determine your destiny tomorrow ... and your eternity. Choose right people! ~ Deuteronomy 26 - 28 and the most bountiful wondrous blessings are laid before them provided they obey. The most ghastly and dreadful of cursed scenarios would engulf them were they to disobey. The choice couldn't be more clear with full impetus to decide to do right. Is the gravity of their dilemma going to spur them to choose rightly? ~ Nehemiah 9-12 the returned exiles from Babylon. It was the sins of their forefathers who had these ones once living in Babylon (and God is gentlemanly enough to not rub their nose in it with "see, I told you!" The people all the same realize the heights from which they once were 500 years prior in Solomon's day and they confess; pledging to obey in the finest of reformations the nation of Israel had ever known. ~ Ecclesiastes 7-12 Solomon's reflects after a regal life of great character, wise leadership mixed with duplicitious personal decisions in his lovelife. He knew the long term effects of living wisely and that the same held true for living-the-fool. He knew that the Lord knows all and will judge all whether good or bad. Had he better mentored his secessors, there may have not been a national division that affected the rest of Israel's history. His decisions rippled for much longer than he expected. ~ Ezekiel 41-43 In the Temple, the Lord would reside in all His glory provided His people do not defile His holy name. [Ezekiel is speaking in firm yet ambiguous terms that recollect Solomon's Temple, the Tabernacle in Moses' - Davis's day, the Temple that would be rebuilt and also the Temple that is spoken of in Revelation. Honor God and He shows up. Mock Him with an ungodly life and WE get expelled. It's a grand canyon of difference ~ Zechariah 13-14 The contrasts are stark and severe (as is the dilemma leading to everyone's destiny). The jolting prophecies of Christ appear without warning. Fighting against Jerusalem (...and Christ!) leads to life becoming a horror-show. On the contrary, to be on the Lord's side when He appears is Light and life and life-giving water (healing), and the worship we partake in together is pure. ~ John 18 the double-sided symbolism shines throughout Jesus' arrest and trial. Judas fakes his commitment in a kiss while Peter shockingly reveals his commitment through heated denials (had he not loved Jesus, he would have been completely non-plused.) Judas and Peters' true motives surface clearly and in short order. Their true commitments end up taking them to completely different places / destinies, and to different eternities! ~ Revelation 7 -11 God's people are preserved by the name of the Lord on their foreheads. However the people possessed of this world are wholly bent on remaining evil and they are tormented mercilessly. So as the Bible grandly warns us, hundreds of time, in admonitions that go far back to Eden, the price for choosing wrong is not a subtle difference, it is cosmically bi-polar and eventually going to be irreversible ... and eternal.
John 18 We are in the Christ Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord Jesus, you laid it all out for us so that we can live with you in a place where again, you laid it all out for us. We know that you are preparing a place for us so that we can be together permanently. Blessings abound, as does our gratitude. Amen. Jesus has just finished the part of John that we call the high priestly prayer, ending in John 17. They are in the Garden of Gethsemane (Gethsemane = "olive press"). John's wording makes it clear that he has no love whatsoever for Judas Iscariot as he arrives with a squadron of religious leaders determined to have Jesus dead and buried before the next sunset. Also entering the garden are 500+ Roman soldiers pulled in to certify the arrest and make it impossible to escape . . . as if Jesus was trying to run. The size of the posse arresting Jesus tells us about the manic attitude and fears of the "upper" eschalon in Jerusalem. Reaching and finding Jesus didn't require weapons, threats, strength, nor violence. It's interesting that Jesus' admission blasts the crowd to the ground like Jesus' voice were a hurricane! Peter lunges forward in great zeal and slices off the ear of the High Priest's servant. That is a bold gesture of "commitment to the death" that Peter is showing for Jesus. So Peter is committed, right? The penalty for physically attacking the High Priest or his own was death. His inquisition by the High Priest reveals that the trial of Jesus is a bungled process. Jewish law was violated repeatedly in Jesus' arrest and trial and crucifixion. The leaders know they are not being true to principle and therefore are a conflicted nest of scheming hound-dogs. And they know it. So the trial goes along bumpy; passing Jesus to leader after leader hoping any or either of the others will drop the gavel on Jesus' execution. But no one will. Meanwhile Peter is trying to stay close to Jesus, yet not too close. His prophetic word from Jesus comes true as he denies knowing Jesus three times. It is a revelation that brought tremendous anxiety and grief for Peter as he realizes a new layer of his commitment/noncommitment; the shady and selfish nature of his own heart and the perfect trueness of Jesus' character. Jesus knew...all along, He always knew Peter's heart. So this event started a great transformation for Peter. From here on Peter knew he couldn't rely on himself. He also learned that He could rely on Jesus and he did so from Pentecost to his death in Rome 35 or so years later. And lest anyone criticize Peter for his panicky denial, know that in this century, the rules were when a self-proclaimed messiah was identified and found to be false, he was executed and all his followers were executed too. In Peter's mind, denying Christ kept him from being crucified at dawn along with Jesus. The perfunctory "trial" before Pontius Pilate is as off-kilter as it is illicit. Notice the interaction again as Jesus' hired accusers hand Him over to Pilate, though they won't enter Pilate's compound. It's obvious Pilate doesn't agree with the hollering hoards who end up wanting Jesus executed. If you remember "The Passion of the Christ" 2004, Mel Gibson's production did a very true rendition of Pilate's dilemma as he pondered his options and sorted it out through the tensions of his day. He certainly was living at the the center of a vortex where passions ran deep and emotional anger was given far more credence than prudence was. It turns out that no leader has enough "reverse fortitude" to condemn an innocent man -a man that all the religious leaders are afraid of. So they convince the mob to call for Jesus' death. And as happens throughout theological history - as in our own lives, a guilty man goes free while an innocent man is convicted to pay the price. This was God's plan from the forming of the world. [heavy sigh]
Zechariah 13-14 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord Jesus, do your mighty wonders. And do include us in the process as you do your mighty deeds. We pray this for we are yours. Amen. Coming to the end of this wondrous book today, it is a mind bender to look back and ingest all that Zechariah was seeing and saying. The images and illustrations Zechariah lays out are a marvelous and inspiring puzzle. The interaction and call to action leaves any literate person stunned at what God is doing and trying to do ... now if He could ever get His children to cooperate with Him! The references to the Savior are interspersed within the prophecies and they seem to smack you from behind as they tell of the wondrous future. And is Zechariah talking about the future 500 years away? 2,500 years away? 3,500 years away? Keep reading friends. Let's read this together as long as we live. It may help to invest eight minutes and see a YouTube video called, "The Bible Project Zechariah". My husband found this last week and was enthralled at the presentation, so much so that he watched it again. He was just as elated to watch it a third time. You will probably find it very helpful.
13 - A fountain opened up to cleanse Jerusalem. This fountain; this person is related to David. And Zechariah wrote this almost in the center of the time span between King David and Jesus...there's something to muse over! Pardon the rough treatment of self-proclaimed prophets. They had just had so many bad ones come through and they realized that following these opportunistic jokers is what got the whole nation ransacked. And they are just realizing this now in their recovery years. A Shepherd is going to be struck and the sheep are going to scatter. A percentage will die as only a third will be left in the land. Jesus was struck, (Romans crucified Him) then 40 years later they came through and killed all Hebrews who would not yield . . . is God up to something here? 14 - There will be a day of chaos and violation for Judah's inhabitants, then the Lord will go out and fight all those who have come against Israel. There will be continuous light across the land but not from the sun. Healing waters will flow from Jerusalem/Mt.Olives. 'Sounds like heaven already, yet could well be the millennium...? Zechariah leaves you to ponder all these scenes with their chronology. As in much of Zechariah, Bethlehem, Calvary, the Diaspora, the Second Coming, the Millennium is all on his literative 'merry-go-round'. Yet nothing is wonderful for those who've been contrary to the Israelites. Those who've fought the people of Jerusalem will be stripped of wealth and stricken with the plague. Others of them will be given a chance as they come to worship in Jerusalem. Those who will not come will be pounding sand and eating sand as drought consumes their homeland. As we have heard since Genesis, God will be worshipped. Those who refuse to will suffer. The glory in Jerusalem is on a scale that is nothing short of fascinating. What a day.
Download Ezekiel 41-43 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord, we learn so much as we study and ponder your Temple. It is overwhelming that we, your temple, are your favorite prize and first place where you wish to be reverenced. And so we do. In Jesus Name, Amen. The vision of the rebuilt Temple that began in last week's Prophetic Stream continues here. This Tempe Theme occupies Ezekiel 40-48. It is a vision that the prophet Ezekiel wrote of from 572-570 B.C. Keep in mind that the Temple that Solomon built had been r-a-z-e-d to the ground just 14-15 years prior. The Temple described in these chapters was proportionate to Solomon's. According to the consensus of evangelical thinking, this Temple is clearly a mark of the Messianic Era. Will it be what 'goes up' in the millennium? This podcast is to tell you what is in the Bible - not what to think, so you can look up the various perspectives. It's a super quick hunt on internet search engines these days so you can do that during a free moment later today. You could also type "Ezekiel 40-48" on the YouTube search bar. There are nearly a dozen videos that could prove to be helpful. It's certainly an issue of intrigue as The Holy Spirit keeps this discussion alive for 25-26 centuries and counting. 41 - Ezekiel is shown the sanctuary of the Temple. Its parts are measured and described. We read of it's walls, the terrace it was built upon, adjacent structures, the paneling, decoration/artwork, doorways, carvings
42 - What is described in this chapter is mostly the area that pertains to the Priests, their duties, outfits, and the obligations they had regarding offerings. We trust the videos will help you visualize what is being talked about. Remember, Ezekiel was shown the Temple in a vision. He didn't hear words in a monologue, he saw the Temple, so you will have an easier time seeing what this passage is saying if you scroll a few videos as mentioned above. 43 - Ezekiel sees the glory of the Lord shining and the Lord speaks. It's clear His intent is to reveal Himself, but He cannot manifest in the presence of idols and mixed motives among those He intends to minister to and love. How would we be doing if upon visiting our child at college (and we were paying the tuition bill) if we come visit them on campus for their birthday and their dorm room was now a mini Mosque, they were growing and selling and smoking marijuana, they had moved in with a cheap lover, were teaching Ouija and Wicca at a Coven near campus, they were covered with tattoos, declared they had quit Christianity and and and... 1. Would you bless that? 2. Be happy with their new expression? 3. Would you keep paying for their schooling?
Hopefully, you say "No, no, NO!" We are this way in our sentiments because God is. Lastly God gives the measurements/dimensions for the altar and the sacrifices to make so to be accepted unto God. Like the Tabernacle in the wilderness, like the Temple that Solomon built, so it is with this new Temple to be rebuilt - God was not going to blurt out, "oh just slap something together. You know I'm not too fussy, it's just the heart and positive thoughts that matter to me. No. God gets things right and wants us to be doing things right too.
Ecclesiastes 7-12 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord, thank you that we can learn from others' lives/words/teachings/writings; from those who are spent their lives doing their best to leave wisdom to us. May we learn and grow because from this we have heard today. Amen. 07 - Solomon's proverbs continue along with his assessment that life (by its worldly self and apart from God) is an endless pursuit of ... who knows what. He opens with a great call to sobriety and grave interspection, to realize that our appointment with death is looming. He reminds us to wisely manage emotions and money, and to accept the lot that God dealt us with. The best plan in life (all things considered) is to live wisely. Accept human frailty and understand that people's loyalty is always under question. Consider yourself fortunate to not get tangled up with women (that's plural, guys!) God created us to be virtuous, though we have long forgotten it.
08 - There is great truth in wisdom and great need for wisdom also. It is best to simply obey those in authority over you - keep in mind Solomon is saying this from the top of the heap, btw. Any leader knows the stress of subordinates who will not do what is asked of them. It is wise to take pause in one's assessment and observation of good and evil. i.e. resolve to not be evil. Some are evil and think they will "skate on thru forever" and go unrebuffed - don't be fooled! All in all: you're here so enjoy your family, your friends, your food, yourselves, and realize that you are under an omniscient God. 09 - He's said it before but Solomon again reminds us to be assured that our days are numbered and no one is leaving this earth alive. Be good because God wants for this for us; He planned for it. Don't expect "good boy" coupons because the good also suffer along with the bad. And don't act all apalled when the good suffer in life. Everyone suffers. As for the one you married, live joyfully with them. They are a reward to you. And know that wisdom can preserve just about anything. Live wisely - for everyone's benefit, whether you are thanked for it or not. And know that no one will appreciate your poverty: so do what you must to not be in poverty (or loud-mouthed or a Sinner) 10 - The trouble involved with foolish living is endless, so don't be a fool. And in life, brace yourself for manifold ironies: work is necessary, but be alert to danger. Use only the best tools. No one is impressed when you do otherwise. Always and only speak wisely. And like we told our children, "don't decide what the truth is, find out what the truth is. False assumptions will get you utterly lost." Laziness, drunkenness, irresponsibility - DON'T or you'll end up in a shoddy house! Guard your thoughts, guard your words - because they will get out somehow. 11 - ship your goods out - you'll get paid. Get going now - don't wait until things are perfect. Plant many investments. Enjoy each day - for God did it. Let the elderly enjoy themselves. As for your youth, appreciate it ...and yet know that your youth is a passing gift. 12 - Youth is not to be wasted in a craze. God is not just a 'last resort' for the old. God is for all of your life, since He gave you your whole life. So remember your God each step; start to finish. In conclusion, be teachable, honor God and obey what He commands.
Nehemiah 9-12 We are in the Nation Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Dear God in Heaven, Such great things happen when we simply pause and rededicate ourselves to be people of the Scripture. Amen. 09 - The scripture reading (from the chapters we read last week) led straight into a movement of great repentance and solemn prayer. There was confession and worship. The praise led to a reciting of their history: the great, the good, the foolish, the bad. Their assessment of themselves was sober (quite refreshing actually!). They, right then, right there, make a pact to be an obedient people. Interesting that yesterday, we were reading the other end of their history, when they were hearing the urgent reasons to be an obedient people. Here they are regrouping in the land, 900-1000 years later and pledging to be an obedient people. Can we say "finally!" Can we?
10 - Like contracts today, they needed to put it in writing. They did and signed it. Participants were Nehemiah, and Zedekiah (not the lousy tortured king from 586 B.C., a different Zedekiah) along with numerous priests, Levites, and leaders. Then all the others who consecrated themselves to also follow God pledged an oath in kind: None in their families would marry pagans, they would keep the Sabbath, they would see to the Temple being financed, maintained, and supplied. Family-members would be dedicated to God. There would be no more hoarding against God's rules or withholding from what He asks of them. 11 - It was time to resettle and occupy Jerusalem. Sacred lots were drawn and people gathered their things to go take up resident and fill the city with life. They came from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, plus there were Priests, Levites, gatekeepers and their associates. The apportioning and settlements were then listed as the land was to be occupied by Hebrews, not pagan peoples. 12 - We read ('red"/not "reed") the list of priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel. They along with family leaders are listed. Everyone of these fine souls was there to help keep Jewish minds to be "stayed upon Thee." We see the records are kept during this era and such and such that era. It is interesting that Jewish people are generally tremendous record keepers even to this day. The dedication of the Wall was an event to behold. It was part Disneyland Parade, part big band/big choir. Nehemiah is giving live report as he writes it. ...And there was great joy in Jerusalem. The singing could be heard for miles. Can you hear them singing, "Joyful Joyful, We Adore Thee" from all around the world? Someday we will...
Deuteronomy 26-28 We are in the World Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord, you plan such good for us. May we be principled and ready for your blessings. Amen. 26 - They were commanded to be a tithing people who also gave offerings. God was not greedy, nor even in need of anyone's money. WE are to be a people who love others like our selves, our palaces, our accounts, our possessions. The giving that is taught here is what has funded the advancement of the gospel and the Kingdom through history. God is training us to be people who, when our 'harvest'/paycheck arrives, we stop and remember where our Provision comes from. People who forget this become self-obsessed. Selfishness is inexcusable. And there's another reminder to obey all His commands and decrees. [Catch the "ALL" part]. We cannot say, "oh, I forgot that one" -not with any of it. We've mentioned this before --> which holes in your boat can you leave unpatched and dismiss it with, "it's OK, I patched most of the holes - at least the ones I remembered to patch..."?
27 - They were to create clear large markers and monuments in their new homeland to remind them of what God required of them. Only in this way would their national security, identity, and faith be preserved. What do you think of secular politicians and attorneys who lobby systematically across the country to have the X Commandments, Crosses, and Nativity Scenes removed? Gee, what might their agenda be? And the curses were to be stated loudly before the nation. Curses are stated against idolatry, dishonor, theft, scamming, cruelty, injustice, sexual madness, assault, 'hits' on the innocent, secularism. 28 - The blessings for obedience and the cursings for disobedience are laid out before them. Obedience would ensure for them, bounty and blessing, endless supply and irrigation, riches, security and protection. They would be basically living in villages that are blessed, bountiful, well-fed and wealthy indefinitely. On the contrary, disobedience would make their lives an endless horror show with no way out (for starters!). Your land and food supply would be cursed as would your minds and bodies. All comforts would be gone. Drought will parch you. Enemies will harass constantly. There will be no domestic tranquility. What happens in your own homes will break your heart. Slavery will be your lot. Insects will devour your work. Armies will steam-roll you and drive you to starvation and cannablism. Paganism will be forced upon you. Nightmares will be 24/7 occurences. What isn't inflicted upon you, you will inflict upon yourselves. "So Don't Disobey Me" the Lord bellowed at them. The offer to them for obeying couldn't be sweeter. The warning to them for disobeying couldn't be worse. Do you think they chose right?
Revelation 2-6 We are in the Church Stream reading from the New King James Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis God, don't let us risk walking away from our faith as is the manner of some. Increase our faith as we exercise it in your powerful Name. Lord we want to walk with and hear you now v.s. waiting until trouble is so thick that hearing you is a horrible challenge. Thank you Jesus for calling us while you may be found. Amen. In ch's 2,3, John relays a seven-fold message to the seven churches of Asia. This is John speaking from the heart he had for God who gave him these straight-on messages to seven churches. Each message has: 1] opening instruction for John to relay. 2] an aspect or title that Christ has that pertained to each churches' condition. 3] Christ says encouraging words and commendation to, well, five of the churches. 4] then there is keen criticism for five of the seven churches (the lists are not identical) 5] each church receives their due instruction; which was correction for those who needed it. 6] an identical admonition goes out to each church; "...let him hear..." 7] Lastly, each church receives a promise from Christ. These were all current conditions that John is addressing. As we read ch's 2 and 3 did anything apply to you/us today? 2 - To Ephesus: [a prestigious church who received Paul's finest teaching] they were diligent and thorough but they had become unloving. Yet they stood firm against false teaching and were promised eternal life. To Smyrna, a persecuted church, they are comforted and receive no condemnation. They seemed purified through their sufferings and would be preserved. Christ promised they would not die (the second death). Pergamos/Pergamum was a staunch and resolved church but they were compromised. They had gone lax on a couple of doctrines and thought that certain sexual sins were tolerable. Some in the congregation needed rebuking and well... but in Pergamum, they let this slide. John orders that they repent and be quick about it. Thyatira is a bit more of an extreme situation. They were syncretizing "Diana" -the breasted goddess into their church life. Christianity was growing fast and some of the Diana people, in a sly move, were hoping to merge it with Christianity. Of course they would bring their sex-goddess trappings with them. It was a Jezebel-like move (they didn't realize what all danger they were dabbling in!) and God wouldn't have it in His House. The need for 'house-cleaning' was urgent in Thyatira.
3 - Sardis was a church in a wealthy financial center. The legendary rich man "Croesus" [KREE-sus] was from here. The Sardis church was active with busyness and therefore appeared to be alive but was as dead as a departed spirit. Do you know people who go to church and are there just because they've always gone and have long since forgotten why they went? This was Sardis - mostly oblivious to the Holy Spirit. Though some had remained vibrant in faith. Philadelphia was a blessed church. They had brotherly love. God had no rebuke for them and he would never shut them out. Others may have looked down on them, but they would one day revere the Philadelphians. These people; this congregation would be a pillar [a vital part] in the Temple of God. The Laodicean Church was so well off, they were comfortable on their own. They didn't fervently cling to Christ. Y'might call them casual hammock dwellers who were rather nonchalant about their faith. God was about to boot them out of their spiritual stupor. As Christ knocked on their door Laodicea wondered, "is someone at the door? Did you hear a knock? say wha-?" Their ambivalence revealed much greater problems than they were willing to admit. Note that the church has been mentioned 16 times in chapters 1-3. They are never mentioned again in the remainder of Revelation. The deduction that most adhere to is that they have been raptured away from the cataclysmic events that are happening in Revelation 6-18. So 4 & 5 are what happens in heaven after the Church is raptured while 6-18 are what happens on earth during this same era. 4 - Here starts the abrupt shift from spiritual diagnoses [that are germane to churches even today] to a vision of God's Throne. Most evangelical scholars believe that this interlude; this jolting vision is God pausing to assure that God is on the Throne and has matters under control. It is indescribable, beautiful and regal/majestic in its authority. It is where God sits. The gems that are mentioned metaphorically are something to behold! Doing a search on these gem names is a blessing. The rainbow, the golden crowns, the elders in worship. Someone has said that the elders, who have access all the way to the top of the universe, know enough to bow in worship before God - should we be doing anything different? The beings around the throne possess strength, intelligence, mobility, and they see [double-spherically] in all directions. They are enraptured in worship of God on His throne. I trust we get the hint? 5 - The Scroll is finally to be opened. The drama of the chapter is that no one in all creation is worthy to open it save the Creator; of Him by Him and for Him all things were created. The pageantry of this chapter cannot be overstated. Did you catch who we are in this chapter? how much we are valued? Did you see what our prayers mean in heaven? Do you feel the choir of millions upon millions rejoicing? My husband and I heard a choir of 150 for Christmas recently and it was an ecstatic chorus that blasted us against our velvet balcony seats with astonishing blessing. Imagine a choir of angels whose numbers covered 2,000+ square miles with angelic body mass?! How does that vibration sound? You can hear it from another galaxy! It can hardly be imagined. All this as Christ is about to open the future and the secrets which reveal redemption's final stage. Oh my! 6 - The first seal is opened as a white horse rides over the earth. This inaugurates -or forewarns at least, that the tribulation will begin soon - though all out war has not broken out yet. There are six seals total in chapter six. They release war on a grand scale, famine (a day's wage buys a loaf of bread), death reigns as a 1/4 of earth's population is killed, the Cry of the Martyrs arises from the earth, and the greatest earthquake ever occurs as there are meteor showers and terrible calamity worldwide. The rulers of the whole earth know that this is the hand of God. The Thread Through the Streams "I'm trying to love you guys. For heaven's sake, are you going to let me love you?" That's what we heard from God in the narrative each day this week. Some of it's difficult to sort out but if these guidelines aren't followed, this nation will become crazed and then you won't even be able to hear, see, feel, nor understand my love at all. All these things are set up so you can know my love. -Deut. 21-25 there were difficult things that needed to be dealt with. You will not be a spiteful people, a raping people - not in any other way will my land be a sexual madhouse. Rebels need to be disposed of - they lead to murder and witchcraft. Be decent with and toward each others' property. My Temple will be sane. The camps will be clean. No kidnapping. No injustice. Don't leave women stranded. No letting enemies linger in My Nation. -Neh. 5-8 the abuse of the nationwide volunteers by the financially sharks in the land was dealt with swiftly by Nehemiah. The scam was decoded and then the wall was finished. There was a national tally. The Law was read and a system set up so that all could be blessed with an understanding of God's Principles. None of this in Deuteronomy; Moses and Joshuas' day, or Nehemiah; Ezra/Neh's day was simple. But followed through on they could better understand and learn to live and grow and revel in God's love. -Eccl. 1-6 is God's truth coming forth. God told Solomon and loved Solomon but nothing was ever enough for him. He wanted more. God loving Solomon, who wanted no limits on anything, is similar to a parent trying to monitor a child eating cotton candy. They think they aren't loved because we won't let them eat a beehive size wad of it 3X a day. Then when they sneak and eat a big bucket of it, they get a gutache and toothache and declare they wouldn't be in such pain if you loved them ... y'wonder at what point God rolls his eyes and goes out for a walk? God is trying to love us and too many of us keep searching for all and more like Solomon who felt nearly empty by the end. -Eze. 39-40 Is God preserving Israel through what is going to be the scariest time in their history. But these enemies need to be drawn out so they can be isolated and decimated. God wants to love Israel more but this is a cleaner process with her enemies gone. Then God is able to build a wonderful structure for worship that will overwhelm them. Apologies for the trauma anyone felt in the process. God is just trying to love you. -Zech. 11-12 God is laying down the gauntlet for the illicit shepherds. So many are going to suffer from the horrid leadership; these derelict shepherds. They need to be gotten rid of. God would like it to be a clean process but ungodliness and greed lead to big messes. Don't get mad at God for the disobedience that led to the current state of bad affairs. God will deliver Judah; in ways deliver them from these selfish leaders. You may not understand the process but God is going to love you - - - if you will let Him. -John 16:5 - 17:26 Jesus tells the Disciples that He must go so the Holy Spirit can come. Their loss will transform into unspeakable joy. There are many things coming that will vex and perplex but God knows what He is doing. Let Him love you and guide. You ARE being prayed for ! Take heart. You are so loved. -Rev. 2-6 There is some encouragement and some housecleaning that needs to take place in 7 churches. It's vital to do this. Disgusting and repulsive if you won't do this. The sin's mentioned by the churches in 2-3 need to go. God wants to love them more and they need to mature. The horrors of history are being unleashed starting in ch. 6 and you want to be protected from this agony. Again, as in all other days this week, are you going to let God love you?
John 16:5-17:26 We are in the Christ Stream reading from the New King James Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord thank you for walking with us, talking with us, staying with us all the way home. Amen John 16:5-33 - It is fascinating that Jesus is more or less walking to his torture chamber and gallows while he calmly instructs! He is comforting and encouraging His followers just a couple hours before the whipping commences. He tells them of the Holy Spirit. Notice that He needs to go so the Holy Spirit can come to them. The H.S. will convict of sin, righteousness, judgment. No progress was made with the Pharisees in any of these three areas. They are staring God's Son in the face and hearing nothing true. But the Holy Spirit would get through to those who would accept Him. Be encouraged gentlemen, the Holy Spirit is going to be all you need and far beyond! The Holy Spirit is going to transform everything. There will be joy joy joy. Your transformation will astound everyone. You will be guided. Your requests will be granted. This chapter is one of the steepest learning curves in the Bible. It is marvelous to see the Disciples getting the message straight! 17 - This is normally called "the high priestly prayer". But actually this is more the Lord's prayer for us...though we call, "Our father, who are in heaven..." The Lord's Prayer (that is His instructional prayer for us to know Him). Jesus prays three themes in ch. 17. He prays for Himself, for the Disciples, and for the world. He prays that He would bring glory to the Father - and that they be as glorified as they are unified. He prays that the Disciples are kept in God's Name/Presence/ and care; that they be kept from the Devil while they traverse the world as sanctified men. Jesus prayed that those who come to God because of the Apostles' testimony would be One in Christ as the Kingdom of God grows. Their unity would in turn be a great testimony. He also prayed all these manifold millions of newly saved souls would know the wondrous glory of God! That prayer still stands and is our prayer for a lost world .
Zechariah 11:4-12 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the New King James Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Amid the words today, of which most were strong exhortation against those who had it coming, there are prophecies about the treatment and occasion of the crucifixion. These words are stark and unmistakable pictures of Christ at Calvary. This being spoken hundreds of years prior to Christ's arrival - makes your heart skip a beat, actually. 11:4-17 -the reading began with Zechariah chewing out the "shepherds" of Israel; the hack leaders who have not lead the people properly; not in the least. When people are led and encouraged to do dark things it leads them into death. And there has been death on a grand scale all right. Zechariah is talking in virtual sarcasm to the leaders who think of themselves as Israel's shepherds - "so, you seem to like it when the people die? especially the poor people?! Well, they are going to die! Is this a "mission accomplished" in your mind?" And did you catch that prophetic reference to Judas' - selling out for 30 pieces of silver - and the money then being thrown back into the Temple?! 'Makes your skin crawl to think that these "shepherds of Israel" are going to goad the population pushing them to reject Christ also in just a few centuries. It's a betrayal of their calling; just like Judas Iscariot. Yes, these shepherds of Israel are derelict in a great way and God shall strike them severely. It won't be pretty. They claim they represent God yet are virtually the opposite of what they pose as. 12:1-14 - The opening phrase, "...burden of the Lord..." is also translated as "oracle of the Lord". This was simply an epochal statement that God was about to make. There was turmoil and pandemonium coming in the region of Judah. But it was not against Judah. It was upon those who were there as Judah's enemies. God was speaking of intervening on Judah's behalf to throw her enemies into confusion and chaos. Crushed, sliced, devoured by fire - God was putting the hurts on the enemies of Judah in a big way. God is stepping in to glorify His land. Even the weakest there will be mighty like King David. And on the heels of this triumph, Zechariah prophesies that one from the House of David, a son of David, will capture the attention of the country; one who has been pierced. Would he be the one who is pierced in the hands, feet, and side? What will come this ...?
Ezekiel 39-40 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading from the New King James Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord, your mighty deeds are terribly swift against your enemies while they are terribly marvelous for your children. May we be comforted by both these aspects of your goodness. Amen. We heard the beginning of the movement last week that is Ezekiel 38 & 39. We hear the end of that development when God cleanses the earth of Gog; this enemy of God and God's Chosen. Ezekiel 40 then starts the prophecy of the rebuilt Temple. That part runs for nine chapters, so we will be reading about this rebuilt Temple for the remainder of the Prophetic Stream that ends December 27; four straight weeks of it. 39 - God is against Gog; this army / these soldiers are enemies of Israel who will come from the north. They will have been joined by armies/enemies from the east who will all be incited to come against Israel. Once they have reached Israel, however, God is going to knock them to the ground in defeat. Ezekiel's vision here is a vast army of Japheth's descendants allied and hostile to Israel and determined to eradicate them. There are countries, nations, races, religions and religious sects on earth today who openly talk of doing this. So we are seeing the process developing in the news. When they move on Israel, God is going to intervene in an overwhelming manner. It will be a scale of death on a biblical proportion. Scavenging birds will descend and (pardon the visual) pick the bones clean. It will take Israel seven months to bury the dead and their weapons (which are burnable) will supply Israel with fuel for seven years. [FYI: High density compressed wood is being used today to make armaments!] Not only will these soldiers be massacred, but devastating calamity will break out back in all their home towns of origin. It basically is going to be the end of their cultures. Those alive today in the 21st century will likely witness this happen. God will restore Israel in a big way and the world will be in awe at the strong hand of God at work. 40 - Ezekiel is carried away in a vision. It is Passover; the springtime of 572 B.C. The Temple was destroyed 14 years prior. 19 years prior, Ezekiel had a related vision [Eze. 8:1,3] describing the coming doom of the Temple; and he saw this five years before it was leveled by Babylon. But here Ezekiel is describing a marvelous Temple, similar to Solomon's in proportion though there are variations. There is debate as to the nature/era of this Temple. Some call it the Millennial Temple, others insist it's literal, others dismiss it as figurative. It's smarter to not try to redescribe what God has brought to us through Ezekiel's vision and simply be in awe of the fact that He is determined to reside in those who work with Him v.s. those who fight Him. So enjoy the vision of this new Temple. Until we understand it fully, know that His Temple is you and those you worship with on a regular basis. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.
Download Ecclesiastes 1-6 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the New King James Version. Our special guest, Melissa Disney, reads the scripture today. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us significance, a story to live and tell, a purpose, a calling, a destiny to walk in with you. Amen. Solomon, late in his life is a completely satiated man. There was nothing on earth that was out of reach to him. He experienced limitless power and every luxury and pleasure the world had to offer. And as his days are winding down, he looks back, looks around, looks forward, looks up. He is in a sort of despair assessing that life had no solution. Jesus wouldn't arrive for another 930 years, so the world had no savior as of yet. Solomon was acutely aware that something was lacking. Here's his take on the meaning of life. It was a trifle grim this week. It gets better as he wraps up next week. 1 - Solomon is frustrated as he is musing that life nothing in life, as he observed, had no ecstatic finale. He in a sense is asking, "where's the rhapsody? Why all the constant cycles? Heavens, are we all just on a treadmill no matter what?" The seas, the wind, weather, seasons, the labors, the assignments; round and round we all go. And there's no getting off the misery-go-round. Learn, teach, build, repair, do what you will. You will be cycled back to sorrow. [heavy sigh] 2 - Solomon set out to pursue happiness, pleasure, joy. He had wine, song, women. He built. Wow, did he build: palaces, and gardens, and pools, and grounds, fortresses and a stunning Temple and and and. Everything was staffed and managed and beautiful and stocked and ready to host. Solomon became brilliant and wise, was talented. He had it all, ingested it all, heard it all, saw it all, loved it all, slept with it all. There was no available anything that he had not experienced. Nothing material was he left wanting. He noticed that he was dying...like everyone else, along with the fools and jokers. He had just always thought he would feel more satisfied in his sunset years. He didn't. and it was bothering him deeply. He knew he was soon going to be leaving all this behind and was wondering why he had gathered it all together anyway. 3 - He observes at greater length the seasons of everything. There were cycles to everything, including emotions. He pauses here [and at other times in Ecclesiastes] to state that we may as well enjoy ourselves. He senses that though our deeds are temporal - all of God's were eternal. He's frustrated at the pervasive ubiquitous nature of evil (it's everywhere). God will have His way over evil eventually. Solomon also in an eloquent manner asserts that there is an end that is coming; an end to each life that we see. 4 - The grief is also weighing on Solomon. He noted that everyone has to deal with their cup of suffering. Maybe the dead were better off? Solomon is realizing that there is more in contentment than there is in plenty or excess. He touts the value of trusted friends, and languishes the absurdity of those made into rulers who shouldn't be ruling. Perhaps he was pondering his own foolish children who were soon to follow him to the throne(s!) 5 - It is heartwarming to have Solomon remind us all to come before God with a right heart and an upright life to match. God desires this of us. In a word - Solomon admonishes us to watch our words. Try not to be appalled at injustice for it is everywhere. Realize that wealth is empty, it needs to be painstakingly managed. It won't help you sleep like a laboring job will! He noticed that one would hoard while a neighbor went without. Another madness is that a man will work a lifetime and have it come to nothing. Again, Solomon's refrain is more or less, "ah phooey, just dine and enjoy yourselves, I guess." 6 - Solomon is in chagrin to notice and recall that a man would work and amass, only to have a foreigner come consume it. He noticed that for those who did not pursue goodness, things did not end in a good way.. By default he is saying that contentment is a better thing to crave, for desires fulfilled are yet wanting more. And all of us must remember that we are on a timer. Were we to have 1,000 years, we're still on a timer in this life.
Download Nehemiah 5-8 We are in the Nation Stream reading from the New King James Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, we thank you for the Holy Spirit bringing us and opening the Word for us. Amen.
The enemies of progress in Jerusalem *had been* the encroaching neighbors who were upset that the Hebrews were back in their homeland and building up the altar, Temple, and the wall of Jerusalem. Those were external enemies. Now there were internal enemies to deal with. 5 - The national project required national unity. The cooperation was of historical proportion. Very impressive indeed. But national cooperation requires everyone to be committed and there were some who were taking advantage of the situation and using the setting for their own financial gain. It was not a good situation. And the most committed to the program were getting taken advantage of by the hucksters that were least committed to the nation's unity and morale. Nehemiah stepped in and took stalwart leadership. It was impressive and more. The shady business dealers were "read the riot act" for their cruelty. They repented immediately. Nehemiah himself upped the ante on his sacrifices. The world needs to see more virtue, principle, sacrifice, and leadership together in one man like we see in Nehemiah. 6 - There were three rabble-rousing trouble makers who started a rumor and paid certain "community disorganizers" to go spread tales that an attack on Jerusalem was coming. Enemies of Jerusalem used this as a final tactic to discourage the Jews from moving about their business in getting the wall patched, together, up, and finished. Nehemiah saw through the ruse for what it was, dispelled any phobias, and resumed the great work of getting the wall around Jerusalem finished. It was miraculously finished in 52 days (though some might say it was 145 years late!). The enemies of Jerusalem were sobered up immensely realizing that God was at work 7 - So the gathering in the city was called as they set out to 'start anew' as a nation. The people came together, the nobles and rulers too and they recited the list of those who returned from exile originally in the 538 B.C. event. Ezra 2 mirrors this chapter, btw. The list they read from were those who returned almost a century prior. The list compared/collated with the current registry would better materialize who was from which tribe. We understand this since census' are usually taken each decade. [This however was the first in a much longer time span.] Offerings poured in, and the national fervor arose as Ezra took to the podium to read the Law for the first time in a very long long time. 8 - The Book of the Law of Moses was read to the entire nation who gathered AS ONE to be read to. Tutors were arranged for those who had extra questions. Booths were assembled so that the process would not be interrupted even in the heat of the day. Nehemiah and Ezra were spurred to the task of comforting the people who were hearing the Word of God for the first time. The peope were grieved at how far the nation had slumped into ignorance of the Book they claimed was their national identity. The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated and there was great joy in Jerusalem. There were other details but I do want to say this: Look at what happens when a nation decides to follow God's Word and declares so as one! The nation was doing this for the first time since Joshua had taken the helm of the country about 900 years prior. Why so long since the nation made a pact as such. Heavens, 900 years ago Leif Erikson of Norway was still a fresh memory. William the Conqueror (remember 1066 A.D.?) had just died. It would be almost 500 years until Columbus would sail the Atlantic and Caribbean. Why 900 years *between* comprehensive Bible readings?! A population understanding and reading the Bible is what brings vitality to a land. Wycliffe knew as much when he translated the Bible into English late 1300's. Luther knew it in the early 1500s. If you want to see your region transformed, what can you do to raise Bible literacy in your town?
Deuteronomy 21-25 We are in the World Stream reading from the New King James Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, thank you for caring for us. Don't let us forget that you care for us, far more than we do. It sounds weird to say it and/or hear it, but it's true. Thank you Lord. Amen.
Deuteronomy 21-26 are six chapters filled with various and sundry laws that are the trademark of Judaism and became trademarks of Judeo-Christianity. These are laws that keep a society sane. Any 'semblance that a civil society has can trace a noticeable portion of their laws back to this book and expressly these chapters. We just read the first five of these six chapters.
21 - the first deals with unsolved matters regarding murder. The procedure may seem strange to modern culture but it is sure better than the legal tom-foolery that marks present-day court procedures which are incredibly laborious, tedious, and costly processes that bedraggle too much ofsociety as a whole. The matter of female captives in a war scenario are a refreshing memo. One of the endless tragedies of war throughout history is the treatment of the females on the side of the losers. One example among thousands is how German women were treated across the country in 1945 by the Russians arriving from the east. And the beastly Stalin thought it was wonderful, btw. The rule of the inheritance rights regarding the first-born make perfect sense. As in much of life, critical decisions need to be made with the mind - not the emotions. Deeply diabolical rebellious sons need to be executed - is that one that too rough for ya'? Well, should they be executed after they have done millions in property damage, murdered dozens, and $2/3/4million has been spent on them in court? ... or before all this shameful waste? Rebellious gang members shut society down and turn it into a savage jungle. God won't have it. The dead who are hung, need to be buried by sundown. Don't be a society who has a thirst for putrid gore. 22 - the laws here are the perfect antidote to the chump phrase, "finders keepers/losers weepers" <--that garbage line leads to a society neurotically guarding their possessions, paranoia about theft because the culture is a hay-day for thieves. In general, treat all property and the citizens who own it like endeared family. No cross-gender dressing: it makes a society twisted, pathetic, and crazy. Be kind --> even to birds. Put bannisters on your balcony. Btw, you would be shocked at how many Muslim homes between Casablanca and Kerachi do not have these. There are matters of "no-mixing" mentioned like here as it was in Leviticus. As for the sexual laws, they are for protection and sanity and dignity. No culture succumbs to sexual mayhem and survives; none. 23 - the mutilated, fornicators- nor their children, pagans nor paganism, backstabbers - none of these nor their perpetrators may enter into God's assembly. The congregation of God is for worshippers; not weirdness. Did you know that the concept of the sewer comes from here in Deut 23? As you travel the world [and my husband and I have been in about 75 countries] you can tell which countries have read Deut. 23 and which are ignorant of it. The odor gives away their oblivion! The proper treatment of slaves, forbidding prostitution, fairness cc. money and loans, keeping your vows, not abusing others' kindness to you - these are all good rules. 24 - Here's a good one: don't play "musical wives". -enough said on that. Hey folks - drag out your honeymoons, 'would ya'!? [another good one]. Be quick to deal with epidemics/plagues. There are good guidelines here about lending, proper payment and treatment of help. No executing whole families for the behavior of one! Do not be cruel and greedy. Allow for the poor to survive through gleaning. 25 - Here was another tenant of justice v.s. too much "justice" that becomes cruel punishment. Feed the animals that feed you. There's an odd rule here about taking care of extended family. You can read it again if you wish. Ladies, when your husbands are fighting, just, ... uh, just stay out of it, ok? And sometime down the road, the Amalekites who tried to destroy you -after you are supplied, settled, and up for it!- those Amalekites need to be destroyed.
I John 5 - Revelation 1 We are covering I John 5, II John, III John, Jude and Revelation 1 in The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, thank you for your care for us that comes through in comforting letters of encouragement, instruction, warnings and pastoral inspiration. May we rise to the calling, the blessing, the deeds, and 'the rest' that you have planned for us. Amen.
I John 5 - The issue in this chapter is that you know for certain. The word "know" doesn't surface in today's translation but it is a chapter of confidence from what you know about our God and Savior, our relationships, our destiny, future and eternity. The core is that we know we have eternal life. We know that our prayers are heard by God. We know that God has us for we are His children and chosen ones; we are His own. And we can believe our God who never lies. And in typical fashion with the rest of John's writing we need to love others and keep God's commands. Part of loving others, btw! is to exhort them to get away from/out of/and refrain from sin. E.g. we are each others' business, and helping fellow believers along in this way is part of our Christian experience. 2 John - is written to a beloved congregation. The "dear lady" doesn't show up in the translation we read today, but that has been fhis familiar greeting through history. Was she a "school marm" type that all were endeared to? Was John referring to them as another thread of precious affection in the wedding gown of the church that was spreading across the continent? Memo: We, His followers, are the Briiiide of Christ... The alternate suggestions may be inconsequential. The paramount reminder is certainly a theme of John's - that they love each other. This is John's "chorus" since leaning on Jesus during the Last Supper. The people in this congregation (it may well have been a house church in Ephesus) they love in truth, know the truth, live in it, have God's traits because of truth, and they walk in truth. John also warned them, in their loving nature, to be alert to roving false teachers who are spreading lies that Jesus was never really here as a human-God-incarnate. These "anti-Christers" are to be labeled as such and 'blocked at the door'! Don't let them in or let them teach. They are "cancer" and should be dealt with like cancer. John said as much in I John 2 - for 12 verses of that chapter. 3 John - John's welcome to Gaius sounds like the meeting up of old friends who, upon arrival, come bearing hugs, and gifts, and well wishes. Paul had trained a number of good men to be pastors and they had launched into ministry. Their hospitality ministry was thriving and a golden testimony in the Holy Spirit. John continued the oversight of these ministries and leaders. And it's quite apparent that a certain man; "Diotrephes" (another Pastor in Gaius' region-but a malcontent) was a man who needed to feel he was "top Dachsund at the wiener-dog race." John gives him a talking to and advises others how to handle it. Hey, pastoral care is not all cheery. John will tell them more in person when he arrives. And note that when John refers to himself as "the Elder", it's quite the label. By this time, he is the only surviving member of the original 12 Apostles. It's a well-deserved term. Jude - this is another of Jesus' brothers who was Joseph's blood son and born to Mary. He was one of the 12 Apostles. His original intent was to write a nice treatise about salvation. But that was abruptly eclipsed by the urgent need to address the issue of roving trouble makers who were scuttling around the Roman Empire and doing their devilish best to lead people of Church into pagan living. Their insidious method was to teach cultic behavior and encourage people to do so AND remain in the church that they are in. Leviticus talks fo mixing things that shouldn't be mixed. Remember rat poison is 99.99% good food. Only 1/10,000th of it is poison. It is the mixing them together that ushers in the danger. These trolling gremlins are trying to illicitly sexualize the congregations. History teaches that doing this systematically blurs the drive and focus of any cultural movement and vulnerably steers them into darkened aimlessness. These tramps that Jude is exposing want this for the churches. They are truly groomed for this task by the devil himself. They won't follow God, they deny Christ, they are moral "hyenas" (how's that!?), pigs who have snuck in, selfish, fruitless men. They complain, scoff, criticize, brag and are only in church to tear it apart. They work for the Devil. And darkest judgment awaits these people who probably won't even realize how bad they are and how bad their treatment is going to be. But YOU, saints in the fold, keep to your doctrine and fellowship, for God is with you. Amen. Revelation is God revealing what is to come. Just as God told us how our world began in Genesis, He tells us where things are headed in Revelation. He doesn't leave us groping in the dark, wondering, sifting through pagan mysteries and man-made ideas which fill the heads of lost people. Revelation is the finale~, the triumph of Christ, the new heaven and new earth. Know that Christ Jesus is the center of things in this book. It is prophecy as well as practicality. It calls for discussion, listening, searching, and prayer. !John didn't write Revelation to split all the churches! He wrote it to assure them that evil will be vanquished, that paradise lost will be returned, and God's children will be gathered once and for all in glorious manner. Remember to wait until you understand the book better before getting entrenched in opinions. It is interesting that commentaries on Revelation are very few. Biblical scholars (whose vocation is deducing and giving definitive answers) realize that doing this with Revelation is an extremely sketchy task. So most avoid it. We'll touch on this more in the weeks to come; the views, the categories, and the schools of thought that arise from Revelation. Today, chapter one, is John talking to the church about the things they had seen; what had already taken place. Ch.'s 2-3 was what they were experiencing now. Ch's 4-22 is what will take place from then onward. Revelation is Holy Spirit driven. The number seven appears 16 times. There are seven beatitudes, 27 angel references, spiritual battles, smoke and fire, dragons, demons, signs and wonders. Our prayer is that you are blessed beyond measure by Revelation this time through it - not confused or frightened - but inspired to press on to know that God that has such great plans for you. Rev. 1 - It is stated that this is a testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessing is promised to those who read this revelation. The book closes with the same promise of blessing for its readers [22:7]. John greets the seven churches and lists them. Their sites can still be visited today east of the Aegean Sea in Western Turkey. John in his visions and in his concern for these congregations is not a railing senile old man "losing it" on his way to hospice. He deeply cares for them in a pastoral way as if they were his own children. The grand memo is summed up in three words: CHRIST IS EVERYTHING. There is so much that people do not know about Jesus. His wonders, His miracles, His infinite wisdom. What we read of His deeds in the four gospels is a miniscule introduction to what we will know when we all meet Him face to face! John is writing this in 95 A.D. from Patmos, an island where prisoners were sent. Emperor Domitian had just finished torturing and executing 40,000 Christians in Rome for sport and a spectacle. Emperor Trajan would soon assume the same disposition in 98 A.D. John is fortunate to be exiled and free to write this marvelous book. And His vision of Christ is dazzling; overwhelming. This vision is a memo to the churches to put their full trust in Jesus who is all things marvelous. He's been gentle and yet is a battle-suited and ready warrior set to conquer His frantic enemy. This is all the more reason for the churches to make themselves ready for Christ; abandon all corruption, lukewarm living, disloyalty and such. The Thread Through the Streams The issue that kept coming up was that love is more than just feeling good and roses and such. Love also requires "house-keeping", cleansing, vigilance and removal of things that don't mix with God. Nov. 26 - Deut. 16-20 There were to be judges and officers, fairness and honesty must be adhered to. No sex cults in my country! No witchcraft, nor sorcery. And have cities of refuge so that the land isn't controlled by murderous rage and endless paybacks. Moses also explained very practical issues of management that are sensible and keen to people's needs. I.e. Israel was not to be a crazy country filled with lunatic citizens. Nov. 27 - Ezra 9 - Neh. 04 Back in Israel, some of the men had taken foreign wives and ... painful as it all was, the wives (raised as pagans) had to go. Israel couldn't press on as a nation under God until this is dealt with. And Nehemiah had a vision for seeing Jerusalem rebuilt ... but he had to get out of Persia. I.e. As with all of us, if we are going to grow, there are things that need to go. Nov. 28 - Prov. 30-31 .The beginning of Prov. 30 makes it clear that doubt needs to go so you can get anywhere spiritually. Agur also asks that there be no lies, no destitution, no squalid excess for him. King Lemuel's [mother] says, don't waste your life on women (plural) The wisdom is to "stay with your one". And for leaders especially, avoid the booze life. Also don't become callous to the suffering. ALL those attitudes/tendencies need removing. Nov. 29 - Ezek. 36-38 Dry Bones: that was what's left of Israel's morale. And they best get ready to desert the hopeless, desolation, "whoa is me" mentality. God is going to put it all back together. And there's no room in this plan for an Eeyore mindset (remember his gloom?!). And the enemies of Israel are going to be ever-decimated. They have to go and Israel has to thrive in order to be a blessing to the whole world. Nov. 30 - Zech 9:1-11:3 The neighbors of Jerusalem, harassing the Hebrews eternally, are going to be put down in a big way when Greece marches through. [Yet they left Jerusalem in tact!] Not only the pesky neighbors needed removal, the illicit leaders within the Hebrew culture; these "shepherds" who were virtually wolves at heart - they needed to be swept out! They were blocking people from understanding the love of God. Dec. 01 - John 13:31 - 16:4 It was Last Supper time, and after the foot-washing, it was time to tell some wonderful things that applied to all of them except Judas. Judas needed to vacate before Jesus could move forward with His faithful Disciples. Now as for you 11 disciples, the jousting for position is done with. Love each other!.As for the Way to God - tell the world to abandon all other spiritual pursuits except Jesus. And as for pruning the excess, counter-productive things in your own lives... just let the Holy Spirit do that in you - that is if you want to remain on "my team". As for being accepted by the world --> let that go too Dec. 02 - I John 5 - Rev. 1 The Church Stream this week exhorted the people over and again to block/shun/expel all false teachers. It was intense house cleaning that needed to take place and they [WE!] must remain vigilant about. You could even call it "steam-cleaning", better yet "power-washing"! It was a desperately vital task that needed to be executed immediately. And vigilance against false teachers required eternal safeguards.
John 13:31-16:4 We are in the Christ Stream reading from The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, you are such a dear Savior, comforter, friend, instructor. Your love is overwhelming, we can but be inspired to live all our days for you. Amen.
13:31-38 - With Judas now gone Jesus can make the statements He needs to make, now that the group had been cleansed of its traitor. They must love one another. It was now time for Jesus to proceed alone into a baptism that most of them would follow into within a generation or two. He would die alone on a hillside while being mocked. Jesus knew what was coming in the next 18 hours. And notice that He says He will be glorified at this point, not crucified. The disciples' hearts were still telling themselves, "say it isn't so..."
14 - all of this chapter was spoken to the 11 remaining disciples while they were still at the Communion Table of the Last Supper. This was in an Upper Room in the SW corner of the city of Jerusalem. It is the most heart-warming material in the whole Bible. God/Jesus promised them that there was a wondrous celestial reward waiting for them, for certain, at the end of this pilgrimage. And Jesus' words were true because Jesus is the Truth. Their understanding of Jesus meant an understanding of God the Father. The Holy Spirit was coming to them to walk them through everything, to teach, and strengthen, and guide them all the way as they lived out their Calling. They will have peace. They need not fear anything. They must be loving; filled with love, and obedient to God. These two matters are verification of each other: to love is to obey - to obey is to love [and vice versa!]
15 - They had left the Upper Room and Jesus kept talking to them all the way to Gethsemane [ch's 15,16,17].The main points here are that we, his followers, are like branches of a main vine. We are pruned so that we can be productive. We must be like pruned vines that are productive, not the prunings that are gathered and burned. "Abide" in Me means to stay attached/connected. The Message version this week says "stay joined with Me" (Jesus). This means to stay in God's love. Your joy will be the proof that you know God's love. You're being elevated to where I Am/Jesus is. Realize how special/chosen you are. And know this about the world: they don't know God, thus they hate Jesus, and they are going to hate you. That is simply the succession. Just decide to be o.k. with it. 16:1-4 - Jesus told them about being hated by worldly souls so that the disciples were fairly warned. And the disciples were violently hated. It's sobering that they all died from such cruel, criminal treatment and all of them were so completely loving to the end - even to their executors. To be so hated and to be so loving at the same time. Perhaps this can inspire us all to do better with unpleasant people.
Zechariah 9:1-11:3 We are in the Exile Stream reading from The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, today's reading led us on such a wild tour of where the human heart ends up being taken when it has so many priorities .... ahead of you. Give us hearts that are filled with faith; faith that seeks you first. Amen.
The marvelous, mystifying, and exciting verbiage of Zechariah continues as he jumps ahead 200 years to when Greece trounces through the entire Eastern Mediterranean (Israel included). Zechariah jumps further ahead to Christ entering Jerusalem. Some of what Zechariah says today is illustrative of Israel's becoming a nation; 'could even be talking about the Millennium when "all" Jews are there and it's a mini-paradise for centuries. 'All" Jews? I'm not even going to try to comment as to what 'all' might mean. Hey, it's Zechariah! He's all over the map and all over the centuries and all over history as usual! So here we go diving into more visions from the Exile Stream 09 - Greece came through (200 years after Zech. wrote this) and in the order that the cities are listed in the first half of the chapter, that is the order in which Greece galloped through and took command of these cities. Intriguingly enough however, they spared Jerusalem, . Verses 8-9 tell of this preservation and also describes what we call "Palm Sunday" - about 450 years before it happened! And this person who rides into Jerusalem on a donkey will one day bring peace to the world - peace that has never been known - someday. And without skipping a beat Zechariah jumps to the Messianic Kingdom era when there is complete victory at the end of the age.
10 - The time will come when the Hebrews, who have been scattered will return to Israel. So many things that have been a frustration for them will be matters of days-gone-by: poor leadership, shame, looming enemies, gloom, lack, tribes scattered. weakness, fear, instability, aimlessness. All that is gone now as God is among them in favor of them. 11 - Lebanon and the partnership with Lebanon, especially the First Temple Period, was such a time of mutual blessing. That is all long gone. Lebanon is going to see fire soon. The derelict shepherds are equally doomed. Their complete waste of their calling and position had caused the Jews to slouch into wretched sinfulness and suffering and the scattering of the Hebrew people. Yes, some of them were returned from Exile now, but the situation that led to Exile was abysmally unnecessary. They could have obeyed in those days, but the shepherds of God's People did not lead them. And you caught the reference to Judas, right? The thirty pieces of silver in vv. 12,13 that is quoted in Matthew 26 & 27... Though these people were in a recovery period of rejecting God's leadership, sadly, it wasn't the end of that problem. The Sanhedrin and Pharisees in Judas' day (during Jesus!) didn't want to listen to God either - nor His Son. Their favor is therefore going to be lost as is their unity as a nation. This is thought to be the days that Rome will come and empty Jerusalem, burn it, destroy the Temple and scatter the Jews 70 A.D. It would be 1,878 years before they would be able to regroup again. This is the grave results that poor leadership leads to. This is where the sorry shepherds had led the people of God.
Download Ezekiel 36-38 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading from The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, You raise up the fallen, you rebuild the broken, you renew the ruined and we praise you for what you are. May we be agents of yours that do your work. Amen.
36 - Going back a week in our Prophetic Stream reading, news of the fall of Jerusalem (to those already in Babylon) has hit the Jewish people hard. Their derelict shepherds are to blame. The neighbors of Judah are yet worse and will get treatment that is worse yet. So between chapters 35 & 36 there is a great "BUT". The news has been bad - but - [in 36] the land is going to be reinhabited. The Babylonian siege had flattened cities, scorched the whole place and killed or removed most all living things. God had this to happen and it was for a good reason. But! The desolation will end. There will be life in Israel again. Their sinful ways will be abandoned, and God is going to bring back the Israelites. Israel will be bustling with life, well irrigated, lush and green [Eden-like], and productive. God is doing this. There's no talk of anyone deserving anything. God is doing this for the glory of God. 37 - This vision of dry bones coming together, being reassembles and covered to be full bodies that then breathe and come to life and march forward to form an army is a legendary vision that is told to young and old for over 25 centuries now. It is the basis of a folk song that VBS and men's quartets sing as well. It is told in a time when Judaism appeared destined for the compost heap. But as we know with God, all is not lost because when there is God, all is never lost. God has plans to resurrect the hope of Israel and return all of them [branched together] to their land; the land that Joshua conquered, that David expanded, and Solomon adorned. In that day God would be wholly worshipped and idolatry would be forgotten. The glory days, like when King David reigned, will return. The literal/figurative/future/end times/symbolism/reality discussions that are related to this chapter cannot be summed up in a month of Sundays. There are End Times allusions entailed here, Second Coming references, Millennium descriptions and there have been endless PhD dissertations written about all of this. Let's just be encouraged and excited that our God is a Resurrection God. 38 - This [and 39] are distinctively prophetic chapters. Some insightful ministers claim with complete confidence that 38/39 are the "next thing set to happen" along the pathway of biblical prophecy. It is about the vast array of peoples gathering who are resolutely against Israel, the Jews, God's people and want them decimated. And so they assemble and rally together and march west and south to remove Israel from the earth and from history. Rosh/Meshech/ & Tubal are repeated names. Rosh in Hebrew means "head" or "beginning". M & T are names of Japheth's sons mentioned in Genesis 10 & I Chron. 1. Gog are sworn enemies of Israel. And "Magog" means "the place of Gog". So the people of Gog and the others of their land will be united in their thirst to exercise their rage against the Jews. Apparently they will reach the border, even enter the land of Israel when God unleashes pure horror on these enemies of the Jews. He will bring a greatest of earthquakes. Troops who've come to fight Israel will turn on each other. There will be torturous hail come down, judgment and pestilence. This vast army will realize that they are fighting God and His people. They will then know who The LORD is! But God has more vengeance to pour out on this frothing army - and He will - next week. Remember that the impressions that trigger the writing of chapters 33-35, and what will happen in 38 and 39 are thousands of years apart.
Proverbs 30-31 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, your wonders are all around us. Your wisdom runs the earth and sky. We praise you for your mighty works and love for us. Amen.
Agur is likely a contemporary of Solomon. There is no reference to who exactly he was except that his father is Jakeh. His material is intriguing for it's keen observation of life, earth, and God's ways. So much so that it fits in with the rest of the literature found in Proverbs. So it is included. 30 - Agur has no notion of being some sage himself. In an admirable statement, he knows and states that God is the source of wisdom. Did you catch that question? --> "What is His Name or His Son's Name?". We read this and we know, but Lemuel is asking this magnificent question around 950 B.C.! His opening wishes are basically, 'don't lie to me, don't tempt me, don't let me forget God. Here's Agur's advice: don't trash talk people - it's not your role. Bless your parents - beyond that, shush up. Be sober about your own virtue - or lack thereof. Be aware that there are mean people out there! There are also "gimme/gimme" types. Agur spells out five lists that are observations about life that we best know, and try to ingest, understand, and abide by. Don't try to fix these issues - just be aware of them. These lists are like terrain when blazing a trail. Just work with it v.s. work against it. 31 - This is the words of Lemuel. Some scholars posit that Lemuel was a nickname or term of endearment that Solomon received from his mother. Whatever the case may be, it is timeless advice about how society ought value its females v.s. "put them in a pumpkin shell [or hut] where you can keep them very well." Keep in mind that the regions of the world where the women are valued v.s. used and abused as if to be sub-human commodities, it is these places on earth where people enjoy a better society, better facilities, better amenities, provision, civic pleasantries, domestic tranquility. There is also greater wealth, greater function, happier children, healthier and more humane men who govern with virtue, wisdom, and compassion. This woman has untold value, she elicits trust, is deeply and eternally good. She understands fabric, shipping, the culinary world. Her help is cared for, she knows real estate, agriculture, and is obviously attentive; knowing the seasons. Her management skills frees her husband to master his craft... and she's not done: she designs and markets clothing too. She speaks wisdom, is kind, and raises children who emulate her. Her reverence for God is evident. Her abilities inspire her town. Her life is the stuff of legend.
Download Ezra 9 - Nehemiah 4 We are in the Nation Stream reading from The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord, What a marvel it is to see what can be done when we see that you are in what we do and that we are in your will; perfectly. Thank you Lord for calling all of us to something greater and promising to be with us. Amen.
Ezra 9 - The issue had arisen that there were men of Israel who had married foreign women. These wives of theirs were nonbelievers. The children they were raising were drifters among the covenant. God is not a drifter! He does not want us to be drifters. We have a call, an assignment, we have God Almighty pulling for us, the Holy Spirit is our constant aid, strength and comfort, we've a world to share this Good News with and if anyone thinks we can be mixing our agendas at this point is gravely mistaken. My husband was heading to speak at a church years ago and he got a call enroute that changed his plans instantly. It was another pastor who heard my husband was going to speak at this certain "church" and the pastor (a friend of his) was nearly yelling on the line, "don't go speak there - the pastor's wife does voodoo and is into witchcraft!" How long do you think it took my husband to do a U-turn? This garbage situation was not O.K. The pastor, who claimed to be evangelical, married a lady who did voodoo on the side "just to spiritually cover more bases" and make some money moonlighting. This is a mixed marriage and it is a mess! This rabid foolish disobedience should not be.
10 - So the issue is encountered, the drama ensues, Ezra is confessed to by a leader of the Jews. He then makes his official statement and the matter of solving this grand error is commenced upon. Any man who had a foreign wife had three days to come forward or forfeit his possessions. The investigation is thorough and complete in a matter of weeks. The long list of offenders is stated and told and they were to put away their foreign women plus the children they had with them. Not easy stuff here, but God meant business when He ordered that they be a holy people. He could not proceed with them if they would not purify their situation. Nehemiah 1 - Nehemiah, though in Persia, is very concerned that the wall of Jerusalem is in ruins, the gates burned, and the city wall is still crumbled with the city open and vulnerable. It had been almost 95 years since the exiles came back and the wall is still not rebuilt! Imagine almost a century of sloughing off on this matter. The returned Israelites had been looking at a broken wall so long, they paid it no mind anymore. Nehemiah, however, is distraught to learn of this neglect and goes straight to fervent prayer over the matter. Nehemiah is a stalwart man of prayer. This is his first of six times in this book that he has a prayer session that gets serious attention. 2 - Nehemiah's heart for Jerusalem is impossible to conceal from the King of Persia, whom he waits upon. It isn't long before they discuss it and Nehemiah is sent back to Jerusalem with documents, guards, and horsemen. It is 444 B.C. at this time. [Ezra had returned 14 years prior, and it had been 34 years since Esther was made queen.] Nehemiah peruses the city and inspects the wall. Meanwhile an Ammonite leader and his sidekick become abundantly nervous as they sense action about to begin. 3 - The men began their great work of repairing and rebuilding the gates all around this roughly 35 acre area called Jerusalem. One after another, all along the wall, the work went on. We see them consecrating their work and then seeing it to completion. It is not a ManPower Program nor a "demonstration of human muster", it is inspiration. It is Nehemiah's prayer being heard and God pressing upon hearts to get going on the things of God. There are a lot of names and projects mentioned in this chapter. "Search" -Map of the wall and gates that Nehemiah rebuilt- This will put you miles ahead in understanding the activities that happened in this chapter. And keep in mind this is a project of God. Again, it's different than a movement led by hearts that say "if it's to be, it's up to me", or "I am the captain of my soul/master of my fate" invictus type of thing. If it were just humans spurring on humans, then why was nothing accomplished toward this repair in 95 years? The King of Persia didn't get this going either. He merely permitted and endorsed it. It was God moving upon a godly man who listened: Nehemiah. 4 - Not long into the wall rebuilding, opponents of the Jews rallied themselves and threatened to make war on Jerusalem if the wall repairs didn't stop. The encroachers that snuck into Israel during the exile are angry because the Chosen people were back on their land and history shows that when God is behind them and they are operating with Him, they are an invincible team! The wall is half done and the tension caused by the discouragement of Samaritans, Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, and Arabians is impossible to ignore. However, Nehemiah leads in prayer again, the workers arm themselves, set up rotations, become strengthened heart and soul and all is "FORWARD!!" There were as many guards with swords and spears as their were laborers and masons. The people were duly reminded that this was the work of God. You'll be amazed next week at how quickly they get this wall up! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="700"] From http://www.bible-architecture.info[/caption]
Deuteronomy 16-20 We are in the World Stream reading from The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis "Lord God, we do all these things to remember you. We know you never forget about us. Help us to be more faithful in remembering you; to acknowledge you in all our ways. Amen." Remember Jesus telling the Disciples at the Last Supper to "do this as often as you do this and to remember Him"? You remember that, right? That is all God is getting at in the reading today - to remember what He told us to remember. 16 - Remember the Passover and all the tenants of it. And observe the Passover. Celebrate it where I say. Start and stop when I say. Remember to rest from everything on the Sabbath, the festivals surrounding the harvest. We're going to always do this to keep you from worshipping the harvest. You will remember me; your God who brings you the harvest. All men appear before God three times a year. You shall bring offerings, be organized, judge fairly, and do right. 17 - Offerings are to be the best you have to bring to God. All idolaters must be executed. The nation must not tolerate idolaters or idolatry. Justice must be handled with all prudence and the lessons learned must be taken seriously by all. One day you will all be crying out for a king. I wish you wouldn't but you are going to. When you do, do as I command. He must be of your own. He must not be motivated by power, women, money. And he must be a biblical student. 18 - Take care of the Levites. They must be fed and provided for without fail. It is good when they have plenty. Honor them wherever they are or wherever they are from. All the pagan practices of all the other people you encounter must be avoided permanently. Their transgressions and witchcraft will never be legal for you to do. The prophets I raise up among you, listen to them. And there will be a specific one centuries from now - l i s t e n to Him! 19 - Again, the "cities of refuge" concept is stated. Accidents happen. And Israel must not be a place of raging revenge and such madness. Those who commit manslaughter and were not intentional need a place to go and live sheltered in peace. As the nation grows, so must the cities of refuge. Other contingencies and bylaws are also stated in 19 so that schemers don't come to rule the country. Justice must rule Israel, not criminals, not even passively or deviously. 20 - Rules for War: Never be afraid. God is right there for you ensuring victory. Anyone distracted with a new house or a new vineyard or a new wife may leave. Cowards - please leave! Towns that make peace with you, they become your servants. Towns that God tells you to decimate, consult no one and do as you're told. But don't get crazy and cut down orchards though, duh!
I John 1-4 We are in the Church Stream reading from the New American Standard Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord Jesus: We are so blessed to be your children, to be so dearly loved and to be able to love one another and to be free to love the lost and unlovely. Thank you Lord. Amen.
In the Christ stream, we are reading John's account of our Savior; Jesus. In the Church Stream, we are reading also from John the Apostle. In his Gospel, he sounds like an endeared historian. In his letters he John sounds like a heart warming elder or favorite uncle who just wants to know that you are well, getting along in a fine manner and that your soul is healthy. In Revelation, he is the impassioned narrator giving a responsible account of a war-zone and a world-class theater production simultaneously. John is quite old come these writings -it is about 90 A.D.- and he is simply doing his dutiful best to make sure that we all seek to understand Jesus too...like he knows Jesus. 1 - He gets right to it that Jesus is God's Son (stated 21 times in this book), God is our Father (stated 12 times). God sent Him to us and all this is real. I saw Him, I touched Him, He loves us, it's all the joy that you need to know. And God IS the realm of light and truth; reality, confession, forgiveness, and rich fellowship. 2 - John wants all of us to not fall short of what God has for us by remaining in sin. Come to God now and know that Christ Jesus pleads our case for forgiveness. There's forgiveness provided we confess, the Commandments are followed, God's Word is kept, and we love one another. John lays down the dividing line: we either love the world OR do the will of God. Those who preach that we are to do something instead of follow Christ alone are anti-Christ. [There were many trolling the Empire and teaching Jesus was to be mixed in with the religions of the day.] Shun all these people! And know that only those who abide in Christ shall live eternally. 3 - John describes the wonder of simply knowing that we are God's children; in simply looking to Christ therein is purification. And John also delineates the difference here between the sins of error and weakness (prior chapter) and the habitual, deliberately deceptive, willful sins here in ch. 3. This includes teachers of heresy. These are the marks of one occupied by evil: refusal to live in God's righteousness, and love 'your brother'. Signs we have God's love are: sacrifice for each other, love with deeds, we please God, our requests are heard for we believe in Jesus. 4 - Do not be gullible but test the spirits; make sure they confess Jesus, so you don't follow strange creeds. Our great test in life is loving God, loving others, testifying to Jesus - this is what perfects us. Living by love eliminates fear in our lives.
John 12:1-13:30 We are in the Christ Stream reading from the New American Standard Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, you are worth pouring ourselves out for. You serve us so that we may serve others for your Kingdom and glory. May we be wholly yours. Amen.
Just a bit of review before we proceed in John: a week ago was Jesus' last miracle found in John. Excluding Jesus' own Resurrection, these are the seven miracles that John weaves into his "story of Jesus". There are 41 total healing events that Jesus performed in his three-year ministry. John included four of these 41 in his gospel plus three nature miracles. John is employing just enough to prove who Jesus is. These are enough to inform the world that Jesus is sent from God and is The Savior of the world. Jesus is also the Master over the World. Here is how Jesus shows his mastery as described in John: Jn. 2 - Turning Water to Wine Jesus has mastery over quality Jn. 4 - Healing the Official's son Jesus has mastery over distance (the child was 20 miles away) Jn. 5 - Healing LameMan [38 years] Jesus has mastery over time Jn. 6 - Feeding Multitude Jesus has mastery over quality Jn. 6 - Walking ON the water Jesus has mastery over gravity Jn. 9 - Healing the Man born blind Jesus has mastery over misfortune [and light] Jn 11 - Raising Lazarus from Dead Jesus has mastery over death And with that, John proceeds to tell us the rest of the story. The first 11 chapters of John cover 35 months. The last 10 chapters take place during the final seven weeks of Jesus' time on earth. 12 - After Jesus' healed Lazarus it became expedient to escape for a couple of weeks and let the hub-bub die down. [By now the Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus and Lazarus.] But when Jesus returned to Bethany, there were still many many people who simply wanted to meet this man who was brought back to life. When in the house, Mary anoints Jesus with 12 oz. of very expensive perfume that cost a year's wages. What do you make per year? $40K? $110K? Will you pour out an amount like that into God's kingdom so that Christ is glorified? Most everybody will not. We carry on like Judas and start doing critical math and make sure that Jesus only gets a little bit of it. We can scuttle and skate and excuse all we want, but our priorities are very evident to God. And we ask Him to bless us ... hmm When He enters Jerusalem the word spread as if 100,000 text messages got forwarded and everyone came to welcome Him into the city. The praise was ecstatic - ... and the Pharisees only grew more anxious. Some Greeks had come from Galilee too and wanted a moment with Jesus. Jesus uses such a moment to teach that Jesus was not just 'the next man along the trail' of life. Meeting Him was a fork in the road. If they wanted to just use meeting Jesus to add to their list of "selfies' with a star" they were mistaken. Today people still need to decide what they are going to do about Jesus in their own lives. As Jesus tells again of His imminent death, He makes statements that are epic to put it lightly. Jesus would be lifted up on a Cross. The battle of darkness against Light would rage as never before. As Calvary draws closer and closer, sentiments about Jesus would be deeply divided. What side of reality would the men of Jerusalem find themselves on?
Choose wisely. Eternity is at stake.
13 - The time for their last supper had arrived. The spiritual battle was thick as a cloud in the room. Judas had already negotiated to trade in his friendship with God for a handful of coins. The other 11 were committed to stay with Jesus but hadn't yet realized how frail their spirits were. Jesus uses the occasion of them being enraptured with Him (they were that locked in focus upon Him) to teach that they are to be servants to all; to the whole world. Every leader who has gone amok on earth has forgotten this story that Jesus demonstrated. It hits so hard and cuts to the core. Peter doesn't know what to do except to be come sarcastic. Jesus calmly finished the task however. Jesus knows that his betrayer is still in the room. The events ensue and eventually Judas is at the point of no return. He leaves into the night - truly the man was more committed to darkness than anything. Once someone leaves Jesus, they step into darkness that only grows darker and darker until the grip of Darkness is inescapable.
Zechariah 7-8 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the New American Standard Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord Jesus - we are glad you don't give up on us even though hard-heartedness is a big problem with us; your people. . We are grateful that you intend to restore and celebrate with us as we worship in your presence. Amen.
The two chapters are linked into an intertwined theme. They had been doing their dutiful deeds to commemorate Zion. They longed to get back there. Their fasts in (what we call) April, May, July, October were for grieving the destruction of the Temple. But their hearts were wrong. The fasting wasn't bringing them to God. It was souring into just being a show of personal piety rooted in ... they didn't even know what anymore. The practice of this and the brand new religion of Buddha in Asia about this same time was queerly similar, btw. 7 - The prologue is soon over and God is inquiring, "are you fasting for me? are you celebrating for me? Are you serious?" God saw the activity that may have appeared religious, but he was not impressed. They were cruel to each other as widows and orphans and neighbors were destitute among them and the population basically didn't care. They seemed to enjoy pretending not to notice those suffering around them They were being evil to one another and aloof to God. Their spirituality was a empty, boring, human-centered expression that God was not impressed with. They had forgotten that God had to scatter them because of their hard-heartedness. This still was not remedied. And it needed to be. 8 - The abrupt alternating between distress from their sins and jubilation at God's renewal continue here, as is Zechariah's trademark. Amid all the folly that was yet to be reckoned with and abandoned, there is a coming Day foretold where God was going to come and dwell in Jerusalem in a glorious manner. God loved Zion and he would abide there. Truth and holiness would prevail. The old and young would be joyful as children played in the streets. God will save His people. All will have provision. Enemies will be gone. And you will all have stopped lying to each other, yes?!. There will be food aplenty, strength, and blessing. God will do good in Judah so do not be afraid. After this the fasts will be renewing and cleansing, not spiritual weirdness. The feasts will be joyful celebrations, not mere food festivals of excess. The shame of the Jews' behavior in past will be gone. And as blessing floods the land, many nations will be inspired to seek the same blessing that the Jews have since they walk anew with their God. Praise be to the Lord.
Ezekiel 33-35 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading from the New American Standard Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord, give us your pastoral heart that Ezekiel tells us about. Amen. 33 - The Lord makes it quite clear that a Believer has a duty to warn one who is straying in disobedience. If we, in God's safe keeping, look out and see one proceeding into perdition, that man's blood is on us if we do not take the responsibility to warn him that destruction lies ahead if he does not repent and make amends. Yes, we are guilty for what he does if we play the politically correct game and remain aloof dismissing the matter with platitudes of "respecting others views", minding one's own business, honoring their privacy, live and let live, blah blah and such gobbledy. Regardless of their response to our warning, we are absolved of any guilt as long as we speak to them what God would have us say as corrective direction. 18 months or thereabouts after Jerusalem was sacked [586 B.C.] the first exiles from Judah arrived in Ezekiel's territory of Babylon. His tone to the arrivals is more or less, "what did you think was going to happen. You are [top to bottom] as idolatrous as witchdoctors, you murder with glee, you swap wives like you were exchanging coupons at a store, Did you want God to bless this?!" God had it to wipe out all of you for your sedition. You're fortunate to be alive. So don't even intimate the 'gee, doesn't God love us?' malarkey!" God had to strip Israel/Judah because of your sinfulness. Don't act aghast." As the rest of the Judeans arrived in Babylon, they admired Ezekiel, but they didn't listen to him either - just like they hadn't been listening to God. They would, however, come to revere Ezekiel in time.
34 - God wants Ezekiel to deliver the mail to the "shepherds" of Israel; the priests and kings who led the people into wretched idolatry. Imagine how things could have been different had they stuck to the Covenant? As in most settings of the world, leadership is the answer. And it would be the sound answer, except that leadership was the problem in Judah. The shepherds were using the sheep to provide themselves with possession. The sheep hadn't been shepherded into God's Presence as the priests and leaders were supposed to do. So the sheep went gravely astray. The leaders would have cared about the problem but they were lounging in palaces, nibbling on roasts, and sinning themselves. The marvelous scenario is then told of when God is going to shepherd His people. What a fascinating contrast God provides against what the derelict priests let the population slouch to. Every Pastor needs to be reminded of what is written here. This is how God loves His sheep - and leaders are to love God's people the same way. 35 - With Judah falling silent and uninhabited, the neighboring country of Edom [Mt. Seir] thought it was time to go in and take possession as they saw fit. Judah was attacked with finality in 586 B.C. So Edom was staging to move in and call Judah (and beyond) their own. They were delighted to have the Jews extricated and gone "forever" so it appeared. Well, being people who are ignorant of the things of God, they were all excited making plans to absorb Judah when in 583, B.C., Babylon rushes in and lays the country out. The dead were everywhere. God needed the land of Israel to lay fallow for 70 years. No peoples were going to intercept this plan of God.
Proverbs 27-29 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the New American Standard Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord, you are so right. Wisdom is more valuable than fine gems. Wisdom actually is the prize gem that we do well to be seeking. Give us YOUR wisdom, Lord.
Today is the last of the Proverbs directly attributed to Solomon. Ch.'s 25-29 are Book Three. Solomon really loads up on the observations that entail daily interaction and he provides sound advice on how to maintain such relationships properly. There are myriad matters in society that affect us. Solomon also spends a noteworthy amount of time observing and advising against foolishness, cc. encountering fools; and urging us to shun fools. Most of the comment today is a summary assessment of what we just read. It perceives the wisdom from another slant. Same truth heard from "a different seat in the auditorium" so to speak. 27 - Solomon reminds us to let others talk us up. Don't you do it, it looks dumb. Foolishness, anger, jealousy - none of it's good! For heaven's sake be a stand up guy. Know when to go home. Be true with friends; don't sell out. Don't even be where there's evil. Be courteous 24/7. Avoid bickering women. Let relationships make you better. Faithfully manage your property, your work, your world. Be realistic - be contented, be sober in your assessments. Honestly examine your heart. Don't try to fix fools - they don't want it. Keep inventory of your property and manage it so to be fruitful.
28 - The righteous, the law-abiding, those who understand, the just --> these souls are better off than the evil, the wicked, the crooked. Helping the poor is akin to lending to God. Those who lead people astray will be repaid accordingly. God wants candor and confession from us. It's so much better when wicked oppressors are not in charge. Earn a true income and there is no guilt. When pursuing one's bounty, be faithful, systematic, blameless, fair, patient, honest, trustworthy, wise, charitable. Those who seek wealth using different and devious methods will suffer. 29 - Let yourself be corrected. Righteousness leads to rejoicing - wickedness leads to groaning. Wisdom will please your family. Harlots will waste your wealth. In our cities there must be justice; not bribes and flattery, wickedness and scorn. Raging, cackling, tempestuous, violent fools bring no rest only turmoil. Falsehood will ruin a land. Wisdom and upright living guards life. Discipline and correction brings wisdom. Undisciplined children = chaos and shame. Disciplined children bring strength and delight. Keep the law. Guard your speech. Know that anger, tantrums, and pride will take you down. When you ought to speak up, silence is lying. Put your trust in God and seek justice from Him, not man. Resolve to do right even though being righteous draws ire from the abominable, and the wicked.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, our faith needs to be built, sometimes rebuilt. We can learn from Ezra today. Don't let us weep for what was [once upon a time] "back when". We want to build the Kingdom with you today. Amen.
3 - Seven months after returning to Israel and Jerusalem, everyone joined in and the Hebrews got the altar built. They offered sacrifices continually. It was worship, yes, it was also for fear of the non Hebrew people who had migrated in while the Jews were away. The work plans went through at a feverish pitch. Offerings were gathered and provided for the specialized workers who were getting things done. Zerubbabel, the deceased King Jehoiachin's grandson, had been appointed Governor of Judah, and was at the center of all this. 13 months after being home, the work on the foundation of the Temple started. It progressed uninterrupted until it was laid in place. The pageantry was full scale and the rejoicing was exuberant. The young had never known such a thing. The old, however, wept as they recalled Solomon's Temple from 900 B.C. Emotions were in overdrive! It was a beautiful day. 4 - The squatters in Judah, who were not Hebrews, wanted the Temple to not be built. First they infiltrated and feigned it to be teamwork hoping to "build" on the Temple together. Zerubbabel smelled their duplicity and refused to let them in on it. Then the hagglers discouraged the work. Then they wrote devious documents and worked out the translation and got the King of Persia to come stop the Temple construction. He did so by force. The work was stopped for 15 years! Shameful isn't it? Folks, holidays are coming and there will be exacting folks with the same contrarian attitudes who aren't thankful, who don't want to see Baby Jesus or "Merry Christmas" signs. Don't yield. You celebrate our Savior ! Never succumb to those who want a de-Christianized world. Because once they get it, they still despise God and you for loving Him. Live your faith. Everyone loses when you don't, especially you. 5 - The next Persian King, Darius I, came to power and he changed the decree back and the Temple project resumed after 15 years in silence and chagrin. Haggai and Zechariah were there to encourage the process. [We read Haggai last month and are reading Zechariah now in the "Exile Stream".] Then adversaries came from "beyond the river" (this is the Tigris/Euphrates, not the Jordan) and questioned Zerubbabel as to who gave clearance for the Jews to rebuild their Temple. A quest; a team goes back to Darius to find if their work was cleared by the former king. This is a set back again. However, they are being slightly more civil about it. Doesn't make the delay anymore enjoyable. 6 - Darius then does agree to confirm that Cyrus did indeed decree that the Hebrews were allowed to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple. Once they find Cyrus document and confirm that the Jews are in the right, and realize that those who are being agitational to the Jews while trying to appear hyper-vigilant, Darius makes his decision. He (likely bothered at the unnecessary setback) takes funds from the Persian treasury and put up the cash to pay for the rest of the Temple to be built. And orders anyone else who stops progress to be executed. Amazing how a set back turns out to be a very fortunate development for the Jews rebuilding their Temple! It's done in 1/2 dozen years and the dedication ceremony is wondrous. Soon thereafter the Passover is celebrated and there is joy in Jerusalem! It is 515 B.C. It's another one of those, y'wish you could be there seasons. [It's important to know that there is almost a 60 year interval between the end of chapter 6 and the start of chapter 7.] 7 - Ezra finally makes the trek to Jerusalem in 458 B.C. [Most of ch's 7 and 8 are prep for this event.] Artaxerxes I is king. He happens to be Queen Esther's stepson. He also is favorable to the Jews. He realizes there is blessing in blessing them and he does. Ezra is being sent back to teach the law of God, to bring beautiful items to adorn the Temple, and to oversee the services that are to take place in the Temple. The opening of Ezra 7 makes it abundantly clear who Ezra is, who he is related to, that fact that he is very adept in the Law, and that God was upon him. He's the man for this historical job. Artaxerxes is so taken with this whole development that he sees to it that Ezra is stocked to the hilt for this journey and assignment. Ezra returns to Jerusalem with items for service, for the Temple and wealth that required a squadron of men to haul it all, plus staff to provide for all else that is needed. 8 - The extensive list of those who went back to Jerusalem with Ezra is itemized. It's almost a subtle hint to all of us: learn the scriptures - really learn then - and you will simply have all that you need. Ezra makes particular effort that there are enough Levitical priests for the journey. He takes steps to make sure they are spiritually prepared for this epochal trip. The items for the Temple are given to each apportioned man to transport to the Temple with all reverence. They arrive from the 900 mile trek after roughly four months in transit. The items are delivered in the house of God. The process is declared to be unopposed on all fronts. Halelujah.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we are born to worship you, to live consecrated unto you, hear our heart and prayers as we live for you. Amen.
These were the laws, rules, reminders, ordinances that must be followed in order to remain in the land; to remain in God's good graces.
12 - Moses was raised in complete idolatry the first 40 years of his life. The next 40 he is in the desert getting honed by God to lead the greatest event and turn of events in the Old Testament period; the Exodus through the Red Sea and to take the people to the Promised Land (not in; but to it). Then, in the last 40 years, he is teaching, training, mentoring Joshua/Caleb, and preaching to the people constantly to be free of idols; have nothing to do with them or the people who possess them. Avoid idolatry, honor the Levitical priests, be joyful and happy in what you do. They are told to be joyful three times in ch. 12 and eight times in Deuteronomy. There was a light review of some diet laws, but they must be careful to pour blood out on the ground when they were slaughtering. Don't be enamored with the color 'red' in this way. Most of the cults in the region would ingest blood in their cultic rituals, not you, however. Destroy any all and all remnants of false Gods. Follow me carefully 13 - Anyone who attempts to lure people away to other gods, execute them. Doesn't matter who they are, even a relative. Execute anyone who tries to lead you away from monotheism; your one true God. People in other cities who try to lure you away get the same treatment. Finish them off and burn all their cultic material, pocket none of it. Idolatry must go. Get accustomed to saying this and living this way. If you get weary of hearing "flee idols", why is that? Is it because you are doing idols now? Never weary of what is right. When you do, the immediate danger of idolatry is 'at your door'. 14 - Pagan laws and diet laws along with tithing laws fill this chapter. No cutting yourself and no mohawks is what is said from the start. The pagan religions around them did this. They were not to take part. Note that the farther away any culture is from Christ, the more they ink/ and cut/scar/poke themselves. And zany 'rooster style' hairstyles are far more noticeable. These people are to be wholly God's possession. They were to reflect God and God is not a freakshow. As for diet, the sharpest delineation is that the animals they are allowed to eat were vegetarian animals. Animals that eat animals or garbage or feces have compounded toxins in them. This is not healthy. Do not eat them. They were to be hospitable, tithing to God regularly, charitable, and to care for the priests without fail. 15 - Debt was not to be a matter of strangulation. There came a time to drop accounts and start anew. Btw, this is a law that once was in play in the USA. No mortgages went past seven years. Did you know that? Once politicians thought it coy to remove God from government 30+ year mortgages became common place. 40+ year mortgages are being discussed as of recent. God has better ideas always. There are countries today, [majority nonChristian], where there are now 100 year mortgages. One class of people has permanent sway over another class of people for four generations. This isn't right. Enough collateral comment. They were to be compassionate to the poor, not mean. God is watching! There was servanthood, and slaves in cases and there were laws regarding this. No one was to be treated as a despised animal. More items and reminders about tithing and offerings and what God wanted them to be mindful of. And another reminder about blood. Don't cook with it, don't drink it like devil worshippers. Pour it on the ground.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, you talked to Peter, you talk to us. Thank you for this great fellowship and learning. The people of your Temple are your Temple. We are where you dwell, and we are grateful to be the house where you live. Amen.
Today we completed Peter's first and second letters. This is the final word from this boisterous and beloved apostle. He died a martyr's death in Rome. The last weeks of his life he was so overcome with joy in Jesus, [though held under guard in prison] that he led dozens of others to Christ [we were told 49] and he baptized them. He was a voice of heaven that intercepted people condemned to die. My husband and I were blessed to be in Rome and see all these quarters where Peter was held, where he wrote his final writings, and where he was executed. [heavy sigh] The next we hear from him straight up will be when we meet him at the gate of heaven. Maybe he will take us for a walk on the Crystal Sea . . . I Peter 5 - Peter's heart for pastoral care really comes out here. He urges the elder ones in the church to care for the younger and remain tutorial in tone and demeanor; don't act put out as you care for others. As for the younger, pay attention and be teachable, honoring those above you. Keep alert. Nero's recent edict against Christians has Peter to give illustration of the devil prowling like a lion to devour Believers. This was all too real for the young and persecuted church. Peter urges all to hang on and endure. The suffering would end soon. He sends greetings from a sister church "here in Babylon". Peter was in Rome and equating it with the legendary Babylon that was equally pagan. II Peter 1 - Peter greets his friends in the churches and then encourages them to grow in the faith. The qualities he wants us to add to our character are listed in perfect order. You can hear the love and faith Peter has hoping we grow in grace as we hang on to Christ. Peter is so very endeared to all those he cares for. Peter ends the chapter urging the flock to keep attentive to scripture. It's real, true, authentic, it's what we can rely upon. Peter clearly recalls the experience on the mount with Jesus when Moses and Elijah appeared and God spoke. This is as real as it gets. It changed Peter forever, and it changes everything for us too. God's servants don't die! 2 - Jesus, and Paul, and now Peter is warning about false teachers, liars, charlatans, wolves in sheep's clothing coming into churches to take advantage of Believers. They are hucksters, thieves, adulterers, sinners, users, losers and they need to be identified, rooted out, booted out. The Devil is their motivation and they have no place in the church. Left to abide among you, their selfishness will destroy what is good among you. This chapter sounds like the book of Jude - another stern warning we will read the first week of December. 3 - a chapter about God's timing: some are questioning if Christ is returning. According to when Peter is writing, it's been 38 years since Jesus ascended into heaven. The scoffers were saying Jesus hasn't come back because He isn't coming back. These same scoffers are ignorant of creation, the flood, ignorant of Christ, God's timing and the peculiar thing is that they enjoy the ignorance. They're "willfully ignorant" as one translation says. Peter warns of this problem; these people. God isn't slack, He's forgotten nothing. He doesn't use our clock. If you perceive a delay and God is indeed "delaying", He's delaying so that there is more time for people to repent and find Christ. That's a good thing. Peter reminds us to not be thrown off by those apostate ones - they are going down. You remain holy in Christ, in the Word, and in fellowship.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, we believe in you our Resurrected Lord. Amen.
Today's reading contained the greatest claim ever made in all of literature; that He; Jesus is ONE with God the Father in Heaven. It also contains the greatest resurrection narrative outside of Jesus' resurrection in biblical history. Some are thrilled about this, and some are murderously disturbed about this. Where is this going to lead? 10:22-42 - Two months prior Jesus gave His talk about being the Good Shepherd. That was in what we call "October." It is winter in Israel now, two months have passed. Jesus had been back to Galilee during the autumn interval. Jesus has about four months out before the Passover wherein HE would be the sacrificial lamb. He is 33 years old by now. It is winter of 29 A.D. The Feast of Dedication is in process. It is just after what Matthew 17:1-8 tells us about the Transfiguration. Jesus is walking in Jerusalem among some regal architecture and makes it clear who he is. They would dismiss Him with a chuckle except for the miracles that prove that what He is talking about is authentic. That is something that needs to be asked anytime there is tension in dialogue: are the disturbed people all roused up because what was just stated is false or because it's true? They are ready to kill Jesus! And is it because he is telling fairy stories? If He's all off base, there's no tension because He's a looney tune with a jaded mind. BUT, they are livid with Him - the leaders are. And yet the people continue to gather and listen and receive Him and are touched in the heart. Jesus spent the next two months (the remainder of winter) east of the Jordan among many people where the Sanhedrin had no authority or jurisdiction. 11 - Here comes the point of no return; the raising of Lazarus. It is springtime. Lazarus is the third person Jesus raised from the dead (1-Jairus' daughter, 2-son of the widow in Nain). There is less than a month before Calvary occurs and this resurrection truly sets the stage for setting off a cultural wildfire in Jerusalem. Jesus is informed of Lazarus' death when He was in Jericho (at the Zacchaeus event). But Jesus waits two more days for timing's sake (He knew what He was doing). He wanted more to gather before He entered the stage. Mary and Martha and Lazarus were a popular set of siblings in the area, btw, and Jesus is going to go up to Bethany to provide the ultimate blessing. Jesus marches the 11 miles, plus the 3500+ ft. climb and arrives four days after Lazarus died. The people are hopeless, grieving. The thought of Lazarus coming back to life is no where in anyone's thinking. Mary contests opening the tomb because of the smell. She can't envision a resurrection happening. Who could? Today, who could? And then it happens: Jesus calls Lazarus back from death. Notice He orders to take the grave clothes off of him and "let him go." Did you catch that? Death had him as it is coming for us all. This gives us hope of resurrection against what haunts all of humanity; that all are headed for death. At any rate, hundreds saw the resurrection of a beloved man from a prominent family. News spread like a flash flood (this is pre-cell phone days, folks!) The population wants to make Him king immediately and yet the leaders in Jerusalem want to kill Him immediately. Caiaphas' words about one dying for the whole country is prophetic. It's an educated man making an accurate statement and doing so for a completely selfish and power-motivated reason. Right words - wrong heart. This finalized the decision to kill Jesus. Jesus knew what was developing. So he and His disciples headed north about 12 miles to basically hide out and rest up a bit. Back in Jerusalem a high stakes and threatening game of pay-offs and hide-n-seek was well underway. Do you wish you could have been there and experienced all of this? The steps of all this can be retraced in Jerusalem and Bethany and Ephraim and Emmaus and Bethlehem even today. Whatever we do let's keep reading until we all meet in the New Jerusalem.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, you feel about us the same way we feel about everything we care about - you just want us to be clean. The cleaner we are, the closer we can become to you. Thank you for sending Jesus (the Joshua) for our cleansing. Amen.
Just a brief review as we are approaching the middle of Zechariah. His prophecy is a two-year period that occurred within the four-year period of rebuilding the Temple. This was in the 530's B.C. The tone of Zechariah here is that sin drove you out of this land. Don't even think of resorting to going back to it. Sin has got to go. You all "had to go" 70 years ago because you were more committed to sin than to God. Remember what causes what and let God have His Way in cleansing His people; you. Cling to God, not sin, and live His joy. 5 - The vision of the flying scroll means that God has no patience with thieves and liars. They will be crushed, not just them, their whole property will be crushed along with them. The vision of a flying basket with a woman named Wickedness in it that is carried away by two other "women" who resemble storks with wings...? What of that? What's being said here. is that the sex cults, the Asherah poles, the prostitution, the divorcing and wife-swapping ... knock it off, all of you and don't ever have that be in my country again, says the Lord. I ran you away to Babylon and let you think about your sinful ways for a few decades. Don't be thinking, "ok, we're home now, let's get back to a favorite old vice of ours...NO, NEVER. That trash IS "Babylon", and it doesn't belong here in my land. The two women who take this Wicked woman back to Babylon? What's the deal? One scholar says that it is a grand scale picture of the source of sin and the cure for sin. The Sin of the earth entered the world through the transgression of one woman; Eve. No man forced her to do this. The Savior also enters the world through one woman; Mary. No man was involved in this endeavor of bringing the Savior to earth. So the problem needing to be removed and the one removing the problem of sin, all three are women here - symbolic of the problem and solution. 6 - remember the horns/nations and the craftsmen in ch. 1 of Zechariah? This is a thematic allusion to that in ch. six. The people who have terrorized the Hebrews, the people that have come from the north, will experience severe retribution. The Crowning of Jeshua is the balance of the chapter from v. 9 to the end. The Branch, the person who brings the matter of Salvation to within reach, will be one who comes to Jerusalem and is perfect in the building of the Temple, of being King AND being Priest. King Saul illicitly tried to be both [and more] as Israel's first king. His crazed ineptitude revealed itself. No one could pull this together (being King and Priest and Savior) except for the Savior Himself. This Savior is coming. Did they know this even with Zechariah's message to them? Were they even able to understand this in Zechariah's day? Would they understand it when the Savior actually did arrive*?!
Ezekiel 30-32 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, Jesus, let us not be troubled about the giants in the land who are against you. Let us not be taken by their size, or might, or threats. You know what to do with them. I pray we would lift up our eyes to you and realize that our help comes from the Lord. Nothing can separate us from your love. Amen.
We finished Ezekiel's prophecy that Jerusalem was in trouble; Ezekiel 1-24. Now we are well into the prophecy against Egypt. They too were going to fall due to their minds being set against Israel for basically their entire existence. Ezekiel gave six distinct visions against Egypt. We read the first one tast week. Today we read the second through the sixth. 30 - Ezekiel is speaking that Egypt is about to be swarmed upon by Babylon. As we read last week, they are finishing a 13-year campaign that decimated Tyre but yielded very little pay. They are victorious leaving Tyre and heading to Egypt, but they are unsatisfied and longing for a paystreak. So they will enter Egypt doubly eager to strip Egypt and will do so shortly. They will leave bodies of Egyptians everywhere. Neighboring towns will be flattened, nations who befriend or do commerce with Egypt will suffer also. "The Prince" will not be found. The idols will be smashed. Everything burnable will be burned. For hundreds of miles all up and down the Nile, there will be death and fires burning everything. All men will die and all the women will be taken away as slaves. The Egyptians will scatter. The Lord has spoken. The "broken arms of Pharaoh" is the army that will be conquered, and rendered useless. Pharaoh's defense will be gone. This occurred in the spring of 587 B.C. This event is told of in Ezekiel's second and third visions [Jerusalem had barely over a year before it too would be emptied out.] Jeremiah 37:5-9 is a contemporary story that is concurrent with these chapters., btw. 31 - In His fourth vision; God is speaking as Ezekiel is writing and Egypt is being compared to Assyria. The trees are tall, strong, green and lush. The water is plentiful. The place is fruitful and the people are powerful. Assyria was perceived as so powerful and Egypt had admired Assyria. Egypt thinks it is mighty like Assyria too. ... and Assyria fell like a crumbled building when Babylon rushed in. Guess what Egypt - you are going down too. Your pride and arrogance and lofty attitude is going to get cut down and swiftly so. Babylon is being unleashed on you. And you will die by the sword. 32 - It seems that the first 16 verses are a permanent funeral march for Egypt. It's a dirge of the gravest sort. Think of their history. Abraham was in Egypt some 1400-1500 years prior. The pyramids outside Cairo stand today as memories of this era; The Old Kingdom. Some the the Pyramids there predate Noah's flood! There's the Middle Kingdom 500+ miles up the Nile. They were overthrown by Hyksos as was spoken of in Exodus 1:8 after which there arose a new Pharaoh in a New Kingdom who did not know Joseph. This New Kingdom was 1550 - 712 B.C. This remnant of Egypt, however, that Babylon would overrun and leave as food for birds, would be the end of Egypt. They would never rise to world prominence again. What's left of them even today are stones and artifacts and a few gems that enamor the world. We'll grant them that, but it is a banished empire that is at its end. They have been arrogant against the God of Abraham and are therefore over with soon. The 15 final verses are that of Egypt being relegated to the realm of the dead. The coffins, the embalming rooms, the pyramids [of which all were tombs] were Egypt's obsession with the dead. And dead they would be. Remember Jesus saying to "let the dead bury the dead"? He is the God of the Living. Egypt's culture was all about the dead. It had to go.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, we want to think what you are thinking, love what you love, shun what you shun, and live as you want us to live. Amen.
Proverbs is a collection of three books by Solomon. 24 is the end of Book 2 and 25 is the start of Book 3. 24 - Don't envy evil people - they have trouble coming. And for what it's worth, don't rejoice when they 'crash' in life. Just build your world on wisdom, for therein is strength. Wisdom is also sweeter than honey. Congregate with leaders who are wise, and step up to provide justice when you are able to. There is amazing depth and resilience from the Lord in godly people living godly lives. Be careful to be just and right, to plan your work fastidiously, to be gracious v.s. vindictive. And know that laziness is the path to the certain trap of poverty.
25 - Impurities in your work and wicked people in society - both need to be removed. Here's civic wisdom we can use: Do well, then be invited "upward" - don't "grandstand", don't betray secrets, cut gossip (it stirs anger), speak and hear timely advice, receive helpful criticism, be a trustworthy messenger, deliver what you promise, mind to your business v.s. being a trolling nuisance, encourage appropriately, ladies - let's not be quarrelsome, do not comply with wicked people, remember self control provides great protection. 26 - Fools: they have no honor, curse senselessly, need a beating, engage in mindless arguments, can't be trusted, twist words, talk stupid, deserve scorn, shun responsibility, and they just keep going with all of it. The lazy: (btw, just as much a nuisance in society as fools) they have the dumbest reasons for not working, they churn and turn on their beds, they're even too lazy to eat right ... and they think they are smart?! yeesh. Do not : trick people, pick fights, spread rumors, smooth-talk or lie in any way, Do not set traps for people. All this is because God keeps account.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord God, even when punishment needs to be delivered, and it is hurtful, even then you are planning restoration. We are grateful that you are always planning to redeem and restore us. Amen.
In our reading today, the inevitable occurs. The southern kingdom, the core of God's agenda, the ones who have known Him the most and the most dynamically, they have taken God past the edge of His grace and patience. Jerusalem falls. It cannot be healed as is. Not with these people and their deep commitment to stray from truth. The Babylonians arrive to pillage. Then we jump about 50 years to a new era when the exiles are returning.
35 - We are in the middle of Josiah's reign. His reforms were marvelous and right to the utmost. His celebration of the Passover was, a "show stopper" (forgive the Broadway verbiage). It was immense and complete. Josiah was committed in this sense. When God asked Josiah "for a buck" - he gave three. The zeal is good, though it gives him problems at the end. At any rate, Josiah does it big for God. And remember that he pulls off this Passover celebration as a leader and he is 26 years old. Many 26 year olds don't even have their studio apartment furnished past "refugee status" at 26! And here was Josiah celebrating (leading!) the Passover in the greatest way it had ever been commemorated in 500 years. Josiah is a legendary. And yet his dreadfully unfortunate death tells us something that was not a yielded matter in his heart. He was king at 8. He was not eager to learn from mommy, memorize his times tables, he is King. It's too much power too young. But what do you do about timing at this stage of the game? If he had not had a core attitude of "hey, I'm king!" that goes back as far as he could remember, perhaps he would have listened to the advice of one older who knew better. He had no fight with the Egyptians. He had latent commitments to Assyria that were not right to have, but he did. He thinks Assyria will honor him for attacking their attackers. But it turns out to be a fool's move. It's dumb as jumping off a dock to save a stray cat that accidentally fell into a feeding frenzy of sharks. You get killed and save nothing! 36 - The son of Josiah is made king and quickly removed and taken to Egypt by Pharaoh Neco. Jehoiakim is installed as king in Jerusalem by this same Pharaoh Neco. Being installed by a pagan, he has no impetus to do anything but act pagan - and he does. His reign was dark and tumultuous. He deserved all the rough treatment he got from those who oppressed him. Jehoiachin, the son, was on the throne for just a number of weeks before being hauled to Babylon. Zedekiah assumed the final kingship as the last ruler of Jerusalem. He was there 597 to 586 B.C. He was duplicitous; honest with no one. He always had secondary deals going, like a politician, and when Babylon finally stormed in at the end, they were doubly determined to make Zedekiah suffer. They did. We didn't cover the brutal details of this last 23 years in Jerusalem. That is in II Kings' final chapters. You can review that if you wish. It's gory stuff. Ungodliness always leads to such horror. Jeremiah 26 &36 contains some insight into how wretched these final kings were. Jump forward from 586 B.C. to 538 B.C. and King Cyrus of Persia is releasing tens of thousands of Jewish souls to return to Jerusalem. Since Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, they too have been overthrown. Persia is now the grand force in the Middle and Near East. And Cyrus, fond of the Jewish story, has a heart to allow them to return to Israel. Ezra 1 - The process of returning to Israel/Jerusalem begins. Remember, God spurred this to happen and Jeremiah had prophesied this would happen. The planning, packing, taking inventory, returning of valuables to Hebrews for the trip home, all this is well underway. 2 - Here is the "packing list" of all the leaders and groups and their numbers heading back to Israel. They are the families, priests, Levites, gatekeepers, Temple servants, and more. There are nearly 50,000 people commencing upon a 900 mile walk. What a sight! Imagine running a convenience store along the way back!
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, thank you for making your plans for us to follow so clear. We want to be following you clearly and you have made the way very clear for us. Thank you. Amen.
This is a salient section of the grand pep-talk Moses is giving prior to entering Canaan. 7 - can a bride [wearing a wedding dress] work a shift on a commercial fishing vessel right before walking in to be married? Can she spend a day working on an oil rig (in her wedding dress!) and then head straight to the altar for her vows? Can she, wearing her white gown, help the guys pour a concrete courtyard (the rubber boots should keep her dress from dragging in it, right?!) and then be fresh for the ceremony? a 1,000 times "no!" Neither can the Israelites associate with the ghastly pagan peoples that inhabit Canaan - not in any way. Remove them or you will become them. And consequently, if you become them, God cannot use you..and you will be disposed of without a whimper. So after you remove the Canaanites, et al., flatten their world and structures as well. Do not be enamored with any of it.-dispose of it all. Following God is going to have comprehensive blessings for you and yours and everything you work with and everything you own. You will be utterly victorious at every turn, in farming, animal husbandry, and in battle. Follow ME and thrive!
8 -Moses recalls for all of them the fascinating, miraculous, and particular care the Israelites received during the sojourn through the desert. They were fed, clothed, watered, healed, shielded, doctored, protected, led, blessed and more. For 40 years without fail, God never even looked away. And God's careful guidance would not leave them in the future, provided they obey. Any questions? No, skip it, He's not fielding any questions on this. 9 - They were soon to be heading in across the Jordan to a wondrous land set up for them to readily occupy. Giants? Who's afraid of giants? They will fall like severed reeds at God's command. And as the Israelites go in they were not to think of themselves as paragon privileged prissies. God is using them because God is gracious. They needed to be forgiven of so much while in the desert. Their rebellion and penchant to stray was incorrigible. Never forget that and start acting like the snot-nose brat who is owed something. And they were to be grateful for Moses' pastoral care standing in and pleading their pathetic cause after each sin. I.e., You are going into Canaan because God is good, not because you are good. So keep that in the fore of your thinking, and remain grateful. 10 - Next Moses recalled for them the ordeal at Sinai wherein the second set of Commandment Tablets was made for them. Yes, God isn't the only one who is angry and disappointed with your rebellion! You remember the other sundry matters from those days, ok ok - the clincher is this: you know what God requires of you. Don't act like you can't read the map or find the map or that you cant' remember that you even have a map to follow. You don't get coupons or credit of any ribbons for playing stupid with God. YOU KNOW what God wants from you. Look at yourselves....there are millions of you now. You used to be a band of 70, yet I blessed you. And the huge army of Egypt before the Exodus? Where are they now? I sunk them. Take a hint here and don't be stubborn with God. He can do whatever He wants with whomever He wants. And YOU KNOW how to stay on His good side. 11 - is a great chapter as is Deut. 6 & 28 that recites the blessings for obedience, devotion, and living by God's Word. The blessings will be national as well as personal and detailed, provided the Law is followed. It must be followed deliberately, completely, and permanently. This not a nonchalant matter by any means. Don't be deceived or grow lax. Evil could pounce in a moment if you stray. Your obedience will affect you, and the land, the harvest, the weather, your health and families, domestic tranquility, everything. There is blessing for following God. There is cursing for following another. And remember, no coupons are given out for playing stupid.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, what an inspiration Peter provides us with. Peter knew you personally. We want to know you deeply as well. Teach us your way, oh Lord. Amen.
Peter was a sinful man called to serve Christ in a much larger role than feeding the population around Galilee their needed fish ration. He was the most vocal and eager of the disciples. He was one who "wore it on his shirtsleeve" laying it all out there. His trademark was to jump in first and think things through later. His fervent heart, eager spirit, and reckless commitment to Jesus had him to be among Jesus' inner circle. He writes this first of his two letters to the churches of "Asia Minor". Paul worked tireless to bring these congregations along. Peter writes these vital and rich letters to these congregations to add his poignant perspective to what they must know to be growing in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Suffering was mounting and the days ahead were about to grow more difficult. Peter's joy in his Savior was a trait that needed to be infused into Believers.
1 - Peter reminds them of the marvelous hope and glorious future they have in Christ. The hope of this glory is in fact so marvelous that the sufferings being endured at present are practically 'inconveniences' by comparison. What is coming for those who believe is so worth it - so guard yourselves against the world that so badly wants to drag you into it's culture. The eternal wonders of Christ are great and the holiness that is going to be rewarded is unimaginable. So let's attach ourselves to Christ who shall never perish. It is Peter who talks about being elected. The doctrine of "election" pivots heavily from I Peter 1. We understand where this comes from for Peter. It was he who was stared our Lord straight in the face when Jesus ordered him, "follow me". Christ chose Peter. It was a moment that never left Him. 2 - Stop all evil and do what you must to grow in Christ. Let Christ nourish you is what Peter is saying. Let Christ Jesus help you grow. We either want that or we don't - we're in or out. What do we want? - as for the flesh v.s. spirit war inside of us, Peter encourages us to 'call it over with', yield to Christ, and be a good and honorable testimony among the lost souls in this world. Let doing right be your weapon in this world. Then the criticism aimed at you will remain hapless - if you always do what is right. This entails honoring people and respecting God. Please realize and exercise the power that is demonstrated in submission. [Peter is speaking to Christians who were slaves as well.] Ugly retaliations were never in line with faith. Christ endured far worse. We too can endure for the sake of remaining a gracious testimony for Jesus. 3 - Wives honoring their husbands was a powerful witnessing tool. It was not long before word got out and men across the Empire wanted a Christian wife. This too brought men into the Kingdom....millions of them! [Ugly- hearted women work against the Kingdom.] And men are to cherish and protect their wives like the priceless jewels that they are. What has been the result of men following this maxim? The Christian women of this world are the most gracious, insightful, attractive, empowered, wealthy, and engaged women on earth. And all this even though they do not belabor their appearance. The beauty of Christ merely shines through. The passage that Christ preached to the spirits in prison - this is what happened in the time between the crucifixion; Christ's death and the Resurrection on the third day. He testified to even those who had been gone. There were 4,000 years between Cain/Abel and Christ's arrival. Those scores of generations that lived in between those times needed to hear from Christ. So He told them. It's a single passage doctrine and we cannot construct a huge theology around this concept. So we will drop that matter and finish chapter three with Peter's note about baptism. Baptism cleanses. It washes away the former and starts us anew. It is a blessing. There are too many arguments about 'First baptism/ second baptism, first Baptist this and that, Southern Baptist yada yada, water baptism sprinkle baptism. Hey, let's just let God bless us with baptism and share this blessing v.s. arguing over it. 4 - With tremendous reverence for his Savior, Peter again encourages us to be ready to deepen our discipleship as suffering was intensifying here in the 60's A.D.. Nero in Rome was particular to use the Christians as his scapegoats. Nero, an excessively sadistic and pagan man, especially enjoyed burning Christians to death. The Christian church in this part of the world was a mere 35-or-so years old. Would this end the church? Strangely enough it only made the church grow! The compassion this suffering caused, the love that the young church had for eachother as they huddled and worshipped (sometimes fearfully) was the phenomenon of the first century. It's a truth of history, those who suffer together are more endeared to each other. This suffering purified the church. And a purified church is a powerful church! The Thread Through the Streams The thread that was sewed through the week was, "you better suit up for this. A greater covering is needed." -Deuteronomy 4-6 they better cover their lives with obedience. Do whatever you need to do to make sure you remember what I've commanded of you. Put things on your hands, foreheads, houses. Cover yourselves with these Ten Commandments and God will cover you. Strip them from you and YOU will be exposed to great evil. Loving God and your neighbor will cover everything in God's eyes. -II Chronicles 30-34 Hezekiah remembered the cloud that covered Israel by day, the fire by night, the blood on the door posts that covered them during the Passover, the Exodus that covered over the Egyptians. It was time to spiritually cover the Judeans again and have Passover. After that enough offerings came in to cover everything. When raging Assyrians had surrounded Jerusalem Hezekiah covered the matter in prayer. God told them to not suit up for war - he would cover this matter.. God shielded them from decimation. After him, Manasseh cloaked himself, his city, and every hill with unspeakable evil before he did the opposite in humility. Josiah was suited as king at 8 years old. He stripped the evil and covered the land with blessing. -Proverbs 21-23 tells us to suit up our hearts with humility, and to cover our words in humility. And to cover your lives with wisdom, be sure and cover your destiny with your father's teaching. Be diligent to suit up your children and so cover your future. And as a reminder, if you give yourself to alcohol you won't be suited for anything. -Ezekiel 27-29 says that the Babylonians were swooping down on Tyre and they would cover the place. What is Tyre's covering? 28:13 said "...every precious stone was your covering." Well Tyre got stripped bare; nothing left! Their lives were covered in sin as was Sidon. Babylon uncovered everything and left them ghost towns. Israel, however, would one day dwell in safety. That would suit them perfectly. And Egypt was going to be laid out and barren across the desert. It's wealth, it's animals and even it's fish were going to be strewn in the desert. I bet they would be covered in vultures! -Zechariah 3-4 is the vision when "Joshua" the Savior is covered in filthy robes; our sin. And they are changed to regal clothing; a suit of righteousness when Christ covers us by his sacrifice that changes everything in a day! -John 9-10 Christ covers the blind man's eyes and he can soon see. The healed man had best be warned to suit up for the hailstorm of hostility that would shower on him. His parents couldn't cover him from the criticism. -I Peter 1-4 warns the Christians to basically get emotionally suited up to endure great hatred from the Romans. This would require a great covering of humility and perseverance and a heart of love. They would need to cover each other in prayer and cover for each other. This they did as the Holy Spirit covered them to do mighty things in this first century church as the gospel then covered Europe and Asia from one end to the other before the close of the 1st century.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, we pray as the disciples did, "increase our faith." We want to know you more, trust you more, understand you more, be with you more. Amen. 9 - This is one of Jesus' most famous healings. He restores a blind man's sight. When the issue of "who sinned?" arises. Jesus uses language that basically implies we should stop assessing and categorizing people in our ministries and just meet needs. Jesus heals this man and heeeeere goes - let the squabbles begin. The Pharisees are beside themselves. Jesus set it up this way. He wants the man healed and He also wants the people to know for certain that the Scribes, Pharisees, teachers of the Law and Sanhedrin do not care about peoples' welfare. They only want to control people. Their healings, their joy, their stories, their needs are of no concern to the leaders. The testy discussion that ensues is legal madness. They don't even know what it is that they want to know. Notice that every question and statement that the leaders ask of the healed man, his parents, and of Jesus is a fruitless and absurd inquiry. Think of it: they want people to come to Temple. But once they get all their circular questions answered about the healed man, they throw him OUT of the Temple! His healing is of no joy to them. The men are spiritually demented ... and yet they are in charge. It's not right. Jesus has more dialogue in this venue wherein spiritual blindness is discussed and proven. "It's a wrap" on another perfect teaching moment that merely authenticates [through healing] that Jesus is in the world to take us to God in Heaven; The One who made heaven and earth and first said, "let there be light." Then again, Jesus just said that He is the light. The discussion about Jesus being light is still going on isn't it?!
10:1-21 - Jesus tells a gripping parable about sheep and shepherds. It falls on open ears too since the people were very fond of their sheep, the wool, the mutton, the whole culture around these animals. Everyone knew the impetus of the shepherd in their culture. And Jesus launches into a lesson about Himself based upon the population's understanding of shepherds and sheep. He is the Good Shepherd. Jesus guides because He can see where we need to go. (And this is right after he restored the sight of an infamous blind man!) Shepherds take sheep to fresh water (He called Himself 'Living Water'). Shepherds bring sheep to new pasture; more food (He called Himself the Bread of Life). He is the doorway...the doorway to God = the safety of being 'in the fold'. He will not run like a hack or hired hand who doesn't care. He will protect from "wolves" - the enemies of this world. He says He lays down His life for the sheep. What might that possibly mean ? Notice that this teaching again enlightens some and infuriates others; it splits the group. The argument might end quickly by those who despise Jesus for they resent His deeds but then again, how can He heal eyes if He is evil? The controllers in Jerusalem are so frustrated by Jesus. However, those longing for life are so comforted by Him. Which are we? The frustrated or the comforted?
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we your Temple give your reverence. Be blessed by our praise. Amen.
3 - The Name Joshua as is revealed to Zechariah is "Jesus" -The Savior. The name Joshua from 1400 B.C. was Yehoshua that became Yashua that became iesous (yeah-SOOS). Then it was anglicized to be "Jesus". The text through the centuries was run through Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, English [and it's transformations during the last 1,100 years]. I just say this {perhaps TMI] so that when you hear "Joshua" in Zech. 3, you don't picture the one with Moses in the Tabernacle/Tent/Sinai and all that. This is a clear vision of the coming Savior; it is Jesus. Zechariah is loaded with these beautiful visions. The 'filthy garments' are OUR SINS put upon Christ. The rich robes and adornment are what the "sins" are traded in for once sacrificed. This figure will then become the authority. He is God's Servant; The Branch who will take away our sins in a day. You know this is Calvary, right?! It's more than wonderful - 1400 hundred years of regular sacrifices and millions and millions of animals sacrificed was all temporal. This one sacrifice was eternal; past, present, and future. Do you realize that this "Joshua" has already forgiven your errors? and your errors of all your tomorrows?!
4 - The symbolism is bewildering and exciting at the same time. It is an awesome message to Zerubbabel who was back in Jerusalem rebuilding the Temple. "...Not by might nor power, but by my Spirit..." is the message that has encouraged untold amounts of Believers to continue in their Kingdom endeavors and to do so with the proper attitude! It's such beautiful literature. The capstone, the foundation, the plumbline that ensures that the Temple is perpendicular - all this is Christ and Christ in operation. The candlestick is symbolic of God's House. Herein is Light provided to the world. The Lampstand was what was in the Tabernacle and then in the Temple. The olive trees (remember olive oil symbolizes healing - we read that in James 5 just last week), -olive trees and their beneficial oil mean to be Joshua and Zerubbabel according to some. Others posit it is Moses and Elijah (the two that appeared during the Transformation on either side of Jesus. Peter/James/John were there). What it all means won't be settled today - just know that the vision is inspiring, encouraging, and of God. Zerubbabel especially is to be encouraged as he is putting the Temple together again. And 600 or so years later, the Temple becomes us. Ponder all this fascination, folks.
Ezekiel 27-29 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading from the Modern English Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, what an awful price people pay for mocking you, ignoring you, assuming your role is theirs. I pray we are the opposite of these wrong-minded people. May we worship and serve you humbly all our days. Amen.
Ezekiel's visions of what is going to happen to Tyre continues: 27 - this chapter is the middle of the visions for Tyre. Here Ezekiel gives an elaborate list of the superlatives that are Tyre. The impressions of the picturesque city, the exquisite goods that ship through, the regal and ornate ships that move along the coasts and take wares to and from Tyre - it is all listed with aplomb; as we just read. But Tyre is about to come apart at the seams. Terror is going to sweep over this city, these people, this region. Tyre has mocked and jeered at Jerusalem's calamity --> and because of this attitude, they are headed for ruin. This is one of God's divine rules. Tyre is "on a timer" now. They will be removed from the map permanently. Visiting Tyre even today is a walk through an archaeological site. 28 - Tyre had a wealthy and confident king who was so self-assured and arrogant that he needs a stern word from God. Tyre's king is that appallingly arrogant. So God is sending a message. Collateral readings and other historical documents reveal that Tyre's king basically rolled his eyes over these prophesies. He thought he was "untouchable". God declared otherwise. Ezekiel also penned the lament for the king of Tyre. How do you like that? A death prophecy complete with funeral arrangements, heavens! And Sidon just to the north was going to see rough days in the near future. They were a headquarters of wretched man-made religion. (Jesus even called its residents "dogs" ca. 600 years later.) It was not a place known for its virtue and pleasantries. God was against them and He wanted them to know it. Disease will wrack this place and blood will flow in the streets. Nebuchadnezzar smashed into both these cities at basically the same time. And there would be a day when Israel, as a restored whole nation, would glory again -After the hostile neighbors are gone from the earth, of course. 29 - In the next four chapters; 29-32, there are six visions for Egypt. We'll read the first vision in chapter 29, part of the second one, and complete the six visions for Egypt next week. The first vision comes to Ezekiel in January 587 B.C. - 18 months before Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar. Egypt is envisioned as a giant crocodile in this chapter, just as Tyre is descriptive of an ornate ship in ch. 27. The "Crocodile", being one of the gods of Egypt, shall 'go down' just as Egypt is going to go down. The crocodiles and fish of the Nile will be banished to the wilderness (e.g. things are going to be where they shouldn't be; Egyptians included!). This Nile River, that YOU claim you made, will not be where you draw your life and food from. You irrigate with the Nile, and eat fish from the Nile. Guess what, the vultures that will be eating your fish in the wilderness will eat you after that. Yes, things will collapse in Egypt...soon! Nebuchadnezzar will hold you captive as the Babylonians will rush in to kill and/or capture whomever they will. And in 571 B.C. The Babylonians did storm Egypt. They had spent much of the 16 years in between sacking Jerusalem and marching to Egypt - 13 of it to be exact - laying siege to Tyre and coming up empty since the Tyrians incrementally left the region with their gems/wealth. Thus the Babylonians entered Egypt weary of not gathering booty and desperate to pillage. And pillage Egypt they did! The Babylonians scooped up Egypt's wealth and enslaved them for just over 40 years. And as Ezekiel decreed, this was God's plan - to strip Egypt.
Download Proverbs 21-23 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the Modern English Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, since we live for you we want our decisions and steps to match this wisdom that has been shared with us today. May we be wise in your eyes, not in our own. Amen.
We continue in Proverbs while riding the current in the wisdom stream. The Wisdom Stream has us in Proverbs all the "wisdom days" of October and November. Can we call it 'the brilliance of a colorful autumn"? We should. 21 - The Lord knows each nation's king, each man's heart, He knows justice, He knows where the proud end up. The diligent have - the hasty lack. Here are some wrong ways to live or make a living: through lying, violence, perversity, nagging/brawling, craving evil. You can learn from others' stupid mistakes. Help the poor, be a giving soul, do what is just. Loving ease keeps you poor. It cannot be overstated --> the blessings upon the righteous, the gracious, the wise, those who follow honor. They shall be mighty and kept from foolishness and harm. The appetite of the lazy and greedy will kill him. The righteous give while the wicked plot to take more. Liars die, but the words of those who listen become eternal. Be upright, plan and prepare for victory, but realize that it is God who gives it. 22 - A good reputation cannot be bought. A bad one cannot be bought off. V. 4 -> "By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor and life." <- within all the 95 verses we read today, be sure and remember this one. * Remember the importance of guarding the soul, of training and disciplining children, of managing money properly, of giving, of helping the poor, of shunning scoffers, remaining pure, speaking graciously, and preserving knowledge. Do not cherish laziness, nor a loose woman's lies, do not guard a child's foolishness (drive it out), and do not oppress the poor. Next in Proverbs are 30 wise sayings and themes in a row. We'll do the first 19: 1] Listen to wisdom, to the Lord, to good counsel 2] Do not rob/oppress the poor. This puts you on God's bad list 3] Avoid angry people 4] Avoid securities for other people (e.g. co-signing on a loan) 5] Do not move property boundaries 6] diligent businessmen have audience with kings 23 - 7] control your appetite, whomever you are dining with 8] Do not trade your life/health for riches. You will end up with nothing. 9] Do not dine with evil people. It is a trap 10] Do not even talk to fools 11] Do not move boundaries especially not to rob from orphans 12] Learn and keep learning 13] Discipline and correction will save a child's life 14] Have your children be wise also (Hezekiah should have, eh?) 15] Sinners and their ways end. God never does. So yearn for God 16] Drunks, carousers, gluttons <--> get away from them 17] God made the family structure. Honor Him by honoring your family 18] Give your heart to Godly wisdom, not prostitutes 19] Alcohol will turn your life into a pathetic waste. And you will go back for more until you are gone.
Download II Chronicles 30-34 We are in the Nation Stream reading from the Modern English Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we saw the best and the worst of kings who reigned in Jerusalem. I pray we have common sense from you to know and decipher the wrong from the right, and also the good from the best of your will for us. Amen. [The parallel of what we read today is found in II Kings 19-22] 30 - In our reading last week Hezekiah had just gotten started in his rule. He cleansed the Temple and restored proper worship. He continues the reforms to clean up Judah. He regained independence from Assyria; stopping the payments to them. Hezekiah was on a bold endeavor sending couriers throughout the entirety of Israel and Judah so that all 12 tribes would be invited to come celebrate Passover. Judah had not celebrated Passover in well over a decade. Most all of Israel had not participated in Passover for two centuries! Some laughed at the couriers that were sent on their aggressive mission for all Hebrews to come together, and yet people did come to Jerusalem for Passover; people who had not been before. Not all was perfect for Passover, but Hezekiah encouraged people that God was pleased at the heart intent to worship God, so just come. And a marvelous Passover it was! It went for two weeks.
31 - The fervor continued past the holiday and all went together to completely smash all the false idols in Benjamin, Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh. The rejuvenation among the priests is evident as they organize the people and gather contributions as what is supposed to be happening. The amount that is gathered is impressive, very impressive. Offerings of all types came into Jerusalem. The extra was tallied and stored responsibly and the needs of all were met. Hezekiah was successful and faithful in all that he set out to do. God was pleased with the transformation in Jerusalem. The attitude in Judah brought about a whole new day. 32 - So there were treasure troves of newly accounted offerings in Jerusalem. Judah was not groveling to Assyria; paying them tribute (can we call these "bully fees"?!). And Sennacherib of Assyria must have gotten wind of this so he thinks he will go and do some harvesting of his own. Hezekiah rallies Jerusalem and they put up a defense that indicates they aren't about to lay down for the Assyrians. Sennacherib sends a "give it up" letter to Hezekiah in Jerusalem written in Hebrew. This he hoped would get the Jews to all convene and discourage Hezekiah into surrendering to Sennacherib. Perhaps Sennacherib gets points for trickery, but it merely drove the Jewish leaders to God for a solution. That night the simplest-slaughter-ever takes place as 185,000 are visited by God's 'death angel' - and they do not wake up that next morning! Sennacherib goes home to be murdered. Hezekiah's victory, the wealth amassed in Jerusalem, the successes all went to Hezekiah's head. He forgot to remain humble and grateful. In his last days, he spent a too much time making cities (for himself) and fraternizing with Babylonians. He could have better mentored Manasseh; the heir to the throne 33 - Manasseh comes to rule and commences upon a 55-year reign of blooded paganism that is unmatched by anyone ever. He even outdid all the pagan neighbors in their sadistic activity who were doing so perhaps because they knew no different. Manasseh was a Satanic puppet of a rodent in the worst regard - expressly because he chose to drag a nation into outer darkness even though he knew better. Nothing was beneath him. He was practically playing patty cake with the Devil. ...And then the Assyrians hauled him away (with hooks) - you don't want to know the details here! And then he repents. And then he is returned to Judah to go on a building spree and do his best to make things right - undoing the ungodliness he fomented all during his younger years. He gives it a try anyway. Then again how do you go back and gather all the feathers that were deliberately scattered during a windstorm? His son Amon follows him for a two-year reign. Amon is godless and there is no let up to the guilt he is determined to amass against himself. His servants kill him in the palace. Then all Amon's servants are killed. Let's face it, the atmosphere is that of a band of bums fighting over the rancid food in the bottom of a dumpster behind a greasy restaurant. Jerusalem is a ghastly mess and has been for near 60 years. 34 - Enter: some relief as Josiah takes the throne. He was a child-King at eight and ruled for 31 years. At 16 he understood that he needed to seek the Lord. At 20 he began his reforms. When he was 26 the Book of the Law is found and this gives further impetus to make the reforms thoroughly national and comprehensive best they could.Josiah was determined to completely rid the idols from the land. No King in nearly 300 years had given such effort for comprehensive reform. The words of Huldah are a sobering monolog reminding that ungodliness comes at a horrid cost -that will be paid, and that God takes our confession with repentance very seriously. Though the country of Judah had slid so far from God, Josiah had courage to right the ship. His reforms kept enemies at bay during his entire reign. The judgment prophesied upon Judah was delayed by Josiah's godly resolve. We'll see how his years play out next week in this portion of the nation stream.
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Lord God, we join you and bless your children. In worship, we indeed are glad to be counted among your children. I pray we are productive and faithful to what you have called us to be and to do. Amen.
The Prophetic stream today has us at the end of the prophecy assuring that Jerusalem will fall [to the Babylonians] because of her sinfulness. And it includes the start of Ezekiel's first chapters that assures the surrounding nations, that have been in contention with Judah, that they are going to fall too [so take pause before any of you celebrate the coming Hebrew tragedy]. The theme of those particular chapters continues through chapter 32, so we will be reading these in the Prophetic Stream during the next two weeks as well.
24 - Jerusalem is like a worthless pot that is filled with all the fixings of a fine stew. However that pot [Jerusalem] is corroded and so dirty that it pollutes the stew and alas the fire gets so hot that the metal pot glows red and melts. Consequently none get fed as all might have hoped to be. God's anger will not be quenched until Jerusalem is emptied of all its rebellious residents. The remainder of the chapter, v. 15-27 is mysterious, yet knowing the timeline does help understanding. Within a day of this scripture, Ezekiel's wife died. He is forbidden to mourn. Remember, Ezekiel is already a captive in Babylon along with many other Judeans. That same day, the Babylonians broke into Jerusalem commencing their siege and slaughter. However, back where Ezekiel is, no one knows Jerusalem has been overrun. They do know that Ezekiel is a widower and is in solitude... what's going on? What else is wrong? And Ezekiel was silent for three years - the length of time it took for news of Jerusalem's overthrow to reach them. The Jerusalem they knew, they would never see again. Oh the grief! Due to this timing, Ezekiel took the attack of Jerusalem very personally. In more ways than one, "the jewel" was gone. 25 - As Judah would go down and Jerusalem would fall into enemy hands, her neighbors rejoiced like cackling hyenas. Irritating, yes, God was not pleased with their reaction either. But Philistia was overrun this same year that Jerusalem fell; 586 B.C. And did Ammon, Moab, or Edom have a hunch if they might be next? You can discuss that over the coming holidays if the topic gets to that level. 'Fact is Babylon regrouped and in 582 B.C. they leveled all three; Ammon, Moab and Edom. Do you remember Jeremiah 27 saying the same thing was going to happen just like it did? We read that on June 21; four and a half months ago. Jeremiah was in Judah these same years while his friend Ezekiel was hundreds of miles away in the Babylonian "outback". 26 - Next, Ezekiel has three visions against Tyre; the coastal city that was 12 miles north of where the Israel-Lebanon border is today. Ezekiel's vision happened the same year that Jerusalem fell. Tyre was a geological phenomenon. It's port was a hub that had tremendous wealth and power. The financial tentacles of Tyre stretched across the Mediterranean Sea, along No. Africa, through Gibraltar, down the west coast of Africa, and clear up to what became Britain. It had shined in the Mediterranean sunsets for 600 years. But Ezekiel prophesied that Tyre was to be attacked, stripped, and made desolate - never to rise again. Within a year Tyre heard and saw the Babylonian army appear on the horizon! Tyre was under siege from 585 to 572 B.C. For 13 years Babylonians encamped around and choked off Tyre until they were subdued and conquered. A gorgeous city was turned to rubble and disappeared from the scene. And as Ezekiel said, they never rose again. The Persians followed the Babylonians. The Greeks followed them, each smacking Tyre back to the ground. Ezekiel even provided the 585 B.C. funeral dirge for Tyre. Today, Tyre (where it once was) is a bare rock where fisherman stretch out their nets to repair and dry them. This is exactly what Ezekiel said in Ez. 26:4. All this happened because the people of Tyre delighted in the calamity that befell Jerusalem. God said it would be like this for those who cursed Abraham's people (Genesis 12:3). Let's continue to take this 4,000 year old statement seriously, even today.
Download Proverbs 17-20 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the Common English Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God we thank you that you have made wisdom so accessible to us. Amen.
Here are the highlights of more sage advice from Solomon: 17 - enjoy dining with your loved ones and be happy with your portion. Don't forget how happy you already are. Watch your mouth - it steers more than we think. God sees what is in our hearts. We may hide our intentions from others - though God knows. Seek to have a gracious and merciful heart. Avoid being argumentative. Remain friendly even if it's painful. Do not co-sign for a loan. A joyful heart brings healing. Wicked thinking/bribery/twisted justice are all linked. Find wisdom; it's right in front of us. Don't embitter family. Keep quiet, calm, and be listening.
18 - selfishness+bickering -plus- all talk+no listening=idiocy! The wicked/contempt/shame/insults/favoritism/denied justice/accusations/gossip/laziness/thuggery - is also all linked. The LORD's Name is a greater shield than riches. Pride brings disaster. Humility brings respect. Listen. Seek knowledge and understanding. Hear each-side before you dee-cide. You can be paid for good advice. Be thankful for your wife - God sent her to you (v.v.). 19 - Keep your 'walk' innocent. Watch your desires and do not rush in... Cut folly and work with God. Treasure friends, don't lie. The poor get "kicked to the curb" even by relatives (just sayin'). Choose insight over expressing anger. Do not traumatize your family. Laziness, snoozing, duffing, hunger <--all this happens to the same "couch potato". Obey God, examine your ways, be kind to the poor. Teach discipline to your children. Don't try to help the angry -there's no end to it. Learn to match your plans with the Lord's purposes. Be trustworthy, honor the Lord--> and be protected. Be correctable and find understanding. (yoda-talk)->Dishonor parents and wander in life you will. 20 - Alcohol can turn the reckless into the morons that they wish they weren't! Stay on the King's good side. Stay out of fights. Don't feed the lazy - God doesn't. Insight + patience = gooood advice! Be honest in everything - God hates otherwise. Btw, shoppers can be real obnoxious. Speak wisely and you'll be more prized than fine gems. Thieving will bite you. Gossips bring instability. Honor parents...or pay bigtime. Wealth that grows slowly is better. Vengeance - let it go. Only make very thoughtful promises. The wicked will be found and punished. There is far more power in kindness than people realize. It's a worldwide phenomenon that the virtuous, bright, and beloved leaders of the world are likely studying the Proverbs as they seek to do the best for those they are leading. Anyone who wishes to be wise is studying the Proverbs. Solomon also tells us all about those who refuse to abide by wisdom. They are described as fools 73 times in Proverbs. Fools are everywhere. Solomon saw them. From Cain to Solomon nothing had changed. From Solomon to today nothing has changed. We live by wisdom or we live as fools.
Download II Chronicles 24-29 We are in the Nation Stream reading from the Common English Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, we see such extreme contrasts this week. We are either for you or against you. We are either running to you or from you. Encourage us to keep the fire of discipleship lit in our souls. Amen.
The 350 year kingdom of Judah that ran from 933 B.C. to 586 B.C. had 20 kings. Today we read of kings #8 -thru- #13; Joash through Hezekiah - the beginning of Hezekiah's reign anyway. Today's reading covers a period of 120 years or thereabouts. 24 - Joash, also referred to as Jehoash (like we call our William's "Bill" and Robert's "Bob", Joseph is "Joe" etc.), came to rule after Athaliah and her illicit rule was over. Remember Joash is son of Ahaziah, the king before Athaliah snaked her way to the throne for six years and killed anyone who threatened her rule. Joash/Jehoash did right as long as Jehoiada was alive as his inspiration and mentor. Joash called for the Temple to be renovated. While Jehoiada was alive to mentor his rule, Joash cleared out the Baal idolatry, and restored the worship of God. However upon Jehoiada's death however, the leaders came to Joash and convinced him down a path of quick demise. They revive the sex cult of Ashtoreth, and Zechariah the prophet/Jehoiada's son is stoned to death. So God's patience ran thin and Syria plundered Jerusalem, killing the leaders who gave such evil counsel to Joash.
25 - by the way, the six chapters we read today in II Chron. 24-29 are paralleled in II Ki. 11-18. As mentioned earlier this year, Chronicles is the southern kingdom perspective and told from a more theological slant. Kings is told from a more gritty, 'face valute', and "boots on the ground" stance. Back to ch. 25 - It is the reign of Amaziah. He is on the throne from 25-59 years of age. He did right sometime and went decisively wrong after a victory in Edom. For him, it was the point of no return. He never came back to a reverence for God. He found allure in the gods of Edom. For this his people turned on him and consequently God had too. He lost an intriguing war with Israel up north that was as senseless as it was emotional and foolish to have happened at all anyway. Then again, his mind went jaded once his heart turned from God as we've seen happen throughout time. He gets killed by insiders. When are people going to learn? 26 - Uzziah, his son, was king from 16 to 68 years of age. His resolve to follow God was stalwart and lasted for a much greater percentage of his life than that of his father Amaziah. Uzziah was gifted, blessed, clever, organized, wealthy, powerful, and won vital battles all because of his godly pledge during youth. He entered a realm that was "out of his pay grade" when he overstepped the priests.. Remember Saul doing that during 1050-1010 B.C.; his 40 year reign. It got him killed. Uzziah was fortunate to just leave the Temple with a case of leprosy that would have alarmed any dermatologist. His son Jotham managed affairs after that though he wasn't king until Uzziah died. Isaiah was young and rightly looked up to and honored Uzziah. But once Isaiah realized his call and could see beyond Uzziah as a role model then Isaiah's calling and visions and prophecy were greatly "amped up" Remember that after King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the Lord." ? [Isa. 6:1ff] We do well to have role models but let's not allow flawed people to detract us from seeing God's personal plan for our lives. 27 - Jotham followed Uzziah and ruled 16 years from his 25th to 41st years. He was coregent with his father as is mentioned in ch. 26. He obeyed the Lord in holy reverence. His father's condition served as a warning and Jotham heeded it. He kept to his duties as king and was victorious in battle against Amon. He could have done better in enforcing to clean up the corruption that citizens were engaging in, yet his intent was more to focus on the construction of fortresses and repairing damage from attacks during prior kings' reigns. 28 - Ahaz' rule overlapped his father for three years. Again, he was coregent for a time, but Jotham's godly resolve was not embraced by Ahaz - not in the least and Judah suffered horribly for it. People think their decisions and lifestyles are their own business. Well, what happened during Ahaz reign? He thinks he has the prerogative to regress and bring back the Baal's like Israel had done in the north. He wasn't done smacking God in the face, He brought in Molech and was sacrificing live humans in bonfires. Holy moley what a devil! He put up pagan shrines in every hill so that the people would be lured into the wrong way all over his nation. Y'ever wonder what possesses a wicked chump to carry on like this? And do you think God sat back calmly playing checkers with Gabriel? Not a chance. Enemies attacked Judah from the north/east/&/west. Death was everywhere. Many were taken prisoner to Damascus. 120,000 more Judeans were killed and another 200,000 were taken north to Israel as captives for a time. Ahaz' had other sons killed during the melee~. More is told of this man turned monster in 2 Kings 16. The chaos never left him. He was completely confused and deliberately so and the longer he lived, the more of a wretched scoundrel he became. Aren't you glad he wasn't before the flood and lived 800 years?! 29 - Ahaz' son Hezekiah came to the throne upon Ahaz' death. But Hezekiah was the spiritual opposite of his father Ahaz. He immediately commenced upon tremendous reforms. He reopened the Temple his dark-souled father had shut and locked. The priests and Levites were gathered and Hezekiah gave them the pep talk of their lives! They cleansed the Temple - it took over a week - and then they all regrouped. It was a great day in Jerusalem! After this came the regal ceremony of rededicating the Temple. Thousands of offerings were made and sacrifices lifted up to the Lord. The worship was reminiscent of David and Solomon's day three and a half centuries ago. The joy on the Temple Mount could not be overstated. There was a rhapsody of joy as the people came together in the name of the Lord. All were surprised at how quickly the national atmosphere switched back to God and all the wonders that accompany such worship. The worship is what shielded this city from the most heinous group that ever gathered around it in the late 700's B.C. We'll get to that next week.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, May we look back over our lives and be found faithful. And may we be inspired to proceed with hearts set to serve you to the end. Amen.
The time for Moses' departure was at hand. His 120 years were legendary beyond what any human had ever known. And since Moses who has known God, seen His deeds, and so felt His majesty since? To this day, the nations that follow what Moses laid out are prosperous and civil nations. Those who do not or will not are regions of darkness, and squalid disgust, hovels of injustice, violence, desolation, wicked and intolerable conditions unfit for healthy human living - my husband and I have been in over 70 countries between us - we've seen and know the stark differences. So as we launched into Moses final charge today, keep in mind that it is Moses' last month on earth. His words, this book is his words that could be titled with the epithet, "now before I go, children, remember to..." We all remember what our parents told us right before going out, just the two of them, for the evening. They said things like "remember to finish the kitchen, homework gets finished before watching any T.V. and the TV goes off after 30 minutes. No yelling or hitting, etc." We all still remember these mini-lectures. Well Moses has a month of final lectures to the Israelites wherein the Law is reiterated; Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers are gone over again. It is, by definition, "the second law". That is what Deuteronomy means. Throughout this book their history is recalled and the future is laid forth before them. Their dilemma of obedience v.s. disobedience is going to be the clincher for the future of Israel. What do you think they are going to do? 1 - The setting and location of Deuteronomy are set forth and Moses gets right in to their history. They left Mt. Horeb and judges were set up so to delegate Moses' job of settling disputes. [This was Jethro's advice from Exodus 18.] Moses recalled for them, the spy debacle that took place in Numbers 13 & 14. It was an endeavor where God offered them a gateway into the Promised Land. Yet they chose to walk by sight, not faith, and they panicked, then disobeyed, then were barred from entering Canaan, then they pressed onward anyway [in further disobedience] and got a smack down that sent them running back to camp like "...this little piggy that went wa-wa-wa-wa all the way home." Moses, practically tongue-in-cheek tells them they could have been at this brink 40 years prior if your fathers' had not faltered and feared ... so go forward from here [next month] without fear!"
2 - And since they initially opted to not enter the Promised Land, let's put it this way, --> the aimless wandering had begun. God gave them 38 years to walk around. It was enough time to let all the people die who were adults in Egypt. Maybe God didn't want any of them to spend their waning years always alluding, "well back in Egypt we used to do things this way..." or "ah, lets' not do that - we never did that back in Egypt." Maybe God just wanted to take in people who had no lucid memories of Egypt. This would certainly minimize troubles, eh? At any rate, they wandered up east of the Jordan. Consequently, God had it that most of the people who were there were deathly afraid of Israel. And Israel was not to initiate violence with anyone. But King Sihon, the Amorite came out looking for trouble ... and he got it. God gave them decisive victory over Sihon. Here Israel was mindful to remain obedient. 3 - Then another Amorite king; Og of Bashan, attacked while they were east of the Jordan. God gave complete victory as Og's entire population is decimated and his 60 towns are acquired by Israel along with their wealth and animals. These people east of Jordan were giants - they could have beaten the giants west of the Jordan too, but ... This land east of Jordan ended up going to the Manasseh, Gad, and Reuben tribes. Now everyone take stock at these victories. God will do the same to the rest of the country too. In the excitement of new land acquired, Moses asked God again, if he may go into Canaan and God flatly rejected his request again and told him to stop asking. [Imagine and remember that this is humble Moses recalling this actual event to the Israelite people - something he would rather forget about]. Do you think Moses remained disappointed about this even after he died? Hardly. He got taken to the REAL Promised Land. But that's at the end of Deuteronomy. Spoiler! There I go giving everything away again
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we have so much to learn from those who walked with you and were faithful to pass your Word to us. Thank you for caring for us so. Amen.
Hebrews 12 - In our discipleship, we are to be inspired by all the great saints who have led the way for us in following the call of God. They reside in eternity now but they cheer us on in our marching even today. Let's put every distraction away as their lives remind us to do. Let's not be swayed amid our sufferings. It is discipline, yes, and faithful disciples are not hampered because of discipline...it makes us better disciples. We're also urged to remain strong in the Lord by remaining IN THE LORD (did anyone think it would be any other way?!). Living unto God means to live peacefully, cheerfully, and wholly unto God in mind and body. The continuing contrast of Sinai, Zion, and Heaven is laid before us. That should urge us onward also to pursue God. In Sinai when the commandments were brought down it was a terrifying and inspiring scene. But the Law does not save. In Jerusalem, Jesus was crucified, and that sacrifice covers for us. Therefore we are to be pilgrims virtually entranced to follow Jesus if we can use such a verb here. Now that same God resides in heaven and what he has done for us commands our lives and we are to be so overwhelmed by His outpouring of love that we follow Him and pledge to remain so in His New Covenant. The price of turning away from God's Son shall be far worse than what those who shunned Him in the desert experienced. God is still a consuming fire. 13 - You can tell that this chapter is the final appeal to the Hebrew Nation of Israel. Hebrews was written, completed and circulated and not long after that, Jerusalem was burned by Romans and the Jewish nation was dispersed throughout the earth for almost 19 centuries. In this closing chapter, they are reminded to be loving, hospitable, ministerial to each other, honorable in marriage, and vigilant against bad doctrines. Don't be discouraged if the "old guard" at the Temple don't accept you for they shunned Jesus too. Praise is the greatest sacrifice now! The rest of the chapter is various things that switch their minds from the Sinai covenant to the New Covenant rooted in Christ. For that is what the writer of Hebrews wants for them now - to be rooted in Christ and His great mercies.
James comes to us as a man rich in faith, insight, and character. He was Jesus' brother. Yes, Jesus had younger brothers and sisters as the oldest of at least seven children in a family of nine or more. James, also raised by Joseph and Mary, grew up next to Jesus, . His tie to Jesus was heart felt as well as a blood tie that went back a couple of decades. Most of the disciples knew Jesus [live] for three years. James knew his brother Jesus for much longer. His final role was that of chief leader of the Church in Jerusalem. His final years especially saw a flood tide of conversions as the Holy Spirit moved in Jerusalem mightily. This James was the first of the Apostles to be martyred. 'More about this next week when we finish the Book of James. He talks to us this day with much wisdom and direct instruction that is timeless in every culture on earth. James 1 - wastes no time and gets into what he has to tell us. We are to be "pleased as punch" when we are suffering for being Believers in Jesus. Hang in there, do not be alarmed, but persevere through it until we are mature in our faith. Such things bring wisdom. And we are to be praying; asking God for wisdom. James tells us to keep faith and thereby to have unshakeable faith. And you can believe that James knew what he was talking about! Be rich in humility, James continues. And as for temptation, let it be simply another item in life that drives us to God and makes us great people of prayer who are completely blessed by God; our anchor. Be listening, calm natured, be students of God's laws, and be ever-in-worship through serving the needy among you. More from James next week. The Thread Through the Streams The theme and thread that surfaced each day was, "and what is it that drives you? What is the motivation here?..." -- Number 34-36 includes the ordering cities of refuge and hard fast rules for murder and all the contingencies involved therein. God wanted them to be different from the rest of the world where murder and killing was just the way things were. The motives for murder are as varied as the grains of sand on a shore and there is no end to the discussion for this. But God was very driven to see them be a people of life and service not shadiness and death. -- II Chronicles 17-23 was a loaded passage that could be 8 months of sermons! Jehoshaphat was wrongly motivated to have a deal with the pagans in Samaria up north. He was motivated to teach the Law in the towns up north that would listen. He became powerful. The Philistines were driven to pay Judah big money to keep peace. The Prophet Micaiah was driven to be honest with King Ahab who had delusional fantasies about success that weren't true. The Ammonites/Moabites are foolishly driven to attack Judah. Fear first motivates Judah to respond. Then God motivates them to worship before war. And it's quite a motivator! -- Proverbs 13-16 has some sound motivation to be wise. The fools however have silly motivations that keep them fools. The lazy aren't motivated. The hungry are motivated by hunger, the industrious are motivated to ... etc. -- Ezekiel 21-23 shows God's determined motivation to clean up Jerusalem and clean out Ammon. The two ladies that symbolize Judah and Samaria are driven by a crazed lust that drives them to madness-level-prostitution and to having themselves murdered by the same 'tall/dark/handsome' warriors that they thought they couldn't do without. -- Haggai 1-2 shows the people all motivated to build their own homes in a haste that has them forgetting to show due diligence and tend to the things of God first. After they are deprived because of their wrong motivations, THEN they will hear the Lord/Haggai and work on the Temple. The worship is moved up the priority list, the harvests pick up again and the blessing of God is among them. -- within John 6-7 we see a clear distinction between those who really want fellowship and to know and follow Jesus v.s. those who are motivated by piles of free bread. For them it was bargain faith. So were they driven by faith? Hardly. They disappeared as soon as Jesus invited them to really come into God's presence. Their motivations were temporal; immediate, not godly nor eternal. And btw, the motivation of the leaders in Jerusalem were clear: kill Jesus. -- Hebrews [the ending] and James [from the beginning] both have a clear force driving them: they want us all to be growing in our service, character, discipleship, love for Christ and God the Father. It's very good reading that is always germane.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, we dine upon you, we are fed by your son and satisfied by His Life in us. Amen.
6:25ff - Bread was quite the discussion after Jesus had just miraculously fed thousands. What is going on as word is spreading about Jesus like wildfire, is that people are thinking that Jesus is going to make a marvelous king. In a war there is never going to be a supply line problem because food shortages during battle are a non issue since Jesus makes food in His hands. And as for the wounded in battle, Jesus can simply heal with a touch. There is no down-time waiting for a young man to heal up again. Once news of Lazarus spreads (chapter 11) it is a delirious movement - they want him to be king and be king now! Back to bread. Jesus uses the hunger, the feeding, the follow up questions as a wondrous teaching method. Remember, bread was an obsession. It was the main part of the diet along with grapes and olives. The bread was sustenance, the grapes were energy, the olives were health. Jesus goes to great lengths to explain that HE was good and that He was going to satisfy the hunger of those who had ears to hear and hearts after God. The reception received a myriad of different responses as Jesus was alluding to a communion that was coming. For the secular and the temporal minded, Jesus words were disgusting, a great disappointment at least (they wanted the 'free bakery' to stay open). For the casual observer, it confused them. For the disciple, it was merely cause for further explanation and discipleship. Jesus' bread explanation truly became a dividing line issue. Much of the crowd that had covered the countryside departed at this point. 7 - Much of the chapter is building for a teaching moment that is going to take place in Jerusalem. Jesus' disciples, especially the ones who were his brothers, wanted Him to get to Judea (the religious capital) and really show off His miraculous skills. The circular memo to kill Jesus had gone around plenty and the leaders were getting nervous in Jerusalem; nervous in their need to get rid of Jesus. So, ... Jesus could be in danger [gee, y'think so?] were He to go there again. So He opted to send His disciples ahead and He would arrive alone with no great announcement or fanfare. This way He could better pull off an incognito visit. He was there 18 months prior and the leaders were very angry about his healing at Bethesda in John 5. By now it's October 28 A.D., btw, and it was going to be another six months before the Calvary crucifixion. For what it's worth, that was in the Spring/April; during Passover 29 A.D. We'll leave that for you to look up/search the errors in the Gregorian Calendar that started in the 600's A.D. and was fine tuned more than a millennium later. There's that and the Julian calendar .... it's another whole set of research. Back to Jesus' final six months. He is soon found in the Temple area and here comes another brilliant lecture that blesses the simple and reveals the evil plans of the leaders. The crazy-Jesus accusation flies as soon as he points out their obvious agenda to them and the public! Kind of like trying to have constructive dialogue with a life-long politician isn't it? Jesus further points out their extensive man made laws that they claim are from God. And you have to appreciate Jesus' ability to spotlight that they reverence Moses but don't obey what he wrote for them to obey. Comparing these two chapters makes it clear that it is better to dine with Jesus than to argue with Him, isn't it?
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear God of Heaven: The horrors of sin are just that: horrors. Send your Savior quickly. We wish that this 2600 year old story and their need for a remedy was old news. But the sin is just as bad today and the need for Jesus to come quickly is just as pronounced. May we be agents for you in a world run by hearts of darkness. Amen.
We are nearing the end of the prophecies by Ezekiel telling that Jerusalem is going to fall [ch. 1-24] because of her many sins, and blatant rebellion against the Word of the Lord. Things get a little bit rough in the reading today. Pardon the people of Jerusalem, or pardon us for telling it like it is today. But the things that are described are the very reason the city must be cleansed and God needs to start over with a humbled and penitent, confessional people. Here goes. 21 - The country of Babylon is "the sword" that God is using to vacate his land of the rebellious people who have resided there for hundreds of years. Their attitude has become completely cavalier and deviant. Yes, there are good people there, I guess, but they are going to be traumatized and hauled to Babylon - that's the best case scenario. When God says the bad and the good are going to be dealt with, He's not getting sloppy in His judgment. He is taking out everyone from this city. The "good" may be decent people, but they are not denouncing the wickedness of the city that has spread like a sewer mainline break and flooded waist deep into every home. We hear a lot of this today when people try to defend a bad, unbiblical idea. They usually croon, "oh, not all of them are evil - just the violent ones." [buzzer! "Wrong Answer"] The quiet ones are complicit with the violent ones because they vote agreement with their silence about the wrong that goes on among their group whether its their immediate family or all the way up to the leaders/kings/warlords of a bad movement. The sword is going to flash in Jerusalem and it will stop after all have been affected, cut down, maimed, or sent to exile. It's a sad day coming. What began with Rehoboam 350 years prior has come to full bloom and needs to be completely purged now. The residents of Jerusalem have no chance of remaining in the city unscathed. The people coming to punish Jerusalem are a pagan people, but don't think the Lord God of Heaven is not behind their siege of Jerusalem. He has ordained it. Don't let the Babylonians' cultic behavior distract from this fact. The neighboring Ammonites are going to get cut down like slaughtered animals too. Where the Judeans have been volitionally evil, the Ammonites have been totally evil. Their time to die is imminent. And as for the Babylonians afflicting all this grief, they are going to return home and it won't be long until a fierce army rises up against them. Their culture is destined to become a sand dune and forgotten just as fast as they are smashed into oblivion. For what it's worth, Cyrus of Persia, with his intrepid army, poured in and conquered Babylon less than 50 years after Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon. 22 < -- Here is why Jerusalem is going to fall. Ezekiel is certain of it, though there were folks among his peers and many living in Jerusalem who just could not accept that Jerusalem was going to be burning rubble. But they have passed 'the tipping point'. If anyone in Jerusalem or elsewhere needs reminders: is it a place reduced to a den of murderers, they love idolatry and filth. "Jerusalem" once represented the city of God - now people think of it as a pit of sludge and immorality. It is an orgy of madness, and crazed sexuality, and the thievery is rampant. The hand of judgment is going to befall you and you will know it is God striking. The city, once so cherished, is more or less "industrial waste" anymore - in God's estimation. The leaders of the city are altogether derelict. They have done the worst of the worst and are completely dark in nature and character. Their irresponsibility toward what God has called them to is bad and beyond. Their teaching is wrong. They use God's Call to get money for themselves. They lie, cheat, and abuse. Their "fix-it-cheap" theology is why the city has gone bad. This demise is their fault! 23 - The two young girls mentioned here are symbolic of Samaria and Jerusalem. The calling they originally had was noble, but they gave it all away and became prostitutes. The Call of God to them was not nearly as enticing as the strapping men who charged through and were charged up and desired them. Their lewdness knew no bounds. They continued in prostitution with anyone near and far as long as they were driven by lust like these two ladies. Just another alternate lifestyle? Hardly. It was not fine with God. He did not "respect their views" or "protect their privacy" or "honor their wishes" as we hear in the popular culture today that the government 'blesses' in an insidious manner. No. God is going to turn the soldiers of these foreign countries loose on them just like they turned themselves loose on the pagan soldiers years ago. But the whoremongers they have seduced all their lives are going to finish them off by torture and murder. The symbolism of this chapter is not what you'd called, "rosy stories for Sunday School and Jr. Church" It's the fate of Jerusalem however in the 580's B.C. Promiscuity, fornication, adultery, had all become favorite past times in the city and it is almost as if they were strangely daring God and begging Him to step in and halt them. What's that verse about deceitful hearts that are desperately wicked....? That's being lived out in overdrive. God would end it soon.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, give us wisdom to learn what is right and to pursue it. And teach us wisdom to apply what we know. We want lives that bring you honor and glory. Amen.
Here are highlights of today's four chapters in Proverbs:
13 - it is wise to receive instruction and advice, speak wisely, be diligent, truthful, and honest. Work hard for your money and then be careful not to 'flash it' around. Be a listener and be honored. Just a parallel comment here: Think about what happens when we marinate something in a sauce...it soon looks, smells, tastes like and actually becomes of the sauce it is marinated in. Likewise, fellowship and lingering with fools turns a man into a fool. End of discussion. Sinning and trouble accompany one another. Children are not goats to simply turn free to roam the hillsides and to figure out life on their own. Train them and disciple them to wisely live right. That is why God gave them to us. Be good hearted, make good decisions, and have plenty. 14 - A woman's care of her own home is quite an indicator of her soul. The wise and the fool are marked by their level of honor for God and their usage of words. Wisdom gives understanding; by it we learn obedience, peace, patience, knowledge, righteousness, victory. By wisdom we gain bounty, reverence the truth, attain more life, and remain healthy. By wisdom, nation's grow and are strengthened. Behaving intelligently avoids shameful treatment. 15 - Gentleness calms anger. Speak kindly. Goodness brings riches. Listen to the wise and live right. Be open to correction. Respect for the Lord is better than anything, and can take us to anywhere. Love always makes any meal better - and vice versa (in a big way!). Laziness makes for a difficult life. Industriousness makes for a fulfilling life. Speak in a well timed and proper way. The Lord is our best security. Do not do evil - especially not for pay. The Lord listens to the righteous = the opposite is also true for the unrighteous. Humility leads to honor. 16 - The Lord has for us--> the words, the right reasons, the right judgment, the right plans, the right advice. It is the Lord who protects us. Please the Lord and there is peace. Righteousness is better than riches. Good kings want honesty, fairness, and truth. Proud hearts make us against the Lord and destroy us. Speak accurately, carefully, sensibly, thoughtfully, and kindly. Get advice and don't do what only seems right to you - for it may be fatal. Troublemaking, strife, cruelty, trickery, painful treatment of others --> avoid it all. Live right, understand your own heart, do not succumb to anger and you are better off than a ruler. Know that the Lord guides.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we read of all the tumult today, the good and bad that come and go and we want to simply pause and escape the chaos that accompanies the evil people. Lord, keep US in your will, your hand, and in your sight. Amen.
17 - Jehoshaphat becomes the new king. He was for the most part good. He resembled his father Asa, who was good for 39 of his 41 years. Remembered his refusal to “take things to God” the last two years of his life? Notice the same motif in verse three in this chapter, “…in his young life he did the good things…” Jehoshaphat obeyed and sought our the Lord’s advice most of the time. Let’s learn what we can from him and not gloss over the things Jehoshaphat erred in. Remember, is it ok for a boat builder to fix ‘most’ of the leaks?! Yeah, you get what we’re saying
Jehoshaphat sent teachers across Judah to teach the Law of The Lord. This is good. The people are strengthened as is the nation because of it. The neighbors start bringing gifts to stay on Judah’s good side. The army is trained and tallied at 1,160,000 battle-ready soldiers who were smartly stationed across the kingdom. Do we realize that their army in a kingdom that was far smaller than the US State of Rhode Island was larger than the US Army is as of 2016? Judah was a country that was stocked, fortified, fed and ready to defend itself.
18 - The first thing that ought strike at our hearts is “why is Jehoshaphat dabbling with darkness?” He conspired with Ahab&Jezebel to have their daughter and his son marry. Gee what kind of gem might that young lady be?! So Jehoshaphat and Ahab are side by side and conversing. Not only are their children married. He later goes into battle with him. It’s foolish! Hint: Ahab and Jezebel are utterly dark souls. Don’t do deals with the Devil, ditch him. Later Ahab needs a word from a prophet regarding war with the Arameans, but he wants to hear what he wants to hear; not the truth. It’s like the Neil Diamond lyric, “pour me a drink and I’ll tell you some lies.” Ahab prefers ‘go ahead, lie to me’. And he likes it that way! Jehoshaphat has had plenty warning but he doesn’t cut these ties with Ahab. Micaiah is a truthful prophet and he has enough presence of mind to toy with Ahab and obviously/openly reveal to Ahab that Ahab prefers to be lied to v.s. told the truth. As Micaiah prophesies the drama is intense, and he pays for telling the truth - but lying would have been far more costly. We just read it so it doesn’t need to described again. Ahab proceeds into war, gets drilled, and dies.
19 - Though Ahab dies, Jehoshaphat returns from battle. Consequently the scolding he receives from Jehu is warranted. Next Jehoshaphat places judges around the country. This is reminiscent of Moses getting Jethro’s advice in Exodus 18 to appoint judges to spread the work around v.s bottle-necking everything through him like control-freaks tend to do.
20 - The encounter here is a very famous one. Enemies are coming to eliminate Judah. The Lord’s help is needed immediately. They cannot afford to lose this battle to Ammon and Moab. It’s basically D-Day and Judah, led by Jehoshaphat, had to win. They consult the Lord - something Jehoshaphat did not do enough - but he did so here. His prayer in the open meeting is legendary. The reply from God comes via Jahaziel. The plan of marching to battle with the worship singers leading the pack was Jehoshaphat’s orders. Memo to all of us: worship first and God can work His plan on our behalf. The enemy turns on itself and completely obliterates the threat (not one survived!). It is a victory for Judah AND a payday. How long does it take you to rake up your autumn leaves? Well imagine having so much cash bills dropped on your lawn that it takes three days to rake it all up and put it in bags. That is what Judah and Jehoshaphat are dealing with here. This time they listened to God and worshipped first instead of negotiating with evil people. The rewards were staggering. To summarize Jehoshaphat’s reign, he did well a lot of the time but could have done it God’s way all the time and everywhere but he didn’t. His attempt at partnering in a shipping company was a disaster. Yes his faith in God was admirable but his concurrent dabbling with dark people marked his life as well.
21 - Jehoshaphat’s dubious commitments end up plaguing his children as well. His son Jehoram, whom Jehoshaphat arranged to marry Athaliah - daughter of Ahab/Jezebel - was as wretched as can be. He removes his brothers from the scene [murder], so to eliminate any threat to his power- so all is well… right?! Tell me about it! This is put in there at the opening of Jehoram’s reign to tell us what kind of man he was. The fights of his entire rule begin in his own heart. He is against God and his own family. So God turns on him. Soon all his neighbors turn on him (he unwittingly asked for it!). And at the end of his life the fight comes right home to him and into his own guts. Did you catch the misery he was in at the end of his days. It was revolting. Even his own people got rid of him as quickly and quietly as possible. Everyone was relieved to have him gone.
22 - Ahaziah is chosen king. He is grandson of Jehoshaphat on his father’s side and Jezebel on his mother’s side. So he is from a partly good family …and v.v. Well, how does a car roll when half it’s tires are inflated and half are flat? You get the message. But Ahaziah’s parents were both bad though his father Jehoram was raised right, sort of.
He allies with Joram; the King of Israel (his ancestors were equally mistaken to do this). This has him encounter Jehu who kills them both since Jehu was on a blitz to wipe out Ahab’s entire family. This enrages Athaliah; Ahaziah’s mother. She retaliates by killing all the king’s children in her scheme to assume power. Athaliah was raised by Jezebel, remember? The next in line for the throne, Joash, is hidden in the Temple for six years while Athaliah ran Judah illegitimately for those six years.
23 - This is a house-cleaning chapter. It is a comprehensive plan to rid the country of Athaliah and the residue of Baal she brought in since being a daughter of Jezebel who was raised a Sidonian pagan. Jehoiada took leadership in bringing the priests together, arming them all and arranging for the elimination of Athaliah. The Temple rule is played perfectly, which drew Athaliah past her boundary. The king-in-hiding had been carefully brought into place and we just read the illicit accusation of “treason” and consequently evil Athaliah is taken out and disposed of. With an evil queen gone, with a priest coordinating matters, with a good [though young] king newly enthroned, Judah was set to have some good years. All Joash had to do was stay on the path that the Priest Jehoiada had brought them down so far? Would he stay on this right path?
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, we have reached the end of Numbers. It was a trek that should have taken two years instead of 38 years.God, let us remain in your saving grace, for grace is what we need. Praises be to God. Amen.
34 - The land is divided and the directions for this division process are given here. Though they are talking it through in Nu. 34, the actual rigors of this process happen in Joshua 13-thru-22. Each tribe was to reside in, live off, farm, build and thrive on their allotment. It was theirs. Culturally this is how God wants things to be run. There are cultures of the world where "everyone owns everything". Karl Marx had this notion in his Communist Manifesto. This led to the 'collective farms' and the land grabbing by a single entity by the government. The problem with this system is that it kills motivation to farm, build something, grow a society, manage things, manage anything for that matter. Consequently, everyone feels ownership of nothing. The mismanagement and the needs that go unmet due to the absence of initiative are unbearable. The pilgrims tried this plan of "all share and share all" their first full year in New England and it nearly starved them the rest of the way because of aimlessness that was soon obvious. Come summer 1622, Bradford their leader, realized that each family needed their own plot for growing their own food. The productivity was explosive as compared to the prior summer. And it was that autumn of 1622 that we learn of the great feast in the New World at Plymouth. The sharing with the Indians is still talked about today and it's where we get the images in North America for Thanksgiving. The bounty that resulted from the private ownership of land due to endless motivation to produce is the Judeo-Christian concept that feeds much of the world today. Did you know that only countries with a Judeo-Christian heritage export food after feeding their own population? It's a fact. The root of this whole development is set forth here in Nu. 34.
35 - Next are the divisions; the land allotment for the Levitical priests. They were to have a portion for growing enough to meet their needs and it was paced off precisely. The priests were not beggars as in much of the religions of Asia. Levitical priests were as productive as the next man in the country. And their presence among the people was a constant and ubiquitous reminder of the God who had called them to this land to be a nation that would be a testimony of the Light they were to be to the Gentiles. The cities of refuge were also set in place here and it occupies 25 verses of full explanation. These cities of refuge were established, not because of God and His personality, but because of ours. People who have a relative killed, even on accident are often in a nonsensical rage for a time. The retaliation, from an accident, often leads to abhorrent injustice. The whole thing becomes abysmal and huge beyond logic if the person who accidentally kills someone has no place to escape to until tempers and illogical emotions calm down. This chapter ends up having more affect upon the eventual legal systems of the world than we might suspect. The contingencies are detailed for accidental killing versus intentional killing, plus the accidental killing of someone who is caught in the "crossfire" even though no one was actually angry at them. In retrospect, don't we wish that everyone would all calm down and care for eachother? Oh dear what would all the attorneys and judges and guards and prison wardens do then? 36 - All that is being said in the matter of Zelophehad's daughters is that they were to marry within their own tribe. If there were no brothers in their immediate family to maintain the family plot and line and the land passed to a daughter, that would be fine as long as they marry and keep the land in the same tribe. This kept the land from being divided and transferred upon death and therefore whittled away to where, in time, the tribal allotments aren't even recognizable. Inheritance was kept in the fairest way possible by doing things this way. It kept it so that the females were provided for and protected even though they were not the heads of households. And within this Judaic law, they, and the land, and their posterity would remain protected and in tact.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
To God the Almighty we exclaim, "what a mighty God we serve!" Amen.
10 - The Hebrews needed to stop clinging to the archaic system that God had Moses put in place And that is why ch. 10 was written.. The rigors of the Law was a 1400 year long practice run for the perfect sacrifice; Jesus at Calvary. The regular sacrifices had kept their minds on their sin instead of on forgiveness. Christ's sacrifice, which was done willingly, was what was planned all along. Rev. 13:8 states that the "Lamb of God"; Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world. So the sacrifices were simply teaching a reverence for the blood of the sacrifices. When Christ's sacrifice occurred, then the final deed had been done. It also taught the relentless need for forgiveness and redemption. And as time went on, there had to be a beleaguering dimension to the whole system - priests wondering if this was ever going to end, ever going to be enough. And by default there would be the lingering thoughts as to if all this slaughter and blood pouring was accomplishing anything at all anyway. (The Bible here says that the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins!) So the Covenant has switched from being a priestly activity to the Holy Spirit moving and working in the hearts, minds, and souls of those who would commit to Christ; the risen sacrifice of the New Covenant. Hence that same Sacrificed One is now our Great High Priest. And because of this great salvation we have in God offering Himself for us, let's keep meeting together, serving one another, and let's have a holy reverence and gratitude for this sacrifice given for us. It is an impetus for service, not a license to lapse into sin. Deliberate lapsing eventually expels those thought to be saved from God's presence. Scary stuff! Because of our great salvation, let's stop all vengeance, endure, be joyful, and eagerly look for Christ's Return. This is faith and faith is what we are called to.
11 - Look at all these wonderful souls who followed God wholeheartedly in faith. From the beginning of the Scriptures to John finishing the Book of Revelation, all those who pleased God did so in faith. Going through this whole list is inspiration of the highest sort in scripture. Look at what they did for God and with God in faith! Faith is how we please God. In faith we press on when common sensibilities or discouragement would stop the next man in his tracks. Faith formed the world, brought about our relationship with God, called us to Him, gave the Chosen a nation, a Covenant, brought victory after victory in routing enemies, expelled the wicked, rescued countless saints from peril, gave courage to press on. And to those who seemingly did not make it or have good fortune, it is because the world was not worthy of them. God was there to swoop them up to another world. God has done such marvels for He always wins. And yet there is still more that God has for us. We'll continue with that next week. The Thread Through the Streams The theme through the week distills down to a question: "what is it that you want?" There may be a hundred things factoring in here, but God wants to know, what do you want? What is it that you desire? Numbers 31-33 At Moses command they attacked the Midianites who had led them into sin and caused the plague and all the trouble. But they left all the Midianite women alive; the ones who were more or less a squadron of prostitutes [31:16] Why do you leave the women alive that 24,000 of you had a romp with? Moses doesn't even wait for an answer. He just orders them to be disposed of. Moses wants all distractions gone. The men who lingered wanted...just in case ... maybe. We better not talk about what they wanted, huh. Then two of the tribes wanted to stay east of the Jordan where the grasses were plentiful. Moses wants to make sure they don't simply want to dodge the battles. Lastly, they go over all the places they wandered to. In essence the situation asks, "did you want to walk all around and accomplish so little?" OK, don't do that again. Do what you're told from here on. That's what God wants. What do you want? II Chron. 10-16 - Rehoboam wants things to keep the way they are. The northern tribes want taxes lowered. Neither wanted to bend and God's glorious nation splits apart. Both wanted their own way more than God's. No one wanted to ask God what to do from here! Abijah didn't want to walk with God and he didn't. He wanted God to help him win his battles - so He did, and he did. Asa wanted to clean up the country completely so he did. But at his end (last two years of life) he didn't want to go to God anymore. So he didn't ... and he suffered! Proverbs 9-12 God has it that wisdom invites us to be wise, gracious, righteous, diligent, productive, wealthy, discreet, thoughtful, blessed, Do we want that? All the opposite attributes call to us as well - as do people who lurk in the shadows that want us to join them on the road to outer darkness. So what do we want? What we want to be will determine where we will be. Ezekiel 18-20 retorts to all those who are blaming their fathers for their sin and their condition, "is that what you want to do? spend your lives looking in the rearview mirror cursing the departed? really?" If you want to be righteous, you will, and you will benefit from it. If you don't, you won't, and you will suffer for it <--is that what you want? Grow up! God runs through their history going back a millennium to Egypt and pointed out how incessantly they did not do what God wanted them to do. They did not do what they knew to do - nor did they want to. And now here are the elders, on the brink of disaster asking God, "now, what is it God wants us to do?" [get real] Zephaniah [2:4 ff] cross examines the countries around Judah who are taunting and cheering as Babylon is bearing down to finish off the Hebrew nation. Can we say that God is in a way telling them, "uh, you don't want to do that!" For they were going to get devoured by these same Babylonians. God is really saying, as he has unleashed the Babylonians to "clean out" Jerusalem, "hey, this isn't what I want. I never have. But since you do not want to follow me, I have to clean out my city. I canNOT work with people who do not want Me." It's rough. Let's face it. Those who do not want what is right end up in places they do not want to be. John, in 5&6, tells of a man who for 38 years did not want to get well. Once strong to walk and work again, he would have to do both. Jesus' question is a zinger for all of us, "do you want to get well?" It also asks, if we want to serve, be strong, be productive, be involved, care, reach out. Once we are well and strong to work we don't get to sit by a bubbly pool and pout for decades anymore. What do we want? We will get it. With the 5,000 hungry men, do you (Philip) want to calculate and fret or do you want to feed them? When walking on water and they are in a storm, they are terrified when they see Jesus. Were they not already terrified of drowning? Until they learn it's Jesus, they wanted this "thing", this "ghost" gone. When they know it's Him, THEN they want Him in the boat. [first word of Jo.6:21!]. After they want Jesus with them, the storm stops, Jesus is there and they arrive at their destination. Wanting Jesus changes everything! Hebrews 10-11 Come to Jesus is the word for the Hebrews. Do you really want to spend another 1400 years slaughtering, chopping up, and roasting piles and piles of animals? Come come now. Jesus' sacrifice suffices. Forgiveness is what you are looking for. That is what you want. And dynamic faith like Elijah is what the Hebrews admire. Jesus grants all this. Do we want Him? How much?
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, this is amazing. You are amazing. Let us remain amazed at your marvelous deeds and your love for us. Amen
5 - It had been a year since Jesus cleared out the Temple in John 2. He was back in Jerusalem now and ready to make more statements about God, man's need, right and wrong, the illicit leadership that was abusing people versus serving and blessing them. His occasion at this juncture is to heal a man unable to walk for 38 years. This is one of the 7 miracles that The Apostle John depicts Jesus doing in his gospel. [We'll give the list before year's out]. Jesus asks the man if he wants to get well. His reply is "I can't". --> Jesus did not ask him about his ability to get well. He asked him about his desire to get well. <-- Remember, Jesus blesses and uses us on the basis of His ability to work through us and upon our desire to be used not our ability nor our works. The gifts of God are about God. He grants healing. Be that as it is, Jesus deliberately walks into this encounter that stirred from his healing this man on the Sabbath. Once the religious leaders catch up with Jesus, 'the dialogue is on!' Jesus tells them He was there to do good. They accused Him of breaking the Sabbath, a rule they manipulated instead of honored. He asserted that God was His Father, that He was there to work miracles (which verified both truths!). And notice that in Hebrew culture, a father/son relationship was an equation of unity. Jesus talks about resurrection, honor, Himself as an authority, judgment, His perfect teamwork with God the Father, the witness of truth and its confirmation, and their rejection of Jesus' testimony. Jesus then closes with a zinger about their total dereliction of spiritual duty in rejecting all the teaching of Scripture that they falsely claim they are honoring in their occupation. That one stung 'em and stung 'em good. "How can we kill him" became their obsession from here. 6 - Jesus went back north after this - yes he left Jerusalem abuzz and let the whole city ponder what he had done during this; His latest drop-in. Back in Galilee, He crossed Galilee/Tiberias to the north side. [The Hebrew name was Chinnereth from 'kinneret'; a name that went back over 1300 years to Joshua's time. The Greek form of Chinnereth was Gennesaret. Galilee was the name that was tagged the body of water because the area was called "Galilee". The "Sea of Tiberias" was named as such by the contemporary Herod who was honoring Caesar Tiberias who ruled in Rome 14-37 A.D. because Herod was feverish to remain on good terms with Tiberias while he had jurisdiction over Galilee. Tiberias was the Caesar during Christ's ministry and crucifixion. OK, all that was T.M.I.! Jesus lands in Galilee and such a crowd gathered and stayed so long that a food crisis became the issue. Jesus' scheme of choreographing the setting for this feeding miracle is genius. He asks Philip a question that merely proves that the disciples are inadequate -even too fearful to work out a remedy. Mathematically, financially, geographically, this is a mess and there is no human solution in sight. Welcome to ministry, people! Then Jesus collected a small boy's lunch. He gives thanks to God (this is why we pray before eating), and lets the disciples make the 5,000 deliveries. With wives and children and elderly, there were likely 20,000 that were fed. It easily could have been 30,000, maybe more. And stop to think here, did the disciples have any confidence to work a miracle? And yet where did the bread and fish multiply? IN THE HANDS of the disciples! The miracle happened in their hands. Read it again. God does much of His miracles by way of us. He operates the same way now. So each disciple is starting with 40% of a small barley loaf and 1/6th of a fish. Then after feeding 1,000-3,000 people each [to the level of being packed full!], they gather the leftovers and each disciple has a basket of food. n this, Jesus is telling them. "i'll give you enough to feed the whole world..." That night He walks on water and calms His disciples' fears along with amazing them. The situation they were in was approaching fatal in terms of its consequences. Again Jesus had to do something - and He did. In all this today, John is insisting that we put our faith in Jesus; yes, find Him and follow Him too. Let Him touch your chronic pain and frustration, feed you, assist you, rescue you, guide you. Jesus heals chronic paralysis, amazes with His brilliant theology and understanding. He feeds thousands of people from a bag of scraps. He walks on water, calms storms. We know enough to pledge our lives to Him. All excuses for dawdling are gone. John, by writing all this down, has touched more lives as an evangelist than anyone. It's Powerful Stuff.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, As we read today, we are reminded of the song, "Who Is on The Lord's Side?" Heaven knows it is not safe to be anywhere else. Guide us Holy Spirit in all our endeavors and remind us to remain on your side. Amen.
2:4ff. - The royal spanking of Judah was in process. The Babylonians struck in three separate attacks. First in 605 B.C., second in 597 B.C. and finally in 586 B.C. Zephaniah is writing before the third attack. Those neighbors and some far away who all hated the Jews were delighted at the Hebrews being in distress. The Babylonians came in waves and they weren't going to stop until they had finished their job and smashed Jerusalem. The whole Near Eastern World knew what was coming. The countries around Judah were basically all set and excited to watch it go down. And yes, they had their personal buckets of popcorn in hand! So God is using Zephaniah to send a not-so-subtle memo to the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Ethiopians (plus their northern neighbors), and to the Assyrians. It was basically: "Cheer all you want - YOU'RE NEXT!" You may remember smirking a bit as a kid while one of your siblings received a paddling years ago. The mood changed in a moment, didn't it, when your parents glanced at you and announced, "now it's your turn!"? That is exactly what is coming for all of Judah's neighbors and enemies. Within 20 years all of those who were enjoying Judah getting traumatized - they were flattened by these same Babylonians that they had been cheering on. The fate came home for them and their cultures as their cities fell silent. The great city of Nineveh's fall was the greatest shock, and relief, to everyone who couldn't conceive that anyone would ever overtake them. Even Nineveh fell silent as the Babylonians marched right through and then out the other side with bloodied swords. So goes things for the enemies of God's people, of God's rules, of God's ways, ... for the enemies of God. 3 - And God doesn't give Jerusalem a split second to chatter, "nya nya nya" at her enemies that Zephaniah has just scolded. God remains livid at them as their selfish leaders, false prophets, and crooked judges churn away and charge ahead getting all they can for themselves and serving no one but themselves. 'Sounds unnervingly familiar, eh? The literature takes a grand shift in Zeph. 3:9 as God will one day pull His people together after the storm passes. Captivity will end, the communication and worship will be purely God-honoring, the whole earth will be affected by this development. Hints of this occurred in 1948 when Israel was reestablished, and Hebrew was made the national language. There is also a seeming prediction of the millennial reign when Christ's rule is unimpeded, evil is bound/expelled and there is peace on earth in Rev. 20. Though Zephaniah does not state it definitively, he also talks in concert with the new heaven and the new earth mentioned in Rev. 21 and 22. It never ceases to be amazing that those who claim to follow God, and those who fight God and those oblivious to God, can all be so equally bad. AND that God can prophesy such hope against [and in the face of] such imminent disaster. My o my!
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear God, we certainly receive a lesson in what not to act like in our lives and in your presence. I pray we are mentored by these passages and thereby don't need to repeat them. May it be so. Amen.
18 - It sounds like Ezekiel is speaking to all the psychology majors of the 1970's; those who were blaming their parents for everything and taking personal responsibility for nothing. The truth is unshakeable - that each man dies for his own sin. The just and lawful will live. The irresponsible, the disobedient, the oppressors - they will die. End of issue. No more blaming others for one's own evil bent. And by the way, those who repent will also live. Calling God 'unfair' because justice is meted out against the guilty is stupid and irresponsible. He would love nothing more than to have no one to punish and for all to be following Him. But man is unwilling so don't blame God. God is still calling hearts back to Himself. Think about it: the Hebrews have been wretchedly sinful for a couple of centuries now. And God is not being gracious enough?? Get real!
19 - Using vivid symbolism - Judah was like a lion. David was it's greatest king. The lionesses were the mothers. The cubs of the lion were the successive kings that came along over the centuries between David and Zedekiah, the last king. They were once so large and in charge and gloriously so. Now they are bedraggled, captured, imprisoned, shamed and withering along with the kingdom. The kingdom is not looking good, and the future is bleak. 20 - It's right around 591-590 B.C. when Jeconiah [Jehoiachin] who was taken captive. [Also told in II Ki. 24:15] Six years after that, [about 4 years before the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem in 586 B.C.], the elders come to Ezekiel to seek the Lord's advice, they ask, "where do we go from here?" It's a pathetic situation and a very tiresome question for Ezekiel to field. The litany of Judah's sinfulness is spelled out for them as well as a call for restoration. They are basically like a kid who won't eat his dinner, but keeps eating rancid garbage from a dumpster until he gets deathly sick only to ask his parents, "how come you guys won't help me get well?" Looney, huh? Yes it is. That was the deviancy that Ezekiel was prophesying to. Ezekiel goes back 1000 years to when they were a slave nation in Egypt. God did not want them to be forever under Egyptian idols. So he brought them out, gave them new laws and a new start. And they just couldn't obey. They adopted cultic practices of the neighbors and blithely brought offerings to the Lord as well. And here they are 'playing pious' coming to Ezekiel to ask, "what's wrong here? what do we do now?..." Nonetheless, God, in His goodness, still talks of a day when He is worshipped rightly in Jerusalem. But the residents of Jerusalem will be run through a fiery trial first. God help them.
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"Lord, You call us to be productive industrious people. And you grant wisdom to those who ask. We've asked before and we ask again now because we need your wisdom. Thank you Lord. Amen."
9 - We are invited to come and gain wisdom. The invitation is open. The learning is delightful. Invest your efforts in helping the wise grow; none else. Wisdom's benefits are lifelong, while prostitutes and theft will kill you. 10 - [ch's 10-24 are Solomon's Bk. 2 of Proverbs] The contrasts are many: Be a good child / be wise / righteous / diligent / teachable / make plans / be honest / speak thoughtfully/ be gracious & loving / be blessed / rich / anchored / hopeful / helpful. On the other hand, do not be a rebel / a fool / wicked / lazy / reckless / blindly self-sufficient / tolerant of sin / do not speak curses nor be quarrelsome. Yap yap yap all the time and you'll be poor, flighty, fearful, selfish, shunned and alone. 11 - Honesty is of God and establishes us. Dishonesty will destroy the cheater. Righteousness is endless, riches are temporal. Be a builder not a destroyer. Godly citizens = a prosperous city / wickedness = decay & demise. Don't quarrel or gossip -- be honorable and kind. Cruelty/riches via evilness/stubbornness/and death all go together. Love people more than riches. Discretion will keep you beautiful. You will find what you are looking for in life: whether good OR evil - and we all will be rewarded accordingly 12 - Love learning, correction, goodness, godliness. The worth of a good wife is immeasurable [and v.v.] The godly man v.s. the wicked man --> the contrasts are many and eternal. Good men and hard work and teamwork and honesty and listening are linked - as are waste and crookery, arrogance and jealousy, lies and trouble. Don't be a fool --> [fingers in your ears, endless tantrums, demanding respect, lying, putting others down, loving deceit and evil, looking for trouble]. Keep promises, work, lead, get advice, encourage, and be diligent.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Heavenly Father, we see the biblical truths shining forth today. Following you leads to wellness, strength, establishment, and blessing. Turning from you takes lives into decimation and loss. May we learn from this and follow you regardless of anything that tries to distract us. We are yours. Lord God. Amen.
Solomon is gone. The zenith of Jerusalem's wealth and power was a bygone era. The glory of it all was stunning. Solomon had entranced the world as God had blessed him with a level of achievement no human had known to date. But as time and tide waits for no man, Solomon's time was up after 40 years of leadership and his successor was not nearly as competent. His son was raised by a brilliant man, yes, but not a godly man. Whereas Solomon had been raised by a godly man. Let the implications of that simmer in your mind. Note that whereas the Book of I & II Kings gives a parallel account of this era, II Chronicles 10-36 (following Solomon's death at the end of II Chr. 9) tells of only the kings of Judah. So keep in mind as you study Bible in this life, I Kings and II Chronicles both begin with Solomon
10 - Solomon's son Rehoboam (among numerous sons!) succeeded him as king in Jerusalem. Meanwhile Jeroboam, an Ephraimite [who was a manager of the labor force and the taxes coming from Ephraim for Solomon] came back from exile and lead a rebellion against the system that taxed the whole country at a stifling level. Jeroboam's concerns were legitimate actually. The problem was that in the process of deciding what the tax rates should be from that point onward, the young men were involved and they had no intention of being conciliatory. They promised to raise taxes to a level that would choke them to death and they better get used to it! Forgive me for being so relevant to current events, folks. But tensions throughout history have usually been about taxation and it's level proceeding way past responsible/sensible and becoming theft and the financing of immoral leaders who are anything but forthright. Rehoboam was moronic in his rejecting the advice of the older men and going with the "sophomores" in his midst; his peers mind you. Rehoboam's mother was an Ammonite, not Jewish so that gives you some insight as to where he might get his foolishness. Not to overlook his father having a child with an Ammonite, but heyyy! Rehoboam proved to be a master of mismanagement and the 10 tribes of the north broke away. When the first Ambassador was sent north from Jerusalem, he was murdered. The people were angry up north and they were not to be consoled. 11 - Rehoboam assembled an army to march north and subdue them; forcing them to come back. However the Lord intervened immediately and told Rehoboam to go home. Rehoboam spent the next years fortifying the southern cities of Judah. Meanwhile Jeroboam up north fired all the Levitical priests and they retreated to Jerusalem and Judea. Jeroboam needed to ensure the kingdom split and he effectively used bad religion to do so. Rehoboam failed to learn from his father's excess and he too took in 78 women as wives and concubines. He placed his sons around Judah to serve as guards for him and made sure they all had many wives too [thanks dad!]. As I mentioned before, in a manner of speaking, Rehoboam wasn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Nevertheless, he was in charge, and he had more ambition than sense or insight. 12 - Rehoboam followed the Lord somewhat until he became powerful and wealthy enough to think he was self-sufficient. He veered off into sin, led the people to Judah to do the same, and before long the Egyptian army was knocking at the door - with a battering ram! And Solomon thought [40+ years ago] that there would be eternal peace with Egypt since his first wife was Egyptian...(peace through illicit sex never did work). This Egyptian invasion by Shishak is verified by archaeological remains that string from Megiddo to the Negev and can still be viewed today. Shishak bragged of this conquest on a wall carving that is in Karnak, Egypt. This is the same city where Moses and Pharaoh had their year long showdown and the 10 plagues centered out of some 500 years prior. It must have been especially gratifying for Shishak to do this - after hauling all the Temple treasures from Jerusalem back to Egypt. It was all so terribly unfortunate! Ignoring God leads to such loss time and time again. Rehoboam did humble himself again and the losses were not total for Shishak didn't decimate Judah and parts of the north like he could have. If you are curious for more of Rehoboam, the collateral tale is told in I Kings 12-14. 13 - Abijah became king and he was wicked like his father Rehoboam. Abijah's wickedness is more stated in the I Kings 15 story of him. His battle with Jeroboam was successful in regaining some cities from the north. Abijah did know idolatry when he saw it and his confronting Jeroboam was a right move. The victory is attributed to his calling on God. For that we must credit Abijah for doing something right. Did the numbers in this battle hit you? Israel/the 10 Northern tribes, lost 500,000 elite fighters that DAY. Good grief the USA lost 58,000 in Vietnam over 16 years. the USA lost 400,000 in WWII across dozens of countries and numerous oceans over four years. This small country of Israel lost 500,000 in one battle in one area in one day! One might think that Jeroboam [the northern king] would pause to ponder whether his paganism was working or not. or whether his tax revolt could perhaps be renegotiated...or not. But Jeroboam was an angry dullard and he was struck that day in such a way that he never recovered. It wasn't long before the Lord finished him off with a severity that took him to his grave. 14 - Asa was next king of Judah reigning from 911-870 B.C.; 41 years. He was righteous and his heart was good and devoted to God. He removed the idols and all the pagan relics along with. He built walls and fortified the cities of the southern kingdom. The Judea and Benjamite army totaled 580,000 men who were led by godly leaders. They were so sound in their principles, led of God, purified of idolatry that when a million man army arrives from Ethiopia to take them down, quick work is made of them and not one survives! Not one. The Bible says the Lord did this. The plunder and spoils of war that went home to Jerusalem were quite something as they returned from this battle. 15 - Returning from war, they are met by a prophet who speaks a powerful word over Asa and the southern kingdom --> "commit to God!" It's a Word that they end up needing more than one might think (this shows in ch . 16). They assert this call to reform all the more and finish removing any vestige of ungodliness they could find. The altar is repaired the rest of the way, a huge offering is given as the whole southern kingdom pledges to follow God and declares that anyone who deviates will be killed. New 'recruits' from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeons' territory were present as they wanted to be on the Lords' side of things. There was a renewed covenant and joy in the land resulting from this commitment to follow God completely by everyone. Asa even had his own mother removed from prominence since she had retained her commitment to pagan idolatry. The guy's playing "hardball", eh? Y'gotta love it when a man is committed to God and won't flinch for absolutely anyone. 16 - Then the north rattles the saber, goading Asa and Judah to war. Asa errs permanently right here in that he consults Syria to aid him in stopping Israel from fighting him in Judah. What was Asa's lapse in judgment all about? He had defeated them before and disposed of 500K top soldiers. He had defeated a hardened million man army from Ethiopia and LIbya and seemed to escape without a scratch. !?He needs help from Syria now?! What is he thinking? Is he NOT thinking? and why is he not thinking? Verse 9 is a world of wisdom that is still speaking 29 centuries later., btw. Check that verse again!! After this prophetic exhortation in his 39th year as king, Asa went dark the last two years of his life and reign. He didn't go to the Lord anymore. Disease struck him and still he wouldn't pray. Can we say, "all's not well that ends bad!"?
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear God is Heaven: We thank you that you have a plan for us. A plan to establish and prosper us (go forward and grow us), and to take us to where we have rest in you. Thank you Lord Jesus. Amen.
There is precious little time left before the Israelites need to pack up and cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. Let's see what occupies some of their final days before going to where God has always wanted them to be. 31 - Moses has a major assignment, along with delivering the Book of Deuteronomy before he dies. This assignment is to obliterate the Midianites. He instructs the Israelites in the battle plan and off they go. This was a mop-up plan God had since the Midianites were the ones who led tens of thousands of Israelites astray into idolatry and fornication wherein 24,000 Israelites died [Numbers 25 - though the mess begins in Nu. 22] . So in this stage of the game, 12K Israelite soldiers attack Midian and decimate every last soldier - - without losing one Israeli soldier. The Lord then exhorts them to finish the job and rid the Midianite women who were the actual beings who lured the Israelite men into fornication. So the grown women and the all remaining males are executed in addition to eliminate future uprisings or opportunity to sin with the Midian "street-walkers". The young virgin women are allowed to live for they would tend to not grow up and lead battalions against Israel if you know what I mean. Plus they can be trained to be efficient house helpers and gardeners. The rigors of dividing up the loot from all of Midian wealth and animals and young survivors was a mammoth ordeal. You wouldn't suspect any of the Israelis were particularly bothered by the sizable 'pay day' each of them experienced. 32 - The Tribes of Reuben and Gad present their desire to settle east of the Jordan for the land there was excellent for raising sheep. After Moses cross examined them for any intentions to avoid the conquest process of crossing the Jordan, he allowed them to set up their world east of the Jordan. Manasseh became part of the "east of the Jordan" bunch as well. It was a practical matter more than anything. The land had been occupied by pagan people who were newly removed by the Israeli army and someone needed to occupy it lest it become wild jungle and a lair for beasts. So this seemed to work out that Reuben, Gad and part of Manasseh live there 33 - The journeys of the Exodus and the forty years prior are listed. It's like reading over the Lewis/Clark journals at the end of their trek that Thomas Jefferson sent them on. Look back over the itinerary of any nomad or traveler or explorer at the end of 40 years' of trekking and it's an impressive list. Here is the list of all the places the Israelites had covered [on foot!] since leaving Egypt. It's a dizzying rendition. My husband finished college there winter 1985 and he has been to many of the cities the Bible tells about between Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the Sinai wiiderness, and 400 miles up the Nile to Karnak in Egypt. Map out the places if you would like to do that. It's a journey that would leave any of us wide-eyed. And remember that 95% of this wandering was not the original intention. God had a rest /a place / a home for them. But they didn't and wouldn't. God wanted them to drive out all the pagan tribes once they entered Canaan. so they could have wondrous rest and security. But they didn't, then they wouldn't. Turns out in time that they couldn't. The issue lingers to this day. God has a place and a rest for us, His people. Let's allow Him to take us there..
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Thank you Lord for saving our souls, for making us righteous in your Covenant written and sealed in your blood. This is our rich salvation. Amen.
This is more notes on theology and issues that pertain especially to the Hebrews. They pertain to us as well for we are Judeo-Christians. Those who follow Christ Jesus must remain mindful of the fact that He was a Jew. Did you ever realize that? Jesus was not a Christian. We are. We are to be learning what the Hebrews are to be learning. "So as for you Hebrews" ... the book continues. 6 - The immaturity was an issue that needed to be addressed. Have you heard of people who live like the Devil all week, confess on Friday or sober up very late Saturday, get to church shabby and blurry-eyed but indeed go [out of guilt] yet consider it enough to clear them for another week of raucous mindless living? I've actually heard a church goer excuse some ungodly tendencies, "hey, relax, we went to church last weekend. We'll go next weekend. The in-between is our time. We won't go to hell for anything. We were baptized years ago. We'll be all right." This see-saw/yo-yo faith is not excusable. We are to grow in Christ, not vascilate in and out of Christ. Those who are endlessly jumping in the mud so to shower off so to jump in the mud, then shower off only to jump in mud infinite amounts of times all-the-while saying they are "busy for the Lord" are fooling themselves and themselves only. Repentance is so that we can turn our back on sin permanently, not so that we can feel fine about continually going back to sin. There are many facets of this concept and the unpardonable sin, sins that are mortal and lead to death, sins that are lesser or more. The arguments will never be finalized. It's better to just hear the words of the apostle here in Hebrews, resolve to grow in our faith and service v.s. argue about how ungodly we can be and still be saved Those arguments are fruitless. Abandon them and grow with Jesus. 7 - The biblical character Melchizedek receives the best explanation in Hebrews. The Hebrew revered Moses, David, Elijah. Abraham got special honors from the Hebrews and since Abraham paid reverent homage to Melchizedek then this mysterious figure from 2,000 B.C. gets a 'hat-tip" as well. The writer of Hebrews lays it out plainly that Jesus is the high priest we are to honor now. Yes, remember and honor all these biblical characters, especially Abraham and Melchizedek. But using them to rationalize that "we're covered" and subsequently shun Jesus is not reading this right. It's easy to guffaw what's in front of you and say things were better way back when or way over someplace else. .Remember John/Baptist telling the illicit leaders visiting from Jerusalem, "don't say 'we have Abraham as our father' (and think they can ignore the matters at hand and the fact that the grid for salvation was about to change). That was from Matt. 3:10 and Luk 3:9. The same ethic is being explained here. Jesus is the great high priest now. Crooning about the good old boys and/or the good old days is hapless. Jesus is the King of Righteousness and the matter is settled. We pray because of Him, by way of Him, and to Him now. Some posit that Melchizedek, the mysterious and glorious priest, was Shem, Noah's middle son, the father of the Semitic peoples, who really was still alive in Abraham's time. And some records maintain that he was the oldest man on earth at the time. Study that further if you wish but like The Book of Hebrews and Jesus so effectively remind us, don't let older topics cloud your mind to what matters most now 8 - The New Covenant was given by Christ and in His blood and it is better; it is superior to the old covenant given through Moses. It had to start this way and be exercised as it was but it needed to be perfected by Christ Jesus. Therefore Christ's ministry is superior. The old covenant was not enough to cleanse permanently. There's an old story about a Catholic boy and a Jewish boy walking home from school and each was explaining their faith to the other. The Jewish boy was in awe after the Catholic boy finished his part. The Jewish boy exclaimed, "you just confess your sin and that's it!? And your guilt just goes away? Why is it so easy? We have guilt in our faith too, but it never goes away!" The message of Jesus is that He is our permanent priest now - Great and high and powerful and perfect and permanent in His office wherein He serves on our behalf. Christ too now is better for covering us for glory's sake. We see the word "better" 11 times in Hebrews - in the translation we used this week. That also applies to this New Covenant in Christ. It is better. It is superior. 9 - Many of the changes from old to new are told in this chapter. The Tabernacle and the animal sacrifices served an era and a purpose, but they never permanently saved and solved like Christ does now. The blood of the lamb was the symbol of forgiveness. Christ offered Himself as the sacrifice through His blood. And His sacrifice was once and for all and for all time. There are so many parallels and comparisons and the issue is that we see that Christ is better and only HE is sufficient now. Here it is told why the new covenant was needed and put in place. Read it again or play it again if you need to hear it again. This is very vital. Notice that the new covenant morphs into the New Testament. Our word, "new testament" comes from right here in Hebrews 9. A last will and testament goes into effect after a person has died. Christ's death (resurrection) put the new covenant into effect as a testament; a testament that speaks to us still. A will and testament also transfers valuables to another person or persons. The New Testament in Christ transfers righteousness to us. It also transfers membership to a city of gold that is being prepared for us...it transfers the citizenship of that city to us also. The blood of goats and bulls cannot do this. The blood of Christ received by us in faith accomplishes all of this. The Thread Through the Streams Bring what you have to God. Bring your offerings, your errors, your questions, your earnings, your life. Bring it all to God. -In Numbers 28-30 the offerings were brought to God - every season, festival, holiday, month, week, day - and it was a joyful regimen -II Chr.5ff. The Ark is brought to God in the Temple and praises erupt. Solomon brings his prayers to God before the people and God displays His wonders in awesome fashion. [no magic - simply coming before the Lord!] - Prov.5-8, in an antithetical manner, reminds people to not bring personal needs to a prostitute. And since we need to be learning as a people, be learning from the Lord, from godly parents. Come to God with personal needs, financial needs (v.s. joining with hucksters,liars,hookers) You will go somewhere with these needs so in an illustrative sense, Proverbs is telling us to go to God with all this. -Ezekiel 16-17 had some painful themes this week. He tells of how God has come to them like a bridegroom. In a sense, but Israel runs away, God asks "why will you go anywhere with anyone but you won't come to me?" And because you do not "bring yourselves to me, you will be plucked up and hauled away like what happens when an eagle snatches up a rodent. -Zephaniah 1 is scathing, but the passage ends this week [Zeph.2:3] with a tender urging that the people humble themselves, seek righteousness - and come to God. -In John 3 Nicodemus brings his questions to God Himself. Yes, he is coming to Jesus at night, but his questions drove him to do so even though it jeopardized his standing with the leaders. I.e. come to God however you can, whichever way, and whenever you can. Do what you must, but come to Him tonight - today. Come to Him like Nicodemus did; now. -Hebrews 6ff. urges to get off the metronome of "sin, confess, sin, confess" and come to God; grow in God. And as for the old way of coming to God, sacrifices and offerings (to Melchizedek), honoring Abraham, yeah yeah... COME TO JESUS! That's how we come to God from here on. The shady Samaritan woman found God and turned evangelist after talking it through with Jesus. Amazing week of stories, wasn't it?!
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Jesus, we pause and remember and rejoice with you over the historical reminders today that you are the Savior. Amen.
Those who smuggle Bibles into the Communist and Islamic world get caught up in the most eerie and exciting situations you will ever hear of. It's been said that when the security passageways get really tense, they just take in New Testaments since they are smaller. When things are much more threatening, they will pare down and smuggle in copies of the Book of John only. When things are life-and- death-level dangerous, all is cast aside and they just bring in John 3 ...! They are printed on single sheets the size of a 3x5 card. These are given to Pastors and new believers. Is it not true that eternal life and death hang on the matter of us understanding John 3? 3 - Nicodemus, a Jewish leader, comes to Jesus at night to get clarity on some spiritual matters while remaining incognito. He needed to keep his intentions hidden from his peers. Nicodemus gets an earful and the interaction ends up being the most famous discussion of all time! Billions of lives have been changed by this conversation that has been printed and retold, enacted and films and viewed more than any scene in history. Rebirth, salvation, the infilling Holy Spirit - it's all here. And Jesus continues to press the matter in a subtle way when he tells Nicodemus about light and dark and the hearts of men who had gone wrong long ago. The hint here is that some day soon Nicodemus is going to have to come into the light with his personal beliefs and also come out into the open with his testimony. God is not a secret to be kept. What did this one conversation do to Nicodemus? Well after Jesus had died it was Nicodemus who joined in the process of preparing Jesus for burial and then placing him in the tomb. Just one conversation, folks, just one conversation with Jesus, just MEET him and you will follow Him to the end. We meet with people who are disgruntled, given up on church, left the Light, are gone bad and dark and are dabbling in cultic activity now and are even quite pompous about it all. They retort to our questions about their spiritual state and defend themselves saying, "they tried church..." Yes, perhaps, but they didn't meet Jesus. They heard about Him, they were lied to about Him by people who do not follow Him wholeheartedly, but they haven't met Jesus personally like Nicodemus did. It's important that we meet Jesus personally, deeply, undistracted, and with complete transparency. Meeting Him changes everything forever. The dervish about John the Baptist continues. There were so many people going to him in Jericho and other places to hear his powerful preaching and be baptized that the leaders in Jerusalem were going out too. The distinction is that they were just upset that people weren't in Temple paying their due$ so they wanted to go scrutinize John v.s. be blessed by God and his ministering through John. John/Baptist does a marvelous job of preparing the way for Jesus and then getting out of the way (for Jesus' sake). John's ending is painful and unfortunate but Jesus said his place in heaven is most prominent. If we'd like a prominent place in heaven, John has shown us what to do. 4 - This famous meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well is the same well that Jacob used 1800 years prior. It can still be visited today. And you will be invited to drink of it too! Last chapter Jesus explained the Holy Spirit and Light and new birth, here He explains Living Water and the fact that HE IS Living Water. Water is the most economical way to transport anything. Interesting that transporting anything is called 'shipping' -even on land. In our bodies all nutrients are carried to all cells via water. Most of the oxygen we breathe comes from the ocean. I.e. water=life, dry=death. How important is water? there were situations when the wagon trains going west would run out of water. In one instance someone offered his canteen. He demanded $100.- for each eight ounces of water (that was four months wages per cup!). The thirsty pioneers resented the bill but they paid it - and lived. Jesus is who keeps us from dying ... in case anyone missed that part. The setting here is keen in that Jesus oversteps three taboos to prove a vital point: conversing with a woman / meeting one-on-one with a Samaritan / engaging a prostitute in public. Remember the Catholic priest who dubbed, that this woman was no stranger to sin - she was no stranger to anyone! And there is Jesus demonstrating that issues need to be put aside and this woman needs to be saved along with the rest of the town. Jesus "reads her mail to her" and she is astounded. Did you catch the fact that the cowering sinful woman of the town became the evangelist of the town? It's an amazing transformation. So many had followed her into darkness. Now virtually the whole town followed her testimony and found the Light of the World (He says that in ch. 8) She too was like John/Baptist who told of the Way and then got out of the way [v.42 is a good indication]. Jesus' salient encounters continue as He traverses the entire cultural terrain in these two chapters: Nicodemus is a high end Jewish leader / a Samaritan hooker is the bottom of the barrel, a government official (who answers to Rome) is a power broker; not someone to be trifle with! [The memo is that Jesus is for everyone!!] The official comes to Jesus and repeatedly asks Him to come heal his son. Top dogs for Rome do not beg at the knee of a Jewish man. Never. This situation tells us how desperate this official was, how much he loved his son, and that he has complete confidence in Jesus power to heal. You don't stoop culturally like this unless you want something really bad and have unflinching belief that your requesting requesting requesting is going to avail the results of healing. He would get his son back if he persisted. He knew Jesus wouldn't say, "uh, healing the 'mayor's family' is above my pay grade, pal." He knew that coming to Jesus would take him, his life, and his family where they needed to be. The lessons we learn from Jesus' interactions today are lessons we need, the world needs to hear for they are truths that none of us ever outgrow. Halelujah!
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, you are never done calling us back to you. Your love is relentless and greater than we can understand. Thank you for your love. Amen.
Zephaniah was a great mover/shaker in the reformation we read of in II Chron. 34. People in the western hemisphere more readily call such developments a revival. But Zephaniah was a contemporary of Josiah's reforms. The succession was King Hezekiah (good king), his son Manasseh (wretched king), his grandson Josiah (a good king). Josiah did great things for God's Name and glory. It helped slow the tide of the inevitable from Manasseh's 55 years of horrible lust for blood and demonic activity ...activity that he executed WITHIN the city of Jerusalem. So, at any rate, Josiah is turning things aright again, and Zephaniah is right there with him. We notice that "The Day of The Lord" is mentioned 10 times in today's reading. And Zephaniah isn't done using the phrase. It's sort of a phrase related to ... well, how many of you, when you were being a bit of a rascal, your mother grew exasperated finally to assure you there was trouble at sundown. The phrase she would say was, "wait until your father gets home!" That was a misbehaving child's version of "The Day of the Lord." When Zephaniah uses it here however, it had national insinuation, and a historical proportion to it. This "Day of the Lord" changed everything. It wasn't just a momentary 'heat on the seat' to curb and correct behavior.
1 - Zephaniah is verbally letting loose on Judah. His parallel work with King Josiah was notable. Josiah was among the best of kings to serve in the southern kingdom. He was 15th of the 19 rulers to serve between the northern kingdom splitting off and the Babylonian/Chaldeans swooping in to crush the city of Jerusalem and the southern kingdom of Judah [the rest of the way] along with it. [btw, of the 19, 11 were bad and 8 were on the good side of things.] As Zephaniah is writing to the southern kingdom, he and Josiah are in a sense slowing the desperate leaking, so to speak, of a ship that was badly battered by the prior kings; Manasseh & Amon. They do their best to recover what remains of godliness in the land, but the inevitable is on its way. The initial invasion of Babylon, the second strike, and the final blow of 586 B.C. -all this- would happen within 20 years. The terror of Babylonian soldiers pounding through with one plan: [level all of it!] was a picture that haunted the known world at the time. Some in Jerusalem thought they would be spared for they were "the chosen". Well that is as silly as an only child thinking he is going to get the whole inheritance, all to himself, for he's THE ONE. So in his thinking he's free to be a hellion. Well there have been plenty of arrogant children who think they can act up all they want for they are irreversibly special. 'Not the case kiddos! The Day of the Lord was coming for Judah. He would sweep the place clean. None would be unaffected. No one could buy their way out. The religious, the merchants, laborers, the wealthy - they all "have it coming". God wanted Baal out! And since most embraced Baal, they would be carried out with the rest of the pagan trash! It wasn't going to be a pretty sight. The mood of gloom despair and agony, deep dark depression and excessive misery (remember Hee-Haw? in the 1970s) was not a country song back when. This however was a real nightmare. It was set to happen, it was irreversible, since virtually all of Judah was irreversibly committed to sinning. Remember they had just spent most of two whole generations sacrificing young infants (Hebrew babies!) to the satanic god Molech. 2:1-3 - And yet they are urged to humble themselves and pray. Who knows, maybe God would be kind enough to selectively spare them when the enemy army rushes in. For God can do anything with a humble heart.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
"Lord Jesus, no matter how bad things get, you still have plans. You have good plans for us. So we want to cooperate with your plans. Thank you for calling us to yourself. We are yours. Amen."
Just a little review: remember Ezekiel is in Babylon and whereas Daniel is in the palace having his influence there, Ezekiel is in the countryside and prophesying about Jerusalem and the destruction that is looming because they have wholly given themselves over to behavior that is reprehensible; downright demonic. Ezekiel spends the first 24 chapters in this theme. We are in 16 and 17 this week so we're just over 2/3's through the diatribe against Jerusalem and their rebellion. 16 - Ezekiel is giving Israel (Jerusalem/Judah) a scolding for their absolutely inexcusable behavior. God has cared for them since their conception, given them the best of protection, provision, adornment and love. They are like a wife now succumbed to unfaithfulness. Not just the unfaithfulness of a wandering heart that strayed by default... Jerusalem was aggressively unruly, sinful. They had a practical glee about their dark fetishes that had completely overtaken them culturally. The God of Abraham was desperately grieved and the Hebrews in Jerusalem were way worse than smug about it. God had cared for them from the start and cared for them tenderly. Come Ezekiel's day they were reknown for their whoring behavior. The "bride" had fallen so far! They prostituted themselves to any customers; any and all who would pass by. The idolatry was endless, the dark and sickening practices wereworse than the people of foreign nations that God had told them not to act like, associate with, not resemble in any way. They were now having an ungodliness contest with themselves since they had long outdone their pagan neighbors. They were a sick people who needed a serious "country whoopin' " And they were about to get it! The Egyptians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Philistines were all in the shadow of Israel and yet Israel was darker than all of them. Weird development if there ever was one. God was on the verge of taking the severest of measures to get them to cease the prostitution. It's unreal what they had reduced Jerusalem to being - a pit of darkness. They may as well have been borne to pagans. Sodom would have blushed at the behavior of those living in Jerusalem. God's punishment was imminent, and the purpose of the punishment was to chasten Jerusalem so that God could dwell with them again, bring them back and bless them again. God's love was never to fail. It hadn't in the past and it wouldn't now. Amazing, amazing love!
17 - This riddle is about what is going to happen to the Hebrews in Judea. The king of Babylon is represented by the first eagle. The "top shoot" of the cedar plucked and transplanted is The Judean King Jehoiachin taken to Babylon to flourish. That happened six years prior to this prophecy. The one who is playing both sides and caught between was Zedekiah, the last king of Jerusalem who suffered his horrid fate. Egypt is the symbolic second eagle mentioned. Zedekiah would be punished for his double-mindedness - make that triple mindedness. actually he was quite worse. He dealt with Babylonians, schemed in secret with Egyptians, feigned to worship God, was a king that allowed the worst of bad behavior to go unchecked in his city of Jerusalem. He was essentially worthless to all because he was "committed" to anything/everyone. That's a sure way to end up in great trouble. Ezekiel spoke of Zedekiah's coming fate earlier in Ez.12:10-16. He's kind of like the religiously confused that go to seven different kinds of "churches", joins a mosque to learn non-tolerance, attends Buddhist meditation classes, gets mentored by a witch, visits India so he can practice some Hinduism [just trying to cover all bases here for a god in his mind (who doesn't exist!)]. I.e. Jerusalem was an utter mess. Storm clouds of war were gathering. Zedekiah would be hauled off as prophesied in a mere five years and Jerusalem would be unrecognizable from the siege. And as the chapter ends, here is God planning to take a twig from this same tree and transplant it so that it grows tall and prominent and bears fruit as promised to the royal line of David. This fulfillment would come in a child ... born in the city of David ....
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear God: make us wise according to your word. Give us wisdom and hearts that do not stray. May our lives be a testament to right living as you teach us to live. Amen.
5 - Solomon knew the world of women. And it's intriguing that God has us to be taught on this topic by a man who had 300 wives at his disposal and 700 concubines trolling through his world. So in this scripture today we can basically receive a wise word from a man who knows too much. He was an expert in right and wrong in this area so we better ingest what he has to say. Come the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is virtually depressed by doing anything outside of what God allows and he is wishing that all he had was one wife -for therein is joy. We can assess Solomon's theology of love and prayer in four words: One God - one love. Duplicity in either area makes the human heart/mind crazy. Being loyal to one God and being loyal to one other soul in a hetero-sexual setting for life ('need to include 'hetero' these days) is the only way to keep life rich and wonderful for it aids us on the right path. Those who commit for life build a beautiful life. We love the sign at the gateway of an enchanting estate we saw somewhere that reads, "all because two people fell in love!" On the other end of the wisdom scale we could also put a shameful sign, "all because they refused to love-and-stay with the wife of their youth." We know of too many people who have found themselves on the earthen scrap heap of rack-n-ruin from a life of switching lovers seasonally until there was nothing left but aimless dismay. A failed love-life and a failed life feel exactly the same way. 6 - Things to avoid like a hornets' nest: shady business deals and the people involved in them, lazy living, edgy dealings and duplicitous wicked schemes, arrogance, lies and trouble-making, shunning parents' advice (therefore follow your parents' advice), running with whores/all loose women and thereby getting entangled with other men who are enraged with you... all these things Solomon urges us to stay away from. 7 - Listen to your father's advice! If your earthly father is not a man of the truth and light in God, still listen to your heavenly father. He knows what a wrong woman can do to your soul. Solomon tells a protracted tale about a man led astray by a trolling woman who looks for new victims to take into her sexual den. In this setting, as in so many other, one's father is a guide who is living decades on down the same road you are on now. My husband and I are in our middle years and we see people in their teens and 20's approaching-or-at this fork in the road. [How shall I manage my love life?] Taking the wrong path here is a road to decades of darkness and a high likelihood of never coming back to the land of the living. The wisest man who ever lived bellowed "DON'T GO THERE". Your God and your parents say the same thing. 8 - Solomon has gone into detail how a sinister woman will drag you to your death, and how your father will instruct you against being ensnared in such a mess. Here he is urging you to follow on the wondrous life-giving path of wisdom.Solomon employs the pronoun, 'She' will guide you to life. [Wisdom is a feminine noun in the ancient language.] So whereas your father knows and understands wisdom, perhaps we could articulate that your mother IS wisdom. It isn't that black and white of an issue in Hebrew but for the sake of literature it may help with our understanding to ingest the wisdom Solomon is trying to impart to us. I may be overstating this to say that the Bible isn't saying that fathers [males only] know all and females lead us down the road to outer darkness. The gender issue point blank cannot be equated here. Just as is asserted today that men are the problem in society and women are the answer. That is equally not true. But as Solomon gives us a menagerie of good insight here, he continues that wisdom is accessible to all who call for her to come strengthen/guide us through manifold dilemmas. Wisdom gives discretion. It teaches the hatred of evil. It anchors leaders to govern properly. The wisdom attribute of God responds to those who beckon for her and they receive something greater than riches by asking for wisdom and seeking it. God gives us such wisdom because He uses wisdom as He did when He created everything; in wisdom. So watch for wisdom, listen for it, look for it. We either operate in wisdom or we die early in an untimely and unfortunate manner.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, great things happen when we simply commit to worship wholeheartedly. I pray our worship is as vibrant and magnificent as what we read of these days at the Temple. Amen.
This Temple phase of Israel's history probably sounds familiar, and it does because we were reading this in I Kings 4-10. It truly was a time and place with activity that was something to behold. Some may read of this magnificent development and wish things could have stayed this way but ours is to remember that we are being taken to another King (already reigning) and to another world, and into another worship service that we are to be preparing for. This is the matter that God is planning for for us still. 5:2ff - When a home is newly constructed and the noisy building part is done and the crew starts putting items in the house while "dad and mom" are inside directing, it is an exciting time. A new home and a new setting is the stuff of dreams and future plans. The Temple has reached this point in our reading today. The Temple construction is done. Remember it was done in silence! The process of many years has been completed and items are being moved into place. The Ark of The Covenant is put in the Holy of Holies - the X Commandments are the sole item inside the Ark. Moses carried these two tablets 4-5 centuries prior, and here they are finally in the Temple on the Mount of Moriah where Abraham was preparing to sacrifice Isaac 1,000 years before. The significance of this Temple dedication cannot be overstated. The 120 trumpeters, the music and praises and loud singing was marvelous. And the Presence of the Lord, in a cloud, filled the Temple. My oh my! Revival is in full swing. 6 - Solomon prays in three phases here: to God, then turning to pray before the people, then praying to dedicate the Temple. King Solomon has his critics throughout history but we must hand it to him that he is totally immersed in his assignment to do glorious things for God and to do all in a great way. 900 years later the eldest Herod is nicknamed "The Great". Herod amassed a mere fraction of what Solomon accomplished. And here are Solomon's prayers. The prayers here and in ch. seven are the gems that Believers harken to today when they wish to bring about revival in the Holy Spirit. Solomon's vast literative experience comes out in these prayers. He has done gloriously and yet speaks humbly. His candor is refreshing in his speaking about what to do when sin happens, when defeats occur, when the weather fails, when there is famine or pestilence because of the sins of the people. They are to return to God. Solomon's words, "...God, please let your eyes be open and you ears be attentive to the prayers that are uttered in this place..." This and the final verses of this chapter [40-42] are certainly highlight prayers in the history of pastoring. 7 - And God responds to the prayer of dedication and all the preparation that has taken place when he sends fire down and lights the sacrifices Himself. The glory of the Lord filled the Temple. The whole nation looking on fell on their faces in worship. How many pastors in the world wish that something like this, something that is not on the bulletin, would happen in their worship services?! The dedication was followed by offerings to God --> 122,000 animals. Solomon does things in a big way for sure! Though the Bible doesn't list this, the sacrifices required a drain/trough so that the blood didn't flood the place shin-deep in red. This trench leading to the edge of the Temple area was unearthed by archaeologists in the latter 20th century and can be seen by visitors to Jerusalem today. This drainage had to be built. The blood flowing from this sacrifice altar, just this week, was more than 6 swimming pools filled with blood. They didn't want the Temple area to appear occultic so this trench let the blood flow away and down into the valleys immediately outside the walled city of Jerusalem. The festival and sacrifices and worship went on for seven days and then Solomon dismissed people to go back to their homes. They were a contented nation. Again God appears to Solomon in the night and asserts to him that He/God means serious business with what Solomon prayed about repentance and restoration for His nation. When they come to him and confess and humble themselves and turn from wickedness, He Will Heal their land. Do you think this is needed today? Still? Even 29-30 centuries after God and Solomon had this conversation? 8 - More of Solomon's construction projects are listed in chapter eight. Solomon built and/or rebuilt towns that had been acquired. He built new structures and forts and outposts in all directions. Solomon's day saw the greatest expansion of the borders of Israel ever. There was also a massive labor force of neighboring countrymen and foreign nationals that did much of what we call "the heavy lifting". His palace is completed, the Levites had commenced upon their duties of the daily sacrifices. Solomon also visited the far south; the gulf of Eilat. It had become an important shipping location. There is a new luxury hotel today in this area that is called, you guessed it: The King Solomon. The full name is the Israel Hotel (Isrotel) King Solomon. His name echoes still. See what happens when one asks God for wisdom. Are you asking God for wisdom? We sure are - Lord, please grant us wisdom. 9 - As for how Solomon was leading the "worldwide WOW" factor in his day, we have the story of The Queen of Sheba coming to visit Solomon. She had traveled 1,400 miles on the back of a beast. And it wasn't a greyhound with a restroom behind the ninth row. To give you some clearer proximity visuals: 1400 miles is the distance from Atlanta, GA to Phoenix, AZ / New York City to Houston, TX or Bismarck, ND / San Francisco to Lincoln, NE (the far side of Lincoln). And Sheba is not traveling this distance where there are hourly stops with restrooms and beverages and sleeping quarters. This is a world leader who has heard and must go see for herself regardless of inconveniences. She was in awe at Solomon's world being twice as magnificent as she thought. Solomon's wealth and structures and servants and staff and soldiers and animals and wisdom and intelligence... it truly was overwhelming. She left a gift of 9,000 lbs of gold and spices and gems; an epic gift. Her testimony - [vv. 5-8] - was taken back to Africa and no doubt had an effect. The story began to spread of what "God was doing on the earth". And if you wanted to know more, go to Israel and see Jerusalem! Solomon's wealth only grew for the rest of his life. 27 more tons of gold arrived annually in gifts to Solomon. More horses and animals, spices and ivory, precious metals . . . all these were from world leaders and travelers who sought audience with Solomon so to learn what God had merely told him. Solomon was among the most impressive characters ever. Who, indeed, has outdone him? In time Solomon went the way of all flesh and died after reigning 40 years. But we are still learning from him. To walk closer with God we must be reading Solomon's writings in Proverbs and David's writings in Psalms. Solomon is still with us.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, our lives our yours, and we bring our lives to you. We are the offering that you are really looking for. Amen.
28 - The ten chapters of 27 - 36 are various offerings that are required to bring before the Lord. First on the list today are the daily offerings. In today's world we may read about this and muse, "really? God wants this ritual every day?!" Well what do we do every day? Does all of it make sense? Is it productive? Inspiring? Healthy? Inspiring? We had a neighbor/couple years ago who would make a full size cake and eat the whole thing every day - just the two of them...this happened seven days a week, 'wouldn't miss it without a panic. People walk their dog every day. A woman in our church years ago wouldn't miss this daytime show for anything. It was mindless, unedifying, the host was vehemently anti-Christian and joked about it. It's such a waste, but the show's funny (I guess) so it was her daily hour long routine. She did it as religiously as she would pray for 16 seconds before her double breakfast every morning.. People check facebook three times an hour every day, My husband had a guy on his hall in college who drank 15 cups of coffee every day - not making this up!. Take away his coffee and he was a crazed depressed soul. 'Kind of sad isn't it? [And he was a minister-in-training.] What do we do daily without fail? Well God wants us to come to Him daily, to offer ourselves daily, to remember Him daily, to live for Him daily, to worship Him daily, to embrace Him daily v.s. our selves and our possessions. This daily offering remedied all the misgivings that surely yet unwittingly takeover the lives of everyone who will not come to Him daily and make their offerings. And to remain focused upon God continually there were the Sabbath offerings each week, the monthly offerings, the annual offerings, the offerings for the week following Passover, and also the offerings that God required during the beginning of harvest. This is not oppressive to be living through. And also keep in mind that God doesn't personally need this. He didn't sit in heaven and sigh, "oh good, there's that smoldering lamb pelt aroma/smoke coming up to me again. I need this, because this is my smoking habit." Not The Case. We needed to be making offerings and going through this ritual because we are souls that are prone to wander without our regular protracted time in God's Presence. And in case anyone was wondering, a liquid "hin" is about a gallon. And an ephah of grain is between 40-45 lbs. 29 - The Festival of Trumpets heralded the New Year. It was a jubilant gathering and there was also time for solemn worship within this same holiday stretch. It was eight days of celebration and worship. This may strike us as awfully peculiar - to be just doing a religious ordeal for eight days straight. Well it was a party with God who had brought through another year. And God is into celebration. Wait until we experience "day one" in heaven! My husband finished college in Jerusalem over 30 years ago. Judaism was his major. He catered at a business in New York 1985-1988 and much of the events were Jewish holidays/weddings/festivals. He said that much of the gatherings were so joyful with food and music and Hebrew worship dance routines that they actually became zany fun. And some went on for 2-3 days. We cannot even think of a wedding going on for three days. We're too preoccupied and needing to get back to our frivolity. Some of it is productive, yes, but much of it is the long path to nothing. Most of our holidays have precious little to do with God. New Years is gazoos, kisses, and fireworks. We holiday for Presidents (sort of), civil rights leaders, ground hogs (ahem), Memorial Day, 4th/July, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Pumpkins on Halloween. We do have our Christian Holidays of Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas but the pop culture is desperately trying to paganize them into bunnies, turkeys and presents floating in egg nog or whatever people are trying to do to get it secularized. These holidays in the Bible times were the meaning of life itself; the joy of being with God. Try to see it in this light. God wants to celebrate with us. Those who won't celebrate with God eventually end up partying with the devil. It's a disastrous fact. 30 - Vows made before the Lord were taken seriously and were binding. Vows made by females were also taken seriously and were at the same time assessed in a different manner. It isn't news to anyone literate that men and women think differently. They also emote (feel), and express and calculate and communicate differently. Therefore women's vows were sifted via a different grid. Their vows whether made while single, married, widowed or divorced in the presence of her espoused or her father affected others in her household and so the man was to become involved when needed. They were even held responsible at times and were to execute leadership in these matters. To feign oblivion against a vow that should not have been made held the household male culpable. All this was set up because vows made by females were subject to emotions and/or illogic at times and the females nor the family members of that household were to be punished because of a vow made without their knowledge. The male head of household was to step in and remedy the situation.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Hebrews is written to the leaders and residents in Jerusalem - a remarkable book of literary excellence with piercing and perfect logic. It's eloquence is historical and its message is powerful. The Message is that Jesus is our messenger of what God is, what He's done, and that He is The New Covenant. Salvation once and for all is found in Him. It was written before the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. It in a sense is bracing the Hebrews for the fact (that they were slow to accept) is that Jesus is the Atoning Sacrifice. The sacrifice of animals and their blood can never take sin away. So that with the Temple soon gone, they would not slump into defeat and dismay, but would be further urged to simply accept the glaring truth that the final sacrifice for their sin has been made. Hebrews is truly a writing of marvelous triumph. You will enjoy and be blessed as we read this book during the church stream for most of this month. 1 - The opening is something that needs to printed large and readable and put in a prominent place so that it's the first thing we all read each morning and the final muse each night: Christ is glorious Deity, the Creator, Preserver and owner of the Universe. It is His sacrifice that redeemed humanity so to bring salvation for all who would receive Him. God's Son; Jesus is, first off, greater than angels. The angels' position is explained for the remainder of the chapter. Christ, the angels, and man and the interrelation of the three are laid out. Angels have been very misinterpreted in history, so this section of chapter one clears up much fog for all of us. And it ought also inspire us about the heights to which we are headed as God's creation who have followed in His calling. And for what it's worth - the angels are here to assist us in following Christ in our calling.
2 - There is no overstating the fascinating and wonderful salvation that has been offered us. We must seriously embrace this gift. One day we will reign with Him. And the angels will continue in their service. We will reign with Him because of the love our Savior has for us. He knows us and understands us and forgives and saves us because He has been with us in our plight as humans. Christ knows our sufferings and is righteous to save. 3 - This discourse is an urging of the Hebrew-minded people to realize that one greater than Moses has come. Reverence Moses, yes, but Christ being greater is the one we are to worship. Christ is over Moses. This is God's doing. The Holy Spirit, speaks to us, and we are to hear so that we obey and then come into blessing and rest by walking with God. It is not His plan for us to disobey, and dwell in a wrong place where we should not be. The Israelites of the Exodus had a blessed place to go and find rest from the wandering but they disobeyed and died in the desert. We have all the revelation we need in Christ and are therefore to live and believe and walk in His rest today. 4 - God has a rest, and tremendous rest, a sabbath, a world of rest for His people. This rest is not just an idea, it is a position of blessing and provision and communication and intimacy with Him that He wishes to take Believers to - if we will let Him. This is the Word that God has spoken to us. His Word is sharp and discerning and active. And know that Christ Jesus is our great High Priest now. He is perfect in every way, compassionate and empathetic toward us and able to plead for us. Christ's role for us supersedes the Levitical Priesthood - more on this in Hebrews 10 later this month - ... 5 - Christ Jesus' role is compared to that of the Levitical Priests. 'Not that the Levites were all 'off base' now, it is simply that God is stressing that Christ is the Priest that offered it all on our behalf. The Priests offered animals as they were called upon to do. Some of the reasoning is to prove that centuries of doing such is all and only temporary gestures to have us be exercising the need to be forgiven. Christ's body and blood is God giving all so that we can be saved. The animals blood offered by Priests can never save us the way we need to be saved. Again, the priests were not irrelevant and futile. God ordained them. But now the time has come to shift our minds from the temporary work of the priests to the eternal work of God. The Hebrew mentality especially needed to restructure their priorities. The passage ends today with the writer of Hebrews making a sobering statement of the childish faith and indolence of the church that the Hebrew leaders in Judea were in charge of. They had forgotten the basics and the beauty of their Christian faith along the way. They needed to rebuild their foundation spiritually and grow from there - again! The Thread Through the Streams The theme that arose day after day is a salient reminder of what the truth is; truth that needs to be stated, and stated again and again. -In Numbers the men who stray and start prostituting with women of Moab and Midian are identified and executed. Then a census is taken. The statement is that we are going to go in to Canaan soon and we have what we need numerically but the wrong men need to be removed from the ranks first. We cannot proceed with army flanked by men who resent the truth. Also with leadership switching to Joshua soon, Moses' departure does not mean the need to be following is over with. We still need to be following -it just switches to Joshua soon. These are dire reminders and truths -In Chronicles, David makes his offerings and praises to God, commissions the next king and the construction of the Temple begins. Are we to do any different than to offer ourselves to God, praise God, raise up the next generation for God and build upon all the things that pertain to God. This needs to be stated repeatedly to each generation lest we stray from what He wants for us. -In Proverbs we are told what wisdom is and the endless need for wisdom. 'Looking for wisdom? Here it is; keep reading the Proverbs. -Ezekiel has the task of taking the Hebrews from la-la-land back to the truth. The Judeans think they will be fine. The Hebrews in exile think things will be fine...just let them go back to Jerusalem (now). No, folks, Zedekiah the king is going to be tortured, his family killed, Jerusalem is going to get over run and leveled, the prophets in the land are liars and cultic, the lives and faith of the Judeans are like dead vines...THAT is the truth, kiddos! God is going to smash it all and start over. -Habakkuk gives the recipe for successful faith and remaining in the truth: though we may be completely empty-handed, I will be joyful and glad for The Lord God is my Savior, -John tells the whole world what the Truth and the Word is - he tells exactly what and who the Word is! -The "Book of Hebrews" tells the Hebrews what it is they have been looking for and waiting for and longing for all these centuries. You are looking for HIM? It's Jesus whom you have been looking for. He is the Truth and you need look no further. HE is the Truth.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Thank you Lord Jesus for becoming flesh, for living among us, for touching our hearts, for your Cross, for saving us, for loving us... For you. We are grateful. Amen.
We began the book of John today. It is the first of John's five books we find in Scripture; John, I Jo., II Jo., III Jo., Revelation. John's gospel is comprised of incidents and teaching that is over 90% unique to John; found only in John, whereas Mt,Mk,Lk are much more similar to eachother John was closest to Jesus. It was John who was told by Jesus from the Cross to "look after mother." [Mary]. Peter was regularly jousting with John and James for prominence among the disciples. John sat next to Jesus at the Last Supper and leaned upon Jesus. He seemed to know most clearly that 'this was it.' Back in Galilee, Jesus told Peter in a clear insinuation that Peter would also be executed years from now. Peter immediately refers to John and asks, "what about him...?!" The other Disciples had to sense that Jesus was closest in heart to John. One writer wrote, "The Intimate Gospel: Studies in John" in 1978. It is a perfect title for commenting upon one of the most amazing books ever written. 1 - John opens by equating Jesus as "The Eternal Word." The Truth is that God is God, and what God has said is also God. His Word IS Him. All people can look back on things spoken in the past and blush, "oh heavens, did I say that?" We compare our words now with what we said or believed years ago during school days, or earlier school days and muse, "what on earth was I thinking?" Well we weren't thinking clearly, nor completely. We never totally are prior to meeting Christ Jesus (I John 3:2). After we see Him, we shall be like Him. What Jesus is and says is God. Not so with us, however. God's Word is eternally true, and eternally God. God's Word is Jesus. This Word; Jesus came to earth and dwelt among us. The only way we ever find out the eternal truth about God is to dwell with Him. Therefore He came to dwell with us. Jesus is God's grace and truth and therefore He's the one way that we find grace and truth. This news of God's arrival on earth was so vital that it warranted a messenger to go ahead of and announce his entry. This was John the Baptist. In case anyone missed it, Jn./Bpt is a different John than the John who wrote the Book of John. Jesus and John/Baptist meet publicly and Jesus is baptized by John to demonstrate that we are to be baptized also; to put this world and this life away in burial and arise anew in the Holy Spirit to live for our Eternal Savior. Jesus then calls the first Disciples. He calls us too, btw! 2 - Jesus walks into a wedding situation and performs his first miracle by turning water into wine. It was not just any wine but the finest of the finest of fine wine. The value of what Jesus made that day was in the realm of $2.5Million in wine if it were to be purchased and served today. This is similar to when Jesus fed the 5,000 and the 4.000. The farmer's work turns a bag of seed into tons of food every summer. Then there is the miller, then the baker and "voila" there is bread on the table for us to eat. All this 6-month long process happens in moments in Jesus' hand. How? Jo.1:3 "Through Him all things are made." So the process of winemaking requires years...normally. Jesus' hands can make it happen in moments. And He did. And it was such an excellent product that it made the satiated guests marvel over the flavor and quality. The disciples picked up on who did it but not the wedding guests. Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover three years before He Himself would be the Passover Lamb and cleaned out the Temple area from being a market place. He was angry that God and prayer time with God was being sold to the highest bid that anyone could afford. The distinction here is that Jesus refers to them making the Temple of marketplace. When He clears the Temple area the week before the Resurrection, He calls what they are doing as making the Temple a "Den of Robbers." And the reading today ends with a clear reference that Jesus understood human nature. And indeed He did. That is why He came to redeem - for we needed redemption.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, fill us with your faith. You tell us that the righteous shall life by faith, so that is how we want to live - by the faith that you put in our hearts. Amen.
We remember, from last week, Habakkuk petitioning of the Lord in great anxiety because of the Babylonians bearing down on Judah. It was an invasion that came in three waves: 605 B.C. 597 B.C. and 586 B.C. Habakkuk is writing his book right before the first invasion. His desperate prayer is answered starting in Hab. 2:2 2:2ff - Habakkuk is told to "have pen ready" to write down the prophecy that God gives. First item to be assured of is that the evil will not live and the just/the righteous shall live by faith; by being faithful to God. The Babylonians were wealthy, greedy, violent, armed, sneering, plundering - all taken by conquest v.s. building something and doing something positive. The Babylonians had shed blood everywhere and were bent on destruction. All nations cowered and trembled in the presence of the Babylonians. Well their time was coming and they were doomed to destruction; to the destruction they had inflicted on everyone else. They were doomed to fall shortly after finishing this conquest of Judah. However the Babylonians would not cover the earth. They would go down just like all their victims. And the people of God would, in time, be the ones who would cover the earth. The end of chapter two still echoes across the world: "The Lord is in His holy Temple. let everyone on earth be silent in His presence." 3 - Habakkuk prays a response of great awe at God's hand and workings. He gives a terribly colossal rendition of the mighty works of God who rules all the universe with great power and might. Habakkuk is also resigned that God must do what God must do (in the finishing of His cleansing Judah of their ungodliness). By now Habakkuk is so positively certain of God's righteous work and his own personal faith in God that nothing is going to shake him from his faith. The coming days may be dark but the future is bright and glorious in God. And all the securities of the earth; food, shelter, clothing - come what may - are irrelevant to the security that God gives. The near future which held the decimation of Judah, did not dim the glory and wonder of God who eternally holds His best and His people in His hand.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Good Lord have mercy -->some might pray at this point. But our job is to learn permanently that your rules are rules that we need to live by...permanently. Amen.
12 - so goes the life of a prophet living among spiritual dullards to say the least. It's great being a big name in history but the road to prominence here is not a pleasant one - not for Ezekiel. He is called to model what is coming for King Zedekiah as he flees Jerusalem at night. Zedekiah, the waffling, flip-flopping king who tried to play both sides, [make that all sides!] to avoid discomfort during the looming invasion back in Jerusalem. Remember Ezekiel is exiled among the Chaldeans and prophesying in this setting as the Chaldeans are on a mad charge for Jerusalem to burn the place and execute anyone who fights them in the process. So Ezekiel has to go camping and, uh, it's not at an R.V. park! What is being foretold is that the Judeans are going to go "camping" and it's the type of camping trip where they ironically would love to be concerned with mosquitos and ants and pine needles in their sleeping bags. But they are going to be concerned with war, famine, and disease. After this then maybe they will begin to hear God and realize that they are a stubborn indolent people v.s. what God called them to be; His testimony. From 'here on' the cheery prophecies that were all lies and the false encouragement is over with. God is going to talk to them straight and plain: YOU ARE REBELLIOUS ... and it's time for your spanking, and it's going to hurt! 13 - The false prophets in Jerusalem and those who had been exiled and were living among the exiles were disgusting to the Lord. The false prophets, male and female, were hucksters that had nothing to do with the Lord nor His Truth. The men were declaring that all was safe and fine. They were painting the crumbling walls white to give the impression that they were steady and strong when they were in shambles. The ladies were selling "magic cloth" veils [oh boy!] and charms that were supposed to give good luck/protection/power. The occultic material is under-described because the Bible doesn't want to encourage it nor even foster a curiosity. Simply put, God has Ezekiel scold these false prophets. Their due time is coming. 14 - Israel has an idolatry problem. But in a phony gesture of pious inquiry, the leaders, who approve of all the idols, seek Ezekiel to find what the Lord's Will is. No one but the duplicitous leaders fooling themselves get fooled here. God's sentiments are pretty clear here in responding to those who deliberately break His Will while claiming to want to know God's will. Get real, jokers. The Babylonians would have sent the worst death blow so far save for the fact that Daniel, an exceptional Hebrew, was an exile who became a man of tremendous favor and service in the Babylonian Leadership. His prominence took him to basically 2nd from the top in the Empire. And mayyy-be God was staving off the inevitable because of Daniel, a Hebrew from Judah...?. He, Noah, and Job are mentioned as righteous examples of types that could thwart a disaster for Jerusalem. But even that wasn't going to delay the judgment that was set to befall Judah for its idolatry. Not any longer. 15 - The people of Jerusalem are compared to a vine that is growing where it is of no use. It cannot be used for anything. Can you say, "worthless"? This is how God sees the people of Jerusalem; worthless dead vines that need to be burned. Jerusalem needed to be burned clean of its idolatrous people. God was getting set to do that via the Babylonian army.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Jesus, we ask for wisdom, and we know that you give generously to those who ask of you. Amen.
Solomon was raised by David who was stalwart, regal, a musician, a tactician, soldier, and poet turned king. And David was diligent to instruct Solomon. Excelling was normal living to Solomon. He wrote the first 29 chapters of this book [with Agur writing 30 and King Lemuel 31]. His writings are voluminous, not to mention the songs he wrote. His mind was the wonder of his world and his era. People came 1000's upon 1,000's of miles to have audience with him. He taught on botany, animals, science, politics, business, poetry, virtue. His preaching entranced those who were able to gather in his corridors. Solomon was impassioned to have learning be a preoccupation for his people; and of anyone who would come to learn. So for the next nine weeks (through USA's Thanksgiving weekend) we will be sitting and learning from Solomon. Letting one's self be mentored by Solomon is far better than making all the mistakes personally. World leaders today benefit from Solomon's wisdom. 1 - Solomon urges us from the start to pay attention and learn wisdom. Wisdom surpasses knowledge for wisdom properly applies what is known and learned. Wisdom is even defined as "skill" when describing the skill of the workers who did the artwork and thinking for the Tabernacle [Exo.31]. There are plenty of people in this world who have storehouses of knowledge and are yet derelict in their living. Therefore wisdom is worth more because wisdom knows what to do with what is learned. There are billions of people on earth who know things but do not know what to do next...[so get wisdom!] Wisdom will grant character, steering lives away from stupidity, bad company, and criminal living, And attaining wisdom isn't some mysterious hunt disguised behind tricky endeavors - simply ask God for it. Wisdom is everywhere and for the embracing. Avoiding wisdom will increase trouble, bring destruction and cut life short. Whereas wisdom brings secure living. 2 - The young will be rewarded for seeking wisdom. In wisdom they will possess a guide in life that surpasses all other forms of guidance. Wisdom will guard against darkness and sin and those who seduce wandering souls to unwittingly traverse the wrong road that leads to the world of the dead. I.e. Wisdom keeps life aright. Shunning wisdom will funnel anyone past and beyond the point of no return. Outer darkness awaits those who stop their ears from learning wisdom. 3 - Solomon advises the young to adhere to teaching, loyalty and faithfulness, to trust God over their own thoughts, remain humble, and remember to make offerings to God. Wisdom is letting yourself be corrected. Therein comes wealth and honor, for wisdom is the source of all life. And it is imperative to grow in wisdom - for wisdom is never outgrown. Be charitable. And to remain in God's blessing --> avoid arguments, scheming, jealousy, violence, evil and all stupidity. 4 - Above all things get wisdom - for wisdom opens the world and eternity. Wisdom leads to all things that are desired in this life. There are two paths in this life: one that comes from wisdom and leads to life and wonder, and the other that shuns wisdom - leading to darkness, evil, pain, wickedness, and shame.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Heavenly Father, you build us up and raise us up. We see your astonishing Temple going up today with unsurpassed beauty and value and strength. Thank you that the fixation has switched to us; your Temple today.
As David's life draws to a close, here's a quick reminder: I Chron. is David's life as is I & II Samuel. I Chronicles being a slightly more regal and godly illustration of David. Whereas I & II Samuel would make for a slightly higher grossing movie with all the illustrative details. II Chron. covers the same time period of I & II Kings. The "Kings" covers the melee~ that was going on in both Kingdoms, while II Chron. is focussing on only the Southern Kingdom of Judah. 28/29 - Here is David's final instructions for the Temple, his calling forth of Solomon and declaring him the next king. Solomon is to build the Temple as his father reminds him to honor God and follow the plans every step of the way. The duties and details are stated to the Levites reminding them of their duties. His encouragement to Solomon is what every child wants to hear from their father and it would eliminate the woes of much of the world if this type of word proceeded from every father. Before David heralds his last public worship service, he declares what his gifts for building the Temple are going to be. Not to belabor the math too much but here's one picture: the gold that was amassed just for the Temple was 610,000 lbs. / 305 tons of gold! It's almost 13 semi trucks loaded to capacity weight!. If it were a single cube of gold it would be 505 cubic feet [8 feet X 8 feet X 8 feet square!] <--GOLD! We would spend like this on our houses of worship today were it not for our having so many otherpriorities. As was mentioned, David's last worship service was declared. His final declaration that the Kingdom would be led by Solomon, the sacrifices or worship are laid on the altar... And David passed from our world. Imagine David's arrival in heaven, to be greeted by our Savior who would 970 years later be born in the City of David and be labeled "Son of David" ... !!! II Chr. 1 - Solomon starts out well; humbled, yielded, prayerful, surrendered to his God. He asks for wisdom and God gives him wisdom. And wisdom is the gateway to everything. Solomon in no time has an impressive fleet of 12K horses and 1400 chariots. He from the start had God's blessing, the plans from his father to build the kingdom, he was able to defend his kingdom, and therefore Solomon has the confidence to build the Kingdom. 2 - Final preparations for the Temple and Solomon's Palace are underway. Do we realize what 150,000 stone cutters and transport men can get accomplished?! This is beyond immense. Solomon negotiates with King Hiram of Tyre who will do business and trade for supplies and send skilled help to see the job to finish. We read of all the cedar logs, the wheat and barley, wine and olive oil. Just a visual here: the wine and oil poured together would fill eight full-size 10' deep in-ground swimming pools. That's a lot of salad dressing! o.k., we'll get back to serious- 3 - The construction of the Temple begins. The tallest part was 180' high. There were not hardly any buildings that tall anywhere. From that time to the invention of the elevator in the 1800's very little was that tall because very few were willing to climb more than two flights of stairs to their home or office and almost no one was very excited to climb three flights to the fourth floor once or twice daily to their residence or business. So workers, foreign and local were in awe to be building something 180 feet tall over 27 centuries before anyone dreamed of living on the 18th floor; 180 feet up! And the gold, the mathematics, the craftsmanship, the artwork and carvings, the metallurgy. Was God worth it? Absolutely worth it. It would be nice to see more beauty and immense artwork today dedicated solely to the worship of God. 4 - There were gorgeous and sturdy columns, and huge tanks, lampstands, and various articles and items for service and decoration in the Temple. There was gold and silver and bronze everywhere. Where are those three medals regularly mentioned in athletic competition? So much gold was used in so many of the items in construction and in overlayment that it's been said that when one walked in they could feel the gold and the glory of it. 5 - Then Solomon finished the task and put all the items in the Temple that David his father had given him to put in there. The greatest construction task in history has just been completed. This was far more than just the 'next thing' on the king's list. We'll catch his regal and moving prayer next week. Plus we'll see what the spectacular thing that the Lord does!
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, Teach us to live right and do right, to serve you wholeheartedly, bless others, and finish well. Amen.
25 - The sinister agenda of Balaam and the outright dark agenda of Balak came into bloom as the men of Israel started attending the party/feast/festivals of Baal with the Moabite and Midianite women. It was a sex cult and not much else. Balak wanted the Israelites distracted, cursed. Balaam was not able to curse them against God's plan. We read that last week as Balaam tarries pathetically with Balak who tries again and again to get Balaam to curse them. As they go to one offering after another it all seemed pathetic. Could we call it "dilly-dallying on purpose"? Balak had gotten them to tarry where they shouldn't be long enough and the Israelite men then slouched in their morals - 24,000 of them do anyway - and they get to whoring with local pagan girls. We see this in history where and when men go to places they shouldn't be and stay longer than they ought. What does anyone think is going to happen? God's judgment falls and all the fornicating men are ordered executed. Translations vary but the actual order was to impale them and put them up on poles as a testimony to what happens when men stray from what they are called to do. The whole mess is eventually blamed upon Balaam whom God/Moses ordered killed; Num. 25:4, 31:8./ 2 Ptr.2:15 /Jude 11 /Rev. 2:14. Turning away and disobeying God for cash and/or what seems like pleasure for a season brings condemnation and that is why Peter, Jude and John (in Revelation) bring it up 1300 years later at the close of the biblical text.
26 - With the latest plague and purge of the disobedient behind them, it was time to take a census before heading into the Promised Land. The census here is ordered of God and for practical purposes. I Chron. 21ff. is the census done in error; at Satan's urging and was David's transgression. When God says to take inventory, He always has a reason. When a man takes inventory against God's will it is akin to someone standing in front of a body mirror to admire himself and flex for 6-7 hours. Uh, knock it off and go do something!] We've met a few people; ladies namely who tarry in front of a vanity for 3 hours each morning to put on makeup. Never mind that their children need breakfast, their husband needs them for sundry reasons, the dog isn't fed...theyyyy need to be pretty (uh-hum, for whom??!). OK, enough said --> God called for this census. All tribes tallied, the men of age totaled 601,730. It's interesting that in the census taken in Numbers 1; 38 years prior, there were 603,550 men of age. Of those, 603,548 had died in the desert and only Joshua and Caleb had survived. So now they were near set to enter the Promised Land with 601,730 men of fighting age. 27 - The issue of property going to daughters who had lost their father and had no brothers arises and is settled squarely and in a fair manner. Be sure to interpret this in the proper light theologically v.s. via the gender hostile culture of today that claims to be ever so sensitive while is fosters infection and resentment more than propriety and forthright fairness. The issue isn't going to be settled here today but back up a moment and realize that if someone wants to be treated fairly, they should go to God [and not court, or N.O.W. rallies pushing angry feminist candidates and their resentful agendas]. Women in the Judeo-Christian world are the best treated, most honored, most bestowed upon, wealthiest, most cherished, empowered, pampered, and adorned women the world has ever seen. Christ has set women free so women are to realize how loved, treasured, and provided for they are. The reading ends today with the Moses getting a painful reminder of where he had failed God and His command to pass the leadership to Joshua. On the bright side this made Moses doubly resolved to make sure that Joshua is ordained and bestowed with the Spirit of God so that he is endowed and ordained to lead through the next generation as they cross the Jordan to enter their destiny. This is done and done well. Though a generation later they did not do so well with it. [see Judges 2] A story today where God's plan is not passed on so well: My husband reminds me of a sad story of a minister in Europe who died recently at 106. He was ordained into the ministry in his early 20's about a decade after WWI ended. He served in the same church for 84 years as the pastor. That is all good and it speaks of longevity and faithfulness. But the problem is that he didn't "pass the torch" to others. The parish was packed to the rafters from the late 1920's to the late 1950's. Then the distractions and worldliness overtook the culture in the 1960's and the congregation slowly filed out - not to return. Neither was this pastor raising up, training, discipling, and ordaining others to assist in evangelizing his city nor his country, nor were missionaries being sent out. His last Sunday before his funeral, in the 2,000's A.D. his once-filled sanctuary was not even 5% filled as about a dozen souls were scattered about the stone monolith that seats hundreds upon hundreds. I.e. raise up and prepare others into ministry. Do not clutch the pulpit/the staff/the ephod to ones'self. Do like Moses did to Joshua.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Titus was an apprentice and disciple of Paul and a soul that Paul had the utmost trust in. He was a greek that Paul himself had converted to following Christ. He was with Paul in Ephesus; a highlight of Paul's ministry years. Paul later sends Titus to Corinth to quell problems that Paul couldn't find time to deal with further...this is a great indication of the trust that Paul had in Titus. Titus was instrumental in gathering the offerings that Paul took to Jerusalem. He was a sage that did great work for the church in Crete. The similarities we read in Titus and I Timothy are because Titus in Crete and Timothy in Ephesus are dealing with very similar issues for which Paul has similar advice. You're not "seeing double" in your hearing. Paul is saying things virtually a second time. You may get the same feeling when we are reading what sounds like ditto material going through the gospels. You didn't accidentally flip backward in the pages and you are not in the twilight zone. T - 1 - Paul's life is coming to a close and he is getting more and more fixated (wondrously so) on eternal life. Eternal life was a grand motivation to Paul and has been throughout his ministry. His next urgent message is that Titus plant elders throughout the Church of Crete so that there be an orderly body of believers on the island. Christendom was the antidote for the culture that had bedeviled Crete for centuries. The scallywag nature of the population was legendary. Even some the so called Christian teachers on Crete were more committed to the dark heritage they grew up in v.s. blessed faith that Paul and Titus had explained to them. The indictment of liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons, etc. is Paul quoting Epimenides from around 575 B.C. He had little positive to say about the Cretans about 500 years before Paul quotes him about these same people. Let's put it this way, they needed Titus' input badly.
- 2 - Titus has sterling advice for all ages, both genders, every class of citizen and basically his advice is the needed recipe for transforming the culture of Crete along with saving the souls of the Cretan people. There is simply no argument against an exemplary life and Titus wants believers to exercise the power of exemplary lives for a witness and to strengthen the power of evangelism upheld by right living. - 3 - The Cretans believers also received instruction to be supportive of their civil leaders. Nonstop rebellion and under-handedness had been the Cretan trademark long enough. Paul wanted Christian believers to lead the way in being cooperative and gracious all the more. He lastly reminds to not be involved in senseless arguments about law, old doctrines, and genealogies. That was a trademark of the trolling "circumcision group". They thought they could pull their stunts authoritatively so because they were the 11th generation great grand nephew of the prophet Zephaniah or some other 'blue-blood'. Paul thought all this contention was nonsense - and rightly so. I.e., Titus is basically saying, "hey, act like a Christian!" Philemon was a property owner and Onesimus was actually Philemon's property; Philemon was the master and Onesimus was his slave. Paul dives right into a touchy subject today and his writing here has much to teach even today in a world where 2020 A.D. is fast approaching and there are in upwards of 200 million slaves currently on earth! In about 60 A.D. Paul had departed Colossae where Philemon was living. Five years or so later, Onesimus seems to have stolen some of Philemon's property and stowed away to Rome. Onesimus happened upon Paul who led him to Christ. There was great admiration for Paul and Paul loved Onesimus like a son. Paul wrote this book "Philemon" and had Onesimus hand deliver it back Philemon; his master. Paul urges mercy, forgiveness, he strongly hints at releasing him when he welcomes him back - telling Philemon to be as warm as a dear relative to Onesimus. This is in great contrast to what is known of Roman Law that requires that this runaway slave Onesimus be executed. Paul's antidote to current law IS The Gospel. And as with all other aspects of the gospel, it's a better way to live than current law the world over. The Thread Through the Streams The impression that surfaced each day this week could be articulated, "Can you believe it? Can you believe what is going on here? Can you believe what we are witnessing? What on earth is going on?!" -in Numbers Balaam is setting off to do something he shouldn't be doing and is stopped by an angel that he doesn't see, which is halting a donkey that he does see- because the donkey sees the angel and Balaam doesn't. He shames himself by ignorance and rage at a donkey that has more sense than he does - THEN he sees the angel! He had to be thinking, "I can't believe what is going on here!" -In Chronicles this week David is putting in place all the tens of thousands of staff before he passes and they commence on construction of the Temple. This "rollcall" must have had them all buzzing in anticipation. Here goes boys! We're getting ready to start real soon here. The Temple was the greatest endeavor and we begin on this soon... -The Psalms' finale~ is a virtual foretaste of heaven. Imagine being on the Temple Mount as thousands sang this together at the top of their voices as David's life is in its final chapter! -Ezekiel, about 400 years after David was enthroned sees the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple in a vision we would label "high definition" - several years before it actually happened. You might say "Ezekiel saw it first!" He had to be in awe of what he was witnessing. -Habakkuk is incredulous and aghast as the Babylonian/Chaldeans are bearing down on Judah. His appeal to God is desperate. God's answer must have left Habakkuk feeling numb. "Am I hearing things?? God? Really? Habakkuk realizes the greater truth in our reading next week. But this week, he is in disbelief of what is going on. -Luke tells the story of the Resurrection in ch. 24. The women at the tomb can't believe that their Lord is not there. The two on the road to Emmaus can't believe that it was Him who was there! They heard Him, they welcomed Him, they ate with Him...and he vanished. They run back to the disciples who can't believe anything. Then Jesus appears and, ... it must be a ghost. Hey, the gospel continues to stun the world! -Titus has the marvelous task, with Paul's backing, to transform the Island of Crete and he gets started upon it. Philemon receives the initial document that sends the first shock waves leading to the emancipation of slaves everywhere. It goes way beyond apparent slavery. Paul wants Philemon to be free too of resentment, vague thoughts of retribution, pay back, the darkness of Roman Law that requires Onesimus to be executed. God's mercy has a much better way. And Philemon is living at the intersection of world history where slavery is normal, and freedom in Christ is the Way. What shall Philemon do? What a joyous time to obey a brand new order!
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Thank you Lord Jesus for this day that changed everything. Amen
Everyone who encountered the Risen Christ was deeply touched. Here is Luke's rendition of who met Jesus the Risen Lord. The women were the first to go to the empty tomb. They see the angels who told them what had happened. The women ran and told the others who seemed incredulous and so they wouldn't move. Peter, however, blitzed to see for himself and he still doesn't know what to make of it. After this Jesus appears along the road to Emmaus and lets them tell him what they are aall down about, what has been happening and what they felt about it all. This is a great literative tactic of Luke for it brings out the sentiment of obscure observers and they end up more or less telling of the mood that had overtaken the city. Most could not believe what they ended up witnessing as an innocent man was caught in the web of Sanhedrin legality against Roman cruelty (called 'law'). It is about a 7 mile walk between these two areas, -[a path my husband traversed over three decades ago.] So Jesus is explaining all about Himself from Moses and the Prophets and 'all' the Scripture. Let me tell you that is a two-hour lecture that would captivate just about anyone. Their hearts were burning as they listened. After they realize it's Him, they tear back to Jerusalem and tell the 11 disciples (remember Judas hung himself they're not back to 12 yet). Mind you they took this journey back to Jerusalem at night - something that is not done. They were so very impressed and determined to notify the disciples immediately. It had to jolt them all that while they are breathless explaining that Jesus is risen . . . he appeared in the room and apparently did not enter via a doorway. They thought he was a ghost ... until he spoke. Then He ate. That is another one of the manifold proofs that he was alive, not a ghost, and not in a walking coma. The resuscitated; nor those who are not fully alive do not eat. How many times did Jesus raise the dead and then order that the revived be given food to eat. It's a proof that one is back to life again. His words to His disciples at this point are a pure marvel. He tells them the meaning of all that happened in just a few lines and this is what these disciples end up taking to the whole earth!! In less than a century the gospel had extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from where Portugal is today to the east coast of China where Shanghai is found today. This Resurrected Christ Jesus had opened the door to salvation. Soon he would send fuel for the journey, tools and provision for the job, minds that would be up for the task, hearts that would turn these fluttering ruffians into bold lions that would shake an empire. They would soon have the Holy Spirit and this would be what God provided to make this news a global phenomenon. The joy that came over these souls who witnessed this Risen Lord, and heard His reassurance and explanation, and saw Him rise and depart for heaven went and did what they were born to do. They worshiped in the Temple. They actually engaged in a spontaneous worship marathon! This is another one of those events that y'wish y'could have been there...
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, teach us faith. Increase our faith, and let us rest in your sovereign providence, knowing that you do all things well and on a level that is much higher than where our minds operate. And teach us more patience. Amen.
Habakkuk is writing about two years before the initial invasion of the Chaldeans; These are the Babylonians who invaded Judah in 605 B.C. then in 597 B.C. and finally in 586 B.C. with devastating results. Habakkuk is petitioning God, and he feels completely justified in his petitioning God for allowing the Babylonians to bear down on Judah the way they had and were about to again. Yes, Judah was not exemplary in their spiritual behavior by ANY means, but the Babylonians were worse! (in the mind of Habakkuk) and this just wasn't right. God answers basically saying "indeed, these are the marauders of the world and they seem to be unstoppable as well as incapable of mercy." He goes on in detail about how escaping them is as hopeless as a hamster getting away from a cheetah. Habakkuk finds himself acknowledging that God is just and right but he seems to say, "really, God?! You're really going to let them run ragged over Your Holy Land?" Are we really just fish in a net? Certainly we are more than just beings who are caught, counted, and gutted. Habakkuk has a sobering question and line of thinking that crosses the minds of most Believers in their lives. His answer doesn't come right away either - nor do ours. Let's see what God says to Habakkuk next week (if you can wait that long to read it).
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, when you speak, good heavens and oh my word, we want to be listening. Amen.
8 - It was the year 592 B.C. in the ninth month - what we today have come to call 'September' - and Ezekiel has been a captive in Babylon for five years. It is six years until Jerusalem is going to need to be ransacked and burned flat for the abomination and idolatry that is going on there at a feverish pitch - and all with the priests' approval! God is showing that He has had enough of the people in this city; this city that He called to be a Light for His purposes - a Light for the Gentiles. They were wholly rebellious children of His and only a severest of severe punishments is going to work on them. They were worshiping the Canaanite fertility god Asherah, and the Babylonian fertility god Tammuz. There were engaging in cultic Egyptian animal worship. They were doing sun worship, like what was going on in Japan after the Christian community was exterminated by the Shoguns centuries ago. The leadership of all this pagan revelry was being done by people who were once in alliance with the bible legends Josiah and Jeremiah ... but they had gone bad and were quite committed to staying this way. This is what Ezekiel was being shown in his vision of Jerusalem-gone-wrong!
9 - The vision continues giving clear indication that an angel is going to go through this same city and cut down; wholly slaughter without mercy all who are immersed in this rancid idolatry. Those who do not approve and are grieved by the idolatry v.s. participating in it are marked and not to be harmed. This is a keen foreshadowing of what we see in Revelation 14:1 where the faithful are marked and therefore shielded from calamity. 10 - The angel and vision of wheels and all the etc. that appeared adorning in this vision arises again in ch. 10. My husband and I work in film in Hollywood and it staggers the mind to discuss, "how on earth would this be filmed?! What graphics would be employed? There are eyes on wheels, there are hands right under wings filled with coals of fire that are being cued to burn a city turned apostate!" And y'wonder if the feathers would burn from the wings. Oh well, back to the vision! [Excuse me please]. But as we know and have read earlier this year, Jerusalem was burned by these torching Babylonians in 586 B.C. It was burned again to ashes in A.D. 70 by Romans. Because of these events, there's an ordinance in Israel clear to today that houses must be built of non burnable material. But all this being said, Jerusalem is going to be burned. God is giving the vision about this. It kind of sounds like the rebellious, murderous, idolaters, Satanic, and the fearful being thrown into the Lake of Fire in Rev. 20:14-15&Rev. 21:8. 11 - The final part of this vision is that the gavel is going to fall on the evil rulers in Jerusalem. They know better but they think it's more exciting to go astray than to follow the God of Abraham in the area that God dedicated to the worship of Himself in His holy Temple. And those derelict leaders do not care how many are slain because of their instigating bad religion. So the leaders are going to fall, the city is going to be judged, the people will be exiled and humbled. Then God is able to work with these people, to gather them to Himself and His purposes. They will have His Spirit, His heart ... Ezekiel is then taken back from his vision and begins to tell the exiles what he has seen. Man-oh-man, this had to be an awe-inspiring story time around the campfire with "uncle Ezekiel"!
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord we praise you for what you have done, for your mighty deeds, for your love for us. We indeed were born to praise you. Amen.
The finale~ we read in the five final Psalms today are the "Halelujah Psalms". Each Psalm starts and finishes with "halelujah". It crescedoes into a rhapsody and a finish that hearkens to the end of history in Revelation 19:1ff. wherein we read of the arrival in heaven, experience the marriage supper, the elders fall flat and worship the King, a chorus of 100million angels burst into song and thousands of other things commence as the saints of all eras gather together for the first time in history to worship Christ Jesus. It truly is going to be the greatest event ever. In the meantime, the closest experience we can have to walking into heaven to see our Savior face to face is to worship Him now; to praise Him. That is what "Halelujah" is...Praise The Lord - Praise to Our Lord. 146 - We declare and we pledge to Praise Our God Who Reigns as long as we live. He is just and good and with the breath we are 'loaned' in this life, we will be praising Him with it. 147 - All creation is called upon to praise God. He builds His House. He gathers His own together. He comforts the wounded, as well as controls the cosmos, the earth and sky, all nature. Creation, in a sense worships Him. And we are called upon to worship Him the same. 148 - The heavenly host and all that accompanies them praises God! 149 - Let all grab their instruments and lift up their voice for God will execute judgment and righteousness against all adverse nations and kings who are against Him. 150 - everything that has breath is called upon to Praise the Lord. i.e. we will be praise Him with our lives, all creation will praise Him, all of heaven praises Him, the skilled with instruments praise Him, everything that has breath praises Him. P R A I S E THE L O R D Let's remember that heaven opens with a worship service. It does not commence with a Bible Study, an offering, a sermon, nor a prayer meeting. All this was preparation for the finale~ of history and the commencement of eternity: it is and shall be a worship service. Worship is the best preparation for eternity. We best be worshiping now.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, I pray we take our assignments from you as seriously as King David and his men took theirs. Amen.
As we draw near to the end of I Chronicles, let's pause a moment and review this book; this "King David" book. ch.s' 1-9 are genealogies of the Hebrews. David is made King in 10-12. The trek that brought the Ark to Jerusalem; 13-16. David aspires to build the Temple but accepts God's decline on this one I Chr. 17. His valiant deeds, battles, victories are 18-20. His life stumbles as he takes a census that he was warned not to, and pays severely for it in ch. 21. David is fervent to gather material for the Temple even though he would never build it; 22. Then from 23 to 27; the five chapters before we get David's final words and prayer, there is a copious list of attendants that are to be installed to sustain matters so that the nation and faith of the God of the Hebrews, the Author and Finisher of the faith that is to redeem the world, is tended to with all arduous faithfulness and serious focus.
24 - the priests are grouped into 24 divisions so that the duties are tended to in the sanctuary without a hitch, no one is overworked, no "shift" is understaffed, the priests on duty are always fresh, rested and ready to fulfill the tasks set before them. Churches today do the same, best as they are able to make sure the parking lot is tended to, the nursery is staffed, there are enough workers/teachers for Sunday School, ushers are plentiful, communion is covered, ad infinitum. God is mindful of realities here and doesn't bellow at any priests, "hey, I don't care if you are tired from working seven 16 hour shifts this week, buck up and show some heart attitude you slacker. You're working for me here, don't you know? Push through the fatigue buddy!" No. God is not a whip crack, and we are not plow mules. Serving Him is not beleaguering. And it shows in His having David order the duties of priests that provides constant covering for each other, rotating, getting enough rest between turns so no one is worked to exhaustion. Haleluia. We could revisit this in our culture today for there are too many weary pastors who are overworked, under appreciated, and underpaid. 25 - The similar structure is put in place for the musicians. Music plays a critical role in worship. Some churches have no instruments and have a heritage of their subjective reasons for all singing being acapella - but they don't get this from the Bible. Music is pivotal in worship, angelic in tone when done with skill and spiritual yieldedness, it is powerful for uplifting and refreshing the spirit. 26 - Gatekeepers and treasurers were put in place and their roles are ordained for providing an ordained order in all these related matters. Any church that doesn't keep fastidious attention to bills and apportioning of funds to maintenance and paying hired/committed staff, tallying offerings, issuing receipts for tax forms etc. ...let's put it this way, they won't be in operation long. And as for gatekeepers, they are similar to today's ushers only these gatekeepers were men who were fully occupied and called in this spiritual duty. Don't you prefer it when you are visiting a church and there is an information booth, a director and gracious staff that answers questions, leads you to an open seat, points out the hot coffee, mentions the reception lunch afterwards and so forth. It's even nice when the ushers have a matching necktie or sash or vest that instantly states to all, "I'm here to help". Sporting events have ushers with matching outfits, it's not a bad idea when church ushers are also obviously presented as helpers. 27 - The military that David organized is to stay organized. They have a Kingdom to defend and as any historian knows, it shall be defended by astute, trained, moral leaders or it will be lost. 24,000 soldiers were to be on duty at all times. They had come through the desert and knew that there were enemy nations lurking in every direction. They left one in Egypt nearly 40 years ago. They had encountered Amalekites and several other hostile armies enroute. As well as ordering the defense of the nation and the king, the civil leaders and court leaders are also put in place along with overseers of the royal household - everything was laid out clear down to tenants for orchards, vineyards and shepherds. The King was to be well tended to and indeed he was. This system reached its apex under David's son; Solomon whose pageantry blossomed to a staggering level of regal wealth. The kings and queens of the earth were astonished. The system that was set up here in ch. 27 allowed for this to flourish as it did.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, thank you for these reminders today of what we don't want to end up like in our pilgrimage. It's odd and it's sobering but that is why there are so many unpleasant stories of hearts gone wrong in the Bible. It reminds us of what to pray for protection against. Therefore, deliver us from evil. Amen.
This is a strange story told with Balak, the King of Moab, as the core motivating figure today. Balak's motivation is that he is in utter terror surmising that his land and people will be completely lost to the Israelites whose army of fighting age men stands at around 600,000. Vastly outnumbered and with no hope of staving off the Israelites, he resorts to hiring a professional cursor to put a bad curse on the Israelites. In Balak's mind, this will throw the Israelites into duress and confusion. So Balak hires Balaam to do this dubious deed and offers to pay him a camel's-load full of money to do so. Balaam, enroute to meet with Balak encounters an angel who warns him, [barring the path] to not go and engage in such an endeavor. Strangely enough, Balaam's donkey sees the angel but Balaam didn't - for awhile! The talking donkey had you feel like you were back in Narnia there didn't it?! Something we want to be clear on is that Balaam is not an Israelite. He is from the region where Abraham had come from 700 years or so prior. That area was known for its diviners, astrologers, magicians; people well-versed in the dark arts. You can see why God needed Abraham OUT of there if God was going to work with him and start a nation that was going to be a "Star"; a Light to the Gentiles. That area today is still a source of religion gone amok, save for the Kurds among whom many are Christian. Those who care to search our Balaam's origins, his family, his father, his home region - the hunt takes one rather quickly right into a world that the Bible urges us not to venture into; witchcraft. Thus, this is Balaam, whom Balak wanted on the job to cast a bad spell and see Israel cursed so that misfortune would come over them.
The scene is certainly a peculiar development with multiple offerings and oracles and intended curses from Balak turning into inevitable blessings being foretold over Israel. And Balaam does not stray from what God ordered him to declare! So Balak tries again and Balaam intends to remain principled and keeps prophesying for God when perhaps he should have just departed the venue. Be that as it was Balaam/Balak tarried and offered more sacrifices and responded again to Balak's apparent desire to see Israel cursed. And yet again, only blessings are declared for Israel. How could it be any different? Israel is finally coming to the Promised Land after centuries of longing and waiting and only an ignoramus would think that God is going to change his agenda now based on the misaligned and dark desires of a pagan king who comes from a line of descendants that trace back to disgrace (Gen. 19:30ff <--reread that is you can stomach it). The entire episode ends with Balak is chagrin over his inability to change Israel's fate. Balak's agenda is quite apparent. Balaam's agenda, on the other hand, is a bit more latent, and not so easy to detect. The story ends today and the two B-boys go their separate ways. But it isn't over. Moab acts like Moab as the girls end up luring Israelite men into their behavioral pattern. We'll read that next week as the secondary agenda's of these two jokers stunts; Balak and Balaam lead to some unintended consequences that maybe weren't so unintended after all.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, may we never lose our gratitude and awe of those who honored you to the death. We pray also to be inspired and motivated to live for you as the Apostles did. Amen.
This ends up being Paul's final word to Timothy; his endeared apprentice and disciple in ministry. It was between 66 and 68 A.D. Nero had ordered that Christians be rounded up and punished for "causing the fire in Rome"...really?! The innocent Christians were Emperor Nero's scapegoat and he persecuted them severely - for sport in the coliseum and in many other witchy ways. Paul was martyred during this purge of 67-68 A.D. He waited in his cell for the visit from a soldier who would lead him to the block where Paul would be executed for his faith. The young church would say goodbye to it's most prominent teacher. The world would say goodbye to the most influential person of all time for he explained Jesus in depth, he brought light to the matter of what salvation means. So much of theology pivots from what the Holy Spirit revealed to Paul. His writings had more affect on history, and faith, and eventually government and the Christendom that is still sweeping into millions of new hearts each week. Paul's students loved him to the core like they loved their own souls. Timothy would finish the task that Paul clearly laid out in this, his final marching orders to him. Paul could only hope to see Timothy again...but he never would. These are his final words to Timothy; dear as a son. Paul had seen the escalation of Christians being killed. The new church was being gutted. Would it survive? False teachers were trolling the empire in Paul's wake striving to adulterate the faith and lead churches off in to doctrinal oblivion. Were things bleaker than bleak? No, Paul was exultant in the assured victory that Christ had lived, demonstrated, and promised. He wanted Timothy to live this same celebratory faith. 1 - Paul is walking memory lane and going back to Timothy's beginning before he says his goodbyes. Paul is bold for the gospel, and he wants Timothy to minister and teach courageously, not to second-guess His calling or that the Spirit is upon him. He uses clear examples and names names when referring those who have fallen away and are not to be emulated. He also gives the first of many names of people who have been a blessing to Paul and he wants them to be greeted, honored, remembered and such. 2 - It is paramount that Timothy teaches and disciples others to do the same so that there is an endless chain of multiplied discipleship stretching from now to Christ's return. Be ready and willingly endure hardship and make certain to handle to Word of God correctly. So many had embraced a warped doctrine and were evangelistic about their wrong ideas. And Paul ends chapter two with a list of items to tend to so that Christian character is developed, nurtured, and flourishes in Timothy personally as well as in the Christian community. 3 - Paul warns of the apostate times that will come in the last days. There have been hucksters and abusers of the faith throughout history. They were in Paul's day, as they are now. The tactics of these vandalous beasts who worm into churches is listed and called for what it is. Paul does not go gentle on these maligned souls and neither will the Holy Spirit. But there is Timothy. Paul reiterates that Timothy has been a faithful student just as he is now a vital pastor in service. Yes, there are bad apples here and there but that isn't going to hamper the blessing that Timothy is. Timothy need only to stick to the Scriptures [know them, love them, live them, teach them] for they are the words of God. 4 - Timothy is urged to stay the course, evangelize, and be a "finisher" in ministry. Paul reminisces briefly and poignantly as he knows his time of departure is at hand. He is practically seeing heaven/Christ/the reward that awaits him! Notice [v.11] that Paul is alone except for Luke who is with him. Yes, Luke who wrote Luke and Acts. From here to his salutation, Paul says his goodbyes, sends his well-wishes and blessings, He names those who turned against him so that they would not be able to weasel into the gospel work in the future and hamper Timothy's work like they've tried to against Paul. His final words have extra gravity to them because Paul is taken from the cell where he wrote this gospel to his place of execution. Evil tried to stomp out the gospel by finishing off its greatest teacher. Billions have since embraced this creed of eternal life in Christ! If you would indulge me to comment before closing today, my husband and I had the touching experience of being in Rome, Italy in the Autumn of 2013. I must say it was about the most fascinating and enthralling places we have ever been. [And between us we have been to almost 80 countries, so I'm not being glib here]. We saw the dungeon where Peter was held before being crucified and heard the miraculous things he experienced in there the last month of his life. We were taken into the basement corridors of the Vatican by personnel who knew more history than most historians. We walked through Paul's personal cell in Rome where Paul was chained to a wall for the last time before he was executed from the lies told against him. We saw the well where he was allowed to drink his last from. As he closed his final letter to Timothy, one can almost hear his whisper from this chamber that we ourselves walked through, "farewell dear Timothy, I will see you on the other side of the Jordan...and will wait for you there with our Savior..." The Thread Through the Streams The phrase, "you're on" fits each character featured that took center stage this week. Moses is in his last year of ministry. Miriam and Aaron both die within this reading in Numbers. He had leaned on them for near 40 years. This had to wrench his heart. He institutes the matter of the red heifer, he navigates through several battles, deals with water shortage -[that could have gone better!], creates the bronze snake for healing. There was much to handle this week and Moses was center stage, with no human back up. -David is called up to expand the boundaries of Israel to a tremendous and far new reach. In this task there was much pagan culture and people to subdue. No one else was so up for the job, or so covered by God to do this task. Life and world history focused on David these years [I Chr. 18-23] and said, ,"your on!" The same goes as he is gathering material for the Temple. This gathering needed to occur so Solomon could simply start the construction once he was "up". -Psalm 140-145 is the prayers of this same David who demonstrates for us and Believers for all time that walking with God is and can be done no matter the stressors that bear down on a man's heart. These Psalms were written before during and after the events David battled through in our reading this week. These prayers need to be attached to this man in this lifetime because David was to demonstrate discipleship amid a tremendously variegated life. He was up for the task and lived it for all of us very well. -Ezekiel was in a crucial position (4-7) to urge the Hebrews to NOT return to Jerusalem for it was about to be a fiery warzone off death. He was also saying to the Judeans in Jerusalem that the "army is approaching your gate very soon." His assignment was merged with other very uncomfortable tasks. Pleasant or not, Ezekiel is up to bat; he's on. He needs to write this down -Him! at this place and at this time. God could call up somebody else, but God called on Ezekiel to do Ezekiel's job. -Nahum was not alone in his indictment against Nineveh; the capital of Assyria. They were a savage people, a culture, a savage way of life that needed to be removed from the earth. They, in a strange Providential twist, were the ones who cleared out Israel/Samaria the northern Kingdom that was utterly pagan and disobedient to God. That had to be done, but the blood-shedding never stopped for the Ninevites. Their direct descendants are the soldiers of ISIS who act the same way today. The microphone is in Nahum's hand and he tells them "it's over now!" Their imminent defeat and scattering was final. -Jesus is crucified as we read Luke 23. Painful as it is, it had to be done. Jesus was 'on'. It was time to pay the price to ransom our souls back to God. Did he like this? Did he relish the assignment? He wanted out if there was any possible way. [We know his prayer in Gethsemane.] But this is why He came to earth. To save us. He was it; the Savior. And heaven is opened and the Holy Spirit is soon to be released from what He did. -Paul's solemn farewell to Timothy is among the richest teaching in all Scripture. It was dire material - every verse. "Timothy, I'm out. It's all you brother" is what we are hearing. Not a hint of concession akin to , "hey, Timothy, if you feel like it - this really would be nice if you so choose..." No way. Timothy is called to 'take it from here!' And do it all in the Spirit with everything he's got. And he has God so he has all he needs to do his dire task of ministering and passing the torch to hundreds who will pass it to thousands, who will pass it to ..." What is it that God is charging us to step up and deliver on? ... today?
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, what a dark day! May we get through our dark days knowing that you will return for us as you promised. Amen.
22:66ff. - [the arrest and accosting of Jesus that took place in the night we read of last week.] It is now daybreak and Jesus is in the council of the elders, chief priests, and scribes. The inane questions resume. They ask if He is the Christ, if He is the Son of God. They just asked a bunch of questions that they did not want the answers to. And here they just keep going. Think a minute: do they want answers to these questions either? Do they want Him to be the Christ? If they don't, why do they ask? if they do, why do they ask? Since He doesn't say "no" they are furious. He quotes them back to themselves. It's apologetics greatest display of all time. They soon realize they will never outfox Him, [so they leave Caiaphas' house (they were at his house) - see John 18:28 and]
23 -scuttle Him over to Pilate. Their accusations to Pilate against Jesus are contrived. So Pilate is basically relieved to send him on to Herod in Galilee since Jesus came from there. Pilate is not a congenial man. He was assigned to Jerusalem by Caesar to keep the contentious Hebrew nation under wraps. And Caesar knew that Pilate had no problem using violence and bloodshed to control outbursts. But he preferred to be just and wanted Jesus, an innocent man, to be released. Whereas Pilate lets Him go, Herod wants a show. Jesus is still so angry at Herod for killing John/Baptist; his cousin three years ago...Jesus doesn't say a single word to Herod. Jesus would verbally joust with the Pharisees, but Herod doesn't even deserve to be spoken to. That's called being "bad off" when God won't talk to you, and never will again! It's 'back to Pilate' as the frantic impromptu ramshackle jury pressures Pilate to hurry up and declare the death sentence. But he won't. Btw, only Luke has this "Pilate/to Herod/back to Pilate" detail spelled out. He offers Barabbas instead, but they want Jesus dead and buried today before Passover begins at sundown. Caiphas and Annas had been launching rumors throughout the city that either Jesus would die or the whole country would be lost to Rome ... and so the people believed it by now. Keep in mind that it had been less than 100 hours since these same souls inn the vast crowd were chanting "Hosanna!" Strange change of mood, isn't it?! As Jesus is led out to be crucified, and stumbles under the weight, and is pierced, and accused, and jeered, his heart and words reveal that He is grieved for these people who have turned to hatred against Him. He is grieved for those who will be cast into eternal punishment with no escape. Jesus prays for his tormentors to be forgiven. It's unreal; the love he expresses for those who are killing Him! And the insults continue - now from the soldiers, and by one thief on a cross next to him. The other thief, however, asked for redemption and received it! <---only Luke includes this part of the story. From noon to 3 p.m. the sky descended into darkness. Complex astronomy has actually charted back and there was an eclipse at this time that left the area unnervingly dark; blocking most sunlight. At the moment of Jesus' death, Matthew and Mark say Jesus cried in a loud voice, Luke says, "Father, into Thy Hands, I commit my Spirit.", John says Jesus declared, "it is finished." Then bowing his head He died. [The Temple curtain torn in two is Mt & Mk] Joseph/Arimathea's involvement in Jesus' burial is mentioned in all four gospels. He was a prominent, wealthy, influential, and spiritual man. Can you even fathom what it was like to wash and bandage and anoint and wrap up to entomb the Son of God? How do you even function during a task like this? What was Joseph's compulsion? Some scholars have insisted that he was a relative/ an uncle of Jesus or Mary. This isn't in the Bible, but it has been deeply researched elsewhere. Make what you will of it. Search it out. Those quests are rather quick these days with "search engines". But it is rather endearing to be so involved with Jesus like Joseph/Arimathea was. He buried Jesus in a perfectly new tomb, rolled the stone in front, went home, and likely wept until he fell asleep utterly exhausted from the historical day of Jesus' death.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, after reading this today, I guess there's no other prayer but to pray that your Kingdom come and your will be done. So be it. Amen.
This is about the Fall of Nineveh as Nahum completes his prophesy in our reading today. The bloody, vicious, completely heartless and cruel city of Nineveh was about to be conquered forever; utterly ruined and not to rise again. The prophets Zephaniah and Nahum have similar assignments and that is to testify against this den of robbers, liars, murderers, prostitutes, witches and warlocks. God has flatly stated the He is against Nineveh. Once that statement is made - it's over buddy. There is no reversing what is going to happen. Nineveh had the same attitude of other strong cities right before they were attacked, sacked, and possessions were hauled away. All of Nineveh is going to fall. By f0ire and sword----> the city is going to be emptied. It will be like a garden after the locusts fly away stripping EVERYTHING. No one is going to be able to help you. Nineveh's diagnosis is fatal. There was hardly a citizen from any country in the whole continental area who hadn't suffered from Nineveh's vicious culture and reputation. 'Ever watch those wild animal documentaries where the mighty ones chase the helpless ones and alligators are stalking the thirsty at the water's edge? Well if people were animals, the Ninevites are the hyenas. They just loved to kill and steal, loved it! So as these "hyenas" get their due the 'whole world' would be applauding.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we need to realize from this painful symbolism and judgement today that all you want is for us to acknowledge that you are God, and for us to like like we know this. May we learn from the huge mistakes of others and not "go there" ourselves. Amen.
Do not forget that Ezekiel was taken as a captive to Babylon in 597. B.C. He begins prophesying 592 B.C. It is six years before the siege of Jerusalem. This siege of Jerusalem is the issue that Ezekiel revolves around as he writes "Ezekiel". The book pivots around the destruction of Jerusalem; it's not a book about Ezekiel. So he is prophesying from 592 to 570 B.C. - 22 years. This chapter is written during the 'first quarter' of his writing years. 4 - Ezekiel is to make a model of Jerusalem and enact the siege that is imminent for Jerusalem; build ramps and battering rams and the whole bit. It's like a kid who is building model cars during the decade before he is driving a real car. Ezekiel is trying to insert some reality into the minds of the Jewish people who were already in captivity, when the worst of the destruction of Jerusalem is yet coming. Many were pining to return to Jerusalem and it was aterrible time to be wanting to go back there and get caught in the "hailstorm" of violence and likey get killed. We see Ezekiel getting peculiar instructions from God that involve him in the pathos of the coming event of Jerusalem's getting r-a-z-e-d to the ground. His diet is a bread that he is to make. You can buy this extremely healthy bread today. It's called "Ezekiel 4:9 Bread" in specialty bakeries and stores. The introduction of it here is initially revolting but God wants to reiterate that he has a healthy plan for them although they have chosen poorly and unhealthy living for a long time. 5 - God is about to unleash what the inhabitants of Jerusalem had never thought they would see - a day of reckoning. They had been worse than putrid and it was time to end the wickedness. Remember, other nations had been equally worse but God had never called these others to righteousness like He had called the Hebrews. God punished and finished off those others. God is punishing and putting the Judeans in a painful "time out" for 70 years for the purpose of sobering them up to live righteously as a testimony. His goal is to restore. Unfortunately the horrid scenes described in ch. 5 is the only way to get their attention. And it is all going to happen soon. Ezekiel's hair being cut, burned and scattered is a poignant way to make the point clear, though it's odd. Ezekiel is going to look like "Mr. Clean" for a bit but God is just trying the clean up the Hebrew nation. There may have been simpler ways but it hadn't worked on these stubborn people yet. 6 - reads like the opening verse of a funeral march. There is poetry and strange beauty to some of the symbolism and nature scenes but it gets into the punishment phase quickly. Lest anyone get a notion to go pathetic and all bleeding heart thinking God needs to do more yoga and mellow out a bit, remember God is bent on stopping the idolatry and prostitution and Satanic behavior in a city where they have been sacrificing human infants live in bonfires! The place was out of control and the wretchedness needed to stop. If they wouldn't stop it, God would tear down the idols Himself. And He will assign a pagan people to do His work for Him. Yes He would. 7 - And in '7' the painful funeral song continues: Much of it sounds similar to what began in '6'. But the whole reason that God is letting the cleansing begin, painful as it all is, is that God wants them to know that God is God. They had been acting upon their notion of practical atheism, hadn't they? Well, God is God. Lest we say, "uh, duh!" -they needed to wake up, smell the bacon and reckon with the fact that their behavior had demonstrated allegiance to pagan gods. That had to stop. This dirty lowdown would prove effective this time. The punishment coming [right around the bend] for the inhabitants of Jerusalem was terrible, but it would work. The Hebrews, granted were human, and did not attain to perfection by any means, but the idolatry that had marred their culture, they never sunk to that level of darkness again.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, we have no other but you. You ARE our Savior. Amen.
140 - It is a marvel to behold, a model for us to follow, and a message we should spread: let the wicked people around you drive you to God and fellowship and prayer that ignites your soul to pray with all your might. It's either this or the evil will make you crazy, thrash your faith, or worse spur you to join in the evil. One wise old army chaplain we know once said, "any bulldog can whoop a skunk - but is it worth it?... yes, you can win, but what does your life smell like afterward?" Go to God and take up grievances with Him. He knows what to do with wicked things, wicked movements, wicked people. And you come out of it clean, more Spirit-filled, refreshed, renewed...for starters. 141 - This is a beautiful Psalm done in the prayer closet that can save David (and all of us) from being taken down a road paved with anguish. David is asking God to keep his own soul from succumbing to sin. David in his heart does not want to sin; in deed, in word, in thought, in gluttony. He wants to be open to the correction and exhortation of peers and friends - for "faithful are the wounds of a friend." This Psalm reminds of the intriguing lyrics from "Come Thou Fount" -- 'prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh take and seal it. Seal it for Thy Courts above." 142 - David is hard pressed and feeling trapped by Saul and the army Saul commissioned to finish him. This Psalm matches the events he is going through that we read about in I Samuel 22 & 24. These are very tense times and David is ... yes, he is praying through all of this. It makes him a better warrior in every way 143 - David is deep in prayer and is pained beyond what he has known. It feels more personal this time. There is extra pathos in this prayer. All things considered, this is probably the prayer he says to God during the rebellion of Absalom against him. This battle stings unlike the others because his own son is out to take him down. That's pain. Verse 11 contains the best reply, "revive me Yahweh, for your name's sake. In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble." 144 - This is a battle song that David wrote. It is worthy of chanting as they go out to battle. Some of you have relatives in the military or are in the military yourselves. Music is rousing and builds up the soul for the fight that lies ahead. King Jehoshaphat put the musicians in the front. We remember that in the American Revolution the drummers and flute players marched in front of the soldiers to lift their spirits. There was the Battle Hymn of the Republic to help get through the Civil War, The Star Spangled Banner to encourage those trapped behind British lines during the war of 1812... The list goes back as far as victorious battles have been fought. David uses this one that we read today to get through the battle, show devotion to God and remind all that it is God who gives the victory. 145 - is the Psalm that has the markings of what is read aloud and sung to God in the aftermath of a battle where God has given the victory yet again. There's not a hint of self-talk about how strong or smart or quick or keen "weare..." No. It is all mindful of God's goodness, power, might and provision to give victory and supply and it interestingly morphs into talk of how God cares for all His creation; namely those who call on His Name.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we laud what all was done through David. Thank you for loving us just as much and eternally. Keep us mindful that we are kings and priests because the Holy Spirits has made us victors in the Kingdom of God.
18 - is a pack of highlight "shorts" that quickly describe David's successes. He was victor in his wars and put neighboring countries in place as his servants. He defeated and subdued the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Edomites, Ammonites, Amalekites, and all other neighbors. The world took quick notice that it was not safe to be an enemy of Israel. Neither was it safe to assist an enemy of Israel. If you could see Israel as a clock, Jerusalem is at the center and all the numbers around the clock are neighboring countries and peoples who now submit to David and bring tribute in the form of staggering amounts of wealth. David is head of the most powerful kingdom on earth in 1000 B.C. and the following decades and it remained united as the powerful kingdom for two generations. 19 - David sends his condolences to Ammon in the form of an entourage that brings a friendly message. But the Ammonites read it wrong and end up slapping King David in the face by humiliating all the messengers. Ammon suspecting revenge coming for his mindless reaction to David's kindness, they panicked and hired 32,000 chariots and soldiers from Mesopotamia to join them [Ammon]. Joab led Israel against this eclectic army and through military brilliance they put them to flight. The Syrians of that group gathered others who united and struck against Israel again. This time David got in on it and they killed 40K Syrians. From there they decided that defending Ammon was not worth it anymore. Ammon then came to David, hat in hand, and served King David. 20 - Joab went through Ammon and stirred up things. I guess he was still mad at them although they had pledged allegiance and were paying David at this time. Well Joab gathered some wealth from Ammon including a 66 lb. golden crown encrusted with impressive gems. Plus the Ammonites were put to more forced labor. Meanwhile the Philistines attacked Israel again. This is the stuff of legend as Israelites fought and defeated giants and six fingered men. Pretty catchy reading isn't it?! David simply cannot lose a battle - - in 21 - Notice that it is Satan that impressed upon David to take a census. It's easy enough to figure that it's wrong when Satan drops the suggestion. But the problem from a spiritual/emotional/sociological standpoint is that God wants David to be unwaveringly looking to God for confidence. God does not need David to be selfconfident. Those who are self-confident in time think they don't even need Jesus; they're so good... really? Well it was sin to be calculating human might v.s. praying for God's continued presence. The options for punishment are laid out and David chooses to fall under God's judgment of pestilence. 70,000 die because David didn't check with God nor listen to Joab. David's prayer in 21:17 is a monstrous lesson for those in leadership. Why dothe innocent suffer from the foolishness of their leaders? It still happens today as arrogant callous leaders consider only their personal greed v.s. leading and serving the population they are called to be representing. David's fervor to quickly build an altar to sacrifice to God and ensure the end of the plague is David in overdrive scrambling to cover for his guilt that saw so many suffer for his selfishness. He pays Ornan 13+lbs. of gold to purchase a place to make the altar - to do right by God best as he is able. 22 - After this David is fully resolved to gather material so that the Temple can be built. He knows he personally will not be putting this together. It won't even be commenced upon let alone finished in his lifetime. Nonetheless, he goes about the preparations and the supplying for it as an admirable expression of his love for God. Iron, and brass, and cedar trees were gathered in abundance! 6,720 lbs. of gold was gathered to decorate the Temple along with silver that tallied over 33,600 tons of silver. In a visual for today, if this silver was brought in on 18-wheeler semi-trucks, the trucks would stretch for 17+ miles bumper to bumper. This Temple was that important to David. He urged all involved to honor and follow the direction of his son Solomon after he himself was gone from the scene. This Temple was going to be a marvelous structure that would impress even other nations. 23 - David, now late in life, appoints Solomon as the next king of Israel. David gathers the 38,000 priests of Israel as it is time to reassign them - since the Tabernacle, that has been mobile for 400 years, will soon become an edifice in the form of a Temple. The rigors of traversing and packing and tear down and set up were soon over and different tasks need to be organized and assigned. Did you get these numbers?! 24K oversee Temple constructions, 6K are officers and judges, 4K are doorkeepers, and 4,000 are to sing/make music/worship. Can you imagine a choir and orchestra totaling 4,000? Good heavens what a blessing to have them in operation during the construction of the Temple. And remember the Temple was to be built in silence. The hammering and sawing drilling and sanding was done elsewhere. The transport was quiet, the assembly was quiet. Only the worship could be heard (during construction!). Folks this couldn't be done today. Our schedules and economy won't have it. We can learn from the prominence that David put upon The House of God.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, you led your people into victory and to more. Lead us we pray as we spread the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Amen.
19 - The red heifer sacrifice was of tremendous significance in this culture. There is much debate and mystery about the reinstitution of this ritual that you are encouraged to do a "search" on. It has an ominous overtone about it that can be discussed into infinity. The cedar/hyssop/scarlet is a combination wherein the oils are still used today as powerful anti-septics in medicine. God was very concerned about cleanliness at every level; with the soul being first on the list. We could say more about the red heifer matter, the next Temple and such but again, the interested will look into that and can immerse themselves in the ongoing debate at will. The remainder of 19 deals with the handling of the dead for families and for those in proximity to the dead. This is a matter that had to be reinstated anew. They had come from Egypt after 430 years there and Israel was not to be a cult of the dead as Egypt was. The dead ended up being more captivating than the living in Egypt. In Israel, God wanted them to deal with the dead with issues of purity and the health of the living in mind. Bury them, mourn and call it over with. Hebrews were agents of a culture of life leading to Eternal Life, not death. It's interesting that at one point Jesus replies, "let the dead bury the dead." He came to give abundant life, not to obsess over the dead. 20 - Miriam dies at Kadesh (she was 130). Soon there is more complaining in the camp, the food is drab - nothing reminds them of the fresh produce of Egypt, there's an apparent lack of water so they are laying it on thick and Moses/Aaron are having stress. God gloriously appears to them in the tent! He gives specific instructions; this time to speak to the rock. Mind you Moses has always done exactly what he has been told since being called into ministry. But exasperation took over this time. He doesn't want to appear looney. Think about his sentiment when he suspects every one thinking, "oh great, now Moses is talking to rocks. Now what do we do? Our leader has been out in the sun wayyy too long!" Moses falters, has a tantrum and whacks the rock - twice. Water came, yes, but the disobedience would cost Moses. He was now relegated to die, in the desert too, and not enter the Promised Land. His wanderings would end in...wandering; not in Canaan. Sad stuff. But that was down the road. Next they request passage through Edom; the Land of Esau for some 400+ years now. His descendants do not take too kindly to their long lost and returning cousins who were sequestered in Egypt for 430 years. They deny them passage through Edom and are insistent about it. Would God have assisted them had they pushed back against Edom? It was a short route into Canaan. But the Israelites submitted to the Edomites show of force and went to Mt. Hor. Aaron's time for passage arrived. His mantel is put upon his son and Aaron dies (at 123). baby brother Moses would die within a year as well [at 120] but that is not told to us until the end of Deuteronomy. We'll read that on December 31, in 3+1/3 months. 21 - Next, the Canaanite King of Arad fought and kidnapped some Israelites. With the Lord's clearance, the Israelites decimated Arad and his people and their cities. It is a marvel that the Israelite farmers of Goshen (the delta of the Nile), turned nomads, then became successful soldiers. The next journey had them going the long way around. A look at a map will reveal why they were complaining. But let's not forget the larger picture that God wanted them in the Promised Land 38 years prior to their entry; Numbers 13-14. They are still out there because of their complaining - not because of God. So let's all remember that when we reject God's straight way and opt for our long way, let's not blame God for doing it our way v.s. His Way. The snake bites got their attention and as most beleaguered parents tell their children, "I'll give you something to cry about" - this really got the Israelites attention. The remedy is a daily reminder even today as the symbol for medicine is still a serpent on a pole. You see it on ambulances. That comes from right here in Num. 21. The balance of today's reading, to the end of Num. 21 is filled with travel and cities and more confrontations. The lesson going here and there and ending up [AGAIN] in nowhere [AGAIN] is to not complain so that God can take you somewhere. Their battle was against the Amorites led by King Sihon. Sihon was like your neighborhood yapping dog who barks and snarls just because you are walking by. If he could get past the fence he would come and nip at your heel. Yes, this was Sihon. He charged Israel like a dog escaped from his yard. And he received a hound dog's whoopin'. Sihon lost every one of his cities to Israel. They also assumed all the land of Bashan from King Og. The Lord directed against King Og and there were --> no survivors. The Israelites now possessed the land east of the Jordan.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
"Lord God of heaven and our hearts: Thank you for Paul's words to Timothy that help US so much. We really want to know you more and imitate you better. This truly helps. Amen" There is a subtle overtone that surfaces in today's reading that reminds us to be especially kind and honoring with fellow Believers. There is much talk today about safe space, safe places, safe environments and settings. Well the Church should be the ultimate safe place; shielded from ungodly, putrid etc. and cruelty. God wants it to be a nurturing, encouraging atmosphere. There are millions of people walking the earth today who went to church in the past but don't go and refuse to return because of how they were treated years ago ... in a Church. It's unfortunate. The treatment was wrong, perhaps accidentally so, but nonetheless- . Let's be people who create the most wonderful church atmospheres in our home fellowships. There are some who are on their best behavior outside the church because, as they see it, that is where they "have a tesss-ti-mohhhh-nyyyy". And then at church they are smacky, sarcastic, gruff because, as they see it, "ahhh, this is just 'family' ". Stop that. Let's be at our best with family, not our worst. Some console their misgivings by tongue-in-cheek saying, "we only hurt the ones we love." That is illicit. We should not be training everyone around us that the closer you get, the meaner I get. That is not the Kingdom of God, for it is the opposite of Christ Jesus. Let's allow Paul's words [to Timothy] sink in to our souls today as we are given guidelines for serving Christ, dealing with others, and living godly lives. 4 - Paul starts by warning Timothy that hucksters and misguided people; agents of darkness were on the loose and attempting to lead people astray. They were not people of the Holy Spirit but duplicitous souls driven by their own twistedness; not of God. The Gnostic group were among these folks. They thought that we were saved by knowledge, not Jesus. The manmade rules they were conjuring were ridiculous and cultic. Be aware of this! 19 centuries later they are still trolling around. I Timothy 4 continues that we are to be immune to myths, silly tales, and to remain godly. As for Serving Christ, our whole lives are to be a reflection of Christ. Read&share Scripture, teach, lead in worship, be an example for others. This is so we are saved and helping others to be saved also.
5 - As for dealing with other Christians - much of this is family matters - meaning the family of God. address each other respectfully, care for elder widows in need, occupy and meet needs v.s. busybody gossiping, spiritual leaders who excel are to be paid double and leaders who err are to be corrected publicly, no playing favorites/ double standards, ordain carefully and solemnly, stay pure and godly, take a little medicine/wine as needed, know that people's deeds: good/bad - public/hidden will all become obvious to all. 6 - This addresses the ethic of slaves/masters' attitudes. I.e. work hard, honor one another, and rememberfirst that you are Believers. The greater issue of slavery was later dealt with finally by Christians though it is exacerbated still by nonChristians. Again, for the immediate, don't treat each other like stray dogs and mask it with resignation-like comments of "oh, he's just a pest from my church - no one important..." [Revere* one another.] The balance of this chapter is 'guidelines for godly living' : The pivotal issues are to love God; not to love arguing. Love contentment; not riches. Pursue God and stay on pilgrimage. Seek your righteousness in God. Get your confidence from God. Be a joyfully giving and sharing soul...relax--God keeps account. And lastly, shun fruitless discussions with those who enjoy religious arguments against true Christendom. The Thread Through the Streams
Looking back over the week, there were things that left us in awe on all spectrums. It is astonishing that people forget who they are dealing with. They must remember who they are dealing with / living under / responding to. This is ultimate seriousness. ~When God Almighty says in Numbers that you are guilty even though you are ignorant and then offers redemption - listen and do it. When he says no work on the Sabbath, one guy shrugs and gathers wood anyway. He is tried, taken outside, and pelted to death with stones. God means it when He says, "you must rest and not work [to death]". Korah and friends rise up in rebellion. God buries them all. 'You guys forget who you are fighting here. The Priestly duties and quarters are a sacred realm; not a thoroughfare or some Bon Marche Promenade. Any trespassers will be killed along with those who allow it or fail to supervise against it. ~In Chronicles it's time for the Ark to come back to Jerusalem. It was to be carried by Priests, not hauled by animals. We remember the sobering judgment that affected all including the King. The Philistines have disdain for the Hebrews and their new king David. They march, charge and are routed like rodents. After this the nations then realized who they were being trifle with. It isn't smart to fight someone who is listening to and directed by God Himself, eh?! When the Ark is finally brought into Jerusalem, Michal resents such pageantry and worship. So God strikes her infertile. The Priests however have utter reverence for what God has done and lead in rousing worship. God blesses! ~The seven Psalms we read this week: 133-139 show a distinct mindfulness of God's Providence and power and care and love. There isn't a hint of casualness, "yea, God made the heavens, yea whatever, I'm hungry - where's dinner?" The Psalmist in enraptured with God. The only variation in Psalms this week is the grief told of in Babylon where they lacked the fervor to sing in worship; they missed Zion so much. And they are extremely angry at the Babylonians who struck the children of God. They missed the culture that they themselves had sabotaged. The seriousness of it all was hitting them now ... finally! ~Lamentations ends yet fully mindful of the horrible cost of disobedience. Jeremiah KNEW who the Judeans were dealing with, though the Judeans were disgustingly cavalier about it all until it was too late. Then Ezekiel starts and the immensity of his awesome God hits him right away in an unforgettable vision. Angels, clouds, fire, lightning, the "wheel within a wheel" apparatus that are segue~ devices (of sorts) that give double-two-way-360 mobility <-- how's that for an attempt to describe the indescribable?! Ezekiel knew that something bigger than he could comprehend was underway. He began to see what was coming for impenitent, and rebellious Jerusalem. This was no time to shrug. His intense assignment had begun. Lord have mercy and give strength! ~Nahum knew that Nineveh's days were numbered. They had no idea that their attack of Israel "put a timer" on their existence. Nineveh was completely against everything even related to the ways of God. And they were about to slaughtered for it. They did not know the seriousness of their fate. Just a decade or so before their being under siege, they were reveling their glory, oblivious to what God was planning for them. Nineveh had no idea what they were about to deal with. Horrors... ~Did you hear Luke this week and think "what on earth are you doing?!" in regards to Judas betraying Christ, Peter swinging a sword at the head of the Chief Priests, the people socking a blindfolded Jesus-the-Savior? It's flabbergasting! I couldn't accost Jesus for any amount of money. That's because we know who the Savior is. These people didn't know. They did not know who they were dealing with. Pity their souls. ~The reckless souls who were traversing the Empire and doing their dead-level best to undo what Paul and Timothy were building had devilishly arrogant hearts. We've met a few like this in our ministry and mission travels who think they are doing some service to humanity when in truth they are fighting God. They end up the same place Korah did back in Numbers; buried. On the other hand, Timothy is fully aware of the tenants and reminders that Paul is sending to him to instill in the churches around Ephesus. Timothy had been with Paul in Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, even to Rome. Timothy knew the vital importance of Paul's instruction and he was faithful with it. We need to be faithful with it to. Paul writes the same truth to us today.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Oh Dear Jesus, and to think you went right into this and walked through this willingly. You did it all for love...for love of us, so that we could abide eternally with you.
As it looks to human eyes, 'the boom' is lowering on Jesus. He had been too effective in loving people, liberating them and exposing the false hearted religious leaders who neither loved people nor freed them up to worship God. It's a spooky verse to see that Satan entered Judas. We might add that it was not without invitation. Judas was following Jesus for twisted reasons for most all of the three years. The leaders needed Judas' help in locating Jesus and to do so when their diabolical plans to kill him would not go unnoticed. Judas facilitated that plan. He was a turncoat and with this deed he "crossed the Rubicon" and went past the point of no return. The Last Supper is prepared and eaten together with the disciples. This started The New Covenant. This time Jesus was to BE the Passover Lamb, led to slaughter. It had to be bewildering to be there and hear Jesus utter words that altered the religious landscape forever. My husband has actually been in that room. He said, y'can hardly take in what happened there....he said that he couldn't talk for almost an hour after being in the Upper Room. It was a very grave experience for him. For what it's worth, the parallel stories we go through today are also in Matt. 26, Mark 14, and John 13. It's obvious that Jesus knows who betrayed Him in this hour of darkness. He always knows who betrays Him today too. Interesting that as the time to run the gauntlet, a tussle of words breaks out as the disciples argue who is going to be greatest. The selfishness even now makes a startling contrast as to how these disciples became so self-sacrificing after Pentecost clear to the end of their lives. Their dedication took the gospel fully across Asia; from Portugal to where Shanghai is today by 100 A.D. so let's not rail on them to hard about this "boys will be boys" moment immediately following the Passover meal. the next 24 hours would be too much for them to bear. The final words Jesus' spoke shook them all to the core. Peter pledges his life to Jesus not knowing that he would be frightened to death and deny him. Later that night he would angrily swear that he never even knew Jesus. Think about this: Who knew Peter better? Jesus or Peter? And come to think of it, when we make all kinds of conjectures about how dedicated we are and unflinching we will be in trial, do we know what we are talking about? It's an open debate, isn't it? Whatever may come in following Jesus, He assures them once again that their needs would be met. They always have been haven't they? Ours always will be too. In the Garden of Gethsemane [Gett-seh-MAH-knee: means "olive press"] the famous prayer session that still inspires Believers today took place. Luke mentions one time the fatigue of the disciples, their sorrow, near depression, that dropped them into sleep. Matthew and Mark (who were disciples that were actually there) go further to belabor the point that they fell asleep repeatedly and Jesus came back to them over and again to wake them. When Jesus is arrested Judas approaches him with a kiss that betrays Him by exposing Him which gives Him away to the Chief Priests. Betrayed with a kiss? Peter was pledging his life to Him earlier and proves it when he lunges and cuts off the ear of the Chief Priest's servant. This was a deed worthy of death, btw, that Peter did! As just mentioned it wasn't long before Peter is screaming and swearing against even knowing Jesus. Pause and ponder this: who would you trust? Judas who kisses you or Peter who screams and swears against you? Who is loyal? Who can you trust? Which will stay with you to the end? You cannot tell. And you also cannot tell the same among whom you think are your friends today. Just keep that in mind. By now the trial has begun as they blindfolded and began beating Jesus with what we would call 'nightsticks'. It was brutal. Before they were done with this viciousness, Jesus would not even be recognizable. It may do your heart well to grab a hymnal and go through the song, "Oh Sacred Head, Now Wounded." Don't even try to keep it together. Jesus didn't. God didn't either. It is too much to bear. That's why he bore this for us. See Isaiah 53 too.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake W. Travis Nahum adds to the testament against Nineveh. This sadistic city is going to fall. It is doomed. Granted, Jonah reluctantly prophesied against this city and they repented...that generation repented anyway. That was 770 B.C. But as all Christian historians know, each generation needs to be evangelized and Nineveh didn't evangelize the next generation in the God of Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and David.
48 years later they stormed Israel/Samaria with a diabolical vengeance. Here it is 650 B.C.; 120 years after Jonah preached a very similar message, and Nineveh along with the rest of the Assyrians are deaf to the message as they careen onward toward their own overthrow. Nahum is in credible company with his message as Isaiah [ch. 10], and Zephaniah also speak of the end of Nineveh. His message may have been ignored in a similar was that Noah's Ark and the flood warnings were ignored, for Nineveh was in its glory days about when Nahum commenced his prophecy. Nonetheless, the Scythian Invasion of 727 B.C. cracked their confidence as well as their insidious arrogance. In 612 B.C. the fall of Nineveh occurred - God and his spokesmen are right again.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, let us be quick to confess, slow to blame, and attentive to you as Ezekiel was. You do call us to speak for you, to be a testament to your good plans for us. Amen.
Lam.5 - If Charles Dickens had written Lamentations, it would open, "it was the worst of times, it was the worst of times - indeed, it was the worst of times." Jerusalem is unrecognizable. It's a slave camp gone into complete dismay. The fires of the city and the siege have died, yes, but the ash is still everywhere. It was a horror that had simply changed chapters. The occupying enemies have now taken charge and are working them to a stupor; to exhaustion. Meals are not enjoyed. They are struggled for, scraping together meager bits to barely subsist. Food in Judah was like water in the desert: more scorching heat than worth but still fought for just to live. Luxuries, amenities, simple comforts and pleasures are of not these days. The Babylonians were raping at will. Hebrews were being tortured. Let's just say, "the music had died." Life was nothing but a dirge. Yet as the book nearly closes, Jeremiah acknowledges that God is God and nothing is going to change that. He also is keenly aware that life in Jerusalem and Judea was wretched these days. The odd matter is that the Judeans do not seem confessional. They are not penitent at this stage of the game. God did not have an anger problem. They have had a disobedience problem and they were reaping what they had sowed.
Ezekiel was taken to Babylon in 597 B.C., during the second Babylonian strike at Judah. Jerusalem had 11 more years before it would be invaded and crushed. Daniel was taken to Babylon (605 B.C.) and was prominent in the palace by now. However, Ezekiel worked (prophesied) in the countryside. He writes his book from the stunning visions he had. In one vision after another, he hears from God, dictates visions for God, and speaks for God sending messages to the future. Some of Ezekiel's visions hearken forward to generations that are still to come as they yet look forward from today. This is far more than a 2,600 year old book. It accurately tells of what is coming with laser precision. That means Ezekiel is more "up on the news" than what is streaming on the web, now. It's true. Tune in to this man. He is talking to us. 1 - He begins seeing visions from God and prophesying in 593 B.C.; almost five years after being taken to Babylon, six+ years before Jerusalem fell. The visions begin. They are arriving angels. They are ominous and huge and powerful and cosmic, and have a resemblance to great beasts. They are a w e s o m e !! There's a platform about the angels. On it is a sapphire throne. All this is within a colossal storm cloud with flashes of fire in it that whirl, such as lightning. [Similar literature is seen in Revelation 4.] All this is setting the stage for Ezekiel commencing upon his 20-year vocation of prophesying for God. 2 - God basically tells Ezekiel to stand at attention and hear what he is to be doing. His life hereon is not going to be a cake-walk. He is speaking to and warning a rebellious people. The environment is going to be hostile but Ezekiel is 'not to fear'. And he must be sure to not become like the rebels he is addressing. Ezekiel is given a book "to eat..." Meaning he is supposed to completely ingest all of what God is telling him. John has the same assignment in Rev. 10 as he is writing out his visions that are coming down from God ca. 60-90 A.D. some 650+ years later. Both are writing the apocalyptic messages that still have vital teaching for the world. Ezekiel's assignment of giving messages was good, though the message that had to be delivered was a difficult one to share. 3 - Indeed it was sweet to eat this book as Ezekiel experienced it. This needed to happen for his assignment to address a stubborn people was going to be fraught with suffering. The Lord carried Ezekiel into this ominous calling and set him up as a watchman who would have the responsibility of speaking for God whether the people listened or not; however they responded or refused him or whatever the outcome was. He needed to speak to them God's message. There was a penalty for not doing so. And there would be times when God demanded silence of Ezekiel. In 3:26; today's reading, but also in 24:27 and 33:22. Ezekiel must only speak what God has for him to speak; not his own words, nor his own ideas, ever. And looking ahead, since we are in Ezekiel during the entirety of the prophetic stream the rest of the year, here is what we can expect. Ezekiel is telling of the coming fall of Jerusalem in ch's 1-24. Next he tells of the surrounding nations; enemies of Jerusalem that will be overthrown; Eze. 25-32. And Ezekiel spends the rest of his book, 33-48, telling of Israel being re-established and its glorious future.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we want to know you and walk with you and live in the Psalms and be in worship every step, every day. Amen.
133 - Our working and playing and cooking and learning and worshiping and serving and doing all that we do IN a SPIRIT of TOGETHERNESS is very pleasing to the Lord. It seems that modern-day urbanites are slightly more impressed with the concepts of "privacy", "personal space", and "my own little world" etc. than God is.
134 - The Psalmist is distinctly impressed with those Levitical servants who work the night-shift without fail . 135 - This is exuberant encouragement to praise the Lord. Why? Because God is the only true and right God. Allgods are false. Look what God has done! His works in nature, His works against our enemies...which are His enemies. GOD is just and compassionate. All others nations' gods are not even fluff. They are nothing. They don't exist! So let's praise Him; our True God. 136 - The verse/phrase; "His mercy endures forever..." is recited repeatedly to redentigrate into people's memories so that it stays there for life. Every reminder becomes a reminder of ... God's eternal mercy. God does wonders, miracles, natural phenomenon- be they repetitive or in line with answers to prayer for rescue. God guides, gives victory, he saves, sustains - - - so, what do we do? --> give Him thanks. 137 - It is the 580's B.C. and the Judeans are in anguish; in Babylon and hadn't the heart to sing the boisterous songs to God in worship. The Babylonians would goad them to sing but they just couldn't, they were so demoralized. They remembered Zion and wanted to make sure their hearts didn't change and become settled with /or/ normalized to life in Babylon. Their anger is still fresh against their Babylonian victors and the Edomites who cheered Judea's defeat. Their prayer against their tormentors is about as severe as it gets; wanting the Babylonian babies smashed. This is real prayer though it forgets the truth - that God put the Bab's up to the task of punishing them for what they; the Judeans had done against God. Their anger, understand is almost six centuries pre-Calvary so they don't understand the Holy Spirit and grace and redemption in a spectrum that those who have been following Jesus understand it. All things considered from our "Christian prism", we can understand this anger, without condoning it. [This Psalm was written by Hebrews exiled in Babylon, while Psalm 126 was written shortly after returning to the Promised Land from Babylon.] 138 - is a celebration in itself; a celebration borne from answered prayer that comes bursting forth from grateful hearts. 139 - God KNOWS us - that is the theme here. Skin to bone, every thought, every word, He knows us. You, Lord are present with us, every step, every day. It isn't possible to flee from our God. He was there for our beginning and orchestrated the creation of us; each of us. God's vast love for us is too marvelous to understand. David feels a deep kinship with those who love God ... and vice versa. David wants to make sure there is no evil in his heart - not even evil that he is unconscious of. David wants to walk with God and remain in God and to have nothing whatsoever to do with evil or anything/anyone that is evil.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 13 - the ark is brought back from it's time among the Philistines. It was a joyous reunion. Perhaps they were a tad too joyous in transport. 'Nothing wrong with excitement, but let's get it settled first and then get all wound up in worship. By the way, if you're never seen a Hebrew celebration, you need to. My husband finished college in Jerusalem 30+ years ago and he says it's the first time he's seen a senior citizen do the splits in mid-air! At any rate, there was a gentleman "Uzzah" who paid dearly for touching the ark. His dubious assignment of guarding the ark without getting too close got him removed from the earth. It's an unfortunate warning that had to take place. This was a memo to not turn the Ark into a tourist piece. How many famous carvings/art pieces have you visited in life where the nose or some protrusion is rubbed completely off because all the tourists need to rub it just to say they touched it? An unfortunate reality about travelers. Plymouth Rock is over 90% gone because everyone wanted a piece of it. Eternal Memo: DON'T TOUCH The Ark of The Covenant. I think this was mentioned before - if y'aren't supposed to touch something like the Ark, what was Uzzah doing less than an arm's length away from it? And as for the blessing upon Obed Edom's house, honor God's Commandments and watch your house get blessed too.
14 - David's wives grow in number as do his children. The Bible doesn't laud this, it simply notes it. In doing this David created a weak spot in his character that got him hooked via the Bathsheba incident which led to irreversible chaos in his kingdom. Nonetheless, he is king and God used him to greatly establish the nation of Israel. His exploits against the attacking Philistines are very noteworthy. The reading we went through last week told of the mighty men and acts of valor done by David's soldiers. We read about it before these latest battles. But the Philistines found out about it ... after taking a tremendous beating! [I.e. Fight a movement that God is in and pay severely] 15 - The process of bringing the Ark to Jerusalem is far more particular and stringent than any parade preparation we ever hear of. If your float doesn't win in the Macy's Parade of the Rose Parade, you don't get a ribbon. If you don't get it right in this parade, you don't go home - you get carried home =>and then buried! And not for nothing gentlemen, YOU are to transport the Ark - not an ox, for heaven's sake. They had to get it right this time. The preparation, the thousands involved, the music, the Spirit behind all this is Amazing. David is overwhelmed in worship. As for Michal; we better get this spiritual note from God himself: Resentment for worship carries a painful pricetag. II Samuel 6 reminds us what happened to Michal for scolding the king. She is struck infertile. 16 - The Ark is in place. The worship leading is entrusted to Asaph and relatives. [12 of the Psalms are titled and attributed to Asaph]. The opening worship is sung. The rhapsody is immense as each has his task smartly assigned to execute. The marvelous blessing over Israel is what God has wanted to do for them all along. It ends, "then they all went home. And David went home to bless his family." Would you like to have the King come home to the palace and bless you? Remember that as we worship The One True God of Heaven, we are David's family. 17 - King David mentions the issue to Nathan the Prophet that he is living in a cedar home while the Ark is in a tent ---> this was bothering David. It bothers him because he honors the Lord God over himself. [Many are not bothered today that they live in a posh home yet attend church in a frumpy building.] And David raises the matter because he wants to do something about it. He was a great warrior King who brought in Israel's greatest days. But he wanted to build the Temple too. Now Theologically speaking, each Bible hero is assigned a task. Abraham receives the greatest calling of all time. Jacob is the embodiment of it being named Israel, Joseph preserves the family through famine, Moses takes them to freedom out of Egypt, Joshua takes them into the Promised Land though the task doesn't get finished for 400 years... Here's David that wants to add a task to his calling. It is not to be. Solomon, his son, will build the Temple. The exchange between God to Nathan to David and David accepting the Word from God is a wondrous moment in biblical history. No kicking and pouting or back talk. Just humble submission and more worship. This is why David is the man after God's own heart. This is why he is forever blessed.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 15:22ff - when unintentional sins are committed there is still guilt to deal with. That is a rule of the world that applies. Many people die and always have for ignorance of physics. A child cannot protest about a burnt hand because they were not aware that fire burned skin. It's all unfortunate that thousands of traffic tickets get written daily because someone is driving in a different-than-home city and doesn't know the local rules. This doesn't let them off. Politicians may claim that they should be allowed to slide because they didn't violate anything intentionally. No one else gets to make this fallacious claim.
-the assertion of the Sabbath rule may appear harsh but it had to be reiterated. Whole societies become ill for working 7-days a week. It isn't healthy and God will not permit it. -the tassel concept may seem a cute thing but God just wanted them to remember ... it worked. 16 - The issue here is rebellion. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and must be obliterated. It should never be allowed. They are complaining ultimately in a way that would not be happening if they had already proceeded into the Promised Land like God had already invited/urged/ordered them to go, but they rebelled there and whined and wouldn't go in. God must have been saying "what do you jokers want from me?" They had to go or the whole community would have been corrupted and the children permanently warped beyond spiritual recovery. So God did some cleansing that day. This purging of rebellion preserved a nation. 17 - The budding and producing staff of Aaron's is God reminding them again to listen to Moses and Aaron. God spoke to Moses and Aaron would speak for Moses. This was instituted a while back and God did not changed His mind. This was God telling them for the how-manyTH time just follow, obey and don't complain. God is this way and He made us this way. What do you feel like doing about the complainers in your neighborhood? at your school? in your family? at your job? Yeah, right, you'd like to hose them off and/or throw them outside. Complain blurs and blunts even blocks the progress of anything. So let's all stop the complaining and let God take us to where we are meant to be spiritually and in every other way. 18 - the gravity and tenants of the priestly service are told. This is a serious matter. If faith is not taken seriously and taken so to the core, then eventually (and sooner than some may think) nothing else is taken seriously. We see the crumbling of societies right before our eyes today of lands that took their Christendom much more seriously than they do now. They are paying the consequences for it. And as for the contributions - they needed to be handled very responsibly. Percentages and proportions were to be strictly followed. They are accounting for God; for God's sake. They can't be acting like the governments of the world that are habitually wasting trillions and trillions.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Holy Spirit, your marching orders for us are clear and good and simple to follow. Thank you for such plain talk. This church life is for all of us and thank you for speaking to all of us. Amen.
Timothy had been led to Christ by Paul. He joined Paul on his second missionary journey (see the map in the back of your Bible for a refresher). He was instrumental in assisting Paul with six of Paul letters [II Cor. Philippians, Col., 1&2 Thes, and Philemon]. He plays a large role in the expansion following the founding of Christendom. We remember Paul sending for Timothy to come to Athens [Acts 17:14]. He joined Paul in writing the Thessalonian letters. Their interchanges, collaborations, travels, partings, meetings, tag-teaming (is that a word?!). Timothy was more Timid than a fellow minister Titus. He was not always well. But he was dearly loved by his church in Ephesus, his family and also by Paul who found Timothy to be a wondrous encouragement. One fairly reliable source states that Timothy (born 17 A.D.) was 80 years old, was still the main teaching elder in Ephesus at that time late in the first century. He was preaching the gospel with all fervor when it seemed to be interrupting a procession of the pagan fertility goddess Diana. The pagans, furious about this, beat, dragged and stoned Timothy to death [this was 97 A.D..] He had been working here as a contemporary with the Apostle John. One tradition also says that Mary, Jesus' mother, had recently died peacefully in this same area. Timothy, like the other heroes mentioned in the Bible, we will meet "on the other side of the Jordan." 1 - False teachers had found their way in and were trolling around the hundreds of house churches of Ephesus, deceiving people, harassing and questioning pastors. Paul called them 'wolves' and for good reason. These and their ilk were the types Titus had to deal with when he ministered in Crete. Paul isn't talking like a judge with gavel raised in delight to indict. He knows that grace is everything. God's goodness is the basis of our calling and salvation. And yet as for specifics in dealing with trouble in Ephesus, Paul is kicking the door down and naming names: Alexander and Hymenaeus. These two spiritual vandals were leading the charge against Paul to derail the sound doctrine of the church in Ephesus. Paul has nothing congenial to say about them. There is a strong argument among early church historians that this is the Alexander who later shows up in Rome to testify against Paul in a way that ensures his execution. They were scoundrels that had to be removed from fellowship - and they were.
2 - Paul wants the church to be a praying people, and for prayer to be their top trademark. The leaders of the world in this era were mostly ignorant and not too privy to Christianity. Don't trash them or criticize them. Pray for them. Paul wanted men to be men of prayer especially. To head your families and head the church, prayer is first - and you'll need it. Plus If it 'catches' with them, it will catch with everyone. Women, who would become the heart of the church, were to be known as good hearted souls, who worshiped, and served and learned and were not disruptive. The forbidding to teach was spoken to a church wherein women predominantly ceased formal schooling at 12 or 13. Men had compulsive training and mentoring in all the fields until they were early/mid 20's. They had normally ten more years of training than women. Hey, women weren't stupid. They never have been. Raising children grants the equivalent of a PhD in psychology, Elem. Ed., nutrition, pediatrics, et al. I'm being a bit tongue-in-cheek here but the truth is that the church could not become an institution run by women. Once it did, the end is in sight, because the men would pack and go fishing and not return save the effeminate 'males'. What men do not take seriously, the children do not follow in. Hundreds of social studies prove this. This church is to be the most enduring institution and vibrant living organism the world has ever known. Not a gestational training nest for feminism that, left to itself, turns averse to domestic tranquility. Those who rail about Paul being anti-women are making juvenile, subjective statements and not seeing the better part of wisdom that Paul is addressing with the long term health of the world in mind. It's just like a husband and wife riding a horse or a Harley. Someone needs to sit in front and it looks kind of dumb when the woman has the reins/controls with the man sitting in back hanging on to her to find stability. The church was not to be a wuss-house. That's all Paul is getting at. 3 - The qualifications for elders/overseers are laid out here. These are tenants that had to be adhered to. It's an unfortunate setting today wherein most elders are simply the most successful businessmen on the church roster. Financial competence does not equate with spiritual insight nor biblical knowledge. A church that is this way just may have a carnal pastor who is controlled by greed. The church such as this has a sketchy future that is not secure in the kingdom. It just may keep right on going after the rapture. And that is not a good thing, Einstein! Deacons (assistants/helpers/managers) of the church were to be closely marked by a list of godly traits listed here. The church at Ephesus received this list first. The Ephesians were the most mature Believers in the first century world. The Ephesians orders have not changed a bit. To have a healthy church body in the modern world, the leadership list back then needs to be followed still. The objective is godliness. Let's all remember this. The Thread Through the Streams God has thought things through long before we even start to think about pondering what we are to be doing. When God directs - pausing to muse, doubting, second-guessing, delaying until we can get our emotions under control isn't intelligence. It is rebellion. Obey NOW. -Numbers tells us about Moses getting opposed by Miriam and Aaron and makes is quite clear and quite quickly that they better stop kicking and whining about Moses and do so now. For their pestering of Moses, leprosy struck immediately. The petitioning/prayer/begging was immediate, and then so was the cure. The next two chapters prove that when God has a plan (sending spies into Canaan) and lays it out to us we better move on it now. But they wouldn't. So they stayed in the desert and experienced decades of death in the heat and sand v.s. entering their Land of Blessing. This is crazy sad. -I Chronicles shows Saul dying in a pathetic manner. He was always the one who delayed and/or obeyed afterhe took a few stabs at doing things the wrong way. The Israelites gathered around David immediately. They then marched on Jebus' in Salem and the first to go in is made the general. Timing, expediency, quick responding is lauded here, people. In Ch. 12 did you notice how long it took the soldiers to join David? "...when he was banished from Saul..." They aren't writhing and hand-wringing and groaning, "gee, what do we do? which of these men is God's blessed one? ohhh, I'm so stressed..!" NOT! They know- and they go- straight to David. -Psalms hit's the matter from the first word! 120:1 - "when I was in trouble, I cried out to the Lord." He doesn't pause to do six months of yoga first, or six weeks, or six minutes of it! He calls out as soon as -! 122:1 David and Co. says, "let's go up to the house of the Lord." So when do they go? When should they go? How about right now! Today's generation gets told, lets' go worship and many agree - but too many stall: they need to get caught up on emails first, check everything on Facebook first from dinner plate photos to cat photos to latte~ photos, and then messaging, and then pinterest, and then and then and then. By the time they get around to obeying, the worship service has ended. The same is going to happen to this generation in this era of history -Jeremiah in Lamentations is speaking of a crushed city of Jerusalem; complete dismay. It looks hopeless. But he is quick to remember one thing: God's character; His mercy, and faithfulness keep him from despair. We can train ourselves to quickly return to this mindset. We are able to be so transfixed on God's goodness that keeping us down would be like trying to hold a beachball under water. When does a beachball return to the surface? How long does that take?! -In a single verse, Micah 7:7 nails the matter this week [even though he is immersed in a population that has completely slouched into crime and rebellion ] "I will look to the Lord, I will wait for God to save me..." We don't see Micah stalling on God to find a remedy. He doesn't wait a while and spend the next few months hunting for a few good men in Samaria or Judea first. He looks straight to the Lord. -The rulers in Jerusalem ask Jesus a series of trick questions because, well, they didn't want answers, they wanted to trick Him. He replies right out laser-like and it cuts to the quick. The verse at the end of the silly questions is ominous: "and no one dared ask Him any more questions." translation: uh, we better shut up now! Jesus urges his disciples to be sober and attentive. Those who are sober and attentive are able to respond to the signs and God's call immediately. Drunk people cannot. They respond far too slowly. -Paul urges Timothy to deal with these terrible heretics who are tearing up the atmosphere at the hundreds of house churches all over Ephesus. These joker-men are like weeds growing in the garden. And when should weeds in the garden be pulled? And when is the easiest time to eradicate weeds in the garden? 1:18 says to Timothy, "I am giving you this order about prophecies... " This is top priority. Paul wraps up his memo to Timothy (in our reading today) "I hope to visit you soon." He would be there today if he could but will get to Timothy as fast as he can. That's when all of us ought get to doing God's will ... as fast as we can. i.e. starting praising with our next breath.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Wow, Lord, give us the mind of Christ, we pray. Amen.
Jesus is in the final days before the Crucifixion - that He and God the Father know is set to happen before Passover. However the Priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes and the Turnips (my husband went off script there) are frantic to get rid of this Jesus/pest before the week is up. They were utterly scrambling to accuse a perfectly innocent man - and they end up revealing their own twisted characters. We just read in the prophets this week that the nation is judged because the Priests and religious leaders led the people into spiritual oblivion. They let it happen and then made sure it happened. Their line of thinking: attempting to make Jesus look like he doesn't have his head together, turns into practical comedy. It ends up merely displaying Jesus' pure heavenly brilliance, and their spiritual irrelevance.
20 - They ask Him where He gets his authority. You heard the interchange about John-the-Baptist. The only reason this comes up is that Jesus was walking through Jerusalem with ultimate celebrity status and the illicit "religious board" is having their authority threatened. And they "inquire" of Jesus who responds so that theirmisgivings are exposed. How do they respond? 'they play stupid. Did they have a choice? The Parable of the Vineyard further exposes their derelict leadership ... (their "how dare you!?" response is lunacy) as if everyone didn't already know! So they try a "taxes paid to Caesar" question. Think a minute, did they really want an answer? They hate taxes. They hate Caesar. If you have any experience in education like husband and I do, there's always the real question from a student who wants an answer and then there's the "stalling for time" question from an imposter who's more-or-less killing time at school because the workforce is too brutal. These types also offer plenty of deflection questions, distraction questions, digression questions - that makes sure no one else gets their real question in. The Pharisees have all this deviant thinking mastered. Yet Jesus stings them again. You gotta love this. The Sadducees then ask a question based on a concept they don't believe in either; The Resurrection. Come on, do they even want an answer? His Messiah- logic-against-what-David-said in Psalms 110:1 hits to the core. The Pharisees are prancing around Jerusalem all this week trying to rumor the crowd into thinking Jesus ISN'T the Messiah. And they think Jesus doesn't know what they're up to, ... Hmm. KaChow! He got 'em again. We don't mean to ridicule, we ought pity these leaders in Jerusalem, they think they are going to outfox Jesus. Wake up guys - Jesus went to Law School in heaven [pardon the phrasology]. You're going to lose all these arguments. Hey, Jesus had to warn the people about these in the 'old boys club'. 21 - Jesus sees people putting money in the Temple Treasury and his assessment still speaks to percentages and offerings and such matters that are occurring today. We can't buy off God. We need to give to His Work what he has asked of us. His Apocalyptic teaching in Lu. 21 is a pillar in the doctrine that must be taken into account along with Daniel, Revelation, the other gospels, I Corinthians 15, I Thessalonians 4 & 5, II Thessalonians 1, etc. It's powerful words coming from our Savior. Prophesying the destruction of The Temple [by Romans in 41 years] carries symbolism that morphs into the End of Days, Signs of those coming days on earth and in the sky, the Jews returning to Israel wrapped up in the fig tree story, ... This is all loaded material for discussions that are ongoing 19+ centuries later! Jesus ends our time today reminding us to be watchful for the End Times. For messages from God. We are in the middle of history's most intense week. And the crowds listening to Jesus grow and grow ... and grow.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, come quickly for we long to see you do right and have there be justice and righteousness on the earth. Amen.
Micah is in his usual mode dealing with everything moral and spiritual high-and-low between Death Valley and the top of Everest.
This man must have been a vigorous gent' to be around if his energy level day to day was anything like his writing style. 7 - Getting right into his final chapter, he eviscerates Israel for centuries of shabby management on every level. There's no food on the vines or trees. There are no godly people. They are wholly evil. They plot, scheme, and steal, and murder. Yeesh, the people are carrying on like baboons in the wild turning on each other. You'd have an easier time hugging a porcupine than dealing with these people! The day of trouble is right upon you people in the north. And when it comes, you will not be able to look to anyone for a trustworthy remedy - not even in your own home. But Micah still has faith! Then a clear warning is given against those who would be elated to see Zion get run over by marauders. Yes, Jerusalem has a day of reckoning coming for its disobedience but it will not be the end of the Hebrews or of Jerusalem as the city of God's special dwelling. Granted, there is a difficult; very difficult season the Hebrews are going to need to get through with the 70 years of captivity, but a return from exile shall come. Jerusalem shall be rebuilt, and her enemies are going to experience a wasting that is going to hurt and be their end. Micah then closes his book with a vision of the glorious future when the promises of God are all fulfilled; the promises made to Abraham are realized and a right rule is upon the earth. Miracles will abound as the enemies of God are silenced and humiliated. God will show all His great attributes toward His own. What a wonderful time to dwell unimpeded in God's love, forgiveness, faithfulness and delight. Bring it on, God. Bring it on.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, the grief and the mourning that we suffer through is made bearable upon turning to You. Thank you for being very near to the broken hearted. Amen.
3 - Jeremiah has been given commentary on the state of Jerusalem-the-desolate, God's sentiment that led to this horror. Here Jeremiah is focussing on himself. He is down and out and feeling very in the dark. He's feeling trapped, weighed down, broken, desolate, pained, mocked, deprived, lost ... and yet there are vv. 21-24ff. Jeremiah KNOWS that God is yet merciful, faithful, loving. His feelings mentioned are good to share. He must articulate this to let soul drain clear and let the goodness of the Lord pour in. Jeremiah has time to sit quietly with the Lord. There aren't many options these days in a deserted city! We are reminded to receive the Lord's discipline. In these days, everyone is living in turbulence. There is no "Easy Street". Jeremiah fully realizes the fate that has overcome this place. Tears flow constantly. The few left are jeering and pestering Jeremiah and he wants God to give them their due for their cruelty to him - a prophet who has simply done his job of warning that this was coming if they did not turn.
4 - The terrors lingering in the city are too much to bear. We've heard of this before in literature written in the history and other prophets but here it is last time from Jeremiah who, like anyone witnessing this, would not get over it. The condition?: the gems are gone, the people are smashed, babies deserted, selfishness rules, luxuries traded in for garbage digging, the reduction of the city is worse than terrible, the once handsome are now covered in soot, starvation is everywhere, exhaustion, cannibalism, fire/smoke, treachery ... Bad religious leaders ruined Jerusalem. The glory of the earth is the shame of it now. The illicit priests have led the people into disobedience and this unleashed enemies by removing God's favor on Judah and Israel. So where did this bad religion take them? Where might it take us today?!?! In the finale~ there is rebuke for Edom. It is reminiscent of the book of Obadiah. Edom is said to have been howling and cheering with delight as Jerusalem burned. Well Edom is getting their due too.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, You are the one, the Only One who does all these wonderful works on our behalf. It's a testament to your endless love. Thank you Lord God. AMEN.
We reference 13 Psalms today so don't look away from your Bible yet but keep your Bible in front of you so you can reference what we are talking about as we go through all these gems. 120 - David is feeling the fugitive and is getting exasperated that everywhere he goes people are liars. Liars liars liars. He mentions Meshach; they are a people far north. He mentions the tents of Kedar; they are nomadic people to the south and east. David is wanting home and truth and peace. It seems God was making sure David grew 100% weary of wandering among liars. The training is working. This is especially vital because David's entire life is leadership training and leaders must loathe lying or they do not lead rightly.
121 - The Lord is our Protector who keeps us on our feet, He's a security guard 24/7/365. This is protection from someone who is all powerful and all wise. It was especially touching in the "Diary of Anne Frank" when the family is slipping into dismay from being in hiding so long - they pull out and read Psalm 121. [heavy sigh] 122 - The prayer for Jerusalem captures the excitement of going into God's realm, going to Temple, being among God's people. The joy of it all! David has obviously secured "Salem" from the Jebusites; It was Jebus' Salem. It is forever to be called Jeru-Salem. And it a marvelous place to be even now. Husband and I talk about going to church as kids and the people flocking in, the greeting, the sharing time, the music, playing tag in the basement, the friends and VBS and games and stories and the awesome potlucks. They were wondrous days. Well David is as excited as a schoolboy up to Jerusalem 123 - The favor of the Lord will get you farther in a day than a 1,000 days of labor. Be asking for the Lord's favor on your life and watch things get miraculous 124 - When the Lord is on your side / when we are on the Lord's side [and vow to stay there] we escape and become eternally victorious. God had delivered them from fearful danger. 125 - Trusting the Lord is all that can be trusted. The evil will fall, but the Lord surrounds those who trust Him and He gives them peace. 126 - They had been brought back from captivity in Babylon and they felt like they were dreaming. Compare this Psalm to 137 and things really have changed in their hearts and souls as they are no longer in Babylon. It's certainly wonderful to be home. 127 - Solomon wrote this one and Psalm 72. Here he is talking about building; something Solomon is quite adept at! He built the Temple, his residences, structures, pools, shelters for his workers, his horses, ad infinitum. He is also bent on teaching people to build homes - not just houses. Because 'family' is the a strong shelter against the elements and the enemies. 128 - This wedding song is by a different writer than Solomon but the theme is an extension of 127. It talks about healthy boisterous strong families led by God-fearing men with fruitful productive wives. This is what a stalwart nation is built upon. Without this a nation is basically building it's foundation out of sand at the water's edge during low tide ... it will be washed away. 129 - This is a fervent prayer that the enemies of Zion would wither and be starved out and gone! 130 - This cry for mercy is of a soul awaiting redemption. The writer is in penance and truly looking to God alone for restoration. If all people reacted this way to their sins, transgressions, iniquities then no one would be addicted to anything. This Psalm surely shows a better way back for distressed hearts. 131 - Israel; Believers everywhere, put your hope in the Lord and you will sleep like a baby! 132 - This is a reassertion that David's dynasty will not disappear. It will be eternal regardless of what era of history we find ourselves in. God promises this. The Ark is Present. The Priests are righteous. David's family is established. There is Provision and abundance, salvation and worship, glory and joy. Halelujah; praises be to God.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God you are exciting, Your plans are exciting, your world is exciting, your future (with us in it) is exciting. Amen.
9 - This is the last chapter of successive genealogies. It covers the return from Exile in Babylon. And with these records being kept, this made it possible to return to Israel and they would know which people were to go back to which land. These nine chapters of genealogy walk us through the streams, via the names, of all the biblical history that has happened so far. The generation to generation run down ties the national family together through time and this deeply authenticates the Hebrew story. And no one is trying to kid anyone here - what is more enchanting? walking around a quaint city or sitting in a hotel room in that city while reading that same city's phonebook? duh! This first nine chapters of Chronicles has been a bit like reading the phonebook. It is the truth. It IS this same city but it doesn't inspire like some of the stories that teach and get us dreaming and praying while making our spirit soar to new heights! So after reading the first part of Chronicles ... read the read of the Bible! :-)
The next three chapters are dedicated to the process of David becoming King. The matching narrative is seen in II Samuel which begins at Saul's death. which in turn passed the kingdom to David. I.e. I Chron. 11-29 and the book of II Samuel are parallel stories with each having a distinctive focus. I Chron. is a little more focused on the ritual of worship that was so vital to David. 10 - This is the tale of Saul's finale~ He was a base man; practically secular, though he had a spiritual calling (by default). His death is gory and pathetic as his sons are killed with him. The Bible is specific to state why he was taken out the way he was. "He was unfaithful...he did not keep God's Word, he resorted to witchcraft, he did not seek the Lord." So God put him to death in a way that makes all of the future souls that have even a vague sense of observation to read of Saul and vow to not live like that apostate man. 11 - David is anointed king and he wastes no time in taking Jerusalem. One of the things that is easily missed is that it has been nearly 400 years since the Israelites came into this promised land. And after taking Jericho, had they stayed on track, they certainly would have been able to take Jerusalem within a generation or so. It was only 13 miles away! But 400 years had rolled by and Jerusalem was still occupied by a pagan people. A brief review of Judges 2:7-13 gives a clear explanation as to why they got sidetracked for 300+ years. Ridiculous isn't it? But David took Jerusalem and it is dedicated to God. David was dedicated to God and dedicated to the core of his soul. And God was with David. The man became unstoppable. The takes of the valiant deeds of the men dedicated to him are impressive. They are the scenes of blockbuster movies. When God is in a movement, fear nor failure are matters that are not even pondered, much less experienced. 12 - This is a 'by the way' chapter that jumps back a bit and gives the story and numbers of people who jumped to David's side even before he was the full-fledged king with Saul out of the way. It is a marvel to see the ground swell that arises around David; the gathering that surrounded him with aid and comfort and defense at all costs. The skills, the speed of these men, their heart/soul dedication, the valiancy that they all have for DAvid's cause! Good heavens. The gathering at Hebron had to be a sight. Y'can almost hear David exclaim 3000+ years later, "aww, you should have been here!!" This is just under 341,000 men hearts like lions, tough as leather, trained as Marines, ready to serve a God who is called a consuming fire and mighty in battle. And they ate and drank and reveled in what God had brought on for three days! It says, "and there was joy in Israel!" Forgive the modern-day insertion here but can you imagine the catering bill for well over 3Million meals for robust hungry soldiers who do NOT just pick and nibble, but scarf and eat and eat and eat?!
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, you have so much better planned out for us. Forgive us for ever thinking otherwise. Take us to your glory in heaven - and do so on earth as it is in heaven.
Today's reading includes a grievous, faithless decision made by Israelite leaders that had them waste 38 years. And it is why everyone who personally experienced the Exodus as an adult never crossed the Jordan to go into the Promised Land. Let's deeply take this to heart. A faithless and grievous decision ends up costing people to lose 38 years. Some historians may say they got off light. There are many instances through time where generations of lives can be wasted by a poor decision. Let's move forward in faith not fear. 12 - Aaron and Miriam go after Moses because his wife was from Cush. Zipporah was likely deceased and Moses had opted to not remain a widower. Cush was 'Ethiopia' and thus Moses' wife was a different shade than the other Hebrews. This is not a strange or unique trait: people are going through times of struggle and they blame it on the people around them who are a different color than they are. Moses did not retaliate or push back. He was the paragon of humility. God stepped in to rebuke Aaron and Miriam, Moses' older brother (of 4 years), Miriam the older sister (of 7 years). The Word from God, the cloud enveloping, the leprosy, the frantic petition/prayer ... It's a salient tale in the Bible that forever teaches to not pester nor accuse nor mock one's called and anointed, legitimate, spiritual leader. Don't get ugly with him, and when struggling with a matter, don't change the subject - take it to God. Or God will "take it to you"!
13 - It is time to go into the Promised Land. 12 spies are sent in. They include Joshua (Hebrew for "Jesus") of the tribe of Ephraim, and Caleb of the tribe of Judah. They are to give a full report about everything they observe. It is 40 days of stealth movement among giants, watching, noting, spiriting into the next grove, forest, thicket, cave. You thought "capture the flag" during Middle School summer camp was exciting?! This was over the top --> to do this, and to never seem threatening to the locals, and/or remain incognito, and to be certain to never away the real reason you are there. And as the story unfolded, the 12 spies came back ... 10 of them are chicken-hearted. They report that to proceed in is impossible due to the size of the inhabitants. Joshua attempted to insert some reality based upon the God who had brought them this far; the God who had gotten them out of Egypt; while eradicating the world's toughest army! Faith marked Joshua and Caleb. Fear marked the other 10 spies. 14 - As the strange psychology and/of mathematics go, 10 spies were able to spread negativity and convince the 600,000 Israelite men (likely 2million+ Israelites total) to wail and fret all through the night. Joshua and Calebs' encouragement is 100% ignored. In their fretting he people threaten to stone Moses/Aaron/Joshua/Caleb - [yea, tell me about it]--> 'whoopie' for leadership over a people who have no vision It is a very unfortunate development. God is angry enough to kill them all. And yet Moses intercedes; THIS is great leadership! The Lord does not destroy them but neither will he allow any of this generation to cross the Jordan and enter God's Promise or come into His rest for them. They are doomed to walk in circles for 38-39 more years and die in the desert. God wasn't done making his statement - he struck the 10 faithless spies dead; those who incited all the Israelites to rebel instead of move on in faith. With them dead, the people grieved, then they decided to move into Canaan. It was too late. God said 'no'. Obeying God 24 hours later IS disobeying. Don't let anyone you ever know or meet forget this. Some thought they could override what God had dictated and started walking into the land --- they received a country-whoopin' from the Amalekites and that ended that! 15 - There were laws about offerings and they had to be adhered to. Notice that foreigners were to abide by these same laws regardless if they were passing through, residing temporary, or for long term. In other words a foreigner could not traverse through be smug declaring, "ahhh, I'm not a Hebrew, these laws don't apply to me." We see today, across the world, where this attitude is causing havoc, domestic upheaval, civil tension, and worse where a foreigner thinks they can enter another country and live like the Devil because that's how we did it back in wherever country they are from. --WRONG! The crucial importance of the Sabbath is asserted. And there is distinct reminders instituted so that the Law is not forgotten. Yes, God thinks of everything for us. We simply need to follow his plan
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis II Thessalonians was written shortly after the first letter to the Thessalonian church. It was right around 52 A.D. Rome was thriving (brutal as it was) and Greek culture (at least) was still very prevalent. Olympic gatherings were scheduled events in the Empire. Paul writes again to this prominent city they called Thessaloniki. This second letter is almost as if Paul had a moment of "oh yea, people, just a few more things I want you to know..." II Thes. is further teaching about the Lord's Coming back, about it being sudden, the event being unexpected, about it being very terrifying for the disobedient.
1 - Paul's greeting is gracious and it takes him no time to get into encouraging the church. They will get through the suffering. Those who afflict them will come to severely regret it. The Lord is coming back and whereas he had a more glorious rendition and focus in I Thess., he adds that this same event will be a horrible day for those who shunned the marvelous gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul's reference to "fire" is in keeping with other symbolism and statements about "fire" in Matt. 25, Heb. 10, & Rev. 20. And because of this Paul says "we keep praying..." eight more times before the chapter closes! 2 - The Rebellion; The Man of Sin that is coming; the antiChrist is described here. His traits, the trademarks of the times that will occur before Christ returns is told so that the Thessalonians (and we!) do not succumb to lies and the forces that lead so many astray while awaiting to see Jesus. Verse 3 is especially good: "don't let anyone trick you in any way." However those subjected to deception are those who do not want the truth. The Holy Spirit is the one who restrains the evil in the world. Imagine when the Believers are taken away, and the Holy Spirit that resides on them is absent! People illicitly complain that "if there is a God, why is there evil?" Hmm, when the grace of God departs THEN people are going to experience a true foretaste of 'outer darkness'. It will be evil like the earth has never known. Pity the survivors. Paul ends this section with gracious encouragement punctuated by "remain strong in the faith." 3 - has great Christian instruction and a salutation as good as any, but the bulk of this chapter addresses the duffers in Thessalonica and the Church there. Paul was concerned with the 'idle'; the lazy and how they were not pulling their part. The concept of Christian charity was being taken advantage of in this church and it was not to tolerated further. Paul was very particular to teach giving, caring, helping the poor. His teaching on charity has greatly affected the world through the cause of Christ. But to round out the teaching about the true purpose of charity, it must be gathered and distributed precisely and properly. The abuse of the kindness afforded by wealthy Believers was pathetic. Offerings gathered are not for the purpose of enabling the "hammock dwellers" to remain there. That type of helping is not helping. In fact, it is what kills charity. He told the Galatians in Gal.6:5 that each should carry his own load. He means it here too. The Thread Through the Streams The theme we heard threading throughout the scripture this week was: "Keep God in it every step. Don't try to do it alone." -in Numbers the Levites are set apart to be priests; to stand in and serve God, representing Him to the people. This may seem an overly obvious assessment, but in their demise before the invasions, the Priests had forgotten this. They did not represent God...and the nation followed them right off a cliff. -Chron. included the part about serving God in music at the Tabernacle - that they followed and did it according to the rules they were given. The Levites set up the work of the Tabernacle just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded. The nation started right by keeping God in it. The concurrent complaining and punishment proves the same by providing a double-contrast (obedience and blessing / sorry-attitude and punishment. -Psalms enforces the best way to keep God in it all - keep in The Word -The grieving in Lamentations matches, Jesus' words, "blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted." This is vital to know how to grieve. The lament is a version of prayer. Mourning done in God's realm is restorative. Mourning done in solitude or at a tavern takes one further astray. Keep God in it when mourning ... and the morning WILL come ! -Micah took us through steep terrain of glory and desolation. The Savior arrives later yet retribution for horrid behavior shall be upon you sooner than you wish. Keep eyes on the one who will arrive in Bethlehem AND keep your eyes on God even when drudging into exile. The Judeans did and returned. The Northern tribes didn't and were lost to history. -Jesus talking in Luke this week gave us so many reasons and ways to go to God in prayer: when suffering injustice, come into prayer humbly, come childlike, come empty-handed, bring your needs, come determined to meet Jesus ... the call to prayer asserts "don't go it alone." -The Thessalonians are urged to endure the suffering with God in mind as He will deal with the persecutors. In other words, go to God in this time v.s. getting your revenge. God is going to deal with these pagans - don't you try to. Don't try to do it alone, no, keep God in every step.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, you have taught us to pray. There's enough learning here to practice praying for our whole lifetime. Halelujah and amen.
18 - the lessons and life of Jesus are clear and wonderful as usual in this chapter.
Come to God: Never stop praying to God in heaven for what you want. Come to God humbly and you will be heard and uplifted. Come to me with a child-like heart. Come to God as you are - not with favors in hand nor selfish plans nor anything. Come to me --> so you can know ME. [REMEMBER: Jesus is going to be crucified, buried, and will rise again ... He keeps saying that, but they didn't want to really hear it or believe it.] Come to God / plead if you must, and you will see. Follow Him and you will begin to really see. 19 - The Zacchaeus story is unique to Luke. Luke is pushing a few points here since all of them were pivotal for Luke and M,M,&L opted to zero in on other matters during this stop in Jericho. First, Zacch. was very eager to see Jesus. He is wealthy and prominent, though not liked in the community, and he climbs a tree to see the Savior. CPA's don't do this. Zacch didn't care about appearances and seeming childish was less important to him than encountering Jesus so it was worth it. Jesus picks up on this and goes to HIS house. [would you like that?!] And the day changes Zacch. When we just spend time with Jesus, it changes us. Zacch. is convicted about his extortion and pays back his 'victims' four times over and Jesus declares him to be saved. Luke is very big on these themes: >>get to Jesus, >>meeting him is transformational, >>financial forthrightness is of God. There is one main matter we'll ponder from the story of the three slaves --> are we a good investment? Do we multiply for the Kingdom what God has given us? Let's BE good investments for God, for there is no end to what He will invest in us if we will be a good investment. Jesus' entry into the city is a spontaneous event that led to hysteria of lauding Him for they thought He would appreciate this "election" to be their King. He had every right to assume the title, from every possible angle of looking at one's kingship. But while they wanted a return to David and conquests, Jesus entered Jerusalem for a different reason. He wanted them to get close to God and His sacrifice would make this a subjunctive reality; [accept His sacrifice as covering for them]. No one really grasped what was going on and....be that as it is, those who received Him to be the Savior understood it all later after Pentecost. He wanted them to understand God so badly that day but ... they wouldn't. Jesus wept over this unfortunate issue. His clearing the Temple of the 'bankers' who were charging people to come pray changed the sentiment about Jesus in a New York Minute! (Should I say "in a Jerusalem minute?) The scammers, schemers, and religious manipulators spent the rest of the week watching and conjuring for ways to get rid of Jesus and getting the people's focus back on them (so they could resume billing them for praying!) But what were they to do? the people were entranced with Jesus . . . ! What's coming has captured the lives and hearts of men for centuries ... because it set hearts free!
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, we have need of a Savior since leaving Eden. Thank you for sending what we need and reaching out to us and loving us first. Amen.
Remember Micah is prophesying during ca. the 740's B.C. to the 720's. He was speaking up through Hezekiah's reign. He saw the northern kingdom fall to Assyria. He witnessed Assyria proceed on south and trounce through Judah nearly wiping them out also. His theme and tone fluctuate without warning from ruinous desolation -to- glory and the good days that are coming for the Hebrews as a Savior arrives. Some skeptics reference matters like this in the Bible to talk about God being inconsistent and 'bi-polar' so to speak. Not the issue at all. God is working his loving plan in an endless effort to encounter and redeem inconsistent, 'morally bi-polar' people whom He loves though they have turned away and embraced darkness in most of their behavior.
5 - Micah gives one of the famous descriptions of: a baby, born in an obscure setting, who would rule - though born in Bethlehem 700 years from that time. He had just finished telling, in the prior chapter that we read last week, of the glorious future of Zion, then the miserable exile, then of the Assyrians raiding prior to that, then he goes forward to the wonderful future ... this is Micah. Just stay with him. Micah has good news to tell amid the worst of times. The city of Jerusalem had recently experienced the harrowing delivery from the Assyrian army when 185,000 were struck dead at night from the angel of the Lord; [II Chron. 32:21 & II Kings 19:35]. Micah prophesies of the future delivering king against this overwhelming scenario of delivery. The Hebrew people would also be spread throughout the world. At the time of it's writing the prophecies here are intriguing and mysterious. In time, the meaning of them come clearer and clearer. Micah is spot on in all the prophecies he gives for us to follow through the centuries. This is the only place in the Old Testament where the location of The Savior's birth is told. It's the same Savior Isaiah 9 tells about who is "Wonderful, Mighty, Everlasting..." 6 - We return now to Israel getting read "the riot act" against them for centuries of disobedience and phony religious behavior. They have been completely ungrateful to God, dishonest, liars and tricksters, idolatrous to the core and punishment is what is due them. Israel; the north will be left hungry, they will be robbed, they will be over-run [by Assyria].
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, remind us that you are very near to the brokenhearted. May we also be of your heart and be people who comfort the disturbed and the suffering. Amen
This really is the epilogue or a continuation of the Book of Jeremiah (who wrote Lamentations). Jeremiah could not have been more heartbroken as he sat in the ashes of his beloved city that had had its fingers in its ears; refusing to listen to God for centuries. He wrote Lamentations after the dust had cleared and its residents had been led away in shackles to exile in Babylon. The 70 A.D. translation of the Bible actually adds an introduction to Lamentations that reads, "And it came to pass, after Israel was led into captivity and Jerusalem was laid waste, that Jeremiah sat weeping and lamented this lamentation over Jerusalem and said": ... (and chptr. 1 commences) 1 - This starts the doleful ballad - the city is empty. The distant crying of just a few poor people left in Jerusalem is all that is heard. Virtually "everyone" living is gone. The siege has been horrible, the place is in ruins, still smoking from being burnt, it is desolate. And Jeremiah is not wailing "whyyyy God, whyyy?" --- because he knows why. Jeremiah had tried his entire adult life to turn Jerusalem from her rampant sinning, and to no avail. He knew this judgment; this dismal situation would be coming, but it didn't make its arrival any easier to bear. He is stunned, dazed, the "chest pain" (as we might call it) was gnawing at him desperately. There was no consoling Jeremiah as he sat in this city that looked destined to be an archaeological dig for historians - that's how it looked at this point to Jeremiah's eyes. He may have known better but that doesn't change his feelings as he saw the last of the Judeans marched out at the tip of Babylonian spears and disappear. 2 - Remember getting punished as a child? Soon after that, the rump is stinging like a fleet of hornets just swooped in and stung, then comes "the talk" from parents who have been dismayed - even angry that your behavior led to this paddling. Well, Lamentations ch. 2 is ... you guessed it; it's "the talk!" God has been angry with them. They were ebullient, calloused, disobedient and worse; diabolical, sadistic, and thirsty for darkness. And lest anyone feel pathetic sympathy for this situation remember that Jerusalem spent decades and decades sacrificing young Jewish children on altars of fire like the Satanic cult Molech was doing in the neighboring countries! They made voodoo witchdoctors look like dizzy kids in the school yard. This judgment had to happen; the faith needed to be rectified or Judaism would have ended and Christianity would not have been birthed. It's a sad day in Jerusalem as the desolate remnant are covered in ashes and children are starving. Generations of liars had been their guides and this is where it led them. Did it have to come to this? God had warned them so much that they were sick of being warned and had jeered at the prophets. What was God to do but punish? There WERE no other options but to bring it to this chaotic state, where Jerusalem looked like a warzone in a battle did not go well, and there was cannibalism. It's quadruple bad folks! It does resolve a bit in ch. 3 next week, but for now the attentive can almost hear God saying (from beyond a cloud) "are you weary of your disobedience yet, like I am?!"
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord of Abraham, Israel, Moses, and David: Your Word is eternal - for what you say stands forever. We stand on YOUR promises to keep us and what we commit to you for eternity. Save us Lord. Amen.
This was the second half of Psalm 119; the longest Psalm in the Bible. We continue from last week using the last 11 letters of the Hebrew Bible to title each stanza which are eight-verses per section. ------------------------ Lamedh - God's Word is as eternal and present as God is faithful. The Word preserves us and is worthy of our obedience and our thoughts/minds to be upon them. Mem - We love the Law of the Lord. It makes us wiser and keener than our peers and elders even. It keeps us from sin. It keeps us joyful - it is sweeter than anything. Nun [noon]- The Word guides us and gives us resolve to remain on the right path. The Law keeps us aright and in safety, and will do so forever. Samekh - your Word clears our mind and shields us, and gives stability as we call on Him. Our regard for the Law determines whether we are discarded or preserved. Ayin - The Law gives us good sense. We seek YOU Lord - even when weary. There is goodness and love and learning and understanding in your Law. A love for the Law is greater than love for gold and it teaches us to despise sin. Pe [pay]- There is wonder and light in your Law, thus we long to know more. In Your Law is mercy and right living and power to live right. We want to be free to obey even more. And oddly enough, Lord, your Law teaches us compassion for those who do not know or obey you. Tsadeh - Lord, your Law is fair and right and trustworthy and true. We love your Laws. They are delightful. Help us understand them more so we may live! Qoph [rhymes with 'loaf']- Lord, we want to obey your orders and keep your commands. They are more important than sleeping. You are in our thoughts through the night. Lord your Word will keep us from evil and evil people, for Your Word is eternal. Resh - Lord, the suffering and the evil all around me, the attacks, all this only proves to me that I love your rules. Keep me alive according to your eternal Word and your rules that are forever right. Sin/Shin [seen/sheen]- Though attacked by rulers, I revere your Word. I have joy and good fortune and praise-filled days because of Your Word. You give great peace and salvation and love to us Taw [tahv] - Lord, you hear our cry, we praise you as you teach us your orders. We follow your rules and you help us obey. You delight us and keep us going. Even when we feel lost, there is hope to return because we do not forget your commands.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Heavenly Father - thank you for keeping track of each one of us - as you have taught good fathers to do. Amen.
Among the reasons that all these tribes and names are listed is so that there is a public record of souls and that the land afforded to each tribe is designated in accordance with the matching names. This was even important (perhaps more so) after the land is resettled when the Israelites return from exile in Babylon ca. 535 B.C. Land was not to be reapportioned or sold outside the family. It was to be kept permanently. It could be sold for a time but must be returned in Jubilee (Lev. 25). There are a boat-load of names here and there are also some pithy words in between that served as gems as well as weighty reminders. 6 - The Levites are listed. You may recognize some of these names. For what it's worth if you noticed the name "Zadok", that is the root form for the Hebrew word "righteous". The Jews today who refer to themselves as "the righteous ones" are "Ha-tZid-dik"; the Hasidic Jews. They are a distinctive group within the Jewish Community that are very committed to being attentive to the rigors of the Law, Wisdom, and Prophets. Do notice that in v. 15 that it was God who used Nebuchadnezzar to take the disobedient Judeans as prisoners to Babylon. The moral of the story is to think twice before any of us rise up and fight a process that seems overwhelming - the force behind it may turn out to be different than we think. The first group of Levites listed tend to the Tabernacle. The second tend to the music. Then the third group of Levites are listed to do the rest of the work at the Tabernacle. Then there are numerous verses telling which towns and areas belonged to which people. It's a specific study that my husband became immersed in when finishing his undergraduate degree in Jerusalem years ago. If you like maps, then you too will find it fascinating to read this material with a map of 1300-1400 B.C. Israel in hand. 7 - The vigorous tribes of Issachar and Benjamin are listed. There is minimal text pertaining to Naphtali. Manasseh was referred to as the "half-tribe of Manasseh" and you can see why. They opted for women from pagan tribes v.s. the house of Israel. Ephraim includes a tale of grief within the listing of names - [a subtle hint against thievery.] Ephraim and Manasseh were of Joseph and Joseph got his two wives when he was in Egypt. Notice that Moses' assistant; Joshua comes from this line. When we start the line of Asher, two of the first four names are Ishva and Ishvi. "Ish" is Hebrew for "male". Gen. 1:27 ...he created them "male and female" - the Hebrew is " he created them ISH and ISH-AH". The ending of the lineage of Asher here closes with a good report: "..they were leaders of their families...fine men...brave fighting men...outstanding leaders." When a country can say this about its men, it is a prominent country that is yet rising, it is well-to-do and/or becoming so. The women are secure and gracious, the children are happy and robust and respectful students as well as servants-in-training. 8 - The family/tribe of Benjamin gets a chapter of its own. Saul comes from the tribe of Benjamin. The tribes of Benjamin and Judah were the two that remained in the south and did not dive into idolatry as quickly - though they did succumb to debauchery and idolatry and one of the prophets said they became worse than the 10 tribes up north. At any rate, Benjamin began as the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel <--who died while giving birth to Benjamin en route to Bethlehem. You can still see this place commemorated today just north of Bethlehem. The ending of the line of Benjamin is Ulam who ends up with 150 sons and grandsons who all were good with a bow/arrow. Do you think Ulam felt protected? Yes, he did, and it was a good thing.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, we are all on our journey. Thank you for reminding us along the way that this is a journey to meet YOU. Amen.
8 - We are midway in the preparation for the journey to The Promised Land that is found in Numbers 7,8,9. The lamps are set up in ch. 8. This is more than just the next detail. Lighting bodes large in the construction of anything. The structures and the layout of all that Moses is involved in here and the duties of the Priests, all this is done precisely as God intends. Then comes the lighting. Since the whole place is right it may as well look right too. Lighting provides that. My husband and I film in Hollywood and the detail that goes into lighting is crucial and more. Everything is ruined through wrong lighting. We've been in worship services in hundreds of venues where the lighting and those running it covers the entire spectrum: perfect and spiritually perfect -to- dismally unprepared with malfunctions gone amok. Through lighting we are able to interpret the entire world. God lit the sun. "Light" is the first noun that God uttered in our galaxy; Gen. 1:3. They were not to prepare, or enter, or worship in darkness. Pardon the belaboring this point, we just didn't want to think, "oh, ok, lamps are in place, whatever, 'next!' " -understanding the preparation of the Levites is a fascinating process. The rigors and matters involved, each step is a vital part. We look at that and may think, 'what's the big deal?' IT IS a big deal. These are the agents that walk people into the Presence of God. They needed to have it right, and comprehensively so. No sloppy attitude about anything was allowed. Imagine running a tuxedo rental/clothing store with a sloppy attitude. It would be closed right after the first wedding! Prepping and dressing right matters. We recognize people and their roles by their uniform/outfit/appearance first. And as things pertain to God, it is all the more a pivotal matter. We will also be welcomed into heaven for having the right outfit and v.v. (clothed in Christ!!!) 9 - We have been reading from the World Stream [Gen. - Deutr.] weekly since Jan. 01. We read the Exodus nearly four months ago; April 30. Realize, as we read the Passover today, that it has been about a year since having crossed the Red Sea. And the Passover needed to be instituted for time immemorial. That was done so here. They needed to know Passover was not a 'one-shot-feast' to get them out of Egypt. Jesus Himself was sacrificed on Passover 13 centuries later to instill in us that God's judgment would 'pass over' us because of God providing a sacrifice. This is intense stuff. Then the guidance factor of the cloud over the tabernacle is talked about. Do you read this like we do and think, "I wish God's guidance were so clear for us today!" Well it is. It's often subtle, but it's clear. We may think that if God guided more clearly, we would obey more clearly. No we wouldn't. If we do not listen to the subtle words and guidance from God, we will not obey the clouds and fire either. The Israelites received the clearest memos from God the world has ever seen and the disobedience through their centuries was stark. Obey the whispers and God will keep giving more clear and clear clouds and fires to follow. 10 - The trumpets are made and God tells them how to use them: to gather, to move, to defend via calling on God, when you're joyful, to welcome new seasons, when making offerings. And catch that last sentence of God saying about trumpets, "they will remind me of you..." Good heavens, that line, which seems reversed, could be discussed for a year. 'Ever attend a worship service where the call to worship is a brass choir? MAKES YOUR SKIN CRAWL!! It was now time to leave Sinai. They had been there for a year and they marched on with the Ark of the Covenant in front of them. 11 - Then the Lord hears the complaining of the people whose life was not cushy enough. The Lord is angry about complaining. Another memo about life is that we may complain about how life is going or not going right; right enough - and then the complaining commences. Well the best way to find a remedy is to stop complaining and move with God. How does any of us feel about the person on our team who always complains and whines? Is it any different at work? at family reunions? What do you want to do with/or/about the complainer at church who just won't stop? ... Don't feel guilty about this feeling, btw, God wants what you want on this one! ha. So the complaining about hardship turned into complaining about food. They had fixed manna every which way fromSunday: manna-cotti, filet or manna, ba-Manna bread - [like Keith Green sung about in the 1970's.] Moses' is weary of the complaining and whining and his conversation with God and God's reply to him is some sterling advice in leadership. God addresses the complaining and wishing they were back in Egypt. How do you think that made God feel? How would you feel if your hub'/wife, during your second anniversary dinner, announced they wish they were someplace else with someone else?! ugh! God says, "ok, here comes the meat and you'll be eating it until you throw it up and it comes out your nose." The prophesying and Moses' wishing that all would prophesy is of note - it's better than all the complaining! So finally God gives them their meat as quail. And everyone has a "pickup truck load heaped high" of quail. The got what they wanted but God had to strike a few of them to warn them to quit the complaining before they moved on. Be assured, complaining about what God has done for us is the most effective way to make sure that he becomes disgusted with us. Our assignment in life is to be grate-ful - not full of complaining.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, your word to us from Paul glistens with joy and wonder and endless hope. May we be strengthened by the joy we have in you and live accordingly. Amen.
Thessalonians is written to the Christians of a city we label as Thessalonica. The locals call it Thess-a-lo-NEE-ki. It is among the first of the 13 letters that Paul wrote to the first century churches - if not the first. Most who've studied the matter date the letter at 51 A.D. Paul wrote it to encourage the believers there and to settle questions they had about the Second Coming of Christ. Their puzzlement was about faithful Christians who had died and they were wondering how the deceased were going to enjoy Jesus' Return if they weren't here....legitimate and fair question, I'd say. Paul had not been in the city long but the result of his visit was such a wave of conversions that his enemies perceived that Paul's visit was "destroying everything", so to speak. Prominent women were converting, plus such a large number of Grecians were getting saved that the whole country was hearing this news from Thessaloniki. It was a city of 200,000 in Paul's day (just over 310K today with a metro area exceeding 1M). And it's intriguing how this book still pertains to them now - as well as the rest of us. The Thessalonian Christians were being persecuted. So Paul writes to comfort, strengthen, encourage, and instruct. He instructs them to remain godly and dutiful in their daily discipleship. He saw that their persecution could add tremendous power to their testimony as they persevered in Christ. And you probably noticed that Paul closed each chapter with a word about The Return of Our Lord 1 - Silas and Timothy helped found the church here so they are included in the greeting. Highlights of this short chapter are the reminders about the power in the Holy Spirit and the testimony they had in this influential city. It was merely made more powerful by the manner in which they persevered through the struggles. 2 - talks much about Christian conduct. This was more than needed as the persecution was thickening and the attempt to destroy Paul's character, reputation, and his work in this town was at a furious pitch come A.D. 51. In this reticent atmosphere, Paul urges that they "Preach good news, keep motives godly and pure, and do it all for God, avoid greed and being burdensome, be gentle and loving and industrious and holy and encouraging. Paul gave them a great run of pastoral instruction about conduct. Paul explains the significance of their suffering and reminds them that they are in good company since Jesus was persecuted for living and speaking the truth. Paul adds to the affection of the moment in his statement of his desire to visit them again. 3 - Paul/Silas/Timothy had left Thessalonica, gone to Berea, south to Athens (this from Acts 17&18), and by the time they reached Athens, the news came that persecution had turned awful back in Thessalonica, so Paul sent Timothy back to be an encouragement. Timothy went and later returned to Paul with the report of the Thessalonian Christians' steadfast commitment, devotion, and character and it made Paul as joyful as he could possibly be !! 4 - People are always wondering what is God's will for their lives. Well here's a memo. Five times in the Bible, it says what God's will is and all five of them are in these next two chapters. Catch these. 1] Be holy (like God) and to do this one must, 2] avoid sexual immorality. It isn't mentioned here but our prayer life and our love life is intimately linked. An immoral person is an intrinsically dishonest person, and such a person cannot walk with God. Other vitals in this chapter is to love each other as family. The giving to help the poor was commendable, yet there were some on the receiving end who were taking advantage and using the occasion to maximize the opportunity for laziness. He wanted admirable, productive, charitable, forthright Christians to be their trademark. This chapter ends with the typical theme ending each chapter. The salient matter here is the clear assertion that there is going to be a rapture where Christ where all Believers (everywhere and from every era are gathered and together and conscious and overjoyed to be with Jesus. This is by no means the end of history, but the end of this age. We'll stop there before opening a colossal discussion that is still be talked through 19+1/2 centuries after the doctrines were laid forth...that being "eschatology"; the study of the End Times. 5 - the eschatology teaching continues from Paul. His revelation about the End Times is coming rapid fire and it's exciting material that is intended to keep us on the edge of our seats and eager. It ought affect how we interpret the news, invest, minister, plan, live, love: everything. He reminds them to respect Pastors and then Paul stacks together a quiver full of advice -15 loving orders- that, were it all obeyed, [vv. 14-22] stop and ponder the countless changes that would happen for the good on earth! God's will issues #3,4,5 were in that list: always rejoice/pray/be thankful. Paul's conclusion is golden. What else can be said? For all to be godly and holy, for all to have undying hope, to revere and celebrate one another, to read the Bible together. It's how to offer the world a foretaste of heaven. The Thread Through the Streams
"Follow my Word, do what I have told you, keep your commitments - I'll help you do this."
In Numbers, there are duties to follow, vows to make and keep and the Lord would bless them AND KEEP them. This means they are in good standing and God would not fail them. In Chronicles, we see a long list of faithful and unfaithful souls listed in brief though we recall many and where their decisions took them. We see decisions made that took one's destiny into oblivion and their future tribe to ruin. We saw prayers made and recall vows laid down and the Lord hung onto these words and these giants of the Bible. In Psalms, the WORD is the stellar matter. No one who has put their trust in HIM has ever been forsaken. God hangs onto us and we are to hang onto His Word In Jeremiah, the good news is rather sparse as Babylon is read a long list of disasters that will transform this degenerate place into a sand dune. Jerusalem falls and the scenes are horrible. But Jehoichin does not fight the whole process, but succumbs and cooperates as he was prophetically told to. After an initial period in Babylon, he is pardoned, brought to the palace, treated even nicer than family was, he is exalted above most other kings and specially fed/cared for the rest of his days In Micah a world is going to be transformed and Zion will be at the lead. They will teach, and mediate, a world of war will morph to a world of plenty. This was God's call and it shall come. This is what happens to those who follow the Lord forever [Mi.4:5] In Luke.we read much assertion about forgiveness; the trait that marks the Christian faith like no other. But the grateful leper shone bright this week. He had a moment and resolved to go back, find Jesus and be grateful. Our Lord declared that his faith healed him. You can bet that he, of the 10 lepers healed, had the longest healthiest life. Grateful people do. I Thessalonians. 4:3 /+/ 5:16-18 Give the five orders for us to follow for they are the will of God. All who follow this find themselves in God's Will and with ne'er a regret all their lives.
Download Luke 16-17 We are in the Christ Stream reading from the New English Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Jesus: We thank you that we have you in the Holy Spirit living among us, with us, inside of us. May we be found grateful for this indescribable gift. Amen.
16 - The first of the reading today is about the shrewd manager. Jesus is not commending the dishonesty, sloppy bookkeeping, nor the laziness about details that got him into this position where his employment is threatened. He is being commended for his scrapper logic and quick thinking where he is able to recover something to get more payments in to the estate. Before, no one was able or willing enough to pay up. So the owner is quite happy with this new cash flow. Plus the customers-in-debt are happy with this latest plan too because their bills were cut in half and made feasible. The moral is that there's a way to manage resources and money and to work with people in such a way so that all are happy. There's also a manifold number of ways to be devious in business wherein at the end of a deal, everyone else is upset. We'd all like to say we've never met people like this but we have. Now translate and amplify this same ethic into the spiritual realm and there is a lesson to be learned from money that affects our eternity. Jesus is telling us to be sure and be forthright with our dealings and with our assets. Do not let greed creep into our souls or our operations. Neither let there be shadiness in any of our dealings. Wealth used to build the Kingdom and to touch/bless lives is always wisely invested. Wealth used to merely gain more wealth for the sake of stacking up more assets so we can worship our accomplishments takes us into very duplicitous territory where our soul is gravely jeopardized. In time this will take us to point of no return. Because no amount of money is enough money - that's if money is our objective. I.e. be a blessing with you have been entrusted with - nothing different.
-Jesus is quick to respond to the Pharisees criticism from this teaching about money because they taught 'the Bible' ... [for money!] and they thought no one had them figured out. They were double-minded in most dealings and they were casual about divorcing and remarrying. Jesus stuck it to them on all these accounts. -Luke next presents us with the story Jesus told about the Rich Man and Lazarus (the destitute man). This is a motif in Luke, by the way. Luke wants us to know that things here and things in heaven are completely different. There are contrasting ethics between earth and heaven. Jesus came to remedy this matter but the truth is that those who are large and in charge and loaded and prideful and powerful and mean and exacting v.s. loving etc. are those who stand a great chance of experiencing the opposite in the next world we find ourselves in. Luke also is determined to show that the Lord has a heart for the poor. They must not be treated like stray dogs and kicked to the curb. For the rich who have one objective: to have a powerful, pleasurable, and cushy life, they better enjoy it now, for THIS life will then be the end of their comfortable living. 17 - The issue of forgiveness and "rolling with it" v.s. acting as judge at every turn is what's at play here. Isn't it amazing when matters collide, runners smack into each other, cars bump in parking lots, ad infinitum, that often both parties storm into arguing firmly convinced that they are in the right -and it's basically non-negotiable in their minds - on both sides? 'Crazy stuff! Stumbling blocks just happen. We don't live as 7billion hermits. We offend each other, run into each other. Work with it people. Jesus cuts in and insists that we be forgiving people. And wow, do we ever have endless opportunities to forgive! Let's let forgiveness be our salve in situations. And the matter of the slave serving without demanding being thanked - the teaching is that we are God's slaves. We serve and we .... well, we keep serving. We can't take a ledger sheet to the Lord at any stage of the game and say, "hey pay up, huh?! Isn't it time for some serious kick-back-pay? Let's go old man!" -> No way. God calls and saves us because of love. We respond and serve because of gratitude. Any other motivation is bad theology that will be exposed. We do not jerk God around with our good works or service to where God OWES us. Never. He will not be controlled by our good works. It's grace-centered or it's bad religion. Keep in mind that every cult (is a cult) and it is so because it botches the matter of grace. We are God's slaves ---> and, relax!, we have a benevolent master. -The grateful leper is Jesus teaching a concept that is merely verified by today's studies. Research has proven that people who are in life/death situations who make a vow to God - e.g. "save me, get me out of this mess, etc. and i'll go to church, return to Temple, serve You, become a nun/priest/missionary..." [research reveals that] 90% do not keep their vows. Only 10% are naturally grateful and remain so to the end. Jesus told us this in 28 A.D. Human ingratitude is nothing new. How many lepers returned to say thank you? 1 in 10. -You gotta love Jesus telling them that "the Kingdom of God is in your midst." Some translations just say "...it's in you." This is good stuff. We are where God wants to abide! -The reading today ended with apocalyptic teaching about Christ coming to set up his Kingdom. There are issues in here about Christ's Return, the rapture, sufferings and strugglings, preparation for coming calamity - some will be ready and some are oblivious. The debate about all this has simmered down a bit since the 1960s and 1970s. But the matter that remains constant through and beyond all arguments is that we need to be about our Father's business in the mean time. We must be serving and evangelizing for Jesus. When all this is happening and who is going and who isn't going and who all is going to where-all and what signs in the earth and sky mean what ... is far from being settled. What we can do is obey our Lord, come what may, while we await His Return.
Download Micah 3-4 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the New English Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, I think your message of truth is coming through that we cannot count upon kings or kingdoms or priests or courts or armies. We can only count upon you. And therefore we do look to you. Amen.
3 - Micah continues his stinging words to unjust and rotten rulers in both the south and the north. His issue is most pointed at the deeds of King Ahaz in Jerusalem. There was a good king before him; Jotham, and a good king after Ahaz; in Hezekiah. But the decisions of King Ahaz and the residue of Ahaz' behavior in Jerusalem was almost as low as a human can conduct himself. Judah hit rock bottom under Manasseh but Ahaz was just as evil though he had less time than Manasseh did. Ahaz oversaw horrid injustice and some of the payoff money was going to him, so that was fine with him. He was 100% committed to the god Molech. Human sacrifice was taking place and it was rampant. Micah talks about bones and skin and things that are lurid as lurid can be. Well this is Ahaz in operation. He even sacrificed his own son to Molech (Satan under another name!). There were endless court rulings that were way worse than pathetic. Bribes ruled the day. Justice was not to be found. Moses would have called for an earthquake to swallow these "religious pirates". The Prophets were in it for profit$ and nothing else. Whoever payed them got a message about rainbows unicorns and fairies (or whatever they would say!). Whoever couldn't pay or wouldn't pay them enough got a scathing tongue-lashing. They may as well have been running a crystal ball business. They were just as lost as any fortune teller today who is using a ouija board, reading palms, and running a cult out of their basement. These "Prophets" were hucksters A-Z. And all these leaders in Jerusalem in this day claimed they were walking with God and had His blessing. The hypocrisy was appalling! Jerusalem would become abandoned because of all such activity. King Ahaz and those like him brought the anger out in Micah's writings. Any decent person would be sickened to witness this carnival of darkness.
4 - Micah takes another abrupt shift here from chapter three. And he also covers alot of ground by doing topical shifts within this chapter [4]. From his scathing assessment of the spiritual condition of the north and the south so far, he breaks into a glorious illustration of what Zion and this whole Promised Land is going to be. From across the world, there will be countless spiritually obedient "students of the Scriptures" that pour into Jerusalem to learn of God. War will be over with. Those cast aside will be brought in again and used of God for great things. God will do great things in many nations because and by way of Zion being restored. This is what God is going to do in time. As for the current anxiety that is being felt in Jerusalem, ---> it is because there is some stress coming. In the near future, nearer than you wish, there is judgment coming down from Babylon and you will be going to Babylon. Micah is saying this 100 years before Babylon had risen to prominence. They were being haunted by Assyria, but they would survive this. Babylon would rise and crush Assyria, then they will come in here to Judah and take you on and long trip and you will be in a 70 year "time-out" ... in Babylon. hmm
Download Jeremiah 51-52 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading from the New English Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
As we read today, the 51st chapter was prophecy of the final destruction of Babylon; an event that happened in 539 B.C. Then the 52nd chapter was the end of Judah/Jerusalem in this era; an event that happened in 586 B.C.; 47 years earlier. So they are juxtaposed but there's no confusion now, right? 51 - This is it for Babylon. The empire is going to sink into history, just like the scroll was sunk into the Euphrates River as told at the end of 51.
"Blown away" is usually a term applied to explosions. But here Babylon is going to be blown away like chaff in the wind. Chaff is never chased after and gathered because it is worthless-->Soon Babylon will be as sc. Their army will be destroyed, the foreigners are urged to leave before the onslaught. This is just like when a country calls home its ambassadors before it attacks that same country. Judah is told that they will have passage out of this wrecking zone. Judah is assured that they are leaving. The enemy is approaching and it's as if God is playing stage manager who will give cue to the approaching armies to signal the attack. Babylon had become rich yet it was all stolen. They were not in good graces with the God whom they had transgressed against. The sovereignty of God is told as He rules over nature...and He rules over Babylon too. Yes, Babylon was used to punish many nations. Now they would be used but as an example to what happens to the enemies of Zion. God would be summoning kingdoms against Babylon. Soon her wealth would be gone for there wold be no fight left in Babylon; nor strength, nor courage, nor victory. Their razing Jerusalem to the ground took God to the edge of patience and beyond. Babylon would be therefore dried out and burned up, slaughtered and swept over. This would be a horror show that would not seem to end. No light at the end of this tunnel. Jeremiah wanted his words taken personally to Babylon and you know what he wanted done as a statement made to Babylon: sunken, never to rise again. 52 - .The former chapter came true 47 years before this chapter came true. It was the final words of "the book of Jeremiah" even though it was written in by another; not Jeremiah. The collateral tale is told in II Kings 24-25 that we just read here recently. So as you read it and felt, "hey, we just read this" -you are right. Many of this overlaps and the effect is that the truth is only further driven home. We'll read the fall of Jerusalem again at the end of II Chron. in November. It's the same reason we have four tales of the same Savior in Mt/Mk/Lk/&Jn. No writer is off on a tangent. It all pieces together. Get our bookmarks on the website and it's even simpler to follow along like a personal chart. Like we said, what happened here in Jeremiah 52 we read nine days ago in II Kings 24-25. The dates of the siege, the attack, the famine, the breaking in to the city, the pillaging of Jerusalem, the attempt to escape, the burning of the city, Zedekiah's horrible ending, the executing of the royal officials of Jerusalem once they reached Babylon, the exile, Jehoiachin's coasting through and aging peacefully. . . it's all told again. Jeremiah is gone by now. Jerusalem is in ruins. For the next three weeks in the Prophetic Stream we will read Lamentations. It's a closer tale of the sentiment in Jerusalem that is desolate, in ashes, and still smoking. It's all so sad. God had a better plan, but the Judeans were more committed to their worse plan, and they did it their way.
Download Psalm 118:1-88 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the New English Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, we are grateful for your Word that you given to us. Amen.
There are 22 sections to Psalm 119 and each one is marked by the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This was a catchy way of writing out this Psalm. We do this all the time in our language especially when attempting to teach children. A is for ant, B is for butterfly, C is for cat and so on. It adds intrigue and makes for the nouns and concepts to be learned more readily. The topic of Psalm 119 is the word of God: it's endearment to us and it's application for us. Here's a brief review of vv. 1-88 by letter, just to refresh before closing the reading today. Aleph - to be truly happy, walk in the Law of the Lord, wholeheartedly seek Him, follow Him, and keep His statutes before us. Bet - Keeping God's Law keeps us on course, and keeps us holy before Him. So speak His Law, and cherish His Ways, and keep the mind upon God Gimel - Be asking God to open our eyes, to be and remain our guide. "Lord, we really want to abide in you and not be subject to wrong voices." Dalet - The Word; what God has told us actually keeps us, revives us, teaches and sustains us. We commit to His Word and He sustains us He - His Law makes us want Him even more. It gives understanding and guidance and turns our desire toward what is aright for our souls. His Law delivers us from shame and insults. Vav - trusting His word surrounds us with Love. It grants us justice and security. We testify before Kings as we are solely committed to His Commands and Statutes. Zayin - God's Word to us is comfort, and security, and consolation. Lord we sing to you, and remember your Name and will keep your Laws. Khet - In your Law is security and favor. It is the one thing we can rely upon and therefore we will hang on to you regardless. You comfort us always. There is great fellowship in You. Tet - Your Law gives discernment. It keeps us on path, and anchors us amid the hostility of people who ridicule. Your Law is greater than any riches. Yodh - Your Law makes us greater in character, gives us discipline, love, compassion, and delight. Your Love and Law for us calls for our focus upon You. Kaf - Your Law and Your Word keep us and protect us through great trials and suffering. Even though tempted to flee from you we keep your precepts for Your Love revives us.
Download I Chronicles 2-5 We are in the Nation Stream reading from the New English Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, your attention to detail and souls no matter what [and/or how many] remind us of your attention to detail and total care for us. We are grateful for your love. Amen
We are thick into the genealogies this week in "The Nation" stream. Chron. chptr. 1 last week was Adam through Isaac and his descendants. That's a 2200 year stretch. This week we go through four chapters that give us a glimpse into a whole 'nether world that may feel far removed from us. but it is the strand of life and the surrounding story that flows down to us in time and therein our faith is brought to us. The names (name after name) lead us to regions, nations, other cities, and links to peoples that testified to the dilemma that all humans live out: we either seek and walk with God to be established and saved / or we run from Him and trod the road to our own demise and ruin. This material is a map of man that goes to the origin of it all. And not for nothing, the term "prehistoric" is a misleading phrase that speaks of an ethos and mythical world ... that never did exist. "In the beginning God...HE made it in six days...Adam was there within a week. This is the beginning of history. There is nothing relevant before this. Forgive us R2D2/C3PO /Chewbacca or whoever thinks what about what. I will admit some of the names in I Chr. 1-9 do sound like hints of StarWars names and places but they are not. One other note before walking this out, these lists are there to picque our curiosity. No one we've ever met has this all memorized. It isn't devotional material. It is supposed to make us interject here and there, "oh, he's the guy from that one battle, ...that guy is the one who helped this king during the, etc.... isn't that one the one who knew this patriarch but also knew Methuselah before the Flood? and so forth. Any name that we hear today could lead us through a time tunnel on a trail to hidden treasure from thousands of years ago. My husband team-taught at a missionary festival wherein one of the speakers was working in the Near East and Turkey. In one of his photos that was shared, an ancient town was shown, and he said, "OK, now THIS town was founded by Japheth. And Japheth was actually the first "Mayor" of this town. The cornerstone of this town that Japheth laid is marked and is still there!" Yes, this is the Japheth who walked off the ark with Noah; his dad, his brothers, Shem and Ham and their four wives. Can you imagine Japheth speaking in the town there years after it was established and telling them, "none of you were here before the Flood, but let me tell you what it was like before all this was flooded. And the flood was because man would not obey God..." What a spell binding story time! Anyway, these genealogies are as fascinating as we want them to be, alluring, investigative, revelatory, or ... as boring as we let them be because of tuning out and thinking "get it over with". But remember, God does not see our lives as something He wants to hurry through and get over with. God feels that way about none of these names either. 2 - Israel's descendants (Israel is Jacob) are Jacob's 12 sons who became the names of the 12 tribes. Judah is listed first/next as he became the name of the remnant nation that morphs into being the naming adjective; for they are the Judaic people and culture. Also in this chapter are people who are direct-line-grandparents to Jesus. You heard of people who worked with Joshua and trounced Jericho, And did you catch "Bethlehem" in there. It was more than a town. Bethlehem was a person. And you can visit that town today. You're too late to visit the maternity ward, but then again maybe you can find this baby if you will cry to Him. 3 - Next we have the list of sons of David and Solomon that come from the manifold women that these two took in. At times we pause and are befuddled that we obtain our greatest devotional material from these two who walked with God and served Him wholeheartedly -except for then they were straying-!. David gives us the Psalms and a life testimony where he trained himself to orient back to God at every step regardless. There is Solomon who God used as he took fastidious dictation of what God showed him. Solomon writes out the Proverbs for us; a book that has given guidance, strength and direction to paupers and kings for nearly 3,000 years. So what is with all the ladies?! David had eight wives and a collection of concubines that would get anyone ostracized from decent society today. He was perhaps even urged by the Israelites to carry on as such to ensure many children/sons to rule after him. But it were these multiple wives that trained him to have another and another so that when it came time to have another, he took her...even though it was another man's wife. Solomon merely amplified his father's misgivings and his 1,000 women turned his heart away from the Lord. It affected the kingdom, the kingdom split and the world was changed. Subtle lesson on the run: it isn't our private life wherein we can do whatever we wish and its our businessand everyone else can leave us alone. We read all the names here of Solomon's descendants who suffered under a struggling, waffling nation that was so up and down, due to civil unrest that roots back to Solomon's straying ... because of these women; women he felt he was free to obtain. Yes, he could. But was it leading to good? 4 - Judah and Simeons' family lines are spelled out in this chapter. You may ponder what is the difference between Judah's list here in chapter four and the one in chapter two. If you care to look very closely the two are amplifications of the other and you'll remember that Judah had a dark side that was illustrated in Genesis 38. This always tangles a family and often mangles it beyond repair. The interested may want to draw out the differences between Judah in I Chron. 2 v.s. 4 though it is too much to explain via this audio venue. You may have noticed the extra reference to Jabez in 4:9. He wanted more blessing and more territory. And God answered his prayer. What do you want from God? Are you asking for it? He is waiting for you to ask. Simeon's descendants are a colorful bunch that seemed rather numerous and hungry for adventure and more territory and a bit more action. The cities and other items listed here can all be looked up and researched at whatever level feeds anyone's curiosity. The fascinating thing to us is when seculars looking for ancient records, seculars who dismiss the Bible as a collection of irrelevant fables and miracles, begin their research and in the course of time, they succumb to the fact that the Bible is laser accurate and it turns out to be the best source for clarifying peoples and lists and migrations and the cultural transformations that took place way back in time. 5 - The origins and line of Reuben, Gad (Pronounced "Gahd" or "God" - like when we pray 'dear God'), and Manasseh are told in Ch. 5. Interesting that Reuben's stunt mentioned at the beginning affected his family, and centuries later the family standing was still where it was because of his misdeed in Genesis 35:22. This iniquity in about 1800 B.C. finished striking home the rest of the way right before 700 B.C. And did you hear that line in 5:20? --> "They received Divine help because they cried out to Him, and he responded to their prayers because they trusted in Him." <--- A sentence tells the millennium-long story of an entire family line! Then there's the half-tribe Manasseh who deliberately mixed in with bad religion - and they paid the price for it as survivors of the Syrian attack are hauled away. There's more of this genealogy next week, and then will finish them September 4 and proceed right into Saul's end and begin the Chronicler's rendition of King David
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we want to hear and know you more. We know you want to speak to us. You want us to know your will. We pray the distractions would all be dissolved, removed and we can hear you plainly. Amen
5:11-31 - This is likely perceived as a peculiar procedure for going about testing whether there has been infidelity or not. But the underlying matter was that fidelity [latin root comes from the word for being true/faithful/loyal] was a paramount matter in testing whether a culture will survive or not. This culture with God at the heart needed to endure, because God endures. If people are not loyal to those they have pledged their lives to in front of God and others, then they will not be loyal to anything else either. I realize that our assessment here is being made in a day when faithfulness is not much revered in the current culture of the third millennium that we find ourselves in. But that does not change hearts, the facts, nor the truth. Discovering that one has been betrayed is just as painful today as it was 3 or 4 or 5,000 years ago. So the truth really hasn't changed has it? We must be true to God and His family which is our family. If we refuse to, then the culture dies. This test basically says, if you're going to be deceitful then may as well die now before the death spreads to the whole culture.
6 - The regulations for vows of a Nazirite; someone separated/consecrated to the Lord had a rigorous path to follow. He must have nothing to do with anything fermented - this was to doubly ensure 100% sobriety 100% of the time for focus. The ensuing details, we just read, were manifold and vigilance was required; no stumbling allowed. And whatever vow that person was making to the Lord was a grave matter and it was to be kept. Remember Samson was a Nazirite. He had tremendous strength when duty called for it. Samson never cut his hair and never ingested any fermented drink. Lore would tell us that Samson was this burly huge soul that would be on the "world's strongest man" competition today. Not the case. Samson was normal size and yet the strength of the Spirit of God would come over him. Therein was his strength. When his vows were violated, the strength left him. I trust we can take that to heart. The closing benediction, "The Lord bless thee and keep thee..." Pray that with people. My husband has prayed Numbers 6:24-26 with total strangers who were distressed, even in public places, on several continents. EVERYONE has been grateful to have this prayer prayed over them. There is power in God's blessing. 7 - This chapter of scripture was far more awesome than we may think just reading it through "at face value". They had obligations to fulfill and there was an amazing result to be experienced once the obligations were met. Yes, the contents are repeated each time identical for each tribe; yes, it was said 12 times. Is repetition boring? Well Is breakfast boring? You've all had thousands of them! Is chewing boring. Does anyone rise up and declare they are tired of eating so they are going to take this year off? God doesn't get tired of sunrises (thank God!) does He? No. The point is that each tribe must each bring their offering. No one had to do greater or lesser. It is repeated to instill the solemnity of the matter. How many graduations have you been to where the reader 1/3 the way through guffaws that he is tired of reading all these losers' names, "aw, just throw the degree folders into the crowd, they'll each find their own folder in time. The exercise will build character..."? No, That is unacceptable. Each name mattered, each tribe mattered, each offering mattered. This is weighty stuff, not boring material. Was this 12 days worth it? Once the entirety of it was completed, Moses entered the Tent and from between the cherubim above the Ark of the Covenant, the Lord spoke to him. Moses could audibly hear the voice of God!! It said this twice in Numbers 7:89. I say whatever we need to do to fulfill what God wants us to do so to have the Lord speak to us - wherever we need to be, whatever we must complete so to hear the Lord we best do and be there. Yes, this is all very worth it.
Download Philippians 4 - Colossians 4 We are in the Church Stream reading from the Tree of Life Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, we marvel at the effect you have as your Spirit is moving among us like it has since Pentecost. Thank you for working through Paul and then through his students and eventually in us. We are touched and transformed by you indeed. Amen.
Phil.4 - The two names that sound like technical terms are prominent women who are major players in the church in Philippi but they had power issues and neither of them knew well enough to drop it. Paul urges them to put it to rest and to remain gracious for the sake of the church's good testimony that would be jeopardized if they didn't. It would also start to run people off. Come what may, Paul is so joyful, he is ready to burst from his assurance of the love of God. [Remember he is writing this while chained to a wall in a Roman prison.] Paul wants the Philippians to be calm, prayerful, and mindful of all things good. Paul asserts to them that there is power embodied in their contentment. His explanation of the giving that brings such change to the world is immense in its implications. The incalculable amount of good that the "giving" Church has done over the centuries is truly mind boggling. His final greetings come also from those living within Caesar's palace who were now Believers! Culturally, we could say that the gospel had reached "the top" and it took hardly 30 years. The Church at Colossae was established and run by men who had been discipled by Paul: Epaphras, Archippus, Philemon, and Onesimus. The occasion for writing the Colossians was that word had reached Paul in a Roman prison that a damaging heresy was circulating into Colossae. It was the time of Acts 28; ca. 61 A.D. Tychicus and Onesimus ended up carrying "Colossians" from Rome to Colossae for Paul. They also delivered the letter to the church in Ephesus and the letter to Philemon on this same trip! Imagine having three of the books of the Bible [Original copies!!] on a single trip in your possession. Wow. The issue in Colossians is that Christ Jesus is in all ways God, He is all-sufficient, --and the jaded philosophy presently being floated around Colossae was merely human generated empty prattle. It was actually a syncretistic creed mixing oriental philosophy, Greek thinking, and Jewish customs merged with their invented laws. It also attempted to eclipse the fact that Christ is our mediary and advocate to God stating that the angels are really our messengers from God and to God. We may wonder why people invent this Aesop-like stuff. Well, keep wondering for there is no constructive reason why. Colossians 1 - Paul is grateful and thanks God for these saints in Colossae. His prayer for them is something to be cherished . . . it ends up including us today; vv. 3-14 is everything we pray that we possess in Jesus. The paragraph about the supremacy of Christ is what should be read regularly in churches the world over. The wonder of Christ is worth the suffering that we end up enduring. He is what God has longed to reveal to us. And we are His, for God has revealed Himself to us in Jesus. This warrants that we serve Him with all our strength. 2 - Paul had not yet been to Colossae or Laodicea [10 miles from Colossae]. The mystery that Paul mentions four times in this letter, and six times in Ephesians, IS CHRIST. "The mystery" was a phrase the philosophers of Colossae would croon about and keep these discussions -with no solution- going. Well, this mystery, that no earthly wisdom can solve is The Savior who had come. All the fullness of God is found in the body of Christ. All the wisdom and knowledge of the universe resides in Christ. Search no further for truth. Christ cleansed you, raised you, forgave you, sealed you. So Chase no falsehood, false ideas, false rules, nor false piety -for all of this man made jargon still leaves one vulnerable. 3 - This chapter is the creed of the disciple. Young and old, slave and free, both genders, any race, all must do all of this chapter to be a disciple of Jesus the Savior. All that Christ is, all that we must succumb to in our bodies, all that is required of our heart and soul, what needs to be happening in our spirit, what our homes must be, our occupations, the path of our destiny - all of it is here in Colossians 3. My husband and his prayer group in seminary made it their pilgrimage to memorize this entire chapter and they all did it; reciting it weekly to each other during the late 1980s. Ah, just memorize the whole book! 4 - keep your prayer life, keep preaching, keep your testimony going out, and be gracious with all. It's advice like this that has people referring to Christians as "the nice people" throughout the world. This may sound strange for me to say this in a current western culture that is besieged by negative and false accusations about how all Christians are hypocrits and haters of everyone who isn't Christian. This isn't true and certainly isn't the case for well over 90% of the world who notices the strangely happy and politely helpful people in the world that are 'the Christians'. Paul's encouraging good byes and references to all the dear souls and saints that he is working with and visiting and hoping to visit and sending on their way is a testimony of endearment that we can learn from. It canNOT be overstated the depth of affection and endearment that all these folks had for each other as they suffered together, dined, and witnessed, and studied and communicated and ministered for the cause of Christ.
Luke 13:18-15:32 We are in the Christ Stream reading from the Tree of Life Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, thank you for sending Jesus and saving us as we respond to your relentless love. Your ways are not only perfect, they are fascinating. Amen.
13 - Luke is bolstering up a few lessons here as Jesus is finalizing His time in Perea; a region east of the Jordan that started ca. 25 miles south of Galilee and ran south to about 15 or so miles worth of shoreline on the Dead Sea. Jesus is teaching about the Kingdom of God and the fact that it is going to grow. Plan on it. Jesus did not come to earth to teach maintenance. The Kingdom of God is an enterprising growing Kingdom. A Bible study of 6 should be the headwaters of 8-10 church plants throughout life. If 6 spends 55 years remaining 6, they are not "Kingdom-minded." God is not impressed with "terrarium faith" {just seal it in and hang on to what you have}. One preacher called this, "getting what you can, canning what you get, and sitting on the can". The interaction about whether a few will be saved or not is a perceived question that came out of the person's misperception. And with Jesus' answer about the "narrow door", some surmise that only a few will be saved at a time...like a crowd being shuffled through a single turnstyle that acts as a funneling bottleneck. Others then envision St. Peter on the other side of the pearly gates bellowing to slow down because he is getting overwhelmed since he can only check-in so many people into heaven and can only do so at a snail pace...it might crash his computer data processor. All of this limping logic is understandable but none of it is true. The phrase "narrow door" is the translation that surfaces often but it actually is referring to an abrasive entrance [This becomes obvious when reading the Greek Translation ~ though it is a trifle skewed and muddled abit in our English versions.] It requires committed focus to enter - one must be 'all in' or he will be 'all out'. Pay attention to Jesus. walk the balance beam not the Highway to Hell. Jesus is leading a team to another world that will reside in another solar system. He is not hosting a cocktail party where even a fake I.D. will get you in and we hang out and sauce around, play with yo-yo's, dwell in hammocks and angels serve from an open bar stocked with "holy spirits". My husband and I talk about this regularly - that an alarming number of people are simply 'chillin' in Church. They're just there because they are ... well, just there. We can say we know about God, but have we really let Him in to be Lord? The Pharisees acted like they cared about Jesus' welfare claiming He should leave Herod's district warning "Herod wants to kill you..." REALLY? Herod wanted to see a miracle when he finally met Jesus during the trial. He didn't want Him dead. He kind of didn't care. The truth is the Pharisees wanted Jesus dead...so they feign concern cc. Herod. Peculiar deflection and aside. The Pharisees were phoney as a wooden nickle! Jesus' reply to these Pharisees of Jerusalem gets the precise response from Jesus. Herod gets called a [sly] "fox", and these Pharisees get called murderers of the prophets.
14 - Jesus is at a Sabbath feast with Pharisees and He is being watched like a dying animal is watched by vultures. These Pharisees do not have favorable intentions. Jesus heals a man who was suffering from edema - a likely symptom is legs swollen up like balloons. And the Pharisees are offended that He healed on the Sabbath. But think about it, what are the Pharisees demanding but that all the feast preparation be done for them, so that they can kick back and play the gobbling chow hound for hours --> on the Sabbath. My husband and I have dined in Jerusalem, Galilee, Joppa, Bethlehem. The feasts of Israel are immense. No quick microwave, open a few cans, whip up a dish, oh no! These feasts are labor intensive. and The chefs sure tootin' better be "breaking the Sabbath" for these Pharisees - but no one else can! Jesus then launches into a speech about humility and refusing to self-exalt, but to care and reach out v.s. constant jousting and positioning. The most important thing is to be invited to come dine with God, and once that invitation comes, drop EVERYTHING and get to the table. And be inviting others to come dine with God also. This coming to God, joining His Kingdom, following His Son must be "priority-One". It is more important than earthly family. It must be assessed fully, entered into, planned out, and once we are joined into His Kingdom endeavor, we must have an affect (like salt). If we don't, it is because we have not made His Kingdom to be "Priority One" in our lives. 15 - Luke is showing his wondrous agenda of proving to the world that Jesus seeks out the lost to find and redeem them again. Remember Luke was the pastor of the Church at Philippi from 51 - 58 A.D. Philippi was where Luke practiced medicine. He was noting that the Greek world -that he lived in- needed to definitively know his Jesus. So Luke compresses these three stories together to forever drive home the truth that God is God, and God seeks them out. He does not wait for you to decode, sift enough sand, read carcass livers, or tea leaves or thousands of other laborious things that ALL the other religions of the world demand that you do so that YOU find a god to follow and worship. No. All these are fruitless pursuits akin to trying to embrace a cloud of fog. It can't be done. He finds US because He seeks US out. And the relationship commences when we cease running from Him, cease fighting Him, cease trying to "do it our way". No other religion on earth now or in history is championed by a god who seeks to find us. That should end all religious debates.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Micah prophesied in Judah in the latter 700's B.C. He was not far away when Sennacherib's 185K-man army was entirely struck dead by God's angel, btw! He lived SW of Jerusalem about 30 miles. He was writing when Isaiah and Hosea were writing. The Southern Kings that he saw rule were, in order, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Ahaz was a wretch, Jo- and Hez- were quite good. So he witnessed the moral terrain rise/fall/&rise again. He prophesies to the north and south kingdoms. Yet his focus is to the capitals; Samaria and Jerusalem. He has three main thrusts in his book: 1] the sins of these two capital cities, 2] their due desolation, and 3] restoration. He fired clearly between these two themes of glory in the future /against/ desolation in the present. And as Micah goes back and forth between these two themes, he isn't altogether concerned about making his transitions smooth. Just so you know.
1 - He wastes no time getting to the core of his concern. Micah takes a hard swipe at both Samaria and Jerusalem right from the start. He kind of says to Samaria, "Jacob once lived and walked and talked with God, right here! Now, for the love of God, what have you done to this place? Do you think you will get away with your behavior and 100% irresponsible leadership?" Samaria had a powerful position as the leading cultural city of the north and they had completely led the northern kingdom into cultic ritualism and occultic worship. God was about to smash their idols, their vineyards, clean out their prostitutes right into bankruptcy. Samaria had a habit of "digging through the religious dumpsters" of the ancient near east to find whatever false god to use for leading the Israelites astray. And It worked! God sent them the most salient prophets of all time. But Israel had stopped its ears; 'they wouldn't listen. Micah states it plainly, that Samaria's wound is incurable. All they will hear in the near future is coyotes. The people will be hauled away. Samaria will soon be stripped and made into rubble after this by the Assyrians. AND 46 cities of Judah [in the south] would be overrun as well. Exile and shame will be their lot. For your sins are aggressive, deliberate, and you are deeply committed to sin...far more than you are to God. 2 - Not only were the Israelites idolatrous and spiritually dark as midnight in their souls, there were brutal to each other. They would mercilessly strip widows of their possessions. The Law forbid this and they could not care less than they did. Land, clothing taken as security and then they would financially break them so they could [in their minds] then keep the land and fabrics for 'failure to pay.' Soldiers lost in war would have their widows cleaned out. Children were left destitute, evicted with their desperate mothers. The powerful would get more so and the poor... more so. The Israelites-turned-pagan were ignoring their God and devouring their neighbors. Things were vicious in the northern kingdom / Samaria. And midstream, between vv. 11 and 12, Micah abruptly changes his tone and goes from denouncing falsehood and drunkenness to declaring that the Lord is going to gather his people all together in a single place and them (again like He once did). The sharp changes are almost jolting. Could we call Micah, the "A.D.D. Prophet? It's not so strange though. Haven't we all been so angry at our children [whom we love] we've had moments we were so angry we would like to sell them cheap at a fruit stand. Both sentiments going on simultaneously at our own flesh and blood because they play to dufus, play deaf, disobey and then they claim they don't know why they disobeyed. We are feeling what God is feeling about his "first born" So exasperation and hope and affection and subtle rage all for the same soul is not so strange. God knows this and knows it most.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, your ways are too intricate to be fully understood this side of meeting you face to face. Still we press forward and study your ways in faith; knowing that you do all things well.
49 - Jerusalem was/had been burned in Jer. 39. And the surrounding nations were not at all bothered by this. They were entertained and delighted even by what appeared to be the end of the Hebrew nation. A notable portion of the remainder of Jeremiah's book (since Jerusalem fell) is that of punishment upon Jerusalem's enemies who had been gloating over her destruction. Egypt's punishments is told in Jer. 46, the Philistines in 47, Moab in 48. In Jer. 49 we hear of Ammon being reduced to a mound of ruins; burning ruins at that. Ezekiel 25 tells the same for Ammon. Next Edom also will be punished since they delighted in Jerusalem's destruction as well. They will be stripped bare; a land laid to waste, utterly conquered, offspring destroyed. Edom will be a disgrace, and accursed for it. Edom will cry for help but be swept away. The prophet Obadiah had his words for Edom as well. Syria and Damascus (next in the litany) are too feeble, decrepit and demoralized to put up a fight anymore. They wither and fall as their capital is easily lit on fire and conquered. They were 'big stuff' 150 years prior. Not now. Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor are listed next. These people are those who have scattered across Arabia and dwell among themselves in tents. We might today refer to people like these as a collection of hermits. Well, so much for hiding - Nebuchadnezzar is coming after them too. They will be desolate; a demolished people. They will people that will not be found anymore. Elam, mentioned last, are the people of the area where today it's southern Iran. They were Persian people. Their actions against Israel in the past earned them a day of reckoning and it was coming soon. They would be a people shattered. God was very angry at them. But the chapter ends that God will restore them. wh-Why? Look at their heritage and involvement. Elam was the father of a whole race. Elam was Shem's son - Shem being one of the three sons on the ark. Elam therefore was "Shemite"; a Semitic people. The Jews were exiled to this area and learned Aramaic; a language that is 45% identical to Hebrew. Jesus spoke Aramaic as his mother tongue. Do you realize that Jesus was linguistically intertwined with the Persian people? And Jesus is our Savior. So yes, Jesus is going to gather up the Elamite people. It may seem a far-fetched tale but it's in the Book, so it's true.
50 - Here comes a doozy of a prophecy: Babylon is going to fall. Captured, disgraced, dismayed, left desolate - It's all coming. The Hebrews they held captive will return to the Promised Land they entered after the Exodus. What a joy it will be to go back after 70 years in Babylon. This captivity was predicted in Jeremiah 25. (Capitivity began in 604 B.C. - so it ends in the 530's B.C.). And doom of Babylon is a detailed rendition of bad things that are coming for Babylon. They had 'steamrolled' the whole known world. Now it's their turn. The Lord Himself is summoning together an alliance of peoples and armies to take Babylon down. It will be doom for Babylon's soldiers, farmers, workers, their culture - thrashed to pieces. They will be conquered and their people killed. And as has been said elsewhere in literature, "it will become a haunt for jackals and hyenas." Babylon's ancient capital is still an archaeological dig today. Saddam Hussein said he would raise up Babylon again. It didn't happen. It won't happen. The fall of Babylon is going to be a trembling cry that is heard across the nations. Jeremiah talks about this development (after the fall of Jerusalem 586 B.C.) and what is going to happen to Babylon --> it did in 539 B.C. That region still hasn't recovered. Thus it goes for those who fight the God of Abraham and His Chosen.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we thank you for your endless and loving care. Amen
115 - Blessing and praise all go to the Name of the Lord our God. He is in heaven and as real as anything; MORE real than anything we see. Idols are nothing. [In fact, "EE-dole" is the greek word for: something a human has made though it really is nothing; it is a nothing. And yet the pagans trust in these things. Verse 8 has the stinging assessment: "those who make them become like them." I guess that those who worship carved blocks of wood become blockheads, those who worship the earth turn into "dirtballs" and those who worship animals start acting like them in time...or acting worse actually. It isn't meant to be funny. It's more the Psalmist bellowing at us to not have idols. But the house of Israel, their God IS God. And that is the glaring / even cosmic contrast between what we worship legitimately and what the lost folks worship to no avail.
116 - A tremendous Psalm of deliverance by an attentive God who saves from death, darkness, trouble, affliction, evil men, and calamity. In case anyone felt inquisitive the Hebrew that lands in the script without warning: kedoshim...blessed are...the death of kedoshim - that refers to those who serve God faithfully / His saints / we can presume this refers to martyrs as well. This Psalm inspires us to live lives dedicated to our Lord and King. It's a great one to read especially in a ceremony to those committing to or being dedicated into ministry. 117 - As of this Psalm we have reached the middle of the Bible. It is inviting all nations to come worship and follow God. This is The Psalms itself distilled into two verses. Paul quotes it with the same fire in his soul in Rom. 15:11 as this Psalm writer did writing 117 118 - As you listen and ingest this Psalm [play it again if you wish!] remember that it is the last Psalm that Jesus sang to end the Last Supper. This is the last Psalm he spoke publicly with others before going to pray alone, to pray and walk through a moment of personal dread asking if there was any way that Calvary/the Crucifixion could be skipped. This is the last verse that he wanted the disciples to remember before they went into complete dismay to see their Christ Jesus be crucified and mangled beyond recognition. We must remember this too, that whatever road or trial we find ourselves traversing, struggling through, longsuffering amid, and feeling lost in: we MUST remember that --> His love endures forever.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord may we be found faithful, worth defending, worth investing your Holy Spirit in in immeasurable amounts. I pray we learn from these poor examples that we read about today. We know what not to do. And we thank you for these sobering reminders and teaching. Amen.
There are three invasions of Judah that are within the finale of Kings today. There are also three Judean Kings that witnessed the violence as this transpired. 23 - Jehoiakim was installed as king in 608 B.C. He turns out to be evil (you think these guys would develop some horse-sense after a while, but hey! )
24 - The city of Jerusalem is stormed by Babylon-/-Nebuchadnezzar-the-King and the Temple is raided of immense amounts of treasures and valuables -that was 605 B.C. Also many prominent Hebrews are taken to Babylon as prisoners <-- it isn't mentioned here in Kings but it is what happened at this exact point when all the biblical material is compared. A young "Daniel" is among the lads who marched the hundreds of miles to Babylon (he was 13 at the time - the Lion's Den event is 57 years later!) Jehoiachin is put in charge as king. By now Egypt is a non issue as Babylon had taken control of much of the area for nearly 1000 miles in all directions. J-chin is 18. He rules in a full-on evil manner for three months....and...guess what...yea...Nebuchadnezzar comes again and takes the rest of the Temple gold and valuables and 10,000 princes, officials, prominent educated skilled citizens, men of valor and they go to Babylon too. It was now 597 B.C. Among those taken in this haul is Ezekiel the prophet. Nebuchadnezzar then put Zedekiah in charge as 'king'. He was J-chin's uncle. He was evil as the rest of the final kings except that he was a bit of a scheming scammer that eventually infuriated King Neb. 25 - Jerusalem falls and this has to be one of the saddest turns of events in world history - it's 586 B.C. Zedekiah's escape, capture, torture, murdered children is too gruesome to recount. You heard it the first time through. Just take a lesson from all this and shun evil, eh?! The Hebrews must have thought, "it's over?? but God!!?" So perplexing to be taken on a several hundred mile march to Babylon to live out ones days as a slave. The details of the rest of the trip to Babylon and the dismal events that transpired you have read already in other chapters and it will be read again at the end of II Chronicles when we get there in November. It is hit from many angles for God is driving it home --> that ungodliness, willful ignorance of God's Will, disobedience will leave us groaning, "God what has become of us/me/our nation?" I Chr. 1 - understand that I Chr. starts with Adam and the long genealogy since it is telling us all "The Times" [the definition of -->CHRON-ih-clz]. These are the Times of the Hebrews; the people that God chose. When Samuel and Kings were written is was originally penned as a long single tome - 1 & 2 Sam. plus 1 & 2 Ki. were [all four] were a single book. Chronicles is a rewrite with a more spiritual focus. Chron. is written from a much more southern perspective. They ended up being sinful just like the north was, but their founding was for the purpose of walking with God. The north kingdom was founded for the purpose of running away from God. 1-2 Sam. = I Chr. and 1-2 Kings = 2 Chr. I Chr. is a lengthy genealogy for 9 chapters and then resumes with the Hebrew's story at the end of Saul's life. II Chr. completely omits the history of the northern kingdom. It was too gruesome and lurid in detail for the Chronicler to keep track of. In his mind who wanted to rehash all the ungodliness of the northern kingdom? Not one of their kings sought the Lord. So the Chronicler saw fit to ignore them and their pursuits. Pardon all the extra detail but it is best to understand this prior to launching further into this pivotal book.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
For those who were wondering, the B’nei Yisrael phrase is “sons of Israel”. And “Cohen” is Hebrew for priest. Therefore Kohanim is Hebrew for “priests” / “Priesthood” (it’s the plural version) 3 – The Priesthood and its Tent of Meeting was such a serious matter – Believers today can hardly perceive the gravity that hung over this whole assignment. Did you notice that a commoner who approached the Tent of Meeting was to be executed. We need to remember and understand that all the legitimate religious branches / denominations of the world trace their faith back to this. It was a 13 century long preparation for the arrival of Christ and His sacrifice that would cover for all time the souls of those who would confess His Name in faith. This had to be right. The participants had to do right and be in the right. The articles and implements of every aspect of this Tent of Meeting had to be handled and employed properly. It’s like a restaurant today that was determined to keep its perfect record of 100% satisfaction along with its record of having no one contract food poisoning ever since their inception. This would require fastidious supervision along with stringent training of new workers.
Notice the treatment of the firstborn and their consecration to the Lord. Jesus was also the “first-born” along with being the firstborn from the dead. This is amazing to realize all the implications. 4 – and next there is the rigorous and monumental task of preparing the entire structure for moving and the actual moving of it. During these first 40 years out of Egypt these people were a very mobile people. We will see in Numbers 13 that their being stuck in the wilderness is their own doing (and their own fault). But all the same, a great army must work like clockwork as their existence and purpose is to be mobile and ready to launch in a moment’s notice. Well, in a less intense manner but no less important, the Israelites along with their tent of meeting/tabernacle must be organized and precise in their readiness for moving as God directed. And extra verses are dedicated to describe the lives of those who served and handled these tent matters and their preparation for transport and reassembly at the next location. 5 – Going back to the restaurant motif that we used in illustrating ch. 3, Here in ch. 5 the issue of purity is reiterated. In a restaurant all workers must have clean hands, clean shoes, clean outfits. A cook hunching over boiling pots cannot have a runny nose, goop coming out of his eyes, cuts on his hands or weeping infections – nor can anyone serving food to people seated at tables. We all get that. So in the tent of meeting area and other parts of this culture, anyone who has anything regarding his body that is unclean, he needs to go outside and clean it up, heal up, deal with it, purify, wait, clarify it (check it twice…pardon the Santa Clause lyric!) then go back in. This was dire for maintaining reverence and purity and sustaining this most vital of rites within the Hebrew culture – the place where we inherit our faith from.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord Jesus - just that addressing you says the prayer. You are very dear to us. You are our Lord. And in the Name Jesus - it is you who is our Savior. Thank you Lord Jesus. Amen.
Paul had just received an offering from Epaphroditus; a member of the church at Philippi. Paul was in prison in Rome we he received the gift. He had received another offering from the Church at Philippi when he was in Thessalonica years back. The Philippians were a gracious people who had rich character and great spirits. It was the first church that Paul established in Europe. This was around 51 A.D. Luke pastored this church for its first six years. It was now about 61 A.D. He had not seen the people of Philippi for 3-4 years. He missed them and was touched in heart when Epaphroditus arrived with some support for his work. After Epaphroditus had rested and been with Paul for a bit, Paul sent him back to Philippi with this beautiful letter. It is among the most encouraging writings in all of sacred literature.
1 - from the start we can see that Timothy took dictation while Paul talked. Paul is praying for them in Philippi. How would that encourage you to have the most influential Christian ever be praying for you? What a marvel. Paul is glad to have the Philippians upholding him with their partnership in giving to meet his needs. Paul is not bothered by the jail time. It gave him access to the Emperor and there were even converts in Emperor Nero's court, praise God!. Paul was rejoicing in the jail in Philippi (Acts 16:25) and he was feeling the same while chained down in Rome. He was so in love and connected with Christ through his prayer life and ministry work that, hey, if jail and Rome killed him - what a thrill to be with Jesus. Paul wins either way/ live or die/ as far as he is concerned. He was acutely aware that the Believers in Philippi were suffering at the hands of nonbelievers. Paul encouraged them through this difficulty 2 - Paul commends and spurs them on to have the complete attitude of Jesus who was full of mercy and kindness and honor and humility that led to sacrifice. Herein is the words to the hymn, "He is Lord...every knee shall bow, every tongue confess..." This was the first song ever sung in the Christian church; The Philippian Hymn. Paul continues in counseling them to have all hope and joy and a good spirit looking to Jesus who IS calling us all together one day when he returns. Paul is eager as he spells out his plans to visit again, to send friends and resume the wonderful fellowship and teaching to this dear church. 3 - Paul was aware that some Judaizers had passed through and tried to get them to revert to old laws as if Christ were not enough. Paul doesn't mince words in calling these false evangelists "dogs". Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews; flawless in his observance of the Law, but that was all garbage and prattle to him now.. Christ was everything, so let's all press to know Christ. Paul uses the illustrations of the day to declare that this faith we are all immersed in is indeed a race. It encompasses all of us body and spirit. This -the race to heaven he was talking about- Heaven was the finish line and Christ is there. Home is there. Our citizenship is there. Therefore we have a most heavenly goal as we live for Jesus.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, Keep teaching us for we are listening. Thank you for being with us still - for being with us always. Amen.
12 - Jesus began by teaching about the Pharisees. He was flipping the sentiments of the area as people had been perceiving the Pharisees. They followed them, paid them, honored and believed them, even revered them. But according to Jesus, the Pharisees were NOT to be looked up to or believed. Jesus made sure of it. Next -more than just being ashamed of Jesus or not - the issue is that HE IS the issue! Get in good with Jesus...Pharisees and their self importance is irrelevant. They can no more get you to God than your pet hamster can. Jesus doesn't want any of his followers to be greedy; scrambling for cash like the rest of the world does - carrying on like the Devil to get rich won't get you/anyone to God. Trust God = not money And as for worry? It's like a rocking chair at the edge of a cliff: it will give you something to do but it won't get you anywhere AND you will be nerve-wracked-to-death until you get out of it and away from it. Jesus' admonition to be dressed and ready for service applies to all of us all the time. Have you ever met someone who was always preoccupied and unavailable? Churches are filled with people of whom 80% are "unavailable" 99% of the time. This is a fact, it is true, and it is wrong for so many folks to be this way. "oh, I can't help at the church workday, I need to polish my turtles for the races at the fair. Oh, I can't help in the nursery this month, my shoes are too tight - I'm retaining water and feeling insecure. oh, I can't volunteer for the youth retreat, I'll miss the first games of the playoffs.!" [heavens to betsy] My husband and I have been involved in ministry for a combined 80 years and we have heard most every excuse in the solar system. But hear this: our excuses do not excuse us. We are to be servants of the most high and faithful in all we are assigned. Jesus remains theee dividing issue: two types of people in the world - those who love/commit/surrender to Him and those who don't. All other divisive issues are irrelevant. Know the times, keep an eye on God and keep out of worldly trouble; avoid court. Court stirs up very much and solve very little.
13 - In a chapter where the lead title says, "Change Your Heart" - the plot of the opening story is that terrible things are not going to stop being terrible and they are not going to stop happening. So shift away from tabloid-like obsessions; and the school-brat-thinking assessments of everyone --> remain fixed upon your Savior. Because you will be fruitful for me or you will be removed. Next Jesus healed a woman who was bent and crippled from an evil spirit. The religious leaders were furious because he broke their personal and petty rules of doing nothing on the sabbath. Jesus' reply left them in shame. Though the people LOVED Jesus "giving the business".to the Pharisees. We can tell that the population was oppressed and weary of the Pharisees invented and excessive Sabbath rules. Jesus had credibility because he had just healed someone so his words were authenticated and virtually impossible to argue with. Words backed up by the power of God - there's nothing quite so impressive and lasting.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord give us hearts that mirror your own so that we too want people to be saved. Amen.
3 - Here's Jonah back on the beach - again. He had been here before just south (a longs day's journey to the south in Joppa). Now he was north near Tyre. He had been traumatized beyond what 99% of the population ever experiences. He was a different man, perhaps not completely, but he was broken at least enough to obey this time. So - here goes - round two --> and when God calls him to Nineveh, he goes. It is a 500+ mile journey for Jonah. He goes and preaches doom for the city. Notice he does not give a pastoral urging to repent and confess, using comforting inspiring illustrations. He just preaches doom. And the whole city repents; all 120,000 of them and the king is leading the charge to repent. God took note, changed his plan to punish and Nineveh was not destroyed. Jonah, knowing of this city's history, was certain in his mind that Nineveh would dismiss this fruitcake Israeli herald and keep on the path of iniquity and trespass. Oh was he quietly excited to sit back and watch the city burn! But they repented. And other studies reveal that the repentance was widespread. If Nineveh was penitent, and y'better follow Nineveh!, then other areas repented too. And they did. The conversion rate was massive. Granted this isn't in the Bible, but it did happen. Many other provinces followed suit and the souls that were touched by the God of Abraham was the greatest conversion to date the world had ever seen. And it all happened due to the service of a reluctant evangelist! Amazing when we simply obey. . . And what is the evangelist's follow-up plan? 4 - Jonah is angry; suicidally angry. He chanted his bitter "I told you so" at God. He wants to die, he is so disappointed. And listen to the bloke: "I knew you are a God who is kind...I knew you would choose to not harm...!" Well, gee, Jonah. Would you like God to not be kind to Israel? Would you like God to hurry up and punish Israel [where you are from] for their 150 years of vile, sinful living?! It's a strange yet common trait that we want swift justice for those who upset us while we want simultaneous mercy for ourselves and our loved ones. Memo to the selfish: WE are not the center of the universe. And yet Jonah still thinks he is in the right and still goes up on a hillside to watch as he hopes he can witness the city get punished. He makes a shelter and God brings even more shade. Jonah is thinking, "ah, this is great. Kick back and watch the city get roasted...yes!" Then, the next day the shade is gone, a warm wind blows in and Jonah is faint with heat stroke symptoms. He wants to die again. One thing we learn of Jonah from this "wish to die" a third time is that his selfishness is on great display. Suicidal people are pondering the height of a selfish deed to finish themselves off. [hey, everyone's been through it. Jonah is selfish and he wants to die on the boat. He wants to die when they convert [and God won't kill them]. He wants to die when by now he has a heat rash. God is trying to point out Jonah's selfishness and hatred to him. He does the same to us. Let's ask ourselves, for the sake of honesty, --> do we want Hamas, Al Qaeda, Taliban, Hezzbollah, PLO, ISIS, ISIL, ad infinitum - do we want them to find Jesus and be saved or do we want God to hurry and catapult them into outer darkness and eternal punishment? Would we feel any differently and/or moreso if they were burning our door down like they were in Jonah's home turf back in Israel? The repentance in Nineveh was a generation-long. The next came along, resumed the sin, suited up and stormed Israel and obliterated it 48 years after Jonah's 3-days of preaching. Jonah did have a point in hating Nineveh - but it was not a true one. We were not born to live spite. Nineveh got their due for their deeds. All can relax - nothing slips God. He's the best record keeper and bookkeeper ever. Jonah prophesied their doom in 770 B.C. as did Isaiah around 710 B.C. Nahum spoke of the same in 650 B.C. along with his contemporary Zephaniah. It all came to pass in 605 B.C. when Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire collapsed in a cloud of dust and defeat. We today can lead great people conversions of regions and nations and continents. For we have the Holy Spirit who gives limitless supply. Hopefully we have [as well] a better attitude than Jonah
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, let us be found on your side. For it exacts a terrible toll upon those who come against you and any of your endeavors. May we sense your grace and allow you to be our shield. Amen.
46 - Remember Josiah going out to meet Neco the Egyptian and getting killed unfortunately? That same Neco (here in Jer. 46) goes on north to battle in Carchemish. This is 605 B.C., [and Judah is going to get hammered in less than 20 years, btw.] At Carchemish, Egypt gets swiped hard like a cat batting a mouse around! In the next word from the Lord, Nebuchadnezzar will invade Egypt. It turns out that this prophecy did come true 18 years after Jeremiah spoke it. [Jeremiah is writing this after Jerusalem was sacked and burned in 586 B.C.] Isaiah, in 18-20, has prophesied a century earlier that Assyria would invade Egypt. Ezekiel 29-32 also talks of judgment coming on Egypt. Things do not bode well for those who persecute God's people. And the Israelites are going to be protected amid their exile and punishment. God is doing the terrible task of smiting those who strike the Israelites and Israel will notice this retribution but need not fear God's worst happening to them.
47 - The Lord has called for the invasion of Philistia. Apparently Egypt is coming soon to do this. But what Jeremiah is prophesying here is that the Philistine cities will be brutally overrun and left to be ghost towns when the Babylonians charge in. The imagery is painful and desperate. Reading all this one almost relives school days when there is a bully making trouble. The day comes when the bully may pester someone who has been bothering you, so you may not mind the bully picking on this particular person. But it isn't proper to cheer this process because you can bet that when the bully is done pestering that person ... you are next. We seem to be seeing this on a biblical scale here. You know Philistines aren't too bothered about Babylon pouncing on Judah. Well, watch yourself there coastal boys, because they are coming after YOU next. 48 - Moab's day is approaching. Like the bully picture just mentioned. That happens here, again. Moab even had the fiendish gall to assist Nebuchadnezzar in attacking Judah. But they end up paying for it. The calamity struck Judah with finality in 586 B.C. - and as we said - Moab helped . Guess who Nebuchadnezzar plows over in 582 B.C.; four short years later? MOAB! And Moab was ruined...completely devastated. Moab had so many towns and people and vineyards, and farms and culture and ... it was laid bare and there isn't much going on in there even now almost 2600 years later!. They went against the Hebrews and where did it get them? They worshipped the god Chemosh --> and all that falsity is in the buried in the scorching sand ever since. The talk of restoration at the end of the chapter is yet to happen. Could we expect this during the millennium? Some posit that this happened as the remainder of the population was absorbed into the Arab race. Let's keep discussing it all.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord YOU ARE GOOD and good all the time. We thank you and pledge ourselves to you because of who you are. Amen.
108 - This is a battle song. Armies throughout history have used songs to rouse up the soldiers and put them in a forward, positive spirit. If anyone noticed, some of this is reminiscent to Psalm 57, and 60. The illustrations within here are effective linking parts of the country with parts of armor and other aspects of battle. This makes it a catchy Psalm to teach to any age. It again covers an entire gamut and range of emotions. David is a man after God's heart and to be that he bears his own. 109 - This is one of the cursing Psalms, seemingly related to Psalm 35. David wants this one sung and remembered. He really has it in for those who have come against him. He spares no one in wishing those who fight him, God, Israel, Jerusalem, the proper Hebrew faith - David wants them to suffer and be removed in every way. He wants the enemies of God to be halted, their children neutralized. Their families are bad, their ancestors were bad, they ARE bad, their children are going to be bad so "get rid of 'em God!" David is praying. Pentecost and the HOly Spirit coming so to see that all saved has made prayers like this something that we aren't to be praying (p-r-e-y-i-n-g) for/upon people. But again, these agonizing sentiments are foisted at David and he is running to God with them. It's, again, a good lesson. 110 - This is prophecy of Christ Jesus. No other one could be referred to in history or future but the Christ told of in 110. This is historical and theological. This Psalm is quoted in Matthew 22, Acts 2, Hebrews 1 & 5. Fascinating that David is spurred along in the Spirit and inspired to pen this 1,000 years before His Savior; HIS king arrives to eternally reign. This is a boundless discussion without end. Just amazing. 111 - The LORD God is majestic, honorable, righteous, loving, just, faithful, true, holy and eternal in all of these attributes. This one is worth memorizing and reciting throughout life. 112 - The prior Psalm is all the attributes of God. This Psalm is the attributes of those whose souls are fixed upon God, upon being with God, and being touched by God. The blessings of God fall upon them too. The similarity gets our attention. Those who love God act like Him. This is marvelous. In short, realize 111 and you'll live 112. 113 - This Psalm and 114 were sung at the beginning of the Passover meal. They are songs bursting with joy and good sentiments and truths about God's goodness and compassion and magnificent care for us. It is Psalms like this that are used in worship at family gatherings that have made the Hebrews such an enduring culture for 4,000 years. 114- This Psalm, is also sung at the beginning of the Passover meal. It hearkens back to the Exodus and the events bringing the Israelites to the Promised Land. The symbolism and word pictures add flare and intrigue. You can see even a child's mind racing with imagination while singing this through with the rest of the family. This keeps God's saving nature at the forefront of people's thinking. It also keeps the Israelites remembering who it is that grants them everything they have and are. God and his mighty hand that serves and protects are the issue here.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 19 - King Hezekiah is holed up in Jerusalem. It's the very latter 700's B.C. [about 702-701 b.c.] Israel to the north was overrun by Assyrians roughly 20 years prior. Now the south has been attacked. Cities have been lost to Assyria. A threatening message has just been sent to Hez. He is quite unpopular by now. All Hebrews are frightened for their lives. No one knows what to do. The Prophet Isaiah is his close confidant; and a great comfort to Hezekiah and Isaiah sends a powerful and accurate word. Hezekiah also goes into the Temple and "lays it all out" before the Lord. This is a maniacal-level-crisis for this nation that it looks like is on the verge of extinction. Was God's blessing and plan only for a 700 year period? [or a 1300 year period - if we count back to Abraham?]. God answers Hez. first through this letter from Isaiah, and then straight up to Hez. himself. It's Pulitzer Prize level literature that all of us are to take to heart about how God protects, and especially protects those who call on Him. That night one of the mightiest deeds of all time occurs as God sends His angel through the Assyrian camp, kills all 185,000 of them. At dawn, the Assyrian King rose and his army is just as dead as all the rocks around them. King Sennacherib goes home to Nineveh and gets assassinated by his own sons.
20 - Hezekiah gets ill. Kind of a strange phenomenon that is less rare than we wish it was: a calamity follows a victory. The crisis, the prayer, the interaction with Isaiah, the remedy, the healing and the proof of it all is intriguing. Hezekiah is granted 15 more years. Later envoys from Babylon come and visit Hezekiah claiming they heard Hezekiah was sick. Maybe he was hoping for an alliance with Babylon. Think: does he need an alliance with a pagan country when he has The Almighty pulling for him at the price of a prayer? Hezekiah was old and not thinking too clearly as he "plays chum" with these strangers and shows them all the treasures in his palace. We have to ask, "for heaven's sake, why??" Isaiah appears and rebukes Hez. for this and declares that those people will come back someday and strip this place. It happened some 11+1/2 decades later, yes, but that is no consolation. Hez. did a dumb stunt. BTW, The story of King Hezekiah, a good king for the most part, is further told in II Chron. 29-32. He dies at the end of II Kings 20 and Manasseh, his son takes the throne at 12! Prepare yourself for the rule of a rascal. Judah would have been better off with a psychotic badger running the show. 21 - This chapter is about two kings who were evil, really evil, like we read in Genesis 6 -->why God has to destroy the world. They were only evil all the time. Manasseh rules 55 years and Amon rules for two years. They were pagan and severely so. They both seemed frantic to reverse any and all spiritual progress that was made during their father and grandfather Hezekiah. Their deeds are sickening to even mention; lude, murderous; mass-murderous at that, and diabolically dark. They sneered with delight at they sacrificed children to satanic gods...and they did it IN Jerusalem. OK, we'll stop there. It's too yicky to go on. King Josiah then comes to the throne as an 8-year-old. 22 - Josiah rules from 8 years of age to 39 years of age. His story is also in II Chron. 34-35. If anyone is wondering why the semi-parallel, I'll put this in today's terms: Kings is the NY Post and Chronicles is the Wall Street Journal. Or for west coasters: Kings is the L.A. Times and Chronicles is the Orange Country Register. They may tell the same story of the same era and person but Kings is "more gore" and less focused on Spiritual virtue, while Chronicles looks for the redemption in everything. OK, Josiah occupies II Kings 22 & 23 He becomes king at 8, starts to seek the Lord at 16, the reforms began when he was 20. It was a massive task attempting to reverse the ghoulish reigns of two beastly kings that almost spanned three generations. The Temple repairs were overdue, and they commenced. The Book of the Law [long neglected] was found when Josiah was 26. The anguish of having it read aloud was because it was stark reminder of how far they had fallen from grace and God and goodness. Josiah was in the right. The Judeans were more nonplused by it all for idolatry was all most of them had ever personally known. Josiah's reforms were the greatest to date, however they only served to slow the inevitable of a people who were 'gone from God' at the core. Josiah, therefore would not see the destruction of Jerusalem. His life would take us to within about 20-25 years of the Babylonian invasion in 586 B.C. 23 - Josiah leads a reform pledge with "The Bible" in front of them and all are required to be present and pledge allegiance. Then Josiah goes on a spree destroying every pagan relic, altar, temple, artifact and art itself in effort to clean up the land of all false gods. And there was work to do, good heavens there were alot of wrong things built in Judah and Samaria during the bad kings; Manasseh and Amon. Josiah was a monumental king who served God with all his heart, soul, and strength. Josiah's error was going out east to face off with Neco of Egypt and getting involved in a battle that was not his to fight got him killed prematurely when they "collided" at Megiddo. The aftermath was dismal as Josiah's son Jehoahaz is anointed king. He turns evil like so many of the kings did. He's captured by Neco who then issues a stiff tax on the Hebrews. Neco puts Eliakim [Jehohaz' brother] in charge. He pays the fat tax bill - at everyone's expense, while Jehoahaz is taken to Egypt to die. Yeesh, this ungodliness never pays.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we love your plans. We love your laws. We love you
Lev 27 - Vows made to the Lord were to be made verbally / out loud. There is more import when stated this way v.s. simply thinking of it. Plus there is a testimony factor and accountability from others hearing it as well. When a gift / offering was given to the Lord, there were stipulations. An offering may be an animal, a residence, a plot of land. The priest was involved in the receiving of the gift. There may be negotiation, assessment of value, matters of the calendar factored against the coming Year of Jubilee - all this was weighed out and calculated. Try not to become weary in hearing this process through. We have plenty of venues that are just like this in our current culture where all kinds of brain power is required and nonchalant attitudes are unacceptable. Think of Christmas time and gift purchases at an extended family gathering. There are so many countering relative issues to factor in: ages, gender, preferences to consider, emotions that ebb and flow like seasonal tornadoes. needs are weighed against wants, wishes are compared to desires, there's "necessity v.s. greed". There is fairness to be mindful of. Try telling people to just 'buy whatever' and try telling disconcerted young children to just be happy with their broken, re-gifted, 15 year old toy. Not o.k. !! Yea, Well try being sloppy with God. Is HE less important? The teaching of the tithe was taught again before Leviticus ends. It was not new. Abraham was tithing more than 600 years prior. Tithing kept people mindful of God and His Presence every step of life. Numbers 1 - It was census time. Moses was to count the number of men. There were just under 2/3 million men and they were fastidiously counted out. It is not that the women "did not count". It was that were there to be "a call to arms"!, for instance, the women were to be protected and an immediate 'head count' of the men was needed in a moment. There had to be a current and constant count of the men ready. This was done; they were numbered, --> in Numbers 1. There was another census taken 38 years later in Numbers 26 - we'll read that on October 1. The comparison of the two census' is intriguing how the number changed after 38 years of pounding sand because they were too fearful to enter into God's best for them.. #'s 2 - There was a precise "military style" order that was to be followed when the Israelites were encamped. The Tabernacle was in the middle and the 12 tribes were arranged on all four sides with three of the tribes each per side. The crowd was vast and they were to do things in an orderly manner such as this. It was not proper for things to become haphazard and have the procedures get reduced to madness like what happens at large scale concerts today [[[[where Christendom is the last thing on anyone's mind!]]]]. There was a pattern to be followed when camping and a matching [though not identical] pattern to be followed when marching to a new location. God laid it out for them. There was not time or even the capability to experiment with trials and errors that could become dangerous stampedes on accident. Just do as God says.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, We are in awe of what you have called us to do, be, and to live. We are you ambassadors, your soldiers, and your servants. Amen.
4 - As Paul is preparing to close his letter to the Ephesian Church, it does give us perspective to remember that Ephesus was a very pagan/idolatrous/lecherous/ungodly city. Within this city resided the most mature first century church body in the New Testament world. Those who had been called out of that and into the Kingdom needed to remember that they were called also to bolster and nurture each other like an extended family. Believers needed to hang onto each other and cherish each other. The Ephesians, as are all church bodies, were a complex mixture, with many parts, each called, each assigned, each employed, they were to function harmoniously. Gentleness and humility required! God has given so much to the church and its members, the Spirit simply wished for the church to grow to full maturity, and to operate like a healthy body. And it was crucial to have the Ephesians resolved to never go back to the pagan ways they had been redeemed out of. Life in Christ was not a temporary experiment to dabble with and then to go back to revelry so to "mix it up" and feast on some macabre behavior. All the old life, and it's dark allure, is over-with permanently. Anger, theft, coarse talk/smack talk, slander et al. -none of this is the mark of a Christian. They were to treat all and each other as Christ treats all of us.
5 - starts with further reiteration that they were to live in and follow Christ. The lust and ludeness all around them was to be avoided. The consequences of trying to mix in with that crowd (that most all of them came out of) would be fatal to their faith. They were to be ecstatic with the Holy Spirit not inebriated with "spirits"/beverages. Paul was concerned that they lift eachother up and not lord over others. That requires "coming under" [ let your agenda be a sub- mission] To over come in faith as a Body of believers they must 'come under' / not 'climb over' one another. The assertion for immediate families becomes epic instruction to be pondering and exercising. For wives to feel protected, valued, and valued was ground-breaking no matter what culture in the world was reading Paul's letter to Ephesus. For husbands to be honored, respected, revered, v.s. jousted with and questioned was what turned Christian men into stalwarts who also were gentle and kind. The world had never seen this before. This is part of made the Church a culture that fascinated those who were yet to believe. Christ's love for his children was being modeled by husbands' love for wives and it was quite a picture. 6 - The Christian home had more obligations as a testimony to the world and to model Christ the Savior. Children were to obey and fathers were to be compassionate instructors. Slaves and masters had some straight talk to follow too. No threatening or harming or shirking. All were to be reverenced under God. Paul borrowed from the Roman culture he was immersed in and equated the faith to being suited for battle. The Truth was the belt - heavy exertion required a belt (battle for the faith was not light duty). Righteousness was our Armor - the enemy aimed at the torso first and most. Righteousness was our protection that kept us strong. The Peace of Christ was the shoes - if we were not sharing His peace, we had no rHOlyeason for going anywhere. Faith is our shield - in battle soldiers would huddle together and lock shields. They were virtually impossible to hit in this position. Likewise, our faith should bring us together for support and encouragement. Salvation = helmet - No helmet and you are not getting off this battlefield alive...no salvation and you're not getting off this earth alive. The World of God in our lives is our sword. The Holy Spirit is how we advance the cause of Christ; no other way. This all in mind we are to keep praying for one another and keep sharing our faith in Christ Jesus. Paul then says his goodbyes to the Church he was most endeared to. The issue that seemed to surface day after day this week was God whispering (however loudly) that He has a better way. In Leviticus a sabbath for people and the land is laid forth as a permanent plan. It is better. Letting 1/7th of the time and the crop go/rest/recuperate will end up bringing you more. This is the original "less is more" maxim. The obedience and blessing passages in Leviticus are also a better way and will preserve them. II Kings shows over and over about how God had a better way - a way that they would not follow. Assassination one after another, child sacrifice (yeesh, what madness!), eventually Israel is over run. One can almost see the Israelites cursing God as their villages are being closed in on. God may have crooned to them "I had a better way and you knew but plugged your ears." Hezekiah's arrival is a breath of relief. He knew God had a better way and he called on Him. Psalm 106-107 shows that praising God is a better way. In contrast Psalms lists a few who did not follow this better way and paid for it. Jeremiah warned them to sit tight and comply; stay in Judah. Trying to put up a dog-fight against people who have little regard for life was fool-hardy. They were yet disobedient, failed to listen (imagine disobedient people not listening! hmmmmmmm) spirited away to Egypt and would be suffering for it. Jonah did not listen to God's better plans that were much better than his, did he? We've all known this since we first heard this story when we were very young Jesus instructed Mary who had chosen a better way than busying one's self, like Martha, who was scurrying to feed Jesus - who wasn't hungry, eh?! Jesus taught them a better way to pray Paul urged Ephesians in church living and unity and honoring and instructing - it was a much better way than the break-neck-crazy-sin-life they were once living. In terms of those who were pondering 'going back' to their pre-Christian life, it is appropriate to apply the biblical warning from Luke 17:31ff, "Remember Lot's Wife!" The Ephesians were on a much better path now. Odd that Paul had to bring this up. He just wanted them all to stayyyyyy on this better path.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we want to hear and know, hear and obey, hear and practice what you have to laid out for us. May our lives and deeds and words be pleasing in your sight. Amen
10:25 ff - The question they ask of Jesus is jaded because they don't really want answers. Maybe this is too harsh but they give themselves away in their reply to Jesus' assertion "love your neighbor..." And who is my neighbor? Hmmm... My husband and I have many children and we've heard some doozy questions, let me tell you. We could always ALWAYS tell whether it was a real question or they were stalling to create more dawdle-time. Well this question of Jesus was a staller-for-time. The story Jesus replies with; The Good Samaritan, has created more charities and ministries since he told it, than can be counted. Some extranneous "Bible Scholars" have created a pile of parallels in hopes to symbolize the story to death. But the moral of the story is simple: care, meet needs, act like Christ, reach out, help people 'get home', be loving.
The Mary/Martha debate is easily settled by a sermon given years ago: "The Joy of Cooking [together]". People need to eat. And cooks/mothers aren't carnal and shallow and worldly for fixing meals. But when Jesus is talking --> stop and listen. Martha should have done that. Then after Jesus declares he needs a bite, then they can all go fix something together. Sit together, go cook together, then eat together. That was easy, huh? 11 - Notice that this version of Jesus teaching them to pray is abbreviated from the Matthew version. Reverence for God / provision / protection covered matters sufficiently for Luke. Jesus teaching them persistence in prayer was very necessary. Prayer like anything in life requires practice. It's frustrating and befuddling the way so many quit in prayer and in their prayer life because what they thought they were asking for and wanting didn't happen like a genie-poof-magic-carpet routine. God wants to give us so much more than silly wishes on a whim. We learn what we really want by being with God as a life commitment v.s. blurting out drive-thru-requests. God is telling us "sit down, stay awhile, be transformed..."! Next Jesus tackles the jealousy from those who were frustrated by Jesus' casting out demons so readily and effortlessly. It proved who He was. But they attribute His ability as to being in alliance with Satan. Talk about foolishly walking into a "mine-field"! Jesus' reply sets things straight as an arrow. This is powerful ministry training from Jesus that anyone who wishes to minister in this way must ingest. The removing of evil and immediately replacing it with good is life and death material. Jesus left them in awe - again! The sign of Jonah is appropriate beings we read the first half of that amazing event yesterday. The wanting of a sign, while in fact many were doubting Jesus person and power, is sinful in that Jesus called people to follow Him and be transformed for service. Too many wanted some amusement, and to leave when they were bored, or hungry, or distracted, or didn't like the teaching anymore. Jesus wanted people to live according to the Light, walk in the Light, let the Light guide them, fill them, permeate everything about them. Jesus, in John 8, asserts that He is the Light of the World. Interesting that "Light" is the first noun that God ever said [in our galaxy]. Next Jesus lets loose a host of accusations upon the religious leaders of the day who were so critical and selfish and sinful. They spent their whole lives securing a luxuries for themselves instead of guiding people to God. Jesus was disgusted with the whole lot of them. He called them filthy and hypocritical, wicked, unjust, greedy, phony, arrogant, self-important, murderers (dead-men who acted alive!) AND accomplice' to murder(s), and ones who blocked others from finding God, ... it's a bad day when the Son of God, whom you claim to represent, tells you "a thing or two" about what God thinks of your terrible soul and villainous character!
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, don't let us even think of running away from our calling. You have joyous things planned for us, regardless of what we think. Amen.
This book is far beyond a fish story about a rebel who has a grumpiness problem. It is a true story that parallels Christ arriving. It is kingdom operatives in full force. There is evangelism, transformation, and triumph that is truly found in biblical proportions. 1 - Jonah was raised in a small village very near to where Jesus OF NAZARETH was raised. Had they been contemporaries as young boys, they would have been able to trot to each-others' homes in a manner of minutes. Nonetheless, the king during Jonah's life was Jeroboam II, whose time was 793-753 B.C. that we read of in The Kings. Israel is late in its time during Jonah - remember they were in a 190 year long death spiral of ungodliness 920 - 722 B.C. They lost territory to Assyria decade after decade. However during Jonah&Jeroboam II 's time they were 'on a brief rise' and gained some of the territory back. God calls him to go and to preach to Nineveh and ...... "God are you serious?!" Jonah is livid at the assignment. Nineveh was a city in the middle of its 300-year prominence that ran from 900-605 B.C. They were ghoulishly diabolical. Their practices and tactics were fiendish and grisly to put it mildly. Assyria's invasion and decimation of Israel in 722 B.C. just a generation later, is a scenario that Hollywood, even today with all its tendency to "push the envelope", wouldn't dare touch. If they did they'd be sued into bankruptcy for going way past 'over the top'. Assyria was that horrible, and Nineveh was its capital. Nineveh's tenants would stack the skulls of their subjects [who fought them] in high heaps, on both sides of all gates entering Nineveh. The memo: you fight us, you end up on the pile! Jonah ran from his calling as would most any person given such an assignment today. He hated Nineveh. Any of us would hate Nineveh too. You can almost picture "Indiana Jones" entering the city wide-eyed and sneering with anger toward the place and all its inhabitants. They had been killing people for centuries and loving everydeath along the way. What would any of us wish for this city? Pardon all the assertions, we just want you to really feel what Jonah was feeling at the time of his calling. The name "Nineveh" conjured sheer terror in the hearts of anyone who was not committed to that city --> So God called Jonah to Nineveh and ... he high-tailed it for Tarshish. "Tar-TESS-oos" (as it was called in the 700's B.C.) was a mining colony that Phoenicians were digging in a region that today includes "Gibraltar" in SW Spain. It is not possible to be more geographically disobedient to one's orders to "go to Nineveh". It's equal to being in Kansas City, Kansas USA, God calling you to Miami, so you head for Anchorage Alaska. Or being called to San Diego, CA, so you head to Bar Harbor, Maine. We remember and know about the storm, the panic, the throwing of freight overboard, then finally finding Jonah and bringing him up on deck for a frantic inquisition. Please catch what happens. He simply told his story and the whole boat crew converts! Pastors dream of 100% success rates! Jonah just tells his story - that's it - and they sacrifice and believe in the God of Abraham instantly. Jonah still had a "go ahead and kill me" attitude but do take note: evangelizing isn't some grandly calculated labyrinth of "insight required" gobbledy. Just tell your story and watch the souls be touched by God. 2 - The Lord's graciousness abounds again. Where the ocean would have killed him, the whale saved Jonah's life. God could not have been kinder. Whales are warm blooded, they breath oxygen. The ride is about 3-5 mph and gentle. Jonah could breath, there's no hypothermia, and the whale let's him out close enough so Jonah can bodysurf to shore. The first thing he probably heard was "will ya'obey me now?" But about the prayer, Jonah sounds very much like David in the Psalms. He covers every pertinent topic current to the situation, he recalls his faith, states his vows and affirms salvation is from the Lord. Imagine him going to Nineveh having not prayed this prayer, nor been through this trauma, been frightened to death in a storm, sat inside a 40 foot beast for a historical submarine ride ...? All this made him an authentic evangelistic v.s. being a cynical believer who only hated Assyrians and wanted them to go to hell where he formerly felt they belonged. We'll see where all this takes him when we read Jonah 3-4 next week. Strangely enough, Jonah's story hearkens us forward to Jesus. Jesus even refers to Jonah as a factual sign. Ah, this Bible is good stuff
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord you are true to your servants. Help us remember this and remain your servants.
42 - The remaining Hebrews in Judah after Jerusalem was burned were frightened because the person that Babylon had put in charge; Gedaliah had been killed. WE read this last week. These Hebrews that were concerned didn't do it but they were skeptical that Babylonians would specifically confuse them with the assassins and they'd get a misplaced 'spankin' they'd rather not get. While planning to escape for Egypt they sought a prophetic word from Jeremiah. He got word from the Lord that they should not go to Egypt...--> It would mean extinction for sure. And Jeremiah made it abundantly clear to forget going to Egypt in search of safety.
43 - Yet Jeremiah and Baruch are forceably taken to Egypt by the the military leaders who objected to Jeremiah's prophecy and God's Word to stay put in Judah. In Egypt God gave another prophecy to Jeremiah that didn't paint a rosy picture for the area in Egypt where the Judeans were hiding. Interesting that they don't want to and will not listen to Jeremiah who has spoken for God all these years. So they resent him, and yet they pack him down to Egypt with them as if he were a knap-sack of some sort. Strange people he is trying to share God with aren't they? They have lacked legitimate leadership. 44 - Then Jeremiah and the people had a heated dialogue back and forth as Jeremiah pleads with them to cease the idolatry. They were engaging in offerings to Babylonian gods and incense and sacrifices. The main god they were honoring was "Ishtar" a Babylonian queen/god who endorsed immorality. Judean families living in Egypt were in collusion and approving of the wrong-doing. Not for nothing, Ishtar is the title of a 1987 movie filmed in Morocco and it seems to be oddly dubbed "worst movie of all time" by consensus. The Babylonian god Ishtar was no better than this foolish movie! Jeremiah is warning them for what seems like the last time that there will be horrible punishment for worshipping Ishtar; called Queen of Heaven in this version of the Bible. The Judeans are ebullient and will not yield from their sinful resolve. 45 - The passage here is not within timeline. Jeremiah {written by Baruch; his scribe) has a style for writing this way. Baruch was a prominent character and he is being encouraged by Jeremiah to not be overwhelmed by the attitude of the people, for they are/will be removed from God's sight. Baruch is assured that he is to simply keep eyes and ears to God - no one else. For God is going to remain true to Baruch.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we hear you. Your words and blessings to us ARE our lives. They are also why we are alive. Amen.
106 - is a continuation of 105 that gave a mindful rundown of God's true nature in bringing Abraham to Canaan clear to (600 years later) bringing Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt. This Psalm continues the tale yet it has a dissonant twist in that it tells of God's faithfulness amid the Hebrews unfaithfulness. It didn't take them long to forget about God's miracles preserving them through the 10 Plagues, the rescue at the Red Sea, He gave the 10 Commandments to preserve them - and they are busy playing party animal (Exo. 32). They don't want to walk with God and yet are jealous that Moses is walking closely with God. [they're nuts!] They make a golden calf, they won't enter the Promised Land, they complain like whiney brats, they worship Baal, fail to drive out the pagans, they follow Molech; and other idols. 43ff sums up: "again and again He rescued them, and yet they chose to rebel against the Him ... even so He pitied them in their distress and listened to their cries ... because of His unfailing love." Psalm 106 tells of another slant on God's unfailing love. To step back and meditate on this, the observant is led to ask, "why would anyone leave this God and walk away from Him?"
107 - This is the initial Psalm of the fifth division of Psalms; Book V. It runs from 107 to Psalm 150; the last one. 107 deals with God's wonderful dealings with people: He redeems, gathers exiles, rescues the destitute, satisfies the hungry/thirsty, Even the imprisoned and rebellious who cry out to Him are wonderfully helped, as are those near death. God works the seas, the winds, the waves. He can make a place fruitful or deserted [duh-ZER-ted] based on the character of the inhabitants. He blesses all those who are hungry for Him and for life. We would do well to take special note of the working of the hand of God in our world and in our lives and the interplay noted therein. The secondary and obvious implication of all this is that God wants a relationship with us; His children and He will use extensive means to make this happen.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Chart of the Kings of Israel and Judah 15 - The reading in II Kings today commenced with Uzziah being crowned King of Judah in the south. He had a successful reign - it was among the best eras since the secession of the north (between 930 B.C. and 586 B.C.. The military campaigns were successful against the Philistines &Arabs &Ammonites. Uzziah could have done a better job to cleanup up the miscellaneous false religions around nation but he didn't. He also became arrogant so God afflicted him with "leprosy". II Chron. 26 has more on Uzziah and his reign. When there is about a decade plus left for Uzziah to rule in the south, the north had an especially chaotic season. All in a one year span [minus]; in 748 b.c. Zechariah [NOT the prophet!] was made king and assassinated in less than six months by Shallum who assumed the throne. Shallum and was killed within a month by Menahem who seized rulership and was able to hold control of Israel by cold-blooded brutality and conniving. Assyria invaded from the north, but Menahem bought them off using a "semi-truck-load" of silver {forgive the modern phrase-ology}. It worked for a time and the Assyrians turned back. Though there was hardly 20 years until Assyria would pour in and take no bribes or payoffs; they would simply butcher and pillage and burn. But for Menahem's reign, a payoff bought a little time. His son Pekahiah took over, was evil, was assassinated in two years, Pekah, commander of Pekahiah's army, schemed and assassinated Pekahiah. He was co-regent for ca. 20 years with others that have been listed. His stance was valiant but he still lost more land and cities to the Assyrians; including Galilee in 734 B.C. During Pekah's reign in the north, Uzziah died in the south and his son; Jotham became king. He did well - his father's leprosy due to disobedience served as effective warning to him. II Chron. 27 is a helpful cross-reference for all who want a greater picture. and BTW, this is the year of Isaiah's vision in Isa. 6. Remember "he saw the Lord, the year that King Uzziah died..." !?! 16 - Ahaz became king. He reigned 16 years until around 726 B.C. He was Judean; Jotham's son and Uzziah's grandson. Uzziah did great but he was not entirely good and he was punished for straying. Jotham did better but he did not clean up the land the way he could have. Ahaz was a political, religious, civic, and personal "warthog" of a character. My apologies to anyone who has a pet warthog - we don't mean to insult this "thing of beauty" when compared to Ahaz. Ahaz is told of in II Ki. 16 and II Chron. 28. He co-reigned with his father, but when his father was out of the picture he completely flipped against Judaism and the God of Abraham. He brought back Baal worship with a vengeance and also reinstituted Molech; the Satanic god who wanted children sacrificed live in the fires of Judah. He even burnt his own children to death in a religious ritual. For his Satanic behavior Judah was attacked from all sides by Philistines, Edomites, Israelites, and Syrians; from King Rezin from Aram. Judah lost hundreds of thousands! Ahaz then took gold and silver and valuables from the Temple and gave them to the King of Assyria to get him to attack those who were attacking Judah. It worked, though some of the time Assyria accidentally attacked Judeans during the sheer momentum of his thirst for gore. Ahaz went even further and closed the Temple for worship as he altered the altar and the Hebrew's courtyard to accommodate the Assyrians and their pagan practices. Simply put, Ahaz was an utter psychopath. Hezekiah; a good king, Ahaz' son, followed Ahaz as king (tryyyy to figure it out if you want to - go ahead!) 17 - Hoshea came to rule in Israel 730 B.C. and he was the king who saw the northern country of Israel fall for the last and final time. Captors had chipped away at the north for a few decades but there was no recovering from the smashing of 722 B.C. Hoshea was paying tribute to Assyria to keep them at bay, but he was also working a deal with Egypt in hopes that Egypt would push back the Assyrians and those two countries would become preoccupied with wiping each other out and Israel would be in the clear.... At any rate, Assyria caught wind of this, Hoshea was imprisoned, and Israel was leveled! Only Samaria was left of it and Samaria got plundered. It's short 200 year history came to a close. All 19 of its kings were apostate. It's religion was false and rebellious. It's behavior was lecherous. It's practices and negotiations were faithless and diabolical - so they were gone. God had no more remedy nor effort nor intention to be so. God removed Israel from the land. 18 - Hezekiah came to power in Judah; the south about 5-6 years before the northern kingdom fell to Assyria. Hezekiah knew what the lynchpin of reform and protection was. He returned the Judean culture to God. He removed all the idols from the land, reopened the Temple, honored and sacrificed to God. Hezekiah refused to pay the Assyrians from the Judeans accounts. Hezekiah is in II Chron. 29-32 also. Come II Kings, Hezekiah's faith is tested as Assyria invaded Judah and absorbed much of it until he had Jerusalem surrounded. The Assyrians described Hezekiah as "a bird trapped in a cage". Hezekiah swiftly built a tunnel to secure Jerusalem's water supply - that can still be walked through today - if you don't have trouble with claustrophobia or skotophobia (fear of darkness) or ... hydrophobia as parts of it don't have much airspace. Sennacherib, leader of the Assyrian army, taunted Hezekiah and threatened him - even played mind games religiously claiming that the Lord had tolllllld Assyria to attack Jerusalem. The memo was shared with Hezekiah. Stress could not have been higher. What is going to happen? We'll read it to you next week.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God make us like You. Sanctify us through and through. Life in you is so good. Bless us with yourself in our lives. Amen.
24 - there are many comments that could be made about the bread and the oil and the frankincense on the gold altar but I will say this - Jesus called Himself The Bread (of life!). The Holy Spirit is referred to as "oil" (along with four other elements). Imagine the scene of 12 gigantic loaves of bread made of a gallon of flour each. That, the gold, the aroma in the room, flames flickering, orange glow on the walls, this isn't boring stuff, people. It would have been a marvel to be there. Inspiring. The incident of the half Israeli/half Egyptian who cursed and broke the 4th Commandment and was executed sends quite a message that still speaks 3400 years later. George Washington came back to his troops once after his morning prayer session and heard a man swear and curse, mocking God to another man. GW ordered him whipped in front of the whole army. It sent a message to all soldiers - that they were on a divine assignment to found a new country, under God, and the 10 commandments WILL be obeyed in this land. Other laws are laid forth in the latter of this chapter. They aren't harsh/cold/ archaic/outdated. It's merciful - for the purpose of ending disputes and disagreements as quickly as possible. People talk about getting even, but the truth is no one ever does get even. An accidental slip or bump is followed by a slap of retaliation for a misfortune that is perceived to be deliberate. Then comes a punch, then out comes the sticks, then the clubs, then the blades, then the guns, then the ... There's a true story about a gang rival that has gone on the over 40 years. Thousands have been killed in hundreds upon hundreds of skirmishes. How/why/what/where did it all start? It began over a pair of stolen tennis shoes/sneakers. That's it! true story. The Bible says [e.g.] a stolen pair of shoes needs to be returned with a fresh pair of new socks as compensation plus a second pair. The human heart says, "uh, uh, grab weapons, sharpen the tips, lock and load, he's going to payyyy BIG TIME!" The biblical way is better. Always. 25 - The Sabbath Laws were a shock to the world. No one ever thought of anything like this, much less operated this way. Land was worked until it was stripped - the term is "desertization". Slaves and workers were worked to death the world over prior to hearing of this - the Sabbath Laws. The seven-day-week comes from this literature. Life could now then have a pattern to it. There was a cycle, a schedule that bio-rhythmically worked with us and it was humane. Productivity resulted from this new schedule. Life expectancy rose again because of this. It was very typical for the Egyptian river boat slaves (especially them) along with most slave laborers to die in their 30s. Many of these men died in their late 20s. God made this SAbbath rule because He loves us. The dustbowl of the 1930s resulted from the ignoring of the sabbath laws for agriculture. Who was rejoicing over this geological tragedy? No one. The Year of Jubilee: imagine that being applied today? People would cry "fiscal irresponsibility!" Do you wonder what the government would wail about? They are the regents of irresponsibility. It's the way back for a new start. Relax, the rich will get rich again. It will take a decade at most. The poor will get poor again. It will take a decade ... at the most. The Jubilee Year makes 100% sense. There are pagan organizations that lend out loans in Asia. The quickest they can be paid back is a century! This shackles at least four generations of extended families. It's just wrong. God's way is better <-- Have y'heard that before? 26 - This is a chapter of tremendous promises for everything wonderful that most everyone wants ... unless they are a sadistically depressed Satanist. It also contains a list of horridly frightful warnings against all the calamity no one really wants ... unless they are a, uh, let's see, oh yes, unless they are a sadistically depressed Satanist. It's very similar to Deuteronomy 28. When God finished telling this list to Moses in Deuteronomy 28, He told Moses essentially, "btw, Moses, they are going to disobey." Believe it. It's pathetically true. The fact of life is that without the Holy Spirit assisting those who are yielded to God, it is not possible for a person, a family, a church, a group, a community, a state, a country, a people to do right start to finish. God's help is needed. To do right by God requires God's help. He has a better way. He always does.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, you met Abraham, you met Moses, you met with David - and you meet us just as quickly as we call your Name. Amen
1 - Paul is so extremely excited to send greetings and instruction to the great Ephesian church and tell about the redemption we have in Christ Jesus that he is near the bursting point. He is that joyful! He writes most of this first chapter as a single sentence (sort of can't even pause to take a breath) - he's elated to share Jesus. And get this - he is writing this letter from a prison in Rome. My husband and I saw this prison a couple years ago. Paul's love for Jesus is his "food" in life. It's very evident that Paul wants the Ephesian church to be elated with Christ the way he is. The Ephesian church was the most spiritually mature church in the new testament era, yet Paul wants them to "fly" higher still. His prayer for the Eph. church is beautiful like his prayer for the Colossians and the Philippians 2 - Here Paul lays out the plan for unity - for reversing the curse since Adam/Eve left the Garden. The "salvation through grace" truth is pivotal for realizing and receiving salvation. (BTW, remember that EVERY false cult botches this concept of grace and fails to understand it nor do they teach it properly). We are saved by embracing God's goodness not trusting in our own "goodness" <---> goodness that doesn't really exist. Christ is our reconciler, our peace, our unifier. Gentiles were not 2nd class believers. In Christ, all were unified. The Holy Spirit gave access to all. The title of stranger/alien/foreigner was over with. Newly converted Gentiles were as cherished as Abraham and all his relatives. 3 - The mystery of God, which was once revealed to very few, was now open to all who would receive it. The mystery revealed was Christ Himself. Christ embodies who God is and this Christ is known through the Holy Spirit - all this was not the property of a private, exclusive club anymore. The mystery and endless riches found in Christ, His power in and over all Creation, the marvelous testimony of a unified worldwide Body of Christ, the fellowship in Christ - all this is a heavenly testimony. The wonder of it all merely drove Paul to pray for the church in Ephesus and us here today all the more. Let's join Paul in praying for the endless, unshakeable, growing Church that Jesus Christ our Savior founded on Himself. Don't let the 19+ century time lapse bother you! The impression that the wild terrain of the scriptures left us with this week is more or less, "wow, God will meet you anywhere." He met the priests in the stringent duties they were performing and more joyfully so in all the feasts they were to maintain. He is with Jehu during the gory task of ridding the country of Baal - whether Jehu acknowledged it or not. The ridding of Athaliah's darkness, Joash repairing the Temple (klutzy as he was!) - God was in the midst of it all even if to merely reveal to us today the grief it is to let a country slouch into paganism. The pure joy of the Psalms; God is certainly and clearly in the middle of such praise. The Lord is powerfully (though painfully) with Jeremiah as he is being tormented, then protected during the siege of Jerusalem, then guarded though the city is in ashes, then during the aftermath of a very sad stage of Jewish history. Obadiah tells of God's work for His people and the crumbling of her enemy Esau. God's prophecy is active and guarding even still. The Luke narrative showed Christ operating and meeting and revealing and sending and empowering and exhilarating and and and - that was a run of stories whose implications are endless; God met all types of people in all places. Ephesians told of the mystery of redemption. The moral of the narrative is that God wanted to meet and gather souls of all nations just because of love; a God who is love. It's so good isn't it?!
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Luke 9:18ff - Today is a goldmine of lessons. Here they are, itemized:
Peter's landmark statement is basically, "God sent you". Anointed One = Christ Peter was following Jesus because He knew God sent Him - He wasn't following Him because Jesus was going to be crucified. But the reminder of te crucifixion comes right on the heels of Peter's confession. The Transfiguration; also in Mark 9, is an overwhelming memo to the "inside-3"; Peter/James/John that those who follow God never die and they never leave God The next day when Jesus encounters a boy who gets seizures from a bad spirit that is harassing him, we get a statement from Jesus that many find troubling. "Oh faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you...?" It hits y'sideways but there is triple motivation in Jesus' words if we let them sink in. 1] do not fool around with darkness for it won't let go of you. 2] Learn how to expel darkness and their powers - take authority v.s being a victim (btw, I am teaching on this all the time!) 3] Learn from me while I am here, so pay attention NOW. Next, Jesus doubles down and tells of His Passion week again. The tussle of the disciples arguing about who would be greatest was not their last such juvenile discussion. Boys will be boys, eh? (my husband told me to say that!) It's a worldwide phenomenon to joust for first place. Jesus makes a perfect teaching moment reminding them to serve all v.s. compete with all. The point that the disciples bring up when a man is casting out demons is as silly as being perplexed that the whole world doesn't attend YOUR church with YOU. Hey, when someone is following Jesus quit fussing that their socks aren't perfect enough to walk in your parade - or any myriad of other inane concerns that accomplish nothing except waste brain cells and time. The lesson Jesus taught after the Samaritan Village shunned them is worth taking to heart... along with everything else: better learn to handle rejection, folks! Jesus' teaching about the cost of discipleship comes next. Some may have looked at Jesus operating and thought, "free food, free healthcare, sign me up!" He lets the one man know that it isn't always free housing too... Make what you will of that. The others demonstrate the difference between them and when Jesus called the 12 who all dropped what they were doing and followed. When someone is going to follow Jesus, all other priorities come below, after, later, many need to be eradicated permanently. When Jesus calls, NEVER say "in a minute / wait until I... ? / just as soon as ... / I can't until after I download a few more, etc. When Jesus says "come now", gee, what should be done? If that has to be explained again, no amount of explanation is going to be enough. 10 - Jesus sending out the 72 is a historical move with historical results. They were given orders, with no back out or back up plan. They were to heal and proclaim, not to fret rejection, and know that their acceptance or rejection of Jesus' was a tremendous decision each would be making. Those who turned away Jesus may as well prepare to be treated like the city of Sodom/Gomorrah - not good! The 72 return and are as excited as school kids with ice cream at recess. Jesus reminds them to keep a proper attitude among all the successful ministry. What excitement there is in following Jesus!!
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, may we learn from these illustrations today - there is no hope for those who fight your Word, your Way, your Chosen Path and People. Teach us to be a blessing as we follow you. Amen.
This is a judgment prophecy against Edom. The Edomites were descendants of Esau; brother of Jacob who sold off his birthright for a bowl of soup, lost the blessing and was bitter toward Esau the remainder of his days. Whenever Esaus' descendants have a clear shot and can be of trouble to Jacob's family, it happens, and we hear about it usually live from Jerusalem. The Edomite people that Obadiah is addressing occupied about a 2,000 square mile region south of the Dead Sea; 100 mi X 20 mi. It is a rocky range of mountains. It was well watered in biblical days. The capital then is an area today known as Petra. You have seen this rock face city as a befabled place used in modern movies. The famous final city entered in Indiana Jones /The Last Crusade 1989 was filmed in Petra...and can still be visited today. This was home to the Edomites. The conflict between Esau and Jacob is explained in Genesis 25:23 & 27:41 The hatred was still in full operation 1300 years or so later. Edomites made a habit of raiding caravans passing through and upon cities they could reach. They would then escape back to their homes in the treacherous terrain they were familiar with. They were obstreperous in their denying passage to Moses in Numbers 20. Edom raided Jerusalem over the centuries so there were not warm feelings for them among the Jews. Between 850 and 586 B.C. the Edomites notably raided Jerusalem four times: II Chr. 21 / 25 / 28 / 36. The one during II Chr. 36 was when Zedekiah was king and for several other reasons, Obadiah's prophecy likely follows this fourth raid. In Obadiah we hear of Edom being destroyed forever - and of Judah's remnant being saved. The end of their kingdom proper was after 550 B.C. when the Neo-Babylonians stormed through. The Nabateans took over this territory and their prominent centuries were 200 B.C. - 200 A.D. It was the Nabateans who were prolific traders. They welcomed commerce and visitors and prominent souls. Three who came through were Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior; learned men who counseled Kings and revered the Hebrew scriptures. They were enroute to see a newborn baby in Bethlehem that was prophesied to be God's Son, found under a star. ... 'do you wish YOU were in on that journey?! This is all what became of the Edomite Kingdom. Flushed out by Babylonians, kept out by Nabateans, some Edomites remained and were basically quarantined in the south of Judea. They were rabble that remained hostile to Jews and Jewish culture. In 126 B.C. one of the Maccabean Rulers beat them down for rebellion. They were absorbed into the Jewish state as what remained of these "cousins" of 17-18 centuries could be overlooked - though they weren't altogether accepted. The Herods were direct descendants of these Edomites and thus they were particularly assigned to rule over Jews after Rome assumed control in 63 B.C. We all know of the tension that existed between authentic Jews and the Herods (all four of them). This was the finale~ of the Edomite people and their lording/harassing of the Jews. In A.D. 70 Rome destroyed Jerusalem and there was nothing for any Herod to exercise control over. They died out. The last of the Edomites and they were then swept onto the dustbin of history. Vv. 10,16,18 came true: "you shall be cut off forever / they shall be as though they had never been / no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau. Just like God said, "poof" they are gone.
Jeremiah 38-41 We are in the Prophetic Stream today as we read with the New King James Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, may we find YOUR peace in our hearts even though we may be in troubling times. Amen.
38 - Jeremiah was giving advice and prophecies that sounded backward to the leaders in Jerusalem. Thinking he was a traitor, they debated whether to kill him or not, then they put him in a mucky cistern/tank underground, then others had pity on him and they pulled him out of it again. Hey, the Babylonians were attacking soon, Jeremiah knew it and he wasn't going to lie to people. Jeremiah then gives advice to the last King of Jerusalem in this era of their history. The advice is prophetic, sage, brilliant, and accurate as ever. Zedekiah then makes it quite clear that he didn't know how to lead nor stand, nor flee, nor negotiate. His weakness led to foolishness as he did not yield to Jeremiah's words as he should have. It was his last chance of surviving..but scizophrenia seemed to take over. 39 - Then The Day finally came as Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon with all his army broke into Jerusalem, broke down the wall, burned the king's home, and the other homes, killed King Zedekiah's sons, blinded him and took him to Babylon. Jeremiah, however, is given special protection at Nebuchadnezzar's orders. This day of Jerusalem's doom factors so large in history and for the Hebrews, that it is further commented on in Jeremiah 52, The parallel tale is told in II Kings 25, and in II Chronicles 36. It's such a disaster - and God knows how many times they were told that this nightmare could have been avoided had they honored God . . . 40 - Gedaliah was put in charge of the poor and non-influential in Judah/Israel; those of whom were no threat to the Babylonians. Jeremiah was then offered a glorious invitation to come to Babylon and he would be given a fine life there. Even the captain of the guard in Babylon would tend to him. Jeremiah prefers [defers?] and stays in his home country. Gedaliah does a yeoman's job of calming fears and assuring those left in the land that they would be well and do well. Others Jews who had been away to avoid the onslaught began to trickle back into The Promised Land (that had now been spiritually mismanaged for much of it's 850 year history). It wasn't long until Gedaliah was warned about a plot to rid him. Some of those returning had perceived that Gedaliah had sold out to the Babylonians. It was some dicey days they were living through. 41 - A certain "Ishmael" came and led a murder plot against Gedaliah. He schemed his treachery that would follow a modest feast Ishmael's malcontent further drove him to kill all the Jews who were with Gedaliah plus the Chaldeans/Babylonians who were in the area. Soon after, a group of misguided worshipers arrived who were ignorant that Ishmael had killed Gedaliah. Ishmael lured them, pretended to guide and join them before he killed all of them too. Ishmael was a first rate skallywag/pirate type! He took the rest of Gedaliah's associates captive and headed for Ammon far to the south and east. A man, Johanan, gathered a group to counter Ishmael. He did and liberated those that Ishmael was taking to the Ammonites. Johanan took these Jewish people -who had been harassed enough- and led them to an area down past Bethlehem. They wanted to be far from the departed Babylonians for fear that they might be confused with the deeds of Ishmael who killed the leader Gedaliah that Nebuchadnezzar had put in charge. It was a dissettling time in what was once enjoyed as the Promised Land.
Download Psalm 103-105 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the New King James Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, you are good all the time. Thank you and Amen.
103 - a crowning Psalm of Praise about our good God who is so very good in all that He does. He forgives, heals, redeems, satisfies, is righteous, merciful, He cares, empathizes, He rules and is blessed in heaven, by angels, by all beings, by His works, and by David who, btw, wrote this in the later days of his life. All we need in God and from our God is found in Him. This is a magnificent hallmark of a Psalm
104 - This Psalm about God's beautiful work in making all of nature brings to mind a verse in "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" - it reads "were the whole realm of nature of mine, that were a present far too small ..." (too small to present to God when expressing gratitude for our great Salvation). This Psalm makes one want to read this again while sitting on the edge of the Grand Canyon, or at base camp in Everest, or in Grand Teton Wyoming. ...and to think that all God asks of us in return for His colossal deeds is our lives given back to Him in thanksgiving. Nature is merely a work of His fingers - our Salvation is the work of His strong Arm. It makes a grateful soul sit and be amazed, doesn't it? 105 - Why do we sing to the Lord? Why call to Him, sing to Him, tell of Him, remember His works, glory in His Name? Just pause and remember what He has done! The litany of the chosen people brought from oblivion, called to God as a testimony to the world - this Psalm does a regal march through 600-700 years of the Hebrews' history from Abraham to Joshua. Each line, each deed, each meal, each person was blessed and protected by a God who does not fail. We may fail Him, but He does not fail us. This is our God and He's worth pledging our lives and souls and families and eternity too. For He will continue to be good to us forever. Hallelujah.
II Kings 10-14 We are in the Nation Stream reading from the New King James Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 10 - Jehu, the wildman chariot rider who rode furiously through the land continued his intrepid 28-year crusade to eradicate Baal worship. In the last chapter he killed Joram; king of Israel and Jezebel and Ahaziah; king of Judah who was Ahab/Jezebels' son-in-law. And he was not done! He gave the orders and the leaders in Israel beheaded the 70 sons of Ahab - in dramatic fashion that doesn't need to be explained. Jehu then "rubbed out" [pardon a Mafia term] all the rest of Ahab's leaders, confidants, and priests. Heading out from there he went to Samaria and found the brothers of the newly deceased King Ahaziah and killed all 42 of them. He proceeded to kill the rest of Ahab's family. It's an ugly business, yes, but Baal had to go. Lastly, in a bait-and-switch move he ordered all the worshipers of Baal to gather for a sacrifice to Baal... [uh hum!] All who would't come were to be executed, so the word went out. Jehu then did the opposite and killed all who were dedicated to Baal...and it was over. Jehu was zealous to fight those who opposed God but he himself never abandoned the worship of the calf. He "cleaned house", yes, but he never cleaned up his own house. Then he was gone (820 B.C.) and Jehoahaz ruled starting 816 B.C.
11 - Queen Athaliah came to power the same year Jehu came to rule and was still angry about her son Ahaziah being killed. The human chess-game that went on was terrifying but the next king, Athaliah's relative, was protected from Athaliah's killing spree and he came to power via much vigilance and fervent protection. The story is further told in II Chronicles 22. Athaliah's death came from those who protected her secessor (sp?). They put him [Joash/Jehoash] in power and cut her down outside so to not spill her blood in the Temple of the Lord. With her gone, Judah was then rededicated to God ... 12 - The reign of Jehoash is also told in II Chron. 24, btw. His trademark was to repair the Temple of the Lord. The project was held up for years, however, since those who were gathering offerings for repairing the Temple were not faithful with the funds. Gee, ever hear of that happening where someone "pockets it" v.s. producing with it?! It finally got done however after some sobering inventory was taken and faithful men were put on the job. A set back happened when the King of Syria conquered Gath on the coast and then headed to Jerusalem. They got him to turn away and head home by giving him a sickening amount of wealth that had been stored for generations in Judah. Gee, a King of Syria who kills and robs. . .what millennium is this anyway? Or is this story a current headline? Joash was assassinated after this, and Amaziah came to rule in Judah. It was 803 B.C. Jehoash/Joash had ruled for 40 years. 13 - Jehoahaz came to power in Israel about half way through the reign of Joash; King of Judah. Jehoahaz was evil, disobedient and pagan and God let Syria enter and oppress Israel in a chronic way. Jehoahaz called out to God (imagine that!) so God heard them and delivered them and there was peace again. Did Jehoahaz lead a revival in thanksgiving? No, he and the nation remained in their false religion and calf worship [like thankless humans usually do v.s. being grateful to God].--> Terribly dangerous to be a lout like this! Elisha's death was approaching and the King Joash was very grieved about Elisha's imminent departure. Elisha encourages him and mentors Joash one last time with the deed of the arrows. It helps a bit as he was trying to teach Joash to be as relentless in God's duties - more like Elisha was. Turns out Elisha had an anointing on him that lasted longer than his life did. As Israel was vigilant during the years shortly after Elisha's death, they were able to retake some cities back from the Syrians. 14 - pardon the jumping from north to south and the overlapping kings of differing kingdoms. We were not trying to be confusing - just reading the text to you as it was written. Amaziah came to power at 25 upon the assassination of his father in 803 B.C. He exacted revenge and killed the crew who conspired and killed his father Joash. His confidence was bolstered when he defeated and killed 10,000 Edomites - perhaps it bolstered his confidence too much for he went from there and called Israel/northern Kingdom to battle. It was the better part of wisdom to maintain and stay home but he wouldn't listen to contentment and . . . the Israelites gave him a drubbing. Amaziah was captured, 600' of Jerusalem's wall was broken down, the treasury was raided by Jehoash of the north. Amaziah was later killed in an 'in-house' uprising when he fled to Lachish (to the S.W.) Jeroboam was raised to power in the north, ca. 790 B.C. during Amaziah's reign in the south. This was a second Jeroboam. Like the first who came to rule the north in 930 B.C. this one too was bent on being evil and antithetical to the true faith that originated from the Temple. He did not get any help from God because of his good faith, but God did come to aid because of His Covenant with Israel since Abraham 1200+ years prior. The prophet Jonah went to Nineveh during this time. There was revival to an extent. There was glimmers of hope through expansion of the territory. But it could have been so much better had they cleaned up the land through true worship.
Leviticus 21-23 We are in the World Stream reading from the New King James Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God of wonders beyond all galaxies, you ARE wonderful and beyond all galaxies. What is even more wonderful is that you are right here with us as we dine together with you in communion. Amen
These chapters that elaborate on the priests, their obligations, and the sacrifices pertaining to their vocation were spelled out initially in Lev. 1-9. You may remember those chapters that we read June 18 and 25. They were to be men without defect. There were also rules that must be abided by regarding not offering a sacrifice while ill or the like. They were to marry a virgin only. They were to be circumspect men. There was to be no peculiar or garish shavings of the head, mohawk or designs or "what in the world is that?!" type of haircuts. They were to not handle or deal with 'the dead' (no priest moonlighted as a mortician).
22 - This tells further of the requirements for the priests and their abilities and duties and the condition they must be in for making an offering. Some of this may make a modern day observer think that God was a real grouch or stiff back then. But it really is a description of a ritual and culture that had tremendous reverence for the living God and therefore the offerings brought to Him were greatly reverenced as well. Who on earth would bring a gift to a very prominent person or famous person or head of state or world renowned athlete they admired and do so while he had a terribly runny nose, was unwashed had dirty fingernails, messed up hair, mud on his shoes (untied), with cuts on his face from shaving recklessly that morning, his shirt on all rumpled and mis-buttoned etc. No one would do this! And God is less important? Think of what our offerings do today to transform the world, send missionaries, erect new church buildings, start Christian schools, open hospitals and clinics . . . I.e. offerings matter folks. They are the work of God. Be serious about them. And we should do our dead level best to bring and offer what is perfect / perfectly prepared to the Lord. For, (great ending to this chapter!) I AM THE LORD. Hey, people forget this and they also act like they've forgotten it! 23 - Rather than re-hash or go into detailed descriptions of what each feast is and the parameters and details pertaining to, I think it's more pivotal for us to pause and ask why is God ordaining all this scheduled dining and feasting and music and commemoration and celebration? These traditions stuck in the minds of the Hebrews and became enchanting holidays that never left their story, their calendars, nor their souls. It is reviewed for thepower of reminding them in Deuteronomy 16 not long before Moses departed. We love our holidays - the more Christ focused the more joy they bring. A family that , has traditions is a stronger and more significant family with more treasured memories than a family who doesn't. The Hebrew culture even today has a much lower drop-out rate than most other cultures. This is because they are so fastidious about these joyful and significant gatherings. We all remember the church potlucks and still enjoy today. What is a meeting with the eating? Well God is training them to keep the joy and the God and chowtime celebrations and unified sentiment and the wonder all going, all God, all eternally marvelous. No one should have a problem with this. God isn't a grump. He wants us joyful (this becomes our greatest testimony). And someone has said the greatest glory of God is us, His creation, fully alive. The food is on, so let's party with God, shall we?!
Galatians 4:8-6:18 We are in the Church Stream reading from The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, we are free in you and free because of you. All to not go therepraise and thanks to God. Amen
The issue today is two points on the opposite ends of a see-saw: 1] under the Law, you are in bondage; chains. 2] The freedom you seek is in Christ. That sums up today's reading in seconds. This is the summation of pertinent theology too.
4:8-31 - The passage begins with Paul a trifle exasperated at the young Christians reverting back to add many old Jewish traditions to their Christian culture. They had not known of anything Jewish ever in this part of the world until the traveling trolls of circumcision (the Judaizers) came through and vandalized their liberty in Christ. Paul's words are more or less, "knock this off!" Paul expounds on how they were /or rather/ have been so gracious and free in Christ until they started listening to the religious hoodlums who merely target new Believers to bring them back to old rules. Why are you acting like children of rejection or orphans when you are children of blessing? It's a golden question that they need to answer with behavior that is transformed back to "Christ alone" thinking. 5 - You are free in Christ Jesus. Don't lock yourselves up again. Don't walk backwards, and don't go backwards! Those who tell you to go back to Jewish Laws and quote me to back up their wrong teaching are lying about me as well as lying about God (so says Paul). The old way never worked. Paul has a slightly gruesome wish for those who preach continued circumcision - but we read that already. Paul wants them to continue in Christ, to grow in Christ, to walk in the Spirit and be free from struggles and sins and entanglements that once plagued them. They were to put the old life away permanently. Put away old religious rules. Put away legalism. Put away judging and comparing too. 6 - Paul closes his letter to Galatians with a sage list of things that are altogether helpful and necessary for their growth. They were to be gracious with each other, and brutally honest with themselves. Fellowship was to be open, service was paramount, shun the phonies and false teachers and don't believe their trash-talk about Paul. Paul's life and testimony and scars are proof that he was real; and all in it for Jesus. The thread that reoccurred this week can be said to be, "don't go there buddy - don't you dare go there!" Leviticus opened the week with a list of lurid practices that anyone who wants to walk with God will "leave it alone!" The sexual sins of the world were prevalent and would reduce anyone who engaged in them to low-life animals. So don't go there (it was in Lev. 18). We see people coming against, questioning, denouncing Elisha in II Kings. NEVER back talk or question a prophet of God. I'm telling you, "don't go there buddy!" We saw what happened to another basket of bruisers who came against Elisha. Psalm 101 has the warning that keeps with our theme this week: steer clear of degrading things, Canaanite gods, dealings with evil people, gossip, smack talking the neighbors <--David says DON'T King Jehoiakim burned Jeremiah's writings! A Craaaaazy cray cray thing to do! He should have listened to Jeremiah as Baruch read it. But for what he did he was prophesied to die and rot in the sun. Sick. Amos sternly exhorted the Israelites who were trampling the poor while they nibbled on "steak and veal". Don't be like that, people. Listen to God. They ignored all advice and took their destiny into oblivion. Shouldn't have done it and it never should have happened. Jesus encounters a man who had apparently been dabbling and immersing himself in demonic activity. Someone had to have warned him not to; to not go that path. He didn't listen and suffered horribly - until he met Jesus. Paul tells the Galatians once again to not go back to what the Judaizers were dragging them back to. They had been warned to not go there...
Luke 8:16-9:17 We are in the Christ Stream reading from The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God thank you for including us in your work, letting us join you, to feel valued and be employed by you in the great work of building the Kingdom. Amen.
Jesus basically nails a list of priorities that he brings to us from heaven and we need to make them ours.
-share the truth, don't hide it -worship God & kingdom first, (yes, honor family - don't worship family) but Honor God to be in HIS Eternal Family. -Jesus calms any storm...He orders what He created. This miracle was a total stunner for them -Jesus healing the demonized man has many messages. The dark world is not to be fooled with - it will take you to hell even before you get there. Jesus has complete authority over the demonic and he wants us to exercise this victory also. Jesus turns even the worst madness back into sanity again. and regarding the pigs - Jesus is making some statement here. The kosher laws were near their end (Acts 10 was just a few years away) but there's a subtle statement about people's perceptions in casting the evil spirits into the pigs. [make whatever you want from it] The Gentiles were very disturbed about the business loss of pork but Jesus is more concerned that people get well and saved v.s. any other priority. -the SEQUENCE of the Jairus daughter request / woman bleeding-touch-the garment / commence with Jairus daughter; the sequence is identical in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This is a weighty memo that the writers want us all to catch. Jairus is large and in charge but what is that when your little one is dying? He calls for Jesus to come heal his 12-yr-old. Enroute, he is touched by a woman who's been ill for 12 years with an unkosher problem that forbids her to be among crowds. Yet she presses through and gets healed after taking a terrifying risk. This heals her and Jesus welcomes her back to 'the family'. He then resumes his journey to heal the 12-yr-old. Kosher problems, illness/death, chronic problems - Jesus solves it all. The number '12' links this story together. But know this - Jesus is determined to reach the young for the kingdom. He'll stop to minister to anyone who needs Him, but his face is set like flint on reaching the young for God. We must be and do the same. 9 - Jesus calls together and commissions the 12 to go and do the power ministry that He has been doing. He gives them authority to minister and lays out a few operating procedures. The action and news of it has long since gone national - so much so that even Herod is jolted to sit up straight. In the final story today, the 5,000 are fed. The hook is when Jesus tells the disciples, "YOU feed them." who? huh? me? us? Jesus talks to his followers in this manner yet today. " You feed them ... You heal them ... You go and preach to them ... You evangelize them (don't fret - I'll be with you to the end of the age.) It's almost too marvelous to ponder that The God of Heaven is gracious enough to share His endearing work with us and even let us feel useful in seeing lives touched for eternity.
Amos 8-9 We are in the Exile Stream reading from The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we hear of your great and terrible deeds done in millennia' past. Do your work of cleansing us today and restoring us here [as it is to be] on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
8 - The symbolism is that Israel is a basket of fruit that is "ripe for destruction." It reminds me of a neighbor we have in our town who prepared over 100 lbs of peaches for drying so they could chew on them all winter long. They were washed, peeled, pitted and sliced and laid on racks to dry for two days and nights. Well, a bear snuck on to the property when it smelled the fruit, broke through everything and made quick work of all the luscious provisions and devoured it all in mere moments. Keeping this bear away or stopping him once he began to consume the fruit would have been a deathly assignment - best to let the peaches go, and let the bear have it. Israel's fate was,... a bowl of ripe fruit left out and it wasn't going to last long in these conditions; they were quickly coming up on two centuries of aggressive sin. Israel was going to suffer severely. They were smug to God, addicted to selfishness and darkness in all aspects of behavior, and they were utterly brutal and heartless to the poor and weak that were among them. For this (and 200 years of it!) God was unleashing the Assyrians against Israel. Dead bodies would be strewn far and wide. Israel was arrogant as they come! Judgment day was approaching and it would be swift. The party was near over and it wouldn't take God long to turn it all into a national funeral. Death of your children, national famine, and drought, life in ruins- this is all that's coming for all of you from Israel committed to false gods and pagan behavior; which is basically all of you in Israel. 9 - the first half of this chapter is the doom over Israel spelled out by Amos. This was the final word to Israel that Amos gave on his visit to Bethel, and it all came true in 30 years or less. God had scheduled the sifting out of Israel and no one's sinful life would go unpunished. No one. God was determined to cleanse the north of sinful apostate behavior. It was over for them. Remember, Amos was from Tekoa, in the south near Bethlehem in Judah. The ten Tribes of the north would be lost to history. But God was not finished with His people. He never would be. As He sifted out the sin of Bethel and Dan and the falsity in the north, he was still God who would restore David's line to the greatness of their destiny. With the swiftness that only God can execute, the sinners will be gone and the blessing would be restored to those committed to His Covenant. God prophesied a return to glory, of security, rebuilding, replanting, plenty, to be eternally established. Remember that Christ our Savior is in the line of David...!
Jeremiah 36-37 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading from The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 36 - It is 605 B.C. The first onslaught of the Babylonians has taken place. Judah has less than 20 years left until Jerusalem is burned to ashes and the country is cleaned out. The inevitable is "in the air". The people of God; prophets and true lovers of God sense that "it's just not right in the world right now." The king? His attitude is quite different. We find this out after Jeremiah is told by God to write all this down. Jeremiah spends about a year writing down what God has said to him so far. To be exact, Jeremiah dictated and Baruch his assistant/scribe writes is all down. It is read by Baruch to the officials. Some are in awe of the import of what they have just heard. Other officials took the scroll and eventually it gets read to Jehoiakim; the king of Judah. He, with a cavalier attitude, cuts off a few paragraphs at a time and throws it piece by piece into the fire. The King burns the "Book of Jeremiah"!! He then attempts to fetch and arrest Baruch and Jeremiah but it's unsuccessful as God intervenes. God will see to it that Jehoiakim and his descendants are "a family obliterated" for the burning of Jeremiah's work. Jeremiah and Baruch team up and write it all down again. He's not the first saint in history who has had to start over from the top and repeat it all again so to complete his ministry. Were they exasperated or did they simply shrug and say, "can you say that again, God?"
37 - Babylon was attacking from the north. Egypt was moving up from the south to make war as they were being hired to assist Judah. When the Babylonians heard that Egypt was coming, they retreated for a time to avoid being over loaded in their objective to take Judah. Jeremiah knew that Babylon was NOT retreating but taking a rest. They had full plans to resume the ransacking of Judah. He later tried to convince the king that he should not be complacent for Babylon's army would return. During a lull in the fighting Jeremiah returned to his former home in Anathoth of Benjamin perhaps to gather food since it was scarce. He is captured there on suspicion of defecting to go help Babylon as a traitor to Judah. He gets a beating and a jail term until the King Zedekiah comes to him looking for advice. Jeremiah's word to this king is pertinent and empassioned. Zedekiah then keeps Jeremiah with the palace guard and gives him a daily bread ration. Things could be worse. They do get worse ... later. [as in next chapter that we read next week]
Psalms 96-102 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord of All, you are good and you have our good in mind. We will remain in Your Covenant and Praise Your Name. Amen.
96 - This is another theocratic Psalm that lauds the rule of God and sings about the wonderful fanfare --> so we best all join in the parade of worship and praise. This is rhapsody. It is beautiful. It is evangelistic. This praise, this Godand this life shows and proves the ragged emptiness of false gods. Even nature and the animals are praising God. He is coming to judge the earth. That is terrifying for those who are against God - a great relief for those who love Him; for they are on His side.
97 - This is further chorus about God and His great rule that is coming to earth. It is a crowning anthem that could well be referring to Christ arriving in Bethlehem as well as His second arrival that we are yet eagerly awaiting in our day. The heavens themselves are part of the chorus praising God as He comes to aright the ship-of earth [pardon the random nautical theme]. God loves and does right, he rescues the righteous, He hates evil, God loves hating evil, and He also loves those who love being loving and hate evil. The "mathematics" of God's morals are as true as His character. 98 - A Psalm of Jubilation. It along with Psalm 40:3, Psalm 96:1, 144:9 calls for singing a new song of praise to the Lord. In heaven there shall be a new song sung to the Lamb of God; in Rev. 5. But again, in Ps. 98, the praise and music is inspiring and invigorating. The ocean itself even adds to the worship. It all sings of God who gets things right. Praises be. 99 - God is the Lord of all. He is the ruler and He loves justice/righteousness. He hears when we pray and answers our prayer so let's worship our Holy God. 100 - this is a Psalm of Thanksgiving that we must keep reciting and keep in our hearts. Psalm 100 is what we are born and live to do 101 - This is a theme of one who is resolved to do right: to be loving, to live justice, to have integrity, to shun evil, to reject alliances with evil people, to avoid gossip and lies and liars, and to expel evil people from God's country. Some think David wrote this Psalm as he was coming to rule as King of Israel. It's his pact with God to have a proper kingship. 102 - is written in a time of terrible affliction. The writer is humiliated and a miserable sight for others to look upon. Life has taken a bad turn. Pain seems to be his closest companion. Yet his faith is unshaken. He loves God more than he insists that life go his way. He knows God still loves Zion, His people, and He hears their prayers - and He wants future generations to remain true to God also. Somehow, in faith, he knows that God is eternal and that his current suffering is but for a season. So he declares that He will remain in the Lord and the children and their children shall live with the Lord too.
II Kings 6-9 We are in the Nation Stream reading from The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, Elisha is simply a fascinating character and servant of you. Make and commission more like him. We pray you use us dynamically the way you used Elisha.
6 - Elisha's miracles continue. Here is a nature/gravity miracle that is, in terms if physics, equivalent to Jesus walking on water. And it isn't a magic show. It's the repairing of a problem and letting the ministry continue because of God using Elisha in a spectacular way. His involvement during times of war is impressive. Elijah's power and access to the spiritual world of angels is used in a magnificent way. Huge angels of armies appear, the enemy army is struck into blindness and confusion. Then an enemy army is "captured" by mysterious circumstances and Elisha insists they be fed and comforted. It's near tongue-in-cheek comedy that works. That army leaves Samaria fed and fine and never attacked again. The famine and cannibalism gets conveniently blamed on Elisha by the Israelite King (huh?!). The King wants Elisha dead and sends an executioner. Elisha's not too troubled however.
7 - Elisha declares the famine will be a non-issue within a day, but the king's attendant won't get a bite of the bountiful food that will be found. The story of how this happens is strange and shocking and fascinating when the enemy camp "hears" a huge army stampeding in their direction. Thank you God for sending angels again! The deserted camp is loaded with food and weapons and lucre and ... God supplies again as Elisha is simply manning his ministerial post and speaking for God. I hope these stories are hitting you the way they way they are hitting us: God has unlimited power and all things are possible with Him. He can do today what He did in Bible times now. And He intends to reach even more since there are more people today, and only the power of God can accomplish such a great endeavor. Pray God uses us like Elisha, shall we? 8 - The woman whose son was brought back to life had left for 7 years because of the famine. She returned and the King was determined that the property she had vacated was returned to her; all of it plus profits during her vacant years. The king's heart for her, because of Elisha's involvement in blessing her, triggered yet more blessing. The influence of Elisha is colossal - in case anyone needed to hear that! Elisha goes to Damascus in Assyria and prophesies as to coming events - the dying king and his successor and the treachery that is coming upon Israel from Damascus. Checking back at I Kings 19:15-18 clarifies matters and explains the emotion [that has a history behind it]. Hazael is going to be brought in to punish Israel for their horrible sin. Remember that during these chapters we are well prior to 800 B.C., Israel has been in blatant rebellion for over a century, Hazael is newly made king in Damascus and ... we'll get back to him later. Meanwhile Jehoram is made king. His story is further told in II Chron. 21. He had a good father and grandfather, but married Jezebel's daughter and what good can come of that? He murdered his brothers as they seemed to be competition for him. OK, where can this sorry guy's life go from here? --> Arabs and Philistines attacked Jerusalem. God inflicted him with an agonizing disease that would make a staunch proctologist cringe as his bowels gushed out of him and it killed him. Pause and remember that "going bad" never ends up good. Ahaziah is king of Judah next. He too was related to Jezebel and Ahab - it isn't rare the way kings have tried to find peace via intermarrying where/when/who they shouldn't. He was gone in a year. The details of his death are in ch. 9; next. 9 - Jehu led Israel as king for 28 years. It was a furiously effective campaign to rid the country of Baal / Ahab&Jezebel / Joram & Ahaziah; wicked kings related to Jezebel / ALL Ahab&Jezebels' workers & relatives / all Baal worshipers / Baal pillars and the Baal Temple. Needless to say, the young prophet anointed Jehu and high-tailed it to get out of his way! Jehu would have had dozens of Nascar trophies had he lived today. He was boisterous as they come, intrepid, without an ounce of pity for people he was called to eliminate. It took a zany man to eliminate this vile religion that has invaded God's land. Jehu did his job. His final deed in this chapter was to order that Jezebel be thrown from the palace to her death. It happened. Jehu then took his sweet time before casually ordering Jezebel to be buried . . . too late for the dogs had devoured her. Wickedness and wicked lives end up in wickedness and wicked places, don't they?
Leviticus 17-20 We are in the World Stream and have started a new bible version: The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
"God, we thank you that you have laid the path and laid it out straight for us. You want us well and ... well, thank you again. Amen."
17 - blood and its handling is dealt with sternly in this chapter. God is the God of Life. Life is in the blood. Blood must be shed properly and in the right place. Blood is sacred. We are saved by the shedding of blood as it happened on Calvary in the spring of Jesus' 33rd year. The 13-14 centuries of having a holy reverence and strict rules about blood is training the Jewish people to be ready and to be in awe of Jesus' blood as it's shed. There is a true story of a grown man who received his sight for the first time when the optical part of his brain was activated by a minor accident; a bump to the head and "poof" he could see just like that. HIs description of life and the world and loved ones is the stuff of award winning literature. He said that what was most astounding to him was seeing the color red . . . in flowers, clothing, deep sunsets. The color red made him groan in awe. The color red is telling us something from God Himself. The color red in blood is telling us something even more. The allure of it is to draw us to God - not to occultic activity and the ritualistic smearing of it, painting with it, drinking it like those immersed in voodoo.
18 - the nations all around Israel were steeped in cultic sexual activity. The practices were disgusting and filthy and worse. Virtually everyone in the neighboring nations had multiple partners. There were no rules except whatever anyone felt like doing to and with whomever. Diseases were rampant. There were pockets of tribal populations where 100% were infected and had been breeding/producing offspring that ... well, we don't really want to talk about it here. BTW, many of these were the people that God told the Israelites to utterly destroy, women/children/animals included. That was because sex with beasts was practiced too. These people were given to Satanism. Satanic cults always include rampant sex along with their 'rigors'. God wanted the Israelites to be an enduring people, a testimony, he wanted them healthy and mindful of eternity - not just the next sexual encounter or partner or what have you. The rules of Lv. 18 still stand: the insinuation = one God / one heterosexual partner for life. This is core to being a people of God. 19 - the rules laid forth in 19 are perfectly legitimate and right. There is no basis for any of these laws to be argued against or considered outdated. The TEN Commandments, protecting the handicapped, keeping things in proper place / no mixing, orchard management, honoring each soul, no cultic behavior or practices, resting, honoring - it's just a great list. God wants us well not weird or weirding out for any reason. 20 - there was to be absolutely no sacrificing of infants. Whoever does so is guilty and is to be executed. Looking the other way and pretending not to notice anyone who sacrifices their infant to Molech v.s. punishing them merely spreads the guilt. Followers of Molech must die. God would have none of this madness in His land. No dabbling in Darkness/occult/witchcraft will be tolerated. There were additional rules against sexual impurity that God insisted they adhere to. All God's Law was to be obeyed. It may seem tedious to describe all this but the better way to see it as God sees it is to realize that unredeemed humans have awfully perverse tendencies that make them into a base "animal" and will soon be acting worse than an animal. The only way to avert this penchant for going bad is to fastidiously list each and every action they were to avoid and to list them specifically. No one could whine to God then, now, or ever, "but I didn't knowwwwwwwwwwww." Yes you do. God told you.
Download Galatians 1:1-4:7 We are in the Church Stream and reading from the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Thank you Lord for settling issues and removing the haze of what it means to walk in your will and plan. You want us to know you straight out and clearly. Discipleship is not meant to be a confusing puzzle. Thank you for what we learn as you simply tell us. Amen."
1 - Paul opens with his trademark glorious, triumphant, and encouraging greeting that had to warm hearts wherever this is read. And Paul quickly jumps in on the matter that is bedraggling the region of these churches that he had mentored and planted on his first missionary journey. Judaizers were traveling and teaching that circumcision and adherence to Moses' Law was required to be truly saved. And numerous gullible young believers were submitting themselves to this procedure. In other words, people were being earnestly taught that they needed to find Christ via Judaism - not through God's grace in Jesus. Jesus was fine to Judaizers, yes, but the Old Law was still required to be followed. Paul offers a polemic that smacks that idea back into 1300 B.C.! Some may have thought, well well well Paul. Who do you think you are to go around- ... Paul cuts to the quick and goes right into the legitimacy and credibility of his calling. It's a true rendition of his vocation and record and how he got to where he is. Paul was on a unique track - you couldn't fake his resume~ if y'tried. Point being made, Paul is for real and what he is bringing forth in this letter has proven to be Scripture that is God- breathed loaded with timeless advice. Paul was mentored by Christ Jesus Himself, so he is not sharing advice from an advisor who heard from a ... no. He got this straight from Jesus.
2 - Paul talks of his 2nd visit to Jerusalem where he shamelessly, yet discreetly, met with and explained the new covenant to men of prominence and how circumcision was not required anymore. Paul is preaching a bold topic in a hot spot that could get him in some serious trouble but Paul must do what he must. He talked further of sternly confronting Peter for waffling on the topic and allowing himself to be intimidated and to actually pull away from Gentile believers when Judaizers showed up to threaten and press the issue of circumcision. His explanation of justification by faith and not works is a pivotal point here for understanding the gospel. 3 - Paul shares his exasperation with the Galatians who were allowing themselves to cower and revert to religion rooted in tasks and duty and rituals that had never saved anyone - only prepared them [in a peculiar way] to be saved once Christ rose and Pentecost arrived. Abraham is the figure that Paul hearkens back to here. Abraham was a giant to Jewish Believers and to people of faith in general. The issue Paul brings up is a zinger: "Abraham was declared righteous because he believed God." That is the end of the matter. Abraham was dubbed righteous by God and he is labeled so ~->roughly 600 years before Moses arrives and writes the Law. Come on Galatians, you are not seeing the giant truth right in front of you. Will you plug your ears AND insist that you cannot hear? Come back to the faith you were taught and know to be true. The Law of Moses was added to deal with transgressions, but that is only a "solution" for a time period. Christ is the Promise (the seed as Paul explains it) that will bring salvation. We are then heirs of salvation. Heirs need not earn this relationship. It IS before we are mindful of it. We need merely to adhere to God's plan and embrace His Son. 4 - His explanation of what a son is and what a son owns and what a son comes to realize and be, is putting the concept into terms that all the world can understand. We know what children mean and the destiny that they are enveloped in provided they keep in the fatherly relationship as God planned it. Paul hopes that this illustration will teach them how God is at heart for His own. The thread that reoccurred this week is: "the right way is simple." People can complicate matters and do so for no good reason. Following God is simpler than we often make it to be. -In Leviticus the cleansing of a leper is simply spelled out. This was a problem that bedeviled the known world. So God just told them what to do about it. -In II Kings, it was an era; a generation that needed to listen to Elisha. No mystery here. Just call Elisha over. He had God upon Him and in Him and there was not a problem let unsolved by Elisha. -Moses in Psalms brings a combination of things that get us and keep us on the right path in God's World: assess your life and get wisdom, praise Him, trust Him, worship Him. That's not too hard, is it? -In Jeremiah restoration is promised in the future but for this era, they needed to allow themselves to be subjected to Babylonian invasion and exile. Not easy, but it's better than being butchered. - Amos shows that they simply needed to plead with God for pardon . . . [they wouldn't however] -Luke makes it pretty clear that getting to Jesus remedied anything. Get Him to come to you or go to Him. Do what you must. Interesting that it is nearly identical to how Elisha is presented in II Kings. -Paul is rather spirited in insisting that this gospel is as simple as it was for Abraham. Just believe and follow. Don't complicate it. Let all the laws go, bro. :-)
Download Luke 7:1-8:15 We in the Christ Stream reading from the New American Standard Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, your marvels are altogether marvelous. Keep us on track with you and in line with what you are about every day. Amen.
Luke 7 - This is about a centurion who had control over 100 Roman soldiers. He had ultimate power; even to execute on a whim. And as any one knows, when your helper is down/ill/gone things get complicated and laborious and very inefficient very quickly. This centurion presently has such a problem and somehow he knows Who to call upon. This is testament to how the news of Jesus is spreading and that hunting him down is NOT a waste of time; never is it a fruitless pursuit to seek out Jesus. His respect for Jesus is revealed in how he requests that Jesus simply 'say the word'. The man knows about authority for certain. Jesus' exclamation is noteworthy. He is saying, "hey family (of Jews in the Jewish nation)! The outsiders that you despise have me pegged. They know what I am about. Pay attention. They're catching this faster than many of you are." And this healing takes us straight into Jesus' performing a resurrection. This woman is of Nain is at her end. Her husband is gone. Her only son is now gone. The funeral is complete despair that sweeps the town, drawing a huge crowd. Jesus stops the procession, brings him back from the dead. Note the wording - that Jesus gave him back to his mother. Death took him --> Jesus gave him back. The news of this spread like feathers in a hurricane. Jesus' resurrections, of which three are recorded, truly sent undeniable shockwaves through the countryside. The incident wherein John the Baptist is confirming that Jesus is HIM and here and the Savior is a scenario that had to happen. Jesus proceeds to prove His Messianic power through healing and it suffices for John's followers. He then exhorts the crowd of which many of whom had sought out John the Baptist. Some skeptics who had been tracking John duplicitously were simply jealous of the tremendous crowds that were listening to him in Jordan/Jericho area v.s. being in Temple in Jerusalem. And now some those same skeptics were following Jesus around - but not wholeheartedly. And Jesus gives them 'the business' . Then one of the Pharisees invited Jesus for dinner and a sinful woman came to be with Jesus. She was penitent and broken and could not do enough to show her devotion to the Son of God. And just so everyone knows, this was not Mary Magdalene, nor Mary from Bethany (Lazarus' sister), nor was it the woman who anointed Jesus' feet right before the crucifixion; in John 12. Jesus is so completely tender with her and receptive as he was with those who made mistakes. He uses the moment to teach about forgiveness, gratitude, and Jesus' personal power to forgive. What an amazing conclusion to this meal and to this day. 8 - the women listed here who assisted in the ministry is helpful insight into Jesus' day to day. Even prominent women knew to get involved. Can anyone think of anything better to do than to be about the business of assisting in the work of Jesus!? Just one assessment I wish to make as we closed the reading today - BE good soil. This is more than a story about a parable of a sower. When Jesus invests in you and plants His seed in you, make it grown, pay attention, be fruitful, multiply it, tend to it, and watch God simply invest/plant more in you. God is looking for faithful people to use to make the matters of the Kingdom grow and grow. Don't be thorny, careless, paper-thin and worthless. Make good of what God has given. Again, be good soil.
Amos 6-7 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, let us be sober and vigilant for righteousness and warn others to walk in righteousness also. Amen.
6 - The people are living like the finest, enjoying the finest of the fine: food; marvelous food, banquets while ivory lined their palaces, and they are listening to stringed music and sipping wine and they couldn't care less than they do about what is right or the spiritual health of their debauched nation. These people of the northern kingdom are similar to the super rich in first class that rode the Titanic Feb. 1912 on its maiden voyage to a freezing grave - oblivious of the pure nightmare that was closer than they wanted to realize. The bones of Samarians would become the sight and the landscape. Palaces were about to be smashed. They had poisoned everything that God had done good with them starting from centuries ago and soon they would be heaved onto the scrap-heap of history. It is going to be awful.
7 - Yet Amos still cared. The Lord was sending locusts to strip Israel - but Amos interceded for the Israelites and God relented keeping the locusts off their crops. The same happened with a judgment by fire when Amos prayed and God did not. Then a plumb line is used to measure Israel ... for destruction. God will not show mercy or be pleaded with anymore. Israel has pushed and pushed back and "banged on the NO ENTRANCE door" long enough. Israel is going to be dealt with by the sword of Assyria. Amos is basically scolded by the king of the north to take his disconcerting words of prophecy elsewhere. For that Amaziah is going to see his family ravaged...then they will be gone. It's a sad avenue that sin takes a nation down isn't it?
Jeremiah 33-35 We are in the Prophetic Stream using the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord we heard your astonishing prophecy to restore and return gloriously with your people one day - for Jerusalem to be inhabited by a blessed and chosen people. We believe that for us still today - that we are destined for the New Jerusalem. Amen.
33 - Here we are into the second half of Jeremiah and it is good to remember that Judah was a tribe and a nation that enveloped Jerusalem. There was right about 400 years between David ruling there and Babylon breaking in to burn the city flat and haul Judah away in exile. There were 20 kings in that 400 year period and most were bad men. So how can there be a line of David that rules forever? how can there be any good news at all when the leaders were derelict most of the time? Still Jeremiah declares that God intends to heal and restore Judah...and Israel to the glory God intended. God will bring wealth and peace and abundance to them. 'Hard to see that indeed with enemies at the gate, and it's hard to believe that when the city's destined to be laid to waste and consequently desolate for several decades. Nevertheless, life SHALL return to Judah. It has been prophesied. And it is stated for reiteration that there is a leader from the line of David who will come; He is the Righteous Branch. He will be bring justice and it will affect the whole earth. He is 28 generations following David as his 26th (generation) grandson. The family line is listed and counted in Matthew 1 if you care to brush up on this.
34 - The prophecy here against Zedekiah is unfortunate. He was told that Babylonians were a force too powerful to resist so just submit to exile and go without fight or flight. He was also told to declare the slaves set free here before the siege upon Jerusalem actually happens. The slaves' owners did this ... and then took them all back in disobedience to scripture and the current prophecy. This was wrong and Zedekiah was passive about it offering no rebuke to those who owned servants. Zedekiah later disobeyed the Lord when Jerusalem was being sacked. He was a poor diplomat, poor king, poor leader, and poor servant of the Lord. He paid for it severely (his imminent capture is one of the worst vignettes~ in the Bible, btw.) 35 - Jeremiah points out and employs the Recabite people in a live illustration put forth before the Judeans. The Recabites were people who had committed to live in tents v.s. dwellings and to not do the normal things of engaging in agriculture, growing vineyards, making and drinking wine. They were still committed to refraining from alcohol as their ancestors had decreed. Their resolve is revered as spiritual obedience. This contrasted against the contemporary Judeans make for a teaching moment that had serious teeth to it. The Recabites had their commitments and honored God this way. Whereas virtually all the Judeans were base and committed only to their impulse to live sinfully.
Psalm 90-95 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading some of the psalms of Moses. We are using the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, increase our faith and let us triumph in you. Thank you God. Amen.
Psalm 90 - is likely one of the first Psalms ever written since it was written by Moses who was 400 years prior to David. There are numerous Rabbis that attribute Psalms 91-100 to Moses as well. 90 is about our eternal God and his attributes, His being the source behind all that is created. Moses is also musing that our lives are short and laborious so we best take stock of our lives and weigh them against the passage of time; "teach us Lord to number our days..." is a rather famous biblical verse we are wise to employ in our planning. Moses wisely asks that our temporary lives be assessed against our Eternal God so that our lives tally to amass some significance. We are not wise to launch out on our own. 91 - The best thing to say about Psalm 91 is "read it again." It has been the comfort to billions of believers, missionaries in peril, the lost and abandoned, the pilgrim going through the valley of the shadow of death. Better than commenting on it a length, we'll just repeat the first sentence: read Psalm 91 one again. It is the sterling Psalm of Trust in God. 92 - This is a wonderful Psalm reminding us to sing and worship and be thankful to God, to make music unto God. Those who worship Him will join Him eternally. And, on the converse, the opposite is also true. There is no end to the manifold blessings of making sure our lives are attached, secured and rooted in righteousness attributed to the Lord of Heaven. 93 & 94 are both about the majesty of God. The Lord He reigns. Nothing can drown Him out. He is greater and mightier, for His words are true and holy. Yes, there is wickedness among men for their deeds and lives are wicked. This is who they are in their stupidness. But they will all pass in a flash like a morning mist. The righteous can rely on the Lord to be their refuge, strength and stronghold. The wicked need not be feared or regarded for they will be destroyed. 95 - This is ecstatic in its reminding and urging us to Praise our God. To sing and rejoice and kneel before Him in worship. The earth is great and He is our God and we are His children resting in His Hand. There is warning to not rebel or be faithless like those in the wilderness who were turned away from the Promised Land. Let's remain faithful to our God.
II Kings 1-5 We are in the Nation stream today reading from the New American Standard Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Wow, Heavenly Father. It is never a dull day walking with you. Let us be inspired by your mighty deeds and the mighty men who faithfully walked with you. Amen.
1 - Ahab (Jezebel's 'sellout' husband) has recently died and Ahaziah his son began his two-year reign. He was a dark soul like his father Ahab. Incidentally, Moab rebelled against Israel soon into Ahaziah's reign. He took a fall in his palace and in his distress, he called upon Baal; God of Ekron to learn if he would recover or not. Elijah was irate that Ahaziah called upon Baal - god of Ekron - to tell of his fortune. So Elijah pays him a visit, gives the dirty lowdown, that for his going to Baal for answers, Ahaziah was going to die; he would never leave his bed, and Elijah leaves. The king and messengers send for Elijah to bring him back and straighten him out or to renegotiate a different prophecy - who knows but that the plan to fetch Elijah and remind him how to treat a king is not terribly smart. So a captain with 50 men are burned up by fire from heaven at Elijah's command. They send another captain with his 50 and it happens again! A third group of identical size approaches Elijah but with a different attitude. So Elijah complies after prompting by an angel prods him to do so. Elijah goes to King Ahaziah [again] and declares what he said prior. Everyone knew not to provoke Elijah, wouldn't you say so?! So Ahaziah dies. The word here is that Baal was wrong. Elijah spent much of his years denouncing Baal - and those who followed Baal looking to him for life and answers. This was wrong, for Baal was a false idol that merely served to distract people from the God of Abraham. Ahaziah is gone and Jehoram assumes the throne since Ahaziah had no son.
2 - This is the chapter of Elijah's finale~ and departure Take special note of this man's life for he is among the most salient men in the Bible and in all history. Among all the characteristics of Elijah, his enduring deed was to mentor Elisha. Elisha asks one thing from him before he departs and that is that Elisha receive a double portion of the Spirit of God to be upon his life. The requirement is that Elisha see, actually SEE Elijah going up to heaven hosted by angels, and horses and chariots as he departs earth. This means that Elisha was not take his eyes off of him. Keep that in mind regarding a mentor in this life - don't take your eyes off him. And this goes for the Holy Spirit that mentors us in our lives. Don't take "your eyes" off of Him. We must look to the Spirit of Christ to guide us and we will receive that guidance. Elijah's departure is a show they would never forget. The spirit then rested upon Elisha. His authority and anointing is verified immediately when he directs fifty men. He heals a water well, and curses a group of smart alecks who ridicule him - they are attacked by bears immediately. This is another prophet that y'don't want to take lightly, argue with, cross-buck him, or go against him in any way. He speaks for God so when Elisha is speaking, God is talking to you --> listen up. 3 - this is a tangled chapter with much intrigue and puzzlement and no shortage of gore. It is an interlude in Elisha's ministry wherein he is simply consulted about battle. The entire chapter does serve to illustrate for us the tumult that Elisha is serving amid. Jehoram; king of Israel implores Jehoshaphat; king of Judah / and the king of Edom to all combine and fight Moab. As they march the seven days to Moab there isn't water so a panic arises. [Jehoram proves to be a trifle manic in all this, btw.] Thus, Elisha is called upon. He advises, water comes, the advancing Moabites think it's a 'valley of blood' and they interpret that Israel/Judah/ Edom have all turned on each other for a slaughter. So Moab charges -and gets surprised! While being overwhelmed in battle, they retreat and go head on against Edom. Nothing works in Moab's favor and so in a grossly sadistic and ghoulish move he burns and sacrifices his own son and hangs him from the wall. This scene caused the battle to wane and Israel to retreat and not try to tax Moab anymore. They realized that the King of Moab was willing to kill anyone/anything. It's fiendish, yes, and yet Moab's sacrifice worked. Our apologies for talking this through. We'll stop with this right here. If you are curious to read of a collateral report, do a search on "The Moabite Stone" that King Mesha of Moab made to commemorate this whole very strange battle. The Moabite Stone was discovered by archaeologists in the 1860's A.D. You can look it up from there is you are so compelled. 4 - Elisha performs a miracle to save a widow and her family. The pots were filled with oil as oil multiplied without stopping while Elisha continued pouring. If they had fetched more pots, those would have been filled too! The oil stopped flowing when the empty-pots-to-fill stopped coming. There's a faith message in this that I hope is being heard. Then the Shunnamite woman had a son as Elisha had prophesied. Note this was afterthey had provided quarters for Elisha to rest in. Later Elisha raises him from the dead - This is one of theseven resurrections in the Bible - how many?! Elisha continues headlong in a flurry of miracles that we will keep reading about next week. Next there is accidentally poison in their meal that Elisha makes edible. Then loaves and grain grows while being served - enough to feed everyone... 5 - Naaman, the valiant soldier and captain of Aram's army is healed of leprosy. The Israelite girl that was captured and served Naaman's wife is the one who 'opened this door' for the miracle to take place. Naaman and his family and others want this healing so badly, they carry 750 lbs. of silver and 150 lbs. of gold as a gift for Elisha to prompt him to action. This healing becomes a stunning testimony that even Jesus spoke of 800 years later. Notice how many times Naaman is told to dip in the Jordan. Remember the Holy Spirit is alllways eager and ready and wanting to alight upon an obedient soul. But looking this over, did the Holy Spirit need money to heal Naaman? Did Elisha? God heals for His glory and His testimony and for His name to go forth. Catch the double-edged warning about using blessing for greed. Elisha's servant, Gehazi hopes to pocket some cash from the miracle ... and it costs him his health. John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Churches asserted that a person with the gift of healing is never to charge money for administering the Holy Spirit and healing people. A word to the wise should be sufficient here. Bless people with God - don't bill them while saying "it's for God."
Leviticus 14-16 We are in the World Stream reading from the New American Standard Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we see what it is you want in us. You want us clean, cleansed, holy, mindful of these things and you want us saved. It is good to know that we matter to you so much. Thank you Lord. Amen" 14 - This is the next installment of the two chapters [13,14] on skin diseases: dealing with infections of the skin, cleansing them, stopping infection as best as possible, and stopping the spread of infection. This meant dealing with and eradicating mildew, and keeping leprosy contained. It is interesting the way the priest is integrally involved in people's cleanliness. It's very different from what we hear today when a rebellious person declares, "it's my life, I'll do what I want. My life isn't anyone else's business..." Oh? We are each other's business. We are God's people. Our houses are God's houses. They are not to be dens of diseases. Our lives do have import. We do affect each other. When we will not clean ourselves, it affects other people. Infections and disease spreads through reckless living, dirty living, careless habits, etc. In the pagan world there are such horrible diseases that are rampant. And on the convers, these diseases are virtually nonexistent where there is Judeo-Christian culture and people have Leviticus and the dermatology field that has sprung from this book.
15 - The issue of discharges were to be dealt with very specifically. The delineation between male and female is described and the solution for cleansing is prescribed. Again, the priests involvement is clearly laid out. And this too is the Lord's business. Anyone who has sired, borne, and raised children knows that the cleansing of our young is vital to their health and survival. Neglect here will cascade into ailing health,a putrid environment, a decayed culture, and premature death. The fluids of semen among men and blood among women from menstruation were dire matters to deal with as God instructed them to. Life itself resided in and was transferred by way of these fluids and God is the God of life. Life needed to be handled precisely and fervently for they were to be a culture of life. It became a curse in Hebrew culture to have either of these fluids fall to the ground... it symbolized life returning to dust as God told Adam he would after he had sinned. 16 - This explains the annual Day of Atonement. It is the most grave matter in all Judaism. It stood for forgiveness and the delivering from sin. Take special note that Aaron; Moses' brother was given a grave warning of where to go, where to enter, where not to go and to execute a miscue in this would result in his death! All of this was life and death. It is a foreshadowing of Judgment Day so "get it right gentlemen, you are the leaders in charge within this culture. It will eventually end up affecting he whole world." This cultural modus operandi for receiving forgiveness so to remain or return into God's Presence was a matter that would end up reverberating to the whole world for these people were to become a testimony to the whole world. Sin needed to be called what it was and it needed to be expunged. The goat was a symbol of the one who carried the sin away and continued away with this sin. It was not to come back. Sin needed to be removed from each person, each family, each community, and each tribe. This is mentioned ca. 900 years later in Zechariah ch. 3... in the removing of iniquity from the land. In terms of the priest, he needed to be clean himself, and then adorned in the proper attire. You knew that phrase, "cleanliness is next to godliness" came from somewhere, didn't you? Well here it is! We are to come into God's presence best we can and appropriately covered. This is serious in the utmost sense. And the result is here in Lv. 16: "...you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord." That is a wonder and a marvel. This forgiveness and cleansing is the heart of the matter. If this doesn't happen, nothing else matters. And all this is in complete contrast to the whole world's dealing with sin: that being --when you sin and feel guilty because of the sin --> repeat it until it doesn't feel sinful anymore. This didn't make sin go away, it just completely immersed a soul into sin so much so that it inoculated him to the fact that this behavior was sending him careening down the road to perdition, banishment, and outer darkness.
II Corinthians 9-13 We are in the Church Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 9 - This is the continuation of the 2-chapter "giving passage" that starts in 8 - that we read last week. It is the origin of why Christians throughout the world are noted as "the giving people" /or/ "the nice people" It's a banner passage instructing us to give cheerfully, generously, to not be surprised when blessing matches the proportion of our giving. Paul's teaching is truly a headwater passage that created and thereby changed the nature of charity ever since he wrote this book.
10 - Paul's authority is what is presented here. There had been some rabble/trouble-makers that were spreading around contrary opinions and insisting that Paul should not be listened to. Gee, have you ever heard of someone doing this in a church, eh? We sure have. Anyway, Paul, undeterred, proceeds right along with the impetus of who the enemy is. [The Enemy is not the people around us.] It's a well timed bit of advice to remind us what is to be focused upon. Note: -Paul uses his authority to build people up. -Those who are denouncing Paul's authority are using their self-appointed platform to cause dissension. This is self-evident proof of who should be listened to and who should be ignored. Paul's reminder of what priorities are and what is worth boasting about is "cut to the heart" stuff that is very relevant today. 11 - Paul takes a moment to deal with, explain, and expose the false prophets who are discrediting Paul no matter what he does. Whether Paul refuses an offering or Paul takes up an offering - they accuse him either way. Take a hint, when one cannot be pleased with whatever happens [e.g. Paul's critics], they are likely not a person to be listening to nor modeling life after and certainly not trying to learn anything from. Their phoniness gives them away as Satan uses lies nearly 100% of the time. Paul's trials are his testimony that authenticates His calling and Apostleship. No one would press on like He did with minimal pay unless they are doing it for God and according to God's calling. There is no other motivation, humanly speaking, to proceed if God Himself were not behind Paul's life guiding and directing him. 12 - When Paul talks about being caught up into the third heaven wherein he saw/heard things that were astonishing beyond description, the best argument for this experience is that it happened when he was unconscious after being pelted with stones in Ephesus and left for dead. As people are likely to boast about when something marvelous happens to them, or after some great achievement, Paul on the other hand, boasts about his weakness - for it is through this that the Holy Spirit is allowed to shine through him v.s. having to compete with an illustrious personality. This ends up being a greater testimony to "God at work" and therefore his life is something more so that is to be modeled. And his pain [that does not go away, even through prayer] further asserts that Paul's life is powered by Christ Jesus Himself ... not his personal storehouse of sterling virtue rooted in him having a golden personality (rumor has it Paul was NOT a "looker" to behold either). Paul is powered by Jesus and Jesus only. 13 - Paul gives some final advice prior to his plans for stopping in Corinth a third time. He urges them to seek power in walking in Christ, to examine their heart and ways, do right and seek truth. He ends with a lovely list that can best be summed up as a reminder to "act like Christians!" His love for the Corinthians does come out quite clearly.
The motif that surfaced in the reading this week, I am sure there are more but what we saw was, "do EXACTLY what God asks for". When God has exact instructions, best not 'get creative' or careless ...
Nadab and Abihu got punished by God that may seem extreme when they were burned to death by fire from God. No, they got careless with precise instructions. We don't do cabinet work with a hatchet, we don't clean our teeth with street sweepers, we don't help people up who have stumbled using a backhoe. Be precise. We demand precision of others. All the more-so with God. - Ahab was told to kill Ben-Hadad but he called him over and started talking commerce and deals and trade for after the war was over. And in the next chapter; I Ki. 21 he sits back passively while his pagan wife, Jezebel, schemes to murder an innocent man. He's wrong against his own conscience and he's wrong with direct orders. So a prophet tells of his imminent death and Ahab dies from an arrow. -Ps. 86:11 nails the matter: "Teach me your ways Lord, so that I may live according to your truth. Grant me purity of heart so that I may honor you." That's clear enough, yes? -Jeremiah is told to purchase land in a region that will very soon become a warzone. That is bad advice according to most every human scale of judgment. But God said to and Jeremiah did and it was a testimony to God bringing the people back as soon as all is ready for the return (after the 70 years of captivity) -In Amos the Lord said to the family of Israel, "come back to me and live". If God says this it's obvious that he wants us to live. He has exact instructions and yet that does not make God an exacting ogre. He simply wants us to live. This should encourage us. -When Jesus told Simon/Peter to go out to where it's deeper and let down nets again, that is persistent instructions to give a weary experienced fisherman who's caught nothing after long night shift. Imagine if Peter snapped back at Jesus and said, "no buddy, 'been fishing all night. We'll try later ([whoever you are!]...remember, Peter had scarcely met Jesus!)" Peter would have missed his calling and it would have changed history -not for the better.. -After a protracted monologue to the Corinthians, wherein Paul breaks down how to deal with false prophets -and there are many facets to this advice-, he tells the Corinthians in II Cor. 13:5, "examine yourselves..."Paul wanted THEM to have genuine faith. They were an impressionable people and the false prophets had affected some of them. After all this, it would be a nightmare to have them be guilty of straying -even out of sincerity. It would have been wrong all the same. This would require they be honestly looking into their own hearts. It's advice that never it outdated.
Luke 5-6 We are in the Christ Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, thank you for teaching us. Our adherence to what you told us will be what our lives hinge upon. Give us your strength to do in your Name what is otherwise impossible to do on our own. Amen
This is the first calling of the Disciples. Mark has this incident in chapter one. Luke, as we have discussed earlier, begins by including much of Jesus' background, credentials, infancy, so it is not until ch.5 that the first "Calling" shows up in Luke. A couple subtleties that are worth noting in the story: nothing happens for Peter until he obeys Jesus and gets into deeper water as instructed. ['want something to happen with you in the Spirit for Jesus' sake? -get in deeper with Him.] The catch was so great, they couldn't haul it all in/nets tore. They hadn't committed to Jesus...yet. Note that in the post resurrection parallel scene - the nets didn't tear! John 21:6-11. And notice that Peter/James/John - future GIANTS in Christendom, followed Jesus immediately. When Jesus calls, do not dawdle !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jesus then encounters a severely leprous man who worshiped Jesus and pleaded and asked according to if Jesus was willing. It's a rather touching attitude this man has. When Jesus healed him and told him to keep quiet about this, he was merely trying to slow the tidal wave of the crowd morphing into a bandwagon to make Jesus the Messiah King - [as they were shouting for on Palm Sunday. a couple years later] Jesus healing the paralytic that the four friends brought on a stretcher is a very pivotal miracle in terms of chronology, importance, and theological revelation. All through history, theologians have a perception of forgiveness and how/who/why it happens to whom. This is an earthquake of a revelation that forgiveness is granted by way of Jesus. period. To any who were skeptical he verified and qualified his claim by declaring and healing the paralysis. The room was packed, the testimony echoed through the countryside - eventually across the world. Healing AND salvation (a unified blessing) is granted from the same source. The remainder of Scripture must be seen in the shadow of this knowledge that Jesus is the final authority on such heavenly blessings! Note that when Jesus called Matthew he is calling an employee of Rome out of his occupation. Matthew is Jewish, yes, but this makes a statement that could be discussed on end for quite some time.! As for the question of fasting - let's just say this: cut the piety, when Jesus is here it's party time, yeahhhh 6 - Jesus asserts that HE was the Lord of the Sabbath. That grated upon the Pharisees because they had a misappropriated fetish acting hyper-"obedient" in regards to the Sabbath. The Sabbath laws that had been created by the Sanhedrin/Scribes/Pharisees to give a false show of piety were worse than ridiculous. They were acting like God was some ogre about the Sabbath and that wasn't true. So Jesus waltzes into their world, verifies His divinity and then starts seeming to be sac-religious about the man made parts that were added to the law....and this caused quite a stir. He was upsetting their applecart and doing it deliberately. Then He heals a man's hand [on the Sabbath] while making a teaching session out of it. He was cutting the core of the matter about their phoney Sabbath laws and they were livid. Then the 12 are named in a list. And Luke tells of Jesus healing a multitude as power went out from Jesus. Luke very purposefully mentions Jesus' power. And it's also vital to note that the Disciples are watching this up close; Jesus powerfully healing a very large number of people. Next we come to Jesus giving what became the most famous sermon of all time. Matthew gives the fuller version in 5,6,7. Luke here has it in a portion of 6. The Beatitudes, the Golden Rule, rewards in heaven, a great reckoning is to be had that will have the poor be rich, the hungry satisfied, the sorrowful rejoicing ( and a great vice versa!) Luke has this "great flipping" as a motif in his gospel. He is intent to prove that things in heaven are different than here on earth. Loving enemies is historical. No one talked like this before. Not being judgmental - He wanted Believers to be accepting, nurturing, loving encouraging souls not critics of everything. Jesus also wanted people to be pure in heart and productive, and to build their lives upon Him and what He taught. Not bad advice is it?!
Amos 5 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, we don't even know how to pray for these people. Teach us how to pray for those who are lost. Amen.
Amos is sad at heart, pleading for Israel to come back to God. The nation is about to fall and it will be a horrid invasion - from which they would not come back. The 10 tribes that were hauled away - there is no historical record of them returning. They assimilated, blended in, vanished as a people. The fall of Israel was so close, it had to hurt to feel tension as someone who knew what was coming. The numbers that Amos shared about those who do NOT return from battle should have gotten their attention. God is using a juxtaposed illustration to urge them to return to him now, and thereby not see battle. They didn't hear...because they wouldn't listen.
Then 17 verses is dedicated to listing the problems of their paganism: They were trashing poor people, ridiculing righteous people, worshiping stars (astrology not astronomy). They had told themselves that Baal brings the wind and rain - [NO, God does this, people!] The Israelites, despised honesty, they hated truth, they oppress and gouge people into destitution through strangling taxes and pricing. Bribery was a rampant problem. God insisted that all this be remedied and remedied now. God gave a route of repentance and escape - though He knew they wouldn't. So they best ready themselves to weep in anguish as the land is about to be crushed. Some n'ere-do-wells in the northern kingdom were pontificating, "well, maybe the Lorrrrrd will help us avoid any imminent trouble...?..." DUH! after spending 200 years ordering Him to scoot on out? REALLY? There is terror coming and it will be everywhere you turn. God was beyond nauseated by their religious platitudes, the double living, the hypocrisy, AND the Satanism (may as well call it what is was!)... God basically bellowed, "show me justice and righteousness - spare me your duplicitous garbage!" The god mentioned as "Sakkuth" is the familiar "Molech" from the Greek. This is the god they did infant sacrifice to. He was a bloodied and awful god adopted in from the Phoenicians. "Kaiwan" is the god that is referred to in the Greek versions of the Bible as "Rephan" - also mentioned in Acts 7:42-43. Thus the reference to worshiping God who made the constellations and such in Amos 5:7 instead of the stars themselves. So into exile they will go. Would they turn from this disastrous path? Could they? Hmmm, Wasn't it Carly Simon who sang, "it's too late baby, now it's too late." I want to say "God help them" but they don't want God's help; not God's way. anyway ...
Jeremiah 31-32 We are in the Prophetic Stream - still sailing with Jeremiah. We are using the New Living Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, we pray that all are brought back to you. Thank you for this triumphant prophecy today. Amen.
31 - The point here is that there will be restoration. There is hope. There is always hope. The imminent captivity that must take place is no issue to God and His eternal plan to bring His people to Him and bless them with his love that never changes. God will bless and give rest and supply even for those in Babylon. They will be rebuilt. They will dance. They will dine. They will not be in want. They will worship. The return to the Promised Land will be the greatest of joys. The bounty will be ecstatic! It will be a party rooted in the goodness and the faithfulness of God. There will be restoration and it will be astonishing -the joy of it all. The intrigue of the verse inserted about Rachel weeping for her children is prophetic as it refers to Herod frantically ordering all the 0-2 year old boys to be killed that were in Bethlehem almost 600 years later. He was doing a sweeping slaughter thinking that in the carnage he would obliterate the newborn king Jesus. It didn't work. It did spread an horrendous grief through the region however from all the lost young ones. And the double meaning of children being redeemed/found again/returned again is a matter of intrigue. It's rather brilliant literature, looking at it in retrospect. It had to be awful and beyond to live through the loss before the restoration. But be assured, restoration is coming. A New Covenant is coming. And there will be spiritual restoration as well. We can be certain that God will do all He says and that He will protect His people; His land. This is also a double - focus passage about the end of captivity and the end of time when Christ reigns in the New Covenant. 32 - Jeremiah is told to buy property and do so publicly. The deed is to be kept in a safe/safe place. This is a statement that regardless of the 'storm clouds gathering', keep you hearts set on returning and tell your children to do the same. Those who buy land have plans, big plans, long term plans that affect future generations. It's important that this was one short year before the final invasion of Babylon. The Babylonians were packing their torches and sharpening their swords while getting fitted for their battle gear; getting briefed for imminent departure to march and raze the last of Jerusalem to the ground! It was 587 B.C. So for Jeremiah - this was a faith move of huge proportions. But he had to take the lead and execute these plans of buying property. The statement was that the land will be held, preserved, and cultivated again when the Hebrews return. Jeremiah's prayer while in custody after buying the property takes us right to his heart of prophecy, doesn't it!? Jerusalem was under siege by now and the war drums and saber rattling was going on. God's anger at centuries of their disobedience had lit the flames of war and there was no revoking the ugly battle that especially Manasseh; Judah's most wicked king had done. Judah had become deliberately pagan beyond imagination and it was over for them now. But God reminds them yet again, that there would be a return to here/Jerusalem again. Can you say "wow" to the ways of God?!
Psalms 86-89 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the New Living Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, all we can say is that you are good and you are good all the time and that you are good to us. Amen
86 - This is a Psalm from King David who had been through it all, seen it all, won it all, lost it all, enjoyed is all, suffered through it all and brought it all back home. David's life models that we can take it all to God. The worship in this Psalm is among the best. The pleading, the longing, the exalting of God, the call for learning and cleansing and reassurance and favor. David asked for it all from God and God showed Himself to be true.
87 - The glory of Jerusalem. Those who love God are drawn there. People of other countries relish the place. The Psalm can also be about the glory of the Church that was founded by Christ Jesus 900+ years after this Psalm was written. And v. 6 can be symbolic of the Lamb's book of Life - in whose names are found the souls who are going to live eternally as citizens of Heaven. 88 - is the saddest of the Psalms. There is no resolution. There is no relief or let up from the suffering. The suffering is prolonged and terrible. The loneliness of it could have even been the worst part. This soul feels like everyone is gone and that God has ditched him as well. The reason this Psalm is part of the the Psalms is because even when you are feeling this way, God is there in the middle of it all too getting each of us through it. 89 - This is God's promise that David's throne will be an eternal throne. The Psalm is written by Ethan the son of Kushaiah who is mentioned in I Chronicles 15:17. This Psalm reads like a wonder of wonders in its gloriousness as we read of God's regal goodness and how he has expressed His love for all things good and right; ... and His love and commitment to David; the man He made king. The Psalm reads along rather triumphantly and then it takes a turn downward. God is punishing - though this does not change the fact of His love, His commitment and the truth of what He said from the beginning and what God says eternally whenever He makes any statement. God did not change...He is acting accordingly toward a soul that has changed his commitment to dubious behavior. It's like when my husband once said in a sermon that the Bible is not a contradictory book - it is a testimony that is written the way it is for it is trying to show love and God's goodness TO A CONTRADICTORY PEOPLE. Do not assess that God is fickle and flighty just because one of His followers is behaving that way; - against how God has instructed all of us to behave. God has made a promise in the Bible, it is mentioned in this Psalm and what God has said, and what is true does not change. And this ends the third book of Psalms; the third of five total.
I Kings 19-22 We are reading from The Nation Stream today as we finished the story of wicked King Ahab. We are reading from the New Living Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate
Leviticus 10-13 We are in The World Stream reading from the New Living Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, you do care for us on every level. And we are grateful for that. Thank you. and Amen.
10 - The swift and terrifying judgment for Nadab and Abihu hits hard like a gong or gunshot fired as a warning to all for all eternity. And don't forget, thinking these two souls were fringe citizens that society could take or leave. These were Aaron's sons that we are reading about. We are in The Tabernacle Era, walking through the desert enroute to Canaan; The Promised Land. If you were to count the important people in this era of history, N & A are easily "top ten" in terms of prominence -perhaps they are in the top five! They were burned and gone instantly and Aaron was not allowed to pause even momentarily to mourn them being incinerated. This is an extremely stiff penalty and it did not yield to privilege in any way. Why? and why this here? Why now? The offerings were just spelled out in the prior chapters; 1-7, the consecration of the Priests took place in Lev. 8-9; N & A included! Following this chapter is a myriad of details for cleansing, being clean, getting clean, purification, testing for diseases, being clean for entering into worship, being clean before God, etc. The swift judgment happening how and when it did sounded the alarm that the issue of getting things right in God's presence and doing things exactly how we are told is of greatest importance. The gravity cannot be overstated. Even today, how many people call themselves servants of the Lord - they do God's things "for God", yes, but they don't do them God's waaaaaay. Things need to be done God's way or they are not being done for God and it is hapless to lie to ourselves and say are serving God when we are just serving ourselves. The priesthood was a life and death vital matter and this reminded all of that. The closing instructions in this chapter and the pathos involved in the narrative serve to deepen the point that the priests' need to serve God precisely as well as whole-heartedly.
11 - The laws for eating certain animals was laid out as comprehensively and exactly as possible. They were not to eat animals that were more given to have 'the rancid' factor because they were animals that ate other animals, or were scavengers, or ate garbage or feces, or were "bottom feeders". Basically they were to eat only animals that ate vegetation. The incidence of intestinal worms was then greatly diminished for the Israelites - this and many other benefits. Also any animal or bird or bug that was given to madness or chaos or scungy mannerisms/behavior was to be avoided. They were to have nothing to do with anything that was putrid in any way. It is interesting that the populations of the world that adhere to this standard from Lev. 11 are far less prone to cancer, even today. Some have determined that God is cutting in on our fun here. No, he is cutting down on our sickness. 12 - The purification and such matters around childbirth are a part of the culture wherein they are to keep a high reverence for the topic of blood. Life is in the blood and this is to be a truth that God wanted as an ubiquitous theme in the culture. God is not anti-woman as some whiners purport in hopes that getting God out of our minds is going to elevate women - along with many other silly themes that are observable in a culture that politicians hope to usher in toward a secular abyss. The priestly involvement kept a God-mindset as a woman was brought back into society. 13 - This chapter and 14, [that we will read next week], tends to have us thinking we are in the laborious semesters of medical school studying dermatology. This sentiment is perhaps true or just perceived to be. The skin is the largest organ of the body. The world of 1400 B.C.had little idea of what do about such matters, the "med" experiments we read about that were going on in Africa/Egypt/Greece/Asia at the time varied from sensible to creepy to revolting and we won't talk about it here. The fact is that skin troubles can be haunting on many levels and even make life unbearable. God didn't want that for his children. So in reading 13, don't think that God is a persnickety school marm' nurse battle ax or something like that. God is loving beyond loving and wants his children well. THAT is what's in play here. This aspect of God needs to touch us in the heart and not have us rolling our eyes as we read through Leviticus. .
II Corinthians 5-8 We are in the Church Stream reading from the New King James Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we rest all our hope AND build all our faith on your resurrection. We anticipate being raised up ourselves to be with you eternally. Until then we will be a giving people. You gave of yourself and may we be motivated to give - following your graciousness. Amen
5 - The theme of the resurrection gets another strand of truth regarding our resurrection and our understanding of it. In I Cor. 15 and I Thess. 4 our resurrected bodies are a theme linked to the 2nd Coming of Christ. But here Paul teaches that there is a blessedness of being with Christ Jesus upon death and being immediately aware of where we are - with Christ! There is more coming too following the final Resurrection. And remember that ALL will face Christ - [and though this is joy for Believers] --> this will be a terror for those who rejected Him. This mindset of Resurrection is to overshadow all other thinking for us. People are either in Christ or not in Christ. Christ makes all things new; he recreates His followers, renews them and transforms them into Ambassadors for Christ who live in His righteousness
6 - Paul relays the urgency of the gospel. It isn't something to fit in after we get something together; our thoughts, our lives, our "act" - that's never all together - so receive salvation in Jesus now (Paul urges). He gives a sobering list of what is involved for those in ministry; these difficulties along with the verifications of such ministry are all included for those who serve the Almighty. And he closes out ch. 6 reminding us - imploring if your will - the Corinthians to be a holy people that have set themselves apart from a worldly culture so to ready themselves to walk with their holy God. 7 - The back story of this chapter is that Paul had sent Timothy (mentioned twice in I Cor.) and then later sent Titus to Corinth to provide some discipline and leadership. Timothy got the correction process started but Titus' follow up was needed. Titus is specifically referenced three times in ch. 7 for having done commendable teaching. The Corinthian church had repented. The lecherous yet influential person in I Cor. 5 had been exhorted, been humbled, and the church as a whole was healthier. This is the good report that Titus' presence had brought about. It was good news, Paul was happy about it and God was blessed. 8 - Though ch. 8 finishes our reading today, ch's 8-9 [together] are the clearest teaching of Christian giving and generosity in the New Testament. Read them both before the day is out if you will... The incident at hand is that an offering is being gathered by Paul for the Church back at the starting point; the church in Judah, Israel. Offerings were being gathered for over a year and this development required instruction, administration, proper thinking plus hearts that were touched by Christ's sacrificial giving. The teaching that Paul laid forth here still applies to church bodies and denominations today. Giving should be voluntary (not coerced), proportionate; meaning based on percentage as well our grace found in Christ, and also, giving should be systematic. [We insist that our pay at work be regular, yes?! - what are church staff workers to do when people give 2% v.s. 10% and they only give the weekend of Easter and Christmas, not weekly. This teaching on giving continues next week. Come what may, we will be together again, tomorrow :-) The theme that reoccurred this week distilled to be "you may not be ready for this, but it's going to happen, ready or not, good or bad, here it comes. Leviticus ended with all the sacrifices in place and GOD Himself BROUGHT FIRE. Millions of people shouted in exclamation, fell on their faces overwhelmed. That was a sight! I Kings wraps up with Elijah also preparing a sacrifice and overly proving his point with extra water and white hot fire that left everyone in shock and awe fell from heaven. Even pagans praised God Psalm 84 hit like a fresh breeze -unexpectedly- after a few painful, desperate, exasperated Psalms were stacked together. It was good - and just as some may have been braced for more stinging verse - there we were taken into the wonder of the house of God In Jeremiah, tere were two unexpected jolts: Hananiah gets zapped for contradicting Jeremiah with his "positive" (all's fine) message. Then Jeremiah writes the Jews in Babylon telling them to settle in live [among the Babylonians?!?!]. Yes, it was strange times. The pompous ones in Samaria are getting a earful from Amos. They don't want to listen however. So God is going to "fish-hook" them together and march them to Assyria. So you're not ready for Amos' words? Are you going to be ready for that sadistic torture/treatment?!! Jesus has a faceoff with Satan in Luke's gospel. Would any of us been ready for that? yeesh. II Corinthians, in this portion, Paul is commenting (between the lines) that Timothy was not quite ready to deal with the Corinthians, so Titus was sent. And the reason Titus was sent was to doubly rebuff the ebullient sinner- he didn't expect that. Then he repented. No one expected that, either. Hey, walk with God! It's better and more exciting/surprising/jolting at times than anything any of us ever have planned.
Download Luke 3:21-4:44 We are in the Christ Stream reading with the New King James Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Thank you God for giving us Jesus. He is certainly fascinating to listen to, follow, be near, and be changed by -because He has touched our hearts. Thank you. Amen.
3 - Luke tells of Jesus being baptized, filled by the Holy Spirit, blessed of God, and then Luke lays out more credentials of Jesus: His lineage. The distinction of this lineage as compared to the one in Matthew 1 is that Matthew starts with Abraham. To a Jewish mind, it all starts with Abraham so Jesus' direct link to Abraham is displayed. Matthew lists the son of dozens of times ... Jewish families are verified by having children, so Matthew lays it out, "and his son was, and his son was, and his son was...
Luke here goes the other direction. Since he is writing to Greeks, who are more concerned with, "well who's his dad? and who was HIS dad? and so forth. So Luke starts with Jesus ... "and his father was, and Joseph's father was ..., and his father was. And Luke took the genealogy line clear back to Adam. The point is that Jesus is Adam's direct son and therefore related to all of us. 4 - Jesus' temptation by the devil is told by Mt, Mk, and Luke. Mark's is very brief; two verses, whereas Matthew and Luke tell the greater picture. Luke tells the longest version. Mt, and Luke say that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert, where Mark says the Spirit drove him into the wilderness. This is in the Bible to demonstrate to us that the devil is going to offer us many things, it will always be appealing, and it will even appear to meet a need for us. It could be a need for physical satisfaction, a need for power, or a need for a wonderful sign. The Devil wants Jesus to make bread from stone. Would you have found that tempting? a steaming loaf after not eating for nearly six weeks? Jesus is not against eating at the end of a fast. Jesus is going to eat again. He just won't do it at the Devil's prompting. Dumb dares don't work on Jesus. The Devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he will worship him/Satan. Well Jesus is going to triumph through surrendering to God and going to the Cross. Satan is offering Him to skip the Cross and get it now. Would you have found that tempting? To acquire and rule with no suffering involved? The last was a flagrant temptation to make a show for the devil by throwing himself off a cliff. Research and such study reveals that it was about 150' ledge. Well high enough to be fatal! ...but the angels will catch you, right? yes? no? Jesus again answers with quoting the Bible and doesn't 'play jacks' with the devil... like we are to do. quote the Bible and walk away from The Bum. -Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. Luke is particular to quote this theme repeatedly in his gospel about Jesus having power. He wants the Greek world to be convinced that this Spirit that Jesus operates in -it actually embodies Him - it is real and it makes Him far beyond whatever they think of Zeus or Olympus, or Poseidon, or Nike, et al. All those gods are nothing - so follow Jesus. . -His time and teaching in Galilee is fruitful and well received except in Nazareth. Prophetic people need to take note of this. Comforting and shepherding people are loved by their 'old-timers' . Prophets; not so much. Jesus read them some poignant scripture and had powerful and precise things to say. They basically wanted Him dead - gone from there at the very least. So he left. -He went to Capernaum from Nazareth. This is about 40 miles by a number of routes, and he immediately engages in miraculous ministry as He casts out an evil spirit. Maybe we digress here but we always read from both a Major and a Minor Prophet the day before we read about Jesus from the gospels. There certainly needed to be evil spirits expelled back in Jeremiah's and Amos' day, don't y'think?! Then again would they have wanted Jesus to cast out these evil spirits? Just thinking here, back to ...where were we?- Yes, Jesus is in Capernaum and at Peter's house. You can visit that very structure today, btw. Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law, [meaning Peter had a wife]. Some branches of the faith are not at ease with this, but it's true: Peter was married. Jesus then, as the sun is setting, he heals many many who were brought to him. He heals a myriad of issues both physical and spiritual. Notice He lets the Sabbath come to a close and then does his numerous healings. It was a glorious season for Jesus. He taught and touched lives and they didn't want Him to leave. A bit different than Nazareth where he is run out 'on a rail' so to speak after a sharing a verse and making a comment.
Download Amos 3-4 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the New King James Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, we want to be people who hear and heed your warnings. We are reminded of the words in Proverbs, that "a word to the wise is sufficient." May we hear you in the Words you have spoken, the whispers you send, the promptings you put in our hearts. Teach us aright and renew a right spirit in us. Amen.
3 - The words of God's prophet must be heard and heeded for they are undeniably true and right. The word Amos gave was accurate [but ignored by the people of the northern kingdom]. They were deep in sinful behavior, strangely they were also very religious also. It was religion their way. Therefore God was prepping to send a vicious army against them. And they were deaf to the warning, however, since they were prospering and living in impressive luxury. The symbolism and the questions Amos asks in ch. 3 are astonishing --> for the fact that the people of Israel just did not listen! Horrid things would befall them and soon. It would be less than 20 years until the meanest army on earth trounced through like wolves on the attack.
These palaces were the pride of the northern kingdom, but they were all going to come down for their terrible sins. The Bethel that is mentioned is where one of the golden calves was set up in 930 B.C. thereabouts. The goal was to dis-tract people from God ... it worked. This altar in Bethel was especially slated to be taken down. 4 - The banquets in the Samarian palaces were quite something; events of wine and song and veal actually. Amos talks of the palaces of Samaria. They were beautiful, stocked with sumptuous food, leaders and ladies alighting around luxuriously. And the attitude of those in these palaces was heartless and callous to anyone outside and especially to those below them in status. These palace dwellers stole mercilessly, and they were violent to anyone who objected to the theft. Be that as it may, the cows being readied for slaughter were as pampered as the women of these banquets. This of course until it was time to serve up some tender beef when the cows were led out with hooks in their noses and killed for dinner. Ironically when Amos talks of the "cows of Bashan" he isn't talking to cows - he's talking to the high falutin banqueters who are about to get the latter treatment that the cows get at banquet time. Assyrians would lead any survivors away by hooking people together like multiple fish displayed on a line after fishing all day. The hook was usually pierced through the lip. !--these are Assyrians doing this to Israeli humans--! It could hardly get worse. But God was at the end of His patience with a people who were religious in all their systems and schedules and also riotously sinful; like a weekend frat party gone wild that left nothing to the imagination in their lecherous quest for more and more double living. God has warned them in smaller ways with various and usually localized famines, droughts, blight, plagues, attacks and losses in battles. Well, time's up for the Israelites and they best prepare to meet their God!
Download Jeremiah 28-30 We are in the Prophetic Stream and Jeremiah is experiencing some run-ins with other "prophets." We are reading from the New King James Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, you intend to restore after you cleanse. Thank you for stating is here and for promising this for us as well. Amen.
28 - The year is 597 B.C. The Babylonians have just hauled the first captives to Babylon to be slaves in a foreign land. Judah has not been ransacked with finality yet. That would happen in 11 years. This stretch of time; 597-586 B.C. are the exact years of Zedekiah's reign in Judah. You remember Jeremiah being told to wear a yoke in ch. 27 and to prophesy in Jerusalem that "this yoke you see me wearing is what Babylon is going to do to all of you." remember? A self-proclaimed prophet Hananiah, who was a huckster and a false prophet actually countered Jeremiah and declared that all would be restored and returned in a matter of weeks and that Jeremiah was wrong here. Hananiah then brazenly broke the yoke off of Jeremiah declaring that Babylon was going to fall shortly [not Jerusalem]. For this, Hananiah was killed just two months later. It's not too terribly smart to contradict a prophet of God in any sense, but to do so publicly is double-non-sense and reckless.
29 - Jeremiah then wrote a letter to the Exiles in Babylon. Using some of today's wording as I explain this, --the Judeans are basically in "time out" for 70 years. They had been disobedient and it was a punitive decision to send them to Babylon for a couple of generations. Jeremiah sends a rather pastoral letter in this chapter urging them to just settle in and live as normally as possible. Plant vineyards, set up your residences, marry, build lives and then God will come for them. Jer. 29:11ff is a most encouraging passage reminding them [and all of us] that God has good plans and affection toward His own. We all need reminding that "whipping the kids" is not God's idea of a good time. He so would rather bless and build. And at the same time, when blessings are wasted and what we are building is warped and destined to topple, God takes the liberty to step in and knock it all down so we can join Him in rebuilding it rightly this time. And yet there were false prophets even in Babylon, Jews who were denouncing Jeremiah. They would get their due for this and suffer greatly. These final 11 verses of ch. 29 were rather less comforting than the 29:11-14 passage we have all come to know and love so much. 30 - God commands that Jeremiah write down all that he has been told including and especially God's plan to restore Judah [and Israel]. God wanted a messianic message for the people to have so that when the restoration did happen they would realize that God did just what He said He would do. He kept His Word last time. He kept it this time. He will keep it next time. He will keep it in the future many times again. He always will. Israel AND Judah shall return and they shall be blessed of God in every way. We just read all the numerous ways God is going to bless and it is marvelous. Some of this even speaks into the era of when Jesus walks the earth in the flesh. The tribes, and each region will know they are living is wonderful days. The joy shall return. And remember they are told this while in Babylon. The return to the Promised Land that they had themselves expelled from several centuries after walking into in God's full blessing with Joshua - would be where they would return to. It would have a tone or theme, if you will, of "ok, let's try this again, people!" And God is joyful to bring them back. He wants this all along. Ephraim will be blessed again.<--- They had been such a center of wrongdoing. Judah will be blessed again. There is talk of a new covenant coming and Judah will experience this. We know who brought the New Covenant in His own blood, don't we? That would be nearly 600 years coming. But time does not diminish nor weaken nor dilute what God has said. God will do it.
Psalm 80-85 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the New King James Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Thank you God for your great faithfulness. You truly are our heavenly Father. Your desire is for us to walk with you and for you to hear our grateful response to your love. You are the God we Love. Amen
80 - This Psalms comes on the heels of a great disaster that was spelled out painfully in Psalm 79. It seems to give comment to a time when Israel as a nation (before being a kingdom divided) is attempting to recover. The mood has a concession tone similar to, "God, you're right, we were wrong, we got punished, we deserved it, we are down, you've been angry with us, we are now wondering how long you are going to be 'cross' with us. We wish to be restored, please. The shame of seeing your land and your people smashed is horrible to us too. Revive us again so that we may call upon your Name. We wish to worship in your presence and be saved.
81 - God has been so true and supportive of His people. His sustenance and protection have been unfailing, He made the rules clear as the noonday sun - no idols and no foreign gods... and yet they wouldn't listen. They could have blessed God with their obedience and He would have satisfied them with the richest. But their hands were placed over their ears instead of raised in surrender to God who loved them. 82 - is another Psalm about Israel's wayward nature. The focus here is pointed to unjust judges who are derelict in their duty. The show partiality and favor the wicked for pay offs no doubt. They neglect the needy and oppressed. Injustice seems to be upsetting the foundations of everything. The writer; Asaph, who was David's worship director, is calling on God to come and judge the earth since the people are failing at it so badly. 83 - Asaph is calling out again and rousing God to action. The enemies at the border [in all directions] are conspiring to remove Israel from the earth, off the map and out of memory. They are calling on God to act fast and decisively. Even Assyria has joined in the march to assist the perverted people of the earth to band together and destroy Israel. The litany of Asaph saying, "God you did it before, do to these people like you did to all the others that you knocked flat. Asaph wants to see them get what we might call a good old medieval country whooping ... and make it apocalyptic in nature while you're at it God! 84 - the prior Psalm ends with a pressing urge to know God And it morphs beautifully into 84 one of the warmest devotional stretches of Scripture there is. The craving is to be with God in His House. All the punishment of the prior Psalms, the running from enemies, and battles. Holy Moly, can we just get some blessed peace and come into the sanctuary and spend time reveling in the joy of God? This Psalm reads like a passionate love note of two who cannot wait to be together again. It's really all God wants from us... a heart longing to be with Him. 85 - This is a prayer that favor be restored to Israel, the children of Jacob who were brought back from captivity. They are thankful, a trifle bewildered, in need of sustaining mercy, and surprisingly they are aware of their need for mercy. This Psalm rings of faith, new resolve and willingness to listen and follow God's prompting. They really want to hear Him now. They believe good days are coming.
I Kings 15-18 New King James Version 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, some of the things you need to do to clean up the world that man messes up is almost too much to bear. But we want to be on your side of righteousness, on your side the law, and sided with you in all your grace. Thank you for calling us as you called Elijah. Amen.
15 - In case the memo missed anyone, the reading today opens in 915 B.C. That is before most of us started kindergarten... really....! Abijah had a short reign of a couple years or so. He was mostly all-in for evil. He fought with the northern king Jeroboam who started the rebellion against the south about 18 years prior. His mother was evil and apparently she mentored him so. He did win back some cities from the north as the LORD stepped in for Judah; the southern kingdom. Comparing Abijah's story here with the one in II Chron. 13 gives the fuller picture of Abijah.
Asa, his son reigned immediately following. Asa sought the Lord wholeheartedly and his plan was to clean up Judah. He banished his twisted grandmother (Abijah's mother), he rid the lude idols and the Lord gave him reign for 41 years; a time span that covered 7 of Israel's kings in the north. II Chr. 14-16 has more of Asa's story. Notice that he turned to Syria [not the LORD] for military help, He did the same in his old age regarding the problems with his feet and he suffered for his refusal to come to God in this matter. Take note here, friends! I Kings 15-16, for the remainder of the run here, lists a string of kings that coincides with the reign of Asa. It's a grisly, bloody, backstabbing, horrid time in Israel. The kings are practically trying to outdo each other in an "ungodliness contest" wherein the thirst for darkness doesn't seem to be quenchable. They are then listed and described in succession; Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab [Jezebel's wife] . None are people of character nor virtue. Their exploits are garish, huge and far reaching for the next 35 years or so. Keep in mind that "1 & 2 Kings" is much more of the northern perspective, while simultaneously, while 1 & 2 Chronicles is much more the southern perspective. Kings is a zany rendition of simply what happened as a nation frantically ran from God. Chronicles has a couple dozen reminders and anecdotes that are an attempt to see Judah return to following the Lord. 17 - Enter Elijah, one of the most glorious and powerful characters in the whole Bible. He is so etched in the "hall of heroes" among Judaism that the leaders in Jesus' day think that it is Elijah that Jesus is calling out to 800+years later as he is gasping to breath on the Cross. Just in reading this part of the incidents in Elijah's life we see why he had Messianic level status as he did many miraculous deeds, multiplied food, raised the dead, won victories and so forth. He first declares a drought and then is instructed to hide in a canyon by a brook west of the Jordan. He is miraculously fed there until God prompts him onward. He then is to go to a widow in duress who is out of food. Elijah restores her food supply. Her son then dies and Elijah brings her son back to life. He has quite a string of salient assignments and he follows God's prompting gloriously. We can see why he is so highly revered in Judaism and later in Christianity. 18 - Elijah and Obadiah have an encounter, as they are both on the right side of faith and Elijah has Obadiah set up a meeting with Ahab. Ahab was the most wicked king to date. His wife Jezebel even outdid Ahab for treachery, paganism, murder of God's people and diabolical deeds. Elijah calls for a spiritual showdown on Mt. Carmel and wanted all of Ahab/Jezebels' prophets present and for Israel to watch this showdown. They meet on Mt. Carmel and Elijah set the parameters. Each side sacrificed and arranged a bull on their respective places and they were to call on their divine source for God/god/Baal to light the fire and burn the sacrifice. The Baal worshipers commenced and called and danced and cut themselves as their false religion required of them. All the while Elijah jeered and cheered them on sarcastically as if they weren't trying hard enough. Elijah then arranged his sacrifice and soaked it with a laborious amount of water to over prove his point. There well could have been ca. 300 gallons of water poured over the wood and bull and to fill the trench. Then God sent down fire as Elijah called for God to give this sign. It was so hot that the entire altar burned up and vaporized with the bull and the wood. Even the stones were burnt and gone!! My husband looked this up for me and stones vaporize / "evaporate" at +3450 degrees fahrenheit. They turn white hot and then are gone. Btw, the surface of the sun is calculated to be 10K degrees! This was a demonstration of many things among them is that "our God is a consuming fire" / He is livid at Baal worship / He's all powerful / ...the list goes on. Israel was on their face in worship and confession. Elijah orders that all the Baal prophets be executed. The drought then ends in a wild display as Elijah orchestrated the exit from Carmel and ran ahead of, shall we call it --> "Ahab's parade".? This would make quite a movie scene would it not? It's a scene that is among the most wild-like nature miracles and savagely impressive in all the Bible.
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Leviticus 6:8-9:24 We are in The World Stream reading from the New King James Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God Your will is for us to truly see and know you and walk with you and experience your glory and love. Help us to this place, Lord God. Amen
6 - the rules for the garments and the eternal fire are part of God's thinking that kept a rich sense of significance in this particular ritual within Judaism. The changing of the outfit and keeping a particular outfit for this phase, another for another phase was meaningful. We have certain outfits for certain tasks - do we not? An outfit for yardwork, a different one for cooking in, a different one for painting in, for church, for hiking, for formal dining. You don't wear a tuxedo to a baseball game, You don't go to church in swimwear. I wouldn't eat at a restaurant where the entire staff wore painter's overalls and everyone working there smelled like oil-based-primer. You wouldn't either. Outfits need to be right and all of us feel this way. Now what if God guffawed this matter and just smirked at us while bellowing, "outfits? for church? for worship? for Temple? awww, who cares? wear whatever! I guess...?!" We wouldn't take God seriously if he was as sloppy about this as a dopey clown. And the fire was always lit because God was "always in" The Grain and the Sin Offering were initially laid forth in chapter 2 and 4 respectively. God has us learning things incrementally and over time because hardly anyone hears an elaborate task once and then retains is responsively for life. These were what people produced and having portions of the produce set aside for God kept people's minds on God and what the requirements were for being in fellowship with him. 7 - Notice that this Trespass Offering is most holy to the Lord. And it was required that the fat was required to be burned upon the fire. Fat makes for some rather volatile fuel for the fire that burned with extra heat and crackle. It can be almost as flammable as kerosene or diesel fuel. In fact there is research in process that could in time have certain cars burning fat as their fuel. We can be sure that these Trespass Offerings had everyone's attention! The Peace Offering was for a thanksgiving offering or voluntary. The rules varied. The issue of timing and consumption on 1st/2nd/3rd day was very strict. God did not want people neglecting these matters, getting an attitude of nonchalance, and also these meats sitting around for days get flies, then maggots and must not be eaten. The blood and fat were not to be ingested. It was not healthy. Fat is used and overused by people who eat too much and/or eat too much of the wrong things. And for blood - it was red and red gets people's attention. [God used the blood of His Son to get our attention!] And judging by he fact that ingesting blood by eating it cooked or drinking it 'raw' is a ritual that most all Satanic cults engage in, God wants all of us to have absolutely nothing to do with any of this or even anything that even remotely resembles this. The Bible states in Lev. 17:11 that "the life is in the blood". God gives us life and our blood carries this life. Red is an arresting color - it's all very intriguing. And yet we are to look to God for our answers in life and let Him save us His way. Trying to save ourselves our way leads to wrong thinking and we go amiss quickly. Drinking blood is cultic and wrong and God said it and that settles it for us. The portion offered for the priest; Aaron and sons (and their families) was for them to live on. They were about God's business all day, each day and this is how they subsisted. 8 - Everything that was instituted for the sacrifices was executed here. We read through all these steps and procedures and here they are commenced upon. The dressing up of the sons of Aaron and Aaron himself for worship had to be rather impressive. These were the garments that were explained in Exodus 28. The gems and colors and layers and the beauty of it was something we do not see these days. The 12 stones representing the 12 tribes and other vestments attached with gold chains testified to the significance of all this. Think of being there for worship, the red sprinkled down the altar, fat on the fire crackling without exploding, the heat and the phases of it all. It's a stark contrast to so many who attend church but are not "all there" mentally or spiritually because of distraction from anything: hand-held devices or fatigue from being up too late the night before or boredom because church is slumped too far from the biblical model of what church is to be. No one was asleep at these gatherings. Not when they are so significant and there is smoke and fire and the like .At any rate, the steps that were laid out by Moses were all gone through here on this day - in Lev. 8 9 - The ministry began before the people. The rituals sounded very similar as they were laid out in prior chapters and executed as such. Yet this time the people were witnessing it. Moses asserted, "This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, and the Lord will appear to you." So all the offerings were given and made before the Lord. The people were then blessed by Moses and Aaron. And then it happened - The Lord appeared gloriously, and fire came out as God did this to burn up the offering and the fat. What a sight!! The people shouted and fell on their faces in worship. Think of this - if there was something God asked of you to do and stipulated that once this was done, He would then visibly appear to you in an impressive manner that had you wither to the floor overwhelmed and unable to stand you were so moved by the hand of God. Would you do this or just shrug and keep checking you 'in-box" or browsing the web? God help us see what He is showing us.
Download II Corinthians 1-4 We are starting a new book in the Church Stream. The Apostle Paul is addressing the church of Corinth in a 2nd letter. We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus we thank you for the gift you give us that fills our lives with joy and purpose and gracious mercy that saves us. Amen.
Paul is writing to the church in Corinth a second time. This time he is addressing the believers in the Achaia region also. In Paul's first letter to the Corinthian church he was instructing a splintered body of believers. They were disorderly. Unsanctification/sexual matters/immorality and ebullience were problems, They were even suing eachother, and their competitions regarding the Communion were silly; just wrong (?who brought the most elaborate food to the event?! -yeesh). Simply put, they were a bustling church but they were divided and had not been loving. Many were duplicitous as there was debate and tension over how to conduct their lives in a city where paganism had been the rule for centuries. Titus had caught up with Paul during his third missionary journey. The purpose was to relay that Paul's 'year-and-a-half' in Corinth had done much good. There was however a faction in Corinth (imagine that!) that was raising the question whether Paul was authentically one of the Apostles of Christ. The latter was a slickly calculated attempt to discredit Paul since he had spoken to issues 'spot on' in his first letter. The naysayers knew there were things that needed to be remedied and they preferred to deride Paul v.s. grow in their faith. For them it was more natural to act like hucksters, change the subject - turning the focus to Paul being an illicit source of leadership. So Paul goes right at this topic in his second letter. He had founded the church in Corinth and he knew what he was doing since he was getting direction from the Holy Spirit. 1 - Paul's greeting is rich and warm as he had met with Titus after escaping a brush with death in Ephesus. And despite notable unsavory matters in Corinth, they were a loyal group who in many ways wanted to know Jesus better. Paul is realizing more-so all the time, the suffering that accompanies mission work and Christian service. He is relieved to meet up with Titus but there had been anxiety involved from his hearing of situations in Corinth. All in all, the time with Titus was of a comfort that strengthened Paul. He needed to remind the Corinthians that he was delayed because of hardship along the way, not because he was fickle. Paul is not like that. 2 - the chapter opens with talk of discipline. The scalliwag who had a "relationship" with his stepmom [he was exhorted in I Cor. 5] was a painful mess that called for discipline. Apparently that discipline had been administered come the time Paul is writing II Cor. so Paul is sounding conciliatory by now. It had been a painful pilgrimage, but prayerfully it is dealt with and over by now. Paul had been so embroiled, hoping this matter would get settled that he had scuttled right past an evangelistic opportunity in Troas to tend to the trouble. Be that as it may, Paul experienced triumph in Christ and the Providence that walking with Christ had brought him everywhere Paul traversed. Yes, some men violently rejected Paul's message but that came with the territory and Paul was content regardless. 3 - the opening issue here is most likely Paul refuting the n'ere-do-wells traveling from Jerusalem that trolled the Empire and insisted that the new Christians adhere to the Law of Moses namely to circumcision [along with the rest of the Law!]. And as they traveled they always touted their reference letters from the Sanhedrin who sent them along with their resumes hoping that would enhance reverence for them as they traveled ... to cause trouble for Paul! Paul smacks 'em pretty soundly here. These Judaizers were proud of their resumes, while Paul was gratified by the Church he planted; the Corinthians themselves who were testament to his anointing by God Himself. The Law of Moses was the last word on righteousness in the former era but Jesus is the one we are to look to now. He is the Light. Only Jesus can bring us into the Presence of God. Following the Law only has one ... following a set of laws that do not save. 4 - Paul's calling and mission in entirely consuming joyful assignment. Persecutions at any and/or all levels are not going to intimidate or sway him in the least. The joy of following God is that great for him. Paul noted that there were souls who were blinded to God's Love - that's the only explanation for people rejecting God. Paul's analogy of clay pots has become a timeless illustration. Valuable documents were preserved in clay pots. These pots weren't necessarily much to look at but the value of the contents altered history. With the Spirit of Christ living in us; as "jars of clay", we then become lives that transport, transmit and divulge value that translates into eternal wonder and also blesses the clay pot in a glorious way. The joy of the whole process blossoms into a beauty that overtakes everything as we follow Paul's instruction and immerse ourselves in Jesus' grace. The theme that reoccurred each day this week surfaced to be "what are we going to do with the sin?" In Leviticus 1-6, most of the offerings brought to God were for sin; accidental or deliberate, simply bring it to God and therein it is redemptive. In I Kings 11-14 the matter came home for Solomon. He had gathered foreign/pagan women like people collect anything collectible. What would Solomon do with this sin? He was king and he did it because he could and he wouldn't put this matter away. It altered and corrupted the nation forever. Psalm 78-79 was a litany of God's faithfulness contrasted against the Israelites' sinfulness. Would God's love ever get them to turn from their shameful sin? Their sin had caused them to be routed. When will this obvious memo ever 'sink in'? Jeremiah brought up their sin as a nation and --> they attacked Jeremiah, not the sin. They would be sent into exile for this. Also ignoring the lesson from the yoke Jeremiah put on would end up being costly. We'll read about that next week. Amos bellowed that the whole region was living sinfully. And all were impenitent as well. They would burn for it. John/Baptist, in Luke, was preaching powerfully against sin. People repented and were baptized. It was marvelous. In Corinth, Paul was doing some follow up regarding a man in the church who was living in terrible sin and ... it turned out that by then the matter was rectified and propriety had been restored. The memo this week is that sin shall be dealt with God's way or it will only continue to get worse - and more so until things are handled God's way.
Download Luke 2:1-3:19 We are celebrating the birth of our Savior in the Christ Stream. Christmas in June! We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
The Savior is born today! Thank you Lord for caring so much to send the best of heaven and the whole universe; for sending yourself, so that we may know You, follow You, and be saved. Amen.
2 - The time had come for Mary to deliver the Savior and the political circumstances required Joseph/Mary to go to Bethlehem. Notice that they went up to Bethlehem from Nazareth in Galilee. It was a 90-100 mile walk with a 1300 foot rise. The KJV says that Mary was "great with child"; the Greek actually words it to read "Mary had a 'mega-tummy' " - it's true folks. -The first outsiders invited to see the newborn king were shepherds. The significance of this as told by Luke is that Luke is writing this gospel with the intent of evangelizing the Greek speaking world. Greeks LOVE sheep/mutton (mutton gyros)/wool/lamb-skin-leather; this whole culture of shepherding. And God tells shepherds --> first! And He does so by an astonishing sign in the sky - God's angel speaking to them. Light, a message, then a choir that filled the sky, good heavens, It was overwhelming! Another way this pierces to the heart of a Greek citizen is that they had in their legends that Alexander-the-Great was born and the arrival was announced by the greatest lightning storm that ever struck upon earth in history. So a Greek mind would read this and think, "oh my! this is even greater than when Alexander was born!" Luke is saying to them [between the lines] that though their heritage takes them back to Alexander and Philip of Macedon, their personal king was a greater one to follow; sent from God and He outdoes Alexander. So follow this Jesus. By doing this, Luke had the Greeks' attention from the start. And notice that the shepherds left their flocks (it was night and this kind of thing is not done - y'don't leave your sheep at night especially). But the shepherds RAN to find Jesus. [Is this Jesus really worth abandoning everything for? Is He really more important than- everything- that- is- important? --Really? Listen to Luke and hear the whole story. -Then Jesus is brought to the Temple for dedication and for his circumcision - only Luke, being a doctor, includes this detail. The story of Simeon and Anna are legendary parts that further signify that this Jesus is long awaited and that He is well worth waiting for. This even more deeply asserted into Joseph and Marys' hearts that they were entrusted with an assignment that carried the weight of the world upon them. It was a holy and wholly magnificent task they had to parent Jesus. Mary took all this to heart, and it never left her. The next story has us jumping 12 years ahead to when Jesus was in the Temple as a child and He is astonishing the Teachers and leaders and the doctors of the Law. Now never forget that Luke is telling this story to Greeks and Greek was the language of the Empire - the way English is the language of the commercial world today. Greeks muse about Socrates born 470 B.C. in Athens /& Plato /& Aristotle and they wistfully discuss their books and ideas as they had for several hundred years. These were fascinating men with brilliant minds meandering about the Acropolis offering wisdom and leadership as to how to manage an Empire along with all the matters and thinking entailed therein. Well, Luke is saying, "you guys admire this?!?! Well here's a youngster who is more enamoring and He is wowing the greatest minds for thousands of miles ... and He does so at 12 years old !!" Give it 18 years and see if He isn't the most fascinating speaker/miracle worker / healer / leader EVERRRRRRR. 3 - jumps up 18 years and John the Baptist begins preaching in the Jordan area just north of the Dead Sea and near Jericho. His preaching is so powerful and so poignant that people were coming from far away to hear him and to be baptized for forgiveness of sins. The rebuke John launched into wasn't a wild mood swing where he suddenly went ugly on everyone. He noticed that the duplicitous leaders were starting to show up. They were there because they were upset that people were not in their normal worship services and they were thinking, "where is everyone? why are offerings down?" And this bothered them. Well rumor had spread and soon the countryside and everyone knew what was going on and where everyone was. The people had come to hear John and get right with God. But, the leaders had come to "straighten things out" and to deal with this loudmouth John/Baptist if they needed to. That's where the surprising "brood of snakes" comment factors in. John/Baptist tells of what God requires: be honest, share, stop manipulating and threatening and stealing, be content, clean up your act, etc. [Luke hits on this theme of financial honesty, fairness, and caring throughout his book.] John/Bpt is preparing them to meet Jesus so that Jesus would imminently arrive to a mood of "WOW, He's Here!" v.s. "hey, who are you?" ; an atmosphere of oblivious. It worked. ------------------
Download Amos 1-2 We are in the Exile Stream starting the book of Amos. Yes, he's famous! We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord of Heaven: It is numbing to see how bad and profane and sinful and willful people can be. May we be agents who operate against such darkness and call sinners to you. Amen.
Amos' prophecy is right around 750 B.C. Isaiah is beginning his writings right on the heels of Amos. Amos was young as Jonah was in his twilight years - Amos could well have heard first hand of Jonah's revival in Nineveh that shook the known world. Amos was among the earlier of the 17 OT prophets. He was a contemporary of Elisha, but young to have met Elijah. Hosea was younger than Amos and would have continued upon Amos' departure. Micah was also younger than Amos and would have some right after (as with Isaiah).
For some historical perspective, the very first stones are being laid in a new area that would be called "Rome" following Romulus' celebration of their first military victory. [ There is about 30 years until the Northern Kingdom of Israel would be terrorized and cleaned OUT by Assyria, ] The Ionian Greeks founded the city of Naples on the Gulf of Naples about as Amos starts writing. Uzziah was king in Judah and Jeroboam II was king of Israel. For what it's worth, II Chronicles 26 is a contemporary chapter with Amos. It is of the years when King Uzziah was 'going askew". Amos 1 - 2: The word commences two years before "the BIG earthquake". It was terribly traumatizing for all in the land as it was talked about still, 200 years later, by the Prophet Zechariah as he compared the Amos 1:1 earthquake to the earth's final judgment which became mentioned by John in Revelation 16:18. Amos is reading 'the dirty lowdown' about and to the whole region: Syria, Gaza, Phoenicia, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, and Israel. Amos uses the same literative tactic employed in Proverbs 30: "there are three things, actually four..." This adds intrigue as Amos drops the gavel on the rabble-rousing attitude of the leaders and people in the whole region east of the Mediterranean Sea that scholars call "The Levant" [luh-VAUNT] Damascus in Syria will be burned and busted, Gaza of the Philistines will be burned, devoured, cut off and killed. Tyre will be burned flat as will Edom with her cities, along with the Ammonites as the Ammonite King and princes get exiled. Fire will consume Moab as God sees to it that the entire Royal family dies. Judah and Israel are none the less guilty. They were given a covenant before God. They knew better and disobeyed with robust disgust! So guess what... you guessed right --> Judah will be burned to the ground (much later than Israel, however) The judgment against Israel in much more "at hand" so it is detailed and stinging. Israel is oppressing its own people, prostitution is rampant, along with drunkenness, the Prophets are shunned. Israel is slapping God in the face and doubly-arrogant about it. So God is on the verge of crushing them. It will be a bludgeoning like they've never known - and they will not recover from it.
Download Jeremiah 25-27 We are in the Prophetic Stream and Jeremiah delivers more of God's judgments. We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, help us and teach us to be people who are steadfast. Amen.
25 - The year of this chapter being written is 604 B.C. It was 7 years until the first captives would be taken from Judah to Babylon. Jeremiah gets a revelation that the captivity; it's duration would be 70 years. And of course this is going to happen because the people have refused to listen to the prophets God has sent to them - all of them. The "time is up". The party is over and God is going to turn Judah into a wasteland. He is actually calling down Babylon to do the dirty work. And of course, when Babylon is finished with this task, Babylon itself will be overtaken. So they aren't going to be getting any medals from God for their work once they have flattened Judah.
Then the chapter goes into a "while we're at it..." tone. God is putting many nations on trial. Egypt, Ammonites, the Medes, etc. and more. The massacre for pagan living and behavior is going to be vast. This is going to be 'good news' for no one. The dead bodies will be so numerous that they will be basically reduced to the category of fertilizer. 26 -is written for the purpose of reminding us, as we read, about how much danger Jeremiah was in. He is ordered to go straight into the Temple courtyard and preach a hot streak of rebuke against the priests of the Temple who were altogether derelict in their duty. Jeremiah was told vehemently to his face that he was going to die for talking the way he was talking - rather preaching the way he was preaching. He is rushed by the mob, arrested, and a spirited trial ensues. Jeremiah is surprisingly let go. The final comments of that trial are impressive. The similar incident surrounding another prophet named Uriah (not Bathshebah's husband, btw) ended quite differently. He preached in Jerusalem, was threatened, then fled to Egypt. He was retrieved, brought back to Jerusalem and killed for his preaching. Again, the Bible lets us know this part of the story just to remind us the price that could have been exacted upon Jeremiah. It reminds us of Hebrews 11: "...they faced death all day long..." 27 - It is the final decade before Babylon is going to storm in and decimate anyone who fights back against them. And Jeremiah is told to put on a yoke, like what a beast of burden wears to pull a plow, and walk around Jerusalem telling them that this yoke is what is going to happen to all of you. You will be put in a yoke by Babylon. Do not fight this - or you will be killed in any number of ways. Even the King Zedekiah is urged to do this so that he may live. Meanwhile the false prophets are crooning about how good times are coming, so don't listen to Jeremiah's blah blah blah, the stolen articles will be returned shortly, so, be well and be happy for things are fine. Of course they are lying like dogs on rugs and Jeremiah calls them on it. !!!!!!--> Oh my the events that were coming. We'll tell you next week about how this issue of Jeremiah wearing a yoke around town ends up. You can read ahead if you wish. In this case reading ahead isn't cheating - it's encouraged :-)
Download Psalm 78-79 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Heavenly Father, you are true. We are called to be grateful for your endless goodness, for your mercy that is new every morning, for your faithfulness that is GREAT. Amen.
78 - Is a wondrous review of God's marvelous works. His dealings with Israel have been so completely magnificent - and their behavior in response has been so delinquent or derelict or ... there are too many adjectives for Israel's behavior that was displayed instead of gratitude and worship. This Psalm is a description about God - it is a description about us. God ordered that the children are to be taught so that they can teach their children, ad infinitum. Ephraim turning their back is the metaphor equivalent of Israel departing from the Covenant - despite knowing better. God guided them through the Exodus, he gave water and shelter and clouds, plus protection and fire - but they 'pressed in for the sin' which they preferred. They were provided for for 40 years, not one of them starved - and yet no food was good enough for them. The complaining chorus was a song that never ended. They remembered God their Redeemer. They knew He was merciful, but they in turn lied to God, they lied in worship, their lives became lies. The rebellion in the desert was astonishing to God and to us today as we read it 3400 years later. They acted like they forgot about being preserved through the plagues: from the blood, through the locusts, and boils and bugs, and during the passover of death (for the Egyptians it was death because they were NOT passed-over!). Further, God cleared the way for them into Canaan, and yet they rebelled and did not keep the Covenant. He punished them more severely than He ever intended to from the start when He called them His own and to be His own. Then the punishment ceased. God chose David to lead them and as a shepherd of God's people. As we read the Psalms today, we experience that David is still shepherding His people 79 - Troubled times have befallen Israel. The land has been invaded, people killed, in the frackus there isn't even time for proper burials and what's worse, wild birds are plucking at the dead Israelites. It is a horrid scene and it is vast. The royal city has been destroyed, the domain of the Lord is getting desecrated by enemies that are beyond cruel. The people of Israel are above and beyond all they are asking God for forgiveness and for Him to act quickly. They want God to strike back fast on these enemy nations. All the shedding of their own blood is too much to bear. The reproach of the nations was like anyone walking into a disaster that any of us may be suffering through and foreigners/visitors stoop in a demeaning tone to ask, "what on earth happened to you; you pathetic heap of garbage?!" Not too encouraging to say the least! The Israelites want retribution and restoration. They have been personally attacked and they want God to take it personal too!
Download I Kings 11-14 We are in the Nation Stream and turn the corner in Solomon's Reign. We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord we want to heed your warnings, hear your prophetic words and not suffer the losses that we see the disobedient and profane people suffering as they turn away from Truth. Thank you for sending us the Truth; in Jesus. Amen.
11 - Solomon was told by a dear older woman he knew of; King Lemuel's mother actually, in Proverbs 31:2-3. He was pleaded with to not waste his life on women (the gender isn't the problem - the plurality is!). He was told that they ruin kings. But Solomon however felt that he was different, [as most people do] that sin wouldn't hook him in. Well it did. Remember him marrying the daughter of Pharaoh right out of the gate? He did that so there would be peace with Egypt. Solomon loved his Lord at the start, and God honored his love for Him. But the "sex-for-politics-for-sex-for power-and-pleasure pact" that Solomon had made as a deal (with himself I guess) let him astray and he fell away from the faith of his fathers. One wrong wife wasn't enough. He needed hundreds of false women. It is like one's physical hunger trying to find satisfaction from a deep-fried/sugar-filled donut. How many of them do you need to eat on an empty stomach in order to feel satisfied? It's not going to happen. Solomon's women was the disastrous shame of Solomon's rule. His pagan love life took him and the country with it on a downward spiral of no return. He invited pagan religions in to keep his women happy. From this the God of Abraham was offended and a spirit of unrest seeped into the country. Before Solomon died, enemies were growing restless within the land and it was a preview of the tension that would cause 10 of the 12 tribes to splinter off to the north. Was Solomon's love life just his private business and he could be sinful if he so chose to? No. It became everyone's business as all of these things always do. When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam took the throne. Solomon's rule lasted from I Kings 1-11 / the parallel story, though distinctively written, is also told in II Chronicles 1-9
12 - Rehoboam, Solomon's son, was to be the next king. Jeroboam resented Solomon and therefore Rehoboam and took up the grievances of a people who were over taxed during Solomon's rule. Jeroboam pleaded that taxes be lowered, Rehoboam did not listen and the rebellion was on. Sounds like 1776 doesn't it? Jeroboam rallied for the north against Judah and strengthened the north against the south by actually paganizing the northern 10 tribes and making two golden calves to distract them away from the God of Abraham, Jerusalem, the Temple, and all that. Jeroboam set up the false gods of golden calves (just like Exodus 32!). One calf was in Bethel in the south while the other was up north in Dan. The country was 'covered' in terms of false religion. As we are reading in the prophets, this stunt started Israel on a fast road to being decimated. 200 years later, they were. 13 - is a zany tale of lies and false religion and paganism and getting mauled by a lion in a strangest of tales, and prophecy ignored and suffering because of it and demanding that godly people act immediately to remedy the wrong that bad religion had brought on. It is the personal vision of the northern kingdom's first king and how a dark decision ends up rippling for centuries. Jeroboam cheapened the faith and adulterated it. He ignored Ahijah who told him that there was a right way to represent the people to God, but he ignored Ahijah. Jeroboam was angry at Solomon - who was gone now. He was angry at Solomon's son; Rehoboam. Perhaps his anger was valid, but his "remedy" for the anger at the leaders in the south was not gone about properly. Here's a truth in life: the right thing must be done the right way. There are many who attempt the right thing but go about it the wrong way. Some seek God's Will but don't pursue His Will His Way...they want to find God their own way (many of these types end up "playing God" before they are done!). Many of us have seen this. There is a line between these two methods. As for the wrong way - there never is a right way to do the wrong thing. Jeroboam may have commenced and wanted to do God's Will but He wouldn't do it God's Way. It was not long after that that Jeroboam was shunning all good prophetic words and advice and was doing everything just plain, flat out WRONG, And He wanted it this way and remained deliberate in this to his end. 14 - God gets to Jeroboam through his son's illness. Jeroboam is desperate for solutions and who does he go to but Ahijah-the-prophet ... who's advice he won't follow (in case anyone forgot). So, as Jeroboams' vapid character dictates, he sends his wife to Ahijah and she gets an earful of a horrid prophecy and it is accurate. Meanwhile Jeroboam is up north feverishly fanning the flames of his "fornication-for-faith" cult that he had instituted to make sure no one ventured to Jerusalem and found the real God. His wife comes home, his son dies on the spot. And this was only the beginning of the doom that would be lowering upon Jeroboam. The last of the ch. 14, we flip back south to Judah where Rehoboam is king in Jerusalem. He is 41 at the start of his rule. He rules until he is 58. Jeroboam up north had a special relationship with Egypt based in a mutual disgust for Jerusalem/Solomon/Rehoboam. But what gave way for Egypt's invasion and ransacking of the Temple in Jerusalem was the exodus of God's blessing since Rehoboam allowed his pagan Ammonite mother to have a say in the religion of the south as Asherah shrines sprang up across the country. Asherah was a sex-cult in the region that God had obviously forbidden his people to take part in. This disobedience left them open to attack as Shishak of Egypt invaded and plundered the Temple. Shishak stole the gold from the Temple. How much of the dozens of tons of gold that had been brought there and stored and decorated the Temple with is hard to say but it is such a shame. God seems to be saying, "you act like pagans, then your wealth is going to go back to the pagans!" The first of this gold was taken out of Egypt in the Exodus; Exo. 12:35-36. Well it was being returned today. Yeesh. Rehoboam made new articles of bronze as if it was supposed to make things all better now. Do you think anyone noticed the missing gold?????
Download Leviticus 1:1-6:7 We are in the World Stream today starting the book of Leviticus. We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord your concern for us, for every phase, for every step, every friendship, every meal - your concern for us is comprehensive and forgive us for failing to understand the depth of your love. Bring us closer to your heart; the consuming fire that refines us. Amen.
As we have started Leviticus today, be encouraged as our aim is for us to better and more deeply understand God's care for us. The overarching ethic in Leviticus is that a holy God wants us to be with Him and to become like Him so there can be purer fellowship - like with Adam in the Garden/Eden. God's holiness is wholly pure. God's character is not mixed with evil. The yin and the yang we find in Asian folklore does not exist with God. He does not have an evil side. Granted He has control over evil - yet it does not control Him - and God will eventually eradicate and punish all evil permanently. But God being holy, He loves us, and wants us to be like Him so to better be with Him. A great theme in Leviticus is that there is to be no mixing. We are like this. We demand that our loved ones not be mixed up with unsavory characters, We demand fidelity from our betrothed. We demand that there be no dirt on the strawberries on our dessert pie. We demand pure, clean washed lettuce for our salads. We insist the sand in our children's sandbox be clean - without compost or cat litter. AND we do not sand mixed in our salad - not one grain! Are we not like God in this regard? We demand pure milk in the bottle for our babies - a little bit of dishwater mixed in is NOT okay. We demand pure gasoline for our car - we want it free of water or gunk. We demand pure water to make our coffee with - or do you mind a few drops of chlorine just to kill the moss that might be left from a mug you drink from that hasn't been washed in 5 months. Nonsense. We want purity We know what purity is and we insist we be served pure purity. The weirdity about human character is that after demanding trueness of all those around us for ourselves - humans then want to mix things up for themselves. Many think it's good to be bad so we can have a good time. eh? We trust that this trek through Leviticus reveals the excitement of purity. Sim;ply decide now to not be bored. Yes, sometimes it may read like a maid's checklist cleaning a hotel room. Well imagine going to a hotel room and mold is here and there and smelly washcloths were turning colors in the corner from three guests ago, and the sheets were sticky and many various matters were untended to. To this, the maid responds, "oh, I don't follow the checklist for cleaning. That's too confining. It's boring. I'd rather follow my whimsical feelings as I go through rooms. It's bad to leave a room good." [HUH!?] Is that fine with you? No. Leviticus is teaching the rigors of clean living. That is not boring. Seeing it as what it is: That God's depth of care for us is refreshing. There are five offerings in this reading today. The Burnt Offering, Grain Offering, Fellowship Offering, Sin Offering, Guilt Offering. They are found accordingly in the five chapters we read today and in the start of the sixth. The Burnt Offering was to be completely consumed on the fire. The best was to be brought to God. It was for worship signifying commitment and surrender to God, for unintentional sin. There was more mention of this in Lev. 6 and 8 and 16. We are to bring our best and first to God today and offering it totally to Him, are we not? The Grain Offering was grain or flour or olive oil, bread - what was grown; hence the income or increase from each one. This was to be brought to God also as a voluntary act of worship. It created the occasion for Israel to pause and recognize that God in His goodness provides and we are therefore to respond with our devotion to Him. Let's worship God and remember the bounty He gives - not worship the bounty, then hoard it and then forget God. Otherwise we become greedy people who get all we can / can all we get / and then sit on the can. By then anyone who threatens to take anything from us or any one of our cans gets a violent reaction from us. Grain Offerings (from our bounty) keep us remembering, gracious, godly people. The Fellowship Offering involved us bringing an animal without defect to be shared plus a variety of breads. This was a voluntary act within the worship and service of our lives. It contributed to the communal meal. This was to be eaten together. It kept God in the center of the fellowship. These feasts were joyous events and God and happy devoted hearts surrounded the table. Contrast this to the food orgies and saturnalia feasts gone amok in the Greek and Roman world that would follow a few centuries later. The filth and vomit and trash-ruined rooms and wasted food was disgusting at these pagan gatherings. We either keep God in our fellowship or our fellowship goes bad. The Sin Offering (dealt with in 4:1-5:13) was required to give for specific sin - be it unintentional. There must be confession, forgiveness and cleansing that must occur. Sins were being dealt with in a whole new way now. No blaming, fighting, getting ugly, or the world's way --> repeat the sin until it doesn't feel like sin anymore - who cares who gets hurt?. No,... sin was dealt with before God, wrongs made right and it was to end there. The size of the offering reflected the status of the person religiously or economically. The Guilt Offering was for sin that required restitution. There was to be a Ram sacrificed. This was mandatory for atoning the unintentional sin. There must be cleansing from defilement plus a 20% fine added on to aright the guilt. Does all this seem tedious and laborious? It's simpler than Law School. Getting right with God make things automatically go right with others. Surprise! You're going to love this book this year.
Download I Corinthians 15-16 We are in the Church Stream finishing the book of I Corinthians today. We are using the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
15 - The theme, in case anyone missed it, is: THE RESURRECTION. Christ Jesus raised from the dead and we who are His and with Him shall raise from the dead too. Paul belabors that Jesus rose, appeared to hundreds, plus the 12, and more times to the chosen ones in Jesus' inner circle. I mean really folks (reading between the lines) do you think all these people were hallucinating in unison? 'can't happen! Jesus ROSE from the dead. Believe it for real / forever. Paul explains the order of the Resurrection, the logic of it and the importance of it. Instead of reciting, or rather repeating again what Paul said, it's important to realize what he was encountering as he was traveling through Greece, and Asia Minor: - - - Paul would periodically have a person in the congregation interject while he/Paul was teaching and preaching. They would blurt out, "yeah, but He died. They killed Him. Was He a crook? and He let them kill him?...was this because He felt guilty?" The pattern of this century was that when a self proclaimed Messiah came on the scene, He either took over and then He would reign, or he was killed. and between 50 BC and 50 AD scores of "Messiahs" came forth and they were all executed along with their followers. Jesus appeared to be one of them. The shame associated with following a false Messiah often never left someone who was duped by their false messiah. Jesus' and the events of his last week looked too similar to the false messiahs and so some were puzzled as to how seriously to take Jesus Christ of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, to a virgin, ad infinitum. So Paul takes this entire ch. 15 to explain to full orb' of the Resurrection of Jesus; it's veracity and the comprehensive logic behind it. We remember Paul asserting that he was not ashamed of the gospel in Rom. 1:16. Well he wasn't - and he wanted all others to feel the same way. -The description and Paul making a clear distinction between our bodies here and our bodies in the Resurrection is poignant and necessary. REmember that Corinth is in Greece. The Greeks were obsessed with strength, and bodies, and training and health - the muscle statues all over the empire attest to this. And along with this, the Greek/Roman perplexity of aging was a mental embarrassment or conundrum of the heart to most all the pagan world. Why did it have to be that we aged, and weakened and died and were then just ... gone? The Gospel solved this situation!!. And how quickly will this change be to our new bodies? as fast as one can bat their eye. 16 - The collection of names and concepts listed here is a description of Paul's warm heart for those he is discipling as well as those he is talking about. He is gathering an offering for Jerusalem Believers. The instruction and tips that he gives of how to treat each person is wonderful. He says to thank such and such, honor so and so, care for so and so. His word for how to treat Timothy was because Timothy was a great teacher yet was insecure regarding his family; a Greek parent and a Jewish parent and Timothy was getting "looked at sideways" in some places and Paul wanted that to stop. The particulars are a little bit amusing/ /perhaps entertaining in that they give personal insight to the settings and persons back then. Many of us know what it's like to leave a note for a baby sitter. It says things like, "be sure and make certain that Joey drinks all his milk. Remember that Jill is afraid of heights so when you do the walk, take the lower path. Timmy prefers to be read to first thing in the morning as well as at bedtime so be sure to do this. He will miss it if you forget. Etc. Paul just outright cares about all these people and ... He gets it from Jesus. We should too. We have seen all this week that "completion invites visitation"
The Tabernacle was finished at the end of Exodus and God showed up gloriously and the whole nation was is awe - in a way that stuck with them permanently When the Temple is completed in I Kings, the ark is brought in and there is a regal ceremony, prayer and dedication and sacrifices and God appeared to Solomon!! oh my word! In the Psalms this week, especially 76 and 77, we see a completion of a mind going full circle from complaining to enjoying the triumph of God as God's victories and great deeds are recalled. Gratitude brings on the visitation for that is the main thing God wants in our heart. Jeremiah tells of a punishment that is going to be walked through, Jerusalem will fall a remnant will be preserved, just complete the Babylon time and in Jer. 23, he tells us that the Savior will visit... Joel 3 tells that the nations will be judged. Once this is completed there will be a visitation [on the Day of the Lord ] that will be blessings that flow like streams down mountsides and it will be more than just sweet water Luke1 tells of the completion of all the years and preparation coming up to the arrival of the greatest visitation of all time. It will happen in Luke 2 but by the end of Luke 1 all items and preparation have been completed after 4,000 years since exiting Eden. Angels are visiting - more than once and once all this is completed, the Main Visitation of all time happens [next week!] I Cor. 15 explains the completion of the explanation of the Gospel. Christ Arose, haleluia. Paul wanted them to understand this. And he wanted to visit them again soon.
Luke 1 We are in the Christ Stream today starting the book of Luke the physician and historian. We are reading from the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Thank you Lord for preparing the way for the Savior. Thank you for preparing a Savior for us. Thank you for preparing us to be saved. Your ways are perfect. Blessed be the Name of the Lord. Amen.
Luke 1 - Luke's opener tells of his motivation for writing Luke. [He later wrote Acts.] Luke is a paragon historian that ranks with the best the world has ever seen. He researched Jesus and got straight stories from those who were there. Whereas John says in places, "I saw this....I witnessed this..." we do not see this wording in Luke. There is no record that Luke ever met our Savior. My husband, who has three degrees in Bible says he has encountered some n'ere-do-wells who falsely comfort themselves saying,"I only want to read about Jesus; the eyewitness accounts of those who were there." Thus they won't read the Old Testament/Psalms/Prophets. And they won't even read Paul's letters. Well, friends. Moses, Joshua, Paul met with God/The 'yet-to-be-named' Jesus personally (Paul met Him on the road to Damascus), whereas Luke never met Jesus ---> it isn't recorded anywhere in literature. Pardon the side note here. One other reminder: Matthew wrote his account to Jews in Israel - the first copy was in Aramaic. Mark wrote to Jews who were throughout the world -the original was in Hebrew. John wrote to The World (for God so loved the...what did he so love?...The World.) And Luke wrote to the Greeks; including the Romans in the Greek world who spoke Greek -and therefore it was written in Greek. Luke was a doctor. So we find him noticeable mentioning Jesus' body; His hands, His mouth where the other gospels don't. Luke also talks of the power involved in Jesus' ministry. The power of the spirit, the power of God, the "power that was present for Him to heal." The Greeks were very impressed with the concept of power, so Luke presents it clearly. Though we are spending the next 16 weeks in Luke, perhaps that is enough introductory notes - - - -The chapter today is the preparation for the arrival of the Savior that happens in ch. 2. Much goes into the drama of John the Baptist arrival and his family. Father Zechariah/mother Elizabeth were righteous souls who had no child. It's a very interesting biblical motif that the birth of several vital characters occurs via a barren woman. This is seen in Genesis with the Patriarchs' wives;. [An amazing ethical theme in action, btw.], Samuel's mother Hannah also walks out the same story. Here an angel visits and announces about John the Baptist in a powerful monologue. Zechariah questions the angel and is therefore struck mute during the pregnancy. God isn't being mean here - He doesn't appreciate being doubted while making such an historical announcement. All the same, Elizabeth then becomes pregnant and it is such a blessing for this godly household. Six months later Thee Angel Gabriel [!!] visits Mary, a virgin teen girl, who is chosen to deliver the Savior. It too is overwhelming. Mary's question of "how will this be" gets a blessed response. She was just confirming because she'd never been with a man, wasn't with a man, wasn't engaged and, uh, how, uh...???" It's a valid question that warranted a clear answer. Whereas Zechariah's question revealed that he was having trouble even believing the angel - and there was punishment for unbelief. Please make special note of Lu. 1:37; "For nothing is impossible with God." Make a poster (or 10) of this verse and put them around your house. Much of our faith pivots on whether we believe this verse or not! Mary then goes to Elizabeth and here they are, two mothers pregnant: one with the Savior and the other with the one who will announce the Savior - the joy and faith displayed is marvelous. Mary's song of worship is what has been labeled "The Magnificat" by ancient Believers. She is truly blessed for being chosen to deliver the Savior. And this isn't some "way out there" assignment given to Mary. We are called to deliver the Savior too. And there is eternal blessing for us who fulfill this assignment with reverence, obedience, resolve, and faithful focus; just like Mary. Shortly following, John [the Baptist] is born and named, and the countryside was talking - especially after Zechariah resumed talking! They all sensed God was up to something. Zechariah then sings and prophesies and worships thankfully. Over the next 30 years John would grow; strong in spirit and remain in the desert until his call to preach commenced. Does anyone wonder what is coming next? It couldn't be more exciting.
Joel 3 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord you are coming in clouds of glory. We have read about clouds of locusts and judgment. But we know your real love is us and restoration and being together again as blessings flow like streams down mountainsides just as blessings flow from your house. Lord we are with you and await this day.
Joel's finale~ - Two swarmings and followed by calls to repentance have led us to a Pentecost foretelling and then comes chapter 3. As this phase of history reaches its culmination, God will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel. The theme being "The Day of the LORD". The nations will be gathered in the Valley of Jehoshaphat / later called the Valley of Decision. You remember the battle being recalled here from II Chronicles 20 when a huge multitude gathered against Jerusalem and commenced to march upon them when they turned on each other - until all were dead. Judah's army simply walked through thousands upon thousands of dead enemy soldiers and gathered valuables for three days. Well, the multitudes are going to gather for judgment on the Day of the Lord as told in Joel 3. Vast wealth will be returned to Jerusalem and Judah. Slaves will be returned. It will be a great time of arighting things that have been wrong for a long time. There is Apocalyptic overtones to Joel 3 that speak of signs that will symbolize End Times, the Lord's Return, the day of reckoning ... The blessing and bounty and peace on the land of Israel is impressive as described here: wine and milk and fresh water flow in abundance. The enemies of God's land and people are laid waste - never to rise against Israel again for the LORD dwells in Zion; the high point of Jerusalem city. Glorious things are coming for God's people.
Jeremiah 22-24 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading with the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, the cost of disobedience is so grave. Give us hearts of obedience. We offer up to you, as the song says, "here's my heart, o' take and seal it, seal it for thy courts of above. Amen.
22 - This chapter is a warning to King Jehoiakim. He reigned until 598 B.C. when the Babylonians were "at the door" and the first (not the final) captivity began for Judeans. The final caravan of captives occurred 12 years later in 586 B.C. when Zedekiah was king. Speaking of Zedekiah, all inference points to him being the one spoken to in Jer. 22:2; "hear the word of the Lord, O King..." Zedekiah ended up witnessing the finale~ in time, but the literature of this chapter takes us back through a listing of the final five kings that covered the last 50+ years of the Kingdom during its demise. Josiah gave goodness a fair effort, but the other four were wretched, demented, and duplicitous to the core. they were unjust, oppressive, robbers, violent, cruel to orphans and widows, and treacherous to the innocent. God gives a last offer to change their ways before ruining the place. God had offered always to preserve them but the snubbing of God's reminders and The Covenant was too incessant. The invaders will reverence nothing. They will be like vandals with clubs storming through a jewelry store made of glass shelves [to use some modern picture]. The violence, the death/killing, the fires ... there won't even be any time for mourning or funerals. And no allies will come to help. The chapter ends railing upon Jehoiachin; the 4th of the last 5 kings. His uncle Zedekiah actually followed him and none of Jehoiachin's children ever ended up being king.
23 - As Hitler was ransacking Europe and looking to go in all directions with his plan to conquer and absorb. There were two opinions: Churchill in England was telling people to prepare for war or be conquered, and there was Chamberlain in England who was telling them to relax, rest, and be well for "there is peace in our time." The prophets that Jeremiah is scolding were oblivious as Chamberlain and they were dark as darkness in their hearts, their words, and their plans. They cared nothing for God's people. The people would be scattered from following these false prophets. Later, God would gather them again and one day reign. This "Righteous Branch of David" is One who will reign in a Messianic era. That was coming. For now, there are lying prophets to shush. They are using Baal, bringing on disaster, doing deals with evil, wretched as Gomorrah. These prophets spread evil across the land, they do NOT speak for God, yet claim that they do while touting about peace as they work their evil. Because of them, all will be cast out. God wants a memorandum to go national: The prophets claim they have the Word of the Lord - but it didn't come from me-says the Lord! 24 - The people God would preserve [1] and the people God would allow to be decimated [2] are illustrated as two baskets of figs. One was like first fruits, ripe and sweet and desirable. These were akin to the initial captives taken to Babylon in 597 B.C. Jehoiachin was on this trek of those hauled away as slaves to Babylon, as were Ezekiel and Daniel. [Remember we read Daniel last winter.] He was a young teen of about 13 walking to Babylon. He started out a slave and became virtual regent of the country! Strangely enough, God carried these ones away to preserve them; they were the "good basket of figs." The second basket were the ones who thought they would stay in Judah and call up help from Egypt to resist the Babylonians who were on their final push to take all of Judah. Those who stay back, like rotten figs, will be only fit for discarding. Their future is bleak, they will be cursed, and ridiculed and devastated. Rotten figs get thrown out and buried in a compost heap. The people who remain to fight Babylon have a similar fate.
Psalm 73-77 We are in the Wisdom stream and starting the 3rd of 5 books in the Psalms. We are reading from the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God you certainly lead your children in triumph. You are true to those who follow and obey you and you are terror to those who fight against you. May we always be on YOUR side of righteousness; not self-righteous, not seeking approval from men, but seeking you for your sake alone. Amen
Asaph wrote Psalms 73-83 (along with #50). He was David's song leader. He was appointed to such position in I Chronicles 15:17.
73 - is his frustrated musing about the wicked prospering so and the righteous having struggles. These two scenarios contrasted against each other were troublesome. The topic arises today as well. And granted, the petition has merit. All this grated against Asaph's senses until he came and prayerfully sat with God in the sanctuary. Asaph is transparent enough to strongly insinuate that his personal musing was only making things worse and it implies he should have never tortured himself with such thinking...i.e. and that he should have come into God's house sooner. God knows what to do with good people and He knows what to do with wicked people. And He will! 74 - National disaster had struck and Asaph was writing in sheer despair. Some say it was during Shishak's invasion from Egypt. This would have been a few years after Solomon's death and therefore Asaph would have been quite old at this time. Nonetheless, Asaph is horribly distressed and calling on God to act fast instead of withdrawing his hand of retribution as the enemy attacks. His recalling all the faithful and mighty deeds of God on behalf of Israel, the natural wonders He has done - Asaph is virtually cheerleading, "hey God, you helped in the past, and uh, we need you again, --> now!" His call in v. 22 is accurate to the bone: "Arise, O God, and plead your own cause;..." He's almost retreating and asking that if God won't do what is needed for us, then do it for yourself and your own sake. It's certainly a fetching line. 75 - God is judge and will judge. The wicked will be sifted through for destruction and the righteous will be cherished by God and exalted. Yes the unfairness of this earth will tumble and juxtapose matters against what seems to be right and fair, but God is going to sort things aright in the end, [at times sooner], and permanently for certain. 76 - A great victory has been had in Judah. The God of Israel has arisen again on behalf of His people. It was a relief and a triumph. The timing does not match to be in Asaph's era, but some attribute this Psalm to be a response to learning that Sennacherib's Army of Assyrians has been struck dead, all 185,000 of them [during I Kings 19]. The same phrasing could be sung as the Exodus was completed and Pharaoh's army drowned in the sea. It is a Psalm of God meteing [sp?] out justice. It is a warning to remain humble before Him and not be among the crass princes of the earth who have no regard for God. 77 - this and Psalm 78 are theologically linked but we will end this day with Psalm 77 and pick up with 78 next week. 77 is Asaph crying out to God for the people; longing for a reprieve from God - and no one else will do. There are sentiments of feeling forgotten by God, but regardless of how feelings fluctuate, remembering God's deeds and meditating on what He has done plus His redemption for us brings us back to truth and anchors us. He ends with illustrations of God leading His children amid natural and colossal wonders; the terrifying power of nature that God stirs and works amidst.
I Kings 8-10 We are in the Nation Stream today and will attend the dedication of the Temple by King Solomon. What a treat! We are reading from the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, today is yet another reminder of the glory and wonders you are preparing for us. Thank you and Amen.
8 - It is fascinating in this reading pattern that we are doing together that yesterday we read about Bezalel making the Ark of the Covenant. And today it is being brought into the finished Temple (not the Tabernacle/[tent] that was carried throughout Sinai. The two stone tablets inside the Ark and the Ark itself were made well over 500 years prior and today, in our reading, they are finally in place! Imagine the "it's done!" sentiment that swept over the people after all these centuries. Well they probably felt this way because God felt this way. The Cloud, signified God's Presence, and The Glory of God filled the house as soon as the Ark was in place. I don't know who else feels this way, but it sure would have been exhilarating to be there! Solomon's address to the people is historical! The ceremony that followed was regal - perhaps excessive, but it was for God (with a definite 'touch of Solomon') so let's do it in a big way! This initial dedication is not going to happen again. Solomon's prayer included remembering David, seeking God's blessing, prayers and rituals of worship, dealing with sins, enemies and their related interaction, famine and pestilence, foreigners, and battles. The blessing Solomon gave to the people was marvelous - it would have been good if Solomon had followed his own advice all his life. but So it goes. At any rate, the 14 day celebration was 'one for the books!' 9 - This chapter is a continuation of ch. 4. Note that ch's 5-8 are a hiatus to describe the Temple, then 9 continues where 4 left off. God opens with a promise for following Him and a warning against turning from Him. It applied to Solomon AND his sons, btw. They all must follow God in perpetuity. The activity is impressive as Solomon and Hiram interchange and trade and gift eachother.. Solomon built cities, and rebuilt others. He commissioned a staggering amount of workers. Solomon built a navy fleet of ships that sailed the Mediterranean, and others that sailed from the gulf to the south traversling into Arabia, India, and Africa. In the last verse, did you perceive the size of the gold shipment loaded for Solomon from Ophir? It was 31,000+ lbs. of gold. My math could be wrong, but in today's rates, that is $665million. It was a gift and it was simply loaded and taken to Solomon. Holy Smoke, these folks are living a dream. AND, it was only part of what was brought to Solomon for that one year. The gifts kept coming annually 10 - The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon and it too was an encounter fit for the history books; the real history books for that matter. She marveled at his world, his acquisitions, his staff, his wisdom, knowledge, and insight. 10:5b is interesting, "...and there was no more spirit in her. " [all her curiosities and questions were answered] She was truly overwhelmed at what she saw. She had heard of Solomon's Kingdom, but amid all the telling, she had only heard "the half of it." She leaves him a gift of precious gems, spices that ranked as the best in the world, and 4+1/2 tons of gold (imagine that! and it was all brought by camel from Central Africa). The chapters final phrase/phase ends with a tally of the splendor, riches, glory of Solomon's Kingdom. The immensity is almost too much to take in. If anyone is wondering, the horses that came from "Kue"... Kue is in AsiaMinor near where Apostle Paul was from in Tarsus; Remember "Saul of Tarsus"? One very famous preacher shared his studies revealing that Solomon had more wealth as a single individual than the country of Canada has among it's 35+ million people. It's hard to perceive such wealth all attached to one man. y'ever wonder what he's going to do with it all, or if he's even going to keep it?
Exodus 37:25-40:38 We are in the World Stream finishing the book of Exodus. We are reading from the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God we thank you for visiting us and all who will prepare themselves to come into the Presence of You. Thank for availing yourself to us. To be with YOU is the blessing of all blessings. Amen
37 - Bezalel made the ark of the covenant, the table for it, the lampstand, and the altar of incense. Take a moment in your mind to transport back 33+ centuries and imagine yourself walking quietly up to Bezalel at work. "Bezalel, what are you making?" "A box of acacia wood to be covered in gold to hold the X Commandments..." "What's the significance of this?" To which Bezalel replies, "all society hinges upon what's in this box for all time! The governments who ignore these Commandments shall crumble, as will the nations, the states, the communities, neighborhoods and families and individuals. The opposite is more true...all who honor and follow these commands will become eternally blessed. This box is not just a part of history, it IS history. In fact history pivots upon the contents of this box!" After this conversation there is nothing left to do but walk away backward, in awe in the presence of the work of a holy God that is a consuming fire.
38 - Everything that was described a few chapters back is completed at this point. In 38 the Altar is the completed, and the laver, and the court; the gorgeous linen perimeter of the Tabernacle. All contents for the Tabernacle were completed. The mathematics of this are staggering. It's too much to sum up. We will just leave you with this, however - there was over 2200 lbs. of gold involved in this endeavor. This was the place where God would be met and consulted with, and sins forgiven, and direction received. It had been over 2600 years since Adam/Eve were expelled from the garden. Religiously, a myriad of procedures had been experimented with the world over and nothing was working to solve the problem regarding the colossal gap between where we were and where God wanted us to be. This Tabernacle was where God would be met. It was gravely awesome to be near this place. ... And it would be assembled soon. 39 - The ornate garments for the priests are made and completed. They are far more decorative and costly than what we would label as "fit for a king." The details were tedious and numerous and the work was done fastidiously, comprehensively, and perfectly. Once this was complete, these garments, along with the rest of the items for the Tabernacle, were brought to Moses for examination by Moses. The work was done just as the Lord had commanded. Moses blessed them and now it was time for the finale~ of the Book of Exodus. 40 - The Tabernacle is finally raised and assembled. The anointing is completed, the lamps are lit, the offerings are placed, the washing is done. And they entered the Tent of Meeting, did the finishings and all the work was done. Then the miracle of God's presence occurred. The Cloud, symbolizing the Presence of God, settled upon the Tabernacle. And for the next two generations that they would be in the Wilderness of Sinai and around, the Cloud would settle upon the Tabernacle to state that "God was IN". When He lifted, it was time to go, when he settled it was time to settle and wait. There was cloud by day and fire by night. And this was a blessing to witness for all the house of Israel, not just the priests and leaders. What a marvel.
I Corinthians 13-14 We are in the Church Stream reading the Apostle Paul's direction to the Corinthians. We are in the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis "Lord, let love be our main characteristic. Amen." 13 - The Corinthian Church had many colorful characteristics. They were gifted. The fellowship was boisterous. They had faith. They had affect in Corinth. Their feasts were impressive . . . But they were not loving. Paul needed to remind them to be loving. They needed to be patient and kind with each other. The rudeness needed to stop, et cetera. You know the passage and it bears daily repeating. It was time for the church to grow up, quit the games and be loving. The school-yard-like competition and posturing and tab-keeping needed to stop now - make that immediately. 14 - The Corinthians had forgotten the purpose of Pentecost - to reach out and edify a person that normally could not be communicated with. The speaking in tongues was reducing to a contest in Corinth that edified no one. Prophesying was more important since it blessed whole bodies of people. The matter of speaking in tongues is dealt with rather comprehensively by Paul here in this chapter. Some churches today need to brush this over so to quell some squabbling that becomes unnecessary and distracting to the good of the Kingdom. Paul gives a hearty paragraph of instruction next about how to conduct an orderly worship service. Just like "Robert's Rules of Order" is needed to keep meetings on track, Paul needed to write this to keep worship services edifying. The Kingdom couldn't afford for worship services to fray off in dozens of needless directions. People from many other cultures were pouring in to worship services and structure was needed. Who should speak, in what order, the evaluation that should take place. There shouldn't be a peanut gallery of cat-callers to question the speaker during service. And interestingly enough, Paul was concerned that the new comers not be stunned by the babbling in foreign tongues, hence get the impression that church was for weirdos, and then they'd leave and be gone. This would not be a good pattern. Paul wanted church to be orderly and edifying. We need to want the same. The theme or the thread that ran through this week distilled out to be "Let's Build Something for God" The Exodus passage with the Tabernacle actually going up is an inspiration in the desert for sure! In I Kings 4ff, Solomon is laying out the framework of a glorious Kingdom and he gets to building the Temple and His Palace and many other beautiful structures. David in Psalm 69:9 declared to God, "passion for your house has consumed me,"! [need to be passionate about something before it can be built] and Psalm 72 rings with an overtone of Christ returning to reign supremely. In Jeremiah 18/19 the illustration of the potter, the clay and the broken pottery, God is asserting that the people of God must be built up a certain way. And if they won't allow God to build His way, then they must be smashed and God will start over after some seriously severe buffeting and discipline. Joel portrays a huge cycle of locust coming through to clean them out. It will be complete devastation. God urges prayer, mourning, fasting and restoration so that he can, ... [you're right]---> restore and build them up again, for He promises to send HIs Spirit. Mark 15-16 has Jesus tried (falsely), tortured, crucified, dead, buried, risen and His followers are told to take the message to the whole world [to build the Kingdom!} Paul is reminding the Corinthian church to build one another up and be loving in doing so. There's a lot of whining about churches and persnickety judging that goes on. Well, this is a misperception. Church is where people are built up because they can learn and grow and thrive because they find acceptance. Hooray for God as He builds His Kingdom.
Mark 15-16 We are in the Christ Stream reading from the book of the Hebrews. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis "Lord Jesus, This day expressed the depth of your love. All we want to do and be are people who understand your love, then live it and share it. Amen." Mark 15 - Jesus is taken by the leading priests and elders to Pilate since they were not getting anywhere with their illicit trial. Pilate had no interest in killing Jesus since Jesus had done nothing wrong. As we all remember, a prisoner Barabbas is released, instead of Jesus, since that is whom the crowd was goaded to cry for the release of. The part where Pilate stalls for time by sending Jesus to Herod is found in Luke, not Mark - in case anyone was wondering. When the crowd demands, "crucify him!", Pilate's question is so good: "why, what evil has he done?" And to that, they have no answer. They only demand, "crucify him!" over and again like a frothing mob of crazed drunks. Pilate hands Jesus over to be whipped, and then to the Romans who mock and beat him and put a crown of thorns on his head. When he was led out to Golgotha, Simon from Cyrene was compelled to carry Jesus' cross for him. Jesus is offered wine and myrrh but he refuses to drink it. The Romans crucified him and divided his garments by lot v.s. cutting it - each getting a piece. It was now 9 a.m. Mt/Mk/Lk say almost identical reports about the sign above Jesus' head "The King of the Jews". John's report of the crucifixion tells of the sign being in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. The squabble about what it said and the chief priests' fussing about it , the details about the dividing the garment since it was seamless and they opted not to cut it because it was seamless. Matthew and Mark have the detail about people chiding and deriding Jesus on the cross, telling him to save himself. Luke has very little of this. John has none of it. [The confession of one of the thief wanting Jesus to remember him is in Luke; none of the other gospels] "My God...why have you forsaken me? is in Matthew and Mark only for they were writing to the Jewish world. The distinction at his point of death is interesting. Mt/Mk tell of Jesus giving a loud cry, Matthew says Jesus yielded up his spirit, Mark says Jesus breathed his last, Luke has, "father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." John concludes Jesus' life with "it is finished." The centurion is impressed to say, "truly this man was the Son of God!" All four gospels note the women who were there observing all of this. The Burial of Jesus is given the fullest description in Mark. 16 - The women came to the tomb on the first day of the week, bringing spices to further anoint Jesus and find the stone rolled away, an angel there beside it who told them Jesus had risen and was not here. The angel told them to go tell the disciples. Amazing that the news that is most important in history is trusted to the women who are to pass it to the disciples. What better and most sure way to spread news but the inform the ladies of this grandest of events. Ladies must talk about what they have experienced and are feeling about it. A culture that had females to be secondary status was about to be altered some and ladies were to be very involved with the men in sharing the gospel everywhere they go. That still holds true today.
Joel 2 We are in the Exile Stream and reading from the book of Joel today. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate
Jeremiah 18-21 We are in the Prophetic Stream and using the New Living Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we get the message that you desire us to walk with you. You so badly don't want us to go astray as we see what happened in Judah during this season in their history. It's so important that we learn from what they lived through. Teach us Lord, to walk by faith in you. Amen.
18 - The potter and the clay illustration is spot on. God working with Israel and a potter working clay are identical situations. Something has gone very wrong and it it time to flatten this piece of clay and reshape/build it up again...[Judah being the piece of clay]. And symbolically, the clay is lecturing the potter claiming the clay is in charge - not the potter! What?! Most all of us have worked with others and when there turns out to be a rebel in the building/on the team/in the gathering, we want them to shape up and help the cause, don't we? And when they cause far more trouble than the worth that they bring, the sentiment is to get rid of them. And if they persist in creating squabbling or become such contrarians that it is not even possible to press forward until they are gone, then they are to be removed. Like then/like now/like still --> Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, as God told Saul around 1030 B.C. thereabouts. Now, it isn't just Saul, it's all of the Southern Kingdom. They are behaving worse than the neighboring pagans. They are leaving God little choice but to smash them flat and start over. I think He will. The potter's illustration causes Jeremiah to be aggressively shunned.
19 - Jeremiah takes a clay jar, as God commanded, and he goes to the southeast corner of Jerusalem where the refuse was thrown and burned. Jeremiah gave a message that the place was soon to be a refuse heap of slaughtered Judeans that have been refusing to listen and yield to the Lord of Heaven and His Army (of angels). They have spent generations intermittently worshiping Baal and building a monument to one thing: their own stupidity!. They've burned incense to false gods, like the stars & gods of the sky. What fools they have deliberately turned themselves into! And it is rather intriguing that Jesus stood in this exact area, in this gateway about 600 years later and used a zinger of a play-on-words to tell about how the Pharisees and their ilk were in danger of the fires of hell as the trash fire burned behind him. In less than a week, they killed Jesus for this. What do you think they will do to Jeremiah? 20 - Well, Pashhur ["Pah-SHOE-er"], the son of the Priest in charge of the Temple, arrests Jeremiah and has him whipped and put in stocks in the Temple gate called "Benjamin". Now think a moment: is Jeremiah arrested and whipped for lying or for telling the truth? ... chew on that one, folks! Jeremiah is released then has a petition for God that is understandable. It really hit Jeremiah wrong that he was treated this way. --understandable if one puts themselves in Jeremiah's sandals for a day. Don't you think? 21 - Jeremiah is sought out as the leaders of the Temple ask Jeremiah to pray to God for relief in Judah from the Babylonians who were besieging the country and approaching Jerusalem! [this coincides with II Kings 24, btw] The nightmare was upon them for their centuries of disobedience and derelict leadership. Verse 7 is quite "the riot act" to read: "I will send war, disease, and famine...showing no pity, mercy, or compassion." They could surrender to Babylon (as prisoners) or die. for Jerusalem was to be turned into an ash heap. God was dropping the gavel. The Priests and Judges were altogether corrupt and God was fighting them now. Why would they call on God now after disobeying Him for so long that no one even remembered what it was to follow him?! Jer. 27:6 clarifies matters as to God's perspective regarding this turn of events: God refers to Nebuchadnezzar; King of Babylon as His servant. If God's people won't listen to God and clean up their ways then God will send an enemy to level the city and let God start over. Yeeeesh, obeying would have been so much more simpler.
Psalm 69-72 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading some of King David's psalms. We are using the New Living Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 69 - This is a cry for relief from suffering that is slamming David at so many levels; spiritually, physically, socially. It is akin to Psalm 22 in its desperation tone. Ps. 69 is quoted 8 times in the N.T. David feels he is going down in so many ways. And amid this pain he remains confessional and deeply committed to God's house. He is wading through a slough of ridicule, rejection, derision - so much so that he feels that the insults are going to kill him. He's really going under ... so it seems. He wants all his punishers to be punished, and those who are punishing him are just about everybody. David wants people to just let him be and let him be with his God again, undisturbed. David wants to praise God in jubilation [a little more joy and a little less anguish in his worship it that's not too much to ask!!] David also wants lovers of God to be well. It's a landmark prayer coming from a good heart bent on walking with God. 70 - This Psalm is reminiscent to what we heard in the latter part of Ps. 40. David is demonstrating in his words here that there is joy that can be clung to; joy in the Lord even thought there is persecution going on. It reminds us that in all circumstances we are to search for God even when things are difficult. 71 - In a world where most of the people the world over were chanting things like, "this rock is my god," David gave a clarion call to look up for answers - not out and around. He declared, "God is my rock." He is looking back on a life filled with God's faithfulness and his assurance and security are the stuff of devotional material that is shared wherever there is judeoChristian theology and a proper perspective of God in Heaven who reigns on earth. 72 - Solomon is speaking in a wondrous tone here. Certainly carried throughout this Psalm is the imagery of Christ reigning on the earth when He returns. The things that all those who have a heart for God sense ought to be on earth truly are. There is prosperity, the rescue that is needed is readily provided, the godly flourish, all worship the one true God, .
I Kings 4-7 We are in the Nation Stream and learn about the applied wisdom of Solomon. We are reading from the New Living Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, we learn of the Temple that was the highest of priorities and so engrossing for so many, ...and it is humbling and inspiring to hear, learn and know that WE are the Temple you are interested in. We are beauty and worth investing in. Your love for us is a marvel. Amen.
[caption id="attachment_673" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Solomon's Temple[/caption] [caption id="attachment_674" align="alignnone" width="500"] King Solomon's Palace[/caption] 4 - Solomon was what gets called, "large and in-charge". He inherited the most powerful Kingdom in existence at the time. His father David had expanded the borders to the greatest they had ever been. The residents of the newly absorbed areas sent in tribute money and Solomon commenced building the kingdom to even greater and more than it ever had been. It blossomed to the height of it's greatness under Solomon. The peace and prosperity and culture and music and education was a national marvel that left countless people enthralled to visit Jerusalem and the rest of the country. The national administration of officers and governors are listed. Just a note in case it is news, the Hebrew prefix "Ben- " before a name means "son of". It's the same as in English putting "son" at the end of a name/ "sen" in Swedish/ the prefix "Mc" in Gaelic - you get it, right? -the people were numerous, the population along with Solomon's staff are well fed, the stalls are filled with animals; including horses for royalty. Solomon is writing voluminously, and ambassadors come from the world over to learn from Solomon. Solomon had asked for wisdom in I Ki. 3 [also II Chr. 1] and God granted his request - did He ever! 5 - The preparations for the building of the Temple went into high production. The relationship with Lebanon and her leaders was rich, deep, and warm. They traded heavily as Lebanon supplied cedar and staffing as Israel offered food in exchange. To put it into what may be simpler to envision--> The wheat shipped north was 12+1/2 full size truck loads per year (and there are no trucks at the time!). The olive oil sent each year to Lebanon was a volume that would fill four full size in-ground swimming pools. The staffing and labor and construction crews and supervisors were more than 180,000 men. They began making the timber and the stone for the Temple and more projects that Solomon had planned. 6 - The Temple begins construction. Can you imagine the excitement? It was 480 years since leaving Egypt and the goal of the culture was under construction. Notice in verse seven that there was no sound of hammer, ax or any iron tool. There was no sawing sound either. What?! a construction site that is nearly silent....! This was the house of God and it was a reverent undertaking. Mid-job, God reminded them that they would have God's presence with them eternally as long as they keep His commands. The dimensions of the Temple are given again, the details of the interior are listed. the intricacies are boggling and beautiful. The aroma of all the cedar, and the breathtaking beauty of all the gold! good heavens. The Temple was up in the realm of seven years. And it was astonishing to gaze at. The expense, and the staffing, the transport, the work being done in silence - we've heard a clear and intriguingly credible description from a world-reknowned leader that this Temple could not be built today. 7 - Solomon then built his palace to be his residence. There was also the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon, the Hall of Pillars, the Throne Room/Hall of Justice. Solomon is quite the architect, y'might say! Then a man named "Huram" is conscripted to come and do metal work and carvings. His skill is legendary in his giftedness. The things he made, carved, shaped and formed are mind-boggling. It's difficult to envision it all. He made things for the Temple plus numerous furnishings for the Temple. When the Temple was completed all the dedicated gifts were brought in and stored in the treasury of the Temple. Such a feat was completed.
Exodus 34:1-37:24 We are in the World Stream learning about the building of the Tabernacle. We are reading from the New Living Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis "Thank you Lord for second chances, for grace unending, for love that never fails, for rest, and for caring so much that your top concern for us is that we find you, walk with you, and are well, May we be found faithful in what you have asked us to build in your Name. Amen" 34 - The Lord makes a second inscription of the Ten Commandments since Moses broke the original last time he came down the mountain. The rerun for Moses is overwhelming, the worship that God's Presence brought upon Moses is most impressive. God gives Moses a few reminders to be sure and assert upon and teach the Israelites so that they live long godly healthy lives. The time Moses spent with God; the Light of the World, even affected Moses' face so that it glowed too. 35 - The Sabbath Law is presented to the people again. And then comes the occasion of the offering for the making of the Tabernacle and the articles therein. The list of items to bring forward is presented. The articles to be built from the offerings are listed and then the excitement begins as each went back to their tents to gather what they would bring as their offering for the Lord. The Spirit moved in a touching way over the people. Hearts were stirred for generosity. Women got going and got sewing. Gems were brought forth. It really was a worship experience. Bezalel and Oholiab were presented as the ones who would lead the project and teach others their skills as well. 36 - The work began and a wonderful "problem" occurred in that people were still bringing offerings beyond what was needed to complete the Tabernacle. This is a pastor's dream, btw. Imagine having to tell people to stop bringing offerings because it was excessive! Halelujah, what a problem :-) The work commences. After all these instructions and the drama of the Ten Commandments. It had to be something to take part in this. There is no hint of the usual attitudes or complaining. The atmosphere is abuzz as all are jumping in to do what they can to see this structure go up as their "house of God" in the desert. 37 - Then the time came to make the Ark of the Covenant. It is amazing the way this box has entranced the religious world for 33-34 centuries. The Raiders of the Lost Ark was a landmark piece of cinema. The arguments about the Ark's location even today can make one's ears tingle. Well here in Exodus 37 is where it started. The gold, the gold, the gold! It has to be beauty that challenged anyone's ability to describe such a thing. Then the table was made, the lampstand, and the incense altar. There was so much gold involved in the Tabernacle endeavor. There would be more than a ton of gold involved in the building of all this by the time of completion. We will complete the project next week and marvel at what God does once His house is built!
Download I Corinthians 10-12 We are in the Church Stream reading from the Modern English Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Thank you God for another week together as we spent a day in each stream of Your Scripture. Your Word is truly our guide and handbook for a good life in you and a good eternity with you. We thank you with our lives as our offering to you. Amen.=
10 - Paul wants those who are following Christ, in fellowship, and taking communion to continue in their faith and to do so in a holy manner. Some were endangering their faith by taking part in wrongful practices - the habits from their former lives in the ungodly world. The illustration of the Exodus is a brilliant parallel for them. They had left Egypt and were 'baptized' being brought through the Red Sea. They were, however, not in the Promised Land...not yet! And those who strayed enroute, in the desert, died in the desert. In this day as before, they had been saved from bondage, they were on pilgrimage, but however, they needed to hang on to their holy faith in reverence, lest they be cast away and 'die in the desert' - not reaching the Promised Land of Paradise. Those parallelisms from Exodus applied in Corinth, and they apply today. Paul assures them that God will protect them as they hang onto their faith. The living in lust, the complaining, the idolatry and the dabbling in the demonic - all that had to go! Paul reminds that whatever we do, it must be all for the glory of God and the edifying of one another. 11 - The matter of headcoverings is far less contentious than some of the nervy feminists that have slipped into the church make it out to be. Paul is addressing an era wherein women had their heads covered in public unless they were "women of the night" / prostitutes / or just plain "loose" women. Women were joining churches; and in various cases coming to Christ more readily than some reticent men and/or their husbands were. The freedom in Christ was tremendously alluring to women of the world who, in the pre-Christian era, were seen as property, not much above slaves, and in many situations lower than the household pets. These women came to church and were so overjoyed that they would remove their head coverings in elation. To some this was perceived as "gee, she joined a church, now she looks like a hooker! What is going on in that church anyway?!" <-- This is what Paul is addressing. He isn't trying to jerk anyone around or squash women. He's not trying to keep women under clothing tents as some cultures do even today. He simply is reminding Christian women to look different than women of ill-reputations. He also wants women to not try to take over the churches but to be subject to the men who were in charge. All studies show that when there is an institution wherein the women take it over, the men don't fight it - they just leave it (they "go fishing") and they don't come back. If this were to happen unchecked, the next generation would involuntarily leave; 75% of them. Once a second generation passes through, it would be all but dead. Guaranteed, if Paul had not addressed this matter, the Church would have been a phenomenon of the first century; a completely abandoned movement by 200 A.D. at the latest. That cannot happen. -As for the communion, this too needed to be returned to its purpose. The Corinthians were turning communion into a lavish food contest; the rich were flaunting, and the poor were excluded from the table, others were ingesting wayyyy too much wine. What was started by Jesus at the Last Supper was turning into a "Roman food orgy". Christ was long forgotten for them. So thankfully Paul [very appropriately] laid out the structure of what the communion was to be and how it was to be, who was to take part and under what conditions. 12 - This is the spiritual gifts chapter. I love it when a sports commentator refers to someone as a gifted athlete. [. . . whogave them that gift? or are we allowed to ask question in public anymore?] Paul was explaining that each person's gift(s) that were employed were to bless the body of Believers and the Kingdom as a whole as a gift. Gifts are something we are excited about, grateful for, they are useful for blessing and building. They are not to be issues to squabble over or compete with, or to use to get ugly toward others over ! These gifts of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healings, miracles, prophecy, languages (to bless and reach others for the gospel) were just that; GIFTS from God to build and bless. They were one body and each played a part of that body for God's glory. No one was better than another. Within that, the teachers were highly reverenced and therefore worthy of double honor. But that only made them subject to more spiritual scrutiny - it was not for lording over others. They were to abide with each other, call upon each other, honor one another, assist one another, bless and cover for each other, ad infinitum. For we are the unshakeable and unending Kingdom of God. Looking back on this week - the details seemed of paramount importance: The details of the Tabernacle were intricate and manifold. This would be where God visited them. No slop allowed. Interesting that in the middle of this 15 chapter long section of scripture there is the golden calf incident to provide disgusting contrast of what it looks like when a people have no mind for details - only their latest urges to party like hyenas. -the details following the aging and passing of David are quite interwoven. There are residual attitudes that needed to be addressed in a precise manner. Each one is dealt with properly and specifically - especially the rebels. David gave clear orders for Solomon to follow (Sol. could have paid better attention to this and to the details of the Law, yes?) -The Psalms are classics and it is a issue of precision that David keeps his attitude properly segregated in that he remains adverse in heart to his enemies and yielded in heart to his God. Too many that we meet along the way in life, run into trouble from an adversarial person (who happens to be quite against God) and too many come away from something like this angry . . . at God - for something God didn't do! Let's keep our emotional details straight here!! -in Jeremiah, the details of Judah's destruction, Jeremiah's sorrow and preservation, his need to remain celebate, to not engage in the locals follies or ceremonies, to remain fixed on God, to keep the Sabbath and remind others of the same - these are details of dire importance. -the famine that Joel tells of was a matter that, perhaps God could have gotten through to them some other way but, apparently no other detail worked on them. So God used this. When people ignore God's details for them nothing gets their attention like a fast. And, uh, the storehouses were empty along with the fields - a detail that could not be ignored. -the details of Jesus final days are astonishing. The specifics of the woman who anoints Jesus are the stuff of legend!-->and still talked about all over the world. Jesus makes numerous predictions and each is spot on. The Sanhedrin try to accuse Jesus but what doesn't add up?...the details of their accusations! And it forever ought stick in our minds that Judas; who despises Jesus, kisses him (before killing himself) while Peter, who screams against Jesus, is committed to Him unto death and therefore has a triumphant ministry that shook a continent. -the detailed gifts that God gives to His followers are numerous and wonderful. Do yourself a favor and read through them all again today. Open yours and use it, Halleluia.
We are in the Christ Stream and reading Mark 14 from the Modern English Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate
Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Joel 1 We are starting a new book in the Exile Stream today. We are reading from the Modern English Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis God's response to the nations sinfulness is the theme that Joel is driving at. There are hints of restoration and promises that God will come and pour Himself out and bless in ways the world had yet to see. But the theme that arises in this book is "the day of the Lord." The Lord is going to come and bless those who are His. He is also going to come and judge those who are against the Lord and His workings. Many may remember those dreaded hours of in trepidation when they had disobeyed and mother when she stated, "wait until your father gets home!" The time between that statement and the arrival was uh, rather stressful for youngsters. There is an element of that here when Joel articulates "the day of the Lord." They should be scared and/or in total awe of this imminent event. Perhaps we are jumping ahead, as we will be in Joel today and for the next two Wednesdays. Be that as it may. It is one of the earlier prophecies to Judah. It was written a century after the nation split [at the earliest]. ca. 830 B.C. nothing specific of the date is known beyond that. 1 - Joel is the son of Pethuel and that's all that is assured of his identity. A plague of locusts have stripped the country and the vineyards are devastated, the wheat harvest is gone, food is scarce and there is nothing to eat as well as there being nothing to sacrifice to the Lord on the altar. The Lord is not concerned with that part -the absent sacrifices- for the people have been offering sacrifices to God and yet having hearts that were NOT THERE. They may as well be dropping an offering in the plate and then shaking their fists and hollering, "hey God, you got my offering now leave me alone this week, ok!, you hear me, 'sky-guy' ?" ... pretty bad, huh? yes it is. So God is getting their attention These locusts left nothing green and Joel is using the situation to teach a colossal lesson. Joel, speaking for God, wants repentance. He wants Judah to change and have a transformed heart for Him. He wants prayer, a mind for him, fasting, He wants Judah seeking His face. God is dead serious with these Judeans. He wants them hungry for Him, and he's made them hungry to prove His point. The granaries and storehouses are empty as are the fields, the animals are so hungry that they are dizzy, the grasses have been devoured by fire. Joel states some rather piercing symbolism when he writes that even the beasts of the field are longing for God. Now to get the Judeans to long for God - it's a great plan, but how?
Jeremiah 15-17 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading from the Modern English Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 15 - Jeremiah is praying for these people and has been with quite-the-pastoral-heart. However God is not going to relent on removing them from the country after an invasion by Babylon, a disturbing deathtoll, and the city falling nearly silent. Before anyone thinks that God has become mean and the He could learn something from the long-suffering Jeremiah - that is not what is going on here. God has been patient with these people for right around 800 years and they have been a sorry state spiritually for much of the time as their rebellion and sorry whining attitude began the first week after the Exodus. The Lord will not relent and things are past the point of no return. Judaeans will die by the sword, starve in famine, and be chained together and forced to walk to Babylon. And believe it or not, it gets far worse; even ghoulish. You read about it today and it doesn't need to be repeated. The lament that will pour over Jerusalem will be historical (586 B.C. is coming) -Jeremiah's lament over caring for those in Jerusalem that despise him is unbearable save for the fact that God will be protecting and showing favor to Jeremiah in the time of chaos. Jeremiah seems to pause and muse over his assignment of ministering in such an adverse time to such an adverse people. I think this helped Jeremiah understand how God felt for over 800 years trying to show love to these obstreperous people. Amid this, God assures Jeremiah that God will deliver Jeremiah from the violence. 16 - Jeremiah received a word from the Lord that he was to be apart from the local culture. It was an extreme calling in that he was not to have a family; take no wife and have not children. He was also not to take part in the natural compassionate deed of attending ceremonies with those who are mourning (funerals), he was also not to go to banquets wherein there was feasting and drinking. He had a prophetic call top adhere to plus, how could Jeremiah bear it to be mindful of a family when such horror was imminent. Yes, captivity was coming. It was 430 years in Egypt last time. It would be 70 years in Babylon this time - and they would return from the north when they were to return...in a couple of generations. There is a peculiarly powerful word that ends ch. 16. God is about to raise a hand and strike [via Nebuchadnezzar] but His heart is always to call back, to instruct, and restore. 17 - The downfall is inevitable for Judah. It is engraved and spoken by God. It's done. Judah will fall. Her wealth will be snatched up by another. Still God calls to them. If they are to repent, their land and lives and families will last forever. The truth abides: turn and depart from God and be cursed and destroyed -- turn to God and trust in Him to be restored and be like a healthy tree; planted strong and green. The Lord knows all things: that people are incurably wicked, that thieves turn into fools, that the glory of God is what shines -Jeremiah has promised to be delivered but he still prays for it; for his deliverance - he must have had a wave of fear pass over him as he was pondering the future of his city. The people must have been working overtime relentlessly (as restless and guilty people have been known to do).and ch. 17 ends with a protracted explanation of how the people will be returning to an honoring of the Sabbath or their city is going to be reduced to ashes.
Psalms 62-68 We are in the Wisdom Stream today using the Modern English Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
"Lord God, we will praise you all our lives and and do so with all our breath and that being a present far too small, we will continue to praise you for eternity. Amen."
some of the Psalms we read today are the all time classics that comfort souls throughout the world and throughout all time. 62 - David has trust, rest, peace and salvation in God alone. Nothing else brings him such relief as the Life-Giver Himself; His God. David's troubles merely pressed him further into a deeper faith. David had no confidence in man or fellowship or contacts; "connections" as the phrase is used today. This all was vapid to David. Even power and wealth - David saw through it as the road to nothing that appealed to David as having eternal value. David saw God as ever merciful and fair, and David was resolved to be of the same spirit for David always trusted in God
63 - David is in the wilderness and he is so trained in his heart to desire God that his thirst for Him is his top reminder as he is hunting for water. How many of us in this situation would be thinking, "hey God, y'trying to kill me? Am I supposed to dry up and blow away? really? Let's get some water to me or me to some water or something, huh!!?" No David thinks, "God I long to be secure in you and with you as much as I want water in a desert." This is David's devoted heart. This Psalm probably accompanies his season of hiding out from Absalom. He is distressed but confident that he will be restored. David's words for God are akin to what we see in one searching the earth over to find a lost loved one. It's a touching passage of Scripture. 64 - David is praying earnestly for protection from enemies and their plots to ruin him. These evil men use words and weapons and are calloused by evil and their commitment to be evil. David wants God to shoot them down. David simply wants them gone and away. David knows that God delivers and watches over the steadfast. 65 - There is a rhapsody of worship, praise and thanksgiving as all the earth is blessed as far as David can see. The harvest is come in, is still coming in; the fields, oceans, orchards - there is abundance and shouts of joy are going up. All this bounty is simply indicative of the salvation God grants. 66 - This Psalm is a song that is sung even today. God is calling for worship from all the earth. All are to sing and rejoice, in all the nations. God has blessed in so many ways and tales of his deliverance are retold. This calls for us to bring our offering and our lives to God. He is good, He saves, He hears, He has mercy and will not turn us away. This is cause for coming to Him in worship, is it not? 67 - This Psalm is an inspiration for missions to be launched into all the earth for God wants His praises and name to be across the earth. In doing this God blesses the nations of the earth, the peoples of the earth as well as those who take His Name to all the earth. 68 - God and His victorious army is marching. The enemies will scatter as God rises up. Those who are deserted/orphaned God will place in families. God meets all needs and provides for this who are with Him in His cause. There is so much to tell of the God; our God who advances. He is as majestic as the mountains in all their splendor. God will be victorious and all the people of the earth (those who fight Him as well as those who fight for Him) will pay Him tribute. Singers sing and dancers dance before the Lord. Great kings are drawn to the Lord. There is never too much that can be said about the wonders of God and the deeds and service He warrants from people coming from so many nations to come and worship in Israel where He dwells.
I Kings 1-3 We are in the Nation Stream today and we say goodbye to King David. We are reading from the Modern English Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis "Lord we ask for your wisdom too. Thank you for granting what is right to those who ask. Amen." Kings is good especially for noting dates and chronology. It is the history that is concurrent (much of it is anyway) with Chronicles. Chronicles is written from the perspective of the south where the Temple and Jerusalem was. Kings is written in the north and mostly of the activity there. We see the phrase, "seek the Lord" in Chronicles about two dozen times where in those same stories found in Kings, that phrase is not in the literature. So Kings [after the split in ch. 12] and the story of the north Kingdom is narrating the lives of these tribes gone deliberately pagan, whereas in Chronicles narrating the life in the south, there are at least periods of reform and an attempt to follow God. Of the 20 kings of the northern Kingdom from 930 - 722 B.C. none were descendants of David. Whereas in the south, 19 of the 20 kings were descendants of David. 1 - Kings opens with David being nearly out of time and it is getting nervy in Jerusalem as Solomon is to be the king in succession, but Adonijah thinks he should be king. Adonijah's older brothers Absalom, Amnon, and an obscure brother "Chiliab" were all dead so Adonijah assumed it was all his now. Some prominent people sided with Adonijah, but the vital leaders did not. Adonijah became pompous and forceful and started parading and making sacrifices and struck up the party as if he were already the king. In another part of town, Bathsheba; Solomon's mother, and Nathan met with David to insist that David assert what ought to be done and make the declaration openly about who should follow him as King. So David makes it plain (also in I Chr. 22:6-10). Zadok the priest ("zadok" means 'righteous' in Hebrew) was the priest that anointed Solomon. The parade and music for Solomon was thunderous in comparison. Adonijah's group then heard it and scattered as Adonijah was now fearful for his life. Solomon was gracious here and let Adonijah go free...at least here anyway.
2 - David gives his final charge to Solomon --> to follow the Lord completely. He also warns Solomon of a few men in the country who have rebellious hearts. David then departs this world and Solomon is king outright. Adonijah had survived trying to take the throne, but his request to have his father's nurse as a wife gets him executed. Abiathar the Priest is exiled and relieved of duty. Joab, also in another intriguing story, is executed at Solomon's orders for not being wholeheartedly yielded to David and the throne. Looking back, Joab was zealous for the King but his zeal got ahead of his wisdom when he jumped in too quickly with Adonijah and his "FAD" [king For-A-Day.] Shimei also had to die. He had cursed King David during Absalom's rebellion. Solomon was lenient at the outset but Shimei's undoing came when he couldn't adhere to Solomon's final warning and orders to him. Shimei is executed. Solomon is now king uncontested by rivals or rebels. 3 - Solomon married and brought an Egyptian wife to Jerusalem. It was a political move that was a "headwater issue" that would, in time, turn him astray from his faith (I Ki. 11:1 - Solomon, HOWEVER loved many foreign women...). Here he is just starting out and in his first season as King, this is his first recorded stunt. As one wise preacher has said in his observations of life, "the death of many endeavors is programmed right into the birth of it." It's an interesting item of concern for sure. The Temple is not built and it needs to be - as David had urged Solomon (that is mentioned in Chronicles, not Kings). So Solomon is making a sacrifice one evening and the Lord appears in a dream and grants Solomon his request for wisdom to govern. Jesus said "ask and you shall receive" almost 1000 years after this but this same trinity/God is granting requests long before it is articulated by our Savior in the flesh. And Solomon receives! -his wisdom is put to the test when two unsavory mothers come to him both claiming that the live baby is theirs and the dead one is the other's. What to do. It's an unfortunate issue in life that the person who cares least about what is right is often the one in charge. For example, at a troubled school in a distressed area, who is in charge in the classroom? The student who wants to learn and grow, the teacher who can't get kids to behave anyway, or the deviant student who brought a weapon to school? It's obvious and it's sad who's in charge. In a strained relationship, who is in control of it, the one who wants to preserve it or the one who doesn't care about it?! It's also unfortunate that the one who doesn't care rules the atmosphere via the mental vandalism of it. Well here the woman who crushed her baby in her sleep wants the other baby to die since she is jealous and a lecherous woman anyway. How does Solomon reveal the truth? His offer brings out her reaction of urging Solomon, "go ahead and cut it in half" is what gave her away. Solomon employs his wisdom and his ruling leaves the whole nation in awe.
Exodus 30-33 We are in the World Stream as God continue to give Moses instructions. We are reading from the Modern English Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, there is such a disturbing disparity between your glory and your desire for us against the behavior we witness at the first sign that people feel discouraged or bored or perplexed. Let us be like Moses who wants you and to know you and to be with you more than life itself. Amen.
The directions involved for the Tabernacle and the articles within continue here. What started five chapters back is still going on. If it helps to keep oriented, the Directions for the Tabernacle encompass ch's. 25-31 of Exodus. The orders are all given, it's time for Moses to return to the people and guess what is going on . . .
30 - The description resumes today with the Altar of Incense. Keeping the big picture, we are inside the Holy Place; a 30' X 15' sectioned off area that is inside the "courtyard" of the entire 150' X 75" area that has a 12' high curtain of goat hair surrounding everything. Back in this Holy Place are four items: the Altar of Incense, the Golden Table, on that is the Bread of the Presence (of the Lord), and the Golden Lampstand. The Altar of Incense was most holy to the Lord and incense was to be burning on it continually and for all generations. The insinuation was that the Lord is sweet to us and He is always here. -a 1/2 shekel offering was to be made by all unto God for atonement. Everyone 20 and older must take part in this. -a large Bronze Basin was to be built, placed and filled with water. Aaron and his sons were to wash hands and feet before coming into the tent or near the altar. Coming in dirty meant death - so this is a memo they best adhere to ... along with the rest of them! -As for the anointing oil, here it is in our terminology: it is 12+1/2 lbs. of Myrrh, 6+1/4 lbs. of cinnamon, 6+1/4 lbs. of cane, 12+1/2 lbs. of cassia, mixed together with a gallon of pure olive oil. Pardon the crass visual but a 5-gallon bucket is not big enough to mix this in. Imagine the aroma as this is expertly mixed and then dabbed upon the tent, the fabrics, the ark, the utensils, the altars and the basins. 'Ever walk into a place and react, "wow, it stinks in here!" Well, entering the House of God had the opposite effect. All inhaled and thought, "wow, I love this place!" This and the Incense that was compounded with frankincense and ground and them placed in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting was a very sacred commodity. All research even today shows that an aroma is the greatest trigger of memory. They were to associate this overwhelming sweet savor with the presence of God, and to never forget how sweet it is to be with God 31 - Two men, Bezalel and his "right hand man" Oholiab, are to lead in the building of everything that has been prescribed for building and making in this last five chapters. They were the chief artisans for the Tabernacle and everything was to be made exactly according the "blueprints" that God has been giving to Moses for much of the last 40 days since Moses was called into God's presence to note all this. -The stern reminder to remember the Sabbath is laid down. And God is not doing this to be a bully-to-fools-who-stacks-up-rules. He wants people to be refreshed and rested not always working themselves into a stupor and then living in a stupor. This pleases no one; not even the workaholic who can't get himself to pull away and rest a bit. 32 - This golden calf scene is a mess! The people are wondering where Moses is as he is on Sinai in a cloud, surrounded by fire and taking notes. Moses was in a VERY intense lecture series! But when it approaches 40 days with Moses away, the people revert and dive right back into worship of "the cow". The 'bull' was the principle god of Egypt, names "Apis". This was also the illicitly instituted false god of the northern kingdom 4-5 centuries later from 930 - 722 B.C. Egypt worshiped the cow because it gave beef, bones for tools, milk, fertilizer, horns for decoration, leather, and the cow provided strength for plowing. This was what Israel was immersed in for 400 years in Egypt. Some muse that the Israelites can't be blamed for being oriented as such, but honestly! -after seeing the dozens of miracles since the plagues, the Exodus, the water, the fire, the cloud, the manna, the quail - this rebellion is inexcusable. They were carrying on like a alcohol party gone amok after midnight on a weekend in a pagan university town where stolen furniture was thrown into heap and burned and all the kooks are half-dressed and dancing in circles around it. Aaron's explanation is as preposterous as their behavior! Moses' plea with God [both times] is admirable; the mark of a true leader. Nonetheless there is punishment to be administered and 3,000 Israelites die for this shameful pagan revelry. 33 - After all this, it's time to move on. God gives assurance of destiny, family security, victory, provision and blessing BUT their attitude must be dealt with first. There must be complete repentance. -The Lord would meet with Moses the way any true-hearted Believer ought desire to speak with God. Face-to-face, [look again at Exo. 33:11]. This is virtually the most astonishing verse in the whole Old Testament from Creation in Genesis 1 to Malachi 4 written some 3600 years later!. God and Moses had a most endearing and historical conversation and assured him that He would be with him wherever he traversed. Moses revered the Presence of God most of all. Moses would go when God moved. Moses would not move on alone; with Him only. How about us???
I Corinthians 7-9 We are in the Church Stream today reading from the New International Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 7 - The Corinthians had questions about marriage. It was a racy town with an ungodly heritage, and sexual matters in the region of Corinth were anything but healthy and resolved. The Christians needed to know how to handle issues within this realm and Paul set things straight right here. In the matter of sex - if you are to leave it alone (because you are single) then leave it alone. If engaged, get it going and marry and don't play games or defraud or be cruel but be availed and surrendered to each other within the "bedroom". Separating and divorcing is not OK. In other words, don't be playing "musical spouses". Paul's advice is just smart, healthy and best. The most important aspect of one's life is that they live like a Believer; because we are! Slave/Free, circumcised/or not, it's all immaterial. We are Christ's! And about the married, the virgins, Paul has very good advice and we best listen to all of it. Some groups have created marriage rules and forbidden marriage to certain people unless there is approval from a church committee. This is not a good thing. Some forbid marriage altogether based upon occupation or calling. There are pros and cons regarding this and the discussion is still open. It's best to listen to the Lord and do what the Spirit tells each person in any circumstance. 8 - the issue with the meat sacrificed to idols (and remember, in the Greek, "idol" means "a nothing") it is most important that we not be offensive or ebullient toward anyone else. We are to build eachother up and not be trying to "teach it to others" or, as the phrase goes, "stick to the other" as if we were touting that we've gotten over the past but "youuuuu" are still hung up or reacting to what others used to be or used to be doing. It's nothing to be ugly or judgmental about. Drop these peripheral matters as quickly as possible and be peaceable and promote Church unity and encouragement. 9 - Paul was paid for his ministry in Philippi. Here in Corinth, however, as in Ephesus and in Thessalonica, he was not, but supported himself through other means of a trade that he had learned prior. Paul wanted to be doing more that was asked of him and not to be demanding or even needing to ask for support. He also did not want to set an example that may be abused later by the slovenly or even false teachers who might even remotely think, "I'll give you faith, but you're going to pay me for it." Are ministers worthy of their hire? absolutely. But Paul is just laying this principle out so to make certain that there is not a hint of greed or selfishness that goes along with serving the Lord. -Paul asserts that we are free in Christ and are to use that freedom to promote Christ and never to abuse the concept of freedom in that the exercise thereof may jeopardize others finding freedom in Christ also. He also reminds us that this faith, this discipleship we live requires discipline. The Thread through the Streams In Exodus we read of the details details details required for the altar, the courtyard, the oil, the garments and the priests and more. This all pertained to God's house. They give attention to all this and God says, "Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God." These details mattered! -In II Sam. there was a matter that needed to be dealt with cc. the Gibeonites from something that happened long ago. David had some final words, this is vital! He built an altar and there was a detail that best be deleted when he took a census against better judgment and theological wisdom. These details matter. -David was fastidious to list his woes to God in these Psalms. These are confessions. We need to do the same and lay our concerns before God; EACH one and let him handle the details v.s. us living in neurotic denial and reactionary behaviors that are detrimental to our faith. -Jeremiah opens with "cursed are those who do not obey the terms of the covenant." Each part mattered and they had long become sloppy in Jerusalem. And refusal to mind the details let to rampant sin that only became worse and worse. -Hosea basically itemizes the sins of Israel. The riot act is being read to them and they have no argument -in Mark, Jesus was asked four distinct questions and Jesus answered them line by line and decoded the true / ill intent of their hearts. He then turned and warned the crowd against following the teaching of the leaders in Jerusalem during that time. Not only were the rules these false teachers laying out extremely detailed and burdensome, they were just plain wrong. -I Cor. 7-9 gave a goldmine list of details for marriage, status, freedom, attitudes, tenants for moving from a pagan world to the Christian world and how to manage the many phases that people found themselves in, payment to minsters, personal freedoms and more. Hey, thank God for Paul and God using him so distinctively.
Mark 12-13 We are in the Christ Stream and reading from the New International Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, just as you ARE the revelation of God, your words are revelation to us. You just simply tell us what we need to know. As you told your disciples in John, "i call you friends", we are assured that there is no truer friend than you. We are grateful. Amen.
12 - The parable of the vineyard, wherein the tenants who were entrusted to care for it, figures prominently since Matthew/Mark/Luke all include this parable. When the Son comes on behalf of the owner and they kill Him too, it's a "dead" giveaway that Jesus is talking about the leaders of Jerusalem who have been entrusted to be the ones to spiritually care for Israel and her people. For the Israeli Nation were the Light to the Gentiles. This "vineyard" figures in religious history to heal and refresh the nations. The leaders are in charge and they are derelict and they know it and this story hits them in the heart; "ka-zing!" and they don't like it. If it was false, they wouldn't care, but since it's true, they want Him arrested. Notice that they don't arrest Him however because, like Saul 1000 years ago, they care about public opinion - and this is their chief concern.
-Know that the question about paying taxes to Caesar is coming from people who detest Caesar. Again, it was another trick question. They forget who they are fooling with, don't they? He throws it right back at them and they at least have the courtesy to be amazed with everyone else. A subtle hint that reflects to today in a not so gentle manner is the clear insinuation that the government is not to be making dictates about religion, religious activity, or the religious convictions of people. -The "Marriage at the Resurrection" question serves a few purposes in Jesus' bloc of teaching here. There are a few "faiths gone awry" in this world that have man made ideas about family on earth and what family in heaven is and they project the lust-driven opinions of earth onto what life in heaven is going to be. This is wrong. When Jesus replies that we will be like the angels in heaven, it is a comment that eternally echoes both forward and backward in time. The Sadducees asked this question about marriage in the resurrection when they flatly did not believe in the resurrection!! The construction of the question is absurd to begin with: A widow marrying the next brother and then the next brother working through a whole family of seven brothers ... come on guys, eeeesh! They needed to get their act together and try following Jesus instead of trying to frustrate Jesus. They were in GREAT error. -Just a tip here: when someone asks "which commandment is the greatest?" it's a clear clue that they likely aren't obeying the commandments nor do they care to. Though this particular inquisitor may have asked with a clear conscience. But in general, it's as dumb as asking which holes in the boat should we patch before we launch? the ones in the front or the rear?...or portside? which? Either ALL the holes are patched or the boat is going to the ocean floor, ding-bat! What kind of question is this? Jesus constructed a rather cordial and pertinent reply and after that --> no one d a r e d ask him any more questions. Their plans were revealing their bleak hearts and not getting Jesus in any trouble like they had hoped. -the remainder of ch. 12 was further revelation of the teachers of the law and their dubious agenda, their hypocrisy, their arrogance, selfishness, crime and cruelty. Jesus nailed them. And He was telling this to the whole crowd. Pretty gutsy of Jesus. 13 - Jesus gave signs and told us what was going to happen: imminently in Jerusalem and eschatalogically [End Times matters] for the earth and in history. Jesus warns of deceivers, false messiahs, wars, earthquakes, famines, persecution, worldwide evangelism along with family strife, distress like the world has never known, there will be signs in the skies, and the Return of Christ Jesus will be a giant event. Amid all the cataclysmic events, know that the Word of the Lord will stand fast and hold true. And finally be reminded that no one knows or even can know the day or hour that Christ will return. So pay attention. And like the occupation of a watchman whose job is to WATCH. We too must watch for the Return of Christ. Come Lord Jesus.
Hosea 13-14 Today we finish the book of Hosea in the Exile Stream. We are reading from the New International Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord we hear your heart today in this - Hosea's finale~ You so long to bless and heal and be with and shower good upon your own. May we be a people who hear and obey and let you touch our lives. Amen.
We finished the words of Hosea today. He began his ministry around 760 B.C. and prophesied to the northern Kingdom until it's final end in 722 B.C. He lived in the north and, by God's command, lived in and among the Israelites; a nation turned completely pagan. Hosea knew the pain that this paganism was causing God. The adultery hit home even for him as his wife was committed to adultery as a lifestyle. He had seen seven kings come and go. All were wretched. 13 - The people of the north had been so regal (until rebelling). Ephraim was a noteworthy place - once upon a time it was noteworthy for a good reason - now it is noteworthy for a bad reason. The Kingdom splitting was the occasion for calf worship to be instituted. [This was ca. 160 years before Hosea showed up.] Jeroboam wanted all loyalty to be up north and away from the Temple. <--[This was the late 900's B.C.] About two generations later, King Ahab added Baal worship to the calf worship. The calf worship started the spiritual bleeding whereas with the Baal worship, an artery had been "nicked". The story of Ahab doing this is told in I Kings 16:30-33. Ahab had been gone for just over a century now and Israel was about to bleed out and be a lifeless place. The death of a nation is at hand. And this is what Hosea is speaking to to begin the reading today. They will be pounced as if by a wild animal, the wells will go dry, even the babies will draw no compassion from the hoards that will pour in to kill everything they see.
14 - It has been a terrible 200 years for Israel. "The curtain" is about to be drawn. Not much good at all if any has come out of a land that has dedicated itself to being rebellious to the Lord, to the south, to the Temple and all else that God stands for. The Assyrians are coming. Israel will be decimated. This is where rebellion ends up 100% of the time when God is being rebelled against. Does that make God mean? Not at all. Listen to the beauty of what God wants to do with His people. Were His people to repent, all would be forgiven. And He still beckons them to repent! Their gracious God would heal them and their wayward hearts. They would be loved and know love. Wow, were they to listen to God -the wonders and rejuvenation, the communication with God, the fruitfulness - good heavens what can happen at the hands of a loving God! God wants them to walk again; walk with Him. This invitation stands for all of us.
Jeremiah 11-14 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading from the New International Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, we feel pressed to pray for Jeremiah and provide hospitality or give him a break somehow. Let us take that same sentiment and provide it as support to those who serve you today. Increase our faith and service Lord. Amen
Come this chapter, Josiah has recently died and the reforms he instituted are reverting fast as the people are diving back into idolatry. It's not good. The first wave of the Babylonian invasion is less than five years out and the false prophets are crooning about security and riches and that all is well while they are hypocritical and two-faced as a hyena wearing three halloween costumes. 11 - The title of this chapter -from any angle you view it- is basically, "The Covenant is Broken". To put it in today's terms. Your daddy has given you a vehicle, it has a lifetime warranty, bumper to bumper 100% insurance coverage 'forever'. You've been granted a gas card to swipe at any station in the world. Maintenance is also "on the house". It's the most beautiful car you ever saw. It is far beyond better than what you were hoping to get. All that's required is that you drive sensibly, safely, share rides with those who need it as time affords and go to church on Sunday. Easy enough? Well in chapter 11 of Jeremiah, you've been pulled over for driving 85 is a 35 mph zone [AGAIN!], you are inebriated, it's a 7 passenger car and you have 12 people in it -no one has a seatbelt on, music is blaring and you can't even hear the policeman trying to ask for your license and registration. You think you should be let off because your daddeo is mayor and you insist you be allowed to drive on and instead you are forced to get out for a DUI test. The others in the car start plotting that they should burn the police car because their "fun" has been interrupted. btw, this is the 60th time you have been pulled over in similar fashion. [Jeremiah is the policeman here and the people in the car are the residents of Jerusalem about 610-609 B.C. Make sense?!] 12 - Jeremiah's prophetic heart for ministry is being tested here as he notes the disparaging difference between his situation [as he is loathed for speaking while he serves God] against the way the wicked are thriving and prospering. It's a legitimate question. These same people who are smack-mouthed about God since they don't mean their vows and their hearts are far gone astray,--> these same people are also wanting to kill Jeremiah for exhorting them. God's reply is sobering and ... well, it is what it is. No one is going to get away for their turning away from God in a cavalier manner. 13 - The story is told straight-forward and it is easy to interpret. The linen belt is Jerusalem and Judah. They were beautiful, decorative and helpful - but are now soiled, ugly and useless. Also, Judah is going to be smashed the way a loud-mouthed drunk late on a weekend night gets pummeled for shooting off his mouth. Captivity is coming for these people. It's like the whole nation is going to jail ! Apparently they are virtually impossible to "scare straight" so they will be "doing time" in the Babylonian Big House. 14 - There is a drought. The famine is going to get worse. The enemy is armed and is coming. It is awful and it will be more awful before Jerusalem falls silent! Still Jeremiah prays for this people. He cares for them in this manner and in the continuing prayer (that goes into ch. 15). Jeremiah is sounding sort of like Jesus languishing that he would like to gather Jerusalem in his arms but they wouldn't. Jeremiah's prayer here is spot-on accurate theology. He has the wherewithall to utter, "Oh Lord Our God ... our hope is in you. He may have been the only one in the city praying this but Jeremiah is stallwart in heart to articulate his prayer as he does. Jeremiah is committed beyond what most all Christians today understand commitment.
Psalms 55-61 We are in the Wisdom Stream and using the New International Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Thank you Lord for being with us, for hearing us, for stepping in for us and defending us even and especially when things are at their worst. You truly are our Savior. Amen
Today's run of Psalms is like trouncing through a jungle, escaping the lion to encounter the huge snake, then running into an angry gorilla, and then the demented explorer who sic's the blood-thirsty warriors on you so you run to a "Tarzan vine" that allows you to swing over and narrowly escape across the pirhana-infested river so you can have a moments rest with ... the Lord! "whew" Somehow the Lord brought David through harrowing times like this for years on end. 55 - David is pleading for a reply and some relief. He is in anguish, and distraught with terror and worse. Things are bad. Oh, would he love to fly away. David longs to flee back to the desert - probably because it reminds him of peaceful sheep tending during his youth. His prayer for the destruction of his enemies is warranted. And what is compounding matters is that the enemy in this case was once a close companion and believer along with David as they worshiped together - that was then. Now he's turned on David. Honestly it sounds like Ahithophel the wretch whom we [red] read about last week. This cut David deep. II Samuel 15 is the narrative that triggered this particular prayer from David. Amazing that David ends this Psalm, "cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain ... as for me, I trust in you." 56 - This Psalm corresponds with the story from I Sam. 21 when David was being "held" in Gath. He is being resourceful, thinking quickly on his feet so to speak. And it is of note that his most intense interaction during this time in Gath is with his God. The timing is intriguing (since you asked!), David is frightened in Gath; I Samuel 21:10-15. He prays this Ps. 56 here, then he escapes unscathed and then prays Psalm 34 to give thanks for delivery. He is walking with God whatever "jungle" he finds himself in, doesn't he? 57 - David is hiding in a cave when he writes this Psalm - I Sam. 22 coincides with this prayer. I Sam 24 and 26 are similarly tense for David and David is saying in so many words, "God all I have is you. I cannot count on anyone else." Interesting that David killed a lion and a bear perhaps in this same region and he likens those who are chasing him now to lions and ravenous beasts [MEN this time!] whose teeth are actual spears and arrows. Still David's heart is steadfast on God, he is praising, knows of God's great love and David is in worship. 58 - David is especially bothered that the judges and rulers of this era are akin to poison on the land. He wishes that they would befallen upon their own wickedness and things would change quickly. He wants them to have no descendants to carry on the wrong doing. They were as dangerous for the country of Israel as a lion prowling through a village with children playing outside. David just wants all the rulers who have a corrupted soul to vanish and David uses colorful illustrations to portray the depth of his desire to see them gone. 59 - This Psalm and I Sam.19 is the concurrent literature. Saul tried to drill David through with a spear (for Saul, btw, this was an "indoor sport" that he was quite unsuccessful at). Again, the spear stuck in the wall and David fled for his life. So Saul sent soldiers after David. It was a recurring game of tag where 'winner takes all'. We remember the crazed excitement of playing tag as children, don't we? Well this is just as exciting and it is gone way past being a game. Losing/getting caught was not an option. Yet David is very much on the run and very much filled with faith and trust. David prays for deliverance and that is what happens. The "howling dogs" are not victorious. David is victorious because his God is. 60 - was written during a moment when the battles David was embroiled in were not going so well. Thankfully it was a brief enough stint and God responded quickly to David's discouraged cry. II Sam. 8 -somewhere during this chapter- was the setting of the prayer of David here. And God responded as we can see in II Sam. 8:14 wherein God granted victory to David wherever he went. 61 - The Psalm opens with a song that is sung even today. You probably remember the melody. .It is most likely that David wrote this when he was "in flight", far from home, and running from the pesky Absalom who had gone evil as a maniac. David longed to be home in the house of God and in worship there again. It would come. David's faith was anchored forever. It's interesting, whether we realize day to day or not, but our prayers and the Psalms are basically assisting us to walk with God like David did. He is a sterling example for this. We need to be spending our lives in the Psalms.
II Samuel 21-24 We are in The Nation Stream and finishing the book of II Samuel. We are reading from the New International Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord, we see the greatest of Kings in essence getting his house or rather his soul in order as he is preparing to depart and "be gathered to his people". May we be souls who have the wisdom to number our days and make sure they count for Christ and His Kingdom. Amen.
21 - This chapter wraps up the 9 chapters straight of troubles that sprung up in David's life since the Bathsheba incident. Virtually all of this is in-house trouble. It's painful problems that were at an anguish level for David. Life was always turbulent for David since he defeated Goliath. That is the price of leadership. But this last 9 chapters hit close to home since his since was within his own home, among his own home and against his own. One might call the long season of David's life "when pain hits home." The incident of the Gibeonites and avenging the wrong done to them to end the famine was simply awful stuff. That's one thing about the Bible - it doesn't gloss over how bad things can get as consequence of breaking a treaty before God or from breaking faith with God. The Philistines took one last swipe at David and his kingdom. It's legendary as giants came forth and Davids' army struck and finished them all off.
22 - David is sharing one of his last Psalms as he looks back on his life. God has always been faithful. Though David has erred on occasion - David, however, always had unfailing trust in God's care and David was always grateful knowing that God always took care of him. It's placement here has us looking back over David's life which is among the richest of lives ever lived. The adventure, the battles and struggles, the triumphs and devotion, the dark nights his soul walked through, the worship and exultation - this life is what has comprised the best of children's stories that inspire all ages for 3,000 years. 23 - This is David's last Psalm and it is an epochal rendition of God's majestic work of making the Kingdom of Israel. God has been just. His Covenant is righteous. And God's Kingdom will grow eternally. The list of names of great men and their deeds is like an all=star cast of the superhero movie to end all debates about who is the greatest. It's really quite something! 24 - The census that was taken at the end of David's life is an issue of puzzlement and discussion that will go on long after today. To add to a sense of understanding of this reading I Chronicles 21 is the parallel story of this event. All David's life he trusted in God alone. This seemed to indicate that, since he was in war much of his life, it was his thinking and orientation so he calculated that he needed some numbers to be assured that the kingdom that had expanded under his reign was sufficient. Satan had urged this census be taken and David complied. Joab was right to question the deed but David prevailed. He got his numbers but there was a plague that swept through in exchange for this faithless deed done with fleshly intent. The reaction of David and the stopping of the plague was classic David - though his action was not right initially, his reaction was proper; to commemorate and remember and build an altar to God. Solomon later built the Temple in this same place (II Chr. 3:1)! It's marvelous to step back and ponder this, the hand of God that oversees even during and through unfortunate events.
Exodus 27-29 We are in the World Stream today reading more about the construction the altar, tabernacle, etc. from the New International Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord prepare us for our meeting with you. The beauty of what is coming together in this reading today is simple and intricate and beautiful; beautiful as meeting you daily as we prepare to meet you face to face one day.
27 - Here we find the description of the bronze altar and the court of the Tabernacle. The altar was 15' X 15' and 9' high. The details for the courtyard that would encircle the Tabernacle are many. The court was 150' X 75'. The linen curtains and loops and poles and lamps is rather interesting. There are helpful drawings and illustrations if searching then on the internet helps you see it better. "Tabernacle in the wilderness" should take you enough options.
28 - The garments for the priests; Aaron and his sons were of vital importance. The included the ephod (the breastpiece), there were gems within the garments. The outfits were symbolic, precise, intricate, and beautiful - even inspiring. This was such a significant element of their worship. I may seem hard to grasp for many today when the dresscode has degraded to "hey, wear whatever!" But Jesus told one parable where those who attended a wedding were expelled from the event for having the wrong outfit on. This was also illustrative of paradise where those who are clothed in Christ are the only ones allowed to enter. Anyone else with any other outfit is cast into outer darkness. My husband and I may have a better insight into this as we work in Hollywood and it is crucial that every woman at every event be found in a unique dress. To be seen in any way similar to another woman's outfit is a perceived nightmare. The opposite rule goes for men - they must all look identical in black tuxedos/white shirt/black bowtie. To be seen in any variance of this is an extreme taboo. Dressing for God matters FAR more. So it may require some mental effort, but understanding and seeing the priests outfits for the deep meaning that they carried is a rich endeavor. 29 - The consecrating of the Priests was the setting aside these men / their lives unto ministry was a grave matter (deathly serious) <-- if we may embrace a tone of such. They were to have their outfits and to wear them properly. They were not to be slapped on and then take a dumb stumble into the courtyard for some yaha time with God before the people. Heavens no. This was as serious as the nation's very existence. If this stuff didn't matter, then nothing else mattered...and vice versa. There were sacrifices to me made and they were to be folllowed to the "T". There was food to be prepared and that must be done in a flawless manner also. Why all this detail in today's reading? This is all described here and then it is described again in Exodus 35-40 as they are building it. We may look at this and, putting our thinking today against the mindset in the Sinai, only to be thinking now, "heard that before - got it the first time." This repetition only asserts the extreme importance - it is not a laborious repeat. The TAbernacle was a foreshadow, a "likeness" of something heavenly. The reminder to look back on this in Hebrews 8:5 is intriguing. The significance of being right before a glorious God never goes away. It's similar to the issue that arrives in construction. Get the blueprints done perfectly, follow them precisely and comprehensively, build it properly and the final product is eternally right. This matters to all involved in any construction project. and to the occupants that shall reside/and/or work there later? . How could anything we do be of greater importance that what God wants built. Does precision and beauty and strength and value matter to God. You bet you life it does. Listen again to the final verse today - God does this "that He might dwell among them for He is the Lord their God." Nothing matters more than this!
Download I Corinthians 4-6 We are in the Church Stream today hearing the Apostle Paul instruct the church at Corinth. We are using the Common English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams
The Thread through the Streams Looking over the terrain of the scriptures, we can almost feel it in our soul when God shows the vision to the 70 elders in Exodus. The Covenant is laid forth, they gather to dine and they see the dazzling blue above as if God opened a window from heaven and let them see in. "Watch this" <--they heard it back then and they saw. It was a spectacular gift of God.
-In II Samuel there is a rebellion getting some scary momentum. Will Ahithophel get away with this? No. Watch this. Will the army of Absalom snuff out King David? No. They are going down today. God will do them in - this rebellion will die in the forest, watch this. -In Psalm 50:15, I can almost hear the question being asked of God and his reply, " cry out to me, I'll deliver you from trouble - watch this!" -In Jeremiah they are justifying themselves thinking they will never be punished. "oh yea? watch this as the harvest doesn't come in, mounted horsemen bent on obliterating you ride. You won't want to watch this, but you will!" -Hosea in ch. 11 especially muses at how frustrating this all is for God to call down punishment on His beloved children. Can they see it? God wants to show them compassion if they would watch for Him instead of looking for ways to err into sin. -Right before Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last time, there's a "watch this!" as Jesus heals Bartimaeus of blindness. And think that the deed itself says the same thing to the blind man. Guess what?! He can watch Jesus now! Amazing. -In Corinth there is a fellow engaging is a dark sin that leads to death / not just an ecclesistical inconvenience. He is arrogant about it. Paul almost retorts in his spirit to that man, "you think you are going to get away with this? Keep this up? Stay in the church? avoid evil and love your sin and not encounter grave punishment? Watch this as you get handed over to Satan himself. Let's everyday be watching for what God is going to do - it's terribly marvelous.
Mark 10-11 We are in the Christ Stream today reading about Palm Sunday and more. We are using the Common English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | @drakewtravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for sharing your endless wisdom, your mind, your life and your eternal home with us. Amen 1 - In case anyone is wondering: Jesus is in the final days - week or two at the most - of His life/ministry before He is crucified. It is the Springtime. If we put our calendar transparently right on top of the local calendar of the era and region we would be calling the month April. If you are into calendars, the Julian and the Gregorian and (it's a laborious study so we will simply mention it here) The year is 29 A.D. -Fascinating little study about the dates. But, on to Jesus' march to Jerusalem. He has just come far south. He is still east of the Jordan and getting mashed in by a crowd again, He is teaching and some Pharisees are there. They ask him if divorce is permitted by law. It's always amusing when someone asks a question and they are not really on a quest to get their question answered. These Pharisees are tramps! They were the type to divorce and give out easy divorces for ... a wife burning the food, for casually stating "she isn't attractive to me anymore". They treated women below dogs. And so over the years, most of these clowns had turned their wives into skittish, cowering ladies who lived with little value in their own minds so their own husbands were not drawn to them anymore. They don't care that the Law forbids divorce. They are just trying to set up a situation where Jesus seems pitted against Moses. Makes one shake their head to watch these guys get "owned" or exposed like crooks in broad daylight. I like to say that Jesus tied them in a knot and left them baking in the sun. OK, that's not very nice :-( Next we see Jesus blessing little children, and the disciples rebuke this. For them, children are a segue to nothing. They can't be added to the "vital contacts" list. Jesus, always ready to create a teachable moment, does so and portrays "the child" as the ones who access God far more readily for they come to God for love. They come purely. No finesse, no secondary or hidden agenda. No attempt to deceive or be dubious. They just come to Jesus because they want HIM. Adults rarely do that, though children always do. And we better learn something here. ~Then there comes a rich young ruler; he has wealth, youth, time, and power. He wants to add Jesus' wisdom to his arsenal AND have eternal life. Jesus basically says to him, that Jesus is to be the number one priority in his life. We've met people who glance over Jesus' statement here and declare they can never follow Jesus. This is paper-thin scholarship. Just a few verses later Jesus tells his disciples that ALL things are possible with God. Jesus asserts that those who serve Him wholeheartedly will be rewarded accordingly and they can "take that to the bank". -He tells of his Passion again - remember Jesus does this five times during this season of His ministry - James and Johns' little "I'm #1" squabble is turned into a teaching lesson for service. Interesting that Christians lead the world in service because of this passage right here! -in the blind Bartimaeus story, notice that when Jesus calls to him, he throws off his mantle. This mantle was a cloak that was sanctioned by the government meaning he was 'cleared' to beg. BarT- throwing it away as soon as he hears Jesus' voice means he KNOWS he will be healed. Do we come to Jesus' with that confidence?! 11 - The triumphal entry is the event that is commemorated each Palm Sunday the world over. 'Pretty bold of him to go straight to the Temple and bash all the bookkeepers and kaBoom the bazaar that had developed into an eternal fundraiser. To charge people for praying was disgusting and Jesus' made is statement didn't He.?? The fig tree incident can be analyzed for a lifetime, I'll just pick one facet and say this, "we need to be producing something for God's sake. Jesus is hungry and wants a fig. Are we going to be coming to God empty handed forever? Come on! He tells us to be full of faith and quick to forgive. Let's do what we are told here. -It ends today with the Temple leaders coming to him again with a question that is just a ploy to ensnarl Him. Again, their "question" is no quest. Jesus throws it right back at them and they fall dumbfoundedly silent. This whole interchange is actually taught in law schools today for it's brilliance and quick reply that exposes what is really going on. -Looking over the two chapters today, let's not come to Jesus with our "educated agenda", let's come like Bartimaeus and the children with our needs before us and excitement to be with Him.
Hosea 11-12 We are in the Exile Stream and reading from the Common English Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | @drakewtravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord,
We know that You are compassionate to those who follow after You. We want to follow You. Help us to stay on the straight and narrow and to not be distracted by the temptations of this world. May Your compassion flow through us to reach more for Your Kingdom. Amen.
Just to pause for some review, Hosea was sent as the final prophet to the North; to Israel. They split from the south because they were tired of the taxes and of being told by the new young leaders [in the south] that taxes would only go up; way up. To secure the division, the north (Israel) had set up the the golden calf as their national symbol and had immersed themselves in Baal worship. This deliberate paganism was a 200 year run from ca. 920 BC to 720 BC. During these two centuries God sent Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Amos and finally Hosea. All tried to get the northern Kingdom to repent of its idol worship. It was as feckless of results as trying to get dogs to stop digging through garbage or to keep pigs out of mud. ?How to get these people to stop their transgressions? We read Hosea 11 and 12 today and will finish Hosea next week.
11 - begins that God called his son out of Egypt. This is a theme; a motif in the long process of redemption. Moses was called out of Egypt, the Israelites were called/delivered out of Egypt, Jesus was called out of Egypt as a toddler when the angel told Joseph/Mary to return to Israel now since Herod was gone. The phrase "Leaving Egypt" can virtually mean to depart from slavery and come into freedom. God had called Israel out of slavery and ... they dove back into it around 920 B.C. and told themselves that they were doing this to symbolize their independence. It's quite the "whirling dervish" mentality and it wasn't taking them where they might have thought it would.
God has cared for them for so long; from the start! and all they do is run away. They are a frustration to God. And since they think it's their right to dabble in spiritual slavery, they will return to slavery. Assyria will swarm in and when the swords flash all over over their country it won't be some display or Memorial Day exposition. Swords will flash for their death! Horror of horrors. God really doesn't want to see this happen to Israel, his chosen people. But what is God to do when Israel has chosen wrong? The two mentioned cities of Admah and Zeboiim were sister cities of Sodom/Gomorrah, mentioned in Gen. 10:19. They had joined in S Gs' sin. They were burned into oblivion too in Genesis along with the other ungodly populations. Again, God doesn't want to treat Israel this way but what choice is Israel's behavior offering to God when they had joined in such diabolical behavior? Their satanic behavior must be addressed. Does God love them? He never stopped loving them. This is pain for the divine one who would so prefer to save them. However their life of lies cannot go on.
12 - Ephraim, in Israel (remember Absalom and his army perishing in the forests of Ephraim a few days ago?) Ephraim was a cultural center in Israel. Let's put it this way, they put the "cult" in cultural. At any rate, Ephraim is doing deals with Egypt and Assyria (both menacing countries on either side of them) and they are thinking that they are going to triangulate a clever deal and thereby keep punishment at bay. It is as if they think that some tricky chess playing or maneuvering is going to keep them out of trouble. They were being like Jacob; Israel their forefather who was constantly conjuring something v.s. dealing with matters in a forthright manner. God had dynamically met Jacob at Bethel [Gen. 28] - now that area is "sin-central", they are ungodly in every way. God has worked so long to establish His people in Israel but they seem to prefer to return to lostness. They will, - and blood is going to be spilt.
Don't you wish things had gone differently? Yeah. God does too.
Jeremiah 8-10 We are in the Prophetic Stream today spendings some time with Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet. We are using the Common English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | @drakewtravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God of Heaven, hear us when we pray. We see the mess that comes from disobedience. Let us be tender toward you, and listen. May we be clay that can be molded in your hands. We do not want to be like those we have read about today. Make us like you. Amen.
ch. 8 - begins midstream [continuing the thought that began in ch. 7] One version called it "...The Valley of Slaughter". This is the description of how bad things were in Jerusalem as it was approaching 600 B.C. Human sacrifice had been going on, the priests were agents of darkness and not taking people to God. They had been doing astrology full on; consulting moon and stars like pagans gone amok. So God would see to it that the bones of these false priests would be laid out before the heavens - it was much more like Hindu "theology" for this to happen v.s. Judaic theology wherein the followers are buried at their death v.s. eaten by birds or burned on pyres. Judeans had been playing with false religion so they were going to end up as such. It's a horror show, folks. God has been trying to talk to His people, but one may as well try to have a calm conversation with a scared cat! They run away, listen to lies, they're impenitent, oblivious to the Lord, they lie to themselves, lie about God and reject God outright. Judah will be stripped bare for what they are doing. The harvest will not come in... but the enemy will come. They've poisoned what God gave them and now they are poisoned. Healing? not happening. Jeremiah is very pained by all this.
9 - The first verses here is why Jeremiah is nicknamed the Weeping Prophet. What 'once was' compared to 'what is now' has decayed to such a sorry state of rottenness both spiritually and culturally. Deception is everywhere. The desolation they are seeing will soon completely overtake them. This once beautiful city will soon be worse off than a dog pen. Jeremiah saw distinctly what was coming for these people. He walked among them (for well over a generation of time) and pleaded, practically begged- trying to persuade them - imploring them to turn from wickedness. Btw, no one "converted" in his 60 years of ministering and prophesying. Jeremiah certainly had a discouraging assignment. The rebellious and callous ungodliness of these people -who had "firstborn" status with God- virtually broke Jeremiah's heart. There will be so many dead bodies when the Babylonians stomp through Judah! My God, My God, won't these people hear the warnings?! 10 - is a glaring rendition of the pure worthlessness and empty stupidity of idols: either making them, using them, or worshiping them in any manner. God is true, and living, and powerful, and renders justice, and applies his wrath properly. He controls all nature - these idol makers are fools; buffoons. Will you come home to Almighty God? Since you won't, you may as well get to packing up your things for you are going to be run out of here. Your injuries, your destroyed belongings, your decimated families ... what did you think would happen for ignoring the Lord's instruction?! Then Jeremiah ends the reading today with a humble prayer that is 'one for the ages.' "Correct me Lord, but with justice, and not in your anger, or else you will reduce me to nothing." Jeremiah knew the times he was living in for certain.
Psalms 49-54 We are in the Wisdom Stream today. Dr. Drake is covering for Serena who is out with laryngitis. We are reading from the Common English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | @drakewtravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God we thank you for the strength, courage and we can draw from these Psalms. These are common men you engaged to have them later speak to us. Thank you. You lived in them. You live in us. Therefore let us be strengthened in the joy of the Lord. Amen
Psalm 49 - opens with a herald of "hear ye, hear ye ..." It's a memo of all hearts, young/old, rich/poor, wise/fool. These Sons of Korah (the writers) reverence God and fear nothing in this world. The one thing that always wins on this earth; and has the last say is the grave. All are headed there. So of all the things we are to hope in ultimately is that God will redeem and take us to himself. This hope supersedes all hopes. Riches, wisdom, time - the things that most people spend their lives trying to gain are all destined to pass with us. So look to God for redemption. 50 - Here is another Psalm that was sung in the Temple. It certainly is regal. God does what He does in all His natural glory and magnificent splendor. God speaks and gathers His own. Amid all He does, God is mindful of us. It's like in this Psalm, He is stopping in to assure and encourage us to keep living for Him, remaining thankful, and honoring Him - for He delivers us from trouble. As for the wicked: The total opposite awaits them. The are unteachable, they steal, visit whores, lie, cheat, even bash their own families! They better reckon and walk right or God will tear them to pieces ---> with no one to rescue. 51 - David's soul has hit bottom (though he was at the top of his world). There wasn't an army he couldn't beat, a territory he couldn't attain, he was honored over the known world. Then during some "down time", he stole a man's wife. When he gets rebuked for it, he confesses and repents. We read this story in the history stream last week; II Sam.11&12 . Of all the great things David did, one wise old preacher said, that this prayer, this confession from Ps. 51 was David's greatest move. He wants mercy and a renewed relationship with God. David knows about God's unfailing love and He calls upon that love with all earnestness. David's broken spirit IS his sacrifice to God. This Psalm that David was transparent enough to utter, has been and still is, an inspiration to billions of Believers throughout all time. 52 - David had learned that an Edomite; Doeg had run and told Saul about David's whereabouts and thus Saul resumed his heated chase to find and kill David. Well David has a word for Doeg-the-tattler and we find it here in Psalm 52. The setting of this writing was in I Sam. 21:7 and 22:9. Doeg's presence was incidental but his obvious commitment to Saul over David is found out and is therefore what birthed this harsh word against him. God would ruin Doeg for this, though David would continue to thrive. 53 - Could this Psalm be called "The Tune of The Athiests"? The Hebrews knew all about this concept that God's goodness is followed or there is no good found anywhere because man on earth does not manufacture goodness. This phrasing is quoted near verbatim in Psalm 14, Paul says these words 1K/yrs later in Romans 3:10-12. It's the other end of the spectrum from modern-day pagans and New Agers who we may find chanting, "visualize smiles and loving worlds...visualize random kindness!" [poof] The godless turn out to be hollow and fearful and they end up scattered. 54 - This Psalm, as in #52, is written in response to people giving away David's location to Saul. This time it was the people of Ziph (far SE of Jerusalem). You can brief that at your leisure in I Sam. 26. David's reaction is to call to God (as he always does) to be saved, defended, and heard in his prayers. The contrast of the lives and spirit of those who are against God and of those who are for God is so stark. David again ends up victorious in triumph.
II Samuel 16-20 We are in the Nation Stream today and will discover what happens to the battle between King David and Prince Absalom. We are reading from the Common English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, you preserved David through these difficult years, and we are comforted by your preservation of the King. We also gain reassurance knowing that you do the same for us. Amen.
We are in the heart of David's troublesome years. I think the Absalom factor cut David the deepest. Absalom was not in line for the throne, though there may have been generational priority over Solomon. I mean, really, Solomon was the son of Bathsheba - a wife obtained through illicit processes but... Be that as it may, David's affections for his womEn [plural] had created a sequence of events that birthed chaos and pained David the rest of his days. So here we are in the thick of the skirmish caused by his "pretty-boy" son who felt he deserved even more than was due him. A strong motif today is seen in how David treats each and every-one.
16 - The revelation of loyalties v.s. disaffections, the treachery and the intrigue of today's reading unfolds as a very high stakes, life and death chess game. We never can tell what each person's next move is going to be. David is still enroute fleeing Jerusalem -namely Absalom; his rebel son, when he encounters Mephibosheth's aid; Ziba. M- was Saul's grandson whom David was endeared to and took him in. David still honors them despite the national tension. Then Shimei appears. He was a relative of Saul's. Shimei is a agitated soul and curses David. This was extremely foolish since David is guarded by warriors who could kill Shimei at any moment. Oddly enough David halts any possible retaliation and lets Shimei yap away. This seems to reveal that DAvid is still feeling guilty --> Seriously, the king being treated this way (and musing about it being God's doing) just isn't right. But all things considered, David is being overly gracious these days. Remember, David's attitude toward Absalom is basically, "oh well, let him be King now..." (huh!?) Next Ahithophel reveals how far gone he is by advising Absalom to violate his father's concubines on rooftop in view of all the people. Absalom obliges. It's like Jerusalem has gone crazy. 17 - Ahithophel then advises that 12K soldiers go hunt down David to scatter the soldiers and isolate David for the kill. Absalom [who's gone amok] loves the plan. Hushai intercepts (at God's prompting) and advises to pull in all Israel "against" David so that David and Co. can annihiliate Absalom's support. Hushai then goes completely stealth to spirit away and warn David of what's coming. Ahithophel learns his advice wasn't followed, so he goes home and hangs himself. Gee, where did anyone think this turncoat rebel would end up? Meanwhile refreshment and comfort is provided to David's men so they are ready for battle. 18 - David snaps back into warrior-mode. He organized matters brilliantly under his command (On their departure he gives comment about Absalom - that puzzles his men more than anything) --> and off they ride into the battle! David's victory is swift and decisive as 20,000 of Absalom's loyalists (Israelites) are killed. Absalom, fleeing on a mule (not exactly a valiant picture!) gets himself killed/hung by his neck in a tree. Joab learns of Absalom hanging in a tree unable to get free and he thrusts him through with three javelins (today's translation of "sticks" is a trifle weak). This rebellion ends. The victory is grand though grievous for David as his son was killed. He leaves his men in a bit of a lurch as he mourns Absalom's death in a rather protracted (and pathetic) manner. The victory, for him was an internal conflict that he couldn't resolve. 19 - General Joab's heated monologue of exhortation snaps David out of his mourning. It seems Joab is perhaps more into David and the Kingdom than David is. A rally cry arises and David is called to return and resume as King of Israel. During the return Shimei comes forward for his sappy apology while falling prostrate before David. David's graciousness was more than Shimei deserved for cursing the King [back in ch. 16.] During the journey back to Jerusalem we see David handling many interactions that show his regal character in forgiving Shimei, Interacting tenderly and wisely with Mephibosheth and Ziba, being grateful to Barzillai and Chimham ("KIM-ham"). We see a tussle/argument break out between Israel -the conglomerate of the 10 tribes of the north and Judah -the chief tribe of the south. It's a virtual harbinger of what is going to happen two generations later when, upon Solomon's death, the north splits away. 20 - Well, we're all heading back to Jerusalem and the rebellion is over, riiiight? No, Sheba, a Benjamite rallied Israel against David and they followed Sheba against David! David acted quickly, put Amasa on task to assemble Judah to stop this rebellion. Amasa took too long in the process and who [sensing divided loyalty!], who steps forward to ante-up and kill Amasa and roust the army? Joab! He was quite-the-Patton we could say [during WWII] or Sherman [during the Civil War]. He was doggedly Patriotic and loyal to David; almost more "Davidic" that King David was! He pursued Sheba, like a cheetah after a gazelle, to where he was ditching out in Abel ["Ah-BELL"]. And Joab did not stop until Sheba's head was thrown over the wall and landed amid Joab's army. The intervention of a wise woman in Abel was what ended sparing bloodshed on both sides and the city of Abel Beth Maacah ["m'-AH-cuh"] being razed-to-rubble. Wow, what a read!
Exodus 23-26 We are reading more of the law and the instructions for the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle today. We are reading from the Common English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God Almighty, seeing you and experiencing you is why we are alive. Prepare US to meet YOU. Amen.
23 - The Book of the Covenant (Ex.21-24) continues and we finish that today [23,24] plus read the first two chapters that give directions for the Tabernacle [25,26]. To summarize 23: there will be justice and mercy. do not follow rumors or tell lies or lie as a witness, Justice means no favoritism, follow decency- not sentiment, take no bribes and do not oppress newcomers. The land needs a Sabbath (ea.7th year), as do you and your slaves (ea.7th day). Follow no other gods. You will have festivals and celebrations in each season and God will be in the middle of them. People may ponder this but of a truth we all know; people either party with God or they will party with the Devil. God is commanding that they keep Him in the middle of their celebrations and He institutes these celebrations to assure the culture be a God-centered culture. So much can be said about the dietary matters of blood, the yeast, the fat, the cooking process, the prohibition of mixing meat with the milk of that same animal - there is a landmark book titled Purity & Danger by Mary Douglas [1966] that offers a good explanation of the depth of this. It all could be summed up that God wants us to be whole and healthy and well. Many particular meats especially are unsanitary, from disorderly garbage minded-animals, putrid and therein they lend toward insanity and symbolize chaos. They were to avoid them and everything about them. Each person will bring offerings to God / no one comes empty-handed. God led them via Moses and He was also sending an angel ahead of them (this "Messenger") This angel would protect against enemies, diseases, displacement, or becoming cowardly. They will have security and must avoid false gods.
24 - The Covenant is confirmed in an over-whelming event of effects and visions and fire and smoke and colors and revelations of God this all let the people know that God is abundantly serious and excited about what He is laying down here! The Israelites pledged to God and the elders proceeded into a venue that was most impressive. In case anyone is wondering, the word "lapis-lazuli tiles" is the light effect of azure-blue or sapphire. It's a deep sky color one sees when looking upward from an airplane at a high altitude. Here they are seeing God. My heavens! Moses then goes up into the cloud to listen/converse with God. Keep in mind that as we are reading the next 7 chapters (do not get bored amid the details of ch. 25-31!) Moses is IN the cloud getting these matters noted straight from God as He is talking to him. What an experience. This time OMG means OMG literally! 25 - The offerings for the Tabernacle are to be gathered. This is very precious material being stored up. The instructions for the Ark are given as are the Table and the Lampstand. It may help to see this better by searching "The Tabernacle of Moses". This opens a series of sketchings. Most impressive is the one with the tall flame above the actual Tabernacle. This is the flame that God brought down along with the cloud that we read of at the end of Exodus 40. This assured that God was with them - that's all anyone needs to know, really. But at the present there is alot of preparation yet to do to welcome God into their presence in majesty that will help make an impression on these people they will never forget. 26 - The dimensions of the Tabernacle are given. The details are many and we may feel belabored by all this, but it matters. It matters to God so it needs to matter to us. [Again, searching Tabernacle photos can be helpful] This is the place where God is going to appear and show his glory. No house is built without specifications. Homes/Mansions are built and the more important it is, the more details there are. They were to follow these matters every one. Following this was prerequisite for God to appear. Sloppiness here would not be tolerated. If they were sloppy here, they would be sloppy with everything. Going through Israeli neighborhoods today, the attention to detail is a marvel. Gates, gardens, fences, edging, etc. They get these notions from here in Exodus and it still shows 3,400 years later. What are we studying and therefore what are we committed to?
I Corinthians 1-3 We are starting a new book in the Church Stream! We are reading from the Easy-to-Read Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, thank you for caring for us enough to walk us through such matters as we read about today. Church and Christian Fellowship is the best place on earth to find support and comfort, safety, strength, discipleship, and teaching. You certainly love your bride; the church. And we are grateful - because it is us you love. Amen.
Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus to the Corinthian church after he had left the first time. Corinth was along a busy trade route. It was a cultural and wealthy city of influence. Paul was spurred to write the Believers in Corinth because leaders from there had come to visit him in Ephesus as they were in duress and vexed with how to handle troubles, sin, misconduct, plus relational and doctrinal matters back in Corinth. [btw, Olympic trials were held here before Paul arrived and shortly after he had left.] There was an Aphrodite Temple above town. It had been closed by the New Testament era but there were residual effects from it in Corinth, Paul ended up addressing this issue also. It became an influential church and Paul was fervent to see them "aright their ship". For within a century there would be a population of 3/4Million people in the area, so now was the time to set the church straight.
1 - Paul encourages them that they are holy because they belong to Christ Jesus. The Greek culture had a goal of attaining a perfect body and a perfected mind. [E.g. the muscle-bound statues, the 'thinker', etc.] We can still view this art today. This was a Grecian's grid of value. and Paul wanted them to know that their value was that they belonged to Christ. This was news! Churches here (as elsewhere) had not built central meeting places. That happened a couple of centuries after Rome had committed to stop harassing and executing Christians. Churches met in homes, halls, fields, caves and were therefore almost never "all together" as a unified group. The tendency was to become competitive. They were following different factions they had created. Paul reminded them that they were all following Christ, together, so stop bickering. And it was vital that they understand the Cross. Greeks didn't like it because they felt, "why follow a man who surrendered himself to die? I don't want to die. I'll follow Apollos! He's alive..." [or we'll follow Peter or Paul or Aquila]. And then there were the Jews who were taught for 1400 years that a lamb was to be sacrificed, not a human. That was too much like Molech or the pagans in Rome. yuck! As you see, Paul needed to explain the Cross to them....[and to us!] And because of this Cross, Jesus is your strength, your mind, your justification, your freedom. 2 - It was important that their confidence switch from being rooted in human thinking (mind worship) to confidence in Christ. THIS is the root of true wisdom. The Greek mind and language structure was a rather brilliant system - it still affects the way we think and talk even today. But it is the wisdom of God, found in Christ Jesus, that we access through His Holy Spirit that leads to true wisdom that transforms us and the world. This is the wisdom that Paul mentors us into finding and living by. God has such marvels and wonders to share with us and bring us to, but we won't find this life in Him via a human path or cranial activity. We will find it by surrendering to Him, His wisdom, His Spirit. 3 - Paul takes the time to tell them that the teachers that pass through their live are God's Servants - not Their Masters. Follow Christ, let the teachers guide you, and the arguing and comparing would simply cease - as it needed to! The Greeks (and Corinth is a city in Greece) were very immersed in learning and growing and perfecting and building. There are structures from centuries before Christ that are still matters to marvel over today. Paul, amid this thinking, asserts to them that THEY are a temple, Christ is at work on this temple. They must bring Christ into all their thinking and building and activity and hobbies and obsessions. Christ would then therefore be their "obsession". <-- We're saying what Paul is implying though he doesn't word it this way. Paul simply wants Corinthians to latch on to a totally higher way of thinking, and wisdom and operating that supersedes anything they have ever known before. Christ owns you and has so much to bless you with. Let Him. The Thread Through the Streams :You will all follow a higher wisdom, what God has laid out, or you will end up killing what you think it is you love. In Exodus, God laid out the plan; the "Decalogue" and numerous subsequent laws. Each persons impulses and passions were not to rule the day. God's Law was the law. What happens in the world, in villages, in families where God's law is not followed? Eventually murder rules and worse. -In II Samuel David is feeling the affects of not following God's 6,7,8, & 10th Commandments. He repented and was restored, yes. But it ends up terrorizing and killing his children however. -In Psalms, the Sons of Korah are at a crossroads many times. They are so down-hearted. Thankfully they choose to look up to God, and His higher wisdom, and to be encouraged and not let their feelings override their faith. -Jeremiah is urging them to follow God's laws and wisdom. But they follow their own vices and darkness - what they think they love. And it's going to kill them, their towns, and Temple too. -Hosea tells them that they are living wrong (teaching their children wrong too), Your idols, your judges - it's all poison and you will lose everything and be destroyed for turning against God. -Jesus, in Mark, asserts definitively that He must die (so that you/us/we can live. This is higher wisdom - the plan that God laid out. This must be loved more than our own lives or we won't find life ever. Our life is found in Jesus' death. [born once/die twice - born twice/die once] -The Corinthian Church will follow Paul's higher wisdom and the Corinthian Church will turn from their selfishness or there is going to be no Christian testimony in this city or this region. Their love for Greek culture and argument and body and mind will be surrendered to Christian codes for living or this church is going to devour itself.
Mark 8:27-9:50 We are in the Christ Stream today and reading from the Easy-to-Read Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, the wild and varied road of discipleship with you is as exciting as ever. Thank you for including us as your disciples. Heaven is worth it, and so is each moment with you.
Mark 8:27ff - They are walking north from Galilee to Caesarea Phillippi (21 miles straight, rather longer than that on foot). The discussion that ensues needs to happen: "who is Jesus?" The disciples start quoting this guy and that guy and this guy... This was a trademark of Jewish scholarship. Jesus wanted to know what they thought. Jesus asks us the same question today. And we need to answer it. Our eternity rests upon our answer of this question. Peter and Jesus' interaction here and in the next story are wedded truths that must both be accepted: Jesus is the Savior and he must be crucified as a sacrifice for us. Learning this --> IS discipleship. It's not an easy truth to ingest. Peter's attempt to correct Jesus gets a swift and stinging rebuttal. We are to follow Jesus whole-heartedly, single-mindedly, boldly. Getting "on page" with Him is the issue. We are not to try to mold Jesus to fit our agenda and worldview. He shapes ours.
9 - The disciples would witness the coming of the Power of God - Pentecost is what they being assured of in the opening statement of ch. 9. -The Transfiguration is a vital lesson in the revelation of paradise, eschatology (end times study), and Resurrection theology. The Israelites had a notion of heaven and the next world but it is an under-developed segment of theology for them. Most of what we believe about heaven/paradise/the next world we learn from Jesus' teaching. So here are three of the disciples that realize that Jesus has instant access to other worlds. That the prophets are not dead. They see Elijah - who had "died" 700 years ago, and Moses - who died 1300 years ago. What?! You're alive? You're here?! Those who work for God and follow His Son do not die. It's quite a grand testimony, certainly worth telling to the world (when the time is right)! Upon returning, there is another showdown centered around another demon-possession victim. Matthew and Luke tell of this same story in a much abbreviated 6-verse version. Mark tells it in full. The lynch-pin is that the 9 disciples who didn't witness the Transfiguration gave it a go to free the youngster from Demons while Jesus was away. They did not succeed. Jesus' reply to this development was tongue-in-cheek curt response to motivate them to move up to His level. Jesus wants them to be able to expel demons from people. We all hope the reaction was that they insist Jesus teach THEM how to cleanse the demon-possessed and not wither into insecurity because it sounds like Jesus might have insulted them. Following Jesus in not for the faint of heart, btw. Next, Jesus tells of his crucifixion again. He did so five times between this session in Galilee and the arrival in Jerusalem. [Mark tells us of four of them]. Talk of his Passion during what we call Easter week wasn't mentioned much prior to this. But Jesus wanted them to be certain of what was coming. However they are still not 'getting it' yet.' -The next verse tale is proof that the gravity of what was coming at Calvary wasn't sinking in at this point --> They are arguing about who's the greatest, [as if Cassius Clay was among them as one of the disciples). Jesus teaching about serving and having a child-like heart is perfect timing again. It's still shaking up the leadership world today. Awesome. -The word of Jesus and His powerful Name is spreading as someone other than them is ministering in Jesus' name. The disciples aren't sure what to make of this. "Jesus" wasn't going to be a small club of 12 much longer so they best get accustomed to this. -The final teaching is so needed today. We are to be inspiring and raising up and mentoring eachother. An alarming amount of people today make a living from selling, promoting, and doing things that harm people and leads them into dark and unhealthy things. Jesus asserts that there is a horrid price tag for leading people astray. The part about maiming one'self [if that's what it takes to stop sinning] is too much to take: the issue is clearly this: SIN is NOT one of your OPTIONS. Dietrick Bonhoffer explains this better than anyone if you care to look up his commentary on these verses. It is vital and beyond that no one is led astray from our example. We are to affect people in the opposite manner.
Hosea 9:10-10:15 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the Easy-to-Read Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord, let this sorry tale of the northern Kingdom only remind us that you do not play games with the disobedient. Let it remind and urge us to follow you, follow you today, and to follow you fully. Amen. 9 - Israel's love for God has rotted. It started out as affection that was pure but it has become like garbage gone bad "late in the day". Israel has loved rotten things ... now they have gone totally rotten themselves. God needs to discard them. Their future needs to be cut off because a rotten present (that Israel is committed to) signifies a rotten future.
Nothing signals that there's a future like a baby arriving. Well God is going to end this and Israel is going to have no more babies. What does survive, God will "take" those babies. It's too disturbing to describe what the Assyrian soldiers did to Israel's helpless babies during the seige. And you don't want to know. Email my husband, if you really need to know as this era was his major in college. Believe me, it's bad. Well, Israel had killed its own faith and done so deliberately and it won't be long now until Assyria kills every Israelite baby they can find. Too rough? Is God being too mean? Willful sin takes things in a far worse direction than the deliberate sinner ever dreamed he would be taken in his worst nightmare. They would become a homeless nation. And historically, these tribes of the north were scattered into the "compost heap" of history. 10 - Israel has erred greatly in that they used their wealth and fertile land and blessing to, do what?!, to make idols! Their aimlessness is turned lunacy. We've heard the phrase, "wherever, you go, there you are." With Israel, wherever they go in their minds and hearts and sinfulness, "they aren't there either. When someone isn't thinking clearly, we declare, "they're not all there." This is Israel completely. They have a king, but they don't - not really, they make promises that they don't keep (so what were they promising?), their judges merely poison everything, they worship a calf - it gets stolen, they make pacts with other countries - with those that hate them and then invade, their altars of worship will turn into piles of weeds ... so what are they worshiping? The nation is crazy. Israel has been sinning and sinning so horribly, so constantly, and for so long. All these centuries they could have been planting good things that grew into great things. But Israel planted evil and lies and false hope (in their sinful commitments). Btw, the man "Shalman" mentioned in Hosea 10:14 was an Assyrian King, His full name was Shall-man-EASE-err. Whoever completes the conquest of Israel, Israel is going to be fully destroyed. It's basically over for them.
Jeremiah 5-7 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading the judgments as written by the prophet Jeremiah. We are reading from the Easy-to-Read Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, we ask that you would be a comfort to us; an ever present help in times of trouble. Guide us as we aim to live as Jeremiah did and speak up amid a culture that seems bent on disobedience. We trust you to guide us in our pilgrimage and ministry as we find ourselves living in similar times to what Jeremiah lived in. Amen
5 - Jeremiah is appalled that there is not even one righteous/loving/God-fearing soul in Jerusalem. The people talk of God but it is hollow. He then goes into a prayer for 15 verses straight. Jeremiah vents to God about their wickedness, the punishment coming to them like a lion pouncing on its prey. They're about to be treated like animals -since they wander away from God. The children, the leaders, everyone is going to feel the punishment. They ignore His prophecy so the LORD must bring in a foreign nation. They've brought foreign gods to worship from another land, so they are going to be taken to a foreign land (what do they THINK is going to happen?!) They and everything they own is going to be devoured. These Babylonians may as well be six foot tall locusts - they will leave nothing. These people of Judah are not accidentally straying; their rebellion is deliberate. They are deaf and blind but think they are fine. They lie and are treacherous. It will require the Babylonian army to get their attention.
6 - The enemy of the people of God is coming, and they come to destroy. The people have stopped their ears long enough and God is going to use this foreign army to "cleanse" Judea. The chapter reads like God is even directing the Babylonians, telling them how to overtake the city. As believers we read this and may think, "God, what are you doing?!" Hey, what is God supposed to do? The Judeans have been up and down spiritually for almost 350 years. The north had fallen to Assyria (150 years before Judea did) and in the intermittent century and a half, Judea more or less has an ungodliness contest with itself to see how far they can press the matter in their disobedience. They had deluded themselves. Remember, later in Jer. 25:9 and 43:10 God refers to the Babylonian king as "His servant." This king Nebuchadnezzar will be sent (by God!) to clean up Judea. If God is not allowed to, then a dark force will be put to work on them. Obedience to God would have been a much better plan. This is just like in Eden; When God's people do not obey God or His plan, what is God to do? When they (we) won't obey, God just needs to clean house. We do the same with spiders and roaches in our houses, do we not? Judea refuses to repent. And they keep bringing offerings to God as if that would cover for their wickedness. The warnings for repentance are insistent, even pathetic. The awful punishment coming to them could be avoided through repentance. But Judah won't. 7 - Jeremiah is assigned to stand in the gateway to the city and prophesy to the people about the matter of obedience and repentance. Jeremiah is laying it all out here! The people have been treating the Temple like a kid playing "tag" or something like that. A kid will run all around a yard and then stop with a hand on a structure and declare, "Base!" meaning they can't be caught or tagged because they are on a base. Judah was breaking all the commandments all over the country in their ungodly behavior and then coming to the Temple and declaring to themselves that they would not be punished because they were in the Temple. It's like they are yelling "base!" to God. I mean God isn't going to let His own Temple be smashed is He? Not with us in here with our offerings, right? Think again! The reference in v. 18 "Queen of Heaven" was Ashtoreth. They were worshiping this female sex deity just like all the surrounding pagan nations were doing. All God wanted was their obedience. They are countering with, "we won't obey, ...but we will bring sacrifices! [durrr] The Judeans revered their ancestors (uh, they weren't obedient either!). And the more time passes, the worse people become. They have been as pagan as the pagan nations and worse. They've done infant sacrifice right in the city, the Temple is polluted by their deeds as they play both sides. They do this Satanic level wretchedness and then bring their offerings to the Temple (same people!) Well God is going to end all this and there will be so many dead that vultures will swarm in to clean up the bodies. Some Hebrews will be preserved in another land, but Jerusalem is going to fall silent. A preview of this is in Lamentations 1 "...the city is deserted..." This all- so- did- not- need to happen. But with Judah's behavior - it did happen.
Psalms 42-48 We are in the Wisdom Stream and beginning Book 2 of 5 in the Psalms. We are using the Easy-to-Read Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we thank you for these prayers that remind us of your goodness and our need for you in our lives every day, every step. Amen.
Today we start in book Two. Psalms is divided into five "books" and 1-41 is book One. Here we begin with the second. We read today about the Sons of Korah. Just so you know, these were a family of Levites, a musical group, a team or guild if you will, that David had assembled to bolster the atmosphere of worship for the Israelites. 42, 43 - These two actually form one poem. It's the longing cry/prayer of one who wants to get back into God's presence; into the Temple again for worship. He's away from Jerusalem, feeling in exile up north and east - east of the Jordan. The locals are hostile toward him and he is caught up in a full effort to cheer himself again. Vv. 42:5,6,11 and 43:5 are used in a familiar worship song, (from a different translation) it is sung, "why so downcast oh my soul? Put your hope in God..." Throughout these two Psalms, The Sons of Korah are longing, quizzing and encouraging themselves so to cheer up, lamenting the cruelty of others, calling for God to come quickly, and reminding themselves of His goodness. It may sound like they are "all over the place", but this is appropriate and applicable because so are our lives and so are we on a regular basis.
44 - The army has paused to call on God during a rough time amid a battle. They pause to reflect and assert that it is God in Heaven who always gave the victory in Israel's history. And they know this. At current they are trying to see the light when it seeeems to be snuffing out. They are feeling at a loss, they are getting pushed back by enemies and they are calling on God to guide the way, to act quickly, to show and help them get moving forward in this battle again. They pray this way because they do not want to go into complete despair. 45 - is the wedding song of a king. It seems to be multifaceted in that the King before us while this is written is either David or Solomon. They talk of regality, beauty, handsomeness, victory but it does seem to go ethereal in that it sounds like Revelation 19:7 and the marriage of the Bride to the Lamb which is of God. This is an event that is going to be thousands of years away. The inspiration that transforms into ambiguity adds intrigue and an alluring passion that keeps the reading and the discussion of this Psalm very much alive ... for 3000 years so far ! 46 - When in trouble from enemies or natural disasters, it is God who protects and gives peace. God indeed can conquer anything and therefore we will run to him for our covering. It is noted that Martin Luther drew much comfort and reassurance from this Psalm during the Reformation of the 1500's [A.D.] 47,48 - like 42 and 43, these two Psalms read like a verses 1 and 2 segment of the same Psalm, though they're also numbered as two separate Psalms. The worship is breaking into rhapsody, come 47! The Lord is King, He loves Jacob and descendants, this land of Zion, (He rules the whole world too.) The Lord is great; so great. He has drawn people the world over to His city. God defends this city against any foe. God in Jerusalem is cause for elation. It is greater than can be described. Just walk through and all around Zion and experience Him. This is the invitation here.
I Samuel 12-15 We are in The Nation stream and reading from the Easy-to-Read Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, forgive us for our having lapses in our discipleship, suffering for it, only to muse, "why is this happening to me if God loves me?" God, you do not bring or wish or want evil upon us. It just happens in this life. Our disobedience has invited evil into this world. May our pleasures make us grateful, and our pain make us even more prayerful. Amen.
12 - God needed to use a parallel story told by a trusted friend to get to David. As has been said, he had less ethics when he was sober than Uriah did when he was inebriated. The sheep story from Nathan crushed David who came out of his moral coma finally. David did not feel the change coming over him as he took in one wife after another. But subconsciously somewhere along, he thought, "I can because I want, I want because I can, and I can because I am King. If David had paused long enough, he would have been reminded that taking Bathsheba from Uriah, was coveting and stealing and adultery and murder. Strangely enough, David had lapsed, thinking the 10 Commandments didn't apply to him. But his realization started him on the road right back into God's presence. David was quick to confess and repent (Psalm 51 and 32). However this sin of David's started an avalanche that haunted him the rest of his years. He had Uriah murdered and soon this murder visited his own home. He let lust take him to places he shouldn't go. Lust therein took over others in his family. He had sex with Bathsheba in secret thinking it would keep it hidden. Soon all his wives were ransacked in public; on the rooftop. From this day on, "the sword would never leave David's home". This translation says he would never have peace in his home. And to top off the chapter, the baby David gave Bathsheba dies. Solomon is then born. The chapter ends with a war victory but it feels less victorious in the wake of David's violations 13 - David's troubles amplify as one of his sons, Amnon, from one of his wives tricks, seduces, and rapes one of David's daughters, Tamar, from one of his other wives. Absalom, another one of David's sons, plots to kill Amnon for his deed of raping their sister Tamar. On cue Absalom calls it and Amnon taken out. All of David's other sons escape in fright and Absalom becomes a fugitive in hiding in Geshur for three years. The drama is thickening in David's family. He must have dreamed of "days gone by" when dinner hour was a joyous event. Not anymore. The consequences for David's transgressions are visiting him for what he had done; line by line. 14 - Absalom was afraid to come back to Jerusalem. David seemed reticent to fetch him or even call for him to come back. It's sad, but reality is that David's resolve during his valiant deeds and battles of yesteryear doesn't seem to be there anymore. Joab pulls together a scheme that spurs David enough to call for Absalom to return to Jerusalem. Abs' returns but is quarantined in a sense and doesn't get to visit the King; his own father, for two more years. Absalom gets frustrated and lights Joab's field on fire to get some attention. This finally triggers an arrangement for Absalom to visit his father in the palace for the first time in five years. The overdue meeting finally happens. It is cordial, bittersweet, yet distant. 15 - Absalom was not satisfied (murderers rarely are!) and soon began the role of self-appointed arbitrator so to turn affections from King David to himself. Absalom was a huckster and not enough people saw through him. He asks his father permission to go to Hebron but is not forthcoming as to what his real plans are. Absalom goes, takes 200 men with him and even gets Ahithophel, one of David's confidants, to join him in the rebellion that Absalom is incubating. David hears what is really happening and seems to resign and simply leaves Jerusalem taking his household with him. It's a sad affair and many are weeping aloud. They pause and David insists that the Ark of the Covenant be taken back to Jerusalem and David would come back if he felt God prompting him to do so. (It's really sad how David had become so aimless in character.) He is disturbed to learn that Ahithophel is against him now too. He sends messages that he is willing to follow Absalom as the next king [getting looney isn't it?!] and his messengers arrive back in Jerusalem just as Absalom arrives from Hebron. What happens next ...?
Exodus 19-22 We are in the Nation Stream today reading from the Easy-to-Read Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear God - Thank you for your guiding Law. So many across the earth fall into trouble and sit in the ashes of a ruined life and moan, "how come no one told me?" Well, you tell us God. You guide and warn and remind and teach and do this to save us heartache and loss, and we thank you. Amen.
19 - The awe-inspiring pre-show to the Law being given happens in this chapter. These 10 Commandments would prove to be the pillars of civil society. And the Israelites are looking up at all the fireworks and smoke and lightning as we read it in ch.19 and it had to be a heart-stopper! The events of this "preView" to the Ten Commandments and their arrival and delivery to the people were of grave importance. The future of society would hinge upon these coming laws. God had to get their attention prior to the Law. To read the TenCom's and to shrug and walk away would have been a travesty. Thus the fire and earthquake and trumpet blast that must have been Gabriel or Michael cutting loose has them at attention! God also wanted the Israelites to hear God talking to Moses so that they would take Moses seriously throughout his life. The impressions were made and - here comes the Law. One note that is of merit: historically, we know that the Israelites were not capable of keeping the Law as no one is. Interesting that we see Elijah right here in this same place centuries later when he is on the run from Ahab/Jezebel. It wasn't the thunder and lightning and fire that got Elijah's heart. It was God's whisper. See I Kings 19 to review that at your leisure. 20 - The Contract with God required keeping these Ten Commandments. They are not 10 SUGGESTIONS that God hopes they hear and adhere to. They are not DEMANDs (is DEMANDMENTS a word? :-) as if God would burn them and throw them in hell the instant anyone falters. They were commands. You shall not do this. It could be worded in English today, "you won't be killing or stealing or swearing/cursing by Me, got it?! ..." This is the way it was going to be. The first 4 pertained to treatment of God. The last 6 pertained to the treatment of eachother. Very important to reverence eachother too! 'Ever been around someone who claims they love God and yet they treat their neighbors like rodents? 'pretty nauseating isn't it? There's a whole new code and God offered endless support/provision/protection for those who followed His Law. Those who wouldn't, well, you made your choice and you're to get out of my sight." Don't anyone get mad because of their disobedience. All this is delivered in a setting that shook them to the core. The Israelites had been dwellers in the delta for 400+ years. and they'd never really seen a mountain. And here they were getting a new "life code", the scenery is colossal and terrifying, trumpets (that they can't see!) are blasting, the earth is shaking, the mountain is on fire. WOW. Get this memo people and obey this Law. 21 - 22 - The first aspect of augmented civil law was that of slavery and how to handle the matter. This is a topic of must passion today, so much so, that a sensible discussion regarding slavery is often thwarted by ignorance, anger, and resentment. The truth is that 80% of the slaves that resided in North America from 1619 to 1865 (at the end of the Civil War) were treated rather kindly as America was a biblically founded government and biblical laws commanding the fair treatment of slaves were abided by. Granted 20% of slave owners (who dominate the discussion) were cruel and a notable amount of these brutal slave holders were of African descent themselves (which is usually ignored and very carefully so). The argument won't be put to rest here and we don't intend to but . . . Be that as it may, the issue of slaves [a worldwide phenomenon] and their treatment had to be dealt with and God needed to step in and lay out rules. These slaves were humans made in God's image too. They were not animals that could be kept however or slaughtered and discarded whenever. The people of God who possessed slaves must treat them honorably; better than the rest of the world did. God commanded it. The truth is that there are slaves today being held and driven by masters who are not Believers - and they will not read our Bible. One report gives a conservative estimate that there are in excess of 200Million slaves on earth today. The majority of them brutalized Christians being treated so by Muslims, Communists, Atheists, and Pagans (and the worldwide secular media couldn't care less). Other aspects explained pertained to violence, deviant behavior, theft, rape, pets-gone-wild, and negligence resulting in harm, The details involving disputes arising around animals is pertinent for animals were pets, food, income, tools for labor, etc. The Hebrews must remember that they were to be upstanding people as a testimony to the world. They were to treat orphans and widows and foreigners/travelers well. They were not engage in pagan behavior of any kind, and be amenable regarding loan$. These were the beginning laws that would be the mark of a civil and godly society. A country's atmosphere, even today, reflects on whether they adhere to, or disobey, or are ignorant of these laws that are spelled out starting here and running through to the end of Deuteronomy.
Romans 13-16 We are finishing the letter from the Apostle Paul to the Romans today. We are in the Living Bible translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Rom. 13 is being written by a man who is going to be executed by the pathological government's Caesar in a little over a decade. If he can take this with an upstanding attitude, we can too. Paul does not want Christians to be known as the "rebels of the nations" everywhere they go. . . . We are a growing movement that is blessed so to redeem [not start skirmishes] everywhere we go. Cheerful obedience and civil behavior are powerful tools in starting a wave that has Christians being perceived, "gee, they are awfully nice and friendly and giving.people!" We are urged anew by Paul to be content people, our main trait is that we are loving, and our heart is to be eagerly awaiting the Return of Our Lord. This will be the trademark of a vast charitable "army" of people who will embody the largest movement the world has ever seen. 14 - Paul knew that as people came to Christ Jesus and joined in the Kingdom and joined church fellowships, and worshiped together, and dined together (Paul knew) that these people would be coming from numerous backgrounds and the natural tendency to unify would be jilted by prior habits and vows and commitments from former beliefs. People dining together would encounter either the commitment to or revulsion of certain foods. People of Jewish descent had the kosher laws that were superseded once Peter had his vision in Acts 10:9-16. Others had secular backgrounds and were oblivious to religions that were either sacred or profane. Others had cultic backgrounds and, now being a redeemed Believer, they would be sickened by how they once lived and did not want to eat anything that reminds them of their past. Well here they were together at "church potlucks" and some brought kosher "manna/matzoh" [ok, ok!], others brought pickled shrimp, others - vegan bread and/or (unkosher!)--> cheeseburgers, and ... you could see the squabbles that erupted over diet rules to which there was no resolution except to love eachother more than their former laws, or vows, or regrets of the past. The Jewish Sabbath v.s. new Believers honoring Sunday as more important was another needless argument that needed to be put to rest too.. It was vital that they all NOT insist that everyone else adhere to / or live by their own personal preferences, hankerings, or idiosyncrasies. Christian community was more important. That meant they were not to be criticizing others. 15 - The onus was upon the more mature Christians to be accepting and welcoming, nurturing and even to be gently tutoring younger/newer/less mature Christians. They were to be exceedingly welcoming and warm to one another. Paul also wants Jews and Gentiles to get along. From 15:20, through chapter 16; to the end of the book, Paul is talking of preparations, further journeys and travels and his desire to keep the gospel spreading. He'll be taking a trip through Jerusalem first before coming to see his Roman friends and Believers. Remember that being held back in Israel by the Sanhedrin and the Herod-family only caused the three years of anticipation to see Paul only become more pronounced. You can hear Paul's impassioned concern that the church grow and grow in all ways everywhere. 16 - is a great listing of the people Paul wanted to remember. A case study dedicated to each of the names in this chapter is as entrancing as poring over the 58,000 names upon the Vietnam memorial wall. We should not become fickle and skip these over. Each one shined like a reflection of Christ in the first century church. Some of the names of these people can still be seen upon the homes and structures they occupied back when Paul came through ca. 1,965 years ago. Paul revered each of these. We ought also revere and welcome and honor each who visit our fellowships today ... as Paul has been urging us to do for a few chapters now. The week has been a colorful one going through each of the seven streams of Scripture. The thread throughout we'll call, "Be Attentive. God is Moving. Move With Him, and Let Yourself Be Instructed." After the Exodus, there was water-as-medicine that needed to be ingested, a new diet pattern (failproof food from the sky for 40 years!), Sabbath rules, battles to uphold, a "no whining" law and these would remain for the rest of YOUR lives - catch this! In II Sam. we are going to regroup in Jerusalem with the Ark for the first time (don't get too close Uzzah!), it's time to worship (Michal!) and David would have done better to keep his mind on the war v.s. the girl next door, eh?! Everyone would have been better off if they had moved with God wouldn't they?? In Psalms, David is in pain from his sin and the results of it. God is moving him through it however and David learns from it. Come Psalm 40-41 he is finding relief in his God. David does right by his faith again. Jeremiah laments that Israel/Judahs' love for God has grown cold. She has become a "queen" of prostitutes in many ways. God moves over them with an offering of repentance. They should move with God's offer . . . but sadly they don't let themselves be instructed. . Hosea brings a second antithetical story in a row as Israel is vapid/stupid and idolatrous, wretched to the core and refuses to be attentive and learn from God. So God is going to move a vicious army in their direction. Everything Jesus taught them in Mark this week were very moving and dramatic lessons loaded with vital instruction. Jesus used each "teachable moment" to the full and the disciples caught it eventually. Paul's instruction to the Roman church was straight from the Holy Spirit. God was moving people from all ~walks of life and ~regions and ~refined faith and ~pagan faiths ---> right into His Kingdom and the teaching he gave this week was a perfect application to help them understand the moving of God anew . Let's let ourselves be instructed by God's Spirit also so we do not miss what He has for us.
Mark 6:45-8:26 We are in the Christ Stream reading more about the miracles of Jesus. We are reading from The Living Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus - you certainly show your wonderful deeds for us. You feed and heal and instruct and love and welcome all who will come. Thank you for being so marvelous and so loving. We wholeheartedly thank you. Amen.
Jesus is now into his second full year of ministry. From the feeding of the 5,000 (last story we read last week), to the final story today, (the healing of the blind man) this is an 8-month period. It is spent much in Galilee, Herod's jurisdiction, and the wonders of Jesus are making an eternal impression on many Greeks and Greek-speaking people as well. 6:45ff The theme of Mark is "Jesus the Wonderful" and we certainly read of this today. His walking on water is universal proof that this is God's message bearer to us even to those who can't bring themselves to surrender to Him as of yet. Walking on water is deity in action. He enters the boat and the storm calms immediately. Remember, that Jesus sent them on ahead and they are caught in contrary winds that have them basically rowing in place through most of the night. Jesus comes, all is calm and they proceed. Perhaps this is a good place to make a devotional point --> in evaluation of this story, "if we try to go on ahead without Jesus, we will likely find ourselves in a storm that we cannot deal with, and wasting our energy." We don't want to parse that illustration in a myriad of ways but it seems to be a helpful dab of wisdom. They soon land on shore and Jesus is healing EVERYONE he touches. Imagine the joy that was raging through the countryside like a wind of happiness! Perhaps the day ended and the disciples -part elated, part in shock- and by nightfall they're thinking, "uh, let's stay with Jesus, avoid the storms, and watch all the wonders, eh?" 7 - The Pharisees confront Jesus about how his disciples weren't washing their hands properly before eating. The full explanation of this tradition could easily be a half day lecture /discussion so we'll just ask this: "if you ran into Jesus personally do you ask Him to touch your life too or do you ask him about the sanitary status of His disciples hands?" Really! Jesus lets 'em have it over this one. He points out the real issue - the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and he details the matter. It's a lesson that angered them to the point of no return. Jesus does two more prominent healings in this chapter. [Remember there were thousands of other healings that we are not told of.] He heals a young girl of demon possession out west near the coast. The area was Phoenician. The area was cultic - thus the encounter, the mother's reasoning and persistence, Jesus agreement and the blessing is all quite a story. We can take away from this that we are to encourage people of any background that if they can't get through to Jesus, keep pressing until you do - because you will. Next he heals a deaf/mute man. Last story the request for healing came from the mother. This time it comes from everyone who knew him. What a great way to have the witness of Jesus' power explode. And everyone marveled. 8 - Jesus does another huge and miraculous feeding. The numbers are slightly different than the last time, but the lessons again are manifold and are to be taken to heart. The disciples are worried about food when they should be ingesting the deeper lessons that were unfolding in front of them. The power that Jesus has is because of His deity. Notice that seven loaves becomes enough for everyone. The bread was broken in Jesus hands but it multiplied in the disciples' hands. Seven = The Holy Spirit at work, and it happened in the hands of the disciples. Memo to the Disciples is a memo to us today: "let the Holy Spirit use YOUR hands to do His work. Get in the Holy Spirit and stop worrying so to take part in the wonders of God." Next the Pharisees arrive and demand a sign and Jesus just walks away from them. I mean who's got time for these jokers who have no intention of following Him? He then heals a blind man from Bethsaida. This is a town that Jesus cursed for their unbelief. [Mt. 11:21 -It's now a deserted archaeological dig with a sun god carving that's visible even today, btw!] So Jesus takes him outside Bethsaida to heal him. Jesus heals him in his second "attempt" [2nd demonstration, actually]. The first gesture to heal has a comical result. Memo to the disciples and to us: "when you endeavor to minister healing and the immediate result is not the desired result - persist. Pray again. Reach out again. Be like the Syro-Phoenician woman and plead. With the deaf man, the whole town showed up to ask. Get more people involved in healing ministry. Don't go it alone. P.U.S.H. [Pray UntilSomething Happens] I mean, do you like to pray with quitters? Why would God ever want us to be quitters?
Hosea 8:1-9:9 We are in the Exile Stream reading from The Living Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, make our lives significant like yours and the prophets were meaningful and still are as what was spoken still speaks today. None of us want to come to the end of our lives only to hear that we have inherited a whirlwind. Help us live lives that count for the kingdom and for good for your Kingdom. Amen.
8 - We are back in the north and Hosea is speaking to a nation that is going to fall in 722 B.C. It's about 130-135 years earlier than what was read yesterday in Jeremiah. Hosea reminds them that they have set up their entire government apart from God's leading. These are the people who erected a golden calf exactly like in Exodus 32 (500 years prior) just to make sure the people were deliberately disobedient and not going to Jerusalem to worship properly. This establishing of this idol is described as it happened in I Kings 12-13. And Hosea is hitting the issue right between the eyes almost two centuries later. They have been worshiping this calf so long that they may not even be hearing Hosea as he rebukes them. The reference, "... sown to the wind and reap a whirlwind" is a motif in literature. Well Hosea said it first! Israel has "boxed herself in". She thinks Assyria is a friend. But they'll be the ones who "turn them into mince meat!". The reference of "returning to Egypt", Hos. 8:13 is a metaphor for returning to slavery. The nation is on the verge of being burnt to the ground and any survivors hauled away. 9 - For running from God and sacrificing to others, their idolatry will even affect the land and their crops. At this point, every offering they bring to God is a stench to him; it's polluted. The bondage and poverty they have "earned" is upon them. Hosea has been speaking to them, trying to avert 'judgment day' but he is labeled a crazy man. Israel is NOT listening. The "depraved as in Gibeah..." verse is in reference to the horrid rape situation in Judges 19 and the hideous aftermath of it all. Hosea reminds them that Israel is just as bad as this now. For this, their children will be hauled away, their sons are doomed, pregnant women will be treated in ways that are too disturbing to describe. Why is all this going to happen? because Israel will not listen or obey. I would say "God help them" but they don't want his help.
Jeremiah 2-4 We are in the Prophetic Stream as we read from The Living Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord: The prospects of the ungodly are oh so grim. The end of the disobedient is certain. I pray we are ready and alert souls who will have ministry in mind as we encounter those who have come the the end of themselves and are therefore ready to hear of The Savior. Amen.
Here are some statistics: Jeremiah spent 20 years warning Judah to repent, 20 years amid the sabres of war as Babylon was sacking the southern Kingdom, and 20 years in retrospect lamenting the destruction of the land of God; Judah and Israel. 2 - The nation has fallen so far. God wants to know, and Jeremiah is assigned to tell them: "you once loved me so much. I defended you and fed you. Anyone who threatened you paid severely. Now you will worship anything as long as it isn't Me. There is a national attitude of "whatever buddy!" toward God. Even the priests and leaders are given to Baal and Molech." God is going to continue pursuing Judah and will be trying to love them, but things do not look good. They were so free and prosperous and strong but have turned themselves into slaves. They rebel at every turn. They have become more proficient at sinning than those who have had no training in goodness (and vice versa!) It's as if those who were lost all along come to the Israelites to learn about 'how to be better sinners.' It is so utterly pathetic what these people have turned themselves into. They are dirty dirty dirty, lusting 24/7, anyone who comes to minister to them gets murdered, ...and they think that a foreign government is going to be of aid to them! 3 - Israel, called out to be God's bride, has turned itself into a trolling whore that will expend herself on anyone but her husband, and she doesn't come home. God is willing to forgive and reunite with them but their sinfulness is a bit more appealing to them at the time. Judah held onto God a bit longer (the southern Kingdom) but they have slouched in their pursuit of God too. Manasseh is king at present. He's the one who had Isaiah killed and he is turning out to be the darkest leader the Semitic world has ever seen. His Satanic wretchedness far outdid Ahab. Manasseh was throwing live babies and young children into fires at evening rituals as a sacrifice to Molech. Here was Jerusalem - no city had been so blessed, yet no place or people on earth had descended so far down from so far up. They had even become more wicked than their relatives in Israel; the northern kingdom. Judah was disaffectionately dubbed, "the adulterous wife". And that was just the tip of the matter as for how bad they had become. 4 - The opening of ch. 4 sounds like, "this is your final chance to exit from the highway to destruction..." God wants to see total transformation of His people, yet they are bent on wickedness. and the enemy army is on the march to come flatten them! The sword is raised, a lion is at the gate, their chariots and horses are coming, war and death and crushing will engulf Judah. It is going to be awful - and Jeremiah can see it prophetically. It will happen. The first influx of Babylonian soldiers enter Judah in 605 B.C. - 21 years after Jeremiah is called into ministry. The siege is progressively moving across Judah until 586 B.C. when Jerusalem is sacked and the Temple is destroyed. Jeremiah is warning them for two decades to turn but God's people are stubborn, dull to truth, skilled at deviance, and moronic about righteousness. It's amusing that, as the enemy is closing in on them, some of the Judeans are pausing to put on mascara and "doll up" themselves. That's as dopey as the town being on fire, and stopping the work of dousing the fire so you can have time to wash and paint your house ... before it burns to an ash heap! Something is really wrong with these people. The sad thing is that it is an illustration of all of us.
Psalm 38-41 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the The Living Bible today. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams
Lord God, we can learn from David today. May we, like David, when in anguish and pain turn to you and not turn on you. Amen.
Things are not looking too good for David and that is the tone for most of what we find in the Psalms today.
38 - David is pleading to God for the punishment he is feeling to relent. David has sinned and God is angry. David is near complete despair with pain and inflammation, disease and exhaustion. Loved ones and friends have departed. His enemies are still coming at him. David calls out to God in this state - it's quite a lesson for all of us. 39 - David's sin and punishment because of it is dragging on and it has him longing for happier days. It has him musing about the frailty and emptiness of life. His final verse here sums things up: "spare me Lord, let me recover and be filled with happiness again before my death." He simply longs to fellowship sweetly again like he did with his God when he was tending sheep and playing harp and singing to Him in better days. 40 - is one of the most popular Psalms of deliverance, recovery and relief. It's been a favorite for 3,000 years. The presence and loving hand of the Lord is what the heart really longs for. And God longs to be with us - 'ever think about that? Sacrifices are ... well yeah, ... they are good but God wants us and we want God. The fellowship is what is most sought for. God delivers, just keep calling for him until the relationship is restored. It's very interesting about how U2; the band from Ireland made a song out of Psalm 40 and it has been among the most popular songs ever performed. All opinions and personal impressions aside, the world longs to be with it's Savior - even though we seem to forget this more than we seem to remember it. 41 - David has a lovely piece about God's ability to nurse us back to health. He then quickly launches into his word against those who have turned on him. This Psalm best coordinates with what is found in II Samuel 15 when Absalom has turned and is now trying to wrestle the kingdom from David; his own dad. Absalom has recruited Ahithophel to join in the rebellion. Athithophel was once very close to David (they were the best of friends) but has now become the "Judas" of the Old Testament if y'know what is being said here. Still David remains in prayer and is turning to God in his distress, isolation, and pain. Amid this anguish he ends the Psalm exclaiming about his eternal God who is from everlasting to everlasting. What a heart for God David had!
II Samuel 6-11 We are in the Nation Stream continuing the story of King David. We are reading from The Living Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 6 - the stunning drama continues: 30,000 troops are in procession to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem where it belongs. The man standing right by the Ark catches the Ark so to keep it from falling. The young man, Uzzah who touched the Ark falls dead instantly. Quick reminder: the Ark is nothing to be trifle with or light-hearted about. It is the most sacred item ever constructed on earth. No one was to touch it ... so why was Uzzah less than an arm's length away from it? The Ark is then kept at a home nearby and that home is truly and deeply blessed. David, realizing this anew realizes it must be taken to Jerusalem so the whole city and nation can be blessed! David enters the city and the worship he triggers is most vigorous. His first wife, Saul's daughter, resents all this excitement centering around God. So she is struck for her attitude and never has children. Memo: when worship commences, it is better to join in than to sit on the sidelines and analyze it. 7 - David pauses to exclaim that a Temple be built to honor God. David had a good heart in stating this, but God has a better idea and tells him of it via Nathan the prophet. God is going to establish a throne for David that will make him among the most prominent men in history. David is going to shine above the rest for all time and indeed the Savior comes to the world by way of David's line of descendants. His response to God is most gracious and grateful and humble. It reminds us of why God's heart is after and upon David. 8 -10 - This starts David's campaign of expanding the borders to the largest they had ever been. He is king, and operating 400 years after Moses he is taking the property lines to places no one ever thought they would be. God gave David success at every turn. He subdued the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Edomites, Ammonites, Amalekites, and all neighboring nations. He brought home great wealth and his sons assisted him. The whole family has covering. [ 9 ]- This is a touching chapter in that David pauses amid 'endless' battels to inquire of Saul's relatives. David seeks out Mephibosheth, Jonathan's crippled son, who was dropped as a child. And he takes him in and takes care of him for life. Mephibosheth dines with the king from then on. The marvel of this is that it tells of David's kind heart amid the conquests. The common practice of many in this region was to find any possible dissenters of a prior ruler who might in any way be disloyal to [you] the current king, and to wipe them all out. David does the opposite and honors this grandson of Saul [who hated him] and son of Jonathan [whom he was close to]. 11 - This is the chapter that creates a great turn in David's life. He had trouble all his earlier day but there was blessing and protection and provision for him. This is where David procures wife #8 and he does so in an illicit manner. He already has 7 wives! The problem is that a set up like this trains a man deep in his soul [albeit even doing so unconsciously] that he can have whomever and whatever he wants whenever he wants it. This is not good. It also (multiple wives) merely proves to the heart of any man that "enough" is never enough. He sees BATHsheba taking a bath and wants her...now! It was all over, babe. He takes her, gets her pregnant, and in an effort to cover himself, arranges for her husband to be killed. Her husband, [you remember in the story] Uriah shows more ethics when he is inebriated than David shows when he is sober, btw! David did what he did and seemed to get away with it, legally. But God was not pleased with him. He thought he had troubles before! ... They worsen now and never let up the rest of the days of his life. David ruined his own plight here. His penchant for women [polygamy] is what weakened him and brought this on however. It reminds of the warning in Proverbs 31:2-3, "my son, listen...do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings." And remember this is not chauvanism - the warning comes to all men for all time - from a woman!
Exodus 15-18 We are in the World Stream trudging through the desert with the Israelites. We are using The Living Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis.com | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God of Heaven, you rescue in the mightiest of ways. Each salvation you grant is a rescue. The drama of this rescue is marvelous. May we too remain enamored with your power to save and let that spur us [also] to not be a complainer. Let us keep our eye and mind on your wonderful deeds and provision for us. Amen.
15 - the song had to be overwhelming. 2Million singing immediately after being saved in the most fantastic way imaginable was over the top. We've seen a congregation burst into cheering after a baptism or salvation announcement or a miraculous breakthrough. But here is 2Million singing, exultant after 600,000 soldiers in pursuit are stopped right behind them. God is marvelous indeed. The next three days was spent walking in the wilderness and water was not to be found. It's easy to ridicule them as forgetful whiners, but take it easy on'em. A few hours without water in the wilderness will make one frantic. A full day or two will make one delirious. There is a nation of them and it's been three days now! The water is bitter and God needed them to drink it for there was a remedial element in the water that God needed them to ingest to heal the intestinal problem that over 80% of all Egyptiank residences had. If they were not in a panic of thirst they would have not drunk it at all. This set of incidences had them follow through with "taking their medicine". 16 - The journey is in full and the Red Sea behind them is well out of sight. The manna begins and everyone has all that they need and the supply is going to last for 40 years. No one starved in the desert - not one. The food they had was good, nutritious, and sweet to eat. The Lord used this food issue to keep the Sabbath matter before them. On the sixth day each week, God sent double supply so they would not be sent out to gather on the seventh. They were to keep and remember the Sabbath. Those who hoarded, thinking God might stop feeding them, had rot and odor in their places. They wanted more food; meat, so God sent quail. He sent quail here and again about a year later. We'll read that in the coming chapter later in Exodus. God did not send manna on the seventh day. The people finally caught on to this pattern. 17 - The two great events of this chapter are water coming from the rock and the initial battle against Amalek. The water situation is not a perplexing matter to the locals even today. The porous rocks of this area become infused with water during the infrequent flashfloods. Shepherds then tap on rocks and are able to determine whether there is water inside it. Moses had done this during his shepherding years here [Exodus 2]. It must have been simpler for Moses to do this for bleating sheep than for quizzical and cantankerous people. The army of Amalek shows up and this calls the nation of Israel to battle. The progress toward victory happens when Moses held up his staff and Aaron and Hur supported him. And the opposite happened when Moses did not uphold his staff. This is symbolic for us today that we need to be upholding our leaders in His Kingdom that God has brought forth. Prayer and support is needed in this area. Complaining is not! 18 - It was a rich and warm reunion when Moses met up with Jethro his father-in-law. They brought his wife and two sons to him as well. Word of the Exodus and the miracles in Egypt had reached Jethro (as it did everyone else for hundreds of miles). Soon Jethro noticed Moses expending entires days - day after day - settling disputes like a judge before the people. Moses felt it was his duty to do so. Jethro knew better and could see that it was taking Moses to exhaustion. Jethro advised him to set up a delegation of assistants to handle these judgments and disputes. This spread the work to thousands of others who were honest, willing and able. This landmark chapter has affected the discipline of administration and management the world over.
Romans 10-12 We are in the Church Stream today reading with the International Standard Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams
Lord, the issue today is salvation. We are grateful that you are mighty to save. Amen.
10 - Paul is continuing on the same thread of salvation and his longing for the Jews to understand the greater picture; that the salvation they have been hoping and "working" for for 1400 years and more is now here ... and they are fighting it tooth and nail! The middle of chapter 10 spells it out. We believe in our heart, and confess with our mouth and therein salvation is granted. This is what Abraham did and was counted righteous for. And Abraham (whom they revere) was "saved" 600 years before the Law was given to follow. This is proof positive that salvation comes by faith. It's strange, but this is all so obvious to the "old guard" within Judaism that it is staring them in the face - thus they can't see it. Paul's quoting of Isaiah, and Moses, and David in Psalms, and the Prophet Joel is proof positive that what was going on now is what God has been planning for salvation to become and that be accessible to all nations. --> and It's happening now - but the old school Jewish leadership is disturbed by it and vehemently against it.
11 - Despite the Jews' open rejection of the salvation that is now found in Jesus, God still loves his Chosen Ones. Granted, the Jewish rejection of Jesus was not universal. The original believers and converts were mostly Jews. The growing young church was majority Jewish is culture and its overtone. It was the Jewish leadership that had rancor for the Christians, and their proselytes turned agitators were the ones who brought the most harassment to the burgeoning Church. But in this chapter [11], Paul talks of salvation for all the Jews. The interplay of the Jewish and Gentile relationship has a tone of sibling rivalry as Paul describes it. The symbolism and illustrations of yeast and bread and the affect each has upon the other and the tree metaphor of the trunk and the branch gives such clarity to what Paul is so impassioned about. He REALLY wants these spiritual concepts to be understood. Paul closes by exclaiming the wonders of God's processes by working out our salvation in a myriad of ways. It's a marvelous and endless topic, isn't it? 12 - This is a banner chapter about our life that is dedicated to God and transformed for living unto God and honoring Him with our service. This life is filled with grace and gifts and productive activity that blesses, spreads cheer, and love, and hope, and serves others so to spread that love. The finale~ is exhortation that is vital for dealing with tension, deviance and deviant people. It is a paragraph that is unique to Christianity. Interesting that the pagans and the other religions of the world refer to Christians as "the nice ones", the "happy ones", the "ones who share". My husband and I have been in over 70 countries and we've seen this first hand. It is a marvel how Christians are everywhere and spreading Good News, even to those who currently despise Jesus and His followers. And it is this ministry in the Holy Spirit that is resulting in millions of new Christians coming into the Kingdom of God each week! The week walked us through much Preparation for Big Changes ~Moses relayed the plans for Passover, for leaving Egypt so to institute a new faith and how it would be lived. ~David is now king - this is a big change: he "farewells" Saul/Jonathan, though he is in Hebron, he names Jerusalem the new capitol and national worship will be instituted there. Worship will be done according to what David says - vibrant and energetic. ~In Psalms DAvid prays for deliverance [35] and then revels in his relationship with God. What better way to prepare for deliverance than to pray for deliverance? ~Isaiah is basically telling us to prepare for a whole new world and Jeremiah is told to prepare to follow the Call of God. ~in Hosea, we all wish he had something more pleasant to say but he, because of Israel's behavior, he is saying, "you better prepare yourselves to be destroyed - the way you are carrying on..." ~Mark teaches, "here comes Jesus, prepare yourselves to be blessed." ~Paul in Romans 10-12 is saying, "prepare to be saved. Jews first then Gentiles. Wait, no Gentiles are more readily receiving him, so Gentiles more for now, then Jews will follow in because of envy. Oh well, all of you are going to be saved!"
Mark 5:1-6:44 We are in the Christ Stream learning more about Jesus' earthly ministry as we read from the International Standard Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, you expel what is wicked, you raise up deceased children, you feed hungry, YOU are everything that is needed. Thank you for being everything that we need too. And help us to share the great news about you. Amen.
My Heavens! There's so much to learn from Jesus - so many ways to be like Jesus - so many reasons to do like Jesus. 5 - The reading today begins with the most eerie and grotesque of settings. This is demon possession at its worst that can be witnessed in the Bible. The ultimate point is to demonstrate for us that Christ in us enables even us to remedy these horrid problems. Jesus does this openly because he wants us to exercise this gift globally. He cleanses this man of countless demons and does so in front of the disciples. THIS is teaching, and Jesus does so perfectly. His style is very straightforward, remedial (it seeks a solution, not a fancy show), and transformational. The man was a wild-wolf and worse. And when Jesus is finished the man is following Jesus, grateful to him, and he is an evangelist. What a marvel.
Jesus next does a double deed of healing a 12-year old girl and a woman who was ill with internal bleeding for 12 years. Mathew, Mark and Luke all tell the sequencing of this story identically. He's called to heal the young girl, he is intercepted by the older girl (heals her), then he proceeds to go and heal/raise up the young girl to life again. The most endearing thing that anyone can give as a gift and a blessing is to give a family their young child back. The deepest pain a heart can pilgrimage through is the death of their child. How do YOU think this family felt about Jesus come sunset on this day - the day that they got their daughter back. The whole world would feel exactly the same way about Jesus provided they could just meet Him. 6 - His visit to Nazareth had several reasons. The Bible records him passing through here about a year prior. One thing that can be noted is that prophets do not exactly receive a hero's welcome in their hometowns. (Shepherding types do, but not prophetic types). If they people do this to Jesus, they'll do this to anyone. Do not be surprised. A prophet is supposed to have an itinerant/mobile life anyway. Also the protracted list of Jesus' family of origin is listed. It's an intriguing thought that Jesus was the eldest son of a family of at least nine. He had five brothers, at least two sisters, more likely about four sisters. Some branches of Christendom like to tell themselves that Mary was the "Virgin Mary" forever. That Song/Solomon 4:12 is about Mary - a "fountain sealed". Well, read Mark 6:3 and realize that Joseph and Mary parented a fruitful family. ~When he sent out the 12 disciples, he told them to go empty-handed basically. With no back-up (meaning no backpack too!) this would make them determined to connect with people. The gospel requires connection or it is not spread. ~John the Baptist was Jesus' cousin and Herod had him killed. Herod set it up so that it looked like he was trapped and needed to kill John do that he could continue feigning that he was a man of is word. Yea right. Herod worked it like a politician. How does this sit with Jesus? Now we do not find Jesus suspending his ministry and starting a "prophets' rights" coalition. No. Nothing distracts Him from His ministry. But notice how Jesus later treats Herod one or two dozen months later in Jerusalem: Luke 23:9. Jesus won't say a word to him. Yer'pretty bad off when God won't even talk to you! ~The reading ends today with a display of Jesus' mastery over the matter of food; specifically the quantity of food. Jesus effortless feeds 5,000 men. There were wives. There were children. He probably fed 25,000 total that day. Only the men are numbered in the process because a ready count of able-bodied men was always noted for these are biblical times and an enemy could arrive at any time and a census of the men needed to be known. The others were significant too but that is just the reality of the day: number the men.
Hosea 6-7 We are sailing through choppy water in the Exile Stream. We are using the International Standard Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord God: we live in times like this. We ask for your wisdom as our culture is going headlong into wrong doing and ignoring you. We want to hear from you Lord so we may understand the times, understand your mind and respond accordingly. Amen.
The opening of this passage has a hint of Christ in there that certainly people perceived a variety of ways since it was spoken 700+ plus years before Christ arrived. Hosea does give a pleading invitation to the people of Israel. I guess it warrants a comment at this point: it must be making Hosea crazy somewhere along the line to be among these people; so wretched, and yet God is so patient in waiting - giving chances for them to return to Him and they simply keep "daring God" if we can use the phrase. It's as if they were as twisted as possible....like the rascal kid in school that is practically begging to be punished. Israel has willfully lost her mind and soul at this point in her history. Yes, they were bringing their sacrifices to the Lord, but plenty of the earnings were via prostitution! Disgusting scenario. Gilead and Shechem are mentioned by name. These two cities made Las Vegas look tame and proper by comparison.
7 - Israel is embroiled in wrong doing and is guilty and dark as ever. Adultery is as normal as a trip to the market. The "oven" motif is interesting. It is a mis-managed oven - that is for certain. Four of Israel's kings are assassinated after very short reigns. Life is that cheap in Israel because love is that cheap and God a thing to mock for these people. Interesting illustration of a half baked cake. One translation articulates Israel to be a pancake that is raw goo on one side and burnt on the other; something that no one will eat/want/enjoy anymore. The gray hair comment is meaning that Israel is getting old and time is running out. They are a senseless nation, due for a whipping and correction, they are runaways headed for ruin, they talk senselessly and murder awaits them. It's not a pretty sight! This is Israel in the 700's B.C. Hosea is talking to them, encouraging them, warning them and they are ebullient in their zany sinning.
Isaiah 65-Jeremiah We are bridging between two books in the Prophetic Stream today as we read from the International Standard Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams
God, we pray that all of us would realize the gravity and seriousness of our callings the way Isaiah and Jeremiah did. There are nations yet to bring into Your Light - and you will use us to do that as we are willing and available. Amen
Isaiah is offering parts of the vision of the new heavens and the new earth. It is the answer to prayer for a longing earth and the people who have been hoping for God's Kingdom to come in full. Trademarks of this time are that new nations are "taken aboard", a new name is given to all, the atmosphere of God reigns, there is a new heaven and earth...because what has been hoped for has arrived at our current presence. What was always thought of to be "up there" is now among us; that is a new heaven and earth. <----the fascinating concept could be discussed for 1,000 years! and it probably will still be a fascinating discussion 1,000 from now. The evil is separated and gone. Peter speaks of this in 2 Pt. 3:10ff, John speaks of this in its final state in Rev. 21-22. Revelation especially expands on Isaiah's vision described. Other aspects is that people will be living the length of years similar to lifespans before Noah's flood.
Isa. 65:20 asserts that those who die under 100 years of age will be accursed souls who died in their youth. Apparently a time is coming when we will be seeing Methuselah-types again. Won't this be a wonder? Plenty and prosperity and peace will be common. Tension and frustration will be unheard of. 66 - Isaiah talks clearly about those who are received of the Lord and those who are rejected. There have been people who have lived by the rules of their own choosing and obeying which rules of God that suited them [vv. 3-4]. Obeying what we want to obey when we want to obey it - is not obeying. This great book of Isaiah then ends with comforting words akin to tender motherhood for his beloved followers and terrible reckoning for the disobedient. There are several of Jesus' quotes that come from this portion of Isaiah. And this ends the words of one of the greatest writers of all time. For his powerful and poignant contribution to Israel's prophecy, Isaiah was executed by the diabolical king Manasseh; son of the righteous king Hezekiah. Hebrews 11:37 talks of Isaiah's execution wherein he joined the other saints in glory. Jer. 1 - Jeremiah had the dismal task of warning Jerusalem of being over run by Babylon. He is called to ministry and he is called to a ministry in a time when people don't want to hear it. He ministered in Jerusalem during its final decades before Babylon stormed in ... and there is no record of even one convert to encourage his work. Truth is he could have volunteered to go to Nineveh or Babylon and be among an elite writing team for a literary revival was in progress. But he followed his difficult call from God and he stuck to his post and henceforth his writing is still touching hearts nearly 2700 years later. This instead of having his work be celebrated, his life lived in luxury, only to have his writing become filler for an archaeological dig along with his own bones. He was reluctant to accept his calling from God. He was about 20 years of age when his calling came. He was intimidated and felt he was too young to affect anything. But he was to tell them that an army was coming - they were as motivated and angry as a boiling pot ready to pour over the land. His calling is rich with imagery, ominous in its pulsing immensity and encouraging in that God would be present and walk him through his assignment step by step and word by word. Jeremiah is in for an intense "rest of his life"!
Psalm 34-37 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading the writing of King David. We are reading from the International Standard Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Thank you God for being our ever present help in times of trouble, our God in every circumstance, our God who there to comfort every pain and receive every praise. Amen
David had just come through another vortex. He's been on the run from Saul. He seeks "refuge" among the Philistines - whatever that could end up meaning! He pretended to be a nutcase so to project to the Philistine king that he was not a threat. He absolutely could NOT let the King of Gath know that he was perhaps the most brilliant battle tactician on earth at that time. But it is vital to understand David's mentality so to ingest this Psalm for all it's worth. David had no place to go to find safety. God is training him that the only 'safe' place is with HIM; his God in heaven. One literal translation calls God "The LORD of heaven's armies" and it is a literal translation! David would, in time, be leading a vast army and God wanted David to be ingrained with a deep and unshakable trust in God. He couldn't have him get complacent due to so many battle victories that were coming for him. He couldn't have David become spiritually complacent once his power became among the greatest in history, or once wealth and status had accumulated. These years were necessary for David to walk through. They were his own pilgrimage; it had to happen. The backdrop of Psalm 34 was I Samuel 21:10-15. David survived this spooky incident and then wrote Ps. 34.
35 - whereas David is rejoicing again about surviving in Ps.34, he is venting [his prayer] in Ps.35. He just needs to pause and muse about all the people who were coming after him. I guess he never calculated that dropping Goliath would fester such jealousy in so many. Yet David's exasperation with those who hate him is not without the positive interruptions of vv. 9 and 18; "my soul will rejoice in the Lord. [and] I will give give thanks in the congregation." 36 and 37 Find us in the middle of David's 72 Psalms. They remind and urge us to TRUST in GOD. People are wicked. God is merciful. Uh, ya, trusting in God is what we need to be doing and this trusting in God is our only hope of having an anchored soul. The contrast of the hearts of men all around us and the heart of God above is more stark than night and day. It is the most contrasting comparison that can be made under heaven. So gaze upon God, praise Him and live in Him and the wickedness of others will become incidental. 37 feels like a continuation of the same Psalm/verse/song. It has become one of the most endearing Psalms in the Bible. It is interesting that th Psalms are truly worth posting in places where we see them often; desk top, coffee station, on dashboard, etc. so that we see them, read them and dwell on these Psalms - especially 37.
II Samuel 1-5 We are in the Nation Stream. David is now official king of Israel as we read through the International Standard Version today. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, these changes we see today were steps in the right direction. Yes, things were turbulent and messy but growth is rarely clean and neat and your hand was upon David in spite of all the intrigue and surprises that were not always pleasant. May our faith be equally as unshakable as we find David's to be - even when our days are stormy. Amen
The Book of II Samuel IS the reign of David Saul is gone and what's worse for David is that his dear friend Jonathan is dead. The opening of II Sam. is grief for David. Yes, Saul spent much of his years on the throne trying to kill David. But David had a character rooted in his walk with God and Israel was God's land and Saul was Israel's King and David respected authority. So he had respect for Saul - odd as it may seem. David's reaction to someone who had 'finished off' Saul is another testament to the depth of honor that David had for the Lord's anointed. It is in order to mention that II Sam. 1-6 and I Chron. 11-16 is a different perspective on the same time- period. The two portions are worth reading concurrently so to get the full picture.
He was now king of Israel, but needed to grieve a bit. His "farewell song" is a treasure. 2 - David was rightful king now but some of Saul's men just couldn't accept the transfer of power though the time had come and there was no other way to perceive this development. The battles and skirmishes are gruesome and unnecessary but Saul's "groupies" who couldn't see the bigger picture nor the changing times were ebullient and there were needless deaths because of it. It never is wise to be committed to a dead cause. Nevertheless those loyal to Saul had installed Saul's son; Ish-Bosheth as king over Israel. The move was illicit but so it goes. He was there as "king" for two years while David was the rightful king installed at Hebron. He was there for 7+1/2 years These years before he was moved up to Jerusalem there was warring between Saul's followers and David's. During these years David had children with six different wives. That was one way to pass the time... Though David's movement was growing and strengthening, Saul's was becoming weaker. 3 - Abner changes to become one of David's followers and supporters. If he hadn't been so intense and spiteful prior to doing this, perhaps there would have been more credibility to his move toward David. But since he joined with David before convincing everyone of David's men, Abner was murdered. The intrigue and entanglement seemed to mark these years between the death of Saul and David being fully enthroned in Jerusalem. 4 - In another incident, there were two ruffians that went to the house of Saul's son Ish-bosheth and killed him and brought I-B's head to David thinking it would please David. David's reaction was opposite and David had these two men killed. These were wild times in Hebron! 5 - Finally all the tribes gathered at Hebron and David is anointed King. He moves on Jerusalem even though the Jebusites living there vowed David would not come in. But David being valiant, he and his soldiers prevailed and Jerusalem became "the City of David". King Hyram of Tyre soon heard of David's triumph in Jerusalem and sent gifts. The Philistines too heard of David's ascension as King and they marched out twice to end this movement. David was victorious and decisively so. It's still "The City of David" almost 3030 years later!
Exodus 12-14 We covering the 10th plague today in the World Stream. We are reading from the International Standard Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Holy Holy holy, Lord God Almighty - we just want to sing to you as you have done the mightiest of mighty deeds on behalf of your children. Thank you God for standing in defense of us too. Teach us to trust in you who fights for us. Take us to your place of rest. Amen.
The tenth plague was coming and it required preparation for the Israelites. Egypt would not recover from this plague. It would break the Pharaoh and he would want Israel gone. They didn't know if 10 plagues was the end of it, or if more and more were coming - so they would finally resolve to have Moses go and take his people with him. The firstborn from every Egyptian home were to die the night of Passover. The details are explained and the Israelis follow them "to a T". Compliance is deathly important here. Sacrificing a perfect lamb, putting blood over the doorposts and lintel of each home, the unleavened bread... this is all intriguing symbolism of a Savior who would be coming some 14 centuries later!
The LORD went through Egypt at midnight, struck all firstborn dead - including animals and the grief was unbearable. It had been roughly a year from the first plague of blood to this final one. The Israelis were ordered, by a grieving and horrified Pharaoh, to go and do their worship as they please. The "parting gifts" sent them away with immense wealth. It got the 'nation of Israel' off to a good financial start to say the least. They left and the Exodus had begun. The Passover had been eternally instituted for the Jews, Egyptian slavery years were behind them. 430 years had passed since their arrival. 70 went down there and now millions were leaving! What a sight. The greatest event of the ancient world was in process. 13 - The Passover was then established for all time. The consecrating of the first born was ordered (a little easier to be on God's side and not have the death of the firstborn, isn't it?) The dedication of the firstborn would never change for them. The Festival of Unleavened Bread is established. All these matters are so they would REMEMBER what God has done. We take communion as often as we do today, why? So we wouldremember Jesus' body given for us...the sacrificial Lamb. The march out of Egypt had begun and God guided them precisely where they needed to go. Joseph's bones were brought along with them as Joseph ordered in Genesis 50:25 "400 years" prior. 14 - God gave Moses some epochal advice that explains Moses calm and direct leadership during this hurricane-level-5-historical event. Pharaoh changes his tune again and the whole army launches to go after the Israelis and retrieve them. As they draw close, the fear in the hearts of the newly freed slaves is beyond frightening. Moses' word at this juncture is the best of the best. "The Lord will fight for you while you keep still." The cloud and the fire commence and would be their guides for 40 years. The fire-defense of the Israeli's that God puts forth is awesome as He parts the waters of the Red Sea. The Israelis pass through the Sea, the Egyptians drown. The Exodus is complete and a nation is bewildered and filled with tremendous respect for Moses and a holy fear of the LORD. Well, that's something y'don't see every day.
Romans 7-9 We are in the Church Stream today reading from the Good News Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 7 - Why is there The Law? Whether nonChristian religions want to admit it or not, something is wrong. It is not a perfect world and there is especially something wrong with us. The deficit created between what we are are and what we ought to be is not caused by diet, lack of inner essence-ness, poor wifi with our mobile device. And more/enough money isn't going to take our sin away. The world descended into sin since Genesis 3 occurred and a Savior is needed. We violated God's Law and only a solution from God will remedy the matter. Without Law humanity remains oblivious that a Savior is needed and that there is a vast gap between where we are spiritually and where we ought to be. God doesn't want our reaction to a Savior to be, "Savior? I don't need a Savior. That merely proves human oblivion. We are helpless to save ourselves and God's Law proves this to us. Paul uses an illustration of marriage for us to help start the realization process. The fact of Law and what it reveals about us proves that we as humans come up short regardless. Our nature is divided. What we know, what we wish we did, and what we do, fails to line up again and again. We embody the conflict. We live the conflict. The conflict lives in us. Except for Jesus, and haleluia, we have Jesus...provided we let Jesus have us. 8 - In Jesus, we have Life abundant, full and free, in the Holy Spirit. Condemnation is overwith. This Holy Spirit lives in us. The Holy Spirit enables us to do and be and become all that God designed us for in this life. Our obligation now is not to an exhausting Law but to the Holy Spirit - to remain in Him and yielded to Him; to be listening to His promptings and not selfishness anymore. And Jesus, through the Holy Spirit in us, allows this to happen in us. What we truly crave in our soul is for Christ to reign in our lives and all that is explained in this chapter allows this to happen. The suffering that creation is under is universal suffering, but this hope in Christ carries us through to attach to the ultimate freedom that is coming. The Spirit is praying for us. We need never be in dismay or defeated for God can be trusted. We have Christ. We will always have Christ. Christ Himself will not allow something to come between us. We are never separated from Him. Romans 8 is magnificent and has given comfort to Believers in the most bleak of settings for 19+ centuries. 9 - Paul, not one to duck from issues, brings up the pain he has over the fact that many of the Jewish people, for whom the promises of God were first granted, are not in the Covenant - and it is their rejecting God [not the vice versa] that is the problem. God did not reject the Jews so to discard them. God used the occasion of their smugness to Him and the New Covenant in Christ's blood to open the invitation to the nations of the whole world. This all hinges on God's mercy and grace. Remember that every false religion errs in the realm of grace. They mess it up. They do not understand it. This chapter is an exposition of another factor of God's grace. He has opened the Kingdom of Himself to more people who do not deserve it. He is just good. That is the issue here. It was foretold that the Kingdom of heaven and access to it would be opened to all people's and not just "a door held open" for one race of people for all time. The motif that came forward day after day this week was, "God is Sovereign. Will we accept this and trust Him?"
Pharaoh's heart was hard as stone in the first 5 plagues. God made sure Pharaoh remained so plagues 6ff. - so that all 10 plagues could be executed to testify to the world for all time. God's sovereignty is the only explanation for this. David is going through a cauldron of events and stresses that could have shook His faith and had him question his destiny. He knew God enough to trust Him through it all. Psalms this week was an alpine journey through frantic cries, through turbulence, thanksgiving, trust, and forgiveness. Trust in His Sovereignty is what sustains David - AGAIN. Isaiah prophesies of astounding things that are going to happen in Israel in the future. It is talk like this that will sustain Israel as they are going to walk through some painful things brought on by their rebellion. Understanding sovereignty is what helps us rise to see the big picture. We see sovereignty in Hosea's words, "I will abandon my people until they have suffered enough for their sins, and come looking for me ..." God isn't mean. He is sovereign and only He knows what is going to work. We see God's sovereignty in Jesus showing Lordship over the Sabbath, and demons, and illness and nature. Paul describes a part of God's sovereignty in His opening Himself to the world and the world to Him when, by default, Israel (especially leadership) rejects God. This is enough different ways God has shown His graciousness and sovereignty for us to realize that His sovereignty will prove true in our lives as well. For nothing can separate us from the love of God. Amen.
Mark 2:23-4:41 We are in the Christ Stream reading from the Good News Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis.com | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, you are Lord over the Sabbath, over nature, over diseases and Lord over the Law. May you be The Lord in our lives too. Amen.
The Sabbath Laws were so detailed and extreme that they were stifling for people. The trend went to these ends after the Babylon Captivity. The leadership in Israel had been so wretched from ca. 920 - 722 A.D. that they figured that swinging to the other extreme of feigned obedience would be proper. On the Sabbath no one could walk more than a few minutes. Food had to be prepared the day before and eaten cold. Even today there are some of this same brand of faith who will not flush their toilets on the Sabbath because pushing the handle down that painful one inch constitutes work (this is true!). Yes, Jesus used the occasion to highlight the sillyness of manmade rules. He was also addressing the leaderships penchant for majoring on the minor and minoring on the major. And for what it's worth, it was Jesus' teaching and His life lessons about the Sabbath that put the Sanhedrin, Pharisees and Scribes over the edge and their reaction steeled their resolve to eventually crucify him.
3 - Imagine these jokers being so cold that a man getting his hand healed [on THEIR wrong day!] angers them. What a sorry bunch. He is healing and cleansing people of evil spirits and a stampede to Galilee had erupted from even neighboring lands. It be difficult to film such a scene for it requires tens of thousands of people to film it accurately so we've not really seen this scene duplicated for what it really was. The crowds could have easily exceeded 100,000. The biggest of sporting or music events worldwide rarely reach this size. Jesus is creating a rage of this size in a country outpost! He tells the demons that he is expelling to keep quiet for he was trying to delay the people rising up to make him King/Messiah of Israel. He was able to delay it until Palm Sunday a couple years later. Next Jesus is calling the 12 Disciples. This is also in Mt. 10:2ff, Lk 6:12ff, and Acts 1:13. The order of these vary per list but it's the same men - that's a discussion for another day. Jesus is being accused of having an evil spirit by the teachers of the Law. They were angry that there was so much attention shifting away from them and going to Jesus. It was jeopardizing their income. Jesus warned that calling his work to be of the Devil was a dangerous deed that would not be forgiven. We need to hear this today. Too much of this happens now anytime someone has a ministry style that seems "out there" to us. I've heard people call a minister a demon or some such label. Take it easy, that puts US in dangerous territory. We don't know and need to watch our words here. Jesus responding that whoever obeys him is His family; his mother and brothers. Some branches of Christendom bristle at Jesus saying this for Jesus' mother is so revered in some churches. But Jesus said what He said. We need to make sure WE are in Jesus family through obeying Him and leave complex theologizing alone. 4 - The Parable of he Sower is a clear memo to us. We are to be fruitful soil. We are not to be paper thin characters, or distracted by thorny concerns, or lacking substance like rocky soil. We are called to be rich in Him - like nutrients; growing and helping others grow. And we are to be productive. We are to draw others to God like a lamp in the dark. Too many hide their faith. Today people all over the world are being told to put their Crosses away. NEVER. Broadcast the Faith in Our Jesus that saves. Our faith is a growing enterprise. It engulfs more of humanity than any creed or business or movement ever has. It was small once - 12 guys; rather ruffian in nature, and billions have joined since. We can learn from the mustard seed, can we not? We've been living it for near 2000 years. And one last lesson about nature - when he orders a storm to be calmed: He has control over nature.
Hosea 5:1-6:10 We are in the Exile Stream today reading from the Good News Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, we find ourselves in a world today that is increasingly ungodly; ungodly just like the people we hear people Hosea addressing. Teach us how to reach out to a population that is encouraged to go bad. Let us be Light in the darkness and live effectively to see people come to you. Amen.
5 - The people of Israel; the northern kingdom are intent on doing wrong all of them top to bottom Priests, the king, the population and I mean ALL the people are in sin. The leaders are particularly culpable for leading the nation into idolatrous rebellion and God is going to punish the whole lot of them. They're so ill-bent on doing wrong God talks that He doesn't even want them to come and worship in the state they are in. They are in such a bad way they are unable to repent. This is bad; really bad. God has had enough of these people. God is also disturbed how Israel and Judah have turned on one another. God is about to abandon them and let them suffer for awhile. Maybe they will "listen" to the suffering and repent ....?
6 - The people are utterly dark and seem to have no idea how far they have fallen, nor how idolatrous they are, nor how disobedient they are. They have been aggressively idolatrous for about two centuries and they think that acting religious and making sacrifices is going to cover for all the wretchedness and murder and their national commitment to stay this way; phony, double-minded and sinful. Think of this: these people are more interested in managing [and feeding] their sin than finding their God and walking with him. It's astonishing.
Isaiah 60-64 We are in the Prophetic Stream today getting close to the end of the book of Isaiah. We are using the Good News Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis The section today bursts forth as a song of the Messianic Age. The Lord is here and in full and good news is spreading over all the earth and the illustration spills right into being the glory of heaven. 60 - Isaiah is one of the greatest writers that ever lived and this is certainly among Isaiah's sections. It's even among the most wonder-filled chapters in the whole Bible. It talks of a grand gathering, people and wealth are coming to Jerusalem, the testifying, the sacrifices, it's the homecoming of history and "the LORD will make His Temple more glorious than ever " v. 7. There will be great service in Jerusalem. When the chapter morphs into talk that can only be interpreted as paradise itself with unimpeded access to God it is altogether a marvel. 61 - What we read in the first three verses of 61 is Isaiah talking of Jesus. Jesus knows it is Him and quotes this when He is speaking in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:18f). This is prophecy fulfilled 700 years later. This is a time of great restoration. The Messianic theme that actually started in Isaiah 59:20 is still proceeding. Israel will have servants, and wealth, and joy. The praises to the LORD will be coming from all nations - the testimony of what God has done in this one nation will amaze the whole earth that much. 62 - The splendor here is the imagery of a wedding. It is enchanting as a wedding also. The symbolism is matched in ways by John's writing at the end of Revelation when "the New Jerusalem" is coming down like a bride preparing to meet her husband. The surprises and excitement of a reunion also come into play too. There is food; bread and wine in abundance and phenomenal worship. Is it fine to call this a dinner/theater gone into a colossal mode?! And most of all the LORD is coming to save. 63 - there is a peculiar insertion here - a mentioning of Edom; it could be a reference to all the enemies of God and Jerusalem who will be trampled and defeated permanently. It is certainly a break in the literature to interrupt all the glory and worship and celebration to put this in such a run of wonderful things. However it is part of celebrating to defeat an enemy, and revel with our victorious LORD. Isaiah resumes abruptly; talking of the goodness and love of the LORD and his precise care and provision. The chapter ends with a prayer for mercy; beseeching God to treat them according to God's goodness v.s. their character and lack thereof. This is a theme we have seen before in Isaiah. 64 - and Shazzam, 64 arrives and we are not looking way forward to glorious things and themes and events. Isaiah just wants God to show and make himself known. Things are difficult; attitudes across the nation are crass, the city is in ruins, beautiful places have been deserted and Isaiah is pleading for the LORD to come to them.
Psalm 28-33 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading through the psalms. We are using the Good News Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis |#7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 28 - "give praise to the Lord for he has heard my cry for help." is the core of this Psalm. It is a prayer. It is thanksgiving for God answering prayer. David is urging people to be grateful and devoted to God. God saves and protects and David is blessed by this. 29 - is a very audio centered Psalm, it is filled with reminders of the sounds that God makes through what He has created: seas, thundering, echoes, lightning, trees in the wind. Many are not drawn to God by such things, perhaps. But David is so focused on God that any sound has David pause to reflect, "wow, listen to what God is doing now!" He has a childlike faith and wonder about him that shows up all the time in David's life and pilgrimage. 30 - David has come through so much turmoil and brushes with death and battles and chaos and treachery. And it all comes back to him as he has just taken Jerusalem and made it the capitol. His palace will be there in Jerusalem. This event happens early in II Samuel. But the decision to settle and make this the center of the young nation - that and the dedication of David's palace was the occasion of Psalm 30 being written. [Don't confuse this with the Temple - his son Solomon did that a few decades later] 31 - This issue here is prayer, trust and looking to God for protection. It has been said of David, and for many reasons, that he learned better than probably anyone that he knew best that when God was all you had, you then realized that God is all you need. God was David's Savior, defense, refuge, and shelter. David turned to God in the midst of any and every event or emotion he was going through. He saw God as his caregiver. None of the "if it's to be, it's up to me" touting. David's hymn was "I did it Thy Way" v.s. the American tune that was popular in the 1900's. The Lord is faithful and deserves our response of love for Him. 32 - David's sin with Bathsheba and the full realization of the gravity that David had descended to is what prompted him to write Psalm 51. David going through the confession process and finding restoration and relief and healing prompted him to write this one; Psalm 32. David's remorse had run its course and David realized the full depth and height of God's forgiveness by now. His joy in the Lord was returning. 33 - This is a song of joy and praise and thanksgiving that seems to ring clear up to heaven. The joy of walking with God makes each step a wonder. The joy of the Lord spreads to everything everywhere. All nature and the sky too brings out the praise. God is such a marvel!
Lord God of Heaven, you truly are good to us. You give us your righteousness and you strengthen us to live in joy and with that strength we can praise you more and more and praising you gives us joy to praise you yet more. You a our marvelous God. Amen.
I Samuel 26-31 We are in The Nation Stream today finishing the book of I Samuel. We are reading from the Good News Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams David is such a man of upstanding character. His years of solitude with God when he was young reflect in his behavior again and again. He is a skilled musician, a worshipper, a warrior who kills lions and bears and giants, he leads and rallies and inspires, he has cunning logic and people skills, and when he has a chance at killing someone who hates him with a vengeance ... he doesn't kill him! Twice he opts not to kill his would-if he-could executioner. The fact that such a fighter is so gracious and statesman-like is astonishing to anyone who understands human nature. 26 - Again, David is peering over a sleeping Saul and, with weapon in hand, he just walks away with the spear as evidence. This is scarier than one might think. David and friends have snuck in at night and walked through a filled camp. One man waking and shouting would have David killed without question. 'Guts and daring' could be added to the list of superlative traits that can be attached to David. The results following the revelation are similar. Saul talks admiringly and penitent as possible amid the embarrassment. Saul is such an obviously hollow soul. And there he is talking solicitous - surrounded by the soldiers he roused to help him go and kill a young man who could have killed him but didn't. The difference between Israel's current king that they chose, and the future one that God directed Samuel to anoint are as different as night and day to put it lightly. 27 - David was never again pursued by Saul after Saul was humiliated by David's kindness a second time. But he doesn't know that Saul will never seek him again. Any time that Saul had ever been kind to David, it was a total lie. Saul was plotting. David, not knowing that Saul had resigned to leave David be, thought there was still a threat and he left for Philistia. He remained in that region until Saul was gone and he was enthroned king. During his years there he was a raider. Perhaps this was practice for when it was his assignment to expand the borders of Israel to the largest they would ever be. The Philistine king ended up trusting David. This is strange stuff but it is what is going on at this time. 28 - Meanwhile Saul makes his final pathetic error and it turns out to be what seals his doom. He goes to see a witch. He is terrified because warriors of Philistia have gathered against him. Samuel is gone, God isn't answering and he is wondering what is next. He knew witchcraft was wrong and had expelled them from the country. Yet Saul himself goes to see one. It's a fatal transgression and he will end up being killed in a day for his disobedience. Saul never was one to obey the Lord. 29 - And back among the Philistines, David is endeared to Achish the Philistine king by now. Achish wants David to go with him to the next battle. He practically sees David as a token of good fortune and could use him. This is all convenient in Achish's mind, but the other Philistine Kings don't really know David except that he is an Israelite in hiding and therefore they don't trust him. The issue of loyalty is an undying matter for all time isn't it? David and Achish talk and realize it's the better part of wisdom for David to return back to the coast of Philistia and sit this one out. 30 - David returned home after his conversation two days prior with Achish and his refuge town of Ziklag had been razed to the ground. Everything was stolen, all people had been kidnapped, possessions gone, anything left was burned. There was panic and grief among his 600 men who were planning to kill him. It was the worst day of David's life and y'might want to read the book by this similar title. David went straight to God as he had spent his whole life training himself to do and v. 6 says, "...but the Lord his God gave him great courage." David acts properly and quickly and recovers everything. He again is humble and gracious amid great victory - and he shares all that is recovered from the Amalekites who had plundered his residence of Ziklag. Keep in mind these are the Amalekites of whom Saul was ordered to rid from the earth - but as has been well established, Saul just can't seem to obey. 31 - Saul is drawn into his final battle. Think: Who killed Saul? God? Philistines? The Philistines did wound him physically to the point of no return. But it was Saul's disobedience and refusal to be anchored in God his savior - that's what wounded him. And it was only a matter of time to where Saul killed himself. God brought him up and provided for him over and over. God spared him via David's graciousness. Saul just outright could not do what he was told to do. He would not stand in for God and be a responsible King. Saul only looked out for himself and sought legitimacy through man's approval. We need to come to the end of observing Saul's life and ask, "where does disobedience take us."
Dear Holy Spirit, may we be shepherded by you and be found with a soul that is yielded and listening to you for our next step and our every move. Amen.
Exodus 8-11 We are in The World Stream reading through the plagues on Egypt. We are reading from the Good News Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7Streams Method | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
"Lord God, we want to be on your side. It is clear that there are those who are for you and those who are against you. The resolve is contrasting and stark. The results of obeying you v.s. fighting you are again, contrasting and stark. It reminds of the lyric of the old hymn, "Savior, we are thine." May it be so. Amen"
The Reading today covers plagues 2-9. We saw the Nile turning to blood and will read of the death of all the firstborn next week (1 and 10). It is the bulk of the showdown with the Pharaoh today. The plagues we read about today are frogs, gnats, flies, plague on cattle, boils, hail, locusts, darkness. God used so many plagues and persisted through all ten of them for He wanted to fully prove the haplessness of the gods of Egypt. In last week's reading, the Nile turning to blood, this was God showing supremacy over the Egyptian gods; Khnum- guardian of the Nile, Hopi- spirit of the Nile, and Osiris- the giver of life, whose bloodstream was the Nile. The Egyptians even today confess that the Nile is their life. No Nile => no Egypt.
ch. 8 - Today the Frogs plague was a direct insult to the god Heqt ["h-e-q-t"]. Frogs come up out of the Nile for the next seven-day long plague. Egyptians worshiped frogs. Their croaking each spring as the Nile began to recede signified it was time to plant crops. Since the events each year were coincidental, this led to frogs being worshiped. It was springtime and just as rabbits in spring were revered in Rome (thus the persistence of the "Easter bunny" with seculars hoping it overshadows the import of the Easter Holiday itself), so too frogs were worshiped and even associated with fertility. So God had frogs even cover their beds. "So you still want to worship frogs, eh?" God seems to be asking this of the Egyptians. The magicians were able to bring up some frogs. Was that supposed to impress someone? You can make the plague worse, ok, but can you make it better? Note that Pharaoh asked Moses to pray to God to remove the frogs ... tomorrow. Maybe if he had another day, he could solve the problem via his magicians. ? The gnats (mosquitos?) plague is not a direct insult of a god for none were associated with gnats, but it is the first plague that comes without a warning preceding it where Moses and Pharaoh talk first. Did Pharaoh deserve a warning? He had just lied to God/Moses/Aaron... Notice that God had told both Abraham and Jacob that their offspring would be innumerable; like the sand. Well the gnats here are going to be that thick, that innumberable, and plague starts when Moses strikes the ground. Think of trying to get a night's sleep, especially when camping, and there is even one gnat buzzing around your ears. Alone it will keep you awake. Well the Egyptians were immersed in trillions of them. And the magicians confess that it's God's doing. The flies strike next. It is going to be so bad that Moses goes to warn Pharaoh this time. We read "flies" but these are not what we think. We envision 'house-flies'. These are/were what are referred to as 'dog-flies'. Many have heard of 'horse-flies'. Those things bite and leave a mark! The kind they had in Egypt were as angry as hornets. They dive and bite/sting. That is why the Israelites in Goshen are protected. The plague soon brings Egypt to ruin and it's understandable. Biologically, the Frogs, gnats, and flies happening in succession are linked matters but that can be discussed elsewhere. 9 - The plague on the cattle is a direct assault on Egypt's well being and economy and religion. They loved cows. It was entrenched in their minds. (Even Israelites falter in this come Exodus 32 when they make golden calves as idols). hundreds of millions in India worship cows to this day. "Hathor" was the Egyptian mother goddess in shape of a cow, and Apis (ah-PEACE) was the bull-god. He personified "Ptah" ; a creator-god who gave fertility. The Egyptians worshiped cattle --> and God struck the cattle. Don't anyone get mad at God, it was Pharaoh who wouldn't bend here. All the animals in Egypt that belonged to the Egyptians died. The Israelites suffered no loss here. -Soon the boils come on the bodies of the Egyptian people and the animals. They had to have acquired more from neighboring countries and from Israelites since their's had all just died. So they have new cattle, they've just recovered from the biting flies and now ALL cows and people get boils. Perhaps the fly bites are medically linked to getting the boils but it is bad and painful and the magicians would have conjured something except that they are covered with boils too. It is a national mess that is disgusting and beyond. "Imhotep" their impotent god of medicine was proving to be of no use and no contest against the God whom Moses served. -there is no recovery spoken of from the boils and soon the warning of hail coming is delivered to Pharaoh. Egypt had the sky goddess; Nut {"newt"}, Isis; the goddess of life, and Seth; the protector of crops. These gods would prove useless like the others. The warning is given because anything that is left out; slave or animal is going to get pelted to death. Some listen, some don't. The horror of the magnitude of the hail storm drives Pharaoh to a confession to Moses but there is not repentance. 10 - The Locust plague is again a clear statement against the gods Isis and Seth. This time God was determined to finish the contest with all the gods of Egypt. Pharaoh was beyond repenting. God would see to it that the oppressors of Israel were devastated. Pharaoh tries some half measures to negotiate but is stubborn to the bone in the end, again. But it's God's doing and the locusts come and devour everything green that was left in the land from the hail storm. A vast cloud of them swarmed in. Some historians and entymologists (buggie-dudes) said that at night the locusts would rest on the ground in the dark and be 4-5" inches deep squishing under feet. Pharaoh is crushed and comes to ask for prayer but he won't let the Israelites depart. The loss of labor of millions would be even worse to him. The darkness, plague 9, came without warning as did the plagues of boils and gnats. The Egyptian sun gods, Re, Aten, Atum, and Horus were all shown as empty idols. The god Horus is still used as the logo on EgyptAir lines today. He is the falcon head. Well darkness descended and it is a spooky darkness. It's a different type of horror than what the others had brought on. There was no darkness over the Israelites. They had asked to go worship for three days. Pharaoh had said "no" too many times before, so they got darkness for three days. Pharaoh is unbending. 11 - Moses, under God's instruction, goes to Pharaoh and spells out in detail the 10th plague. It will be horrifying and be the greatest blow ever dealt to Egypt in its history. It will affect Pharaoh; the personified god of Egypt. This one will also strike the palace and will leave every home in the country with a lifeless hole in their soul. Pharaoh has been warned thoroughly, and as God has it, Pharaoh will not let the Israelites go. They better brace themselves.
Romans 3:22-6:23 We are in the Church Stream today as we continue reading from the Lexham English Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 3 - this is the finale~ of this chapter. Romans 3 is not just the heart of the power of the gospel chapter. Chapter 3 of Romans is the main heart valve of the gospel. Bible smuggling was mentioned last week regarding Romans. I'll conclude that comment this week by saying that when only a small piece of paper could be smuggled in; something the size of a 3X5 card, then the core of it all needed to be included, the content was Romans 3! It is a marvel what hinges on this chapter. Christ expels our sin and appeases its effect upon our soul and destiny. The new bridge to the "Amazing Grace" song bursts upon the mind; "my chains are gone, I've been set free." Romans 3 is good news that makes sense to us. Paul makes the crucifixion make sense. It is intriguing that the disciples (and everyone else) didn't understand what was happening as Jesus was dying. We do however thanks to Paul's writing to us. 4 - Abraham is the illustration employed here. All to whom Paul is addressing here have top regard for Abraham. The old school Jewish crew that Paul is addressing specifically need to understand God's role in salvation by remembering that Abraham was justified by faith and completely so. He believed and was justified. Done. Circumcision was a ritual done later by Abraham and his son Isaac. Yes, it was the first next thing Abraham was required to do, but it was done after Abraham was justified. To become "children of Abraham", if that is how they were to perceive it, then one needed to simply believe God - like Abraham did. And believing God (like Abraham did) was to now follow Jesus v.s. follow Abraham in circumcision. Abraham's faith in God is what guided him, not his circumcision - that was only incidental. This is vital to put it lightly. New Believers needed to be welcomed by the older believers and welcomed in faith like Abraham was. The issue is not that God made the Jews and the Devil made the Gentiles. This two-leveled stigmatism could become so severe that it would morph into a mental template of Jews circumcised and Gentiles uncircumcised (thus the Gentiles don't really even deserve to be here) that it would become a problem that would hobble the church forever. Paul needed to explain what we find in ch. 4. 5 - is a "wow" chapter. It is loaded with the verses we memorized in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. It's one of those 'gold mine' chapters with no many good finds and discoveries that it needs to be gone over slowly and repeatedly. The theological backdrop is that we find ourselves enswirled in a world of sin living a life of sin. We didn't ask to be born. We simply realize that we are here and it was not our choice. Invariably we opt to sin somewhere along the way and then cannot undo what we have chosen. Adam, much the same way, had to have a horribly sobering moments (perhaps many) during his centuries of life when he slumped onto a rock or chair and groaned, "I just ate a piece of fruit ... I didn't know it would lead to all this mess. I didn't know it would ruin everything for everyone. Is there no remedy? Will it be this way forever?!" Adam's choice cements our choice to disobey. Now, since Christ's righteousness is offered on behalf of all, choosing Him remedies the fact that Adam's choice brought death. Adam chose death and it extends to us. We can choose Christ for His righteousness also extends to us to cancel death. 6 - Life and grace and gratitude and Christ's covering for us are to be our motives in living. To think, "hey, I'm eternally forgiven, no matter what. I'm free, therefore, to keep living in sin for God will redeem me" is wrong thinking. It is desperately immature and a smack in the face who gave His Son for us at a costly price. Someone who is thinking this way, [and there have been many] is oriented completely wrong. It's s reckless to think this way. It's as wrong headed as a rich brat continuing to meddle in crime and saying, "it's fine, my old man will keep paying bail and the attorney fees. I can get out of any mess. No need for me to reform my ways." ... really? A net under a high elevation work site is there in case we fall. It's not installed to be moronically played on all day like a trampoline. Sin has wages that must be paid. Yet greater than death is God's gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, and He must be received by us. We didn't choose to be born. We didn't realize that our sin would lead to such a death. But it's all true and it engulfs us. We do have the ability to choose Christ, and we must do so to cancel our eternal death. The Thread through the Streams for this week - "Take it to God" - Moses is thrust into a terrible face-off with the world's most powerful man at the time. Moses has some serious questions and he takes it to God. We see a Moses who is coming to God and coming against a Pharaoh who is fighting against the God who is about to make a move. -David (in I Sam.) is running for his life and takes each day and each event and each step in his heart to God. This scenario v.s. a Saul who doesn't come to God for anything. -The Psalms this week are such a celebration as David is rejoicing in His Lord. He takes his joy to God who gives him joy. And when feeling forsaken, David goes straight to God with it. -Isaiah tells all who are thirsty, hungry, broken, unsatisfied, seeking righteousness to do what? ... to come to God. For His salvation is near. The wicked also are called out for their wickedness. -Hosea is calling for his wife to come back to him just as Israel is called to come back to the LORD: "afterward the children of Israel will return and seek Yahweh their God and David their King." Mark - tells of disciples who are called to Jesus, others are coming to Jesus, craving to get to Jesus, longing to be touched and healed and saved by Jesus. It's beautiful pictures; one after another. Paul's letter to Romans explains the thinking of God and the intricacies involved, the theory of what it is and what allows for us to be able to get to God. It's mind bending and inspiring. Very motivating writing that the world must know
Mark 1:1-2:22 We are in the Christ Stream as we start the book of Mark - the expedient gospel. We are reading from the Lexham English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Mark is the expedient gospel. One person compared it to an old detective show where the inquisitor would cut off a testimony that was getting too mired in detail to interject, "just the facts, please ..." Mark jumps straight to the baptism of Jesus to begin his gospel. Jesus is 30 years old. He wants to make sure that the proof of his wonders gets known to the world. His is the shortened, most concise gospel. The childhood of Jesus is not in Mark. There are no angel announcements, genealogies, John/Baptist buildup, childhood stories to include Joseph, wisemen nor shepherd visits, Jesus as a baby or as a 12-year-old in the Temple. We see the word "immediately" in Mark dozens of times, markedly more than in the other gospels. Mark wants us to know the wonders of Jesus and then the next wonder, and the next and next. Mark does make a point that all kinds of people were coming from all over to be baptized by John in the Jordan. The managers of all the synagogues had to wonder "where is everybody?" Matthew notes this detail too as he also was writing to Jews mainly. Wait until Jesus comes along and the crowds looking to encounter him grow exponentially! Then there's really going to be sparse crowds left behind for the priests to speak to. Only Mark mentions John/Baptist's 'impressive' outfit and diet. At any rate, Jesus is baptized and all four gospels include that the Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus at that time. Mark's piece on Jesus' temptation is very brief whereas Matthew and Luke are quite descriptive. There is a year of time or thereabouts that passes between Jesus' temptation and the Galilee ministry; [btwn Mark 1:13and v.14.] Biblical scholar Robert Stein refers to this as Jesus' 'year of obscurity'. John tells of Jesus doing about eight notable things during this timespan. The pressure from the Pharisees must have been growing worse, so Jesus retreats to the north to do his earth-changing ministry around Galilee. This Galilee portion of ministry that begins Mk. 1:14 goes through Mk. 10:1 when Jesus left for east of the Jordan and Judea to the south. He then calls four of the disciples (two sets of brothers) Simon and Andrew, then James and John. Remember, "Simon" is the prominent disciple; Peter. They all follow Jesus immediately. James and John were Jesus' cousins. Their mother Salome was Mary's sister; Mary as in Mary and Joseph- yes, that Mary. So their mothers being sisters makes them 'first cousins'. [ Following Jesus was a family matter.] Mark sets out then to assert Jesus' ability astonish people. He teaches ... and people are in awe. He drives out a demon and the reaction is the same. Then more people came at dusk. They came in large numbers. This is the time that people wrap things up and go home for the night. But this is different. This visitor is different. His results are different. The entire city comes to Jesus and more. And He demonstrates inexhaustible ability to heal and cleanse. Jesus thereafter travels all over Galilee. He does a salient deed in healing a leper with a skin problem. By now, all Galilee and Judea and leaders from Jerusalem were present to witness Jesus at work. The stage is set for a very prominent story: ... Mark 2 - The paralytic let down through the roof is a miracle that becomes a great hinge in Jesus' ministry. He gives the initial assertion by declaring the paralyzed man forgiven. He then proves that it is not empty talk when he heals him. This verifies Jesus ability to heal and save and that the link between the two is secured --> and that the source of those two gifts is Jesus. The resentful scribes and Pharisees think it's their secret right to question Jesus who then announces his reply to a question that was not openly asked. Surprise! Jesus sees through everything and executes a move that echoes through ministries for all time. The rest of his ministry results and can be perceived in light of this miracle and the statement tagged with it. Jesus HEALS AND SAVES. Again, all are in awe - all except the leaders who sense their grip on the people slipping away. Jesus then calls Levi; Matthew (a sinful tax collector for Rome!) to be his disciple. Interesting that the phrase, a tax has been 'levied' still applies today and it comes from biblical literature. The reading today ends with a question about fasting. It comes from John's disciples. John has been imprisoned and so the focus is completely past him and moved to Jesus and Jesus' followers are acting rather differently than John's. Jesus responds with three illustrations: the bridegroom, patching a garment, and wineskins. Jesus is the bridegroom. As for patching? Quit trying to patch the old with old ideas. It's time for the new. The wineskins - same lesson proved a different way. Jesus has so much to teach them. And Jesus is not discarding the old Law of Moses. He just told the leper in the prior story to go show the priest like Moses commanded. Jesus reveres Moses too.
Lord, you are talking to us when Jesus is talking to us. The people saw it and came running to you. The leaders saw Jesus and resented Him. We want to pay attention to all that you have to show us. Thank you for coming to us. Amen.
Hosea 3-4 We are reading from the Exile Stream today while using the Lexham English Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis God wants to love His people and to bring them back. He asserted that come chapter two of Hosea. But all they seem to want to do is run in another direction. Someone called Hosea's writing the throbbing of a broken heart. It certainly is. The passage today is filled with the words that clearly indicate that the horrible behavior of the people that once inhabited Canaan is reigning again. They ARE now fully behaving like the people they were to drive out. What is God supposed to do for, pity sake? This symbolic marriage that Hosea is ordered to walk through is making God's pain [that we are inflicting on Him] all too personal to us. If God could have gotten to Israel another way perhaps He would have. But what works anymore with these "moral hyenas" ? 3 - Israel is completely behaving like pagans and Judah is too to a point. So God is buying them back and He will chasten and discipline them. After this they will fear and follow God ... yes? maybe? soon? ever? when? 4 - reads like a guilty verdict - because it is. Israel is so bad in its sinning that the land itself is suffering, and so are the animals. This is a subtle theme that is still seen today. We've seen a land that is blessed turn thorny and repugnant, Gen. 3. Then Gen. 6 brings on a cleansing flood because of sin; nothing else brought on such weather. There are vast deserts in the world today that were productive and fruitful farms back when they were a Christian majority. But violence and paganism and false religion came in and since Living Water (Jesus) was expelled, H2O / water left too. Don't get mad at God for this!. No mystery here! It's obvious. Read v. 3 again and there's the testimony. Sin left undealt with ends up punishing the whole place. From top to bottom, Israel has gone amok. They act like they don't know God; ----> and it's NOT God's fault! They told Him to "get out!" v. 8 says "they feed on the sin of my people..." This may sound puzzling, but it's a billboard in all of our faces that there's a terrible amount of money made off of wrong doing. It's been going on so long in so many realms that the people can't see it any other way. Think of all the occupations that would be out of business today if all sin would stop. Plenty of leaders and politicians worldwide perceive sin as something that must be massaged to keep employment numbers up. A sinless world is very frightening to the analytical type and especially to the political type. I'll leave this alone. The list is bad in ch. 4: the whoring, prostitution, drunkeness and contests that exist to keep the people this way are astonishing in their lewdness. (God's love on the other end of the scale is equally astonishing, btw) . Symbolically the land is going to spit these people out at the rate they are going. God's main contention is with the Priests who are steering this nation into darkness and doing so aggressively. The Priests are making sure of this. v. 14 may seem strange, "I will not punish..." Sometimes a rascal of a kid in a classroom is so unteachable, that it becomes a waste of time and energy to even try anymore. So they are dismissed and the teacher needs to stop even caring where the kid ends up just to save sanity. That's the case here in Israel. Disaster is on the whore-izon
God, keep us in your Word, for what we have read today is the "Way of all Flesh". The song says that we are prone to wander (Lord, I feel it). Thank you God for hanging on to us even when we haven't the strength to hang on at all. More than being astonished by the sin, may we be amazed by Your Grace; Your Amazing Grace. Amen.
Isaiah 55-59 We are in the Prophetic Stream as we read from the Lexham English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 55-56 God is talking and it is soothing for this first 21 verses. All of 55 and the first eight verses of ch. 56 is about the work of God expanding and blessing and feeding and watering and including and welcoming more to himself. People are so satisfied and God is shepherding and elevating and assuring. The whole world is invited to come; to come be cared for and ministered to the way God has been reaching out to the Hebrews since Abraham's day. 56:9 ff - from here to the end of today's reading, the boom gets lowered and God is giving some of His final warnings. It isn't pretty stuff, and God will avenge upon those who are playing the Joker in God's face. Have you ever seen a kid, a teenager per se~ who was raised in a well-to-do family. As has been said about what can happen to these types (especially the unmentored), they were born in the palace, so they think they own the place though they've done nothing constructive from their beginning. Well the leadership in Jerusalem is thinking they are blessed regardless and since they have the "inside track" to God, they can bend His rules as they please and God is just going to let this arrogance slide forever. Well He isn't. God is going to cut loose on these men soon. They are blind, ignorant, selfish, stupid, gluttonous, and partying like plastered college sophomores and could not care less about anything; oblivious as well as careless. 57 - By this time Isaiah is calling everything what it is and Israel is acting no different than the pagans, heathens, the godless and satanic people all around them. Even child sacrifice is going on! for shame! Their behavior is approaching the bottom if not there already and it's been there awhile. It's nauseating to even mention what is going on. The sin is generational by now and many don't remember anything different, they don't know anything is wrong. Trying to point things out to these people is like lecturing skunks about bad odors. Prostitution is rampant and soon there will be nothing left before long. Even with all this, God will receive back those who will repent . . . When will He have had enough and just smash the place ? wow. 58 - What's going on is corrupted justice, manipulation of the people, "cherry-picking" through the Law and obeying what makes them merely feel holy and having no actual concern for holiness. God is pointing out their injustice, the brutalizing of each other, the judgmentalism. God is ordering them to stop this. He wants them to come back to Him. He wants to bless them. They still aren't letting God love them however. They seem to prefer to love themselves [as if they even knew how to!]. They're singing "i'll do it my way" 59 - This is the final chapter of this run; this litany of horrid problems with God's people. Again God is well into a monologue of accusation: There's blood on their hands, their feet chase evil, their thoughts are all wrong, there's no justice, and the sinning is endless. God still has a plan for His nation and it is a good one. He is going to send a Redeemer to those who will come to Him and turn from sin.
God we can ask, "how can you keep loving these people?" And yet you do. How can you and why do you keep reaching out to us? It's better that we just say thank you and not question you. And so we thank you for loving us as we are and yet loving us too much to not Redeem us to better living and better service to you. Thank you Lord. Amen.
Psalm 22-27 We are in the Wisdom Stream today as we read from the Lexham English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis.com Melissa Disney's CDs - Sweet Faith & Love Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Today is some of, if not, the most famous literature and prayers EVER written. Be blessed and keep reading these all your lives. My husband and I read this again and again. And we are glad to read it with you today. Ps 22 - You heard Jesus quote this on the Cross. God had not forsaken the Son. But to hang on a Cross is to feel forsaken, no matter what the Truth is. Here is a Psalm that can only be attributed to the Crucifixion of our Lord. And Jesus; The Truth, is on the Cross feeling forsaken, sneered at, pierced (bit by lions accd'g to this translation), his clothing getting illustratively "auctioned off". He's in a bad way and calling out on God His Father. That means that when we are in the worst of duress, we are to do that same - for God is listening. Also it asserts that Jesus understands our plight, regardless. That means we are never alone. 23 - When the Lord is your Shepherd, you have what you need; there is rest and peace and beauty, restoration, peace in all settings, comfort (strengthening), we are fed regardless of the surroundings. We have anointing, plenty, goodness, love and mercy along with eternal security. That should answer all our questions, oy mate? In all seriousness, David likely wrote this when he was a boy in Bethlehem, tending sheep. Just over 1000 years later, angels announce to shepherds that the Good Shepherd has arrived. It wouldn't surprise me if it all happened in the same field. Ponder that amazement. 24 - A series of writers and biblical commentators muse that Ps.24 was what David wrote when the ark was brought back into Jerusalem as told in II Sam. 6:12-15. The sentiment of the Psalm certainly matches the festivity of the occasion. God IS a celebration of love and remember that our entry and the beginning of heaven for us starts with worship and celebration. 25 - David is looking for rescue, guidance, mercy, a right-standing in God's Presence, protection, and redemption. It's a Psalm written and recited by a man in anguish who knows where to turn when life has taken a turn such as this. It's the same David of whom we see cheering and praising in other places. This is what made David a man after God's own heart. He wanted to know and have the heart of God - so he did. Such a wonderful model David is for us. 26 - whereas 25 if 'David lamenting, "God, I've messed it up here. Help me", 26 is David nearly protesting, "God, I've been good about it all, don't "diss' me out now. You said you were good ... " It's similar to us if we prayed, "uh, God, you told me to call on you and that you would answer me. I'm calling on you now, and I need you to answer me. I don't want to listen to a recording, I want you to 'pick up'." 'Ever feel this way? So did David - and it kept him in prayer. 27 - We all know what it's like to arrive at a favorite place, be it a meadow, or a vista on the trail, or a beach, or a relatives' house. We pause and sigh, "wow, I love it here!!" David says that when he sits with God. He loves to sit with God and sing and listen and bask and rest. Let's let this urge us accordingly. Don't drift when we pray. Don't check your watch during a sermon. Turn off your phone when in a worship service. Pull away from the screen when family is telling you something vital and impassioned. Don't read the news or popups when your spouse is dining with you. Come on, now. God calls us into his courtyard. Get there. Psalm 27 helps us all get there.
God thank you. Thank you and thank you again. You ARE everything we need. Fill us with gratitude and may it spill over back into your house as we worship with you. Amen.
Download I Samuel 21-25 We are in the Nation Stream and David is on the run from King Saul. We are reading from the Lexham English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis The jealous venom Saul had for David that began after Goliath was killed has reached full strength. Saul hates him so furious that the hatred is driving Saul into madness. Control freaks often end up going mad over time unless they can turn it over to God. But Saul is turning out to be unable [actually refusing] to turn anything over to God.
David is well into his seven years of being a fugitive on the run. He lived like a scrapper, did some real quick "thinking on his feet", remained in pray, ultimately he kept his heart and head in tact (creatively so at times!). It is interesting to talk to some old soldiers and have them gaze away, admit they were scared and then confess with a sigh, "those were the best months and years ever..." Things were very exciting for David. Perhaps too exciting at times. But David made the best of it. Through his "fear of God" [his reverence] David triumphed here too. The compensating begins immediately when he is fed the holy bread. This isn't to happen but he is hungry and on the run. Then he is in hostile territory and exposed. His feigning insanity erases the appearance of him being threatening and he survives. 22 - This entire chapter proves one thing: Saul has gone utterly manic and crazy. The battle lines have been drawn and there is no reversing them. The soul of every man in the country had to decide from there on whether they were with Saul or with David. It was a fatal mistake to choose unwisely. Imagine the devilish soul of Saul to kill 85 Hebrew priests and families and animals. David in his conquests did things that may appear similar but they were completely opposite. David eradicated communities that were so utterly wretched and diabolically sinful they the entire village was well on its way to cultural suicide and self -destruction. Saul, on the other hand, is killing people that were working for God. Saul is completely gone bad and is as bad off as Judas by now. 23 - notice that David, when faced with a dilemma of whether/when/how to fight back the Philistines, he pauses to inquire of God...twice. This is something we do not see Saul doing. This is a pattern we see over and again, especially in contrast to Saul. David asks of God. When Saul is perplexed, he takes a poll. He's a politician if there ever was one. David is a statesman and king in the making. The intrigue, the cunning, the meeting with Jonathan, the strategy and countering and countering again is the stuff of legend. This is the thinking that has David to be a folk hero the world over to this day. 24 - David shows more character when he spares Saul's life than anyone expects. Most read this and personalize it to muse, "come on David, do it for Israel. The chump in charge needs to go now and here's your opening." Amazing that David handles the incident in the cave the way he does, simply amazing. Saul realizes what he is made of when he realizes how merciful David is. Saul exclaims and confesses that David is a better man then Saul is. Biblical scholar, Dr. Halley humorously quips about this, that Saul acknowledged being a fool --- but kept on being one. 25 - Samuel dies here. Note that Samuel was the last one who had had any spiritual input into SAul's existence. And it had been a long time ago, btw. This is the last of the last of any sign of any spiritual hope for Saul - and he (Samuel) is gone now. It is impossible to not assess this chapter; the story of Abigail and Nabal and their vastly differing treatment of David and his men, and not see the obvious. Nabal is a stin-gy scoundrel and Abigail is gracious and honoring. Nabal dies and Abigail becomes wife to David before the chapter is out. Eventually Abigail is living in the King's residence. Nabal? he is composting in no time. We need to see that it is vitally important to be about the things of God. Join in what God is doing. When someone is immersed in the duties of the LORD and you can be of assistance, it is not wise to be one's usually crotchety self. Honor that person. Pour out for that person. Supply them as you are able. Do we want to be involved in the things of God, or do we want to be found fighting them ... like Saul. It is dangerous to not see this and learn from Abigail and Nabal's fates here.
Lord, we all go through suffering, but not as bad as David was put through. May we be writing and praying and be in the Psalms especially during difficult times. Thank you for being with us regardless. Amen.
Exodus 4-7 We are in The World Stream as we continue the story of Moses. We are reading from the Lexham English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis
Romans 1:1-3:20 We are in the Church Stream and we commence on the book of Romans. The Apostle Paul explains so many details to the believers in Rome. We are reading from the World English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Paul's assignment in history is to provide a clear explanation of the gospel that would be shared to all the Believers in Rome. Remember that when Jesus died and rose, people weren't prancing and celebrating, "oh goodie, goodie. Now we are saved. The perfect sacrifice has been made, my sins have been cancelled by Christ Jesus on the Cross, yippee, now I know God really loves me ... " No, they were devastated by His death, and shocked by His coming back from the dead. WE, on the other hand, understand Jesus' death because Paul explained what it all meant. That is why the Church of the first century were so enamored with Paul, eager beyond description; eager as school kids at an ice cream shop to welcome him and sobbing sad tears when he departed. It was melodrama with meaning. Keep this in mind: explain the gospel to people and you will be revered in a way that perhaps, in many ways, only missionaries understand being revered. Paul wrote Romans from Corinth late in his 3rd Missionary Journey. The year is 57-58 A.D. [not for nothin' the Olympics were held in Corinth a few years prior so Paul is using suitable words throughout his books, "run the race, finish the course, I buffet my body, I don't box like I'm just punching the air...]. Imagine the ominous sentiment when Paul finished his "Book to The Romans", rolls it up, hands it to Phoebe ["FEE-bee"] of Cenchreae and says, "here, take this to the Believers Rome ... !" Do we realize what hung upon this journey, of a lady traversing through a world that was not altogether safe for anyone to be traveling through; foreign places, encountering pagans, scungy cultic people were everywhere, there were bandits, warriors, brothels, taverns, ad infinitum? She arrived in Rome at least three years ahead of Paul. These are much of the same three+ years he is being held under guard in Caesarea. This gave plenty of time for his letter to the Romans to circulate. In God's timing, Paul was being held for a purpose. This delay is why Paul arrives to such a hero's homecoming welcome in Acts 28:14-17. They had read his letter and were thrilled to know what he told them. Plus he told them he was 'on his way' to see them. Almost 1,960 years later, the Book of Romans has been published in nearly 3,000 languages, 50.000.000 more copies of it get published in the USA alone EACH year! Billions and billions of copies of Romans have been published. Perhaps Phoebe was [while carrying this letter on rolled up leather] was thinking, "wow, I hope they read this. They really need to read this!" [She did now know the immensity of what was in her hands.] We need to read it too. Another peculiar fact comes to us about Romans from the entire enterprise of smuggling Bibles and those involved. When Bibles were smuggled into the old Soviet Union the stakes were high. Penalty of execution loomed over those who were caught with Scripture. So when things became more dicey, only the New Testament was snuck in. When the intensity rose yet further, the cargo was reduced to take in only The Book of Romans. When certain life or death was on the line, they only brought in Romans ch. 3. The Communists knew that they would never succeed in their plans if the population understood that they were justified and saved by grace in Jesus Christ. [not the State] So today we read/"red" Romans 1-3:20. I think the Devil himself shudders over such truth. Listen again if you need to. WE say all that to say this: do not read Romans and shrug, "ok, we're saved, cool, whatever." Our destinies - ALL of our destinies hang upon our understanding of the Book of Romans! Read Romans again and again. And read it to the whole world. An encouraging projection is that "if the gospel can 'fly' in Rome, it will fly in any city. Romans 1 - opens with a single long sentence that covers seven verses. All that is to say: It's from Paul. It's about Jesus Christ. It's to Rome. THAT is what this letter is about. And it would change the capitol of the world. The whole chapter asserts that sin is everywhere and everyone is involved in sin. If there was ever dark activity going on in the world at the time, it was going on in Rome. The verses speak to a dark world and a dark leadership careening the world into ever horrendous behavior. Even today, governments and lurid interest groups are offended by Paul's assertions in chapter one. It's because they are true. The "not ashamed of the gospel" verse in the middle is added because people were questioning him about Jesus' crucifixion. It was a shameful thing to them. No one follows a leader who was a criminal that was executed. Only false Messiahs and leaders die as crooks. False movements were revealed by leaders who turned out to be false, got discovered and were executed. Paul should be ashamed of this (in some people's minds). Paul wasn't. Thus we have the famous Romans 1:16 in the middle of the opening chapter. 2 - The new ethic under Jesus applies to everyone. People of Jewish Heritage included. Many in Rome who were Jews that had come there thought they had inside track with God, and thought they had a say in who is saved and who is not. Paul was telling them, along with the rest, "uh, you need this grace in Christ too! Quit acting like you're better than the newcomers." Think that God justified Abraham simply for believing and worshiping. That is it. And Abraham is justified 600 years before Moses wrote up any law. This is a reality check. Paul doesn't explain that here but it certainly applies to the assumptions the "old guard" in the new church are living by as they are looking down on new comers who are justified by Christ alone. Perhaps they were scoffing that it shouldn't be this easy for them. Judgment is coming. No one will be excused. All secrets will be laid open before God. And only this who are IN CHRIST will be justified. 3 - the significance of the Jews is a beautiful picture here. God needed to come to us via a race. He couldn't have just splattered his gospel to all 6000 cultures at once. It would have been interpreted as diversely as the gods of India where there are millions of them. A people needed to be shouldered with the responsibility of maintaining the Scriptures. The Jewish people embraced this assignment and became "the people of The Book." There assignment was something to be revered - it was not something to be haughty about. For they had practiced the Law for 1450 years only to prove that the Law cannot be humanly upheld. A Savior and an ultimate one at that was needed for all. For no one is righteous, no one. And no one is justified by The Law. The Law only proves there is a problem to be solved. The theme for this week distills out to be "things have changed. now, what are you going to do?" Jacob and then Joseph die at the end of Genesis, years pass, The friendly Egyptians pass, invaders come in, New Egyptians arise who are mean, who enslave and kill. Are you going to be whipped forever? what are you going to do? David in I Sam. 17ff faces a killer of a giant. Will he be a giant-killer? -or run away? Then King Saul wants him dead, then the whole army is looking for him. He is the anointed King, for heaven's sake and has to play the fugitive. Really? Now what!? Later, David writes Psalm 18 and the following praises right after he is crowned king (the seven years running from Saul had ended). And he is praising God. Not a word of complaint or whining, no "hey God what was that all about? Y'Trying to scare me?!" He's completely in charge and his attitude is, basically, "with malice toward none. With charity for all..." Isaiah talks of and walks them through some very serious matters. It's what is coming for them. So what are they going to do? Amid this Isaiah talks of a suffering servant Savior ... will they reject Him too? What will they do ??! Hosea is in pain. He approaches his adulterous wife who's in another man's home. Will she come home? Hosea's heart is broken. Will she do this to him forever? [will we break God's heart forever?]. Matthew walks us through the arrest, trial and crucifixion. Our teacher/leader/Messiah is dead. Now what? Woo, he's back and wants us to go to all the world .... and associate with pagans? all our life? really? Oh, you are going to be WITH US?! My oh my things are changing. The Romans receive the best explanation of the gospel in the world. It has some rattling parts to it, though. You are justified by what Jesus has done - not what you have done; bragging is overwith. To the Jews, you are still the chosen, not the favorite, but still the chosen and the first. Will you help others grow in God?
Lord, we can count on you and you only. Thank you for salvation and for your faithfulness. Amen.
Matthew 27-28 Today we are in the Christ Stream and we will finish the book of Matthew. We will cover our first reading of the crucifixion and resurrection as we read from the World English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streasm | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Today we read of what the world has been waiting thousands of years for. History builds to this event. The remainder of history reflects back on this event and draws inspiration to finish our call of Destiny. 27 - is the trial, crucifixion, and burial. We are going to look at some of the distinctions of the other gospels compared to Matthew this time through. If you wish to reference some of this, they are Mk 15, Lk 23, Jn. 18 Matthew says the chief priests and elders took counsel. They had already met with Annas and Caiaphas and been convinced that it was better for one man to die instead of the whole nation...wrong intentions but they did supply the right answer. They want him dead but they want Pilate to drop the gavel. Only Matthew gives detail of Judas here. Keep in mind that Matthew was a government worker prior to being a disciple -and the only one of the 12 to be so. Legal matters are more of an issue to him than to Mark, Luke and John. All the disciples were from Galilee in the north except one; Judas. Interesting that Matthew is possibly making an insinuation here about where "faithful ones" come from and vice versa. When Matthew tells of him before the governor, John is describing this scene in much greater detail as being before Pilate, the discourse, the back and forth, and the frustration of all involved. From here Matthew tells the most in describing Barabbas, while John merely mentions him. Only Luke describes the scene of him in front of Herod. Matthew tells of the crown of thorns and the mocking as does Mk and John. Lk doesn't have that part. At this point only John tells of Pilate being practically desperate to release Jesus as he addresses the crowd and then Jesus, back and forth. Finally Pilate delivers Jesus to them and washes his hands [only in Matthew] to symbolize that the guilt of killing Jesus is not on him. Only Matthew and Mk reference Jesus being scourged/whipped, but all four gospels say that Pilate then handed him over to be crucified. Luke gives the most dialogue from when Jesus is going from Pilate to Golgotha (the Hebrew word for "skull"). "Calvary" comes from a Latin derivative; a translation that plays out later. Jesus is offered wine mixed with gall -Mark calls the gall--> myrrh. And then He is crucified The sign "This is Jesus, King of the Jews" is placed above him. Mk /Lk only reference "... King of the Jews". Matthew describes the whole sign for his gospel is written specifically to tell Jesus story to the Jews living in Israel/Jerusalem. [Mark writes to Jews everywhere, Luke write to Greeks, John writes to the whole world (Jn.3:16, "God so loved ...the what?" John [alone] describes the bantering over Jesus' outfit. Mt, Mk, Lk all tell of Jesus being scoffed at; while Matthew tells the most about the derision. The thieves beside Jesus are merely mentioned by Mt./Mk. Luke is the one who fully describes the dialogue between the two thieves and their contrasting attitudes. And Luke is the only one who describes the beautiful dialogue between Jesus and the penitent thief. "Today, you will be with me in Paradise" is one of the most beautiful things ever spoken. It is also a marvelous testament to "being saved by grace". The death of Jesus is told by all four who focus and highlight various things distinctively. Matthew gives the greatest description of the natural phenomenon: curtain tearing, earthquake, ground splitting, tombs breaking open, and multiple resurrections! Only John tells of Jesus' side being pierced. Matthew gives the least detail about Jesus' burial, but he is the only one to tell of the issue of guards at the tomb and more guards being added. 28 - Looking only through Matthew for the finale~ here, He tells of the women going to the tomb, the earthquake (more nature detail), and the angels informing them of Jesus Resurrection. Now they must also go tell the others. Then Jesus appears to them! and also tells them to tell the disciples that He's alive and they must go to Galilee to meet Him there. Hey, what better assignment to give to a group of ladies? What do they love better than spreading good news with no other agenda but to be spreading good news. God knows how to spread the word around, eh?! Meanwhile there's a scheme afloat back among the chief priests to spread false rumors about the Resurrection being faked. -- good luck with that. Jesus had other appearances, but Matthew focuses on the Galilee scene next to highlight the Great Commission mainly. He tells them to take this gospel to the whole world and to obey all His commands and assures them that He will be with them always until the End of the Age. These words have motivated more action than any other sentence ever spoken. Hundreds of thousands come to Christ daily even today because of this word from Jesus. It triggers more missions and publishing and evangelism and salvations and related activity of ministry than any other single thing ever ... ONE SENTENCE. Matthew is so focused on making this the finale~ of his book that he ends with it. 'doesn't even mention Jesus going up and ascending back to God. Good Heavens. We need to obey this verse here.
Lord, you went through it all so we would have all of you and take all of you to all of the world. Thank you for being with us still and that you always will. Amen
Download Hosea 1-2 We are in the Exile Stream starting a new book - Hosea. We are reading from the World English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis What we read of Hosea the Prophet is found almost solely in this book. There is precious little written about Hosea elsewhere. He came on the scene just before Isaiah and Micah, and was younger than Amos. His work of living and prophesying to the north was right around 760 B.C. - 720 B.C. For what it's worth, the first stones of the city of Rome were being laid and the first columns and colonnades were being erected as Hosea was beginning his painful years of ministry. When he began, the northern Kingdom had been split from the south for about 200 years and was at it's height of power and wealth. During Hosea's lifetime it went from it's height under King Jeroboam II to being decimated as the Assyrian Army ransacked the nation under Israel's King Hoshea. God had sent Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, and Amos to the north. All four had come from the south. Now he was sending Hosea into ministry - he was from the north. So they may have referred to him as "a local". Hosea is addressing the nations rampant problem of adultery. They had worshiped an idol of a calf for two centuries and that had long morphed into a horrendous mess. The population in the north was utterly degraded. Hardly a child, nor a home, nor a marriage was intact. Chastity was not valued or protected. At the rate they were going, it would not be long before God would "vacuum up" THESE particular people and throw them it into the dustbin of history.
Hosea 1 - notice the kings listed here are the same kings listed in Isaiah 1. From the start, Hosea is ordered to 'do as the locals': have children with a prostitute. SHE will be your wife. God had been true to these people all through their history, and yet they go about "whoring" - to use KJV term. Imagine the pain that adultery causes God. We are called to one God and to live it out with one spouse. But humans want a dark version of "freedom" from this...and from God. Hosea, under God's orders, has three children with Gomer the prostitute. Jezreel, Lo-Ruhamah, and Lo-Ammi. Jezreel is the first son's name because the House of Israel would finally end here (722BC) The bloody mess that Jehu responded to would be avenged (see II Kings 10:1ff) Son; Jezreel's birth was a statement that retribution was on its way. The decapitations in II Kings 10 would be repeated by the Assyrians swarming in (II Kings 17:5 ca. a century later). It would be a horror show sequel to put it lightly. Only the death scale would rise "1000" times over. Lo-Ruhamah, a daughter is born and her name means "not loved". The love and mercy from God is soon overwith for Israel. They had smacked God in the face for two centuries. He had had enough of the Northern Kingdom. Lo-Ammi another son is born and his name means "not my people". It's sad symbolism, isn't it?! The death of a people was imminent Still God's goodness comes forth in the final two verses as God tells of his intention to grow his people and to unite them. Hosea 2 - The 2nd and 3rd children are referenced in the first verse here. Mr. "not my people" and Miss "not loved (no mercy)" are to be told, "you ARE my people, You ARE loved." Mother is to stop the prostitution. All are to come home again to where she was truly cared for and not just offered gifts and luxuries at a pimp's place - though soon to be deserted by this liar. God wants to call them home like parents call children for supper. But they won't come. but He still loves them, still they won't come. But He still loves... So God's love will be opened up (Hosea 1:10) to whosoever will (Romans 9:24-26). The Romans' reference is worth checking before the day passes. God is certainly good to us, regardless how we dismiss, ignore, or swat away his love.
Lord make us like you, please make us like you. Your goodness, even in the face of being treated treacherously by your own children, is nearly unfathomable. May we be infused with your relentless love. Amen
Isaiah 50-54 We are in the Prophetic Stream today. We will be covering the famous chapter Isaiah 53 as we read from the World English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, you serve and send The Savior. It is truly you and your work for us that saves. Keep us filled with faith and gratitude. Bless you Lord, Amen.
The theme of this section of scripture is that the LORD will serve His people; they will be redeemed and restored and The Servant of the LORD will aid and protect them in Zion. This idea has been seen scattered throughout Isaiah but the resumption of this thinking comes into full view here as this concept has been accumulating through Isaiah's book.
50 - it begins with the nation in dismay, but God assures immediately they he can redeem from any situation. God has full control over nature, the LORD speaks, he gives us "ear to hear", He helps, The Lord calls all to come to Him and trust Him - to stop trusting in their own plans; contrare~ plans that they think are going to be of any protection. 51 - These next two chapters are devoted to telling of Zion's redemption and restoration. Judah would go into captivity in the future, but God's plan for His own has never wavered. His commitment to Abraham and Sarah has not been down graded or altered in the least. God's plan is endless - so listen to God, come to God, look to God, He will strengthen - but they needed to adorn themselves in Him. Remember ALL He has done! He comforts and calms and liberates. The delirium that comes from disobedience is akin to drunkenness and need never be a problem to them again. 52 - This chapter is also pure wonderment. It is the day of Zion's triumph. It's so beautiful it is actually a song. There's no way to list all the great things God is up to and not simply recite the whole chapter --> again. This is truly a song of happy days. People who've sung "Our God Reigns" since for-ev-er may wonder where it comes from. It's from here! v. seven has the whole song within it. The rest of the chapter is just as marvelous. 53 - The fascination of this chapter merely grows with time. Isaiah told so many details about a Savior and he is describing Him 700 years before His arrival. The details cannot be ignored or altered if one religions' description of a Savior doesn't match God's. Some have tried to explain this chapter away as being some other person from some other era or to be someone who is coming yet in the future. This chapter is Jesus and what He has done to heal, to forgive, and to save. 54 - The fascination here is that Zion is going to expand; expand in every way, the people, the land, the blessing, the dwellings, and the beauty; the adornment, the jewels, oh my! It will all be the wonderful work of God. The people of Zion have suffered, but God's mercy and comfort and lovingkindness will prevail and 'win the day'. Zion will prevail in righteousness.
Psalm 18-21 We are in the Wisdom Stream today reading from the book of Psalms. We are using the World English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
God, we want to walk with you as David did; so completely caught up into your goodness and faithfulness and comprehensive care that the world all around us is a mere reminder of how good you are to us. Thank you for your goodness, Lord. Amen.
Into the Wisdom stream today we reach Psalm 18 - a highlight of the Bible! If any student of the Psalms made a list of their favorite Psalms to count on one hand, Psalm 18 is one of them. It's David's triumphant praise after "the battle is over". His enemies are neutralized. King Saul, who hated him, is gone now. David's kingdom is realized and he is Ruler of Israel. Note the traits of the Psalm: God is all the things David needed all along, needs now, and what David is grateful for. David calls and claims that God is his rock, his shield, his high tower. The false religions of the world idolatrously claim "this rock is my god, this shield is my god, this tower is my god." The pagan religions have things perfectly backward. This is why David is a hallmark of our faith and devotion. This Psalm is so pivotal and landmark in David's life that it is repeated in II Samuel 22. We will reach that section in the "nation stream" next week.
19 - The wonder of nature as David is in awe of what God has done morphs straight into David's wonderment over what God has said; His Word. It is perfect, right, pure, ...Gold. 'Makes y'want to read the rest of the Bible doesn't it?! Praise God 20 - twenty has a nice variation - 18 was David rejoicing in all God had done for him. This Psalm of prayer is asking God to grant all that is desired and sought for - for you! It rings as a rally cry for battle. It is a request for victory. As in all of David's life, he is not distracted by objects and trusting in them. He trusts in God alone, for himself and for others - even as he is headed into the thick of battle. 21 - David is yet enraptured with his marvelous God. In 20 he is asking for victory as he seems destined to head into battle. In 21, David is thanking God for victory in this same conflict that seems imminent. Notice that all that God is going to do is in the future tense. God will find them (David's enemies), He will burn them, He will destroy them. David is as certain of this as he was on his first battlefield in I Sam. 17. He is basically teaching us a very clear prayer lesson. Thank God in advance.
Download I Samuel 17-20 We are in the Nation Stream today as we experience that classic story of David & Goliath. We are reading from the World English Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord, thank you for David's example here. We can shine with you and walk with you no matter who is against us, or how fierce the attitude is against us or how bleak the odds seem against us. You will always give us the human and spiritual comfort that we need. Amen.
David and Goliath - the battle seems to be a preview or a "trailer" of world history. We've heard of this reference in so many contests. Well the original story comes from here;
I Samuel 17. It is intriguing that historians of all stripes and creeds will confess that monotheism hung upon the outcome of this battle. Theologically, God is bigger than our perspectives, but for that assessment [the fate of montheism] to be attached to this David/Goliath showdown is impressive. David's courage and confidence and skill; to be assured that he could drop this behemoth pagan goon in a single pop testifies to the fact that David was in touch with more than his dismissive brothers were aware of. Saul tried to dress David in Saul's armor so that any victory would be associated with Saul. David doesn't need it. If David can take on a several hundred pound lion and a several hundred pound bear, then he can take on a several hundred pound man who lacks claws and teeth. Pastor Chuck Swindoll once called Goliath a "cross-eyed discus thrower" - he didn't have much talent or break many records, but he sure kept the spectators awake! We know the story of the five smooth stones. Goliath did have four other brothers so if the Philistines wanted to break contract and charge them in, David was ready to drop them too. Analyze this fascinating story from any angle and the discussion of it remains endless 18 - Saul's character and paranoia are only further revealed in this string of stories. He treats David as an enemy AND has to hide that fact that he loathes him, is jealous, and scared of David. David becomes all the more entwined in the Kingdom as Jonathan [Saul's son] and David become "friends for life". The chanting about David's prowess is making Saul crazy. Still, Saul wants him close (like Mafia thinking that is determined to keep enemies close-by). He throws spears at him after using music to make David vulnerable He mocks David in offering his daughter then revoking the deal. He sends David on a fool's mission to kill Philistines ... time and again Saul shows his vapid character and David shows his faithfulness. 19 - things only get worse for Saul as it turns out his own home is committed to David over Saul. Jonathan is caught in a duplicitous position in his sonship to the king and his friendship to the future king who is hated by the present king; his father. Jonathan becomes vital informant to David and is strangely yet secretly protected by Jonathan. Michal, Saul's daughter is Davids' wife and she is eventually protecting David against the king; her father. Saul might do well to read into the obvious but the LORD had left him and he is too crazed to see reality anymore. In his effort to apprehend David, the LORD God of Israel intercepts again and "slays" all Saul's messengers through using them to prophecy. It's certainly an odd scene. It seems to only prove the mangled hilarity of trying to fight God or anyone who is indeed on God's side. 20 - Then there's the dinner, and David's failure to appear for saying he was going to meet his family in Bethlehem, [remember I Sam. 18:2; Saul had forbidden this]. Jonathan's attempting to cover for David threw Saul into a manic rage and now he is throwing spears at Jonathan; his own son! The scene with Jonathan and David meeting, the part of the little boy present as a decoy and informant during the "arrows routine" - of which the young boy is oblivious - all this is nothing short of clever. It shows more of the same mind of David that would win him numerous other battles and verify why Jonathan and he are such dear friends. This would seem to be the benediction put upon their friendship as Jonathan is now starkly aware of his father's hatred of David. Jonathan was a true hearted fellow and in his right mind, but he wasn't going to trigger an open rebellion against his own father; the King. So Jonathan and David part company and it is a sad day for the both of them. Their final encounter is in ch. 23, but this one here in ch. 20 feels like they are both bracing themselves emotionally to part company. The friendship between them had become so costly. And this made it all the more dear.
Genesis 49:29-Exodus 3:22 We are in the World Stream today and will compete the book of Genesis and start the book of Exodus. We are reading from the World English Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord Jesus, seasons come and go as the reading today encompasses a 400 year period. Let us take this calling of Moses very seriously for you call us to lead enslaved people into freedom. You've told us to receive nations into your Kingdom. We are to live for our Deliverer too; Assure us also as you assured Moses - that you will be with us. Amen.
Jacob's departure is upon us. I like his determination to not be buried in Egypt. They were a culture obsessed with the process and their definition of the afterlife. For Egyptian royalty, death was what one's entire life was spent preparing for. It's one of the matters Jesus is hinting about when he declared he was the God of the Living / not the Dead. Jacob wants to be sure that he is buried back on the other side of the Nile with his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham near Hebron. He finished his speech and ... he was gone.
Gen. 50 - the funeral for Jacob is ornate, and as soon as this is overwith, Joseph shows his good ethics yet again to assure his brothers that they were family and not enemies. Jump to the end of Joseph's life and what does he insist? that his bones be carried out of Egypt when the Israelites leave. Fascinating reference to an Exodus that would take place 400 years later! Joseph soon breathes his last after being in Egypt 93 years. Interesting "book-ends" in Genesis: the warning in Genesis 2, "do not eat this fruit or you will surely die." At the end of the book, Jacob dies - and Joseph dies just a chapter later. Genesis seems to end with "I told you that this is where your disobedience would take you." At any rate the 4,000 year march from leaving Eden to the Calvary event is well on it's way. Chronologically, we are 2200 years into it with 1800 years to go. Exodus 1 - As time goes by, the Israelites multiply being in very fertile ground in the Nile delta region. The new Pharaoh was the one that took command following the Hyksos Invasion of 1700 B.C. The Hyksos were in charge of north Egypt until Egypt pulled together again after it's own civil wars and were able to defeat the Hyksos after 108 years of them being there. Egypt re established and the "New Kingdon" was upon them. Thus there was a new Pharaoh who "knew nothing about Joseph" as it reads in Ex.1:8. The Israelites are enslaved to keep them under wraps. The boys are sentenced to die at birth to keep numbers down and to keep a rebellion at bay. 2 - This is the chaos that Moses is born into. Moses is the most important figure of the Ancient World. From Eden to Jesus, no more important man than Moses comes along. He is hid from Pharaoh and his murderous edict - and then found by Pharaoh's daughter! He could not have come closer to death! [We see the same developments around Jesus' birth in Matthew when Herod tries to kill the threat to his rule.] Note that from vv. 1:10-12 --> 40 years went by; Moses spent 40 years in Pharaoh's Palace - learning the ways of the Egyptians, [Ex. 2:5-11a] 40 years in the desert - learning that place and learning to be with God. during his 40 years in the desert [Ex. 2:11-22]. He starts a family there and come that time, the slavery back in Egypt is becoming unbearable under a different Pharaoh. 3 - God calls Moses to lead the delivery of His people from bondage. It's one of the most vital and miraculous passages in the Bible. So much hinges upon this incident. Moses is in near disbelief at what is happening. He gives four huge reasons that prove his personal inadequacy to lead this endeavor. God flushes all Moses excuses. God tells him that they will come and worship on "this mountain" - OUT of Egypt. God will take them to a good and rich land, He will show them miracles and there will be provision, they will leave Egypt with great riches.
Download Acts 27:27-28:30 We are in the Church Stream today as we finish the book of Acts. We are reading from the God's Word Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord, we bid farewell to Paul for now. Thank you for his inspiring life. Let us be encouraged to make our days count for you and for your Kingdom. Amen.
If you look on the map in the back of your Bible or the map we provide in these show notes, take note the route of Paul's final missionary journey listed in Acts. The story picks up today between his departing from Myra; the south point of Asia Minor and the wreck in Malta. Paul took one ship from Caesarea to Myra, another from Myra to Malta, and a third from Malta to Puteoli/ Italy. This month of Paul's life, he had the greatest challenges relating to natural calamity. The dramatic events seem like a cruise gone bad with storms, a damaged vessel, near death at every turn, a fear of starvation, prisoners escaping, painful dilemmas and decisions, people finally swimming to shore or getting there by clinging to a chunk of wood from the broken ship. Paul ministers to these men even in this setting and they are all encouraged by his gracious deeds and dining with them (if we can use that word). Paul uses his status even as a prisoner to defend the incarcerated so that they are treated properly. Paul promised that all would reach shore and no one would be harmed and that is what happened. 28 - they discover that they are on Malta from the locals and voila, the locals are friendly. The snake in the fire incident merely verifies that God is up to something and Paul is soon revered. Paul is then given access to Publius (the leader and his family) and Paul is used to heal his father. Soon others who are sick come and are healed. It is fascinating the way Paul makes the most of every opportunity for the gospel and advancing the Kingdom. The final leg of the journey [from Malta to Rome] is on an Alexandrian ship. There is excitement to meet and be with Paul as Believers were in many places throughout the Roman Empire by now. It was 61 A.D. An entire second generation of Christians were growing up and Paul was a celebrated and very honored man to the new Believers. His teaching was priceless to them. His letters were prized more than gold by the early church. His writings became what we follow as most of the New Testament. Luke finishes the Book of Acts at about this time. Paul did have impressive audiences to speak to in Rome. Most were encouraged, some Jews converted through his teaching, other Jews were only made more stubborn thereby. While he was in Rome, Paul wrote to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and his book to Philemon. Paul was later acquitted of his charges later in AD 61 or early the next year. There is some information telling that Paul made a trip to Spain. We know he planned one; Romans 15:28. There is some evidence that there was another missionary journey Paul took to Greece and Asia Minor (and Spain as mentioned). He wrote his letters to Timothy and Titus during these years between 63-67 A.D. His influence cannot be overstated in Christian History. Some have clearly stated that Apostle Paul is the most influential person that ever lived for his explanations of Christ clearly changed the way the world thought. This affect seeped into the dealings of religion, commerce/business, education, administration, hospitality, social structures, civility, ad infinitum. Even honest secular scholars admit Paul's colossal affect on the world.
Matthew 26 We are in the Christ Stream as we lead up to the crucifixion of Jesus. We reading from the God's Word Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, may we realize that your Word and your Person and your Salvation is what you are training us to prize the most. Keep us in your care and may we live with all the assurance that David prayed with in Psalm 91 - wherever life may take us - you are there. Amen.
The plans to kill Jesus have passed the point of no return. Jesus knew it was coming within 48 hours. He tells his disciples of it again - whether they heard it this time or not... who knows. Jesus is about to have his last night of sleep. The parallel narratives are in Mark 14 and Luke 22. John follows a different order if you feel like comparing in Jn. 13 and 14. The journey of this almost last day of Jesus' life in this state is as such: He prophesies of his death, the schemers confer on how to arrest him AND make it look like Jesus is a problem to be treated via the "final solution", a girl with a shady past anoints Jesus' feet in Bethany - and Jesus turns the event into a sermon for the ages, Judas planned his betrayal for pay, preparations for the Last Supper are made, Jesus informs of his betrayer and his prevenient knowledge of it, their Last Supper is served, Peter pledges his loyalty and gets updated on the coming reality of his own denial of Jesus/Peters' relationship, Jesus and 11 of the 12 are in Gethsemane by now and Jesus prays in anguish...the Disciples keep falling asleep, Judas arrives with the armed crowd from the priests and leaders of Jerusalem and Jesus gets arrested in dramatic fashion, the Disciples scatter and Jesus goes before Caiaphas; the High Priest, the illicit trial is carried out against the Law (as they had planned it) and the abusing of Jesus begins. btw, the High Priest and his crew broke 19 of their own Jewish laws in arresting, trying and crucifying Jesus in the manner that they did it. Then again, how else are they going to condemn an innocent man to death? The chapter and reading today ends with the scene of Peter following along at a distance and denying Christ. Peter's revelation of his unfaithfulness hits him harder than it hits anyone else.
What a day it has been. It looks like this Jesus and followers movement is about to come to a close. That's what it LOOKS like anyway. What is happening and what is about to happen is the most important day in all of history. The literature and art and stories and churches planted and souls changed and nations touched by this crucified Jesus will not be tallied in full on this side of heaven. Again, what a day that has just past, . . and what a day that is coming. There doesn't need to be a whole lot of protracted comment about this reading. We do want to leave you with a final thought to ponder as you proceed in your day and life and wonder about your own soul and that of your friends and wonder who you can count on to the end. Please think of this as we all exercise discernment and being a blessing: --> would you rather be kissed by Judas or screamed and swore at by Peter? Remember that life in this world is not what it seems. Death to this world and saying "yes" to Jesus is not what it seems. Loss of what we think we have lost is not what it seems. And Security in THIS world is not what it seems.
Daniel 11:36-12:13 We are in the Exile Stream and will finish the book of Daniel as we read from the God's Word Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Jesus, we thank you that our destiny is as glorious as Daniel's and that our home is paradise with you. Amen.
-11:36 ff. This part of this chapter in Daniel is about Antiochus Epiphanes - the worst menace of the time; the 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Some have called these four centuries "the silent years". They were not silent at all. A.E. was beyond horrible. His life was a murder spree aiming at genocide. Verse 41, "he will invade the beautiful land and tens of thousands will be defeated" is when he went into Israel and Jerusalem and killed 80,000 people just because he was mad. And he was mad because of his failures to be victorious in other countries - so he vents his rage at the Jews. He was so completely treacherous that by the time his end comes, no one comes to his aid. That's why it ends (chapter 11 and his life) it says. "no one comes to help him." He really was a bad bad man. That section of scripture in some ways is an overlay of the Anti-Christ. It refers to Antiochus Epiphanes AND the antichrist at the same time. 12 - This is the End Times; no mistaking or multiple meanings. Michael, is Michael the Archangel. Also in v. 1 "everyone written in the book." is the Lamb's Book of Life more definitively spoken about in Revelation 21:27. The trouble and distress spoken of certainly is what is seen and growing today. But far worse is coming. Verse 2 speaks of the great resurrection and the judgment that is coming for unbelievers. V. 4 talks of increased travel and knowledge. That is certainly today. A journey that took weeks and months all through history is now taken in hours. Anyone anywhere in the world can be on the farthest part of the earth less than 24 hours later. As for knowledge increasing - one patent attorney was describing the process and its acceleration as being dizzying. The process of inventing and learning about new things is going way far faster than it ever has. Some products, especially in technology, as soon as they reach the shelf at the stores, there is already another product going through the patent process that will make the prior invention obsolete. The learning and revelation process is happening that quickly now! Messages were taken across the U.S. by rail train and it took days and days. Messages are sent in seconds to anywhere on earth now. Satellites relay information at the speed of light. Daniel is being told this over 2500 years ago. The 1290 days is 3 + 1/2 years and it refers to tribulation. The timing of it all, who is inflicted, who is protected from it, Christ's Return, the Millennium, all this is further and more completely explained in Revelation and by Jesus. To understand the end times requires a cross comparison of Daniel, Revelation, and Jesus words about the end times; the apocalypse. Jesus comments are found in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. God tells us what is coming because He cares about us, He wants us to know that He is in charge and that there is nothing to fear. God is this way because he loves us. The intent of this apocalyptic literature is not to frighten - it is written to assure. Let's let it affect us this same way. Let's let it make us more loving. Let' s also resist the urge to get into arguments and get ugly toward others. Too many have declared that anyone who views the end times differently than they personally do, THAT person is a heretic, and needs to be put out of THEIR church. This is the wrong way to immerse into end time studies. Let's let end time studies make us more loving people. It does finish well for us. Daniel is told, "go on until the end. You will rest, and you will rise to receive your inheritance at the end of time." Our finale~ is as glorious as Daniel's and this is cause for rejoicing. The angel was talking to Daniel who is talking to us. This is Amazing!
Isaiah 46-49 We are in the Prophetic Stream in the book of Isaiah today reading from the God's Word Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord God, do your work in us. May we serve you with our whole heart and allow ourselves to be blessed as you serve us through your Spirit, Amen.
Pausing to look at the big picture, the northern Kingdom has been hauled off by Assyria and scattered. This was, by now a generation or two prior. Babylon is going to capture the south in about a century or so. God is going to let Babylon seize Jerusalem and Judah/the southern Kingdom since they will not yield and obey God. He makes it plain in the first section of ch. 46 that He has the whole picture in mind. 46 - Babylon, with their false gods is going to rule for a bit and execute their plans over Israel. It's almost like God is telling the Hebrews, "...So,you like dabbling with false gods, huh? Well guess where that will lead you... to being overtaken by a nation who really follows their false gods. Let me know how you feel as false gods and their frothing followers bust into your homes, towns, and your whole lives!" Isaiah has a skill for keeping the fate of the wicked ever in front of us, the Lord's impatience with rebellion, HIS faithfulness that will redeem - these things continue to be juggled in the literature and we are reminded of them throughout Isaiah's writing. "I am God, and there's no one like me." is especially good in v. 9 47 - Babylon's day is coming too. [remember we are looking about a century ahead] They have done their deeds against the Jews and here's what's next for them: They will be thrown in the dirt, dethroned, stripped, driven away, destroyed, they will be widowed, bereft of children, their witchcraft will betray them, Babylon had been a refined and decorated culture, a powerful and wealthy Kingdom. But God is done with Babylon. Their deeds and behavior have come full circle (by the time this prophecy is fulfilled and they will be well on their way to being an archaeological site.) 48 - This chapter reads like a visit to an incarcerated person you knew when they were once free. God tells His children (while captive in Babylon) what they need to hear before they are to be released from Babylon. People who are not reformed before they are freed again simply go back to what they were deviant in and perhaps are even worse in their ways. But God has some beautiful and sobering reminders of what the destiny of His nation is. As they return, the Lord will teach them, and guide them, there will be worship. And they must remember their LORD and follow Him and not stray again. This ends Isaiah's run of prophecies that have gone on for nine chapters simultaneously. The point being driven at is that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the God to go to for answers and direction. The rest of the gods are false and lead people on the road to nothing. 49 - The thinking that encompasses 49-55 is the "Servant of God". The Messiah concept and the nation of Israel both feather together intermittently to reveal this truth. Messiah will come and serve God- Isaiah is saying this 650-700 years before Jesus arrives. And Israel's role of serving God is ongoing. The assignment for those who serve God is to come to God and bring others also who will serve Him. The Servant brings back the Tribes to God, he is also a Light to the nations. The task of serving God and being served by Him involves faith, favor, salvation, freedom, supply, satisfaction and comfort. The faithful will be brought to God, reunited like a family, This will be the mighty work of God
Psalm 9-17 We are in the Wisdom Stream today while using the God's Word Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | #7Streams | @7Streams Method | @serenatravis Harp music - Healing And Relaxing Music For Meditation (Harp 09) - Pablo Arellano Commentary by Drake Travis
Lord God thank you for this sterling reading from King David who is yet to take his throne. Let it inspire us to walk with you and hang on to you though the road be rough or the next steps of our pilgrimage may seem uncertain. Thank you Lord that our destiny is salvation as your word states. Amen.
In Psalm 9, David is thankful for victories; victories that he personally has experienced and also those that affected Israel, his nation. Miracles have happened, there is joy and music and praise. The Lord has been true and the enemies of the Lord are in a bad way and going down further. God triumphs and the truth of this is evident to those who look to God for their refuge. In Psalm 10, David starts the Psalm feeling that God is far off and that the wicked get to have their run of things. David lists the things he sees about oppressors. They boast, rob, curse, oppress, deceive, they pounce, and crush. David calls for God to arise and deal with them justly and to do so as the God who is able to. David seems to be encouraging himself with the truth that he knows God to be v.s. the justice that may seem delayed as he is witnessing it. The Psalm ends with a mighty praise about God's encouragement and protection for the orphan and the oppressed. For Psalm 11 and following: The next three Psalms are David asking desperate questions and feeling very troubled about wicked people who seem to be everywhere and running everywhere and behaving with ill will. He was running from Saul during these times [ I Sam. 18-26 ]. He is vexed when he sees enemies all around. He is at the same place blessed when he is able to pause and look to God knowing of His righteousness
In Psalm 12, David is feeling almost completely alone and that liars include just about the entire human race. Somehow David knows that God's promises are pure and good and the Lord will protect him. In Psalm 13, David did feel alone in human terms. Now he feels alone spiritually. It seems God uses these days in David's life to embed in him deeply the need to seek the Lord with all his heart. We find David doing this fervently. We find him trusting God, enjoying his salvation and singing to God for His goodness to David! David declares this in spite of his current sentiments. In Psalm 14, David articulates his disgust for fools, for the godless who have no regard for God. The corruption, the rebellion - David finds it all sickening. St. Paul quotes this passage in his observation of the same perversion [Romans 3:10-12]. For such behavior there is a judgment day coming and there will be sheer panic for them. On that same day, God's people will rejoice for their fate will be much different. In Psalm 15, This is a great testament of who gets to be with God; in His Presence. The traits of those who walk with God are clearly listed. 'Such an inspiration is this man of integrity, commitment, wholesome speech, righteous dealings, forthrightness and stability Psalm 16 is a marvel of all that is good and the resurrection that is destined. It would do us good to be reading and learning; even memorizing this Psalm. We can hear echoes of Paul's theology metaphorically showing up in this chapter. v. 10 is a reference to Jesus and the protection from death afforded to those who pledge their lives to Jesus.
Download I Samuel 13:23-16:23 We are in The Nation Stream today as we continue the story of King Saul and his courageous son Jonathan. We are reading from God's Word Translation today. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis Commentary by Drake Travis The battle between Israel and the Philistines is an over-arching backdrop for the reading today. Saul's hollow and selfish character is fully revealed and as the phrase goes, "the handwriting is on the wall" as to what's IN THE AIR where things are going and what needs to happen to get the nation to where God can glorify Himself through this nation of Israel. In chapter 14, Jonathan shows his cagey and intelligent nature as a battle strategist and defeats the Philistines in the first battle described here. Remember what is developing: in the prior chapter, Jonathan wins the battle, and Saul his father, declares that he:Saul had won the battle [I Sam.13:3-4]. So without saying or doing anything to "right" this mis-perception, Jonathan goes right ahead, without Saul's knowledge, and marches into [and wins!] the next battle. Keep in mind that Israel does this without legitimate war material, arms or weapons. It was truly the hand of God stepping in to give victory in spite of Saul-the moral hot-air balloon / turned control freak obsessed with being Mr. Everything... The man has paltry management skills and tries to compensate this through trying to monitor all matters like a school marm who forgot to retire 25 years ago. Next he orders an ill-timed fast that all must follow - or be executed. And who violates the illicit fast unwittingly? His son Jonathan, who is spared only by the level-headed soldiers around him. Yes, Saul has battle victories throughout his life. We'll grant him that, but the victories had almost nothing to do with Saul; absolutely nothing - almost. In chapter 15, Saul errs again when he doesn't finish the job in decimating Amalek. They brought some of the animals back so they could, uh, "sacrifice them to God" uh-hum, yeah right! Saul is an ante-example of how not to obey the Lord. The LORD doesn't need our version of obedience in order for us to obey Him. God needs to obeyed precisely. Again, Saul can't do what he is told. Samuel's famous words, "to obey/follow instructions is better than sacrifice" still is relevant now and always will be. Saul reveals his weakness of character again in v. 24 "...I was afraid of the people and listened to them." Saul is a typical politician that does not listen to wisdom or prophets or God. He consults the people; !he takes a poll! v.s. asking of God what to do. Samuel finishes a gruesome task and 'does in' the last of Amalek in front of Saul and the LORD. Saul again stands corrected. btw, Samuel never saw Saul again. God and Samuel left him. Think of it, why would God and Samuel try to stay around and communicate with a king who has his "fingers in his ears"? In Chapter 16, Samuel is assigned to find and anoint the next king. After a process that piques the interest of anyone literate, David is chosen and the Spirit of the LORD comes over David. He has nice skin, bright eyes, is handsome and talented - sounds like a catch for sure! It isn't long before his musical skill takes him right to King Saul and it turns out Saul needs David to give him peace of mind amid the evil Saul has given himself to. It is very intriguing the way God orchestrates a contrast between Saul and David. It's these encounters that reveal the completely stark characters that emerge between these two men from different generations. Saul and David - this is just the beginning - the showdown continues next week!
Lord, may we be found like David. Not for his flaws but because of his heart that turned to you over and over relentlessly for guidance and approval and peace. We also ask that Your Spirit rest upon us the way it came over David. Take us into your presence for worship; the very thing we were born to do. Amen.
Genesis 46:1-49:28 We are in the World Stream. Israel reunites with Joseph takes the time to bless his grandsons and his sons. We are reading from the God's Word Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Acts 25:1-27:26 We are in the Church Stream today as we follow Paul on his 4th missionary journey. We are reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis Some photos taken in Caesarea during our 2013 Israel Tour. [gallery columns="2" ids="401,402,403,404"]
Matthew 24-25 Today we are in the Christ Stream as we learn more about Jesus and the Kingdom. We are reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Isaiah 43-45 We are in the Prophetic Stream today. We will cover several very familiar verses about God. We are reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Psalm 1-8 We are reading from the Wisdom Stream today. We launch into the book of Psalms! We are reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Download I Samuel 8:1-13:22 We are in The Nation Stream today. We are coming to the end of Samuel's leadership and transitioning into the time of the kings. We are reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible today. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Download Genesis 43-45 We are in the World Stream today. Join us as we listen to one of the most powerful stories of forgiveness and reconciliation ever penned in millennia as Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers. We are reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible in this 12th week of reading the Scriptures this year. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Download Acts 22:22-24:27 We are in the Church Stream today and continuing the story of the Apostle Paul. He is in the early stages of his journey to Rome. Today is our final day this week to read from the New International Reader's Version. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Daniel 10-11:1 Today we are in the Exile Stream biting our fingernails with Daniel's next vision. We had to add 11:1 because the Bible chops off mid-sentence at the end of Chapter 10. Yes, it happens. We are reading from the New International Reader's Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Isaiah 40-42 We are in the Prophetic Stream continuing in the book of Isaiah. We are reading from the New International Reader's Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Job 39-42 Today we finish the book of Job and we hear the rest of God's 64 questions to Job. What an ordeal! What a display of God's power! We are reading from the New International Reader's Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
I Samuel 2-7 We are in the Nation Stream. The leadership is transferring from Eli to Samuel as we read from the New International Reader's Version today. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Genesis 40-42 We are in the World Stream and learning more about the life of Joseph, the dreamer. We are reading from the New International Reader's Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Acts 20:13-22:21 Paul finishes his 3rd missionary journey as we sail down the Church Stream today. What will happen in Jerusalem? Will Paul be received with enthusiasm? Discover as we read with the New English Translation for the last time this week. The thread through our streams for this week is "setbacks." 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Matthew 20-21 Today we are in the Christ Stream and read about Palm Sunday. Jesus has so much to share with us as we read from the New English Translation. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Daniel 9 We are reading from the Exile Stream continuing with Daniel's prayers and visions. What precious gems we find in today's reading using the New English Translation. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Isaiah 37-39 We are in the Prophetic Stream. Isaiah encouraged King Hezekiah regarding the Assyrian army and then the King does a Big No-No. We are reading from the New English Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com #7StreamsMethod @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Job 36-38 We are in the Wisdom Stream hearing the final speech from Elihu in the book of Job. We are reaching the finale with the beginning of the 64 questions of God from the whirlwind. We are reading from the New English Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Download Judges 21 - Ruth - I Samuel 1 We are in the Nation Stream with quite a bit of work to do today. We are coming to the conclusion of the period of the judges. We are reading from the New English Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com @serenatravis
Download Matthew 18-19 We are in the Christ Stream today in the book of Matthew. How does one enter the kingdom of heaven? Jesus explains in today's reading. We are using the Tree of Life Version this week which refers to Jesus as Yeshua. 7streamsmethod.com #7Streams @7StreamsMethod @serenatravis
Isaiah 33-36 We are in the Prophetic Stream today using the Tree of Life Version. The pressure is turning up in Jerusalem as the Assyrian army is surrounding the city. 7streamsmethod.com @serenatravis
Daniel 7 Today we venture back into the Exile Stream in the book of Daniel. We've seen lion, dreams, and fires, oh my! What is in store for today's chapter? We are reading from the New Century Version. 7streamsmethod.com You can keep up with Serena and her itinerary: @serenatravis on Twitter & Instagram
Download Daniel 5 We are in the Exile Stream and back in the book of Daniel. We are reading from the New King James Version this week. Last week, King Nebuchadnezzar lived like a beast eating grass for 7 years and was humbled. What will we encounter today in Daniel’s story? 7streamsmethod.com
Daniel 4 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the book of Daniel. We continue reading from The Message translation. Last week, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego survived the fiery furnace. What could King Nebuchadnezzar be up to this week? 7streamsmethod.com
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Isaiah 15-20 Welcome to the beginning of month 2 of the Seven Streams Bible Reading Method. We are in Prophetic Stream today continuing in the book of Isaiah. We are reading from The Message this week. We’re reading chapters 15-20 today. 7streamsmethod.com 5Q18qnwWES3Im2x5qWIF
Joshua 16-20 We are reading from the New American Standard Bible this week. Today we are in the Nation Stream and continue the division of the land among the tribes of Israel. Here is a very helpful map as we navigate all the geographical terms in today's reading. The map is from BibleStudy.org. And here is a map with even more of the cities identified. At the end of this episode, Serena shares several historical tidbits which were found at bibletimeline.net. 7streamsmethod.com
Genesis 13-17 Today we start in a different translation - the New American Standard Bible. As the name indicates, this is a newer version of something translated before - the American Standard Version of 1901. The NASB was published in 1995 and updated the English to be more modern and smooth out some of the challenging vocabulary. We are in The World Stream as we continue the story of Abram.
Genesis 9-12 We return to The World Stream and this means we are using a new translation today – the New Living Translation. This version was first published in 1996 and is more of a thought-for-thought translation. Last week we left off when Noah had gotten off the ark and had made an altar to the Lord. God has a few things to say and then the human race rebuilds from the slopes of Mt. Ararat.
Acts 3:1-5:15 This is our final day for this week to read from the Modern English Version. We will use a different translation starting tomorrow. Today we are back in the Church Stream in the book of Acts. We left off last week with Peter’s sermon after Pentecost and the believers living together in community. The excitement is picking up in the stream – it’s almost like white-water rafting today! 7streamsmethod.com Holy Spirit, we thank you for coming not only to comfort us but to lead us in every possible way. We are amazed at the work accomplished with Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate. A life with you is not dull and boring. We thank you for transforming lives. We are in awe of the story of Ananias and Sapphira. You know our secrets and you cannot be deceived. Amen. In the first part of our story today, Peter and John are going to pray. A man was waiting at the gate. Don't you love how the gate is called Beautiful? I wonder what it looked like. He waited there every day. He didn't even know another kind of life. He must have made enough from begging to get by because he was brought to the same place every day for 40 something years. Every day was the same year after year. And then one day something was different. It probably started like every other day - he went about his normal routine got dropped off at the temple. And it's possible that Peter and John had seen him before, but this day was different for them too. They had received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and they really saw this man who was lame and his plight. With all boldness Peter commands him to rise up and walk and he did. He didn't have money to give to him but he gave him the ability to go out and work. That's the difference between welfare and farewell. We desire for our fellow man to farewell. So again a crowd assembles because it's pretty amazing to see a man who's been lame and now he's walking and Peter again gives an impromptu sermon. And watch the number of Believers continue to grow and the number of men grew to about 5,000. Evidently the leaders of the day were afraid of losing control because when they saw the power of Christ working through these men and seeing so many people believe they took action. The leaders but Peter and John in jail. They were soon released and Peter again with boldness declares the power of Jesus and gives another sermon -- short but very pointed and very effective. But it appears to have fallen on deaf ears. So the Sanhedrin releases them and commands them not to speak Jesus' name. But how could they not speak about Jesus? He was not only their friend but He was the Messiah who had performed miracles namely rising from the dead. Finally we arrive at a story that made puzzle some people and that is of Ananias and Sapphira. Why would Ananias and Sapphira have to die for lying? Surely most people have lied at least once in their life. I have lied. And I knew it was wrong and I've repented of lying. But I think if you are saying that you've never lied in your life, well, maybe that's a lie! Remember Aiken from earlier this week? He had hidden some of the treasures that they had gotten out of Jericho. And when the Israelites went up against Ai they were defeated initially because Aiken lied. So how did he lie? He lied by omission as did Ananias and Sapphira. Aiken's lie wasn't a spoken line but it was a hidden lie. He had hidden treasure he wants isn't supposed to have and that affected all of Israel. Similarly Ananias and Sapphira's lie of omission affected the apostolic church and God called them out. And that brings us to the thread for this week - lies and corruption. In Genesis, the corruption of mankind Before the Flood incites to God to wipe them out. In Joshua, Aiken and his family are stoned and killed for lying. Bildad suspects Job of lying about his righteousness. Isaiah cries out to the Lord about his unclean lips. And Daniel - Nebuchadnezzar suspect that his wise men will speak lying words to interpret his dream. In Matthew, the Devil tempt Jesus with lies and - Finally we read the lies of Ananias and Sapphira. Lies bring death to relationship and this certainly applies to our relationship with God. I know that I need to take time with God to confess my sins of commission, the things that I do, and the sins of omission, the things that I don't do, and I hope that you take time to talk to Him too. 7streamsmethod.com is the home port for this podcast. You can connect to The Seven Streams also on IPDB and iTunes. On a positive note, we've been reading about healing for the past couple of days and we have a resource that covers the healings of the Old Testament and New Testament. It's a book that my husband wrote called Healing Power Voice Activated. He was fascinated with the healings in the Bible and he wrote about them. So his book is available at livingstonespublications.com. Tomorrow we return to the World Stream in Genesis and utilize a different translation. Know that you are loved by our Gracious Father. Until then I'm first mate Serena sailing with you down The Seven Streams.
Matthew 4-5 Reading from the Modern English Version Today we are cruising through two chapters of the book of Matthew. Last week we read through the genealogy of Abraham to Jesus, through His birth, and ended with His baptism. 7streamsmethod.com
Daniel 2:1-23 We are reading from the Modern English Version this week. Today’s voyage will take us to the book of Daniel in the Exile stream. Last week Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego ate their vegetable diet instead of the meat and wine at the king’s table. Daniel and his friends are living out the prophecy that we have been reading in Isaiah. They are in the land of the Babylonians. But God is not done with Israel. He is still looking for hearts and minds who are willing to listen to Him. And that is what Daniel does. 7streamsmethod.com
Download Isaiah 4-7 We are actually starting in Isaiah 3:18 so that we can start today's reading in context. We are continuing down the Prophetic Stream in the Modern English Version. 7streamsmethod.com
Job 6-10 We continue in the Wisdom Stream in the book of Job. Job replies to Eliphaz as we continue the first cycle of speeches. 7streamsmethod.com
Download Joshua 7-10 We are back in The Nation stream and continuing the story of Joshua after Jericho. We are reading from the Modern English Version this week.
Genesis 5-8 We are reading about Noah, the ark and the flood today from The World stream. We are using the Modern English Version this week.
Acts 1-2 Today we start the 7th stream: The Church. We read about Pentecost and the Early Church. Reading from the NIV. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Holy Spirit, we are overwhelmed with how you showed up on the scene and you show up today in a major way. You definitely are there. We see you in the Old Testament but now we see you fully in the story of Pentecost. And we just ask that you would continue to reveal to us the hidden nuggets that you have in scripture and help us to make these links and connect these threads as we are sailing through the scriptures this year. We thank you for saving us. We thank you for being with us and making it all possible through Jesus. Amen. In the beginning of this we see that there is the baptism by fire that they were talking about that being baptized by the Holy Spirit. And we talked about this just yesterday because John baptized Him [Jesus] with water. So back in Acts 1:5 - "for John baptized with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." So let's talk about the timing of Pentecost. There's 40 days between the Resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus and then there is another 50 days after that that is the time of the Pentecost. Now Pentecost took time during the Feast of First Fruits or the Feast of Harvest and it so happened that that would be the time that there will be all these people that would be coming into Jerusalem. And so it was by no accident that Jesus coordinated with the Holy Spirit to have this take place right at this time because they knew there would be all these people that would be in Jerusalem. Pentecost is one of the most amazing aspects of what we experience in the church today because this literally is the baptism of the church. So out of this event is the church age. It's the time of the Gospel era. And what you see here is the reverse of what happened at Babel. Now we haven't gotten to the story yet either. But in the story of Babel - that is when the languages were divided from one into many - it was fractured in to many. But in this one moment, you see that everybody who came to Jerusalem heard this message in their own language so it was like reverse of Babel. And that is amazing because that right there signifies that this message that they had wasn't just for people who spoke their dialect - their Galilean dialect - of Hebrew or Aramaic or whatever they were speaking it was for the whole world. And then second, the Holy Spirit - the Holy Spirit does so many things for us first of all and I couldn't go into all of them today - there's so many. But the Holy Spirit reveals the message of Salvation to us. The Holy Spirit gives us knowledge just as it gave them the knowledge to speak in languages in tongues and the Holy Spirit gives courage. I mean Peter was a courageous guy but not only did stand up courageously and speak but you can see that in what he was saying he was recalling prophetic messages from the Old Testament. And so he had the courage and then the knowledge of what he was supposed to say just freely flowed from him. I don't think he had time to grab a papyrus or something and write down a few notes. He just got up and spoke. So I think it's an amazing thing when a person is surrender to what the Holy Spirit wants them to do that they are able to do exactly what they should do at the exact right time. And then Peter succinctly sums it up in chapter 2 verse 38, "repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the Forgiveness of your sins." The Gospel message is so simple and so many people were at it. So if you remember earlier in the reading today we saw that Peter stood up among the Believers chapter 1 verse 15 saying that there was a group numbering about 120. So it was a relatively small group. And then when you get done with Peter's message you see that it grew to 3000. That's significant growth! And that is by the divine timing of the Holy Spirit. So isn't it amazing to read the very beginning of it? At Pentecost? I think so. So we've completed the first week. We have gone through each stream. We have launched each stream. And for this next week I won't be describing about each book because I've already done that. So I'll just be launching right into the reading and taking it from there. And we'll be going into a new translation tomorrow. Now one thing that I promised to do was to find a Common Thread through all the streams. So the common thing that we see amongst the streams, and I alluded to this yesterday, is that we see something that's really good and is going along great and then gets derailed. The creation and then the fall. The nation goes into Jericho and next week we're going to see that they disobey and Ai, they fall to Ai. Minor fall but still a fall nonetheless. And in wisdom, Job has a great wonderful family, home, everything and then he everything is taken away from him. We see in Isaiah that he has been given a position of being a prophetic authority and and yet he's bringing out all of this condemnation against the nation of Israel. And then the Exile - well that's a whole lot of peril. Everybody is under scrutiny it during that time. And even though God is preserving them it's a tenuous situation. And then you have in Matthew the savior is born and immediately his life is in peril. And then here the church. Pentecost came everything had a great beginning. Peter had a great sermon and not long after this in the most serious in the coming weeks - his life is in danger. And really this week for me was an issue of obedience versus Disobedience because we see the consequences of disobedience and also the consequences of obedience. And I know that that it's an important thing to the Lord. To obey is better than sacrifice. As I have mentioned before there are bookmarks that are available to go along with The Seven Streams and those are available at SevenStreamsMethod.com. And we have them in digital format you can get those by signing up for a newsletter and you can print them out on your own printer and use them however you wish to use them. Or you can order the book marks that we had printed up and we will send them to you in the mail. So that's all for today that's all for this week. We've completed the initial voyage down each stream. Thank you so much for joining me and being a part of this. Until tomorrow, I'm Serena, sailing with you down The Seven Streams.
Daniel 1 We launch a new stream today: Exile. The exile occurred when the nation of Israel was taken off to Babylon. We continue to read from the NIV this week. Serena mentioned the Daniel Fast during this episode.
Isaiah 1-3 We are launching a new stream today: the Prophetic. We will be covering Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Ezekiel in the Prophetic Stream this year. Reading from the NIV this week.
Download Joshua 1:1-6:27 We are starting a new stream today: The Nation. We begin in Joshua and will end the year in Esther. The theme for the reading today is obedience. We are reading from the New International Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate Bookmarks are available to follow along.
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Genesis 1-4 We're going to be reading from the New International Version this week. Genesis means the beginning. And Genesis is believed to have been penned by Moses. Now I saw this really amazing article talking about the origin of Genesis. And you can imagine that back all those years ago they didn't have paper. And so, Genesis was written on tablets.
And those are all going to be housed at SevenStreamsMethod.com. And that is where you can see whatever notes we have for this particular episode - January 1st.
Prayer Heavenly Father, Thank you for this reading today. Thank you for showing us and telling us about the beginning. Thank you for the glimmer of hope that you provide even in the midst of the fall. We thank you for the Scriptures. We thank you for having somebody to write down these words so that we can read them. We just ask your blessing on this reading of the Bible this year. We ask your blessing up those who are taking this journey. Lord, may we see new things each and every day. And may we hear your call in our lives they way these men and women heard the call in their lives. Thank you, Jesus. In Your Name, Amen. 7streamsmethod.com | @7streamsmethod | Donate
Download The Seven Streams Method was created to take us through seven divisions of Scripture by reading one portion from each stream for each day of the week.
Read, read, read your Book gently down the streams... Transcript Welcome one and all to the Seven Streams Method. This method is a unique way to go through the Bible in a year and thank you for joining me on this journey. I am Serena Travis and I will share a little bit about myself and also about this method before we launch into our year of reading through the Bible together.
And then he thought, "What if each day of the week I was listening to a different section of Scripture?"
Creation of The 7 Streams So the Seven Streams Method is something that was created by my husband, Drake Travis, and he has gone through the Bible many times over. And there's been some years where he's gone through the Bible multiple times and I know that he finds great comfort in going through the Bible. One of the things that he realized as he was spending time listening to the Bible is that he preferred to listen to one section of the Bible per day as opposed to going into the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. He would rather spend that one day listening to one section of Scripture. And then he thought, "What if each day of the week I was listening to a different section of Scripture?" He knew from seminary study that there are natural divisions of types of books in the Bible.
Let's talk about the Bible in the first place. The Bible is not just a book. As some of you may know, it a library. It's a library of historical books, there's a songbook, there are letters. It's a grouping of different types of writing. Some of it is prose, some of it is poetry, and some of it seems a bit cryptic and some of it genealogical so it's more kind of dry material I guess you could say. There's exciting stories and there's kind of a how to section in Leviticus in there of how we're supposed to live. Over all there's this vast array and it's written over many years with different writers. It's very interesting and so much more than a book. And now we are going through the 66 books of the Bible library and we will do that over the course of the year.
The 7 Streams are these: The World, The Nation, Wisdom, Prophetic, Exile, Christ and The Church. Each week we will read from one section of each of those streams. Now The World covers Genesis to Deuteronomy and we're going to spread out over the course of the year. The Nation is Joshua to Esther. Wisdom is Job to Song of Solomon. Prophetic is Isaiah to Ezekiel and the Exile is Daniel to Malachi - those are the Minor Prophets. And then Christ is the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Then there's The Church stream which is Acts to Revelation. So with a division like this some of the days will have somewhat short readings while other days we will be rowing a bit more. We'll have to get out another set of oars and we're going to be in it for the long haul. The average time is fairly close to 30 minutes. Over the course of the week, we're going to experience a cross-section of the Bible through the Streams and will find a thread for that week. I'll share the thread through the Streams after the commentary on The Church Stream at the end of our Bible week.
Translations Each week I will use a different translation of the Bible and by doing that we're going to experience some translations which are more word for word and other translations which are more thought.
Names One of the most asked questions about reading through the Bible is how to handle all the names. First of all, you'll notice that names can change depending on the translation. Second, I've adopted a more Hebrew pronunciation of the names even though they are Anglicized. You may have heard a different pronunciation depending on when and where you grew up. Third, Drake and I have been in biblical studies for years. Drake went to Seminary so we have been immersed in Bible speak.
So anyway I'm excited about this journey together. You may be taking part in this journey at different times of the day and I find some times that it's even helpful to listen to the Bible as I'm going to sleep. So if that's your plan, I'm totally fine with that. I will not be offended if you fall asleep while I'm reading in fact I would be flattered. It's a wonderful thing to fill your mind with the scriptures as you're falling asleep because you're feeding your mind with the things that you should focus on.
A Bit About Serena My major in college was mathematics, so I enjoy Numbers. Ha, ha - some dry humor there. My family and I like to study genealogy. I also play the piano and the tuba and I dabble with a few other instruments. I enjoying reading and love all things audio. My husband and I have traveled quite a bit. He likes to keep track of the countries where we have traveled.
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Thank you for joining me on this journey. I look forward to this voyage that we're taking together. Imagine that you are boarding a ship as you climb aboard. The cool thing about this is that there's no limit to the number of people we can take aboard. The ship automatically "grows"! Make sure to invite a friend to join you on this journey. It's always good to have a shipmate who is a good buddy. If you've never gone to the Bible before or if you've gone through the Bible many times, the Seven Streams is a whole new way to experience the Scripture. Time to go hoist the anchor and set sail.