Learning from Joseph; Matthew 1-3

May the mumbling commence!

Let’s “do it again”!  We’ve come to the end of the New Testament.  It is time to read it again.  Great works of literature are meant to be read repeatedly.  How so much more so is it profitable to read the Scriptures, the Word of the living Lord, over and over again?  This time through I will be reading from the Phillips translation. 

Welcome back to the gospel according to Matthew.  As a father and husband, I like to look at Joseph.  Today, I will look at the Scriptures from Matthew that pertains to Joseph in the first several chapters of the gospel.  Let’s read from Matthew chapter one:

The birth of Jesus Christ happened like this. When Mary was engaged to Joseph, just before their marriage, she was discovered to be pregnant - by the Holy Spirit. Whereupon Joseph, her future husband, who was a good man and did not want to see her disgraced, planned to break off the engagement quietly. But while he was turning the matter over in his mind an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife! What she has conceived is conceived through the Holy Spirit, and she will give birth to a son, whom you will call Jesus ('the Savior') for it is he who will save his people from their sins."

All this happened to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet –

'Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel'.

("Immanuel" means "God with us.")

When Joseph woke up he did what the angel had told him. He married Mary, but had no intercourse with her until she had given birth to a son. Then he gave him the name Jesus. (Verses 18-25)

Joseph was a good man.  He thought about others before himself.  When he heard the Mary was pregnant, he could have been distraught for himself.  The plans to take her as his wife were rudely interrupted by this surprising pregnancy. 

Joseph could have leveled her with bitterness and wrath.  The Law called for such a young woman to be stoned to death.  Instead, Joseph chose to think about Mary, whom he loved.  He did not wish to see her disgraced.  He was planning to break off the engagement quietly.  What a noble and good man! 

But there’s more.  He was turning the matter over and over in his mind.  He was bringing the matter to God in prayer. 

And his prayers were answered in the form of a dream, where an angel told him to take Mary as his wife.  The unborn child was conceived of the Holy Spirit.  He was to name the son Jesus.  And Joseph obeyed to the letter the word of the Lord from the angel in his dream. 

What a great and loving husband!  Joseph was a husband whose heart was chasing after the Lord.  Read more of Joseph from Matthew chapter two:

But after they had gone, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up now, take the little child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you. For Herod means to seek out the child and kill him."

So Joseph got up, and taking the child and his mother with him in the middle of the night, set off for Egypt, where he remained until Herod's death. (Verses 13-15a)

What a good father!  Joseph had a good connection to the Lord through prayer and dreams.  Better yet – Joseph knew to obey!  Joseph was a wise man among wise men. 

Joseph was willing to put on hold the career that he had built and established for himself as a carpenter in Judea.  He picked up his stakes and went to protect Jesus.  Maybe Joseph used the gifts of the astrologers to help fund the trip.  Maybe Joseph also sold his carpenter’s equipment to fund the journey to Egypt.  What selflessness to protect God’s Son! 

Would that we do the same – both as Christians and fathers!  Read more about Joseph from Matthew chapter two:

But after Herod's death an angel of the Lord again appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Now get up and take the infant and his mother with you and go into the land of Israel. For those who sought the child's life are dead."

So Joseph got up and took the little child and his mother with him and journeyed towards the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was now reigning as king of Judea in the place of his father Herod, he was afraid to enter the country. Then he received warning in a dream to turn aside into the district of Galilee and came to live in a small town called Nazareth – thus fulfilling the old prophecy, that he should be called a Nazarene. (Verses 19-23)

Following the dreams that God planted in his sleep was a pattern for Joseph.  It was so deep set that the last dream that is recorded in Matthew that God gave Joseph that the author thought it was unnecessary to let us know that Joseph obeyed the warning and advice. 

What a man of God!  May we learn to obey the voice of God even in the midst of answering a call to action from God.  May we think less of our own plans and follow the plans the Lord lays before us.

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out

Restoration; Revelation 21-22

May the mumbling commence!

O, Lord, we wait for restoration.  We wait for the fullness of the Lord’s restoration of all creation.  We seek to be healed and nourished.  We desperately seek you, O Lord, because you are the source of healing and nourishment and everlasting life.  Read from Revelation chapter twenty-two:

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever. (1-5)

O, to drink from the river of life!  O, to eat from the fruits of the trees of life that surround that river!  There is a crop for each month of the year.  What variety!

And the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations.  What does it mean for a nation to be healed?  It means living in the light of God and the Lamb.  It means seeing the lines that delineate nations become blurred beyond all recognition.  It means becoming one in Christ.  It means being devoted to working together to serve the Lord.

It also means that we are no longer our own.  We have been bought and paid for by God, and the Name of God will be written upon our foreheads.  Remember whose you are.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

The One Worthy of Worship; Revelation 18-20

May the mumbling commence!

 There is only one worthy of worship.  Let us not confuse angels with the Lord.  Let us not confuse the messengers of the Lord with the Lord.  Let us not confuse religious leaders and religious celebrities with the Lord.  Only one is worthy of worship.  Revelation makes this point a number of times.  Read one from chapter nineteen:

Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'" And he added, "These are the true words of God." 

At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Verses 9-10)

Yes, we may receive messages from God that come from angels or our fellow Christians.  We are to follow God’s messages, but we are not to worship the Lord’s messengers.  Too often we confuse the messenger with the message.

Prophets who came to us to speak of judgment were abused and killed.  We killed the messenger for his or her message.  Prophets who came to us to speak of the glory of God were revered and worshiped.  But, if the prophets were true to God, they did not accept worship.  They forwarded all worship directed to them to God.

Let us worship God today and the Word that came in the form of Jesus the Christ.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Just Judgment; Revelation 15-17

May the mumbling commence!

God is love.  A part of God’s love is judgment.  Sometimes, judgment is a bitter pill to swallow – especially when the pill is for you or me to swallow.  But we must be grateful for the punishment of the Lord (Hebrews 12:4ff).  The Lord’s judgments are always fitting and just.  Read from Revelation chapter sixteen:

The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.  Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:

"You are just in these judgments,

you who are and who were, the Holy One,

because you have so judged; 

for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets,

and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve." (Verses 4-6)

Violence begets violence.  The people who have soaked the earth with the blood of the prophets and saints will be forced to drink blood from rivers and springs of water.  There is no such thing as good violence or redemptive violence. 

The cycle simply keeps going, and there will be no end of violence that way.  We see this violent cycle between Christians and Muslims.  Who started it?  No, that is the wrong question to ask.  Better: Who will stop the cycle?  Who will stop the violent retaliation?  Otherwise, we will be drinking blood without knowing it – the people who have died for our own comfort and satisfaction with our high standard of living.

Let us accept the judgment of the Lord just as we accept the grace and love.  Let us accept our judgment and use it to better reflect who we were made to be.  Let us be more like Christ.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Patient Endurance; Revelation 12-14

May the mumbling commence!

Times are hard.  Times are hard for Christians – and everyone for that matter.  There is plenty of cause to despair and to be depressed.  Just pay attention to the local newspaper and the nightly news.

What are we to do?  What stand do we make as Christians in this dark time?  Will our Christian stand be ridiculed and persecuted?  It most likely will.  Then what?  There is a simple statement at the end of Revelation chapter thirteen verse nine: “This calls for patient endurance.”  What calls for patient endurance?  Being forced into captivity or suffering a violent death.

How are we forced today into captivity?  We are forced into captivity by the notion of scarcity.  We are forced into captivity through our fear, our greed, our need to succeed above all else and all others.

It is a hard road to buck the trends – to march to the beat of a different drummer.  But that is exactly what Christ calls us to do.  Doing what Christ calls us to do call for patient endurance.

How do we fuel ourselves for such a trial of endurance?  Well, there it is again – worship.  Read from Revelation chapter fourteen:

Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.  And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.  And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.  These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.  No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless. (Verses 1-5)

The 144,000 were worshipping.  They were singing a new song – one that only they could learn.  Who are these 144,000?  Revelation tells us that the 144,000 are from the tribes of Israel (7:4ff).  What does that mean?  Scholars seem to disagree.  They could literally come from the Jewish heritage – each of the twelve tribes mentioned where sons of Israel/Jacob.  Joseph is included and his sons Manasseh and Ephraim are not. 

OR, they could come from the children of the promise – those of faith.  Hmm…  Faithful and patient endurance are what we are called to…  I seem to think the 144,000 have more to do with children of faith rather than biological descendants of Israel.  And I think that the 144,000 are not a literal count.  It would be too round a number.  144,000, 12,000 are from each tribe.  They are meant to be complete numbers.

And these faithful, patient and enduring ones are singing a new song that those not in their group could not possibly learn.  Have you ever heard that prayer and singing songs to God are fundamentally linked?  It is true.  The faithful ones are able to learn the new song because of their active and vibrant prayer lives.  The song is an extension of their prayer.  

These faithful ones also do not defile themselves with the witticisms of the world.  They are virgins to the world’s pleasures – inexperienced and ignorant.  The world scoffs at such people.

Yet even these faithful ones needed to be purchased – even though no lie was found in their mouths.  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Woes Honey Do List; Revelation 9-11

May the mumbling commence!

Admit it.  There have been times in your life that you have thought, “Woe is me!”  Why did God allow such woeful times to come upon me?  What does God expect of us as we suffer through our woes – whatever way they may take their shape? 

Today’s reading comes from Revelation chapters nine through eleven.  These chapters contain the three woes that the eagle announced at the end of chapter eight.  It is far too easy to get caught up in the woes.  What do these images represent?  What do they mean for us?

I believe a more important question to answer is: What is God expecting of us in times of woe?  One of the first expected responses is found at the end of chapter nine – repentance.  Read it below:

The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk.  Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Verses 20-21)

God desires our repentance.  Repentance is partially defined in this brief passage as stopping.  Stop worshiping demons and useless idols.  Stop murdering and manipulating and over-sexualizing and thieving.  Stop believing in the myth of redemptive or positive violence.  Try that one on in the violent society of the United States!

Why does God have such patience with us?  Why does he wait until the time for repentance is complete?  This completeness is symbolized in the number seven.  “But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets (10: 7 – ironically)."

I said that stopping is only part of repentance.  The other part is returning to God – tasting and seeing that Lord is good.  Read later from chapter ten:

So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey."  I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. (Verses 9-10)

Take and eat the scroll.  Ingest the Word of God.  Make it part of your very being.  Apparently, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.  But, why does it turn sour in the stomach?  Maybe it is because God’s Word is the antithesis of what we normally ingest.

I was known to be a particularly picky eater when I was a child.  Some would say that to a lesser extent I still am a picky eater.  Studies say it takes a number of times of tasting a new flavor (seven maybe) to develop a taste for it. 

Unfortunately, you and I have developed tastes for foods that damage us.  We think these foods taste good, and we hope they are good for us.  But the only food that will sustain us in eternity is God’s Word.  We must become accustomed to it.  Eat it, and eat it again.

And what are the seventh trumpet and the last woe?  It is announcement from heaven that God reigns.  And there is…  Guess what!  There is worship.  Read it in the last section of Revelation chapter eleven. 

Another piece of repentance is worshipping the only true God.  Repentance is stopping and eating (of the Word of God) and worshipping (God alone).

Now we know what is expected of us.  Can we only do it?  Let us join hands together with the Holy Spirit of God and repent.

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out

Worship in Revelation; Revelation 6-8

May the mumbling commence!

Revelation is a tough book to read.  How do we find meaning in all the symbolism and imagery?  Revelation was written in a time of great persecution.  So the letter (Yes, it is a letter.) is written in a code so that only those who know the code can understand it. 

Kind of like the old Christmas carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.  This carol was written in Britain when there was persecution of certain church denominations.  Each day of Christmas in the song has its code meaning.  For example, the partridge in a pear tree is Christ and the two turtle doves are the two Testaments of the Bible. 

So, what is behind the code language of Revelation?  It is hard and even impossible to know with any degree of certainty about the particulars.  It is easier to know generally what the letter is intended to do. 

Revelation is intended to encourage Christians in the time of intense persecution.  It is meant to give hope.  It is meant as a call to endurance – as a call to continued faith.  It is meant as a call to worship only God in the midst of trouble and strife and confusion. 

Many things call for our attention and worship.  Some of them are worthy of our attention, but none of them are worthy of our worship.  Does Revelation and worship belong in the same thought?  In the midst of the horrific images, there is worship in the center.  Between the seals and the trumpets there is worship (Rev. 6-8).  Read the worship below from Revelation chapter seven:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.  And they cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God,

who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb." 

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

"Amen!

Praise and glory

and wisdom and thanks

and honor and power

and strength be to our God

forever and ever.  

Amen!" 

Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes – who are they, and where did they come from?"  I answered, "Sir, you know."

And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  Therefore,

"they are before the throne of God

and serve him

day and night in his temple;

and he who sits on the throne

will spread his tent over them. 

Never again will they hunger;

never again will they thirst.

The sun will not beat upon them,

nor any scorching heat. 

For the Lamb at the center of the throne

will be their shepherd;

he will lead them to springs of living water.

And God will wipe away

            every tear from their eyes." 

When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. (Verses 9-17 & 8:1)

How can we miss the worship?  It stunned and awed all creation into silence – for half-an-hour! 

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out