Faith Comes Before Faithfulness

9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. – Romans 4:9-12 ESV

The “blessing” Paul refers to is the one mentioned in the previous two verses, where he quoted directly from the Psalms.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
    and in whose spirit there is no deceit. - Psalm 32:1-2 ESV 

This blessing includes the forgiveness of sin because of the atonement or payment for those sins by another, leaving the one forgiven with no guilt or further remnants of that sin. Paul says that this remarkable blessing is not just reserved for the Jews, those he refers to as “the circumcised.” This is because the blessing is available to everyone through faith, just as Abraham's righteous standing was made possible by his faith.

Paul makes it clear that God declared Abraham righteous long before He commanded Abraham to be circumcised. Genesis 15 records Abraham’s encounter with God when he was informed about the divine plans for his future.

Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” – Genesis 15:5 NLT

Despite the fact that Abraham was in his mid-80s at the time and his wife Sarah was barren, the text states, “Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith” (Genesis 15:6 NLT).  It was nearly two decades later that Abraham received God’s command to practice the rite of circumcision.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.” – Genesis 17:1-2 NLT

God agreed to confirm His covenant agreement with Abraham and his future descendants.

“I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.” – Genesis 17:7-8 NLT

But God informed Abraham that their confirmation of the covenant would come with a cost. Every male member of Abraham’s future family would be required to undergo circumcision.

“Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you. From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant.” – Genesis 17:9-13 NLT

Circumcision was to be a physical reminder of their covenant commitment to God. It was never intended to be guarantee their right standing before God. Paul emphasizes this point when he states, “He [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised” (Romans 4:11 ESV).

In other words, Abraham's right standing before God had nothing to do with circumcision, but circumcision had everything to do with his right standing before God. It was to be a symbol of his unique relationship with God, rooted in his faith in God. The rite of circumcision did not justify anyone with God, any more than the rite of baptism makes someone right with God today. The descendants of Abraham were to practice circumcision as a sign that they believed in God’s covenant promises. It was an outward demonstration of their faith. Refusing to be circumcised was a demonstration of a lack of faith and would result in that individual’s expulsion from God’s covenant community.

“Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.” – Genesis 17:14 NLT

Like baptism, circumcision was intended to be an outward sign of something that had taken place inwardly. However, the Jews had turned circumcision into the source of their righteousness when God had intended it as the sign of their righteousness. Circumcision without faith in God was worthless; it meant nothing. Paul stated this truth earlier when he wrote: “A true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.” (Romans 2:29 NLT).

In the book of Jeremiah, God prophetically declared, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh…all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart” (Jeremiah 9:25, 26 ESV).

Paul tells us that God declared Abraham righteous prior to the covenant of circumcision because He intended Abraham to be the father of all who believe “without being circumcised” (Romans 4:11 ESV). The righteousness God required was based on faith, not works; it was founded on belief, not on obedience to a command. Righteousness could be earned, and it was not a standard to be met. 

…it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. – Romans 2:29 NLT

In plain language, it was to be a work of God, not man, and was to be provided by God, not man. So that no man could boast or brag.

The book of Jeremiah records God’s pleas for His covenant people to return to Him.

“Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns. O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the Lord, or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins.” – Jeremiah 4:3-4 NLT

The people of Judah were guilty of unbelief, having failed to trust God and believe His promises concerning them. They had gone after other gods and made alliances with other nations. They had broken His commands and lived in the false security of their status as God's chosen people. But what God was calling them to do was impossible for them. They would never be able to surrender their pride and power. They did not possess the capacity to change their hearts. As a result, God's punishment was coming.

They would experience His wrath against their sin and rebellion, but God would not annihilate them. Instead, He would preserve them. And while He would allow them to fall into captivity among their enemies for 70 years, He would also restore them to their land and reestablish them as a people. Why? Because He had made a promise to Abraham. God had told Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3 ESV). He had also promised, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Genesis 12:7 ESV).

But in the book of Galatians, Paul makes a clarifying interpretation of these passages. “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16 ESV). In other words, God's promise to bless the nations through Abraham would be fulfilled through one of his descendants – specifically, Jesus. God made His promise to Abraham long before He gave the law to the people of Israel. So Paul concludes: “The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise. For if the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God’s promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise” (Galatians 3:17-18 NLT).

Our righteousness is made possible by faith in the promise of God, just as it was for Abraham. I am not made right with God by trying to live up to His righteous standards. I am made right with Him when I recognize my complete inability to meet His criteria for righteousness and place my faith in His plan for my salvation: His Son's death, burial, and resurrection. 

Jesus died to pay the penalty for my sins, He rose again to prove that His sacrifice was acceptable to God, and He took on my sin and imparted to me His righteousness. All men are made right with God through faith in His Son. When we place our faith in God's plan of salvation, we walk in the footsteps of the faith Abraham laid down all those years ago.

The righteous shall live by faith. – Romans 1:17 ESV

Father, thank You for the gift of faith. It is certainly not something we could have produced. Your Spirit makes faith in Your promises possible. If left to our own devices, we would refuse to believe. Like the Israelites, we would turn our backs on You and worship other gods. In fact, we all do it every day. We are prone to unfaithfulness.; it is built into our fallen DNA. But Your Spirit graciously regenerates those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, and opens their eyes to see the glory of Your grace-based gospel. And when we place our faith in the truth of Your Son’s death, burial, and resurrection, we receive new life. We are born again. Not based on our feeble attempts to keep a list of religious rules or regulations, but based solely on grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Grace Is Getting What You Don’t Deserve

1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
    and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” – Romans 4:1-8 ESV

God does not owe us anything. Our well-intentioned acts of self-produced righteousness do not score brownie points with God or put Him in our debt. Paul has made it perfectly clear that God's declaration of our righteousness is based solely on faith in His gospel concerning His Son.

No man or woman can earn or merit favor from God. And yet, because of their sin and the death penalty it carries, they find themselves desperately needing to make things right with God. That explains man's ongoing attempt to serve and satisfy the god of his choosing. Man is always attempting to gratify whatever god he has chosen to worship by sacrificing his time, talents, and treasures to that god. It could be the god of religion or recreation.

Every day, countless men and women sacrifice themselves to the gods of entertainment, work, pleasure, popularity, wealth, beauty, and power. They give everything they have to get whatever it is they are expecting their “god” to deliver. But there is only one God, and all stand before Him in the same condition. Despite their best efforts, they have failed to meet His righteous standards and have fallen short of the glory He demands. It doesn't matter how religious or morally-minded you are. It doesn't matter if you worship the right God or the wrong god. It matters if you worship the right God in the right way, and Paul says that way is by faith.

In his gospel, John describes the redemptive plan accessible only through faith in Jesus.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. – John 1:9-13 ESV

When Jesus came, most Gentiles didn't recognize or accept Him, and even though He was a Jew and fulfilled all the prophecies concerning their coming Messiah, the Jews rejected Him. In doing so, they rejected the gospel of God, “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16 ESV).

Paul has already shown that it was not enough to be a Jew. Their privileged position as God's chosen people gave them access to God's law and insight into His holy standards, but it did not equip them to live up to those standards. Despite their standing as God’s treasured possession, they were just as guilty as the Gentiles, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV).

Knowing that any Jews in his audience would automatically appeal to their unique status as descendants of Abraham and attempt to use the patriarch as an example of works-based righteousness, Paul cuts the legs out from under their argument. He states, “if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God” (Romans 4:2 ESV).

Abraham could have bragged about his righteous accomplishments before men, but not before God. His most fervent attempts at righteousness would have scored him no points with God. But Paul, quoting from the Old Testament book of Genesis, writes, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3, Genesis 16:6 ESV).

God reminds any Jews reading his letter that God had promised to make of Abraham a mighty nation, and yet, Abraham was old, and his wife was barren. Both Abraham and Sarah began to question God's promise. How could Abraham father a mighty nation if he couldn't have a son? Already advanced in years and with a barren wife, Abraham assumed his heir would have to be one of his household servants. But God told Abraham, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” (Genesis 15:4-5 NLT).

After this divine disclosure, God repeated His original promise to Abraham, and the Genesis account records, “he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6 ESV).

It was Abraham's faith in God's promise that led to God's declaration of his righteous standing before Him; it had nothing to do with Abraham's works or efforts. In fact, Paul insists that when someone does labor, they deserve their wages as payment. Their wages are not a gift; they were earned. Then Paul points out the difference works worthy of remuneration and the gift of righteousness.

But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. – Romans 4:5 NLT

Again, Paul turns to the Hebrew Scriptures to prove his point. Quoting Psalm 32:1-2, he writes, “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin” (Romans 4:7-8 NLT).

Our forgiveness from God is a gift, unearned and undeserved. Our salvation is made possible by His Son's death, not by our good works. As Paul makes clear in Chapter Six, the only thing God owes man is death.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23 NLT

Our sins have earned us nothing but God's wrath, and yet He chose to provide a way of escape, a solution to our sin problem. He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins and, in so doing, Jesus satisfied the wrath of God. When anyone places their faith in God's sole provision for salvation, the death and resurrection of His Son, they receive the gift of His righteousness. Their disobedience is forgiven, their sins are put out of sight, and their record of rebellion against God is cleared once and for all.

For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. – Romans 5:10-11 NLT

Father, what an incredible thought that we are now Your friends. Because of Jesus, we are no longer Your enemies, condemned by our sinfulness and incapable of doing anything to win back Your favor. Instead, we have placed our faith in Your Son’s death on our behalf and received the marvelous gift of salvation and restoration. We who were at one time deserving of death have been forgiven and offered the gift of eternal life. You owed us nothing but have given us everything. We deserved justice and judgment but received love, mercy, and grace instead. My prayer is the same as that of Paul. That we may have the power to understand, as all Your people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep Your love is. And that we may experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then we will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from You (Ephesians 3:18-19 NLT). Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

The Only Way That Matters

27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. – Romans 3:27-31 ESV

When it comes to righteousness or obtaining a right standing before God, does anyone have grounds on which to boast? Is it possible for a Jew to claim righteousness because of his adherence to the law? If it were, Paul asserts, then Christ died in vain. If righteousness is available through self-effort or by keeping the law, then the Gentiles are hopeless, because God did not give them His law. But Paul asks, “Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also?” (Romans 3:29 ESV). Then he answers his own question. “Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one…” (Romans 3:30 ESV).

There are not two plans of salvation – one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. God did not set up two means of attaining righteousness – one through good works and the other through faith. God “will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith” (Romans 3:30 ESV). In this last sentence, Paul uses two different prepositions: by and through. One is the Greek word ek, and the other is dia, and they both mean essentially the same thing: “by” means “of.”

Most likely, Paul used two different prepositions when speaking of Jews and Gentiles to illustrate that God chose to deal with each in two distinct ways. To the Jews, He gave the law. But it was to show them His holy expectations and their inability to meet them. The Gentiles did not receive the law; they were essentially outsiders. In writing to the Gentile believers in Ephesus, Paul reminded them of their former lives as outcasts.

Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called ‘uncircumcised heathens’ by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. – Ephesians 2:11-12 NLT

Then he gave them the good news.

But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. – Ephesians 2:13 NLT

They had drawn near to God because they had been made right with Him, through the blood of Christ and faith. Both Jews and Gentiles are made right with God by and through faith. What looked like two different paths was essentially one and the same. The gospel of God (His plan for man's salvation) was always going to go through Jesus. That is why Paul can so confidently and emphatically state, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans 3:28 ESV). He doesn't say, “in conjunction with” or “alongside” works of the law. In other words, justification stands based solely on faith, and that faith must be placed in a single source: God's offer of salvation made possible through the death of His own Son.

In his letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul provides a synopsis of the gospel, the good news in which they had placed their faith.

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. – 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 NLT

He came, died, was buried, rose again, and appeared. And Paul says, “so we preach and so you believed” (1 Corinthians 15:11 ESV).

It is belief in God's gospel that brings about our justification. We are made right with God through faith in His redemptive plan, not our own futile efforts to live a righteous life.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

It is our belief in that reality that makes us right with God. In the next chapter of Romans, Paul states, “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right [justified] with God” (Romans 4:25 NLT). That is what we must believe. It is in that truth we must place our faith. 

So does faith eliminate and invalidate the law? Not in the least. Paul claims that when we are justified by faith, we actually uphold the law. Paul uses the Greek word histēmi’, which means “to uphold or sustain the authority or force of anything” (Outline of Biblical Usage). Our ability to keep the law is made possible through our faith in the redemptive work of Christ. Our capacity to live righteously or rightly is given to us by God through our faith in Christ. Paul summarizes our new relationship with the law in a later chapter.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. – Romans 8:2-4 ESV

Through His gospel, God has made it possible for men to live in harmony with Him by placing the desire to keep His commands in their hearts. No longer do we serve Him in the flesh or through our human effort. And that is good news because “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8 ESV).

Because of God’s grace-based, love-motivated gospel, we live by faith in Christ and according to the power of the Holy Spirit. As Paul emphatically states in Chapter 8, this gospel of redemption is truly good news.

If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. – Romans 8:10 ESV

Father, Paul’s seeming obsession with this topic makes sense. If we get this wrong, it’s not just a matter of semantics or a doctrinal error, it has eternal ramifications. Any slight alteration to the gospel is not only wrong, it’s potentially deadly. Yet, we continue to chase after gospel alternatives that allow us to pursue righteousness on our own and according to our agenda. We humans inherently love rules, but we have a tendency to cherry pick the rules we want to keep. Even worse, we brazenly create our own lists of dos and dont’s and measure our righteousness by self-determined standards designed to make us look good. But You have a much higher standard, one that is impossible for us to keep. Even though You were aware of man’s incapacity to live up to Your moral code, You didn’t dumb it down or compromise Your standards. Instead, You sent Your Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body You declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins (Romans 8:3-4). That had always been Your plan and it is the only one that will work. No other gospel or plan of redemption exists that can restore sinful men to a right relationship with You. Thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the good news of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Self-Righteousness Is Self-Delusional

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
    they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16     in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” – Romans 3:9-18 ESV

Paul has just said that the Jews do have an advantage, because they “were entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2 ESV). They had been given the seal of circumcision as a sign of the covenant that God had made with them. They were His chosen people whom He had promised to bless them and, through them, bless all the nations of the earth. He had led them, protected them, given them their own land, provided them with His law, privileged them with His presence, and instituted a sacrificial system that provided them with atonement for their sins. So, they did have a distinct advantage.

Yet, Paul begins verse nine with a question: “What then? Are we Jews any better off?” And then he answers his own question: “No, not at all.”

Though the Jews had an advantage, that did not mean they availed themselves of it. Some, like Abraham, recognized that their righteousness was determined by faith and not by works, and they trusted in God's promises. Better yet, they trusted in God. Martin Luther writes, “Abraham did not believe God in order that he might become the father of many nations, but he believed God as the One who is true and faithful” (Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans).

Abraham believed in God’s faithfulness even though he lived as a nomad, never owning a home in the very land God had promised as his inheritance. Abraham died long before his descendants became a mighty nation. And yet, he believed. He trusted in the faithfulness of God. Quoting St. Augustine, Martin Luther writes, “God is glorified through faith, hope, and love. According to a common saying, God is directly insulted by three sins: unbelief, despair, and hatred” (Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans).

Failing to believe in God was an ongoing issue for the Israelites that manifested itself in idolatry, disobedience, stubbornness, immorality, selfishness, and the constant urge to achieve righteousness through self-effort.

So Paul says even the Jews were no better off than the Gentiles. All are under sin. Then, to support his statement, Paul turns to the Old Testament Scriptures. Verses 10-18 are drawn from the Psalms and the writings of the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah. Acting as a prosecuting attorney, Paul brings glaring evidence to bear against all who might try to defend their self-produced righteousness before God.

Every man and woman stands guilty and condemned. None is righteous or understands the truth about God's holiness and His determination that righteousness is through faith alone. There is no one who seeks God. Instead, they seek their own will and pleasure. They gladly accept whatever they can get from God, but they have no desire for a relationship with Him.

Paul uses the Scriptures to paint a bleak picture of man's condition. But he is attempting to present the glory of the gospel as “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith” (Romans 1:16-17 ESV). Paul's thesis statement for his letter is “the righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:18 ESV). So he goes out of his way to prove that, without faith, no one is righteous, and that includes his own people, the Jews.

When John the Baptist began his ministry, he had a singular message

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – Matthew 3:2 ESV

Later, after John was arrested by Herod, Jesus picked up that same message.

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – Matthew 4:17 ESV

When we read the word "repent," we tend to think of someone turning away from sin, and while that is an accurate reading of the word, it is far from complete. To repent means “to change one's mind.” So when John and Jesus called the people of Israel to repentance, they were telling them to change their minds. But about what? Sin? No, sin was the outcome of something else. They needed to change their minds about God and the means of achieving a righteous standing before Him. They still believed that righteousness was based on works, had long ago stopped believing in God's faithfulness, and had begun believing in the myth of their own capacity to please Him.

They thought they could earn God's favor by trying to keep His law. But Jesus told them to repent by changing their minds. He was calling them to believe in Him. All they believed about God and righteousness was wrong, and therefore, their view of their own sinfulness was mistaken. Because of their “good works,” they saw themselves as righteous and without sin.

But Paul was not going to let anyone stand on the lie of self-righteousness. So he proved man's guilt with the words of God.

“There is none who does good, not even one.” – Psalm 14:3 ESV

Self-righteousness is self-delusional. The belief in one’s own sinlessness is ridiculous. John wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8 ESV). Self-deceit may make us feel better about ourselves, but it does not make us righteous before God. Faith in ourselves is not the kind of faith God is looking for.

Father, man is obsessed with his own self-righteousness. I guess we take a certain amount of personal pride in our capacity to do the right thing. But, according to You, even our best deeds done with the best of intentions are nothing but filthy rags. They are worthless and incapable of earning Your favor or forgiveness. Yet, even as believers, we continue to believe the lie that our filthy rags aren’t really filthy. In fact, we convince ourselves that our attempts at righteousness are more than good enough for You. Yet, Paul reminds us that no can stand before You as acceptable on their own merits. It is, and always has been, based on grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We can add nothing to the gospel formula. It Jesus plus nothing. I am reminded of the words of the old hymn Rock of Ages.

Not the labors of my hands
can fulfill thy law's demands;
could my zeal no respite know,
could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone;
thou must save, and thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.

 Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Unrighteous But Not Without Hope

1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,

“That you may be justified in your words,
    and prevail when you are judged.”

5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just. – Romans 3:1-8 ESV

With the opening of Chapter Three, it is vital to remember Paul's words from Chapter One: “The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17 ESV). Paul was quoting from Habakkuk 2:4, where God said to His prophet concerning the nation of Babylon, “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4 ESV).

Faith has always been the means by which men attain the kind of righteousness God expects; it has never been based on human effort or achievement. Back in the book of Genesis, when God commanded Abraham to institute the rite of circumcision as a sign of His covenant with the people of Israel, He said, “I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8 ESV). Circumcision was a sign of ownership, an outward symbol of their unique position as God's possession, but circumcision would not make them righteous. In other words, adherence to the rite of circumcision would not earn them favor with God; that was only possible through their faith in God’s promise to give them the land and to transform them into a great nation.

In Chapter Four of Romans, Paul further explains the role of faith, using Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation, as an example. He clarifies that Abraham was justified before God, not because he had been circumcised, but because he had faith.

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” – Romans 4:3 ESV

But Paul asks the question: “How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised?” (Romans 4:10 ESV). Paul is asking whether God's declaration of Abraham's righteousness was pre- or post-circumcision. Was his righteousness the result of his obedience to God's command to be circumcised? Paul answers his own question: “It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised” (Romans 4:10-11 ESV).

Paul’s point is that God has always measured man's righteousness by faith, not works. The fact is, the Old Testament saints were expected to live by faith just as much as we are. Paul says, “The Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God. True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful?” (Romans 3:2 ESV).

In his commentary on Romans, Martin Luther writes, “Circumcision was of value to the Jews because they believed the divine promise (connected with it) and so they awaited its fulfillment” (Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans). Abraham was declared righteous because he had faith in God's promises. Again, Paul writes in Chapter Four, “God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith” (Romans 4:13 NLT).

The author of Hebrews elaborates on this all-important matter of Abraham’s faith.

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. – Hebrews 11:8-10 NLT

It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” – Hebrews 11:17-18 NLT

The kind of righteousness God requires has always been based on faith. The kind of righteousness He requires is only available through faith in His promises. When God told Abraham, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing … and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3), Abraham had no way of knowing the full extent of that promise. But he believed; he had faith, and it was counted to him as righteousness.

But there were many Jews who failed to trust in the promises of God and who falsely believed that their righteousness before God was based on their own effort or merit. Quoting what must have been a common view in his day, Paul writes, “Some might say, ‘our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is. Isn’t it unfair, then, for him to punish us?’” (Romans 3:5 NLT). They had reached the erroneous conclusion that if sin reveals God’s righteousness, there is no reason for Him to punish the sinner. But Paul exposes the flaw in their thinking.

If God were not entirely fair, how would he be qualified to judge the world? – Romans 3:6 NLT

In His holiness, God cannot turn a blind eye to sin; He must deal with it justly and righteously. And in Chapter Six, Paul clearly states the divine indictment that sin deserves.

…the wages of sin is death… – Romans 6:23 NLT

Paul didn’t come up with this judicial judgment against sin; he got it from God Himself.

“For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die.” – Ezekiel 18:4 NLT

Sin is an act of rebellion against His sovereignty and must be punished appropriately. Yet, there were those who wrongly concluded that their sin was somehow beneficial.

“The more we sin, the better it is!” – Romans 3:8 NLT

But Paul refuted their false assessment, writing, “Those who say such things deserve to be condemned” (Romans 3:8 NLT). Their sinful conclusion only served to prove God’s just judgment of them. He deals with this false assumption again in Chapter Six.

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? – Romans 6:1-2 NLT

Our failure to acknowledge sin, or any attempt to justify or rationalize its seriousness, will never negate its effect. God takes sin seriously.

Paul’s point is that while some failed to have faith and lived in unrighteousness, their decision only proves the truth or reality of God's brand of righteousness. His righteousness is faith-based, not works-dependent. The Jews had been given the promises of God, but most of them failed to believe. They placed their faith in themselves, other nations, false gods, and their unique identity as God's chosen people. But Paul states that their unfaithfulness did not nullify God’s faithfulness.

God will keep His promises; He will fulfill every covenant commitment He made to Abraham. In fact, in his letter to the believers in Galatia, Paul writes: 

The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”  

So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. – Galatians 3:7-9 NLT

Paul began his letter by quoting the book of Habakkuk.

The righteous shall live by his faith. – Habakkuk 2:3 ESV

But don’t misunderstand Paul’s point. He is not suggesting that our righteousness produces faith. We don’t achieve our righteous standing before God through self-effort. Our faith is not a byproduct of our self-induced righteousness. In fact, the New Living Translation provides a more accurate rendering of the text that helps to clarify Paul’s point.

“It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” – Romans 1:17 NLT

Faith produces righteousness, not the other way around. The ability to live righteously is a gift given to us by God as a result of our faith in His promise of salvation through grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Father, what a relief it is to know that I don’t have to earn my way into Your good graces. I am not obligated to live up to Your holy standards in my own strength and according to my limited will-power. If that was the case, I would fail miserably. You don’t judge me based on my capacity to live righteously. If You did, I would have no hope. But Your mercy toward me is based on the faithfulness of Christ. He died in my place and paid for my sins. He sacrificed His sinless life so that I might have eternal life. And all I have to do is believe. Nothing more, nothing less. And even my ability to believe comes from You. Faith is not something I produce in and of myself. It too is a gift of grace provided by the Holy Spirit. Paul made this point clear when he wrote, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT). I can’t even take credit for my faith because You provided it. Which is what makes salvation so amazing. You alone make it possible from beginning to end. There is no aspect of my salvation for which I can take credit. I didn’t deserve it, earn it, and I can’t boast about it. I am perfectly okay with that. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Earning God’s Favor Never Pays

 6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality. – Romans 2:6-11 ESV

In Chapter Two of Romans, Paul addresses the Jewish community. In the first chapter, he talked about the non-Jew or pagan, who stands before God as without excuse and guilty. They have been exposed to God's “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature” (Romans 1:20 ESV) through creation, and yet, they have refused to acknowledge Him as God. Instead, they ended up worshiping the creation rather than the Creator, resulting in God turning them over to their own foolish hearts, dishonorable passions, and debased minds.

As far as Paul was concerned, the Jews were no less culpable or free from guilt. In fact, they were so busy pointing their condemning fingers at the pagan Gentiles that they failed to acknowledge their own guilt for having committed the same sins. As descendants of Abraham and children of God, they considered themselves exempt from judgment. They somehow thought themselves immune to God's wrath. But Paul warned them that they, too, were without excuse. They stood just as condemned and guilty as the Gentiles who were outside the family of God. Their self-righteous attempts to honor God were no more effective than the Gentiles’ pagan pursuit of their false gods.

Paul accused the Jews of having hard and unrepentant hearts; they refused to admit their guilt and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. So Paul warned them that “you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5 ESV). Not only that, the day was coming when God would render to each of them according to his works.

Paul is using the Hebrew Scriptures to indict them. He quotes from two different passages; the first is a Psalm of David.

Once God has spoken;
    twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
   and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
    according to his work. – Proverbs 24:11-12 NLT

The second is a proverb of Solomon.

If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
    does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
    and will he not repay man according to his work? - Proverbs 24:12 ESV

Their own Scriptures warned that the coming judgment of God would be based on each man's works. The expectation was righteousness, but it would have to be God's brand of righteousness, not man's. His divine requirement was perfection and nothing less. Yahweh had repeatedly warned the Israelites, “I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. ” (Leviticus 11:44 ESV).

Jesus had told the Jews of His day, “unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20 NLT). James put it in even more practical, if not demanding, terms.

For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's laws. – James 2:10 NLT

Paul seems to give only two options for life, and both end in judgment. One is to satisfy the self and disobey the truth regarding God and His gospel offer. Those who choose that path will end up obeying unrighteousness and earning God's full wrath on the day of judgment. The other option is to live self-righteously, attempting to obey God's law and earn a right standing with Him through your own efforts. If you happen to pull it off, your reward on judgment day will be glory, honor, peace, and immortality, while everyone else gets tribulation and distress.

But is Paul suggesting that we can earn our salvation by doing good deeds? Certainly not. He is showing that those who are sinners will be judged and condemned, but so will those who consider themselves to be righteous because of their own efforts. In the next chapter, Paul makes it clear that “all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin” (Romans 3:9 NLT), and that “no one is righteous – not even one” (Romans 3:10 NLT). Later, Paul will introduce the sobering news, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NLT).

So self-righteousness is no better than sinfulness. Attempting to do good things for God puts you in no better position than those who blatantly sin against Him. God shows no partiality; nobody gets to earn their way into His good graces. There is only one way for men to be made right with God, and that is through the death of Jesus Christ.

Later in Chapter Three, Paul states, “all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24 NLT). That includes the Jew and the Gentile, the pagan and the pious, the selfish and the self-righteous. Paul elaborated on this grace-based gift from God in his letter to the Ephesians.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. – Ephesians 2:8-9  NLT

We can't earn our salvation, and none of us deserves God's grace and mercy. The Jews of Paul’s day were no better off than the Gentiles. They, too, were sinners who stood condemned and unclean before a holy, righteous God. Paul reminds us that at the foot of the cross, we're all equals when it comes to our guiltiness and our need for salvation and atonement. Which is why he wrote, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV).

The greatest danger men face is to fall under the delusion of man-made righteousness. We will never be able to achieve our way into God's presence or earn our way into His good graces. Which is why He sent His Son to live among us, model holiness right in front of us, and die on behalf of us.

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. – 2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

Father, I confess that I still have the tendency to try to earn my way into Your good graces. Despite all I know and understand about the gift of salvation, I find myself going down the path of self-righteousness, hoping that I can somehow do enough to earn Your love and deserve Your favor. But Your grace is a gift, and your love for me is unmerited and undeserved. In fact, You loved me while I was mired in my sin and incapable of doing anything that you would consider righteous or acceptable. Your Son died for me while I was a sinner, not after I got my spiritual act together. Jesus didn’t sacrifice His life to save the righteous. He willingly paid the penalty for my sins, a debt I could never have settled on my own. Yet, even after accepting the free gift of salvation through Your Son, I continue to pursue the path of self-righteousness, needlessly trying to do enough “good deeds” that will keep You satisfied and maintain my right standing before You. But Christ’s death was enough. His selfless sacrifice restored me to a right relationship with You – once for all. I don’t have to earn Your favor because I already have it. I don’t have to do anything to merit Your love because You loved me enough to send Your Son to die in my place. So, my “‘good deeds” aren’t done to earn Your favor, they’re a way of saying “thank You.” Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Praiseworthy

1 Praise the LORD!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
    for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars;
    he gives to all of them their names.
5 Great is our LORD, and abundant in power;
    his understanding is beyond measure.
6 The LORD lifts up the humble;
    he casts the wicked to the ground.

7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;
    make melody to our God on the lyre!
8 He covers the heavens with clouds;
    he prepares rain for the earth;
    he makes grass grow on the hills.
9 He gives to the beasts their food,
    and to the young ravens that cry.
10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
    nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
11 but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
    in those who hope in his steadfast love.

12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem!
    Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
    he blesses your children within you.
14 He makes peace in your borders;
    he fills you with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sends out his command to the earth;
    his word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool;
    he scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
    who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them;
    he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.
19 He declares his word to Jacob,
    his statutes and rules to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
    they do not know his rules.
Praise the LORD! – Psalm 147:1-20 ESV

In this psalm, the author provides a litany of reasons to praise Yahweh that emphasize His power and provision for His chosen people. In verse 20, the psalmist stresses that Yahweh's care and concern for the Israelites was unique to them.

He has not done this for any other nation;
they do not know his regulations. – Psalm 147:20 NLT

All people on earth enjoy Yahweh's common grace, His unmerited blessings that come in the form of life, sustenance, and a patient restraint from delivering the judgment they deserve for their rebellion against Him.

The LORD is good to everyone.
He showers compassion on all his creation. – Psalm 145:9 NLT

He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.– Psalm 103:10 NLT

Jesus declared that His Father “gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike” (Matthew 5:45 NLT). This common grace is available to all, but only the Israelites experienced Yahweh's special grace in the form of His sovereign selection of them as His treasured possession.

“Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.” – Exodus 19:5-6 NLT

Moses reminded the people of Israel that they had been chosen by God, not because there was anything special about them, but simply because God had ordained them to be the recipients of His divine favor. 

For you are a holy people, who belong to the LORD your God. Of all the people on earth, the LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.

“The LORD did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors.– Deuteronomy 7:6-8 NLT

This psalm was addressed to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and was intended to remind them of their unmeritorious status as Yahweh's chosen people. Some scholars believe this psalm was sung at the dedication of the newly constructed walls of Jerusalem, an event recorded in the Book of Nehemiah. After the Israelites spent 70 years in exile after the Babylonian invasion of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem, Yahweh allowed a remnant of them to return so they could rebuild and repopulate the city. When the walls of Jerusalem were completed, Nehemiah organized a special dedication ceremony to commemorate the day.

For the dedication of the new wall of Jerusalem, the Levites throughout the land were asked to come to Jerusalem to assist in the ceremonies. They were to take part in the joyous occasion with their songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps, and lyres. The singers were brought together from the region around Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites. They also came from Beth-gilgal and the rural areas near Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built their own settlements around Jerusalem. The priests and Levites first purified themselves; then they purified the people, the gates, and the wall. – Nehemiah 12:27-30 NLT

Nehemiah formed two large choirs accompanied by musicians and sent them to the top of the recently completed walls. One choir headed south and the other north, singing praises to Yahweh as they made their way along the wall. 

The two choirs that were giving thanks then proceeded to the Temple of God, where they took their places. So did I, together with the group of leaders who were with me.…They played and sang loudly under the direction of Jezrahiah the choir director. – Nehemiah 12:40, 42 NLT

They likely sang the words recorded in Psalm 147.

The LORD is rebuilding Jerusalem
    and bringing the exiles back to Israel. – Psalm 147:2 NLT

Yahweh had been gracious to His rebellious people, allowing them to return to the land of Judah to rebuild their destroyed city and restore the broken relationship with Him. They had done nothing to deserve this second chance opportunity to begin again with Yahweh. It was all a result of His unmerited favor and grace. The same God who “counts the stars and calls them all by name” (Psalm 147:4 NLT), also “heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds” (Psalm 147:3 NLT). 

The God who created the universe was willing to stoop down and shower His unrepentant people with compassion. None of it made sense to the psalmist. This marvelous outpouring of Yahweh's mercy and grace was too much for him to understand.

How great is our LORD! His power is absolute!
    His understanding is beyond comprehension! – Psalm 147:5 NLT 

The psalmist could not comprehend the magnitude of Yahweh’s love for His chosen people. Despite all they had done to offend Him, Yahweh had responded with lovingkindness and unfailing love. Long before the people returned from their exile in Babylon, the prophet Micah had declared its future fulfillment.

Where is another God like you,
    who pardons the guilt of the remnant,
    overlooking the sins of his special people?
You will not stay angry with your people forever,
    because you delight in showing unfailing love.
Once again you will have compassion on us.
    You will trample our sins under your feet
    and throw them into the depths of the ocean!
You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love
    as you promised to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob long ago. – Micah 7:18-20 NLT

The psalmist was standing on the other end of this prophecy's fulfillment and was able to witness the goodness and grace of God as he surveyed the recently completed walls of Jerusalem. That is why he could write, “Sing out your thanks to the LORD; sing praises to our God with a harp” (Psalm 147:7 NLT). His praise was not speculative or based on a probable outcome; it was founded on reality. Yahweh had done what He promised to do. He had warned them of their pending judgment, but He had also assured them of their inevitable return. 

This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.” – Jeremiah 29:10-14 NLT

Yahweh had kept His word, and He had done so, not based on human merit but based on His grace and mercy. Their return to Judah had not been the result of conquest or military might. The Israelites had not fought their way out of Babylon; they had been redeemed by God's grace. 

He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse
    or in human might.
No, the LORD’s delight is in those who fear him,
    those who put their hope in his unfailing love. – Psalm 147:10-11 NLT

Now that they were back in the land of promise, the psalmist encouraged them to live up to their status as God's chosen people. 

Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem!
    Praise your God, O Zion!
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates
    and blessed your children within your walls. – Psalm 147:12-13 NLT

They had nothing to brag about because they had done nothing to bring about the reversal of their fortunes; it had all been Yahweh’s doing. The least they could do was praise Him. 

The psalmist emphasizes Yahweh’s power as expressed in His verbal command over the universe. He speaks, and things happen. At the word of His mouth, the universe came into being. All Yahweh has to do is open His mouth, and the weather changes. 

He sends his orders to the world—
    how swiftly his word flies! – Psalm 147:15 NLT

Yahweh spoke to King Cyrus of Persia and orchestrated the release of His captive people. 

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing. – Ezra 1:1 ESV

Cyrus, moved by the Spirit of God, decreed that the Israelites were free to return to the land of Judah. Years later, when King Artaxerxes ruled, he gave Ezra permission to return to Jerusalem so he could teach the people of Israel God's law.

…the king gave him everything he asked for, because the gracious hand of the LORD his God was on him. – Ezra 7:6 NLT 

The psalmist saw God's sovereign hand at work in all of this and called on his people to respond in praise and thanksgiving. This was not the result of blind fate, luck, karma, kismet, or good fortune; it was the providential work of Yahweh. The Israelites had been the undeserving beneficiaries of Yahweh's grace and mercy. They had experienced something no other people group on the planet could claim. 

He has revealed his words to Jacob,
    his decrees and regulations to Israel.
He has not done this for any other nation;
    they do not know his regulations.

Praise the Lord! – Psalm 147:19-20 NLT

God had been good to them. He had been gracious, merciful, kind, patient, and loving. He had redeemed and restored them. He had protected and provided for them. And He had never turned His back on them. All ample reasons for why they should praise Him.

Father, I don't have to manufacture reasons to praise You. I don't have to conjure up excuses to thank You for Your goodness and grace because they are all around me; from the air I breathe to the food I eat. You have blessed me with life but, more importantly, You have given me the promise of eternal life. I deserve nothing, yet You have showered me with everything I have. Yet, I tend not to praise You. I take Your grace and mercy for granted. At times, I even take credit for my own success and mistakenly think I somehow deserve the many blessings You pour out on me. But nothing could be further from the truth. I want to live with an attitude of praise and thanksgiving because You are worthy. Give me eyes to see and appreciate all that You have done and are doing my life, so that praise will become as natural to me as breathing. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

HIs Love Endures Forever

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;

4 to him who alone does great wonders,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
5 to him who by understanding made the heavens,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
6 to him who spread out the earth above the waters,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
7 to him who made the great lights,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
8 the sun to rule over the day,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
9 the moon and stars to rule over the night,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;

10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
11 and brought Israel out from among them,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
13 to him who divided the Red Sea in two,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
14 and made Israel pass through the midst of it,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
15 but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
16 to him who led his people through the wilderness,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;

17 to him who struck down great kings,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
18 and killed mighty kings,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
19 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
20 and Og, king of Bashan,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
21 and gave their land as a heritage,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
22 a heritage to Israel his servant,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.

23 It is he who remembered us in our low estate,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
24 and rescued us from our foes,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
25 he who gives food to all flesh,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.

26 Give thanks to the God of heaven,
    for his steadfast love endures forever. – Psalm 136:1-26 ESV

This psalm appears to have been written in conjunction with Psalm 135 because they share many of the same themes. Either they were written by the same individual, or Psalm 135 had a significant influence on the author of Psalm 136. The key difference between the two is their musical style. Psalm 136 was meant to be sung antiphonally, with every other verse being sung responsively. The repeated phrase, “For his steadfast love endures forever,” was to be sung by the congregants while the alternating verses were sung by the Levitical singers. 

David also ordered the Levite leaders to appoint a choir of Levites who were singers and musicians to sing joyful songs to the accompaniment of harps, lyres, and cymbals. – 1 Chronicles 5:16 NLT

The similarities between these two psalms are evident when you examine the various themes they share. Both psalms are Hallel songs, praise songs that elevate the goodness and greatness of God. Here are just a few of their shared sentiments regarding Yahweh.

Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good… – Psalm 135:3 ESV

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good… – Psalm 136:1 ESV

…our LORD is above all gods. – psalm 135:5 ESV

Give thanks to the God of gods… – Psalm 136:2 ESV

Whatever the LORD pleases, he does,
    in heaven and on earth… – Psalm 135:6 ESV

to him who alone does great wonders,
to him who by understanding made the heavens… – Psalm 136:4, 5 ESV

He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt… – Psalm 135:8 ESV

…to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt… – Psalm 136:10 ESV

This pattern is carried through both psalms, with Psalm 136 echoing each aspect of Yahweh's glory in the same basic order. The only difference is that the author of Psalm 136 inserts the phrase, “for his steadfast love endures forever,” which is repeated 26 times, once for every verse of the song.

Every example of Yahweh's goodness and greatness is accompanied by a declaration of His steadfast and enduring love. These historical events from Israel's past are proof of Yahweh's unfailing mercy and undiminished commitment to His covenant promises. The term “steadfast love” is derived from the Hebrew word ḥeseḏ, which is most often translated as “mercy” in the Hebrew Scriptures. This word, which appears some 250 times in the Old Testament, was used to convey an essential aspect of Yahweh's character. In an encounter He had with Moses, Yahweh used ḥeseḏ to describe Himself.

“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love [ḥeseḏ] and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love [ḥeseḏ] for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” – Exodus 34:6 ESV

The term was intended to emphasize Yahweh's covenant relationship with the people of Israel, stressing His faithful and unwavering loyalty to them. The author of Psalm 136 viewed each example of Yahweh's intervention in the lives of His covenant people as a demonstration of His loyal love for them. The repeated antiphonal refrain was added so that the people might verbally remind one another that Yahweh’s love was enduring and unchanging. Despite Israel’s repeated acts of disobedience, apostasy, rebellion, and unfaithfulness, Yahweh had never stopped loving and caring for them. 

Every miracle, victory, act of deliverance, and display of divine mercy was evidence of Yahweh's covenant commitment to His people. He had certainly disciplined them for their sins and punished their displays of abject rebellion, but He had never abandoned or forsaken them. It was the prophet Jeremiah who expressed sorrow over his lot in life, but placed his hope in the unfailing love of the LORD. 

Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
    the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
    and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love [ḥeseḏ] of the LORD never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness. – Lamentations 3:19-23 ESV

In this psalm, we are encouraged repeatedly to give thanks to God for His unwavering commitment to those He calls His own. But the psalmist isn't content with demanding praise; he wants to make sure we understand the basis for our praise.

Over and over again, the psalmist provides numerous examples of God's love that we encounter every day. That love shows up in the form of "the grace, favor, and mercy of God toward man." That is the definition of ḥeseḏ, and the psalmist uses the stories of Yahweh's past acts of grace, favor, and mercy to prove that His love is indeed steadfast and enduring. 

God’s creation of the universe and the earth upon which we live is an example of His grace, mercy, and favor. His redemption of Israel from captivity in Egypt was His ḥeseḏ on display. So was His splitting of the Red Sea and the destruction of the Egyptian army. In each instance, Yahweh was demonstrating His love for His people by pouring out His undeserved grace, mercy, and favor.

The Israelites didn't deserve His love. They hadn’t done anything to earn His favor or merit His gracious treatment. In fact, after delivering them from captivity in Egypt, He let them know why He had saved them.

“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love [ḥeseḏ] with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations…” – Deuteronomy 7:6-9 ESV

The LORD loved them and was keeping the commitment He had made to their forefathers. Those two things are inseparable. His love and commitment to His covenant promises are indelibly linked together and nothing can ever change that fact. Yahweh's ḥeseḏ is more than an emotion or feeling, and it is not a response to the love of another. Yahweh’s love was not based on Israel's love for Him; it was centered on His unwavering commitment to keep the promises found in the covenant He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His love was an expression of that covenant commitment. 

The apostle John reminds us that Yahweh's love is one-directional and never dependent on our ability to love Him back.

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. – 1 John 4:10 NLT

Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of God’s covenant commitment to Abraham. 

“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” – Genesis 12:2-3 NLT

Jesus was how the families of the earth would be blessed. As John 3:16 states, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son.” Jesus was the greatest expression of Yahweh's love and provided a way for the undeserving and unworthy to be restored to a right relationship with Him. 

This entire psalm is meant to remind God's people that He is faithful, loving, gracious, merciful, and kind, not because we deserve it but because He is committed to His covenant promises. His love is not reactionary or responsive; it is purposeful and pointed at accomplishing His divine objective. God's love is an expression of His faithfulness, not a response to the faithfulness of men. John said, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 ESV), not the other way around. Our love for God doesn't earn us brownie points with Him. Our love for God is an expression of our gratitude for all that He has done for us and all that He intends to accomplish on our behalf as a result of His covenant promises.   

Over and over again, the psalmist paints a picture of God's unending grace, mercy and favor expressed to the people of God in a variety of ways. And what should our response be to all this? Thanks! Gratitude! A recognition that God has been and is at work in and around our lives in so many ways. Some obvious, and some not so obvious. The very creation of the world in which we live is an expression of God's love for us. The provision of the food we eat is an expression of God's love for us. But how often do we thank Him for our meals or for the beauty we see all around us? We tend to take it all for granted.

One of the problems the Israelites faced was that when they finally got into the land and enjoyed all that God had given them, they took credit for it all and forgot God. And God knew this was going to be temptation for them. Listen to the warning He gave them just before they entered the land.

"The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill in this land,  be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.” – Deuteronomy 6:10-12 NLT

Cities you did not build, good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, vineyards and groves you did not plant … all of these things were provided by God as an expression of His grace, mercy, and favor. They were evidence of His ḥeseḏ – His steadfast love for them, and it was totally undeserved and unmerited. God gives us so many things each and every day of our lives that we do not deserve. So much of what we enjoy in this life is a result of His unmerited favor toward us, and our response should be (1) a recognition of it as an expression of God's love, and (2) a demonstration of thankfulness for His undeserved love, mercy, and grace. God's love is everlasting and everywhere we look. It surrounds us. It protects us. It provides for us. It sustains us. And for that we should be eternally grateful.

Father, thank You for Your everlasting, undeserved love that You shower on me day after day in so many ways. Thank You for my health, my home, my cars I drive, the clothes I wear, the wife I love, they children You have given me, the job I go to each day, the paychecks I cash, the food I eat, the friends I enjoy … they all come from You. Because You love me. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Waiting On God

A Song of Ascents.

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
2     O LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
    O LORD, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.

5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the LORD
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the LORD!
    For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities. – Psalm 130:1-8 ESV

The author of this psalm begins with an impassioned plea for Yahweh to show him mercy. While he doesn't disclose the nature of his circumstances, he is in desperate need of Yahweh to intervene and rescue him. His request for mercy (taḥănûn in Hebrew) is a prayer of “supplication”  expressing his desire for unmerited favor. It would appear that he thinks his suffering is somehow tied to an undisclosed sin he has committed. This is not a confession of sin as much as it is a confirmation of Yahweh’s marvelous mercy and grace. The psalmist doesn’t follow David’s lead and confess a specific sin. In Psalm 51, written in the aftermath of David's affair with Bathsheba and his sanctioned murder of her husband, David willingly acknowledged the gravity of what he had done.

For I recognize my rebellion;
    it haunts me day and night.
Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
    I have done what is evil in your sight. – Psalm 51:3-4 NLT

This psalmist doesn't minimize sin, but instead, he emphasizes Yahweh’s willingness to extend mercy despite our sins. 

LORD, if you kept a record of our sins,
    who, O LORD, could ever survive?
But you offer forgiveness,
    that we might learn to fear you. – Psalm 130:3-4 NLT

This perspective coincides with that of David found in another one of his psalms.

He does not punish us for all our sins;
    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. – Psalm 103:10-11 NLT

What an unbelievable reminder. Our God is not some kind of cosmic scorekeeper, keeping meticulous track of all our sins and waiting for us to balance our good behavior with our bad behavior. He's not Santa Claus, "making a list and checking it twice” so he can determine “who's naughty or nice."

As the psalmist points out, if God kept track of all our sins, we'd be in big trouble, because our sins would far outweigh any righteousness we might have to offer. Isaiah put it in these graphic terms: "We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind" (Isaiah 64:6 NET).

Instead of chronicling each of our sins and expecting us to right every wrong we have ever done, God offers forgiveness instead. Why? So that we might learn to fear and reverence Him (verse 4). When we begin to understand the magnitude of our sinfulness, His forgiveness becomes all the more precious to us because He is a holy God who stands diametrically opposed to our wickedness. Yet, in His grace and mercy, He reaches down and offers His undeserved favor and forgiveness. 

That is they the psalmist declares that he is willing to wait on Yahweh. 

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the LORD
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning. – Psalm 130:5-6 NLT

He compares himself to a night watchman, someone whose job it was to stay awake all night and keep an eye out for any danger. These individuals were invaluable to the safety of a city as they patrolled the walls and watched for any signs of danger. But their greatest desire was to see the sun come up without incident. They waited or longed for the morning. 

That is the psalmist's perspective as he considers the darkened nature of his own predicament. He is willing to wait for Yahweh to show up with the rising sun and extend mercy. The prophet Jeremiah expressed this same hopeful perspective as he considered the faithfulness of Yahweh.

The faithful love of the LORD never ends!
    His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance;
    therefore, I will hope in him!” – Lamentation 3:22-24 NLT

Jeremiah wasn’t putting his hope in his own ability to live a righteous life. He knew that was impossible. Like Isaiah, he recognized that all his righteous deeds were “nothing but filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6 NLT) in Yahweh's eyes. No, his hope was in the faithfulness and forgiveness of the LORD. Yahweh's mercies were new every morning, which is why the psalmist said he waits for the LORD like a watchman waits for the morning. There is an expectation and eagerness in his words. Despite his sinfulness, Yahweh was prepared to shower him with mercy and grace. 

But some of us have a different attitude when it comes to sin. We take the perspective that our sins aren't all that bad. We seem to believe that our sins are less egregious and offensive than those of others. Somehow, our need for forgiveness is not that great, so we fail to recognize the unbelievable and undeserved nature of the gift Yahweh offers. 

The psalmist seemed to understand both the magnitude of his sin and the magnificence of the one who offered him forgiveness. He writes, "O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows. He Himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin" (Psalm 130:7-8 NLT).

Unfailing love and overflowing redemption. The psalmist believed in both and was counting on the fact that Yahweh was prepared to redeem Israel despite their sin. Yahweh wasn't waiting for His rebellious people to clean up their act and exhibit some form of sinless perfection. No, He was prepared to rescue them and forgive them, despite their inability to live up to His righteous standards.

That is a sobering reminder to all of us. Our God offers forgiveness from every sin, large or small, through His Son Jesus Christ. He isn't keeping a list of all our sins and checking off the ones we successfully eliminate from our lives. Yahweh isn’t weighing our wickedness and righteousness in a balance in the hopes that our good deeds will somehow outweigh our evil deeds. 

In one of his psalms, David expressed the futility of anyone trying to earn Yahweh's favor through self-effort. 

The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
    to see if there are any who understand,
    who seek after God.

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
    there is none who does good,
    not even one. – Psalm 14:2-3 ESV

The apostle Paul quoted David’s words when writing to believers in Rome to remind them that their personal righteousness was not the key to their acceptance by God.

…for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scriptures say,

“No one is righteous—
    not even one.
No one is truly wise;
    no one is seeking God.
All have turned away;
    all have become useless.
No one does good,
    not a single one.” – Romans 3:9-11 NLT

For Paul, acceptance by God had nothing to do with living up to a some kind of moral code and list of religious rules.

…no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. – Romans 3:20 NLT

He goes on to explain the amazing nature of God’s plan for making us acceptable in His sight, and it has nothing to do with our futile attempts at self-righteousness.

God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. – Romans 3:21-22 NLT

And he explains why Yahweh came up with this alternate plan for restoring sinful men to a right relationship with Himself.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. – Romans 3:23 NLT

In other words, sin wasn't just a black spot on our resumé; it was a roadblock that prevented us from ever earning God's favor and restoring our fractured relationship with Him. But Paul provides the good news.

Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. – Romans 3:24 NLT

This news should cause us to stand in awe and reverence before our gracious, loving God. It should draw us near to Him, not push us away in fear. He should be where we run for hope and healing because He will not reject us because of our sins. Instead, He welcomes us with open arms. Long before Jesus came to earth and offered Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of mankind, David expressed his confidence in God's grace, mercy, and forgiveness. 

The LORD is compassionate and merciful,
    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
    nor remain angry forever. – Psalm 103:8-9 NLT

Then he adds:

He does not punish us for all our sins;
    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us
    as the east is from the west. – Psalm 103:10-12 NLT

That was the confident assurance of the author of Psalm 130. He shared David's belief that Yahweh was compassionate, merciful, loving, kind, and forgiving. He was well aware of his sins but counted on God to remove them as far as the east is from the west. There was no list of wrongs done. There was no demand for course correction or behavior modification to earn His favor. All God asked for was that His people place their faith and hope in Him. Which is why the psalmist ends his song with the words, “hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows” (Psalm 130:7 NLT).

Father, thank You for Your unfailing love and limitless forgiveness. Forgive me for not taking advantage of it and for sometimes thinking I don't even need it! If You kept track of all my sins, I would be without hope. But instead, You offer me forgiveness and healing. Never let me forget that. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

No Confidence in the Flesh

4 If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. – Philippians 3:4b-11 ESV

To understand what Paul means by “confidence in the flesh,” you must remember the context. He has just warned the believers in Philippi to “look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh” (Philippians 3:2 ESV). This was a direct broadside delivered against the Judaizers, a group comprised of Jewish converts to Christianity who were attempting to bring the legalism associated with the Mosaic Law into the church. They were demanding that Gentile believers be circumcised and then agree to keep the Jewish laws, religious festivals, and sacrificial requirements. In other words, they had to become Jews before their salvation experience could be considered legitimate.

So, when Paul mentions having confidence in the flesh, he is stressing the teachings of this group. They believed that their human efforts, those things done in their own strength, somehow earned them favor with God. As Jews, they put a high priority and value on the rite of circumcision; it was an outward sign of their unique relationship as God’s chosen people. They were of the strong opinion that circumcision was necessary for anyone who hoped to enjoy the salvation offered by Jesus Christ. But for Paul, this was nothing less than another gospel; it was a false gospel, and it was to be exposed for what it was: a dangerous heresy.

The Greek word Paul used for “flesh” is sarx and, while it was often used to refer to the physical body, it could also be used in a metaphorical sense, as in human nature. The Judaizers put a lot of stock in human nature and their own physical abilities, believing that they were able to keep the laws of God and live up to the holy standards of God. But Paul rejects that mindset, stating that believers were to “glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3 ESV). Salvation was based on the work of Christ, not the works of men.

But Paul chose to use their own argument against them. He rather sarcastically portrays himself as the poster boy for stellar human character and self-achievement, to demonstrate the kind of credentials that might earn someone favor with God. Paul boldly states:

If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more… – Philippians 3:4 NLT

It is as if Paul is saying, “So, you think you can earn a right standing with God based on your accomplishments and status? Well, check this out!”

What follows is a laundry list of Paul’s off-the-chart human credentials.

• He was a card-carrying member of the nation of Israel

• He was from the tribe of Benjamin

• He had been circumcised according to the Mosaic Law

• He was a Hebrew of Hebrews (a hard-core traditionalist)

• He had been a member of the Pharisees, an elite religious sect

• He had been a passionate and zealous persecutor of the church

• He had been painstakingly dedicated to keeping the law

Even a short glance at that list reveals that Paul was not so subtly comparing himself with the Judaizers. He was placing himself in direct competition with them and declaring himself to be the model Jew. If they thought they were somehow better than everybody else because of their Jewish heritage and law-keeping ability, they had nothing on Paul. His resume made them look like third-string players trying to win a spot on the varsity squad.

But notice what Paul says next. He takes his list of accomplishments and credentials and describes them “as liabilities because of Christ” (Philippians 3:7 NLT). His relationship with Christ, based solely on faith in the work of Christ done on his behalf, made any of his so-called assets amount to nothing. They earned him no credibility with God and bought him no favor from God. Paul understood that his so-called righteous deeds were of no value when it came to his salvation. He firmly believed what the text in Isaiah clearly states:

We are all infected and impure with sin.
    When we display our righteous deeds,
    they are nothing but filthy rags. – Isaiah 64:6 NLT

Paul’s lofty list of accomplishments and personal assets were worthless. That is why he could say, “I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8 NLT). Rather than placing any stock in human nature or his ability to produce righteous-looking deeds, Paul saw those things as hindrances to his spiritual walk. they were liabilities because they were all tainted by sin. So, Paul had given them all up. He had decided to treat them like what they were; liabilities, rather than assets, all so he could know Christ better.

Paul gets a bit graphic when trying to describe his new relationship with all those things he once held near and dear. They were like dung to him now, to be tossed aside and treated for what they were: worthless and detestable.

The bottom line for Paul was righteousness. A holy and righteous God demanded that His people live holy, righteous lives. But man’s sinful nature made that impossible, and no amount of law-keeping, ritual-observing, or efforts at God-pleasing were going to make a difference. Paul states, “I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness” (Philippians 3:9 NLT). In other words, Paul’s righteousness was not based on self-effort, but on Christ’s faithfulness. Jesus died a sinner’s death to satisfy the just demands of a holy and righteous God. As Paul explained to the Corinthian believers: “For our sake he [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV).

Earlier in this letter, Paul pointed out that Jesus “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8 ESV). His faithfulness to do the will of His Father resulted in righteousness for us.

The Judaizers were not right before God because they had been circumcised. They were not right before God because they were Jews. They could not claim a right standing before God because they kept the law. In fact, Paul vaporized that idea in his letter to the Galatians.

So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” – Galatians 3:11 NLT

He said the same thing to the believers in Rome.

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. – Romans 3:20 NLT

We have no reason to boast. We have no ground on which to stand and from which to proclaim our own self-righteousness. Our righteousness is actually Christ’s righteousness imputed to us when we placed our faith in Him. When Christ died on the cross, He paid in full the debt that was owed for the sins of mankind. He died in our place, bearing the penalty we deserved, and that act justified us before God. He now sees us as righteous and just, not sinful and worthy of death. We have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. With that thought in mind, Paul refocuses the attention of his readers on that which is really important; not effort and earning, but the pursuit of an ongoing and always growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. – Philippians 3:10-11 NLT

Paul is not talking about cognitive knowledge. He’s not suggesting a purely academic understanding of who Jesus was and is. He is describing a deep and intimate relationship that features an ever-intensifying awareness of all that Jesus Christ has done and will do for him. In the immediate context, Paul wanted to experience all the power that Christ’s resurrection had made available to him. Jesus had been raised back to life by the power of the Holy Spirit, and each and every believer has that same power present within them.

But Paul knew that the resurrection power he so desired to see is most often revealed in the context of suffering. Just as Jesus had to suffer and die before He could experience the resurrection, we will find ourselves suffering so that we might experience the resurrection power of God’s Spirit in our own lives. Just as Jesus experienced humiliation before His glorification, so will we. And then, Paul reminds us, it will all end in death. The ultimate form of suffering we all face is our own physical death. But Paul wants us to remember that there is a resurrection of the dead. Death is not the end. It is really the beginning of something greater, and Paul told the believers in Corinth what they could expect when death finally came.

For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” – I Corinthians 15:53-55 NLT

Why put confidence in the flesh? It’s of no value and will ultimately be left behind. And why put stock in our own worthiness before God? Without Christ, we have no righteousness of our own. As Paul told the Colossian believers, it all boils down to this: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27 ESV).

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Man-Made Means to Earn Faith-Based Salvation

1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh — 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. – Philippians 3:1-4a ESV

Here, Paul deals with a topic that is found in virtually all of his letters – that of true righteousness. His reason for bringing it up seems to be because the Philippian believers were undergoing intense opposition regarding the issue of circumcision, either from within their own fellowship or from the outside. As a Roman colony, Philippi would have had a large Gentile population and, therefore, the church in Philippi would have consisted primarily of Gentiles who had converted to Christianity from paganism. In A.D. 50, when Paul, Silas, Luke, and Timothy had arrived in Philippi on their missionary journey, there would have been few Jewish residents in the city. But by the time Paul wrote this letter some 10-12 years later, the Jewish population could have grown and there may have been Jewish converts to Christianity within the congregation at Philippi. The presence of Jews in the city and Jewish converts within the church had evidently raised an issue that had become a consistent point of contention for Paul: The rite of circumcision.

Paul opens this section with a reminder to rejoice, even in the face of opposition. This is in keeping with his message to them earlier in the letter:

…it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake. – Philippians 1:29 ESV

And Paul had used his own life as an example of joy while enduring suffering. After all, he was writing to them from house arrest in Rome, facing a trial before Nero and uncertainty as to his fate. But he had been able to tell them:

Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me. – Philippians 2:17-18 ESV

So, even though they were facing opposition, they had every reason to rejoice because they were privileged to suffer for the sake of the gospel.

But it doesn’t take long for Paul’s tone to turn much more serious and sarcastic. He warns them to “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh” (Philippians 3:2 ESV). Now, while this statement is clearly intended to paint the opposition in an unflattering light, there is more going on here than meets our modern, western eyes. Three separate times in one verse, Paul uses the Greek word, βλέπω (blepō), which most commonly refers to the sense of sight. But in this case, he uses it metaphorically so that they might see with their mind’s eye and  “discern mentally.” He wants them to approach this topic with their eyes wide open to the potential danger.

Paul, writing in Greek, uses a play on words to describe those who were promoting the rite of circumcision within the church. He refers to them as “those who mutilate the flesh.” But that is a translation of a single Greek word, katatomē, which means to cut up or mutilate. In Leviticus 21:5, the priests of God were forbidden to “make any cuts on their body.” In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament Scriptures, the word katatomē was used to describe this forbidden practice.

Here is where Paul’s cleverness and open hostility can be seen. The Greek word normally used when speaking of the Jewish practice of circumcision was κατατομή (peritomē) and Paul uses it in verse 3.  He purposefully contrasts two similar Greek words, katatomē and peritomē, to compare the Jewish ritual of circumcision with the forbidden act of self-mutilation. But it’s important to remember the context. Paul is addressing a predominately Gentile congregation. These would have been pagans who had placed their faith in Christ, but now are being told that their faith is incomplete and insufficient. Some were telling them that to be truly saved, they must be circumcised and keep all the Jewish laws and religious rituals. This message was common in the 1st Century and was propagated by a group that came to be known as the Judaizers. It isn’t difficult to discern Paul’s opinion concerning these people; he calls them dogs and evildoers. His intense anger toward them was fomented by their constant attempt to add to the gospel message he preached, and he makes his feelings clear about this matter in his letter to the believers in Galatia.

You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.

Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed. – Galatians 1:6-9 NLT

Paul also had strong words for the church in Corinth because they were being led away from the simple message of the gospel and buying into a false narrative that essentially claimed true righteousness was based on the false formula of Jesus + something = salvation.

I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. – 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 ESV

As far as Paul was concerned, the Judaizers were the enemy. Although they claimed to be followers of Jesus Christ, they required that everyone become as they were by demanding that all the male members of the church in Philippi be circumcised and, essentially, convert to Judaism before their salvation could be considered complete. This left Paul in a state of rage, especially because he was unable to do anything about it while under house arrest in Rome. This explains the strong nature of his rhetoric.

He completely invalidates the message of the Judaizers by declaring the Gentile converts to Christianity as the true circumcision.

For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort… – Philippians 3:3 NLT

This verse summarizes Paul’s view on the matter. To him, circumcision was nothing more than a work, an outward act that left the one circumcised with a false sense of spiritual well-being. For the Jews, it had become a symbol of their unique status as God’s chosen people. But in his letter to the church in Rome, Paul exposed the flaw behind the Jewish thinking regarding circumcision.

The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God’s law. But if you don’t obey God’s law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile. – Romans 2:25 NLT

In fact, uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God’s law will condemn you Jews who are circumcised and possess God’s law but don’t obey it. – Romans 2:27 NLT

The problem lies in the dangerous misperception being perpetrated by the Judaizers. In their way of thinking the rite of circumcision was the non-negotiable doorway all must enter on their way to justification before God. But this teaching stood in direct opposition to the gospel message of salvation made possible by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. No other step was necessary. To add circumcision to the gospel message was to distort the good news and make it another gospel altogether. Rather than basing salvation on the gracious gift of God’s Son, the Judaizers were introducing a form of works-based salvation. They were making justification a matter of rule-keeping and self-effort but Paul reminds the Philippian believers, “We put no confidence in human effort” (Philippians 3:3 NLT).

He goes on to expose the absurdity of the Judaizers’ argument. If they are going to make it all about human effort and rule-keeping, Paul was the poster boy for self-justification. He will go on to describe his relative merit as a good Jew who had all the criteria to make him a candidate for justification before God through works. But for Paul, this way of thinking was ridiculous and dangerous. It stood in direct opposition to the message of the gospel. I

In a direct attack against the pride-filled Judaizers, Paul sarcastically states: “I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!” (Philippians 3:4a NLT). He goes on to describe his so-called credentials for justification before God but he knew that his curriculum vitae had nothing to do with his right standing before God. His salvation was not based on anything he had done or any worth he brought to the table. It was all the result of Christ’s finished work on the cross, and Paul drove home that point in his letter to the Galatians.

…we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. – Galatians 2:16 NLT

For Paul, the formula was quite simple and concise. Righteousness was made available by God through man’s faith in the finished work of Christ. No more. No less. So, in Paul’s estimation, circumcision becomes nothing more than self-mutilation when used as an attempt to earn favor with God. Law-keeping becomes disobedience to God when used as a means to justify oneself before God. For as Paul stated, no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

True Freedom

1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. – Galatians 5:1-6 ESV

In these verses, Paul makes it clear that the rite of circumcision was one of the big issues facing the Gentile believers to whom he wrote. They were being pressured by the Judaizers into believing that their salvation was incomplete unless they agreed to be circumcised. In essence, they were being told that they needed to become Jews before they could become card-carrying Christ followers. But Paul warns them that there is no end to this slippery slope down which they are about to slide.

If they give in to the demand of circumcision, then they will be required to keep the whole law. By accepting the idea that obedience to the law is necessary for their salvation, they are placing themselves back under the full weight of the law. The apostle James warned of the danger of falling under the spell of the law.

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. – James 2:10 ESV

There is no such thing as partial obedience to the law. One who chooses to live under the commands of the law must adhere to all of them, without fail and with no opportunity to decide for self-determination. God’s law wasn’t up for debate or customizable. It was all or nothing.

But the real issue for Paul is that of freedom in Christ. He states that it is “for freedom Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1 ESV). Most of us, when we think of our freedom in Christ, focus on our emancipation from sin and death. And yet, Paul speaks of another freedom we enjoy because of our relationship with Christ.

When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit. – Romans 7:5-6 NLT

Does our release from the law mean that the law was somehow evil? Paul answers that question rather emphatically. “Of course not!…the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good” (Romans 7:7, 12 NLT). Paul is emphasizing that the law is no longer to be viewed as a mandatory code of conduct or as a set of rules that must be obeyed to gain a right standing with God. We have been freed from that pointless pursuit, which is why Paul spent his lifetime preaching the believer’s newfound freedom in Christ. That freedom includes our release from having to pursue justification through adherence to the law.

Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. – Galatians 2:16 NLT

Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. – Romans 3:19-20 NLT

So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.” – Galatians 3:11-12 NLT

Paul didn’t want the Galatians to fall back into a life of slavery. Before coming to faith in Christ, they were slaves to sin and under the control of Satan himself. They had no other choice. But when they had accepted Christ as their Savior, they had been released from their captivity. Now, by listening to the teachings of the Judaizers, they were risking a return to slavery – placing themselves under the demands of the law.

Paul warns that if they turned their backs on the grace offered through Christ and the justification that He alone could provide, they would be willingly allowing themselves to live according to their own self-reliance and their ability to keep God happy through rule-keeping. To do so would be to fall away from grace, and Paul was not willing to sit back and watch them do that. It isn’t that Paul feared that they ran the risk of losing their salvation. That is not what falling away from grace means. He is simply saying that by returning to the law, they would be walking away from God’s sole method of salvation and justification: His undeserved and unearned grace as offered through His Son through faith.

In Paul’s theology, faith in God’s grace made available through the gift of His Son would result in good works and a willing adherence to His commands. In the minds of the legalists, it was the exact opposite. Man’s adherence to God’s law would earn him a right standing before God and was, if anything, as important as faith in Christ.

Paul gives us the key difference between a life that is grace-focused and one that is law-based.

For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. - Galatians 5:5 ESV

The believer is to live according to the Spirit’s power and not his own own. And it is the Holy Spirit who provides the believers with the faith necessary to wait for the hope of righteousness. We don’t manufacture faith; it is a gift provided to us by God. It is with the Spirit’s help that we enjoy “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV).

That is how the author of the book of Hebrews describes faith. God’s indwelling Spirit provides us with the supernatural ability to believe in things that have not yet happened and to trust in those things we can’t even see. It is by faith that we believe we will be fully sanctified by God. We can’t see the end result and we can’t even see our sanctification taking place in real-time. But we believe that God is doing what He has promised to do. Paul wanted believers to have certainty and an abiding assurance that God had not only saved them by faith but was busy perfecting them by faith. And one day He was going to finish what He began by glorifying them by faith.

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. – Philippians 1:6 NLT

God doesn’t need our help to make us holy. He simply asks for our complete reliance upon Him and our willing obedience to what He calls us to do, even when it doesn’t make sense. For Paul, it always came back to faith. Faith was the key to salvation, sanctification, and our ultimate glorification. To place oneself under the demands of the law, in the hopes of earning a right standing with God, was to reject the grace of God. It would make all that Christ accomplished on the cross ineffective and unnecessary. His death would have been needless and pointless; a fact that Paul raised in chapter two.

I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. – Galatians 2:21 NLT

For Paul, there was no going back. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews and a former Pharisee, but he was not willing to place himself back under the strict and unwavering demands of the law. He knew he was incapable of living up to God’s exacting standards. In fact, in his letter to the believers in Rome, he described his ongoing battle with sin and the flesh. He knew the real issue was not the law but man’s inability to live up to its holy demands.

…the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. – Romans 7:14-20 NLT

Paul goes on to lament his battle with sin and his inability to live up to God’s holy standard.

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? – Romans 7:24 NLT

But he provides an answer to his own question, by stating his immense gratitude for God’s gracious gift of His Son.

Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. – Romans 7:25 NLT

Righteousness is not something we produce; it is a gift we receive. Freedom from sin is not something we achieve through law-keeping; it is a by-product of our faith in Christ and the outworking of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The grace of God makes it possible and the death of Christ makes it available – to all who will receive it by faith.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Light-Giving, Life-Restoring Love of God

10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.

12 And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. 15 And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16 And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days. – Job 42:10-17 ESV

Rather than seeking vengeance against his accusers, Job graciously interceded for them and God forgave them. He did for these men what they should have done for him. Yet, in 42 chapters of recorded history, not once did Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, or Elihu lift up a single prayer on Job’s behalf. Their words were directed at him, but never for him in intercession to God. Whatever sin they believed Job to have committed, they could have called on God to provide forgiveness and restoration, but they refused to do so. And now, when given the opportunity to get even, Job revealed his true character and prayed for his tormentors.

Without knowing it, Job was keeping the command that Jesus would give centuries later.

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” – Matthew 5:44-46 ESV

Luke records a slightly different version of this same command.

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” – Luke 6:27-30 ESV

And Jesus went on to provide a strong source of incentive for demonstrating this gracious and unexpected kind of love.

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” – Luke 6:35-36 ESV

Because of his willingness to love his enemies, Job ended up experiencing the truth behind Jesus’ words. He became the recipient of God’s mercy and magnitude. The text states, “the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!” (Job 42:10 NLT), and it was all because Job demonstrated undeserved love and grace to those who had caused him much pain and suffering. Job did so, not because he was expecting a great reward but because he had survived his encounter with God and had lived to tell about it.

Job knew that he had experienced the mercy and kindness of God. His demand for an audience with God had been out of line and his assertions that God was somehow unjust had been undeserved and worthy of God’s wrath. But instead of judgment, Job had received nothing more than a stern reprimand. Now, much to his surprise, he would receive a double blessing from God.

So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters. – Job 42:12-13 NLT

This list is meant to take the reader back to the opening chapter in Job’s story.

He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area. – Job 1:2-3 NLT

God effectively doubled Job’s material wealth and graciously replaced the ten children he had lost. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, states that Job was 70 when his suffering began, and that he lived another 140 years after his fortunes were restored by God. This doubling of his life span would have been another sign of God’s gracious reward.

And this man who had lost everything, including his reputation and former status as a well-respected leader in the community of Uz, was welcomed back with open arms by all those who had abandoned him in his darkest hour.

…all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring. – Job 42:11 NLT

Notice that his friends “consoled him and comforted him” after his fortunes were restored and he graciously hosted them in his own home. Job was the one who took the initiative. There is no indication that they reached out to Job or offered to provide him a costly feast in their own homes. But Job held no grudges and refused to be bitter about their former treatment of him. He opened up his heart and home and showered them with undeserved love, and this gracious act prompted them to respond with money and gifts intended to forestall any act of revenge and assuage their own guilt. They knew Job had every right to be angry and the resources to seek retribution.

But Job was content to live out his life with an attitude of gratitude to God. He lived an additional 140 years, enjoying the pleasure of watching four generations of his offspring grow up right before his eyes. He would have attended weddings and celebrated births. He would have reveled in the daily blessings of God and vividly recalled those dark days when his life had been turned upside down by unexpected and inexplicable events. And there is no indication that Job ever received an explanation for what had happened.

It’s interesting to note that the text seems to place the responsibility for Job’s losses on God. It clearly describes Job’s sufferings as “the trials the Lord had brought against him” (Job 42:11 NLT). But this phrase is in the context of Job’s friends offering him consolation and comfort. It may be that they still held the mistaken view that Job’s suffering had been the judgment of God for sins he had committed. Yet, the opening chapters reveal that it was Satan who was behind the disasters that devastated Job’s life. Yes, God was aware and provided Satan with permission to implement his diabolical plan to test Job’s faithfulness, but God was not the author of Job’s misery and pain. In fact, God is displayed as the restrainer and restorer throughout the story. He is the one who put a limit on Satan’s aspirations. The enemy could test Job’s allegiance to God but he was prevented from taking Job’s life. Everything that Satan took from Job was eventually restored – twofold. God plays the part of redeemer and restorer. He came to Job’s defense, not because he somehow deserved it but simply because God is gracious and loving and cares for His own.

King David provides a timely reminder for all those who express belief in God and place their faith in His unwavering love and mercy.

The Lord is like a father to his children,
    tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
    he remembers we are only dust.
Our days on earth are like grass;
    like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone—
    as though we had never been here.
But the love of the Lord remains forever
    with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
    of those who are faithful to his covenant,
    of those who obey his commandments!

19 The Lord has made the heavens his throne;
    from there he rules over everything. – Psalm 103:13-19 NLT

Job would live an additional 140 years and throughout all that time, he would experience the the unconditional and unmerited love of God. Not only that, he would grow in his understanding of God’s sovereignty and providential care. Had Job not experienced his season of pain and loss, it is likely his grasp of God’s sovereignty and gratitude for God’s love would never have deepened as it did. His appreciation for God’s love, mercy, grace, power, and provision had been deepened by the darkness as well as the light.

The apostle Paul provides an apt summary for the events of Job’s life and he does so out of his own experience. He knew what it was like to suffer for the sake of his faith. He understood the pain that comes with living in a fallen world, and while he prayed for God to remove the source of his pain, he clearly heard God say, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT). Which led Paul to say:

“So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NLT

Job’s darkness had been dispelled by the light of God’s righteousness and his life had been restored by the undeserved outpouring of God’s love. He had come to know that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17 ESV).

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Their Blame and God’s Name

16 The word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. 18 So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. 19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. 20 But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ 21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.” – Ezekiel 36:16-24 ESV

The good news was that God was going to purge the land and prepare it for the return of His chosen people. That bit of information would have come as a huge relief in the wake of all the latest news concerning Judah’s fall and Jerusalem’s destruction. As Ezekiel’s audience processed all the details of the reports from home making their way to Babylon, a pall of depression and despondency would have settled over them. They were already in exile, waiting to be joined by more of their fellow citizens, the latest round of victims from Nebuchadnezzar’s relentless siege of Jerusalem. Now that the invasion was over, so were their hopes of ever returning home.

But with Ezekiel’s latest message, their hopes were restored by the news that God was going to allow them to return home one day.

“…the mountains of Israel will produce heavy crops of fruit for my people—for they will be coming home again soon! See, I care about you, and I will pay attention to you. Your ground will be plowed and your crops planted. I will greatly increase the population of Israel, and the ruined cities will be rebuilt and filled with people.” – Ezekiel 36:8-10 NLT

After all that had happened, they could rest in the knowledge that God cared for them. He had not abandoned or forgotten them. The very fact that He had sent a prophet to minister to them in the middle of Babylon should have clued them into the fact that He still had a keen interest in their welfare.

This chapter is replete with good news concerning the rebellious people of God, and it will only get better. But God knew it was vital that His unfaithful children understand the reason for their suffering. As they rejoiced over the news of their eventual return and God’s plans to prosper them once again, He wanted them to grasp the seriousness of their guilt and the true cause of His harsh judgment of them. And God is unsparing and quite graphic in His description of their crime.

“…when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by the evil way they lived. To me their conduct was as unclean as a woman’s menstrual cloth.” – Ezekiel 36:17 NLT

He leaves little to the imagination and makes no attempt to sugarcoat or downplay the extent of their iniquity. This imagery would have hit Ezekiel’s Jewish audience quite hard because they were very familiar with the Mosaic Laws concerning this matter.

“Whenever a woman has her menstrual period, she will be ceremonially unclean for seven days. Anyone who touches her during that time will be unclean until evening. Anything on which the woman lies or sits during the time of her period will be unclean. If any of you touch her bed, you must wash your clothes and bathe yourself in water, and you will remain unclean until evening. If you touch any object she has sat on, you must wash your clothes and bathe yourself in water, and you will remain unclean until evening. This includes her bed or any other object she has sat on; you will be unclean until evening if you touch it. If a man has sexual intercourse with her and her blood touches him, her menstrual impurity will be transmitted to him. He will remain unclean for seven days, and any bed on which he lies will be unclean.” – Leviticus 15:19-24 NLT

Their sin had become as natural and normal to them as a woman’s monthly menstrual cycle. They didn’t have to plan it or think about it; it just happened. And when it did, it contaminated everything and everyone around them. Their actions made everything they touched impure and unholy. But rather than seven days out of the month, their impurity had become a 365-day-a-year problem.

And God makes it clear that this problem was not the result of normal bodily functions or a pre-programmed function of human anatomy. No, they were making personal choices that resulted in the violation of God’s will and the defamation of His holy name.

“They polluted the land with murder and the worship of idols…” – Ezekiel 36:18 NLT

A woman’s menstrual cycle is inevitable and unavoidable, but that is not true of murder and idolatry. In fact, God had provided clear prohibitions against these things.

“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them…” – Exodus 20:3-4 ESV

“You shall not murder.” – Exodus 20:13 ESV

But they had repeatedly violated these two commands, along with all the others. It seems that God pointed out these two sins because they both involved the shedding and spreading of blood. Murder requires the taking of life and the spilling of blood. And the brand of idolatry that God’s people had begun to embrace often involved human sacrifice. Their downward spiritual spiral had led them to offer up their own children to false gods like Molech. And the blood of their victims cried out to God from the soil of the polluted land of promise.

And God wants them to understand that all they have suffered has been the result of God’s anger against their blatant and unrepentant wickedness.

“I poured out my fury on them. I scattered them to many lands to punish them for the evil way they had lived.” – Ezekiel 36:18-19 NLT

They had no one to blame but themselves. While their deportation to Babylon had been God’s doing, it had been their own fault. He had simply given them what they rightly deserved. He had punished them in keeping with His own righteousness and according to His covenant commitment.

“…if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today…The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you.” – Deuteronomy 28:15, 36-37 NLT

It had all happened just as God promised, including His prediction of their continued unfaithfulness through further idolatry. His punishment of them had virtually no impact on their behavior. They were so addicted to idolatry that they couldn’t resist the temptation, even while undergoing divine judgment for that very sin.

But little did they know that their actions had been adding to their long list of crimes against the Almighty. And, worst of all, all the while they had been violating the will of God, they had been defaming the name of God.

“…they brought shame on my holy name.” – Ezekiel 36:20 NLT

It wasn’t just the fact that the people of God were living godless lives. There is no doubt that their behavior was a stain on God’s name because they were violating everything that He stood for. But God points out that their punishment had raised questions about Him among the pagan nations of the world.

“For the nations said, ‘These are the people of the Lord, but he couldn’t keep them safe in his own land!’” – Ezekiel 36:20 NLT

God doesn’t worry about public opinion. What people think about Him plays no part in His decision-making. But He does care about His name because it is a reflection of His character. Yet, He had been willing to risk the repudiation of His reputation in order to deal with the sins of His people. The very ones who bore His name and should have been declaring His greatness and goodness to the nations had become a drain on His personal reputation. And the prophet Jeremiah provides a glimpse into God’s rationale for allowing this to happen.

“Have you noticed what people are saying?—‘The Lord chose Judah and Israel and then abandoned them!’ They are sneering and saying that Israel is not worthy to be counted as a nation. But this is what the Lord says: I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky. I will never abandon the descendants of Jacob or David, my servant, or change the plan that David’s descendants will rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will restore them to their land and have mercy on them.” – Jeremiah 33:24-26 NLT

And Ezekiel receives the very same message from the Lord concerning His rebellious people.

“I was concerned for my holy name, on which my people brought shame among the nations. Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it.” – Ezekiel 36:21-22 NLT

That last line is huge and should not be overlooked. None of what God was promising to do was deserved. They had done nothing to earn His affection or receive His forgiveness, and that had been true from the very beginning. His decision to make a nation called Israel and set it apart as His own had nothing to do with merit. As Moses told the people of Israel, they existed as a result of God’s love and faithfulness.

The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers… – Deuteronomy 7:7-8 BSB

And all that God was promising for the future would be based on His love and faithfulness as well. But even greater than His unwavering love for His people is His love for His own name. That is why God declared, “I will show how holy my great name is—the name on which you brought shame among the nations” (Ezekiel 36:23 NLT). And when He is done, rather than mock the God of Israel, the nations will know that He alone is the Lord.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Battle is the Lord’s

1 In the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 2 these kings made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3 And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). 4 Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El-paran on the border of the wilderness. 7 Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh) and defeated all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were dwelling in Hazazon-tamar.

8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim 9 with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country. 11 So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. 12 They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way.

13 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram. 14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and the women and the people. – Genesis 14:1-16 ESV

Abram and Lot have separated, with Lot taking up residence near the city of Sodom, while Abram continued his nomadic lifestyle, setting up a temporary camp by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron. But Abram’s separation from Lot would not last long. His nephew’s presence in the land would come back to haunt him.

This new season of Abram’s more independent life was going to be rocked by unexpected events that were outside of his control. What chapter 14 reveals is that Abram was far from alone in the land of Canaan. Up to this point in the narrative, there has been little mention of other nations, but the story recorded in this chapter will reveal that Abram has company and lots of it.

The chapter opens with news of a coalition of four kings whose nations lie outside the boundaries of Canaan. It’s difficult to determine with any certainty the exact locations of these ancient realms, but it seems that they each were located within the fertile crescent, an area known as the land of Shinar. It is important to recall that Shinar was the location of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11). It was there that God decided to confuse the language of the people who attempted to build a tower that would reach to the sky. As a result of the confusion caused by the proliferation of new languages, the region became known as “Babel,” a word that literally means “confusion.” This region would later bear the name of “Babylon” and play a vital role in the history of the Hebrew people.

These kings all hailed from the region of Mesopotamia that stretched from the northern tip of the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf.  One of these kings, Chedorlaomer, had earlier invaded southern Canaan and forced its occupants to become his vassals. The people living in Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (Zoar), had found themselves subjugated to a foreign power for 13 long years. But at one point their kings had decided to throw off the yoke of this foreign oppressor. And their decision had forced King Chedorlaomer to form a coalition with three of his fellow kings from Mesopotamia and invade Canaan yet again.  

This entire scene is meant to display the interconnected nature of all that has gone on before. Every event that has happened up to this point is linked together in God’s plan. There are reasons for everything. And there are repercussions for every decision made by men and consequences for every act of a sovereign God. Nothing happens by chance. The ill-fated decision of the people to disobey God and construct a tower to glorify their own greatness had produced a myriad of nations that were dispersed across the earth. And the confusion created by their disparate languages would eventually turn into conflict.

In chapter 13, Moses recorded God’s reiteration of His promise to Abram.

“Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.” – Genesis 13:14-15 ESV

And yet, here we have nine different kings vying for the right to control the land that God had given to Abram and his descendants. Ever since the gates to Eden had been slammed shut, mankind had been busy trying to grab up the remaining territory. Rather than steward that which belonged to God, they had been attempting to claim it as their own. Instead of acknowledging God as King, they had chosen to set up their own petty kingdoms here on earth. And here in this story, nine of these would-be gods were facing off in a battle of will and weapons, all in an effort to control what really belonged to God.

This coalition of four Mesopotamian kings slowly made their way south, defeating various clans, tribes, and nations along the way. They were successfully demonstrating their superior strength and telegraphing to the five kings of southern Canaan that their prospects for victory were dim. But refusing to consider surrender, the five kings joined forces and faced their enemy in the Valley of Siddim. Things did not go well. The tar pits that covered the valley floor proved to be their undoing. Many of the soldiers became mired in the sticky muck and were captured. As a result, the five kings were unable to put up a fight and their forces were easily defeated. And Moses provides a summary of this demoralizing debacle.

So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. They also took Lot, the son of Abram's brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way. – Genesis 14:11-12 ESV

What makes this rather brief recap of the battle stand out is its focus on Sodom and Gomorrah, and its mention of Lot, the nephew of Abram. If you recall, chapter 13 chronicled Lot’s decision to choose the well-watered lands near Zoar as the place to pasture his flocks. But he actually “settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom” (Genesis 13:12 ESV). This nephew of Abram made a determined choice to seek refuge among “the men of Sodom,” who “were wicked, great sinners against the Lord” (Genesis 13:13 ESV).

Somewhere along the way, Lot had given up his tent and sought shelter within the walls of Sodom. Moses makes it clear that he “was dwelling in Sodom” (Genesis 14:12 ESV). And that decision would prove to be far from wise. When the four Mesopotamian kings looted Sodom, Lot was taken captive along with all his possessions. He was enslaved.

But news of his capture eventually reached the ears of his uncle. Abram was about to discover that his separation from Lot had been anything but permanent. And his decision to give Lot his choice of the land as his own had probably been a mistake. Now, Abram had a decision to make. Would he intervene and rescue Lot from his predicament or allow him to suffer the consequences? Moses records that Abram spent no time deliberating over his decision.

When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. – Genesis 14:14 ESV

One can debate the wisdom of Abram’s decision, but there is an overwhelming sense of God’s sovereignty woven throughout this entire event. The actions of the five kings, while autonomous and self-determined, are actually the byproducts of God’s providential will. Nothing happens outside His control or in opposition to His predetermined plan. These events came as no surprise to God. They were simply part of the sovereign strategy He was orchestrating so that His will might be done “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). What He had preordained was coming to fruition, just as He had planned.

Abram and his 318-man army went to battle against the coalition of kings and their superior forces, and he won. That outcome would have come as no surprise to Moses’ readership. They knew that, for them to exist as a people, Abram had to have won. His victory was assured because God had promised to make of him a great nation. And nothing was going to stand in the way of that promise being fulfilled. Whether the number of enemy kings was four or forty, it didn’t matter. Regardless of the size of the foe, God could give victory.

This story should bring to mind another battle fought by a servant of God against superior forces. Years later, Gideon, one of the judges of Israel, would find himself going up against the Midianites. He was outnumbered and outgunned. But much to Gideon’s surprise, God informed him that he had too many soldiers. In a series of bizarre events, God whittled down Gideon’s force until he only had 300 men left. And with that diminutive army, Gideon defeated the Midianites.

And, in a similar fashion, Abram defeated the five kings of Mesopotamia. His “surprising” victory allowed him to rescue Lot and bring back all the possessions that had been stolen. Lot had been redeemed by Abram. He didn’t deserve it and he hadn’t earned it. Abram simply extended unmerited mercy and grace to his young nephew. And this story provides a foreshadowing of another undeserved rescue that will take place in the lives of Abram’s descendants after another army from the north will invade Canaan and take God’s people captive. God will graciously and dramatically rescue them, returning them to the land and fulfilling the promise He had made to Abram.

This event is simply one of many illustrations of God’s goodness, grace, and sovereignty as displayed in the life of Abram. And there are many more to come.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

New English Translation (NET)NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Not What They Were Expecting

38 And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. 39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. – Luke 4:38-44 ESV

After casting out the demon(s) from the man in the synagogue, Jesus made His way to the home of Simon and Andrew (Mark 1:29), two of His disciples who lived in the town of Capernaum. Upon entering the house, He discovered that the mother-in-law of Simon (Peter) was bedridden, suffering from the effects of a high fever. Luke’s account of this scene differs slightly from that of Matthew and Mark. They both indicate that Jesus healed the woman by taking her by the hand. But Luke states that Jesus “rebuked the fever.” As he has done before, Luke places the emphasis on the words of Jesus. When Jesus had cast out the demon, the crowd had responded, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” (Luke 4:36 ESV). When Jesus had taught in the synagogues, Luke reports that he was “praised by everyone” (Luke 4:15 NLT).

So, while Matthew and Mark place their emphasis on the physical touch of Jesus, Luke focuses on the power and authority of His words. Just as the demons were subject to the command of Jesus, so was the fever. Whatever illness had caused the fever was immediately eliminated from the woman’s body, leaving her completely whole. So much so, that each of the gospel authors indicates that she set about preparing a meal for her son-in-law’s guests.

For Luke, everything about Jesus revolved around His God-given power and authority. He records that Jesus began His ministry by visiting the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth and reading from the book of Isaiah.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” – Luke 4:18-19 ESV

After reading this text, Jesus told the audience, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21 ESV). In doing so, He was making the bold claim that He had been sent by God and was the Messiah, the anointed one for whom they had long waited. He was filled with the Spirit of God and had the power and authority to proclaim good news to the poor, set free all those who were enslaved and oppressed, and restore sight to the blind. He had come to declare that “the time of the Lord’s favor has come” (Luke 4:19 NLT). 

News of what Jesus had done for Simon’s mother-in-law soon spread throughout the town of Capernaum. By that evening, Jesus found Himself surrounded by people who were sick, lame, and even demon-possessed. What’s interesting to note is that Luke indicates that Jesus “laid his hands on every one of them and healed them” (Luke 4:40 ESV). For some undisclosed reason, Luke changes his emphasis and focuses on the “hands-on” approach of Jesus. Yet Matthew reports that Jesus “cast out the evil spirits with a simple command” (Matthew 4:16 NLT). Each of these men wrote their respective gospel accounts with a particular audience in mind and with a specific message concerning Jesus that they were trying to convey. Matthew was an eye-witness to these events, while Luke was writing based on interviews he had conducted with those who were there at the time the events took place. The slight variations in their accounts do not reflect contradictions in the Scriptures, but they simply reflect each man’s attempt to communicate his particular message concerning Jesus. 

Each of the gospel authors was trying to illustrate the power and authority of Jesus. Just as the Isaiah passage had predicted, Jesus was preaching, teaching, proclaiming, healing, releasing, and displaying the favor of God to sinful men and women. He was the Messiah. And even the demons were subject to His commands.

And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” – Luke 4:41 ESV

Jesus spoke and they were obligated to obey because they recognized Him for who He was: The Son of God. The demons were not worshiping Jesus but they were acknowledging His identity as the Messiah. They inherently understood that Jesus was more than just a rabbi from the town of Nazareth. When He spoke, they were forced to obey His command. They had no choice but to do as He said because He had the full power and authority of God behind His words.

But Jesus “rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ” (Luke 4:41 ESV). At first glance, it might seem odd that Jesus prevented the demons from declaring His identity as the Son of God. But Jesus was on a God-ordained mission that had a firm and highly specific timeline attached to it. The testimony of the demons could have led the people to see Jesus as the political/military Messiah they had been looking for. His obvious power over the spiritual realm could have led them to speculate that He could just as easily defeat the physical enemies of Israel, such as the Romans. As we will see later on in Luke’s gospel, the people were looking for a Messiah who would set them free from Roman rule and oppression, and, on more than one occasion, they would attempt to take Jesus by force and make Him their King. So, Jesus silenced the demons, refusing them to declare His true identity. He had a job to do and it would not be complete until He had faithfully obeyed His Father’s will by sacrificing His life on the cross.

After a busy day in the town of Capernaum, Jesus sought a place of refuge, to rest and, most likely, to seek time alone with His Heavenly Father. But the crowds were persistent and eventually found Him. The needs of the people were great and they begged Jesus to remain with them. You can sense that they knew He was someone special and they wanted to keep Him for themselves. But Jesus responded by informing them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose” (Luke 4:43 ESV).

The people of Capernaum were focused on the physical benefits that Jesus seemed to provide. They had seen Him heal the sick and set free those who were demon-possessed, and they wanted more. But Jesus had a different agenda in mind. He had come to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. Whether they believed Him to be the Messiah or not, Jesus had not come to set up an earthly kingdom or rule from a throne in Jerusalem. He had come “to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor” (Luke 4:19 ESV). God was preparing to show His undeserved favor and mercy on a condemned and death-deserving mankind by offering His Son as the substitutionary atonement for their sin debt. They were looking for a Messiah who would set them free from Roman rule, but Jesus had come to provide freedom to those who were held captive by sin and death. And as Jesus would later state, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36 ESV).

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

An Unlikely Vessel

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.’ 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. – Luke 1:26-38 ESV

The birth of John to Elizabeth and Zechariah, while obviously divinely ordained and miraculous in nature, was meant to be a precursor to the more important and paradigm-shifting birth that was to follow. John’s entire life and ministry would be that of a herald or preparer of the way.

“…he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” – Luke 1:17 ESV

In the same way, Luke records John’s birth as if it was merely a sign of greater things to come. While there are obvious similarities between the two birth accounts, Luke wants his readers to understand that there were glaring and significant differences as well. Years later, after beginning his ministry announcing the arrival of the Messiah and the Kingdom of Heaven, John would elaborate on the differences between him and Jesus.

“You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.  He must increase; I must decrease.

“The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.” – John 3:28-31 BSB

Once again, the angel Gabriel is sent to earth by God with a message. This time, he appears to a young virgin girl named Mary. Unlike Zechariah, Mary bears no title or job responsibility that would give her an air of importance or worth. She lived in Nazareth, a relatively obscure town located in the region of Galilee. With the mention of her place of residence, Luke has moved the narrative outside the walls of the capital city of Jerusalem where Zechariah received his message from Gabriel. In doing so, he has shifted the reader’s attention from the sacred environs of the temple to the less-than-holy confines of Nazareth. The reputation of this backwater town was far from stellar. Years later, when Philip told Nathanael “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph,” (John 1:45 ESV), Nathanael sarcastically responded, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46 ESV).

But it was in this unimpressive place and to an unassuming young girl that God sent His angelic messenger with unexpected news. 

“Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” – Luke 1:28 ESV

Luke records that Mary’s response to seeing an angel was markedly different than that of Zechariah. He had been troubled and filled with fear at the sight of Gabriel but Mary seems to have been more disturbed by the content of the message than the heavenly status of its deliverer.

…she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. – Luke 1:29 NLT

Mary was a nobody. It’s likely that she was no more than a teenager at the time. And besides her name and the fact that she was a virgin, all Luke tells us about her is that she was “betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David” (Luke 1:27 ESV). There is nothing about Mary that should have set her apart as special in any way. And that seems to be the point. When Gabriel announced her “favored” status, he was not declaring that she had somehow earned her way into God’s good graces.

The Greek word is κεχαριτωμένη, and it means “to grace” or “to indue with special honor.” It is only used one other time in the New Testament. In his letter to the believers in Ephesus, Paul refers to the grace or unmerited favor that God had poured out on them.

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. – Ephesians 1:4-6 ESV

They had done nothing to earn their adoption as sons and daughters of Jesus Christ. It had all been a gift from God. And he would elaborate on the undeserved nature of that gift in the very next chapter.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV

Mary had done nothing to merit her visitation from Gabriel, and her designation as God’s “favored one” was unearned as well. God had chosen her. He had set her apart to be the earthly vessel that would carry the priceless treasure of His Son. It was her relative obscurity and apparent inadequacy that set her apart. And Mary seemed to recognize the incongruity of Gabriel’s words with her own understanding of her value. She was troubled by what she heard and couldn’t reconcile the confusing nature of the angel’s message. But the apostle Paul provides us with a statement that helps to explain what was going on as Gabriel declared God’s message to Mary.

Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. – 1 Corinthians 1:24-289 NLT

Mary was an unlikely vessel to contain the glory of God. But then, so are we.

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. – 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 NLT

This young girl was going to be used by God to bring light into the world. She would bear and give birth to the Son of God. For nine months, she would carry the hope of the world in her womb, and eventually, she would deliver God’s priceless gift of grace into the waiting arms of a rebellious and sin-stained world.

Gabriel assured Mary that she had “found favor with God!” (Luke 1:30 NLT). Once again, this does not mean that Mary had earned favor, but that God had graciously chosen to act on her behalf. He was gracing her with His favor. And then Gabriel explains to her how the favor of God would manifest itself.

“You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.  He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.” – Luke 1:31-33 NLT

If Mary had been troubled before, she had to have been reeling at this point. This was mind-boggling, earth-shattering information that must have left her head spinning and her heart racing. And her confusion is evidenced by her reaction: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34 ESV). She and Joseph were still in the betrothal stage of their relationship and were not yet officially married. It sounded like Gabriel was getting the cart before the horse. She and Joseph still needed to complete their betrothal, go through the marriage ceremony, and then consummate their relationship.

That’s when Gabriel drops the next bombshell.

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.” – Luke 1:35 NLT

This was all uncharted waters for this young Jewish girl. She had no way of understanding what Gabriel meant. There was no precedent to which she could turn to understand this kind of supernatural explanation. It is doubtful that she fully comprehended the nature of Gabriel’s words. But rather than ask more questions, she simply responded: “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38 NLT). There may have been a tone of confused compliance behind Mary’s statement. She had no idea what was about to happen but because it was the will of God, Mary was ready to humbly submit.  

It all had to have sounded improbable and impossible to Mary. But Gabriel had assured her that “nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37 NLT). And he gave Elizabeth’s pregnancy as evidence of God’s involvement in all that was going on. The creator of the universe was working behind the scenes to bring about the greatest event in human history, and He was using broken, barren, insignificant, and undeserving individuals to make it happen.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Undeserve Grace. Unmerited Favor.

41 Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished feasting. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “What does this uproar in the city mean?” 42 While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a worthy man and bring good news.” 43 Jonathan answered Adonijah, “No, for our lord King David has made Solomon king, 44 and the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites. And they had him ride on the king’s mule. 45 And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon, and they have gone up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you have heard. 46 Solomon sits on the royal throne. 47 Moreover, the king’s servants came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours, and make his throne greater than your throne.’ And the king bowed himself on the bed. 48 And the king also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has granted someone to sit on my throne this day, my own eyes seeing it.’”

49 Then all the guests of Adonijah trembled and rose, and each went his own way. 50 And Adonijah feared Solomon. So he arose and went and took hold of the horns of the altar. 51 Then it was told Solomon, “Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon, for behold, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’” 52 And Solomon said, “If he will show himself a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” 53 So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and paid homage to King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.” – 1 Kings 1:41-53 ESV

As Solomon was being anointed the next king of Israel, his brother, Adonijah was just a few hundred yards away at En-rogel, throwing what he believed to be his own pre-coronation party. But just as they were finishing their festivities, the sound of a trumpet could be heard emanating from the city of David. Something of great significance was going on, and it was just a matter of time before the news of the events taking place in Jerusalem made its way to Adonijah and his rebel companions.

Suddenly, the son of Abiathar the priest burst into the room with a stunning and unexpected revelation that was going to take everyone by complete surprise, including Adonijah. But the self-assured and over-confident host of the party welcomed Abiathar with open arms, eager to hear what he had to say.

“Come in,” Adonijah said to him, “you are a good man. You must have good news.” – 1 Kings 1:42 NLT

But what Jonathan had to tell them was anything but good news. In fact, it’s likely that this young man risked interrupting Adonijah’s invitation-only party because his father was one of the guests. Jonathan was fully aware of Adonijah’s plans to usurp David’s throne, and he knew his own father was complicit in the plot. So, he burst into the room, hoping to warn his father about the dramatic turn of events in Jerusalem.

“Our lord King David has just declared Solomon king! The king sent him down to Gihon Spring with Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, protected by the king’s bodyguard. They had him ride on the king’s own mule, and Zadok and Nathan have anointed him at Gihon Spring as the new king. They have just returned, and the whole city is celebrating and rejoicing. That’s what all the noise is about.” – 1 Kings 1:43-45 NLT

It doesn’t take much creativity to imagine the impact these words had on the mood in the room. Jaws dropped in shock. Hearts, once merry and expectant, sank in fear. And wine glasses probably crashed to the floor as the shocked guests took in this devastating news. No one in the room had seen this coming, especially Adonijah. He had not factored this contingency into his planning. So, as Jonathan continued to report the late-breaking news from Jerusalem, a dark and foreboding cloud settled over the room.

“What’s more, Solomon is now sitting on the royal throne as king. And all the royal officials have gone to King David and congratulated him, saying, ‘May your God make Solomon’s fame even greater than your own, and may Solomon’s reign be even greater than yours!’” – 1 Kings 1:46-47 NLT

Everyone present was shaken to their core. They had each chosen to align themselves with Adonijah, in the vain hope that his coup would succeed and he would reward them handsomely for their commitment to his cause. But now, having heard the news from Jerusalem, they were having some serious second thoughts and overwhelming regrets. They had bet on the wrong team. They had risked everything in the hopes of a big return on their investment. But King David had just thrown a wrench into their plans, by crowning his son, Solomon, as the next king of Israel. And Jonathan revealed the final bit of news that must have hit Adonijah and his guests like a sucker punch to the gut. The king himself had pronounced a blessing on the whole proceedings. Unlike Adonijah, Solomon had not attempted a coup. He had been anointed the king of Israel by royal decree and with the full support of David

“Then the king bowed his head in worship as he lay in his bed, and he said, ‘Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who today has chosen a successor to sit on my throne while I am still alive to see it.’” – 1 Kings 1:47-48 NLT

This last bit of news brought an abrupt and immediate end to the party. Any joy that had been in the room was long gone and the guests were quick to follow. They bailed on Adonijah, leaving him completely alone and with no other option than to seek refuge in the tabernacle. He knew he was a dead man. With his newly acquired authority as king, Solomon would be quick to execute all those who had played a part in this failed insurrection. So, Adonijah, in an attempt to save his life, entered the holy place within the sanctuary in the hopes that he might receive asylum from God Himself. He sought shelter at the altar, grabbing hold of its decorative horns and, in essence, offering himself as a sacrifice to God.

News soon reached Solomon that his half-brother had sought refuge in the tabernacle, where he was demanding clemency. 

“Let King Solomon swear today that he will not kill me!” – 1 Kings 1:51 NLT

Amazingly, Solomon agreed to Adonijah’s demand, but with very clear conditions.

“If he proves himself to be loyal, not a hair on his head will be touched. But if he makes trouble, he will die.” – 1 Kings 1:52 NLT

Solomon would have been fully justified and well within his rights as king, if he had chosen to put Adonijah to death. But he decided to extend mercy instead. He absolved his brother of all guilt and allowed him to return to his home. Despite all that Adonijah had done to deny him his God-ordained right to the throne, Solomon sought restitution rather than revenge. He would inaugurate his reign with an act of unmerited favor, extending mercy and grace to the guilty and justifiably condemned.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Set Apart By God

10 “He found him in a desert land,
    and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
    he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
    that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
    bearing them on its pinions,
12 the Lord alone guided him,
    no foreign god was with him.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the land,
    and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
    and oil out of the flinty rock.
14 Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
    with fat of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
    with the very finest of the wheat—
    and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.

15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
    you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
    and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
    with abominations they provoked him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
    to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
    whom your fathers had never dreaded.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
    and you forgot the God who gave you birth.” – Deuteronomy 32:10-18 ESV

The Lord’s song continues. It recounts how God discovered Jacob and his family, the nation of Israel, in Egypt, a desert land. God rescued the descendants of Jacob from their captivity in Egypt, where they had served as the slaves of Pharaoh for hundreds of years. God had heard their cries of despair and had sent Moses to be their deliverer. 

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. – Exodus 2:23-25 NLT

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saw the plight of His chosen people and responded with compassion. He protected them like a mother eagle would its chicks. Using Jacob as a synonym for Israel, the poem describes how God cared for His own.

“he encircled him, he cared for him,
    he kept him as the apple of his eye” – Deuteronomy 32:19 ESV

Centuries of captivity in a foreign land had not changed God’s feelings about Jacob and his descendants. The circumstances surrounding their years in Egypt were not to be seen as proof of God’s abandonment of them. The promise He had made to Abraham still held. In fact, it was during their stay in Egypt that the family of Jacob increased in number from just over 70 people to a great nation numbering in the millions.

But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them. – Exodus 1:7 ESV

And this meteoric growth was exactly what God had promised Abraham so many years earlier when He had called out of Haran.

“I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” – Genesis 12:2-3 NLT

God had kept His promise. But His ways are not man’s ways. His methods don’t always make sense to us. The nation of Israel was born out of adversity. It grew up in the context of slavery and servitude. It was a nation in bondage, enslaved by the enemy and incapable of delivering itself from its predicament.

And it was in the midst of their darkest moment that God stepped in and did for them what they could not do for themselves. He delivered them from bondage. He set them free from captivity. And their rescue is indicative of what God has done for all those whom He has rescued from slavery to sin.

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. – Romans 5:6 NLT

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:8 NLT

Paul describes us as having been “slaves to sin” (Romans 6:20). And Jesus said, “everyone who sins is a slave of sin” (John 8:34 NLT). But He has set us free. And “if the Son sets you free, you are truly free” (John 8:36 NLT).

The Israelites were set free from slavery in Egypt. God guided them out of their captivity, having delivered from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh. And when they left the land of Egypt, they did so with God alone as their guide and companion, having left the false gods of the Egyptians behind them. And God led them, fed them, and protected them all the way through the wilderness. But more than that, He taught them about obedience and faithfulness, using trials and difficulties to increase their trust in Him.

“Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. For all these forty years your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t blister or swell. Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good.” – Deuteronomy 8:2-5 NLT

God was gracious and good to the people of Israel, providing them with an abundance of blessings in the form of tangible and practical resources intended to prolong and improve life.

…produce of the fields
…honey for from the cliffs
…olive oil from the hardest of rocks
…butter from the herd
…milk from the flock
…the fat of lambs
…rams and goats of Bashan
…the best of the kernels of wheat
…the juice of grapes

Even in the wilderness, they enjoyed the blessings of God. They ate well and were well-cared for by God. Even their wilderness experience was better than the years they had spent in captivity in Egypt. Walking with God in the wilderness is always better than living in slavery without Him.

God had set apart Israel as His own precious possession. They had done nothing to earn or deserve His gracious deliverance of them. And Moses had made this point quite clear earlier in the book of Deuteronomy.

“For you are a holy people, who belong to the LORD your God. Of all the people on earth, the LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.

“The LORD did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the LORD rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.” – Deuteronomy 7:6-8 NLT

The blessings of God were undeserved. His love for them was not based on any inherent worth in them. And He would continue to love them, in spite of them.

But this song was intended to bring witness against the Israelites, convicting them of their unfaithfulness to God. And to do so, it accentuates the unmerited favor of God. When they had been helpless slaves, God heard their cries and rescued them. He set them free from their oppression and misery, making them His own chosen possession, “the apple of his eye” (Deuteronomy 32:10 ESV). But would they remain so? Were the Israelites going to honor the one who set them free by keeping His commands and living in obedience to His will for them?

Even as they stood on the edge of the promised land, preparing to cross over and claim it as their own, God was revealing the sad truth about their fate. They would become slaves yet again. The people whom God had set free would once again find themselves living in bondage and surrounded by false gods and foreign overlords. They had been set apart by God but would choose not to live that way. They had been made His precious possession but would end up as little more than the property of their enemies. And the next verses of the song will explain how this dramatic change in circumstances will happen.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

The Favor of God.

 1 And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”

2 In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. 5 Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6 There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain. – Isaiah 4:1-6 ESV

The opening verse of chapter four ties directly to the coming judgment of God revealed in chapter three. Because of the rebellion of the people of Judah and their refusal to place their trust in God, He would bring devastating, yet well-deserved judgement upon them. And this would come about through the Babylonian empire. God would cause this powerful pagan nation to place Jerusalem under siege, eventually destroying their capital city and taking captive many of the most wealthy and influential of its inhabitants. They would also take all those who had skills or abilities that could benefit the Babylonian nation, not to mention thousands of Judah’s finest warriors.

And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, 7,000, and the craftsmen and the metal workers, 1,000, all of them strong and fit for war. – 2 Kings 24:16 ESV

This would leave a dirth of able-bodied men back in Judah. Which is why Isaiah describes seven women fighting over a single eligible bachelor to claim as their husband, so that they might not face the reproach of being unmarried in a patriarchal society. Isaiah describes the degree of their desperation by having them barter for a man by offering to provide their own food and clothing. In other words, they would be willing to reverse the normal roles in marriage by acting as the provider.

The phrase, “in that day” appears repeatedly in the book of Isaiah, and can be a reference to the coming fall of Judah to the Babylonians. But as we have seen before, the prophecies of this book carry a now/not yet aspect to them. They will be fulfilled in the not-so-distant future. In this case, it refers to the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC to the Babylonians. But “in that day” also refers to a much more significant fulfillment to the prophecies of this book. There remain aspects of Isaiah’s prophetic pronouncements that remain unfulfilled, and the rest of this short chapter deal with that coming day.

Up until this point in Isaiah’s book, the future described for Judah has been a bleak and foreboding one. It involves the wrath and judgment of God. It will include the fall of Judah to the Babylonians, but also even greater devastation and divine discipline that will come at a much later date – a time that has not yet come.

But is verses 2-6, God reveals that the future for Judah is not all doom and gloom. While they will face His judgment, they will also enjoy His divine favor. God has a glorious future in store for them, in spite of all their unfaithfulness and their refusal to place their trust in Him. And it seems perfectly clear that this promise from God remains unfulfilled. It has not yet taken place. Isaiah writes:

In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. – Isaiah 4:2 ESV

While some see the phrase, “the branch of the Lord” as a messianic statement, referring to Jesus Christ, it is better translated as “the vegetation of the Lord.” The NET Bible translates verse two as “the crops given by the Lord will bring admiration and honor.” The land, left desolate and devoid of vegetation by the judgments of God will be renewed and restored by God. While aspects of this prophecy were fulfilled after the destruction of Judah by the Babylonians, they were incomplete. This is referring to a far-more-distant point in time, at the end of the period of Tribulation. At that time, God will inact a scorched-earth policy on the world, bringing devastating, never-before-seen judgments in the form of plagues, famines and meteorological disturbances that will impact the earth’s food supply.

And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. – Revelation 8:7 ESV

…and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. – Revelation 8:8-9 ESV

A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter. – Revelation 8:11 ESV

The land of Judah will suffer greatly, along with the rest of the world. But God promises to restore the land to its original fruitfulness. The land of Israel will become a land flowing with milk and money yet again. It will be used by God to supply the physical needs of the people of God. But there is more.

God is going to restore His people spiritually. He is going to do for them what they were incapable of doing for themselves. God judgments will have resulted in the purging of the stains of sin from His people. And Isaiah states that those who remain in the nation of Israel and the city of Judah will be called holy or set apart by God once again, “when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning” (Isaiah 4:4 ESV). Not only will He restore the land to fruitfulness, He will restore His people to faithfulness. And the prophet Ezekiel wrote about this coming day.

22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” – Ezekiel 36:22-28 ESV

It is quite obvious that this prophecy remains unfulfilled. But it will be – in the future. God will keep His promise. Isaiah further describes the unique nature of “the day:”

Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. – Isaiah 4:5 ESV

God will restore His presence among them, revealing Himself in the same two forms He had used during their exodus from Egypt.

The LORD went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. – Exodus 13:12 ESV

No more fires of judgment from the throne room of God. Rather than rain down fire from heaven in judgment, He will reveal Himself as a guiding and protecting flame.

And Isaiah reveals that God’s glory will cover His people, just as it had filled and covered the tabernacle during their days in the wilderness.

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.… For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. – Exodus 40:34, 38

God will be their protector and provider. While the human leaders in whom they had placed their hope and trust had failed them, God would not. This future day will be like none other the people of Judah had ever experienced. And the book of Revelation provides us with a glimpse of just how glorious it will be.

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. – Revelation 21:34-38 ESV

God is a faithful, covenant-keeping God. He always does what He has promised to do. And while He would punish Judah for its sins, He would also restore them because of His everlasting, neverending love and abundant grace and mercy.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson