Category: Bible (Page 328 of 419)

Several passages I read this morning reminded me of the heart of God for the nations. Fascinating how reading from various books of the Bible in the same sitting reveals themes I might miss if I read them on separate days.

Here’s my progression of writers today, from Ezekiel to David to John:

I will show the holiness of my great name…Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes (Ezekiel 36:23).

Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name (Psalm 86:8-9).

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Phillip with a request, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus” (John 12:20-21).

God proclaimed through Ezekiel that the nations would see his holiness. David predicted the arrival of people from all nations to worship the Lord. Then—in nearly the exact same spot—travelers of a distant land arrived with the goal of meeting Jesus.

Jesus came first to the lost sheep of Israel, and because God’s plan included everyone in the world, the good news flowed far beyond their borders.

The expansion continues to this day. Check out this graph illustrating one aspect of the growth of the Christian faith over the centuries. It shows the world-wide ratio of non-Christians to practicing Christians from the first century to today:

For every active Jesus follower in 100 AD, roughly 360 people remained uninformed or uninterested. Today that ratio is 1 to 7—astounding growth, with more still to come.

Why? Because God wants the nations to know that He is the Lord, and even today there are millions of people who would like to see Jesus.

Ezekiel 36, Psalm 86, & John 12 in week forty-five of reading the Bible cover to cover.

Photo by Jireh Mark

It’s hard to know what to say at a funeral.

At least I’ve never been very good at it. I suppose it depends on the life of the deceased. When a person lived a long life, knew the Lord, and died with family and friends intact, the service sits different than a gathering for one who’s life was cut short by tragedy. That’s when the words come harder.

Jesus stepped into a heart-wrenching situation when he arrived in Bethany to visit the sisters of his now dead friend, Lazarus. Jesus’s interaction with Martha sounds fairly typical:

Jesus: Your brother will rise again. Martha: I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Then typical disappeared. Jesus looked into Martha’s eyes and stated, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?

Eternity flared inside Martha. The resurrection arrived in the person of Jesus. Martha ran for her sister, and Jesus joined them in weeping for their loss.

Jesus, of course, did more than weep. Going to the tomb and ordering the stone covering the entrance removed, Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out!

Lazarus exited the tomb, not like a zombie, but healthy and renewed. (I’ve heard it said that Jesus needed to be specific when calling Lazarus from the dead, because if he’d commanded a general come out!, all the dead people entombed there would have risen. Certainly an interesting conjecture).

What to say at a funeral? Still hard for me, but much easier when knowing the person we’re honoring now stands face to face with the resurrection and the life.

John 11 in week forty-five of reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by Rosie Sun

A couple thousand years ago, my ancestors painted their bodies blue, wrapped their faces with animal skins, and worshipped trees in the ancient forests of Northern Europe.

Not much different from where I live today in Boulder, Colorado.

Jesus once told a group of Jewish leaders, I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me. At the time, Jesus spent his days gathering the lost sheep of Israel, knowing that beyond their borders a lost and hungry world waited.

So when I hear Jesus go on to say, I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd, I believe he had my Celtic ancestors in mind.

Eventually, thanks to people like the Apostle Paul and Saint Patrick and many unnamed others, the gospel spread from Israel to Europe and beyond.

Of course, I’m one of those other sheep as well. Thankfully, the work of Jesus spans the globe and extends throughout time. All of us not present at the time of Jesus’s teaching reap the benefits.

The good shepherd gathers his sheep from all around the world with this promise: I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full.

And so today, like my pagan forefathers, many will hear his voice, choose to leave the way of the thief, and follow the Good Shepherd.

John 10 in week forty-four of reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by Andrew Shelley

Among his many prophecies, Ezekiel shared a funeral lament concerning the king of Tyre. Interestingly, over the years many commentators understood this passage to refer to Satan. See if you see why in these words from the Lord:

You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God…You were anointed as a guardian cherub…You were on the holy mount of God; You walked among the fiery stones.

You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Your heart became proud…you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor, so I threw you to the earth.

Sounds like Old Scratch, does it not?

But the passage also shares tons of detail that only apply to the king of Tyre, ruler of a fabulous wealthy nation, who turned his pride into a consuming passion. So we don’t really know for sure.

Either way, Ezekiel underscored the Lord’s hatred of pride. The oldest sin, rebellion in the heavens, coalesced around pride. The king of Tyre featured here is only one of a long line of arrogant and domineering monarchs found in scripture.

Pride—the Lord hates it. This point arises again and again in scripture, perhaps one of the strongest themes that emerges. I struggle with pride, and you struggle with pride. Pride leads us to dark places, and overweening pride evidences the darkness of our hearts.

Fortunately, the flip side exists: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Praying in the direction of humility, I’m more in line with the grace of God than the resistance of God. Which seems a better place to be.

Ezekiel 28 in week forty-four of reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by Norbert Buduczki