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Obadiah 1:10-11

Standing Aloof

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
November 15, 2023

Edom was bad, so God sent Obadiah. He brought some bad prophecies against the nation founded by Esau. Some argued that it meant the total annihilation of the nation. Some even took it further to include an afterlife. What was so bad about what the Edomites did? Obadiah tells us, “Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.” The charge that Obadiah is leveling against the nation of Edom is that they “stood aloof” when the people of Israel were being killed, the city of Jerusalem was being sacked, and survivors were taken away as slaves. Obadiah calls Edom “brothers” to the Israelites. Edom was the descendant of Log, who was Abraham’s nephew. They were related, and Abraham delivered Lot from the alien peoples of the land in the earlier chapters of Genesis. All of Lot and his family were taken captive, but Abraham mustered his forces and delivered his nephew from the violence of foreigners. Lot’s descendants just stood by and watched as Israel’s enemies sacked the city. According to Obadiah, “Standing aloof” while others suffer unjustly makes you as guilty as the perpetrators. You’ve heard the sayings. He who stands by and lets evil prevail is the same as those who carry out Evil. The only thing necessary for evil to prevail in the world is for good people to stand aloof and let it happen.

We see that horribly played out in the holocaust, where Germany attempted the genocide of the Jewish people. Not many people stood against the Nazi SS when they put whole Jewish families on trains to extermination camps. There were a few, but they paid for their lives at times. One of the better-known resistance groups was a group known as the White Rose. “Run by a small group of university students in Munich, the White Rose produced anonymous leaflets, calling on intellectuals and professionals to unite and stand against the Nazi regime.” The leaflets “Used passages and ideas from a range of classic texts, including the Bible, philosophical works, and German poets. They also criticized and condemned the Nazi reliance on terror, euthanasia, and slave labor. One of their volunteers, 23-year-old Hans Scholl, accused the Nazis of bringing shame on the German people. The Gestapo spent weeks searching for the creators of the White Rose pamphlets. In February 1943, a tip-off led to the arrest of three students, including Hans Scholl and his 21-year-old sister, Sophie Scholl. They were interrogated, tortured, tried, and executed, all within six hours. More arrests and executions followed over the coming weeks.”[1] History makes heroes out of the White Rose members and villains of the Nazis.

It would have been safer for Hans and Sophie to have minded their own business and let the evil happen. An ex-marine was charged with 2nd-degree manslaughter after stepping in to protect travelers on the New York subway system. In the eyes of all those who were protected from the violent outrage of a mentally unstable passenger, they say he is a hero. The left-wing prosecutor is calling it murder and indicted Daniel Penny. The others on the subway defended Penny’s action, but the person who was restrained was black, and Penny was white. It’s been turned into a racial issue. I’m hoping Penny does not suffer the same fate that Hans and Sophie suffered.

[1] Opposition to the Nazis (alphahistory.com)

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Amos 1:7-8

Fire From Heaven

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
November 14, 2023

God’s hatred of the slave trade that Israel’s enemies practiced is described in several ways. It’s like a devouring fire. It’s like an invading army that has no mercy on the populace or the ruling authorities. Even the few that try to escape will be caught and destroyed. This is pretty clear in Amos 1:7-8 where God foretells the fate of those that enslaved his people. Amos reads, “So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds. I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God.”  Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron are four of the chief cities of the Philistines. The fifth city that isn’t mentioned in Gath.

Those who had set their hearts on the complete annihilation of the Jewish nation will face God’s wrath, and they themselves will be utterly destroyed. The holocaust in World War II, carried out by Germany, was one of the greatest expressions of hatred for God’s people. Hitler wasn’t the first world leader determined to eliminate the Jewish people from the earth. Pharaoh in Egypt during the days of Moses had the same desire. Haman, as we see in the Book of Esther, is another example of such genocide. But God will not allow that to happen. I watched the movie “Oppenheimer” several weeks ago and was struck powerfully by one quote. It was in answer to the question of how America was able to get the Atomic Bomb before the Germans. Germany had its own “Manhattan” project but couldn’t get the job done. Why? The answer was because of Germany’s antisemitism. If the Jewish scientists had been allowed to do their work in Germany, there is no telling how the war would have turned out. But they either drove out all the Jewish scientists or murdered them. Those that escaped came to America and ended up being at the forefront of America’s race to invent the Atomic Bomb.

Germany was defeated by the combined forces of the Allies: England, America, and Russia. I’ve always thought that the Atomic Bomb came too late. It should have come in time to drop on Berlin. Amos prophesied that God promised to “send fire” upon the enemies of God’s people. Japan did not participate in the holocaust as such, but they were allies with Germany. One website informs us, “Overall Japanese policy and actions towards Jews as a group were one that could be characterized as studied even-handedness. The Japanese did not single out the Jews for special attention or restrictions because of their ‘ethnic’ or religious uniqueness. On the other hand, the Jews shared equally in the suspicion that the Japanese held for all neutral and non-Japanese nationals living within the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.”[1] From God’s earliest promises to Abraham regarding his descendants, God made it clear that those who supported Israel would be blessed. Those that did not would face a curse. Just as God brought the destruction of Israel’s enemies, the Philistines, so too did he bring destruction to Israel’s enemies in World War II. He rained fire upon them in a very literal way with the Atomic Bomb.

[1] Japan & the Jews During the Holocaust (jewishvirtuallibrary.org)

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Joel 1:10

Capitalism Is Biblical

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
November 13, 2023

When a nation loses its moral foundations, it is doomed, as history has taught us over and over. The clearest lesson is found in the Bible itself. Israel, God’s chosen people, were redeemed from slavery and set free to establish their own nation in their own land with their own precepts. Those precepts were found in the Bible. I’ve often compared America’s foundation with that of Israel. Though many argue about it, it seems that our nation was founded by many different religious expressions; the key to it all was the Judeo-Christian ethic that held them all together. We had Catholics, Episcopalians, Baptists, Puritans, and other groups. But they all held the Ten Commandments and the idea of Freedom of Religion as their core values. Without them, we would not have gotten very far. America is under great pressure to forfeit those values today in exchange for humanism, secularism, or socialism. If we don’t stand up for our values in this country, the same will happen to us that happened to Israel. Joel 1:10 tells us what the invading army did to their country, “The fields are destroyed; the ground mourns because the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil languishes.”

 The equivalent of “fields” in today’s America might be the source from which our livelihood comes. There are no more jobs, and the populace can no longer be supported by the works of their hands. The means of “sowing” have been destroyed. The ground mourns is a reference to the people who live on the earth. It’s not speaking of literal dirt unless it is referring to the dust from which man is made. No, it speaks of the result of sowing, i.e., reaping! The rewards from hard work, and sowing, are removed, and it is meaningless to put forth effort to produce anything of value. Wine is the symbol of joy over and over in the Bible. Rogers says that wine, as well as oil, “In the Bible, is an emblem, a symbol, of joy. For example, you read in Psalms 104:15: And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face shine and bread which strengthen man’s heart. (Psalms 104:15) So, God here speaks of oil and bread and wine as that which gives joy and strength.”[1] With the loss of the means of production, followed by the lack of resources, comes the end of joy in life.

Biblical values upon which our nation was founded involve a profound commitment to capitalism. Sowing and reaping is the principle which establishes what has been called the American dream. It is worthwhile to work hard and put forth effort in life because you get exactly what you put forth. In America, one can advance his status, increase his standing in the community, improve his lifestyle, and even enjoy conveniences if he follows the simple rules of capitalism: sowing and reaping. I know there is a religious movement that argues for a more socialistic state, whereas the government takes care of its children regardless of their work ethic. This is one value that all the founders of America had in common, regardless of denominational preferences. Like Israel in the days of Joel, America is deserting its roots and listening to the voices of the liberal media and politicians who want to make America a socialist country. It’s interesting that about 70 years ago, Christianity Today published an article regarding the trends toward socialism. It says, “And at this point, Christian criticism cannot keep silent. For, even if influential Protestant clergymen during the past generation tried to make collectivism out to be Christian and Capitalism Satanic, they were false prophets. By their proclamations, they revealed that they misunderstood Christianity and that their devotion to the writings of Marx ran deeper than their fidelity to the Hebrew-Christian Scriptures. For Capitalism is biblical.”[2]

[1] Rogers, Adrian. 2017. “Jesus Is God’s Answer to Man’s Disappointment.” In Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive, Jn 2:1–20:31. Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.

[2] Christianity Today. 1956. “Christian Criticism and Labor’s Big Stick,” 1956.

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Hosea 1:8-9, Romans 9:25-26

You Are My Child!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
November 12, 2023

Gomer’s first illegitimate son was named “Jezreel,” as directed by God. He was so named because God was going to bring judgment on the house of Jehu at the Valley of Jezreel. Jehu had the 70 sons of Ahab beheaded in the valley of Jezreel and stacked their skulls up outside the city gates. The name  The next child of “whoredom” was named “Lo-Rahumah.” God directed the naming of this child also. The name means “No Mercy.” God will withdraw His mercy on the house of Israel, and they will be conquered by their enemies. But God was not through with naming the children of Gomer conceived in adultery. Verses 8 and 9 of the first Chapter of Hosea tells us, “When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, ‘Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.’” In Hebrew and in many English Bibles, we see that the name is literally “Lo-Ammi.” As expected, it means “not my people.”

I read a recent headline that told of a father who discovered his wife had an affair. He insisted that DNA samples be taken of their children to be sure they were his. Hosea, God’s prophet, did not need a DNA sample. He knew very well that Gomer’s children were not his. I can’t imagine what devastation would bring to a child to have their father say, “You are not my child, and I am not your father.” In the case of Israel, it meant more than physical identity. It looked back at the entire history of the Jewish race. The nation of people descended from Abraham was always considered God’s people. They considered YHWH their God. They considered themselves God’s people. God tells them through Hosea that He is not their God and they are not His people.

This was more than a statement of fact. Hosea knew that this child was not his, but he was directed to use this experience to inform the nation that they no longer represented the family values of the children of Israel. There is no family resemblance between the northern Kingdom of Israel and the nation that God had directed from Egypt to the promised land. The nation that became one under King David and then became the greatest nation on earth under King Solomon was no longer recognizable as the children of God. Kidner says, “From one angle, this oracle was simply factual: just as accurate as would have been Hosea’s disclaimer of paternity for his children. Israel might be nominally the Lord’s, but in fact, she was the child of her times and of her pagan world. Likewise, Yahweh might be nominally her national God, but since He is not for sharing, the presence of other gods flatly denied the relationship.”[1]

The Apostle Paul tells the Roman Gentiles, as well as us, that although they were not of the chosen people of God, God adopted them into his family. He quotes from Hosea in Romans 9:25-26, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children’ of the living God.’” Children of God are not so because of a bloodline. We are children of God because of faith in the only begotten son of God. God looks at anyone of any race who has come to faith in Jesus and says, “you are my child.”

[1] Kidner, Derek. 1976. The Message of Hosea: Love to the Loveless. Edited by J. Alec Motyer and Derek Tidball. The Bible Speaks Today. England: Inter-Varsity Press.

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Daniel 2:1-11

God Does What God Does

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
November 11, 2023

Joel 2:28 says that old men will dream dreams while young men will see visions. Peter quotes this passage in Acts chapter 2 when he preaches to the Jews on the day of Pentecost. I’m sure its fulfillment is more significant than this, but I can’t help to observe that I no longer have any visions of what I might accomplish in life and have lost all my delusions of grandeur. That stuff is for younger men. But I sure do have a lot more dreams at night than I used to have. I might remember them when I first wake up, and sometimes they actually wake me up in the middle of the night. I sure hope they don’t purport the future. Some of them are pretty scary. Others are just downright stupid! Some of them are delightful, and I wish I could make them last longer. Usually, they are gone by the time I get my first cup of coffee. When I try to tell my wife about them, I can’t remember them. I suspect that Nebuchadnezzar was an older man when he had the dreams that he tells us about in Daniel 2:1-11. I think he had trouble remembering them, also. The text says, “In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. And the king said to them, ‘I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.’ Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, ‘O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.’ The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, ‘The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore, show me the dream and its interpretation.’” The King’s wise men knew that they could not tell him what he had dreamed, but Nebuchadnezzar was adamant and repeated his challenge to them. They tell him, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

 If someone in my church during my days as a pastor made such a demand on me, I’d probably reply with the same answer. That’s impossible! I’ve not had such demands, but people have asked questions that I cannot answer.  There are some things, even as the king’s wise men said, that is known only by God. They are similar to the question, “Why do we have only two arms and not three?” That’s just the way it is. Why did God choose to reveal himself to us in a “trinity?” That’s just the way it is. This approach in itself teaches us an important lesson about interpreting the Book of Daniel (or any biblical book, for that matter). As Ferguson says, “We are not required to have all the answers to all the questions people may ask about the Bible. The fact that we cannot yet answer all questions is no reason for ceasing to believe it is God’s word any more than our imperfect knowledge of the working of the human body is a reason for ceasing to breathe.” He goes on to add that the “Thrilling message of Daniel 2 is that in this context, the kingdom of God will be established, grow, and ultimately triumph throughout the whole earth.” It’s very much like God to “Reveal His glorious purpose through the forgotten dream of Nebuchadnezzar. All of our instincts would tend to insist that God should give such revelation only through the most holy of men. He demonstrates, however, His ability to establish His purposes in the world by whatever means He pleases. That was why Daniel was able to say with such joy that it is the Lord who “changes the times and the seasons … removes kings and raises up kings” (2:21).[1]

[1] Ferguson, Sinclair B., and Lloyd J. Ogilvie. 1988. Daniel. Vol. 21. The Preacher’s Commentary Series. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

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Ezekiel 1:10-11

Holy, Holy, Holy!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
November 10, 2023

Ezekiel was a slave in Babylon with the other Israelites, and they wept over the loss of their temple and their nation. They grieved by the rivers and sang songs of lament to God. They felt forsaken by their God! Ezekiel was given a vision of four living creatures coming from the eternal realm to the earthly realm to accomplish God’s will with His chosen people. God had not forsaken them. These creatures were unlike the gods of Babylon, mobile and capable of acting on behalf of God’s people. They had wings, legs, feet, and hands. All of which could affect change in the world. Ezekiel also sees into the character of these creatures. He tells us in Chapter 1, verses 10-11, “As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies.”

 There has been a wide range of ideas associated with these four faces. The Bible Knowledge Commentator says, “Some interpreters feel that these represent intelligence (man), power (lion), service (ox), and swiftness (eagle). However, it seems better to see the faces as representing the highest forms of life in God’s created realm. A man was mentioned first because he was the acme of God’s creative work. He was followed by the lion, “king” among wild beasts; the ox, one of the strongest of domestic animals; and the eagle, the “lord” of the birds.”[1] Many ancient commentators attempted to connect each of these faces with one of the Gospels. Some modern writers do so, also. Jerome, in the third century AD, suggested that Matthew represents the face of a man, Mark represents the face of a lion, Luke represents an ox, and John represents an eagle.[2] One Messianic Jew says, “Ezekiel was not describing “chariots of the gods” or spaceships from outer space, but cherubim.[3] One might also notice that when Israel, in their wanderings in the wilderness, would set up camp in a square with four sides. The group that led the eastern side was Judah. The emblem of Judah was a lion. To the south was Ephraim. The emblem of Ephraim was the face of a man. To the north was Dan, represented by an eagle. To the west was Ruben, represented by an ox.[4]

In whatever way you might understand the four faces, The Apostle John, in his gospel, uses the same images to describe what he sees. The remarkable thing about John’s vision is that these creatures, apparitions, illustrations, angels, or whatever they might be called, are all singing a song. It goes like this, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

[1] Dyer, Charles H. 1985. “Ezekiel.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, 1:1228. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

[2] Stevenson, Kenneth, and Michael Gluerup, eds. 2008. Ezekiel, Daniel. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[3] Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. 1983. The Messianic Bible Study Collection. Vol. 152. Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries.

[4] Courson, Jon. 2006. Jon Courson’s Application Commentary: Volume Two: Psalms-Malachi. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

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Lamentations 1:6, Proverbs 29:25

The Fear Of Man Is A Snare!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
November 9, 2023

The failure of Israel to listen to her prophets and repent of her sins against God brought the destruction of the nation at the hands of her enemies. Israel’s relationship with their God brought glory to them and made them a respected nation in the world. Although Solomon had his own problems, the nation prospered in an environment that promoted the worship of the one true God at the new Temple in Jerusalem. They were esteemed by all the nations around them. Leaders from all over the world came to Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of Solomon, which was based on “The fear of the Lord.” But after his death, the leaders turned away from God to worship the useless gods of the people around them. They wanted to be part of the landscape like all the other nations. They wanted to be accepted by those around them. They traded the “fear of the Lord” for the “fear of man.” In Lamentations 1:6, Jeremiah tells us what happens to those who exchange the “fear of the Lord” for the “fear of man.” He says, “From the daughter of Zion, all her majesty has departed. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer.”

 David’s son Solomon said in Proverbs 29:25, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” When we see great failure in the Bible, it often involves the fear of man. Abraham feared Pharoah and Abimelech and twice lied about his wife being his sister to save his own life and to win approval. Isaac followed in his footsteps and did the same thing. While Moses was getting the ten commandments on Mount Sinai, Aaron was succumbing to the pressures of the people to build golden calves for them to worship. Saul feared man, and it caused his downfall. Even Elijah, the prophet of God, found himself hiding in a cave in fear for his life when Jezebel swore to kill him. It was the fear of man that moved Peter to deny Christ. Fear of the Pharisees caused Nicodemus to come at night to find Jesus. Solomon was right about the fear of man being a trap.

 The majesty of the nation of Israel, Zion, left her. The fear of man affected all of Israel from their early days when they began to seek acceptance from the peoples of the land. Even King David feared man and found himself suffering these consequences. When David fled from Saul, he sought acceptance from the Philistines. We learn that he scratched on the door of the gate and let the spittle run down his beard. Courson observes, “Poor David. The same guy who killed Goliath, the same one noted for courage and valor, is now falling prey to the fear of man, acting like an idiot. It’s tragic. It’s amazing to watch teenagers, adults, and even older people act like fools. It’s amazing to see people try to fit in because they’re afraid of men. It’s amazing to see people who, like David, love God and have seen victories in the Lord in times past, fearing man, look like idiots with spit running down their beards as they try to fit in and be cool.”[1]

[1] Courson, Jon. 2003. Jon Courson’s Application Commentary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

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Jeremiah 7:27-28

Truth Has Perished!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
November 8, 2023

God called Jeremiah to confront the nation concerning the loss of its moral compass. They had been miraculously delivered from slavery in Egypt, taken to a new land, and given a constitution by which they were to live together. The center of their constitution consists of 10 commands which were to rule their lives. The moral influence of the nations around them corrupted their values and led them astray. God then sent the prophets to point the way back. The people would not hear them but continued on the deadly downward slope leading to destruction. Jeremiah was called to be one of the last prophets to proclaim God’s truth and call the people to repentance. God knew what the outcome would be. Jeremiah 7:27-28 tells us, “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.’”

This is the shocking indictment that God gave Jeremiah concerning the leadership in Israel. It was specifically directed to the religious leaders of the day: “Truth has perished!” This indictment “would make a suitable epitaph for our own post-Christian culture. Truth has vanished from our homes and our preachers’ lips.” Ryken tells us, “One writer who has taken up the lament is Os Guinness: Contemporary evangelicals are no longer people of truth.… A solid sense of truth is foundering in America at large. Vaporized by critical theories, obscured by clouds of euphemism and jargon, outpaced by humor and hype, overlooked for style and image, and eroded by advertising, truth in America is anything but marching on. With magnificent exceptions, evangelicals reflect this truth decay and reinforce it for their own variety of reasons for discounting theology. Repelled by ‘seminary theology’ that is specialized, professionalized, and dry, evangelicals are attracted by movements that have replaced theology with emphases that are relational, therapeutic, charismatic, and managerial (as in church growth). Whatever their virtues, none of these emphases gives truth and theology the place they require in the life and thought of a true disciple.” Ryken goes on to say, “Guinness is right. We are not people of the truth, and we do not live among people of the truth (cf. Isaiah 6:5). We have truth decay in the same places Jeremiah could detect it.”[1]

I first came across the phrase “how we live is more important than what we believe” on a chalkboard outside of a coffee shop last year. I shook my head, thinking the baristas should stick to coffee making. Since then, however, I’ve seen the idea pop up in all kinds of places. The evangelical church of today lives by that creed. They hold all kinds of social outreach programs: feeding the hungry, housing the poor, caring for those who have lost loved ones, helping the addicted, and a number of other social causes. Whereas these things are all good, I don’t think they are as important as what a person believes. They might win favor with the community and give one a sense of “doing good.” They do nothing to secure one’s eternal destiny. Christians, atheists, and people with all kinds of other beliefs help the homeless, give money to charities, participate in environmental causes, fight child abuse, advocate for crime victims, and much more. From a Christian perspective, how you live cannot be more important than what you believe—what you believe determines where you will spend eternity. God so loved the world that he sent His only begotten Son. Whoever “believes” in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

[1] Ryken, Philip Graham. 2001. Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope. Preaching the Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

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