my burg

Bible reading for April 28.  Numbers 5. "Speak to the people of Israel, When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the LORD, and that person realizes his guilt, he shall confess his sin that he has committed..."  (Num 5:6-7)  The water of bitterness. This chapter continues with the theme of holiness among the people of God. One ceremony is described in detail, that for a husband who suspects his wife of being unfaithful . Both the OT and the NT condemn adultery outright for both men and women (Lev 20:20; Mark 10:11-12; Heb 13:4). This particular ceremony is for a suspicious husband who is accusing his wife of infidelity. If the woman is found innocent, it provides a public vindication for her. Read Constable's notes on this chapter in the NET Bible online for help in understanding this passage.  This passage highlights to us the perennial problem of unfaithfulness and jealousy in people, both men and women....

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..."   (Matthew 28:19 ESV) "As the Father is God, so is the Son,  And as the Son is God, so is the Holy Spirit;  And the Three are likewise One God when seen together.  Each is God because they are of the same essence,  And they are One God because of the single principle of Deity. And when I see the Three together, I see only one torch,  And I cannot divide or share out the Undivided Light." ~ Gregory of Nazianzus (AD 329--390)  [Cited by Nick Needham in Daily Readings – The Early Church Fathers ] Image above: an icon of the three Cappadocians -- Gregory of Nyssa, Basil of Caesarea, and Gregory of Nazianzus.   Continuing this Sunday: "Highlights in Church History", a summer adult class, meeting first hour (9:45 am) in the fellowship hall.  Topics include Council of Nicaea, Chalcedon, the gre...

Since the snow is still coming down outside, I'll continue the reviews of the 12 best books I read (or am still reading) in 2018.   Not a Chance: God, Science, and the Revolt against Reason , by R. C. Sproul and Keith Matheson (Baker Books, 2014).  Excellent interaction with  issues related to chance, design, and causality, especially as put forward by proponents of the new physics.  Many years ago in seminary I had an  interest in this field and so did graduate research under Norman Geisler on "Reason, Rationality, and the New Physics."  I muddled through that  research and so, it's a great joy to find R. C.'s acumen put to this topic.  His classical training (and influence from John Gerstner, I would suppose) is so  helpful in making sense of the quantum world.  Or rather, making sense of those who are making nonsense of the quantum world.  Excellent  apologetic work on the value of logic, causality, and the sci...

"The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed,  a stronghold in times of trouble.   And those who know your name put their trust in you,  for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you."   (Psalm 9:9-10 ESV)  "Ignorance is worst when it amounts to ignorance of God, and knowledge is best when it exercises itself upon the name of God.  This most excellent knowledge leads to the most excellent grace of faith.  O, to learn more of the attributes and character of God.  Unbelief, that hooting night bird, cannot live in the light of divine knowledge.  It flies before the sun of God's great and gracious name.  If we read this verse literally, there is, no doubt, a glorious fullness of assurance in the names of God.  By knowing his name is also meant experiential acquaintance with the attributes of God, which are every one of them anchors to hold the soul from drifting in seasons of peril.  The Lord may hide his face for a s...

For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. (Isaiah 54:10) "One of the most delightful qualities of divine love is its abiding character. The pillars of the earth may be moved out of their places, but the kindness and the covenant of our merciful Jehovah never depart from His people. How happy my soul feels in a firm belief of this inspired declaration! The year is almost over, and the years of my life are growing few, but time does not change my Lord. New lamps are taking the place of the old; perpetual change is on all things, but our Lord is the same. Force over turns the hills, but no conceivable power can affect the eternal God. Nothing in the past, the present, or the future can cause Jehovah to be unkind to me. "My soul, rest in the eternal kindness of the Lord, who treats thee as one near of kin. Remember also the ev...

I enjoyed this word from C. H. Spurgeon, from Faith's Checkbook : "And I, if l be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me"   (John 12:32) Come, ye workers, be encouraged. You fear that you cannot draw a congregation. Try the preaching of a crucified, risen, and ascended Savior; for this is the greatest "draw" that was ever yet manifested among men. What drew you to Christ but Christ? What draws you to Him now but His own blessed self? If you have been drawn to religion by anything else, you will soon be drawn away from it; but Jesus has held you and will hold you even to the end. Why, then, doubt His power to draw other? Go with the name of Jesus to those who have hitherto been stubborn and see if it does not draw them. No sort of man is beyond this drawing power. Old and young, rich and poor, ignorant and leaned, depraved or amiable--all men shall feel the attractive force. Jesus is the one magnet. Let us not think of any other. Music will not dra...

"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon"   (Psalm 92:12)   These trees are not trained and pruned by man: palms and cedars are "trees of the LORD," and it is by His care that they flourish. Even so it is with the saints of the LORD: they are His own care. These trees are evergreen and are beautiful objects at all seasons of the year. Believers are not sometimes holy and sometimes ungodly: they stand in the beauty of the LORD under all weathers. Everywhere these trees are noteworthy: no one can gaze upon a landscape in which there are either palms or cedars without his attention being fixed upon these royal growths. The followers of Jesus are the observed of all observers: like a city set on a hill, they cannot be hid. The child of God flourishes like a palm tree, which pushes all its strength upward in one erect column without a single branch. It is a pillar with a glorious capital. It has no growth to the right or...

"As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow , and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love." (Song of Solomon, 2:3-4 ESV) I am enjoying reading again some of C H Spurgeon's communion meditations and addresses. ( Til He Come , Pilgrim Publications, 1971). Here's a quote that stood out to me today... Some Christians cultivate reverence at the expense of childlike love; they kneel down, but they dare not sit down. Our Divine Friend and Lover wills not that it should be so; He would not have us stand on ceremony with Him, but come boldly unto Him. "Let us be simple with Him, then, Not backward, stiff or cold, As though our Bethlehem could be What Sinai was of old." ... Under His shadow we are to feel that we are at home, and then He will make Himself at home to us by becoming food unto our souls, and giving spiritu...