Friday, May 31, 2013

All the increase


(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 14:22–29, “Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always. And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God hath blessed thee: Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household, And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee. At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.”
Israel were called upon to acknowledge that the Lord made their Land fruitful. They were expected to bring a tenth of all their produce and celebrate the Lord’s goodness by eating their offering in the place that the Lord defined. After all, the Lord had given them rich blessings in the Land and they were showing the Lord that they understood where their crops came from and Who made their Land so fruitful. It would be churlish to tell the Lord that they were grateful for what He had given them but refuse to come to the place that He defined. This place varied during the course of history but eventually became Jerusalem where the Temple was built. While some of the people were celebrating there were others who were not able to celebrate, for various good reasons. Israel was called upon to remember that they had been slaves in Egypt and not in a position to celebrate anything. For this reason they were to remember strangers and people who were less well off. They were also to remember the Levites whose lives were dedicated to serving the Lord and the priesthood.
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For the dead


(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 14:1–21, “Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois. And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you. And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase. These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat: And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you. Of all clean birds ye shall eat. But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind, And every raven after his kind, And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan, And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant, And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten. But of all clean fowls ye may eat. Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.”
This section refers to various pagan practices that were performed after a person died. Israel trusted in the Lord and they committed their dead to His care. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke about this when the Sadducees spoke to Him about resurrection (Mat 22:32, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”) They had no need to despair about their dead. After all the Lord had chosen them to be His special people on the earth and to be the means of bringing His blessings to all the families of the earth. The Lord promised that He would keep Israel from the diseases that troubled Egypt and some of those diseases were related to their diet (Ex 15:26, “And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.” They were given special dietary restrictions to stop these diseases from happening.
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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

In one of thy cities


(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 13:12–18, “If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you; Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again. And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.”
The entire process of protecting Israel from an individual trying to lead his neighbours, friends and family astray had another failsafe measure. If this individual was able to persuade the people who knew him to go after other gods then the people from the next town would be in a better position to judge the situation. As soon as they heard that something was wrong they were to search out the truth and deal with the people in the town who had gone astray. This was important so that they wouldn’t be led astray by a person with persuasive skills because they were meant to check out the evidence before they could be influenced by a skilful person. The people who were seeking to keep Israel from going astray were to deal quickly and completely with the problem before it had time to take seed and grow. Sadly, even this failsafe method failed because Israel didn’t take the Lord’s injunctions seriously and they were all, eventually, led astray. However, when the Lord finally sent Israel into exile no one had any excuse for they had killed the prophets who preached to them and refused to deal with any issue collectively.
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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Or thy friend


(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 13:6–1, “If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.”
The great Irish statesman and politician Edmund Burke (1729-1797) said “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” He must have read this passage at some time for that statement essentially encapsulates its meaning. Everyone in Israel was responsible for the spiritual state of the nation. It wasn’t good enough for one person to make sure that he kept the Law in every respect. He was responsible to make sure that his family and neighbours were not disobeying the Law. This is not an invitation to gossip. Every person was expected to listen to what other people said to them and carefully weigh every aspect of their statements to make sure that their neighbour wasn’t trying to entice them to go astray. As soon as their was any hint of another person suggesting that they follow other gods, even if that person was a close member of their own family, the hearer was to make that publicly known and they were to be the first to follow the penalties proscribed in the Law for worshipping other gods. This was the most important way of stopping idolatry from taking over in Israel. When the Lord Jesus Christ was alive, He followed these instructions carefully. He said, “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Luke 16:13) The leaders of His day believed that you had to be rich to be able to worship the Lord properly but they were really just worshipping another god. This was the real reason that they became His enemies and eventually crucified Him. The same is true today, we can either worship the Lord wholeheartedly or we can worship mammon but not both.
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Friday, May 24, 2013

Dreamer of dreams


(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 13:1–5, “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.”
The Lord will never give a private prophecy that contradicts His written word because He is completely consistent in every way (compare Malachi 3:6, “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” and Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”) The first commandment form the basis of Israel’s relationship with the Lord God, (Exodus 20:2–3, “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”) therefore, if a person calls others to follow another god then that person is implying that the Lord God is not consistent. So, even if that person has a great reputation, Israel were not to follow that person or the other god at all. In those days a person who broke the Ten Commandments was to be put to death so the penalty for a, so called prophet or dreamer, was death. Even though the prophet was able to perform great miracles they had to listen to his message rather than be led astray by the miracle.
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Friday, May 3, 2013

Perfect things


Moses lived a long and interesting life. He spoke with the Lord face to face (Ex 33:11, “And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.”) He would be one of the most qualified people in history to tell us about the Lord and His character. Towards the end of his life Moses composed a Psalm of praise to the Lord. If we read that we can get some insight into a man who knew the Lord God as a friend and learn some lessons for our lives because we, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour are the Lord’s friends as well (see John 15:13–15, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”)
Deuteronomy 32: 1-6, “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?”
Before we look at the Psalm that Moses wrote to the Lord it is a good idea to look at his life so that we can understand the context of the Psalm.
There are extra biblical sources that give quite a lot of information about Moses’ life but, as Moses wrote the first five book of the Bible, we can find autobiographical information about him from the Bible (see John 7:19, “Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?”) These books were inspired by God and contain information that is valuable for readers today.
We know that Moses was born to Israeli parents during a time when Pharaoh was trying to commit genocide on the Jews by demanding that all the Israeli boys should be killed at birth. Moses’ mother, Jochebed, refused to kill her son and hid him inside her home for three months. After that she put Moses in a waterproof ark and placed her child in the river, trusting the Lord to care for him (see Heb 11:23, “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.”)
Moses was adopted into Pharaoh’s household and grew up there. He was, however, wet nursed by his mother during his early years and she was able to teach him about the Lord God and the promises that the Lord made to Abraham. When Moses became an adult, he identified with his own people, even though he had many opportunities to succeed as an Egyptian prince (Heb 11:24–27, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.”)
Moses left Egypt after he committed murder and lived in Midian and married there. He looked after his father in law’s sheep while he was there. At one stage Moses saw an incredible sight. He saw a bush that was burning but it wasn’t being consumed by the fire. When Moses saw this sight he went to have a closer look an the Lord spoke to him from the burning bush. The Lord told Moses to bring His people Israel out of Egypt. Moses did what the Lord said and led the people out after the Lord performed a series of miracles. After Israel had been in the wilderness for a short period of time the Egyptian armies chased after Israel and the Lord miraculously destroyed Egypt’s armies.
After that Moses spent forty days on top of Mount Sinai (Ex 24:18, “And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.”) Speaking to the Lord and receiving the Law. At that stage he asked the Lord if he could see the Lord’s glory (Ex 33:18–23, “And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”) This means that Moses had a closer relationship with the Lord God than any other man before the Lord Jesus Christ came.
Moses was attacked by his brother and sister (see Num 12:1–3, “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it. (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)”) Moses was a meek man, this is not the same as being humble. Moses knew that the Lord had called him and he knew that the Lord trusted him to carry out the task so Moses didn’t fight for himself because he trusted the Lord to carry out the work that the Lord called Moses to do. Moses knew that the Lord would not forsake him and would keep him throughout the course of his life.
Later there were other rebels who attacked Moses and tried to relieve him of his leadership of Israel but the Lord intervened and kept Moses and Israel safe from these evil men.
However, Moses sinned when the Lord told him to speak to the rock and bring forth water (see Num 20:11–12, “And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”) For that reason Moses was allowed to lead the people to the borders of the Promised Land and then he had to pass the leadership on to his assistant. (Deut 3:23–27, “And I besought the LORD at that time, saying, O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.”)
Deuteronomy is a record of Moses last dealings with the nation that he had led out of slavery. The Psalm in ch 32 is the end of the section,which began with the early chapters as its preamble. When Moses spoke these words he was well aware of the fact that the Lord was not allowing him to enter into the Promised Land.
Moses called to creation to bear witness to his remarks. His teaching was like the rain coming down from heaven to refresh the earth and bring life. He used a Hebrew poetical device by repeating the same idea in a few different ways to emphasise his words. His main goal, in writing this psalm, was to let creation know about the Lord and the Lord’s greatness. In fact, he called on the entire creation to acknowledge the Lord’s greatness and to proclaim it as well.
The Rock is associated with permanence, security and provision. in fact, the Jews believed that the Rock followed them through the wilderness (see 1 Cor 10:4, “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”) Moses knew that the Lord was Israel’s security and provision.
Even though Moses knew he would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land and he had submitted to the Lord in that regard, he still proclaimed that the Lord’s work is perfect. Noah was known to be a perfect man (Gen 6:8–9, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”) He was perfect because he walked with God. In contrast to this the church at Sardis was found not to have perfect works (Rev 3:2, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”) When it comes to God, however the fact that His works are perfect means that any careful examination of his works by a person of faith will show that His works are absolutely without fault. Moses spent the majority of his life living by faith in the Lord God. At the end of his life he could look back and say that the Lord didn’t ever do anything that was, in any way, evil. Any person, by faith, can trust the Lord and rejoice in the fact that He is pure and compassionate in every action. Near the beginning of this sermon Moses said the Lord acted for good (Deut 8:16, “Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;”) even though Israel spent forty years in the wilderness.
Everything that the Lord does will stand up to the most precise scrutiny because He is the source and the definition of all truth. The Lord is just and right. When things go wrong it is because people refuse to accept that the Lord only does perfect things and they go against His wisdom.
We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is God (John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”) and that the Lord Jesus Christ remains the same throughout time and eternity (Heb 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”) The apostle Paul referred to this same idea (Rom 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”)
The Lord Jesus Christ is alive and at work today and we know that His work is perfect. Whatever He does, He will always remain consistent and we can rejoice in the fact that He only does perfect things. One day, He will return to take us to be with Himself forever (1 Thes 4:16–17, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”) We can take comfort from and rejoice in the fact that He will continue with his perfect works as we move from the old heavens and the old earth to eternity in the new heaven and the new earth.

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Preparing a place


 Even though the Lord Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Heb 13: 8) we change with time. As He works in the world our needs change but He is always ready for these changes because He is always prepared. Nothing takes the Lord by surprise for He knows the end from the beginning and His will happens whether we like it or not (Is 46: 9, 10).
John 14: 1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
The Lord spoke these words at the beginning of the Upper Room discourse, He knew that He was going to the cross and He was preparing His disciples for that experience. Even though He is Divine, they were simply men and had to deal with the situation with the resources that were available to men at that time.
While we think of our hearts as just a pump that moves the blood around our bodies the Bible sees the heart in a different light. In Gen 6: 5 we read “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” We also read about great Babylon, “How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” (Rev 18: 7) These verses tell us that the heart is the seat of our attitudes and, for sinful men, the source of their sin. The Lord Jesus Christ knew that His disciples would soon be attacked by the evil one (compare Luke 22: 31, “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:”) so He was deeply concerned about His disciples’ hearts.
When Achan coveted and stole treasure from Jericho “Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.” (Josh 7: 25) We learn from this that the Lord’s people can be troubled by sin and led into severe times but when sinners are troubled by sin they perish.
The Lord was encouraging His disciples to battle against the attacks of the evil one that they were soon going to experience and to overcome them. The only means they had to overcome under these circumstances was that they believed in God and that they should also believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The first time that we read about believing in the Bible is when Abram spoke to the Lord about having his own child and He believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness (Gen 15: 6) Anyone who believes in God is counted as righteous so they face the problem of being troubled by sin while those who don’t believe face the prospect of perishing. At that stage, the Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples that He is God because they were able to believe in Him in the same as they were able to believe in God.
After telling His disciples not to be troubled, the Lord Jesus Christ gave them a good reason for them to feel secure in the hearts and believe in Him. He pointed to the fact that He had access to the Father’s house. Every time we read about the Father we can remember the Lord’s words to Adam, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Gen 2: 24) A father always give us the idea of belonging. The Lord Jesus Christ didn’t belong on the earth, He belonged with His Father, in His Fathers’s house. A house is not just a place where people dwell for the Lord said to Noah “Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” (Gen 7: 1) A house also is a word indicating that someone belongs. When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke those words, He spoke of His Father’s house but He was going to make that place the place where His disciples would belong as well.
This is the only place in the Bible where we read about mansions but the idea of a mansion is one of permanence and security. Ordinary people don’t live in mansions but those who belong to household of God (see Eph 2: 16) deserve to live in superior accommodation simply because the Lord our God loves us (compare Deut 7: 7, 8, “The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”)
Heaven is not a place where we dwell in tents as though we are sojourners for Abraham lived in a tent (Gen 18: 6, “And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.”) and he had to ask for a place to bury his wife because he was a sojourner (Gen 23: 4, “ I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”) Those who go to the Father’s house have a permanent abode and will never have to move to another place.
The next issue concerns the fact that there are many mansions. The Lord promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations (Gen 17: 4). There are enough mansions for a vast multitude of people. The Lord Jesus Christ had a far greater vision of the size of His Father’s house than anyone else (compare 2 Pet 3: 3, 4, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”) When the Lord created man and woman in His own image,  He told them “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Gen 1: 28) One of the big problems with any, so called, advanced society is the fact that the population tends to stagnate and not grow. The Lord Jesus Christ is not delaying His return because He is weak or unfaithful, He is just waiting until there are enough people to fill the many mansions. He stressed this fact by telling His disciples that if this was not the case He would have told them.
At that stage the place of many mansions were not ready because the Lord said that He was going to go and prepare a place for His disciples. This message was given for the benefit of all believers because there were only twelve disciples, far to few to fill many mansions.
When something is prepared it is completely ready for use. When Abraham’s servant went to Abraham’s home country to find a bride for Isaac, he met Rebekah and Laban told him, “Come in, thou blessed of the LORD; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.” (Gen 24: 31) At that very time the place was completely ready for that servant to reside for a while.
We can assume from this that the Lord Jesus Christ is still preparing the many mansions in His Father’s house or we would already be called to go and live in them.
The last thing we should consider is the world “place”. Gen 1: 9, “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.” A place is continuous and has no divisions. The Lord Jesus Christ is preparing one place for all those who believe in Him. (Compare this with the Lord’s words, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” (John 10: 16))
In order to prepare this place the Lord Jesus Christ had to go away because this place is in the Father’s house. At that time, the Lord Jesus Christ was living as a man in Israel. However, even though the Lord Jesus Christ had to go away, He promised that He would come again to take His disciples back to His Father’s house so that they could be with Him and dwell in the many mansions.
This reminds us of another aspect of the Lord’s going away. In Matt 10 we read the parable of the ten virgins. They were waiting for the bridegroom to return. There were three phases to a wedding: first all the legal arrangements were made by the families and the couple were espoused (See Matt 1: 18, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together...”) Later, when the wedding supper was prepared the bridegroom went to the bride’s house and took her to the wedding. This is what is being discussed in the passage in Matt 10. Lastly the couple were legally married and they were joined together.
The Lord Jesus Christ made all the legal arrangements for His marriage when He died on the cross and paid the penalty for the sin that separated between our God and us (compare Is 59: 2, “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”)
Now that all the legal arrangements are complete we are waiting for the next step and that is for the Bridegroom to come and take His bride away to the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Rev 18: 7-9, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”)
At this very moment the Lord Jesus Christ is still preparing a place for us, as He promised. This reminds us that even though the work of our salvation is complete the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is not complete. He moved from the phase where He prepared to deal with sin to the phase where He dealt with sin and now He has moved onto another preparation phase where He is preparing for the wedding supper of the Lamb which will occur before the new heavens and the new earth are created and the first heavens and the first earth are passed away (Rev 21; 1) The message for everyone concerning this time is, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev 22: 17) The Lord Jesus Christ is the bridegroom and we will be with Him forever in that new place if we believe in Him.

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The Great High Priest


The Lord Jesus Christ is our Great High Priest. He is able to perform that role from heaven today because He has risen from the grave and is alive.
Heb 6: 16-20, “For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”
We first come across Melchizedek in Genesis 14. If we only had the book of Genesis we would assume that he was just an incidental character. There was a war between some kings from Mesopotamia and other kings from the area we now know as Israel. Lot was taken captive and Abraham rescued Lot and brought him back to his home. Abraham met Melchizedek who gave him food, this man was known as a priest of the Most High God. Melchizedek blessed Abraham on behalf the Most High God. This section also contains the first mention of priest in the Bible and we learn that a priest is a man who acts for the Most High God in His dealings with people. That is a priest is a mediator between God and man, (compare 1 Tim 2: 5, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”) We learn later that Abraham also paid this priest tithes (Heb 7: 2) and that his name means king of righteousness and he is the king of peace.
However, Melchizedek’s history was raised from seeming incidental to being significant when David wrote about him in Psalm 110. The Lord Jesus Christ quoted this Psalm concerning Himself when He asked the Pharisees about Christ (see Matt 22: 41- 45, “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?”) David lived during the days of the Law in Israel and knew about the Aaronic priesthood but he mentioned another order of Priests who belonged to the order of Melchizedek. This means that it is possible for kings to belong to this priestly order even though the roles of king and priest were distinct in Israel.
This order of priests is mentioned in Hebrews 5 and 6. The major theme of the book of Hebrews is the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this priestly order is related to the Lord Jesus Christ even though the first priest of that order was called Melchizedek.
We have been given information about this order of priests in Hebrews 5. We know that high priests of the old order were men who were chosen, according to the conditions laid down by the Lord, to deal with things concerning God. They were qualified to offer gifts to the Lord and sacrifices for sin. As men these priests came from a sinful background and were able to understand the needs of other sinners. The high priest was required to offer sacrifices for his own sins before he could perform his role on behalf of other men. The high priest didn’t choose this role for himself, all high priests were like the first high priest, Aaron, whom the Lord called to his office (see Ex 28: 1, “And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.”)
The same was true of the Lord Jesus Christ, He was appointed as High Priest, as we have already seen from Psalm 110. However, the Lord Jesus Christ had to become a man to perform His role as Saviour because it is impossible for God to die but He had to die to be the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. This is why Psalm 2: 7 was quoted in Heb 5 (“I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.”)
When the Lord Jesus Christ was living on the earth as a man, He carried out His priestly role; we know that He was a man of prayer (see, for example Luke 5: 16). Samuel, who was prophet and judge of Israel stated that he would not sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for Israel (1 Sam 12: 23, “Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:”) The Lord Jesus Christ, as the rejected King and priest prayed for Israel (compare Matt 23: 37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”)
The Lord Jesus Christ prayed in agony in the Garden at Gethsemane (Matt 26: 39, “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”) The Lord was able to deliver Him from this agony but He was the only Person Who could actually pay the full price of salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ was not looking to avoid the cross but satisfying prophecy when He prayed in the Garden (see Is 59: 16, “And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.” and 63: 5, “And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.”) He showed at that time that He was the only Person Who was able to bring salvation and, having done that, He went ahead, alone and unassisted, and brought salvation. He was filled with anger and sorrow at the damage that sin had done to His own people, the apple of His eye (Deut 32: 10, “He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.”)
The Lord Jesus Christ suffered and then became the author of eternal salvation.
When the Lord confirmed His promise to Abraham, He completed the sacred and ancient ritual to confirm a contract alone (See Gen 15: 17, “And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.”)
The Lord was unable to make an oath by using the name of someone who was greater than He, because He is God and the greatest of all. It is also impossible for God to lie (
Titus 1: 2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”) Therefore the Lord made that promise by Himself and it would stand forever. This gives us a sure hope, guaranteed by the Lord Himself, and this secure hope is an anchor for our souls. We can trust the truth of the Lord’s word for we know that it will stand the test of time and eternity (1 Pet 1: 23, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”)
The Lord Jesus Christ, Who was the only Person with sufficient resources to pay the full price of salvation completed this task and was made a high priest of the order of Melchizedek. This, however, is not the end of the story but the beginning of the story. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ said “It is finished” (John 19: 30) just before He died on the cross. So that part of His work is complete and He moved on to another phase of His ministry.
We also know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest. Even though He belongs to a new priestly order, He is the greatest of that new order. (Heb 4: 14, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.”)
Under the old priesthood access to the Lord’s presence was restricted by the veil. The high priest was able to go behind the veil once a year but he had to offer a blood sacrifice before he was able to do that (Heb 9: 7, “But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:”) However, we know (Heb 4: 16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”) that we can come confidently into the very presence of the Lord now. After the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross the veil of the Temple was torn from the top to the bottom (Mark 15: 38). This shows us that the restriction, our sin, has been dealt with forever and we can now come before the Lord whenever we need to.
This leads to the Lord Jesus Christ’s role as the Great High Priest of the order of Melchizedek.
We saw earlier that the high priest were men from a sinful background so that they could understand the needs of the people they served. The Lord Jesus Christ, however, is completely sinless but He is still able to understand sinners because He was tempted by Satan during His time as a man on the earth (Heb 4: 15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”). He is able to play that role to perfection.
The Lord Jesus Christ is also our Mediator (1 Tim 2: 5, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”). The former high priests played that role under the Law but now we have been freed from the obligation of the Law by the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 2: 16, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”). However, we still need to have the Great High Priest so that we can deal with our daily lives as we live in a sinful world.

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The Cornerstone


We have already looked at the Lord Jesus Christ acting as the head of the body, the firstborn from the dead and the Living Stone but it is also appropriate to distinguish those roles from His role as the Head of the Corner, that is, the Cornerstone.
Matthew 21: 41-46, “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.”
There are two Old Testament passages that refer to the Cornerstone. The first passage is Psalm 118: 22 (“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”) and the second is Isaiah 28: 16 (“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”)
There is some confusion as to whether these passages refer to a cornerstone or to a capstone. A capstone is the last stone in a structure or the crowing achievement while a cornerstone is the starting place of a monumental building or something that is indispensable or essential.
While we can see that the Lord Jesus Christ plays both roles in the church there is no doubt that these passages refer to the cornerstone rather than the capstone. The Lord Jesus Christ finished His work before the day of Pentecost when the church started so His role is indispensable to the church. Any role He might play as a Capstone would come later, although a capstone is often made first so that the rest of the structure can be constructed so that it will fit.
When the first Temple was constructed in Jerusalem all the stones were cut at the quarry so there was no sound of tools heard during the building of the Temple (1 Kings 6: 7, “And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.”) This meant that every stone used for building the Temple was cut and finished before it left the quarry. 
There is a story that one of the stones was so different to the others that it was rejected by the foreman at the quarry and thrown back down. However, when the Temple was ready to be build the head stone of the corner was found to be missing and they had to go back to the quarry and find the stone that had previously been rejected. This gives us a wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was rejected by His own people (see John 1: 10-13, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”) The Lord Jesus Christ said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. (John 2: 19-21, “Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.”) On the resurrection morning He did rise again on the third day (see Acts 10: 40, “Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;”)
Psalm 118, the original cornerstone reference, is about the king of Israel’s joy at the fact that he has overcome his enemies, who rejected him, and entered into his kingly role. This is an appropriate picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and is one of the reasons He quoted that passage about Himself. His enemies also understood the passage as well: on the first Palm Sunday, when the Lord came into Jerusalem the ordinary pilgrims quoted from Psalm 118: 25, 26, (“Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.”) When the leaders of that day heard this they asked the Lord to keep those uneducated pilgrims quiet (Matt 21: 15, 16, “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?”) The Lord however quoted psalm 8: 2 to them to signify that, even though the pilgrims were uneducated, they understood the truth of the moment. That was the precise time at which the Lord’s people finally rejected Him.
The passage from Isaiah 28 is also joined with Is 8: 14, (“And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”) in Rom 9: 33 (“As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”) to show that the Cornerstone, in His role as the indispensable foundation for the church, can also cause problems for those who refuse to believe in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ, out of His own resources, paid the full price of salvation but any who refuse to believe in Him will have to pay the full consequences (see Heb 2: 3, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;”) The apostle Peter also expressed this idea when He preached before the leaders of his day (Acts 4: 12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”). It is imperative that any person who wants to be saved believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The fact that the rejected stone was made the head stone of the corner was the Lord’s doing. This is a reference back to the Lord’s promises to Abram when the Lord first called him. The Lord promised Abram, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen 12: 2, 3) Later Abram had some legitimate questions and asked the Lord how he could become a great nation if he didn’t have a son of his own. The Lord promised Abram that he would have his own son and Abram believed God (Gen 15: 6) this act of faith was “counted to him for righteousness.”
Later in that episode the Lord gave Abram a dream in which the Lord committed Himself by an ancient and sacred rite to keep the promises that He had made to Abram. This rite was sacred and binding (See Gen 15: 9-12) in which the people making the agreement committed their lives to its keeping. However, the Lord alone participated in this sacred agreement and Abram just watched. This means that the Lord, at that stage, committed His own life to the promise that He would bless all the families of the earth through one of Abram’s descendants.
A cornerstone is used on a new building and the Lord Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone of a new building. However, the the elevation of the rejected stone to the cornerstone was the Lord’s doing. The Lord had already committed His life to the guarantee that His promise would be kept. The Lord Jesus Christ, Himself Almighty God, became a man so that He could die (compare John 1: 1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” with Rom 5: 8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”)
The Lord Jesus Christ walked this earth as a man, He died and rose again, this is the Lord’s doing. However, once He left the grave and walked away resurrected and glorified, He became the Cornerstone of the Church and this is marvellous to all who believe.
The people who were given the responsibility for being a source of blessing to all the families of the earth were not keeping their charge. They had reached the stage where they believed that they needed to keep all the benefits to themselves rather than looking to pass the benefits of the Lord’s goodness to all the families of the earth (See John 8: 39, “They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.”)
They were about to lose their primary role in bringing the Lord’s blessing to all the families of the Lord. That role now belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. As the Cornerstone, He defines the church and is the secure foundation of the church. This doesn’t mean that the Lord’s unconditional promises that He made to Abraham and others in earlier times are no longer valid, it means that the primary role of passing the blessing on to all the families of the earth has been taken by others who are part of the building defined by the Cornerstone.
However, there is warning as well as joy from the marvellous achievement of the Lord Jesus Christ. This Cornerstone is large and heavy as the foundation stone of the church. Heavy stones can fall and crush and any on whom this stone falls will be crushed. This takes us back to the connection between Isaiah 28: 16 with 8: 14. The Lord always offers a choice to any who come to Him. We can choose to enjoy the benefits of His love and His goodness or we can choose to reject these benefits.
This is not a circumstance where we are left without consequence. We have two options with the Cornerstone: we can reject Him like the people at the quarry in the first instance or we and give Him His rightful place in our own lives and commit everything to Him by believing in Him. If we choose to fall on the Cornerstone we will be broken in humility before the Him and bow, confessing that He is Lord to the glory of God with everlasting joy. If we wait for the Cornerstone to fall on us then we will be completely crushed and we will still bow and confess that He is Lord to the glory of God but we will do this with everlasting regret.

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The True Vine


When the Lord Jesus Christ gave the upper room discourse He was preparing His disciples for His crucifixion and ascension. This took place after the Last Supper and Judas had already left to betray the Lord. Two of the seven “I AM”s of the gospel were given in the Upper Room. “I am the Way the Truth and the Life” and “I am the True Vine”. While each of these was given while the Lord Jesus Christ was waiting for His death, they each refer to His current works in the time of the Church. The fact that the Lord used the present tense shows us that He was using the sacred relationship Name that the Lord gave to Israel (see Ex 3: 14, 15, “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”) and that these facts apply to every person who hears the Lord’s words at any time after they were spoken.
John 15: 1-8, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”
It is hard to dispute the meaning of the word “true” even though many people may dispute what the truth is in the modern world. Many people define the truth as “whatever I want to be right just now.” However, When John spoke to the angel in his heavenly vision of the last times the angel told John that his words are faithful and true (Rev 22: 6, “And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.”) We can see that the truth is faithful, can be relied on and comes from the Lord God. When the Lord Jesus Christ said that He is the true Vine He was letting us know that He is Divine, He is faithful and His word comes from God, that cannot lie (Titus 1: 2).
A vine, in the Bible, is associated with wine (See Gen 40: 9-11, this is Pharaoh’s butler’s dream) The fruit of the vine is always trodden to produce the wine and is associated with the Lord’s vengeance (See Rev 14: 19, “And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.”) When the Lord Jesus Christ said that He is the true Vine, He was letting us know that He was associated with the wrath of God. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ was crushed in the winepress of God’s wrath and His blood was poured out to make deliver us from sin.
The first time that we read about fathers in the Bible is when the Lord God made Eve from Adam’s rib and instituted marriage (Gen 2: 24, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”) The idea of father and mother is one of belonging. When a man is ready to get married he leaves the place where he belongs and goes with his wife to make a new home. First he makes a public proclamation and then he takes the responsibility. The Lord Jesus Christ reminds us again, that He belongs to the Father in heaven and has come from heaven.
(See James 5: 7, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”) A husbandman is someone who is patient and waits for the fruit. The Father is patient and cares for the vine, waiting till it produces fruit for His glory.
Even though the Husbandman is patient, He still takes His responsibility seriously and tends the vine. The vine is usually old and has proven to be fruitful while the branches are cut off each year when they have produced their fruit so that the vine can produce new fruit from the new branches in the new season. Sometime a branch doesn’t produce any fruit and that branch needs to be cut off as it is wasting resources. If a branch does produce fruit the husbandman will nurture that branch and take away any extra shoots that will take away from its ability to produce the best fruit.
The major issue about the True Vine and His present work in the church concerns His permanence and His perseverance. The True Vine is there forever even though the branches are here for a short time. Even though the branches come and go the True Vine is always there to support every branch every day.
What does it mean to abide? When the angels came down to Sodom to rescue Lot he met them and asked them to stay at his house for the night but the angels said, “...Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.” (Gen 19: 2) The angels needed a temporary place where they could stay for a period of time. They would move on again after they finished there. However, when a person abides they remain fixed in that place.
The True Vine encouraged the branches to abide in Him. This means that the branches are to invest everything in the True Vine and stay there till their circumstances change. When a branch abides in the True Vine the branch takes all its resources from the True Vine and trust the True Vine completely.
However, the branches don’t only abide in the True Vine but the True Vine abides in the branches as well. The branches receive the same investment from the Vine as the put into the Vine. We should also note that the branches are purged from time to time and they move on to another state. While we are on the earth we can abide in the True Vine but “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Cor 13: 12) Abiding in the True Vine is only a step along the way to seeing the True Vine face to face.
Just before the Lord Jesus Christ spoke these words He said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14: 3). If we abide in Him we are having a foretaste of the final reality of being with Him forever.
No branch is able to produce fruit if it isn’t attached to the vine. In the same way, any of the branches who belong to the True Vine cannot produce anything unless they are attached to the True Vine and abide in the True Vine.
When the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking beside the Lake He said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt 6: 33) This is another way of asking us to abide in Him. This has to do with treasure and where we invest our effort. If we abide in the True Vine we seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness.
In the final analysis the Lord Jesus Christ is the core of our faith and we are entirely dependant on Him. He is the vine and we are the branches. Each one of us was born on the earth and we belong to the earth. When sin came into the world we were sinners by birth but each one of us is a sinner by choice as well. We cannot do anything to save ourselves from the earth because we belong to the earth. We have no life because sin entered into the world (see Rom 5: 12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”) and we are in the power of death. However, the Lord Jesus Christ, the True Vine, has life (John 1: 4, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”). He is able to bring life to others while no one else can give life to anyone. The heavens and the earth, as we know them, are reserved unto fire (2 Pet 3: 7, “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”) We cannot do anything about this but the True Vine, Who is the source of life, has come down from heaven and can take us back up to heaven where we can escape the destruction of the earth. This is why He is the True Vine but we are only the branches.
One of the marks of life is that living things is that they are fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth (See Gen 1: 20, 28) Living things produce fruit while they are being fruitful but they cannot produce fruit unless they are connected to a source of life. Any branch that abides in the True Vine will bring forth fruit and so they will satisfy the command the multiply and replenish the earth.
If a brach is not abiding in the True Vine that branch will not produce fruit and will wither away. The Husbandman will cut that branch away and it will die.
There is another aspect to abiding in the True Vine and that is that His words abide in us. When the Lord called Abram, He gave Abram some important promises but Abram wasn’t sure how these promises were going to work out while he was wondering, the Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision and told Abram not to fear because the Lord was his shield and his great reward (Gen 15: 1). The Lord’s words are secure and can be relied on. When the Lord makes a promise it is up to us to allow those words to abide within us. Compare this with the command that the Lord gave to Joshua when he first began to lead Israel after Moses died. (Josh 1: 8, 9, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”) The Lord told Joshua how to make sure that the he could abide in the Lord’s words.
If we cling to the Lord’s words and fill our minds by meditating on the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He has said and done then His words will abide in us and we will abide in Him. If we do this then we have the power to ask and the Lord will give us what we ask for. If we are full of His words then we will only ask what is according to His will. If we abide in the True Vine then we will produce fruit and glorify the Father.
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The Great Shepherd


It is comforting to remember that our perfect Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ is still at work to today. We can contrast Him with Elijah’s description of the false gods of his time. “And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” (1 Kings 18: 27) Our God doesn’t ever lose focus or have his attention distracted. One of his current roles is that of the Great Shepherd (Heb 13: 20, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,”)
1 Peter 5: 1-4, “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
Peter wrote this letter to Christians who were being persecuted to encourage them. He wrote as an elder to their elders. We know, from Genesis that an elder is someone who is older but the term also has a more technical meaning (Gen 50: 7, “And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,”). We learn from this that an elder is someone who is involved in leadership under another senior leader (in that case under Pharaoh.) We also learn that there are twenty four elders who wear crowns and sit around the Lord’s throne in heaven (Rev 4: 4)
Peter knew that he was not the ultimate authority even though the Lord said to him, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt 16: 18, 19)
Not only was Peter an elder but he was a witness of the sufferings of Christ. Peter lived with the Lord Jesus Christ for three years while He travelled around Israel during His ministry. He saw the Lord taken away but the religious leaders and soldiers and also saw some of the trial. Peter was the first disciple to go into the empty tomb and, no doubt, saw him laid in the tomb because he knew exactly where to go when Mary told him that the Lord’s body had been taken away (see John 20: 2, 3)
Peter could also remember the Lord’s words from the upper room. (John 14: 3, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”) He also met with the risen Lord and was reconciled after he had denied the Lord (John 21: 15-19). He knew that he would be with the Lord Jesus Christ when the Lord returned in glory.
When the Lord Jesus Christ told the parable of the Good Shepherd, He distinguished between the true shepherd and the hireling. The true shepherd cares for the sheep while the hireling is only interested in what he can get from the sheep. Peter reminded the elders of his day that they were to care for the sheep rather than seek to gain money from the sheep. They were to have a servant attitude that comes from loving the Lord Jesus Christ who first love them (1 John 4: 19, “We love him, because he first loved us.”)
When the Lord Jesus Christ was alive, He spoke about the religious leaders of His day, “Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. (Matt 23: 1-12) Peter told the elders of his day that they were not to lord it over their flock but to be examples to them instead. After all, the Lord Jesus Christ “... made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” (Phil 2: 7) When a person wants to be a leader of the Lord’s flock that person should have the same servant heart that the Lord Jesus Christ had.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the chief Shepherd and He hasn’t forgot His flock, He will come back, when He is ready, and all the under shepherds will either rejoice or be ashamed (Compare 1 John 2: 28, “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”)
Even though there is teaching here for elders, there is comfort for all who are in the church because we see that the Lord Jesus Christ continues to act in His role as shepherd to this day. It is good to remind ourselves about the shepherd and what he does so that we can spend time thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ and His present role as the chief Shepherd.
The first time that we read about shepherds in the Bible is in Gen 46: 32, “And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.” The primary role of a shepherd is to feed the flock.
After this we find that Jacob spoke about Joseph when he blessed his sons; he said, “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:”) In this context we find that the Shepherd is someone that protects people who trust in Him. These people are able to overcome, in spite of great trials, and be fruitful to the glory of God; the stone also represents security.
The great passage about the Shepherd is found in Psalm 23, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”
David, who was a shepherd himself (compare 1 Sam 17: 34, 35, “And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.”) made one of the great statement of the Bible, “The Lord is my shepherd.” If the Lord is my shepherd then the major consequence is “I shall not want.” But what does it mean to “want”? When the Lord made His contract with Israel, before they went into the Promised Land, He told them the consequences of their breaking that contract, “Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.” (Deut 28: 48) If the Lord’s people disobeyed then they would find that they were in want. On the other hand, if the Lord’s people obey Him then they would find that He is sufficient in every situation. If the Lord is our Shepherd then we will find that He is sufficient, no matter our circumstances may be.
Sheep only eat green pasture and they like to drink from still water, the good Shepherd knows this so He takes the sheep to places where they can find the food and drink they like.
Not only does the true Shepherd care for the physical needs of His sheep, he also cares for their emotional needs (“He restores my soul...”) He understands the sheep’s true needs because He knows them. Even though the sheep go through the most difficult and trying times, the good Shepherd makes sure that their souls are safe for He cares.
The good Shepherd has a rod and a staff; the sheep have to pass under the rod when they are counted (compare Lev 27: 32, “And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.”) so we can rejoice in the fact that our names are kept in the good Shepherd’s eternal records and He will guide us whenever we need guidance. When David went to fight against Goliath he carried a staff, his shepherd’s bad and his sling (See 1 Sam 17: 40, “And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.” compare with Psalm 110: 2, “The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies”.) We can see here that the staff is for protection, to give us strength.
When we face enemies who want to destroy us the good Shepherd prepares a table for us. When the Tabernacle was built there was a table in the holiest place to contain the shewbread and the candlestick (Ex 25: 30, 31, “And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway. And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made:”) This table is for sustenance and guidance so that we can know that He always cares for us.
If we belong to the Great Shepherd, our everlasting life has been bought with His blood and we can expect His goodness and mercy all the days of our lives. Not only that, we will live with Him and He will live with us forever (Compare Rev 3: 20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”)
The Lord Jesus Christ is our Great Shepherd today and He is sufficient for every situation we could possibly face. Surely He is all we need. (See Jer 31: 14, “And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.”)
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