Grow in the Word of the Lord

THE THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Humility goes a long way

“It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.”

Proverbs 25:27 (KJV)

Matthew 23

The Scribes and Pharisees are hearers and not doers

Matthew 23:1-4 (KJV), “Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, ² Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: ³ All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.  ⁴ 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.”

James also saw the shame in this

James 1:22-24 (KJV), “²² But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  ²³ For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: ²⁴ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.”

Call no man father of your faith, that is, the founder, author, director, and governor, of it

Matthew 23:9 (KJV), “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.”

The fathers of our flesh must be called fathers, and as such we must give them reverence; but God only must be allowed as the Father of our spirits

Hebrews 12:9 (KJV), “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?”

A series of ‘woes’

By Jesus using the word, ‘Woe’, followed by all of the things the Scribes and Pharisees do publicly, is a strong condemnation of their works

Strong’s Concordance (3759) – ouai: alas! woe! (an expression of grief or denunciation).  Webster’s – public condemnation of someone or something.

Matthew 23:31-33 (KJV), “³¹ Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.  ³² Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.  ³³ Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

Hosea 4

Swearing here is in direct reference to cursing not taking an oath

Hosea 4:2 (KJV), “By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.”

Strong’s Concordance (422) – alah: to swear, curse.

The differences between harlotry and adultery

Hosea 4:13 (KJV), “They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.”

Jeremiah 38

Ironically, most of the prophets we are studying; i.e. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea, are prophesying Israel’s destruction, due to their lack of belief and their total rejection of The GOD.  Because of their lack of faith, they blame the prophets for their destruction, not God.

Jeremiah 38:4 (KJV), “Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.”

Jeremiah 38:6 (KJV), “Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.”

Proverbs 25

Coals of fire upon his head

Proverbs 25:22 (KJV), “For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.”

Paul addresses the Romans with the proper response of a Christian when treated wrongly

Romans 12:20 (KJV), “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.”

Paul explains this verse

Romans 12:21 (KJV), “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Anyone can return evil for evil. But when a Christian does so, the watching world sees nothing different about our lives

Ezekiel 36

True jealousy or anger?

Ezekiel 36:5-6 (KJV), “⁵ Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey. ⁶ Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen: ”

Jealousy is the English word in translation

Strong’s Concordance (7068) – qinah: ardor, zeal, jealousy.

But, in the context of what Ezekiel is saying:

Brown-Driver-Briggs – 3. ardour of anger.  b. of God against men.

Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, the people of Israel have been looking for their ‘Saviour’

Genesis 3:15 (KJV), “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

The 1828 Webster’s – EN’MITY, noun

1. The quality of being an enemy; the opposite of friendship; ill will; hatred; unfriendly dispositions; malevolence. It expresses more than aversion and less than malice, and differs from displeasure in denoting a fixed or rooted hatred, whereas displeasure is more transient.

War is proclaimed between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent

A gracious promise is here made of Christ, as the deliverer of fallen man from the power of Satan

Since the fall of man, God had promised a cleaning, to be fruitful and multiply, and then on the comparison of the seed of trees to the seed of mankind

After the fall

Genesis 1:28 (KJV), “And God blessed them, and God said unto 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.”

After the great flood

Genesis 9:1 (KJV), “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”

After the Babylonian captivity

Ezekiel 36:35-38 (KJV), “³⁵ And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.  ³⁶ Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.  ³⁷ Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.  ³⁸ As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.”