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April 24

 

II Samuel 1-5

We are in the Nation Stream. David is now official king of Israel as we read through the International Standard Version today.

 

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord, these changes we see today were steps in the right direction. Yes, things were turbulent and messy but growth is rarely clean and neat and your hand was upon David in spite of all the intrigue and surprises that were not always pleasant. May our faith be equally as unshakable as we find David’s to be – even when our days are stormy.  Amen
 
The Book of II Samuel IS the reign of David

Saul is gone and what’s worse for David is that his dear friend Jonathan is dead.  The opening of II Sam. is grief for David.  Yes, Saul spent much of his years on the throne trying to kill David. But David had a character rooted in his walk with God and Israel was God’s land and Saul was Israel’s King and David respected authority.  So he had respect for Saul – odd as it may seem. David’s reaction to someone who had ‘finished off’ Saul is another testament to the depth of honor that David had for the Lord’s anointed. It is in order to mention that II Sam. 1-6 and I Chron. 11-16 is a different perspective on the same time- period. The two portions are worth reading concurrently so to get the full picture.

He was now king of Israel, but needed to grieve a bit. His “farewell song” is a treasure.
2 – David was rightful king now but some of Saul’s men just couldn’t accept the transfer of power though the time had come and there was no other way to perceive this development. The battles and skirmishes are gruesome and unnecessary but Saul’s “groupies” who couldn’t see the bigger picture nor the changing times were ebullient and there were needless deaths because of it. It never is wise to be committed to a dead cause. Nevertheless those loyal to Saul had installed Saul’s son; Ish-Bosheth as king over Israel.  The move was illicit but so it goes. He was there as “king” for two years while David was the rightful king installed at Hebron.  He was there for 7+1/2 years
 
These years before he was moved up to Jerusalem there was warring between Saul’s followers and David’s.  During these years David had children with six different wives. That was one way to pass the time…  Though David’s movement was growing and strengthening, Saul’s was becoming weaker.
 
3 – Abner changes to become one of David’s followers and supporters.  If he hadn’t been so intense and spiteful prior to doing this, perhaps there would have been more credibility to his move toward David. But since he joined with David before convincing everyone of David’s men, Abner was murdered. The intrigue and entanglement seemed to mark these years between the death of Saul and David being fully enthroned in Jerusalem.
 
4 – In another incident, there were two ruffians that went to the house of Saul’s son Ish-bosheth and killed him and brought I-B’s head to David thinking it would please David. David’s reaction was opposite and David had these two men killed. These were wild times in Hebron!
 
5 – Finally all the tribes gathered at Hebron and David is anointed King.  He moves on Jerusalem even though the Jebusites living there vowed David would not come in. But David being valiant, he and his soldiers prevailed and Jerusalem became “the City of David”.  King Hyram of Tyre soon heard of David’s triumph in Jerusalem and sent gifts.  The Philistines too heard of David’s ascension as King and they marched out twice to end this movement. David was victorious and decisively so. It’s still “The City of David” almost 3030 years later!
 
Posted on

April 23

 

Exodus 12-14

We covering the 10th plague today in the World Stream. We are reading from the International Standard Version this week.

 

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Holy Holy holy, Lord God Almighty – we just want to sing to you as you have done the mightiest of mighty deeds on behalf of your children. Thank you God for standing in defense of us too. Teach us to trust in you who fights for us. Take us to your place of rest.   Amen.

The tenth plague was coming and it required preparation for the Israelites.  Egypt would not recover from this plague.  It would break the Pharaoh and he would want Israel gone. They didn’t know if 10 plagues was the end of it, or if more and more were coming – so they would finally resolve to have Moses go and take his people with him.  The firstborn from every Egyptian home were to die the night of Passover. The details are explained and the Israelis follow them “to a T”. Compliance is deathly important here. Sacrificing a perfect lamb, putting blood over the doorposts and lintel of each home, the unleavened bread… this is all intriguing symbolism of a Savior who would be coming some 14 centuries later!

The LORD went through Egypt at midnight, struck all firstborn dead – including animals and the grief was unbearable. It had been roughly a year from the first plague of blood to this final one.  The Israelis were ordered, by a grieving and horrified Pharaoh, to go and do their worship as they please. The “parting gifts” sent them away with immense wealth.  It got the ‘nation of Israel’ off to a good financial start to say the least.  They left and the Exodus had begun. The Passover had been eternally instituted for the Jews, Egyptian slavery years were behind them. 430 years had passed since their arrival.  70 went down there and now millions were leaving! What a sight. The greatest event of the ancient world was in process.
 
13 – The Passover was then established for all time. The consecrating of the first born was ordered (a little easier to be on God’s side and not have the death of the firstborn, isn’t it?) The dedication of the firstborn would never change for them. The Festival of Unleavened Bread is established. All these matters are so they would REMEMBER what God has done.  We take communion as often as we do today, why? So we wouldremember Jesus’ body given for us…the sacrificial Lamb. The march out of Egypt had begun and God guided them precisely where they needed to go. Joseph’s bones were brought along with them as Joseph ordered in Genesis 50:25 “400 years” prior.
 
14 – God gave Moses some epochal advice that explains Moses calm and direct leadership during this hurricane-level-5-historical event. Pharaoh changes his tune again and the whole army launches to go after the Israelis and retrieve them. As they draw close, the fear in the hearts of the newly freed slaves is beyond frightening.  Moses’ word at this juncture is the best of the best. “The Lord will fight for you while you keep still.”  The cloud and the fire commence and would be their guides for 40 years.  The fire-defense of the Israeli’s that God puts forth is awesome as He parts the waters of the Red Sea.  The Israelis pass through the Sea, the Egyptians drown. The Exodus is complete and a nation is bewildered and filled with tremendous respect for Moses and a holy fear of the LORD.
 
Well, that’s something y’don’t see every day.
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April 22

 

Romans 7-9

We are in the Church Stream today reading from the Good News Translation.

 

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

7 – Why is there The Law? Whether nonChristian religions want to admit it or not, something is wrong.  It is not a perfect world and there is especially something wrong with us. The deficit created between what we are are and what we ought to be is not caused by diet, lack of inner essence-ness, poor wifi with our mobile device. And more/enough money isn’t going to take our sin away. The world descended into sin since Genesis 3 occurred and a Savior is needed. We violated God’s Law and only a solution from God will remedy the matter. Without Law humanity remains oblivious that a Savior is needed and that there is a vast gap between where we are spiritually and where we ought to be.   God doesn’t want our reaction to a Savior to be, “Savior? I don’t need a Savior. That merely proves human oblivion.  We are helpless to save ourselves and God’s Law proves this to us.

Paul uses an illustration of marriage for us to help start the realization process. The fact of Law and what it reveals about us proves that we as humans come up short regardless. Our nature is divided. What we know, what we wish we did, and what we do, fails to line up again and again. We embody the conflict. We live the conflict. The conflict lives in us. Except for Jesus, and haleluia, we have Jesus…provided we let Jesus have us.
 
8 – In Jesus, we have Life abundant, full and free, in the Holy Spirit. Condemnation is overwith.  This Holy Spirit lives in us.  The Holy Spirit enables us to do and be and become all that God designed us for in this life. Our obligation now is not to an exhausting Law but to the Holy Spirit – to remain in Him and yielded to Him; to be listening to His promptings and not selfishness anymore. And Jesus, through the Holy Spirit in us, allows this to happen in us. What we truly crave in our soul is for Christ to reign in our lives and all that is explained in this chapter allows this to happen. The suffering that creation is under is universal suffering, but this hope in Christ carries us through to attach to the ultimate freedom that is coming. The Spirit is praying for us. We need never be in dismay or defeated for God can be trusted.  We have Christ. We will always have Christ. Christ Himself will not allow something to come between us. We are never separated from Him. Romans 8 is magnificent and has given comfort to Believers in the most bleak of settings for 19+ centuries.
 
9 – Paul, not one to duck from issues, brings up the pain he has over the fact that many of the Jewish people, for whom the promises of God were first granted, are not in the Covenant – and it is their rejecting God [not the vice versa] that is the problem. God did not reject the Jews so to discard them. God used the occasion of their smugness to Him and the New Covenant in Christ’s blood to open the invitation to the nations of the whole world. This all hinges on God’s mercy and grace. Remember that every false religion errs in the realm of grace. They mess it up. They do not understand it. This chapter is an exposition of another factor of God’s grace. He has opened the Kingdom of Himself to more people who do not deserve it.  He is just good.  That is the issue here.  It was foretold that the Kingdom of heaven and access to it would be opened to all people’s and not just “a door held open” for one race of people for all time.

The motif that came forward day after day this week was, “God is Sovereign. Will we accept this and trust Him?”

Pharaoh’s heart was hard as stone in the first 5 plagues.  God made sure Pharaoh remained so plagues 6ff. – so that all 10 plagues could be executed to testify to the world for all time.  God’s sovereignty is the only explanation for this.   David is going through a cauldron of events and stresses that could have shook His faith and had him question his destiny. He knew God enough to trust Him through it all.  Psalms this week was an alpine journey through frantic cries, through turbulence, thanksgiving, trust, and forgiveness. Trust in His Sovereignty is what sustains David – AGAIN. Isaiah prophesies of astounding things that are going to happen in Israel in the future. It is talk like this that will sustain Israel as they are going to walk through some painful things brought on by their rebellion. Understanding sovereignty is what helps us rise to see the big picture.  We see sovereignty in Hosea’s words, “I will abandon my people until they have suffered enough for their sins, and come looking for me …” God isn’t mean. He is sovereign and only He knows what is going to work.  We see God’s sovereignty in Jesus showing Lordship over the Sabbath, and demons, and illness and nature.  Paul describes a part of God’s sovereignty in His opening Himself to the world and the world to Him when, by default, Israel (especially leadership) rejects God.  This is enough different ways God has shown His graciousness and sovereignty for us to realize that His sovereignty will prove true in our lives as well.  For nothing can separate us from the love of God. Amen.