Author: eejoseph
The Name of the Lord: house and home
Genesis 13:3-4 is one of the few sources where we find a name of God. We have treated as personal name GOD, LORD, YAHWEH, EL, a number of compound names with EL (SHADDAI, OLAM, ELYON) and a number of compound names with Yahweh. The difference between a title and a name is often blurred: Queen Elizabeth, Yahweh Elohim, and Governor Zerubbabel show this split. Beyond the word – name – used to address someone is the person, a distinct reality. Isaac and Abram worshipped by calling on God.
And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth–el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth–el and Hai; Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. Gen. 26:25
Genesis 13:4
Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
David and Solomon realized that the divine name is the person. One calls on God, not merely the given name.
If there is a name that is going to be the means of salvation then it is not just the label but the person, and in this case the man Yeshua.
In that name we conduct our lives.
In that name we are safe
Inane Analogies we Treasure
The Bible is eminently full of pictures that tell about God. No one has ever seen God, and until Christ became flesh humanity had not gazed on divine glory. We need those pictures to give us some sense of the invisible, whether it is from the sky or other parts of the natural world or from the words of his messengers, because God is still invisible.
Psalms 19:1 is a popular saying about this kind of revelation.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Paul affirms the access all people have in Romans 1:20
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Some pictures that have been used are inappropriate and dangerous. Below are mirror, love (without the Cross), law as vaccine, divine live as compliance with demands, and law as transcript.
- Law is a mirrow. It shows only sin. Something other is a better choice. Really? A mirror that shows something other than what is in front of it is a perversion. A thing shows the righteous God? No. Nicht. Nyet. It takes GOD to show GOD, And since there is no one or no thing that is righteous it takes God to show righteousness.
- Love is proven by what we do (such as eat and drink) or things we do no ever do. God is not a thing we do . The only people who have a problem with loving God are those reject love without conditions, people who want to cling to discrimination against outsiders.
- Law is vaccine (hidden in the heart prevents sin). Lying testimony or creative writing? Psalms 119:11Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalms 130:3-4 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
- God’s Love is all he knows and does. He commends it by the gift of his Son. Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. If God’s love for Christ has anything to do with commands it has to be the laying down of one life for the sins of all, as John 10:18 reports.
No man taketh [my life] from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Transcript
The law is transcript only as written (in stone). The Law is not exactly what God’s character is. It is not a report of what God has done with a grade. It it not transcribed from one language into another.
Should not God’s character be his excellence: love, abundance of goodness and truth (reliability)? One thing is certain about what the Law portrays. Human failure is presumed with every utterance of the law (Romans 3:19) and it is not the decalogue that provides the picture of sin and its relief. We find that in Numbers where the bronze serpent is elevated, conforming to the saying “He who knew no sin became sin for us”.
God is Light and Salvation
He lights up everything. Nothing hides from him. He frees from every prison. He expels fear by pouring his love into us. The best gifts are not miracles.
Don’t bother saying Amen,
If you don’t believe the Word ABBA’s saying
You’re so busy occupying and vetoing
And ya think nobody knows what you’re doing
(From a song Knows Whacha doin)
Getting to the Core
An introduction to Jesus is not an introduction to Judaism. If that sticks in our throat we cannot be expected to always pick a winner. Not even a radically transformed Mosaic economy does any justice to Abraham’s historic faith and justification without law and works.
Our centre stage is the cross
We have no law, prophets and writings. All we have is gospel whose beginning and end is Christ. The law, through the thousands of years it was Israel’s pride, produced no children of God, but the gospel, on the first day in the life of the church, made 3000 persons heirs of the kingdom, complete with a downpayment.
Let’s get the main objection to the Cross out of the way. James (see 1:25 and 2:8), an avowed Pharisee and disciple of Moses calls the decalogue royal and liberating, turns out to be the only witness in the New Testament who lends lip service to Christ as Saviour, and is out on a limb as surely as Esau was hated (not chosen). He is silent on the saving grace of God to which John, Peter, and Paul have consistently pointed us.
James would be the kind of person one would eexpect in modern times to insist that one learns everything about the law before one can become a disciple of Jesus. That is a pathway that the church soundly rejected.
If someone is saying that he wants to introduce you to Christ why would that person try to teach you everything about the Christ (and God in the Bible!) when in fact you are safer when you are in Jesus’ care and have the Holy Spirit as Helper who alone is able to guide us into all truth?
Maybe the rationale is that there is nothing to learn after one meets Jesus. That falls through the cracks. Could it be that one is complete and mature upon meeting Christ and there is no growth possible neither in grace nor knowledge? Of course not! These two scenarios are classic brainwashing techniques.
Beware of the Pharisee. His convert-making has one result: more kids for hell-fire. Hear Yeshua in Matthew 23:15 making it clear what pretenders do to their disciples.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Daily Verse Recitation Dilemma
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. Joshua 1:8
Hmm. I dunno about the nutritional value of this verse. Maybe daily verses are just random selections. What does one do with a verse that seems to have nothing but recitational value. Mouths recite and minds rehash (meditate, Heb. הגה, hagah). The reciting and meditating seem to have worked, but the doing is hard to find.
One has to be bewitched to get excited about Israel’s failure and her reputation as an faithless and covenant-breaking woman, who after being warned repeatedly about the path of the just[ified] rejected the Prophet.
Do you have the book of the Law in your mouth? How did it get there? If you say “I dunno ” I know you are an honest person. If what’s in the heart (inside) is law, what is it doing in the mouth? What is it doing stuck in the mouth? Could people be condemned to talk and not walk the law?
Awww yeah!
Law is not for recitation. Unless one is reciting to remind people about the disaster of Sinai. Moses had said that the Law was to be an accusation against the people (Deuteronomy 31:26), not the source of divine righteousness.
Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.
The Law is for performance. Talk is cheap. Let’s just forgive those who talk about doing the whole law and nothing but.
And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. Joshua 24:19
In the gospels we found that lipservice was the fashion and substance.
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Isaiah 29:13
The witness of the later years show that nothing had changed. At the end of Paul’s life the same vanity dominated Israelite life. They revered God in the way men said they should. God’s voice was a distant rumble.
Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Acts 28:26-27
Every word in the Bible has value but a relationship with God comes only from one word: the Incarnate Word. It is not through a command but through a gift that God saves humans. Neither works nor performance brings anyone to a right standing with God, much less does the mere recitation, orally or mentally, of the Law heal or save.
Escape from Empty jangling
1 Timothy 1:5-11 is a gem of clarity about the law and its proponents.
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
Its purpose is not debatable. The gospel is not in the same class. Moses and Christ are not equals. Grace and truth stand opposite law and condemnation. What have we chosen?
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
End of a seance
Lying, amoral, Sarah leaves without ever facing the truth. There are no alternative routes for the corrupt Huckabee. Straight to ignominy.
Her boss is a vile, high priest of neo-nazis and CEO of a criminal enterprise
I’d love to hear that demoniac’s comments in Sunday school and relish throwing her to the dogs.
Her kids will one day ask “Mommy, how could you?” and her eyes will twitch and her lip curl as she hauls another whopper into the chamber of her poisonous gullet.
Shame on Ottawa U
When we say “What justice?” there are both raised eyebrows and weapons of mass destruction.
Say, please, it ain’t so!
Life is Fun, But Not a Joke 