December 7, 1941

Posted on December 7, 2017 by Don Merritt

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Abram Reclaims the High Ground

Posted on December 7, 2017 by Don Merritt

Genesis 13

After leaving Egypt Abram and his party returned eventually to Canaan where they settled and tended to their herds of livestock; Abram became quite wealthy. After some time it became clear that the herds had grown to the point where Abram and Lot needed to go their separate ways for the land could only support so many animals. Abram, now showing a great deal more humility than he had in Egypt, allowed Lot to have his pick of lands, and being a smart young man, Lot took the best locations for himself, leaving Abram to find another place.

Lot had chosen for himself the entire plain of the Jordan, rich indeed, but not quite in Canaan, where he lived near the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abram, mindful of God’s promise, remained in Canaan (13:1-13). That’s where things get interesting…

The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”

So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord. (13:14-18)

Let’s pause and think about this: After the shameful episode in Egypt, Abram and the clan went back into Canaan and prospered. Their prosperity was such that Abram and Lot needed to separate their respective herds, and by all rights Abram, as head of the clan, should have claimed the very best lands for himself, but instead, he deferred to Lot’s choice. In doing so, he also remained in the land God had taken him to and had previously promised. To me, it would appear that Lot chose his financial advantage over God’s promise, and Abram chose God’s promise over financial advantage… and God responded to Abram’s wise choice by reiterating His promises to Abram for both the land and his offspring.

For us today, I think there is also a message, and that is that God will remain faithful to us, will keep His promises to us when we choose to remain within His will, even though we might stumble and fall from time to time. That’s quite a word of encouragement, don’t you agree?

God had a message for Lot also, but we’ll have to wait until next time for that.

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Morning’s Light

Posted on December 7, 2017 by Don Merritt

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Photo of the Week: December 6, 2017

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Don Merritt

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Abram’s Travel Adventures

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Don Merritt

Genesis 12:10-20

After God called Abram, he packed up everything and everyone in his rather considerable household and set off for a destination God would show him, and as we discussed in the last section, this is one of the great examples of faith in the Scriptures. They set out and God leads the party right through Canaan and into Egypt because of a famine in Canaan. When they approached Egypt, Abram became concerned about his wife Sarai, for she was a beautiful woman: He devised a plan:

As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” (12:11-13)

Was Abram having a crisis of faith or did he just not quite comprehend what God had promised him? Of course, we have no way to know for sure what was going on in Abram’s head; we can only note that he had fallen from his high ground of extraordinary faith into a very deep valley at that moment. One might even expect that God might inform him that their deal was now off.

Yet God didn’t do that.

God did take notice of the fact that Sarai had been taken into Pharaoh’s household as his wife, and He intervened in a rather interesting way; He sent sickness into the household and made Pharaoh aware of the real relationship between Abram and Sarai and Pharaoh was horrified at the deception. Here we might expect Pharaoh to kill Abram, and yet once again God intervenes, and rather than kill Abram he shames him when he takes the position of being the righteous one and expresses his disgust at Abram’s behavior. Then he returns Sarai to Abram and has the two and their entire household, including the gifts Pharaoh had given them, escorted out of the country.

What an adventure!

It’s even more interesting when we take note that in Old Testament prophecy Egypt represents this world. Taking an apocalyptic view, we could say that before God fulfilled His promise to give the Land to Abram, he led Abram into this world where Abram fell into sin, and then God redeemed him out of it, a theme that will be repeated throughout Scripture.

That theme also plays a big role in the “Christmas Story”, for through Christ we have all been redeemed, and received God’s promises, yet in this world, we continue to stumble around in our sin; yet God remains faithful to His promises even when we are so very weak.

When you come right down to it, isn’t that the whole point of the “Christmas Story”?

Abram’s adventures aren’t nearly over yet and in the next chapter he will once again manage to find the high ground; see you next time!

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It’s Decision Time

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Don Merritt

 

Christmas 2013

Well, what’s it going to be: Real or fake?

That’s the discussion I’m hearing these last several days− who knew that Christmas tree preferences would be a hot topic on “news” programs? For reasons I really can’t quite explain, I did a little research…

It would seem that on average, the cost of real Christmas trees has risen 125% nationwide over the past 4 years with the average cost per tree rising to $75 in 2016, and to an expected $80 this year. According to the National Christmas Tree Growers Association, the prices have risen so much in recent years because of the drop in demand caused by the economic slowdown over the last several years coupled with the influx of inexpensive imports from China of pre-lit artificial trees.

Whatever happened to the days when we would get a permit from the Bureau of Land Management for $5 to go into Federal lands and cut any tree we wanted?

Honestly, I had no idea that any of this had taken place; we haven’t had a tree since 2011. Well, that is until this year. She Who Must Be Obeyed recently went out and purchased one of those cheap pre-lit imports. Upon arriving back home she took it out of the box and began putting it together but had a problem getting the base pieces to fit into place. She took her fist and started whacking the four foot pieces into place, but there was one that just wouldn’t quite line up properly. She told me to get it into place so I gave it whack with my fist… and I shattered it into little airborne pieces.

Although I really didn’t hit it very hard, I was in Big Trouble with the Boss.

Fear not, there is a solution to every problem… I fixed it by simply putting a big rock on the opposite foot, and our cheap Chinese fake tree stands upright in all its artificial glory!

Can anyone tell me why we put ourselves through this every year? What does all of this have to do with the coming of the Baby Jesus anyway? Aren’t Christmas trees an adaptation of ancient paganism?

OK, I learned long ago never to actually ask any of these questions…

So what’s it going to be: Real or fake? As for me, all I have to say is a resounding ‘bah, humbug’!

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God’s Call

Posted on December 5, 2017 by Don Merritt

Maybe I’m crazy but I think Abraham is someone we should remember when we consider the “Christmas Story”. Oh, I realize that the birth of Christ came some 2,000 years after he died, so I’m not suggesting he’s a character in that part of the story. No, where I’m going with this is that Jesus didn’t just come along for no reason; there was a definite reason for His birth and ministry, and that reason is that He came to fulfill God’s covenant with Abraham.

They don’t tell you that in Sunday School, do they?

All right fine; they usually don’t tell you that.

Anyway, not only did Jesus come to fulfill God’s covenant with Abraham, but Abraham is a prime role model for our Christian walk as evidenced by the fact that he is named more than once in the New Testament as such. Consequently, I thought it might be fun to survey his career. Please note that my emphasis is on survey; this isn’t a biography or a commentary on each verse… not even on each scene, just the most important points for an understanding of his role as covenant partner and role model.

We begin our story as Genesis 12 opens; God’s Call of Abraham:

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 12:1-3

So there is God’s call, coupled with promises, and thus began a remarkable journey for the 75 year old Abram. Personally, I think that the most remarkable part of the entire story is contained in the very next line:

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him (12:4a)

Did you see it? God told Abram to pack up everything and go… and so he did it. Abram actually took God at His word, and took action. It wasn’t any small action, he put everything on the line and set off somewhere and trusted God to keep His promises.

Who actually does that?

Our answer should be that we all do… but would that be a truthful answer?

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A New Release and a Couple of Other Things

Posted on December 5, 2017 by Don Merritt

Welcome to Tuesday morning in Iowa. The sun won’t be up for another couple of hours and it is expected to be much cooler starting today than it has been for the last week or two. We’ve been enjoying temperatures considerably warmer that usual for this time of year with highs in the 50’s and 60’s (F) but starting today we have forecasts of much more seasonal highs in the 20’s and 30’s.

Of course you aren’t interested in the weather here.

I have posted a new “Reflections” document on my website− Reflections on Matthew and it is available at the link below. As with all the others I’ve produced this is a complete collection of the posts I’ve just completed here on the Gospel of Matthew for anyone who would like it. In the past many have used these for their personal devotions, home Bible study groups and even for use in teaching Bible classes in their local churches. You are free to use this one as well for anything you like, other than for commercial purposes.

Download here

Having completed Matthew I will begin a short updated series of items that I wrote last December on Father Abraham which is being run at this time because f the interesting parallels between Abraham and the Christmas Story. Yes, I know… that sounds weird… but you’ll see what I mean as you go through it. I’ll be running Father Abraham as my second post this week and next.

As for my early post…? I have no clue what they will be about, except for this one, so you’ll just have to pop in each day to see what craziness I’ve come up with in the pre-dawn hours.

Have a blessed Tuesday and I’ll see you later today.

Don

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The Torch is Passed

Posted on December 4, 2017 by Don Merritt

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:16-20

So much has been written, taught and debated concerning these few verses; I have done all of the above myself. For the purposes of this study of Matthew, I think it best to approach this strictly within its context in Matthew’s narrative.

Throughout his narrative, Matthew has been very careful to demonstrate Jesus as proclaiming the Kingdom. He shows Jesus’ proclamation, he shows Jesus teaching what it means to be a citizen of the Kingdom, and then Jesus going out and demonstrating the power of the Kingdom. After that, Matthew shows how Jesus shifts His emphasis to revealing to the disciples just who He was, and what His mission was so that they might come to understand the means by which His Kingdom would be established. All of this was done for the purpose of preparing the disciples to carry on the Kingdom work of Jesus.

At this point in Matthew’s narrative, Jesus has completed His messianic mission precisely according to plan. The redemptive work has been completed so that humans might receive God’s grace and enter this new Kingdom relationship. Thus, the risen Lord is now passing the Kingdom torch to the disciples and from here on, it will be up to them to proclaim the Kingdom and make disciples as Jesus had done with them.

They have graduated from disciple, to makers of disciples.

Luke tells us that after this Jesus told the disciples to return to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them, and of course we know that this took place a short time later at Pentecost, where the Kingdom kicked off with the disciples, now Apostles in the vanguard. We also know that the Holy Spirit comes upon each one of us when we receive Christ and rise from the waters of baptism, and thus, the torch passes down through all generations until Jesus returns.

I think it is fair to say that this is the legacy of love, for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that none should perish but have eternal life. Jesus accepted this mission willingly, and so He willingly sacrificed Himself in the greatest single act of love ever recorded. After that, He commissioned His followers to share that love by making disciples, and in our time, the greatest act of love that we could possibly undertake, is to join in the sharing of His love by making disciples who, in turn, share that love.

And so, Matthew’s narrative has come to its conclusion, and the rest is in our hands: Will we pass that torch on, or will we take an easier road through this life?

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Jesus Rises from the Grave

Posted on December 4, 2017 by Don Merritt

Matthew 28:1-15

Matthew’s account of the events that day, the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, varies from that of Mark and Luke, and while we can discuss that some other time, I would point out that Matthew’s account carries forward His emphasis throughout the narrative of both Kingdom and the messianic mission of Jesus; in fact, these two themes are virtually inseparable: Jesus’ messianic mission was to establish His kingdom, which is not of this world. No, I haven’t forgotten that Jesus came to die on the cross for the redemption of Mankind; rather I am asserting that He did so in order to establish the Kingdom as a present reality.

Early on the first day of the week, which is the day after the Sabbath (Sunday), the women come to see the tomb. Unlike Mark and Luke, Matthew doesn’t get into the exact purpose for this. They arrive and then God springs into action again: There is a violent earthquake, as the angel of the Lord comes down and rolls the stone away from the tomb, and sits down on it and speaks to the women.

If you recall, we have seen the angel of the Lord speaking before in Matthew’s Gospel, way back when it was time to announce the birth of the Lord. Here he is again, only this time he bears an even more exciting message: He has risen!

Notice in verse 2 the contrast between that stone which was sealed and guarded at the behest of the Jewish authorities has now been thrown open and the angel sits on it, making clear the futility of the actions of the Jewish leaders to suppress God’s purpose. Notice also that the guards were still there and saw the whole thing and ironically fall down as though they were the dead ones, while the dead One had just risen from the grave. That’s some nifty writing if you ask me!

The angel quickly interprets the events for the women, gives them instructions, and invites them to see for themselves; they look in the empty tomb and hurry off. We shouldn’t pass this by without taking notice that God set events into motion so that women were the witness to all of this. In those days, few would likely believe a couple of hysterical women, but the only men present were the guards, who lay terrified on the ground: Interesting point to consider.

As the women hurried off, who do you suppose they would run into?

Well Jesus, who else? He tells them not to be afraid, and confirms their instructions…

Those guards were still back at the tomb with a really tough decision to make; could they possibly tell the truth about what had happened, who would believe them? I must say that at first, they made the courageous choice; they went to the high priests and actually told the truth. Now, the chief priests were on the spot: What would they do?

It was as though they now had one last chance to turn things around, for here were two terrified guards, veterans of brutal war, tough guys, who had just witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. The chief priests could have believed them, and it would seem that they actually did believe them, but rather than repent before God, they came up with a plan to deceive Mankind.

And to think that just the other day, they had asked for guards to be posted to keep the “deceiver” in His grave. Who was really the deceiver? In fact, “deceiver” is an interesting choice of words, for is not Satan the “Deceiver”?

They bribed the guards to tell a lie, and then bribed Pilate not to have them killed for falling asleep on guard duty. As if their actions hadn’t sunk low enough in having Jesus murdered, now they actually found a way to sink even lower; you might want to keep in mind next time you read the book of Acts, that the chief priest really knew the truth about Jesus, and we can prove it, for if they hadn’t believed the guards, then why they need to bribe them?

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