Day 268, September 25: Bible reading & prayer
Ezra 7-10 (chronological); Isaiah 4-6, Galatians 3 (OT/NT)
We finished the story of Esther yesterday, and today we finish the book of Ezra, which we started on Days 261 and 262. We still have Nehemiah and Malachi to go before the end of the month and the end of the Old Testament.
The events of Esther inspire reflection on the amazing ways of God to protect His people in the nations where He sent them. Start with Egypt. The LORD allowed Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob (also known as Israel, son of Isaac, son of Abraham) to be sold into slavery in Egypt, where he had favor with Potiphar, and then in prison, and then with Pharoah, becoming second-in-command in Egypt, so that he could help his father, brothers, and their descendants (70 sons of Israel in all) to escape famine in the land promised to them. Since they were shepherds, they lived separately in the land of Goshen in Egypt, where they grew into a mighty nation, eventually enslaved in Egypt, until the LORD sent Moses to rescue them and lead them back to the land promised them.
In the era of the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel, the LORD exiled the kingdom of Israel to Assyria for their sin of idol worship. When I noticed that the LORD sent Jonah to Nineveh, in the land of Assyria, to call them to repentance before this exile, it seemed the LORD likely prepared a remnant of people who feared Him to be found in this kingdom to which Israel was later exiled. Assyria was conquered by Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar beseiged Jerusalem early in the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and some of the sons of Israel, inlcuding Daniel, were taken to Babylon to enter the king’s service, well before Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin was exiled to Babylon with ten thousand other captives. When Daniel revealed and interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, he was made ruler over the whole province of Babylon. When his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who also served in the administration of the king, refused to worship a golden statue of King Nebuchadnezzar and were saved by the LORD from a fiery furnace, the king decreed that no one could speak anything offensive against the God of heaven, upon pain of death. When Daniel correctly interpreted a dream that Nebuchadnezzar would lose his mind for seven years until he acknowledged the King of Heaven, Nebuchadnezzar praised the God of heaven. When Nebuchadnezzar’s son mocked the God of heaven by drinking from vessels Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem while praising idols, a hand appeared from heaven writing his fate on a wall that he would die and the kingdom would be taken that very night. Daniel distinguished himself with the successor King Darius the Mede. When the LORD rescued Daniel from the lions’ den after he was conspired against, Darius decreed that all men were to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel. Daniel then served the kings of Media and Persia all the way through the first year of Cyrus King of Persia. Not coincidentally, it was in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia that the LORD inspired him to issue a decree that exiles could return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. It is likely that Daniel was part of this inspiration. The returning exiles were frustrated by enemies in the land and King Artaxerxes did issue a decree for them to stop building. When the people were convicted by the words of Haggai and Zechariah to resume building, their enemies wrote to King Darius, who searched the archives and found King Cyrus’ decree, and issued his own decree that the temple could be rebuilt and the cost paid for by the royal treasury.
As an aside in all this history, the kings of Media and Persia are confusing. Subsequent kings have the same name as prior kings, so it’s easy to think references to different kings are references to the same king. There is the first Darius the Mede (Daniel), followed by Cyrus of Persia (Daniel and Ezra), then an Ahasuerus and an Artaxerxes (Ezra). Then there is another Darius (Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah), followed by another Ahasuerus (Esther) and another Artaxerxes (end of Ezra, Nehemiah).
I share all this favor of the LORD over His people in exile because it may give insight into some of Haman’s opportunistic desire in Esther to annihilate a people who had been so protected by the kingdom to which they were exiled. But once again, the LORD still demonstrated His protection. He gave Esther favor in King Ahasuerus’ harem and then with King Ahasuerus himself so that he chose her as his queen. He placed her uncle Mordecai in the position to foil a plot to kill King Ahasuerus. When Esther approached King Ahasuerus, once the edict had gone out by Haman’s conspiracy to kill the Jews, the LORD gave her favor with the king so she could ask for a banquet with him and Haman. When she asked for yet another banquet with King Ahasuerus and Haman, the LORD had the king be unable to sleep on the intervening night and search the chronicles of his kingdom, being reminded that Mordecai had exposed a plot to kill him. He had Mordecai honored and then, at the banquet, Esther revealed Haman’s treachery against her people. The king had Haman killed, and then Esther revealed to him that Mordecai was her uncle. Mordecai replaced Haman as second only to the king and was able to write an edict allowing the Jews to have mastery over their enemies on the day when Haman’s edict would have had them annihilated, a day the Jews still celebrate annually called Purim. The LORD is certainly capable of protecting His people.
We see more of this favor of the LORD, now on Ezra, in our reading today.
An overview of our yearly Bible reading plan, with all summaries so far, can be found here. My appeal for the resolution to read your Bibles is here.
September 25 chronological reading: Ezra 7-10
Ezra 7
v1-7 “Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, there went up Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest [this genealogy is incredibly significant because it was the sons of Zadok who the LORD said could minister to Him as priests, because they had been faithful when other Levites had gone astray—see, for instance, Ezekiel 48:11]. This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of the LORD his God was upon him. Some of the sons of Israel and some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.
v8-10 “He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For on the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God was upon him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.
v11-20 “Now this is the copy of the decree which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, learned in the words of the commandments of the LORD and His statutes to Israel: ‘Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace. And now I have issued a decree that any of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. For as much as you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God which is in your hand, and to bring the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, with all the silver and gold which you find in the whole province of Babylon, along with the freewill offering of the people and of the priests, who offered willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem; with this money, therefore, you shall diligently buy bulls, rams and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings and offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. Whatever seems good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do according to the will of your God. Also the utensils which are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver in full before the God of Jerusalem. The rest of the needs for the house of your God, for which you may have occasion to provide, provide for it from the royal treasury.
v21-24 ‘I, even I, King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers who are in the provinces beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, may require of you, it shall be done diligently, even up to 100 talents of silver, 100 kors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt as needed. Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, so that there will not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons. We also inform you that it is not allowed to impose tax, tribute or toll on any of the priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, Nethinim or servants of this house of God.
v25-26 ‘You, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges that they may judge all the people who are in the province beyond the River, even all those who know the laws of your God; and you may teach anyone who is ignorant of them. Whoever will not observe the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon him strictly, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of goods or for imprisonment.’
v27-28 “Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to adorn the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem, and has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king’s mighty princes. Thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the LORD my God upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.”
Ezra 8
v1-14 “Now these are the heads of their fathers’ households and the genealogical enrollment of those who went up with me from Babylon in the reign of King Artaxerxes: of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, Hattush; of the sons of Shecaniah who was of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah and with him 150 males who were in the genealogical list; of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah and 200 males with him; of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel and 300 males with him; and of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan and 50 males with him; and of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah and 70 males with him; and of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael and 80 males with him; of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel and 218 males with him; and of the sons of Bani, Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah and 160 males with him; and of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai and 28 males with him; and of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan and 110 males with him; and of the sons of Adonikam, the last ones, these being their names, Eliphelet, Jeuel and Shemaiah, and 60 males with them; and of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud, and 70 males with them.
v15-20 “Now I assembled them at the river that runs to Ahava, where we camped for three days; and when I observed the people and the priests, I did not find any Levites there. So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, teachers. I sent them to Iddo the leading man at the place Casiphia; and I told them what to say to Iddo and his brothers, the temple servants at the place Casiphia, that is, to bring ministers to us for the house of our God. According to the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of insight of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, and his sons and brothers, 18 men; and Hashabiah and Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, 20 men; and 220 of the temple servants, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, all of them designated by name.
v21-23 “Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, ‘The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him.’ So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He listened to our entreaty.
v24-30 “Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers; and I weighed out to them the silver, the gold and the utensils, the offering for the house of our God which the king and his counselors and his princes and all Israel present there had offered. Thus I weighed into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver utensils worth 100 talents, and 100 gold talents, and 20 gold bowls worth 1,000 darics, and two utensils of fine shiny bronze, precious as gold. Then I said to them, ‘You are holy to the LORD, and the utensils are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the LORD God of your fathers. Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the leading priests, the Levites and the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD.’ So the priests and the Levites accepted the weighed out silver and gold and the utensils, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.
v31-32 “Then we journeyed from the river Ahava on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was over us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the way. Thus we came to Jerusalem and remained there three days.
v33-34 “On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the utensils were weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui. Everything was numbered and weighed, and all the weight was recorded at that time.
v35-36 “The exiles who had come from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, 12 male goats for a sin offering, all as a burnt offering to the LORD. Then they delivered the king’s edicts to the king’s satraps and to the governors in the provinces beyond the River, and they supported the people and the house of God.”
Ezra 9
v1-4 “Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, ‘The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.’ When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.
v5-9 “But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God; and I said, ‘O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens. Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day. But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
v10-15 ‘Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, “The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and with their impurity. So now do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and never seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.” After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us an escaped remnant as this, shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? O LORD God of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this.’”
Ezra 10
v1-4 “Now while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly. Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, ‘We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. Arise! For this matter is your responsibility, but we will be with you; be courageous and act.’
v5-8 “Then Ezra rose and made the leading priests, the Levites and all Israel, take oath that they would do according to this proposal; so they took the oath. Then Ezra rose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. Although he went there, he did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles, that they should assemble at Jerusalem, and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the leaders and the elders, all his possessions should be forfeited and he himself excluded from the assembly of the exiles.
v9-15 “So all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain. Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, ‘You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel. Now therefore, make confession to the LORD God of your fathers and do His will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.’ Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, ‘That’s right! As you have said, so it is our duty to do. But there are many people; it is the rainy season and we are not able to stand in the open. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter. Let our leaders represent the whole assembly and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us.’ Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.
v16-17 “But the exiles did so. And Ezra the priest selected men who were heads of fathers’ households for each of their father’s households, all of them by name. So they convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter. They finished investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.
v18-22 “Among the sons of the priests who had married foreign wives were found of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah. They pledged to put away their wives, and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their offense. Of the sons of Immer there were Hanani and Zebadiah; and of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel and Uzziah; and of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad and Elasah.
v23 “Of Levites there were Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah and Eliezer.
v24 “Of the singers there was Eliashib; and of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem and Uri.
v25-44 “Of Israel, of the sons of Parosh there were Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah and Benaiah; and of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth and Elijah; and of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth,Zabad and Aziza; and of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai and Athlai; and of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch and Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal and Jeremoth; and of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui and Manasseh; and of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, Benjamin, Malluch and Shemariah; of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh and Shimei; of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu, Bani, Binnui, Shimei, Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, Shallum, Amariah and Joseph. Of the sons of Nebothere were Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel and Benaiah. All these had married foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.”
September 25 OT/NT readings: Isaiah 4-6, Galatians 3
We started Isaiah in the Old Testament reading plan yesterday. We read Isaiah 4 on Day 190 of the chronological reading plan and Isaiah 5-6 on Day 191, so you can find the text of these chapters there.
We are reading Galatians in the New Testament reading plan. It was the first letter written by the apostle Paul, after his first missionary journey, when he established the church in the region of Galatia, after he had returned to Antioch, from where he had been first sent out with Barnabas and John Mark (see the timeline of the book of Acts). The early Christian church, initially made up of Jewish believers, had to wrestle with the necessity of following the rituals of the Mosaic Law now that they were under the New Covenant in Christ, made possible by Jesus’ death and resurrection. This wrestling became all the more necessary as the Lord gave His Spirit to Gentile believers. What has come to be known as the “Council at Jerusalem” on this question took place after Paul’s first missionary journey (Acts 11:1-31, see Day 184). Paul’s letter to the Galatians deals with these new Christians being falsely taught that they must follow rituals of the Mosaic Law. Paul exposed the motivation for this false teaching in Galatians 6:12, “Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.”
Paul has so far asserted that those who want to distort the gospel, inserting requirements under the Law, should be accursed. He has made clear that he was taught the gospel by a revelation of Jesus Christ, not by men. He reviewed his history to show how long it was (3 years) after seeing Jesus on the road to Damascus before he met the leadership of the Christian church in Jerusalem, verifying that even they did not have an influence on the gospel Jesus taught him.
In chapter 2 yesterday, Paul shared that it was another 14 years before Paul returned to Jerusalem, with Barnabas and Titus. He told of false brethren secretly brought in to spy out their liberty in Christ Jesus, in order to bring them into bondage, but they did not yield to them, so the truth of the gospel would remain. Not even Titus, a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. They met James and Peter and John. He submitted to them the gospel that he taught to the Gentiles and, seeing that the Lord worked effectually for him in his ministry to the Gentiles, they extended the right hand of fellowship, asking him to remember the poor. But when Peter came to Antioch, Paul had to oppose him to his face. He ate with Gentiles, but when certain men came from James, he held himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision, so that the rest of the Jews, even Barnabas, joined him in hypocrisy. He asked Peter, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified….For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.’”
Galatians 3
v1-5 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
v6-9 “Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
v10-14 “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM.’ Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, ‘THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’ However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, ‘HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE’— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
v15-18 “Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as referring to many, but rather to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
v19-22 “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
v23-29 “But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”
Dear Lord,
The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him.
Thank You for the example of those who trembled at Your word in Ezra and were willing to obey Your commands. May we be those who tremble at Your word as well.
the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
This is so difficult to understand. We need to learn it over and over and over again. Thank You for the Law which revealed that we are sinners in need of a Savior. Thank You that we are saved by faith in Christ Jesus.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
"Thank You for the example of those who trembled at Your word in Ezra and were willing to obey Your commands. May we be those who tremble at Your word as well." & "This is so difficult to understand. We need to learn it over and over and over again. Thank You for the Law which revealed that we are sinners in need of a Savior. Thank You that we are saved by faith in Christ Jesus." Amen! Amen! Thank you Dr. Milhoan. Peace.