But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.Exodus 9:16 ESVhttps://bible.com/bible/59/exo.9.16.ESV Secular historians point to the lack of extra-biblical evidence of Hebrew slavery in Egypt and ensuing exodus. But here in this verse, God describes how this anonymous Pharoah has been immortalised in the annals of the Hebrews, so that God is proclaimed in all the earth. The mighty men of the world might think they can stand against God and win, but resistance is futile! The more stubborn Pharoah was, the more the Lord was able to display His power. The more insistent Pharoah was of keeping his slaves, the more unreasonable he appeared. It was a battle of wills, and the will of Yahweh prevailed. In the end, Pharoah will have been broken by the plagues. In the final plague, his own firstborn son was killed, the next in line to the throne of the world superpower. He might have tried to put a brave...
You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:28 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/lev.19.28.ESV It's becoming increasingly popular to have tattoos of Bible verses. I've never yet seen a tattoo of Leviticus 19:28! Leviticus can be hard to unpick: does it matter if we have tattoos nowadays? Tattoos will have been a symbol of pagan unbelief in God the Creator. If tattoos were an improvement to our skin, God will have given us them in the first place. The proliferation of tattoos even amongst professing Christians today illustrates how ungodly the professing Church is, in my opinion. Clearly, we have to contextualise Leviticus. The food laws for example have been abolished by Jesus, when He pronounced all foods to be clean. Yet this verse refers to self harm as well, which we should clearly continue to discourage. In the context of the chapter, this is the one that commands us to love our neighbours. Does getting a tat...
Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Ephesians 4:2 (NLT) We're to be Christlike. He is the ultimate example of humility, gentleness, patience and love. Not only so, but He empowers us by His Holy Spirit to become conformed to His likeness. Christ humbled Himself to death on a cross on our behalf. He was gentle with people who were cruel to Him. He was patient with those who murdered Him, and prayed, 'Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing'. Because of Christ's love, God can make allowances for our faults. We deserve His condemnation, but thankfully we can be forgiven because of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. Our sins can't just be brushed under the carpet, they have to be dealt with at the cross. We're not to be humble, gentle, patient and loving to earn God's favour. Because God favours us in Christ, we're to be humble, gentle, patient...
Comments
Post a Comment