Jude 1-16

Dear RTB’ers,

Jude writes that he is a servant of Jesus and a brother to James. Which James, we might ask. And without going into detail, this James is likely the leader of the Jerusalem church and Jesus’ brother, one of four brothers named in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3. So even though Jude was himself (likely?) named in those two verses and is a brother to Jesus, he does not presume that position so proudly, but rather identifies himself with another of Jesus’ brothers. That’s humility!

But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. (v. 10) Although Jude is speaking of angels in the four verses prior to this quote, it is worth noting that we have all met people who behave in like manner simply because they do not understand and are often acting instinctively. Jude has a word for us on dealing with them. We’ll follow up with him tomorrow.

Blessings!

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See also:

• October 29 (2020) / Jude 1-7
• October 30 (2020) / Jude 8-16

II Peter 3:11-18

Dear RTB’ers,

The contrast is enormous: …the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (vv. 12b-13) Everything that we know gets melted away and we will live in a newness which we cannot even begin to imagine.

In our second paragraph today Peter affirms Paul and his letters, acknowledging that they may be difficult to understand, but cautioning people not to be carried away by whatever …the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (v. 16b) Peter and Paul had their disputes, but clearly they were on the same page. Likewise, we need to be careful with one another, not to let our own personal biases carry over into spiritual warfare. We need each other, more than we probably imagine.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Blessings!

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See also:

• November 6 (2020) / II Peter 3:10-18
• November 23 (2021) / II Peter 3:1-18

II Peter 3:1-10

Dear RTB’ers,

Today’s verse, Peter’s words: The Lord … is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (v. 9)

Jesus’ words: And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:39-40)

Any questions…?

Blessings!

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See also: November 5 (2020) / II Peter 3:1-9.

II Peter 2

Dear RTB’ers,

Wow! A major diatribe from Peter against evildoers. And sadly, I recognize these patterns of sin in our world today, especially one set of persons trying to bring another set into their ungodly lives. See especially verses 14b (They entice unsteady souls.) and 18 (For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.) Name the sin, it’s there!!

Initially Peter is speaking of false prophets – people in the church who are leading parishioners astray (II Peter 2:1-3). Then he moves on to generic evil (II Peter 2:4, ff). But in the end, judgment belongs to the Lord: …the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. (vv. 9-10)

A couple of other verses touched me. First, For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. (v. 19b) I attend Freedom Road (our church-sponsored 12-step group) on Thursdays, where the focus is addiction. But it’s not only alcoholic addiction, the original Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step group. We talk about any and all addictions – drugs, work, gambling, pornography, food, shopping…! You name it; Peter says it best – …whatever overcomes a person…!

Finally, it’s hard not to reflect on this verse: For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. (vv. 20-21) If you needed a reason to continue following the Lord, these verses are for you!

Blessings!

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See also: November 22 (2021) / II Peter 2:1-22.

II Peter 1:12-21

Dear RTB’ers,

A couple of oft-quoted verses today… First, For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (v. 16) Peter then goes on to relate his participation in Jesus’ Transfiguration. In essence, he is saying that he and others did not make this up! He was there, personally!! And together it’s all part of Jesus’ power, majesty, and His future coming!

Second, …knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (vv. 20-21) Again, oft-quoted, but no particular comments from me. I think this verse tends to be used more as justifying someone speaking for God or NOT speaking for Him.

So here I’ll make my personal application: And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. (v. 15) I’ve said it before in our RTB gatherings, but I’ve probably not posted it – in addition to my trying to encourage you or “educate” you, one of my goals in my postings has been to model good morning behavior. John and I approach our postings differently – he often works days or even weeks ahead. But my postings have always been “morning only”. What have I read this morning, and what can I say to others? God’s Holy Spirit has often spoken to me in these earlier-morning posts and I know that He can do the same for you. So my behavior modeling is my encouragement for you to do the same, to be daily and even early-daily in seeking Him. …so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

Blessings!

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See also: November 2 (2020) / II Peter 1:12-21.

II Peter 1:1-11

Dear RTB’ers,

In verses 5b-7 Peter lists a number of spiritual attributes in the context of one sentence connecting all of them. Yes, they seem to run together; it might help to split them out, each one set off by itself:

• Faith
• Virtue
• Knowledge
• Self-control
• Steadfastness
• Godliness
• Brotherly affection
• Love

Then Peter essentially asks if these qualities are ours and whether or not they are increasing. So, the question to you – look at each of these qualities and check the status of that quality in your spiritual toolkit. Hopefully you’ll find a few of them even increasing.

Or maybe the better question is whether one or more of those qualities is missing…? Peter doesn’t leave that as an option! Neither should we! Time for a little self-examination and a lot of prayer…!

Blessings!

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See also: November 21 (2021) / II Peter 1:1-21.

Song of Solomon 1-8

Dear RTB’ers,

The “Song of Solomon: Revision” in Search the Scriptures asks us to move from a human love perspective to Christ’s eternal love for us and our love for Him – and our personal devotion to Him in that context. A couple of my prior posts have already looked at that relationship, and I have found myself falling far short both in my devotion to Him and in my understanding / embracing His love for me. So, really, no more to say on that.

As to the shepherd-king-woman “love triangle”… All of us in reading Scripture are at the mercy of archaeologists and language translators from thousands of years past. It’s my guess that the earliest manuscripts did not have text guidance (inserts) for “She” and “He” and “Others”. One item that I read suggested that verb tenses guided translators as to who was speaking. And that’s helpful, but even my ESV and NASB translations do not agree on the “He”, “She”, and “Others” inserts.

So how can we possibly know whether a “He” speaker was the king or a shepherd? How can we know whether the woman was referring to her love for the king or her secret love for that distant shepherd? Some scholars are adamant that the “He” is always King Solomon – but then, why mention the shepherd? We see the shepherd or the flock mentioned at least three times – Song 1:7, 2:16, 6:2 – with further illusion to gardens and fields. We’ll never know.

So, my summary… Song of Solomon is about love. Human love. God’s eternal love. My post from yesterday is worth repeating:

…for love is as strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised. (vv. 6b-7) Two truths – the depth of true love and the ultimate source of that love, the Lord. The whole of this Book in just four sentences!

Blessings!

Song of Solomon 8:5-14

Dear RTB’ers,

Words to end this book: …for love is as strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised. (vv. 6b-7) Two truths – the depth of true love and the ultimate source of that love, the Lord. The whole of this Book in just four sentences!

Carol and I have been blessed to be some 40+ years married. Occasionally we are asked for secrets (wisdom?) for a happy marriage and our first response is always, “the Lord”. Without Him at the beginning of our relationship (even before the beginning!) and continuing through our coming to know each other, we would not be where we are today. But even that “wisdom” cuts short the ultimate truth: We love because He first loved us. (I John 4:19) We can only know love because of His love for us. And one final thought from the same section of Scripture: God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (I John 4:16) Glory!!

Blessings!

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See also: November 30 (2022) / Song of Songs 8 (again).

Song of Solomon 6:4-8:4

Dear RTB’ers,

While reading today, I had to wonder if I had already read these verses: Your hair is like a flock of goats that have descended from Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from their watering place, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost her young. (vv. 6:5b-6) Then I looked back and saw the same refrain in Song 4:1b-2.

I also remembered that we had read the following verse a few days ago, Song 2:6: His left hand is under my head, and His right hand embraces me! (v. 8:3) I remembered commenting on it then, that it’s a beautiful picture of God’s protection with His left hand and His love with His right hand. And it rings true again today.

Then I looked further (A.I. helped me!) and there are a number of other repeated verses in this Book. “Do not awaken love…” appears in Song 2:7, 3:5, 8:4. I mentioned yesterday that “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine…” appears in Song 2:16, 6:3, in addition to today’s Song 7:10. It’s poetry, not my forte…

But the verses that stood out for me today, There are sixty queens and eighty concubines and virgins without number. My dove, my perfect one, is the only one… (vv. 6:8-9a) Here I imagine that it is Solomon, the king speaking. I Kings 11:3 noted that he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Today’s author only mentions sixty and eighty (and more), but of all these his attention is drawn to “She”. And in some infinite sense, I can imagine God looking down upon each and every one of His created beings and seeing their personal beauty and pouring out His infinite love on each and every one of them – me and you included! I am blown away by that thought!

Blessings!

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See also:

• November 28 (2022) / Song of Songs 6 (again)
• November 29 (2022) / Song of Songs 7
• November 30 (2022) / Song of Songs 8