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Today’s Reading

Devotional: Deut. 6

We have come across other passages dealing with the importance of passing on the heritage of biblical truth to the next generation. That theme lies at the heart of Deuteronomy 6. Fresh points that are especially underlined include:

(1) The ancient Israelites were to teach the next generation to fear the God of the covenant. Moses teaches the people “so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live” (Deut. 6:2). When in the future a son asks his father what the laws mean, the father is to explain the background, the Exodus, and the covenant: “The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today” (Deut. 6:24). We might well ask ourselves what steps we take to teach our children to fear the Lord our God, not with the cringing terror that is frightened of whimsical malice but with the profound conviction that this God is perfectly just and does not play around with sin.

(2) Moses underscores the constancy with which the next generation is to be taught. The commandments Moses passes on are to remain on the “hearts”of the people (Deut. 6:6; we would probably say minds). Out of this abundance, the next words follow: “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deut. 6:7). Even what they wore and how they decorated their houses should serve as reminders of the law of God (Deut. 6:8-9 ). We might well ask ourselves how constantly we teach our children the content of Scripture. In ancient Israel children usually learned their vocational skills from their parents, spending countless hours with them, which provided many opportunities to pass on the blessings of the covenant. Our more fragmented culture means we must make opportunities.

(3) Above all, the older generation was to model utter loyalty to God (Deut. 6:13-19). This consistent modeling was to include an utter repudiation of idolatry, obedience to the demands of the covenant, revering the name of the Lord God, doing “what is right and good in the LORD’s sight” (Deut. 6:18). How faithfully have we, by our own living, commended serious God-centeredness to our children?

(4) There must be a sensitive awareness of the opportunities to answer questions our children raise (Deut. 6:20-25). Never bluff. If you do not know the answer, find out, or find someone who does. We must ask ourselves if we make maximum use of the questions our children raise.

Related Resources

Crushing Rahab: Does the Old Testament Borrow from Myth?

References to God crushing the dragon Rahab are examples of biblical typology, not ancient Near Eastern mythology.

The (Whole) Old Testament Law in One Word

Love is not a pleasant disposition, but a covenantal commitment.

Devotional: Revelation 4

Revelation 4 is to Revelations 5 what a setting is to a drama. Revelation 4 is a description, in apocalyptic symbolism, of the throne room of Almighty God; Revelation 5 plays out a drama in that setting.

John identifies the voice he hears as the voice he first heard speaking to him like a trumpet (Rev. 4:1)—the voice of the exalted Lord Jesus (Rev. 1:10–16). John is called up through an open door into heaven to see the elements of the spectacular vision that unfolds in the ensuing verses. Immediately he is “in the Spirit” (Rev. 4:2)—perhaps some Spirit-imparted trance or vision, or perhaps, like Paul (2 Cor. 12:1–10), John does not really know the nature of his movement. But what he sees is clear enough:

(a) John sees the centrality and ineffable majesty of the Almighty (Rev. 4:2b–3). He does not let his readers forget that above all temporal thrones, some of them responsible for appalling persecution, stands the ultimate throne, the throne of God. He describes the blazing glory of light refracting over precious gems, like the crown jewels in the Tower of London. One cannot come away from this vision and draw God. This dazzling, fiery beauty commands awe but permits no replicas (cf. Ezek. 1:28).

(b) John sees the divine throne enhanced by spectacular heavenly beings (Rev. 4:4). Although it is possible to take the “elders” as representing believers from both old and new covenants, it is better to take them as a high order of angels. They offer the prayers of God’s saints to God (Rev. 5:8), an angelic function (Rev. 8:3). Believers sing a new song that the elders cannot sing (Rev. 14:3). In the visions of Revelation 7:9–11 and 19:1–4 the elders are found in concentric circles between angels and the four living creatures (the highest order of angelic beings). An elder frequently interprets what is going on (e.g., Rev. 5:5)—a common angelic function in apocalyptic literature. Here they enhance the throne and participate in worship.

(c) John sees the holy separateness of the Almighty. That is the point of the three vignettes in Revelation 4:5–6a. The massive storm reminds the reader of Sinai (Ex. 19:16). The sea serves as a symbol for the entire fallen order; that is why in the new heaven and the new earth there is no more sea (Rev. 21:1). John is distanced from the Almighty by these and related phenomena.

(d) John sees the four living creatures, described in terms drawn from Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1 and 10. They are the highest angelic beings, orchestrating the praise of the Almighty and reflecting his transcendent administration (Rev. 4:6b–11). God alone is to be worshiped, for he alone is the Creator (Rev. 4:11), and all other authority derives from his (Rev. 4:10).

Deut. 6

The Greatest Commandment

6:1 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules1—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.2 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 “And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—15 for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has promised.

20 “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.’

Footnotes

[1] 6:1 Or just decrees; also verse 20
[2] 6:4 Or The Lord our God is one Lord; or The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone

(ESV)

Resources

Crushing Rahab: Does the Old Testament Borrow from Myth?

References to God crushing the dragon Rahab are examples of biblical typology, not ancient Near Eastern mythology.

The (Whole) Old Testament Law in One Word

Love is not a pleasant disposition, but a covenantal commitment.

Psalm 89

I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the Lord

A Maskil1 of Ethan the Ezrahite.

89:1   I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever;
    with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
  For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
    in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
  You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
    I have sworn to David my servant:
  ‘I will establish your offspring forever,
    and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah
  Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD,
    your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
  For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD?
    Who among the heavenly beings2 is like the LORD,
  a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
    and awesome above all who are around him?
  O LORD God of hosts,
    who is mighty as you are, O LORD,
    with your faithfulness all around you?
  You rule the raging of the sea;
    when its waves rise, you still them.
10   You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
    you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11   The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
    the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
12   The north and the south, you have created them;
    Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
13   You have a mighty arm;
    strong is your hand, high your right hand.
14   Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
    steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
15   Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
    who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face,
16   who exult in your name all the day
    and in your righteousness are exalted.
17   For you are the glory of their strength;
    by your favor our horn is exalted.
18   For our shield belongs to the LORD,
    our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19   Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one,3 and said:
    “I have granted help to one who is mighty;
    I have exalted one chosen from the people.
20   I have found David, my servant;
    with my holy oil I have anointed him,
21   so that my hand shall be established with him;
    my arm also shall strengthen him.
22   The enemy shall not outwit him;
    the wicked shall not humble him.
23   I will crush his foes before him
    and strike down those who hate him.
24   My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
    and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25   I will set his hand on the sea
    and his right hand on the rivers.
26   He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
    my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
27   And I will make him the firstborn,
    the highest of the kings of the earth.
28   My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
    and my covenant will stand firm4 for him.
29   I will establish his offspring forever
    and his throne as the days of the heavens.
30   If his children forsake my law
    and do not walk according to my rules,5
31   if they violate my statutes
    and do not keep my commandments,
32   then I will punish their transgression with the rod
    and their iniquity with stripes,
33   but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
    or be false to my faithfulness.
34   I will not violate my covenant
    or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
35   Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
    I will not lie to David.
36   His offspring shall endure forever,
    his throne as long as the sun before me.
37   Like the moon it shall be established forever,
    a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah
38   But now you have cast off and rejected;
    you are full of wrath against your anointed.
39   You have renounced the covenant with your servant;
    you have defiled his crown in the dust.
40   You have breached all his walls;
    you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
41   All who pass by plunder him;
    he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
42   You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
    you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43   You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
    and you have not made him stand in battle.
44   You have made his splendor to cease
    and cast his throne to the ground.
45   You have cut short the days of his youth;
    you have covered him with shame. Selah
46   How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?
    How long will your wrath burn like fire?
47   Remember how short my time is!
    For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
48   What man can live and never see death?
    Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
49   Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,
    which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
50   Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
    and how I bear in my heart the insults6 of all the many nations,
51   with which your enemies mock, O LORD,
    with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.
52   Blessed be the LORD forever!
      Amen and Amen.

Footnotes

[1] 89:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
[2] 89:6 Hebrew the sons of God, or the sons of might
[3] 89:19 Some Hebrew manuscripts godly ones
[4] 89:28 Or will remain faithful
[5] 89:30 Or my just decrees
[6] 89:50 Hebrew lacks the insults

(ESV)

Isaiah 34

Judgment on the Nations

34:1   Draw near, O nations, to hear,
    and give attention, O peoples!
  Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
    the world, and all that comes from it.
  For the LORD is enraged against all the nations,
    and furious against all their host;
    he has devoted them to destruction,1 has given them over for slaughter.
  Their slain shall be cast out,
    and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
    the mountains shall flow with their blood.
  All the host of heaven shall rot away,
    and the skies roll up like a scroll.
  All their host shall fall,
    as leaves fall from the vine,
    like leaves falling from the fig tree.
  For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
    behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom,
    upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
  The LORD has a sword; it is sated with blood;
    it is gorged with fat,
    with the blood of lambs and goats,
    with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
  For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
    a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
  Wild oxen shall fall with them,
    and young steers with the mighty bulls.
  Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
    and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
  For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
    a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
  And the streams of Edom2 shall be turned into pitch,
    and her soil into sulfur;
    her land shall become burning pitch.
10   Night and day it shall not be quenched;
    its smoke shall go up forever.
  From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
    none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11   But the hawk and the porcupine3 shall possess it,
    the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
  He shall stretch the line of confusion4 over it,
    and the plumb line of emptiness.
12   Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
    and all its princes shall be nothing.
13   Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
    nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
  It shall be the haunt of jackals,
    an abode for ostriches.5
14   And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
    the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
  indeed, there the night bird6 settles
    and finds for herself a resting place.
15   There the owl nests and lays
    and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
  indeed, there the hawks are gathered,
    each one with her mate.
16   Seek and read from the book of the LORD:
    Not one of these shall be missing;
    none shall be without her mate.
  For the mouth of the LORD has commanded,
    and his Spirit has gathered them.
17   He has cast the lot for them;
    his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
  they shall possess it forever;
    from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.

Footnotes

[1] 34:2 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5
[2] 34:9 Hebrew her streams
[3] 34:11 The identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain
[4] 34:11 Hebrew formlessness
[5] 34:13 Or owls
[6] 34:14 Identity uncertain

(ESV)

Revelation 4

The Throne in Heaven

4:1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings1 and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

  “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
    who was and is and is to come!”

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11   “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
  for you created all things,
    and by your will they existed and were created.”

Footnotes

[1] 4:5 Or voices, or sounds

(ESV)