Psalm 1: The Degeneration of the Sinful Man

I just found Charles Spurgeon's "Treasury of David" stuff online, and if everything is as interesting as this first dive into Psalm 1, I'm excited to continue reading these! Within the exposition that Spurgeon does on this chapter is a really interesting portrait of a sinful man and what must be done to keep from going down this path. Let's look at just the first 2 verses:

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in this law he meditates day and night."

What is interesting is how quickly the man can degenerate according to this passage. Note the verbs used in the first verse. First the man simply walks, then he stands (or perhaps a better way to think about it is that he both STOPS and stands) and finally he sits. This illustrates how sin so easily ensnares us, as someone who is not focused on the Lord and His Word can move so quickly from a passer-through to stopping to see what's going on to finally joining in to the world of sin.

What is also of note is that at each level the company becomes increasingly worse to involve oneself with. Initially it is only the ungodly, which could mean simply those who are lost and have no knowledge of God. From there, the company becomes sinners, or those who deliberately do things against the will of God, with some awareness of the wrong they are doing. Lastly, the company becomes the scornful, or those who openly mock the truth of the Word of God, and some may even go so far as to attempt to explain away the Lord. The further away one gets from God (which can be directly correlated with how much time is spent seeking God), the easier it gets to act not only in ignorance to God but in direct opposition to His commands.

So how does one escape such company? Verse 2 gives a pretty clear answer. One has to delight in the law of the Lord. Notice that it is not just "the Lord," but rather "the law of the Lord." As Spurgeon points out, this man is not under the law, but rather in it. This man is someone who not only loves the Lord, but also keeps His commandments (John 14:15) and does so with delight (Colossians 3:23).

A friend passed along a blog post written recently about frustration concerning those who feel they are saved based on one single experience but show no evidence of God's fruit in their lives. The "blessed man" of Psalm 1 is a Berean; his fruit is shown as he meditates on the law day and night.

Think of the New Age movement's practice of meditation. What does it entail? You must block out all distractions and immerse yourself in the process. The idea behind Biblical meditation is similar; you must dive deep into the law, and if you are immersed in such law "both day and night," odds are you have a better shot of keeping His commandments and avoiding the type of company talked about in verse one.

Lord, give us the desire to delight in Your Word, and help us to put aside all distractions to focus on the glory of the things You've spoken to us. Help us to not merely be hearers of Your Word, but also to take action and to put it on our minds both day and night. Amen.

Jesus -- Of Judah

I had a weird mental pathway today to my topic. I was thinking about looking for a commentary on Judges to see if anyone else had some interesting takes on the man Jephthah was, which led me back to my blog yesterday. I remembered Rahab and wondered if any other women would be worth mentioning in this group. Certainly some might say Ruth or Esther could be included, perhaps Hannah or Sarah or even Bathsheba. However, one crossed my mind that little is known about: Tamar. Would Tamar be worthy of such an honor? We know she was Judah's niece and tricked him into sleeping with her to conceive a child that would be his heir, since her husband and husband's brother were both killed by the Lord.

That put another question in my mind. Judah slept with his niece, who was masquerading as a prostitute. And yet it is this man from whom Jesus chose to be a descendant. Looking at the tribes of Israel and the men from which they came, one would suspect that Jesus would come from the line of Joseph, or perhaps Levi, since He is described in Hebrews as "High Priest," and the Levites were the priests. But no, Jesus is the "lion of the tribe of Judah." Why did He choose (and it most definitely was a choice; I have no desire to debate the sovereignty of God in this post) the lineage of Judah?

It got me thinking about what we really know about Judah. For starters, his name lends more to the future Messiah as one of his descendants. The name Judah is derived from the Hebrew word for praise. Joseph comes from the Hebrew for may he add, while Levi comes from the Hebrew for attached.

After Judah's birth, we don't hear about him again until his incident with Tamar. Genesis 38 tells this story, but at the end, it is noteworthy that Judah keeps the promise he made to Tamar in attempting to bring her a goat and honoring the cord and seal he gave to her as his sign, even though he says, "She is more righteous than I."

However, Judah's greatest contribution to the book of Genesis comes in chapters 43-44. Due to the famine, Jacob sends his sons (minus Benjamin) to Egypt to buy grain, and when they come to their brother Joseph (not recognizing him), they are sent back with orders to bring Benjamin with them, and Simeon is imprisoned until they come back. Judah at this point emerges as the leader and asks that Benjamin be entrusted to his care. You would think this would be the request of the firstborn, but no, Judah was 4th in line. Judah takes on the responsibility of caring for the young and inexperienced Benjamin.

As the story continues, when the brothers return Joseph secretly plants a silver cup in Benjamin's grain sack to force Benjamin to stay in Egypt. Judah then does something that up to this point has not been done in the book of Genesis: he sacrifices himself for the good of his younger, inexperienced brother. He pleads with Joseph to let him be the one imprisoned, since Benjamin is entrusted to his care. Joseph can no longer contain himself, reveals himself to his brothers, and they lived happily ever after (er, mostly; those living in the time of Moses might disagree with the move to Egypt).

So what qualities does Judah show in his short time in Genesis? (1) He honors a covenant that he made, (2) he emerges as leader of his "people," (3) he takes responsibility for the weak and inexperienced, and (4) he offers himself as a sacrifice for the weak, so that the weak won't be separated from his father forever.

Anybody see the parallels between Judah and Jesus? While Judah was not perfect, he was the best example of what Jesus came to fulfill. Simeon was chosen to be imprisoned first, but he and Levi both stained their father's name by attacking the town of the man who raped their sister. Reuben, when Joseph was sold by his brothers, merely protested but did not step in himself. No, Judah was the man who showed the character that was later made even more perfect by Jesus Christ. It is only fitting that God chose to personify Himself in the lineage of such a man who, not blameless by any stretch of the imagination, did what needed to be done to protect and bring honor to his own.

Hall of Faith - Jephthah???

Most people who either actively read their Bible or attend church on a regular basis have probably heard a reference to the "Hall of Faith." For those who may not know, this points to Hebrews 11, where the author of Hebrews calls out by name some of the Old Testament believers who exemplified great faith, and in some cases specifically where this faith showed its nature.

I recall recently talking about Samson and how he continually let Delilah and the Philistines attempt to take him down, and how he never learned. A friend made a comment in the vein of, "Yeah, and yet he's mentioned in the Hall of Faith. Strange, isn't it?" So I went back to the Hall of Faith chapter to see what exactly it was that earned Samson a place of recognition among the greats. Unfortunately, he is just listed in a series of names, so there is no exact specification for his inclusion, but it was the name after his that got me thinking. Jephthah?!

For starters, WIFE and I just finished the book of Judges in our attempt to read through the entire Bible in a year. After actually reading through the whole book, it's evident to me that Judges is a book filled with chaos. People attacking people and not listening to people and breaking promises and making promises they don't really intend to keep. Indeed, the common phrase running through many of the verses of Judges is, "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

Which brings me to Jephthah. We find this man in the midst of all of the chaos of Judges, yet like Samson he is included in the Hall of Faith. Why? A little background on Jephthah might help.

Jephthah was born the son of a prostitute (which isn't terrible; after all, Rahab --called out by the author of Hebrews as a prostitute-- is also mentioned in the Hall of Faith), and his brothers basically ostracized him from the family, saying he was not one of the real brothers. After the people of Gilead (Jephthah's father) were attacked by the Ammonites, they called on Jephthah (referred to first as "a mighty warrior") to lead them.

After scorning them for their treatment of him and making sure he would be their leader if he helped, he sent a message to the leader of the Ammonites, asking why they were attacking and after a couple of back-and-forths, is basically ignored by the Ammonite king. So Jephthah leads his men and defeats the Ammonites.

Here's where it gets interesting, and may be the reason for his name in the Hall of Faith. Jephthah made a vow to God that if God would grant him the victory, He would sacrifice (as a burnt offering; Judges 11:31) the first thing that came out of his house when he returned in triumph. As luck would have it, the first thing out of the house was his only daughter. Jephthah, as any father would be, is distraught and tears his clothes. However, here's the test of the man--he informs his daughter of the vow, she understands and agrees and after two months to spend with her friends, he goes through with the sacrifice!!!

Wow. As a new father, I know that if I made such a vow, I would probably say, "Um, OK Lord, what else can I give you instead, because You're not getting my daughter." Even Abraham, when told to sacrifice Isaac, didn't actually have to go through with it. How strong a man of faith was Jephthah, not only in trusting the Lord to deliver the Ammonites into his hand but following through on a vow that cost him the life of his only daughter.

I'm sure Jephthah is rejoicing with his daughter in heaven now, but it is such faith that people today should strive to achieve. That no matter what happens, what we promise to the Lord is sacred, and we need to treat it as such, because He knows better than we do why He gives us the things he does, be it possessions, wealth, suffering or anything else.

Jephthah might not have been the smartest cookie in the jar, but he without a doubt was one of the most faithful and God-honoring, so I not only support but now understand why his name is mentioned in Hebrews. No doubt the recipients of the original letter of Hebrews did also. Hopefully modern-day recipients will observe and take note.

Calvinism vs. Arminianism - A Response

Wow. My previous blog post generated the most response of any of the blog posts I've done up to this point. I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that this is an extremely hot and controversial topic. I decided to a bit more research to make sure I feel a bit better about where I fall.

One friend encouraged me to read the book "Easy Chairs, Hard Words," and after previewing the first chapter on Amazon, looks pretty interesting and suggests that maybe I should use the term "reformed" instead of "Calvinist." WIFE (which, in case you're a new reader, stands for Woman I Find Exceptional) also suggested that maybe I hastily jumped too much into the argument without enough research.

I have to say, this post is probably where I draw the last line. I will probably read the above suggested book, but as far as expounding on my personal feelings, this is probably it.

That said, I went looking for some comparisons between the 5 points of Calvinism and the corresponding 5 points of Arminianism. This one was a pretty good one, in my opinion, and helped me draw the line on a couple of questionable ideas I had about some of the 5 points: http://www.fivesolas.com/cal_arm.htm.

Without getting too deep into it, the points in my previous posts that I disagreed with the explanation (Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints) are a bit more clear cut here, and in reading the "strict" Arminianist counterpoints, I have to say I fall closer to the Calvinist view of these doctrines than the Arminianist view. So I guess this pushes me to a 4-point Calvinist, which apparently is a fairly common theological position.

So my issue still lies with Limited vs. Unlimited Atonement, which again according to research is possibly the most controversial of the 5 points. When looking at both viewpoints, they both seem to have compelling arguments. So my first question to myself was, "Haven't I heard somewhere about 'the hope of salvation,' which would extend to all men?"

I looked up the passage (1 Thessalonians 5:8, if anyone cares to reference it) and went to Strong's concordance to learn the actual Greek word and meaning for "hope" in this verse. The literal definition, plus various other references using the same Greek word, liken that "hope" more to an "expectation" or "faith in," which leans closer to the Reformed viewpoint. (http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G1680 is the link for Strong's concordance to this word)

But I was still interested in the point about 1 Timothy 1:15 ("Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the foremost {of all}."). It doesn't say SOME sinners, it just says sinners. The last prepositional phrase isn't in all translations of this verse, but the Greek word for "sinners" is hamartolos, which in its most literal sense means "not free from sin," but in a more specific sense is applied to "all wicked men." (http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G268&t=NASB&page=2 is the reference for this one.). Other passages using the same Greek word seem to point to such an understanding of the original Greek.

This idea seems more concrete to me, so I think in the sliding scale I fall closer to the side of Unlimited Atonement, but the basis for both viewpoints is Scriptural, so who am I to decide one is solely right and one is solely wrong?

My last point goes back to my original statement in this post. This will be my last post on this subject. Why? Because I base my belief on what the Bible says. There are clearly enough mysterious passages in the Bible to make you fall on one side or another. I fell into that behavior earlier in life when determining that I was a "pre-tribulationist" believer in the Rapture. I think if God wanted us to know the answer outright, He would have just said specifically in His Word, "This is how it is." But I guess the underlying point is that both doctrinal viewpoints believe that we need Christ in our lives to be saved, and that is the most important doctrinal position of all!

My Take on Calvinism's 5 Points

So in reading back through some of blog posts I remembered that I said I wanted to tackle where I stand in terms of Calvinism versus Arminianism. While I haven't seriously studied Arminianism enough yet to see how I view that theology, I did do some research on the 5 points of Calvinism. While these points don't comprise totally the philosophy of Calvinism, they are tenets that strong Calvinists adhere to. I like that they form a pretty word acrostically, but as for the tenets themselves, some questions arise.

Total depravity
Unconditional election
Limited atonement
Irresistible grace
Perserverance of the saints

TOTAL DEPRAVITY - due to the fall of Adam, everyone born into the world is enslaved into the service of sin (i.e. we are born with sin)

My take: I agree with this one completely. No objections.

UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION - it is God's choice from eternity whom He will save, and it is not based on foreseen virtue, merit or faith in those people

My take: This idea is supported by Paul in both the book of Romans and 1 Corinthians, so I agree with this one too.

LIMITED ATONEMENT - since God predestined the elect, Jesus' death that atoned for sins was only meant to atone for the sins of the elect, and not all of the world

My take: Paul doesn't make the claim that "Christ came to the world to save SOME sinners, or whom I am the worst." I believe that Christ came to testify to the truth (as He states in John 18:37) to all of the world, otherwise Christ wouldn't have said, "God and make disciples of ALL NATIONS." The Word of God is readily available to anyone who wants to read it, not to an elect few who were destined to read it. The caveat comes in the form of free will. I believe God would give everyone the chance to accept the atonement; it's just that not everyone does, and He knew that from eternity

IRRESISTIBLE GRACE - the Holy Spirit is able to overcome any obstacles put up in the way of saving those whom God had predestined to be with Him

My take: I like the idea of this one, but not the explanation. This explanation makes it sound like the Holy Spirit tries harder to reach some than others, because they are the elect. I think God tries with the same earnest to reach every individual, because as He tries to reach someone, another might come to Him in free will as a result.

PERSERVERANCE OF THE SAINTS - Those whom God has called into communion with Himself will continue in faith until the end. Those who fall away were either never really saved or will return.

My take: I don't like this explanation either. What happens to a person who is undeniably saved but dies in a sinful act? For example, what happens to the saved pastor who is killed while trying to murder a man who raped his daughter? No chance to return, but no one doubts the salvation. If you simplify the explanation of POTS to simply "You can't lose your salvation," then I agree.

So that's it. I guess I'm a 3 1/2 point Calvinist, which means I must agree with some of Arminius' beliefs too. Or perhaps not. I guess we'll find out eventually.

If God Is So Powerful and Good, Why Do Bad Things Happen?

Bracket - 1st Weekend Carnage

Wow what a first weekend in the tournament. Lots of upsets, including my beloved Lobos going down on Saturday to a better (at least on this day) Washington team. My bracket, as well as about half of the nation, could be on its way to a sinking ship as Kansas fell to Northern Iowa in the upset of the tournament. However, I do still have 7 of 8 Elite Eight teams in, so I might end up being OK. I'm 2nd in the pools I'm participating in, so I have it set up pretty good if things fall my way. I'll be rooting hard against Syracuse and Kentucky, though. Here's how my bracket looks after the carnage.

The Gift of Sin?

I am so thankful for God leading me to the Bible study I am in currently. Without this study, I might never have heard of Voddie Baucham. What a passionate believer in the Word of God is this man! He puts on the hat of both apologist and family man, and the stuff that God speaks through this man is so powerful.

Here was an interesting case he made in a sermon on brokenness I just watched on YouTube (you can watch it too; just go to YouTube and search "Voddie Baucham brokenness"). Voddie made the case that God gives us a gift in allowing us to not forget our sins.

What?!?!?!

I know the verses that you might use to combat this. Psalm 103:12 would be a good one: "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." Jeremiah 31:34 would also seem to give some argument to this: "'No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,' declares the Lord. 'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.'"

Ah, but these two verses speak to how God treats sin. He wipes the slate clean (Psalm 103:12) and He has promised that He would forget our sins (Jeremiah 31:34), but obviously we still remember times when we've messed up. This is a gift directly from God. Why? Three reasons:

1) If you could forget your sin, you could never testify to the goodness of God. Our sins allow us to be broken before God so that when we understand the fullness of what His grace means, we can testify to how good He is to do this.

2) If you could forget your sin, you couldn't be warned against doing them again. Voddie uses the example of what would happen if we forgot what the effect of touching fire was. God allows these memories to scar us in hopes that we would learn from our sin and not be doomed to repeat it constantly.

3) If you could forget your sin, you couldn't rejoice in your victories. How awesome does it feel to realize that you were about to do something wrong and were able to avoid it by the grace of God? Those are some of the best moments in the Christian life, I think. The memory of sin allows us to remember who we once were, and how God has enabled us to overcome such things to not be that same person.

It's amazing the hidden beauties of God, that He would choose to make Himself known even in giving us a remembrance of our sins. I pray that He would continue to find ways to break me in my sin, because only under the brokenness of sin can man understand what it means to rightly worship God for His presence and His grace.

My Bracket Picks

So after all my bracket predictions were done and the actual brackets announced, I calculated my Paymon score. For those of you not familiar with this, the Paymon score is a calculation of bracket efficiency. Here's how they score it:

3 points for every team you correctly place in the field

2 points for every team you correctly seed

1 point for every team you seed within +/- 1 of their actual seed.

The Bracket Matrix (http://bracketproject.50webs.com/matrix.htm) computes these Paymon scores for many of the reputable bracket sites across the web. This year, the leading bracket had a Paymon score of 322 (65 teams, 33 correctly seeded, 61 within +/- 1 of their seed). My Paymon score this year was a mighty fine 316 (63 teams, 36 correctly seeded, 55 within +/- 1 of their seed), which would be good for 8th on the Bracket Matrix out of 83 brackets! This means I would've beaten the likes of ESPN's Joe Lunardi, CBS College Sports and CollegeRPI.com's Jerry Palm, Yahoo! Rivals.com's Mike Hugenin, Bracketology 101 (considered widely to be one of the best bracket sites out there), and even The Bracket Project, who creates the matrix.

Anyway, guess I should submit for next year to be included in the matrix. We'll see how that goes. Anyway, now comes selecting the actual bracket, and picking the winner. I've spent the morning calculating, and below is how my bracket looks this year. What do you all think? If you have a comment, or just want to trash-talk, leave a comment!

Lessons From the Torah

WIFE (stands for Woman I Find Exceptional, and how I will refer to my wife from now on) and I are reading through the entire Bible this year, and our daily plan has caused us to just now finish the book of Deuteronomy. Wow, there's a lot of information in there, including some verses I wish I hadn't found. But hey, they're there for a reason. Here are a few of the things I learned from the first five books of the Bible:

1) The Israelites were some messed up people! Every time God would do an amazing miracle for them, they would complain about something else and usually reference it with "Did God lead us here to die in the desert?" Plus, some of the rules that God laid out for them I couldn't imagine, but obviously He had to set them straight because these issues came up (if you're wondering what issues I mean, see Deuteronomy 23; I really don't want to list them here).

2) Moses was an amazing leader. The last few verses of Deuteronomy (I suspect written by Joshua) claim him as so, but just think about it. Can you imagine leading a group of middle-schoolers on a camping trip for 5 days? Now try doing it with an millions of people for 40 years.

3) The old covenant in no way compares to the new covenant. While both made by God, I for one am thankful that I don't have to give an animal to the High Priest to be sacrificed every time I sin, because the world probably doesn't have enough sheep or pigeons. Plus, I like being able to have a personal individual relationship with God, rather than having to go through the priests.

4) What happened to Simeon? In Moses' blessings of the tribes of Israel at the end of Deuteronomy, he mentions every son of Jacob except Simeon. What did he or his people do to get left out of the blessing, and did they ever get back into God's good graces?

5) Participate in the census. Apparently they're important. God basically devoted a whole book of His Word to one.

Why Believe In the Bible?

I saw the video on this last week, but for some reason I've put off posting about it. At our Bible study last Thursday we watched a sermon by Voddie Baucham about why the Bible should be believable. He gave a long statement explaining why (and supported by 2 Peter 1:16-21) and broke it down. Here is the statement, followed by some broken down explanations about why the Bible is believable.

The Bible is a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitness during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim that there are writings are divine, instead of human, in origin.

The Bible is a reliable collection: It's a collection of 66 books written by over 40 authors. It's reliable because it was written over a period of roughly 1,600 years; it was written down in 3 languages (Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic) on 3 continents (Asia, Africa, Europe) by men who mostly never met each other, yet they tell one single, unified story.

of historical documents: The Bible gives specific names, dates and locations as recorded in human history. There have been over 23,000 archaeological digs directly related to historical events in the Bible, and not one historical event has had to be changed in the text of Scripture based on their findings.

Written down by eyewitnesses: Most of the men who wrote in the New Testament were alive at the time life of Jesus. 2 Peter 1:16 supports this, as does 1 John 1:1-3.

During the lifetime of other eyewitnesses: These things were written down during the time that people who were eyewitnesses to the life of Christ were still alive. 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 says this: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. ⁶After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. Verse six says that he appeared to more than 500 people, most of whom are still living. That means at the time of the writing of 1 Corinthians, at least 250 people who were witnesses to Christ's life and death were still alive. Wouldn't there be at least one manuscript that would have mentioned something about these writings of Paul being false if he wasn't speaking the truth?

They report supernatural events: I.e. Jesus healed paralytics, the writers themselves heard the voice of God (2 Peter 1:18), they saw Jesus walk on the water, etc. Again, wouldn't these stories have been refuted in other manuscripts if they didn't tell truth?

In fulfillment of specific prophecies: When Jesus was on the cross, he cried out "Eli, Eli lama sabbacthani" which translates "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" This is the beginning of Psalm 22; in those days they didn't have chapters and verses--the way you named a psalm (song) is by it's first line. If Jesus started the song, those Jews who knew this psalm and were at the cross were probably finishing the rest of it in their heads. What else does this psalm say? "But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads...I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." This is exactly what was happening to Jesus; he was pointing out the specific prophecies that were being fulfilled, prophecies that were written over 1,000 years before Jesus was born by a man who had never once in his life heard of crucifixion, because it hadn't even been invented yet!

And claim that they are divine, rather than human, in origin: The Bible claims God is the author, not men. It says in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. How many times in the Bible does it say, "And God spoke to..." "God told..."? This should dispel the notion that the Bible can't be believed because men wrote it. By the way, if you believe that the Bible is not believable because it was written down by men, then burn your library! Also, burn any other religious text because they were all DEFINITELY written down by men. But rather, the Bible only claims that the Word of God was written by GOD through man.

Whew! Some pretty heavy stuff. If you got through all of that, good for you! In case you want to see this for yourself, here's the link to the first part of the message, and you can find the rest on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm-rtE5P9E8

In Christ Alone

What a great worship song! Each line is so powerful and gives due praise to the one who deserves it! This is Travis Cottrell's version, with some good imagery.

Smoothie Song on Bongos/Congas

This guy's pretty awesome. Takes some interesting songs and puts his own twist on them. Since I play bouzouki and love Nickel Creek's Smoothie Song, you can imagine why I enjoy this so much. Hope you do too!

The Ark of the Covenant

I haven't always been the most insightful (or most observant) person in the world, and up until recently haven't been serious about Bible study or interpretation, but this struck me as interesting. This week at church our pastor was continuing our study in Hebrews and he got to the part where it was talking about the design of the Most Holy Place, including how the ark of the covenant was designed, to point out the differences between the old and new covenants that Christians have with God.

It also briefly mentioned what was in the ark of the covenant - a jar of manna, Aaron's staff that blossomed with leaves and almonds, and the Ten Commandments. I hadn't really thought hard about why these three things specifically were placed in the ark, other than that they were important parts of the story for the Israelites in Exodus and Numbers. It's clear to me now that what's important is that they symbolize three very important natures of God in how He related to the Israelites, and more importantly today us as Christians. Here's what I mean:

Jar of Manna - symbolizes God's provision for the Israelites. God takes care of His own, even when we grumble and complain and aren't really worthy of this.

Aaron's staff - symbolizes God's power and placement. God needed to show the Israelites just who was boss -- and this doesn't mean just Aaron. He did this as a demonstration of who He had chosen to lead the people into communion with God, but also to show that He is capable of doing anything.

Ten Commandments - symbolizes God's precedent for His law. There are obviously things that God holds in the highest importance for us in the way we live our lives, and to make sure we understand them He wrote them with His very hand.

It's awesome that these things are so symbolic of our relationship with God today. Anyone who reads the Old Testament (particularly the "hard" books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) and doesn't understand why they are in the Bible should look at things like this and marvel at how awesome God has been through the ages, and how applicable things like this still are!