The Bible Standard - Re-Discover the Truth.

“YOU SHALL REMEMBER …”   April 24

It is good to have a good memory; it is frustrating to be forgetful.  Yet how often do we forget to be thankful for good things?  Do you recall the comments of Jesus when only one of the ten lepers he healed returned to express thanksgiving for his healing.  (Luke 17: 15-17)

In our Deuteronomy reading today – and this book should be seen as Moses’ final exhortation to the people before he dies, he says, “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers.

And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart …” [Ch. 8 v.1-2]

What kind of remembering are we to do?  Each one of us will have different memories.  What memories these people of God had at this time!!  We need to be aware that nearly all the adults in the 12 tribes (but not the Levites) who had come out of Egypt had died in the wilderness because of their unfaithfulness.  These had witnessed the miracles of the plagues in Egypt, then the most dramatic of miracles in crossing the Red Sea on dry land, then the physical nearness of God as they camped beside the mountain. Then came the provision of water, the manna and the quail – and still they complained. – are many teenagers reading this?  Once you reach the age of 20, God holds you responsible.

Because those 20 and over had not developed any depth of faith, they wandered and died in the wilderness because they failed to remember – and in remembering – to take to heart all that the Lord their God, the only real God had done.  A lesson for us!   Is there anything we fail to remember?  What a tremendous picture the history of the world since those days provides – and now we are surely reaching the climax.

In John’s Gospel we have read of the climax of the life and death of God’s son – and the absolute wonder and drama of his resurrection.  John’s 20thchapter ends, “… these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”  Remember, our actions show what we believe.  Make the time today to read and meditate on the last 2 chapters of John’s gospel, it is one of the richest sources of food to stimulate our minds in the whole Bible.

Because they are so simple in a profound chapter, it is easy to glance over them and not even realise they are there. Yet it does us well to stop and think about what it means to do what is right and good. Moses said to Israel, "Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD God promised on oath to your forefathers, thrusting out all you enemies before you as the LORD said." (Deut 6:18-19)

Robert Prins [Auckland - Pakuranga - (NZ)]

A small group of young Christadelphian brothers have taken the time to produce this valuable resource for the brotherhood and beyond, they are using the Bible reading planner developed by Brother Robert Roberts called The  Bible Companion. The Bible Companion (or Bible Reading Planner) is a guide developed by the Christadelphians to aid reading the Bible. It was first produced by Robert Roberts when he was just 14 years of age, in about 1853, and revised by him over a number of years into its current format. 

 Most Christadelphians use this plan each day and it was designed to help you read the old testament once and the new testament twice each year.

 These readings which we feature are recorded using the KJV or the NKJV of the Bible and we hope will be helpful to those who may struggle with time or who have poor eyesight.

“THIS WAS MY REWARD”  April 23

We continue on from some of our thoughts yesterday on how the wisest of kings, Solomon, reflected on what his life had really achieved.   In reading Ecclesiastes, we perceive his remarkable insight into the meaning and purpose, from a human perspective, of all that exists and our interaction with them in our lives.  What do his insights reveal?.

Solomon uses his wisdom to accomplish everything possible.  His second chapter details this, “ … my heart still guiding me with wisdom … I made great works, I built houses and planted vineyards … made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.  I made myself pools … had slaves … also great possessions of herds … also gathered for myself silver and gold … I got singers … many concubines … so I became great and surpassed all who were before me … whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.  I kept my heart from no pleasure … this was my reward for all my toil” [v.3-11]

Note his conclusion!  “this was my reward”  - but note even more his next comment, “then I considered all that I had done and the toil I had expended.”  - and what does he see as the outcome of his considerations?  “Behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind.”   Other versions have, “I saw everything was emptiness and chasing the wind” (NEB) “meaningless” (NIV).  Solomon saw that human lives have no lasting substance.  Yet we all strive after things we can possess and experience, we may these days, for example, travel to many parts of the world but, let us recognise that, at the end of the day there is nothing ‘eternal’ in what we have experienced or achieved!  Solomon then declared “so I hated life”  [v.17]  A remarkable comment!

It seems evident he wrote this near the end of his life; he lacked the vision that his father David possessed when he wrote a Psalm and commented about “men of the world whose portion is in this life” - but in the next verse David said to his Creator, “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.” [Psa. 17 v.14,15] What will we be satisfied with?

Those who read Ecclesiastes should look into the mirror of their hearts and consider their ambitions – and what they mean – or do not mean – in the eternal perspective of their future..

Even though the normality of our daily lives has been disrupted during the past several weeks, we are not in a unique situation. Almost exactly one hundred years ago the world suffered from the Spanish Flu, which killed millions. And a few centuries before that the Black Death killed a third of the population of Europe. We tend to think our situations are unique when they’re out of the norm, but history is really one long cycle of events repeating themselves over and over again. As the Preacher says in our reading from Ecclesiastes 1, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun” (v.9).

A small group of young Christadelphian brothers have taken the time to produce this valuable resource for the brotherhood and beyond, they are using the Bible reading planner developed by Brother Robert Roberts called The  Bible Companion. The Bible Companion (or Bible Reading Planner) is a guide developed by the Christadelphians to aid reading the Bible. It was first produced by Robert Roberts when he was just 14 years of age, in about 1853, and revised by him over a number of years into its current format. 

 Most Christadelphians use this plan each day and it was designed to help you read the old testament once and the new testament twice each year.

 These readings which we feature are recorded using the KJV or the NKJV of the Bible and we hope will be helpful to those who may struggle with time or who have poor eyesight.

"VANITY OF VANITIES”  April 22

Today we began reading Ecclesiastes – it says it was written by “the preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem [1 v.1]. We know this is Solomon and his first words are, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity”

What does vanity mean?  The lexicon says the Hebrew word means, transitory, emptiness.   Solomon is reviewing, apparently in his old age, all that he has accomplished in his life, he is overwhelmed by the feeling that in the final analysis it was all just “vanity” – he had accomplished nothing lasting.

He reflects, “all things are full of weariness” [v.8], observing, “my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge” [v.16] but he saw it as “a striving after wind”. [v.17]. Tomorrow we will read his words, “then I considered all that my hands had done and all the toil I had expendedin doing it, and behold, all was vanity” [2 v.11]

We wonder to what extent today we will (or already are) look back on a lifetime of striving to make and then spend money – and see it in the end as simply “vanity”? Also, those who fill so much of their ‘spare’ time with tweeting and twittering and relaxation with TV and DVDs for entertainment will see the ultimate emptiness of time spent in this way?

In contrast we saw today in John’s Gospel the intensity of thought and meaning in the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. As it reaches its climax his mind is centred on his disciples, “Holy Father keep them in your name … that they may be one, even as we are one.” [17 v.11]  Unity of mind, how wonderful!

Jesus continues, “they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.  As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth” [v. 17-19].

God’s word is “truth,” it alone reveals the ultimate meaning of life and takes us - in thought – beyond “this world”.. Sanctify means to “be set apart” from the world so that the main focus of our minds – is on God and his ways and what is really true – in an everlasting sense.  It is a truth we then take into our hearts and it becomes part of us.

Finally, how meaningful are the words of Jesus to Pilate, “You say that I am a king.  For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” [18 v.37]. Sceptically Pilate asks, “What is truth?” [v.38]. Let us not be sceptical but read and “listen” to what we read and aim to fully possess “the wisdom from above” (James 3 v.17) so that our lives are “sanctified in truth.”

One of the things I didn’t really think about, when it comes to the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, was how much he depended on companionship and friendship. In our readings in John we’re with our Lord in the upper room, but he is not alone. Three years previously he purposefully chose twelve disciples, companions to go on the journey together with him. Our Lord needed these men just as much as he needed all the other things in his life. The supernatural power of God, relationship with his heavenly father and angelic ministration strengthened our Lord, but the friendship of his disciples and the shared experiences were extremely important to him and to his success fulfilling his purpose. When he went up into the mount of Transfiguration, he didn’t go alone but took Peter, James and John with him. He took the same men into the garden of Gethsemane during his darkest hours. He needed companionship and friendship just as much as all of us do.

 Richard Morgan

In this week's session we examine the remarkable detail contained in Bible prophecy.   The exact fulfillment of the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander the great was prophesied years in advance.  We also look at structure of the Bible with both Old and New Testaments to help orientate ourselves when reading.

KEEPING COMMANDMENTS

Robert Prins [Auckland - Pakuranga - (NZ)]