Davar Kingdom Of God

But now, this is what the Lord says— He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; You are mine (Isa 43:1). Here, the Hebrew word, “to create” in “he who created you,” is bara’, and “to form” in “he who formed you,” is yatsar. It is helpful to know that the Bible has two different creation stories in Genesis—type one in chapter one, and type two in chapter two. These can be explained as two different traditions on how the world was created, each of which has its own emphases and themes that are contrasted with those of the other. The verb bara’ represents the story of type one, and yatsar that of type two. The important nuance embedded in bara’ is to create something by dividing it into two contrasted things. See, for instance, the following usages: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them

Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation (Gal 6:15). This is where the difference comes between our faith in Christ and various religions in the world. What we have is the faith in God’s word, not Christianity, and what counts is God’s “new creation,” not circumcision, or anything, other than God’s grace, that Christians may consider as a means of salvation. Those to whom this letter was written had been saved by Paul’s preaching of the gospel, but when the teachers from the so-called “circumcision group” came and taught them about circumcision as a required means of salvation, they accepted it and departed from the grace of God. Hearing this news, Paul wrote this letter to the Galatian Christians. For us, this “circumcision” can be anything that we may falsely put our faith in, other than what God’s word really says, like our faithfulness in attending church services, the amount of offerings we give, or the volunteer work we do for the church. Sometimes, go

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor 5:17). These words of Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians are so familiar to us today that such mental familiarity sometimes causes spiritual blindness to the true meaning of the scripture. Although it says, “The old has gone, the new has come,” we still have the same hair, nose, and eyes; we speak the same language, and have the same memory of the past as before. How much have we really changed from “the old” to “the new” since we believed in Jesus? Does the Bible lie? If not, something must be wrong with the way we understand it. The reason that the Bible often seems unreal is that it always speaks of spiritual realities, not physical ones. Hence, you always need to be aware of the gap between these two different realities. Look at what Paul says immediately before the above verse: So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we d

He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor (Ps 112:9). These words describe the spiritual status of the one “who finds great delight in his commands”: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor.” The heart of giving is an important part of God’s image, and it comes from God. All humans, no matter how wicked they may become, still have this heart hidden inside them, and when they give, whether it is material or work, they always experience joy. We are all created to give. Yet, this hidden heart of giving is often veiled to us today, so that it does not work effectively. Obviously, it is Satan who has blinded us to it by making us believe that God is so mean that we, too, can be mean like him. It does not mean, though, that we have lost that heart of giving as a part of God’s image. It is still in us. Therefore, all we need to do is to follow that hidden heart, and let the joy of giving spring up in us. Paul quotes the

Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands (Ps 112:12). Psalm 112 sings about the “the man … who finds great delight in his commands.” It describes what he is like, and the promises given to him. To delight in God’s commands is different from to delight in his works. When God delivers us from our problems and meets our needs, we naturally rejoice and delight in his works, and come to praise him. This is, in fact, the first step that all believers should take in knowing him as a gracious and compassionate God. Psalm 111 sings exactly about that. Praise the Lord. I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate (Ps 111:1-4). It is quite noticeable that these two psal

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers (Ps 1:1-3). This psalm depicts what a person who delights in the word of God is like, and at the same time, it describes the kind of blessings that are promised to such a person. Unfortunately, we do not find so many Christians who really love and delight in God’s word. For most of them, the Bible is something they feel obligated to read, or something that will benefit them as they live on earth if they read them, at least, in times of trouble. It is not at the level of loving it and delighting in it. All humans as well as animals have desire to eat when hungry. They delight in the food they eat. It is natural, however, that when not hungry, they

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers (Ps 1:1-3). One kind of joy we receive from God is joy in the word of God. We rejoice when our needs are met, our problems solved, and sickness cured by God, but the joy we come to have by hearing the word and understanding it is different and more spiritual in its quality. Needless to say, this joy goes along with faith, which comes by hearing the word of God, and God’s power comes to be manifested with this joy and faith. The above psalm says, “He is like a tree … which yields its fruit in season, … Whatever he does prospers.” A word must be said about the verb “to meditate,” hagah in Hebrew. It means to murmur or mutter, and originally come

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings (Rom 5:2-3), … To rejoice in your sufferings is not to rejoice over the sufferings per se. No, every suffering you experience while living on earth comes from Satan, whether it is sickness, poverty, or a bad human relationship that causes you to suffer. Such sufferings cannot make you rejoice, and you should not thank God for them. You can only thank God for what he does and what he gives. He is not the author of any suffering. Knowing this truth, you can still rejoice in your sufferings as the above scripture says. Paul explains the reason for it as follows: … because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us (Rom 5:3-5). What you need to realize is that the kinds of sufferings Paul has in mind are mainly those of persecutions, o

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thess 5:16-18). Living in the world full of bad news and bad happenings, how can we be joyful always? Yes, there are times when we rejoice at good news and good happenings, but most of what we hear and see in this world is not good, if not bad, and there is not much we can be joyful about. It seems impossible to be joyful “always.” Yet, the Bible commands us to “be joyful always!” The only way to be joyful, then, is to be joyful in spite of all the bad news and bad happenings by not being controlled by what we feel or what our natural instinct says. Since our circumstances cannot always make us feel joyful, we need to be willfully joyful by faith standing upon God’s word. And if the Bible commands us to be joyful always, we should and we can. Look at the following words: And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our suffering

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thess 5:16-18). Note the last part of this scripture: “for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” God wants to be with you more than you desire to be with him. In fact, he is with you all the time, but he wants you to have faith in it. That is why the above scripture urges you to do the three things—to “be joyful always,” to “pray continually,” and to “give thanks in all circumstances.” In order to see the mechanism of how these three steps work for us, let us look at Ps 95: Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song (Ps 95). Pay attention to the expressions like “let us sing for joy,” “let us shout aloud,” and “with thanksgiving.” It is through joy and thanksgiving that you go before God: note the expression, “let us come before him.” Then, v. 6 says: C

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thess 5:16-18). Here is the well-known scripture of three commands—to be joyful, to pray, and to give thanks. Pay attention also to the adverbial phrases attached to them—“always,” “continually,” and “in all circumstances.” Look at the following psalm where you also see the same three elements of joy, prayer and thanksgiving emerge: Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations (Ps 100). The Hebrew word for “to worship (avad)” means to work and serve, which is equivalent to

Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together (John 4:36). Note the last part of the above words of Jesus, “so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.” Our number one sower is Jesus Christ, who sowed himself as a kernel of wheat, fell to the ground, and died. And the reapers are those who follow him spreading the good news of salvation through his death and resurrection. The above words promise that the sower and the reapers will rejoice together about the harvests they both have worked for. That means that if you do not work for the harvests by following him, you will not be able to have this kind of joy. Read Luke 9:51-10:24 because it sheds more light on this truth. What you see there are three types of people who have come into contact with Jesus, and accepted him as the Messiah. The first type is seen in the Samaritans, who wished that Jesus would stay with them for some time, but when their r

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love (John 15:9). The key to a joyous life with full of thanksgiving in spite of all the struggles on earth lies in this truth of one command—“Now remain in my love.” So often, we struggle and try to love Jesus more thinking that our salvation and God’s blessings depend upon our love for him. Is it really a right attitude? Read and say the above command again and again, and meditate on what he means. These words were spoken in his farewell speech to his disciples the night before he was crucified. The whole speech was given as a covenant, which he made with his disciples including us today, and John recorded it as such. A covenant is a pledge of love made by two partners. To make a covenant means to enter into this pledge of mutual love. It is expressed above as “Now remain in my love.” However, what is so special about this covenant and different from the old one is that it does not depend upon the love of the disciples, but Jesus’ lo

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17), … The joy that comes from God is spiritual. Note the way this joy is called in the above scripture—“joy in the Holy Spirit.” Unlike the superficial joy that the world gives, which comes through external sources of excitement, it will never disappear or be taken away from you. Where the kingdom of God is, there is always joy. People who rejoice always want to share their joy with others. Joy is something that is enjoyed together with other people. This is true not only with humans, but also with angels and God. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent (Luke 15:5-7). This joy

Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's (2 Chr 20:15).” These were the words of the Lord given to Jehoshaphat king of Judah against whom the vast army of the Moabites and the Ammonites had come to make war. In his desperation of not knowing what to do, Jehoshaphat had turned to the Lord, and prayed before the above words were spoken through Jahaziel a Levite. The Lord further said: You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you (v. 17). Here is the key for us as we face various problems in this world. Victory is already ours as the Bible says, but it is still necessary that we stand firm in this truth—the spiritual reality—in order to make it real in

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: (Ps 37:5). If you want to maintain your joy in God, it is essential that you stay away from worries and anxieties. Worries and anxieties come when you do not trust in God. Not trusting God, you try to solve your problems and meet your needs with your own ideas and power. You do that by wishing that everything will go well, but at the same time, worrying that you are not good enough to succeed. Worries always come when you depend upon someone who is not almighty, including yourself. So, the above scripture says, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this.” Pay attention to the last part, “he will do this.” The verb ‘to commit’ in Hebrew is galal. It means to roll something like a stone, a scroll, or even a garment. The “way” in this verse can be looked as something like a rolled carpet on which you walk. You are to roll it upon the Lord so that he will make you succeed. Here is another verse that speaks of the same

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Phil 4:6). As there are various kinds of prayers—a prayer of repentance, a prayer in your own secret room, a prayer of two agreeing on something, an intercessory prayer, etc., there are various kinds of thanksgivings—a thanksgiving for the forgiveness of sins, a thanksgiving of the deliverance of many kinds, a thanksgiving for the guidance or the wisdom he gives, etc. But most of the thanksgivings we give are those for the wonderful things God has already done for us. For instance, Psalm 107 says: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say this— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south (Ps 107:1-3). Note the past tense of the verbs “he redeemed” and “he gathered.” We have been redeemed, so we give thanks to him. The psalm goes on to say: Som

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (1 Pet 5:7). “Anxiety” works against joy as God tries to bless you through your faith. Without joy, it would be difficult to believe that you have received what you prayed, and if you do not believe, you would not receive what you prayed. The above words are found in the first letter by Peter. The letter is addressed to the churches in various regions where Peter may have preached the gospel. It was written at the time when the conflict with the world, persecutions, increased: Peter wanted to encourage the believers to stand firm upon their faith with humility and submission against the immediate future that seemed uncertain and dark. This particular verse is the quotation from Psalm 55: Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall (Ps 55:22). “Your cares” are the portions that you are holding on to as yours—your own worries. To “cast your cares on the Lord” means to throw away your portions of worries

In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me (John 16:16). These were the words Jesus spoke to the disciples the night before he was crucified. Pay attention to the word “see me.” Joy comes from God, and it is in the presence of him. This joy, we come to have by seeing him, and lose it when we stop seeing him. At the time Jesus spoke these words, the disciples did not understand what he meant. He went on to explain: I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy (vv. 20-22). Later, when Jesus was captured and taken to the house of Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest, Peter, to

"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Gen 3:4-5)." This was how the ancient serpent tempted Eve. He merely tempted her, and it was Eve herself who, with her own free will, made a decision to eat the fruit. The serpent did not force her to eat it, nor did he directly suggest that she should eat it. First, he said to her, “You will not surely die,” which was a big lie. Then, he explained why she would not die even if she ate it by giving three more statements as to why God told her not to eat it. Those three statements were given telling what would be the results if she ate it. According to the serpent, God knew: 1) her eyes would be opened, 2) she would be like God, and 3) she would come to know good and evil. And later in the passage, we find the following words: Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves to