Welcome

The Old Testament describes the relationship of God with people, and in particular the relationship with His people. It describes the attributes of God, that He is holy, perfect and just. In God’s revelation of His glory to Moses, we have a full picture of how God wants us to see Him. Exodus 34:4-7 (ESV):

Introduction

Luke introduces us to the Gospel of Christ through the man Zechariah, a Levitical priest. We learn that he has a wife whose name is Elisabeth, a descendant of Aaron, one who was well advanced in years and who sadly was barren. They both kept the commandments of God and walked before Him blamelessly. These were two God fearing and spiritually minded people who represented the Law of Moses.

This miracle is a rather unusual one, in which Elisha caused an iron axe head to float. The incident begins with the sons of the prophets presenting a proposition to Elisha (v1): “Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, ‘See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us.’”

‘Sons of the prophets’ is a term applied to small assemblies of believers – not just males – but family groups dispersed through the Northern Kingdom of Israel; ‘Ecclesias’ we could say. It appears that they lived together as communities, probably with a central building (Ecclesial Hall) for communal worship. This group had increased in numbers to the point that they needed more spacious accommodation.

Readings: 2 Kings 13; Ezekiel 3; 2 Corinthians 10-11

In the readings for today there is a theme of challenge and difficulty for the servant of God. Ezekiel was sent to take God’s message among the captives from Jerusalem. He is described as their watchman. He does not want to go but it is inevitable that he will, in obedience to his calling. God has given Ezekiel the amazing vision of the cherubim to assure him that He is always there, at work among his people. Captivity is not an end but a genuine opportunity, as Daniel showed.

Ambition can be both a positive and a negative attribute, depending on what we are being ambitious about. The ambition to be promoted at our place of work or the ambition to own material things we regard as valuable, can lead us in pursuit of something that will never truly satisfy us – there is always something else that we can set our sights on. Although being successful with our ambitions might be pleasing in the short-term, we may suffer stress and anxiety in the pursuit of the next best thing and this risks having a detrimental effect on our lives in the longer term.

About 4,000 years ago a faithful man, Abraham, was promised a land inheritance by GOD.  GOD said to him: “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it” (Genesis 15:7). However, this promise was not fulfilled in his lifetime.  But he believed he would receive it in the future. He is described in the Bible as one of those who “died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off” (Hebrews 11:13).

At the start of 2 Kings 5 we are given a comprehensive description of Naaman: (v1) “Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favour, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valour, but he was a leper.”

Naaman was a Gentile military man, of high status and reputation. He had evidently been successful against the enemies of Syria – including Israel – and the LORD had already been working in his life. He was a courageous warrior – but after that long list of positives there is a stark and blunt comment – he was a leper. There was no known medical cure for leprosy in those days. It was a dreaded disease which resulted in a slow death – so it is a very appropriate type of sin.

Readings: 2 Kings 5; Lamentations 1; 1 Corinthians 14

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians contains some astonishingly hard-hitting, and, perhaps, surprising things. How many members of our community have you ever met who openly deny that Jesus was raised from the dead? It’s almost unbelievable; but it happened in the first century (see 1 Corinthians 15:12). This was just one of the issues Paul sought to rectify in his two epistles. Such was the love he had for these men and women; he didn’t cast them off. They were like sons and daughters to him (4:15). And, like any faithful parent, he wanted only what was best for his children.