From everlasting . . .

Lately I’ve been looking at pictures taken by the Hubble telescope. Besides these being mind-boggling, they convince me that “everlasting” is a reality. If the universe has a perimeter, what lies outside of it? If time has an ending, what comes after it? If God is not eternal, try to fathom a beginning and ending for Him?

Today’s devotional verses and reading are about God’s eternal covenant. These also use the word forever and link them to the life of His servant. While the words say “David” both Jews and Christians know that the passage from the Psalms is dropping big hints about the Messiah, the eternal Savior . . .

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20–21)

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 (Psalm 89:3–4)

Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: “I have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him, so that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens. If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah (Psalm 89:19–37)

All of this and more give assurance that God’s covenant and salvation are everlasting; they are based on the everlasting love of God. All this was planned before the world began as God said:

“They shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.” (Jeremiah 32:38–40)

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Lord Jesus, You did this. Your Spirit changed the course and destination of my life. Instead of spending eternity banished from Your presence, I will be with You forever. I cannot grasp the enormity of You or Your creation, but I can grasp the fact and importance of Your love for me. Such amazing grace. Deepen my understanding of who You are and the greatness of Your everlasting truth.

Who am I trusting?

2 Samuel 7:1–8:18, 1 Peter 4:12–19, Psalm 137:1–9

In trying to look at the big picture of the life of Israel’s King David, I see ups and downs, but mostly a rise in God’s blessing on him, up to a point. The promises and covenant made to him was a far cry from God’s relationship with Saul, the king who went before him.

Part of this covenant was eternal, pointing to Jesus Christ as the greater king and as the ultimate descendent of David who would rule forever. However, God also spoke through a prophet to David, telling him what would happen to his son and the king who came after him . . .

“I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. ” (2 Samuel 7:14–16)

David’s attitude could have been pride. After all, the Creator of the Universe had given him a prominent place in His kingdom, but David was not proud. He sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God!” (2 Samuel 7:18–19)

It excites and thrills me to read that David knew that the Word of God was not just for him and his descendents; it was for mankind. This small nation began with Abraham and the promise that through him the whole world would be blessed. Now the promise was narrowed to the descendents of David, yet David remembered the covenant with Abraham. His attitude was never “us four, nor more, shut the door” but a great desire that God would be glorified and all people would be blessed.

David was not perfect. Most of us know about Bathsheba, and how his rule and kingdom deteriorated after that grave sin. David failed. Today’s warning from the NT applies to this ancient king as well as to me: “But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And ‘If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’ Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” (1 Peter 4:15–19)

God kept His promise to David. Even though David failed, his end was not like that of Saul because he did not have God’s steadfast love taken from him. Why is that? David, in faith, believed the promises of God. Saul continually took matters into his own hands. These men both demonstrated by their lives who they were really trusting. David’s faith included obedience to the gospel of God. He knew he was a sinner (read Psalm 51), yet he also knew that God was a Savior. Saul continually came up with ideas on how to save himself, revealing where his faith was placed.

It would be a horrible thing to have God’s love depart. It would be nearly as bad to be taken into captivity and removed from safety. Whoever wrote Psalm 137 knew the horror of being displaced, not out of the family of God, or away from His love, but out of the homeland God had given His people. Not only was he in emotional distress, his captors mocked him to sing songs about Zion. Yet the psalmist responded in faith:

“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!” (Psalm 137:4–6)

If he was there and could get his hands on a spear, Saul may have thrown it at the mockers. David was not like that, but more like this psalm. He trusted the Lord to rescue him and he set the city of God as his highest joy. Had he been in that place of distress and mocking, I can see him smiling in total trust and hear him humming a psalm.

Set free to do my work

My Old Testament studies are showing me ways that these ancient Scriptures point to Jesus Christ, the Messiah who was promised by God as early as Genesis. However, before He came, the people of God must learn that their ways were sinful, their own efforts to be good were futile, and that they must obey God all the time. He graciously made and confirmed His covenant with them, but like us, they kept turning away from Him.

Their lives after the Exodus provide many examples. They had been delivered from slavery in Egypt, but instead of being thankful that they were free from bondage, they started griping about everything.

When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” (Exodus 15:23–26)

This story is a mini-picture of the work of Christ. First, they discovered the bitterness of the water, just as sinners must realize the bitterness of sin. Then they grumbled against Moses. Moses represents the Law that God handed down to them, the Law they could not keep and that was too hard for them. They didn’t like the high standards of God nor the hardships of the life God gave them.

Since they were not praying for themselves, Moses, as their leader and God’s prophet, interceded for them. God immediately showed him a log. Could this fallen tree be a symbol of the tree upon which Christ died? It reminds me of it, for only the Cross of Christ can change my situations of grumbling into blessing. Their story then ends with a rescue, but also a command and a promise from God if they obey.

In this story, God speaks to me about the importance of Moses’ prayer. For many years, I have known that prayer is my main ministry, and that most of my struggles are against the enemy’s efforts to stop me from praying. Some think it useless to pray because they feel sure of having His blessing, but I know that taking God’s blessings for granted is a dangerous assumption. I also know that just as these people needed a cry for their deliverance, so does everyone else caught in the bondage of sin, Christians and those who do not yet know Christ. I also must daily seek the Lord for His blessing in my own life.

The bitter water was made sweet by the introduction of a tree. Surely it is the tree of Calvary that changes the bitterness of life. This week, my sister talks of God’s grace as she and her family experience a devastating flood. She knows the power of that tree. Her voice is sweet, not bitter.

Only the Cross can so powerfully sweeten our thoughts and even our desires. It is the tree that makes us realize what would be our portion had God not sent His Son to die for our sin. That “log” is a great symbol of the life-giving power of God.

Today’s devotional says that healing does not come because of a prayerless faith. God wants me to pour out my heart before Him so He can pour blessing into my soul. In this story, the people did not pray. I wonder what would have happened to them if Moses had not prayed on their behalf?

The Scriptures describe other situations like this one where if Moses not interceded, God may have destroyed them. This is also true for those in my life who are bitter and complaining. They need the grace of God to change their hearts and bring healing to their lives, not destruction.

I am convinced that being inclined to pray is also the work of that tree. Otherwise, I would not do it. The Cross and the death of Christ is my death also. His resurrection is my new life. He changed me so I do not have to be in bondage to sin and bitter toward God. In Christ, He gives me a sweet life, filled  with His virtue and faith, pure and refreshing.

No matter what is tossed into my life to keep me from doing what He wants me to do and to keep me from praying as Moses did, I am released from the clutches of the one who would stop me. Because of that tree, and because of Christ, instead of being angry at my sin God can say to me, “I am the LORD, your healer.” 

Life-giving Salt

Instead of regularly salting my food, I use other spices. Of course, every now and then I crave something salty and dive into cheese twists or a bowl of popcorn. 

Salt is vital to human life. Without it, the human body cannot perform vital functions like regulating blood and body fluids and maintaining nerve signals. Salt deficiency can lead to muscular weakness, cramps and exhaustion. Severe salt deprivation can even prove fatal. 

In the Bible, salt illustrates some important principles. Since it is so vital to life, it was included in offerings made to God and even used in naming His covenant.

You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt. (Leviticus 2:13)

Here, salt stands for permanence and incorruption. Used in this “covenant of salt,” it signifies the everlasting nature God’s promises to His people. Salt symbolizes perpetuity. In other words, I everlastingly belong to Him, and He everlastingly belongs to me!

This Old Testament use of salt to signify permanence is seen in other passages like 2 Chronicles 13:5, “Don’t you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?” and Numbers 18:19, “All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the LORD I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD for you and for your offspring with you.”

After the Babylonian captivity, the Jews were allowed to rebuild their city and their temple in Jerusalem. To do that, the king sent out a decree concerning supplies to help them. He included salt.

And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence, up to 100 talents of silver, 100 cors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons. (Ezra 7:21–23)

Every commodity was measured except salt. For this, the supply should meet whatever the need, no matter how much.

As I read these verses and remember some of the others in the New Testament, I think of the grace of God and how He supplies the Holy Spirit to meet the needs of His people. This supply is everlasting and has the purifying and savoring properties of salt. In fact, the presence of the Holy Spirit is vital to my Christian life. Without Him, I cannot do anything in obedience to God, yet He supplies the need, no matter how much.

The New Testament adds a further dimension to the supply of God using the symbolism of salt. One of the most difficult to understand is found in Mark:

And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. (Mark 9:47–50)

In the context of the verses prior to these, the idea of being “salted with fire” likely is not about the eternal judgment of hell in verse 48, but more likely the fires of trial and testing in the life of the believer. This kind of “fire” purifies rather than destroys, and is good for me. It prevents me from losing my saltiness and teaches me to live by the grace of God.

That means having “salt in yourselves” is most likely about the humility and dedication to one another that is reinforced by trial and testing. If I lose this salt, I am not easily made salty again, but by maintaining this salt, I can more easily be at peace with others. Purity of dedication to Jesus, not seeking my own advantage and serving others promotes peace. It is part of being salty and could be described as the opposite of a “me first” attitude. When the Spirit of God is in control, that is what happens.

In today’s world, we don’t easily think of salt losing its saltiness, as the above verses describe, but in Bible times, salt came from the Dead Sea and could lose its salty taste if mixed with impure and foul compounds.

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. (Matthew 5:13)

Again, reading these verses speaks to me of the Holy Spirit. Christians are earthen vessels with a treasure inside. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, and His light and saltiness go forth to purify and preserve to the world. Yet impurity in me can ruin that saltiness. While my everlasting covenant with God cannot change, its effectiveness to a dying world can. This is why God also says,

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:5–6)

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Lord, this was a long study to come down to a simple truth: be filled with the Holy Spirit. I need to always rely on You for the grace needed to be a blessing to those that cross my path. When I crave salt, or even when I do not, I need to remember that the people in this world will perish without Jesus Christ and without the salt You give Your people.

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