[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 354 – Hebrews 9-11; Luke 13 summary!]
In 1 Samuel 22, we see the lengths to which King Saul was willing to go to find and kill David. Doeg the Edomite, who we read about in a previous chapter, told Saul that Ahimelech the priest had helped David. Saul called for Ahimelech and his extended priestly family. When they came, Saul examined Ahimelech, and he offered a reasonable explanation for helping David: David was Saul’s greatest soldier, and he had helped him many times before. Saul wouldn’t listen to reason. He told his men to slaughter all the priests. They would not, so Doeg did it. He killed eighty-five priests that day, and only one of Ahimelech’s sons, Abiathar, escaped. He went to David, and David promised to protect him, because as Saul was searching for Abiathar, so he was searching for David.
In Chapter 23, David saved the city of Keilah, and yet they would have been willing to turn him and his men, who now numbered 600, over to Saul, so they fled. David continued to flee from Saul, and people told Saul where David was. When Saul was getting close to capturing David, he received news the Philistines were attacking so he had to break off his efforts and go to battle. This is a clear case of God providing a way out for David.
In Chapter 24, David had the opportunity to kill Saul. While Saul was searching for David, he went into a cave to “relieve himself.” David and his men were in that very cave. His men told David God had delivered Saul to him, so he could kill Saul and become king. David went for the idea for a moment, but we see David’s true character, because as he went up behind Saul and cut off a portion of his robe, he was convicted that it wasn’t his place to kill “the Lord’s anointed.” He let Saul go. Only afterward did he go out and let Saul know he had the opportunity to kill him. Saul admitted to David that David was a better man than he.
In Chapter 25, the account changes from Saul chasing David, to David moving to the area of Maon. There he and His men protected the flocks of a man named Nabal. It wasn’t an official agreement, but when the time for sheep-shearing came, David and his men sent a message to Nabal, that he ought to pay them something for the protection they had provided his sheep and shepherds. Nabal dismissed the request, which angered David and he determined to destroy Nabal. Abigail, Nabal’s wife, heard of David’s plan to come against her husband, and took matters into her own hands. She prepared a great deal of food, took it to David, and convinced him that to kill Nabal would leave a mark on his record and conscience that would be difficult to defend when he became king. David realized Abigail was right, so he agreed not to harm Nabal or his family. When Abigail went home and told Nabal what she had done, he went ballistic. This resulted in his having a stroke, from which he died ten days later. David saw this as God’s vindication of his actions. After the time of mourning was over for her husband, Abigail became David’s wife. This account shows us how the LORD intervened in tangible ways in David’s life. It also shows us sometimes total strangers become God’s instruments in keeping us on his path. Abigail’s intervention in David’s life kept him from making a fifteen-minute decision that would have haunted him the rest of his life. It also worked out well for Abigail.
As we return to Mark 5, we come again to one of my favorite sequences in Jesus’ life and ministry. First, He met “Legion,” a man possessed by 2,000 demons. (The number comes from the number of pigs that ran down the bank and killed themselves, after Jesus cast the demons out of Legion.) The interaction between Jesus and Legion is nothing short of incredible. While no one was able to bind the man, and no one wanted to be near the man, Jesus reached out and cast the demons out of him and brought him back to himself. Legion’s gratitude was so great he asked Jesus if He could follow along with Him. Instead, Jesus told him to go home and tell everyone what God had done for him. We’re told Legion did just that. Everywhere he went, his story, along with the redeemed life that accompanied it amazed the people he encountered.
After His meeting with Legion, Jesus was approached by a synagogue ruler named Jairus. We know he was desperate in coming to Jesus, because so many of the religious leaders had already condemned Jesus. But Jairus’ daughter was dying. He didn’t care about the religious leaders, or his own standing. He cared about his daughter. Jesus agreed to go see her, but as He was walking someone in the crowd, which was pressing against Him, touched His robe. Through that simple act, Jesus felt healing power go out from His body. Even though He didn’t know who had touched Him, He knew someone did, so He asked, “Who touched me?” The disciples thought Jesus was being a little ridiculous. After all, the crowd was pressing in on Him from every side. Jesus persisted. Finally, a woman admitted she had touched Jesus’ robe, because she knew if she did, she would be healed. Jesus called the woman, “Daughter” and told her that her faith had healed her. This is the only time in any of the gospels Jesus called anyone daughter, so this was a powerful affirmation of the woman. She had broken the law in touching Jesus, but Jesus said in effect, “I’m glad you did what you did, because now you are set free!”
As Jesus finished up with the woman, some folks came from Jairus’ house and told Jairus his daughter had died, so it didn’t make sense to bother the teacher further. Jesus told Jairus’ to believe. Then he went to their home and found the girl dead. He took her by the hand and said, “Little girl, I say to you get up.” She did! This sequence shows us Jesus put others’ needs before His own. It shows He is Lord of the spirit and the body, and of life and death. It shows us we do well when we put Him first in our lives!
Day 354 – Hebrews 9-11; Luke 13
In Hebrews 9, the author points out how the earthly Tabernacle was ordered by God and is a type of the heavenly model. Just as it took the blood of bull and lambs to sanctify the people and the Tabernacle, the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus’ blood sanctifies the heavenly Tabernacle. The chapter makes clear that the forgiveness of sins comes only through the shedding of blood. It also states with the blood of animals the sacrifices had to be presented over-and-over again, but Jesus’ death was once-for-all, just as we die once and then face the judgment.
In Hebrews 10, the author underlines Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice and continues to emphasize the difference between the Mosaic sacrificial system, which could not produce enduring forgiveness, and Jesus’ sacrifice, which does. He goes on to write about the importance of encouraging and exhorting one another to love and good works, as well as to continue meeting together for worship and fellowship. While we might think the tendency to avoid gathering as Christians with one another for worship and fellowship is a rather recent development, we are assured folks were already doing so not more than thirty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
In Hebrews 11, which is often called the faith chapter, faith is defined as the assurance of things hoped for, and the convictions of things not seen. Then we receive an extended list of names of heroes and heroines of the faith starting with Adam and Eve’s son, Abel, and continuing all through the Old Testament era, and up until what was the current time when the letter was written. Men and women of faith were willing to give up worldly comforts to experience God’s favor and ultimate blessing. We’re told the world was not worthy of such people, and yet most of them never experienced what those living after the time of Jesus experienced: Salvation in Jesus’ name. How important it is for us to remember the value of that salvation, and that faith in Jesus is of greater value than any worldly possession.
As we return to Luke 13, Jesus reminds the crowds how important repentance is, and that when bad things happen in life, they aren’t always a sign of God’s judgment. Jesus then told the parable of the barren fig tree to point out how important it is for us to “bear fruit” as His followers. Jesus healed a woman who had been “bound” by disease for eighteen years, but the religious leaders were upset, because He healed her on the Sabbath. Jesus then told a couple of parables about the Kingdom of God. The first reminded us of how the Kingdom works as leaven works in a lump of dough, and the second of the narrow door and way that leads to the Kingdom. Finally, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, because He knew His time on the earth was short, and that He would die their because of the people’s lack of faith and repentance.