Hebrew Vocab

I have not looked at my Hebrew vocab cards since my last Hebrew exam a month ago, but I am reviewing them tonight.
I have a Hebrew exam tomorrow.
The last Hebrew exam took place right after I got back from a trip to NY, so I was studying vocab while on my parents couch watching America's Funniest Home Videos with them. As I look over these cards that have sat constrained within their rubber bands for the last month, it's not just their meanings that are coming into my mind, but also memories of that night. I have not thought of that night since I got back to California (not meant as a slight to the quality of the time there, just an indication of the rigors of seminary life), but as soon as those Hebrew letters on the little white cards came into view, it felt like that night was last night.
Maybe that's a good way to make memories stick - carry around a stack of Hebrew vocab cards every where you go not looking at them until the times you really want to remember...like the night before an exam.

Why did Christ die?

This comes from a portion of an assignment I have for my pastoral counseling class.

Why did Christ die?

Jesus Christ died to make purification of sins (Heb 3:1). He died so that He might taste death for everyone, destroy the devil, secure eternal redemption, and put away sin (Heb 3:9, 14; 9:12, 26). Jesus suffered for sins on the cross in order to “bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). He died to destroy the works of the devil and to show us love (1Jn 3:8, 16). The lamb was slain to be praised forever (Rev 5:11-14). Jesus hung on the cross to fulfill Scripture (John 19:28, 36-37). Jesus died to be put forth as a propitiation for sin (Rom 3:25; 1Jn 4:10). Christ died to reconcile God’s enemies to God and justify sinners (Rom 5:9-10). Jesus died to bear our griefs, carry our sorrows, be wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. His chastisement brought our peace. His stripes healed us. Our iniquity was laid on him. He died because it was the will of Yahweh to crush Him and put Him to grief. He died to make an offering for sin (Is 53). He died for the joy set before Him (Heb 12:2).

I'm sure this is just the beginning of a very long list...

Not Enough Jobs to Go Around

There are not many people named Job out there. I've never met one. I have met several people named Noah, plenty of Daniels, and even a Moses, but no Job. But he was declared a to be a man who was "blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil" (Job 1:1). He is even mentioned by God in the book of Ezekiel along with Noah and Daniel. As God promises that Jerusalem will be destroyed, He says that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the city they would escape by their righteousness but the city would still be destroyed (Ezekiel 14:14, 16, 18, 20). So Job seems to be considered among the most righteous men of the OT by God Himself.
Of course I know why there are not many people named Job out there, since the name is synonymous with suffering. It's just interesting that God seems to think of Job as synonymous with righteousness. It would seem the two often go hand in hand.

The Worst it Ever Gets

Today in my prayer class we talked briefly about Luke 9:23-25:

"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (v. 23)"

Jesus does not hold back on the requirements of coming after him: we must deny ourselves and take up our crosses and follow him. None of these are easy. The cross is an instrument of execution. There is nothing easy about this statement. Living it out will lead to hardships in this life (even loss of life) that could be avoided if we just ignored Christ's words. But if we ignore His words then we ignore what comes next:

"For whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. (v. 24)"

If lived out Biblically, the Christian life will be hard and perilous, but this life is the worst it gets for the Christian. For if we lose our life for Christ's sake we will gain so much more. For the non-Christian, this life is the best they will ever experience. It will never get any better. There is nothing to be envied of the billionaire atheist.

"For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? (v. 25)"

No Wrong Steps

I have no idea how many wrong judgments I made today. Hundreds? Probably more. Definitely not less.
I've read that we speak an average of 16,000 words per day (I'm guessing I probably use a few less). Certainly a few hundred of those I used today were ill chosen or timed. And most of them, if not all of them, could have been strung together better to be more accurate, encouraging, and honoring to God.
Each moment of the day I face decisions on how to use my time. Most of the time, I am not thinking of it that way, but almost every minute of my day I have a choice of how to use that minute. I wonder how much time I waste each day. Wasted seconds add up to wasted minutes add up to wasted hours add up to wasted days...I wonder how many days I have wasted in my life (wasted years?).
This analysis of how much of my life I waste is probably not mostly accumulated in the things I do, but in the things I don't. I guess I am looking at life as a constant barrage of moment by moment choices each one with thousands of options which way to go, and rarely if ever do I choose the most perfect, excellent, wise and right route.
On the other hand, God does. As far as we can discuss the choices of God without getting into heady discussions that are way over my tiny head, it seems that when the Bible speaks of the righteousness of God, this is in part what it refers to. He takes no wrong steps. He always does what is right. Out of the billions of ways things could be, He chooses the best way. Out of the infinite amount of things He could have said, He said the best thing. Out of the boundless times He could act, He acts at precisely the right moment, to the nanosecond and beyond. He makes all the right judgments and never a wrong one.
I hope to continue thinking on this one, but just wanted to record some preliminary thoughts.

"God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation every day."

-Psalm 7:11

A Big Birthday Party

Happy Birtday to my niece Clara! What an occasion!

The Glorious and Victorious King Jesus

"Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel." -Luke 24:21

Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, died like a criminal. He hung on the torturous cross with nail pierced hands and feet and a crown of thorns shoved over his brow. Two criminals were put to death with him, one on his right and one on his left. The scene had the mocking appearance of a king on his throne with his two highest officials on his left and right.

The quote above comes from two Jewish men who were walking with the risen Lord Jesus Christ after the crucifixion. They did not know who they were walking with when they spoke these words. It was not in their understanding that the Messiah would die, even more, that he would die such a shameful death. They hoped the Messiah would come in mighty power like a great king, and lead Israel out of the hands of their Roman oppressors and crush all Israel's enemies. In their minds, the crucifixion excluded Jesus from the role of "Messiah."

"And he said to them, 'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." -Luke 24:25-27

The response of the resurrected Christ to these men pointed out their deficiency in understanding the Scriptures, which spoke "that the Christ should suffer these things." It was not that Jesus did not have the power or the right to reign as king and restore Israel and conquer his enemies. In fact, this is what the angel Gabriel told Mary concerning Jesus:

"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." -Luke 1: 32-33

Jesus had every right to rule. He was of the kingly line of David. He had the righteousness that was needed and expected of a king through the whole of the Old Testament. It is not absurd that those two men Jesus spoke with had the notion that the Messiah would reign as a dominant king. There is much in the Old Testament about this. But they did not understand what needed to happen first. They did not understand that "the Christ must suffer" the cross. Paul writes that preaching the cross of Jesus Christ is folly and a stumbling block to the Jews (1 Corinthians 1:21-23).

The very fact that Jesus had the right to rule and vanquish his enemies, but laid it aside for the work of the cross speaks loudly to the glory of his majesty. The lawful and good king did not claim his throne so that he could save his subjects from the punishment of sin. There was no other way. Only the righteous king could save his people from the bondage that sin brings and he could only do this by dying in their place the death they deserve.

This semester culminated for me in a wonderful time of seeing the majesty of my Savior in a deeper and more profound way. I see him more now as a king who has the right to rule, and had the right to rule but did not claim that right so that he could die for my sins. That makes him all the more kingly to me. It is a foolish message according to human wisdom. What kind of king dies as a criminal? Only God could come up with a plot this glorious and victorious.