Elliott's Muses

It is Wednesday in this Final week of Jesus' life.  As the week progressed Jesus retreated from Jerusalem for a day, staying in Bethany with his friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  The storm that was about to occur was quiet – silent.  Yet what happened was clearly a picture of the rest of the week.   Matthew 26:1-16 1   When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, 2   “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” 3   Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4   and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. 5   But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.” 6   Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7   a woman came up to him with an alab...

Yesterday we celebrated Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey - fulfilling the Prophecy of Zechariah (9:9) some 500+ years before.  After that he returned to Bethany where he was staying at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  The next day...Monday of Holy Week Jesus returned, and a fig tree became his teaching lesson. Matthew 21:18-27 18   In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19   And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. 20   When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21   And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will h...

I've been reading through Isaiah this week as I prepare for the next teaching in our teaching series at New Life Fellowship.  The book of Isaiah comes alongside the era of Israel's Kings...in fact, Isaiah prophesied under four of them: Isaiah 1:1 1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.  For most people these names are unknown biblical personalities.  Some recognize a name, and maybe can even connect them to something they once learned.   A lot of Christians have never read the books of Kings, nor any of the prophets.  That's unfortunate.  Prophets were rich sources of information about what was going on in Biblical History, and specifically what was happening in Redemptive history - or, what is God doing? Prophets get their impetus from God.  Moses was told by God in the book of Exodus of how God would work through Moses and ...

In our ongoing overview of the Bible, we've come to the story of Israel's Kings.  Many people are unaware of the significance of a passage of Scripture in the Old Testament that talks about people who take on the title of King. Deuteronomy 17:14-20 14  “When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ 15  you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16  Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17  And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silve...

No I didn't get the title of the movie incorrect, rather its the story of Israel as they enter into the Promised land God gave them.  The story of the Bible is a story that is not filtered to be a "G" rated movie.  It is told as it happened...truthfully even though it sometimes is difficult to read.  I'm speaking of the next part of the Bible's story - Joshua, Judges, Ruth. I was planning on teaching these last Sunday, but instead our Church celebrated its 10th anniversary. Frankly, teaching Joshua and Judges is fraught with all sorts of difficulties.  I keep reminding myself that everything in God's word has it's purpose.  The children of Israel are at the edge of the Promised land as Joshua opens.  God's word to Joshua reminds him that the key to their success is not their military might, or his leadership genius, but instead in his obedience to God's word.  It's a word that is relevant for us today: Joshua 1:6-9 6  Be strong and courage...