God’s Glory fills the Temple

November 2, 2014 Background Scripture: Ezekiel 40:1 – 43:12 Lesson Passage: Ezekiel 43:1 – 12 How does one describe God’s glory? God’s glory is an expression of God’s absolute holiness, purity, and shiny greatness. Different accounts in the bible describe it as a radiance whose brightness exceeds the sun. Medical professionals warn that if a person stares at the sun, the radiance from it will damage their eyes and it could eventually lead to blindness. However, God warns us in the bible that no one can look upon His glory and live. The radiance of God’s glory is so brilliant that looking at it is lethal. Therefore, when God prepared to express His presence around people, he would enclose His glory inside of a cloud and smoke to protect gazers from death. Before Israel had the first temple, they used the tabernacle which was a tent and curtain arrangement constructed under Moses’ leadership in the wilderness. The Ark of the Covenant was placed inside of it in the Most Holy Place. Whenever the cloud that indicated God’s presence was upon the tabernacle, no one was allowed to approach the tabernacle unless God summoned them. Even then, their approach had to be with the utmost reverence and they were not allowed to go inside. From the beginning Israel was taught that the tabernacle was a holy place and whenever God’s presence was upon it, they were to stay away from it. They were taught to respect the tabernacle and its surrounding area as holy ground. After Israel was settled in Canaan, King David desired to construct a more permanent location for the Ark of the Covenant. God would not allow it but chose instead to allow David’s son, Solomon, to construct it after he became king and David had died. That temple was eventually destroyed by the Babylonians. A second temple was constructed by Zerubbabel after he returned from the captivity and it was later destroyed. Israel’s last temple was constructed by Herod and it was also destroyed. At some point in Israel’s history, they forgot that the surrounding area of the temple, like the tabernacle, was considered holy ground. They sought to honor some of their kings by burying them in tombs close to the temple. Many of Judah’s kings—some say as many as fourteen—were buried in Jerusalem. This was in the same city as the three temples which had been separately dedicated to God as an earthly dwelling place for His glory. The presence of the tombs of the kings, although they housed the remains of Israel’s rulers, desecrated the holy city of Jerusalem because of their proximity to the temple of God. In today’s lesson, the Holy Spirit gave Ezekiel a vision of a temple. We know this temple was never constructed in Zion because its details do not match any of Israel’s three temples: Solomon’s, Zerubbabel’s, or Herod’s. The temple in Ezekiel’s vision was a temple where God allowed His glory to be expressed in the Holy Place. The Spirit brought Ezekiel inside the temple’s court. However, Ezekiel could only view the temple from within the inner court because the glory of God filled the Holy Place. God showed Ezekiel that the time would come when the true temple will stand on holy ground in the New Jerusalem. At that time, God’s glory will again fill the temple. Robert C. Hudson October 25, 2014

Things Too Wonderful for Me

October 26, 2014 Background Scripture: Job 42; Psalm 86 Lesson Passage: Job 42:1 – 10 A philosopher once described knowledge as an island in the sea of ignorance; as our knowledge grows, so too does the shoreline of our ignorance. Our lesson today is a reminder that we should not attempt to understand God. God’s thoughts and ways are so far above ours that we don’t even have the mental capacity to properly evaluate the miniscule amount that God shares with us. Whatever we believe is going on with God, there is always much more than we have the capacity to imagine. The book of Job adds a dimension to the revealed word of God that cannot be found anywhere else in the holy writ. The story of Job gives a clear explanation of reasons a child of God might suffer while trying to live a completely holy life. It is only in the book of Job that we see a dialog between God and Satan that we would otherwise find impossible to fathom. Outside of the book of Job, if we take everything we have studied in the bible about God and everything we have studied in the bible about Satan, we could not imagine God and Satan having what seems to be a cordial conversation about a follower of God. It is here that we also receive understanding that God is truly in control of everything. Disasters that we thought were the single-handed work of Satan must be looked at in a new context against the backdrop of the book of Job. Even suffering has bounds set by God. It is here that we derive the concept of “God’s permissive will”. The book of Job places the reader in the position of being in an audience that is observing scenes in both Heaven and on earth. As an observer, it is clear that God, in Heaven, is completely in control of what unfolds as chaos on the earth. Job’s life appears to totally unravel with no logical connection to Job’s behavior given the prevailing theology of the time as interpreted by Job and his friends. Job knows that he is doctrinally innocent yet even he wrestles with the implication of a theology that appears to fail him during the worse time of his life. Job understands what it looks like to outsiders because he would judge his situation the same as they except he knows better. Job knows that he is innocent but the evidence is stacked against him in light of the prevailing theology that even he believes. The only one who could make sense of this was God and Job accused Him of purposely hiding rather than explaining the apparent contradiction. Perhaps if there is a religious failure to be found from an earthly perspective of Job’s situation, it is that we presumptuously desire for God to rubberstamp our philosophy of Him. Too often when we think we understand something about God, we attempt to make our understanding a standard by which we measure new situations. The story of Job demonstrates that God can create a situation to expose the limitations of man’s wisdom and his feeble attempt to depend on his own understanding. New situations are opportunities to evaluate our understanding rather than another opportunity to validate something that could be faulty. Beyond everything that man is capable of learning, God knows things that are too wonderful for us to even comprehend. Robert C. Hudson October 17, 2014

I Will Call on God

October 19, 2014 Background Scripture: Job 5, 24; Psalm 55:12 – 23 Lesson Passage: Job 24:1, 9 – 12, 19 – 25 While Job searched for answers to the great calamities that suddenly came upon him, his friends questioned Job’s character. Job spoke aloud the probing questions of his heart and his friends answered him with rebuke and false accusations. Job defended his dependence on God even in the face of unexplained calamity. If we required total understanding of God and His ways before we should trust Him, nobody would be saved. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and neither are His ways our ways. This is evident when the least among us suffer at the hands of evil doers while it appears that God is indifferent to it. Widows might have their life support taken from them and orphans removed from the source of their sustenance. In spite of these things, we trust God because He has always been faithful to His word. Sometimes circumstances in life don’t add up. We feel victimized when we thought we would be appreciated or valued. Those are not reasons to give up on God but opportunities for our faith to grow. Somehow and some way we know that God will be justified in both His actions and apparent inactions. God knows all and He sees all. We only know in part and speak out of limited understanding. No one in his right mind would want to endure what Job went through regardless of the outcome. However, Job’s testimony gives us strength in our weakest moments. It’s easy to question God when life seems too cruel and challenging to us. If the loss of material goods doesn’t do it, then the death of a near relative or failing health will certainly challenge us to trust God in the face of a calamity we are totally unprepared for. There have been countless times when what appeared to be bad situations turned out for our best. Somehow that doesn’t prepare us for the next disaster. Instead, we are reminded of all of the reasons we don’t want to face such difficulties. We celebrate the deliverance of others and sometimes forget their unwavering childlike faith. It is enough to suffer through these times while having a private pity party. However, Job’s misery was made worse by having his friends there to constantly condemn his self-defense by thinly veiling their remarks as a defense of God’s character. Job argued with them that his innocence in the face of a tremendous burden of personal suffering was not at odds with God’s holiness. Even today, there are those who believe that personal suffering is evidence of a person receiving what they deserve. Again, Job’s testimony provides encouragement. Sometimes personal hardships are reminders to call upon the Lord more often than has been our practice. Jesus taught that men ought to always pray and not faint. In the midst of struggles, we don’t look for specific times to pray nor do we concern ourselves about whether we are praying too long. Our personal standards concerning prayer are elevated in desperate times. Job’s record was that he prayed on a regular basis for his children and for himself. When troubles came, Job did not have to learn how to pray, instead, he continued to do what he was already doing. Even when he was seeking answers, Job seems to have made up his mind: “I will call on God.” Robert C. Hudson October 9, 2014

I Know That My Redeemer Liveth

October 12, 2014 Background Scripture: Job 19; Psalm 57 Lesson Passage: Job 19:1 – 7, 23 – 29 In the text of today’s lesson, Job is responding to the second round of questions and accusations by his three friends. After Job’s speech broke a one-week silence by the four of them, his friends began to speak in response to Job’s statement. As is customary with the Eastern culture, they kindly allowed each person to take a turn speaking, starting with Job. In today’s text, the temperament of Job’s response appears to be a mix of anger and bewilderment. Job rebukes his friends for hurting him with their words. Job acknowledges that everything that is happening to him is evidence that God’s hand is against him. Furthermore, those who were closest to him had also abandoned him in his time of need. Even the servants of his house no longer respected Job and ignored him when he called for them. Yes, even the people Job loved appeared to have turned their backs on him. His friends had shamed him by their words. In his despair, Job invited his friends to join his pity party rather than continue to tear him down emotionally. Job found inner strength in his faith in the redemptive power of God. He had given up hope that he would be justified in his life on earth because he lacked understanding of how a righteous person could suffer in this world more than the unrighteous. The prevailing theology that Job and his friends spoke from aligned self-righteousness with quality of physical life. God’s personality was not viewed as having flexibility such that there could exist the notion of God’s permissive will. One’s physical life was viewed as a cause-and-effect connection with their spiritual life. With this type thinking, wicked people suffer bad things in life and good people don’t. Because of the multiplicity of calamities that came upon Job in a relatively short time, the prevailing theology could only point to Job’s spiritual or moral lapse. According to his friends’ statements, Job had been sneaky in his immoral acts and he had managed to hide from them what he had done but the divine justice of God had exposed his deeds and they were determined to get their friend, Job, to admit his sins. Surely confession would bring Job forgiveness if only he would do it. Job’s argument was he could not confess what he was not made aware of. And so their debate went back and forth. However, Job’s faith would not allow him to own up to something that was not true or at least revealed to him so that his repentance could be sincere. Job’s faith in life after death gave him strength during the time of his suffering. There is life after death and one day, Job declared, he would be resurrected to see God for himself. Job knew that somehow he would be vindicated at the resurrection of the dead. He wanted his words recorded so that when vindication comes his friends would know that Job had been truthful. Job closed his response by warning his friends that their false accusations against him would be judged by God. Robert C. Hudson October 6, 2014