Bible League: Living His Word The LORD your God will force those nations to leave your country little by little. You will not destroy them all at once. If you did, the wild animals would grow to be too many for you.The Old Testament contains many symbols or shadows of New Testament realities. The nation of Israel, for example, is a symbol or shadow of the New Testament Church. The reason why the Old Testament contains mere symbols while the New Testament contains the realities is that life in Old Testament times could at best merely foreshadow what life would be like in the future through Christ Jesus, but life in New Testament times is actual experience of the reality of Christ. Given the relationship between symbol and reality, one can see how study of Old Testament symbols and shadows can illuminate New Testament realities. The exodus of Israel from Egypt and its conquest and possession of the Promised Land, the context of our verse for today, is a case in point. The exodus symbolically prefigures salvation; the conquest and possession symbolically prefigures the expansion of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Further, we can see from our verse that the expansion of the Kingdom will take place "little by little" less "the wild animals would grow to be too many for you." What does this mean for us today? After a person becomes a Christian (i.e., leaves Egypt), the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit begins to transform that person into someone ready to expand the Kingdom (i.e., conquer and take possession of the land). The expansion, however, takes place little by little. If it happened sooner, the person might not be mature enough to handle the problems, cares, and concerns (i.e., the wild animals) that come with a greater level of responsibility. So don't be downhearted if your advancement to greater levels of responsibility only happens little by little. God wants to keep you from being eaten alive by its problems, cares, and concerns. When it finally comes, you will be ready. And you will be happy that you didn't try to make it happen in your own strength and in your own timing. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingGenesis 12, 13, 14 Genesis 12 -- God Sends Abram to Egypt NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Genesis 13 -- Abram and Lot Part Ways; Abram Promised Many Descendants NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Genesis 14 -- Abram Rescues Lot and Receives a Blessing from Melchizedek NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Matthew 5:1-26 Matthew 5 -- The Sermon on the Mount; Beatitudes; Salt; Law; Murder; Adultery; Divorce; Oaths; Enemies NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.Insight Saying that Noah was “righteous” and “blameless” does not mean that he never sinned. Rather, it means that Noah wholeheartedly loved and obeyed God. For a lifetime he walked step by step in faith as a living example to his generation. Challenge Like Noah, we live in a world filled with evil. Are we influencing others or being influenced by them? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Genesis 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.Light might well be good since it sprang from that fiat of goodness, "Let there be light." We who enjoy it, should be more grateful for it than we are, and see more of God in it and by it. Light physical is said by Solomon to be sweet, but gospel light is infinitely more precious, for it reveals eternal things, and ministers to our immortal natures. When the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual light, and opens our eyes to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, we behold sin in its true colors, and ourselves in our real position; we see the Most Holy God as He reveals Himself, the plan of mercy as He propounds it, and the world to come as the Word describes it. Spiritual light has many beams and prismatic colors, but whether they be knowledge, joy, holiness, or life, all are divinely good. If the light received be thus good, what must the essential light be, and how glorious must be the place where He reveals Himself. O Lord, since light is so good, give us more of it, and more of thyself, the true light. No sooner is there a good thing in the world, than a division is necessary. Light and darkness have no communion; God has divided them, let us not confound them. Sons of light must not have fellowship with deeds, doctrines, or deceits of darkness. The children of the day must be sober, honest, and bold in their Lord's work, leaving the works of darkness to those who shall dwell in it forever. Our Churches should by discipline divide the light from the darkness, and we should by our distinct separation from the world do the same. In judgment, in action, in hearing, in teaching, in association, we must discern between the precious and the vile, and maintain the great distinction which the Lord made upon the world's first day. O Lord Jesus, be thou our light throughout the whole of this day, for thy light is the light of men. Daily Light on the Daily Path Hebrews 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.Jeremiah 9:5 "Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth, They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity. Romans 7:23,24 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. • Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Romans 5:1,2 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, • through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. Hebrews 4:10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Philippians 3:9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, Isaiah 28:12 He who said to them, "Here is rest, give rest to the weary," And, "Here is repose," but they would not listen. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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