August 28

Journey-through-the-Bible-with-us

READING FOR AUGUST 28, 2025: 2 CHRONICLES 6, LUKE 18, PSALM 89:1-18                                2 CHRONICLES 6 This chapter continues the recapitulation from 1 Kings 8 but provides some difference in meaning and certain details. Here (vs. 5-6) Solomon mentions that in the hundreds of years since the people left Israel, God had not identified a city at which to build His house or a single person to be a leader. Finally, He revealed that Jerusalem was to be His site, and David was to be their leader. This reminds of the progressive nature of God’s revelation through time: “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son (Heb 1:1-2).” Jesus is now the ultimate revelation. He is now our ultimate atonement for sin, not sacrifices at the Temple. He is our ultimate LORD or leader, not David or any other earthly person. No newer revelation will be forthcoming on these points.

Solomon then reminds the people that God has kept His promise (vs. 10). God’s interaction with man is all about making and keeping promises. We often called them covenants: 

  • Noahic Covenant. “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth (Gen. 9:11).
  • Abrahamic Covenant. “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you” (Gen. 17:7).
  • Mosaic Covenant. “Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth” (Deut. 28:1).
  • Davidic Covenant. “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:16).
  • The New Covenant. “He [Jesus] is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9: 15).                            

Let’s ask ourselves, if God has so wonderfully kept these promises in the past in ways that were so much beyond what could be imagined by humankind, would it be wise or unwise to trust Him completely with our lives?

LUKE 18 The Parable of the Persistent Widow.

  • Main point—We must keep praying to God and not give up even if we haven’t received a response.
  • Who’s who—We (Christians) are the persistent widow. God is the unjust judge (yes, a bit weird). 
  • Application—In verse 8, Jesus throws in this seemingly unrelated comment: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”  Maybe Jesus included it for us. In June, our average attendance was in the 60’s. We have room for several hundred more. Let’s persistently pray to our totally just God that He will use our church to bring more souls into His kingdom.                                                   

READING FOR AUGUST 28, 2025 CONTINUED: LUKE 18, PSALM 89:1-18                                    The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

  • Main point—When we exult ourselves before the Lord, we will eventually be humbled—perhaps at the judgment. When we humble ourselves before the Lord in repentance, we can be saved.
  • Who’s who—The Pharisee is anyone who doesn’t repent and has spiritual pride. The tax collector is anyone who repents and expresses spiritual humility. 
  • Application—Let's embrace the heritage and theology of John Wesley: “Ye were born in sin: Therefore, ye must be born again, born of God. By nature ye are wholly corrupted. By grace ye shall be wholly renewed. In Adam ye all died: In the second Adam, in Christ, ye all are made alive.”

Jesus said that we must encourage little children to come to Him. (Fathers/grandfathers, how’re we doing?) Also, we must receive Him like a child. Yet, 1 Corinthians 13:11 says, “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.”  In what sense should we receive Him like a child? Psychologist Erik Erikson taught that in the first stage of psychosocial development, children develop a sense of trust.  We as God’s children need to have childlike trust without being childish in our understanding.

Final points of the chapter:                                                                                                                

  • Being a rich Christian is almost an oxymoron. Follow Jesus now for lasting riches and relationships.
  • For the third time in Luke, the disciples didn’t grasp Jesus’s death and resurrection. Are we this slow?
  • Isn’t it interesting that Jesus asked the blind man what he wanted? Jesus wanted him/us to say it. 

PSALM 89:1-18 Those who prefer to only let our lives be a witness but stay quiet about our faith are out of synch with (the Holy Spirit inspired) Ethan the Ezrahite. This is especially the case when communicating cross-generationally (with kids and grandkids). Check out Ethan’s approach:

  • Ethan starts at a good place: God’s love and faithfulness (vs.1-2).
  • Then he points to God’s covenant with David fulfilled in Jesus; a combo OT and NT never hurts (vs.3-4).
  • He takes a trip to the heavenly spirit realm; kids might like this more than Disney World (vs.5-8).
  • Ethan says God rules the raging seas--even the winds and wave obey Him--and crushes Rahab: a multi-headed sea monster, scarier than Moby Dick or Sea Beast (vs.9-10).
  • Then he hits origins: founding the world--creating north/south. Who caused the Big Bang? (vs 11-13).
  • Then moral absolutes: righteous and justice--where do right and wrong come from? (vs. 14).

Many of the above points are used by current Christian philosophers in their defense of the faith (also known as apologetics).  These includes the existence and design of the physical universe, the fulfillment of biblical predictions (known as prophecies), the pervasive awareness of a spiritual world, and the ubiquity of moral absolutes.