"THE GOSPEL OF MARK" The Crucifixion Of Jesus (15:21-32) by Mark Copeland

 "THE GOSPEL OF MARK"

 The Crucifixion Of Jesus (15:21-32)

INTRODUCTION

1. Thus far in Mark’s account of the passion of Christ, we have seen...
   a. The agonizing prayer in the garden of Gethsemane - Mk 14:32-42
   b. The betrayal of Judas and arrest in the garden - Mk 14:43-50
   c. The beating and mocking at Caiaphas’ house - Mk 14:65
   d. The denial by Peter - Mk 14:66-72
   e. The scourging, beating, and mocking by Roman soldiers - Mk 15:15-20

2. By this time Jesus would have been physically exhausted...
   a. Awake for more than 24 hours
   b. Suffering from the beatings and scourging already inflicted

[But the worse was yet to come; condemned to death by crucifixion, the
Roman soldiers led him to the place where He would be crucified (Mk15:20). 

 With the aid of Mark’s text, let us follow Him...]

I. LEADING TO THE CRUCIFIXION

   A. SIMON COMPELLED TO BEAR HIS CROSS...
      1. Jesus started out bearing His cross - cf. Jn 19:17
         a. Likely the wooden crosspiece (patibulum), weighing 30-40 pounds
         b. But it proved too much for Him
      2. Simon of Cyrene compelled to bear it for Him - Mk 15:21
         a. Mark identifies him as the father of Alexander and Rufus
         b. The latter possibly known to the church in Rome - cf. Ro 16:13

   B. BROUGHT TO GOLGOTHA...
      1. A place near (outside) the city - cf. Jn 19:20
      2. Golgotha a modified transliteration of the Aramaic word for "skull" - Mk 15:22
      3. Calvary comes from the Latin word for "skull" - cf. Lk 23:33

   C. WINE AND MYRRH OFFERED BUT REFUSED...
      1. A narcotic drink was sometimes offered to criminals to deaden
         the pain of crucifixion
      2. Jesus was offered such a drink, but refused - Mk 15:23
      3. Perhaps choosing to experience the ordeal of crucifixion with His full senses

[Next we read of...]

II. THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS

   A. AS DESCRIBED BY MARK...
      1. "They crucified Him" - Mk 15:24,25
      2. Amazingly restrained, as are the other gospel writers! -  

             Mt 27:35; Lk 23:33; Jn 19:18
      3. Especially when it was "the cruelest and most hideous punishment possible" 

           - Cicero

   B. AS DESCRIBED BY A DOCTOR...
      1. Simon is ordered to place the cross beam on the ground, and
         Jesus is quickly thrown backwards with His shoulders against
         the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front
         of the wrist. He drives the heavy, square, wrought-iron nail
         through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to
         the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to
         pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and
         movement. The cross beam is then lifted in place at the top of
         the vertical beam The left foot is pressed backward against
         the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail
         is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees
         moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly
         sags down with more weight on the nails and the wrists,
         excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the
         arms to explode in the brain--the nails in the wrists are
         putting pressure on the median nerves.
      2. As he pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment,
         He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again
         there is searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves
         between the metatarsal bones of the feet. At this point,
         another phenomenon occurs. As the arms fatigue, great waves of
         cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep,
         relentless throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the
         inability to push Himself upward. Air can be drawn into the
         lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in
         order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide
         builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps
         partially subside. Spasmodically He is able to push Himself
         upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen.
      3. Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending
         cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as
         tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down
         against the rough timber. Then another agony begins. A deep
         crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills
         with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost
         over--the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level--
         the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick,
         sluggish blood into the tissues--the tortured lungs are making
         a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The body of
         Jesus is now in extremis, and He can feel the chill of death
         creeping through His tissues His mission of atonement has been
         completed. Finally He can allow His body to die. - C. Truman
         Davis, "The Crucifixion of Jesus. The Passion of Christ from a
         Medical Point of View," Arizona Medicine 22, no. 3 March 1965:
         186-87, as quoted in The Expositor's Bible Commentary Vol. 8,
         ed. by Frank Gaebelein ([1984] pp. 779-80.

[Even the doctor’s description cannot adequately express what suffering
Jesus endured on the cross for our sins.  Before we close, let’s
summarize what else is revealed surrounding the crucifixion...]

III. SUMMARY OF OTHER DETAILS

   A. THE GARMENTS...
      1. When they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots - Mk 15:24
      2. As foretold by David - Ps 22:18

   B. THE TIME...
      1. Mark says it was the "third hour" - Mk 15:25
      2. This would be 9am in the morning

   C. THE INSCRIPTION...
      1. Pilate had the charge or accusation made against Jesus posted on the cross
      2. It was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin - Jn 19:20
      3. Each of the gospel writers record the inscription slightly different
         a. Mark:  "The King of the Jews" - Mk 15:26
         b. Matthew:  "This is Jesus the King of the Jews" - Mt 27:37
         c. Luke:  "This is the King of the Jews" - Lk 23:38
         d. John:  "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" - Jn 19:20
      4. Reconciling the apparent discrepancy
         a. The full inscription may have been "This is Jesus of
            Nazareth the King of the Jews"
         b. Written in three languages, it may have been abbreviated,
            and each gospel writer simply chose that which reflected
            his purpose in his gospel

   D. THE TWO THIEVES...
      1. Two robbers were crucified with Jesus - Mk 15:27-28
      2. Possibly co-insurrectionists with Barabbas who had been released

   E. THE BLASPHEMY AND MOCKERY...
      1. Those who passed by, with the false charge made against him -
         Mk 15:29; 14:57-58
      2. The chief priests and scribes, taunting Jesus to make them believe - Mk 15:31-32
      3. Even the two thieves, though one later recanted - Mk 15:32; cf. Lk 23:39-43

CONCLUSION

1. Thus begins the six hours that will result in the death of Jesus...
   a. An excruciating death in of itself
   b. Made worse by the beatings and scourging, the mocking before and during

2. What can we learn from this terrible event...?
   a. The terribleness of the guilt of sin - Ro 3:23; 6:23
   b. The greatness of God's love for man - Ro 5:6-9; 1Jn 4:9-10
   c. The inspiration of Jesus' sacrifice - 1Pe 2:21-25

In our next lesson, we shall consider Jesus’ death and burial that
followed this terrible crucifixion.  But as you reflect on what Jesus’
endured, have you considered what you should do...? - cf. Ac 2:36-41    

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2016

 

The Eternality of God by Caleb Colley, Ph.D.

https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=5475

The Eternality of God

by	Caleb Colley, Ph.D.

God alone is eternal. The Bible plainly asserts that God had no beginning, and that He will never end, or die—He possesses eternality. Consider Psalm 90:2: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” Isaiah wrote: “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in a high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15; see Deuteronomy 33:27). The apostle John wrote: “Grace to you and peace from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come...” (Revelation 1:4, emp. added). In beautiful, poetic language, God said: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). It is difficult for finite, human minds to comprehend anyone Who possesses eternality, because every earthly person and thing known to us had a beginning, and has either died, ended, will die, or will end. To emphasize God’s majesty through His eternality, consider several items, which, though striking and awe-inspiring, are not eternal.

The Universe is not eternal. For many years, evolutionists attempted to prove that the Universe never had a beginning. For, they reasoned, if scientists were to arrive at the conclusion that the Universe had a beginning, they must turn to the next logical question: What caused the beginning of the Universe? Attempting to answer that question makes rationally thinking evolutionists uncomfortable. Of course, scientists have shown definitively that the Universe has not always existed, and that it will not exist forever. Because it exists, therefore, someone, or something must have always existed. Astronomer Robert Jastrow observed: “The lingering decline predicted by astronomers for the end of the world differs from the explosive conditions they have calculated for its birth, but the impact is the same: modern science denies an eternal existence to the Universe, either in the past or in the future.”¹ In her book, The Fire in the Equations, award-winning science writer Kitty Ferguson wrote in agreement:

Our late twentieth-century picture of the universe is dramatically different from the picture our forebears had at the beginning of the century. Today it’s common knowledge that all the individual stars we see with the naked eye are only the stars of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, and that the Milky Way is only one among many billions of galaxies. It’s also common knowledge that the universe isn’t eternal but had a beginning ten to twenty billion years ago, and that it is expanding.²

Furthermore, the First Law of Thermodynamics, which states that both matter and energy can be neither created nor destroyed, precludes the idea of an eternal Universe. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that systems become more disorganized, rather than more organized, also establishes that the Universe had to have a starting point. Because matter exists, but has not always existed, then something or someone must have caused its beginning. Some have suggested that the Universe simply created itself. Sproul wrote:

For something to bring itself into being it must have the power of being within itself. It must at least have enough causal power to cause its own being. If it derives its being from some other source, then it clearly would not be either self-existent or self-created. It would be, plainly and simply, an effect. Of course, the problem is complicated by the other necessity we’ve labored so painstakingly to establish: It would have to have the causal power of being before it was. It would have to have the power of being before it had any being with which to exercise that power.³

Obviously, the idea that the Universe was, at one time, nonexistent, but then independently came into being, is contradictory.⁴ Creationists do not have to wonder about the start of the Universe; they understand that God is the cause, and the Universe is the effect. That event is recorded in the first few pages of the Bible (Genesis 1,2).

Humanity is not eternal in the same sense that God is eternal. Humans have immortal souls—souls that will never die (Romans 5:21; 6:22; Galatians 6:8), and bodies that will be resurrected and reunited with their souls (John 5:28-29). And, although humans can access eternal life (Matthew 25:46; 2 Corinthians 4:18), human beings are not eternal, because each human has a beginning. The beginning of humanity itself is described in Genesis 1-2. And, when the Earth ends (see 2 Peter 3:10-12), humanity on Earth will cease. The Greek word translated “eternal” in passages like Mark 10:17,30, Luke 18:18, and John 3:15 is aionios, a word that also is used to denote the eternality of God (Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 5:10). “Eternal,” then, has approximately three meanings in the New Testament: (1) without beginning (Romans 16:25; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2); (2) without beginning or end (Hebrews 9:14); and (3) without end (Matthew 25:46; 2 Corinthians 4:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:9).⁵ Humans are eternal in that their souls will never end, but only God possesses eternality in the first two senses of the word.

Why are humans instructed to live in view of, and prepare for, eternity? A few of the many reasons include: (1) Christians will live for a much longer time in heaven than they will on Earth (Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:17); (2) dire consequences await those who refuse to prepare for eternity in this life (Matthew 9:44-48; Matthew 23:33; Luke 13:28; John 5:29); (3) and there are great blessings associated with eternal life (Matthew 8:11; Hebrews 9:24; 1 Peter 1:4, 3:22; Revelation 21:2,3, 22).

Marriage is not eternal. Some religious people teach that marriages will endure throughout eternity. For example, James Duke, representing the Mormon religion, wrote:

Latter-day Saints believe that life is more secure and more joyous when it is experienced in the sacred relationships of the eternal family. Those who maintain such worthy relationships on earth will live as families in the Celestial Kingdom following the resurrection. Thus, a person who lives a righteous life in mortality and who has entered into an eternal marriage may look forward to an association in the postmortal world with a worthy spouse, and with those who were earthly children, fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters.⁶

Jesus, however, said that, after they are resurrected, no one will be married or given in marriage (Matthew 22:30). Marriage has been created by God, Who is eternal, for the enjoyment and benefit of mortal men, but the institution of marriage will end when Earth ends (Genesis 2:24; Proverbs 18:22; Hebrews 13:4).

Angels are not eternal. Here, we refer to spiritual messengers, and not humans (on occasion, human messengers are also called “angels” in the Bible).⁷ Angels, like humans, are created beings. Paul wrote: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers” (Colossians 1:16). Nehemiah 9:6 reads: “You along are the Lord; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the Earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You” (emp. added; see Genesis 2:1; Exodus 20:11). Job 38:1-7 makes it clear that angels were eyewitnesses to the creation of the Universe, so we are left to wonder if the angels were created during the Creation week, or at some earlier time. Respected Bible scholar Herbert Lockyer commented:

The heavens include all that are in them created by God, and among these must be the angels (Genesis 2:1). Among the hosts of heaven the angels are the principal part. They are expressly called “the heavenly host” and “the armies of heaven” (Luke 2:13).⁸

We cannot be certain when the angels were created, but we do know that no other being beside God is eternal in the fullest sense of the word.⁹

The devil is not eternal. Deity is eternal in the fullest sense (Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 102:27), but Satan does not possess the qualities of Deity. Thompson commented:

Scripture affirms: “Greater is he [God] that is in you than he [Satan] that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). When he sought to “sift” the apostles as wheat, he first had to “ask for them” (Luke 22:31). Satan is not omnipresent. His position as “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) was “delivered unto him” (Luke 4:6). When he eventually is cast permanently into his place of eternal torment, the devil will be powerless to resist (Revelation 20:10).¹⁰

Wayne Jackson noted:

…[S]ince the devil is not of the nature of deity, it is obvious that he is a created being, for all things and beings (outside the class of deity) are the result of creation—“for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers” (Col. 1:16); this would include Satan as he originally was.¹¹

While it is true that Satan will exist forever, it is obviously also true that he had a beginning. Genesis 1:31 reveals that all things which were created were, originally, “very good.” God did not create Satan to be humankind’s evil adversary; rather, Satan made the choice to become evil, and to work to convince others, both spiritual and human beings, to do wrong. Both Old and New Testament passages imply that Satan, at some point before he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, led a revolt, the result of which was the ejection of Satan and “his” angels from heaven (Job 4:18; Matthew 25:41; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). There is every reason to believe that angels still have the ability to choose to do evil. Lloyd Ecrement observed: “They, therefore, have the ability to choose good or evil. It is possible, but certainly not necessary, for them to sin. If they choose evil rather than good, that is no reflection upon their Creator, but simply a rebellion against Him—they abuse the powers of reason and a free will given to them by God.”¹² Little is known about why Satan chose to do evil initially, but it is easier to surmise why he chose to become the archenemy of God and man: he had once inhabited glory with God, but had been cast out.¹³

CONCLUSION

If a man composed a work in which he considered every temporal item, the work would be enormous, because the number of the things that will, at some point, cease to exist, is inestimable. However, there is only One Who possesses eternality. We should be impressed and thankful that our Creator is ageless, timeless, uninterrupted, and perpetual, not only in His existence, but in His personality and attributes. The truth of His message, like His very personage, never will change (Mark 13:31).

ENDNOTES

¹ Robert Jastrowt (1977), Until the Sun Dies (New York: W.W. Norton), p. 30, emp. added.

² Kitty Ferguson (1994), The Fire in the Equations: Science, Religion, and the Search for God (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans), p. 89, emp. added.

³ R.C. Sproul (1994), Not a Chance (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker), pp. 179-180.

⁴ Jeff Miller (2013), “ Evolution and the Laws of Science: The Laws of Thermodynamics,” Apologetics Press, http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=2786&topic=336.

⁵ See William Arndt and F.W. Gingrich (1974 reprint), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press), pp. 27-28; Gerhard Kittel, ed. (1981 reprint), Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans), 1:208; A.T. Robertson (1934), A Grammar of the Greek New Testament In Light of Historical Research, (Nashville, TN: Broadman), p. 272.

⁶ James Duke (1992), “Eternal Marriage,” http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/family/marriage/eternal_eom.htm, emp. added.

⁷ See Haggai 1:13; Alden Bass and Bert Thompson (2001), “When Did God Create Angels?” /rr/rr2001/r&r0106b.htm, 2001.

⁸ Herbert W. Lockyer (1995), All the Angels in the Bible (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson), p. 14, emp. in orig.

⁹ See Bass and Thompson, 2001.

¹⁰ Bert Thompson (2001 reprint), “Satan—His Origin and Mission,” (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press), p. 4-5.

¹¹ Wayne Jackson (1980), “Satan,” Great Doctrines of the Bible, ed. M.H. Tucker (Knoxville, TN: East Tennessee School of Preaching), p. 78, emp. and parenthetical in orig.

¹² Lloyd Ecrement (1961), Man, the Bible, and Destiny (Grand Rapids, MI; Eerdmans), p. 33.

¹³ See Wayne Jackson (2004), “Spiritual Warfare Is Real, Difficult, and Dangerous,” http://www.christiancourier.com/penpoints/spiritualWarfare.htm; Thompson, pp. 7-8.

 

The Euthyphro Dilemma by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=4102

The Euthyphro Dilemma

by	Dave Miller, Ph.D.

Q:

 What do atheists mean when they speak of the “Euthyphro Dilemma” as a means to discredit theism?

A:

The so-called Euthyphro Dilemma has its genesis in Plato’s dialogue Euthyphro in which Socrates and Euthyphro discuss the nature of piety: “Is the pious  loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?” (2008). Over time, philosophers have sharpened the salient point of the dilemma by presenting it in a modified form. The world-renowned late atheist philosopher Antony G.N. Flew worded the argument this way: “Are the things which are good good because God approves of those things, or is it the case that God approves of those things which are good because they are good?” (Warren and Flew, 1977, p. 26). By this thorny contention, the atheist hopes to dismiss the notion of God by placing the theist in an untenable dilemma.

On the one hand, if an action is right simply because God approves it, then morality would be the product of the arbitrary will of God, which He could just as easily alter. Instead of saying that lying and murder are wrong, He could just as well have said they are right—and that divine intention would make them so. On the other hand, if God approves of an action because it is inherently good, then an objective standard exists outside of God that He merely acknowledges. Such a law would therefore be above and higher than God. By the Euthyphro Dilemma, atheists think they have demonstrated that good is either above or beneath God and thereby proof that God is not God (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: The Euthyphro Dilemma	Figure 2: Reality

But this dilemma is impotent in that it fails to take into account the nature, being, and character of the perfect God of the Bible who is eternal and infinite in all of His attributes. Goodness, like all God’s other attributes, flows from His very being as the Ultimate Good (see Figure 2). Good is neither above nor below God (cf. Mark 10:18; 1 John 4:8; Psalm 33:5). God’s attributes and God’s will are inseparable. The alternatives posed by the atheist do not pose a proper dilemma.

REFERENCES

Plato (2008), Euthyphro, trans. Benjamin Jowett, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1642/1642-h/1642-h.htm.

Warren, Thomas and Antony G.N. Flew (1977), The Warren-Flew Debate on the Existence of God (Ramer, TN: National Christian Press), info@nationalchristianpress.net.

 

The Fallacy of Preaching Pascal by AP Staff

 

https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=922

The Fallacy of Preaching Pascal

by

AP Staff

Preachers and authors in the religious community sometimes commit inadvertent fallacies in what they teach and write. These can stem from a lack of understanding of vital fields, such as biblical languages, church and secular history, psychology, and philosophy. While some of these fallacies are harmless, others can do more damage to a person’s soul through their inaccuracies than if nothing had been said at all. One such fallacy is that of mistakenly “preaching Pascal.”

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was a French scientist, mathematician, and philosopher. He was a brilliant young man whose father educated him, and who published his first work, an essay on geometry, at the tender age of sixteen. He continued to publish works in the fields of science and mathematics, but he died before publishing his most important philosophical works: Pensées and De l’Esprit Géométrique. Theologically, Pascal was a Jansenist—i.e., a member of a group within the Catholic Church that followed the views of Cornelius Jansen—and spent much of his time refuting the Jesuits. Pensées [Thoughts] is the title posthumously given to a series of notes that Pascal originally intended to publish under the title Apologie de la religion chrétienne [Apology for the Christian Religion] (Popkin, 1967, 6:51-52). It was in these notes that Pascal’s now-famous “wager” was constructed. The wager, simply put, goes something like this:

• If it is impossible for a person to believe with certainty that God exists, then that person should believe in God anyway—“just in case” He does exist.
• If it turns out that God does exist, the believer “wins” the wager by receiving an eternal reward.
• If it turns out that God does not exist, the person who believes has lost nothing (except perhaps some temporal pleasures, the loss of which is outweighed by freedom from the angst of unbelief).
• If God does not exist, and a person does not believe, then he may gain some temporal pleasures.
• If God exists, and a person does not believe, then that person is punished eternally for his unbelief.

Who never “loses” the wager? The believer. Why so? If God does exist, the believer “wins” by going to heaven. If God does not exist—the believer lives and dies, end of story—again, he has lost nothing (except a few finite pleasures). In both cases, the believer wins because he chose the “safe” thing to do.

But who loses 50% of the time? The unbeliever. If God exists, he “loses” by not believing, and therefore goes to hell. If God does not exist—the unbeliever lives and dies, end of story—he (like the believer) has lost nothing.

One of the two “gamblers” never loses; one loses half the time. Thus, Pascal concluded, it is safer to believe in God that not to believe. [Pascal continued in his reasoning by suggesting that if someone does not know how to believe, then he should follow the customs and rites of those who do believe—as if he himself were a believer. Eventually, then, according to Pascal, the person will become a believer (Pascal, 1995, pp. 121-125).]

PASCAL’S WAGER

	One believes	One does not believe
God exists	Eternal reward	Eternal punishment
God does not exist	Freedom from angst	Temporal pleasures

Some ministers of the Gospel preach Pascal’s Wager in an effort to convert people, suggesting that belief in God makes more sense than non-belief because of the 50% risk that is involved if God does exist.

What does this show, and why is it wrong to use Pascal’s line of reasoning in the conversion of non-believers? First, preaching this seems to show a lack of faith on the part of the minister himself. If a preacher’s argument for the existence of God is based on a gamble—even if it is not his only argument for God—then he should re-examine his own beliefs and see if he has truly built his faith on the solid rock of the moral, cosmological, and teleological proofs for God, or if he has built his faith upon the sands of guesswork (Matthew 7:24-27). This is damaging to the congregation for which such a man preaches, because a solid congregation needs a solid man to preach solid truths, and believing in God just because it is “prudent” to do so, shows a lack of solidarity.

Moreover, what of the man who believes in God because of preaching Pascal’s Wager? Since “faith is the substance of things hoped for” and “the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1), a pseudo-belief in God based on statistical risk and/or wager produce a pseudo-Christian. Faith is based on knowledge and certainty, not on probabilities, and someone who believes based on a wager is someone who cannot possess true faith in God and His existence. Paul said that we will be “above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard” (Colossians 1:22b-23a). Pascal’s Wager does not produce a faith “grounded and steadfast,” because it does not build faith. However, faith in God is easy to build through other means, “because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20).

As Christians who are called to handle the Bible correctly (2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16-17), let us not give in to philosophies that are not in keeping with God’s Word (Colossians 2:8). In our preaching, let us be honest with people and teach them to “hold fast” to faith and truth (1 Corinthians 15:1-2), and not let them be led into believing in God just because it makes the “best sense in a gamble.”

REFERENCES

Pascal, Blaise (1995), Pensées, trans. A.J. Krailsheimer (New York: Penguin).

Popkin, Richard H. (1967), “Pascal, Blaise,” The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Paul Edwards (New York: MacMillan).

The "GREATEST" by Gary Rose

Unfortunately, my keyboard does not look like this; I wish it did. But, I still get the idea – love is the center of all things. Love is the greatest, most precious thing out there. To love another ( besides yourself ) is the highest pinnacle of human behavior. With my viewing this picture, I IMMEDIATELY thought of this familiar verse from the book of John…

John 3 ( World English Bible )

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

As I was thinking about this famous verse, I thought…

The greatest love – “God so loved”

Because HE is the GREATEST OF ALL. Isaiah 44:7

---

The greatest object – “the world”

Imagine, loving billions upon billions of human beings for thousands and thousands of years. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

---

The greatest gift– “his one and only Son”

God sacrificing himself for us. Philippians 2:5-11

---

The greatest trust- “whoever believes in him should not perish”

Romans 4:5; 9:33 and 10:11

---

The greatest possibility- “but have eternal life“

Romans 5:21; 6:22; 6:23

Look again at the picture above: Is the love of God, the center of your life ( like it is in the picture )? If not, change things so that it is.

One last thought; Jesus said…

Matthew 22 ( WEB )

³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

³⁸ This is the first and great commandment.

³⁹ A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

⁴⁰ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Bible Reading for May 21-23 by Gary Rose

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bible Reading for May 21-23

World  English  Bible

May 21

Joshua 23, 24

Jos 23:1 It happened after many days, when Yahweh had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years,

Jos 23:2 that Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said to them, "I am old and well advanced in years.

Jos 23:3 You have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to all these nations because of you; for it is Yahweh your God who has fought for you.

Jos 23:4 Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun.

Jos 23:5 Yahweh your God will thrust them out from before you, and drive them from out of your sight. You shall possess their land, as Yahweh your God spoke to you.

Jos 23:6 Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left;

Jos 23:7 that you not come among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves to them;

Jos 23:8 but hold fast to Yahweh your God, as you have done to this day.

Jos 23:9 For Yahweh has driven great and strong nations out from before you. But as for you, no man has stood before you to this day.

Jos 23:10 One man of you shall chase a thousand; for it is Yahweh your God who fights for you, as he spoke to you.

Jos 23:11 Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God.

Jos 23:12 Else if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you;

Jos 23:13 know for a certainty that Yahweh your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you.

Jos 23:14 Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you. All have happened to you. Not one thing has failed of it.

Jos 23:15 It shall happen that as all the good things have come on you of which Yahweh your God spoke to you, so Yahweh will bring on you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you,

Jos 23:16 when you disobey the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them. Then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you."

Jos 24:1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.

Jos 24:2 Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they served other gods.

Jos 24:3 I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.

Jos 24:4 I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau Mount Seir, to possess it. Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.

Jos 24:5 I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did in its midst: and afterward I brought you out.

Jos 24:6 I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Red Sea.

Jos 24:7 When they cried out to Yahweh, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt: and you lived in the wilderness many days.

Jos 24:8 I brought you into the land of the Amorites, that lived beyond the Jordan: and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land; and I destroyed them from before you.

Jos 24:9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. He sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you;

Jos 24:10 but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you still. So I delivered you out of his hand.

Jos 24:11 You went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your hand.

Jos 24:12 I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword, nor with your bow.

Jos 24:13 I gave you a land whereon you had not labored, and cities which you didn't build, and you live in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn't plant.'

Jos 24:14 Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve Yahweh.

Jos 24:15 If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh."

Jos 24:16 The people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake Yahweh, to serve other gods;

Jos 24:17 for it is Yahweh our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed.

Jos 24:18 Yahweh drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve Yahweh; for he is our God."

Jos 24:19 Joshua said to the people, "You can't serve Yahweh; for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.

Jos 24:20 If you forsake Yahweh, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good."

Jos 24:21 The people said to Joshua, "No; but we will serve Yahweh."

Jos 24:22 Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh yourselves, to serve him." They said, "We are witnesses."

Jos 24:23 "Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel."

Jos 24:24 The people said to Joshua, "We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice."

Jos 24:25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

Jos 24:26 Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh.

Jos 24:27 Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of Yahweh which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God."

Jos 24:28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

Jos 24:29 It happened after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred and ten years old.

Jos 24:30 They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.

Jos 24:31 Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Yahweh, that he had worked for Israel.

Jos 24:32 They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

Jos 24:33 Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim. 

 

May 22

Judges 1, 2

Jdg 1:1 It happened after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?

Jdg 1:2 Yahweh said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.

Jdg 1:3 Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot. So Simeon went with him.

Jdg 1:4 Judah went up; and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they struck of them in Bezek ten thousand men.

Jdg 1:5 They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

Jdg 1:6 But Adoni-Bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.

Jdg 1:7 Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their food under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Jdg 1:8 The children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

Jdg 1:9 Afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, and in the South, and in the lowland.

Jdg 1:10 Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba); and they struck Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

Jdg 1:11 From there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the name of Debir before was Kiriath Sepher.)

Jdg 1:12 Caleb said, He who strikes Kiriath Sepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife.

Jdg 1:13 Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.

Jdg 1:14 It happened, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she alighted from off her donkey; and Caleb said to her, What would you like?

Jdg 1:15 She said to him, Give me a blessing; for that you have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

Jdg 1:16 The children of the Kenite, Moses' brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.

Jdg 1:17 Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah.

Jdg 1:18 Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Ashkelon with its border, and Ekron with its border.

Jdg 1:19 Yahweh was with Judah; and drove out the inhabitants of the hill country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

Jdg 1:20 They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken: and he drove out there the three sons of Anak.

Jdg 1:21 The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

Jdg 1:22 The house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel; and Yahweh was with them.

Jdg 1:23 The house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)

Jdg 1:24 The watchers saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him, Show us, we pray you, the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.

Jdg 1:25 He showed them the entrance into the city; and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go and all his family.

Jdg 1:26 The man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.

Jdg 1:27 Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its towns, nor of Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

Jdg 1:28 It happened, when Israel had grown strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and did not utterly drive them out.

Jdg 1:29 Ephraim didn't drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

Jdg 1:30 Zebulun didn't drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and became subject to forced labor.

Jdg 1:31 Asher didn't drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob;

Jdg 1:32 but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

Jdg 1:33 Naphtali didn't drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but he lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and of Beth Anath became subject to forced labor.

Jdg 1:34 The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill country; for they would not allow them to come down to the valley;

Jdg 1:35 but the Amorites would dwell in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to forced labor.

Jdg 1:36 The border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

Jdg 2:1 The angel of Yahweh came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you:

Jdg 2:2 and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars. But you have not listened to my voice: why have you done this?

Jdg 2:3 Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.

Jdg 2:4 It happened, when the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

Jdg 2:5 They called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there to Yahweh.

Jdg 2:6 Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel went every man to his inheritance to possess the land.

Jdg 2:7 The people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of Yahweh that he had worked for Israel.

Jdg 2:8 Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred ten years old.

Jdg 2:9 They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.

Jdg 2:10 Also all that generation were gathered to their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, who didn't know Yahweh, nor yet the work which he had worked for Israel.

Jdg 2:11 The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and served the Baals;

Jdg 2:12 and they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them: and they provoked Yahweh to anger.

Jdg 2:13 They forsook Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

Jdg 2:14 The anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers who despoiled them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

Jdg 2:15 Wherever they went out, the hand of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken, and as Yahweh had sworn to them: and they were sore distressed.

Jdg 2:16 Yahweh raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who despoiled them.

Jdg 2:17 Yet they didn't listen to their judges; for they played the prostitute after other gods, and bowed themselves down to them: they turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of Yahweh; but they didn't do so.

Jdg 2:18 When Yahweh raised them up judges, then Yahweh was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it grieved Yahweh because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them.

Jdg 2:19 But it happened, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them; they didn't cease from their doings, nor from their stubborn way.

Jdg 2:20 The anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel; and he said, Because this nation have transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not listened to my voice;

Jdg 2:21 I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died;

Jdg 2:22 that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.

Jdg 2:23 So Yahweh left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua. 

 

May 23

Judges 3, 4

Jdg 3:1 Now these are the nations which Yahweh left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;

Jdg 3:2 only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing of it:

Jdg 3:3 namely, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.

Jdg 3:4 They were left, to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of Yahweh, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.

Jdg 3:5 The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites:

Jdg 3:6 and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.

Jdg 3:7 The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth.

Jdg 3:8 Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years.

Jdg 3:9 When the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

Jdg 3:10 The Spirit of Yahweh came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Yahweh delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand: and his hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim.

Jdg 3:11 The land had rest forty years. Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Jdg 3:12 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh.

Jdg 3:13 He gathered to him the children of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees.

Jdg 3:14 The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

Jdg 3:15 But when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised them up a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a man left-handed. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.

Jdg 3:16 Ehud made him a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he girded it under his clothing on his right thigh.

Jdg 3:17 He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab: now Eglon was a very fat man.

Jdg 3:18 When he had made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away the people who bore the tribute.

Jdg 3:19 But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand to you, king. He said, Keep silence. All who stood by him went out from him.

Jdg 3:20 Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, I have a message from God to you. He arose out of his seat.

Jdg 3:21 Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body:

Jdg 3:22 and the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he didn't draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind.

Jdg 3:23 Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and locked them.

Jdg 3:24 Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and behold, the doors of the upper room were locked; and they said, Surely he is covering his feet in the upper chamber.

Jdg 3:25 They waited until they were ashamed; and behold, he didn't open the doors of the upper room: therefore they took the key, and opened them, and behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

Jdg 3:26 Ehud escaped while they waited, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirah.

Jdg 3:27 It happened, when he had come, that he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he before them.

Jdg 3:28 He said to them, Follow after me; for Yahweh has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. They went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and didn't allow a man to pass over.

Jdg 3:29 They struck of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every lusty man, and every man of valor; and there escaped not a man.

Jdg 3:30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. The land had rest eighty years.

Jdg 3:31 After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck of the Philistines six hundred men with an oxgoad: and he also saved Israel.

Jdg 4:1 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, when Ehud was dead.

Jdg 4:2 Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

Jdg 4:3 The children of Israel cried to Yahweh: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

Jdg 4:4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time.

Jdg 4:5 She lived under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

Jdg 4:6 She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, Hasn't Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded, saying, Go and draw to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

Jdg 4:7 I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.

Jdg 4:8 Barak said to her, If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.

Jdg 4:9 She said, I will surely go with you: notwithstanding, the journey that you take shall not be for your honor; for Yahweh will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Jdg 4:10 Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.

Jdg 4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.

Jdg 4:12 They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor.

Jdg 4:13 Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon.

Jdg 4:14 Deborah said to Barak, Up; for this is the day in which Yahweh has delivered Sisera into your hand; hasn't Yahweh gone out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

Jdg 4:15 Yahweh confused Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot, and fled away on his feet.

Jdg 4:16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; there was not a man left.

Jdg 4:17 However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

Jdg 4:18 Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; don't be afraid. He came in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.

Jdg 4:19 He said to her, Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. She opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

Jdg 4:20 He said to her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man does come and inquire of you, and say, Is there any man here? that you shall say, No.

Jdg 4:21 Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died.

Jdg 4:22 Behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek. He came to her; and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent peg was in his temples.

Jdg 4:23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.

Jdg 4:24 The hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. 

 

May  21

John 3

Joh 3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

Joh 3:2 The same came to him by night, and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him."

Joh 3:3 Jesus answered him, "Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can't see the Kingdom of God."

Joh 3:4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"

Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, "Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God!

Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Joh 3:7 Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'

Joh 3:8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Joh 3:9 Nicodemus answered him, "How can these things be?"

Joh 3:10 Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and don't understand these things?

Joh 3:11 Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don't receive our witness.

Joh 3:12 If I told you earthly things and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

Joh 3:13 No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

Joh 3:14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

Joh 3:15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Joh 3:17 For God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

Joh 3:18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn't believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

Joh 3:19 This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.

Joh 3:20 For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn't come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.

Joh 3:21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God."

Joh 3:22 After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land of Judea. He stayed there with them, and baptized.

Joh 3:23 John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came, and were baptized.

Joh 3:24 For John was not yet thrown into prison.

Joh 3:25 There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's disciples with some Jews about purification.

Joh 3:26 They came to John, and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him."

Joh 3:27 John answered, "A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.

Joh 3:28 You yourselves testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before him.'

Joh 3:29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.

Joh 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

Joh 3:31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the Earth belongs to the Earth, and speaks of the Earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

Joh 3:32 What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness.

Joh 3:33 He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true.

Joh 3:34 For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.

Joh 3:35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.

Joh 3:36 One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won't see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." 

 

May 22, 23

John 4

Joh 4:1 Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John

Joh 4:2 (although Jesus himself didn't baptize, but his disciples),

Joh 4:3 he left Judea, and departed into Galilee.

Joh 4:4 He needed to pass through Samaria.

Joh 4:5 So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph.

Joh 4:6 Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

Joh 4:7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."

Joh 4:8 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

Joh 4:9 The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

Joh 4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

Joh 4:11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where then have you that living water?

Joh 4:12 Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?"

Joh 4:13 Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,

Joh 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

Joh 4:15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I don't get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw."

Joh 4:16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."

Joh 4:17 The woman answered, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You said well, 'I have no husband,'

Joh 4:18 for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly."

Joh 4:19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

Joh 4:20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."

Joh 4:21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father.

Joh 4:22 You worship that which you don't know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.

Joh 4:23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers.

Joh 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Joh 4:25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah comes," (he who is called Christ). "When he has come, he will declare to us all things."

Joh 4:26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who speaks to you."

Joh 4:27 At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, "What are you looking for?" or, "Why do you speak with her?"

Joh 4:28 So the woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and said to the people,

Joh 4:29 "Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?"

Joh 4:30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him.

Joh 4:31 In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."

Joh 4:32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you don't know about."

Joh 4:33 The disciples therefore said one to another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?"

Joh 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.

Joh 4:35 Don't you say, 'There are yet four months until the harvest?' Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.

Joh 4:36 He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

Joh 4:37 For in this the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.'

Joh 4:38 I sent you to reap that for which you haven't labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

Joh 4:39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, "He told me everything that I did."

Joh 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days.

Joh 4:41 Many more believed because of his word.

Joh 4:42 They said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

Joh 4:43 After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee.

Joh 4:44 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

Joh 4:45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast.

Joh 4:46 Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.

Joh 4:47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

Joh 4:48 Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe."

Joh 4:49 The nobleman said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."

Joh 4:50 Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.

Joh 4:51 As he was now going down, his servants met him and reported, saying "Your child lives!"

Joh 4:52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him."

Joh 4:53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." He believed, as did his whole house.

Joh 4:54 This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.