Friday, November 11<\/b><\/p>\n
Luke 18.24-34: In all the Synoptic Gospels the story of the wealthy man, who declines the summons of Jesus, introduces a dominical discourse on the spiritual danger of wealth and the reward attending those that relinquish all things for the sake of Christ.<\/p>\n
Although some manuscripts and versions (including the Latin) say that this discourse came in response to the sadness of the departing man (\u201cJesus saw that he was sorrowful\u201d\u2014verse 24), the older, more reliable texts (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, et al<\/i>) omit this detail. Nonetheless, all the textual witnesses testify that this discourse was given on this specific occasion (\u201cSeeing him, Jesus said . . .\u201d–Idon de avton ho Iesus eipen<\/i>).<\/p>\n
The two passages are also linked by a concern for \u201ceternal life\u201d (verses 18,30). In context this eternal life is identified with the Kingdom of God (verses 24,25,29; cf. 16:17).<\/p>\n
The rich man\u2019s loss came from an inability to give up his wealth and trust solely in God, the only Good (verse 19). That is to say, it was a failure in faith. Wealth, after all, means more than finances. It means human achievement as a whole, including intellectual, cultural, and even moral achievement (\u201cAll this I have done from my youth\u201d). The rich man found himself unable to make this step, the step of faith in God, the only step by which a man \u201centers\u201d (verses 17,24,25) into the Kingdom and \u201creceives\u201d (verse 30) eternal life. This is not a human achievement. Only God, the one Good, makes it possible (verse 27). Salvation\u2014being \u2018saved\u201d\u2014is beyond the ability of man. Thus, the Lord\u2019s summons to self-abnegation is an invitation to faith.<\/p>\n
2 Thessalonians 3.6-18: Verse 11 has a play on words impossible to translate literally without losing the force of the expression: meden ergazomenous alla periergazomenous<\/i>, which may be paraphrased, \u201cnot working but working around,\u201d or \u201cnot busy but busybodies.\u201d<\/p>\n
This letter was written partly in reply to those who took the \u201clast times\u201d so seriously as to affect their duties and responsibilities in this world, with the result that they lived off the generosity of other Christians. Paul very seriously insisted that such people should not be helped: \u201cIf someone is unwilling (ou thelei<\/i>) to work, neither let him eat.\u201d<\/p>\n
This seems harsh. Jesus has said nothing like this in the Sermon on the Mount or in His Last Judgment parable in Matthew 25. Paul, however, is not teaching an ideal of charity here; he is very practically trying to come to grips with a very practical problem. The resources of the Christian community are always going to be limited. Every effort must be made to assist the poor and helpless, but there is no room in the Church for drones and loafers.<\/p>\n
With respect to loafers and drones in the Church, Paul criticizes more than their laziness. Worse, they spend badly the time that they have on their hands as a result of their inactivity. Later on he was obliged to deal with this problem of inactivity among the widows at Ephesus, those ladies who used their retirement to no good purpose, spending their time in idle curiosities and rumor-mongering (1Timothy 5:13). Paul, the heir of rabbinic wisdom on this point, believed that a proper and useful occupation of one\u2019s mind, energy, and time was good for the soul as well as the pocket-book.<\/p>\n
Saturday, November 12<\/b><\/p>\n
Luke 18.35-43: We may consider three components in this story of the blind man: the road, the journey, and the encounter.<\/p>\n
First, let us consider the road, the hodos, beside which sits the blind man begging. At this point Jesus is headed south and is about 17 miles from Jerusalem. He has reached a point 1200 feet below sea level, and He is headed toward Bethany, on the east side of the Mount of Olives, about 2500 feet above sea level. The event narrated here took place a few days before the raising of Lazarus and Palm Sunday.<\/p>\n
As Jesus walked south, He crossed at right angles the path that Joshua had followed when the Israelites entered the Holy Land at Jericho. This crossing bears a rich symbolic message, for it really does make of Jericho a cross-roads, a place where the earth is marked with the sign of the Cross.<\/p>\n
Second, let us consider the journey of Jesus. Luke specifically says, with respect to this journey, that Jesus was \u201cdrawing near\u201d to Jericho. I suggest that this \u201cdrawing near\u201d should be read as symbolic, because both Matthew and Mark say that the encounter with the blind man took place as Jesus was leaving<\/i> Jericho.<\/p>\n
Luke describes this journey of Jesus. He is said to be \u201cdrawing near\u201d and \u201cpassing by.\u201d This is, in fact, what Jesus of Nazareth does; He draws near and passes by. It is the movement of divine grace, which takes place in time. Like time, grace is not static; it comes and moves on. Grace is not static, because time is not static. When Jesus draws nigh and is about to pass by, He must be stopped! The moment must be seized, and that seizure best happens right away.<\/p>\n
How, then, does our blind beggar react? He recognizes the moment\u2014the fleeting moment\u2014of visitation and opportunity. Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, and He must be stopped, or He will quickly be gone. So the blind beggar takes hold of the moment. He grabs it with all his force. He shouts out for mercy, and he shouts out repeatedly. He forces Jesus to stop passing by.<\/p>\n
Luke says this explicitly: statheis ho Iesous<\/i>–\u201cJesus, standing still.\u201d He had been passing by, but He is no longer passing by. Time suddenly stands still, as the blind man brings his Lord to a stop.<\/p>\n
And this brings us to the third element in the story, the encounter. The blind man pleads for mercy, and when the Lord asks him to be a bit more specific, the beggar answers that he wants to be able to see.<\/p>\n
At first the Lord\u2019s question—\u201cWhat do you want me to do for you?\u201d—may seem impertinent. After all, Jesus knows that the man is blind, so why would He ask such a thing?<\/p>\n
But this problem attends all our prayers. The Lord always knows our condition before we ask Him. He is already well aware of our needs. He does not require an update on our problems. The purpose of prayer, however, is not to provide God with information. The purpose of supplication is to confess<\/i> our needs; it is to speak with God as needy people<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019 question to the blind man, therefore, was not a request for information. It was an endeavor to make the man a true suppliant. It was to elicit a prayer, in which the man could place his faith in Jesus.<\/p>\n
Sunday, November 13<\/b><\/p>\n
Revelation 1.9-20: John\u2019s vision comes “on the Lord\u2019s Day” (verse 10), Sunday (1 Corinthians 16:2), the very day when the seven churches of Asia Minor were celebrating the Lord\u2019s Supper, “the breaking of the Bread.” This service of worship normally began on the night when the Sabbath came to a close and Sunday began; it lasted through the night and ended on Sunday morning (Acts 20:7,11).<\/p>\n
John describes himself as being “in the Spirit,” a technical term referring to prophetic inspiration (Numbers 11:25; 2 Samuel 23:2; Ezekiel 2:2; 3:24; Matthew 22:43). Like Ezekiel, John “fell as one dead” (verse 17), a description of the biblical phenomenon known as being “slain in the Spirit.” Such was John\u2019s response to this inaugural vision (comparable to the inaugural visions of Isaiah and Ezekiel) of Christ in glory, standing in the midst of the Menorah (verse 12), clothed as the High Priest (verse 13; Exodus 28:4; 39:29; Sirach 50:5-12). The versatile “right hand” of the Lord can simultaneously hold the Pleiades (verse 16) and still be laid gently on the downfallen John (verse 17).<\/p>\n
In this vision Christ is otherwise frightening, with His white hair (verse 14; Daniel 7:9), the sword of the Word issuing from His mouth (verse 16; cf. 2:12,16; 19:15; Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12), His feet like refined brass (verse 15; Ezekiel 1:7). Here He is twice called “the First and the Last” (verses 11,17), an expression that will also appear in 2:8 and 22:13. Drawn from the Book of Isaiah (41:44; 44:6), this expression corresponds to “Alpha and Omega” (verses 8,11), the first and final letters of the Greek alphabet. Christ is, then, the beginning and end of language, the defining content of all intelligible meaning. He is, in short, the Word. He died and rose again and lives forever (verse 18; Romans 6:9). Hence, He holds the keys of death and the underworld (verse 18; cf. 9:1; 20:1).<\/p>\n
Psalm 38 (Greek & Latin 37): Suffering and death enter the world with sin. To humanity\u2019s first sinners the Lord said: \u201cI will greatly multiply your sorrow,\u201d and \u201cCursed is the ground for your sake\u201d (Gen. 3:16, 17). So close is the Bible\u2019s joining of suffering to sin that some biblical characters (such as Job\u2019s friends and the questioning disciples in John 9:2) entertained the erroneous notion that each instance of suffering was brought about by certain specific sins.<\/p>\n
Like Psalm 6, the present psalm commences with a prayer for deliverance from divine anger: \u201cO Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath, nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.\u201d Already the poet feels overwhelming pain which he describes, whether literally or by way of metaphor, in the most physical terms: \u201cYour arrows [thunder bolts?] pierce me deeply, and Your hand presses me down.\u201d What he suffers comes from sin and the response of the divine wrath, from which he begs to be delivered: \u201cThere is no soundness in my flesh, because of Your anger, nor any health in my bones because of my sin.\u201d The equation: sin = wrath of God.<\/p>\n
Whether physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual—or all of them together—-what we suffer in this life are the incursions of death, and death is simply sin becoming incarnate and dwelling among us, for \u201cthrough one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned\u201d (Rom. 5:12).<\/p>\n
Such is the essential conviction of our prayer in this psalm: \u201cFor my iniquities are gone over my head; like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds are foul and festering because of my folly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monday, November 14<\/b><\/p>\n
Luke 19.11-27: This parable, partly matched in Matthew 25:14-27, is more complex than its counterpart and more allegorical. It contains not only the theme of divine stewardship but also that of obtaining a kingdom.<\/p>\n
The central figure in this parable in Luke is a man who makes a distant trip to procure a royal title. In its theological sense the story symbolizes the departure of Christ to heaven, whence He will someday return with this kingly title to assess the stewardship of His servants on earth. That is to say, \u201cHe will come again in glory to judge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the other allegorical elements in the account we note the future king\u2019s rejection by his own people, along with his eventual rejection and punishment of them.<\/p>\n
Many readers of this parable have observed that its details are strangely parallel to things that actually transpired in the career of Archelaus, the son of Herod the Great. At the death of the latter in 4 B.C., Archelaus journeyed to Rome to plead for the title and authority of his father from Caesar Augustus. A delegation of Jews also went to Rome for the purpose of making the opposite request (Josephus, Antiquities<\/i> 17.11.1. \u00a7299-302).<\/p>\n
It is difficult to assess the value of these interesting parallels. One is at least justified in pointing out, nonetheless, that whereas in the Lukan parable the man\u2019s enemies fail to prevent his obtaining the kingdom, in the case of Archelaus the enemies were somewhat more successful. In this latter case Rome declined to give Archelaus the title of king. He was given authority as \u201ctetrarch\u201d (\u201cone-quarter-king\u201d) over Judea and Samaria (cf. Matthew 2:22), from which position he was deposed ten years later.<\/p>\n
Revelation 2.1-7: Here in Revelation 2 the church at Ephesus is commended for dealing with certain heretics called the Nicolaitans (verse 6), who apparently taught sexual immorality (2:14-15). The church was also obliged to deal with false apostles (verse 2), concerning whom the apostle Paul had earlier given warning to the elders of Ephesus (Acts 20:29; cf. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Didache 11).<\/p>\n
The problem at Ephesus, then, was not a lack of orthodoxy, but a lack of charity; they had forgotten their first agape (verse 4). At one time they had known fervent love (Acts 20:36-38), but now it had grown cold. John\u2019s words to them here stand forever as a warning to those whose zeal for doctrinal purity obscures in their minds the need for true charity. Even though the Ephesian Christians are here commended for their “works,” labor,” and “patience” (verse 2; cf. exactly these three words in 1 Thessalonians 1:3), they have somehow fallen away from their “first works” (verse 5), as they have from their “first love.”<\/p>\n
The paradisiacal imagery of verse 7 comes from Genesis, of course, and will appear again in the final chapter of Revelation. The first of these seven letters to the Asian churches, then, makes it clear that the most serious dangers facing those churches did not come from external threat and persecution, but from spiritual problems within.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, November 15<\/b><\/p>\n
Luke 19.28-40: The journey motif in Luke now arrives at its climax. Jesus enters Jerusalem, towards which His whole ministry, as narrated by Luke, has been tending by providential necessity. Luke\u2019s story is dominated by the image of Jerusalem. It begins (1:9) and ends (24:52-53) and ends in Jerusalem (a feature that explains why Luke includes no appearances of the risen Jesus in Galilee, which are mentioned in all three of the other Gospels). Jesus has now arrived in that city where human redemption will be accomplished, the \u201credemption in Jerusalem\u201d (2:38).<\/p>\n
Jesus approaches Jerusalem from the east, from the Mount of Olives (verse 29). This is the mountain on which He will soon be tried in the garden(22:39) and from which He will, at the end of Luke, ascend into heaven (24:50). The climax of the Lukan journey motif, then, comes on a mountain.<\/p>\n
At Bethany (from which He is pictured both as going into Jerusalem and going into heaven), which is on the east side of the Mount of Olives, Jesus is about two miles east of Jerusalem. The village of Bethphage is closer to the top of the Mount of Olives, 2673 feet above sea level.<\/p>\n
The Lord chooses a donkey, not a destrier, for His entry into the Holy City (verse 30), signifying that He comes peacefully, not as a conqueror (cf. Genesis 49:11; 1 Kings 1:38; Zechariah 9:9). He is, after all, the rightful king of this city.<\/p>\n
The chant with which He is accompanied (verse 38) comes from Psalm 118 (Greek and Latin 117), the last of the Hallel Psalms (113-118 [112-117]), which will soon be chanted in full near the end of the Passover Seder. Perhaps in consideration of his Gentile readers, Luke omits the word Hebrew word \u201cHosanna.\u201d<\/p>\n
Revelation 2.8-17: At Smyrna there seems to have been considerable conflict between the Christians and the local Jews, who are here referred to as “a synagogue of Satan,” not even worthy to be called real Jews (verse 9). Even in the mid-second century the Jews of Smyrna took steps to prevent the Christians from recovering the body of the martyred Polycarp (The Martyrdom of Polycarp<\/i> 18.1).<\/p>\n
Unlike the situations in Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea, in Smyrna the problems faced by the church came largely from without. Thus, unlike the Ephesians (2:5), the believers at Smyrna were not told to repent. John did warn the congregation, however, that they would soon be severely tested (verse 10).<\/p>\n
Those martyrs, in any case, were promised the “crown of life,” an athletic image indicating their victory in Christ (Philippians 3:14; 2 Timothy 2:5; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4). The “second death” in verse 11 refers to eternal damnation (cf. 20:6.14.15; 21:8).<\/p>\n
Pergamos is now the Turkish city of Bergama, which is about one-tenth the size it was in antiquity; it has had an unbroken history since the fifth century B.C. There is a still a small, poor congregation of Christians at Bergama, the direct descendants of that congregation to which was addressed the Book of Revelation. One may also see there the ruins of a once magnificent church dedicated to St. John by the Emperor Theodosius in the fourth century. Thanks to the excavations begun under the auspices of the Museum of Berlin in 1878, we know quite a bit about the ancient city.<\/p>\n
The problems in the church at Pergamos seem to have been largely internal. There was a laxist group, apparently to be identified with the Nicolaitans (verse 15), who advocated sexual immorality and the eating of sacrifices made to idols (verse 14). Those internal problems were compounded, nonetheless, by external pressure in the form of occasional persecutions, during one of which there perished the martyr Antipas.<\/p>\n
Wednesday, November 16<\/b><\/p>\n
Luke 19.41-48: The rejoicing hymnody of the previous verses suddenly turns to lamentation. In foretelling Jerusalem\u2019s conquest by the Romans in the present verses, Jesus uses the language employed by the prophet Jeremiah when he foretold the earlier downfall of that city to the Babylonians (Jeremiah 6:6,13-14,17,21; 7:11). We recall that in Luke\u2019s narrative this is the first time that Jesus has seen Jerusalem since His temptation in 4:9. All through His ministry, however, Jesus\u2019 thought and intent have been directed to Jerusalem (Luke 9:31,51,53; 13:22,33; 17:11; 18:31; 19:11,28). Now He \u201csees\u201d it and weeps (verse 41). Since Luke does not often portray the emotions of Jesus, this detail is especially striking.<\/p>\n
In verse 42 the underlying Semitic word for \u201cpeace,\u201d shalom<\/i>, is part of the root of the city\u2019s own name Jerusalem (cf. Hebrews 7:1-2).<\/p>\n
The details of the siege in verse 43 are quite identical to the Romans\u2019 treatment of Jerusalem just prior to its downfall. This fact, however, is not especially significant, inasmuch as all besieged cities are besieged in pretty much the same way, and Jerusalem had been besieged many times.<\/p>\n
The reason given for Jerusalem\u2019s coming destruction is identical with the reason given for the city\u2019s earlier destruction at the hands of the Babylonians\u2014namely, its failure to recognize the hour of the visitation of divine grace. The removal of one stone from atop another is a description of its \u201cunbuilding\u201d (cf. Haggai 2:15).<\/p>\n
In Luke\u2019s narrative these verses describe Jesus\u2019 first entry into the Temple since He was twelve years old (2:40-50). His purging of the Temple here is a partial fulfillment of Simeon\u2019s prophecy in 2:34. It is also, of course, a fulfillment of the prophecy in Malachi 3:1-2.
\nLuke does not, like Mark, specify that this purging of the Temple took place on Monday. It is peculiar to Luke, however, that Jesus\u2019 action prepares the Temple to become a place appropriate for His teaching, which follows immediately (verse 47).<\/p>\n
The Temple\u2019s purging is also related to its being a \u201chouse of prayer\u201d (verse 46). This theme is especially prominent in Luke (cf. 1:8-11; 2:37; 18:10; 24:53).<\/p>\n
In the ensuing days Jesus\u2019 enemies endeavor to destroy Him, in evident reaction to the claims in His \u201ctake over\u201d of the Temple for His own teaching ministry. The controversy here has to do entirely with the question of who has proper authority in the Temple. In Luke\u2019s theology, Jesus in due course replaces the Temple, a theme that will be made explicit in Stephen\u2019s speech in Acts 7.<\/p>\n
When Jesus drove the moneychangers from the temple, it was the most eschatological of actions. Jesus thereby affirmed that the temple really is a precinct separated from an \u201coutside,\u201d where are found \u201cdogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie\u201d (Revelation 22:15). Thus, the Bible\u2019s final book does not portray an afterlife of universal reconciliation, but an everlasting separation of wheat and chaff.<\/p>\n
Thursday, November 17<\/b><\/p>\n
Luke 20:1-8: Jesus, upon entering Jerusalem, immediately began to behave as though the place belonged to Him. Right after his triumphal entry into the city with the acclamations of the crowd, he proceeded to purge the Temple and then curse the fig tree. All of this was an exercise of \u201cauthority\u201d (exsousia<\/i>).<\/p>\n
His enemies, who have already shown themselves nervous about these events, now approach Him in the Temple to challenge this \u201cauthority\u201d implicitly claimed in what has happened. The reader already knows, of course, the source of Jesus\u2019 authority, so the Gospel writers do not tell this story in order to inform the reader on this point. The story is told to show, rather, the Lord\u2019s complete control of the situation, especially His deft discomfiting of these hypocritical enemies. We earlier considered the Lord\u2019s reference to this hypocrisy with respect to their relations to both Himself and John the Baptist<\/p>\n
Revelation 3.1-13: In antiquity Sardis had been the capital city of the famous Croesus, king of Lydia, and in Persian times it was the greatest city of Asia Minor, linked by a major highway to the faraway Persian capital of Susa. The acropolis of the city was so high and well fortified as to be nearly impregnable. In fact, it was never taken by direct assault. It was captured twice, however, on both occasions by sneak attacks, once by Cyrus in 546 and once by Antiochus the Great in 218.<\/p>\n
It is against another surprise attack that John warns the people of Sardis now (verse 3), using an image found elsewhere in the New Testament (Matthew 24:43; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10). Truth to tell, lack of vigilance was a great problem in the church at Sardis, part of its more general condition of laziness and despondency. After all, John does not mention a single heresy at Sardis. The evil in that congregation is, rather, apathy and boredom; the congregation is too dead to be sick (verse 1).<\/p>\n
Therefore, John summons them to vigilance (verse 2). Very few Christians in Sardis have measured up (verse 4), and the others are in danger of being removed from \u201cthe Book of Life\u201d (verse 5; cf. also 17:8; 21:27). This latter image is not a metaphor for eternal predestination, obviously, precisely because names can be removed from it.<\/p>\n
The Book of Life is, rather, a register of the citizens of heaven, and the metaphor of erasure testifies that the names written therein, as long as those who bear those names still live on earth, can be removed if the removal is warranted. There is no question, then, of some sort of eternal roll call already fixed and unchangeable, independent of the choices each man makes in his own heart. As long as he is on this earth, there remains the possibility that a man\u2019s name may be erased from the Book of Life. Hence, the necessity of vigilance.<\/p>\n
The Christian congregation at Philadelphia is evidently small and of limited resources, but we get the impression that it is about to make significant missionary gains (\u201copen door\u201d \u2014 see Acts 14:27; 1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 2:12; Colossians 4:3). Also, there will soon be a trial (verse 10), and those who overcome in that trial will receive the name of God and the name of New Jerusalem (verse 12), the holy city that comes down from heaven (21:2; Galatians 2:9).<\/p>\n
Friday, November 18<\/b><\/p>\n
Revelation 3:14-22: We commented, with respect to the church at Philadelphia, that John had no criticisms to make about that congregation. Writing to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, and Sardis, John paid some compliments and made some criticisms. Writing to the Christians at Laodicea, however, John has nothing at all encouraging to say! He is unable to find a single item for which to praise that church. To John\u2019s thinking, the church at Laodicea is a lackluster group of slackers living in an affluent, self-satisfied society. Although this church was evangelized by Paul\u2019s companion Epaphras (Colossians 4:12-13), it has lost its fervor and is now mediocre (verse 16).<\/p>\n
The secular city of Laodicea was famous for three things: (1) its large banking interests, (2) its textile industry, and (3) a special eye-salve that the great physician Galen called \u201cPhrygian powder.\u201d John alludes to all three things in verse 18, where the church at Laodicea is told to come to God for (1) gold refined in the fire, (2) clothing to cover its nakedness, and (3) a special anointing of its spiritual eyes. The Laodiceans must admit, in short, that they are \u201cpoor, blind, and naked\u201d (verse 17).<\/p>\n
There are three points of Christology to note in this letter to Laodicea: (1) Christ in the past; the relationship of Christ to creation (verse 14; cf. Colossians 1:15-18; Hebrews 1:1-3; John 1:3); (2) Christ in the present, exhorting and inviting His Church, communing with those who open to Him (verses 19-20; cf. 19:9; Luke 22:28-30); (3) Christ in the future, rewarding those who vanquish in His name (verse 21; cf. Matthew 19:28). The image of the divine throne appears over forty times in the Book of Revelation. The present mention of it prepares for John\u2019s vision in the following chapter.<\/p>\n
Psalms 47 (Greek & Latin 46): The Ascension of Christ into glory is the object of biblical prophecy, especially in several places in the Book of Psalms. Today\u2019s psalm, for instance, says, \u201cGod has ascended with jubilation, the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. Oh sing to our God, sing! Sing to our King, sing!\u201d This is an invitation to us on earth, a summons to join our voices in jubilation with the angels on high. The Ascension of Christ is the event where heaven and earth are joined forever.<\/p>\n
David\u2019s taking of the ark of the covenant into the Holy City may be seen as a figure and type of the Lord\u2019s entry into the heavenly Jerusalem, and that long-distant day was likewise marked with the rapture of happiness at God\u2019s approach: \u201cThen David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet\u201d (2 Sam. 6:14, 15). Our psalm calls for similar marks of celebration at the coming of Christ into the Holy City on high: \u201cOh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph! For the Lord most high is awesome; He is the great King over all the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
What the Old Testament prophesied in narrative and psalm came finally to pass when God \u201craised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come\u201d (Eph. 1:20, 21).<\/p>\n
Our psalm of the Ascension, therefore, sends forth its invitation to all the peoples of the earth. By reason of His glorification, all of history and all of culture belong to Christ. All nations are summoned before His throne, to share His exaltation: \u201cGod reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the peoples are gathered together with the God of Abraham. For all the strong ones of the earth belong to God; they are greatly exalted.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Friday, November 11 Luke 18.24-34: In all the Synoptic Gospels the story of the wealthy man, who declines the summons of Jesus, introduces a dominical discourse on the spiritual danger of wealth and the reward attending those that relinquish all things for the sake of Christ. Although some manuscripts and versions (including the Latin) say … Continue reading November 11 – November 18, 2022<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1924,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions\/1924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}