Thank God for the Eight Day

     God is a numbers person. He has arranged for us in His word some very specific numbers to stress eternal principles or doctrinal messages. You will be aware of such numbers as one, two, three, seven, ten and twelve and don’t forget forty. There is one number I find biblically significant from a personal point of view. It is most apparent in the King James translation more so than some others. That number is, eight.

 Leviticus 17:12 spells out the day on which a male baby was to be circumcised. It was the eighth day. That marked the entrance into the covenant of God with the Nation. Jesus was eight days old when He was circumcised. Luke 2:21).

When the Aaronic Priesthood was established, they had to remain within the tent of meeting seven days after their ordination. In Leviticus 9:1 they emerge to serve the Nation on the eighth day.

When a man or woman with a skin disease was cured seven days were required for confirmation. On the eight day he or she was welcomed back into the community via a prescribed sacrifice.

Remember the Apostle Thomas’ eighth day experience. He wasn’t in the upper room that first Sunday of the Resurrection morning.  It was the following Sunday, eight days later that the Lord met Thomas, with the other disciples, in the upper room (John 20.). How thankful we should be to Thomas for being absent that first Sunday. His testimony about Jesus is succinct and awesome, “My Lord and My God”!

There are other references but that should suffice.

How then does the number apply to us? You will have picked up the concept. The eighth day points to a new beginning! Sunday is the first day of the week, Saturday the seventh which completes the cycle, the eighth day speaks of a new start.

I like to think that we live continually in the eighth day. 2 Corinthians 5:17: ‘If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation, everything old has passed away, see, everything has become new’. (NSRV). When you and I gave our lives to Christ Jesus we entered a new realm with a new relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We have a new song and a new destiny. Our worship is in spirit and truth and we live not by the letter but by the Spirit and when we fail, we have the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ ever fresh in our eighth day ‘world’.

A new year by the World’s reckoning is about to begin. Unfortunately, it will be filled with the moral and spiritual junk of past years, and probably worse. However, we who are in the ‘eighth day’ experience are to enter the coming year with a sense of mission. That is to live out the wonder of our ‘day’ and pray, share through word, writing and witnessing to encourage others to have their own personal eighth day encounter with Jesus.  

Ray (enjoying the day) Hawkins.

Of Cups and Sheep

When someone refers to me, either in jest or seriously “You’re a bit of a sly dog” is that because I have paws, a tail and slink around? Of course not! They are using a figure of speech termed a metaphor. It’s a descriptive use of words which define one thing and applying it to another person or situation. This must be the case in here in psalm 23. What use does a sheep have for a cup? A trough perhaps but a cup! David must be applying a full cup to how he feels when experiencing the care of the Shepherd. The cup surely is a description for his heart’s gratitude to his Shepherd. Was David looking back over what he wrote and realised how fortunate he was. Something about the ‘oil being poured’ must have stirred the emotions.

Consider the ‘cup’ as being a metaphor for the heart. As David reflects upon the faithful care of the Shepherd an overwhelming sense of gratitude arises. The psalms, are often the expression by the various writers of their feelings at that moment. This is why we still find them to interesting and authentic. In fact, we can find ourselves and our situations already recorded. As we are considering the rejoicing, not the burdened heart let’s see some reasons for this overflowing pleasure.

In psalm 4 is having some difficult people trying to dishonour his character. His sanity’s security is safeguarded by his confidence in the God who hears. “You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and wine abound.” David is enjoying a relationship with his Lord that thrills him with more pleasure than having a party after harvest. Living a godly life within a community and working among and with others can stir up animosity. Unless our hearts are filled with a sense of the Lord’s pleasure, constantly, we will be drained. Remember the promise of the Lord in John 7:38? He wants your life to be a waterfall. That is, out of your life Jesus wants His people to know they are overflowing with ‘Living Water.’ He was referring to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. What is the purpose of this overflowing relationship? So you and I can provide the spiritual thirst quenching water of God’s grace. I guess that would make us a ‘cup’ in the hands of the Shepherd.

Sometimes our full and flowing heart makes us burst out in song. The more creative may even write out words and melodies to how they feel. David is one of the most prolific at this. Psalm 108:1 “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make melody.” The cause of David’s joy was the Lord’s faithfulness and victories over Israel’s foes. For all of David’s weakness his heart is wonderfully expressed in “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.’ When such a longing permeates our faith relationship with the Good Shepherd surely our ‘cup overflows.’ He knows we need both the oil of anointing for our failures so that we can, in a sense, return the favour. That’s what appeals to me about the cup. It is ‘my cup’ a.k.a my heart, that is overflowing. For what purpose? That the One who has lead me, cared for me, protected me, stood by me might receive my praise and gratitude.

Others might hear what I sing, shout, say that’s okay. But my heart is for the Lord. However, there are times when only the angels hear it with delight and the demons shudder with displeasure. Whatever the scenario, we honour the Lord for He is good and His compassion never fails. One of the amazing facts about a full heart is it isn’t limited to those in pleasant pastures. It is the wonder seen in men and women in difficult, unsafe and distasteful circumstances who praise the Lord. The writer of Proverbs 15:15 makes this observation and its effect. “All the days of the poor are hard, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.” How can they maintain that? Only through a knowledge of their Good Shepherd and where He will ultimately take them. Where is that? “You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.’ Psalm 16:11.

That we will consider next week from psalm 23:6.

©Ray Hawkins March 2016.

Environment and the Cross

Key verse. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed (then) the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Romans 8:19,21.

Six days it took for God to create the world and proclaim it very good. One moment of rebellion shattered it all. The account in Genesis chapters 1-3 is simple, sometimes terse and to the point. Adam’s sin is so profound it not only enveloped his offspring, it tainted all of creation. Yahweh then cursed the ground which turned some of what was pronounced “good” into thorns and weeds. Compounding this tragedy we are informed in Ephesians 2:2 that Satan set up his control centre ‘in the air.’ Since that time the universe has been under the sentence of extinction, “They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded” (Psalm 102:26). Climate change is evidence of this!

“If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, how much less man, who is vile and corrupt and drinks up evil like water” (Job 15:15-16)! Why are the heavens impure? Many of the constellations, including the signs of the Zodiac, became objects of worship and subjects of idolatry. “The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me (God) to anger” (Jeremiah 7:18).

Further, the actions of Humankind has polluted the very ground it has walked upon. “Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it” (Numbers 35:33). It becomes very apparent that Creation has been in bondage and under a curse since that day Adam violated his trust around the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How easy it is for us to take lightly the doctrine of sin and its wicked and degrading power. This is part of the reason why the Scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments reveal a new heaven and a new earth coming. When that takes place righteousness and peace will rule.

Before the Day of the Lord ushers in such a wonderful new Creation, the curse on the old creation must be lifted. The prince of the power of the air must be dethroned. The polluted land, saturated by innocent and unrequited bloo

d must be atoned for. How could this happen? Who could bear the curse, purify the heavens and atone for the land? Of course we know it could only be the Creator. In becoming a curse upon the tree (Galatians 3:13) Jesus lifted from all Humankind and Creation the horror begun in Eden. The tree on Calvary provided the ‘fruit’ for the condemned sinners that would heal them of the curse. It also provided the power to transform the environment, one day, into atmosphere of Eden. Isaiah 11:6-9 describes that time, usually named the Millennium, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them …The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest… the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord…”

In the Romans’ passage the Apostle gives redeemed creation personification as it anticipates the day of liberation. Similar to us who are saved and looking forward to its ultimate fulfilment, creation awaits the promise of God written in Isaiah’s passage. It’s as though creation knows something more about the future glory than we do, even with the completed Scriptures. It is waiting for the day when the sons of God are revealed. That surely points to the completion of God’s purposes in salvation and purification. What a wonderful day it will be when all the saved enter into God’s millennium kingdom, for which we have prayed in the Lord’s Prayer!

When Jesus was grappling with all the issues of sin, curses and judgement the heavens covered the scene with its dark shroud. It was as though it too was ashamed of its part in the cross. What a change Sunday morning of the resurrection would have brought. Salvation was for Humankind and a return to Eden’s pre-fall time was assured for Creation.

Reflection. Do I have a sense of expectancy similar to Creation’s about enjoying God’s reign on earth with his throne set in Jerusalem?

Cross thread. My word that goes out from my mouth it will not return empty, but will accomplish what I desire…Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed. Isaiah 55:11,13.