Jefferson Vann

A NEW COVENANT

Jeremiah 31:31-34 CSB

Jeremiah 31:31-34 CSB
₃₁ “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. ₃₂ This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration. ₃₃ “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ₃₄ No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.

God gave me a tremendous month of rest, recreation, and reinforcement during my vacation, and I am very grateful for that gift. I am also very grateful to be back among you good folks in Delco and preaching the gospel here and serving in this church. Absence does not always make the heart grow fonder, but it is true in this case. I missed you all, and I am glad to see you again.

Before I left for vacation, in our annual meeting – I promised that most of my preaching this coming year will focus on the commands of Christ. He commissioned the apostles to teach the things that he has commanded us to obey, and I take that as a personal imperative as your pastor.

For that reason, I want to spend the next few weeks getting very familiar with what Christ told Nicodemus in John, chapter 3. He told Nicodemus that he and everyone else had to be born again – to experience a new birth.

We are not going to look at that passage today, because I want to begin our study in the Old Testament. There are several passages in the Old Testament that predict that new birth. I want us to study those passages first. After we have seen what God has taught in his word as the foundation for the new birth, then we will look at John 3. After that, we are going to look at what God has taught us in other New Testament passages about the new birth.

My goal is to be systematic and comprehensive. I feel that many people miss some very important biblical truths about the new birth because they don’t know what God has said about it in all the scripture. “Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16 NET). That is why when we study the Bible on any topic, we need to compare what we are learning with what every scripture says on that topic. Otherwise, we run the risk of misunderstanding the subject or misapplying it. This is also why a good study Bible will include some cross references in it. By comparing scripture to scripture, we protect ourselves from an inaccurate understanding of what God has revealed in his word.

That is a safety measure. The scientists and engineers who build ships, planes and rockets build redundant systems in their creations for the same reason. If the power system in the plane I am flying on goes kerflooey, the pilot has an auxiliary backup system he can turn on. If the pilot goes kerflooey, he has a copilot who can take over. They even have an autopilot they can use. Those are all safety measures. In most cases, God has built redundancy into his revelation. So, in order to make sure we accurately understand what Jesus has commanded on any topic, we need to read and study what the whole Bible teaches on that topic.

Our topic today is the new covenant that Jeremiah predicts in today’s text: Jeremiah 31:31-34.

The new covenant was God’s idea

God said “I will make a new covenant” (31). The new covenant was God’s idea. It was not invented by Christians. It was not snuck into theology by the some later revisionist. God said that he would make a new covenant and when the time was right for him to make that covenant, he did. In Jeremiah, he gives his people fair warning that he intended to do that.

When God says he’s going to do something, you better believe he’s going to do it. Early in Genesis, God looked at Adam, said he was alone, and concluded that it was not good. So he said he would create a partner for him – a companion who corresponds to him. So he created Eve. In the marriage vows, both the husband and the wife say “I will.” But we can only do that because God said “I will” first! God said he was going to do it, and he did it.

Later in Genesis, God looked at sinful humanity, and the world corrupted by it, and he said he was going to wash it all clean with a flood. When the time was right, the flood came and it did what God promised it would do. Thankfully, God had provided a redundant system in Noah’s ark, or else that would have been the last chapter in the story.

The new covenant is God’s redundant system because he has a new creation that he plans to commence at the end of this age. Our first birth begins the temporary life of this present creation in this age. Just being born is not enough to secure us a reservation in God’s new creation. For that, we need to be born again. For that, we need to be born from above.

Being born again is not the same thing as being immortal. It’s more like a ticket to it. We begin being immortal not at our conversion, but at our resurrection. Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians 15 (:42, 50, 52-54). He says that when believers die, their old perishable self is planted, and that at the resurrection, our new imperishable self emerges. When Jesus comes, the dead in Christ will be raised imperishable, and those of us who are still alive will be changed so that we are imperishable too.

And that’s why I like singing the chorus to that folk song “when I hear that trumpet sound, I’m gonna get up outta the ground – ain’t no grave gonna keep my body down.” We have the ticket! By being born again, we have booked passage on God’s eternal, immortal new creation. Jeremiah recorded the fact that God decided he was going to make a new covenant. He did. By God’s grace, you and I can be part of that new covenant.

The old covenant has been broken

Jeremiah also tells us what happened to the old covenant. God calls it “my covenant that they broke” (32).

God does not have two covenants in effect at the same time. The old covenant that God established with the Israelites under Moses was broken by the rebellion of the Israelites. Consequently, the covenant of the law that was carved in letters on stone tablets became a ministry of bondage that produced death. Here’s how Paul described that in 2 Corinthians 3(:7-18 NET).

“But if the ministry that produced death – carved in letters on stone tablets – came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective), how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be? For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory! For indeed, what had been glorious now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it. For if what was made ineffective came with glory, how much more has what remains come in glory! Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness, and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective. But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away. But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

The old broken covenant cannot save anyone. It is a broken agreement and cannot give anyone life and it will not buy anyone a ticket to God’s new creation. It was a temporary system that pointed people to Christ. But when Christ came, he said “I am making all things new!” (Revelation 21:5). That is why when that prominent Jewish theologian and spiritual leader Nicodemus came to Jesus to talk to him, Jesus had the audacity to tell him that he had to be born again. The old covenant that he – Nicodemus – represented was not good enough buy him a ticket to the new creation.

That’s why just following the ten commandments is not enough for you and me either. Remember that rich young ruler who came to Jesus, proud of the fact that he had kept all the commandments from his youth? Jesus said he still lacked one thing. He didn’t pay enough for a ticket to the new creation. Jesus told him to sell everything he had and give that money to the poor, and then come and follow him. His all was not on the altar of sacrifice laid. His heart the Spirit did not control. He had not yielded to Christ his body and soul. Jesus loved him, but that was not enough. His superficial obedience to the old covenant was not enough. He was almost perfect, but he was not born again.

So, how do we know if we have paid the full price for our ticket? How do we know that some day we might stand before Christ on the judgment day and find out that we were betting on the wrong horse? We need to understand the new covenant if we want to be part of the new creation. So, what else did Jeremiah teach about this new covenant?

The new covenant is a covenant of discipleship

God says “I will put my teaching within them” (33).

When our Lord commissioned us to make disciples of all nations, he was not coming up with a new job for God’s people to do. Discipling was God’s intention for everyone who entered into a relationship with him via the new covenant. God had begun teaching us how to disciple others in the Old Testament. When Jesus came, he started his earthly ministry by making disciples. He spent three years molding his disciples into people who had a personal relationship with him, and then he set them loose on the world.

You cannot be a disciple without learning something. A disciple by definition is a student. But, unlike high school or college, the school of discipleship does not come to an end after a few years. You don’t graduate from the school of discipleship this side of the resurrection.

God’s disciples are all his children, and no matter how much we learn, that relationship does not change until Jesus comes again. In one of his letters, John wrote:

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is (1 John 3:2 NET).

That is the attitude of a disciple. We are all God’s children and children are always naturally learning. We stay curious because we know we are not yet what we will be some day.

The new covenant is a covenant of discipleship. It is an agreement to keep learning and growing. We never get to the point where we have learned enough or grown enough so that we can leave the school.

Even the great apostle Paul had this attitude. He said “My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained this – that is, I have not already been perfected – but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me” Philippians 3:10-13 NET).

Paul did not rest in his eternal security. He kept striving to learn more and to be more of the new creation he was destined to be. That is what a disciple under the new covenant is like.

The new covenant involves a change of heart

God also said “(he) will… write (his teaching) on (our) hearts” (33). We will talk more about this next week, when we examine what Ezekiel predicted about the new birth (Ezekiel 36:26-30). I’m just going to read that text today, and we will examine it next week:

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will summon the grain and make it plentiful, and I will not bring famine on you. I will also make the fruit of the trees and the produce of the field plentiful, so that you will no longer experience reproach among the nations on account of famine” (CSB).

The new covenant begins with forgiveness

Finally, God said “(he) will forgive (our) iniquity” (34). The old covenant had a blood sacrifice that covered sins of the Israelites. The new covenant had a blood sacrifice as well. When Jesus had his first communion with his disciples, he had them all drink from a cup symbolizing his death that was soon to happen. Then he told them “ this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28 NET).

His blood was not the blood of the old covenant. The old covenant sacrifices had to be repeated year after year because they could not remove sin and its consequences. But according to the author of Hebrews. Jesus’ death on the cross “put away sin” “once and for all” (Hebrews 9:26). Because of what Jesus Christ did for us, we can be born again. We can be fully and completely forgiven of our past sins, and purchase a ticket for his new creation.

The new covenant begins with forgiveness. Discipleship begins with forgiveness. Our new life in Christ begins with forgiveness. Holiness begins with forgiveness. Sanctification begins with forgiveness. And the best of all is that forgiveness does not have to be earned. In fact, it cannot be earned. It is a free gift waiting to be accepted.

God the Father said “I will” make a new covenant, and he did.

Jesus the Son said “I will” die for their sins, and he did.

Now, the Father and the Son are asking us what we are going to do. If we say “we will” come just as we are and enter into that new covenant, then we can have fellowship with both the Father and the Son and the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all sin (1 John 1:3, 7). Enter the new covenant today. The new creation is about to begin. Don’t be caught without a ticket.

Lakeside lesson #5

This Bible study was taught at Lakeside Advent Christian Campground on July 30th, 2021.

Session 5 – 20210730

I am going to be reflecting on some Old Testament verses that explain how our God demonstrates his love to us.

My overall theme is simple: God loves us. If you believe that, you will be cheering on these messages. But if your faith in the biblical God as a loving God has been challenged, I hope you will be encouraged by these studies.

Today’s text is Nehemiah 9:22-23 CSB

Nehemiah 9:22-23 You gave them kingdoms and peoples and established boundaries for them. They took possession of the land of King Sihon of Heshbon and of the land of King Og of Bashan. You multiplied their descendants like the stars of the sky and brought them to the land you told their ancestors to go in and possess.

Notice the four things that this prayer claims about what God did.

God gave the Israelites kingdoms and peoples
God established boundaries for them.
God multiplied the descendants of Israel like the stars of the sky.
God brought them to the promised land.

Notice the commission that God gave the Israelites

God told their ancestors to go in and possess.

Notice the preliminary victories that God allowed the Israelites to experience.

They took possession of the land of King Sihon of Heshbon and of the land of King Og of Bashan.

Remember the description of God from verse 17.

a forgiving God,
gracious
and compassionate,
slow to anger
and abounding in faithful love

All of the things that God gave the Israelites are consistent with his character as described in that verse.

When we pray to God, we need a prayer attitude that matches the truths pointed out in this prayer from Nehemiah.

• He is סְלִיחָה selichah – forgiving. He chooses to overlook our acts of blatant rebellion and ignorant foolishness, instead of giving us the immediate destruction they deserve.

• He is חַנּוּן channun – gracious. He chooses to be generous when he sees one of his creatures in need.

• He is רָחוּם rachum – compassionate. He acts with mercy, not giving us the condemnation we deserve, and he feels that compassion.

• He is ‎אֶֽרֶךְ־אַפַּ֥יִם erech ‘appayim – long in the nostrils. That is what it says literally. It takes some explanation.

• He abounds in חֶסֶד chesed – faithful love. This is God’s covenant faithfulness.

In fact, the deliverance in Egypt may tell us even more about God’s covenant faithfulness. The blood on the doorpost and lintels may be a direct reference to it. It may have spelled out ח the first letter in chesed .

Also, when we face a challenge, we need to rehearse in prayer all the preliminary victories that God has already brought us through.

And we need to express faith that we – with God’s help – can accomplish the commission that he has given us.

God loves us. This is foundational for living the Christian life, and for facing the commission that he has charged us with.

Lakeside lesson #4

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com

This Bible study was taught at Lakeside Advent Christian Campground, Belgrade, Maine, July 29th, 2021.

Session 4 – 20210729

I am going to be reflecting on some Old Testament verses that explain how our God demonstrates his love to us.

Today’s text is Nehemiah 9:20-21 CSB

Nehemiah 9:20a You sent your good Spirit to instruct them.

God provided a visible means of guidance to the Israelites as they walked. He provides an invisible means of guidance for us as we walk the Christian walk.

• John 14:15-17 (NET) "If you love me, you will obey my commandments. Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you.

• John 14:26 (NET) But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything I said to you.

Another word that fits nicely as a meaning for paracletos in this context is discipler.

Nehemiah 9:20b You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.

Jesus is our manna

John 6:48-58 I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate – and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”

Jesus is our living water

John 4:3-14 he left Judea and went again to Galilee. He had to travel through Samaria; so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her, because his disciples had gone into town to buy food. “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.” “Sir,” said the woman, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this ‘living water’? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.” Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”

When John uses the word life, it is shorthand for the permanent life that Jesus promised at the resurrection on the last day. It is not a reference to some kind of spiritual life that is different from life as we know it today. The comparison between the manna in the wilderness and the life Jesus offers is that the manna prolonged the temporary lives of the Israelites. Believing in the death of Jesus enables us to live another life – a permanent one.

Nehemiah 9:21a You provided for them in the wilderness forty years, and they lacked nothing.

Deuteronomy 2:7 All along the way I, the LORD your God, have blessed your every effort. I have been attentive to your travels through this great wasteland. These forty years I have been with you; you have lacked for nothing.'”

They lacked nothing, but that did not mean they had everything. The Lord is our shepherd, we shall not lack – but there are all kinds of things we might want. Contentment in the Christian life comes from resting in the sufficiency of God’s love and appreciating his demonstration of that love.

Nehemiah 9:21b Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.

•  Deuteronomy 29:5 I have led you through the desert for forty years. Your clothing has not worn out nor have your sandals deteriorated.

God showed his love to the Israelites by protecting them from their own ignorance.

When they left for their journey, they did not imagine that it would take an entire generation. God added to their basic provision of food and water. He added protection for their clothing and their feet.

The God who loves us shows that love in little miracles along the way.

He’s not going to overwhelm us with obvious miracles all along the way, but as we look back on our lives we will see signs of his tender loving care.

I think we miss most of what God is doing in our lives because we are looking for the weird and dramatic, but God just wants to show us he cares about us. Unless we are determined to see those signs, they will go unnoticed.

As a spouse, you learn to see the little signs of attention and love. People outside your relationship will miss them. But you learn to appreciate them. The signs are different in each marriage, because people have their unique love languages.

In our relationship with God, he provides signs of his love too. As we reflect over our time with him in prayer, we can learn God’s love languages toward us, and it can become the basis for our personal worship and praise.

Lakeside lesson #3

This Bible lesson was taught at Lakeside Advent Christian Campground, Belgrade, Maine, on July 28th, 2021.

Session 3 – 20210728

I am going to be reflecting on some Old Testament verses that explain how our God demonstrates his love to us.

Today’s text is Nehemiah 9:18-19 CSB

Nehemiah 9:18 Even after they had cast an image of a calf for themselves and said, “This is your god who brought you out of Egypt,” and they had committed terrible blasphemies,

Even the most blessed of all people can go desperately wrong by taking matters into their own hands instead of waiting on God for guidance. This is what took place among the Israelites under Moses. God had provided them with a trained guide and shepherd, but the people abandoned God’s guide and sought to create their own means of guidance. In doing so, they were like the pagan nations, who created gods in their own image, and sought guidance from them – a means of guidance that they could manipulate to their own advantage.

Before the advent of the great monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) most of the planet had been trapped in animistic religious systems and cultures. Ironically, modern secular philosophers are now harking back to animistic polytheism as the only hope to restore the world to balance. This rewriting of history is happening in much the same way as the social theorists have rewritten history in such a way as to blame the European pioneers for stealing all the land from native Americans and polluting it. Sure, there is some truth to that – but the idea that the Native Americans were noble, peace-loving tribes which the foreigners destroyed is too simplistic. We encountered that ideology in New Zealand as well. People blamed the European settlers in New Zealand for crimes against the Maori, but failed to mention the tribe that lived in the land before the Maori came. The Maori ate them!

The fact is, if the Israelites had followed God’s instructions they could have avoided the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. You and I should learn some lessons from that. One lesson is that when God gives us a way, we should not set it aside and seek to create our own.

The good news is …

Nehemiah 9:19a you did not abandon them in the wilderness because of your great compassion.

God had every right to abandon the Israelites as a result of their abandoning him. But he is compassionate.

The longer we live as Christians, the more opportunities we have to make great, glaring, tremendous boo-boos. How thankful we should be that our God is a compassionate God, forgiving us and bringing us back to himself time after time.

• God is רָחוּם rachum – compassionate. He acts with mercy, not giving us the condemnation we deserve, and he feels that compassion.

He suffers with those who suffer, even if that suffering comes from their disobedience and selfishness. The secularists think of God as the mysterious other, and criticize religions for believing in a God who is worldly enough to give laws for people to obey. But the religious see those laws differently. We see the laws as reflections on a God who loves. He cares about what happens to us, and what happens to others because of us, and what happens to the world around us.

• Psalm 78:38 Yet he was compassionate; he atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often turned his anger aside and did not unleash all his wrath.

• Joel 2:13 Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God. For he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and he relents from sending disaster.

• Jonah 4:2 He prayed to the Lord: “Please, Lord, isn’t this what I thought while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster.

Lest we get the wrong idea, let us remember that God spared the Ninevites because they repented. His compassion is moved by our repentance and godly sorrow. He will not tolerate defiance.

Many in the world today seem to think that God (if there is one) tolerates sin because it is insignificant to him. They cannot image the divine being caring about someone’s beliefs or social habits.

Later, God did destroy the Ninevites. His wrath against sin is just as much truth as his compassion toward the repentant.

Speaking of repentance, I have to say that there are many today who seek inclusion in Christ’s kingdom without repentance from sin.

• Matthew 4:17 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

There is no entrance into the kingdom to the non-repentant.

Our text says that God did not abandon the Israelites in the wilderness. Instead, he demonstrated his love to them by giving them laws and regulations to live by. The secularists are wrong when they say God is only the mysterious force behind all life. He is more than that. He is the close counselor who comes alongside us and gives us what we need to take the journey he commissioned us to take.

Nehemiah 9:19b During the day the pillar of cloud never turned away from them, guiding them on their journey. And during the night the pillar of fire illuminated the way they should go.

God provided a visible means of guidance to the Israelites as they walked. He provides an invisible means of guidance for us as we walk the Christian walk.

• John 14:15-17 (NET) “If you love me, you will obey my commandments. Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you.

• John 14:26 (NET) But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything I said to you.

Lakeside lesson #2

This Bible lesson was taught at Lakeside Advent Christian Campground, July 27th, 2021.

Session 2 – 20210727

I am going to be reflecting on some Old Testament verses that explain how our God demonstrates his love to us.

Today’s text is Nehemiah 9:16-17 CSB

Nehemiah 9:16-17a But our ancestors acted arrogantly; they became stiff-necked and did not listen to your commands. They refused to listen and did not remember your wonders you performed among them.

Even the most blessed of all people can go desperately wrong because of arrogance and stubbornness.

This truth is demonstrated in four contexts.

The prayer in Nehemiah referred to the Israelites who settled in the promised land, and promptly forgot the love of the God had brought them there.

The prayer brought that truth forward as a kind of warning for Nehemiah’s generation. They could also be potentially sidetracked from their mission by failure to recognize God’s love in their current situation.

The Pharisees in the New Testament are an example of a blessed people who thought they were special because of what the knew and how separated they were from others.

Our generation of Bible believing Christians can be guilty of the same attitudes. If we think God loves us because of what we know, and because of how different we are from others, we have taken two giant steps backward.

There is nothing wrong with knowing more about God. I encourage it. I think we should be spending more times study the Bible and theology, not less. But fostering a relationship with God based on responding to his love is more important.

1 Corinthians 8:1 NASB “Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.”

Paul was talking about the issue in his day of eating meat that might possibly have been dedicated to an idol. He encouraged the Christians in Corinth not to simple go by their knowledge. They should act out of love. Knowledge alone would have said that all foods are clean, so there is no problem. But love would say “could I be leading someone astray by eating this? Paul’s instruction was “take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak” (8:9).

Our generation also seems to overdo our separation. We like to mimic what our culture is doing with Christian versions of everything under the sun. Sometimes that is just our attempt at being relevant, and that is a good thing. But we need to be careful of our motives. If you only go to Christian movies and read Christian books and attend Christian schools, etc., you might come to a point where your life is so separated from the lost that you will never have a chance to show them Christ.

Nehemiah 9:17b
They became stiff-necked and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.

The prayer refers to the people’s insurrection after the twelves spies came back, and the people accepted the majority report. God threatened to wipe them all out and start over with Moses, but Moses asked him to show his power by forgiving them instead. He did forgive them, but did not allow that generation to enter the promised land.

This fact also relates to Nehemiah and his generation as well. God had given them a commission. If they chose to stay instead of going to repair the walls of Jerusalem, they would be missing out on the blessing of the accomplished mission.

God has a mission for us. The love that he has shown us is designed for us to express by loving others and leading them to Christ. We can’t stay in the wilderness. We either have to rebel against God’s plan, or submit to it.

I might also point out that in the case of the Israelites in the wilderness, democracy failed them. They chose what the majority wanted to do, based on the majority report, rather than respond by faith to Joshua and Caleb’s call. There may just come a crucial point in your life when you are going to be called on to do what nobody else wants you to do. Like the apostles in the early church, you may have to say “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts5:29).

Nehemiah 9:17c
But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love, and you did not abandon them.

Look at this marvelous list of divine attributes.

• God is סְלִיחָה selichah – forgiving. He chooses to overlook our acts of blatant rebellion and ignorant foolishness, instead of giving us the immediate destruction they deserve.

If the wages of sin is death, then every mistake, every failure that we commit deserves immediate judgment and annihilation. We could not exist if we did not have a forgiving God.

He does not stop to judge whether the needy person deserves his generosity. No, he pours out his grace upon a planet filled with the undeserving.

• God is חַנּוּן channun – gracious. He chooses to be generous when he sees one of his creatures in need.

• God is רָחוּם rachum – compassionate. He acts with mercy, not giving us the condemnation we deserve, and he feels that compassion.

We humans create laws out of compassion for others and the desire to protect them – especially protecting the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Many of God’s laws are given for that purpose as well. They are a reflection of his compassion on his creatures.

• God is ‎אֶֽרֶךְ־אַפַּ֥יִם erech ‘appayim – long in the nostrils. That is what it says literally. It takes some explanation.

When the Old Testament describes a person’s mental or emotional state, it usually uses body parts metaphorically. In American English, for example, if we wanted to say that someone was prone to anger, we might say he was hot-headed. That is using a physical body part (the head) as a metaphor for an emotional state.

In Hebrew, two body parts are generally used to describe a person’s emotions. First, there is the nefesh – the throat. The throat was used because it is the body part through which the breath passes, and often someone with an emotional disturbance.

• Genesis 42:21 Then they said to one another, "In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his throat, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us."

Joseph’s brothers remembered how he begged himself sore trying to get them to release him from the pit. They heard his anguish.

You might recognize that word nefesh because it is the word our English Old Testaments usually translate as soul. It is the throat. It came to represent the life of a person about to die because the breath leaves the body through the throat at death. It is not immortal, folks.

The second body part that Hebrew often uses this way is the nose, or – more particularly, the nostrils. Like nefesh, appayim is a part through which the breath passes. Someone with long nostrils takes a long breath before he does something. That became a metaphor for someone with patience.

God showed his love to the Israelites by patiently forgiving them long after human patience would have given up. Our noses are too short.

This is how our loving God acts toward us. He is patient – long-suffering, giving us a chance to repent and turn back to him.

• God abounds in חֶסֶד chesed – faithful love. This is God’s covenant faithfulness.

God’s faithfulness to his own covenant with his people is often used to describe him. It is love going in a certain direction, love toward a people to whom God is committed.

This is our God, friends, and he loves us.