FDG Service 2006 03

Topic:  God Subtopic:  Index: 

Date:   Title:  A Close-Up or an Overall View?

We are not able to comprehend the big beautiful picture that God is creating in our lives. Reinhold Messner was a skilled mountain climber who was recognized as the best in the world. He was one of two men who first climbed Mount Everest without using bottled oxygen. Messner then decided that doing it with a partner was not good enough, so he went back and did it alone. He was asked, as most mountain climbers are, "Why do you do it?" He replied, "Because at the top all the lines converge." Even though we may not always have the "view from the top," it is a great encouragement to know that God does! He is sovereign! He has said, "I am the Lord. I do not change!" (Mal 3:6). Because He sees the "overall picture," He is worthy of our trust!

6-8 The contents of God's ancient promises are brought together and arranged so as to explain what "I am the LORD" means.

1. The promise of redemption
1.  There were three first-person verbs with his promise of redemption (v. 6):

·        I will bring you out

·        I will free you

·        I will redeem you

Each of these verbs (and the four that follow) are in the Hebrew past (i.e., perfect) tense instead of the future tense, for so certain was God of their accomplishment that they were viewed as having been completed. In English, however, they are best rendered in the future (the so-called Hebrew prophetic perfect). God will "redeem" (see Notes) Israel with the same "mighty acts of judgment" he had alluded to in 3:20 and 4:23 and had predicted long ago to Abraham in Genesis 15:14. The plagues were to be judgments for crimes as well as spectacular wonders to instill faith.

1. The promise of adoption

1. Two more first-person verbs detailed God's promise to adopt Israel as his own people (v. 7):

·        I will take you as my own people

·        I will be your God

These two promises will serve as two parts of the tripartite formula to be repeated in the Old and New Testaments almost fifty times: "I will be your God, you shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of you" (cf. Gen 17:7-8; 28:21; Exod 29:45-46; Lev 11:45 et al.).

Topic:  Adoption  Subtopic:   Index:  Date:  7/1997.101

Title: 

   In his Studies in the Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, Kenneth Wuest says that the word "adoption" is a combination of two words that are translated "son" and "to place."  Thus, according to Wuest, adoption means, "to place as a son."

   Wuest continues:

               It (adoption) was a term used in Roman legal practice.  It  referred to a legal action by which a person takes into his family          a child not his own, with the purpose of treating him as and giving him all the privileges of an own son.  The custom was not common among the Jews, but was so among the Romans, with             whom an adopted child is legally entitled to all rights and privileges of a natural-born child.  This custom, well-known in the Roman empire, is used in the N. T. as an illustration of the act of God giving a believing sinner, who is not His natural child, a position as His adult son in the family.  This is legal act and position, and not the same as regeneration and a place in the family as a born-child of God.

Kenneth Wuest, Studies in the Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1955) 78-79

1. The promise of the land  
1.  The last two promises focused on God's promise of the land (v. 8):

·        I will bring you to the land

·        I will give it to you

1. This he pledged with the oath of his uplifted hand (cf. Gen 22:16; 26:3) so that by two immutable things—  

·        his word of promise and

·        his oath--Israel (and all subsequent believers according to Heb 6:17-18) might have a strong encouragement and a solid confidence in the future.

Then as if to remind Israel once again, God concluded with his signature: "I am the LORD."

1. The problem of discouragement  
1. vv9-12 In spite of the grandeur of what "I am the LORD" meant for Israel in the current situation, the people did not listen "for shortness of breath" (miqqoser ruah). The NIV weakly translates "their discouragement" (v. 9); but it was the inward pressure caused by deep anguish that prevented proper breathing--like children sobbing and gasping for their breath.

1. This made such an impact on Moses that he had another attack of self-distrust and despondency. How could he persuade Pharaoh when he failed so miserably to impress his own countrymen who presumably would have had a naturally deep interest in what he had to say, given their circumstances (vv. 11-12a). Anyway, his lips were "faltering" (v. 12b; NIV mg., "uncircumcised") for the job they had been given to do (cf. the "uncircumcised" ears of Jer 6:10; "uncircumcised" heart of Jer 9:26). Thus Moses had returned to his fourth objection as stated in 4:10.  

1. The problem of disbelief  
1. vv19-21 The difference between the believer and the unbeliever does not lie in the guilt or innocence of either, it lies in the different attitudes they take toward the "light."

·        The unbeliever shrinks from the light because it exposes his sin;

·        the believer willingly comes to the light so that his real motives may be revealed.

    In John 1:5 we're told of the natural antipathy that exists between light and darkness. Verses 19-21 of ch. 3 lift this battle from the realm of the abstract to the concrete by showing that it is the love of evil deeds that keep men from responding to the light. There's no missing the fact that men are held accountable for their actions, and the choice is theirs: evil deeds or truth.

Q1       The Israelites felt so discouraged or anguished that they didn’t want to listen to God. Can you think of a time or times when you felt discouraged and tell us what or who encouraged you again?

Q2       “The difference between the believer and the unbeliever does not lie in the guilt or innocence of either, it lies in the different attitudes they take toward the "light." What do you understand by “the light”?

God’s promise – our problems.

Topic:  Redemption Subtopic:  Index:  2978-2980 Date:  9/1993.101

Title:  Kriss Akabusi

One of the most popular British athletes is Kriss Akabusi, he was a 400 metre hurdler. When he went to the 1986 Commonwealth games in Edinburgh, like all the other competitors, he found a Good News New Testament in his hotel room. Kriss read the whole of his because he was spiritually hungry. From his earliest days he had measured his success by material possessions, acquired through becoming famous, but by 1986 he had begun to realise that no sooner had he acquired one thing than he wanted something bigger and better. He was fascinated by the New Testament and cross-checked its statements in other books. He even saw significance in the fact that the whole calendar, including his own date of birth, took Jesus as its point of reference. One night in America he prayed, "Lord, if you are there and I really don't know if you are, you'd better come and say 'Hi' to Kriss." And he became aware of Jesus with him. He is certain that he has been a Christian from that day on, entering into a  relationship with God which is real and eternal.

AMEN