Wisdom Fish

Duplicity is abominable with God. To hold with the hare and run with the hounds, is a dastard's policy. To have one foot on the land of truth, and another on the sea of falsehood, will involve a terrible fall and a total ruin. . .for how should divine justice spare the sinner, who knows the right, approves it, and professes to follow it, and all the while loves the evil, and gives it dominion in his heart?

My soul, search thyself this morning, and see whether thou art guilty of double-dealing.

The worldview of rabbinic Judaism is not to be considered synonymous with the worldview of the Bible (either testament).

Sure, the rabbis have some good insights, especially into the laws, but even there, they can literally just make things up.

As many readers will know, my view is that one needs to understand the OT in its ANE (Ancient Near East) context, then take that understanding to the Second Temple period material, and then take both of those to the NT to inform exegesis of that material.

The OT isn’t informed by a Judaism that came centuries later (or by Greco-Roman paganism). Both have some value, but it is far more limited than the other contexts.

And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me,

“Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.

A ship of large tonnage is to be brought up the river; now, in one part of the stream there is a sandbank; should some one ask,

"Why does the captain steer through the deep part of the channel and deviate so much from a straight line?"

His answer would be,

"Because I should not get my vessel into harbor at all if I did not keep to the deep channel."

So, it may be, you would run aground and suffer shipwreck, if your divine Captain did not steer you into the depths of affliction where waves of trouble follow each other in quick succession.

"The everlasting God fainteth not, neither is weary."

There are seasons when the Christian sinks very low in humiliation. Under a deep sense of his great sinfulness, he is humbled before God till he scarcely knows how to pray, because he appears, in his own sight, so worthless. Well, child of God, remember that when thou art at thy worst and lowest, yet "underneath" thee "are everlasting arms." Sin may drag thee ever so low, but Christ's great atonement is still under all. You may have descended into the deeps, but you cannot have fallen so low as "the uttermost;" and to the uttermost he saves. Again, the Christian sometimes sinks very deeply in sore trial from without. Every earthly prop is cut away. What then? Still underneath him are "the everlasting arms." He cannot fall so deep in distress and affliction but what the covenant grace of an ever-faithful God will still encircle him. The Christian may be sinking under trouble from within through fierce conflict, but even then he cannot be brought so low as to be beyond the reach of the "everlasting arms"--they are underneath him; and, while thus sustained, all Satan's efforts to harm him avail nothing.

Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the deaf receiving hearing, the dead receiving life; but we have not only received these blessings, we have received Christ Jesus himself.

The thing which I receive becomes my own: I appropriate to myself that which is given. When I receive Jesus, he becomes my Savior, so mine that neither life nor death shall be able to rob me of him.

One cannot very well receive a shadow; we receive that which is substantial: so is it in the life of faith, Christ becomes real to us.