A Heart to Know God (Jeremiah 24:7)

“I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.” (Jeremiah 24:7 NIV)

Israel had a heart problem. Throughout the book of Jeremiah, God declares that his people have followed “the stubbornness of their hearts” (e.g., Jer 7:24; 11:8; 13:10; 16:12; 18:12). God goes as far to say that the human heart is more deceitful than anything and incurably sick (Jer 17:9). Israel tried living by the mantra “follow your heart,” and it ended in disaster.

But then there is the word of promise in Jeremiah 24:7. God promises that he will give the exiles who return from Babylon a heart to know their God. This is what they need most: a heart that knows and worships God, a heart that loves God and follows his ways not our own stubborn, sinful ways.

It gets even better: God then restates the central covenant promise: they will be my people, and I will be their God. Those who truly know the Lord enter into a covenant relationship with the Lord. The verse goes on to root this in the repentance of the people: for they will return to the Lord with all their heart.

That brings us full circle. How can this sinful people return to the Lord with a whole heart when their hearts are incurably sick? God must give them a heart to know him. Notice the interaction here between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. God gives his people a new heart to know him (cf. Ezek 36:26), they return to the Lord in repentance and faith, and the result is the covenant relationship. God’s sovereign grace is the primary cause, yet God’s people also genuinely repent and turn to the Lord. The result is enjoying what we were made for: a relationship with God.

Like Israel in the 6th century B.C., we too have deceptive, incurable hearts in our sinful nature. Our only hope is the grace of God that bestows new hearts and brings us into covenant relationship with himself (Jer 31:31-34). As the New Testament makes clear, these promises come true in the person and work of Jesus (Heb 8:8-12). In him, God gives us a new heart, we respond to his message with faith and repentance, and so we become part of God’s new covenant people.

The call to us remains the same: return to the Lord. Don’t stop living a life of faith and repentance. Trust the good news of God’s salvation in Christ. Hope in the new covenant promises of a relationship with God and the forgiveness of our sin.

In Jesus, these words of the prophets have come true! God still gives people hearts to know him. He still brings people into covenant relationship with himself. So, return to him with all your heart!

The Trip to Church (Psalm 84:5)

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.” (Psalm 84:5)

Have you ever thought, “I really wish I was in the car driving to church right now”?

Maybe that thought sounds strange to you, but it points to an important question: Do you ever feel a deep yearning in your heart to be worshiping God in his house?

Such was the longing of the author of Psalm 84. This psalm is about the longing, the joy, and the blessing experienced by Jewish pilgrims as they traveled the highways to Zion (Jerusalem) to worship at God’s temple. The psalmist sings that his soul longs for the temple courts of the Lord (84:2). He declares that the happiest people in the world are those who find strength in God and rejoice to be traveling to worship their God (84:5). He believes that a day in God’s courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. Thus, he would rather be a doorkeeper in the temple than dwell in the tents of wickedness (84:10).

Psalm 84 continues to capture the longing of God’s people today for nearness to their God. In Christ, we are pilgrims in this world on the highway to the New Jerusalem where we will spend eternity worshiping our God. We are the happiest people in the world because God is our strength and our hearts can rejoice in our pilgrimage.

At the same time, the longing of this psalmist is relevant for our present experience of worshiping God. We no longer walk to a temple to make sacrifices and bring offerings to God. But we do get to travel each week to the gathering of God’s people, the church. As the New Testament makes clear, God’s people are now his temple (1 Cor 3:16; Eph 2:21).

Therefore, every week when we gather together as a local church to worship our God, we are experiencing something even better than the pilgrims on the highways to Zion. It is true that worshiping God isn’t necessarily about a place anymore, but it does include a people gathered in a place.

So back to the original question: is there a yearning in your heart to be worshiping God with his people each week? When you drive to church is your heart in it? Is it a duty or a delight to be on the highways to church?

For God’s people today, each Lord’s Day spent in worship with the people of God is better than a thousand spent elsewhere. Each Sunday, we gather to confess to God, “Our strength is in you alone!” We gather to praise him and find our strength, joy and blessing in him. He is our sun and our shield. What better way to spend a Sunday than praising this God with his people?

The trip to church, even on the hard days, is a rich delight for the people of God. We are pilgrims journeying toward the New Jerusalem, and each gathering of Christ’s people is a small foretaste of the joy in store for us.

The Delight of My Heart (Jeremiah 15:16)

“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.” (Jeremiah 15:16)

God’s Word is a joy to God’s people. The words of our God bring us delight and spiritual sustenance. They are sweeter than honey and more valuable than gold (Psa 19:10). This has been the experience of God’s people through the ages.

It was also the experience of the prophet Jeremiah. God called Jeremiah out as a prophet and gave him his word. Jeremiah consumed God’s Word, and it was his joy and the delight of his heart. He was happy to follow God’s ways and trust his truth.

Yet in context, Jeremiah’s words here are part of a lament. To be clear, he is not lamenting his experience of finding joy in God’s Word but how his own people treated him as a result. In finding joy in God’s Word, Jeremiah separated himself from the false, sinful joy of his compatriots (Jer 15:17). He felt just anger at their disregard for God and his truth. He felt isolated in the midst of a people in rebellion against God.

In other words, Jeremiah delighted in God’s Word, but this actually made his life harder. Joy in God’s Word will not bring us a carefree, easy life in this broken world. Sometimes, our joyful obedience to God’s Word will lead people to reject and ostracize us. We may feel alone at times when we choose delight in God’s Word over the sinful pleasures of the world.

But God promised Jeremiah: If you keep speaking what is precious (i.e., God’s Word), you will not be defeated, “for I am with you to save you” (Jer 15:19-21). The world may oppose God’s truth, but they will not have the final victory over God’s people who delight to obey and proclaim God’s Word.

Jeremiah had a difficult task of proclaiming a message that prophesied God’s coming judgment on a people who were following their stubborn hearts (Jer 16:12). We, however, have a better message that fulfills Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry! The true Prophet, Jesus, has come, and he suffered the reproach of his people. He took the judgment we deserve so that all who trust in him can have peace with God and everlasting life.

So, how much more should we delight to read God’s Word, study God’s Word, obey God’s Word, and proclaim God’s Word! God has set a feast before us in his Word. Will you dig in today and find joy? Will your weekly priorities reveal a joy in hearing, doing, and sharing God’s Word? To be sure, this will make your life harder at times. But the joy of knowing God through his Word is more than worth it.

Come to the Waters (Isaiah 55:1-3)

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (Isaiah 55:1)

If you feel spiritually parched and dry today, God holds out water to you. If you come to God thirsty, you will be satisfied. God bids you come and receive water to quench your thirst. He bids you come and drink.

But God also holds out wine and milk. He not only quenches our spiritual thirst, he gives us true and abundant joy. Milk represents satisfaction and abundance, and wine is a picture of joy.

God calls us to come and buy wine and milk without money. There is no cost. He gives them freely to all who come. He is the generous King who holds out not only water but free milk and wine to all who come to him.

Therefore, we do not need to toil for what cannot satisfy us! Why would we spend our lives trying to fill a cup with a few drops of salt water? But that is what we do when we try to find life and joy outside of God.

God holds out to us what we cannot supply for ourselves: true, vibrant spiritual life and joy. It can be yours today, anew and afresh. All you need to do is come to God. All you need to do is return to the Lord, and take the cup from his hand and drink.

But how can this be? How can God freely give abundant life, mercy, and joy to sinful people like us? In his commentary on Isaiah, John Oswalt reminds us that it all goes back to Isaiah 53: the work of the Suffering Servant, now fulfilled in Christ. Oswalt writes:

Because of what he has done, God’s face toward his people is not stormy but sunny. The “arm of the Lord” has been revealed against what has separated them from God: their unatoned-for sin. The only thing that they must do is to accept the sin offering that the Servant has made (in prospect) and receive the mercy of God that that offering entails.1

So come to the waters today, for the first time or the four thousandth time. And drink and be satisfied in Christ alone.

  1. John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 434–435. ↩︎

No Other God (Isaiah 45-47)

“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:22

Recently, I was reading the book of Isaiah, and I noticed a repeated phrase in chapters 45-46: “there is no other.” This phrase is repeated seven times to highlight God’s complete uniqueness as the only true God, the Sovereign King over all peoples, and the Savior of his people. Israel and the nations should know that there is no other God, except Yahweh, the LORD.

The LORD is able to equip a mighty, pagan king (Cyrus) so that his will for his people is accomplished (45:5-6). He creates light and darkness and ordains wellbeing and calamity (45:7). He is like the potter with the clay (45:9), and he declares the end from the beginning (46:8-11). No one is sovereign like our God.

God declares that people from all nations should see this uniqueness and take this confession on their lips (45:14). He is the righteous God and the only Savior (45:21). People from the ends of the earth (and everywhere in between!) should turn to Yahweh and be saved–for he alone is God, there is no other (45:22).

He alone is the Creator who fashioned the heavens and the earth (45:18). He spoke reality into existence. He cannot be compared to idols that are man-made (46:5-7). He made man! None can compare to him, and no mighty kings or false gods even come close.

Yet, in Isaiah 47, Babylon had tried to claim the uniqueness that belongs to God alone. Babylon thought it was secure and declared “I am, and there is no one besides me” (47:8, 10). In their arrogant pride, the people of Babylon thought themselves incomparably secure.

This is what pride does: it tries to claim what belongs to God alone. Pride leads us to want glory for ourselves and makes us think that we can never fall. But it is a lie. Only God can say “there is no other besides me.” Only the LORD is the incomparable Sovereign King and Righteous Savior.

Our response remains the same as it was in Isaiah’s day: turn to the only God and be saved! There is salvation for the ends of the earth through God the Son, who is our righteous Savior. So, we should repent of all pride and trust in the only God, for he alone made us, he alone reigns over us, and he alone can save us.

Below is a PDF with each use of these phrases in Isaiah 45-47 highlighted.

There Is No Other – Isaiah 45-47Download

Instant Happiness? (Luke 12:15)

“And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.‘” (Luke 12:15)

Recently, I received a gift card with packaging that said “instant happiness inside.” Apparently, with the purchasing power of this gift card I could purchase instant joy and pleasure (though I might have to wait a day or two before it arrives at my door).

Such is the happiness the world would have us buy. It should be quick, easy, instant. This kind of happiness is linked to money, possessions, buying and consuming things.

But is happiness really something you can package up? Is happiness really something you can buy? Is the thrill you get when you click “Buy Now” really happiness? We know the answer.

Happiness is not something you can buy with a gift card. If it was, you’d expect Americans to be a lot happier than we are. Sure, we get a feeling of excitement when the new shiny thing we ordered arrives. There is a kind of “happiness” we get from the constant consumption of things and accumulating more stuff.

But Jesus reminds us: life is not about getting more stuff (Luke 12:15). According to Jesus, living to pile up earthly treasures is actually covetousness. And satisfying covetous desires is not really happiness. It may come with a feeling that masquerades as happiness. But this “happiness” is often lost as instantly as it was attained.

Jesus illustrates his statement in Luke 12:15 with a parable about a rich man who runs out of room to store a bountiful harvest. He comes up with a plan to tear down his barns and build larger ones. Then he thinks he will be able to say to himself: “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry,” (Luke 12:19).

But he doesn’t realize that he will lose his soul that very night. All his supposed happiness will be gone in an instant. Life is about more than plentiful harvests and big barns. What matters is that we are rich toward God (Luke 12:21).

The author of Hebrews also hits on this theme: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you,‘” (Hebrews 13:5). As followers of Jesus, we can be content with what we have because we have the unfailing presence of God with us.

There is a happiness that comes from contentment in God that obliterates any fading pleasure that comes from piling up more things. Our God and his presence is our source of enduring happiness that cannot be stolen or lost or ruined. It is far better than any “instant happiness” our world tries to sell us.

“Let The Peoples Praise You” (Psalm 67:3)

“Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!” (Psalm 67:3)

Psalm 67 captures the heartbeat of the mission of God’s people: longing to see all the peoples of the earth praising our God. Missions is not only about seeing physical needs met or church buildings built. It is not only about keeping people out of hell.

First and foremost, missions is about the glory of God. We are called to declare his glory among the nations so that they might be reconciled to God, saved from their sins, and join the worship of our God and King.

Psalm 67 points us toward our core motivation for missions: we long to see our God praised. Our God is worthy of the praise of all the peoples of the earth. He has sent his Son to rescue us and reconcile us to himself so that we might experience the joy of knowing and worshiping him forever.

In the words of Andy Johnson, this “glory of the gospel—not the neediness of mankind—is the self-sustaining fuel for global missions.” Or in the words of John Piper, “worship . . . is the fuel and goal of missions.”

If we want a bigger heart for missions, the first step is to focus on the glory of our God. A bigger heart for missions doesn’t ultimately come from guilt over the neediness of the world. It comes from knowing and saturating ourselves in the wonder of the gospel and worthiness of Christ.

In heaven, this is the song of angels and the redeemed: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:12). One day a multitude from all the peoples will stand before the throne of God, dressed in white, and praise the Lord (Rev 7:9-10).

In Christ, the nations will be glad and sing for joy on that day (Psa 67:4). We get to be numbered among them, and we get to play a small part in calling others to this joy. What could be better than this?

Mightier Than The Waves (Psalm 93:4)

“Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty!” -Psalm 93:4

Last week, my family spent some time in the Blue Water Area on the shores of Lake Huron. We got to see lots of massive freighters sail by and did plenty of swimming ourselves. But the water was relatively calm only two of the days we were there. Most of the time, we had to contend with the waves, and on our last day at the beach, the waves were too big for our kids to swim safely.

These relatively small waves on Lake Huron were mighty and dangerous. And we had zero power to control them. They made me think of several passages in the Bible, like Psalm 93:4, where we read about God’s power over the waves. He is more powerful than the most crushing wave. The thunder of the mightiest waves is only a faint echo compared to the power of our Creator and King.

He is mightier than the waves, more powerful than any November storm on the Great Lakes, and he alone can still the waves. As Ethan the Ezrahite declares in Psalm 89:9: “You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.” When Jesus walked this earth, he literally walked upon the waves and calmed them with a word, proving that he is the Son of God (Mark 4:39; Matt 14:32).

God’s power over the waves and storms probably raise questions for us, like “How can God allow destructive forces like raging seas?” There is a place for those questions, but these passages of Scripture are really intended as a comfort to God’s people.

There are no rogue waves. No storm can overpower our God. He reigns in majesty and holiness and righteousness over the raging seas.

In the Ancient Near East, the sea was often deified and functioned as a symbol of chaos and evil. Yet, God’s people can know that there is no evil that can threaten God’s sovereignty or overturn his plans for his people. We will never find ourselves in a storm outside of God’s providence.

Right now, maybe you feel that you are sailing on lifeboat on a raging sea. Or maybe things just feel a bit rocky right now, and the waves feel bigger than usual. Remember your God who is mightier than the waves and rules the raging of the sea. He is with you. He may not calm your storm immediately. But he will bring you safely to the eternal shores, to the place where all waves will be stilled forever.

Some of the waves on Lake Huron on one of the calmer days we were there.

God’s Holiness and Our Hope (Isaiah 6:1-7)

“And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.‘” (Isaiah 6:5-7)

In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah sees a vision of God in his glory. Around him the angels declare: Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts. God’s holiness is his majestic otherness, his transcendent purity. He is the Creator and King who is totally unique and set apart from us as creatures.

So, Isaiah believes that he is lost. He has seen the Holy One! And Isaiah knows that he himself is unclean and unholy. But what happens next? God provides atonement for Isaiah.

We see here that God’s holiness is not just about God’s transcendence and otherness. It includes his condescension as well. God’s holiness does not lead him merely to move away from his people but to move toward his people both to judge and to save.

Theologian John Webster writes:

“The holiness of God is not to be identified simply as that which distances God from us; rather, God is holy precisely as the one who in majesty and freedom and sovereign power bends down to us in mercy. God is the Holy One. But he is the Holy One ‘in your midst’, as Hosea puts it (Hos. 11.9); or as Isaiah puts it: ‘great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel’ (Isa. 12.6).” (John Webster, Holiness, p. 45)

Isaiah’s experience provides a clear example of this truth. Isaiah sees God in his glorious majesty. Yet, God’s holiness isn’t just something that separates God from Isaiah. God, in his majestic purity, stoops down and provides forgiveness for Isaiah.

God, in his holiness, is opposed to sin in his people like a doctor is opposed to disease in his patients. God opposes sin by working to destroy its hold on our lives.

God’s holiness is God’s transcendence in majesty and purity that leads to his mercy to unholy humanity. It is his majestic purity that turns toward unholy humanity to sanctify and to cleanse and to provide atonement.

Thus, God’s holiness is not opposed to his mercy. God’s holiness moves toward his people in mercy and grace. He is the Holy One, the Majestic God who draws near to his people to cleanse them and provide atonement.

Isaiah’s only hope and our only hope is what at first glance is the source of our woe: God’s holiness. He is holy in both his judgment and his mercy. In his holiness, God has provided a sure atonement in the cross of Christ for all who repent and trust in Jesus. Thus, the holiness of God is our only hope.

Does Acts 7 Contradict Genesis 12?

This Sunday at our church, we had the privilege of thinking about God’s call of Abram in Genesis 12:1-5. We reflected on how Genesis portrays Abram as a new Adam through whom God would bring blessing to the world, ultimately through Jesus. 

However, in studying the early chronology of Abraham’s family, some issues come up when we consider how Stephen relates the story of Abraham in Acts 7:2-4. 

In Acts 7, Stephen is standing trial for his preaching about Jesus. The Jews accused Stephen of speaking against the temple and the Law, but Stephen walks them through the history of Israel in the Old Testament to show them that (1) their ancestors consistently rejected God’s chosen prophets like they were now rejecting Jesus and (2) God has never really been confined to a physical temple building. 

He begins with Abraham and shows that he believes in the promises of God and that God is faithful to his promises. Stephen declares:

“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.” (Acts 7:2-4)

Stephen’s summary of Abraham’s call appears to contradict Moses’s account in Genesis 11:26-12:4 in two places. 

First, Stephen says that God appeared to Abraham before he lived in Haran. But in the Genesis account, it seems that Terah and his family left Ur (i.e., Mesopotamia), settled in Haran, and then God appeared to Abraham (Genesis 11:31-12:1). Thus, the Genesis account suggests that God appeared to Abraham in Haran, but Stephen says God appeared to Abraham before he lived in Haran.

Is this a contradiction? I don’t think so. It is possible that Stephen believes that Genesis 11:31-32 and Genesis 12:1-3 are not arranged chronologically. Genesis 12:1-3 does not actually say that God spoke to Abraham in Haran. Thus, Genesis 12:1-3 may jump backwards some years in the narrative to before Abraham journeyed to Haran.[1] Genesis 12:4, however, does seem to link God’s words in 12:1-3 and Abram’s departure from Haran in 12:4-5, suggesting that God called Abram when he was in Haran, which weakens this interpretation. 

Another possibility is that Stephen believes that God spoke to Abraham in Ur with similar promises before repeating them again when Abraham was living in Haran. Throughout Abraham’s life, God repeats his promises time and time again. So it is reasonable to conclude that Genesis 12:1-3 may not be the first time God had summoned Abraham to go to Canaan and receive these promises. 

Other OT passages support this reading. For example, later in Genesis, God declares to Abraham, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess” (Gen 15:7). Here, God claims that it was he who brought Abraham out of Ur, though no mention of this is made in Genesis 11. Stephen seems to follow this interpretation by claiming that God spoke to Abraham while he was in Ur.[2] Thus, there is no real contradiction here. Stephen is simply sharing an interpretation of Abraham’s life that lines up with Genesis 15:7. 

However, Stephen also says that Abraham left Haran after his father (Terah) died. But Genesis 11:26-12:4 seems to suggest that Terah was still alive when Abraham left Haran. In Genesis 11:26, Moses reports that Terah was 70 years old when he started having sons, with Abram listed first. Then, in 11:32, he tells us that Terah lived to be 205 years old and died in Haran. And in Genesis 12:4, we learn that Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran, which means that Terah would have been (only!) 145 years old when Abraham left Haran. 

Yet, Stephen says that Abraham didn’t leave Haran until Terah died. Is Stephen mangling the text? Is he assuming a detail that isn’t in Genesis? Is there a contradiction here? Again, I don’t think so. 

One solution is that Abraham wasn’t actually Terah’s oldest son. In this case, Genesis 11:26 tells us when Terah started having sons (maybe Haran was the firstborn?), but it doesn’t tell us when Abraham was born. He may have been born 60 years later and is mentioned first simply because he was the most prominent of Terah’s sons, not because he was the oldest. 

Another possible solution is that Stephen is following a specific Jewish tradition about Abraham and Terah and/or a variant text of Genesis 11:32 (where Terah’s age at his death is listed). In fact, the Samaritan Pentateuch (the Bible of the Samaritans) reports that Terah died when he was 145 years old. Another Jewish author, Philo (writing around the time of Jesus), also suggests that Abraham left Haran after Terah died. This may have been a common interpretation of the time, possibly backed by a Greek translation of Genesis that Greek-speaking Jews like Stephen were familiar with.[3]

Either way, Stephen isn’t mangling Genesis. Most likely, he is simply following the chronology he and his audience were most familiar with. He is trying to show his fellow Jews that he believes the promises God gave to their forefathers. He is not blaspheming the forefathers of their faith, much less their God (Acts 6:11).

Stephen reminded his audience that God brought Abraham out of Ur, and God removed Abraham from Haran. It was all the work of God. God is faithful to keep his promises, even though his people so often rejected God’s prophets and messengers until they even betrayed and murdered the Righteous One, their Messiah (Acts 7:52). 

Untangling these alleged contradictions matters because many object to Christianity due to their insistence that the Bible is full of contradictions and can’t be trusted. Yet, pointing out supposed problems in the text can simply be a cover or an excuse for rejecting Jesus. In the end, what matters most is how we are responding to God, his promises, and his Promised One, Jesus. That’s the central point in Genesis 12:1-5. That was Stephen’s point too in Acts 7. 

When all of the alleged contradictions are examined and weighed, we can agree with Christian apologist Justin Martyr from the second century who wrote, “I am entirely convinced that no Scripture contradicts another.”[4] And, most importantly, we should trust in the Savior and Lord that all of Holy Scripture leads us to.

  1. Allen Ross argues for this in Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, 258.↩︎
  2. Darrell Bock, Acts, BECNT, 282–83.↩︎
  3. Bock, Acts, 284; Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1–17, NICOT, 366–68.↩︎
  4. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chap. 65, https://www.logoslibrary.org/justin/trypho/065.html.↩︎