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Not Just the What, But the Why

2021-12-30 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 13:1-10.  Let’s go!

Exodus 13:1-2 (NIV)
1  The LORD said to Moses,
2  “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal.”

On verses 1-2:  To consecrate means to declare that something belongs to God.  The Israelites were expected to consecrate their firstborn child and even the firstborn from among their livestock.  The idea that the first fruits belong to God comes up over and over again in Exodus through Deuteronomy, whether we’re talking about children, livestock, or crops. 

When you see the first fruits of what you produce as belonging to God, it changes the way you look at the people and things God has given to you.  You start seeing yourself as a trustee and a steward, rather than as the centre of your own universe.  

Exodus 13:3-8 (NIV)   
3  Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast.
4  Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving.

烈火窯中的神子

2021-12-29 in , /by

〈但以理書〉 3:18 即或不然，王啊，你當知道：我們決不侍奉你的神，也不敬拜你所立的金像！

閱讀經文：〈但以理書〉3:1-30

在但以理為尼王解夢之後，尼王俯伏在地，向他下拜，又說：“你既能顯明這奧祕的事，你們的神誠然是萬神之神，萬王之主，又是顯明奧祕事的。”但是在他的心裡是否真的如此想呢？有時向人傳福音，人家有困難時為他禱告，當事情解決之後，對方是否會真的認為我們相信的神很厲害，是唯一的真神而投靠祂呢？嘴巴說的和心裡想的，往往是不一樣的。

當但以理為尼王解釋了夢中的人像之後，尼王心裡又是怎麼想的？從尼王所造的金像，我們可以試著去揣摩一二。在尼王的夢中，巴比倫在尼布甲尼撒的時期代表了像的金頭，但以後會有其他的國家相繼興起，雖然都不及巴比倫，不及尼王的偉大，但是對於一個相當自負的尼王而言，這豈是可忍受的？他的國度怎麼會就只有一個頭呢？就像秦始皇一樣，他也希望他的國家可以千秋萬世地傳下去，永無止盡，所以他派徐福帶了五百童男童女去找長生不老藥。徐福一去不回頭，據說他那批人變成了現在日本人的祖先。

而尼王呢？他造了一座又高又大的金像，很可能不是精金而是鑲金的。將兩個像一比較，就知道尼王想要表達的心意了，他要他的國度存到永世，而不是只有一個頭的時間。這就是人的野心和不知量力。會有非人手鑿出來的一塊石頭從山而出，打碎列國嗎？好，尼王現在就差人將總督、欽差、巡撫、臬司、藩司、謀士、法官和各省的官員都召了來，為此像行開光之禮，統一他國內的宗教。這些人有許多是從其他國擄來的，他們有各自的信仰，各自拜的神明，但是尼布甲尼撒打敗了諸國，把各神殿中的器皿都放進米羅達的神廟裡，所以尼王認為巴比倫所拜的米羅達勝過一切的神明。現在就要求所有的巴比倫子民，無論是巴比倫人或擄來的，通通放棄自己的信仰，都來拜最偉大的米羅達神。這樣，會不會安全一點？可以抵擋那塊非人手鑿出來的石頭？

Don’t Break His Legs

2021-12-29 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 12:43-51.  Let’s go!

Exodus 12:43-51 (NIV)
43  The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover: “No foreigner is to eat of it.
44  Any slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him,
45  but a temporary resident and a hired worker may not eat of it.
46  “It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.
47  The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.
48  “An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat of it.
49  The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you.”
50  All the Israelites did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
51  And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.

On verses 43-51:  In these verses the LORD makes certain distinctions concerning who may eat the Passover meal and who may not.  The distinction goes like this:  if you have placed your faith in the LORD, as evidenced by circumcision (in the case of males) (v48), then you may, in fact you must, partake of the Passover meal.  If your faith is not in Yahweh, you were not to eat the Passover meal; instead, eat something else.  This principle applied regardless of your social status and whether the person was an Israelite by birth or a foreigner who became an Israelite later on in life.

但以理解夢

2021-12-28 in , /by

〈但以理書〉 2:20 但以理說：神的名是應當稱頌的，從亙古直到永遠！因為智慧能力都屬乎祂。

閱讀經文：〈但以理書〉2:1-49

很多人都想為神做大事，有這種心志不是不對，卻不是神所要的。因為神要不要你為祂做大事是在於神的決定。神常常要我們從小事做起，例如，為祂立志不沾污自己。很多人可以為了健康而不吃油不吃鹽不吃糖不吃肉不吃蝦不喝酒不抽煙，但是能不能為了神，保守自己口舌言語上的潔淨？保羅說過，大戶人家裡有各樣的器皿，若想做貴重的器皿，不做卑賤的器皿，就要自潔，脫離卑賤的事，就必做貴重的器皿，成為聖潔，合乎主用，預備行各樣的善事（提後2:20-21）。我們若立志不沾污自己，神才能使用我們。不是先立志做大事，而要先立志過聖潔的生活。

但以理和朋友生活在一群尼布甲尼撒王（以下簡稱：尼王）擄來的俊傑之中，各個都是年少沒有殘疾，相貌俊美，通達各樣學問，知識、聰明俱備的，每個人都巴不得能夠脫穎而出，得到尼王的青睞，一步登天，坐上高位，那就前途無量，錦衣玉食了。個個都知道唯有最優秀的才能被尼王相中，可是但以理和他的三個朋友似乎並不熱衷於尼王的權勢，而是希望在異域仍然能夠保守他們在耶和華神眼前的聖潔。這也是我們和子女面臨的考驗，究竟是事業第一或是敬畏神第一？是神給人機會或是人自己找機會？當神給的機會來臨時，我們是否有能力去回應去承擔或表現？

在表面平靜的生活中，有一天王宮裡傳出了尼王的憤怒，因為他做了一個夢，但是他把夢給忘了。他問遍宮裡的術士、用法術的、行邪術（巫術）的和迦勒底人，但是沒有人能夠告訴他，他做了什麼夢。些人都是自認有異能的，迦勒底人則是一群看天象的人。他平時養了那麼多人，就是為了有需要時可以幫助他，現在他有需要了，這些人卻什麼都說不出來！平常在他面前吹牛吹馬的，現在都成孫子了！這些人平時自詡有能力，但此時在王的面前，卻無能為力，他們只能說：“請王將夢告訴僕人，僕人就可以講解”。王更生氣，這麼一個夢就把你們難倒了？他們承認：除了不與世人同居的神明，沒有人能說出來。他們承認他們的有限，人的有限。尼王氣極，要把這一批飯桶通通殺掉。

I’m Not Ready, But Let’s Go

2021-12-28 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 12:31-42.  Let’s go!

Exodus 12:31-32 (NIV)
31  During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.
32  Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”

On verses 31-32:  Pharaoh kept playing games with God and lost.  He lost his firstborn son.  He lost his pride.  Coming to an end to himself, at least for a moment, Pharaoh finally gives Moses and Aaron the go ahead to take the Israelites and their flocks and herds and leave Egypt as they had requested all along.  Then Pharaoh also says a startling thing: “And also bless me” (v32).  The last time the Bible recorded an Israelite blessing Pharaoh, it was 430 years earlier in Genesis 47:7, 10 when Jacob (Israel himself) blessed Pharaoh.  This was a generation before the enslavement of the Israelites had started in Egypt.  Now that the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt has officially and suddenly ended, Pharaoh asks Moses to bless him. 

Why did Pharaoh ask Moses to bless him?  Probably because he finally acknowledged that God was with Moses and that Pharaoh needed the Lord’s mercy and grace at least in some way.  This is Pharaoh at his most humble and most humbled point in the story of Exodus.  What can we learn from this?  It’s when we are humble, or humbled, that we begin to be open to God working in our lives. 

Jesus, My Unleavened Bread and My Passover Lamb

2021-12-27 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 12:15-30.  Let’s go!

Exodus 12:15-30 (NIV)
15  For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
16  On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and  another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat–that is all you may do……

On verses 15-30:  At THRIVE Church online yesterday, I shared a message called “Too Much To Pass Over:  Understanding the Passover” where we looked at this passage together.  If you missed the message or just want to see my painting skills, click HERE.

Wanna check how well you listened to the message this past Sunday as well as your understanding of this passage?  Try to answer the following questions:

–        Pastor JB shared two reasons why God require that the Israelites eat bread without yeast.  What were those two reasons?

–        What was yeast supposed to symbolize in this case?  Does that mean that yeast is in fact bad and that we should avoid eating yeast all the time?

–        In what way is Jesus our unleavened bread?

–        In what way is Jesus our Passover lamb?

–        Why did God tell the Israelites to observe the Passover not just on the week that they actually left Egypt but on every anniversary of that event as well?

但以理被擄到巴比倫

2021-12-27 in , /by

〈但以理書〉 1:17這四個少年人，神在各樣文字、學問上賜給他們聰明、知識，但以理又明白各樣的異象和夢兆。

閱讀經文：〈但以理書〉1:1-21 

按照舊約的秩序，似乎應該續讀〈以斯拉記〉，但是在猶大人回歸耶路撒冷之前，有好多故事發生，所以我們先讀〈但以理書〉，因為在但以理年老時，正是猶大人回歸之時。在〈但以理書〉第1章第1節指出猶大王約亞敬第三年時，巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒第一次圍困耶路撒冷，但是在〈耶利米書〉46章2節說這事發生在約雅敬作王第四年。那是因為猶大的記法和巴比倫的計算法有異，猶大的計算是登基做王的那年為第一年，而巴比倫的算法是要登基滿一年才算一年，登基那年則稱為加冕 年。

約西亞和埃及作戰，戰死沙場之後，百姓擁立他的幼子約哈斯為王。可能因為約西亞死於埃及人之手，因此約哈斯對埃及極為不滿。那時巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒 （以下簡稱：尼王）正在敘利亞的哈蘭和亞述決戰，無法抽身去顧猶大，因此約哈斯被埃及王尼哥二世罷黜，並俘虜到埃及；尼哥二世立親埃及的約雅敬為王。但是不久，連接尼尼微和地中海東西商道及沿河而行的南北商道的重鎮迦基米施失陷於巴比倫，亞述和埃及都敗於巴比倫，尼王控制了整個地區，約雅敬很不情願地變成 了巴比倫的蕃屬。

在主前601年，巴比倫想征服埃及卻未成功，約雅敬趁機和巴比倫決裂，轉向埃及求援。這種背叛的行徑導致尼王在主前597年前來圍攻耶路撒冷，並擄走了第一批年少沒有殘疾，相貌俊美，通達各樣學問，知識、聰明俱備的猶大貴族青年，為讓他們將來可以侍立在巴比倫王宮冑，服侍巴比倫王。尼王有野心要征服猶大國，因此要預備人才幫他管理將來的猶大子民。但以理和他的三個好朋友就這樣被擄到巴比倫，但他們並沒有受到俘虜的待遇，反而是被服侍得極為週到。尼王 派定用他所用的膳和所飲的酒每日賜他們一份，也就是說，他們吃的就像王一樣。

巴比倫之囚

2021-12-26 in , /by

〈歷代志〉下 36:21這就應驗耶和華藉耶利米口所說的話，地享受安息，因為地土荒涼便守安息，直滿了七十年。

閱讀經文：〈列王紀〉下 25:1-30   /   〈歷代志〉下 36:17-23

猶大王：羅波安→亞比央→亞撒→約沙法→約蘭→亞哈謝→（亞她利雅）→約阿施→亞瑪謝→亞撒利雅（烏西雅）→約坦→亞哈斯→希西家→瑪拿西→亞捫→約西亞→約哈斯→約雅敬（以利亞敬，約哈斯的哥哥）→約雅斤→西底家

像清朝的末代皇帝一樣，猶大國最後一任王西底家，也面臨了最大的恥辱。西底家原是巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒（簡稱:尼王）所立的王，可是由於他性格優柔寡斷，後來又想倚靠埃及獨立，他的背叛招致巴比倫進軍，雖有埃及出兵暫解耶路撒冷之圍，但耶利米預言巴比倫必然傾覆猶大（耶37:5）。在亡國之前，西底家請求耶利米為他禱告，這本來是一件好事。可惜西底家並不是真的想悔改，以求得神的憐憫，他只想利用禱告，利用神來緩解當時的困局。

耶利米一直向西底家進言，因為“耶和華如此說：住在這城裡的必遭刀劍、饑荒、瘟疫而死，但出去歸降迦勒底人的必得存活，就是以自己命為掠物的，必得存活。（耶38:2）”雖然神要懲罰猶大人，但是祂依然為他們開一條路，要看他們肯不肯聽從神的話。就好像當年在曠野，百姓因為發怨言惹動神的怒氣，神就讓火蛇去咬他們。後來神叫摩西做了一條銅蛇，凡是被蛇咬，卻肯仰望銅蛇的人，就必得活。神要的就是人對祂的信心，不管神的方法在人的眼中是何等不可思議，何等奇怪，神並不跟我們討論得救的方法是否合理，而是要我們憑信心去接受。人若沒有信心，懷疑神的話，那麼再合理的方法，也可以找出很多理由去拒絕順服。

Questions about the Passover

2021-12-26 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 12:1-14.  Let’s go!

Exodus 12:1-14 (NIV)
1  The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,
2  “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.
3  Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.
4  If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat.
5  The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
6  Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.
7  Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.
8  That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.
9  Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire–head, legs and inner parts.
10  Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it…..

1. What is Passover?
Passover (or Pesach in Hebrew) is one of the most important festivals in the Jewish Calendar. It commemorates the freedom
of the Israelites after 400 years of slavery in Egypt.

2. When is Passover?
Passover falls on the 15th of the Hebrew month Nisan.

The Killing of Egypt’s Firstborn

2021-12-24 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 11:1-10.  Let’s go!

Exodus 11:1-10 (NIV)
1  Now the LORD had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.
2  Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.”
3  (The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)
4  So Moses said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt.
5  Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.
6  There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt–worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.
7  But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal.’ Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.
8  All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.
9  The LORD had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you–so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.”
10  Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

On verses 1-10:  Here Moses warns Pharaoh about the 10th and final plague that God would bring upon the Egyptians.   In the meantime, as you read this passage, ask yourself: