UNDERSTANDING IN THE SANCTUARY

“Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end" (Psalm 73:17 NKJV).

The theme of Psalm 73 echoes one of the great perplexities in life - why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. In life, it seem as if the wicked have health, good jobs, material prosperity and abundance, while the righteous get sick, lose their jobs, and are in poverty. However, once the Psalmist went into the sanctuary (Temple) of the Lord, he understood the perplexity and by the end of the Psalm he was praising God.

Yet, it was not the building that solved the problem but what the sanctuary represented. It represented veneration (worship), supplication (prayer), and illumination (Word of God). These three things will help us solve the perplexity of the prosperity of the wicked.

Veneration - The sanctuary was a place of worship and worship honors God .When we honor God we will get help from Him for the problems of life. Honoring God is therefore one of the keys in understanding the perplexities of life. If our perplexities are prolonged unnecessarily, it just may be that we are not honoring God in our lives.

Supplication - The sanctuary was a place of prayer. When we have problems and perplexities, it is time to pray. Prayerlessness will prolong our problems and our perplexities. It seems like we talk to everyone about our troubles except God. But no one can help us in our troubles as God can. We need to tell Him our troubles; He can solve them as no other can.

Illumination - The sanctuary was a place where the Word of God was. When this Psalm was written, folks did not have Bibles as we have today, so they had to go to the Temple to hear the Word. The Bible has answers. When perplexities of life test us, we need to get in God’s Word - it has answers.

(Adapted from Butler Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“God invites us to burden Him with what burdens us!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Dissipation

In Luke 21:34 we read, “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap!" (NASB).

Dissipation the Greek word kraipalē (κραιπάλη = krahee-pal'-ay). It is used to describe excessive drinking, carousing and the drunkenness that ensues, including the hangover, headache, and nausea that follows. Kraipalē can also refer to dizziness, staggering, clouded thinking, and similar consequences related to excessive alcohol intake. It describes drunken behavior without moral restraint. It is ‘unbridled indulgence in a drinking party.’ Shockingly, some of the Corinthians actually got drunk at the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:21). The believer in Jesus need to take note that the Bible repeatedly warns against drunkenness (Rom. 13:13; 1 Cor. 5:11; 6:10; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:18).

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – Messiah would be stripped before the stares of men (Psalm 22:17-18)

New Testament Fulfillment – Luke 23:34-35

Did You Know…

In Matt. 14:26, the disciples screamed “It’s a ghost” when they saw something walking on the water towards them, during a storm at three in the morning, while they were rowing for their lives. This was not the first time that the disciples mistook the Lord Jesus for a ghost. When He showed up after His crucifixion, “They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost” (Luke 24:37 NIV).

Bible Quiz

How old was Abraham when Isaac was born?

**Answer to last week’s trivia: According to the Book of Acts, the title “the great power of God” was given to what man by the astonished people of Samaria? Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8:9-10).

Everyday Expressions Alluded to in the Bible

"All hope is lost”

“When she saw that she waited, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion” (Ezek. 19:5 NKJV).

“All hope is lost” - The expression “all hope is lost” carries the idea of an irreversible situation. In context, the lioness represents the nation of Israel. The first “cub” was Jehoahaz, who reigned over Judah for only three months – Pharaoh Neco took him captive to Egypt where he died (2 Ki. 23:31-35). The second “cub” was Jehoiachin, who reigned three months and ten days (Ezek. 19:5-9; 2). Nebuchadnezzar took him to Babylon along with 10,000 captives and the temple treasures, and there he died. Jehoiachin turned a deaf ear to the preaching of Jeremiah (Jer. 22:18-19). In this brief parable, the Lord made it clear that these two kings of Judah thought themselves to be great leaders, but they ignored the Word of God and He cut them down after their brief reigns.

Did You Know – Christian History

Hans Egede was born January 31, 1686 in Harstad, Norway, nearly 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle. He was a Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionary who launched missionary efforts to Greenland, which led him to be called the Apostle of Greenland.

Although a small country, Denmark was among the first Protestant countries to recognize the urgency of spreading the gospel in the 18th Century. Having founded a mission school in 1714, its leaders, led by Frederick IV, strongly supported the Greenland project. So, on May 3, 1721, Hans Egede and his wife Gertrude sailed for the inhospitable regions of Greenland, the world’s largest island. Because of its harshness, no settlement is possible except along the coasts; the interior of the island is ice-covered year round.

In 1722 Hans Egede established a successful mission among the Inuit and is credited with revitalizing Dano-Norwegian interest in the island after contact had been broken for hundreds of years. He founded Greenland’s capital Godthåb, now known as Nuuk.

From this mission base, Hans preached to the Eskimos, with limited success. A part of the problem was that superstition ran deep among the Indians. Further, there was the problem of Egede’s difficulties in mastering the Eskimo language. In spite of this, Hans attempted to produce a translation of the New Testament. Adding to all these barriers was his own temperament, which tended to be harsh and overbearing. He dearly loved the people, but like many Christians, did not know how to express this in human terms.

This changed in 1733 when a smallpox epidemic swept the island. Hans and his wife poured themselves heart and soul into caring for dying Greenlanders. Gertrude so exhausted herself in the effort that she died a short time later. Hans son Paul, raised among the Eskimos, took over the work, mastered the language, completed the translation, and witnessed revival. His father rejoiced to see him reap where he had sown.

Hans died on November 5, 1758 at the age of 72. He is somewhat a national ‘saint’ in Greenland. The town of Egedesminde commemorates him. Statues of Hans Egede stand watch over Greenland’s capital in Nuuk and outside of Frederik’s Church in Copenhagen.

A Little Humor

A husband raced into the house and said to his wife, “I have found a great job. The salary is good. It offers free medical insurance and paid holidays.” “That’s wonderful, dear,” his wife said. “I thought you would be pleased,” the husband said. “You start tomorrow.”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“What we weave in time we will wear in eternity!”