Your eternal word, O Lord, stands firm in heaven. Your faithfulness extends to every generation, as enduring as the earth you created. [Psalm 119:89-90 (NLT)]
The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. [Isaiah 40:8 (NLT)]
It really wasn’t that long ago when people had to get off the sofa to change channels (of which there just were four) and the only thing our watches did was tell time. I remember a world of rotary phones and party lines, rabbit ear antennas, cameras with film that had to be developed, telegrams, film strips and slide projectors, manual typewriters, encyclopedias, 8-track and cassette tapes, and library card catalogues! Today’s generation doesn’t even know what those things are!
My children think I’m old-fashioned since neither Amazon Echo nor Goggle Nest run my home, my doorbell isn’t smart, and I play CDs rather than stream Spotify. I’m not a total Luddite since I do have an iPad, computer, and iPhone but, while I shop and bank online, I don’t do social media like Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, FaceBook/Meta, LinkedIn, Snapchat, or Whatsapp or whatever else there is.
It’s hard to keep up with the rapidly changing world of computing and electronic devices and, while my new phone and tablet were ready for the 5G rollout, my 3G car isn’t! Just about the time I finally catch up, the technology has become obsolete and I have to start all over! When I went to school, there was only one “Industrial Revolution” (the one between 1760-1840 when we went from an agricultural/handicraft economy into one of power-driven machinery and factories). The world is moving at such an incredible pace that I missed the second and third industrial revolutions entirely only to discover that we’re now in the fourth one. Called Industry 4.0 (or IR4) it has to do with automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies, cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, cognitive computing, and creating smart factories, most of which is beyond my comprehension.
In a world that is ever-changing and becoming harder to understand (at least for me), there’s something very comforting about the Bible. Even though I can read it on any of my devices, the words I’m reading haven’t changed in thousands of years because our God doesn’t change! He is the same today as He was yesterday, and will be tomorrow. There will be no need for Gospel 2.0 because God’s Word is perfect as written, is as relevant today as when it first was penned, and God’s promises have no expiration date.
While I find the permanence and immutability of Scripture comforting, there are others who find it disquieting because God’s words don’t fit into their view of the modern world. To them, the Bible is rigid, unenlightened, antiquated, and in need of some tweaking, reinterpreting, and revising to bring it into line with the 21st century. Unlike technology, however, God’s words can’t be improved.
Peter wrote that God’s word is alive, powerful, and like a sword, because it can reach into our deepest thoughts. What he didn’t say was that it’s revisable! Nevertheless, when our deepest thoughts don’t match God’s word, we grow uncomfortable and wish it were. Jesus told us He was the way, the truth and the life. The truth, however, doesn’t change when it is more convenient to believe something else! The truth isn’t what we want it to be; it is what God says it is. We are not the ones who should be changing the Bible; the Bible should be changing us!
The world changes – circumstances change, we change – but God’s Word never changes. [Warren Wiersbe]
To some people, today is known as Groundhog Day but, because it is the fortieth day after Christmas, many Christians know it as Candlemas, the Presentation of our Lord, or the Purification of Mary. According to Mosaic law, the mother of a boy child was considered “unclean” for seven days following the birth of her child. She then had to wait another 33 days to be purified from her bleeding before she could enter the Temple. (If she bore a girl child, her purification time was doubled.) Once a woman’s time of purification was over, she was to come to the Temple and offer up a sacrifice of both a lamb and a pigeon or turtledove. If the family couldn’t afford the lamb, a turtledove or pigeon could be substituted. Forty days after Jesus’ birth, in fulfillment of this law, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to make their offering and present their son to the Lord.
Nowadays, we tend to think of “religion” as the institutionalized system of religious principles, beliefs, ceremonies, and practices to which we’re committed. The religion of which James spoke, however, isn’t limited to things like denomination or synod, liturgy, traditions, rituals, or special observances. Religion, as used by James, is the belief in, service to, and worship of God and encompasses our entire being. The ERV’s translation as “worship,” the NIRV’s as “beliefs and way of life,” the NTE’s and CEB’s of “devotion,” and even the Passion’s translation as “true spirituality” better capture James’ meaning. He is telling us that real religion is our way of life—the way we express our devotion to God hour after hour, day after day, in all that we think, speak, and do.
The church in which I was raised recited a general confession during each service and I sometimes wondered why we bothered to confess. I reasoned that, since God sees everything we do, He already knows what sinners we are and what sins we’ve committed so why bother to tell Him what He already knows? Eventually, I understood that, while God knows what we’ve done wrong, He wants us to know it, too. Until we repent, how can we be redeemed? Until we acknowledge our guilt, how can we be pardoned? We must admit why we need forgiveness before we can accept it.
A friend asked if I thought a popular evangelist was a “false teacher.” Like many popular preachers, the man’s message is appealing: love, joy, praise, prosperity and plenty of positive thinking. His words are as pleasant as a mockingbird’s song but, upon closer inspection, he seems to be as dangerous as Paul’s “vicious wolves.” Parts of his message are unsupported by Biblical truth while other essential truths are missing. Jesus certainly didn’t win a popularity contest in the 1st century and I’m a bit suspicious of those preachers who seem more concerned with entertainment, popularity, wealth, and fame than gospel truth.
God directed Moses to build Him a miqdâsh, a sanctuary or sacred place. That there are 50 chapters of Scripture devoted to its construction tells us that it was of great importance to the Israelites. At first, this sanctuary was the holy tent known as the Tabernacle and, once completed, Scripture tells us the glory of the Lord filled it. In Solomon’s day, God’s sanctuary became the Temple in Jerusalem where it became the center of worship. Jewish law even demanded that every man had to make a pilgrimage to the Temple three times a year.
