Two Simple Words: I Am

I Am - two simple words.    Yesterday I was waiting for our local news to start and caught the last couple of minutes of Dr. Phil's show with Joel Osteen on it promoting his book regarding I am.   In looking up a review for the book online today, it seems to me that that Mr. Osteen's book is about positive thinking - I am this, I am that, I am (put in the word of your choice).
However,  the words "I am" are very precious in the bible, the word of God.  How are the words "I am" used there?  here are a very few and these all speak of deity:

Genesis 17:1 "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect"

Exodus 3:14 "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you."

Exodus 20:2 "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

What does the Lord Jesus say about himself?

John 6:35 "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."

John 8:58 "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."

John 9:5 "......................I am the light of the world"

John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."

And what do men say about themselves using "I am" in the bible?

Psalm 6:2 "Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed."

Psalm 40:17 "But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God"

Psalm 119:141 "I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts."

Note that  none of the verses quoted above regarding what men say about themselves are lifting themselves up in a positive way, but they know that there hope is in the Lord, not in themselves.

Therefore, rather you should say, I am a sinner, and I need the Saviour, and then repent and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ who will save your soul.   All the positive thinking in the world will not  bring you to heaven, if you do not recognize your need of the Saviour, and repent of your sins, you are condemned to that place of torment.  The choice is yours.

Bible Men: Elijah and the Still Small Voice

Elijah and the Still Small Voice

1 Kings 19:1-18

The still small voice is one of the most precious events in the life of Elijah, it came at a time when he was very depressed, a time so many can relate to.

In my previous posts concerning Elijah, we read of King Ahab.  His wife was named Jezebel, who was a very wicked woman.  She worshipped the "gods" and was dominant over her husband.  Jezebel heard how Elijah had confronted the prophets of Baal and how he had slain all of them afterwards. 1 Kings 19:2 "Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, so let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time."  Those were very foolish words from Jezebel as time would tell..

 I have heard it said that Elijah was fearful and that's why he "arose and went for his life, and came to Beersheba..and left his servant there"(1 Kings 19:3) In thinking about this verse now, I would rather apply Proverbs 16:9 "A man's heart deviseth his way, but the LORD directeth his steps." We will see that the LORD had a wonderful lesson for Elijah, which he would only learn when he was by himself.  Beersheba belonged to Judah, the part of the nation of Israel that served the LORD, the God of Israel.  After leaving his servant there, Elijah went on himself another day's journey into the wilderness, where he "sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die;and said "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers." (V4)  Sometimes we may feel like dying too, when it seems that things are so against us, that it is better to be with the Lord..   It is notable here that Elijah "lay and slept under a juniper tree" (V6) To me that says that Elijah had put forth his request,  and then left the matter in the  will of the LORD, and so should we also.

Morning Light in Mossy Trees, and Genesis 3:8

This photo was taken on the path to a place called Sandy Pools at the Cowichan River.  The trees are covered in a moss, and looks rather primeval to me.  I chose Genesis 3:8 as the verse because to me the sunlight pictures the Lord God and the shadows picture Adam and the Woman hiding themselves after their sin.  They who had enjoyed being in God's presence now were compelled to hide, knowing that they had been disobedient.

Bible Women: The Woman Eve

Genesis 2:20 - 4:25

How many times we have heard mention of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and of the apple and the fall of man. Yet the truth is that Eve is not called Eve until Genesis 3:20 "And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living" before that she is called Woman.  The word apple is never mentioned.  It is called "fruit" Genesis 3:2-3 "...We may eat of the fruit of the trees....." "But of the fruit of the tree ....." Changing the Woman to Eve too soon, and changing fruit to apple may seem insignificant, yet they change the word of God, and changing the word of God is the basis for Woman's downfall.  The history of that downfall is deception, altering the word of God, recognition that something has changed, lost fellowship with God, blame, and then that most blessed, reconciliation with God through His grace and mercy, and not Adam and the woman’s works.  Yet there are consequences to pay, which continue to this day. Because of the disobedience of Adam, sin has passed to every man, Romans 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned;" and because sin entered this world, we can only have forgiveness of sin and fellowship with God through the shed blood of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:24 "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." 1 Peter 1:18-19 "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."

The history of Eve begins in Genesis 2:16.  The Lord has put Adam in the Garden of Eden to care for it, and he is given only one command Genesis 2:16-17 "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" This demands obedience, and Adam will be tested on what God said.  In Gen. 2:20, after naming all the animals and birds, Adam has found that in all creation, only he is without a helpmeet. Then 2:21  the intervention of God, Adam is put into a deep sleep, one of his ribs is removed, and in Gen 2:22 "..the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man". Adam is created from the dust of the ground, but the woman was made from his body, and for what purpose? Genesis 2:23-24 is the answer " ...This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."  The Woman is his counterpart, and they two were made to be together.  This is the definitive answer to homosexuality.  God created the man and woman. Not the man and the man, nor the woman and the woman. Genesis 2:25 shows their purity. "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." They lived a beautiful, perfect life in fellowship with their Creator.

Abel and Cain

Genesis 4: 1-17

Cain and Abel are studies in contrasts of the human nature, Abel was a worshipper, Cain was one who sought the acceptance of God by his works.  And so it is today, nothing has changed.

It is important to mention here that the parents of Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden of Eden because of their disobedience of the LORD God's command to Adam not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.   They are now in a sinful state, they make coverings for themselves with fig leaves (Gen 3:7) but God in his mercy, provided a covering for them, animal skins, which necessitated the slaying of an animal. (Gen 3:21) Thus we know that it is not by the works of our hands that we are acceptable to God.  He provides the way, by the shedding of blood without which there is no remission of sins,  it is only by faith in this sacrifice that we are acceptable.  To Adam and Eve, it was by the blood of an animal, but for us today, it is through the shed precious blood of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so after being driven out Gen 4:1 tells us that "Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said I have gotten a man from the Lord."  Maybe Eve thought that this was the promised deliverer of Gen 3:15.  Gen 4:2 tells us "she again bare his brother Abel."  Some people think that Cain and Abel were twins because "again" here  is a different Hebrew word than "again" in Gen 4:25.   In any event, Verse 2 tells us "Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground." Interesting here that Abel's name is given first, and regarding that little word "but"  when it appears like this, problems are sure to follow.

Gen 4:3 "In process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD..." there was a place "Cain brought the fruit" and there was a time "in process of time" where an offering was to be made to the LORD God.  And it is here that the complete difference between Cain and Abel is seen.  Gen 4:4 "And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof...."

Just as the LORD God provided coverings of animal skins to his parents, Abel brought "the firstlings" and as he was a keeper of sheep (V2), this would be a lamb,  a type of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.   The firstlings means that this was the very best of his flock.   But Cain chose to bring the fruit of the ground, the works of his hands, and at that, not even the best but just "of" the fruit of the ground"    He chose his way instead of God's way, even though God had cursed the ground for the sin of Adam. (Gen 3:17  "..cursed is the ground for thy sake..") and the result? Gen 4:4-5 "And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had no respect.  And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell."

Hebrews 11:4  "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous..."  Hebrews 11:6  "but without faith it is impossible to please Him..."   Matthew 23:35 calls Abel "righteous Abel" his heart was righteous, and the omniscient Lord knew that the heart of Cain was not righteous.   The fact that Cain became very angry when God did not accept his offering, goes to show that it was not offered in faith,  for if it were by faith, he would not have become angry.   Cain lacked humility but was confident in himself.

Gen 4:6 "And the LORD said unto Cain, why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If you doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door..."   Cain is given opportunity to repent of his anger and bring the proper offering, but also given a warning that if he does not repent, sin is awaiting..  1 Peter 5:8  "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"

Bible Men: Jonah, Part 3 - Jonah Obeys God

Jonah - Part 3

Jonah obeys God, goes to Nineveh and learns more lessons.

For previous studies on Jonah 1 go here, for Jonah 2 go here.

In Jonah 2 we learned how Jonah was swallowed by the great fish, whom the Lord Jesus called a whale, that the LORD had prepared for this task.  We learned how Jonah came to the end of himself, and prayed to the LORD his God.  We learned how Jonah made that great statement "Salvation is of the LORD." and how the LORD spoke to the fish, and Jonah was vomited onto dry land.  We don't know if Jonah's appearance was altered or not,  the bible is silent on this point, so I will not speculate.

And so again  3:1 "the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time saying Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee." This time Jonah is obedient.  He went to Nineveh "according to the word of the LORD"  V3 also tells us that Nineveh "was an exceeding great city of three days' journey."   This does not mean that Nineveh was three days away from Jonah, for the next verse tells us "And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said,  V4 "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."  It took three days to walk through the city of Nineveh, so great a city was it, it was filled with wickedness, and for three days Jonah walked through the city preaching God's message V4 "yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown..

Jonah - Part 1- Chosen by God to go to Nineveh, and His Attempt to Flee

Jonah - Part 1

chosen by God to go to Nineveh, and his attempt to flee

Jonah 1:1-16

Jonah is one of my favorite Bible men, probably because I have a flight response like Jonah, and can relate to him.

Jonah was a prophet,  inspired and instructed to announce future events.  But Jonah was a reluctant prophet, or at least in this instance he was.  He was the son of Amittai, from Gathhepher (2 Kings 14:25) which was in Galilee.  Jonah was chosen by God to go to Nineveh to cry against it, and tell them that in 40 days, the city would be overthrown (3:4) This was a great city that was filled with wickedness.  Jonah was not willing to go to a heathen city, he did not understand why the LORD would want to show mercy to a gentile city  1 Chronicles 16:34 “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.” Psalm 86:15 “But thou , O LORD, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.”  Psalm 103:8 “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.”

 Jonah 1:2  the Lord tells Jonah to “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it for their wickedness is come up before me." Jonah does not want to go to Nineveh, and he desires to run from the presence of the LORD, an impossible task. "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" (Psalm 139:7) And so V3 "Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD".

But V4 "the LORD sent o ut a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken." This might wind was much like Euroclydon  in  Acts 27:14 “But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.”, or the great wind on the sea of Galilee when the Lord Jesus was sleeping in the boat. Matthew 8:24 “and, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep”.  Jonah is sleeping too, not aware that the great storm was near to destroying the boat.  But we know that the LORD holds everything in His hands, and He had a plan for Jonah.