-------------------------<BrethrenVoice>------------------------- [which seeks to be guided solely by the NT Biblical pattern, facilitates free flow of Christian info. To God be the glory!] [eMail Moderator: ben@...] [<GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> archives/read online: http://associate.com/groups/brethrenvoice/ezmlm.cgi] <GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> <30 December 2002> Contents: ---------- 1) <Devotional> "Instincts for God” - Ravi Zacharias 2) <Bible-Study> "Ruth the Moabitess" (Pt-1/10)-Charles Wigg 3) <Prophecy> "The Redeemer's Return" (Pt-113) - A.W.Pink 1) <DEVOTIONAL> <SLICE-OF-INFINITY> "INSTINCTS FOR GOD" Ravi Zacharias On an international flight, after waiting 5 long hours for takeoff, a voice announced that the flight was cancelled. A young girl, no older than 10, cupped her face with her hands, visibly deflated by this news. In broken English, a woman nearby tried to comfort her. Apparently, the child had written an essay that had won an award, which promised a week at space camp. Traveling alone, for her news of the cancelled flight meant an evening far from home, alone in a foreign city and one less day of the much-anticipated camp. As the story was slowly drawn out, listeners around the cabin responded instinctively. A man provided a cell phone for her to call home, a young mother offered to help her get to the hotel, and a flight attendant sat down beside her and offered to stay with her for the night, bringing her back for the next day's flight. I wonder, what is it that pulls us toward goodness in such a scene? When perfect strangers reach out as if instinctively, shouldn't we pause to ask about that instinct? When we see ourselves moving toward something as with a need, would it not follow that we have been made to know this need? Perhaps it is instinctive because in us has been placed that moral compass. The business world vividly portrays the effects of blurred good and collapsing morality. Mistrust brews deeper each day with news of corporate fraud and insider information. A national radio program recently ran a segment discussing one company's efforts with "ethics rehabilitation" classes, classes meant to re-instill ethics essential for effective business. I was fascinated by this call to morality even across a medium that daily chips away the idea of a moral law and a moral lawgiver. What is it within us that intuitively knows the need for morality? What is it that sees a need to recognize right and wrong, good and evil? Why this longing for the good? In a letter to the Hebrews, the writer, talking to the community of faith, talks of those who see the invisible. You see, this inward groaning for good, our need for a moral law, is hope for what we were made to see. Recognition of the good points us to the God who first saw things good. We were made to know a moral law because we were made by the moral Lawgiver. He who has given you and me the instinct to know good is Goodness Himself. Knowing God is to know the truest good of all. ---- Copyright (p)(c) 2001 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. A Slice of Infinity is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries _______________________________________________________________________ 2) <BIBLE-STUDY> " RUTH THE MOABITESS" (PART-1 OF 10) Charles E. Wigg The book of Ruth is a very attractive little book, coming where it does in between the book of Judges, with its sad decline, and the book of First Samuel, which shows us the revival that came out of that decline. The introduction is very moving, because it all happened "in the days when the Judges ruled". This is most encouraging because it shows how that God is still working, no matter how bad things appear publicly. He is working in the most unlikely places, and through the most unlikely people. The end result of His working, is worship for Himself from the hearts of those that love Him. And the exaltation of Christ, great David's greater Son. THE BACKGROUND This beautiful story is set against a background of dismal failure. The book of Judges ends on a tragic note. "There was no king in Israel; and every man did what was right in his own eyes", This is a state of total anarchy, because what was right in the eyes of those that were living at a distance from God, would differ from person to person. What was right to one would be wrong to another, and vice versa. There is only one standard of absoluteness in this regard, and that is the word of God. It is in that book that we have a clear demarcation of good and evil. However in the days of the Judges, the law was ignored, or forgotten. God had told His people that they were not to have a king like the nations. He was to be their King, and they were to be ruled by His word. But both God and His word were ignored, and the result was disaster. God had to teach His people that He was the source of their blessing. That every good and perfect gift came down from above, from Him in whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17. It was quite simple for God to teach His people this; all He had to do was to shut up the heavens; to allow famine to develop. [To be concluded] --- [Reproduced with permission] _____________________________________________________________________ 3) <PROPHECY> "THE REDEEMER'S RETURN" (PART-113) THE MILLENNIUM IN RELATION TO ISRAEL (PART 4 OF 5) Arthur W. Pink .... With the restored and re-united twelve tribes God will make a new covenant--"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer. 31:31-45; cf. 32:37-40; Is. 59:20, 21). Early in the Millennium Jerusalem will be rebuilt: "Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be builded upon her own little hill, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof" (Jer. 30:18, cf. 31:38-40). Furthermore, the Temple itself will be re-built, built under the immediate supervision of the Lord Himself--"Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the Temple of the Lord: Even He shall build the Temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both** and they that are far off shall come and build in the Temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent Me unto you" (Zech. 6:12-15). This Temple, which is fully described in Ezekiel 40 and 41; will be an imposing structure of vast dimensions, upwards of a mile in extent. The Shekinah Glory shall enter it and from it radiate the whole earth--"And, behold, the Glory of the God of Israel (i.e., the Shekinah Glory, see 11:23), came from the way of the east: and His voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with His glory" (Ezek. 43:2). The Old Testament ritual (with a few minor modifications) will be employed in this re-built Temple--see Ezek. 46 etc.--and as of old the sacrifices and feasts were anticipative, so those offered up and celebrated in the Millennium will be commemorative. During the Millennium the land of Palestine will be apportioned equally among the Twelve Tribes--see Ezek. 47 and 48--and upon thrones shall sit the twelve apostles judging the twelve tribes of Israel--"And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed Me; in The Regeneration (i.e., the Millennium) when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. 19:28). Apparently, it was to this Isaiah referred to when he wrote--"Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment" (Is. 32:1). [To be concluded] ---------------------------<BrethrenVoice>--------------------------- Subscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-subscribe@...> Unsubscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-unsubscribe@...> FAQs/Faith Statement, eMail: <brethrenvoice-faq@...> <BrethrenVoice> Home: www.brethrenvoice.net <eFellowship> Home: http://groups.msn.com/BrethrenChristiansForum/ "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith." 2 Cor 13:5 "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Jn 8:32 _________________________________________________________