The victory of an ancient king points forward to the greatest victory of all time

The Israelites were weeping because they feared having to surrender to the Ammonites who had besieged their city. King Saul hears about their situation. He comes to fight against the Ammonites and wins a great victory over them which frees the city.

The key to understanding this story is in the last 2 verses. The prophet Samuel takes the people to the city of Gilgal to ‘renew the kingdom’. We are then told that they offered sacrifices to the Lord and rejoiced. This is a reminder of the victory that Jesus has won for His people over the enemy called ‘sin’ ……  the wrong things that we think, say and do. He won this victory for every believer through the sacrifice of Himself on the cross.

    

Many people know about the gospel. That the word means ‘good news’ and that it is something which Christians believe and want to tell others about. Very few people, however, really grasp the wonder of the message. The New Testament book of Romans, otherwise known as Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, shows the ‘how’ of the gospel …… how this free gift was achieved by Jesus through the cross ….. how people were saved before He came …. how to respond to this ‘good news’ by trusting,  by not boasting and by living right.

There are many ways in which people try to justify themselves. It can be the things a person accomplished ….. work success, important positions, athletic achievements. It can be possessions or relationships. But the gospel is entirely different. It does not require anyone to try to justify themselves. It ‘justifies the one who has faith in Jesus’. Its all about what HE accomplished at the cross as a substitute. In this way it can be offered to people who are poor or rich, people who are from all nationalities and all ages. It sets a person free and is truly ‘good news’.

   The law does not provide acceptance but shows us why we must have it.

The early church in Rome was made up of believers from two very different backgrounds. Some had been brought up as Jews …… others had not. There were tensions between the two groups and so the apostle Paul wrote a pastoral letter to the church. In this letter he explains what they have in common, which is the essential thing …… both groups of believers have been made right with God by trusting in Jesus Christ.

This would have raised a question for those with a Jewish background. What about God’s Law summarized in the Ten Commandments? They had been trained to obey this Law. The non-Jews had not. Paul uses two illustrations by way of an answer. The first one is from marriage. It shows that people must be released from trying to be made right with God by how well they keep the Law (the first husband). They must only rely on what Jesus (the second husband) has accomplished for them. This is received by faith, not anything a person does or does not do.

The second illustration is about a very troubled person. This further shows that trying to obey the Law cannot make someone right with God. This is even though the Law is good and alerts people to those things in them which are wrong. They must only trust in Jesus otherwise there will be divided loyalties which cause a conflict within the person.

Zion, the heavenly city, will include peoples from all backgrounds and nations

For those who become citizens of Zion there must be a change of loyalty. For Christians, God alone has founded their city and He loves it. Jerusalem in Israel points to Zion but is not Zion. In Zion the gates are always open and people come into the city by grace.

This city is worth giving up everything for. It is an amazing picture of pagan nations who have given up everything in order to be citizens of Zion …. people who are ‘born’ in her. Zion herself gives birth to these people through faith in the gospel.

In this passage is also an invitation to celebrate our new citizenship in heaven. Every Sunday God’s people are celebrating how they have become citizens of God’s kingdom. The only criterion of membership is faith in Jesus Christ.

Encouragement in times of suffering

The book of Revelation for most is a mystery … the book where they try to crack the code. So what do you do with this book. Well, first and foremost, it is a letter with echoes from the beginning to the end. It is a pastoral letter to encourage God’s people in a time of persecution and suffering. But what about its relevance for today? It is both for now and it is also a book of prophecy.

Apocalyptic images contained in the book are not to be taken literally. It is not a puzzle book to be solved but a picture book to give encouragement. It is a blessing … but only if we take what it offers to us. In Chapter 1 we find that Jesus is the ruler over all God’s creation echoing what he said … ‘I am the Alpha and Omega.’ He is also the one who has freed his people from their sins by his blood. What was once applied to Israel is now applied to the church.

The apostles did not draw back from spreading the gospel message

The apostles, those who had been with Jesus, got into strife by mentioning something the authorities did not want to hear … Jesus’ resurrection. They remained unapologetic. We too live in an age when the gospel is not well received. In this passage, John and Peter are an example of what followers of Jesus can say in the face of opposition. It is also important to refer to what is said elsewhere in Scripture that, if Christ is not risen we are still in our sins.

We need to remember that it was Jesus who healed the man who was crippled, not Peter and John. Getting this wrong is to misunderstand the gospel. There is no other way of salvation than Jesus death on the cross. Anything else is by our name and cannot save us from our sins. Courage and conviction in the stewardship of the gospel message comes about through faith in Jesus Christ, the One who died to save us and then rose again from the dead.

We can be distracted by looking in the wrong direction

In this passage we see the danger of being captivated by the miracle of a lame man being healed instead of seeing him as a pointer to Jesus. Peter asks about the healing ‘why does this surprise you’.  If they had been paying attention to all that had taken place before they would have understood why it was all about Jesus. People reject Jesus because of ignorance. They don’t realize who He really is.

Jesus is described as holy (without sin) and righteous … the author of life and salvation, which are received by the ‘hand’ of faith. His death was not a defeat but a victory which leads people to repentance (turning back to God). His dying and coming back to life brings release from the guilt laden prison of our own wickedness when we turn to Him and it is never to late to turn to Jesus.

Blindness is not restricted to the physical realm

In this passage we find a man who was blind. His only option was to beg for what he needed. It is tempting to just ignore people like this but Peter and John looked straight at him. The healing of this man’s blindness is a reminder that we all have a form of blindness. We are blind to spiritual realities … that we are sinners and need a saviour. Jesus opens our eyes to see our true condition. He looked straight at our need and was brutally killed to meet it.

Jesus still heals even though He is no longer here on earth physically and often brings healing as a result of the prayers of His people. Praising Jesus is what results from this beautiful gate miracle in our own lives when our eyes are opened to find our sins forgiven through the cross. This then has an effect on other people. We want to share this good news with them so that they also may truly see Him.

A different ending from a misguided beginning

There is often a lot of debate about who is wrong and who is right. It can lead to legal battles and sometimes even violence. It even goes to the question of our identity. We like to think of ourselves as always being in the right.

This passage, however, tells a completely different story. It begins by showing that no-one, in and of themselves, is right in God’s sight. The Jews thought that they were in a secure position because of being Abraham’s descendants and also because of their relationship to God’s law. The passage though goes on to say that ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

When it comes to our standing before God, there is only one way that anyone can be declared to have right-ness and that is not because of who they are or what they have done. It can only ever be because of what Jesus has done on the cross. By this atonement God can declare sinners, who trust in Jesus, righteous and in doing this also remain just Himself.

A different perspective on genealogy can lead us into very profound territory.

There is a TV show which has the name ‘Who do you think you are?’ It is concerned with the modern interest in genealogy … searching for those of previous generations in our family line. This passage, however, is about a different version of the same question which occurred in response to Jesus’ activities.

Jesus upset the Jewish people, and especially the leaders, with what he said about his identity … that he has come to offer eternal life. How will this be done? In a totally unexpected way, through the cross. Our response to Jesus, the son, shows our attitude to God.

Jesus shocks the people again at the end of the passage. He tells them clearly of his equality with God. They responded to this claim by picking up rocks to stone him to death. The bigger question for us is ‘who do we think Jesus is?’