2 Peter (Program #1) – The Divine Provision (1)

It’s very interesting how Peter begins his two epistles.  The first one begins “Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ.” whereas he begins the second book “Simon Peter, a slave and a apostle of Jesus Christ.”  Simon, of course was Peter’s old name, his name before he came to the Lord Jesus.  Peter is his new name given to him directly by the Lord Himself.

In putting these two together, Peter is indicating something very marvelous about the entire book of of 2 Peter.  For this is the book showing us that under God’s ruling and under His government we see the Old Creation changed into the New Creation.  Simon fit perfectly in the Old Creation but he had to become Peter to make it in the New Creation.

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Zechariah (Program #5) – The Visions of Consolation and Promise (4)

Zechariah is full of mysterious visions revealing Christ. Listen to the first four verses from Zechariah chapter 4, “Then the angel who spoke with me returned and roused me as a a man is roused from his sleep. And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, I see that there is a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl on top of it and its seven lamps upon it, with seven pipes for each of the lamps on top of it; And there are two olive trees beside it, one to the right of the bowl and one to the left. And I answered and spoke to the angel who spoke with me saying, What are these, sir?”

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1 Peter (Program #27) – The Mighty Hand of God and Its Goal (2)

1 Peter is a book written with a specific view to God’s governmental dealing with His people.  It also lays out very clearly as God’s people we should expect sufferings and persecution from time to time in our Christian life.

But Peter did not just leave us with a sober realization that God will measure to us sufferings and trying circumstances in order to discipline us.  Actually the book opens with and concludes with grace.  In fact all throughout the book Peter encourages the believers with grace, not a superficial religious expression but marvelous expressions that convey to us four divine acts of grace to be our supply, our strength and our empowering, to be kept in perfect peace regardless of the outward situation we are faced with.

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Zechariah (Program #4) – The Visions of Consolation and Promise (3)

Zechariah chapter 3 begins with a vision of three persons standing together. The first was Joshua, the high priest of Israel; and next to him was Satan, who was accusing him and opposing him. The third person standing just before Joshua was the Angel of Jehovah. This scene is repeated nearly everyday in the life of God’s chosen ones. Revelation chapter 12 tells us that Satan, the adversary of God’s people is constantly accusing them just as he was accusing Joshua before the Lord in Zechariah 3. And here the Lord deals with Satan and Joshua is relieved, not because he wasn’t guilty but because Jehovah cleansed him and justified him. When we find ourselves being accused by the adversary, the key is to do as Joshua did – not to hide or pretend – but to rely on God’s word to deal with both adversary and all of our feelings.

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1 Peter (Program #26) – The Mighty Hand of God and Its Goal (1)

The apostle Peter says “to gird yourself with humility toward one another because God resist the proud.”  Then he says “to be humble under the mighty hand of God.”   Well, humility is a striking virtue in a Christian and genuine humility bears an unmistakable fragrance, a sweet aroma of Christ being expressed in a person’s living.  False, religious humility also carries an identifiable fragrance as well, but not one that attracts and drives man to it.  Of course the greatest humility in the universe is that of the Lord Jesus Himself who humble Himself for our benefits, putting off His own glory and even becoming a slave for us.  God’s desire today is not for us to try to imitate such humility but rather to submit ourselves to His mighty hands, receiving Him not only as our Savior from sin but even as our humility.

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Zechariah (Program #3) – The Visions of Consolation and Promise (2)

Zechariah chapter 2 is one of the mysterious chapters in the Bible and to be sure the book of Zechariah is considered quite mysterious by many, if not most believers. A man with a measuring line appears in verse 1 and this man is measuring Jerusalem. Then, Jehovah declares that He will be the glory within Jerusalem and the fire round about her protecting the city and His people and its inhabitants. All of this is against the backdrop of the previous seventy years of history where Jehovah seemingly was silent and inactive. What has caused the Lord to rise up and take such an active and vigorous stand on behalf of His people?  The answer is clear – His people has returned from captivity in Babylon and they are re-inhabiting Jerusalem and Jehovah is re-inhabiting His house, the temple.

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1 Peter (Program #25) – The Elders’ Shepherding and Its Reward (2)

We all know that Peter was first a disciple of the Lord Jesus.  A disciple is a follower, a learner.  Then Peter received the commission from the Lord and became chief among the apostles.  An apostle in the New Testament is a sent one.  It’s in this capacity that Peter is most often referred to.  But in addition to being a disciple and an apostle, Peter was also an elder of the church in Jerusalem.  It is in this status as an elder that Peter writes to the other elders in his first epistle.

Elders are the overseers of the church and as Paul also tells us, these are the leading ones who has been charged by the Lord with a solemn and sober responsibility to care for His most precious possessions, that is His people, the flock of God.  It’s in this charge that Peter brings the attention of all the elders past, present and future that their responsibility must extend even to the risk of their own lives.

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Zechariah (Program #2) – The Visions of Consolation and Promise (1)

The New Testament tells us that Christ today is in the heavens as the Great High Priest interceding always for us continually before the throne of God. For all of us as believers, this is the most encouraging and comforting realization of Christ. But interestingly, this aspect of His ministry can be seen not just in the New Testament book of Hebrews but also in the Old Testament visions of the prophet Zechariah. In fact, the book of Zechariah is full of visions that reveal Christ in His sweet comfort, care and encouragement for His suffering people.

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1 Peter (Program #24) – The Elders’ Shepherding and Its Reward (1)

Peter, we all know was one of the original disciples of the Lord Jesus.   He also became an apostle and was very much used by the Lord to bring the church into being in both the Jewish world and the gentile world.  But in addition, he was the elder in Jerusalem.  It was on this basis that he wrote personally to all the elders in various churches in chapter 5 of his first epistle.  His words of exhortation surely were helpful in instructing the elders of various matters concerning how to govern the church.  But if you consider his own life and experience, they are also words of tremendous inspiration as well.

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Zechariah (Program #1) – An Introductory Word

During the days of the degradation of the house of Israel, God’s word was primarily limited to his overcomers, the prophets, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah. But as the people’s hearts began to turn back to the Lord, other prophets were still needed to bear Jehovah’s testimony and to release His speaking for His people in that age to accomplish His purpose and plan. Among these prophets were Haggai and Zechariah who shared in the captivity of Israel in Babylon but who were raised up by the Lord to accompany His people back to Judah and to encourage and exhort them to go back and rebuild the temple of Jehovah within Jerusalem.

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