“From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. Yahweh our God delivered up all before us” (Deut. 2:36).
With a shock, you remember past victories. He has already begun a good work in you. You believed and the Lord delivered. A fresh insight is gained over an earlier victory. You didn’t do it, but the Lord did. You claimed the promise and the Lord followed through.
Continue readingChapter 2 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)
Let Truth Abide in You (Moody) “2:24-26. To protect their relationship with God, the readers have an objective (v. 24) and subjective (2:27) safeguard.” Objective: to remain “in the truth of the incarnation” and “realize eternal life.” Subjective: “the anointing of the Holy Spirit.”
Continue reading“Yahweh said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you. Begin to possess, that you may inherit his land.’ ” (Deut. 2:31).
The flesh can say no to cigarettes and alcohol and reform external behaviors so they fall within the local community’s standards. But you can’t see the rebellion against God in the flesh. It took God to point out to the Israelites Sihon as the enemy to remove from the land. We wage an inner battle, and a Christian can fight this war only with the Spirit’s leading. You may know this leading through a nudge in the Word or an event that brings questions to your mind.
Continue readingChapter 2 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)
Deceptions of the Last Hour
v. 18, Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “The false teachers who were present were worldly to the core.” John warns the readers to keep alert regarding members of the church, for “Antichrist … would display his traits of hostility toward god’s Christ.”
Continue reading“But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as it is today” (Deut. 2:30).
Sin in the flesh is obstinate, firmly set against God. We can’t reform it. It can’t be fixed. No negotiating is possible. Only a new creation makes it possible for a greater power to overcome it.
Continue readingChapter 2 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)
Do Not Love the World
v. 15, Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.
(FSB) “2:15-17 In these verses, John exhorts believers to oppose the values of the evil one. He also remind his audience that those who love and obey God have the gift of eternal life.”
(Bible Knowl Comm NT) The world “as an entity hostile to God… is always a seductive influence which Chrisian should continually resist. … The world competes for the love of Christians and one cannot both love it and the Father at the same time.”
(Cultural) “God summoned Israel to love him and be consecrated as holy to him, rather than following the pagan values of the nations around them (Lev 20:23-26; Dt 18:9). Likewise, Jesus’ followers must avoid any values in their cultures that conflict with his interests.” (Life) “2:15-16 Worldliness is also internal because it begins in the heart and is characterized by three attitudes. … When the serpent tempted eve (Genesis 3:6), he tempted her in these areas. Also, when the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, these were his three areas of attack (see Matthew 4:1-11). … Do your actions reflect the world’s values or God’s values?”
Continue reading“Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle” (Deut. 2:24). The Lord named the names of the kings they were to defeat. You are reading the Word or hearing its message. The sharp, two-edged sword of the Word revealed the enemy in your soul (Hebrews 4:12). The Lord brought a problem to mind and named it. The Lord indicated what to work on next. You have your marching orders.
Continue readingWhat is the life of faith in the disciple of Christ? Faith is always centered on Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The work of God the Spirit is to bring us to believe in Jesus and to keep us believing. How important is this faith? “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). If we are Spirit-led believers of Jesus, we want to please the Lord at all times. (If we are not, we want to please ourselves.)
Continue readingChapter 2 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)
v. 5, But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:
(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “…obedience to God’s Word (‘His commands,’) v. 3) results in a rich and full experience of God’s love: God’s love is truly made complete in him. …an obedient believer has a deep full-orbed acquaintance with ‘God’s love.’ ”
(Moody) “perfected” = “matures. … Love for God expresses itself in obeying His commands.”
(Vincent’s II) “Keepeth His word. Note the changed phrase: word for commandments. The word is the revelation regarded as a whole, which includes all the separate commandments or injunctions.” “Is the love of God perfected. … the obedient child of God is characterized, not by any representative trait or quality of his own personality, but merely as the subject of the work of divine love…” “The phrase the love of God … It is not possible to settle the point decisively, but I incline to the view that the fundamental idea of the love of God as expounded by John is the love which God has made known and which answer to His nature. … This interpretation does not exclude man’s love to God. On the contrary, it includes it. The love which God has is revealed as the love of God in the love of His children toward Him, no less than in His manifestations of love to them. The idea of divine love is thus complex. Love, in its very essence, is reciprocal. The perfect ideal requires two parties.” Footnote: “the genitive case, of God, of the Father, represents God as the subject of the emotion.” (Cultural) “obeys his word. To do so had always been a way of showing love for God.”
Continue reading“They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, ‘It is a good land which Yahweh our God gives to us’ ” (Deut. 1:25). Moses here is reminding the Israelites of the good reports from those who spied out the land. Now you have the promise of the God who cannot lie. “It is a good land the Lord our God is giving us.” It is worth the effort. The seed falling into the ground sprouts something beautiful in its place. The grub spinning a cocoon tomb emerges as a thing of beauty to soar on gossamer wings.
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