JESUS in COLORFUL CAPITAL LETTERS!

Quick review! We have learned that Jesus is the rock, the very cornerstone of our faith, the foundation of our temple.We have seen God pour forth water from the rock in the wilderness and provide us with Jesus, the Living Water. We noted that the temple was built on a rock outcropping used for threshing wheat. Wheat is used to make flour necessary for baking bread, and Jesus is the bread of life. We have learned that He desires for us (His children) to be salt to the world to make it thirsty for Him, and a light to the world to reflect all the God-colors of His love. Building our temple seems to come through obedience. He expected it of Abraham, Moses, David, and Solomon, and He expects it of us. Allow me to share a story that I believe will enlighten us. 

God expects much from us, because the world expects much from us. October 2002 my husband and I traveled with friends to Vermont expecting to be greeted by a glorious display of God's artwork in the vibrant color drenched autumn foliage for which He is so famous. What we found were trees whose leaves were turning brown and falling to the ground, but very little of the palette we had anticipated. While we were exploring a little woodcrafter,s gallery, the owner began to share with us about how long he had lived in the area -- 37 years -- and how he believed this was the worst fall season for color he had ever seen. They just had no rain all summer and the leaves were dying and falling off. We had not even mentioned our disappointment. We were oohing and aahing over his sleighs, tiny wooden jigsaw puzzles and other fine hand crafted wood items. He seemed to feel a need to share his sadness that his little part of the world wasn't showing off for its residents or anyone else.

As I was writing the last few posts, I was reminded of that little scene in that carpenter's shop. God brought to mind that when the world looks at Christians they are expecting to see a beautiful radiance of God-colors in our lives just as we had expected to see it in Vermont's fall foliage. Romans 8:19 (NASB) "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." The world longs to see something in us that stands out, shows off, and says JESUS to them in all COLORFUL CAPITAL LETTERS. This Scripture from Romans implies its deep disappointment when those God-colors are not evident in us. What I realized is that the foundation for the palette of vivid hues to be displayed in the autumn trees is rain water during the growing season. If we are going to display the intense hues of His very glory and presence within us to the world that is watching and looking for it, we are going to need to have growing seasons with ample supplies of Living Water.

I believe we are only going to be supplied with this water as we spend time with the Bread of Life. Those kernels of wheat were threshed on that rock floor. If we want to harvest the kernels of pure wheat to help us grow we must go to the source. We need the Living Water to grow the wheat. We need the Living Water to paint our God-colors as we mature. Baby leaves are green. Only the leaves of trees that have soaked up the rain water all summer mature to show the vividness of the flaming autumn forest. Jesus said in John 6:35 (NASB), "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." 

Full, watered, and growing, built on the Rock -- we've begun to lay the foundation stones of our temples. If mine is going to shake I want it only to be because of the praise of the angels, and God Himself dancing and singing and shouting over me; not because of the wind of a storm blowing through my life that washes me off the sandy land. If I can stand on the Rock through the storm, the world will see His rainbow in my life. Praying you are with me?

Photo from www.multimedia-stock.com
All other material Copyright Lynn U. Watson, 2004, 2011

Rocks & Obedience

1 Kings 6:7 tells us that the stones and timbers were prepared away from the site and then moved to the location of the temple. Now consider the location of the temple on Mount Moriah (2 Chronicles 3:1). These rocks were not only moved to the location, but they were moved up a mountain to be able to be used in the building of the temple. This mountain, we learn, was the threshing floor that Solomon's father, David, had purchased Araunah to build an altar of sacrifice to God against whom he had mightily sinned. David was offering this sacrifice on behalf of himself and the people.

A threshing floor is usually a rock outcropping where the whole wheat is beat, and then thrown into the air for the wind to blow away the chaff and for the choice kernels of grain to fall and be harvested. This same Mount Moriah was earlier the place of Abraham's sacrifice, when God provided the ram in the thicket as a substitutionary sacrifice as God tested Abraham's obedience in the sacrifice of his son, Isaac.

Let's also look at a promise made by God to David and to Solomon 1 Kings 6:12 (NASB): "Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes and execute my ordinances and keep all My commandments by walking in them, then I will carry out My word with you which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel."

Rocks and obedience seem to be pretty important to God in the building of the temple to house His presence and place of personal sacrifice. In the past several posts you have been asked to look at Jesus' sermon on the mount where He spoke specifically about His expectations for a believer's life. He let the listeners (and us) know that if we heard all these things and didn't take them to heart and apply them in our lives our foundations were built on some very sandy soil, and they would fail. He urged them and us to build our foundations on rock! We learned that Jesus Christ is our chief cornerstone. We also are "living stones being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:5 (NASB). We must be prepared before we are useful.

Photo from www.multimedia-stock.com
All other material, Copyright Lynn U. Watson 2004, 2011

Three Millenium of Earthquakes...

...and this temple's foundation still stands.

1 Kings 5:13-18 (NIV)

King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel -- thirty thousand men. He sent them off to Lebanon in shift of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workmen. At the king's command they removed from the quarry large blocks of quality stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and the men of Gebal cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.

Tyre and Sidon were cities in an area known in the ancient world as Phoenicia. King Hiram of Tyre in Lebanon was a friend to Solomon's father David. Solomon sent to him for help with the temple construction. One thing the Phoenicians knew well was how to work with stone and timber. They worked alongside the men Solomon had brought together to build the temple for the Lord.

As I looked for information on Phoenician architecture and building practices I found it interesting to note that they used enormous foundation stones. The findings of the Palestine Exploration Fund in their excavations have found that

"the temple foundation consists of blocks measuring from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, and from ten to twelve feet in height. The width of the blocks at the angles of the wall, where alone it can be measured, is from twelve to eighteen feet. At the south-west angle no fewer than thirty-one courses of this massive character have been counted by the recent explorers, who estimate the weight of the largest block at something above a hundred tons." *

One of the advantages of such enormous blocks is

". . . massiveness in the material conduces greatly to stability, and that, in lands where earthquakes are frequent, as they are along all the Mediterranean shores, not many monuments would have survived the lapse of three thousand years had the material employed been of a less substantial and solid character." *

Remember that in Isaiah's vision the foundation of this temple shook when the angels raised their voices in praise to the Almighty! WHEW! I'm being blown away again by the whole host of heaven and the SIZE of my God!!!



*Khalaf, Salim-George, "A Bequest Unearthed, Phoenicia" http://phoenicia.org, Solomons Temple page, 2004. Quotes & Photo used by permission.

Copyright Lynn U. Watson 2004, 2011 

Love & Obedience

 There is much more to learn about obedience in the days ahead in this study, but for now draw your attention to just this much on the topic. In His sermon in Matthew 5-7 Jesus asks for our obedience. He lays out for us the principles of life that when followed will bring us the blessings He offers in the Beatitudes -- the promises with which He began this well known sermon. We could probably think of hundreds of ways to escape obedience or make a thousand excuses for our lack of it in so many areas of our lives. Jesus made it clear that He expects obedience. The promised blessings show us how much He loves us. The expected obedience flows out of a pure and true love for Him and all He has done for us. Isn't that the very response we hope for from our own children? 


1 John 4:19 (NASB) says, "We love, because He first loved us." Our response of love to Him is our being and doing of all He has called us to . . . to be the salt and light in a very dark and deceived world according to the blueprint He has set out. Matthew 7:26, 27 (MSG) very boldly and clearly tells us the consequence of not building our foundation on the rock: "But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards."

 Beautiful castle... lots of work... waiting for storms or other meanness to come and crash it... Let's build on the Solid Rock!  (Of course, this was done for fun... but allow it to be a visual for you.)

Please hear the words of that last Scripture, my friends. that is the very reason there are so many opportunities in the Bible study to assimilate  into the very essence of our being, the things we're learning and discovering right here! Don't miss an opportunity. The lessons ahead aren't going to be for "stupid carpenters" building their houses on the sand. Take the journey. We're going to lay a foundation and build a temple for His abode. We can do that because Jesus paid the price. We'll discover the building materials are right there in His Word. As you discover more of His love for you, you will choose to love Him more by loving more. You will be blessed!


Photo from www.canstockphoto.com
All other material Copyright Lynn U. Watson 2004, 2011

Rock Solid Foundation!!!

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock." Matthew 7:24 (NASB)

The verses we have read so far from Matthew 5 about being salt and light in the world come from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Read Matthew 7:28-29. What was the result of Jesus' teachings in this sermon?
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Look over the whole sermon Jesus just taught (Matthew, chapters 5-7). From the Beatitudes (the "Blessed are the... verses) to His exhortation for His followers to be the salt and light of the world right through to the parable of the two builders, Jesus has laid out the guidelines for a life tht reflects the God-colors of the universe. He asks for our obedience, and makes us this promise: "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock." Matthew 7:24-25 (NASB). The crowd heard Him as One who spoke what He lived and lived what He spoke. They stood in total awe of His authority.

1 Peter 2:6 tells us that Jesus Christ is the very cornerstone of our foundation. The One we need supporting His temple. A couple of posts from now we will spend time discovering more about foundations and preparations for building Solomon's temple -- the site of Isaiah's spectacular vision. As we move through the study we will apply those lessons to prepare ourselves to be the sanctuaries we were meant to be -- temples fully reflecting the God-colors of His glory. For today, know that Jesus is the cornerstone and foundation for all of our life. When we hang unto His promise to us to forgive and cleanse us of all unrighteousness if we walk in His light, our foundation rock is SOLID!

Copyright Lynn U. Watson, 2004, 2011

Splash in It, Soak it Up: The Living Water

"On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says. John 7:37-38 (MSG)

We've learned the first major element to produce a rainbow is light. That pure white light encompasses all the colors of the rainbow. Both the prophet, Ezekiel, and the Apostle John in Revelation describe rainbow imagery around the throne of God. We've also established that as Christ followers our bodies are the temple and Jesus occupies them. In John 8:12, as we saw in the last post, Jesus identifies Himself as the Light of the World. So, the Light of the World has residence in us -- body, soul & spirit -- and there's a rainbow!

In Matthew 5  before Jesus tells us that we are here to bring the light, he indicates that we have another role as well. Read Matthew 5:13. What else are we to be on the earth?
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Salt is seasoning, of course! Salt also has another effect us. It creates thirst! Water quenches our thirst. Read John 7:37-38. What is available to quench our spiritual thirst? Where does it come from? What hapens when we drink of this living water?
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Now just how cool is it to discover that this same Light of the World is also the endless supply of "Living Water?" Now go to Revelation 22:17  and discover one more fact about Living Water. What is that fact?
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Jesus seated on the throne and His glory were highly impacting events in the lives of Isaiah, Ezekiel and John. Our hearts are intended as Christ's home -- His throne. Are our lives so full of the gifts of the Living Water and the Light of the World He so freely offers, that others see our lives as rainbows? Do the rivers of Living Water that flow from our innermost being make them thirsty for the Jesus in us?

God-Color Moment
It's free! We just have to come and drink it! Drink deeply today. Go to Jesus and ask Him to fill you up with His living water. Allow yourself to be immersed in His presence. This lesson is short. That may prompt you to quickly go about your other business. Please stop. Take the time. Spend that time splashing around in the Living Water today. Soak it up like a sponge. Squeeze it into your heart and soul and go back for more and more. It's FREE! And Jesus wants to give it to you in generous quantities! Coming to Him and drinking deeply in faith allows rivers, not trickles, of that life giving water to flow from our innermost being. Coupled with the Light of the World also residing within us -- WOW! What a rainbow He wishes to display all around us for all of His world to see!
 

Rainbow Photo from www.canstockphoto.com
Water Photo from www.multimedia-stock.com
All other material Copyright Lynn U. Watson, 2004, 2011