God – Page 12 – Michelle Lesley

Dear Pop Theology-
I’m always seeing memes on social media that sound kind of “Christian-ish,” but I’ve got a funny feeling about them. Enclosed is my latest collection. Can you help me out? What’s your take on these?

Signed,
Facebook Frannie

Dear Frannie-
I’m always down with helping a hermeneutical homie keep it real on the F.B. Here’s the 4-1-1 on the pix you laid down:

Whazzup with that? Might as well do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around, ‘cuz that’s what it’s all about on this one. Jesus Himself says the EXACT OPPOSITE of this, feel me? Check it:

So the last will be first, and the first, last.
Matthew 20:16

And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
Mark 9:35

Anybody who puts God first will be looking for the last spot in line. Word. Read it.

Yo Dawg, how do you know that, hmmm, you anonymous meme-maker, you? You don’t know me, you don’t know whether or not I’m saved, and you don’t know what’s going on in my life. Maybe everything is going great today and it’s all going to go down the toilet tomorrow. (That’s what happened to Job, after all.) Plus, how do you know what God has planned for me? Can you read God’s mind? No? Then step off and stop making blasphemous memes where you pretend like you can.

For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?
Romans 11:34

Oh heck to the no. Another poser thinking he knows me and my deets, only this one is psychic to the angels, not God. How do you know the angels say “it’s over”? You must not be tight with any angels because if you were, you’d know that saying anything is “over” ain’t their turf. And since when did angels test anybody? And where does the Bible say that re-posting something on Facebook is a test? And how do you know the angels are going to fix two things? Why not one? Why not 47? How do you know they’re going to be big things? Why not small? Why not venti? Like I said, a poser looking for his 15 minutes.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Job 1:21b

So, if you do the thing, you get the bling, right? Show me the money? Really? Slip me some Scripture, bro. Where’s that at? Christianity ain’t no tit for tat, quid to the pro quo. God doesn’t owe you anything special for going through a battle. You’re a soldier, a slave. That’s your job. Does God bless us? Fo shizzle. But blessings aren’t a payoff for active duty. We got our pay on the front end. God has already blessed us infinitely beyond what we deserve by saving our sorry, sinful carcasses out of hell. He blesses us daily with His love, listening to our prayers, forgiveness, provision for our needs, comfort, strength, mercy, and so much more. Expecting bling for what’s already in your job description? Oh no you di-int.

“Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
Luke 17:9-10

There it is, Frannie. You pick up what I’m layin’ down? Keep your nose in the Book and your eyes on the prize, and remember, Jesus ain’t your homeboy, He’s your King.

For Relz,
Pop

New Testament, Sanctification, Sunday School

Persecution 101 ~ Sunday School Lesson ~ 10-19-14

October 19, 2014April 5, 2019 Michelle Lesley

These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 42 ~ Oct. 12-18
Matthew 8:14-11:30, 12:22-14:36, Luke 8:1-9:17, 11, Mark 4-6, John 6
Persecution 101

Last week we took a look at this pattern:

God—>God calls and trains His people—>God’s people minister the gospel to others

We saw it across various contexts of the Bible: the “macro,” or overall theme from Old Testament to New, the “micro,” or the way God works in our personal lives, and the “messianic,” or the way this pattern applied to Jesus’ own life. This week’s reading was another example of this pattern, the “ministerial,” or the way it applied to Jesus’ and the disciples’ ministry.

In this week’s reading we saw that Jesus’ ministry started with Jesus, Himself. Next He called out and trained His disciples through many parables and healings. Today, we will be looking at the passage where He sends them out to minister the gospel to others. In His final training session before Jesus sends out the twelve, He wants to make sure they’re ready for what they’re about to face.

Matthew 10:16-39

Go Ye Therefore- 5-13 (10:7-8, 5-6, Mark 1:14-15, Isaiah 35:5-6)
Jesus is sending out the disciples. What is He sending them out to do? Verses 7-8 tell us that their ministry was two-fold: first, they were to preach, just as Jesus did (Mark 1):

the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

Second, they were to perform various signs and wonders. Notice that the signs and wonders are secondary to the message of the gospel. Wasn’t the gospel enough? What was the purpose of the miracles? When Jesus perfomed miracles, the miracles were both a fulfillment of prophecy (Is.) to help the Jews to understand that He was the promised Messiah, and they also authenticated His message of the gospel to the gentiles and others who weren’t familiar with the prophecies. Street cred, in other words– if He can do that, what He says must be true, and we’d better listen. The miracles the disciples were to perform were to serve the same purpose– to point to Jesus as the Messiah and to give credibility to the gospel message.

Who were the disciples sent to? Jesus told them not to go to the Samaritans (half Jew, half gentile, as we studied last week) or the gentiles, but “rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Why? Because He didn’t love gentiles and want them to hear the gospel? Not at all. We saw last week that He had already been to a Samaritan village to preach the gospel. And, of a Roman centurion (a gentile) whose servant He healed, Jesus said, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith,” and went on to say- to an audience of Jews- that there were many gentiles who would make it to Heaven while many Jews would not.

Jesus sent the disciples to the Jews because that was the order God had ordained- first the Jews, then the gentiles. Why?

1. His promise was to the Jews, not the gentiles. God had promised that the Messiah would come through the Jews and to the Jews. All of Jewish history and ceremony had been pointing to this moment in time. God had been laying the ground work through types and shadows and prophecy for millenia. It was only right that Messiah should be revealed to them first.

Imagine if you’ve been promising your child since the day he was born that when he turned 16 you’d buy him a car. Over the years you talked about it together, looked at pictures, visited car lots, and finally picked out the perfect one. Then, on the day of your son’s 16th birthday, you run into a random 16 year old on the street and buy him a car first. Even if you immediately thereafter drove your son to the car lot to buy him his car, would that be the right way to do things?

2. At this point in history -Jesus’ earthly ministry through the birth and spread of the church- we’re looking at very rapid Kingdom growth. Teachers and preachers are going to be needed, like, fast, to shepherd these thousands of new Christians, most of whom are clueless gentiles.

If you work at a computer company and you’re launching a completely new type of software that you want to make accessible to as many people as possible as fast as possible, are you going to hire field representatives who have a professional background in computers or someone who’s never used a computer before?

Same idea here. The Jewish people already had a background in “messiah-ology.” Once saved, they could be up and running as teachers and pastors much faster than your average gentile.

Good News, Bad News- 14-25 (John 3:19)
God is sending out His people (the disciples) to tell His people (the Jews) that He has kept His promise and sent Jesus, the long awaited Messiah. Plus, they’re going to heal a bunch of people and do other miracles. What Jew in his right mind wouln’t be overjoyed at this awesome news, right?

So, what’s all this stuff about the disciples being hated and persecuted and charged with criminal activity? That’s not the way people usually respond to someone who’s bringing them good news. But God’s news isn’t good news when you don’t love God, and these Jews didn’t. That’s why Jesus referred to the people He was sending the disciples to as “lost sheep.” They were just as lost as any gentile.

1. They loved darkness rather than light (Jn.). The good news of the gospel is bad news when you love your sin and don’t want to give it up, because the gospel requires us to forsake our sin -all of it- actually admit that we’re scum, and fling ourselves on the mercy of Christ for forgiveness. It’s only by the gift of God’s grace that we’re able to do that.

2. They wanted the idol-messiah they had fashioned in their minds, not the Messiah of Scripture. Many in Israel were expecting and/or hoping for a messiah who would come in, conquer Rome, sit on David’s throne, re-establish the theocracy of Israel, and bring them back to prominence and prosperity. In other words, just like the woman at the well from last week, they wanted the temporal stuff, not the eternal. A Christ who would set them free from Rome and poverty, not a Christ who would set them free from sin.

That’s why, to many people the disciples preached to, the good news was bad news.

Fear Not- 26-39
Jesus is delivering a pretty sobering message here. When the disciples preach the gospel (now, and in the early church era), they’re going to be: shunned (14), turned over to the courts (17), flogged (17- and they’re not too far from seeing this happen to Jesus), dragged in front of kings and governors (17), betrayed to the enemy by family members (21), hated by all (22), fleeing for their lives (23), slandered (25), executed (28), and alienated from their closest family members (35-36). That’s a tough row to hoe, but Jesus wants them to understand that what many of the Jews are expecting -Messiah will re-establish the kingdom of Israel and bring peace (34)- isn’t reality, and when they tell people that, things are going to get ugly. He hasn’t come to bring earthly peace, instead, standing with Christ will be the hardest thing they’ve ever done.

But what is their response to this persecution supposed to be? Are they to give up, retaliate, cower? No, Jesus tells them to do two things:

1. Don’t be afraid of them (26). The worst thing they can do is kill you. If you’re going to be afraid of something, fear God and fear denying Him (28).

2. As long as you’ve got breath in your body, you preach the gospel. You preach it loud and you preach it long (27). Do. not. stop. no matter what.

Why? Because God loves you. He values you. He’s going to take care of you. And He’s in control.

The Demands of Discipleship Today
There are Christians today in countries like North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, and other areas, who understand all too well what Jesus was warning the disciples about. They experience the same things on a daily basis. Those of us born in America have very little grasp of just how blessed we are to be able to worship God openly, freely, and without much real persecution.

But the times, they are a-changin’. Fast.

If you’ve been paying attention to the news over the last couple of years, you’ve seen stories about the Bible, prayer, and Christianity being systematically removed from and prohibited in public places. We’ve seen Christian bakers, photographers, and t-shirt company owners sued for declining to provide their services for homosexual “weddings,” rallies, and other events. Just last week, we saw Houston officials subpoena sermons and other materials from pastors in an effort to bully them into silence about their homosexual agenda.

Real persecution is coming to America at breakneck speed. And in the same way that the disciples were persecuted by both gentiles and the “lost sheep of Israel”, we will face persecution by both the world and those who claim the name of Christ, but actually follow a messiah-idol of their own making. Those of us who stand with the true Christ of Scripture and His word will be shunned and rejected by our closest family members- even those who claim to be Christians. We will be hated and slandered. We will be arrested, prosecuted, and even executed by both lost people and church people.

But Christ’s message to us is the same as it was to the twelve. Keep preaching the gospel. Preach it loud, preach it long, and preach it with your dying breath. Love Me more than your family, more than your reputation, more than your very life, because I care for you. How could we fail to stay true to Him after all He has done for us?

Faith

Being Slaughtered by Terrorists Isn’t the Worst Thing that Can Happen to You

October 17, 2014July 16, 2024 Michelle Lesley

Everybody seems to be walking around scared these days. I’m a little scared, myself. It’s understandable. There’s a lot of scary stuff happening. Boko Haram. Ebola. ISIS. The persecution of Christians abroad, and, increasingly, here at home.

Terrorism, suicide bombers, the seemingly daily acts of violence that take the lives of innocent bystanders– that all used to happen over there. Thousands of miles across the ocean. And all we had to do to make it go away was turn off the TV, click over to Farmville, or put down the paper. Problem solved. It was unfortunate, but didn’t really touch our lives in any meaningful way.

Until now.

Now we know that there are terrorists living among us right here in the United States, as well as those trying to infiltrate our country by stealthily crossing our borders. When will the next beheading or 9-11 take place on U.S. soil? Who will the next victim be? Will it be you? Will it be me? Will it be thousands of us in one fell swoop?

Any reasonable person would be afraid of that.

Don’t.

That’s what Jesus said. Just don’t.

We’ve got bigger fish to fry in the fear department. Even though it would be awful, the worst thing that could happen to someone is not being killed or even tortured by a terrorist. The worst thing that could happen is for someone to spend an eternity in Hell because she has rejected Christ (which should tell you something about how horrific Hell is).

If you have never turned from your sin and placed your faith in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection as payment for the penalty for your sin, how you’re going to die is the least of your worries compared to what’s going to happen to you after you die. That should scare the living daylights out of you.

If you have never turned from your sin and placed your faith in Christ, how you’re going to die is the least of your worries compared to what’s going to happen to you after you die.
Tweet

The good news is, Christ offers to forgive you today. His goodness for your badness. His purity for your sinfulness. His grace for your gross. He will set you free from your sin so you’ll no longer fear standing before Him on the day of judgment.

Christ offers to forgive you today. His goodness for your badness. His purity for your sinfulness. His grace for your gross. He will set you free from your sin.
Tweet

And, if you belong to Christ, you have nothing to fear in this life or the next. Take a look back at that verse. It says to “fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” But if you’re in Christ, you no longer have to be afraid of Him. And the first part of the verse says not to be afraid of people who can kill your body but not your soul. Nothing to fear now. Nothing to fear later.

So what’s left to fear? Nothing.

What must I do to be saved?

Christian women, New Testament, Sunday School

Well Aware ~ Sunday School Lesson ~ 10-12-14

October 12, 2014April 5, 2019 Michelle Lesley

These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 41 ~ Oct. 5-11
Matthew 4-8:13, 12:1-21, Luke 4-7, John 1:15-John 5, Mark 2-3
Well Aware

This week, we looked at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. First, with Jesus’ baptism and temptation in the wilderness, we saw God prepare Jesus for ministry. Next, we saw Jesus call his disciples -all good Jewish boys- and train them for ministry. And, finally, we saw the disciples assisting Jesus as He minstered to both Jews and gentiles. This pattern:

God—>God calls and trains His people—>God’s people minister the gospel to others

was a great picture of where we’ve been (the Old Testament) and where we’re going (the church era).

Where We’ve Been– In the same way Jesus’ ministry started with Jesus himself, the Old Testament starts with, “In the beginning, God…” (Genesis 1:1) Next, God makes Himself known to His chosen people (Israel), and trains them in His ways. In the New Testament, He uses His chosen people to minister the gospel to the gentiles.

Where We’re Going– As we get further into the New Testament, we’ll see that the way God deals with us is mirrored in the structure of the passages we read this week about Jesus’ early ministry. It all starts with God, who calls each of us out, saves us and prepares us for ministry. We then minister to both God’s people -through our service in the church- and to those who are outside of God’s family -through evangelism.

All of which brings us to where we are, a story that follows this same pattern. We are all on one side of today’s story or another: the people of God, or the people God is calling out to. The woman at the well, or the well woman. And, of course, everything starts with Jesus.

John 4:1-42

It All Starts with Jesus
1-3 (John 3:30)- Although John had just said, “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease,” John’s ministry was still going pretty strong at this point, and Jesus’ brand new ministry was exploding. Two large and growing groups with unconventional ideas did not escape the notice of both the Jewish and the Roman officials, who would have been all too familiar with the Maccabean Revolt (as well as lesser uprisings). In order to ward off any official attempt to clamp down on either John’s or Jesus’ ministries to preclude a perceived impending revolution, Jesus took some of the heat off by traveling north to Galilee.

4-5 (2 Kings 17)– This is where knowing your Old Testament comes in handy. Do you remember anything about Samaria from the Old Testament?

When the nation of Israel split into the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah), Samaria became the capital of the northern kingdom. Second Kings 17 describes how, due to Israel’s idolatry, God allowed the northern kingdom to be overthrown by Assyria, and most of Israel to be taken into captivity. Afterwards, “the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel.” (2 Kings 17:24) Eventually, some of the exiled Jews (as well as some Jews who had been left behind in northern Samaria at the time of the exile) returned and intermarried with these gentiles. The “pure” Jews of the southern kingdom (Judah/Judea) considered the Samaritans unclean half-breeds. Judeans hated Samaritans, wouldn’t have anything to do with them, and even went out of their way, when traveling north, to go around Samaria instead of through it, even though that was a much longer route.

So, Jesus’ simple act of passing through Samaria on His way north was actually a fairly weighty statement that would have raised some eyebrows even among His disciples. He didn’t hate the Samaritans and didn’t consider Himself unclean for passing through their area.

6-7– “The sixth hour” was noon. Jesus and the disciples had likely been traveling -on foot, of course- since early morning when it was cooler, and stopped during the heat of the day to rest and eat. John indicates Jesus’ humanity here by telling us that He was physically tired.

7– Drawing water was woman’s work, but noon was an unusual time to draw. All of the women usually came out around the same time in the morning and/or early evening (when it was cooler), so it was a time to socialize as well as get a chore done. Maybe this woman was so ashamed of her lifestyle that she wanted to avoid the other women, or maybe she just needed some extra water that day. Whatever the reason, it was God’s perfect timing.

The Woman at the Well
7-27– This was a woman who knew which rung she occupied on the social ladder, and it wasn’t anywhere near the top. Not only did the Jews hate the Samaritans, and would sooner have died of thirst than drink water their dirty hands had handled, but Jewish men did not speak to women of any sort in public. Furthermore, a rabbi (or teacher of Scripture, which Jesus was considered to be) would never have defiled himself by conversing with an adulterous woman (which Jesus already knew her to be). So this woman probably jumped out of her skin when Jesus asked her for a drink. He didn’t hate her. He didn’t look down on her. He didn’t think she was untouchable. How many people in this woman’s life do you think treated her that way? Do we treat people the way Jesus treated her?

Never one to waste time on chit chat, Jesus immediately transitions (10) from His temporal, physical need, to her spiritual need. He might be thirsty, but she needs a Savior, and that’s more important to Him. Can we say the same as we interact with lost people from day to day?

Jesus begins to talk about spiritual things, but she’s still focused on the physical. “How can I get this magic water so I won’t be physically thirsty or have to come haul water anymore?” (15) She doesn’t get it. All she wants is for Jesus to make her earthly life better. She wants her physical needs taken care of and she doesn’t want to have to work. And that’s all many people today want, too, and what they’re promised by hucksters masquerading as Christian pastors and teachers. “Come to Jesus and you’ll be wealthy and everything will go your way,” they promise.

But that’s too small for Jesus. Does He provide for our needs? Yes. But, all too often, that’s where our desire stops. He wants infinitely more for us, just like He wanted for this woman.

There was one thing standing in the way of that, though. Her sin. Since she wasn’t grasping the water metaphor, Jesus goes for the direct approach and calls her on the carpet. She’s had five husbands, and it’s not because she’s been widowed five times. Now, she’s cohabiting with someone. Jesus just lays it out there and lets it hang in the air. Her secret from this stranger is out in the open. She’s convicted. She doesn’t know what to say. Why not change the subject to a religious debate? That doesn’t hit quite so close to home. But Jesus puts her questions in perspective and brings her back around to the real question at hand. Forget all these unimportant questions about which mountain is the right one to worship on. God wants true worshipers, and if you want to be one of them, you have to worship Him in your spirit -not just with outward actions- and in truth -in agreement with Scripture. (24) And what was the truth? She needed forgiveness and only He could offer it. She was a sinner, and He was the Savior. She got it.

The Well Woman
28-42– The woman at the well had been transformed. No longer sin sick, she was now a well woman. One of God’s chosen people. And what do God’s people do when Jesus makes them well? They go out and tell others so those people can be made well too. And that’s exactly what this woman did. She told them about Jesus.

And what did she tell them? Jesus made all my dreams come true? Everything in my life is going to be great now? No, she said, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.” (29) What had He told her? He had told her about her sin, and here she was, boldly and shamelessly telling others about it. There’s only one way that sin has no more power to shame us, and that’s when Jesus sets us free from it. When we turn from our sin and trust that the death, burial and resurrection of Christ paid the penalty for our sin, we are clean before God, and there is no more reason to be ashamed. She had been set free, and she wanted others to be set free, too.

And this is exactly what Jesus was trying to tell the disciples. (31-38) Quit worring so much about food and other temporal things, guys! Open your eyes! Don’t you see that there’s a field full of souls out there -just like this woman- ready to receive the gospel and be harvested into the Kingdom? Let’s get to work!

So they did. The woman told the people about Jesus and brought them to him. For two days, He taught the people, assisted by the disciples. Many of them believed and were saved. And now we’ve come full circle, because, for these people, too, it all started with Jesus.

Well, Women?
This week we’ve seen Jesus minister to a number of people who were outcasts: a leper, the man with the withered hand, the paralytic, the demoniac, and the prostitute would all have been considered unclean people to avoid in Jewish society. The centurion was a hated Roman, a gentile. And here is an adulterous Samaritan woman. What is Scripture telling us as Jesus ministers to these people? Jesus loves the unloveable. He will touch the defiled, the untouchable. We don’t have to be clean before we come to Jesus. He cleanses us. We don’t have to be good before we come to Jesus. He gives us His righteousness if we repent and trust in Him. This is Scripture’s message to all the women at the well.

To the well women, the disciples, those who have trusted Christ and been forgiven, the message is GO. Boldly, unashamedly, tell everyone of the Savior who has the power to set them free from the shame of sin. Look around, the fields are white unto harvest. Go out and bring them in, that they, too, might be set free. GO.

Bible, Obedience, Old Testament, Sunday School, Worship

Worship, Grief, and Obedience: Three Responses to God’s Word ~ Sunday School Lesson ~ 9-28-14

September 28, 2014April 5, 2019 Michelle Lesley

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 39 ~ Sep. 21-27
Zechariah, Esther, Ezra 7-10, Nehemiah 1-8
Worship, Grief, and Obedience: Three Responses to God’s Word

These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.

Background/Time Line:
Judah had been in exile for 70 years. As there had been three waves of deportations (605 B.C., 597 B.C., and 586 B.C.) to Babylon, there were three waves of return from Babylon.

1. 539 B.C.- There’s a new sheriff in town as world domination changes hands. Babylon is out. Persia is in.

2. 538 B.C.- Zerubbabel (Jerusalem’s first post-exilic governor) leads the first return wave. Many of Israel’s feasts and ceremonies are reinstituted, and work on the rebuilding of the temple begins.

3. 536 B.C.- Work on the temple is abandoned shortly after it begins and is not resumed for another 16 years.

4. 516 B.C.- Temple completed.

5. 483-473 B.C.- The events of Esther take place. These events happen between Ezra 6 and 7.

6. 458 B.C.- Ezra leads the second return wave (Ezra 7ff).

7. 445 B.C.- Nehemiah leads the third and final return wave. The city wall is rebuilt.

Nehemiah 8
The exiles were all finally back after 70 long years in captivity, and the wall was finished. They were home and they were safe. It was time to re-establish the nation by ceremony and celebration.

8:1: The Feast of Booths (Ezra 7:10, Leviticus 23:33-44, Deuteronomy 16:13-17)
Ezra was a scribe and a teacher of Scripture. Ezra 7:10 tells us,

“For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.”

It would have been natural for Israel to look to Ezra for biblical instruction. It’s interesting to me to think back to Jeremiah at this point and recall how, before the exile, all the people came together against him to oppose the word of God. Now, after the exile, the people gather en masse and ask Ezra to teach them the word of God.

It’s a little unclear in verse 1 whether the people knew it was near time for the Feast of Booths (it was supposed to start on Tishri {7th month} 15, and this was the 1st) and that’s why they asked Ezra to read the Law (it was “required reading” at the Feast of Booths), or they just longed to hear the word of God, and the elders learned during the reading or their study time (8:13) that it was time for the Feast.

At any rate, the Feast was on. God had commanded that the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles) be held every seven years, in the autumn after the harvest had been gathered in. The first and eighth days were days of rest, and sacrifices and offerings, as well as the reading of the Law were done on the remaining days. The Feast of Booths immediately followed the Day of Atonement, a solemn assembly in which the nation’s sins were atoned for. The Feast of Booths had not been held since the days of Joshua.

The Feast of Booths had been instituted as a reminder to Israel of how God had delivered them from “captivity” in Egypt and cared for them during their “exile” in the wilderness. The booths were lean tos or huts built from leafy branches, and the people were to live in these huts during the feast as a reminder of their temporary homes during the wilderness wandering. It is the only feast in which rejoicing is commanded.

What more appropriate feast could there have been on this day in Israel’s history? Their sin had been atoned, and God had “harvested” the apple of His eye from their temporary home in captivity and exile. It was certainly a time for rejoicing.

8:2-12: The Reading of God’s Word
2- God’s word is important for everyone: women, children, families, not just men. Not only did God want His word ministered to everyone, but “all who could understand” in verses 2 and 3 indicates that they would be held responsible for what they had heard. They were to know what God commanded, what He prohibited, and obey accordingly.

3-5- Ezra read from “the Law.” Often, the phrase “the law” or “the book of the law” can mean the entire Pentateuch (Genesis – Deuteronomy), but in this instance, it seems to mean the actual “law” portions of the Law. As he read, Ezra stood on a raised platform so that he could be seen and heard. The men standing with him to show their agreement and support were probably priests and/or elders.

“From early morning until midday” would have been about 6 hours, from dawn to noon. Outdoors (in the square). Standing. Yet, the people were still attentive. Compare this to our one or two hour worship services, indoors, sitting, where the pastor is not usually focusing on the finer aspects of how much you’ll be fined if your ox tramples your neighbor’s fence.

These people were starving for God’s word. Eager to get back to living as His people. How intense is our own hunger for God, His word, holy living?

Responding to God’s Word with Worship:
6- Ezra opened with a prayer, blessing the Lord. Joining together freely in their own land to worship and hearing God’s word taught in public by one of their own teachers was a new experience for the generation that had been born and raised in captivity. By this time, overwhelmed and overcome by all God had done for them, their only possible response was humble worship. Worship is one of the right responses to God revealing Himself in His word.

7-8- Because many of the people were hearing God’s law for the first time, they needed some help in understanding it. God had raised up godly men to teach the people. This is what godly teachers do. They read out God’s word and explain it to people (exegesis). They don’t come up with fanciful ideas of their own and bend God’s word to make it fit their ideas (eisegesis).

Responding to God’s Word with Grief:
9-12 (Romans 10:13-14, Ecclesiastes 3:1)- The Holy Spirit works primarily through the teaching and preaching of His word, and that’s just what He was doing here. The people heard the word and the Holy Spirit worked through it to convict them of their sin. They began to mourn over their sin and repent. Grieving over our sin is another right response to God revealing Himself in His word.

But grieving over sin was for the Day of Atonement, a form of which, this time, would follow the Feast of Booths instead of preceeding it (see chapter 9). This was a time of rejoicing for all God had done for them in spite of their sin. As we read in Ecclesiastes,

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

Confession would have to wait.

And why did the people rejoice? Not because God performed a miracle or made their lives nice and comfy or gave them a bunch of stuff. They rejoiced because “they had understood the words that were declared to them.” How often do we rejoice in understanding God’s word or having it preached to us? It’s not often we see a Facebook status that says, “Praising God for understanding the Bible passage I read in my quiet time today!”

8:13-18: Studying God’s Word
13-14- For a Believer, one of the effects of hearing God’s word is the desire to hear more of God’s word. Hearing God’s word preached and taught led the elders, priests, and Levites to want to study the Word even further. As they studied, they discovered that there are things that God’s word actually tells us to do.

Responding to God’s Word with Obedience:
14-18- The leaders learned that there were some actual, tangible, behavioral things God had told Israel to do with regard to the Feast of Booths. They were obedient to God’s word by studying to understand these things, teaching them to the people, exhorting them to obey, and setting the example by obeying the instructions themselves.

The people responded in obedience to the word by heeding the instruction of their spiritual leaders, and by going out, gathering branches, constructing the booths, and living in them during the feast. As each individual obeyed, it encouraged others to obey, so that the whole assembly came together in obedience. And what was the result? “There was very great rejoicing.” (17)

Our response to God’s word should be no different than Israel’s. We should hunger for God’s word and desire more of it with each passing day. It should inspire us to worship the glorious King who sent His son to die for us. It should convict us of our sins and cause us to grieve over them and repent. And, we should obey God’s word, and through our obedience, encourage the rest of the body of Christ to do the same. Then, there will be “very great rejoicing.”