We are pretty sure David studied the Torah on a regular basis. It's hard to imagine he would not have kept the law, in particular the passage in Deuteronomy 17:14-20.

Quote:When you come to the land the LORD your God is giving you and take it over and live in it and then say, "I will select a king like all the nations surrounding me," you must select without fail a king whom the LORD your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens you must appoint a king -- you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites. Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so, for the LORD has said you must never again return that way. Furthermore, he must not marry many wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold. When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law on a scroll given to him by the Levitical priests. It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out. Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom in Israel.

I'm scheduled for 10 April; this should be routine stuff. I will be under general anesthesia for this, but released to go home the same day. My son has volunteered to drive for me.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

Most of you remember the incident in Acts 3 where Peter and John were entering the Temple and ran across a lame fellow begging at the Beautiful Gate. They healed the man and he came dancing and shouting into the worship service, probably for the first time in his life. The lame were never permitted in the Temple, but everyone recognized this fellow as the one who used to be lame.

After the Temple service, Peter and John with this new friend went out to the larger courtyard around the Temple called Solomon's Porch. A crowd gathered quickly and Peter addressed them to answer the question of how this man was healed by the name of Jesus. During this message, Peter referred (v. 18) to the Messianic prophecies: "But the things God foretold long ago through all the prophets -- that his Christ would suffer -- he has fulfilled in this way."

When did Peter come to the realization that it was necessary for Jesus to suffer and die? So far as we can tell from the Gospels and Acts, Peter didn't figure it out until after the Resurrection. Remember when Jesus met with them in the Upper Room after His arose? He breathed on them so that their minds could be opened to the Scriptures' message about the suffering Messiah. Then He proceeded to explain it. And He explained on the road to Emmaus, and repeatedly throughout the next forty days He was with them.

Indeed, He had tried to explain it both before and after the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is in Luke 9:28-36 (Matthew 17 and Mark 9). But back in v. 20-22 He tried to warn them. In Matthew's version of that incident (Matthew 16:21-28), Peter rebuked Jesus for saying that kind of thing. They went up on the mountain for this vision, and promptly upon coming down, Jesus explained again that He must face betrayal. Later, in Luke 18:31-34, He explains He must go to Jerusalem and face serious trials. Their minds were closed to this message. You can't just blame the Talmudic influences; nowhere does the Old Testament say bluntly that the Messiah would suffer and die. Rather, it was hidden in bits and pieces, scattered across the prophetic terrain in little clues here and there.

This was intentional, but not to confuse humans. Those who truly sought the Lord's face could have eventually figured it out. Jesus Himself realized it as part of His own study of the Scriptures. The whole point was to keep Satan and his allies out of the loop. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 that, had the powers of this world (both human and eternal powers) known that was the plan, they would not have carried through the crucifixion:

Quote:Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing. Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

During our Skype chat today, the question was raised as to what kind of pagan magical practices were recognized in the Old Testament. I found this longish article that does a really good job of covering it: Jewish Encyclopedia: Witchcraft. They don't mention much the practice of "familiar spirits" -- a form advertised as speaking to the dead, but was actually calling up a Nephilim spirit willing to play the role. The practitioner knew this spirit by feel, and thus a "familiar spirit" to them. The "witch" at Endor was shocked when her familiar didn't rise, but it was the real spirit of the prophet. A great many forms of consulting the dead were fake, and the folks practicing it knew it was fake, using ventriloquism, etc.

In John's Revelation, among the seven churches to which the Spirit of God has him write is Pergamum in chapter 2.

Quote:But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so that they would eat the food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

I took video of the hail storm on Sunday. You can hear my monotone voice and Nick's in the background. There was also a cooking video on Youtube playing in the background.

I'm not going to say that John's Revelation doesn't contain any doctrine, but that doctrine is not the purpose for writing it. It is prophecy in symbols, all reaching back to echo the symbols of the Old Testament. Its content does not fall under the purpose of this study.

Our purpose in this study was to show fairly concrete statements in Scripture that point out the continuity between the Old and New Testaments. Not so much in the particulars, but there is a clear continuity in assumptions and expectations of how God works and what He requires of us. The Scripture flatly states the Gentile believers are not bound under any particulars of the Law of Moses, but then references fundamental concepts of morality behind that law.

I have made my case. You can decide whether any of it matters.