Timbits 2

1. Ezekiel beheld the appearance of the glory of the LORD as a bow in the cloud. EZE 1:28. A. Compare this with REV 4:3. B. The bow speaks of great mercy and hope of survival inasmuch as it was a token by which God would remember His everlasting covenant with earth and flesh. GEN 9:16. C. God needed to look no further than Himself to remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the land upon Israel's repentance. LEV 26:40-45. (1) The salvation that Israel would realize would not be for their righteousness' sake, no more so than was their original occupation of the land (DEU 9:4-6); it would be for His own name's sake. EZE 36:21-24; ISA 43:25. (2) Israel was prone to forget; God would remember for them His covenant. PSA 106:7, 13, 21, 43-45. D. Christ is our Rainbow to which God looks to remember His everlasting heavenly covenant. REV 10:1 c/w REV 1:15-16. (1) Since Christ is God, He needs to look no further than Himself. (2) Aren't you thankful that His everlasting covenant of salvation is according to His mercy and faithfulness and not your performance? 2TI 1:9-10; 2SAM 23:5. (3) We are rainbow children. 2. At the time of Pilate's examination of Christ, the Jews asked him to release Barabbas, a robber, in accord with their custom at Passover. JOH 18:39-40. A. Barabbas was also a murderer and an insurrectionist. LUK 23:19. B. Mind that this was a custom with them, not a rule from God. C. The Law made clear that murderers should be put to death. NUM 35:31. D. True to form, their tradition (custom) made God's word of none effect. MAR 7:13. 3. There are two notable Joshua's in the O.T.; one was a civil power, the other a spiritual power. A. Joshua is spelled Jesus in ACT 7:45; HEB 4:8. B. In the post-captivity return to the land, a high priest named Joshua ministered and formed a beautiful type of the Messiah, David's Righteous Branch. ZEC 6:10-13 c/w JER 33:15. (1) Aaron as high priest wore a golden plate which was a crown. LEV 8:9. (2) But this high priest, Joshua, was to wear two crowns, a better picture of Christ Who: a. would be doubly crowned with glory and honour. HEB 2:9. b. would be a crowned priest and a crowned king, “...a priest upon his throne...” (ZEC 6:13), a king-priest after the order of Melchisedec. HEB 6:20-7:1. (3) Since Christ's royal priesthood is forever, “...David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; Neither shall the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to sacrifice continually” (JER 33:17-18). Christ satisfies all requirements of both offices forever. (4) Christ alone has supreme civil and spiritual offices. 4. Paul besought the Thessalonians that they “...be not soon shaken in mind...” (2TH 2:1-2). A. That which is buffeted by wind is shaken. REV 6:13. B. This wavering condition is typical of those not established in faith. EPH 4:14; JAM 1:6. C. The man who lacks grounding in faith is an unstable waverer, much like the drunken man who has lost his stability. PRO 23:34 c/w ISA 29:9-12. D. Unstable waverers are targets for bondage. 2PE 2:14-19. TimBits 2 12-16-12 Page 1E. Solid believers avoid such bonds, they are stirred, not shaken. 2PE 1:13; 3:1. 5. The LORD told Moses to number the 20+ year old males in Israel. NUM 1:2-3. A. This was a census, a head-count by virtue of the definition of poll (number of persons as ascertained by counting heads, muster). B. The verb form of poll means, “to cut short the hair of (a person or animal); to crop, clip or shear;...” C. This supports the principle of a distinction to be maintained between men and women as touching hair length, per 1CO 11:3-16. 6. O.T. priestly work not only involved atonement but also blessing. NUM 6:22-27. A. Christ came into this world to make Himself an offering for sin in His High Priestly sacrifice but also “...to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities” (ACT 3:26). B. Scholars have noted that each of the three consecutive “LORD”s here in the Hebrew text have a different accent mark. (1) Some Jewish scholars see in this some kind of mystery. (2) This mystery is revealed to N.T. believers inasmuch as the blessing from God to us is from “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost...” (2CO 13:14). (3) “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” (1JO 5:7). 7. When the camp of Israel moved in the wilderness, the ark of the covenant went before them. NUM 10:33-36. A. As seen in earlier studies, the ark was a figure of Christ. (1) Christ went before us in a three day journey to seek out a resting place for us. MAT 12:39-40; JOH 14:1-2. (2) He truly rose up and scattered the enemies. COL 2:15. (3) He shall surely return unto the thousands of Israel. JOH 14:3. B. The ark also housed the tables of the Law. HEB 9:4. (1) Moses' prayer accords with Paul's order for prayer for evangelism. 2TH 3:1-2. (2) The enemies that need to be scattered include those within ourselves. EPH 6:19-20; 2CO 4:8; 7:5. 8. ZEC 8:5 is the only place where the phrase, “boys and girls” appears in Scripture. A. This was a prophecy of great and good times under God's smiling face, and they stood in stark contrast to the oppression and famine of the siege years earlier. LAM 2:11-12. B. Blessed indeed is that culture where children are able to play outside and not be holed up in a house for fear of danger without, or for a parent's fear of not giving in to the child's insistence on wiling away his life in a bedroom with an electronic gadget. 9. God appointed six cities of refuge for the man who slew his neighbor unawares. NUM 35:14-15. A. These were Levite cities which included suburbs. NUM 35:1-5. (1) The dimensions given here established the borders of the cities. (2) border: A side, edge, brink, or margin; a limit, or boundary; the part of anything lying along its boundary or outline. B. Israel was earlier told to make fringes in the borders of their garments. NUM 15:38. (1) The same Hebrew word (kanaph, H3671) translated “border” in NUM 15:38 is also translated “...in his wings” (MAL 4:2), a prophecy of Christ. (2) There was healing virtue found in the very border of His garments. MAR 6:56. C. The “innocent” slayer was safe within the border of the city. NUM 35:26-27. D. There is mercy in Christ even for those who are not in the midst of the city. HEB 7:25.