In Hosea 1, God gave the prophet Hosea the assignment to marry a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom. This was to be a sign, a kind of living parable, of Israel's whoring after other gods. Hosea takes Gomer to be his wife and has three children: Jezreel, No Mercy, and Not My …
Discipline is an act of love. The author of Hebrews notes that all discipline is painful at first, "but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Indeed, whenever God disciplines us, we ought to be encouraged that He is treating us like sons. The opposite of …
My eyes long for your promise;I ask, “When will you comfort me?”For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke,yet I have not forgotten your statutes Psalm 119:82-83 ESV The psalmist began this stanza with a desire for salvation: "My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word." Given the context of …
Continue reading When Will You Comfort Me? | Psalm 119:82-83
"The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself" (1689 Baptist Confession, I.9). Scripture illuminates Scripture, and one portion of the Bible must be interpreted through other portions. The full sense of Scripture is not manifold but one, just as Author Himself is one. I always have that principle in mind as I …
Counted, centered, guarded, assigned, cleansed, consecrated, blessed, spoken, purified, and equipped. Over the course of these first chapters of Numbers, God has been doing all of these things to prepare His people for leaving Sinai. And, now, Israel actually marches out. Israel spent nearly a year at the base of the mountain of God. For …
Going on a journey requires planning and preparation. Since Exodus 19, the people of Israel have been camped at the base of Mount Sinai, and these opening chapters of Numbers have been about Yahweh preparing His people to leave and enter the Promised Land. Chapters 1-7 moved from broad to specific, focusing first on the …
Continue reading Equipped: The Passover, the Cloud, & the Trumpets | Numbers 9:1-10:10
As we have noted, Numbers 1-10 is about God preparing His people to leave Sinai and to enter the Promised Land as His instruments of judgment upon the Canaanites and receive the promises that Yahweh made to their ancestor Abraham. The first six chapters focused on the people themselves as the LORD counted, centered, guarded, …
Last week, we came to one of the climatic moments of these opening chapters of Numbers. Remember that everything in these first ten chapters is about preparing Israel to leave Sinai and enter the Promised Land, where God will fulfill His promise to Abraham and also use them as His instrument of judgment upon the …
Continue reading Spoken: The Dedication of the Altar | Numbers 7
Last Sunday I preached the Aaronic Blessing, one of the richest passages in all of Scripture. It is the blessing Yahweh commanded the priests to pronounce over Israel, likely as the people departed from the tabernacle after presenting their offerings. The blessing consists of three lines, two of which speak of God's face turned toward …
Let those who fear you turn to me,that they may know your testimonies. Psalm 119:79 ESV In the preceding verses, the psalmist has made a series of appeals to God. In verse 76, he asked for God's steadfast love to comfort him. In verse 77, he pleaded for God's mercy, that he might live. And …
Continue reading Let Those Who Fear You Turn to Me | Psalm 119:79
B. C. Newton 