Friday, May 29, 2009

5-29 Double Vision

Download this episode (19 min)   
Retired? Tomorrow? That’s right Rick said. “Tomorrow is my last day
with Quest!” Rick came to church to help me run a network wire to the
Sunday School computer. “You are too young to be retired!” Rick has been
working there 35+ years! We drilled a hole and stuffed the wire down
inside. Then I asked Rick if he’d brought a pair of coveralls. I was
ready to crawl! But Rick put them on himself! He wasn’t about to let me
go crawling under the building! What a guy! I didn’t know how the access
works from one building to another below the floor, but Rick found he
could crawl through just fine. He pulled the wire and shoved it up into
my office and just like that we were done! Thanks Rick! Happy
retirement!

Today's Scripture reading is 1 Samuel 31; Amos 3; Mark 9:30-50
To Listen to Today’s Reading http://timewithgod.podbean.com - Archives can
be found at http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com

Today’s thought comes from Isaiah 7:14-16 "Therefore the Lord Himself
will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son,
and shall call His name Immanuel. 15 "Curds and honey He shall eat, that
He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 "For before the
Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you
dread will be forsaken by both her kings.

When is a virgin not a virgin? If she conceives and bears a child, she’s
definitely not one! …except in one case and only one. Mary was the
virgin who conceived having never known a man intimately. The Holy Spirit
came upon her and the power of the Almighty overshadowed her. God
miraculously intervened once and only once in history to bring about a
“virgin birth.” This is an amazing prophecy and yet it is presents a
puzzling conundrum. And because of that it teaches us some important
lessons on the nature of prophecy. In Isaiah 7, King Ahaz of Judah was
worried to grief because Ephraim (the 10 northern tribes) conspired with
Syria to invade Judah. Isaiah the prophet was sent to give him a sign
that within 65 years Ephraim would no longer be a nation and Syria would
no longer be a world power… so he was not to worry about it! What was
this sign? A child would be born to a virgin and before he was old enough
to say “momma!” or “dada!” both kings would be dead or deposed. Woah! I
thought that “The Virgin” was Mary! She didn’t have Jesus for another 500
years! What’s going on! How could that be a sign to King Ahaz? He’d be
long dead in 500 years! That’s what makes this prophecy a challenge! And
there have been various solutions suggested. This is what we call “the
law of double fulfillment.” The law works like this. Let’s say you are
in a Subway Station waiting for a train when a crime is committed. A lady
is held up at gunpoint and robbed… at that very moment you turn to see
the assailant pointing the gun at her. You’ve got a clear mental picture
of him in your mind, just before you slip behind a post to hide. But the
lady claims there were two attackers! What really happened was, from your
view point, one man was standing directly behind the other so you couldn’t
see the second fellow. This is the law of double fulfillment. Two events
are fulfilled by one prophecy and often the first is a dim reflection of
the second. There are several prophecies that fit this scenario and
that’s the case here. The “first” virgin was Isaiah’s new bride “The
prophetess” in Isaiah 8. She was a virgin until she and Isaiah
consummated the marriage and bore a son called Mahershalalhashbaz!
(Yahoo! What a name! It means “I’m going to kick the booty out of those
two kings.” Loose translation) In Isaiah 8:4 Isaiah was told this child
was the fulfillment of this prophecy… if only a dim picture of the real
Messiah who, according to Matthew was called Immanuel which means “God is
with us!” (Or I’m going to kick the booty of the Devil himself!) So when
is a virgin not a virgin? …when she’s a mere faint illustration of the
real deal.

Dear Father. Your Word always comes true. Some things are difficult to
understand, but I can see that You are an amazing God who is in control!
Your Day is coming. I await anxiously for you to return.

"Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch
what is unclean, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and
you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty."

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