Last night, Paul Grady, one of the young men of God in our church, preached a powerful message from 1Samuel 28 on "Doing a Good Thing Instead of the Right Thing." He showed how King Saul had done a good thing by putting away the witches and wizards out of the land of Israel (1Samuel 28:3). However, he had not done the right thing in obeying the law by putting the witches and warlocks to death (Exodus 22:18). As a result, he eventually went to the witch of Endor himself (1Samuel 28:7-8). Using, the witch as a type of the flesh, Brother Grady showed how we will eventually be conquered by the flesh if we will not put it to death. We must do the right thing; not just a good thing.
Isaiah 14:23 states, "I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts." What is a besom? It is only mentioned in this one place in the Bible and it is a broom. This is clear in the context because it is used for sweeping. Would 'broom' then be a better rendering for modern English? Not at all. A brief study of the besom shows why it is used here. Originally, a besom was a bundle of rods or twigs used as an instrument of punishment. The word is used in English in this context as early as 893. Later (by 1000), it was used to refer to a tool for sweeping: a bundle of straw, heather, twigs, etc., bound to the end of a handle; that is, a broom. By the fourteenth century, it was used figuratively of any agent that cleanses, purifies, or sweeps away unwanted things. All three of these meanings come together in the besom of Isaiah 14:23. No other English word (including 'broom') could say it better. [historical information from Oxford English Dictionary]
The book, "The Holocaust in Historical Context," by Steven Katz argues that anti-Semitism is inherent in the New Testament itself. He is, of course, wrong. However, his ideas have received much favor in the academic world. Biblical statements by Jesus, Stephen, and Paul are all taken as hatred of the Jews by Katz. Therefore, Jesus and the apostles are to blame for the historical mistreatment of the Jews. Unfortunately, Katz entirely misses the love of Jesus in asking the Father to forgive those mistreating Him as He was taken to the cross and the love of Paul in wishing he could be "accursed from Christ" for the sake of his Jewish brethren. Neither does he explain the Old Testament prophets and their apparent anti-Semitism in numerous declarations about the stubbornness and the iniquity of the Jews. More can be read in a review of the book by Joseph Keyspr. Though some perverted souls have misread certain statements in the New Testament, the New Testament teaching compels the true believer in Christ to love the Jewish people.
Haggai 1:13 states: "Then spake Haggai the LORD'S messenger in the LORD'S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD." The prophet Haggai is "the LORD'S messenger in the LORD'S message." As much as we try, we can never competely separate the man from the message he brings. When the watchman saw Ahimaaz running toward the city with a message, David said, "He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings" (2 Samuel 18:27). He knew the message was good because the man was good. What kind of message do people expect from you. When you bring a message from the Lord, are you in the Lord's message?
According to an article in today's "Wall Street Journal," physicists are still struggling to understand the basic proton. In the 1960's, they determined that the proton was made up up three particles they called quarks. Unfortunately for them, the quarks only account for 1.5% of the mass of the proton, 20% to 30% of the proton's spin, and one-third of the proton's magnetism. The physicists have therefore added gluons (to keep the quarks together) and virtual quarks (quarks that pop into and out of existence) to their theory. Yet, these additional particles do not solve the problems in the least. Ultimately, the physicists do not know why the proton is a proton. God is still the God which "doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number" (Job 5:9). If some day they figure out what makes up the proton, they can then begin their search to understand what makes up a quark. [information taken from "Scientists Try to Put Right Spin on Quarks to Understand Matter" in WSJ, May19, 2006]
