Psalm 114:1-2:
1 WHEN ISRAEL came forth out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, 2 Judah became [God's] sanctuary (the Holy Place of His habitation), and Israel His dominion.
Israel, the nation, was God's "dominion", the Hebrew word, "memshalah", which means: rule, dominion, realm, domain, government, power. God IS the supreme ruler over Israel! That is why he had to send the people into captivity when they "did evil in the sight of the LORD"! He had to protect them from themselves! While Israel was God's government set up on the earth, Judah was His "sanctuary", the Hebrew word, "the sacred place, the dedicated place, the place of His set-apartness. It says in the KJV that Judah "was" His sanctuary and in the Amplified it says Judah "became" His sanctuary. That is a very interesting word, also! It is the Hebrew word, "hayah", which means: to exist, to happen, to come to pass, to be brought about. But I also found this note in the Vines Expository Dictionary of Old Testament Words:
Often this verb indicates more than simple existence or identity...
Rather, the verb makes a strong statement about the being or presence of a person or thing....
The verb can be used to emphasize the presence of a person....
If anybody in the early church knew the importance of being alert, it was the Apostle Peter. He had a tendency in his early years to feel overconfident when danger was near and to overlook the Master's warnings. He rushed ahead when he should have waited; he slept when he should have prayed; he talked when he should have listened. He was a courageous, but careless, Christian.
2 May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who has called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue).
The word "knowledge" in these two verses is the Hebrew word, "epignosis", which is a compound word that means: correct and precise knowledge. It is formed by the words "epi", which means superimposition and "ginosko", which means to learn to know, to come to know. Superimposition means to lay something over the top of something else and it becomes something more! When we add layer after layer after layer of knowledge of God's Word, it grows and becomes stronger and more powerful and clearer every day! Go all out after that knowledge of the Word of the Living God! you will NOT be disappointed! AMEN!
In Daniel 5-6 we see the account of the handwriting on the wall that foretold of the coming defeat of the Babylonians by the Medes and Persians. King Nebuchadnezzar had come praise the God of Israel as the One, True God, but Belshazzar, his descendant did not. The final act of dishonor came when he called for the consecrated vessels from the Jewish Temple to be brought in for them to drink from at their drunken feast. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked:" (Galatians 6:7) They were defeated that very night!
In Daniel 6 we see Daniel as one of three presidents over the new kingdom. Some of the lesser leaders were jealous (human nature!) of Daniel and deceitfully set things in motion for Daniel to be thrown to the lions. God delivered Daniel miraculously and the rest of Galatians 6:7 happened: "for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap". Verses 21-24:
21 Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever! 22 My God has sent His angel and has shut the lions' mouths so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent and blameless before Him; and also before you, O king, [as you very well know] I have done no harm or wrong. 23 Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel should be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no hurt of any kind was found on him because he believed in (relied on, adhered to, and trusted in) his God. 24 And the king commanded, and those men who had accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions, they , their children, and their wives; and before they ever reached the bottom of the den, the lions had overpowered them and had broken their bones in pieces.
1 WHEN ISRAEL came forth out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, 2 Judah became [God's] sanctuary (the Holy Place of His habitation), and Israel His dominion.
Israel, the nation, was God's "dominion", the Hebrew word, "memshalah", which means: rule, dominion, realm, domain, government, power. God IS the supreme ruler over Israel! That is why he had to send the people into captivity when they "did evil in the sight of the LORD"! He had to protect them from themselves! While Israel was God's government set up on the earth, Judah was His "sanctuary", the Hebrew word, "the sacred place, the dedicated place, the place of His set-apartness. It says in the KJV that Judah "was" His sanctuary and in the Amplified it says Judah "became" His sanctuary. That is a very interesting word, also! It is the Hebrew word, "hayah", which means: to exist, to happen, to come to pass, to be brought about. But I also found this note in the Vines Expository Dictionary of Old Testament Words:
Rather, the verb makes a strong statement about the being or presence of a person or thing....
The verb can be used to emphasize the presence of a person....
In such cases, the verb indicates that their presence (or absence) is noticeable — it makes a real difference to what is happening.
Do YOU think that HIS presence "made a real difference to what was happening"? I do, too! AND His presence makes a REAL DIFFERENCE to what is happening IN you! Be aware of His presence IN you and your outlook on life will never be the same again!
We begin the Second Epistle of Peter today and I wanted to share a little note on Peter that I found in the Bible Exposition Commentary:
If anybody in the early church knew the importance of being alert, it was the Apostle Peter. He had a tendency in his early years to feel overconfident when danger was near and to overlook the Master's warnings. He rushed ahead when he should have waited; he slept when he should have prayed; he talked when he should have listened. He was a courageous, but careless, Christian.
But he learned his lesson, and he wants to help us learn it too.
Peter's emphasis in his first Epistle was the Grace of God. His emphasis in this second Epistle is knowledge. The words know or knowledge appear several times in this short letter. We will look at verses 2-3:
Don't mess with the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible, OR His anointed ones! (Thats' us!) AMEN! God is GOOD - All the time! AMEN!
Shalom in Him
