Gary Gleans

Just a quick note to let you all know that starting this week and for the next month or so I will be covering several books in one week since the length of the  books is shorter and I want to finish the entire Bible this year.

The sovereign control of God over the events of this earth is clearly on display in the book of Daniel.  We see God controlling and orchestrating the circumstances of individuals as well as foretelling the rise and fall of nations and their leaders.  This should be a great comfort to all of us when we face trials in our day to day lives; we can rest assured that God is in control.  This should also be a comfort to us when we do not understand what is going on in the political scene of the nations of the world.  When counties go through crisis, when there seem to be no viable options between presidential candidates, when wars and acts of terrorism seem to be all too common; it should be assuring for us to know that God is fully established on the throne of the universe.  He is not only aware of all that is going on but has full control over all of these events.  He has a purpose and a plan that might not be readily visible to us, but He is taking this planet in the exact direction that

Ezekiel gives us the same information as Isaiah and Jeremiah from a different perspective.  Isaiah warned Judah of the coming judgment during a time of great prosperity generations before it would take place.  Jeremiah and Ezekiel warned Israel of the coming judgment during at time of great idolatry and ministered to the generation that fell under God’s judgment.  The difference between Ezekiel and Jeremiah is that Jeremiah was one of the few remnants that were left in Judah while Ezekiel was one of the captives taken to Babylon.  Ezekiel was also a contemporary of the prophet Daniel.  The deportation to Babylon occurred in three stages.  Daniel was taken in the first deportation which was mostly made up of the brightest and best of Judah.  Ezekiel was taken in the second deportation which was a result of Judah’s rebellion against Babylon and meant to be a warning against future rebellions.  The captives of the first and second deportations were treated well, given positions of author

“I told ya so.”  I think those might have been the words that would have come out of my mouth had I been in Jeremiah’s place.  He had prophesied for decades about the coming judgment on the nation of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem.  His warnings went largely unheard and those who did hear imprisoned him or put him down at the bottom of a well to let his body rot.  He was called a false prophet and commanded by those in authority to stop lying.  When Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army invaded the nation and burned down the city; Jeremiah was proven to be a true prophet of God and was vindicated.  I am afraid that I would have had a tendency to gloat.  Jeremiah did just the opposite.  He fell on his face before the Lord and wept.  Lamentations is a small sampling of Jeremiah’s prayers before the Lord.  Jeremiah preached his message of judgment with a broken heart because he loved his people even though they hated him. This is God’s call on the life of every believer. We are

Jeremiah’s ministry follows Isaiah’s chronologically and in many ways simply reaffirms all that Isaiah had just recently declared.  The fact that God sent Jeremiah to proclaim basically the same message and offer yet another chance of repentance demonstrates the grace of God.  Unfortunately, the people continued to refuse to turn from their sin and idolatry so as a result judgment came on the nation during Jeremiah’s lifetime.  Jeremiah begins his ministry during the reign of Josiah, one of the godliest kings in the history of Judah.  Josiah’s father and grandfather had been extremely evil and re-instituted idol worship and even child sacrifices in Israel.  Josiah began to reign when he was only eight years old and was used of God to bring about great reforms in the nation.  The reforms were short lived as his son did not follow in his ways and his grandson refused to listen to Jeremiah’s warnings and was taken into captivity in Babylon.  Jeremiah’s message was never a very popular on

Isaiah ministers during a very long period of time and reveals God’s plans for an even longer period of time.  His ministry begins at the very end of Uzziah’s reign and covers all of reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.  He reveals God’s immediate plans for the nation of Judah in His day as well as God’s eternal plans for all the nations in His presence.  Uzziah had a long and prosperous reign during which the nation of Judah became politically strong and financially prosperous however they also grew spiritually cold.  Their relationship with God became ritualistic indifference.  This same attitude of pride continued through Jotham’s reign.  Things begin to unravel while Ahaz is king because of an alliance between the ten northern tribes of Israel and Syria.  Instead of turning to God for help to overcome this threat; Ahaz reaches out to the king of Assyria and finds temporary relief.  However, this ungodly alliance led the nation down a path from spiritual apathy to idolatry the culm

The content of the Song of Solomon takes us by surprise when we compare it to the rest of Scripture.  For some reason a romantic love story does not jive with our expectations.  Perhaps it is for this reason that many Bible interpreters view the book as a big allegory that depicts the love of God for Israel and the Church.  This approach to Bible interpretation is always dangerous because it can lead to many abuses and transfers the authority from the text to the interpreter.  It seems much safer to let the text stand as it is and simply enjoy a beautiful poem about Solomon’s love for his wife.  This is most likely the first book that Solomon wrote when he was still a very young king.  We cannot be completely sure who he was writing to because of the fact that he had so many wives but the most likely candidate is that he was writing to and about his first wife.  She is simply referred to as the Shulamite.  The most likely person to fit this description would be the young virgin that w