UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD

DAY 9 MORNING  Luke 1:46-55

1,2, KINGS: JESUS WAS ISRAEL’S TRUE KING

God’s covenant with David would be the basis for God’s plan for the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham. A king from David’s house would come forth at the appointed time and all the nations would be blessed. “Jesus was Israel’s true king, who came to his dead kingdom to bring them back to life..” [1] The book of Kings reveals that although Israel wanted a king like other nations, its kings would always fall short. “Although Solomon, the son of David builds a temple as the Lord’s dwelling place, and dedicates the people of Israel to the Lord’s service, Solomon loved many foreign women. He turned away from the God of Israel and worshipped foreign gods. Many evil kings followed Solomon, including Ahab and his wife Jezebel, who blatantly worshipped Baal. Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, and Elijah’s successor, Elisha after 10 years of serving Elijah, took up his mantle after crossing the Jordan again and then continues to declare God’s word in the face of much opposition, resisting the worship of Baal. Israel and Judah became 2 divided kingdoms and many evil kings in Judah and Israel continued to reign, though frequently denounced by prophets such as Isaiah. Israel and Judah both neglected God’s commandments and the curse of Deuteronomy began to be fulfilled as both Judah and Israel went their own way. The Kings can be read, through the ‘lens’ of Jesus’ coming as our saviour.  Jesus was wiser than Solomon, for he kept God’s commands. Jesus brought a better hope than the prophets. Jesus raised the sick and the dead from their illness and the grave.  Like Josiah, Jesus would be the good king, who died. Jesus is the ruler we love with heart, soul and mind.” [2]

MISSIONARY MONKS: BENEDICT 480-547

Benedict’s Rule[3], which was written just under 1,500 years ago for disciples following Christ in a prayerful community in Italy. Benedict was born in AD 480, and life was not easy in the fifth century AD. Esther de Waal writes: ‘The world into which St Benedict was born was a troubled, torn apart uncertain world … The fall of Rome seventy years before the birth of Benedict had been a traumatic shock to the entire civilized world … successive barbarians begun to dismember the empire and the church too was torn apart.’[4] Benedict wrote a Rule in AD540 for monastic living, which helped chart many through these stormy waters. Benedict’s small group of monks in his lonely outpost in Monte Cassino, ‘may have seemed irrelevant to the troubling social and political realities of the day. It soon became a major attraction to those seeking spiritual renewal, wholeness and stability. Even barbarian kings came to witness the distinctive life of the monastery.’[5] The fruit of Benedict’s monasticism was that pagans were converted. Obedience is a strong theme in the Rule. Following this Rule was not for the fainthearted. This was a call to a deep and challenging life focused on prayer and laying down one’s life, following biblical Christian principles living in community with a committed body of believers. It wasn’t explicitly evangelistic, but these small groups of believers became like a beacon set on a hill. Many were drawn to the light and culture of the Western European nations and were transformed by the biblical Christian worldview.

CLICK ON BOLD and you will be directed to Joshua Project website with more information for prayer.

PRAY for “The  South Asian, general in Italy the fifteenth largest unreached people group in Europe, whose language is  Urdu and whose primary religion is  Islam.  There are  412,000, 4.0% Christian and  0.5% evangelical.” [6]Lord, 1500 years ago in Italy, you moved among communities of Benedict’s disciples and pagans were converted and became obedient followers of Jesus Christ, joining monastic communities. The  Italian government has given amnesty to many  illegal immigrants from South Asia. 1500 years after Benedict, we pray for another missionary monastic movement in Italy, this time among South Asians.

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DAY 9 EVENING Read Psalm 41-45. Re-read Psalm 45

PSALM 45: JESUS CHRIST IS KING AND HE WILL HAVE A BRIDE.

Psalm 45:6-7 “Your throne, O God will last forever and ever; a sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” I went to a wedding last summer, soon after King Charles had been crowned king, in England and in the wedding address the preacher said “We are living between a coronation and a wedding”.[7] This wedding service was a picture of what will be happening at the end of the age. Jesus has been made king. He is seated the right hand of the Father right now, but the wedding to his bride has not yet taken place. The NIV study bible [8]says that Psalm 45 is a “Song of praise of the king on his wedding day. (This king) undoubtedly belonged to David’s dynasty, and the song ( Psalm 45) was probably used at more than one royal wedding. Since the bride is a foreign princess, (v10,12) the wedding reflects the king’s standing as a figure of international significance. Accordingly he is addressed as one whose reign is to be characterised by victories over the nations. As a royal son of David he is a type (foreshadowing) of Christ. After the exile the song was applied to Messiah, the promised son of David who would sit on David’s throne.”  The writer of Hebrews also sees that Psalm 45:6-7 as a picture of Jesus Christ, and quotes it, to prove that Jesus is superior than the angels. 

The early church fathers believed that there is another indication that this psalm pointed to Christ. Bradley Jersak, in his book, [9] “A more Christlike word: Reading scripture the Emmaus Way”, says the 70 Jewish rabbis who wrote the Septuagint (LXX) translated, from Hebrew to the Greek, the notations that are written at the top of many of the psalms from “for the choirmaster” and they translated that phrase as “unto the end”. Saint Gregory of Nyssa wrote a book [10] on the superscriptions observing that “unto the end” is like a dedication to the “telos” Christ. He believed as did others, that each song with this notation will always end up either pointing to a messianic “telos” and/ or describing the process of the disciple’s maturation in Christ.

Peter Enns [11]coins the term, Christo-telic reading of scripture. He says “That word comes from Christ and telos. Telos refers to the “end” or fulfillment or completion of something. On the cross, when Jesus prayed, “It is finished (John 19:30), he used that word. He said, “Father forgive them” Luke 23:34 and the Father through Jesus’s own mouth replied, “It is accomplished!” The cross represents the fulfilment of Christ’s messianic mission, the capstone in the construction of the kingdom of God he was erecting throughout his life and ministry.” “Unto the end” occurs as a superscription, in about 56 of the Psalms in the Septuagint. Psalm 45 is one of those 56 psalms that have this superscription [12], and Gregory of Nyssa and the Orthodox church today believe that Psalm 45 therefore points to Jesus.

The Orthodox Study Bible which uses the New King James Version, interprets Psalm 45, in the study notes[13] as “a prophetic description of the Word incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ (the end) and the Beloved one, is the Word himself”. Revelation 19:11-13 seems an appropriate corollary scripture from the New Testament. [14]  ^“ I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. ¹² His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. ¹³ He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.” Jesus Christ is King, He is the Word of God and He is preparing His bride.

PRAYER Lord Jesus Christ may your kingdom come! Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one, clothe yourself with splendour and majesty. In your Majesty ride forth victoriously on behalf of truth, humility and righteousness. Let your right hand display awesome deeds.

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[1] The Spoken gospel. The book of Kings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqRrBbYTfaE

[2] The Spoken gospel. The book of Kings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqRrBbYTfaE

[3] Benedict. The Rule. Penguin, 2008, Chapter 8: 9.

[4] De Waal, E. Seeking God: The Way of St Benedict. Liturgical Press: 1.

[5] Moynaugh, M. A Church for Every Context. SCM Press: 35–36.

[6] Data provided by Joshua Project https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/19211/IT

[7] Taylor, C. Wedding sermon on 3/6/23, St Barnabas, Cambridge.

[8] NIV study bible, Zondervan, 831.

[9] Jersak, B. A more Christlike word: Reading scripture the Emmaus Way, Whitaker House, 2021, drawn from page 42.

[10] Gregory of Nyssa,  Gregory of Nyssa’s treatise on the inspiration of the Psalms, Oxford Early Christian Studies, 1997.

[11] Enns, P. Apostolic Hermeneutics and an evangelical doctrine of scripture: moving beyond a modernist impasse. Westminster Theological Journal, 2003.

[12] Psalms 4-6, 8-9, 11-14, 18-22, 31, 36, 39-42, 44-47, 49, 51-62, 64-70, 75-77, 80-81, 84-85, 88, 109, 139-140.

[13] Orthodox Study Bible, Thomas Nelson, 2008, 711.

[14] Revelation 19:11-13