Mephibosheth

                                                                                        

Aloha Dearest Family,

                Today we will learn about a man from the Old Testament named Mephibosheth. This man is noted in scripture, not for what he had done, but who his father was and the blessings he received because of it. Mephibosheth was the last remaining son of Jonathan, King Saul’s grandson. Early in David’s life, after he slew Goliath, David became good friends with King Saul’s son Jonathan. David became closer than a brother with Jonathan and Jonathan risked his life several times to save David’s life. In the course of time, both Saul and Jonathan were killed in the battle of Mount Gilboa and David became King of Israel. Under David’s rule Israel became unified, David’s enemies were vanquished and for the first time in a long time, the land had peace.

                One day David decided to show kindness to Saul’s household for Jonathan’s sake and inquired if there were anyone left of Jonathan’s family. David calls for Ziba who was the servant to Saul’s family and discovers that Jonathan has one remaining son - Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was crippled in both feet (when Mephibosheth was just five years old, his nurse, after hearing about Saul and Jonathan’s death, dropped the child when she was fleeing. Both feet were broken and he became lame). At this time Mephibosheth was living in the household of Machir in a city called Lo-debar, far away from his family’s inheritance. David then called for Mephibosheth to appear before him. What would you do if you were Mephibosheth? The king of Israel, the most powerful man in all the land, wants to see you. He could have never guessed that on this day his life would change forever.

                “Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, “Mephibosheth?” And he answered, “Here is your servant!” So David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.” (II Samuel 9:6 and 7)

Mephibosheth would be the distinguished guest of King David for as long as he lived. In the ancient East, you wouldn’t eat with just anyone. You only ate with your family or your closest, most intimate friends. This is the amount of respect David was showing Mephibosheth, for Jonathan’s sake. Furthermore, his family’s inheritance would be restored to him.

                “And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son shall eat bread at my table always.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do.” As for Mephibosheth,” said the king, “he shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.” (Verses 9-11)

Mephibosheth wouldn’t have to work his own land. Ziba and his son’s would work the land for him and bring him the proceeds. This would provide Mephibosheth an income. This was the kindness that David showed to Mephibosheth because of the kindness that Jonathan showed David when he was in trouble.

                This record is often overlooked among the many acts that David did in his life. But if we examine it a bit closer we will find that it corresponds to many points of the Christian calling. Here are some similarities:

                -Before David called him, Mephibosheth was in a poor situation. He was living among strangers as a cripple far from home. 

               – Before God called us we were also in a dire situation. We had no life within us and we were separated from God Almighty. We were strangers from the covenant of God’s promises, having no hope. (See Ephesians 2:12)

                -Mephibosheth spent most of his life as a cripple. Through no fault of his own, he could not provide for himself. He would never be able to change his situation. Before we were called by God we were sick without a cure. Through no fault of our own, we all inherited Adam’s sinful nature and The Word said that we were “dead in trespasses and sins”. And someone who is dead cannot help himself out of his circumstance.

                -After David called Mephibosheth, his family’s inheritance was restored to him.  Because we are now children of God we share in the inheritance of Jesus Christ. We are “joint heirs” with him.

                -Mephibosheth had the privilege of eating with the king everyday. We now have the awesome privilege of enjoying sweet daily fellowship with our heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And when Christ returns for us we will feast with the King of Kings at his banquet table. Everything we will ever need will be supplied to us.

            -Lastly, Mephibosheth did not earn this special treatment by the king. It wasn’t anything that he did. It was given to him because of the kindness that his father Jonathan showed to David.  The kindness that is bestowed upon us by our Father is not because of what we did. Jesus Christ earned it for us. But we did the one thing that God asked us to do. We confessed His son as our Savior and believed in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. When we did this God was able to transfer us into His kingdom where He could lavish upon us blessing upon blessing. The promise is that we will be with Him and his son forever. 

                                        Love Always, Ray

Dry Bones

                                                                                                                                                

Aloha Dearest Family,

                When I was a young boy I remember learning a catchy song in my elementary school music class. Maybe some of you still remember it.

                Them bones, them bones, them dry bones.  

                Them bones, them bones, them dry bones.

                Them bones, them bones, them dry bones.  Now hear the word of the Lord.

               (The head bone’s connected to the neck bone. The neck bone’s connected to the shoulder bone, etc…) You’re singing it aren’t you?

Apart from learning some basic human anatomy, this song also taught me the fun of musical key changes. But little did I know that this song about dry bones was actually from the Bible. This vision given to the prophet Ezekiel about a valley of dry bones is more than just another strange prophecy from the Old Testament. It serves as a lesson of God’s great power, His wisdom and His enduring promise.

This vision (remember this section of scripture recounts a vision that God gave to Ezekiel to further explain to him, the man of God at that time, what God had in store for Israel) takes place at a time when the Southern Kingdom of Judah has been conquered. Jerusalem has been destroyed and most of the inhabitants are captives and dispersed throughout the realm of Babylon. (Years earlier the Northern Kingdom of Israel had been conquered and dispersed among the kingdom of Assyria). Ezekiel, a priest, is chosen by God to prophecy many things to the captives in Babylon. God had promised them many times that their captivity would be 70 years and then He would bring them back to their homeland. But after many years in captivity in Babylon, this promise seemed impossible. The people of Israel thought that their hope was gone and they were cut off from God’s favor forever. For all intents and purposes, Israel as a nation was “dead”, with no possible hope of revival. The prospect of them ever returning to the Promised Land seemed absolutely impossible. It was at this time that God gave Ezekiel the vision of the dry bones.

“The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!   This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’” (Ezekiel 37:1:11)

This vision about the valley of dry bones was a representation of Israel coming back to life. The reviving of the dry bones signified God’s plan for Israel’s national restoration. What seemed to Ezekiel as being impossible, God declares no problem.

“Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.” (Verse 12) 

God would absolutely bring His people “back from the dead” and bring them back to their homeland. And if you know the biblical record, this is exactly what God did - in the most unlikely way possible. The Kingdom of Babylon fell to Persia in one night. Then the king of Persia, Cyrus the great, sent back the people of Israel to rebuild Jerusalem. Impossible. Furthermore, God stayed true to His promise that He would one day send a Messiah to the people of Israel. And He could not do that if they were still captives in Babylon. We can always count on God’s promises coming to pass. If He promises it, He will do it. “…Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Number 23:19b)

                  So what can we learn today from this vision given thousands of years ago? Is it so that we can teach our children a catchy song when they are young? Probably not. The most obvious lesson here is that there is absolutely NOTHING that God cannot do. There is NO situation that He cannot turn around. There is NO circumstance that we will face that he cannot change for your benefit. God is so powerful and He loves you so much and He wants to go to work on your behalf.

                I often think of the record of Jesus and Lazarus. As soon as Lazarus got sick, his sisters Mary and Martha immediately sent men to find Jesus. They knew for certain that when Jesus got there, that Lazarus would be healed. But Jesus did not get there in time and Lazarus died. All of their hopes that they once had, were now gone. It was too late. When Jesus finally arrived he found that Lazarus had been dead for 4 days already and all his sisters could do is berate him for not being there. They could never have guessed what Jesus would do next. Jesus did the miraculous and raised Lazarus from the dead after 4 days in the grave. Simply impossible.

                My friend, God has not changed. No situation is impossible with Him. God wants to be involved in your circumstance so He can go to work and change it. All you need to do is ask for His help, believe that He is able and have confidence that it will be done. What are you waiting for? Cast all of your worries and fears upon Him and He will turn your situation around. It doesn’t matter what it is. If He can do it for me, He can do it for you.

                             Love Always, Ray

Now.

                                                                                                                    
Aloha Dearest Family,

                My sons and I have always loved movies. One of our favorites is a Mel Brooks movie called “Spaceballs”. This hilarious spin on the Star Wars franchise has some great dialogue in it.  One of our favorites is when Lord Dark Helmet is having a discussion with Col. Sandurz.

Lord Dark Helmet: What the heck am I looking at? When does THIS happen in the movie?
Col. Sandurz: NOW. You're looking at now, sir. Everything that happens now is happening now.
Dark Helmet: Go back to then!
Col. Sandurz: What?
Dark Helmet: THEN!
Col. Sandurz: I can't!
Dark Helmet: Why not?
Col. Sandurz: We missed it!
Dark Helmet: When?
Col. Sandurz: Just now!
Dark Helmet: When will then be now?
Col. Sandurz: SOON! 

Hilarious, hey? Time is a lot like this piece of dialogue from a silly movie. God who is eternal, chose to arrange things in a linear timeline for us so that things happen in an arranged place in time. Because of this we are able to think of things in the past, present and what will be in the future. The Bible is a great example of this concept. God’s Word shows us mankind’s timeline, from his beginning in original paradise, to our future in final paradise, and all of the great stuff (and not so great stuff) in between. You can see it all plainly in the Bible.

                The Past
            
    By a simple reading of the Bible, we can see man’s creation, his fall and man’s near annihilation by a flood. Here we can see man at his worst, but we also see God choosing a man for His very own (Abraham) so that He could pour out His blessings upon him and his offspring (Israel). Also throughout the scripture there is an underlying theme that God would send a savior who would bring God’s people back to their Father. This Messiah would be one of their own (from the tribe of Judah) and would die for the sins of the people (see Isaiah 53:11). We can see it all so clearly now, for as they say, hindsight is 20/20. But when Jesus Christ came, sadly enough, relatively few people believed in him. Jesus Christ himself, when speaking to the Pharisees, said,
“You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.” (Matthew 16:3) Jesus was in effect saying, “You can predict the weather, but you can’t discern what is happening right now!” Can you imagine that the Messiah, the one who’s coming was foretold for thousands of years to Israel, and when he arrives, they don’t even realize it. Inconceivable! But it still didn’t stop him from finishing the work that God sent him to do: to die for the sins of the world.

                Now
               
       Because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, God was able to make available the “Age of grace” which is the age we are NOW living in. 

         “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:14)

This is the time of God’s favor. (Yippee!) In this age God has lavished all His blessings upon His children. We should never forget all that God has done for us and who He has made us to be. To name a few:

                We are forgiven-Right Now
                We are righteous-Right Now
                We have been given the gift of holy spirit-Right Now
                We are more than conquerors-Right Now
                We are citizens of heaven-Right Now
                We are highly favored-Right Now

Too many people are waiting for God to do a great work. I say to you- He already has!! He loved us so much that He gave His son to die in our place. (See John 3:16). Now we can live a life that is more than abundant – Right Now.

                The Future
              
          God promises us in His Word that in the coming age, we will live with Him and His son Jesus Christ in paradise that will last - FOREVER! (I can’t even wrap my head around this word). It will be a place of unimaginable beauty, peace and joy that awaits the believers. (Check out Revelation 21) One day this will be a lasting reality. The next event in history that ushers in this glorious time is the return of our Savior Jesus Christ for us. But since it is not available right now, all we can do is eagerly wait for it.

          “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ," (Philippians 3:20)

        But the day will come when the waiting will be over. He will return with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet will sound. This day will finally have come. We will then experience the new NOW. A now that will last forever.

                          Love Always, Ray

                “For He said, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. ”I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (II Corinthians 6:2)