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1 Chronicles 29:10-20 David's Prayer
Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our father, for ever and ever.
Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.
I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee.
O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee:
And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision.
And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the Lord your God. And all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the Lord, and the king.
The eternal playround for the redeemed off the world!
http://heritage.stsci.edu/gallery/gallery.html
Hagar and Sarah
“And he (Abrham) went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and you.” Gen 16:4-5
“Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he (Ishmael) that was born after the flesh persecuted him (Issac) that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” Galatians 4:21-31
“The Epistle to the Galatians declares that Sarah and Hagar represent the two principles of Law and Grace. Hagar represents Salvation by works; Sarah, Salvation by Faith. The principles are opposed to one another.. Ishmael is born as a result of man's planning and energy. In the birth of Ishmael, God had nothing to do with it, and as regards the birth of Isaac man was dead. So it is today, salvation by works entirely depends on man's capacity to produce them; Salvation by Faith upon God's ability to perform them.
“Under the covenant of works, God stands still in order to see what man can do. Under the Covenant of Grace, man stands still to see what God has done. The two Covenants are opposed; it must be either Hagar or Sarah. If Hagar, God has nothing to do with it; if Sarah, man has nothing to do with it.” - George Williams
Do you 'Possess the double'?
Isaiah 40:1-2
"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins."
God exhorts Isaiah to speak tenderly to His people and comfort them becausethey have received a DOUBLE for all their sins. What comfort could be found in receiving double for your sins? A perplexing passage for those who are not familiar with Bible customs and culture in Isaiah’s time. Let us take off our western eyeglasses and replace them with eastern ones as we examine this verse more carefully.
The wages of sin is death as God promised to Adam and Eve in the garden.”The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”(Gen 2:17). This was a spiritual death since Adam and Eve lived for many years after their sin of disobedience. Spiritual death is separation from God. This sin carried a penalty not a punishment; therefore a penalty can be lifted if someone pays for the sin. This brings us back to our passage under consideration. A person in Isaiah’s time would declare bankruptcy by making visible their “certificate of debt “at the gat e of the city for all to see. Also the elders sat at the gate to transact such business.
Someone would see the “certificate of debt” and agree to pay the person’s debt. The elders would receive the amount owed, fold the “certificate of debt” and nail it to the announcement board at the gate. When the bankrupt person returned and saw the paper folded and nailed to the board, they knew their debt was cancelled. Someone had paid it in full.
The word DOUBLE is the word for FOLD (the same word in Exodus 26:9 when reference is made to the double or fold in the curtain in the Tabernacle). In our Isaiah passage, the word fold refers to the certificate of debt which was folded and a nail driven through it to signify it was paid in full.
The word DOUBLE is the word for FOLD (the same word in Exodus 26:9 when reference is made to the double or fold in the curtain in the Tabernacle). In our Isaiah passage, the word fold refers to the certificate of debt which was folded and a nail driven through it to signify it was paid in full.
So God told Isaiah to announce the good news that he was offering Israel a double for all their sins. Their sins were paid for in full. How beautiful to see this fulfilled in Christ who paid our debt, and now bankrupt sinners can receive a double (fold) for all their sins. Christ took our sins and nailed them to His cross (Colossians 2:14).The words “It is finished” is an economic term, meaning “paid in full”.
Have you received your double? If not, do it today.
