Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Playing with Fire" Wednesday, 25 June 2014 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.(1 Peter 1:13-14)
There are a lot of little boys who are fascinated by, and like to
play with, fire. Unfortunately, some little boys never grow up. Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a lead researcher at the University of Wisconsin, appears to be one such individual. Understand the good doctor isn't playing with real fire. That wouldn't be so bad. No, the good doctor and his team have made, and are working with, a mutant, highly infectious version of the Spanish flu virus.
That's the bug which killed an estimated 50 million people in 1918.
The scientists who support the study say it will help us understand, and be prepared for, what might happen if the bird flu mutates, so it can be transmitted from one human to another. Other scientists, like the former chief science adviser to the British government, says, "Yes, there is a danger, but it's not arising from the viruses out there in the animals; it's arising from the labs of grossly ambitious people."
That's just another way of saying I'm scared some scientists are playing with fire.
That shouldn't be a surprise to Christians. Adam and Eve played with fire when they listened to Satan rather than the Lord. The people in Noah's day played with fire when they chose not to listen to his repeated warnings. Samson played with fire when he dated Delilah, and Ananias and Sapphira played with fire when they thought they could lie to the Lord.
It would be surprising if the sin of "playing with fire" ended when the last of the apostles breathed his last. Yes, it would be surprising, and it would also be wrong. You see, the sin of playing with fire is very much alive today. No doubt you know some fire-players who
* think all religions are the same and all believers in something will go to heaven;
* think the Triune God isn't serious when He says, "the soul that sins will die";
* think they have unlimited time before they can "get religion";
* think that just having heard Jesus' Name is the same as believing on Him as your Savior.
Such folks are playing with fire and unless their position is changed, they will get burned ... eternally burned.
All of this explains why we who have and believe the truth of God feel the obligation and embrace the opportunity to share how salvation only is given to those who believe in the risen Savior, who gave His life so they might be forgiven and adopted into the family of faith.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, the fires of temptation can be a most fascinating thing. Keep our eyes firmly fixed on the Savior's cross and His empty tomb. Let us remember that only in Him can we be given the salvation we need. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.
All too often the job of reaching others is left to others. That can be unfortunate. After all, there are times when YOU may be the best person to reach someone who is lost or wandering. If you have always wanted to know how to do such a sharing of the Savior, you may want to attend Lutheran Hour Ministries' SENT Outreach Conference, which is July 24-27 in Detroit. For more information, visit www.lhm.org/conference.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours, Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
1 Kings 5:1 Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his father, and Hiram had always loved David. 2 Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, 3 “You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of Yahweh his God because of the wars which were around him on every side, until Yahweh put his enemies under the soles of his feet. 4 But now Yahweh my God has given me rest on every side. There is no enemy and no evil occurrence. 5 Behold, I intend to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place shall build the house for my name.’ 6 Now therefore command that cedar trees be cut for me out of Lebanon. My servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you say. For you know that there is nobody among us any who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”
7 When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and said, “Blessed is Yahweh today, who has given to David a wise son to rule over this great people.” 8 Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message which you have sent to me. I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning cypress timber. 9 My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that you specify to me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and you will receive them. You will accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.”
10 So Hiram gave Solomon cedar timber and cypress timber according to all his desire. 11 Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors[a] of wheat for food to his household, and twenty cors[b] of pure oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year. 12 Yahweh gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together. 13 King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses; for a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the men subject to forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains; 16 besides Solomon’s chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who ruled over the people who labored in the work. 17 The king commanded, and they cut out large stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with worked stone. 18 Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites cut them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.
6 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build Yahweh’s house. 2 The house which king Solomon built for Yahweh had a length of sixty cubits,[c] and its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. 3 The porch in front of the temple of the house had a length of twenty cubits, which was along the width of the house. Ten cubits was its width in front of the house. 4 He made windows of fixed lattice work for the house. 5 Against the wall of the house, he built floors all around, against the walls of the house all around, both of the temple and of the inner sanctuary; and he made side rooms all around. 6 The lowest floor was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around, that the beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house. 7 The house, when it was under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; and no hammer or ax or any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was under construction. 8 The door for the middle side rooms was in the right side of the house. They went up by winding stairs into the middle floor, and out of the middle into the third. 9 So he built the house, and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. 10 He built the floors all along the house, each five cubits high; and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.
11 Yahweh’s word came to Solomon, saying, 12 “Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. 13 I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.”
14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it. 15 He built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with cypress boards. 16 He built twenty cubits on the back part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling. He built them for it within, for an inner sanctuary, even for the most holy place. 17 In front of the temple sanctuary was forty cubits. 18 There was cedar on the house within, carved with buds and open flowers. All was cedar. No stone was visible. 19 He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house within, to set the ark of Yahweh’s covenant there. 20 Within the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in its height; and he overlaid it with pure gold; and he covered the altar with cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold. He drew chains of gold across before the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. 22 He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. He also overlaid the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary with gold. 23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim[d] of olive wood, each ten cubits high. 24 Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub. From the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was ten cubits. 25 The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were of one measure and one form. 26 One cherub was ten cubits high, and so was the other cherub. 27 He set the cherubim within the inner house. The wings of the cherubim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the middle of the house. 28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold. 29 He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside. 30 He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inside and outside. 31 For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall. 32 So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold. He spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees. 33 He also did so for the entrance of the temple door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall; 34 and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35 He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved work. 36 He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and a course of cedar beams. 37 The foundation of Yahweh’s house was laid in the fourth year, in the month Ziv. 38 In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts, and according to all its specifications. So he spent seven years building it.
7:1 Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. 2 For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits,[e] its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. 3 It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams, that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row. 4 There were beams in three rows, and window was facing window in three ranks. 5 All the doors and posts were made square with beams: and window was facing window in three ranks. 6 He made the porch of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits; with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them. 7 He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. 8 His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the like work. He made also a house for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch. 9 All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court. 10 The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits. 11 Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood. 12 The great court around had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like the inner court of Yahweh’s house and the porch of the house. 13 King Solomon sent and brought Hiram out of Tyre. 14 He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in brass. He came to king Solomon, and performed all his work. 15 For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them. 16 He made two capitals of molten brass, to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. 17 There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. 18 So he made the pillars; and there were two rows around on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars: and he did so for the other capital. 19 The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits. 20 There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital. 21 He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz. 22 On the top of the pillars was lily work: so the work of the pillars was finished. 23 He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it. 24 Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast. 25 It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward. 26 It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths. 27 He made the ten bases of brass. The length of one base was four cubits, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height. 28 The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges; 29 and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. 30 Every base had four bronze wheels, and axles of brass; and the four feet of it had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each. 31 Its mouth within the capital and above was a cubit. Its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. 33 The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all of cast metal. 34 There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself. 35 In the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were of the same. 36 On the plates of its supports, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around. 37 He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form. 38 He made ten basins of brass. One basin contained forty baths;[f] and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin. 39 He set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and toward the south. 40 Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the work that he worked for king Solomon in Yahweh’s house: 41 the two pillars; the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; 42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; 43 the ten bases; the ten basins on the bases; 44 the one sea; the twelve oxen under the sea; 45 the pots; the shovels; and the basins: even all these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon, in Yahweh’s house, were of burnished brass. 46 The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them. The weight of the brass could not be determined. 48 Solomon made all the vessels that were in Yahweh’s house: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold; 49 and the lamp stands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; 50 the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold. 51 Thus all the work that king Solomon did in Yahweh’s house was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of Yahweh’s house.
Footnotes:
a. 1 Kings 5:11 20,000 cors would be about 120,000 bushels or about 4.2 megaliters of wheat, which would weigh about 3,270 metric tons.
b. 1 Kings 5:11 20 cors is about 1,100 gallons or about 4220 liters.
c. 1 Kings 6:2 a cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man's arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.
d. 1 Kings 6:23 “Cherubim” is plural of “cherub”, an angelic being.
e. 1 Kings 7:2 a cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man's arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.
f. 1 Kings 7:38 1 bath is one tenth of a cor, or about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21 liters, so 4 baths was about 224 gallons or 840 liters.
Acts 7:44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; 45 which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built him a house. 48 However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,
49 ‘heaven is my throne,
and the earth a footstool for my feet.
What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord;
‘or what is the place of my rest?
50 Didn’t my hand make all these things?’[a]
51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. 52 Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. 53 You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!”
54 Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord. 58 They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Footnotes:
a. Acts 7:50 Isaiah 66:1-2
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