Exodus 10, Luke 13, Job 28, 1 Corinthians 14

Date	Version	Reading Plan
@February 27, 2024	ESV (2016)	M’Cheyne Plan 2024

Exodus 10

Exodus 10:16 (ESV) 16 Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.

After the plague of locusts devoured every green thing left from the plague of hail, Pharaoh hastily called Moses and feigned repentance. God through Moses told Pharaoh that the locust plague would come if the Israelites were not let go (Exod. 10:4), but it was only after the plague destroyed everything that Pharaoh displayed a sense of urgency. This is a behavior expressed not only of Pharaoh but by mankind generally. We tend to be a very reactive people, unable to see the consequences of our actions until after they have transpired. However, having God’s Word gives us the ability to see the human condition and to be proactive in our obedience, knowing that it has been given to us for our flourishing.

Luke 13

Luke 13:28 (ESV) 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

It is sobering to know that the eternally lost will see from hell Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God. One can only imagine the amount of regret this will engender, knowing that their being cast out was self-imposed. Ample warning has been provided and what can be known about God is plain, leaving all without excuse. (Rom. 1:19-20)

Job 28

Job 28:28 (ESV) 28 And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”

Fear of the Lord is a significant theme in Scripture (Prov. 1:7; Prov. 9:10; Prov. 111:10; Ecc. 12:13, etc), but that we are to “Behold” such a fear is particularly powerful in this passage. The Old English of the word “behold” is bihaldan, from bi- ‘thoroughly’ + haldan ‘to hold’. It is not only that we are to hold on to it, but we are to do so throughly. Only the most precious things are to be given such regard and nothing possesses more value than fear of our Lord.

1 Corinthians 14

1 Corinthians 14:12 (ESV) 12 So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

This passage seems to incapsulate well the intention of Paul’s instruction within the chapter. Paul is not discouraging zeal and fervency, but that it must be properly balanced with the upbuilding of the church. The highest goal is not the use of the gifts themselves but that, in their usage, much healthy fruit would be borne. Understandably, there is significant disagreement as to how and where this balance is found, but the hearts of the faithful must remain unified around spiritual maturation of the saints.

Carson on Luke 13

Jesus’ surprising analysis [in Luke 13:1-5] makes sense only if three things are true: (a) All of us deserve to perish. If we are spared, that is an act of grace. What should surprise us is that so many of us are spared so long. (b) Death comes to all of us. Our world often argues that the worst disaster is for someone to die young. Not so. The real disaster is that we all stand under this sentence of death, and we all die. The age at which we die is only relatively better or worse. (c) Death has the last word for all of us – unless we repent, which alone leads us beyond death to the life of the consummated kingdom.

A helpful comment from Carson on death as it relates to Jesus’ instruction regarding the Galileans in Luke 13. The focus should be on the presence of death itself—why it exists and where it comes from—rather than its many nuances. When we look beyond specific tragedies to the inescapability of death, we are ushered to the conclusion that there was at some point a break from original design. This explains how, when we experience the death one or many, we not only sense it as a loss but that it is wrong. We feel cheated or robbed, viewing death as a “should not be” rather than a “just is”. All this to lead to the realization that death entered through sin, a transgression against a holy God that shattered relationship, leaving us in desperate need of the redemption and salvation found only in Christ.

Justin Houtz