“Come, let us all go to Gilgal to renew the kingdom. So they all went to Gilgal, and in a solemn ceremony before the Lord they made Saul king” (1 Samuel 11:14-15,NLT).
Saul was the first king of Israel. He was the son of a wealthy landowner and became king unexpectedly and rather reluctantly.
“For we are not able to do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” (2 Corinthians 13:6, HCSB).
The Apostle Paul is telling the Corinthians in this verse that regardless of their opinion about him, the truth of the gospel will prevail.
Paul said that as an apostle he had exercised no power over those who received the truth of the gospel. And any apostolic power he had exercised was to defend the truth of the gospel by instructing, reproving, or censuring those that opposed, denied, or contradicted it.
“If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am.” (2 Corinthians 11:30, NLT).
Paul found it necessary to justify his actions because of his love for the Corinthian church and because false teachers were enticing the Corinthian believers away from Christ.
“At just the right time, I will respond to you. On the day of salvation I will help you. I will protect you and give you to the people as my covenant with them.” (Isaiah 49:8, NLT).
In this chapter Isaiah continues his description of the suffering servant. This chapter has traditionally been regarded as the second of four suffering servant songs.
“If you are really serious about wanting to return to the Lord, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Determine to obey only the Lord; then he will rescue you from the Philistines” (1 Samuel 7:3, NLT).
Samuel had gathered all of Israel together to repent of their idolatry and rededicate themselves to God.
While Israel was assembled, the Philistines attacked them. Samuel prayed and God helped the Israelites defeat the Philistines because they had repented and rededicated themselves to serving and obeying God. Consequently, the Philistines didn’t attack Israel again until after Saul became king.
“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6, ESV).
In these verses Paul defends his apostolic ministry to the Corinthians. Paul indicates that there is a world war being waged for the souls of men and women. But, it’s a spiritual war not a physical one.
“For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died. And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, HCSB).
There are two ways to live a holy life, two versions of sanctification. These verses describe the right way sanctification should be manifested or lived out in our lives.
“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” (2 Corinthians 4:7, NLT).
We’ve all heard the amusing story about the man who falls over a cliff and grabs a branch on the face of the cliff to break his fall. As he is hanging from the branch, he calls up toward heaven, “If anybody is up there, help me!” Suddenly a voice booms down from heaven, “LET GO OF THE BRANCH!” The man hanging from the branch thinks about it for a moment and then calls out, “Is anybody else up there?”
“But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:16-18, NLT).
These verses make reference to the practice of Moses to wear a veil to hide God’s glory that was reflected on his facial features after being in God’s presence. Moses wore the veil because he didn’t want his fellow Israelites to see the glory of God fading from his face (see Exodus 34:33-35).
“I have done this so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11, HCSB).
Prior to this verse the Apostle Paul had just admonished the Corinthians to forgive the person among them who had sinned and caused them pain (vs. 5).
Steve's Bible Meditations 