2025.11.26 Hopewell @Home ▫ Deuteronomy 19:1–22:12

Read Deuteronomy 19:1–22:12

Questions from the Scripture text: What are they to set apart (19:1–3a)? For what purpose (v3b–7)? What might they have to do in the future (v8–9)? Why do all of this (v10)? What case does this not cover (v11–12)? What does properly executing murderers accomplish (v13)? What is one way to prevent murder (v14, cf. Jam 4:2; 1Ki 21)? How must prosecution proceed (v15–17)? What must be done to false witnesses (v18–20)? What does proper justice demand from the court (21)? What killing is permissible, and Who will fight for them (20:1–4)? What may/should they do about waging war, since it is God Who fights for them (v5–9)? What procedure are they to follow, when the city or nation is very far from them (v10–15)? And what procedure are they to follow with the peoples and cities of the land (v16–18)? What are they to be especially careful about when laying siege to a city (v19–20)? What situation may occur in the land (21:1)? What procedure are they to follow in such a case (v2–8)? With what effect (v9)? For whom do v9–14 make special provision? What protections/ considerations are given to them (v14)? How important was inheritance, and what sort of son was to be treated as a capital offender (v15–21)? What might be done with the body of an executed man, as a warning to others (v22)? But what guidelines limited this (v23)? How were they to love their neighbor as themselves (22:1–4)? What failures to maintain holiness would make them an offense to God and endanger their lives (v5–11)? What were they to do to remind themselves to maintain holiness (v12, cf. Num 15:37–41)?

How must Israel apply the sixth commandment to their life in the land? Deuteronomy 19:1–22:12 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seventy-six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Israel were to honor God’s holiness by treating His image in man as sacred.  

This is the second longest section of the sections in Deuteronomy, applying each of the Ten Commandments to Israel’s national life in the land. The longest was the First Commandment, beginning of the first table of the law. This is also the most difficult section to understand how all of the different parts fit in with the particular commandment that is being covered. The obviousness with which the rest of the commandments are being covered in their respective sections makes us to say not that our system of understanding must be mistaken, but that we need help to understand how all of the different parts fit with the sixth commandment. With God helping us, we will do our best. 

The first part of understanding the Sixth Commandment is to understand that not all killing is murder. There is manslaughter (ch19) and just war (ch20). In the case of manslaughter, there's a duty not to shed the innocent blood of the manslayer (v10). So, there's the system with the avenger of blood and the cities of refuge. These are to be evenly spaced. And if God expands their land, they're even to add more cities. And even the necessity of a good road system was especially so that the manslayer would have good access to the nearest city of refuge (v3).

The Lord values life to the extent that He particularly values the life of the manslayer. The law in v14 about moving landmarks is restated here for the prevention of the murders to which this might lead (cf. Jam 4:2). And this relevance is actually proved out, sadly, later in the life of Israel, with Naboth and his vineyard, and Ahab's desire for it, and Jezebel's solution: just eliminate Naboth (cf. 1Ki 21). So, here, the Lord reinforces the sacredness of property boundaries, even though we're not in the midst of the eighth commandment, because the breaking of other commandments often leads to murder. The assault on the image of God is the ultimate outcome of the neglect of the law of God. And of course, Jezebel, you remember, didn't just violate verse 14. She did it thinking that she was really doing everything on the up and up because she satisfied verse 15 and following that two or three witnesses was necessary. However, the witnesses that she produced were false witnesses and there was to be a method of appeal.

The priests have been established as a higher court (cf. 17:8–13). With so much at stake in capital cases, v15–21 establish that, if a witness was discovered to be false, he would receive the penalty that the accused would have received. So, God emphasizes the necessity of exact justice. v21 is not a code of vengeance among a primitive culture. “Life-for-life, eye-for-eye, tooth-for-tooth, hand-for-hand, foot-for-foot” is describing exact and equitable justice: that the penalty would always fit the crime. 

Manslaughter is one killing that isn't murder. Another is just (righteous) war. Ch 20 functions in two ways. First, it is a reminder that in just war the killing is not necessarily murder. Second, it reminds us how much the Lord Himself values and defends the lives of His people. Thus, they don't have to make war in the way that others do. They don't have to desperately muster every last person. The Lord is the One to Whom the victory belongs (v3–4). Their life is precious in His sight. Therefore, they can do things like make sure that those who have new land (v5–6), or who are newly married (v7), or even who are fearful (v8), do not go out to battle with the rest of the people. They're also not to go literally “scorched earth” in order to win a victory, sacrificing the usefulness of the land (v19–20). God was not just giving them victory. He was preserving their life. The point was to make them into a people whose God is YHWH, Who is not like the gods of the other nations. For them, this made a difference between those who were in the land, who had to be completely eliminated (v16–18), and then those where they were enlarging their borders, who would be invited to become part of the people of God (v10–15) as servants and forced laborers—but also as worshipers of YHWH, bringing them under His as the covenant people of Israel. However, if they were not willing to live in this way, then they were to be warred against, and the Lord would deliver them into their hand.

The guilt of bloodshed is so significant that there is not only individual responsibility, but also corporate responsibility. So, if there was a murder, but they couldn't solve it (21:1), then they had to go out to a primitive place where there's flowing water and yet land that has not been tilled, indicating perhaps cleansing by the flowing of the water, but going to basically a place where the only one who can see is YHWH, just as when the murder was committed (v2–4). and They execute this heifer in such a way as to show that it is not a sacrifice. The heifer, like the washing of the hands, is an object lesson: that a dreadful execution has occurred. It is a heifer that has never been used yet for anything, so the loss is great, just as the loss of every human life is great. And then there is the washing of hands (v6). The participation of the priests, the highest court in the land (v5), reminds us that there's a corporate responsibility for murder and for dealing rightly with murder.

Finally, there are a number of laws that are more difficult to understand under the umbrella of the sixth commandment. One of the sad outcomes of war is that there would be so many widows made by the war, so there is a regard for their life that provision was made for the, that they could be brought into Israel as a wife, and that if this happened, then they could not be returned to the status of a slave or a property (v10–14). v15–21 cover another capital crime: the uncorrectable son. So much rests upon sons for the multi-generational well-being of the people of God, and so important is the Fifth Commandment issue of properly submitting to and honoring and obeying authority, that even though inheritance is so important, a son who would not obey the voice of his father or mother, even when chastened, was to be executed. That was ultimately a capital crime, which likely connects it here as well, with other executions that were also to be warnings: the hangings in v22–23 do not describe a method of execution. The execution has already occurred halfway through v 22. The hanging is a display of the body of the guilty as a warning to the living that they not commit the same sort of capital crime. This was done in many cultures, has continued to be done in many cultures, but in Israel this was regulated because of the holiness of the land and the holiness of the people unto the Lord. The displayed body had to be taken down and buried that same day, because the hanged one the one, who is under capital crime and executed by the people as a capital criminal, was also under the curse of God. The display of his body might be a warning to people, but the first thing that you think about is not what people see, but what God sees. And the land would be defiled by leaving this accursed man as a display.

Then, in 22:1–12, we have some rounding out that helps us remember the principles behind the Sixth Commandment. At heart, it's a requirement that one love his neighbor as himself, as borne out by v1–4. In Israel, dealing properly with murder was required not only for maintaining societal order, but especially for the honoring of God’s holiness. The ways of the peoples of the land were an abomination to YHWH: confusing men with women (v5), abuse of creation (v6–7), carelessness of human life (v8), and mixtures that resisted statutes that the Lord instituted to maintain Israel’s holy distinctiveness (v9–11). Israel were to be holy unto YHWH, in the keeping of His commandments, as continuously indicated to them by the tassels on their clothing (v12, cf. Num 15:37–41). 

When we, who are holy, do not have regard for the separation between us and the world, that God has put upon us, we do disregard our own life. Living worldly, when God has called us holy, is a form of suicide (cf. end of v7). May the Lord gave you to have regard for your own life, and others' lives, as His word teaches us. Most of all, may He give us to hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is a second death, the everlasting death. And praise God; for, His regard for our life has been such that He added to Himself a human life, and He gave His human life for us. He is the great regarder of His image in man, and we should follow Him in that, rejoicing that He has done that for us

Whom do you most need to grow in loving as yourself? How are you in danger of disregarding your call to be distinct from the world? In what way are you most having regard for the life (and eternal life!) of others?

Sample prayer:  Father, forgive us, for we have not valued life so seriously as You have, because we have not valued You so seriously as we ought. So, forgive our sins for the sake of Christ, and conform us to His image. Make us to love one another as ourselves, and to often be thinking about whether or not we are giving offense to you. Grant these things, we ask, in Jesus's name. Amen.

Suggested songs: ARP15 “Within Your Tent, Who Will Reside” or TPH174 “The Ten Commandments”

The Bride's Beauty to Christ [Family Worship lesson in Song of Songs 1:15]

What makes the church beautiful? Song of Songs 1:15 looks forward to the opening portion of the holy assembly on the coming Lord's Day. In this verse of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christ's making His church lovely, with love for Him, is what makes her beautiful.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: What makes the church beautiful? Song of Songs 1:15 looks forward to the opening portion of the holy assembly on the coming Lord's Day. In this verse of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christ's making His church lovely, with love for Him, is what makes her beautiful. The devotional centers on the profound truth that the Lord Jesus Christ affirms and insists His beloved church is beautiful and cherished, by His divine definition of beauty, which is rooted in His redemptive work and ongoing sanctification. Through the repeated declaration 'Behold, you are fair, my love,' the Song emphasizes the divine initiative in revealing Christ's love, overcoming the believer's natural resistance and spiritual blindness to fully grasp it. The specific compliment of 'dove's eyes' highlights the purity, single-minded devotion, and Holy Spirit-enabled longing for Christ that defines the believer’s identity as the Beloved. This love is not merely an external truth but constitutive of the believer’s identity—being loved by Christ is foundational to who they are. The devotional underscores that, as believers express their love to Christ, He responds by deepening their awareness of His love, culminating in the assurance that nothing can separate them from it. Ultimately, the message is a pastoral call to embrace the reality of Christ’s unwavering affection, allowing it to shape identity, joy, and worship.

2025.11.25 Hopewell @Home ▫ Song of Songs 1:15

Read Song of Songs 1:15

Questions from the Scripture text: What double command does Christ give in v15? What double compliment does He pay His bride? What does He call her/how does He identify her? What specific beauty does He commend in her?

What makes the church beautiful? Song of Songs 1:15 looks forward to the opening portion of the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In this verse of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christ’s making His church lovely, with love for Him, is what makes her beautiful. 

The Bridegroom, the Beloved, the King, the Shepherd, responds to her love. Notice that He responds with more love: not just loving her, but giving her the title of His love, expressing a general admiration, and paying her a specific compliment.

He begins by saying “Behold.” It is a command. From this, we take His insistence that she would know His love. This is a sweet thing for the church. This is one of the things the Lord Jesus does for her in her worship. This is a sweet thing for the Christian. One of the things that the Lord Jesus constantly does for you. He reaffirms unto you His love, and He insists that you would see it: Behold!

Jesus’s insistence implies that we have difficulty receiving His love. There is at least a creaturely sluggishness in us. And there is also a sinful resistance to knowing, perceiving, feeling, appropriating, applying to ourselves how much the Lord Jesus loves us. 

In response to our difficulty, the Beloved says, “Behold!” He doesn't just say, “you are fair, my love.” He says, “behold.” 

And not only does he say behold, but he doubles it. “Behold, you are fair…” (Song of Songs 1:15a). “Behold, you are fair” (verse 15b). 

And so we have His insistence upon communicating His love to us, and His insistence upon overcoming our resistance to knowing and perceiving His love to us. And so, if you do not perceive—if you do not feel, know, take to heart, apply in your life—the love of Christ for you… then you should note, here, His insistence that you would do so. You should acknowledge that He is implying that there is a difficulty in you, but that He Himself is overcome it. He intends upon making you to know His love.

Now, note his compliment of her. There is a general compliment and then a specific compliment. The general compliment is the one that He doubles: “you are fair,” which means, “you are beautiful.” The specific compliment is, “you have a dove’s eyes.” So in the general compliment, He calls her beautiful. He is the One Who assigns to everything its beauty. Beauty is determined by what God thinks is beautiful. He invented beauty. He is the source of it. Men like to say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but this is wrong. This is a perversion. It’s only true if the Beholder is God, because beauty is in the eyes of the Creator. Beauty is what He beholds to be beautiful. We must determine beauty according to Christ's opinion. And He insists that His church is beautiful. 

But the church’s beauty isn’t just Christ's opinion; it's also Christ's work. He has made her beautiful by making her His beloved; and, therefore, she is beautiful on account of Him. She is beautiful in union with Christ, and on account of Him and His ongoing work. She is beautiful to Him with the beauty that she shall have when He has completed his work in her—when she has no spot or wrinkle or any such thing (Ephesians 5:25–27). 

And part of that work that He is doing in her is giving her humility about her present blemishes. She knows that she is dark or black (Song of Songs 1:6), and that she needs the ministry of the Shepherd feeding her (Song of Songs 1:7-8), the loving attendance upon her of the King at His banqueting table (Song of Songs 1:12). She needs Him. And, never is a believer, or the church, more lovely to the Lord Jesus than when we see our blemishes, than when we know our need of Him. 

And so it's in the midst of her self-awareness, and desire for Him, and need for Him, that He affirms that this is lovely to Him. It's part of her fairness, her beauty, in His eyes. 

Also, especially, we should expect to have communications from the Lord of His love for us, in those times when we have been communicating our love to Him. His love is what initiates. We love Him because He first loved us. But the more love for Himself that He stirs up in us, the more we should look for Him to be communicating His love to us. It is when we are expressing our love to him, that He most communicates to us makes us to know His love for us. Not because our love for Him is the reason that He loves us, but because He reinforces and confirms and strengthens in us our love for Him precisely by making us to know, especially at those times, His love for us. 

Would you know Christ's love for you? Well, you do so primarily by meditating upon the cross: in this we know love, that He gave Himself up for us (cf. 1 John 3:16). But an important factor in experiencing and perceiving Christ's love for you is expressing your love to him. There are those times, like in Song of Songs 1:12-14, when the Lord comes and he addresses our heart in the way of Song of Songs 1:15: “Behold, you are fair, my love.”

Again, He doesn't just say, “I love you.” It's not just a truth about us that we are loved. It is part of our identity. It is at the core of what a believer is, at the core of what the church is. A believer is someone who is the love of the Lord Jesus. He loves us because we are His beloved. He loves His church because she is His beloved. So even more than just recognizing something that goes out from Christ towards us, we see that Christ's love for believers, Christ's love for the church, actually begins to constitute their very identity. They are the beloved of the Lord.

In addition to the general compliment of her beauty, He also pays her the specific compliment: And so we have the general compliment, “you have dove's eyes.” Now, this means at least one of two things, and probably both. Throughout the Bible, the dove is indicative of single-mindedness and purity: to be innocent as a dove, to be harmless. as a dove. One of the things that most pleases Christ, most pleases God, one of the things that is most beautiful to the Lord Jesus Christ is when we have a single-minded love for Him and desire for Him.

The other thing that is most often indicated by a dove in the scripture is the presence and ministry of God the Holy Spirit, which of course is how we come to have single-minded, pure love for and desire for the Lord. For, it is the Spirit Who gives us such desire for the Father and for the Son. And so these two things, although they are two different images, they are two parts of one meaning. The particular loveliness that the church has is that, by the presence and ministry of God the Holy Spirit, she has a single-minded, pure love for the Lord. This is the specific beauty that He is praising here.

How has your perception of Christ’s love been lately? How are you responding to His insisting that you would meditate upon it? What expressions of love to Him have you been making? In what way is it at the core of your identity?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we confess before You that we do not often perceive, and feel, and have joy and peace, in the greatness of Your love, Your ardent affection, for us. And we pray that You would help us by Your Spirit, the same Spirit Who stirs up our love for You—that He would make us to know your love for us. Give our emotions to submit to Your insistence, as You tell us to “behold,” and as You double the command. Give to our emotions to submit to, and enjoy, the sweetness of the knowledge of Your love for us. For we ask it in Your Name, Lord Jesus. Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP126 “What Blessedness” or TPH405 “I Love They Kingdom, Lord” 

2025.11.24 Hopewell @Home ▫ Proverbs 19:13–15

Read Proverbs 19:13–15

Questions from the Scripture text: What sort of son does Proverbs 19:13a reference? What effect does he have? What sort of wife does verse 13b reference? To what does it compare her behavior? What does a good father provide (Proverbs 19:14a)? What is an area in which God especially highlights His sovereign providence (verse 14b)? What fault does what harm (Proverbs 19:15)?

What can destroy a household? Proverbs 19:13–15 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a household may be destroyed by any one of its members being a fool.  

Proverbs 18:1–19:12 dealt with the harm done to others by fools, and the benefits to others of the wise. Now, Proverbs 19:13–15 compares and contrasts the household in which the father and the son and the wife are all godly and wise, against the harm that comes when the son or the wife or the father are foolish. A foolish father does not need his son to ruin him; he has ruined himself. 

So the foolish son is a ruin of his father in a couple of different ways. First, houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers (Proverbs 19:14a). So, even if the father does well early in life, he needs his son to take care of him as he declines. If the son is a fool, his latter years will be a ruin. Even if he did well in his youth and adulthood, if his son is a fool, then his life on earth ends in ruin. Furthermore, what he leaves behind also gets ruined by the foolish son. So, not only does he not have the one to take care of him in comfort and peace and joy in the final years of his life, but he also dies knowing that what he has built is about to be destroyed by the son that he has left behind. It is a dreadful thing to have a foolish son.

Another way that a good man can be ruined is by having a wife who does not follow the first two-thirds of chapter 18. Her mouth is always arguing and criticizing and nagging and gossiping and grumbling. the contentions of a wife are a continual dripping. Now that doesn't sound like much to us because we do not have a roof that was constructed with wooden boards covered by a mesh of sticks, into which clay was put, and then a layer of chalk, and then a layer of mud above that. If we did have such a roof, and it started to rain, and it continued to rain, and it continued to rain, eventually the mud would dissipate, and rivulets would form through the chalk, and cracks would appear in the clay, and the sticks and the wood boards would get saturated, and then the whole house would cave in.

This is what a continually exercised, ungoverned tongue of a wife does. It slowly but surely erodes the strength of the household until one day the whole thing collapses. She is exactly opposite the woman in chapter 31 (who is such an asset that everything that the man builds is multiplied, enhanced, beautified, strengthened—made more of a blessing to him and to others by his wise wife, his godly and kind wife, on whose tongue is the law of kindness (cf. Proverbs 31:26).

The son can be the ruin of the father. The wife can be the ruin of the father. And the father can be the ruin of everyone. A good father provides an inheritance (Proverbs 19:14a) and seeks from God for his son that which multiplies the blessedness of everything else—the way we saw Abraham seeking a wife for Isaac from the right family (cf. Genesis 24:4); and Isaac, once he realized his dreadful mistake in trying to give Esau the blessing, sent Jacob with a blessing to get a wife from the right family (cf. Genesis 28:2).

It is good and proper that the planning and the work, the discretion, to obtain a good wife for your son be done by a godly father. But, like that of the opening and closing of the womb, the provision of a good wife is an area in which God especially highlights His sovereign providence. You can try to do everything right in obtaining a wife, but if she is going to end up actually being a godly wife, who actually strengthens and multiplies and beautifies and improves the moral quality of the household, that has to come from God. A prudent wife is from YHWH. A wife who embodies everything that Proverbs has taught us to seek, so far up until this point, is from YHWH: both in the providence that places her nearby; and, in God's blessing on any planning/wisdom/efforts to obtain her; and, most of all, in the grace that made her what she is. A prudent wife can only be produced by grace. 

Proverbs 19:13a, Proverbs 19:14a aren't saying that the prudent wife comes from YHWH, but the godly husband is obtainable through following the right procedure, and the godly son is produced by the right sort of training. Properly biblical parenting employs especially the means of grace, precisely because we know that it is only God's grace that ultimately produces the godly son. Or obtains the godly husband. 

If any of these (husband, wife, son) are ungodly, it can destroy the house through laziness. A lazy person (Proverbs 19:15a) is, in some ways, more harmful than a dead person. Because if the person was dead, at least you knew in advance that you couldn't count on them to pull their weight in the household. But the lazy person appears to be part of the household, but is actually exerting a cost upon everyone else, in the way even a dead person wouldn't. Because God has put us into families together, an idle person very easily causes the rest of his household to suffer hunger (verse 15b) with him. He harms even generations to come. Laziness is a great folly. 

God revealed Himself to us as a God Who works, and He created us to be image bearers who work. Fearing the Lord means taking eating and drinking and enjoyments as gifts from God. And fearing the Lord means doing all of our labor, all the days of our life, with joy and diligence, also as a gift from God.

So, may God, by His grace, give each of us to fear the Lord in our own part in our current household. And, for the sake of our future households, may He mercifully bring to us those good wives and husbands, and may He bless our efforts and planning for the putting together of these future households.

How are you using your mouth to bless your household? How is your diligence blessing your household? Whom are you trusting to do this in you? How are you employing the means by which you trust Him to do that?

Sample prayer:  Father, please help us to use our mouths well. Make us diligent, and grant to us every part of biblical wisdom properly applied. We thank You for the family that You've given us. Work in, and help, each one of us, that we might be a blessing to everyone else in this household—and in our future households. We pray for the future husbands and wives of our daughters and sons, that you would be graciously working in them already. Glorify Yourself by blessing us this household, and the households that come from it, in every way. For we ask it through Christ. Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP184 “Adoration and Submission” or TPH95A “O Come before the LORD, Our King”

The Nature of God [Westminster Shorter Catechism 4—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 4—especially explaining how God is one, perfect substance, Who exists in three subsistences (persons).

Q4. What is God? God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The lesson presents an exploration of God’s nature, emphasizing that God is a spirit—eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in essence and all His attributes. It clarifies that while God is personal, the question 'what is God?' focuses on His divine substance, which is one in being yet eternally distinct in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The attributes of God—being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth—are not separate parts but inseparable expressions of His unified, simple, and perfect nature, each fully present and unchanging in every moment. Because God is outside of time and space, He is unaffected by creation and remains perfectly consistent in His character, making His knowledge, will, and promises eternally reliable. The lesson underscores that all divine attributes are simultaneously and fully true, reflecting a God who is self-sufficient, immutable, and the ultimate source of all reality, truth, and moral perfection.

Wise vs Foolish Households [Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 19:13–15]

What can destroy a household? Proverbs 19:13–15 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a household may be destroyed by any one of its members being a fool. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The devotional meditates upon the sacred architecture of the household, emphasizing that godly wisdom and character are essential to its stability and flourishing. Central to this vision is the contrast between the ruin caused by a foolish son, a contentious wife, or a lazy individual, as opposed to the divine blessing of a prudent wife, whose wisdom is not merely human achievement but a gift from YHWH. The text underscores that while material inheritance comes from fathers, true spiritual and relational wealth—especially in marriage and parenting—are special displays of God’s sovereign grace in the cultivation of godly character. It calls for diligent, joyful labor as an act of worship, rejecting laziness not only as personal failure but as a corrosive force that undermines the entire household. Ultimately, the devotional affirms that the health of the family rests not on human effort alone, but on divine provision: grace, and the faithful application of biblical wisdom in every relationship and responsibility.

The Accidental Evangelist [Family Worship lesson in Jonah 1:1–16]

What is the book of Jonah about? Jonah 1:1–16 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the book of Jonah is about the sovereign Savior of sinners from all nations.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.11.22 Hopewell @Home ▫ Jonah 1:1–16

Read Jonah 1:1–16

Questions from the Scripture text: What came to whom in Jonah 1:1? Where did He tell him to go (Jonah 1:2)? To do what? Why? But where did Jonah intend to do instead (Jonah 1:3)? From where? How did he begin to make his way there? To flee from what/where? Who did what in Jonah 1:4? To what effect? Who responded how (Jonah 1:5)? To whom did each man cry? What measures did they take? But what was Jonah doing? Who confronts him (Jonah 1:6)? What does he tell him to do? What idea do the sailors come up with in Jonah 1:7? To whom does the lot fall? What do thy ask him (Jonah 1:8)? How does he answer (Jonah 1:9)? What effect does hearing about the nature of YHWH have upon them (Jonah 1:10)? What had he previously told them? What do they now want to know (Jonah 1:11)? Why? What does he say (Jonah 1:12)? What does he know? What do the men try to do instead (Jonah 1:13)? To whom do they now cry (Jonah 1:14)? For what do thy ask forgiveness? What do they do (Jonah 1:15)? With what result? How do the men now respond (Jonah 1:16)? 

Who is the book of Jonah about? Jonah 1:1–16 looks forward to the morning sermon in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the book of Jonah is about the sovereign Savior of sinners from all nations.

The atheistic evangelist, Jonah 1:1-4. The Lord is taking two (innumerably more than that, actually) birds with one stone here. He is going to confront the capital city of Assyria directly with His Word. But He also exposes His prophet’s foolish atheism with that same Word. It is not that Jonah thinks that God does not exist. Rather, he is treating God as if He is not God. “from the presence of YHWH” is emphasized in Jonah 1:3 by its repetition. But Jonah 1:4 makes it clear that Jonah is not making any progress in his plan. He is no farther from YHWH’s presence than when he started! 

The accidental evangelist, Jonah 1:5-16. It is difficult to imagine, although true (Jonah 1:10b), that Jonah had told the sailors that he was running from YHWH. Then, when the storm is raging, Jonah is so at peace that he can sleep in the bottom of the ship (Jonah 1:4b). Let no one ever think that they are righteous in their choices because “they have a peace about their decision”!! The sailors must have thought rather little of Jonah’s God at that point—must be one of the lesser gods, if he can be run away from.

But as the Lord ruled over wind and sea (Jonah 1:4), and even overruled the superstitions of men (Jonah 1:7), He Himself began to declare Himself to the sailors. Then, when they ask for more info about all of this (Jonah 1:8), Jonah divulges that YHWH is God of heaven, who made not only the dry land, but even the sea (Jonah 1:9). The sailors draw the right conclusion: anyone who knew that about God, and still fled from Him, must be out of his mind (Jonah 1:10)!

Jonah mistakenly thinks that his death is now what YHWH desires (though YHWH has other plans, cf. Jonah 1:17–2:10), and explains so. The sailors try to avoid this by rowing hard to land (Jonah 1:13a), but the Lord does not permit this (verse 13b). They are forced to ask Him to hold them innocent in their action (Jonah 1:14a), and instead receive it as a committing of Jonah’s case into the Lord’s own hand (verse 14b). The Lord promptly answers by ending the storm (Jonah 1:15b), and these men, who had just been zealous worshipers of false gods from all sorts of nations (Jonah 1:5a), come to be intense worshipers of YHWH, Who has both forgiven and saved them (Jonah 1:16).

What an amazing result! The Hebrew versification rightly ends the chapter here. Before the Lord ever brought Jonah to Nineveh, He had used him to bring a ship full of sailors to “fer YHWH exceedingly, and offer a sacrifice to YHWH, taking vows to Him” (Jonah 1:16). Truly, He is the Lord of creation and providence, but even more so, the Lord Who saves sinners at His sovereign pleasure. How sad that Jonah had to be an unwilling, resistant participant in this. Indeed, he knew that the Lord is like this (cf. Jonah 3:10–4:2), but so rebelled in his heart as to be this accidental evangelist. God keep it from being so with you, dear reader.

When have you acted as if you could flee from the Lord’s presence? How are you living in the awareness that the Lord is the God Who is pleased to save sinners in sovereign power? Whom are you intentionally praying and laboring to see saved? Or, if the Lord is using you and your life to save someone, will it certainly be an accident?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us for how we have acted as if we could actually flee from Your presence. And forgive us for being so nonchalant about You, and even about disobeying You, that unbelievers would conclude that our God must not be so glorious and great after all. Forgive us, and make us those whose actions display that our God is, indeed, the Lord of heaven, the Creator of the seas and dry land, and the hearer and forgiver of sinners who call upon Him through faith in His Word. Indeed, be that God unto us, in Christ, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

 Suggested Songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH98A “O Sing a New Song to the Lord”

Is Predestination Fair? [Family Worship lesson in Romans 9:14–18]

Is it unrighteous of God to make the difference between the saved and the unsaved? Romans 9:14–18 prepares us for the sermon in the midweek prayer meeting. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that it is merciful of God to save from among sinners who all deserve to be hardened. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.11.21 Hopewell @Home ▫ Romans 9:14–18

Read Romans 9:14–18

Questions from the Scripture text: With what question does Romans 9:14 begin? What have some apparently said/asked? How does the apostle answer? To whom has God spoken (Romans 9:15)? What does He say that He will have? Upon whom? What else does He say that He will have? Upon whom? Of what two types people is the difference not produced (Romans 9:16)? Who produces it? What does He show? What speaks to whom in Romans 9:17? What does God say that He has done? In order to show what? And so that what else will happen, where? Upon whom does He have mercy? Whom does He harden?

Is it unrighteous of God to make the difference between the saved and the unsaved? Romans 9:14–18 prepares us for the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that it is merciful of God to save from among sinners who all deserve to be hardened. 

The opposite of unrighteousness. Notice how the apostle deals with the question (Romans 9:14) of whether there is unrighteousness with God. He does not reason about whether he thinks God is righteous. That would be to make ourselves the judges of God. Anyone who thinks or speaks this way shows themselves to be impious and arrogant and self-condemned. Instead, the apostle takes God at His own Word. What does God say about God? God says that He is merciful and compassionate (Romans 9:15)! 

This is what makes the difference between the elect and the reprobate: the mercy of God. If there had been any injustice, it would have been on account of not destroying the elect in their sin. But, the apostle has already told us the way by which the Lord could show mercy and be just at the same time (cf. Romans 3:24–26).

God makes a merciful difference. So, Romans 9:16 goes on to restate the point that neither Rebecca and Isaac’s will, nor Jacob and Esau’s running, was what made the difference. What made the difference? God Himself did! When Romans 9:11 said this, it referred to Him as “Him who calls.” Now, Romans 9:16 refers to the difference-making God as “God Who shows mercy.” 

He is a just God, but apart from mercy, that justice would give to all men equally. Apart from mercy, God’s justice would rightly give all men wrath, would give all men Hell. It is His mercy that has intervened.

God rightly does harden. Though the great difference-maker is mercy and compassion, it is not wrong for God to show His power and declare His Name by the judgment of His enemies. This He declared to Pharaoh, which He put in writing for our sakes (Romans 9:17). Pharaoh is a sinner, and it is absolutely right for God to be glorified upon him. 

The will of God is exercised in both cases in Romans 9:18: both in the showing of mercy and the hardening. But notice that the latter is “hardening.” God does not make them wicked. Rather, He hardens them in wickedness. They are already wicked. God justly hardened, solidified, Pharaoh in being what he already was.

Is there unrighteousness with God? No! NO! NO!! There is mercy with God! Mercy to sinners! Mercy to sinners that He would have been right to harden in their sin. Mercy unto whomever He wills. Free mercy, motivated by His mere good pleasure. Each of us ought to know, before God, that He would have been right to harden me, but instead He has shown me mercy, simply because He wanted to!

What do you deserve? What is the only way that this wouldn’t happen? What does God show, when He makes the difference between the unsaved and the saved?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank you for making the difference for us. Truly, You are just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. Grant unto us to be Yours in Him, and conformed to Him, by Your Spirit. We confess that we deserve to be hardened, but we bless Your Name for Your free mercy toward us in Jesus Christ, through Whom we pray, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP130 “Lord, From the Depths to You I Cried” or TPH425 “How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place”