Thursday, April 18, 2013

Deuteronomy 32:40

I lift my hand to heaven and solemnly swear:
As surely as I live forever,


From Background Notes [BN] for April 20th & 21st written by Pastor Bob Brown:

In many of these texts, the line between heaven as the dwelling of God and heaven as astronomical space is blurred… In later Judaism, this comparison would lead to the theology of a multi-tiered heaven that rose like a mighty ladder from earth to God. What the Jewish mind observed, and the biblical text witnessed, was a…


…gradual elevation of creation that rose upward and fell downward relative to the highest heaven where God is. From texts like Isaiah 7:11 we hear about “deep as Sheol and high as heaven,” thus sweeping the whole range of creative space (see also Amos 9:2). Or in his imaginative journey, the poet exclaims, “If I ascend the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol you are there” (139:8). Relative to this cosmic latticework, Yahweh remains always as the “Most High” God (see Daniel 4:25, 34; 5:21; 7:27), thereby defining His heaven as above all heavens.  [BN, 7]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am

No comments:

Post a Comment