Job faced some trials in his life (to put it quite mildly) and those afflictions raised some very difficult questions for him. Using legal terminology repeatedly, Job demands a “court date” with God – he wants to be put on the divine docket. And in the end (Job 38-42), Job hears from the Lord. But he doesn’t hear the answers to his questions like we would expect…
This sermon explains the Lord’s reply to Job and its significance for us today.
Putting It All Together: Part Two
This final lesson in the Ecclesiastes series follows the flow of thought through the last six chapters of the book.
Download the audio file.
Download the notes.
Ok, so I’m happy running Leopard on my MacBook – and I love Spaces! What fun it is to whip through several different desktops and avoid window-clutter! Not to mention the eye-candy coolness of watching your screen slide around! But I came across a dilemma the other day… I have a second monitor and I wanted to be able to use it with one software consistently, while I switched applications on my laptop screen – how can I manage that? Spaces pairs both monitors as a single space and switches them together. I, however, want to keep BibleWorks 7 visible (in VMWare Fusion) on my external display while I rotate through my word processor, blog editor, and web browser on my laptop. The solution? Easier than I thought…
Open System Preferences and go the the Exposé & Spaces panel. I’ve already assigned certain applications to certain Spaces (Firefox in 1, Office in 2, Mail in 4, iTunes in 5, Adium IM in 6), but now I assigned VMWare Fusion to “Every Space” and dragged the application to the external display. Now when I switch Spaces to bounce from an email to a document to a blog post, BibleWorks stays up on my external monitor because it’s visible in “Every Space.” Now, I’m not sure I’m going to want it visible in every space when I’m away from my desk and second monitor (in fact, I know I’ll want to re-assign it to Space 3), so I guess I’ll have to change that setting when I switch. Maybe I can do something clever like write an AppleScript and assign it a shortcut key in Sparks… But I’ve never done that before, so I’m open to suggestions if anyone has one! If I do come up with a script, I’ll post it here.
Glory Dwelleth in Immanuel’s Land
Anne Cousin’s hymn “The Sands of Time Are Sinking” has long been a favorite of mine. The last verse has always beautifully pointed to the glorious Christ with whom I will share eternity:
The Bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory but on my King of grace.
Not at the crown He giveth but on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel’s land.
Turning my gaze Christ-ward instead of self-ward is a constant struggle for me; therefore the thought of being so lost in His glory that I complete lose sight of myself is beyond wonderful! The four or five verses of that hymn that are found in most hymnals have already ministered grace to me time and again. But I recently found that there are not merely five, but nineteen verses to this precious hymn! These verses penned by Anne Cousin, the wife of a nineteenth century Scottish preacher, look back to some letters and to the last words of Samuel Rutherford. Rutherford was a Scottish pastor who, during a period of separation from his church, ministered to their souls through letters. Here are a few of my favorite “unknown” stanzas:
Oh! Well it is forever, Oh! Well forevermore,
My nest hung in no forest of all this death doomed shore:
Yea, let the vain world vanish, as from the ship the strand,
While glory—glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.The King there in His beauty, without a veil is seen:
It were a well spent journey, though seven deaths lay between:
The Lamb with His fair army, doth on Mount Zion stand,
And glory—glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.But flowers need night’s cool darkness, the moonlight and the dew;
So Christ, from one who loved it, His shining oft withdrew:
And then, for cause of absence my troubled soul I scanned
But glory shadeless shineth in Immanuel’s land.Deep waters crossed life’s pathway, the hedge of thorns was sharp;
Now, these lie all behind me, Oh! for a well tuned harp!
Oh! To join hallelujah with yon triumphant band,
Who sing where glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.With mercy and with judgment my web of time He wove,
And aye, the dews of sorrow were lustered with His love;
I’ll bless the hand that guided, I’ll bless the heart that planned
When throned where glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.Soon shall the cup of glory wash down earth’s bitterest woes,
Soon shall the desert briar break into Eden’s rose;
The curse shall change to blessing the name on earth that’s banned
Be graven on the white stone in Immanuel’s land.I have borne scorn and hatred, I have borne wrong and shame,
Earth’s proud ones have reproached me for Christ’s thrice blessed Name:
Where God His seal set fairest they’ve stamped the foulest brand,
But judgment shines like noonday in Immanuel’s land.They’ve summoned me before them, but there I may not come,
My Lord says “Come up hither,” My Lord says “Welcome home!”
My King, at His white throne, my presence doth command
Where glory—glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.
Don Carson on Biblical Theology
I’ve benefited much from the teaching/writing ministry of Don Carson – from picking up his insightful book on I Cor. 12-14 for a research paper three years ago to listening to mp3 lectures recently. There are some great resources online where you can find scores of Carson’s lectures. Here are a few of my favorites:
I was a little disappointed to find broken links when I went looking for Carson’s lectures on biblical theology – I’m doing graduate work in that field so those lectures are of particular interest to me. But many thanks to Ray Rishty who saw my “anybody know where those files are?” comment on a blog. He sent me the audio files for three lectures on biblical theology and I’m happy to post them here as a resource for anyone who is interested.
Note to webmasters: please link to this page, not directly to the files themselves. Thank you.
I’ve enjoyed much of Dan Forrest’s music – he has a gift for wrapping the truth of God’s Word in wonderfully appropriate robes of sound! His work in paradisum for choir and wind band recently premiered at BJU’s Commencement Concert. I was (very unfortunately) unable to hear the concert live, but the recording I heard was amazing! You can hear a 3-minute sample on the BJU website here. I can’t wait to get to BJU in a couple weeks and get a copy of this glorious work for myself!
Putting It All Together: Part One
The last eight lessons have pulled out major themes of Ecclesiastes and examined them individually. This lesson goes through the first six chapters of the book, putting pieces together and unfolding the flow of thought. The next lesson (in two weeks) will do the same for the rest of the book.
Download the audio file.
Download the notes.