And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage. Tell me. Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.
And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him , who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.
The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the , who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins.
It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.
These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.
Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.
This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples , he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager. I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses. Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor. See to it yourself. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. Your mothering ministry demonstrates the power of the gospel through your weaknesses and even your trials are counted as joy.
Whether or not that pain is alleviated by medicine or not is not the point. We see a picture of the gospel story where our Savior bore our judgment and satisfied the wrath of God—giving his life so we could be born again.
The Christ is Jesus. All of the birth pain language of judgment for sin and judgment paired with hope, all of the barrenness or fertility themes, all of the commands to multiply image bearers and make disciples in the Bible—they all point to Christ. So next time you see a newborn baby or hear one cry or hold one in your arms, consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us Romans 8. Judgment is not the final word. When you see a pregnant woman or an expectant adoptive mom here you see a reminder that every complicating pain in bringing forth children should point us to the fact that we are sinners in need of a deliverer.
The world is not as it should be nor as it will be. The judgment of God really is coming and everyone who is not united to the judgment bearer, Christ, will suffer the wrath of God for their sin.
Believe God is merciful and repent of your sin. As you labor in evangelism and discipleship, labor with hope. We here, in the overlap of the ages, can be encouraged by how the New Testament epistles describe how the disciples of Jesus are privileged to suffer for him as they make disciples of all nations.
Eve's curse was talked about at a church I visited the other week. The speaker insinuated that the terrible pain women suffer in childbirth is the result of God's curse placed on Eve.
I looked around at the many pregnant women in the congregation; gleefully nodding in agreement, their protruding bellies revealing to the world that labour is fast approaching for them, and doing little to rouse contempt for the speaker's theology.
I couldn't help wondering what it would be like for these ladies going into labour in the next few weeks. Would their minds remember this sermon when the first contraction starts?
Would they go into labour anticipating excruciating pain? Surely, I thought, given what psychological science now knows of the power of the mind, this kind of thinking would be predisposing them to have exactly that, painful labours.
But why would God inflict such physical pain on labouring women? Of course, after the fall childbirth is subjected to the disorder, as is the environment, relationships and physical health. However, why is childbirth particularly selected to have the specific curse of pain placed on it?
Many people throughout history from Hippocrates to Aristotle, leaders of the Grecian School of Medicine, wrote of childbirth but certainly did not mentioned pain in their notes of normal births.
However, at the end of the second century A. D there arose a deep animosity against women. Pregnancy was viewed as a carnal sin and medical personal were forbidden to attend labouring women.
It was this time that a view of God decreeing childbirth to be painful became popular. In sixteenth century midwifery began to come back.
But still, Genesis 3 verse 16 generated a belief that God had cursed childbirth. It was the reformer, Martin Luther, who said, 'if women become tired, even die, it does not matter. Let them die in childbirth. That's what they are there for'. With the coming of the Renaissance there was still a belief that God wanted childbirth to be painful.
When it was suggested that pain relief in the form of chloroform be used, a New England minister said no because that would deprive 'God of the pleasure of their deep, earnest cries of help'. Women in the Christian world feared birth and the pain God had cursed it with. Slowly, birthing became institutionalized and women trudged off to the hospital to birth their babies. This move increased women's fear of birth.
Rightly so, many died in hospitals from infection. No wonder women still fear birth, even though we have very safe birth in the Western world.
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