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dfroza · 4 years

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To begin:

(again)

the reading of Scripture from the first book of the New Testament, the first chapter of Matthew that starts with A Family Tree:

[From Abraham to Christ]

This is the scroll of the lineage and birth of Jesus, the Anointed One, the son of David and descendant of Abraham.

Abraham had a son named Isaac, who had a son named Jacob, who had a son named Judah (he and his brothers became the tribes of Israel).

Judah and Tamar had twin sons, Perez and Zerah. Perez had a son named Hezron, who had a son named Ram, who had a son named Amminadab, who had a son named Nashon, who had a son named Salmon, who, along with Rahab, had a son named Boaz. Boaz and Ruth had a son named Obed, who was the father of Jesse, and Jesse had a son named David, who became the king.

Then David and Bathsheba had a son named Solomon, who had a son named Rehoboam, who had a son named Abijah, who had a son named Asa, who had a son named Jehoshaphat, who had a son named Joram, who had a son named Uzziah, who had a son named Jotham, who had a son named Ahaz, who had a son named Hezekiah, who had a son named Manasseh, who had a son named Amos, who had a son named Josiah, who was the father of Jeconiah.

It was during the days of Jeconiah and his brothers that Israel was taken captive and deported to Babylon. About the time of their captivity in Babylon, Jeconiah had a son named Shealtiel, who had a son named Zerubbabel, who had a son named Abiud, who had a son named Eliakim, who had a son named Azor, who had a son named Zadok, who had a son named Achim, who had a son named Eliud, who had a son named Eleazar, who had a son named Matthan, who had a son named Jacob, who was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus, who is called “the Anointed One.”

So from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the Babylonian captivity, fourteen generations, and from the Babylonian captivity to Christ, fourteen generations.

This was how Jesus, God’s Anointed One, was born.

His mother, Mary, had promised Joseph to be his wife, but while she was still a virgin she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Her fiancé, Joseph, was a righteous man full of integrity and he didn’t want to disgrace her, but when he learned of her pregnancy he secretly planned to break the engagement. While he was still debating with himself about what to do, he fell asleep and had a supernatural dream. An angel from the Lord appeared to him in clear light and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, don’t hesitate to take Mary into your home as your wife, because the power of the Holy Spirit has conceived a child in her womb. She will give birth to a son and you are to name him ‘Savior,’ for he is destined to give his life to save his people from their sins.”

This happened so that what the Lord spoke through his prophet would come true:

Listen! A virgin will be pregnant,

she will give birth to a Son,

and he will be known as “Emmanuel,”

which means in Hebrew,

“God became one of us.”

When Joseph awoke from his dream, he did all that the angel of the Lord instructed him to do. He took Mary to be his wife, but they refrained from having sex until she gave birth to her son, whom they named “Jesus.”

The Book of Matthew, Chapter 1 (The Passion Translation)

to be accompanied by the closing verses of the same chapter in The Voice:

Years and years ago, Isaiah, a prophet of Israel, foretold the story of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus:

A virgin will conceive and bear a Son,

and His name will be Immanuel

(which is a Hebrew name that means “God with us”).

Joseph woke up from his dream and did exactly what the messenger had told him to do: he married Mary and brought her into his home as his wife (though he did not consummate their marriage until after her son was born). And when the baby was born, Joseph named Him Jesus, Savior.

The Book of Matthew, Chapter 1:24-27 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 34th chapter of 2nd Chronicles that documents the life & times of King Josiah:

[King Josiah]

Josiah was eight years old when he became king. He ruled for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. He behaved well before God. He kept straight on the path blazed by his ancestor David, not one step to the left or right.

When he had been king for eight years—he was still only a teenager—he began to seek the God of David his ancestor. Four years later, the twelfth year of his reign, he set out to cleanse the neighborhood of sex-and-religion shrines, and get rid of the sacred Asherah groves and the god and goddess figurines, whether carved or cast, from Judah. He wrecked the Baal shrines, tore down the altars connected with them, and scattered the debris and ashes over the graves of those who had worshiped at them. He burned the bones of the priests on the same altars they had used when alive. He scrubbed the place clean, Judah and Jerusalem, clean inside and out. The cleanup campaign ranged outward to the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and the surrounding neighborhoods—as far north as Naphtali. Throughout Israel he demolished the altars and Asherah groves, pulverized the god and goddess figures, chopped up the neighborhood shrines into firewood. With Israel once more intact, he returned to Jerusalem.

One day in the eighteenth year of his kingship, with the cleanup of country and Temple complete, King Josiah sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the mayor of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz the historian to renovate The Temple of God. First they turned over to Hilkiah the high priest all the money collected by the Levitical security guards from Manasseh and Ephraim and the rest of Israel, and from Judah and Benjamin and the citizens of Jerusalem. It was then put into the hands of the foremen managing the work on The Temple of God who then passed it on to the workers repairing God’s Temple—the carpenters, construction workers, and masons—so they could buy the lumber and dressed stone for rebuilding the foundations the kings of Judah had allowed to fall to pieces. The workmen were honest and diligent. Their foremen were Jahath and Obadiah, the Merarite Levites, and Zechariah and Meshullam from the Kohathites—these managed the project. The Levites—they were all skilled musicians—were in charge of the common laborers and supervised the workers as they went from job to job. The Levites also served as accountants, managers, and security guards.

While the money that had been given for The Temple of God was being received and dispersed, Hilkiah the high priest found a copy of The Revelation of Moses. He reported to Shaphan the royal secretary, “I’ve just found the Book of God’s Revelation, instructing us in God’s way—found it in The Temple!” He gave it to Shaphan, who then gave it to the king. And along with the book, he gave this report: “The job is complete—everything you ordered done is done. They took all the money that was collected in The Temple of God and handed it over to the managers and workers.”

And then Shaphan told the king, “Hilkiah the priest gave me a book.” Shaphan proceeded to read it out to the king.

When the king heard what was written in the book, God’s Revelation, he ripped his robes in dismay. And then he called for Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the royal secretary, and Asaiah the king’s personal aide. He ordered them all: “Go and pray to God for me and what’s left of Israel and Judah. Find out what we must do in response to what is written in this book that has just been found! God’s anger must be burning furiously against us—our ancestors haven’t obeyed a thing written in this book of God, followed none of the instructions directed to us.”

Hilkiah and those picked by the king went straight to Huldah the prophetess. She was the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, who was in charge of the palace wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter. The men consulted with her. In response to them she said, “God’s word, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you here, ‘God has spoken, I’m on my way to bring the doom of judgment on this place and this people. Every word written in the book read by the king of Judah will happen. And why? Because they’ve deserted me and taken up with other gods; they’ve made me thoroughly angry by setting up their god-making businesses. My anger is raging white-hot against this place and nobody is going to put it out.’

“And also tell the king of Judah, since he sent you to ask God for direction, God’s comment on what he read in the book: ‘Because you took seriously the doom of judgment I spoke against this place and people, and because you responded in humble repentance, tearing your robe in dismay and weeping before me, I’m taking you seriously. God’s word. I’ll take care of you; you’ll have a quiet death and be buried in peace. You won’t be around to see the doom that I’m going to bring upon this place and people.’”

The men took her message back to the king.

The king acted immediately, assembling all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, and then proceeding to The Temple of God bringing everyone in his train—priests and prophets and people ranging from the least to the greatest. Then he read out publicly everything written in the Book of the Covenant that was found in The Temple of God. The king stood by his pillar and before God solemnly committed himself to the covenant: to follow God believingly and obediently; to follow his instructions, heart and soul, on what to believe and do; to confirm with his life the entire covenant, all that was written in the book.

Then he made everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin commit themselves. And they did it. They committed themselves to the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

Josiah did a thorough job of cleaning up the pollution that had spread throughout Israelite territory and got everyone started fresh again, serving and worshiping their God. All through Josiah’s life the people kept to the straight and narrow, obediently following God, the God of their ancestors.

* * *

The Book of 2nd Chronicles, Chapter 34 (The Message)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for Wednesday, march 3 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A post by John Parsons that reflects upon this week’s Torah portion:

Our Torah portion this week (Ki Tisa) states that God endowed a man named "Betzalel" with the Spirit of God (רוּחַ אֱלהִים), and with wisdom (חָכְמָה), understanding (תְּבוּנָה), and knowledge (דַּעַת) - the same attributes used to describe God as the Creator of the Universe (Exod. 35:31; Prov. 3:19-20). Indeed, the name Betzalel (בְּצַלְאֵל) means “in the shadow of God” (from בְּ [in] + tzel [צֵל], “shadow” + El [אֵל], “God”) who "foreshadowed" Messiah in that 1) he was from the kingly tribe of Judah, 2) he was a young carpenter, 3) he was unusually "filled with the Spirit of God," 4) his father's name (Uri) means "my light" (James 1:17), 4) his assistant was called Oholiav (אָהֳלִיאָב), a name that means “my Father’s tent,” and 5) it was Betzalel (rather than Moses) who actually built the Mishkan, which was the pattern for the spiritual House of God (Heb. 3:3-6; 1 Pet. 2:5). Indeed, as the one who fashioned the “Ark of the covenant” where the blood would be presented for our atonement, Betzalel foresaw the message of the redemption of Messiah. [Hebrew for Christians]

3.2.21 • Facebook

and another post about faith:

Faith sees the invisible light, the truth of love that overcomes all the powers of darkness, hate, and fear. "I believe. I believe in the sun even when it is not shining; I believe in love even when feeling it not; and I believe in God, even when God is silent" (from an anonymous poem found on the wall of a cellar in Cologne, Germany, where some Jews hid from the Nazis).

The spirit testifies that there is "unfinished business," that there is more than meets the eye, that evil will not have the last word, and that tears will one day forever be wiped away. Despite the ambiguity, faith “hopes against hope” that the LORD God will intervene and bring everlasting healing to us all. As it says, "Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the Name of the LORD (יִבְטַח בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה) and rely on his God." [Hebrew for Christians]

3.2.21 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

March 3, 2021

Living in the Real World

“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” (Isaiah 65:17)

People often think they are being practical when they place material values ahead of spiritual, emphasizing that we have to “live in the real world.” The fact is, however, that we are not living in the real world at all but in a world that is dying and will soon be gone. “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:17). This is not even the world that God created, for that world was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Because “sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (Romans 5:12), therefore, “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22). In fact, this world is not even as it was soon after God’s curse, for “the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished” (2 Peter 3:6).

The present, post-Flood world is now under the dominion of Satan, who is “the prince of this world” (John 12:31) and of “all the kingdoms of the world” (Matthew 4:8). The Lord Jesus Christ came to “deliver us from this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4). As our text says, this world shall not even “be remembered, nor come into mind.” It “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

Therefore, we must “be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2). We must “live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:12-13). In the meantime, our true citizenship, if we have been born again in Christ, is in the real world to come, and we are His ambassadors to an alien land (2 Corinthians 5:20). HMM

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the-burningcoal · 4 years

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We Forgot Our Purpose

<a href='https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/background'>Background photo created by jeswin - www.freepik.com</a>

Written by Johann Shalzer for Burning Coal (July 08, 2020)

Christ came to the world to seek and save the lost. In all His dealings, this was his ultimate goal. The times he visited people’s homes, attended feasts of publicans and tax collectors, fed the hungry crowd or rebuked the Pharisees, He had just one purpose in mind—this was to seek and bring them out of darkness to His light. It was all about opening their eyes to help them see the big picture they have been missing. It was all about bringing them from the road of death unto life eternal. Everything He did was done so he can save humanity.

Perhaps, if there is one thing that clearly elucidated this, it was the announcement He gave in Nazareth when He was called to read the scriptures in the synagogue. He gracefully stepped up to the podium, asked for the scrolls of the prophet Isaiah and read those words that were familiar to every Jewish boy. Isaiah had written hundreds of years prior to the event about the One who was to come with the full wisdom of Solomon, strength of Samson, might of David and faithfulness of Job. He was supposed to be the great law giver like unto Moses who was to teach Israel in all truth and the great minister like unto Joseph who was to feed the entire world with bread. Every Jewish boy knew what those verses were about, the Messiah, the Anointed to God. But they never conceived that those words would be fulfilled in their very ears. When He took the scrolls, He opened to the that verse and read with eloquence and fluidity these words, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18,19.

This was Jesus’ mission statement and he spent the rest of His life here on earth just doing that. He spent it preaching to the poor, and mending broken hearts, delivering those in the captivity and oppression of sin, giving sight to those blinded by the cares and worries of this broken, tattered world. This was the daily business of the savior. And He has called all of us into the same business. Perhaps, His last statement before leaving this world put a better stamp on this. As they moved up the mount of olives, He leading the way, he suddenly turned and looked at the disciples. Strong winds started blowing as He was being wrapped up into the clouds. Then those powerful, delightful words fell on their ears, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” (Matt.28:18-20). This was the last commission and perhaps the only commission our savior gave us. We are all supposed to be workmen and laborers in His field. This should be the purpose of our lives. His mission should be our vision and guide in all decisions we make. Our purpose in life is to use every opportunity we get to minister and win a soul for Him.

Today, we Christians have lost focus of our purpose in this life. The nucleus, heart, cornerstone, bedrock and point of our existence has been forgotten. We have become selfish and living in pursuit of the same things the world is seeking for. Our lives are now centered on getting into the best profession, landing to that high-class job, accumulating wealth and riches, buying luxurious cars and living in 5-star hotels. We are more concerned about the newest celebrity gossip, the current news in the political arena, how many likes, followers, views and retweets we get on social media than we are about seeking to save the lost. We are more concerned about being politically correct than we are about showing concern, care, kindness and genuine love to our next-door neighbor. We pursue education just for the purpose of getting a raise at work, acquiring that upper class, top quality, elite employment and receiving the praises of men. We care more about being called a doctor, professor, lawyer, president, boss and manager than we are about using our influence to spread the love of Christ. We are like the Pharisees of His day. We love the best seats in assemblies, love to be greeted with respect in the streets and on occasions and delight in having the most important seats and places of honor at banquets. We care less about His mission statement of bringing light, spreading joy, and sharing Him to this broken world.

We are supposed to be the light of the world, shining bright in the darkness of scorn, pain and anguish of this world. We are supposed to be the salt in our workplace, classroom, neighborhood, social media platforms who spread savor and sweetness to mankind. Every job we seek, every degree we pursue, every research we make, every post we create, every friendship we engage in should be about how we can serve Him better. All our talents, wealth, time and all we are should be put in His service. Whatever dream you have, whatever goals you aspire for, and in whatever plans you make, the questions you need to ask yourself are: Will this equip me to be a better laborer and workman for Him? How can I use this to free, liberate, deliver and rescue a dying wretched soul? Never forget that “We are the Bible the world is reading, the creed the world is needing, the sermon the world is heeding” (Billy Graham).

Christ came to seek and save the lost. What are you doing? What is your purpose?

Life that has lost its purpose is a like body without breath. It is dead.

#faith #purpose #mission #christ #Christian #gospel #religion

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teknomagi · 6 years

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The true meaning of Freemasonry.

''The true Masonic Lodge is a Mystery School. A Mason is not necessarily a member of a lodge. In a broad sense, he is any person who daily tries to live the Masonic life, and to serve intelligently the needs of the Great Architect. He realizes that his spirit is a glowing jewel which he must enshrine within a holy temple built by the labor of his hands, the meditation of his heart, and the ancient mystic teachings, as perpetuated in the modern rites are sacred, and that powers unseen and unrecognized mold the destiny of those who consciously and of their own free will take upon themselves the obligations of the Fraternity. Freemasonry is a science of the soul; It is not a creed or doctrine but a universal expression of the Divine Wisdom. The coming together of medieval guilds or even the building of Solomon's temple as it is understood today has little if anything, to do with the true origin of Freemasonry, for Masonry does not deal with personalities.

In its highest sense, it is neither historical nor archaeological, but is a divine symbolic language perpetuating under certain concrete symbols the sacred mysteries of the ancients. The age of the Masonic school is not to be calculated by hundreds or even thousands of years, for it never had any origin in the worlds of form. The world as we see it is merely an experimental laboratory in which man is laboring to build and express greater and more perfect vehicles. Into this laboratory pour myriads of rays descending from the cosmic hierarchies.

These mighty globes and orbs which focus their energies upon mankind and mold its destiny do so in an orderly manner, each in its own way and place, and it is the working of these mystic hierarchies in the universe which forms the pattern around which the Masonic school has been built, for the true Lodge of the Mason is the Universe.

The age of the Mystery Schools can be traced by the student back to the dawn of time, aeons ago, when the temple of the Solar Man was in the making. That was the first Temple of the King, and therein were given and laid down the true mysteries of the ancient lodge, and it was the gods of creation and the spirits of the dawn who first tiled the Master's lodge. The initiated brother realizes that his so called symbols and rituals are merely blinds fabricated by the wise to perpetuate ideas incomprehensible to the average individual. He also realizes that few Masons of today know or appreciate the mystic meaning concealed within these rituals. The student is seeking so to mold his life, that the form will glorify the God whose temple he is slowly building as he awakens one by one the workmen within himself and directs them to carry out the plan that has been given him out of heaven. The true student realizes that his duty is to build and evolve the sacred teachings in his own being: that nothing but his own purified being can unlock the door to the sealed libraries of human consciousness, and that his Masonic rites must eternally be speculative, until he makes them opera five by living the life of the mystic Mason.

Only those who enter their temple in reverence, who seek not the ephemeral things of life but the treasures which are eternal, whose sole desire is to know the true mystery of the Craft, may join as honest workmen, those who have gone before as builders of the Universal Temple. The Masonic ritual is not a ceremony, but a life to be lived. Those alone are truly Masons who, dedicating their lives upon the aItar of the living flame, undertake the construction of the One Universal building of which they are the workmen and their God the living Architect. When we have Masons like this, the Craft will again be operative, the flaming triangle will shine forth with greater lustre, the dead builder will rise from his tomb, and the Lost Word, so long concealed from the profane, will blaze forth again with the power that makes all things new.

Around Life - that wondrous germ in the heart of every living

thing, that sacred Prisoner in His gloomy cell, that Master Builder laid away in the grave of matter - has been built the wondrous legend of the Holy Sepulchre. Under allegories unnumbered, the mystic philosophers of the ages, have perpetuated this wonderful story, and among the Craft Masons it forms the mystic ritual of Hiram, the Master Builder, murdered in his temple by the very builders who should have served him as he labored to perfect the dwelling place of his God. Matter is the tomb. It is the dead wall of substance not yet awakened into the pulsating energies of Spirit. It exists in many degrees and forms, not only in the chemical elements which form the solids of our universe but in finer and more subtle substances. These, though expressing through emotion and thought, are still beings of the world of form. These substances form the great cross of matter which opposes the growth of all things and by opposition makes all growth possible. It is the great cross of hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon upon which even the life germ in protoplasm is crucified and suspended in agony. These substances are incapable of giving it adequate expression. The Spirit within cries out for freedom: freedom to be, to express, to manifest its true place in the Great Plan of cosmic unfoldment.

It is this great yearning within the heart of man which sends him slowly onward toward the gate of the Temple; it is this inner urge for greater understanding and greater light which brought into being through the law of necessity the great cosmic Masonic Lodge, dedicated to those seeking union with the Powers of Light that their prison walls might be removed.

This shell cannot be discarded: it must be raised into union with the Life; each dead, crystallized atom in the human body must be set vibrating and spinning to a higher rate of consciousness. Through purification, through knowledge, and through service to his fellow man, the candidate sequentially unfolds these mystic properties, building better and more perfect bodies through which his higher life secures even greater manifestation. The expression of man through constructive thought, emotion, and action liberates the higher nature from bodies which in their crystallized states are incapa

ble of giving him his natural opportunities.

In Freemasonry this crystallized substance of matter is called the grave and represents the Holy Sepulchre. This is the grave within which the lost Builder lies and with Him are the plans of the Temple and the Master's Word, and it is this builder, our Grand Master, whom we must seek and raise from the dead. This noble Son of Light cries out to us in every expression of matter. Every stick and stone marks His resting place, and the spring of acacia promises that through the long winter of spiritual darkness where the sun does not shine for man, this Light still awaits the day of liberation when each one of us shall raise Him by the grip of the Grand Master, the true grip of a Master Mason. We cannot hear this Voice that calls eternally, but we feel its inner urge. A great unknown something pulls at our heartstrings. Few Masons realize that this Holy Sepulchre, or tomb, is in reality negation and crystallization - matter that has sealed within itself the Spirit of Life which must remain in darkness until the growth of each individual being gives it walls of glowing gold and changes its stones into windows. As we develop better and better vehicles of expression, these walls slowly expand until at last Spirit rises triumphant from its tomb and, blessing the very walls that confined it, raises them to union with itself.

We may first consider the murderers of Hiram. These 3 symbolize the three expressions of our own lower natures which are in truth the murderers of the good within ourselves. These three may be called thought, desire, and action. When purified and transmuted they are three glorious avenues through which may manifest the great life power of the three kings, the glowing builders of the Cosmic Lodge manifesting in this world as spiritual thought, constructive emotion, and useful daily labor in the various places and positions where we find ourselves while carrying on the Master's work. These three form the Flaming Triangle which glorifies every living Mason. King Solomon is the power of mind which, perverted, becomes a destroyer who tears down with the very powers which nourish and build. The right application of thought, when seeking the answer to the cosmic problem of destiny, liberates man's spirit which soars above the concrete through that wonderful power of mind, with its dreams and its ideals.

It is sometimes reason, sometimes suffering, sometimes a great desire to be helpful, that brings out the first latent powers which show that one long wandering in the darkness is about to take the path that leads to Light. Having lived life in all its experiences, he has learned to realize that all the manifestations of being, all the various experiences through which he passes, are steps leading in one direction; that, consciously or unconsciously, all souls are being led to the portico of the temple where for the first time they see and realize the glory of Divinity. It is then that they understand the age-old allegory of the martyred Builder and feel his power within themselves crying out from the prison of materiality. Nothing else seems worth while; and, regardless of cost, suffering, or the taunts of the world, the candidate slowly ascends the steps that lead to the temple eternal. The reason that governs Cosmos he does not know, the laws which mold his being he does not realize, but he does know that somewhere, behind the veil of human ignorance, there is an eternal light toward which step by step he must labor.

With his eyes fixed on the heavens above and his hands clasped in prayer he passes slowly as a candidate up the steps. In fear and trembling, yet with a divine realization of good, he raps on the door and awaits in silence the answer from within. ''

-Manly P. Hall, The Lost Keys of Freemasonry

art by Ben Ridgway

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araitsume · 7 years

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Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 61-74: Chapter (4) Results of Transgression

Prominent among the primary causes that led Solomon into extravagance and oppression was his failure to maintain and foster the spirit of self-sacrifice.

When, at the foot of Sinai, Moses told the people of the divine command, “Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them,” the response of the Israelites was accompanied by the appropriate gifts. “They came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing,” and brought offerings. Exodus 25:8; 35:21. For the building of the sanctuary, great and extensive preparations were necessary; a large amount of the most precious and costly material was required, but the Lord accepted only freewill offerings. “Of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take My offering,” was the command repeated by Moses to the congregation. Exodus 25:2. Devotion to God and a spirit of sacrifice were the first requisites in preparing a dwelling place for the Most High.

A similar call to self-sacrifice was made when David turned over to Solomon the responsibility of building the temple. Of the assembled multitude David asked, “Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?” 1 Chronicles 29:5. This call to consecration and willing service should ever have been kept in mind by those who had to do with the erection of the temple.

For the construction of the wilderness tabernacle, chosen men were endowed by God with special skill and wisdom. “Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the Lord hath called by name Bezaleel, ... of the tribe of Judah; and He hath filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.... And He hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab, ... of the tribe of Dan. Them hath He filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, ... and of the weaver, even of them that do any work.... Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wisehearted man, in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding.” Exodus 35:30-35; 36:1. Heavenly intelligences co-operated with the workmen whom God Himself had chosen.

The descendants of these workmen inherited to a large degree the talents conferred on their forefathers. For a time these men of Judah and Dan remained humble and unselfish; but gradually, almost imperceptibly, they lost their hold upon God and their desire to serve Him unselfishly. They asked higher wages for their services, because of their superior skill as workmen in the finer arts. In some instances their request was granted, but more often they found employment in the surrounding nations. In place of the noble spirit of self-sacrifice that had filled the hearts of their illustrious ancestors, they indulged a spirit of covetousness, of grasping for more and more. That their selfish desires might be gratified, they used their God-given skill in the service of heathen kings, and lent their talent to the perfecting of works which were a dishonor to their Maker.

It was among these men that Solomon looked for a master workman to superintend the construction of the temple on Mount Moriah. Minute specifications, in writing, regarding every portion of the sacred structure, had been entrusted to the king; and he could have looked to God in faith for consecrated helpers, to whom would have been granted special skill for doing with exactness the work required. But Solomon lost sight of this opportunity to exercise faith in God. He sent to the king of Tyre for a man, “cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men ... in Judah and in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 2:7.

The Phoenician king responded by sending Huram, “the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre.”Verse 14. Huram was a descendant, on his mother's side, of Aholiab, to whom, hundreds of years before, God had given special wisdom for the construction of the tabernacle.

Thus at the head of Solomon's company of workmen there was placed a man whose efforts were not prompted by an unselfish desire to render service to God. He served the god of this world, mammon. The very fibers of his being were inwrought with the principles of selfishness.

Because of his unusual skill, Huram demanded large wages. Gradually the wrong principles that he cherished came to be accepted by his associates. As they labored with him day after day, they yielded to the inclination to compare his wages with their own, and they began to lose sight of the holy character of their work. The spirit of self-denial left them, and in its place came the spirit of covetousness. The result was a demand for higher wages, which was granted.

The baleful influences thus set in operation permeated all branches of the Lord's service, and extended throughout the kingdom. The high wages demanded and received gave to many an opportunity to indulge in luxury and extravagance. The poor were oppressed by the rich; the spirit of self-sacrifice was well-nigh lost. In the far-reaching effects of these influences may be traced one of the principal causes of the terrible apostasy of him who once was numbered among the wisest of mortals.

The sharp contrast between the spirit and motives of the people building the wilderness tabernacle, and of those engaged in erecting Solomon's temple, has a lesson of deep significance. The self-seeking that characterized the workers on the temple finds its counterpart today in the selfishness that rules in the world. The spirit of covetousness, of seeking for the highest position and the highest wage, is rife. The willing service and joyous self-denial of the tabernacle workers is seldom met with. But this is the only spirit that should actuate the followers of Jesus. Our divine Master has given an example of how His disciples are to work. To those whom He bade, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19), He offered no stated sum as a reward for their services. They were to share with Him in self-denial and sacrifice.

Not for the wages we receive are we to labor. The motive that prompts us to work for God should have in it nothing akin to self-serving. Unselfish devotion and a spirit of sacrifice have always been and always will be the first requisite of acceptable service. Our Lord and Master designs that not one thread of selfishness shall be woven into His work. Into our efforts we are to bring the tact and skill, the exactitude and wisdom, that the God of perfection required of the builders of the earthly tabernacle; yet in all our labors we are to remember that the greatest talents or the most splendid services are acceptable only when self is laid upon the altar, a living, consuming sacrifice.

Another of the deviations from right principles that finally led to the downfall of Israel's king was his yielding to the temptation to take to himself the glory that belongs to God alone.

From the day that Solomon was entrusted with the work of building the temple, to the time of its completion, his avowed purpose was “to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.” 2 Chronicles 6:7. This purpose was fully recognized before the assembled hosts of Israel at the time of the dedication of the temple. In his prayer the king acknowledged that Jehovah had said, “My name shall be there.” 1 Kings 8:29.

One of the most touching portions of Solomon's dedicatory prayer was his plea to God for the strangers that should come from countries afar to learn more of Him whose fame had been spread abroad among the nations. “They shall hear,” the king pleaded, “of Thy great name, and of Thy strong hand, and of Thy stretched-out arm.” In behalf of every one of these stranger worshipers Solomon had petitioned: “Hear Thou, ... and do according to all that the stranger calleth to Thee for: that all people of the earth may know Thy name, to fear Thee, as do Thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by Thy name.”Verses 42, 43.

At the close of the service, Solomon had exhorted Israel to be faithful and true to God, in order that “all the people of the earth may know,” he said, “that the Lord is God, and that there is none else.” Verse 60.

A Greater than Solomon was the designer of the temple; the wisdom and glory of God stood there revealed. Those who were unacquainted with this fact naturally admired and praised Solomon as the architect and builder; but the king disclaimed any honor for its conception or erection.

Thus it was when the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon. Hearing of his wisdom and of the magnificent temple he had built, she determined “to prove him with hard questions” and to see for herself his famous works. Attended by a retinue of servants, and with camels bearing “spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones,” she made the long journey to Jerusalem. “And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.” She talked with him of the mysteries of nature; and Solomon taught her of the God of nature, the great Creator, who dwells in the highest heaven and rules over all. “Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from the king, which he told her not.” 1 Kings 10:1-3; 2 Chronicles 9:1, 2.

“When the Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, ... there was no more spirit in her.” “It was a true report,” she acknowledged, “which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom: howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it:” “and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.” 1 Kings 10:4-8; 2 Chronicles 9:3-7.

By the time of the close of her visit the queen had been so fully taught by Solomon as to the source of his wisdom and prosperity that she was constrained, not to extol the human agent, but to exclaim, “Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore made He thee king, to do judgment and justice.” 1 Kings 10:9. This is the impression that God designed should be made upon all peoples. And when “all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart” (2 Chronicles 9:23), Solomon for a time honored God by reverently pointing them to the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Ruler of the universe, the All-wise.

Had Solomon continued in humility of mind to turn the attention of men from himself to the One who had given him wisdom and riches and honor, what a history might have been his! But while the pen of inspiration records his virtues, it also bears faithful witness to his downfall. Raised to a pinnacle of greatness and surrounded with the gifts of fortune, Solomon became dizzy, lost his balance, and fell. Constantly extolled by men of the world, he was at length unable to withstand the flattery offered him. The wisdom entrusted to him that he might glorify the Giver, filled him with pride. He finally permitted men to speak of him as the one most worthy of praise for the matchless splendor of the building planned and erected for the honor of “the name of the Lord God of Israel.”

Thus it was that the temple of Jehovah came to be known throughout the nations as “Solomon's temple.” The human agent had taken to himself the glory that belonged to the One “higher than the highest.” Ecclesiastes 5:8. Even to this day the temple of which Solomon declared, “This house which I have built is called by Thy name” (2 Chronicles 6:33), is oftenest spoken of, not as the temple of Jehovah, but as “Solomon's temple.”

Man cannot show greater weakness than by allowing men to ascribe to him the honor for gifts that are Heaven-bestowed. The true Christian will make God first and last and best in everything. No ambitious motives will chill his love for God; steadily, perseveringly, will he cause honor to redound to his heavenly Father. It is when we are faithful in exalting the name of God that our impulses are under divine supervision, and we are enabled to develop spiritual and intellectual power.

Jesus, the divine Master, ever exalted the name of His heavenly Father. He taught His disciples to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.” Matthew 6:9, A.R.V. And they were not to forget to acknowledge, “Thine is ... the glory.” Verse 13. So careful was the great Healer to direct attention from Himself to the Source of His power, that the wondering multitude, “when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see,” did not glorify Him, but “glorified the God of Israel.”Matthew 15:31. In the wonderful prayer that Christ offered just before His crucifixion, He declared, “I have glorified Thee on the earth.” “Glorify Thy Son,” He pleaded, “that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.” “O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:4, 1, 25, 26.

“Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23, 24.

“I will praise the name of God, ... And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.”

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power.”

“I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: And I will glorify Thy name forevermore.”

“O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.”

Psalm 69:30; Revelation 4:11; Psalm 86:12; 34:3.

The introduction of principles leading away from a spirit of sacrifice and tending toward self-glorification, was accompanied by yet another gross perversion of the divine plan for Israel. God had designed that His people should be the light of the world. From them was to shine forth the glory of His law as revealed in the life practice. For the carrying out of this design, He had caused the chosen nation to occupy a strategic position among the nations of earth.

In the days of Solomon the kingdom of Israel extended from Hamath on the north to Egypt on the south, and from the Mediterranean Sea to the river Euphrates. Through this territory ran many natural highways of the world's commerce, and caravans from distant lands were constantly passing to and fro. Thus there was given to Solomon and his people opportunity to reveal to men of all nations the character of the King of kings, and to teach them to reverence and obey Him. To all the world this knowledge was to be given. Through the teaching of the sacrificial offerings, Christ was to be uplifted before the nations, that all who would might live.

Placed at the head of a nation that had been set as a beacon light to the surrounding nations, Solomon should have used his God-given wisdom and power of influence in organizing and directing a great movement for the enlightenment of those who were ignorant of God and His truth. Thus multitudes would have been won to allegiance to the divine precepts, Israel would have been shielded from the evils practiced by the heathen, and the Lord of glory would have been greatly honored. But Solomon lost sight of this high purpose. He failed of improving his splendid opportunities for enlightening those who were continually passing through his territory or tarrying at the principal cities.

The missionary spirit that God had implanted in the heart of Solomon and in the hearts of all true Israelites was supplanted by a spirit of commercialism. The opportunities afforded by contact with many nations were used for personal aggrandizement. Solomon sought to strengthen his position politically by building fortified cities at the gateways of commerce. He rebuilt Gezer, near Joppa, lying along the road between Egypt and Syria; Beth-horon, to the westward of Jerusalem, commanding the passes of the highway leading from the heart of Judea to Gezer and the seacoast; Megiddo, situated on the caravan road from Damascus to Egypt, and from Jerusalem to the northward; and “Tadmor in the wilderness” (2 Chronicles 8:4), along the route of caravans from the east. All these cities were strongly fortified. The commercial advantages of an outlet at the head of the Red Sea were developed by the construction of “a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, ... on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.” Trained sailors from Tyre, “with the servants of Solomon,” manned these vessels on voyages “to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold,” and “great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones.” Verse 18; 1 Kings 9:26, 28; 10:11.

The revenue of the king and of many of his subjects was greatly increased, but at what a cost! Through the cupidity and shortsightedness of those to whom had been entrusted the oracles of God, the countless multitudes who thronged the highways of travel were allowed to remain in ignorance of Jehovah.

In striking contrast to the course pursued by Solomon was the course followed by Christ when He was on this earth. The Saviour, though possessing “all power,” never used this power for self-aggrandizement. No dream of earthly conquest, of worldly greatness, marred the perfection of His service for mankind. “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests,” He said, “but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” Matthew 8:20. Those who, in response to the call of the hour, have entered the service of the Master Worker, may well study His methods. He took advantage of the opportunities to be found along the great thoroughfares of travel.

In the intervals of His journeys to and fro, Jesus dwelt at Capernaum, which came to be known as “His own city.” Matthew 9:1. Situated on the highway from Damascus to Jerusalem and Egypt and to the Mediterranean Sea, it was well adapted to be the center of the Saviour's work. People from many lands passed through the city or tarried for rest. There Jesus met with those of all nations and all ranks, and thus His lessons were carried to other countries and into many households. By this means interest was aroused in the prophecies pointing forward to the Messiah, attention was directed to the Saviour, and His mission was brought before the world.

In this our day the opportunities for coming into contact with men and women of all classes and many nationalities are much greater than in the days of Israel. The thoroughfares of travel have multiplied a thousandfold.

Like Christ, the messengers of the Most High today should take their position in these great thoroughfares, where they can meet the passing multitudes from all parts of the world. Like Him, hiding self in God, they are to sow the gospel seed, presenting before others the precious truths of Holy Scripture that will take deep root in mind and heart, and spring up unto life eternal.

Solemn are the lessons of Israel's failure during the years when ruler and people turned from the high purpose they had been called to fulfill. Wherein they were weak, even to the point of failure, the Israel of God today, the representatives of heaven that make up the true church of Christ, must be strong; for upon them devolves the task of finishing the work that has been committed to man, and of ushering in the day of final awards. Yet the same influences that prevailed against Israel in the time when Solomon reigned are to be met with still. The forces of the enemy of all righteousness are strongly entrenched; only by the power of God can the victory be gained. The conflict before us calls for the exercise of a spirit of self-denial, for distrust of self and for dependence on God alone, for the wise use of every opportunity for the saving of souls. The Lord's blessing will attend His church as they advance unitedly, revealing to a world lying in the darkness of error the beauty of holiness as manifested in a Christlike spirit of self-sacrifice, in an exaltation of the divine rather than the human, and in loving and untiring service for those so much in need of the blessings of the gospel.

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pamphletstoinspire · 7 years

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Psalm 126 - Interpreted

Daily Plenary Indulgence

Per Vatican II, one of the ways to gain a daily plenary indulgence is to read Scripture for ½ hour per day. For Pamphlets to Inspire (PTI), the Scripture readings that inspire us the most are the Psalms. Reading the Psalms and understanding their meaning can sometimes be challenging. In an attempt to draw more individuals to not only read the Psalms, but to understand their meaning, PTI has found an analysis of their meaning by St. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine. The method that will be employed is to list the chapter and verse, and then provide an explanation of that verse. Your interest in this subject will determine how often we will chat about this topic. The Bible that will be used is the official Bible of the Catholic Church and used by the Vatican, that is, the Douay-Rheims or Latin Vulgate version.

Nothing can be done without God’s grace and blessing.

1. Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.

1. “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.” These words were addressed to the Jews when they were building the house of God, that is, the temple, at the time that the work was progressing but slowly, by reason of the obstructions offered by the surrounding nations, as we read in 1 Esdras. They are admonished to bear in mind that the work of man is of no value, unless God, the principal builder, be there to help them; and, therefore, that they should work not only with their hands, but also with their hearts and their lips, in invoking God, and confiding mainly in his help. “Unless the Lord build the house;” unless God, on being invoked with confidence, assists the workmen, “they labor in vain that build it;” all their labor is gone for nothing, and will be so. This is also addressed to the heads of the Church who, by the preaching of God’s word, seek to bring souls to him, and of them, to build up a temple, (the Church,) to the Lord, as we read in Corinthians, “you are God’s building;” and further on, “as a wise architect I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.” But unless the primary architect be there, he who said, “on this rock I will build my church,” in vain will men build, and doctors preach, because, as the Lord himself said, “without me you can do nothing.” The same applies to everyone of us, for we are bound, through acts of faith, hope, and love, to build up a house in heaven; for, as St. Augustine has it, “such a house is founded on faith, built up on hope, and finished off by charity; nor is anyone who has not previously prepared such a house ever admitted as a citizen in the heavily country.” Such a house is constructed rather by prayer and lamentation, than by manual labor, because, “we are not sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves.” – “Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.” When the city was being built after the captivity, they had to build it and guard it at the same time, as we read in 2 Esdras. The nations roundabout them not only sought to prevent them from building, but they demolished everything that was built if they could; and thus the children of Israel had to proceed with the sword in one hand, and the tools in the other and many had to stand guard continually. Yet all this guarding would have been of no avail, and not the Lord chosen to guard the city. This, too, applies to the heads of the Church, whose duty it is both to build it up, and to guard it. Because we are surrounded by enemies, who hate nothing more than the extension of the Church, and though bishops get a very high position in the Church to look out as if from a watchtower, from which they can see everything, and thus guard the people; still, as they cannot penetrate men’s hearts, nor be everywhere with everyone, they cannot but feel that “unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.” The same is very apt to occur to ourselves, when we, through good works, begin to build up the house, for enemies will not be wanting to seek to destroy the work so begun, by various temptations; and, hence, the apostle arms us when he says, “wherefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day;” and a little further on, “in all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one.” But unless God be with us, to guard us who slumber so often, and fight for us, all our labor will be in vain.

2. It is vain for you to rise before light: rise ye after you have sitten, you that eat the bread of sorrow. When he shall give sleep to his beloved.

2. “It is vain for you to rise before light: rise ye after you have sitten, you that eat the bread of sorrow. When he shall give sleep to his beloved.” No explanation given.

3. Behold, the inheritance of the Lord are children; the reward, the fruit of the womb.

3. “Behold, the inheritance of the Lord are children; the reward, the fruit of the womb.” The children of Israel, in their anxiety, while so harassed, were wont to rise before day, in order to expedite the building; and, therefore, the Holy Ghost admonishes them that there turning to work before day would be of no advantage to them, unless the Lord would assist them; but with him as a helper, with their hope firmly reposed in him, that the work would go on prosperously, even though they may not go to work until after the rising of the sun. “It is vain for you to rise before light;” you have no business whatever in beginning to work before day, unless the Lord shall build with you; and, therefore, trust in him, put up your prayers constantly to him. “Rise ye after you have sitten;” after the necessary rest of the night, rise to your work, “you that eat the bread of sorrow,” you who now lead a miserable and a sorrowful life by reason of the continual harassing of your enemies. In the meaning more in the mind of the Holy Ghost that prelates of the Church, and the faithful, individually, are admonished, that in the building of a house, whether for themselves or for a community, they should not confide more in working than in praying, and should seek to imitate our Lord, who watched all night in prayer, as we read in Luke, “and he passed the whole night in the prayer of God,” while by day he addressed people, and confirmed what he said by miracles; as also the apostle, who says in the Acts,” but we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” – “It is vain for you to rise before light,” to waste all your time in building and watching it. “Rise ye after you have sitten,” go to your work after you shall have rested in prayer and contemplation. “You that eat the bread of sorrow;” you who, in your longings for your heavenly country, daily groan and exclaim, “my tears had been my bread day and night, whilst it is said to me daily, where is thy God?” For ardent lovers, when they cannot behold the thing they love, are supported by sighing and groaning for it, and thus their tears become bread to them day and night; that is, a dinner by day and a supper by night. “When he shall give sleep to his beloved.” He now consoles them after his exhortations and admonitions, prophesying that it would come to pass, that after the present tribulations God would give peace to his people, and that the children of Israel would be manifestly “God’s inheritance,” would become so powerful and so brace that they would never again have to suffer anything from the enemy, a prophecy that concerns the new people; that is, the Church of Christ, of which the temple and the city were a type. For as St. Augustine proves, after the restoration of the city and the temple, matters were every day getting worse with the Jews, until the city was laid in ruins, and the temple burned, under Titus and Vespasian. He, therefore, says, “when he shall give sleep to his beloved,” when he shall have given peace and rest to his people, by sending them the true Solomon, to build up the real temple, the Church which he will establish and propagate, and to which he will subject all the rulers of the world. “Behold, the inheritance of the Lord are children, the reward the fruit of the womb;” that is to say, then, it will appear that many children are the inheritance of the Lord, as he says in Psalm 2, “ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession,” and the “reward” of the same Christ our Lord will be the fruit of the womb; that is, many children, according to Isaias, “if he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a long lived seed;” for, as we have frequently remarked, repetitions are of most common occurrence in the Scripture, and thus, “the inheritance of the Lord are children,” is one and the same with “the reward the fruit of the womb;” that is to say, the inheritance and the reward of Christ our Lord, will be many children, who are nothing else than the fruit of the womb. If we look for a more sublime meaning in these words, we must make them foretell the happiness of the Jerusalem above; that is, which awaits those, who, in the Resurrection, after the sleep of a temporary death, hastened, as they ought, to get up to their country on the wings of faith and love; and he, therefore, says, “when he shall give sleep to his beloved;” when, after various labors and contests, God shall give all his beloved, the pastors of his Church, who were its builders, as well as the faithful, in particular, will built up their own house by good works, the sleep and repose of a happy death. “Behold the inheritance of the Lord are children; the reward, the fruit of the womb.” It will appear on the day of judgment, that God’s children are God’s inheritance, because they will then obtain life everlasting, and will pass over to the everlasting possession and inheritance of God; and they will also be the reward of Christ, who is the fruit of the womb, because the salvation of the elect is Christ’s reward, inasmuch as it was he, who, by his sufferings and death, got grace and glory for them.

4. As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them that have been shaken.

4. “As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them that have been shaken.” The Prophet now relates the strength of the children of Christ, who are his inheritance and his reward, and says, they will have great strength and power, as great as the arrows that are shot from the bow of a strong and powerful archer, which pierce everything; and this is only in reference to this is only in reference to their spiritual strength, which is as remarkable in its action as it is in its power of endurance; for when they confound like thunder and lightning, when they bring infidels to the faith, or sinners to penance,, by the fire of their preaching, by the brightness of their sanctity, and by the power of their miracles; and when, in their struggles for the faith and for piety, they endure, even unto death, all manner of torments with the most incredible patience and fortitude, what else are they but arrows in the hand of the mighty? But why are those brave children called “the children of them that have been shaken?” Because, they are the children of the outcasts and the wretched, the children of the prophets and the apostles, and of the former, the apostle writes, Hebrews 11, “others had trial of mockeries and stripes, moreover also of bonds and prisons, they would stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted; of whom the world was not worthy;” and, speaking of the apostles, the same apostle says, 1 Corinthians 4, “for I think that God hath set forth us, apostles, the last, as it were, men destined to death; because we are made a spectacle to the world, and to Angels, and to men. Even unto this hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no fixed abode; and we labor, working with our own hands; we are reviled and we bless; we are persecuted, and we suffer it; we are ill spoken of, and we entreat: we are made as a refuse of this world; the off scouring of all even till now.” And yet, they, so shaken off and rejected, turned out to be the bravest of the brave, and had a most extraordinary triumph over the world and the demons. All the elect are the children of the aforesaid, who, “like arrows in the hand of the mighty,” have wounded and conquered their enemies.

5. Blessed is the man that hath filled his desire with them; he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate.

5. “Blessed is the man that hath filled his desire with them; he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate.” He now concludes the Psalm by long and loud congratulations to Christ our Lord. “Blessed is the man that hath filled his desire with them.” Truly happy is he, Christ to wit, “that hath filled his desire with them;” his children, because he got the full extent of his desire, the salvation and glory of his children, for whom he died and suffered so much for; and therefore, “he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gates;” that is to say, in the Last Judgment, that will be held in a tolerably extensive gate; for it will be in the assemblage of the whole world. “He shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies,” be they demons or sinners; but he will rather confound them, and bring them in guilty of injustice and imbecility; for the whole contention between Christ and the devil and his ministers, from the beginning to the end of the world, turned upon the salvation of mankind, on whose ruin the evil spirit was always bent, and in order to effect which he raised up, in so many succeeding ages, so many persecutions of Jews, pagans, heretics, and bad members of all classes against the Church. But when, on the day judgment, the countless thousands of the elect reigning in glory with Christ, crowned in triumph, and in great rejoicing shall appear; and, on the other hand, the wicked shall appear deprived of all power, and having been justly condemned to eternal punishment, shall have no hope of getting up the war again, then Christ, instead of being confounded, will confound all his enemies.

End of Psalm 126

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newstfionline · 7 years

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How Singapore Is Creating More Land for Itself

By Samanth Subramanian, NY Times Magazine, April 20, 2017

Jurong Island, a man-made smear of sand, lies just off the southern coast of Singapore. A quarter the size of Nantucket, it is thoroughly given over to the petrochemical industry, so crowded with spindly cracking towers and squat oil-storage tanks that the landscape is a blur of brand names--BASF, AkzoNobel, Exxon Mobil, Vopak. One of the island’s most distinctive features, though, remains hidden: the Jurong Rock Caverns, which hold 126 million gallons of crude oil. To get there, you ride an industrial elevator more than 325 feet into the earth, and that brings you to the operations tunnel, a curving space as lofty as a cathedral. It is so long that workers get around on bicycles. Safety goggles mist up with the heat and the humidity; the rock walls, wet from dripping water, look so soft they might have been scooped out of chocolate ice cream. This is as far as anyone--even the workers--can go. The caverns themselves are an additional 100 feet beneath the ocean: two sealed cylindrical vaults, extending away from Jurong. They opened for business in 2014. Next year, three new vaults will be ready. Then, if all goes according to plan, there will be six more.

As a concept, underground reservoirs are not new. Sweden has been building them since the 1950s; a pair in the port of Gothenburg has a titanic capacity of 370 million gallons of oil. So the Jurong Rock Caverns are less an emblem of the marvels of technology than of the anxiety of a nation. Singapore is the 192nd-largest country in the world. Tinier than Tonga and just three-fifths the area of New York City, it has long fretted about its congenital puniness. “Bigger countries have the luxury of not having to think about this,” said David Tan, the assistant chief executive of a government agency called the Jurong Town Corporation, which built Jurong Island as well as the caverns. “We’ve always been acutely aware of our small size.”

The caverns were designed to free up land above ground, Tan said. I remarked that the phrase “freeing up land” occurs like clockwork in conversations with Singapore’s planners. He laughed. Land is Singapore’s most cherished resource and its dearest ambition. Since it became an independent nation 52 years ago, Singapore has, through assiduous land reclamation, grown in size by almost a quarter: to 277 square miles from 224. By 2030, the government wants Singapore to measure nearly 300 square miles.

But reclaiming land from the ocean has its limits, particularly in an age of a warming planet. Scientists warn that by 2100, sea levels may rise by as much as six feet, and furious storms will pound our coasts. All over the world, the governments of small islands are working to respond to these hazards. Kiribati, an island nation in the Central Pacific, has bought 6,000 acres of forested land in Fiji, more than a thousand miles away, hoping to resettle some of its 100,000 people if a crisis hits. The Maldives, similarly, has talked about buying land in Australia. People have begun to leave Tuvalu, in the South Pacific; the Marshall Islands; and Nauru, in Micronesia. Five of the lowest Solomon Islands have already vanished. In humanity’s battle to save itself from a harsher climate, these diminutive islands find themselves on the front lines.

Most of these islands--in the Pacific or in Asia--are impoverished, reliant on larger nations for assistance and resources. Singapore is an exception. In countries ranked by per capita gross domestic product, it places fourth--far above Nauru, at 112, or Kiribati, at 212. Over the past half-century, building upon its function as one of the world’s great ports, Singapore has turned into a capital of finance and services. The country is so devotedly pro-business that it can feel like a corporation; its constitution includes several pages on how the government’s investments should be managed. Singapore doesn’t reveal how much money its two sovereign wealth funds administer, but a senior economist at the Macquarie Group estimated their value at just under a trillion dollars.

Among the world’s smattering of small islands, then, Singapore, with a population of 5.6 million, is a special case: a country that’s also a city, a government that owns 90 percent of all real estate, a one-party state in all but name. But how it fends off the ocean will be of deep interest to many other populous and productive cities near the water: New York, Miami, Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai, Guangzhou, all miniature nations of a sort.

Much of Singapore lies less than 50 feet above sea level. A third of the island sits around 16 feet above the water--low enough to give planners the jitters. Coastal roads are being raised; a new airport terminal is being built 18 feet above sea level. All the while, the island receives more and more rain each year. “If global temperatures continue to rise,” a government official said last year, “many parts of Singapore could eventually be submerged.”

The Jurong Rock Caverns are just one answer to a pair of intriguing questions: What does a tremendously rich and ambitious country do when it is running out of land? And what can the rest of the world learn from these experiments?

In the Tolstoy short story “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” a peasant muses in frustration: “Our only trouble is that we haven’t land enough. If I had plenty of land, I shouldn’t fear the Devil himself.” Similar thoughts must have struck Lee Kuan Yew, who cast Singapore in his vision. Through his three decades as prime minister, Lee saw his country as locked in a struggle against its size. Singapore was a tiny nation, and dire fates awaited tiny nations that could not take care of themselves. “In a world where the big fish eat small fish and the small fish eat shrimps, Singapore must become a poisonous shrimp,” he once said.

The island is still awash in his apprehensions. Bureaucrats assemble reports on topics like Maximizing Value From Land as a Scarce Resource. The government works from a Concept Plan, a land-use scheme that looks half a century into the future; the plan itself is reviewed every 10 years. On the first floor of a city museum in the Urban Redevelopment Authority building, a wall is engraved with letters that spell SMALL ISLAND. It’s not until the second floor that the second half of the message materializes: BIG PLANS.

A 10-minute walk from the museum is Boat Quay, the site of the island’s very first land reclamation. In 1822, having just colonized Singapore, the British dismantled a hill and packed the material along the bank of the Singapore River. “Some two or three hundred laborers were paid one rupee per head per day to dig and carry the earth,” Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, who acted as an informal secretary to British officials at the time, wrote in his 1849 memoir. “Every afternoon, sacks of money were brought to pay the workmen.” Boat Quay’s old shop-houses--shops that doubled as their owners’ residences--have been converted into restaurants, bars and massage parlors. In the evenings, the tables heave with workers from the nearby financial district, much like Manhattan’s South Street Seaport and other ribbons of waterfront realty around the world. In the spirit of preservation, the buildings of Boat Quay have remained low, crouched close to the ground. One street away, however, Singapore’s skyscrapers begin in earnest.

Once I began looking for reclaimed land, I encountered it everywhere. The five towers of the Marina Bay Financial Center are built on reclaimed land; so is an assortment of parks, wharves and a coastal highway. Beach Road, in the island’s belly, at one time had a self-evident name; now it reads like a wry joke, given how much new land separates it from the ocean. Most of Singapore’s Changi Airport sits on earth where there was once only water. The artist Charles Lim Yi Yong grew up in a kampong, or village, near where work on the airport began in 1975, so his house looked out onto reclaimed land. “It was a wooded area, but if you walked there, the ground would be sand and not soil,” Lim said. “Then you went through this desert space. It felt like I was in ‘The Little Prince.’”

Before he turned to art, Lim, now 43, sailed in the 1996 Olympics on the Singapore team. He grew interested in the sea because he sailed, and he sailed because he came from a kampong on the coast. The kampong has long since disappeared, and the coast has changed beyond recognition. Lim’s major creation, “Sea State,” is an anthology of artifacts and installations: videos and charts, buoys and other nautical paraphernalia. Shown at the Venice Biennale two years ago, “Sea State” embodies Lim’s obsession with his country’s transactional relationship with the ocean. His art is a form of urban exploration, roving over, into and around Singapore, studying what few others see: outlying islets, sewage tunnels, buoys, lighthouses, sand barges. For Lim, most of these are easy to access. “I can just take a small sailboat and go. I look very innocuous when I’m out at sea.”

Lim is able to narrate, practically by himself, a fine-grained history of the island’s reclamation projects. He pointed me to one of the videos in “Sea State,” which he has uploaded onto Vimeo. It stars an engineer who surveyed Singapore’s neighborhoods in the 1990s to determine where it would be best to haul away sand for reclamation. Close to the coast, he found more silt than sand, so he and his colleagues went farther out to sea, to “suck the sand into the barges and deliver the sand over to Singapore.” Once, having strayed into Indonesia’s territorial waters without a permit, they were arrested. “We weren’t criminals,” he said. “We were just doing our job.”

Several countries have tired of feeding Singapore’s endless appetite for sand; Indonesia, Malaysia and, most recently, Cambodia have halted exports altogether. These bans have affected some of Singapore’s reclamation schedules, David Tan said, although he insisted that the supply lines from Myanmar were “still robust.” In any case, Singapore is trying to shrink its reliance on sand imports. “We do a lot of tunneling work for the subway, so that material goes into reclamation,” he said. Most of the infill in the reclamations under a coming shipping-container terminal--planned to be the world’s largest--is rock and soil debris from construction projects.

But the desire to reclaim never-ending shelves of land, farther and farther into the sea, will inevitably be outfoxed by physics. On a whiteboard, Tan drew me a diagram of the process: first, building a wall in the water, reaching all the way down into the seabed; next, draining the water behind the wall and replacing it with infill. As the ocean grows less shallow, it becomes harder and harder to build the wall, to stabilize the infill, to protect it all from collapse. “We’re already reclaiming in water that is 20 meters deep,” Tan said. “Maybe it would be viable to reclaim in 30 meters, if land prices go up. But 40 and 50 meters would be very difficult. It’s physically difficult and economically unviable.”

Lim had told me that Singapore holds a strategic sand reserve, for emergencies. It lies somewhere in the area called Bedok, he said. I spotted it one day as I rode past in a taxi. The site was strewn with No Trespassing signs installed by the Housing and Development Board, a government agency. Fenced off from the public, the giant trapezoidal dunes shone bone-white in the sun and caramel in the shade, as the sand waited to be summoned.

To live within an altered climate will require deep pockets--a fact that punishes billions of poor people with negligible carbon footprints. When Kiribati bought its land in Fiji for $7 million, critics worried that the money was being squandered; the nation’s gross domestic product, after all, is only $211 million. By contrast, the first phase of a single Singapore government project--L2 NIC, which clumsily stands for Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge--has $96 million to disburse to finance creative ideas.

C.M. Wang, a professor of civil engineering at the National University of Singapore, served as a project reviewer for L2 NIC, sifting through proposals for how Singapore might create more space. Wang even has an idea of his own. Approached by Singapore’s ports authority six years ago, he developed and patented a way for coastal cities to create land in the sea. At least, this is the way his staple PowerPoint presentation describes his idea for Very Large Floating Structures, which can bob about on the ocean, hold a range of facilities and “free up land.” “Singapore is the largest bunkering base in the world,” Wang told me when I went to see him in his office at the university. “Ships sail from the Suez, where they refuel, and then the next refueling stop is Singapore.” To be the Texaco station of the high seas, the island needs to maintain vast farms of oil tanks, enough to store the 53.6 million tons of fuel sold to ships last year.

“A logical move would be to store fuel in the sea, because fuel is lighter than water, so it should float,” Wang said. “What we need is a skin to go around it, a container.” He sketched a plan on a scrap of paper: two rectangular concrete decks laid out in parallel, holding oil tanks made of prestressed concrete partly submerged in the water. A ship could slide between the two decks, refuel and steam back out. Wang is working on making his design more economical, but he already has other ideas for floats. On his computer, he flicked through them: dormitories, a restaurant that resembles a crab, bridges, even miniature cities. Last October, to test a proposal from two government agencies, Singapore floated a hectare of solar panels in one of its reservoirs; it hopes, eventually, to build a four-gigawatt solar plant at sea.

Wang urged me to visit the Float at Marina Bay, the world’s largest floating stage, a 107,000-square-foot slice of steel that clings to the lip of Singapore’s esplanade. The afternoon I went, a shroud of smog covered an already sunless sky, and the artificial grass on the Float’s soccer field seemed wan and uninviting. Life preservers were fastened to the railings around the field, lest a player tumble into the sea. I sat on a bench for a while, with my back to the skyscrapers, watching office workers limber up for a friendly game. They looked happy enough with this insertion of playtime into their day, but watching them rattle around on this unnatural parcel of green was, somehow, dispiriting.

Still, unnaturalness may well be the world’s conceivable future; certainly it will be Singapore’s, as the country prepares to terraform itself in search of space. There will be more underground caverns, David Tan told me: a warren of research laboratories within the folds of Kent Ridge, right under the university; perhaps a warehousing facility beneath Jurong Bird Park. “Most of this space will be for industrial use,” he said. “People aren’t likely to live underground.” The island’s geology--a heart of granite in the west, compacted alluvium in the east--is such that most of it could be hollowed out. “Now, I’m not saying we should use it all,” he went on, in the tone of an eminently prudent man. Then he added, “But we can use two-thirds of it.”

Singapore also plans to reclaim its air. “Twelve percent of the island is occupied by roads,” Tan said. “What’s above roads? Nothing! If you put roads under buildings, you free up some land.” Sky bridges and midair concourses are already a part of some public-housing estates. As Wang told me: “In the future, you might see a little town or offices above the expressways. We might create space above our container ports.”

Singapore already has high-rise factories: towers occupied by dozens of manufacturing units, all sharing amenities like cargo elevators, electricity and truck ramps. Since 2012, the government has funded vertical farms, shelves of aluminum planters that grow spinach, lettuce and Chinese cabbage. Singapore grows only 7 percent of its food, having decided long ago that its land has more profitable uses. In the 1980s, it began dispatching its pig farms to outlying Indonesian islands like Batam, which still supplies Singapore with pork. The government has invested $380 million in agricultural projects in Australia, and it is renting land in northeast China to build itself a farm that will measure double the area of the island of Singapore. The farm will take 15 years to complete and will cost $18 billion. Given enough ready money, thorny issues of territorial sovereignty swiftly dissolve.

Whether many of these ventures will bear fruit is difficult to say. When you’re talking to a typically matter-of-fact city planner, each of these ideas seems to possess the heft of certainty. Collected together, though, this vision of Singapore--on the ground and under it, in the air and beneath the sea, a city and a country and a transnational entity all at once--feels fantastic. Then again, even Singapore as it is--born a slum-ridden speck with no oil, no hinterland and a volatile mix of ethnicities, raised with an authoritarian hand and transformed into one of the most prosperous, most politically meek nations on earth--even this Singapore tugs at the bounds of our credulity.

Singapore has always held elections, but only one party--Lee Kuan Yew’s People’s Action Party--has ever ruled the island, and only three men have ever been prime minister. Opposition parties have never been permitted to be anything more than frail invertebrates, so the P.A.P. can do as it pleases. The environmental consequences of remodeling the coastline--an altered ecology, wetlands rubbed off the map--can be waved away. Residents can be moved so that projects can proceed. In Singapore’s quandary of where to put its people, the people themselves--the living as well as the dead--can seem like pieces on a checkerboard.

Nothing seems to dent the P.A.P. It won an election in 2011, even though Singaporeans were angry over housing shortages and an overburdened public-transportation system. It won even more handily in 2015, after land prices rose by 30 percent three years in a row and after the government’s migration-led population target of 6.9 million by 2030--necessary to fill out the work force, but also a strain on the island’s finite resources--kindled a public protest, a singular event in this country. But stopping the state from doing something it wants to do is, in Singapore, a task primed for.

One afternoon, Charles Lim and I drove to a marina near the southeastern corner of Singapore and rented a sailboat, a two-man Laser Bahia in which Lim did the work of both men. The haze from Indonesia’s forest fires muddied the day; the ocean looked as if it were evaporating in front of us. Not far beyond the marina, cargo ships and oil tankers waited patiently for their turn at port. To the east rose the tall, unblinking surveillance tower of Changi Naval Base. “I call it the Eye of Sauron,” Lim said.

The wind rose and fell in heavy gusts; Lim’s hair, tousled even indoors, grew still more animated. He pointed out a man-made hill eastward along the coast from the marina, where trucks and earthmovers milled about. This was the Changi East reclamation: more than a thousand hectares of land, designed to hold the new airport terminal and its three runways. In trying to edge closer, we must have wandered into sensitive waters. A loudspeaker screamed from the naval base, punctuated by three types of sirens: “You are entering a prohibited area! Please clear now!” Lim instructed me to pull at various ropes, and we tacked hurriedly out.

A couple of hours after we cast off, we came upon Tekong Island, sitting in the strait between Singapore and Malaysia, owned by the former but nearer the latter. The two countries bickered over reclamation activities here in 2002; it took three years of negotiations before Singapore could proceed. The part of the island where Singapore’s army units train was a smoky smudge on the horizon. Our boat nuzzled against a rock wall that marked out reclamation work. The wall began on the northern coast of the island, ran eastward to sea and then looped back to a point on the southern coast. In outline, it resembled a porpoise’s nose.

“That’s odd,” Lim said. “There’s no one here.” No trucks, no security guards, no bulldozers. “Maybe they’ve stopped work because of a shortage of sand.”

Lim held the boat steady while I waded into the shallows for a better look, careful not to trespass on the island. The rocks underfoot were slick, and I barked my shin.

“How does it look?” Lim called.

A few feet from the outer wall was an inner one, and packed between the two was sand: lovely, pristine sand the color of milky Ovaltine. It was held firm and tight in its sleeve of rock, its surface so level that had I walked on it, I might have been the first visitor on undiscovered land. Trapped beyond the inner wall was a low pool of water, yet to be filled in. Around us, the ocean lay idle in the sun, ready to challenge Singapore’s ingenuity with its patient, adamant rise.

#Singapore #Singapore land reclamation

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