Author: Eduardo Marin, D.Min.

Verse of the Day (July 6, 2020) #BMSeminary – Verses 35 and 36 warn against attempts to set an exact date for Christ’s return at the end of the church age. To speculate that “day” and “hour” do not eliminate “year” is a gross oversimplification. The Father only knows the time of Christ’s return since it has been set by His authority (cf. Acts 1:7). However, we are given a comparison to the days of Noe (Noah and the Flood), which illustrate and prefigure the condition of humanity at the time of Christ’s return. The last generation, like the one of Noah’s day, is pleasure-oriented and self-gratifying by eating and drinking. The reference to marrying and giving in marriage may refer to carrying on the normal course of life without heeding the impending judgment. [KJV Study Bible, HarperCollins]

Verse of the Day (July 4, 2020) #BMSeminary – Blessed Is the Nation Whose God Is the Lord. This great psalm begins with a joyful call to praise (vv. 1-3) that strongly parallels 32:11. Next is an extended reflection on the reasons for praise (vv. 4-19), anchored in God’s unfailing love and word (vv. 4-5), the word by which he made the universe (vv. 6-9). He is a great God who thwarts the plans of nations (vv. 10-11), yet he desires that nations and people respond to him (vv. 12-15). His eyes are on those who fear him, the only guarantor of their lives (vv. 16-19). The psalm concludes with a reflection on the hope in God that the righteous have (vv. 20-22). This psalm can be seen as a response to the Lord’s counsel in 32:8-10 about heeding his instruction and waiting on his unfailing love; the psalm affirms the Lord’s word (vv. 4-11), and it ends with God’s people waiting and hoping in the Lord (vv. 20-22). This psalm and Ps 10 are the only untitled psalms (see the introductions to Pss 9; 10) in Book I (Pss 3-41). Several Hebrew manuscripts, along with the Greek translation, attribute this psalm to David, which is understandable given the predominance of “David” elsewhere in Book I as well as the ties just noted with Ps 32. [Zondervan Study Bible]

Verse of the Day (July 3, 2020) #BMSeminary – The verb תְּרוֹמֵם (téromem, translated “exalts”) is a Polel imperfect; it means “to lift up; to raise up; to elevate.” Here the upright dealings of the leaders and the people will lift up the people. The people’s condition in that nation will be raised. The term is the homonymic root II חֶסֶד (khesed, “shame; reproach”; BDB 340 s.v.), as reflected by the LXX translation. Rabbinic exegesis generally took it as I חֶסֶד (“loyal love; kindness”) as if it said, “even the kindness of some nations is a sin because they do it only for a show” (so Rashi, a Jewish scholar who lived a.d. 1040-1105). [NET Bible Notes]

Verse of the Day (July 2, 2020) #BMSeminary – The heart—that is, the center of willing and desiring that drives all that we do—is so deceitful that none can really understand it. But the Lord can and does search our inmost thoughts, and nothing is hidden from him (cf. 1 Cor. 4:5). Ezekiel saw the need for God to give us cleansed and renewed hearts (Ezek. 36:25–28). Jesus recalls Ezekiel’s words when he declares to Nicodemus the need to be born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5). Sin will continue to cling to us our whole lives long, but the gospel of grace does not simply forgive us and then leave us as we were. God changes us. He gives us a thirst for holiness and re-sensitizes us to true beauty. We become human again. [Gospel Transformation Study Bible]

Verse of the Day (July 1, 2020) #BMSeminary – {grace} The divine, undeserved favor that called Paul to be an apostle and gave him spiritual authority (Rom. 1:1–5; cf. 1 Cor. 3:10; Gal. 2:9) and also produced sincere humility (1 Tim. 1:12–14). {sober judgment} The exercise of sound judgment, which will lead believers to recognize that in themselves they are nothing (cf. 1 Pet. 5:5), and will yield the fruit of humility (cf. 3 John 9). {measure of faith} The correct proportion of the spiritual gift—or supernatural endowment and ability—the Holy Spirit gives each believer (see note on 1 Pet. 4:10) so he may fulfill his role in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:7; 11). “Faith” is not saving faith, but rather faithful stewardship, the kind and quantity required to use one’s own particular gift (cf. 1 Cor. 12:7; 11). Every believer receives the exact gift and resources he needs to fulfill his role in the body of Christ. [MacArhtur Study Bible]

Verse of the Day (June 30, 2020) #BMSeminary – {the LORD will be king} This continues the motif of YHWH as King of the earth (cf. Zec 14:16-17; 1Sa 8:7; 1Sa 12:12; Psa 93:1; Psa 97:1; Psa 99:1). In Zec 9:9 it is the Messiah who is king (cf. Isa 9:6-7; Jer 10:7; Jer 23:5). YHWH does not become King. He has always been King, but now all humans recognize it (cf. Mat 6:10). {over all the earth} Here is the continuing theme of the universal reign of God (cf. Zec 14:6; Psa 22:27-28; Psa 47:8-9; Isa 2:2-4; Isa 45:2-3). {in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one} This is an emphasis on monotheism (cf. Exo 8:10; Exo 9:14; Deu 4:35; Deu 4:39; Deu 6:4-5; Deu 33:26; 1Sa 2:2; 2Sa 22:32; 1Ki 8:23; Psa 86:8; Isa 46:9; Jer 10:6-7). [You Can Understand the Bible by Dr. Bob Utley]

Verse of the Day (June 29, 2020) #BMSeminary – Psalms 138–145 comprise the final set of psalms in the Psalter attributed to David. Here, David focuses on God’s faithfulness to him personally (138:1–3, 7–8), which extends, then, to God’s faithfulness to Israel as a whole through whom the nations of the world will one day bow in thanksgiving to Yahweh, the God of Israel (vv. 4–6). The “steadfast love” highlighted in Psalm 136 is back in view here. Of the many reasons David has for offering thanks to the Lord, God’s faithfulness, his loyal and committed love to David and to the nation of Israel, ranks high on the list. David’s personal testimony of God’s unwavering faithfulness and steadfast love is given here: “On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased” (Ps. 138:3), and, “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me” (v. 7). In light of God’s faithfulness in the past, David concludes with hope in God for the future: “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands” (v. 8). The gospel is founded on the faithfulness of God to his promise. Were it not for God’s sovereign commitment to bring about the salvation of his chosen ones through the coming of Christ, we would have no hope. And were God to promise but fail to fulfill what he said, we likewise would be without hope. But God is faithful; he keeps his word; his steadfast love indeed never fails. The work of Jesus Christ is the ultimate proof of this. [Gospel Transformation Study Bible]

Verse of the Day (June 28, 2020) #BMSeminary – Happy Lord’s Day! {not slow} That is, not loitering or late (cf. Gal. 4:4; Titus 2:13; Heb. 6:18; 10:23; 37; Rev. 19:11). {patient toward you} “You” is the saved, the people of God. He waits for them to be saved. God has an immense capacity for patience before he breaks forth in judgment (cf. 2 Pet. 3:15; Joel 2:13; Luke 15:20; Rom. 9:22; 1 Pet. 3:15). God endures endless blasphemies against his name, along with rebellion, murders, and the ongoing breaking of his law, waiting patiently while he is calling and redeeming his own. It is not impotence or slackness that delays final judgment; it is patience. {not wishing that any should perish} The “any” must refer to those whom the Lord has chosen and will call to complete the redeemed, i.e., the “you.” Since the whole passage is about God’s destroying the wicked, his patience is not so he can save all of them, but so that he can receive all his own. He can’t be waiting for everyone to be saved, since the emphasis is that he will destroy the world and the ungodly. Those who do perish and go to hell, go because they are depraved and worthy only of hell and have rejected the only remedy, Jesus Christ, not because they were created for hell and predetermined to go there. The path to damnation is the path of a non-repentant heart; it is the path of one who rejects the person and provision of Jesus Christ and holds on to sin (cf. Isa. 55:1; Jer. 13:17; Ezek. 18:32; Matt. 11:28; 23:37; Luke 13:3; John 3:16; 8:21; 24; 1 Tim. 2:3–4; Rev. 22:17). {all should reach repentance} “All” (cf. “you,” “any”) must refer to all who are God’s people who will come to Christ to make up the full number of the people of God. The reason for the delay in Christ’s coming and the attendant judgments is not because he is slow to keep his promise, or because he wants to judge more of the wicked, or because he is impotent in the face of wickedness. He delays his coming because he is patient and desires the time for his people to repent. [MacArthur Study Bible]