To contribute to our Behold Bible Study, please send your Bible verses and written or voice contribution to interactiveadmin@agshelderberg.co.za
BEHOLD:AN OPEN DOOR
In Revelations 4:1 (English Standard Version=ESV) John describes something special that he saw
“After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.””
Jesus died for us so that the door in heaven could be opened for us. What an awesome thought. Lets thank Him today for an OPEN DOOR. The door is open for heavenly pardon, forgiveness, love, blessings, entrance. Amazing Grace!
MIGHTY IS OUR GOD
“For behold, Your enemies, O Lord, For behold, Your enemies will perish; All who do evil will be scattered.” Psalms 92:9 AMP https://bible.com/bible/1588/psa.92.9.AMP
God is mighty and we should know that. When He is on our side in the battle, we do not have to be concerned.
Jesus died on the cross so that we need not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16) We can tap into this heavenly amazing grace by believing in the good message of salvation.That has many benefits. One of them is that God is on our side.
We should also remember that our real enemy is not human but rather the forces of evil. With God on our side, these forces will be scattered and will perish. Let’s spend some time today thanking God for victory over evil.
A NEW THING
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” II Corinthians 5:17 NKJV https://bible.com/bible/114/2co.5.17.NKJV
To live in Christ Jesus, is to be part of God’s new creation. It is a move away from the old things experienced, an adventurous journey into the new things of God.
SEE THE BEAUTY OF GOD
“One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after: That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of Jehovah, And to inquire in his temple.” Psalms 27:4 ASV https://bible.com/bible/12/psa.27.4.ASV
We should use all possible opportunities to dwell in God’s presence. There we experience true beauty of God and God’s creation.
A place of worship should be a place where we can inquire as to all things and aspect relating to God.
When you attend worship at your local church or fellowship group, go all out to experience God, the beauty God brings and the wisdom to be found in His presence .
BEHOLD! VERY GOOD FRESH PRODUCE
29 And God said, Behold! I have given you every herb seeding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree seeding seed; to you it shall be for food.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to every creeper on the earth which has in it a living soul every green plant is for food; and it was so.
31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 1 from verse 29 to 31
Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Genesis/1/type/mkjv
LOOK AND LISTEN JESUS WANTS TO ENTER
King James Version
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Holman Bible
Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me.
International Standard Version
Look! I am standing at the door and knocking. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he will eat with me.
Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Revelation/3/20
Prayer in song:
Into my heart
Into my heart
Come into my heart Lord Jesus
Come in today
Come in to stay
Come into my heart Lord Jesus
(author unknown: Please send us information to publish here if you know who wrote these lyrics.)
LOOK AGAIN
“There’s a way that looks harmless enough; look again—it leads straight to hell.” Proverbs 16:25 MSG https://bible.com/bible/97/pro.16.25.MSG
WHAT APPALS GOD
“In the sixth year, in the sixth month and the fifth day, while I was sitting at home meeting with the leaders of Judah, it happened that the hand of my Master, God, gripped me. When I looked, I was astonished. What I saw looked like a man—from the waist down like fire and from the waist up like highly burnished bronze. He reached out what looked like a hand and grabbed me by the hair. The Spirit swept me high in the air and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the Temple’s inside court where the image of the sex goddess that makes God so angry had been set up. Right before me was the Glory of the God of Israel, exactly like the vision I had seen out on the plain. He said to me, “Son of man, look north.” I looked north and saw it: Just north of the entrance loomed the altar of the sex goddess, Asherah, that makes God so angry. Then he said, “Son of man, do you see what they’re doing? Outrageous obscenities! And doing them right here! It’s enough to drive me right out of my own Temple. But you’re going to see worse yet.” He brought me to the door of the Temple court. I looked and saw a gaping hole in the wall. He said, “Son of man, dig through the wall.” I dug through the wall and came upon a door. He said, “Now walk through the door and take a look at the obscenities they’re engaging in.” I entered and looked. I couldn’t believe my eyes: Painted all over the walls were pictures of reptiles and animals and monsters—the whole pantheon of Egyptian gods and goddesses—being worshiped by Israel. In the middle of the room were seventy of the leaders of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in the middle. Each held his censer with the incense rising in a fragrant cloud. He said, “Son of man, do you see what the elders are doing here in the dark, each one before his favorite god-picture? They tell themselves, ‘God doesn’t see us. God has forsaken the country.’” Then he said, “You’re going to see worse yet.” He took me to the entrance at the north gate of the Temple of God. I saw women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz, the Babylonian fertility god. He said, “Have you gotten an eyeful, son of man? You’re going to see worse yet.” Finally, he took me to the inside court of the Temple of God. There between the porch and the altar were about twenty-five men. Their backs were to God’s Temple. They were facing east, bowing in worship to the sun. He said, “Have you seen enough, son of man? Isn’t it bad enough that Judah engages in these outrageous obscenities? They fill the country with violence and now provoke me even further with their obscene gestures. That’s it. They have an angry God on their hands! From now on, no mercy. They can shout all they want, but I’m not listening.”” Ezekiel 8:1-18 MSG https://bible.com/bible/97/ezk.8.1-18.MSG
LOOK UPWARD AND INWARD: WHAT DO I SEE?
In Sunday morning service, our pastor held up a glass of water and a flashlight shining into it from the top. He said we must see how the whole glass of water radiates light because the light is shining into it. With reference to our assembly theme of “Behold”, and reading the following scripture which quotes what Jesus preached, he challenged us to look inward:
“Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dark cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!” Matthew 6:22-23 MSG https://bible.com/bible/97/mat.6.22-23.MSG
There is a strong lesson in the chorus which was and is sung in many assemblies worldwide:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of the earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
Contribution by K with regards to this ( LOOK UPWARD AND INWARD. WHAT DO I SEE?) :
“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” II Corinthians 4:6 NKJV https://www.bible.com/114/2co.4.6.nkjv
LOOK WHO’s WITH THEM
“But look!” he said. “I see four men, walking around freely in the fire, completely unharmed! And the fourth man looks like a son of the gods!” Daniel 3:25 MSG https://bible.com/bible/97/dan.3.25.MSG
TURN TO FACE GOD. SEE HIM WITHOUT THE VEIL, AN UNOBSTRUCTED VIEW
“Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.” 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 MSG https://bible.com/bible/97/2co.3.16-18.MSG
To really comprehend God, we need to turn in God’s direction.
One of the things that happen to us when we turn like that, is that we encounter a bright light. The light is so bright that when this happened to Moses, he covered his face:
“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony, he didn’t know that the skin of his face glowed because he had been speaking with God. Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, saw his radiant face, and held back, afraid to get close to him. Moses called out to them. Aaron and the leaders in the community came back and Moses talked with them. Later all the Israelites came up to him and he passed on the commands, everything that God had told him on Mount Sinai. When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face, but when he went into the presence of God to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. When he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they would see Moses’ face, its skin glowing, and then he would again put the veil on his face until he went back in to speak with God.” Exodus 34:29-35 MSG https://bible.com/bible/97/exo.34.29-35.MSG
God is light. When we face him, the light shines on us. It becomes very bright around us. The wonderful bright light changes us. We eventually become much brighter.
The above passage from The Message (Bible translation) 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that in such a view of God “our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”
Three hymns or songs come to mind:
The first one quoted here in Afrikaans is a Sunday School song which invites us to let in the sunshine by opening our doors and windows widely.
“Laat ‘n bietjie sonskyn in (x2), maak die vensters oop en maak die deur wyd oop, laat ‘n bietjie sonskyn in”
The second chorus explains to us how our view changes when we focus on Jesus
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of the earth will become strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
The third tells us what to do with the light as we reflect it
”May we be a shining light to the nations, a shining light to the people of the earth, till the whole world sees the glory of our Lord, May your kingdom come on the earth…”
To see God, is to see the light.
When we truly behold God, we radiate God. May His light forever change us to be useful in illuminating all around us.
BEHOLD: GOD IS SPIRIT
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV https://2corinthians.bible/2-corinthians-3-18
Note that according to the New International Version (NIV) “the Lord…is the Spirit” and our “ever-increasing glory” comes from this Spirit. It is a Spiritual glory. The reason given why the we can increase in such glory is because we “contemplate the Lord’s glory.”
Take some time to think carefully about God’s Glory. What is the Glory of God? How do we reflect such glory? How can His glory in our lives increase? Is it possible for us to look in God’s direction and not be changed? Are there things we do in our lives which turn our unveiled focus away from God? Do we sometimes through our actions put back the veil causing our vision of God to be impaired? If the transformation is spiritual, is it sometimes slowed down by our natural being?
In John 4:23 (NIV) Jesus said to the woman at the well:
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”
How can we become “true worshipers”? How can we worship God in “the Spirit and in truth”? Thats the kind of worship we are called for. Let’s contemplate all of this and take action. As the lyrics of the song goes: “That’s the kind of God that I serve…”
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