Stephen De La Vega

  The Parthenon. Not the famous one in Greece, but “the world’s only exact-size replica of the original Parthenon in Athens” ( https://www.nashvilleparthenon.com/ ). You can visit it in Nashville, Tennessee. It seems like the one in Athens would’ve been a great place to exchange wisdom. It certainly looks like the perfect venue, but the Parthenon is not known for that. There is a place where wisdom and truth was taught at a temple where similar columns once stood. It’s called the Second Temple, a rebuilding of Solomon’s Temple. It’s also known as Herod’s Temple, and it’s where Jesus taught at times when He was in Jerusalem. There, at the Second Temple, Jesus shared His perfect wisdom with Jews and Gentiles alike, depending on where he was on any given day. He spoke about life as He expressed the truth of God to eager listeners ( Mark 12:41 , Mark 14:49 , John10:23 , Luke 19:47-48 ).   I’m pleased that we have the opportunity to hear from Jesus in a few resolutions begi...

  A mountaintop high. Indescribable. The view. The air. The freedom. Above it all. Breathe in… Exhale…   Now step back down for a moment. Let’s consider the mountain top high of a despicable king who somehow decided to obey God. In our walk through every 20:24 and 20:25 verse in the Bible, we find ourselves in the middle of a 3-part look at our responsibility to God as we consider kings and kingdoms in the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Part 1 was the prior post: I Will Stand for God’s Government . Next time, we will Let God Win Our Battles . Today, we resolve to Follow God through Highs and Lows . Our story is found in 1 Kings 20 . At this point in history, Israel had been a divided nation consisting of a northern kingdom called Israel, and a southern kingdom called Judah. Jerusalem was the capitol city of Judah, and Samara was the capitol city of Israel where King Ahab reigned as its seventh king. He was ungodly – not a role model in any way for the king...

  This intro is a disclaimer: I recognize there is significant dissatisfaction with governments across the globe. It is not uncommon for citizens to distrust and even despise certain government officials and government organizations. I don’t intend to discredit our varied opinions, positions, beliefs, value systems, or ideologies. I also am not writing to promote one political position over another, or even to promote a political position at all. However, I do intend to share, at least in part, a biblical perspective on God’s involvement in government and how we should respond in light of it. Resolution #6: I Will Stand for God’s Government Our 20:25 verse in this resolution brings us to 2 Samuel . (Remember, I am walking through every 20:25 verse in the Bible, and a few 20:24 verses since I started this last year.) 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel were originally written as one book. The same is true for 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. These books were so long, early scribes coul...