1 Samuel 10:1-11:15 ~ John 6:43-71 ~ Psalm 107:1-43 ~ Proverbs 15:1-3
Today is the 11th day of May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we follow the trail that leads us through the entire Bible with all its peaks and valleys in a year. So we’re following a stretch of trail right now in the Old Testament that is introducing us to the prophet Samuel and a kingship among the Israelite people, so we’ve met this man named Saul and we’re going to continue with his story today. We’re reading from the God’s Word translation this week, 1 Samuel chapter 10, verse 1 through 11:15.
Commentary
So in the book of John today Jesus thins the herd in a hurry because he starts talking in a way that they are not quite tracking with. By the way, it leads to one of the saddest scenes in the Bible to me. I mean, there are many sad scenes, but this one in particular, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
So Jesus basically gives what I like to call his vampire monologue today. “I can guarantee this truth. If you don’t eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have the source of life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life and I will bring them back to life on the last day. My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I live in them.”
Okay, so if you’re one of the people in the crowd and you hear that, that is when you start taking slow, imperceptible steps backward until you feel you’re at a good running distance and you can get away clean. Right? You hear somebody talking like that and you’re like, “Yeah, I knew something had to be wrong with this story. This was too good to be true.”
So Jesus said, “Did what I say make you lose faith?”
And for many, for many it did. But was it real faith in Jesus or was it faith in his ability to do something that looked like magic or was it faith in the kinds of things he was saying? What is going on here?
And then we do get to this sad moment where Jesus looks at his twelve, his close friends, and says, “Do you want to leave me too?”
That is sad to me because it is like I’ve been the one to walk away like that in my life. I’ve had those times, but now that I know Jesus, love him, and am in awe of him, just the thought that it comes down to these 12 last friends and he has to say this is just really sad. It is God in the flesh and there is like no one left. Thankfully Simon Peter gets it right. There are times he gets it wrong, but he really gets this right. “Lord, where would we go? Who can we go to? Your words give eternal life and we know you are the holy one of God.” That is a beautiful response and the response that has to well up within us.
But back to the vampire monologue. It is pretty clear that Jesus never was trying to be a Rockstar. Death metal hadn’t even been invented yet, so he wasn’t trying to pass as a Dark Rockstar. He was not trying to do this ever. He told people to keep everything secret, not tell anybody, constantly, constantly deferring in every possible way with the people. He was constantly pulling away to be with the Father. He was constantly disappearing and they find him, the crowds find him. So he is not trying to build an army here. He’s not trying to build a fan base here. When he says this stuff that he says today about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, it is just one more instance of Jesus being himself. This thins it out because he is looking for a people who can hear his voice and understand what he is saying. The people that understand, they come to him and it is because God has awakened something in them. They have been awakened. And he says as much. So when he unpacks what he was saying, it becomes very clear. So in his words, “The words that I have spoken to you are spiritual. They are life, but some of you don’t believe.”
We can see how, but we can also see what Jesus was saying. God has been sustaining this chosen people all along. I mean, we’ve been following this story all along and this whole thing got started with people looking for more food. He had just fed 5000 and now they are looking for manna, so Jesus kind of thins the whole thing out and gets it back to its base level. He is saying, “God has cared for you and your physical wellbeing for a very, very long time and now God is here to care for your spiritual nourishment, your spiritual wellbeing, to reunite your spirit and your flesh, to make you how you were created to be and this will lead you into eternal life and I am the path. I am telling you how this works. I am showing you the way to go. People can’t come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them to me. And I’ll bring those people back to life on the last day.” So, in other words, he is saying if you’re getting what I’m saying, and you come to me, then you have pressed through, you get it.
So as we look for all of the solutions to our lives in our own strength and then we consider the offer of the gospel, we have to come to the same conclusion Peter did. “Lord, to what other person could I go? Your words give eternal life and I want to feast on them. I want to be nourished from the inside out. I want to come awake. I want to come alive. I want to be resurrected with you. I want to be enlightened. I want to be who I was made to be and how I was made to be.”
Prayer
Jesus, that is our prayer, that we would come awake, we would see things clearly as they really are and that with you within us, your life within us, we are living an eternal life. We are here to be your hands and feet, so come Holy Spirit as we ponder this today. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.
Announcements
Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what is going on. We’re going to be going back to this land of the Bible. So many of these places that so many of these stories happen in that we’re talking about almost every day, we’ll be putting our feet on those places, in those places. Like all of this that we’re reading about in Jesus’ life takes place in Capernaum. That was his home base. It was kind of his adult hometown. We’ll be going there. This story can come alive to you in the place that it happened. So you are invited. I am also told that capacity is filling up quickly, quicker than any other year, so if it is on your radar, if it is in your heart, check it out. You can check it out at www.DailyAudioBible.com. Just kind of scroll down and look for the Initiatives. You’ll find this little banner that says Israel 2018. Or you can just go to www.DailyAudioBibleIsrael.com and that will take you right there, give you the details, tell you what you want to know. Looking forward to it. Looking forward to seeing you.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you. I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Good morning family. This is Redeemed in Him from Virginia and I have had Chante on my mind since she called about her work issues. Chante, the Lord brought me back to a prayer that I wrote over myself and my family and the DAB sometime in April and I wanted to pray this over you. Some of the grammar may not fit right or seem right, but I want to pray this prayer over you. That is what the Lord has brought on my heart. So Jesus, I pray for your continued anointment to resolve and set forth the way in everything Chante touches, that you know its purpose which she cannot see, so I am thanking you ahead of time for all the work you are giving her now and all that you will give her forever. I pray she will grow ever stronger and more joyful and happy in each and every task you give her. I pray she will forever know your perfect peace in her life forevermore. Praying that her and her family and anyone connected to her will be a blessing everywhere they go and that lives will change for your glory and that you will protect her from all harm from the evil one. Thank you that you love her so very much. We praise you and worship only you. In Jesus’ name.
Daily Audio Bible family, this is Keith from New Hampshire. I’ve been gone for a while, but I’m back and I wanted to tell you and thank you all. Several years ago I called with prayer requests for my oldest son. He was a teenager at the time and was really, really struggling with his faith and his choices and he was going with this youth group to Haiti at the time. I reached out and asked that you pray that the experience would change him. I don’t know whether it was Haiti or your prayers or what, but I just want to let you know God is good. My son is 20 years old now and he is born again, loving Jesus and working for Jesus and making good choices and he is an example to me. He challenges me. It is amazing how good God can be if we just surrender to him and trust him and I wanted to let you all know. Thank you so much for praying for him. I’m so proud of him and I’m so grateful to our Lord and Savior.
Hi. This is Abba’s Theresa and this message is for Asia from Munich and Walta, the burning bush that will not be devoured for the glory of our God and King. I just listened to today’s podcast which is May 9th and I heard both of your testimonies of God’s goodness in your lives. Asia, your testimonial list of thankfulness and Walta, your testimony about what happened to you in Liberia, it brought me to tears. I just had to call and express to both of you how much you are so loved and how hearing your voices on the DAB means so much to me. I don’t call in very often, but I listen every day and I pray along with every single person who calls in and I also pray for those who don’t call in. But anyway, I just wanted you to know, both of you to know that you are so very much loved by me and by everyone on here. I pray that God blesses you both abundantly, above and beyond what you could ever hope, imagine, dream or think. This is Abba’s Theresa and I hope everyone has a wonderful day. God bless you all.
Good morning DAB family. This is Rachel in Houston. I was just calling to update you guys on my teammate who her son took the bullet for her. She has been back at work for about two weeks and she is having a really hard time focusing. She said that she is not sleeping and she is having nightmares. They caught the killers and arrested them and they were plastered all over the news on Friday evening, so yesterday was really, really hard for her. In fact, we sent her home from the office. I would just like you to please continue to lift her up in prayer. I can’t even imagine how that must feel. We are trying to be supportive and move her into the right way. She believes in God and we have prayed together and we’re just trying to love on her as much she we can. But if you can keep lifting her up in prayer, that would be great. I love you guys and I will talk to you soon. Bye.
Oh, Annette A. from Oklahoma City, it’s Dr. John from Jordan. Do you like to hear a grown man cry? That letter from Alex was absolutely beautiful and I know his fear of you not loving him and not accepting him is absolutely unfounded. I can’t wait to hear about you wrapping those mama bear arms around him. That is fantastic. Praise God. I’m just ecstatic with tears of joy. So thank you for sharing that even though it made me cry. Chante from Detroit, just rest in God and know that if you’re in a place where you’re not able to do what you’re supposed to do, that may not be where you’re supposed to be. And I don’t know if I told you guys that I got fired from my last doctor job and really being where I wasn’t supposed to be. I got comfortable in my discomfort being where I wasn’t meant to be. So Chante, be prayerful as to whether God wants you to stay there. If he does, he will give you everything that you need to do that job. If not, he’s got another plan for you and he will provide for you. By the way, say hi to my buddy June Bug and I hope things are going well for all you guys. Take care. Bye-bye.