How the Old and New Testament books fit together
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When the Lord was being crucified He quoted this Psalm saying that “we would not see Him again until we say ‘Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord’”. By quoting it He was pointing us to the entire Psalm. This Psalm is about the feast of trumpets and the opening of the gates (v.19). It is said that on that Day the Lord will take His bride back to His home. This ties into the story He told us about the wise and foolish virgins. Tie these two together, and the trumpets herald the opening of the gates of righteousness where Jesus will take His bride back to His home, the place He has prepared for us and been building for the last two thousand years. The last time we saw Him was at the crucifixion and He tells us we won’t see Him again until we say “blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” and this refers to this Psalm which also refers to the festival of trumpets. “This is the day that the Lord hath made” (v.24). In the Jewish tradition on the Sabbath prior to a wedding the bridegroom is called to come up and read the Torah, this is referred to as “the calling up”. Similar to John being caught up to the heavens in the book of Revelation. When the groom approaches the congregation says “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”. Those women who were weeping that Jesus spoke to would have understood this. Therefore the Lord connected this verse with this Psalm with His second coming. The Lord’s day refers to the day of resurrection, He rose early in the morning on the third day. Here it also refers to the Millenial reign of Christ. The festival of trumpets starts a new year and in this case it starts a new millennium. This particular festival of trumpets is on a Sabbath, one week before the Lord’s marriage which takes place at the end of the tribulation, likened to seven days. So this Sabbath is “one week” before His marriage.
Isaiah 9 -- The Lord has sent a message to Jacob
1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. This chapter is quite interesting. It begins with a reference to the Lord’s earthly ministry when He first began to minister in Galilee. It was at the end of a long dark night, the great light first rose on them. Why? Because they had been humbled.
1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. This chapter is quite interesting. It begins with a reference to the Lord’s earthly ministry when He first began to minister in Galilee. It was at the end of a long dark night, the great light first rose on them. Why? Because they had been humbled.
knowing that the trial of your faith works patience and let patience have her perfect work.
My first year teaching I was surprised at how poorly my students did on the Regents exam. All the teachers at our school had the same results and they had come to accept it. That was the beginning of the trial of my faith. For thirteen years I have believed that my students can do as well as students in the best schools. Every year they get closer. If the students in my school in Brooklyn could do as well as the students at the best high schools in the US, then for me that would be a perfect work. Someone might argue that the US is ranked 18th in the world, so a real perfect work would be to do as well as the best high schools in the world. Actually, the very best high schools in the US compare favorably with the best high schools anywhere in the world. Several of the best high schools in the US are in NYC, so it is easy for me to compare my students with these schools. The reason we are 18th is not because of our best schools.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Each year you discover there are more and more details to this work. If your goal is a perfect work you will count every trial as a joy, because with each trial you become more complete. But it is not perfect yet, as long as there is a disparity in the education of young men of color we are wanting.
If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
It is a lot of prayer for wisdom from God. My school is 84% males, primarily young black men, a large percentage of immigrants with a very high poverty index. Last year my students scored in the top 7 percent and this year, the Lord willing, they will score in the top 3 or 4%. The top 3% is the point that I identify the best high schools in the country. For comparison, there is another school in Brooklyn that has the same makeup as ours, same percentage of males, the same percentage of blacks, the same percentage of special education students. They are in the bottom 17% of all NYC students. That is in line with broad statistical norms of this demographic group.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
You have to be firmly fixed on the goal. I feel like I am sailing into the wind and against the waves, but every year I make progress toward the goal. The waves crash over the ship but we don’t waver.
9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: 10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
Many teachers claim that this goal is unrealistic because the students in the top schools in NYC start 9th grade with a huge head start over my students. That is true. What these teachers miss is that my students will rejoice far more when they are exalted. Our advantage is our motivation. For example, when I was in school we took the PSAT and then were told we were in the top 97%. We thought it was a joke and they were telling us this to boost our confidence. One friend of mine scored an 800 on the Math SAT and a girl in my english class scored an 800 on the English SAT. Yet there wasn’t any rejoicing in their exaltation, no rejoicing that this student went to Harvard and that one to Yale. If that were to happen at the school I teach at now the entire school would rejoice. We realize that the exaltation of any of our students uplifts us all. None of us takes it for granted. If you are rich your attitude has to be that this is passing away. You have to be focused on finding something eternal.
12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Unbelief is the temptation. You have to endure that. At the school you see teachers with hand sanitizer, concerned about the germs. I’m concerned about the unbelief. I was in a meeting with all the other science teachers and they were disheartened, ready to quit. We are so close to reaching the goal and these teachers are in the middle of the battle and can’t see that the battle is almost won. We need to endure the temptation to quit.
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
There is a lot of money in education and that money is the root of all sorts of evil. Last year our very small school bought $200,000 worth of desks and chairs, not because the ones we had were old but because these are designed for the latest teaching fad. I am indifferent, but many teachers dislike the change. There are 400 schools like ours in NYC, this company might have sold $80 million worth of tables and chairs. First there was a new initiative, all students must be taught in groups, then we get these desks that fit nicely into a bigger square, but otherwise are not useful. Very few teachers are happy with this change and I have yet to hear a coherent argument for why this change is an improvement. So, I suspect that the real motivation was $80 million dollars. Companies give money to political campaigns, then in return the politician gives a fat government contract to this company. But in the end the school is being killed.
16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
The major error the experts make is to think that money is the key factor in the equation, since the suburbs have more money it is inevitable that they have the best schools. The formula for success in the suburbs is money. George Bush leveraged this benefit when he passed No Child Left Behind, and also when Hillary Clinton got a new law requiring least restrictive environment for students. Both of these laws are good, I do not disagree with the major premise of either law, however, neither law was funded. In the suburbs where they get twice as much money per student as NYC does they can afford to implement these laws without disruption to the classroom, but in the cities it caused chaos and confusion because there was no budget. Suburban schools got the carrot and inner city schools got the stick. What they miss is that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above”. Finland does much better than the US and they don’t spend nearly as much as we do. Money is not a perfect gift, it can cover up and compensate for poor practices. We have had to improve our practice significantly.
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
I believe I am working the righteousness of God. Education is the heart of the Civil Rights movement today. A level playing field is the righteousness of God. You need to be swift to hear any improvement and slow to say you have figured this out. Think of the wrath involved in this issue. People blaming one another, claiming bias, and all the insults that fly back and forth. The blame game can only be played by the self righteous and it does not work the righteousness of God. Think about the civil rights movement and how far we have come. In 1967 the KKK bombed my uncle’s house in Mississippi with his wife and two children in the house because he was running a charity to raise money to rebuild black churches that had been attacked by the KKK. It was called operation “shoestring”. That name reminds me of the poor widow who cast in two mites. We have come a long way from that day. But even in 1967 they also could say we had come a long way in the 100 years from the 1860s. If you want to work the righteousness of God you must be slow to wrath, slow to speak, and quick to hear. I was encouraged when I read about Orville and Wilbur Wright. At the time that they were developing an airplane there were well funded research and development projects being carried out in the US. One person was given $30,000 to fund his research. Orville and Wilbur worked in their spare time, without any funding. They could have gotten angry over the US refusal to let them demonstrate their airplane. Instead they went to France. They could have gotten angry when the plane was badly damaged in transit on the boat. Instead they spent months fixing it. They could have gotten angry when the press accused them of being liars and frauds. They were slow to wrath because they were making progress working the righteousness of God. So don’t make the same error, money is not a perfect gift, a perfect give is from above.
My first year teaching I was surprised at how poorly my students did on the Regents exam. All the teachers at our school had the same results and they had come to accept it. That was the beginning of the trial of my faith. For thirteen years I have believed that my students can do as well as students in the best schools. Every year they get closer. If the students in my school in Brooklyn could do as well as the students at the best high schools in the US, then for me that would be a perfect work. Someone might argue that the US is ranked 18th in the world, so a real perfect work would be to do as well as the best high schools in the world. Actually, the very best high schools in the US compare favorably with the best high schools anywhere in the world. Several of the best high schools in the US are in NYC, so it is easy for me to compare my students with these schools. The reason we are 18th is not because of our best schools.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Each year you discover there are more and more details to this work. If your goal is a perfect work you will count every trial as a joy, because with each trial you become more complete. But it is not perfect yet, as long as there is a disparity in the education of young men of color we are wanting.
If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
It is a lot of prayer for wisdom from God. My school is 84% males, primarily young black men, a large percentage of immigrants with a very high poverty index. Last year my students scored in the top 7 percent and this year, the Lord willing, they will score in the top 3 or 4%. The top 3% is the point that I identify the best high schools in the country. For comparison, there is another school in Brooklyn that has the same makeup as ours, same percentage of males, the same percentage of blacks, the same percentage of special education students. They are in the bottom 17% of all NYC students. That is in line with broad statistical norms of this demographic group.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
You have to be firmly fixed on the goal. I feel like I am sailing into the wind and against the waves, but every year I make progress toward the goal. The waves crash over the ship but we don’t waver.
9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: 10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
Many teachers claim that this goal is unrealistic because the students in the top schools in NYC start 9th grade with a huge head start over my students. That is true. What these teachers miss is that my students will rejoice far more when they are exalted. Our advantage is our motivation. For example, when I was in school we took the PSAT and then were told we were in the top 97%. We thought it was a joke and they were telling us this to boost our confidence. One friend of mine scored an 800 on the Math SAT and a girl in my english class scored an 800 on the English SAT. Yet there wasn’t any rejoicing in their exaltation, no rejoicing that this student went to Harvard and that one to Yale. If that were to happen at the school I teach at now the entire school would rejoice. We realize that the exaltation of any of our students uplifts us all. None of us takes it for granted. If you are rich your attitude has to be that this is passing away. You have to be focused on finding something eternal.
12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Unbelief is the temptation. You have to endure that. At the school you see teachers with hand sanitizer, concerned about the germs. I’m concerned about the unbelief. I was in a meeting with all the other science teachers and they were disheartened, ready to quit. We are so close to reaching the goal and these teachers are in the middle of the battle and can’t see that the battle is almost won. We need to endure the temptation to quit.
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
There is a lot of money in education and that money is the root of all sorts of evil. Last year our very small school bought $200,000 worth of desks and chairs, not because the ones we had were old but because these are designed for the latest teaching fad. I am indifferent, but many teachers dislike the change. There are 400 schools like ours in NYC, this company might have sold $80 million worth of tables and chairs. First there was a new initiative, all students must be taught in groups, then we get these desks that fit nicely into a bigger square, but otherwise are not useful. Very few teachers are happy with this change and I have yet to hear a coherent argument for why this change is an improvement. So, I suspect that the real motivation was $80 million dollars. Companies give money to political campaigns, then in return the politician gives a fat government contract to this company. But in the end the school is being killed.
16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
The major error the experts make is to think that money is the key factor in the equation, since the suburbs have more money it is inevitable that they have the best schools. The formula for success in the suburbs is money. George Bush leveraged this benefit when he passed No Child Left Behind, and also when Hillary Clinton got a new law requiring least restrictive environment for students. Both of these laws are good, I do not disagree with the major premise of either law, however, neither law was funded. In the suburbs where they get twice as much money per student as NYC does they can afford to implement these laws without disruption to the classroom, but in the cities it caused chaos and confusion because there was no budget. Suburban schools got the carrot and inner city schools got the stick. What they miss is that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above”. Finland does much better than the US and they don’t spend nearly as much as we do. Money is not a perfect gift, it can cover up and compensate for poor practices. We have had to improve our practice significantly.
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
I believe I am working the righteousness of God. Education is the heart of the Civil Rights movement today. A level playing field is the righteousness of God. You need to be swift to hear any improvement and slow to say you have figured this out. Think of the wrath involved in this issue. People blaming one another, claiming bias, and all the insults that fly back and forth. The blame game can only be played by the self righteous and it does not work the righteousness of God. Think about the civil rights movement and how far we have come. In 1967 the KKK bombed my uncle’s house in Mississippi with his wife and two children in the house because he was running a charity to raise money to rebuild black churches that had been attacked by the KKK. It was called operation “shoestring”. That name reminds me of the poor widow who cast in two mites. We have come a long way from that day. But even in 1967 they also could say we had come a long way in the 100 years from the 1860s. If you want to work the righteousness of God you must be slow to wrath, slow to speak, and quick to hear. I was encouraged when I read about Orville and Wilbur Wright. At the time that they were developing an airplane there were well funded research and development projects being carried out in the US. One person was given $30,000 to fund his research. Orville and Wilbur worked in their spare time, without any funding. They could have gotten angry over the US refusal to let them demonstrate their airplane. Instead they went to France. They could have gotten angry when the plane was badly damaged in transit on the boat. Instead they spent months fixing it. They could have gotten angry when the press accused them of being liars and frauds. They were slow to wrath because they were making progress working the righteousness of God. So don’t make the same error, money is not a perfect gift, a perfect give is from above.
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
The biggest issue I have as a teacher is how to get my students to receive with meekness the engrafted word. Every teacher has to have a strategy on how to deal with filthiness and naughtiness. Think of a dog with a bone, the only way to get the dog to lay it down is if you provide it with something better to chew on. Politicians have referred to these inner city schools as “failure factories” and “the prison pipeline”. There is a direct correlation between unemployment, dropping out, and these failing grades. So, yes, I believe this engrafted word can save my student’s souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
This is why all these researchers from elite schools come up short. You have to be a doer. You have to get into the middle of the battle. Only then can you truly make progress without deceiving yourself. They don’t want to do that. They will fund a six month study, they will analyze data, but to actually get into the classroom in Brooklyn and do it year after year, rather than tell others how to do it, that is not their style.
23 For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: 24 for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Stand on this promise: “this man shall be blessed in his deed”. The law of liberty is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In your ministry you are looking into this law, investigating it. Every day you ask yourself, why are they not getting it, how could I do it better and that in turn leads you to think “how would I have wanted my teachers to help me?” Ultimately, when you are investigating the law of liberty, it is like examining yourself in the mirror. If you are truly bending down and examining the law of liberty in your ministry those kids you are teaching will become a mirror where you see your own nature. Helping them to get it is helping me to get it. When teachers complain that the “kids today are lazy” they like this man who has forgotten what manner of man he was.
26 If any man thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man’s religion is vain.
We are slow to wrath because we are working the righteousness of God. This is bridling our tongue. We are remembering what manner of man we were, rather than blaming our students, this is bridling our tongue. We are investigating the golden rule, this is bridling our tongue. If you are not bridling your tongue you aren’t doing these three things, and if that is the case your religion is just empty words, vanity.
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Many of my students are in the midst of affliction. Many are fatherless. 25% will spend time in a homeless shelter. The Lord said when you give a feast invite those who cannot repay. As a teacher it is easy for me to do this, I invite my students. But remember this warning to “keep yourself unspotted from the world”. The ministry is to the Lord, my labor is to the Lord.
The biggest issue I have as a teacher is how to get my students to receive with meekness the engrafted word. Every teacher has to have a strategy on how to deal with filthiness and naughtiness. Think of a dog with a bone, the only way to get the dog to lay it down is if you provide it with something better to chew on. Politicians have referred to these inner city schools as “failure factories” and “the prison pipeline”. There is a direct correlation between unemployment, dropping out, and these failing grades. So, yes, I believe this engrafted word can save my student’s souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
This is why all these researchers from elite schools come up short. You have to be a doer. You have to get into the middle of the battle. Only then can you truly make progress without deceiving yourself. They don’t want to do that. They will fund a six month study, they will analyze data, but to actually get into the classroom in Brooklyn and do it year after year, rather than tell others how to do it, that is not their style.
23 For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: 24 for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Stand on this promise: “this man shall be blessed in his deed”. The law of liberty is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In your ministry you are looking into this law, investigating it. Every day you ask yourself, why are they not getting it, how could I do it better and that in turn leads you to think “how would I have wanted my teachers to help me?” Ultimately, when you are investigating the law of liberty, it is like examining yourself in the mirror. If you are truly bending down and examining the law of liberty in your ministry those kids you are teaching will become a mirror where you see your own nature. Helping them to get it is helping me to get it. When teachers complain that the “kids today are lazy” they like this man who has forgotten what manner of man he was.
26 If any man thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man’s religion is vain.
We are slow to wrath because we are working the righteousness of God. This is bridling our tongue. We are remembering what manner of man we were, rather than blaming our students, this is bridling our tongue. We are investigating the golden rule, this is bridling our tongue. If you are not bridling your tongue you aren’t doing these three things, and if that is the case your religion is just empty words, vanity.
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Many of my students are in the midst of affliction. Many are fatherless. 25% will spend time in a homeless shelter. The Lord said when you give a feast invite those who cannot repay. As a teacher it is easy for me to do this, I invite my students. But remember this warning to “keep yourself unspotted from the world”. The ministry is to the Lord, my labor is to the Lord.