Isaiah 6
This chapter describes the glory of our Lord God on His Throne in Glory, with the Temple in Heaven and the magnificence of it all.
And God calls Isaiah: Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?
And I said, Here I am. Send me!
He said, Go ...
Our Lord God is sitting on His magnificent Throne in Heaven where He lives. And when He calls Isaiah, He speaks in the first person plural, "Us."
But He tells Isaiah that the people will refuse to hear, to see, and to understand.
How often do people today refuse to see and hear what is right in front of them, so they don't understand what it's all about; Who God is and how much He loves us?
Because when we can see with our eyes, and hear with our ears, then we will understand with our hearts; only then will we turn (repent means "turn around") and be healed (physically, mentally, spiritually, socially, environmentally; every way).
We must be willing to change our minds about how we think about what has been happening to us and around us; to "re-frame" our hurts and sorrows and failures, to see "what else can this mean?"
We need to be willing to see things the way God sees them, and to understand how everything He allows to happen is for our good. Because He loves us, while we're here in this life, it's like we're in school. Galatians 3:24 talks about Law being our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ. We don't have a teacher any more that will rap our knuckles with a ruler, but we still cannot escape from the consequences of what we've done, even when we confess and are forgiven.
We can learn how to be better people, how to know Who God is, and how much He loves us, through how He brings us through all the tests of life. Will we pass? Or will we need to take that test again?
God will never give up on us. He is relentless. If we run from His testings, He will chase us down (the Shepherd leaving the 99 to find the one that ran away). If we fail the test, He will give us a second chance, and a third, and a fourth, until we finally learn how to pass it.
As humans we tend to be real knuckleheads sometimes. We tend to hold on to what's comfortable for us, even when it hurts. We won't change until it hurts more to stay the same than it does to change. We don't respond to the heat, only to the fire. Why is that?
Why do we have to be "forced" to do better, dragged in kicking and screaming? It's because we've swallowed Satan's lie whole, that we can make our own decisions, no one can tell us what to do. We're our own god, we don't need God. This pride and arrogance has kept so many from turning to the only One Who is our Source, the One Who loves us more than we can imagine. And they will stay on that painful course that leads to death.
But those who decide they want to have the Truth, even if they'll have to give up what they believe now; then God will reveal Himself and His ways to them. He's promised: "When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you" (Jeremiah 29:13-14). This is a conditional promise: If you--then I will.
God always does what He's promised. But we also need to do what is required.
Not all His promises are conditional. Some things He will do regardless what we do. But we need to really pay attention to the conditional ones.
When we honestly seek God, then He will reveal Himself to us. When I was looking for the Truth, it didn't matter to me if it would be what I already believed or something completely different or something in-between. I just didn't want to be deceived. I wanted to know the Truth so I could believe it.
I didn't know that God is Truth. But He came to me that day, showed me Jesus on the Cross, and I knew He didn't deserve all that because I did. He took my place in death.
That's when God forgave me everything I ever did, or will do. That's when He washed me white as snow in the Blood of the Lamb. That's when He put His Holy Spirit into me, in my spirit, making me alive spiritually.
And all the "truth-systems" I'd been investigating, I could see now why none of them convinced me--they all had some form of deception wrapped in truth.
And I had a new power to choose what was right, instead of falling into sin again. It was a choice I never realized I had before: God set me free from the slavery of that addiction.
That day I gave my life to God. And for a while I went totally passive. I didn't know how to run my life, everything I tried just put me into a worse situation, so I let Him make all the decisions for me.
Later, when I was able to learn some of the Bible, I got serious and started to look for what I could do to cooperate with God.
That was all so many decades ago, and He has kept His promise to never leave me or forsake me to my own devices. As long as I seek His Face and His ways, He has taken good care of me. He has been such a good, good Father to me. He has led me and guided me into so many paths I wouldn't have taken on my own. And His protection keeps me from harm.
Every trial and sorrow that comes, I try to see what I am to learn from it, how He wants to bless me in it or because of it. He has never failed me.
My desire with this blog is for you also to know my wonderful God, Who is the Source of everything that is good, everything we need. Starting with that Rescue, that Salvation He has provided in His Son.
May you also seek God with all your heart, that you may be found of Him.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, April 6, 2018
Thursday, April 5, 2018
No End To The Increase
Isaiah 9: 6-7
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us.
So the child who will be born is the new thing, a baby. But the son is a Son from before Time, the Second Person (Lord) in the Godhead (Elohim).
And the government will rest on His shoulders.
He will be the King over the government in His Kingdom.
And His Name will be called Wonderful Counselor,
The One Who has (is) all the answers to all our questions, to advise us.
Mighty God,
He is the Lord God of the Old Testament.
Eternal Father,
Not God the Father, but the progenitor, the maker, of all of humanity, from before the beginning of Time.
Prince of Peace.
He is the One Who will finally end all war and strife on this Earth, in the World of Mankind.
He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom,
Because the Lord God gave David His throne. (See I Chronicles 29:23--Solomon sat on the Throne of the Lord as king in place of his father David.)
When Israel rejected the Lord God as King over them and asked for a human King, then the Lord God gave His Throne to David and promised him that he would always have a man to sit on this Throne as King. And Jesus, humanly descended from King David, will resume His Throne to reign forever.
There will be no end to the increase of His Government and Peace.
So when Jesus returns and sets up His Kingdom on this Earth (Revelation 6:16; 11:15-18; 16:17; 19:11-16; 20:1-6), then Satan is released and gathers the armies of the World to attack Him (20:7-9), and the Earth explodes and the Universe implodes (20:9; II Peter 3:7, 10-12); then that will only be the beginning! (Revelation 21 & 22).
When the New Heaven and the New Earth comes, after this World is destroyed, and all our enemies are conquered, including Death; then we will reign with Christ and live in the very presence of Elohim where He lives. And this will be the start of who knows how many worlds to be made, throughout the forever of all eternity! His Kingdom, His rule, will never stop increasing!
This completely blows my mind! Our God is the most incredible God. He has told us the complete "history" of our Earth and Solar System and Universe, from beginning (Genesis 1:1) to end (Revelation 21:1). And this is only the beginning of the story, only the first page in God's Book, only one moment in the expanse of forever.
This Bible tells us all we need to know to function in this World (II Timothy 3:16), then at the end of it will be another whole Universe; and all we know, all true Science, will be obsolete (I Corinthians 13:8-10, knowledge will pass away, the imperfect disappears). We'll be living and learning a whole new kind of existence!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us.
So the child who will be born is the new thing, a baby. But the son is a Son from before Time, the Second Person (Lord) in the Godhead (Elohim).
And the government will rest on His shoulders.
He will be the King over the government in His Kingdom.
And His Name will be called Wonderful Counselor,
The One Who has (is) all the answers to all our questions, to advise us.
Mighty God,
He is the Lord God of the Old Testament.
Eternal Father,
Not God the Father, but the progenitor, the maker, of all of humanity, from before the beginning of Time.
Prince of Peace.
He is the One Who will finally end all war and strife on this Earth, in the World of Mankind.
He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom,
Because the Lord God gave David His throne. (See I Chronicles 29:23--Solomon sat on the Throne of the Lord as king in place of his father David.)
When Israel rejected the Lord God as King over them and asked for a human King, then the Lord God gave His Throne to David and promised him that he would always have a man to sit on this Throne as King. And Jesus, humanly descended from King David, will resume His Throne to reign forever.
There will be no end to the increase of His Government and Peace.
So when Jesus returns and sets up His Kingdom on this Earth (Revelation 6:16; 11:15-18; 16:17; 19:11-16; 20:1-6), then Satan is released and gathers the armies of the World to attack Him (20:7-9), and the Earth explodes and the Universe implodes (20:9; II Peter 3:7, 10-12); then that will only be the beginning! (Revelation 21 & 22).
When the New Heaven and the New Earth comes, after this World is destroyed, and all our enemies are conquered, including Death; then we will reign with Christ and live in the very presence of Elohim where He lives. And this will be the start of who knows how many worlds to be made, throughout the forever of all eternity! His Kingdom, His rule, will never stop increasing!
This completely blows my mind! Our God is the most incredible God. He has told us the complete "history" of our Earth and Solar System and Universe, from beginning (Genesis 1:1) to end (Revelation 21:1). And this is only the beginning of the story, only the first page in God's Book, only one moment in the expanse of forever.
This Bible tells us all we need to know to function in this World (II Timothy 3:16), then at the end of it will be another whole Universe; and all we know, all true Science, will be obsolete (I Corinthians 13:8-10, knowledge will pass away, the imperfect disappears). We'll be living and learning a whole new kind of existence!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Two Cherished Promises
Joel 1-3
This whole book concerns the Day of the Lord.
It will come in two distinct parts:
First the desolations.
Then deliverance.
2:32
And it will come about that whoever calls on the Name of the Lord will be delivered.
Calling on the Name of the Lord today is recognizing that they deserve death, and Jesus as God's Sacrificial Lamb died in their place on the Cross.
He fulfilled the first chapter in the book of Leviticus, the personal sacrifice that the individual person would bring. The first sacrifice every person needed to bring first, admitting that the animal died in his place, the animal's blood splattered on the sides of the Altar to cover his sins.
Jesus' sacrifice for each of us doesn't just cover our sins; it's God's own Blood that actually washes away our sins completely, removing every stain. That's what makes us fit to live with God where He lives.
The Old Testament saints only had their sins covered, so they could be forgiven, but not go to Heaven. Everyone died and went to Sheol, the place of the dead. Jesus gave us a picture of this place, as having two sides: the fire side we call Hell, and the Paradise side that Jesus called Abraham's Bosom. Jesus told the "good thief" on the cross beside His, that "today you will be with Me in Paradise," not Heaven (Luke 23:43).
Now that Jesus has fulfilled that Sacrifice, our sins are completely washed away, into the deepest sea, never to cling to us again. So Jesus took that thief with Him into Sheol to carry the whole Paradise area into Heaven with Him.
2:25
Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust; My great army which I sent among you.
God had sent His armies of locusts against Israel, and He allows all kinds of "locusts" in our lives, eating away the good that we would have enjoyed had we not made all those foolish choces.
These are two promises that have been cherished throughout Christendom from the start.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
This whole book concerns the Day of the Lord.
It will come in two distinct parts:
First the desolations.
Then deliverance.
2:32
And it will come about that whoever calls on the Name of the Lord will be delivered.
Calling on the Name of the Lord today is recognizing that they deserve death, and Jesus as God's Sacrificial Lamb died in their place on the Cross.
He fulfilled the first chapter in the book of Leviticus, the personal sacrifice that the individual person would bring. The first sacrifice every person needed to bring first, admitting that the animal died in his place, the animal's blood splattered on the sides of the Altar to cover his sins.
Jesus' sacrifice for each of us doesn't just cover our sins; it's God's own Blood that actually washes away our sins completely, removing every stain. That's what makes us fit to live with God where He lives.
The Old Testament saints only had their sins covered, so they could be forgiven, but not go to Heaven. Everyone died and went to Sheol, the place of the dead. Jesus gave us a picture of this place, as having two sides: the fire side we call Hell, and the Paradise side that Jesus called Abraham's Bosom. Jesus told the "good thief" on the cross beside His, that "today you will be with Me in Paradise," not Heaven (Luke 23:43).
Now that Jesus has fulfilled that Sacrifice, our sins are completely washed away, into the deepest sea, never to cling to us again. So Jesus took that thief with Him into Sheol to carry the whole Paradise area into Heaven with Him.
2:25
Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust; My great army which I sent among you.
God had sent His armies of locusts against Israel, and He allows all kinds of "locusts" in our lives, eating away the good that we would have enjoyed had we not made all those foolish choces.
These are two promises that have been cherished throughout Christendom from the start.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Signing On The Dotted Line
Amos 1: 1, 9
V. 1
Amos was not a professional prophet, he was just a sheep breeder from Judah and God sent him to the Northern Nation of Israel to give them His Word.
V. 9
Against Tyre. They had a treaty with David and Solomon that included not selling Hebrews into slavery, which they did.
They had signed the agreement as a bond of brotherhood and good will, but broke it in delivering up "an entire population" to Edom as slaves.
Now Tyre will have to suffer the consequences.
When we make an agreement we need to honor the terms of it, even if it means harm may come to us (Psalm 16:4). That's why we need to have discernment before signing on the dotted line. Once we've signed, then we're bound by the agreement.
O my Father, please show me before I sign any agreement what the actual terms are, that I may understand my responsibilities to fulfill them.
Thank You, Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
V. 1
Amos was not a professional prophet, he was just a sheep breeder from Judah and God sent him to the Northern Nation of Israel to give them His Word.
V. 9
Against Tyre. They had a treaty with David and Solomon that included not selling Hebrews into slavery, which they did.
They had signed the agreement as a bond of brotherhood and good will, but broke it in delivering up "an entire population" to Edom as slaves.
Now Tyre will have to suffer the consequences.
When we make an agreement we need to honor the terms of it, even if it means harm may come to us (Psalm 16:4). That's why we need to have discernment before signing on the dotted line. Once we've signed, then we're bound by the agreement.
O my Father, please show me before I sign any agreement what the actual terms are, that I may understand my responsibilities to fulfill them.
Thank You, Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Monday, April 2, 2018
Our Newlywed Husband
Hosea 1-3
God wanted Hosea to demonstrate in his own life the grief the Lord feels when His people Israel forsake Him for other gods.
Then after it all, God will restore them in that Day.
2:16
And it will come about in that Day, declares the Lord, that you will call me "my Husband" (Ishi) and will no longer call me "Master" (Baali, Boss).
Vs. 19-20
And I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will [intimately] know the Lord.
God loves what He made. He is in love with who He made. He has done everything possible and impossible to let us know Who He is and how He loves us passionately as a newlywed husband is enamored with his new bride, and how much He loves us, how deep, how wide, how broad, how high, how all encompassing us it is. He is above us, below us, beside us left and right, before us, behind us, inside us, and all around us, all the time.
And His heart hurts when we ignore Him, reject Him, and turn to other gods, idols. He compares it to Hosea loving Gomer so much, and yet she leaves him for other lovers. But he goes to buy her back to himself, and keeps her for himself (chapter 3).
And in that Day when the Lord Jesus returns to this Earth to set up His Kingdom in this World, then "Every eye will see Him" (Revelation 1:7) and will know this Jesus of Nazareth is none other than the very Lord God of the Old Testament and the promised Messiah. And all Israel will be saved in that Day (Romans 11:26), to reign with Him along with His Resurrected Church as His bride.
And we will love Him in the righteousness and justice and love and compassion and faithfulness He loves us with; and we will "know" Him as a bride "knows" her new Husband on their wedding night; and the honeymoon will never end!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
God wanted Hosea to demonstrate in his own life the grief the Lord feels when His people Israel forsake Him for other gods.
Then after it all, God will restore them in that Day.
2:16
And it will come about in that Day, declares the Lord, that you will call me "my Husband" (Ishi) and will no longer call me "Master" (Baali, Boss).
Vs. 19-20
And I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will [intimately] know the Lord.
God loves what He made. He is in love with who He made. He has done everything possible and impossible to let us know Who He is and how He loves us passionately as a newlywed husband is enamored with his new bride, and how much He loves us, how deep, how wide, how broad, how high, how all encompassing us it is. He is above us, below us, beside us left and right, before us, behind us, inside us, and all around us, all the time.
And His heart hurts when we ignore Him, reject Him, and turn to other gods, idols. He compares it to Hosea loving Gomer so much, and yet she leaves him for other lovers. But he goes to buy her back to himself, and keeps her for himself (chapter 3).
And in that Day when the Lord Jesus returns to this Earth to set up His Kingdom in this World, then "Every eye will see Him" (Revelation 1:7) and will know this Jesus of Nazareth is none other than the very Lord God of the Old Testament and the promised Messiah. And all Israel will be saved in that Day (Romans 11:26), to reign with Him along with His Resurrected Church as His bride.
And we will love Him in the righteousness and justice and love and compassion and faithfulness He loves us with; and we will "know" Him as a bride "knows" her new Husband on their wedding night; and the honeymoon will never end!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, April 1, 2018
Resurrection Day
John 11: 25-26
Jesus said to her, I am the Resurrection and the Life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?
Today is Resurrection Day. Easter. The day we remember the very basis of our faith. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, there would be no Christianity at all.
Jesus was telling Martha Who He was and what He would accomplish on our behalf. Martha did believe, but her understanding was not complete. She knew that her brother Lazarus would be resurrected in that Day the prophets foretold, but, until it happened, she didn't know that Jesus would die and come back to life again in just a few days.
Today we have the advantage of looking back to know that this did actually happen, and our faith is more complete than hers was then.
Because Jesus conquered death by rising in victory over it with Resurrection Life, now we know that we, too, will rise with that same Resurrection Life that He gives all who have died with Him in allowing Him to die in our place, individually, on the Cross. That is what is meant when people say He is their "personal Savior."
He fulfilled that first sacrifice given at the beginning of the Book of Leviticus, the personal, individual offering. Just as that animal took the person's place in death on the altar, and its blood was splattered on the sides of the altar to cover his sins; so Jesus as the Lamb of God individually took each of our place in death, His Precious Blood splattering on the sides of His altar the Cross, to not just cover but wash away all the sin.
And to prove that God accepted His Sacrifice on our behalf, God raised Him from the dead. There is more historical evidence of His Resurrection than there is for the existence of Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte. It is a Truth we can confidently believe.
And if He had not risen from the dead, Peter would have gone back to fishing and there would have been no New Testament at all.
We would still be waiting for the Messiah, depending on animals' blood to gain forgiveness.
Thank God He sent His only Son to be our Savior! Thank God for His incredible Love for us, that He was willing to sacrifice Him in our place, so that He could give us His amazing Grace and Mercy. Thank God that Jesus was willing to go ahead and do it, and submit His will to the Father's.
O my Father, thank You so much! O my Lord Jesus, my King, my Lover, thank You so much! O Holy Spirit, my Companion and Teacher and Strength, thank You!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Jesus said to her, I am the Resurrection and the Life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?
Today is Resurrection Day. Easter. The day we remember the very basis of our faith. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, there would be no Christianity at all.
Jesus was telling Martha Who He was and what He would accomplish on our behalf. Martha did believe, but her understanding was not complete. She knew that her brother Lazarus would be resurrected in that Day the prophets foretold, but, until it happened, she didn't know that Jesus would die and come back to life again in just a few days.
Today we have the advantage of looking back to know that this did actually happen, and our faith is more complete than hers was then.
Because Jesus conquered death by rising in victory over it with Resurrection Life, now we know that we, too, will rise with that same Resurrection Life that He gives all who have died with Him in allowing Him to die in our place, individually, on the Cross. That is what is meant when people say He is their "personal Savior."
He fulfilled that first sacrifice given at the beginning of the Book of Leviticus, the personal, individual offering. Just as that animal took the person's place in death on the altar, and its blood was splattered on the sides of the altar to cover his sins; so Jesus as the Lamb of God individually took each of our place in death, His Precious Blood splattering on the sides of His altar the Cross, to not just cover but wash away all the sin.
And to prove that God accepted His Sacrifice on our behalf, God raised Him from the dead. There is more historical evidence of His Resurrection than there is for the existence of Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte. It is a Truth we can confidently believe.
And if He had not risen from the dead, Peter would have gone back to fishing and there would have been no New Testament at all.
We would still be waiting for the Messiah, depending on animals' blood to gain forgiveness.
Thank God He sent His only Son to be our Savior! Thank God for His incredible Love for us, that He was willing to sacrifice Him in our place, so that He could give us His amazing Grace and Mercy. Thank God that Jesus was willing to go ahead and do it, and submit His will to the Father's.
O my Father, thank You so much! O my Lord Jesus, my King, my Lover, thank You so much! O Holy Spirit, my Companion and Teacher and Strength, thank You!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, March 31, 2018
God's Victory Through Jonah
Jonah 3 & 4
Now God again tells Jonah to preach in Nineveh, and this time he obeys.
Nineveh is a huge city, so big that a visit would take three days to just hit the highlights. Jonah was no tourist, he entered the city gates and began to preach right off: Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.
I can imagine that Jonah's startling appearance among these middle-Easterners got their attention, so they all heard his street-evangelism. So the Ninevites believed God, they declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation: ...
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened.
You would expect that a preacher whose message brought an entire city to its knees to be overjoyed. But Jonah became outraged and depressed. Why?
Jonah complains to the Lord that this is why he tried to run away. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God Who relents from sending calamity.
But the Lord replied, Have you any right to be angry?
Jonah didn't answer God's question, but just went out & sat down to just see what would happen to the city.
So God causes a vine to grow up beside him to shade him in the bright sunlight, but takes it away the next day. Then he complains again.
So God said to Jonah, Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?
And he answers this time, I do, I'm angry enough to just die!
He's not really angry about the vine, he's mad at God! He wants these horrible people to be destroyed, as they deserve. He wants to see God's vengeance satisfied on them. They've been mean and cruel, and he wants them to pay.
But God relented. God gained the victory, even though Jonah didn't want to recognize it. God will always relent, because He will do what He says He will do. Always. Destruction is voluntary. Even when we deserve trouble, pain, and death, if we will only turn around our thinking (repent) and confess and forsake our rebellious and unloving ways, God will always relent and instead forgive.
That's our God. He will extend His vengeance upon those who refuse to repent, because He is just, and we all deserve punishment, we all owe God that eternal debt that we can never pay off. And He did destroy Nineveh, a couple of generations later, when they refused to repent.
That's why Jesus came. Even before He created anything, He knew that He would need to come and be with us, so that He could pay our debt and cleanse us, to make us able to be with Him where He is.
That's how much God loves us. Jesus refers to Jonah's "three days and three nights in the belly of the fish" as an historical event that really happened, and as an illustration of the three days Jesus will spend in the Tomb (Matthew 12:40).
Today (Saturday) is the day we remember that Jesus is in the tomb. Actually, His body lay in the tomb, He is elsewhere. (See my blog for April 17, 2017 to find out where He was and what He was doing.)
This book of Jonah ends with this question: Shall I not be concerned for this great city? Should we not be concerned for all the people who have never heard about our God?
God's plan for this Earth was to put Mankind here, redeem him when he'd gone astray, and fit him to spend Eternity with his Maker and Creator. God loves what He made, and He wants all of us to realize how much He loves us.
We who know Him are charged to "Go and make disciples of all Nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." But we don't have to do it alone, He promised, "I am with you always, to the very end of the age." He will be continually, uninterruptedly with each of us as we obey His Great Commission. (Matthew 28:19-20.)
O my Father, thank You so much for Your love for all Mankind! Even though we rebel against You and believe the enemy that we don't need You; You still reach out to each of us to grant us the faith to believe You instead of being deceived. Thank You for Your wisdom and strength and sovereignty to do whatever You want to do; and what You want to do is for our good, because You are good, and I can trust You to always have my best in mind, even when life is not going as I would want.
I know that Your love for me is beyond anything I can imagine, and the hard times that press on me is just You making a diamond out of the dust that I am. Keep me, Father, securely in Your hand, send me out to those who have never heard Your Name. Let me be one of Your diamonds that show the World how much You care. Let Your fragrance emanate from Christ in me to draw others to Yourself.
And continue to work out Your Grand Plan of the Ages, using each of us and all of us to further that Plan toward the realization of Your Kingdom in this World on this Earth.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Now God again tells Jonah to preach in Nineveh, and this time he obeys.
Nineveh is a huge city, so big that a visit would take three days to just hit the highlights. Jonah was no tourist, he entered the city gates and began to preach right off: Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.
I can imagine that Jonah's startling appearance among these middle-Easterners got their attention, so they all heard his street-evangelism. So the Ninevites believed God, they declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation: ...
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened.
You would expect that a preacher whose message brought an entire city to its knees to be overjoyed. But Jonah became outraged and depressed. Why?
Jonah complains to the Lord that this is why he tried to run away. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God Who relents from sending calamity.
But the Lord replied, Have you any right to be angry?
Jonah didn't answer God's question, but just went out & sat down to just see what would happen to the city.
So God causes a vine to grow up beside him to shade him in the bright sunlight, but takes it away the next day. Then he complains again.
So God said to Jonah, Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?
And he answers this time, I do, I'm angry enough to just die!
He's not really angry about the vine, he's mad at God! He wants these horrible people to be destroyed, as they deserve. He wants to see God's vengeance satisfied on them. They've been mean and cruel, and he wants them to pay.
But God relented. God gained the victory, even though Jonah didn't want to recognize it. God will always relent, because He will do what He says He will do. Always. Destruction is voluntary. Even when we deserve trouble, pain, and death, if we will only turn around our thinking (repent) and confess and forsake our rebellious and unloving ways, God will always relent and instead forgive.
That's our God. He will extend His vengeance upon those who refuse to repent, because He is just, and we all deserve punishment, we all owe God that eternal debt that we can never pay off. And He did destroy Nineveh, a couple of generations later, when they refused to repent.
That's why Jesus came. Even before He created anything, He knew that He would need to come and be with us, so that He could pay our debt and cleanse us, to make us able to be with Him where He is.
That's how much God loves us. Jesus refers to Jonah's "three days and three nights in the belly of the fish" as an historical event that really happened, and as an illustration of the three days Jesus will spend in the Tomb (Matthew 12:40).
Today (Saturday) is the day we remember that Jesus is in the tomb. Actually, His body lay in the tomb, He is elsewhere. (See my blog for April 17, 2017 to find out where He was and what He was doing.)
This book of Jonah ends with this question: Shall I not be concerned for this great city? Should we not be concerned for all the people who have never heard about our God?
God's plan for this Earth was to put Mankind here, redeem him when he'd gone astray, and fit him to spend Eternity with his Maker and Creator. God loves what He made, and He wants all of us to realize how much He loves us.
We who know Him are charged to "Go and make disciples of all Nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." But we don't have to do it alone, He promised, "I am with you always, to the very end of the age." He will be continually, uninterruptedly with each of us as we obey His Great Commission. (Matthew 28:19-20.)
O my Father, thank You so much for Your love for all Mankind! Even though we rebel against You and believe the enemy that we don't need You; You still reach out to each of us to grant us the faith to believe You instead of being deceived. Thank You for Your wisdom and strength and sovereignty to do whatever You want to do; and what You want to do is for our good, because You are good, and I can trust You to always have my best in mind, even when life is not going as I would want.
I know that Your love for me is beyond anything I can imagine, and the hard times that press on me is just You making a diamond out of the dust that I am. Keep me, Father, securely in Your hand, send me out to those who have never heard Your Name. Let me be one of Your diamonds that show the World how much You care. Let Your fragrance emanate from Christ in me to draw others to Yourself.
And continue to work out Your Grand Plan of the Ages, using each of us and all of us to further that Plan toward the realization of Your Kingdom in this World on this Earth.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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