Isaiah 52: 7
How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, "Your King reigns!"
This is such a beautiful scene, of the runner running over the mountains to deliver the good news to the people. The victory message that the war has been won, and there is no more place for fear. There will be dancing in the streets, businesses will re-open and offer their wares, farmers will harvest their fields, and no one will be endangered any more.
Life will go on in the joy of families reunited and prosperity regained.
Now that the King has vanquished our foes and destroyed our enemies, we are free to pursue our dreams in the knowledge that our King has redeemed us from all the stuff that holds us back, all the error and deception that have interfered with our being who we were made to be: His princes and princesses to reign with Him on His throne as kings and queens with Him.
Who wants to be that runner? Who is the King calling to proclaim His Good News? His Good News is the Gospel, that our King Himself waged the war, fought the battles, and vanquished the enemy, giving us His victory, and enabling us to enjoy all the benefits of His conquest.
Is He your King? Does He have Sovereignty over your thoughts and life? Has He carried your sins and stains and negativity far away to drown them in the deepest sea? Has He given you His freedom to do what is right, to forsake all the poor choices that have weighed you down, and turn your thinking around from being a victim to having victory?
He has already accomplished it all. He has suffered and paid our debt that would take us forever to pay, and arose with new Life to give us that Resurrection Life, in place of the debt. He became sin for each of us, so that we can become embodiments of His righteousness (II Corinthians 5:21). The Books are balanced. God put our sin on His side of the page, then put His righteousness on our side of the page.
Now God sees us as perfect, pure and void of any kind of defect or imperfection: fit to withstand His own Presence in Glory without being destroyed by it.
That's how much He loves us. That's how much value He places on each one of us, that we are worth all He has done to redeem us.
I know that I am not "perfect" in my daily life. But whenever I realize that I have "missed the mark," I confess to God, agreeing with Him how sinful my sin is, and He enables me to forsake that path, and turn around to walk on His path before me instead. That's the power He gives me, to be able to make that better choice, to do the hard thing, to be courageous in claiming victory over my weaknesses. It's simple, but it's not often easy.
God has done so much for me, He loves me more than I can imagine, and He's prepared a place for me to spend eternity with Him. How can I not proclaim this God? How can I not share with everyone who will listen how much He loves them, too?
O my Father, thank You for doing Everything! You have finished everything that needs to be done to design, fashion, execute, cleanse, redeem, finish all of Creation, all that exists. And You have given me a small role in Your plan, to run over the mountains digitally to announce and proclaim Your vanquishment of everyone and everything that would mar the perfection of Your work.
You are Perfect, and You are perfecting everything to come up to Your standard. You are the standard, my Lord. You are the measure of what is right, what is beautiful, what is good, what is lovely, what is enjoyable, what is fun.
Continue to teach me, my King, how I can cooperate with You, with how You have designed this World to work, to benefit and bring benefit to others. To prosper and bring prosperity to others. To enjoy the Life You give me, and bring joy to others in You, also. The joy of the Lord is my strength, to overpower all the enemies who come only to kill, steal, and destroy.
Thank You, Father, that I know the end of the Story, that we win! That encourages me to keep on keeping on, trusting You through all the slogs and marshes and wildernesses of this World. I know that Your strength in me will always and continually gain me the victory over all my enemies, and that You will even reward me for doing what You enable me to do!
You are Awesome! You are Amazing! You are eminently beyond anything I can even imagine! And You see me. You know me. You know my name. You know my every thought. You know my every molecule. You blow my mind!
O Father, make my "feet" beautiful, in broadcasting the seed of Your Good News. Please let some of that seed fall on the fertile soil You have prepared to receive it, and let it produce a hundred fold, for Your Kingdom!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, April 8, 2018
Saturday, April 7, 2018
Our Lord, Our Redeemer
Isaiah 44: 6
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no god besides Me.
(See also Revelation 1:8: the Alpha and the Omega; and Revelation 22:13: Alpha and Omega, First and Last, Beginning and End.)
This is obviously Jesus! He is the Lord God of the Old Testament, as well as the Lord God of the New Testament--the only God, Who has revealed Himself to us.
Jesus taught us that the Father is the Authority He obeys, but the Son has always been the Member of the Godhead Who deals with Mankind. He does not change.
45: 23
...That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance to Me.
(See also Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10-11, and Revelation 5:13.)
Jesus is God's Christ for us. From Creation through the New Heaven and New Earth and beyond, He will never change.
The Godhead (Elohim) pronounced within Himself, "Let us make Mankind in Our own Image, after Our own Likeness" (Genesis 1:26); then the Lord reached out and formed the man from the dust of the Earth (Genesis 2:7). And we have belonged to Him ever since.
When God made the world, He knew that Mankind would fail the test, so He devised that, if Man refused the Tree of Knowledge and ate of the Tree of Life instead (there was no prohibition on the Tree of Life), then we would all live forever. But if he disobeyed and ate of the forbidden fruit, then he would have to die. But then he could have a Savior to redeem him.
Jesus is the Lord God Who gave the Law to Moses, and the One Who fulfilled the letter of every precept. With His life He fulfilled all the requirements of all the rules and regulations; and when He died He fulfilled all the sacrificial laws, as the Lamb of God.
The first law for sacrifice listed in the first chapter of Leviticus is the personal sacrifice. It's first because it's the first sacrifice each person needed to make in order to have a connection with God through forgiveness through the blood of that animal. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22).
But animal blood can only cover sins, never take them away (Hebrews 10:4). It took the Blood of the Lord God Himself to take away our sins, to wash us clean of every stain.
We all deserve to die, and we all will die. But we don't have to be separated from God when we're separated from our bodies. When we humble ourselves before God and admit to Him we deserve death, then let Jesus take our place in death individually on the Cross; that's when God will forgive, wash away our sins, and give us His own Holy Spirit to live in our spirit, making us alive. Life itself is spirit, and His Spirit gives us Life.
Jesus also fulfilled the corporate sacrifice that was given for the whole Nation, and He purchased us all, along with the whole of Creation, making us twice His property--by creation and by purchase. That makes Him our rightful Judge.
So He died for us individually for Salvation, and He died for all of us together for judgment.
Think about it. Are you "the one" Jesus died for, as though you're the only one? Or are you one of many He died for? Your viewpoint here makes all the difference, for eternity.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no god besides Me.
(See also Revelation 1:8: the Alpha and the Omega; and Revelation 22:13: Alpha and Omega, First and Last, Beginning and End.)
This is obviously Jesus! He is the Lord God of the Old Testament, as well as the Lord God of the New Testament--the only God, Who has revealed Himself to us.
Jesus taught us that the Father is the Authority He obeys, but the Son has always been the Member of the Godhead Who deals with Mankind. He does not change.
45: 23
...That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance to Me.
(See also Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10-11, and Revelation 5:13.)
Jesus is God's Christ for us. From Creation through the New Heaven and New Earth and beyond, He will never change.
The Godhead (Elohim) pronounced within Himself, "Let us make Mankind in Our own Image, after Our own Likeness" (Genesis 1:26); then the Lord reached out and formed the man from the dust of the Earth (Genesis 2:7). And we have belonged to Him ever since.
When God made the world, He knew that Mankind would fail the test, so He devised that, if Man refused the Tree of Knowledge and ate of the Tree of Life instead (there was no prohibition on the Tree of Life), then we would all live forever. But if he disobeyed and ate of the forbidden fruit, then he would have to die. But then he could have a Savior to redeem him.
Jesus is the Lord God Who gave the Law to Moses, and the One Who fulfilled the letter of every precept. With His life He fulfilled all the requirements of all the rules and regulations; and when He died He fulfilled all the sacrificial laws, as the Lamb of God.
The first law for sacrifice listed in the first chapter of Leviticus is the personal sacrifice. It's first because it's the first sacrifice each person needed to make in order to have a connection with God through forgiveness through the blood of that animal. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22).
But animal blood can only cover sins, never take them away (Hebrews 10:4). It took the Blood of the Lord God Himself to take away our sins, to wash us clean of every stain.
We all deserve to die, and we all will die. But we don't have to be separated from God when we're separated from our bodies. When we humble ourselves before God and admit to Him we deserve death, then let Jesus take our place in death individually on the Cross; that's when God will forgive, wash away our sins, and give us His own Holy Spirit to live in our spirit, making us alive. Life itself is spirit, and His Spirit gives us Life.
Jesus also fulfilled the corporate sacrifice that was given for the whole Nation, and He purchased us all, along with the whole of Creation, making us twice His property--by creation and by purchase. That makes Him our rightful Judge.
So He died for us individually for Salvation, and He died for all of us together for judgment.
Think about it. Are you "the one" Jesus died for, as though you're the only one? Or are you one of many He died for? Your viewpoint here makes all the difference, for eternity.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, April 6, 2018
Seeing, Hearing, And Understanding
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!
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!
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!
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