Isaiah {25:7} And he will destroy in this mountain
the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail
that is spread over all nations. {25:8} He will swallow up
death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears
from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take
away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken [it.
]{25:9} And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this [is] our
God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this [is]
the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and
rejoice in his salvation. {25:10} For in this mountain shall
the hand of the LORD rest,
He will destroy the face of the covering cast over all people.
He will destroy the vail that is spread over all nations.
Coverings and vails what do they typically do? Hide things, right? They hide things either from someone seeing in or someone seeing out. When you cover your head you prevent others from seeing your head but you also limit your own ability to see outward.
1 Cor. {13:12} For
now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:
now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am
known.
Our understanding is limited by sin it can be no other way. Sin corrupts and warps things, and we are born with the propensity to sin. Sin limits us with it's presence in our lives and in the world. We know in part, we see through a dark glass, our vision, our knowledge is limited. Even with our limited knowledge we are allowed to see, to know the way to Christ. Our salvation is not hidden from us, it is found in Jesus and all have the opportunity to know Him, to know the Love of God. We are given enough light through that dark glass, we are allowed to know in part but one day we will see clearly. One day there will be no dark glass, nothing hidden.
He will destroy the face of the covering cast over all people. He will destroy the vail that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death in victory.
The Lord God will wipe away tears from off faces.
No more death.
No more tears.
Revelation {21:4} And God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain: for the former things are passed away.
Praise God! Such hope! Such promise!
Isa. 25:8...and the rebuke of his people shall he take
away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken [it.
]{25:9} And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this [is] our
God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this [is]
the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and
rejoice in his salvation. {25:10} For in this mountain shall
the hand of the LORD rest,
All praise and glory to God!
In that day we will say... Lo, this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him and we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!
Can you picture it? Close your eyes for a moment and just imagine being able to say those words.
Lo, this is our God we have waited for Him!
We wait for Him, He is our promise. Our hope isn't in ourselves, it is in Jesus!
We need to take our eyes off ourselves and place them on our One and Only Hope, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior!
Praise the Lord!
Lo, this is our God we have waited for Him!
He will save us!
This is the Lord we have waited for Him!
We will be glad and rejoice in His Salvation!
Praise be to God now and forever!
Amen
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth
Isaiah
{25:1} O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I
will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things;
thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
Thy counsels of old...
are faithfulness and truth.
Faithfulness and truth.
Time and time again we hear of faithfulness.
We need faith.
We need the truth.
These two things are essential.
People say they want proof- not faith. They want something substanial- not faith. They want something solid- not faith. They want facts- not faith. They call anything other than tangible evidence folly and those who believe deluded.
Faith.
Heb. {11:1} Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen
Hope.
Can you put your hands around hope?
What is hope?
Dict.
hope (hop) verb
hoped, hoping, hopes verb, intransitive
1. To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment.
2. Archaic. To have confidence; trust.
verb, transitive
1. To look forward to with confidence or expectation: We hope that our children will carry on our family traditions.
2. To expect and desire. See synonyms at expect.
noun
1. A wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment.
2. Something that is hoped for or desired: Success is our hope.
3. One that is a source of or reason for hope: the team's only hope for victory.
4. Often Hope (hop) . The theological virtue defined as the desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible to attain with God's help.
5. Archaic. Trust; confidence.
Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary
Hope isn't something we touch. You can say you place your hope in someone, but that hope is in the something that someone is doing, not really in that person, it's in an accomplishment they have the possibility of fulfilling.
Hope - theological virtue - desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible to attain with God's help.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for.
Faith is the hope of a future fully absorbed in God's love. Faith is the hope of a world without sin. Faith is the hope of a world the way it was intended before sin took over.
Abraham, Moses, David had faith. They had this hope that God, their creator would rule, that He would be the God of all one day, that His reign would be realized. They all lived in a world just as we do, with some believing and others not believing, with some following and others not following. They all lived in a world full of sin and temptations towards that sinning. They shunned the sinning and grasp hold of a better world. Or, they repented of their sin and grasped hold of a better world, an unseen world, a promised world.
When you're promised something as a rule, the promise is for something that isn't seen.
When a man and woman promise to love each other until death do they part for as long as they both shall live- they are hoping for a future live that will keep them together in love until death. That promise isn't realized until way down the line when one or the other dies and they've lived a life together through all the hardships, the ups and the downs, and then they can say that promise was kept.
When you promise someone you'll get them a present that person will wait for the present and until that present arrives all they have is the promise of tha present, the hope of the present and that the promise will be kept.
We you promise to meet someone at a certain place and time, until the moment of the meeting the promise is unkept, but once the meeting takes place the promise is realized.
Great men and woman of God throughout the Bible held fast to the future promise, they had hope in that promise, they lived believing that God would fulfil the promises made to them. They had faith- hope in the promises even when there was no evidence to support the promises. Even when their lives seemed such that those promises being fulfilled would seem to be impossible. Even when DEATH was inevitable and they were tasting the precusors of the end of their lives, they still HOPED. They believed in something more and they trusted in God.
People say it's crazy to have such hope, to believe in such a thing, that here and now is all we can really trust and believe in. They call it false hope, and foolish dreaming. They say it's a waste of a good life and a chance to have all sorts of worldly pleasures when people deny themselves that pleasure because they are hoping in something better in the future, a future promise that might not even be realized in their lifetime. They have hope beyond the grave, beyond their deaths.
When EVERYTHING seems to be telling us, tickling our senses, tempting us to grasp hold to ONLY what we can see, touch, smell, feel, taste we have to look beyond all that, way beyond all that to the hope that is found in Jesus Christ, to the promise that God gave to Abraham and extended right on down to us.
People as a whole will never agree to look beyond the here and now.
As individuals we have to look beyond, we have to have hope and faith in God's promises.
Isaiah
{25:1} O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I
will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things;
thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
We need to exalt in God, our God. We need to praise His name. He has done wonderful things. His counsels of old are-- faithfulness and truth.
Faithfulness and truth.
God has made promises.
God has give us prophecies and allowed us to look back through history and see the prophecies fulfilled.
God tells us what will be and by faith in God who has done wonderful, wonderful things, we have to have faith- hope in Him, He will keep His promises, He is truth.
John {14:6} Jesus saith
unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The way, the truth, the life, may we find it all in our Lord and Savior, through His wondrous grace and mercy, in Jesus Christ, now and forever...
Amen.
{25:1} O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I
will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things;
thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
Thy counsels of old...
are faithfulness and truth.
Faithfulness and truth.
Time and time again we hear of faithfulness.
We need faith.
We need the truth.
These two things are essential.
People say they want proof- not faith. They want something substanial- not faith. They want something solid- not faith. They want facts- not faith. They call anything other than tangible evidence folly and those who believe deluded.
Faith.
Heb. {11:1} Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen
Hope.
Can you put your hands around hope?
What is hope?
Dict.
hope (hop) verb
hoped, hoping, hopes verb, intransitive
1. To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment.
2. Archaic. To have confidence; trust.
verb, transitive
1. To look forward to with confidence or expectation: We hope that our children will carry on our family traditions.
2. To expect and desire. See synonyms at expect.
noun
1. A wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment.
2. Something that is hoped for or desired: Success is our hope.
3. One that is a source of or reason for hope: the team's only hope for victory.
4. Often Hope (hop) . The theological virtue defined as the desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible to attain with God's help.
5. Archaic. Trust; confidence.
Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary
Hope isn't something we touch. You can say you place your hope in someone, but that hope is in the something that someone is doing, not really in that person, it's in an accomplishment they have the possibility of fulfilling.
Hope - theological virtue - desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible to attain with God's help.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for.
Faith is the hope of a future fully absorbed in God's love. Faith is the hope of a world without sin. Faith is the hope of a world the way it was intended before sin took over.
Abraham, Moses, David had faith. They had this hope that God, their creator would rule, that He would be the God of all one day, that His reign would be realized. They all lived in a world just as we do, with some believing and others not believing, with some following and others not following. They all lived in a world full of sin and temptations towards that sinning. They shunned the sinning and grasp hold of a better world. Or, they repented of their sin and grasped hold of a better world, an unseen world, a promised world.
When you're promised something as a rule, the promise is for something that isn't seen.
When a man and woman promise to love each other until death do they part for as long as they both shall live- they are hoping for a future live that will keep them together in love until death. That promise isn't realized until way down the line when one or the other dies and they've lived a life together through all the hardships, the ups and the downs, and then they can say that promise was kept.
When you promise someone you'll get them a present that person will wait for the present and until that present arrives all they have is the promise of tha present, the hope of the present and that the promise will be kept.
We you promise to meet someone at a certain place and time, until the moment of the meeting the promise is unkept, but once the meeting takes place the promise is realized.
Great men and woman of God throughout the Bible held fast to the future promise, they had hope in that promise, they lived believing that God would fulfil the promises made to them. They had faith- hope in the promises even when there was no evidence to support the promises. Even when their lives seemed such that those promises being fulfilled would seem to be impossible. Even when DEATH was inevitable and they were tasting the precusors of the end of their lives, they still HOPED. They believed in something more and they trusted in God.
People say it's crazy to have such hope, to believe in such a thing, that here and now is all we can really trust and believe in. They call it false hope, and foolish dreaming. They say it's a waste of a good life and a chance to have all sorts of worldly pleasures when people deny themselves that pleasure because they are hoping in something better in the future, a future promise that might not even be realized in their lifetime. They have hope beyond the grave, beyond their deaths.
When EVERYTHING seems to be telling us, tickling our senses, tempting us to grasp hold to ONLY what we can see, touch, smell, feel, taste we have to look beyond all that, way beyond all that to the hope that is found in Jesus Christ, to the promise that God gave to Abraham and extended right on down to us.
People as a whole will never agree to look beyond the here and now.
As individuals we have to look beyond, we have to have hope and faith in God's promises.
Isaiah
{25:1} O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I
will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things;
thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
We need to exalt in God, our God. We need to praise His name. He has done wonderful things. His counsels of old are-- faithfulness and truth.
Faithfulness and truth.
God has made promises.
God has give us prophecies and allowed us to look back through history and see the prophecies fulfilled.
God tells us what will be and by faith in God who has done wonderful, wonderful things, we have to have faith- hope in Him, He will keep His promises, He is truth.
John {14:6} Jesus saith
unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The way, the truth, the life, may we find it all in our Lord and Savior, through His wondrous grace and mercy, in Jesus Christ, now and forever...
Amen.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
The Lord turns the earth upside down
Isaiah
{24:1} Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and
maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth
abroad the inhabitants thereof.
The Lord maketh the earth empty.
The Lord maketh the earth a waste.
The Lord turns the earth upside down.
The Lord scatters everywhere the inhabitants of the earth.
Amazing isn't it?
We don't like to think of God this way, we just don't.
It goes against the *love your enemy, do good to those who despitefully use you* teachings of Jesus.
Some people rouse themselves up and say that God was done away with in the Old Testament, Jesus and His teachings are the real way.
I say the Lord God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hebrews {13:8}
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
John {1:1} In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. {1:2} The same was in
the beginning with God. {1:3} All things were made by
him; and without him was not any thing made that was
made. {1:4} In him was life; and the life was the light of
men. {1:5} And the light shineth in darkness; and the
darkness comprehended it not.
John {1:14} And the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The Old Testament God is not the *bad* God. The Old Testament God was the same God with Jesus in the Beginning. They are of one purpose, they are like-minded. Jesus came and revealed God to us, but He didn't change the God of the Old Testament.
Before mankind sinned they were warned of the consequences of the sin.
We can see this sort of behavior in our own parenting, or from our own parents when they warn us before we do something we'll regret. They warn us because they Love us. They tell us of the consequences of our behavior should we go ahead and do the thing they warn us against. We get the wrath of our parents, or the children feel our wrath when they disobey and then they have to suffer the consequences, or we have to suffer it if we were warned. You know what I'm talking about here. It's common knowledge, it's the bit in us that we can see and understand.
Man chose to sin and the consequences of that action will be with mankind until sin is totally gone.
God constantly reaches out to mankind seeking a people who will follow Him out of love, and it's the love that understands actions that some might call unloving are in fact the most loving.
The Lord maketh the earth empty.
The Lord maketh the earth a waste.
The Lord turns the earth upside down.
The Lord scatters everywhere the inhabitants of the earth.
{24:2} And it shall be, as
with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so
with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as
with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with
the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of
usury to him.
In this day it will matter not what sort of profession you hold. It won't matter at all if you are a master or a slave. In God we are all equal and the same standard for one will be with another.
{24:3} The land shall be utterly emptied, and
utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word. {24:4}
The earth mourneth [and] fadeth away, the world
languisheth [and] fadeth away, the haughty people of the
earth do languish. {24:5} The earth also is defiled under the
inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the
laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting
covenant.
Why do we have to have such utter destruction? Because the inhabitants of the earth- that's you and I and every single other person on the earth- have sinned, we've transgressed the laws of God, we've changed the way God would have us live in Him, we've broken the covenant He's sought to make with us to redeem us to Him.
That covenant, that redemption is found in Jesus, by His grace. Jesus who upheld every single law of God and did not transgress a single one. Jesus the innocent One.
{24:6} Therefore hath the curse devoured the
earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the
inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. {24:7}
The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the
merryhearted do sigh. {24:8} The mirth of tabrets ceaseth,
the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp
ceaseth. {24:9} They shall not drink wine with a song;
strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. {24:10}
The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut
up, that no man may come in. {24:11} [There is] a crying
for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the
land is gone. {24:12} In the city is left desolation, and the
gate is smitten with destruction.
There will come a day when absolutely nothing will make mankind happy. Nothing. Because they'll realize that they spurned salvation and all that's left is a bitter ending.
{24:13} When thus it shall be in the midst of the land
among the people, [there shall be] as the shaking of an olive
tree, [and] as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
There will be a people in that time, a very few people who will be shaking out from the rest.
{24:14} They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the
majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
{24:15} Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, [even]
the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.
{24:16} From the uttermost part of the earth have we
heard songs, [even] glory to the righteous. But I said, My
leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers
have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have
dealt very treacherously. {24:17} Fear, and the pit, and the
snare, [are] upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. {24:18}
And it shall come to pass, [that] he who fleeth from the
noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up
out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the
windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the
earth do shake. {24:19} The earth is utterly broken down,
the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
{24:20} The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and
shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression
thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise
again. {24:21} And it shall come to pass in that day, [that]
the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones [that are]
on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. {24:22}
And they shall be gathered together, [as] prisoners are
gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and
after many days shall they be visited. {24:23} Then the
moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the
LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem,
and before his ancients gloriously.
Amazing! So amazing! Not unsurprising that such destruction has to come to rid the world of sin.
{25:1} O LORD, thou [art] my God; I will exalt thee, I
will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful [things;
thy] counsels of old [are] faithfulness [and] truth. {25:2}
For thou hast made of a city an heap; [of] a defenced city a
ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be
built. {25:3} Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee,
the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. {25:4} For
thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy
in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the
heat, when the blast of the terrible ones [is] as a storm
[against] the wall. {25:5} Thou shalt bring down the noise
of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; [even] the heat with
the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall
be brought low.
The Lord will save His people from destruction. Those who love Him, truly love Him will be saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, through His righteousness.
A storm is coming.
A storm that the world has known was on it's way.
A storm that like a woman in labor, the pains have been felt for some time.
No one can escape this storm.
There is a shelter from the storm and that shelter is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
The storm is a necessary storm, it's the storm that will ultimately cleansed the world of sin once and forever.
May the Lord keep us in the Storm. May we find Grace in the eyes of the Lord through our Savior Jesus. May we be cleansed of sin and be found in Him, living in Him, for Him, in love.
All praise and glory to our Lord God, our Savior, our Creator!
Amen.
{24:1} Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and
maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth
abroad the inhabitants thereof.
The Lord maketh the earth empty.
The Lord maketh the earth a waste.
The Lord turns the earth upside down.
The Lord scatters everywhere the inhabitants of the earth.
Amazing isn't it?
We don't like to think of God this way, we just don't.
It goes against the *love your enemy, do good to those who despitefully use you* teachings of Jesus.
Some people rouse themselves up and say that God was done away with in the Old Testament, Jesus and His teachings are the real way.
I say the Lord God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hebrews {13:8}
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
John {1:1} In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. {1:2} The same was in
the beginning with God. {1:3} All things were made by
him; and without him was not any thing made that was
made. {1:4} In him was life; and the life was the light of
men. {1:5} And the light shineth in darkness; and the
darkness comprehended it not.
John {1:14} And the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The Old Testament God is not the *bad* God. The Old Testament God was the same God with Jesus in the Beginning. They are of one purpose, they are like-minded. Jesus came and revealed God to us, but He didn't change the God of the Old Testament.
Before mankind sinned they were warned of the consequences of the sin.
We can see this sort of behavior in our own parenting, or from our own parents when they warn us before we do something we'll regret. They warn us because they Love us. They tell us of the consequences of our behavior should we go ahead and do the thing they warn us against. We get the wrath of our parents, or the children feel our wrath when they disobey and then they have to suffer the consequences, or we have to suffer it if we were warned. You know what I'm talking about here. It's common knowledge, it's the bit in us that we can see and understand.
Man chose to sin and the consequences of that action will be with mankind until sin is totally gone.
God constantly reaches out to mankind seeking a people who will follow Him out of love, and it's the love that understands actions that some might call unloving are in fact the most loving.
The Lord maketh the earth empty.
The Lord maketh the earth a waste.
The Lord turns the earth upside down.
The Lord scatters everywhere the inhabitants of the earth.
{24:2} And it shall be, as
with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so
with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as
with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with
the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of
usury to him.
In this day it will matter not what sort of profession you hold. It won't matter at all if you are a master or a slave. In God we are all equal and the same standard for one will be with another.
{24:3} The land shall be utterly emptied, and
utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word. {24:4}
The earth mourneth [and] fadeth away, the world
languisheth [and] fadeth away, the haughty people of the
earth do languish. {24:5} The earth also is defiled under the
inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the
laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting
covenant.
Why do we have to have such utter destruction? Because the inhabitants of the earth- that's you and I and every single other person on the earth- have sinned, we've transgressed the laws of God, we've changed the way God would have us live in Him, we've broken the covenant He's sought to make with us to redeem us to Him.
That covenant, that redemption is found in Jesus, by His grace. Jesus who upheld every single law of God and did not transgress a single one. Jesus the innocent One.
{24:6} Therefore hath the curse devoured the
earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the
inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. {24:7}
The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the
merryhearted do sigh. {24:8} The mirth of tabrets ceaseth,
the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp
ceaseth. {24:9} They shall not drink wine with a song;
strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. {24:10}
The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut
up, that no man may come in. {24:11} [There is] a crying
for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the
land is gone. {24:12} In the city is left desolation, and the
gate is smitten with destruction.
There will come a day when absolutely nothing will make mankind happy. Nothing. Because they'll realize that they spurned salvation and all that's left is a bitter ending.
{24:13} When thus it shall be in the midst of the land
among the people, [there shall be] as the shaking of an olive
tree, [and] as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
There will be a people in that time, a very few people who will be shaking out from the rest.
{24:14} They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the
majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
{24:15} Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, [even]
the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.
{24:16} From the uttermost part of the earth have we
heard songs, [even] glory to the righteous. But I said, My
leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers
have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have
dealt very treacherously. {24:17} Fear, and the pit, and the
snare, [are] upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. {24:18}
And it shall come to pass, [that] he who fleeth from the
noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up
out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the
windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the
earth do shake. {24:19} The earth is utterly broken down,
the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
{24:20} The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and
shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression
thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise
again. {24:21} And it shall come to pass in that day, [that]
the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones [that are]
on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. {24:22}
And they shall be gathered together, [as] prisoners are
gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and
after many days shall they be visited. {24:23} Then the
moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the
LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem,
and before his ancients gloriously.
Amazing! So amazing! Not unsurprising that such destruction has to come to rid the world of sin.
{25:1} O LORD, thou [art] my God; I will exalt thee, I
will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful [things;
thy] counsels of old [are] faithfulness [and] truth. {25:2}
For thou hast made of a city an heap; [of] a defenced city a
ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be
built. {25:3} Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee,
the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. {25:4} For
thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy
in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the
heat, when the blast of the terrible ones [is] as a storm
[against] the wall. {25:5} Thou shalt bring down the noise
of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; [even] the heat with
the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall
be brought low.
The Lord will save His people from destruction. Those who love Him, truly love Him will be saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, through His righteousness.
A storm is coming.
A storm that the world has known was on it's way.
A storm that like a woman in labor, the pains have been felt for some time.
No one can escape this storm.
There is a shelter from the storm and that shelter is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
The storm is a necessary storm, it's the storm that will ultimately cleansed the world of sin once and forever.
May the Lord keep us in the Storm. May we find Grace in the eyes of the Lord through our Savior Jesus. May we be cleansed of sin and be found in Him, living in Him, for Him, in love.
All praise and glory to our Lord God, our Savior, our Creator!
Amen.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Destruction from the Almighty.
Isaiah
{13:6} Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it
shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Throughout history there have been many days the Lord has exacted punishment for the various and many sins of His people.
With Isaiah being a prophet it's not always easy to understand things, not for this ordinary layperson who has no background in theology or even history. Do I always interpret things correctly? I'd be the first to admit that I only do the best I can with the knowledgde I do have and pray that the Holy Spirit guide me into understanding.
Can a prophecy hold duel meanings? I'm not sure. I do know that prophecies can be given in more ways than one. Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 for instance. Some might expound more on what was at first given.
God's ways are mysterious and we have to seek to understand, to know, and to realize that God gives prophecies to us for our edification.
I read stuff like this...
{13:6} Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it
shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
And it makes me think of the last days before Christ's return and the chaos that will be going on. Howl, cry out, and we know many will be doing just that when they realize that the day they never imagined would come is finally here. We know the Bible tells us many will be deceived--
Matthew {7:22} Many will say to
me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy
name done many wonderful works? {7:23} And then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye
that work iniquity.
There will be plenty of howling when the deceived realized their deception, when instead of waiting and eagerly looking for Christ to redeem them they have gone after other ways, deceptive ways. Ways, so deceptive that just like Eve in the garden of Eden the only defense will be I was beguiled, only unlike Eve the people will realize that they allowed themselves to be deceived when they had didn't have to, they welcomed the deception, the heart will be revealed and unlike Eve's heart, people will know that they embraced sin rather than the truth because the price of the truth was too much for them to bear- they couldn't give up enough of themselves to God's will, they had to try and save themselves and the deception will be great.
Reading on...
{13:7}
Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart
shall melt: {13:8} And they shall be afraid: pangs and
sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a
woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another;
their faces shall be as flames.
The agony of realizing you've been deceived will be horrific won't it? How could it be otherwise? We see horror movies, even if we don't watch the movie itself we see advertisements for them, we know they exist, we know what they are and even the worst horror movie we've ever seen or know exists will not compare to the true pain described here. Even the worst tortures man has endure will not be as this. Eternal life lost. There can be no greater horror to endure.
{13:9} Behold, the day of
the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger,
to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners
thereof out of it.
Sin must be destroyed ultimately and of course sinners don't like to believe that can happen. Fairytale and yes, another horror story or movie to be told. End of the world stuff sells. Yet there is a reality here that people want to keep fictionalized. As long as it stays a mere story it's okay. Suspecting there might be truth to it is a bit frightening, and people will equate it with being lunatic, being freaks, being an oddity. Keep it fictional and all is well. Make it reality then either facing it or joking it away are options a person has. It's easier to make a joke of it. It is easier to not think about it because thinking about it will call your life into accountability and well, who wants that, it's no fun. We call sin fun and the majority of the world has made sin acceptable. Is it no wonder the world has to be destroyed, that God's wrath and fierce anger are coming? That when sin is wiped away the world will be desolate.
{13:10} For the stars of heaven and the
constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall
be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause
her light to shine. {13:11} And I will punish the world for
[their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will
cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low
the haughtiness of the terrible. {13:12} I will make a man
more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden
wedge of Ophir. {13:13} Therefore I will shake the
heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the
wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce
anger.
The world will be punished for it's evil.
The wicked will be punished for their sins.
The arrogant, the proud will no longer exist, there will be no more haughtiness.
Those of God's left will be precious and pure through Jesus Christ.
God's wrath is real.
God's wrath is coming.
No one has ever seen the fierce anger that God possesses towards sin and the sinner.
People would much rather talk of love than hate.
Yet God's love for us, the greatest love of all brought His Only Son, Innocent of all sin to die for us sinners.
Love conquers sin.
God's love will defeat the hateful sin, not accept it, defeat it. Sin will be wiped away, not indulged, not overlooked.
There will come a day when there is no more sin.
God's love will reign because it is so much more powerful than sin.
May the day of the Lord's fierce wrath find us protected in love and by the mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
May we look only to Jesus and know of ourselves we can do nothing, let alone save ourselves.
By the glory and will of our Lord now and always.
Amen.
{13:6} Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it
shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Throughout history there have been many days the Lord has exacted punishment for the various and many sins of His people.
With Isaiah being a prophet it's not always easy to understand things, not for this ordinary layperson who has no background in theology or even history. Do I always interpret things correctly? I'd be the first to admit that I only do the best I can with the knowledgde I do have and pray that the Holy Spirit guide me into understanding.
Can a prophecy hold duel meanings? I'm not sure. I do know that prophecies can be given in more ways than one. Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 for instance. Some might expound more on what was at first given.
God's ways are mysterious and we have to seek to understand, to know, and to realize that God gives prophecies to us for our edification.
I read stuff like this...
{13:6} Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it
shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
And it makes me think of the last days before Christ's return and the chaos that will be going on. Howl, cry out, and we know many will be doing just that when they realize that the day they never imagined would come is finally here. We know the Bible tells us many will be deceived--
Matthew {7:22} Many will say to
me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy
name done many wonderful works? {7:23} And then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye
that work iniquity.
There will be plenty of howling when the deceived realized their deception, when instead of waiting and eagerly looking for Christ to redeem them they have gone after other ways, deceptive ways. Ways, so deceptive that just like Eve in the garden of Eden the only defense will be I was beguiled, only unlike Eve the people will realize that they allowed themselves to be deceived when they had didn't have to, they welcomed the deception, the heart will be revealed and unlike Eve's heart, people will know that they embraced sin rather than the truth because the price of the truth was too much for them to bear- they couldn't give up enough of themselves to God's will, they had to try and save themselves and the deception will be great.
Reading on...
{13:7}
Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart
shall melt: {13:8} And they shall be afraid: pangs and
sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a
woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another;
their faces shall be as flames.
The agony of realizing you've been deceived will be horrific won't it? How could it be otherwise? We see horror movies, even if we don't watch the movie itself we see advertisements for them, we know they exist, we know what they are and even the worst horror movie we've ever seen or know exists will not compare to the true pain described here. Even the worst tortures man has endure will not be as this. Eternal life lost. There can be no greater horror to endure.
{13:9} Behold, the day of
the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger,
to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners
thereof out of it.
Sin must be destroyed ultimately and of course sinners don't like to believe that can happen. Fairytale and yes, another horror story or movie to be told. End of the world stuff sells. Yet there is a reality here that people want to keep fictionalized. As long as it stays a mere story it's okay. Suspecting there might be truth to it is a bit frightening, and people will equate it with being lunatic, being freaks, being an oddity. Keep it fictional and all is well. Make it reality then either facing it or joking it away are options a person has. It's easier to make a joke of it. It is easier to not think about it because thinking about it will call your life into accountability and well, who wants that, it's no fun. We call sin fun and the majority of the world has made sin acceptable. Is it no wonder the world has to be destroyed, that God's wrath and fierce anger are coming? That when sin is wiped away the world will be desolate.
{13:10} For the stars of heaven and the
constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall
be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause
her light to shine. {13:11} And I will punish the world for
[their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will
cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low
the haughtiness of the terrible. {13:12} I will make a man
more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden
wedge of Ophir. {13:13} Therefore I will shake the
heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the
wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce
anger.
The world will be punished for it's evil.
The wicked will be punished for their sins.
The arrogant, the proud will no longer exist, there will be no more haughtiness.
Those of God's left will be precious and pure through Jesus Christ.
God's wrath is real.
God's wrath is coming.
No one has ever seen the fierce anger that God possesses towards sin and the sinner.
People would much rather talk of love than hate.
Yet God's love for us, the greatest love of all brought His Only Son, Innocent of all sin to die for us sinners.
Love conquers sin.
God's love will defeat the hateful sin, not accept it, defeat it. Sin will be wiped away, not indulged, not overlooked.
There will come a day when there is no more sin.
God's love will reign because it is so much more powerful than sin.
May the day of the Lord's fierce wrath find us protected in love and by the mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
May we look only to Jesus and know of ourselves we can do nothing, let alone save ourselves.
By the glory and will of our Lord now and always.
Amen.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor
Isaiah {11:1} And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of
Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: {11:2} And
the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; {11:3}
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of
the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: {11:4} But
with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with
equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth
with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked. {11:5} And righteousness shall be
the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his
reins. {11:6} The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and
the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the
young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall
lead them. {11:7} And the cow and the bear shall feed; their
young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat
straw like the ox. {11:8} And the sucking child shall play
on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his
hand on the cockatrice’ den. {11:9} They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full
of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea
'And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes.
Neither reprove after the hearing of his ears.
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor.'
The only way we do judge is with the sight of our eyes and hearing of our ears.
We only have the ability to judge in those ways, right?
We have no righteousness in ourselves with which to judge with because we are all sinners and subject to judging only as sinners.
The judges we have in courts are they righteous?
No.
They like to claim impartiality and fairness but all their judging is colored by their own sinfulness.
The juries we use to judge others are filled with sinners.
We like to think we are fair and for the sinners we are just maybe we are as fair as we can be, yet there is no getting around the fact that we judge without the purity that only the Lord can judge us with.
He judges without sight, without hearing, but with righteousness.
We are told not to judge--
Matthew
{7:1} Judge not, that ye be not judged. {7:2} For with
what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Does this mean we cannot judge anything at all? If this were the case how could we even judge right from wrong? This doesn't mean we aren't to judge for ourselves, it means we are not to judge for others.
You'll get a lot of people shouting and condemning others, pointing their fingers at them and telling them they're doomed. Even in our Bible we have those men of God who went to the people and told them if they didn't change their ways they'd be destroyed. We have to know right from wrong to be able to judge the difference. We can judge an action, we can shout the penalty for wrong actions, but we cannot condemn anyone, we cannot judge their eternal life- that is only for the one and only Righteous One to do, the One who can judge without sight or hearing but with righteousness.
Am I saying we shouldn't have judges and juries, trials and hearings, jailings and dismissals? No. We do what we need to do in society to keep people safe and such.
We can't claim to know anyone's eternal life status.
We might think we can, but we can't.
We can judge actions, but not the eternal life.
I can judge that the action of a person as being an action that is wrong, I can tell that people what they are doing is wrong, I can even tell the person that if it's not repented of they may lose eternal life, but ultimately I cannot tell that person they are unsaved and never going to have eternal life. I cannot be that judge, I only judge with what I see and hear, I don't know the heart, I can't know their thoughts. The One who judges with Righteousness, He knows it all.
There is a special reassurance for all of us that we will be judged with Righteousness and not as men judge one another. God will judge with pure righteousness. This is why we cannot be saved of our ownselves in our own righteousness-
Romans {3:10} As it is written, There is
none righteous, no, not one.
2 Peter {1:1} Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus
Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us
through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ
Through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Gal. {5:5} For we through the Spirit
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Our hope, our faith, our righteousness is found only in Jesus Christ.
We have no righteousness of our own, our righteousness exists by faith in Jesus Christ and His righteousness.
There is comfort knowing we are not judged by our own righteousness which falls far short of any righteousness at all.
This doesn't mean we aren't to judge between right and wrong actions and follow after what we know to be right, it does mean that ultimately every one of us sinners has to rely on Christ and His righteousness, we have no righteousness of our own that is even comparable to the righteousness of Christ.
There is hope in knowing we aren't to be judged by sight, by hearing as we know it but by righteousness, Christ's righteousness. There is hope and the knowledge that it is only by the mercy and grace of our Lord will we be saved by His righteousness.
May the Lord bless and keep us, by faith in Christ may we live.
Amen.
Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: {11:2} And
the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; {11:3}
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of
the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: {11:4} But
with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with
equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth
with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked. {11:5} And righteousness shall be
the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his
reins. {11:6} The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and
the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the
young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall
lead them. {11:7} And the cow and the bear shall feed; their
young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat
straw like the ox. {11:8} And the sucking child shall play
on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his
hand on the cockatrice’ den. {11:9} They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full
of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea
'And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes.
Neither reprove after the hearing of his ears.
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor.'
The only way we do judge is with the sight of our eyes and hearing of our ears.
We only have the ability to judge in those ways, right?
We have no righteousness in ourselves with which to judge with because we are all sinners and subject to judging only as sinners.
The judges we have in courts are they righteous?
No.
They like to claim impartiality and fairness but all their judging is colored by their own sinfulness.
The juries we use to judge others are filled with sinners.
We like to think we are fair and for the sinners we are just maybe we are as fair as we can be, yet there is no getting around the fact that we judge without the purity that only the Lord can judge us with.
He judges without sight, without hearing, but with righteousness.
We are told not to judge--
Matthew
{7:1} Judge not, that ye be not judged. {7:2} For with
what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Does this mean we cannot judge anything at all? If this were the case how could we even judge right from wrong? This doesn't mean we aren't to judge for ourselves, it means we are not to judge for others.
You'll get a lot of people shouting and condemning others, pointing their fingers at them and telling them they're doomed. Even in our Bible we have those men of God who went to the people and told them if they didn't change their ways they'd be destroyed. We have to know right from wrong to be able to judge the difference. We can judge an action, we can shout the penalty for wrong actions, but we cannot condemn anyone, we cannot judge their eternal life- that is only for the one and only Righteous One to do, the One who can judge without sight or hearing but with righteousness.
Am I saying we shouldn't have judges and juries, trials and hearings, jailings and dismissals? No. We do what we need to do in society to keep people safe and such.
We can't claim to know anyone's eternal life status.
We might think we can, but we can't.
We can judge actions, but not the eternal life.
I can judge that the action of a person as being an action that is wrong, I can tell that people what they are doing is wrong, I can even tell the person that if it's not repented of they may lose eternal life, but ultimately I cannot tell that person they are unsaved and never going to have eternal life. I cannot be that judge, I only judge with what I see and hear, I don't know the heart, I can't know their thoughts. The One who judges with Righteousness, He knows it all.
There is a special reassurance for all of us that we will be judged with Righteousness and not as men judge one another. God will judge with pure righteousness. This is why we cannot be saved of our ownselves in our own righteousness-
Romans {3:10} As it is written, There is
none righteous, no, not one.
2 Peter {1:1} Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus
Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us
through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ
Through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Gal. {5:5} For we through the Spirit
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Our hope, our faith, our righteousness is found only in Jesus Christ.
We have no righteousness of our own, our righteousness exists by faith in Jesus Christ and His righteousness.
There is comfort knowing we are not judged by our own righteousness which falls far short of any righteousness at all.
This doesn't mean we aren't to judge between right and wrong actions and follow after what we know to be right, it does mean that ultimately every one of us sinners has to rely on Christ and His righteousness, we have no righteousness of our own that is even comparable to the righteousness of Christ.
There is hope in knowing we aren't to be judged by sight, by hearing as we know it but by righteousness, Christ's righteousness. There is hope and the knowledge that it is only by the mercy and grace of our Lord will we be saved by His righteousness.
May the Lord bless and keep us, by faith in Christ may we live.
Amen.
Monday, March 2, 2009
His anger is not turned away.
Isaiah {9:13} For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth
them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts. {9:14}
Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail,
branch and rush, in one day. {9:15} The ancient and
honourable, he [is] the head; and the prophet that teacheth
lies, he [is] the tail. {9:16} For the leaders of this people
cause [them] to err; and [they that are] led of them [are]
destroyed. {9:17} Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in
their young men, neither shall have mercy on their
fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an
evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his
anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.
Hypocrite and evildoer, mouths speaking folly.
We want God to overlook our hypocrisy.
We want God to overlook our evil doing.
We want God to overlook the folly we speak with our mouths.
It doesn't matter who we are.
Young.
Old.
Leader.
Follower.
Fatherless, motherless, childless, widows, widowers.
Executive.
Laborer.
None of it matters, not one little tiny bit.
It doesn't matter if you are a church leader, a choir singer, a visitor, a patron, it doesn't matter.
What matters if you're alive.
If you're alive you are accountable for your actions.
Every single action you make you are accountable for and have no one but yourself to answer for that action. You can claim outside influence just as Eve claimed beguiling by the Devil. Did Eve's claim to beguiling and Adam's claiming Eve giving him the fruit change their guilt any? Was it then pronounced by God that everything was fine the blame was passed on to the beguiler? No.
No. Everything wasn't fine, the sin remained. The beguiler reaped a punishment for beguiling but ultimately Eve and Adam both were to pay for their own sins.
Today we can blame everything for our actions- circumstance, trickery, beguiling- we can blame all sorts of things for our actions but ultimately we choose every action we make. Even in the most tense situations where we feel our hands are being forced by circumstances, we make the choice that we have to be responsible for. Some say it was a life or death situation, so compromising principles and such should be understood, surely we're not expected to die. But maybe we are.
I hear the shout of a cruel, unloving God that would ask that of us. Well, it's simply not true. God's love goes beyond our comprehension and we are only given small glimpses of that love in our lives such as a father or mother for a child- raising a child- you don't ask nothing of that child you expect obedience and you discipline the child to get the obedience.
God's ways are so far beyond our own but faith and trust are so important.
He is our creator, period.
He is our creator and as such we- His creation are not meant to function fully without Him guiding our lives.
We want to think that God will overlook our short comings but He won't.
He overlooks NOTHING.
How can He overlook sin, when He allowed His only Son to die for sin?
Jesus died for us to pay the price of our forgiven sins, sins we repent of and do no more. Jesus died and God would be very remiss to make the death of His only Son so meaningless that He can simply overlook the sins we commit as being unimportant.
A price was paid for sin.
Sin cannot be overlooked.
Sin can be forgiven.
Isaiah {9:17} Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in
their young men, neither shall have mercy on their
fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an
evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his
anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.
No joy. No mercy. His anger is not turned away.
We can't expect sin to be overlooked.
Sin must be confessed.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
We can't expect our sins no matter how tiny or how huge to be overlooked. We can't excuse them away because of this reason or that. We must confess our sins.
May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ hear our prayer as we seek to confess our sins and repent of them. May His faithfulness and His being just forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.
By His mercy and grace now and forever!
Amen.
them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts. {9:14}
Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail,
branch and rush, in one day. {9:15} The ancient and
honourable, he [is] the head; and the prophet that teacheth
lies, he [is] the tail. {9:16} For the leaders of this people
cause [them] to err; and [they that are] led of them [are]
destroyed. {9:17} Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in
their young men, neither shall have mercy on their
fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an
evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his
anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.
Hypocrite and evildoer, mouths speaking folly.
We want God to overlook our hypocrisy.
We want God to overlook our evil doing.
We want God to overlook the folly we speak with our mouths.
It doesn't matter who we are.
Young.
Old.
Leader.
Follower.
Fatherless, motherless, childless, widows, widowers.
Executive.
Laborer.
None of it matters, not one little tiny bit.
It doesn't matter if you are a church leader, a choir singer, a visitor, a patron, it doesn't matter.
What matters if you're alive.
If you're alive you are accountable for your actions.
Every single action you make you are accountable for and have no one but yourself to answer for that action. You can claim outside influence just as Eve claimed beguiling by the Devil. Did Eve's claim to beguiling and Adam's claiming Eve giving him the fruit change their guilt any? Was it then pronounced by God that everything was fine the blame was passed on to the beguiler? No.
No. Everything wasn't fine, the sin remained. The beguiler reaped a punishment for beguiling but ultimately Eve and Adam both were to pay for their own sins.
Today we can blame everything for our actions- circumstance, trickery, beguiling- we can blame all sorts of things for our actions but ultimately we choose every action we make. Even in the most tense situations where we feel our hands are being forced by circumstances, we make the choice that we have to be responsible for. Some say it was a life or death situation, so compromising principles and such should be understood, surely we're not expected to die. But maybe we are.
I hear the shout of a cruel, unloving God that would ask that of us. Well, it's simply not true. God's love goes beyond our comprehension and we are only given small glimpses of that love in our lives such as a father or mother for a child- raising a child- you don't ask nothing of that child you expect obedience and you discipline the child to get the obedience.
God's ways are so far beyond our own but faith and trust are so important.
He is our creator, period.
He is our creator and as such we- His creation are not meant to function fully without Him guiding our lives.
We want to think that God will overlook our short comings but He won't.
He overlooks NOTHING.
How can He overlook sin, when He allowed His only Son to die for sin?
Jesus died for us to pay the price of our forgiven sins, sins we repent of and do no more. Jesus died and God would be very remiss to make the death of His only Son so meaningless that He can simply overlook the sins we commit as being unimportant.
A price was paid for sin.
Sin cannot be overlooked.
Sin can be forgiven.
Isaiah {9:17} Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in
their young men, neither shall have mercy on their
fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an
evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his
anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.
No joy. No mercy. His anger is not turned away.
We can't expect sin to be overlooked.
Sin must be confessed.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
We can't expect our sins no matter how tiny or how huge to be overlooked. We can't excuse them away because of this reason or that. We must confess our sins.
May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ hear our prayer as we seek to confess our sins and repent of them. May His faithfulness and His being just forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.
By His mercy and grace now and forever!
Amen.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
To the law and to the testimony...
Isaiah
{8:20} To the law and to the testimony:
if they speak not according to this word, [it is] because
[there is] no light in them.
Proverbs
{3:1} My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep
my commandments: {3:2} For length of days, and long life,
and peace, shall they add to thee. {3:3} Let not mercy and
truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them
upon the table of thine heart: {3:4} So shalt thou find favour
and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
{3:5} Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not
unto thine own understanding. {3:6} In all thy ways
acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
{3:7} Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and
depart from evil. {3:8} It shall be health to thy navel, and
marrow to thy bones. {3:9} Honour the LORD with thy
substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
{3:10} So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy
presses shall burst out with new wine.
{3:11} My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD;
neither be weary of his correction: {3:12} For whom the
LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son [in
whom] he delighteth.
Hebrews {8:10} For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I
will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people
Exodus {31:18} And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an
end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables
of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
Exodus {32:15} And Moses turned, and went down from the
mount, and the two tables of the testimony [were] in his
hand: the tables [were] written on both their sides; on the
one side and on the other [were] they written. {32:16} And
the tables [were] the work of God, and the writing [was] the
writing of God, graven upon the tables.
Exodus {38:21} This is the sum of the tabernacle, [even] of the
tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the
commandment of Moses
Rev. {15:5} And after that I looked, and, behold,
the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was
opened
***
To the law and to the testimony.
If they speak not according to this word--
It is because there is no light in them.
God's word, God's law, God's testimony.
*
Hebrews {8:10} For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I
will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people
*
Laws in our minds.
Laws in our hearts.
God - our God and we His people.
*
Do you have the law of God in your mind? In your heart?
The law of God.
The law of our Creator.
The law written on our hearts in our minds.
If the law is written in our very beings we can't believe we don't know the law.
In the day and age of information- even called the 'information age', we can know just about anything with the push of a few keys on a keyboard.
Go ahead go to your web browser, 'google it', or 'yahoo it', or 'ask.com it', use the search engine of your choice and just type in 'law of God' and see what pops up.
Or better yet, grab your Bible- Bibles are everywhere, churches are everywhere, in churches are Bibles.
In America at least, there is access to this information.
Yes, in our hearts and minds the law is written as well. Seriously.
We might not believe it, might want to deny it, but it's true.
Before Christ returns, before the world as we know it is over there will not be a single person who hasn't been given the opportunity to know the love of God through the mercy and grace of His only Son, the embodiment of the law of God.
Our hearts, our minds, we know even if we don't want to think about what we know. Just as we learn the multiplication tables- does that mean we keep thinking about them? No. There is a whole wealth of information that we learn and promptly never think about again. Just because we learn something or have something in our minds and hearts doesn't mean it's part of our life- we have to think on these things in our minds and hearts for them to be pertinent.
You might think if something is in our heart we have to think on it, but seriously, how many family members do you believe you love and truly love and care for but days and days can go by without thinking of them? Perhaps there is an old aunt you vaguely remember and remember with fondness, you even feel love for that old aunt. We can't say that love for the aunt is important to you because even though the love is there upon remembrance, it's not prominent.
So, yes, we can have forgotten love in our hearts, we can have a lot of things in our minds, but that which is important to us we don't forget.
If God is important to us we will be thinking about Him. Those laws written on our hearts and in our minds will be thought of and often. Jesus lived the law, He did not break the law in one single point. He brought the law to life. When we learn of Jesus we learn of God, His Father our Creator.
May the law that lives within our hearts and minds become important to us so that we truly have God as our God and that we truly are His people.
By the mercy and grace of Jesus our Savior.
Amen
{8:20} To the law and to the testimony:
if they speak not according to this word, [it is] because
[there is] no light in them.
Proverbs
{3:1} My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep
my commandments: {3:2} For length of days, and long life,
and peace, shall they add to thee. {3:3} Let not mercy and
truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them
upon the table of thine heart: {3:4} So shalt thou find favour
and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
{3:5} Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not
unto thine own understanding. {3:6} In all thy ways
acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
{3:7} Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and
depart from evil. {3:8} It shall be health to thy navel, and
marrow to thy bones. {3:9} Honour the LORD with thy
substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
{3:10} So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy
presses shall burst out with new wine.
{3:11} My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD;
neither be weary of his correction: {3:12} For whom the
LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son [in
whom] he delighteth.
Hebrews {8:10} For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I
will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people
Exodus {31:18} And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an
end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables
of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
Exodus {32:15} And Moses turned, and went down from the
mount, and the two tables of the testimony [were] in his
hand: the tables [were] written on both their sides; on the
one side and on the other [were] they written. {32:16} And
the tables [were] the work of God, and the writing [was] the
writing of God, graven upon the tables.
Exodus {38:21} This is the sum of the tabernacle, [even] of the
tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the
commandment of Moses
Rev. {15:5} And after that I looked, and, behold,
the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was
opened
***
To the law and to the testimony.
If they speak not according to this word--
It is because there is no light in them.
God's word, God's law, God's testimony.
*
Hebrews {8:10} For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I
will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people
*
Laws in our minds.
Laws in our hearts.
God - our God and we His people.
*
Do you have the law of God in your mind? In your heart?
The law of God.
The law of our Creator.
The law written on our hearts in our minds.
If the law is written in our very beings we can't believe we don't know the law.
In the day and age of information- even called the 'information age', we can know just about anything with the push of a few keys on a keyboard.
Go ahead go to your web browser, 'google it', or 'yahoo it', or 'ask.com it', use the search engine of your choice and just type in 'law of God' and see what pops up.
Or better yet, grab your Bible- Bibles are everywhere, churches are everywhere, in churches are Bibles.
In America at least, there is access to this information.
Yes, in our hearts and minds the law is written as well. Seriously.
We might not believe it, might want to deny it, but it's true.
Before Christ returns, before the world as we know it is over there will not be a single person who hasn't been given the opportunity to know the love of God through the mercy and grace of His only Son, the embodiment of the law of God.
Our hearts, our minds, we know even if we don't want to think about what we know. Just as we learn the multiplication tables- does that mean we keep thinking about them? No. There is a whole wealth of information that we learn and promptly never think about again. Just because we learn something or have something in our minds and hearts doesn't mean it's part of our life- we have to think on these things in our minds and hearts for them to be pertinent.
You might think if something is in our heart we have to think on it, but seriously, how many family members do you believe you love and truly love and care for but days and days can go by without thinking of them? Perhaps there is an old aunt you vaguely remember and remember with fondness, you even feel love for that old aunt. We can't say that love for the aunt is important to you because even though the love is there upon remembrance, it's not prominent.
So, yes, we can have forgotten love in our hearts, we can have a lot of things in our minds, but that which is important to us we don't forget.
If God is important to us we will be thinking about Him. Those laws written on our hearts and in our minds will be thought of and often. Jesus lived the law, He did not break the law in one single point. He brought the law to life. When we learn of Jesus we learn of God, His Father our Creator.
May the law that lives within our hearts and minds become important to us so that we truly have God as our God and that we truly are His people.
By the mercy and grace of Jesus our Savior.
Amen
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