Talk of JESUS .com

Category: Prophets – Warnings for 21st century ‘christians’

Jeremiah by Michelangelo

Old Testament Prophets WARNED Israel, Judah, and neighboring nations about what GOD has planned IF they did NOT REPENT (and they usually didn’t).

How does this speak to 21 c. ‘christians’ in these last days? Are you bold enough to WARN your SOCIAL ‘Friends’ of what Jesus Christ warns? Does the message of a Prophet apply even more to them and US, now? SHARE your scriptural warnings from the Prophets and WITNESS for our LORD, WHO IS and returning… soon.

Amos – Not immune from judgment
We interrupt the Good News of John for an urgent warning from the Prophet Amos.

“Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom,
And I will destroy it from the face of the earth
Amos 9:8a NASB

We are NOT IMMUNE to the #pandemic of sin!

A familiar forgotten history

Even though festival seasons of Passover and Easter approach, our casual celebrations may possibly be banned this year and diminished by the rulers of this world.

We know little of the first century church in this year of our Lord 2020, and struggles of the saints when Jerusalem fell not so many years after the Sacrifice and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus.

Yet during this time of Jesus and the Apostles, scripture from Amos and other Prophets of the LORD would have been familiar to some.

Briefly, the historical background of the time of Amos reads something like more recent times before our most recent struggles of these last days.

Prosperity before the fall
- Uzziah is King of Judah (792-740 BC)
- Jeroboam II is King of Israel (793-753 BC)
- Both kingdoms were blessed by tremendous wealth
- Both kingdoms had powerful military which had defeated their enemies.
- Both kingdoms had an aristocratic class who gained great wealth, enough to loan money to their poor neighbors.
- Both Israel and Judah believed their kingdom to be permanently blessed by the LORD as a chosen people.
- Israel and Judah believed themselves immune to judgment by the LORD.
Sound familiar?

It will to many of the suppressed working poor of first world nations.

Yet the LORD sent a poor shepherd of Tekoa, a hillside suburb of Jerusalem, to tell the nations why a judgment of the LORD would fall upon them.

It was a warning rejected, as we would have rejected such bad news just a short time ago when billionaires bragged of how good we have done under their affluent watch.

Amos speaks for the LORD

Perhaps you would like to sit still in dust and ashes, reading everything the Prophet Amos warns from the LORD – every call to repentance to a nation which has strayed far from righteousness. Here I can only list a few which may apply.

Jesus, the Messiah, and John the Baptist will both echo these same indictments to broods of religious vipers.

Peter, Paul, John and the Apostles of the first century church all encourage the saints, yet reprove the unrepentant who stray from teachings of the Lord.

The church witnessed judgment on Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, when the Lord struck them dead for lying to the church!

The Revelation of Christ to John warns the church. To one local church at Sardis, Christ warns though John:

I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.
Be alert and strengthen what remains, which is about to die, for I have not found your works complete before my God. Remember, then, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent.
If you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you have no idea at what hour I will come upon you.
Revelation 3:1a-3 CSB

Is your church in the the year of our Lord, 2020, like that? Not alert, though your reputation of this life multiplies the flock?

If so, the warnings of the Prophet Amos and other prophets of the Old Testament may help you to return to the will of the Lord our God.

Amos 1 :

Various Indictments & Punishments
- Because they deported an entire population
- And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
- because he pursued his brother with the sword.
- He stifled his compassion,
- his anger tore at him continually,
- and he harbored his rage incessantly.
- Because they ripped open the pregnant women… in order to enlarge their borders.
  - (Was this a barbaric abortion to choose only the boys of their own culture?)
15 “Their king will go into exile,
He and his princes together,” says the Lord.

Judgment on Judah and Israel

4 Thus says the Lord:

“For three transgressions of Judah, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment…
- Because they rejected the law of the Lord
- And have not kept His commandments.
- Their lies lead them astray,
  - Lies which their fathers followed.
Is your religious tradition more important than obedience to the Lord your God? A better perception of your own righteousness than the Perfect righteousness of the Messiah sacrificed for your redemption?

6 Thus says the Lord,
“For three transgressions of Israel and for four
I will not revoke its punishment…
- Because they sell the righteous for money
- and a needy person for a pair of sandals.
- They trample the heads of the poor on the dust of the ground
- and obstruct the path of the needy.
How sad the compassionless ambition of the rich who do not see the sufferings of the poor.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com

… And you commanded the prophets saying, ‘You shall not prophesy!’

13 Look, I am about to crush you in your place
as a wagon crushes when full of grain.
14 Escape will fail the swift,
the strong one will not maintain his strength,
and the warrior will not save his life.

וְשָׁמַרְתָּ אֶת־מִצְוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לָלֶכֶת בִּדְרָכָיו וּלְיִרְאָה אֹתֹֽו׃
“Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
Deuteronomy 8:6 – Masoretic Text, NASB

I’m not even certain that christians blinded by science fear the Lord our God, let alone those chosen of Jesus’ and Amos’ times who turned away from scripture.

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
“I and the Father are one.”
John 8:58, 10:30 NASB

Authority of the Prophet’s Message

Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt:

⁷Indeed, the Lord God does nothing
without revealing his counsel
to his servants the prophets.
⁸A lion has roared;
who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken;
who will not prophesy?

11 Therefore, the Lord God says:

An enemy will surround the land;
he will destroy your strongholds
and plunder your citadels.

13 Listen and testify against the house of Jacob—
this is the declaration of the Lord God,
the God of Armies.
14 I will punish the altars of Bethel
on the day I punish Israel for its crimes;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
and fall to the ground.

Social and Spiritual Corruption
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Perhaps some in this day will yet hear the indictment of our land, a warning to shepherds who lead the flock astray.
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- [You rich women] Who oppress the poor,
- Who crush the needy,
- Who say to your husbands, “Bring wine, let us drink!”
Are these not the leadings of rich women who lead their husbands by day and discard them by the darkness of divorce?

Yet we have not listened to the Lord who places the man over his wife; also father and mother over their children and youth, raised in God’s Law. Raised as rebellious children ourselves, we do not believe God’s warnings to return to fear of His judgment.

⁶I gave you absolutely nothing to eat
in all your cities,
a shortage of food in all your communities,
yet you did not return to me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

8 Two or three cities staggered
to another city to drink water
but were not satisfied,
yet you did not return to me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
- I struck you with blight and mildew… yet you did not return to me.
- I sent plagues like those of Egypt;
- I killed your young men with the sword,
¹¹I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were like a burning stick
snatched from a fire,
yet you did not return to me—
This is the Lord’s declaration.

“Therefore thus will I do to you…

Because I will do this to you,
Prepare to meet your God…

¹³For behold,
He who forms mountains,
And creates the wind,
Who declares to man what his thought is,
And makes the morning darkness,
Who treads the high places of the earth—
The Lord God of hosts is His name.

4:13 כִּי הִנֵּה יֹוצֵר הָרִים וּבֹרֵא רוּחַ וּמַגִּיד לְאָדָם מַה־שֵּׂחֹו עֹשֵׂה שַׁחַר עֵיפָה וְדֹרֵךְ עַל־בָּמֳתֵי אָרֶץ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵֽי־צְבָאֹות שְׁמֹֽו׃ ס

“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.” – quoting Amos 6:24

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying,
“Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality,
and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”
Revelation 17:1-2 NASB
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To be continued... Lord willing...
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March 17, 2020
WE Have Been Here Before – in Awe of JESUS
We show no awe of Jesus in our no-salt ‘christian’ lives. Oh, perhaps in a stanza of singing, a sentence of sermon or a moment of compassion in our encounter with another; but for the most part we Christians fail to show any awe of Jesus in our worship or daily lives.

Our church and yours will most likely witness the “aahhh” of a baby born in Bethlehem directed for our children. Ah, not awe — the small sprinkling of Christ for the community, rather than Spirit led worship of the Christ who still lives.

AWE!

The forgotten awe of the Lord God witnessed in the past becomes the superstition of today’s disbelief.

When we read of the awe of Jesus we quickly overlook it. How easily we miss a personal awe of the Lord.

So just for a moment put yourself in the sandals of some witnesses we missed in Jesus’ introduction. (For the Gospel shows us much more than the ‘ah’ of a babe in a manger.)

The Gospel of Matthew

1:20b … an angel of the Lord appeared to him [Joseph] in a dream… 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him.

Note: Maji: Matthew 2:1 A caste of wise men specializing in astronomy, astrology, and natural science

2:2 “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.

The Gospel Mark

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

The Good News (εὐαγγέλιον) of Luke

1:8 … he was serving as priest before God… 11 An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified and overcome with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah…

26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David…

2:9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid…

13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Luke 2:14 NASB – Strong’s G2107 – eudokia Blueletterbible.org

33 And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.

Does Jesus still amaze you after hearing HIS STORY each year?

Do you hear the awe in these witnesses of Christ? And like them do hold HIM in awe as well?

34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—

Prophecy – Simeon recalls and applies prophecy of the Messiah to Jesus, the Son of Man born in a manger in Bethlehem.

The Gospel of John

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.
John 1:2 KJV of Christ Jesus ‘this one, visibly present here

The Lamb of God in a manger

The Lamb of God

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’

John the Baptist was in awe of Jesus. Are you?

51 And He said to him [Nathanael], “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Awesome! Truly, the Gospel records many instances of awe connected to Christ Jesus.

What is Awe?

φόβος – phobos

You know the greek root and its connection to fear, dread, terror and that which strikes terror.

Yet we marginalize our phobias even of miracles. And awe in this sense startles our sense of the natural. For our human understanding must be finite and understanding of the infinite baffles us.

We mention the fear of the shepherds who witnessed the awe of angels at Jesus’ birth. Yet seldom will we note the supernatural motivations for the multitudes of followers who subsequently had to see and hear the Messiah Jesus.

In just one scene here in Nain, imagine yourself as part of the crowd gathered for the funeral of this man. Jesus, of whom you have heard, walks up and touches the coffin.

“Young man, I say to you, arise!”
The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying,
“A great prophet has arisen among us!” and,
“God has visited His people!”
Luke 7:14-16

Luke further records witness of the first century church.

Everyone kept feeling a sense G5401 of awe; G5401 and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.
Acts of the Apostles 2:43 – awe = Literally: fear was occurring to every soul

Fear as Consequence of Awe

We frequently live in fear during this brief mortal journey of our life.

Do we fear man and circumstance or the Lord?

Therefore here this one example of awe from the Hebrew Bible [Old Testament] as wisdom for our fear.

33:8 יִֽירְאוּ מֵיְהוָה כָּל־הָאָרֶץ מִמֶּנּוּ יָגוּרוּ כָּל־יֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵֽל׃
Let all the earth fear the LORD;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
Psalm 33:8 Masoretic Text; NASB
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To be continued...
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December 15, 2019
WE Have Been Here Before – Prophecies
Prophecies of Christ’s Birth

We have been here before in scripture. You likely know Bethlehem from the New Testament, yet this little town’s importance derives from prophecies in the Old Testament. The Messiah is predicted in prophecies of Isaiah, who we met previously and also Micah of Moresheth-Gath.

Bethlehem

‘AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH,
ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH;
FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER
WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.’” – Matthew 2:6

(‘ephrath; Ephratha)

The Good News of Matthew quotes the prophecy of Micah 5:2.

Luke tells us why Joseph had to go to Bethlehem for the Roman Census commanded by Caesar Augustus.

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.
Luke 2:4-5 NKJV

You may have to register for a #census2020. Rome was not so accommodating as to come to you, but ordered citizens to go to the home of your birth. Rome accounted for every captive local and taxed each and every one of them regardless of where they lived.

Matthew records this lineage of Joseph from David. Bethlehem becomes his town of registration because of David.

Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse…
1 Samuel 17:12a NASB

Listen, House of David

Therefore, Jesus is born of the house of David rooted in Bethlehem. Mary and Jesus are also registered as Joseph’s family of the lineage of David. As we learn later even wise men come to this place of the Lord’s birth due to the prophesies of the Old Testament.

More than 700 years Before Christ Ahaz would become a vassal king subjected to Assyria, just as Herod was subjected to the rule of Caesar Augustus. The Prophet Isaiah spoke of the Messiah even in this time centuries before the Messiah Jesus.

13 Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God? 14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign:
See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.
Isaiah 7 excerpt CSB, WLC

14 לָ֠כֵן יִתֵּ֨ן אֲדֹנָ֥י ה֛וּא לָכֶ֖ם א֑וֹת הִנֵּ֣ה הָעַלְמָ֗ה הָרָה֙ וְיֹלֶ֣דֶת בֵּ֔ן וְקָרָ֥את שְׁמ֖וֹ עִמָּ֥נוּ אֵֽל׃

The wise men from the east in generations past understood these prophesies. Isaiah answered Ahaz not in the singular, but in the plural for the descendant house of David. Almost literally the LORD prophesies through Isaiah “the woman pregnant with the Son named [‘el] [`Immanuw’el].

Prophecies of the Messiah

עִמָּנוּאֵל

Immanuel = “God with us” or “with us is God”

symbolic and prophetic name of the Messiah, the Christ, prophesying that He would be born of a virgin and would be ‘God with us’

And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
Isaiah 8:8 KJV

We will speak more of the context of this when we continue, God-willing, but first let’s return to the prophesy of Micah of Moresheth-Gath.

Coming Judgment on Israel

5 וְאַתָּ֞ה בֵּֽית־לֶ֣חֶם אֶפְרָ֗תָה צָעִיר֙ לִֽהְיוֹת֙ בְּאַלְפֵ֣י יְהוּדָ֔ה מִמְּךָ֙ לִ֣י יֵצֵ֔א לִֽהְי֥וֹת מוֹשֵׁ֖ל בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וּמוֹצָאֹתָ֥יו מִקֶּ֖דֶם מִימֵ֥י עוֹלָֽם׃
2 לָכֵ֣ן יִתְּנֵ֔ם עַד־עֵ֥ת יוֹלֵדָ֖ה יָלָ֑דָה וְיֶ֣תֶר אֶחָ֔יו יְשׁוּב֖וּן עַל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
מיכה 5 The Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC)

Micah 1 (CSB)

1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Moreshite—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Listen, all you peoples;
pay attention, earth and everyone in it!

The Lord God will be a witness against you,
the Lord, from his holy temple.
3 Look, the Lord is leaving his place
and coming down to trample
the heights of the earth.
4 The mountains will melt beneath him,
and the valleys will split apart,
like wax near a fire,
like water cascading down a mountainside.
5 All this will happen because of Jacob’s rebellion
and the sins of the house of Israel.

Micah 5: (NASB)

Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops;
They have laid siege against us;

With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.
2 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.

His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.”

3 Therefore He will give them up until the time
When she who is in labor has borne a child.

Then the remainder of His brethren
Will return to the sons of Israel.

4 And He will arise and shepherd His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God...

Much prophetic voice here about Jesus the Messiah born in Bethlehem to a trial of the Son of Man in Jerusalem.

Micah foresees and explains the Lord giving up on Israel until the Messiah’s return! The prophecies of Isaiah and Micah speak not only to the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, but beyond to a day yet unseen.

8 The remnant of Jacob
Will be among the nations,
Among many peoples…

10 “It will be in that day,” declares the Lord…
“I will also cut off the cities of your land
And tear down all your fortifications…

וְעָשִׂ֜יתִי בְּאַ֧ף וּבְחֵמָ֛ה נָקָ֖ם אֶת־הַגֹּויִ֑ם אֲשֶׁ֖ר לֹ֥א שָׁמֵֽעוּ׃ ס

“And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath
On the nations which have not obeyed.”
Micah 5:15
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To be continued...
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December 8, 2019