Talk of JESUS .com

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

stone carving of the prophet Jeremiah reading Bible - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel are major Prophets of the Old Testament
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.

  • until he brings justice to victory

    until he brings justice to victory

    The death of justice occurred not a week ago, but in centuries past.

    Justice..

    such a noble ideal. Yet what is justice, but a separation of evil from good?

    This world and this country, the unseen victims of our streets and countless peoples fleeing violence are destined to suffer injustice since the fall of man (adam). Why should it surprise us that a crisis of justice once more brings darkness to a people with failing light?

    global debtThe law of the land is no longer just. The nation of hope is no longer light to the nations. Those once free are sold to our debt and the lords of the land lend by usury.

    Psalm 89:14 KJV

    Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

    The LORD is higher than the laws of the nations.

    His justice hears the appeals of the downtrodden,

    His judgment is feared by the judges of injustice.

    He will make right wickedness done to the poor.

    RH

    Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Psalm 82:3

    Trump on borderDare we build yet higher walls between billionaires and the penniless? Do millions of poor not gamble their futile futures in towers of sin built by the greed of a handful of arrogant rich?

    Can a nation be bought or a people negotiated?

    _87097692_syria_rebel_control_624_v4Where is justice in the lands from which millions flee for their lives?

    Where is justice for the unwanted child? Where is justice for victims fleeing from war?

    The perversion of justice is not a new thing under the sun.

    Isaiah 59:

    Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
    or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
    2 but your iniquities have made a separation
    between you and your God,
    and your sins have hidden his face from you
    so that he does not hear.

    baby 17 week fetus3 For your hands are defiled with blood
    and your fingers with iniquity;
    your lips have spoken lies;
    your tongue mutters wickedness.
    4 No one enters suit justly;
    no one goes to law honestly;
    they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
    they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

    Why this sounds like the accusations of a political race with rumblings of iniquity heard all over the world. Yet the prophet Isaiah wrote this in the 8th century Before Christ.

    … Their works are works of iniquity,
    and deeds of violence are in their hands.
    7 Their feet run to evil,
    and they are swift to shed innocent blood;
    their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
    desolation and destruction are in their highways.

    kerry putin8 The way of peace they do not know,
    and there is no justice in their paths;
    they have made their roads crooked;
    no one who treads on them knows peace.

    Judgment and Redemption

    14 Justice is turned back,
    and righteousness stands far away;
    for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
    and uprightness cannot enter.

    15 Truth is lacking,
    and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
    The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
    that there was no justice.

    +

    The short terms of political power and temporal rulings of Justices, powerless before the Throne of Judgment, will not prevail in this age any more than in forgotten times of fallen empires with nameless leaders, mortals whose legacy is dust and whose souls will be called to account at the victory of Christ, when soon the Lord will return in power upon the clouds.

    On a Cross in Jerusalem the Righteous One was crucified for our sins. Christ Jesus offered us mercy for the wickedness of our hearts and deeds of our sins.

    Even the Prophet Isaiah looked forward to a time of Jesus Christ:

     “And a Redeemer will come to Zion,
    to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord. – Isaiah 59:20

    1 Corinthians 15:54-57 KJV

    So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,

    and this mortal shall have put on immortality,

    then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,

    Death is swallowed up in victory.

    O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

    The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

    But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

     

  • Follow After Me -1-Hope for the Guilty

    Follow After Me -1-Hope for the Guilty

    And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

    – Matthew 4:19-20

    They’re after me. And after all, though I had better intentions, I’m guilty. I have trespassed the Law. I am, therefore, a sinner, deserving of punishment. Where is my hope?

    Do you see yourself as a fellow sinner who would like to flee this world?

    You know, it seems like in this 21st century that we can no longer do the right thing.

    I try. Really, I do. Yet someone or some situation seems to always come along and mess me up. My well-intentioned plans are always laid waste. I owe someone something I cannot repay. I have become a debtor with no redeemer.

    +

    In the 7th century Before Christ, the Prophet Isaiah speaks of the sins of Jews, God’s chosen people. Isaiah warns of the fall of Israel (740 B.C.) and of Jerusalem (607 B.C.), convicting by words even followers of the LORD in this 21st century A.D. Isaiah even describes how I sometimes feel.

    Isaiah 64:

    4 From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
    no eye has seen a God besides you,
    who acts for those who wait for him.

    … Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
    in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
    6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
    We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

     

    King David of a United Kingdom of Israel [Israel/Samaria & Judah] was guilty and deserved punishment from God for his sins. King David was not only an adulterer, but also a murderer. [2 Samuel 14]

    David pleaded to the LORD to show him mercy. [Psalm 38]

    O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
    Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!

    3 There is no soundness in my flesh
    Because of Your anger,
    Nor any health in my bones
    Because of my sin.

    4 For my iniquities have gone over my head;
    Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

    Who will help us in our guilt?

    Most people who believe in God try do more good things than acts of evil. While Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others work to earn their salvation after death (as do many who are not certain about God {just in case},  only Christian followers of Jesus Christ have true hope of eternal life because of the forgiveness of our sins.

    You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. – Jeremiah 32:18-19

    What is my hope before Almighty God (since I am guilty)?

    Joel 2:32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved

    Only Christian followers of Jesus Christ have true hope of eternal life because of the forgiveness of our sins.

    Acts 2:22b-24

    Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

    32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

    Repent!

    “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

    Guilty? Yes… many times over… MANY sins. I am a sinner! (just like you.)

    Forgiven? Yes… in Christ Jesus who was sacrificed on the Cross for my sins and the sins of the world.

    Hope? Definitely, for He was and IS and will be; and Christ Jesus has promised eternal life to all who follow after Him.

    Are you a Christ-follower with hope or a guilty soul waiting for punishment and death?

    To be continued…

    NEXT: Released from my prison

     

  • Stubble & Chaff – Repentance before the Lord

    Stubble & Chaff – Repentance before the Lord

    “Behold, I send My messenger,
    And he will prepare the way before Me.
    And the Lord, whom you seek,
    Will suddenly come to His temple,
    Even the Messenger of the covenant,
    In whom you delight.
    Behold, He is coming,”
    Says the Lord of hosts.

    Malachi 3:1 NKJV

    The prophesy is clear from Malachi, Prophet of the Lord in Judea of Persia, perhaps shortly before his death in about 486 B.C. History of the next five centuries leading up to another Prophet in the wilderness and the Messiah would be tough times for God’s chosen ones.

    What main course awaits Priests, Rabbis and a defeated people of Israel?

    Repentance!

    Malachi 3: ESV

    refiners-fire Malachi 3.22 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

    For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver…

     

    Surely the LORD can do this. He can bring repentance to the life and purity to the heart of any man. Yet how we resist: Priest (sons of Levi) or Rabbi (teacher), or common one who knows the Lord and continues in the impurities of sin.

    The LORD is going to send a fuller’s soap man to the Jews to purify their hearts and prepare the Temple.

    Malachi 3:5 excerpt I will be a swift witness against

    • the sorcerers,
    • against the adulterers,
    • against those who swear falsely,
    • against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages,
    • (those who oppress) the widow and the fatherless,
    • against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and

    “I will be a swift witness against … those who do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. Mal. 3:5

     

    A mere mortal would come along in time to accuse a Jewish King rightfully of adultery. He would accuse officials of the Temple and teachers of the Law of their leavening of God’s word. Like Prophets before and John the Baptist, who would follow five centuries later, Malachi warns that God requires repentance.

    7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

    The Lord indicts us of our sin through the words of the Prophet Malachi. Note that some, not all respond.

     

    The Book of Remembrance

    16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

    Malachi 4:

    The Great Day of the Lord

    Malachi 4:14  “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

    sun of righteousness2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

    4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

    5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

    Five Centuries Later

    Luke 3:

    John the Baptist Prepares the Way

    3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

    7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

    As humble as the Lord Christ Jesus IS, born in a manger, baptized by John though He is righteous, and sacrificed on a cross for our sins; He IS King and Lord yet to return on the clouds in these last days to call up the dead to judgment and the living to new and eternal life.

    Repent!wheat-kernals-in-hand1

    Turn back to your Father, the Lord. Bear the fruit of righteousness, fellow sinner condemned.

    Or meet your Maker as He separates the wheat from the chaff.

    Even the Chosen of God and christians only claiming Christ are lost without repentance, a turning of our hearts back to the Lord our God.

    Isaiah 33:

    10 “Now I will arise,” says the Lord,
        “now I will lift myself up;
        now I will be exalted.
    11 You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
        your breath is a fire that will consume you.
    12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
        like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”

    Are the warnings of God through the Prophets not more urgent to sinners in these last days?

    Therefore, repent! The Lord IS come.

    13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
        and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
    14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
        trembling has seized the godless:

    “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?
        Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”

    To be continued…

    These messages highlight the scripture of the coming of the Messiah, Christ Jesus, Who IS and was and will always be. Prepare your hearts in this year of our Lord, 2015, for Christmas and for the day when the Lord will return.