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Tag: Genesis

  • Times of Difficulty – 3

    Times of Difficulty – 3

    Watch Yourselves

    Luke 21:

    34 “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

    Watch yourselves! A warning of apocalypse.

    “Be on guard,” states the King James, with the same Greek word where Jesus warns to ‘beware of false prophets.’ And in case you missed it, Jesus reiterates the warning. “Stay awake;” “keep on alert,” the King James Version warns. Matthew records Jesus using these warnings together as one.

    [ctt title=”‘Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.’ – Mark 13:33″ tweet=”Do the cares of this life obscure the Light of eternal life? Watch yourselves!” coverup=”Kj6Z5″]

    Who does Jesus warn?

    21st century readers could easily dismiss this. Jesus is just preaching to the people of His day. The Temple will be destroyed and Israel will be destroyed. And that’s the end of it.

    Not quite. Although these events of which Jesus warned did take place, as is so often the case, prophecy also applies to other times. Just because you and I live in a different place and a later time does not exclude us from the truth.

    Jesus warns of impending disaster: ” and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.” How often over time does this apply to so many.

    [ctt title=”For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.- Luke 21:35″ tweet=”Disaster prophesied by Jesus: not just for a forgotten time centuries past.” coverup=”1nRD9″]

    Not just Jerusalem. A disaster of the scope of Sodom and Gomorrah comes more to mind. (Lot was on watch. Only Lot sought to obey the Lord by fleeing sin.)

    Jesus does not speak of only ancient Judea, Samaria and Galilee which Rome would destroy later. The Lord warns, “all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.”

    Do those who ignored the warnings of Noah also come to your mind?

    Judgment!

    We don’t like it, the thought of being judged by another. Yet a sovereign God surely rules in righteousness and will judge the living and the dead! We prefer to see Jesus as our humble example of living to love God. Jesus invites us to think of God as Father. Jesus challenges us to love others.

    Yet He often warned of a judgment to come, a judgment with eternal consequence. Here is just one more example of the Almighty authority of Christ Jesus (which could be easily dismissed).

    The Son of Man

    Allow me to isolate what Jesus warns.

    “… But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength… to stand before the Son of Man.”

    Judgment! Jesus clearly warns the He will be our judge. And you will not stand in your own strength, but in His.

    Jesus IS the Son of Man! Jesus also clearly states for all with ears to hear:

    “I and the Father are one.” –John 10:30

    Revelation 14:14-16

    Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.

    And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud,

    “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”

    So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

    To be continued…

     

     

  • Times of Difficulty

    Times of Difficulty

    Joel 1:

    Has such a thing happened in your days,
    or in the days of your fathers?

    3 Tell your children of it,
    and let your children tell their children,
    and their children to another generation.

    While disasters loom and chaos rules, talking heads debate over who said what about the rein of evil isolated in time or place.

    I’m outraged!

    (But it's not what you think.)

    One death causes lingering debate, then a couple dozen again across the sea.

    http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/31/asia/india-child-deaths/index.html
    India – 2 million child deaths/year

    Yet  what of a crisis in a hospital in India where 68 children died   because of a financial dispute over who would pay for oxygen?

    What of 250 dead, lost to floods in Nepal, India and Bangladesh?

    Would a press so entertained over a single firing dare mention 28  deaths from a national election controversy in a poor country like Kenya?

    These acts of violence by evil men of many races and differing religion are not news. Extreme political positions and taunting of opposing opinion are nothing new under the sun.

    Hidden in the headlines of Shiite Islam vs. Sunni Islam in Iraq (along with Syria, another war no one has won) we see starving children, victims of war’s atrocities, malnourished and wounded, gleaning fields for a few bites to eat. Least of all world-wide entertaining news would never herald the passing of 100 souls from hunger each and every hour!

    https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/china-commits-staggering-23-million-abortions-per-year-according-to-us-stat
    China commits ‘staggering’ 23 million abortions per year, according to US State Dept.

    Could self-defining generations of sexually active ‘single’ women ever be chastised for their ‘right’ to end the lives of more than 25 million babies so far this year?!

    [ctt title=”Could the two most populous countries in the world ever be held accountable for all the babies and young children who have died? ” tweet=”https://ctt.ec/j1nfg+” coverup=”j1nfg”]

    When will the LORD finally say, enough is enough?

    Genesis 6:

    5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

    Exodus 12:29

    At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.

    The Lord intervenes

    You may not have read from scripture of the great power of the Lord, though you witness the magnificence of His Almighty hand every day. Recall (or read for the first time) how a prayer reached the hearing of the Lord and the Lord saved Israel.

    2 Kings 19:

    5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me…

    15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said:

    [ctt title=”“O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.” tweet=”“Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel! 2Kings19:” coverup=”iFGf9″]

    16 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”

    35 And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians.

    And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh.

    Judgment of the Lord

    Not so remarkable that the Lord of all the heavens and earth, the Lord who makes the sun and moon and stars to move; not so awesome that 185,000 men or all the first born of Egypt should unexpectedly be struck down.

    Have you heard of the Lord’s covenant to never destroy all mankind by flood? Do you believe that? You who cannot gaze upon the brilliance of the sun the Lord has placed in the heavens, uncover your ears to hear his warnings to repent!

    His patience withholds fire and brimstone from the destruction of evil, yet their judgment will come. In the Person of Christ Jesus the Lord has come to man and He will return.

    Cover your eyes and open your heart. Look only to Jesus and no false man, dead or in power, mortals who cannot save your eternal soul.

    Joel 1:

    15 Alas for the day!
    For the day of the Lord is near,
    and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.

    Joel 2:

    Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
    2 a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of clouds and thick darkness!

    Return to the Lord

    12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
        “return to me with all your heart,
    with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
    13     and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
    Return to the Lord your God,
        for he is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
        and he relents over disaster.

    The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit

    28 “And it shall come to pass afterward,
        that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
    your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
        your old men shall dream dreams,
        and your young men shall see visions.
    29 Even on the male and female servants
        in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

    30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 

    The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

    32 [ctt title=”And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. ” tweet=”Christ Jesus is Lord! A new heavens and a new earth await the Lord’s return.” coverup=”W2wAz”]

    To be continued…

     

  • for it was not the season for figs – 5

    for it was not the season for figs – 5

    The Lord vs. Kings

    We began this series examining an incident of the Lord Jesus cursing a fig tree. 

It seemed so unlike the Son of Man who would a few days later sacrifice His own blood as perfect Passover sacrifice for the sins of man.

    In the Beginning:

    It is in Eden where we first hear of the leaves of the fig tree made to cover sin.

    Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

    Recall that in the beginning, after the Lord created the heavens and the earth, He walked with man {adam} and the woman {Eve} He had created. He walked with them personally.

    The Lord then gave the Law to Moses and appeared to Moses and the Elders of Israel personally

    THEY FEARED His awesome Presence!

    The Law was then administered by judges, not Kings.

    Later the Lord would relent and grant a king to Israel in Saul.

    Yet prior to Saul’s anointing we hear a parable preached against the people who wanted to replace their seventy judges with a king.

    In the previous episode we briefly looked at the story of the hero Gideon, after which this story is told.

    Judges 9:

    Parable of the Trees
    The Olive Tree
    the olive tree is the national tree of Israel

    8 The trees once went out to anoint a king over them,

    and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’

    9 But the olive tree said to them,

    ‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’

    Olive oil was used for lamps, grain offerings and anointing Kings of Israel.

    The Fig Tree

    10 And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’

    11 But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’

    The fig tree was a common metaphor for Israel as a nation. It often symbolized the health of the nation both spiritually and physically.

    The Grape Vine

    12 And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’

    13 But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’

    “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

    1 Corinthians 11:25
     Brambles [Thornbush]

    14 Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’

    15 And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, 

    of course, a bramble bush cannot offer shade

    … but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’

    For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. – Deuteronomy 4:24

    And you have asked for a King?

    Christ Crowned with Thorns

    So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him,

    “Are you the King of the Jews?”

    John 18:33

    To be continued…