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Tag: Genesis

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!
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(But it's not what you think.)
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One death causes lingering debate, then a couple dozen again across the sea.

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!

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.
²⁹Even 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…
August 21, 2017
for it was not the season for figs – 5
The Lord vs. Kings
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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.
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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,
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of course, a bramble bush cannot offer shade
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… 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?

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…
July 3, 2017
The Curse of Disease and Death – 3

Moses & Joseph, Two Paths to the Palace

Joseph suffered prior to his blessing more like Job than Moses. He had no choice in his suffering, except his choice of response. Isn’t that how our suffering most impacts others, by our godly response? Blessed be the Lord!

In part two of this series about our attitude toward disease and death we examined Moses’ story from Exodus. Unlike Job, Moses chose to leave the riches of the palace of Pharaoh where he was raised. Moses could have followed a royal path which may have made him Pharaoh. He chose instead to identify himself with his people and his God.

You may be familiar with how Moses came to live with the daughter of Pharaoh to be raised as her son.

Exodus 1:

15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him…

22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

Moses’ birth story begins in Exodus 2 with a baby protected in an ark of wicker retrieved from the bullrushes by none other than Pharaoh’s own daughter. As stated previously. Moses was raised in a palace only to leave at age forty then return again at age eighty to challenge Pharaoh on behalf of the Lord. Moses would live out the remainder of his 120 years in the wilderness.

A careful reading of Exodus 2 will reveal that the Hebrews were persecuted by the Egyptians because they were afraid of them, for they had been blessed by the Lord. A look back into Genesis will reveal a much different path to Pharaoh’s palace by a man the Lord used to bless the Hebrew nation in Egypt, Joseph.

Jacob (Israel) From Canaan to Egypt

Genesis 37:

Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan…

.. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers..

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits…

26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

Joseph Sold

The whole story contains many more exciting details for the reader (or listener). Most of us first heard of Joseph during our childhood instruction in the Bible. As for Joseph, the hopelessness of the situation would seem to be insurmountable, that is, except that the Lord redeems Joseph for His own purpose.

Death had seemed certain more than once. Even in survival as a slave, Joseph would suffer injustice yet be redeemed by the Lord.

Genesis 39:1 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there…

20 And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.

Genesis 41:

After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed.. seven other cows, ugly and thin.. seven ears of grain.. he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

An official who remembered Joseph’s interpretation of a dream now tells Pharaoh of Joseph. The Lord showed Joseph the meaning of Pharaoh’s dream. (You don’t think you could have guessed from visions of cows eating other cows and random pictures of grain, do you?)

The Lord brings famine to both Canaan, home of Jacob and Joseph’s brothers. Jacob’s son Joseph prepares Egypt for the same seven years of severe famine ahead and manages stored resources for the people to whom he was sold.

a 2017 famine FYI

Mandari fishermen on Nile River in South Sudan

I mentioned in Part 2 the importance of the 4160 mile long (6670 km) Nile River basin to life in Egypt. (The Jordan river valley was also important to Canaan and the small countries bordering the Jordan to a lesser extent.) Both crops and herds of animals must have both the water and the grain which grows in these fertile areas. Yet when drought comes and the rivers dry up many suffer. Many die, both animals and people die due to lack of water and too little food.

Did you know:

UN: World facing greatest humanitarian crisis since 1945

[ctt title=”Millions suffering in famine and war. Many will die in 2017. Why does the world ignore it?” tweet=”https://ctt.ec/dNle1+” coverup=”dNle1″]

Humanitarian groups fear this could be just the beginning: a lack of water – blamed partially on the El Nino weather phenomenon – has killed off livestock and crops, leaving 6.2 million people in urgent need of help.

The greater causes of suffering relate to war, civil war, greed, oil, extremism, religious differences which cause one sect (of several) to oppose other sects to the death (so to speak) and in fact starve them out.

Is genocide of African terror so different in 21st c. S. Sudan, Yemen, Somalia and so many other shoreline divided rich and poor so different from ancient Pharaohs ordering deaths of opponents?

[ctt title=”http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-39238808” tweet=”Genocide by starvation and war. The terrors of extreme local and religious hatreds.” coverup=”1UNA2″]

The Lord Prevails

Returning to Joseph’s story, let us recall how we do not know or understand the ways of the Lord. Not until the end of the story of Job do we learn that the Lord brings Job double blessing. Job didn’t know why he suddenly suffered. We knew from the beginning that satan was behind Job’s suffering.

Pharaoh caused the great suffering of the Hebrew people in Moses’ time. The Lord brought suffering to Egypt. Pharaoh opposed the Lord; not as a man, but as if a man or a leader could be a god to his own people suffering though plagues and death.

A Nero, Hitler or Muhammed murdering innocents is no less opposed to the Lord! Even kings of Israel and kings of Judah “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”

Yet Joseph, a slave in Egypt promoted to the palace, becomes a type of redeemer for the people of the lands he loved. Yes, the lands Joseph loved – both Goshen, a state of Egypt where the Lord would multiply the Hebrew people, and a promised land along the Jordan from which he unwillingly emigrated.

Forgiveness and Redemption

Joseph’s story reveals first a reunion of forgiveness with his brothers who sold him into captivity.

But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. – Genesis 50:19-20

Joseph’s reply to his brothers from his own position and power: “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?”[ctt title=” A redeemer does not judge his enemies, but leaves judgment to the Lord.” tweet=”Neither Moses nor Joseph redeemed Israel, but the LORD.” coverup=”367rc”]

The curse of sin: War, Disease, Famine, Suffering & Death

From Adam to this very day: many hurt, many suffer, many will die.

Who is your Redeemer, dear brother, beloved sister – who will redeem you from the enemy of your sin?

Christ Jesus, He IS! For our Lord shed His Blood of Sacrifice for us while we were yet sinners, enemies of the Lord.

Like Israel, a man with twelve sons and like a people enslaved by injustice, the Lord has passed over a sinful flesh condemned to die in our sin.

Christ Jesus IS risen to eternal life and as our Redeemer and Judge the Lord pours over us the Blood of His own righteous and immeasurable outpouring of His own love for our eternal soul.

Joseph’s brothers eventually bowed down before their brother, humble before the Lord.

Won’t you bow down before Christ Jesus, loving Lord and Savior of the Hebrews and of the Nations?

March 18, 2017