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Tag: habakkuk

  • Hebrews 10- Come in, Fear not

    Holy of Holies – The Inner Sanctuary

    Dominus autem in templo sancto suo sileat a facie eius omnis terra!

    וַֽיהוָ֖ה בְּהֵיכַ֣ל קָדְשֹׁ֑ו הַ֥ס מִפָּנָ֖יו כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ פ

    The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

    Habakkuk 2:20 VUL, WlC, NIV

    Draw near to meet the LORD

    Hebrews 10:

    8 First he said, “You neither want nor are you pleased with sacrifices and offerings or with animals burned on the altar…

    11 Day after day every priest stands and repeatedly offers the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.

    The author of Hebrews brings the Law and well-known ritual of sacrifices of blood on the altar to compare the old and new covenants. He now asks us to approach the LORD in the sanctuary, the Holy Place.

    It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

    Hebrews 10:31 KJV

    He invites us into the Holy of Holies, a place of the presence of the LORD, a place where the priest offers blood sacrifices to cover our sin, a place so holy that only one high priest will enter humbly just once a year.

    Boldness in the Blood of Jesus

    Therefore, be bold, have confidence – fear not.

    Come into the sanctuary, the Holy Place of the Lord. For before you, Christ Jesus has entered with the Perfect Sacrifice as our High Priest – He IS our Perfect Sacrifice by His own Blood.

    We have climbed the holy mountain, entered the courts of the Temple with thanksgiving and sacrifice. And as the Lord’s chosen we have come to this place to worship the Lord. Our High Priest is no longer a sinful man, but Christ; and He invites us to enter the Temple.

    Walk toward the altar of sacrifice, that holiest of places just past the curtain. (For in fact, by the crucifixion of Christ on the Cross the curtain is torn.)

    Hebrews 10:19-39

    So let us come near to God


    22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…

    With sincere hearts sprinkled clean, our evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water, because our hearts have been sprinkled clean from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.  By the Blood of Christ, hold firmly to our confession of faith.

    Hold firmly, hold fast without wavering, since He who promised it is faithful.

    To do a good deed

    Here is our action and not our obligation or prescribed work for heaven.

    Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good.

    Hebrews 10:24 GNT

    [CSB] 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other…

    Others in the flock of faith, the congregation of believers, are important. Yet how can the saints encourage each other in Christ if they neglect time together?

    A teacher of the Law asked the Messiah, Christ Jesus, “What is the greatest Commandment?” He responded, ‘love the LORD and love one another.’ Of course the faithful want to love the Lord God, yet the second (a golden rule) often challenges us.

    The writer of Hebrews challenges Christians to incite each other to agape love AND good deeds. It is a personal love of others to do God’s good will. And he cautions of the Day when all will be judged.

    Jesus had warned: “Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.” – Matthew 24:12 NLT

    Justified or Judged?

    Even in the first century followers of The Way often detoured in their own way. The love of some in the beginning of these last days had already grown cold.

    Sinners in Zion are terrified;
    Trembling has seized the godless.
    “Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
    Who among us can live with continual burning?”

    33:14 פָּחֲדוּ בְצִיֹּון חַטָּאִים אָחֲזָה רְעָדָה חֲנֵפִים מִי יָגוּר לָנוּ אֵשׁ אֹוכֵלָה מִי־יָגוּר לָנוּ מֹוקְדֵי עֹולָֽם׃

    Isaiah 33:14


    Warning against Deliberate Sin

    Heb. 10:26 [NKJV] For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

    HELL! even for one who has accepted Christ, but turns away.

    [CSB] 28 Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy…29 How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

    Scriptural support

    Once again the writer of Hebrews quotes familiar Old Testament scripture to support his teaching of a new and better covenant he introduced in chapter 8.

    30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”

    Deuteronomy

    32:35  לִ֤י נָקָם֙ וְשִׁלֵּ֔ם לְעֵ֖ת תָּמ֣וּט רַגְלָ֑ם כִּ֤י קָרֹוב֙ יֹ֣ום אֵידָ֔ם וְחָ֖שׁ עֲתִדֹ֥ת לָֽמֹו׃

    Habakkuk

    2:4 הִנֵּה עֻפְּלָה לֹא־יָשְׁרָה נַפְשֹׁו בֹּו וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתֹו יִחְיֶֽה׃

    Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. – KJV

    Remember the early days

    32 … you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.

    35 So don’t lose your confidence, since it holds a great reward for you. 36 For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will you can receive what he has promised.

    37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay.. 38 My righteous people, however, will believe and live..

    We are not people who turn back and are lost. Instead, we have faith and are saved.

    Hebrews 10:39 GNT
    To be continued...
  • for it was not the season for figs – 7

    for it was not the season for figs – 7

    The Lord Christ Jesus preaches the Prophets as well as the Law.

    Read Habakkuk or any prophet and see the Lord predicted in days & centuries Before Christ.

    Jesus shares scripture in ways few understand. Application may well apply to these last days as well. RH

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com 
    This series from summer 2017 began here.
https://talkofjesus.com/not-season-figs-prologue/

    The Lord warns of the tree and it’s fruit

    In the early preaching of Jesus (right after the golden rule) Jesus offers this warning.

    A Tree and Its Fruit

    15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. 

    Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

    17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

    19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

    Though the fig tree does not blossom

    What shall we do?

    “We live thistle-bound lives in lands of lost promise.”

    “For the nations are led astray by men and women who seek not the will of the Lord.”

    The garden of the Lord seems long lost to sin.

    Leaders listening to the Lord’s command are no more.

    Judges enact rules of unrighteousness.

    Kings conquer, covet and divide.

    Prophets no longer warn of God displeasure of even ‘christians‘ living this ‘life’ and the Lord’s silence disheartens the generations.

    In the first century A.D. during Jesus’ ministry:

    The head of John the Baptist has passed on a platter and crowds of Jerusalem under Rome look for a Messiah and King. 

    A prophet seven centuries earlier had cursed a fig tree on their behalf echoing the hearts of this Passover procession with Palms – our Palm Sunday multitude.

    Habakkuk 1: NKJV

    O Lord, how long shall I cry,
    And You will not hear?

    Why do You look on those who deal treacherously,
    And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours
    A person more righteous than he?

    O, faithless fig tree, dear dried up vine; do you believe that you alone have cried out to the Lord for mercy?

    Habakkuk 3:

    O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
    O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
    In the midst of the years make it known;
    In wrath remember mercy.

    A Hymn of Faith

    17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer's;
    he makes me tread on my high places.

    A second look at a triumphal entry

    17 Though the fig tree may not blossom,
    Nor fruit be on the vines;
    Though the labor of the olive may fail,
    And the fields yield no food;
    Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
    And there be no herd in the stalls—
    18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will joy in the God of my salvation.


    Matthew 21:
    4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

    5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
    ‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

    9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

    10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”

    11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

    12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

    14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

    17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

    To be continued…

  • Qoph

    Qoph

    HELP! Save me, O Lord!

    1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

    Habakkuk’s Complaint

    2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not hear?
    Or cry to you “Violence!”
    and you will not save?
    3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
    and why do you idly look at wrong?
    Destruction and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
    4 So the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never goes forth.
    For the wicked surround the righteous;
    so justice goes forth perverted.

    The prophets, the psalmists, the righteous men and righteous women of God cry out with our whole heart: Save me, O Lord!

    קָרָא

    qara’

    Cry out!

    Cry out in prayer to the Lord your God.

    Psalm 119

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet 

    Qoph [KOPH]

    145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord!
    I will keep your statutes.
    146 I call to you; save me,
    that I may observe your testimonies.

    I cried out with my whole heart. I cried out , “save me.” (Same Hebrew word: quara’) with a primitive root meaning: to encounter, whether accidentally or in a hostile manner.

    147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
    I hope in your words.
    148 My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
    that I may meditate on your promise.

    The KJV states: Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word. This, the same context as David’s song of deliverance in 2 Samuel 22.

    The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented H6923 me… They prevented H6923 me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. – 2 Sam. 22:6,19

    149 Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;
    O Lord, according to your justice give me life.

    150 They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;
    they are far from your law.
    151 But you are near, O Lord,
    and all your commandments are true.

    152 Long have I known from your testimonies
    that you have founded them forever.

    The prayer is the Psalmist’s personal plea to the Living God, in whom we trust. And one more thing of the Lord, who IS near, nearer than our evil enemies who draw near to us:

    It is the Lord we ask to be our Savior.

    “Save me,” in Psalm 199:146 is the action of one who can save: a Savior.

    יָשַׁע – yasha`

    The place of those near is subtly different than the nearness of relationship, especially our relationship with God our Savior.

    Jesus IS Lord. Draw near to Him.