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Emmanuel

YOU need to stop thinking of Jesus as if He were historical, like a dinosaur or a Caesar. Jesus IS.

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. – Matthew 1:23 KJV

Let us turn back a page to a time of anticipation of the Messiah, prior to a time of the silence of God. The last book of the Old Testament – a Prophet looking forward: Malachi.

Please expand your imagination just a bit to think of us as contemporaries of the Prophet, expecting the Messiah; yet now we know that Jesus was, and IS, and will be: God with us.

Suppose that I would admonish us, as did the Prophets: what might the Lord have to say to us?

Why do YOU want to think gently of Jesus as a baby in a manger? Why do YOU want to think briefly of Jesus as YOUR Savior on the Cross? Why do YOU not see the resurrection beyond the manger?

The church once worshiped the bones of the Apostles as relics of history, but YOU will not find Jesus’ bones in a grave. The bones of the Apostles will dance alongside ours before Ezekiel and the Prophets at the Day of Christ’s coming again!

In the year of our Lord 2013 we would do well to remember the birth of Christ Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea with sight of His Name Emmanuel – God with us. Jesus IS. Jesus IS God with us now; yet in these last days we would do well to look for our Redeemer to call us unto Him in the place where He IS.

In the days before John the Baptizer called for the world to prepare the way of the LORD, God’s manifest silence was evident – no Prophet had spoken for centuries. Recalling the close of the Old Testament let us now look to the Book of Malachi, remembering that the Risen Christ Jesus IS and is to come again: God with us.

Malachi 1

English Standard Version (ESV)

1 The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.

2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?”

Does Christ our Savior and God our Father not love us? Is the Lord not with us, as He was promised and did promise, and does promise by His Word?

6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name.

And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? [KJV]

… O pastors and ministers and reverends and priests who despise and neglect the Name of Christ Jesus: God with us! O you who broadcast YOUR world, recommend YOUR book and ask for the offering that is the Lord’s!

10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.

Christ IS with us. Surly He looks upon us with great displeasure. He IS King of kings and Lord of lords!

14b For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

Malachi 2

If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.

7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Is the church which bears His Name true witness of His love poured out for us on the Cross? Why do you call yourself ‘christian’ and not love one another as Christ Jesus, who IS God with us?

13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.

14 But you say, “Why does he not?”

Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?

And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

And dear liberated wife of this 21st century, is the Lord God with us? Is He not witness between you and the husband of your covenant of marriage?

Are your Godly offspring to be found in the house of the Lord?

Are you not only one in spirit the husband of your vows, but by your vows also one in spirit with Christ Jesus (whom you claim as your lord)?

The man or woman who claims Christ and divorces is witness against your covenant with the Lord. You profane the Name of Christ (now calling yourself a single one). I AM Emmanuel: God with you!

The Messenger of the Lord

17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking,“Where is the God of justice?”

(Now we come to the more familiar reference to John the Baptizer; yet remember Emmanuel and His coming on the clouds.)

Malachi 3

English Standard Version (ESV)

“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; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 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.

Yes, the Lord IS come. He will return suddenly and seal His new covenant.

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. 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, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

6 “For I the Lord do not change…

7b Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

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. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

Malachi 4

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Great Day of the Lord

“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. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings…

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.”

Thus ends the Old Testament and the books of the Prophets.

Christ incarnate was born in a manger.

Christ died. Christ IS risen. Christ will come again.

Christ Jesus, Emmanuel: God with us.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Amen.

EMMANUEL

December 23, 2013
The Trumpet of the King

Isaiah 18:3

All you inhabitants of the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
when a signal is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet is blown, hear!

From the futility of our earthly existence the inhabitants of the world look to our own devices and forget the God of Heaven above.

We forget that we are of dust and to dust we will return. We forget to give thanks and worship to the Lord God for the very breath of life He as breathed into our lifeless flesh. We fail to bow down to the King of the Highest Heaven above, our God Who came down to His own and laid down His Holy Life on a lowly Cross for your sins and for mine.

He IS the King of Creation, the God of all creatures, the first born ‘adam of sinlessness.

Jesus Christ IS risen into the place of His former glory.

He has promised His faithful the eternal salvation of His Heavenly Home.

Further, He will awaken all souls from the dust of our demise. He will call up the souls of all the inhabitants of the world to justice and judgment for every past sin, every unaccounted transgression. He will burn away the iniquity of the dead in the pit of eternal torment, as the forgotten faithful receive our full reward forever more.

He IS the Lamb of God, His Blood the Sacrifice of the Cross for the victory over sin and death!

Revelation 6

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Seven Seals

6 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

You, O earth, have not given the Lord His glory.

You have not bowed down in worship to the Lord your God.

You have not acknowledged the Sacrifice of His only Son for your sake.

You do not look to the Highest Heaven and bow down to the Throne of His glory.

The people and the church do not hearken to the signs of the trumpet soon to sound.

Repent!

O you peoples, you who claim His Holy Name!

Matthew 24:

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Coming of the Son of Man

29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Raise ear to the sound of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords!

From on High a trumpet will sound.

Where, O sinner, will you put your trust?

Where, O sinner, will you hide from His wrath?

Shofar

Revelation 8:7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

Revelation 8:8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.

Revelation 8:10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

Revelation 8:12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

Revelation 9:1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

Revelation 9:13-14 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”

Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

Let those with ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

November 14, 2013
In God We Trusted – 5

The political ‘spin’ has been spun.

The gradual fall is begun.

How? lament the People…

Why? In God we trusted.

“Lamentations” was derived from a translation of the title as found in the Latin Vulgate (Vg.) translation of the Greek OT, the Septuagint (LXX), and conveys the idea of “loud cries.” The Hebrew exclamation ekah (“How,”which expresses “dismay”), used in 1:1; 2:1, and 4:1, gives the book its Hebrew title. However, the rabbis began early to call the book “loud cries” or “lamentations” (cf. Jer. 7:29).

Lamentations 5

English Standard Version (ESV)

Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord

5 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
look, and see our disgrace!
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.

Before their cry of How? …while they were yet falling…

Hosea 14: Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take with you words
and return to the Lord…

Micah 6:12 Your rich men are full of violence;
your inhabitants speak lies,
and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13 Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,
making you desolate because of your sins.

Isaiah 58: “Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God

Zephaniah 3:

Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled,
the oppressing city!
2 She listens to no voice;
she accepts no correction.
She does not trust in the Lord;
she does not draw near to her God.

3 Her officials within her
are roaring lions;
her judges are evening wolves
that leave nothing till the morning.

Habakkuk 2: “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—
for how long?—
and loads himself with pledges!”
7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise,
and those awake who will make you tremble?
Then you will be spoil for them.

Obadiah

The Day of the Lord Is Near

15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations.
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
your deeds shall return on your own head.

Lamentations 5:15 The joy of our hearts has ceased;
our dancing has been turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!

19 But you, O Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures to all generations.
20 Why do you forget us forever,
why do you forsake us for so many days?
21 Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!
Renew our days as of old—
22 unless you have utterly rejected us,
and you remain exceedingly angry with us.

Remember Israel? Remember Judah? Remember the Nations? Remember Rome?

Remember Great Britain? Remember America?

Do the Nations and Empires and Peoples remember God?

Are we not a falling people in the hands of an angry God (as Jonathan Edwards once warned)?

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

Enfield, Connecticut
July 8, 1741

Their foot shall slide in due time. Deuteronomy 32:35

In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, who were God’s visible people, and who lived under the means of grace; but who, notwithstanding all God’s wonderful works towards them, remained (as vers 28.) void of counsel, having no understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of heaven, they brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit; as in the two verses next preceding the text. — The expression I have chosen for my text, their foot shall slide in due time, seems to imply the following things, relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were exposed.

[READ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God]

Will it be blessing? Or will we reap curse?

For once, in God we Trusted.

October 18, 2013