Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: Lord

  • WE Have Been Here Before – Expectant

    WE Have Been Here Before – Expectant

    An Expectant Gift Premature

    Our anticipation of Christmas each year points more toward the expectant gift than the expected Messiah. The world rushes about all around us, no prophet has been heard from for centuries and evil prevails in the palaces of power.

    We tell the child to play this game and ignore that evil. You deserve fantasies of falsehood and the best gifts of nature. I will get it now even months before your time, so that you may have the riches you deserve.

    This time anticipating the holidays (of Christmas) even more than every day is a time of the expectant child hoping for the best diversions the life of busy parents can offer. Yet what of the expectant mother?

    Pregnant with an Unexpected Child

    When honor of men and respect of women mattered, when life itself and the vastness of the heavens and earth filled man’s heart with awe, and when a child was to be born to a daughter of dust — we awaited the time of her miracle, the birth of the unexpected child.

    Though we did not know when, all certainly knew why and the inevitable outcome of one more created small being was never a choice. Praise God and honor the father, husband to this expectant mother. May the LORD grant this beloved expectant mother a quick and natural completion to this miracle of new life.

    Unexpectant Pregnancies Forgotten

    Birth is always a miracle. Yet what of the out-of-the-ordinary births of the sons of man to women of little importance? What of the children of these expectant mothers none thought of any significance?

    Elizabeth

    After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived and kept herself in seclusion for five months. She said, “The Lord has done this for me. He has looked with favor in these days to take away my disgrace among the people.”

    The Gospel of Luke 1:24-25

    39 In those days Mary set out and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah 40 where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit…

    57 Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she had a son. 58 Then her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her his great mercy, and they rejoiced with her…

    … “His name is John.” And they were all amazed.

    Hannah

    We do not hear much about Hannah preached, probably due to our sensitivity to the political and social correctness of this day. Hannah, however, was favored by the Lord and also her husband as we shall see.

    1 Samuel 1:

    [Elkanah] son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite… had two wives, the first named Hannah and the second … had children, but Hannah was childless.

    Like all genealogies, including that of Jesus, history emphasises the man. This history of Hannah (one of two wives) once again connects to the favor of a woman, a humble and loving woman like Mary mother of Jesus.

    4 Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice [to the Lord of Hosts], he always gave portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to each of her sons and daughters. 5 But he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved her even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving.

    The Expectant Father

    Every man becomes an expectant father the moment he loves the woman of his desire, yet he hopes to have won her heart forever.

    A child is the blessing of the mother, but the nobility of the father.

    Roger Harned

    8 “Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah would ask. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

    10 Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. 11 Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Armies, if you will take notice of your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life…

    17 Eli [the High Priest and Judge of Israel, a descendant of Aaron whose name means “ascension” ] responded,

    “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request you’ve made of him.”

    Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, because she said, “I requested him from the Lord.”

    Hannah’s Prayer

    Hannah prayed:

    My heart rejoices in the Lord;
    my horn is lifted up by the Lord.
    My mouth boasts over my enemies,
    because I rejoice in your salvation.
    There is no one holy like the Lord.
    There is no one besides you!
    And there is no rock like our God.

    1 Samuel 2:1-2

    3 The boy Samuel served the Lord in Eli’s presence. In those days the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.

    Sampson’s story

    Like Samuel the Priest who anointed Saul and David, we also know the hero of an earlier story and his genealogy. Again, a humble woman of the Lord waits for the Lord’s blessing.

    This too is a story of patience for a couple possibly expectant of the Lord doing great things through their faith. And the name of Manoah’s humble and faithful wife is not even recorded here.

    Judges 13:

    The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight…

    2 There was a certain man from Zorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are unable to conceive and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son…

    6 Then the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. He looked like the awe-inspiring angel of God. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 He said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son…

    Manoah Worships The Angel of the Lord

    … and the angel of God came again… 10 The woman ran quickly to her husband and told him, “The man who came to me the other day has just come back!”

    11 So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”

    “I am,” he said…

    13 The angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “Your wife needs to do everything I told her…

    15 “Please stay here,” Manoah told him, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

    … (Manoah did not know he was the angel of the Lord.)

    The Angel of the Lord

    פלאיה דַעַת מִמֶּנִּי נִשְׂגְּבָה לֹא־אוּכַֽל לָֽהּ׃

    Tehillim (Psalms) 139:6 :: Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC)

    17 Then Manoah said to him, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?”

    “Why do you ask my name,” the angel of the Lord asked him, “since it is beyond understanding.”

    Judges 13:18

    19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord, who did something miraculous while Manoah and his wife were watching.

    20 When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the Lord went up in its flame.

    When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown on the ground. 21 The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.

    22 “We’re certainly going to die,” he said to his wife, “because we have seen God!”

    23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and he would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us like this.”

    24 So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 Then the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him…

    The Wives of Abram

    Here too is a controversial conversation concerning the Lord’s promise to a man with two wives. (Therefore, we seldom mention that part of Abraham’s story.) Though the expectant father Abraham received the promise of the Lord, he had to wait for its fulfillment.

    Each segment of Abraham’s journey of faith becomes partial fulfillment of the the Lord’s promises fulfilled in Christ Jesus.

    Genesis 15:

    Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

     וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אַבְרָ֔ם הֵ֣ן לִ֔י לֹ֥א נָתַ֖תָּה זָ֑רַע וְהִנֵּ֥ה בֶן־בֵּיתִ֖י יֹורֵ֥שׁ אֹתִֽי׃

    Genesis 15:3 Masoretic text

    6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

    Genesis 16:

    וְשָׂרַי֙ אֵ֣שֶׁת אַבְרָ֔ם לֹ֥א יָלְדָ֖ה לֹ֑ו וְלָ֛הּ שִׁפְחָ֥ה מִצְרִ֖ית וּשְׁמָ֥הּ הָגָֽר׃

    Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.

    3 After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived…

    Hagar the maid of Sarai, also a wife to Abram, despises Sarai. Abram continues to allow his wife Sarai to rule over his other wife Hagar the Egyptian her maidservant. Hagar flees their household and provision.

    Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

    Genesis 16:7 NASB – with additional links to ‘mal’ak’ ‘Yĕhovah’

    8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” …

    9 Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority… I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count… Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael…”

    Hagar: expectant of a child troublesome to some even until this day.

    Eve – Mother of Man

    וְהָ֣אָדָ֔ם יָדַ֖ע אֶת־חַוָּ֣ה אִשְׁתֹּ֑ו וַתַּ֨הַר֙ וַתֵּ֣לֶד אֶת־קַ֔יִן וַתֹּ֕אמֶר קָנִ֥יתִי אִ֖ישׁ אֶת־יְהוָֽה׃

    Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.”

    Genesis 4:1 WLC; NASB

    One cannot fully approach the topic of birth and the expectant mother without some discussion of the first woman. Once again we cannot take time here to examine man and woman and child closely.

    Nevertheless we should look at the Person of the Lord in Moses’ narrative of creation.

    And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

    Genesis 2:18 NKJV

    Genesis 3:

    Adam and Eve were not blind, for they saw the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Before that their relationship with the Lord was a personal one with a God who walked and talked with them.

    Just one command, but like all mankind since they were enticed by the sin of disobedience to the Lord.

    8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

    “Where are you?”

    “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

    “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

    “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

    “What is this you have done?”

    Sin’s Imagination Beguiled Me

    “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

    Her husband also ate and blamed her, while Eve explains that the image of Satan (the serpent) beguiled (KJV) her.

    Are you and I so different when we sin?

    We know and will not dwell on the curses of sin.

    21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

    Then the LORD God said,

    “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.

    Genesis 3:22a NKJV

    And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

    23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

    An Expectation of Blessing

    Surely the Lord God will do good and has a plan. So should we not expect His mercy to right the wrongs of the past?

    The Person of the Lord God touches lives of the faithful, expectant worshipers of God’s own promises. And we know that the Lord has been here – on earth, that is, in Person. Also note this from the Lord’s last conversation in Eden: “Behold, the man has become like one of Us.”

    The Lord God, therefore, IS plural. The LORD IS ONE GOD, yet plural in Persons and His mysterious nature beyond our knowledge.

    LOOK – behold – we have seen the Lord, for He has been here before. Surely the Lord will return as He said.

    The continued story is that of Christmas
the awaited birth of the Messiah Jesus.
  • WE Have Been Here Before – in Awe of JESUS

    WE Have Been Here Before – in Awe of JESUS

    We show no awe of Jesus in our no-salt ‘christian’ lives. Oh, perhaps in a stanza of singing, a sentence of sermon or a moment of compassion in our encounter with another; but for the most part we Christians fail to show any awe of Jesus in our worship or daily lives.

    Our church and yours will most likely witness the “aahhh” of a baby born in Bethlehem directed for our children. Ah, not awe — the small sprinkling of Christ for the community, rather than Spirit led worship of the Christ who still lives.

    AWE!

    The forgotten awe of the Lord God witnessed in the past becomes the superstition of today’s disbelief.

    When we read of the awe of Jesus we quickly overlook it. How easily we miss a personal awe of the Lord.

    So just for a moment put yourself in the sandals of some witnesses we missed in Jesus’ introduction. (For the Gospel shows us much more than the ‘ah’ of a babe in a manger.)

    The Gospel of Matthew

    1:20b … an angel of the Lord appeared to him [Joseph] in a dream… 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him.

    Note: Maji: Matthew 2:1 A caste of wise men specializing in astronomy, astrology, and natural science

    2:2 “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”

    13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.

    19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.

    The Gospel Mark

    The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

    9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

    The Good News (εὐαγγέλιον) of Luke

    1:8 … he was serving as priest before God… 11 An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified and overcome with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah…

    26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David…

    2:9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid…

    13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

    “Glory to God in the highest,
    And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

    Luke 2:14 NASB – Strong’s G2107 – eudokia Blueletterbible.org

    33 And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.

    Does Jesus still amaze you after hearing HIS STORY each year?

    Do you hear the awe in these witnesses of Christ? And like them do hold HIM in awe as well?

    34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—

    Prophecy – Simeon recalls and applies prophecy of the Messiah to Jesus, the Son of Man born in a manger in Bethlehem.

    The Gospel of John

    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

    The same was in the beginning with God.

    John 1:2 KJV of Christ Jesus ‘this one, visibly present here
    manger with shadow of cross falling across
    The Lamb of God in a manger

    The Lamb of God

    29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

    30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’

    John the Baptist was in awe of Jesus. Are you?

    51 And He said to him [Nathanael], “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

    Awesome! Truly, the Gospel records many instances of awe connected to Christ Jesus.

    What is Awe?

    φόβος – phobos

    You know the greek root and its connection to fear, dread, terror and that which strikes terror.

    Yet we marginalize our phobias even of miracles. And awe in this sense startles our sense of the natural. For our human understanding must be finite and understanding of the infinite baffles us.

    We mention the fear of the shepherds who witnessed the awe of angels at Jesus’ birth. Yet seldom will we note the supernatural motivations for the multitudes of followers who subsequently had to see and hear the Messiah Jesus.

    In just one scene here in Nain, imagine yourself as part of the crowd gathered for the funeral of this man. Jesus, of whom you have heard, walks up and touches the coffin.

    “Young man, I say to you, arise!”

    The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

    Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying,

    “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and,

    “God has visited His people!”

    Luke 7:14-16

    Luke further records witness of the first century church.

    Everyone kept feeling a sense G5401 of awe; G5401 and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

    Acts of the Apostles 2:43 – awe = Literally: fear was occurring to every soul

    Fear as Consequence of Awe

    We frequently live in fear during this brief mortal journey of our life.

    Do we fear man and circumstance or the Lord?

    Therefore here this one example of awe from the Hebrew Bible [Old Testament] as wisdom for our fear.

    33:8 יִֽירְאוּ מֵיְהוָה כָּל־הָאָרֶץ מִמֶּנּוּ יָגוּרוּ כָּל־יֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵֽל׃

    Let all the earth fear the LORD;
    Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

    Psalm 33:8 Masoretic Text; NASB
    To be continued...
  • You Scoffers Who Rule – a Bed too Short

    You Scoffers Who Rule – a Bed too Short

    Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people…

    Have you ever wanted to say that to those who claim to represent you in this government of the people?

    I have and suspect that most do as we helplessly watch the unraveling of rule which makes much sense or holds hope for our future.

    As lessons of history repeatedly remind us, the rise and fall of nations comes and goes with providential frequency throughout centuries of man’s devouring from the tree of knowledge.

    We’ll look further into the author of this indictment from the LORD and the people who he warns shortly, but first the gist of our controversy.

    לָכֵ֛ן שִׁמְע֥וּ דְבַר־יְהוָ֖ה אַנְשֵׁ֣י לָצֹ֑ון מֹֽשְׁלֵי֙ הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֖ר בִּירוּשָׁלִָֽם׃ :TNIH

    I overheard your conversation

    “We have made a covenant with death

    “with Sheol we have made a pact.

    “The overwhelming punishment of the nation cannot touch US.

    “We have made untruth our refuge.

    “Carefully hidden are our deceitful frauds which we have ourselves concealed.

    Familiar, but not contemporary

    Who has heard such lies and uncovered truths carefully concealed?

    For these are proclaimed against the leaders by a man close to the Source of all truth.

    We know him only from ancient writings, but the evil he exposes cannot be hidden even in this day hundreds of years later.

    He is the Lord’s Prophet Isaiah.

    You may find it helpful to contemporize application of Isaiah’s warnings to leading characters of our own contemporary theatre of the absurd. For as then, even now we ought to see the futility of hiding our sin on a bed too short, under covers too small to wrap up in.

    Isaiah

    1:1 חֲזֹון֙ יְשַֽׁעְיָ֣הוּ בֶן־אָמֹ֔וץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר חָזָ֔ה עַל־יְהוּדָ֖ה וִירוּשָׁלִָ֑ם בִּימֵ֨י עֻזִּיָּ֧הוּ יֹותָ֛ם אָחָ֥ז יְחִזְקִיָּ֖הוּ מַלְכֵ֥י יְהוּדָֽה׃

    The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

    Isaiah 1:1 NKJV

    So who is this guy accusing many leaders of his day?

    The authors of the Baker Bible Commentary offer a few quick facts about Isaiah which may help.

    • Isaiah meahs: “Yahweh is salvation”
    • He is married and has two sons;
      • Shear-Jashub means: “a remnant will return”
      • Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz means: “quickly to the plunder, swift to the spoil”
      • (We cannot hear take time to dig into how many times the LORD gives names for the children of faithful servants, but later John and Jesus are among these.)
    • The Prophet is respected by Ahaz and Hezekiah shows that he easily moves into and out of the palace and has access to the king. (Perhaps he holds an appointed position serving the leaders of Judah.)
    • Isaiah ministers from 742-700 BC.

    Israel, Rome & other passing Empires

    For those of you not up on chronologies of history this is not, of course, warnings to the US, a young Empire founded in AD 1776 and coming to age in the 20th century as a nation fully escaping devastation.

    Nor is it about a predecessor power which once claimed, “Rule, Britannia! rule the waves” in AD 1740 as they progressed since AD 1066.

    Who is sovereign over these nations today?

    Some purveyors of power idolize Rome, a Roman republic which overthrew a kingdom in 509 BC, only to be taken by force in 27 BC.

    We both know and some leaders admire the Caesars of this era, overlooking their inevitable ends, as well as tyranny over their own people. Rome as an empire divided in AD 180, which marked the descent “from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron”

    Rome’s division into east and west impacted the early church, but Isaiah speaks of Israel’s division into north and south – a once United Kingdom of Israel under David which has not returned yet to this day.

    Israel then to Israel now

    I don’t want to make too much of parallels between the time of the prophecies of Isaiah and instability in contemporary world empires.

    Note however, these comparisons of time between the woes of Israel and her neighboring nations and more current woes of world politics (and religion or lack thereof, to some extent).

    • 931 BC – United Kingdom of Israel divided after Solomon’s death
      • AD 1585 – English colonize Roanoke in the new world to the west
    • 722 BC – Israel destroyed by Assyria (from the east) [ ~200 years later]
      • AD 1783 – English colonies granted independence after the American Revolution succeeds [~200 years after Roanoke]
    • 701 BC – Assyria attacks Judah [just 21 years after destruction of Samaria, capital of Israel.]
      • AD 1929 FDR elected Governor of New York, then as America’s only 4-term President, 1933- April, 1945 [~21 yrs]
      • United States emerges as the dominant world power
      • In 1947, the United Nations (UN) adopted a Partition Plan for Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem.[source]

    Returning to the Jerusalem of Isaiah

    Truly the scene is not Jerusalem; nor Judah then and later a Judea, Samaria and Galilee of Jesus. Israel is not the land defeated or Jacob from their seed.

    The scene Isaiah, son of Amoz, son of Abraham presents emanates from the Throne of the Lord God.

    Here we find an indictment which the Prophet Isaiah must read before leaders of the lands. He begins:

    Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
    For the LORD has spoken:

    Isaiah 1:2a NKJV

    Isaiah 1:

    1:2 ἄκουε οὐρανέ καὶ ἐνωτίζου γῆ ὅτι κύριος ἐλάλησεν υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα αὐτοὶ δέ με ἠθέτησαν

    LXX Septuagint

    You will not likely hear this read today or indeed at any time in a temple or synagogue of jewish cultural worship. Yet it is “the word of the LORD!”

    יְהֹוָה

    “I have nourished and brought up children,
    And they have rebelled against Me;

    Isa 1:3 The ox knows its owner
    And the donkey its master’s crib;
    But Israel does not know,
    My people do not consider.”

    Isa 1:4 Alas, sinful nation,
    A people laden with iniquity,
    A brood of evildoers,
    Children who are corrupters!
    They have forsaken the LORD,
    They have provoked to anger
    The Holy One of Israel,
    They have turned away backward.

    The LORD has much more to say to these rulers. Read it for yourself.

    We hear all-too-frequent accusation and condemnation of opposing leaders of men and women. Yet you will not hear these harsh words of the LORD in the halls of your nation, temples of worship or message in the palm of your hand.

    Isaiah rebukes them:

    9 Unless the Lord of hosts
    Had left to us a very small remnant,
    We would have become like Sodom,
    We would have been made like Gomorrah.

    10 Hear the word of the Lord,
    You rulers of Sodom;
    Give ear to the law of our God,
    You people of Gomorrah:

    Do you hear the Lord your God?

    1:20 וְאִם־תְּמָאֲנוּ וּמְרִיתֶם חֶרֶב תְּאֻכְּלוּ כִּי פִּי יְהוָה דִּבֵּֽר׃ ס

    But if you refuse and rebel,
    You shall be devoured by the sword”;
    For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

    Isaiah 1:20 Masoretic Text; NKJV

    And while we consider our more contemporary dilemmas of the nations, let us consider the word of the LORD, through His Prophet Isaiah.

    Do the leaders of the nations listen to the Lord God?

    Why, they don’t even listen to their own advisors, let alone a godly advisor like Isaiah.

    Isa 2:2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
    That the mountain of the Lord’s house
    Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
    And shall be exalted above the hills;
    And all nations shall flow to it.

    For the day will come unexpectedly, even as a contemporary remnant found temporary solace in this from a “United Nations.”

    3 Many people shall come and say,
    “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    To the house of the God of Jacob;
    He will teach us His ways,
    And we shall walk in His paths.”

    Yet do those who stop up their ears against the word of the Lord and dim their eyes to scripture spoken through the Prophets even realize the long-standing prediction of Isaiah?

    For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
    And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
    4 He shall judge between the nations,
    And rebuke many people;
    They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    And their spears into pruning hooks;
    Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    Neither shall they learn war anymore.

    Isaiah 2:3b-4 NKJV

    “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

    Isaiah 48:22 NKJV
    To be continued...