Due to much resistance to Christ by the enemy of Almighty God and Jesus Christ our Lord, I have no additional Christian Social Witness for Resurrection Day this year.
Please COMMENT & SHARE one from our previous 10 years.
Roger Harned +
(For the only prophesy I ever imagined may have been from God has not yet happened.)
My song of mourning echoes God’s indictment spoken to falling nations of the Old Testament and the New Testament warning of Hebrews. For my own heart mourns ahead for what is to become of this land of so much promise.
And allow me to add an unpalatable and unspeakable truth: Muhammed was no prophet of God, Joseph Smith was no prophet of Jesus Christ and no political leader I know even comes close to speaking the hallowed word of God.
January 29, 2021 – but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” – Hebrews 12:26b
A song of mourning through Ezekiel
Picture a Prophet, faithful to the Lord God, lamenting the downfall of nations including his own. Ezekiel speaks a song of mourning for nation after nation and leader after leader.
WHY have these listened to false prophets?
What consequence for those who have turned against the LORD.
The compelling scenes of Ezekiel’s encounters with the Lord God will seem familiar to those of you who have also discovered the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John.
Most of what God has to say should bring even a 21st century observer of these last days to mourn for the lost righteousness the LORD has intended. Once again the faithful must sing a song of mourning for so many cities and every nation.
Mar. 16, 597 B.C. – Babylon, led by Nebuchadnezzar beseiged Jerusalem a second time and took captive King Jehoiachin and a group of 10,000, including Ezekiel.
– Source (paraphrased) John MacArthur :: Bible Introductions – Ezekiel
.. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking. Then He said to me,
“Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.”
And as He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me. Then He said to me,
“Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have revolted against Me to this very day.
Ezekiel 1:28b-2:3 NASB20
“But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.
Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me;
and behold, a scroll was in it.
When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back,
and written on it were songs of mourning, sighing, and woe.
“As for you, take up a song of mourning for the leaders of Israel..
‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard..
‘But it was uprooted in fury; It was thrown down to the ground; And the east wind dried up its fruit. [fn]Its strong stem [fn]was torn out So that it withered; The fire consumed it..
‘And fire has gone out from its stem; It has consumed its shoots and fruit, So that there is no strong stem in it, A scepter to rule.’”
This is a song of mourning, and has become a song of mourning.
“O Tyre, you have said, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’
“Your borders are in the heart of the seas;
Your builders have perfected your beauty.
“Your wealth, your wares, your merchandise,
Your sailors and your pilots,
Your repairers of seams, your dealers in merchandise,
And all your men of war who are in you,
With all your assembly that is in your midst,
Will fall into the heart of the seas
On the day of your downfall.
The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
Look, he is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
And all the tribes of the earth
will mourn over him.
So it is to be. Amen.
Could a song of mourning be for US?
The kings of the earth who have committed sexual immorality and shared her sensual and excessive ways will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke from her burning.
Many of us know it well. Perhaps we even recite the six verses of Psalm 23 even as I learned in the melodic flow of the King James Version of the Bible.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
David’s focus introduces his encounters with death. Believers and unbelievers alike frequently hear his psalm in the context of a life already lain down in the stillness of death.
No more want then…
So why would today’s want worry me today?
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil:
Questions from fear
These are the words of Psalm 23 we know so well, yet in our DOUBT we do fear the death casting a deep shadow upon our days ahead.
We walk quickly along in our quickened last days of a mortal life spent yet not finished, an ending of struggle along a ledge between Light and complete darkness.
Have I missed the table which the LORD hath prepared for me?
Surely goodness and mercy seem NOT to have followed me in these last days of my mortal life!
Certainly the LORD did bless King David all the days of his life, BUT what is missing in mine?
I walk in the shadow looking to my end in the valley, yet David seemed rested even before those somber last words:
May he rest in peace.
WHAT have I missed that David seems to sing in this 23rd Psalm?
REST and PEACE along this treacherous path toward the VALLEY of the SHADOW of DEATH.
He Leadeth Me
The reaffirming metaphor of the still waters assumes the still waters assumes the same role as that of the green pastures. Just as the grass of the green pastures is deep enoughto lie in, so also we must understand that still waters rund deem. Any deep experience with the Shephers can only be accomplished by time spent with the Shepherd, as the words lie down indicate.
King James Bible Commentary Psalm 23, p534
In addition to my memory of Psalm 23 in the King James, a 19th century hymn sung frequently by our local church encourages believers both corporately and individually.
Many may sing He Leadeth Me from the shadowed hillsides of our own valleys.
“He leadeth me, he leadeth me, for by his hand he leadeth me..
He Leadeth Me from Psalm 23
YET in our DOUBT and FEAR, let us remember the place of peace by which we may have quickly passed in Psalm 23.
for Thou art with me
I cannot cross into the Light with you.
The lonely lament of this shepherd so accustomed to the place of darkness in many fields of so many sheep among wolves does not lift me.
David was a king 3000 years distant from my own walk in the fields of death’s fear. He does not comfort me and my most beloved ones cannot go to the place where I must go in a time unknown to any of us.
Yet David’s Psalm was not addressed to ME, but to the LORD as well as his own beating mortal heart.
Do you see a tread of connection here in David’s Psalm?
He, THE LORD, leads — that is, IF we will humbly allow Him. BUT like sheep WE don’t particularly like to follow any lead other than our own.
AND we may have missed yet another comfort to David due to our own rebellion again the leadership of God (or anyone else, for that matter).
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
OUCH!
Authority? Bowing down humbly to the LORD because HE IS more powerful than YOU?
Yet in death as in life, we remain powerless.
THY ROD speaks more to our relationship as people of the Shepherd than to the power and authority capable of beating us into obedience (which is not like the Lord who called us).
His staffwhich pulled you into mortality will lead you into eternity.
Therefore David concludes his Psalm from the valley of the shadow of death with a first person assurance with the LORD.
Where is the house of the Lord?
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
Thank you Lord.
thou anointest my head with oil;
Thank you Lord.
my cup runneth over.
Thank you Lord.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
David concludes with confidence of good in God’s mercy — why he trusts in the LORD and does not fear the evil of death — death before the Lord’s own appointed time. His confidence speaks forward to where he shall dwell once the LORD does raise him up from the valley of the shadow of death into the Light of the LORD’s own presence.
Where are YOUR still waters when you consider the valley of DEATH?
How do you envision this place beyond the deep waters and above the highest heavens of this temporal mortal place?
Who do you trust to lead you into the house of the LORD, forever?
Please SHARE your COMMENT or Questions about Psalm 23
AND
Look for my Part 2 New Testament take on Christians humbly helping each other to navigate this shadowy path where sheep of the Lord should fear no evil.
Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
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![For all the nations have drunk[fn]the wine of her sexual immorality,which brings wrath.The kings of the earthhave committed sexual immorality with her,and the merchants of the earthhave grown wealthy from her sensuality and excess. - Revelation 18:3 CSB](https://talkofjesus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/celebrating-in-the-city-of-destruction.jpg)
