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Tag: Luke

  • Jerusalem, Jerusalem – 2

    Jerusalem, Jerusalem – 2

    O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer.
    Listen, O God of Jacob. – Psalm 84:8

    Events B.C.

    • ~2000 Abraham meets Melchizedek, King of Salem and Priest of “God most high” (El Elyon), Genesis 14:18 -20, Hebrews 6:20-7:22). Abraham journeys three days from Beersheba or Gerar to Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice in obedience to God’s command. God provides a ram as a substitute. (Genesis 22, Hebrews 11:8-19). Mt. Moriah is the site of the Temple Mount.
    • 1000 The Jebusite stronghold in Jerusalem is captured by King David. The city of David is built south of the Temple Mount.
    • 910 Solomon’s Temple is plundered by Shishak (Sheshonk) Pharaoh of Egypt. Much gold and silver are taken. (1 Kings 14:25-28, 2 Chronicles 12:1-11
    • 716 Hezekiah, king of Jerusalem, with help of God and the prophet Isaiah resists Assyrians attempt to capture Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 32). Wells and springs stopped up.
    • 586 9th of Av. Nebuchadnezzar burns the city, and destroys the Temple. He murders many of the inhabitants and carries off a great number into captivity. (2 Kings 24-25, 2 Chronicles 36). The destruction of Jerusalem is the starting date for the “Times of the Gentiles”–Yeshua said, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the gentiles until the times of the gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24 ). Messiah’s return in glory will close this period of Israel’s history.
    • 517 Through the leadership of Nehemiah and Zerubbabel, the Second Temple is completed despite fierce opposition and delays. An altar of sacrifice is built on the Temple Mount. Temple is completed after a fifteen year delay.
    • 332 Flavius Josephus records that Alexander the Great’s invading army is met by priests outside of Jerusalem. They convince him not to destroy Jerusalem by showing prophecy contained in Scripture concerning him. Alexander spares city and the Temple.
    • 334-167 The Hellenistic Period. The Jews, in the land, are under the successive dominion of the Greeks, then the Ptolemies of Egypt, and then the Seleucids of Syria. This is the third great world empire to dominate the Jews during the times of the gentiles. It is the belly-and-thighs-of-brass era (Daniel 2:32. 39; Josephus, Antiquities 11.7-12.6; Daniel 11:2-20).175-163 The reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes whom Daniel saw as a type of the coming Antichrist (Daniel 8:1-2; 11:21-35; Josephus, Antiquities 12.5-9; 1 Maccabees 1:16:16; 2 Mac. 4:7-9:28).167-63 The Maccabean revolt and subsequent Hasmonean dynasty in Judea. A short time of Jewish independence. This is the little-help period of Daniel 11:34. (Josephus, Antiquities 12.6-14.4).

    “O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer.  Listen, O God of Jacob,” wrote David.

    You may not have followed every ebb and flow of the battle for Jerusalem for the last 3000 years.

    …it is supposed that David penned this psalm when he was forced by Absalom’s rebellion to quit his city, which he lamented his absence from, not so much because it was the royal city as because it was the holy city, witness this psalm, which contains the pious breathings of a gracious soul after God and communion with him.

    The events in Jerusalem prior to Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God, do not seem to echo the voice of an almighty God. The events of scripture do not always lead us to a faith where we would confidently stand stronger in our faith in the LORD of Heaven’s armies.

    Yet into this history of defeat of God’s chosen and destruction of the Temple of God’s chosen came a Son of Man, sacrificed on the cross for your sins and for mine.

    Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

    In death, Christ has defeated sin and death.

    In resurrection, Christ IS risen to victory as the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

    In victory, Christ Jesus will return once more. 

     

  • Fire of the Living God

    Fire of the Living God

    Exodus 3: 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed… God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

    And he said, “Here I am.”

    5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

    And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

    Numbers 9: 15 On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning.

    16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night.

    Ezekiel 1:4 As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal.

    Malachi 3:2 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…

    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.

    Matthew 13: And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”

    37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

    38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom.

    The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.

    The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

    40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.

    41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

    43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

    He who has ears, let him hear.

     Mark 1:8 KJV I indeed have baptized you with water:

    but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

     

  • for our God is a consuming fire

    for our God is a consuming fire

    Hebrews 12:18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.

    22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant…

    25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

    For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

    26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”

    … thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

    How much reverence and awe do you have for God Almighty?

    Do you, dear believer, sometimes fail to remember in fear and trembling the Power of the risen Lord, Christ Jesus?

    (It is no wonder that Jesus greeted fearful Apostles with the assurance: “Peace.”)

    It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. – Hebrews 10:21

    The Disciples finally realized that Jesus had not established God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem at the time He entered its gates prior to His crucifixion; yet the Apostles knew that Jesus will return on the clouds as Judge of the Heavens and earth!

    Prior to becoming Disciples of Jesus, some were disciples of John the Baptist who had preached:

    Matthew 3:

    10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

    11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

    12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

    If the burning fire of the conquering Christ was prepared by John; if the burning fire of the conquering Jesus was prepared by the Cross; if the Judgment and Kingdom were close at hand; then how much nearer now? You with ears to hear, hear.

    Jesus’ Disciples wanted to know when, but the Lord would not reveal it.  Never-the-less as Jesus rose into the clouds promising His return, the Disciples were filled with awe and reverence for the risen Son of Man.

    Well they knew all of what our Lord Jesus had warned and cautioned:

    John 15:6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

    Luke 24:51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.