Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: nations

  • Looking Back – Nations in the eyes of the LORD

    “So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity. – 2 Chronicles 15:6 NKJV

    History from an eternal perspective

    We have begun this year of our Lord, 2018, in consideration of eternal time. Time beyond years and measurement shows a perspective of man peering beyond the beginning and ending of our mortal history.

    The Lord’s voice resounds through those God chooses in both spoken and written words. Therefore books of the Bible also relate stories of the Lord given to mortal men. 

    We occasionally hear God speaking through Prophets of events which the Lord will cause in the future. They speak of Israel and of nations familiar and forgotten. True prophets warn of the consequences of men and nations opposing the will of Almighty God.

    A few Prophets like Ezekiel, Daniel and John reveal events beyond the mortal timeline of all mankind, even to an apocalypse of the heavens and earth!

    Christ Jesus boldly proclaimed not only what was, but the unseen of time before man, now, and forever more.

    This Nation (U.S.) – Looking Back

    Without looking back Americans might not acknowledge some divergent views of actual history of our 17th century founding. (500 years, so long past; yet passes so quickly)

    Notice a Pennsylvania only east of the Alleghenies. You likely haven’t read how a George Washington surrender to the French may have led to the French and Indian War. 

    At the time of the U.S. Constitution, Colonial states claimed lands for future expansion.  America has always been a land of immigrants.

    We the people, while opposing fading European empires, conquered a new world from native nations. Then we the new world people defended it against immigrants from foreign lands of origins other than our own.

    Spain, England, France and other empires expanded then diminished, even to the point of America coming to their aid in the great wars of the twentieth century.

    Yet who remembers the fall (or even existence) of empires besides Rome?

    A Lesson for the Nations from Israel

    What does all of this have to do with the Bible, you may ask?

    Deuteronomy 9:

    “Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven..

    4 “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.

    Israel would not only ignore the voice of the LORD though its Prophets, God’s own chosen people would ignore the Law given for their own holiness. A people of tradition has rejected its own traditions of the Lord their God.

    And empires to follow, including Spain, Great Britain and now the United States of America, which sometimes make claims to new lands of milk and honey, reject the rule of the Righteous One.

    The Lord God brings nations to renewed hope and crushes wickedness in the wilderness of the unknown.

    History beyond claims of conquerors & contentions of analysts

    We the people of the Lord really must hear more than quick sound-bytes of this hour. Godly men and women should seek more than a 60 second headline to the crowds.

    Even now, a boisterous tyrant or reasonable king may proclaim in an instant his partism message of good or evil. Will the world look beyond the agendas of mortals to the written word of Almighty God? Rarely, only the faithful.

    The Lord will lead a remnant of all the nations to eternal life. God has revealed His plan and chronicled events of the past for our understanding.

    Moses did not write the Books of the Law as the events unfolded. The LORD revealed the Beginning, the generations of Noah & Joseph, a great leader of Egypt. God gave instructions to priests, elders and common men and women. In addition to prophesies of the failings of Israel and other nations, the Bible records events for the discovery of God’s will in later generations. Yet will you read God’s word and claim its cautions?

    Looking Back

    “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’… 

    This caution to a new conquering empire (Israel) might well serve as a lesson of history to many 21st century nations.

    This series will continue with scripture written or chronicled as historic evidence of events for others to read later.

    Stay tuned and read your Bible. It’s all there – history, that is; but we just give a headline glance to most of these pivotal events. For after all, it was a long time ago. What could that matter to a 21st century Christian?

    To be continued..,

     

     

     

     

     

  • Beyond Nations and Coastlands

    Beyond Nations and Coastlands

    The Servant of the Lord

    Is Jesus Savior of the nations, good news to the coastlands and Messiah of the elect?

    Prophets and kings of Israel have looked forward to the incarnate Son of Man. Yet the Messiah of Israel did not suffer, die and rise to glory only for Jacob. The Lord is lord of all the earth, the heavens and mankind. He IS the hope of the nations, Redeemer of Israel and God incarnate now and forever!

    Isaiah 49

    Listen to me, O coastlands,
        and give attention, you peoples from afar.
    The Lord called me from the womb,
        from the body of my mother he named my name.
    2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
        in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
    he made me a polished arrow;
        in his quiver he hid me away.
    3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
        Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

    Listen, you unbelievers of every nation

    The Messiah of God predicted by Isaiah will have to deal with a number of challenges, not least among these understanding mortality.

    [ctt title=”How does an eternal, immortal, timeless One experience life as man?” tweet=”https://ctt.ec/3d2V2+ Read John 1″ coverup=”3d2V2″]

    No man may stand before Almighty God face to Face, yet the LORD has dwelt in the womb of a virgin and endured the suffering of death on a Cross for our sake.

    If the Lord rejected all except Noah long ago, will the Lord not reject even the wicked of Israel along with those beyond the coastlands at the day of reckoning? [Matthew 24:37-38]

    John 4:22

    [ctt title=”4:22 ὑμεῖς προσκυνεῖτε ὃ οὐκ οἴδατε ἡμεῖς προσκυνοῦμεν ὃ οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἡ σωτηρία ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστίν” tweet=”.. we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. – John 4:22″ coverup=”mHlMU”]

    Even the chosen needed witness that the LORD chose Abraham and Jacob, Moses and David for their faith. For the LORD destroyed and damned those who turned from righteousness. “Before Abraham was, I AM;” says the Lord, the God of Israel!

    Not only Messiah of Israel, but Savior of the Nations

    Isaiah 49:6

    he says:
    “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
    I will make you as a light for the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

    So difficult for a man of flesh and bone to think in terms of timeless soul and Savior before time. Moses witnessed judgment on the land and redemption of a people for the Lord’s own purpose. Yet even in one hundred twenty years Moses could not claim the covenant of Abraham. Moses led a chosen nation through the sea. He and leaders of an elect people bowed before the Lord on a mountain where we would receive the Law of God. Yet Moses who had parted the sea and brought water from the parched wilderness could not cross the Jordan into Israel.

    Judges and Kings could not rule over a stiff-necked people who believed that Abraham’s promise is fulfilled in their land land and success for their generation. From Elijah to Isaiah the elect continued in the sins of their fathers, while worshiping their ancestry over the LORD! Isaiah and Prophets of the LORD would eventually come to an end of their time, yet anticipating the lasting Redeemer the LORD did promise.

    7 Thus says the Lord,
    the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
    to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
    the servant of rulers:
    “Kings shall see and arise;
    princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
    because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

    Who IS the Holy One of Israel?

    The Redeemer of Israel IS and was and will be Lord over those who love Him.

    Isaiah tells the chosen: 50 Thus says the Lord:

    “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce,
        with which I sent her away?
    Or which of my creditors is it
        to whom I have sold you?
    Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
        and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
    2 Why, when I came, was there no man;
        why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
    Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?

    Isaiah foretells of a great Teacher of Israel

    Isaiah, the prophet of God tells of the Redeemer of man’s slavery to sin, a Savior sent beyond nations and coastlands; the Lord who is risen after the love of His own Sacrifice. Isaiah speaks next of the wise and loving teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Can you hear His voice?

    4 The Lord God has given me
        the tongue of those who are taught,
    that I may know how to sustain with a word
        him who is weary.

    [ctt title=”If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”” tweet=”Jesus speaks truth, love and the words of eternal life.” coverup=”f5KGc”]

    Recalling the crowds who followed and foreshadowing of a trial long past the days of Isaiah:

    Morning by morning he awakens;
    he awakens my ear
    to hear as those who are taught.
    5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
    and I was not rebellious;
    I turned not backward.

    6 I gave my back to those who strike,
    and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
    I hid not my face
    from disgrace and spitting.

    The suffering servant will rise to outlive His accusers

    9 Behold, the Lord God helps me;
    who will declare me guilty?
    Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
    the moth will eat them up.
    10 Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the voice of his servant?
    Let him who walks in darkness
    and has no light
    trust in the name of the Lord
    and rely on his God.

    Has Caesar prevailed? Pilate? Does one High Priest yet live?

    Do the kings who did what was evil in the sight of the Lord live? Have the false prophets of hatred risen to take the lands they plunders?

    Only Christ, Holy One, Son of the Living Father and One with the Holy Spirit rises from the Cross of sacrifice to preach once more to Israel and the Nations – His redemption for those who believe in every nation beyond time and circumstance: Jesus IS Lord!

    The Promised Messiah, Jesus

    Acts 26:22b-23

    I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.

    John 1:

    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

    [ctt title=”“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ” tweet=”Messiah, Christ Jesus, the pure blood sacrifice on the Cross of perfect redemption.” coverup=”GSa8o”]

    Hebrews 9:27-28

    And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

    “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” – Revelation 1:8

    Surely the Lord created the heavens and the earth and man in the beginning. The Shepherd gathers every faithful follower from every nation and generation. In these last days the Lord will count the elect and the adopted, fulfilling all prophesy. He will form the old creation into a new heaven and a new earth where the LORD will dwell among us. The faithful will rise to His glorious love and embrace a overflowing joy we have not known because of sin.

    Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit

    As it was in the beginning, it will be once more and forever.

    Amen.

     

     

     

  • The Pervasiveness of Sin

    The Pervasiveness of Sin

    If you perceive the pervasiveness of sin,

    you will pour forth great gratitude for God’s grace

    and the cross of Christ.

    Revelation 18:  For your merchants were the greatest in the world,
    and you deceived the nations with your sorceries.
    24 In your streets flowed the blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people
    and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world.”

    … all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.

    So warns Christ’s Revelation to John of Babylon, a home for demons – the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit. Even Ezekiel had warned Jerusalem of these same evils (perhaps appropriate warning to a 21st c. church).

    3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

    Disclaimer & Caution

    Researching the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John reconfirms a need for a note of caution to the reader.

    MUCH false teaching, speculative interpretation and agenda-driven preaching will easily mislead and confuse most believers, except believers well-versed scripturally in apologetics. Perhaps one of the greatest dangers is to accept an interpretation of just one man on the many important symbols John presents in Revelation – especially in the following chapters.

    The following is a continuation in my series on Revelation, begun with the Letters to the Seven Churches and now continuing from much later in John’s apocalypse in Chapter 17.

    May I suggest that you take my interpretation of scripture (or anyone’s interpretation) under consideration of:

    • the Holy Spirit
    • Scripture (including, possibly root meanings of the Greek or Hebrew)
    • prayerful consideration of application to your life and those in your life

    Roger Harned

    Central

    to the Judgment of Christ Jesus

    in the Apocalypse of John.

    Revelation is misunderstood and much misrepresented. Will the deception of these last days not increase with the pervasiveness of sin?

    BABYLON, the Harlot Queen,

    sits upon the scarlet beast –

    Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.

    SIN is pervasive!

    Revelation begins with warning to the churches. Should the churches of these last days not heed the warnings of a time so near?

    The Apostle John describes Heavenly visions (none of which I will describe today):

    • The Scroll and Seven Seals (ch. 4-7)
    • Seven Angels with Seven Trumpets (ch. 8-11)
    • Seven Symbolic Histories (ch. 12-14)
    • Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath (ch. 15-16)

    All of this leads up to the drama of punishment, with its great symbolism. All of Revelation leads to a drama:

    CENTERED ON EVIL vs. GOOD

    SATAN vs. CHRIST JESUS.

    Though the FINAL BATTLE does not take place until Revelation 19, the familiar opponents of God confront the believer and unbeliever alike with the great symbolism of Revelation 17 and 18. What Jesus reveals is what our Lord has always revealed to those with ears to hear.

    Matthew 24

    dome and wall

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple

     

    Signs of the End of the Age

    3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

    4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.

    6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

    9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

    egypt-violence-eu11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

    14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come…

    wolf23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.

    24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

    25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

    Do NOT be deceived:

    1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality {note: The two Greek terms translated by this phrase refer to the passive and active partners in consensual homosexual acts.}

    2 Timothy 2:12-13 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

    1 John 2:26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

    Do you with ears to hear understand how the world is being deceived?

    Do you sip from the cup of the Harlot?

    Hear and understand the wine of her cup.

    … all the nations were deceived by her ‘pharmakeia’ sorcery.

    Heed the warning of the punishment for those who partake of the sorcery of the Harlot:

    Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, G5332 and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

    Let us continue to proclaim Christ crucified; for He IS and He will return in victory over Satan, the Harlot, and all the armies of evil which surround the believer every day.

    We have Great Grace in Christ Jesus and His Blood of the Cross, where by His death and resurrection we are victorious over sin and death.

    Christ Jesus our Lord has defeated the enemy. These last days will end and the faithful will be most thankful for the grace of the Cross.