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Tag: prophets

  • Emmanuel

    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

     

  • As in the days of Noah

    As in the days of Noah

    Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Luke 17:26-27

    While our lives and attentions become entangled in worldly affairs: politics, news, entertainment, sports, gossip, shopping, empty relationships with thankless individuals, online social contact, cell phone texting and numerous other distractions awayfrom God Almighty, our Creator and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: God IS.

    Yet do we bow down for even a moment in our hurried days of this futile flesh?

    2013, in the year of our Lord, may be a time for Christians to look forward to a time that will not be and years no longer numbered…

    This could be a time like any other when our time will end as do the mortal lives of all men.  You MAY have seventy (or perhaps a hundred years) OR perhaps the Lord will call for your death tomorrow.

    Are you ready to be awakened NEXT to the trumpet of the calling up for Judgment?

    Twenty centuries ago Christians were ready. Twenty centuries ago persecution of the church and the imminent fall of Rome would have seemed like a world near to Judgment. (And throw in some disasters of God like the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and a case for preparedness could well be made.)

    NOW, in the year of our Lord 2013, would it not be more prudent to hear the voice of Christ Jesus in our attitude toward preparedness for the Judgment and the end of the old earth?

    It doesn’t look like the end of the world is near.  It doesn’t seem like God is doing anything about the pervasive evil of this world and the lack of worship (even respect) of God Almighty and the Sacrifice of his only Son, Christ Jesus, for our sins.

    So it is and as in the days of Noah the world did not listen to God. Will you worship the Lord? (Don’t miss the boat.) 🙂

    2 Peter 2

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    False Prophets and Teachers

    2 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

    4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

    Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.

     Thus says the Lord: Beware.

    Beware of the days of much false teaching that would lead the elect astray.

    In these last days you will need no other ark than the Spirit of the Living God and the Cross of Christ Jesus our Savior.

    Mark 13

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Signs of the Close of the Age

    3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet.8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

    19 For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. 20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. 21 And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.

    The Coming of the Son of Man

    24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

    The trumpets of Heaven will then sound; but first, much tribulation, many false signs and false prophets, as were Muhammad and others.

    JESUS CHRIST IS. JESUS CHRIST is Lord. Worship Him. He IS God. Receive the Holy Spirit through Him. Receive life eternal and grace – the mercy, forgiveness and peace of God our Father in Heaven.

    For as in the days of Noah, so it shall be. Are you bowed down to the Lord our God and the Cross of our Savior?

  • The Trumpet of the King

    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.