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Tag: repent

Amos – Not immune from judgment
We interrupt the Good News of John for an urgent warning from the Prophet Amos.

“Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom,
And I will destroy it from the face of the earth
Amos 9:8a NASB

We are NOT IMMUNE to the #pandemic of sin!

A familiar forgotten history

Even though festival seasons of Passover and Easter approach, our casual celebrations may possibly be banned this year and diminished by the rulers of this world.

We know little of the first century church in this year of our Lord 2020, and struggles of the saints when Jerusalem fell not so many years after the Sacrifice and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus.

Yet during this time of Jesus and the Apostles, scripture from Amos and other Prophets of the LORD would have been familiar to some.

Briefly, the historical background of the time of Amos reads something like more recent times before our most recent struggles of these last days.

Prosperity before the fall
- Uzziah is King of Judah (792-740 BC)
- Jeroboam II is King of Israel (793-753 BC)
- Both kingdoms were blessed by tremendous wealth
- Both kingdoms had powerful military which had defeated their enemies.
- Both kingdoms had an aristocratic class who gained great wealth, enough to loan money to their poor neighbors.
- Both Israel and Judah believed their kingdom to be permanently blessed by the LORD as a chosen people.
- Israel and Judah believed themselves immune to judgment by the LORD.
Sound familiar?

It will to many of the suppressed working poor of first world nations.

Yet the LORD sent a poor shepherd of Tekoa, a hillside suburb of Jerusalem, to tell the nations why a judgment of the LORD would fall upon them.

It was a warning rejected, as we would have rejected such bad news just a short time ago when billionaires bragged of how good we have done under their affluent watch.

Amos speaks for the LORD

Perhaps you would like to sit still in dust and ashes, reading everything the Prophet Amos warns from the LORD – every call to repentance to a nation which has strayed far from righteousness. Here I can only list a few which may apply.

Jesus, the Messiah, and John the Baptist will both echo these same indictments to broods of religious vipers.

Peter, Paul, John and the Apostles of the first century church all encourage the saints, yet reprove the unrepentant who stray from teachings of the Lord.

The church witnessed judgment on Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, when the Lord struck them dead for lying to the church!

The Revelation of Christ to John warns the church. To one local church at Sardis, Christ warns though John:

I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.
Be alert and strengthen what remains, which is about to die, for I have not found your works complete before my God. Remember, then, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent.
If you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you have no idea at what hour I will come upon you.
Revelation 3:1a-3 CSB

Is your church in the the year of our Lord, 2020, like that? Not alert, though your reputation of this life multiplies the flock?

If so, the warnings of the Prophet Amos and other prophets of the Old Testament may help you to return to the will of the Lord our God.

Amos 1 :

Various Indictments & Punishments
- Because they deported an entire population
- And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
- because he pursued his brother with the sword.
- He stifled his compassion,
- his anger tore at him continually,
- and he harbored his rage incessantly.
- Because they ripped open the pregnant women… in order to enlarge their borders.
  - (Was this a barbaric abortion to choose only the boys of their own culture?)
15 “Their king will go into exile,
He and his princes together,” says the Lord.

Judgment on Judah and Israel

4 Thus says the Lord:

“For three transgressions of Judah, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment…
- Because they rejected the law of the Lord
- And have not kept His commandments.
- Their lies lead them astray,
  - Lies which their fathers followed.
Is your religious tradition more important than obedience to the Lord your God? A better perception of your own righteousness than the Perfect righteousness of the Messiah sacrificed for your redemption?

6 Thus says the Lord,
“For three transgressions of Israel and for four
I will not revoke its punishment…
- Because they sell the righteous for money
- and a needy person for a pair of sandals.
- They trample the heads of the poor on the dust of the ground
- and obstruct the path of the needy.
How sad the compassionless ambition of the rich who do not see the sufferings of the poor.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com

… And you commanded the prophets saying, ‘You shall not prophesy!’

13 Look, I am about to crush you in your place
as a wagon crushes when full of grain.
14 Escape will fail the swift,
the strong one will not maintain his strength,
and the warrior will not save his life.

וְשָׁמַרְתָּ אֶת־מִצְוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לָלֶכֶת בִּדְרָכָיו וּלְיִרְאָה אֹתֹֽו׃
“Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
Deuteronomy 8:6 – Masoretic Text, NASB

I’m not even certain that christians blinded by science fear the Lord our God, let alone those chosen of Jesus’ and Amos’ times who turned away from scripture.

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
“I and the Father are one.”
John 8:58, 10:30 NASB

Authority of the Prophet’s Message

Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt:

⁷Indeed, the Lord God does nothing
without revealing his counsel
to his servants the prophets.
⁸A lion has roared;
who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken;
who will not prophesy?

11 Therefore, the Lord God says:

An enemy will surround the land;
he will destroy your strongholds
and plunder your citadels.

13 Listen and testify against the house of Jacob—
this is the declaration of the Lord God,
the God of Armies.
14 I will punish the altars of Bethel
on the day I punish Israel for its crimes;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
and fall to the ground.

Social and Spiritual Corruption
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Perhaps some in this day will yet hear the indictment of our land, a warning to shepherds who lead the flock astray.
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- [You rich women] Who oppress the poor,
- Who crush the needy,
- Who say to your husbands, “Bring wine, let us drink!”
Are these not the leadings of rich women who lead their husbands by day and discard them by the darkness of divorce?

Yet we have not listened to the Lord who places the man over his wife; also father and mother over their children and youth, raised in God’s Law. Raised as rebellious children ourselves, we do not believe God’s warnings to return to fear of His judgment.

⁶I gave you absolutely nothing to eat
in all your cities,
a shortage of food in all your communities,
yet you did not return to me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

8 Two or three cities staggered
to another city to drink water
but were not satisfied,
yet you did not return to me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
- I struck you with blight and mildew… yet you did not return to me.
- I sent plagues like those of Egypt;
- I killed your young men with the sword,
¹¹I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were like a burning stick
snatched from a fire,
yet you did not return to me—
This is the Lord’s declaration.

“Therefore thus will I do to you…

Because I will do this to you,
Prepare to meet your God…

¹³For behold,
He who forms mountains,
And creates the wind,
Who declares to man what his thought is,
And makes the morning darkness,
Who treads the high places of the earth—
The Lord God of hosts is His name.

4:13 כִּי הִנֵּה יֹוצֵר הָרִים וּבֹרֵא רוּחַ וּמַגִּיד לְאָדָם מַה־שֵּׂחֹו עֹשֵׂה שַׁחַר עֵיפָה וְדֹרֵךְ עַל־בָּמֳתֵי אָרֶץ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵֽי־צְבָאֹות שְׁמֹֽו׃ ס

“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.” – quoting Amos 6:24

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying,
“Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality,
and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”
Revelation 17:1-2 NASB
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To be continued... Lord willing...
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March 17, 2020
Ashes to Ashes

Genesis 18:27 KJV And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

Do you know the context of this? (Answer in a moment; but first another quote and some additional background.)

Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.

Remember: you are dust and to dust you will return.

Genesis 3:4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

17 And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you…
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

Numbers 19

9 And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them.

The ashes are a sin offering to the Lord for the altar of worship.

Returning to Abraham in Genesis 18:

Abraham is standing before God pleading for mercy for the people of his nephew Lot’s city. It is a city and a place full of sin on which God will rain down His Almighty wrath and judgment – the city of Sodom.

26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

It is the office of the Priest to intercede for the sins of the people. Abraham, in this instance, is a Priest before Almighty God.

Christians have a greater Priest and Perfect Sin Offering, Christ Jesus the Very Son of God.

Abraham failed in saving Sodom, because not even ten righteous men could be found; only Lot. Even Lot’s wife (who did not obey the Lord) was lost for her sin. The wrath of God brought quick and unexpected justice against the entire town and valley.

Ashes rained down and purified the sinful.

God had formerly judged the whole earth and purified it by water, saving only Noah and his family. Yet God kept His covenant to never destroy the whole earth again by water. Part of it? Yes. Cities by fire? Yes. By war? Certainly. God confirms in scripture His support of enemies to purify the unfaithful Chosen who by obedience to God’s Law are supposed to live with God’s righteousness.

Time after time and Prophet after Prophet, up until John the Baptist and even the teaching of our Lord, Christ Jesus; the message of God does not change.

Repent. Return to God. Turn from your sin. Return to righteousness.

Repent to dust and ashes and bow down in worship to the Lord, your God.

We have been following Jesus’ early ministry and many miracles in Galilee. (This is not even to mention His Sacrifice of the Cross for your sins and for mine.)

Do you recall what Jesus said of repentance to these towns where He has just preached to the multitudes, yet most would not follow Him by faith?

Here is Jesus’ warning to those who refuse to hear the Gospel from us:

Luke 10

10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’

12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

Woe to Unrepentant Cities

13 “Woe to you, Chorazin!

Woe to you, Bethsaida!

For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven?

You shall be brought down to Hades.

16 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

Therefore, dear brother or sister in Christ Jesus, know that as you call on the world around you to repent to dust and ashes and they will not listen; neither did they hear our Lord. For they hung Him in disgrace on a Cross, for all to see His Sacrifice for the sins of the world.

The Blood of Christ, sacrificed in Jerusalem, cries out from the Altar of all Righteousness for the wrath of God to rain down, even as His mercy has been sacrificed for us.

It is Ash Wednesday – a time for repentance, in these last days.

It is a time of urgency for us to proclaim the love of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave Himself that we might have eternal life.

February 26, 2020
Jesus – Disaster & Sin – Tower of Siloam
“I tell you, no! But …

What day’s NEWS doesn’t HEADLINE: DISASTER? The world asks why God would allow this. Were those killed worse sinners than others, so God punished them by death?

This is how we think. Even if we acknowledge sin (in others) we want to blame God for punishment, especially in providential ‘acts of God’ which end lives unexpectedly.

The Good News of Luke briefly describes two such incidents.

Such disasters do imprint our memories for a time, for example in this 21st century just mention of NINE-ELEVEN.

Like the unexpected question, Who Sinned? , here Jesus gives a similar answer to disaster similar to the “WHY” about a man born blind from birth.

This time the crowds had complained of persecution of Galileans by the Roman Prefect of Judea Pontius Pilate. Jesus responds to the crowds with a rhetorical question about sin. (You need to think about what the Lord tells us here about the nature of sin and how we must approach it.)

Unless you repent …

Luke 13:

2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no!

But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Were these who died at the hand of Pilate worse sinners? NO.

The Messiah then addresses a local disaster, a recent act of God well-known to Jerusalem.

4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?

5 I tell you, no!

But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

‘Unless WE REPENT,’ the Messiah’s listeners must have thought? This rabbi preaches the same message as John the Baptizer and the Prophets of old.

Then in typical His typical teaching technique, Jesus tells a symbolic parable to illustrate his point that we must repent or we will also perish.

The fig tree, an ancient symbol of life in Israel and the middle east, represents prosperity, peace and righteousness throughout the Bible.

Parable of the Fig Tree

6 Then he told this parable:

“A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any.

No life in the tree, no prosperity for the owner of the vineyard, no peace here in Jerusalem where fig trees blossom and bear fruit.

7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard,

‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’

The Son of Man, the Messiah has been sowing righteousness in the land for three years. Does Jesus ask this crowd of Jews (keeper of God’s vineyard), ‘Why has your faith not yielded fruit?’

Some Jews have believed and followed their Messiah. A faithful servant in God’s vineyard would plea for mercy for the vine. So his repentant answer would ask the Owner of the vineyard for mercy. He will promise to do his Lord’s work of righteousness once more.

8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

You too will all perish

There’s something about disaster and death which gets demands our attention: our own mortality.

Any story of suffering and sudden death of others reminds us of our own helpless before Almighty God. And some will recall their own past sins and immediacy of repentance.

One recent story of annual flooding in Jerusalem reminds us of the suddenness of the expected. These events often reveal the heritage of our past in addition to the mortality of its victims.
- Jerusalem flooding Feb 2019
- Ritual Bath Judea Jan 2020
- Luzon Philippines earthquake 1990
DISASTERS! “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
Siloam was an area just outside the walls of Jerusalem on the southeast side of the city. A spring-fed pool was there, which was the scene of one of Christ’s miracles (John 9). The tower of Siloam may have been part of an aqueduct system or a construction project that Pilate had begun. In any case, the tower fell, and eighteen people were killed in the catastrophe.
Why did Jesus mention the tower of Siloam in Luke 13:4?

Why mention a recent disaster?

Second COVID-19 death sparks fears, lockdown in Italian towns – Agence France-Presse
Posted at Feb 22 2020 08:08 PM [local time]

I could have chosen pictures & NEWS from just this month, February 2020, even from contemporary Jerusalem where Jesus addressed sin and disaster in speaking of both the tower and pool of Siloam.

Refugees of natural disasters, even so common as annual hurricanes or typhoons (as pictured here from 2013 in the Philippines) remind us that our earthly home is temporary. The displaced ships in Luzon Philippines (above) are part of a witness by Pastor BERMIE DIZON who lived there at the time. He witnesses comparison to Jesus’ teachings about the tower and pool of Siloam.

“I was only a few miles away from the volcano, Mt. Pinatubo when it exploded in 1991. At that very moment of explosion, I really thought my family and I will die buried like those in the ancient city of Pompeii.
Pastor Bermie Dizon of GCI Ministries, Luzon Philippines bermiedizon.com/disasters/

I ask the same question of Jesus of those who perished in the fall of the Tower of Siloam:

Contemporary application by paraphrase of Jesus’ questions

“Do you think that these FILIPINOS were more sinful than all the other FILIPINOS because they suffered these things?

3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.

COVID-19 tally: 76,785 cases, 2,249 deaths, 34 cases in the U.S.
Published: Feb 21, 2020 2:50 p.m. ET

“Or those two thousand killed by the #Coronavirus —do you think they were more sinful than all the other people who live in China and other places in this world?

5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.”

Therefore, feed your faith

“‘… Perhaps it will produce fruit next year, but if not, you can cut it down.’”
Luke 13:9 CSB – Jesus’ Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
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God-willing we will return to the pool of Siloam in John 9.
To be continued... 
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February 22, 2020