~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
Jeremiah 23:21-25:38 ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17
Psalm 84:1-12 ~ Proverbs 25:15
Old Testament - Jeremiah 23 continues on from yesterday's readings with the problems of false prophets. Verses 21 & 22 really jumped out at me here - "I have not sent these prophets, yet they claim to speak for me. I have given them no message, yet they prophesy. If they had listened to me, they would have spoken my words and turned my people from their evil ways." I think the key word in these verses above is "listen". The false prophets' problems all started because they were not listening to God. How well do we listen to God today? Think we should slow down our lives a bit and create some time and space to listen? When we pray - are we speaking or listening more?
Verse 29 is a great one - "Does not my word burn like fire?" asks the Lord. "Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes rock to pieces?" In your life - does God's Word burn like fire?
Jeremiah Chapter 24 and the good and bad figs is interesting. It's interesting in that the captives that end up in Babylon are the good figs - and those that stay behind in Judah & Jerusalem are the bad. You might think the opposite would be true. But, it seems that the 70 years of captivity coming up in Babylon will be a "refining" process for those Israelites, and will bring them back closer to God, before returning to the land. In verse 1 we read - "After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon along with the princes of Judah and all the skilled craftsmen, the LORD gave me this vision. I saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the LORD's Temple in Jerusalem."
Jeremiah Chapter 25 is the bit of a tough read at first. I would certainly like to study more of the theology on the "cup of the Lord's anger." The best I can tell is that the land was so full of sin & rejection of God, that the cup of anger and the coming judgment was the only option for God. My thought is that God showed graciousness time and time and time again - and was ignored, and things got worse. So, keep in mind that God didn't just go ballistic here in Chapter 25 - it was a long time coming and I think a lot of grace & mercy & compassion was shown for a long time - but eventually this had to happen. Actually, this does remind me of a sermon I heard actually just last weekend. The pastor was preaching from the "feast of the wedding banquet" in Matthew where a king (God) invites his townsfolk to attend the wedding feast for his son (Jesus). But people refuse the invitation - saying they have to work / they are too busy, etc. The 2nd time the king extends the invitation, the people even beat up his servants! Well, the pastor's point in preaching was that God does continue to show us grace and pursue us, but at some point we have to accept the invitation from God! We have to accept the invitation of faith in his son Jesus. We have to accept the invitation to repent of our sins. We have to accept the invitation. While God will extend his grace and the invitation time and time and time again - he won't do so forever for us if we keep rejecting him. Israel, leading up to chapter 25, did not accept the invitation from God to repent. In our lives today, are we accepting the invitation from God to repent through faith in his son Jesus? Do you believe that you have been invited? Have you accepted the invitation?
New Testament - Second Thessalonians chapter 2 is a good look at the 2nd coming of Jesus. Verse 7 is interesting - "For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way." Seems that this is alluding to sin and the temptation to sin that pursues people in our world today. The lawlessness is at work - secretly - and will remain secret until it comes out in the open in the form of the anti-christ? Again, I'm not big into end times stuff. But, clearly, there will come the day of Jesus' return. And the Bible is preparing believers for what to expect and to know that God is bigger than whatever evil comes in those days. God is bigger...
Psalms - Today in Psalm 84:5 we read: “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.” Where does your strength come from? God? Or your own will-power? Why might it be a good idea to rely on God for your strength rather than yourself? Have you set your heart on a pilgrimage? Is the pilgrimage toward God? Do you think this will be a life-long pilgrimage? Later in this Psalm, verse 10, we read: “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.” This is a song many of us have probably sung before at church. What does this verse mean to you? What does one day in God’s courts look like for you? Why would one day in God’s courts be better than one thousand days elsewhere? Do you look forward to spending an eternity in God’s courts? Is your heart on a pilgrimage to God’s courts?
Proverbs - Proverbs 25 verse 15 is a beautiful meditation in the midst of our hussle-bussle world of today - "Patience can persuade a prince, and soft speech can crush strong opposition." Basically this Proverb tells us that we don't need to be in a hurry or loud! Are you a patient person? Do you speak softly / humbly? Well, since I opened up today's post with an image of a cute dog with big ears, mind if I close the post out today with an image of a dog demonstrating patience with a cute kitten? Thanks... :) Do you demonstrate patience regularly like this dog is demonstrating below?
What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings? Please post up in the Comments section below!
Grace,
Mike
2 Thessalonians 2
3
Don't be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed--the one who brings destruction.
4
He will exalt himself and defy every god there is and tear down every object of adoration and worship. He will position himself in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.
9
This evil man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles.
10
He will use every kind of wicked deception to fool those who are on their way to destruction because they refuse to believe the truth that would save them.
11
So God will send great deception upon them, and they will believe all these lies.
12
Then they will be condemned for not believing the truth and for enjoying the evil they do.
13
As for us, we always thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation, a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and by your belief in the truth.
14
He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 84
5
Happy are those who are strong in the LORD, who set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
6
When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,[ Hebrew valley of Baca ]
it will become a place of refreshing springs, where pools of blessing collect after the rains!
~~~
NOTE: Consider this –
Andrew Murray is an excellent man of God—with our Lord Jesus in heaven.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia): While on earth, he was father to eight adult children (four boys and four girls). Also, he was the champion of the South African Revival of 1860.
As I reflect on the antichrist, note this in 2 Thessalonians 2:
4
He will exalt himself and defy every god there is and tear down every object of adoration and worship. He will position himself in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.
In light of who man is (and is NOT) and Who God is, consider Andrew Murray’s words:
“God proposed to make a man in His own image and likeness. The chief glory of God is that He has life in Himself; that He is independent of all else, and owes what He is to Himself alone.
If the image and likeness of God was not to be a mere name, and man was really to be like God in the power to make himself what he was to be, he must needs have the power of free will and self determination.
This was the problem God had to solve in man's creation in His image. Man was to be a creature made by God, and yet he was to be, as far as a creature could be, like God, self made. In all God's treatment of man these two factors were ever to be taken into account.
God was ever to take the initiative, and be to man the source of life. Man was ever to be the recipient, and yet at the same time the disposer of the life God bestowed
* dispose [regulate] according to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary: to govern or direct according to rule *
When man had fallen through sin, and God entered into a covenant of salvation, these two sides of the relationship had still to be maintained intact. God was ever to be the first, and man the second.
His [man’s] absolute dependence upon God was not to be forced upon him; if it was really to be a thing of moral worth and true blessedness, it must be his deliberate and voluntary choice.
…there came the New Covenant, in which God was to reveal how man's true liberty from sin and self and the creature, his true nobility and God-likeness, was to be found in the most entire and absolute dependence, in God's being and doing all within him.
In the very nature of things there was no other way possible to God than this in dealing with a being whom He had endowed with the Godlike power of a will.”
~~~
The antichrist and all who follow the antichrist spirit (even today) see man’s “Godlike power of a will” as proof that there is no God. They see “Godlike power of a will” in the context of the “survival of the fittest”—in evolution where man, being like god, willed to overcome.
I see man’s “Godlike power of a will” differently than the antichrist. Yet, it takes the determination to seek the Lord and not be deceived by the human heart and by the deceitfulness of sin and the devil.
Psalm 84
5
Happy are those who are strong in the LORD,
who set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
We can choose to be like the Lord Jesus. And “non-choice” is not an option; for this is NOT choosing to be like the Lord Jesus—the Perfect Man (complete submission to the loving Father) and the Perfect God. Of course, we could NEVER do this by ourselves. And we cannot do it without true, deep repentance. If we could, we would not need Jesus or salvation.
I like Andrew Murray’s words:
“…there came the New Covenant, in which God was to reveal how man's true liberty from sin and self and the creature, his true nobility and God-likeness, was to be found in the most entire and absolute dependence, in God's being and doing all within him.”
I see this as stating in a different way what God said in 2 Thessalonians 2:
13
As for us, we always thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation, a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and by your belief in the truth.
14
He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Vance
Posted by: Vance Brown | October 14, 2005 at 05:33 AM