2013-04-19
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, the question was posed about who was Israel’s protector at the time of the pogroms or the Holocaust, for example. That plunged us into a study of what God tells us and His greater perspective from which the answer must come. DN 12: 1 looks into the future saying, “At the time Michael [Israel’s guardian angel] the great prince who protects your people will arise. There will be a time of distress such as not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time, your people—everyone whose name is found written in the Book—will be delivered.” The Book here is God’s Book of Life. MT 24: 21 tells us this great distress [the Tribulation] will never to be equaled again. Joel, in JL 2: 1-2 prophesies the Day of the Lord. JER 31: 31-34 prophesies the new covenant and God’s claiming of His people and theirs of Him. The notion expressed there is reiterated in JER 31: 33, and verse 37 makes it clear God will reject Israel and her descendants “only if the heavens can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out,” to wit, it’s very unlikely will this happen. Now, we need to look at more Scriptural reconnaissance for the future.
God’s love of Israelis clearly seen in ZECH 12: 3-4, 8, 10, “’On that day when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. On that Day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations’...On that Day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God…’And I will pour out on the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a Spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the One they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as One grieves for the first-born Son.’” I can’t tell you how important this is, because it conforms totally with RO 11: 25, which tells us that “the stubbornness of Israel is only temporary” and that “as soon as all the Gentiles who have been called come to faith, Israel will also come to faith in the Lord Yeshua [Jesus] and be saved. Sadly, in accordance with ZECH 13: 8-9, it will only be one third of all Jews living at the time of the Tribulation—the Jewish remnant.
ZECH 13: 2, which comes beforehand, tells us God will banish all the names of the idols from the land, and they will be no longer remembered. We get some of the clearest descriptions of end time events from ZECH 14 that are in the Scriptures. ZECH 14: 2, 8-9, “’ I will gather all the nations toJerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city…In the whole land,’ declares the Lord, ‘two-thirds will be struck down and perish, yet one-third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
ZECH 14: 9, 12-13, 16 give us a picture of the final solution for God’s love of His people—all who believe in His Son. “The Lord will be King over the whole earth. On that Day there will be One Lord and His name the only name…This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought againstJerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that Day men will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. Each man will seize the hand of another; and they will attack each other…then the survivors from all the nations that have attackedJerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of the Tabernacles.”
How can we ignore the Lord’s command and plan in PS 105: 15 to “protect My anointed ones?” Perhaps we can say that the extraordinary persecution that Israel has endured over the last 3000 years is due to her disobedience, but still we must note He is our Strong Tower and Israel’s, because in that amount of time, the Jewish homeland still exists despite the disappearance of so many of her enemies. To some degree it is like trying to comprehend the number infinity to imagine the power that God will use to stop the seal judgments of the Tribulation at the end of the sixth seal [REV 7: 3; REV 8: 1] and hold them for 30 minutes until His seal of protection is affixed to their foreheads. He is indeed ourStrongTower, the One to Whom we can look for protection and all our other needs. “Don’t touch My anointed ones” are covenant words, the words of a God Who most definitely keeps His promises and engenders the loyalty of those who believe in the truth. When deciding for one’s self whose team to be on, for anyone interested in eternal survival, there is only one choice---that is to be on God’s team, His servants who believe in and love Him dearly! Praise, honor, love, and thanks be to Him!
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before You today, in awe of all You have told us that maybe we didn’t focus on before-- about the Day of the Lord. It’s one thing to say that You are our Strong Tower, Protector, End All and Be All. But it is another thing to see the connections between OT and NT Scriptures which actually prove it, if we believe the Bible to be inerrant truth. We are here before You to proclaim our belief in Your word and Your unparalleled compassion. Our human perception is often faulty and even when it’s good, it doesn’t begin to approach Yours. IS 55: 8-9, “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” Throughout our study of the Scriptures which apply to Your role as our Strong Tower, we have seen Your unbelievable patience and mercy toward us, despite our frailties. IS 55: 6-7 gives us essential advice which we can follow. “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake His way, and the evil man His thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God for He will freely pardon.’” We must think about it. At this point, those who stop sinning and change their ways can freely approach the Lord with confidence that He is listening and will decide with remarkable compassion [EPH 3: 12]. That is why Jeremiah was instructed to say, in JER 29: 11-13, “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not to bring disaster, plans to give you the future for which you hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” We offer You our heartfelt thanks and praise in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We can learn fromIsrael’s disobedience to God what not to do, if we will refuse to be prejudicial or apathetic about it. That is why the Holy Spirit has instructed me to write more about the specifics ofIsrael’s disobedience in next week’s message. In the meanwhile, we need to keep this discussion in the context of what has been said above. Jan. 22, 2013 isIsrael’s latest elections. Many parties are running with the hope of gaining power. The front-runner is the Lucud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu. I have no plan to “politicize” these messages, but some of the parties running in this election reveal some ofIsrael’s obedience, and others reveal its disobedience to God with their platforms. We must also understand that Jews from all over the world are living there, and thus comes with that a collection of different cultural views ofIsrael’s issues. Needless to say, one of her longest standing and most challenging issues is her geographic location-- set right amidst her enemies on all sides but the west (Mediterranean Sea). If we watchIsrael, we will see she lives up to her name, which means “struggles with God.” Please join me in praying forIsrael to accept that the Lord Jesus is the true Messiah, a word which means “Savior.” In our own, lives we must refrain from being judgmental—leaving that up to the Lord Jesus—and learn to obey our God Who loves us so very much. Once again, let’s offer praise and thanks to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2013. All Rights Reserved.
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