2015-12-25
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, I was led to present the concept of God’s attitude toward His people as the watchmen, from EZK 33: 7-18. The idea is that if you, as a watchman, know about a danger coming and don’t warn others, then you are held responsible if they suffer negative consequences. However, if you know and warn others and they suffer negative consequences, then they are responsible for not heeding the warnings you have given. Ezekiel prophesied from c. 620-570 BC. The people of Jerusalem can’t blame their ancestors sins for their coming consequences of their idolatry just before God departed from them [see EZK 10: 18-19] and the Babylonian Captivity came upon the southerners of Judah (602-586 BC). [The same is true for the northerners of Israel in 722 BC]. You’ll remember that EZK 8: 6-10 is Ezekiel’s vision of idolatry being practiced in rooms in the walls of the very temple of God.
We’re already pretty familiar with EPH 2: 8-10, but should read it once more, because it is so important to our faith. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Another key foundation of our faith has to do with EPH 2: 19-22, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief Cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” This, to my way of thinking, describes a sturdy foundation for the church, which God means to be unified by love—the kind of love that Christ models to us.
There are numerous places in the Bible where the concept is that God’s word is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Even though humans will physically die, God’s word will stand. In Jeremiah’s time, Jerusalem was the “harlot,” selling herself to whatever seemed to satisfy her whims at that moment. God had seen idolatry earlier in Israel (the northern kingdom) and allowed for the Assyrian Captivity to begin in 722 BC. Idolatry (mentioned above) in the southern kingdom of Judah would cause Him to allow the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and the removal of Judah’s leaders, beginning in 602 BC and with the destruction of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC. And yet, God allowed the prophet Jeremiah to write, in JER 25: 11 and JER 29: 10, that the Babylonian Captivity of Judah would last seventy years. Then, the people would be returned to the land. We already know that God’s intentions were to punish the people for their disobedience to Him, but not to destroy them completely. Instead, JER 31: 31-34 tells us about the coming of a new covenant [the Covenant of Grace], which would truly make them His people and Him their God.
EZK 37: 18-22 is an important passage in that the “stick of Joseph” will be permanently reunited with the “stick of Judah” into one nation. The use of the word “stick” here uses the metaphor of a scroll wrapped around a stick to refer to both of the divided kingdoms—the “stick of Judah” is Judah, and the “stick of Joseph” is Israel. It was always God’s will that Israel should be a united kingdom. That had to happen before God was ready to bring His Son, Yeshua [Jesus] to earth, to serve His ministry and die physically on the cross to make available the opportunity for people to be eternally forgiven for their sins and saved in response to their faith in Him and repentance [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25; 1 JN 1: 9]. Restoration of God’s people, the believing Jews and Gentiles alike [RO 1: 16-17; RO 11: 16-30, particularly 25], happened through God’s tearing the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies from top to bottom [MK 15: 38]. HE 9: 11-12, 15 gives us further insight. “When Christ came as High Priest of the good things that are already here, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, i.e. not part of the creation, He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Holy of Holies once and for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption …For this reason, Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” These foundational passages give us a small picture of what God can do. Until He sent His Son as a Mediator, He was trying to settle matters from heaven by His own hand. That is how Moses, obeying God’s directions when the Jews wandering in the desert were falling ill, came to construct a metal snake coiled on a stick and told the people to look up at it for healing. When they obeyed healing happened [NU 21: 8-9]. This snake wound around a stick later was the basis for the caduceus, the symbol for medicine. If you wonder why I referred to these passages as a “small picture” of what God can do, it’s because none of us on earth can perceive the extent of the love He has for us or His capabilities. As for my own agenda, it’s to encourage all of us to become faithfully obedient members of our Covenant Partner’s team!
PRAYER: O Lord, we come to You this morning with heads bowed and hearts open to the Holy Spirit. Throughout mankind’s history, You have used Your unparalleled power to do good to teach us what it means to be a faithfully obedient believer and part of the building that is Your holy temple in which You dwell. Never before has it been more important for us to listen to Your direction and to follow it. In our own country, we anticipate an election of leaders. In our homes, we are raising children and grandchildren to be ethically sound makers of good and wise decisions. And yet, the age of “free range parenting” is sadly upon us. No longer do many adults know how to or consider important communicating effectively with their children. The consideration of learning to evaluate and analyze various behavior decisions beforehand is no longer taken or considered a matter of importance. The temptations to acquire more and more material wealth and to take ethical “short cuts” in reaching human-crafted goals are more prevalent than ever. If left unmanaged, this situation will lead us to ruin. That is not what You, as our God, want for us. So we appeal to You, as You have in our past, to make Your will known and clear, to hear our prayers and to guide us in the decisions we make, actions we take. There is nothing in this world more important than our covenant relationships with You and other humans. We know, from JN 15: 5, that we cannot make good, effective, and successful decisions without Your help. We offer You praise and thanks forever for the patience You keep showing us, and we acknowledge both Your sovereignty and that we had a great need for You in our lives. You deserve only the greatest praise and thanks for all the blessings You give us. We offer this prayer and plea in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: Once we have repented and genuinely professed faith in Jesus Christ, we don’t need a mediator between ourselves and God. Next week, we’ll look at JER 21: 35-36 to see it’s relationship to RO 8: 38-39. Some people, in confusion about this, view our pastors and priests as human mediators. But the truth is that we can learn from and speak with God directly. We can do this through study of His word and prayer. We can make our whole lives and all the activities in them various forms of worship of Him. It’s a decision that only we can make for ourselves. We can engage in faith-strengthening friendships and uses of our time. Time is a precious commodity that should never be wasted. But we must be educated (first and on-going) in order to have this dynamic and godly series of covenant relationships in our lives. This is why we need the leadership of godly people and have congregations to help us carve out godly lives. We should avoid some of the idolatrous uses of our time. I can look back on my own checkered attempts to gain discernment and know that nothing replaces experiencing God and learning from our mistakes of the past. It takes discernment from God to know who is a real friend, to recognize how reading and studying can broaden our horizons, to be a participating party in true covenant relationships, and to know the truth when it stares us in the face. I knew deep down that I needed to grow in maturity after I made some pretty painful mistakes. Praying to God to deliver me from my self-caused misery and that brought on me by others was all I could do. And when I kept at it, God finally pulled me away from the people who were hurting me and made me want to come clean with Him about the sins I already knew I had committed. This kind of taking a view of my life was indeed painful, because I wanted people to respect me and for me to have self-esteem. But it is God Who gives us faith in Christ in the first place, and it is God Who takes us through this kind of pain, so we can gain strength and deeper faith in Him. Praise be to the Lord forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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