2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
Some of us have to face a tough work day with many stressful demands on our time and patience. It is my experience that when we begin our days with some time for Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there, He equips us to be better able to tackle the challenges of our lives. He grounds us in a higher perspective and comforts us with His power and His presence. Today, He commands me to write about His presence with Israel and His promise of deliverance by the Messiah for all believers from the evil of this world.
What a difficult history Jehovah Shammah has had to endure with His people! (By the way, when I use the term “His people,” I mean not only believing Israel but all believers, Jewish or Gentile). We certainly haven’t made it easy for God over mankind’s history. EZK 39: 25-29 reveals both God’s love and the struggle He has had with His people. [It is significant that the name, “Israel”, means, “he struggles with God.”] “The sovereign Lord said, ‘But now I will be merciful to Jacob’s descendants, the people of Israel, and will make them prosperous again. I will protect My holy name. When they are once more living in safety in their own land, with no one to threaten them, they will be able to forget how they were disgraced for having betrayed Me. In order to show the many nations that I am holy, I will bring My people back from all the countries where their enemies live. Then My people will know that I am the Lord their God. They will know this, because I sent them into captivity and now gather them and bring them back into their own land, not leaving even one of them behind. I will pour out My Spirit on the people of Israel and never turn away from them. I, the sovereign Lord, have spoken.’”
A passage like this one from Ezekiel applied not only to the time when Israel returned from the Babylonian captivity, but it applies at other times in her history. In 1948, she regained nationhood after the second dyaspora, which lasted from 70 AD when the Romans under Emperor Vespasian destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. Since then, the Jews have won a number of wars with her Arab neighbors in which she was badly outnumbered. We are always reading about people from all over the world who are immigrating to this tiny country no bigger than that state of New Jersey. Jehovah Shammah keeps His promises. JER 32: 37-41 is another statement of God’s promise to Israel. “ I am going to gather the people from all the countries where I have scattered them in My anger and fury, and I am going to bring them back to this place and let them live here in safety. Then they will be My people and I will be their God. I will give them a single purpose in life: to honor Me for all time, for their own good and the good of their descendants. I will make an eternal covenant with them. I will never stop doing good things for them, and I will make them fear Me with all their heart, so that they will never turn away from Me. I will take pleasure in doing good things for them, and I will establish them permanently in this land.”
From both of these passages, we can see that the establishment of Israel’s nationhood in 1948 is not the only other application of this promise. There is another in our future. It is especially seen in verse 40 of the Jeremiah passage in which the words, “I will make an eternal covenant with them,” and in verse 41 in which the words, “I will establish them permanently in this land” are used. Because of the Islamic jihad (holy war) that is going on right now with Israel, it is impossible for us to know if God will once again vanquish her enemies, if there will be a third dyaspora because of Israeli disobedience toward Him, or if this is the beginning of Armageddon. However, we can take comfort that God always is there for believers and will keep His promises to them. We just don’t know the how or when part. One way or the other, we can be assured in knowing the Yeshua Ha-Mashiach Adonai, “Jesus Christ, our Lord and Messiah,” will return for all those who are faithful. We can know that the final “separation of sheep and goats” referred to in MT 25: 32 will happen. MT 24: 36 reminds us that only the Father (not even Jesus Christ) knows the exact time He will come. The urgency for us to be ready is inherent in this all important message. So is the hope!
What is promised to Israel in the Ezekiel and Jeremiah passages matters to us. It reminds us that Jehovah Shammah’s presence is constant in our lives. It encourages us to have courage of faith and endurance in the face of challenges to it. It attempts to keep us from forgetting the promise He makes arises out of His love, justice, righteousness, and earnest desire to see us living eternal life with Him. It is also a warning of what we should avoid, particularly being sucked in by the allure of the adversary into wrongdoing. Underneath it all is the message that our Abba is sovereign and His power supreme. He wants us to be on the winning side in this war against the adversary-His side. When He sent the Messiah the first time, the people didn’t recognize Him. Instead, they rejected Him. We must learn from that, and take comfort in knowing that when He comes the second time, there will be no mistaking Who He is.
PRAYER: O Lord, a long list of believers throughout history have struggled against the evil which the adversary brings. Yet, somehow they were courageous enough to endure this hardship, some even to the point of martyrdom. It is You Who gave them that faith, and it is You Who commanded the authors of the Scriptures to write about them for our sake. Your presence in the lives of the believers has been constant, even though it has manifested itself in many ways. You have always loved Your people, Israel, and now You add to that those who have been “grafted in” along with her. Without that great love, You would have given up on Israel long ago in the face of her disobedience throughout history. Instead, You have made her and all believers the promise of not only restoration but also reconciliation that is permanent. What a comfort that is to us! As long ago as Jeremiah’s time, You promised Israel a Deliverer, a Messiah. When You sent Your Son to do the work of the cross, You made good on that promise. Even though we do not deserve it, You have promised to send Him again, this time to establish Your Kingdom. We stand in awe of the love You show us and in humility, offer You our worship, adoration, loyalty, trust, obedience, honor, glory, praise and thanks for being our Jehovah Shammah. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Jehovah Shammah leads me to write about Jesus Christ tomorrow. Christ is the embodiment of God’s love for us. What more can I say? Each day I am led to end my message with a reminder of that love. Our lives are not often easy. We should a lot of responsibility to raise children and grandchildren in today’s world. Those who are single or otherwise childless also have burdens of their own to carry. Christ in MT 11: 28-30 offers us His shoulders upon which to place those burdens. The concerns of our lives never need to be dealt with in hopelessness. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn