2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Today, Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there, leads me to discuss people who do not recognize Him or His presence. While not a particularly pleasant subject, we need to examine it to understand the consequences of this and have a greater appreciation than before of the significance of the gift of God’s grace. This morning as I write to you, I have a picture in my mind of four 30 minute programs produced by Radio Bible Class for their television series, “Day of Discovery.” The title of these programs is “Inhumanity,” and they were narrated by the late Scottish theologian, Billy Strachen and his camera man who traveled along with him. I watched these programs about the Nazi inhumanity to Jews and others in the Warsaw ghetto, at Khatyn (pronounced “cat-teen,” a village that was wiped out by the Nazis in Belarussia), during the advance of the Nazi’s through the gate at the Fort of Khominsk (known as the “Fortress Gate of Heroes”) on the border between Belarussia and Poland, and finally, in the atrocities committed at Auschwitz concentration camp. This was not easy for me to watch, even though as a Jew I had been exposed to various aspects of the Holocaust story all of my life. Pastor Stachen was brought to tears at Auschwitz, and that was a natural reaction in face of what he saw there. Four months after this series was completed, Pastor Strachen passed away.
You might ask: why do I bring this up in this morning’s devotion? The reason is because of the impact that Jehovah Shammah has on our lives. The little country of Belarussia sits between Poland and Russia. It was the Nazi’s intention to march into Russia and take that country. Cruelty toward the Russians is just one aspect of the evilness of the Nazi philosophy. The story of the Holocaust is one that while painful to hear, must never be forgotten or left not repeated. That is because we need to know the extent of the cruelty of which humans under Satan’s influence are capable. So many people living today were born after the Holocaust and must be made aware of this second hand, that its story and important lessons must not go unrepeated. It is with this in mind that Jehovah Shammah wants me to cite certain Scriptures which reveal how and why mankind can engage in inhumanity toward his fellow man.
Jehovah Shammah is indeed present in our lives. There is indeed a limit to how much disobedience He will permit before He takes punitive action. Isaiah writes about this in IS 6: 9-10. “So He told me [Isaiah] to go and give the people this message, ‘No matter how much you look you will not know what is happening.’ Then He said to me, ‘Make the minds of these people dull, their ears deaf, and their eyes blind, so that they cannot see or hear or understand. If they did they might turn to Me and be healed.’” Now how revealing is that? All along God has been telling mankind to trust and obey Him. Because the Jewish people in Isaiah’s time had not been doing that for generations, God has finally reached His limit and tells Isaiah to prophesy the punitive action He will take against them. God’s ultimate power to control and His omniscience is revealed in this citation. These are traits He has to exercise His judgment, traits that existed throughout mankind’s history, still exist today, and will exist for eternity. That is why we are not wasting our time to look at Jehovah Shammah’s interactions with disobedient people in the past to learn about the present and the future.
The punishment of the dyaspora (scattering and loss of nationhood) for the Jews during the Babylonian Captivity foreshadows the ultimate rejection of the Messiah in 33 AD and resulting second dyaspora after the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans. These were a result of Jehovah Shammah’s adjudication of these people blinded by their sinfulness. I hope you will revisit RO 1: 18-32 today to see the mechanism by which a person is deceived by the adversary and why there is no excuse for allowing this to happen. Because of Christ’s Atonement, a person has the choice as to whether they will sin or not [RO 6: 6]. A single unintentional, non-heinous sin followed by repentance is not the kind of sin I am discussing. My subject here is sin which becomes a lifestyle and sin which is heinous. It is the kind of sin which the Nazis committed and the kind which generation after generation of Jews did in practicing idolatry. Our Lord and Savior repeated IS 6: 9-10 in MT 13: 14-15 when he was talking about the purpose of the parables. That is revealing of the fact that He too was dealing with people willing and capable of terrible sin in His time on earth. I relate vignettes of horrific sin from several periods of history in this message to emphasize how persistent this problem really is.
It is the same Jehovah Shammah who wants us to learn something about the extent of evil to which mankind is capable and the lessons we can get from learning to reject that behavior who inspired Jeremiah to write this message in LAM 3: 22-23. “The Lord’s unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.” I am not offering confused messages here when I cite this. The same God Who has the authority to be Supreme Judge is eager to supremely bless us. He knows that our decision to act with righteousness and our faithfulness to His Son is the only way through that narrow gate spoken of in MT 7: 13-14 which leads to eternal life. So, we do not waste our time when we learn the lessons from both the far and recent past about recognizing Jehovah Shammah’s presence and power in our lives.
PRAYER: O Lord, Your teachings are amazingly simple. What confuses us and makes us have convoluted thoughts leading to behavior pathways of sinfulness is refusal to reject the adversary. You have given us the weapons we need to fight spiritual warfare victoriously. We need to have the courage in the face of challenges to our faith to summon and use them. To appreciate the fullness our Your magnificent grace, we must sometimes face painful lessons from our past. Nothing is more painful than dwelling on the story of the Holocaust and learning of the details of how it was carried out. And yet, in Your infinite wisdom, You know that this is a story which must be retold from now on. Doing this along with will allowing the Holy Spirit to direct us in bringing as many people to faith in Your Son as possible offer the only hope that the Holocaust will never happen again. Your power is supreme and Your character always righteous. We dedicate ourselves to recognizing Your presence in our lives and helping others to do so. We humbly offer ourselves up to this service in response to the great commission of MT 28: 19-20. Your Son, Jesus Christ, is the only real power to prevent a repeat of the heinous and persistent sins of the past. To You, we offer our adoration, worship, trust, obedience, glory, honor, praise, and thanksgiving. In Christ’s name, amen.
Jehovah Shammah leads me to write about our relationship to Him and why we are blessed when we submit to Him. At this week’s Sunday service, Pastor Dean spoke of praying a prayer of submission as Christ did in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is certain cause for reflection. God’s love for us is that of a Parent Who knows that for His children to appreciate the depth of His grace, they must sometimes look at the most painful lessons with the worst consequences for wrongdoers. That is one more manifestation of His love, when He wants us to avoid the pitfalls of sinfulness. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn