Prophecies Of The Lord’s Death And Resurrection

Wednesday, April 16th, 2014

• Holidays
• Past Featured
• Resurrection

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).

He came into Jerusalem just like the prophecies said He would and the whole town lit up. Jerusalem was filling up with Passover pilgrims and they joined the locals in lining the steep street that led down from the top of the Mt. of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane and then across the Kidron valley to the East gate of the Temple. They laid their outer garments and branches from nearby palm trees across the street and sang,
“Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD (Psalm 118:25-26). Hosanna in the highest!”

This is the only day He ever let them do that. Always before He had told them to be quiet or had disappeared from among them. But on this day things were different. They were singing the Psalm reserved for the arrival of the Messiah and when the Pharisees told Him to stop them, He refused, telling them that nothing could stop this from happening (Luke 19:39-40). On this day He was fulfilling a prophecy from Daniel 9 as well as the one above from Zechariah 9.

“Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.” (Daniel 9:25)
A “seven” was a period of seven years. 7 sevens plus 62 sevens equals 69 sevens or 483 years. On the day He rode into the city it had been exactly 483 years since the Persian King Artaxerxes had authorized Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem and rebuild it (Nehemiah 2:1-9). As Jesus approached the city He told the people that Jerusalem would be destroyed because their leaders didn’t recognize the time of God’s visitation (Luke 19:41-44).
His arrival made the religious leaders very nervous. Ever since He had raised Lazarus from the dead they’d been looking for a way to kill Him (John 11:45-53) and now He was here in their midst. They had to do something fast because everybody was talking about Him.   In desperation they agreed to let  one of His followers betray Him for money.
Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. (Psalm 41:9)

Jesus had reserved a room in which He and His disciples could observe the Passover, where He identified Judas as His betrayer (John 13:26). Immediately afterward Judas left to complete his act of betrayal. He would bring the soldiers to the Garden of Gethsemane where he knew Jesus would be, and point Him out to them. The other disciples remained with the Lord and received His teaching on the New Covenant. It was shortly after sunset so the day had just begun. Before it was over, He would be arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced to death, executed and buried. All on Passover.
After the meal they sang a song. By tradition it was also part of Psalm 118.
The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:22-24).
It’s impossible to imagine how the Lord must have felt, knowing what was coming as He sang. Hebrews 12:2 says it was the joy set before Him that helped Him endure the cross. The source of that joy was the knowledge that He was redeeming us by paying the penalty for our sins. It took the life of a sinless man to rescue us from death and He considered the outcome to be well worth the price He had to pay. After the song they went out to the Garden of Gethsemane.

A little while later Judas arrived with the soldiers to arrest Him. Jesus convinced them to just take Him and let the others go. Only Peter and John followed behind Him while the others scattered. Earlier He had said this would happen, quoting Zechariah 13:7.
“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!” declares the LORD Almighty. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.”
When the chief priests made their deal with Judas they didn’t realize they would be fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah 11 in conspicuous detail.
I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter (Zechariah 11:12-13)

The price was the same, the location of the transaction was the same, even the ultimate recipient was the same. After Judas had betrayed the Lord, he was filled with remorse. He returned the money by throwing it at the chief priests in the Temple (Matt. 27:5). This caused them a problem. They couldn’t take it back into the treasury because it was tainted. Since they were responsible for burying any travelers who died in the city, they used the money to buy a field they could turn into a burial ground. The man they bought the field from was a potter by trade (Matt. 27:6-7).
 
After trials before the High Priest and King Herod, Jesus was condemned to death. But the Jews had lost the authority to carry out an execution so they held Him over until they could see Pilate in the morning to make it official. Jesus spent the rest of the night alone in the darkness, shackled in a dungeon beneath the High Priest’s residence.
You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them. I am confined and cannot escape; my eyes are dim with grief. (Psalm 88:8-9)
As Pilate listened to their accusations, he realized the charges were politically motivated and not legitimate. He decided to see if having Jesus scourged would satisfy them and sent Him to be beaten and flogged with whips.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:4).

Pilate’s attempts to save Jesus failed, and after his offer to set Jesus free was rejected, he washed his hands of the matter and sent Him off to be crucified. During all this time, Jesus didn’t protest His innocence or offer any kind of defense. He knew He wasn’t dying for His crimes, but for ours.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:5-7)
By nine o’clock in the morning Jesus had been nailed to the cross and consigned to die the most agonizing form of death ever devised. They had offered Him some wine vinegar laced with gall to lessen the pain, but He refused it. He had told His disciples He wouldn’t drink wine again until the Kingdom had come.
They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst. (Psalm 69:21)

He hung there for several hours slowly suffocating without complaining about the excruciating pain but then something happened that changed everything. Having taken upon Himself all the sins of mankind, He actually became the physical embodiment of sin (2 Cor. 5:21). The Father could no longer bear to look at Him and turned away. As He did He took the light from the world and at noon it became like night.
“And on that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight” (Amos 8:9)
Separation from His Father is something Jesus had never experienced and could not have anticipated, and it was so much worse than the physical pain that He finally cried out in anguish.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1)
Psalm 22, written 1000 years earlier, is a first person account of what it feels like to be crucified and contains several details specific to the Lord’s ordeal.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;  you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. (Psalm 22:14-18)

Finally, after spending 6 hours in a consuming fog of pain that none of us will ever experience, He died. In the last act of His life, He asked for and received a drink of wine. He did this knowing that the work He had come to do had been completed. The Scriptures had been fulfilled. Having paid the price for our sins He knew the Kingdom of God had come to Earth. The drink of wine He took is our proof of this because He had sworn not to drink of the fruit of the vine again until it did (Luke 22:18). Then He said, “It is finished” and died (John 19:28-30). The price for all the sins of mankind had been paid in full. Light returned to the Earth.

A few hours later, the Chief Priests asked Pilate to allow the soldiers to hasten the deaths of the men being crucified. At sunset the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread would begin and it was a special Sabbath on which no work could be done (Exodus 12:16). They wanted the men dead and off their crosses before the Sabbath began. Since crucifixion is ultimately a death by suffocation, breaking the men’s legs would prevent even their limited breathing and they would quickly die. When the soldiers came to Jesus He was already dead so they didn’t break His legs, but stabbed Him in the heart instead.
“(The Passover Lamb)must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. (Exodus 12:46)
A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. (Psalm 34:19-20)
Typically, crucified men were denied burial. Their dead bodies were simply thrown on the city’s garbage dump where wild dogs consumed them. But one of the richest men in the area petitioned Pilate for the body of Jesus and laid it in his own tomb near the site of the crucifixion.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9)
But that was not the end of it. Three days and three nights later, before His body even began to decompose, He rose from the grave, fully and eternally alive.
You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. (Psalm 16:10)

It was proof positive that His death had paid the full penalty due for the sins of mankind. He was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It was also the unmistakable sign of Jonah. He was Israel’s Messiah.
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:10-11)
On the night of His arrest, Jesus had prayed that if there was any other way to redeem mankind, He wanted to be released from His commitment to die for us. Then He prayed that not His will but the Father’s will be done. (The Hebrew word translated knowledge above also means perception or discernment. The Lord perceived that His Father’s will was correct and chose to follow it rather than His own.)

This passage from Isaiah shows us that there was no other way. It was the Father’s will for the Son to die so we could live. But it was also His will that the Son be resurrected, because without the resurrection there would be no proof that they had been successful in redeeming us. This is why Paul said we have to believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead in order to be saved (Romans 10:9). The Resurrection is proof that all our sins have been taken away. The fact that He conquered death is proof that we will too. Therefore, belief in a bodily resurrection from the dead is absolutely essential to our salvation.

Writing to the Ephesians Paul said, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:18-21).
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6-7)

The resurrection is the synergistic combination of power and love. Greater than the Creation or the Exodus, which required only power; greater even than the birth of the Messiah, which required only love; it’s God’s crowning achievement. Resurrection Sunday was nothing less than the greatest day in the history of human existence. He is risen! 04-23-11

Op-Ed: 10 Reasons Why Russia Will Invade Ukraine

Reblogged from www.israelnationalnews.com

Published: Tuesday, April 08, 2014 11:14 AM

It makes more sense for Russia to invate Ukraine than it does for it to stay put.

Mark Langfan

The writer, who specializes in security issues, has created an original educational 3d Topographic Map System of Israel to facilitate clear understanding of the dangers facing Israel and its water supply. It has been studied by US lawmakers and can be seen at www.marklangfan.com.

► More from this writer

With pro-Russian forces storming the South Ukrainian government buildings, the countdown has started on Russia’s invasion of South Ukraine.  A NATO general has predicted such an invasion would take 3-5 days.

Here are 10 reasons why Putin will likely make a dash westward to Moldavia.  
1.    South Ukraine holds a significant Russian majority.
Like Crimea, the South Ukraine holds a considerable majority of ethic Russians who speak Russian as their primary language.
2.    South Ukraine, like Crimea, holds huge natural gas and conventional oil deposits, as well as off-shore deposits in the Black Sea.
3.    South Ukraine holds huge Iron Ore Deposits, and other vital minerals.
4.    South Ukraine holds many vital Soviet-era military industry, ship-building, and land arms factories necessary for Russia army and navy.  In fact, many of the key components, such as helicopter rotors, are made in South Ukraine.  For Russia, no South Ukraine means no Russian helicopters.  Now, Ukraine is the 4th largest exporter of weapons in the world, mostly from South Ukraine.  Also, South Ukraine is arming Russian client-states such as Assad.  So, for Russia, no South Ukraine means no easy ability to arm client states.
5.    South Ukraine holds existing gas pipeline to Romania, and from the Romanian Black Sea coastal plain the gas pipeline would wind its way up the Danube River Basin into the heart of Europe - the Black Forest of Germany.  Russia would moot the need to spend tens of billions building the Black Sea, or alternative Crimean leg of Russia’s planned South Stream gas pipeline.  Russian control of the South Ukraine gas pipeline would provide an “end-run-around” what is now North Ukraine’s stranglehold bottleneck on Russian gas exports to Europe.
6.    South Ukraine holds critical Soviet-era nuclear, coal, hydro-electric power plants.
7.    South Ukraine holds Zheltiye Vody the center of Ukraine’s Uranium mining, and Dneprozerzhinsk, the Heavy water production site, which could produce 250 metric tons of heavy water per year.
8.    South Ukraine holds and controls electric power to Crimea.  So, without Russia controlling South Ukraine, North Ukraine’s control of South Ukraine can turn Crimea’s lights out.
9.    South Ukraine holds the connective path to the Russian Majority Trans-Dniester Moldavia.
10.  Russia believes it must stop the expansion of NATO before it grabs South Ukraine’s weapons industry.  If NATO controlled Ukraine’s weapons’ exports to Russia, Russia’s ability to re-arm would be paralyzed.
Time will tell if Putin's assessment of Russia's needs trumps international opinion.

Can Good Works Prove Salvation?

Reblogged from  http://www.gracelife.org/
By Dr. Charles C. Bing GraceLife Ministries

There is every reason to think that those who have believed in Jesus Christ as Savior and are consequently born into God's family will experience a changed life to some degree. Some would say that this changed life is evidenced by good works which proves they are saved. If that is true, then the converse is true: if there are no good works, then there is no salvation. In this view, good works (sometimes called "fruit" or evidence of a changed life) prove or disprove one's eternal salvation.

Some passages are used to contend that works can prove or disprove one's eternal salvation. Probably the most common are James 2:14-26, John 15:6, and Matthew 7:15-20. But James is writing to Christians about the usefulness of their faith, not its genuineness. Likewise, in John 15:6 Jesus is talking about fruitless believers and compares them to branches that are burned, in other words, not of much use. Matthew 7:15-20 warns against false prophets (not believers in general) who can be evaluated on the basis of their evil deeds or heretical teaching (not an absence of works in general).

Can Good Works Prove Salvation?

There is no passage of Scripture that claims works can prove salvation. In fact, there are many problems with trying to use works to prove salvation, or the lack of works to disprove salvation.

• Good works can characterize non-Christians. Works in and of themselves can not prove that anyone is eternally saved because those who have not believed in Christ will often do good things. In fact, good deeds are essential to many non-Christian religions. Sometimes the outward morality of non-Christians exceeds that of established Christians. In Matthew 7:21-23 we see the possibility of those who do not know Christ doing great works, but their works are useless in demonstrating their salvation; they are not saved.
• Good works can be hard to define. Though we might define a good work as something done by a Christian through the Spirit for the Lord, how can we always know when that is true? It is hard to imagine even a single day when a Christian (or non-Christian, for that matter) would not do something good like go to work to provide for a family, hold a door for someone, or brake for a squirrel. How can we know when these things are done through the Spirit and for the Lord, especially if they can be done by non-Christians?
• Good works are relative. While a person's behavior may seem excessive, it may actually demonstrate great progress in that person's Christian growth. A man slips with a curse word that startles other believers, but those believers do not know that before his conversion, curse words flowed freely. The amount of fruit must be considered in the context of one's total past life, a difficult thing to do. It may also be relative to the amount of sin in one's present life. For example, if a Christian were to commit adultery, we might focus our thinking on that sin so that we ignore the other good things he is doing.
• Good works can be passive in nature. The fruit of salvation is not always what we do, but often what we do not do. As a Christian, one may no longer get drunk or may refrain from yelling at an inconsiderate motorist. This fruit of the Spirit, self-control, may not be detected by others because of its passive nature.
• Good works can be unseen. In Matthew 6:1-6 Jesus told his followers to give and pray in secret rather than publicly. A person who never prays in a group may breathe a prayer while driving and no one will ever know. Another may not attend church, but give regularly to a Christian charity. These are works that go unobserved by others.
• Good works can be deceptive. Since we can not know one's motives, a seeming good work could be done for the wrong reason. A person might give money to a church to impress others. Another might volunteer to work with church children only to wait for an opportunity to sexually abuse them. These are not actually good works at all! Motives are difficult to discern, even for the doer, but God knows each person's heart (1 Cor. 4:3-5).
• Good works can be inconsistent. The Bible allows the possibility of believers who begin well, but fall away from their walk with the Lord or fall into sin (1 Cor. 11:30; 2 Tim. 4:10; James 5:19-20). If a Christian shows the evidence of a changed life, but later falls away, at what point in their life do we examine them to prove or disprove their salvation? If there can be lapses in good works, how long does the lapse continue before one is judged as never saved?

Conclusion

Nowhere does the Bible teach that fruit or good works can prove one's eternal salvation. Since the fruit of good works is not easily discerned or quantified, it cannot be reliable proof of salvation. The subjective nature of measuring one's fruit creates the impossibility of knowing objectively whether someone is saved. The amount of fruit necessary to please one Christian "fruit inspector" may not please the next "fruit inspector." As Christians, we are created in Jesus Christ to do good works (Eph. 2:10) and expected to do good works (1 Tim. 6:18; Titus 2:7, 14; Heb. 10:24), but good works are never attached to the condition for salvation, which is faith alone in Christ alone (Rom. 4:4-5). While good works can be corroborating evidence for one's faith in Christ, they are not sufficient to prove or disprove it. Only faith in God's promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ guarantees and proves our salvation.

The Inescapable Curtain

Metamorphosis
Written and posted by Jean-Louis 

The dreams of youth germinate

Into cocoons of silky threads

Patiently woven over endless years

Butterfly wings overburdened

By teary clouds hoping

To find their final abode

Among fading flowers

Gathered in passing

 

Memories collected

In our music boxes

Loose their fleeting hold

To awaken yet again

The dear voices of the past

And the dance steps

Wind down and fade

Discreetly behind the curtain

When the box is shut

And the notes chime anew

On the shelf of our thoughts.

 Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16
 For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall"  I Peter 1:24 New International Version (©1984)

Jean-Louis

Politically Incorrect Hand-Crafted Love Poem

A Breakfast Poem Baked with Love in the Sun

Written and posted by Jean-Louis 02/2011, Edited and amplified in 03/2033.

I am hereby registering my lament 

At the high court of discontent. 

If you can´t read The  Book 

Without giving me that "Woke" look

You won´t see

What you get,

When you get

What we see. 

 

In this world of Yin and Yang

We are forced to choose

To have our life hang

With the one or the other,

As in father or mother.

To win or lose

As in topsy-turvy and willy-nilly.

 

I am not talking about race

No, not the one you think

The kind that´s in your face

As antiquated antics

From the bully pulpit

From pie in the sky 

To pie in your face

Dems are touchy-feely no more

Reps are namby-pamby encore.

As for me, I am free,

Being right that I left,

Nobt being in the fold

Not fitting in the mold.
Not being one of the foxes
Feeling small in their boxes

Some like it hot

Some like it cold

Me, I declare my passion,

And choose the middle motion.

Having my country left,

Being right in the middle,

Where I want to  be  found

In the middle of your arms,           

Sipping coconut water,

Being enthralled

By the power of your charms.

Since we make such a great team
To add to my irreverence

I'll blow off some steam
And have a little blast

Playing the part of the iconoclast.

Some people declare seriously:

"Tis better to have loved and lost

Than to have not loved at all".
My slogan forever will be
engraved in bold

in honor of you and me,

"Tis better to be held than to behold".

Jean-Louis.

The Nights of Vila Sonia

Written and posted by Jean-Louis. 02/2013

Since this is Valentine´s week,  I thought it appropriate to post some love poems written to my dear sweet wife Mirian, my inspiration and my faitfhful travel companion.
I hope that it will help some of you men to rediscover the romantic bone in you that you might have lost along the way and forgotten that she is "bone of your bones and flesh of your flesh". Any spontaneous, sincere attempt at tickling her funny bone will be appreciated, I am sure. Your  gift  doesn´t have to be expensive, extravagant or outrageous. All she wants is your tender loving attention and appreciation.    
 

My dear love, precious muse

Your tenderness flows over my soul

And keeps me quieted down

In your sweet embrace

My being wrapped in you

Velvety and silky mother of pearl

Consecrated vase

Shared in silence

Prisoner locked without a key

Under the enchanted night

Half mist, half moon

Piercing with its sharp horns

The tenacious diaphanous veil

Challenging the wind

And the unceasing rain

In São Paulo,

City of illusions

Here you are Vila Sonia,

Suburb of dreams

Awoken by the nostalgia

Of a distant anxious melody

Lulling my weariness

With melancholy chords

Suspended by  its rhythms

Benevolent ambassadors

Musical streets vendors

Bring the flowery dawn

Of scarlet glory strewn

On a golden palette

By the indecisive heavenly

Host welcoming

In your unknown world

This exhausted traveler

With all its best efforts

The king of the day could not

Eclipse your inviting glance

And your noble bearing at last

Inviting me to share... breakfast.

Cognitive Dissonance

Reblogged from gracethrufaith.com

Wednesday, March 5th, 2014

Commentary by Jack Kelley
“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? (Ezekiel 14:3) The dictionary defines cognitive dissonance as an anxiety that results from simultaneously holding contradictory or otherwise incompatible attitudes or beliefs. To relieve this anxiety the human mind will strive to diminish the relative importance of one of those beliefs in favor of the other.
Jesus warned us that no man can serve two masters (Matt. 6:24) and James said when we pray we must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind and should not think he will receive anything from the Lord (James 1:6-8).
God was rhetorically asking Ezekiel if He should let people with idols in their hearts even pray to Him, Jesus was warning us about becoming distracted by wealth and James was referring to wavering faith, but the principle is the same in all three instances. A close personal relationship with God requires wholehearted devotion to Him. These are the prayers God is sure to answer. There can be no cognitive dissonance found in us. We love the promise from Romans 8:28, “God is working everything together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” But how many of us know that the word translated “love” in that verse is agape? It’s the highest form of love in the Greek language and it means to be totally given over to the object of one’s love regardless of the outcome. 
Jesus loved us that way. He gave up His life for us, remember?  Romans 12:1 says we should be willing to do the same for Him.   Of course, I’m not talking about our physical life. I’m talking about giving up our version of our future in favor of His. As long as we retain any willfulness or self-determination we’re not offering our whole beings as living sacrifices.  That’s why Paul told us not to conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). We’re not to pattern our lives according to the things of this world, but according to His will for us.

Well There’s Your Problem

Let others lament over our deplorable behavior and our weak faith. I’m going to suggest that the area where Christians in the US today are the most vulnerable has to do with the cognitive dissonance we’ve developed between our desire for the Lord’s return for us and our love of the life we enjoy here. The anxiety this creates in our sub-conscious has caused our longing for the next life to be diminished relative to our desire for the Lord to restore this life to its former levels of enjoyment.

To a degree, this is understandable. For the past 65 years or so the US has been the most preferred place to live anywhere on Earth. Even people who hate America have dreamed of living here. The benefits of American life have been as generous as they have been numerous. Average Americans have typically enjoyed a standard of living that’s beyond the reach of even the privileged few in many countries.
By contrast, the benefits of eternal life with the Lord are undefined and don’t seem real to many. For them, the phrase “pie in the sky by and by” defines the extent of their understanding. I see evidence of this in the letters I get from well meaning people who are afraid we’ll be “confined” to the New Jerusalem, as some have put it, and won’t be able to visit the Earth we’ve grown to love. Others are concerned there won’t be enough room for all of us there, and still others can’t imagine how their new life could be as nice as their current one. If they knew what the Bible says they would have no such concerns.

Whose Fault Is That?

This lack of knowledge is due primarily to the Church’s terrible failure to teach believers about the blessings of the life to come. After all, it is the fulfillment of our life’s purpose. Therefore I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that asking God to save our country is a more popular thing to do than preparing to be taken away to begin our eternal adventure with Him. For many of us, returning to the good old days here seems like a better deal than longing for the bliss that lies ahead. But while the Lord never promised to save the USA, He did promise a reward to all who long for His appearing. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Tim. 4:8)
I often wonder how bad things will have to get before people stop dreaming about the past here and start yearning for our future there. I guess time will tell. To use Ezekiel’s words, The “American way of life” has become an idol we’ve set up in our hearts. We’ve become double minded because of it and if the Lord isn’t already doing so, He’ll soon be wondering if He should even let us pray to Him about it. And remember, no matter how beautiful and desirable something appears to us, if it interferes with our whole-hearted desire to follow God’s will it’s an idol and a wicked stumbling block from His perspective.
Asking Him to extend our time here rather than hasten the day of our departure is a clear sign that we’re not loving Him as He has loved us. It means we haven’t given ourselves completely to Him. When push comes to shove we don’t really want to put aside our plans for the future in favor of His. We’ve enjoyed our time here too much and don’t want to leave just yet.

When Are We Going To Learn? 

Paul said everything that was written in the past was written to teach us (Romans 15:4). One lesson we should learn from our study of the Old Testament is that when Israel lined up behind God’s will He blessed them beyond all measure. But when they positioned themselves in opposition, His response was to take away everything they desired more than Him until He was all they had left. It doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination to see that happening in the US today. (Maybe the best way to make life easier for ourselves now is to abandon our version of the future and get behind His).

According to Bible Prophecy God’s plan for our times is to completely destroy all the nations to which His people have been scattered (Jeremiah 30:11) and give Israel the Kingdom He promised them. In the process He’ll restore Heaven and Earth to provide them with a life that’s vastly superior to anything they’ve ever experienced. But before He can begin these things, He has promised to take the Church to a place filled with wealth and happiness beyond measure where we can be protected from the wrath that’s coming against the unbelieving world (Isaiah 26:20-21, John 14:2-3).
Saying that we want to be raptured before things get bad on one hand, but praying that He will heal our land so we can enjoy a few more years of the “good life” on the other is as clear a case of cognitive dissonance as I’ve ever seen. It’s a wonder He doesn’t just shake His head in utter amazement and walk away forever.
But He won’t. Ready or not He’ll come one day soon and whisk us all away to our mansions in the sky. He’ll do that, not because we’ve longed for it to happen, but because He promised He would. He is God after all. He can’t do anything else. You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 06-23-12

Posted by Jean-Louis at 11:39 PM 1 comment: Links to this post

Israel´s Ambassador Ettinger on Iran´s Intentions

Iranian Intentions: 04/10/14 from Gary Stearman on Vimeo.

Preparing the way of the Lord

Written and posted by Jean-Louis. 11/2009

Pass through, pass through the gates!
Prepare the way for the people.
Build up, Build up the highway!
Remove the stones.                                                   
Raise a banner for the nations.
The Lord has made proclamation                              
To the ends of the earth:
“Say to the Daughter of Zion,                                             
See, your Savior comes!
See, His reward is with Him,
And His recompense accompanies Him".
Isaiah 62:10,11.

 
John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, the 1st advent, in the power of Elijah, now we Christians have to do our part to prepare the way of the Lord for His glorious appearing, the second advent. Matthew 3:3 declares: “It’s the voice of a man crying in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for Him”. Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1. John the Baptist is the one who would prepare the way, so that the Lord in His mercy would shine His light “on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death to GUIDE OUR FEET in the path of PEACE.
Interestingly enough Elijah performed many miracles, but John performed none.

What are the ways in which we can follow in John footsteps and prepare the way for the Lord’s second coming?
As John was preaching repentance and heralding the first coming of Christ in the flesh, so the main work of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus-Christ through words and deeds in preparation for His second Coming as King and Judge of all the earth.

Jesus said: “Among those born of women there is none greater than John, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he". How is it possible? Here the Lord is making a direct connection with the attitude of John (He must increase, I must decrease) and the attitude that should be the distinct characteristic of the servant of God found in Philippians 2:5. In the eyes of the Savior, humility and faithfulness in announcing the Gospel of Salvation and knowing and obeying the Lord is more important than being perceived as a great spiritual leader by performing miracles, signs and wonders.

In chapter 13 of John, Jesus shows His disciples how to serve one another.
With the right attitude of a servant:
• Kneeling is a posture of humility, and readiness for service.
• Taking his clothes off  shows vulnerability (figuratively).
• Acceptance of others, whoever they may be (not acceptance of or participation in their sins or their sinful life style)) : Judas who was not a true believer was not sent away until before Jesus started the teaching on the Holy Spirit which can be shared only with true believers. He not only allowed Judas to partake of the last supper, but He also washed His feet.
• Focus on the work at hand: Jesus who knew that Judas was about to betray Him didn’t rebuke him and send him away. He was focused and refused to be distracted by His knowledge of the heart of man and the terrible next few days leading up to His death.

Jesus told His disciples: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” and “it is more blessed to give than to receive”. It is wonderful to receive instructions from our Lord and to get the understanding from the Holy Spirit, but the blessing comes from applying the teaching of life and truth which results in bearing fruit.

Jesus’ teaching is not only about the spiritual side of life but also about practical preparation. The work of God is done on both levels. Luke 12: 42, 43 tells us that the faithful servant feeds the other workers their portion of food, at the right time. But before that, the table must be set, the floor cleaned, the chairs properly arranged. Is it not the duty of the deacons or the persons in charge in the church to make sure that everything is ready in order for the service to begin and for the pastor to feed the flock with the Word of God? 
In the beginning of the Christian Church, the Apostles were so busy administering the affairs of the growing of the congregations that they had to resort to the same dividing the responsabilities and delegate authority to a group of selected men, the deacons to take care of the practical side of dealing with the people´s needs.

The first deacons are chosen Acts 6:1-7   

6 ^1-4 About this time, when the number of disciples was continually increasing, the Greeks complained that in the daily distribution of food the Hebrew widows were being given preferential treatment. The twelve summoned the whole body of the disciples together and said, “It is not right that we should have to neglect preaching the Word of God in order to look after the accounts. You, our brothers, must look round and pick out from your number seven men of good reputation who are both practical and spiritually-minded and we will put them in charge of this matter. Then we shall devote ourselves whole-heartedly to prayer and the ministry of the Word.”

^5-6 This brief speech met with unanimous approval and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochurus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch who had previously been a convert to the Jewish faith. They brought these men before the apostles, and they, after prayer, laid their hands upon them.
⁷ So the Word of God gained more and more ground. The number of disciples in Jerusalem very greatly increased, while a considerable proportion of the priesthood accepted the faith.

In the Old Testament, we find some examples of preparing the way for others.
When Israel was in the desert, the Angel of the Lord went before the people preparing the way for them. The 12 spies were sent to the land before the Israelites were to go in. The 2 spies went to Jericho before the army marched around and defeated its inhabitants. David prepared the way for Solomon to build the temple by giving to him the instructions and the plans that the Lord had revealed to him.
The prophets prepared the way by proclaiming the word of the Lord before a battle or when instructing the people of Israel.

Some examples are found in the New Testament as well.
Jesus sent Peter and John to prepare the way for the Lord to have the Passover supper with His disciples. In Acts 19:9 the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him not to fear the Corinthians because He had many people in this city. He was preparing the way for Paul to preach, teach and plant churches. And even now the Lord Himself is preparing the way for us to meet Him one day soon and be with Him eternally. He is preparing us a new tabernacle to dwell in, a new glorified body fit for heaven.

Jesus said: “Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s kingdom there are many dwelling places, I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you with me that you also may be where I am”. What marvelous words of comfort from the very lips of our Lord and Savior!

The Holy Spirit was sent to us to reveal to us the Lord Jesus, His person, His works in us and through us. The people of Israel were to follow the presence of the Lord in the ark of the covenant. Now under the new covenant of the blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells in the believer guiding Him, instructing him what to do, where to go, what to say and how to say it just as the Father did with his son Jesus while He was on this earth. We will know where to go and what to do because our Lord Jesus delights in revealing His will to His faithful servants who want to do His will and please Him in everything.

The Lord has given His body various positions in the leadership and various spiritual gifts to help us grow and do the works of service, but it is the responsibility of all the members to be diligent and not only serve others, but prepare the way so each of us might serve more effectively.

Here are some ways in which we can prepare the way to help other people.
For example, a husband not only helps his wife by praying for her and with her, but also anticipates her needs, physical and emotional. He can relieve the burden of a hard day, by helping her with the household chores or taking care of the children. This is not only washing her feet and washing with the water of the word, but preparing the path on which she will walk more safely, surely and securely.

Let's remember that we are sheep and we follow, but also shepherds who go in front of whoever the Lord has given us to watch over and to prepare the way for them to follow the great and good Shepherd more closely. We can also warn the people of the many stumbling blocks and traps from the enemy, remove the stones, so to speak and make their paths smoother.

A neighbor can do the same by praying for a neighbor’s salvation and provides some help and fellowship in order to show them the love of Christ and witness to them and invite them to church.

All this can be done to prepare the way for the Lord coming. This is a way to help all parts of the body of Christ, our brothers and sisters to grow into the fullness that the Lord intended for us.

Someone helped us and prepared the way by showing us kindness and talking to us about the Lord Jesus and how to be saved. May each of us do the same and in this way fulfill the commands of our Lord to reproduce and produce good fruits for His kingdom and His glory.

In closing, here is a quote from the New Testament looking forward to the time in which the Lord will bring down the New Jerusalem from Heaven:

In Revelation, we find the same words of promise spoken in Isaiah by the Savior Himself:
“Behold, I am coming soon!
My reward is with me
And I will give to everyone
According to what he has done…
Blessed are those who wash their robes
That they may have the right to the tree of life
And go through the gates into the city”. Revelation 22:12,14.
Amen, Come Lord Jesus.