"Judgment for most … mercy for some …"

Day #249

Scripture Reading:  Micah 1 - 7 ...

Sin against God always has consequences.  Micah declares, "All of this is because of Jacob's transgression, because of the sins of the house of Israel" (1:5).  Though Babylon would be the instrument of the LORD's judgment, "disaster has come from the LORD" (1:12).  Once God determines to bring His judgment, even on the people whom He had chosen for His own, it is inescapable.  God does not threaten in vain or without reason.  "Therefore, the LORD says: 'I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves'" (2:3).

The false prophets tried to stop men like Micah from speaking:  "'Do not prophesy,' their prophets say.  'Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will NOT overtake us!'" (2:6).  They were wrong then and they are wrong now.  Still, God reveals again that He is not finished with "Jacob," with the descendants of Abraham and Isaac.  "I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel ... Their King will pass through before them" (2:12-13).

God often mentions the "remnant," those whom He has chosen and in whom He will work to bring them to Himself by repentance and faith, through the work of His Spirit.  Mercy is such a marvelously beautiful thing!!  As the false prophets declare that all is well, Micah says, "As for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin" (3:8).  Even this is mercy, for unless there is an awareness of sin there will never be confession or forgiveness from the LORD, our God!  "Yet they lean upon the LORD and say, 'Is not the LORD among us?  No disaster will come upon us!'" (3:11).  There is no end to the ability of people to deny the truth.  But denying the truth does not change the truth.

In chapter 4, Micah quotes the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 2:1-5).  Here is the hope for the future that God gives to those who humble themselves and come to Him.  Have you asked yourself, "Why would God deal specifically with Israel and Judah again in a future time, just before the return of Jesus?"  The answer is simple:  Because He said so!!  God said He would save a remnant of these people and He will do it, for the glory of His Name.  Micah predicts that "in that day" (4:6) ... "the LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion ... the former dominion will be restored to you; kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem" (4:7-8).  Over and over the prophets point to THE King, Jesus Christ, God's Anointed One.

Yes, the nations will gather against God's people and Jerusalem, "but they do not know the thoughts of the LORD; they do not understand His plan, He who gathers them like sheaves to the threshing floor" (4:12).  Surely, Micah is pointing to the gathering of the nations at Armageddon, Revelation 16:16. God's plan will be perfectly fulfilled, and He will show Himself glorious in the eyes of His people before all the nations of the earth.  In speaking even more specifically of Jesus at His first coming, Micah says, "They will strike Israel's ruler on the cheek with a rod ... but you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be Ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times" (5:1-2).

Israel will be abandoned - for a time ... but "He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the Name of the LORD His God.  And they will live securely, for then His greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.  And HE will be their peace" (5:2-5).  In just a few short verses Micah speaks of the beating, the birth and the Millennial reign of Jesus, God's chosen KING!  In that day God will take vengeance in anger and wrath upon the nations that have not obeyed Him by bowing the knee to His King! (5:15).

Many within Israel, like today, thought they could escape God's judgment by offering Him their religious offerings, but "He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (6:8).  God wants a relationship with His people and that happens ONLY when you are born again by His Spirit and you confess your sin and seek His face, loving Him because He first loved you in Jesus.  If that doesn't move you to humble yourself before Him and to act justly and love mercy, it is because your spirit is still dead in sin.  Because of that, nothing in this world will satisfy you ... truly satisfy you ... EVER!!!

As Isaiah wrote, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! ...  Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare" (Isaiah 55:1-2).  While those around him pursued evil, Micah testified, "But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD.  I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me" (7:7).  That is the confidence we can have as we approach our Father in heaven through faith in Jesus.  We have hope BECAUSE He is OUR God and we are HIS people, by grace.  We have received His mercy and we ARE SAVED!!!

"Who is a God like You, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance?  You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy."  Isn't this OUR God?  He is true to His promises.  "You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as You pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago" (7:20).  There will be judgment for most, but for the remnant ... for those whom God has chosen, there will be mercy ... and mercy is a beautiful thing.  If YOU have received God's mercy, give thanks, rejoice and remember, "He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (6:8).

"LORD God Almighty, Your judgment is deserved, Your mercy is not ... yet You DELIGHT in showing mercy to those who cry out to You.  I come to You humbly admitting my need and giving thanks that in Your mercy You sent Your KING, my Savior, Jesus Christ, to bear my sin, to take my place and to make ME part of the remnant.  Let my life be a display of Your power at work in ME, making me strong to resist temptation and to follow You, my God, in Jesus' Name, Amen"




"The sign of Jonah ..."

Day #248

Scripture Reading:  Jonah 1 - 4 …

Historical events have significance only when seen in the light of God's purpose to make Himself known and to call some to believe in Him and to be saved from His judgment.  The meaning of the events recorded in the book of Jonah were not clear at the time, but can be understood only in the context of Jesus' coming and His death and resurrection.

First, we need to look at the events themselves.  Jonah received the word of the LORD several decades before the Assyrians defeated the northern kingdom of Israel.  Idolatry had become the hallmark of this kingdom from its beginning.  These descendants of Abraham occupied the land God had promised to Abraham and his descendants, but they had built their own altars and established their own religion … a mixture of the worship God had commanded and of the worship of the gods of the nations around them.  God will not share His glory!  He sent prophets to warn His people and to call them to turn from their sin, but they ignored the prophets, putting some of them to death.  It would not be long before they suffered the consequences.

God came to Jonah and told him to go preach in Nineveh, a heathen city that was for a time the capital city of the new Assyrian Empire … the largest city in the world at the time.  It was not to Israel that Jonah was sent, but to a people who did not know of the God of Israel, the one true God.  They worshiped idols, or they worshiped nothing at all, not unlike many today.  God did not send an army to deliver His message, but one lonely prophet … and a very reluctant one at that.  Who could blame Jonah for being afraid?  The message God gave him was not sugar-coated:  "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me" (1:2).

But, "Jonah ran away from the LORD" (1:3).  But God doesn't take his "No!" for an answer!   Jonah gets on a ship, God sends a storm, the sailors reluctantly throw Jonah overboard and as Jonah sinks into the raging waters God sends "a great fish" (1:17) to swallow him up.  Jonah remains in the fish for three days and three nights.  Then God commands the fish to spit him out onto dry land and "the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:  'Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you'" (3:1).  This time Jonah takes God's message and heads for Nineveh. Once there, he delivers the message:  "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned" (3:4).  That was it.  Judgment was coming.  They were wicked, God saw their wickedness, their time had come.

But wait!  "The Ninevites believed God.  They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth" (3:5).  The king declared, "Let everyone call urgently on God.  Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.  Who knows?  God may yet relent and with compassion turn from His fierce anger so that we will not perish" (3:8-9).  Good news, right? But

how did Jonah react?  "Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry" (4:1).  Why?  What was his problem?  

Now we discover why Jonah did not want to go in the first place.  Jonah "prayed," "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home?  That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish.  I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity" (4:2).

It's truth time:  Jonah didn't WANT the people of Nineveh to repent and believe!!  He wanted God to judge them!  But God was doing something Jonah could not possibly understand.  Jonah was right about one thing:  God was acting according to His character.  God IS "a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity."  God knows better than we do that ALL people deserve His judgment, yet in His love and grace He has decided to save some, and it is up to HIM to decide who these will be!

Jonah wanted it to be only people from Israel, but God desired at this moment to show His grace and compassion to future generations who, following the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the pouring out of His Spirit, would become part of the Church … those from every people, tribe, nation and tongue who would be gathered together to praise the God of grace!  

But there's even more to this story … a lesson that would be uncovered and taught only by Jesus Himself.  To those who would say that the events recorded by Jonah did not really happen, Jesus says otherwise.  In Matthew 12, verses 39-45, Jesus uses the story of Jonah as an illustration of His own death and resurrection and equates the wickedness of the generation that lived at that time with that of previous generations who faced God’s judgment because they rejected God's Word.  

The Pharisees and teachers of the law in Judah wanted Jesus to do a miraculous sign, but Jesus answered them, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign!  But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:39-40).  Jesus then goes on to pronounce God's judgment on that generation, saying, "One greater than Jonah is here" (Matthew 12:41).  

The book of Jonah is more than a story … it is a sign pointing to Jesus, to the One who was sent by God to bear the burden of His wrath and judgment for all who would believe, throughout the generations.  The message begins with judgment, for all deserve God judgment to fall upon us.  Yet God IS a God of mercy and love, of grace and compassion.  If you hear His Word and believe, humbling yourself and turning from sin, you can know that it was GOD Himself who gave you His Spirit and drew you to place your hope in Jesus.  That's the way God works.  He points you to the sign of Jonah and calls you to believe in His Son and receive His gift of everlasting life!

"My Father and my God, in Your wisdom You have revealed pictures of Your plans for the future and Your plan of salvation for those who believe in Your Son.  Thank You for the continuity of Your Word and for the truth that points us to Your grace and compassion and forgiveness, for apart from the power of the Gospel, I would have no hope of escaping from Your just judgment.  To You I come and to You I give my life, in Jesus' name, Amen"

"Things are not always what they seem!"

Day #247

Scripture Reading:  Obadiah …

Jerusalem has fallen (vs. 11) and the peoples of Edom and the other nations surrounding what was once the proud nation of Judah (and Israel) boast of their power.  It appears that the God of Israel has failed to deliver His people and that the purposes of God through the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have come to an end in their defeat and their exile to Babylon.  To those whose families had been killed, whose houses had been destroyed and whose property had been taken it must have appeared that evil had won … but things are not always what they seem!

This was reality, wasn't it?  Death and destruction had come to Israel and then to Judah.  God had used the evil Assyrian empire to bring judgment on Israel for their idolatry, and then He had brought Babylon to carry the best and brightest from Judah into captivity.  Still, God told the prophet Jeremiah to tell the remnant in Judah that their captivity would be temporary.  He would bring them back in seventy years and the temple would be rebuilt and in due time … in the fullness of time … in GOD's time, the Savior would come from Judah.  

So now Obadiah brings a message to his contemporaries, to those who were so deeply affected by the judgment God Himself had brought upon Judah. This was NOT the end for those who trusted in the LORD, the great "I AM," who had brought His people out of Egypt and into the promised land.  "This is what the Sovereign LORD says about Edom (one of the enemies of God's people - perhaps representative of all those who sought to destroy Israel) - We have heard a message from the LORD; an envoy was sent to the nations to say, 'Rise, and let us go against her for battle' - 'See, I will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised'" (verses 1-2).

Pride goes before a fall!  I look around at the nations who boast in their own wisdom and power and strength today (including, sadly, our own at times) and I am reminded of what God says here to Edom: "Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down" (verse 4).  "All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you …"  (verse 7).  So it will be for all those who oppose the LORD and His chosen people, Israel.  While Obadiah speaks at a particular moment in history, his words apply to every generation of those who have opposed God and His purposes through the descendants of Abraham, the descendants of Judah, the son of Jacob, through whom God said His anointed Ruler would come … and He DID!!

Today the nations stand opposed to Israel and many even in the church become more and more vocal about the plight of those who are avowed enemies of Israel.  "Israel has no more place in God's plans," they say.  "The church has replaced Israel," they proclaim.  But the sovereign LORD says otherwise:  "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done," declares the LORD (Jeremiah 31:37).  Things are not always what they seem.

"The day of the LORD is near for all nations.  As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.  Just as you drank on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually …" (verses15-16).  The "day of the LORD" is, without any question, the day of God's judgment upon the earth that comes after Jesus raptures His Church.  Every nation, every person who has opposed God, who has rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ and God's offer of forgiveness and life, will face His just and holy wrath once and for all.  "BUT … on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance" (verse 17).  "Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau.  And the kingdom will be the LORD's!" (verse 21).

Those who say otherwise fail to acknowledge the sovereign God whom Obadiah knew and whom every true believer knows today.  He is sovereign over the nations and HE WILL REIGN over all the earth.  When it seems that evil is winning, whether in the world all around you or in your own personal life, remember … "things are not always what they seem!"  Our God reigns!!  

History is filled with periods of time, short and long, when it appeared that evil would win the day.  There have been dark ages, in the church and in the world, and it seems with every passing day that our world grows darker and that life for those who know and love Jesus becomes more difficult. Opposition to God and the things of God increases day by day, and yet through the proclaiming of the Gospel the lost are still being found and the harvest of souls for God's kingdom continues.  In our weakness, HE is strong!!

Do not grow weary!  Victory is ours!!  "We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body … Therefore, we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal!" (II Corinthians 4:7-10, 16-18).

Things are not always what they seem!  The darkness is greatest just before the LIGHT appears!!  Jesus is coming again … blessed are those who endure, who persevere, who continue to live by faith until that glorious day when our faith shall be turned to sight!!  

"My Father in heaven, YOU are God and there is no other.  As Obadiah and others who believed so long ago knew You as the Sovereign God who ruled over the nations, so I draw near to You today in hope, believing, knowing that You will accomplish all that You have said You will do.  Jesus will stand on Mount Zion in Jerusalem and will rule over the nations of the earth.  Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that HE is Lord, and there is no other!  I praise You and thank You, Father, for Your grace to me and to all who now find our hope in YOU, our God, in Jesus' name, Amen"

"Seek the LORD and live!"

Day #246

Scripture Reading:  Amos 5 - 9 …

As the prophet, Amos, was sent to Israel to proclaim God's coming judgment, he offered a small ray of hope to those who were about to lose their property, their homes and in many cases, their lives:  "Seek me and live …  Seek the LORD and live … " (5:4,6).  As the Word of God warns of His coming judgment upon the earth in our day, those same words come to us as we hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ:  "Seek me and live … Seek the LORD and live!"

Many within Israel thought it would be different.  They thought God did not notice their sins, but God says, "I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins" (5:12).  Amos, along with the other prophets, predicts the coming judgment of God as he describes the "day of the LORD" (5:18ff.).  It is sometimes amazing how much like the days of the prophets our day is. People want God to send His judgment on others, failing to realize that they, too, lie in the path of His coming wrath.  Amos declares, "Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! … That day will be darkness, not light!” (5:18).  As we have seen, the "day of the LORD" points to the coming judgment of God upon the earth following the Rapture of the Church just prior to Jesus’ return. 

Repeatedly, Amos states, "the LORD is His Name," or "whose name is God Almighty!"  Only the God who reveals Himself in the Bible as the LORD,” the Great "I AM," "Jehovah" or "Yahweh," is to be worshiped, for He alone is God Almighty.  All the supposed gods of the nations are poor impostors who cannot save from God's coming judgment.  "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion," Amos declares (6:1).  The same is true of those who are "lukewarm" in the church today … who do not take seriously the warnings found throughout the Bible.  They go on about their lives and their supposed worship as though God does not see - but He DOES!!

God says that He hates the pride of Jacob, and so He sets a "plumb line" (7:8) by which He measures the obedience (or lack thereof) of those who claim to be His people.  King Amaziah of Israel told Amos to go back to Judah and to be quiet!  But who can stop the word of the Lord from being fulfilled?  Who today can say that God will not fulfill every word that He has spoken through the prophets and apostles, and through Jesus, the Christ, the eternal Son of God.  Those who want to believe in a Jesus who would not judge anyone have never read the Bible!  Jesus told His disciples shortly before His crucifixion that when the Holy Spirit came He would "convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment" (16:8).  Jesus foretold the destruction of Jerualem and called His sheep to hear His voice, to believe in Him and be saved … from what?  God's coming wrath and judgment.

Before the judgment came, God said He would send a "famine of hearing the words of the LORD" (8:11).  For almost 400 years prior to the birth of Christ there were no prophets in Israel.  Then came John the Baptist, the forerunner, pointing to the coming of the Savior, calling people to repentance.  In our own nation and in many places around the world today it seems as though there is a famine of God's Word.  People have gathered for themselves teachers who will tell them what they want to hear, as Paul predicted in his letters to Timothy.  Many find it difficult to find a place where they can hear the Word of God preached and where there are those who are seeking the LORD and placing their faith in Jesus Christ alone to be saved.  Can the judgment of Almighty God be far behind?  Is it even now beginning to fall upon us?

Where is there HOPE??  Only in the promises of God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ, our Savior and our Lord!!  God offered hope even at the end of Amos' declaration of judgment:  "Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD are on the sinful kingdom.  I will destroy it from the face of the earth - YET I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob" (9:8).

"In that day," says the LORD, "I will restore David's fallen tent.  I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be" (9:11) … "I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them" (9:15).  

Not all of those who have returned to the land of Israel in our day will escape the judgment of God.  The nations will be gathered against Israel and difficult times lie ahead … yet God will save a remnant from Israel and from the nations for Himself through His Son Jesus Christ.  His call still goes out today, "Seek the LORD and live …"

What have YOU done with Jesus?  Have you acknowledged the LORD, the great "I AM," as God?  Do you believe in Him, and have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ?  As this world races towards the "day of the LORD" one will appear who will appear to offer peace, who will unite all nations and all religions together in an effort to establish himself as the one to be worshiped.  Millions will be deceived, desiring peace and security for themselves rather than worship and praise of the LORD, the one and only true God.  Then the end will come suddenly upon those who do not know Him and who have not sought Him …

Where will you be on that day?  Where are you today?  I warn you and urge you to "seek the LORD and live!"  Through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross we who have been given the Holy Spirit confess our sin, turn from it and trust in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and life eternal.  We have no other hope, for "we have THIS hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).  May this hope be yours today as you repent of your sins and place your trust in Jesus Christ.  

"O LORD my God, to You be endless praise for Your holiness, righteousness and majesty!  You alone are God and I worship You with all my heart.  I thank You for giving me ears to hear the warnings of judgment in Your Word and for moving my heart to respond in repentance and faith in Your Son Jesus Christ. Give me wisdom and strength to live in this world as an ambassador of Your truth and of Your kingdom, of the reign of Your Son Jesus Christ.  Open the ears of those whom You have chosen through the words You have placed in my mouth, that they may seek You and live!  In Jesus' name, Amen"