GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 31 ~ ~ Zephaniah 3:17 ~ ~ “The Lord your God in your midst — The Mighty One — will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
We’re moving to chapter 12 in “How To Read The Bible” by Dr. Michael Youssef.
“MINOR” PROPHETS, MAJOR IMPACT
Recently I heard about a Christmas eve gathering of Christian friends. As they were talking, the conversation turned to thoughts of Heaven.
One mature believer said, “I wonder what language we’ll speak in Heaven.”
Another mature believer said, “Maybe we’ll all speak in our own language, but we’ll understand all the other languages.”
Yet another said, “Maybe we’ll speak a spiritual language, unique to Heaven.”
These older friends traded opinions and speculations until one young man, a college student, cleared his throat and said, “I know the answer.”
All eyes turned to him. “You do?” someone said, “How do you know?”
“I read it in my morning devotions,” the young man said. “It’s in Zephaniah 3:9 in the English Standard Version:”
“It says, ‘For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve Him with one accord.’”
All the mature believers in that room took a lesson from the young college student in their midst: If you want answers to your questions about God and eternity, you probably don’t need to speculate. You simply need to read the answer God has already given in His Word.
In this case, the answer to a fascinating question about Heaven came from Zephaniah, one of the so-called “minor prophets” of the Old Testament. But as we’re about to see the impact of the “minor prophets” on our understanding of God’s prophetic agenda is anything but minor.
HOSEA: A TALE OF REDEMPTIVE LOVE
The book of Hosea tells the story of a beautiful romance, heartbreaking unfaithfulness, and redemptive love. It is set during the decline of the northern kingdom of Israel, shortly before it was conquered by Assyria.
God told the prophet Hosea, “God, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” So Hosea obediently married a prostitute named gomer, and she bore him a son.
Hosea’s faithless wife led the prophet through heartbreaking humiliation. But Hosea – who symbolizes God in His relationship to faithless Israel – was full of forgiving love for Gomer. Finally, his unfailing love won her back and their relationship was restored.
This allegory teaches us volumes about the love of God. Even though we reject Him and rebel against Him, even though we have broken His heart, He stands ready to redeem us and restore us. He is a God of relentless love.
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Luke 1:78 ~ ~ “Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;”
Charles Haddan Spurgeon:
The tender mercy of our God (Luke 1:78) gleams with kindly light. I see in His mercy a soft radiance like the matchless pearls that form heaven’s gates in Revelation 21:21. Mercy is a melody to my ear as well as to my heart. Mercy is music, and to the brokenhearted, “tender mercy” is its most exquisite form.
If you are desperate and depressed, “tender mercy” is life from the dead. Think of this in connection with God, and you will be struck with wonder that One so great is so tender. We often think of God as a crushing energy that scarcely can take into account our little, feeble, and suffering things. Think again. And with a new wonder of admiration, know that it is so.
We read of His gentleness and His tenderness toward the children of men in 2 Corinthians 10:1. The “tender mercy” of God’s heart is seen in the Dayspring from on high, Who has visited us to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:78-79)
Mercy is divine essence, and mercy lies in the heart of God. He has bound up His mercy with His existence. The mercy of God’s heart means His mercy proceeds from His heart and is therefore sincere, tender, intense, warm, and affectionate. If you desire to read the character of God’s mercy written in capital letters, study the visitation of His dear Son and all the wonderful works of infinite grace that proceed from Jesus.
God is love (1John 4:8). Not only is He loving, He is LOVE ITSELF.
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“You will never find a bundle of affliction which does not have sufficient grace bound up in it.”
Charles H. Spurgeon
Ps 27:14
“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord!!!!”
GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 30 ~ ~ Daniel 2:20-23 ~ ~ “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him. I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of You, ….”
Daniel is the last of the Prophets in our study of the Major Prophets, in the book by Dr. Michael Youssef, entitled “How to Read the Bible”
“DANIEL, POWERFUL STORIES, A REMARKABLE TIMETABLE”
The book of Daniel recounts the life and visions of the prophet Daniel, who lived in exile in Babylon. The book combines history and prophecy, including the coming Messiah and the End Time. The theme is that, just as God miraculously rescued Daniel from a den of lions, He also would rescue Israel.
The book has two parts. Part 1 (Chapters 1-6) contains six narratives:
1. Daniel and his friends maintain their purity and principles in the court of King Nebuchadnezzar (chapter 1)
2. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of four kingdoms (chapter 2)
3. The fiery furnace (chapter 3)
4. Nebuchadnezzar’s ordeal of insanity (chapter 4)
5. The handwriting on the wall and the fall of Babylon (chapter 5)
6. Daniel in the lions’ den (chapter 6)
Part 2 contains four prophetic visions which include messianic prophecies that shed additional light on the messianic prophecies in Isaiah and elsewhere.
In Daniel 7, we find a prophecy that the Messiah (who Daniel calls the “Ancient of Days”) will have an everlasting Kingdom. In his vision, Daniel saw that the Messiah was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His Kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14).
And in Daniel chapter 9, the prophet relates a vision that predicts the exact time of the arrival of Jesus the Messiah, His death, and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of Herod by Rome in AD 70.
“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven “sevens,” and sixty-two “sevens.” It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two “sevens,” the anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.” Daniel 9:25-26.
Since the nineteenth century, Bible scholars have calculated the meaning of the “seven ‘sevens,” and sixty-two ‘sevens’” and realized that it worked out to a precise prediction of the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when He was heralded as Israel’s king.
In his book, “The coming Prince,” Sir Robert Anderson determined that Daniel predicted a period f 483 years from the decree of the Persian king Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem until the Lord’s arrival in Jerusalem on a donkey. The other astonishing prediction in these verses are that “the Anointed One will be put to death” and the “people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary,” all of which have been fulfilled.
The book of Daniel also sets an excellent example for young Christians because it tells the story of young people taking a courageous, uncompromised stand for god in a godless and hostile world.
God has not changed. He still rescues His people from the “lions’ den” of our godless culture today.
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POEM BY HELEN STEINER RICE
HE LOVE YOU – AND ALWAYS WILL
Someone cares and always will. The world forgets but God loves you still.
You cannot go beyond His Love, no matter what you’re guilty of –
For God forgives until the end. He is your faithful, loyal friend.
And though you try to hide your face, there is no shelter any place,
That can escape His watchful eye, for on the earth and in the sky
He’s ever present and always there to take you in His tender care.
And bind the wounds and mend the breaks when all the world around forsakes.
Someone cares and loves you still and God is the Someone who always will.
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Ephesians 3:17-21
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Romans 8:38-39
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 29 ~ ~ Ezekiel 1:28 ~ ~ “Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.”
Today we look at Ezekiel, in our study of the Major Prophets.
EZEKIEL: A PROMISE OF RESTORATION
Ezekiel focuses on prophecies of destruction and the promised restoration of the land of Israel. The name “Ezekiel” means “God is strong,” and the strength and power of God are on full display in this compelling book, which records six intense visions that God gave the prophet during his exile in Babylon. These are divided into three main themes:
1. God’s judgment against Israel (Ezekiel 1-24). Ezekiel chapter 1 describes the Throne vision, in which Ezekiel saw fire, lightning, sparkling wheels rimmed with eyes, angelic beings, and a great throne with a glorious, glowing, man-like figure: “The appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” In the First Temple Vision (Ezekiel 8), the prophet sees God depart from the Temple because false idols are being worshiped there.
The Images of Israel section (Ezekiel 15-19) depicts the nation of Israel as fuel for a fire, an abandoned child rescued by God, a brazen prostitute engaged in detestable acts, and more.
2. God’s judgment against enemy nations (Ezekiel 25-32)
3. God’s future blessings for Israel: a new beginning and a new Temple (Ezekiel 33-48).
The vision of the Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37) depicts Israel as a valley of dry bones which, upon God’s command, come to life and become a vast army – an image of hope for Israel’s future.
The Vision of God and Magog (Ezekiel 38 &39) promises a day of judgment for Israel’s enemies, followed by an age of peace in which God pledges, “I will pour out My Spirit on the people of Israel.”
The final Temple Vision (Ezekiel 40-48) describes a future Temple in a new Jerusalem.
Ezekiel was written after the kingdom of Judah had fallen, never again to rise. While some people doubted that God was in control, others grumbled that He was unfair.
This period marks the beginning of the Diaspora, the great dispersion and oppression of the Jewish people. The Jews in Palestine who escaped death or deportation looked for better opportunities elsewhere. The Bible records the beginning of this tremendous migration, first to Egypt (see Jeremiah 43 and 44) and Isaiah 19:18) continued to be the spiritual homeland of the Jews, and they longed for a revived nation there.
The Babylon exile was a calamity for the Jewish people and the Jewish religion. The most popular false prophets in Israel and Judah had promised that God would never allow His nation to fall, yet the unthinkable had come to pass. God had delivered the Jewish kingdom into the hands of foreign enemies who worshiped pagan gods.
This forced many Jews to reconsider their faith in God. Was the Jewish religion merely the parochial creed of one failed nation in Palestine? Or was faith in Yahweh deep enough to be transplanted into every nation of the world? Paradoxically, the Babylonian exile, far from being the graveyard of Israel’s faith in God, proved to be a time of great spiritual renewal and vitality. As God told Ezekiel, “But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations” (Ezekiel 6:8). There also would be a future revival. As told here in Ezekiel 26:24-28:
“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.”
The book concludes, “And the name of the city from that time on will be: “THE LORD IS THERE” (Ezekiel 48:35). This is Ezekiel’s vision of the coming Kingdom of God.
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POEM BY HELEN STEINER RICE
WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK
God’s love endures forever – what a wonderful thing to know when the tides of life run against you and your spirit is downcast and low.
God’s kindness is ever around you, always ready to freely impart strength to your faltering spirit, cheer to your lonely heart.
God’s presence is ever beside you, as near as the reach of your hand. You have but to tell Him your troubles. There is nothing He won’t understand.
And knowing God’s love is unfailing and His mercy unending and great, you have but to trust His promise – “God comes not too soon or too late.”
So wait with a heart that is patient for the goodness of God to prevail. For never do prayers go unanswered, and His mercy and love never fail.
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Romans 8:38 &39
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ps 145:19
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him, He will also hear their cry for help and save them.
Ps 107:9
He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Ps 63:7
For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.
GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 28 ~ ~Lamentations 3:40-41 ~ ~ “Let us search out and examine our ways,
and turn back to the Lord; Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven.”
Still in Chapter 11 of “How to Read the Bible”, talking about the major prophets. Today we’re in the Book of Lamentations, written by the prophet Jeremiah.
LAMENTATIONS: OUT OF DESOLATION, HOPE!!
The book of Lamentations reflects the prophet Jeremia’s sorrow over the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jews’ exile in Babylon. The book is so intense in its emotions that, at time, it reads like an indictment against God for allowing the destruction of Judah. Yet Jeremiah had spent decades warning the people that their idolatries and abominations would lead to this very end. “I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath,” he laments. “He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light.” (Lamentations 3:1-2)
But Jeremiah ultimately comes to a place of peace with and hope in God. In the same chapter, he writes these words of comfort and faith:
This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
Lamentations 3:26-28
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POEM BY HELEN STEINER RICE
“THE WAY TO LOVE AND PEACE”
There is no thinking person who can stand untouched today and view the world around us slowly drifting to decay
Without feeling deep within them a silent, unnamed dread as they contemplate the future that lies frighteningly ahead.
And as the CLOUDS OF CHAOS gather in man’s muddled mind, and he searches for an answer he ALONE can never find,
Let us recognize we’re facing problems man has never solved and with all our daily efforts life grows more and more involved.
But our future will seem brighter and we’ll meet with less resistance if we call upon our Father and seek Divine Assistance.
For the Spirit can unravel many tangled, knotted threads that defy the skill and power of the world’s best hands and heads.
And our plans for growth and progress, of which we all have dreamed, cannot survive materially unless OUR SPIRITS ARE REDEEMED.
For only when the mind of man is united with the soul can LOVE and PEACE combine to make our lives complete and whole.
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Galatians 5:22
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”
James 1:2-8
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Psalm 130:5-6
“I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait and in His Word do I hope.”
Charles H. Spurgeon:
“The waiting itself is the benefit. The answer is already wrought out and laid up with Jesus.”
Ps 34:22
“None of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.”
GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 27 ~ ~ Jeremiah 4:1~ ~ “If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord, “Return to Me; And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, Then you shall not be moved.”
We’ll learn more about the Prophet Jeremiah in the second part of the section “Jeremiah, the Prophet Who Confronted Kings.” (By Dr. Michael Youssef)
Jeremiah had an intense personality and a strong sense of duty. You would not consider him a calm and even-tempered man. He wrestled with men and with God. He boldly confronted kings. He was often persecuted and threatened with death.
After he warned King Zedekiah that Jerusalem would fall to the Babylonians, the king’s officials demanded Jeremiah be killed. Zedekiah gave the prophet’s enemies permission to seize him. The conspirators placed Jeremiah at the bottom of a deep cistern, leaving him to starve to death. He was rescued by an Ethiopian, but his enemies later accused him of aiding the Babylonians and threw him in prison (See Jeremiah chapter 37).
He suffered deeply because he loved these wayward people of Judah. His pain was “unending” and his emotional wound was “grievous and incurable” because he wanted to save them from their own foolishness and sin. But they wouldn’t listen.
Jeremiah’s grief reminds us of the sorrow of Jesus Himself, who mourned:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37)
After the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, the commander of the Babylonian imperial guard released Jeremiah from his chains, saying:
“The Lord your God decreed this disaster for this place,. And now the Lord has brought it about; He has done just as He said He would. All this happened because you people sinned against the Lord and did not obey Him. But today I am freeing you from the chains on your wrists.” (Jeremiah 40:2-4)
This Babylonian soldier had more respect for the God of Israel than the people of Jerusalem did. He understood that the Babylonians’ victory was due to the Jews’ sin and idolatry.
After most of the people of Jerusalem were taken into captivity in Babylon, God moved King Nebuchadnezzar to carry out His will.
It’s important to understand that a major shift of focus takes place in the Biblical narrative at this point in Jeremiah 40. From Genesis, when God promised to make of Abraham a great nation, right up to the destruction of Jerusalem, the Bible focuses on the political kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Now both Israel and Judah have been conquered. Jerusalem is destroyed. And the Biblical narrative focuses not on the political nation but on a tiny remnant in Judah.
This remnant is a tiny vestige of people with whom God will one day make a New Covenant. And here we see a crucial Biblical principle at work: ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN THE TOTAL FAILURE OF THE EARTHLY ORDER WILL ULTIMATELY HOPE FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
The writer of Hebrews said that when Abraham left his home in UR and journeyed to the Promised Land, “he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). Similarly, the Apostle Paul describes the city Abraham looked forward to as “a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1). That is the true Kingdom of God.
Jeremiah’s message to his people – and to us – is that you don’t need sacrifices, rituals, or a Temple in order to worship God. True worship is not an outward ritual, but an obedient heart:
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says: “Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves! For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command: OBEY ME, AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD AND YOU WILL BE MY PEOPLE. WALK IN OBEDIENCE TO ALL I COMMAND YOU, THAT IT MAY GO WELL WITH YOU,.” (Jeremiah 7:21-23)
Those who call upon God in obedient faith will find that He is leading them toward a future of blessing and belonging:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you.” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” (Jeremiah 29:11-14).
Jeremiah Proclaims the Coming of the New Covenant with a New Israel:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
The Jewish people longed only for the restoration of the Jewish nation. But Jeremiah envisioned a transcendent hope for a new Kingdom, under a New Covenant, empowered by the Spirit of God,. The next time we find similar words in the Bible is in Matthew 26:28, where Jesus, at the Last Supper, tells the disciples, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
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POEM BY HELEN STEINER RICE
THE PROMISES OF MEN MAY FAIL BUT GOD’S PROMISES PREVAIL
In this uncertain world of trouble with its sorrow, sin and strife, Man needs a haven for his heart to endure the “storms of life.”
He keeps hoping for a promise of better, bigger things with the power and the prestige that fame and fortune brings.
And the world is rife with promises that are fast and falsely spoken, for man in his deceptive way knows his promise can be broken.
But when GOD makes a promise it remains forever true, for everything GOD promises he unalterably will do.
So read the promises of GOD that will never fail or falter and inherit EVERLASTING LIFE which even death can’t alter.
And when you’re disillusioned and every hope is blighted, recall the promises of GOD and your FAITH will be relighted.
Knowing there’s ONE LASTING PROMISE on which man can depend, and that’s the PROMISE OF SALVATION and a LIFE THAT HAS NO END.,
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1John 2:25
And this is what He has promised us, eternal life.
“If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do it with our whole heart. The waiting itself is beneficial”
Charles Haddan Spurgeon
Romans 8:27
“And He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God”
GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 26 ~ ~Jeremiah 29:11-13~ ~ “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart”
We’re hearing from Dr. Michael Youssef in his book, “How to Read the Bible” in chapter 11, “The Major Prophets: Thunder in the Kingdom”
Today, we’ll learn about Jeremiah in the first part of “Jeremiah: The Prophet Who Confronted Kings.”
Jeremiah is a book of warnings and laments. Jeremiah was called by God as a prophet in the thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah, in 626 BC. He served as a prophet for nearly forty years, during the reign of five kings of Judah. Again and again, he warned of God’s judgment against Judah – until his warnings finally came to pass with the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in 587 BC.
Israel had reached a state of extreme corruption and idolatry. The people worshiped idols and burned their own children as sacrifices on the altars of Baal. Jeremiah warned the people that God would not allow their idolatry to go unpunished. But the wicked kings, greedy priests, and false prophets would not listen.
So God had no choice but to withdraw His blessings from Judah. As a result, the Babylonian army starved and conquered Jerusalem, and the people were led away into captivity.
Here again, we see that Judah was not the Kingdom of God. Why? Because Judah had broken the Covenant. God shifted His focus entirely from the Jewish state to a small, faithful remnant with whom He will one day make a New Covenant. The people of the New Covenant will be the people of God’s Kingdom. They will be people with clean hands and clean hearts. God will only rule over an obedient people.
The kings of Judah in the time of Jeremiah – such as Joachim and Zedekiah – were godless, selfish, corrupt and idolatrous. Jeremiah rejected the political state as the vehicle of God’s Kingdom because it reflected the immorality and apostasy of its leaders.
Jeremiah’s message arises again and again in God’s Word. If we chose sin, rebellion, and false gods, then God will let us go our own way. He will allow us to suffer the consequences of our willful choices, which lead to desolation.
But while there is time remaining, there is always an opportunity to return to God and find salvation. He does not reject us, even when we abandon Him. If we turn to God with repentant hearts, He will receive us and welcome us home.
People who encounter the book of Jeremiah for the first time are surprised by the struggles Jeremiah endured against political and religious leaders, the people, and even God. In his sorrow, Jeremiah wrote:
“Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them: for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people, (Jeremiah 9:2)
Through Jeremiah, God shows us that He welcomes our most troubled emotions, even when they are directed at Him. The prophet candidly, even angrily, complains to God, pouring out his complaints and his feeling that God has misled him:
“I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because Your hand was on me and You had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable”? You are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails. (Jeremiah 15:17-18)
God did not condemn Jeremiah, yet He did not want the prophet to remain mired in anger and self-pity. He urged him to pull out of his emotional nosedive and focus on the future to which God had called him:
“If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve Me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be My spokesman” (Jeremiah 15:19)
Later, when Jeremiah reaches the absolute pit of his despair, he pours out his anguish to God. Again, God understands and does not rebuke him for them:
“Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, “A child is born to you – a son!” May that man be like the towns the Lord overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon. For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grace, her womb enlarged forever. Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame? (Jeremiah 20:14-18)
We wince at these bitter words –yet we shouldn’t be quick to judge Jeremiah. Who among us could have withstood the pressures, threats, and disappointments that he endured?
(tomorrow we’ll see how Jeremiah handled the wicked kings and the people)
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POEM BY HELEN STEINER RICE
“THIS TOO WILL PASS”
If I can endure for this minute whatever is happening to me, no matter how heavy my heart is or how “dark” the moment may be,
If I can remain calm and quiet with all my world crashing about me, secure in the knowledge God loves me, when everyone else seems to doubt me,
If I can but keep on believing what I know in my heart to be true, the “darkness will fade with the morning” and that this will pass away, too,
Then nothing in life can defeat me for as long as this knowledge remains, I can suffer whatever is happening, for I know God will break “all the chains”….
That are binding me tight in “the darkness” and trying to fill me with fear, for there is NO LIGHT WITHOUT DAWNING, and I know that MY MORNING IS NEAR.
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“God has not promised to bless my thoughts, but He has promised to bless His Word”—Adrian Rogers
Ps 94:19
When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your comforts delight me
Matthew 6:33
But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and ALL THESE THINGS will be added to you (necessary things to live in this world)
1Peter 1:21
who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (Meaning: the power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that puts faith into us—-that raises our dead spirits unto salvation)
GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 25 ~ ~ John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
HAVE A MERRY AND A BLESSED CHRISTMAS!!!!!
Amidst the celebration of this wonderful season, let’s take a moment to relate to those who possibly don’t know why Jesus, the Creator of the World, the Lord of lords, God of gods, and King of kings took off His heavenly robe of glory in eternity past and future, put on a robe of an earthly body, and stepped into the realm of time, in this dark and sin-filled world, only for one reason and one reason alone. …..to suffer and die for the revolt of mankind and the vile sins of each of us personally, whom He created and loves so dearly.
But, contrary to what many believe, our forgiveness isn’t “automatic”, nor is it weighed, as to our “good” and “bad” actions. Perfection is needed to live in Heaven, and no one has ever accomplished that and no one ever will. We have to accept His substitutionary punishment for our personal sins, and exchange His perfection for our vile sinfulness.
No amount of church membership, or attendance, sacraments, prayers, generosity, or attempts to live a good life will accomplish salvation. It only comes through this acceptance……….this acknowledgement that He is the Lord, and ruler of our lives, and the purifier of our hearts.
Have you taken that step? If not………..tomorrow, or even a moment from now………..may be too late.
You can do it, in your own words, anytime, anyplace. Just tell Him you want that, and that you know that you have sinned and want Him to be in your life as your Savior and complete Lord, then live with that in mind.
Today is the day of Salvation.
2 Corinthians 6:2:
“For He says:
‘In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.’
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
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In our book, we are starting chapter 11, “The Major Prophets: Thunder in the Kingdom” We will see some of the prophesies of Christ’s birth and death on this earth, many hundreds of years before He came. ____________
Someone once said, “An historian is a reversed prophet.” It’s true. An historian looks back on major events in the past. Prophets warn against – and sometimes predict – major events in the future. Most Biblical prophecies were warnings that tragically went unheeded by Israel and Judah.
But an astonishing number of Old Testament predictions have already been fulfilled with stunning accuracy and precision. Many of those are found in the books of the “major prophets”: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
God has never broken His Word. Because so many of His promises have already been fulfilled, we have an objective reason to believe Him. Let’s look at the warnings and promises in the prophetic books of the Old Testament.
ISAIAH: PROPHET OF THE SERVANT AND THE KING
Isaiah is one of the most compelling books in the Bible. The first chapter records God’s promise to forgive and give us a new beginning:
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18).
This is where we first hear of a remnant of God’s people being spared amid the destruction of the Jewish nation. Isaiah also shows us that the Kingdom of God should not be confused with any earthly kingdom. It says several times that the Messiah would be born of King David’s lineage, and that He would establish an ETERNAL Kingdom. For example:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. (Isaiah 9:6-7).
God also promised, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The spirit of the Lord will rest on Him” (Isaiah 11:1-2). Jesse is David’s father. “the stump of Jesse” tells us that their lineage would be cut off. This took place when the Assyrians cut off the monarchy of the northern kingdom of Israel and the Babylonians cut off the monarchy of Judah, yet some descendants of David remained, and from one of them – a virgin named Mary – a child was born: a shoot” from the “stump of Jesse.”
Isaiah also promises that the Suffering servant would come. He would be despised, rejected, and pierced for our sins:
“He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem. Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for OUR transgressions, He was crushed for OUR iniquities; the punishment that brought US peace was on Him, and by His wounds WE are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, and each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:1-6)…
This is Isaiah’s prophetic vision of the pierced and crucified Messiah upon the cross. This is God’s promise of His atoning grace, laying our sin upon the suffering Servant, so that we might be healed by His wounds.
Jesus the Messiah, the Prince of the line of David, will one day rule over a faithful remnant, the redeemed Israel. The history of the entire world is moving toward the establishment of the Kingdom of God. But the Messiah could not come to a proud nation at the height of its political glory. He could only come to a severed stump of a nation.
The Jewish people didn’t understand the true nature of the coming Kingdom or its King. They were thinking in political terms. As a result, every new king of Israel or Judah was, in their minds, potentially the Messiah. This illusion persisted even after the resurrection of Jesus, when His followers asked Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). They didn’t understand (but would soon learn) that the hope of God’s people had shifted from the nation of Israel to the church of Jesus Christ.
All the prophets from Isaiah to Malachi recognized that a new spiritual Israel (not the political nation) would inherit the promised Kingdom of God. The New Testament church saw itself as this new spiritual “Israel.”
Isaiah tells us that God intends to rule over the entire earth, not merely a plot of real estate in Palestine. The true God of Israel does not belong to any one race, culture, or nation, He is the God of all who obey Him, anywhere on earth:
“Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By Myself I have sworn, My mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before Me every knee will bow; by Me every tongue will swear.” (Isaiah 45:22-23).
God controls history. At the end, he will establish His reign over all the earth. The words of God, spoken through Isaiah, anticipate the words of Jesus:
“I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 8:11).
Isaiah reminds us that a moral, just, and peaceful world order is impossible without submission to the righteous rule of God. Through Isaiah, God promises that this world order will arrive one day:
“They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9.)
The human race will never know peace apart from the Kingdom of God. Lasting peace cannot be achieved by politics or scientific progress or even organized religion. True peace will come only when all people submit to the rule of the true King. It will come as an answer to the prayer Jesus taught us to pray, “Our father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9-10).
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POEM BY HELEN STEINER RICE
“EVERY DAY IS A HOLIDAY TO THANK AND PRAISE THE LORD”
Special poems for special seasons are meaningful indeed, but daily inspiration is still man’s greatest need.
For day by day all through the year, not just on holidays, man should glorify the Lord in deeds and words of praise.
And when the heart is heavy and everything goes wrong, may these “Daily Words for Daily Needs” be like a cheery song,
Assuring you “HE LOVES YOU” and that “YOU NEVER WALK ALONE” for in god’s all-wise wisdom, your EVERY NEED IS KNOWN!
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Philippians 4:6-7
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Hebrews 12:2
“Looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (He sat down, because the job of salvation was done by Him – the High Priests were never allowed to sit down in the Temple. There even were no chairs. Their work was never done, because:
Hebrews 10:4
“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” And because the priests themselves were sinful. So sins were never forgiven. That’s why Jesus could offer ONE sacrifice, and sit down at the right side of the Throne on High.
TWO THINGS GOD HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED BEFORE HIS INCARNATION
Think about Christmas from the heavenly prospective. Elohim, the Great Creator God—Creator of all things………….the One Who must humble Himself to look at Heaven, to bend down to look at the great expanse of the Universe……the Universe that He created with the Word of His Mouth, but which we will never be able to comprehend. That Universe is but a speck to Him!!!!
Yet, for that unexplainable, eternal God, there were two experiences that He never had. Two feelings that we feel every day, in our puny created humanity, but the Great Elohim, has never felt.
They are……….vulnerability (weakness) and sin.
He knew of them, of course, but He never experienced them.
But mankind was in a bad state—-corruption, death, decay, deception, rebellion, and sin had blanketed every heart of every living thing, and the tragic end was inevitable. “There is none good—no, not one.”
The Son, the Word, the relational member of the Trinity, volunteered to solve our problem. It wasn’t God’s problem. He could just create another world, other beings. But He loves US, and wanted His Bride with Him.
So the Son did more than humble Himself to view activities of heaven. He did more than to bend down to see His creation of the Universe. He took off His robe of glory, stepped off the threshold of eternity, and squeezed Himself into the realm of Time, with His failing, decaying creation. This is humility beyond our comprehension. This is sacrifice beyond the grasp of our reasoning. And that was just to become a baby in the womb. His sufferings and rejection haven’t even began yet.
But let’s look at that baby first. He made everything in the world and far beyond, yet, He was developing from two cells———one human, and one divine——–cell by cell——organ by organ—–ability by ability——just like any baby of His own creation. There was nothing special about the pregnancy, apart from the flesh-shrouded deity of the child.
He was totally dependent upon Mary’s blood flow to keep Him alive. He was vulnerable. He was now confined in very tight quarters, when formerly He lived in expanses with no end. He listened for the sound of his mother and father, and found Himself being comforted by the sound. They were His comfort. The Almighty, Who offers comfort to all of His Creation, needed comfort in His voluntary weakness.
The Almighty, all-powerful God, was under-developed. He needed to grow in order to breathe the air that He created. He was weak, and dependent upon His creatures. He had never experienced this before. He felt what it feels like to be comforted, and what it’s like to grow, and, somehow, it was exactly that—–comforting……..even for Him.
After birth, the comforting changed, but yet it was the same. He felt more vulnerable, however, because of the knowledge that though He could move, He was still totally dependent on that same comforting voice that He heard in the womb. Now He could feel her arms holding Him, caressing Him, along with Joseph’s strong arms. Creation stronger than the Creator! Creatures protecting the Creator! This has never before been seen!!!!
His creatures, that He guided so lovingly through their lives, ….this man and woman…….were changing His diapers, keeping Him warm, feeding Him when He was hungry………carrying Him wherever THEY saw fit.
This, indeed was an experience of eternal proportions!!!!! But, as strange as weakness and vulnerability were to Him, Sin will be so much more!
Eternal perfection—–We can’t even comprehend the expanse of that perfection. As He has never experienced imperfection. How can we, having lived our entire lives as rebelling creatures………….as evil creatures…………comprehend perfection. We’ve never seen it, felt it, heard it, or known it in any way. We don’t discuss it, study it, or even think about it. But now, Perfection has entered our world as one of us.
Not only that, but this Perfection, and True Goodness, will soon become all the accumulated sin of all the history of this corrupt and “walking dead” society!!!!! HOW CAN THIS BE?
“TAKE THIS CUP FROM ME”……..But we must try to discern how the Creator and God of all things could humble Himself THIS FAR DOWN………….to the lowest of the low of this satan-swiped and sin-soaked world, and be hated by the “good” as well as the most evil of mankind alike!!!!!
He took our sin, and we hated Him for it! I say “we” because we were all there. We were in the crowd, crying “crucify Him.” We had to be. We had to be on the cross with Him, or our sins are not forgiven. He took the sins of every person who ever lived, from Adam on through to the end, and they were ALL put inside the only One to never experience sin………….the Only one who couldn’t even LOOK UPON SIN!!!! It was INSIDE HIM!!!!! We shudder, we cry, we weaken, we moan and shake our heads, but one thing we don’t do is UNDERSTAND. We cannot. We’re pathetic, weak, limited, and worst of all—-completely rebellious to Him. Even now, after we’re saved, we have our fleshly desires. We won’t know what sinlessness is until we die or are raptured.
But THEN! OH! WE WILL UNDERSTAND!!!!
Will YOU understand? Have you made Him your personal Savior and Lord? Do you believe, or want to believe, that He did this for YOU?
If you want to believe, but you just can’t be sure…….just tell Him so. Ask Him to make it real to you, ask Him to draw you to the Father. It is only through Jesus that anyone can come to the Father.
Tell Him you’re sorry for your sins, and ask for His forgiveness because of the sacrifice of Jesus, who satisfied the Justice of the Father, so that we don’t have to take our own punishment. He took it for us, and gave us the Certificate of Freedom signed by Him, ….that’s why He said on the cross, “It is finished”….it was a prison term, meaning that the price has been paid and the prisoner is free. You can be free, and live with Him in heaven and on the new, perfect earth forever.
It’s just one decision, one prayer away.
Then start reading His Word, the Bible, and asking true believers your questions. He’ll guide you further as you Look for Him in honesty.
GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 24 ~ ~ Psalm 96:5 ~ ~ “For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.”
Today’s section is “FROM GODLINESS TO GODLESSNESS”
The prophetic books consist of the last seventeen books of the Old Testament. They are divided between the five “major prophets” which are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel and the twelve “minor prophets” which are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephania, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
The terms “major” and “minor” refer to the length of the books, not their importance. Every book of the Bible is vitally important to us and to God, regardless of length.
The prophetic books show us the tremendous importance of God’s Law and what it meant under the Old covenant. Again and again, throughout Israel’s history, the prophets denounced the nations sin, idolatry and injustice. They would not let God’s people “off the hook,” repeatedly calling them to repentance.
The Old covenant can be fulfilled only by faith in Christ –not by works, not by keeping the Law. As Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans in Romans 3:20-22:
“Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;”
And as he told the Christians in Galatia, in 2:16 of that book:
“knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”
The prophetic books chronicle the decline and fall of Israel and Judah because they neglected God’s law, rejected the Old Covenant and descended into wickedness and idolatry.
This was no gentle slide into compromise. Human beings take on the character of the gods they serve – and Baal was as evil and depraved as a pagan deity could be. There is no comparing Yahweh to Baal. The God of Israel had called Israel to a life of obedience and faith. He had entered into a covenant with them and promised them a glorious destiny as His beloved people. Baal, by contrast, represented the very antithesis of covenant-keeping. Like Astarte, Asherah, Anat, and the other demonic deities of the surrounding tribes, he was unpredictable, untrustworthy, and represented forces and functions connected with storms, seasons and fertility. The Baal cult was closely linked to death and rebirth. The false prophets of Baal used rituals and sacrifices – including horrifying human sacrifices – in an attempt to control nature and increase fruitfulness in crops, herds and human populations.
The worship of Baal was completely opposed to the pure worship of Yahweh. As God said through the prophet Jeremiah: in 19:4-5:
“Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents (they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind)”,
As Baalism exerted its corrosive influence in Israelite society, even those who did not sacrifice to Baal began referring to Yahweh by the blasphemous name of Baal.
Into this world of corruption and moral chaos, the prophets emerged.
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Psalm 5:4
For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You.
Psalm 10:13
Why do the wicked renounce God? He has said in his heart, “You will not require an account.”
Deuteronomy 6:4
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!
Psalm 8:6
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,
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POEM BY HELEN STEINER RICE
“GIVE ME THE CONTENTMENT OF ACCEPTANCE”
In the deep, dark hours of my distress my unworthy life seems a “miserable mess”,
Handicapped, limited, with my strength decreasing, the demands on my time keep forever increasing.
And I pray for the flair and the force of youth, so I can keep spreading GOD’S LIGHT AND HIS TRUTH.
For my heart’s happy hope and my dearest desire is to continue to serve YOU with fervor and fire.
But I no longer have strength to dramatically do the spectacular things I loved doing for YOU.
Forgetting entirely that all YOU required was not a “servant” the world admired
But a humbled heart and a sanctified soul whose only mission and purpose and goal
Was to be content with whatever God sends and to know that to please You really depends…
Not on continued and mounting success but in learning how to become “LESS AND LESS”….
And to realize that we serve GOD best when our one desire and only request…….
Is not to succumb to worldly acclaim but honoring ourselves in YOUR HOLY NAME.
So let me say “NO” to all flattery and praise and quietly spend the rest of my days
Far from the greed and the speed of man who has distorted God’s simple life plan.
And let me be great in the eyes of THE LORD for that is the richest, most priceless reward.
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Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called, according to His Purpose.
Psalm 38:9
Lord, all my desire is before You and my sighing is not hidden from You.
Philippians 4:11
Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:
GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 23 ~ ~ Proverbs 3:5-6 ~ ~ “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
Today’s section is “ELIJAH, JEZEBEL, AND THE PROPHETS OF BAAL”
One of the key incidents recorded in 1 Kings is the story of King Ahab, his wife Jezebel, and the prophet Elijah. Ahab was the seventh king of Israel; Jezebel was a Phoenician princess, the daughter of King Ithobaal 1 of Tyre, and she instituted the worship of Baal throughout Israel. Baalism was infamous for its human sacrifices, including children. Jezebel also murdered many of the prophets of God and forced many others into hiding.
Jezebel persecuted anyone who did not bow to Baal, but a faithful remnant defied her. One of those who took a courageous stand was the prophet Elijah, who declared a holy war against King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.
Elijah challenged Jezebel’s mystics – the 450 prophets of Baal – to a contest on Mount Carmel to determine whether Baal or the God of Israel was the one true God. Elijah would prepare one bull for sacrifice on the altar of God, the prophets of Baal would prepare another bull for the altar of Baal. “You call on the name of your god,” Elijah said, “and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire –he is God.”
Baal’s prophets danced, shouted, and cut themselves all day long – and no fire came. Elijah taunted them, saying, “Shout louder! …Maybe (Baal) is sleeping!” when the priests had exhausted themselves, Elijah placed his sacrifice on the wood of the altar and had it all doused with water three times.
Then, with calm dignity, he prayed,
“Lord, the God of Abraham, Issac, and Israel, let it be known today that You are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at Your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that You, Lord, are God and that You are turning their hearts back again.” (1 Kings 18:36-37)
Immediately, fire fell from Heaven, consumed the sacrificial bull, the wood, the water, and even the stones of the altar. All the people who witnessed this miracle cried out, “The Lord – He is God!”
Then Elijah ordered the people to seize and kill the prophets of Baal and Asherah. Later, God decreed the death of Queen Jezebel and King Ahab and the annihilation of Ahab’s royal line.
Though Israel was cleansed of these two corrupt political figures, neither the kingdom of Israel nor the kingdom of Judah was the Kingdom of God. No political state, led by mere human beings, could never be God’s eternal Kingdom.
The rest of the narrative of 1st and 2nd Kings – written during the Babylonian exile, approximately 560 to 550 BC – tells a story of a line of kings in both Israel and Judah. Some of the kings were good, some were evil. God judged each according to weather he kept the Law. Again and again, the kings of both Israel and Judah failed the test and led their people into idolatry. And the nation paid the price.
The books of 1st and 2nd Chronicles cover much of the same history 1st and 2nd Kings – but from a different perspective and for a different purpose. The books of Chronicles were written around 450 to 440 BC, after the exile had ended, and have a more encouraging tone, meant to increase the faith of Jews who were rebuilding their lives after the captivity.
The books of Kings warned that the troubles of Israel and Judah were not the result of God’s abandonment, but of the people’s disobedience. The books of Chronicles devote more space to the nation’s triumphs than its failures and encouraged the nation to seek revival and restoration.
Ezra tells how the Jews returned to Judah after seventy years of exile in Babylon. The book of Nehemiah continues the story, focusing on the rebuilding of Jerusalem in times of stress and adversity.
The book of Esther tells the gripping story of a Jewish girl in Persia (her birth name was Hadassah, but she became known as Esther). Through her courage and willingness to sacrifice herself, she became queen of Persia during the reign of King Ahasuerus from 386 to 465 BC and saved her people from genocide. Though the book does not directly mention God by name, His hand can be seen moving events throughout the story
These books of ancient Jewish history are followed by the books of the prophets.
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Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Psalm 9:15
The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made; In the net which they hid, their own foot is caught.
Psalm 9:19
Arise, O Lord, Do not let man prevail; Let the nations be judged in Your sight.
Psalm 9:20
Put them in fear, O Lord, That the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah
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POEM BY HELEN STEINER RICE
“LISTEN IN SILENCE IF YOU WOULD HEAR”
Silently the green leaves grow. In silence falls the soft, white snow.
Silently the flowers bloom. In silence sunshine fills a room.
Silently bright stars appear. In silence velvet night draws near.
And silently GOD enters in, to free a troubled heart from sin.
For GOD works silently in lives; for nothing spiritual survives…..
Amid the din of a noisy street where raucous crowds with hurrying feet….
And “blinded eyes” and “deafened ear” are never privileged to hear………
The message GOD wants to impart to every troubled, weary heart.
For only in the QUIET PLACE can man behold GOD FACE TO FACE!
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Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God.
John 16:15
All things that the Father has are Mine. Because of this I said that He (the Spirit) will take from what is Mine and will reveal it to you.
Psalm 16:8
I have set the Lord always before me: Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved…..
