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Burnsville, NC Public Art – near Mt. Celo Church
Title: Rock Bridge Medium: Wood, Stone, Steel Artist: Rob Levin (local)
TRAC (Toe River Arts
Council: 828-682-7215
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My Lessons and Applications from Today’s Readings
(Ellipses are mine
and are used for contemplation.)
Listen to Me, My
People – Isaiah 51 and 52 – (Facts:
What It Says – Summarized) This
refrain is repeated 5 times in Chapter 51.
“Listen to Me, give ear to Me,
please hear this….you who are righteous…who follow after…who
know…righteousness…My people, My nation…you afflicted.” Judgment is coming upon the oppressors of
God’s people, and God will comfort His people.
The “cup of trembling”, of
fear of the oppressors will be taken from God’s people and given to the
enemy. “I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said
to you, ‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.”
And you…have laid your body like the ground, and as the street, for
those who walk over.” God is calling, commanding repeatedly for His
people...the redeemed…the ransomed to…awake…stand up…put on your
strength…put on your beautiful garments….shake yourself from the dust…sit
down….loose yourself…from the bonds of your neck….depart…go out from…be clean. The tables will turn. Salvation is coming
from God. “For the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear
guard…Behold, My Servant…shall deal prudently….He shall be
exalted…extolled…very high.” Principle
– God’s chosen people have allowed themselves to be sold. They must awaken to trust in God and let go
of their bondage and fear to man. God
assures the believing remnant that they will be saved, comforted, vindicated by
God and His Servant, the Coming Messiah in order to fulfill God’s Plan, all for
God’s glory.
The Righteous Man
– Psalm 112:5-10 (Facts: What It Says
– Summarized) “A good man, the
righteous…deals graciously…lends…guides his affairs with discretion…will never
be shaken…will be in everlasting remembrance…will not be afraid of evil tidings…his
heart is established…steadfast, trusting in the LORD…He will not be
afraid…until He sees his desire upon his enemies. He has dispersed abroad…given to the
poor….his righteousness endures forever…his horn…will be…exalted with
honor. The wicked will see it and be
grieved…gnash his teeth…melt away…perish. “ Principle – a righteous person will exhibit certain
characteristics on earth – stewardship, generosity, steadfastness that will be
hated by the wicked. The good man’s
rewards will be eternal.
One In Christ –
Ephesians 2 – (Facts: What It Says –
Summarized) We are saved by grace alone…through faith alone…in Christ
alone. "While we were yet
sinners…controlled by the power of the air…the spirit who now works in the sons
of disobedience…Christ died for us…because…God is in rich in mercy…because…of
God’s great love with which He loved us…made us alive together, raised up
together, made us sit together with
Christ…in the heavenly place…in
Christ Jesus…that…in the ages to
come He might show the exceeding riches…of His grace…His kindness toward us…in Christ Jesus. FOR by
grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. FOR we are His workmanship…created in Christ
Jesus…for good works…which God prepared beforehand…that we should walk in them. Therefore…remember… and then Paul
delineates our being brought into the covenant promises of Israel…in Christ Jesus…making us both
one…”a new man”…from the two…thus making peace…that He…might reconcile them both to God…in one body…through the cross…for
through Him…we both have access by
one Spirit to the Father. Now
therefore….you are no longer strangers and foreigners…but fellow citizens with
the saints,,,and members of the household of God…having been built on the
foundation…of the apostles…and prophets…Jesus
Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone…in whom…the whole building…being fitted together…grows into a holy
temple…in the Lord…in whom…you also are being fitted together,
being built together…for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Principle: Jews and Gentiles are
now one in Christ through the cross, reconciled to God, in peace. This fitting, building together is an ongoing
process until the fulfillment of God’s Plan when the last stone - the last redeemed soul - is fit into the temple...and then the Second Coming of Jesus
Christ.
My Lessons and
Applications – After all the years of reading through the Bible
in a year, and sitting under the Ministry of the Word, I think I am just
beginning to grasp the enormity of all of this from the foundation of the world. Note the past 2 or 3 days with the Isaiah
readings and the Servant speaking as well as God of the coming salvation – not
just for the Jew but also for the Gentile – for us. Then in the New Testament, this “Jew of the
Jews”…Saul of Tarsus…orthodox Pharisee taught by the famous Rabbi Gamaliel…the
persecutor, hater, and would-be destroyer of the followers of Jesus…zealot for
the law of God…this is now the Apostle Paul after his Damascus road conversion
(himself the prototypical “new man”)…THIS is the man sent by Christ to the Jews
and Gentiles to proclaim that both - the
Jews and Gentiles - are one new man in
Christ Jesus. "In Christ" is repeated 12 times in these verses. I want to jump ahead and
reread the Revelation…remind myself that it will be as it was proclaimed back
in Genesis. God is bringing sinful man
back into fellowship with Himself – all of it is a gift through faith by grace
and will be accomplished by the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), the Seed of
Abraham (through faith, belief - not physical lineage). But now…we are reminded of the
ongoing “fitting together…the building” of us as the new temple. God has prepared us for the good work we are
to be doing now. Christ has given us the
Great Commission. Why do we keep getting
side-tracked by the world system? Into
whose image am I being transformed – that of the media and advertising or that
of Christ Jesus? Remember what God said
in Isaiah: “Those who afflict you have said, ‘Lie down, that we may walk over you…and
you…have laid your body on the ground, for those who walk over. “ We have allowed this. It is time for us to “awaken, to put on our beautiful garments of
salvation and righteousness, to loose ourselves from the bondage of this world
system, to depart from wickedness, to be clean, to serve, honor and glorify God
with our lives....for we were who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Isaiah 57:19 and Ephesians 2:13) - from enmity into peace, from separation of the Mosaic covenant into unity by the New Covenant, from alienation into reconciliation, from darkness into light, dead but now alive, a schism and now a bridge - the old man, now a new man - in Christ.
The God of Israel will be your rereward. Isaiah 52:12
Security from Yesterday: “God requireth that which is past.” God allows the memory of the sins and
blunders of our yesterdays in order to turn the past into a ministry of
spiritual culture for the future.
Security for Tomorrow. “For the Lord will go before you.” This is a gracious revelation, that God will
garrison where we have failed to. He
will watch lest things trip us up again into like failure, as they assuredly
would do if He were not our rereward (our rear guard). God’s hand reaches back to the past and makes
a clearing-house for conscience.
Security for Today: “For ye shall not go out with haste.” Let us go forth with the patient power of
knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays present irreparable things to
us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God
can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for
the future. Let the past sleep, but let
it sleep on the bosom of Christ. Leave
the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future
with Him.
Oswald Chambers, My
Utmost for His Highest
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