Return to Me - Day 359 Through the Bible

Gulf of Mexico, Galveston Island Vacation
And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring…Luke 21:25

MY MEDITATIONS ON TODAY’S READINGS

(Ellipses are mine and are used for contemplation.)

Key Words/Phrases – Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Return to Me, and I will return to you.  Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they did not hear nor heed Me.” Says the LORD of hosts; He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye; For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH; the 7 bowls of wrath; and they did not repent and give Him the glory.

Repent / Turn - Zechariah 1. 2, 3 (Facts: What It Says- Summarized) God Calling Men to Repent:  Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Return to Me, and I will return to you.  Turn now from your evil ways and evil deeds. The People’s Response:  But they did not hear Me or heed Me, says the LORD.  Zechariah’s Vision:  I saw by night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow; and behind him were horses: red, sorrel and white.  And the man among the myrtle trees answered:  These are the ones whom the LORD has sent to walk…to and fro…throughout the earth.  So they answered the Angel of the LORD, who stood among the myrtle trees and said, ‘We have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is resting quietly.”  The Angel of the LORD’s Request:  O LORD of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?  God’s Response:  The LORD will again…comfort…Zion and will again…choose…Jerusalem.  The 4 Horns and the 4 Craftsmen:  Then I looked and there were four horns.  And I said to the angel who talked with me, What are these?  And he answered, These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.  Then the LORD showed me 4 craftsmen that are coming to terrify and cast out the horns of the nations that scattered the land of Judah. Like the 4 Winds of Heaven:  Up, up!  Flee from the land of the north, says the LORD, for I have spread you abroad like the 4 winds of heaven.  Up, Zion!  Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.  For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.  Joshua before the Angel of the LORD: He showed me Joshua standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. The brand plucked from the fire…in filthy garments standing before the LORD…and He answered:  The LORD rebuke you, Satan!  The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Take away his filthy garments.  See, I have removed the iniquity from you.  And the Angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying, “thus says the LORD of hosts:  If…you walk in My ways, and…if…you will keep My commandments…then…you shall also judge My house and have charge of My courts.  For, behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH for behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua: upon the stone are 7 eyes.  Behold, I will engrave its inscription, and I will remove the iniquity of the land in one day.   In that day…everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree. Principle:  The prophecy of Zechariah parallels the prophecy of The Revelation given to John.  The Chosen People were scattered, but the nations that scattered them will be destroyed.  Israel and Judah will be gathered together when the Servant, the BRANCH, the Messiah, returns.

The Finality of Unrepentance: Revelation 16 – (What It Says – Summarized) – God’s Wrath Poured Out on Earth: The final part of God’s wrath comes to earth, preparing the way for Armageddon – upon those who have refused to repent and turn.  The time of the prophets, of the 1^st Coming of Messiah, of the Church Age, has ended.  No one is now allowed to enter the temple until the final wrath of God is finished.  There is no more chance for intercession.  The saints are no longer on the earth; they have been raptured. The 7 Bowls of Wrath: 1) Bowl 1 – A foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. 2) Bowl 2 – is poured out on the sea, and it became blood, and every living creature in the sea died.  3) Bowl 3 is poured out by the 3^rd angel on the rivers and springs, and they became blood…for…they have shed the blood of the saints and the prophets, and You have given them blood to drink…for…it is their just due.  ‘You are righteous, O LORD’, said the angel of the waters. ‘The One who is and who was and who is to be…because…You have judged these things.’ 4) Bowl 4 – the 4^th angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues…and they did not repent…and given Him the glory.  5) Bowl 5 – the 5^th angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues because of he pain.  They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores…and…did not repent of their deeds. 6) The 6^th angel poured out his bowl on the river Euphrates, and its waters dried up…that...the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.  3 unclean spirits came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the false prophet.  For…they are the spirits...of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and the whole world…to gather them…to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.  Behold, I am coming as a thief.  Blessed…is he who…watches…and keeps…his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.  And they…gathered them together…in the place called in Hebrew…Armageddon. 7) Then the 7^th angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came from the throne in heaven saying, ‘It is done!’  There were noises, thunderings, lightnings, a great earthquake such as had not occurred since men were on earth.  The great city was divided into 3 parts, and the cities of the nations fell.  And great Babylon…was remembered before God…to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.  The mountains and every island fled away and were not found.  Great hail from heaven fell on men, and the men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail.  Principle:  God is always true to His Word – both the promises for our good and for doom.  The end has been known for 1000’s of years – through visions to Zechariah and many of the OT prophets all the way to John and The Revelation given to Him by Christ.  What has man done with God’s prophetic Word through these millennia?

My Lessons and Applications: From the OT prophetic writing of Zechariah 1000’s of years earlier than The Revelation, to this prophetic vision given to John 2000 years before our time, to the Church Age in which we now live with the Great Commission, God has been calling men to repent and turn, to give Him glory. His prophets have come and gone, He sent His Son to be our blood sacrifice that we might dwell with Holy God, and until His return we – the saints filled with His Holy Spirit – are now sent out with the Great Commission He gave us: And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.  The end of the age looms ahead of us.  Are we fulfilling our mission?  For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
 But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
 Because it will surely come. Habakkuk 2:3

Charles Spurgeon – Morning and Evening

"Blessed is he that watcheth." — Revelation 16:15

"We die daily," said the apostle. This was the life of the early Christians; they went everywhere with their lives in their hands. We are not in this day called to pass through the same fearful persecutions: if we were, the Lord would give us grace to bear the test; but the tests of Christian life, at the present moment, though outwardly not so terrible, are yet more likely to overcome us than even those of the fiery age. We have to bear the sneer of the world-that is little; its blandishments, its soft words, its oily speeches, its fawning, its hypocrisy, are far worse. Our danger is lest we grow rich and become proud, lest we give ourselves up to the fashions of this present evil world, and lose our faith. Or if wealth be not the trial, worldly care is quite as mischievous. If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, if we may be hugged to death by the bear, the devil little cares which it is, so long as he destroys our love to Christ, and our confidence in Him. I fear me that the Christian church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and silken days than in those rougher times. We must be awake now, for we traverse the enchanted ground, and are most likely to fall asleep to our own undoing, unless our faith in Jesus be a reality, and our love to Jesus a vehement flame. Many in these days of easy profession are likely to prove tares, and not wheat; hypocrites with fair masks on their faces, but not the true-born children of the living God. Christian, do not think that these are times in which you can dispense with watchfulness or with holy ardour; you need these things more than ever, and may God the eternal Spirit display His omnipotence in you, that you may be able to say, in all these softer things, as well as in the rougher, "We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us."