Until the Lord Returns – Day 327 Through the Bible

“James the Less” by Kenneth Wyatt of Tulia, Texas - 1 of a series of paintings of the apostles.  Wyatt used people he knew as models (and if I remember correctly) whose personalities resembled that of the particular apostle being painted. Wyatt is a Methodist minister and a gifted Western and Christian artist.  

My Meditations on Today’s Readings

(Ellipses are mine and are used for contemplation)

Key Words/Phrases: His face hidden/not hidden from them, fraud and corruption, patience, then they shall know that I am the LORD, Until the Lord Returns

I Hid My Face / I Will Hide My Face No More From Them– Ezekiel 39 and 40 – (Facts: What It Says – Summarized) God is giving Ezekiel visions of the end times.  Gog and Magog Destroyed by God:  These mighty nations come against Israel, but God Himself will destroy them.  “Then they shall know that I am the LORD.  So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will let them profane My holy name no more.  Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.  Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord GOD.  Magnitude of Destruction:  1) For 7 years, Israel will make fires with the captured weapons, not needing wood from the forests. 2) It will take 7 months for the house of Israel to bury all of the dead – in order to cleanse the land.  God’s Purposes in This: 1) To magnify His name, 2) that Israel and all nations will know that He is God, 3) that the Gentiles will know that the house of Israel went into captivity and fell by the sword for their iniquity: their unfaithfulness to God…so…He hid His face from them, (4) to show His mercy on Israel after they have “borne their shame and all their unfaithfulness”...and…that He would hide His face from them no more…for “I shall have poured out My Spirit on the House of Israel,” says the Lord GOD.  The New Temple:  Ezekiel watches as “a man” begins to carefully measure the temple.  Principle:  These eschatological chapters are thought to be describing the first 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation, and the new temple of the Millennium.  Israel returns to God after this battle.  Ezekiel was granted these visions when all seemed hopeless for Israel and Judah – after 25 years of the Babylonian captivity.

Do Not Turn Away the Face of Your Anointed – Psalm 132:10-18 (Facts: What It Says – Summarized) David’s Plea to God: Israel’s great king, “the man after God’s own heart” is pleading God to never turn His face from him…from his lineage.  He reminds God of His promise and His Faithfulness it:  to set upon David’s throne…forever…the fruit of his body…if…his sons keep God’s covenant and testimony.  David reminds God that He…chose...Zion as His dwelling place…His resting place forever…has promised to abundantly bless her provision…satisfy…her poor with bread...to clothe her priests…with salvation…that her saints would shout aloud for joy…that He would make the horn of David grow…to prepare...a lamp for His Anointed…to clothe...His enemies with shame…that His crown shall flourish.  Principle: God honors His promise to David. The Anointed One – Jesus Christ, the Messiah - will come from David’s line and His kingdom has and will flourish.

Turning Our Faces Toward God – James 5 – (Facts: What It Says – Summarized) Corruption and Fraud:  1) The rich have “reaped up treasure in the last days.  Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields….which you kept back…by fraud…cry out…and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 2) Come now, you rich…weep and howl…for your miseries that are coming upon you!  Your riches are…corrupted…your garments moth-eaten…your gold and silver corroded…and their corrosion…will be a witness against you…and will eat your flesh like fire. 3) You have lived on the earth…in pleasure…and luxury…have fattened your hearts as in a day…of slaughter.  You have…condemned…you have murdered the just…he does not resist you.  To the Saints: “Be patient, brethren…until the coming of the Lord.  Be patient.  Establish your hearts…for the coming of the Lord is at hand.  How to Live in the Interim: 1) Do not grumble against one another, brethren, 2) Take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of…suffering…and patience.  Indeed we count them blessed who…endure.  You have heard of the…perseverance of Job…and seen the end intended by the Lord – that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.  3) Do not swear by any oath.  Let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No”, “No.” 4) If suffering...pray, 5) If cheerful…sing psalms, 6) If sick…call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 5) Confess your trespasses to one another, 6) Pray for one another, that you may be healed.  The effective…fervent prayer…of a righteous man…avails much.  7) If one of you wanders from the truth…turn him back.  Let him know…that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way…will save a soul from death…and cover a multitude of sins.  Principle: Until the Lord returns - keep our minds focused on Jesus and His return, pray, praise Him, uplift and encourage each other.  Keep the faith.

My Lessons and Applications – When the world and its corruption are too much with me…refocus on Christ…study and learn from the Word and the lives of the saints before Me in order to not lose heart…sing psalms…focus on praise and worship of Him…fellowship with other believers…until the coming of the Lord.

Video Below:  Sohyang – “Until the Lord Returns” – sung in Korean by a young Christian female vocalist – The WORLD awaits His return!

+South Korea currently provides the world's second largest number of Christian missionaries, surpassed by the United States. GSM, the missionary body of the "Hapdong" General Assembly of Presbyterian Church of Korea, is the single largest missionary organization in South Korea. South Korean missionaries are especially prevalent in 10/40 Window nations that are hostile to Westerners. 

++Seoul contains 11 of the world's 12 largest Christian congregations.

English translation of the song: Until the Lord comes back again, until then, I will continue on this path - narrow road, narrow gate, bearing the weight of my cross.  At the end of this road that I walk, I will see my Lord wait for me. Then my Lord of glory will receive me in His arms. Until the Lord comes back again, until then I will rise up and run to the end. When His glory covers the whole earth, I will stand up and sing His praise. O, my Lord, I love so much. He is the Savior of all. O, my Lord, I love so much, He is the glorious King. O my Lord, I love you so much. You are the Savior of all. O my Lord, I love you so much. You are the glorious King. You are the glorious King!

Standing in the Gap - Day 318 Through the Bible

View from a retreat chapel near Mt. Celo Church

Key Words/Phrases:  In their midst, in you, bloodshed, sowing seeds in tears, reaping with joy; we are called to enter, with boldness, into the Holiest

No One to Stand in the Gap Before God – Ezekiel 21 and 22 (Facts: What It Says – Summarized) God has judged Israel.  Against the Princes: Each one has used his power to shed blood, have made light of mother and father, oppressed the stranger, mistreated the fatherless and the widow, despised My holy things, profaned My Sabbaths, among whom are men who slander to cause bloodshed, those who eat on the mountains, commit lewdness, uncover their fathers’ nakedness, violate women who are set apart in their impurity, one commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife, another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law, another violates his sister, his father’s daughter, they take bribes to shed blood, they are like wolves in her midst tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people and to get dishonest gain, you take usury and increase, you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion and have forgotten Me.  Against the Priests: you have violated My law, profaned My holy things, not distinguished between the holy and the unholy, have not made a difference between the unclean and the clean, have hidden their eyes from My Sabbath…so that…I am profaned among them. Against the Prophets: “The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured people; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst, they have seen false vision and divined lies for the people.” Against the People:  “The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, mistreated the poor and needy, wrongfully oppress the stranger.” No One to Stand in the Gap:  “So…I sought for…a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found not one. God’s Decree Against the Land of Israel: ‘Therefore….I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,’ says the Lord GOD.  ‘I will cut off both righteous and wicked from you.  ‘Behold, it is coming and it will be brought to pass’, says the LORD.   Principle: Every commandment has been broken in this litany of the Chosen People’s Sin.  It was allowed to continue for…a time, but God has pronounced destruction and punishment.  The Babylonian captivity is coming.  “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)

Sowing in the Midst of Sorrow - Psalm 126:1-6 – Facts: What It Says – Summarized)   Continuing in Righteousness: “Those who sow…in tears…shall reap…in joy.  He who continually goes forth weeping…bearing seed for sowing…shall doubtless…come again…with rejoicing…bringing his sheaves with him.”  Glory to God: “When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, we were…like those who dream…filled with laughter…and with singing.  The nations said…’The LORD…has done great things for them. The LORD has done great things for us.”  Principle:  Note the difference in the Ezekiel reading.  Wickedness was a result of the people forgetting God and the effect was profaning God among themselves and to the Gentiles.  But in this psalm – about the return from captivity – the people who continued bearing and sowing seeds are promised joy and the reward of bringing the fruit of their labors (the sheaves) back with them.  The cause of blessing was they remembered the LORD.  The result was they glorified God, were blessed themselves, and the Gentile nations also saw and credited the LORD with the salvation of His people. “If the foundations are destroyed; what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3) Go on being righteous.  Charles Stanley:  “But He insists that, for those who know and love Him, our tears are nothing but seeds that will bloom one day into enormous trees of joy.  (Life Principles Daily Bible, pg. 1385)

Standing in the Gap – Hebrews 9 – Facts: What It Says – Summarized) Believers Called Before the Throne of Grace:  We are called to enter…with boldness…the Holiest, to…draw near…with a true heart…in full assurance…of faith.  How?  By the blood of Jesus…by a new and living way…which He…consecrated…for us…through the veil…that is His flesh.  And…having a High Priest (Jesus) over the house of God, having our hearts sprinkled…from an evil conscience…and our bodies…washed with pure water.  Believers Called to Steadfastness and Faithfulness:  1) To hold fast…the confession of…our hope…without wavering…for…He who promised…is faithful.  2) To consider…one another…in order to…stir up love…and good works.  3) To not forsake…the assembling of ourselves together. 4) To exhort one another…and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 5) To not sin willfully…since that would be as trampling the Son of God underfoot, counting the blood of the covenant by which we are sanctified a common thing, and insulting the Spirit of grace. 5) Recall the former days…after...you were illuminated.  The Earthly Cost: You endured a great struggle with sufferings…partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated…The Eternal Reward: knowing…that you have a better…and an enduring…possession for yourselves in heaven.  Therefore…do not cast away your confidence…which has a great reward.  For…you have need of endurance…so that…after you have done the will of God…you may receive the promise.”  Principle:  Before Him, for others, to His glory, regardless of the earthly cost, for the eternal promise.

My Lessons and Applications: Do you feel God’s call on your life to stand in the gap before Him in prayer…for your family, church, community, nation, the world…your own life – perhaps for a renewed purpose?  I do…very strongly.  I feel sure that is one reason I was called into this in-depth meditation and writing on the Bible – to better understand His character and our history with Him as I prepare to answer His call to come before Him once again in deep prayer, led by His Spirit.  I also feel that this is a call going out to all Biblically-based Christians.  A specific charge in prayer that has been placed on my heart is regarding corruption and the victims of this.  This word has been seared into my mind in these daily readings and in life observations.  A re-reading of God’s list of wickedness against His Chosen People and Nation in the Ezekiel readings for today shows that corruption permeated every facet of their society – something that I believe has happened today in ours as well.  God says He searched for someone (before His destruction of Israel) to stand in the gap before Him, but He found no one.  Jesus was sent to stand in the gap before God for us, and now - in Christ - we have that same calling each time we come to His throne of grace.

Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus.  (Hebrews 10:19)

We have to realize that the identification of Jesus with sin means the radical alteration of our sympathies.  Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately substitute God’s interests for others for our natural sympathy with them.  Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Compromise/Corruption/Collapse - Day 152 Through the Bible

Giant roses and peonies on the altar today at Mt. Celo Church - out of the garden of one of the members

Gleanings from Today's Readings

These readings today are so catastrophic for believers "looking back."  That is what I hope each person reading this today will do - "look back"...consider...what went wrong in these leader's, people's and nations' lives...consider our own leaders, our own lives, our own nation.  Are we in the same downward spiral?  Charles Stanley said one of the most succinct, salient and prescient statements I have heard in a long time - the kind that makes you groan in your spirit when you hear or read it - knowing it is God's truth, God's warning.  Dr. Stanley first distinguished between healthy and unhealthy compromise.  Then - speaking of UNhealthy compromise he said:  First comes compromise, then corruption, then collapse.  I submit we are in the corruption stage of this cycle, having long ago compromised our core Biblical beliefs and values - in every single strata of our society.  If there is not an immediate, collective and individual turn around (repentance), we will enter that third stage - the collapse of our nation and the eternal destruction of the souls of unbelievers.  How could a nation, a people so blessed have come to this point?  Let's take a look at how this played out in Biblical history with God's chosen.

Apostasy Destroys Israel and Judah - (1 Kings 13 and 14) Israel - now split into 2 nations over Solomon's great sin - is now Israel and Judah.  The chosen people, the elected nation, saved over and over by the miraculous Mighty Hand and Outstretched Arm of our Sovereign LORD, is beginning to collapse.  God has asked one main thing all along - that there be no other gods before Him. Solomon - the wisest and richest man ever so blessed by God - does just this - worships other gods.  Jeroboam is raised by God and given 10 of the tribes torn out of Solomon's rule - if only - he will have no other gods before him and obey God's commands.  He fails worse than all others before him - bringing judgment against his house and all Israel.  Then he panics.  Then he sends his wife - in disguise - to the true prophet in Judah, acknowledging that he knows where God's power is, but denying that power until a point of great need.  Deception with God never works.  His sin - as with us - finds him out.  His house, his sons, his kingdom is taken from him.  Likewise, Rehoboam (Solomon's son) who rules over Judah also "does evil in the sight of the LORD" with idolatry and allowing perverted persons in the land, mimicking the godless nations around them.  God destroys His chosen nation and people - except for a remnant.  (A very special note to those grieving the death of a loved one:  The son of Jeroboam, who God takes by physical death, is a favored child of God and is mourned by all Israel.  Death may be a grace, a mercy given by God.  Dr. Stanley quotes Isaiah 57:1 on this and comments, "Sometimes God takes the life of the righteous to spare them from evil.")

My Lessons and Applications:  Do I honor and love the Lord...study and apply His Word...seek his counsel...in times of blessing as well as times of trouble?  Remember what happened on 9-11... how the churches filled to overflowing...for a few months? This was like Jeroboam.  There was no need for God, or fellowship with believers (rather mock and ridicule them), no need for God's Word as long as life continued as usual.  But in the depths of their hearts they too seemed to know where to draw near to God in a time of panic and uncertainty.  What is drawing people away from God now in this time of relative peace and blessing?  Idolatry? As with Solomon, Jeroboam and Rehoboam?  Molded calves can be replaced by money, sports, fleshly lusts, materialism, and a host of other idols.  Are our churches ready for the next panic moment?  What will be heard from the pulpits?  How will each of us respond to those seeking answers from God's Word.  Are we "sanctifying the Lord God in our hearts, always ready to give a defense for the hope that is in us, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience? (1 Peter 3:15)

Jesus in His Agony  / We in Ours - My Lessons and Applications- (John 12:27-50) "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour?'  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name."  When we - like the disciples - become weary, discouraged, downhearted because our hope, our faith, our lives have not taken the paths we chose...can we still believe...still follow Him...still trust Him...that His way, His path, His plan is the best...when all life's circumstances scream otherwise?  Do I love His blessings more than I love Him?

"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself." (Acts 20:24)  Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest - " What do I really count dear?  If I have not been gripped by Jesus Christ, I will count service dear, time given to God dear, my life dear unto myself...Practical work may be a competitor against abandonment to God...Never consider whether you are of use; but ever consider that you are not your own but His."