Tuesday, September 27, 2016
“Now I want
to say something more about this city. You have been saying, ‘It will fall to the
king of Babylon through war, famine, and disease.’ But this is what the Lord, the God of
Israel, says: I will certainly bring my people back again
from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and
let them live in peace and safety. They will be my
people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one
heart and one purpose: to worship me
forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants. And I will make an everlasting covenant with
them: I will never stop doing good for
them. I will put a desire in their
hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me. I
will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly
replant them in this land. “This is what
the Lord says: Just as I have
brought all these calamities on them, so I will do all the good I have promised
them. Fields will again be bought and
sold in this land about which you now say, ‘It has been ravaged by the
Babylonians, a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’ Yes, fields will once again be bought and
sold—deeds signed and sealed and witnessed—in the land of Benjamin and here in
Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the hill country, in the foothills of
Judah and in the Negev, too. For
someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the Lord, have spoken!” Jeremiah 32:36-44(NLT)
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, preached
pretty much a message of gloom and doom. Then it all changed; he became a prosperity
preacher! The point was that
God was going to restore prosperity to His people after a time of discipline. Many point to the historical re-population of
Palestine after World War II as the fulfillment of this prophecy. I look at it as the prelude to fulfillment,
with much more to come. God is not done
with Israel!
Some are fond of looking at Israel
and proclaiming the church as the New Israel. While there are parallels to draw between the
church and Israel, a quick rehearsing of history would tell a chilling truth
that if you want to step into that role, it isn’t all beer and skittles. Think hatred, persecution, and
holocaust! Israel’s history is fraught
with pain.
The church has had its share of all
of that, and, like Israel, God is not done with His bride; not by a long shot, especially
when you consider the promise of Revelation:
Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the
roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: “Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God, the Almighty,
reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and
let us give honor to him. For the time
has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She
has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds
of God’s holy people. And the angel said to me, “Write
this: Blessed are those who are invited
to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And
he added, “These are true words that come from God.” Revelation 19:6-9(NLT)
As Yogi Berra used to say: It ain’t over till it’s over.
There are those who proclaim the end
of the church, as if somehow the current malaise in God’s church translates as
total failure, and the next generation will now, with its technology and
information-sharing, have to save the Kingdom.
Well, the Church is
always going through transition, strains of tradition, and trouble. Jesus never claimed it would be easy or clear
cut; walking by faith never is! But
walking by faith also means walking towards the light.
And that is the greatest form of
prosperity, bathed in the light of truth, to stumble no longer in the darkness
of this age.
For You Today
God is not done with Israel.
God is not done with the Church.
Do you see a pattern here? That pattern means God isn’t done with you
either!
There, I’m a prosperity preacher!
Go to VIDEO
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