Thursday,
October 12, 2023
Like
our ancestors, we have sinned. We have
done wrong! We have acted wickedly! Psalm 106:6
The recent violent attacks on Israel by the terrorist organization,
Hamas, and Israel’s reaction, bombing Gaza, the center of the Hamas’ operations,
is an all-too-familiar refrain of the nearly 4000-year squabble between Isaac
and Ishmael, the two sons of Abraham. If
you remember, Abraham, father of the nation that would bear God’s name as His
chosen people, had no heirs; his wife, Sara was unable to have children, and
convinced Abraham to use her servant Hagar to bear a son, so God’s promise
would have a chance. Full stop. Exclamation
point! Whoa…What….use another woman’s
body to fulfill the holiness of God’s Word?
What was Sara thinking? And more…how
could Abraham honestly comply with that?
God set the matter straight, by allowing Sara to conceive, getting
pregnant at age 90 (how’s that for recompense?). The two lines of descendants of Abraham,
Isaac and Ishmael, have been at each other’s throats ever since.
In the days since the attack on Jerusalem I have heard a lot of references
to the Second Coming of Jesus as being close, or imminent. That may be so, or not. Since the first Advent of Christ we have been
living in an era of Almost; Not Yet! His next Advent could happen before I finish
writing this sentence – or not for another two thousand years. Imminence means forthcoming, or
looming. So, the almost
part of the Second Advent is that it could happen today. The not yet aspect means
we won’t know exactly when until it happens. In Jesus’ own words, it will happen like a thief in the night.
Our family experienced that years ago. That thief didn’t send me an
email, or call to make a reservation to rob us, he didn’t knock on the front
door – he climbed though our window at 3AM!
Jesus also said He will return when His Father sends him, and knowing the date is above our pay grade; it will be when the Father makes
the call.
We are precisely fifty-two days before the start of Advent on the
Christian calendar, which is scheduled for Sunday, December 3rd. Advent celebrates the first coming of Jesus
to Bethlehem. He came then to be born,
point us to the Father’s love, and then destroy sin’s death grip on us, the
penalty for our sins (wickedness, as the Psalmist called it). He did that on the cross as a gift.
But Advent also is our constant reminder of the Advent of the future, the
Second Coming of Jesus, not as a babe in a manger, the
sacrificial lamb, bound for a cross – but the victorious, Lord and Christ of
eternity, bound to defeat evil entirely, and set up his Kingdom eternally!
For You Today
So, when you hear all the news reports
of Ishmael and Isaac at it again, don’t get thrown-off track by taking sides,
or trying to figure out how to settle the violence of the Middle East. Stay on mission, loving your next-door
neighbor, and the Lord God with all your heart, mind, and strength.
Pray
for the peace of Jerusalem as Scripture tells us – and live with the
expectant prayer of the final words of Scripture on your heart and mind:
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Revelation 22:20
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a
blessed day!
There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons
in the Rocky Road library.
Title Image courtesy of Pixabay.com Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT©
