Something to Weep About

 

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

You may never have entertained this thought or been troubled about it…or, perhaps, you’re like me and have often wondered about Israel in God’s plans.  The 12 Tribes are, after all, God’s special and treasured possession.  They serve a central role in Sovereign Yahweh’s hands to bring His message of hope, and His message of judgment to the world.  However (and this is my troubling thought), as followers of Jesus Christ, embracing the cross, with an uncompromising belief that there is only one way to approach God[1], and that through placing your faith in Jesus, how does that square with God’s embracing Israel, which denies the deity of the Son?

Admittedly, when I wonder about this, I always feel a little like Peter after the resurrection when Jesus tells Peter about how the future will not be kind to him, and the impetuous disciple questions Jesus about John’s future.

Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?  As for you, follow me.” John 21:22

The rebuke…it’s none ‘o your business, son…is stark, and meant to be.  Peter’s question borders on challenging God’s plans, which is to challenge God’s sovereignty.  Peter was headstrong, which is the beginning of the downward spiral leading to separation between human and God.  Peter had to learn that responding with your emotions before putting your brain to work never really ends well.

The Apostle Paul’s brain always seemed to be on the job.  For me, Paul’s answer, concerning Israel’s place in prophecy and God’s eternal plans, are enough to put my questioning to rest. 

And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved.  For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.”  Romans 9:27-28

Revelation[2] pictures 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel as being redeemed in the end.  That 144,000 is less than 2% of the 8.3 million population of Israel today, and 1 out of 100 if you consider an estimated 14-15 million Jews globally.

For me, this fits together with the point held by many Bible scholars, that, at the end, these are those who once rejected Christ, but now accept Him as Lord, Messiah, the anointed One of the lineage of David.  In their hearts they crown him King of Kings.

For You Today

Jesus told Peter not to worry about what plans God has for other believers, it was Peter’s job to follow Jesus, not approve of Jesus’ leadership.  This is especially important for us with plagues, natural disasters (can we say earthquake, North Carolina?), or any of the wars, famine, and other pandemics.  These are but the beginning of Christ’s new day.  Hear it from Jesus’ own testimony:

So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”  Luke 21:28

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

VIDEO

Title image Pixabay.com ∞  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on this text see:  Burning the Bridge of Integrity 

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[1] Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.  John 14:6

[2] See Revelation 7:4 & 14:1-3

 

After the Rebellion

[i]

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

The earth staggers like a drunk.  It trembles like a tent in a storm.  It falls and will not rise again, for the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy.  In that day the Lord will punish the gods in the heavens and the proud rulers of the nations on earth.  They will be rounded up and put in prison.  They will be shut up in prison and will finally be punished.  Then the glory of the moon will wane, and the brightness of the sun will fade, for the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will rule on Mount Zion.  He will rule in great glory in Jerusalem, in the sight of all the leaders of his people.  Isaiah 24:20-23^(NLT)

All you news junkies out there raise your hands.  I have to confess, my hand is up too.  It’s something of an addiction; sometimes I can hardly wait for that moment when I turn on the TV for breaking news. 

In 2003 the manhunt for Sadaam Hussein, the deposed president of Iraq, finally came to a conclusion as he was pulled from his “spider hole” near Tikrit.    Then we watched the proceedings of his trial and eventual punishment.  In all that spectacle I pictured Isaiah’s warning (and that of other Biblical passages) that the earth, namely its unjust leaders and those who serve them, would stagger like a drunk at 3am, that the earthly, man-made evil governmental system would tremble and come unglued from the full force of God’s justice rolling-down like waters over their heads.

Somehow that kind of clean-cut justice, all fitted-together and tied-up with a neat gift bow, tucked away in the record books, is something you only get in a happy ending kind of movie.  The problems in Iraq are hardly “over-and-done-with” – they have many miles to go to straighten out the mess of democracy we supposedly handed to them all pre-packaged and ready to wear.  Somehow the emperor’s new democracy-clothes have holes, tears and unraveling to deal with, just like we have here.

While we’ve been busy bringing peace to the rest of the world, here in “peaceful America” the demonstrations, anger, and almost constant mass killings are so flooding the breaking news cycles, those of us who are self-described news junkies are beginning to exhibit the signs of addictive overload.

I’m afraid those of us who might be looking to the current crop of political candidates for a leader to find us some relief – a new equation for peace, a new legislation that will soothe our national wounds, something/anything that will remotely pass for tranquility or a moment of quiet – are only looking down a spider hole at a new rebellion.  News junkies don’t have to look half way around the world to the Middle East for vindictive and threatening rhetoric – a simple tune-in to the presidential candidates will give your stomach plenty over which to churn all day long!

For You Today

Sounds pretty dark, doesn’t it.  Well it is…and if you believe the first four words of Scripture, In the beginning, God…well, you can believe these words from the good Dr. Luke which talk about this darkness of our existence today:

So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”  Luke 21:28^(NLT)

The God who created you and all you can see, and that which you can’t see, is going to reign in glory after our rebellion is done.  And there’s no darkness in that!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

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NOTES

[i] Title Image: By SSGT D. MYLES CULLEN, USAF [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Argument From Silence

[1]

Thursday, January 20, 2016

VIDEO here

The heavens proclaim the glory of God.

    The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
    night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word;
    their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
    and their words to all the world.    

Psalm 19:1-4^(NLT)

I am reminded every time I look at a clear, starry night sky, or a breathtaking view of a valley and its’ mountainous vistas that God rarely (if ever) plays our silly games. 

You have perhaps seen, or heard about someone challenging God:  alright, you, God; if you’re there I dare you to strike me dead right now!  And then, when he or she didn’t become a piece of dry toast because the lightning bolt never happened, they claim victory – God isn’t there; it’s all a hoax.

The kindest thing you might be able to offer about that kind of foolishness is to say nothing at all.  At the very most you might remind the person that an argument from silence is weak; just because God didn’t strike you dead – as you asked – doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist; it simply means He doesn’t grant the prayers of foolish noodle heads!

And – at times – we’re ALL foolish noodle heads!  We all pray for stuff that isn’t good for us, or things we don’t need.  If God did answer some of my prayers I might wind up as toast simply because, like the rest of humanity, I’m selfish and self-destructive.

The Psalmist, King David, stated it clearly and forcefully that God’s creation is an argument from silence, declaring the magnificence of God’s sovereign hand.  Without a single word the creation speaks to our hearts, awesomely overwhelming our imaginations.

And with good reason!

Even the closest star past our sun, named Proxima Centauri, is 4¼ light years from earth.  I asked Google to calculate the number of miles in one light year (how far light will travel in a year’s time).  Siri said it’s 5,878,499,814,210.01 miles!  (Add an extra 1.6 million miles in a leap year!).  So, just travelling from where you’re sitting now to the closest star in the universe is about 25 trillion miles.

If you feel good about extending your road trip past Proxima Centauri to visit all the other stars in the universe, you’ll have to travel quite a way.  Scientists estimate the number of stars in God’s universe to be something like 3 x 10²³.  That’s 3,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, or three-billion-trillion stars besides the Milky Way, which is our little neighborhood. 

And every bit of it declaring the majesty of Yahweh!  I’d call that a pretty strong argument from silence!

Now, that’s a pretty long way to travel this morning to set up my one-sentence I started out to say:

The next time you feel overwhelmed by all that the current political campaigns are declaring as our great problems, or hear a newscaster re-tell the story of another shooting on the news, or have a panic attack about global climate change, please be silent for a moment and remember who holds all of that, and all of the universe in the palm of His hand.

For You Today

Neither you, nor I hold the answers to all the perplexing problems we face in our little world – nor is it likely to come out of Washington this November.  But we do know from whence cometh our help – look up; your redemption draweth nigh![2]

You chew on that out on that Rocky Road today…and have a joy-filled and blessed day!

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[1] Title image:  By Christopher Fitzgerald (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

[2] Luke 21:28 & Psalm 121:1