Judgments True and Just

Friday, November 17, 2023[1]

After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.  The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal.  They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt.  They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them.  And they angered the Lord.  They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth.  This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions.  He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them.  Every time Israel went out to battle, the Lord fought against them, causing them to be defeated, just as he had warned.  And the people were in great distress.  Judges 2:10-15

And I heard a voice from the altar, saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just.”  Revelation 16:7

The justice system in America is arguably skewed at times, as is every other system created by humankind.  A statement attributed to Winston Churchill is:  Democracy is the worst form of government ever created…with the exception of every other form of government.  With all due respect to the esteemed Mr. Churchill, there is one justice system that is true and just; its righteousness is never failing!  That system, of course, is the judgments of God.

Joshua led the nation of Israel to conquer the Promised Land after Moses’ death.  They occupied it under the sole-leadership of God (a theocracy) until Joshua died.  Then a new generation decided that serving Jehovah was outdated and old-school.  They wanted to be like the other nations and left God in the dust. 

For Israel, bad became worse.  Their strength as a nation disappeared.  Their military was never enough.  Their infrastructures became compromised; superstructures and resources were hacked and stolen, and no leader could be trusted.  The whole nation was in severe distress.

Does that sound familiar?  I know it is dangerous to insert “America” into any prophecy or Biblical scenario, but when the shoe fits it is appropriate to wear it.  The trend in our culture is to trust in an idea of America as inherently good and all-powerful.  The problem in believing such is that we wind up attributing the nature of God to a national identity.  America is not, has never been, and will never be…GOD! 

The identity of a nation consists of  the nature and character of the people who make up that nation at any point in time.  According to Scripture (which has yet to be proven wrong), the character and nature of humans is corrupt, and has been so ever since Eden.  This is a fallen world…and, despite the flag-waving that has most of us rallying around the stars and stripes, fallenness is our heritage…prone to wander; prone to leave the God we love.  And leave God behind we have…for the pragmatism of bigger stock portfolios, harsher conversations, and a national profile of yell louder to win the argument.  And we do so at a great cost!

For You Today 

The distress of God’s justice rolled-down on the heads of those who led Israel after Joshua passed.  I am not a prophet in the sense of being able to foretell the future, but I am student enough of history and Scripture to sense that we are at harvest time, and what we have been sowing, we shall certainly reap! 

Let us be wise and plant seeds of justice, mercy, and walking humbly with our God, while we pray it is not too late.

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

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] This devotion originally appeared on Rocky Road as The Distress of Justice, November 16, 2017 (with updates)

GONE!

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone.  He threw it into the ocean and shouted, “Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again.  The sound of harps, singers, flutes, and trumpets will never be heard in you again.  No craftsmen and no trades will ever be found in you again.  The sound of the mill will never be heard in you again.  The light of a lamp will never shine in you again.  The happy voices of brides and grooms will never be heard in you again.  For your merchants were the greatest in the world, and you deceived the nations with your sorceries.  In your streets flowed the blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world.”  Revelation 18:21-24

“Babylon” is more than a once-great city, dynasty, or nation.  Rather its’ legacy is that of what happens to any self-aggrandizing person or group that opposes God.  Ancient Babylon (located near Baghdad in modern Iraq) as a cultural center four thousand years ago, lasted about 30 centuries.  In Daniel and Second Kings we find Nebuchadnezzar, a ruthless, wicked man, who conquered Jerusalem more than once, and who destroyed Solomon’s temple.  He presented himself as the true divine, above every human or their gods.  Daniel, a humble Jew, taken from his homeland to serve Nebuchadnezzar as a slave, interpreted dreams for the king.  Daniel told him the one, true God of all would humble the king, and it happened immediately.  Nebuchadnezzar wandered the hills and surrounding areas of Babylon for 7 years as a wild beast, eating grass.  When he finally came to his senses (because God restored him), he gave honor and glory to Daniel’s God.[1] 

Today’s passage is one of many in Revelation that is used to describe the End Times, when God’s judgment will be poured-out on earth.  Babylon is an accurate symbol (of sorts) for all who opposed God in this life.  In a single name the aged Apostle John records the undoing of humankind’s evil of all time, and the recreating of God’s paradise.  When the judgment comes, portrayed as a huge boulder thrown-down from Heaven, Babylon, the mighty conqueror of all men, is simply….dismissed, no more…GONE!

While there is a great deal of mystery and wonder around Biblical prophecy, there is also a much greater value in the warning which it offers.  Jesus, in detailing for his disciples some of the circumstances which mark the time when God’s judgment would be imminent, tells us it is fruitless to spend our time trying to create a timeline, or set a date for when this will happen.  Jesus said it WILL HAPPEN, and our best response to that is to be ready WHENEVER IT HAPPENS! 

Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.  “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.  Only the Father knows.  And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard!  Stay alert!  Mark 13:31-33

For You Today 

It would be simple to look around, particularly at the events happening in Jerusalem and Gaza these weary, war-torn days.  There’s more than enough evidence of what Jesus warned would precede His next advent.  But Scripture doesn’t change…we don’t know it’s now…but we don’t know it isn’t.

So…today, whatever happens, don’t wander-around like Nebuchadnezzar eating grass.  Start your day feasting on God’s Word, and give Him all the glory.

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

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Title Image Pixabay.com  Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] For a lengthy article on this background see Wikipedia on Babylon

Please...Say That Again

Monday, April 24, 2023

The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day.  He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby.  When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground.  “My lord,” he said, “if it pleases you, stop here for a while.  Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet.  And since you’ve honored your servant with this visit, let me prepare some food to refresh you before you continue on your journey.”  “All right,” they said. “Do as you have said.”  So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, “Hurry! Get three large measures of your best flour, knead it into dough, and bake some bread.”  Then Abraham ran out to the herd and chose a tender calf and gave it to his servant, who quickly prepared it.  When the food was ready, Abraham took some yogurt and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men.  As they ate, Abraham waited on them in the shade of the trees.  “Where is Sarah, your wife?” the visitors asked.  “She’s inside the tent,” Abraham replied.  Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!”  Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent.  Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children.  So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?”  Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh?  Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’  Is anything too hard for the Lord?  I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”  Genesis 18:1-13

Abraham had no problem understanding what was happening, and how important his three visitors were.  This was not his first rodeo; many years prior God had appeared to him and invited Abraham to uproot and become a follower.  On that journey he’d seen the hand of God move in miraculous provision, protection, and promise-fulfillment.  Abraham’s scurrying to get a meal and resting place ready for this triune theophany visit wasn’t just hospitality, this was an unannounced blessing of the presence of the eternal, almighty God, Jehovah; you pay attention, and listen like it’s the most important conversation ever!

If Abraham was busy thrusting every bit of attention to the Lord’s visit, Sarah simply eavesdropped.  God knew where she was, but the series of questions was asked out loud for Abraham’s benefit (and Sarah’s instruction).  Where is she?  Why did she laugh?  Why did she question my announcement of her pregnancy?  Leading questions are followed by the interrogative that ends excuse-making, and makes your head spin:  Is anything too hard for the LORD?  In the face of laughing at a promise God makes, you can always expect a challenge of faith.  And once God asks you to declare your faith with a “yes” or “no” the debate is over!

For You Today 

If you’ve been on Abraham’s journey with God for a good while, you certainly know what it’s like to pant, out-of-breath, just trying to keep-up.  And you’re also aware you don’t question the direction, you just cooperate!  You learn that lesson when you laugh like Sarah, and a brief time later the evidence of how right He was, and how foolish you were, is getting large in your belly cementing the lesson forever in your mind.  So, the next time God points you in a direction you hadn’t seen coming, whether it looks possible…good, or bad…or just too good to be real…try not to laugh.  God’s biggest and best blessings tend to happen in the unplanned and unimaginable!

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

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Seriously?  and  Living Into the Seed of Promise   

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Of Prophecy and Partying

Monday, December 5, 2022

Look!  The Lord is about to destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland.  He devastates the surface of the earth and scatters the people.  Priests and laypeople, servants and masters, maids and mistresses, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, bankers and debtors—none will be spared.  The earth will be completely emptied and looted.  The Lord has spoken!  The earth mourns and dries up, and the land wastes away and withers.  Even the greatest people on earth waste away.  The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted God’s instructions, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant.  Therefore, a curse consumes the earth.  Its people must pay the price for their sin.  They are destroyed by fire, and only a few are left alive.  The grapevines waste away, and there is no new wine.  All the merrymakers sigh and mourn.  The cheerful sound of tambourines is stilled; the happy cries of celebration are heard no more.  The melodious chords of the harp are silent.  Gone are the joys of wine and song; alcoholic drink turns bitter in the mouth.  The city writhes in chaos; every home is locked to keep out intruders.  Mobs gather in the streets, crying out for wine.  Joy has turned to gloom.  Gladness has been banished from the land.  The city is left in ruins, its gates battered down.  Throughout the earth the story is the same—only a remnant is left, like the stray olives left on the tree or the few grapes left on the vine after harvest.  But all who are left shout and sing for joy.  Those in the west praise the Lord’s majesty.  In eastern lands, give glory to the Lord.  In the lands beyond the sea, praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.  We hear songs of praise from the ends of the earth, songs that give glory to the Righteous One!  But my heart is heavy with grief.  Weep for me, for I wither away.  Deceit still prevails, and treachery is everywhere.  Isaiah 24:1-16

Isaiah gave himself to God as a prophet, committing to tell God’s truth, whether anyone listened or liked what God was saying.  Every preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ must make the same commitment, if there is to be truth combatting the evils of treachery, deceit, and debauchery.

The prophet spoke a word to two generations.  The first was his own, with the looming peril of Babylon, poised like a cobra, ready to strike Jerusalem down.  Like all true prophecy, the destruction of the city happened (in AD 587), and with that enemy siege came the residual horrors of brokenness, mobs, violence, ruin, famine, disease, and gloom of the total collapse of hope.

The second generation to which the prophet speaks is to those who came after, every generation since the destruction of Israel’s glory, down to this day, and until the very moment Jesus returns.  That’s where prophecy is inescapably pointing; we are headed for the conclusion of God’s plan for humanity.  That plan is destruction of all that is this world’s system of values, deceit, greed, anger, violence, and selfishness.  In the wake of that obliteration, will rise the city of hope, New Jerusalem, and a thousand-year (eternal) reign of Christ.

With his final words, Isaiah gives away his heart’s heaviness.  His ministry was in Jerusalem, a prophet to the movers and shakers of that generation, purveyors of a greedy lot, steeped in deceit and treachery.  It’s enough to make one envision the halls of today’s seats of worldly power.

For You Today  

For now, those who reject God’s Word and God’s Son, refusing to hear the prophecy, choose a party of emptiness.  When Christ comes, those who have received and obeyed the prophecy will see the real party begin…joy, unspeakable, and full of glory.[1]  So…heed the prophecy; don’t miss the party.

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       No More Tambourines   and   Of State Dinners and Spies

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] 1 Peter 1:8

A Refreshing Spring Rain

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son.  Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly.  May the mountains yield prosperity for all, and may the hills be fruitful.  Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors.  May they fear you as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains in the sky.  Yes, forever!  May the king’s rule be refreshing like spring rain on freshly cut grass, like the showers that water the earth.  May all the godly flourish during his reign.  May there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more.  Psalm 72:1-7

In this Psalm there is a very thin and necessary line any leader must walk, if that leader will measure-up to what David prayed for his son, Solomon, who was about to take over for the dying king.  It’s the precarious line of tension between the heart and head.  On the one hand rulers must govern with rulership, applying with wisdom (of the mind) all the laws of the land equally to all the citizens.  On balance, compassion (of the heart) must make certain the law’s rigid nature tramples no citizen.  To achieve that balance is like a refreshing spring rain on a parched soil.  David’s prayer for his son contains superlatives…enemies eternally fearing Solomon, oppressors broken and crushed, fairness in the courts…always!  And let us not forget prosperity until the moon is no more.  We are talking about King Arthur’s Camelot, an everlasting paradise of blessing showered on everyone.  Can’t you just hear the pledge of allegiance?  One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all!

If you apply those standards to ANY ruler of current day, or of any time in history, that flesh-and-blood human will fall short.  Even the one who prayed it in the 72^nd Psalm for his young ruler-to-be couldn’t live up to that standard.  Indeed, it is an impossible target.  A rule of forever is not consistent with the term-limits of human life spans.  Exact justice is not found anywhere on the planet, except in the minds of the naïve or evil.  So how could David, a wise and (relatively) good king, pray for something no human can hope to attain?  Was he just setting-up his son, Solomon for failure?  Or is there something else in that prayer we’re not seeing?  Perhaps both. 

The spring rain on a field of grass is prosperity for a season; dry spells will return, as assuredly they did in Israel, not long after Solomon’s reign ended.  There were plenty of evil rulers to follow.  David knew this, but still prayed for the son’s wisdom, power, and success.  But, behind the king’s wishes for his earthly son of the next generation, David was pointing to the Son of Advent, of his lineage, nearly a thousand years later, born in a manger. 

If you use Psalm 72 as a template, placing it over the completeness of Scripture’s prophecies concerning the rule of Christ, you will see no inconsistency.  The line between justice and mercy is held high.  Judgment is righteous and fair.  Rule is with godliness.  And the godly flourish.  David’s prayer, written under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, was hopefulness for Solomon’s reign as king for a season, but it was prophetic for the certainty of Christ’s reign truly forever.

For You Today  

There’s a reason we place our faith in God and not in earthly rulers, or institutions.  Earthly kings and presidents are subject to the transitory and imperfect results of being human, with all the character cracks of our nature; God, in Christ, is eternal and without failure.  That’s a permanent refreshing rain!

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       One Nation UNDER God   and   Praying for a President

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Despite Wickedness

 

Friday, May 6, 2022

“As for you, O people of Israel, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:  Go right ahead and worship your idols, but sooner or later you will obey me and will stop bringing shame on my holy name by worshiping idols.  For on my holy mountain, the great mountain of Israel, says the Sovereign Lord, the people of Israel will someday worship me, and I will accept them.  There I will require that you bring me all your offerings and choice gifts and sacrifices.  When I bring you home from exile, you will be like a pleasing sacrifice to me.  And I will display my holiness through you as all the nations watch.  Then when I have brought you home to the land I promised with a solemn oath to give to your ancestors, you will know that I am the Lord.  You will look back on all the ways you defiled yourselves and will hate yourselves because of the evil you have done.  You will know that I am the Lord, O people of Israel, when I have honored my name by treating you mercifully in spite of your wickedness.  I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”  Ezekiel 20:39-44

The Sovereign Lord is the Creator of the universe.  Despite the wickedness of His chosen people, Israel, God was not only willing to forgive, He promised it as a matter of prophetic certainty.  In all prophetic utterance, by prophets, apostles, and metaphorical stories[1], there is typically a current application, AND a future expectation.  We often miss that, because we cannot see the future, even 5 minutes ahead.  It’s like two mountains, the closer one (our current day) larger than the one behind it (the future prediction).  We are at ground-level, so to speak.  Our sight is limited.  Prophetic utterance is God, the Creator of time and space, and is therefore not governed by either time, or space.  God is above time and space (as a helicopter hovering above the two mountains), and He can see what we cannot.[2]  When the God above speaks, we who ARE governed by time, space, and the expectations of their Creator, should pay attention.

God reminded Israel of their wickedness, worshipping idols out of a fear of not fitting-in with the surrounding cultures, and dishonoring their calling to be God’s special chosen ones to proclaim God’s love to the world.  But the warning threat of accountability also came with a prophecy that they would get past the regret of despising their own sins, to be forgiven and restored to right relationship with God.

In our 21^st century culture there is enough identifying with ungodly culture going on (even in the church) to be like a second-mountain behind the first (of Ezekiel’s time).  The church of the third millennium is no different than the first two-thousand years…we leave our first-love of Jesus in the dust like the church at Ephesus which apostle John wrote about in Revelation 2:1-5.  There was also a prophetic warning in that message.

For You Today

Prophecy isn’t about sensationalism, or all about God getting even with us for our wickedness.  Prophecy is God’s despite of our wickedness to proclaim the love and providence of our Lord for lost and wayward sheep.  It’s an open invitation to come back to the purpose for which we were created…an intensely intimate relationship with a God who loves us supremely.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Some consider, for instance, Adam and Eve, Jonah, and other accounts of miracles and historical events to be “fictional stories” told to make God’s point.  I leave that to the reader’s conscience.  Prophecy is not a metaphor, however; all of God’s word is His promise (and warning).

[2] His thoughts and ways are immeasurably higher – see Isaiah 55:9

The Day Ezekiel Met God

 

Monday, May 2, 2022

On July 31 of my thirtieth year, while I was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.  This happened during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity.  (The Lord gave this message to Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, beside the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians, and he felt the hand of the Lord take hold of him.)  As I looked, I saw a great storm coming from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light.  There was fire inside the cloud, and in the middle of the fire glowed something like gleaming amber.  From the center of the cloud came four living beings that looked human, except that each had four faces and four wings.  Their legs were straight, and their feet had hooves like those of a calf and shone like burnished bronze.  Under each of their four wings I could see human hands. So each of the four beings had four faces and four wings.  The wings of each living being touched the wings of the beings beside it.  Each one moved straight forward in any direction without turning around.  Each had a human face in the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back.  Each had two pairs of outstretched wings—one pair stretched out to touch the wings of the living beings on either side of it, and the other pair covered its body.  They went in whatever direction the spirit chose, and they moved straight forward in any direction without turning around.  The living beings looked like bright coals of fire or brilliant torches, and lightning seemed to flash back and forth among them.  And the living beings darted to and fro like flashes of lightning.

As I looked at these beings, I saw four wheels touching the ground beside them, one wheel belonging to each.  The wheels sparkled as if made of beryl. All four wheels looked alike and were made the same; each wheel had a second wheel turning crosswise within it.  The beings could move in any of the four directions they faced, without turning as they moved.  The rims of the four wheels were tall and frightening, and they were covered with eyes all around.  When the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. When they flew upward, the wheels went up, too.  The spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.  So wherever the spirit went, the wheels and the living beings also went.  When the beings moved, the wheels moved.  When the beings stopped, the wheels stopped.  When the beings flew upward, the wheels rose up, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.  Spread out above them was a surface like the sky, glittering like crystal.  Beneath this surface the wings of each living being stretched out to touch the others’ wings, and each had two wings covering its body.  As they flew, their wings sounded to me like waves crashing against the shore or like the voice of the Almighty or like the shouting of a mighty army.  When they stopped, they let down their wings.  As they stood with wings lowered, a voice spoke from beyond the crystal surface above them.  

Ezekiel 1:1-25

I will resist any kind of attempt to interpret or explain the meaning of Ezekiel’s vision.  It is enough to drink-in the overwhelming image of God entering the sky, like one of Stephen Spielberg’s productions.  Independence Day, a movie about alien ships arriving in thunderclouds of smoke and fire, had alien beings in those ships that were a frightening presence.  But they cannot begin to approach the majesty and vastness of powerful command this vision presents of God’s stormy arrival to speak with Ezekiel.  God certainly knows how to make an entrance!

The meaning of human and otherly creatures, wheels within wheels, wings, eyes, and moving at the speed of thought…are the subject of many debates and cross-referenced Biblical themes.  It is enough to say…what a mighty God we serve!

For You Today

Read, study, and muse on these things.  In time God will make all things clear.  Just don’t forget to get yourself involved in the greater works of mercy and sharing the Gospel.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: BelieveTrust.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©