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!

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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

Troubled Times

Friday, August 12, 2022

Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ.  Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.  Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things.  You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy.  You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.  So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord.  Remember the great reward it brings you!  Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will.  Then you will receive all that he has promised.  “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.  And my righteous ones will live by faith.  But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”  But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction.  We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.  

Hebrews 10:32-39

To say that Christians suffer in troubled times is to understate reality by a country mile.  We face difficult circumstances just as much as every other human on planet earth.  There are some who face little, but others who suffer more than we can bear on our own.  This is why Paul’s advice to remember the early days, when we first accepted Christ, is so encouraging and helpful.  By doing so, we re-center our focus on the joy of being connected to heaven’s great cloud of witnesses, and earth’s heaven-bound family.  But Paul also tells us to look forward to the return of Christ, and how He will change everything in an instant.  If that doesn’t re-light your fire, your wood’s wet, my friend.

It is an easy temptation to fall into, spending all your time looking back to the good ol’ days, or forward to the coming joy of reuniting with loved ones and the reign of Christ.  But – truth be told – that isn’t where you live, is it?  You live in the here and now, political turmoil, climate change, dwindling resources, increasing age issues, inflation, and the ever-present shrinking trust in everything that comes across your screen on social media.  Who wouldn’t want to reminisce about good times of the past, and ruminate on the coming great times of the future?

Paul tells us to not throw away (our) confident trust in the LORD.  He tells us to get a firm grip on patient endurance, the unanxious, present and joyful spirit of faith in Jesus Christ.  And he tells us to live and rest in that, because there are plenty of people you know who will need you to have that ready for them when troublesome times begin to swallow them whole.  It’s then, with a present confidence and spirit of Christ, your helping hand is going to make an eternal difference in another human being’s life. 

For You Today

We are always mindful to pray for First Responders because they are on the scene when people need them most.  Let that describe your life’s mission, a follower of Jesus Christ, First Responder with the Spirit of Hope and Salvation!

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:  Resting in the Connection and Joy in Troubling Times      

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

Declaration of War - Declaration of Peace

[1]

Monday, September 23, 2019

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees.  These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead.  They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning.  But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.  The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem.  Annas the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest.  They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?”  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man?  Do you want to know how he was healed?  Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.  For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’  There is salvation in no one else!  God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”  Acts 4:1-12

The confrontation between the Apostles and the governing body of Israel was what Charles Dickens must have had in mind when he wrote A Tale of Two Cities, it was the best of times; it was the worst of times.[2]  In Jerusalem just a few months after the resurrection the church was a newborn emerging kingdom.  The case of Peter and John vs. the religious rulers was a Declaration of War – Declaration of Peace.

The prophet Isaiah pointed to the coming of the kingdom.  And every time a kingdom is established, of necessity there will be a king.

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6

Wherever there is a king crowned, there are those who would dethrone him.  For every declaration of peace in a kingdom, there is a corresponding declaration of war. 

In the case of Jesus, the threat perceived by the Sadducees and Pharisees was to their earthly power.  Christ had said His kingdom was not of this earth[3], but, for those in power, even the perception of a threat is enough to declare war.

I love Peter’s statement…let me say it clearly for you and anyone else….  This was the gauntlet of peace.  Of course, the powerful rulers who led the people of Israel to pray for peace daily had eyes only for their own continued power structure.  They didn’t live by, or even believe their own doctrine and prayers, so naturally they couldn’t imagine God’s peace showing up in a lowly carpenter from Nazareth.

But the straw that broke this camel’s back was two words that pierced the religious rulers’ balloon of power:  Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.  Thinking to defend their position the rulers had declared war on their own eternal souls!  They had put to death the Prince of Peace.

For You Today

Despite how Jesus was treated, His offer of peace still stands.  It’s that peace that passes all understanding[4], offered without reservation to anyone who will come into His kingdom.  It’s a daily, living, cornerstone of faith that never fails.  Ever!

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

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com     Unless noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

[2] For a well-crafted article by John Piper summarizing how to live in such a time go HERE

[3] John 18:36

[4] Philippians 4:7

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!

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NOTES

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