December 30, 2019 - Reflections on the God revealed in Nahum

“He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4:16-21(NIV) 

This well-known account of our Lord Jesus identifying Himself as the One whom Isaiah prophesied about, is very specific in its description of our Lord’s use of the Old Testament. He doesn’t identify chapter and verse before He read the passage He was looking for, but our bibles have a text note that links back to Isaiah 61:1,2.
There are two questions that come to mind as we lay our English translations of Isaiah 61:1,2 and Luke 4:18,19 beside each other;
Our first question is - why would the scroll our Lord read have “recovery of sight for the blind” when it doesn’t appear in our English translations of the Hebrew text? The answer is simple, for the scroll our Lord read from is the Greek translation of the Hebrew called the Septuagint or the LXX (the 70). If you Google “Septuagint Isaiah 61:1,2” you will find an English translation, and this question is answered.
Our second question is - why would our Lord stop His recitation of Isaiah 61:2 mid sentence? Our Lord was proclaiming “the year of the Lord’s favor” and yet the Isaiah text has 3 parallel statements of the proclamation;
            the year of the Lord’s favour
            the day of vengeance of our God (day of recompence in the LXX)
            the comfort of all who mourn.
Why would our Lord not quote the entire verse?
This second question is a little harder to answer, for it requires us to think theologically and consider the wider teaching of Scripture about our God. 
I believe Nahum 1 sheds some light for us, for we see two descriptions of God in Nahum 1 that many people think are contradictory, for how can God be both avenging and good at the same time? God is good to those who take refuge in Him, who trust in Him, and yet He pursues His foes into the realm of darkness. He is both because people take two different positions with God - some draw near to Him through Christ Jesus and yet more refuse to bow their knee and are His foe.
According to Nahum 1 God is also slow to anger and mighty in power. This age or year that we are in right now - the year of the Lord’s favour - will end with a day of vengeance, but only when God comes to the end of His patience. On that day only those who have taken refuge in Christ will be spared, all others will be utterly and completely destroyed. Christ came to usher in this age of grace in which we live, when all who call on the Lord will saved, for the Spirit is poured on all who believe.
Our Lord will come back in power and when He comes back He will finish the sentence of Isaiah 61:2.

December 20, 2019 - Suggested Reading Colossians 1 for the December 22nd message on Isaiah 9:1-7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,  and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

Colossians 1:19-20 (NIV)

As we read the first chapter of Colossians, I am struck by how Paul weaves the power of the Mighty God through the opening of his letter to this Gentile church, and yet what caused me to pick this chapter as part of the Scripture that brings understanding to Isaiah’s prophecy in 9:6, is Paul’s description of Christ’s work on the cross in verses 19 and 20. Surely Paul understood our Lord Jesus Christ as being the Prince of Peace that Isaiah saw!

Notice that just as a prince is subordinate to the king in our world, in this chapter our Lord is subordinate to His Father God.

Notice also that the mission of this One who had all the fullness of God, was reconciliation of all things on earth and heaven to God, by making peace through His blood on the cross.

The greatest dispute in history - the dispute between the Creator and His rebellious creatures was settled by Christ Jesus on the cross. He made peace through His blood - not just an ending of conflict but true peace where Creator and creature live together in harmony.

We were enemies in our minds because of our evil behaviour - oh that I would live as a child of God and not an enemy of God!

But now we are holy in His sight without blemish - oh that I would live my life as how my Heavenly Father sees me!

IF – a small Word with a large meaning that millions who celebrate Christmas miss.

IF we continue in our faith, established and firm, not moving from the hope held out in the gospel. It is faith that connected us to the grace in which we now live - a full understanding of the message of the gospel brought to us by the apostles, a belief in that understanding, and a life that reflects that belief. Faith comes from hearing the gospel, we hear, we believe, and we worship, and out of that worship our life flows as Creator and creature live together in harmony.

Oh, Friend this Prince of Peace we worship is alive in us, which is our hope of glory.

I wonder does this peace we have with God bring us peace with those around us?

December 19, 2019 - Suggested Reading Hebrews 2 for the December 22nd message on Isaiah 9:1-7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.”

Hebrews 2:11-13 (NIV) 

(Ps22:22) And again, “I will put my trust in him.” (Isa 8:17) And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.” (Isa 8:18)

Of the four titles given to our Lord Jesus by Isaiah 9:6, Everlasting Father seems confusing because we wonder how our Lord could be known as Father. Some answer this question by referring to the Trinity, and attempting to show that Isaiah was revealing Jesus as God through this title, but it seems like the title Mighty God covers that task quite well, and that the title Everlasting Father might have a different revelation in mind.

It seems to me that another aspect our Lord’s reign as King is in view here, for although it is hard for us to relate in a family way to the Lord Jesus. He is family! This King of kings, Lord of lords, who brings counsel and power and peace into our lives is family.

Not family of our doing- but what love God has lavished on us that we would be called the children of God, born again not of a human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

Not family as we understand family, for we all recognize that there is nothing everlasting about our family- we mourn the loss of our loved ones, but we will never mourn the loss of our Everlasting Father. Rather we will enjoy sweet, sweet fellowship with this Everlasting Father - our Lord Jesus Christ.

Not father as we understand father, for we all recognize that human fathers are at best a shadow of the image of our Heavenly Father, and at worst a grotesque distortion of all that a father is supposed to be. But Father in the sense of Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God forever! Dad’s are to be wise and mighty, and this Dad is both – forever.

Friend I long to walk with my Everlasting Father and to bask in the privilege of being in the family of God, seeing Him in His glory and sharing in His glory.

The wonderful truth is that I can experience this familial kinship now, this side of glory, as I seek His face, listening to Him, worshipping Him and experiencing the wonder of the wisdom and protection of my Everlasting Father.

December 18, 2019 - Suggested Reading Luke 9 for the December 22nd message on Isaiah 9:1-7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39 (NIV) 

Isaiah saw that our Lord Jesus was more than a Wonderful Counselor like other wise men in the world, for Isaiah saw Christ Jesus in His glory and declares Him to be Mighty God in Isaiah 9:6.

Surely more Christians have found encouragement in the 8th chapter of Romans than in any other Scripture text. After confronting the demoralizing truth of chapter 7 that there is a battle being waged in my inner person, Paul turns to the truth that we are no longer under condemnation and are not alone in our battle, but are united with Christ and indwelt by the Spirit, and bound for glory once the struggles of this life are over.

Paul then turns His attention to the question that comes to all true Christians (false believers don’t ask this question), “Am I still in the love of God through Christ Jesus?”. The answer according to Paul is a resounding YES!

Paul declares what Isaiah could see - simply that our God is Mightier than any other power in creation. Paul does it in a dramatic, poetic fashion ensuring that all the powers are covered and yet I wonder if we truly believe it.

Do we see Christ Jesus as greater than our sin?

My assurance of the hope I have in Christ does not rest on me and my efforts, but rests solely on the Mighty God, who saved me from my sin, anointed me with His Holy Spirit and who will bring me to His side in glory because of His unfailing love for me.

It is true that when I am in a period where I wander from Him, clutching unconfessed sin to my heart- it is true in those times that I don’t hear the assurance of the Spirit (vs16), rather what I hear is repent John repent for that is what I need to hear. Yet it is also true that the presence of that convicting voice is a reminder to me that I am His and that nothing can separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

Surely He is a Mighty God.

December 17, 2019 - Suggested Reading Luke 9 for the December 22nd message on Isaiah 9:1-7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.””

Luke 9:35 (NIV) 

Isaiah prophesied that our Lord Jesus would be called Wonderful Counselor, and it seems like this first Name is the bedrock upon which the righteous rule of Christ is established in a person’s life, and it seems that the other 3 Names proceed from this Name.

I wonder if you are like a dear friend of mine that would become passionate about this text and loudly declare that there are 5 Names not  - Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace? My dear friend is with His Lord now and no doubt uses all 5 Names to address his Lord, but for those of us here on this earth- the scholars tell us that the Hebrew contains 4 Names, not 5.

This first Name reveals His primary role in our lives, if we would willing seek His face, and listen to what He tells us- we would recognize Him as a Wonderful Counselor, for His counsel is wonderful in every way.

The lords of old told us serfs who to marry, where to live, what job to take up – they managed every aspect of the lives of the serfs. How much more should we the servants/slaves of the Risen Lord follow His instructions in every aspect of our lives?

We can read of the kings of Israel and their counselors, and see that a kingdom is established through a multitude of wise counselors. Now if a king needs wisdom outside of himself than surely, we need wisdom outside of ourselves. Of course, we all know people who only listen when they speak, and perhaps we find ourselves engaged in that prideful, self-centered behaviour but I hope that we all know the importance of listening when our Lord speaks, and have experienced the wonderful results of following His counsel.

It is how we came to faith- by hearing His voice above all other voices- for His sheep recognize His voice. It is how His kingdom came to our lives, and how we entered His kingdom, and it is how we see His kingdom and righteousness expand in our lives. How do we recognize His voice above all the other voices this day? It starts with deliberate action on our part to LISTEN. We find His voice in His Word, and that inner voice that tells us to go right or left (Isa 30:21) will never contradict His written Word, and actually I seem to hear that inner voice clearer in direct proportion to the time I spend in His Word.

We will never see Him revealed as Mighty God in our lives, until we accept Him as Wonderful Counselor, listen to what He tells us, and apply it in our lives.    

December 16, 2019 - Suggested Reading Psalm 110 for the December 22nd message on Isaiah 9:1-7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of your enemies!””

Psalm 110:2 (NIV) 

This little psalm is a powerful Messianic psalm that is all about the rule of our Lord Jesus. For not only is Psalm 110:1 quoted by our Lord in Matthew 22:44, by Peter in Acts 2:34, and by the writer to the Hebrews in 1:13, as well as verse 4 in Hebrews 7:17, but the concept of Christ seated at the right hand of God is repeated over and over again in the New Testament. This is a powerful Word from God regarding the present state of our Lord - He is right now at the right hand of God.

I wonder if you can find encouragement in the truth that He rules in the midst of His enemies?

People scoff at our belief that our Lord is ruling now in heaven, and point to everything that is bad and the evil happening around us as proof that He doesn’t reign.

Oh friend He reigns in the presence of His enemies.

Just think about our state as a Christians - we are saved through the sanctifying Presence of the Holy Spirit, brought to life - alive in Christ. Yet that life of Christ within us - that precious reign of His happens inside of sinful me - is a reign surrounded by His enemies. Make no mistake - my flesh is the enemy of Christ. My eyes, my ears, my mind, my hands, my feet, my heart - oh my heart - my deceitful and wicked heart. Yet He reigns within me and He will reign in every part of me, in direct proportion to my willingness to declare Him King and go forth in holy battle.

I wonder if you can find encouragement in the truth that He is a priest forever?

Do the Words of Paul in Romans 8:34 bring encouragement to your heart? As he meditated on the truths in Psalm 110 Paul wrote; Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Interceding for us – FOREVER! Wow!

I wonder if you can find encouragement in the last Words of this Psalm, as it describes the future Day of Wrath where our King and Priest will come in judgment and destroy all those opposed to Him. What a glorious Day that will be, when my King destroys my sinful flesh and cloths me in immortality!

Oh friend be encouraged today in your faith in our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

May we be among the young men coming to the Lord like dew from the morning’s womb.

December 14, 2019 - Suggested Reading Zechariah 7 for the December 15th message on Isaiah 9:1-7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“This is what the LORD Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.”

Zechariah 7:9 (NIV) 

When we think in courtroom terms we tend to think that mercy and justice are opposite to one another. This verse teaches us that mercy and compassion are an integral part of true justice. Zechariah was a prophet to the people whose story is told in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. These Jews who had returned from Babylon, and rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls and temple came to Zechariah with a worship question - should we mourn and fast in the fifth month? God’s answer given to Zechariah reiterates once again that true worship is a matter of life. Our natural tendency is to separate our worship time from how we live - but that is a false separation and will lead us into ruin. The LORD reminds the people that the prophets told their parents not to pretend to worship God while suppressing God’s people and because they wouldn’t stop that foolish practise God ruined their land and cast them out into Babylon. The Law tells us to love your neighbour as yourself, however our Lord Jesus tells us to love each other as Christ has loved us. This is true worship! It honours our Lord and His love for us, and it is a reflection of His heart.

How can we hurt those whom God loves and still expect that we are right with God?

How can we say and do hurtful things to our family while in the car on the way to church, and yet come inside and think that we have pleased God and are right with Him because we participate in a worship service for 70 minutes?

The apostle Paul in his charge to the elders at Ephesus tells them to shepherd (govern) the people in their church who were bought with Christ’s own blood.

I have found it helpful in my dealings with other Christians to tell myself “Watch yourself John, that person who is about to receive your vent – was bought with the blood of Christ - careful what you say and what you do.”

December 13, 2019 - Suggested Reading Zephaniah 3 for the December 15th message on Isaiah 9:1-7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“The LORD within her is righteous; he does no wrong. Morning by morning he dispenses his justice, and every new day he does not fail, yet the unrighteous know no shame.”

Zephaniah 3:5 (NIV) 

I prefer to see myself in the restoration promise of this chapter found in verses 9 thru 20, I am after all a Gentile, one of the worshippers God has purified through His Spirit and brought to Him from beyond the rivers of Cush. Praise His holy Name!

I don’t want to see myself in the first 8 verses of this chapter - yet how many times have I known no shame as I did what was wrong, refused to be corrected and did violence to the Law of God, in how I treated the people around me. From where I sit it seems to me that most of my brothers and sisters in Christ are on occasion in the same boat that I too readily occupy.

The LORD was within Jerusalem, being righteous and doing justice - never failing them- yet they failed Him – instead of His righteousness and justice being revealed through their lives, they oppressed the people around them.

The LORD is within us through His Spirit, being righteous and doing justice - never failing us - yet we fail Him we fail to love those people around us.

May God show us our true state.

May we feel shame.

May we run to Him confessing our sin - for He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, cleansing us from all unrighteousness - for faithful, just and righteous is He!

December 12, 2019 - Suggested Reading Micah 4 for the December 15th message on Isaiah 9:1-7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”

Micah 4:3 (NIV)

Micah and Isaiah ministered to the same people at the same time, though Isaiah’s ministry was longer and seemed to be centered in Jerusalem, whereas Micah ministered in the countryside.

The message of Isaiah 9 and Micah 4 are so similar that people who think the bible is created by human reasoning might wonder which prophet copied the other. Of course, you and I know that God says the same things through His many different apostles and prophets, and that a wise person pays special attention to those things that are repeated by our LORD. He is saying it again for a reason - He wants us to learn something, to see Him more clearly and to worship Him.

In Micah the weapons of war are broken down, whereas in Isaiah the boots and cloaks of warriors are burned, and yet both images convey the message that the rule of the King will eliminate war. 

I enjoyed history class in school, especially the parts about our wars, and when you study how they get started you realize it doesn’t take much! Disagreement over a boundary, over an insult, over a woman, over just about anything will get a war going- and those root causes is what Micah is addressing here in Micah 4. The King of kings settles disputes between people, which Christians who follow our Lord and His apostles’ teachings realize quickly for His righteous rule in our lives, makes it possible to live in peace with one another. Yet there is still war to this day, we still train for war and go to war, even Christian fighting Christian, and so we know that while we taste this righteous rule in part now, the full reality of a world with many people from many nations and tribes and languages living in peace without dispute is yet to come. 

Until it comes each of God’s children are called to live their lives without dispute. How can we dispute with each other while living in the grace of our Lord Jesus who settled the great dispute between us and God on the cross through His body and blood? 

When it does come, through the glorious return of our Lord to this earth, what we call social justice will not be an abstract idea but will be practised by all.

Come Lord Jesus come

December 11, 2019 - Suggested Reading Amos 5 for the December 15th message on Isaiah 9:1-7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.”

Amos 5:7 (NIV) 

These two biblical Hebrew Words (sdq and mispat) when they appear together form a hendiadys – which is the expression of a single idea by two words. The single idea expressed is what we call social justice. The English Words are justice and righteousness; justice having the sense of settling disputes and righteousness having the sense of being right in my actions towards God and my
fellow humans.

Amos uses the expression “there are those who” in verses 7, 10 and 12, and a look at those verses paint a picture of a terrible state for anyone to live in. It seems as you read about bribes and lies and courts that don’t deliver justice, that their situation in the Northern Kingdom of Israel is not much different than our modern western society, nor if we can believe reports from around the world, much different from any other society in existence. Humanity shares a common problem when it comes to justice and righteousness, for there seems to be an inexorable move in every society towards turning justice into bitterness and casting righteousness to the ground.

How can we possibly see justice rolling on like a river and righteousness like a never failing stream as the LORD calls us to in verse 24? 

I love the language of a river when it comes to God and His grace - you can dam a river, but you can’t stop it, it is inexorable. You can divert a river, but you can’t stop it, it is inexorable. There is pressure from on high, and so it flows. God’s grace is being poured out from on high, He pours out into His people as they seek His kingdom and His righteousness in their lives.

How can we possibly see justice rolling on like a river and righteousness like a never failing stream? Only by breaking up the dam of pride and envy and conceit, by seeking His face in humility and repentance will that dam be broken and social justice flow out of my life. As each child of God does this, our lives will be marked by social justice - in our families, our schools and our communities.   

December 10, 2019 - Suggested Reading Hosea 2 for the December 15th message on Isaiah 9:1-7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.”

Hosea 2:19 (NIV) 

I chose Isaiah 9:1-7 as a passage for Parkdale to meditate on as we approach Christmas because this historical Christmas passage features in its language about Christ Jesus, the emphasis the Minor Prophets place on righteousness and justice. This emphasis by the Minor Prophets is rightly taught in our day and age as the duty of Christians to engage in social justice, in terms of defending the weak and standing up for the rights of the oppressed, and  restraining our natural inclination to lie, defraud and kill one another. However, in a country like Canada where our laws and society are heavily influenced by the Gospel and therefore have 200 years of public discourse about these duties- our public sense of what justice and righteousness are seems to differ somewhat from the biblical sense. However slight that difference may appear on the surface it will be good for us to examine the passages in the Minor Prophets that mention righteousness and justice, in order that we might be careful to have God’s understanding and not our culture’s understanding.

Hosea chapter 2 is a difficult chapter to sit and read, because of the graphic comparison between how God’s people treat God and how an adulterous spouse treats their faithful spouse. Adultery is ugly, the ramifications and consequences of adultery are uglier - especially the effect upon the children involved(vs4). How wonderful it is to finally arrive at verse 19 and hear our God speak to us about the wonderful future (for the Jews) which is our present situation in Christ Jesus! Our relationship with God through our union with Christ Jesus, is better in every way than the relationship between the Jewish people and God. It’s a different marriage because God has made it different – He has taken the responsibility for both sides of the marriage – it seems that our part is to acknowledge the LORD. So let us acknowledge Him today, let us meditate on and thank Him for the righteousness, justice, love, compassion and faithfulness that he has brought into us - into our relationship and into us. We have all that we need to be the people that He desires us to be. The first step to being righteous and just and loving and compassionate and faithful in our lives today, is to acknowledge that we are in spiritual union with the One truly righteous and just and loving and compassionate and faithful.

Praise His holy Name for betrothing us.

December 6, 2019 - Suggested Reading Luke 1:39-56 for the December 8th message on Micah 7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

Luke 1:54-55 (NIV) 

I never tire of reading the account of a young Mary travelling to her older cousin Elisabeth’s house, receiving Elisabeth’s blessing, obviously taking it to heart for she breaks into a wonderful song of praise. What a work of the Holy Spirit!

I want us to notice that the language in Mary’s song echoes the last verse of Micah’s prophecy - “You will be faithful to Jacob, and show love to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our ancestors in days long ago.” – Micah is convinced that God will act in the future to forgive His people and bring about that time of rebuilding prophesied in verse 11. Now Mary saw the arrival of Jesus as God’s mercy arriving to earth as a result of God’s faithfulness to an oath He swore long ago. She sees in the birth of Jesus the fulfillment of Micah’s words of faith.

I wonder friend if you believe that today - right now – this moment - on the part of the earth that you occupy, that the time for rebuilding in your life has come. That’s how Mary saw the arrival of Christ to her and to her people, do we see the arrival of Christ in our life the same Mary did?

If we believe this, and admit that for many of the Jews in Mary’s day, the arrival of the Christ brought destruction, then we must believe that how we respond to Christ determines whether or not we will rebuild or as Micah says “lick dust”.

May the Holy Spirit fill each of us with His Presence, a sense of His holiness that shows us our sin, and drives us to flee to our God for His mercy and forgiveness. For all who respond to Christ in this way, today is the first day of the rebuilding of their lives.

What is my response to the Christ?

December 5, 2019 - Suggested Reading Psalm 113 for the December 8th message on Micah 7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high”

Psalm 113:5 (NIV) 

Just a little psalm - surely we could memorize this little psalm?

Praise the LORD is how the psalm starts and ends, and we could say that the application of this psalm for a child of God is to open our mouths, let loose our tongues and let the praise that is in our hearts come out into the air. The amazing reality of this age of grace we live in is that every moment somewhere around this globe praise is rising towards our God from the mouths of His children, because daylight is 24/7 as the earth spins, and because there are Christians all over the face of this earth waking up and praising God. The only question is
– will my voice join in with this blessed choir.

This psalm gives us the reasons to join that choir - for our God is sits above the heavens and stoops down to the heavens and the earth - raising the poor from the dust - the needy from the ash heap, taking them from disgrace into palaces AND He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children.

Oh friend - why shouldn’t we praise the LORD?

Praise Him, Praise Him all ye little children - God is love  - God is love…

December 4, 2019 - Suggested Reading Psalm 89 for the December 8th message on Micah 7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord? Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings?”

Psalm 89:6 (NIV) 

Oh friend can you imagine standing in the throne room of God, with arms raised, a heart burning within, a face that glows and a mouth that sings - beautifully sings - the praises of our Lord?

Can you imagine gazing upon His holiness, looking towards God and seeing Him surrounded by holy wondrous creatures that sing Holy, Holy, Holy? We might on this side of heaven wonder at the descriptions of these creatures that surround Him, but surely there in His Presence, we will see them in their glory, and marvel.

Ethan the Ezrahite envisioned the Lord in His holiness surrounded by great and holy creatures who make us look smaller and weaker than ants, and yet those creatures are nothing compared to our God!

Surely Ethan and the Jewish people needed this vision of God, as they endured the reality of their situation on earth. Thrown out of their land, with their temple in ruins, held captive by foreign nations, they needed to see God high and lifted up, and they needed to say with their mouths that this mighty God is surrounded by faithfulness (vs8) and that not only is His arm powerful, strong and exalted (vs13), but He sits on a throne that rests on a foundation of justice and righteousness from which love and faithfulness flow (vs14).

Oh friend can you see this God today?

Can you see Him high and lifted up?

Can you see His eyes of love turned towards you?

Yes He has allowed this situation you are in, He has the power to fix it, to heal it and yet He doesn’t.

We don’t know why He won’t use His power this way -  BUT we do know that it is not His lack of faithfulness nor His lack of love RATHER it is His love, His faithfulness, His justice, and His righteousness that keeps Him from snatching us out of the situation until … until … 

Then one day we won’t have to imagine - for we will see Him with our own eyes, we will behold His beauty and we will sing at the top of our voice to the God who delivered us.

December 3, 2019 - Suggested Reading Psalm 74 for the December 8th message on Micah 7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“But God is my King from long ago; he brings salvation on the earth.”

Psalm 74:12 (NIV) 

The psalm is the prayer of the people of Judah while in the darkness prophesied by Micah in verses 8 thru 10 in chapter 7. The temple is destroyed, their enemy mocks their God, they have no signs from God, nor do they have a Word from God through a prophet. But they do have the words of Micah and Isaiah and Jeremiah and the other prophets of long ago, and so they know and believe that God will save them - as verse 12 of this Psalm states so emphatically. They believe and yet while they are in the midst of the darkness it feels like forever - “O God, why have you rejected us forever?”

Now we know looking back by reading the birth account of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke that God did not reject them forever. We know by reading the crucifixion account of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel that God did not forsake His Son forever, but raised Him from the dead and we know from the Gospels and the Epistles that those of us who believe in Christ Jesus are  born again into His life, and we are in Him, never to be rejected again. So we know in our heads that the trouble that come to us, the darkness that overwhelms us at times is not forever and has a perfecting purpose- but our souls need to be told what our heads know.

Don’t miss this in the Psalms - don’t miss the truth that the psalms are songs, meant to be sung, for our souls need to hear in the midst of the trouble that has come upon us that -“God is my King from long ago, He brings salvation on the earth.”

Most of the time we can listen to music as David did and have our souls comforted, but there are times when we need to say the words with our own lips, when our soul desperately needs to hear what our head already knows.

December 2, 2019 - Suggested Reading Psalm 30 for the December 8th message on Micah 7 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

Psalm 30:5 (NIV) 

All of us who write (emails, letters, texts, all forms of writing) understand something about structure, or the arrangement of words, in order to convey an intended message. The bible is written in a specific way, by God through His prophets in order to convey a specific message. We can see that Micah 7 contains a simple, easily discernible structure; 

a statement of misery over sin and a description of that sin in verses 1 thru 6, 

a statement of hope in the midst of darkness and a description of that hope in verses 7 thru 10, 

a prophetic utterance that a day (time period) of expansion will come for God’s people, and a description of that day vs 11 thru 17, 

and then a statement of God’s character and a description of how He deals with all of us
(vs 18 thru 20).

Micah is conveying the message that Judah’s sin will bring about a time of darkness brought about by foreign nations, and yet there will come a day of expansion for Judah which involves the nations coming to Judah through God’s miraculous intervention in the world according to His character of a God who forgives sin.

Psalm 30 was written for the dedication of the temple - which was called “a house of prayer” that place where God would hear from heaven and bring help to His people. This psalm is a song of a person who was delivered from sickness and death, and it contains praise for God’s actions and a description of the prayers the sinner offered to God while being afflicted. The sinner felt secure until the LORD hid His face, and then the sinner cried for mercy, and God turned his wailing into dancing through God's action in his life.

The truth that links Psalm 30 and Micah 7 together is found in verse 5 - for the anger that burns against Judah for their false worship and lack of love will only last for a moment compared to the favour of God that lasts a lifetime. The misery Micah experiences, the darkness the nation will go into is not comparable to the favour and love and blessing that will be their end state.

This eternal favour of God comes to the Jews and to us the nations in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and becomes real in this life, when we pray the prayer of Psalm 30. 

Oh friend let us end the night that grips us, let us cry out for mercy, confess the sin of pride and self reliance and enter into the rejoicing of the morning, living in the light of His favour.

Let us sing the praises of the Lord, praise His holy Name.