Ezekiel’s message from God to Jerusalem:
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. Ezekiel 16:48-50
In Him (Christ), you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:13&14 NKJV
In these verses the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Holy Spirit of promise. When Christ spoke to His disciples (John 14:1-6), He was preparing them for His departure after His work (death, burial & resurrection) was finished and His promises to them were as follows:
If you love me, keep my commandments, And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you (John 14:15 & 16 NKJV).
What a wonderful promise Christ makes to His disciples! The Father will send the Helper, who will be with them forever. The Helper from God comes to stay.
Messiah Jesus calls the Helper the Spirit of truth. The Lord is identifying this Helper with Himself because in John 14:6 Jesus declares: I am the way, the truth, and the life. In John 17:17 the Lord identifies the Scriptures with Himself and with the Helper when He prays as follows: Sanctify them (His disciples) by Your truth. Thy word is truth.
The Spirit of truth is not available to the world. The world cannot receive Him, because in order to receive the Spirit of truth one must receive the Messiah. The world does not see Him nor does the world know Him. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to the world, but to us who believe it is the power of God unto salvation.
Christ also promises his disciples that this Helper will not only be with them, but He will be in them. In John 14:26 the Lord identifies the Helper as the Holy Spirit, who will teach them all things and will bring to remembrance all that Christ said to them. In John 15:26 the promised Helper who comes from the Father will testify of Jesus Christ.
In John 16:5-15 the Holy Spirit of promise will not come unless the Lord Jesus goes away. When the Holy Spirit does come He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. He will guide believers into all truth. The Holy Spirit will tell of things to come. He will glorify the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit will take the things of Christ and teach them to His disciples. He does all this through the word of God, of which He is the author.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (II Peter 1:21).
All scripture is given by inspiration of God (God breathed), and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect (complete), throughly furnished unto all good works (II Timothy 3:16).
Note: Remember, God the Holy Spirit will never lead you contrary to Scripture. If He did, He would be a liar, but God cannot lie.
If you are being taught doctrine that is contrary to Scripture, you are being taught either the traditions of men or the doctrine of demons or both.
Doctrine that is contrary to the clear teachings of Scripture is not the doctrine of God.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world (I John 4:1).
When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Mark2:17
When Messiah Jesus first came to this world, He came meek and lowly, and riding upon a colt, the foal of an ass. God slipped into this world quietly, leaving His glory behind, and became one of us, only without sin.
He came to be the one time perfect sacrifice for our sins. He displayed His credentials and ultimately rose again from the dead after laying down His life as the Lamb of God. When He ascended bodily into heaven, His disciples received the promise that He would return in like manner as they had seen Him go.
Israel missed Messiah’s first coming. Four hundred silent years before Messiah’s birth, God withdrew His presence from the most Holy place in the temple. Ichabod, the glory has departed, described the temple that was now devoid of God’s presence. The entire nation had become apostate. Tribe by tribe Israel had turned their hearts from God’s Law. They were still spiritually blind as a nation when Messiah Jesus appeared.
The Messiah’s second coming will not be the same as His first coming. When He comes back to earth, He will return as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He will come to save Israel. Israel will face annihilation by her enemies during a time called the Tribulation Period.
The first half of the Tribulation Period will be peaceful. The false Messiah who has brought world peace will rebuild the temple. The false and apostate religions whose holy places lie in Jerusalem will join hands together and declare the peace that so many have sought before them. There will be a peace but not a lasting one.
At the mid-point of the Tribulation Period, the false Messiah will turn on Israel to destroy her. Israel will have no allies, no one to help her and none to deliver her, none except the Lion of the tribe of Judah. At a point near the end of the Tribulation Period, Israel as a nation will repent and call on Messiah Jesus for deliverance and He will come………He will come quickly.
Messiah Jesus speaking during His earthly ministry:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Luke 13:34 & 35
Note: The seven year Tribulation Period will start after an event called The Rapture. The Rapture is when all true Christian believers are removed from this world in the twinkling of an eye. This event is next on the calendar and it can happen at any time.
Are you a true Christian believer?
Thy nakedness (sin) shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. Isaiah 47:3
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31
Without the righteousness of Christ, no one will get out alive.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
Have you ever thought of how much the concept of time limits our thinking? Time is finite. One day it will end. We live and move within the boundaries of time. We are limited in our thinking by it’s boundaries.
God is a spirit. He is eternal. He has no beginning and no end. We are His creation. We exist at His good pleasure. He makes the rules. He lives inside and outside of time. He is not limited by the boundaries of time.
One of the names for God is “I Am”. When Moses asked God who he should say had sent him, God replied; tell them “I Am” has sent you. Jesus told the Pharisees; before Abraham was, I Am.
What does this mean? It means that God is always in the present. With Him there is no past or future. He is not limited or confined by time. He can stand on the outside of time and view the whole as one. He is time’s creator and one day He will bring it to an end.
We limit God in our thinking by defining Him as we define ourselves, within time where sin is the norm. With God, sin is not the norm. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8 & 9).
God is sinless. He is without sin, that is His nature. Sinful man cannot enter into God’s presence without being destroyed.
When God dwelt among His people as recorded in the Old Testament, provision was made yearly for the people’s sin. Once a year the high priest would enter into the holy of holies where God’s presence was manifested by His shekinah glory.
The high priest would bring the blood of the sacrifice to sprinkle on the mercy seat between the two cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant. This was the blood of the atonement. The mercy seat was the meeting place between God and man (Exodus 25:22) when the blood of the proper sacrifice was sprinkled upon it.
God spelled out in His law detailed instructions for the sacrificial animal. This sacrifice was a picture of God’s provision for our sins. (It pointed to the cross of Calvary where God’s only begotten Son would lay down His life for the sins of mankind and then take it up again.) If the high priest were careless with this sacrifice for the people or the sacrifice for his own personal sin, God would reject it.
For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others;
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Hebrews 9:24-28
“Man of Sorrows” what a name
For the Son of God who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim!
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood,
Sealed my pardon with His blood;
Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
Full atonement! Can it be?
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Lifted up was He to die,
“It is finished,” was His cry;
Now in heaven exalted high,
Hallelujah! what a Savior!
When he comes, our glorious king,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew this song we’ll sing,
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Words and music by Philip P. Bliss, 1838-1876
HE IS RISEN!!!
Once again, just as Christmas is not a once a year celebration for the believer, but is an every day experience of God’s unspeakable gift to us; even so the truth of the resurrection that is celebrated on Easter should be an every day reality in the life of the believer.
We were born into this world spiritually dead. When we are born again, we are made alive to God through His Son, Jesus Christ. If you have been born again, you have already been resurrected from the dead!
While the truth of the resurrection gives us the hope (confident assurance) of a new body free from indwelling sin one day in the future, the truth of the resurrection also enables and gives us the hope (confident assurance) to live unto Christ every day in the present.
HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!
There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. Psalm 38:3 & 4
I grew up in a rural area of the Midwest. Most of my swimming as a kid was done in farm ponds or a local creek, if there was enough water running during the hot summer months. We learned to swim however, in the city swimming pools.
During a predetermined week in the early summer the local school district would provide a school bus and driver to haul the country kids to a city swimming pool for lessons. Since it was done in early summer, the mornings could be very cool and overcast, resulting in many blue lips and giant goosebumps.
After a morning of swimming we were always ravenously hungry. I remember kids consuming paper grocery bags full of popcorn and whatever else was available on the way home from swimming lessons.
The one thing that always sticks out in my mind from swimming lessons is how close I came one morning to drowning. Actually, it was quite uneventful. I seriously doubt that anyone else remembers the incident; not even the kid that saved me.
Brimming with confidence, this particular morning, I jumped with-out hesitation into a section of water that was over my head. I surfaced coughing, sputtering and struggling to stay afloat just out of reach of the edge of the pool. I was in over my head.
Fortunately for me, a schoolmate friend was sitting on the edge of the pool. He calmly extended his arm, I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to safety. It was a simple life saving action on his part, the magnitude of which he probably has never realized. As a matter of fact I didn’t realize the impact of what he did until reflecting upon it as an adult. I was just always glad he was there.
The opening verse above from Psalms says; my iniquities are gone over my head. Iniquity is sin. Unless you and I are rescued from our iniquity, we will perish. We are in over our head.
Jonah cried out from the belly of the whale; Salvation is of the Lord! When he was in over his head, Jonah cried unto the Lord and was delivered from certain death.
We need to be delivered from spiritual death. The Lord Jesus is within reach and He is reaching for you. Will you trust Him?
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:9-13).
In my distress I cried unto the Lord and He heard me (Psalm 120:1).
The title above is to a song that was written by Ron Hamilton in 1978. He wrote the song as a result of losing an eye to cancer.
As I remember it, when he went into surgery he didn’t know what the outcome would be. He would either wake up from surgery with both eyes or with just one. Ron lost an eye that day and wrote “Rejoice in the Lord” shortly thereafter.
Ron was and is a very talented musician. When a youngster at church tagged him with being a pirate after seeing him wearing the patch, a music ministry to children was born and Ron became known as “Patch the Pirate”.
Our kids grew up listening to Patch the Pirate songs and stories. God turned Ron’s misfortune of losing an eye into a blessing for hundreds of Christian families through Ron’s ministry of music to children.
Ron’s song “Rejoice in the Lord” was an encouragement and blessing to me soon after he wrote it, as I faced trials and testing of my own during that time.
I have been thinking of the words to that song lately and today (thirty seven years later) it played on the radio as I pulled into our driveway after work. Here are the words he wrote:
God never moves without purpose or plan when trying His servant and molding a man. Give thanks to the Lord though your testing seems long; In darkness He giveth a song.
I could not see through the shadows ahead; So I looked at the cross of my Saviour instead. I bowed to the will of the Master that day; Then peace came and tears fled away.
Now I can see testing comes from above; God strengthens His children and purges in love. My Father knows best, and I trust in His care; Through purging more fruit I will bear.
Chorus: O rejoice in the Lord. He makes no mistake. He knoweth the end of each path that I take. For when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold.
By Ron Hamilton
Rejoice in the Lord – Copyright 1978 by Majesty Music, Inc.
The lyrics are used by permission.