SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/27/2014
8:12 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Retribution PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2
Thessalonians 1:6, 8-9
Message
of the verses: “6 For after all it
is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,” “8 dealing out retribution to those who do
not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These
will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of His power,”
One of the attributes of God is
immutability, meaning that God never changes, and so when people come to the
conclusion that God is different in the OT from the NT they are not entirely
correct. God does deal with people in a
different way after the Lord Jesus Christ paid for sins on the cross, for in
the OT times the people who came to know the Lord knew that one day their
Messiah would come and pay for their sins.
They looked forward to the cross, but in today’s time we look back to
the cross. When it comes to retribution
there is no difference from OT and NT.
We looked at some of the verses that spoke of this in the OT in our last
SD, and today we will look at different verses from the NT that speak of
retribution of the Lord. Now the verses
we are studying are from the NT and they surely speak of retribution for that
is the word we see in the text.
In 2 Timothy 4:14 we read the
following “Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him
according to his deeds.” Now it is good
to remember that 2 Timothy was Paul’s last letter that he wrote that is
recorded in Scripture. I say this to
show that when people are about to die and they know this that they will say or
write things that are near to their heart.
Matthew 3:12 is our next verse and
it is the words of John the Baptist who is speaking about the Messiah, the Lord
Jesus Christ: “"His winnowing fork
is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will
gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire."” We must remember that the
first time Jesus came to the earth it was to die for the sins of those who will
accept Him while the second time He comes it will to be in judgment, and this
is what this verse speaks of.
In the book of Revelations, chapter
six and verse ten we read the following:
“and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord,
holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those
who dwell on the earth?"” This
verse speaks of those who had been killed for their faith in Christ during the
tribulation period. The answer is “And
there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they
should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow
servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would
be completed also (Rev. 6:11).”
Jesus told a parable in Luke
20:15-18 that speaks of judgment, and He spoke this to the Pharisees, but it
will apply to all those who reject Him as Savior and Lord: “15 “So they threw him out of the vineyard
and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 “He
will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to
others." When they heard it, they said, "May it never be!" 17
But Jesus looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written:
’THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone’? 18
“Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it
falls, it will scatter him like dust."”
In Matthew 23:13-35 we see that
Jesus denounced the scribes and Pharisees and He declared to them that they
would be condemned to hell in verse thirty-three. He also promised more insensitive judgment on
different cities in which He had ministered to, and Tyre and Sidon are two of
the cities. It is interesting that
Ezekiel speaks of this judgment on Tyre and Sidon in chapters 26-28, and part
of the judgment was fulfilled by Alexander the Great when he actually built a causeway
through a part of the sea to get to them which is prophesized in Ezekiel.
When we studied “The Day of the Lord”
in 1 Thessalonians we said that the full fulfillment of the Day of the Lord will
happen when the Lord Jesus comes back to the earth at the end of the tribulation
period, and as we read through the different judgments that the Lord will use
as seen in the book of Revelations we can be assured that a part of the
attributes of God are both wrath and justice, and they will be fulfilled during
that time period.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I am so
thankful that when I read about all the judgment that the Lord will do on those
who have not accepted Him as Savior and Lord, that God has taken all of the
wrath on Christ while He hung on the cross.
This all happened when the earth went dark while He hung on the
cross. “He made Him who knew no sin to
be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him
(2 Cor. 5:21).”
My Steps of Faith for Today: I pray that
as our entire family gets together with my first daughter that God will bless
our time together, and give opportunity for witnessing.
Memory
verses for the week: Colossians 3:1-9.
1Therefore
if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where
Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set you mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and you life is hidden
with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who
is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in
glory. 5 Therefore consider the members
of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and
greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For
it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of
disobedience; 7 and in them you once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech
from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one
another, since you have laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Nicodemus”
(John 3:2).
Today’s
Bible question: “From what country was
Barnabas?”
Answer
in our next SD.
9/27/2014
8:54 AM
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