SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/20/2014
9:35 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Lord’s
Discipline PT-4
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Lamentations
4:20-22
Message
of the verses: We our finally at the
end of the 4th chapter of Lamentations in today’s SD as we will look
at the last two sub-points from Warren Wiersbe’s outline.
Breath and Shadows (Lamentations
4:20): “20 The breath of our nostrils,
the LORD’S anointed, Was captured in their pits, Of whom we had said,
"Under his shadow We shall live among the nations."”
Dr. Wiersbe comments on this
verse: “The false prophets assured the
people that the Lord would never break His covenant, with David, so there would
always be one of his descendants on the throne (2 Samuel 7). They interpreted this to mean that the throne
and the nation would always endure, but they were wrong. King Zedekiah, son of godly Josiah, was the
last king of the Davidic line until the coming of Jesus Christ (Luke 1:30-33,
68-79). Zedekiah foolishly rebelled against
Nebuchadnezzar and then tried to escape, but was caught, judged, and taken to
Babylon, where he died (2 Kings 24-24, Jer. 34, 37-39). The Jews saw their king as the very breath of
their lips, the rock in whose shadow they could hide; but he failed on both
counts. Because of his unbelief and
rebellion, Zedekiah brought death, not life, and proved to be no protection at
all.” There are many times in our lives
when we do not understand completely the plan of God, but this is why we have
to live by faith, trusting that God will work things out for our good and for
His glory, which is not what the Jews that Jeremiah is writing about did. They misinterpreted the Scriptures so that
they thought that they live their lives any way they wanted to because they
thought that no one could defeat them because of the promise that God had given
to David. You see when Judah was
defeated and carried off to Babylon that ushered in the “times of the Gentiles.” We saw that the Lord gave Daniel a blueprint
of who would be the rulers of the Gentile nations. Jesus made this statement in Lu 21:24 “and
they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the
nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the
times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
Even though Israel is now back in their land I do not believe that the
times of the Gentiles is completed yet, for God still has to deal with one more
purging of Israel in the last seven years as we know it in what is called the “Tribulation
Period.” At the end of that Jesus Christ
will return to planet earth, landing on the Mount of Olives and will soon after
that separate the sheep and the goats, along with sending the antichrist and
false prophet into hell, and then binding Satan in hell for 1000 years as He
begins His rule as King of Kings on planet earth for 1000 years as seen in the
book of Revelations and promised to the children of Israel in the OT. The number of years is not spoken of in the
OT, but the kingdom is spoken of.
The Cup (Lamentations 4:21-22): “21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
Who dwells in the land of Uz; But the cup will come around to you as well, You
will become drunk and make yourself naked. 22 The punishment of your iniquity
has been completed, O daughter of Zion; He will exile you no longer. But He
will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins!”
The Edomites were descended from
Esau who was the brother of Jacob, whom God named Israel. Jacob and Esau were twins and fought with each
other even in the womb of Rebecca. They
fought pretty much throughout their lives and even as both men founded
countries their ancestors continued to fight.
The Edomites encouraged and even helped Babylon defeat Judah and not
that Judah had drunk the cup of God’s bitterness and punishment so would the
Edomites. The book of Obadiah is written
about the Edomites and hopefully as we continue our journey through the Bible
we will get to that book in a year or so.
We have to go through the last of the Major Prophets, the book of Ezekiel,
and then begin the minor prophets, and I do not have a time table as to when we
might get to Obadiah.
Spiritual
meaning for my life: As I look at
the mistakes that the false prophets and other leaders of Judah made in not
understanding what the Word of God said, I don’t want to make that kind of
mistake. The statement “The just shall
live by faith” is seen four times in the Word of God, once in the OT and three
times in the NT, and that is how I want to live my life. In the book of Romans “the just” is emphasized
showing that those who are born again have been justified by the Lord’s death
and resurrection. The book of Galatians
sees the second time in the NT it is used and it’s emphasis is on “shall live,”
and then in the book of Hebrews where we have that wonderful chapter on faith,
which is the 11th chapter we see at the end of the 10th
chapter this quotation and the emphasis is on “by faith.” These are good words to live one’s life by. Here is the first time these word’s are
seen: “Hab. 2:4 Behold, his soul which
is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Live by
faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life up for me.
Memory
verses for the week: Colossians 3:1-9.
1
Therefore 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 your mind on the things above, not on
the things that are on earth. 3 For you
have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our 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 on 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 laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Miriam”
(Exodus 15:21).
Today’s
Bible question: “The Thessalonians
practiced brotherly love toward the people of what place?”
Answer
in our next SD.
9/20/2014
10:24 AM
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