Saturday, August 15, 2015

A Cleansed People (Joel 3:20-21a)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/15/2015 10:12 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  A Cleansed People

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Joel 3:20-21a

            Message of the verses:  “20 But Judah will be inhabited forever And Jerusalem for all generations. 21 And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged.”

            As I begin this Spiritual Diary I am thinking about when I first began to study the book of Genesis back in very late 2005 and one of the things you learn when you study Genesis is the “firsts” that you find in the first book of the Bible.  Things like the first sin, and the first time God is called by one of His names, the first sacrifice, things like that.  As you progress through the Bible and study the Old Testament you find that God seems to slowly add things in His Word to show us His plans, for instance we see in Genesis 3:15 that God says that His Messiah will come, now He does not use that word “Messiah” but for sure He is speaking of Him.  As we progress through the Scriptures we see the line of the Messiah and then when we get to the New Testament we see that Jesus Christ was born exactly in that line for He says that He is not only the root of David, but also the offspring of David.  Now we see in verse 20 of Joel chapter three that God says that Judah will be inhabited forever and also Jerusalem for all generations.  We know from 2 Peter 3:10 that someday the earth as we know it will be, for lack of a better term, “un-created” and a new heaven and earth and a new Jerusalem will be created by God for all true believers to dwell in.  The progression of God’s plan continues.  God does not give man all of the answers as to what will happen right away, but gradually gives them to man as His Word goes on.  Genesis is the things that come first, and Revelation is the things that will come last as Revelation completes what will happen.

            The Millennial kingdom will be headed up by the Lord Jesus Christ as He sits on David’s throne in Jerusalem.  Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet, along with all sinners will be thrown into the lake of fire and the kingdom will begin with all believers.  The earth will be re-done as we have been talking about and so this will make for a perfect environment as there is no sinners to pollute things when the kingdom begins, the people will all be cleansed, living in a perfect environment.   Zechariah 13:1 says “"In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.”  We next look to Ezekiel to describe this cleansing:  “24 “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. 25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”  What a wonderful promise to receive.

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes:  “Under Old Testament Law, the Jews could cleanse that which was defiled by using water, fire, or blood.  The priests were washed with water and sprinkled with blood when they were installed in office.  (Lev. 8-9), and the healed lepers were likewise washed with water and sprinkled with blood (Lev. 14).  The priests had to wash their hands and feet and keep ceremonially clean as they served in the tabernacle (Ex. 30:17-21).  If anything became defiled, it had to be purified with ‘the water of sprinkling’ (Num. 19).  Zechariah used this Old Testament truth to teach about the permanent internal cleansing that would come when the people saw their Messiah and trusted Him (Zech. 12:10).  They would experience a new birth and become a new people for the Lord.”

            This is one of several goals that I have as I do my Spiritual Diaries and put them onto my blogs, that people would be convicted by the Holy Spirit so that their hearts would be opened to the Gospel and have their hearts cleansed from all of their sin because of what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross.   There are also other goals that I have too.

8/15/2015 10:37 PM     

           

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