Saturday, January 2, 2016

The Nation Purged (Micah 5:10-15)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/2/2016 6:21 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The Nation Purged

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Micah 5:10-15

Message of the verses:  “10 "It will be in that day," declares the LORD, "That I will cut off your horses from among you And destroy your chariots. 11 “I will also cut off the cities of your land And tear down all your fortifications. 12 “I will cut off sorceries from your hand, And you will have fortune-tellers no more. 13 “I will cut off your carved images And your sacred pillars from among you, So that you will no longer bow down To the work of your hands. 14 “I will root out your Asherim from among you And destroy your cities. 15 “And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath On the nations which have not obeyed.’”

John MacArthur sums up what we see in these verses at the end of a note from his study Bible when he writes “All forms of self-reliance in war and idolatrous worship will be removed so that the nation must rely solely on Christ their King for deliverance and worship Him alone.”  Keep in mind that this section is still speaking about the end times, the times during the tribulation period as we have been mentioning through this fifth chapter of Micah’s prophecy.

People living since May of 1948 have seen Israel go back to their land, and this in and of itself should be a sign to them that the Lord was the One behind bringing them back to their land as He has promised in many places that he would do.  Israel sinned and broke the law of God and that is why they were removed from their land.  The problem is that many in the revised state of Israel will be practicing the same sins when they get back to their land and it is my belief that even though Israel now has great weapons of mass destruction that when Antichrist makes a covenant with them as promised in the 9th chapter of Daniel that they will lay down their weapons and thus be very venerable and finally they will put their trust in the Lord to protect them and He will do this as we have seen in our study of Revelation.  Not only will their weapons be taken from them but also their idols as described here and also in Zachariah 13:2 “"It will come about in that day," declares the LORD of hosts, "that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.”

Dr. Wiersbe writes “God has not cast aside His people (Rom. 11:1); for today there is a believing remnant of Jews in the church.  One day God will gather the unbelieving Jewish nation to their land, cause them to experience suffering, and then reveal Himself to them and give birth to a new nation.  The prophets saw that day and tried to convey its message to the people of their day, but they wouldn’t listen.

“Christians today look for Jesus to return to gather His people to Himself (1 Thess. 4:13-18) and establish His righteousness kingdom.  Peter assures us that , ‘the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night;’ and then, in light of this fact, he asks, ‘Therefore…what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?’  (2 Peter 3:10, 11 NKJV).  Future hope ought to produce present holiness.

“Are we ready for His return?”

    

 

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