December 16, 2010

2 Chronicles 18
Riches, honor and rest from war settled down upon Jehoshaphat as the Lord was with him. His army increased to 1.16 million men. That was more than Zerah the Ethiopian had brought against his father thirty or forty years earlier. The surrounding nations feared him. After some years he allied himself with Ahab. Bad move. Why would he do that? He was strong and did not need Ahab. After three solid generations of fighting Israel, he felt a need to secure the peace. Marriage alliances were about as secure an alliance as one could arrange in those days. Yet the Lord has always seemed to have a problem with the people of God marrying non-people of God. Bad move.
Jehoshaphat went down to see his father-in-law. He went north, but the direction was down in physical elevation as well as moral elevation. Ahab wanted Jehoshaphat to help him fight Syria. Now Asa, Jehoshaphat’s father had paid Syria some ten years earlier to attack Israel. Asa was rebuked for buying help. He never repented. Jehoshaphat had some lingering misgivings about the wisdom of fighting this war. He requested a prophet of the Lord to speak to them for God. Obviously Ahab had plenty of false prophets around. There were at least 400 of them. They gladly spoke what Ahab wanted to hear. Yet Jehoshaphat remembered the problem that his dad had. He insisted on hearing the prophet of the Lord. Too bad he didn’t insist on not going in the battle. But what are you going to do when your father-in-law insists, particularly when it is a father-in-law of a marriage alliance.
Poor Micaiah, he was the only courageous person in the bunch. He spoke the truth. He was jailed for it. Do you suppose he was ever released, or did he die there? He could have probably avoided jail if he had just gone with the flow. Micaiah had seen too much of the glory of the Lord. Micaiah could only speak the truth. His Glory has that effect upon us. After we have seen Him, how could we speak otherwise?
This chapter ends in the wrong spot. Read into the next chapter the second verse. The seer Jehu the son of Hanani went to visit Jehoshaphat. He rebuked him for aiding Ahab. The wrath of the Lord was upon him for that. Why should we aid those who seek to hide the glory of the Lord? But again according the character of the Lord, He extended mercy and grace to Jehoshaphat because he sought God. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Revelation 7
This is indeed an amazing way in which our Lord chooses to reveal Himself, the Lamb. Yesterday we found that He was a fierce lamb, toward those who will not yield. Today we find the Lamb is the shepherd of people. What a strange metaphor! Usually people shepherd lambs. But here it is the Lamb who has shepherded His people. The scene is that He has brought them out of the great tribulation. Is this a technical term for a specific end-time period or is it just great tribulation in general that believers of all ages have encountered? Or both? I'll leave that for another time. But consider this: John was under great tribulation for the testimony of Jesus. Many have endured unbelievable cruelty at the hands of others for the cause of knowing the Lamb. Ask the women in Sudan, who have been raped and/or mutilated because they are believers. Or ask the orphans, who are literally enslaved after their parents are killed because they were believers. Ask believers in parts of India, who are live under constant threat of Hindu retaliation. Ask believers in many Islamic countries where it is illegal to speak to others about your faith unless they first invite you to speak with them. In many of those countries, it is illegal to meet together as believers. In some it is illegal to convert to another religion. If you were born a Muslim, you must stay Muslim. Ask the believers in China, who are regularly arrested and imprisoned for trusting in the Lamb or telling others about His glory. I think that they would say, “We experienced great tribulation.”

Yet I have heard testimony of a few who would say they would do it all over again if their Lord asked them to do it and if He would meet them in the midst of it as He did previously. You see our Lamb is a Shepherd. He meets us in our tribulation. He takes the stains upon us, which are caused by our sin and the sins of others, and He washes them clean. He does this with His own blood not with some other agent. He endured great pain to earn the right to take our pain. Our Lamb is a shepherd, who is able to wipe away every tear. I can hold my child when he or she hurts. I can wipe away the tears. But more tears usually come right after that. I cannot stop the reason they cry. The Lamb can and one day will. That is why He is worthy of blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John