My first summer church camp experience before my 8th grade year resulted in repentance on my part for the way I had been living. Repentance resulted immediately in a willingness to help clean up around the cabin before we left for home. I did not have to be told to help. I wanted to help. So I pitched in without being told. That Sunday as the youth leader gave the report to the church, she presented me with an award for willingly helping to clean the campsite. I was given an award for something I should have been doing anyway. Imagine that! It is the glory of our Lord that He should bless us when we do what we should be doing anyway. Jotham is an illustration of this principle.
It is the glory of the Lord that He disciplines those who are disobedient. Yet it is also His glory to temper His discipline with mercy. What a contrast between Jotham and Ahaz! Ahaz deserved to be removed as King. The Lord used the wicked Israel and Syria to discipline Ahaz. He granted to Ahaz’s enemies the ability to defeat his army. The enemies went beyond what the Lord intended for them to do. The Lord tempered his discipline of Ahaz by forcing the return of the captives. This is mercy.
It is also the glory of the Lord to motivate His servants to do insanely courageous things. Oded is an example of that. It was common practice in ancient days for conquering armies to enslave the subjugated armies. Any resistance would be met with death or enslavement, take your pick. Oded went to the leaders of Israel and Syria—not followers of the Lord—and rebuked them for enslaving the subjugated army of Judah. Wow! That is insanely courageous! May his tribe ever increase. Why would he do that? I can only think that it was because he knew the glory of the Lord. He would rather have a clear vision of the glory of the Lord than live free! Sorry Braveheart, but there is something better than freedom! It is experiencing the glory of the Lord. Lord, may Your glory be my only vision! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PROVERBS 23
What is ancient? Growing up in Oklahoma, ancient was any building over 100 years old. I went to Israel last summer. Ancient had a different connotation there. Archeologists in Israel regularly dig at sites that are uncontestably up to 4,500 years old. So what is ancient? The Free Dictionary defines ancient as:
1. Of great age; very old.2. Of or relating to times long past, especially those of the historical period before the fall of the Western Roman Empire (A.D. 476). . . 4. Having the qualities associated with age, wisdom, or long use; venerable.By definition #2, Oklahoma has next to nothing that is ancient. We have the Spiro Mounds which are ancient Native American burial grounds, but in terms of human artifacts, that is about the extent of all of it. Israel on the other hand, almost every community has areas with history dating back at least 1,600 years. If we take the fourth definition as our definition, then Oklahoma is rich in oral history of its Native American tribes.
So what does the Proverb mean when it say, “10Do not remove the ancient landmark?” Literally it refers to the stones and markers, which were difficult to move, which delineated property boundaries. If one could stealthily move the boundaries, one could increase the size of one’s own property. But, must the ancient landmark refer to property boundaries? What if it also referred to moral boundaries which are associated with age, wisdom, or long use? Could it be that such tampering might result in an increase in the number of fatherless in the culture? A case could be made that the good intentions of welfare regulations begun in the war on poverty and Johnson’s Great Society have over the years evolved and, along with other influences, resulted in producing a generation of fatherless children. The result of generations of fatherless children has not only produced a deeper divide between the rich and the poor in our country, but it has also produced predators upon those children.
Both those who moved the boundaries and those who prey upon the fatherless should beware. For their Redeemer is mighty. He will one day plead their cause to the judge of all the earth. That redeemer is the Ancient of Days. That redeemer is full of glory. We must remember that we must give an account to Him for all our actions. This demands that we fear Him all the day. There surely is a hereafter, and we will give an account to Him. In this we hope. In this we make our decisions. We make them knowing that He is more ancient than all. We make them knowing that He knows where the ancient boundaries were set. We make them knowing that He will righteously judge according to His ancient standard, not our modern thought. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
REVELATION 14
Somehow, somewhere, I picked up this feeling that all anger is sin, that all wrath is sin. But that is not true. There is a holy anger. There is a righteous anger. There is a holy wrath. If I observed an adult savagely beating a two year old, and I did not become angry, there would be something wrong with me. I think that example establishes that there is such a thing as holy wrath. There must be wrath against gross injustice, or there is no justice.
One spring I was at a men's retreat. One of the other men who was there was just back from a tour of duty with the Army in Iraq. He had a couple of jobs while he was there. One was clearing houses and buildings, searching for weapons stashes. Another job was that on a few occasions he had to open some mass graves that Sadam's men had created. He felt that even if we never found any weapons of mass destruction, he felt that we were justified in removing Sadam. To see all the relatives of these dead people come to the mass graves looking and hoping to find something of a lost loved one, and then thank the soldiers for their service, demonstrated to him that Sadam needed to be removed. Why? Because a gross injustice was being committed, it had to be stopped. Now lest you get caught up in the validity of the soldier's evaluation in the illustration, don't miss the point. The point is that at some point wrath against injustice is valid, or there is no justice at all.
Hitler had to be taken out. The murder of 16,000,000 people cried out for holy wrath to avenge their murders! The question becomes, "At what point is holy wrath no longer valid?" Is it at 8,000,000? Is it at 8,000? Is it at 8? Is it at one? Is murder the only sin that deserves holy wrath? How about sexual immorality? Well how bad does the sexual immorality have to be? How about lying? Well how bad does the lie have to be? How about stealing? Well how bad does the stealing have to be? How about coveting? Well how bad does the coveting have to be?
In Rev. 14 we again see the wrath of the Lamb. I love the way this is balanced. Once again notice that before the wrath of God falls, the Lamb is emphasized. Remember John the Baptist's saying of Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?" The Lamb was slain as our substitute because of the wrath of God against all sin and breaking of God's law. This Lamb is the one executing the wrath of God. Again note that it is against those who will not follow the Lamb. For those who trust the Lamb, the wrath of God is satisfied in the Lamb's sacrifice. Note also that before the wrath falls, an angel is sent with the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. They are given every opportunity to repent and they will not. (It is interesting to note that God's normal method of preaching the gospel is through people, not angels.) God's wrath is just. Sinners, who refuse to repent and believe in Jesus, deserve exactly what they have asked for, eternal separation from God. It is the glory of the Lamb that He became their substitute, that He defeated death, that He freely offers life to those who will believe, that those who refuse His free offer should be forever tormented in the presence of that Lamb.
Some hate to talk about the wrath of God. Some even deny the wrath of God. But for God to be just there must be wrath. For God to be glorious, He must be just. If God is just, at some point there must be wrath against injustice. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
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