Tag Archive | Prophecy

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 336

Dec3

The LAST Month of 2025 Reading!

Day 336 – Reading – 1 Corinthians 12 – 14

Read and believe in Jesus!

I Corinthians 12.

Paul scolds the Corinthians on the misuse of the Holy Spirit’s Spiritual gifts.  He knows that a lot of pagan practices have been going on in Corinth that offer “power” to the user. (Such as sorcery, but also included drunkenness, orgies, frenzied chants, etc.) 

He tells them that the Spiritual Gifts God gives are for the good of His church, to build up the church as a whole and not the individual, and to help the Gospel be proclaimed near and far.  And that NO ONE speaking in the Spirit of God could EVER say “Jesus is accursed!!!”

Paul names a few of the gifts of the Holy Spirit here (and in his other letters):

  • Utterances of wisdom and knowledge
  • Extraordinary faith
  • Gifts of healing
  • Working of miracles
  • Prophecy (forthtelling of God’s Word)
  • Discernment of Spirits
  • Various tongues
  • Interpretation of tongues

All these are empowered by the one and same Spirit, who gives to each individual as HE wills.

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1 Corinthians 13.

LOVE is the lotion, the grease, that helps the gifts to be used for the Glory of God and the strengthening and enlargement of the church. (Apply it generously.)  All the grandiose things you can say or do “for” God result in just a lot of noise and are useless unless LOVE guides them.  (LOVE is a fruit of the Holy Spirit too, we read in Galatians 5.)

Sometimes, verses 4-8a, and 13 are used at weddings or with Valentine messages. They truly inspire a relationship between man and wife.  But read them again in connection with the body of Christ, the church.

  • Love is patient and kind;
  • Love does not envy or boast;
  • It is not arrogant or rude.
  • It does not insist on its own way;
  • It is not irritable or resentful;
  • It does not rejoice in wrong doing, but rejoices in the truth,
  • Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
  • Love never ends.
  • So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

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1 Corinthians 14.

And in their individual churches, Paul (along with God) calls for decency and order, not mayhem. May they always look away from self-aggrandizement, and to their fellow believers, striving to encourage and build them up. Use the gift of prophecy more than the gift of “tongues.”  And if that gift is used, there must always be the gift of “interpretation of tongues” in operation.

  • Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

And (sigh), Paul firmly states that in ALL the churches, the women should keep silent, and not to “speak” (with authority) in the services. (See his elaboration and reason in 1 Timothy 2:11-14)  Paul gets a lot of “flak” for this today, and he probably did then, too. He says that if women would like to learn, they are to ask their husbands at home. (Can you feel the ire rising?)  This was Paul’s solution to the free-for-all in the services. 

  • “All things should be done decently and in order.”

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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 252

Sep9

Day 252 – Reading – EZEKIEL 40 – 42

Read the Scriptures.  Meditate on what the prophet is saying.

 

Illustration: Ezekiel’s Vision of the New “Millennial” Temple when “the Prince” (Jesus) will reign as King.

Ezekiel 40.

Ezekiel has this wondrous vision in the 25th year of his exile (14 years after Jerusalem fell), on the tenth day of the month, at the beginning of the Jewish year, when the preparations of Passover began.  God took Ezekiel, in a vision, to the land of Israel, to a high mountain (probably Mt. Zion, lifted up by that great earthquake (Ezek. 38:19). 

The LORD’s instructions to Ezekiel were:  “Son of man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you, FOR YOU WERE BROUGHT HERE IN ORDER THAT I MIGHT SHOW IT ALL TO YOU. Declare ALL you see to the house of  Israel.”

Boy, I would have had to have the drawings, schematics, pens, and rulers, etc., to fulfill that task!  But it seems a “man like bronze” helped Ezekiel by measuring everything.  This was the Temple and the area around it (chambers, court, gates, walls).

NOTE: This is the MILLENNIAL (1,000-year) Temple when Jesus will reign on earth.  (It’s NOT Zerubbabel’s small temple built by the returned exiles, and later rebuilt by Herod (God’s presence was not in that one). It was NOT the “Eternal” temple in heaven, because the Lord and the Lamb are that Temple.)

Ezekiel 41.

This describes the “nave” (Holy Place) and the Most Holy Place, which are of the exact measurements as Solomon’s temple (twice that of the Tabernacle).  There is a large building to the West of the Temple, which was probably a large storehouse for supplies. He describes a few things inside the “nave” (Holy Place), such as a wooden altar, like the “Altar of Incense.”  And it looks like wooden, hinged double doors separated the “nave” from the Most Holy Place (instead of a massive veil).  

NOTE: There is no mention of the Ark of the Covenant.

Ezekiel 42.

Next to the inner court where the Temple was, on both north and south sides, were large, 3-storey “Priest’s Chambers.”  In these, the priests would change into the priestly garments before entering the Temple area and where they would eat the “holy offerings.” 

The “bronze man” then took Ezekiel OUTSIDE the walls, through the Eastern Gate, and showed him the measurements of the wall.  They were approximately ONE MILE on each side.  (Yes, too large for Mt Moriah, but remember the changes to the area of Jerusalem during the Great Battle at the end of the Tribulation. See Zechariah 14).  This wall separated “the holy and the common.”

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I love how the Temple area is exactly square now. It reminds me of the New Jerusalem coming down (Revelation) which will be a 1,500 mile cube.  The LORD is a God of order. He has wonderful plans which He revealed to Ezekiel (and the other prophets, and to John) so His people will know He will forever take care of them.  I PRAISE YOU, O God!

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 250 & 251

Sep8

Sunday and Monday studies are posted TOGETHER on Monday.

Day 250 – Reading – EZEKIEL 34 – 36

Day 251 – Reading EZEKIEL – 37 – 39

Read the Scriptures.  Meditate on what the prophets were saying. Check out the linked verses.

Day 250 – Ezekiel 34.

This chapter is about shepherds (good and bad), and sheep. Ezekiel 34:1-5 tells of the bad shepherds of Israel who mistreated, misused the ones in their care, and allowed wild beasts to get them. 

Ezekiel 34:11:16 reminds me of Psalm 23 (I will feed them with good pasture, vs14) and (They shall lie down in good grazing land, I myself will make them lie down, vs. 15).   

John 10:1-6 and Luke 15: 4-5 also tells of Jesus being a “good” shepherd, going after lost sheep, binding up the injured and carrying the weak. 

Matthew 25:31-46 tells about Jesus dividing the nations into sheep and goats and judging them on that final day, similar to Ezekiel 34: 17 and 20.

Read those verses in Psalms, Luke, John and Matthew, if you have time.

And the promise: One day, God will set over Israel ONE SHEPHERD, God’s servant, David, the “prince among them.”  And God will make a covenant of “Peace” with them.  And He will send down “showers of blessing” upon them and provide “renowned plantations” for them. “They will be His people, His sheep, human sheep of His pasture, and He will be their God.”

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Ezekiel 35.

This chapter is a prophecy against Mount Seir, or Edom, the people of Esau who was Jacob/Israel’s older twin brother. Animosity was between them… from the womb!

Now God is their enemy, and says he will cause desolation to them as well, their cities will be come a waste. This prediction came to pass, beginning with King Nebuchadnezzar. There is no trace of Edomites now, though their cities remain as ruins, such as Petra. 

There were multiple reasons for their destruction.

  1. “They cherished perpetual enmity against Israel,
  2. They killed and gave the people (who were escaping) back to the hands of Nebuchadnezzar,
  3. They planned to snatch the now vacant land of Israel and Judah as their own,
  4. They showed anger, envy, and hatred against Israel/Judah,
  5. They magnified themselves against God and multiplied their words against Him. (He heard it.)
  6. Their joy over Israel’s calamity.

So, God said to them, “You shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then YOU WILL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD.”

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Ezekiel 36.

Next comes a chapter of blessing, on the LAND (mountains, hills, ravines, and valleys).  They will no longer be used by the surrounding nations as places of worship of their gods.  No longer shall they “devour God’s people and bereave the nation of their children. (worship of Moloch) and make them stumble. 

But now the mountains of Israel “shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home!”

God isn’t doing it for the Land’s sake, or for the sake of the people, but for His own Holy Name’s sake, which they had profaned among the nations. 

God will bring back his people and “sprinkle clean water on them to cleanse them from all uncleanness.”  He will give them a new heart, and a new spirit within them, and cause them to walk in His statutes and obey His rules. He will cause them in increase like a flock, so the waste cities will be filled.  They shall be His people, and He their God. 

And they will KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD.

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Day 251 – EZEKIEL 37.

“Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones! O hear the word of the Lord.”

YEP, those bones are in this chapter.  God gives Ezekiel another vision.  He is “taken” to a valley where he sees huge numbers of dry bones scattered everywhere, representing the scattered exiles of Israel and Judah. 

“Son of man,” the LORD asked him, “Can these bones live?

“O Lord God,” he said. “Only YOU know.”

“Prophesy and say to the bones, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.  I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come to you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live. And you will know that I am the LORD.”

So Ezekiel prophesied this, and …. as he spoke there was a sound…, a rattling… and the bones came together, bone “connected”  to its bone.  And there were sinews on them… and flesh… and skin covered them…. But there was no breath in them.

“Prophesy and say to ‘the breath,’ “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain that they may live.”  And so Ezekiel did, and the breath came into them, and they LIVED and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

“These bones are the whole house of Israel. They are saying, ‘Our bones are dried-up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.”  “But say to them, ‘I will open your graves and raise you, O my people. I will bring you into the land of Israel.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live and I shall place you in your own land.”

.The God said to Ezekiel, “Take a stick and write on it, JUDAH. Take another stick and write on it ISRAEL. Then join them together, that they may become ONE in your hand.”  This was to show how God would ONE DAY bring both nations together again with ONE king, a descendant of David, a prince forever. And God would make an “everlasting covenant of peace” with them.

God also promised they would be in THEIR LAND, multiplied in number, and that God’s Sanctuary would be in their midst forever.  He would forever dwell with them.

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Ezekiel 38 – 39.

Next comes a prophecy that has been debated often.  Heads are scratched, trying to figure out just WHO God was taking about. 

Gog, in the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: whoever he is, God is against him.  Some believe this leader and his country represent Russia and its vassal states, along with the areas of Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. (the north).  But who knows if those nations are in existence when this prophecy takes place. 

Many people have tried to take the distribution of peoples after the Flood, and figure out the names from that list (See Genesis 10:1-10. Meshech and Tubal ARE mentioned).  But as Ezekiel said in Chapter 37, “LORD, You know.”

Anyway, a great war is to take place between Gog’s hordes and the countries with him, and God’s people, Israel. Gog will come as a great cloud covering the land, but God will VINDICATE HIS HOLINESS!  

  • His  WRATH will be roused! 
  • In his JEALOUSY He will declare a GREAT EARTHQUAKE. 
  • He will summon a sword against Gog (and they will fight among themselves).
  • With pestilence and bloodshed, the LORD will JUDGE Gog.
  • He will send torrential rain and hail, fire and sulfur on them. 
  • He will show His greatness and Holiness.
  • And they will know that He is the LORD.

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Ezekiel is to prophesy further to this invading monster, 

  • “Behold I am against you, O Gog,
  • I will turn you about and drive you forward and bring you up from the North
  • I will lead you against the mountains of Israel.
  • I will strike your bow and arrow.
  • You will fall, you and your hordes and all the peoples with you.
  • I will give you to the birds of prey and the beasts of the field to be devoured.
  • I will send fire on Magog and those who dwell securely in the coastlands.

And God said, “My holy name I will make know in the midst of my people Israel,

and I will not let My holy name be profaned any more.

And the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.”

After that great battle (Armageddon), the people of Israel will burn the weapons of these dead for SEVEN YEARS.  And God will designate a place of burial for all the millions of fallen intruders.  It will take Israel SEVEN MONTHS to bury them all and cleanse the land. 

All this, the war, the decimation of Gog, etc., will prove to the world that He is THE LORD.  They will see His power and glory, and know.

And after he has restored the fortunes of Jacob, and has shown merch on the house of Israel… THEY will forget their shame and treachery against Him, THEY will see and know that He is the LORD.

“I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel,” declares the Lord God.

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( O LORD, I’m so glad Your name and holiness will be vindicated!  I’m glad Israel will finally see You as their God.  You are faithful to Your Word!  Though the hours, days, and years may stretch way out, I can fully trust the promises in Your Word.  Help me to keep my eyes on YOU, and stay “standing on the promises of God, my king!”)

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 249

Sep6

Day 249 – Reading – EZEKIEL 31 – 33

Read the Scriptures.  Meditate on what the prophets were saying.

EZEKIEL 31.

This is another metaphor, portraying Assyria as a tall Cedar tree, more lovely than the trees in Eden.  God made it tall and strong. It had pride. God gave it into the hands of the mighty one and the most ruthless of the nations (Babylon). It fell into the pit of Sheol.  And then God turns to Egypt…..  

  • Whom are you like in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden?  You shall be brought down with them to the world below.  You shall be among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.  This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.”

. Ezekiel 32.

This is twelve years before the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation.  A lamentation over the Pharaoh and Egypt.  Egypt thinks of itself as a lion, but God compares Pharaoh to a Dragon in the sea.  God will drag it from the water, throw it on the ground, and allow the beasts and fowl to devour it.  The flesh of her will be scattered throughout the land, and her blood will drench the mountains.

Many peoples will be appalled at them. It will be the king of Babylon who will ruin the pride of Egypt and kill its multitudes. Assyria is already there (gone), and so is Elam, Meshech-Tubal, Edom, and the Sidonians.  These are the “uncircumcised” whom Egypt will lie amongst. 

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Ezekiel 33. 

God has set apart Ezekiel to be a Watchman for His people.  If he sees “the sword” coming and warns the people by blowing his trumpet … if any of them hear it but 1) do not heed it, the sword will come and take them away. But their blood (the responsibility) will not be on the Watchman’s head.  

But if the Watchman sees the sword coming and does NOT warn by blowing the trumpet, and the people don’t hear and take heed, and they are taken away,  2) their blood will be on the Watchman’s head. (His responsibility).

And so whenever God speaks to Ezekiel about the people’s wickedness, and he does not warn them, THEIR blood shall be on HIM.  But if he warns them and they do noting, they will die, but YOU Ezekiel, have delivered your soul. 

And God asks, “Why will you die, Israel??  As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked TURN FROM THEIR EVIL WAYS and live.  TURN BACK!  Why will you die, O house of Israel??

  1. When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it.
  2. When the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this. 

And you say, O House of Israel, that the ways of the LORD are not just.  It is YOUR way that is not just.

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Then, on January 8, 585 B.C., six months after Jerusalem’s fall, a “fugitive” from Jerusalem came to Ezekiel. “The city has been struck down.”

When the people came to complain that the land was THEIRS, God rebuked them for their sin.  “I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and her proud might shall come to an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that none will pass through. THEN THEY WILL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD.”

(Oh, LORD, our hearts are so sinful and prideful. And many times WE argue with you. YOU, the almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth! LORD, forgive us. YOUR way is right and truthful. Please help us, help ME, to follow your path … follow Jesus.)

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 248

Sep5

Day 248 – Reading – EZEKIEL 28 – 30

Read the Scriptures.  Meditate on what the prophets were saying.

EZEKIEL 28.

Ezekiel continues the scathing prophesies against the nations around God’s people for cheering the destruction of Jerusalem, and their eagerness to plunder her themselves.  Here, he continues with the City-State of Tyre.

“The word of the LORD came to me: son of man, say to the prince of Tyre…….”

  • “Because your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of the gods,’ yet you are but a man and no god … because you make your heart like the heart of a god,
  • THEREFORE, behold, I will bring foreigners upon you, the most ruthless of nations, and they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor. 
  • They shall thrust you down into the pit, and you shall die the death of the slain in the heart of the seas.
  • “Will you still say I am a god…?

Then God tells Ezekiel to raise a lamentation over the kin of Tyre.  (This “lamentation,” although about the King of Tyre, has many people comparing it to Satan’s pride and beauty, as an anointed guardian cherub, and his fall from heaven.)

Sidon.  God next tells Ezekiel to prophesy against Sidon, a sister city with Tyre. He will execute judgment on them too, and show them His holiness when He sends “pestilence into her, and blood into her streets.”

Having settled accounts with Israel’s neighbors on all sides, He says that the House of Israel shall no more have briar or thorn to hurt her.   And when He gathers them home from the nations of exile, they will build houses and plant vineyards and dwell securely.  (Can you hear a big sigh?) 

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Ezekiel 29.

Ezekiel steps back a few years (twelfth day, tenth month, tenth year) of their exile.  Nebuchadnezzar is at Jerusalem, but it will be seven months before it is destroyed.

God tells Ezekiel to set his face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt (for four chapters).

  • “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, ‘My Nile is my own; I made it myself.’ 
  • I will put hooks in your jaws, and make the “
  • fish” (people) of your streams stick to you when I draw you up.
  • And I will cast you out into the wilderness, and you will fall in the open field… to the beasts of the earth and birds of the heavens …. for food.”

God will judge them because they failed Israel when they grasped them for help.

God will also judge them for their pride in saying they “made” the Nile River.

  • “I will make the land of Egypt a desolation … and her cities shall be a desolation for forty years. 
  • I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. 
  • Then I will gather and restore their fortunes. But they shall be a lowly kingdom, the most lowly. They will never rule over nations again. 
  • They will never again be the reliance of Israel.
  • THAT THEY WILL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD GOD.

Then God tells Ezekiel something interesting… 

He brought Nebuchadnezzar against Tyre (as foretold in chapter 26), and the Babylonian army had to “labor hard” against them. But they never got anything for their labor.  THEREFORE, says God, He was going to pay for the labor Nebuchadnezzar performed for Him by giving the king the land of Egypt and her wealth. 

HUH!  Yes, God is totally sovereign!  He has the nations in the palms of His hands.  (He would always win at Monopoly!)

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Ezekiel 30.

Then God told Ezekiel to “lament” for Egypt.

  • “Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’ For the day is near, the day of the LORD is near;
  • it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.
  • sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish shall be in Cush,
  • when the slain fall in Egypt, and her wealth is carried away,
  • and her foundations are torn down.

(Cush, Put, Lud, all Arabia, and Libya, and the people who are in league … shall fall with them (Egypt) by the sword.)  “Those who support Egypt shall fall.”

  • “I will put an end to the wealth of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
  • He and his people with him shall be brought in to destroy the land,
  • draw their swords against Egypt,
  • fill the land with the slain.   
  • And I will dry up the Nile… I am the LORD, I have spoken. 
  • There shall no longer be a prince from Egypt. 
  • I will set fire to Egypt. 

And Ezekiel continues to tell again that the LORD will defeat, scatter and take captive Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar.  THEN, THEY WILL KNOW….

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God uses nations and kings as pieces on a chessboard.  He knows, He sees. And He performs, according to His goodwill… and with His own people in His mind. All for His chosen. Yes, He is spanking them severely, but for their own good.  But the enemies around them will die.

I recall the blessing God gave to Abraham. (Genesis 12)

“I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

**** LORD, Thank You for Abraham’s blessing and his children (from both flocks). Thank You, that You never change, and a promise is secure with You!

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 245

Sep2

Day 245 – Reading – EZEKIEL 21 – 22

Read today’s Scriptures. Meditate on what the prophets were saying.

Ezekiel 21.

It is getting close to that time of Jerusalem’s fall and ruin, and God tells Ezekiel urgently to preach to the exiles in Babylon with him, and prophesy against the land of Israel.  God says,

  • “Behold I am against you and will draw my sword from its sheath and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. Therefore my sward shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north, and all flesh SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD. I have drawn my sword from its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again.”

Then he tells Ezekiel to GROAN with breaking heart and bitter grief.  “GROAN before their eyes.  And when they ask why you groan, say, “Because of the news that is coming.”

Every heart will melt, and all hands will be feeble; every spirit will faint and all knees will be weak as water.

BEHOLD, IT IS COMING!  Cry out and wail, O son of man, for the sharpened and polished sword is to be given to the hand of the slayer. Then God gives a picture of the flashing sword cutting left and right and reveals that the glittering, flashing, deadly sword is none other than the King of Babylon in the hand of God.  And Zedekiah, the profane and wicked “prince” (not king) of Israel, will be dethroned.  His day has come!

“Ruin, ruin, ruin,”

This must have been a totally freaky-scary message for the exiles!

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Ezekiel 22.

God asks Ezekiel (son of man) to judge the bloody city (Jerusalem), and declare aloud all her “abominations.” And he does.  

  1. Princes of Israel have been bent on shedding blood.
  2. Father and mother are treated with contempt;
  3. Sojourners suffer extortion,
  4. Fatherless and widows are wronged.
  5. They despised God’s holy things,
  6. Profaned God’s Sabbaths
  7. They slander to shed blood,
  8. Eat on the mountains (worshipping idols)
  9. Commit lewdness.
  10. Men uncover their father’s nakedness
  11. Violate women who are unclean
  12. Commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife
  13. Violates his sister
  14. Lewdly violates his sister-in-law,
  15. Take bribes to shed blood
  16. Take interest and profit,
  17. Make gain by extortion,
  18. And forgotten ME, their God.
  19. Her prophets have conspired to get rich
  20. Her priests have done violence to God’s law and profaned holy things
  21. Her princes are wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives for gain,
  22. Extortion,
  23. Robbery,
  24. Oppression of the poor and needy.

God said, “I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it.

“BUT I FOUND NONE.  Therefore I have returned their way upon their heads.”

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Another heart-wrenching two chapters!  I shutter at God’s anger. It is fully justified, but it is a horrible thing.  He is so good and does good to his people, but they (we?) turn their backs on Him and do all they can to defile themselves and insult Him. It’s like a fist (or a finger) in His face!  He is a God of mercy, but He is also a HOLY God, and there comes a time when He says,, “ENOUGH!”

I wonder if He has reaching that point today!

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 235

Aug23

Day 235 – Reading – Jeremiah 49 – 50

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

Jeremiah 49.

The next nation to be addressed is Ammon. (Jordan, today) They, along with Moab, were descendants of Abraham’s nephew, Lot.  They seized the land of the eastern tribes of Israel, Gad, Reuben, and 1/2 of Manasseh when the northern kingdom was taken captive by Assyria. 

Five years after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, he defeated Ammon.  As with Moab, God promised that a remnant of the Ammonites would return to their land, partially under Cyrus, but fully in the Kingdom of the Messiah.

  • Behold, I will bring terror upon you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts, from all who are around you, and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him with none to gather the fugitives.  
  • But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the LORD.”

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Edom is addressed next by the LORD, through Jeremiah.  The Edomites descended through Abraham, as Jacob/Israel’s older twin brother, Esau.  From before birth, there had been contention between these two brothers, then between the two nations.  They lived south of the Dead Sea.  They, too, were defeated by Babylon after Israel went into captivity.  There is NO PROPHECY of a future restoration.

  • “For I have stripped Esau bare; I have uncovered his hiding places, and he is not able to conceal himself.
  • His children are destroyed … and he is no more.

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NEXT is Damascus, which was the capital of Syria.  Nebuchadnezzar conquered it on its way south, before reaching Jerusalem.  Here, many evils against the northern kingdom of Israel were planned. That was the reason for its fall. 

  • “I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-Hadad.”

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Kedar and Hazor (not the one North/west of Galilee) are addressed next.  They were areas in the Arabian desert east of Judah, and descendants of Ishmael.  Nebuchadnezzar conquered them shortly before seizing Jerusalem. 

  • “Thus says the LORD: Rise up, advance against Kedar! Destroy the people of the east! Their tents and flocks shall be taken … their camels led away.   
  • Terror on every side! Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths!   
  • For Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has made a plan against you and formed a purpose against you. 

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Elam was east of Babylon, between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers.  They were subjugated by Babylon, but later incorporated into the Persian forces when Cyrus conquered Babylon.  Its capital was Susa, and it became the center of the Persian Empire under Darius.  They were to be destroyed and scattered to the four quarters of heaven…. to every nation. (There are lots of Persians in the US today.)  

  • I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them … and destroy their king and officials.
  • But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, declares the LORD.”

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Jeremiah 50.

And now, to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans.

God’s judgment focuses mainly on the Persian conquest of Babylon, first by Cyrus, and then later, more violently, near the coming of the Messiah in glory.

  • Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed, Babylon’s images are put to shame, her idols (dung pellets) are dismayed.  Out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation…

Then, Cyrus releases the Jews. 

  • “In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the LORD their God. 
  • They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten. 
  • “Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans… 
  • How the “Hammer of the whole earth” is cut down and broken! 
  • How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
  • Woe to them, for their day has come, the time of their punishment.
  • Declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, VENGEANCE FOR HIS TEMPLE!

 

  • Behold, I am against you, O proud one, declares the Lord GOD of hosts, for your day has come, the time when I will punish you
  • The Proud One shall stumble and fall, … and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all…

 

  • A sword against the Chaldeans,
  • Against the inhabitants of Babylon and her officials and her wise men!
  • A sword against the diviners,
  • A sword against her warriors,
  • A sword against her horses and chariots and her foreign troops,
  • A sword against all her treasures, may they be plundered!
  • A drought against her waters.
  • For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols.

 

  • At the sound of the capture of Babylon, the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations.

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WHEW!  Yes, God used Babylon to judge His own people, but… they ARE His own people, and He will get vengeance on those who mistreat them. And for His Holy Temple.

What can I learn from today’s reading?  Yes, God may use evil people, companies, and countries to discipline His children, even today, with you and me.  They may not be Babylon, but they may seem like a “hammer” pounding on us, or taking away the things and people we love.  What do do?  Turn, turn to God, humble ourselves, confess our sin, and seek His Face (His will).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 220

Aug8

Day 220 – Reading – Jeremiah 4 – 6

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer.

Stay in the WORD!

Jeremiah 4.

This chapter opens with a call to RETURN to the LORD in truth.  Are they able to remove the “detestable things” from His presence, and “circumcise” or cleanse their hearts?   If not … God’s wrath will go out like fire and burn with a flame no one can quench, and consume them. 

Jeremiah then predicts that destruction and disaster will come from the north (Babylon).  A lion … a destroyer of nations has set out … to make your land a waste and your cities into ruins.  (Babylon is often symbolized by a winged lion.)  Judah’s kings, officials, priests, and prophets will be appalled and terrified.

“Woe to us, for we are ruined,” will be the cry as the speeding horses and chariots appear.   And Jeremiah cries again for the LORD, “O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved!”

“I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.  I looked at the mountains, and behold, THEY WERE QUAKING AND THE HILLS MOVED TO AND FRO.  I looked … and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD’s fierce anger.

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Jeremiah 5.

God wants his servant to run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, to look (if he can) for a man who does justice and seeks truth, so the LORD may pardon the city.

But the result is: They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.

Then Jeremiah said, “These are only the POOR; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of the LORD.  I will go to the GREAT and speak to them. They KNOW the way of the LORD. 

But, they ALL alike had broken the yoke and burst the bonds. And all say to the LORD, “He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.  The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them.”

The LORD’s answer?  “Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O House of Israel.”  “As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.

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Jeremiah 6.

And again, impending disaster for Jerusalem!

“Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin in the midst of Jerusalem!”

“Blow the trumpet … raise a signal for disaster looms out of the north and great destruction.”

“This is a city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her.”

“Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn from you in disgust…”

“Therefore I am full of wrath; I am weary of holding it in. Pour it out upon the CHILDREN in the street, upon the YOUNG MEN, both HUSBAND AND WIFE, the ELDERLY and the VERY AGED!””

“Hear O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to MY words; and as for MY law, they have rejected it. 

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WOW. What horrible disaster.  Sometimes I think that this very same disaster is coming upon the United States. Because we have not repented of the despicable ways we follow. Because we have neglected and rejected God, and played around with science and occult and technology as our “gods.”

O LORD, we are helpless! Please cleansed our hearts and minds. Turn us to You, our Savior and Redeemer!

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 201 and 202

Jul21

NOTE: Sunday and Monday studies are posted together on MONDAY.

Day 201 – Reading – Hosea 1 – 7

Day 202 – Reading – Hosea 8 – 14

Read today’s Scriptures.  

Day 201, Hosea 1.

Hosea was a prophet in the time of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and good King Hezekiah in the south (and while evil King Jeroboam II reigned in the north).  Hosea means “salvation,” like Joshua and Yeshua.  Although he addressed both Israel and Judah, he referred to the king of Israel as “our king.”  Only he and Jonah were “writing prophets” from the northern kingdom.  He prophesied for 45 years and was a contemporary of Isaiah.

Hosea was instructed to marry a woman and experience her unfaithfulness, much as God with His beloved Israel, and then to show forgiving love.

  • The LORD:  “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom (unfaithfulness) and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom (unfaithfulness) by forsaking the LORD.

And so Hosea obeyed and married Gomer.  She bore a son.

  • And the LORD said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.”

Then Gomer gave birth to a daughter.

  • The LORD said, “Call her name ‘No Mercy,’ for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel.”

When the daughter was weaned, Gomer had a second son.

  • The LORD said, “Call his name ‘Not My People,’ for you are not my people (Israel) and I am not your God.”

And yet God tells him of a time when Israel will be like the sand of the sea, and where it was said, “Not my people,” they shall be called “Children of the Living God.”

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Hosea 2.

God tells Hosea to “plead with the nation of Israel (also in language reflecting Gomer, Hosea’s wife), that she put away her whoring and adultery, lest “I make her like a wilderness, a parched land, and kill her with thirst.”

Israel went after her “lovers” (false gods), praising THEM for the food, drink, and clothing she had, angering God.

  • “She did not know that it was ‘I’ who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold… WHICH SHE USED FOR BAAL.”
  • “Therefore, I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take my wool and my flax which were to cover her nakedness.  I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers.”
  • “I will punish her for when she went after her ‘lovers’ and forgot me,” declares the LORD.

Oh, but see the mercy and tenderness with which He will one day treat Israel!

  • “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And I will give her her vineyards and make a door of hope.”
  • And in that day, you will call me “My husband.”  I will betroth her to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth her to me in FAITHFULNESS.”
  • ‘And I will have mercy on “NO MERCY.”  And I will say to “NOT MY PEOPLE,” ‘You ARE my people.”

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Hosea 3.

  • The LORD:   “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, EVEN AS the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods. “

So Hosea bought Gomer back with 15 shekels of silver and some barley.  And he told her, “You must dwell as mine. You shall not play the whore or belong to another man.”

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Hosea 4.

Then, through Hosea, the LORD comes down hard on Israel, especially her priests.  “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Because YOU have rejected knowledge, I reject YOU from being a priest to me.”

Then an entire section where God rants on His people for being unfaithful to husbands and to Him, worshiping idols with cult prostitutes.

“Though YOU play the whore, O Israel … let not JUDAH become guilty!”  (But alas, they follow Israel’s lead.)

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Hosea 5.

  • “Hear this, O priests!  Pay attention, O house of Israel!  Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you!  I will discipline ALL of them.”
  • “Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt:  JUDAH also shall stumble with them….”
  • “I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. 

God then issues a warning, “I will return again to MY PLACE until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.”

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Hosea 6.

The prophet writes Israel’s FUTURE words. – “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that He may heal us; he has struck us down, and He will bind us up. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD.

But until then, God sees their unfaithful ways.  “For I desire steadfast love and NOT sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than offerings.

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Hosea 7.

There seems to be no hope for Israel. Their judgment of doom is set. 

  • “Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!  Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!  I WOULD redeem them, but they speak lies against me.  They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds. They rebel against me.”      

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Day 202, Hosea 8.

Assyria, like a vulture, hovers over the house of Israel. 

God says, “I have spurned your calf, O Samaria.  For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

Israel… sows the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind. 

Israel has forgotten his Maker….

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Hosea 9.

  • Hosea declares, “The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come: Israel shall know it.” 
  • “He will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins.”
  • “Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird — no birth, no pregnancy, no conception! (Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.) Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them till NONE is left.  Woe to them if I depart from them.  Yes, even though they give birth, I will put their beloved children to death.”  
  • “My God will reject them because they have not listened to Him.“

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Hosea 10.

Prosperity resulted in spiritual corruption.

  • “Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars. 
  • Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and destroy their pillars. 

The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for “the calf.”  The people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests, for it has departed from them.  THE THING itself shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to the king. Ephraim shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.

And Hosea cries out!

  • “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.”

And then the solemn declaration:

  • “At dawn, the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.”

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Hosea 11.

This chapter shows Israel’s refusal of God, and God’s extreme LOVE FOR THEM. 

“When Israel was a child, I loved him… I taught him to walk, I took him up by his arms… I led him with cords of kindness and bands of love… I became to him as one who eases the yoke.. I bent down to him and fed him…

  • How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel?  My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.”

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Hosea 12.

In this chapter, the LORD reviews the history of Jacob/Israel from Rebekah’s womb till the time they came up from Egypt. 

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Hoshea 13.

The LORD relentlessly pours on words of judgment of the ungrateful and proud Israel.  They sinned more and more, making images for themselves and offered human sacrifices, and “kissed calves” (devotion to their idols).

“But I AM the LORD your God. You know no God but Me, and besides Me there is no Savior.”

“Samaria shall bear her guilt because she rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword.

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Hosea 14.

And in the final chapter, Hosea reveals God’s heart – a plea for Israel to return to their God.

His promise,

  • ‘I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. 

And Hosea adds his own epilogue. 

  • Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them … but transgressors stumble at them.

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Good words for us too – from Hosea’s closing epilogue, to God’s weeping heart over the sinner, to His offers of restoration. Don’t you just love Him so much!!  But also that sin is unfaithfulness to our God, and must be stopped or judged.

LORD, Help me to look in my own heart.  Are there idols there?  Do I depend on my own strength rather than Yours?  Do I praise others for what YOU do for me daily? Help me to be faithful!  Oh, turn my heart wholly towards You, O my God!  Thank you for your faithfulness, care and love for me!

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 194 & 195

Jul14

NOTE: Sunday’s and Monday’s studies are posted together on MONDAY.

Day 194 – Reading – 2 Chronicles 27 and Isaiah 9 – 12

Day 195 – Reading – Micah 1- 7

Read today’s Scriptures.  Do you see connections?

Day 194 – 2 Chronicles 27.

We step back from the prophets for a chapter in history, looking at the southern kingdom of Judah.  Uzziah has died, and his son Jotham, who has been managing things for his father since God gave Uzziah leprosy and they put him in isolation.  Now, Jotham becomes king in his own right. He was 25 and he reigned until he was 41.  He did what was RIGHT IN THE EYES OF THE LORD, as Uzziah had done in the early part of his reign. 

Jotham did a lot of building and fortifying of cities. He warred and won with the Ammonites and so received a lot of tribute from them for Judah.   Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before the LORD his God.  

Jotham was buried in the City of David, and his son Ahaz reigned. Ahaz was a nasty, idol worshiping man, who even sacrificed his son to a pagan god.

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Isaiah 9.

These chapters in Isaiah alternate from predictions of TERROR by invasion, destruction, exile, and death … and the HOPE of the coming Messianic Kingdom.

So much is familiar here about the birth, ministry, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

  • Verses 9:1-2 are quoted in Matthew 4:12-16, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali is where Jesus’ primary ministry took place.
  • The people who walked in great darkness have seen a great light. John 3:19-21 and 8:12 reveal that Jesus is the light of the world. Follow Him and you’ll not walk in darkness.  However, some will HATE the light, while others love it.
  • Verse 9:6 are very familiar words to us at Christmas time.  “For unto us a child is born.” See Luke 2:11-12.  “…Unto us a Son is given.”  See John 3:16.  And then those beautiful titles for Jesus: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  He was and IS all of these, THANK YOU, Jesus!

Isaiah’s prophecy foretells Jesus’ glorious reign on earth: with no end… on the throne of David… with justice and righteousness, and forevermore. 

No wonder the Jews and the disciples of Jesus’ earthly ministry expected him (If he was really the Messiah) to rise up in rebellion against Rome and rule on a throne.  From OUR view, we know there is a great “time valley” between the two “mountains” of his comings..  And this glorious kingdom is YET TO COME. 

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Isaiah 10.

The LORD continues with Woes to the arrogant and proud people of Israel, naming specific groups or sins, in the last part of chapter 9, 10, and into 11.  His response?  “For all this, His anger has not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still.”

Then Isaiah predicts a horrific judgment on the arrogant Assyria (who had repented for a short time under Jonah).  They turned back to even MORE wicked ways only a generation later.  They were known for their barbaric cruelty.

BUT FIRST, God will use this cruel nation to judge Syria, Israel, and then Judah. 

THEN, “When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.”

The Assyrian Empire was massive. No wonder Israel felt so small and HOPELESS.  Here’s a map of the approx. 200 years of their rule.

Then Isaiah turns once again to HOPE. He prophesies of the “Remnant of Israel” and her survivors.  

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Isaiah 11.

Isaiah writes of the Righteous Reign of the BRANCH (or root of David). 

  • And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.   These are the qualifications that will enable Jesus the Messiah to rule justly.  (Also compare Revelations 1:4.)
  • Then Isaiah writes of the Idyllic  Millennium Reign, when: wolf & lamb, leopard & young goat, lion and calf, and cow & bear shall all graze together and lie down together in safety.  AND A LITTLE CHILD WILL LEAD THEM.   In fact, a nursing child will play with a cobra, a weaned child with an adder. (both deadly snakes) and they shall not be hurt.
  • Instead of a scarcity of the Word of God, “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the water covers the sea.
  • “In that day the Lord will extend His hand yet a second time to recover the REMNANT that remains of His people, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath and from the Coastlands of the sea.”
  • “And he … will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”

Oh, my, what a dream the people of God had to hide deep in their hearts, and collectively remember in that Day.

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Isaiah 12

And then the beautiful Psalm-like chapter. Can you hear Isaiah singing…..

"You will say in that day;
I will give thanks to You, O LORD,
for though You were angry with me,
Your anger turned away,
that You might comfort me.

Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,
and He has become my salvation.

With joy you will draw water 
from the wells of salvation.
And in that day, you will say;
Give thanks to the LORD,
call upon His name,
make know his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that His Name is exalted.

Sing praises to the LORD, 
for He has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."


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Day 195 – Micah 

Micah (Who is like God?) was a contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, but he prophesied mainly to the southern kingdom of Judah. (The northern kingdom was about to fall to Assyria.)  God used him in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Like Amos, he was a “country” man from a small town near the Philistine border. 

His message was primarily to the princes and people of Jerusalem, condemning the social injustice and religious corruption he saw there. When Israel fell, northern refugees flooded into Judah, bringing their idol worship (Baals) with them. Micah  addresses this briefly, especially since King Ahaz was a part of it.

Like Isaiah, Micah prophesied horrific doom to Judah from the Assyrians and then the Babylonians.  But he alternates his dark messages with passages of HOPE for the coming Messiah-King and a restored Israel in the Millennial Kingdom.

 

 Micah 1 – 3.

Micah calls the world to witness what God is going to do in Israel and Judah.

Samaria (capital of Israel) will be made into “a heap.”  Then he bewails that Israel’s idolatry has come to Judah.  Now, “disaster has come down from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.”

Micah condemns those who devise wickedness “on their beds” and then perform it in the morning … because it’s in their power to do so.  These rich and powerful “covet” fields and “seize” them (a reminder of King Ahab and the vineyard of Naboth?). They covet houses and take away a man’s house and “his inheritance,”  which was forbidden in the Law.

Micah tells them that it will happen TO THEM TOO in the time of disaster, when the LORD will “allot OUR fields to an apostate.”

Micah, in God’s name, rails against the heads and rulers of Jacob, for hating good and loving evil, committing horrendous injustice against the poor, which he pictures as butchering animals!

He also condemns the false prophets for misleading the people and prophesying “Peace.” They are led by greed, saying anything pleasing … for money.  God promises THEY will be struck blind for “blinding” the people with their lies.

  • Rulers detest justice and make crooked that which is straight.
  • Heads of the house of Jacob give judgment for a bribe.
  • Priests teach for a price
  • Prophets practice divination for money.

Therefore, Zion (Jerusalem) will be plowed as a field with nothing left but a heap of stones.

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Micah 4 – 5.

Micah also prophesies HOPE about what will come to pass “in the latter days.”

God will establish the “mountain of the House of the LORD, and people will flow to it and say …

  • “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”
  • “They will beat swords into plows… neither shall they learn war anymore.
  • “They will sit every man under his vine and his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid....”

Then the prophecy that is still TWO HUNDRED YEARS OFF —

  • “Writhe and groan, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for NOW you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to BABYLON.  THERE you shall be rescued, THERE the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies!”

And then that prophecy we know so well….

  • “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from YOU shall come forth for me One who is to be Ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”    (See Matthew 2:6)
  • “And He shall stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the Name of the LORD his God. And He shall be their peace.“

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Micah 6 – 7

Another courtroom scene, with the LORD, the people, and the prophet speaking as the lawyer for God.

The LORD’s appeal.

  • “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!

The LORD reminds them of all the good things He has done for them, from deliverance from Egypt to help in conquering the Land.

MICAH, speaking for the people.

  • With what shall we come before the LORD?  With calves? Rams? Rivers of oil? Our firstborn?

MICAH speaking for God.

  • “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

And because they did NOT do the above, God would send judgment to them as punishment.  All the terrors that fell on their sister nation of Israel would be coming to them as well.  As they walked in the wicked ways of Omri and Ahab, so God will make them a desolation, a hissing, and a scorn.

The MICAH, sounding a bit like Isaiah here, cries, “WOE IS ME!”  for all the evil he sees in Judah.  But he gives his own testimony, “But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Then the PEOPLE confess their sin and their faith in the LORD. 

They acknowledge the justice of God’s punishment.

And they look forward to His restoration. 

Then MICAH pleads to God.

  • “Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in days of old.

Then the repentant PEOPLE praise the LORD’s grace and mercy.

  • “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?
  • “He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love (mercy).  He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot.
  • “YOU will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea, You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.”

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(**** O LORD, I love this prayer and confession of the people. They know they have sinned, and finally, after Your chastisement, they acknowledge their sin.  They turn to you, confess, and trust in your faithfulness and the promises in Your Word.  LORD, let this be our story too)