From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Morning & Evening...
John 7:37
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if
any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.
Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of
the feast He pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year He
pleads with us, and waits to be gracious to us. Admirable indeed is the
longsuffering of the Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year,
notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of His Holy
Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy! Pity
expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not only the
loudness of His voice, but the tenderness of His tones. He entreats us to be
reconciled. "We pray you," says the Apostle, "as though God did beseech you by
us." What earnest, pathetic terms are these! How deep must be the love which
makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a mother woo His children to His
bosom! Surely at the call of such a cry our willing hearts will come. Provision
is made most plenteously; all is provided that man can need to quench his
soul's thirst. To his conscience the atonement brings peace; to his
understanding the gospel brings the richest instruction; to his heart the
person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to the whole man the truth
as it is in Jesus supplies the purest nutriment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus
can remove it. Though the soul were utterly famished, Jesus could restore it.
Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. No other
distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst of avarice,
ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The
thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of
inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust; but it is
not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus
sends it freely, and without respect of persons. Personality is declared most
fully. The sinner must come to Jesus, not to works, ordinances, or doctrines,
but to a personal Redeemer, who His own self bare our sins in His own body on
the tree. The bleeding, dying, rising Saviour, is the only star of hope to a
sinner. Oh for grace to come now and drink, ere the sun sets upon the year's
last day! No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking
represents a reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a
harlot can drink; and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to
believe in Jesus. We want no golden cup, no bejewelled chalice, in which to
convey the water to the thirsty; the mouth of poverty is welcome to stoop down
and quaff the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips may touch the
stream of divine love; they cannot pollute it, but shall themselves be
purified. Jesus is the fount of hope. Dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer's
loving voice as He cries to each of us, "If any man thirst, let him come unto
Me and drink."
Revelation 17:6
(6) And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the
blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great
admiration.
When people read this verse, their thoughts immediately turn to the Roman
Universal Church of the Dark Ages. Indeed, that organization's record is a
sorry one, but Israel's record against the people of God is not any better.
Jesus cries in Luke 13:34, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the
prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather
your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you
were not willing!" The Bible is replete with examples of the persecutions of
God's people.
It is easy to read the histories of modern Israel over the last two
hundred years or so and conclude that today's Israelites would never do such a
thing. Since they are nominally Christian, one would like to think that they
would never stoop to that. However, human nature never changes. All it takes is
the right set of circumstances, and persecution will happen again in Israel,
even as the book of Acts witnesses threats and murders occurring among
Israelites in the first century!
One may perhaps think that persecution occurred then, but it stopped with
the end of the first century. Not so! Many are familiar with Foxe's Book of
Martyrs, which focuses on numerous persecutions, including martyrdom, that
raged against Evangelical groups. Another book, Martyrs Mirror, as large as
Strong's Concordance, contains a comprehensive history of 1,600 years of the
persecutions, including martyrdom, perpetrated against Anabaptist groups.
"Anabaptist" is a name attached by the world at large to any professing
Christian group that opposes infant- and child- baptism because the biblical
requirements for baptism are repentance and faith, which no infant or child can
meet. One must be an adult of considerable living experience to consider
baptism seriously. The most prominent Anabaptist groups in the Western world
are the Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites. Many of these and other, smaller
groups were quite active even up to the beginning of the twentieth century.
The terms "Evangelical" and "Anabaptist" can and did include the Baptists
and, most importantly for us, the church of God. Martyrs Mirror begins with the
martyrdoms of the apostles because they were, by definition, Anabaptists.
Religious persecutions periodically raged in Holland, France, and England, all
Israelitish countries, during the Middle Ages. It waned only after the
Protestant Reformation had been underway for a century or two, and the Catholic
Counter-Reformation joined it.
Anybody who has read American history should know that many of the
original settlers to this country came to escape religious persecution in
northwest Europe. The Puritans and Pilgrims are prime examples. They fled
England for Holland and then left Holland for America.
To think that the Israelitish people are somehow above perpetrating
religious persecution is not historically accurate. The Bible clearly shows it
happened before and will happen again. Just eleven years ago, the entire nation
witnessed the Branch Davidian massacre in Waco, Texas. This is remarkable to us
because the Branch Davidians kept the Sabbath.
Jeremiah 30:7 warns us that a horrific time of trouble lies just around
the corner: "Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is
the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it." This period of
trouble is greater than any before it. Persecutions of true Christians will
happen again. Revelation 13:15—in this end-time book—confirms that persecutions
are just beyond the horizon: "He [the Beast from the earth] was granted power
to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should
both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be
killed." This persecution is instigated by a religious figure, the False
Prophet, who will arise and promote his competing religion so vigorously as to
kill those who do not submit to his idolatrous, pagan brand.
Revelation 6:9-11 verifies that this persecution will be aimed directly
at the true church:
When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of
those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they
held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and
true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
And a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they
should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow
servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
The blood of the saints is already staining Israel's histories, and more
will be added afresh to her descendants' despicable and hypocritical anti-God
record.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Beast and Babylon (Part Eight): God, Israel, and the Bible
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
daily devotional
Morning...
1 Peter 5:7
Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.
It is a happy way of soothing sorrow when we can feel-"HE careth for me."
Christian! do not dishonour religion by always wearing a brow of care; come,
cast your burden upon your Lord.You are staggering beneath a weight which your
Father would notfeel. What seems to you a crushing burden, would be to Him but
as the small dust of the balance. Nothing is so sweet as to
"Lie passive in God's hands,
And know no will but His."
O child of suffering, be thou patient; God has not passed thee over in His
providence. He who is the feeder of sparrows, will also furnish you with what
you need. Sit not down in despair; hope on, hope ever. Take up the arms of
faith against a sea of trouble, and your opposition shall yet end your
distresses. There is One who careth for you. His eye is fixed on you, His heart
beats with pity for your woe, and his hand omnipotent shall yet bring you the
needed help. The darkest cloud shall scatter itself in showers of mercy. The
blackest gloom shall give place to the morning. He, if thou art one of His
family, will bind up thy wounds, and heal thy broken heart. Doubt not His grace
because of thy tribulation, but believe that He loveth thee as much in seasons
of trouble as in times of happiness. What a serene and quiet life might you
lead if you would leave providing to the God of providence! With a little oil
in the cruse, and a handful of meal in the barrel, Elijah outlived the famine,
and you will do the same. If God cares for you, why need you care too? Can you
trust Him for your soul, and not for your body? He has never refused to bear
your burdens, He has never fainted under their weight. Come, then, soul! have
done with fretful care, and leave all thy concerns in the hand of a gracious
God.
January 6
Evening...
Ezekiel 33:22
Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening.
In the way of judgment this may be the case, and, if so, be it mine to
consider the reason of such a visitation, and bear the rod and Him that hath
appointed it. I am not the only one who is chastened in the night season; let
me cheerfully submit to the affliction, and carefully endeavour to be profited
thereby. But the hand of the Lord may also be felt in another manner,
strengthening the soul and lifting the spirit upward towards eternal things. O
that I may in this sense feel the Lord dealing with me! A sense of the divine
presence and indwelling bears the soul towards heaven as upon the wings of
eagles. At such times we are full to the brim with spiritual joy, and forget
the cares and sorrows of earth; the invisible is near, and the visible loses
its power over us; servant-body waits at the foot of the hill, and the
master-spirit worships upon the summit in the presence of the Lord. O that a
hallowed season of divine communion may be vouchsafed to me this evening! The
Lord knows that I need it very greatly. My graces languish, my corruptions
rage, my faith is weak, my devotion is cold; all these are reasons why His
healing hand should be laid upon me. His hand can cool the heat of my burning
brow, and stay the tumult of my palpitating heart. That glorious right hand
which moulded the world can new-create my mind; the unwearied hand which bears
the earth's huge pillars up can sustain my spirit; the loving hand which
incloses all the saints can cherish me; and the mighty hand which breaketh in
pieces the enemy can subdue my sins. Why should I not feel that hand touching
me this evening? Come, my soul, address thy God with the potent plea, that
Jesu's hands were pierced for thy redemption, and thou shalt surely feel that
same hand upon thee which once touched Daniel and set him upon his knees that
he might see visions of God.
Obadiah 1:10
(10) For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee,
and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
Leviticus 19:17, "You shall not hate your brother in your heart,"
succinctly describes the fundamental flaw in Edom, hatred. Edom's hatred is the
primary consequence of her pride. Because he always felt that he should have
been the master and received his father's wealth and blessings, Esau nursed his
wounded feelings of superiority, and it boiled over into hatred of his brother.
This flaw became a prime feature of Edomite character.
Hatred against a brother can lead a person to terrible acts, most often
underhanded ones. In the case of the Edomites, their vile attitudes first
manifested themselves in such things as gloating and rejoicing over Israel's
catastrophes, and led to actions such as pillaging, selling into slavery, and
taking the other's territory when Israel and Judah were weak.
God encapsulates the reason for His terrible judgment against Edom into
a single word: "violence." In Hebrew, this word is chamas, believe it or not,
so strikingly similar to the name of the Palestinian terrorist organization,
Hamas. In actuality, Hamas is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawima al-Islamiyya,
the Islamic Resistance Movement. Along with Hezbollah, it has been Israel's
chief enemy for many years. It is difficult to see this as a mere coincidence.
Could this be a scriptural clue as to the modern-day identity of Edom
or perhaps Amalek? The details revealed in Obadiah support such a conclusion. A
survey of recent Middle East history shows how Hamas has set itself against the
Jews; no other group bears such vehement hatred for them. Even though it has
secured political power in Palestine, it will not renounce its perpetual hatred
against the state of Israel—not even to become a viable player on the world
stage. Members of Hamas simply want to annihilate Israel.
Chamas suggests immoral, cruel violence, going hand-in-hand with
"slaughter" in the previous verse. The two words are undoubtedly linked. Edom
will be cut off with the same slaughter and in the same manner by which she
treated Israel: with violence, with chamas!
Why does God describe Esau in these terms? What drives Esau to hate
Israel so viscerally? Deuteronomy 32 succinctly illustrates God's attentive
relationship with Israel, how He found her, cared for her, and formed her into
a great nation. God's love for Israel undergirds why hatred and violence
against Israel is such a terrible transgression. Indeed, God's relationship
with Israel is a driving factor behind Edom's hot anger—it is essentially
jealousy!
Zechariah 2:8 describes Israel as "the apple of His eye." If a person
pokes another in the eye, it hurts the recipient terribly. Because Esau's
perpetual enmity and violence against Israel are fingers in God's eye, He takes
extreme umbrage. The Edomites, rebelling against God's will, picked on one whom
God has chosen. This is sin, not only against Israel, but also against God.
Rather than humbly bowing before His will that the older shall serve the
younger, Edom has waged perpetual war against Jacob's descendants. In doing so,
she has, in effect, declared war against God—a very serious sin.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
From All About Edom (Part Five): Obadiah and God's Judgment
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