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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; He will
ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants—it will be the same for priest as for
people, for the master as for his servant, for the mistress as for her servant,
for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for
creditor. The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The Lord
has spoken this word.
The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the
heavens languish with the earth. The earth is defiled by its people; they have
disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore
a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. The
new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers groan. The joyful
timbrels are stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is
silent. No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its
drinkers. The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred.
In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all joyful sounds
are banished from the earth. The city is left in ruins; its gate is battered to
pieces. So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree
is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.
They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they acclaim
the Lord’s majesty. Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; exalt the
name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends
of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.”
But I said, “I waste away, I waste away! Woe to me! The treacherous
betray! With treachery the treacherous betray!” Terror and pit and snare await
you, people of the earth. Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a
pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare. The floodgates of
the heavens are opened, the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is broken
up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is violently shaken. The earth reels
like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt
of its rebellion that it falls—never to rise again.
In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the
kings on the earth below. They will be herded together like prisoners bound in
a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days. The
moon will be dismayed, the sun ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on
Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders—with great glory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new
earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was
no longer any sea.
Isaiah 24,
Revelation 21:1
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Yesterday, we celebrated Christmas.
Some celebrated it with gifts and food and family gatherings with no
consideration of the real reason for the day, that being the birth of the
Savior of the world named Jesus. Others did place Christ at the center of
Christmas and dedicated their day to remembering him and the eternal hope He
brought to a sinful and fallen world, the same hope He brings today to anyone
who would receive it.
Today, with Christmas over, people
will be flocking to the stores once again to focus on spending money on
whatever post-Christmas buys they can find. We can’t seem to spend enough of
the money the Lord has given, often forgetting that part of our responsibility
comes in being good stewards with His gifts. Many in the world will starve to
death today or die from treatable illnesses because they lack even the most
basic medications that are so readily available in other parts of the world.
You see, our lack of focus on Christ leads us to attitudes of selfishness instead
of selflessness, the attention being far more on our own needs than on the
needs of others.
People today are also turning their
interest toward the next holiday, New Year’s Eve and Day with more focus on the
latter than the former. You see New Year’s Eve opens up all kinds of
opportunities for parties and revelries, mostly focused on dancing and
imbibing. It’s a time to drop one’s inhibitions and have fun, saying goodbye to
the prior year and what it brought and hello to the coming year and the hope it
will bring better days.
Yes, this world sure has a lot to
offer us in life, so much that we forget the One who made it, the God who so
loved this world that He gave His only Son, Jesus, so that we might not perish
but have everlasting life (John 3:16). We snub our noses at the Maker and
Creator of us all while enjoying the bounties He has given. We pass up
salvation in exchange for overdosing on the world’s enticements.
Today’s scriptures send us a
harrowing warning from the Lord God Almighty, one that should shake us at our
very foundations because frankly our foundations are going to be shaken.
The warning?
Don’t get too comfortable on this
earth.
Look again at these words from
Isaiah 24:
See, the Lord is going to lay
waste the earth and devastate it; He will ruin its face and scatter its
inhabitants—it will be the same for priest as for people, for the master as for
his servant, for the mistress as for her servant, for seller as for buyer, for
borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. The earth will be
completely laid waste and totally plundered. The Lord has spoken this word.
The earth dries up and withers, the
world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth. The earth is
defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and
broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its
people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth’s inhabitants
are burned up, and very few are left. The new wine dries up and the vine
withers; all the merrymakers groan. The joyful timbrels are stilled, the noise
of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent. No longer do they drink
wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers. The ruined city lies
desolate; the entrance to every house is barred. In the streets they cry out
for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all joyful sounds are banished from the
earth. The city is left in ruins; its gate is battered to pieces. So will it be
on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when
gleanings are left after the grape harvest.
But I said, “I waste away, I
waste away! Woe to me! The treacherous betray! With treachery the treacherous
betray!” Terror and pit and snare await you, people of the earth. Whoever flees
at the sound of terror will fall into a pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will
be caught in a snare. The floodgates of the heavens are opened, the foundations
of the earth shake. The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the
earth is violently shaken. The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut
in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls—never
to rise again.
In that day the Lord will punish
the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They will be
herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in
prison and be punished after many days. The moon will be dismayed, the sun
ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and
before its elders—with great glory.
This earth is no longer going to
exist one day, the day when Jesus returns to judge it. Ditto for the heavens.
All we know today is going to be gone and anyone who fails to place their hope
and trust in Jesus will go with it, consumed by fire and utterly annihilated.
There will be no more gift giving around Christmas trees, no more shopping for
great deals, and no more drunken carousing and festivity. Nothing will remain.
Nothing. This world, so embedded in the very sinfulness that God despises, will
be no more.
We need this warning so we don’t
get too attached to it. We need this warning so we hold onto Jesus more than
anything else in life, so that we make Him our very life’s focal point. If we
do this, then at the time when Jesus returns, we will be counted among the
number who will proclaim these words from Isaiah 24:
They raise their voices, they
shout for joy; from the west they acclaim the Lord’s majesty. Therefore in the
east give glory to the Lord; exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in
the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to
the Righteous One.”
You see, those in Christ Jesus will
not be afraid of His arrival. They will welcome it. They will have been longing
for it, understanding that what He comes to bring far exceeds anything this
world can provide. For He is coming to bring life eternal with Him and God, His
Father and ours. That everlasting life will be in the newly created earth and
heaven, earth and heaven 2.0 (Revelation 21:1). There, the Lord will start over
with creation, bringing with Him those who believed and trusted in Him as their
Savior, the ones who refused to abandon Him for the sinful world He destroys.
Question: Will you be counted in
that number on the day Jesus comes back?
My prayer is that you will be, but
to do so you have to turn from this world toward the Savior who will give you a
part of the inheritance of the new earth and heaven to come. That Savior is
Jesus and he’s waiting for you to come to Him today. Won’t you commit to a new
life in Him as you approach a new year?
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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