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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.
Come
near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear,
and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it!
The Lord is angry with all nations; His wrath is on all their armies. He will totally destroy them, He will give them over to slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will stink; the mountains will be soaked with their blood. All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll;
all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
My sword
has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the
people I have totally destroyed. The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood, it
is covered with fat—the blood of lambs and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of
Edom. And the wild oxen will fall with them, the bull calves and the great
bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked with
fat.
For the Lord
has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause. Edom’s
streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will
become blazing pitch! It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will rise
forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever
pass through it again. The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the
great owl and the raven will nest there.
God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation. Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom, all her princes will vanish away. Thorns will overrun her citadels, nettles and brambles her strongholds. She will become a haunt for jackals, a home for owls. Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and wild goats will bleat to each other; there the night creatures will also lie down and find for themselves places of rest. The owl will nest there and lay eggs, she will hatch them, and care for her young under the shadow of her wings; there also the falcons will gather, each with its mate.
Look in
the scroll of the Lord and read:
None of
these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is His mouth that has
given the order, and His Spirit will gather them together. He allots their
portions; His hand distributes them by measure. They will possess it forever and
dwell there from generation to generation. The desert and the parched
land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it
will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of
Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see
the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.
Isaiah 34,
35:1-2
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Isaiah, Chapter 34 opens, the
words of the prophet demand attention of all nations of the world:
Come near, you nations, and listen; pay
attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world,
and all that comes out of it! v. 1
But is the world listening? Does
the world even know what the word of God has to say about what was, what is,
and what is to come? If they do know, do they even care?
I don’t know how you feel but it
sure doesn’t feel like there is one nation in the world that is fully placing
its faith openly and publicly in the Lord God Almighty, even though the words
that follow Isaiah’s call to listen speak surety about the fate of the world
and the nations upon it. It has been foretold to happen and trust me, it is
going to happen whether the nations listen or not. Jesus Christ is returning to
judge the world and every nation who chooses to reject Him as their King of
kings, their Lord of lords, their Savior and only source of hope, will find the
kind of demise detailed in this passage.
Who will meet this kind of
horrific, destructive end?
The nations who fail to place the
Lord as their sole object of attention, their sole source of protection, their
sole center of faith, their only go-to person for the very way they exist and
operate within that existence.
These are the nations who are
self-centered and self-reliant, the ones who behave as if they are their own
gods, the ones who choose to either push the Lord aside to the fringes or,
worse yet, shun Him altogether. This is where I see the nations of the world
today.
If only they would listen to what
the word of God has to say?
For God is not going to be
disrespected or disregarded. Choose to not give your attention and He will do
something that will get your attention and that something is not going to be
pleasant. This truth is seen over and over again as the Lord deals with His people
and the nations. Ignore Him, turning to sin and your own wicked desires, and you
will find yourself in the crosshairs of His displeasure and punishment.
Need an example?
Consider the nation of Edom, a
consistent enemy of Israel and thus an enemy of God. The sword of the Lord was levied
on that nation and much blood was shed. The once powerful entity was laid to
waste and barren as God stretched out His measuring line of chaos and plumb
line of desolation. The nation’s streams were turned into
pitch, the dust into burning sulfur, and the land it occupied became blazing terrain,
unable to be quenched, its smoke rising forever. What remains will not be a
kingdom anymore and thus there will be no need for nobles or princes anymore
for there is nothing left to reign over. All the main buildings and strongholds
will be overrun by thorns and brambles. What was once home to a great worldly
power would now be home to wild animals and birds who would take up refuge
there.
Not a
pretty picture is it. In fact, you would think this would be enough to convince
every nation to change their attitude and place the Lord first in everything
they do.
But they
are choosing not to listen and are doing so to their own detriment and demise.
The word
of God is clear.
The Lord
is angry with all nations.
One of
these days, He will send His Son Jesus Christ back to judge the earth and
everyone within it. It will be the best day ever for those who chose to listen,
those who chose to place their full belief, hope, and trust in Jesus as Savior.
For the rest, it will be the worst day ever as the earth and heavens as we know
it will be destroyed along with all nations and people who chose to reject
Jesus and His salvation offer. They will be part of the annihilation taking
place on that day, cast into the lake of fire with Satan Revelation 20:14-15)
while the stars in the sky are dissolved, falling like withered leaves from the
vine, and the heavens are rolled up like a scroll. Everything will be wiped out
and the reset button will be pushed on life, a new heaven and earth inhabited
by those who committed themselves to Jesus as Savior.
Will there be even one nation who
ascends to live in this new heaven and earth?
Not unless they start to listen to
the word of God. Today would be a good time to start.
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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