New Creation!

Over the past 9 weeks we have looked at God's plan of redemption through the Old Testament. Since Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden (Genesis 3) We've seen our need for a redeemer (Exodus 12). We've seen the sin defeated by the suffering servant (Isaiah 53), the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34), and ultimately God's power over death (Ezekiel 37:1-14).

But what does all that lead to? What's in store? The prophets have a lot to say about this as well... 

In the first part of Isaiah 65 we see God's response to the prophet regarding salvation and judgment starting in (Is 65:17) we see the final stages of what God plans to do once judgment has been rendered. 

“For I will create a new heaven and a new earth; the past events will not be remembered or come to mind. Then be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people. The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her. In her, a nursing infant will no longer live only a few days, or an old man not live out his days. Indeed, the youth will die at a hundred years, and the one who misses a hundred years will be cursed. People will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and others live in them; they will not plant and others eat. For My people’s lives will be like the lifetime of a tree. My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.  They will not labor without success or bear children destined for disaster, for they will be a people blessed by the Lord along with their descendants. Even before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the serpent’s food will be dust! They will not do what is evil or destroy on My entire holy mountain,” says the Lord.

What a promise! What an image!  “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the serpent’s food will be dust!”

This is the fulfilment of the promise given to Adam and Eve in the garden when God told the serpent that the seed of the woman would crush his head!

Our journey isn’t over as we still have to trek through the New Testament but join us Sunday to look at the final chapter of our journey in the Old Testament!

Dry Bones

To this point in our journey we have have seen that God created a Kingdom, and he is the King. He made mankind to represent him in his kingdom but Adam and Eve rejected this call, which led to sin and death entering into the world. But God being a God of grace and mercy did not leave them without hope. He promised a redeemer, the seed of the woman, the promise of Abraham. A king would be raised up from the royal line of Judah, from the City of David, the covenant blessings would come to the world because all mankind was guilty and deserving death. The sacrifices of the Mosaic Law revealed more clearly their need for a substitute – the suffering servant…

So through the Suffering Servant we see that our sins have been atoned for - that still leaves the other side of the curse. Death. How does God intend to deal with that? We begin to see the answer to that question in Ezekiel 37. 

 The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them. There were a great many of them on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. 3 Then He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I replied, “Lord God, only You know.”

4 He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Lord God says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live. 6 I will put tendons on you, make flesh grow on you, and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you so that you come to life. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”

7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 As I looked, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath,[a]prophesy, son of man. Say to it: This is what the Lord God says: Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that may live!” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me; the breath[b] entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army.

11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.Look how they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore, prophesy and say to them: This is what the Lord God says: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them, My people, and lead you into the land of Israel. 13 You will know that I am Yahweh, My people, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 

Look at what God tells our prophet in vs 12 -  "I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them..." 

God demonstrates in this passage his power over death and the grave. This is pretty important part of the story considering the way the story plays out in the New Testament. 

See ya Sunday! 

Just a little angry...

*If you are easily offended I suggest you skip reading my blog post this week… If you do read and you get offended take a deep breath and look in the mirror because I warned you…  I read a lot… I mean a lot a lot –  As I sat back after my weeks reading, I look at the tabs open on my browser articles dealing with eugenics, abortion, public justice issues, immigration issues, presidential primaries, and reformation theology; I just keep getting drawn back to a post made by a friend on Facebook – I don’t know if she was serious or just frustrated at the current political landscape but it doesn’t matter because the original post isn’t even what my mind keeps drawing back to… it was one of the comments… to be precise a comment on a comment…

The original post was a pondering as to if other countries would accept refugees from the USA if Trump were elected this fall – the comment on a comment was made by another friend – her son (adopted from Ethiopia I think he is around 6 or 7 now) was almost in tears explaining to her that if Trump were elected he wanted their family to move, to leave the country, because he was afraid they might all end up in an “internment camp since our kids are immigrants".

Now I don’t care what your politics are that just resonates – even a young child sees the danger in extremism… You might say well that would never happen… tell that to the folks about 100 miles south who lost all their rights when they followed a guy promising them that they would all own a piece of land, have free health care and free education… Anyone who opposed him once he had the power was either killed, imprisoned, or shipped off…

Why are we as adults so blinded by the left or right that we can’t see the hate and lack of maturity in both of our mainstream political parties? I have genuinely attempted on several occasions the past few months to watch both parties debates, earnestly praying and seeking God’s direction for our country but I will be honest it scares me… Neither the right nor the left seem to be willing to look past their own disdain for the other party and for the other members of their own party… The problem is always the other guy…

It makes me sick to think that in a few short weeks I (as the vast majority of you) will be headed to the local polling location to cast a ballot… This ballot, this primary election ballot is one of the most controversial yet the most important we have had in the last 100 years… We are deciding the fate of our country… My hope and prayer is that wisdom from God descends and people come to their senses and stop this madness…

As someone who has actually been to more than one dictator torn countries and seen firsthand the suffering of the socialist state there is much to be feared in handing over the keys of our country…  It’s not roses and daffodils, with free health care and everyone happy and at peace with one another… Nor is it a utopia where everyone is the same skin tone speaking the same language… What members on both sides are proposing is essentially that… Different verbiage but it’s to one extreme or the other… I am afraid that if we the people don’t stand up for our faith and stand up for our rights as people, if we just let the extremists battle it out hoping they fizzle out in the end we won’t have a country standing come November.  

Bottom line is this… our children should not fear internment camps or deportation… what happened to "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." – I am all for the extreme – but where that extreme should be… an extreme faith in an extremely gracious and merciful God – 

God's Acorns

 This week we arrive at the story of David. In 2 Samuel 7 David is sitting on his throne in his cedar palace looking out, his enemies at his feet, he could do no wrong... He's looking out and sees the tent which contained the Ark of the Lord.  David thinks to himself, the God of the Universe deserves better than a tent... His pastor Nathan initially agrees with him... Assuming that David known for being a man after God's own heart would know better than anyone what God wants...

However that's where the story changes - David doesn't get to build a house for God to dwell in, instead God desires to build David a great house - A lasting house, one in which we see the promise of a Father-Son relationship and an unconditional covenant. 

I can only imagine that to Nathan and David, much as with Abraham and Jacob, God revealing this great promise to them would be akin to us holding a tiny little acorn trying to visualize the mighty oak tree that results from within it. They knew that God had a plan and they were blessed to be a part of it, their salvation was accounted to them because of their faith (Galatians 3:6-9).  

Has God revealed any acorns of promise to you recently? What did you do with them? Did you discard them because you couldn't imagine what they could possibly become or did you plant them and nurture them in faith and hope of what God was planning for you?