“My Fury shall come up in my Face” the Wayfarer 5/5/14

“My Fury shall come up in my Face”

  5/5/14

“And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.

For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel.”

(Ezekiel 38:18 &19)

In a world troubled and torn, long ago, Judah and Israel became united under one king, and given the same promise of protection by the same and only God.

As this unification of God’s people took place, the enemies gathered thinking to destroy them, taking from them all the “spoils of war” that were and are common in the avarice and greed that sparks such actions between nations

Having previously gone to the prophecy in the 37^th chapter, of those dry bones that came together, I will only briefly address once more that prophecy, and its pertinence to us today.

Ezekiel was told that God’s people would unite, and that that unification would result in His laws and tenets once more being followed by those who united. The promise was that when this happened, those nations choosing to dis-acknowledge, and ignore God, would be overcome, with prosperity and blessing returned to His people once more.

The warning was given Israel that in order for that blessing to occur, His people must first return to honoring only Him, and repent their departure from His Laws and statutes and all the things they sought from the heathen that the found so alluring as to leave off worshipping Him.

The 38^th chapter continues this prophecy, speaking of the evil that was intended by powerful and mighty nations arrayed against God’s people.

“Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:

And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,

To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods and dwell in the midst of the land.”

(Ezekiel 38:10-12)

Mankind’s greed and avarice have always, and will always, until the return of Christ, dictated and continue to dictate, actions of nations and people of those nations to covet, and attempt to steal any and all blessings they perceive others to have.

That avarice and greed have always, and will always been and will be answered by God’s own justice, and interference in the affairs of man to assure that what was intended from the beginning be the end result of the forays of those attempting such theft.

Whether as nation, or individual, the departure from God’s intent for us to accept what is given us, and to be satisfied by what has been earned by us will continue to be answered with His wrath.

An earlier treatise was titled, “God is still in Charge”.  That remains true, both for individuals and for nations who think to take that authority that is not their own, promoting only that which they find in their fallible and often filthy, degenerate minds to be acceptable.

God’s ways and thoughts far exceed the poor capabilities of any man, no matter how powerful, no matter, how wealthy, no matter how large a following, or force he may command.

Wars continue, wars that are just only in the mind of those men who think to take the things not their own, the blessings not their own, the earnings of the sweat of the face of others that cannot ever truly belong to them.

The greatest of these wars is seen daily in the lives of individuals, most individuals in most nations, who in turn find the means to attempt that theft instead of seeking to simply remember that they have been given an opportunity and the means to secure their own blessings without the need to rob others of theirs.

Peace is hard to find, both in the grand scheme of the interrelationships of nations, and in in the scheme of daily relationships between the individuals within those nations.

The reason for this is simple. Peace, true peace is not sought out!

God is not sought out.

What is sought instead are the imaginings of a creature that rejected perfection for the lies and false promises of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and continue to accept those lies and promises, still rejecting the original blessings intended and given then, today.

As long as men reject the admonitions and warnings that were given through the prophets, and reject that love that was given from the beginning, exemplified completely through the final sacrifice of God’s Son, that wrath is the reward to be expected by any and all who choose that rejection over that promise.

Peace, and its blessings are still available to any who truly seek it, if it is sought where it can be found. Jesus, in preparing his disciple for the coming crucifixion spoke these words:

Peace, I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the word giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.

Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so do I. Arise, let us go hence.

(John 14:27-31)

Instead of fearing the constant battles that rage among men, instead of participating in those battles that result only in the final death of all the seekers of the things to be had in this puny world, there is a joy and peace that may be had if sought out.

Jesus promised that he would return, continuing to tell those disciples that the fact that he went to the Father should only encourage them. He sought to remind them that all that he had been given came from that Father, all that they had been given them through him also came through that Father, and that it all hung on the commandments given by Him, and that Father.

The continuation of this discussion found in the 15^th chapter includes that single commandment left them, and us, by Him that precludes all the troubles, all the strife, all the distractions that allow the prince of this world to continue to try to steal what is ours promised from the beginning, if not rejected for his falsehoods.

The Previous chapter, in which this discussion began, gave that commandment, a new one that totally encompassed and allowed all the previous commandments to be followed without infraction, if it were actually followed.

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one

another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

(John 13:34 & 35)

Until that commandment is heard, comprehended and truly followed, what may be expected by mankind is the fury of God’s wrath on any and all refusing to comply with what has been given us as guidance throughout the scriptures, culminating in the teachings of Christ Jesus throughout the Gospels that are more than mere platitudes to be given each other, but in fact the statutes of that new commandment.

The 14^th chapter of john reminds us that:

“If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.

These things Have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

(John 14:23:26)

In order to claim that comfort offered by that comforter sent, that love that has been commanded must first be followed. Those who have love only for themselves, rejecting that commandment cannot and will not ever truly find that Comforter.

In order to be taught, one must first listen to the teacher, accept the wisdom of that teacher and the TRUTH that teacher has to give.

The lessons learned must ALL be taken as a whole, not just in pieces if it is to be understood. One may not begin to understand Calculus until basic arithmetic is taught.

So too must one begin at the beginning to comprehend what is given us through the teachings left us by our Savior, that first and foremost admonition to:

“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”

Once the need for that repentance is understood, and the redemption available accepted, the lessons may begin, and comfort may be found.

Without this, what is left is only those things that destroy those teachings, because mankind thinks he knows more than God himself.

Fury, or love, make your choice. Individuals, make that choice carefully, for it is also the choice of nations as well.

I close in prayer that the choice be to take the proffered love given by God through the Sacrifice of a Savior who devoted his life and ministry to teaching what had been forgotten, and what is forgotten today, and gave his very blood and that human life that we could find our way back to the blessings intended instead of the wrath that is the reward for its rejection.

I remain, still and yet, that imperfect sinner saved by grace through faith in that Savior, waiting the perfection that is promised, having found my own peace through Him alone, still finding none in the teachings of men who reject that same peace.

I remain also that soldier I was chosen to be so long ago reminding all of the war that still rages that is caused by the rejection of what is given us by God, and the acceptance of what is demanded by this lowly creature of His, still failing to follow that single commandment given us.

Amen and Amen.