“My Fury shall come up in my Face” the Wayfarer 5/5/14
“My Fury shall come up in my Face”
“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 37th 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 38th 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 15th 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 14th 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.
Comments
Post a Comment