OUR LORD WHOSE GREAT POWER SHAPED THE EARTH

Genesis chapter 1 verse 9 says this;

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.

This astonishing decree by the Lord set a chain of events in motion.

The whole globe, being covered in water, would have to change its shape in order for water to gather in one place. Some parts of the planet would have to depress while other parts would have to rise so that dry land would be exposed and water be accumulated in confined areas.

Such an event would have been breath-taking to witness as it would require gargantuan quantities of energy to deform the whole earth to fulfil the decree of God.

Bless the Lord who has the power to shape the the earth by decree.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO CAN KNOW OUR DREAMS

Daniel chapter 2 verse 11 says this;

What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among humans.”

This verse records the response of the wise men of Babylon to King Nubchadnezzar's request that they tell nor merely the meaning of the dream that he had but what the dream actually was.

The magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers of Babylon did not believe it was possible to know what a person's dream was and so they implored the king to tell them his dream and then they would interpret  it for him.

The king was angry because the wise men of his court were evading the task he had set before them and he accused them of being fraudulent and ordered that they be put to death.

The wise men were almost right about one thing: No one can reveal the dream of a person except the gods. To be more precise, only the God of Israel could accomplish such a thing.

Dreams are vaporous at the best of times and easily fade from memory and record. Only the eternal God of heaven and earth would have the infrastructure in place that could document the king's dreams so that it could described back the the king.

In this chapter, Daniel, a prophet of the God of Israel, asked the king to stay the order of execution and that he would bring the details of the dream and then its interpretation.

And when the king agreed, Daniel brought the king the dream and then gave its meaning.

Such is the power of the God of Israel.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO REQUIRES US TO WATCH AND PRAY

Joel chapter 1  is a prophecy given about an imminent catastrophe about to befall the nation of Israel. Verses 11 - 12 reads this way;

Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree— all the trees of the field—are dried up. 

Surely the people’s joy is withered away.

In this passage, the specific plague that strikes the nation is an economic  disaster. The staple crops fail and the grape harvest is destroyed. Fruit trees and palms trees dry up and wither way and the people's joy follows suit.

Whereas they could always count on plentiful and reliable harvests, suddenly, every sector of the agricultural economy was in shambles, leaving people grieving and despondent.

The judgement comes upon  the land because a destructive enemy had been allowed to invade the land while the people, in their drunken stupor, slept.

Joel chapter 1 verse 5 -7 records it this way;

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips.

A nation has invaded my land, a mighty army without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees.

It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.

Leaving the nation undefended while the powers of darkness invaded to bring wanton destruction on the kingdom of God, brought the  judgement of the Lord on the people.  The mighty army of darkness brought ruin to the Lord's vines (I am the Vine and you are the branches) and did damage to the fig tree which represents the nation of Israel.

As the scriptures adjure us in Mathew 26 verse 41 where Jesus wakes up his sleeping disciples while the enemy encircled them;

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO GIVES US FAVOR WITH GOD AND WITH MEN

Genesis chapter 3 verses 5 - 6 says this;

 I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’”

When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."

This passage captures the roller coaster ride that Jacob experienced when he returned to the land of his fathers from the land of his father-in-law.

As he approached his homeland, he came close to the territory of his brother Esau with whom he had a strained relationship because of how Jacob had tricked Esau out of his birthright. 

Because of this, Jacob was not sure how Esau would receive him after all the years that had passed.

The passage starts with Jacob seeking to mend fences with his brother by sending envoys with a message of reconciliation and promises of gifts of goats and camels.

The envoys returned with a message that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men.

Upon hearing this, Jacob went into distress mode as he tried to work out how to placate his brother or if his brother attacked, how at least some of his family  could escape?

In a state of fear, Jacob turned to the God of his grandfather and the God of his father. Jacob's prayer in Genesis chapter 32 verses 9 - 12 reads this way;

 “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness  you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”

 Jacob's humble prayer for God's intervention stood on the promises that the Lord had given him to prosper Him and give him as many descendants as there were grains of sand of the sea because he knew that for those promises to be fulfilled, his children could not be slain.

And the Lord did intervene and save Jacob's children by bringing peace to Esau's heart and the two brothers reconciled and were at peace.

Amen.  

OUR LORD WHO FIRST REVEALS HIS PLAN TO HIS PROPHETS

Ezekiel chapter 5 verses 1 - 4 says this; 

“Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard.Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 

When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword.

But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.

As instructed by the Lord, a model of the city of Jerusalem was constructed and placed under siege by the prophet Ezekiel. This was to be a prophetic image  of a future siege that was coming to the actual city of Jerusalem.

While Ezekiel was laying siege against the model of the city, the Lord instructed Ezekiel to take a sharp sword and use it to shave his head and his beard. He was to take the hair and use a scale to divide it up into three equal parts for use at the end of the siege.

One part, he was to burn inside  the city of Jerusalem.

The second part of hair,  Ezekiel was strike with the sword all around the city.

The rest, he was to scatter to the wind. 

These actions symbolized the dangers that were looming over the people of Jerusalem. 

The burning of the hair within the city signified the approaching destruction.

The striking of the hair over Jerusalem represented the sword of war being raised against them from every direction.

The scattering of the hair in the wind represented the scattering of the people of Jerusalem as they fled their attackers.

These symbolic actions were designed to convey the jeopardy that Jerusalem was in due to their rebellion against God.

Graphic illustrations were meticulously  enacted by the Lord's prophet Ezekiel within the sight of the people to give them fair warning. 

Ezekiel was also instructed to take a few hairs and hide them in the folds of his garment. Of those, he was to take a few and burn them and that the fire would spread to the rest of Israel.

The few hairs that were set aside represent a remnant of the people that the Lord reserved for Himself and of those, some are set on fire representing the fire of the Spirit of God which would go on to set the whole nation ablaze.

Bless our Lord who reveals His plans to His prophets as it says in Amos chapter 3 verse 7;

Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO CAN HEAL OUR LAND

Isaiah chapter 3 verses 4 - 9 are words spoken against Jerusalem and Judah by the Lord for their evil deeds and their evil words against Him. The passage reads this way;

“I will make mere youths their officials; children will rule over them.”

People will oppress each other—man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored.

A man will seize one of his brothers in his father’s house, and say, “You have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!”

But in that day he will cry out, “I have no remedy. I have no food or clothing in my house; do not make me the leader of the people.”

Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling their words  and deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it.

Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.

The declaration of the dismal condition of God's people reveals a desperate and collapsing society.

The symptoms of a decaying society are listed as the experience of Jerusalem and Judah.

This society is shown to be in serious trouble because adults do not want the responsibility of leadership. Children, with their lack of knowledge and wisdom, find themselves being propelled into positions of rulership. 

Citizens lose civility and oppress each other. The youth mistreat the elderly and the honored people are besmirched by the dishonourable.

When social disollution reaches this far, people will seek those who have even slight advantages (like possesing clothes) and try to make them their rulers. But even these will decline because of how intractable the problems are.

When a people strives against the Lord, their society gradually dissolves and weakens and falls into the hands of enemies or just decays into abject ruin.

However, as it says in 2 Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14,  "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Amen.

OUR LORD REVEALS HIS NEW TEMPLE TO HIS PEOPLE

Ezekiel chapter 41 verses 9 - 10 says this;

 The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick. The open area between the side rooms of the temple  and the priests’ rooms was twenty cubits wide all around the temple.

This is an exerpt from the design specifications for the new temple given in Ezekiel chapter 41 to chapter 48. The measurements are given in cubits which are 18 inches each so can be given in feet by multiplying 18 by the number of cubits and then dividing by 12.

These particular details speak of the side rooms that surround the temple and their outer walls were 7.5 feet thick.

There was an open space all around the temple between the side rooms and the priests' rooms that were 30 feet wide.

Such were the dimensions of the outer walls of the side rooms and the space around the temple  between the side rooms and the priests' rooms.

Amen.