OUR FATHER  WHOSE REST WE ENTER BY BELIEVING

Hebrews chapter 4 verses 9 - 11 says this;

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

When God finished making the heavens and the earth in six days, He rested on the seventh day from His labours.

When God called the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt and into the rest of the promised land, they fell into disobedience and unbelief and it was then that the Lord swore regarding the children of Israel in Psalms 95 verse 11;

So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’

Thus the rest that the children of Israel were being offered but were unable to receive because of unbelief, is still available for God's people  if we sustain a believing heart.

If today we enter God's rest by believing and obeying, we rest from our labour even as God rested from His. We are therefore in a state where we no longer labour but rather we rest from those efforts for our salvation is freely given to us by believing in Jesus Christ.

As the writer of the book of Hebrews says, "Let us make every effort to enter that rest so that we do not perish by following the example of the children of  Israel in the wilderness of  disobedience and unbelief."

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO GIVES HIS PEOPLE RELIEF FROM THEIR SUFFERING

Isaiah chapter 4 verse 11 ( X ) says this;

Isaiah chapter 14 verses 11 -12 says this;

 On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended!

God's people will be under the oppression of Spiritual Babylon.

The Lord will come our rescue and on that day, God's people will take up a taunt  as it says in verse 4.

The king of Babylon will be crushed for his unrelenting harshness and repeated blows against God's people.

The Lord's people will rejoice at the suddenness and totality of the removal of Babylon and will take up a taunt against Him.

Bless the Lord who rescues us.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO REWARDS THOSE WHO EARNESTLY SEEK HIM

1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 15 says this;

If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, told them that the work that they do for the kingdom of God must be built on the true and sure foundation of Jesus Christ.

What is built on this foundation is then measured for quality. Whether the work one does is of gold, silver, gems, wood, hay or straw, these works will be tested by fire and the works that survive the test will be the basis for rewards. 

The works that are destroyed will be to the loss of the ones who did them though they themselves will be saved but only very narrowly.

In Mathew chapter 7 verses 22 - 23, Jesus Himself said that there will be many people who will come to Him on the day of the Lord expecting that the works they did in His name would be the basis for their reward but instead, the Lord will reject  them because He never knew them and because they practiced lawlessness. 

This seems to refer to the fact that the works that were done by them were burned up in the test of fire leaving them with no basis for entering the Lord's reward. The passage reads this way;

Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

People will be shocked when they realise that the things they had done in the name of the Lord were considered by Jesus to be acts of lawlessness because they were unauthorized by God and as such, there was no reward. Even though they were saved, they were made to depart from Jesus and they would stay separate from Jesus in eternity. 

This sobering point leads one to ask the question: How can a sincere believer do the work of the kingdom in such a way that it does not burn up in the test?

At least part of the answer to this question must be  in what is said in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 that reads this way;

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

The unequivocal statement, 'without faith, it is impossible to please God', hints that the people whose works were burned up were those who did not have faith because  they did not approach God to seek Him because they did not really believe that He existed nor did they believe that He was a rewarder of those who earnestly sought Him.

They went through the motions of doing things using the authority in Jesus' name to prophesy, cast out demons and do miracles which likely gained them attention and fame but they did so without earnestly seeking the Lord personally and thus they did not know the Lord nor did He know them.

We should seek the Lord earnestly and believe stridently in Him and do the things that He asks us to do believing that He is a rewarder of those who trust in Him and obey Him.

Our works that are done in faith at the Lord's  direction will endure the test of fire for they are initiated and sustained by Him.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO SCATTERS OUR OPPRESSORS

Isaiah chapter 51 verses 13  - 14 says this;

Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass, that you forget the Lord your maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction?

For where is the wrath of the oppressor? The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.

In this passage, the Lord asks us why we live in constant terror of mere human beings who are but grass and yet we forget that our Almighty God is the one who spread out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth.

Do we not realise that our God's zeal and power supersede the feeble strength of those who seek to oppress us and even to destroy us?

The Lord asks us where the wrath of our enemy is because the Lord will surely undo the  efforts of the oppressor and those of us who have been imprisoned will be set free.  We will be sustained so that we do not die in the place of captivity nor will we lack food.

Bless the Lord who will scatter our oppressors.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHOM WE MUST NOT PUT TO THE TEST

John chapter 7 verse 3 - 5 says this;

Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do.

No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

These verses record the words that Jesus' brothers spoke to Him when it was time to go to Jerusalem for the Festival of Tabernacles.

They knew that He was performing amazing signs and wonders and they felt that He was wasting His time in Galilee and that He should take His abilities to the bigger audience of Judea. 

Their opinion was that if Jesus went to Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles and unveiled His powers there, He would gain instant celebrity around the country and quickly become a prominent public figure.

This suggestion by Jesus' brothers sounds almost exactly like when Jesus was taken by Satan to a pinnacle of the temple and tempted to throw Himself down so that the angels who had been given charge over Him would have to hold Him up to stop him from striking a stone as recorded in Mathew chapter 4 verse 5 - 6.

This action, if done at the temple in broad daylight, would have been an astonishing miracle to witness and this would have captured the attention of the whole city and Jesus would have gained fame and acclaim in a very short time.

In both cases, using signs and wonders to get public attention without the authorization of the Father would have been a serious contravention of the Law because it would have put God the Father to the test.

In both cases, Jesus declined to heed the advice and only performed miracles when led by the Father to do so.

Bless the Lord whose perfect conduct qualified Him to die for the whole world and to save us from our sins.

Amen. 

 OUR FATHER WHO DEFENDS HIS PEOPLE

Obadiah chapter 1 verse 13 says this;

You should not march through the gates of my people  in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster.

This passage is an excerpt from a vision that the Lord gave prophet Obadiah concerning the judgement of the kingdom of Edom because of its violence against the people of God.

Edom was the kingdom that came from Jacob's twin brother, Esau and Edom had acted violently towards Israel and was being judged unto destruction. However, the prophecy invites us look beyond the earthly versions of these two kingdoms.

For example, verse 4 (speaking of Edom) says this;

Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.

When Edom is described as soaring like an eagle and making a nest among the stars, we can see that the reference is to an Edom that is spiritual in nature. 

This spiritual Edom orchestrated violence  upon the kingdom of Israel which is itself a reference to the spiritual kingdom of Zion found in verse 17;

But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance.

The prideful violence of Edom against his brother Jacob is visited on his own head and Edom is ripped apart and destroyed forever.

The passage in verse 13 is an indictment against Edom for gloating over the destruction of Israel when things were going badly for her.

The Lord cautions Edom not to rejoice on the day of Judah's calamity and not to loot her treasure while she is struggling.

In this prophecy, even as Edom will act poorly towards Israel, calamities will be visited upon Edom and Edom will burn and be utterly destroyed.

Thus will Edom be judged for his cruelty upon his brother Israel.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO BRINGS DOWN THE GREAT KINGDOMS THAT PRIDEFULLY RISE ABOVE ALL OTHER KINGDOMS

The book of Ezekiel chapter 31 verses 3 - 9, records the words that the Lord told Ezekiel the prophet to say to Pharaoh (who stands-in for the spiritual king over the spiritual kingdom of Egypt that now undertakes to rule the earth and oppress God's people). The passage reads this way;

“‘Who can be compared with you in majesty?

Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest; it towered on high, its top above the thick foliage.

The waters nourished it, deep springs made it grow tall; their streams flowed all around its base and sent their channels to all the trees of the field.

So it towered higher than all the trees of the field; its boughs increased and its branches grew long, spreading because of abundant waters.

All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs, all the animals of the wild gave birth under its branches; all the great nations lived in its shade.

It was majestic in beauty, with its spreading boughs, for its roots went down to abundant waters.

The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it, nor could the junipers equal its boughs, nor could the plane trees compare with its branches—no tree in the garden of God could match its beauty.

I made it beautiful with abundant branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden in the garden of God.

Ezekiel the prophet was instructed by God to speak to the kings over spiritual Egypt that is to rise up and is now risen as a global power and oppressor of the people of God.

He was to speak to the kings of Egypt and tell them to consider the kingdom of Assyria which was once a great and beautiful tree that was more splendid than any other tree in the garden of  God. 

Yet, as this tree of the kingdom of Assyria rose higher than any other tree in the garden and was filled with pride because of its height,  the Lord rejected it and it was thus torn down by a ruthless foreign nation. It was brought low into the realm of the dead.

The word of the Lord in the prophecy then turned to Pharaoh, the ruler of the spiritual kingdom of Egypt that is  now ascending.

Even as the oppressive kingdom of Egypt has arisen in height and splendor over all the other trees in the garden of God, it too will be brought down and it will lie dead among the slain.

The Lord is mighty in power and will destroy the tree of the garden of God that presumes to rise higher than any other tree and glory proudly in its own height.

Amen.