OUR FATHER WHO GIVES US ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah based in Jerusalem, king Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, formed an alliance so that they could march against the kingdom of Judah and divide it among themselves

King Ahaz and the people of Judah was shaken to the core when they learned of the alliance that had been formed against them. 

It was then that the Lord instructed Isaiah to take a message of encouragement to King Ahaz as recorded in Isaiah chapter 7 verses 4 - 5;

Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin-,

The Lord said to king Ahaz that if he stood firm in faith, the  combined power of king Rezin and king Pekah would add up to nothing.

Isaiah chapter 7 verses 7 - 9 said it this way;

“‘It will not take place,  it will not happen, for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin.

Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria,  and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.

If you do not stand firm in your faith,you will not stand at all.’”

Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord gave this reassurance to King Ahaz and the Lord offered to show King Ahaz a sign to confirm His word of salvation from destruction if he asked for it.

King Ahaz declined to ask the Lord for a sign because he said he did not want to put the Lord his God to the test even though it was the Lord Himself who told him to ask for a sign.

Isaiah was irritated by King Ahaz for this response saying to him in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 13;

 Hear now, house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? 

Isaiah then went on to prophecy one of the most profound and consequential signs of the salvation of mankind ever recorded which is found in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14;

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO IS CLOTHED IN MAJESTY

From Psalm 45

Let's go forth in gladness to the palace of the King, He is our Lord, we honor Him alone

Your kingdom, O God, will last forever, Justice will be the scepter of your throne.

In humility ride forth victoriously, In  truth and justice and Majesty

Therefore God, your God, has set you high above anointing you with the oil of Joy

Therefore the nations will praise your name, for ever and ever and ever amen

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OUR FATHER WHOSE POWER CAN THWART THE ASPIRATION OF NATIONS

PlPsalm 33 verse 10 says this;

The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples

The Lord, in His great wisdom and power, brings the schemes of the nations to nothing.

Whatever intentions and goals the people formulate contrary to His,  He dissipates and renders them worthless.

As for the Lord's own designs and thoughts, they are eternal and are for all generations as Psalm chapter 33 verse 11 says;

But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through abll generations.

The Lord's own purposes override the ambitions of any nation and displace the plots birthed in the hearts of men.

Whatever the nations undertake on the earth to usurp the place of the living God, He will foil and bring to nothing. 

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO PROVIDES A WAY TO SAFETY FOR THOSE WHO HEED HIS VOICE

Two angel's arrived at the town of Sodom and a citizen of the town named Lot, Abraham's nephew, happened to be sitting at the gate to the town.

Lot implored the two men to stay at his house for the night knowing that it would not be safe for them to spend the night in the town square.

They finally agreed to stay with him and he served them a meal and just as they were about to.turn in for the night, all the men of the city descended on Lot's house and demanded that Lot surrender the two foreign men over to them and even threatened to break his door down to take them.

Lot stepped out of his house and urged the crowd to abandon their wicked plan to sexually assault his visitors and even offered his own daughters to the mob to pacify them but they would not relent.

As their pressure on Lot increased, the two men opened the door and grabbed Lot and pulled him back into the house. They then struck the men outside blind so that they could not find the door to lot's house.

The two angels asked Lot if he had any other family members in the town and if he did, he was to go warn them to get out of the city before it was destroyed.

With the crazed mob outside stumbling around blind, Lot left his house and here, our passage in Genesis chapter 19 verse 14 - 15 continues;

 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”

Both of Lot's sons-in-law thought that Lot was pranking them when he suddenly showed up in the night at their homes telling them to escape the destruction that was coming to their town.

He could not persuade his sons-in-law to heed the word of warning and because the dawn was approaching, the angels urgently pressed Lot to take his wife and two daughters out of the city because if they stayed any longer, they would be engulfed in the judgement aimed at the town.

At the last minute, Lot left town with his wife and daughters and judgement from heaven fell on Sodom and destroyed it.

This passage adds to the imperative given in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 2 which says;

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOM WE MUST ALWAYS TRUST

Jeremiah chapter 41 verse 9 says this;

Now the cistern where he threw all the bodies of the men he had killed along with Gedaliah was the one King Asa had made as part of his defense against Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the dead.

The Babylonians, having over-run Jerusalem and conquered Judah,  took the elite and able-bodied Israelites back to Babylon and left behind the poor and needy people  under the rulership of a Israelite vassal king named Gedaliah.

Ishmael son of Nethaniah, having decided to take matters into his own hands rather than trust the Lord, entered  the town of Mizpah with a cadre of ten men and  assassinated Gedaliah along with the men of Judah who were with him. They also killed the babylonian soldiers who were stationed there.

This verse includes a detail that when Ishmael killed Gedaliah and the men of Judah and the babylonian soldiers, he threw their bodies into a well. 

The well had been dug by a former king of Judah named Asa as part of the defense infrastructure  against king Baasha of Israel.

Now King Asa, at the beginning of his reign, was dedicated to the Lord and he was favored with many years of peace because, as 2 Chronicles chapter 14 verse 2 said of King Asa,

And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 

He had used this time of peace to build defences to protect Judah from her neighbors and among these defences was the well that Ishmael used to conceal the bodies of those he and his men killed at Mizpah.

King Asa, dug the well to protect Israel by providing water along her defensive lines. This action may have been a faltering in the trust that King Asa had in the Lord.

Ishmael, also failing to trust in the Lord and operating as a maverick, filled the well with the dead and exposed Israel to the fearsome wrath of Babylon.

The remnant in Judah became terrified of the retribution that would surely come from Babylon because of the crimes commited by Ishmael. 

As they tried to decide what to do, they approached the prophet Jeremiah and asked him to petition the Lord for guidance and the Lord responded by promising them that He would protect them from Babylon on condition that they remained in the land of Judah.

If they trusted the Lord and stayed in Judah, He would shield them but, if they panicked and escaped to Egypt, the things they feared from Babylon would visit them in Egypt.

Thus the lack of trust in the Lord was judged in Judah and the only remedy to alleviate the judgment was to regain absolute trust in the Lord.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO HAS MERCY

From Psalm 41

May You have mercy on me Lord

Raise me up, have mercy,  have mercy on me

I know You are pleased with me oh Lord

for my foes do not triumph, not over me

Because you love me, you hold me Your hands

You  set me in Your presence for all eternity

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel

From everlasting to everlasting

Amen and Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE

Isaiah chapter 66 verse 3 says this;

But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a person, and whoever offers a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig’s blood, and whoever burns memorial incense is like one who worships an idol.

They have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations;

This verse describes the status of those who choose their own path and take pleasure in the darkness they consort with.

Because they arrogantly decide for themselves what constitutes acceptable conduct, their attempts to fulfil ceremonial obligations become distorted such that even sacrificing a bull becomes equivalent to murdering a person.

The effect of arrogance on the tone that ascends to heaven is dramatically explained. Those who approach heaven steeped in arrogance radiate  abominations generated by their pride.

This is contrasted with those described in the preceding verse;

“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.

In this verse, those who submit to the Lord humbly and fear Him, He looks upon with favour. Their interlocutions with heaven are received and favorably responded to.

As James chapter 4 verse 6 says;

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

Amen.

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