OUR FATHER WHO REVEALS HIS INTENTIONS TO HIS PROPHETS

The Lord is preparing us to be a template for the new work He is doing in the earth.We are an embryo forming in a womb. Just an actual embryo is fearfully and wonderfully made, so are we being wonderfully made into Christ's image.

Just as God showed kindness, compassion and forgiveness to us, we will reflect kindness, compassion and forgiveness for one another.

Isaiah 54.

Ezra 1 - 4

He says: I will bring all my people who were mine but were in captivity back home. Enlarge your tents for the people will start and have already started pouring in and you will be examples of love for one another that will universally apply to those joining Uchurch.

Naomi was in Moab in coming back home and she is bringing Ruth.

Jacob is coming back home and he is bringing Leah and Rachel and all the children.

Watch for counterfeit activity and be diligent in seeking Me so that you are not swept up in every wind of doctirine.

Continue to love one another giving each other kindness, compassion and forgiving one another just as in Christ, God forgave you.

Continue to pray for My people who I am bringing back from captivity in Babylon that my power shall heal them and restore them.

Isaiah 54: NIV

1 “Sing, barren woman,

    you who never bore a child;

burst into song, shout for joy,

    you who were never in labor;

because more are the children of the desolate woman

    than of her who has a husband,”

says the Lord.

2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,

    stretch your tent curtains wide,

    do not hold back;

lengthen your cords,

    strengthen your stakes.

3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;

    your descendants will dispossess nations

    and settle in their desolate cities.

4 “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.

    Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.

You will forget the shame of your youth

    and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

5 For your Maker is your husband—

    the Lord Almighty is his name—

the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;

    he is called the God of all the earth.

6 The Lord will call you back

    as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—

a wife who married young,

    only to be rejected,” says your God.

7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you,

    but with deep compassion I will bring you back.

8 In a surge of anger

    I hid my face from you for a moment,

but with everlasting kindness

    I will have compassion on you,”

    says the Lord your Redeemer.

9 “To me this is like the days of Noah,

    when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.

So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,

    never to rebuke you again.

10 Though the mountains be shaken

    and the hills be removed,

yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken

    nor my covenant of peace be removed,”

    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

11 “Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,

    I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,

    your foundations with lapis lazuli.

12 I will make your battlements of rubies,

    your gates of sparkling jewels,

    and all your walls of precious stones.

13 All your children will be taught by the Lord,

    and great will be their peace.

14 In righteousness you will be established:

Tyranny will be far from you;

    you will have nothing to fear.

Terror will be far removed;

    it will not come near you.

15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;

    whoever attacks you will surrender to you.

16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith

    who fans the coals into flame

    and forges a weapon fit for its work.

And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;

17     no weapon forged against you will prevail,

    and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,

    and this is their vindication from me,”

declares the Lord.

 OUR FATHER WHO RESTORED HIS PEOPLE TO HIMSELF OUT OF CAPTIVITY

The book of Ezra chapter 3 tells of how the Isrelites, seven months after settling in their cities, gathered in Jersalem and the priests, led by Jeshua  and Zerubbabel, began with the buiding of the altar upon which the sacrifices of the law of  Moses started again.  

Out of the fear of the peoples around them, they sacrified morning and evening and kept the feasts and all the festivals that were sacred to the Lord. 

1 Now when the seventh month came, after the Israelites had settled in their cities, the people gathered as one in Jerusalem. 2 Then Jeshua, son of Jozadak, together with his kinsmen the priests, and Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, together with his kinsmen, began building the altar of the God of Israel in order to offer on it the burnt offerings prescribed in the law of Moses, the man of God. 3 They set the altar on its foundations, for they lived in fear of the peoples of the lands, and offered burnt offerings to the Lord on it, both morning and evening. 4 They also kept the feast of Booths in the manner prescribed, and they offered the daily burnt offerings in the proper number required for each day. 5 Thereafter they offered regular burnt offerings, the sacrifices prescribed for the new moons and all the festivals sacred to the Lord, and those which anyone might bring as a voluntary offering to the Lord.

6 From the first day of the seventh month they reinstituted the burnt offering to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid. 7 Then they hired stonecutters and carpenters, and sent food and drink and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians that they might ship cedar trees from the Lebanon to the port of Joppa, as Cyrus, king of Persia, had authorized. 

After seven months of these scrifices and a year and two months after leaving captivity, Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the priest from the house of Levi began the preparations for building the temple by appointing the Levites who would oversee the construction.

As the foundation was being laid by the buiders, the priests dressed in the priestly garments and with trumpets and cymbals, gave thanks and praised the Lord in the manner established by the example of king David and they sang “for he is good, for his love for Israel endures forever” which came from Psalm 136.

8 In the year after their coming to the house of  God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, son of Jozadak, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and Levites and all who had come from the captivity to Jerusalem, began by appointing the Levites twenty years of age and over to supervise the work on the house of the Lord. 

9 Jeshua and his sons and kinsmen, with Kadmiel and Binnui, son of Hodaviah, and their sons and their kindred, the Levites, together undertook to supervise those who were engaged in the work on the house of God. 10 While the builders were laying the foundation of the Lord’s temple, the priests in their vestments were stationed with trumpets and the Levites, sons of Asaph, with cymbals to praise the Lord in the manner laid down by David, king of Israel. 11 They alternated in songs of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, “for he is good, for his love for Israel endures forever”; and all the people raised a great shout of joy, praising the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s house had been laid. 12 Many of the priests, Levites, and heads of ancestral houses, who were old enough to have seen the former house, cried out in sorrow as they watched the foundation of the present house being laid. Many others, however, lifted up their voices in shouts of joy. 13 No one could distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from the sound of those who were weeping; for the people raised a mighty clamor which was heard far away.

As the foundation was being buit, those who were old enough to have seen the original temple were in tears because the glory of the temple they were building was much smaller than the temple built by king Solomon. Other however shouted in joy because the temple was actually being buit by the providence of God and cheerful exclamations of Joy dorwned out the tears of those who wept.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO WILL GATHER  HIS PEOPLE OUT OF CAPTIVITY

Ezra chapter 2 is a accounting of all the returned exiles and represents the detailed listings of people that the Lord will gather back to His people. Each person will be accounted for and no name shall be missing.

1 These are the inhabitants of the province who returned from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away to Babylon, and who came back to Jerusalem and Judah, to their various cities 2 (those who returned with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah):

The census of the people of Israel: 3 descendants of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two; 4 descendants of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two; 5 descendants of Arah, seven hundred and seventy-five; 6 descendants of Pahath-moab, who were descendants of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve; 7 descendants of Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four; 8 descendants of Zattu, nine hundred and forty-five; 9 descendants of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty; 10 descendants of Bani, six hundred and forty-two; 11 descendants of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-three; 12 descendants of Azgad, one thousand two hundred and twenty-two; 13 descendants of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-six; 14 descendants of Bigvai, two thousand and fifty-six; 15 descendants of Adin, four hundred and fifty-four; 16 descendants of Ater, who were descendants of Hezekiah, ninety-eight; 17 descendants of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-three; 18 descendants of Jorah, one hundred and twelve; 19 descendants of Hashum, two hundred and twenty-three; 20 descendants of Gibeon, ninety-five; 21 descendants of Bethlehem, one hundred and twenty-three; 22 people of Netophah, fifty-six; 23 people of Anathoth, one hundred and twenty-eight; 24 people of Beth-azmaveth, forty-two; 25 people of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three; 26 people of Ramah and Geba, six hundred and twenty-one; 27 people of Michmas, one hundred and twenty-two; 28 people of Bethel and Ai, two hundred and twenty-three; 29 descendants of Nebo, fifty-two; 30 descendants of Magbish, one hundred and fifty-six; 31 descendants of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four; 32 descendants of Harim, three hundred and twenty; 33 descendants of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-five; 34 descendants of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five; 35 descendants of Senaah, three thousand six hundred and thirty.

36 The priests: descendants of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three; 37 descendants of Immer, one thousand and fifty-two; 38 descendants of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred and forty-seven; 39 descendants of Harim, one thousand and seventeen.

40 The Levites: descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the descendants of Hodaviah, seventy-four.

41 The singers: descendants of Asaph, one hundred and twenty-eight.

42 The gatekeepers: descendants of Shallum, descendants of Ater, descendants of Talmon, descendants of Akkub, descendants of Hatita, descendants of Shobai, one hundred and thirty-nine in all.

43 The temple servants: descendants of Ziha, descendants of Hasupha, descendants of Tabbaoth, 44 descendants of Keros, descendants of Siaha, descendants of Padon, 45 descendants of Lebanah, descendants of Hagabah, descendants of Akkub, 46 descendants of Hagab, descendants of Shamlai, descendants of Hanan, 47 descendants of Giddel, descendants of Gahar, descendants of Reaiah, 48 descendants of Rezin, descendants of Nekoda, descendants of Gazzam, 49 descendants of Uzza, descendants of Paseah, descendants of Besai, 50 descendants of Asnah, descendants of the Meunites, descendants of the Nephusites, 51 descendants of Bakbuk, descendants of Hakupha, descendants of Harhur, 52 descendants of Bazluth, descendants of Mehida, descendants of Harsha, 53 descendants of Barkos, descendants of Sisera, descendants of Temah, 54 descendants of Neziah, descendants of Hatipha.

55 Descendants of Solomon’s servants: descendants of Sotai, descendants of Hassophereth, descendants of Peruda, 56 descendants of Jaalah, descendants of Darkon, descendants of Giddel, 57 descendants of Shephatiah, descendants of Hattil, descendants of Pochereth-hazzebaim, descendants of Ami. 58 The total of the temple servants together with the descendants of Solomon’s servants was three hundred and ninety-two.

59 The following who returned from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer were unable to prove that their ancestral houses and their descent were Israelite: 60 descendants of Delaiah, descendants of Tobiah, descendants of Nekoda, six hundred and fifty-two. 61 Also, of the priests: descendants of Habaiah, descendants of Hakkoz, descendants of Barzillai (he had married one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was named after him). 62 These searched their family records, but their names could not be found there, and they were excluded from the priesthood. 63 The governor ordered them not to partake of the most holy foods until there should be a priest to consult the Urim and Thummim.

64 The entire assembly taken together came to forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, 65 not counting their male and female servants, who numbered seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. They also had two hundred male and female singers. 66 Their horses numbered seven hundred and thirty-six, their mules two hundred and forty-five, 67 their camels four hundred and thirty-five, their donkeys six thousand seven hundred and twenty.

68 When they arrived at the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, some of the heads of ancestral houses made voluntary offerings for the house of God, to rebuild it in its place. 69 According to their means they contributed to the treasury for the temple service: sixty-one thousand drachmas of gold, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priestly robes. 70 The priests, the Levites, and some of the people took up residence in Jerusalem; the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants settled in their cities. Thus all the Israelites settled in their cities.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO SAVED HIS PEOPLE FROM BONDAGE

Our study in the book of Ezra, begins with  the children of Israel being released from captivity in Babylon by king Cyrus and returning back  to the land of Judah.

The prophet Jeremiah had proclaimed a prophecy of the captivity of Israel for a season and that they would return to to the land of Israel. Unknown to the the children of Israel, Cyrus was being positioned by God so that he would arrive in Babylon at the appointed time so that he could affect release to return back home.

Cyrus, having encountered the God of Heaven when he found the prophecies about him where he was refered directly by name, he was eager to participate in the freeing of the children of Israel and he funded their rebuilding projects and gave them offerings to get their nation going again.

1 In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom, both by word of mouth and in writing: 2 “Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: ‘All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Those among you who belong to any part of his people, may their God be with them! Let them go up to Jerusalem in Judah to build the house of the Lord the God of Israel, that is, the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 Let all those who have survived, in whatever place they may have lived, be assisted by the people of that place with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, together with voluntary offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem.’”

5 Then the heads of ancestral houses of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites—everyone, that is, whose spirit had been stirred up by God—prepared to go up to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. 6 All their neighbors gave them help in every way, with silver, gold, goods, livestock, and many precious gifts, besides all their voluntary offerings. 7 King Cyrus, too, had the vessels of the house of the Lord brought forth that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his god. 8 Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought forth by the treasurer Mithredath, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar, prince of Judah. 9 This was the inventory: baskets of goldware, thirty; baskets of silverware, one thousand and twenty-nine; 10 golden bowls, thirty; silver bowls, four hundred and ten; other vessels, one thousand. 11 Total of the gold and silver vessels: five thousand four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar took with him when the exiles were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

The Lord God of Israel stirred the heads of the houses of Judah and Benjamin to prepare to return to their land and they were assisted by their neighbours with silver, gold, dry goods, livestock and precious items. King Cyrus also returned to them the inventory of stoneware, silverware and goldware along with the utensils that king Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple when he invaded Judah and took the people captive.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO IS ABLE TO KEEP US FROM STUMBLING

Judeˋs letter continues in verses 12 - 25 to speak of those who were infiltrating their ranks and bringing with them ungodliness.

They are described as contameyinants in the gatherings of love where they participate with selfish impunity. These agents of darkness are desccribed as clouds without water. They present themselves as christians who would bring blessing to others but instead deliver deliver nothing for they devour from others rather than give.

Another metaphor used by Jude to describe the infiltrators is that they are like rootless trees out of season that have no fruit and are dead in soul and in spirit. They are as waves that bluster and rage with foam representing their shame. Most frighteningly, they are represented as wandering planets whose ultimate end is to eternally stagnate in outer darkness.

Jude invokes an ancient prophecy by Enoch speaking of those who entered the body of believers under false pretences  which speaks of the Lord returning with a great number of His saints to bring judgement upon those who were ungodly and spoke harshly against God.

12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

Jude lists the characteristics of those in this category as grumblers, complainers, lustful, talkers, flatterers,  mockers, worldly and divisive. 

Conversely, true believers are counseled to pray in the Holy Spirit and remain ensconsed in the love of God seeking His mercy that receives them into eternal life. Jude instructs the sincere believers to be compassionate towards those in their midst who were lost and to try to get them saved with fear while at the same time keeping well clear of  their defilements to avoid contaminating themselves.

20 o you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,

And to present you faultless

Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

25 To God our Savior,

Who alone is wise,

Be glory and majesty,

Dominion and power,

Both now and forever.

Amen.

Jude ends his letter with a blessing of joy o the true believers when they will be presented faultless before the glory of the only wise God to whom be glory and majesty and dominion and power in the present and for eternity,

Amen

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OUR FATHER WHO SAVES THOSE WHO BELIEVE UNTO SALVATION

Jude continues in verses 5 - 11 to dig deeper into the implications of letting rebellious teachers of false doctrine and a false Christ into their midst. 

He warns them from the scriptures that even after the Lord had saved the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt, there were unbeliefs that they fostered and attitudes that they held for which some of them ended up being slated for destruction. 

Likewise, angels who left their assigned realms in defiance, were consigned to eternal chains in darkness awaiting judgement.

Even those who ventured into sexual immorality were presented as a warning to others  of eternal fire.

5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Jude says of those who were infiltrating the church with false doctrines and an antichrist spirit who promoted defilement, defiant of authority and reviling spiritual dignitaries that they were like mindless unguided beasts who, in their corruption, went the way of Cain which was to shed the blood of their brothers and then give false testimony of it in court and they also pursued monetary gain by abusing spiritual gifts and ultimately ended up in a state of abject rebellion.

Jude declared ˋWoe!ˋ upon such who were influenced in those ways.

Amen.

10

OUR FATHER SANCTIFIES US AND THE LORD JESUS PRESERVES THE CALLED

The book of Jude chapter 1 verses 1 - 4 begins with an introduction of Jude and his calling and how he was related to the apostles being a brother of James the apostle.

The letter, being addressed to the believers who were called and sanctified by the Father  and preserved by the Lord Jesus Christ, is an exhortation to be vigilant in contending for the faith in light of the fact that their ranks were being infiltrated by ungodly men who introduced worthless and even harmful doctrines into their midst. 

1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:

2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude urges the saints to retain the gospel that they had believed and by which they had gained salvation and to be steadfast in defending against those who were striving to pervert that message of grace and the Lordship of Jesus into an unrecognizably lewd and vacant belief.

Amen.

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