Praise ye the Lord . Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord . Praise ye the Lord . Psalms 150:1‭-‬6 KJV This is the psalmist reporting from the sanctuary of heaven with a front-row seat on the scene in heaven right now. Around me are men and women from every tribe and nation, as well as all manner of heavenly beings praising the Everlasting Lord. Think I'll join in!

 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7 KJV ¶One might ask: Why ought we to fear God? There are those who go their way heedless of God. It is possible to seek a worldly wisdom that excludes God. We have not a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. Godly fear frees us from lesser fears. Jesus warns us not to fear those who can destroy the body, but Him who has the power to throw both body and soul into hell. A real concern. This is why the Proverbs' declaration is of such profound significance. There is a wisdom not available to the foolish, a love not knowable to the world, which liberates us. The purpose of religious ritual has been to placate an angry God. This is a legitimate concern, but sets us before us the impossible task. There are not enough sacrifices to cover, not enough virtue to compensate for the depths of our sin and rebellion.

If they say, "Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse"— but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. Proverbs 1:11‭, ‬14‭, ‬18‭-‬19 ESV ¶The shady operations I have observed are in general less concerned with injustice than with risk. What are the chances of getting caught? This is a temptation we are all vulnerable to. The guilty glance back over the shoulder to see who is watching. The scouting at the yellow light for any police cars, all betray our tendency to throw in our lot with sinners. That evil is self-organizing. We are constantly be recruited to participate. We need each other to keep us from going down into destruction with them.

And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord . Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. Jonah 3:1‭-‬5‭, ‬9‭-‬10 KJV ¶The people of Nineveh approach God according to the way of the world, as "Elohim", one of "the gods". To ...

The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:11‭-‬13 ESV ¶The saying Paul inserts here in this letter to Timothy reads like a paradoxical riddle, even somewhat like a Zen koan Buddhists might use to challenge our logical categories and promote "enlightenment". Here it is: If our denial of Christ would provoke His denial of us, then how does our faithlessness elicit not His denial, but His faithfulness? That might just throw a wrench into our rational gearbox. It points to something entirely outside of ourselves, to the covenant made with God on our behalf, not between us and God, but forged within the Trinity, between Father and Son, that the Son might have all those whom the Father had given Him, a promise of eternal life to all who receive it. God knows all t...

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:14‭-‬15 ESV ¶We show ourselves as approved before God and before the world not just by what we say we believe but by what we do. The power of the Gospel is not in piling on plausible arguments. Paul warns against the Sophists, who use "enticing words" to deceive us. Paul says the power of the Gospel was demonstrated to the Thessalonians as he lived and worked among them in the face of suffering. Not that words have no power. They can ruin us, but do our words alone have the power to save us? The validity of our words shows up in the quality of our work.

  But Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They said to him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish." And he said, "Bring them here to me." Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. Matthew 14:16‭-‬19 ESV ¶The disciples must have asked themselves "what just happened here? First we saw him increase our catch of fish until our nets broke. We could have done a booming business as the Jesus Fish Company. And just look at all this left-over bread. We could start the the Jesus Bread Company. And the wine? Oh my gosh, the expansion possibilities are amazing! We could call it Amazon, it's so amazing." Don't imagine they didn't think that way. Look at Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration planning...

  However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labor. Joshua 16:10 ESV ¶We know very little about God's relationship with these Canaanite people of the land, but we do know from Scripture the nature of God's relationship with Israel. It can only be described as strict. The consequences of unbelief and disobedience were harsh, and often dealt out by those from surrounding nations whom God raised up as enemies. The world in general is a harsh and unforgiving place, but the good news is that, through it all, whatever the difficulty, and unto the death, God never leaves us or forsakes us. Can we bring His abiding presence into the haunted and hurting places of our world?

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord , when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh— Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart." Jeremiah 9:25‭-‬26 ESV ¶The Word of the Lord through Jeremiah cuts more deeply than even His own people imagined. It turns out that what sets them apart for the Lord and from the nations was not the presence or absence of a foreskin. It was what was in their heart. The broken and contrite spirit that is better than sacrifice. Those of us with a penis know how unruly it can behave at times. But nothing compares with the rebelliousness of the human heart. Moses knew it. Joshua acknowledged it. This people would not be able to find it in their nature to keep God's covenant requirements. Then why trouble them with it, God? Because God imparts to...

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24:36‭-‬37 ESV ¶When I was a student, I knew when test day was coming. I could disregard as unimportant everything else and cram my brain with enough of the necessary information to pass the test. Sure, we had pop quizzes that were unexpected, but not the final exam! Everything depends on it, and you don't know when it will be? That is intense! Life is like that. Life gives us pop quizzes along the way, which we may or may not pass. But we always expect another chance. What if there were no more second chances? But suppose we had been living under the wrong set of rules all along, and we started living not under law but under grace. How would that change the way we live our lives, the things we value, and the things we disregard as unimportant?

  If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? Jeremiah 12:5 ESV ¶God called Jeremiah to be a prophet among his people in Jerusalem. As a prophet he was treated badly by them. But his struggles with them were small compared with the shared trials they were facing. This is a call to endurance. We too need to focus less on worldly concerns, and prepare for the spiritual struggle which is at hand. Be reconciled with our neighbors. Persevere in prayer. Jeremiah must first understand, and then deliver the message to his people, that there is no peace and safety apart from the will of the Lord.

But at midnight there was a cry, 'Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us.' But he answered, 'Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Matthew 25:6‭, ‬8‭, ‬11‭-‬13 ESV ¶At the time of his coming, five of the ten virgins had left their posts to get more oil. By the time they had returned, the time for lamps and oil had passed. Here's what remained: do you know the lord? How much oil will we need in our flasks to be ready for the day of His return? No one knows. But we can know Him. Know the Lord. That is all.

But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict...By your endurance you will gain your lives. Luke 21:12‭-‬15,19 ESV ¶Amidst the most severe persecution this world has to throw against it, what keeps Jesus's church alive and growing? Not persuasive argument, but patient endurance. Astounding, isn't it, that so many would, if forced to choose, prefer to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord. Tertullian’s truth “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church” comes ringing through at a time when Christians are being hunted down and beheaded for their faith.

Because they had not obeyed my rules, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their fathers' idols. Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life, and I defiled them through their very gifts in their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it that they might know that I am the Lord. Ezekiel 20:24‭-‬26 ESV ¶Kings Ahaz and Manasseh of Judah perverted the Lord's command that every first-born belongs to Him into a practice of child sacrifice. In the same way, and even today, people who are not content to live under God's law find it necessary to put themselves under arbitrary, self-contradictory, and confusing rules that do not promote human thriving. When we cannot come together as one under God, we find ourselves a devastated and divided people. Then it is even harder to receive as a solution the offer of a Savior who promises but one way to retu...

  Prolong the life of the king; may his years endure to all generations! May he be enthroned forever before God; appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him! Psalm 61:6‭-‬7 ESV ¶Before the kings, in the time of the judges, everyone did what was right in their own eyes, living by their own rules, and administering their own "rough justice". To ask for a king meant to ask that there just be one set of rules, and that everyone live under them. Kings represent order. They are responsible for their subjects, who in turn are under his command. Israel's kings were commanded to read all of God's word, and transcribe it in their own hand, which almost none did. Then it was God's mercy that they no longer be enthroned, and become subject to another.

. Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah." But Joab said to the king, "May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my Lord the king still see it, but why does my Lord the king delight in this thing?" But the king's word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000. But David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly." So the Lord sent a pestilence...

God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. Psalm 68:1‭, ‬5‭-‬6 ESV ¶The life of the fatherless and widow is a solitary life, but promises great reward for those who no longer love the world, nor the things in the world. Jesus promises to be with us.

Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you. Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. Psalm 69:6‭, ‬19‭-‬20 ESV   The reproaches of this world are not answered in this world. The comfort our souls require is stored up for us in heaven. We may be called to love others who will not love us in return. We need fellowship with God. Thank you that you are there when we call.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. Romans 9:3‭-‬5 ESV ¶Paul would offer himself as a surrogate for all his Israelite brethren. He would make a wager: his own soul in return for the salvation of His Jewish brethren. But he is also an example. Israel must, we must, wager our souls against any claim of special privilege, and come to God by grace alone, through faith alone. This is the faith by which Israel's patriarchs lived. Abraham was willing to put all God's promises through Isaac on the line to follow Him. This is what Israel has always been asked to do. It's what we are asked to do.

O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes! But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise. Psalm 79:1‭, ‬3‭, ‬10‭, ‬13 ESV ¶Blood gives life. Our blood donations give the gift of life. But we need it to be pure. The blood bank goes to great lengths to make sure it is pure. Innocent blood poured out has great consequence. It speaks a claim for vindication of an injustice. Abel's blood cried out from the ground where it had been shed. The blood in this psalm calls out against an offense not only against the psalmist, but against God Himself. The ...

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. John 1:11 ESV We might strengthen the translation of the Greek phrase "his own" to mean "his very own", his personal possession. He owned up to owning His own people. It is the difference between holding someone's cute cuddly baby and taking them home and feeding and changing them and raising them through adolescence to adulthood. Jesus loves me, and not only from afar. He manifests the covenant love of the Father, and disregards any barrier that separates us from Him. He came not only to be part of our world. He came because we are a part of Him. He has a place for us in His own heart, the ones he cares deeply about and focuses upon as His own, the ones for whom He even now personally intercedes before the throne of the Father.

And they said to him, "If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever." 1 Kings 12:7 ESV ¶Servanthood is mentioned here three times. God's plan is for a community of souls freely serving and affirming each other. When everyone's gifts are recognized, and activated, the acts of service surface and flow freely.

When Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. 1 Kings 11:4‭-‬8 ESV ¶Let the horror and the sorrow of this rest fully on your heart. God's anointed turned all the honors and gifts bestowed upon him into idolatry, not just for a special few of his foreign wives but for ALL his foreign wives. Within a generation false gods had found their way into the heart of God's chosen ones. All ...

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:7‭-‬8 ESV ¶Let's just be honest. Do we really want to please God? That is something worth considering, because if our actual deep-down motive is just to please ourselves, it is enough to just live according the flesh, please ourselves, and never be troubled with the humbling call of being born again.

May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth! Psalm 115:15 ESV None of the manifold blessings we might wish for each other are complete without this one: as Jesus tells Nicodemus, we must be born again. Abram had to become Abraham. Sarai had to become Sarah. Jacob had to become Israel. By their names Israelites took their place in the bloodline of God's people. According to those names their offspring derived their identity . But the blessing is not to those born of the flesh, but of the Spirit. Many, like Ishmael, receive God's blessing for a season. Without being born again, though, good things go bad. Pride leads to boasting. Unintended consequences crop up. But upon those who abide in Christ, following His commandments, the blessing remains.

 "Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel." Isaiah 8:6‭-‬8 ESV ¶How did God previously judge with water and the flood? What did Jesus promise would flow from those who believed in Him? What was promised to flow from the restored temple in Ezekiel, and In Revelation? Water, in a flood, to some in refreshing pools, and to others in a devastating flood. Baptism is serious business.

Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. Isaiah 8:16‭-‬18 ESV ¶One way to test the validity of a prophetic word would be to write it on a scroll and seal it up. Does the prophecy still stand at the unrolling of the scroll, the revelation, the apocalypsis? But when to do this great unsealing? That is the question in Daniel: "How long shall it be?" In Revelation, this is the cry of the martyred saints from under the altar: "how long, Sovereign Lord,...until you judge?" A time has been set, but for now, we have the Lord's answer to Daniel's question: "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end." So in the meantime, between the already and the not ...

And the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 2 Kings 18:19‭-‬20 ESV Hezekiah must learn the bitter lesson. There is no compromise with the enemy. In exile, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had learned the lesson, "even if God does not deliver us, we will not serve your gods." What is it we do not compromise? God tells us. "If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all." Isaiah 7:9 ESV

The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." John 11:8‭-‬10 ESV ¶Jesus answers His disciples' legitimate fear of stoning if they return to Bethany in Judea. He is protected, not by strength or strategy, but by the mission. Like Abraham, He believed that what God had promised, He would fulfill. As the day provides the hours of light needed to do the work, Jesus moves within the time allotted to Him working the works of Him who sent Him, untouched by fear. But wait, there's more! Even after the day, in the darkness, He is the Light of the world, carrying us through to endless day.

1 Be not silent, O God of my praise! 2 For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. 3 They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. 4 In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. Psalm 109:1-4 ESV When we give ourselves to prayer we have gained the place of rest. None of the curses and imprecations we might imagine can completely fill up all the judgements God has in store for the unrighteous. Furthermore, whatever punishments we might choose for them would probably just have unintended consequences and make things worse. Lacking omniscience, we do not know how best to pray. So we leave this imprecatory prayer upon the altar, confident that the Spirit Himself who searches the heart delivers our prayer, and intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be in dread, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect; 1 Peter 3:14‭-‬15 NASB Theologians will distinguish between our justification and our sanctification. They tell us that our role in justification is passive, but sanctification requires our active participation. Interesting to note what that participation looks like, though. Peter does not say to sanctify ourselves. He says sanctify Jesus in our hearts. As we look upon Him, he will get bigger, and we will get smaller in our gaze. What does it mean to you to look to Him?

Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin! He loved to curse; let curses come upon him! He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him! He clothed himself with cursing as his coat; may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones! Psalm 109:1‭-‬3‭, ‬6‭-‬7‭, ‬17‭-‬18 ESV ¶There are two classes of people in the the world, the wicked and the innocent. The innocent are represented by Jesus alone, the only One entitled to pray this Psalm. The wicked are represented by all the rest of us. But Jesus calls us to Himself, and offers to replace our wickedness with His righteousness, what might be called imputation. Then we no longer need to respond to the lies ...

And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, "You shall not do this." 2 Kings 17:9‭-‬12 ESV ¶It may seem to us that there were a lot worse things to judge a people for than chopping down a few trees and setting them up as pillars on high places. This would seem pretty innocuous in comparison with all the other bad things people do to each other. But God's work starts with the things we sincerely worship from the heart, and it produces a different set of reflexes and responses. None of our own high places...

He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy! Psalm 107:20‭-‬22 ESV The Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing, invites us to receive from God the blessings of healing and deliverance, and much more. He offers thirsty people not just water, but a spring of water, welling up to eternal life, to never be thirsty again, a river of living water, flowing out of us. He offers us not just healing, but a return, not just to the life we had before we got sick or injured, but a return all the way back to the garden, to fellowship with Him, as Adam and Eve walked with Him in the cool of the day. We may actually participate in the divine nature through the very great and precious promises He has given us (2 Peter 1:4). God's Word does not just go forth and do some...

Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise. Psalm 106:47 ESV ¶The people scattered and dispersed from their homeland and far from the promised covenant's fulfillment continue to cry out to their only hope, what Paul calls in Acts 28: 20 "the hope of Israel". This, surprisingly, turns out to be a person, Christ in you, the hope of glory. So becoming His disciple is not just about adopting a more disciplined lifestyle. It's about getting all the way in, to share in the glory of Christ.

  You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. They said to him therefore, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also." John 8:15‭-‬16‭, ‬19 ESV ¶Scribes and Pharisees set themselves up as judges based on their right to rule as children of Abraham. As hard as they tried, though, they could never make it work. Jesus changed all that. He did not need to earn the Pharisees' approval. He offered salvation, a path to God, not through rules-keeping, but through a relationship. He is the good shepherd who actually knows His sheep. He comes to dwell among us. He alone is worthy to open the scroll. We can let go of our efforts to earn anyone's approval. Those efforts just get in the way. Abide in Him. Rest in His actual, unmerited approval.   1 Cor 4:3 "I...

And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:12 ESV ¶God has manifested in former times in fire and thunder, in terrifying angelic form, but never as a helpless baby. We may sing "What Child is This?", but what God is this, who manifests in such weakness and vulnerability and is acclaimed to be lord and ruler of an everlasting kingdom.

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction." Malachi 4:5‭-‬6 ESV ¶The blessings of God, the promises of a new heaven and a new earth, never really extend to anyone beyond the covenant God made with Abraham. The good news, though, is that within that covenant are included all who call upon the name of the Lord. The remnant, the root stock, the sole heir to the covenant promise, is the One Son alone. The rest of us, Jew and gentile alike, find our place on the family tree of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when we are born again, when we as wild branches are grafted in to "share in the nourishing sap" of the root, onto a family tree, not of the flesh, but of the spirit. We act out the promise when we live in the nourishing relationship of fat...

From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man's heart. Psalm 104:13‭-‬15 ESV This is creation in all of its glory, not subject to futility, no longer groaning in bondage to corruption, fully free to gladden, freshen, and strengthen the heart of man, where creatures seek their food from God, and where man goes about his labor, fully receiving from God the fruit of his labor, everything redounding to the glory of the Lord.

These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. Psalm 104:27‭-‬30 ESV ¶Colossians 1:16 says that "by (the Son) all things were created...through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Creation not only had its origin, but is forever sustained, by the power of His word. From us, by His Spirit, renewal is spreading, until He returns, having reconciled us to Himself, to then finish reconciling us with all creation in beauty, balance, and harmony.

Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. Genesis 32:26‭-‬29 ESV ¶We watch this scene as it unfolds with bated breath, for it depicts the fate not just of Jacob the usurper, but of all Israel and her heirs. Rather than trust in the blessing of the Abrahamic covenant to which he is already heir, Jacob still struggles with God to obtain the blessing. At stake are all his wives, servants, property, and most of all his sons, who carry in their loins all the future generations of the people of the promise. Without Jacob, the...

  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psalm 103:1‭-‬5 ESV ¶It is in consuming His Word, and in the daily remembrance of His benefits, His forgiveness, His healings, His redemption, and His steadfast hesed love and mercy, that my youth is renewed, new life is affirmed, and I am again born again.

And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, "Why does he not?" Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. Malachi 2:13‭-‬15 ESV ¶When God commanded our first parents to be fruitful and multiply, it was for this same purpose: godly offspring. He created us to be not just another species jostling for its place in the evolutionary scheme, but to rule and take dominion over His creation, at His side, in godly covenant fellowship with Him. Sure, the male's desire to spread his seed as bro...