Listening to the Word

Daniel 3- 4; Psalms 81; Revelation 17   “’Hear, O my people, and I will warn you – if you would only listen to me, O Israel!...I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it…But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you. Psalm 81:8, 10, 16 “’…none of the wise men in my kingdom can interpret it for me. But you can, because the Spirit of the holy gods is in you.’” Daniel 4:18 Nebuchadnezzar recognized that the Spirit of God was in Daniel enabling him to be filled with wisdom and revelation. Daniel lived in daily communion with God. He taught his friends to do the same. Daily, Daniel opened his mouth and God fed him with his Word. Because Daniels’ mouth was open to eat God’s Word, it strengthened and fortified him and his friends for the opposition and testing they faced. “Honey from the rock” satisfied Daniel as God revealed to him mysteries and revelation hidden to others. How much more s...

Daniel 1-2; Revelation 16   “…’Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.’ …’In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever.’” Daniel 2:20, 21, 44 Do we believe these words? Do we believe that Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth? Do we believe that God changes the times and seasons of earthly kingdoms and leaders? Do we believe it was the kingdom of God which crushed the Roman Empire? Do we believe any of our modern empires will suffer any other fate? When we embrace nationalism and exceptionalism, we set ourselves against the kingdom of God. Those who know God and submit to Jesus Christ as Lord understand the ultimate reality is the...

Lamentations 3-5; Revelation 15   “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:22-26 Jeremiah understood that only God could deliver him. He could not save himself. There is great freedom when we come to that place of full surrender. Because we know the compassion, mercy, and love of the Lord, we, too, can declare that the Lord is our portion; therefore, we, too, will wait for him and on him. Waiting on the Lord is not passive, resigned faith; but rather, an attitude of humility which seeks the Lord and places our hope fully in him. Jeremiah waited patiently for the salvation of the Lord from the intense persecution he was experiencing from the Jewish community. Ironi...

Lamentations 1- 2; Obadiah; Revelation 14 “I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one ‘like a son of man’, with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand…So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.” Revelation 14:14, 16 The Lord Jesus is one “like a son of man” whom Daniel saw was given all authority (Daniel 7:13). He was seen by John, seated on a cloud. No one sits on a cloud unless they are lighter than a cloud or are living in a realm where gravity is not relevant. The Lord of the harvest, holding the sharp sickle, was seated while harvesting. Who sits while harvesting?   …One who has completed his work. The work of eternal salvation has been completed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to finish, or complete, the Father’s work (John 4:34). Our work is to sow gospel seeds and give testimony to God’s goodness in our lives. It is the respons...

Jeremiah 42-44; Psalms 48; Revelation 13 “Then they said to Jeremiah, ‘May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us’…‘We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord! We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven…’” Jeremiah 42:5; 44:16, 17 Listening to the Word comes with a price. That price is obedience. Jesus commanded his disciples to teach the nations to obey all that he commanded them/us to do. Jesus declared he had been given all authority both in heaven and on earth. When we set our hearts on listening to the Word, we are listening to the Lord of heaven and earth. The Jewish community in Jerusalem feared the Babylonians more than they feared the Lord God. Despite telling Jeremiah they would listen to the Word, when they didn’t agree with it, they stopped listening. Today, we might just as easily change ch...

2 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36; Jeremiah 40-41; Revelation 12 “The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets…The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.” 2 Chronicles 36:15, 16, 21 When we ignore God’s Word, whether it comes to us through his messengers, the Bible, or the convictions of the Holy Spirit, we are ignoring God. Israel despised God’s words to them despite hearing God’s messengers repeat a similar message of repentance again and again. They ignored God’s commands related to Sabbath, a Sabbath year, and a jubilee year, so they didn’t stop to rest and worship and they drifted from their trust in God for all they needed. In the fullness of time, God fulfilled his w...