On
Point
Someone asked, where do the quotes come
from? The answer is from the
people who uttered them. But, how
did you find them? Oh, that. Most are from Rev Bryan Dabney, a few
from other places, but overall mostly from Bryan. He always has a few great ones to share. On to the On Point quotes –
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me
shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
St.
John 6:35
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are
God’s building.
I
Corinthians 3:9
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they
also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of
him. Even so, Amen.
Revelation
1:7
Come into the lifeboat of the one true church. This old world will soon
break into pieces! Hear you not the tremblings of it? The world is but a wreck
hard upon a sandbank. The night is far spent — the waves are beginning to rise
— the wind is getting up — the storm will soon shatter the old wreck. But the
lifeboat is launched, and we, the ministers of the gospel, beseech you to come
into the lifeboat and be saved. We beseech you to arise at once and come to
Christ.
JC
Ryle
19th century Anglican bishop and
author
(Holiness, p. 284)
The ... problem of the Bolsheviks was that ... they were truly
captivated by utopian delusions ... [All] utopians ... advocate systems and
ideas that can only work with imaginary idyllic humans, but never with real
human beings. When they discover that real human beings refuse to knuckle under
and behave according to utopian expectations, the utopianists respond with
violent rage. The greatest strength of capitalism is that it actually works
with real human beings ... Capitalism does not require idyllic fictional humans
in order for it to work. The most violent terrorists and oppressors of others
have always been the utopians. The French Revolution turned violent and the
guillotine was introduced [in an] attempt to terrorize actual humans into
behaving according to the expectations of the utopianists. The leaders of the
Soviet Revolution were no slower or more squeamish in following the same route.
Dr.
Steve Plaut
21st century professor of economics.
Propers
The Propers for today are found
on Page 206-207, with the Collect first:
The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
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LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than
we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; Pour
down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our
conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy
to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our
Lord. Amen
Dru Arnold read the Epistle, which came from
Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, the Third Chapter beginning at the
Fourth Verse. Paul reminds us through the Grace of God we can be
able ministers of the new testament, on our own we can be in the end no
good. If we are able to completely
follow the Law, with good intent, we can through that please God, but inasmuch
as that is impossible we fall short.
The letter of the Law, which cannot be complied with is death. But following the spirit of the Law
gives life. That is Jesus’
message, for in the Law is death and in the spirit life. For if there is glory in administering
the Law, how much more glory is there in the spirit of the Law, which is Jesus’
message?
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Uch trust have we
through Christ to God-ward: not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think
any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us
able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for
the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of
death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of
Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his
countenance; which glory was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of
the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be
glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
Hap Arnold read today’s Holy
Gospel, which started in the Seventh Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mark, beginning at the
Thirty-First Verse. Jesus came in to the coast of Decapolis[1]. The people brought unto him a deaf mute. Jesus examined the man, put his fingers
in his ears, touched his tongue and said “Ephphatha”[2],
that is, “Be opened.” What Jesus
did here for the deaf mute physically is what he does for each of us
spiritually. Through Jesus, we
hear the Word of God and are given the ability to speak it. Conversely, there are none so deaf as
those who will not hear and none so blind as those who will not see. It is up to each of us to choose if we
will remain blind, deaf and dumb or open our eyes to see, hear and speak the
Word of God. When we receive the
gift of sight, hearing and speech we embark on a new life of freedom.
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esus, departing from
the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst
of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had
an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And
he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he
spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith
unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened,
and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged
them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the
more a great deal they published it; and were beyond measure astonished,
saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the
dumb to speak.
Sermon –
Reverend Deacon Jack Arnold - Time and Action
Today’s sermon tied the Epistle and Gospel together
and is partly addressed in the forewords above.
Consider the words from the Collect, wherein we ask
God … more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either
we desire or deserve; Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving
us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good
things which we are not worthy to ask …
We continually pray to God, asking Him for what WE
want. Yet, how oft do we listen to
Him when He responds? If we will
listen to Him and DO what He asks, He will give us more than we have need of,
more than we ask for, more than we can even desire. Yet, it requires us to listen to Him, then ACT on what we
are told. When we ask His
forgiveness, when He gives it, we need to accept it and live it; if we live in
the past, we never will benefit.
God gives us guidance through the Holy Ghost, if we
will but accept it. He gives us
the power to act in the spirit of The Law. The Law or actually 613 little laws turned out to be in of
itself a death sentence. The Jews
could or would not comply with the 613 Mosaic Laws, which brought them death. Jesus gave us the summary of The Law,
which through Him would bring life, everlasting life and happiness here on
earth:
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HOU shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is
the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and
the Prophets.
Only two laws to comply with, which though simpler,
are harder:
1. Love
God
2. Love
your neighbor like yourself
Think about it, if you do those two things, you will
find you need no other real moral guidance. If you understand the Big Picture, you know what to do on
your part of the Little Picture to make your world line up with His World. The problem is just like the Jews, we
cannot perfectly follow those either. But we can at least do our very best to
follow those directions and change course whenever we aren’t. Doing our best is
all that God asks of us, not just saying we are doing our best when we
aren’t. But, happily for us,
Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf accounts us as just before God. So, now that we know that, who do we
tell about it? Do we let people
know, or do we hide our allegiance to the Lord? If you hide your allegiance, you really have none. But
we must be open about our alligence and share the Good News with others, that
they in time may come to seek the joys of His Kingdom. They may not understand
right away, but the seed of the Lord may germinate and grow within them, so
that within due course they may understand the Word and come to seek Him.
When Jesus opened the ears and mouth of the deaf
mute, He did for him what the Holy Ghost will do for us, if we will but let Him
open first our ears to hear, then our mouths to testify, communicate and
direct.
Action counts.
For by their actions ye shall know them.
Heaven is at the end of an
uphill trail. The easy downhill
trail does not lead to the summit.
The time is now, not tomorrow. The time has come, indeed. How will you ACT?
It is by our actions we are known.
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
Bishop Ogles’
Sermon
We are oft fortunate to get
copies of Bishop Jerry’s sermon notes.
Today is one of those Sundays.
Today’s sermon starts off with the collect, and like always, it will
give you a lot to consider in your heart.
Sermon Notes
Twelfth
Sunday after Trinity
Saint Andrew’s
Anglican
Orthodox Church
18 August 2013,
Anno Domini
The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
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LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than
we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; Pour
down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our
conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy
to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our
Lord. Amen
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esus, departing from
the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst
of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had
an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And
he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he
spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith
unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and
the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them
that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a
great deal they published it; and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He
hath done all things
Two Spirits That Drive The Christian
The
Seeking Spirit:
Our text opens today following the visit of Christ to the coast of Tyre and
Sidon where, we are told in verse 24, “He could not be hid.”
Because He was SOUGHT out by a Syro-Phenecian woman who had HEARD
of Him, came and fell at His feet pleading that He cast out an unclean spirit
from her precious little daughter, her prayer was answered. This Christ did.
The lesson, of course, is this: Christ can in no wise be hidden from those who
seek Him. How may the “Light of the World”
be concealed in the desert night? Moreover, He delights at being found by those
who seek Him. As our Prayer of Collect says: He is “always more ready to
hear than we to ask.” So Christ deliberately desires to give us that
for which we ask – as long as we ask for those things that it is His will to
grant. One of the characteristics of the spirit of a Christian is that of a
SEEKER. “Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every
one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that
knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matt 7:7-8)
No man comes to Christ if he has not sought Him out. So first and foremost, we
must have a Seeker spirit. There must have been a great guilt that has impinged
upon our consciences at some point, evoked by the Holy Spirit, to cause us to
feel and know our absolute depravity and sin. Even a dying child, or a
dreadful disease, may awaken us to our great need – ‘the soul’s sincere desire.’
Some, like the lost sheep, know not where to seek; so they bleat and scurry to
and fro in the wilderness rocks until their cries are heard by the Good
Shepherd who comes to them in their loneliness and fright. Shouldn’t we, if
able, be like those Greeks who came to Philip at Bethsaida, and desired of him,
inquiring: “Sir, we would see Jesus!” (John 12:21 (KJV) But, like
the lost sheep of the parable, are not able to go to Him, so they cry out where
they are. Some are blind, cannot see, and are BROUGHT to Christ so that the
scales may be removed from their eyes and they may see. How does such faith
come? “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
(Romans 10:17) Have you both heard and believed from the Word of God? Someone
must have TOLD you. Have you told others?
Now, in order to share good news, one must be the recipient of Good News – the
Good News that is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ! Knowing a truth of
imponderable benefit to others must compel us to speak out. Have we remembered
the Lord’s very last prayer before His ascension? “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt 28:19-20)
Have you gone to those who have not heard, who cannot see to come to Christ?
Now Jesus returns the shore of the Galilean Sea – to Decapolis. We are told
that, without the news of His coming being published in the newspapers or
broadcast on radio, men brought a fellow to Christ who could neither see nor
speak. How did they know that Christ was coming? Perhaps bad news does travel
rapidly, but Good News travels with the speed of light – the Light of the
World. Every place that Christ went, healing and doing good, the witnesses
heralded his name and movements everywhere. The news was simply too good to
keep silence. It is impossible to know Christ and keep silent. There are no
secret Christians!
The
Missionary Spirit:
Once we have seen, heard, and known Christ, there is a second spirit that must
evince itself – the MISSIONARY SPIRIT! So how is Christ greeted
on His arrival at Decapolis on the coasts of Galilee? Men bring to Him a friend
who was both deaf and had a speech impediment. Such impediments of speech are
common to those who have not, and cannot, hear. All who have not heard the
Gospel are also handicapped from speaking it to others. These men who brought
this deaf man to Christ had already heard of Him and knew that He was able to
heal. So they put feet to their faith and brought a man who could not have
heard of Christ. Faith is like a newborn babe – it cannot lie still. It must exercise
itself and cry out and, thereby, GROW! Our own faith is increased
when we share that faith with others and observe the resulting miracle!
32 “And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an
impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.”
Men, who were able to know of Christ by HEARING of Him, now bring one to Christ
who had no such benefit. I love the spirit of love and compassion that is
generated in a heart full of faith. Please note that these men ask nothing that
would be shocking of Christ. They do not make demands in their prayer such as
the modern church advocates. They besought (pleaded) only that Christ “put
His hand upon” the deaf and dumb man. Why were they not more specific?
Do our prayers have to be specific in detail? Not at all! In the Lord’s Prayer,
we simply ask that His will be done. If the will of Christ is done in our
lives, it will be enough! These men could not demand that Christ restore the
man’s tongue and loose his ears. So, they knew that the mercy of Christ would
do all things needful. We never inquire or suggest the means by which Christ
should answer our prayers, we should settle always for the happy result and not
the means. We might properly remember that “His ways are not OUR ways,
and our ways are not His ways.”
There is no secret formula or incantation whereby the miraculous works of God
are produced. The simple and mysterious manner in which Christ healed this man
could be replicated precisely a thousand times by mere men with no such result.
The power was not in the MEANS, but in the LORD! 33 “And he took
him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit,
and touched his tongue.” The example here is one of intimacy.
We would sooner drink from the same glass as our child than that of
another’s. When we are healed, it is a matter between the one being healed and
the healer. So Christ took the man away from the multitude. Our greatest
healing from sin is ALWAYS a matter of our coming face to face with Christ and
apart from the multitudes. Christ touched the man by placing His fingers in his
ears, and spit and touched His tongue. The man was not repelled by this
intimate touch. His great need was to speak and hear – not to worry about the means.
Many of my own prayers have been answered in amazing and surprising ways –
almost never the way I expected. Jesus is a Lord of surprises. He will answer
our prayers in ways that will result in our greatest benefit and in ways that
we could never have imagined. When we pray, we must expect to be touched by
Him, and we must expect to receive Him into our innermost being.
Christ did all things in perfect fellowship with the Father. When we undertake
to serve God with a great work, even though our intentions may be commendable,
we must first look to God. 34 “And looking up to heaven, he sighed,
and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.” Even our Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Begotten of the Father, looked to His Father in all of His works and
miracles. He did so because, first, He wished to have His Father’s concurrence
in all things; and, secondly, He desired to glorify the Father in all that He
did. So must we! Do we boast of our success at organizing a worship service
that attracts man, or our success at Bible studies that attract many? The glory
is not ours, but belongs to God. In healing, Jesus ALWAYS took compassion on
the person who sought it. The Good Samaritan was the only one who took
compassion on the poor Jew who lay dying on the Road to Jericho. He felt the
pain of the Jew. Jesus feels our pain as if it were His own. He makes Himself
One with whomever He touches to heal and forgive.
What was the results of the Lord’s command of “Ephphatha!”?
35 “And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of
his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.” When Christ speaks a
single word to our hearts, the response is immediate – just as immediate as
Paul’s being struck down on the road to Damascus. The
mystery of god is at work in opening eyes that they may see, or even in
blinding the eyes that we may KNOW Him as Paul was blinded on that Road. Once
our eyes have been opened to the beauty of the Lord, our tongues shall also
speak plainly of Him - “….the string of his tongue was
loosed, and he spake plain.”
The counsel of our Lord in the next verse may seem a bit strange, but it has a
great lesson secreted in its heart. 36 “And he charged them that
they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great
deal they published it.” Please tell me: was this not a bit
improbable that a man could be healed of speech and hearing and should remain
silent about it? Do you really believe that Jesus intended that they MUST not
tell anyone? Remember the young man, blind from birth, whose sight Jesus
restored and commanded to tell no one? Or do you remember the leper that Christ
healed whom He commanded, “Tell no man!”
What profound truth was Christ conveying with such counsel? I believe the
answer to that question is apparent based on what I know of the loving Lord.
How can a man who has been unable to speak keep silence after having his speech
restored? It is natural and irresistible that the first thing such a man will
do is practice his speech, and tell every soul how he recovered it. The same
with the blind man who was healed. How can he go home to his parents and not
tell them the obvious – that once he was blind, but now he sees? Or the leper,
who was forced to separate himself from friends and family, not tell all that
he no longer has leprosy and why?
Jesus is making this point: Once the power of god has worked a marvelous work
and a wonder in your soul, how can you keep silence even if commanded by God
Himself! Jesus is saying to us, “Though I command your silence from
telling others all that I have done in healing your guilty soul and your body,
you cannot bear to keep silence.” Once you have known Christ and His
Gospel, it will be IMPOSSIBLE for you to keep that secret! You must proclaim
the good news from the roof tops!
When Christ has forgiven your sins, and received you by adoption into the
family of God, all people will see the change and wonder of that marvelous work
come over you. 37 “And were beyond measure astonished,
saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the
dumb to speak.” When Christ works a miracle in your life, it is
seldom solitary – it is a healing of all ills the first of which is your deadly
disease of sin. He practices ‘triage’ in addressing our most serious
affliction first – and that most serious affliction is always sin, for its end
is eternal death and darkness.
Rev Rick Reid of
Saint Peter’s Sunday Sermon
We are happy to have a
sermon from Reverend Rick Reid, minister of Saint Peter’s, whose congregation
is right at the Worldwide Headquarters of the Anglican Orthodox Church. Rev Rick has all the resources and challenges
right at hand. Speaking of at
hand, here is his sermon for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity (last week, but
it got in late):
Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted
St.
Luke xviii. 9.
In our Gospel reading this morning Jesus told a parable. In the
parable, a Pharisee “stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You
that I am not like other men — extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess’”Luke
18 11-12, Another man, a tax collector, “standing afar off, would not so
much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be
merciful to me a sinner! Jesus stated the hated tax collector was the one
who returned to his home justified, “for everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Another time Jesus noted some who were invited to a wedding feast choose
the best places. He instructed
them instead to seek the low places and allow others to exalt them; once again:“For
whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be
exalted” (Luke 14:7-11).
The real problem with each of these individuals is they thought too
highly of themselves.
When Jesus was at the house of Simon, a Pharisee, a woman who was known
to be a sinner came in and began to wash His feet with her tears, wiping them
dry with her hair, and anointing them with a fragrant oil. Luke 7:36-38
When a Pharisee saw this, he thought to himself, “This man, if He
were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is, who is
touching Him, for she is a sinner” Luke 7:39.
Jesus, knowing his thoughts, told a story of two debtors who were both
unable to pay their debts (Luke 7:41-42). The point of the story was to show the Pharisee though this
woman was indeed a sinner; so was he.
Neither the woman nor the Pharisee had the ability to pay for their
sins, and they were essentially the same, in God’s eyes. (Luke 7:44-48)
The Pharisee's problem was he thought himself more righteous than the
woman. So confident in his self-righteousness that he could not see his own
sin.
This, you see, is the root problem of self-righteous. If you cannot
acknowledge your faults, you cannot fix them.
It is typical of those who can neither find fault in themselves or
accept the fault found by others that they have no problem finding numerous
faults, real or imagined, in others.
This is not only blatant arrogance but public display of another fault
on their behalf, yet characteristically they see that not either.
The self-righteous of consider themselves and their personal ideas and
ideals gifted from God, while paying no attention to God and His Word. In their mind, God's Word is not the
standard, and not even Christ is the standard; their standard
is THE standard.
This ego centric standard was manifest in the religious leaders who
sent officers to arrest Jesus, but could not do so.
Saint John tells us those same officers, after hearing Jesus, said, “No
man ever spoke like this Man!” (John
7:46). When the religious leaders heard this,
they said, “Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the
Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd that does not know the law is
accursed.
Once again they revealed their obvious self-righteousness, holding
themselves up as THE standard, denigrating the common people who believed in
Jesus.
There are Christians within the church today, who have a high regard
for themselves and their opinions. We have all probably seen them with our own
eyes and heard them with our own ears.
The writer of the book of Hebrews instructs us to “fix our eyes" on
Jesus (Hebrews 12:2). When we look at Jesus, we will not be looking at others, and
worrying about whether or not they match up with our own righteousness or lack
thereof.
We must look to Christ for THE standard and realize we have
no ability, let alone right to set the bar. We will never be perfect, only through Him can we be
accounted as so.
Charles
Inglis (Ĭng´glĬs, Ĭng´gəlz), 1734–1806, was an Anglican Bishop who
immigrated to America in 1755 from Ireland. He wrote he knew who he was [a sinner] – he knew where he
belonged [afar off] – he knew how he felt [ashamed] – he knew what he needed
[mercy] – he knew from whom to get it [God] – and he knew when he got it [that
he went down to his house justified], just as in the parable that Jesus told.
God cares not how much
we have accomplished or how good we think we are. He does care if we did our best to do His Will.
The essence of God is
Love. Our concern should be that
of the publican, we are great sinners; in Jesus we have a great savior! Be not like the Pharisee, concerned
about how well you have done, while failing to notice how you have failed.
How will we come before
God? Pleased with our miserable
performance or as sinners in need of His Mercy, His Help, His Forgiveness, His
Accounting on our behalf.
Come now, miserable
offenders, if we come as the repentant tax collector…we can all go down to our
homes justified, and be exalted in due time, for as St. James said:
Humble yourselves in the
sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. James 4:10
St. Peter said: Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time –
Rev Bryan Dabney
of Saint John’s Sunday Sermon
We are fortunate to
have Bryan’s Sunday Sermon. If you
want people to come to The Truth, you have to speak the truth, expouse the
truth and live the truth. This is really a good piece and I
commend it to your careful reading.
Twelfth Sunday after Trinity
In our Old Testament lesson (Isaiah 29:18-24) we were treated to an
interesting set of verses that speak not only of a near-term event in Isaiah’s
day, but of something that is even beyond our present, and which is drawing
ever nearer as I speak. Look again at verse 20 wherein we read that, For the
terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that
watch for iniquity are cut off.
In the prophet’s day, the Assyrian king Sennacherib was preparing his
army to march against King Hezekiah of Judah. The Assyrians were well known by
the 8th century BC as a cruel and vicious people. They were
approaching the land of Judah with an army which likely exceeded of two hundred
thousand strong. The bulk of that force would eventually lay siege to
Jerusalem. In the face of so great a host, the LORD informed the prophet that
he would preserve the city and turn Sennacherib back. In a later chapter
(37:33-37), the prophet set forth the details of the invasion and siege by the
Assyrian army, as well as its destruction. What a relief it must have been for
the people of Jerusalem to see the corpses of the Assyrians who only the day
before had been preparing for their initial assault upon their city. This
miracle was accomplished by one angel who passed through the Assyrian camp and
slew the whole lot of them. Sennacherib’s military campaign against Judah was
further complicated by news that the Ethiopian king, Tirhakah, was approaching
to do battle with him. The Assyrian king was then in command of a much smaller
force which had been besieging another town. Finding the bulk of his army destroyed, the king retreated to
his own land only to die at the hands of two of his sons (37:38).
The scorning commanders of the Assyrian army as well as the army itself
were defeated by him who has never known defeat. The mocking comments by
Rabshakeh — or “chief cup bearer” of the king (36:2-20) — were brought to
nought with the destruction of the Assyrian army assigned to take Jerusalem.
God had been angered by the Assyrian king’s hubris, while at the same time he
was pleased by King Hezekiah’s humbleness (37:1-7). Humility on the part of the
kings of Israel and Judah was a rare commodity and God rewarded Hezekiah for
his recognition that he, the LORD, was his sure defence in the face of such an
overwhelming force.
Throughout the history of mankind, God has acted against Satan’s
minions who have sought to harm those who are of the camp of God. Sennacherib’s
campaign against the kingdom of Judah is just one example for us to consider.
Others, such as Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:17-19); Haman (Esther 3:1-13); as well
as the wicked rulers of Edom (Obadiah 10-14) had also lifted up their hands to
harm Israel and, as a result, were brought down and ruined. Just as Jeroboam (I
Kings 12:25-33)and Ahab (I Kings 21:17-26) had sought to turn the people of God
from his worship and to follow after false deities, so too did God judge and
destroy their houses.
God does not delight in the destruction of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23),
but he will pour out his wrath upon all who are so involved, which includes
those who would harm his own. The prophet Nahum was given to prophesy of the
coming destruction of Nineveh which was the capital of ancient Assyria (3:7).
Isaiah prophesied against Damascus (17:1) saying, ... it shall be a ruinous
heap. Ezekiel prophesied against the great city of Tyre (26:1-6) saying, ... I
will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It
shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea. . .
Jeremiah prophesied against the wickedness of Moab and said that he, ... shall
be destroyed from being a people (49:42) on account of their idolatry and their
trust in riches. All of the above at one time or other had taken advantage of
God’s people either through the transmission of idolatry, or of conquest, or of
meanness. While these are Old Testament examples, in the New Testament, God has
promised to bring vengeance upon those who persecute his church (See II Thessalonians
1:5-10; and St. Jude 14-15).
In the future, God is going to deal with those who have rejected his
Christ and who will attempt to destroy the descendants of Jacob. God loves
Israel with an everlasting love. He promised their forefathers that he would,
in spite of their stiffnecked and refusenik attitude, eventually restore them.
The LORD gave the prophet Jeremiah to proclaim to those same disobedient and
backsliding people of his day that, Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that
I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of
Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers ... which
... they brake ... but this shall be the covenant that I will make ... after
those days, saith the LORD. I will put my law in their inward parts, and write
it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people
(31:31-33).
The prophet then wrote the following: Thus saith the LORD, which giveth
the sun for light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and stars for light by
night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is
his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the
seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever... If
heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out
beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that have done,
saith the LORD (31:35-37).
Other prophets such as Ezekiel (36:16-38), Daniel (9:20-27), Micah
(4:1-13; 5:1-15) and Zechariah (2:8-12; 8:1-8) were given to speak on the
matter of the regathering and reclamation of the nation because from it would
come the Messiah — the deliverer for all mankind. All who will love and seek
after him, will be freed from their sins and trespasses. And all, therefore,
who trust in him shall never be confounded (I St. Peter 2:6). But Satan and his
minions have sought to undo the eternal plan of God to restore his creation and
vanquish evil for ever. So we should not be surprised to see the devil using
his puppet rulers upon the earth to short-circuit God’s plan of redemption. As
Sennacherib was dismayed and forced to retreat, so shall the same happen to all
who come against God’s plan and purpose for his people in Jesus Christ.
Are there days in your life when the forces of darkness seem to
surround you? Do you hear the taunts and the malicious remarks of those who
bear not the blood of Christ upon them? It may seem that such people will
overwhelm you but be of good cheer, . . . because greater is he that is in you,
than he that is in the world (I St. John 4:4). We have the Holy Ghost the
Comforter. We have the Spirit of the living God within us. Yes, we will face
trials and tribulations, but we know who our Lord is and what he has promised
that he, . . . will never leave [us] nor forsake [us] (Hebrews 13:5).We also
know that on a predetermined day in the future, God will bring his judgment
upon the wicked under the leadership of the Beast of Revelation (13 & 14).
The apostle Paul noted that this man of sin and son of perdition (II
Thessalonians 2:3) whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth,
and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming (II Thessalonians 2:8) will
opposeth and exalted himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself
that he is God (II Thessalonians 2:4). The arrogance and hubris of this man of
sin will exceed even that of Sennacherib in his pronouncements to King
Hezekiah. The same force who was behind the wicked Sennacherib will thus find
his masterpiece of evil in the Antichrist.
The Bible tells us that people like Sennacherib will come and go. The
vicious, the hateful, and those that vex our souls and dampen our spirits will
be present with us as long as we are in this world. But we know in whom we
trust. We know that our good and gracious God has not left us without a
comforter. We know that at his right hand is our Saviour and he will do for us
in ways that we can hardly perceive beforehand, but will, nevertheless, be made
abundantly clear through their operation before our eyes. So let us trust in
Christ Jesus our Lord and lean upon him. For in his strength we find strength.
In his love we find grace. In his forbearance we find mercy. And in his
righteous judgment we, who were formerly fit subjects of God’s wrath, are now
justified by the Saviour’s blood. Let us therefore go forth and proclaim his
message of salvation to all that they too might turn unto him and be saved from
his wrath to come.
Let us pray,
|
O
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Holy and righteous God, whose mighty hand no power can turn away; protect
us from all the evil plans and designs of the devil, that we might better serve
thee in this life as we look for that life to come; and these things we ask in
the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Have a blessed week, Bryan+
A
Confederate Soldier’s Prayer
This comes from
"Devotions of Soldiers of the South" by Anna Marie Cummins-Greer,
1873. It is the finest summary of
what should recognize in our daily lives I have ever come across.
A Confederate Soldier's Prayer
Author
Unknown,
(found on the body of a
Southern soldier on Manassas Battlefield)
I
asked God for strength, that I might achieve;
I was
made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I
asked for health, that I might do greater things;
I was
given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I
asked for riches, that I might be happy;
I was
given poverty, that I might be wise.
I
asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;
I was
given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I
asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;
I was
given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got
nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for.
Almost
despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am
among all men most richly blessed.
[1] Decapolis - ten
cities=deka, ten, and polis, a city, a district on the east and south-east of
the Sea of Galilee containing "ten cities, " which were chiefly
inhabited by Greeks. It included a portion of Bashan and Gilead, and is
mentioned three times in the New Testament (Matt. 4: 25; Mark 5: 20; 7: 31).
These cities were Scythopolis, i. e., "city of the Scythians",
(ancient Bethshean, the only one of the ten cities on the west of Jordan),
Hippos, Gadara, Pella (to which the Christians fled just before the destruction
of Jerusalem), Philadelphia (ancient Rabbath-ammon), Gerasa, Dion, Canatha,
Raphana, and Damascus. When the Romans conquered Syria (B. C. 65) they rebuilt,
and endowed with certain privileges, these "ten cities, " and the
province connected with them they called "Decapolis. "
[2]
Ephphatha the Greek
form of a Syro-Chaldaic or Aramaic word, meaning "Be opened", uttered
by Christ when healing the man who was deaf and dumb (Mark 7: 34). It is one of
the characteristics of Mark that he uses the very Aramaic words which fell from
our Lord's lips. (See 3: 17; 5: 41; 7: 11; 14: 36; 15: 34. )
