"Almighty Lord,
please forgive us!" (Amos 7:2) - This is the prayer that the Lord is
waiting to hear and answer. "Almighty Lord, please stop!" (Amos 7:5) -
This is a prayer for God's mercy. We come to Him, deeply aware of our
sin and His judgment. We cry to Him for mercy. Why should He have mercy
on us? From our point of view, there is no answer to this question. From
His point of view, there is an answer - the Cross. Upon Christ, there
is our sin and God's judgment. To us, there is mercy and grace. There
are people who do not want to hear the Word of the Lord. They say,
"Don't ever prophesy again in Bethel" (Amos 7:13). Why did they tell the
prophet to "run away to Judah! ... and prophesy there" (Amos 7:12). The
reason is this - "This is the king's holy place and the king's palace"
(Amos 7:12). Holy? - What is holy about a place when its people send
away the prophet of God, and tell him to preach the Word of God
somewhere else? If a place is really holy and the people are really
holy, there would be a real desire to hear what the Lord has to say to
us. What did Amos say about this? This is what he said - It was the Lord
who said to me, "Prophesy to My people, Israel" (Amos 7:15). The Lord
says, "Speak." The world says, for the Word of the Lord "Stop speaking
to us." A true prophet will speak the Word of the Lord.
More of these Bible readings notes can be found at God's Word For Every Day . Matthew 4:12-17 Having overcome His enemy, Jesus begins His ministry. Satan will be back - Luke ends his account of Jesus' temptations with these ominous words, 'When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left until an opportune time' (4:12). Satan will try again, but - for now - he has failed to stop Jesus setting out on His ministry, a ministry which brings light into the darkness. The light is shining brightly - 'the Kingdom of heaven is near' (17). Jesus' ministry is viewed as a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy (15-16; Isaiah 9:1-2). The prophecy had been given: Death will be overcome, men and women will be delivered from 'the shadow of death'. Now, in Christ, the prophecy has been fulfilled: by His death, Christ has destroyed 'him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil' and He has set 'free' those who live in 'fear of d
Comments
Post a Comment