Tag: come

9.m. “For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”

Joel 3:9  Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.” Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O Lord. Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake.  But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.

The valley of decision grabbed ahold of my attention. It is not as though these people are making a decision to seek God, repent, and turn to Him.  They have made their decision to reject Jesus Christ.  they have made their decision to do battle against Jesus Christ.  Their decision is what warrants God’s decision of judgment, wrath, and anger.  It is their decision just like it is for each of us.  We can come to Him but have we made a decision with all of our hearts, mind, soul, and strength to rely upon, trust, honor, follow, and obey Him?  Have we made a decision to listen to Him through how the Holy Spirit speaks to us through His Word?  Have we made a decision to deny self and self-reliance?  Have we made a decision to be humble?  Have w made a decision to seek how we might honor Him in all we say, think, and do?  This is a bit out of context but, it is time for us to come up out of the valley of decision and clearly put this behind us by making the decision for how we serve, honor, trust, obey and follow Jesus Christ.

8.z. “Surely I am coming soon.”

Revelation 22:20  He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Sometimes we say we are coming but we don’t come.  There is some reason we don’t follow through either at our own fault or something else hinders us from following through.  This is not so for the Creator, Author of all there is, our Savior and Redeemer.  When He says He is coming “Surely” He is coming.  It is more than a promise.  It is a fact – He is coming again!  Soon!!  When we know someone is coming it can be great anticipation, anxious worry, or disbelief.  For those that are saved, by faith, through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross, there is anticipation and expectation and preparation for His return.  Those saved, born again, are living in a way that honors and glorifies Jesus Christ until He returns.  They seek what is written in His Word with intent to follow, obey, trust, and rely on what it says.   Every moment of every day they are looking for His return and rejoice in His promised return.  With all their heart, mind, and soul they eagerly await.  “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

For those with anxious worry, they know they have not been living for, nor look for His return.  They somewhat believe He will or at least have read that He will but it has no impact on their life.  There is really nothing different in their life that is different than any other person.  They are self-centered, self-reliant, and self-satisfying.  They have adopted their “Christian walk” to mirror that of what is expected of them by the unsaved.  This amounts to nothing more than going to church more than once per month and being a good person that does not cheat or lie.  They have adopted this as being accepted by Jesus Christ for being a good person.  They spend little time in God’s Word.  They see no need for Jesus Christ in their life unless something bad happens to them financially, physically, or relational.  When they hear of Jesus returning they have to have a bit of anxious worry or not.  I fear many of these will hear “Depart from Me for I never knew you.”

For those who do not believe in His return more than likely do not believe in Him either.  They have hardened their heart and mind to anything of God.  They live for this world alone and do what pleases and seems right in their own eyes.  Culture and society dictate what is acceptable and they hang their eternity in its lies.  They cling to self or others who claim there is no God, no sin, no Jesus, no heaven, no hell.  They certainly will not say “Come Lord Jesus”

Jesus Christ is coming again.  He is coming quickly.  Are you expectantly anticipating His return and living like it could be today?

8.y. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” 

Revelation 22:16   “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

The grace of God proclaimed and the invitation given -“Come”.   Isaiah 2:5   “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD”. Matthew 11:28  “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  John 6:37 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”  John 7:37 “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”

These invitations are the grace, mercy, and love of Jesus Christ reaching out to the lost sinner.  Over and over again the invitations are given with urgency, hope, and warnings. To those who respond to this invitation with a heart and soul-deep cry for forgiveness, help, and guidance, they will find peace that passes all understanding, healing for their soul, and an overwhelming assurance of salvation, eternal life, the return of Jesus Christ, and to be forevermore in His presence forever and ever.  To those who reject these invitations, they will find no deep peace.  They will believe lies, serve self, and will enter into hell and eternal torment knowing that they rejected the King of Kings, the Alpha and Omega, Jesus Christ the Son of God.  Jeremiah 6:16   “Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.”

8.s. “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

Revelation 21:9  Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Ephesians 2:19  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,  in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

1 Timothy 3:15   But if I should be delayed [I have written] so that you will know how people ought to act in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

Hebrews. 3:6   But Christ was faithful as a Son over His household, whose household we are if we hold on to the courage and the confidence of our hope.

1 Peter 2:4-5   Coming to Him, a living stone – rejected by men but chosen and valuable to God – you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Interpretation of Revelation 21 has scholars commenting from both sides who say this is figurative and or that it is literal.  The Bible does tell us about the establishment of the new heaven and earth and new Jerusalem and we see it follows the Great White Throne Judgment at the end of the millennium.  Wether or not this is to be take figurative or literal one key point for certain is about those who will live here and those who will not.  The bride of Jesus Christ, the church, those who have acknowledged their sin, sought forgiveness, repented, turned away, and believed and completely served, trusted, followed, and obeyed Jesus Christ for their redemption and salvation.  There is no place here for those who are lukewarm, complacent, and neglectful. Nor is a place for those who have rejected the offer of salvation, repentance, and redemption.  How many will stand at the Great White Throne Judgment with expectation of eternity in heaven only to here, “depart from Me for I never knew you”.  They will come to this judgment with thoughts of being good enough and done enough on their own to deserve entry.  They have not yielded to Jesus Christ.  Oh, they may have said things from their lips but the indwelling desire deep within their hearts and minds to have the Spirit live within them to guide, direct, and lead them in humble service for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ is not present nor was it.  Me, myself, and I have a way of not wanting to fully yield to Jesus Christ.  Yielding means we will put to death our self-centered and self-reliant ways and thoughts.  We need to daily surrender authority of our lives to Jesus Christ and keep our heart, mind, and soul, focused on Him, for He is truly worthy of all honor, power, and glory.

8.c. “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”

Revelation 17:1   Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

Babylon of old seems to be the birthplace of many false teachings and worship and is spiritually void of God.  We have a political system established by the Antichrist and a religious system established by the false prophet.  Babylon, both politically and religiously, has once again become great and not in a good way.  The spiritual adultery people are graving and lusting after will give them their fill of false hopes, false ideas, and a false sense of security.  This unfaithfulness toward God is voluntary and intentional.  People during the tribulation, like now, have a choice to commit or not commit adultery with the world and what it has to offer.  Every day we have choices we make that take us deeper with God or not.  Do not be swayed by the eloquent speech of those who have an outward appearance of godliness but inwardly they are void.  Do not we taken in by the cultural thoughts that lead to a lukewarm watered down Christian life.  Do you want to grow spiritually and have a deeper understanding of God’s word?  Spend as much time in it as what you spend watching sports, reading news, or surfing the internet.  You will find an amazing release from world influence and will see a maturing of your faith over and over again.  Watering down the gospel now points to a time in the near future where people will not even be aware of their adulterous acts against God.

6.t. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth

Revelation 6:3

When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

The red horse rider is given power by God to remove peace from the earth.  Is it possible that “the one who holds back lawlessness” has been removed from the earth?  “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. (2 Thessalonians 2:7).  Another verse in 1 Thessalonians 2:7 “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them”.  For the most part, we live in peace and prosperity in the western world.  There is little if anything we lack in terms of material needs and yet we see theft, murder, conniving, sexual immorality, and a lack of reverence for Jesus Christ.  This is all happening while the Holy Spirit is holding back the Lawless One.  When the Red Horse rider is permitted, all restraint appears to have been removed and with peace removed people act out their sinful nature – “People kill one another”.

There is a mystery of the removal of Christians prior to the opening of the “Seals”.  They have been taken away from earth and united with Christ in heaven – “the Rapture”.

This is truly a time no sane person wants to be part of and yet many people live as it will never happen during their time. “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes on them, as travail on a woman with child; and they shall not escape”.  They reject the need for forgiveness of their sin, the need for their redemption, the need of a savior, the need to repent, and the need to turn away from that which does not honor and glorify Jesus Christ in their lives.  People can do good things but if they are not directed to the honor and glory of Jesus Christ, they are self-serving, self-gratifying, and self-reliant.  These good things are nothing but filthy rags in the eyes of Jesus Christ for they are conceived and carried out apart from honor and glory to Him.  Relying on being good and doing good will not cover our sin for we are saved by grace, not works, lest in man boast.  When the start of breaking the seals has started the end is near and life on earth will begin a time of tribulation that no other generation has seen or will ever see again.  It is the beginning of the end, where God’s final judgment begins.  Come to Jesus now and live with a deep desire to humbly serve, honor, glorify, worship, follow, trust and obey Him, for He is worthy of all honor and glory and power.

6.m. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live;

Revelation 4:1  After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

Matthew 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Isaiah 55:1-3    “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.  Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

John 6:37     All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

John 7:37     On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Revelation 22:17    The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

Matthew 7:13   “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.

“a door standing open in heaven!”   Do you ever give thought to what it means to have the door open and an invitation to come?  The invitation is to come through the door.  The one giving the invitation is Jesus Christ.  The Son of God opens the door to forgiveness of sin, faith, hope, joy, healing, peace, rest, love, heaven, and eternity.  He may reach out and get your attention, tap you on your shoulder, whisper into your conscience, or with the sound of a trumpet, but He will not pull you through the door.  He gives the invitation to come and He is holding the door open for you to come in.  When He says come, it is with the same open invitation like follow Me, listen to Me, obey Me, trust in Me, love Me, have faith in Me.  None of these will be forced upon anyone.  These invitations are offers from Jesus Christ the Son of God and require a willing humble desire.  Do you ever wonder if we take His invitations serious?  Imagine getting an invitation from a celebrity and know they are waiting at the door, with it open and waiting for you.  Would you go?  Would you tell others?  Would you be excited?  Would you be happy to see this celebrity waiting at the door for you?  What value does this celebrity offer should you willing to accept their offer to come?

The truth is they can offer worldly things but nothing that will last for eternity.  They can offer no forgiveness of sin, faith, hope, joy, healing, peace, rest, love, heaven, and eternity.  And yet, we seem to think this is a very big deal should we receive their invitation, when in fact, we should be willingly, excitedly, humbly, and with reverence accepting the invitations from the Son of God.

Who is a God like you

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

“Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD,”

Psalms 108:1   My heart is steadfast, O God! I will sing and make melody with all my being!   Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!  I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.  For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!  That your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by your right hand and answer me!

 Micah 7:18-20     Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.  He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

 Ephesians 2:4-7     But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 Isaiah 51:2-11     For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.  “Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.  My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.  Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.  “Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings.

11  And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Who is like God? When we think of His love, grace, and mercy do we put it in context of “Our Sin”?  When we think of His anger, judgement, wrath do we think of it in the context of “Others Sins”?  One of these views results in joy, peace, safety, hope, strength, courage, rest, and praise to God.  The other view results in a life critical of others, complacent neglect because the inner self is not examined.  Praise to God does not come from looking at others sins in light of our perceived righteous actions, no it comes from knowing God, His holiness, and a deep understanding of our sinful nature.  We find this in and through His word.  God’s word is sharper than a two edged sword, able to divide the thought and intents of man.  Spend time in His word and let it speak to your heart, soul and mind. In and through it and His promises we find hope and peace.

In His presence

Psalms 100   Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!  Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!  Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.  Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!  For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalms 32:11     Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Psalms 66:1   Shout for joy to God, all the earth;

Psalms 66:4     All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.”

Psalms 95:1-2     Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!  Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

Isaiah 24:14-16     They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the LORD they shout from the west.  Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.  From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One.

Zephaniah 3:14     Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Luke 19:37     As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,

Psalms 67:4     Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.

Psalms 68:32     O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord,

God first. God only. God above self.  I read these verses and am reminded of the gene that was deleted in my birth.  I have joyfulness but if I were to sing, it certainly would not be joyful to anyone hearing it.  There were and are those who are gifted with this ability, however it is the heart, mind and sole that burst forth with joyfulness in what God has done, is doing, and will do.  Wise is the man that numbers his days and chooses to joyfully humble, honor, serve, follow and obey.  Our change is on the inside and is reflected on the outside.  Have a joyful day in our Lord and savior.

Psalm 96

Psalms 96:1  Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth!  Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.  Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!  For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.  For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.  Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.  Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!  Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!  Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!  Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”  Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;  let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy  before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Steven Cole commented on this Psalm: John Piper, who begins Let the Nations be Glad! ([Baker Academic], 2nd ed., p. 17) by saying, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.” He adds (ibid.), “The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God.”

He is right that worship is the goal of missions. But it’s also true that worship is the basis for missions. If we are not fervent worshipers of God, we have nothing to tell the nations. If we do not exude joy in God and His wonderful salvation, why should lost people be interested in what we have to say? So worship is both the goal of missions and the foundation for missions. If we’re not worshipers, we will be lousy witnesses.

Psalm 96 is a call to tell the nations about God’s glory and His great salvation. It follows on Psalm 95, which describes the stubborn hard-heartedness of Israel in the wilderness, in spite of God’s goodness towards them (C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David [Eerdmans], 4:336). It was the same hardhearted nation that later rejected her Messiah, leading to the gospel going out to the Gentiles (Matt. 21:43; Acts 13:46). So Psalms 95 & 96 form a pair, showing Israel’s rejection of the gospel and the subsequent missionary task of proclaiming the gospel to the Gentiles.