Tag: Great Power

53.f. Joshua 2:9-11

 

 

Jos 2:9-11  and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

 2 Kings 5:15     Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel

 Job 19:25    For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

 Ecclesiastes 8:12    Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him.

 Jeremiah 27:5     “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me.

 Nahum 2:10    Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts melt and knees tremble; anguish is in all loins; all faces grow pale!

 Isaiah 13:7    Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt.

Rahab’s faith is shown by this expression. What God willed she regarded as already done. To speak of the future as of a past already fulfilled, is faith. (Unknown)

God had already been speaking to Rahab in some way, and she had begun to believe in the superiority of Yahweh (the LORD), the God of Israel. God continues to speak in remarkable and unusual ways to unlikely people who are seemingly distant from the gospel. Rahab’s confession of faith included recognition that God had promised the land of Canaan to Israel and that He would fulfill that promise. She saw God’s supernatural work of causing terror among the Canaanites, leading them to be fainthearted.

In her confession of faith Rahab reported that the people of Jericho had heard of and believed the mighty works God did for Israel in freeing them from Egypt (dried up the water of the Red Sea) and defeating their enemies along the way (what you did to the two kings).

Many among the Canaanites believed that the God of Israel: Was greater than their Canaanite gods. Did miracles for His people, bringing them out of Egypt. Had recently enabled Israel to defeat kings. Had promised Israel the land of Canaan. Believing these things made many among the Canaanites lose all courage; yet few of them acted in faith as Rahab the harlot did. Rahab showed admirable faith. (Guzik)

“This confession of the true God is amazingly full, and argues considerable light and information. As if she had said, ‘I know your God to be omnipotent and omnipresent:’ and in consequence of this faith she hid the spies, and risked her own life in doing it.” (Clarke)

50.p. Wilderness – 14.v. “Stubbornness of this people”

 

 

Deu 9:22-29  “At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath. And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God and did not believe him or obey his voice. You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you. “So I lay prostrate before the LORD for these forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said he would destroy you. And I prayed to the LORD, ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

The name Taberah means “burning,” and in Numbers 11, when the people of Israel first left Mount Sinai to head towards Kadesh Barnea and the Promised Land, they immediately complained, and God sent fires of judgment against them at a place they called Taberah because of the burning fires of God’s judgment.

Exodus 17:7 describes the naming of a place called Massah, which means “tempted,” because there Israel provoked the LORD by doubting His loving care and concern for them in the wilderness.

Kibroth Hattaavah: The name means “graves of craving” and was the place where Israel longed for meat instead of manna, and God gave them meat. However, it became plagued in the mouths of those with greedy and discontent hearts .

When the LORD sent you from Kadesh Barnea: Moses briefly remembered the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea, where Israel doubted God’s love for them and refused to enter the Promised Land by faith – rebelling against the LORD.  Israel’s disobedience to God began with their unbelief. They did not believe God loved them and was mighty enough to bring them into the Promised Land. Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of God’s past faithfulness to them.  Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of God’s past faithfulness to the patriarchs. Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of concern for the glory of God’s own name and His reputation among the nations.  Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because they were God’s people.

Keeping these things in mind is also a way to refine our prayers. When we pray only for the things consistent with God’s glory, will we have our hearts set on the right things. (Guzik)

And it was not on this occasion only, viz., at Horeb, that Israel aroused the anger of the Lord its God by its sin, but it did so again and again at other places: at Tabeerah, by discontent at the guidance of God (Numbers 11:1-3); at Massah, by murmuring on account of the want of water (Exodus 17:1.); at the graves of lust, by longing for flesh (Numbers 11:4.); and at Kadesh-barnea by unbelief, of which they had already been reminded at Deuteronomy 1:26. The list is not arranged chronologically, but advances gradually from the smaller to the more serious forms of guilt. For Moses was seeking to sharpen the consciences of the people, and to impress upon them the fact that they had been rebellious against the Lord (see at Deuteronomy 9:7) from the very beginning, “from the day that I knew you.” (Keil)

49.i. Wilderness – 13.o. ““It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm”

Deuteronomy 2:24-25 ‘Rise up, set out on your journey and go over the Valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession, and contend with him in battle. This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

Jeremiah 27:5   “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me.

 Daniel 4:17   The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’

God worked behind the scenes in hardening the heart of Sihon, the King of the Amorites. It was right for God to do this because the Creator has the right to do whatever He pleases with His creatures. But it was also right because of the way God did it. God did not persuade a reluctant Sihon to act out against Israel; God simply let Sihon’s heart take the evil way it wanted to take. God did not change Sihon’s heart from good to bad but hardened it in its malice towards Israel. This explains why God hardened the heart of Sihon. God led Sihon into the destructive course that his heart desired so that the land of the Amorites became the possession and inheritance of Israel. (Guzik)

God tried his people, by forbidding them to meddle with the rich countries of Moab and Ammon. He gives them possession of the country of the Amorites. If we keep from what God forbids, we shall not lose by our obedience. The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; and he gives it to whom he pleases; but when there is no express direction, none can plead his grant for such proceedings. Though God assured the Israelites that the land should be their own, yet they must contend with the enemy. What God gives we must endeavour to get. What a new world did Israel now come into! Much more joyful will the change be, which holy souls will experience, when they remove out of the wilderness of this world to the better country, that is, the heavenly, to the city that has foundations. Let us, by reflecting upon God’s dealings with his people Israel, be led to meditate upon our years spent in vanity, through our transgressions. But happy are those whom Jesus has delivered from the wrath to come. To whom he hath given the earnest of his Spirit in their hearts. Their inheritance cannot be affected by revolutions of kingdoms, or changes in earthly possessions. (Henry)

42.j. “Let My People Go” – 10.g. Parting of the Red Sea

 

Exodus 14:21  Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.  And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,  clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.”  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.”  So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.  The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.

 Joshua 4:23   For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over,

 Nehemiah 9:11   And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters.

 Psalms 66:6   He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him,

 Psalms 78:13    He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.

 Psalms 106:7-10    Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.  Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power  He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry, and he led them through the deep as through a desert.  So he saved them from the hand of the foe and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.

Psalms 114:3-5  The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.  What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?

 Deuteronomy 3:22   You shall not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who fights for you.’

The dividing the Red sea was the terror of the Canaanites, Jos 2:9; the praise and triumph of the Israelites, Ps 114:3; 106:9; 136:13. It was a type of baptism, 1Co 10:1,2. Israel’s passage through it was typical of the conversion of souls, Isa 11:15; and the Egyptians being drowned in it was typical of the final ruin of all unrepenting sinners. God showed his almighty power, by opening a passage through the waters, some miles over. God can bring his people through the greatest difficulties, and force a way where he does not find it. It was an instance of his wonderful favour to his Israel. They went through the sea, they walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea. This was done, in order to encourage God’s people in all ages to trust him in the greatest straits. What cannot he do who did this? What will not he do for those that fear and love him, who did this for these murmuring, unbelieving Israelites? Then followed the just and righteous wrath of God upon his and his people’s enemies. The ruin of sinners is brought on by their own rage and presumption. They might have let Israel alone, and would not; now they would flee from the face of Israel, and cannot. Men will not be convinced, till it is too late, that those who meddle with God’s people, meddle to their own hurt. Moses was ordered to stretch out his hand over the sea; the waters returned, and overwhelmed all the host of the Egyptians. Pharaoh and his servants, who had hardened one another in sin, now fell together, not one escaped. The Israelites saw the Egyptians dead upon the sands. The sight very much affected them. While men see God’s works, and feel the benefit, they fear him and trust in him. How well were it for us, if we were always in as good a frame as sometimes! Behold the end to which a Christian may look forward. His enemies rage, and are mighty; but while he holds fast by God, he shall pass the waves in safety guarded by that very power of his Saviour, which shall come down on every spiritual foe. The enemies of his soul whom he hath seen to-day, he shall see no more for ever. (Henry)

 We understand that those in darkness will not believe in the parting of the Red Sea, or any other miracle, and we don’t really expect them to understand or believe in this.  What is more troubling is those who profess to believe and then try to prove there was a natural wind that could have happened and that God used this natural phenomenon to part a place in the Red Sea. They try to find a means to “naturally” explain a miracle of God. Doing so is to deny the awesome power of God over all of His creation. They actually dilute this with man’s ideas of how God could have done this and still obey their understanding of nature and science. God’s miracles do not need any other explanation than they were of God. Why do we have to know the mechanics of God’s all-powerful hand? The most intelligent person in all of mankind does not have the capacity to comprehend or understand the Power of God over His creation. 

There is a peace that passes all understanding for those who put their complete trust in the All-Powerful Hands of God!

36.o. ““I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless”

 

 

Genes9s 17:1  When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

 Genesis 18:14    Is anything too hard for the LORD?

 Deuteronomy 10:17    For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.

 Job 11:7   “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

 Psalms 115:3    Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

 Jeremiah 32:17    ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

 Daniel 4:35   all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

 Matthew 19:26    But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

 Ephesians 3:20    Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

 Philippians 4:13    I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

God’s first words to Abram made an introduction and a declaration of His being. By this name El Shaddai (God Almighty), God revealed His Person and character to Abram. After the proclamation of His name El Shaddai, God then told Abram what was expected of him. It was first revelation and then expectation. This communicates the principle that we can only do what God expects of us when we know who He is, and we know it in a full, personal, and real way. The word blameless means “whole”. God wanted all of Abram, a total commitment. (Guzik)

Note the revelation of God’s character, and of our consequent duty, which preceded the repetition of the covenant. ‘I am the Almighty God.’ The aspect of the divine nature, made prominent in each revelation of Himself, stands in close connection with the circumstances or mental state of the recipient. So when God appeared to Abram after the slaughter of the kings, He revealed Himself as ‘thy Shield’ with reference to the danger of renewed attack from the formidable powers which He had bearded and beaten. In the present case the stress is laid on God’s omnipotence, which points to doubts whispering in Abram’s heart, by reason of God’s delay in fulfilling His word, and of his own advancing years and failing strength. Paul brings out the meaning of the revelation when he glorifies the faith which it kindled anew in Abram, ‘being fully assured that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform’ {Romans 4:21}. Whenever our ‘faith has fallen asleep’ and we are ready to let go our hold of God’s ideal and settle down on the low levels of the actual, or to be somewhat ashamed of our aspirations after what seems so slow of realisation, or to elevate prudent calculations of probability above the daring enthusiasms of Christian hope, the ancient word, that breathed itself into Abram’s hushed heart, should speak new vigour into ours. ‘I am the Almighty God-take My power into all thy calculations, and reckon certainties with it for the chief factor. The one impossibility is that any word of Mine should fail. The one imprudence is to doubt My word.’

What follows in regard to our duty from that revelation? ‘Walk before Me, and be thou perfect.’ Enoch walked with God; that is, his whole active life was passed in communion with Him. The idea conveyed by ‘walking before God’ is not precisely the same. It is rather that of an active life, spent in continual consciousness of being ‘naked and opened before the eyes of Him to whom we have to give account.’ That thrilling consciousness will not paralyse nor terrify, if we feel that we are not only ‘ever in the great Task-Master’s eye,’ but that God’s omniscience is all-knowing love, and is brought closer to our hearts and clothed in gracious tenderness in Christ whose ‘eyes were as a flame of fire,’ but whose love is more ardent still, who knows us altogether, and pities and loves as perfectly as He knows.

What sort of life will spring from the double realisation of God’s almightiness, and of our being ever before Him? ‘Be thou perfect.’ Nothing short of immaculate conformity with His will can satisfy His gaze. His desire for us should be our aim and desire for ourselves. The standard of aspiration and effort cannot be lowered to meet weakness. This is nobility of life-to aim at the unattainable, and to be ever approximating towards our aim. It is more blessed to be smitten with the longing to win the unwon than to stagnate in ignoble contentment with partial attainments. Better to climb, with faces turned upwards to the inaccessible peak, than to lie at ease in the fat valleys! It is the salt of life to have our aims set fixedly towards ideal perfection, and to say, ‘I count not myself to have apprehended: but . . .I press toward the mark.’ Toward that mark is better than to any lower. Our moral perfection is, as it were, the reflection in humanity of the divine almightiness. To possess God is only possible on condition of yielding ourselves to Him. When we give ourselves up, in heart, mind, and will, to be His, He is ours. When we cease to be our own, we get God for ours. The self-centred man is poor; he neither owns himself nor anything besides, in any deep sense. When we lose ourselves in God, we find ourselves, and being content to have nothing, and not even to be our own masters or owners, we possess ourselves more truly than ever, and have God for our portion, and in Him ‘all things are ours.’ (MacLaren)

To walk before God is to set him always before us, and to think, and speak, and act in every thing as those that are always under his eye. It is to have a constant regard to his word as our rule, and to his glory as our end, in all our actions. If we neglect him or dissemble with him, we forfeit the benefit of our relation to him. (Benson)

34.w. “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”

 

Matthew 22:29  But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.

 Job 19:25-27    For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,  whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

 Psalms 16:9-11    Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.  You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

 Isaiah 26:19    Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

 Jeremiah 32:17    ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

 Genesis 18:14    Is anything too hard for the LORD?

 Acts 26:8    Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

 Mark 12:27   He is not God of the dead, but of the living.

In this world, death takes away one after another, and so ends all earthly hopes, joys, sorrows, and connections. How wretched are those who look for nothing better beyond the grave! If a person does not understand scripture they will not understand even less of faith in the Power of God. It is possible for a person to have much Bible knowledge, yet not fundamentally know the Scriptures. The Sadducees denied supernatural truths such as the existence of angelic beings and the bodily resurrection. They had a fundamental doubt about the power of God to do beyond what they could measure and understand in the material world; many today are like the Sadducees in this respect.

“If you knew the power of God, you would know that God is able to raise the dead…If you knew the Scriptures, you would know that God will raise the dead.” (Poole)

Know this, God will raise the dead, some to eternal life and some to eternal torment. To know Jesus Christ and have a relationship with Him, having faith in Him, relying on Him, trusting Him, following Him, obeying Him, is much different than knowing of Him and putting your trust in the knowledge of Him rather than knowing Him. Resurrection from the dead will happen just as eternal judgment will happen. Having a knowing relationship with Jesus Christ assures the promise of eternal life just as not knowing or having a relationship with Him promises eternal torment. A person intentionally chooses to have this trusting and reliant relationship with Jesus or not. This choice will result in your eternal destiny. Every person is without excuse for the whole and entire Word of God proclaims this from beginning to end.

27.l. “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”

 

Ephesians 3:20  Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

 Jeremiah 32:17   ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

 Daniel 3:17   If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

 Jeremiah 32:27   “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?

 Isaiah 55:7   let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

 John 10:29-30   My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

 John 10:10   The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

“Exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” “Great power”, “Nothing is too hard for You”, “Greater than all”, “Is anything too hard for Me” – Our God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.  He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and always present everywhere. He created all there is. He is steadfast in His love for us.  He has given us great and precious promises.  He gave His Son as a ransom for our sins. He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within each and everyone who believes in, trusts in, relies upon, and clings to Jesus Christ. He has reached out to His creation through what can be seen in creation, His written Word, Jesus Christ, and has written it on our heart.  He is all truth and in Him is no falseness. Heaven awaits those who answer His voice and are saved.  Hell awaits those who reject His calling.  

Have you ever just thought about what is stated in “He can do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think.”  The toughest problem with the most confusing issues, the worst situation without any hope, the worst hateful person, the unfathomable, the spiritual dimension in human life, the depths of the whole universe, and His grace, mercy, and love, are hard to understand yet alone influence, and God knows more than we can think and more than we can ask.  He is limitless. This is our Heavenly Father, redeemer, refuge, fortress, and our place of rest.  Why is there worry or fear in our hearts and minds about certain things?  What is impossible for man is not with God. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think!  Don’t let your hearts be troubled – trust God!  Don’t worry – trust God! Don’t fear – trust God! He is more than able to handle whatever relationship, job, health, or other pressing issue or problem we have and see no way out of.

26.c. “It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power”

Jeremiah 32:17 ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror. And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them.

How do we understand and look at God?  Do we see Him, as Jeremiah did, “nothing is too hard for You”, or as something less? The One who created all there is is not limited.  Our understanding and belief are limited but not God. Since God created everything there is, is there anything more powerful than the Creator? Jeremiah is saying, confessing belief in, and acknowledging the unlimited power and control of God.  Jeremiah knows, beyond just believing, that God sees all of what mankind does, thinks, and will do. He knows God is a just rewarder of those who walk in His ways and a righteous judge of those who does not.  

Living to honor and glorify God is as much a choice as not doing so.  Living for self and self-honor and glory will not and does not honor and glorify the Creator of all there is. It always comes down to an intentional choice.  Honor and glory for God through believing in, trusting in, relying on, clinging to, obeying, following, and living for Jesus Christ.  Anything short of striving for this will not honor or glorify the One and only worthy of it.  The One who holds the keys to eternity in heaven and hell. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

13.v. “Worship the King, the Lord of hosts”

Zechariah 14:16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.

Revelation 11:15-17    Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”  And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,  saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.

Romans 11:26    And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

The millennium time is a bit of a mystery.  A thousand-year reign with Christ as King.  A time of peace and no wars.  A time of being in the physical presence of Jesus Christ.  Do you ever wonder why there would be people who do not want to or see the need to worship Jesus during this time?  Is it possible that we are no different?  Do we come to Jesus when convenient and other times we just can’t find the time or make the time?  What drives us to come to Him and worship Him?  Is it forgiveness of sin? Is it His sacrifice for us?  Is it His promise of eternity? Is it His blessings on the work of our hands?  Is it the blessings of our family?  Is it the blessings of the indwelling Holy Spirit? Is it a peace that passes all understanding?  Is it comfort in the storm? Is it courage in the face of whatever we are battling?  Is it the understanding of grace, mercy, and love He showered on us?  Is it the promise that He will never leave or forsake us?  Is it …..?  The point is that when we seek and desire Him with all of our heart, mind, and soul, and strength, worship will flow from our heart and mind and soul for Him.  When we give the world any place in our heart, mind, and soul it seems to take the worship of Jesus Christ captive and releases our self-centered, self-reliant, self-serving desires.  Take a look at your worship of Jesus Christ and place it first above all else.

13.c. “I am very angry with the nations that feel secure.”

Zachariah 1:14  Then the angel who was speaking to me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure.

Isaiah 47:7-9     You said, “I shall be mistress forever,” so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end.  Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children”:  These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.

Amos 6:1    “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,

Revelation 18:7-8    As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’  For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

Living at rest, secure, and in luxury has a way of leading people down paths of neglect and complacency.  It has a way of blinding us from things of God, the need for God, and mindful of how to live for Jesus Christ. Jesus is worthy of how we live, think, and act all of the time.  It is hard sometimes because we get comfortable with life when things are at ease.  We seem to gravitate toward thinking that our security is in the ease and luxury of life.  No matter how many times we are reminded in God’s word that life will have no meaning, no satisfaction, to peace, no joy, or no lasting purpose apart from Jesus Christ and humbly serving, honoring, following, praising, worshiping, obeying, and trusting Him.  God has demonstrated over and over again He will not sit silent.  He will not sit idle.  He will call everyone into account.  Be mindful of what your life was like prior to February 2020.  The economy was strong, unemployment was low, and people were busy buying and selling.  There was not much to worry about other than the political mudslinging.  However, there were other things in the wind as well.  More and more educators, government officials, and media editors were becoming bolder and bolder in their denial and defiance of things of God.  Sitting idly by, not speaking up, and living as though this has no effect on a society that was founded on Christian principles is not God-honoring. You have to wonder how far society has to fall away and turn away from God before He will intervene.  He is all-powerful and will call into account people and nations who defy and deny Jesus Christ.  Look around, do you think all of this fear, hatred, and confusion, just happens on its own?  No, it does not.  God is in control and is at the root of all of this, calling all of mankind to humbly repent and turn back to Him.