Tag: officials

11.u. “There is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.”

Nahum 3:1  Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder— no end to the prey! The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot! Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over the bodies! And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms.

Ezekiel 22:2-3   “And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to her all her abominations.  You shall say, Thus says the Lord GOD: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself!

Ezekiel 24:6-9    “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose corrosion is in it, and whose corrosion has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece, without making any choice.  For the blood she has shed is in her midst; she put it on the bare rock; she did not pour it out on the ground to cover it with dust.  To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance, I have set on the bare rock the blood she has shed, that it may not be covered.  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great.

Habakkuk 2:12    “Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!

Zephaniah 3:1-3     Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city!  She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the LORD; she does not draw near to her God.  Her officials within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning.

  Isaiah 42:24     Who gave up Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?

Hosea 4:2     there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Nahum, proclaiming God’s Word against Nineveh, reveals the heart and soul of that city and the people who lead it.  Lies and plunder and killing are used to charm their people into thinking what they are doing are good, right, and without consequences.  Nineveh is not alone in these acts of defiance as recorded over and over again in scripture.  When God is removed from the hearts and minds of young and old children and adults their hearts will turn to what seems right in their own eyes.  When God is removed who is to say what they are doing is wrong when the masses are charmed into joining in and believing the enticements of their lies.  Their satisfaction and sense of well being come from blindly following their leaders.   When the fear of God and worship of Him is willfully abandoned false hopes and self-assurance/reliance will take firm root.  No warnings seem to have been listened too.  No plead to repent and turn away from their sinful actions will be listened too.  No urgent need will be seen.  God is just and His justice is always right and true.  His anger, wrath, and judgment will not be withheld.  Our responsibility as children of God is to be proclaimers of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  God’s Word will never return void.  Sometimes it will be used by the Holy Spirit to convict a person into repentance and the love and worship of God, and sadly it will also harden a heart into hate and defiance of God.  The point is we are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ and proclaim the Love of Jesus Christ.  We may never see the fruit of our discipleship but fruit there will be.  Currently, we can see some of the moral character of our nation crumbling before our very eyes.  When more and more people demand God be removed from school, work, and government what can we expect?  Likewise, when more and more Christians proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ there is hope and we can expect God to do mighty work in our country.

3.u. I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God.

Ezra 9:1 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.” As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, saying:

“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.

“And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”

These passages just punch you deep into your heart.  Ezra sees what has happened to that which should have been a great new beginning and ended up in being a great embarrassment.  Think about this from what Ezra knew.  He saw the hand of God change the heart of the King of the nation that had subdued them and kept them prisoners for over 70 years.  The Babylonians destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and made many salves.  After 70 years God changed the heart of King Cyrus and he gave permission and support for the Israelites to go back to their home country and rebuild their temple.  Ezra is told of a great departing from God by the people.  They chose to ignore what God had said about keeping themselves separated from the influence of other nations and not to seek their peace or prosperity.  They were faithless and the officials and chief men were the ones who had departed from God’s expectations.

We don’t have to look very deep into our culture to see the erosion and departure from living in a way to honor, glorify, worship, follow, trust, and obey God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.  This lukewarm complacent act of obedience we call “being a Christian” is not what is expected of us. We so easily take paths that seem right but are not, because we are void of God’s word in our heart, soul, and mind.  These paths promise us satisfaction, peace, prosperity, and purpose but in the end, always leave us still wanting and void of purpose and meaning for our life.  There is no replacement for God’s word, though many try to fill in their lives with worldly lies of completeness.

It is one thing to follow blindly after worldly things and another to choose to neglect God’s word.  We will be held accountable for our life on this side of eternity.  We get to choose what fills our heart, mind, and soul.  We get to choose how we live and in this choice, we either serve self or follow, trust and obey God.  Make an intentional choice and commitment today.