My Utmost for His Highest Daily Devotional for Sunday, 17 December 2017 "Redemption Creates The Need It Satisfies" by Oswald Chambers
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him. (1 CORINTHIANS 2:14)
The Gospel of God creates a sense of need of the Gospel. Paul says — “If our gospel be hid, it is hid” — to those who are blackguards? No, “to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.” The majority of people have their morality well within their own grasp, they have no sense of need of the gospel. It is God Who creates the need of which no human being is conscious until He manifests Himself. Jesus said — “Ask, and it shall be given you,” but God cannot give until a man asks. It is not that He withholds, but that that is the way He has constituted things on the basis of Redemption. By means of our asking, God gets processes into work whereby He creates the thing that is not in existence until we do ask. The inner reality of Redemption is that it creates all the time. As the Redemption creates the life of God in us, so it creates the things belonging to that life. Nothing can satisfy the need but that which created the need. This is the meaning of Redemption — it creates and it satisfies.
“I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” We preach our own experiences and people are interested, but no sense of need is awakened by it. If once Jesus Christ is lifted up, the Spirit of God will create a conscious need of Him. Behind the preaching of the Gospel is the creative Redemption of God at work in the souls of men. It is never personal testimony that saves men. “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (From My Utmost for His Highest Classic Edition)
Bible in One Year: Amos 7-9; Revelation 8
Amos 7:1 Here is what Adonai Elohim showed me: he was forming a swarm of locusts as the late crop was starting to come up, the late crop after the hay had been cut to pay the king’s tribute. 2 While they were finishing up eating all the vegetation in the land, I said,
“Adonai Elohim, forgive — please!
How will tiny Ya‘akov survive?”
3 So Adonai changed his mind about this. “It won’t happen,” Adonai said.
4 Next Adonai Elohim showed me this: Adonai Elohim was summoning a blazing fire to consume the great abyss, and it would have devoured the land too. 5 But I said,
“Adonai Elohim, stop — please!
How will tiny Ya‘akov survive?”
6 Adonai changed his mind about it. “This too won’t happen,” said Adonai Elohim.
7 Then he showed me this: Adonai was standing by a wall made with a plumbline, and he had a plumbline in his hand. 8 Adonai asked me, “‘Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A plumbline.” Then Adonai said,
“I am going to put a plumbline in
among my people Isra’el;
I will never again overlook their offenses.
9 The high places of Yitz’chak will be desolate,
Isra’el’s sanctuaries will be destroyed,
and I will attack the house
of Yarov‘am with the sword.”
10 Then Amatzyah the priest of Beit-El sent this message to Yarov‘am king of Isra’el, “‘Amos is conspiring against you there among the people of Isra’el, and the land can’t bear all that he’s saying. 11 For ‘Amos says: ‘Yarov‘am will die by the sword, and Isra’el will be led away from their land into exile.’” 12 Amatzyah also said to ‘Amos, “Go away, seer! Go back to the land of Y’hudah! Earn your living there; and prophesy there; 13 but don’t prophesy any more at Beit-El; for this is the king’s sanctuary, a royal temple.”
14 ‘Amos gave this answer to Amatzyah: “I am not trained as a prophet, and I’m not one of the guild prophets — I own sheep and grow figs. 15 But Adonai took me away from following the flock, and Adonai said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Isra’el.’ 16 So now, hear what Adonai says: ‘You say, “Don’t prophesy against Isra’el, don’t lecture the people of Yitz’chak.”’ 17 Therefore Adonai says this:
‘Your wife will become a whore in the city,
your sons and daughters will die by the sword,
your land will be parcelled out with a measuring line,
you yourself will die in an unclean land,
and Isra’el will certainly be exiled from their land.’”
8:1 Here is what Adonai Elohim showed me: there in front of me was a basket of summer fruit. 2 He asked, “‘Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A basket of summer [Amos 8:2 Hebrew: kayitz] fruit.” Then Adonai said to me,
“The end [Amos 8:2 Hebrew: ketz] has come for my people,
I will never again overlook their offenses.
3 When that time comes, the songs in the temple
will be wailings,” says Adonai Elohim.
“There will be many dead bodies;
everywhere silence will reign.”
4 Listen, you who swallow the needy
and destroy the poor of the land!
5 You say, “When will Rosh-Hodesh be over,
so we can market our grain?
and Shabbat, so we can sell wheat?”
You measure the grain in a small eifah,
but the silver in heavy shekels,
fixing the scales, so that you can cheat,
6 buying the needy for money
and the poor for a pair of shoes,
and sweeping up the refuse of the wheat to sell!”
7 Adonai swears by Ya‘akov’s pride,
“I will forget none of their deeds, ever.
8 Won’t the land tremble for this,
and everyone mourn, who lives in the land?
It will all rise, just like the Nile,
be in turmoil and subside, like the Nile in Egypt.
9 “When that time comes,” says Adonai Elohim,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your festivals into mourning
and all your songs into wailing;
I will make you all put sackcloth around your waists
and shave your heads bald in grief.
I will make it like mourning for an only son
and its end like a bitter day.
11 “The time is coming,” says Adonai Elohim,
“when I will send famine over the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of Adonai.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and from north to east, running back and forth,
seeking the word of Adonai;
but they will not find it.
13 When that time comes, young women and men
will faint from thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Shomron,
who say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives,’
and, ‘As the way of Be’er-Sheva lives’ —
they will fall and never get up again.”
9:1 I saw Adonai standing beside the altar, and he said,
“Strike the tops of the columns until the thresholds shake!
Smash them to pieces on the heads of all the people!
Those who remain I will kill with the sword;
not one of them will succeed in fleeing,
not one of them will escape.
2 If they dig down to Sh’ol,
my hand will haul them out;
if they climb up to heaven,
I will bring them down.
3 If they hide themselves on the top of the Karmel,
I will search them out and capture them there;
If they hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
I will order the serpent to bite them there.
4 If their enemies herd them into exile,
I will order the sword to kill them there.
I will fix my gaze on them
for harm and not for good.”
5 For Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot
is the one who can melt the earth with his touch,
and make all who live on it mourn.
It will all rise, just like the Nile,
and then subside, like the Nile in Egypt.
6 He builds his upper rooms in heaven
and establishes his sky-vault over the earth.
He summons the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the earth.
Adonai is his name.
7 “People of Isra’el, are you any different
from the Ethiopians to me?” asks Adonai.
“True, I brought Isra’el up from Egypt,
but I also brought the P’lishtim from Kaftor,
and Aram from Kir.
8 Look, the eyes of Adonai Elohim
are on the sinful kingdom.
I will wipe it off the face of the earth,
yet I will not completely destroy
the house of Ya‘akov,” says Adonai.
9 “For when I give the order,
I will shake the house of Isra’el,
there among all the Goyim,
as one shakes with a sieve,
letting no grain fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people
who say, ‘Disaster will never overtake us
or confront us,’ will die by the sword.
11 “When that day comes, I will raise up
the fallen sukkah of David.
I will close up its gaps, raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as it used to be,
12 so that Isra’el can possess
what is left of Edom
and of all the nations bearing my name,”
says Adonai, who is doing this.
13 “The days will come,” says Adonai,
“when the plowman will overtake the reaper
and the one treading grapes the one sowing seed.
Sweet wine will drip down the mountains,
and all the hills will flow with it.
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Isra’el;
they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities;
they will plant vineyards and drink their wine,
cultivate gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their own soil,
no more to be uprooted
from their land, which I gave them,”
says Adonai your God.
Revelation 8:1 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for what seemed like half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven shofars. 3 Another angel came and stood at the altar with a gold incense-bowl, and he was given a large quantity of incense to add to the prayers of all God’s people 4 on the gold altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of God’s people from the hand of the angel before God. 5 Then the angel took the incense-bowl, filled it with fire from the altar and threw it down onto the earth; and there followed peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
6 Now the seven angels with the seven shofars prepared to sound them.
7 The first one sounded his shofar; and there came hail and fire mingled with blood, and it was thrown down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8 The second angel sounded his shofar, and what looked like an enormous blazing mountain was hurled into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel sounded his shofar; and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky onto a third of the rivers and onto the springs of water. 11 The name of the star was “Bitterness,” and a third of the water became bitter, and many people died from the water that had been turned bitter.
12 The fourth angel sounded his shofar; and a third of the sun was struck, also a third of the moon and a third of the stars; so that a third of them were darkened, the day had a third less light, and the night likewise.
13 Then I looked, and I heard a lone eagle give a loud cry, as it flew in mid-heaven, “Woe! Woe! Woe to the people living on earth, because of the remaining blasts from the three angels who have yet to sound their shofars!”
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WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERSAlways keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally. (from The Moral Foundations of Life, 721 R)
My Utmost for His Highest Daily Devotional for Saturday, 16 December 2017 "Wrestling Before God" by Oswald Chambers
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God…praying always…(EPHESIANS 6:13,18)
The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. (from Biblical Ethics, 99 R)
---Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God…praying always…(EPHESIANS 6:13,18)
You have to wrestle against the things that prevent you from getting to God, and you wrestle in prayer for other souls; but never say that you wrestle with God in prayer, it is scripturally untrue. If you do wrestle with God, you will be crippled all the rest of your life. If, when God comes in some way you do not want, you take hold of Him as Jacob did and wrestle with Him, you compel Him to put you out of joint. Don’t be a hirpler* in God’s ways, but be one who wrestles before God with things, becoming more than conqueror through Him. Wrestling before God tells in His Kingdom. If you ask me to pray for you and I am not complete in Christ, I may pray but it avails nothing; but if I am complete in Christ my prayer prevails all the time. Prayer is only effective when there is completeness — “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God.”
Always distinguish between God’s order and His permissive will, i.e., His providential purpose towards us. God’s order is unchangeable; His permissive will is that with which we must wrestle before Him. It is our reaction to the permissive will of God that enables us to get at His order. “All things work together for good to them that love God” — to those who remain true to God’s order, to His calling in Christ Jesus. God’s permissive will is the means whereby His sons and daughters are to be manifested. We are not to be like jelly-fish saying — “It’s the Lord’s will.” We have not to put up a fight before God, not to wrestle with God, but to wrestle before God with things.Beware of squatting lazily before God instead of putting up a glorious fight so that you may lay hold of His strength.
*hirpler: one who walks with a limp or hobble. (From My Utmost for His Highest Classic Edition)
Bible in One Year: Amos 4-6; Revelation 7
Amos 4:1 “Listen, you [lovely] cows of Bashan,
who live on Mount Shomron,
who oppress the poor and grind down the needy,
who say to their husbands, ‘Bring something to drink’:
2 Adonai Elohim has sworn by his holiness
that your time is surely coming.
“You will be dragged away with hooks,
the last of you with fishhooks.
3 You will leave through breaks in the wall,
each woman right behind the next,
and be sent off to Harmonah,” says Adonai.
4 “Come to Beit-El, and commit crimes;
to Gilgal, and commit more crimes!
Bring your sacrifices in the morning
and your tithes after three days;
5 burn leavened bread as a thank offering;
brag in public about your voluntary offerings;
because that’s what you love to do, Isra’el!”
says Adonai Elohim.
6 “I made your teeth clean of food in all your cities,
left you nothing to eat in all your villages;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.
7 “I withheld the rain from you
three months before the harvest.
I made it rain on one city
and not on another —
one field had rain,
while another with no rain dried up;
8 from two or three cities they would stagger to one city
for water to drink, but there wasn’t enough;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.
9 “I struck your crops with hot winds and blight,
your many gardens and vineyards;
the cutter-worms devoured
your fig and olive trees;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.
10 “I sent a plague on you like that of Egypt,
put your young men to death with the sword;
let your horses be captured;
and filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.
11 “I overthrew some of you,
as when God overthrew S’dom and ‘Amora;
you were like a burning stick snatched from the fire;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.
12 “This is why I will deal with you in this way, Isra’el;
and because I will deal with you in this way,
prepare to meet your God, Isra’el —
13 him who forms mountains and creates wind,
who declares to humankind his thoughts,
who turns the morning to darkness
and strides on the heights of the earth —
Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot is his name.”
5:1 Hear this word that I take up against you
in lament, house of Isra’el:
2 The virgin of Isra’el has fallen;
she will not rise again.
She lies abandoned on her own soil
with no one to lift her up.
3 For thus says Adonai Elohim:
“The city from which a thousand marched
will be left with a hundred,
and the one from which a hundred marched
will be left with ten
from the house of Isra’el.”
4 For here is what Adonai says
to the house of Isra’el:
“If you seek me, you will survive;
5 but don’t seek Beit-El, or enter Gilgal
or pass on into Be’er-Sheva;
for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,
and Beit-El will come to nothing.”
6 If you seek Adonai, you will survive.
Otherwise, he will break out against
the house of Yosef like fire,
devouring Beit-El,
with no one to quench the flames.
7 You who turn justice to bitter wormwood
and throw righteousness to the ground!
8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who brings deathlike shadows over the morning,
who darkens the day into night,
who calls for the water in the sea
and with it floods the earth —
Adonai is his name —
9 he flashes destruction on the strong,
so that destruction overcomes the fortress.
10 They hate anyone promoting justice
at the city gate,
they detest anyone who speaks the truth.
11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor
and extort from them levies of grain;
although you have built houses of cut stone,
you will not live in them;
and though you have planted pleasant vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know how numerous are your crimes
and how outrageous your sins —
bullying the innocent, extorting ransoms
pushing the poor aside at the gate.
13 At times like these a prudent person stays silent,
for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, so that you will survive.
Then Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot will be with you,
as you say he is.
15 Hate evil, love good, and uphold justice at the gate.
Maybe Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot
will take pity on the survivors of Yosef.
16 Therefore thus says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, Adonai:
“In all public squares there will be lamentation,
in all the streets they will cry, ‘Oh, no!’
They will summon farmers to mourn
and professional mourners to wail.
17 There will be wailing in every vineyard,
for I will pass through among you,” says Adonai.
18 Woe to you who want the Day of Adonai!
Why do you want it, this Day of Adonai?
It is darkness, not light;
19 as if someone were to run from a lion,
just to be met by a bear;
as if he entered a house, put his hand on the wall,
just to be bitten by a snake.
20 Won’t the Day of Adonai be darkness, not light,
completely dark, with no brightness at all?
21 “I hate, I utterly loathe your festivals;
I take no pleasure in your solemn assemblies.
22 If you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
nor will I consider the peace offerings
of your stall-fed cattle.
23 Spare me the noise of your songs!
I don’t want to hear the strumming of your lutes!
24 Instead, let justice well up like water,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
in the desert forty years, house of Isra’el?
26 No, but now you will bear Sikkut as your king
and Kiyun, your images,
the star of your god, which you made for yourselves;
27 as I exile you beyond Dammesek,”
says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot —
that is his name.
6:1 Woe to those living at ease in Tziyon
and to those who feel complacent on the hills of Shomron,
renowned men in this foremost of nations,
to whom the rest of Isra’el come.
2 Travel to Kalneh and see;
from there go on to Hamat the great;
then go down to Gat of the P’lishtim.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Is their territory larger than yours?
3 You put off all thought of the evil day
but hasten the reign of violence.
4 You lie on beds of ivory
and lounge sprawled out on your couches,
dining on meat from lambs in the flock
and from calves fattened in stalls.
5 You make up wild songs at your parties,
playing the lute and inventing other instruments —
[imagining that you’re] like David!
6 You drink wine by the bowlful
and anoint yourselves with the finest oils,
but feel no grief at the ruin of Yosef.
7 Therefore now they will be the first
to go into exile with those being exiled,
and the revelry of those who lounged,
sprawling, will pass away.
8 “Adonai Elohim swears by himself,”
says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot,
“I detest that Ya‘akov is so proud,
and I hate his palaces.
I will hand over the city,
along with everything in it.”
9 When that day comes, if ten men remain in one house, they will die. 10 And if a [dead] man’s uncle, coming to bring the corpse out of the house and burn it, finds a survivor hidden in the inmost recesses of the house and asks, “Is anyone else there with you?” — then, when he receives the answer, “No,” he will say, “Don’t say any more, because we mustn’t mention the name of Adonai.”
11 For when Adonai gives the order,
great houses will be shattered
and small houses reduced to rubble.
12 Do horses run on rock?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into bitter wormwood.
13 You take pleasure in worthless things.
You think your power comes from your own strength.
14 “But I will raise up a nation against you, house of Isra’el,” says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, “and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hamat to the Vadi of the ‘Aravah.”
Revelation 7:1 After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the land, on the sea or on any tree. 2 I saw another angel coming up from the east with a seal from the living God, and he shouted to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea, 3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads!” 4 I heard how many were sealed — 144,000 from every tribe of the people of Isra’el:
5 From the tribe of Y’hudah 12,000 were sealed
from the tribe of Re’uven 12,000
from the tribe of Gad, 12,000
6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000
from the tribe of Naftali 12,000
from the tribe of M’nasheh 12,000
7 from the tribe of Shim‘on 12,000
from the tribe of Levi 12,000
from the tribe of Yissakhar 12,000
8 from the tribe of Z’vulun 12,000
from the tribe of Yosef 12,000
from the tribe of Binyamin 12,000
9 After this, I looked; and there before me was a huge crowd, too large for anyone to count, from every nation, tribe, people and language. They were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands; 10 and they shouted,
“Victory to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb!”
11 All the angels stood around the throne, the elders and the four living beings; they fell face down before the throne and worshipped God, saying,
12 “Amen!
“Praise and glory, wisdom and thanks,
honor and power and strength
belong to our God forever and ever!
“Amen!”
13 One of the elders asked me, “These people dressed in white robes — who are they, and where are they from?” 14 “Sir,” I answered, “you know.” Then he told me, “These are the people who have come out of the Great Persecution. They have washed their robes and made them white with the blood of the Lamb. 15 That is why they are before God’s throne.
“Day and night they serve him in his Temple;
and the One who sits on the throne
will put his Sh’khinah upon them.
16 “They will never again be hungry,
they will never again be thirsty,
the sun will not beat down on them,
nor will any burning heat.[Revelation 7:16 Isaiah 49:10]
17 “For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will shepherd them, will lead them
to springs of living water,[Revelation 7:17 Isaiah 49:10; Jeremiah 2:13; Ezekiel 34:23; Psalm 23:1–2]
and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”[Revelation 7:17 Isaiah 25:8]
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WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERSThe attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. (from Biblical Ethics, 99 R)
My Utmost for His Highest Daily Devotional for Friday 15 December 2017 "Approved Unto God" by Oswald Chambers
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 TIMOTHY 2:15)
If you cannot express yourself on any subject, struggle until you can. If you do not, someone will be the poorer all the days of his life. Struggle to re-express some truth of God to yourself, and God will use that expression to someone else. Go through the winepress of God where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle to get expression experimentally, then there will come a time when that expression will become the very wine of strengthening to someone else; but if you say lazily — “I am not going to struggle to express this thing for myself, I will borrow what I say,” the expression will not only be of no use to you, but of no use to anyone. Try to re-state to yourself what you feel implicitly to be God’s truth, and you give God a chance to pass it on to someone else through you.
Always make a practice of provoking your own mind to think out what it accepts easily. Our position is not ours until we make it ours by suffering. The author who benefits you most is not the one who tells you something you did not know before, but the one who gives expression to the truth that has been struggling for utterance in you. (From My Utmost for His Highest Classic Edition)
Bible in One Year: Amos 1-3; Revelation 6
Amos 1:1 The words of ‘Amos, one of the sheep owners in T’koa, which he saw concerning Isra’el in the days of ‘Uziyah king of Y’hudah and Yarov‘am the son of Yo’ash, king of Isra’el, two years before the earthquake; 2 he said:
Adonai is roaring from Tziyon
thundering from Yerushalayim;
the shepherds’ pastures will mourn,
and Mount Karmel’s summit will wither.
3 Here is what Adonai says:
“For Dammesek’s three crimes,
no, four — I will not reverse it —
because they threshed Gil‘ad
with an iron-spiked threshing-sledge;
4 I will send fire to the house of Haza’el,
and it will consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.
5 I will break the bars of Dammesek’s gates.
I will cut off the inhabitants from Bik‘at-Aven,
and him who holds the scepter from Beit-‘Eden.
Then the people of Aram will go into exile
in Kir,” says Adonai.
6 Here is what Adonai says:
“For ‘Azah’s three crimes,
no, four — I will not reverse it —
because they exiled a whole population
and handed them over to Edom;
7 I will send fire to the wall of ‘Azah,
and it will consume its palaces.
8 I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod,
and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon.
I will turn my hand against ‘Ekron,
and the rest of the P’lishtim will perish,”
says Adonai, God.
9 Here is what Adonai says:
“For Tzor’s three crimes,
no, four — I will not reverse it —
because they exiled a whole population to Edom
and did not remember the covenant with kinsmen;
10 I will send fire to the wall of Tzor,
and it will consume its palaces.”
11 Here is what Adonai says:
“For Edom’s three crimes,
no, four — I will not reverse it —
because with sword he pursued his kinsman
and threw aside all pity,
constantly nursing his anger,
forever fomenting his fury;
12 I will send fire on Teman,
and it will consume the palaces of Botzrah.”
13 Here is what Adonai says:
“For the people of ‘Amon’s three crimes,
no, four — I will not reverse it —
because they ripped apart pregnant women
just to expand their territory,
14 I will set fire to the wall of Rabbah,
and it will consume its palaces
amid shouts on the day of battle,
amid a storm on the day of the whirlwind.
15 Their king will go into exile,
he and his princes together,” says Adonai.
2:1 Here is what Adonai says:
“For Mo’av’s three crimes,
no, four — I will not reverse it —
because he burned the bones of the king of Edom,
turning them into lime;
2 I will send fire on Mo’av,
and it will consume the palaces of K’riot.
Mo’av will die with turmoil and shouting,
along with the sound of the shofar.
3 I will cut off the judge from among them
and kill all his princes with him,” says Adonai.
4 Here is what Adonai says:
“For Y’hudah’s three crimes,
no, four — I will not reverse it —
because they rejected Adonai’s Torah
and haven’t observed his laws,
and their lies caused them to fall into error
and live the way their ancestors did;
5 I will send fire on Y’hudah,
and it will consume the palaces of Yerushalayim.
6 Here is what Adonai says:
“For Isra’el’s three crimes,
no, four — I will not reverse it —
because they sell the upright for silver
and the poor for a pair of shoes,
7 grinding the heads of the poor in the dust
and pushing the lowly out of the way;
father and son sleep with the same girl,
profaning my holy name;
8 lying down beside any altar
on clothes taken in pledge;
drinking wine in the house of their God
bought with fines they imposed.
9 “I destroyed the Emori before them;
though tall as cedars and strong as oaks,
I destroyed their fruit above
and their root below.
10 More than that, I brought you up from Egypt,
led you forty years in the desert,
so that you could have the Emori’s land.
11 I raised up some of your sons to be prophets,
other young men of yours to be n’zirim.
People of Isra’el!
Isn’t that true?” asks Adonai.
12 But you gave the n’zirim wine to drink
and ordered the prophets, ‘Don’t prophesy!’
13 “Enough! I will make all this crush you,
just as a cart overloaded with grain
crushes what’s under it.
14 Even the swift won’t be able to flee;
the strong won’t be able to use their strength,
the warriors won’t save themselves.
15 Archers won’t be able to stand,
the fastest runners won’t save themselves,
those on horses won’t save themselves.
16 On that day even the bravest warriors
will throw off their weapons and flee,” says Adonai.
3:1 “Listen to this word which Adonai has spoken against you, people of Isra’el, against the entire family that I brought up from the land of Egypt:
2 “Of all the families on earth,
only you have I intimately known.
This is why I will punish you
for all your crimes.”
3 Do two people travel together
without having so agreed?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest
when it has no prey?
Does a young lion growl in his lair
if it has caught nothing?
5 Does a bird get caught in a trap on the ground
if it hasn’t been baited?
Does a trap spring up from the ground
when it has taken nothing?
6 When the shofar is blown in the city,
don’t the people tremble?
Can disaster befall a city
without Adonai’s having done it?
7 Adonai, God, does nothing without
revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared. Who will not fear?
Adonai, God, has spoken. Who will not prophesy?
9 “Proclaim it on the palaces in Ashdod
and on the palaces in the land of Egypt; say:
‘Assemble yourselves on the hills of Shomron!
See what great tumult is seething within it,
how much oppression is being done there.’
10 For they don’t know how to do right,” says Adonai.
“They store up violence and robbery in their palaces.”
11 Therefore, here is what Adonai Elohim says:
“An enemy will surround the land.
He will strip you of your strength,
and plunder your palaces.”
12 This is what Adonai says:
13 “As a shepherd rescues from the mouth of a lion
a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear;
so the people of Isra’el in Shomron will be rescued,
huddled under cushions in the corners of their beds.
“Hear, and testify against the house of Ya‘akov,”
says Adonai Elohim Elohei-Tzva’ot.
14 “For when I punish Isra’el’s crimes,
I will also punish the altars of Beit-El.
The horns of the altar will be cut off,
and they will fall to the ground.
15 I will tear down winter houses
as well as summer houses;
houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed;
the mansions will be no more,” says Adonai.
Revelation 6:1 Next I watched as the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living beings say in a thundering voice, “Go!” 2 I looked, and there in front of me was a white horse; its rider had a bow and was given a crown; and he rode off as a conqueror to conquer.
3 When he broke the second seal, I heard the second living being say, “Go!” 4 Another horse went out, a red one; and its rider was given the power to take peace away from the earth and make people slaughter each other. He was given a great sword.
5 When he broke the third seal, I heard the third living being say, “Go!” I looked, and there in front of me was a black horse, and its rider held in his hand a pair of scales. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice from among the four living beings say, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages! Six pounds of barley for the same price! But don’t damage the oil or the wine!”
7 When he broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living being say, “Go!” 8 I looked, and there in front of me was a pallid, sickly-looking horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and Sh’ol followed behind him. They were given authority to kill one-quarter of the world by war, by famine, by plagues and with the wild animals of the earth.
9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been put to death for proclaiming the Word of God, that is, for bearing witness. 10 They cried out in a loud voice, “Sovereign Ruler, HaKadosh, the True One, how long will it be before you judge the people living on earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Each of them was given a white robe; and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow-servants should be reached, of their brothers who would be killed, just as they had been.
12 Then I watched as he broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, the sun turned black as sackcloth worn in mourning, and the full moon became blood-red. 13 The stars fell from heaven to earth just as a fig tree drops its figs when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. 15 Then the earth’s kings, the rulers, the generals, the rich and the mighty — indeed, everyone, slave and free — hid himself in caves and among the rocks in the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us[Revelation 6:16 Hosea 10:8] from the face of the One sitting on the throne and from the fury of the Lamb! 17 For the Great Day of their fury has come, and who can stand?”
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WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same. (from Studies in the Sermon on the Mount)
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