Isaiah 60:12 (KJV) The Sword and Salvation

Isaiah 60:12 (KJV)

For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

 

There is reason, I agree, for great caution in our interpretations and applications of Old Testament text. God has never endorsed violence, though it has been necessary to quell the tides of evil men. 

The role of Christians, and I think it has always been the role of the followers of God, is to seek the conversion of the lost. Our role has always been to point men to a gracious Saviour. Those who bow to Him are safe.

 

Government is ordained as a restraining force. It is given authority by God to exercise the sword against evil. Because of the corrupt nature of mankind, that evil often presents itself in the form of another government. So, agencies like the police serve to restrain evil individuals, while the army serves to restrain evil coalitions and governments. But ultimately these have but a temporary impact. The eternal one is with Jesus. 

 

It comes down to this.

·   Those who serve Him fly home as the doves to their windows.[1]

·    Those that do not shall perish.

 

The reason anyone would have a problem with this is that they resist serving the Lord.  It makes as much sense that they would be angry with God for that as the one who robs a bank is angry with the police for catching him.

 

#SeekConversion #GovernmentAndRestraint #SafeInServingJesus #EternalJustice #ResistingTheLord

The Sword and Salvation: Government, Grace, and God's Ultimatum

 

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
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Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
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Isaiah 60:12 (KJV) The Sword and Salvation

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[1] Isaiah 60:8 (KJV)

Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?

Isaiah 59:16 (KJV) Predestined Salvation

Isaiah 59:16 (KJV)

And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.

 

The verse is introduced first by Isaiah 59:16 (KJV)

Yea, truth faileth; and he tha tdeparteth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

 

God saw that there was no judgment, no Intercessor, no man to save and He was displeased. It was God who therefore brought His own judgment, Intercessor, and Saviour. God’s response to His displeasure was to provide salvation. He did not respond in wrath. He responded in grace.

Consider that all of this happened, according to the Word of God, before the foundations of the world.

·       Before there ever was a sinner

·       Before there ever was an evil act

·       Before there was ever a need for judgment, an Intercessor, and a Saviour

 

God was already displeased with the wicked heart of man and had already graciously brought to him a means of salvation.

 

#DivineDispleasure #GracefulSalvation #IntercessorRevealed #PredestinedRedemption #GodsGraciousResponse

Predestined Salvation: God's Displeasure Turned to Grace

 

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

 Isaiah 59:16 (KJV) Predestined Salvation

Isaiah 56:3 (KJV) A New Identity

Isaiah 56:3 (KJV)

Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.

 

This verse must be considered in its context as having its ultimate fulfillment not in deliverance from Babylon[1] but of the future salvation of the soul coming through the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 56:1-4 (KJV)

Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.

Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I ama dry tree.

For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;

 

Albert Barnes writes, “It is to be borne in mind that this was regarded as addressed to the Jews in exile in Babylon, and there is probably a primary reference in the words to the deliverance which they were about to experience from their long and painful captivity. But at the same time the language is appropriate to the coming of the kingdom of God under the Messiah, and the whole scope of the passage requires us to understand it of that event.”

 

This then relates to Ephesians 1-2 where salvation is said not only to deliver us from our sins but to break down the walls that separate people groups so that, in Christ, we are a new man, a new body, a new people group.

 

In Christ we unite in local congregations of believers, oblivious to the backgrounds, offices, or reputations, good or bad, that we have outside of Jesus Christ.

 

#SalvationInChrist #UnityInBelievers #BreakingDownBarriers #NewCreationInChrist #EphesiansUnity

A New Identity: A New People, A New Beginning

 

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

 Isaiah 56:3 (KJV) A New Identity

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[1] Which, after all, is meant as a shadow of something so much more than physical bondage.

Matthew 8:34 (KJV) Chains of Our Choosing

Matthew 8:34 (KJV)

And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

 

It is a marvelous[1] thing to think that one would see Christ heal this possessed soul and yet bid Him to depart. And yet this “marvel” is duplicated and perhaps multiplied day by day in our time. Why would they desire Him to depart, Who had done so much good?

 

For prejudice

Jesus was of an entirely different cultural, spiritual, and social background. Sometimes people refuse to entertain Christ just because they don’t like their perception of Christians.

For fear

Jesus had not only healed the man, but it had resulted in the loss of their swine. Financial hardships outweighed in their hearts the recovery of the demoniac. Such power is frightening to many. They fail to see the grace of God and only see the wrath.

 

For control

Trusting Him implies a radical life shift, unsettling those who prefer their self-imposed chains to God's liberating ones. Change, even for the better, is met with resistance when it challenges the status quo.

 

The demoniac was now in his right mind. While they may not have been as out of control as he was, they realized they were also sinners, bound by it. They resisted whatever force might break those chains of their choosing and place on them the chains of God’s choosing. 

 

In the end, surrendering to Christ brings a better life. It's not about Jew or Gentile; it's about relinquishing baggage to become citizens of a new country.

 

#PrejudiceAgainstChrist #FearofGodsPower #ControlOverChange #GraceVsWrath #DeliveranceInChrist

Chains of Our Choosing: The Struggle of Surrendering Self-Imposed Bondage

 

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

 Matthew 8:34 (KJV) Chains of Our Choosing

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[1] Understand that I am using the word, “marvelous” in the more negative sense. This is how we often find it used in the Word of God.

Matthew 7:3 (KJV) The Mote and the Beam

Matthew 7:3 (KJV)

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

 

Have you considered the beam?

 

According to Jesus, the basis for ministry to others is the awareness of one’s own failing. There is, in His words, this responsibility to first remove the beam from our own eye. The thing is, that doesn’t get done until we reach eternity. Sinless perfection, the absence of the “beam,” is the product of the eternal state. Only then do we exchange this corruptible body for an incorruptible one.

 

Does this mean we must not minister to others in this life? Not in the least. It does mean we have no right to condemn another for the corruption we see in him. We have every bit as much in ourselves.

 

We may aid them in their struggle with corruption.

We may instruct them in those lessons we’ve learned in our own struggle with corruption.

 

But we ought never belittle them if, in their struggle, they haven’t gotten out of their life the same sliver of sin we have.

 

#SelfReflection #MinistryWithHumility #RemovingOurOwnBeams #GraceBeforeJudgment #LearningFromOurStruggles

The Mote and the Beam: A Lesson in Ministry

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

 Matthew 7:3 (KJV) The Mote and the Beam

Isaiah 53:2 (KJV) Accusations to Convictions

Isaiah 53:2 (KJV)

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

 

This verse makes more sense to me now that any time previous in my forty years as a pastor.

 

This last year I’ve heard more of the wildest accusations than ever before. 

There have always been those who accuse Christianity of terrible atrocities.[1]

As a Baptist I agree that Catholicism and Protestantism is corrupted, but there were always Christians who were not a part of that. They were, in fact, the target of Catholics and, later, Protestants.

 

There are people now willing to curse at Christ personally.

There are people now who not only don’t believe in the resurrection of Christ but believe that Jesus was fabricated more than 100 years after the fact.

So far as they are concerned there truly “is no beauty that we should desire him.”

 

I’m thinking, however, of another account in Acts when the Eunuch, reading this same passage, asked of whom the passage spoke. Stephen was able to point the Eunuch to Jesus Christ.

 

The Word of God is true and people, even those who are not Jews, have believed it to be true. 

 

The attack on the Bible will not successfully stop the progress of faith but it has created an unprecedented confidence among those hateful against Christ.  

 

#ChristUnveiled #BeautyInTruth #FaithUnderFire #AttacksOnBelief #BiblicalConfidence

Accusations to Convictions: The Beauty in Isaiah 53

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Isaiah 53:2 (KJV) Accusations to Convictions 

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[1] Christianity so-called has committed horrible things but it’s not the full story. To throw out Christ on account of those who have abused His teachings is ludicrous.