Isaiah 28:22 (KJV) Stand Firm

Isaiah 28:22 (KJV)

Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

 

I suppose that, since the sin of Adam and Eve, there have always been more unbelievers than believers and that the unbelievers have always been more or less vicious - times when they are more aggressive and other times when they have been more passive. Isaiah ministered in a time, much like today, when the mockers were more aggressive.

 

In the forty years I’ve been in the ministry I have definitely witnessed a growing confidence among the heathen to mock, blaspheme, and resist the things of God. The relatively modern religion of scientific atheism has given many scoffers ammunition to mock and revile the Christian. A religion not unlike Catholicism or Islam, the atheist feels compelled not simply to ignore the message of Christ and the revelation of the true and living God, but to suppress the proclaimers of the message, and to demand that their “heresy” of faith be annihilated.

 

In the face of this hostility against Jesus Christ we, who know Jesus, must stand and warn them “be ye not mockers.” What we have heard from God is true. There is a day of consumption and judgment approaching. In that day their “bands” will be much worse than they could have imagined.

 

We proclaim this warning not gloating but grieving and hopeful that many will repent and turn to the Lord before that day.

 

#StandingForTruth #FaithAgainstMockery #ProclaimingHope #WarningOfJudgment #RepentanceBeforeConsumption #Isaiah #eschatology

Stand Firm: The Impending Day of Judgment

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.

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Isaiah 28:22 (KJV) Stand Firm

Isaiah 26:13 (KJV) Speaking Boldly

Isaiah 26:13 (KJV)

O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.

 

This is about as transparent as I think the prophet could have made himself.

“O LORD our God”

We acknowledge this as truth. You and You alone are our God.

 

“Other lords[1] beside thee have had dominion over us”

We know this to be true. Though God is our God, in this world we have been forced to submit to other powers. Some of them have been worldly authorities. Some of them have been the result of our sinful nature. We are in this world and cannot completely escape its influences. Some of it is essential and necessary. Some of it is the consequence of our imperfections.

 

“But by thee only will we make mention of thy name”

It is through the help of God alone that we are able to submit to Him, and to speak of Him in this world that is so opposed to Him.

The more I attempt to extend the range of my voice, the more opponents I find to my voice. If I were content to talk about the Lord only to those who have agreed to assemble and hear about Jesus, I might never know this, but because I try to “lengthen my cords and strengthen my stakes”[2] I find that there are many restrictions forced upon me. I can, I suppose, preach whatever I believe the Lord would lead when I am in the church I pastor[3]  but on a job site, for instance, I am only allowed to speak about the Lord when someone brings up the subject, or at the public place I am only allowed to speak about the Lord if I am on the sidewalk. Or at a person’s home I am only allowed to speak about the Lord if they invite me in to do so. On various media my voice can be restricted by what they refer to a “community standards.” More frequently than I have ever known before, people insist to me that I do not have the right to speak about Christ at all.

 

It is only by the help of the Lord that am able to continue to make mention of His name.

 

#GodAlone #SubmittingToTheLord #SpeakOfHisName #FaithOverRestrictions #MakingMentionOfGod #Isaiah26

Speaking Boldly: Extending the Range of God's Message

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 26:13 (KJV) Speaking Boldly

 

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[1] Notice the difference in capitalization.

[2] Isaiah 54:2 (KJV)

Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

[3] Even this isn’t completely true because so many who come can be sensitive and get upset.

Isaiah 23:12 (KJV) The Tragedy of Almost

Isaiah 23:12 (KJV)

And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.

 

The subject of the passage is the daughter of Zidon, the city of Tyre. Her place in the Old Testament is significant in that she is sometimes the friend of Israel, and sometimes seen as a type of Satan.[1]

 

Jesus said of Tyre and Sidon that if the mighty works that were done in Capernaum had been done there, they would have repented.[2] Tyre is a Gentile people very near to salvation, but missing it.  

 

I think of Judas Iscariot. As one of the twelve, he has as close a relationship with Jesus as was possible. He witnessed the miracles of Christ. He heard all of the messages of Christ. And yet still he rejected Christ. 

 

I am reminded that there is no evidence sufficient to prove Christ to those who wish to reject Him. We come to Christ, not blindly because there is sufficient evidence, but by faith because we have to see and accept that evidence.

 

What of those who come so close to the knowledge of the truth and yet continue on in rejection?

Hebrews 10:26 (KJV)

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

 

·       Judas found no recourse but to hang himself

·       Tyre found no cause to rejoice again

 

But such is not the case with you and me. We have reason to rejoice because we have Jesus Christ. 

 

Pray for souls to trust Christ so that they may always have hope and reason for rejoicing.

 

#NearToSalvation #JudasAndTyre #KnowledgeOfTruth #RejoiceInChrist #FaithOverRejection #Isaiah23

The Tragedy of Almost: Lessons from the Daughter of Zidon

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

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Isaiah 23:12 (KJV) The Tragedy of Almost

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[1] Ezekiel 28:12-19 (KJV)

Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

[2] Luke 10:13 (KJV)

Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

Isaiah 22:10 (KJV) Cannibalizing Society

Isaiah 22:10 (KJV)

And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.

 

Mark well that which points to a declining society. The government of Judah is here seen taking a census of the population, the “houses of Jerusalem,” not to measure progress but to inventory resources. The government of Judah had declined to the place where they did not exist for the people but saw the people as existing for the government.

The point was, when they had declined to this sad state, they still refused to turn to God.

Isaiah 22:11 (KJV)

Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.

 

It matters little how strong a nation might once have been, when they begin to cannibalize their own, and continue to reject the Lord, they are soon to fall.

 

I can’t imagine Isaiah wished for this outcome any more than I wish that upon my own country. But the lesson stands - when the government begins to tax its citizens abusively, begins to use its people wantonly to keep up their ungodly agenda. It will not be long before that government collapses.

 

In Isaiah’s case the collapse was still several generations out, but it happened as he prophesied. I do not know how many generations our country can have left. I believe God graciously delays His judgment in the event that men might look unto their Maker. Eventually grace will run out, as it did for Jerusalem.

 

May God use these words to lead some to look to Him before that day.

 

#DecliningSociety #GovernmentAbuse #TurningToGod #NationalCollapse #SeekTheMaker #Isaiah22

Cannibalizing Society: Decline of a Nation

 

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 22:10 (KJV) Cannibalizing Society

Revelation 11:13 (KJV) The Tsunami, the Missionaries, and the God We Question

Revelation 11:13 (KJV)

And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

I think it was December 26, 2004 when a huge tsunami from the Indian Ocean struck killing almost 230,000 individuals. There was a young missionary couple serving in Sri Lanka at the time. I had tried to minister to them while they were Bible College students. They had gone to college very shortly after getting saved, “endured” their time in college, having enormous questions about just about everything having to do with faith. After college they interned in a larger church for a year and, with the endorsement of that church, quickly found support and got to the mission field in time for the tsunami of 2004. They responded immediately to the need, arriving in time to witness first-hand the death and devastation. When it was all finished this young couple returned to the United States. It is my understanding they continue to refuse communication with the pastor who had presumably led them to Christ. 

I hear they maintain a strong family but longer have anything to do with the Christian faith. They told their pastor they wanted nothing to do with a God who would allow such an devastation as the tsunami created.

I think this describes well the spirit of people today regarding the Lord. We have lived in such comfort that we believe if God exists His job must be to maintain this level of comfort. That God would tolerate, refuse to intervene, perhaps even cause events that lead to suffering turns Him, in the modern view, into a monster. People are quick to point out the atrocities of the Old Testament: the slavery, the wars, the calls to wipe out populations, and proclaim the God of the Bible to be filthy, cruel. Most refuse to acknowledge the complicity of sinners in those events. A good God, as far as they are concerned, would not let sinners be than sinful.

I give all of that in contrast to our text. A “natural disaster” is described of such magnitude that a tenth part of the city fell, seven thousand souls lost their lives, and that on top of the many other “acts of God” described in the Revelation. In this case the survivors, though frightened “gave glory to God.”

This is the direction God is taking humankind. Today we are egocentric, proud, self-righteous, and quick to lay blame on God. When God finishes His plan, men will have surrendered to the place that we only give glory to God.

I believe it is the answer to almost every “hard question” people have spiritually. There are no “what ifs.” There is only God. God explains everything. Things happen in life that are difficult, devastating. We have questions. 

No matter how frightened, the appropriate response is to trust the Lord and give God glory.

 

#HardQuestionsFaithAnswers #SurrenderToGodsPlan #FindingFaithInDevastation #TrustingGodAmidChaos #GloryToGodInEveryChallenge #Revelation11

The Tsunami, the Missionaries, and the God We Question

 

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 18:4 (KJV) Almighty Stillness

Isaiah 18:4 (KJV) Almighty Stillness

Isaiah 18:4 (KJV)
For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

 

John Gill writes of this passage, “these are not the words of the prophet, … but of the Lord himself, signifying that he would, as he always did, enjoy himself, amidst all the commotions that were in the world…”

 

And there were commotions in the world.

·       Syria and Israel threatening Judah

·       Assyria would take them down

·       Babylon would take Assyria down

·       Medo-Persians would take Babylon down

·       God would use Cyrus to then return Judah to Jerusalem.

It seems to me our current world situations have nothing on the world of Isaiah’s time (except that it was so long ago we can pretend it has no bearing on our lives).

 

Gill goes on to write, “or rather that he would be still and quiet, and as one asleep and at rest, that took no notice of what was doing, nor interpose between parties preparing for war, and laying schemes for the ruin of each other; not help the one nor hinder the other, but let them go on a while with their designs…”

 

God gives men the opportunity to do as they please. He, as it were, sits back to allow men to come to the end of their own ideas. This should not be interpreted to mean that He does not care or that He is unable. He, as the Almighty, is content to let sin have its course. But He has a plan to bring even that course to a perfect conclusion.

 

An atheist argued recently, “If God exists, He should have a way to convince me He exists without interfering with my free will.” The atheist was correct and God does. To date the atheist refuses to accept God’s plan. God is content to allow this man “to go on a while with [his] designs.”

 

But God won’t be content with that forever. One day, I believe very soon, God will convince this atheist. Unless he repents before that day, our atheist friend will not be pleased with the outcome.

 

Since God is at rest and content today, I can be as well. It does not mean I have no care, for I am called to speak out for the Lord. It does mean I can be content to give every individual the liberty to do as they wish with the truths I have proclaimed to them.

 

#DivineContentment #WorldCommotions #GodsPerfectPlan #FreeWillJourney #DivineRestAndIntervention #Isaiah

Almighty Stillness: God's Approach to Human Designs

 

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 18:4 (KJV) Almighty Stillness