August 29, 2010
Scripture:
I was thinking this morning as we were pondering that question “What hast thou done?”, that there is a three-fold answer. There are three people in the Trinity, and each had a job. We see God the Father’s work in John 3:16. He gave His only Son. As humans, we can’t fathom what that would mean for God; because He knew all that His Son would go through to deal with sin.
Then in John 17 we have the work of God the Son. He gave His life, His all (for all He had down here was His life) for us; so that we could be saved. Surely, “How vast a ransom given”.
What about the Holy Spirit? His job is bringing many sons to glory. In this sense, ‘sons’ doesn’t refer to gender, but rather to position. We have been made joint-heirs with Christ. How precious and glorious this is. We should allow our hearts to ponder these things and be lifted up into glory, where He is. May we realise what that work was that was done. Now we are just waiting to be taken up to glory.
Hymn 341 - Jesus Bids Us Shine
Prayer
Last time we spoke about Isaac, he was receiving a hundred fold. This time, he’s digging a well. This was because he had no water system to bring the water to his house. We need water to live; without it, we will die.
Psalm 63:1 David says that the way his body needed water, his soul needed the Lord. We can’t live without water. Could we live without the Lord?
Genesis 26:13 -
God had blessed Isaac with lots of animals, lots of servants, and a family. He needed a lot of water. However, the Philistines were jealous, and wanted what he had.
Abraham, Isaac’s father, had dug a lot of wells; but the Philistines had filled them up so Isaac couldn’t get any water. The Bible is like a well for us. We go to it to get portions and be refreshed. Satan doesn’t like this and tries to stop us from reading the Bible. It is precious that Abraham dug the well. I had a father and grandfather that opened up the Bible and taught us. I hope you do to.
The King asked Isaac to leave, so he went away and re-dug one of Abraham’s wells. He called it by the same name Abraham had. That’s like us reviving old doctrines like salvation and justification, instead of making up new things. We can follow the old paths.
However, the Philistines stole that well from Isaac, and they stole his next well too. Today, it’s sad when people fight over what the Bible says. But finally Isaac was able to dig two wells that the Philistines didn’t take. One was in Beersheba, where he also built an altar.
So, that’s our lessen about wells and well-diggers. I hope we can each dig into our well of scripture and get something out of it to share with others.
Last week, we saw how Malachi prophesied about the coming of John the Baptist, and how the Lord, “ the messenger of the covenant” would come after him. This talks about the first coming of the Lord, which has happened.
Then in v. 2 we read about the appearing of the Lord: His coming at the end of the tribulation. Obviously, this has not yet been fulfilled. This view completely leaves out the day of grace; that was a mystery to the Jews. The day of grace is left out because this prophesy is about the Jews, and they are not a part of the grace period.
Even though this is primarily about the Jews, there are some things we can learn. We saw how the words to the priests were applicable to us, since each Christian is a holy priest before God. We’ll read later about “those that feared the Lord”; hopefully, we can include ourselves in that.
The coming of the Lord spoken about in v. 2 is called the “day of the Lord” in other places in scripture. This is when the Lord will come to set up His earthly kingdom. The verse asks, who will be able to stand before the Lord at that time? God will come, as He says, like a refiner’s fire and fuller’s soap. A refiner’s fire is known for its intense heat, hot enough to separate the dross from the metal. We’ve heard that a refiner will continue to heat the metal until it is so pure that he can see his reflection in it. That’s what the Lord does to us: He purges us through trials with the intent of purifying us, to make us more like Himself. He wants us to be a pure and prepared bride, ready to reign with Him in His earthly kingdom. Of course, we are purified by more that trials; reading the Word daily has a cleansing effect, as well as meditation on what we have read. It all helps keep us going on in happy communion with the Lord.
Here, the Lord is talking about how He will purify the Jews when He returns to set up that kingdom. He will remove everything that is unrighteous, and then begin His reign of righteous.
V. 4: After the Lord purges Israel, they will do that which will please the Lord. Read Ezekiel 5:5 - 8. God is saying that Jerusalem was the place where He had set His name. And yet, now they were doing worse things than the nations around them, the nations they were supposed to be a witness to. So the Lord was ready to come and execute judgement on them, which He will do in the tribulation. Then, they will be ready to do the will of God once again.
Hymn 345 - Jesus loves the little children
Prayer