Addendum Aug 28

I feel like there are some things in me that just need to come out....nothing to do with the reading...just randomness. I just finished reading a blog of a woman whose husband and son in law both have cancer (the son in law being my nephew). It is filled with such extreme faith and hope. It is beautiful. But it makes me want to scream....of course not at her- I would never be that insensitive (I hope). But it concerns me when people 'have so much faith' that the only 'option' is for them to be healed. Make no mistake, I absolutley, positively believe that God CAN heal and God DOES heal. But does He ALWAYS? No. Where does that leave the people that God doesn't heal? Did they lack faith? I don't think so. Faithful saints have been both being healed and not being healed since Christ walked the earth. God has a different plan for all of us. Look at the 'big 3' disciples. Peter, James and John. James was martyered right off the bat, Peter later and John died at a very old age.

Perhaps I'm super sensitve having lost my best friend to cancer this last year. No, God does not always heal. Sometimes, the cup does not pass from us. But we do have His promise that He will always be with us, He will never forsake us and eventually, we will live forever and ever in a place prepared just for us by the One who loved us enough to give His very life for us. That is ultimate healing. As for physical healing in this lifetime? Maybe. I hope so. I'm signed up and on the prayer chain. I know God is able.

Aug 28

Of course, everything that God had told the prophets is now coming to pass. It is beautiful how Jeremiah is saved from all the mess. It was interesting to me that he was in chains, bound and on his way to Babylon when God saved him. Jeremiah could have just been freed in Jerusalem but he was on his way to 'hell' when the 'saviour' found him, freed him, gave him provisions, and a gift. I don't think I'm reading too much into it to say that this is a picture of our salvation. And the gift, of course, is the Holy Spirit.

I'm blessed to sit under the teaching of teachers who always encourage us to look for the deeper meanings of the scriptures. I don't think I would notice half of what I do if not for the great teachers we have in our church.

It is also interesting that we are coming up on Lamentations, where Jeremiah laments for all that has been lost and God's plan ruined by sin. The beautiful city of Jerusalem, desolate and ruined by sin. I know that I do not 'lament' as much as I should over sin or the lost. As you read portions of Lamentations coming up, let it challenge us. I also remember when I was in Jerusalem, at the place where Jesus wept over the city, that the speaker challenged us to think of people in our own lives who are lost and not seeing God's plan and to weep for them as Jesus did.

This was a terrible and desperate time in Israel's history. But God provided for the faithful. I've seen that provision in my own life recently and can't help but rejoice in it. We think times are hard- and they are...but people have survived so much worse. And we don't know what it coming next- better or worse.......but whatever it is God will take care of us. We have His Word on it.

Aug 23

I got hung up on today's reading. It took me a while to search out my answers, which I'll come to in a moment. But after my search, I re-read the passage. And I realized that I missed some really beautiful passages the first time around while I was stuck on one passage. First the gems:

The New Convenant: Of course, with the benifit of looking from this side of history, we now know what the New Convenant is. Luke 22:20 THIS is the New Convenant IN MY BLOOD. I've heard those words thousands of times at communion and other time. But it really struck me in a new way today. With God, a convenant is ALWAYS, sealed in blood (remember Abraham walking between the two halves of the animal). Of course, I've known that for a long time also......but it just really struck me today. I wonder how many times the disciples (who also knew exactly how a covenant is made) wondered afterward: "How could we have not seen what was going to happen?" (the upcoming crucifixion). It also struck me in the passage this is also a conenant TO ISRAEL. I've written before about the mistake of 'replacement theology' (that God has 'replaced' Israel with the church). This is THEIR convenant and we have the extreme privelage of being grafted in to it them (Rom 11:24)

Israel Will Always Be Special: Jeremiah 31:35-37  I love this passage. Esecially since we've been hearing so much about Israel's rebellious ways. It seems to come at just the right spot to reconfirm His love for them. Praise God that many Jews are now embracing Yeshuah (Jesus) as the Messiah. By the way, the word we use "Christ" is not part of His 'name'. It  is His title- The Annointed One (or Messiah)

Now to the troublesome passage- Jeremiah 33:16-17. Obviously, in the previous verses, the "Righteous Branch from David's line" is Jesus, and the explains verse 16 of how "David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne......" What confused me was verse 17 about the Levites never fail to have a man to stand before him to offer continual sacrifices (since obviously, they have no temple and have not sacrificed in 2000+years)

I don't know if I'm 100% satisfied with the answers but I did come up with 2 "best answers".
 1) In verse 18 the priests, who are Levites, represent true Christians, who sacrifice their wills as well as bring others to God by preaching the Gospel. 1 Peter 2:9 calls these Christians a royal priesthood. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
2) There has never been a failure of Levites eligible perform sacrifices (even though they have not done it continually). This is true even today, as they make preperations to build the 3rd temple. Of course there is more to being 'elibible' than just being from the tribe of Levi. But the fact that there are Levites still in existance and ready to serve is miraculous.

August 22

I found another website which outlines all the prophesies fullfilled in (and since) 1948 when Israel was reborn. It is pretty compelling. It also references Grant Jefferies material of how it happened it exactly as predicted.
http://www.watchmanbiblestudy.com/Articles/1948PropheciesFulfilled.htm

I am reminded again in recent reading of when I was in Israel and our guide told us that in the 1800's Israel was so desolate that it prompted famous author Mark Twain to write the book, "Innocent's Abroad" in 1869 describing the deplorable conditions and profiteering in the Holy Land. I would like to read it before the next time I go there.

The other thing that really struck me in the reading was the death of Ezekiel's wife. And how tragic that he was not allowed to mourn. Many people will only listen to "God of Love" theology. And He absolutely is Love. Without Him, love does not even exist. But, because He is Holy, He is also a God of judgement and though He (as we have seen repeatedly) is very longsuffering and patient, eventually judgement does come.

I got to thinking about the reason for the judgement and how it was mostly about idolitory (and as mentioned multiple times, the people were even sacrificing their children to the god Molech). For a moment I felt relieved that we no longer had idols. But then I realized that so many of us make our own God. We even call him by the name of the God of the Bible. We pick and choose what we believe about Him and believe that He exists for our pleasure not the other way around. We make a false idol out of God.

I'm reading a book right now by John Piper called, "Don't Waste Your Life". It's major theme is that living the Christian life is a joy filled experieince but it comes through sacrifice and obedience. The price God paid for our freedom and redemption was too high to do anything but to serve Him fully. Our main goal in life is to bring glory to His Name. That may be through happy circumstance or through tragic circumstances- but the goal is the same. Ezekiel knew this better than any of ever will.

Israel's rebirth prophesied

Nearly the exact day of Israel's rebirth as a nation in 1948 is fortold in the Old Testament.

This is the blog that I have been waiting to write. It is pretty fascinating to me.

 I got caught up in summer activities and strains has kept me from blogging for a while and I apologize.

The first time I heard what I am going to share, I thought it was fascinating....but I didn't retain much of it. The second and third times a little more 'stuck'. Still I had to research the web to get more details. I didn't keep the reference of the site I used, but it referenced "The Signature of God" by Grant Jefferies. Many who 'follow' this line of thinking declare this prophesy to be 'to the exact day'. Since we don't know the exact day that Israel returned from captivity in Babylon, I'm a little too skeptical to be able to say we can PROVE it to the exact day (although knowing God, it certainly is possible). But the return of Israel to the land was prophesied with, if nothing else, dramatic accuracy. I'll try to outline the facts as simply as possible.

• Ezekiel was a prophet in exile in Babylon. He was a priest that God called to prophesy along with his contemporaries, Daniel (also in Babylon) and Jeremiah (who was still in Jerusalem with the people not yet exiled).
• Jeremiah prophesied that the captivity in Babylon would last 70 years.
• God told Ezekiel (Ezekiel 4:3-6) that he was to lie on his left side signifying punishment for Israel for 390 days (a day for each year) and 40 days (years) for Judah's sin  (remember that there were two major divisions, the southern tribes-Judah, and the northern tribes-Israel after king Solomon) Clearly this is a prophesy that extends beyond the Babylonian captivity prophecy of Jeremiah
• God declared in the OT that a punishment could be multiplied by 7 for continued disobedience"After all this, if you do not obey me then I will punish you seven times more for your sin (Leviticus 26:18, Leviticus 26:21, 23-24, 27-28)
• Since the majority of Israel did not repent after their Babylonian captivity the period of punishment would be 2520 years (390+40-70 (subtracted for years served in Babylon) x7)
• A Biblical year (or 'prophetic year') is based on 360 days not our current 365.25. If you are curious why, google it
• 2520 year x 360 days= 907,200 days (divided by 365.25 to convert to our 'modern years'=2483.8 years)
• Babylonian captivity ended in the spring of of 536 BC or 536.4 BC
• 2483.8 years added to 536.4 is 1947.4.
• Add one year to account for the fact that there is no year "zero" between 1BC and 1AD and you get: 1948.4 

On May 14, 1948, the Jews proclaimed the independence of the reborn state of Israel.  On May 15, 1948 the British Mandate officially ended and Israel became an independent nation for the first time in over 2000 years. For other related fullfilled prophesies such as the Hebrew language being revived and the 'desert blooming' see this website:
http://www.layevangelism.com/bastxbk/sections/sect-7/sec7-6c.htm