Wednesday, July 29, 2015

An Unrepentant People Given A Promise

The Minor Prophets Speak to Today 

 

Any One Who Harms You Harms My Most 

Precious Possession


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The Lord says, “Come away! Flee from Babylon in the land of the north, for I have scattered you to the four winds. Come away, people of Zion, you who are exiled in Babylon!”
After a period of glory, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me against the nations who plundered you. For he said, “Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession (literally the pupil of my eye). I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.” Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me. 
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The New Babylon


Again, a passage that seems to be just about the ancient Jews and their exile in Babylon. But as we have pointed out time after time, "These things are written as a warning to us upon whom the promise of the ages has come," and "All scripture is God breathed and profitable for doctrine, reproof, corrections, and instruction."

And, again we see reflections of this prophecy in the Revelation of John.

He gave a mighty shout:
“Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!
    She has become a home for demons.
She is a hideout for every foul spirit,
    a hideout for every foul vulture
    and every foul and dreadful animal.
For all the nations have fallen
    because of the wine of her passionate immorality.
The kings of the world
    have committed adultery with her.
Because of her desires for extravagant luxury,
    the merchants of the world have grown rich.”

Then I heard another voice calling from heaven,
“Come away from her, my people.
    Do not take part in her sins,
    or you will be punished with her.
For her sins are piled as high as heaven,
    and God remembers her evil deeds.

You would do well to read the full picture in Revelation 17:1-19:4

It is because of this passage that the Spirit has been asking me, "Will the United States exist when Christ returns?" Lord, only thou knowest. Open our eyes that we may not miss the sign of her times and the time of her days.

Just as in the last post we asked, "Which Jerusalem is God talking about?" So, in this passage we must ask, "Who is the Babylon God speaks about here?" "Is she the same one prophesied against in the Revelation?" and "Who is this Babylon in the Revelation?"

Any One Who Harms You I Will Raise My Fist To Crush


Zachariah's prophesies are a mix of warning to God's unrepentant children and promises to these same unrepentant people.

In the American church today, we cling to these promises even while, due to our unrepentance and our participation is the life of the Great Prostitute, we wonder if - and sometimes totally disbelieve - it is worth putting our trust in them. To the unbelievers and the unrepentant among us, God is still saying today,

“Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession. I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.”

To disbelieve the promises, is to not trust in or even believe in the God who gives them. Lord, help our unbelief.

And, as God has said to us earlier, when you see these things come to pass, "then you will know that these warnings, this promise, comes from the Lord of Heaven's Armies himself.

Why Wait to Believe?


Photo Credits:
Worcester Cathedral - Ruined Wall by IBBoard some rights reserved @flickr.com
The Prostitute on the Scarlet Beast @ www.theomegadays.net

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