The head of the government was a wicked eight-year-old boy. He was quickly replaced by a twenty-one year old arrogant and evil ruler. From there, things only got worse. Such was the plight, not of a malevolent ungodly regime, but of the nation of God's people.
We read in 2 Chronicles 36 of the ultimate demise of the nation of Israel during the days of Jeremiah the prophet. The tragic sequence of events is well summarized in these verses:
"The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy." (2 Chronicles 36:15-16)
The most chilling words in these verses are the last: "until there was no remedy." The compassion and merciful God repeatedly sent messengers to His people to appeal for repentance and responsiveness. Blatant disregard for the message and messenger added to God's growing wrath until the tipping point was reached; the point of no return.
Incredibly, God's mercy prevailed over His judgment - seventy years later He would allow His dispersed people to return to the land, and renew their walk with Him.
Two mistaken extremes often characterize people's views of God our Father. The one extreme is that He is an uncaring and exacting God who metes out punishment at the slightest infraction of His law. The other is that He so benevolent and sentimental that He would never harm the hair of one of His creatures. Until we see that He is both compassionate and exacting in His holy nature, we have not truly known our Father.
The tipping point for this present world is already past; we live in the time in which "there was (is) no remedy." We live in a proverbial Sodom and Gomorrah, and judgment is inevitable. As the people of God, we are the messengers sent to rescue the responsive. That is, so long as we don't succumb to the allure of the "Babylon" we live in. Should that happen, we become a tragic casualty of spiritual war, and lose the ability to be savory salt and illuminating light (Matthew 5:13-16) in a world desperately in need of both.
Wisdom is knowing the true fate of the present world system, and our role in it. It is a Titanic, headed inexorably down, and we are to be those who sound a clarion call for the safety of the lifeboat of the gospel of the kingdom and the name of Jesus (Acts 8:12).
May we live wisely today in a doomed world, and urgently serve as gospel messengers to those willing to be saved.
Steve
©Steve Taylor, 2011
We read in 2 Chronicles 36 of the ultimate demise of the nation of Israel during the days of Jeremiah the prophet. The tragic sequence of events is well summarized in these verses:
"The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy." (2 Chronicles 36:15-16)
The most chilling words in these verses are the last: "until there was no remedy." The compassion and merciful God repeatedly sent messengers to His people to appeal for repentance and responsiveness. Blatant disregard for the message and messenger added to God's growing wrath until the tipping point was reached; the point of no return.
Incredibly, God's mercy prevailed over His judgment - seventy years later He would allow His dispersed people to return to the land, and renew their walk with Him.
Two mistaken extremes often characterize people's views of God our Father. The one extreme is that He is an uncaring and exacting God who metes out punishment at the slightest infraction of His law. The other is that He so benevolent and sentimental that He would never harm the hair of one of His creatures. Until we see that He is both compassionate and exacting in His holy nature, we have not truly known our Father.
The tipping point for this present world is already past; we live in the time in which "there was (is) no remedy." We live in a proverbial Sodom and Gomorrah, and judgment is inevitable. As the people of God, we are the messengers sent to rescue the responsive. That is, so long as we don't succumb to the allure of the "Babylon" we live in. Should that happen, we become a tragic casualty of spiritual war, and lose the ability to be savory salt and illuminating light (Matthew 5:13-16) in a world desperately in need of both.
Wisdom is knowing the true fate of the present world system, and our role in it. It is a Titanic, headed inexorably down, and we are to be those who sound a clarion call for the safety of the lifeboat of the gospel of the kingdom and the name of Jesus (Acts 8:12).
May we live wisely today in a doomed world, and urgently serve as gospel messengers to those willing to be saved.
Steve
©Steve Taylor, 2011
posted by steve @ 8:27 AM
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