For their sake, He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the abundance of His steadfast love. He caused them to be pitied by all those who held them captive. Save us, O Lord, our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name and glory in Your praise. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, "Amen!" Praise the Lord. (Verses 45-48)
Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the earth to the other. Jesus, Matthew 24
I've been writing a book on a friend's amazing experience in heaven after a car accident put her in the hospital where she was ventilator dependent and the staff awaiting her organs for donation. In the four days between the accident and when she came back to her body, my friend was with Jesus in heaven. Several years later, she was interviewed by Dottie, a Christian television personality in the Philippines. One of Dottie's questions was, "Is Jesus white?" Interesting, huh? In other words, does He fit the white American paradigm? I should make you wait to read the book for the answer, but that would be so rude. The answer: "He is light. Spirit." Though having form, He cannot be described in earthly terms as having one nationality over another. When on Earth, He was Jewish. Not white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Jesus took on the body of a son of Abraham. But came for us all. And we are everywhere. Walking about in every nation, of every color and tongue, wearing different colors and styles of clothing and worshiping in many different venues. But we are a race of people, a nation called out by God to be His very own. And He sees us. Sitting by an earthen pot stirring soup in a village in Africa or riding on the elevator to our tenth floor job in Manhattan. We are connected by the blood of God that flows through our spiritual DNA. Adopted into a kingdom yet to be fully revealed. And one day soon Jesus is coming to get us.
I could quit there. But this psalm backs up from the glory to see the stuff that happens before. And so does Jesus. Our earth deserves the great wrath of God, if there is a God. I know some would argue our wretchedness is progress. Women have the right to choose to kill their babies. Marriage has been redefined. And when people do stay married, they are now the anomaly. Sex with anyone any time is standard. No shame. No matter. Everyone does this sort of thing. And the beat goes on. It's not my place to judge the world...or anyone for that matter. But to join in the chorus of "anything goes" is also not my calling. I'm not supposed to separate myself from the morals of the secular world to be a goody-two-shoes, but to be a part of God's family. To please Him. I know it often looks like self-righteousness to others. But, it's not. I can be drawn by the same appetites as the rest of the world. I have been. Just like I don't like the feeling of eating too much or drinking too much, I don't like the what I'm left with when I trade Jesus for the feel-good narcissism of this world. It's empty for me.
Also, I happen to believe my Jesus is coming again on the clouds into this wickedness and rebelliousness that pervades our physical world. Call me crazy. (Many have!) But I know there will come the day, in the midst of our mourning and wailing over the devastation of wars and the ramifications of our greed, when the clouds will part and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet sound of God (1 Thessalonians 4). And we will fly to meet Him in the air. Just you wait and see. But don't wait without Him. You'll be clinging to the rocks to save you. And you'll be saying, "I thought this was just the fantasy of a bunch of Christian lunatics." Jesus said this is what will happen. Bank on it. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him Who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Revelation 6)
Things will go from bad to worse. Jesus already told us this. The moon isn't going to shine and stars will come crashing into Earth. It's going to be catastrophic. People will be just like they were in the days of Noah when God despaired of having created man and flooded the earth with water, ridding it of all save some animals and Noah's family. That's the level of wickedness and self-absorption we can expect. That's why to be a part of it as children of God is despicable to Him. We have been called out to be a holy nation in the midst of great turmoil. To love others and each other with the love of Jesus. To look different not because of our self-righteousness, but because of our compassion. To live holy lives in the midst of a pretty corrupt society. One that redefines corruptness as correctness. It's confusing, and if we don't know our God and understand what He wants for us, we will be sucked in.
I joy, though, in knowing I have brothers and sisters all over the world who are today "loving not their lives even to their death (Revelation 12)." It costs us something to follow Jesus. It will cost us everything not to.
In His great love and mercy, God will call us out of every tribe and every nation, whether by death or by the miraculous and epic events of the end times. We are His. In this troubled world, our Father is aware of our every movement--our every thought, hope, dream. He is our King. The Lord of what we say and do. And we are not alone. We don't all look alike, but we are everywhere and we are known by the mark of the blood of Jesus swiped like the blood of the Passover Lamb upon the doorposts of our hearts. Oh, yes. I am marked. But not by my silly goodness, but His all surpassing sacrifice for my sinful heart. From the throne God sees the blood covering those who know Him. And the covenant that blood represents my God will keep. Snatching us away. To live as His kids forever. And let the people say, "Amen!" Praise the Lord.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the earth to the other. Jesus, Matthew 24
I've been writing a book on a friend's amazing experience in heaven after a car accident put her in the hospital where she was ventilator dependent and the staff awaiting her organs for donation. In the four days between the accident and when she came back to her body, my friend was with Jesus in heaven. Several years later, she was interviewed by Dottie, a Christian television personality in the Philippines. One of Dottie's questions was, "Is Jesus white?" Interesting, huh? In other words, does He fit the white American paradigm? I should make you wait to read the book for the answer, but that would be so rude. The answer: "He is light. Spirit." Though having form, He cannot be described in earthly terms as having one nationality over another. When on Earth, He was Jewish. Not white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Jesus took on the body of a son of Abraham. But came for us all. And we are everywhere. Walking about in every nation, of every color and tongue, wearing different colors and styles of clothing and worshiping in many different venues. But we are a race of people, a nation called out by God to be His very own. And He sees us. Sitting by an earthen pot stirring soup in a village in Africa or riding on the elevator to our tenth floor job in Manhattan. We are connected by the blood of God that flows through our spiritual DNA. Adopted into a kingdom yet to be fully revealed. And one day soon Jesus is coming to get us.
I could quit there. But this psalm backs up from the glory to see the stuff that happens before. And so does Jesus. Our earth deserves the great wrath of God, if there is a God. I know some would argue our wretchedness is progress. Women have the right to choose to kill their babies. Marriage has been redefined. And when people do stay married, they are now the anomaly. Sex with anyone any time is standard. No shame. No matter. Everyone does this sort of thing. And the beat goes on. It's not my place to judge the world...or anyone for that matter. But to join in the chorus of "anything goes" is also not my calling. I'm not supposed to separate myself from the morals of the secular world to be a goody-two-shoes, but to be a part of God's family. To please Him. I know it often looks like self-righteousness to others. But, it's not. I can be drawn by the same appetites as the rest of the world. I have been. Just like I don't like the feeling of eating too much or drinking too much, I don't like the what I'm left with when I trade Jesus for the feel-good narcissism of this world. It's empty for me.
Also, I happen to believe my Jesus is coming again on the clouds into this wickedness and rebelliousness that pervades our physical world. Call me crazy. (Many have!) But I know there will come the day, in the midst of our mourning and wailing over the devastation of wars and the ramifications of our greed, when the clouds will part and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet sound of God (1 Thessalonians 4). And we will fly to meet Him in the air. Just you wait and see. But don't wait without Him. You'll be clinging to the rocks to save you. And you'll be saying, "I thought this was just the fantasy of a bunch of Christian lunatics." Jesus said this is what will happen. Bank on it. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him Who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Revelation 6)
Things will go from bad to worse. Jesus already told us this. The moon isn't going to shine and stars will come crashing into Earth. It's going to be catastrophic. People will be just like they were in the days of Noah when God despaired of having created man and flooded the earth with water, ridding it of all save some animals and Noah's family. That's the level of wickedness and self-absorption we can expect. That's why to be a part of it as children of God is despicable to Him. We have been called out to be a holy nation in the midst of great turmoil. To love others and each other with the love of Jesus. To look different not because of our self-righteousness, but because of our compassion. To live holy lives in the midst of a pretty corrupt society. One that redefines corruptness as correctness. It's confusing, and if we don't know our God and understand what He wants for us, we will be sucked in.
I joy, though, in knowing I have brothers and sisters all over the world who are today "loving not their lives even to their death (Revelation 12)." It costs us something to follow Jesus. It will cost us everything not to.
In His great love and mercy, God will call us out of every tribe and every nation, whether by death or by the miraculous and epic events of the end times. We are His. In this troubled world, our Father is aware of our every movement--our every thought, hope, dream. He is our King. The Lord of what we say and do. And we are not alone. We don't all look alike, but we are everywhere and we are known by the mark of the blood of Jesus swiped like the blood of the Passover Lamb upon the doorposts of our hearts. Oh, yes. I am marked. But not by my silly goodness, but His all surpassing sacrifice for my sinful heart. From the throne God sees the blood covering those who know Him. And the covenant that blood represents my God will keep. Snatching us away. To live as His kids forever. And let the people say, "Amen!" Praise the Lord.
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