Blog Archives - Created through Him

Created Through Him

Goings forth have been from of old

10/21/2012

2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2).

This prophecy from Micah gives the birthplace of the Messiah. The Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem. Hundreds of years after Micah’s prophecy, Christ was born in Bethlehem. Another interesting point of this verse from Micah is that Christ’s goings forth was from of old. The plan for Christ was from eternity. God does not plan on the ‘fly’, all things work according to His will and purpose. Additionally, this verse lends credence to the idea that many of the appearances of the Angel of Lord in the Old Testament were actually pre-incarnate appearances of Christ.

The God who spares

10/20/2012

11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?(Jonah 4:11)

Nineveh was a thriving city of the ancient world. It was a center of trade and had a large population for that time period (sixscore = 120, so ~120,000 people). Jonah was not happy that God had saved Nineveh, and in fact he protested blatantly against it. In this verse, God is trying to make Jonah see that Jonah was being hateful toward the people of Nineveh. Jonah’s hatred toward the people of Nineveh was not what God desired. God was being merciful, something for which Jonah should have been grateful. Jonah should have been grateful for the mercy shown to the Nineveh because Jonah needed mercy as well. You see; the mercy shown to Nineveh is the same mercy shown to us all.

God's plans

10/19/2012

2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. 3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. 4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them (Jonah 3:2-5).

God’s purpose for sending Jonah to Nineveh was to save Nineveh from destruction. Jonah’s original refusal to go to Nineveh was against God’s plan, and we can now see that God had a very good reason for His plan. The other point is that God’s plan will come to pass anyway, regardless of human objections. It is clearly better for us to be willing participants in God’s plan. In order to be willing participants in God’s plan, we must trust God. Our trust is well founded; when God commands, He always delivers. So, there is no chance that God’s plan will be thwarted. God is, after all, the sovereign God of the Universe.

Repentance

10/18/2012

9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. 10 And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land (Jonah 2:9-10).

Although Jonah’s original refusal to go to Nineveh as God had commanded led to God getting Jonah’s ‘attention’, God was merciful once Jonah repented. Jonah’s repentance allowed God to intervene to save Jonah. This is the pattern that we see repeatedly throughout scripture: repentance leads to restoration and life. God had a plan for Jonah, and although Jonah was not really originally very eager to carryout God’s plan, ultimately God’s will prevailed and Jonah did what was required.

When God commands...

10/17/2012

1 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:1-3).

Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh. Jonah probably had several very good reasons, from his perspective, to desire not to go to Nineveh. The Ninevehites were not nice people so Jonah feared them. Also, it is possible that Jonah simply didn’t like the people of Nineveh. So, instead of obeying God, Jonah fled. This was not the greatest decision Jonah could have made. And God would later make this poor decision on Jonah’s part abundantly clear to Jonah. The bottom line is that if God says go or do, it is unwise to disobey, lest we find ourselves swallowed up in the body of a whale. God’s desires and actions will not be thwarted.

He that formed the mountains

10/16/2012

13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The Lord, The God of hosts, is his name (Amos 4:13).

It is God’s, the Creator’s, perspective on what is important that really matters. God’s sovereign control over the Universe beginning with the Creation has been made known to all. A casual look around at nature should lead to conclusion that there is a powerful designer behind what is seen. And yet some choose to deny that there is a Creator. But the denial of the truth has no bearing on the actual truth itself. As God IS, so is the truth.

Turn unto the Lord your God

10/15/2012

10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: 11 And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? 12 Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil (Joel 2:10-13).

The prophet Joel reminds us about the power of God. Additionally, Joel paints a picture of God’s wrath and judgment that we should utterly desire to avoid-in fact we cannot stand against. God’s wrath and judgment are fearsome things. But Joel also reminds us that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. How are these things compatible with a God of judgment and wrath. The answer is simpler than it might appear. God’s wrath and judgment are only brought about in response to Man’s own actions. Wrath and judgment are consequences of and for rebellion against God. And these consequences occur in the presence of an alternative (consequences can be avoided in this case). God promises that all who call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved. The possibility of salvation is the manifestation of God’s grace, mercy, and great kindness.

The ways of the Lord

10/14/2012

9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein (Hosea 14:9).

How often do we, at times, subject God’s righteousness to our own? The standard for what is right is God’s standard and not any human interpretation or manipulation of the standard. And it is in the manipulation of the standard (systematically) where the transgression against God really becomes entrenched in a pattern of life. God’s pattern for our lives however allows for the avoidance of systematic transgression by calling us to His way and His standard. Follow God and results will be amazing and the consequences against us, irrelevant.

No savior besides God

10/13/2012

4 Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me (Hosea 13:4).

The deity of Christ was stated long before He came as savior. The necessity of our savior being God is due to the action required to save us. Before a holy and just God we have no hope on our own accord. We must be covered and protected in order to escape the wrath of God. This is so because we have all gone astray and fall short of God’s standards. In short, without Christ, we are as Jonathon Edwards stated, “sinners in the hands of an angry God”. So, only the perfect reflection of God the Father could possible cover us and protect us. This is God’s will that we should not perish. But God couldn’t violate His own nature by ignoring our sin. God had to deal with it. God dealt with our sin, once and for all, by the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world-for our benefit and to the glory of God.

Mercy

10/12/2012

6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6).

This verse from Hosea is also quoted by Jesus in Matthew 9:13. God desires us to be merciful and to seek Him. In a nutshell, God doesn’t want superficial and ritualistic actions; He wants real and sincere devotion. Likewise, God desires that we treat others mercifully. The reason that mercy is so important to God, I think, is that in order for mercy to be carried out by us we must acknowledge our own weaknesses and faults. Mercy by us is an action toward those around us: an action that requires humility and love. When God asks us to be merciful, He is doing so because God’s mercy is given to us a gracious gift. God’s mercy, unlike our mercy, is carried out by a God with no weaknesses or faults. God is merciful by His gracious choice. Our response should be to seek God and be merciful to others.

Created Through Him