A Concealed Remnant

Zephaniah, whose name means "God hides" or "God conceals" presented in his book a strongly worded warning to the people of Judah.  He also warned all the nations of the earth.  His warning was that God was not going to trifle with either group forever.  "The Day" was coming in which all but the most humble and repentant would experience such judgment and cataclysm that this world has never seen - - an almost "uncreation", as one writer described it.

Therefore you must wait patiently for me,” says the Lord,

“for the day when I attack and take plunder.

I have decided to gather nations together

and assemble kingdoms,

so I can pour out my fury on them –

all my raging anger.

For the whole earth will be consumed

by my fiery anger.

9Know for sure that I will then enable

the nations to give me acceptable praise.

All of them will invoke the Lord’s name when they pray,

and will worship him in unison.

10From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

those who pray to me will bring me tribute.

11In that day you will not be ashamed of all your rebelliousness against me,

for then I will remove from your midst those who proudly boast,

and you will never again be arrogant on my holy hill.

12I will leave in your midst a humble and meek group of people,

and they will find safety in the Lord’s presence.

Zephaniah 3:8-12 (NET)

Idolatry and pride, which are firmly related, were the foundational sins mentioned as precipitating this awful day which was also prophesied by Joel, Daniel, and others in the Old Testament, and also by Jesus, John and others in the New.

"The Day of the Lord" will occur just prior to the return to Earth by Jesus Christ, at which time He will set up his earthly kingdom.  In fact, His return is the culmination of The Day of the Lord.  We are told by Jesus that, if those days were not shortened no life would be left on the Earth.  (Matthew 24:22-31)

Many modern-day Christians believe that the faithful Church will be spared this judgment, that they will be snatched up to Heaven and hidden away with Christ just prior to this judgment.  This snatching up is commonly called The Rapture.  The scriptural support for this interpretation is found in the writings of Paul (1 Thessalonians 4).  Others believe Christians will go through this terrible period and be part of the remnant that is concealed and spared, as described in these passages of Scripture and others.  Jesus' words to His followers in Matthew 24 are often cited as support for this view.  Ultimately, it is a mystery, by Paul's own admission, and well-respected theologians fervently espouse one interpretation or the other.

In just over two weeks, I plan to take a trip to Israel.  In the planning of activities for that trip I had expressed an interest in seeing the ancient city of Petra.  Why?  Petra, a name which means Rock, is not mentioned by that Greek name in Scripture.  It is instead called Bozrah (Hebrew) or Sela (Isaiah 16:1, 2 Kings 14:7).

Petra, which laid "undiscovered" to the modern, Western world until 1812,  lies about 50 miles south of the Dead Sea; it is several hours ride by car from Jerusalem.  It is located just inside the southwestern border of the country of Jordan, just east of Israel.  Petra is an ancient, abandoned city, once inhabited by the descendants of Esau, the Edomites.  Much of it is built into the pink, sandstone cliffs which completely surround a valley.  Getting into and out of the area by land is challenging. Even though there are many ways in, none of them are easy. The "best way" in is called the Siq, but even it has sheer rock walls lining the way, some 650 feet high.  It has been said that if the valley were to be sealed, it would be impenetrable by land.

Petra contains some 800 or so tombs within the catacombs of the rock cliffs.  It also contains temples and other structures of unknown purpose.  There are several scriptures which indicate Petra may be the location where the concealed remnant during the Day of the Lord may flee to hide.  Jesus indicated the remnant would "flee to the mountains" (Matthew 24:16).  Other scriptures which make Petra a likely destination are: Daniel 11:41, Micah 2:12 and Isaiah 63:1-6.

Interestingly, the area we now know as Jordan is prophesied to be one of the safest places on earth during The Day of Lord.  Take a look at Daniel 11:41 (NET), which says the Antichrist will not be able to overcome Jordan:

Then he will enter the beautiful land. Many will fall, but these will escape: Edom, Moab, and the Ammonite leadership.

Regardless of when The Day of the Lord comes, or where we are residing when it begins, there can be no doubt that as Christians we are living in increasingly hostile times.  Christians around the world are hated and many are being killed for Jesus' sake, as He described in Matthew 24:9.  Those who have heard the Gospel are turning away from it in unprecedented numbers - - - "falling away" as the Bible describes it (Matthew 24:10-11; 1 Timothy 4:1).

It behooves us all to remain undistracted and to stand firm in the Truth, regardless of our external circumstances, doesn't it?  Let's end with the last words in Zephaniah's book (Zephaniah 3:19-20 ESV), God's promise to that concealed remnant.

19Behold, at that time I will deal
with all your oppressors.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.
20At that time I will bring you in,
at the time when I gather you together;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes,” says the LORD.

Sources:

https://www.bibleplaces.com/petra/
https://www.allaboutarchaeology.org/is-the-city-of-petra-in-the-bible-faq.htm
https://www.gotquestions.org/Petra.html
https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/2016/june/does-the-new-petra-discovery-hint-at-biblical-prophecy

Nearest and Dearest (Advent: Day 9)

I had to laugh at the POTUS-elect the other day.  He visited Ohio and spoke to employees of the Carrier Company, the folks who make heat pumps, and such.  During the course of his speech he said something like, "I have a secret to share with you. Don't tell anybody now!  My new secretary of defense is going to be..."  What makes this laughable is that, of course, when you tell several hundred people a "secret", with press present, it's not going to remain a secret very long!  That's not the way most of us operate. If we have precious news to share, we share it with our "nearest and dearest" first.

We live on the side of history after the first advent (coming) of Jesus to Earth.  So, it is a bit of a stretch for Christians to know what it was like for the Jews to look for, long for, their Messiah, except as we Christians can do in regards to Jesus' second advent, still in the future.  (I wrote about this in my last post.)

Two of the most intriguing people in the Bible are found in Luke 2.  One of the best things about Luke was his attention to detail.  None of the other gospel writers could compare to him in that respect.  Both of these "minor" characters were fervently looking for Messiah as "the first Christmas" approached.

Our story begins in verse 22, when Mary and Joseph are found taking the baby Jesus to the Temple in order to fulfill the requirements of the Law for newborn boys.  There, they encounter Simeon (who will be the subject of a future post) and Anna, our heroine for today.

36There was also a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old, having been married to her husband for seven years until his death. 37She had lived as a widow since then for eighty-four years. She never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38At that moment, she came up to them and began to give thanks to God and to speak about the child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

According to Luke 2:36-38, Anna lost her husband to death, after only 7 years of marriage. She never remarried.  Anna was OLD.  Most Jewish women marry in their mid-teens. Assuming she married at 15 and became a widow at 22, she would have been 106 years old at the time Jesus was brought to the Temple for the first time.  106!! That is "ancient", even by today's standards!  For whatever the reason, she lived in the Temple, most likely performing some sort of tasks assigned to older widows.1

Anna's close proximity to the Temple, however, is not what earned her the title of "prophetess".  (As I mentioned in yesterday's post, she is the only woman given that title in the New Testament.)  Being "in church" a lot is not what makes a person a Christian either...Verse 37 tells us that she spent much time in fasting and in prayer.  When a person spends that much time seeking God, communing with Him, they are more likely to receive revelations from Him.  That's not to say she EARNED the gift of prophecy, because it is a gift from God, given at His discretion.  But, she exercised her gift with tremendous zeal.

And, the "proof is in the pudding", as the saying goes.  Anna walked up and immediately recognized who Jesus was.  If we assumed that she knew Mary and Joseph we would very likely be drawing a false conclusion.  The Scriptures do not say she knew them, after all.  Whom she DID know was Jesus, even though she had never met him!  Her reaction to meeting Jesus "in the flesh" was to praise God aloud, to thank Him and to tell everyone around her about Him.

Do you "get" that Anna knew, even more surely than Mary and Joseph did, who Jesus truly was?

Don't you think that Anna must have been one of God's "nearest and dearest"?  Even though she is given a mere 3 verses in the Bible, what a wonderful testimony those verses contain!  In his classic commentary on the book of Luke, Alfred Plummer said that Anna was the first in a long line of prophetic disciples who would speak about Jesus to all who were fervently looking for the redemption of Israel.2

In Jesus, Anna glimpsed the future, a future as bright as the promises of God!

Sources:

1    http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/new-testament/mary-simeon-or-anna-who-first-recognized-jesus-as-messiah/

2   Alfred Plummer, Luke, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1905), p. 71.

Decently and in Order

Good morning,

I find 1 Corinthians 14 to be difficult.  In my travels through 1 Corinthians, I arrived here late last week, amid trying personal circumstances.  The chapter just got the best of of me.  So, really I've been avoiding it.  However, that can't continue to go on; so, here we are.

Although born and raised in the Baptist church, I have had occasional forays into the more charismatic denominations.  I've worshipped with believers who spoke in tongues, for example.  I've worshipped in services where people were healed, where they danced, even where people became so ecstatic in the Spirit that they fainted.  I don't mention any of these things to demean or condescend to any Christian denomination, based on these behaviors.  In all those situations, the congregation behaved in a peaceful, orderly way (vs. 40).

It occurs to me that Christians congregate with each other according to their spiritual gifts.  If a person has been given the gift of tongues, for example, he or she will probably worship in a congregation where that particular spiritual gift is more often exercised.  I see nothing wrong with that.  Otherwise, disorder could result.

In this chapter Paul is instructing the new church on how the spiritual gifts should be exercised so as to build up the local congregation of believers and also to be a witness to an unbelieving world. Apparently, the Corinthians needed this type of corrective guidance, because their worship services were characterized by disorder, as was their communal eating (1 Cor. 11).  The points of disorder seemed to center around the exercise of the gifts of speaking in tongues, in interpreting of tongues and of prophecy.  In their eagerness to "share", members were not waiting their turn, were behaving disrespectfully to each other and were generally causing havoc among the people.

Paul had these things to say about the exercise of the gifts of speaking in and interpreting tongues.
1.  The primary purpose for speaking in tongues is for the believer to communicate with God, to draw closer to Him in prayer (vs. 2).
2.  The one with the gift of speaking in tongues should not exercise his gift in public unless there is someone present who understands the foreign language he is speaking and who can interpret his utterances to the people present (vs. 5, 9-12, 27).

If you do not speak clearly with your tongue, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air. 10 There are probably many kinds of languages in the world, and none is without meaning. 11 If then I do not know the meaning of a language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 12 It is the same with you.

3.  The implication here is that the believer's utterance should be a recognized foreign language that another person present who speaks that language would be able to interpret.
The goal of public manifestations of the gift of tongues is to strengthen the church and to be a sign to unbelievers.  (vs. 12, 22)
4.   Public manifestations of speaking in tongues should occur one person at a time, with an interpretation following immediately thereafter (vs. 27-28).

Whereas the gift of tongues is to be primarily a private gift with carefully ordered public use, the gift of prophecy is a much more public gift (vs. 19, 39).  The purpose of the gift of prophecy is to:
1.  reveal hidden things from God to the people (29-31)
2.  to strengthen, encourage and console the Church  (vs. 3)
3.  to bring unbelievers to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus (vs. 24, 25)

Even though the gift of prophecy is the more preferable gift for public use, Paul was clear that all spoken prophecies should be evaluated by the hearers, as to whether they are truly from God.  In the days of the early Church, the people did not have written revelation other than the Old Testament and the newly circulating letters from the apostles.  The spoken words of the apostles and missionaries (the apostles were the first missionaries) were also used as evaluation tools.  Today, we have the entire written revelation of Jesus Christ to His Church, both Old and New Testaments.  We must be careful to evaluate prophecy according to The Book.

Here's an example.  Every day a new "religious" book comes out, seeking to interpret the Scriptures in light of current events.  The most notable examples concern the nation of Israel and "end times" prophecies.  Books come and books go.  Some of their predictions (prophecies) are proven to be true. Others are not.  What makes me think of these phenomena is a piece I read by Joel C. Rosenberg yesterday.  He was commenting on both a huge natural gas reserve (16 trillion cubic feet) discovered in Israel (off the coast of Haifa in 2010) and also more recently, a huge oil reserve , in the Golan Heights.  Joel had penned a non-fiction work, Epicenter, in 2006.  In that book, he prophesied that a future newspaper headline would tell of both of these discoveries.

I would hope that you would do the same with this blog:  evaluate its contents according to the Scriptures, rather than taking it at "face value".  Look up the cited verses each day.  Search the Word of God yourself.

The gift of prophecy, though, has a more personal application as well.  Verse 25 says that this gift discloses secrets of people's hearts - - - not in a public, defaming way - - - but rather that the Holy Spirit uses preachers or teachers with this spiritual gift to produce conviction in the hearts of both believers and unbelievers.

Tomorrow we will conclude this chapter by examining verses 33-36.

Good morning, Lord.  Thank you for giving us the Body of Christ all of the spiritual gifts, so that as Your Church we can more powerfully bring You glory, so that the lost may come to know You.  May all things be done decently and in order.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Sources:

https://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/11/israel-makes-massive-discovery-of-oil-in-the-golan-heights-is-this-a-prelude-to-the-war-of-gog-magog-heres-the-answer-part-two/

https://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/bible-prophecy-update-israel-discovers-another-16-trillion-cubic-feet-of-natural-gas/

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/major-shale-find-could-guarantee-israels-oil-supply-for-years-cm528693