Wednesday, March 23, 2016

God Always Keeps His Promises!



Sometimes when people ask us to make a promise, they are looking for assurance, a certainty that you will follow through on what you say. God always keeps His promises and His rainbow is evidence that He will never again destroy the world by flood. It will be fire when the world's end comes through His final judgment on the world. We are picking up our study through the Book of Revelation into Chapter 15, where we are understanding more about the worship of God and why we, as believers in Christ, should be doing it!

Besides it being that He's done great things, (1) He alone gives the song (vs3b), and (2) it is the right thing to do, (vs 3b), (3) it is the reasonable thing to do. (vs 4).

Who is so stupid as to not bow down and worship God? In the end, everything is going to burn, but will it cost you your soul?

Psalm 72:11 ~ "May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!"

Deuteronomy 16:16 ~ "Three times a year all your makes shall appear before the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands so that you will be altogether joyful."

This is what the Lord told Moses to tell the people of Israel. They were not suppose to come before God empty handed.

Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11 ~ "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the day of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh."

At the first Christmas, they came with gifts. In the Old Testament, we are taught not to come before God empty-handed, and that God deserves to be worshiped and praised. It is the worship of Jesus that is under attack in the world. Look at what happens every single Christmas. The number one thing that they attack is the hymns we sing to Jesus. Then comes the name of Jesus and even prayer. Jesus' life and ministry makes perfect sense - reasonable!

Philippians 2:9-11 ~ "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, n heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

That is why so many people are removing all mention of Christ at Christmas!!! It offends people so they resort to saying Happy Holidays, which is simply saying Happy Holy Day instead. Look at how Daniel stood up to those who wanted him to stop praying, we need to be the same.

4. It is the lasting thing to do because worship is eternal. It will last long after we are gone.

Revelation 15:4 ~ "For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."

This verse simply means "I saw your judgments and in the end, they are exactly fair and right and perfect, I must agree with them, it's perfect.

Isaiah 45:22-23 ~ "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a world that shall not return;"

The Wrath of God, He's Just. We can't understand wrath, it's a God thing! His wrath is just because it is perfect, holy and fair.

Revelation 15:5-7 ~ "After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever,"

Heaven has only one temple that matters, all the others on earth are simply copies. The bowls resemble gold mining pans and the angels are holding the contents of what is inside them carefully not to touch it. This is the worst of all the judgments coming to the earth from God.

We need to remember that God is not emotional and out of control. He is patient and just. He has waited all this time to allow people to repent. If you recall the tapestry that separated the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem that was torn when Jesus died, was 8 stories high and 6 inches thick. It was torn from the top to the bottom. It kept man out of the Holy of Holies and it was God saying, "No man will meet me on earth again, through the legal standards." God was letting man come to him freely, and the invitation was going out to all people in the world to come to God! God was done with all the legalism and now we are invited to come to Him of our own free will, but man is done with coming to God for anything at this point in history.

Dr. Henry Morris stated this regarding the Holy of Holies in heaven above: "It is significant that these rare glimpses into the heavenly temple which God has given us in the book of Revelation, also shows us that it is an open temple! Meaning now - there is nothing to keep man from the presence of God if he comes through Jesus Christ. It is the resurrected human flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, which is now the veil that contains both the glory of God and conceals its unapproachable brilliance from sinful man."

Jesus is now the veil separating us from God.

Hebrews 10:19-22 ~ "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

It is one way or the other now to enter into the presence of God. Come boldly into the presence of God. It opened a door to let all men come in freely with boldness, and confidence. He's invited us to call Him, Abba or Poppa, which means Daddy! That's about as honest as it gets with our heavenly Father.

Makes you wonder why our right to pray publicly is so challenged? God's not into politics, keep pursuing Him with all your heart.

1 comment:

Annesphamily said...

Hi Kat, nice to visit you and read your wonderful posts. Always thinking of you here and wishing you well.I Just pray in the midst of all the turmoil and hatefulness our world is filled with. I always thank God for my precious mother, she did teach me well and I am always stopping to pray. We are in the middle of a blizzard. I prayed so much today for my kids and hubby on the road. Our car is snowed in at the RTD bus station a few miles from our home. Grateful our oldest son made it there to get his dad. Thankful Noelle and Zach have late start tomorrow and can give my hubby a lift to the bus and hopefully he can move the car tomorrow evening. Have a blessed week Kat. xo