Max Lucado Daily: A SPECTACULAR FUTURE ERA - September 19, 2024
History is an ordered, orchestrated movement toward an eternal goal. God has a time line. Gabriel declared three prophecies, often called “the backbone of Bible prophecy.”
The angel said, “God has ordered four hundred ninety years for your people [the Jews] and your holy city [Jerusalem] for these reasons: to stop people from turning against God; to put an end to sin; to take away evil; to bring in goodness that continues forever; to bring about the vision and prophecy; and to appoint a most holy place” (Daniel 9:24 NCV).
Have these decrees been fulfilled? No. These events have yet to occur, but they will occur. Obviously the angel was describing a spectacular future era, and it will be amazing!
What Happens Next
Ezekiel 36
Back to Your Own Land
1–5 36 “And now, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel. Say, ‘Mountains of Israel, listen to God’s Message. God, the Master, says, Because the enemy crowed over you, “Good! Those old hills are now ours!” now here is a prophecy in the name of God, the Master: Because nations came at you from all sides, ripping and plundering, hauling pieces of you off every which way, and you’ve become the butt of cheap gossip and jokes, therefore, Mountains of Israel, listen to the Message of God, the Master. My Message to mountains and hills, to ditches and valleys, to the heaps of rubble and the emptied towns that are looted for plunder and turned into jokes by all the surrounding nations: Therefore, says God, the Master, now I’m speaking in a fiery rage against the rest of the nations, but especially against Edom, who in an orgy of violence and shameless insolence robbed me of my land, grabbed it for themselves.’
6–7 “Therefore prophesy over the land of Israel, preach to the mountains and hills, to every ditch and valley: ‘The Message of God, the Master: Look! Listen! I’m angry—and I care. I’m speaking to you because you’ve been humiliated among the nations. Therefore I, God, the Master, am telling you that I’ve solemnly sworn that the nations around you are next. It’s their turn to be humiliated.
8–12 “ ‘But you, Mountains of Israel, will burst with new growth, putting out branches and bearing fruit for my people Israel. My people are coming home! Do you see? I’m back again. I’m on your side. You’ll be plowed and planted as before! I’ll see to it that your population grows all over Israel, that the towns fill up with people, that the ruins are rebuilt. I’ll make this place teem with life—human and animal. The country will burst into life, life, and more life, your towns and villages full of people just as in the old days. I’ll treat you better than I ever have. And you’ll realize that I am God. I’ll put people over you—my own people Israel! They’ll take care of you and you’ll be their inheritance. Never again will you be a harsh and unforgiving land to them.
13–15 “ ‘God, the Master, says: Because you have a reputation of being a land that eats people alive and makes women barren, I’m now telling you that you’ll never eat people alive again nor make women barren. Decree of God, the Master. And I’ll never again let the taunts of outsiders be heard over you nor permit nations to look down on you. You’ll no longer be a land that makes women barren. Decree of God, the Master.’ ”
16–21 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, when the people of Israel lived in their land, they polluted it by the way they lived. I poured out my anger on them because of the polluted blood they poured out on the ground. And so I got thoroughly angry with them polluting the country with their wanton murders and dirty gods. I kicked them out, exiled them to other countries. I sentenced them according to how they had lived. Wherever they went, they gave me a bad name. People said, ‘These are God’s people, but they got kicked off his land.’ I suffered much pain over my holy reputation, which the people of Israel blackened in every country they entered.
22–23 “Therefore, tell Israel, ‘Message of God, the Master: I’m not doing this for you, Israel. I’m doing it for me, to save my character, my holy name, which you’ve blackened in every country where you’ve gone. I’m going to put my great and holy name on display, the name that has been ruined in so many countries, the name that you blackened wherever you went. Then the nations will realize who I really am, that I am God, when I show my holiness through you so that they can see it with their own eyes.
24–28 “ ‘For here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to take you out of these countries, gather you from all over, and bring you back to your own land. I’ll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You’ll once again live in the land I gave your ancestors. You’ll be my people! I’ll be your God!
29–30 “ ‘I’ll pull you out of that stinking pollution. I’ll give personal orders to the wheat fields, telling them to grow bumper crops. I’ll send no more famines. I’ll make sure your fruit trees and field crops flourish. Other nations won’t be able to hold you in contempt again because of famine.
31 “ ‘And then you’ll think back over your terrible lives—the evil, the shame—and be thoroughly disgusted with yourselves, realizing how badly you’ve lived—all those obscenities you’ve carried out.
32 “ ‘I’m not doing this for you. Get this through your thick heads! Shame on you. What a mess you made of things, Israel!
33–36 “ ‘Message of God, the Master: On the day I scrub you clean from all your filthy living, I’ll also make your cities livable. The ruins will be rebuilt. The neglected land will be worked again, no longer overgrown with weeds and thistles, worthless in the eyes of passersby. People will exclaim, “Why, this weed patch has been turned into a Garden of Eden! And the ruined cities, smashed into oblivion, are now thriving!” The nations around you that are still in existence will realize that I, God, rebuild ruins and replant empty waste places. I, God, said so, and I’ll do it.
37–38 “ ‘Message of God, the Master: Yet again I’m going to do what Israel asks. I’ll increase their population as with a flock of sheep. Like the milling flocks of sheep brought for sacrifices in Jerusalem during the appointed feasts, the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. And they’ll realize that I am God.’ ”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Today's Scripture
Psalm 16
A David Song
1–2 16 Keep me safe, O God,
I’ve run for dear life to you.
I say to God, “Be my Lord!”
Without you, nothing makes sense.
3 And these God-chosen lives all around—
what splendid friends they make!
4 Don’t just go shopping for a god.
Gods are not for sale.
I swear I’ll never treat god-names
like brand-names.
5–6 My choice is you, God, first and only.
And now I find I’m your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
And then you made me your heir!
7–8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake
is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I’ll stick with God;
I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.
9–10 I’m happy from the inside out,
and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell—
that’s not my destination!
11 Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
I’m on the right way.
Insight
David’s joy in God, expressed so eloquently in Psalm 16:11, is a joy available to us as well. In fact, for the child of God, all we need for joy in our lives has already been provided—the indwelling Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul included joy in the list of the fruit of the Spirit: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Joy isn’t something we can generate ourselves; it’s the result of the Spirit’s work in us. By: Bill Crowder
Finding Wise Joy
You will fill me with joy in your presence. Psalm 16:11
The pandemic was winning. That’s how it looked to Jason Persoff, an emergency room doctor at a large hospital committed to saving patients with Covid. How could he give his best? During off hours, he relaxed by taking enlarged photos of something small—individual snowflakes. It “sounds crazy,” says Dr. Persoff. But finding joy in something small but beautiful is “an opportunity to bond with my Creator and also to see the world in a way that few people take the time to notice.”
Wisely looking for such joy—to ease stress and build resilience—is a high value in the medical profession, the doctor said. But for everyone, he has this advice: “You’ve got to breathe. You have got to find a way to take a breath and enjoy life.”
David the psalmist expressed this thought in Psalm 16 as he declared the wisdom of finding joy in God. “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup,” he wrote. “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure” (vv. 5, 9).
There are many unwise things people do as they try to decompress. Dr. Persoff found the wise path—one that pointed him to the Creator, who offers us the joy of His presence. “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (v. 11). In Him, we find joy evermore. By: Patricia Raybon
Reflect & Pray
How does finding wise joy bless your life? As you read Psalm 16, how can it inspire you to name the ways you find joy in God?
In my life’s journey, O God, please bless me to wisely find joy that starts with You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Do You Continue to Go with Jesus?
You are those who have stood by me in my trials. — Luke 22:28
It’s true that Jesus Christ is with us in our trials, but are we with him in his? “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:66). Many of us stop going with Jesus the moment we have our first spiritual experience. We are so amazed by what our Lord has done for us that our experience of it becomes our focus, and though we continue to wear his badge, we take our sights off him. The trials of Jesus continued throughout his earthly life, and they will continue throughout the life of the Son of God in us. At certain times, it’s easy to stand by Jesus. But watch out when God shifts your circumstances. Are you standing by Jesus when the world turns against him, or are you siding with the world, the flesh, and the devil? Are you going with Jesus in the life you are living now?
We have the idea that we should shield ourselves from some of the things God brings around us. Never! God engineers our circumstances, and whatever they may be, we have to face them while abiding with him in his trials. His trials do not test our human nature; they test the life of the Son of God inside us. Remember that the honor of Jesus Christ is at stake in your life. Are you remaining loyal to the Son of God when his life in you is under attack?
Do you continue to go with Jesus? The way lies through Gethsemane, through the city gate, outside the camp. The way lies alone. It continues until there is no trace of a footstep left, only the voice: “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19).
Ecclesiastes 1-3; 2 Corinthians 11:16-33
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”
The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 19, 2024
MAJORING ON WHAT WILL LAST - #9834
It was a major turning point in the life of the Hutchcraft family when our firstborn went to college, and it was a major turning point for my checkbook, too! There was a lot of talk before our daughter left for college and even during orientation week about choosing a major. Of course, that's pretty heavy stuff for freshmen; they're lucky just to find their classes, let alone find their major. But they tell you during that orientation week to pick a major that will be useful later on.
Now, students might tend to follow their interests or their glands and major in football, or major in social life. Some do. Or major in practical jokes. Of course, I would never do that. Now, I heard a lot during orientation week saying, "Now, what are you going to do with that major?" "What are you going to do in your future?" That's mom and dad speaking. "Think about your future. Hey, this is costing a lot. Major in something that will be valuable in your future, not just something that looks good today." You know what? That's actually pretty good advice for all of us at Kingdom University.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Majoring on What Will Last."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 24, and here is Jesus describing a time when a lot of folks' majors won't be marketable anymore. It's called "the last days" in Scripture, and He says in verse 7, "It's a time when nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there'll be famines and earthquakes in various places." Then he goes on to say, "Then there will be a great distress unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again. Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken."
Man, that is a lot of upheaval, and it's happening at a time when the world will look much as it seems to look today. Many Bible scholars believe that increasingly the stage is set for this to be maybe the generation that precedes the coming of Christ. And at that time, those who have majored their lives on business, or houses, personal empires, or money, or anything earthly, are going to find it totally useless, totally unmarketable, easily destroyed. Like a naive college student, many folks today are majoring on values that look good from here but will not support them in their spiritual future.
Then comes Jesus' counsel as to a major that is worth investing in. Verse 35 of Matthew 24: "Heaven and earth will pass away..." Okay, so those things are not majors, they're minors. "...but My words will never pass away." He's saying His words are the only major that will ever withstand every recession, every depression, every crisis, every illness, every emergency, any bomb a man can build. Could it be that the minors of life have left you little time for the majors? You've got to set aside some time to dig into God's Word. Maybe that's slipped into becoming a low priority in your schedule. Make it a high priority for your family if you want them to be ready for the future. We learn volumes of data from what we learn on Internet websites to remembering batting averages, but we don't learn the Bible.
Whether you're a PhD, or you never made it through high school, major in the Bible. It shows up the lies; it shows you what God wants today; it shows you the big picture.
Minor in what you will, but major in what will be there when nothing else is: the never lying, never dying Word of Almighty God.