Max Lucado Daily: A MILLENNIAL KINGDOM - September 23, 2024
I believe Jesus will someday rule from the physical city of Jerusalem for a thousand years. The earth will be restored to its garden-of-Eden splendor, and we will walk on a perfect planet in perfected bodies.
What leads me to that conclusion? One reason is that a millennial kingdom provides an opportunity for God’s covenants to be honored. God said, “…fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28 NKJV). But with rebellion came the fall. Consequently, humanity has fallen from its intended position as ruler of the earth.
What’s more, unfulfilled covenants remain between God and Israel. God also made a covenant with David. It requires that Jesus sit on David’s throne and rule over David’s kingdom, the nation of Israel. The millennial kingdom allows for this to occur. And I’m so excited for you and me to be there and be a part of it.
What Happens Next
Ezekiel 39
Call the Wild Animals!
1–5 39 “Son of man, prophesy against Gog. Say, ‘A Message of God, the Master: I’m against you, Gog, head of Meshech and Tubal. I’m going to turn you around and drag you out, drag you out of the far north and down on the mountains of Israel. Then I’ll knock your bow out of your left hand and your arrows from your right hand. On the mountains of Israel you’ll be slaughtered, you and all your troops and the people with you. I’ll serve you up as a meal to carrion birds and scavenging animals. You’ll be killed in the open field. I’ve given my word. Decree of God, the Master.’
6 “I’ll set fire to Magog and the far-off islands, where people are so seemingly secure. And they’ll realize that I am God.
7 “I’ll reveal my holy name among my people Israel. Never again will I let my holy name be dragged in the mud. Then the nations will realize that I, God, am The Holy in Israel.
8 “It’s coming! Yes, it will happen! This is the day I’ve been telling you about.
9–10 “People will come out of the cities of Israel and make a huge bonfire of the weapons of war, piling on shields large and small, bows and arrows, clubs and spears, a fire they’ll keep going for seven years. They won’t need to go into the woods to get fuel for the fire. There’ll be plenty of weapons to keep it going. They’ll strip those who stripped them. They’ll rob those who robbed them. Decree of God, the Master.
11 “At that time I’ll set aside a burial ground for Gog in Israel at Traveler’s Rest, just east of the sea. It will obstruct the route of travelers, blocking their way, the mass grave of Gog and his mob of an army. They’ll call the place Gog’s Mob.
12–16 “Israel will bury the corpses in order to clean up the land. It will take them seven months. All the people will turn out to help with the burials. It will be a big day for the people when it’s all done and I’m given my due. Men will be hired full-time for the cleanup burial operation and will go through the country looking for defiling, decomposing corpses. At the end of seven months, there’ll be an all-out final search. Anyone who sees a bone will mark the place with a stick so the buriers can get it and bury it in the mass burial site, Gog’s Mob. (A town nearby is called Mobville, or Hamonah.) That’s how they’ll clean up the land.
17–20 “Son of man, God, the Master, says: Call the birds! Call the wild animals! Call out, ‘Gather and come, gather around my sacrificial meal that I’m preparing for you on the mountains of Israel. You’ll eat meat and drink blood. You’ll eat off the bodies of great heroes and drink the blood of famous princes as if they were so many rams and lambs, goats and bulls, the choicest grain-fed animals of Bashan. At the sacrificial meal I’m fixing for you, you’ll eat fat till you’re stuffed and drink blood till you’re drunk. At the table I set for you, you’ll stuff yourselves with horses and riders, heroes and fighters of every kind.’ Decree of God, the Master.
21–24 “I’ll put my glory on display among the nations and they’ll all see the judgment I execute, see me at work handing out judgment. From that day on, Israel will realize that I am their God. And the nations will get the message that it was because of their sins that Israel went into exile. They were disloyal to me and I turned away from them. I turned them over to their enemies and they were all killed. I treated them as their polluted and sin-sated lives deserved. I turned away from them, refused to look at them.
25–29 “But now I will return Jacob back from exile, I’ll be compassionate with all the people of Israel, and I’ll be zealous for my holy name. Eventually the memory will fade, the memory of their shame over their betrayals of me when they lived securely in their own land, safe and unafraid. Once I’ve brought them back from foreign parts, gathered them in from enemy territories, I’ll use them to demonstrate my holiness with all the nations watching. Then they’ll realize for sure that I am their God, for even though I sent them off into exile, I will gather them back to their own land, leaving not one soul behind. After I’ve poured my Spirit on Israel, filled them with my life, I’ll no longer turn away. I’ll look them full in the face. Decree of God, the Master.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, September 23, 2024
Today's Scripture
Ephesians 2:8-13, 17-22
Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
11–13 But don’t take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenants and promises in Israel, hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.
Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.
19–22 That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.
Insight
As believers in Jesus, we have His promise that we’re not strangers to Him: “You are . . . fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household” (Ephesians 2:19). In fact, His care for us is so intimate that at this very moment, He’s preparing a home where we’ll live with Him forever! Christ said: “I go and prepare a place for you, [and] I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3). When we arrive at our eternal home, we’ll be in His presence forever.
By: Bill Crowder
No Longer a Foreigner
You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people. Ephesians 2:19
“You don’t belong here.” Those words crushed an eight-year-old girl’s heart, and the pain stayed with her. Her family had emigrated from a refugee camp in a war-torn country to a new country, and her immigration card had the word alien stamped on it. She felt like she didn’t belong.
As an adult, although she put her faith in Jesus, she still felt alienated—stung by the feeling that she was an unwelcome outsider. While reading her Bible, she discovered the promises of Ephesians 2. In verse 12, she saw that old, troubling word alien. “You were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (nkjv). But as she kept reading, she saw how Christ’s sacrifice had changed her status. She got to verse 19, which told her, “You are no longer” a foreigner or alien. She was a “fellow citizen” with God’s people. Realizing that she was a citizen of heaven, she was overjoyed. Never again would she be an outsider. God had taken her in and accepted her.
Because of our sin, we’re alienated from God. But we don’t have to stay that way. Jesus brought peace to all who were “far away” (v. 17), making all who trust Him fellow citizens of His eternal kingdom—united as the body of Christ.
By: Dave Branon
Reflect & Pray
In what way do you feel alienated? What does it mean for you to know that God has called all His children to be united in Him?
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for allowing me to experience fellowship with You and with others who love and trust You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, September 23, 2024
The Disciple’s Goal
Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem.” — Luke 18:31
In our natural life, our ambitions change as we grow and mature. In our Christian life, the goal is given to us at the beginning: we start with Christ and we end with him; the beginning and the end are the same. Disciples live this out in their willingness to follow Jesus wherever he leads. We think the aim of the Christian life is to be useful or to win converts. The disciple is useful and does win converts, but this isn’t the aim. The aim is to do the will of God by following Jesus when he says, “We are going up to Jerusalem.”
In our Lord’s life, Jerusalem was the place where he reached the climax of his Father’s will upon the cross. Unless we go with Jesus to Jerusalem, we will have no companionship with him. Nothing ever discouraged our Lord on his way to Jerusalem. He didn’t hurry through the villages where he was persecuted or linger in the villages where he was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned him away from his purpose: to go up to Jerusalem.
“The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40 kjv). If Jesus Christ is our master, then the same things that happened to him as he went to his Jerusalem will happen to us as we go to ours. Works of God will be manifested through us; people will be blessed. One or two of these people will show gratitude; the rest will show ingratitude. No matter what, we must let nothing deflect us from going up to our Jerusalem.
“They crucified him there” (23:33). The cross is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that happening is the gateway to our salvation. Those who follow Jesus Christ do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord’s grace, they end in glory. In the meantime, our watchword is “I, too, go up to Jerusalem.”
Song of Solomon 1-3; Galatians 2
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
It is impossible to read too much, but always keep before you why you read. Remember that “the need to receive, recognize, and rely on the Holy Spirit” is before all else.
Approved Unto God, 11 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, September 23, 2024
Cheap Faith - Worth What You Paid - #9836
I know a teenage guy who's trying to make his dream come true - to have a music group of his own. And so there are four guys spending long evenings - a lot of their weekends - practicing, writing, perfecting, and recording. Their goal is to do a professional recording and see if it can open some doors for them.
Of course, they found one issue that needs to be resolved right up front. I bet you can guess. They need some fairly expensive equipment, plus it's going to cost to get the recording done. So, who's going to pay for all that? Well, obviously, some of the guys have more money than others, but they know that it's only right to divide it equally. So they're all working right now to chip in on that equipment. They basically agreed on a simple principle: It's only fair if we all share the cost.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Cheap Faith - Worth What You Paid."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Philippians 2, and I'll begin reading in verse 5. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." Okay. Well, then he goes on to tell what that attitude is, "Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man He humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross."
Now, when you hear this expression, "Have the same attitude as Jesus" and you ask what attitude, the answer is very clearly spelled out. God was willing to pay a high price to save lost people like us. Here's the question, "Why should God make all the sacrifices?"
See, Christians in other generations have paid for this gospel... for this faith with physical consequences, economic consequences, family persecution, and many have paid with their lives and still are. This very day people are paying with their lives for their allegiance to Jesus in a number of places around the world. Why should God's people in other generations make all the sacrifices to reach the lost? Today Christians in many parts of the world are risking everything to stand for the Gospel. Why should God's people in other places make all the sacrifices?
Which brings it to you and me. Should we be getting off this comfortably; this conveniently? So many of us are figuratively speaking, throwing in our few pennies while God and so many of our brothers and sisters have thrown in everything they had to rescue a dying world. There's a world of lost people out there; we're surrounded by them, we know some of them. They're headed for the hell of a Christ-less eternity.
We just can't be content with going to our Christian meetings, giving our little offerings, holding some office, singing our songs, and serving on our committees. This is a costly faith; it's an expensive faith, one for which God's Son gave His life. What are you and I giving? We all have to sacrifice some of our earthly loves to reach the people that Christ gave His entire life for. And that so many brothers and sisters have paid such a high price for. And yet it seems that, we who have more than any other Christians in history, instead of giving more time, and more talent, and more resource, only keep more.
The guys in that music group got it right. It's only fair if we all share the cost.
