Month: September 2020

408. God will Bless

Haggai 2:19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine, as yet the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.

God promises a blessing of seed, vine, figs, pomegranates, and olives from this day. The day is the day when the foundation of the new temple was laid. “Consider now from this day and forward. [v. 18].” When the foundation of the temple is laid the blessings of God will be poured out. The foundation of the temple in the New Testament is the Apostles and Prophets, the cornerstone being Jesus Himself. On that foundation (the Word of God based on the words and works of Christ) the Church is built. On that foundation our life is built. The Holy Spirit is active and alive in us to build a life, a life that will endure into eternity, a life worthy of living in the very presence of God forever.

Because the foundation of the temple (the Church, the body of Christ, our own bodies) is laid in our hearts God promises to bless us. The blessing is given in terms of an abundant harvest of delicious foods and crops. The physical blessing is given to us in terms we can see and understand to help us believe, and see, the abundant spiritual blessing of the kingdom of God. We have entered the kingdom by being born again with water and the Spirit, and the kingdom has entered our hearts by faith, engendered by the Spirit through the Gospel.

We keep our life strong and sturdy by staying on the foundation. “The Church’s One Foundation is Jesus Christ, our Lord.” We bear fruit by abiding in the Vine. From that day God says, “I will bless you with a spiritual abundance of riches and good things.” And that day is every day that we repent and believe the Gospel, receive the forgiveness of sins, and enjoy eternal life. Jesus gives the evidence of the rich blessings of the spiritual kingdom when He performed the nature miracles of changing water to wine, multiplying bread, walking on water, stilling the storm, along with the many healings and exorcisms and resurrections. Yea, indeed, the Lord is blessing us. Spiritual prosperity is a sign that points to Jesus Christ, the cornerstone, and the author and finisher of our faith.

407. God will give Peace

Haggai 2:9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.

The people of God in Haggai’s day rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem, and the people were complaining that the second temple was nothing in comparison to the glory of Solomon’s temple. But Haggai prophesied that this present temple would be greater than Solomon’s. This second temple was refurbished in the days of Herod just before Jesus came to earth, but it still did not match the glory of the earlier temple in terms of physical beauty and glory.

However, the glory of this temple will still be greater because Jesus, the Savior, will come to this temple. The promise is that the Lord will give peace in this temple. Jesus declared himself, His own body, to be the temple of the Lord, the very presence of God on the earth. This temple became the invisible body of Christ, the Church made up of all believers in Christ. This spiritual temple grows out of the two previous physical temples and the physical body of Jesus. The body of Jesus was resurrected and the life of God enters the hearts of believers, and the Church becomes the presence of God on the earth. 

In this temple, the Church, the Lord will give peace. The peace of God lives on earth in the hearts of all believers in Christ, and the people of God preach peace wherever they live, work, and play and pray. Through the Gospel peace is given: peace with God, peace with one another, and peace in the heart with oneself. This peace Jesus leaves with us when His Gospel is preached and heard, and it is not as the world gives. It is much deeper and longer lasting. The promise comes true: “in this place will I give peace.” When the Gospel is preached and presented in Word and Sacrament this kind of peace is given.

When we do not sense a peace inside we know where to go to get it. We go to church, we go to Bible study, we go to the Lord in His Word. When we receive the Gospel in faith God grants peace. Thankfully, we do not have to live very long without peace. We receive it in “this place.”

406. My Spirit will be Among You

Haggai 2:4, 5 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts: According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.

The Bible makes many promises about the Lord being with us. Jesus promises this to us in His last words on earth before the Ascension. Jesus promises us several times that He will send the Holy Spirit to be with us. In the promise here the Lord says, “I am with you,” and “my spirit remains among you.” Because this is true we need not fear anything. 

The Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost, ten days after Jesus’ Ascension. Since then the Spirit will be in us and with us always. The important word here is remains. He is God, Jesus is God, and Father is God. When one is there all of God is there. God lives in us and He will remain in us forever. We will never be without the Spirit of God, ever, anywhere. In good times He remains with us; in bad times He is still there remaining with us just the same. We need the Lord to be there in all times, both good and bad. The Spirit may be grieved, but He does not leave (unless we ask Him to).

The Bible says, “I will never, ever, leave you nor forsake you.” We need to know this will be true no matter what happens, no matter how we feel, no matter what else is going on in our lives. God’s spirit remains among us. He remains with us when we are alone, and especially when we feel alone. He remains with us when we meet together as two or three gathered in Jesus’ name. He remains with us when gather in large groups to hear the Gospel and praise the Lord.

The Lord made a covenant with us when He delivered His people in the Exodus and made a covenant at Mt. Sinai. The Lord made a covenant with us when shed His blood on the cross for our sin making a covenant bond of covenant relationship. He renews that covenant every time we hear the Gospel and participate in the Lord’s Supper. That covenant is unbreakable, certain, and forever. He remains among us.

405. Undo Afflictions

Zephaniah 3:19, 20 Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I bring you again even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back our captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.

God promises redemption, rescue, and restoration for the people of God in Exile. The spiritual promise for us believers, as His people involves several aspects:

1. The Lord will undo all that afflict us. Of course, sin, death and the devil are constantly afflicting us and they will do so until the body dies and is resurrected. If it were not for the presence of God and His promises for us we would be completely undone by our enemies. The purpose of the Enemies’ afflictions is to undo us, to uncreate, to unredeem us and to bring us into eternal shame and death, separated from God forever. But the Lord promises to undo their purpose and work.
2. The Lord will save us that limp with lameness. Every human-born sinner is handicapped. Our inherited sin causes various physical and mental, not to mention spiritual, handicaps and imperfections. We all have weaknesses in some form or another. This flaw will be saved and healed and we will be completely restored to health and life.
3. The Lord will gather us from where we were driven out. Our sin caused God to drive us out of Paradise into exile in a sinful world. He is gathering us to Himself and His kingdom again through the work of the Son and the Spirit.
4. The Lord will make us a name and a praise among the earth-dwellers. We all desire fame, prestige, approval and a good reputation, but the world’s praise is fleeting and shallow. However, God gives us His Name and His Praise and a wonderful reputation in His eyes. And it is deep and eternal. What God thinks of us is always more important than what the world thinks of us. And this promise is eternal and glorious.

404. God will Rejoice and Rest

Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

The Lord lives among us, in our hearts, in our Christians gatherings, on our earth. This Lord who is near and dear to us is also mighty; He is able to do what He says He will do for us. For example, He will save. The interesting promise for us is that the Lord will rejoice over us. He will joy with singing. God enjoys us and He promises that will rejoice over us every day forever. This pleasant thought should be a part of our everyday faith. We give God pleasure and joy. He enjoys watching us, seeing what we do and decide. All children give joy to their parents (until they don’t), and so we give joy to God.

Hebrews 12:2: “(Jesus) for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” What was the joy set before him? It was surely me, the one for whom He died. He knew that His suffering and death would forgive my sins and bring me justly to God the Father. Think of it: I bring joy to God; I, a human person, bring so much joy to Jesus that he was able to endure the cross. Jesus knew the end result of His death: my salvation. “There is more joy in heaven….” 

The Lord rejoices over me when He sees that I make wise and good choices. God calls me His beloved son. But the good news is that the Lord also rejoices over me when I make bad choices and sin against Him. He still loves me unconditionally and He forgives me out of abundant mercy. And He is happy to do that because He likes me more than I can imagine. Mercy and forgiveness brings great joy. This is the “good news of great joy.” 

Finally, in this promise the Lord will rest in His love. After God created the universe in six days He declared it “very good” and then He rested, comfortable and joyful with a job well done. Then after God redeemed us through the death and resurrection of Christ He declared it ‘finished” and then rested on a completed salvation. He can rest because He knows there is nothing more that can be done for our forgiveness, salvation and life. He will rest in His love. There is nothing left for us to do.

403. Remove Judgment and Evil

Zephaniah 3:15 The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.

The Lord took upon Himself the judgments against us for our sin, thereby taking our judgments away. And at the cross He cast out our enemies. The Lord Jesus Christ, the king of Israel, is present among us in our midst. He is in the midst of our life, in the midst of our Christian groupings, and in the midst of our hearts. All this Jesus did for us at the Cross and the Tomb: He took away judgments, cast out our enemies, and is with us always.

Because of this work of Christ, God can promise us that we shall not see evil any more. This is quite a remarkable promise: I will not see evil. Evil does not mean “bad things.” It does not mean God removes from our experience all temporal death, sickness, injury, disaster, pain and suffering. These, and much more, are bad things, but they are not necessarily evil. He does not promise to deliver us from bad things, but He does deliver us from the evil of the bad things. Sin, Death, and the Devil are evil. We will not see the evil punishments of sin (unless we look at the sufferings and death of Jesus). We will not see the evil of eternal death, the Second Death, never-ending suffering and punishments in hell. We will not see the evil of the Devil and the eternal loss he can cause if he were allowed to. In other words, we will not experience the eternal and absolute separation from God with no hope of returning to God or to life. This is evil; we will not see it. That’s the promise.

We must be clear about what evil really is. It is simply anything that is not of God, from God, about God, with God or for God. God is life; God is good; God is love. All that is from God is eternal and very good. All that is not from God is eternally very evil. During this life we will suffer all kinds of “evil” things, but they are all temporary and will soon pass. If it should last forever and never pass, that would be evil. This we will not see. We are saved for an eternal life that we will see. And while we wait we will not see the evil of the self, the world, sin, death and Satan. We can see God and good in everything.

402. Afraid of Nothing

Zephaniah 3:13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

The promise for us is that nothing and no one will make us afraid. The Christian fears nothing except God Himself. To fear God is to believe God, and because of His promises we have nothing else to be afraid of. We don’t always act like we believe this promise, because even good, strong believers still worry about many things, are still anxious about whatever, and are afraid of losing what is dear to us. In fact, it is hard to imagine what life would be like if we really had nothing to fear. The Christian knows it is true: we have nothing to fear, but very few people will ever get rid of worry.

Connected to this promise about no being afraid is the promise that the believers shall feed and lie down, meaning that they will dwell in safety and comfort completely under the care and protection of the Good Shepherd. We dream about this kind of existence, even though spiritually we already live in such a world. In the kingdom of God there is nothing to make us afraid. It’s just that sometimes we forget we are already and actually in that kind of kingdom. For this reason we need to remember and take hold of promises like this.

Another connection to this promise is that the faithful believers will not sin and will not lie or deceive. By faith in Christ they are accounted righteous and judged to have no sin or deceit. If we could live with such integrity we would probably be more secure and less afraid. Sin, death and Satan cause fear; overcoming them removes the fear.

“The Lord is with us; of whom shall we be afraid?” “If God is for us who can be against us?” We know the answer to these questions, and we have His promise to live the answer.

401. Make me Walk

Habakkuk 3:19 The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. 

The Lord promises to make me walk on high places, just like the deer walks on mountain crags. When I am in rocky and dangerous places the Lord will make me walk through them without falling. We are often in dangerous places of trouble and temptation. The Lord will not only be with me in the death valley and the rocky mountains but He will also make me walk there. He promises to keep us from slipping and falling. He does not take me out of danger, but He does promise to get me through.

Therefore, we can count on the Lord’s help to keep us going and get us through until we reach a safer and more level place. Some places and times are too dangerous for me alone. That is why He promises to be with me to keep me safe and keep me going. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So we pray, so God promises, and so it happens. We probably don’t even know, and cannot count, the dangerous places the Lord brought us through safely. He has done it before and we can be sure He will do it again. He will “provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it.” We don’t challenge God; we don’t tempt Him; we don’t dare Him; but we do trust Him. He will send angels to guard us in all our ways.

The metaphor of deer’s feet on high places is a beautiful and picturesque way of showing us how the Lord is with us always, and He will get us through. We still do the walking (living). He doesn’t do it for us, but He makes us walk. While we live through it and He helps us through we experience the presence and power of a loving Shepherd to keep us on a safe and good path. In Him there is no fear.

400. Salvation with the Anointed

Habakkuk 3:13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. 

The Lord went forth for the salvation of His people. The Lord went forth to save us when Jesus was born into the world to be our Savior. And so He saved us from Sin, Death and the Devil. The Lord God Almighty saved us with His Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ. The Father and the Son worked together in concert as One God to earn salvation and bring eternal salvation to us who believe by the power of the Holy Spirit. God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit worked together for our salvation. This promise is fulfilled and we are saved.

Jesus, the son of the first woman, was finally born to fulfill the prophecy that a descendant of Eve would bruise (wound) the head of the serpent (Satan) [Genesis 3:15]. This prophecy was fulfilled with the innocent death of Jesus the Anointed One on the cross. This “wounding of the head” was a fatal blow. Satan‘S power was crushed, and he has no more right to rule our lives for evil unto eternal death. We take hold of this promise and live in it every time we remember our Baptism, receive the blood of Christ in Communion, and receive the Gospel in a good and honest heart. By faith in Christ we have won, by faith we win daily, and by faith we will win in the end.

This overcoming of all evil is finally, decisively and victoriously defeated at the cross, in our lives every day, and in our forever future. God promises final salvation, and that final salvation also applies to our present circumstance. Faith and prayer applies salvation to the present need. Deliver us from evil.

399. God Remembers Mercy

Habakkuk 3:2 O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

When we hear the speech of the Lord it will make us afraid. The Lord thunders the Law convicting us of sin, guilt and condemnation. True fear comes at first when we are face to face with God. After the thunder comes the gentle and refreshing rain of the forgiveness and love of God. The second reaction after meeting God is amazing comfort and relief, He tells of love and grace.

The prophet here is bold enough to petition the Lord to revive His work and make it known in the midst of the years. God’s work is to create and recreate, redeem and restore. This is what the Lord does. The Gospel is His proper work. The Law that thunders was His alien work. “Reviving” is the work that God is about. In the very middle of things, when we need Him the most, we ask Him to come, hear our prayer and do His work. And He does.

We ask the Lord to remember mercy in the midst of the wrath of God. We suffer the wrath of God under the curse because of our Fall into Sin. This is life; this is the problem; this is the “midst of the years.” Wrath is the common experience of all human beings. We suffer the wrath of God against sin, although we don’t think of it that way and we don’t know why it’s happening. Sin is real. Wrath is real. Life is hard. But in the midst of it all God remembers mercy. Thank God, for without mercy we are all doomed without hope. But with God there is mercy, and He will not forget it. We look at the cross and we hear the gospel and we are reminded that God will remember mercy for us.

This year (2020) seems to be one of those “years.” During this time the Lord will hear our prayer and revive His work. We can be sure that the promise is true and real: the Lord will remember mercy. “God, be have mercy on me, a sinner.” And He will. He remembers me; He remembers mercy. I am the one who needs a reminder, that God will remember mercy.