Month: November 2020

449. Pour Out a Blessing

Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts; if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

This is the classical conditional promise in the Bible: if you u bring all the tithes, then the Lord will pour out blessings from the open windows of heaven. In other words, God will repay you for what you give to Him. The more you give to the Lord the more you will receive in blessing. Opening the windows of heaven is a metaphor for rain. Rain is viewed as the means for producing crops and the abundant material blessings of a good harvest. Rain is like money in an agricultural economy. Everything depends on rain.

God says, “You withhold from Me, I will withhold from you.” “You give liberally to me, and I will give liberally to you.” This may not be mathematically provable, but the principle should hold true if we believe the Word of God. The blessings God will pour out may not always be money and material goods, but He does promise abundant blessings, however He wants to measure them. Is there a direct correlation between how much we give to the Lord’s work and how much we receive in material blessings? We can’t prove it, but we can believe it. God will pour out blessing if we bring in the tithe. A tithe is 10% in OT terms. The NT era of grace would seem to indicate more than 10% since we have received such vast riches from God’s grace and glory. What you give to God you won’t miss. The Lord always has ways of providing what we need and more than we need. You won’t lose what you entrust to the Lord. At the least, God promises treasures in heaven. Of this we can be certain.

We do not tithe expecting reward, but we give generously trusting God to provide. We give out of thankfulness. It is all of God and all of grace. Grace is expensive and generous. “Freely ye have received; freely give.”

448. God will Return

Malachi 3:7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

God promises to return to us. We turned away from Him; but He is the one who returns. Although it is we who have turned away from Him, separated ourselves by our sin, neglected His commands, and did not do what He says, He is the one who returns to us. This is a conditional promise: if you return to me, then I will return to you. God is not the one who walked away so that He must retrace His steps back to us. He is already here just waiting for us to look at Him. It may appear that God is doing the turning, but in reality it is us who return.

The good news is that it is the Lord who causes us to return and turn to Him. He uses the Word of God and the experiences of life to prompt us to return to the One who is already waiting. Return = repent. The Word reminds us of our sin and failures and shortcomings. The world we live in reminds us of the condition we are in caused by sin and rebellion. Our own flesh continues to desire selfish wants and pleasures. The devil is always there to remind us of our sin. Then the Gospel reminds us of the mercy, grace, and forgiveness of the Lord. He is waiting at the gate, looking down the lane, while we remember that we don’t belong in the pigsty eating the pigs’ food. The gospel says we have a merciful Father waiting with outstretched arms to receive and forgive and have a party.

So the Lord says, “Repent of your sin, turn from your own ways, and believe the Gospel. Then I will come to you, forgive you, and give you a new life.” The invitation is always open and welcome: Return, and I will return. This returning (repentance and faith) is not a one-time event, but it is a daily necessity. We never stop turning away and we never stop returning. And the Lord never stops returning to us.

447. Refine, Purify, Purge

Malachi 3:3 And shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: an he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

The Messenger of the Covenant, Jesus Christ, will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purge as gold and silver. The refining process of gold and silver is used in the Bible as an image of what must happen to the sin-contaminated souls of believers. When gold or silver is placed in a super-heated furnace the impurities melt off and drain away. This is what the Holy Spirit is really doing in our lives.

The Spirit within uses the Word of God and the experiences of life to file off the sharp edges of the soul. But more significantly, the Spirit will use life’s afflictions to turn up the heat in order to burn away the impurities in the soul. We have been forgiven of all sins and declared to be righteous, but the actual working out of salvation is a long-term process of sanctification. In Christ, who is our sanctification, we are wholly holy and pure and righteous, But sin remains, and the process of purification must proceed continually, while the Spirit sanctifies us to bring us more and more into line with the holiness which has already been granted by grace. The life, lips and behavior slowly begin to match what we have been saved for. The outward is catching up to the inward. All change begins inside.

The flesh cannot purge itself, no matter how many hair shirts one wears and how often one self-flagellates. And we cannot make ourselves better by trying to be good. Self-improvement cannot come from the self, but improvement in purity comes from, grows and is maintained by the Holy Spirit within. God does it all. And often the Lord must use trial, troubles and afflictions to turn up the heat. Every problem we deal with is a call to repent of our own sin and turn to the Gospel in faith. God uses the refining furnaces in the school of experience to refine, purify and purge. Sinners resist this process and slow it down by trying to turn down the heat, but the Lord is faithful, persistent and relentless; He won’t quit. It takes more than a lifetime to reach 100% purity, but for salvation and life Jesus is 100% pure for us.

Meanwhile, by faith we offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. But in reality, the Lord Jesus has offered Himself to the Lord as an offering in righteousness. And by this offering we are saved, and then refined.

446. Lord will Come

Malachi 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

This is an Advent prophecy concerning the coming and appearance of John the Baptist, God’s messenger, who will prepare the way before the Lord Himself comes. Then the Messiah will come from God and as God. Jesus is the “messenger of the covenant,” who has suddenly come to His temple. He is the one in whom we delighted. We sought Him; we waited patiently and anxiously; we hoped and dreamed of His coming; we yearned and longed for Him to come. John announced His coming. Jesus proclaimed His appearance. Both said, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” “God is here; there He is; behold!”

The temple is the presence of the heavenly God on the earth. Jesus came suddenly to His temple: when He was 8 days old; when He was 12; and several times Jesus preached and healed at and near the temple. But the temple changed, for the person of Jesus Christ replaced the Jewish temple. Then the temple became the body of Christ, the Church of all believers in Jesus. The temple of God is now the group of believers as a whole and when they meet in assembly on the earth. The temple is also the body of the individual believer, which houses the Holy Spirit.

The promise inherent in this prophecy is that the Lord will come to me, He will come into me, and He will come for me. We can count on His coming when we call on Him and when we need His Presence. Indeed we believe when we pray, “Thy kingdom come.” We believe God hears our prayers: Jesus will come to us and rule our lives for good. He is in charge, and He knows what He is doing. The Holy Spirit, dwelling within, is already within and the Kingdom is within. He moves us to ask and pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.” And He does. Believe the promise: He will come when we ask Him. We knock on the door and He opens to us. Jesus knocks on the door, and we, by the power of the Gospel, open the door. 

Jesus has come. Jesus will come. And Jesus comes to us in the present moment. Like the resurrected Lord appears in a locked upper room, He is already here, but He reveals Himself as one who is going to do something, to act on our behalf, and to bless. Ask! He will come!

445. God’s Name Great

Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles;and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord o hosts.

God promises us that His Name will be great at every time and every place, 24/7 everywhere. And the name will be great among all the people of the earth, even among the Gentiles, the heathen and unbelievers everywhere. Just because many people on earth do not acknowledge the Lord as God, or believe in God, or worship Him, or resist knowing God’s Love in any form does not mean that His Name is not great. God is good, all the time, whether we realize it or not. We earth-dwellers do not make it so or make it not so. The promise is still true and always will be: God’s Name is always great.

And even in our own hearts and lives the name of God is great. In our own heart there are times when we doubt and wonder. Even strong believers have pockets of doubt and unbelief. We may believe God most of the time for most things, but there are still times when forget, ignore, doubt, worry, fear because we might not be 100% certain of God’s name, God’s presence, God’s willingness to help, and even God’s ability to take care of us and meet our needs. That’s why we need this promise. That is why we pray “Hallowed be they name.”

We need the name of God to be great. We need the name of Jesus to be present and powerful. The Christian believes God and His promises, His goodness and His present power, and so he prays in faith in every circumstance of need and helpless feeling. He also prays the Lord’s Prayer daily trusting our loving father to make His name holy, great, powerful and meaningful where we live. Then we pray for His kingdom to come among us and for His will to be done. These petitions are not such easy things to pray as it might seem at first blush. For that reason the Lord gives us promises so that we may be encouraged by the Spirit to believe God: the Lord’s name will be great in the worst of times and places. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, His Name is great, and that the very one who died for us is in charge. Fear not!

444. Holiness

Zechariah 14:21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.

There will be holiness in every pot. This is a strange promise, but if we understand holiness to be the declared and imputed righteousness earned by Jesus Christ and if we understand Jerusalem and Judah to be the Church of believers in Christ, then the promise has come true. There is holiness in every person who believes, as the Holy Spirit comes to take up residence in a cleansed vessel. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

The sacrifice that was made was the sacrifice of the innocent Lamb of God on the cross. This one sacrifice for all sin for all time still avails for each of us every day. The holiness in us seethes and boils all the time. It gives off a sweet aroma. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.” The goodness within overflows into the soul and the body, and then it flows out to flavor like salt and smell like a heavenly fragrance to the world around us. This is a promise; this really happens.

The further promise is: there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord is the invisible church of true believers in whom Christ lives in the kingdom of God within them. The “Canaanite” is the pagan worshiper of idols (demons). Joshua (Jesus) has driven them out. They have been subdued and conquered, and they will not come back into the invisible church. This much is true: the unbelieving heathen idol worshiper is not and never will be in the one true invisible Church, by definition. However, unbelief and false gods enter into the visible church all the time. Idolatry enters into the believer’s mind all the time as well. We know it and we fight against the reality that still tempts us. 

But we have this promise, so that we may know that only holiness lives in the spirit. This imputed holiness wars against the idolatry and false demons and false teaching that continually infect the soul and the visible church. We have this promise, so that we may know that pagan gods, idols, and demons have no place in the inner spirit, for only holiness dwells there. The mind and emotions are easily deceived, but we can trust the Word and Spirit of God to drive out and keep out false religion.

443. Dwell Safely in the Land

Zechariah 14:11 And men shall dwell in it and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

God promises that people will live in the Land, and that Jerusalem will be safely inhabited. The “land” is the kingdom of God, which is full of a safe and happy life. This eternal land is presently spiritual until the Last Day when it all becomes the Eternal State of the new heavens and the new earth. Then we will physically and spiritually see it with our physical and spiritual eyes. Believers live in the land now by faith and will enjoy the land by sight later. No death or destruction will ever be able to enter that land and bring destruction.

The Sin of the Fall brought destruction. So also did the Flood bring utter destruction. So do all the judgments of sin and the curse upon our world and our temporal life. But Sin and Satan and Death cannot touch the Kingdom of God, the Life of God that lives within us. And then all our enemies will be eternally confined to the lake of fire forever.

Jerusalem is the Church of believers in Christ. In that place the believers will be able to live safely. We need this promise during all the troubling times to which men are subject. There is a place we may go: into the kingdom, into the presence of God, into the life that lasts forever. In that place it is safe. The Church that preaches the Gospel is that place. That Gospel is always proclaimed by the Church on earth whether it is gathered in a large assembly, or where two or three gather, or when we personally communicate with the Lord in the Word and prayer. This two-way conversation (God speaking to us in the Word and us speaking to God in prayer) places us in that Promised Land and into the City of God. We avail ourselves of that promise by faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

442. One King and One Lord

Zechariah 14:9 And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.

The promise: the Lord will be king over all the earth. John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed: “The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel.” Jesus told Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world.” At the end of time when Jesus returns to earth in physical, visible form, “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”

Jesus is king right now, but not of this world. We live in that kingdom and that kingdom lives within us. The earthly kingdoms of the present world will all pass away, when everything passes away. The kingdom of the “world” is presently ruled by Satan, the prince of the power of the air. It will be absolutely conquered by the King of kings, and He will rule all worlds and kingdoms and all the earth. However, the Lord Jesus will be king over all the “New” Earth (the old one will pass away). In that New Heaven and New Earth there will be no evil kingdom, no other kingdom of any kind.

In that day (the days since the First Coming of Christ) there will be only one Lord, and one name shall be exalted over all other names. There is no other name. No one else may rule, as they do now. One name, one king, one Lord, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all, will rule alone. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

It would be a good idea to get into that kingdom now, to accept Jesus Christ as Lord now, and to join the winning side of the Great War. And it will be eternal. The promise also means that that very all-encompassing, all-powerful King is ruling even now. It doesn’t look like it when we see and hear about the evil all around us every day. But it is true. We need to believe in that kingdom and walk into it. We do so every time we repent and believe the gospel. Submit to the Winner, and win.

441. Living Waters will Flow

Zechariah 14:8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

In the days of the Messiah (in which we are still living) living waters shall go out from the Church. The waters will flow to every place (former and hinder seas) and in every season (in summer and in winter). The metaphor of flowing rivers of living water is used in Genesis in Eden, in Ezekiel in the new Temple, and in Revelation in the New Jerusalem in eternity. 

Jesus causes the living water to flow. The waters flow out from the Church. When the churched believers meet to hear the Gospel the waters flow out to a dry and thirsty world. Jesus says the water He gives will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life. When believers live and believe in Christ out of their belly shall flow rivers of living water. 

The Holy Spirit is the living, flowing, refreshing water that gives and nourishes life inwardly. The inward life keeps growing strong and healthy and lives eternally. The inward man affects the mind, will, and emotions positively, and it makes the soul better, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer. The refreshed and alive-to-God soul affects the body with its dying aches and pains. Even though the outward man wastes away and is perishing the inward man is renewed day by day with the Spirit who comes through the Word of God. Hearing, studying, and abiding in the Word brings the promised water of life.

The waters flow from Jerusalem, which is the Church of all believers. When the Church gathers in assembly to hear the Gospel the living waters flow out, When the individual hearers leave the assembled body and live their daily lives the living waters flow from each of them to the world around them wherever they are. This is the constantly fulfilling promise. Both the assembled Church and individual members of the Church make the living waters (the Gospel and the Spirit) go out from them. Believe the promise and live in it. Go to church to hear the gospel; go home and love the family as you have been loved; go to work in the world and forgive those who trespass against you as are forgiven. Keep the water flowing.

440. God will hear

Zechariah 13:9b They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say; The Lord is my God.

The Lord God makes many promises to hear our prayers, so that we may have no doubt about it. He also predicts that His people will call on His name. When we pray in the name of Jesus (by faith in Him) to God our Father He will hear us. We never have to doubt or worry that God isn’t paying attention, or slumbering, or ignoring, or just turning us off. He always hears, listens and responds.

Of course, we know that He doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we want, when we want, or what we want. But He hears. He cares. He listens. He responds. The reply may come back with a Yes, No, Depends, Later, or in My time. His promise to hear encourages us to pray. It is not a useless waste of time or an empty ritual. Our prayers have meaning, purpose and value. God cares about His children, their needs, their problems and their prayers. 

The Spirit in us prompts us to pray for our needs, for people in need, for the Spirit, for His kingdom rule, for His will to be worked out, and for us to be better people who reflect God’s Love. The Spirit also helps us in our prayers and prays for us, even when all we can muster is a grunt or a groan. The Spirit takes our unspoken thoughts and sighs and turns them into articulate prayer according to God’s will.

The Lord says, “These are My people; I will listen to them.” We respond to His caring response by saying, “The Lord is my God.” We may not even be aware of it, but believers are actually praying all the time. The heart is always poised toward God, because He is here, and He hears. We really do “pray without ceasing.” The Psalmist says it literally this way, “I am prayer.” Remember that once you believe and are baptized you always have the Spirit living and active within, and He does not just rest and lie dormant there. He is always speaking to us, through us, and for us. Trust the promise: I will hear you.