TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
Jeremiah 23:21-25:38
2 Thessalonians 2:1-17
Psalm 84:1-12
Proverbs 25:15
Jeremiah 23:21-22 — Now this is an odd scenario. There are prophets prophesying, but they weren’t sent nor spoken to by the LORD. An avalanche of alleged ambassadors from the Monarch of the World. Yet, with the plethora of people purporting to proclaim the King’s Word, none of them have turned from their evil way.
Jeremiah 23:34 — A promise of punishment for presumption! If you are a preacher and do not preach God’s Word but your own ideas, God will judge! Unfortunately, since Jonathan Edward’s day “eminent saints” have been misled by what they thought was God speaking to them:
I . . . know by experience that impressions being made with great power, and upon the minds of true saints, yea, eminent saints; and presently after, yea, in the midst of, extraordinary exercises of grace and sweet communion with God, and attended with texts of Scripture strongly impressed on the mind, are no sure signs of their being revelations from heaven: for I have known such impressions [to] fail, and prove vain.
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/why-do-we-say-god-told-me
Jeremiah 24:7 — Let’s pray for a heart to know the LORD, so we can appreciate that He is our God and follow Him with our whole heart.
Jeremiah 25:12 — There is so much evil to judge! God will punish Israel for 70 years, then punish Babylon for their sins. Yes, it was made desolate and still is today!
Before Hussein’s reconstruction, there had already been destruction from the shifts in rivers and deserts, and still more from colonial powers. Germans took the Ishtar Gate, which is now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, while the French took ceramics, and the Turks used Babylonian bricks to build dams on the Euphrates.
The occupation of US forces also damaged the site. Following the 2003 invasion, the US camp Alpha was set up on the ruins. Areas were leveled to create landing pads for helicopters and parking lots for vehicles. Tanks rumbled over the ancient bricks, and Polish troops dug trenches through a temple. Soil holding artifacts and bones was scooped into sandbags. And even the military presence couldn’t keep out looters, who ransacked Iraq’s more than 10,000 historic sites after the invasion.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/babylon
2 Thessalonians 2:3 — What is the falling away (apostasia)? From Jimmy DeYoung:
A close and careful word study of the Greek word apostasia will conclude that the true meaning of the word is found in the phrase, “departing from one place and going to another”, not a falling away from the doctrines of the church.
If the word “apostasia” was communicating that “apostasy” was what it was talking about then the Rapture and the coming of the Antichrist would have happened during the writing of II Thessalonians. Apostasy had infiltrated the early church by the time Paul wrote this passage.
What Paul is saying here is that the Antichrist, the “Son of Perdition”, would not come until the Church departs from one place and goes to another. That is what happens at the Rapture. The scenario for the future according to all prophetic passages is that the Rapture takes all Christians into Heaven and then the Antichrist appears on earth.
http://devotional.prophecytoday.com/search/label/II%20Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians 2:4 — Image of the Beast, the 3rd in the Thief in the Night series, depicts this defiling of the Temple.
2 Thessalonians 2:11 — God sends a strong delusion so that people believe a lie. As we read in Jeremiah today, there are times when He is angry (Jeremiah 25:38) and will not have a message for the people other than forsaking them (Jeremiah 23:33).
Psalm 84:10 — I heard a great message at the Christian School conference I was at the past few days. Discouragement comes in when we start calculating our hourly wage rather than our eternal reward.
Psalm 84:11 — The verse is a setting of a song from the WILDS.
Proverbs 25:15 — Pastor Andrew Brunson was finally released after two years of negotiations. The FBI lead hostage negotiator shares that the best way to negotiate is with “the late night DJ voice,” i.e. slow, deep, and calm.
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