Showing posts with label Restoration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Restoration. Show all posts

February 5, 2018

so they would not spread beyond their boundaries.

I was there when he set the limits of the seas, so they would not spread beyond their boundaries.
God blessed two groups of living creatures at creation: the fishes and the birds, the human beings, male and female in God’s own image. Then He blessed them. God created other things as well: day, night, heaven, earth, seas, grass, fruit trees, sun, moon, stars, animals and other living creatures on earth. But the Bible recorded in Genesis God blessed two groups as quoted below.
Genesis 1:22,28 New King James Version (NKJV)
Fishes and birds: 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
Human beings made in the image of God: 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Why? What do they have in common that other creatures do not have?
Looking at the fact that each has its own domain of operation, we can note the distinct demarcation: fishes in the seas (water), birds in the sky, humans on land. God has granted humans dominion over the whole earth at creation.
There is a word repeatedly used by God in the creation process. “Divide/Separate”. In Genesis 1:3-18 (Quoted in parts) God again makes distinction between two opposite realms: light and darkness, day and night, heaven and earth, dry land and seas.
1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. ..
6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. ..
9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; …17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
Why does God make such clear demarcation between light and darkness, heaven and earth, land and seas? Verse 14 gives us an indication, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;” I believe the distinction is landmark, to guide the whole human race as an entity in survival on this the earth, and each person as to the span of his/her life on earth.
Landmark is a physical guide for a traveler. The Apostle Peter described Christians as sojourners/travelers.
1 Peter 2:11-12 (NLT)
Living Before the World
New Living Translation
Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners”(Sojourners) to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
God wants His people to be different and make a difference in the fallen world. He has set landmarks which guide us. This is what He said, “Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set.” (Proverbs 22:28)
A WARNING ABOUT REMOVING BOUNDARIES/LANDMARKS
Deuteronomy 19:14 [ Property Boundaries ] “You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
Hosea 5:10 “The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark; I will pour out My wrath on them like water.
EVEN THE SEAS HAVE BOUNDARIES WHICH THEY ARE FORBIDDEN TO CROSS OVER
Proverbs 8:29 I was there when he set the limits of the seas,
so they would not spread beyond their boundaries.
And when he marked off the earth’s foundations,
Psalm 104
6 …The waters stood above the mountains.
7 At Your rebuke they fled;
At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
8 They went up over the mountains;
They went down into the valleys,
To the place which You founded for them.
9 You have set a boundary that they may not pass over,
That they may not return to cover the earth.

Jeremiah 5:22 New King James Version (NKJV)
22 Do you not fear Me?’ says the Lord.
‘Will you not tremble at My presence,
Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea,
By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it?
And though its waves toss to and fro,
Yet they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.
Are there boundaries in the spiritual realms? The answer is yes. In the Book of Daniel, the angel Gabriel told Daniel that he was delayed by the prince of Persia and prince of Greece and angle Michael had to come to his aid so e could come to Daniel in answer of Daniel’s prayer. Apostle Paul also mentioned the existence of such territorial and hierarchical spiritual rulers of darkness and hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12) Revelation 12 described a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the devil and his angels. “but they did not prevail, nor was there a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out…”(12:7-9)
In summary: God sets boundaries to separate. Do not cross them. Do not allow breaking down of such boundaries. That was why Nehemiah and his team returned to Jerusalem in 444BC to rebuild the walls. There is spiritual significance in walls. They are landmarks for demarcation and distinction.

November 7, 2016

Day One : Amos 9 “Strike the doorposts”; John 9 “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

Amos 9 The Destruction of Israel: I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said:
“Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake,
And break them on the heads of them all.
I will slay the last of them with the sword.
He who flees from them shall not get away,
And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.
2 “Though they dig into hell,[a]
From there My hand shall take them;
Though they climb up to heaven,
From there I will bring them down;
3 And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel,
From there I will search and take them;
Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea,
From there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them;
4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies,
From there I will command the sword,
And it shall slay them.
I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.”
5 The Lord God of hosts,
He who touches the earth and it melts,
And all who dwell there mourn;
All of it shall swell like the River,[b]
And subside like the River of Egypt.
6 He who builds His layers in the sky,
And has founded His strata in the earth;
Who calls for the waters of the sea,
And pours them out on the face of the earth—
The Lord is His name.
7 “Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me,
O children of Israel?” says the Lord.
“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
The Philistines from Caphtor,
And the Syrians from Kir?
8 “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom,
And I will destroy it from the face of the earth;
Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”
Says the Lord.
9 “For surely I will command,
And will sift the house of Israel among all nations,
As grain is sifted in a sieve;
Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword,
Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’
Israel Will Be Restored
11 “On that day I will raise up
The tabernacle[c] of David, which has fallen down,
And repair its damages;
I will raise up its ruins,
And rebuild it as in the days of old;
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom,[d]
And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,”
Says the Lord who does this thing.
13 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
And the treader of grapes him who sows seed;
The mountains shall drip with sweet wine,
And all the hills shall flow with it.
14 I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;
They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;
They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.
15 I will plant them in their land,
And no longer shall they be pulled up
From the land I have given them,”
Says the Lord your God.
Footnotes:
Amos 9:2 Or Sheol
Amos 9:5 That is, the Nile
Amos 9:11 Literally booth, figure of a deposed dynasty
Amos 9:12 Septuagint reads mankind.
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
John 9
A Man Born Blind Receives Sight
9 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I[a] must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind[b] said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”
9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”[c]
He said, “I am he.”
10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of[d] Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”
12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?”
He said, “I do not know.”
The Pharisees Excommunicate the Healed Man
13 They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.”
Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.
17 They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”
18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. 19 And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”
25 He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
26 Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”
28 Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”
30 The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
34 They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out.
True Vision and True Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”[e]
36 He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”
37 And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”
38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.
39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”
40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”
41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
Footnotes:

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John 9:4 NU-Text reads We.
John 9:8 NU-Text reads a beggar.
John 9:9 NU-Text reads “No, but he is like him.”
John 9:11 NU-Text omits the pool of.
John 9:35 NU-Text reads Son of Man.

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