Psalm 147 tells us that is GOOD to praise the LORD! you can divide this psalm into three separate sections with their own reasons for praising the LORD:
- Praise the LORD for His people have been restored. Verses 1-6.
- Sing to the LORD for he has refreshed the land. Verses 7-11.
- Praise, or extol, the LORD for His Word has been revealed. Verses 12-20.
2 The LORD is building up Jerusalem; He is gathering together the exiles of Israel.
He DID that on the return from captivity in Babylon, and He is doing that NOW, in modern Israel, bringing His people back to the land! Verses 4-5 reveals the awesomeness of our God:
4 He determines and counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names. 5 Great is our LORD and of great power; His understanding in inexhaustible and boundless.
The same God Who created ALL THINGS, also KNOWS all things! What confidence we should have in our Covenant with Him! Never ending and sealed in the Blood of Jesus! Such power and authority available, WHEN we can understand how to operate in it by faith, which works by love! AMEN!
Verses 10-11:
10 He delights not in the strength of the horse, nor does he take pleasure in the legs of a man. 11 The LORD takes pleasure in those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy and loving-kindness.
God is NOT impressed with our many gifts and talents, wisdom and knowledge, pursuits and accomplishments! After all, they all came from HIM! What is He impressed with? With our praise and worship, done in Spirit and Truth!
In Revelation 3 we continue "hearing' what the Spirit says to the churches. Verse 1 begins the message to the church in Sardis:
1 AND TO the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Sardis write: These are the words of Him Who has the seven Spirits of God [the sevenfold Holy Spirit] and the seven stars: I know your record and what you are doing; you are supposed to be alive, but [in reality] you are dead.
There are NOT seven Holy Spirits, but, as John 14:26; 15:26; and 16:7 reveal, seven aspects, or roles, that the Holy Spirit fulfills in the lives of believers! They are Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, and Standby! He IS the ONE Who fills the role of anyone and everyone that we will ever need to help and assist us in this life! Rely on Him always! The message to the church in Sardis, and MANY churches in America today, is that they were no longer alive to the things of God. They were living on history and tradition; on what had happened in some great move of the Spirit in the past and doing nothing with the life of God IN them! There WAS a remnant of true believers in this church, so there was hope that the fire could be rekindled and they could become a "Church on Fire" again; but NOT without some repentance and a determined purpose to KNOW the God of the Bible again!
The message to the church of Philadelphia, who some scholars say is most like the church today, is encouraging them because they had a vision to reach the lost. Verse 8:
8 I know your [record of] works and what you are doing. See! I have set before you a door wide open which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept My Word and guarded My message and have not renounced or denied My Name.
They had continued to preach the Gospel in the face of much persecution and God was pleased! his promise to them is found in verse 10:
10 Because you have guarded and kept My Word of patient endurance [have held fast the lesson of My patience with the expectant endurance that I give you], I also will keep you [safe] from the hour of trial (testing) which is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell upon the earth.
We need to receive that promise for ourselves and make more of a commitment that ever before to continue to preach the Gospel, the Good News, to everyone we come in contact with! THEY are running out of time to accept and receive Jesus of Nazareth as Lord and personal Saviour!
The church in Laodicea had four areas that needed attention.
- They had lost their vigor or fervency - Verses 16-17.
- They had lost their values - Verses 17-18a.
- They had lost their vision - Verse 18b.
- They had lost their "vesture" - Verses 17-22.
This was all covered in verse 17:
17 For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
The answer in verse 18:
18 Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be [truly] wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see.
They needed to receive this chastening from the LORD and change their thinking to agree with Him. WE need to do the same!
Jeremiah 30-31 speaks to the return of the people of Israel to their land. This referred immediately to the return from Babylonian captivity, but also to this Last Days return to the scattered Jews to the land of promise! There are a couple of familiar verses here that you may remember! Jeremiah 31:3:
3 The LORD appeared from of old to me [Israel], saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you.
WE can receive this same promise, knowing that He loves us the same way! Then in verses 35-36:
35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day and the fixed order of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, Who stirs up the sea's roaring billows or stills the waves when they roar --the LORD of hosts is His Name: 36 If these ordinances [of fixed order] depart from before Me, says the LORD, then the posterity of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me throughout the ages.
Guess what - sun, moon and stars are still up there and the seas are still in their place! Israel is now and always has been ordained of God to be a sovereign nation, with all of the land that HE ordained as theirs. WOE to any nation or people who dare to come against Israel! We are commanded to pray for the peace and prosperity of the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6-7). Make sure you take time every day to do so! Their are blessings involved with loving what God loves and obeying His commands! AMEN!
Shalom in Him!
