|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Glen Park Gospel Church >> Archive >> Editorial >> 2019
Each month the Glen Park Gospel Church produce a one page newsletter called the Green Leaf. It's available from the chapel each Sunday. Some months include a topical article or report. We thought you might appreciate reading those previously published.
Trusting God in 2019
"If Only I Knew Where to Find Him"
Job 23:3
Eliphaz had just told Job that the troubles that afflicted him were due to his spiritual dullness. "Is it for your piety that He rebukes you!" he chided, "Is not your wickedness great?" *
Job, however, knew God better than that, "If only I knew where to find Him, if only I could go to His dwelling; I would state my case before Him...I would find out what He would answer me and consider what He would say." *
"Why did God do this to me?" "Why did God allow this to happen?" Sometime, sooner or later, we all ask this kind of question. Some people ask the question to blame God for the unhappy turn of events in their lives. Unlike Job they do not stop for God to give them the answers to their hasty questions. Misery is but an interruption in their quest for the enjoyment of life's experiences. “If God is in control of this world, why did He let it happen. There is no God. I'll just have to cope the best I can!" What a poverty stricken philosophy is this?
To the child of God, however, God is in control. The same sun shines on the just and the unjust. It is our response to God in the midst of life’s events which are the mark of faith.
Job knew these things. "If I go to the east He is not there. If I go to the west I do not find Him. When He is at work in the north I do not see Him; when He turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of Him." * Just because we fail to find God by natural means, it does not mean that He is not there in the midst of strife. "But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me I will come forth as gold." * Job knew these things because he knew God.
Child of God, what does 2019 have in store for you? Maybe it is best not to ask. Does not today have enough of it's own troubles without worrying about those of tomorrow? True. But it is of value to consider the resources with which we are to meet those evils when they arrive.
Child of God, what are those resources? Job knew the answer to that question. Job knew God, and despite the problems that came upon him, his faith in God never dimmed. We have so much more than Job because we live on the this side of Calvary. We have the person of the risen Jesus Christ made available through the ministry of the Holy Spirit every minute of every day, in every contingency, in every demand. Never let your faith be dimmed.
Trusting God in 2019? What else can we do? What else is there to do?
God understands your sorrow,
He sees the falling tear
And whispers, 'I am with thee',
Then falter not, nor fear.
He understands your longing;
Your deepest grief He shares;
Then let Him bear the burden-
He understands and cares.
J. Oswald Smith
* Job 22:4,5 23:3,4 23:8,9 23:10
Plough a Straight Furrow
Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
Luke 9:62 (ESV)
Eliphaz had just told Job that the troubles that afflicted him were due to his spiritual dullness. "Is it for your piety that He rebukes you!" he chided, "Is not your wickedness great?" *
When I was a young pastor at a country church, I also had part time employment with Joe, a kindly Christian farmer. One day, during hay season, Joe sent me to turn a field of hay to allow it to surface dry before it was baled. It was an easy task, for a tractor, a Ferguson 35, and rear mounted hay rake did all the hard work.
Being aware of the principle contained in today's text and the need to fix one's eye unwavering on the ultimate goal if a straight furrow is to be cut across an open field, I decided to put the axiom to a test. Now I was not ploughing, but raking hay with a tractor. But I assumed that if the principle was correct it would still work. Half way across the field, holding the steering steady as firmly as I could, I turned my head around and looked at the straight path that I had come. I then refixed my gaze on the object that was before me.
Arriving at the far boundary I turned the tractor ready to do the return sweep. And there, in the middle of the field was a wiggle in my line. God's word is true. God's word is always true in the things it teaches. I have never forgotten my experiment, or the principle. If you are a child of God keep your eye unwaveringly upon the goal set before you.
Never look back at things wistfully forsaken. We are reminded of Lot's wife whose footsteps took her to a new life of commitment. However her heart was really in the world of the past. As she paused to long for that which was behind, the fire fell and she was consumed in God's judgement on an evil city.*
Never look back at days of more fruitful ministry. It is God who puts us where He wants us, and if God now puts us in a barren field, that is entirely His business. Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.*
Never look back at mistakes and misjudgement in ministry of which we are now ashamed. Then we thought that what we did was right, but now we are more mature. Walk Paul's road, "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." *
* Genesis 19:26, 2 Timothy 4:2, Philippians 3:13&14
Dr. Robert (Bob) Peterson
My memories of Dr. Robert (Bob) Peterson,
by Helen Waterworth.
I remember when Bob and Muriel first started coming to Glen Park Gospel Church. He was one of our regular visiting speakers when still the director of AMG and we all appreciated his ministry very much.
After Bob's retirement from the directorship of AMG and attending the Ringwood Gospel Chapel for many years, Bob and Muriel started coming from their home in Ringwood to Glen Park Gospel Church, which was to our gain. They eventually sold their family home and moved to a unit at Templestowe Village, which made it easier to travel to Eltham North to Glen Park.
He was just an ordinary man with all the qualms and worries that each of us normally get. He appeared to be very gruff and stern, but underneath he was a very humble and kind gentleman. When at the pulpit he was a man of authority and knowledge, especially with his knowledge of ancient and New Testament Greek, and the correct interpretation and meaning of Scripture.
He knew his Bible from cover to cover and leaned on God's word entirely. If you questioned him on anything in the Scriptures he knew the answer. His knowledge of God's word was thorough and well grounded. If he didn't agree with something or didn't like it, he could let others know, and also why. He knew his Lord and his faith was strong, and it showed in his life.
I often picked Bob up to take to Church or take him home after. He was always on time and very independent in getting up those stairs to the Church by his own strength. He was very approachable and took a personal interest in our family affairs. When he lost Muriel about ten years ago, he was greatly affected, suffering with loneliness. It tended to make him a little self centred, wanting to share personal issues and experiences that increased with his years with others. Suffering Type 2 Diabetes and Neuropathy he cared for his condition well, keeping control on exercise and diet.
Upon reaching ninety he felt that his work was done and he retired from all pulpit ministry. Many times in the last few years he asked, 'Why doesn't the Lord take me home?' The Lord took him home on January 6th 2019, aged 93. It was a pleasure knowing Bob Peterson, and I am going to miss him very much.
by Chris Trinham.
I came to know Bob Peterson when he came to preach at our Church as a representative for the AMG mission. It was unforgettable. Not only for the message he gave, but also for his sidelines. He was a salesman. He was selling English Bibles with Greek word translations. He also carried a case of ladies underwear for sale, items that his wife Muriel had made. Not many visiting speakers can match that.
Over time we made him our friend. Doreen and I would go out with him and Muriel for afternoon tea. Others did so for them too, or Gordon took Bob out driving for the day. I came to look forward to his ministry at the church, telling the significance of various Greek words and showing how they expand or limit the English.
One day I had the sermon to preach and I divided the passage using the word 'therefore' as a key word in my English Bible, "these things being so . . ." Ephesians 5. I added Ephesians 6:7 He called out mid sermon. "It's a different therefore." Of course he was reading it in Greek. How does one handle it, but that was Bob.
He found that I could produce typed copy in English and Greek, so he had me typing his notes. Reading his handwriting in Greek was not easy. But I was very sorry when he gave up his word studies, as they are most instructive.
After writing off two of his cars, he gave up driving. I would pick him up to come to Church. (As also did Helen.) But in time that reduced to one Communion Sunday a month and then shortly before his passing, ceased altogether. He was a true friend and is very much missed.
by Joan Smith.
Bob came to be known to us about 30 years ago when a group of 12 of us undertook a two year course in New Testament Greek under Elizabeth Booker, an experienced Greek teacher.
During the course we were each given a Greek New Testament and a copy of the magazine Pulpit Helps published monthly by AMG (Advancing Ministries of the Gospel) International to which I decided to subscribe. (It is no longer published. It was produced by Dr Spiros Zodhiates, author of many Biblical Expositional Volumes). Near the end of the course I noticed an advertisement offering ministry to churches in Expositional Bible teaching based on the Greek New Testament by an experienced and fully qualified Greek Bible teacher, Dr. Robert Peterson, who was at the time the Australian and New Zealand Director of AGM Int.
He was happy to accept an invitation to preach at Glen Park Gospel Church and began preaching here on a regular basis. He brought his wife Muriel along with him on each occasion and we increasingly felt they were part of our fellowship. Although, at the time, they were living at Ringwood, they began attending our church regularly. Bob's preaching was strongly evangelical, he was fully committed to faith missionary work and passionately supported Christians who were being persecuted for their faith through his involvement with Voice of Martyrs (VOM), particularly the Chinese Church. During the time they attended our church regularly, Bob published several manuscripts including studies in 1st and 2nd Timothy, and another for students of New Testament Greek. Ann Hutchinson worked for him for a time and typed some of his manuscripts, preparing them for publication.
He had a deep love for learning and possessed a very large library of Bible and Missionary based volumes which he willingly shared with some of our congregation. About 15 years ago they sold their home in Ringwood and moved to Templestowe Village. During that time Muriel became unwell and Bob cared for her as long as he was able until eventually she moved into a nursing home in Greensborough where Bob faithfully visited her each day. When she passed away ten years ago Bob felt her loss intensely and often confessed his loneliness even though he had made a few friends at the Village.
Gordon Hutchinson deeply respected his scholarship and fellowship and while he was well enough he used to take Bob for drives and share time with him in other ways. We as a church congregation were greatly blessed by his fellowship and encouraged by his faithful ministry to us over many years.
How Do I Know?
By then, John was an old, old man. On the table a letter lay before him. It was from a group of friends. It contained a question and he was about to answer it. It wasn't the only time someone had asked him this question. "How do I know, father John." Everyone called him their 'father', and he called them his children, even though many of them had children of their own. "How do I know I have eternal life?"
John had lived with Jesus. They were the closest of friends. They shared many confidences. His mother had lived with John's family in her end years. But it is different for us. We are separated by time and distance and culture. "We are not you, father John!"
So John picked up his parchment and his quill and began his letter with the words: 'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life' - Take it from me testified John. He is real.
Six times in that letter he wrote, 'By this you know' 1 as he identified and explained telling characteristics of the Christian life. His letter is the 'know so' letter. But at the end he answered the question that many of us still ask today, "How do I know that I, yes me, how may I be certain that I have eternal life?" After all, What if I don't? What then? It is at the end that he gathers all this together:
This is the testimony 2, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
The key word here is believe. Do you believe what you were told about life in Jesus? Have you responded by placing your trust in Him? That word, that act makes all the difference.
John knew because he lived with Jesus through His three years of ministry and then witnessed His death, His resurrection and His ascension. We know because He who died for us has come to live in us in the Spirit.
1 1 John 2:3, 3:16, 3:24, 4:6, 4:13 5.2
2 Testimony is a solemn statement of fact, say the word of a witness in a court of law. In 1 John, it is the message of the gospel that we have heard.
Easter - The Great Redemption - Written in blood:
There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
1 Timothy 2:5&6
Josephus, the Jewish historian, records that in the year 54 - 53 BC the Roman general named Crassus marched against Jerusalem and visited the temple intent on plundering its treasury. A priest named Eleazar who was the guardian of the sacred treasures presented him with a large bar of Gold, worth 10,000 shekels which was offered lytron anti panton, Greek for 'a ransom instead of all'. Thus the priest saved the priceless temple treasures.
This historical event illustrates what Jesus did in offering His life for all of the needs of those who receive Him. Here is some of what the Bible records:
The Christ's blood is the ransom price from the penalty, the punishment of our sins.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.
Ephesians 1:7
Through this redemption God offers forgiveness and restoration. We are:
Justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
Romans 3:24&25
All who trust in the Christ of the cross receive a satisfaction of that moral dilemma we all face due to our sin and the rebellion of our heart.
His death has redeemed us from the curse of God's law.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
Galatians 3:13
But, isn't God's law good? Yes, it comes of Him who is perfect. But that is just it. It is perfect. But I am not. I cannot keep it. I am a sinner and my inability becomes a curse to me. But the blood of Jesus redeems me from the curse of constantly breaking a perfect law.
The blood of Christ ransoms us from the meaningless life styles of mankind.
You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold... but with the precious blood of Christ.
1 Peter 1:19
"Why", asks the Psalmist, "do the nations rage, and the peoples plot in vain", Nations pursue meaningless jealousies, cruel ambitions, unworthy of the children of the King of kings. We are called to better things than that.
Would you like to know more? We have more to share, designed to help you find peace with God and then become part of His answer to the need of others. Contact us here.
Good Friday in the Park - a pictorial report
It is always a nervous wait. Will Friday be wet, making Easter celebrations impossible in the open air? But this year it was a gloriously warm and pleasant day. It invited the people to come, and they did.
Some were old friends who come every year, and some were fresh faces - new friends. There were about 50 adults who gathered to hear Andrew Torney and about fifty children clustered around the activity tables of Ben Howe and his helpers. The children took home a 'show bag' of gospel material to share with mum and dad.
People sat in circlets of family and friends. It was hard to get an accurate count as some came and went during the activities. Passers-by on the exercise trail stopped to discuss the activity and its meaning and were invited in.
The Last of the Autumn Roses
Roses keep an annual cycle. The Winter is dormant, In Spring fresh new leaves bedeck pristine blooms. Summer is a torrid time, but in the Autumn when the golden days come, the rose bounces back, not to the vigour of its youth, but with a more mellow, stately exhibition of its art. We may be forgiven if in this cycle we see an analogy to the productive life of a man or woman of God. Then winter is here again and it is time to prune away all the old wood. If the old growth is not removed, the new life of the coming year will be distorted by it.
Thomas Hardy in his books says that a day is a lifetime for a dragon fly, actually a week at the most. Others point out that this should be the Mayfly of which there are 2500 species in the world, some with a life span of only hours. That housefly you can't shoo outside will be gone in a month, but the domestic mouse looks forward to annoying you a full year. As a rule, the shorter the life, the more prolific the reproductive capacity.
A ministerial friend of mine needed little sleep and would study through the earliest hours of the morning until after breakfast for ordinary folk, then spent the day in visitation and the evening in ministry. He had the motto, 'It is better to wear out than to rust out'. He was true to his philosophy. He died in an accident.
Jesus Himself accomplished all His remarkable ministry in just three years.
On this, one may be forgiven for thinking that unless a life's work is accomplished in a short time, that it has no value. A missionary associate whose field was Viet Nam observed his associates. He noted that new recruits arriving in full gusto, expecting to convert the nation in short order soon left, burned out. But the plodders who always took their tea breaks, annual leave and steadily worked their way through the daily schedule enjoyed a long and fruitful ministry.
The rose you prune and feed today will reward you with delightful blooms next spring.
Losing the Weekly Offering
When the Treasurer is away my wife is responsible to provide safe custody of the offerings until she can hand them over. One Sunday in 2014 this was the case, except this time she lost the envelope at the Greensborough Plaza.
Therefore we made it a matter for prayer. There was a particular reason for this. Many years ago, before we met, she lost her weeks wages. It was a big loss because she was responsible to provide the house payment of the family home and did not have anything much in reserve. So she made it a matter of definite prayer.
Next morning she took the same route to work that she had taken on the way home the night before. When her bus pulled into the Box Hill railway station she could see a brown envelope lying on the ground at the bus stop near the entrance to the station pedestrian subway with workers streaming past to catch their train. She could not get out of the bus fast enough. Picking it up, sure enough, there on the envelope was her name. It was intact. It had not been opened. The money, in cash, was all there. It had lain on the footpath in a very busy location all night and into the next morning with hundreds, if not thousands of people streaming past. What an answer to prayer for her. The Lord had blinded these people to a rich find lying at their feet. In 2 Kings there is the story of the Lord doing that to an whole army in answer to Elisha's prayer.
The sequel is in keeping with that prayer. We traced our movements at the centre and drew blanks to our enquiries until we came to the K-mart enquiry desk. It was there waiting for us to accurately describe the envelope. As before the envelope was unopened and the money intact.
Jesus made us this promise, "I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Can you believe it?
Bush Eyes
"And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, except Jesus only."
Matthew 17:8
A condensed story of that told by Bruce Rowe of the United Aborigines Mission, Speaker at the morning service, Sunday 27th May 1999. From Green Leaf June 1999.
I would like to tell you of an incident that happened to me some years ago.
An Aboriginal friend of mine asked if I would like to go with them on a hunting trip. I said I would. There were about five of us and we went out into the bush. Now the bush up there is a bit different to the bush down here. There was heat and dust and flies and flies and flies and a few mulga trees.
So we went out to do a bit of hunting. They gave me the honour of doing the shooting. We went out in single file and I with the rifle was in the rear. We walked and walked and walked.
Then we came to a group of mulga trees and everyone stopped dead. The word came back; an emu. "Where?" The leader pointed down, which means that the game is close at hand. Suddenly all the men dropped to the ground. They didn't want to get shot.
I looked and looked with these eyes and - no emu. I know what an emu looks like, but - no emu. I looked everywhere, but I just couldn't see this emu. After a while the aborigines got sick of waiting. They were mumbling about this white man who had wasted the opportunity. He has no bush eyes.
So when we came back I looked up one of the older men, one of the elders of the tribe. I had to sit down on the ground like him. I asked him why I couldn't see that bird out there. He said, "You white fellas all the same. You come up from the city and think you know it all. This is what you do. When you look out there you move your head from side to side like this. It's all about taking in the whole picture." Keeping his gaze ahead moved his head across his shoulders.
A little later the aborigines decided to go hunting again and I was asked if I would like to go with them. Again they gave me the rifle and we were out with the mulga trees and the flies and the dust. I decided to try and remember what the old fellow had said, and move my head from side to side like the aborigines and the native animals do.
The leader indicated a turkey close at hand and down they went. I stared into the bush ahead - no turkey. I was beginning to get embarrassed. I moved my head from side to side as best I could and suddenly it came into focus. I had found my bush eyes. I was amazed; how moving my head from side to side allowed me to see in the bush. We had turkey for dinner.
We need to develop eyes that can see what is not obvious in all that is so familiar. This is true in life generally, but especially so in the things of God.
"O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been clearly set forth, crucified among you?"
Galatians 3:1.
Our God, God of the Impossible!
Unless you are experiencing with God things you thought impossible, you are living a sub-Christian life, for God is the God of the impossible. Anything else is just religion, and that is good, but not good enough.
When God visited Abraham and promised that Sarah would have a son, she laughed to herself at such an idea. Impossible. After all she was in her nineties. "After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?" * But the Lord heard her inner thoughts. Her laughter was the laughter of derision - of disbelief.
We must not be too hard on Sarah, for just a little while before, Abraham himself had laughed at the very idea.* While laughing at Sarah, we tend to forget that God was not angry, for Abraham was still learning to trust Him and take Him at His word. God joined in the joke, "Sarah will bear you a son and you shall call his name laughter".* That is what the name Isaac means - laughter! When at last he was born, Sarah exclaimed, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me".*
We have our own trials. We certainly do not all face Sarah's needs and doubts, but the process is the same. First up is always the reception of new life. That is the miracle of life out of death. Then comes experience of victory over habitual sin, another miracle. Then there is courage to witness, to own up before family and friends is the most difficult. Then victory over the doldrums, keeping the faith fire burning. There is progression in the victory of promise.
Laughter is natural when God who keeps promises turns words into experience. How amazing! What relief! What joy! What a testimony that lasts all the days of our life to encourage us. We want to share it with others, and so we should. How can we ever not trust God again. But wait. We are in the school of faith, and in school the simple lessons come first, the more difficult come along later.
Got any rivers you thought were uncrossable?
Got any mountains you can't tunnel through?
God specialises in things thought impossible.
He can do just what no other can do.
- Oscar Iliason *
* Genesis 18:12, 17:17,19, 21:6 (NIV). CCL# 125159
Written in the Wind
Every year westerly winds develop high over the South Pole due to differences in sunshine strength above the land and sea. Every so often with this event that strength increases. It is forecast that this spring and summer will be much higher, resulting, in an exceptionally dry summer for much of Australia. We are told that this is not part of global warming.
What it means for Australia, already staggering under drought conditions, is that things may only get worse, except for western Tasmania and small parts of the mainland south coast. We can read about it on the Bureau web page cited below.* What we ought to know is that these climactic changes can affect the social and political stability of a society in its path.
We have a good example of this form of climate, economic and social change in our daily readings for Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th. There was already wide-spread drought causing migration to Egypt, and probably other places. Genesis 17:3.
Joseph sold them the grain he had purchased for Pharaoh during the seven glut years. When their money was gone he exchanged their cattle, their means of livelihood for grain. When all their cattle were sold he took their land in exchange for food, and the drought was as yet far from over. Therefore Joseph employed them. The Egyptians had gone from small freehold farmers to slaves of the state, living without assets, on a hand out allowance and paying tax. Read the story first hand in your Bible.
The people moved from being small subsistence farmers to agricultural labourers dependent on a government hand out.
Learn the lessons. The Bible as the word of God, makes us wise to not only the spiritual blessing of salvation in Christ, but to the dangers inherent in family and social relationships. Changes are taking place in our society and in our environment at a fast pace. But there is a place of security . . .
"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD God is an everlasting rock."
Isaiah 26:3&4
All Scripture quoted is from the English Standard Version
Some Key Texts for Sharing Your Faith
Consider when someone is asked to receive Jesus Christ, God's great offer to forgive their sin, and then receive them into God's family as His child. They often come up with a put-off excuse. There are only a dozen excuses, which may be put in other words. Here are eight of them. And some of God's answers that are found in your Bible. Here is a typical response you may hear.
I am too sinful for an holy God to be interested in me!
I like my life-style, I don't want to change. There is too much to give up!
It won't last! I am afraid that I couldn't keep it up.
What would my friends say, or even think of me?
I sure make some mistakes, but on average, I ought to make it!
Religions are all the same really - like, "All roads lead to Rome!"
It sounds too simple to be real.
I am doing the very best that I can, I can't do any more.
Here are eight answers. Any one or more will unlock your problem. Look them up in your own Bible. To find the book, use the index. Then learn them by heart.
"The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5
"It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." Hebrews 9:27&28
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8
God says, "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." Isaiah 1:18
"God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.' " John 14:6
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Romans 3:23
(The text used here is from - English Standard Version. Wording of your copy will be similar - that's O.K.)
If you learn them they will be on the tip of your tongue when you need them.
Target Nativity
"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder." Isaiah 9:6
Prophetic words as found in the Old Testament are guide posts to events in the plan of God for the redemption of mankind from the curse of sin. Prominent in these Divine utterances are those which point to the coming of Jesus Christ. One of these is the text quoted above.
Isaiah, and all the other prophetic writers missed the point that they were foretelling not just one advent of God's Redeemer to this world, but two. "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given . . ." These words were literally fulfilled when Jesus the baby was born in Bethlehem. ". . . the government shall be upon His shoulder." will be fulfilled when Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives as the ruler-king. No one anticipated that there would be an interval of at least two thousand years between the two events.
The prophetic detail given is amazing, not only in its accuracy, but also in its manner of delivery, as God revealed to mankind that which He had in His mind to do. Each prophetic revelation given became more specific, more detailed, and more relevant as the event approached. Consider:
1. God first told Adam through which race to bring a Redeemer. He would do it through the human race. "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Genesis 3:15.
2. God next told Abraham which nation. He would bring His redeemer through the Jewish nation. "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed . . ." Genesis 22:18.
3. Then God told Jacob which Hebrew clan. He would use the tribe of Judah. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." Genesis 49:10.
4. God told David which family he would use, He would use David's family. "I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall come from you, and I will establish his kingdom." 2 Samuel 7:12.
5. Next God said that the Redeemer would come as a male child to that family. "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder." Isaiah 9:6
6. Last God told one woman that she was to be the mother of a Child who would be known as the Son of God. "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Luke 1:35
Holy men and women of old who had the learning, the time and the opportunity, to prayerfully examine and compare scripture, to observe and assess the times in which they lived were able to accurately anticipate the first coming of God's Redeemer. One such person was Simeon who when he saw the infant Jesus in the temple proclaimed, "Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word: For mine eyes have seen your salvation, Which you have prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel." The prophetess Anna in the temple confirmed the words of Simeon.
Holy humble men of God today, who like Simeon and Anna of old, who wait prayerfully on God and His word, observing the politic of the times will be able to anticipate with some accuracy the second Advent of Jesus, coming to fulfill the second part of our text. Daniel perceptively sought God to be able to understand end times. This request was denied, but a promise was given that those men of God who lived in the days of the end would have that wisdom; even though it will be hidden from even the men initiating those very events. "And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." Daniel 12:9.
Are you one of those people who because you prayerfully and humbly meditate on God's word understand the days in which you live?
Isaiah 9:6&7. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."
Home || Back || Editorial
|| Thoughts || Quotes
|| Guests || Bible
Studies || Read Your Bible
Church
Info || Editorial ||
History || Easter
|| Bible Studies || Missions
|| Archive || Site
Map || Privacy