But His Hand Is Stretched Out Still – The Saturday Morning Post

DC in Ruins

Today’s Passage – Isaiah 9 – 13 (Click on the references to listen to the audio)

(Second Milers Read – Luke 19 – 20; Psalms 1 – 5; Proverbs 1)

Read the “0801 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars. Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together; The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts. Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother. And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.” (Isaiah 9:8-21)

“Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” (Ezekiel 33:1-6)

Good morning. I’ve asked several pastors, and missionaries if they had ever heard of “The Harbinger”, or “The Mystery Of The Shemitah” by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. They had not. And I don’t think that it is a coincidence that our reading today contains a key passage dealing with this.

I always wondered why, in Revelation, during the Great Tribulation, how the people could see and know that God was allowing all these troubles to happen to them, and yet they would not repent: they shook their fists at God. Seeing America rolling down hill at an ever increasing pace, I can see this now. People would rather believe in false gods, idols, no God at all, or even seeing themselves as a god. But God’s hand is stretched out still.

Before I go any further, I just want to clarify that a harbinger is a warning from God. Shemitah basically means to let fall. It is also the seventh year of a seven year cycle (1994, 2001, 2008, 2015 etc.). And despite the warnings, Israel turned their backs on God. And the results are shown in 2Chronicles 36…

“And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.” (2Chronicles 36:15-21)

In our hay-day, the U.S. Dollar is what many countries around the world traded in, and did business with. We have had warnings, harbingers, ourselves directly affecting our economy. As mentioned above, 1994 saw the great Bond Market crash. The Bond Market lost over $1 Trillion. In 2001, the bricks were fallen down with the destruction of the World Trade Center by terrorists. That shook Wall Street; six days later on September 17, 2001, the stock market crashes 684 points. Seven years later, 2008, there is another crash. When all is said and done, the stock market loses 777 points. Add 7 years to 2008, and that brings us to 2015. America is due for another great shaking. But even after the previous shaking’s, we still legalized same sex marriage, called good evil and evil good, shook our fists at God. And God, for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. He has given us a warning. Just like Jonah…

“And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” (Jonah 3:4)

September 13, 2015 coincides with the Hebrew day Elul 29th, the end of the Shemitah year. God doesn’t have to do anything: He is the Righteous Judge: He is still in control: He is still Lord of all – will always be.

“So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.” (Jonah 4:5)

Now you can sit on your rump like Jonah, waiting to see what will become of the United States. Or you can reach out with the gospel. Remember JOY: Jesus, Others, You. This is what you can do. 1) Pray: seek God:seek JESUS. 2) Get the gospel out to OTHERS. Many still have to make the decision to receive or reject the gift of eternal life given by our Saviour. And 3) Prepare YOUrself. You may want to stockpile some extra food, get right with God, stock up with extra water, get right with God, make some “care packages” to give to others when whatever goes down goes down. And get right with God. And God, for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Peace? (2Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name [CHRISTIAN – THAT’S YOU AND ME], shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways [YES, THAT’S YOU AND ME TOO: WE ARE THE ONES WHO MUST GET RIGHT WITH GOD]; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.)


Posted in Devotions by with no comments yet.
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x