And He said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” Luke 23:43.
Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another – showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 THE MESSAGE.
Enoch walked with God. Genesis 5:24.
“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11.
And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 167: The One sent by God. Isaiah 6:8: Then I heard the voice of the LORD saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” And, John 12:38-45: This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “LORD, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, “He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.” These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.”
There needs to come a point in every life where the lies of hate and oppression in every form overwhelm us and we begin to see how much we need the truth Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, brings. All of Scripture shows us the truth of humanity turning away from the truth of God and the suffering that brings. And Jesus, the Son, Creator God, came and He spoke truth. And it was so different from what the world taught as truth that they marveled. Can we sit with that a moment, the impact His truth had on their lives? For many, it was too much and they refused to accept they had been so wrong about God. And they killed Him. And all of it was foretold in the very Scriptures we still get so wrong when we choose hate and oppression of every kind. And there is a better way that no lies of this world can believe or overcome. God is love. And He is working still for our good in Him and with Him, the very good we all of us need.
***COURAGE – From the cowardice that shrinks from new truths, from the laziness that is content with half-truths, from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truths, dear God of truth, deliver me! “O God of Truth,” ancient prayer.***
