Put your house in order, because you are going to die

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 “Isaiah answered, “This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”   “It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.” Then the prophet Isaiah called on the LORD, and the LORD made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz. ”  [2 Kings 20: 9-11 ]

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Put Your House in Order

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.  He held fast to the LORD and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses.  And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook.

In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,  “Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him:  “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

 Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.

God did this for one man.  Not for a nation as with Joshua. What we learn from this is that God can do anything he chooses for whoever or whatever reason he chooses. He has seen the tears of Hezekiah. He also did give a sign to Hezekiah that the shadow will go back ten steps. Praise God, He could do things against the nature. Remember, God created all these elements in the first place.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. How great is our God!



Hezekiah's Prayer Heard

 “This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD”  [2 Kings 20:5]

 

 King Hezekiah



Weighed in the balances and found wanting...

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 “Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote.  His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.” 

[Daniel 5:5-6]

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Weighed in the balances and found wanting...

King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.  So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

Belshazzar was the son of Nabonidus and the grandson of  Nebuchadnezzar("father" may also mean "grandfather"). He made a great feast, using the sacred gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from the temple in Jerusalem.

Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote.  His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

 The terrified king offered a purple robe, a chain of gold, and promotion to be one of three rulers, to anyone who could interpret the writing. Daniel was summoned to interpret the writing. Even after all these years and the changes in government, the excellent wisdom and spirituality of Daniel were remembered at least by someone. So Daniel was brought in before the king.

The writing was MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. Which means, God had numbered the Babylonian Empire and finished it. Belshazzar was weighed in the balances and found wanting. Belshazzar's kindom was divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. That same night, the Medo-Persian armies marched into Babylon, slew Belshazzar, and seized world dominion.

How are you, when God weighs you in His balances? 



MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN

 “But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this.  Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven.”  [Daniel 5:22-23]

 

 King Belshazzar



Which side of the cross are you on?

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 “For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”  [Luke 23:31]

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Which side of the cross are you on?

Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then

   “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
   and to the hills, “Cover us!”’

 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Jesus Himself was the green tree, and unbelieving Israel was the dry. If the Romans heaped such shame and suffering on the sinless, innocent Son of God, what dreadful punishment would fall on the guilty murderers of God's beloved Son?

 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.  When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.  Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar  and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The robbers reviled Jesus at the outset. If He was the Christ, why did He not save them all? But then one of them had a change of heart. Turning to his companion, he rebuked him for his irreverence. After all they were both suffering for crimes that they had committed. Their punishment was deserved. But this Man on the middle cross had done nothing wrong. Turning to Jesus, the thief asked the Lord to remember him when He came back and set up His kingdom on earth. Such faith was remarkable. The dying thief believed that Jesus would rise from the dead and would eventually reign over the world. Jesus rewarded his faith with the promise that that very day, they would be together in Paradise. Paradise is the same as the third heaven and means the dwelling place of God.

From Jesus Christ's side one thief got saved and the other did not. Which side of the cross are you on?  



Jesus, remember me!

 “But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?  We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”  Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  [Luke 23:42]

 



You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good

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 “So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.”  [Genesis 37:28]

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"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good"

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”  So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?  You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
Now of course Joseph is a clear type of Christ. He goes down into the pit (which is Biblical imagery of death), his cloak is covered in blood, and yet he comes back from the death twice (firstly by being sold rather than killed, secondly by coming out of prison to become the second most powerful man in Egypt). Resurrection motifs if ever there were any, and add to that the fact that the “death” (in the pit and then selling him) that is meant to destroy Joseph actually becomes the means of salvation for the brothers when Joseph is in the exact right place to save them years later.


Joseph in Egypt

 “But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?  You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. ”  [Genesis 50:19-20]

 

Joseph and his brothers



Jesus Christ died for our sins...and three days later he was raised to life

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 “My friends, I want you to remember the message that I preached and that you believed and trusted. You will be saved by this message, if you hold firmly to it. But if you don't, your faith was all for nothing. I told you the most important part of the message exactly as it was told to me. That part is:  Christ died for our sins,   as the Scriptures say.  He was buried, and three days later    he was raised to life,    as the Scriptures say.  Christ appeared to Peter,  then to the twelve. After this, he appeared  to more than five hundred other followers.
   Most of them are still alive,  but some have died. He also appeared to James, and then to all of the apostles. Finally, he appeared to me, even though I am like someone who was born at the wrong time. I am the least important of all the apostles. In fact, I caused so much trouble for God's church that I don't even deserve to be called an apostle...”  [1 Corinthians 15: 1-8]

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Jesus Christ died for our sins...and three days later he was raised to life

Paul reminds them of the good news which he had preached. This was not a new doctrine for the Corinthians, but it was necessary that they should be reminded of it at this critical time. It was this gospel by which the Corinthians had been saved. You will be saved by this message, if you hold firmly to it. But if you don’t, your faith was all for nothing.
To Paul, the resurrection was fundamental. Without it there was no Christianity.  Paul had delivered to the Corinthians the message which he had also received by divine revelation.
The first cardinal doctrine of that message was that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He died for our sins. He died to pay the penalty that our sins deserved.
Dear friend, do you believe with all your heart that Christ Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose again on the third day?  Confess your sins to Him and accept Him as your personal Savior and you will be saved. 



"Why do you seek the living among the dead?"

 “Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices that they had prepared. When they found the stone rolled away from the entrance, they went in. But they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus, and they did not know what to think. Suddenly two men in shining white clothes stood beside them. The women were afraid and bowed to the ground. But the men said, "Why are you looking in the place of the dead for someone who is alive? Jesus isn't here! He has been raised from death....But Peter ran to the tomb. And when he stooped down and looked in, he saw only the burial clothes. ”  [Luke 24:12]

 

Empty Tomb



 "  Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior,
    waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!

    Up from the grave he arose;
    with a mighty triumph o'er his foes;
    he arose a victor from the dark domain,
    and he lives forever, with his saints to reign.
    He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!"  .


Pilate's Verdict: “NOT GUILTY, still Condemned”

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 “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God." When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid.  He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?" Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.”  [John 19:7-11]

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Pilate's Verdict: “NOT GUILTY, still Condemned”

The religious trial was ended, and the civil trial is about to begin. The scene is the hall of judgment or the place of the governor. The Jews did not want to go into the palace of a Gentile. They felt that they would have been defiled and would thus be prevented from eating the Passover.  It did not seem to bother them that they were plotting the death of the Son of God. It would have been a tragedy for them to enter a Gentile house, but murder was a mere trifle.

Pilate, the Roman Governor, gave in to the religious scruples of the Jews by going out to where they were. He began the trail by asking them to state the charge against this Prisoner.

Their answer was bold and rude. They said, in effect, that they had already tried the case and found Him guilty. All they wanted Pilate to do was to pronounce the sentence.

Pilate tried to evade responsibility and throw it back on the Jews. If they had already tried Jesus and found Him guilty, then why did they not sentence Him according to their law? The answer of the Jews was very significant.  They said, in so many words: “We are not an independent nation. We have been taken over by the Roman power. Civil government has been taken from our hands, and we no longer have the authority to put anyone to death.”  Jesus had predicted (Matt. 20:19) that He would be delivered up to the Gentiles to be killed. Here the Jews were doing the very thing to Him. In many places, the Lord said that He would be “lifted up” (John 3:14, 8:28; 12:32,34). This referred to death by crucifixion.  The Jews used stoning in cases of capital punishment; whereas crucifixion was the Roman method. Thus, by their refusal to carry out the death penalty, the Jews unknowingly fulfilled these two prophecies concerning the Messiah.

Pilate now took Jesus into the Praetorium for a private interview and asked Him point blank—“Are You the King of the Jews?” After the interview, Pilate now hurried to the Jews with the admission that he could find no fault in Jesus at all.  It was the custom among the Jews at the Passover to request the release of some Jewish prisoner from the Romans. Pilate seized upon this custom in an effort to please the Jews and at the same time release Jesus.

The scheme failed. The Jews did not want Jesus; they wanted Barabbas. Barabbas was a robber. The wicked heart of man preferred a bandit to the Creator.

It was most unjust for Pilate to scourge an innocent Person. Perhaps he hoped that this punishment would satisfy the Jews and that they would not demand the death of Jesus. Scourging was a Roman form of punishment. The prisoner was beaten with a whip or a rod. The whip had pieces of metal or bone in it, and these cut deep gashes in the flesh.

Pilate then went out again to the mob and announced that he was about to bring Jesus out to them, but He was innocent. Thus Pilate condemned himself by his own words. He found no fault in Christ, yet he would not let Him go.

Pilate was willing to please the Jews, and so he turned Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified. He loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.



"...I find no guilt in Him"

 “Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"  After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, "I find no guilt in him.”.... Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him...So he delivered him over to them to be crucified”  [John 18:39 , 19:1, 19:16]

Jesus before Pilate



 Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.


"I have heard them crying out...."

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 “God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.”  [Exodus 3:15]

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"I have heard them crying out...." 

Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

In tending the flock of Jethro, Moses learned valuable lessons about leading God's people. When he went to Horeb (Mount Sinai), the Lord appeared to him in a bush that burned with fire but was not consumed.
 Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
 And Moses said, “Here I am.”

 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”  Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

God reassures Moses that He is the God of his forefathers--Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

The Lord promised Moses that He would deliver His people from Egypt and bring them into a land of abundance--that is, Canaan--inhabited by the six heather nations.

God was not oblivious to the plight of His people. God heard and remembered and looked upon the children of Israel and acknowledged their condition. God's response was to bring His servant Moses back to Egypt to lead His people out of that land in the mightiest display of power since the creation of the world.

He is the same God, who listens to His children when they cry to Him.





Burning Bush

 “There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.”  [Exodus 3:2]

Moses