January 02, 2022

 God Among Us

 

Psalms 2

Why do the nations conspire

and the peoples plot in vain?

The Kings of the earth rise up

and the rulers band together

against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,

Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.

The One enthroned in heaven laughs;

the Lord scoffs at them.

He rebukes them in his anger

and terrifies them in his wrath, 

saying,

I have installed my king

on Zion, my holy mountain.

I will proclaim the Lord's decree:

He said to me, You are my son;

today I have become your father, 

Ask me, 

and I will make the nations your inheritance, 

the ends of the earth your possession. 

You will break them with a rod of iron, 

you will dash them to pieces like pottery. 

Therefore you kings, be wise;

be warned, you rulers of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear

and celebrate his rule with trembling.

Kiss his son, or he will be angry and you way will lead to your destruction, 

for his wrath can fare up in a moment. 

Blessed are all who take refuge in him. 

The nations rage and the people are plotting because they do not want God's son to rule in the earth. They all come together to stop the rule of God's anointed one. Why do they want to stop it because it keeps God out of the affairs on the earth. The Kings of the earth rise up against the Lord and against his anointed one but God is not moved by the kings of the earth. He appoints his son on his holy mountain. He tells his son... you are my son  and today I will be your father and on that day he will give him the nations as an inheritance. He tells them to kiss his son or their ways will lead to their destruction. 

Today we are to kiss his son.....

If we reject the son then it leads to destruction.

It reminds me of elections times. These times seems to bring out the worst in people because whoever is in rule will determine what is over us. For example King David is God's son and God will rule through him but if we have wicked rulers than wickedness and Satan will rule through bad leaders. But we see that the nations rose up together against God and and  his anointed but God is not moved by people in this way. He knows the heart of men and he will appoint the person he wants. He appoints him on his holy mountain. King David is the writer and the son is Jesus. 

Do you accept the son?

Or if you reject him then it is your fate that you find destruction 
There is only two choices. 

Choose the Son or be destroyed. 

Matthew 3

John The Baptist 

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ”

John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

God Among Us

Jesus does two things to people. 

1. they either become saved/friendship/discover the truth

2. or they become hostile/opposition

John reveals that the Lord carries a winnowing fork with him and with this fork he is clearing the threshing floor. He gathers the wheat into the barn; and the chaff he is throwing it into the unquenchable fire. 

As a Christian person in todays world we have to be mindful that there are two types of people. People who are for us and people who are against us. 

But John says to the brood of vipers they needed to produce fruit worthy of repentance and not so much saying I am sorry with the tongue but he tells them show that you are sorry in your actions. 

Jesus and John

• John is a preacher and very much respected by God.
• He abstains from excess living.
• Jesus respects him and tells him to baptize him
• Jesus gives John the greatest honors
• How beautiful is that!

Have a great day!