“You will look for those who contend with you, but you will not find them. Those who war against you will become absolutely nothing.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭41:12‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

-
God will do for us what He has done for the generations before us. He is promising that those who contend and fight with us because we are followers of God will be no longer. The first way and certainly the best way is that they will be changed into God following Christians also. The second way is that He will remove them from your immediate world. And last of all but the most severe and dishearteningly is that God will move them from the world altogether. I am not advocating that we kill or fight with them but that God will take care of them. 

God knew that if His people who love Him with all they have then the people of the world would come to Jerusalem to worship Him. 

“Even for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name — for they will hear of Your great name, mighty hand, and outstretched arm, and will come and pray toward this temple —”
‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭8:41-42‬ ‭HCSB‬‬
https://www.bible.com/72/1ki.8.41-42.hcsb

“These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another; make true and sound decisions within your gates. Do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love perjury, for I hate all this” — this is the Lord’s declaration. Then the word of the Lord of Hosts came to me: “The Lord of Hosts says this: The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth will become times of joy, gladness, and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace.” The Lord of Hosts says this: “Peoples will yet come, the residents of many cities; the residents of one city will go to another, saying: Let’s go at once to plead for the Lord’s favor and to seek the Lord of Hosts. I am also going. Many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and to plead for the Lord’s favor.” The Lord of Hosts says this: “In those days, 10 men from nations of every language will grab the robe of a Jewish man tightly, urging: Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.””
‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭8:16-23‬ ‭HCSB‬‬
https://www.bible.com/72/zec.8.16-23.hcsb  

But then there was some people of old that God moved out of the way because they were not following God. 

“But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors. They prostituted themselves with the gods of the nations God had destroyed before them. So the God of Israel put it into the mind of Pul (that is, Tiglath-pileser ) king of Assyria to take the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh into exile. He took them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and Gozan’s river, where they are until today.”
‭‭1 Chronicles‬ ‭5:25-26‬ ‭HCSB‬‬
https://www.bible.com/72/1ch.5.25-26.hcsb

“Finally, the Lord removed Israel from His presence just as He had declared through all His servants the prophets. So Israel has been exiled to Assyria from their homeland until today.”
‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭17:23‬ ‭HCSB‬‬
https://www.bible.com/72/2ki.17.23.hcsb

“The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land.”
‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭25:21‬ ‭HCSB‬‬
https://www.bible.com/72/2ki.25.21.hcsb

God did bring back Israel and Judah to their Homeland, but the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh have not been returned, they are the lost tribes of Israel.

Then there was all the Amalek. God did not want them to sick around because they would influence Israel to stop worshiping God and they would turn their hearts away to other gods.

“At Rephidim, Amalek came and fought against Israel. Moses said to Joshua, “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.” Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. While Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand down, Amalek prevailed. When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword. The Lord then said to Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and named it, “The Lord Is My Banner.” He said, “Indeed, my hand is lifted up toward the Lord’s throne. The Lord will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.””
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭17:8-16‬ ‭HCSB‬‬
https://www.bible.com/72/exo.17.8-16.hcsb

 Have courage God will protect you. He will fight your battles. And your enemies will become no more.

“A long time after the Lord had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, Joshua was old, getting on in years.”
‭‭Joshua‬ ‭23:1‬ ‭HCSB‬‬
https://www.bible.com/72/jos.23.1.hcsb

“When the king had settled into his palace and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies,”
‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭7:1‬ ‭HCSB‬‬
https://www.bible.com/72/2sa.7.1.hcsb

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The women with the issue of blood

-
Image
​ The women with the issue of blood Soon after I was married our pastor’s wife gave a message called “The Hem of Him” and this woman was the main subject of her message. She talked about how she had to press through the crowd to get to Jesus. She talked about how she was unclean and should not be in the crowd. Then she related it to us that we have to press through all the doubts, internal and external, to get to Jesus. Most certainly we all have heard a message of this woman.  Did you pick up that she had an issue with bleeding for 12 years? Jairus’ daughter was 12 years old. Of course, neither the women nor Jairus knew this but Jesus did. And was willing to help both the synagogue ruler and this poor woman the same. He did not show favoritism but was moved by their faith.  Could this woman have touched a tassel on Jesus’ robe or did she just touch the hem of it? “The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout their generations they are to make tassels
Read more

The Word of God is #1 living!

-
Image
​ I want to take the next 4 to 6 posts in BQTT to dwell on what “the word of God is”. The Word of God is #1 living! In our hands, we do not hold some dusty old relic of some 35 to 40 authors. But a living book written by God through the hands of many different people over 1,000’s of years. Have you ever been reading a normal book and a few words jump off the page to say, “Hey, read me again.”? I bet there have been very few times this has happened, but now, how often have the words written in the Bible done that for you? If you spend any amount of time reading the Bible I would say it has happened more than the normal literature.  Last night I was lying down and a verse reference popped into my head. I did not immediately know the words of this verse but had to look it up.  The verse was, “Who makes a god or casts a metal image for no profit?” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭44‬:‭10‬ ‭HCSB ‬‬ This is another aspect of the Bible being alive. The Holy Spirit will bring verses back to memory that we have long
Read more

Jephthah a Judge Whose Words Mattered

-
Image
​ “When the Ammonites made war with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. They said to him, “Come, be our commander, and let’s fight against the Ammonites.” ‭‭Judges‬ ‭11‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭HCSB ‬‬ Judge #10 Jephthah Jephthah is an interesting judge. First, he was kicked out of the family because he was the son of a prostitute. But then he was called upon because of his military might. He reasoned with the king who was fighting against Israel. He made a vow that ended in the death of his only daughter. Then he fought against Ephraim, a tribe in Israel, and killed them based on their accent. “Gilead’s wife bore him sons, and when they grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You will have no inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.” ‭‭Judges‬ ‭11‬:‭2‬ ‭HCSB ‬‬ “Jephthah the Gileadite was a great warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father.” ‭‭Judges‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬ ‭HCSB ‬‬ “Jephthah sent messeng
Read more