Good Days are Coming….But First
Today was like “old times.” I went to the Banner Hospital in Fort Collins for an MRI on my neck. This was a follow up from an MRI over a year ago that discovered a bulging disc in my neck. My doctors want to determine the status of my neck and if this disc could be hampering the nerve regeneration needed for my full recovery.
My tech in the lab told me that he had participated in the Iron Man finals in Hawaii. This event will be aired tomorrow on NBC sports. There were several from Fort Collins that I discovered who qualified for this challenging event. They ranged in age from 23 to 50. The Iron Man is a 2.4 mile ocean swim, a 112 mile bike ride, followed by a full marathon. My tech finished in 10 hours; the fastest time from Fort Collins was a little over 9 hours! I am really impressed by the 50 year old who competed and completed the race. So, I went to the fitness center today.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “In the last days the mountain on which the Lord’s Temple stands will become the most important of all mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and people from other nations will come streaming to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob, so that he can teach us his ways, and we can obey his teachings.”His teachings will go out from Jerusalem, the word of the Lord from that city.” Micah 4:1,2 NCV
The words of the prophets point out the sin and corrupted character of God’s people. But we see with the condemnation and announcement of judgment, the justice of God and the mercy of God. These are often intertwined in the message of the prophets.
Many of the words of the Old Testament prophets found their fulfillment in Jesus day and beyond. It is Micah’s words that declare, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are too small to be among the army groups from Judah, from you will come one who will rule Israel for me.” (Micah 5:2 NCV) This was this passage that was searched for by the scholars of Jesus day to answer the question of the Wise Men, “where is He, who is born King of the Jews?”
We see the prophetic declaration about the importance of the “Holy City” Jerusalem as the place where the Lord’s presence and teaching will be sought. It is prophesied as “the place” from which the knowledge of the Lord will originate and spread.
We see this fulfilled as the Temple is restored and established and as Jesus comes as the “light of the world” and as the “way, the truth and the life.” It is on the “Mountain of the Lord’s Temple” where a cross will be lifted high with the sacrifice of the “Lamb of God.” It is on the “Mountain of the Lord” where the Temple curtain will be torn from top to bottom and all will be provided access to the presence of the Holy God. It is from “God’s mountain” that the good news will spread to give light to all the world. The “word of the Lord” has indeed gone forth from the city.
Even today, we see the people of the world coming to Jerusalem to see the place where God’s people have lived and where Jesus walked, taught, performed miracles and died and rose to life.
But the journey to this glorious promise and destiny, would be through captivity in Babylon. “…now you must leave the city and live in the field. You will go to Babylon, but you will be saved from that place. The Lord will go there and buy you back from your enemies.” (Micah 4:10 NCV)
What is of interest is that Micah prophesied this almost 100 years before it would happen. The enemy of the day was Assyria, from whom the Lord delivered Judah. But we see that Hezekiah, welcomed an envoy from Babylon when they came to visit him after recovery from his illness. Hezekiah proceeded to show these foreign visitors all the wealth of the nation. This brought the first pronouncement of God’s judgment on His people by the hand of the Babylonians.
Remember the saying, “it is darkest before the dawn.” Often times the days of blessing are preceded by days of trial and hardship. The Lord was promising days of blessing and prosperity for His people, but they were not a people ready to inherit that blessing.
In our lives we can discover the same thing to be true. The blessings that come from trusting and obeying the Lord are often experienced after we learn the hardships that come from living for ourselves and not trusting and fully obeying the Lord. Just as death precedes resurrection, we must experience death to ourselves and our desires, before we share in the “power of the resurrection.”
Paul would write to the Galatians and remind them, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their own sinful selves. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do. We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:24,25 NCV)
So the good news is the Lord has great days for those who follow Him…but first we must experience a death to our old lives, thoughts and actions.