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“I’m a good person.” The answer came snappily… no hesitation at all. “Me too,” said Brandy. Brandy had just finished telling me why she deserved to go to heaven, so I asked them both if they thought they were “good people.” “So, have you ever told a lie?” Their eyes grew large as both nodded “yes.” “And that makes you a…” “Sinner?” said Brandy, but Sonny chimed in, “Liar!” “Have you ever taken something that isn’t yours?” Dismay was evident on both faces. The hard reality of sin was just beginning to sink in. Both nodded “yes” with a little less enthusiasm. “And that makes you a…” “Sinner!” Mimicked Sonny. His sense of humor was showing. He had an evil grin on his face. “Thief,” deadpanned Brandy. “So, then, you’re both lying thieves?” “I don’t’ like this ‘good person test’ at all!” Pouted Brandy with a little smile curving from her mouth. “I don’t know if I want to play anymore!” Now for the tough question. “Have you ever committed adultery? You know sex outside of marriage.” Sonny leaned back sharply, eyes focusing on the ceiling. Brandy began to curl up into the fetal position. “OK! I get the message! I’m not as good a person as I thought I was!” So if God were to judge you based on your answers would you be guilty or innocent? In the next few minutes I’d share the good news that Jesus paid for those sins and that he offers heaven as a free gift. Brandy was eager to trust Christ! Good news! Pray for both of them.
Today's Scripture reading is 2 Samuel 20; Habakkuk 1; Luke 6:27-49
To Listen to Today’s Reading http://timewithgod.podbean.com - Archives can be found at http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com
Today’s thought comes from Daniel 9:26 “And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate."
You’ve followed me for 69 weeks (in just a few days), now we have just one week left to go before the 70th prophetic week is up. One prophetic week of Sabbaths = seven years. Jesus died in AD 32. Add seven years and you get AD 39. But the “people of the prince to come” didn’t destroy the city until AD 70! We have a time loss of thirty years! What went wrong with the timeline? It got interrupted! There are two phrases in Daniel 9 that hint at this. #1 (first hint) “AFTER the sixty-nine weeks Messiah shall be cut off…” The Messiah was cut off “outside” of the 70 weeks. The Timeline has been interrupted. Now this statement in and of itself does not conclusively demand an interruption until we couple it with the second hint. #2 The prince WHO IS TO COME “shall confirm a confirm a covenant… for one week.” The Messiah was cut off after the sixty-ninth week but before the covenant which began the 70th week. The city of Jerusalem was also destroyed outside of the 70 weeks. In response to a Jewish rebellion that had begun in AD 66, The Roman General Titus took the city of Jerusalem by storm in the year 70 AD. His soldiers were so incensed that instead of taking the temple and plundering its treasures, they burned it to the ground with the remaining priests and people inside! The fire was so intense that it melted the precious metals the temple was made of. It happened so fast that Titus was unable to restrain his soldiers, thus fulfilling the statement “The end of it shall be as a flood.” But wars continued to burn in the holy land for years… and as Daniel noted “desolations are determined.” In 115-117 AD the Romans ruthlessly put down a Jewish rebellion in the Kitos war. Again in AD 132-136 there was a great slaughter of Jews and Romans in the Bar Kokhba revolt. Emperor Hadrian was furious with the Jews. At the former Temple sanctuary, he installed two statues, one of Jupiter, another of himself. In an attempt to erase any memory of Judea or Ancient Israel, he wiped the name off the map and replaced it with Syria Palaestina, after the Philistines, the ancient enemies of the Jews. In the year 351, the Jews launched yet another revolt, provoking heavy retribution. They rebelled again in 614 and the desolations continued as prophesied by Daniel. And yet, there is one week of Sabbath years left to be prophetically fulfilled for the nation of Israel.
Dear Father. I see that not heeding your prophetic Word can lead to serious desolation. Please help me to listen and obey. I also see that your prophetic Word is fulfilled in its most intimate details. Help me to be a student of your Word so that I will see what You see.
I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship
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