Time with Jesus - Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Hi all,
Our introduction in today’s meditation begins with a
table of the dates, when the people of Judah, were taken into captivity and
when they returned to their land. There were three occasions of going into
exile and three of returning from exile. It also shows us the consistency of
God. God had warned them on many occasions that if they obeyed Him, they would
be prosperous. He also warned them that if they disobeyed Him, they would be
punished. Moses warned them of this before they went into the Promised Land.
Over the intervening years, they had prospered while they obeyed Him. They were
disciplined when they pursued other gods. Finally, the discipline reached the
point where they were taken from the land into exile. God had warned them and
had even delayed the judgement on many occasions. He said they would end up
exile. He also promised they would be allowed to return. This came to pass
exactly as He promised. He always keeps His word.
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Wednesday, 30 January 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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He Keeps His Promises
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The Three Deportations for Judah
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Person
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± Dates
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King
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25 The LORD is
good to those who depend on Him, to those who search for Him. 26
So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD. 27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the
yoke of His discipline:
Lament 3:25-27 NLT
6 Train a child in the way he should go, and even when he
is old he will not turn away from it.
Pro 22:6 GW
9 On earth we have fathers who disciplined us, and we
respect them. Shouldn't we place ourselves under the authority of God, the
father of spirits, so that we will live? 10 For a short time our fathers disciplined us as they
thought best. Yet, God disciplines us for our own good so that we can become
holy like him. 11 We don't enjoy being disciplined. It
always seems to cause more pain than joy. But later on, those who learn from
that discipline have peace that comes from doing what is right.
Heb 12:9-11 GW
67 Before you made me suffer, I used to wander off, but
now I hold on to your word. 68 You are good, and you do
good things. Teach me your laws.
Psalm 119:67-68 GW
71 It was good that I had to suffer in order to learn your
laws. 72 The teachings that come from your mouth are worth
more to me than thousands in gold or silver.
Psalm 119:71-72 GW
10 This is
what the LORD says: When Babylon's 70 years are over, I will come to you. I
will keep my promise to you and bring you back to this place. 11 I know the plans that I have for you, declares the
LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future
filled with hope
Jer 29:10-11 GW
5 In the same
way, you younger men must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you,
serve each other in humility, for "God opposes the proud but favours the
humble." 6 So humble yourselves
under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in
honour.
1 Peter 5:5-6 NLT
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Utterly consistent in all that He has done.
There is no variation, since time was first begun.
He makes a decision and doesn’t change His mind.
We know His judgement’s coming, but He is also kind.
He hears our intercession and the outcome is delayed,
Just because a little child, has turned to Him and prayed,
That there is a postponement, in what is sure to be;
Purely for the benefit of lost humanity.
It certainly will happen; this fact cannot be changed.
Not while you are living. But when men are estranged,
Or when things are so serious that He’s compelled to act.
Never let it get there, because it is a fact.
Just as sure as Jesus Christ is sitting on the throne.
There will be a day when all His people start to groan.
The instrument of judgement comes; no longer can it wait.
This is now the instant when the people meet their fate.
It happened to Jerusalem in BC five eight six.
Babylon invaded and they were in a fix.
God had been delaying it for some three hundred years.
He had heard His people, when they cried and shed their tears.
He could wait no longer. The time at last had come.
And all of the inhabitants; each and every one,
Were led off in captivity. To Babylon they went.
Psalm one thirty seven is the song of their lament.
Jeremiah told them that in three score years and ten,
By the Lord’s great mercy, He’d bring them back again.
It was a lifelong sentence. The land would have its rest.
Once in every seven years was how it should be blessed.
By way of compensation, the land would be unused,
It should have had its Sabbath rest; but it had been abused.
Daniel remembered; and he began to pray,
Three score years and ten have gone; it was now the day,
When the folk who want to, may pack their bags and go.
Only fifty thousand left. The others all said “No!”
The Lord had kept His promise. Their sentence was complete.
They had all been punished. The time had come to treat,
Them as His favoured People and let them start once more.
Where He’d promised Abraham back in the days of yore.
Jim Strickland Written
30th January 2013 |
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1
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Court
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Daniel
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± 606 BC
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Nebuchadnezzar
70 Years, From 606/7 to 536/7 |
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2
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Craftsmen
– 10 000 deported
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Ezekiel
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± 597 BC
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3
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The
Rest
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± 586 BC
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The Three Returns to Judah
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People
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± Dates
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Cyrus
/ Darius / Xerxes; Medes & Persians
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1
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Zerubbabel
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50 000
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± 537 BC
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2
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Ezra
– (Priests &a few Levites)
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1 800
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± 458 BC
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3
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Nehemiah
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± 444 BC
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Artaxerxes
1
M & Persians |
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Today
we are looking at the promises of God! All of them are guaranteed in Jesus
Christ. Even so, they are all conditional. There are positive promises and
negative promises. We speak of the blessings and the curses. He tells us that
if we do something, the consequences follow. Obedience brings blessings.
Disobedience brings curses. We don’t like the idea of God cursing us. But we
aren’t meant to go that way. So be obedient and we will not have a problem.
Most
of us can cope with basic arithmetic. Counting up to 100 is still a breeze
and subtraction is seldom a problem. So let’s look at a problem most
Christians have missed. Jeremiah said the captivity would be for 70 years.
But from 586/7 BC to 536/7 BC is only 50 years. So was Jeremiah mistaken? Not
at all. We forget that there we three deportations from Judah. In 606/7 BC;
in 596/7 and finally 586/7 BC. Daniel was a young member of the court in
606/7 BC. He spent the rest of his life as a eunuch in the court of the king
of Babylon and then of the Persians.
Daniel
had heard of Jeremiah’s prophesy that the captivity would be 70 years. So
when he had been there for ±70 years he began praying for the fulfilment of
the promise. By then, he was an old man. He would have been in his eighties
or nineties. At about the same time, the Medes and Persian defeated the
Babylonians and took possession of Babylon. They had a king called Cyrus. He
decided he would allow all the prisoners in Babylon to return to their
respective countries. There was only one condition. When they arrived back in
their homeland they would pray for him. (king Cyrus) This was the Cyrus,
Isaiah had spoken of in his prophecy. So the promises God made through Isaiah
and Jeremiah were fulfilled exactly as predicted. His people had been
disciplined by being taken into captivity. But 70 years after Daniel was deported,
the people were allowed to go home. God had kept His word. He had also kept
His word when they went into exile. He always does! Blessings or curses. The
choice is always ours!
Jim &
Phyllida Strickland
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