1-14-13 Tracing the Source

Mosaic depiction of the Via Dolorosa walk

When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice. For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.   Deuteronomy 4:30-32

Ein Gedi Nature Trail

Conventional wisdom encourages me to look forward, freeing myself from the past and always considering the “New”.  Mankind is evolving, I’m told. Science is advancing; products and life are improving. Even the Good News associated with Your coming to walk the earth is proclaimed as the New Testament. What is it then Lord that causes me to keep glancing back?

I know that I’m not to live in the past, but that doesn’t mean I can’t learn from it, or that I shouldn’t study its purpose. Your scriptures reference time after time when You, Jesus, spoke scriptural history into the hearts of your audience.

Church of  The Annunciation

You alluded to the writings of Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel and many of the other prophets in order to reveal Yourself as Messiah. When you warned your disciples of the tribulation to come, suggesting a reference in Isaiah, we as believers are compelled to trust in that passage. When You Savior, said, “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings,” referencing Hosea; we willingly acknowledge You and strive to follow Your example of mercy and grace.

So if you gave Your blessing to these scriptures in the Tenackh, as truth, what does that say of the entire writings of those same prophets? You, God of all wisdom, wouldn’t pick one piece of fruit from a tree without blessing the whole crop. You said it Yourself,

          

“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”

Genesaret

Abraham's Tent

Am I to assume from Your endorsement of the prophets, that all they had to say is truth?  If one verse of one prophet’s pen is validated by You, Jesus, doesn’t that mean all the words of that Prophet must be taken as truth? Can I separate one from the other? 

So when You tell us to participate in specific feasts and festivals and then use the word “forever”, am I to ignore You? And when You command me to love my neighbor as myself referencing Deuteronomy, does that suggest I love them only when convenient to my purposes and only under the conditions I interpret to be necessary?

Source of the Jordan River

You, the Logos who created all things of this planet, once went to Jerusalem on the Feast of Booths (Sukkot) and proclaimed Yourself the source of Living Water. Because of Your reference to Zechariah, many on that day realized You to be the Messiah. Do I acknowledge the same? Is my faith rooted in scriptural prophecy, what does that mean regarding the truth of the rest of those messengers?

I don’t know why it has taken me so long to connect the dots relating to Your word, but now it makes sense: You Jesus had no hidden agenda –Your message concerning the prophecies and scripture is clear and precise;

Buy into all of it or be a part of none of it.

I was taught  in the Boy Scouts, Lord, that if you wanted to find the freshest (untainted, unpolluted) water, you would follow a river or stream to get as close as possible to its original source. Apparently the Boy Scouts learned that from You and I need to remember that You as creator, made no mistake in creating truth. If so, forgive me for my past efforts to deny Your truth and the scriptures that illuminate it.

Which brings us to the future, Master: If this Reverse Scriptural Reasoning applies to things which have happened, shouldn’t those Biblical verses pointing to times present and beyond also be taken seriously? What does that imply of Isaiah’s words:

On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven,                                       and the kings of the earth, on the earth.

…or when he explains:

Samaria

Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; but you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast.

Am I to respond to Zachariah’s edict when he writes:

Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.  And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.

Cliffs of the Gospel Trail

Adonai, maybe, just maybe I’m not evolving. Perhaps the world is not improving, but is the same as it has always been. And maybe You, El Shaddai have been consistent and steady down to the least jot and tittle. If these things are true, then what else can be true? Who is it who must be willing to change in order to honor this truth…You, or me?

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD:                                      look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry                                                       from which you were dug. Isa 51:1

Bitcho bo (Trust in Him),

Mark C.