12-6-2015 weekly message

Meditation of the week: Psalms 56:1-13

Main scripture: psalms 147:1-3

Subject: The reason why Israel and the church of God praise the word of God

                 In the main passage, the writer of psalms is asking the people of Israel to praise the LORD. Of the reason, it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant ; and praise is comely. And also of the appropriate reason why they have to praise their God is to praise the words of the LORD that he will do the great things for them in the future.

               In the main passage, it is said, the LORD doth build up Jerusalem. To build Jerusalem means, their God will rebuild Jerusalem for them in the future. In other word, the word of God is of the promise to restore Jerusalem as the LORD gave unto Abraham. Since Jerusalem was devastated not leaving a stone on a stone by Titus, the Roman general, there has never been built again as a city of peace. The restoration of Jerusalem as the city of peace shall be done when the Lord Jesus Christ reigns Israel in his Millennium kingdom coming as the Lord of Lord and the King of Kings.

             . God will deliver the remnant of Israel from their captivity at the end of the Great Tribulation; and let them return their old land of promise. Prophet Ezekiel prophesied of this:

“When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate”(EZ 16:55)

                 When they repent looking at the Lord Jesus that they pierced, God will heal the broken hearts of the people of Israel that had been lasted thousands of years, and bind their wounds. Prophet Isaiah prophesied of healing of Israel, and of revenge against the nations that persecuted them at the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.”(Isa. 61:1-5)

                 When the time is fulfilled, all the people of Israel shall be clothed with the garment of praise, and praise their God that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the sound of their praise shall be spread out to all the earth.

                  Two thousand years ago, God became a man to fulfill the prophesy of Isaiah, and died on the cross to take away the sin of the world, and buried and rose again the third day. He has given his Spirit that is the Holy Ghost unto whosoever believes in him whether they are Jew or Gentiles for them build his church. Jesus, God incarnated proclaimed toward Israel as well as all the earth saying,

 “ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”(Luke 4:18,19)

             Yeah! God have built his church to adopt his children in the Lord Jesus Christ sent by him. For the last two thousand years, God has called them that he foreknew from the Jews and the Gentiles to justify them, and to glorify them in him. The church of God has been persecuted severely by may nations as the Jews, and bruised as well. Even nowadays, many children of God are persecuted severely without ceasing, and killed in many nations. They are the Christians in the communist countries such as North Korea and China as well as in the nations of Hinduism and Buddhism. In the midst of severe persecution, they are praising the Lord, because they believe the words of promise of God; they are now overcoming the world by faith in the words of God praising the word of God.

                 How they could praise the Lord in the midst of miserable environments? Because they believe in the word of God of the things to be fulfilled in heaven and earth for the church of God.

                 As God will restore Jerusalem in the earth for Israel, he will build the New Jerusalem in heaven for the children of God in his church. And as God will gather the people of Israel bruised in all the earth to their old promised land, the Lord Jesus Christ will appear in the air to gather together the children of God to heaven that have been persecuted in all the earth. As God will heal the broken hearts of Israel, he will heal the broken hearts of the children of God thoroughly. Therefore Apostle Paul wrote unto the saints under persecution:

“And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us…. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”(Rom. 8:17,18, Tit. 2:13,14)

                 God has given a great spiritual blessings unto the children of God, and also gave the same kind of mercy. We have to give thanks unto God for his blessings , and bless the name of the Lord as well. King David encouraged to bless the name of the LORD for his blessings unto us:

“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.”(Ps. 103:1-6)

                     The scriptures testify unto us of the appropriate reason for Israel as well as the church of God; it is to praise the word of God that will fulfill his will plan in heaven and earth established before the foundation of the world sooner or later. The Holy Ghost testified through Apostle Paul of the will of God to be fulfilled:

“Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:”(Eph. 1:9,10)

                   King David understood the mystery of the will of God, and confessed that he shall be satisfied if he shall be like Christ Jesus in the day of resurrection in the future(Ps 17:15). He prayed unto the LORD praising the word of God that gave him the glorious promise:

“In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me….. 10In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word.”(Ps. 56:4,10)

                 When Apostle Paul preached the gospel unto the Gentiles, they praised the word of God. Luke testified of this in the book of Acts saying,

“Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.”(Acts 13:46-49)

                 Yeah! All the Jews and Gentiles praise the word of God upon hearing the gospel of grace of Christ. Only they that believe in the will of God to be fulfilled in heaven and earth in his words are able to overcome the world. We have been saved through hearing the gospel that was preached by Apostle Paul and Barnabas through the missionaries. We are obliged to give thanks and to bless the Lord for the eternal life freely with grace, as well as all kinds of blessing and his mercies. But more important thing that we have to do is to praise the word of God believing all the promises in his words. The scriptures testify that this is the true praising God.

             Apostle Paul wrote a letter unto the saints of Thessalonians to testify of the true praising unto God through effective working in them that believe the words of God:

“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”(1Thes. 2:13) Amen! Hallelujah!