Thursday, June 2, 2011

For Thou Art With Me...

To My Sweet Daughters,

For You are with me...truly some of the most comforting words in Scripture.  What sweetness is in this verse!  What strength!  What peace!  He is with me...ALWAYS.  In Him I live and move and have my being.  When I am weak, He upholds me with His hand.  He guides my path.  He hears my cry and comforts me in my distress and supplies all of my needs. My God encompasses me with His love and shelters me under His wing.

One of my favorite memories as a child is when my mom would come in and lay with me until I went to sleep.  When she was there, my mind was totally at peace...I can still remember how it felt.  Totally protected and safe and secure.  I can also remember feeling this same way when walking with my dad in the evening.  His hand always held mine, and I knew I was safe.  I crossed the street when he crossed...it would not have occurred to me to look first.  It was safe and  pleasant to walk with him...Just like it is safe and pleasant walking when we allow God to lead the way.  I did not worry as a child where my dad was going or whether he knew the way home...I just enjoyed the moment and allowed  him to lead.  Allow the Lord to direct your steps, girls,  as a loving parent guides a child.

Are you beginning to see why this verse is a favorite of mine.  Thou art with me...causes me to rejoice and shout for joy. It reminds me I am His child. I have no worries or concerns.  He will see me through and afterward receive me in glory! I have everything I need in Him...Perfect comfort and perfect peace.  Absolute security!!! 

Someday I will die and go to be with Him forever.  There is no fear...He will be with me.  He loves me with an everlasting love...there is nothing in death that can harm me.  When I awake, I will see His face in righteousness;  and will  be satisfied when I awake in His likeness.  Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of one of His saints...He will be my guide even unto death.  Even now as I go to bed, I will lay down and sleep in peace...He is with me...His eyes never shut.

May each one of you have this assurance always...listen now and hear His loving whisper...I am with you. 

Love
Mom

Triumphal Entry....

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, "Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it.  And if anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord has need of it,' and immediately he will send it here." So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. But some of those who stood there said to them, "What are you doing, loosing the colt?"   And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it.  And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna! 'BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!' Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve. --Mark 11:1-11



To My Sweet Daughters,

The day had arrived.  Up until this time Jesus had resisted any attempts to pronounce Him as King.  He had done His best to maintain a low profile.  Often even in healing people, He told them to tell no one about it....His hour had not yet come.  His "hour"  was now upon Him.  Jesus instructed His disciples on where to find a donkey so He could ride in to the city of Jerusalem according to the prophecy of Zechariah 9.  Psalm 118 speaks also of this day.   The day Daniel had prophesied about had arrived. It had been exactly 173,880 days since the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.  The time had come!

Zechariah 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.


Psalm 118:24 This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Daniel 9:24-27 "Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.  "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; 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. 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."

The following is an excerpt from a previous study I did that explains these verses in Daniel...

Daniel outlined seventy weeks of years.  What is that you ask? Literally seventy sevens or 490 years that were coming prophetically. These begin with  Artaxerxes declaration to restore and rebuild Jerusalem which was occurred on March 14, 445 B.C.  After this he said there would be 69 weeks of years, which translates into 173,880 days to the coming of Messiah, the Prince.  There are six messianic tasks that need to be accomplished according to Daniel 9:24:


   1. to finish the transgression
   2. to make an end of sins
   3. to make reconciliation for iniquity
   4. to bring in everlasting righteousness
   5. to seal up vision and prophecy
   6. to anoint the most Holy

These were fulfilled in Jesus. This prophecy is perhaps the greatest proof for Jesus as the Messiah.

Let's look at the math in those verses, also. There are many who have done the calculations.  Sir Robert Anderson was one of them.  He took into account the different calendars and discovered that 173,880 brings you to April 6, 32 A.D...which you know is the first Palm Sunday!  This is the day that it is believed that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey offering Himself as the long awaited Jewish Messiah. Wow! Wow! Wow!  After this, Daniel said the Messiah would be cut-off but not for Himself.  This was the crucifixion where He was cut-off for our sins.

Daniel goes on from the middle of verse 26 to the end of the chapter and details the time of what is called Jacob's trouble. The Great Tribulation. He treated this as a separate time when God would judge the earth.  Right now we are in the church age...the age of grace.  The end is coming...the stage is already being set for the week that Daniel spoke of that would come upon the whole earth.  Are you ready?



Love
Mom