2 Chronicles 36:22-23

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah—the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 23 "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up [to Jerusalem]!'"—2 Chronicles 36:22-23

My heart trembled and my spirit was encouraged as I read these words from 2 Chronicles this morning. God had promised the restoring of the captives and the rebuilding of Jerusalem at the end of 70 years...God’s word is here fulfilled by the mouth of Cyrus. God keeps His promises!  God has a plan!  

“It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd (ruler),

And he will carry out all that I desire—'

Saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall [again] be built,'

And of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall [again] be laid.'"—Isaiah 44:28

Here in this verse from Isaiah 44 and contiguous verses from chapter 45, God shows His people that He knows the end from the beginning. He announces by name who will deliver his people from the Babylonian exile 200 years before the deliverer, Cyrus spoken of in 2 Chronicles was born!  

For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, And the souls [which] I have made.—Isaiah 57:16

For the Lord will not cast off forever.

Though He causes grief,

Yet He will show compassion

According to the multitude of His mercies.—Lamentations 3:31-32

For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.—Matthew 5:18

1 Corinthians 1:2-10

There is much to glean in the first 17 verses of 1 Corinthians.  As I read through I stopped first at verse 2.  

To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

I have been sanctified (set apart, made holy) in Christ Jesus, God’s Son. I am called as a saint...I am His beloved child.  This letter is to the church of God at Corinth; but it is also to me because I am one of those who call on and honor the name of Jesus Christ my Lord and my Savior.  Open my eyes, Father, that I may see wondrous things from Your law!

I paused next at verse 3:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In a world filled with unending pressure, confusion, misinformation, disease, unrest and much uncertainty, peace is very hard to come by.  Beloved, there is no true peace available save the peace that is found in God through faith in His indescribable gift of grace to us in His Son. This peace of heart and mind is not only found at the moment of our salvation but is also His gift to us on a moment by moment basis as we set our minds on Yah, the Lord. 

You will keep him in perfect peace,

Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You.

Trust in the LORD forever,

For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.—Isaiah 26:3-4

I paused again at verse 4.  Are you beginning to sense a pattern here? 😂 

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,

5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge,

6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,

7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

I am called to be thankful!  Being thankful is what a believer is...it is how he lives. I find that when I obey this command my whole attitude changes. Being thankful cultivates humility.  It makes me kinder and more gracious. Being thankful in all things and for all things, sets my mind on God because He is the source of all good. In Christ, we as believers, have everything we need. Ephesians tells us that our God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.  God has justified us by the unmerited, undeserved and priceless gift of forgiveness that is found by our faith in His Son. Because of this our lives can and should be one long song of thanksgiving. His steadfast love to us never ceases...His mercies never come to an end.  Our God is faithful...He is sovereign and changes not. He will sustain us to the end that we may be guiltless in the day of Jesus Christ.   

The last verse I stopped at was verse 10:

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

God’s word establishes the truth upon which our unity as believers rest.  I think it was John MacArthur who said:  “Right doctrine...right living.  Wrong doctrine...wrong living. Philippians speaks to this:

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, (Philippians 1:27, ESV)

1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,

2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:1-8, ESV)