DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 6.5.21

What Makes God Mad - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. �Luke 18:14 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/what-makes-god-mad/- Listen This might surprise some people: God isn�t mad at sinners. God isn�t mad at you; He�s mad about you. He loves you. But I would also add that God does get angry when people who think they�re spiritual or call themselves religious stand in the way of others coming to believe in Him. We find a story in the New Testament about a man who went to the Temple to pray. He was a tax collector, and tax collectors weren�t loved a lot in those days. Another man also went to pray, and he was a Pharisee. The Pharisee said, �I thank you, God, that I am not like other people�cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I�m certainlynot like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income� (Luke 18:11�12 NLT). In reality, I think his prayers didn�t go any higher than the ceiling, because that wasn�t a prayer to God. That was a boast. Meanwhile, the tax collector who knew he was a sinner simply said, �O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner� (verse 13 NLT). Jesus said of these two men, �I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those whohumble themselves will be exalted� (verse 14 NLT). Like the tax collector, I�m just a sinner who said, �Lord, forgive me.� And He did. He will do that for you, no matter what sin you�ve committed. Jesus said, �I am the resurrectionand the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die� (John 11:25�26 NLT). Jesus will give you the meaning of life on earth, and He will give you the hope of life beyond the grave. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ God Is Not Judge Judy by Kelly Givens “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” - James 3:17 Last month I found myself in a situation that needed a good dose of wisdom. I had to make a decision and felt unsure what course of action was best, so over those next few days I prayed for wisdom on what I should do. I also looked for verses in the Bible that talk about wisdom, and was surprised by what I found. When I think of wisdom, usually the first thing that pops in my head is King Solomon and that poor baby. You probably know the story- God had given Solomon an incredible amount of wisdom, so much so that people from all over were coming to him with theirquestions and disputes. In this recorded case, two prostitutes came before the king, both claiming to be the mother of the same baby boy, both insisting that the other had stolen the infant after the death of the other’s child. This was obviously before DNAtesting, so what could be done? Well, Solomon had a sword brought to him and decided to settle things by cutting the baby in half! Now, that doesn’t seem like a very compassionate king! It sounds more like something Judge Judy would do. Judge Judy doesn't want to hear your sob story. Her Honor gets right to the facts, lays down her decision and moves on to the next case, end of story. I realized I was asking God to be the” Judge Judy” of my life- I would present my problem and “ask forwisdom,” but what I really wanted was for God to give me a definite answer that didn’t leave any lingering questions. Obviously, God is not Judge Judy, and this is not the kind of wisdom he gives. So how should we think of wisdom? Let’s go back to Solomon- who really wasn’t like Judge Judy at all. While it may have seemed bizarre that Solomon was going to cut a baby in half, the king had wisely discerned that the true mother would care more about the safety of the child than her possession of him. And so it was- the mother cried out for the boy’slife to be spared, and Solomon declared her the rightful parent. In doing this, he spared both the child and the women further pain. But this is more than Solomon just being cunning or smart. There’s compassion to this decision too- an essential part of wisdom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ God among Us - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. �Philippians 2:7 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/god-among-us/- Listen Companies that try to market their products overseas sometimes have a language barrier to overcome. For instance, a campaign in Italy for Schweppes Tonic Water translatedto Schweppes Toilet Water. Needless to say, not a lot of people wanted to drink that. And when the Scandinavian company Electrolux hoped to sell vacuum cleaners to American consumers, they chose the slogan �Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.� Something gotlost in translation. Jesus seemed to have this issue with His own disciples because they didn�t understand why He had come to this earth in the first place. Jesus came to this earth to die forthe sins of the world, but His disciples didn�t get that because it was lost in translation. Their hope and belief was that He would establish an earthly kingdom then and there, driving out the Romans who were occupying the land. In fact, after Jesus fed the fivethousand, His most popular miracle to date, the people wanted to make Jesus king by force. What was that all about? They wanted to make Him the king so He would drive out Rome. They didn�t understand that isn�t the reason He had primarily come to this world. However, one day Christ will come back and establish His kingdom. One day, He will rule as King of kings and Lord of lords. But before Christ would wear a crown, He wouldfirst have to bear a cross. Jesus wasn�t a mere man. He wasn�t just one of the prophets. He was God coming to us in human flesh, walking among us. The eternal God confined himself to a single celland was born of a woman in order to be the Savior of the world. Who is Jesus to you? Is He the Son of God? Is He the Savior of the world? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- God’s Compass for the Heart and Mind Proverbs 3:7-12 Yesterday we discussed the importance of depending on the Word of God as our compass throughout life. Following the Lord’s directions will change behavior and challenge our thinking, attitudes, and desires. He leads us to think differently about ourselves,our values, and and even the difficulties facing us. We naturally want to determine our own course in life. It seems like the only logical way to get where we want to go. But being wise in our own eyes is pride. To combat this tendency, the Lord instructs us to fear Him and turn away from evil (v. 7). This “fear” is not a horrified dread of the Father, but an attitude of respect that motivates us to obey Him for both our good and His glory. We naturally want to keep our money for ourselves. A desire for a better lifestyle or fear of not having enough leads us to hang onto everything we get. But our compass directs us to honor God by giving Him the first partof all we have, trusting Him to provide for our needs (vv. 9-10). We naturally hate God’s discipline. His painful reproofs seem to prove that He doesn’t care about us. But our heavenly Father says His discipline is the evidence that confirms His love and delight in us as His children (vv. 11-12). Sometimes in our desire to follow the Lord, we focus on obedient actions—doing what He says—but miss His directions concerning our attitudes and thought patterns. To stay on God’s path for our lives, we must make course corrections not only in our behaviorbut also in our hearts and minds. ------------------------------------------------------------------ God's Memorial Day “And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of yourfathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” (Exodus3:15) It is surely a good thing that Americans have designated an annual Memorial Day in which we call to remembrance the great sacrifices of those before us who fought and suffered (and often died) to form our nation and preserve its freedom. Without them we wouldnot be here today, and we need to remember them. It is even more important, however, to remember the God of our fathers, our true Author of liberty. He has established His own memorial, wanting us to remember not only our ancient spiritual forefathers, but also His own great name, Jehovah. “The LORD God” in our text verse is Jehovah Elohim. The sense of God’s announcement to Moses was that “Jehovah” was the name of the God of Abraham, and in fact, the name of the Creator of the world. Jehovah is the redemptive name of God, while “Elohim” is His name as omnipotentCreator. We must always remember this, He says. The word “memorial” is used here for the first time in the Bible and thus is very significant. We should remember Him as Creator every seventh day when we devote a day to rest and worship (Exodus20:8, 11). But there is also another day to remember the Lord for His work of redemption. When He became man, dying to save us from our sins, He established a memorial supper, saying: “This do in remembrance of me” (Luke22:19). Thus, when we observe each weekly Lord’s day, and also whenever we partake of the Lord’s supper, we are really observing a special Memorial Day in His honor, remembering His great name “unto all generations.” HMM ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It Starts with Us - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: �God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.� �James 4:6 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/it-starts-with-us/- Listen Conquered by the Roman Empire, the Jewish people were under Roman control. And they didn�t like it one bit. They wanted the Romans out, and they thought Jesus the Messiahwould overthrow the power of Rome. They expected Him to establish His earthly kingdom then and there. In fact, Luke 19:11 tells us, �He [Jesus] spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and becausethey thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately� (NKJV). The people failed to understand the prophecies in Scripture, which said that before the Messiah would come and rule the earth, He first would come and die for the sins ofthe world. Before He would sit on the throne, He would go to the cross. So Jesus wasn�t coming to overthrow Rome; He was coming to establish His kingdom in human hearts by dying for us on the cross. This reminds us that when God wants to send a spiritual awakening to a nation, it starts first with His people. God said, �If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and willforgive their sin and heal their land� (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV). Notice that God didn�t say, �If the government will humble themselves . . .� or �If Hollywood will humble themselves. . . .� Rather, God said, �If My people who are calledby My name will humble themselves. . . .� Under George Washington�s leadership during the Revolutionary War, warships displayed flags with an image of a pine tree and the words �An Appeal to Heaven.� Washingtonunderstood that our only hope to become a nation was by the intervention of God. In the same way, if we want to see God heal our nation today, we need to appeal to Heaven. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When You Feel Like You�ve Lost Time: God is Able to Restore the Years By Debbie McDaniel "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten. You will have plenty... and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. Then you will know... that I am the Lord your God,and that there is no other." - Joel 2:25-27 If we�ve lived long enough, we know this to be true� sometimes, life is hard. It doesn�t always go our way. Things don�t always work out in our timing. And often, it seems we get hit from all sides. Problems can leave us spinning, wondering why we didn�tsee it coming. Days, months, even years can go by. We look back and wonder how it all went so fast, yet seemed so slow when we trudged through the difficulties. And though we might try our best to live our lives in a way that honors God, it doesn�t erase the fact thatwe live in a fallen world. We�re constantly face-to-face with so many battles - hardship, struggles, broken relationships, illness, and our own weaknesses too. In the midst of all that, we may sometimes feel like we�ve lost time, missed opportunities, or blown chances along the way. We may struggle with feeling as if we�ve walked through too many broken years of pain. Like God could never work through that stuff,it�s just too messy, or too difficult. But the good news is this: there�s still hope. For He alone is our Hope-giver. Restorer. Redeemer. Healer. Friend. God is able to restore all that�s been stolen. ------------------------------------------------------------------- TheSecret Things �The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us andto our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.� (Deuteronomy29:29) This portion of Scripture follows a lengthy restatement of the covenant of God with His people, Israel. In this chapter, Moses reminded the people of the works that God had wrought on their behalf in their deliverance from Pharaoh, in His provision for themin the wilderness, and in His protection on the battlefield (vv. 2-8). In this final address, he encouraged them to �keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do� (v. 9), and stated the various blessings that would be theirs if they would do so. Lastly, he described, in graphicand burning words, the results of breaking the covenant and incurring the judgment of God (vv. 18-27). �And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day� (v. 28). In recognition of the limitations of humankind, Moses wrote in our text that there are certain things known only to God, which He has veiled�things that cannot be understood by the human mind�things that He simply chooses to keep to Himself. But he goes onto say that He has revealed certain things to us, and these things we must obey. Consequently, our text consists of a great principle of life: We must do what we know to do. We don�t know everything, but we must act responsibly and properly on what He hastold us, leaving the �secret things� and their consequences to God. Elsewhere, He promises that even the secret things will �work together for good to them that love God� (Romans8:28) in His sovereign plan. We must obey, doing what we know to do, and leave the results with Him. JDM ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TheSecret of the Lord �The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.� (Psalm25:14) This is an amazing promise. The word for �secret� means the �inner counsel,� evidently of the triune God Himself. But how can those who fear the Lord really know the secret counsels of the Godhead? The answer can only be by divine revelation to God�s prophets. Thus, the prophet Amos affirms: �Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but [unless] he revealeth his secret untohis servants the prophets� (Amos3:7). When these ancient promises were given, however, much of God�s revelation, though already �settled in heaven� (Psalm119:89), was still not revealed to men. Then Christ came and promised His disciples, �The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost...shall teach you all things� (John14:26). �God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son� (Hebrews1:1-2). In addition to the 12 disciples, God then also called the apostle Paul, and through these men the Son would convey to those who fear Him all the rest of His revelation. �By revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (...Whereby, when ye read,ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit� (Ephesians3:3-5). Finally, �the secret of the LORD� was completed in written form by John, the last of the apostles, with nothing else to be either added or deleted (Revelation22:18-19), that �the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets� (Revelation10:7). All we shall ever need to know of God�s eternal counsels is now available to all who desire to know, in the Holy Scriptures. HMM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What is a Miracle, Really? Guest Post by Angela Hunt, author of When God Happens What are miracles, and why do they matter? I recently decided to put together a book on miracles with friend and fellow author Bill Myers. When Bill and I put out the call for miracle stories, we received many stories about how God worked to answer prayers. To those who received these blessings,the events felt like miracles; and perhaps they were, because the contemporary definition of miracle is �a divine act by which God reveals himself to people.� By that definition, a beautiful sunrise could be a miracle if it causes the beholder to look up and marvel at the Creator. The traditional definition of miracle, however, includes a qualification: a miracle is an act in which God transcends the normal order of things, that is, when He bends or breaks the Law of Nature. A miracle is more than coincidence. A miracle is more than an odd, spooky occurrence. A miracle is more than God�s answering a prayer through the normal course of events. Because we wanted these stories to speak to skeptics, we searched for stories that fit the more traditional definition of miracle. We wanted true stories told by those who experienced them. We wanted details about what God did, and most importantly, how He revealed Himself to the viewer, and how the experience changed that person�s life. Mary, a young girl in a small town, experienced a miracle when an angel appeared and told her she would soon bear a child�even though she was a virgin and had never been intimate with a man. That miracle not only affected Mary�s life, but the entire world. The lame man begging by a pool experienced a miracle when Peter and John stopped and said they didn�t have money to give him, but by the power of Jesus Christ, they could give him the ability to walk. That man�s life changed in that instant, and so did thelives of all who witnessed the event. Fast forward two thousand years. Cheri and Cody Clemmons�s lives were changed when they stopped to help accident victims on Highway Six in Texas. Unable to reach a man in a burning car, Cheri cried out for God�s help, and two strangers appeared to pull theman from the wreckage. Cheri�s and Cody�s lives were forever changed, and so was the survivor�s. Dennis Hensley�s life changed the day the doctor told him his unborn daughter had died�and later, as his wife endured labor, the baby began to breathe. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Live Intentionally 2 Timothy 4:6-8 Paul was a man who lived life to the full. His goals were to know Christ, abide in His power, fellowship in His suffering, and preach the gospel (Phil.3:10; 1 Cor. 1:17). In doing so, he aligned his aspirations with the Lord's, diligently worked to fulfill his calling,and persevered through opposition, persecution, and suffering. He could face the end of his life with confidence since he'd "fought the good fight," "finished the course," and "kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7). We'd all like to be able to say the same at the end of our lives, but that means we have to follow Paul's example. How are you doing at setting goals for your life? Have you thought beyond the immediate and set some long-term objectives? Our culture is sofast-paced that few of us take the time to actually consider where we're going. But you don't want to finish your life and find out you were on a course other than God's, fighting the wrong fight, and struggling to keep the faith. Why not set aside some time this week to get alone with the Lord. Then ask His help in setting goals that will take you where He wants you to go. Consider every area of your life--personal, relational, financial, and vocational--but make spiritual goalsyour primary emphasis. Then write them down. If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting. Maybe it's time to get out of your rut and find a new path. God will help you change direction and accomplish new goals that align with His will. Don't settle for the mediocrityof an unplanned life. Start living intentionally. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kintsukuroi by Ryan Duncan And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. � 1 Peter 5:10 My father and sister both enjoy making pottery, so over the years I�ve felt obligated to brush up on the subject whenever I have the chance. Recently I came across a Japanese pottery technique called "Kintsukuroi," which roughly translates to mean "GoldenRepair." As its name suggests, the procedure has more to do with fixing pottery than creating it. In Kintsukuroi, broken pottery is repaired with a lacquer resin that�s been mixed with gold or silver powder. Once the object has been properly cleaned and dried,its cracks are highlighted by thin veins of metal running throughout its form. To the Japanese, the breakage and repair become part of the object's history, transforming it from something old into a new creation. One sculpture put it like this, "The art of repairing pottery with gold or silver lacquer and understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken." I can remember reading this description and being struck by how wonderfully it captures the message of the Gospel. God created us to be holy and sanctified reflections of Himself, but because of sin, we became a group of broken and malformed prodigals. Yetinstead of throwing us out, God picks up the pieces and restores us, transforming us into something new and beautiful. The memory of our sins may remain, but now they have been filled with the precious love of Jesus Christ. Every Christian is a work of artadorned with grace, and when people see our lives, they should think only of God. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marital Problems �And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and theFather by him.� (Colossians 3:17) Marriage has always had a high place�a high calling. In the beginning, God�s stated purpose in marriage was to propagate children (Genesis 1:28) and to eliminatesolitude (2:18). Such a state was deemed �very good� (1:31). But sin entered through Adam�s rebellion, and the universal Curse resulted. Out of this came a new marital relationship, one full of potential problems, for �he said, I will greatly multiply thysorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee� (3:16). It is safe to say that the many excesses on both sides of a marriage that we see today are the legacy of sin. Not only is marriage affected by the Curse, Satan himself delights in destroying marriage. Immediately after the Curse, we see that he introduced numerous practices that are detrimental to a proper marriage. The ungodly lineage of Cain began to practice polygamy(4:19). Later, Noah�s son, Ham, indulged in sexual thoughts and innuendoes (9:22). Even godly Abram participated in an extramarital affair that, even though not specifically condemned, was harmful to his marriage (16:1-3). Soon after this, we read about all sorts of immorality, including homosexuality in Sodom and Gomorrah (19:1-10); fornication, rape, marriage to unbelievers (34:1-2); the practice of incest (35:22; 38:13-18); prostitution (38:24); and seduction (39:7-12). What is the solution for this age-long attack on the family? We must heed the guidelines given in Scripture for a godly marriage. Passages such as those surrounding our text are well worth our study. JDM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two Ways We Can Live - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. �1 John 1:8 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/two-ways-we-can-live/- Listen By nature, I�m a messy person. But the irony is that I don�t like messes, even though I make a lot of them. I�ll let messes build up, and then eventually I�ll start cleaningup out of frustration. In contrast, my wife, Cathe, is very neat and tidy. She doesn�t allow messes to pile up because she�s always cleaning. So we have two approaches to cleaning: the Greg way and the Cathe way. The Greg way is to never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. If there�s some dust, sweepit under the rug. And if you want to get rid of something, just throw it in a drawer. The Cathe way is to clean the rug and clean underneath the rug. The Cathe way is to organize the drawer you throw something into. It�s the same way with life. There are two ways we can live. We can let messes build up into bigger problems, or we can constantly see our need to be cleansed. We all sin.Maybe some of us sin more than others, but one sin is enough to separate us from God. The Bible says, �If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth� (1 John 1:8 NLT). So if you say, �I�m a good person. I don�t sin,� then you�re deceiving yourself. We�re all sinners because we�ve broken God�s laws and have fallen short of His standards. Yet the next verse offers this promise: �But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness� (verse9 NLT). You don�t have to clean up your life to come to God. Rather, come to God, and He will clean up your life. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mini-Miracles by Shawn McEvoy So they all ate and were filled. Mark 6:42 The title of my devotional today strikes me as oxymoronic. Miracles, after all, are defined as acts of God, amazing and marvelous events, and "seals of a divine mission" (Easton's1897 Bible Dictionary). Generally speaking, there's nothing small about them. What I'm talking about, then, are instances of heavenly intervention in the lives of believers that impact what we would consider "minor" areas of our existence, the things that cause us to make statements like: "It showed me that God cares about even thesmall things in our lives," always as if that's a profoundly shocking proclamation. Nobody ever responds by saying, "Well, duh�" I think that's because it never stops being a mind-blowing concept - the Creator of the universe, who hears the prayers and praises of billions simultaneously and loves each one the same, provided, perhaps, just the right amount of money for a strugglingsingle mom to buy her child a pair of shoes. It's not the parting of the Red Sea to preserve for Himself a people, or the resurrection of His son to purchase the redemption of humanity. It's, for lack of a better term, a mini-miracle. I remember one time in our Adult Bible Fellowship class my friend Karen stepped in to teach our continuing series in Mark's gospel. We were in Chapter Six, focusing primarily on the Feeding of the 5,000. As she began her lesson, Karen admitted that she'd never quite been able to visualizethis scene, or understand exactly what the miracle was meant to show. I mean, there is the lesson of provision, but the human body can go without food for quite some time. Jesus Himself fasted in the wilderness for 40 days (Matthew4:1-4). So it's not like life and death were hanging in the balance if the people who had followed Him to this "desolate place" went without dinner that night. It could be, Karen suggested, that Jesus just didn't want the people to go away; He had just suffered the death of His cousin John the Baptist, and recently endured the "amazing unbelief" (Mark6:6) of those from His hometown of Nazareth. It could be Jesus took immense delight in this multitude foregoing their bodily needs to attend to His Word. It very well could be our Lord simply wanted to do something "just for them." Maybe, Karen said, that's why she always tended to overlook this miracle a little bit. "You know how sometimes when God does something that you know was 'just for you,' and you tell someone else about it, and they're like, 'That's cool and all,' but it justdoesn't carry the same meaning for them?" I knew exactly what that was like, and I liked where she was going. I could see an even greater personalization in mini-miracles, in God drawing delight from blessing our socks off in ways that speak to our individual hearts. The idea also gave me greaterpermission to attribute to the Lord all sorts of transpirings that I had chalked up to my own efforts, happenstance, or even worse, had gone without noticing. If, for instance, I told you about the time we thought we'd lost my wife's keys - including several costly ones - only to find them sitting precariously on a single steel beam of the auto transport behind our moving van, maybe you'd respond the way my friendScott did: "You got lucky, dude." Yeah, well, I guess that's why Karen says sometimes these events are "just for us." I saw those keys, I knew the bumpy route and wet weather we had traveled, I was astounded, I was humbled. I decided that giving credit tothe Lord for things that bless you is never wrong, as suggested by James1:17. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Holy One of Israel �So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute myholy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.� (Ezekiel 39:7) This wonderful name of God, �the Holy One of Israel,� was often used during the days of the later kings of Judah. It occurs three times in the book of Psalms (Psalm71:22; 78:41; 89:18) and then no less than 27 times in Isaiah. The name then occurs three more times (Jeremiah 50:29; 51:5; Ezekiel 39:7), with the final one being our text above (where the preposition is translated �in�). This unusual pattern can be written sequentially as 3 + 33 + 3 = 33, perhaps reflecting a divinely ordained design to suggest the Holy Trinity. The strong emphasis on this particular name during the later period of Judah�s kingdom probably was because of the prevalent unholiness of the nation during those years, finally culminating in the captivity of Judah itself. God stressed again and again thatHe was the Holy One and that �ye shall be holy; for I am holy� (Leviticus 11:44). This theme is prominent in most of the 33 passages where this majestic name is used, but it is especially emphasized in its final occurrence, as recorded in our text. The context of this latter passage is the prophesied invasion of Israel by �Gog, the landof Magog� who will �come up against my people of Israel...in the latter days� (Ezekiel 38:2, 16). At that time, says the Lord, �there shall be a great shakingin the land of Israel;...and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD� (Ezekiel 38:19, 23). Then at last, Hispeople will never pollute His holy name any more and �the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward....for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD� (Ezekiel39:22, 29). HMM VISIT: PROPHECY WATCHER WEEKLY NEWS: HTTP://PROPHECY-WATCHER-WEEKLY-NEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM