August 18, 2012 … God’s Promise of Deliverance

Chronological Bible Reading Plan - Day 231 

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Kings 24-25 [NLT] To study these chapters, go to this link - 
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Chronicles 36 [NLT] To study these chapters, go to this link - 
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Reference Passage: For Today’s Study: Leviticus 26: 27-45 [NLT] To study this passage go to this link -
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Reference Passages: For Today’s Study: Jeremiah 25: 11-12 and 29: 10 [NLT] To study these passages, go to this link for Jer. 25: 11-12 -  and to this link for Jer. 29: 10 - 

My Journal for Today: Today I was led back to the passages which reviewed a history lesson in 2nd Kings and 2nd Chronicles about the various Kings of Judah who reigned during Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry as well as the wondrous fulfillment of his prophesies concerning the fall of Babylon after they had conquered Judah and taken God’s chosen captive. I hope you take the time to read through these passage from 2nd Kings and 2nd Chronicles.

However, the passage I’m being led to journal about today is right at the end of that historical review. It’s 2nd Chronicles 36: 21-23, which you can read by using the link above to 2nd Chronicles 36. And I really hope you take the time to go to this passage to see that after 70 years of captivity to the Babylonians and the Persians, King Cyrus – exactly as had been prophesied by Jeremiah – allowed the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem; and in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah we read of this promised deliverance resulting in the rebuilding of the Temple, the wall of the city, and a revival of God’s people returning to God’s word.

If you use my link above to Leviticus 26: 27-45, you’ll also see that even Moses had strikingly predicted all of this happening in his day, long before Jeremiah’s prophesies. And I’ll be brief today in my journaling to point out that when God’s word predicts something, … it’s a DONE DEAL!!!

After I became a Christian, I have to admit having some doubts about my faith and the reports, by atheists, of whom I had been one, that the Bible was just a book of fables and fallacies. But my Christian mentors and teachers told me to stick in there and study the Bible, closely and carefully; because if I did, they said, I would be amazed at its accuracy and reliability and truth. And so I did; and the case in point in today’s reading is just one – OF MANY – which shows how incredibly accurate is God’s truth, especially when God used prophets to predict the future.

Today we read of God laying out the devastation of the Babylonian captivity by Moses and then we read of God’s promise of restoration in Judah by Jeremiah; and then in the history lesson today, we read of these prophesies being fulfilled completely … and accurately … even to the point of the exact 70 year period of captivity, which ended under the rule of Cyrus, the Persian king. … When God promises, He delivers!

And so, when one reads the Old Testament and you discover that there are over 300 prophesies about the coming of God’s Messiah, including how Jesus would come, how He would live, how He would die, how He would be raised again from the dead, and how He would one day come again for all those He had come to save, why would we doubt God’s word? Well, we doubt God’s word for the same reason God’s people doubted Him in Moses’ day or in Jeremiah’s day. We doubt because we’re human. We doubt because we sons and daughters of Adam, being lost in our sin. We doubt because we don’t want to believe in God’s promise and reality of grace through Jesus, The Christ.

But I would pray today that all of our doubts have been replaced by faith in God’s word … His truth … and the fulfillment of all of His truth in Jesus, Christ, Who truly came to save us all. It is God’s ultimate promise; and in our faith we await His PREDICTED coming again.

My Prayer Today: … Lord, I await Your coming again for all of Your faithful. Amen