Hosea 9:1 Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, For you have played the harlot against your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor.
God will not have false gods before Him. Their adulterous relationship with their idols was their destruction. Materialism is the idol that now threatens to become the norm and replace our love for our Creator.
Hosea 9:6 For indeed they are gone because of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver; Thorns shall be in their tents.
The Israelites were enslaved in their sin of idolatry. No longer under God’s protection they lived through the horrors of life without Him.
Isaiah 2:2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it.
In the end Israel will once again be the head and not the tail. The tribulation will usher in Jesus as the head of His chosen people. In Him the blessings of Abraham for mankind will come to pass. Once again they will experience the relationship that they shared with God as it was with Adam and Eve before the fall.
Jeremiah 44:15-18 Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: 16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you! 17 But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His testimonies, therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day.”
Their acceptance of false idols and their rejection of Jehovah was a downward spiral to depravity. But the promises of God are without revocation.
Amos 9:13-15 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow with it. 14 I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. 15 I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them,” Says the Lord your God.
Israel will once again live in all the glory and the blessings of God to His chosen people. When they recognize Jesus as their Messiah then the world will have peace in His Kingship.
John 15:1-10 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
Unless we stay in the shield and care of God we are left defenseless. Attached to God in Christ we live and breathe in the power of Holy Spirit who is able to save to the uttermost those who place their trust in the Son of God. The Father sees Jesus in us and His righteousness and not our own. Carla
Jesus is likely referring to a grapevine. Jesus is the center of the Christian faith—He is the source of life and the way to eternal life (14:6). Grapevines are more plentiful if pruned. The pruning may refer to hardship that (eventually) produces faithfulness and closer relationship with God, such as the disciples are about to experience (Romans 5:3–5; Jas 1:2–4). Jesus also could be referring to the pruning of dead branches, which would entail removing what is undesirable. The branches refers to Jesus’ disciples, who depend on the true vine (Jesus) for all things, including life. Jesus means that people cannot access God without Him, and consequently they cannot bear fruit. All life-giving things require access to the source of life, Jesus (John 14:6; 15:1). Faithlife Study Bible
In this phrase the word true is emphatic. My Father: With such a vinedresser, the branches can experience complete confidence and security. Every branch is said to be in Christ. Paul uses the phrase “in Christ” to speak of a Christian’s legal and family position as a result of God’s grace. The emphasis of in Me in this passage, however, is on deep, abiding fellowship. Jesus’ purpose was to move His disciples from servants to friends (verses 13–15). This would involve a process of discipline in regard to His commandments. No plant produces fruit instantaneously; fruit is the result of a process. Such is also the case with believers. Prunes means “cleanses.” Once the fruit is on the vine, the vinedresser cleanses the fruit of bugs and diseases. The spiritual counterpart is cleansing which is done through the Word (verse 3). For the branch to produce more fruit, it must abide, which means to dwell, to stay, to settle in, to sink deeper. The way to abide in Christ is to obey (15:10; 1 John 3:24). The believer who lovingly obeys the Word of God produces much fruit. Apart from Christ, a believer cannot accomplish anything of permanent spiritual value.
John 6:56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
Matthew 3:10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
John 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
John 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
Some days we wake up in a world that is not a friend of grace and mercy. At least, it doesn’t feel so. And the news puts a spotlight on what we do know to be true, we live in very unpredictable and broken world.
In the conversations I have with people from different parts of the country (and world), I know that most have been tainted with a kind of bafflement. (Some more than others.) Wondering, “What’s next?”
And it hurts my heart when it feels like insecurity and pain win.
You see, with big world, news is in your face and stoked with anger. And often, cruelty. No wonder we feel as if our control is demoted.
And we ask, how can I ever make a difference in a broken world?
Well that’s just it, we do make a difference in the small world.
The small world is the place where we stand. Today.
Where we care and where we give a damn. And hug and give and try and love and fall down and get up and repent and cry and embrace and challenge and reconcile and heal. Where we stand up, to make a difference with mercy and kindness.
Jeffrey Rubin tells the story about a young man who found a wallet on the street. It belonged to a city police officer. He found the precinct and returned the wallet that he found.
The detective was grateful and surprised. “Thank you,” he said to the young man. “Here’s forty dollars.”
The young man replied, “Thanks, but if I wanted the money, I would have kept the wallet.”
Makes me smile big. Yes. Making a difference in the small world with compassion free of ulterior motive and straight from the heart. The path we walk (the choices we make), is not arbitrary, or because we mentally assent to a certain creed. It is guided by and fueled by an identity that is grounded in and spills from sufficiency, and not scarcity.
Sufficiency is that place where Grace and Mercy are received and given freely.
On Monday, Rev. William Barber II (with two others), was arrested while praying in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Their prayer? “Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of your mercy.”
After the death of Pope Francis Rev. Barber said that we must carry on the Pope’s mission to the marginalized. “We must now say, ‘I am Pope Francis,’” he said.
“Okay, count me in,” I say out loud as I read the comment. And then, “But how is that even possible?” (Let’s just say that skepticism and cynicism raise their irksome heads rather predictably.)
Then, I close my eyes, and take a deep breath.
And I take to heart the invitation: I can be a voice of mercy.
What does mercy look like?
How can I choose to heal, instead of choosing to hurt?
How can I spill grace to those around me, instead of disregard or neglect?
How can I make room for transformation and growth, instead of numbing and detachment?
Mercy is the fruit of compassion in a world where inhumanity and heartlessness is real. Mercy is any compassionate gift given to someone who is suffering. Sabbath Moments
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