Faithful Endurance and Eternal Security

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Thursday, December 11, 2008
Devotions: Ps 37; Isa 7:1-9; 2 Thess 2:1-12; Lk 22:1-13

Don’t fret or envy with regard to wrongdoers; they will fade and wither. Instead, trust God and do good; delight in YHWH and He will give you Himself and all other good things! He will vindicate you and do you great good. Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently upon Him; refrain from anger and fear—leave judgment to God. In a short time, the wicked will pass away, and the meek will possess the land and prosperity. God holds the wicked in derision; better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked! God watches over our days and times; our heritage is in His hands. Be generous; giving is better than taking—let God be your Provider, and share the blessings with others. I was young; now I’m old, but I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging for bread. God will not forsake His saints. As we wait upon God, He will exalt us to possess the land and to see the destruction of the wicked. There is a posterity for peacemakers, because we take refuge in God!

In the days of King Ahaz of Judah, Uzziah’s grandson, the kings of Syria and Israel came to wage war on Jerusalem. God sent Isaiah and the prophet’s son Shearjashub [‘A remnant shall return’] to speak with Ahaz: ‘Listen: be still and don’t worry because of the anger of these two smoldering stumps, Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel. God has determined to foil their plot against you—and their days are numbered: Rezin will die, and the whole nation of Israel will be dissolved in exile. But you, Ahaz of Judah, will be established only if you will believe and obey.’

Paul, Silas and Timothy, to Thessalonika concerning the return of Jesus the Messiah: ‘Don’t let your minds or hearts be troubled or confused by the lie that the day of the Lord has already come. There is an order to God’s plan, and before that day, there will be rebellion and the emergence of the man of lawlessness—a son of perdition who exalts himself above any god or object of worship. He will seat himself in the temple of God and proclaim himself to be god! I told you this when I was with you—and you know that God the Spirit is restraining him. At the proper time, the Spirit will be withdrawn and the lawless one revealed; then the Lord Jesus will destroy Him with the breath of His mouth—His Spirit and His word—and by His appearing and return. The advent of the lawless one will be by Satan’s activity, and therefore will be accompanied by counterfeit signs and wonders, resulting in the fatal deception of those who will perish in error, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Because of this, God sends upon them strong delusion—and all will be destroyed who would not believe the truth and instead took pleasure in unrighteousness.

As Passover approached, the chief priests and scribes in Jerusalem were plotting how to put Jesus to death; they were becoming afraid of His influence over the people. Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who conferred with the chief priests and officers about how Judas might betray Jesus to them. They eagerly offered Judas money, and he agreed and began to watch for an opportunity to betray Jesus when the multitudes were not present. On the day of Passover, when the lamb was sacrificed, Jesus sent Peter and John to prepare a place for Jesus and His party to observe the Passover seder. He told them how to find the house where an upper room would be furnished for that purpose. The two apostles went and found what Jesus had described, and prepared the room and meal for the Passover.