LUKE 3:16

     John answered them, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (NIV)

my watercolor of a Torah scroll

  

     John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus,  His purpose was to tell the people, "Repent; the kingdom of God is at hand."  The word, "repent", means turn back to Torah; turn back to God.  John was preaching the need to turn back to God's mandates on how we should live.  People who don't know Christ need to be prepared to meet Him just as John prepared the people in his days. We can prepare people's hearts by explaining the need for forgiveness of sins. This is exactly what the Torah does... It tells us what is and is not acceptable behavior in God's eyes.

John the Baptist told the people that the Messiah would soon appear and that He would baptize not with water, but with the Holy Spirit and fire.  Baptism with the Holy Spirit (fire) would be fulfilled at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit would come upon believers, empowering them to proclaim Jesus' life and resurrection in many languages

   

 Baptism by fire also symbolizes the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing God's judgement upon those who refuse to repent. In the following verse (John 3:17), John warned of the coming judgement, by speaking of the difference between the wheat and the chaff: "... but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire".  I remember hearing a man speak once about exactly what chaff is.  Chaff is the outer husk which comes off the grain when it's harvested.Chaff is useless;  in fact, once it has been separated from the grain, it's worse than useless - it's a nuisance. It is sticky and irritating and very difficult to get rid of.  This reminds me of those little styrofoam "peanuts" sometimes used in packaging. One time a bunch of them got spilled in my yard.  Ugh. They once served a good purpose, but  then they were useless and annoying.  I do not want to be like the chaff.

  

 Baptism by the Holy Spirit (Pentecost) occurred fifty days after the death of Jesus.  The Apostles were together in Jerusalem, as were large crowds of people, as it was the time of an annual feast and celebration of harvest.  "... a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filed all the house where they were sitting... And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues." (Acts 2:2 NIV)
     Pentecost had been prophesied by the prophet Joel: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." (Joel 2:28 KJV)  When this occurred there in Jerusalem, the Apostles found that they could be understood by all the foreigners in their midst, "each of them hearing them speak in his own language." (Acts 2:6 NIV)  Peter explained this occurrence to the crowd by referring to Joels' prophesy, which they would have all been familiar with.
     Imagine how amazing that experience must have been!  Pentecost - the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.
Are you open to the Holy Spirit?  He speaks YOUR language.

OBADIAH

     "The day of the LORD is near for all nations.  As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head."     (Obadiah 1:15   NIV)

     

          The book of Obadiah had only one chapter... twenty-one verses.  It is the shortest book in the Old Testament.  Not much is known about the author.   Obadiah means, "worshiper of the LORD". The book of Obadiah is a poem, written in the form of a funeral dirge of those times.

    

    Historically, Edom had harassed the Jews, constantly attacking Judah, the southern portion of Israel. Because of their seemingly invincible fortress, built into the high cliffs of their mountainous country, the Edomites felt that they could get away with their constant attacks. 

photo courtesy of Ruth and Frank Harmon

      The Edomites were prideful and overly self-confident.  Complacent. But, God had other ideas.  God judges those who harm His people.  Obadiah was sent to warn Edom of their upcoming judgement and destruction, but the Edomites did not heed the warning.  Obadiah even told them the reason for their upcoming judgement - their arrogance toward God and their cruelty and persecution towards God's people.  When you read the book of Obadiah, you begin to see the underlying message of what it means to be a child of God:  our heavenly Father wants to protect us.

  

freestories.net

  Sadly, the Edomites and the Israelites were blood relatives.  The two groups of people descended from twin brothers - Esau and Jacob.  But, just as these brothers fought constantly when they were alive, so did their descendants.  Now, God was pronouncing judgement on Edom's malicious behavior.  The Edomites were extremely prideful; they were proud of their city which was carved into the rock cliffs. (This city was probably what is known today as Petra - a magnificent city discovered by archaeologists  in 1812.)  Petra was known for its wise men.  But, there is a difference between the wisdom of men and the wisdom of God.. These people thought they were too smart to need God;  they mocked Him. Again, pride was their downfall... We should never think that we can get away with sin... "Oh, nobody will ever know."  God's character is that He is completely moral, completely just.  He will eventually see to it that justice prevails.

 

   Of all Israel/Judah's neighbors, Edom was the only one God completely wiped out.  This was because the Edomites had robbed and looted the holy city of Jersualem, and had rejoiced over the Israelites' misfortunes.

The book of Obadiah was probably written around 600 BC.  Edom was destroyed in 164 BC.  Edom may have seemed impregnable,   and it may have seemed as if Israel/Judah would be more likely to be destroyed. But Edom vanished and Israel still exists.  

    

      Edom is an example to all nations - of all times.  If a nation is hostile to God, it will be punished no matter how powerful they might appear to be.

     Likewise, we as individuals can not permit ourselves to become complacent because of wealth, power,  knowledge, or technology.  As soon as we begin to think that we are "above" others and that we are not obligated to help God's children, we are failing God and will be punished - if we don't repent. 

     Obadiah 1:3,4 reads: "The pride of your heart had deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?' Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down.", declares the LORD.  

     

EZEKIEL

     I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River.  And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days - overwhelmed.  At the end of the seven days the word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me."     Ezekiel 3:15, 16  (NIV)

photo from World Hunger Picture Gallery

   Overwhelmed.  How often we feel this way amidst our small lives... here on earth with the hustle and bustle of our own making... But, how often do we really see the enormous masses of humanity starving.  Starving for God.  And, we don't even realize it.
     Do you remember the first time you saw a magazine article or a TV news report with photographs of
starving people" That is an overwhelming experience; starvation is horrible to see, terrible to imagine.  What could be worse than watching your children starve? God watches His children's (humanity) starvation - both literally and figuratively - every day.. And He mourns.
     Ezekiel, prophet and author of this book of the Bible, mourned the spiritually starved people of his time.  In verse 15, we see that he "sat among the exiles for seven days - overwhelmed." In those times a week was the prescribed length of time to sit in mourning for the dead.  (In this case, Ezekiel was mourning for the spiritually dead.)  Then, after the seven days was over,  he gathered his strength, went to the people, and prophesied to them.
  

     Why did he do this?  Because the Lord told him to. Specifically, the Lord told Ezekiel to be "a watchman for the house of Israel", to hear the word  of God, and to give them a warning from God. What does a watchman do?  Well, he stands where he can see what's going on.  He keeps watch of what's going on.  And he warns
the other people of impending danger.  The job God gave  Ezekiel was to warn Israel of the coming judgement for their sin.  The impending danger was their own sin. Their spiritual starvation.
 

 If you were hiring a watchman, you would expect him to do his job, right?  If the watchman was supposed to protect your family or your property, you would expect him to do so.  Without his fulfillment of his job description, you might as well not have the watchman.  In Ezekiel's day, the punishment for failure to properly perform the job of watchman was death.  God told Ezekiel that he would be held responsible if he hailed to deliver God's warning to the people of Israel.  God was not threatening Ezekiel with death; rather, He was reminding him of his responsibility to deliver the warning of the coming judgement if people did not repent.
     It is the same today.  God speaks to His people, telling them to feed the spiritually starving masses. They need salvation;  they need to feed on the Word;  they are in imminent danger of death.
     And we, the watchmen, are responsible to share our knowledge.

 

  "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved"  How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"     (Romans 10:13-15  NIV)