Psalm 119:1-24; Amos 3:12-4:5; 2 Pet. 3:1-10; Matt. 21:23-32
Amos continues to prophecy concerning the Lord’s judgment against Israel. His primary complaints, it would seem, concern the idle rich and false worship offered at Bethel. Prosperous times are often a snare to God’s people. We build bigger houses and barns and give thanks for the blessings of this life but it is also a great temptation to set our store by these things rather than the One who has provided them. We have lived in our day through a time when the Gospel is preached as health and prosperity rather than eternal things. It did not prepare us for difficulty. Amos sarcastically addresses the people of Israel both for their wealth and their worship. Do we worship the Lord for who He is or what He provides?
What lies behind the question of authority? They are the authorities who can grant permission to teach and they want to know who gave Jesus permission to do as He does. Surely if we saw someone in our churches through whom God was healing people we wouldn’t ask by what authority they do such things. They have already broached this topic with Jesus and suggested it was by the power of satan that He cast out demons, so they are a bit more careful this time. Jesus returns their question by asking about John the Baptist, the people’s hero, who had been responsible for preparing a people to receive Jesus. The leaders know that they risk the people’s ire if they deny John in any way. Jesus’ rebuke that the tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the kingdom before these religious leaders surely angered these men more than we can imagine. In doing so, He answers His own question by affirming John’s ministry and its results in the lives of these others.
Even in his day Peter is dealing with scoffers who don’t believe that Jesus is returning. We, a couple thousand years later, surely must deal with the same and worse. As His return is delayed, we need more encouragement and reminding that the prophets, including Jesus Himself, promised that He would return and bring all things to subjection under He who created all things. Peter uses some interesting imagery to make His point that water was involved in the beginning of creation and yet all this will be destroyed by fire in the end. He gives comfort to those who are waiting and watching but also wondering why Jesus hasn’t returned in speaking of a thousand years as a day to the Lord. While we wait we must wait as those who are called and chosen, as those who are anxious for an eternity of life in the kingdom of God by preparing for it now and embracing its contours in this life.
In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.
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