4 November 2011

Psalm 69; Ezra 7:27-28, 8:21-36; Rev. 15:1-8; Matt. 14:13-21

It is interesting that Ezra relies completely on the Lord for protection and safe journey. When I have been in Rwanda it has been common for us to pray together in such a way prior to beginning a journey and to return thanks on safe arrival. Ezra declined the king’s offer of horses and soldiers to protect them, believing that the Lord would do all that was necessary to complete the mission He had made possible, it wasn’t the king’s business Ezra was about, it was the Lord’s. Like Nehemiah before him, Ezra rested three days when he arrived in Jerusalem before setting about the business that had brought him there, to re-start the worship of Yahweh. The time has come to re-consecrate the temple, the city and the people of God.

Jesus’ reaction to hearing the news of John was to withdraw to a solitary place but His own renown is so great that the people follow Him there and there is no solitude for grieving or praying. His reaction was not to send them away so that He could deal with both grief over the loss of the herald and His earthly cousin, but to reflect on what now was going to come for Him. We are told that when Jesus came ashore He saw the crowds and the reaction wasn’t frustration but rather compassion and He healed them. Jesus was always a shepherd, looking after the needs of the sheep. At the end of the day, the disciples wanted to send the crowd away as they had little food remaining but Jesus continued to show compassion and used the little they had to feed the multitude. Where Ezra traveled with much, Jesus and the disciples had little and yet in His hands it was always plenty.

This chapter in the Revelation is an interlude of sorts prior to the bowl judgments being poured out on the earth and its inhabitants. The sea of glass has already been mentioned around the throne but this time it is mingled with a sea of fire. The combination would have been a dazzling sight and we see the heavenly host arrayed there singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. The Song of Moses is found in Exodus 15 after the events at the Red Sea, sealing the deliverance of God’s people from their enslavement to Pharaoh. The activity of God has been to set His people free from that bondage through the plagues and as the song finishes we see the tent of witness open and the seven angels of the bowl judgments come forth in dazzling apparel with their plagues. Yes this is judgment but its purpose is to set free the earth and all that is therein from the bondage of sin and satan therefore those judgments are indeed holy.