Let us now praise famous men. We call them saints in the church and they
are to be praised for their examples of following Jesus. As the writer says, some we know their names
and some we don't, they are forgotten to posterity but they are no less
important because they were godly and their children were as well. History may not remember them, even their own
families may not remember them specifically but their legacy is in the family
faithfulness. I know men and women have
influenced and shaped my life by their example and by their prayers in ways
that I may never be fully aware of but if we ever get a chance to look back at
our lives I may see clearly. The cloud
of witnesses the Lord has put around us are sometimes obvious and sometimes
hazy and the thing to remember is that we are part of that cloud for others, our
witness to Christians and non-Christians alike is important whether we are
famous or not.
Jesus speaks on the kingdom in ways that use something small
to become something large and it causes people to wonder how small the kingdom
may be. He compares it to a mustard
seed, the smallest seed that grew into a tree and to a small amount of leaven
put into a large amount of dough and its effect on the dough. These examples prompted the crowd to ask if
those who will be saved are few. Jesus'
response is indirect in that He doesn’t say either yes or no. He says that many will be unsaved, left out
of the kingdom, and we are to strive to enter the narrow door. The example Jesus gives of those who say, ‘We
ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets', should tell us
that we must not be passive in our pursuit.
The word "strive" should have already told us that but the
example says that we must do more than listen and that there is no such thing
as a Christian country simply because we tolerate, allow, or even encourage
through tax policies, the preaching and practice of the Gospel. We must be born from above, believe in His
Name, if we are to be children of God rather than simply creations of God.
The armies are ready for battle. The Euphrates is dried up and becomes a
pathway for the kings of the east. The
armies are come to Armageddon for the final battle. The Lord, however, has a final plague for
"Babylon", a plague of hail unlike even the plague of hail sent upon
Egypt in the time of Moses, hundred pound hailstones pounding that city. Wouldn't you think that surely they would
repent as in the days of Jonah? Not so,
however, they continue to curse God.
They are under a demonic deception from the beast and the false
prophet. If we are talking about the
city of Babylon then it seems likely that the demonic deception is Islam
itself. They would not curse the name of
their god but they will not praise the Name of Jesus who is the narrow
door. Let us pray for those caught in
this deception that the Lord will reveal Himself to them.
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