Saturday, September 8, 2007

After the exile to Babylon: (Matt 1:12)

Nehemiah 9:19-21 says, "Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. For forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.

This passage of scripture speaks two things to me, (1) The Grace of God. Despite all the sin and the controversy of the Israelites; the arrogance, the rebellion and the disobedience, God's compassion remained. (2) Even though humanness led the process to take many a wrong turn, the promise never changed, or more importantly, ceased. God didn't just express compassion for them, but he continued to provide, a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, 'to shine the way they were to take' (v19). By the grace of God, they still had a way to take! God's plan lived on. God's purpose and God's promise, through them, remained.

The Lord spoke to me out of Matthew chapter 1:1-17, usually a passage that you'd skip right over, and even question at times why on earth it ever made the cut!
But these 5 words spoke of a promise wrapped in compassion and grace; 'After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel...(Matthew 1:12) The Israelites found themselves in exile due to their arrogance, their rebellion and their disobedience. All was lost! Well, almost all; God's compassion and his promise lived on.

Abraham received a promise. The process took a few wrong turns, but the promise (wrapped in compassion and grace) remained.

The continuation of that same promise made its way to Mary, and this was her response, “His mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation” (Luke 1:50)

"Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. For forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen. (Nehemiah 9:19-21)

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