#hopefully something stabilizes soon dear mercy

[fstbmp-a]

Brook...

[dfroza]

A new earth accompanied by new heavens

is what is promised to be.

we see this in Peter’s 2nd Letter as its closing chapter for Today’s reading from the Scriptures:

This is now, my dear friends, my second letter to you. In both of them, I have tried to inspire you to a sincere and pure way of thinking by reminding you of what you already know. Remember the words spoken earlier by God’s holy prophets and the commandment that our Lord and Savior gave to you through your emissaries. Above all, be sure to remember that in the last days mockers will come, following their own desires and taunting you, saying, “So what happened to the promised second coming of Jesus? For everything keeps going just the way it has since our ancestors fell asleep in death; since the beginning of creation, nothing’s changed.”

When they make fun of you, it’s as if the scoffers are deliberately forgetting that long ago when God spoke the word, the heavens came into existence and the earth formed from water and by water. The waters later flooded and destroyed that world. By that same word, the heavens and earth we see now are being reserved for destruction by fire, preserved until the time comes for the godless on the day of judgment.

Don’t imagine, dear friends, that God’s timetable is the same as ours; as the psalm says, for with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day.

Now the Lord is not slow about enacting His promise—slow is how some people want to characterize it—no, He is not slow but patient and merciful to you, not wanting anyone to be destroyed, but wanting everyone to turn away from following his own path and to turn toward God’s.

The day of the Lord will come unexpectedly like a thief in the night; and on that day, the sky will vanish with a roar, the elements will melt with intense heat, and the earth and all the works done on it will be seen as they truly are. Knowing that one day all this will come to pass, think what sort of people you ought to be—how you should be living faithful and godly lives, waiting hopefully for and hastening the coming of God’s day when the heavens will vanish in flames and the elements melt away with intense heat. What will happen next, and what we hope for, is what God promised: a new heaven and a new earth where justice reigns.

So, my friends, while we wait for the day of the Lord, work hard to live in peace, without flaw or blemish; and look at the patience of the Lord as your salvation. Our dearly loved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, has written about this. He says essentially the same in all of his letters, although uneducated and unstable readers misinterpret the difficult passages, just as they always misread Scripture, to their spiritual ruin.

So hear my final words, my friends. Now that I have warned you about what’s ahead, keep up your guard and don’t let unprincipled people pull you away from the sure ground of the truth with their lies and misunderstandings. Instead, grow in grace and in the true knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Anointed, to whom be glory, now and until the coming of the new age. Amen.

The Letter of 2nd Peter, Chapter 3 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is chapter 3 of 2nd Chronicles that documents the building of the Temple in Jerusalem including its sacred Heart (its inner room, like the instrumental womb of the heart where we welcome the entrance of the Spirit of our Creator inside, Anew in the True illumination of the Son, whose Temple we become as daughters & sons of Light)

So Solomon broke ground, launched construction of the house of God in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, the place where God had appeared to his father David. The precise site, the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, had been designated by David. He broke ground on the second day in the second month of the fourth year of his rule. These are the dimensions that Solomon set for the construction of the house of God: ninety feet long and thirty feet wide. The porch in front stretched the width of the building, that is, thirty feet; and it was thirty feet high.

The interior was gold-plated. He paneled the main hall with cypress and veneered it with fine gold engraved with palm tree and chain designs. He decorated the building with precious stones and gold from Parvaim. Everything was coated with gold veneer: rafters, doorframes, walls, and doors. Cherubim were engraved on the walls.

He made the Holy of Holies a cube, thirty feet wide, long, and high. It was veneered with six hundred talents (something over twenty-two tons) of gold. The gold nails weighed fifty shekels (a little over a pound). The upper rooms were also veneered in gold.

He made two sculptures of cherubim, gigantic angel-like figures, for the Holy of Holies, both veneered with gold. The combined wingspread of the side-by-side cherubim (each wing measuring seven and a half feet) stretched from wall to wall, thirty feet. They stood erect facing the main hall.

He fashioned the curtain of violet, purple, and crimson fabric and worked a cherub design into it.

He made two huge free-standing pillars, each fifty-two feet tall, their capitals extending another seven and a half feet. The top of each pillar was set off with an elaborate filigree of chains, like necklaces, from which hung a hundred pomegranates. He placed the pillars in front of The Temple, one on the right, and the other on the left. The right pillar he named Jakin (Security) and the left pillar he named Boaz (Stability).

The Book of 2nd Chronicles, Chapter 3 (The Message)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for Sunday, january 31 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A set of posts by John Parsons that reflects upon the journey of life on earth:

In our Torah portion for this week (i.e., Beshalach) we learn that the Lord chose to take his redeemed people along the "longer road" to the promised land, just as we find ourselves still awaiting the completion of our redemption in the world to come. And like the Israelites, we must be on guard, since when things get difficult, our tendency is to go back to what is familiar, even if it is painful. Thank God we have a Good Shepherd who teaches us and guides us in the way to go: "And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher (מוֹרֶה) will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying: 'This is the way; follow it,' when you turn to the right or to the left" (Isa. 30:20-21).

What a beautiful image of our LORD as our Teacher and Good Shepherd, who guides us in the paths of life and delivers us from "right-hand and left-hand errors." And may God keep us upon the path of his righteousness, free from the seductions of the tempter who wants to distract our souls and lead us into fruitless byways and trouble of heart. May we receive grace to behold His face, even in the midst of adversity or affliction, learning from Him the way to go...

"Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you" (Isa. 26:20). The LORD beckons: "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known" (Jer. 33:3). And I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place" (Rev 4:1). [Hebrew for Christians]

1.28.21 • Facebook

The story of the exodus is as an allegory of faith. We were slaves, but the LORD redeemed us and set us free from our bondage. Immediately afterward, we faced great distress as the powers of darkness sought to enslave us again, but God intervened and delivered us from their wicked devices. Through the Shekhinah Cloud we crossed over into newness of life, leaving the corpses of this world behind. We offered our thanks and praises to God, but soon we experienced severe thirst. We searched for worldly water but found it "marah," or bitter. It was only after the "tree" was added to the bitterness that the water became sweet, a picture of the cross of Messiah who suffered and thirsted for us. Then we came to the oasis of Elim, a place of rest that pictured heaven to come, though the Spirit led us into the desert of emptiness and hunger to discover how we must trust God for "manna," our daily bread from heaven. We experienced thirst again, and God provided an ongoing source of living water from the Rock that was smitten, another picture of the grace and sustenance of Messiah (1 Cor. 10:4). We fought against brazen powers of unbelief (Amalek), but we overcame them by the power of God. We received the Torah, only to discover we could not abide its demands. We committed idolatry but the LORD forgave and revealed the Altar of Mercy (the Tabernacle) that gave us access to His Presence by means of the sacrificial blood, recalling the Lamb of God that was slain.

Shabbat shalom, chaverim! [Hebrew for Christians]

https://hebrew4christians.com/

1.29.21 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

January 31, 2021

Outward Appearances

“But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

Man does, indeed, look on the outward appearance rather than inward convictions. This has always been true, but never more so than in these latter days, even among evangelical Christians.

There is very little emphasis in the Bible on such things, however. As far as dress and adornment are concerned, Paul said: “I will therefore that....women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works” (1 Timothy 2:8-10). The same principle surely would apply also to men.

With respect to physical conditioning and development, the following is almost the only reference in the Bible: “Bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things” (1 Timothy 4:8). The apostle Paul himself (probably the most effective and fruitful Christian of all) was a man of most unimpressive appearance (2 Corinthians 10:10). “I was with you in weakness,” he reminded them, but nevertheless it was “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corinthians 2:3-4).

There is nothing wrong, of course, with physical beauty or athletic prowess, unless they center attention on self rather than Christ, but it is the “inner man” of the heart where true strength and beauty should be sought. Therefore, as Jesus said: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24). The Lord looks on the heart, and so should we. HMM