These pictures were taken February 22, 2006 in Capernaum on my first Tour to Israel. Capernaum was Jesus' home base for his three years of ministry. The pictures are of the remnants of the actual synagogue He taught in.
My reading for yesterday was Isaiah Chapter 9. It is an incredibly exciting chapter - and I intended to write a bit about it yesterday, but it was Martin Luther King Jr Day, so I diverted from my intended plan. I don't mind backtracking to fulfill that good intention this morning. Isaiah 9 deserves attention!
What a chapter! Isaiah wrote this over 700 years before Jesus was born - but it clearly defines the method of God's salvation:
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this." Isaiah 9:6-7
The Hallelujah Chorus is resounding in my ears! The root of Jesse, the descendant of David, the one both David and Mary called LORD, came and will come again. The prophecy in Isaiah has not been completely fulfilled. The 'end' times began with Jesus' (Yeshua's) birth - and will culminate with His return, and setting up His Kingdom on earth. It is our blessed hope - but it is not a wishful thinking hope. It is anticipation hope - a secure promise.
He will establish the New Jerusalem defined in the book of Revelation. I don't have to understand all of it or the minutia of His timeline to know it is true. I have absolute faith in Him - and if I knew precisely how He will accomplish everything He says will come, no faith would be required. But - we know a lot more than those who lived before us knew. We see the prophetic pages of the Bible coming true before our eyes.
The rest of this chapter will be fulfilled! It is not linear. That final 'breaking of the oppressor' has not taken place. But the promised Messiah-child came - and will come again to take His rightful place as King of Kings and Lord of Lords - and in just a couple of weeks I will stand in the country that is at the center of G-D's heart. I can hardly wait!
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