December 21, Day 355 – The LORD Is Worthy of Our Trust

Ezra 6:1-7:10; Psalm 145:8-13;

Revelation 12:1-13:1

In Ezra 6:1-7:1-10, we see how God works behind the scenes to bring about His will and to advance His truth to the forefront.  In chapter 4, we saw that “the enemies of Judah and Benjamin … compelled the Jews by force to stop their construction work on the temple” (verse 23-24) until “a search could be made in the royal archives” regarding the decree of Cyrus to allow the temple to be rebuilt (cf., 5:5).  King Darius ordered this search, and the search revealed that “Cyrus did authorize the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple” (cf., 5:17). In chapter 6, we see that, as the sovereign king, Darius further extended such authorization to include funding – adding the king’s official blessing to the project.  By God’s providential superintendence to achieve His will through independent human agency, the temple was completed, and we see its dedication and the celebration of the Passover that follows.  Ezra came up to Jerusalem from Babylon with a letter from King Artaxerxes with his blessing to the Jews, allowing them to administer justice and teach the laws of God to the people” (verses 18-26).  This administration encouraged the people to “praise the God of their Fathers and honor the house of the LORD” (verse 27).  Today’s reading in Ezra shows us that God is in full control of all human events, all human history, and the future of all humanity. We recognize that God’s Word, His will, His plans, His power, and His authority cannot be frustrated and will never be defeated.  The LORD is worthy of our trust.

Today we also consider the second part of Psalm 145, verses 8-13.  In this section, David reminds us of God’s importance – something that our culture tends to overlook these days.  However, God is all-important.  David addresses the “grace and compassion of the LORD” (verse 8), and he says that God is “slow to anger and rich in love.”  Often and unfortunately, we are just the opposite – quick to anger and poor (i.e., weak) in our love toward Him and toward others.  We would do well to take a lesson from the Lord’s teaching.  Three times in verse 9, David repeats the word “all” to emphasize the supremacy of God’s goodness and compassion for all – all people, all that “He has made,” and “all His works” – which “praise Him.”  In the following verses, King David, who knows something about kingdoms, turns his attention to God’s kingdom.  David refers to God’s kingdom no less than five times (four times to “kingdom,” and once to “dominion”).  God’s kingdom is “glorious” and “everlasting” (verses 11-13).  David concludes his analysis of God’s importance by proclaiming that the LORD is worthy of our trust because He is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all that He has made” (verse 13).  How could anyone overlook this kind of importance for his or her life?

We also come today to Revelation 12:1-13:1.  Readers should be aware that chapters 11-14 of Revelation constitute another parenthetical section (an intercalation) to the narrative of the book.  As such, this section adds vital information to our study of the book, but it does not advance the transition of events.  The woman here is representative of Israel which gave birth to its Messiah – our Lord Jesus Christ.  The dragon is identified as Satan (verse 9), who does all he can to persecute and destroy (i.e., even to crucify) our Lord.  The Revelation account indicates that “the male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter, was “snatched up to God (verse 5).  “The woman fled into the wilderness” (verse 6), where she remains in preparation for her future tribulation experience – when she will be “taken care of for 1,260 days” (verse 6).  The text describes the great spiritual battle that goes on all around us.  To this very day, Satan continues his pursuit of Israel “and the rest of her offspring” (verse 17).  In verse 10, however, we have God’s immutable promise that the time of His “salvation, power, kingdom, and authority has come,” and as we have already seen earlier today, “the LORD is worthy of our trust” (cf., Psalm 145:13).