"Remember Your congregation which You have purchased of old, the tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed-- This Mount Zion where You have dwelt." (Psalm 74:2)
I took particular note this month of my reading of Psalm 74. If you have any knowledge of Kristallnacht which took place on November 9 & 10, 1938, throughout Germany, I recommend that you read the whole of Psalm 74. It is like a daily newspaper report of the carnage-- "The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary....They seem like men who lift up axes....And now they break down its carved work....They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground. They said in their hearts, 'Let us destroy them altogether.' They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land." Bonhoeffer marked November 9 beside this verse in his Bible. Our text is not sermonic, cutesy, Sunday School stuff.
The complexities of our text, "Your congregation," and, "the tribe of Your inheritance," can be debated endlessly, but our Lord Jesus Christ is not finished with Israel. In fact, He told his disciples, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." No one knows fully what this will mean, but before this occurs, another catastrophic persecution will come on all those who will stand with the Jews and Israel; our Lord Jesus warns us of it; the Bible as a whole prophesies of it; and current events are affirming it.
In, "the last days," all members of the Church of Jesus Christ will have to make decisions just as the German Church of the 1920s through the 1940s. I hold to Psalm 110, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power."
"Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place; They set up their banners for signs." (Photo of German Cathedral)
"Christian" Leaders Giving Nazi Salute
(Highlight and drag the above site to your search bar to see Kristallnacht video)
Father, in Jesus' Name, for grace and strength to, "Having done all, to stand." Amen.
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Video of "Last Album from Auschwitz" at: http://www.apf327.blogspot
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
