Flood, Blood & Fire.

"To a land that dwells in darkness there has come a Great Light."- transliteration of Isaiah 9:2

The earth is said in the scriptures to be groaning for the coming of the Savior, that is the very ground cry's out to God to be cleansed. God is attentive to these cry's He answers them with three cleansing elements, the first is water.
 During the great flood of Noah God cleansed the earth of all unrighteousness, all wicked people perished and only righteous Noah and his household were saved. But he also cleaned the land itself, all the blood that had been spilt was washed away and the whole earth was given a new beginning. Of course it wasn't long before Sin increased again and more blood was spilt in anger, again defiling the land so we were back to square one. God of course had made a covenant to never again destroy the earth by water. So he had to use another element. Blood.

Israel are Gods covenant (chosen) people and God sealed the covenant with blood, animal blood. More animal blood was spilt in the land of Israel than your average abattoir. They where a people under blood and it was intended that all nations would be blessed by their observation and reverence of  Israel. Israel was the altar of God where he offered sacrifices to cleanse the whole earth. They were to be a sign.
But we know from reading the bible that Israel was unfaithful to the covenant and broke it. So God did what He promised to do if this occurred, He destroyed the nation and scattered a remant of Godly seed over all the face of the Earth.

There is no longer any blood sacrifice that can be offered because since God sent Jesus to die for the sins of the entire world He no longer accepts blood sacrifices, the cleansing power of blood the cleanse the land has now finished, because although Christs blood has power to clean any and all who come to Him, it can't clean unbelievers, so the land is still defiled. The Blood covenant does not cover the whole earth, but only those who chose to obey God and come under it, The church of Christ is clean and is spread out over all the earth ( at least most of it thanks to missionaries), so this is a temporary, sprinkled, cleansing of the land but it lacks completeness. And God has promised to, at some point, remove the church from the earth via the rapture. This is where Jesus returns not to the earth but to the clouds from where he will catch up all those who are trusting in His name.

When this happens the earth will have no covering, Nothing to prevent God from poring out His wrath on the earth. Indeed that is what He promises to do. But this will not be a complete destruction. He again will show mercy in that He will only allow Himself short outbursts here an there. And although these outbursts will be incredibly devastating He will not destroy all till the end. And the final element will fully and finally cleanse the earth forever, fire.

The whole earth and the universe will be consumed by fire. That is completely destroyed. End of story.......

Well not quite because there still remains the promise of our wonderful God to make a completely new start. He going to start from scratch. He will create a whole new universe, the old one will pass away but a replacement will be brought into being. this land I believe will never be defiled because there will be no marriage and no new people procreated, the only inhabitants of this new earth will be those who have been cleansed forever by the blood of the Lamb. No blood will ever be spilt in anger in Gods new world. Jesus has paid it all on this old, passing away, earth.

This is why Jesus said Heaven and earth will pass away but the word of the Lord abides forever!
Glory to God in the highest, peace on the earth toward men.

Long waiting

My five year old daughter sometimes (when prevailed upon) rides shot gun with me when I do the daily freight run to Mungindi. Usually after we depart Moree she will watch the scenery, we will talk a little and then she will want to eat smoko.  After smoko has settled a little she will ask if she can go home now or at most she will ask if not straight away can she go home in a little while (when she is sick of it).

There is almost nothing as hard to learn than long waiting for a child or any adult that has not learned it as a child. It is painful to learn. Nobody likes pain.

Our sinful natures lust against the imposition of waiting. whether it be for a bus or a in the doctors rooms.
I was held up by traffic a bit yesterday, and initially I reacted my normal way with frustration and discontent but I was reminded that it is Gods will that we learn long waiting and I was immediately content to sit there as long as necessary and rested in the Lord, He knows what he's doing folks. Conforming us though the hardship of waiting unto perfection, His will is to restore us to the original image of God, that is in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 131

King James Version (KJV)

131 Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.

2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.

3 Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.

Strangely Dim

" we were like men living in a dream."
                                      -Jewish citizen on the recapture of Jerusalem following 2000 yrs of exile.


There is nothing like a bit of time in the darkness to help us to appreciate the day.
 I have entered my promised land after decades of wilderness time fearing man, and suffering at the hands of rejection How I came to spend this time would be the stuff of counselors offices but I am completely sure that it was all part of God's perfect plan for my life. God does use sorrow and suffering to not only fit us for Heaven but empower our testimony on earth.

Joshua and Caleb were witnesses of the power of the strength of the Anakim( Canaanite giants) but they did not cower to the fear of man. Why?

Because they feared God much much more. God is worthy of our fear. We must fear Him, since we cane not approach Him rightly any other way. If God was a teddy bear we could get away with waltzing into the throne room of God with a casual 'howzit going bro"  But far be it from me to ever approach God in such a manner.

God is not our equal. We are incapable of comprehending the magnitude of His presence and power, although our awe of His wonderful creation goes some way it barely scratches the surface. He is so far above us that we could never get near enough to Him to know Him. But Father God wants us to know Him so..... the Lord of Heaven came down.

The firstborn of the Father was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Jesus had no fear of man because, He created all men and they had no power over him.
All mature followers of Christ will have to have overcome this giant to take possession of the promised land.

If Jesus had feared the nails all the world would have been lost for eternity. 

That is why Jesus is now and ever shall remain my Greatest Hero. 

Two trees

 I have been thinking a lot about trees lately. In hot weather the shade of a tree is priceless. There are alot of trees mentioned in the bible.

They were created three days before mankind on the third day, Created even before the great lights of Heaven, the Sun, Moon and starry host. They are therefore the oldest form of living things on this earth. It pleased God to make them first.

After His first week of work God went back to work on Sunday and made a Garden in Eden with Trees obviously being central. In fact the trees are one of the four main characters on the stage of Eden. The other three being mankind and God himself. I suppose we have to mention the trespasser as well but I'd really rather not. I'm sure He wasn't invited.God just tolerated his presence because He was using Him to accomplish His plan of salvation.

Well you should all know the creation story and the fall. But what about the trees. Adams sin in desiring and partaking in what God had not ordained, the fruit of the tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil, meant that the free access to the Tree of Life was from then on cut off.
However we are able to again eat of this tree after we have been redeemed by the blood of the one who hung on it.

You see the cross is now the tree of life. The fruit of it, Christ's body and blood, are what we must eat to gain life eternal. The tree of knowledge seemed to promise greater life,(the life of God) but instead yielded death.
The cross which seemed to all in sundry to have ended all Hope for Mankind, Seems at first glance to be the tree of death. However its fruit gives life eternal. Wonderful Saviour.

Mungindi Burger

I got permission from my Food Boss to have a blow out so today I ordered a 'Mungindi Burger' from a takeaway shop in the town I drive to, to deliver freight. It was a beauty.
You my have heard of, or over heard or even be one yourself but I am speaking about a certain hard-as- nails-bush-in-me-blood type that when he orders a burger out come the definitive words...

'' NO SALAD PLEASE!"

And if you ever witness this moment you'll know that salad would just ruin this guys day if it ever made friends with a burger he wanted to eat.

Three different types of red meat, a slough of cheese and a slice of tomato. Perfect.

Well not really I like salad. I was attracted to the name but I failed to read the list of ingredients.
I guess Mungindi is the kind of town that predominately peopled by the above described characters.

That would be typical of cow chasers and the like who drift around and never stop somewhere long enough to 'put a garden in'. Salad comes from a garden, And no garden has ever or will ever exist without a gardener. A man who wants salad must depend on or become a gardener or husbandman.

John 15

New Century Version (NCV)

Jesus Is Like a Vine

15 “I am the true vine; my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit. And he trims and cleans every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the words I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch cannot produce fruit alone but must remain in the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit alone but must remain in me.