64.2 A New Era of Justice And Peace

(Isaiah 54:11-17)

The Lord says, "O Jerusalem, you suffering, helpless city, with no one to comfort you,

I will rebuild your foundations with precious stones.

I will build your towers with rubies, your gates with stones that glow like fire, and the wall around you with jewels.

"I myself will teach your people and give prosperity and peace.

Justice and right will make you strong.

You will be safe from oppression and terror.

If anyone attacks you, he does it without my consent; whoever fights against you will fall.

I create the blacksmith, who builds a fire and forges weapons.

I also create the soldier, who uses the weapons to kill.

But no weapon will be able to hurt you; you will have an answer for all who accuse you.

I will defend my servants and give them victory."

The Lord has spoken.

64.1 A New Covenant Of Peace

(Exodus 34:23-30)

"Three times a year all of your men must come to worship me, the Lord, the God of Israel.  After I have driven out the nations before you and extended your territory, no one will try to conquer your country during the three festivals.

"Do not offer bread made with yeast when you sacrifice an animal to me.  Do not keep until the following morning any part of the animal killed at the Passover Festival.

"Each year bring to the house of the Lord the first grain that you harvest. Do not cook a young sheep or goat in it's mother's milk."

The Lord said to Moses, "Write these words down, because it is on the basis of these words that I am making a covenant with you and Israel." Moses stayed there with the Lord forty days and forty nights, eating and drinking nothing.   He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant-- the Ten Commandments.

When Moses went down from Mount Sinai carrying the ten commandments, his face was shining  because he had been speaking with the Lord, but he did not know it.  Aaron and all the people looked at Moses and saw that his face was shining, and they were afraid to go near him.

63.4 Confident That God Will Help Us

(Psalm 54)

Save me by your power, O God; set me free by your might!
Hear my prayer, O God; listen to my words!
Proud men are coming to attack me; cruel men are trying to kill me--
men who do not care about God.

But God is my helper. The Lord is my defender.
May God use their own evil to punish my enemies.
He will destroy them because he is faithful.

I will gladly offer you a sacrifice, O Lord;
I will give you thanks because you are good.
You have rescued me from all my troubles,
and I have seen my enemies defeated.

63.3 It Is My Duty To Preach (Am I Ruined If I Do Not Preach)

(1 Corinthians 9:15-18)

But I haven't made use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this now in order to claim such rights for myself, I would rather die first!  Nobody is going to turn my rightful boast into empty words!  I have no right to boast just because I preach the gospel.  After all, I am under orders to do so.  And how terrible it would be for me if I did not preach the gospel!  If I did my work as a matter of free choice, then I could expect to be paid; but I do it as a matter of duty, because God has entrusted me with this task.  What pay do I get, then?  It is the privilege of preaching the Good News without charging for it, without claiming my rights in my work for the gospel.

63.2 Witness To The Nations

(Acts 26:12-18)

"It was for this purpose that I went to Damascus with authority and orders from the chief priests. It was on the road at midday, Your majesty, that I saw a light much brighter than the sun, coming from the sky and shining around me and the men traveling with me.  All of us fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, 'Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me?  You are hurting yourself by hitting back, like an ox, kicking against its owner's stick." 'Who are you, Lord?' I asked.  And the Lord answered, 'I am Jesus, whom you persecute.  But get up and stand on your feet.  I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant.  You are to tell others what you have seen of me today and what I will show you in the future.  I will rescue you from the people of Israel and from the Gentiles to whom I will send you.  You are to open their eyes and turn them from the darkness to the light and from the power of Satan to God, so that through their faith in me they will have their sins forgiven and receive their place among God's chosen people."