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| In loving memory of my father Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023 |
Because the most difficult aspect of preparing the way of the Lord is to see the need for such, we will use two messages to emphasize this need. Let us consider the Handwriting on the Wall.
Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, saw the handwriting on the wall but he could neither read nor interpret it. He saw the fingers of a man's hand which wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace (Daniel 5:5-6). It filled him with fear and foreboding. His fears were well-founded! For him, the "days of recompence" were come. Daniel not only read the writing for Belshazzar but also interpreted it.
Daniel 5:25-28, "And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."
MENE, MENE means numbered, numbered. Any time any word is repeated in Scripture, it carries great emphasis. The significance is that the days of the king of Babylon were numbered and finished.
TEKEL means weighed. The king of Babylon is weighed in the balance and found wanting.
UPHARSIN (called PERES in Daniel 5:28) means divided or broken. His kingdom was divided.
Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon. His predecessors were Nebuchadnezzar and Evil-Merodach. Scripturally, Babylon consists of the economic, political, and religious components of the devil's worldly system. The nation today that most closely typifies Babylon is the United States. Is it possible that those three Babylonian kings are prophetically fulfilled by the last three Presidents of the United States?
Amos saw the handwriting on the wall. He read it rightly. He said (Amos 3:8), "The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" Amos continued (Amos 9:8), "Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth."
Hosea saw the handwriting on the wall. It spoke of judgment swift and sure, deadly and devastating. Hosea saw Israel following a path that could only end in complete destruction (Hosea 2:13, 4:7, 5:4, 5:7, 6:7, 7:13, 9:9, 10:4, 13:2, and a host of other Scriptures.)
And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying ...
2 Chronicles 21:12
The most interesting aspect of what follows that verse is that the letter came to Jehoram, the king of Judah, long AFTER Elijah had been translated. Elijah saw that some things had been set in motion by Jehoram and Elijah knew the consequences that must follow, barring a sovereign intervention by the Lord, because Elijah knew the ways of the Lord. Elijah saw the handwriting on the wall.
Call the role of the prophets. Which of the Old Testament prophets did NOT see the handwriting on the wall? Moreover, the messages of the prophets are ageless and timeless, independent of any culture. It was not through the priesthood with its ritual and ceremony that God revealed Himself but through "His servants the prophets."
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets. Amos 3:7
"MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN" is current events. It speaks prophetically of the United States right now!
The August 2005 destruction from hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, particularly in New Orleans, was perhaps the most devastating natural event in the history of the United States. It caused at least $125 billion dollars in damages and claimed at least 1800 lives. But not everyone saw the handwriting on the wall from that judgment. We sincerely doubt that President George W. Bush or members of Congress saw the significance of Katrina. They saw it only as a horrible natural disaster. Only the Lord knows how many genuine believers saw Katrina as the handwriting on the wall.
President Bush spoke about rebuilding New Orleans to restore it to the "once proud city that it used to be." That, of course, required billions of taxpayer dollars. Even in the natural realm it did not seem wise to pour billions of dollars into rebuilding New Orleans unless the city was moved to higher ground. Scripture warns us against building our house on sand. The Lord may even send an even worse hurricane to destroy it again. New Orleans, like many other large cities, is full of evil, drugs, darkness, prostitutes, Mardi Gras orgies, crime of every sort, etc.
About two years ago I started listening to a few Christian songs on the internet. One such song was "I Sing Praises to Your Name, Oh Lord," by Terry Macalmon at a Benny Hinn crusade in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 2001, with 15,000 people, 100 choir members, and a full orchestra. The video of that event showed the expressions on the faces of some of the attendees. They all seemed to be very much caught up emotionally in singing that song. However, what I heard from the Lord was that if all of those 15,000 professing Christians had been walking with the Lord, then hurricane Katrina would never have hit New Orleans.
The Lord woke me up at 3:30 a.m. on September 3, 2005, about 5 days after Katrina, and reminded me of the similarity between the New Orleans debacle and what I personally witnessed many years ago. A rather large Assembly of God Church, a few miles from where we live, after building a very large church structure, decided to add on a full-size gymnasium for their "members." Of course they had no problem raising the money for such a venture. Charismatic Christians are eager to pour money into almost anything that their pastor wants. All went smoothly until they started to put the roof on the gymnasium. Then the Lord sent a very strong wind and blew off many of the shingles and part of the plywood sheathing. Undoubtedly what happened next was that the pastor and the elders met together and determined what to do. I might as well have been sitting in on the meeting. They rebuked the devil and spent more money to repair the roof. Very shortly after that the Lord sent another strong wind and blew off part of the roof a second time. They never got the message! I am sure that it never entered their minds that the gymnasium was displeasing to the Lord. So they repaired the roof yet once more! The last thing I heard about that Assembly of God church was through some Christian friends of ours, who said they stopped going there when the pastor passed the collection plate four times during one service! If we persist in doing things our way, the Lord will let us do our own thing, but His blessing and presence will depart. Shortly after the Lord delivered the Jews out of Egypt, we read in
Psalm 106:13-15, "They soon forgat His works; they waited not for His counsel: But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul."
The Book of Hosea, like most other books in the Bible, is about two things: (1) the judgment of God, which is steadfast and sure to all those who willingly and knowingly disobey Him, and (2) the love of God for His people. Of course, no pastor wants to speak about the judgment of God lest he lose some of his members. God's wrath can be terrible but His mercy is beyond understanding. God's love is always extended, for this is His very nature, but His forgiveness is conditioned upon the attitude and response of men. Without repentance and return there can be no forgiveness. God forgives when the conditions of forgiveness are met.
A complacency rests upon us as a nation which should give us considerable concern. That complacency has been generated from an apathy in the Church. Our resources, our wealth, our military might, our claim to democratic ideals and practices have become our boast. Like Israel of old, we assume that God is on our side and that He is bound to protect us and prosper our cause. God bless America so we can continue to do our own thing.
Compare Hosea's day with our own. Replace the altars of Baal with the modern idols of materialism, sensualism, secularism, humanism, religious liberalism, compromise, and mixture. We have allowed foreigners who worship other gods to live with us, mix with us, and compromise our original, true, God-centered country. Is there a call to repentance? If so, is there a positive response to that call? How long can any nation survive when the foundations are undermined by godless living? The Christian community has been out of God's order for many long years. Ephesians 2:20 says that we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. We have changed that verse to say we are built upon the foundation of the pastor and self is the chief cornerstone.
Of course we should not expect our secular leaders to see the handwriting on the wall. They do not have eyes to see nor ears to hear nor a heart to understand that which the Lord is about. The trumpet call can be heard only in Zion, which speaks of the very elect, the remnant, the overcomers. Perhaps many professing Christians have, at one time or another, quoted the verse in 1 Peter 4:17, "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" The question is, "Is it sufficient to just quote that verse?" or does the Lord require something more?
Who is Wise?
Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein. Hosea 14:9
Hosea emphasizes at least seven great truths very clearly. A wise man will take heed to all of these.
1. Idolatry of any sort means the transfer of primary affection from God to some other object or person, and constitutes spiritual adultery. (Hosea 4:12; 9:1)2. Sin carries the seeds of judgment within it and always bears fruit. No one can play with sin with impunity. (Hosea 8:7; 10:13)3. God punishes sin ... especially sin in the hearts of His own people. The high privilege which He has bestowed upon us demands a corresponding sense of responsibility on our part. (Hosea 4:1-6)4. There is no easy road to forgiveness and restoration. Only sincere and wholehearted repentance can pave the way to a renewed fellowship. (Hosea 14:1-4)5. National apostasy and idolatry will inevitably mean national disintegration and destruction. (Hosea 9:1-7)6. God will never be satisfied with superficial, formal, external ritual. (Hosea 6:6)7. God's heart is filled with a tender, gracious, inexhaustible love. (Hosea 2:15, 19-20; 6:4; 11:8; 14:4-8)
Everybody and his brother now are talking about what is "wrong" in the Church. Most of those orators describe the apathy or lukewarm attitude that pervades most of the Christian community. Well that is certainly true. But who is proclaiming what "we" can and must do about it? What is the Lord looking for us to "do?" We defer our answer to that question to a later message, but the answer has been recorded in the Bible for more than 3000 years.
Without any doubt, the most important exhortation given by the Lord through a man just prior to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus on earth is recorded in Matthew 3:1-3,
"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."
That word says that the prophet Isaiah spoke about the first coming of the Lord, which is recorded in Isaiah 40:3-5,
"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."
However, if I read those verses in Isaiah correctly, Isaiah also prophesied of the second coming of the Lord in those same verses in Isaiah 40:3-5. Why can I believe that? because Isaiah 40, verses 4 and 5 were not fulfilled upon the first coming of Jesus. Every valley was not exalted at His first coming; every mountain and hill was not made low at His first coming, the crooked was not made straight, and the rough places were not made plain. Further, all flesh together did not at that time see the glory of the LORD revealed. It is not unusual that some events prophesied in the Bible have two separate fulfillments ... the first fulfillment being partial and the second fulfillment being complete.
Now let us read what Jesus said about John the Baptist in Luke 7:24-28,
"And when the messengers of John were departed, He began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? a reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. But what went ye out for to see? a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written [in Malachi 3:1], Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say unto you, among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."
Let us emphasize that the words of both Isaiah and John the Baptist, namely, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord," are commandments. They are not optional; our preparing the way of the Lord is not if we feel like it or if we have time. They are commandments. If anyone thinks there are no longer any commandments under the New Covenant, then perhaps that person should read the New Testament again. Jesus spoke many commandments to His disciples and to us, such as
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).
Therefore the most important exhortation that any man could speak today is "Prepare ye the way of the Lord"... prepare for the second coming of the Lord to earth. That is a personal word to each of us; it is also a corporate word. We need an enlarged vision in this hour ... we need to know where we are going and how to get there.
Now the next questions are "Why do we need to prepare the way of the Lord? How do we prepare the way of the Lord? How do we make His paths straight? What happens after we prepare the way of the Lord?"
We will attempt to answer those questions starting with our next message.
Until then ...
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