In the Bible we find that Jesus Christ is the Head of the Body, which is the Church. If that is true then we ought to be able to look at the characteristics of the head in scripture and find that it points to some characteristics of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Let’s take a look at some of these and see if we can see Jesus.
We live in a day when we have all of the resources we need to be a good Christian. We have multiple Bibles in each home, a church on every corner, Bible teachers and material at our disposal 24 hours a day. There has never been a day when there were so many different ways to serve the Lord by practice, preaching and publishing. Yet we have allowed the spirit of Laodicea to deaden us. We like the Laodiceans are “lukewarm”, growing cold on the things of God. May we use this service to survey our relationship with God and the things of God
Although the burnt offering is a picture of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it is also a picture of the believer who gives himself unto the Lord. In this message, we will look at this second way of understanding the meaning of the burnt offering. We are to give ourselves entirely and without reserve to God.
These chapters look prophetically to the day of the Lord. This will be a day when God will come in wrath and will judge the wicked. However, all is not lost. Those who fear the Lord will be remembered and will be spared. To them, the Sun of righteousness will rise will healing and will care for them as calves that are brought up in the stall. In closing, they are told to look backward to the law of Moses and forward to the coming of Elijah as the herald of the day of the Lord and the Messianic Kingdom to follow.
The Jews have left the only stability they have known and have made the long and hard trip to Israel. But their work has only begun. Now they must rebuild. They begin in the right place restoring the ancient altar and begin work on the foundation of the temple. But opposition comes quickly. First, in the form of compromisers who want to join them for the purpose of defeating their purpose and zeal. Second, in the form of hired counselors who work to “frustrate their purpose.” For now, the adversaries win and the Jews cease work on the temple. The opposition has been too much for them. The temple lies abandoned.
