Lottie

In these verses God is referred to a rock in that He is a place of shelter and a refuge. He is a fortress where one can find protection. In Palestine David and His men hid from Saul in En Gedi and The Israelites hid behind rocks during their battles.

God is our shield helping us deflect all of Satan's arrows that come at us. When we use the Word of God we can defeat Satan. He is our glory because of what Jesus did on the cross. He saved us to so that we could be like Him and be adopted by God into the family. So that one day He could present us to the Father. All glory belongs to God and not to us. We are to glory in knowing Him and obeying Him. He lifts up my head when I am tired, weak and depressed. I can count on Him to give me strength. It tells me that God is all I need. He will help me defeat Satan and be victorious. He will give me strength and encouragement. He will help me when I feel I cannot go on anymore. It tells me that I need to rely on Him for strength and I need to turn to Him first when trouble comes. I need to lean on Him and not always depend on other people. i need to spend more time with Him and tell Him what I need.

The protected one is to dwell and rest in the shelter God provides and be safe knowing that God will protect the person. The metaphors are refuge, shelter, fortress, feathers and wings for covering, shield and rampart.

To the Jews God was one and they could not accept that Jesus was God when He was among them. They called God Adonai or Jehovah and in admitting that Jesus is Lord they are saying that He is one with God or equal. That He is God. In order for them to be saved they needed to acknowledge that the one they killed was God Himself. That Jesus was Lord and that they need to confess it openly with their mouth along with their belief in order to be saved.

The implications for governments is that God expects them to obey his rules and statutes from the Bible. He has told us how He wants us to live and what is important to Him. His emphasis is on sanctity of life and one man and one woman marriage. He values children and the unborn and expects us to take care of the earth and all the animals and birds on it. Therefore, all governments should implement his rules in the laws they enact and enforce them. He wants them to ensure that people can always worship Him freely. The implications for a country that removes God from its currency and pledges is that they soon become atheistic and cold towards God and what is right. They applaud what is wrong and sneer at ones who are godly and their consciences become hardened. America will become just like Russia or China. And just like Rome thousands of years ago it will collapse from the inside out. A nation like that is far from God and doomed.

The personal implications are that if you say Jesus is your Savior then you need to submit to Him as Lord and King of your life. Being King means that He has the ultimate authority. He has the absolute power to do what He wants and we must obey Him if He is our King. He has the power to make decisions and what He says goes and we have no say. The advantages is that Jesus being your Savior and King means that you can trust Him to make the best decisions for you. He reigns supreme over anyone or anything., He can do what you cannot do and remove obstacles in your life that you cannot. Because He is absolute and has all power and knows everything. There is nothing or no one who has more power than He does. For me to submit to Yahweh as King every day means that I admit His way is best. That He alone knows what I need and that I I must learn to go to Him first before doing anything. I must submit my will to His and be obedient to all He tells me to do. A person rejects Him when they deny that they are sinners and need forgiveness. When they refuse to admit that they can do nothing to save themselves and tell Him that they do not need Him in their life. When they say that they do not believe in Him or His existence.

Tithing showed that the people accepted him as king and were willing to support him with their tithes. It showed their allegiance to Him and their trust in Him. The ones who did not give were rejecting his authority. Under the New Covenant we are still obligated to give God our tithes and love offerings. We are obligated to support our local church and missionaries. He has given us everything that we have and it is only a loan until we get to heaven.; He expects us to show our love and support by giving and not grumbling about it.

Justice means giving someone what they deserve. Vengeance is " punishment inflicted for retaliation for an injury or offense". Mercy is not giving someone the punishment they deserve. God cannot forgive sins without a punishment being met; then He would not be just and righteous. Because of His holiness He cannot stand sin. The cross is the way God provided for us to be forgiven and to know Him. For Jesus paid the price for our sins when He died on the cross.

I believe that we need to stand up for the helpless in our country and elsewhere if we can. At the very least we need to pray for them; that God would bring about justice. We need to speak out against abortion, and sex trafficking. and abuse. We should be willing to help feed the ones who are hungry and help the homeless if we can. Elisha helped the widow woman and the woman whose son died. The prophets spoke out against injustices in Israel and so should we; it is what He would want us to do. In everything we do we should be following the example of Christ and the apostles.

People in our culture or society basically set their own rules and disregard what God says. They think there is more than one way to get to heaven. That you only live once and think Christians are boring and prudish because of what we believe.. The only way they can ever know and understand who He is if they come to Him with an open heart and mind. If they admit that they cannot get to heaven on their own and that they are sinful and He is holy. When they accept Jesus as their Savior and realize He is the only way to know God and be saved. Only the ones who have been washed in the blood can ever really know God. I believe that we need to meet people where they are at and relate to them first before we can tell them about God. We need to meet their basic needs first and then tell them about Jesus. In my own area I try to mention things about God and how I am trusting Him through this whole pandemic situation and world events and how the Bible predicted it thousands of years ago.

Isaiah realizes how unclean and unholy he is compared to God He realizes he is sinful and evil. Isaiah knows that no none can see God and live; and he is afraid. God has one of the cherubim touch his lips with a live coal and take his sin away. The live coal represents the burnt offering consumed on the altar and also points to the Holy Spirit and Jesus sacrifice for us on the cross. Only by turning our lives over to Him can we be freed of all sin and impurity. Isaiah answers Gods' call and says "Here I am send me."

The words repeated are tired and weary. That God is the one who will give us strength to do whatever we need to do. God will helps us and cause us to rise up above our circumstances.

Lord, Rock of our Salvation, the great God, great King, The Lord our Maker, and our God. We should be joyful and praise Him for all He is. We should be thankful and realize He has our best interests in mind. We should humble ourselves and realize that He knows more than we do.; We should gladly live for Him and glorify Him.

The Potter,, Creator, or Maker has the right to create whatever comes into his mind. He can ultimately decide what it should look like and be able to do. He has ultimate patent or ownership on his creation and chooses who to sell it to as well. Until he sells it he has all rights to it; once it is sold the buyer has all rights to the titem. We have to understand that we are not our own. He created us and Jesus bought us with His precious blood. That once we are saved we need to focus on doing what God wants us to do. That if we make bad choices that is our fault not His. He allows things to happen to us to bring us back to Him; everything that happens is for our good and His glory. If we waste our lives it is our own fault.

It is ridiculous for the the pot to second guess the potter when the potter knows beforehand what he wants to make out of the pot or clay. The potter knows what has to be done and how long it will take. The pot does not know anything about the potters intentions. I believe we Christians do this when we find ourselves in situations we do not like. When we think we deserve better from God. When we decide to make decisions without Him; and complain when things go wrong and blame Him. A better attitude would be to seek God's' advice about our lives and His will and then trust Him to work things out.

The significance is that His glory will fill heaven and the New Jerusalem. His presence will be everywhere around us and will be shining brighter than the sun. It will reflect in our own faces as we sit daily with Him. His light will be blinding and be flowing from the temple itself. We will finally be able to talk face to face with Him. Nothing will separate us from Him anymore. When we are in heaven wer will be like He is. We will have glorified bodies like His and be able to fully communion with Him. I can start praying to Him more and confessing everything to Him. I can be honest and open with Him and give over everything to Him. Not as much as i should now. i should be spending more time in prayer and listening to what he has to say to me.

The significance is that this healing stream is flowing from the throne of God. It is living and meant to heal people from all nations. They are to use the leaves for healing and eat the fruit. Living water can flow through me as I talk to others and tel l them about how He saved me and helped me overcome sinful habits. I can tell others how He can help heal them and deliver them from sin. I can show through my actions how He has changed me.

I believe we are afraid because there are areas of out life that we try to hide from others or Him. Areas that we do not let His light fully shine into and we don't want Him to see the darkness or sins we hide. We sometimes hold onto grudges or bitterness in our lives instead of letting go or we hold onto old sinful habits and think He does not know. The New Jerusalems' light is the lamb because He will be radiant and glorious and irrepressible. His light will fill the whole city and we will no longer have night there at all. I need the Lamb to help me overcome my habit of wasting time on the computer too much or falling back into an old sin of mine. I need Him to give me courage now to live for Him and not fall back.

David knew that God was real and He had a deep faith in Him. God had caused him to kill lions and bears; not by his own strength but the Lords'. God delivered him from harm and David spent a lot of time with Him. As a shepherd He had time to read the word and contemplate His goodness and mercy towards him. David had time to really get to know and understand who God was and he knew that God was greater than any other god and He was alive. The living God should inspire fear and drea because He has the power to send us to hell or heaven. He is all powerful, all knowing and everywhere. There is nothing hidden from Him. He knows our thoughts before we speak. He knows what we are made of and this should cause us to look inside of ourselves and acknowledge our weaknesses and sins and ask forgiveness. But for wicked people it should cause them to be afraid for they will get what they deserve in the end. He has no favorites and He will judge everyone for what they have done. In the end mountains will come tumbling down and men will cry out in fear because of His wrath. Let this inspire us to honor and revere who He is and be thankful we are saved from His wrath.

First and last tells me that He was before all creation and that he will be with us forever. He will be the first and last one we will worship and adore. The only true God and His Word stands forever. His Word is eternal and will never fade away. He is the first one who offered up His Son for a sacrifice for sins and there is none like Him. Nor will there ever be another god. Revelations !:8 and Moses revelation relate to each other in that God told Moses ,"I am that I am." That God is eternal and unchanging. God was and always has been world without end. He is the same God who spoke to the patriarchs and who speaks to us. The first because He was always here and the last because He will be in heaven forever.

I find it hard to comprehend about gOD Inhabiting eternity. On this earth we are all obsessed with time and the clock. We cannot fathom eternity and God who is a spiritual being ; living in asn eternal state. With Him there is no time limits at all; a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. No pressure to do things by a schedule or be somewhere. I can see the streets of gold and all the redeemed singing His praises there. I can see all the apostles and saints raising their hands to worship Him. A place where there will be no more evil or pain or sorrow. A place more beautiful than the earth we live on now because we will be with Him. It brings peace of mind and thankfulness and praise because He loves me and finds me worthy to be with Him there.

The tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in Jerusalem separated people from God. In the tabernacle the bronze altar was for animal sacrifices to atone for sin but now Jesus's death on the cross has done away with that. The bronze laver was for the priests to washing and cleansing but now we have been made clean through Jesus. The table of showbread is a symbol of providing food for the monarch but God who is spiritual does not need food to eat. The lampstand provided light but Jesus is our light now. The altar of incense is to provide an appeasing fragrance for the monarch but our prayers and petitions do that. The ark of the covenant is a portable seat for the king or monarch but God does not need that. These all kept the people from experiencing His presence and being near Him. Because no one could look at Him and live. Even Moses was shielded by God from seeing His face. The temple itself had barriers that kept others out and only the sacrificers and priests in. The courtyard was only for the priests and ones who brought sacrifices. The holy place only allowed the priests to enter and the Holy of Holies allowed only the high priest to go into once a year. But now Jesus has torn the veil and all go in and worship God. There are no more barriers once we come to Jesus and believe. Our traditional forms of worship sometimes stop us from being spontaneous and real. They stop us from really worshipping as God wants us to because we think others will disapprove. They keep us locked into doing things in the same old way and prevent us from drawing closer to Him. Sometimes we are too afraid of being real and asking for help because we think we should just rely on Him. Or we just go through the motions and our hearts are not in it. We become self-absorbed or focus on other things instead. We forget whose we are and why we are here and what He wants us to do. The temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb because it is in heaven where He reigns and rules. it is the place Jesus talked about in John. It is the place where we will finally see Him as He is. Where the sun and moon will no longer be needed because He will be our light and there will be no more darkness. There will be no barriers anymore and no restraints. For we will be with Him forever and ever and praise His wonderful name. Now is the time we should prepare our hearts and get ready for that dahy.

I led my daughter to the Lord when she was younger and now she is in her own ministry helping others to be free. I am a poet and have written poems and read them in church to encourage others. I am trying to help others in need as much as I can and I try to witness to others; but not as much as I should. I mentioned about my faith to someone on the senior bus last year and I even mentioned to my new counselor that I read the Bible and pray and try to witness. I know I still can do better with God's help. I am an Ambassador of the Lamb wherever I go or whoever I meet. I have a responsibility to tell others about Him and to conduct myself so that I bring no shame on His name. That whatever I say will be something that is good and lifts others up and makes them ask questions about what I believe.

The New Jerusalem is the heavenly city coming down to earth. It is a picture of the Lamb, Jesus, and His bride the church. The Bride is the City in the same way that the Church is the temple of God. Here the redeemed will reside with the one who redeemed them and made them spotless. Here nothing that is sinful or defiled shall enter the gates. The Bride, the church, is finally coming down to be united with her husband, Jesus Christ. This is the place that He will create for her to live with Him. A place where there is no more sadness, pain, death or tears anymore or sickness or evil. God's plan is for all the redeemed ones to be with Him in heaven. in this heavenly Jerusalem.

The records contain the deeds that were done by all the ones who rejected the Lord; whether they were good or evil. One had the deeds done and the other records the ones who are saved by the blood of the Lamb. Ones who are redeemed by His grace. It is fair because The lamb paid for all the sins we ever committed. We are clothed in His righteeousness. Jesus paid the price for all of us.