Skip to main content

Against the Lord and Against His Anointed One


7 February, 2017

 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. (Psalm 2:2)


ANOINTED ONE

          When people suggested to David that he take advantage of the opportunity to kill Saul (who was, after all, trying to kill him) David rejected the idea, saying that Saul was the Lord's anointed. In fact, when someone who didn't kill King Saul told David that he had, David had him executed for his crime. The kings of Israel and later Judah were called "anointed." This royal psalm is one the texts of the Old Testament that is most often quoted in the New, including this passage being used in Acts 4 as Peter explained to the Jews about Jesus. The kings of the earth were considered to be Rome and Herod, and the rulers, the priests, Pharisees and Sadducees.
        It should be no surprise that passage is still true today. The kings and rulers, the nations and people rise up against the Anointed One and against His Word. We need to be careful not to ally ourselves with those who take their stand against the Anointed One. I know that there are wolves in sheep's clothing out there, but there are also wolves who no longer pretend to be anything other than wolves. They boo God, and openly attack Christianity and Judaism. I believe we need wisdom to discern which are wolves in sheep's clothing, but there are people who claim to be Christians who stand with undisguised wolves and join them in attacking the Anointed One and His bride and in rejecting Scripture. 
       We are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 5:43.) In fact, we're supposed to go beyond that to loving our enemies and praying for those who hate us (Matthew 5:44.) We are also told "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world." (I John 2:15-16) There's more: "You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." (James 4:4) This is an area in which we need to pray for wisdom and to watch with vigilance.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more