This summer I have been reading the four gospels. At the moment I am in the Book of Acts. In Luke I noticed that Luke several times was saying that people came to Jesus to hear him and to be healed from their diseases. When Luke is recapturing what the gospel was all about, he is saying in Acts that it is about what Jesus began to do and to teach. Jesus was healing the sick and preaching the good news in the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Today I have read the exciting story of the two men walking to the village Emmaus, seven miles out of Jerusalem. They were talking about everything that had happened. They were quite confused and perplexed by what had taken place. It was certainly not in line with their expectations. They had been stirred by a prophetic hope and was looking forward to an imminent release of the people of God from the godless influence of the secular powers of society and a fulfilment of prophetic promises. But their hope had been shattered. They could not explain why things had turned out the way they had.

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I just been reading Luke 15 where Jesus is telling three parables, the story of the lost sheep, the story of the lost coin, the story of the lost son. But as I read it I discovered that the message of Jesus is not about losing, sheep, coin or a son, but about the loss of a caring heart, or rather the loss of a father-heart.

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As I was reading in the Gospel of Mark this morning one small sentence struck me. The last sentence of the first chapter really got me thinking. It is just a short summary of what happened as people got to know about the life and deeds of Jesus Christ. People from everywhere kept coming to him. What an attractive life!

People from everywhere kept coming to him because of the attractive life he lived in caring for people, healing the sick and delivering those who were oppressed by unclean spirits. People actually flocked to Jesus. He could not be seen in public without attracting a crowd.

I am not envying him have a crowd around him all the time, but I fully understand why people are attracted to him, as I myself is not only attracted to him, but have fully committed myself to him because of who he is. He is the Son of God and the Son of Man. He is the human expression of the divine love. He is unique in every possible way. He is my Saviour and my Lord. He has forgiven me all my sins. He has given me a new life. He makes me feel special. He makes me dream big dreams. And he lets my dreams come true!

He speaks to me and he listen to me. He loves me and he cares for me. He is always near, never too busy or far away. When no one takes notice of me, still he sees me. He sees my hurts and innermost feelings. He knows my struggles and the challenges I am facing. And I can come to him at any time! He always welcomes me, never turns me away.

I think that if we lived the same way Jesus lived our lives would be attractive as well. If we care for people and have some spiritual power that enables us to help people in their sufferings and challenges people would be attracted. When Jesus Christ lives in us we will an attractive life and be a blessing to many people.

God is saying through the prophet Malachi that heaven listen attentively when the righteous talk together. Not even is heaven listening with great joy and intensity, but the Scribes of heaven are writing down their names and everything the righteous say.

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After my last entry on prophetic judgment and salvation I read the book of the prophet Zephaniah. Once again I was struck by the close connection between judgment and salvation. Look at what God is saying through the prophet:

God is saying that he will pour out his fiercest anger and fury on the nations and devour all the earth by the fire of his jealousy. To me that seems like a total destruction. Who can survive his fierce anger when he devour the earth by his fire? My Norwegian version is actually saying that his fire will destroy the entire earth and make it desolate and empty. But by the grace of God he will not let anger and devouring fire be the end. In his anger God shows mercy!

Then, at this time of judgement, God is actually doing a redemptive work. His saving power is even at work in his acts of fierce anger. Through his judgements on the nations of the world and the work of his devouring fire on the earth God is actually purifying the peoples of the world and bringing them together in worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ.

The world is going to see more crisis occur and awful catastrophes take place in the days ahead. The fierce anger and fury of God will be seen i action in many realms of our societies. The fire of God's judgement will devour the entire earth. But the outcome will not be destruction. God works in redemptive ways in time of crisis. A lot of shaking will take place. Many dramatic changes will occur in the nations of the world. Many nations will face severe difficulties. Even the wealthiest nations of the world will be shaken in their foundations in these days. There will be uphealval and confusion in every area of life.

In this time of judgement God is bringing multitudes of people groups into his Kingdom. In the day of his devouring fire God is actually purifying the people. He is redeeming a holy people for his own glory. He is purifying the world by saving mulitudes of people from every area of society in every nation.

Therefore we pray with the prophet: God, in your wrath show mercy! Let your judgements bring redemption to a world in slavery to sin.

As I have been reading the books of the prophets over a long period of time, over and over again, it is dawning to me that there is a very close connection between judgement and salvation. All the prophets are warning the people of God that judgement is coming. They are describing the result of judgement in dramatic terms as if the earth is made empty and void with no survivors. They paint a very dark future because of the severe judgement of God that will come upon the nations of the world.

But the prophets have one more thing in common!

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We are living in exciting times. The Spirit of God is moving in new and unprecedented ways. From the four corners of the world we are receiving news of the movement of the Holy Spirit. And we Norwegians are not left out! Praise God, he is at work in Norway also! This morning at our weekly early prayer meeting we had lots of reports of what the Spirit  is doing among the believers in the covenant community. Young people are on fire for God. They are witnessing for their friends and they are functioning in spiritual gifts. New people are coming to Christ and are being baptised and discipled. Healing are taking place. The level of the power of God is rising among the believers.

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The palm tree occur many places in the Bible. Elim – the oasis with seventy palm trees and twelve springs of water is the first place it is mentioned (Exodus 15:27). One palm tree for each of the seventy elders and one spring of water for each tribe of Israel. The Bible
is saying that the righteous will flourish like a palm tree. There are many
things we may learn when we compare the righteous with the palm tree.

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