Malachi 4 is the second reading. This chapter contains a warning for the wicked, but for the righteous this passage drips with wonderful promise of prosperity and blessing. This is the famous passage about turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and vice versa. The Sun of Righteousness will arise, and there are a number of things promised to those who fear the name of God:

• Healing
• Go out
• Grow fat
• overcome wicked

Whatever infirmities afflict us now, when the Sun of Righteousness arises, He will heal us. Whatever is keeping us bed-ridden will be done away with. We will have strength, and will “go out”. We will not be confined to our rooms, or our houses, or our churches, but we will go out into our neighborhoods, our cities, our states, our countries, our world. We will proclaim the good news, people will see us. City on a hill kind of exposure. We will not fear exposure, we will not have our light hidden under a bushel.
Then we will grow fat. We will prosper. God will bless us in our endeavors. We will succeed in business, we will not hunger or thirst for lack of provision. David said in Psalm 37:25 that he has never seen the righteous forsaken, or their descendants begging for bread. We will be prosperous, and will leave something for our kids! We will not just have enough for ourselves, but our grandchildren will be provided for.

Also, we will grow spiritually fat. I don’t mean soft, I mean healthily storing away energy for times of hardship. This does not mean that we can neglect our daily time with the Lord, and does not come against the mannah principle of needing daily sustenance from God. What this means is that we will have a wealth of understanding of who Christ is, and we can draw upon these reserves, a tree planted by the river, who always has the source of life right there. The leaves are always green, the fruit is borne in due season. When hardship comes, we can stand firm in our sure foundation, putting our confidence in Christ.

Lastly, we will overcome the wicked. Developing this spiritual depth (Deep calls to deep) will involve going to the secret place, seeking refuge in God. There is a place of refuge and rest in the storm, and the wicked will rage even more the closer into our refuge we go. But their raging is in vain, because we are in a safe place, dwelling under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91 talks about this hidden place, and also talks about how many dangers and trials are happening even as refuge is sought. A safe place in the middle of an even safer place is pointless. A strong tower in the middle of a garden is silly. God prepares a refuge in the presence of our enemies, right in the heart of the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23). The garden is in the strong tower.

Next up - 1 Kings 17

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Daniel 9:26 says that Messiah shall be “cut off”. 1 Kings 18:4 says that Jezebel “massacred” the prophets of the Lord. These are the same words in Hebrew, ??? which means to kill. I was reading some pages by Jewish rabbis explaining why Messiah could not be killed, and this flies in the face of that. It is clear from Daniel that Messiah will be massacred, or killed, or suffer the death penalty.

I’m reading 1 Kings 18 - an interesting thing about this chapter is that Obadiah had hidden 100 prophets of the LORD in a cave. He then told Elijah what he had done (1 Kings 18:13), and yet Elijah in verse 22 said “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD”… now maybe we can give Elijah the benefit of the doubt, and infer that he was referring to the fact that it was him against 450 prophets of Baal. But then tomorrow we’ll see in the next chapter (1 Kings 19:10) Elijah tells God that he is the only prophet left, not once, but twice (1 Kings 19:14). God gives him instructions on what to do next, including anointing a king and a successor prophet, and then gives him a gentle rebuke. God tells Elijah about the remnant, the 7,000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal. Elijah is far from alone, there are thousands who are faithful to God.

Edit: Yes - I know I got this out of order… I just couldn’t wait to post this, I was so excited about it. 1 Kings 19 is next.

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Ezekiel 16 was the passage that started out the fast. Oh my, this is full of powerful imagery!

It starts off with a description of Jerusalem as a baby: the product of a Hittite/Amorite union, born without compassion, a baby laying in the desert alone, no one to even cut the umbilical cord, still bloody and wet, loathed by the parents. The Lord says,

when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’

Oh how merciful is our God! How amazing is it, that He sees us not as we are, but as He desires us. He will form us into the image of Christ, He will change us into what He desires, one that reflects His beauty. Just as the moon has no light on her own, so we just reflect the glory of the Sun of Righteousness. He washed off her blood, and anointed her with oil. He caused her to thrive like a plant - He is extravagant! Jerusalem did not just live, but she thrived! He gave her the finest clothes, jewelry, adornment. She was beautiful, and famous for her beauty.

So God saw this little baby girl in the wilderness, struggling on her own, and spoke life to her. Even so, we need to also speak life to those around us. We need to prophecy life, that we may overcome this culture of death that surrounds us. Our nation is like the Hittite and Amorite parents that loathed the baby, throwing her out into the wilderness. We abort our children, causing them to pass through the fire. Oh, we need to repent! We need to repent for the sins of our nation, for the blood is crying out for justice from God! We must pray for His mercy, or we will feel His wrath. Daniel 9 goes into more detail about praying for our nation.

Ezekiel 22:30 says that God is looking for one man to stand in the gap for a nation. This is why we are fasting. We are coming together as a nation, that we may repent and beg for God to listen to us, to turn from His wrath.

There is so much more in Ezekiel 16… I don’t know how I could ever cover it all. It goes on to say how Jerusalem has played the harlot, but it’s worse, because Jerusalem didn’t charge for her services, but in fact paid for others to come to her. And these others abused Jerusalem - Oh how this hurt the heart of God! From Song of Solomon 8:6-7, we see that love is stronger than death, and that jealousy burns like fire, a vehement flame. Prov 6:34 says that jealousy is a husband’s fury… and so Jerusalem provoked the anger of God.

Skip to the end: God remembers His covenant. Did you hear that? Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth. How wonderful are the mercies of God! And then Jerusalem will remember what she has done, when her older and younger sisters come (I believe that’s us gentiles). Jerusalem is ashamed, and then God will provide an atonement for all Jerusalem has done. God will provide the atonement. The Messiah, the anointed one, will come and take the punishment. And this is how we know what love is, that Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.

Next time - Malachi 4

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During the upcoming fast, 40 Days for 40 Years, Raegan and I will be reading a couple passages daily:
Song of Solomon 8:6-7
Daniel 9

The Song of Solomon passage will help us focus on the lovesick nature of a fast bride longing for her bridegroom to return, and the Daniel passage is an excellent model of how to do an extended fast for a nation. Notice that Daniel repents of his personal sins, and also the sins of the nation.

At church we have been repenting from sins of our “fathers”, whether spiritual or natural. For instance, our church has a rocky start back in the 40’s and 50’s… there was some corruption and some adultery in high places. Now I was not even alive, and for some of that my parents weren’t even alive. So I could just try to say “I had nothing to do with it, so I won’t repent for it.” That’s pride. Daniel was around 15 when he was carried away to Babylon. I’m sure he didn’t have much to do with the circumstances that brought the Persian army to Jerusalem’s doorstep. But Daniel repented anyway. God sees us as a nation. God also exists outside of time. So we need to repent for the situations that affect us presently, and we need to have God snap us back into place. He can heal our past just as well as our future.

So I would encourage you to add these passages to your daily reading list. The first one is just two verses, just spend a couple minutes thinking about it and asking for God to enlighten you. The second passage is a little lengthier, but it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to read. There is a lot of meat in there, so take time to chew on it. I will do my best to keep a journal throughout this fast. You’re welcome to read along.

Edit: It looks like the official fast may have started on May 28th, which is curious to me as it means people will start eating again on July 7 (or do a 41 day fast). shrug I will be starting my fasting tonight. But I will still follow the reading schedule that I found through Randy Bohlender. Romans 14:5 says to let each be fully convinced in his own mind. I am fully convinced in my own mind.

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Fast for nation.

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