Mike
Scriptures: Matthew 24: 6-8 Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 Ecclesiastes 3:11
At a time when the world is in the grip of a pandemic, with an average of 1.75 million cases of Covid 19/ Omicron per day happening around the world and almost 6000 deaths being recorded every twenty-four hours, why would one country attack another, causing almost 3 million women and children to flee their homes and become refugees in foreign countries?
As a believing Christian I greatly struggled with the concept of a war that, on the surface, cannot bring about any good. Even being well aware of the scripture in Matthew 24, where Jesus tells us that there will be wars and rumours of wars, nations will rise up against nations, there will be famines, pestilences, earthquakes and floods in places around the world, it is hard to grasp that all this could be just the beginning of sorrows.
Whilst pondering on the world’s desperate need for healing in body and spirit, I became aware of the verses in Ecclesiastes 3.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
It is evident from this passage that there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time for the harvest. A time to kill, and a time to heal, a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8)
One thing is certain, there is a time for everything, but is this always going to be good news? God has placed eternity in the human heart, but no one can fathom what God is doing. We don’t have a way to understand exactly why God allows what He does and at what time He will actually allow it.
We are left to trust Him to have all knowledge and to reveal what He thinks is necessary to reveal. We need to rest in the sure knowledge that all things have been set in motion, Jesus has purged our sins and has sat down on the right hand of the Father. Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
In these last days God does not leave any without hope. Through Malachi we are told that, for those that fear (or stands in awe of), His Name, the Sun of Righteousness will arise and will bring healing in His wings
In Malachi 4:2 the Hebrew word for wings is "kanaph" but it also means extremity, edge, border, corner, of a garment. So, Malachi 4:2 can be equally translated as:
"But for you who fear my name the Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in the fringes of His robe"
Jesus wore a Tunic or a full-length robe woven in one piece, which could also be called His Priestly Garment. We see the fulfilment of this prophesy when the woman with the issue of blood forced her way through the crowd to touch the hem of His robe. She had spent all that she had on doctors yet she came up behind Jesus, touched the edge of his garment, or the wings of His tunic, and immediately she was healed.
In Revelation we see a similar analogy at the end of age: Jesus Christ, the Tree of Life in the midst of the river, The leaves of the tree are at the extremity of the branches similar to the hem of the garment, but this time they are for the healing of the repentant nations.
Prayer: Father, we pray for Your healing to pour upon this ravaged world. Healing of sickness and the healing of Your Peace to fall upon all nations. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen