Don'e Forget God

 Greetings to  you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Romans 15:4 says, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”

     “Read any good books lately?”   I confess that I am not an avid reader as some people are.  I did rather well with Reader’s Digest Condensed books as I could get through them quicker.  I did have a collection of six books by Zane Grey which all had a “western” theme in them and they came wth a set of Funk and Wagnall’s Encyclopedias.  My reading habits now consist of the Bible and books about the Bible.  At my stage of life, this is about all that is important to me.  

     Adam Clarke says if the above passage, “This refers not only to the quotation from the 69th Psalm, but to all the Old Testament scriptures; for it can be to no other scriptures that the apostle alludes. And, from what he says here of them, we learn that God had not intended them merely for those generations in which they were first delivered, but for the instruction of all the succeeding generations of mankind.”  What is sad at times, is the account of the Jews in not keeping the commands of God.  I not only refer to the ten commandments, but also all of the laws of the feasts.  I was recently reading in Secon Chronicles about how the Nation and not kept the Passover for a number of years and how the Holy of Holies had to be cleaned out of items that were not supposed to be there.  Repairs had not been made for a number of years as the people begin to follow other gods  and worship idols that could do nothing in their lives.  What Romans teaches us is that he Old Testament was written for our learning as well as those that lived in the days in which it was written.  It is plain to see the reason why they were written for our learning.  The principles on which our worship stood have been forgotten.  Both Israel and Judah went eventually into captivity because of their disobedience.  What does that teach the people of the world today?    It makes no difference if it was life in the period of the judges or the periods of the kings.  Paul went on to say to Timothy that things were going to be bad in the last days as we read in Second Timothy 3:1-5.  We learn from the Old Testament about Noah and the condition of mankind in his day and we see in the New Testament that we will have the same conditions in today’s world.  The cries of the believers are going out today more and more.  Christians are speaking up and presenting the gospel   and mentioning the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and we can echo those cries with the words, “Even so come Lord Jesus.”  Praise God that the Second Coming of Christ is one day closer today than yesterday.