We had an ice storm last night. Roads, including main roads, are a sheet of ice, and many are closed. We will stay home, missing church services, reluctantly. Even the local (township) fire & police posted warnings on social media that essentially said "please stay off the roads". I see that our once home in NW Arkansas, definitely part of the South, was seeing a temperature of +6 degrees a little while ago, with ice and accidents and lines down. Part of that mythical "global warming" stuff. So we are staying in.
A week from today is Christmas Day, for most of us at least -- those of the Orthodox persuasions will celebrate it on the 7th of January -- which commemorates a major change in the world. And a week from then will be New Year's Day, 2017. It's been quite a year, only the Lord knows what 2017 will bring. But He is already there.
Yesterday's temperature got "up" to above the 40 degree point, with a low in the high 20's. That low will at the same time be warmer than the "high" of 25 predicted for this coming Wednesday. Sub-freezing highs just aren't that warm. I hate cold -- have you guessed that?
Dear Wife is "watching" the Beloved Great Niece tonight. Not generally done on Sundays, but the child's mom and dad are at the Christmas party for the business that they both work for (separate locations). Given the fact that their operations go on, 7 days a week, probably a Sunday afternoon is not a terrible time to have it. Does probably cut down -- some -- the opportunities for heavy duty alcohol consumption. Some.
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The Old Testament reading is the book of Jonah, all four chapters. One of those accounts that most of us have heard of. Nineveh, the city to which he was sent, is now a ruins near Mosul, Iraq. But at one time, it was a big place on the banks of the Tigris River in Mesopotamia, and part of the Assyrian Empire which was a major force in the region for a long time. By some accounts, the famed Hanging Gardens of Babylon were in fact located in Nineveh. It was a major worship center of the cult of Ishtar, and was a major part of the region as far back as 3000 B.C. by some accounts. It was also located on some major geologic fault lines, and earthquakes were part of the destruction.
Jonah 1
1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their
wickedness is come up before me.
3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the
presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going
to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go
with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
4 But the LORD sent out a great
wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that
the ship was like to be broken.
5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man
unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the
sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of
the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said
unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so
be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
7 And they said every one to his
fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause
this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
8 Then said they
unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us;
What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country?
and of what people art thou?
9 And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the
LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
10 Then were the
men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him. Why hast thou done this? For
the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had
told them. 11
Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be
calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
12 And he said unto them,
Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm
unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
13 Nevertheless
the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the
sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
14 Wherefore they cried unto the LORD,
and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish
for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O
LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.
15 So they look up Jonah, and cast him forth into
the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16 Then the men feared the LORD
exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.
17 Now the LORD had
prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly
of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 2
1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, 2
And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he
heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
3 For thou
hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods
compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, I am
cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
5 The waters
compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about,
the weeds were wrapped about my head.
6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains;
the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up
my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered
the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. 9
But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will
pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Jonah 3
1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 2
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the
preaching that I bid thee.
3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the
word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days'
journey. 4
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried,
and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
5 So the people of Nineveh
believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the
greatest of them even to the least of them.
6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh,
and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered
him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and
published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles,
saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let
them not feed, nor drink water:
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and
cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way,
and from the violence that is in their hands.
9 Who can tell if God will turn and
repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
10 And God saw their
works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the
evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
Jonah 4
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. 2
And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not
this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before
unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful,
slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
3 Therefore now,
O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me
to die than to live. 4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? 5
So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city,
and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he
might see what would become of the city.
6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made
it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to
deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
7 But God
prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the
gourd that it withered.
8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God
prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah,
that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better
for me to die than to live.
9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for
the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
10 Then said the LORD,
Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured,
neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a
night: 11 And
should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more then
sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand
and their left hand; and also much cattle?
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Our reading this evening from the New Testament is chapter 9 of the Revelation.
Revelation 9
1 And the
fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth:
and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2 And he opened the bottomless
pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great
furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of
the pit. 3
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them
was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them
that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green
thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of
God in their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but
that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the
torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek
death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall
flee from them. 7
And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto
battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their
faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their
teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates
of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of
many horses running to battle.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there
were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11 And they
had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose
name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his
name Apollyon. 12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. 13
And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of
the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the
trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river
Euphrates. 15
And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a
day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
16 And the number of
the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard
the number of them. 17
And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them,
having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the
heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths
issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
18 By these three was the third part of men
killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which
issued out of their mouths.
19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails:
for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them
they do hurt. 20
And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet
repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship
devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of
wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their
murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their
thefts.
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