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The Prophets
| Bro Harry Manda (Kazembe, Zambia)
T
he books of the prophets from Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel to Zechariah
and Malachi cover several hundred years of
history. Their words weave through the lives
of an almost overwhelming number of kings,
governors, nations and people. Some sections
of the prophets speak clearly and easily to us
of the wonderful time to come when God?s
kingdom will be established here on the
earth.
Here are some well-known favourites:
?The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened
calf together, and a little child shall lead
them? (Isaiah 11:6).
?The wilderness and the dry land shall be
glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom
like the crocus and the ransomed of the Lord
shall return and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads?
(Isaiah 35:1,10).
?For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He
shall judge between many peoples, and shall
decide for strong nations far away, and they
shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks; nation
shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they make war any more?
(Micah 4:2-3).
Prophecies of Messiah also abound. Daniel
lays out the time periods involved until
Messiah would come. Micah tells us of the
birthplace of the one to be ruler in Israel.
Jeremiah reveals something of the devasta-
tion and loss in Bethlehem following his birth.
In the ?servant? chapters, Isaiah tells us much
of the sufferings and death that Messiah
would undergo. Zechariah gives us some
glimpses of the setting for his glorious return.
It is thrilling to see how these prophecies
were fulfilled in the life of the Lord Jesus,
and their full import hits us when we reflect
on the time differences between when they
were written and when he actually came.
Israel Are Led Out of Egypt
| Bro Joseph Onyango (Suna-Migori, Kenya)
?Y
ahweh went before them by day in a
pillar of cloud, to lead them on
their way, and by night in a pillar of fire,
to give them light that they may go by day
and by night? (Exodus 13:17). It happened
when Pharaoh had let the people go. But
God did not lead them by the way of the
land of the Philistines, although that way
was near. For God said, ?Lest perhaps the
people change their minds when they see
war and they return to Egypt, but God led
them around by the way of the wilderness
by the Red Sea, and the children of Israel
went up armed out of the land of Egypt? .
?For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, says
Yahweh. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways and my thoughts than your
thoughts? (Isaiah 55:8-9).
I don?t know the kind of problems you are
encountering at the moment, but from the
?Signs of the Times?, there are problems
galore. ?But know this, that in the last
days grievous times shall come? (2
Timothy 3:1).
Do we have to go back to Egypt because
of these perilous times? Remember the
way through the land of the Philistines
was near, but God chose the way of the
wilderness through the Red Sea.