Judgement

Judgement

So often it seems that when God brings you to something, in this instance sharing about judgement, that the enemy is equally quick to bring you to a situation that will lead you to the perfect opportunity to either stand strong on the tenants of Christ or have actions make a lie of what your mouth says you believe.

No sooner did I send off yesterday's study - than I found myself slap in the middle of a situation which was painful, fighting the desire to stand in judgement and cause hurt to another.  I am way too emotionally entrenched in the situation to accurately assess my performance but my fervent prayer is that I allowed God to be fully God in the situation.

Onward we march my fellow soldiers!  In chapter 7 of the book of Matthew we find that God has given us the guidelines that we need in order to walk justly in wisdom.

Let's begin with a quick over view of the book of Matthew and the historical settings so that we can accurately discern all that we are reading.  Knowing that as we are diligent to seek His face, that He will reveal himself to us.

When we look at the over all structure of the book of Matthew, one can find much evidence as to the purpose of Matthew's writings.  The book of Matthew groups the teachings and the deeds of Jesus Christ into five divisions.  Five divisions were common in Judaism and may have been Matthew's way of showing Jesus as the fulfillment of the Law.

Prologue:  Chapters 1-2  Matthew shows that Jesus is the Messiah by linking Him with the promises made to Abraham and David.

First division:  Chapters 3-7  This contains the Sermon on the Mount and reveals Jesus' description of how people should live under God's reign.

Second division:  Chapters 8:1-11:1  Jesus' instructions to the disciples as He sends them out on their missionary journey.

Third division:  Chapters 11:2-13:52  Records several controversies which Jesus was involved in, seven parables describing some aspect of the kingdom of heaven, coupled with necessary human response.

Fourth division:  13:53-18:35  Concerns the conduct of believers within the context of Christian fellowship

Fifth division:  19:1-25:46  This narrates the final journey of Jesus and His climatic conflict with Judaism.

Remainder:  26:1-28:20  Shares the events and teachings pertaining to the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and the Lord's commission to the Church.

With the exception of the beginning and the end of the book, Matthew does not list events in Chronological order.   Instead it is written in such a manner as to show that in Jesus, Judaism finds the fulfillment of it's hopes.

With this background information, we are now firmly grounded to begin our journey into all that God has revealed for us regarding judgement.

As the morning unfolds in front of each of us, let us remember that God is standing with us through all that comes our way today.  We are strengthened by His might through His word.  There is nothing that comes our way, that has not been filtered through His love.

Blessings to you all, my friends.

katrina