Daily Radio Bible - September 8th, 21

We're told that the number 666 is the number of a man. A lot has been written about this number, this beast. Three, six is a trinity of numbers. But it's an unholy trinity. It's man magnified, exalted in worshiped. It's a beastly reality and a stark contrast from the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, were told that great wisdom is required to understand what these numbers mean. And I don't pretend to have that kind of wisdom. But it seems to me that whether it's the Queen of Heaven that Jeremiah is confronting, or the multi headed dragon that John describes, the results are the same. When man is deceived by Satan, and by the lie of separation, we see destruction in its wake. And in Jeremiah's case, they refuse to believe that God was with them, that he would rescue them and give them life. So under that lie, they separated themselves from him, and his will for them. And they went to Egypt, a land of exile. And as we look back into the garden, we see that same pattern. Adam and Eve, believe that God is not with them, they separate themselves from him. And in their separation. They live in exile from the garden, over and over, through time, through history, this tragic pattern is lived out. In our blindness, we refuse to see God's presence and so we separate ourselves from him, the Triune God of life, and instead, we rely on the gods of our own making. And the results are the same. Satan's great strategy is never really varied, from the beginning in the garden, to this very moment that John is describing here. seeds of doubt are sown. God is not present. God is not with you, God is not for you. And so believing we are alone, that God is indifferent and uncaring. We go it alone. And we devise a way of life apart from God, from the Triune life of  love and flourishing that is waiting for all of us. The Psalmist tells us a different way, a way that leads to life, flourishing freedom. In verse nine in today's reading, oh God, we meditate on your unfailing love. Our God is like a fortified wall, a Citadel, a beacon. That's what our God is like, and we will continue to tell it to future generations. Psalm 48:9  

God is not separate from you. God is with you. That is the truth. Align your heart to His will and his purposes, his kingdom and not your own, renounced the lie of separation, embedded in that number 666. And worship the God who is with us, Emmanuel, the God of love. That's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family for my wife and my daughters and my son. And that's the prayer that I have for you. May it be so

You are loved!