The Sword of the LORD

In the 28th chapter of Genesis, we find Jacob on the run from his brother Esau, who was seriously considering killing him because of the deception that Jacob used to secure their father's blessing. Jacob was forced to leave his home and his family to seek a wife, and a new life, in Haran, where his uncle Laban lived. On his journey, Jacob came to a place called Luz and camped for the night. As he slept, God gave him a dream. In the dream he saw a ladder that was set on the earth and reached to heaven. On the ladder were angels climbing up and down between heaven and earth. God Himself stood at the top of the ladder and said, "I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

"I will praise Thee: for Thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation." (Psalms 118:21) During the time of Elisha, a prophet of Israel, there was a woman of some means who lived in the village of Shunem, which was part of the tribe of Issachar. On his journeys around Israel, Elisha would often pass through this village as the Lord would direct him. On one of these occasions, this woman from Shunem stopped Elisha and constrained him to come to her home for a meal, and so it happened that, from that time forth, when Elisha would pass through town, he would stop at the woman's house to eat. After some time had passed, the Shunemmite woman said to her husband, "Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither." (

"The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." (Psalms 118:22) "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." (Isaiah 53:1-3) It is incredible to think that the very children of God, the Israelites, who searched the scriptures continually, and who looked for the signs of the coming of their Messiah, could miss His appearing altogether. Even when they were told plainly that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, they not only were blind to the facts and the prophecies, but they rejected Him co

Recently, my wife, Terry, and I had the pleasure of escaping the humdrum and driving to Columbus for dinner. We had a wonderful time enjoying one another's company and relishing some of our favorite foods. One thing that helped make the experience memorable was the server that took care of us. We have learned that the right server can make the difference between an enjoyable and a vexing time dining out. Believe me, we have had some bad servers before. There are those who serve your meal ok, but then don't show up again till it's time to settle the bill. It's too bad if you have dirty utensils, are missing something, or have a fly in your soup! I've had to flag down another server before to help us because ours couldn't be found. Then there are those "hoverers" who think that they aren't doing a good job if they don't check on you every five minutes, which would be alright if they did it unobtrusively; but they feel they must interrupt