valerie For the oppressed people of our world, the words “Babylon is fallen!” declare the end of the dragon’s corruption (18:1–19:10). They are an announcement of the gospel itself. Not as an encouragement to delight in vengeance but as relief that the ache for justice is ended. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett
Before new Jerusalem descends to the earth, the debris, the rubble, and the garbage must be cleared away. The garbage dump of Revelation is a fiery pit where bad things burn up, and this fiery pit completely eliminates the way of the dragon, doing away with the dragon, the wild things, and Babylon itself. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett
Scripture
The Lord, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations, to the one who is servant of rulers: “Kings will stand at attention when you pass by. Princes will also bow low because of the Lord, the faithful one, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Observation
The Lord called the servant before he was born and made his words of judgement as sharp as a sword.
The Lord has commissioned him to bring Israel back to Himself, but more than this, he will be a light to the Gentiles and bring salvation to the ends of the earth. The one who is despised and rejected will be honoured by kings and princes.
The Lord will set free the captives and they will be His sheep.
Although Jerusalem feels forgotten by the Lord, He can no more forget them than a mother can forget her child. He has written its name on the palms of His hands.
All the world will know that the Lord is Saviour and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel.
Application
This chapter is at one of the Suffering Servant Songs that are unique to Isaiah, and which we can now see describe the Messiah, Jesus our Lord and Redeemer.
Jesus was rejected by the religious leaders of His day. He was despised and eventually crucified. They thought that death was the end of Him. Then He rose again!
Over the centuries, more and more people have come under the reign of King Jesus. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Kings, princes, presidents, and prime ministers bow before Him. They acknowledge that He is the true ruler of all nations and all people.
In many countries there are various attempts to control and muzzle the church. but no earthly ruler will ever control King Jesus.
Prayer
Jesus, you are the one who was rejected and despised. Now you are the King of all creation. Blessed is the name of is the name of the Lord. Amen.
The tragedy of the story is that some refuse the signs of God in the divine disciplines. Some of those in the nations “will walk” in the light that shines forth from the Lamb (21:24), while others will choose, as Pharaoh responded to the plagues in Egypt, not to repent and turn to God or to follow the Lamb and will therefore experience the judgement of God. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett
Myriads will enter the new Jerusalem—but not all humans will repent. In his vision of the new Jerusalem John says that some people—those who maintain their allegiance to the dragon—will be excluded. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett
The sermon for April 14th 2024 is now available on the New Life web site.
In this sermon, which is based on Acts 15:1-16 and 1 Corinthians 5:1-5, I talk about Threats to the Family of Love.
Click here to listen in your browser or download the mp3
By Jo Nova
Now we know that CO2 is aerial fertilizer and feeds the world, but this study highlights the crazy unscientific randomness of environmental policies chanted by the same people who say “follow the science”.
It turns out paper shopping bags produce five times as much CO2 over their lifetime as plastic HDPE bags do. Apparently, plastic bags might strangle a turtle, but in the mind of a dedicated Green, paper bags could be causing the sixth mass extinction. Oh the dilemma?
A new study in Environmental Science and Technology looked at 16 applications of plastics in modern life found that in 15 of them, the plastic version produced fewer emissions than the paper, concrete, steel, glass or aluminum sort. And these 16 applications accounted for about 90% of global plastic volume. It seems that with paper bags people often “double bag” their groceries because the bags are prone to breaking, and in the end, in landfill, the paper waste is degraded into methane.
Steven Hayward, Powerline
So we went and banned plastic straws and plastic bags in much of California and elsewhere because they are made from fossil fuels and a solitary turtle was once found snorting fentanyl through a plastic straw, or something. In any case, Greta/Gaia was displeased, so plastic products had to go.
Well guess what: the substitutes for plastic products mostly produce higher greenhouse gas emissions than plastic. Not by just a little but by a lot.
If the Greens gave a toss about CO2 emissions, you’d think they’d be pretty careful to make sure their own plans were not wrecking the planet. And, ipso facto, oops, if they did the wrong thing, you’d think they’d want to fix that like all life on Earth depended it? Unless, of course, they were attention seeking totalitarians who just wanted to boss people around for the sake of it?
This is not the first time studies like these have surfaced. We know from what the EcoWorriers won’t do, that they don’t give a damn about carbon emissions. It’s all a big show of virtue signalling, a grand theatre where they pretend to care, and their friends pretend to be impressed.
Only people who want to fry coral reefs would choose paper bags over plastic ones, eh?
Even though we don’t recycle PET bottles much, they produce one half the emissions of cans, and one third of the emissions of glass:
PET bottles have the lowest emissions impact because of their low weight and low energy intensity during production. In comparison, aluminum cans release twice the emissions of PET bottles, and glass bottles release three times the emissions. PET has the lowest recycling rate (Table S3) among the three alternative containers and the highest emissions when incinerated at end of life (WtE). However, in this case, the production stage dominates the overall emissions, and here, PET has a much lower impact than glass and aluminum (Figure S3).
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c05191
Could a member of Greenpeace even speak the words? PVC pipes are better for climate change (if you care about CO2):
Pet food in tins produces three times the emissions of pet food in little plastic pouch things:
Even plastic milk bottles produce less emissions than cartons do, and every little bit matters as they say:
Obviously Greens will be bragging about the plastic fuel tank in their hybrid cars, right?
…and their acrylic carpet. Save the whales, buy linoleum?
The whole study finds virtually no reason to swap plastic goods for something else:
We conclude that applying material substitution strategies to plastics never really makes sense. This is because plastics’ inherent properties─strong, lightweight, easy to shape, customizable, and comparatively low-GHG emissions─make it the preferred material for minimizing emissions across most products.
h/t Bally
REFERENCE
We believe more careful, nuanced thinking is needed to ascertain what is happening with the divine three times seven judgements in Revelation. These “judgments,” are perhaps better described as divine disciplines which establish justice, not vindictive judgments of retribution. The difference matters. These acts of God on the stage of history are not retributions or the venting of a divine spleen. They are acts of God with the purpose of transforming people. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett
New Life Narrabri 