A Call To The Remnant

They have drunk of the water that flows from the Sanctuary of God, from the Well of Life, and from this have obtained a heart that cannot be comprehended by human mind or understanding. They have found that God helped them to bear the cross and they have overcome the bitterness of death. The fire of God burned in them. Their tabernacle was not here on the earth but was pitched in Eternity, and they had foundation and certainty for their faith. Their faith blossomed as a lily, their faithfulness as a rose, thir piety and uprightness as flowers of God’s planting.

An Ancient Battle

There has been an ancient battle which will soon unveil itself once again. There are the genuine saints and then there are the religous, the people of the world. In the Reformation, Luther made a fatal mistake. He rejected the notion of a church of “believers,’ in favor of the State church. The State church gives aid and false comfort to the general population at large. It lulls them into a false sense of security, in effect it says “peace, peace, where there is no peace.”

The State church today is represented by the thousands of denominational and non-denominational churches. In the average church in America for instance, almost half of every congregation is divorced, yet the hirelings remain silent. Materialism and worldliness is rampant, yet again, silence. This modern church model is based on the Catholic model where the power lies in the hands of the priest, which we now call minister or pastor. It is true that he does not claim to turn the bread into the body of Jesus or the wine into His blood, but none-the less, the power resides within the one man, who relies on the people to put food on his table.

When this structure is swept away, then the genuine priesthood of believers will arise. This sleeping body of people will awake and walk in their giftings. Now Satan has always violently opposed the genuine witness of the the Lord Jesus here on this earth, and he has typically used the religious man and woman to do it, this tactic will not change. What now simmers under the surface, resentment of the religious man toward those who have a genuine faith and walk in the holiness of the Lord, will come boiling and bubbling to the surface and Satan will seek a “final solution, for the “Christian problem.” Yet, as the enemy comes in like a flood, so the Lord will raise up a standard, He will pour His Spirit out upon His children and they will walk in a biblical power that the world has not seen for a long time. The Lord always enables those that He calls, He equips us for what He calls us to do. And all of this is surely at the door. What will be the catalyst for this change? Only the Lord knows.

The Lord’s children, filled with the Holy Spirit, will have the same strength and dignity in death that all the saints have had down through the last 2000 years. We may think to ourselves “not me,” I would be afraid and cowardly, but let me tell you, that would be true in and of ourselves but it is the Spirit of the Living God within us that will help us “pass through the waters.”

Isa 43:1 But now so says Jehovah who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel; Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.

Isa 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; nor shall the flame kindle on you.

Isa 43:3 For I am Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for you.

Isa 43:4 Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you; therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life.

Isa 43:5 Fear not; for I am with you. I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west.

Isa 43:6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not keep back; bring My sons from far and My daughters from the ends of the earth;

Isa 43:7 everyone who is called by My name; for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

Isa 43:8 Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.

Isa 43:9 Let all the nations be brought together, and let the people be gathered; who among them can declare this and make us hear former things? Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is true.

Isa 43:10 You are My witnesses, says Jehovah, and My servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me no God was formed, nor shall there be after Me.

Isa 43:11 I, I am Jehovah; and there is none to save besides Me.

Isa 43:12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says Jehovah, that I am God.

Isa 43:13 Yea, before the day was, I am He; and no one delivers out of My hand; I will work, and who will reverse it?

How we stand in the face of adversity speaks to our salvation. Listen to what Paul says to the Philppians……..

Php 1:27 Only let your conduct be as becomes the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you, or else am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, striving together with one mind for the faith of the gospel,
Php 1:28 and terrified in nothing by your adversaries. For this is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.
Php 1:29 For to you it is given on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
Php 1:30 having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

The word translated terrified is a strong term that is used to describe a panicked horse. The courage that genuine Christians display when they are being persecuted is a proof of their salvation, not only to their tormentors but to the evil spirits that are the source behind the tormentors. When we walk in love and in confidence, when we are able, by the power of the Holy Spirit to stand fast in the midst of tribulation , then this is a “living proof,’ ( a legal term denoting proof obtained by an analysis of the facts) When they observe our conduct under persecution, they will be astonished by the power that is within us. Listen to how observers described how the martyrs who were killed by the catholic church and the reformed church conducted themselves, to the astonishment of their killers, who attributed their bravery to Satan………

“They have drunk of the water that flows from the Sanctuary of God, from the Well of Life, and from this have obtained a heart that cannot be comprehended by human mind or understanding. They have found that God helped them to bear the cross and they have overcome the bitterness of death. The fire of God burned in them. Their tabernacle was not here on the earth but was pitched in Eternity, and they had foundation and certainty for their faith. Their faith blossomed as a lily, their faithfulness as a rose, thir piety and uprightness as flowers of God’s planting.

The Angel of the Lord had swung his spear before them , so that the helmet of salvation, the golden shield of David, could not be wrested from them. They have heard the horn blown in Sion and have understood it- and on that accountthey have cast down all pain and martyrdom and not feared. Their Holy tempercounted the things valued by the world as a shadow, knowing greater things. They were trained by God, so that they knew nothing, sought nothing, willed nothing, loved nothing, but the eternal heavenly Good only. Therefore they had more patience in their sufferings than their enemies in inflicting them.”  (The Pilgrim Church)

This is , brothers and sisters, the kind of Spirit that will be poured out on the saints to equip them for the last days………….brother Frank