A Call To The Remnant

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. (Mat 4:8-9)

In this encounter with Satan, this is the final test for Jesus in the desert. Look at what Satan wanted, this is what he wanted over and above all other things, he wanted authority over Jesus. He would gladly give him all the kingdoms of the world and all the glory that goes along with that if He would only bow the knee to him. Of course Jesus refused.

I want you to see something in this. Satan wanted the authority and the preeminence that belonged to God alone. This is the sin that Satan was guilty of, this is the genesis of pride, listen to his words……Isa 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:” You see, you can have everything this world has to offer if you will only bow to the authority of man which is ultimately the authority of Satan. This is where the struggle began and this has been the ancient struggle which will finally be dealt with at the return of Jesus.

The challenge to every saint in every age is what they do with established authority. Now they hated Jesus and Jesus told us if they hated Him then they would certainly hate us. Who would hate us? The rulers of this world, religious or otherwise. Why would they hate us? Jesus refused to bow His knee to the ruler of this world who is the ruler of rulers. Genuine saints have received the love of the truth and they abide in it and it has set them free. Those who perish and are deceived are those who would not receive the love of the truth.

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: (2Th 2:10-11)

Brothers and sisters, those who have received the love of the truth which is a gift from God are the persecuted saints down through the ages. They are the deadliest enemy of the father of lies. They will not bow the knee to him nor any of his emissaries even if they appear as an angel of light. This ancient battle of darkness against light started when Lucifer, in his mind, exalted himself above the throne of God and then would have Jesus bow down to him. There is a deadly fury of all of hell that comes against the one who refuses to bow to anyone other than Christ. It will culminate soon when all the world will bow down to the god of this world who is a pretender to the rightful throne of Christ. He will command all men everywhere to bow down to him, the saints will not. For they love the Truth more than they love their lives. When Jesus comes in all His glory then every knee will bow of those in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Consider now examples of this battle. Consider the three Hebrew children who stood firm against the most powerful man in all the earth, Nebuchadnezzar. They, with great boldness, refused to bow down to him. They told him that even if they perished in the fire they would never bow down to the gods of this world. That king was furious that his authority would be so brazenly challenged and made the fire seven times hotter. Jesus of course ,by his actions of cleaning out the temple of defilers and healing on the Sabbath and by his teachings, undermined the authority of the Pharisees, they ask Him by whose authority do you do these things? And they crucified Him. Believers in the first three hundred years in the Roman world had to acknowledge once a year that Caesar was a god. They would not. The notion that there was a higher authority than the iron rule of Rome would not be allowed to stand so they were killed in great numbers. They preferred death because the love of the Truth burned in their hearts and souls and they could not nor would not deny the Truth to save their lives.

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of our brothers and sisters died because they rejected the authority of priests and bishops and popes. They would not nor could not acknowledge their authority because the same Spirit that would not bow to Satan in the desert burned in them. Our Anabaptists brothers and sisters refused to bow to the Catholic church and the reformers because they loved the truth more than they loved their lives. They had discovered through the Word and the Spirit that baptism was for believers therefore they would not bow to the traditions or authority of men but rather the word of God and the Spirit of truth which they had received. You see brothers and sisters, this gift that we have received, this love of the truth is what ultimately saves us from deception. If we are to stand in that day we must have this love of the Truth, we must abide in it continually and those who do will walk free from the fear of a man and their authority. Jesus Himself answered the enemy with the Word of God by the power of the Spirit of God.

If you will love the Truth you will have trouble in this world. You will be hated and despised. You will reject the authority of every man whose authority is not of Christ our head. Christendom has many rulers and many who have set themselves up in authority but their authority is not the authority of Christ it is the traditions of men. As long as you bow to men you will may keep your position in this world, but , even for a moment, refuse to bow down to their authority and you will make yourself their deadliest enemy.

God is raising up a generation of saints who will not follow men. It must be so, for the great deceiver is almost upon us. His spirit has been in every age and he has deceived the great religions of the world, but now in the final ages he will himself come down to earth and inhabit a man. The remnant saints of Christ, rejected and despised by the world of religion, will have proven themselves faithful in not following a man but following and abiding in the Truth, no matter the cost. He who is faithful in the little things says the Lord, will be faithful in the large things. You cannot follow men in this world and then suppose that you will not follow the evil one when he comes. Jesus is preeminent in the lives of the saints and this preeminence will stand even unto death………bro Frank

Rev 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.