At this time, when we remember the Lord’s death and resurrection it is a good time to remember that we are called to love those who hate us, and love those who are lost in such a stormy sea of sin and blindness. While they are yet in their sin Christ loves them and has died for them. Even as our Lord was mocked and ridiculed as he walked the Via Dolorosa by those He had ministered to, those He had healed and fed and taught, He loved them. He could find no sympathy even on the cross for still they mocked Him. They tempted Him to save Himself but still He hung there until the very end, giving up His Spirit to the Father with love for those who mocked and killed Him. He broke the chains of hell and death and sin and robbed the grave of any victory.

As goes the Lord then so to we as we walk that same tortured walk, hated and despised and rejected by those who once called us friends. They even tried to crown Him King but He knew their hearts, they had crowned a Saul before, they knew what they wanted and it was not a suffering servant. As we follow this very same path then we enter into His sufferings. His cross was His victory. His death was His conquest. His resurrection was his crowning glory. Who will follow Christ our Lord? Christendom may be in flames of destruction but there is a fire of glory that is burning in the hearts of the saints of God. A fire that courses through their veins. What the enemy will imagine is his greatest victory as the glorious Church is handed over to him, is actually his ultimate downfall. It is the culmination of the Body of Christ, to have followed their Lord and Savior to a willing sacrifice in order to be a witness to His Word.

And God says to Satan “have you considered by Church, my own precious Body in the flesh in which I dwell? This is my own workmanship and I have reconciled them to myself and they love me with a love that gladly and willingly counts all things as loss that they may be found in me as I am in them. This is my glorious Church in whom I am well pleased.” And the mouth of Satan was closed for all eternity, that old accuser of the brethren, openly shamed by their willingness to be forsake all for the burning passion of their lives. Job may have sat and bemoaned the day that he was born. Yet Paul, representing the new man, having God Himself residing within His heart, now in the depths of the dungeon, whipped to within an inch of his life and one who should have been in the depths of despair, glorifies God and begins to sing His praises in the midnight watch. Oh glorious victory over the flesh, see what power falls from heaven and shakes the very foundation and sets the captives free. We too brothers and sisters will soon shake the whole world as the power of God falls upon His glorious Church in the very depths of persecution.

Since the time of Jesus and the Apostles men have come and built their kingdoms amongst the saints. For years Paul warned night and day of the wolves to come. It is the obligation of the saints to be, first and foremost, established and grounded in Christ and in Christ alone. All of us, for the most part, tend to take the path of least resistance. It is much easier to serve a man than to serve God. It is much easier to dwell in a man-made kingdom than it is to serve and walk in the Kingdom of God. Those who truly walk in His Kingdom are first and foremost lovers of the truth, they have received this love as a gift from God in response to a heart that genuinely seeks first His Kingdom and His righteousness. And so those who have received this gift become the greatest thorn in the flesh of those who would build their own kingdoms and have their own power structures. In the last 2000 years we have seen this in every generation. Whether it was saints in the dark ages who absolutely rejected what was known as the Eucharist as being the actual body of Christ or in another generation infant baptism or Popes, or purgatory and on and on.

In every age there have been saints who are a witness to the truth that burns like a raging fire in their bones to the exclusion of everything else including their families, their communities, their worldly possessions and even their very lives. Praise God that He has always raised up witnesses for the truth. In the coming days we shall see a glorious generation raised up in the very heart of the most intense persecuting refining fire. The one silver thread that connects these saints down through the ages is that they would not, under any circumstances, bow down to the gods of this world, large or small. Being fearful of God rather than of men is the most liberating aspect of the genuine saints walk in the Lord.

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