Isa 63:3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
There comes a time in all our lives when there was no one in all the earth to help us. We are entirely alone and unless the hand of God moves in our favor then there is no hope to be found. Yet Christ alone is mighty in battle. The enemies that surrounded you, the enemies that surround you even now must reckon on the fact that your are His. He alone will deal with all of your enemies. Your ancient enemies in your own life may be anger or hatred and bitterness, long ago passed down from generation to generation. A family and a history of a family raised in chains and kept by cruel taskmasters. Yet Jesus hears the cries of the afflicted. He saw your affliction and He was mighty in battle to help those who will acknowledge their need of Him and who can see their own state.
There is coming a day soon enough when all of the Lord’s enemies shall be dealt with though it may seem that over the centuries they have been forgotten. God brings all things to justice in the end. He is a God of order and of righteousness. He is indeed long suffering with those who despise Him and mock and ridicule Him. It is entirely a blessing that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are above our thoughts. Yet despite all of that, there is a wine-press and the people of this world are indeed the grapes of wrath. Shall we find ourselves trodden underfoot by the King of Kings, or shall we be found at His side in that day? According to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses He should be praised. And of His mercies they are without number. Yet the world has abandoned You and hardened their hearts to Your ways.
Lord look down from heaven and see from Your holy habitation. See now the afflictions of your people and see their heart toward you. They cry out day and night for the day of your return. They long with all of their hearts to see Justice take its rightful place. Their hearts are indeed vexed like righteous Lot as he lived among a vile and unrepentant people. A people who even when blinded by the Angels of the Lord, still attempted to carry out their ever evil thoughts and desires. Are we not like Sodom Lord, are we not worse than Gomorrah? Truth lays trampled in our streets and righteousness has been banished to the alleyways and hidden places. Pride now marches down the main streets of our town and cities with their banners flying high, so proud of their utter rejection of You. Come Lord Jesus come we pray that your name may be lifted up and that all men may know that your are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and you alone deserve all the glory and praise of men’s hearts.
Isa 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
Imagine the overwhelming feelings of liberty and glory the Jewish people felt when they were released from captivity from Babylon to return home after seventy long years. Arise and shine for the light of liberty has risen above you and is calling you home. And the glory of God rests upon you. Now imagine if you will, a people not held captive for seventy years, but the whole world held captive from the day that Adam bit the apple. Thousands of years have past. Heaven itself closed, the way is barred. And onto this stage, from the glories of Heaven, steps Jesus. The light has come!!! The glory of God walks the earth. He proclaims liberty to those held captive all of their lives. The chains that held them are broken. The door that was locked is wide open. The grave has been rendered powerless.
We are that people brothers and sisters. We must arise and shine for the light has come into our lives and has set us free! We must arise and shine for all the world to see. Those who dwell in darkness and in prison, must now see that the glory of the Living God has risen. There may be a great darkness that has settled over this world but the Lord will arise over you and His glory shall be seen upon you. God has glorified the house of His Glory, we are that house. The gates of heaven are continually open to you, they shall not shut day or night. God has made you an eternal excellence, never forget that brothers and sisters, you are His excellent ones despite what that old liar may whisper in your ear. The walls of His temple are salvation and the gates of the temple are praise. We neither need the sun by day nor the moon by night, for He is an everlasting light to us. We walk by the light of the eternal sun. And the power of darkness is eternally undone. Now rise and shine brothers and sisters, for the glory of the Lord s risen and it has risen over you.
Isa 59:19 When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
What a tremendous promise from the Lord in His Word. Now there are two different ways this can be read given that there was no punctuation in Hebrew. It could read “When the enemy shall come in…….like a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” We often ask the Lord to flood our hearts or flood our lands will revival glory. Let the heavens be rent and pour down your mercy upon us. It’s a lovely thought, but it really does not fit the context of Isa chapter 59. The enemy has indeed come in like a flood and the saints have to raise up a standard. They face overwhelming odds and all seems lost. God will deliver His own. The Lord Jesus Christ will come again. The standard represents a flag. Every battalion has its colors, has its flags, and they flutter over every battle. Every tribe of Israel had a flag that represented who they were (Num 1:52) We the saints have our own flag and the emblem upon it is the cross. God lifted up His very own Standard, He lifted up the Lord Jesus on the cross for the deliverance of men’s souls.
The Standard separates men. It draws its own and they rally under it. The wicked reject this Standard.Their iniquities have separated them from god. His face is hidden from them because of their sin. They search for light but they find only darkness. They stumble at noonday as if it is dusk and the shades of grey overtake their minds as they grope along the wall headed towards a ditch. They have turned their backs on God, and righteousness stand afar off. For them, truth has fallen in the street. They are determined to hunt down everyone who has departed from evil and who have rallied under the Standard, the flag that represents Calvary. And when there is found no one to stand for God’s people, God comes. He pours out His Spirit upon us and He puts His words in our mouths. And the Spirit of the Living God shall not depart from us even as we march through the valley of the shadow of death. For the Lord our God walked this very path before we ever did. He broke the chains of hell and death and destroyed the power of sin. We stand eternally under the cross of Calvary where our Lord defeated all of hell’s fury. Stand today brothers and sisters, this is our call to arms.
Does the Lord dwell within a building or does He dwell within our hearts? A heart beats, it has chambers, it has blood that pumps through veins and travels to every part of the body bringing life sustaining oxygen. The Body, while complex and made up of many parts, is totally dependent upon the heart. To meet in the name of Jesus is to meet with saints who are identified by the character and the nature of Jesus. Every genuine saint has his or her place already set within the heart, within the body. The Lord Jesus Himself is building this body. Only that which belongs can enter into the system that the Lord is building. Our own natural bodies have an immune system that deals with anything that should not be there. To have a cohesive body, each part must belong there, must be placed there. There is an architect of this Body, this Temple, and His name is Jesus. Only He builds.
Many burning embers together create the potential for a great fire. Throw a log on one ember and it may catch fire after a while, throw a log onto many burning embers and it will catch fire right away. One fire, many embers greater light, greater heat. Now, gather a bunch of branches together with no fire and you will just have a bunch of branches. It could not call itself a fire for it clearly is without fire. Just because you call yourself a Christian and gather in the name of Jesus means nothing if you are not actually Christians. A bunch of dead wood is a bunch of dead wood. And for those who have built fires, they know that a fire can be smothered by piling a lot of material on top of it. The oxygen is choked out. If one hundred people gather and only ten are genuinely saved then the other 90 will not catch on fire, but the fire itself shall be smothered by the green wood.
This scripture where two or three are gathered in my name, is far more important than we know. To gather in the name of Jesus is a deeply spiritual thing for those who have been born again according to His Spirit, His character and His nature. The enemy has done his level best to dilute that to the point where any fire that existed would be smothered.Being a Christ follower means to bear the life of Christ in us. So, when two or three genuine Christ followers come together for the sole purpose of spirit being drawn unto spirit then there is a magnification that takes place. Like a magnifying glass that captures the light of the sun and turns it into something very potent, then the Holy Spirit takes the light that is within us, the two or the three or the however many and turns it into something very powerful. Darkness is the mere absence of light. It cannot be magnified. Take a thousand dark souls and gather them together and what do you have? Darkness. Take the light from two or three or one hundred or a thousand genuine saints , undiluted by the darkness of unbelievers and down comes the power of God in a unique way.
In these last days there is a purging going on. The genuine saints are being purged out of the gatherings by the Lord where the majority are not saved or are lukewarm. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. What fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion has light with darkness? Are you not the temple of the Living God? Therefore come out from among them says God. Be separate and touch not the unclean thing. In Revelations chapter two we see that the church in Ephesus hated the deeds of the Nicolations as did God. Not much is known about this group but it estimated that they were a group that took on the customs of the Romans in order to avoid persecution. The genuine saint resists the ways of the world, they do not embrace them. Yes it is costly and yes there is great loss involved. Yet what is any amount of loss amount to if we are found in Him?
We must gather together in ways that are ordered of God. We must walk according to the rhythm of Gods heart. We cannot walk to the beat of this world. Ember must find ember. There is fire in the heart of the saints. As the world closes in, we cannot yield simply because the congregation that we have always belonged to has yielded. This is everything being tested by God. In the end, where does your loyalties lie? Jesus is the Word is He not.? If you were invited to a get together somewhere but they said to you, do not bring your son, he is not welcome. Would you go? Would your heart not break for the rejection of your son? You certainly would not go where your child was not welcome. Should we go where Christ is not welcome? He is the Word. He is the way and the truth and the life. He must be the honored guest and the preeminent one at all of our gatherings. Whether two or two hundred. God is opening up a chasm. As the chasm widens, one must choose what side of the chasm we are committed to. Soon it becomes too wide. If you try and straddle both sides you will plummet into the chasm. Choose wisely who you gather with.
Isa 56:8 The Lord GOD who gathers the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.
What a fantastic promise the Lord makes here. He will gather the outcasts, He will gather the remnant, He will gather men and woman from every tribe and every tongue and every nation. Spartacus, a slave, a gladiator, rose up and with his slave army and took the might of the Roman army to the brink of destruction. Yet we are no slave army led by a slave. We are the army of the Lord and Jesus is our leader. He gathers around Himself the outcasts, the rejected, the overlooked. The weakest men from the weakest clans are His army. He raises up paupers to walk with Kings. He takes men and women from the ash heaps of life and He makes something very beautiful out of them. In Psalm 147:2-4 we see that “The Lord builds up Jerusalem, He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds and counts the number of the stars, He calls them all by name.” The number of His outcast army is innumerable but He knows them all by name. Great is the Lord and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite and He raises up the humble.
This outcast army, this royal priesthood, this holy nation, this special people as unto the Lord, are brought to His Holy mountain and they are made joyful in His house of prayer. A house of prayer brothers and sisters, His house shall be known as a house of prayer. And His glory shall cover it. His glory rises in the restored hearts of the outcasts, the rejected, the humbled, the remnant saints. And whether they are Jews or Greeks, whether they are slaves or free, they all have been made to drink into one Spirit and by this one Spirit they are baptized into one Body. One Body rises up. One unity comes forth. The one and only Christ is lifted up as a banner that flutters in the wind of the Spirit over the battle-field that is called life. Only one side can prevail. Only one side will prevail. What side shall we align ourselves with in this the great battle of eternity? Shall we stand under the banner of Christ and align ourselves with His outcast army? Or shall we align ourselves with the world, so sophisticated and enlightened in their own minds, mockers and ridiculers of the saints? There is one battle. One Christ. One army. One Truth. All else is but shades of gray walking in a darkened mist created by the world’s own vain imagination.
Seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. That scripture is a lovers call not a burdensome command. It calls us and woos us. It beckons us to come like the lover in the night in the song of Solomon. It caresses our hearts and our spirits. Shall we respond? Shall we walk with Him in the cool of the day? Shall we give ourselves to Him? Shall our hearts meet with His heart and shall we feel it burn within us? There are many distractions in this world, so many. Yet we must rise above them all. And we can rise, for we have been given wings that can spread out and catch the updrafts of His presence. He bids us come and it is His very presence that carries upwards, that carries us to the throne room itself. It is there, before the beauty of His Holiness, that we are changed forevermore. There before His glorious majesty that we are transformed. There before His resplendent glory that we are sanctified. It is there where all things are possible. Right there where very soon millions upon millions of saints from every tribe and every tongue and every nation shall cry with all that is within them, Holy, Holy, Holy, is our Lord God Almighty who sits upon the throne, who was, and is and forever shall be. Like a endless wheat field as far as the eye can see, moving as one like the waves of a vast ocean as the wind of the Spirit moves them in unison.
The term “quiet quitting,” is a relatively new term and for the most part, would be unknown to most baby-boomers. It is a phenomenon among today’s generation and its spreading quickly. In essence, quiet quitting means not going above and beyond at work. Showing up, ticking the necessary boxes, doing just enough to cover yourself and guarantee your salary. Notions of loyalty and ambition to climb the corporate ladder are forgone in favor of pursuing that which personally fulfills you. Now some may say that this describes lazy workers that have been among us in every generation, those who do just enough to get by. That may be true of some of the quiet quitters, yet our younger generations have grown up in ease and they expect that their personal ambitions and desires should be fulfilled.
Is this what decadence looks like? We are far removed from the pre-war generation who lived through a decade of dire poverty and want. Who then passed on their attitudes to the baby-boomers and they in turn lived them out to a lesser degree but who wanted much more for their children and grandchildren. The faint echos of a bygone age are now drowned out by the aspirations of the decadent who are on the march, not helped by the fact that they are just about to inherit the greatest fortune every gathered by any generation in the history of the world. Perhaps if we knew just a little more about the Fall of Rome we would be able to see our own rapid decline in the luxurious desires of a generation that knows little if anything about struggle?
What puts steel in the backbone of any generation is a certain amount of suffering, the experience of doing without. The desire to rise up above unfavorable circumstances builds in men and women something of what we saw in “the greatest generation.” They came out of the farms, many of which had been ruined by the dust bowl, and they came out of the mean cities where one had to really compete just to put a roof over the head and food on the table. These circumstance gave us the strength to overcome the axis powers of evil and save civilization. There were no safe spaces on the battle-field. No special toilets for those who were confused about their gender. They did not have the luxury of quiet quitting. Everything was put on the line and many paid the ultimate price.
In the church today, Christendom is full of quiet quitters. Those who do just enough to get by. Who show up to a service and tick the box. Who have desires and aspirations quite apart from serving God. Who would claim that they are just not being fulfilled by their life. Who would be horrified at the prospect of suffering for the cause of Christ. Who would perhaps curse God because of great loss. Where are the warriors for Christ? Where is the Church militant? Is there any cause worth dying for in a generation that only sees God as a means to an end? Where is the generation of the cross? Where are the people who willingly step forward to go above and beyond their own selfish desires and whose highest ambition is to serve God on this battlefield of life? If your fulfillment in this life is more important to you than the job that the Lord has assigned you, and you are a quiet quitter, then is it any wonder that we live our lives in shades of grey? Chasing rainbows rather than seeking God is a sure sign that you are an entrenched quiet quitter in the spiritual walk of life.
Today we are being driven by the form and not the substance. Jesus is the substance. Jesus is the primary object. Jesus is the preeminent one. Without Him high and lifted up, front and center, without His presence in our midst we only have a form. A religious structure built by human hands to house our own desires. We have abandoned the real Jesus and constructed another Jesus. This other Jesus serves us. He serves our needs and desires, he entertains us through his creators. This other Jesus has never carried a cross nor does he require his followers to carry one either.
This cultural Jesus is a mere reflection of his adherents. He never judges, he never corrects. He has no particular requirements. He is a genie in a bottle even although they vigorously rub and he never appears. He does not walk with them, they walk alone. He does not talk to them, they merely engage their own imaginations. He lies to them through the prism of their souls. They hear him say peace and prosperity. He is a reflection of the better part of their natures and they do not realize that the better part of their natures is like filthy rags to the true and living God.
If these people ever actually encountered the true and the living Christ He would devastate them and upturn their lives. Everything they know or thought they knew would come crashing down. A God who judges? Hear the screams. A God who calls them to enter into His sufferings? Hear the wails. A God who requires their whole lives, their whole hearts, their whole allegiances? They writhe in agony. The flesh that refuses to die is enmity to God. He bids that flesh to voluntarily pick up its cross, the means of its own death. It shall surrender or it will rage against the author of the cross.
The narrow path never deviates as it winds its way home. It is fraught with danger. It slowly strips away all of the baggage that we took with us for our journey. It tears away at the flesh and passes through refining fires and floods. It often winds it way through hot and arid deserts. The narrow path has many exits and every exist is a path of least resistance. As soon as one steps onto it one can hear the haunting intoxicating sound of the siren call as it draws that one away from the narrow path.
For those who stay the course and stay on the narrow path, every so often, always suddenly, the Lord comes to us. He reminds us that we are His, He encourages us. He bids us look down and see that the path itself is the Word of God and that the path lights up and directs us in the way that we should go. We are instructed to turn neither to the left nor to the right. The Lord embraces us in His love and His kindness.
He heals our wounds, He tenderly touches our weary hearts. He feeds the deepest parts of us and sustains us for the journey. He restores the brokenhearted and gives strength to the weary. He gives us hope when there seems to be no hope. He gives us joy when there is nothing at all to be joyful about. He gives us a garment of praise and takes away a heavy spirit. He bids us to lift up our eyes and see the celestial city, from where our help comes from. Stay the course brothers and sisters. Stand fast in the time of our vexation. Our Lord is coming soon and our journey will be at an end.
Isa 42:10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Who shall we sing unto? Shall we not sing unto the Lord of Hosts? To the one who created and stretches out all of the heavens. He spreads forth the earth and and gives breath to the people on it. He calls us to righteousness and gives us His Spirit. He has called us as a Covenant people. He has created us to be a light unto the world. We are to speak to those who are blind and watch the scales fall from their eyes. We are to call out to the lame and the broken that they may be whole again. To the dead we cry out “come forth,” and the dead of this world are reborn. He has given us His glory and He gives it to no other. The glory of Christ rests upon His people, we dwell in it. The former things have come to pass and behold all things are new. We sing a new song unto the God of Glory.
God’s people have been called to shout His glory from the rooftops. From the mountaintops. From the valleys and the coast-lands. Praise Him in the morning for His goodness. Praise Him in the noonday for His marvelous grace. Praise Him in the midst of the setting sun for His magnificent love. Praise Him in the night-watches for His great faithfulness. Praise Him when the sun rises again for His mercy never ends. There is so much strength in the praises of His people. He inhabits them just as He inhabits us. When the praises of God rises up like a phoenix form the ashes of our circumstances then beauty comes forth like the noonday sun. The beauty of His holiness is magnified in the praises of His people. Obedient people. In order to serve the Lord most High and be a demonstration of His magnificence on the earth, we must be an obedient people.
This obedience is our demonstration to a sick and dying world that there is a pathway to this God that we praise. As each man and woman of the world do that which is right in their own eyes, it merely promotes gross darkness. Our obedience to the Lord is the antidote to the darkness of the world. If the blind are to see through the darkness, that darkness must be illuminated by God’s obedient servants. The new song that we sing is the song of the humble servant who has fallen in love with His Master. This love is the fountainhead of all obedience. Bond-servants who shall sing unto the ends of the earth of the One that they love. Of the One who died for them. Of the One they gladly gave up their own lives for. Sing it today brothers and sisters, Sing it loud. The world we live in boasts loudly in the pride they have for their lifestyles, let us, who actually have something to boast about boast about it louder. Shout it from the rooftops, shout glory to God, glory to God in the highest. Let the world hear our new song, the song of our very lives which marches to every beat of our brand new hearts.
Isa 30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction.
Who is the Lord talking to and what is this bread and water? In verse 17 we see a winnowing, a falling away of what is not of God and what are we left with? A remnant left as a beacon upon a mountain and a banner upon a hill. There is one thing about a beacon that shines out from a mountain, everyone can see it. God will be very gracious to those who are left when all others have fled. Don’t we see that now in Christendom? Have the majority not fled to the world? Those who “wept for Jerusalem,” are the ones who are left. We see this in verse 19, the Lord Himself will gather up our tears. In Ezekiel chapter nine we read that the Lord says “And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.”
The remnant saints who bear the mark of God, are the beacons upon a mountain. We are God’s banner and it must be flown high above the battle-field, above the world. And even though the Lord gives us the bread of adversity and the waters of affliction, we shall flourish in the midst of it all. Adversity and afflictions are our teachers. Teachers have authority. We yield to God in the midst of them all for it is He that has given us these teachers for His own purposes. Do not think it a strange thing brothers and sisters that we must learn in this fashion. God scourges those He loves, does He not? It is our reaction to such scourgings that separate us as sons and daughters from the pretenders. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons; for what son is he whom the father does not chasten? But if you are without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons (Heb 12:7-8)
Brothers and sisters. In the end days that are ravaged by spiritual famine and drought, God has made provision. The waters that pours forth from our afflictions is the very thing that waters the seed. And this seed leads to the increase of bread throughout the land. “Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.” (Isa 30:23) Saints, we, who are sons and daughters of the King, are water to the thirst and bread to the hungry. All of this comes from our teachers, adversity and affliction. Are you suffering adversity, are you afflicted? Yield in the midst of the darkness of these teachers and see the light that shall forth. The whole world shall see the light that shines forth from God’s sons and daughters. The Lord will cause His glorious voice to heard.
Isa 29:18 And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
There is coming a day soon when even the “blind,” shall see beyond the obscurity of their lives and through the darkness of their wilful ignorance. They will see the hand of God move and they will be astonished. Perhaps the hosts in the heavens shall disappear in a moment of time, as if they were simply rolled up like a scroll. What would the willfully blind man make of that? Some, in that day will come to a right understanding of God. The Lords own people will rejoice to see a world discover that there is indeed a sovereign God. The world will be thrown into chaos as their dull eyes are open to see the signs and wonders in the heavens that the Lord is surely God and He is coming.
Out of the darkness the world shall see a great light. The Christ is coming. Such rejoicing in the hearts of the saints, weeping and gnashing of teeth from those who do not know Jesus. Even as these signs unfold, the wicked shall double down on their wickedness. What promotes joy in the hearts of the saints, promotes hatred in the hearts of those who are unsaved, such is their rebellion. One would imagine that the signs and the wonders of a coming Christ would make all the world fall down and worship Him. Alas it is not so. Even although their eyes shall have been opened, they shall fall back upon their willful blindness. A sinful rebellious life requires a sinful willful ignorance. The signs of the Son of man coming will prove the guilt of the world.
Very soon the field shall become more and more fruitful. The hearts of the saints shall rejoice and be glad at the signs of His coming. Even in the midst of great tribulation, when the enemy has indeed come in like a flood, the standard of God shall be raised very high. It shall flutter high above the battle-field for all the saints to see and to rally to. The standard that flutters in the wind of the Holy Spirit is the flag of victory. It has been raised. The battle may rage and soon become severe but we know that the victory is assured. Imagine being a soldier in an army in the midst of war who knows the outcome. What strength this would give him. We do not have to imagine this saints. We know the war and we know how it ends. Praise the Lord our God on high. On to victory saints, it belong to the Lord.
Isa 13:3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
There is a burden and it lies heavily upon the sanctified saints of the Lord. They see what is coming, as clearly as they see the sun setting, they know that the end is at hand. This burden of course causes the saint to finds rest in the Word. It may lay heavily upon them, but for those who ignore the burden of the Lord for what is to come it will crush them like a heavy load. The weapons God chooses to use are indignation. Much like David was indignant when he heard the giant mock the people of God, he chose a few smooth stones and ran towards the enemy. The saints of God are the smooth stones that bring down giants. Sanctified by the river, shaped only by the hand of God, they shall bring down all that exalts itself above God. The hearts of men shall fail them as they see the signs in the heavens of the Son of man approaching. The heavens shall be shaken and the earth will move out of her place as that terrible day approaches.
A banner is set up high on the mountain for all the world to see, it is the Lord’s standard. In the Old Testament God used the wicked as His “anointed ones.” This was a type. Now, when the Lord returns with His saints at His side and the dead in Christ shall rise and those who are still alive will join the heavenly hosts, the hearts of the whole world shall melt like wax in the presence of the Lord. God’s enemies shall be subdued and His peace shall break forth as the dawning of a brand new day. The lion shall lay down with the lamb. A child shall lead the lion and the leopard and the calf and the bear shall graze together. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And the saints shall dwell high on the mountain and exalt and praise the Lord and the whole earth will be filled with the praises of God.
Isa 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
In verse five we see Isaiah’s description. The whole head is sick. The whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot to the head, there is no soundness. Wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, they are open wounds for all to see. This is our world today, there is no soundness in it. There is no nation that has distinguished itself, they are all alike. The only thing that has averted all out disaster and ruin raining down on us like fire from heaven is the very small remnant of God’s people around the world. They are a gift to the world. The only light that presently exists is the light of remnant saints.
Christendom is a forsaken people, such has been their fall. Their house has been left to them desolate. Shall they be forgiven? Shall they humble themselves in the sight of the Lord? Is their coffers not full of silver and gold? Do they not worship the works of their own hands, in fact is not the work of their own hand all that they have? Isaiah says to such a people “Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty.” (Isa 2:4) Proud men shall cry out in terror and flee from the Glory of His majesty. The “very small remnant,” shall not flee from the Glory of His majesty, but rather they shall run into it and they shall be safe. His glory is their high tower. His majesty is their very life blood. His presence is their very existence.
He has stretched out the heavens like a curtain. His ministers are a flaming fire. The clouds are His chariots and He walks upon the wings of the wind. He looks upon the earth and it trembles, He hides His face and the whole world is troubled. His glory shall endure forever. His hand, for a moment, is stretched out to a undeserving people. Shall the haughty humble themselves? Shall they give up the works of their own hands? Shall they abandon the many centuries of tradition that has caused them to wander so far from the source of all life? They only life that exists is in Him. When He arises to shake the earthy mightily, and He will do so very soon, will He be a terror to you and will you flee from the glory of His majesty? Fall down now and live, or, enter into the rock and see if you can hide from the terror of the Lord to come.
1Ki 8:35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain,
Solomon prays to God for what is to come. He does not say “If the heavens are shut up.” He says “when heaven is shut up.” The inevitable nature of rebellious man is so predictable. Mankind, in its general state, does not change. Confessors of Jesus, in their general state, do not change. What do I mean by their general state? I mean when they forget God. When they forget where God took them from. When they forget that everything they have comes from the hand of God. When they forget that without God they are merely rebellious creatures. Drift away from God and see that the high tide of humanity comes roaring in and overwhelms you. I would argue, that this is the general state of Christendom today. Heaven is shut, there is no rain. There is a famine of the Word of God preached with power throughout the land. Men are dying of thirst and starving to death.
Solomon gives the remedy in verse 38-39 “when each one knows the plague of his own heart and spreads out his hands towards the temple, then hear in heaven, your dwelling place and forgive…” When each one knows the plague of his own heart. The definition of plague is “an epidemic disease that causes high mortality, pestilence.” If one has a plague in his heart, then you can be assured that the multitude are affected by this epidemic. We are in the midst of a plague, an epidemic. We are plagued by unbelief. We are plagued by lukewarmness. Much of those in Christendom are practical atheists. Practical adulterers. They say one thing, but they live as laws unto themselves. Solomon says “when each one knows.” One has to know their state in order to repent of it. There are no specific calls to repentance, for in doing that there would have to be an acknowledgement of sin and a heart riddled with plague. The pestilence of our age is worldliness.
Verse 47 “Yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent and make supplication to you in the land of those who took them captive…….and when they return to You with all of their hearts and with all of their souls in the land of their enemies……….forgive your people who have sinned against You.” Father in Heaven, hear the prayers of your saints in the land of their captivity, in the land where the heavens have been shut and famine and pestilence stalk the land and the hearts of those who profess your name are sickened. Hear from heaven Father and give us eyes to see the sickened and dying hearts that they may confess and repent to you and that you may heal them for your own names sake one last time. Glorify yourself Lord in all the earth. May Your glory cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
We are people of the Word, of the Spirit and who have a singular passion and His name is Jesus. We are the way and the faith and we are to be found everywhere, from every culture and from every color and from every background. A carved out people, called out of darkness into His marvelous light. Living a simple life of purity and total dedication to Jesus that cuts across cultural traits and transcends centuries of behaviors, it is the calling of the Spirit. We are sons of daughters brought to glory by the Kings of Kings.
This is what the enemy hates above all. Our calling from God. We, who were not a people, now sons and daughters of God in a mysterious royal priesthood. There are many pretenders. Many are called, few are chosen. Only something original and valuable is ever counterfeited. Satan has done some of his best work in counterfeiting the saints. Yet upon close inspection, his imposters (who do not know they are imposters, the best deception is when the deceived have no idea they are deceived) are lacking in two primary and absolutely vital aspects of genuine Christianity. Passion for Jesus, a grand obsession that eclipses everything else in life, and primarily , the Holy Spirit who gives such a passion.
It is not children that God is looking for, it is sons and daughters. We come as children, we grow into sons and daughters. He is looking for those who go on to maturity. He has no pleasure in those who turn back. No pleasure in those who start out with gladness but have no root and when the sun comes up, when the trials of life come, what little root they have withers in the shallow ground. No pleasure in those who get choked and caught up in the cares of this life and the desire for riches and they are without fruit. Yet there is good ground and God loves it. A ground that was no longer fallow, a ground that had the rocks and the stones and the clods removed. A ground that was tilled. Good servants, good soil, sons and daughters, much fruit.
The days are growing darker brothers and sisters. The great whore church is rising, stocked by the great falling away. The flesh wars against the spirit. The flesh has risen up to dizzying new heights and it is nearing its zenith. The time for all out war against the saints is at hand. We are people of the truth and the truth shall be the primary weapon. First to identify us and then to destroy us. Truth shall be banished and the lie shall be crowned in its place. All shall be made to worship the lie. Only the sons and daughters shall not. They shall never bow down to the gods of this world and the gods of this world are rising. They are corrupting our children and an army shall rise. A generation that shall be without natural affection. They shall be false accusers and fierce with it, totally sold out to their corruptions and they shall despise what is good. They will be proud and boastful and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God and all the time having a warped form of Godliness.
Yet, for the sons and daughters of God, it will be their finest hour. The same Spirit that burned in the hearts of the three Hebrew children burn in ours. We shall never bow down to the gods of this world and we shall experience the presence of God as we have never done before nor any generation that has proceeded us. Jesus shall be with us in the midst of the fire. He shall raise us up to higher ground as the enemy comes in like a flood. His banner shall fly and flutter in the wind of the Spirit over every bloody battle-field around the world and thus His glory shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. All the world shall witness this, the Kingdom of God in operation, so that they are without doubt and without excuse, and then comes the Son of Man in all His glory.
2Jn 1:4 I rejoiced greatly that I found some of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
In 2nd John 1:4 John says that he rejoiced greatly to have found some of the saints walking in the truth having received the commandment from God. In 3rd John 1:4 John says that he had no greater joy than to hear that his children were walking in the truth. Imagine that, the great Apostle’s greatest joy was the saints walking in the Truth. Why was this his greatest joy? John knew that if we walk in the Truth, then and only then will we make forward progress in the Kingdom, overcoming trial and temptation and becoming more like Jesus. Obedience is the key to this.
Imagine you are in a small boat in the middle of a vast ocean. You have no sail and you have no motor to power you. What will happen? Without the thrust of forward momentum you will drift. The power that will move you will be the current of the ocean. It will take you where it will take you. I want to suggest to you that without obedience to the Word of God and to the Holy Spirit you will not make any forward progress on your spiritual journey.
Obedience is the outboard motor that will propel your forward. The Holy Spirit is the fuel in the motor. Obedience is the raising of the sail that will catch the wind, the Holy Spirit is the wind that will propel you forward against the forces of the current.. How mature are you? How many weeks old are you in the Kingdom? We make forward progress in the Kingdom by prayerful obedience to the revealed will of God. What is the revealed will of God? First and foremost it is the Word of God, the Scriptures. Secondly it is the still small voice of God, the Holy Spirit. And of course, one will never contradict the other, there will always be perfect harmony between the Holy Spirit and the written Word of God. He is the author.
2Pe 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
We live in a day and age of false prophets and false teachers. They speak great swelling words from high and lofty pulpits. The Word of God represents the waters of life, yet these men are described as wells without water. Can you imagine something as useless as wells without water? They promise much but can deliver nothing. They are clouds carried on the wind. They are driven by their own passions and not the wind of the Spirit. Not only are they in error, but they spread error for their own dishonest gain. They are followed by people of like minded passions. Imagine a man who stands up and rebukes a virus and then has no shame when the virus continued on unabated? Great swelling words, devoid of all truth and life. Imagine a man who would tell “his people,” that a certain President would win and then has no shame when it does not come to pass?
The man or woman of God are wells with water. They are humble because they have been humbled. They reach the broken because they themselves were broken. They are tenderhearted because they have been the recipient of a great Love that they did not deserve. They are carried by the wind of the Holy Spirit. He drives them, He leads them, He guides them into all truth. He fills these broken vessels with living water and if flows through them. He fills them with the glory of God and it shines through every broken part of their humbled hearts. They comfort one another with the very comfort that they themselves were comforted with. Their words are not empty but rather they are full of life, the life of God. For the false teacher there is prepared the eternal blackness of darkness forever. For the child of God there is the eternal light and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Keep sharing the truth brothers and sister.
A Call To The Remnant 