Isa 1:9Β 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.
Job 1:8Β And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one that fears God, and shuns evil?Β
Satan hated Job. He hated Job because he knew what God thought about His servant. God thinks about His sons and daughters the same way He thought about Job. Satan also hated Job because Job was indeed what the Lord had said about him. He was happy in his service to God, content to be a servant of the most high God. Pleased to be pleasing to God. Job was everything that Satan was not. And so, if you walk with God with purity of heart you will indeed incur the wrath of the enemy or those in his employment. They will hate your joy for they have none. They will hate your sincerity and your purity for they have none. Your witness of the righteousness of God reflects upon their unrighteousness.
If you study the Salem witch trials, many of those accused were the Godliest women in the villages. Oh how Satan and the wicked hate the man or the woman of God. Hated by the darkness because the light in you highlights the darkness in them. It is our role brothers and sisters. Our righteousness in Christ reflects upon the wickedness of this world. And as the world grows darker and more bold, then so we, the Light of this world (for Christ dwells in us) shall be tried and tested. The stripping away. The tearing down. Until all there is left is the truth. And the truth is this, that in the eyes of God we are blameless and we love Him even at the loss of all things. A total refutation of the lie that dared to be uttered before the throne. God is true and all men and devils are liars. Let the truth in your life stand brothers and sisters, for in this, we are a witness, which is what we were called to be.
Act 20:29Β For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.Β
For almost four years, Paul warned, night and day, with tears, of the wolves that will come from outside of the Body of Christ, and those false prophets who would rise up within its ranks. From without and from within. The powers of hell and all of its fury would rise up in opposition to the children of God. If any saint thinks that this was just for that time, they would obviously be mistaken. In the last one hundred years, I would argue , the activity of the wolves and the false prophets have never been more active. Tearing away at the fabric of the truth, despising those who hold to it and warring against the Word of God. An all out assault on every front that has indeed led to the great falling away. Charismatic craziness. Word of faith, prosperity gospel, cheap grace. Adoption of the standards of the world. Dead denominationalism. And so the barrage rains down. In war, prior to an attack, there will be a bombardment from artillery. This is a sure sign to the soldiers that a full frontal attack is imminent. The bombardment was to soften them up.
The country of Israel have what is known as the iron dome. It is like a shield, a force field, that intercepts incoming missiles and stops them from reaching their target. We too, brothers and sisters, have such a defense. It is the truth. The Word of God. And when it is in place in our lives we are safe from the attacks of the enemy. Though lies and perversions rain down upon humanity and they are slowly destroyed by it, we who stand under the banner of faith and upon the solid ground of the truth, shall not be moved nor destroyed. When God struck the Egyptians with a darkness, a gross darkness that was so “thick,” that it could be felt, the Israelites had light in their dwellings. We too have light in our dwellings. The light of Christ that dwells in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. God has commanded light to shine forth from darkness. You are that light brothers and sisters. Through these earthen vessels light shall shine forth and rivers of living waters shall flow.
What are we intended to be? We are intended to be in our experience, in our spiritual life, in our presence here, a living proof that Jesus is the Son of God, not just declare this as a tenet of our faith and creed, but to be here as children of God growing up into Sonship (T.A.Sparks)
Is there a difference between those who declare the tenets of our faith and who agree upon the creeds, and those who are sons and daughters of God ? A living reality as opposed to a set of truths. The Galatians are a great example. Paul says to them “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another…………..but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any gospel to you than which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” This is intense. Paul is leaving no room for doubt. Anything other than Spirit led experiential transformation, is a gospel of works and is perverse and no gospel at all and those who teach it are accursed by God Himself.
The works of the law were being presented to the Galatians by those from Jerusalem. They had begun in the Spirit but now they were resting on the flesh, the works of the law. Paul calls them fools who have been bewitched. In most of modern day Christendom it is not the works of the Jewish law that bewitches men, although there are whole sects of folks who will tell you that you must keep the law and the feasts and so on. No, it is our own mental assent to orthodoxy that has replaced the living reality of sons and daughters of Christ. No experience necessary. A mental assent to a series of abstract truths is all that matters. This represents to the genuine believer today, what the Judaizers were to Paul and the saints. It is in conflict with the saints. It is amazing that the same truth can be what divides us. One is a living example of it, the other is a mere professor of it. And the one who professes it almost always resents and comes against the one who has been changed by it from the inside out.
How many times has it been said to you, in a resentful fashion, when you give your testimony of being born again “well, I never had any such experience, I just grew up in the church.” Or, if you relate any kind of supernatural experience and transformation there are any number of people who will resent you. Sparks says this ” our testimony must not be …I was brought up in a Christian home, and sent to Sunday school and taken to church and instructed in these things and given a sound Bible teaching. There has to be something more than that.” Of course, the something more is Christ Himself burning at the center of who are by the power of the Holy Spirit. We do not share abstract truth, we share a living experiential Jesus. Anyone can agree that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The devil himself knows that to be true. What the world needs to hear is a first hand account of the living Christ living in us, speaking to us, leading us and guiding us and changing us.
Brothers and sisters, we are a living proof of the risen Christ. We share with people who we know, not what we know. Now, can a man or a woman come to Christ by the Spirit of God and then fall away into mere orthodoxy, relying on the arm of the flesh to come to maturity? Yes indeed. Of course they never shall come to maturity. Teachers of every stripe will woo you away, they will want you to be zealous for them. Your church shall replace Jesus. Your pastor shall replace Jesus. Your favorite teacher will replace Jesus. Only by continuing on in the Spirit can you grow from mere babes in Christ into maturity and sons and daughters. Why is so much of Christendom stuck on the rudimentary elements, sharing milk week after week? It is because they have replaced the living reality of the Spirit of God with the mere orthodoxy of men. The orthodoxy and the truth of it is not the matter here, for genuine Spirit filled and Spirit led saints will be among the most orthodox people you will ever meet. The matter is being Spirit led.
The path of least resistance is to tick the boxes of orthodoxy without being a living reality of what that very orthodoxy teaches. It is one thing to believe that we have been called to be salt and light, it is quite another thing to actually be salt and light. You see the difference? Now apply that to every other aspect of what we believe. In order to live out what we believe we have to be led forward by a very real Holy Spirit. In almost every church up and down the land the folks are led, not by the Holy Spirit, but rather by men, who, for the most part will be teaching orthodox teaching of the basic kind. The systems of men has become another Gospel. It is like the sacraments in the Catholic church. Vacuous rituals devoid of any power. The words and the teachings and the sermons of much of Christendom, devoid of the actual power of the Holy Spirit, have become nothing more than sacramental activity, promising something without the power to deliver.
Sons and daughters of the Lord will always be in conflict with the merely religious. A mental assent is no match for a living reality. One has power and the other has a mere appearance. One is playing a character, the other is the real person. We used to say, back in the day, that there were no grandchildren in the Kingdom of God, only sons and daughters. Christendom has been swallowed up by the grandchildren. By osmosis and an accident of birth, there are millions of false professors all over the world and yet we know the words of Jesus from Matt 22 “many are called but few are chosen.” The many that are called prove themselves to be unworthy of the calling by the fact that they consider the calling a mere religious adornment. They busy themselves with the things of the world and disqualify themselves. Therefore, God finds for himself the few. He clothes them in righteousness and this clothing is worn to the marriage feast.
In the days to come, the divisions will become much deeper, much more apparent. The lifeless orthodox church will become more and more powerful as they ally themselves to the world and its system. It will reach its zenith in the one world system to come. The great whore church and the one world order will unite in an unholy alliance against the saints who shall refuse to acknowledge their authority and the authority if the evil one to come. The delusion shall be so great that only those sons and daughters, led by the Holy Spirit, will be able to see what the rest of the world cannot see or refuses to see. The marriage feast is coming brothers and sisters and only those clothed in the righteousness of God that is attained by the power of the Holy Spirit shall enter, the few. The many, in an attempt to save their lives here in this world, will lose their eternal lives in the world to come. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Act 18:6Β And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.Β
God will not always strive with men. I think we forget that in the days in which we live. Paul testified to the Jewish people in Corinth and they “opposed him and blasphemed.’ At this point he confronted them and told them clearly “your blood be upon your own heads, I am clean.” Let us observe two things from Acts 18. First Paul was “compelled,’ by the Spirit to share the Gospel with the Jewish population in Corinth. And after he was obedient to that calling, and the message was not only rejected but was rejected with blasphemy, the sharing was over. We are not called to promote blasphemy in men. Men have free will and have a perfect right to reject God. Then, Jesus Himself appears to Paul and tells him not to be silent. He was to preach the Gospel to those who would have ears to hear, the gentiles, and not to worry what the Jewish people would do to him. And what was the antidote to the obvious fear Paul must have had? “For I am with you.’ The presence of God gives us the courage to share the gospel where we are led to share.
The key thing, brothers and sisters is this. In the sharing of the Gospel we must walk in the presence of God and be led by His Spirit. We must know when to speak and who to speak to. We are certainly not called to continue to cast our pearls before swine and have God blasphemed. This may be the greatest challenge to the saints of our generation. We live in a day an age of unabashed wickedness. I would argue that we are living in a Romans chapter one age. What do I mean by that? There is a time when God can give a man up to his own “vile affections.” These two words in the Greek mean “infamous disgraceful passions.” I would further argue that we are living in such a time when a whole generation around the world have been given over to a reprobate mind. This word reprobate in verse 28 of Romans means ” worthless, castaway, rejected.’ As with Paul, we must be led by the Spirit of God in everything we do and say, and not say, if this indeed is the direction of the Holy Spirit.
The marvelous thing about being led by the Spirit is the direction, oftentimes precise direction. God may well have you share with someone who appears to be the vilest of all, yet God alone knows the hearts of men which is why we must be able to say “He is with me.” We must be able to hear His still small voice. We must believe that the steps of a righteous man are ordered of God. Speak to one man, “shake you garments,” over another man, God knows. Mat 10:14Β And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. That dust shall be as a witness to those who despise the Gospel and blaspheme it. The time is short brothers and sisters, with His presence and His direction, use the time that we have left wisely. The good news is for those who know they are sick, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Mark 2:17) Those who are righteous in their own eyes and have no need for a Saviour, shall not find the Lord.
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.
There is a tectonic shift taking place in the realms of spiritual darkness and the prophetic calendar. The plates and the under-girdings of the world as we know it are moving. I wrote last week about the word the Lord gave me about a singular disaster that is about to change everything. https://acalltotheremnant.com/2022/02/26/a-word-from-the-lord-a-singular-disaster/Β There is a new world order incubating, and following its birth it will come forth and be the deadliest enemy of the saints. All of the religions of the world will fall in line and form the great whore church.
In the run up to the WW1 we see rising and declining empires. When this happens huge wars typically follow. The 19th and 20th Century saw it all. There was the Napoleonic wars, where Napoleon sweeps across Europe, ultimately destroyed by the Russian winter. The American civil war where 600,000 were killed and slavery abolished. There was the Austrian Hungarian Empire (the old so called Holy Roman Empire) The Prussian and the Russian Empires. The British Empire of course and the Ottoman Turks. Towards the end of the 19th century we see many of these empires compete against each other while some were in decline and others were rising. At the same time the Industrial revolution was in full swing and science and technology were exploding. Automatic weapons of all kinds, and mechanized weapons were invented, and of course chemical warfare. All would be used in the coming war of the empires.
We face such a time once again. The empires are different yet in many ways still the same. We have what is left of the old Soviet Union. The Americans, The West and of course, China. Some are on the rise, well at least one. Most of the rest are in some stage of decline whether militarily, economically and certainly morally. A moral collapse has left them weak and vulnerable. We too in our age have seen a revolution, computers and technology has far outstripped anything that we saw in the last two centuries combined. Weapons of mass destruction and chemical weapons and biological weapons. InformationΒ has risen to dizzying heights as one of the greatest of all weapons of all. Yet, just like our ghosts from the past, we will use all the weapons at our disposal as well. It is what we do, we are fallen.
When the smoke clears and the plates stop shifting, this world will have given itself over to a reprobate mind. War shall be openly declared on the saints, not the religious, the saints. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations (Rev 13:7) Only those who walk in the Spirit will survive spiritually intact. They may be martyred, but they will pass through the fire with Jesus. In order to find gold in the earth a massive amount of earth has to be moved. It is referred to as overburden. Heaven and earth shall be moved and the saints will be brought forth. The great sifting and separating. Fires and floods, we shall walk through them all with Christ in us the hope of glory. Stand strong saints, in the power of His might. He is coming soon.
The ultimate judgement of God and the ruin of man is when God gives a person or nations up to their own uncleanness that flows from the lusts of their own hearts. They are consumed by their vile affections, so we are told in Romans chapter one. The morning has come for the nations and the day shall have its end. The rising sun of the morning casts a light upon their corruption. It is clearly seen. No longer is it hidden in the shadows. It does not skulk in the dark recesses of the alleyways. Rather, it marches boldly down Main St. It celebrates its sin openly and brazenly and not content with that, compels others to bow before it and acknowledge it as their own.
A disaster, a singular disaster is at the door (Ezek 7:5) and it will effect all of the nations. It is the beginning of the end when this disaster strikes. God will not spare, the nations shall know that He is the God who strikes. Pride budded on the rod and now it has come into full bloom. There is no longer any pretense. God is wholly and fully rejected by the nations. Once they had for a pretense an honor of God but now the halls of their power, their institutions and all their ways have become corrupted. It is one thing to conspire in the shadows, it is quite another to break into open rebellion and raise an angry mocking fist at God. And therefore God will strike, He will rob the rebels of hope and they will be overtaken with fear. Their legs will not work under them for fear and they will not be able to run or stand and fight.
Men have always sought solace in the usual hiding places. They hide within the confines of their own bravery. In their pride they hide. In rebellion and hope for tomorrow they find their last stand,but they cannot stand from the God that can and will strip them of all of these things. They have put much stock in their wealth and their prosperity. They have built castle after castle with them. Yet one by one these castles will fall as the sanctuary of their wealth is taken from them. Up to this point it has been the solid ground upon which they stood, now the very ground beneath them shall give way. In that day it will be better to have “fields of corn rather than mines of gold.” Their gold will be useless to them.
Men seek no messenger to rebuke them of their sin rather they seek council from lying prophets who will tell them what they want to hear, for a price. And these prophets promise them peace but peace shall not come. Men have despised God with rebellion and mixture, mixture being a thing that God despises. Therefore in the coming days of their calamity there shall be no help from God for He is the author of that very calamity and those who speak against it speak against God. The kings of the world shall mourn and its princes shall be dismayed but they will not repent. Rather they shall turn on God’s remnant saints. This singular disaster shall usher in the days of the great tribulation. There shall be no pre-tribulation rapture. They shall make war on the saints and the saints shall be overcome as they fall into their hands (Rev 13:7)
Yet take comfort in this brothers and sisters, the Lord Himself shall be with us in the midst of the fire. Our tormentors shall look and see and know that Christ is in us and with us. The whole world shall look and see that Christ is in us. As we are martyred then we shall be a witness to the whole world. Those who endure to the end shall be saved. The world will witness Christ in us and their guilt shall be sealed. The Kingdom shall be demonstrated to all the world as a witness and then the end shall come (Matt 24:14)
A number of years ago I came across the story of the Decian persecution of Christians while I was doing research for a book I was writing. I did not include this in the book but it is interesting to consider the facts. Decian was the Roman Emperor in 250 ad. He issued an edict that required everyone in the Roman empire to perform a sacrifice. The sacrifice was to be made to the Roman gods, and also included a loyalty oath towards his rule as Emperor. (See above image) The sacrifice had to be carried out before a Roman magistrate who would then sign a certificate which would allow them to carry on with whatever business they were involved with. This certificate would enable them to buy or sell.
The particular region I was studying was Carthage. It was expected that there would be great resistance to this from the Christian community and indeed this was part of the motivation for the decree in the first place. Imprisonment and death were the penalties for those who refused to participate in the sacrifice. The Carthaginian authorities settled on the days that the city was to participate. They were totally taken by surprise by the large numbers of βChristians,β who rushed to βget their certificate.β They had to extend the time they had allotted for the sacrifices and certificate signing.
Out of the group that refused to be involved in sacrificing to gods, many were martyred, others were imprisoned and still others went into hiding. Interestingly, at the same time as this βempire wide,β persecution, a plague had broken out and was killing up to five thousand Romans per day. This only added to the hatred of Christians as they were deemed to be in some way responsible for this. And so, when this particular persecution ended, there was a great deal of tension between those who had stood their ground for Jesus and those who had capitulated in order to save themselves.
This was not the first time this had happened, nor would it be the last. The Diocletian persecution would be the most intense staring at around 300ad and last for around a decade. Again the spit would happen. A large majority would capitulate and deny the faith, the smaller minority would be killed, imprisoned or flee. When the smoke cleared from this latest persecution, the larger group that had capitulated to the state would be the group favored by Constantine. No surprise that the Emperor would choose the group who he could count on to bow the knee to him and the State. That group were the Catholics. The minority group, the group that had refused to hand over their scriptures to the State and to bow the knee, were known as βDonatists.β They refused to acknowledge anyone who had capitulated to Rome as a Christian. For this they were hunted down and killed.
I would just like to say that some things never change. There is and always has been a large group, a majority group, within the world that identifies itself as Christian, that will not βstand in the evil day.β It is such an evil day that separates the sheep from the goats. It is the storm that tests the foundations of the house. It is not what a man or woman calls themselves that counts for anything, it is who they actually are. Those who have received the love of the truth, who are genuinely born again, will stand in that day. They will be martyred, they will be imprisoned or they will flee. What they will not do, what they could never do, what they have never done, is to deny their Lord. As it was, so it always shall be until that glorious day when Christ returns.
2Co 6:1Β We then, as workers together with him, plead with you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.Β
Paul cries out to the Corinthians here in this portion of the letter. He starts the chapter by pleading with them not to receive the grace of God in vain. That is a very stern warning. You get the feeling Paul is about to really share with the Corinthians some very hard truths. He then describes the life of those who minister for the cause of Christ. Here is the list from verses 4-6. Tribulations, needs, distresses, stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labors, sleeplessness and fastings. Here is how we arm ourselves against such things according to Paul…..purity, knowledge, longsuffering, kindness, the Holy Spirit, sincere love, the word of truth, the power of God and by the armor of righteousness.
What a list brothers and sisters. What a description of what it means to follow the Lord and to suffer for His sake. And even although you will have honor in the Kingdom, you will be dis-honored here on earth. You will have a good report in the heavenlies, but in the world, an evil report. You will walk in truth but be known as deceivers. You will be unknown in this world yet well known in the Kingdom of God. It will appear as though you are dying due to your many tribulations, but you will be alive in Christ. Your situation may cause some to feel sorrow for you but you yourself will be rejoicing. It may appear that you are poor and have nothing but you enrich the saints in the Kingdom. It looks like you have nothing but you have gained eternal riches.
This is the path of the saints, few there are that find it. Paul urges us to have fellowship with like-minded people and not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion could light possibly have with darkness? The saints are the temple of the Living God and there can be no quarter given to idols. God has promised to “dwell in them and walk among them, I will be their God and they shall be my people.” In a world where the vast majority of those who attend assemblies are mere professors and identify themselves by their unrighteousness, we are told to “come out from among them and be separate and do not touch what is unclean says the Lord.” And to those who follow this command the promise of the Lord is that “I will be a Father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters.” Stand strong saints, for His grace in you is not in vain.
Dan 12:7 ….and when the power of the holy people have been completely shattered all these things shall be finished.
In Daniel chapter 12 we see the prophecy of the end times. by the angel. There will be a “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.” At the end of all of that there shall be a great deliverance for “everyone who is found written in the book.” Yet first there will be a “complete shattering.” The identifying aspects of this time, according to the angel is “many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase.” The phrase here used in the scriptures “to and from,” means to travel. So, a time when travel is greatly increased and knowledge is greatly increased. I would like to suggest that this is the time in which we live.
All of this prophecy takes place on a river bank. One angel on one side, the second angel on the other side and the “man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river.” This “man,” is certainly Christ. And the question asked of the Christ is “how long.” And we see that the sign of the end of the ages is much knowledge, much travel and a complete shattering of the holy people whose names are written in the book. The saints are the holy people. The book is the book of life and now is the season. In Matt 24:3 we hear this similar question asked of Jesus “Tell us when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age.” The disciples are asking this question of the man who they had personally saw walking above the waters.
And in verse nine Jesus says that they “will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you and you will be hated by all nations for my namesake.” In Rev 13:7 we are told that at the end of ages “it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them……….all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world.” The power of the holy people will be completely shattered. The devil shall prevail against them….for a time. In that time saints, this is when the faith that our lives are founded upon and the freedom that we have been granted, will be tested.
I am writing this to the overcomer’s. To the holy people of God.To those who will endure to the end, the very end. The wisdom of God shall cause you to “shine, like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.” (Dan 12:3) The man of Linen stood above the waters. The Lord Jesus stood above the waters. When the storm was raging and the waters very tumultuous, Christ was above it and He calls us to rise above the stormy waters in faith. It seems certain that Isaac would die and Abraham’s vision and promise from God would be shattered, but not so. It seemed certain that the Son of man was dead and buried and the promises of God dead and buried with Him, but not so. It will seem certain that the Holy people and the power of God is defeated, but not so. Wait, saints, wait…..wait….overcome….endure….be refined in the fires of affliction and shine like the stars in heaven, for the Son of man shall find faith on this earth when He returns.
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luk 18:7-8)
Isa 22:13 Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!
In the beginning of this chapter we see these first words “The burden against the Valley of vision.” What is this valley of vision? It is Jerusalem, surrounded by mountains and filled with prophets. A once bustling prosperous city, now quieted by the march of the Assyrians. The streets are no longer bustling with commerce, everyone has taken to their rooftops to contemplate their fate as the Assyrians devastate the surrounding regions and other nations. The valley of vision would soon become the valley of decision. What would they decide? Would they weep and mourn for the coming judgement or would they throw all caution to the wind and “eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” This is the cry of mockers down through the ages and when a nation or nations take up that mantle then the end is surely in sight.
Paul says in 1 Cor 15:32 “If the dead do not rise let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” If there is no resurrection, if there be no eternal life, if Christ was but a man who died, then this life and this life alone is all that matters. And if that were true then why would the inhabitants of the earth not make every attempt to live their best lives now? Can I argue dear saint that this is exactly the state of the world? And what a great tragedy that in a nation of vision, meaning a nation that knows the truth, that has been taught the truth, that has indeed been blessed by the truth, that this very nation would be the foremost nation in eating and drinking and being merry for they see no eternal tomorrow.
Isa 22:2 “Your slain men are not slain by the sword.” Imagine the horror of being dead but not being dead. It is said that the brave man dies one but the coward dies a thousand times. Our nation is a nation of slain men. Fear stalks the streets. A virus has shut down our commerce andour industry but its not really the virus at all that has shut the wheels of commerce down, it is the fear that stalks men’s hearts, they die every day. Cowards led by cowards. Men without faith, men given over to the world, men who should know better. The Assyrians drew ever closer to Jerusalem and commerce began to dry up and food became scarce in the cities. Can you see it saints? Can you see the hearts of men today?
Now after all of this men should contemplate their fate. They should call out to God. They should fall on their faces in mourning and weeping and repentance. The should decide. They have the Word, they have the Truth among them, now, shall they weep? God calls for weeping and for mourning but strangely He hears joy and gladness. Not the joy and gladness of a people at rest and at peace with God, but the kind of joy that comes when men have thrown of God and made a decision about their fate. They shall eat, they shall drink and the drink will cause the fool to be merry even as that same fool stands under the shadow of the gathering clouds.
Joel 2:1 Blow a ramΒs horn in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble. For the day of Jehovah comes, for it is near at hand.
So brothers and sisters, do likewise. Blow the trumpet. In JoelΒs day they lost everything to a devastating plague of locusts. Not an ordinary plague, a devastating supernatural plague designed to call the people to repentance. In the last 20 years we have seen 9/11, a tsunami that was unknown in our times or our history books, Hurricane Katrina and then a financial meltdown that took the world to the brink. We have had wars in the middle east and now a pandemic. In JoelΒs day they had just over 30 years before they were invaded and destroyed. They did not heed this warning from the prophet or even the judgment. They managed to get back on their feet again, just in time to be destroyed. We are laboring under the same illusion, just trying to get back to “normal.’ The decision is this. Weep and mourn and cry out to the Living God, or eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. You shall surely die for all men die, but the fool dies eternally.
Could the Chinese be the Assyrians? Could America be swept up in civil war? I hear the howls of protest. “We have fortified our walls, we are too strong.” “We are far too sophisticated to ever again be destroyed by civil war.” Wrong on both accounts. There is no “fortifications,’ that cannot be brought down. Isa 19:14Β The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. Even now the hearts of Americans are turned on each other. How much more would it take for them to tear themselves apart? It is mere pride that says these things can never be. Think of how it staggered the minds of the Apostles to learn that not one stone would be left un-turned in the destruction of Jerusalem. And Jesus wept. It is better for men to weep over their own fate for in the weeping they may find a way back to God. But when God weeps for man……woe is man. Decide today whom you will serve.
Haggai 2:3a Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory?
Here we see in Haggai a reference to the “second,” temple, the one that would be rebuilt. The first temple had been destroyed and Israel was taken captive to Babylon. Now, several decades later, a “remnant,” had returned. When given the opportunity, about a third left the comfort and the relative luxury of Babylon to return to Jerusalem. They of course found the temple broken down and it was in their hearts to rebuild it. Most of them knew nothing of the glory of the temple in its original splendor. They had heard tales of course, but the reality of what they found and the hostile nature of the territory meant that for almost twenty years, little to no progress was made in the rebuilding of the temple. The people were too busy living their own lives and attending to their own house-holds to attend to the temple.
In our day, brothers and sisters, we too have a remnant. We too live in a hostile environment. We are often too busy to be invested in the Body of Christ, the true and living temple. Who among us can remember a day when you walked into a gathering and the presence of the Lord was so evident that you dare not speak, not even whisper? There was an “awareness,” of His glory. There was no need for dimmed lights and smoke machines. His presence compelled you to your knees. Nobody had to tell you to raise your hands, they simply took their rightful place, aloft and surrendered to the glory. There was a “holy heaviness,” where one could barely lift their heads. Tentatively a song would rise from a lowly saint and then the whole congregation would join in as waves of glory would wash over them until a word would come forward, a testimony, a scripture and the waves would continue to come.
The Lord says to the people of Haggai “so my Spirit remains among you, do not fear…..once more I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all the nations………and I will fill this temple with glory….the silver is Mine and the gold is Mine…..the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former….. and in this place I shall give peace.” (Haggai 6-9) God is raising up a temple here in these last days, a temple built without human hands and He shall fill this temple with such glory that it shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Out of this temple shall flow the knowledge of the glory of God. His peace shall rest upon His people even as they are surrounded by hostility. The greater glory of the Lord as manifested to men still remains to be seen. We, brothers and sisters, are living stones in that very temple. Rejoice and be glad today for the Bridegroom cometh for the Bride and the temple is being made ready.
A Call To The Remnant 