1Sa 20:31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die.
We see here a complicated truth. What Saul says to Jonathan is actually true. Unless David dies, the kingdom of men, the kingdom of Saul, the future kingdom of Jonathan can never be truly established. There is enmity between what man wants and what God wants. They are diametrically opposed to one another. Jonathan sought to persuade his father on behalf of his beloved friend and it results in Saul now trying to kill his own son with a spear. The same spear, the same javelin, the same anger, the same rage that was all directed towards David, in a mere moment, was directed towards his own son. In the end it was never about David or Jonathan or even a kingdom, it was all about Saul. He cared more deeply about what people thought about him than he did about any other thing. Its the kingdom of self and many many men have destroyed everything around them in their worship of their own self destructive flesh.
Why is the cross so important? Why does it lie at the center of our faith? The reason? It is the one and only weapon that can take the flesh down. Jesus conquered the flesh on a cross. Jesus told His disciples that in order to follow Him, in order to be worthy of being His disciple, they must take up their cross daily. The battle against the flesh rages on. Its only means of death is a cross. Not a spear, not a javelin and not the weapons of this world. Our fight is against the flesh that raged within Saul. And on every occasion there is a lurking enemy ready to back up your flesh with very deliberate persuasive arguments as to why your flesh is correct. The sermon on the mount is the sword of God relentlessly and without mercy exposing and dispatching the real enemy. It slashes away at self preservation. It runs though self determination. It cuts asunder self promotion. It turns on its head self-ishness. All of this is useless to the man or woman who has not been born again. The dead man must be put in his grave and up from it must rise the man who is born again. Only he can walk the walk of the sermon on the mount.
Jesus says to Pilate “My kingdom is not of this world.” The kingdom of God is not established by men but rather it is established in the hearts of His saints. The Kingdom of God exists collectively and individually within us. There are forces that forever are trying to invade the Kingdom. They know what Saul knew. While there is a single “David,” that exists on the earth then the kingdom of men, the kingdom of darkness can never be established. And the tactic of the enemy has not, nor will it, change. It must eliminate the saints. It will not even be good enough to neutralize them from society and chase them into the wilderness. It will come looking for us in the wilderness. And it will look, for a time, times and a half a time to completely eradicate us. 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 ) Yet, we know, that the forces of darkness will fail. And just like Saul, the forces of darkness know it too. For the victory was already won on a day, 2000 years ago when Jesus announced “It is finished.”
In the last days the prophets of old still speak to us. None more so than the prophet Isaiah. The prophetic word of God echos down through the ages. It spoke to its first audience and it has continued to speak down through the corridors of time. God has always had a remnant in the land and in these last days they still remain. They have ears to hear what the Spirit says. God is still instructing His sons and daughters through the prophetic word from thousands of years ago. In Ecclesiastes we are told that “to everything there is a season.” We are further told that “He has put eternity in their hearts.”
The Lord our God is doing a work in this, the last season and He is calling out to His remnant saints, the ones who have eternity in their hearts, to come forth from the world and stand. Isaiah stepped forth and cried out with a loud voice “send me.” He took the prophetic words from God to a sinful Judah who were surrounded by sinful nations. Today there exists a sinful Christianity which is surrounded by a fallen world. Shall you stand? Can you hear? Can you see the fallen world and the state of the church? In Christ alone there is truth and we stand upon His word which never changes.
This book journey’s through many of the chapters of Isaiah that stood out to me. The Lord spoke to my spirit and I put pen to paper. As the world grows ever darker and shakes it angry fist, the prophetic word of God becomes all the more vital. What is God saying to His remnant saints? What is He saying to those who refuse to bow the knee to the gods of this world?
1Co 14:24 But if all prophesy, and if an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
Note the word “all”. Over and over we see the word all. And again in verse 31 we are told “for you can all prophesy that all may learn and all may be encouraged. Six times in two verses the Scriptures hammer home the truth “all.” Genuine saints are all priests in a royal priesthood. We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light! (1 Pet 2:9) All the saints have been called forth to cry out the praises of the One who called us out of darkness to show the world His marvelous light. We are His excellent ones. Specifically anointed to move under the manifestation of the Spirit and speak as He leads us to speak. And when we do as we are instructed to do , then, according to the Scriptures the unlearned or the unbeliever will fall down on his face and worship God because the secrets of his heart was revealed and he shall then reports to all that “God is truly among you.”
This is the plain reading of the scripture saints. To do it any other way is to be in direct conflict with God. To sit under the clergy/laity system is to directly violate the principles and the instructions here laid down by God Himself. What audacity to think we know better. The greatest injury perpetrated against the Church was robbing the Body of its fellowship, of its actual breaking of bread, its communion together. How it fellowshiped together, how it gathered together, how it worshiped together under the auspices of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, who oversaw, who hovered over all things, all of this was rejected by the professional clergy. To wait upon the Lord so that only He speaks, is the simple gathering of the brethren. Let us wait upon the Lord. Who shall He speak through? What shall He say? How will He encourage us? How will He discipline us? What song shall He have us to sing? The Holy Spirit knows all this and empowers all of this by being manifested among us through “all.” Not one man.
The devil himself has worked feverishly over the centuries through religious hands to tear down what is real and erect empty meaningless rituals that are then idolized. The modern day church is like a ship at sea that has lost its power and is now driven by the winds and the tides and the currents of the world. Lost and drifting, waiting to be swamped by the next big wave, the next modern thing, the next hellish doctrine of the world. And yet the true Body of believers are still operating under power, the power of the Holy Spirit manifesting Himself in our lives. The day is coming soon saints, when the pressures from a very hostile world will draw us back together. The weak will fall away, the feeble will fall away. Lovers of the world more than lovers of the Lord will fall away. Little by little the saints are being purged from the world and this is good, the hand of the Lord Himself is doing this. We shall come back together, and we shall worship as we have read in 1 Cor 14. The great persecution will soon be upon us but the gathering of the saints takes place at the same time. We shall truly be united in our sufferings and in the persecution. And there we shall find the same power that stopped the mouths of lions, that overcome the fiery furnace, that shook the prison and turned the whole world upside down.
1Co 14:37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
I will probably have a couple of devotionals on this chapter. I believe it to be one of the most important “chapters,” in the NT. Nowhere else do we have such a description of an early gathering service. Paul clearly states that what he is saying in regard to these matters is ” commandments of the Lord.” He further states that if you believe that you are a ” prophet or spiritual,”or leaders among the brethren then you must acknowledge the things of which he has just written about. And what has he just written about? He has just relayed to us “commandments of the Lord,” as to how a service should be conducted. To ignore Paul in this is to actually ignore God. He ends the chapter just as he begins it by saying “therefore brethren , desire earnestly to prophecy and do not forbid to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order.”
Before I begin to talk about the manifestation of the Spirit among us in the service, in all its many demonstrations, we must speak to the purpose of it all. The purpose of the manifestation of the Spirit among us in the service is primarily for edification. The word edification or to edify is mentioned five times in this one chapter. Those who come to Christ must be fed. We know that God Himself fed the children of Israel in the desert. Manna fell from heaven and water poured forth from the Rock. If it were not for the supernatural hand of God, all of the children of Israel would have starved in very short order or returned to Egypt. Now, in the NT God also feeds His children, and just as the children of Israel in the desert, we too shall die if He does not feed us or we shall turn to the world. We must be edified. He who prophecies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.( 1 Cor 14:3) For he who prophecies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets that the gathering may receive edification. (1 Cor 14:5) Even so, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the gathering. (1 Cor 14:12) Let all things be done for edification. (1 Cor 14:26)
So brothers and sisters, you see the clear purpose of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit among us as we gather. It is to edify us. To feed us, to build us up. To strengthen us. If we are not edified then we are not fed. If we reject the clear commandments of God then we are not fed. A intellect will not nourish your body, it needs to be fed spiritual food. God has, in His great wisdom, laid out how we shall be fed and from what source we shall be fed from. He is the source. He alone. We are not building up the intellect, we are strengthening the inner man. The spiritual man. And He can only be fed in the prescribed manner. Jesus says to the devil in the garden that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God. And so our singular source of spiritual food comes from the Word of God and the mouth of God. And how then does this happen? By the manifestation of the Spirit in our midst when we gather. He edifies through the prophet. He edifies through the word of knowledge. He edifies through the word of wisdom. He edifies through the interpreted tongue. He edifies through the Word. He edifies through a teaching. He edifies us in worship as we sing praises unto Him. In all these things, and more, He speaks to us and His words are life. They feed the deepest parts of who we are that we may rise up and be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. It is by His Spirit alone we are fed. To reject this is to starve.
Isa 40:4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth.
In the previous verse we see that the prophet, not just this prophet, but the role of the prophet is to be the voice of one crying in the wilderness. The wilderness is a world without God. A world that has rejected God and the highway that makes its way through the wilderness is established by God through His prophets and by the Blood of Christ Himself. This highway is the Holy Highway of the saints. John the Baptist would famously repeat the words of the prophet Isaiah in John 1:23. John was in the wilderness crying out the message of repentance, He was making the way for His Lord to come in this sense. We too saints are ones crying in the wilderness. We too are a light that dwells in the darkness who cry out to a world lost in sin to repent for the Lord is coming.
Those who walk along the valley floor, along the Highway of Holiness that runs through the wilderness of sin and death and rejection of God, shall be exalted up into the high places of our God where He dwells with the broken and the contrite. For thus says the Lord, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones( Isa 57:15) Every mountain and hill or any high thing that exalts itself against the Lord our God shall be brought low. The proud shall indeed be humbled as the glory of the Lord is revealed. The crooked places, the lies, the deceit the vain imaginations of men and all arguments that exalt itself above the Lord shall be made straight as the signs of His coming begin to appear.
All flesh is grass and its beauty is like the the flowers of the field. The world and all who dwell in it fade away. Only by the very breath of God are all things maintained. The one thing that remains is the Word of God and it stands forever. He is coming and and the nations shall discover they are as a drop in bucket. They will faint and lose heart as they begin to understand that it is God Himself that stretches out the heavens like a curtain. He brings the proud and elite men of this world to nothing. The Lord blows upon them and they wither in the whirlwind and are taken away like stubble in the wind. Yet to those who walk along the highway of Holiness, He increases their strength. He dwells with the lowly of heart and renews them. They shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint and they indeed shall rise up with wings like eagles and fly to the high and holy place where the spirit of the humble is revived.
Isa 29:8 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is empty.
The nations are like hungry men. They dream of eating, they salivate at the prospect of devouring the saints around the world, but they shall awake hungry. Their present reality is but a dream like state. They believe themselves to be rich and in need of nothing and they cast their wanton eyes upon the saints of the earth who are, to them, their enemies. The saints stand enriched even in the presence of their enemies. The Lord has provided them a banqueting table and His banner over them is love. His mercy pursues them, it runs after them, surely the goodness of God follows them all the days of their lives even as they are surrounded. Those who come against the Body of Christ, who array themselves for battle against God’s people shall awake from their present day reality only to discover that it was in fact a dream. The true reality is the Kingdom of God and its King, Jesus, not the kings of the world.
The world is in the midst of the greatest drought that it has ever seen. It is a spiritual drought and the nations dream of being quenched but in fact they awake thirsty still. They faint from the enclosing reality. Their world is the shallow world of self and their inner shallowness desires more depth but only under their own terms, and so they thirst on, and awake with a craving soul. Rather than turn to the Lord they turn on the saints. Rather than being humbled in their own eyes they are angered and full of hatred and shake two angry fists at God and His people. Verse six lays out the inevitable end. The Lord will speak in the thunder, He will shake the whole earth by earthquake. Terrible storms await the earth and the the flame of His devouring fire is last.
Yet in the very midst of this terrible judgement God has promised His people that in that day that He would raise up the tabernacle of David. We are the tabernacle and Christ has raised us up. Our enemies may rejoice in our defeat………but wait, we shall arise by the power of God. Did not the enemies of the Lord Jesus rejoice at his death on Calvary? Their rejoicing was short lived. Up from the grave that He was laid in He arose. They may put the saints of the Lord in a grave but we shall arise. They may win great battles but we have won the war. Out of the dust and the ashes of a disintegrating world set against God and His people, God said that He would cause the plowman to overtake the reaper (Amos 9) The abundance of the harvest in that day will be so great that while those who reap are still reaping, there is not enough time to gather it all up. It will be time again to sow. The true spiritual abundant life lived out by the victorious saints whose victory was attained for them at the bloody battle-field of Calvary. Do not despair saints, the Lord is coming.
The name Diotrephes means “nourished by Jupiter.” Jupiter was the Roman God, the most important of all their gods and was worshiped across the Roman empire. He symbolizes everything Rome was. And the Diotrephes that we meet in 3rd John is a man who loved to have the preeminence. Many believe that the dagger that was struck at the heart of the Church was Constantine, but in reality it was this man as early as the 80s ad. I discovered over my 20 years participation in the system, that fellowship with mere professors was harmful to my own walk and was met, for the most part, by indifference from those who at best, were perpetual babes as opposed to sons and daughters. This perpetual state of infancy( and I’m being generous) is perpetuated by the very system itself. Clergy/laity divide is the main symptom of the Diotrophes syndrome. Diotrophes replaced Jesus by putting himself in His place. This is why he was such an enemy to John. He would be upstaged by John and for men who love the preeminence, there is nothing worse than being upstaged.
There can be no spiritual progress in a system where Jesus has been usurped. We are called to be sons and daughters, not perpetual babes being taught the same rudimentary things week in and week out by a system that is, for the most part, devoid of the Holy Spirit. Who can grow unless they are led and guided by the Holy Spirit? Could Diotrephes replace Jesus? What would become of the people who sat under him? Would they not slowly die on the vine if they stayed there? I believe this situation is what kept Paul up at night. This was the reason for his prayers, tears and warnings, night and day for three years. Jesus addresses it through John in 3rd John and then again the first chapters of Revelations. So serious was the charge from Jesus that it came with a dire warning, the removal of the Lampstand. Jesus does not make idle threats. There is nothing to suggest that repentance came. So, a religion began to form without a Lampstand, and culminated in throwing in its lot in with Rome and Constantine.
Thankfully God always has a remnant and throughout all of those times they stood fast. Millions were killed as they were hunted down by the hordes of Diotrephes. Men, so loving and desirous of power and influence and authority and most of all the preeminence, that they were willing to hunt down every challenger to their position and kill them. And yet, of course, this only made the genuine Church all the more stronger as they stood against hell itself. In the end, the devil settled for clergy/laity divide. He knows this guts any gathering of its power because by its very system, Jesus is usurped. And when Jesus is usurped, nothing grows. And so we have fig tress that have no figs. From a distance it promises much but on closer inspection it has no fruit. How can it have fruit when it is overtaken by the Diotrephes syndrome?
“We can attach our name to a city, a tower, a temple, a religious movement, a ministry— to beautiful things we do in the name of the Lord and set upon a pedestal for all to admire. But we can attach no name to ashes on the altar.” (Kalli Womack Cook) When Jesus is preeminent there are no names. There is no posterity, there is no position. There is only Him and Him lifted up. This is the source of all spiritual power, it starts and ends with Jesus being elevated. When man elevates himself then God vanishes. “It’s not just the pastors on the stages of modern churches. It’s everyone involved: the worship leaders, the band members… all that goes into a “worship service” – everyone who has a title/position in these church systems. I would say even the congregation because they approve, affirm and encourage it. Actors on a stage. It’s all a show. They love the “preeminence “. I’ve been a part of that scene in the past. The feeling of preeminence is a real thing, a feeling of superiority. Our traditions are more comforting than a real relationship with the Living God. We continue to build our own kingdoms in this world. (Jennifer Dietrich Warren)
Actors on a stage. The Greek word for actor is “hypokrites,” where we get the English word hypocrite. Someone who pretends to have something they do not actually possess. The actual Greek word is a compound noun, its made up of two Greek words that literally translate “an interpreter from underneath.” Underneath what? Underneath the mask, as ancient Greek actors wore masks. In the case of clergy, what they are pretending to have, which they do not, is the preeminence. Unless Jesus has the preeminence, everything is just acting on a stage with a mask on. Diotrephes was deadly afraid of being exposed by John, so he banned him from coming to their gathering and expelled anyone who agreed with John. He knew he would be “upstaged,’ and this of course, lies at the very heart of the Diotrephes syndrome. Its about power and ego and prestige and authority and under no circumstances will the Diotrphes man ever allow himself to be usurped. He has already usurped Jesus in his desire to be preeminent. In effect he has sold his soul in a desire to be recognized and to be worshiped.
Brothers and sisters, this system is heading towards its zenith. The coming climax is the great whore church. This is where those who have sold their souls for preeminence will get everything their hearts have ever desired. They will take this new found authority as a sign from God of His pleasure and of course, will be merciless towards all who stand in their way. They will be given the authority to hunt down all those “who oppose God,” meaning those who oppose them. Authority. It is always what the devil has desired. He demanded that Jesus fall down and worship him. He would give Him all the kingdoms of the world if He would only bow down to him. The clergy system will be given all the power they ever desired by bowing down to the evil one. And every true and genuine saint will represent the Apostle John, rejected by the ones who seek the preeminence. And the Diotrephes syndrome will have its glorious moment, and then, of course, Christ the Lord, the preeminent one shall return in all His glory.
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 “Christians,’ who rushed to “get their certificate.” 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 “empire wide,” 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 “Donatists.’ 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 “stand in the evil day.” 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.
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 rams 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 Joels 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 Joels 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 19:14 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.
Psa 33:10 The LORD bringeth the counsel of the nations to nought: he maketh the plans of the people of no effect.
In all the affairs of men, they merely bleat with the noise of a thousand sheep upon the hill. It makes no difference to the fate of sheep how much they bleat, man will do what man will do with them. God will do what God will do with men. Even now as we watch the actions of the wisest men in the world, at least in their own estimations, we see their plans coming to nothing. Savage men of the baser sort hold the strings of power over the strong and sophisticated. The wisdom of the wise is utter foolishness to God. He raises up the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. No king is saved by the multitude of his army for it is God who fashions the hearts of those who are ripe for judgement. They may run to and from but if they escape from the lion they shall run headlong into the bear. If somehow they escape from the bear and make it home, they enter in and give a sigh of relief, just as the viper strikes.
Shall God’s people be afraid when the Lord comes down? Why should they be afraid even though the mountains crumble and the great seas mount up and recede? The wind may gasp and hold its breath but the Lord’s anointed dwell safely within His pavilion. The earth will surely shake when He rends the heavens and comes down. The beasts of the fields will stop and raise their heads and the trees shall clap their hands. The thunder will thunder and the lightning shall strike. The princes of the earth shall be brought low and wicked men shall cry out in despair. Yet the children of God shall be be safe within His pavilion and they shall not be afraid. They sought the Lord and He heard them, and delivered them from all of their fears. They looked to Him and were radiant and their faces were not ashamed. Stand fast saints and let your faces shine out into the darkness to the praise and glory of our God.
In the early 1900s at the height of the British empire , at the zenith of its strength and power and influence, we see a creeping shadow coming over the land. Some could sense it, most were completely oblivious to its presence. The hearts of men and women were being prepared for slaughter and they had no earthly idea. In their chests rose pride and haughtiness. They were full of vainglory. There was boastful vanity. What there really was, and this is the scariest part of all, was the hook in their mouths. They were being drawn towards the edge of the abyss and like the followers of the pied piper, they danced towards it. And they were slaughtered in WW1. They were broken. And the youth of that generation was taken, not unlike the judgement of Pharaoh and of Egypt where the firstborn of every household were taken.
I want to say that America has a hook in its mouth. I sense that same shadow creeping across this land. We are being drawn towards the abyss. And we are in worse shape than the British empire was. They would deny being proud. They would hide their sin in the shadows and the alleyways. They had, in a sense, the good sense to be ashamed of those things that they did in the darkness. We have no such shame. Our sin does not hide in the shadows and the alleyways, it marches down Main st. And just when you think it cannot get worse, we hoist a banner over our heads that says “PRIDE.” Yes indeed, we have a hook firmly planted in our mouths and we have no power to resist the force that now shapes our rebellious hearts.
Go into any back country and see where people dwell. Long before the dark shadow of winter comes there is a busy preparation. Dead trees are felled. Their limbs are removed and they are cut into pieces and hauled back to where the fire is. They are then chopped down further and stacked in chords ready to fuel the fires of winter. Look with your spirits saints, even now the preparation is taking place all around us. The hook is in the mouths and the hearts are being prepared. The deeds of darkness are exposed by the light. The fires of hell shall greedily consume all that it is given. Let us cry out to God that some may be saved. Let us stand amidst the carnage of a proud people who have boldly thrown of God and who bow down and worship the creature. They worship the work of their own hands and so by their own hands they shall destroy themselves.
And in the midst of all that darkness there is a shaft of light. Christ. He beckons to a dying world who has no idea they are dying, and no idea that the abyss is on the horizon. On whom the shadow falls it falls. Those who are consumed by it shall not rise again. Great will be the fall. Like an ancient mighty Oak tree, empires fall with much noise and destruction. And in the falling the Kingdom of God remains. The gates of hell do not consume the children of God, only the children of the world, sacrificed on the altar of pride and arrogance and a haughty spirit.
A wise man once said that discontentment in the mind puts discontentment in the mouth and discontentment in the mouth puts a shackle on the neck. In America and Europe you are seeing divided populations which has led to violence in the streets. In Haiti we see an unfolding civil war. In South Africa stores and business are burning and open looting is taking place. I want to tell you brothers and sisters, a much more transmittable virus than Covid is spreading around the world. It has an incubation period that spans the human life. Discontentment rises up and sweeps over cities and nations and populations like an unseen tsunami. It has a critical mass. For the most part is is contained to local regions and smaller groups of people. Yet there was always coming a time when people would rise up and destroy themselves.
Jesus tells us in Matt 24 that in the beginning of sorrows that nation would rise up against nation. The word nation here is the word “ethnos,” it’s where we get our English word ethnic or ethnicity from. I want to use South Africa as an example. One would have thought that Apartheid was the root cause of all the South African problems. It was not. It was a problem, but not the problem. The virus runs much deeper than obvious societal problems. It is a fundamental flaw in our humanity. It awaits critical mass. It awaits to try and seize what it can never have, contentment. Once the levels reach critical mass it then needs a spark. It needs a way out. Once it is out it seeks the company of its own and garners strength in numbers.
George Floyd was a such a spark in America. His death was the spark that caused the virus to come forward. It will not be the last spark as the fire has not fully taken hold. Yet the fire is coming and we shall be consumed by it. Jesus said it and it will come to pass. In any inequitable society (every society that ever existed) the virus of discontentment is loose. There are certain forces that can contain it, for a while. Men rise up and champion its cause. Examples of its rise is without number down through history. The Chinese so called cultural revolution is one. The Russian revolution is another. The two great wars. The French revolution. The American revolution. Every war ever fought, the virus of discontentment lurks just underneath the shadows of such event.
Saints, it is a deadly enemy and will eat away your soul from the inside out. It will cause you to join its ranks, for it cannot truly exist on its own, its great strength comes in numbers. The human experience is to either be striving for riches and more riches, or to be striving to hold on to those riches once gained. It can never acknowledge any gain, it can never acknowledge that it is indeed rich or better off, lest its deadly enemy, contentment, the antidote, destroy it. A reflective heart that is bathed in thankfulness for what one has, perhaps simply the food on ones table and the roof over ones head is a highly effective counterpart to discontentment.
And so, the enemy of our souls, through his champions, must always have our eyes fixed upon what we do not have. In this scenario the glass is undoubtedly and eternally half empty. See it in every aspect of our lives. Our relationships, it is the major cause of divorce. Finances, it is the major cause of our anxieties. Politics, it is the major cause of our hatreds and divisions. Religion, it is the major cause of our divisions. A perpetual state of discontentment is perhaps one description of an eternal hell.
Now, the man or woman who has found Godliness with great contentment has found great gain. Paul tells us this in 1 Timothy 6:6-6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. Consider Gods advice to all men in regard to riches and the desires of it ….(1Ti 6:7-10) For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
And what does God say about all men who stir up such discontentment?(1Ti 6:4-5) He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. Withdraw brothers and sisters, from all men who promote discontentment with your lot in this world. That would cover just about every politician and also those who promote the ills of society for their own gain and advancement ( almost all men and women)
Thanking God in everything is the remnant’s stand at the end of the ages. It will protect us from the deadly disease of discontentment that is rising up in the world to levels we have never seen before. The “ethnos,’ are attacking the “ethnos.’ The peoples of the nations are destroying themselves as they drown in their own dark hearts. And according to Jesus, this is but the beginning of sorrows. Content in Christ, quite apart from our circumstances, is the key to an abundant life and is the solid Rock upon which we stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Can’t you see that the world is sinking? Come up and dwell together on higher ground brothers and sisters.
When my wife and I came back from vacation, we discovered that one of the plants that stands guard at our door, had been over-watered. The one on the left was fine, and flourishing, the other had wilted and the blooms were dying or dead. When we researched what had happened, it seems that if you over-water a plant to this extent then the soil will be rancid and the roots themselves will be rotting from the bottom up. There is a slight chance that you can save the plant, but only slight. It involves uprooting the plant and laying it to one side, removing all of the soil, cut away as much of the roots that you can, then replace all of the soil and replant it.
We did this and just as the research suggested, the soil was rancid, so bad that we had to wear masks as we removed it. The roots were rotten almost all the way to the top, we cut them away. And now the replanted plant will either live or die, no one knows. Can I suggest that the Western world is over-watered. We are rancid as we drown in our abundance. The very roots that held us are rotten from the top on down. The flowers of our culture are dying on a rotten vine. There is drastic change to come. There is an uprooting so that which can be saved and shall be saved. The soil which has held us will be removed. The roots of everything we know is being cut away. We shall be replanted in different soil.
Will you survive the cutting brothers and sisters? Shall you resist it? The old soil is being shoveled away as we speak. The saints of God shall be ripped away from this world and all its hold upon us. We shall be laid bare and put aside while the Master deals with what is left of this world. We shall not be watered for a time. It is vital that we “dry out.” Think not that we have been abandoned. We have not, but it will seem that way. This time of of our troubles is for our saving.
The new soil will be rich and deep. It will be watered by the blood of the martyrs. The name of the new soil is persecution. 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. Can you hear the drumbeats of war brothers and sisters? A war that for all intents and purposes will be one that we shall lose. For a time it shall seem that all is lost. Not just for a day or a week or even a month, this season shall be much longer than that. It will be long enough to make you doubt everything that you have ever believed. You will be tried in this.
Yet God has cultivated a people for Himself. They have a few banners that fly over their lives and the battles they have waged. One of the banners that flutters in the wind of the Spirit says “Even if He kills me, yet will I trust Him.” Another banner reads “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.” There are two more banners. One says ” And they loved not their lives unto death,” and the last one reads “If God does not deliver us from the fire, let it be know, we shall never bow down to the gods of this world.”
It is these saints that shall survive the uprooting. All others shall die in the rottenness that is this world. This mindset of the saint is to glorify God. It is to yield and to surrender to His will for their lives. It is what the Master wants that is all important. It is His desires that fill the hearts of the saints. It is their blossom that causes color to exist in another-wise black and white world. Shall the flower bloom? Shall it survive the trauma of the uprooting? Some will, most will not. In the end, the heart of the matter is revealed as everything is stripped away. It cannot be otherwise. The heart of the matter, the only heart that matters is the Heart of God the Father and Christ His Son. Let us be found there, even if He slays us. For the things that we see are temporal and of little value, but the will of God is eternal and flowers in the heart of His children.
How I long to look with optimistic eyes at the landscape of Christianity all across the world. And yet the sands of time gather around our feet in the depths of the bottom of the hour glass. For so long now we have desired to walk in unbroken sunshine not knowing that unbroken sunshine leads to deserts. And now we look out upon the landscape of our time and everything beautiful has dried up in the sun that we demanded. Century after century the desert has encroached upon the green fields and mountains and valleys, slowly consuming everything. If it were not for rivers in the desert then we would have died of thirst already. The rivers in the desert are Gods remnant saints.
If it were not for desert blooms then the all the color of life would be gone. There are precious few saints left who embrace the storm, who stand in the flood, who walk through the fire, who walk upon the water. Who are not delivered from the fire but by the fire and in the fire. Jesus weeps as He surveys the desert sands and the leanness of our souls. We have rejected the good deep soil of His sufferings and embraced the desires of our own hearts leaving behind something shallow,something lean that is without deep roots and something easily dried up by the sun, which we demanded.
And then this shallow thing turns to dust and is blown away by the wind, nothing grows and the desert comes. At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse (Jer 4:11) This ill wind that blows upon Christendom is not to fan nor to cleanse but to judge. A strong unstoppable wind that does not blow in a cool refreshing rain but rather a strong hot wind that dries up everything and turns it into desert wilderness. The shallow thing turns to dust and is blown away.
In front of our very eyes the shallow things are turning to dust. That which has no root is drying up. Those whose hearts were only ever for the cares of this world are being choked by the weeds and the thorns. Not so slowly now the good seed is being revealed that lies in the depths of good soil. Those who were planted in the depths by the waters of life shall bloom even as the desert consumes the whole world. The roots are firmly established and are held unmovable by Truth. Wisdom flows down into the very heart of them and nourishes them.
The world is a barren wasteland. There is something in the atmosphere and the world is willingly breathing it in. More insidious than any virus. They breathe it in to their very souls to their eternal damnation. Their hearts are poisoned and their spirits are totally corrupted in preparation for the terrible day of the Lord. They are only ever wicked and their thoughts are continuously for evil. As it was in the days of Noah, so is our day just as the Lord prophesied it would be.
Our sufferings is our nourishment saints. Our infirmities is His glory. Our dying to this world is the last vestiges of life. This life that comes from death is the eternal life of Christ in us, the hope and the glory. For out of the great desert, out of the gross darkness, God has commanded light to shine forth as a witness to the whole world. We are that light. As the whole world falls, we have been called to stand. As the whole world is consumed into the sinking sands of death and sin, we have been called to stand upon the solid Rock of life and Holiness. Stand fast saints, the Lord is at the door.
One day the Lord will rend the heavens and His glory will flow down the mountains and fill every valley with His majesty. The seas will flee away at His presence. The mountains will humbly bow and say ” Glory , glory to the risen King.” The sun will turn its face away in shame for it has been outdone by the brilliance of His illumination. A mere flickering candle in comparison to His unadulterated light. The moon and the stars will cry out ” Holy, Holy is He who was and is and forever shall be.”
And every voice from every tongue will say “Jesus,” and acknowledge the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And the beasts of the earth will fall down and cover their faces and then the lion will rise up and approach the lamb and they will lay down together. And every knee shall bow in every tribe and in every nation and even the hordes of hell will fall silent as He approaches. The earth itself will grow silent and shall be still and then a glorious noise will begin to arise and will fill the earth, it will fill the sea it will fill the night skies and it will fill the whole universe.
And all that will be heard will be the choirs of angels, that heavenly choir and the glory of God will not only cover the earth but will fill up everything that there is or has ever been. Gods saints will rise on this glorious symphony, they will arise in the updrafts of His glory and majesty and it will carry them into the heart of God. And those who rejected this magnificent glory will fall and their cries will be heard as they fall into the depths of darkness forever.
A Call To The Remnant 