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“Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?” – Luke 12:56 |
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"Where is the LORD?” – Jer. 2:6, 8 It was said of Saul that he “enquired of the LORD,” but “the LORD answered him not” (1 Sam. 28:6), but it is all the more terrifying when whole generations and times are given over to such a state where “there is no answer of God” (Micah 3:5-7). The prophets cry “how long,” but God hides himself by a cloud of darkness, because men transgress what He commands! Men cry out, “how long,” and they receive no answer from God, because He is saying: “How long will it be ere they attain to innocency” (Hos. 8:5)? Thus the people and prophets wander in confusion for generations long… |
“We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work Thou didst in their days, in the times of old” (Psalm 44:1).
“I remember the days of old” – Psalm 143:5 “I remember Thy judgments of old” – Psalm 119:49-53 “Look Thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as Thou usest to do unto those that love thy name” – Psalm 119:132 “Turn Thou us unto Thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old” (Lam 5:21). “Have respect unto the Covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty” (Psalm 74:20). “Turn Thyself again... heal the breaches” – Psalm 60 “Will He reserve His anger for ever? Will He keep it to the end?” (Jer. 3:4-5) |
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“Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of His increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD. Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in Me, that they are gone far from Me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt? And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled My land, and made Mine heritage an abomination. The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew Me not: the pastors also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead” (Jer. 2:1-9).
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My reader, henceforth let us search out the telling signs of God’s Presence when it fulfills the Covenant agreement, and on the contrary, His absence, wrath, curses, and breaches which are also in Covenant agreement. To do such a study, we will have to understand the following terms bulleted below. We will examine these spiritual realities in their OT and NT context, in this chapter and into chapters to come. When we come to understand how to discern our “day” and “time”, it is my hope, in earnest longing for myself and all other saints, that we would, as God says, “lay these things to thy heart…remember the latter end of it” (Isa. 47:7). If we are made a “spoil” for the devil, given over to heresies as strong as “robbers,” is it not because of “the LORD, He against Whom we have sinned? ...Therefore He hath poured upon [us] the fury of His anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set [us] on fire round about” (Isa. 42:24-25). In all this outpouring of God’s displeasure, let us not be as Israel was, who, God said, “knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart” (Isa. 42:25)! Let us not be as those damned men to whom God said, “thou hast lied, and hast not remembered Me, nor laid it to thy heart” (Isa. 57:11). Oh how terrible it is! “The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart” (Isa. 57:1)! Your accountability at the Final Judgment has everything do with the truth which we are about to search out and discover, but I pray and hope that it will not be said of us, now, as He said in the old time – “Many pastors have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden My portion under foot, they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto Me; the whole land is made desolate BECAUSE NO MAN LAYETH IT TO HEART” (Jer. 12:10-11).
In the day of Eli’s impeachment from the holy office of High Priest in Israel, thence the glory of Israel was taken away, the means of grace through the ministerial office of the priests was made void, and “the Lamp of God went out in the Temple of the LORD” (1 Sam. 3:3). The Lamp signifies the spiritual health & life of the people of God, and therefore at such a time as this it can also be said – “the word of the LORD was precious [rare] in those days; there was no open vision” (1 Sam. 3:1). Can you relate?
- Spiritual Darkness & Blindness
- Spiritual Famine of Starvation & Dehydration
- Spiritual Drunkenness
- Spiritual Infancy
In the day of Eli’s impeachment from the holy office of High Priest in Israel, thence the glory of Israel was taken away, the means of grace through the ministerial office of the priests was made void, and “the Lamp of God went out in the Temple of the LORD” (1 Sam. 3:3). The Lamp signifies the spiritual health & life of the people of God, and therefore at such a time as this it can also be said – “the word of the LORD was precious [rare] in those days; there was no open vision” (1 Sam. 3:1). Can you relate?
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To ask -->
Is the same thing to ask, in other words --> |
"Where is the Lord?"
"Where are the Lord's right-hand men?" |
“And ye shall be unto Me a Kingdom of Priests” – Exodus 19:6
When the priests are forsaken by God, it is an evil “time,” but what about when God forsakes Israel’s King? A man in this office, King Saul by name, lived the subsequent generation after Eli’s death, and he, like Eli, was stripped of salvation, power, unction, and life - “the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him” (1 Sam. 16:14). Darkness was in the Tabernacle where only light should have been, and likewise, the dark spirits of the devil seized the king of Israel. Night after night, Saul was forcefully taken into demon-inspired imaginations and nightmares, into a hell-valley of troubles. Saul could have described his experience in the age-old words: “He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and He hath set darkness in my paths. He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head” (Job 19:8-9). God sent an evil spirit to Saul, and do you think it would only trouble him? Where evil spirits dwell, they inflict the disease of spiritual decay, making sinners strong and emboldened in high-handed rebellions against God. The man Saul, having become demon-possessed, was filled with the premeditated and preplanned schemes of hell, and thus, when Saul did but follow his heart, behold – “Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword” (1 Sam. 22:19). What if Satan entered into you? What would you be feeling and thinking, and what would you end up doing? Some treachery of Judas would be rising in your members, no matter how fervent your love for God was at a former time, a time when you dwelt under the shadow of the Almighty. It was once written: “Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly” (John 13:27). We must understand this awful curse, to have satanic demons hovering about the people of God! They are smart, systematic, and superior to humanity in all ways and powers, and in their intellectual capacity, they do plan the downfall of the world’s only hope – the people of God. They are the inventors of your generation’s grand scheme of deception and annihilation.
Should we suspect anything different from a man given over to a devil, than when, lo, Saul set his face in a determinate purpose, contorted with the devil’s twisted wrath, to destroy all the hope and salvation left in Israel – the city of the priests? Saul was so fearless! At former times, Saul would have bowed down to such holy men, holding them in respect, honor, and esteem, and now he is turned backwards! Saul failed to execute justice toward the heaven-hated people, the Amalekites, when God commanded him to utterly destroy them (women, children, animals, and all); then later, after demon possession, he totally annihilates the city of the priests, the heaven-loved, executing upon them the judgment that should have been done to the Amalekites. He shrank back from justice and was courageous in crime. He pitied the wicked so as to hear their cries for mercy, but he brutally slaughtered the righteous that deserved compassion and a sparing eye. An evil spirit replaced the Holy Spirit that was once within Saul, thus, lo, the good commands of God’s holy will were no longer his charges. They no longer graced the inward parts of his heart. Now the fierce wrath of the devil was there! The corrupt springs of hell flowed from the innermost parts of his belly, and from him came rivers of poison. In such a time (a time of spiritual darkness when the Lamp of God went out), demons replaced the presence of God, deceptions replaced truth, and there was a decay of physical and spiritual means of salvation – the people were left utterly without hope. Eli and Saul were two examples of men who stood to influence Israel from two different vocational grounds, grounds of potential for great good or otherwise for great evil. They were meant to be instruments in God’s hands for spiritual and physical salvation, but what happened to them continues to happen for centuries to come, shockingly, in greater and greater degrees. Long after these two men flew into the depths of hellfire where they belong, during the days of Jeremiah it was written:
Should we suspect anything different from a man given over to a devil, than when, lo, Saul set his face in a determinate purpose, contorted with the devil’s twisted wrath, to destroy all the hope and salvation left in Israel – the city of the priests? Saul was so fearless! At former times, Saul would have bowed down to such holy men, holding them in respect, honor, and esteem, and now he is turned backwards! Saul failed to execute justice toward the heaven-hated people, the Amalekites, when God commanded him to utterly destroy them (women, children, animals, and all); then later, after demon possession, he totally annihilates the city of the priests, the heaven-loved, executing upon them the judgment that should have been done to the Amalekites. He shrank back from justice and was courageous in crime. He pitied the wicked so as to hear their cries for mercy, but he brutally slaughtered the righteous that deserved compassion and a sparing eye. An evil spirit replaced the Holy Spirit that was once within Saul, thus, lo, the good commands of God’s holy will were no longer his charges. They no longer graced the inward parts of his heart. Now the fierce wrath of the devil was there! The corrupt springs of hell flowed from the innermost parts of his belly, and from him came rivers of poison. In such a time (a time of spiritual darkness when the Lamp of God went out), demons replaced the presence of God, deceptions replaced truth, and there was a decay of physical and spiritual means of salvation – the people were left utterly without hope. Eli and Saul were two examples of men who stood to influence Israel from two different vocational grounds, grounds of potential for great good or otherwise for great evil. They were meant to be instruments in God’s hands for spiritual and physical salvation, but what happened to them continues to happen for centuries to come, shockingly, in greater and greater degrees. Long after these two men flew into the depths of hellfire where they belong, during the days of Jeremiah it was written:
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“For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us. And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely Thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul” (Jer. 4:8-10).
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When this company of men – the king, princes, priests, and prophets – is delivered over to the deception of God, then the whole city is made ready for wrath. God’s purpose to destroy Israel is so pointed, lo, it cannot be turned back. When such men fall, the means of grace are eradicated. They become deceived-stupid like as a courageous blind man, confident they can lead well, “and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matt. 15:14). For several generations and centuries, renowned and notorious sinners against high Heaven reached marks of great infamy, but it was because one or all of these offices were in desolation. The generations of “The Judges” are a good example of this. They were a kingless people, and therefore they did what was “right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6, 21:25). Without God’s right-hand men, the people turned back and rebelled, and there has never been a biblical revival which was not initiated and sustained through chosen men employed for God’s holy use, chosen vessels, to take the preeminent place of authority under God. There is no such thing as a “nameless, faceless revival” (as some imagine and seek after today). “By a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved” (Hos. 12:13). While thinking upon the centrality of these offices and how they are used to begin and sustain a biblical revival, see as well how they can have the opposite effect upon God’s people. They can become the instruments of woe and of pervading deception, when these offices are a planting that God “hath not planted” (Matt. 15:13). Now look carefully at the cries of intercessors through the centuries when they prayed. Look specifically how God inspired their prayers, and look at what they prayed for! They prayed for salvation, rescue, and hope through the restoration of these very offices. They recognize that, without them, the nation becomes drunken, wayward, and weary in God-ordained deceptions.
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“Then He remembered the days of old, Moses, and His people, saying, Where is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He that put His Holy Spirit within him? That led them by the right hand of Moses with His glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make Himself an everlasting Name? That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble? As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest: so didst Thou lead Thy people, to make Thyself a glorious Name” (Isaiah 63:11-14).
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Notice in what manner they do call upon and remember God! They recognize that there was once a man with the Holy Spirit within him, and that God, through men, led Israel by the right hand. The people have learned the awful experience of “times” given over to deception, namely, when men with unholy spirits are in leadership. So the people cried out! They knew that, if such an office was revived, then the people would follow on to obey God! They cried, “Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, upon the son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself. So will not we go back from Thee: quicken us, and we will call upon Thy name” (Psalm 80:17-18)! They knew the holy rite of such Divine orders and callings, and how far have we fallen from this today? Today the “spiritual leaders” of the “church” are subject to a congregational democracy. The congregation shepherds the shepherd. They hire and fire the pastor, and so, the choicest pick of the multitude is a congregational conformist whose priority is to keep his job, and so Hell’s hirelings are preaching God’s holy word! They are pragmatic men, prepared by pampered professors of classroom politics, and so, like the heathen vocations, these men are educated into authority and classroom-cultivated. They are just worldly enough to tickle the taste buds of men who are hungry for religiously-intelligent sinning. They are whitewashed on the outside, and they are skilled to whitewash other men. By Divine constitution, isn’t it written somewhere, maybe, that preachers must be set apart by the Holy Ghost? The office requires an empowering of God, a supernatural gifting, given to men only by God! We must, like past centuries, recognize the vitality and holy necessity in keeping these offices hallowed, keeping them untouched by carnal interference. “Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee, that he may dwell in Thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house, even of Thy holy temple” (Psalm 65:4). Blessed are the people who live in such a time, when God said – “And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city” (Isaiah 1:26). If God restored the saints with God-ordained and God-empowered “judges” and “counsellors,” then God’s people would be beautified in salvation, and they would be “as in the days of old, and as in former years” (Mal. 3:4).
These biblical Christians knew that they needed not just any man, nor a very intelligent man, but they needed a holy man. They knew that carnal wisdom could not discover the undiscoverable pathways of salvation. It is beyond all comprehension, brilliantly miraculous; therefore they are hidden “in the great waters.” “Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known. Thou leddest Thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Psalm 77:19-20). Can a carnal man be educated enough to “make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God” (Eph. 3:9-10)? We need men who preach “with the Holy Ghost” upon them, that He, the Holy Ghost, would do the preaching! Then, verily, these are “things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter. 1:12). It is better to have a Legion of angels stricken with eye-gaping amaze and wonderment, when behold, true pastors preach heavenly-rich wisdom under the power of the Holy Ghost, and yet, there is hardly a building; it is some lowly, nameless, Church congregation scattered somewhere in a land of poverty. Yea, this is better! Better than today’s “church-popular”! Stadiums of men sit amazed and entertained, and there, the drooling demons make the dead men sing praise. The electronic charisma, the graphic-based fantasies, the bass-stimulated powers, this is the feeling of “god’s presence” which has replaced regenerating powers. These electronic “churches” are full of sinners, not saints, that are sons of the old time magicians who bewitched the masses with magic, and now, behold, the aura of a light-show “Christian” religion makes dead-religion fantastic. Do you get the picture? Preaching is a hallowed office! An office which is, today, desecrated by unholy men! Their preaching is self-planned and self-invented, and “Christianity” has become a manmade religion!
These biblical Christians knew that they needed not just any man, nor a very intelligent man, but they needed a holy man. They knew that carnal wisdom could not discover the undiscoverable pathways of salvation. It is beyond all comprehension, brilliantly miraculous; therefore they are hidden “in the great waters.” “Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known. Thou leddest Thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Psalm 77:19-20). Can a carnal man be educated enough to “make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God” (Eph. 3:9-10)? We need men who preach “with the Holy Ghost” upon them, that He, the Holy Ghost, would do the preaching! Then, verily, these are “things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter. 1:12). It is better to have a Legion of angels stricken with eye-gaping amaze and wonderment, when behold, true pastors preach heavenly-rich wisdom under the power of the Holy Ghost, and yet, there is hardly a building; it is some lowly, nameless, Church congregation scattered somewhere in a land of poverty. Yea, this is better! Better than today’s “church-popular”! Stadiums of men sit amazed and entertained, and there, the drooling demons make the dead men sing praise. The electronic charisma, the graphic-based fantasies, the bass-stimulated powers, this is the feeling of “god’s presence” which has replaced regenerating powers. These electronic “churches” are full of sinners, not saints, that are sons of the old time magicians who bewitched the masses with magic, and now, behold, the aura of a light-show “Christian” religion makes dead-religion fantastic. Do you get the picture? Preaching is a hallowed office! An office which is, today, desecrated by unholy men! Their preaching is self-planned and self-invented, and “Christianity” has become a manmade religion!
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“We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme Thy name for ever?” (Psalm 74:9-10)
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In Isaiah 63:11-14, the prophet cried, “Where is He,” and in Psalm 74, the prophet cried, “neither is there among us any that knoweth how long,” thus, with the absence of God there is confusion, astonishment, perpetual backslidings, and overwhelming damnation in this “day,” “time,” and generation – this is the deception of God. This deception is like the sun gone down, the land sitting in darkness, the people in blindness all staggering about; they grope for stability but they have no hope. This deception is like a cloudless sky for a long famine, until starvation sets in and the people faint and collapse. Nutrient-depleted, water-dried, and energy-drained, each man steadily withers away in a long, slow, and steady dying. They look up for rain, but lo, there is nothing, and if there be “clouds they are without water [and] carried about of winds” (Jude 12). What is even worse, men who are in one such spiritual “time” are so deceived, they don’t even think to cry out, “Where is the Lord,” or, “How long,” because they are not even aware that their “day” is a time of wrath and deception, a time marked by the absence of God and His right-hand men.
Asa was born into such a generation. It was written then: “Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law” (2 Chron. 15:3). King Josiah was born into such a dark time that he didn’t even have a Bible. He sought God for many years with only the verbal or written, uninspired traditions which were passed down through the centuries. With such a dim lamp for such a dark night, a man can scarcely walk! Blessed be God that the man Josiah was destined to rise up to the shining stars (to be among those faithful few who were used on earth and honored in heaven), and so, God led him to find out where the Bible was hidden (2 Chron. 34:3)! Note: until such a time came, Josiah was still under the wrath of God. God’s wrath was ready to destroy him, it was not turned back simply because he followed the verbal traditions of men who were venerated by the religious authorities of his day, or his father’s day, no matter how ancient. Blessed are those who are born into a generation which is equipped with the means of salvation - made ready and at hand – but most men are born into “old waste places” (Isa. 58:12). Such men do await the arrival of God’s helping hand to rest upon a man, or men, who are called and equipped by God to fulfill the title, “The restorer of paths to dwell in” (Isa. 58:12). Oh, those blessed generations who do “hear a word behind” them, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isa. 30:20-21)! Blessed are those to whom God says, “Thine eyes shall see thy teachers,” that they are no longer “removed into a corner” of darkness and obscurity (Isa. 30:20-21)! Such a day and time is blessed, but most men that fear God are brought low by the overwhelming deception and oppression of their day, and so, they collapse into the ashes of Habakkuk and lift up a like cry:
Asa was born into such a generation. It was written then: “Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law” (2 Chron. 15:3). King Josiah was born into such a dark time that he didn’t even have a Bible. He sought God for many years with only the verbal or written, uninspired traditions which were passed down through the centuries. With such a dim lamp for such a dark night, a man can scarcely walk! Blessed be God that the man Josiah was destined to rise up to the shining stars (to be among those faithful few who were used on earth and honored in heaven), and so, God led him to find out where the Bible was hidden (2 Chron. 34:3)! Note: until such a time came, Josiah was still under the wrath of God. God’s wrath was ready to destroy him, it was not turned back simply because he followed the verbal traditions of men who were venerated by the religious authorities of his day, or his father’s day, no matter how ancient. Blessed are those who are born into a generation which is equipped with the means of salvation - made ready and at hand – but most men are born into “old waste places” (Isa. 58:12). Such men do await the arrival of God’s helping hand to rest upon a man, or men, who are called and equipped by God to fulfill the title, “The restorer of paths to dwell in” (Isa. 58:12). Oh, those blessed generations who do “hear a word behind” them, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isa. 30:20-21)! Blessed are those to whom God says, “Thine eyes shall see thy teachers,” that they are no longer “removed into a corner” of darkness and obscurity (Isa. 30:20-21)! Such a day and time is blessed, but most men that fear God are brought low by the overwhelming deception and oppression of their day, and so, they collapse into the ashes of Habakkuk and lift up a like cry:
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“O LORD, how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save! Why dost Thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth” (Hab. 1:2-4).
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Now perhaps you may understand the spiritual language of a generation-long, nationwide deception. Perhaps you may be enabled by the Spirit of God, to have ears to hear, to learn, and so, perhaps you will be able to discern your “day” and “time”! Those who are unable to understand these things will never cry out to God, “How long,” because they don’t even know that they are under the wrath of God. We must, as Psalm 77 carefully details, remember what biblical mercy and salvation are, so that we might tell when and if they are manifest or absent in our “day.” We must recognize what marks characterize the generation of God’s wrath. If God ever reveals these hidden things to us, these blessed secrets, and we do see it with open eyes, then we must “lay it to heart,” remember it, and stay upon it (Isa. 47:7, 42:25, 57:1, 11, Jer. 12:11); otherwise our damnation is sure.
“Having done all to stand” – Eph. 6
If it was easy to “lay it to heart,” to stay upon God in the midst of a spiritually violent, religious culture, with its pressures and amazing threats, and the overwhelming false confidences that “Christians” do angrily wave over our head…if it was easy, then all men would stand firm! These thronging, threatening, blasphemers are innumerable, and of their number are those intimate acquaintances of our old man – our friends & family. Like the nightfall hunt of a pack of African wild hyenas, Oh! How they hound and intimidate! They terrorize predators of incomparable strength – even a lion pride – and it is by their swarming, group-circling, relentless and persistent dodging and turning that they weary the lions and make them heartless to hold their ground, and shockingly, the lion pride often surrenders the prey they worked so hard to kill. The lions slowly leave, glancing back, again and again, with faces that look almost confused, aggravated, and spooked. It is as if they don’t know what just happened, or how it happened, like they were outwitted and amazed at the whole experience. Oh, the annoyance of these horrid hyenas! Their laugh-squealing screeches that incessantly sound while they swarm all around the lion pride! Have you ever seen it? Then you would know what I say! Right behind you and beside you, and all around you, it seems that they are an undefeatable kamikaze force that will not back down.
Circling deceptions and swarming masses of intimidations, this catastrophe is your spiritual scenery; and of a TRUTH God forewarned us – hold on to the faith and “lay it to heart” (Isa. 47:7, 42:25, 57:1, 11, Jer. 12:11) – or else you will lose it, you will be wearied by the whirlwind of lies, and finally, you will “let it slip” (Heb. 2:1)! Will you stand through the stormy tempest of your day? Look around you, and behold, “the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matt. 7:27)…and “the people were astonished at His doctrine” (Matt. 7:28). Have you found a man of God? Whither you go (into what “house” & “pew”), or what Christian thing you do…who is the man that you do hear and see, who are the men that are set in authority to preach to you? Christ Jesus said once, “What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see” (Matt. 11:7-8)? This was said by King Jesus, He referred to a single-man minority who stood alone – the faithful and great prophet, John the Baptist. He was endowed with the spirit of Elijah, and therefore, look at him, how he followed in Elijah’s burdens. Look how he was laden heavy with this single cause – laying truth to his heart – so that, again in his day, truth might oppose lies and stand fast, even if it was against 400-to-1 odds. Elijah’s life depended on whether or not he successfully laid the truth to his heart. When he believed that he failed the mission for which he was sent to accomplish, namely – to be different than his hypocritical fathers – it was then that he no longer desired to live! In the hour of Elijah’s sorrow when the prophet was never lower, read how he prayed to end his life. Consider this: If you can’t pray such a prayer you will not live such a life. “We don’t see revival because we are willing to live without it” (Leonard Ravenhill).
Circling deceptions and swarming masses of intimidations, this catastrophe is your spiritual scenery; and of a TRUTH God forewarned us – hold on to the faith and “lay it to heart” (Isa. 47:7, 42:25, 57:1, 11, Jer. 12:11) – or else you will lose it, you will be wearied by the whirlwind of lies, and finally, you will “let it slip” (Heb. 2:1)! Will you stand through the stormy tempest of your day? Look around you, and behold, “the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matt. 7:27)…and “the people were astonished at His doctrine” (Matt. 7:28). Have you found a man of God? Whither you go (into what “house” & “pew”), or what Christian thing you do…who is the man that you do hear and see, who are the men that are set in authority to preach to you? Christ Jesus said once, “What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see” (Matt. 11:7-8)? This was said by King Jesus, He referred to a single-man minority who stood alone – the faithful and great prophet, John the Baptist. He was endowed with the spirit of Elijah, and therefore, look at him, how he followed in Elijah’s burdens. Look how he was laden heavy with this single cause – laying truth to his heart – so that, again in his day, truth might oppose lies and stand fast, even if it was against 400-to-1 odds. Elijah’s life depended on whether or not he successfully laid the truth to his heart. When he believed that he failed the mission for which he was sent to accomplish, namely – to be different than his hypocritical fathers – it was then that he no longer desired to live! In the hour of Elijah’s sorrow when the prophet was never lower, read how he prayed to end his life. Consider this: If you can’t pray such a prayer you will not live such a life. “We don’t see revival because we are willing to live without it” (Leonard Ravenhill).
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“But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers” (1 Kings 19:4).
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We need hearts like the true prophets; then we will follow in their pathway of glory (Luke 6:22-23, 26), though it be ever so lined with thorny tribulations. None can walk it, and go on unscathed. Momentary, light afflictions – a little sweat, a little blood –the wicked have their reward in this life, but ours is above. Is what Christ said, about Christians in the first century, untrue for Christians today? What about you? Are you the “blessed” people, or are you under Christ’s woe? “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake…for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets…Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:22-23, 26).