But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they
shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint (Isaiah 40:31)
But Jesus did not commit himself unto
them, because he knew all men, (John 2:24)
When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again
the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)
And when he was demanded of the
Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The
kingdom of God cometh not with observation (Luke 17:20)
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or,
lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21)
Thou shalt have no other gods before
me. (Exodus 20:3)
For do I now persuade men, or God? or
do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant
of Christ (Galatians 1: 10)
Do not be deceived, God is not
mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows
to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to
the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Galatians 6: 7-8)
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is
one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this
day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy
children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when
thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And
thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets
between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and
on thy gates. (Deuteronomy 6: 4-9)
The believers
of Jesus day where looking for a messiah. Yet despite Him standing in front of
them they, as a whole, did not accept Him. Why? Their perception of what
Messiah would be and the things He would do where not in line with the actions
and message of the rabbi from Galilee.
They
expected a messiah who would overthrow the power of Rome and make them the head
of all nations. Jesus instead gave a message of the reign of God in their
heart. Instead of showing God’s power and wrath against the infidels this Jesus
kept telling the people of God that if they repented God would accept them.
The modern
church does no better. We pray for revival and for God to move in this present evil
age. Yet we ourselves must let God alone reign in our heart.
We say we
love God but we have forgotten the second commandment. As long as we accept psychology,
sociology, and political correctness in our churches then we are guilty of
showing respect to the power of man. We say God is our king then try to bend who
He is to become acceptable to men’s approval. We say we are separate from the world but we
reap the same divorce rate, same depression rate, and same sins in our churches
that are in the world.
We fear what
men can do, but we claim we are not our own. If we are the body of Christ then
let us consider did Christ bow to Pilot and the power of Rome, did He bow to
the High priest who had corrupted his office for political and worldly gain,
did He bow to the Pharisees and the traditions they upheld? No; despite Him knowing they would torment
and kill His body He bowed only to God alone.
If we desire
revival we must come back to the simplest truth; that God is our maker. We must
abandon completely Adam’s thought that we ourselves can make who we are. We must
never again use our own labor, as Cain did, for an offering to God. Let it not
be said among us that we have as Balaam made a crooked path to attempt to
please God and men for our own gain. Do not fall into the madness of Kora who
by swelling pride said that the spirit in him was sufficient without Gods chosen
witness (of both Moses and the apostles for us).
Men are self-seeking
without mercy, so let the church abandon all delusion of acceptance from them;
and instead let us fall at the feet of our first love. If he strikes us it is
only to remove the chaff of Adam from us. If he makes us pass through fire it
is to make us pure silver reflecting the image of our Father.
If we wish to save any in this present age
from wickedness and the wrath to come then judgment must begin in the House of
God whose house we are. We know that with our God there is mercy and compassion
because of this let us no longer hide in our fig leaves. We are naked before
our God, so if we are naked then let us not be ashamed. If we come before Him
He will deal with our sin but also He will cover us with His promise.
