CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON

CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON

                On the West Coast people are getting a bit jittery. Even on the main stream news they are warning people to stock up on water and food and batteries and first aid kits and such. The “big one” is coming and it is not a matter of if but when.

                I was talking to my sister Vicki and brother-in-law Rick in the Vancouver Washington area yesterday. They too have been preparing for a change of seasons and Rick was asking me to what extent a person should prepare and to what extent a person should just trust in God.

                The truth is the Bible supports both. It speaks everywhere about being ready, being aware and prepared… to not sleep or to get drunk as the world does but to be sober and vigilant. Now, to be sure, the Bible talks more about our spiritual readiness, having on the full armor of God and not being like the foolish virgins who ran out of oil and thus became disqualified for the wedding feast.

                However, we can find plenty of examples of physical preparedness as well and Joseph comes to mind as he stored grain during the 7 years of plenty, in order to save the then known world during the 7 years of famine. And among them were God’s chosen people a group of 70 descendants of Abraham who had moved to Egypt to buy food.

                We need not be ashamed to prepare for hard times and I always think of the farmer, a lesson that applies to many spiritual principles. He trusts in God to supply the sun, the rain, the air, the soil and the seed with its life in it. But in spite of God’s supply of things that mankind could never supply, there will be absolutely no harvest unless the farmer plows and weeds and plants and waters and feeds the seed until it comes to maturity.

                In the lesson of the farmer we see a sort of partnership between God and man in which God does His part in supplying that which man cannot supply, while the farmer supplies the part assigned for mankind to do on earth.

                This partnership was established as the first order of business after the fall. Before the fall, God supplied everything and the fruit was there to pick and eat, but after the fall a man was sentenced scratch out a living from the soil by the sweat of his brow. But even this curse is a part of God’s love, because mankind must now partner with God, to work out his salvation with fear and trembling.

                We fall infinitely short of the glory of God and keeping a few rules is not enough to restore us to His glory. We must enter into His death. We must die to this fallen kingdom and to our fallen selves and be born again into His kingdom to live by His indwelling power and righteousness and we must overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.

                So even our salvation comes as a result of a partnership in which God supplies that which no man can supply and we must partner with God by believing and receiving and walking in that by faith which God has supplied through Jesus Christ. This Christian life is not a life of idle complacency, but of a major transformation in our lives in which we must seek the Lord with all of our hearts and trust Him above and beyond all that we may see in the world around us.

                My sister and her husband attend a Seventh day Adventist church in the Portland area. Their pastor is a wonderful man of God, who is a true shepherd to his flock and a deeply loving and caring man, but he has not said much about end time events or the lateness of the hour until now. So his theme for this year is twofold:

1.       How much we need the Holy Spirit

2.       It’s time to wake up because we are entering into last day events.

                I say “Bravo” to any pastor who will start preparing His flock to be wise virgins instead of foolish virgins. By and large the Body of Christ across the board is in a Laodicean condition and we desperately need to be in Philadelphia. Laodicea had a closed door with Jesus standing on the outside knocking. They were lukewarm and complacent and thinking they had it all when in fact they were miserable and poor and blind and naked.

                Well we get used to certain biblical phrases, but think about it for a moment. How vulnerable would you feel if you were literally miserable and poor and physically blind and naked? Can you think of a worse condition to be in?

                But Philadelphia was known for its brotherly love. They had a little power and they had kept God’s Word and they had not denied His name. And as opposed to Laodicea, God had set before these people (and us if we are in Christ)  an open door that no man can shut and He had given them the key of David and He had promised to keep them from the hour of testing that will come upon the whole world.

                When God opens doors we can see eternity shining through them…we see the promise of great things to come and the assurance that we will somehow be protected from the or removed from, or sheltered from the time of testing that will come upon the whole world… and whatever this all implies, the only time of testing which the whole world will face is the Mark of the Beast.  So God is either going to be with us through that or He will remove us from it and only time will tell us which it will be, for we can be certain of one thing: If we are a part of the Bride of Christ, then God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thess. 5:9

                What is the key of David anyway?  We know that David was promised an eternal kingdom and that his throne would never lack for a descendant to rule and reign. So Jesus the Son of David must Himself be that key. When we receive Him the door to eternity is opened. But I digress.

                The points that I think the Holy Spirit wants us to make today are the points that Rick and Vicki’s Pastor has made and we often take these two things for granted.

                How much do we need the Holy Spirit and how vital is He to our salvation? Well, let us think about it for a minute. Jesus’ death on the cross would have had no meaning if He had not also risen from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit that lived inside of Him. They could kill the flesh of the Son of God, but they could not kill God who was within Him…and it was that indestructible life of God in Him that raised Him from the dead. Hebrews 7:15, 16

                Likewise for us: For instance; some religions focus of death to self and to the world. They live in self- imposed poverty and isolation. They live a crucified life and this is as it should be in many ways. But such a life is not at all complete unless we move on to live in the power of the resurrection which is brought to us by the Holy Spirit. Just like Jesus, His death alone did not bring salvation, but His resurrection… and it is in His resurrection power that we go on to live a victorious life in Christ Jesus. Gal. 2:20.”I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me.”

                So the Pastor’s second point is likewise important given the circumstances we find in the world today. To be sure, nearly the entire Body of Christ is asleep, whether they are among the wise or the foolish. All of them were asleep and the only difference between them when the shofar sounded was the oil in their lamps. Some had the Holy Spirit and some did not.

                And may I suggest here that we dare not light our lamps with strange fire. Just as God destroyed the sons of Aaron for putting strange fire in the pans and burned incense before the Lord with strange fire, so many today are going after the strange fire that the spirit of antichrist is offering. But as John the Baptist said; He baptized with water, but one was coming after him who would baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire. This is the true fire that we must seek.

                So Jesus fulfilled that promise on the day of Pentecost when the church was conceived by the Holy Spirit and He is still fulfilling that promise today or we are not even Christians. Only that which is conceived in us by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God (The Seed) can save us.

                So, given the time in which we live, it is of paramount importance to do whatever it takes to be filled daily with the Holy Spirit and it is indeed time to wake up… to trim our lamps and to make sure that we are filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit in such a way as to be ready for His coming. And don’t just presume that you have the Holy Spirit because you went to the altar in 1971.

                “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6

                Do you know how different our church services would be if we were actually diligently seeking the Holy Spirit? In Jesus’ parable 50% of them were sleeping with the presumption that they had oil. After all they were virgins too and they were waiting for the coming of the Bridegroom. All had fallen asleep. They all had the message, but not the oil. And so it is with a vast majority of Christians today. Many people place their confidence in the fact that they have the right doctrine, or do the right things, or that they attend church on Easter and Christmas, or that they help feed the poor, or keep the right day, or do the right works.

                But the only difference between the virgins was the oil. We either have the life of Christ in us and manifesting through us, or we are still in the grave, dead and void of resurrection power.

                It is time to make sure that we are living by the resurrection power of Jesus Christ and it is time to wake up for the hour is late. There are storm clouds on the horizon and the winds of strife are picking up and many are not ready.