The Scourge Of Racism
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The Bible’s Book of Judges chronicles historical events and the inconsistent spiritual condition of Israel in the Promised Land after the death of Joshua and before the nation was ruled by a human king. While Joshua and the generation of leaders that entered the land with him lived, the people did well but in disobedience did not subdue all of the inhabitants or their false religions (Judges 1:1-2:10). After those leaders died, the erratic faithfulness of the people to God who was their King in the midst began. When the people turned from the Lord to other gods and all manner of wickedness, He judged them with great adversity and oppression by the surrounding nations.
There are some key issues and applications from the time I spent in Daniel and other parts of Bible prophecy since January 9th this year that I did not delve into, but will briefly do so beginning with this post and all to follow through April as a wrap up.1 As the Lord leads and yet another tyrant on the world stage seeks “dominion and territorial expansion through conquest” coinciding with what I wrote during a February post,2 I write to warn him (and all that will follow his course) that earthly kings are ruled over by Almighty God and answerable to Him! This was the lesson the king of Babylon had to be repeatedly taught by Daniel and his three companions until he apparently finally learned it.
King Nebuchadnezzar made the mistake of arrogant pride many kings and evil tyrants before and after him have made to believe just because he conquered Judah, captured its citizens and took property including religious “articles” back to Babylon where he put them in “the treasure house of his god,” that somehow he had also defeated Judah’s God (Daniel 1:1-2, NKJV). But nothing could be infinitely further from the truth as God gave him a dream he had to depend on Him through His vessel Daniel to interpret because neither he nor any of his staff of Babylonian “wise men” could. The dream showed God’s Kingdom is greater than all others of men (Daniel 2:1-28, NKJV)!
“Prostate before Daniel,” king Nebuchadnezzar confessed ‘“Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings…,’” (Daniel 2:46-47, NKJV). The king was humbled again when he exalted himself with an image and decreed that all of his subjects bow to and worship it. But the refusal of Daniel’s three friends to do so and God’s deliverance of them from the consequence elicited the following response from the king: ‘“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word…,’” (Daniel 3:28, NKJV). From what happens next, clearly the king still had not learned his lesson.
Chapter four of Daniel presents king Nebuchadnezzar’s own testimony of what happened to him after God gave him a dream about his great pride and the consequence Daniel plainly interprets to him, but which he ignores (Daniel 4:1-33). After living as a mad man convinced he was a beast that ate grass like an ox for a time as foretold, the king’s sanity was restored by God and he had a new attitude (Daniel 4:34-36)! Indeed, he testified: ‘“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down,’” (Daniel 4:37, NKJV). A later king learned the hard way too (Daniel 5).3
Since all of the foregoing is common Sunday School instruction throughout Christendom, it is certain Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, who professes to be a Christian is aware of how God, the King of Heaven brings down the pride of earth’s kings as testified to by the king of Babylon over 2,500 years ago. Therefore, in accord with this biblical instruction, I urge the Russian Orthodox Church leaders Mr. Putin respects to advise him to repent, cease his war of pride and conquest against Ukraine and withdraw. Nevertheless, such men filled with the spirit of conquest will continue4 to the end when the Antichrist who makes no pretense whatsoever of reverencing God, the King Heaven, will war against Him and be soundly defeated (Daniel 8:23-25, 9:27cd; Revelation 6:1-2, 19:11-21)!
1 See the posts that begin January 9 through March 6, 2022.
2 Read the February 13, 2022 part one of the two-part post, War Of The Ages End, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
3 Why are we men so filled with pride and stubborn about it to the point it takes repeated humiliating lessons for God to finally break us? Such is the power of sin in us! Get my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics to learn the provisions God has made to help men overcome our stubborn pride through Christ Jesus. It is available in the Strong Man Store, at your favorite internet bookseller or brick and mortar bookstore.
4 Truly, Mr. Putin’s war of conquest and desolations upon Ukraine is a preview of things to come and sign professed Christians should take to heart and prepare! Or will you be as Israel’s religious leaders who refused to see the plain signs of Messiah displayed in Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 16:1-4)? Please also note in this preview no “rap- ture” has occurred to remove Ukrainian believers from what to them is surely great tribulation! This is because the Lord declares He comes right “after” the actual “great tribulation” to “gather together His elect,” (Daniel 11:40-45; Matthew 24:15-22, 29-31, NKJV).
No one has been waiting longer for a single event than the Jews! Indeed, as an ethnic people they have been waiting for the coming of their King, the Son of David, nearly three thousand years if one begins at God’s covenant with their second king; almost four thousand years if God’s promise of a “Seed” made to Abraham is the starting point (Genesis 22:18; 2 Samuel 7:12-17; Galatians 3:15-18). The many wait to this day for God’s Anointed and their King as a never having ever occurred event because as their first century forefathers in unbelief, they did not take to heart the prophecy of Daniel for example, that counted down the time of His coming (Daniel 9:20-27).
The birth of Jesus of Nazareth not only perfectly fit Daniel’s prophetic timeline, but the prophesied genealogy of Israel’s King as the Son of David and Abraham as well as the miraculous nature of His conception and place of birth foretold in complete accuracy some seven hundred years before (Matthew 1:1-2:12; Luke 2:1-7)!1 And though He did many miraculous signs and wonders and taught among them with authority, knowledge and wisdom as no one ever before (or since), the Jewish religious leaders especially refused to believe in and rejected Him; instigating His death on the cross to be rid of Him (John 4:46-54, 6:1-21, 7:10-52, 11:45-57, 12:37-41, 18:1-14, 19:1-24, 28-30).
This all happened as Peter later preached to the Jews after the Lord’s resurrection according to “the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God,” (Acts 2:22-24, NKJV). The divine purpose was as the high priest unwittingly prophesied: ‘“...it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish,’” (John 11:49-52, NKJV). Thus, through the evil plotting and treachery of their religious leaders, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ occurred precisely as the Jewish prophets (including king David) had foretold far in advance to save the willing from their sins among them first (Psalm 69:1-21; Isaiah 50:4-6, 52:13-53; Acts 2:25-40, 3:18-26)!2
But thanks be to God from this Gentile among all others who have been saved by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ since the Gospel began to be proclaimed to us also by His apostles beginning with Peter according to His foretold will and plan (Isaiah 42:5-9, 49:1-6, 61:1-2; John 3:16-17; Acts 1:4-8, 10:1-48). After this, the Lord called and specially set apart another Jewish man to be His apostle to us Gentiles; Saul of Tarsus, also named Paul whose calling and conversion I recently wrote about.3 His missionary journeys and tireless labor brought the Gospel to Gentiles throughout much of the Roman Empire; paving the way for our joy the world over (Romans 15:7-13)!
Meantime, while not excluding the Jews from continuing to hear the Gospel of salvation and the coming Kingdom (Romans 10:14-11:6), during this nearly now, 2,000 years of “the times of the Gentiles” in world dominance and evangelistic focus God has also been fulfilling all that the Jewish prophets beginning with Moses and the Lord Jesus spoke concerning their punishment for sin to include rejecting Him (Deuteronomy 28:58-68; Jeremiah 16:1-13; Luke 13:34-35, 19:41-44, 21:20-24; Romans 11:7-10; 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16, NKJV). And though after being scattered from the land 1,878 years Israel is back in it, “great tribulation” and grief still lie ahead (Matthew 24:15-25, NKJV).
When at last the time of Israel’s comfort comes--the Day of the Lord and triumphant arrival of her long awaited King, she will have “received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins,” (Isaiah 40:1-2; Jeremiah 16:14-18, NKJV).4 The tiny, mortal elect remnant that sees the Lord’s coming will understand what they formerly did not; namely, that their one foretold Messiah and King would come twice (Revelation 1:7, 7:1-8). His first coming was to save them from their sins as God’s “once for all” sacrifice (Romans 1:16-17; Hebrews 9:1-10:18, NKJV). Resurrected, ascended and glorified He returns to fulfill the promises of salvation to the redeemed, deliver remnant Israel and restore David’s kingdom (Isaiah 1:7-9, 10:20-23, 11:11-16; Jeremiah 23:5-8; Ezekiel 37; Romans 11:11-36)!
Consequently, God’s specially marked out and preserved, but unconverted mortal remnant of Jews will receive His promised Messiah and King of Israel; Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God and David who came, was rejected and now, has returned “with great power and glory” as He assured (Mark 13:24-27, NKJV)! In that day, the remnant of Israel will mourn, repent and receive forgiveness (Zechariah 12:10-13:1). They with the entire world will know why the Jews have suffered so. Then, under their King, the nation and the land will be restored exceedingly beyond the days of David’s reign so that they are the times of the Jews throughout the whole earth (Isaiah 49:7-26; Ezekiel 36, 39:21-29; Zechariah 2, 8:18-23, 14:16-21)! The King waits only on His Father for this (Psalm 110).
1 Read the two-part December 2013 repost, Jesus: The Jewish Messiah, under the category, Holidays, the first post of January 28, 2014.
2 For this cause, I rejoiced when the Lord led me to use the rendition of the praise song, Praise Adonai, by Messianic Jewish Worship Leader, Paul Wilbur, in our first Strong
Man Of God Online Rally. Seeing Jewish Christians who were the first take their place among us Gentiles at this hour means we have now, come full circle from the first
century (Luke 13:22-30). This is also yet another sign the Lord is at hand! Nevertheless, He warns Jewish Christians they should not be corrupted by any Gentile Christian
adulation or heretical doctrines nor should they be accorded infallibility by Gentile Christians apart from God’s whole Word as it is written (Acts 10:24-26, 15:1-21; Titus 1:
10-16; 2 Peter 1:16-2:3). You can view the Online Rally on our Web Site Page, https://thestrongmanofGod.org/Webcast or if you prefer, directly at this genuine and safe
YouTube link, https://youtu.be/m78j5JaRrIc.
3 See the August 1, 2021 post, Jesus Christ King And Judge!, under the category, Instruction.
4 Read the June 12, 2016 post, The Day Of Israel’s Comfort, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
As the Lord leads, I write to encourage the hearts of His faithful saints in the aftermath of my posts from July 4, 2021. In particular, I remind you that all we temporarily now, and will suffer through to the end of our mortal lives or the return of our Lord Jesus Christ is worth it since we are richly rewarded by Him eternally (Romans 8:18)! Until then, you know that it is our privilege to suffer to whatever extent we do in His likeness and cause to His glory (1 Peter 4:12-16). Trust me; I already know this is easier said than done. Yet, this is God’s will for us in spite of the falsehood in much of American Christianity that makes personal dream fulfillment, health and material prosperity its focus.
What exactly are we suffering for at the end of the day as Christians? Is it not for the sake of Christ as His followers and the Kingdom of God He represents as King and Judge?1 Yes, and He does not deceive us about the cost of following Him until He returns to bring the Kingdom of God to earth declaring plainly to all: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross (an instrument of suffering and death), and follow Me,” (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23, NKJV). Moreover, He soberly urges such ones to “count the cost” which is very steep in prioritizing first love for and sacrificial service to Him in His Kingdom causes (Luke 14:25-35, NKJV).2
This is just as He also lived and served His Father during His earthly sojourn; suffering the agony and humiliation of being crucified naked on a Roman cross to bring about our salvation as foretold (Psalm 22:1-18; Isaiah 53:1-9; John 3:13-17, 19:28-30). As our example in everything, He who insists we be prepared to suffer for Him and His Kingdom causes, suffered first and far greater than any of us that follow Him ever will (Matthew 10:16-33; John 15:18-25; 1 Peter 2:18-25)!3 Thus, as those redeemed for the Kingdom we suffer for its present message in the Gospel from God calling mankind to repent of sin and believe on King Jesus for salvation (Luke 24:46-48; Acts 17:30-31)!
Too, we suffer now, as He did for the Kingdom’s transcendent eternal principles, morality and ethics well articulated in the Bible (Psalm 119:89; Luke 21:33). God has given men freewill and the right to refuse the Gospel and Kingdom. Stirred by demons and hardened in heart by sin, many who reject the Gospel and Kingdom are not simply content with rejection, but feel it necessary to persecute believers among other wicked motives to justify themselves. The uncompromising stand of the faithful our God is “the only true God,” His Gospel the only means of mankind’s salvation and His Word the sole “truth” infuriates them (Isaiah 43:10-13, 44:6-8; John 3:18-21, 17:1-3, 14-17, NKJV).
Atheists, other secular unsaved, jaded unbelieving professed Christians as weak or outright false brethren and religionists along with apostates persecute the faithful around the earth with hostile mockery, scoffing, exclusion from family and community relations as well as support, destruction of personal and church properties, incarceration, physical violence and martyrdom as foretold. As also foretold, however, God will vindicate the suffering His saints have endured and our long wait in faith since the 1st century A.D. for it beginning with the destruction of counterfeit Christianity’s mother (Revelation 17:1-19:4). This is followed by Christ’s glorious return (2 Thessalonians 1:3-12)!
On that special one of a kind day, God in Christ will show the world how much He valued the faithfulness of His saints by glorifying us for all to unavoidably see. For the dead in Christ that are raised and His mortal remnant will receive from Him their immortal bodies aglow with the brilliant eternal glory of God shining from them against the backdrop of the darkened heavens as we obey His summons to join His glorious presence in the sky (Isaiah 13:9-10; Daniel 12:2-3; Zechariah 14:5b-7; Mark 13:24-27; 1 Corinthians 15:50-57; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17)! For most of the unsaved on that day, our eternal glorification will be among the last things they see alive on earth.
Gentile survivors with the protected elect Jewish remnant will see our reign with Christ over this earth and universe follow our glorification and full outpour of divine wrath (Daniel 7:13-14, 21-22, 27; Revelation 7:1-8, 20:4-6). We will reign as kings and judges as with all things pertaining to the eternal Christian life, in the image of Christ!4 This is exceedingly greater than Noah and Lot’s after wrath experiences! So then, let the faith in our God of the faithful--even every aspiring strong man and great woman of God in the image of Christ--take to heart all He has promised us as vindicating victory and be comforted in “the whole counsel” of His Word (Acts 20:27, NKJV).5 This is as I wrote to you in a previous word of encouragement.6 Our suffering for Christ is not in vain (James 5:7-12).
1 Read the August 1, 2021 post, Jesus Christ King And Judge!, under the category, Instruction.
2 See the two-part post beginning August, 18, 2019, Lined Up Behind Jesus, under the category, Instruction.
3 See the two-part post beginning May 17, 2020, Persecution, Hatred And Betrayal and Persecution Of American Christians Intensifying on November 29, 2020, both under the category, Bible Prophecy.
4 Read the July 19, 2020 post, Ruling The Earth Under Christ, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
5 As I write in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, aspiring strong men and great women of God in the image of Christ are the Lord’s faithful! The book and companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study are available at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store.
6 See the August 16, 2020 post, To The Word Of God!, under the category, Encouragement.
As I wrote in last week’s post, the immortal saints of God “will reign in holiness, righteousness, justice, truth, firmness against sin and mercy for the poor.”1 They will do this in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s perfect King!2 Scripture repeatedly informs us of His perfect nature, character and demeanor as the unique God-Man.3 While God has favored some kings over the millennia for their attributes--David for example, was ‘“a man after’” His ‘“own heart,’” only Jesus did He “decree” and later affirm: ‘“You are My Son, today I have begotten You;’” inviting His request for the nations to rule as an inheritance and promised “seed” of David (Psalm 2:7-9; Mark 1:11; Acts 13:21-25, NKJV)!
The first man, Adam, was created in the image and likeness of God to rule in nature, character and demeanor as God does (Genesis 1:26). But he sinned in disobedience to God’s direct command bringing ruin and death upon the creation, himself and his progeny (Genesis 3:6-11, 17-19). Jesus Christ, the second and last Adam, came from Heaven into the world as the “express image of God” by way of a virgin to redeem willing fallen mankind and reign as the perfect King over us as foretold and fulfilled to date (Isaiah 7:10-14, 9:6-7; Luke 1:26-38, 2:1-14; 1 Corinthians 15:45-47; Colossians 1:15-18; Hebrews 1:1-14, NKJV). He was perfected in character through suffering (Hebrews 5:7-9).4
Of Jesus Christ, God’s elect King it is written: “The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,” “the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” Truly, “His delight is in the fear of the LORD,” (Isaiah 11:1-3a, NKJV). At His first coming we are privileged through the witness of the Gospel accounts to see the Holy Spirit come upon the Lord Jesus and encounter His perfect wisdom, knowledge and understanding by way of His teaching as He walked the dusty roads of Israel (Matthew 3:13-17, 22:15-46). We also see the display of His power, hear His perfect counsel and fear of His Father in love enough to endure the cross at His command (John 6:1-40, 8:26-30, 10:14-18, 12:27-33, 14:28-31).
King Jesus is not any different now, in nature (Galatians 5:22-23) and character (John 13:12-17; Acts 4:27-30; Philippians 2:3-8) seated at the right of His Father than He was when He came to Israel 2,000 years ago nor will He be at His return (Hebrews 13:8)! Just as He taught, He will judge “with righteousness” and “equity” for the “poor” and “meek” of the earth. But let every rebel watch out; He will use “the rod of His mouth” to “strike the earth” and with “His lips,” “slay the wicked” because His eternal character is “righteousness” and “faithfulness,” (Psalm 72; Isaiah 11:3b-5; John 7:21-24, NKJV). Indeed, for the surviving mortals blessed to live under His perfect rule, they will see the cry of the generations for true justice, righteousness and peace fulfilled (Isaiah 65:20-25; Amos 5:24)!
Nevertheless, not being born again, innumerable multitudes of these surviving mortals and their progeny that benefited from the righteous millennium reign of Jesus Christ, God’s perfect King, will rebel against Him through the instigation of Satan, “released from his prison” at its end (Ezekiel 38:1-13; Revelation 20:7-8, NKJV).5 Thoroughly deceived, these unregenerate souls assemble together from their nations to march on and surround “the camp of the saints” at Jerusalem only to be met by the fiery wrath of God poured out upon them, the whole earth and universe followed by the King’s judgment (Ezekiel 38:14-23; 2 Peter 3:10-13; Revelation 20:9-15, NKJV)!6 As it is written, “For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet,” (1 Corinthians 15:24-28, NKJV).
1 Read the November 6, 2022 post, No Election For Christ And His Saints, under the category, Glory To God!
2 Those professed Christians that mock and belittle this Ministry’s cause to restore men through preaching the biblical Gospel to them for salvation and teaching them the way of Christ as the Strong Man of God asserting “it don’t require all that” among other standard lowering put downs, are clearly not reading or taking what the Bible plainly says seriously or both. Aspiring strong men of God being “conformed to the image of” Christ now, during their earthly sojourns are among the saints perfected to rule in His image forever (Romans 8:29-30, NKJV)!
3 As the Lord led me, I wrote about the nature, character and demeanor of aspiring strong men and great women of God in His image in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. I also developed a curriculum drawn from it, the companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study for the equipping of the saints in the home and churches. Get the Leader Kits that contain a Soft Cover Edition of my book, a respective Leader Guide and Participant Work- book as well as CD-Roms featuring PowerPoint Teaching Assistance, Pledge Sheets and Evaluation Forms for both studies exclusively in the Strong Man Store.
4 See the three-part post that begins January 29, 2017, Jesus, Son Of Man, under the category, The Cause.
5 God allows this rebellion which among other things proves His superior wisdom in demonstrating that even under the administration of a perfect King and Kingdom, unre- generate hearts ruled by sin do not change. He then is all the more magnified by us the redeemed in this epoch for His work to transform our hearts through new birth lead- ing to perfection!
6 Please note the word “camp” is used to describe the headquarters and residence of the saints. A camp is purposely intended to be temporary. This means neither the cur- rent heavenly city nor the millennium quarters of the saints on this present earth were intended to be permanent, but only “the holy city, New Jerusalem” on “a new earth,” (Revelation 21-22:5).
Far from the supposedly hope quenching gloom and doom view of Bible prophecy foretelling the apocalyptic end of this present world as we have known it even many professed Christians hold, is the gloriously bright reality captured in the phrase, “the Lord reigns,” (Psalms 93:1, 96:10-12, 97:1-9, 99:1-3; Revelation 19:6, NKJV)! These three words are exclaimed on the earth and in every other realm of existence after the victory of Jesus Christ at Jerusalem!1 Indeed, elect, mortal Israel and surviving Gentiles of His grace are urged to join the glorified immortal saints in joyful celebration of the King; singing His praises with awe and jubilation (Psalms 47, 98, 100, 150:1-4; Isaiah 12)!
As the faithful reflect from this mortal vantage point prior to the coming Day of the Lord, it is beyond tragically sad that all of humanity does not accept God’s free offer of salvation and restoration through repentance and faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ! For knowing the end from the beginning, salvation and restoration has been in God’s heart from eternity when He saw that man would sin. Giving His creature free will, God also saw that many would exercise it and reject His gracious offer of pardon with immortal glory. For this reason, any sadness we have now should move the faithful to proclaim the Gospel and witness Christ to unsaved fellow humanity with all the more zeal!
For truly, we of all people have known from God’s Word that deliverance from and an end to this present evil age governed by fallen angels was finally going to come. Rule over the earth or any part of physical creation was not intended for them, but man under the sovereign and righteous reign of God (Genesis 1:26; Psalm 8). However, Adam rejected God’s rule (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:1-6)! Nevertheless, the Day of the Lord was telegraphed in His foretelling of Satan’s defeat by the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15)! Patient and longsuffering over the millennia, God first celebrates restoration of His Kingdom rule through Christ outside 1st century Jerusalem (Colossians 2:11-15).
Doing my assigned Kingdom work with many tears for the lost and disobedient professed Christians along the way, I gladly leave it behind for a moment and in God’s will come to the foretold second celebration of His rule restored by Christ at Jerusalem! With His prophetic Word, faith and Kingdom vision causing me to be in attendance, I join in the celebration--shouting, clapping, dancing and singing praises to King Jesus; yes, in unrestrained joy shouting with all of my voice “the Lord reigns, He reigns forever and ever!” “All glory, praises and honor be unto Him!” Then, like David, with total abandon I dance before the “King of glory,” (2 Samuel 6:12-15; Psalm 24, NKJV)!
Subsequently, I realize again I and all of the saints around me are shining with God’s glory and explode in fresh inexpressible joy--yet, I am expressing it fully (Daniel 12:2-3; Matthew 13:41-43; 1 Corinthians 15:47-49, 54-57; 1 Peter 1:3-9)!2 My slave forefathers may have truthfully sung “nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.” On this Day, though, everyone under, on and positioned over the earth knows my joy in the Lord with all of the saints for His victory; vindicating our faith, hope and suffering in Him (2 Thessalonians 1:3-12)!3 “Glory to God; glory to the ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords’ who reigns and alone is worshipped forever more” (Zechariah 14:9, 16-19; Revelation 11:16, NKJV)!
As foretold, the King One with the Holy Spirit will reign in the reverence of His Father in truth, righteous judgment, unimpeachable justice that punishes wicked mortals in accord with what their sins deserve, divine wisdom, knowledge, strength, perfect fairness, impartiality and tenderness toward the meek (Deuteronomy 32:3-4; Psalm 99:4-5; Isaiah 9:6-7, 11:1-5; Matthew 5:5). Men will be taught the ways of the Lord and from Jerusalem His law will go forth throughout all the earth. In consequence, under His rule a real, thorough and lasting peace will prevail on the earth. Men will turn their weapons into tools and study war no more forever. The ferocity and carnivorous behavior of related plants and animals will cease (Isaiah 2:1-4; 11: 6-10; 65:24-25; Micah 4:1-3)!
The King will rule over mortal men with a “rod of iron” from His glorious throne at Jerusalem; elevated in height and beauty by Him (Psalm 2:8-9; Zechariah 14:8, 10-11; Revelation 19:15, NKJV). And we, His saints, shall reign on the earth with Him in all of the same character qualities and governance as He (Psalm 150:5-9; Daniel 7:26-27; Revelation 1:4-6, 2:26-29, 5:9-10, 20:4-6)! “Glory, glory to God for His awesome vindication of His faithful; of those that endured to the end proclaiming the Gospel to restore men and standing firm on His Word!”4 If only all professed Christians today could truly believe that what is unfolding in the world--great evil, a creation in labor pains and His coming wrath--is heading toward the exceedingly better Day of God’s Kingdom restored to earth!
1 I acknowledge that I with many other prophecy teachers and authors have conveniently named earth’s final war, “Armageddon” as is the case in my December 20, 2015 re-post, Reigning With Christ On Earth, under the category, Bible Prophecy that I recommend be read along with this present post. Technically, though, Armageddon is the hill or tel of Megiddo in northern Israel overlooking plains easily corresponding to the prophet Joel’s “Valley of Jehoshaphat” (Joel 3:1-2, NKJV). It serves as the ma- jor assembly area, staging ground and launch point of the world’s armies with Antichrist for war against Israel and Jerusalem. Christ descends upon the Mount Of Olives immediately in front of Jerusalem on the east and engages the enemy there delivering it while also overseeing His swift victory in the war actually raging all over Israel in- cluding Armageddon and around it (Isaiah 63:1-6). Then my Lord the King will enter Jerusalem to great acclamation as before, but this time on a white horse and with all knowing in absolute certainty who He is (Matthew 21:1-11, 23:37-39; Revelation 19:11)!
2 See the July 31, 2016 blog, The Immortal Bodies Of God’s Eternal Sons, under the category, God’s Creatures to learn more about the glorious immortal bodies of the saints!
3 Read the November 29, 2015 blog, When The Glory Comes, under the category, Glory To God!
4 Check out the Give Page on our Web Site to see how you can support the ongoing work of Strong Man Ministries to restore men.
In the aftermath of the blog series the Lord led me to write on obedience, He gave me a word of instruction to rebuke the emotional but false notion among many professing Christians today that being called sons of God is His irrevocable pledge to bring all so named into glory without any regard whatsoever to their lives (James 2:14-26). Persistent disobedience in sin is a deal breaker! Professing Christians are not the first people ever to have familial relation to God (Isaiah 63:16; Hosea 1:10) nor to dishonor Him as Father through sin and be judged (Malachi 1:6-2:9). Or is God the delighted Father of disobedient sons? Not according to the only begotten Son (John 8:37-59). Originally Posted August 30, 2013 In my blog entitled, Whose House? on August 25, 2013 the Holy Spirit led me to write about how God’s Kingdom--His governing rule, authority, will, way and Word--becomes living spiritual reality (as opposed to mere theoretical principle) in the hearts of those that experience the new birth through faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:3-7)! When born again individual believers assemble together, the parenting of God the Father and Lordship of Christ extends into our corporate relations and activity as well. In other words, as I write in The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, every believer and local church are “supposed to be advanced outposts of” the Kingdom of God extant here and now on earth since the Father and the Son are submitted to as the ruling authorities by them. This is a marvelous thing to us who genuinely experience this spiritual reality in our persons and understand it as the incredible answer to the first part of the type of prayer (Matthew 6:9-10; Luke 11:2) the Lord taught His disciples to pray (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-4). In contrast to the often written out and showy prayers of hypocrites whose goal it is to be seen and heard by men in order to impress them with their eloquence, the Lord teaches a prayer template that when God answers, powerfully shows He was listening! As sons of God by spiritual new birth, we acknowledge in prayer “our Father” whose governing throne is in Heaven, yet, is brought into our lives. We pray conscious of this truth daily and moment by moment to intentionally affirm for Him as well as ourselves His continuing welcome in our lives as ruling Head since Satan, sin and self do not cease attempting to get us to turn back to them. We therefore, also purposely hallow or consecrate His name representing the surpassing greatness of His glorious being (take your pick of the exalted biblical names God Himself gives us to describe His Person) in our hearts, minds and lives. ‘“Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is Heaven”’ (Matthew 6:10, NKJV) is not just meant as a petition for future fulfillment, but a very present, right now request for God’s rule to be carried out in our mortal lives as also His meeting of our needs for daily sustenance, forgiveness and deliverances from Satan. When the mortal sons of God on earth submit to His will, way and Word in seeking to please Him--the heart of every aspiring strong man and great woman of God in the image of Christ, the superior greatness of divine rule in nature (ex. love, joy and peace), character (ex. holiness, righteousness and justice), power and glory to be seen fully when the eternally enduring Kingdom is finally revealed at Christ’s Second Coming, shines out from us now as a foretaste! As is true for the individual sons of the kingdom, so, the local churches they assemble in. Again, this is what is so diabolical about professing Christians and their churches being selectively, partially and willfully disobedient to God’s Word since they are faithfully reflecting not the reign of God, but that of His enemy, Satan, who is the original rebel and uses their sin to blaspheme God’s name (2 Samuel 12:13-14). Thus, when disobedient professing Christians and their churches reject as of the most basic of biblical instruction, God’s order of creation in the roles and responsibilities of men and women for example, it is a rejection of God’s rule; a siding with the world controlled by Satan and a cause for their blaspheming of His name and Word (Genesis 3:2-4; 1 Samuel 8:1-8; Titus 2:1-5). If the sons of the Kingdom do not remain true--God is not honored as Father, nor is His name set apart as holy, nor His Kingdom displayed or His will done in that man or church as it is in Heaven; if the churches as advanced Kingdom outposts on earth holding ground until the Kingdom is fully revealed at the appearing of Christ rebel, then finally, what is their value to God (Luke 14:34-35; John 15:4-6; James 4:4-5, 17)? For this reason we pray and labor for repentance fueled revival; we proclaim and teach the strong man of God message bound up in the Word of God uncompromised; we rebuke, we exhort with all urgency since the Judge and King, Jesus Christ is right at the door (2 Timothy 4:1-2; James 5:9b)! And do not say to yourself in deception, “I am a son of the Kingdom, therefore, I can never be lost; God does not abandon His family.” Hear the Word of the Lord not foolish men with their endless sectarian speculations. We stand as sons of God at present only by faith and the continuing, blazing presence of the Holy Spirit within us (Romans 1:16-17, 3:21-26, 8:1-17; Galatians 3:1-9, 26; Ephesians 1:13-14). But if we willfully embrace sin in disobedience without repentance are we acting in faith? God does not think so and after much grief, many fruitless rebukes and calls to repentance (Ephesians 4:30; James 4:6-10) as well as the prolonged quenching of the Holy Spirit, He gives such a one over to his way and judges accordingly (Exodus 4:22; Ezekiel 9-10; Luke 13:6-9; Romans 1:18-2:11; 11:13-22; Galatians 5:16-21; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; Hebrews 3:7-19, 6:1-8, 10:26-39). Faithful sons of the Kingdom and aspiring strong men of God in the image of Christ know that only faith displayed in love motivated obedience pleases our Father and stand in it accordingly to the death as all who were before them (Hebrews 11)!
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