2003-06-20
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
The Holy Spirit directs me to continue examining what the Lord Jesus had to say in the about the issues of the refiner’s fire to which we are all subjected and mankind’s propensity for hypocrisy. While I can’t finish this entire subject in one message, I will carry on in my next message with what is not finished here. You’ll remember that Christ has told us a lot in the Sermon on the Mount about who will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. In the last message, the subject of who is the greatest and who is the least in the Kingdom came up. MT 20: 26-28 is worth repeating. “If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of the rest; and if one of you wants to be first, he must be your slave-like the Son of Man, Who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life to redeem many people.” Since Christ was raised with the teaching of the OT prophets, it is important to see His response to them.
No doubt He had access to PS 66: 10-12, “You have put us to the test, God; as silver is purified by fire, so You have tested us. You let us fall into a trap and placed heavy burdens on our backs. You let our enemies trample us; we went through fire and flood, but now You have brought us to a place of safety.” Other OT teachings were also part of His Jewish upbringing. PR 27:21, “Fire tests gold and silver; a person’s reputation can also be tested.” Since Christ is omniscient, He certainly understands the meaning of ZECH 13: 8-9, a prophecy about the Jewish people of Tribulation times. “And throughout the land two-thirds of the people will die. And I will test the third that survives and will purify them as silver is purified by fire. I will test them as gold is tested. Then they will pray to me, and I will answer them. I will tell them that they are My people, and they will confess that I am their God.” Malachi reminded the people that the Day of Judgment was near. MAL 3: 1-3 is a key prophecy. “The Lord Almighty [God] answers, ‘I will send my messenger [a reference to John the Baptist] to prepare the way for Me. Then the Lord you are looking for [a reference to the Messiah, Jesus Christ] will suddenly come to His temple. The messenger you long to see will come and proclaim My covenant.’ But who will be able to endure the day when He comes? Who will be able to survive when He appears? He will be like strong soap, like a fire that refines metals. He will come to judge like one who refines and purifies silver and gold, so the Lord’s messenger will purify the priests, so that they will bring to the Lord the right kind of offerings.”
Christ’s omniscience enables Him to know what God will reveal in the NT even through it wasn’t compiled before His earthly physical life ended. He knew that God would reveal through Paul in 1 COR 10:13 that we need not concern ourselves with anything more that enduring in our faith. God would never give us a test that wasn’t normal for people to endure or that we couldn’t overcome. Peter would eventually write, in 1 PET 1: 6-7, “Be glad about this, even through it may now be necessary for you to be sad for awhile because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed.” With all of this a practical question arises: How can we endure in our faith?
The answer lies in PS 34: 8, “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.” Believing Jews have been given a special promise in RO 11: 25, which I believe was revealed to us, because no other single group have endured as much persecution as we have. “There is a secret truth, my brothers, which I want you to know, for it will keep you from thinking how wise you are. It is that the stubbornness of the people of Israel is not permanent, but will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to God.” For a Messianic Jew like myself, this is huge! Daily study of God’s word, an active prayer life, making one’s life a living sacrifice of service to the Lord [RO 12: 1-2], learning to be the Lord’s friend, and fellowship with other believers are the “A”-list of things we can do to endure in our faith. This is the way that God can reveal His magnificent attributes to us, that we can see Him at work in our lives and those of others, and we can get in the habit of praising Him. He gives us His perspective on our troubles and challenges, even on the power we have to battle the devil to victory in His Son’s name [EPH 1: 18-20]. What a difference all of this makes in our lives! I can witness to this first hand, because of the impact it’s had on my own life. It is through these things that I have endured almost losing my life due to illness and the continuing drain on our financial assets due to the time it is taking us to sell our home. I have placed these burdens on Christ’s capable shoulders and will spend the rest of my life praising God for allowing me more time to serve Him on this earth. I feel a bit like King Hezekiah who was given more time after surviving a terrible illness through prayer in IS 38: 4-5. We each need to look at our own lives to see what we are doing to endure in faith.
PRAYER: O Lord, You have told us in MT 7: 21, “Not everyone who calls Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what My Father in heaven wants them to do .” That reveals our utter need to know Your will for us in our attitudes, beliefs, and lives. You are a just, loving, and compassionate God Who never wants His people to go without a way of knowing Your will. That is one reason why You gave us Your Son on the cross to open the way for our salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us in Your ways. Christ’s Atonement is a great gift, and so is the faith in Him that You give us. Your compassion leads You to limit Satan’s activities and the time he has to assail us with challenges. When Paul complained about his infirmities in 2 COR 12: 7-8, You told him in (9), “My grace is sufficient, for my power is strongest when you are weak…” What You were revealing was the sinfulness of the flesh is not stronger than the goodness of the Spirit. Just as Paul endured, we can endure, even though it is difficult. Your greatest desire is to bring as many people back to You as possible. The new creation that is a person who is joined with Christ [2 COR 5: 17] is further described in COL 3: 10. “…This is the new being which God, it’s Creator, is constantly renewing in His own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of Himself.” A full knowledge of You means a full knowledge of Your will for us. We confess that we don’t take enough time to search out Your will and obey it. Because of this, we are sinners. Our desire is to improve upon that, so that we can please You. We acknowledge the gifts you have given us, promise to use them to carry out Your will, and pledge to endure in our faith through whatever challenges are placed in our path. We thank You for the Scriptures, the opportunity to pray, the fellowship of other believers, and the chance to learn from the circumstances of our lives to rely on You. We offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, trust, obedience, diligence, glory, honor, thanks, and heartfelt praise. We pray to You, our awesome God, in Christ’s name. Amen.
The issue of hypocrisy (the refusal to align words and actions while obeying the Lord’s will) must be the subject of my next message, because that is what the Lord wants. Moreover, there are kinds of hypocrisy that are not immediately apparent to us, because of the limitations of human perception. However, the Lord can reveal them to us though His word. Christ ran into hypocrisy often during His ministry on earth, just as we do. How He dealt with it contains important lessons for us. Our loving, patient, and compassionate Lord wants us to know His will, so that we can obey it and thus, inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Praise and glory be to Him for this! Without His influence on us, we would be lost.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn