In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. - Ecclesiastes 7: 14 (ESV)
Sometimes I wonder if we realize how much we minimize the God we claim to serve. We think He needs help and assistance. We think that He is somehow taken by surprise when things do not go according to the Bible in a world that thinks the Bible is foolishness. I think sometimes about the arrogance of some of the false teachings that are quite popular these days. Consider Dominion Theology for a moment. This is the notion that the church must take control of the earth to facilitate the second coming of Jesus Christ. We must influence legislation and government, like we saw recently in the Kentucky clerk story. This is a widely held belief that is taught by many large "Christian" organizations and churches. It is endorsed by Mike Bickle and the International House of Prayer. It is held by Bill Johnson and Bethel Church as well as Rick Warren and Saddleback. What they fail to see in their idolization of America is they are laying the foundation upon which the ecumenical one-world religion Revelation speaks about will come to pass.
How little do we think of our God when we think He needs our help with anything? That somehow He wants to come back but is waiting for us to do our part in preparing the earth. We talk a lot about sovereignty but I think we fail to understand what that really means. To say that God is sovereign is to say that He is in control of everything. That if He wished He could come back tomorrow. Or today. Or this very moment. It is only His great grace and mercy that presently holds Him back. I am always amazed when Christians go all apoplectic when the world behaves like the world. As if God woke up and was surprised at a Supreme Court ruling, or a new law passed locally. Christians then take to the nearest microphone and defend the supreme entity of the universe by condemning the very people that need Him the most. I am reminded of John and James with Jesus:
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"But he turned and rebuked them.And they went on to another village. - Luke 9: 51-56 (ESV)
Does Jesus need our help to call fire down upon the sinners of this world? Of course not. For people who have been shown so much grace I am saddened about how little we have for other people. I think a lot of it has to do with the milquetoast, feminized, fragile Jesus that is preached throughout this country. And please, I am not suggesting that Jesus is pro-gun, pro-war, or pro-violence. But He is not this helpless God that requires us to stand up for Him. He does not need us to defend his honor and ask the world to a duel. He is God. He is sovereign. But sovereignty is not always just puppies and pancakes. In the bless me theological landscape of American churchianity we have lost sight of the fact that God is in control of everything. The sun and the rain. Consider the opening to the Book of Daniel:
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. - Daniel 1: 1-2 (ESV)
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Consider that for a moment. Who were these two people and who would be representative of them today? Jehoiakim was the King of Judah. He was in charge of God's people. The ten northern tribes of Israel had already been scattered by the Assyrians, so Judah was all that was left of the people of God. Today beloved, that is the church. Not that we are Israel but in this story, we would be like Jehoiakim. Meanwhile, Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon. He was in charge of the unbelievers. The pagans. Those who scoffed at God and considered His things foolishness. In many ways, America of today is Babylon. The land of unbelievers. The people who scoff at God. A land of sin and excess, which is celebrated throughout.
Yet the Lord gave Jehoiakim into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. That is a perfect understanding of the sovereignty of God from a perspective we often do not want to see. There is nothing that occurs on earth that God does not allow. That is what His permissive will means. This however is a deeper understanding for us today because according to this verse God facilitated the demise of His people by the hands of the unrighteous. He not only allowed it - He orchestrated it. As He promised them He would way back in Deuteronomy if they were not faithful. Just like He used the Assyrians against the ten northern tribes. Just like He uses the unrighteous of this nation against His wayward church.
What preacher?
Yes beloved it is time we stop and consider that the very things we think are signs of a coming judgment against this nation are actually a current judgment against His church. Or at least those posing as His church. For how long did we think we could get away with peddling the Word of God like hucksters and devouring the homes of widows and orphans? How long did we think we could feed our carnal flesh with false signs and lying wonders while marginalizing the Word of God? For how long did we think we turn the Gospel into a Tony Robbins seminar or an Oprah life class? How long did we think God would be mocked by Joel Osteen telling people this is their best life now and blaspheming the name I Am into little positive self statements? How long beloved? How long was God going to put up with seed faith, holy laughter, false revivals, 70 million dollar learjets for pastors, global peace initiatives that combine religions, drunk in the spirit, grave sucking, imaginary mantles, false anointings, arrogant and unbiblical authority paradigms, purpose driven, seeker friendly, emergent, mother grace, antinomianism, contemplative prayer, eastern mysticism, kundalini spirits, blood moons, super shemitahs, all wrapped up in a two sentence, thirty second altar call that will lead millions of people straight to hell? How long? How many of His sheep do you think He will allow to be slaughtered before He acts? Paul Washer once quipped about Joel Osteen that he was God's wrath upon those who were willing to sit through his sermons. I used to think that may have been too harsh but now I think it is just a microcosm. Christians cry persecution in this country over baking a cake or signing a secular marriage license; as if God cares about the laws of this country. As if He cared about the laws of Babylon. Regardless though He used Babylon. You see beloved persecution is coming and we will be woefully unprepared for it because we simply do not understand what it really is. If you want to call fire down from heaven for being asked to do your job, what is going to happen when you are demanded to renounce your faith or die? If we want to realize and finally understand that sovereignty of God we must start with the fact that He gave Jehoiakim into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Consider the key verse today. God made the joyful day. God made the prosperous day. He also however, made the day of adversity. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. He is trying to get our attention and it is not so we can prepare the earth. It is so we can prepare the bride. I pray we recognize it before we too are given over to Babylon.
Rev. Anthony.
