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Response To Rebellion Mic 5:3-4 “Therefore will he give them up, until the time [that] she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.” The Church of Jesus Christ is in travail to bring forth Christ in the Saints. Revelation 12 speaks of the man-child that is to come forth; & Isaiah 66 announces the bringing forth of the children, both speaking prophetically of our time. Once the travail is over the remnant shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord. We are in the midst of a great witness of the Kingdom of God worldwide. But during this time something else is happening. Those who are diligently seeking the Lord are experiencing sorrow, pain, frustration and confusion. The “woman,” the church, is crying out in pain (as Revelation tells us). Christ is being formed in the Saints. To comprehend why we must go through such a terrible ordeal we must understand the response to rebellion that took place eons ago. Before the heaven and earth were created there existed a universe of intelligent beings. All were created by God the Father working through the Logos “Word”. Some of these spiritual creatures were rulers over the others – dignitaries of awesome wisdom, knowledge, authority and strength. If we were to see them we would be overwhelmed at their splendor. Satan, who was obviously the most exalted of the heavenly rulers, decided to lift himself above all the others and above God’s will in order to bring a poison and rebellion against Father. This left the heavens and the universe polluted. The “spirit of sin and death” was born. All who were involved with Lucifer were cut off from the Father. Confusion, disorder, and chaos replaced harmony, peace, and joy. From this we can see that the original sin was “discontentment with one’s assigned place in life.” From this Christ came to redeem any who would be reconciled to God so that they could be content in whatever state God places them. Our role in life is to be in quietness and contentment in Christ so we can be the resting-place of Father. How did God respond to this rebellion? God created man to replace the rebellion of the awesome angels. Man was created to be the throne of God, to govern the work of God’s hands, and to judge all of the creatures, including the angels, and to prevent future rebellions for all eternity. The sinning angels are now bound in chains of spiritual darkness filled with violence, hatred, torment, jealousy, bitterness and self-will. They can never again experience love and blessing. These beings lost their place of domain and authority (Jude 1:6). The entire scriptures reveal God’s response to the rebellion of His creatures. More than we comprehend, the things written in the Scriptures are directed toward the angels. “Give ear, O ye heavens and I will speak and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.” (Deut.32:1) But God does not reveal His plan directly to the creatures of heaven. He does it through His elect on the earth. We are the response of God to the rebellion of heaven. “To the intent that now to the principalities and powers in heavenly places they might know through the church the manifold wisdom of God.” (Eph.3:10). Job 4:18 tells us “God puts no trust in his heavenly servants and to his angels he charges with stupidity or carelessness.” God has considered his creation and he has determined He would reconcile His rebellious creation to Himself. He looked about to see who could do it faithfully, under every condition, for eternity. He found one – the Logos, the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ (Psm. 45:3-7). How did Jesus fulfill this awesome task? Through obedience, He suffered the shame of the cross (Heb.12:2). Through the atonement process Christ provided deliverance from sin as well as forgiveness for sin and removal of all condemnation. But it will never happen until we believe that Christ’s imputed righteousness must change us from being carnal beings into spiritual men because we love righteousness as much as we say we love Jesus Christ. (Rom.13:11-14) “Our salvation (deliverance from the presence of sin in our personality) is nearer that when we believed.” The salvation that is being revealed today is a deliverance from the presence of sin. We believe that the day of deliverance has begun for those who diligently seek the Lord. The day of vengeance on God’s enemies has come to us as the Lord judges and removes the works of Satan that are in us. The propitiation for sin has appeased God, but the presence of sin remains both in heaven and on earth. The Lord is waiting until His enemies are made His footstool by the wisdom and power of the Father. We are now in the Age of Reconciliation, an age that will last for 1000 years while Christ reconciles all of creation to the Father. One reason the Father has waited this length of time is because the body of Christ has not come to maturity; Christ has not been formed in the Saints. God will wait until both Satan and Christ have attained maturity in the earth. Then the angels of God will remove from the Kingdom of God all wickedness and wicked people (Mat.13:41-43). We must understand the authority given to Satan by God. The Father is in control of all things. But there is a war between God and Satan. It is a war of truth. God has all the power. Satan cannot overcome the power of Christ’s resurrection, nor does he attempt to. So Satan works in the realm of deception. God allows Satan to operate in order to bring the elect into maturity. Satan uses wickedness to hinder the Saints, but the Saints press into the crown of life. It is necessary that stumbling blocks and testings be set before the righteous, but woe to that person through whom the testings come. That is why we obey with every detail – so we can overcome the temptations of evil presented by Satan. At the same time that God’s people are coming to maturity, sin is maturing. God, through the blood of Jesus, is covering the righteous Saints until He is ready to remove the sin. At that time, God causes the sin to be exposed so it can be rooted out of the believer. And it is going to take each of us on stand-by to minister strength while the process culminates. There is only one thing we as believers can do to survive this and to help others: (Matthew 24:28) The Lord is revealing the carcass (Jesus Christ). We will not be moved if we eat his body and blood. Isaiah 40:31 – a literal translation “Those who feast on the carcass shall renew their strength.” The Lamb is the carcass and wherever He is, eagles feed. This is where Jesus lost the crowds. You can get lost in the crowds, but Jesus is looking for one-on-one relationship. It is the only way to mature for redemption, reaching the point where you do not grow faint by what He does. Why does it have to be this way? Because you don’t have a compassionate heart unless you eat His heart. I don’t care what your works are – if you feed the poor and hungry – if your heart doesn’t match His you haven’t done anything for the kingdom of God. But when you feed off the carcass and eat His heart, you will more than feed the down and out; you will love them, and minister truth to them that will prepare them for redemption. Leviticus 11:13 tells us it is illegal to eat eagles (we are eagles). And today the eagles are molting. They must be renewed. How do you renew? You get up on the carcass…and eat. When we have been planted on the carcass we will go forth and feed others with truth and life from the carcass so that others will live. Molten eagles must feed on the carcass. “For wherever the carcass is there will the eagles be gathered together. “ There are molten eagles everywhere. They are dying because they don’t have truth. They have ignored the redemption process. But we won’t be able to help in any way unless we are renewed by the carcass, eating his heart of compassion. The travail is continuing – don’t abort. Let the Christ come forth with you. Stand in the strength of the Lord and feed on Him. -Pr. Steve November Newsletter 2003 | Response to Rebellion | Thank God for Time Pastor's Journal November 2002 | Fruitful through Affliction | A People Plundered part 2 of 3
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Biblical Counseling for Leaders
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