k) “And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years” (Jn. 5:1-5-9). He perfectly represented the people of Israel, which did not believe, murmured, was unwilling to enter the Promised Land and that’s why they were wandering in the wilderness for 38 years; and after 40 years they died there (Num. 14:29-34). Why? Their natural selfish life influenced them and governed them all that time. They never looked at and judged anything in the light as to how it serves God and satisfies His Purposes. They looked at and judged everything as to how it influenced THEM. All their murmuring, complaining and rebellion existed because THEY did not get what THEY wanted. And it was never the same what GOD wanted. They were terribly egocentric and their selfish life was their “bed” on which they were lying for 38 years as spiritual cripples. They were never able or willing to stand up on their own feet and walk with God toward HIS Purposes for them.
And today’s Church is exactly the same. In the spiritual wilderness of this world there exist millions of Christians, which are the same spiritual cripples. They also cannot stand on their feet nor can other people put them on their feet. When you try to lift them up, they make two-three steps and down they fall again like rotten pears. There are whole multitudes of them. And you can spend all your life trying to put them on their feet. What is it that eats out of them their own life and abilities? What is making them such helpless cripples that they cannot even stand up on their own feet? It is their egocentrism, it is selfishness, which always wants to boast about, elevate itself over others, praise itself and not allow anybody to act against it, to somehow humiliate it or dissatisfy it, hence, it was the peak of carnality. The spiritual Christians walking on the narrow road were liberated from their selfishness and carnality in all its forms; they were put on their feet by Jesus Christ and walk in His strength on His ways. Hence, I really do not know whether Christians realize the significance of this miracle of the Lord when He healed the cripple. Whether they see that the Lord did not do it just “by accident”, but that thereby He indicated that by His Death and Resurrection He will create a New Spiritual Israel, which will stand on its own feet and walk with God and that the old cripple will cease to exist. The same thing applies to the cripple in the Church.
l) In the Old Testament, from all the nations of the world, God chose one man – Abram – and put him as it were into the center of those nations. From his seed, He established a nation in the very center of all the other nations, a completely different nation, and established him on the Divine spiritual principles. All the other nations were gathered around it to look at it and become aware of the fact, that the only true and living God is with them wherever His people came. In fact, they had this knowledge even before His people came (read Jos. 2:1-24 what Rahab, the harlot said and did!). The calling of Israel was to represent God, have witness of Him in themselves and show Him to the world. We know that Israel totally failed in this calling.
In the New Testament, God also chose one man – Jesus – and gave Him the Name “Emanuel-God with us” (Mt. 1:23), so He could be the Head of the Body, which will grow from the seed of Abraham and which He will call “Church”. The calling of the Church was to be a living Body of Christ and to “preach the Kingdom of God to the whole world for a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come” (Mt. 24:14). The Church totally failed in her calling as well. The evangelists preached the Gospel of Redemption, that’s why whole multitudes of pagans became believers. But they never preached the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, nor did they lead these new believers to first seek the Kingdom and His Righteousness (Mt. 6:33). Therefore, nobody was seeking it and finding it and thus walking to their perfection. Therefore, none of them will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Here I am led to enlighten the question of the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, so we would begin to see and be also willing to finally seek the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness in our soul, so that we could enforce it on the earth when that time comes. We know that the world are the kingdoms of Satan on the earth and that Satan had offered his kingdoms to Jesus when he was tempting Him (Mt. 4:8-10). From where had Satan obtained those earthly kingdoms and their glory? FROM MAN! Because man has Satan’s kingdom in his soul and man enforces THIS kingdom on the earth – that’s why Satan has them. If man would find the Kingdom of God in himself and would begin to enforce it on the earth, Satan would have no kingdoms here! That’s why Satan also keeps Christians from seeking FIRST the kingdom of God and His Righteousness! This endangers his kingdoms of this world very much.
Why then Israel and the Church failed? I am showing the main soulish causes in point m) below. The most basic cause or reason, even the cause for those soulish causes, was their dead spirit. They had no spiritual eyesight, no vision, no view into the future. We are able to go only that far where our vision, our view into the future, brings us. And when we have none, we do not move, we only mill about in circles. We are very predisposed towards finiteness, meaninglessness, vanities and are able to ignore our stunningly high calling in Christ, where we are taking part in the Greatest Purposes of God in all the ages of His Creation. How we all need the prayer of Paul that God of Our Lord Jesus Christ “may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling…” (Eph. 1:17,18). This gives the vision, view into the future. Do believers see the Lord? Do they meet Him? And when they gather together, do other people say: “The Lord is among them”? I have very contrary living experiences.
m) The justification of our existence is work, effort, exertion, fight with the nature, fight with the Devil. We were born to work, make effort, fight (Gen. 3:19/ Eph. 6:12). According to this Principle of God, nothing was supposed to be cheap, easy or simple because God established the value of everything. This definitely goes against every tendency of human nature, which wants everything cheap, easy, comfortable and simple, so it would not pay any price for anything, it would escape the work, suffering and would get everything free of charge. But God established a law that whatever is from Him, whether in His creation or Grace, has a price tag on it and it is expensive, it is endlessly precious and valuable and worthy of our afflictions and work and trouble, even of our life. What we gain easily and cheaply, we usually do not love. That’s why our soul must be liberated, saved from lightheartedness, negligence, indifference, carelessness, complacency, frivolity, stinginess and misery, so it can wake up and start to realize that here is something, which is infinitely precious, priceless, a treasure beyond imagination.
Everything what touches our Salvation is infinitely precious and priceless. It is thus a true tragedy when believers do not value their Salvation, nor their Christian life. “… we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). It is also clearly written: “Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven”(Mt. 18:3). To change and become as little children demands suffering, afflictions, overcoming of all evil, cleansing of all filth which, during the years of our “maturing”, we have gathered into our soul… and which the children do not have. Hence, suffering, afflictions are connected with something valuable, and this is especially true when it comes to the spiritual things. God allows or even causes suffering, persecutions, harassments, testing to see whether our heart is for God, or there is just an empty hollow, or whether there are only earthly worries. God has to expose everything what is not real, and He must test everything that it may show its reality. It is very easy to “disappear from the horizon” when the things or situations are becoming too severe, complicated, problematic, unpleasant, dangerous. How often we do pray that the Lord would protect us from difficulties and troubles and inconveniences and storms! But the Lord does not even answer many such prayers. He is not protecting us from such things, is not building a glasshouse over us! Then, what is He doing? He has designed those storms, difficulties, troubles and problems, He is designing the measure of those storms and thunderbolts for us personally so they may devastate, blow away, destroy, end everything what is in us unacceptable so He may see whether there is a heart in us for Him or whether our “Christian life” is only a “show” seen outwardly with an emptiness inwardly. Therefore, the Lord showed that there exists a true Israel and a false one as well, that there is a true Church and a false one as well. Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Galatia: “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you”(Gal. 4:19 + 2Tim. 4:16 – all have abandoned me).
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To be continued next week
brother Hanola
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