Kingdom Truth - What is the Kingdom of Heaven in the Bible?
Chapter 4, Part 2 (continued)
The Church Follows the Steps of the
"Congregation" of the Old Testament
B. The Situation of "But Realize This"
The Holy Spirit used Isaiah to compose a vineyard song (lsa. 5:1-7). It described the excellent environment of the vineyard and its abnormal termination. This vineyard not only stood on a "fertile hill", the owner also "dug deep, weeded and established a vine spread", built a tower; hewed out a vine press and planted the choicest vine. The owner desired wholeheartedly that it would bear good grapes but who would know that the true seed would turn into a foreign vine with degenerate shoots (Jer. 2:21) and bear rotten grapes? Consequently, the owner abandoned the vineyard! This famous song certainly refers to the Jews. God, through Moses, delivered them out of slavery from the land of Egypt with great effort (Pss. 80:8]. Also, through Joshua, the various tribes were driven out of Canaan and they were grafted onto a land flowing with milk: and honey. God desired that they would be "the head and not the tail, shall be above and not be underneath" (Deut.28:14) among all the nations. All the nations would regard them as wise and intelligent. Among the nations they could testify for Jehovah. Who could know that they would walk in the stubbornness of their evil heart and go backward and not forward? (Jer.7:24) While holding to a form of godliness, they have denied its power - they honor God with their lip service but remove their hearts far from Him! Finally, their "holy cities have become a wilderness...Jerusalem a desolation!" (see lsa. 64:10)
God's wonderful intent is to have the church take over the baton of the Kingdom of Preparation from the Israelites. It is just as Jesus said in Matthew 21:43 and as Paul described in Romans 11:17-20. God desired that she can be "a glorious church, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing" (Eph.5:27]. Who would imagine that in the "difficult times of the last days'' she not only would not keep herself pure and honor the Holy God, but turn and follow the ways of the world and become part of it! She nourishes treachery with overindulgence in greed and lust in her heart! She loses the mission entrusted to her by the Lord! No wonder the gracious Lord said, "I will spit you out of my mouth". The following is a discussion of the church's reason for sinning, the fist of sins and the result of sinning.
(1) The Reason for Sinning
When we read 2 Timothy 3:1-4, there is always the feeling that the wording in verse 1 is an over-exaggeration! Because the sins on lawlessness, unrighteousness listed in verses 2 to 4 are well known by everyone after the fall of Adam. There is no need to use the command "But realize this"! But in reading further on to verse 5, we discover its seriousness because these are not sins committed by the world, but by those who are called godly! It is not an account of the sins of the world but an accusation of the deteriorated situation of the Kingdom of Preparation in the last days! The treachery and recklessness in God's holy church has reached such a level that no tears are available if one was to cry!
There are always reasons why things happen. The church in the last days has become "lovers of self...rather than lovers of God". This is truly the source of all evil. A careful reading of the Scriptures would reveal that all of man's sins originate from no other than one's "own self'!" The reason for Adam's being cast out of the Garden of Eden is that, he would not accept God's goodness as good and what God hates as evil. He wanted to establish his own "good and evil" to replace God's standard (Gen. 3:22 "knowing" can be translated as "selecting"). The reason for Cain's killing Abel is that, Cain did not want to appear inferior and was unwilling to live righteously, so he resorted to this despicable means of maintaining himself as "top dog"! On the contrary, Noah was a righteousness man, a perfect man because he walked with God--did not do what his "own self' wanted. This reason for sinning is true not only for individuals but also for nations. God summarized all the varieties of sins committed by the Jews into two evil deeds: "They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jer.2:13) This verse declared the two aspects of sin. On the passive side, they have forsaken God. On the active side, they are living for themselves! Not only the Jews, but all the sins mankind committed in the world can be summed up in one sentence: "Each of us has turned to his own way!" (lsa.53:6) Self! Self! How frightening is the self! Oh, how many sins have you created! How much trouble have you started! Brothers are pitched against each other, husbands and wives separate and divorce, friends turn on each other, and churches split. All are controlled, maintained, and promoted by "self'! No wonder the gracious Lord wants to put you to death!
Christ not only died for our sins (Gal. 1:4), He also died for our "own self' (Gal. 2:20, 6:14). His salvation not only passively delivered us from sin (Tit. 2:14), it also actively crucified the ''self'. So,we can be set free from "self' and no longer live for ourselves but for Him who died and rose again (see 2 Cor.5:15). In other words, "if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord!" (see Rom. 14:8) Even so, the activities of ''self' in the church in the last days are becoming more outrageous day by day. The land is full of self-ordained ministers whom God didn't send. So many pulpits are filled by religious salesmen who preach not God's message but their own philosophies every Sunday. So many leadership positions in churches are taken up by self-righteous elders who do not have Christ's life or spiritual gifts. So many phonies are flaunting shamelessly pieces of paper called diplomas and fictitious degrees obtained without true knowledge. (This is the epitome of deceiving others and oneself. Those selling phony degrees deceive others while those receiving such degrees deceive themselves!) They show off without shame! (Those who are sincere at heart but have obtained phony diplomas are advised to throw them away as soon as possible. Why suffer judgment from the Lord?) The ''self" is reigning in this fashion in the Kingdom of Preparation in the last days. How can the Lord set up His throne in the church? No way! Since the church does not have the presence of the head, the devil will enter to fill the vacuum. Since the enemy has invaded the Kingdom of Preparation to assist the ''self', how can the situation of the Kingdom not be tragic?
Chapter 4, Part 2
Shepherd His Sheep
