By Roy Waldrom
Reflection on living in the last days.
The understanding I have re Israel, the Church, the individual believer and the world.
There are only 2 commandments.
Love God by keeping his commandments John 14, which are those things He has clearly spoken to each of us. The other, is to love one another, and we do that by not judging each other, which is very hard not to do.
As people read the written Word 2 strong camps are formed.
For example, depending on which camp you are in,
the Book of Acts is either, descriptive or prescriptive.
Descriptive
Adjective. Serving, or seeking to describe.
Prescriptive
Adjective. Relating to the imposition or enforcement of a rule or method.
In other words, is the New Testament an account of what happened, [descriptive] or is it a law with rules to follow for ever? [prescriptive]
Another way of looking at it is the Church age was to be neither.
Jesus clearly said he would send the Holy Spirit to be our guide and comforter, living within and at all times. We are to listen to him and obey, hence the New Testament was written because they stopped walking by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The things they were doing were of the flesh.
It is no different today, over 2000 years later, when will we ever grow up?
Another question is, what is written in the Bible, is it literal or allegorical?
Some hold one view, some the other, some both.
As to Israel, the promises to Abraham stand because they are literal.
During the Church age the promises are put aside till the time is complete which we read in Romans 11. God has postponed them for a season.
During the Church age there is neither Jew or Gentile. When a person is born of the Spirit, they enter a new culture of the Spirit, which is outside of the culture of their birth.
Within the Church, just as in the nation of Israel, there are people who claim to be genuine members.
A true member of the Church, is a person who has a living relationship with the Lord.
A true member of the nation of Israel, is one who can trace their lineage back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
After 11 years of doing what she believed was God’s work, a person was told by the Lord He did not know her. WHY?
Because what she had done was not out of a living relationship, from hearing His voice. This revelation brought transformation and an ongoing living relationship.
I do not believe Father God is so much concern about who is right and who is wrong as what is in the persons heart. [the motive]
Right and wrong cause division and destroy relationships.
Right and wrong is living by law, which kills relationships.
The world and even professing Christians are where they are because of no living relationship with Father God that comes by hearing His voice and following what they hear. That is how Jesus operated, He said, he did or said nothing unless his Father told him.
My desire should be not to speak out about anything, or any one, unless the words that proceed out of my mouth are put there by the Holy Spirit.
What Father God is speaking loud and clear about right now, is that He wants His Church back in a living relationship, just as it was in the beginning, when He walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening. The Lord desires this intimacy with every cell of His body. [the Church]
When the Church age comes to an end, Father God will again visit the true sons on Israel in the natural and deal with them and the world.
Till then, we live in a time of pure grace where we need to understand we have nothing that we have not received, I Corinthians 4:7, which should cause us all to live and work full of compassion for those who do not have a living relationship with Father God, through Jesus by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit John 16:5-15.
This leaves all mankind, with 3 options,
1) To live walking and talking with their creator.
2) To live by law.
3) To live in anarchy, which is to live selfishly and be controlled by independence which is the dwelling place of antichrist.
In conclusion, just as in the story of the wheat and tares found in
Mathew 13:24-30,The Lord will sort out the true from the false, and we are to leave it to Him.