The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah saw God’s future Messiah from a unique perspective. What he saw undoubtedly shocked him as it has shocked the Lord’s faithful followers ever since. In chapter 53 the man of God pours out his heart as he describes the One the church world would come to know as Jesus of Nazareth, the God Who became a man for the sake of the men He had created. In verse three Isaiah characterizes this man Who would take on Himself the sins of that world. Speaking in past tense, the prophet wrote that He would be: “… a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief ….” The prophet goes on to explain why the Lord’s Messiah would wear sorrow and grief like a robe. The reason was not that He would have to suffer and die a horrible death. No, the pain Jesus bore was much deeper and hurt much more than a day of suffering, as horrendous as it undoubtedly was. At the end of that day the suffering would end. The Lord’s deep, heart-breaking pain would not end until its causes were eliminated from the universe. One of the primary causes of His sorrow is the subject of this series. The subject can be described in two words–misplaced priority. Note that the word is “priority”–singular, meaning that the true saint has one and only one focus/agenda/priority.

The God called “the Word” Who became Jesus the Christ (Jn. 1:1-4,14) had only one priority when He voluntarily left heaven and came to this earth as God’s Son. Throughout both the Old and New Testaments He tells us through His prophets and apostles that anyone who calls himself God’s child must have the Lord’s singular priority in order to spend eternity with Him and the Father in the earthly paradise known Biblically as the Kingdom of God. The gospel which He formulated centered around this kingdom and the “walk” (1 Jn. 2:6) one must complete in order to enter it. This gospel was the central theme of Christ’s message as is shown in Matthew 4:23: “And Jesus went about all Galilee … teaching … and preaching the gospel (good news) of the kingdom ….” Following His death and resurrection He returned from heaven :”… and being seen of them forty days and speaking (to them) about the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). The gospel of Jesus Christ was and continues to be the gospel of the Kingdom of God. The true saint’s focus, his total agenda and heart-set is on the Kingdom of God and how to enter it. This is where the three billion plus parishioners that make up professing Christianity have gotten off track and why they are headed toward destruction.

Simply stated, the true saint’s primary agenda is to learn, believe and obey God’s Word. The false saint’s primary agenda is to find out what he/she can get out of God. This, dear readers, is one of the primary reasons Jesus was “a man of sorrows.” God did not send Him to earth without a method of communication (by way of the Holy Spirit). Before He left his heavenly paradise, the Word was told by the other God in the Godhead that the vast majority of men would reject Him outright, and that of the few who embraced Him, most of them would focus their hearts on what they could get from Him, namely heaven. Others would learn that they need not wait to be blessed. They would be told that before being whisked off to heaven they could receive a myriad of blessings. To receive the blessings they would need only do what Satan’s “ministers of righteousness” would tell them to do.

Today there are literally tens of thousands of such ministers whose Satan-appointed, Satan-empowered, globe-encircling ministries consist of one message–what one can get from God. For the majority of churchites, the blessing is singular–heaven. For others the blessings are numerous. It is to these “only believe and you can have it now” parishioners that this series is dedicated. It is true that God promises numerous blessings in this life. Satan’s false prophets are very adept and convincing when it comes to promising the promises. Their sermons are founded upon God’s Biblically-proclaimed blessings which they repeatedly pour into the waiting minds of their congregations. The promises, which God plainly enumerates, are not the problem. The problem lies in what is conveniently left out of their single-themed sermons. The following posting will show that their priority, and thereby the priority of their followers, have them joyfully and unwittingly riding on Satan’s comfortable, wrong-tracked train whose destination is hidden from them. Truly, Christ’s lament recorded in Revelation 12:9 is true: “Satan has deceived the whole world.” Those aboard his “it’s all about the blessings” train are his most prized possessions. Both the “heaven only” seekers and the “name it and claim it now” enthusiasts are on his train. Unless they repent, turn from their suicidal mission and embrace God’s Word, they will all end up in the same place–the Lake of Fire. L.J.