In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus makes a statement that does not receive the attention it deserves within the religious world. He says: “Blessed are they who mourn ….” (5:4). This statement was taken from Isaiah 61 where the Lord’s prophet is referring to those who weep and mourn over the sins of Zion (Jerusalem) which symbolized God’s chosen people anciently and the end-time nations of Israel today (the United States of America and Britain primarily). Read Who and Where is Israel Today? Key word–Who. What God says to and about Jerusalem (Zion) in Isaiah 61:1-3 He is saying to and about those who call themselves by His name today, only a minute few of whom are truly His sheep/wheat (Mat. 7:13,14; 22:14). These are those few who mourn for the sins of their nation. It is these whom He was referring to in Matthew 5:4.
In Ezekiel chapter nine the Lord is revealing the spiritual condition of Israel in a vision (8:3). He shows him sight after sight of His people worshiping idols, which He views as gods which the people have placed before (prefer over) Him. In verses 1-7 the vision grows spiritually dark as God calls forth a group of men with swords in their hands. One man comes forward dressed in linen (symbolic of holiness) carrying a writer’s inkhorn. The Lord tells him to go throughout Jerusalem and mark the foreheads of those who MOURN, SIGH AND CRY OUT OVER THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE. Then the Lord sends out the slayers with orders to kill every man, woman and child who did not have the mourner’s mark upon their foreheads, “AND BEGIN AT MY SANCTUARY.” In verse seven God tells the slayers to “Defile the house (Temple) and fill the courts with the slain.” The Temple represented the entire nation of Israel combined. In verse nine God makes this clear, saying: “The iniquity (Lawlessness) of the House of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city is full of perverseness for they say, ‘The Lord is not here, He does not see what we are doing.’ As for Me (the Lord), I see everything; I will not have pity, I will repay all; I will recompense their sins upon their heads.”
In the vision the Lord ordered the slaying of everyone in Jerusalem (symbolic of modern day Israel) who did not have His mark on their foreheads. Only those who mourned and wept for the nation were spared the sword. In the vision, the vast majority of the people were slain. Look around you. What do you see? Lawlessness here, Lawlessness there; Lawlessness, Lawlessness everywhere. And where did it begin? IN THE CHURCH WHEN SHE REJECTED GOD’S LAW MANY CENTURIES AGO. As I have said many times, “As goes the church, so goes the nation.” The nations of modern day Israel (the U.S., the U.K., the so-called “Christian nations” around the globe and the Jews of the Middle East) have all turned their backs on God by rejecting His Law by which He governs His true saints, whose numbers are miniscule. These comprise His “remnant,” His “holy nation,” His “peculiar” people, His “treasures”–His end-time church. These are they who mourn over their beloved nations, their families, their friends and neighbors who, though thoroughly religious in many cases, are separated from God by their sins (Isa. 59:2).
To His remnant, God is putting out a call to draw ever closer to Him. The time is coming, and soon, when the sword will go through the nations. Handling the sword will be the most vile of humanity whom God will use to slay all–men, women and children–who do not have His “mark” on their “foreheads” (symbolic for having His Law in their hearts/minds). Recall that the Prophet Joel prophesied that in the latter days God would write His Laws (commandments) in the hearts of His true saints. The whole of professing Christendom has rejected His Law and has taken the nations that house her down with her.
God is calling His people to rise to where He is spiritually, to “Come up hither” to where He is, to walk with him in agreement with Him, TO OBEY HIS LAW IN THE MIDST OF A LAWLESS WORLD. GOD IS ISSUING A CALL TO HOLINESS, WITHOUT WHICH ONE WILL GO DOWN WITH THE SINKING SHIP THAT IS THE MODERN WORLD. Recall His Words: “Be ye holy for I am holy.” “Be ye holy as your Father in heaven is holy” (1 Pet. 1:15,16). These are not suggestions, these are COMMANDS.
As the world goes up in flames as prophesied in the Book of Revelation, God’s true saints, His Very Elect, will be taken to a place of safety, called “her place” (Rev. 12:14) where they will be protected and provided for during the 3 1/2 years of horror, destruction and death called the Great Tribulation (first 2 1/2 yrs) and the Day of the Lord (final year) during which two-thirds of mankind will be killed.
Then the Lord Jesus will return and clean up the mess man has made. He and His holy saints will then create the Kingdom of God on earth where they will rule and reign God’s creation for ever and ever (Rev 22:5). The Lord is calling those who would rule and reign with Him to a spiritual place where He and they will walk together on their way to the kingdom. Buckle up, dear fellow travelers, the way will be harrowing. But Jesus has already traveled that path and has left us markers to follow. They are called the commandments of His Father’s Law. Let us answer His call to become the righteousness of God (1 Jn. 2:29; 3:7,10/ 2 Cor. 5:21) that will be required for all who will enter His kingdom.
I will end this teaching with another misunderstood Biblical statement: “For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness” (Rom. 10:4). Law rejecters use that Truth as “proof” that the Law came to an “end,” was “nailed to the cross.” However, the exact opposite is true. The word “end” in the Greek language is “telos,” which means end result, outcome. Jesus is the end result, the human outcome of a life of Law-keeping. He was our human standard, our measure, our template, our example. As John tells us, if we claim to belong to Him, then we must “walk as He walked” while on this earth (1 Jn. 2:6). Jesus is calling us to walk in His spiritual footsteps. Only those who do so will join Him on His throne in the Kingdom of God (Rev. 3:21). L.J.
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