In Second Chronicles 7:14 God is addressing the nation of Israel–His people who were called by His name. These were the descendants of the Patriarch Abraham whom God chose to father “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Pet. 2:9) who were created to live in obedience to Him, whom He named “Israel,” meaning “power with God.” Israel was commissioned to be the “light of the Gentiles” (Isa. 42:6) who would “call the heathen world out of darkness and into His marvelous light.” Gentiles who chose to obey the Law of the Israelites’ God would be welcomed into His chosen nation as equal brethren. The first union of Israelites and Gentiles took place when God led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery as recorded in Exodus 12:38 where it is written that “a mixed multitude (of Gentiles) came out (of Egypt) with them” (Israelites). These biological Gentiles became spiritual Israelites by obeying the Ten Commandment Law that God (Who later came to earth as Jesus of Nazareth) first spoke to the nation from atop Mt. Sinai, then wrote in stone with His finger. The Gentiles who had chosen to follow Him intermarried with the Israelites, thereby becoming part of one national company comprised of 12 tribes–the nation of Israel–God’s Chosen People. Since that time Gentiles have been welcomed into the Lord’s sheepfold as spiritual (Law-keeping) Israelites. Together they would become known as “My (God’s) people who are called by my name.” Today that group is called the Church of God, not to be confused with the denomination by that name.

But just as happened in the Garden of Eden, His people rebelled against Him and the rest is history culminating in that which today calls itself “the church.” Within that group, numbering in the billions globally, is a tiny “remnant,” whom God calls His “little flock,” His “Very Elect.” Together His remnant and the other 99.99% make up “the church.” Just as wheat and tares, (Mat. 13:25-40), sheep and goats (Mat. 25:31-34), good fish and bad fish (Mat. 13:47-50) and good fruit trees and bad fruit trees (Mat. 7:17-19) remained together in Christ’s parables of the kingdom of heaven (the New Testament Church), true Christians and false Christians remain in the group which God identifies as “My people who are called by My name” (the church) to this day. However, by reading the passages listed above, one can see that there will come a time when the Lord will separate His wheat, sheep, fish, trees from His tares, goats, bad fish and bad trees. One group will be rewarded with life, the other will be cursed with death (Mat. 25:31-34, 41). In the meantime, His true disciples will remain spiritually and physically apart from the two-headed, multi-bodied religious creature that today is universally known by such titles as “the church.” “Christianity,” and “Christendom.” Like oil and water, God’s church and “the church” share no spiritual commonality and have nothing to do with each other. Read 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1.

Before returning to the focal passage which took place in the distant past, let us turn to the Book of Revelation which pictures what has happened to the New Testament Church since her founding in 31 A.D. and what will take place in the future. Here we find Jesus showing the Apostle John a vision and explaining what would take place on earth, specifically in His church, from her founding until His return. This vision took place at around 90 A.D. By this time seven churches had been established along a Roman mail route in the area today called Turkey. These churches represented seven church eras that would come on the world scene, remain for a time, then fade away as the next era came on the scene. Each era would have its own characteristics–some good, some bad. Jesus addresses these characteristics in the letters He dictates to John to be delivered to those early churches that represented the future eras. The first church located along the road was in the city of Ephesus. The last church, located in the city of Laodicea, represented the era in which we are living today. My point in referring to this subject is what Jesus told the churches about their relationship with Him.

Note in Revelation 1:11 and 20 He identifies them as CHURCHES (candlesticks). In verse 13 we find Jesus STANDING AMONG the seven candlesticks which represented the seven churches. His position among the candlesticks shows that these are God’s churches over which He is the head. What He tells John to write to the churches individually revealed the spiritual condition of each church and its corresponding latter day era. Today the church is in the final stage of the Laodicean era. Turn to the final (Laodicean) era (3:14-22) where we find Jesus speaking to the church of today. Note that this is the most vile and rebellious church era on record. So evil is this church that Jesus compares her to luke-warm bile which He says He will “spew out of My mouth” and into the Great Tribulation if she does not totally and permanently rid herself of sin.

Note that Jesus tells the Laodicean (modern) church that she is “in His mouth,” meaning that her members are his people who are called by His name. Notice also that she is a church filled with people who “know” that they are right with God because they are “rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing” (vs 17). They are super religious, devoted worshipers of Jesus Christ. But in reality these supposedly heaven-bound, rapture-ready, Bible-reading, church-attending, cross-wearing, smiling people are, in the eyes of God, religious vomit who in fact despise Him and His Father (Lk. 10:16). Which brings us back to Second Chronicles 7:14.

That ancient Israel and the New Testament Church (spiritual Israel–Gal. 6:16/ Eph. 2:12) are spiritually one and the same is proved in the series titled Who and Where is Israel Today. Key word–Today. Ephesians 2:20 states that the New Testament Church is founded on the writings of BOTH the prophets and the apostles. First Corinthians 10:11 tells us that God’s dealings with ancient Israel were recorded and preserved to be used as teaching material for THE END-TIME CHURCH. Read The Old Testament: For Another Time or Timeless? Key word–Timeless. An open-minded study of the Holy Scriptures reveals that the New Testament Church is a microcosm of ancient Israel. She is governed by the same Law and the same God. Unfortunately, she, like her ancient ancestors, is rebelling against Her Creator, is paying the same price and will be destroyed for the same reason–rebellion against the commands of God. Let us turn back to days of old where we find God speaking to His people (church–ekklesia–congregation) who, like her modern counterpart, has rejected Him.

In Second Chronicles 7:13 through 15 God speaks, saying: “If I shut up heaven so that there is no rain, and if I command locusts to devour your crops, and if I send a disease epidemic among you ….” Note that God is the One cursing His people. Why? Sin–the breaking of His Law. Now let us see what He says to HIS PEOPLE: “IF My people, who are called by My name, will HUMBLE THEMSELVES, PRAY, SEEK MY FACE AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS ….” Notice that those whom He called “My people” were proud/arrogant, refuse to pray, refuse to seek His face and were WICKED. Does this sound like God’s holy, peculiar nation of priests? No. But there were holy people in the mix. He has always had a remnant, a tiny flock of peculiar, holy saints who obey Him when all those around them have turned away from Him.

Nothing has changed. As King Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” Within the billions-strong religious group He calls “My people who are called by My name” today is a tiny remnant of loyal, peculiar, holy, faithful, obedient, praying, fasting, studying people who love Him and prove their love by obeying His commandments (Law). Read John 14:15 and 23; 15:10/ Mat.19:17 and First John 2:3. These are the “few” Jesus referred to in Matthew 7:13 and 14 who walk His path of strict obedience to His Law, which causes them to be rejected by the vast majority in “the church.”

Notice that the Lord said that IF His people would turn from their WICKED WAYS He would hear their prayers and answer them. The problem is that this does not happen. Which is why answered prayer is such a rarity in “the church,” and then only because of His mercy. This is why the lives of those in the church are no different from those outside the church. Those in the church are subject to the same diseases, catastrophies, injury, natural disasters, destruction, death, etc. as those outside the church. Because church people do not obey God, the primary difference between them and the non-churched is where they spend a couple of hours on Sunday morning. They watch the same t.v. programs, read the same books, watch the same movies, stare into the same screens, listen to the same songs, waste the same time, defile the same Sabbath, etc. With the exception of a couple of hours each sun god day, the lives of God-blessers and God-cursers basically mirror each other. In the eyes of God there is no difference between them, which explains why He deals with those who worship Him and those who curse Him in exactly the same way. Both live in rebellion against His Law. Therefore, both get sick from the same virus; suffer the same symptoms, go to the hospital, receive the same treatment, receive the same drugs and recover after the same length of time. Or they both die. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 explain why this happens. Read God’s Warning Voices: Where Are They? Key word–Warning.

As the Apostle Peter wrote to the church of his day, judgment is ongoing within the church today and ONLY THE RIGHTEOUS AMONG THEM WILL BE SAVED (1 Pet. 4:17,18). Like a treasure found in a field, the treasure Hunter sacrificed everything and bought the field which included weeds, thorns, rocks, rodents, insects, etc. Though the treasure hunter owned the entire field (the church), he valued only the treasure (remnant)–Mat. 13:44. That treasure is the lone “rose” surrounded by many weeds, thorn bushes, etc. On Judgment Day the roses will be placed in God’s “vase” while the weeds will be thrown into His “oven.” L.J.