The blog post today is coming from the perspective of Isaiah, an old testament major prophet, as he is given the task to warn, prepare and plead with the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
The people who are called by God's name have gone astray, the Love of God had waxed cold. Those who loved him and were for him were few and far between. The exploitation of the poor was high and selfishness was rampant. In the midst of this, God as we know, pleads with his people and declares KJV Isaiah 1
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
KJV Isaiah 1
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
The words used concerning Judah and Jerusalem are very strong, in rebuking the false worship, the pretence that is seen by having just a form of Godliness that is outward but inwardly, the spirit is dead.
Then we move onto Chapter 2 and God gives Isaiah an awesome picture a view of Christs Second coming to share with the people who have been living as those who know not God and it reads
Isaiah Chp 2:8-21
V8-9
With oppression and wealth came pride and love of display, gross drunkenness, and a spirit of revelry. See Isaiah 2:11, 12; 3:16, 18 - 23; Isaiah 5:22, 11, 12. And in Isaiah's day, idolatry itself no longer provoked surprise. See Isaiah 2:8, 9. Iniquitous practises had become so prevalent among all classes that the few who remained true to God were often tempted to lose heart and to give way to discouragement and despair. It seemed as if God's purpose for Israel were about to fail and that the rebellious nation was to suffer a fate similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah PK 306.2
What about God's purpose for His church, have we gone astray are we mission-focused or are we behaving like Jonah? Are we running away from the doctrines that established this church? Are we ignoring the call to spread the everlasting Gospel and share and warn of the truths as found in the 3 Angels messages of Revelations 14? Are we greedy, do we hold back in tithes and offerings? The world is going in the way of Sodom and Gomorrah, but what about the people who profess to be the Children of God. Are we ignoring the sick, the poor, the lonely the needy in favour of just looking out for our own? Why would children hide from their Father, why would the created hide from their Creator?
Why should the people of God hide from him, when he returns. I understand why his declared enemies would hide. But why would any Seventh Day Adventist or Commandment keeping religious man hide?
Can I suggest it is because many today are living a lie? Can I suggest that the call to reason with God had been ignored and really many of us have not loved God with all our heart, all our might all our soul? Can I suggest that Jesus has been standing at the door of many hearts and they have not fully let him in their life? God wants to change hearts and give his children a new heart where selfishness is dead and His Spirit reigns supreme, saving his people from a world of Sin is His number 1 priority.
Isaiah 1:18
The whole heart must be yielded to God, or the change can never be wrought in us by which we are to be restored to His likeness. By nature, we are alienated from God. The Holy Spirit describes our condition in such words as these: "Dead in trespasses and sins;" "the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint;" "no soundness in it." We are held fast in the snare of Satan, "taken captive by him at his will." Ephesians 2:1; Isaiah 1:5, 6; 2 Timothy 2:26. God desires to heal us, to set us free. But since this requires an entire transformation, a renewing of our whole nature, we must yield ourselves wholly to Him.{SC 43.2}
The sacred moral law the 10 commandments was beautifully summarised as "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul or your strength and Love your neighbour as you love yourself. You may have heard that with perfect accuracy Angels record how we love and how we refuse to show love. Still, the Lord pleads with us to save us.
Isaiah 2:11, 12
But the Lord will not always suffer His law to be broken and despised with impunity. There is a time coming when "the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." Isaiah 2:11. Scepticism may treat the claims of God's law with jest, scoffing, and denial. The spirit of worldliness may contaminate the many and control the few, the cause of God may hold its ground only by great exertion and continual sacrifice, yet in the end, the truth will triumph gloriously.{PK 186.2}
Is it true that with the Dream of Nebuchadnezzar of that great image where Daniel (Daniel chapter 2) interpreted the various metals to be kingdoms, that we are at the very toes of that image? Remember Babylon was the head of Gold, Medeo Persia was the arms and chest of silver, Greece was the waist of Bronze and the Legs of Iron was eastern and western Rome and the feet of clay and iron mixed was the fragile leftover states of Rome, that we understand today to be modern Europe. The next sign we see and vision is Christ coming to the Earth alike mighty rock to destroy all apostate religion, all idol-worshipping nations all other Kingdoms.
If we are at the toes in history, what is coming next?
I suggest it will be a great storm as we are coming to the end.
How do I come to that conclusion, the evidence is around us if you look. Well, the bible speaks for itself, if you go to Revelations Chapter 6 there are 7 seals that describe the state of the church and persecution of Gods people and towards the end of those seals God shows John the devastation and terrible signs of nature that will precede the Return of Christ.
There are 7 seals to be opened before Christ returns. How many seals have been opened to date? My readers, believe it or not, the 6th Seal has already been opened and the prophecy has already begun to be played out.
Just before Christ comes back Revelation 6 verse 12 will repeat in quick succession as it has already happened in the past.
The next sign is mirrored with Daniel 2:45 where The Kingdom of God takes over as the only kingdom of this world.
If you follow me to Revelations 14-15 we see as in Isaiah 2 v 10 and 19 and 21 that all men regardless of class, rich or poor, slave or free if you were not living a Christ centred life, upholding the Law of God and the testimony of Jesus, they will be amongst those petrified running into the caves to hide.
Yet it is still not too late. The condition of Judah and Jerusalem had not yet been sealed they still had hoped to turn towards God and fully surrender. That hope is seen in Revelations 3:16-21 (pause and read the scripture) as God reveals to us our true nature and condition and tells us the solution in order to surrender and be wholly given over to him. JESUS is clear. Through him, we can be holy, pure, having an intimate saving relationship with him, yes even the victory to overcome the lusts of this world.
Even now God delays his return because he wants to save you. If you will just turn to Revelations 7: 1-3, it will encourage.
Never did this message apply with greater force than it applies today in 2019. More and more the world is setting at nought the claims of God. Men have become bold in transgression. The wickedness of the inhabitants of the world has almost filled up the measure of their iniquity. This earth has almost reached the place where God will permit the destroyer to work his will upon it. The substitution of the laws of men for the law of God, the exaltation, by merely human authority, of Sunday in place of the Bible Sabbath, is the last act in the drama. When this substitution becomes universal, God will reveal Himself. He will arise in His majesty to shake terribly the earth. He will come out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity, and the earth shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain. 7T 141.1
The question is. Will the people who are called by Gods name hold fast to what they have been taught by the Spirit of God and stay true to the commandments of God or will self-centred weakness draw His people away towards the broad easy road of the World.
In the Great Controversy written by Ellen G White it says:
V10-12
As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel's message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position, and join the ranks of the opposition. By uniting with the world and partaking of its spirit, they have come to view matters in nearly the same light; and when the test is brought, they are prepared to choose the easy, popular side. Men of talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in the truth, employ their powers to deceive and mislead souls. They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren. When Sabbath-keepers are brought before the courts to answer for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them, and by false reports and insinuations to stir up the rulers against them. GC88 608.1
Isaiah 17-18
What business do we have with putting things, wealth, people above our love or commitment to God? Where is our focus?
Everyone will be required to render up his entrusted gifts. In the day of final judgment, men's hoarded wealth will be worthless to them. They have nothing they can call their own. COL 372.1
Are we mission-focused, do we really have the helmet of salvation, are we leading lives that are in harmony with the Will of God.
Where do we put our trust? Is it in God or is it in others and self?
Isaiah 2:20-21
Those who spend their lives in laying up worldly treasure show less wisdom, less thought and care for their eternal well - being, than did the unjust steward for his earthly support. Less wise than the children of this world in their generation are these professed children of the light. These are they of whom the prophet declared, in his vision of the great judgment day, "A man shall cast the idols of his silver, and the idols of his gold [margin]; which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth." Isaiah 2:20, 21. COL 372.2
Are we ready for God to come back? For certain we know that Christ's return is near it's even at the Door Matthew 24:32,33
God is coming with His reward - To give every man according as his work shall be
Revelations 22:12
The great conflict that Satan created in the heavenly courts is soon, very soon, to be forever decided. Soon all the inhabitants of the earth will have taken sides, either for or against the government of heaven. Now, as never before, Satan is exercising his deceiving power to mislead and to destroy every unguarded soul. We are called upon to arouse the people to prepare for the great issues before them. We must give warning to those who are standing on the very brink of ruin. God's people are to put forth every power in combating Satan's falsehoods and pulling down his strongholds. To every human being in the wide world who will give heed, we are to make plain the principles at stake in the great controversy - principles upon which hangs the eternal destiny of the soul. To the people far and near we are to bring home the question: "Are you following the great apostate in disobedience to God's law, or are you following the Son of God, who declared, 'I have kept My Father's commandments'?" 7T 141.2
The blessings of the gospel are clear as found in Isaiah 35:3-10
The Lord is coming are you ready? Now is the time to be ready.
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