The Daily Word of Righteousness

Preparing the Army of God, #39

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (II Corinthians 6:17,18)

Every Christian has been reconciled to God by the blood of Christ. This is a legal reconciliation that preserves us while the Spirit of God works out the actual reconciliation in every area of our personality.

It is when we "come out from among them, and touch not the unclean thing" that God receives us.

Today the judgment of God is near at hand because of the lawlessness and lust that abound in the centers of civilization. Before God judges the world He will purify His people so they will not be destroyed when God begins to judge the wickedness of mankind.

America is near to judgment. We have turned away from God, as happened to Israel of old. Change is coming to our nation. Our decline has commenced already and we can observe the hand of Divine judgment falling on us.

The few days that are remaining are for the purpose of giving the Lord's people an opportunity to come out of the world and begin to seek the Lord.

As you decide to return to Christ much trouble may come your way. This—although you may not understand it just now—is a good and desirable thing. David asked the Lord to search and test him. The victorious saint welcomes the correction of the Lord. Do you welcome the correction of the Lord?

Listen to the Apostle Peter:

Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. (I Peter 4:16)

The suffering we experience as we are walking in Christ is an occasion for us to "glorify God."

Notice how the Holy Spirit interprets our sufferings:

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (I Peter 4:17)

The sufferings of the Christian are a judgment on the works of darkness that are in him, a judgment occurring before the world is judged. The purpose of this prior judgment is that the Christian may be saved in the day in which the world is judged.

Peter goes on to ask:

And if the righteous scarcely be saved [saved with difficulty], where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (I Peter 4:18)

"If the righteous is saved with difficulty."

The Christian person who is walking in righteousness is seeking to please God by his deeds, his speech, and his thinking and attitudes. The suffering that comes upon him, particularly persecution, helps him put away his sin and self-seeking and live in holiness and obedience to God.

His sufferings press him into the Lord so he will be saved in the Day of Wrath.

Paul comforted the saints in Thessalonica concerning their persecutions and tribulations.

Paul interprets their trouble as follows:

Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: (II Thessalonians 1:5)

To be continued.