The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Tender Agony, #2

Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

God is seeking a place of rest. Notice the question above.

And then the answer:

Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever. (Psalms 68:16)

The mountain of God has only one peak—Christ. He is Mount Zion. All other mountains portray the ambitious striving of religious people. God has chosen Zion, Israel, from all the nations of the earth. Christ is the Head of Israel, the only "peak" God will accept.

The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in the royal priesthood. Through Israel, God in Christ will reach out to the nations. In the last days, the peoples of the earth must come to Zion, to Israel, to receive the blessing of God. The nation that does not come up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Presence of God in Israel, preferring to walk in its own ways, will be cursed of God.

And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:18)

God is Love. In His eternal love, God has poured Himself into Christ. He who would come to God must come to Christ. God and Christ have become One.

The almighty God now is enlarging Himself further. He is extending the Divine embrace to include Israel. The Oneness enjoyed by the Father and the Son is reaching out to encompass the elect.

So intense is the love of God in Christ toward Israel that Christ no longer has peace and joy apart from Israel, His Bride. She must be with Him where He is—always.

My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. (Song of Solomon 2:10)

Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. (Song of Solomon 4:9)

Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. (Song of Solomon 6:5)

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. (Song of Solomon 8:7)

But the Bride of Christ, the Wife of God's Passover Lamb, is cut off from God because of the sin of Adam. Christ offered to bear her sin in order to bring her to Himself.

Christ chose to be separated from His Father for a brief season so His Wife, Israel, could be restored to God's favor.

Moses showed that same love toward Israel:

Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. (Exodus 32:32)

To be continued.