The Daily Word of Righteousness

Reconciliation by Fire, continued

And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. (Isaiah 4:1)

The wresting of Paul's doctrine has produced the above condition.

The churches (seven women) desire to bear the name of Christ, to be recognized as belonging to Him. But they choose to eat their own bread, their own kind of spiritual food; and they will wear their own apparel, that is, they will behave as they please without regard for Christ's standard of conduct.

The Lord's people are "spotted" with the lusts of the world. They are lovers of money and material gain, which is an abomination to the Lord. Their garments are wrinkled with self-will and self-seeking. They are as children: they pout and complain if their circumstances are not merry.

The sufferings of the cross are shunned by them. They desire "prophets" who will speak smooth, acceptable things to them. It is a deplorable condition.

Does the Lord Jesus Christ have a solution to this problem? The Scripture indicates that He does:

And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion [the end-time remnant], and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: (Isaiah 4:3)

How will the Lord Jesus purify His Church?

When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. (Isaiah 4:4)

The prophecy has gone forth. It shall come to pass. In the last days the Lord Jesus will purify and set apart for Himself a holy Church. The unblemished Church will be selected from all groups of Christians. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches today!

The purified, sanctified Church will be the Body of Christ, the eternal Temple of God. It will be filled with all the Fullness of the Father and all the Fullness of the Son, and anointed with the Fullness of the Spirit of God.

This is the Witness, the Servant of the Lord of whom Isaiah speaks. The Servant of the Lord is Christ—Head and Body.

The Lord has come to His Temple. Perhaps you have been called to be a living stone in the eternal Temple of God.

If so, God will reconcile you to Himself by fire. When your "warfare has been accomplished" He will settle down to rest in you for eternity.

Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hosea 6:1-3) (from Kingdom Concepts)