copied from church watch....
WHEN PASTORS RESTRICT GOD TO THE GATE OF HIS HOUSE!!!
It sounds incredible, but it is very true that the men that God appoints to oversee His house often times end up restricting God to the gate of His house (temple or church)!!!
This is a sad reality that is as real in the church of today (New Testament - NT) as it was in God’s temple among the Israelites (Old Testament - OT). And the principle that restricted God to the gate in the OT is the same principle that applies in the NT today – God’s presence WILL NOT continue to abide in ANY place where His word (commandments) are not exalted above EVERY other consideration (Psalm 138:2). God and His word are inseparable. For “… the Word was God…” (John 1:1).
Let’s start by looking at an Old Testament passage that captures our subject very clearly. We see this in Jeremiah 7:1-3, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, STAND IN THE GATE OF THE LORD'S HOUSE, and proclaim there this word, AND SAY, HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings….”
Please meditate on those words carefully, and the implication will amaze you. Let’s break it down: God wants to talk to His people. His people usually congregate to worship in His house (temple). So why does God not just address His people in His house? The answer is simple – the leadership of the temple will not allow God’s voice to be heard in the temple! Simple. That was why God’s voice was consigned to the gate. From outside the temple, God, through the mouth of Prophet Jeremiah, tried to reach His people that came to the temple to worship Him. God at the gate!
Perhaps this scenario rings a bell with you? Perhaps you are wondering if you have not seen this exact pattern repeated elsewhere in the Bible? Please let us go to Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Here again, here is THE WORD Himself now, in person, standing OUTSIDE the door and knocking, seeking entry into any willing heart. Wait a minute, why is THE WORD standing OUTSIDE the church that He PURCHASED with His own blood (Acts 20:28)? The answer is in verse 17 of Revelation 3. In the verse, Jesus describes the condition of His house (the church in Laodicea) in these sombre words, “…thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” This verdict, delivered by the Owner of the church, stands in sharp contrast to the opinion of the leadership of the church on their condition, “…thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing….”
So there was an impasse! Jesus’ assessment of the church did NOT tally with the assessment of the leaders. Whereas, Jesus was ‘weeping’ over the condition of the church, the leaders were ‘smiling’. Stalemate! So, something had to give way… And according to God’s principle, God will usually be the One to give way – for He has said in His word, “… My spirit shall not always strive with man….” (Genesis 6:3).
He expressed this same divine principle in another way in Luke 13:35, “Behold, your house is LEFT UNTO YOU desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” These were Jesus’ words, in LEAVING the nation of Israel to do as they pleased when His words were rejected. For the Lord will NOT impose Himself on any man/institution/nation (except in judgment).
When men persist in rebellion, God abandons the house to them. A notable exception to this spiritual truth is when Jesus took a whip and sent the money-changers out of the temple. But in this case, you’ll notice that it is NOT authority figures in the temple that Jesus whipped out. It was just some traders that were out for some fast cash. Jesus DID NOT whip the Priests, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees out of the temple. What did He do eventually? He LEFT the temple for them, and gathered His followers somewhere else, starting from the Upper Room.
In the passages quoted above in Jeremiah 7 and Revelation 3, there is a common theme in the message that God was trying to pass across to His people. A message that the leadership was not allowing to filter through to the people. We see this in verse 3 of the Jeremiah passage, “AMEND YOUR WAYS AND YOUR DOINGS….”. It is similar to what we see in Revelation 3:19, “… be zealous therefore, and REPENT.” And from this, we can infer that REPENTANCE is a subject that unfaithful leadership will NOT want the people of God to hear, and to respond to.
First, God calls these leaders, anoints them, and gives them clear-cut guidelines on how to lead His people. For various reasons beyond the scope of this article, the leaders deviate from these God-given guidelines. And when God tries to recover His people and return them to the right path, the leaders balk and restrict God to the gates. (Pls see Matthew 15:14). And so, FROM THE GATES, God spoke to His own in Jeremiah 7:2. And FROM THE DOOR, Jesus knocks on the hearts of the willing in Revelation 3:20.
As the second coming of Jesus draws near, and judgment looms, the Lord is awakening His people again. He is calling them to repentance. And urging them to return to His word. BUT PLEASE NOTE THIS: the greatest resistance to the work of repentance in the church in the Last Days will come from CHURCH LEADERSHIP! Just like the greatest resistance that Jesus faced came from the TEMPLE LEADERSHIP. It is an evil pattern that recurred again and again throughout the Bible – both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
In 1 Corinthians 10:11-12, Apostle Paul warned us, New Testament believers, against repeating the mistakes of the Israelites in the Old Testament, "Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and THEY ARE WRITTEN FOR OUR ADMONITION, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
Still warning NT believers not to follow the example of the OT believers, he said this in Romans 11:21-22: “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: OTHERWISE THOU ALSO SHALT BE CUT OFF.”
Brothers and sisters, we are fast approaching the day of this ‘CUTTING OFF’. The day of separation. When the sheep shall be separated from the goats. When the wise virgins shall be separated from the foolish virgins. Behold, the judge is at the door….
In these days, many believers will be forced to make a difficult choice between sitting with unfaithful pastors in the opulent ambience of the church’s circus, or listening intently for the gentle knock of the Saviour calling us all back to repentance. Calling us back to fellowship with Himself and His Father (Revelation 3:20). What will be your CHOICE? Jesus knew that the Last Days will be perilous days. That was why He taught us to WATCH and PRAY. To be watchful means to be observant of all that is going on around us, and to be prepared to take action where necessary. Are we truly watching? Or are we snoozing in the battle that is raging in the Church?
There are practical steps that we can take at both the personal and corporate levels. At the personal level, every believer should begin to loosen his/her allegiance to any man/pastor/denomination; and to pledge the allegiance to Christ ALONE. In these days, there are some things that pastors/
denominations may require you to do, but which are NOT in line with God’s will. Who will you follow? Will you sacrifice your love and obedience to Christ, just to stay in the good books of a pastor/denomination? If the Lord has opened your eyes to the fact that there is a lot of falsehood in the church today, are you going to re-trace your steps, or are you going to tag along with the 21st century versions of the deluded Laodicean church?
At the corporate level, there is ONE THING we can all do together – we can PRAY! We can call upon the Lord to intervene urgently in the deception that is going on in the church today in the name of Christ. God can help His true children to understand His word better. He can expose the wolves that are masquerading as sheep in His fold. He can help us to easily identify unfaithful leaders that are refusing to repent. He can strengthen pastors that are willing to tread the narrow path. There is so much we can achieve together in the place of prayers.
WHEN PASTORS RESTRICT GOD TO THE GATE OF HIS HOUSE!!!
It sounds incredible, but it is very true that the men that God appoints to oversee His house often times end up restricting God to the gate of His house (temple or church)!!!
This is a sad reality that is as real in the church of today (New Testament - NT) as it was in God’s temple among the Israelites (Old Testament - OT). And the principle that restricted God to the gate in the OT is the same principle that applies in the NT today – God’s presence WILL NOT continue to abide in ANY place where His word (commandments) are not exalted above EVERY other consideration (Psalm 138:2). God and His word are inseparable. For “… the Word was God…” (John 1:1).
Let’s start by looking at an Old Testament passage that captures our subject very clearly. We see this in Jeremiah 7:1-3, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, STAND IN THE GATE OF THE LORD'S HOUSE, and proclaim there this word, AND SAY, HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings….”
Please meditate on those words carefully, and the implication will amaze you. Let’s break it down: God wants to talk to His people. His people usually congregate to worship in His house (temple). So why does God not just address His people in His house? The answer is simple – the leadership of the temple will not allow God’s voice to be heard in the temple! Simple. That was why God’s voice was consigned to the gate. From outside the temple, God, through the mouth of Prophet Jeremiah, tried to reach His people that came to the temple to worship Him. God at the gate!
Perhaps this scenario rings a bell with you? Perhaps you are wondering if you have not seen this exact pattern repeated elsewhere in the Bible? Please let us go to Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Here again, here is THE WORD Himself now, in person, standing OUTSIDE the door and knocking, seeking entry into any willing heart. Wait a minute, why is THE WORD standing OUTSIDE the church that He PURCHASED with His own blood (Acts 20:28)? The answer is in verse 17 of Revelation 3. In the verse, Jesus describes the condition of His house (the church in Laodicea) in these sombre words, “…thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” This verdict, delivered by the Owner of the church, stands in sharp contrast to the opinion of the leadership of the church on their condition, “…thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing….”
So there was an impasse! Jesus’ assessment of the church did NOT tally with the assessment of the leaders. Whereas, Jesus was ‘weeping’ over the condition of the church, the leaders were ‘smiling’. Stalemate! So, something had to give way… And according to God’s principle, God will usually be the One to give way – for He has said in His word, “… My spirit shall not always strive with man….” (Genesis 6:3).
He expressed this same divine principle in another way in Luke 13:35, “Behold, your house is LEFT UNTO YOU desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” These were Jesus’ words, in LEAVING the nation of Israel to do as they pleased when His words were rejected. For the Lord will NOT impose Himself on any man/institution/nation (except in judgment).
When men persist in rebellion, God abandons the house to them. A notable exception to this spiritual truth is when Jesus took a whip and sent the money-changers out of the temple. But in this case, you’ll notice that it is NOT authority figures in the temple that Jesus whipped out. It was just some traders that were out for some fast cash. Jesus DID NOT whip the Priests, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees out of the temple. What did He do eventually? He LEFT the temple for them, and gathered His followers somewhere else, starting from the Upper Room.
In the passages quoted above in Jeremiah 7 and Revelation 3, there is a common theme in the message that God was trying to pass across to His people. A message that the leadership was not allowing to filter through to the people. We see this in verse 3 of the Jeremiah passage, “AMEND YOUR WAYS AND YOUR DOINGS….”. It is similar to what we see in Revelation 3:19, “… be zealous therefore, and REPENT.” And from this, we can infer that REPENTANCE is a subject that unfaithful leadership will NOT want the people of God to hear, and to respond to.
First, God calls these leaders, anoints them, and gives them clear-cut guidelines on how to lead His people. For various reasons beyond the scope of this article, the leaders deviate from these God-given guidelines. And when God tries to recover His people and return them to the right path, the leaders balk and restrict God to the gates. (Pls see Matthew 15:14). And so, FROM THE GATES, God spoke to His own in Jeremiah 7:2. And FROM THE DOOR, Jesus knocks on the hearts of the willing in Revelation 3:20.
As the second coming of Jesus draws near, and judgment looms, the Lord is awakening His people again. He is calling them to repentance. And urging them to return to His word. BUT PLEASE NOTE THIS: the greatest resistance to the work of repentance in the church in the Last Days will come from CHURCH LEADERSHIP! Just like the greatest resistance that Jesus faced came from the TEMPLE LEADERSHIP. It is an evil pattern that recurred again and again throughout the Bible – both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
In 1 Corinthians 10:11-12, Apostle Paul warned us, New Testament believers, against repeating the mistakes of the Israelites in the Old Testament, "Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and THEY ARE WRITTEN FOR OUR ADMONITION, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
Still warning NT believers not to follow the example of the OT believers, he said this in Romans 11:21-22: “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: OTHERWISE THOU ALSO SHALT BE CUT OFF.”
Brothers and sisters, we are fast approaching the day of this ‘CUTTING OFF’. The day of separation. When the sheep shall be separated from the goats. When the wise virgins shall be separated from the foolish virgins. Behold, the judge is at the door….
In these days, many believers will be forced to make a difficult choice between sitting with unfaithful pastors in the opulent ambience of the church’s circus, or listening intently for the gentle knock of the Saviour calling us all back to repentance. Calling us back to fellowship with Himself and His Father (Revelation 3:20). What will be your CHOICE? Jesus knew that the Last Days will be perilous days. That was why He taught us to WATCH and PRAY. To be watchful means to be observant of all that is going on around us, and to be prepared to take action where necessary. Are we truly watching? Or are we snoozing in the battle that is raging in the Church?
There are practical steps that we can take at both the personal and corporate levels. At the personal level, every believer should begin to loosen his/her allegiance to any man/pastor/denomination; and to pledge the allegiance to Christ ALONE. In these days, there are some things that pastors/
denominations may require you to do, but which are NOT in line with God’s will. Who will you follow? Will you sacrifice your love and obedience to Christ, just to stay in the good books of a pastor/denomination? If the Lord has opened your eyes to the fact that there is a lot of falsehood in the church today, are you going to re-trace your steps, or are you going to tag along with the 21st century versions of the deluded Laodicean church?
At the corporate level, there is ONE THING we can all do together – we can PRAY! We can call upon the Lord to intervene urgently in the deception that is going on in the church today in the name of Christ. God can help His true children to understand His word better. He can expose the wolves that are masquerading as sheep in His fold. He can help us to easily identify unfaithful leaders that are refusing to repent. He can strengthen pastors that are willing to tread the narrow path. There is so much we can achieve together in the place of prayers.
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