The "And"

Saturday, January 26, 2013, 8:00 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “He Keeps Me Singing.” Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 14 (quoting vv. 1-11 in the NIV 1984):

The Lord will have compassion on Jacob;

    once again he will choose Israel

    and will settle them in their own land.

Aliens will join them

    and unite with the house of Jacob.

Nations will take them

    and bring them to their own place.

And the house of Israel will possess the nations

    as menservants and maidservants in the Lord’s land.

They will make captives of their captors

    and rule over their oppressors.

On the day the Lord gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:

How the oppressor has come to an end!

    How his fury has ended!

The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked,

    the scepter of the rulers,

which in anger struck down peoples

    with unceasing blows,

and in fury subdued nations

    with relentless aggression.

All the lands are at rest and at peace;

    they break into singing.

Even the pine trees and the cedars of Lebanon

    exult over you and say,

“Now that you have been laid low,

    no woodsman comes to cut us down.”

The grave below is all astir

    to meet you at your coming;

it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—

    all those who were leaders in the world;

it makes them rise from their thrones—

    all those who were kings over the nations.

They will all respond,

    they will say to you,

“You also have become weak, as we are;

    you have become like us.”

All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,

    along with the noise of your harps;

maggots are spread out beneath you

    and worms cover you.

The Background

In chapter 13 of Isaiah God gave Isaiah a prophecy of judgment against Babylon (see parallels with Revelation 18-19 and the destruction of Babylon). In this passage, God said that he would punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. He would put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and would humble the pride of the ruthless. He said: “Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah… Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.”

Many believe that Babylon is symbolic of world powers. Others believe she represents the world system as a whole. Others think she symbolizes a specific place, and others see her as the “great prostitute,” i.e. the institutional and/or the apostate church, etc.

Compassion on Israel

Once God would complete his judgment against Israel’s and God’s enemy Babylon, the Lord would restore Israel. Yet, I see in this passage a prophecy concerning the end of time, as well. Israel, as God’s people, is now the true church, the body of Christ, though at the time of this writing in Isaiah, it was a physical nation with a physical city of Jerusalem. Now it is a spiritual entity. And, Babylon is not necessarily a physical location, either, but is a “spiritual” entity, as well, i.e. it is of Satan and his demons, because it stands directly opposed to God, to his work, and to his people – true Israel, Christ’s body, the true church.

One of the ways in which God has shown me “Babylon,” many times over, is as the institutional church. Yet, let me explain what I mean here. This is certainly not an indictment against all congregations of saints throughout the world who meet together to worship God, sing his praises, fellowship in the Spirit together, utilize their spiritual gifts, are taught the truths of God’s word and the true gospel, and who pray together. Instead, this is what it is about:

"When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the ‘and’ lies our great woe. If we omit the ‘and’ we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing." [A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, chapter 1 – Following Hard After God - http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/tozer/5f00.0888/5f00.0888.01.htm]

So, it is the “and” that is the issue here. Let me explain.

The “Ands”

The Lord gave me a picture of the institutional church this morning not unlike he has given me before. He gave me a picture of a house (the true church, the body of Christ) with an additional – “and” - room extension (external) in the back. The external room was set up like a banquet room filled with people. There was a woman who appeared to be in charge or in control, and she was busy entertaining, enticing and alluring the people there.

“And” No. 1 - I can’t speak for other nations, so I will speak of what I know of the institutional church in America. For one, the church made the decision to come under the authority of the US government via the 501c3 non-profit status for incorporation. This is the first “And” God is displeased with, because that places the US government as the “head” of the church instead of Christ, and the government can and will exercise that control over the institutional church whenever they deem it necessary. The church will have to comply with the government, even going against the teachings of scripture, perhaps, in order to keep their non-profit status. If so, this is a form of prostitution or adultery right there.

“And” No. 2 - The government, thus, brought worship of government into the church and the church itself promotes this worship. In the front of most sanctuaries or worship centers is the “image of the beast,” i.e. the U.S. flag. I was taught from early childhood to place my hand over my heart and to pledge allegiance (loyalty; fidelity; commitment; faithfulness; devotion; steadfastness and obedience) to the flag and to the republic (form of government) for which it stands. Where in scripture does it teach this? We are to obey our leaders (with Biblical exceptions where they are requiring disobedience to God), and we are to honor those deserving of honor, yet only God Almighty/Jesus Christ is to get our worship, devotion, faithfulness and fidelity.

Yet, this serves the government well because we were taught as children to equate our faithfulness to God with faithfulness to country, and our love for God with love of country, and our worship of God with worship of country. We were taught that America is one nation under the one true God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, yet we know this is not true. We were taught that we are a Christian nation, but that is not true, either. Yet when we have this kind of worship and devotion and love of country that is reserved only for God, then we have idolatry and spiritual adultery, and we set ourselves up to be deceived into believing our nation is the “good guys” going throughout the world conquering the “bad guys,” for example. Thus, we put our trust in man more than we put our trust in God, and this, too, is an “And” which God finds displeasing and dishonoring to him.

“And” No. 3 - Combined with this worldly influence of government inside the institutional church is the promotion of man, man’s ways, means and methods for gaining people into the “church.” This is the image the Lord gave me of the woman (the great prostitute or Babylon) alluring and enticing people. This is what marketing is all about! And, this is what most institutional churches in America, I believe, use to gain new members into their congregations. The institutional church does not, overall, represent what God intended his church to be. It has, for the most part, turned into big business, is marketed just like big business, and has turned into entertainment centers instead of houses of prayer. And, God will cleanse this “temple” because his house has been turned into a marketplace.

“And” No. 4 - Going along with this marketing-scheme-oriented institutional church of today which follows the ways of man more than the ways of God, and which will even reject God’s ways if his ways do not comply with the marketing concepts of man, is the watering down of the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more palatable, i.e. more marketable to its listeners, i.e. to its customers or consumers. A teaching is permeating the institutional church across America declaring that we don’t have to repent of our sins and we don’t have to obey Christ to be saved. Ephesian 4:17-4 and Luke 9:23-25, along with the whole of the NT disputes that theory or notion. This teaching, which is a false doctrine, gives people a false hope of heaven and eternity with God. It promises them heaven, yet it gives them the impression that nothing is required of them – no coming to the cross and dying to sin and self.

The House of Israel

In this illustration the Lord provided for me of the house (the true church) with this extension (the “and”), the Lord showed me this extra room as empty, which I believe was a picture of his judgment against “Babylon,” and then he showed it to me as a grassy hill with trees at the top and the sun shining down from above (see Is. 14:1-2, 7-8), which I believe is a picture of the church’s restoration, revival and renewal, which has been pictured throughout these chapters in Isaiah, so far.

In this picture (illustration) the Lord gave me, I had this vision of inviting people to Bible study on this hill, which fits with aliens joining “Israel” and uniting with the “house of Jacob,” i.e. with the true church. I was given permission to rent this extra room in this picture the Lord gave me, which is a picture of Israel – the true church – possessing the nations. This is also consistent with what I have read in Isaiah so far concerning the judgments against God’s people, followed by his restoration of them, and that through these judgments God would deliver his true church to be what he intended her to be, and he would release her from the influence of government and man-made religion, and he would revive her heart, and as a result, nations would flock to Jesus Christ and would thus be united with the true church. I believe this is where we are headed in the near future.

Yet, first there must be the time of judgment (see Revelation, in particular chp. 13), which will be a time of severe persecution for the true church, the saints of God who bear the testimony of Jesus Christ. Yet, we are not to fear what is coming. And, this will be a time like no other when we must make certain of our true loyalties and devotion, because we will either take the mark of the beast, which is more than just a physical mark but is the influence of the world’s system, or we will be marked as one of Christ’s own and thus marked for slaughter by the beast. Yet, we should not wait until this time, because we don’t know if we have tomorrow. We should decide to make Christ Jesus/God our only Lord (master), and declare our loyalties and devotion to him, and to him alone today!

He Keeps Me Singing / Luther B. Bridgers

There’s within my heart a melody

Jesus whispers sweet and low,

“Fear not, I am with thee, peace be still,”

In all of life’s ebb and flow.

All my life was wrecked by sin and strife,

Discord filled my heart with pain;

Jesus swept across the broken strings,

Stirred the slumbering chords again.

Feasting on the riches of His grace,

Resting ‘neath His sheltering wing,

Always looking on His smiling face –

That is why I shout and sing.

Though sometimes He leads through waters deep,

Trials fall across the way,

Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep

See His foot-prints all the way.

Soon He’s coming back to welcome me

Far beyond the starry sky;

I shall wing my flight to world’s unknown,

I shall reign with Him on high.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus –

Sweetest name I know,

Fills my every longing,

Keeps me singing as I go.