Reading in Hebrew 6 I came to the part where the author speaks about those who, in his time, were unable to get past the infant stages of Christianity. He says they were enlightened. They were companions with the Holy Spirit, tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age. Believers in the apostolic age regularly saw the power of God. Acts 4:33 “And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them.” In the 21st century the majority of the American Church is not experiecing the power of God in their daily lives. The Great Blackout has so badly affected the Church that many believe that the Power spoken about in Bible times is limited to the Bible times. Scripture tells of another time in Jewish history, before Christ, when the Juice was lacking.
1 Samuel 5:16 “In those days the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.” In 1Samuel 2 it is explained that Eli’s wicked sons treated the Lord’s offering “with contempt.” Which is worded alot like Hebrew 6:6 referring to those who have fallen away from the modern priesthood, “holding Him up to contempt.”
In 1 Samuel 3 the Lord calls Samuel in the night. Verse 7 says that Samuel had not yet experienced the Lord. In this uncomfortable and awkward position Samuel doesn’t realize what was happening and his first response is to assume that Eli had called him. Samuel goes on to serve as Judge for the Israelites until the rebel and ask for a king. This event was a tragic but necessary step in God’s sovereign plan. We, the Church, have in many ways already made this tragic choice and gone beyond it. Under the leadership of many kings the Jewish nation’s relationship with the Lord was up and down; many times turning away from God to worship idols. What is an idol? Anything that becomes more important than God,an alter we keep deep down in our darkness for making sacrifices to ourselves.
Will we cleanse ourselves and our households and cut down our alters?
Will we allow God to be king once again?
Will we continue to deprive ourselves of the uninhibited, awesome power of God moving in our lives on a daily basis? Some us think, “When revival comes, God will tear us away from our vices.” But maybe it’s, unless we tear ourselves away from our vice revival will never come.
I don’t want anyone to misunderstand what I’ve written. I don’t want you to think that if a christian from the early days saw us now they would be embarrassed or something. I sure they thought their good ole day would never end right up until the first persecution. And they would understand as we should that this age is part of God’s sovereign plan. He’s not scratching His mighty head wondering where He went wrong with us. He knew where we’d be in the 2011. He knows the problems we are facing the uphill struggle is all part of the plan. I have a hunch that when Jesus returns for His bride, He does expect to find her standing tall unscathed by all the enemies attacks. She will not have conquered and subdued the unbelieving world. She certainly will not be lording over it like in ages past. I think He expects to find His bride on her knees, bloodied and swollen in the mud, patiently awaiting her king. She will give Him a gap toothed smile when He says to each one us, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
When helplessly facing a mighty African horde, righteous king Asa prayed this prayer:
“Lord there is no one besides you to help the mighty and those without strength. Help us, Lord our God, for we depend on You and in Your name we have come against this multitude. Lord, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal hinder You.”
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