God did not instantly translated us to heaven

Many complain of the evil they see around us. Many are downright angry at the bottom of their hearts. They complain of abortion, of their corrupt leaders, of the Muslim insurgency, of the economy and so many other things. They question, why God did not translate us to heaven earlier when we were born again? Why can’t it be like Enoch or Elijah? There seems to be endless questioning of the circumstances surrounding us that all we could hear is an angry, angry, angry heart. But an angry heart never produces a righteous result. As the Lord told in the Scriptures, we can be angry at these for sometime but not all the time. And even if we are angry, outbursts of anger is considered as a sin of the flesh which can affect even our salvation! Anger never produces any good result.

What a man can sow in anger could be simply fear and his servants will obey him not because they are willing but simply because they fear him. Our anger does not justify any just results; anger comes to us when we forget that the Lord is in control of everything. This is always contrary to a patient spirit of which we ought to have and to bear with others. Self-control which is listed as a fruit of the Spirit ought to be increasing and not decreasing in our lives! If otherwise, we need to check where we have been and where we are supposed to be. The Psalmist wrote, “Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil   and your lips from speaking deceit” (Ps 34:12-13). We cannot embrace Christ and continue to be angry at the world; at some point in time, we either give all our anger and be transformed or we allow our anger to control us.

Most of the destructive theologies and lies that were released on earth came because a person had been rejected and became obstinately focused on venting his anger at the person who rejected him. This we cannot continue doing because the fruit of anything that does not arise from a meek and humble spirit will be murder. In fact, Martin Luther who was rejected by a Jewish rabbi whom he had been seeking to convert with his gospel of reformation eventually wrote a book that served as the basis for the mass killing of Jews in World War II. This cannot be. Most of you would think that such an impossibility can arise from the writings of one who is recognized as a church pillar. Yet nothing is farther from the truth, even Peter denied Jesus Christ that he knew Him on the night that He was betrayed. Every one of us has in one way or another been wounded and hurt by many well meaning people. Some were deliberate, others could simply slights but in all of these, we have been offended. Solomon rightly concluded that a brother offended is harder to win than an enemy. Even so, anger cannot cast out another evil. This truth we can find in the Scriptures. No one in his right mind can right another wrong by further hurting the other person. Offense can deeply cut our hearts; but why all these? Every evil circumstance that the Lord has allowed in our lives was meant not to destroy us, but to bring us into His perfection. We are in fact greatly blessed to live at this time and hour, to be His witnesses into all the world because His light will shine in His church like in no other period of History. The Prophet writing of these, said,

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. “For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” (Isaiah 60:1-3)

Was there any more historic time for the fulfillment of this prophecy than this generation? Just about great darkness and evil is about to overcome the world, His light will shine in the church and bring salvation to many, including nations and not just individual converts!  This church will have the Lord’s glory in their midst so that no evil will be greater than the light that the church has. This period of time, God has graced us to witness with our eyes and to find our place in His Body so that we are prepared and ready to answer His call. We are being prepared, and trained for righteousness. This truth should not have escaped your eyes.

Because of this, God did not translate us to heaven, immediately after being born again. Even Enoch and Elijah were not translated instantly after their rebirth but served the Lord for much time as they had on earth. In Songs 6:4  it says,  “You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, as lovely as Jerusalem, as awesome as an army with banners.” This was a prophetic foreshadowing of the last days church, one that is not only awesome in her beauty but also one that is an army with banners. Every disciple is called to fight the enemy and overcome him. Every time we try to bind the enemy and fight him without success, we are only beating the air. Success rates depend not on experience but truth that we hold, truth that we understand and live because it is truth that sets us free and liberates every captive ones.

Consider this, one lie can bind the whole institution or a nation and this happened once they welcomed the very evil they hate. They profess to know the truth, but they accepted and relish evil in their hearts. Such are people who serve Baal, their interests more than God’s. Like He said to Peter He is speaking the same, “But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s” (Matthew 16:23). Set your mind above. Seek the things of Christ and you will never stumble because you have the light of Christ in your heart.

The seed of the devil and the sin of man

Some have misconstrued the plan of God because they failed to comprehend the restoration that God is doing on earth today or even in the past generations. Because they failed to see God as the King above all in the universe, the One who commands time and seasons, the One who lives beyond the shadow of time, immortal and one God, they all together God only works in a box. They think that because evil exists in this world, then God does not exist if the Lord is truly the Lord of all beings in the universe. This slip of unbelief is firmly cemented and has confused many concerning the Lord. It could have been made simpler, had they also thought and pondered that God who knows all and everything knew of man’s sin and depravity that He has allowed the garden a choice of obedience and disobedience is for man to know that disobedience has a consequence! You live or die, once you choose the Tree of life or the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but man chose the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil better having been advertised that it seems to make one wise!

The fruit of this disobedience spill over generations to come and until the end of age, we will continue to reap its fruit. We will harvest both good and evil in the end of the age because man chose to disobey the Lord. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We all have forsaken Him and went our way because our first parents disobeyed the Lord. In Matthew 13:39 it is written that, “the harvest is the end of the age” and in this harvest the angels or the messengers of God will go and reap all things concerning good and evil, “they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear” (Matthew 13:41-43). We must all be way that indeed the Kingdom of God is near when we see all these things happening around us such as increasing darkness in the world and increasing light in the church. All the sufferings and evil in this world was only allowed for one purpose, to perfect those who are followers of God.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh…

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.”  2 Corinthians 4:7-11, 16-17

To be perfect does not mean to be without error or sin, it only means that we continue to mature and grow in Christ, and as we do, we abide in His perfection. This is what Paul calls us perfecting saints, “ beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

The seed of the righteous

Because of the corruption that happened in the Garden of Eden, we all suffered, “For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22). Jesus Christ is the seed of the woman prophesied who will crush satan under our feet. He was the righteous seed who reclaimed us from evil. It was because Jesus obeyed and became the propitiation for our sins that He became the Son of Man, flesh to be crucified. Just as Adam suffered from a Tree and released death, Jesus also suffered from a Tree by being hanged on it but He released life. He was the grain of seed that was fallen on the ground so that many more will sprout from it. He was the light who came into the world that those who believe in Him will not abide in darkness (see John 12:46).