Chap.18
HEB 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but
having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
HEB 11:14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a
country.
HEB 11:15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they
came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
HEB 11:16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly:
wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for
them a city.
The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is all about faith. It is about the faith of those who believed God's promises and ordered there lives accordingly. They did not actually see the establishment of these things that God had promised, but they lived their lives as though they were sure of their establishment, thus proving their faith. It was this kind of faith that made them pilgrims and strangers on the earth. God's people do not live for the here and now of this world, but by the promises of God for the future. God's people are looking for a country, or kingdom, but it is not one of this world, but an heavenly one. For this reason, "God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city".
Those who are Christ's are pilgrims and strangers in this world. Who ever heard of a country or kingdom that just handed over the rule of it's people to a stranger. Would we Americans allow communist strangers to come in and run our country for us? Of course not. Were not communists were Americans, we are opposed to the principles of communism. Why should Christians, who are pilgrims and strangers in this world, expect the world to allow them to come in and rule their lives? Why should we want to rule their lives? The only time that Christianity will be allowed to rule in this world, will be when Christianity has become a part of this world. We are either of this world, or we are not. We cannot be both of this world and of God's kingdom here on earth. Christianity that seeks political power in this world, is apostate Christianity.
REV 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
REV 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out
of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
REV 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be
his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
REV 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain: for the former things are passed away.
REV 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
REV 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the
water of life freely.
REV 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his
God, and he shall be my son.
This earth is passing away, along with all that is in it. Soon Christ will return and create a new heaven, and a new earth. The new Jerusalem will come down from God out of heaven and be established forever. This is the Jerusalem of the new covenant, it will forever be the capital of the new heaven and the new earth. God Himself will dwell with His people, and shall wipe away all tears, and sorrow, and pain. There will be no death in the new heaven and earth, for all those who are there will have chosen life over death, that is Christ over the things of this present world. This is what awaits all of those who love His appearing.
The old covenant nation and kingdom of Israel was established through the faith of those who depended upon God's miraculous leading. They believed on God's promises and waited upon them, living their lives as though His promises were sure to come about. God's faithful in this new covenant era will do likewise. Christ has promised to come again and establish His literal kingdom here on earth. He has commissioned His followers to preach the gospel unto all the world and then the end shall come. We are to live our lives as though God's promises are sure, doing the work God has given us diligently until His appearing.
It was God who established the old covenant nation and kingdom of Israel. The only part that man played in it's establishment was to cooperate with God by believing and obeying His promises and commands. The same holds true today, for those who are awaiting the establishment of Christ's literal kingdom here on earth. There are many examples in the old testament of what happened when mere men tried to bring about God's promises in their own way. When Abraham and Sarah tried to bring about God's promise to them of a son by their own understanding, the results were disastrous. They caused themselves, all those involved, and those around them great pain and discomfort for many years.
When the children of Israel lost their opportunity to enter the promised land because of a lack of faith, they decided that they would go ahead and take it anyway against God's command. The results were devastating. They suffered great loss and were completely routed by their enemies. Those who claim to be God's people must believe his promises and act accordingly. They must carry out His plans and instructions as they are given if they are to expect the results that God promises.
HEB 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief, in departing from the living God.
HEB 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of
you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
HEB 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our
confidence stedfast unto the end;
HEB 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your
hearts, as in the provocation.
HEB 3:16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came
out of Egypt by Moses.
HEB 3:17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that
had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
HEB 3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but
to them that believed not?
HEB 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
HEB 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into
his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
God has a plan. He has given instruction and guidance to His people. If they will believe and accept their commission, and live their lives as though God's promises are sure, then the results will be just as God has promised them to be. We are commissioned to preach the gospel unto all the world and by faith to leave the results with God. When the work has been finished, and all have made their decision, then the Lord will return and establish His kingdom forever, just as He has promised. However, if we grow impatient, and begin to devise our own plans for bringing about the kingdom of God on earth, they will miserably fail as the scriptures clearly point out.
Faith involves waiting upon the Lord to fulfill His promises. Those who are not willing to wait upon the Lord and fulfill His commands in the way He has given them, do not have faith. These people will not enter into God's rest, which is, obeying Him by faith. They will also not enter into the promised land, seeing that they do not have faith. It was unbelief that kept the children of Israel from entering the old covenant promised land, and it will be unbelief that keeps the new covenant children of Israel from entering the new heaven and the new earth. Now as then, their are many who profess to be God's children. It remains to be seen who will wait upon the Lord in faith, carrying out the gospel commission, and who will impatiently abandon the gospel commission and seek the aid of the world to gain what they selfishly desire.
God's new covenant nation here on earth are those who are giving the gospel message to the world, preparing them for Christ's soon coming. They are composed of those of all nations and kindred's and people who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. They love His appearing and are eagerly awaiting and hastening it by their preaching. On the other hand there are many professed Christians that are abandoning their faith and God given commission. These apostate Christians are leaning less and less upon the power of the Holy Spirit and more and more upon the power of the state to get what they selfishly desire.
Unwilling to suffer for their faith, they will and are enlisting the power of the state. This is not only to protect themselves from persecution, but also to establish themselves in authority and enforce their dogmas upon all. They want to be exalted upon the earth as God's chosen people, only not in accordance with God's plans, but rather in accordance with their own selfish desires. They are in the same condition that the Jews who rejected Christ were in, in the days of His visitation. They believed themselves to be God's chosen people and selfishly, even jealously promoted themselves as such. However, when Christ appeared and revealed the way of the cross to them, they were not willing to suffer the humiliation of following their God, desiring instead only the exaltation, therefor they rejected their Savior. If they had been willing to follow Christ and suffer for His names sake, then they would have been exalted by God himself at His second coming. The same holds true today for those who will follow Christ regardless of the consequences in the here and now.
MAT 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
MAT 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
MAT 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven:
for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Salvation is by faith. Christ says that you can expect to be persecuted in this world if you will follow Him, but not to worry, this world is passing away. Faith does not need to be backed up by the arm of the state. Faith can not be brought about through the power of the state. To the contrary, faith can only be developed apart from all the powers of this earth through the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Those who are seeking to exalt Christ are following His commission in the way that He specified in word and example when here on earth. Those who are seeking to exalt self, are seeking the aid of the state to make their religion the established religion. They are seeking the protection of the law of the land, so as not to suffer persecution, and to establish themselves in this world as the authority. These two classes of professed Christians will become more clearly developed as the lines are drawn, and decisions are made for self exaltation, or Christ's exaltation. It is the hope of the writer that you will choose to exalt Christ by your own submission to Him and His commission.
JOH 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify
thee:
JOH 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
JOH 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
JOH 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do.
JOH 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was.
JOH 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out
of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept
thy word.
JOH 17:7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are
of thee.
JOH 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they
have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they
have believed that thou didst send me.
JOH 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou
hast given me; for they are thine.
JOH 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified
in them.
JOH 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I
come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast
given me, that they may be one, as we are.
JOH 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those
that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of
perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
JOH 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that
they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
JOH 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because
they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
JOH 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that
thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
JOH 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
JOH 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
JOH 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them
into the world.
JOH 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be
sanctified through the truth.
JOH 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word;
JOH 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast
sent me.
JOH 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may
be one, even as we are one:
JOH 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and
that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou
hast loved me.
JOH 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me
where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou
lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
JOH 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known
thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
JOH 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that
the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Bye for now. Y. b. in C. Keith
