Lent 2024 - Day 35: “Why Wait?”

        You may be asking the question, why wait on God because you thought you were supposed to go and make disciples?  After all we have the great commission as it is called. Jesus said, Matthew 28:18 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Why should we wait, when we have been told to go? I kept a quote from Reinhard Bonnke, who was a false prophet, who said “To wait on God is an Old Testament concept. The last ones who waited were the 120 in the upper room. Now God waits on us. Green means go! When the light turns green you do not need a permit from the Secretary of Transportation – You just go!” Yes, with traffic lights, green does mean go, but we are not talking about traffic lights; we are talking about obeying God. The last I checked, the 120 in the upper room was in the New Testament and were present at Pentecost. There were others who did not do as they were told as Jesus appeared to more than 500 hundred. Wait still means wait, just as obey still means to obey.

        The answer to the question why wait is simple; the church rebelled and did not obey God’s word. Instead of following God’s word wholeheartedly, the church followed false prophets like Bonnke above, different Jesus’, (2 Corinthians 11:4) other gospels (Galatians 1:6-9) and went their own ways. (Jeremiah 8:6) Because the church rebelled against God, God turned His face from us, and the church became powerless against our enemies. If the church had obeyed, we could have gone out and done as Jesus did with the same power and authority and this is what it would have looked like. Mark 16:17 “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” 19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.” But God is not confirming His word with signs, nor is there any power to heal the sick and cast out demons as Jesus did. 1 John 3:8 “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” The church was supposed to continue in that work with the same power and authority that Jesus had, but instead the church is powerless, and God has allowed our enemies to destroy and take the church into captivity. 
        The abomination that causes desolation has ravaged the church and millions have died thinking they were Christians who knew the truth but instead were deceived and deluded. Jesus warned us, Matthew 24:4 “Watch out that no one deceives you. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.15 So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.” It is only by the grace of God that any of us are still alive. We were also warned, 2 Thessalonians 2:3 “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” Not only has that happened, but Paul also goes on to say, 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” The church chose to turn away and follow other gospels, Galatians 1:6 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all,” and God turned His face from the church and the church was powerless, deceived and deluded.  

        God turned His face from the church because, Isaiah 65:2 “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations — 3 a people who continually provoke me to my very face.” Isaiah 66:3 “They have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations; 4 so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring on them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened. They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.” Zechariah 7:13 “‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. 14 ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’” Jeremiah 9:11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.” 12 Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? 13 The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. 14 Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” The church is desolate and powerless against our enemies because the church refuses to turn from its wicked ways and repent. After we repent, we wait for God to turn back to us.

        After God freed Israel from Egypt, they were supposed to go in and take the land God had promised to give them, but instead they rebelled against God’s word. After spying out the land, it was only Caleb and Joshua who said they should go in and take the land. Numbers 13:30 “Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the others said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” People chose to listen to satan over God, once again. Numbers 14:1 “That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” God then said, Numbers 14:29 “In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.”

        Israel had rebelled against God but now said OK, we are ready to go in and take the land. Numbers 14:39 “When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. 40 Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned!” The church today is like Israel who refused to obey God’s word but still thinks it can go. Israel refused to believe that what God said He would do, He would do, and the church has done the same. Even though the church has rebelled against God and is powerless, the church somehow still believes that God has not turned His face and is still with the church and they are making disciples. But you have to ask, what have they been saved into? The church still believes that what Jesus said to Peter is still in effect. Matthew 16:18 “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” This is not happening in the church which shows that God has not gone with us and has turned His face from us. Moses responded to the people, Numbers 14:41 “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? This will not succeed! 42 Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, 43 for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.” 44 Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.” Moses then recaps this after God had told then to turn around and set out towards the desert. Deuteronomy 1:41 “Then you replied, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country. 42 But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’” 43 So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country. 44 The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah. 45 You came back and wept before the Lord, but he paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you. 46 And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there.”

        Today the church is filled with presumptive arrogance. Israel arrogantly assumed that God would go with them, but He did not. Today the church acts as if God is blessing, but in reality, He is not. People like the false prophet Bonnke told people to go when instead they should have been told to repent and wait for God to turn His face back to the church. Instead, God has allowed our enemies to decimate the church. The church is void of power and cannot stand against our enemies. After taking Jericho, some of the people disobeyed the command of God and took some of the devoted things that they were told to destroy, so the Lord’s anger burned against Israel. After defeating Jericho, they thought they were invincible but then they were routed by the enemy at Ai, Joshua cried out to God and said Joshua 7:7 “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! 8 Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? 9 The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?” I like God’s response to Joshua. Joshua should have known the only reason they could lose is disobedience and rebellion against God’s word. God then told Joshua, 10 “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. 12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction. 13 “Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.”

        The church has done the same and was made liable to destruction. Even though we have God’s word, both Old and New before us, the church shortly after beginning turned away from God’s word to follow other gospels just as Paul said 2 Corinthians 11:4 “For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” This happened even when Paul was still alive. The church did not test the spirits. 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Instead of turning back to Jesus, the church worshipped in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:2 “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” From Catholicism to Protestantism to whatever ism is popular today, the church is not the church Jesus is the head of and therefore does not have the power it was given at Pentecost.

        The answer to why wait, is power. The only way the church has power once again is to turn back to God so that God turns back to us. The disciples were told, Luke 24:49 “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Zechariah 1:3 “Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Then once again the church will go out with power to bind and loose and the kingdom of God will come near. Once again, the church will do as disciples have been given the power and authority to do. Matthew 10:1 “Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.” As Jesus said when asked if He truly was the Messiah by John’s disciples, Matthew 11:4 “Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” When the church returns to the word of God, Mark 16:20 “the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.” Hebrews 2:4 “God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” Isaiah 8:17 “I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my trust in him.” Tomorrow we will look at God turning His face from us. 

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    Rock Report by Pastor Paul

    This is a blog that comes from my personal devotions each day. The Blog has replaced the Sermon section. There will also be the occassional food for thought.