And He said to me, These are they which came
out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the
blood of he lamb. Therefore are they before
the throne of God, and serve Him day
and night in His temple: and He that sitteth
on the throne shall dwell among them.
Revelation 7:14-15
I take a moment to return to these verses for they must not be passed over quickly for they apply to the overcomers which I pray is you. Too often when studying Revelation the teachers seems more interested in either passing over the hard to understand things, or to rush through passing over the application of what and why God inspired John to write this book. So then, before moving on to the seventh seal we must look deeply into these verses and make application. Why? Why study if not to gain more knowledge as to how you can change to become in the image of Jesus Christ?
Prayer, too often, is much about asking God to do, or to give, or to even preach a sermon (many a pastor prayer is more about sermonizing rather than coming to God and intercede for others), maybe this is your type of prayer. The only prayer that you can be sure that God hears and does is the prayer of repentance. I hear prayers asking God to open doors for this or that, for this job or another job, or to give them health (which is not all wrong but should not be the priority) rather than know that this is life and God does not make you a robot and knows your plight and will take you through it and this can give to you the ability to overcome a bad situation.
Let us take time to examine the Greek so as to get a deeper understanding of what a Greek reader or hearer heard or understood. Tribulation in Greek is: "Θλίβω" and means to squeeze,press, to press upon, encumber, throng, crowd, and as as it is in this verse: "Θλίψεως" genitive, singular it means pressure, compression, metaphorically affliction, distress of mind, distressing circumstances, trial, and affliction. The word meaning "great" adds to this word that this trial, tribulation, distressing, or some affliction is huge, great, and by your coming through,out of this, you have done so by your "washing your robes and making them white in the blood of Jesus Christ. You have to do it: God is not going to do it for you. God may allow you to come up to some great tribulation but He will not take you through it, you must decide to go through this and you will find that you are not alone. You have to wash your self, you, no one else can do it for you. The blood of the Lamb is there for you for the taking if you do this: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20). You will not wash yourself in the blood of the Lamb until you break your independence by your own hand and surrender and allow the supremacy of Jesus Christ to rule. This is emancipation of your personality that is and has been formed by this world, its culture, and allow yourself to become complete in Jesus Christ. Anything other than this is only pious fraud. What will you give up and make no conditions and allow yourself to be broken of your self-realization? When will you come to the place and reach the reality of the supernatural realization and become a witness of the Spirit that indwells your upon your repentance and conversion to Jesus Christ? Have you been crucified with Jesus Christ? This is washing yourself in the blood of Jesus Christ making that robe, that is you, that which wraps around you for everyone to see and be seen serving God day and night?
Oh, how often are we attached to a denomination, a creed, certain doctrines of a Church thinking that this is pleasing to God. It is not wrong to attend a denomination that is teaching the truth of God's word and not some other gospel, but this is where you must decide to wash yourself only in the blood of Jesus Christ and not some man's opinion. I saw a move: "The Casualties of War" staring Michael J. Fox and in a scene after a horrible event in this war and sitting drinking up beer to settle his tormented mind of this a chaplin came up to him and ask if he could be of some help. Here is the illustration from this movie, the chaplin said I am a Mehodist, and Michael J. Fox said that he was a Lutheran, and the chaplin said "can we still not talk?" If both are Christian of course they can talk, but if they hold some hatred towards another denomination then they are off base. You do not have to agree with a doctrine, but if that doctrine is more a matter of indifference then what is there to quarrel over? Nothing! You, me, must deliberately sign away our rights and become a bond-slave of Jesus Christ and until that is done I think that you have not washed your robes in the blood of Jesus Christ and are demanding your way over the way of Jesus Christ. Church has one objective: It is to allow God to take hold of our lives and allow Him to decide and allow what He wants us to be and learn what is His conception of what we are going to be: a saint, an overcomer, serving Him day and night forever.
God is leading you to "living waters," will take your hand and scoop up that water and live for Him? It is up to you, to me and all that are Authentic Christians living in Authentic Christian Faith.
Whereas thou hast been forsaken
and hated, so that no man went
through thee, I will make thee an
eternal excellency, a joy of
many generations.
Isaiah 60:15
This applies to Jesus and to you
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment