- Signs of the Kingdom, Part VI
In Hebrews 12:26-29, we see a poignant picture of what is happening in our world today:
His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”
This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
for our God is a consuming fire.
Last week we discussed how everything is being shaken. Nations, governments, and other institutions are being tested for a purpose. That purpose is so everything that can be shaken will be removed, so what is left becomes solid enough to be built upon. The Lord is about to build a new world, and it can only be built on a foundation that will last.
In I Corinthians 3:11-14, we are told what that foundation is, the only foundation that can pass the test and remain through the times we have entered:
“For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
“Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
“each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
“If any man’s work which he has built remains, he will receive a reward.”
As we mentioned previously, God’s plans for all things is revealed:
“In all wisdom and insight
“He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him
“with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth” (see Ephesians 1:8-10).
The main purpose we are here, and of the work God is doing in us, is to conform us to the image of His Son, so we can abide in Him. As someone has said, we are not “human doings” but “human beings.” What we become is more important than the works we do. If we have been conformed to the image of Christ and abide in Him, our works will be His works, and we know that His works will remain through what is coming upon the world to test the works of men.
The next verse after the above quoted text says, “If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (I Corinthians 3:15). Institutions can be good and can do good works, including those institutions God has prescribed for taking care of the poor and teaching His ways. However, if they do this for the Lord and not with Him, they also will not stand through the shaking that is now beginning.
One reason we have been given the Scriptures is to discern the works of God from all others. Can we name one institutional church that is like the biblical church? We can build things for God with the best of intentions, and He will bless them as much as He can, but He will bless many things He will not inhabit. We have reached the time when every plant the Father did not plant will be uprooted (see Matthew 15:13). Thus, we must look beyond what He is blessing to what He is inhabiting.
© 2023 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved.
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