What are our expectations as sojourners here? Imprisonment, torture,
persecution. We are headed for the most oppressive government ever
determined to control its citizens, restricting religious freedoms, and
discriminating against believers simply because of their allegiance to Jesus.
How are we to endure such suffering in this world and remain faithful
witnesses to our country? Faithful endurance in the face of hostility, by
reminding us to rest in the salvation God has accomplished for us.
Remaining faithful to fulfill the mission God has called us to. Trace Jesus’
steps marked with suffering, and stand in the grace that God has given us.
God “chose” us out of this world to be a people for His own possession. We
are secure in the hand of the triune God, no matter what we may face in this
world. It was planned from eternity past by His foreknowledge and His
forelove. Believe that God marked you out! We will ratify the covenant. And
even if we die, we will yet live again. And because of this living hope, we
don’t have to fear death. In Christ, we already claim our eternal inheritance.
We must see that each trial we endure, strengthens and purifies our faith. As
we rest in God’s salvation for us in Christ, as sojourners, we are also
humbled by the reality that we live in the privileged time of the promised
fulfillments of Jesus. And we think on the subsequent glories that are to be
ours. Though we have hope for the better times, this is the privileged time of
testimony. So, let us humble ourselves, and no matter what we face in this
world, rest in the purpose that what God is accomplishing, is us. He is
preparing our minds to encounter the events determined to finish His work.
And we, being sober-minded, are to set our hope fully on the grace that will
be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Oh, that we see his face
in every hardship, every trial, because we know there is no difficulty, no test,
no pain, no sorrow, no affliction, no disease, no loss, that can separate us
from the love God has for us in His own Son, Jesus. The Father planned it;
the Son accomplished it; the Spirit applied it, as it was determined by the
Triune God in counsel. To fulfill His purpose, God gave us laws that would
distinguish us from our worldly neighbors in their worship, in their
government, in their sexual ethic, even in their clothing and diet. It is this
relationship between God and His people, where we promise to be God’s
display nation on this earth. Not even the angels could be this. We are exiles
throughout the world, being led by Jesus on a second exodus to our eternal,
imperishable inheritance in the new heavens and new earth. We are to call
all peoples everywhere to consider Christ, that they be caught up to meet the
Lord in the air lest when he returns in wrath to judge the world, they be caught
up in his judgment.
Our sojourn here is not to be in isolation. We need each other. We are to
practice loving one another, forgiving one another, encouraging one another
and exhorting one another. The time is soon coming whereby each will have
to stand alone. Our standing must be so firmly planted in the life of Jesus,
that entrusting our souls to the faithful creator means that we also must trust
Him when He saves our enemies and makes them our brothers. This too is
standing firm in the grace of God.
Thankfully, we will face difficult situations and decisions in this hostile world,
and Christ has given us his learned shepherds made available to us. Seek
their counsel in the reasoning for truth in every word of God. They are a grace
from God, and we are to stand firm in such grace. As sojourners, our
suffering is not unique. It’s not unique to our time in history, and it’s not unique
to our geographical location. All that the enemy can do, is only briefly. After
just a little while, it is over. Nothing compares to the eternal weight of glory
that awaits us. As long as we have breath, brothers and sisters…we proclaim
who our God is!
Sojourners have a test of faith that outweighs sin. Christ sojourned here in
the fulness of faith. He was burdened with the weight of the world’s sin, yet
he trusted God to the cross. Abraham sojourned by faith going to that far
country, while trusting God in offering his son as a sacrifice. The hebrew men
thinking it not careful to speak truth for God by faith entering the fiery furnace,
trusting God. And Daniel, while beholding the trial of his friends trusting to
his faith, in knowing that God was with them. Sojourners have no conflict with
cultural demands regardless of the consequences. We are in a country that
is associated with strong nationalistic tendencies. We are to offer a word that
speaks to the disordered relationship between God and country. We are
called to love God. The opponents of God seek to entrap us by obligation to
the word, to serve those God set as masters. We have no betrayal of faith in
affirming the authority of God when man violates the basic principles of God’s
truth. In such circumstances, they are no longer servants for good, and we
no longer owe them our loyalty or service. God placed us in this nation as a
symbol to be a sign. This nation is nothing more and nothing less than the
way man organizes our common life together. Sojourners commend what we
can accomplish together, but we are serious about the commitments we have
to our God. Far too often, the nation of men becomes an idol that asks for our
complete devotion. We have an obligation to remind people of this danger,
but this can be a hard message to offer in today’s hyper-patriotic world. This
is not a challenge from which we can or should run. We are now in a season
of dismaying darkness that awaits a lamp of guidance and assurance. The
world is at a failed end. The word of God meets us in awesome inscrutability.
We must have a daily rendezvous with God. We need to understand our
identity. I am one of the people of God, elect from every nation, yet one in all
the earth having a mystic, sweet communion with those whom God has taken
to Himself. Our clarity will be unmistakable. Either we are the servants of
God, or we are servants of ourselves. Either we listen to and hear God’s
Word, or we are deaf to God’s Word. Either we are gathering to God, or we
will be scurrying from the falling mountains. That distinction runs throughout
the whole of the bible and throughout the whole of the world. There are all
kinds of divisions in this world. But the great division is the division that exists
between those who by grace are members of God’s family, and those who
remain outside of God’s family. But God is such a seeking God and a
gracious God, that He makes overtures to people who find Him even when
they’re not looking for Him! Remember the Edomites, our brothers, and the
Egyptians, who hosted us. These can be added to the final generation.
Sojourners don’t put down deep roots in the places where they reside
because they know they will soon move on. True believers don’t pour their
hearts and passions into things that won’t last. The wise of the elect are the
ones who live every day with the word packed in mind, ready to move on
when God directs, and eager to guide others to prepare to vacate this world
when our Father calls. Sojourners will be those who are in continual
separation from any faction that is not fully found in the truth. Not quite
belonging will be their understanding to embrace with greater zeal the truth
of every word of God. Sojourners for Christ will so reason with the word of
God, as to attain knowledge concerning the mystery of humanity and
becoming sons and daughters of God, as did Jesus as we were once flawed
vessels. It is Jesus in the life that mediates the conflict between being human
and becoming like him. Our faith will be extended through every encounter
with conflict. Our desert will be in the ultimate purpose of suffering for Christ.
We know that God is love; means that He will do everything to help us love
Him. Everything to change us into His likeness. He knows well how infinitely
longing is our heart to be with Him. He suffers more in love than we do,
suffers all the heartache of seeing those whom He called not come.
Scripture speaks to us as strangers and sojourners, by means of signs and
wonders that foretell and bring the coming of Christ. Unusual phenomenon
will happen in many places on a daily basis. The people of this country will
become the most virulent terrorist group ever in history. America will be the
scene of constant conflict. And the inserting factor that will drive the constant
tension, will be from those who were once familiar with us. Is it not reasonable
to think that any separation that God allows now, is a sign that our destination
is nearing its end. As sojourners, our view of the kingdom does not warrant
our disregard for the signs among us. We must recognize the purpose of
every event as bringing Christ to gathering his chosen elect. We are to
reason every event with its causative connection to the word of God. It was
by reading every event that Christ was able to discern the coming
consequences that he would encounter.
We are to build up righteousness and justice and peace. That is the
blessedness of our purpose, and that is our striving. And we are to attempt
to accomplish this by impressing upon the minds of others that present truth
about the coming bitterness in the world, while encouraging them in the
complete victory of Christ. We as sojourners, are to be the clearest sign in
the last time to make others aware of the calling of God. We will be of God’s
service to call others out of the world even while the greatest apostacy will
take place in the sphere of the church. God must distinguish sharply those
who rejected truth, from those who are His. All will have to face this
question…when truth was brought to you, where did you stand? The
sojourners intensity of bible study will cause them to hear Christ’s footsteps
in these signs. Hear prayerfully, be watchful, be faithful and strong in the
Lord.
God’s view of the sojourners’ journey closely aligns with how God’s
relationship with Abraham was guarded. Our faith also must prompt us to live
as strangers in this foreign country. The status of God’s people as sojourners
and strangers, is built into the very fabric of our relationship with God. This is
reasoned in the depth of the counsel to the final of the seven churches. Many
who have professed Christ, have reached a degree of comfort and prosperity
and fail to empathize with the people of God who will suffer the affliction,
rather than enjoy the pleasures of the world. As people of faith, we inherit the
same faith as the people listed in Hebrews. We are in a country neither by
origin nor by rule, conquest or economics. Current events line us with 1st
Peter, chapter 2. We are here as ambassadors, assigned for a short term,
representing our Savior. We have infinite needs; we have needs that are
impossible for the world to fill. As God’s chosen people our souls crave
spiritual, eternal and heavenly things. We belong to Christ. And though we
will be “forced” to the wilderness in the very short future, we will have the
peace of solitude that comes through faith. Jesus has the sword that severs
families, nations, communities, even churches. It is inevitable. We should not
want it any other way. And because of this, there are some important duties
laid upon us. Since salvation, by its very nature is a separation, we need to
maintain a sense of that separation. Because our Savior is holy, so are we
to be. God expects us to be witnesses of His grace, and that means leaving
a door open for communication with the inhabitants of the land. But be not
consumed by this world. We will abide in obedience as far as it is right. But
our lives should conform to the laws of the country where we are not
sojourners and strangers. And by this many will be converted.
Esther 3:8; 8:8,17
God’s sojourners are drawing closer and closer like stones hewed for the
building of His temple in heaven...fellow saints, fellow citizens, and fellow
heirs.
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