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Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Pastoral Ponderings ~ A Distinction Worth Waiting For

“…until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”[1]
 “Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.”[2]
          The present times do not always show a clear distinction between who belongs to God and who does not. The world denies that God exists, so the thought of someone belonging to God is foreign to everyone’s thinking. At the same time, the religions of the world claim that God is whoever people say he is. Even among those that claim to be Christian, there is an increasing denial of the truth of God. All told, it is sometimes very difficult to “see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked.”
          At the time Malachi wrote down this prophecy, it was not clear in Israel who were righteous and who were wicked. It was clear that the nation was wicked, and yet the people were still doing things that gave the appearance of keeping the law. They were still carrying out sacrifices, albeit with inferior animals. They were still observing activities of the law, but without any heart, without any love, without any genuine reverence for God.
          Except for those who feared the LORD.[3]
          In Malachi’s day there were those who feared the LORD, but they didn’t necessarily stand out from what everyone else in the nation was doing. In Isaiah’s day there were those who trembled at the word of God,[4] but that didn’t mean everyone noticed who God was referring to. Throughout the ages of the church there have been those who acted with reverence and awe,[5] working out their relationship with God with fear and trembling,[6] but without the world recognizing what made these people tick.
          At the time that Jesus came into the world, even he was not easily distinguished from the rest of humanity. People simply did not recognize him. As John wrote, “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.[7]
          The world in general, did not know the Lord Jesus Christ, even though he was their Creator (a sad problem that continues to this day). Jesus’ own people, the ones he had chosen through Abraham, did not receive him (also with a contemporary parallel). At the end of Jesus’ three years of ministry, with all the miracles he performed, with all the times he confounded the religious leaders of his day with teaching they could not answer, and answers they could not question, they still would not receive him as the Messiah they were waiting for.
          At the end of Jesus’ ministry, he grieved the way most people were unwilling to receive his gift of salvation.[8] They did not recognize that he was among them as the promised Messiah, the expression of God’s love for the world. They did not see him as that loving Savior who was like a mother hen spreading her wings to gather her little chicks to herself for safety.
          At the same time, the world did not recognize that there was a small band of disciples who believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the promised Messiah.[9] Even when Jesus was being beaten and falsely accused, Peter did not want to let the witnesses know that he was one of Jesus’ disciples, so he denied his Savior three times. It simply was not easy to recognize who served God, and who did not.
          The point is that the world has difficulty distinguishing who belongs to God. Whether it be the problem of professing Christians living in such a way that Worldlings do not even notice that their friend or workmate is a child of God, or Worldlings behaving religiously enough that churches don’t recognize that a fellow church-goer is not really a child of God at all, there are many ways in which the present world-system does not make it apparent who serves God.
          Among churches professing to know God, there are so many variations of style, behavior, and belief that it is not easy to distinguish who is for God and who is against him. There are church groups that are clearly no longer teaching the true word of God, and yet contain some people who have genuine faith in Jesus Christ in spite of Satan’s best attempts to stop such things from happening. There are church groups that still seem to have sound doctrine, but have lost so much of their first love that it is not immediately clear if they still have a lampstand in the eyes of the Savior.[10]
          The encouragement of the prophet Malachi is that there is a “once more” coming when we “shall see the distinction” that is presently clouded by all kinds of uncertainties. There is Jesus’ promise that, when he comes, there will once more be a very clear distinction between the elect who are gathered up to be with him forever, and the nations that mourn at his arrival.[11] There is the prophetic picture of the Judgment seat of Jesus Christ where it will be clear who are his sheep, and who are the world’s goats.[12]
          There is a coming time when Jesus’ appearance will once more show the clear distinction between the wise and the foolish,[13] between the faithful and the wicked,[14] and between the good and the bad.[15] The Christians who were difficult to distinguish from the world will be saved, but as those who are saved “through fire”.[16] The Worldlings who lived comfortably within the churches will be distinguished from the saints as weeds plucked from among the wheat.[17]
          And then we will have that reality described in Revelation 7:1-8 as the sealing of the 144,000. Whatever that will look like (if it even just looks like people getting saved until the day of Jesus’ coming), it will once more show the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who served God, and those who did not. The saints will be sealed before harm comes upon the earth. And, when that harm comes, the distinction will be irrevocably clear.
          In this lifetime, there may be very few people who give thought to whether I belong to God or the world. Few people may conclude that I serve the living God, or care that I do. But there is a day coming when, once more, we “shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.”[18]I know I am ready for that day because of my faith in Jesus Christ. Tonight at prayer meeting I will ask God to give this gift of faith to others, and to let our church join him in that work.

© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

         





[1] Revelation 7:3
[2] Malachi 3:18
[3] Malachi 3:16
[4] Isaiah 66:2,5
[5] Hebrews 12:28
[6] Philippians 2:12-13
[7] John 1:9-11
[8] Matthew 23:37; Luke 19:41-44
[9] Matthew 16:16
[10] Revelation 2:1-7
[11] Matthew 24:29-31
[12] Matthew 25:31-46
[13] Matthew 25:1-13
[14] Matthew 25:14-30
[15] Matthew 13:47-50
[16] I Corinthians 3:10-15
[17] Matthew 13:24-30
[18] Malachi 3:18

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