THE CRITCAL NATURE OF THE FIRST COMMANDMENT ESPECIALLY IN THESE END TIMES!!! 2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Notice that for the man of God to be thoroughly equipped for every good work, the Word of God which is Spirit and Life, must be used in four ways--to teach, rebuke, correct, and train. Using the Word to rebuke, correct and train a man of God are essential in order to breathe the power of the Word of Spirit and Life into him, to mold him into maturity and equip him for every good work. Using the Word for these three purposes, however, should be done in love and not in a spirit of condemnation or self-righteousness for them to be readily accepted by listeners, and not rejected. It is essential to know, however, that the Love of God, even when Jesus was alive on earth in the flesh, involved the use of Gods Word for rebuking, correcting and training. God emphasized the importance of discipline in maturing a Christian in several passages of Scripture, like HEBREWS 12:7-8. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by His Father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. God disciplines His children when they stubbornly refuse to repent and return to Him. The purpose of all the rebuking, correcting, training and discipline is always the agape Love of God. He wants His people to mature and be equipped for every good work which God had destined for him to do. While it may seem hurtful at the time of the discipline, it will cause the people to repent and not perish. For it is Gods will that none should perish but everyone come to repentance (2 PETER 3:9). Other passages that describe the process of maturing a Christian are ROMANS 5:3-5; JAMES 1:2-4; 1 PETER 1:6-9; EPHESIANS 5:25-27; EPHESIANS 4:11-16; and 1 THESSALONIANS 5:23-24. Please note that the process of maturing a Christian is very similar to the process of demolishing Satan’s domain and restoring God’s Kingdom in this world. This is described in JEREMIAH 1:10 where God says, “See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to demolish and overthrow, to build and to plant.” The reason is that our life is but a microcosm of the world. Satan’s domain that rules our life through the self-life, must, likewise, be demolished just as it is in the world, so that the Kingdom of God can be restored in us for God to rule our life. The reason this process is needed is the fact that the Kingdom of God cannot be restored or built on any other foundation except Christ (1 CORINTHIANS 3:11). Everything else must be uprooted and demolished for God’s Kingdom to be built in both, this world, and in our lives. The Christian, therefore, has to undergo trials and tribulations which will require considerable self-denial and the daily carrying of one’s cross, which is needed to break down the outer man, or the fleshly man in us, who is so used to rule our entire life. Since God knows exactly what strongholds in us should be demolished for Him to rule, He will allow into our lives all the experiences needed to break down those strongholds in us, which empower us to be so self-reliant, as to hinder Him from assuming the Lordship of our life. He is the One Who knows exactly what cross we are to carry daily, and what trials and tribulations would break our self-reliance and welcome Him as the Lord of our life. We must understand that these trials and tribulations are meant to not to merely make our life difficult, but to enable us to realize our complete dependence upon Him, and welcome Him into our life as not only our Savior, but our Lord. As our outer man is being demolished through trials, tribulations, and our daily carrying of the cross, God simultaneously strengthens our inner man, or our Spiritual man, through the feeding of the revelation knowledge of His Word, through fellowship with other believers, through prayer, praise and worship, and the breaking of bread together. These activities will enable the Holy Spirit to strengthen us to endure the pain involved in the breaking down of our outer man, and substitute our self-reliance with our reliance on God for everything. This will enable us to develop an intimate relationship with God and experience His Love for us, and His willingness and ability to take better care of us than we ever can. The Christian will now be able to live by the life of the Spirit instead of that of the flesh. God will finally begin to rule the entire life of the Christian as obedience to God will now become more of a joy. The observance of the First Commandment, which is the most important commandment, will begin to become a natural phenomenon in his life. It cannot be overemphasized that the First Commandment is by far the most important commandment that man must obey. Everything else will follow from this first commandment. This Commandment is absolute and unconditional. If this were not so, then He cannot be considered our God, Lord, Savior, and Creator. MARK 12:29-30 say, “The most important one (commandment),” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Jesus phrased the observance of the First Commandment in the context of everyday practical life in different ways. LUKE 9:23-24 say, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life (live the life of the sinful nature ruled by self, instead of allowing the Spiritual Life of God to rule over him through the Holy Spirit) will lose it, but whoever loses his life (natural sinful life ruled by self) for Me will save it.” This will enable the believer to live in accordance with the Spiritual Life of God as described in GALATIANS 5:1, 16-26, and not in accordance with the life of his sinful nature. Jesus again phrased the living of the First Commandment in the context of everyday life in LUKE 14:25-27. “If anyone come to Me and does not hate father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.” Again, this emphasizes complete obedience to the First and most important Commandment which is to love God above everything and everyone else. The word “hate” is the Greek word “miseo,” which means that one’s love for his family members should be substantially inferior to the love one should have for God. The strong word “hate” was used to LUKE 14:25-27 also describe obedience to the First and most important Commandment in terms of practical everyday life. If anyone come to Me and does not hate father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be My disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple. Again, this emphasizes complete obedience to the First and most important Commandment which is to love God above everything and everyone else. The word hate is the Greek word miseo, which means that ones love for his family members should be substantially inferior to the love one should have for God. The strong word hate was used to emphasize the importance of the First Commandment by comparing the substantial difference in feelings a believer should have toward God and his closest family members, including one’s spouse. How does this, therefore, relate to God’s command in ROMANS 13:1-2 which say, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted.” Peter and John, must both have understood this passage of Scripture as Jesus’s closest disciples. Yet, in ACTS 4:18-19, when the ruling authorities of the Sanhedrin called them again a second time, they were expressly ordered and commanded not to speak or teach at all in the Name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.” This was a “no-brainer” for them because they knew that the First Commandment was the most important commandment that demanded complete allegiance and obedience to the Creator of the entire universe. To do otherwise, would have been to exchange the truth of God for a lie, and worship and serve created things rather than the Creator—Who is forever praised, Amen (ROMANS 1:25). Their actions were in complete accordance with all the great characters of the Bible in the Old Testament like Daniel, the three Israelites, Mordecai, Esther, Joseph, and many others. Even the Christians under the Roman Empire disobeyed the Roman laws that prohibited Christians from worshiping their God by meeting in underground churches. How then do we reconcile God’s command in Romans 13:1-2 to the First Commandment? It is obvious from both the New and Old Testaments that God’s greatest people never compromised regarding placing God first by obeying His Commands over any and all human authorities He placed over man. We need to look at the existing circumstances that brought about conflicts between God’s commands and the commands of the governing authorities He placed over His people, to better understand these seemingly conflicting passages. Historically, practically all the beast empires that were placed to rule over Israel, were placed by God over them as a result of His discipline on His people for continued stubborn disobedience to His Word. This was instructed to them through Moses before entering the promised land in DEUTERONOMY 28. Despite the warning of the discipline they would suffer for continued disobedience, Israel continued to break God’s commandment which finally resulted in God setting up pagan nations, known as Beast empires to rule over His people. The idea was that if His people continually refused to obey Him when they were in the promised land enjoying their independence and abundance, then He would give them over to the governing authorities of a pagan nation, called a Beast empire, that would treat them harshly and force them to renounce their faith and submit to the worship of their pagan demonic gods. While under the governing authorities of these Beast nations, God commanded them to submit to them in all matters except those that contradicted the Word of God. This is clearly seen among /god’s people both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. The First Commandment was absolute and supreme over every creature and governing authority. God still expected His people to submit to His Word whenever the governing authorities would issue commands that were contrary to Gods Word. In fact, this was part of God’s discipline. Since His people refused to obey His Word when it was easier for them to do so when God ruled over them directly, now they would have to submit to His authority under greater difficulty since the beast empire would hinder them from obeying Yahweh under threat of severe punishment, even death. Instead, they would be forced to worship their pagan demonic gods under penalty of death. This is what happened to Daniel, the three Israelites, Mordecai, Esther, Joseph, and many other Old Testament characters. They were to work for and submit to the governing authorities placed above them, pray for the peace and prosperity of the city where they were exiled (JEREMIAH 29:7), pray for the leaders of the Beast nations and all the unbelievers in that nation (1 TIMOTHY 1:18, 2:1-8) for it is God’s will that none should perish but everyone come to repentance (2 PETER 3:9). Despite all this submission to the governing authorities of the Beast nations, God’s people were to still submit to the Word of God instead of to the governing authorities in case of there is a conflict between the Word of God and the commands of the governing authorities. This was part of God’s discipline, since obedience to God under a Beast empire could easily cost God’s people their life. It is important to comprehend God’s purpose in giving these seemingly conflicting commands. God chose a people for Himself, placed them in a land of promise, gave them a lifestyle completely different from that of the rest of the nations, and commanded them to worship and serve the only One and true God, Yahweh. He did this in the hope that when the other surrounding nations saw how blessed God’s people were, they would envy them and want to emulate them and worship their God Who was responsible for all their prosperity and abundance. Unfortunately, God’s people chose to emulate the ways of the nations around them instead of becoming a Light to them. God, therefore, gave them over to the desires of their heart and allowed the nations they wanted to emulate to rule over them. They became the tail instead of the head. They became the borrowers instead of the lenders. God’s people were now placed in a situation where obedience to Him would be much more difficult than before their discipline. Their obedience to Him could now easily cost them their life. The Lord, however, did not change His mind about using His people to draw the other nations to Himself. The only difference, however, was that this time, His people would have to put their life on the line to become a testimony to their governing authorities. That is why God commanded them to pray for the leaders of their captors, the unbelieving people who mistreated them, and the peace and prosperity of the place of their captivity. The idea was for the unbelieving governing Beast nation to notice that their captives had brought them good fortune because of their God. This is what happened to Joseph. Everywhere He went, his governing authorities recognized that they became highly favored and prospered because of Joseph’s God Who gave him great wisdom, success, and favor. God still wanted His people to become a light to the Beast nations. The only difference was that His people would have to be willing to die for their God in order for their God to manifest Himself by saving His people through miracles. This is what happened to Daniel, the three Israelites, Joseph, Mordecai, Esther, and others. The king of Babylon and Persia, as well as the Pharaoh of Egypt, all recognized the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because of the miracles He manifested on behalf of His people, when His people chose to obey their God instead of the governing authorities. In fact, the greatest testing of His people is about to come. That is why this topic is very important. REVELATION 3:10 describes what He is about to do in these end times where we currently live. Jesus talked to the members of the Church of Philadelphia, one of two of the seven types of end-time churches, who kept His commands and endured patiently, denying self and making Him Lord of their lives. He said, Since you have kept My command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. It is apparent that those who did not deny self and make Him the Lord of their lives and endure patiently, will now have their obedience tested by a trial that He is sending to the entire world. God will now sanctify those who did not allow themselves to be sanctified through trials and tribulations 1 THESSALONIANS 5:23-24; 1 PETER 1:6-9; ROMANS 5:3-5; EPHESIANS 5:27). One of the biggest tests that the Christian will undergo in these end-times is his reaction to the governing authorities that have been placed over him. Would God’s people submit to the governing authorities of the antichrist who would force them to receive the mark of the Beast in order to be able to trade and even feed their babies. Will the Christians now have a better understanding of what it means to obey all the governing authorities that have been placed over His people, since there is no authority except that which God has established. There is no authority that can come to power without Gods permission. The First Commandment is absolute and not subject to negotiation. It is obedience to the Creator or to the creature. Peter and John explicitly stated that truth. The Christian believers under Rome disobeyed the Roman authorities by establishing underground churches where they would be able to worship. The greatest people of God in the Old Testament have always been consistent in obeying god above any human governing authority placed by God. The issue we are facing now is not even one of disobedience to the governing authorities. The issue is whether the Christians are mandated to implement the existing laws of the Constitution and the State in order for them to be able to obey the Word of God and raise their children in a Godly educational, even home school environment, as commanded us by God. This is not even disobedience to the existing governing powers. This is merely using the legal recourse available to all citizens under the Constitution and the rule of law, to allow the courts to decide the legality or illegality of having allowing the Christians to practice their faith as mandated them by God. This is merely exercising the moral and Constitutional right of the believer to have access to the judicial court system to render a decision or even appeal a former decision regarding the rights of Christians to exercise their faith as commanded by their God. Should the Supreme Court unanimously decide that it would be illegal for Christians to exercise their faith in accordance with the commands of their God, would the Christians not have the responsibility to lobby with Congress to oass a law that would amend the existing one? These are all legal and peaceful actions available to every citizen. This is merely seeking legal recourse for Christians to exercise the faith commanded them by God. If the Christians are not even entitled to have the same legal and Constitutional rights of all the other citizens regardless of faith, what will the Christians do when the governing authorities force them to receive the mark of the Beast which is against the Word of God? Shall we philosophically tell God that we were just obeying His command for us to submit to all the governing authorities that have been placed to rule over us? If that is what God meant, then why would He send an angel to announce in a loud voice: If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he too, will drink of the wine of Gods fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, OR for anyone who receives the mark of his name. This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey Gods commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.” This topic is so critical as we are entering these end times. God has always given everyone a free will to choose what to believe. I write this not dogmatically, but in all humility. I realize that I am subject to misinterpretations of scripture as much as any other person. I write this as a possible interpretation that may help some struggling Christians. I am completely uninterested in politics. My sole consideration, as with all of you my brothers and sisters, is to seek Gods Glory. Others may disagree with this point of view and I will always respect the different viewpoints. I merely feel the critical importance of writing on this subject matter, especially at this critical time when Christians will be forced to make decisions that could eternally affect one’s future. May God continue to reveal to us His ways. No matter what ones viewpoint regarding this issue, let us continue to strive to maintain the unity of the Spirit in a bond of peace! GLORY TO GOD!!!
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 12:36:23 +0000
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