Sunday 23 February 2014

Those Who Sow In Tears

There is a remnant today in the church of God that are grieving. They cannot be comforted by shallow sermons and soulish entertainment. These strangers  these pilgrims  are lamenting over the desolation of Zion.

Zion is the right arm of YHWH. "The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion..." (Ps 110:2). The Ancient of days rules from Zion and administers righteousness and justice from this holy hill ... and it is desolate. And we are grieving.
The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. Lam 5:15-18
The grieving remnant finds no home in a worldly church. They are lonely in the crowd. This is a remnant made up of separate ones. They are other-worldly people that dream of the day when purity and power are restored to the church of God. With tears, they long for Zion...

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. Psalm 137:2
Zion is human dominion, executed in perfect submission to the Lord God Almighty. Zion is the Originally-designed, Creation-mandated authority and dominion of man under God. "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion..." (Gen 1:26). Little wonder Satan has lusted for this mountain.
Why do you look with envy O mountains with many peaks, At the mountain which God has desired as His abode? Surely the LORD will dwell there forever. Psalm 68:16
As far back as the first Adam, Satan has envied God's rule through human authority. He has envied it and he has sought it. And tragically, throughout history, the sons of Adam have all too readily relinquished their ruling and reigning birthright to Satan for fleshly gratification. The earth has groaned under the weight of depravity and oppression that follows the surrender of Zion.

It took the last Adam, Christ Jesus our Lord, to redeem mankind from Satan's grip and reclaim Zion. His death, burial, and resurrection opened a new and living way back to the Father and restored our dignity as sons of God. The early church caught this and, from Pentecost, they walked in victory over sin and in authority over all the works of the devil. Like their Lord and Saviour, they went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil because God was with them. The buildings they met in shook with His presence (Acts 4:31) and, while highly esteemed among the people, many feared join them (Acts 5:13). The risen Christ ruled out of their midst inasmuch as the world was crucified to them and they to the world. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shone. (Ps 50:2).


And yet Zion today is desolate. Why? Because a redeemed people play the harlot and every day trade away their ruling and reigning birthright. Far from believing the Gospel and walking in power over sin, the people of God have sold out by embracing the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Spurning the grace on offer, we have refused to humble ourselves and accept a crucified life that we might manifest the resurrection life of Christ. (2 Cor 4:10). We have become lovers of a world system that is about to be judged. We have become deluded into thinking that we are rich and secure when, in reality, we are wretched and miserable, poor, blind and naked. We exist as Covenant people in name only  our trust really is in the shadow of Egypt. As a people, we have become the tail and not the head. We are like sheep without a shepherd. We have lost the energising hope that leads to purityThis is why a remnant grieves and laments...

Brothers and sisters, who mourn for Zion, your cries are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Your travail is accomplishing something! "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandmen waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until He receive the early and latter rain." (Jam 5:7). Even now the Lord is marking those who groan and sigh  those who, like Mordecai, will not receive raiment in exchange for their sackcloth. 

... She sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not. Est 4:4
And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. Ezek 9:4
The Lord God Almighty has made Jesus, the last Adam, both Lord and Christ. And this Lord and Christ is looking for somewhere to rest His head. He is looking for somewhere to install His government. Zion is that somewhere, brothers and sisters. "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him..." (2 Chron 16:9). For all its worldly and political prowess, whorish Babylon will never host the King of glory and His earth-shaking presence. Zion is the mountain of the Lord. And He is about to catch up a remnant of overcomers to rule and reign with Him from that very mountain of Originally-designed, Creation-mandated, human dominion! The exalted Son of man  whose eyes are as a flame of fire and whose countenance is as the sun in full strength – is speaking to those who have ears to hear: "To him that overcomes, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." (Rev 3:21).
And I looked, and, lo a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads ... These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. Rev 14:1,4
Take heart, strangers and pilgrims. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! We are about to return to Zion! "The ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." (Isa 35:10). Those who have consecrated themselves for the Master's use, amidst widespread apostasy and compromise, are about to receive their reward! A manifestation is about to take place. Out of the travail, a company of mature sons is about to be birthed and restored to the very mountain they have wept over.
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. Rev 12:5
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion ... I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron... Psalm 2:6,8-9
For those found worthy at His coming, great responsibility and authority is about to be bestowed. We are about to witness the fall of Babylon and the full manifestation of Christ's kingdom. We are coming into days of great confrontation. Light will drive away the darkness; righteousness and evil will no longer coexist. "The mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above all the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it" (Isa 2:2).

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Isa 2:3

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