THE PATIENCE OF OUR FATHER!
What is the most important and valuable wish of our Lord? To have children who will spend their life together with Him in his Kingdom for the eternity! Our Father does not want to stay alone and He did not create the universe for Him only, Unlike most of the people, our Lord is not selfish:
He is ready to give all His belongings and He is giving them.
Isaiah describes wonderfully the joy with which Elohim speaks about the birth of His people, chapter 66:7-14:
7"Before she was in labor, she gave birth;
Before her pain came,
She delivered a male child.
8Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
She gave birth to her children.
9Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?" says
Yehoah
"Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?" says your Elohim.
10"Rejoice with Jerusalem,
And be glad with her, all you who love her;
Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her;
11That you may feed and be satisfied
With the consolation of her bosom,
That you may drink deeply and be delighted
With the abundance of her glory."
12For thus says Yehoah:
"Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,
And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream.
Then you shall feed;
On her sides shall you be carried,
And be dandled on her knees.
13As one whom his mother comforts,
So I will comfort you;
And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem."
The Reign and Indignation of Elohim
14 When you see this, your heart shall rejoice,
And your bones shall flourish like grass;
The hand of Yehoah shall be known to His servants,
And His indignation to His enemies."
But this waiting time of our Creator is not without many disappointments and if we had been in His place, wouldn't we have already abandoned the project since a long time?
What kind of people are we? Are we all the time putting everything in question? Or are we so light and selfish people that we would like everything for us immediately without waiting? Do we forget each morning why we are here on earth? Aren't we capable to keep an objective in mind during a few years, especially if this target is the so glorious Kingdom of the Lord? Meditate the words of James 1:5-8:
"5If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of Elohim, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
If this is the case, be sure that our Creator will not grant ANYTHING to us!
On the contrary, any true believer will keep the cape on the Kingdom of the Lord all the time without deviating neither to the right nor to the left, in spite of the expected storms on the way! The believer lives in this perfect joy about which James speaks in the same chapter, verses 2-4:
"2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."
But let us go back to our Lord and His exemplary patience which should encourage us in always looking at the goal and in avoiding possible delays caused at the intermediate stages. A long time ago, Elohim created Lucifer who was expected to act as a governor on all the Creation! And Lucifer was the first disappointment when he opposed himself and became Satan.Let us read about this in Ezekiel 28:12-19:
12"Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to
him, "Thus says the Yehoah Elohim:
"You were the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13You were in Eden, the garden of Elohim;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The sardius, topaz, and diamond,
Beryl, onyx, and jasper,
Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.
The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes
Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
14"You were the anointed cherub who covers;
I established you;
You were on the holy mountain of Elohim;
You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
15You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,
Till iniquity was found in you.
16"By the abundance of your trading
You became filled with violence within,
And you sinned;
Therefore I cast you as a profane thing
Out of the mountain of Elohim;
And I destroyed you, O covering cherub,
From the midst of the fiery stones.
17"Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;
I cast you to the ground,
I laid you before kings,
That they might gaze at you.
18"You defiled your sanctuaries
By the multitude of your iniquities,
By the iniquity of your trading;
Therefore I brought fire from your midst;
It devoured you,
And I turned you to ashes upon the earth
In the sight of all who saw you.
19All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you;
You have become a horror,
And shall be no more forever."
Please observe by the way that the fall of Lucifer is due to his self-confidence in his beauty. The same reason is at the origin of the fall of Jerusalem who will become the famous prostitute whose flesh will be shared by the ten kings and the beast in the near future. Let us read that in Ezekiel 16:15-19:
"Jerusalem's Harlotry
15 "But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. 16You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be. 17You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them. 18You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them. 19Also My food which I gave you--the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you--you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was," says Yehoah Elohim."
A second disappointment for the Lord came from the disobedience of Eve and Adam. Elohim was obliged to separate the from His creatures and He drove them out of the garden of Eden because of the sin. Let us read this in Genesis 3: 22-24:
"22Then Yehoah Elohim said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"-- 23therefore Yehoah Elohim sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life."
The descendance of Adam and Eve did not repent but on the contrary, they will behave worse and worse and this will continue to be a subject of bitterness for Yehoah. The bad behaviour will reach such a point of maliciousness that Yehoah will be obliged to destroy all the creatures who live on earth. Let us read that in Genesis 6: 5-7:
"5Then Yehoah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And Yehoah was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7So Yehoah said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."
Please note by the way that this degradation of the human beings goes togehter with bad education given by one generation to the next one.
Meanwhile, Elohim keeps His plan to create His family and He goes back to work without discouraging Himself: He is not, I insist on it, like the majority of human beings, when they put in doubt the existence of their Creator, of His Holy Land, of the end time which we will have to cross without stumbling while keeping our eyes looking at His salvation.
After the flood, it is far from being finished; several centuries after the building of the disastrous Tower of Babel, Sodom, Gomorah and city of the surroundings on the shore of the Dead Sea are living according to abominable standards. Yehoah continues His work in order to maintain some cleanliness in His Holy Land.
But in parallel, Yehoah sees also how the Amorites are living in growing iniquity and cruelty as written in Genesis 15:12-17:
"12Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them till four hundred years from now. 14And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."
17And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces."
Thus Yehoah finally concentrate His hope on the descendants of Abraham, i.e. Israel. Once again Yehoah, instead of giving up his project, because men are destroying it all the time, Yehoah starts everytning again from zero with the sons of Israel. And again with great patience and much gentleness, Yehoah begins again His program of education and training in order to build His family who will get a free access to the eternal life.
Yehoah is giving again the same warning that He gave some 2500 years earlier to Adam: let us read it in Deuteronomy 8:10-20:
"10When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless Yehoah your Elohim for the good land which He has given you.
11"Beware that you do not forget Yehoah your Elohim by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, 12lest--when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; 13and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14when your heart is lifted up, and you forget Yehoah your Elohim who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; 16who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end-- 17then you say in your heart, "My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'
18"And you shall remember Yehoah your Elohim, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19Then it shall be, if you by any means forget Yehoah your Elohim, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. 20As the nations which Yehoah destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of Yehoah your Elohim."
In other words, it says:
DON'T TRUST IN YOUR BEAUTY AS ALL THOSE WHO LIVED BEFORE DID!
But Israel in his turn misused the patience of His Father who saw his project broken again like a house of cards. And we saw why when we read the story about the prostitute who was in fact the scandalous member of the family of Israel; we pointed out indeed that Israel rejects his Father in several steps:
First of all, it was the rejection by the kingdom of Israël of the north often called Samaria after the name of its capital. Let us read how the bible speaks to us about it in II Kings 17:7-23:
7For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against Yehoah their Elohim, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods, 8and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yehoah had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 9Also the children of Israel secretly did against Yehoah their Elohim things that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city. 10They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree. 11There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom Yehoah had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke Yehoah to anger, 12for they served idols, of which Yehoah had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."
"13Yet Yehoah testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets." 14Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in Yehoah their Elohim. 15And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom Yehoah had charged them that they should not do like them. 16So they left all the commandments of Yehoah their Elohim, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of Yehoah, to provoke Him to anger. 18Therefore Yehoah was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone.
19Also Judah did not keep the commandments of Yehoah their Elohim, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 20And Yehoah rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight. 21For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yehoah, and made them commit a great sin. 22For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, 23until Yehoah removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day."
Then it was the turn of Juda who lost also its independence and was taken along in captivity during 70 years because of the same bad attitude as recalled by Nehemiah, chapter 9, verses 34 to 37:
"34Neither our kings nor our princes,
Our priests nor our fathers,
Have kept Your law,
Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies,
With which You testified against them.
35For they have not served You in their kingdom,
Or in the many good things that You gave them,
Or in the large and rich land which You set before them;
Nor did they turn from their wicked works.
36"Here we are, servants today!
And the land that You gave to our fathers,
To eat its fruit and its bounty,
Here we are, servants in it!
37And it yields much increase to the kings
You have set over us,
Because of our sins;
Also they have dominion over our bodies and our cattle
At their pleasure;
And we are in great distress.
"
Finally, the supreme treason came when the religious leaders of Jerusalem did reject their Lord and Saviour, Yeshuah-Christ by preferring Cesar to him! Let us read how Yeshuah speaks about His city of Jerusalem in Matthew 23: 37-39:
"37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!"'
But again and again, our Father did not abandon the project and He decided to continue with His famous patience and to persevere in the difficult way to give birth to His children in His spiritual Kingdom. Our Father has no doubt, He has faith in what He is doing. Our Father knows the price to pay to go all the way even when the cost means for Him to loose His beloved first and only son at that time, Yeshuah-Christ. We should always remember that any time we demoralize ourselves or when we drop the arms before any difficulty in our lives, we cease to be the image of our Father.
Why don't we more often read and meditate about the way of life of our Father and His son, Yeshuah and why don't we change our behavior accordingly to become to some extent imitators of their attitude?
But let us continue the long story of the relationship between the Lord and the people; so after having rejected Jerusalem, the Prostitute, in the way we all know, the Lord took again his plan with a new group of people: but now, he did not take a nation, he did not take a race but He decided to choose people from everywhere, preferably contemptible and without education. The Lord started again with them his slow and solid education. We are these people if we want to. These people are His Church to which He gives the same warning as to all the others before: read this in I Corinthians 1: 26-31:
"26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27But Elohim has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and Elohim has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28and the base things of the world and the things which are despised Elohim has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30But of Him you are in Christ Yeshuah, who became for us wisdom from Elohim--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-- 31that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD."
In other words, that means once again as we have written before:
NEVER TRUST IN YOUR BEAUTY!
Notice that since the beginning with Lucifer and with Adam, our Creator did not make any exception between people, He always gave the same recommendations and the same valuable teachings to eveyone and He was very open to all. But all the mankind, at any time in the history did always reject our Lord. On the contrary. Our Father, the Lord, has always a favourable look at anyone who turns himself to him whatever his appearance, his qualities or his defects.
The Lord did never seek those who have a good appearance; the best proof of it is indeed how He made the choice of Jerusalem. Let us read how it occurred in Ezekiel 16:1-6:
"1 Again the word of Yehoah came to me, saying, 2"Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3and say, "Thus says Yehoah Elohim to Jerusalem: "Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born.
6"And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, "Live!' Yes, I said to you in your blood, "Live!'
This is how started the love story between Yehoah and Jerusalem. Like Yehoah, we should learn how to behave the same way and to approach anyone without any pre-judgement and any preference inspired by our flesh. Our life should be without any compromission and should not be influenced by the wish to please to people in our surrounding: this would be against the law of the Lord. We must languish after the advent of our Lord more than after anything else, we must be like the nature that surrounds us and hope in the Revelation of the sons of Elohim; let us read on this in Romans 8:18-27:
"18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of Elohim. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of Elohim. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
26Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of Elohim."
The creation is behind us to encourage us with patience and perseverance year after year until we will hear the sound of the last trumpet (I Corinthians 15: 51-53):
"51Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-- 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."
This event is symbolized by the feast of the first day of the seventh month celebrated every year, in autumn by the true believers. By the way, to those who decided to come and live in the Holy Land, here is a warning, remember always that our Father did never force us tp come here and that we are always free to leave. We should never live with sadness, in particular in the Holy Land, if not, frankly it is better to leave and not to risk to become a prey for Satan just like Judas became one because he wondered why Mary made a so expensive spikenard to Yeshuah (John 12: 1-8). Judas ended up committing suicide and it is about him that one said that it would have been better for him if he was not born.
Before any decision in favour of our Father, think twice before acting because He showed you sufficiently His clear Plan and it is always a demonstation that He is not joking : People speak about peace everywhere although there is obviously no peace and this is in accordance with what our Lord predicted about the times before the end (I Thessalonicians 5:1-11):
"The Day of the Lord
1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9For Elohim did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Yeshuah Christ, 10who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
11Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing."
Starvation threatens millions of people in the world. Sexual abuse of young children for money has become an industrial practise in advanced countries on the account of poor people in the Far East and in South America. Torture and murder for pleasure was don in ex Yugoslavia, in Lebanon and in many other countries of the world like in Africa.
The so-called rich countries are plunging in the deep well of debts.
Then it is also the epidemics here and there.
It is time that for us to wake up and to pray intensely for the quick arrival of our Saviour and Lord before it would be too late, because the Lord will not be allowed to come as long as his Father will not be glorified by us and as long as we are not asking for His return!