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“No More Striving”
Col 1:25-29 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God;
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
Paul was made a minister, by God, to <u>preach and warn and teach</u>.
The reason he was given this task was: ”that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;” By the total of scriptures, “every” is obviously to be understood as “every” one who hears and obeys, not “every” man in a literal sense.
Notice, also, Paul is careful to acknowledge his <u>striving</u> to accomplish this goal is not of himself but rather God’s mighty work in him and by reference, others.
In short, Paul acknowledges that; it is God working in him and “also” others to fulfill the word of God. That through him and other ministers God would accomplish His eternal mysterious purpose. This was a mystery that was purposed and then hidden, by God, from men and angels before the foundations of the world were laid. Paul then boldly states that this purpose that God has previously concealed, He now wishes to make known among the Gentiles, which is;
“Christ in you, the hope of Glory”
However, in total sum, scripture tells us that this revelation is only revealed by the Holy Spirit to those who have spiritual eyes to see and to whom God authorizes its revelation.
Christ in you, the hope of Glory”; perfection in Christ or Christ perfected and manifest in us. Sons of God, then, perfected, ready to glorify God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Then, having their obedience fulfilled, ready to serve His Majesty, the King and revenge all (heaven and earth will be shaken) disobedience at His direction only, even as it is written.
These will be; A “remnant” of the church, “Sons of God” without need of further rebuke or correction. Romans; chapter eight, Jude, Joel, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and many others gives us a glimpse of these “Sons of God” that are to be manifest, or rather have Christ appear or manifest Himself in them and glorify God, once again, in the earth as Jesus did before.
However, mature Sons of God are made, they are not born, and this is ONLY the work of God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, “His strange work”.
Isa 28:21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Heb 12:5-8 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
These Sons of God will have followed the pattern Son; Jesus and they, like Him, will have learned obedience through the things they have suffered. The suffering that comes from submitting to the cross the things which are of the flesh and only through this suffering, as they willingly submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in them can they receive the reward of entering into the service of His Majesty, the King, as “Manifest Sons of God”.
To understand that the Chastening of His children is God ordained is wisdom.
Psa 119:34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
Pro 10:13 In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding.
To understand a bit of how God administers His correction is helpful in order to understand more of His purposed plans for His whole government both in heaven and in earth.
2Co 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
1Co 5:4 -5 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the
Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Num 33:55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.
Without laboring this, we should understand, by now, that God used the enemies of the Children of Israel as a tool of correction at His discretion. Further, as it was in the natural, so it is in the Spiritual.
By the Holy Spirit, we may have been given to see something of the mysteries of the Kingdom that are hidden in the “Old Testament” in parables, types, metaphors, similitudes and dark sayings.
<u> </u>
Therefore, we should look diligently to the true words of prophecy “as we look to the lamp that shines into a dark place” for further revelation in these types and shadows in the Bible. Because, especially in the Prophets writings, we may see further revelation of what God has purposed to conceal from all but those with “eyes to see and ears to hear“.
In Isaiah chapter ten, we see “the Assyrian” as a type of spiritual “principalities and powers” which parallel and prophetically show God’s plan for His church and His enemies, in part.
Note that; “the Assyrian’s” are used as a rod of correction in God’s hand, but because they go beyond the boundaries which God set, they are, in turn, punished by the very people they were sent by God to chasten.
Isa 10:12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
The work God sent the Assyrian’s to do was correction for Mount Zion and Jerusalem for their disobedience. This is typical of God’s correction and chastening for His Children, in order to save them from the ultimate fruit of disobedience. Then and if they will choose to follow Him, He will then bring them into the unfathomable inheritance which He has promised those who will hear and obey him.
Bringing God’s children to maturity is as the separation of wheat from chaff. In His wisdom God knows the threshing tools required to thresh each of the principle grains. Never a cart wheel is to be used to thresh dill. God only knows the right threshing instrument necessary to reveal His royal seed without its destruction. The chaff, once green stems necessary to bring forth the seed pods, now dry at harvest time, no longer of use and are to be burned up. This is all His work and if tools are used they are to be used, ONLY, at His discretion and ONLY by His direction.
It is written, then, that at some point, God in His wisdom brings forth or manifests a mature remnant. This remnant of His corrected and now fully obedient children, are to punish and even fully destroy His “thorns and briers”. “Thorns and briers” which have taken “punishment and correction” to another level, defying God’s authority and taking this authority to themselves.
Isa 10:17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;
We have only to look and by the revelations of the Holy Spirit; the Law and the prophets are filled with this same story, told in a variety of ways, here a little, there a little. Now, in the fullness of time, through Christ and the revelations of the Holy Spirit, these things can be revealed.
Was this revelation available to Christians in Paul’s generation?
Has this revelation been available to Christians since?
Is this revelation available to Christians today?
Yes and yes and yes! However, Christians down through the years have generally been like the children of Israel who came out of Egypt; their sojourn in the wilderness of testing was unnecessarily long. Many died in the wilderness, never even seeing their promised land, let alone entering in. This, like their fellow Christians who would parallel their quest later, was primarily because of the lusts of their flesh, their disobedience and or lack of trust in God’s words.
Is there ever an end to the striving, the threshing and the correction which God has purposed to bring His Children to fully possess their promised land and finally see God’s purpose in the earth to be completed?
Isa 14:24 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
Isa 14:25 That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my
mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.
Isa 14:26 <u>This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: </u>
and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
Isa 14:27 For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?
and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
Yes, God’s word will be fulfilled and the mystery which God has hidden from ages and generations will be made manifest to His Saints. The labor, the striving, the correction and the threshing purposed to bring God’s Children to perfection in Christ Jesus will be accomplished, but only as it is written.
Isa 28:28 Bread corn is bruised; because <u>he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. </u>
Isa 28:29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is
wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
Is this perfection that it written, written of all Christians?
Sadly, scriptures say that there are those who are; like the five foolish
virgins and as those who build their houses upon the sand. Those, who
know God’s will and do not choose to do it. Yes, they are born again,
but in spite of God <u>striving with them</u>, these are the ones who have not
chosen the way of the cross, obedience and servant-hood over self.
Only for those who choose servant-hood via the cross is the reward of; serving His Majesty, the King, as “Manifest Sons of God” in the earth, as it is written.
Is that the end of God’s plans for His people and His creation?
I should think NOT!
What else remains then?
Wait……do not force fit what we think we know or get ahead of the “Head” of the body. Let’s not let any man, by pretense of his sincerity, derail us from following Christ. Be wary of those who are so bold in proclaiming the things which they have not seen and have become so foolishly proud of their intellectual powers.
For only Jesus Christ is our Head and only by choosing to follow Christ will we be able to come to the maturity that God has purposed for us. Christ in us, is the only hope of this maturity which is, only, through the cross and the refining fire of the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 2:19 (Peshita) That very person does not uphold the Head by whom the whole body is constructed and stands with the joints and members <u>and grows through the discipline of God.</u>
For now, we must know that God will not always strive with man through His servants, such as Paul and all of the others down through history. It is also written, that God will, at some point, authorize a declaration be sounded that “there is no more time”.
Perhaps, as the parable of the virgins; when they awoke, some had yet to purchase enough oil, but there was no more time.
Will we, now, discern the hour?
Will we be “awake” enough to recognize and act as the Holy Spirit may direct, when that time is “at hand”? For at that time, there will be no more time for striving.
Are we now on the threshold of “that time”?
Rev 10:5 -7 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein,
<u>that there should be time no longer</u>:
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall <u>begin</u> to
sound, <u>the mystery of God should be finished</u>, <u>as he hath declared to his </u>
<u>servants the prophets. </u>
Isa 51:16 And I have put<u> my words in thy mouth, </u>and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
Isa 51:17 <u> Awake, awake,</u> stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
Isa 51:18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.
Isa 51:19 These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee?
desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I
comfort thee?
Isa 51:20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a
wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
Isa 51:21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not
with wine:
Isa 51:22 Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the
cause of his people, <u>Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, </u>even the dregs of the cup of my fury; <u>thou shalt no more drink it again:</u>
Isa 51:23 <u>But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee;</u> which
have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.
Psa 17:15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I <u>awake</u>, with thy likeness.
Eph 5:14 -19 Wherefore he saith, <u>awake thou that sleepest</u>, and arise
from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Wherefore be ye not unwise, <u>but understanding what the will of the Lord</u> <u>is.</u> And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Rom 13:11 -14 And that, knowing the time, that <u>now it is high time to</u>
<u>Awake out of sleep:</u> for now is our salvation nearer than when we
believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Joe 2:1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
“The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”
<p style=”text-align: center;”>~ ~ ~</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>B. Keith Chadwell</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>High Country Ministry</p>
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