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The Coming Increase of Christ in His House
When God reveals His glory, He is expressing His mercy not only toward those who behold Him, but also toward those whose lives they touch. Even those who do not believe in the Lord and oppose His people are being given a chance to see His mercy in action.
For example, when Pharaoh opposed Israel’s deliverance, God responded to his hardened heart by continuing the hardening process. Notice Paul’s words:
‘Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens”
(Romans 9:18).
The Lord had an appointment for confrontation with Pharaoh at the Red Sea. He had decided to make His own name and power known in all the Earth, and He would use Egypt’s king to do it.
Many readers of the Scriptures have concluded that the Lord must have wanted to send Pharaoh to hell. But that is not what the Bible necessarily teaches. God put a hook in the jaw of this king and drew him to the Red Sea to establish before men His own reputation; His own glorious name and power would be exalted among the nations.
When the Egyptians rode on dry ground into the midst of the Red Sea, the Lord arose to trouble them. In the morning watch, a period of several hours stretching from two a.m. till dawn, He caused their chariot wheels to fall off and brought confusion among them so that they could neither move forward or backward. In the midst of their trouble it began to dawn on them that the God of Israel was opposing them.
…and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians
(Exodus 14:25).
The reality of who was opposing them began to weigh very heavily on these men. Maybe they had convinced themselves that the earlier plagues of darkness, frogs, lice, etc., were just coincidences. But now, death was clearly upon them and no matter how they tried, they could not get themselves out of harm’s way. God had promised Moses that He would move in such a way that the Egyptians would know it was He who was judging them (Exodus 14:18).
So, did all these soldiers wind up in hell? While many of us might think we know the answer to this question, the truth is that we really do not. God gave them a several hour period of time in which the reality of His power began to dawn on them. As they struggled with their horses, chariots and weapons, we simply do not know if any, a few, or many cried out to the God of Israel to forgive their opposition to Him and His purpose. If they had humbled themselves in these circumstances and cried out for mercy, would the Lord not have heard and mercifully forgiven them?
The point is that we sometimes tend to make Heaven and hell the main point of a passage of Scripture when what the Lord is talking about is His purpose on Earth.
Even in our own day, the Lord is putting His hook in the jaw of many people to bring them to a confrontation with himself. The reason is because He has purposed that His name would be made known in all the Earth. While mighty and powerful people often think only in terms of their own name, fame, and reputation, the Lord has His own agenda for mankind.
Political, military, and economic leaders might think that they clearly see the goal to which they are leading their nations. And if you asked many of the various media commentators (and maybe even many Christians) why these leaders had come to such international influence, they would probably say that it was to have great authority among men. But they would have misinterpreted God’s purpose. The truth is He is doing something among men for the sake of His own glory.
While some individuals have been called to be mere political leaders of nations, others have been called to the much more significant role of beholding the glory of God. From the same lump of worthless clay the Lord has brought forth both vessels of honor and dishonor (Romans 9:21). For example, there was nothing in the clay i.e., the human nature of Moses to commend him to God. But the Lord chose him to be a vessel for honor while He called Pharaoh to be but a mere king of an empire.
Moses had the opportunity to be mightily used of the Lord in the revelation of His glory; Pharaoh had the opportunity to learn by experience that resisting God is foolish. Only the Lord really knows whether he ever got the point in this life.
Today, God’s purpose is moving inexorably toward His goal. Highly influential men and women speak confidently of their plans for the Earth, all the while rejecting the counsel of the Lord as revealed in His Word. If too many children are being born in our nation to accommodate our agenda, then (as in China) we will introduce a one child per couple policy. If pregnancies are too inconvenient to our lifestyle (as in the West), we will simply terminate them. If men want to be physically intimate with other men, we will demand that such activity be seen as normal. Then simply silence through intimidation those who in their consciences do not agree.
But what if God does not agree? Then many will discover that He has set up an appointment with them for confrontation. Wherever you are in the unfolding scenario, make no mistake about it; the Lord will reveal His power and make His name famous throughout the whole Earth. Nothing will stand in His way.
Some people will die rather than admit that they are out of tune with their Creator. Some will cry out to Him in the last minutes of their lives. But others will hear a call to stand before Him and to learn His heart for the nations. As these respond faithfully to the Lord, He will use them in His stated goal of filling the Earth with the knowledge of His glory.
We must never mistake for apathy God’s longsuffering endurance of those who brazenly reject His counsel. Vessels headed for wrath are in a process that will culminate in destruction (Romans 9:22). Simultaneously, in the unfolding process, God in His mercy is presently revealing His glory in some measure to others who are learning His ways. God has been preparing these vessels of mercy to both know and express His glory to those around them. Conflict between the two groups is both inevitable and ongoing.
God’s merciful redemptive plan for the Earth reveals at the same time His judgments among men. The question each of us must face is whether we will be a living example of the foolishness of saying “no” to God or an illustration of the wisdom of saying “yes”. Even those who lived in opposition to the Lord all their lives may in the last minutes of their existence find the grace to repent and be forgiven ─ e.g., the thief on the cross. Of course, the Scripture does not hold out to be emulated either his or Pharaoh’s lifestyle choices.
But let us not miss the point. The truth to be proclaimed in the midst of the ongoing great spiritual war is the splendor of the One who has called us to behold His glory.
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