By John Thiel, Facing Last Day Perils Conference, Study 11, mp3
Scripture reading: Isaiah 26:20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
There are very troublesome frightening perplexities ahead of us and already upon us and there is a danger that when we look at them and focus upon them we may lose our focus upon Jesus. However Jesus is the one who will be with us through those perplexities. This must lace all the subjects that we pursue so that those perplexities, although they are perplexities are illuminated by the presence of Jesus so that while they are perplexing and fearful and awesome and awful, we will not be discomfited with those terrible realities. To complete our contemplations and to take with us an intelligent strength and comfort, we want to focus upon our hiding place, hiding securely in our hiding place.
The integrated comfort of meeting the perplexities and finding comfort in them can only be found in the revelation of God’s word in reference to our hiding place. When Jacob approached his time of Jacob’s trouble, what was the first thing that he met? What was the first comfort that came to him before he even realised that he was going to have Jacob’s trouble? He arrived at the place on his way back home and he knew Esau was on his way.
Genesis 32:1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This [is] God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
He arrived at the place in which he was going to experience the time of Jacob’s trouble and what did God send him? Angels. As we approach the progressive activity of the leading up to Jacob’s trouble, are we met by the angels? Of course we are. There were four angels messengers, and the angel said to the four angels, hold the winds until I? No, until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. The angels came to encourage Jacob and the angels are there to encourage us as we arrive at Jacob’s trouble. Why did the angels come in reference to Jacob’s experience? Because Esau was very angry. He came with four hundred men of war and in no way in the world are we to think that he didn’t come here to deal with Jacob. He definitely did, but the angels were there. In consequence of everything that Jacob did to alleviate Esau’s anger, sending forth all these gifts, Esau didn’t need them and he told him when he arrived, you keep them, I don’t want them. He was rich enough already, he didn’t need any gifts. It was the angels that were the protecting wall for Jacob and so it is with the experience of God’s people as they arrive at their trouble because the trouble they are meeting is the beast, the image of the beast and the mark of the beast, and the plagues.
The angels are there to protect God’s people as it is referred to in Revelation 7:1-3. The angels said to the four angels, hold, until we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads. Who are the we? In Revelation 14:6-7 the first angel says, the judgment is to commence, fear God and give glory to Him. Verse 8 says that Babylon the great is fallen. Esau, Babylon. Was Esau a fallen man? Is Babylon a fallen company? Then the threat, the stranglehold in the third angel’s message, anyone who worships the beast and his image and receives his mark in his forehead or in his right hand will suffer the indignation of God’s wrath. Then, here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Here are the people we are going to protect because the stranglehold of the enforcement of the mark of the beast which is the lead-up to this terrible final crisis, is going to cause a threat upon God’s people, therefore we must warn them and we will protect them. Revelation 18:1-4 is the other part of the we. Because in that scripture we see that there came another angel so that he came with great power to join together with the other angels.
Revelation 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Was there something else?
Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
This power, this loud voice is not a big display. It is the power and the work of the Holy Spirit in giving force in revealing the power of the message. Many people read this to mean that it’s going to be a great big public demonstration of power. That’s not what is cited in the original word of power which was written there. It is the authority of God which is being manifested in great certainty before the people. When he cried strongly with a loud voice, the voice of the angel is not heard by the people, it is the power of the gospel in Jesus Christ for these last days that warns the people of the destruction that is to happen, and the church has sown seeds which it has to reap, it is the realisation of the power of the truth by the Holy Spirit. As it says:
Zechariah 4:6 …Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit.
You get the balance in the statement itself. It’s not this sort of big world hitting aspect. The bundling is going on, and while the message is going ahead, persecution is increasing. We’ve seen it in the history and yet it was a power. The third angel is the one who is binding, or sealing them for the heavenly garner. Binding, sealing them. What is denoted in the sealing? You see it in Revelation 7. The winds are about to roar on the earth to destroy. A great whirlwind will come up from the coasts of the earth. The angel says hold it, we want to seal them before that happens. What is meant here? The sealing means protection so that they will not be destroyed in this time. That was the protection that they provided for Jacob so that Esau could not destroy him.
Revelation 18:4 says come out of her, my people, that what? That ye be not partakers of her sins. Is that where it stops? That ye receive not of her plagues. It is for their protection that the seeds they have sown would no longer continue to bear their consequences. Confess those sins. Jesus has borne the consequences. That which will be met in the time of the plagues is the abject hopelessness that Jesus felt at Gethsemane and the cross.
Jesus died the death and the horror of the people who would die the second death. That was what Jesus took away from us who would have to die that way.
That’s what the call is, come out of her my people that you repent and confess all those things so that they can be removed and you don’t have to meet the consequences that the others will have to meet who will not be protected. The sealing message is the protecting message from the storm. It is spelled out:
Isaiah 26:20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
What was the hiding of ourselves?
What are the chambers in which they are to hide? They are the protection of Christ and holy angels. {HS 158.3}
It’s all spelled out in the experience of Jacob. He met the angels. The people who want to be protected meet the angels. The three angels, the Revelation 18 angel and the other voice from heaven, four heavenly agencies to protect us. It is so neatly compared in Jacob’s experience with us.
The protection of Christ and the holy angels, a security. There were angels around Jacob and who touched him that night? Jesus. The angels and Jesus were there for his protection. It’s very phenomenal that when Jesus came to touch him, He came there to bless him, but what did Jacob think He was? Do we recognise Jesus in these times? That’s the important issue. When He comes to touch us, are we going to turn around and fight Him? Or are we going to quickly recognise, it’s Jesus, I will not let you go? So it is with us today.
If the curtain could be rolled back, and each one could discern the constant activities of the heavenly family to preserve the inhabitants of the earth from Satan’s seductive wiles, lest in their careless attitude they should be led astray through satanic strategy, they would lose a large degree of their self-confidence and self-assurance. They would see that the armies of heaven are in continual warfare with satanic agencies, to obtain victories in behalf of those who do not sense their danger, and who are passing on in unconscious indifference (MS 32, 1900). {6BC 1120.4}
If the curtain could be withdrawn, we would see the protection of Christ and His angels. It’s to do with the war against Satan who wants to destroy us; then we would see, oh, we are not alone. We would see that Christ and the holy angels are out there. If the curtain could be withdrawn we would see them and by faith we can see it now. I see it all the time. I see the war going on and I’m not discouraged although there are those who are full of self-assurance, self-confidence – you know how we are taught today, and the young people are taught this; gather some self-confidence, go and assert yourself, stop hanging low, be strong! Then we get the message of the Lord given to us and we go forward with the strength of our assurance that we’ve got this but it’s self-assurance because it’s been seeded into our fabric in this generation. You go to any counsellor today, he will help you to think that you must assert your own self-right so that you can lift yourself out of the depression.
I know all about counselling, I was taught it in my nursing years. As I was taught this counselling procedure, I thought, where is Jesus? Many good points are given by the counsellors, but the biggest problem in today’s society in the way that young people are counselled is assert yourself, make sure that you keep yourself aloft. How can you keep yourself aloft when everything crashes down around you? Counsellors are increasing today because they need more counsellors to help the people who are all crumbling; and the more they counsel the worse it gets. We have the holy angels, we have Jesus to protect our mind, to protect us from our self-confidence, to fall upon the Rock Christ Jesus and let Him bind us up. The sealing angel specified; until we have sealed. Sister White gives the picture of the warfare and virtually withdraws the curtains and helps us to understand.
Satan is now using every device in this sealing time to keep the minds of God’s people from the present truth and to cause them to waver. {EW 43.2}
Where is the wavering? From the present truth, because it was the truth that was going to be our protection; and if he can cause the truth to be contorted just a little bit, they will not be able to stand. Just a little bit, just to waver.
I saw a covering that God was drawing over His people to protect them in the time of trouble; and every soul that was decided on the truth and was pure in heart was to be covered with the covering of the Almighty. {EW 43.2}
How important is the truth? It is a covering. If I am left in a state such as I have observed through the years in the ranks of Adventism, I will not be covered. I have seen how Satan is working by his device to cause them to debate and argue so that they are still trying to get the truth exactly perfect and he keeps them on that track. While he is doing that, the angels are closing in the protection and only those who are not debating but who are simply following that which has already been established will be protected. The truth and the purity in heart. When we listen to the word of God, we are to listen to it with our heart, let alone just with the intellect or the ears. It’s what you receive in the purity of your heart that will be your protection. Satan is at work to disorientate us so that we cannot be protected.
Satan was trying his every art to hold them where they were, {EW 44.2}
It’s alright to reach a certain point and then stay where you were.
…until the sealing was past, until the covering was drawn over God’s people, and they left without a shelter from the burning wrath of God, in the seven last plagues. God has begun to draw this covering over His people, and it will soon be drawn over all who are to have a shelter in the day of slaughter. God will work in power for His people; and Satan will be permitted to work also. {EW 44.2}
Here you have a picture described before you; the curtain has been pulled back. The angels are working with the truth so that those who receive the truth with gladness and with their heart will be protected, while Satan is there to distract us from that. That’s what it’s about. Because the truth is not just a theory, it is something you put into practice. While he can cause the people by his subtleties to argue the truth, he is happy because they are not going to practice it until they have sorted themselves out. This is what I have seen over the years. Because while you are discussing the truth, you’re not practicing it. It’s all just a wonderful theory. But when you take the truth with the purity of your heart, you realise, I have to change here and you will cease debating. You will just quietly get on with it. Don’t let Satan’s subtleties distract our work.
To be sealed means to be covered, to be hidden via the truth and its practice. Wasn’t it the case in Noah’s day? Didn’t Jesus say, as in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Lord? What was it that Noah had to do in order to be protected? The truth came to him and what did he have to do? He had to do what the truth said. He had to build an ark. God’s people today have the truth which means we’ve got to build. We’ve got to establish something that will protect us and Satan wants to dishearten us from pursuing that. He does it in all these different devices.
Remember that it says by the foolishness of preaching. Many people today don’t see that preaching is of any value: You study yourself, don’t worry about what you hear, just make sure you study yourself. Is this one of Satan’s devices. Does God send His messengers? It’s the very point of the angels. Who are the angels? They are not preaching in the skies, they are God’s people that are working in unison with the universe of heaven. Let us not lose our bearings here because this is the way it’s meant to be.
By the foolishness of preaching; Noah was preached to by the Holy Spirit who said go and build an ark, I’m going to destroy the world. What did Noah do? He preached to the people, and they said pooh, foolishness! As a consequence they all perished apart from just eight souls. Is it any different today? Jesus said, no, it’s exactly the same.
Jesus and His angels are reaching out for us to hide us. What is to be the prayer in this time?
Psalm 17:6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, [and hear] my speech. 7 Show thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust [in thee] from those that rise up [against them]. 8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, 9 From the wicked that oppress me, [from] my deadly enemies, [who] compass me about.
Was Esau an enemy to Jacob? Absolutely. He was his own brother and his own enemy. The prayer is, Lord save me, help me! That was what Jacob was pleading for. Lord, Esau is coming to get me. Please save me. Jesus came to touch him to let him know and he thought it was the enemy already. This is the intensity of the focus in the battle. Show thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. We continue that prayer:
Psalm 64:1 Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
We must pray as we never prayed before, here is the prayer:
Psalm 64:2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: 3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, [and] bend [their bows to shoot] their arrows, [even] bitter words: 4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. 5 They encourage themselves [in] an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? 6 They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward [thought] of every one [of them], and the heart, [is] deep.
They search out iniquities. The enemy searches out iniquities. Lord, hear my voice, preserve my life. Have you done things in the past that you don’t want anybody else to know? and somebody gets wind of it and they say right, we’re going to deal with this and they will search out iniquities. This is exactly what the detail is because when we end up in the courts and we have to defend the truth, there will be our former brethren who will let the people in authority know; see, there they are. They know something about us. What will they do? It’s written.
Esau came to deal with the knowledge he had of Jacob’s sin. Don’t think that you are not going to be overwhelmed with the deep sense of your past sins in this time. Satan will be permitted to show them and they will know, oh, it was my own actions that are causing me this problem now. But they have already confessed those sins, therefore Jesus has done away with them and we need to understand that protection, the protection of our mind and the sense of guilt that has to be continually removed by the precious gift of Jesus Christ. We must remember that at that time.
When those prayers are rising up and the description of those prayers is what is written in the spirit of prophecy, pray as you’ve never prayed before (3T 476.1), what is the answer? Remember it says, hide me, protect me from this. Tell me what you will do. Please help me.
Zechariah 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
The prayer before was, keep me as the apple of the eye. The answer comes; anybody touching you is touching the apple of my eye. That’s God answering the prayer. Do we want to believe it? I’ve cried to Him, please help me, hide me, protect me, and He says, it’s alright, I’m answering you. Yes you’ve sinned, you are my child. You have sinned yes and grievously but whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye.
Zechariah 2:6 Ho, ho, [come forth], and flee from the land of the north, saith the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the LORD. 7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest [with] the daughter of Babylon.
Come out of her my people. Hide yourself, come on, you’re going to suffer, you’re praying to me? Come on then. Come and do what I am saying, and I will protect you. If you do what I’m calling you to do, I will protect you and if anybody touches you, they are touching the apple of my eye. If there is a fly that comes and wants to land in your eye, what do you do? There is an immediate reaction. So is God’s. When somebody threatens and seeks out sins to try and destroy us remember He says, I will hide you from the strife of tongues in my pavilion. Where is that? We are to be in the most holy place, in the pavilion. That’s where we are to be protected.
What can God’s protection do?
Psalm 64:7 But God shall shoot at them [with] an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded. 8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.
They will shoot the tongue at you, they will smite their fellow servant with the sharp sword of the tongue but that which they have pronounced upon others will suddenly turn upon themselves. God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly, how does He do it? They shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves. God is known by the judgment which He executeth, the trap that they have set for their enemy will be upon themselves. They will fall into the trap that they have set. When He says, come and hide yourself, where does He hide us? The protection of Christ and His holy angels. Let us go through an enlargement of that:
Psalm 27:5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
There is the pavilion we are being hidden in in this time of trouble.
Psalm 31:20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
What will they do with their tongues? They will shoot their tongues, they will talk against God’s people, but He will keep them secretly in His pavilion from the strife of tongues. Does that mean they won’t talk about us? Of course they will, but that which they talk about us we are protected from, in reference to being hurt by it. We will be hiding in His presence. It will not affect me, that’s the issue. Then they say, oh, you don’t even listen to us. Of course not, I’m not listening.
If you go on to Facebook, you will listen because you are deliberately opening it up to listen. What’s that going to do? Are you protected from the strife of tongues? No, you will be affected by the strife of tongues. We are not to be affected by the strife of tongues. We are to be hiding in His presence. Don’t even listen.
Psalm 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
In the secret place, in the presence of the Lord. Abide, stay, live.
Psalm 91:2 I will say of the LORD, [He is] my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
You don’t have to leave anything to your imagination. God spells it all out in answer to our prayer of where we will hide.
Psalm 91:4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth [shall be thy] shield and buckler.
Can you see the importance of the truth? I used to be in this frame of mind, oh the Lord will protect me and I loved the truth, I loved all these things but it’s not so important. Have you heard people say, it’s not so important whether I’ve got it all out perfectly? I used to think exactly like that, just cozy up against the Lord, it’s going to be lovely. But as I continued to study and as I continued to meet the onslaught, I needed the sharp realities of the truth to protect me so I became not only an exponent of the precious relationship with Christ, but the exponent of exact truth because I was on exactly the same track of not worrying too much about the exact doctrine. But then the Lord showed me that if I wasn’t absolutely right on the doctrine I will waver when it comes to the issues of the conflict.
Why will he cover thee with his feathers and his truth will be thy shield and buckler?
Psalm 91:9 Because thou hast made the LORD, [which is] my refuge, [even] the most High, thy habitation;
What is a habitation? A dwelling place.
Psalm 91:10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
Why?
Psalm 91:14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
He hath known my name. What’s in a name? A personality, a character: I AM. That is the most precious knowledge, I AM. I’m hiding in the I AM. He shows me past, present and future all as one picture. If you can see the picture and there comes the trouble and you are seeing the entire picture perfectly and the trouble comes, whichever angle Satan comes at you, you can say, ah, here he is, no worries.
That picture is what the Lord gives when you study intensely for the Bible scriptures as we are told to do, reading here a little and there a little to get the picture.
Psalm 32:7 Thou [art] my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.
Who is doing the singing? The angels are singing. The angels are protecting us and they’re singing praising the Lord and we might be down here, oh, Lord help. Songs all around. Let us realise that this hiding place is in His word. It is the word connected with His person not just words on a page.
Psalm 119:114 Thou [art] my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.
Can you see why Satan is trying to get us into debate on His word to cause us to lose our bearings? Have you felt it sometimes? Oh, is that right, oh, where am I? Our protection is His word and it’s His word as a person because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life.
As I enter in the scriptural Bible study, I am entering into the audience chamber of the most High and there’s no room for debate. The moment that you enter into debate, you are taking yourself out of the audience chamber and into your own argumentative capability. If the Lord wants me to debate or to protect something, He will be with me just like He was with Martin Luther, and in the presence of God he was able to defend. We have to do that sometimes, but never in the way of entering into the strife of tongues, never. All we have contemplated at this convention has to do with meeting end time perils and that is what we have studied so that we can meet them, that we can face them and break out of their withering and cankering impact upon us because they are so perilous and so severe.
We are to be governed by these realities.
One of those realities is that we are to heed those heralds of the end, the fifty years of truth that was established. You can read much about those truths. Not a pin is to be removed. Sister White says that it is not different views of it but it is the truth. The principles that are within those truths were firmly established.
These heralds who were establishing those fifty years of truth were preparing for the approaching storm. This was approaching at that time and as that was approaching, what must we enter into in preparation? Into the Sabbath rest. What is that? It is entering into Jesus Christ as your protection which the Sabbath is part of. In that presence He is with us right through to the end and we are understanding what that beautiful Sabbath rest means. We notice that in this time we are to endure when iniquity abounds and the love of many waxes cold. We see that what is uttered and what is practiced during this period of time is sowing seeds that will ultimately bear a harvest. The cause to effect of what we say and do needs to be understood and watched. Spurning all evil-speaking, spurning all evil-surmising, spurning all accusations, spurning all dissensions, that is what is made clear to us and constantly keeping above Satan’s subtleties as the dove has to remain above the hawk, keeping our mind above all the negatives that we are surrounded by and you see that in the story of Peter walking in the water. When he was walking towards Jesus he was walking on top of the water.
When he turned around and saw the billows, what happened? He was sinking. This is the object lesson. The moment we look at the billows, at the people’s fretting around us with all the negatives and suggestions and insinuations, evil-speaking and surmising, if we look at that we will sink. It’s inevitable. If I harbour and cherish any of the thoughts, my spirit is sinking, I cannot survive. I need to be buoyant. I need to keep on going buoyantly and the only way I can do that is by practicing the art of keeping above Satan’s subtleties.
The wisdom that we need to have is the wisdom from heaven which is contrary to Satan’s subtleties with accusations and dissensions. It is the Holy Spirit in the vessel and this is going to work to produce a character so that we can stand in the time of turmoil with a character and nobody can give you that character. It is to be gained by practicing and searching God’s word in our life. The Holy Spirit is the one who takes the word and weaves it into our character. We can’t do it without the Holy Spirit.
We are in the time of bundling in which confederacies are bundling, in bundles in error; and we are to avoid being bundled with those that are bundling in error. We are called upon to press together in the truth and we are to bundle. It looks terrible because of the language that we hear, who do you think you are? You think you’re the only ones? These is the kind of language that you hear, shut it out. We are being bundled and people are bundling in companies. Don’t worry about it if you find yourself separate from others because you have the precious comfort that you are being protected.
We come to the swelling of the Jordan which is flooding us and we have to cross the Jordan and we can’t. If we haven’t succeeded first of all in the preliminaries, how can we succeed in the swelling of Jordan? Before it swells too badly, learn to have stamina. Meet it intelligently. Only in practice of these things that we have studied are we secure. That is our hiding place. It is Jesus in the word, in the truth, in the answer to our prayers.
Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? 15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence [shall be] the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters [shall be] sure. 17 Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.
Here is our hiding place. While the sinners are afraid, they are scared and trying to protect themselves and you can see it around you. Who among all these people are going to dwell when the storm strikes and the fire burns? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly, upholding pure truth, speaking that truth. Talk and think of Jesus. The moment that you talk anything else that is gossip.
He that despiseth the gain of oppressions, what’s that? The gain of deceits is the marginal reading. The deceptions will provide gain for you. With a tiny little company, when the company diminishes, the people rely on each other, and the minister relies on being remunerated from tithes, it starts to go down and then they have to suffer. So to prevent that they will compromise, they will stay together with a church militant that’s big enough to keep them all going. The gain. A minister is always tested on that point. I was tested on that point. For eighteen years I was sustained by tithes and to stand faithful for what I knew to be right, I had to suffer the loss of my income at the age of fifty. To find a job at the age of fifty in this mad age in which we live is very hard. Should I alter and say, oh okay, I’ll just preach what they want and I can continue to be a worker there? That is the test of a minister. It was the same in the other church. I should do exactly what they say even though it goes contrary to my conscience in regards to these truths. But it says, he that will despise that.
“That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.”
In other words, as you hear all these ugly things, you can’t help hearing them sometimes, but my servant hearing hears not and seeing sees not because his inward eye is not open to receive this. You walk past it. It’s called white noise. You can hear the music as you’re shopping and you don’t even hear it. If we don’t do that it will make an impression upon us and you will become hardened. If you hear blood all the time, if you see all these things – when I was nursing I was seeing suffering all the time, and a lot of the nurses became hardened and they just did their job mechanically. In the hospital places you become a little bit blasé, but as you see these things, they must not penetrate so that you can be soft and loving and kind no matter what. Don’t even think about what you see and hear. That’s the case as news comes up before you, as the stories of the wars are around you. Shut your ears from hearing of blood. Don’t even let it penetrate. You know how it is; oh, did you hear such and such? Oh dear and it goes on and on and as you keep on doing that, you become destabilised.
Isaiah 33:22 For the LORD [is] our judge, the LORD [is] our lawgiver, the LORD [is] our king; he will save us.
If you want to get excited about anything in these last days, get excited about your relationship with the Lord. That’s all. He will save us. It is an exciting thing. As all these things come barging in upon you, as the storm is raging around you, you can have perfect confidence like Peter had when he was walking. He was walking on the billows but he became proud that he was walking on the billows. He turned around to the disciples and said, look, I’m walking on the water. But as he looked back, the water was all around him, and where was Jesus? Help! Down he went. What a perfect illustration. Yes, the Lord is with us and when we look upon Him we can walk on the water. But don’t be proud of it, because the only reason that you are is because Jesus is there with you and you’re looking upon Him. You can’t think about that. The moment that you turn around and say, look, I’m the one that standing here, down you go.
We are the ones that are standing here. Yes we are! Why are we standing? It’s nothing to be proud of. We are not worthy. That must govern, that although we say the Lord is my strength, I am able to stand, and you see it all through the scriptures, the disciples say it, apostle Paul says it, if I was to speak to you like apostle Paul, there are people who would say, who does he think he is? Apostle Paul said, follow me as I follow Jesus. Who does he think he is? If you were living at that time, would you be tempted to say that? That’s how the sharp mentalities of modern thinking affect us today.
The beautiful relationship that we can have with Jesus in this crazy storm is an assurance, a security for the inmost soul and you don’t have to go around quavering thinking, oh dear, I might just be proud. You don’t have to worry about pride when you know that you’re only standing by His grace. Keep Jesus before us that’s all. And when Jesus is there they can say all sorts of things against you, it is water off a duck’s back. We can be sure. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. Shouldn’t you be confident then? Of course you need to be confident but your confidence is in the Lord, not in yourself.
May God grant us to say these words with assurance: the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.
Amen.
