John Thiel mp3
Samaria Versus Jerusalem
Our scripture reading this morning was taken from the words of Jesus in His encounter with the woman of Samaria.
John 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
She was from Samaria which was the capital of the ten tribes of Israel who long had fallen and they were still worshiping in Samaria thinking that God was with them. The Jews were in the headquarters at Jerusalem. Can you see a similar situation today? Some say this is the church, some others say it is another church, where we should worship? Besides the main denominations, there are many derivative organisations and numberless independent companies. The dilemma addressed is like the woman of Samaria at the well; each claim to represent the correct worship. Jesus foretold this dilemma:
Matthew 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. 23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before.
He’s talking specifically about the papal period of 1260 years of Great Tribulation and if those years would not have been shortened there wouldn’t have been any faithful Christians left. They would have all been slaughtered, burnt at the stake.
Christ is the head of the church, and there will be many churches saying here is Jesus, here is the body of Christ, listen to Him here. That’s what Jesus is referring that will happen after the terrible times of papal tribulation. But it is more multitudinous that Samaria versus Jerusalem. Jesus refers to these churches when He talks about the false Christs, false messengers who will arise. If you are sensing that you are God’s child, you are an elect. If it were possible, you could be deceived. That’s how close this is.
Confederacies will increase in number and power as we draw nearer to the end of time. These confederacies will create opposing influences to the truth, forming new parties of professed believers who will act out their own delusive theories. The apostasy will increase. “Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1). Men and women have confederated to oppose the Lord God of heaven, and the church is only half awake to the situation. There needs to be much more of prayer, much more of earnest effort, among professed believers. 2SM 383.1
Confederacies is a word that describes fellowship, joining together, which will increase in number and power as we draw nearer to the end of time. Confederacies have increased from Sister White’s time. When I was a youth, there were not as many confederacies as there are now. They have increased and multiplied in the ranks of the of Seventh Day Adventism. Back then there was only a handful of independent companies. Now you can’t count them. It is just as Jesus spoke with authority regarding where the true worship is to be conducted and where salvation is to be found. Did Jesus say that the true worship was to be found amongst all these confusing confederacies?
John 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
That was still God’s Church where salvation was to come from, but He says something very important here. If you are going to worship correctly, it’s not going to be in this mountain or in the other mountain, it is going to be worshiping Him in Spirit and in truth.
Our Time Versus the Time of Jesus
Let’s have a look at our time. What Jesus actually says to us today as He said to the woman. At that time, it was only between the two companies.
Song of Solomon 6:8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. 9 My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. 10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?
This confuses the case even more because what is written here is under inspiration. Remembering that a woman is a church in Bible prophecy. There are three score or sixty queens and four score or eighty concubines and little independent companies of virgins without number. Does He say the same thing today as He said to the woman of Samaria?
You recall what I shared about the seven churches. All through the history from the time of Christ to His coming, we have observed one church through that whole period. We’re going to be continuing to observe that one church. I shared with you that was the apostolic church, the true church splintered apart from Samaria and from Jerusalem. Today you have multitudinous different churches that you’ve got to find your way through and like in the beginning, there is one church that is His undefiled, His dove. That is the one church that we have to find today.
Can you see that predicament? Wonderful people in all the different churches, but not the dove of Jesus. Although He identified the Jews, He revealed the focus on them phasing out. Salvation is of the Jews but the day is coming that neither in Samaria nor at Jerusalem will you continue to worship. Jerusalem was going to phase out.
What did He say was the principle of identifying God’s Church? Neither in this mountain nor in the other mountain but those who worship in spirit and in truth. These are the two identification principles for our consideration to find His dove, His undefiled.
Shiloh is Jesus
Why did he say salvation is of the Jews?
Genesis 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
For how long the Jewish church would continue? Until Shiloh come and there we will see the principle of God’s true church ever after. Shiloh is Jesus, which was foreshadowed here.
John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
This is Shiloh, Jesus, speaking. Because of Shiloh, now you’re going to worship in Spirit and in truth.
John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Shiloh was sent and from that time onwards. You will know the truth if you get to know Jesus. There is the principle. Jesus is the one who binds the church together. Since the Jews rejected Him, what did He declare to the leaders of the Jewish Church? That was the end of them as God’s Church.
Matthew 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Shiloh has come and He’s telling them outright that the kingdom is going to be taken from them, the scepter will be taken from them, and it’s going to be given to those who are receiving Jesus. You want to find in the midst of the morass of Christian churches today, a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. That’s the nation that goes right through the seven church period, the faithful ones all the way through. The kingdom that was in the hands of the Jewish church was taken and given to who? A little flock of twelve men.
Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
He will give it to a nation. He says to the twelve that they are the ones and to them is given the kingdom of God. That is what Jesus was saying. Not in this mountain Samaria, neither in Jerusalem, but in those who worship God in spirit and in truth. For God is looking for those kinds of people to be His church. In other words; where Shiloh/Jesus, is.
Having Jesus in Reality
They are the people who have Jesus in reality believing everything that Jesus has taught. They were the disciples in the early Christian church and this was the launching of the church that is His dove, His undefiled.
It was in the disciples after their disappointment of Jesus crucified ;and then the outpouring of the Pentecost which we highlighted in the previous studies. There was Jesus, Shiloh, in the midst of them. This constitutes His church.
Matthew 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
He was talking to Peter and He identified the rock that we were singing about. The anchor is to be held to that rock. Peter had an inspiration. Jesus is the principle of the church that the gates of hell shall not prevail against.
Because the law of God is made void in our world, does it make it a virtue to transgress that law? It may appear to the world a very small matter for the Christian to be in harmony with the world by just the act of keeping Sunday for the Sabbath in the place of the seventh day, but God’s Word says the seventh day is My holy day. The man of sin says, “I make a Sabbath for you and you must keep the first day of the week.” … UL 315.4
God has a church. It is not the great cathedral, neither is it the national establishment, neither is it the various denominations; it is the people who love God and keep His commandments. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church. UL 315.5
Where two or three are present who love and obey the commandments of God, Jesus there presides, let it be in the desolate place of the earth, in the wilderness, in the city enclosed in prison walls. The glory of God has penetrated the prison walls, flooding with glorious beams of heavenly light the darkest dungeon. His saints may suffer, but their sufferings will, like the apostles of old, spread their faith and win souls to Christ and glorify His holy name. The bitterest opposition expressed by those who hate God’s great moral standard of righteousness should not and will not shake the steadfast soul who trusts fully in God…. UL 315.6
The Jewish church was phased out and the Christian church was inaugurated by Jesus and the disciples and from that time onwards, God has had his church that worship Him in spirit and in truth and in so doing they are God’s church. God has a church which is not the different denominations. We sometimes feel that we’ve got to be part of an organisation that is visible to us. Is the Seventh Day Adventist Church a denomination? Like the Jews, as we continue to proceed over the seven churches, it is only the overcomer that is the faithful church. The other ones are bypassed. Smyrna and Philadelphia are the faithful churches because He has nothing against them at all. All the other ones He’s got something against them.
It is the people who love God and keep His commandments; where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. That’s the important principle of God’s church. The church is where Christ is even among the humble few, this alone constitute Christ’s church. Jesus presides or governs or sits as the chairperson there. Where Jesus is, that’s where His church is, persecuted, scattered all over the world.
It’s absolutely essential that we pick up this principle, even if it’s just twos and threes. Those little remnant numbers like the twelve disciples, were then multiplied but scattered by persecution and became Smyrna. They were not all in one place anymore. They were scattered all over the world and in little companies here and there, faithful ones. The right hold on Jesus is the foundation on which His church is built. When you study Revelation 12 which is actually a miniature or a compact description of the seven churches, it’s the church that Jesus was born to. That woman continues through the history of chapter 12 right through to the very end.
The church is God’s fortress, His city of refuge, which He holds in a revolted world. Any betrayal of the church is treachery to Him who has bought mankind with the blood of His only-begotten Son. From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth. In every age the Lord has had His watchmen, who have borne a faithful testimony to the generation in which they lived. These sentinels gave the message of warning; and when they were called to lay off their armor, others took up the work. God brought these witnesses into covenant relation with Himself, uniting the church on earth with the church in heaven. He has sent forth His angels to minister to His church, and the gates of hell have not been able to prevail against His people. AA 11.2
Through centuries of persecution, conflict, and darkness, God has sustained His church. Not one cloud has fallen upon it that He has not prepared for; not one opposing force has risen to counterwork His work, that He has not foreseen. All has taken place as He predicted. He has not left His church forsaken, but has traced in prophetic declarations what would occur, and that which His Spirit inspired the prophets to foretell has been brought about. All His purposes will be fulfilled. His law is linked with His throne, and no power of evil can destroy it. Truth is inspired and guarded by God; and it will triumph over all opposition. AA 11.3
Just make sure that you’re on the right platform of truth. That’s all, don’tworry about what company it is, no matter how small it may be. That is the principle that you’re going to go by.
During ages of spiritual darkness the church of God has been as a city set on a hill. From age to age, through successive generations, the pure doctrines of heaven have been unfolding within its borders. Enfeebled and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard. It is the theater of His grace, in which He delights to reveal His power to transform hearts. AA 12.1
One church through the centuries is still one church, the apostolic church. Then the people who were persecuted in Smyrna, the Huguenots, the Waldensians and then the Reformers. You have to understand carefully how the Lord orchestrated all this so that you can identify how this church continued through all that period of time. As we come consequentially to this day and time, is it still one church?
The names of the seven churches are symbolic of the church in different periods of the Christian Era. The number 7 indicates completeness, and is symbolic of the fact that the messages extend to the end of time, while the symbols used reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world. AA 585.3
The church is one church, right through the seven periods. I’ve had to meet this question time and time again as I have been ministering to different Adventists. They say there’s only seven churches, no eight church, so if you come out of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, they say you’re wrong. They’ve missed the whole point. The seven churches are seven periods with one church running through Revelation chapters 2 and 3. It’s the same principal criteria that still stands in regards to church affiliation. The criteria is Christ’s affiliation with those people which is the actual identification point.
Are we so insensible as a peculiar people, a holy nation, to the inexpressible love that God has manifested for us? Salvation is not to be baptized, not to have our names upon the church books, not to preach the truth. But it is a living union with Jesus Christ, to be renewed in heart, doing the works of Christ in faith and labor of love, in patience, meekness, and hope. Every soul united to Christ will be a living missionary to all around him.
He will labor for those near and those afar off. He will have no sectional feeling, no interest merely to build up one branch of the work over which he presides and there let his zeal end. All will work with interest to make every branch strong. There will be no self-love, no selfish interest. The cause is one, the truth a great whole. 2SM 381.3
Micah 5:7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. 8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
That is to be understood in tearing to pieces error and ripping up falsehood. The remnant of Jacob are among a large number of people. As Jesus was rejected by the Jews, and the early Christian church was rejected by the Jews, can we expect anything else after that?
As the light and life of men was rejected by the ecclesiastical authorities in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected in every succeeding generation. Again and again the history of Christ’s withdrawal from Judea has been repeated. When the Reformers preached the word of God, they had no thought of separating themselves from the established church; but the religious leaders would not tolerate the light, and those that bore it were forced to seek another class, who were longing for the truth.
In our day few of the professed followers of the Reformers are actuated by their spirit. Few are listening for the voice of God, and ready to accept truth in whatever guise it may be presented. Often those who follow in the steps of the Reformers are forced to turn away from the churches they love, in order to declare the plain teaching of the word of God. And many times those who are seeking for light are by the same teaching obliged to leave the church of their fathers, that they may render obedience. DA 232.2
The ecclesiastical authorities are the ministers that claim to be God’s church. The repetition of Judah losing its scepter takes place in every succeeding generation. The church that was once God’s church was phased out and another one came in; but it was God’s one church all the way through. Jesus is the true connection.
The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from them the kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the word of the Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities. But, if these in turn do not purify their lives from every wrong action, if they do not establish pure and holy principles in all their borders, then the Lord will grievously afflict and humble them and, unless they repent, will remove them from their place and make them a reproach…. UL 131.3
Conclusion
In closing examine the churches of today and the Church of the seven periods by the following test, those who worship Him in Spirit and truth.
Isaiah 8:12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 13 Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. 16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
17 And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. 19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? 20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
Jesus had His disciples. They took over from the Jewish church. Why are they to be examined to the law and to the testimony? Because this has to do with righteousness by faith. The law is faithfully upheld and the righteousness of Jesus who is the center of that law.
Psalm 119:142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.
Concluding Verse
1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. That is in Greek sarx which means flesh of sin. Everyone who preaches that Jesus has come in the flesh of sin is of God, and every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in sinful flesh is not of God and this is the spirit of antichrist. Today they call this sort of thing arrogant. They say, ‘you think you’re the only ones.’ Apostle John is saying here that we are the only ones.
Anybody that doesn’t harmonise with us is of the world and the world listens to us and judges us. Understand that in these last moments of earth’s history, the principle that we have studied is the people who have a perfect union with Jesus and meet together in union with Jesus in obedience to Him in righteousness and in the love of Him. These are the true people of God, and if you want to be part of them you need to meet the same criteria.
Jesus has made a wonderful overture of love to each one of us, that we can embrace Him, and be identified with Him and His church.
May God bless us is my prayer to this end.
Amen.
