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We are longer the outcasts of fear - we are seated at the covenant table of God the Father who has accepted us in His Beloved Son.
“So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan went to his house.” 1 Samuel 23:18
Although Jonathan along with his father Saul were now dead - the covenant was still in effect. Jonathan’s covenant brother was now David the King - no longer an outcast. So the survivor implored...
A Remnant
David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 Samuel 9:1 God always has a covenant remnant - ‘Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.”’ Romans 9:27
Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.” 2 Samuel 9:3b (Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. 2 Samuel 4:4)
We are lame (with fear) in our feet - we are unable to come to Him - He must come to us. 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'" Ezekiel 37:9
He Bids
When He bids us come He also provides the means to come. Mephibosheth was not the only son of Saul remaining - but he was the one chosen. “We are not chosen because we are choice - we become choice as a result of being chosen.” D.A. Carson
“So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.” 2 Samuel 9:5
“Oh God, grant what Thou commandest, and command what Thou dost desire,” St. Augustine What the King commands He provides the will to do and the corresponding strength. For we are born again not by the exercise of our “free-will” but by the will of God.
"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” John 6:37
Love Conquers
For love conquers fear every time. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” 1 John 4:18
“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” 2 Samuel 9:7
Later when vengeance was exacted on the remaining sons of Saul for what he had done to the Gibeonites there was one who was spared. “But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the LORD that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.”
A Seed
So that a seed may sprout it is the chosen ones who remain as it was with Mephibosheth who was a son of covenant. In the Biblical narrative the ones that are taken are the ones that are destroyed. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” John 13:1
Chosen ones - you are children of the Covenant cut on your behalf by Great David’s Greater Son. And He decrees to you - ‘This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.”’ John 18:9
As for Me,” says the LORD, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the LORD, “from this time and forevermore.” Isaiah 59:21
Solus Christus
“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” Romans 8:19 The longing of creation is for its regeneration. The chosen instrumentality of God for this purpose is a royal priesthood - that is kings and priests.
Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones (sons of the oil) who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth." Zechariah 4:14 Literally they are Joshua the Priest and Zerubbabel the Prince. It is not so much who they were, but what they are. They are the implements of God to establish the place of His Presence in the earth with a view to the regeneration of all things - both in the heavens and on the earth.
Shekinah
Of course it was under them that the Second Temple was built - but it had not the Presence of God as the First Temple had under Solomon. Yet it was a harbinger of the day when the Shekinah of God would enter its chambers in the Person of the Son of God. Still in the purpose of God it had to be laid low as it was in 70AD so that the people of God would no longer mistake a building for the true residence of His Presence which was to be His people - “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9
Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things [regeneration], when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matthew 19:28
There was a brief glimpse of this 160 years before Christ under the Maccabean dynasty who served both as priests and kings - but it was only a foreshadow of what was to come. “The hundred-year reign of the Maccabean priest-kings may be seen as a distant cousin of the thousand-year reign of the Messiah’s people, the “reigning priesthood,” in Revelation 20:6.” Wright, N. T.. The Day the Revolution Began (p. 128). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.
Please understand that this reference is not about a futuristic period of time - but about the present reality of the Messiah’s current reign. The number 1000 signifies infinity - a rule without end. As to the Book of the Revelation it is a benediction - the bestowing of a blessing. "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever." Revelation 11:15
(This was a kind of John the Baptist era (intertestamental) - preparing the way for the ‘Millennial’ Kingdom. For his father was a priest and his mother was of the Davidic line - a king.)
Reign
“and made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on earth." Revelation 5:10 “the future of redeemed mankind is not one in which the earth is discarded or eliminated. As the earth is an integral part of God’s creation, the renewal of creation includes the new earth as well as the new heaven.” Philip E. Hughes
The Reign of Christ is authenticated by Kings and Priests. They represent its present reality. This is just not about restoration which is looking back to the way things used to be - but about regeneration, looking forward to the way things will become. “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:13
“In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.” James 1:18
There is no greater witness to God's goodness than that which is written upon the dome of heaven, even the regeneration of man. As the old creation was "by the Word" (John 1:3; John 1:10, et seq.), the new is by Him also, the Logos, the Word of Truth, and that by means of His everlasting gospel, delivered in the power of the Holy Ghost. So tenderly is this declared, that a maternal phrase is used--God brought us forth in the new birth; and though "a woman" may forget "the son of her womb" (Isaiah 49:15), yet will He "never leave, nor forsake" (Hebrews 13:5). Charles Ellicott
Oneness
The two - sons of the oil - must work hand in hand for they are one in purpose. “to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity (oneness) of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
As Christ prepared to arise from the Covenant Table of Blessing this petition burst forth from His soon to be wounded heart to the Ancient of Days. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” John 17:20-23
Oneness is a function - not just a demonstration. It is organic - not organizational. It is of the heart - not of the head.
Our purpose is singular - one! That is to be image-bearers of the First Born of all creation. “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;” Romans 8:29
“the reign of the infinitely gracious Jehovah is the hope of mankind, and when they all yield to it the race will have its paradise restored. The very globe itself may well be glad that its Maker and liege Lord has come to his own, and the whole race of man may also be glad, since to every willing subject Jesus brings untold blessings.” The Treasury Of David - C.H. Spurgeon
Soli Deo Gloria!
“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of government … ” Article IV Section 4, of the Constitution
We are slowly being boiled to death and we don’t even realize it. Several of our current slate of presidential candidates have announced their intention to abolish the Electoral College if elected. Since this is a foundational tenant of our Republic this is nothing less than an intention to dismantle that which has stood in good stead for well over two centuries. In effect they are announcing an attempt at a coup.
THE IDEA
Eric Metaxes writes - “For such a thing to happen is typical of ideas in history. Once they become settled or codified into institutions, the temptation is to look to the institution that was created by the idea and eventually to forget the idea and mistake the institution for the idea.” If You Can Keep It - The Forgotten Promise Of American Liberty - p. 183
We have lost sight of the grand idea - vision - of a Republican Form of government that was birthed into reality by our Founding Fathers. A Republic is the only guarantor of a government of “We the people...” for it protects the rights of each individual. A democracy gives sway for the rights of the few to be trampled under the feet of the majority. This results in the usurpation of the grand organic idea for the doddering bureaucracy of an all encompassing institution. In short the Grand Republican Idea lies prostrate beneath the jackboot heel of suffocating grinding institutional “democratic” socialism.
“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
― Thomas Jefferson
INJUSTICE
I could never quail to note that the first ones to suffer injustice under such a regime would be the most vulnerable - the unborn person. For the devotees of “democratic socialism” maintain they have no rights - that is the right to life. This is a travesty of unimaginable proportions.
In a furious attempt to build a better furnace the fire on the inside has gone out and no one notices. There is no longer any heat or light but we continue on our way beguiling unaware of what has transpired. By giving heed to the alluring siren call of free this and free that our Republican Liberty has been dashed upon the treacherous rocks of enslavement. The debris of the idea lies awash - being tossed to and fro by the unrelenting waves of deception.
REAL LIBERTY
Alexander Hamilton asserted that "We are now forming a Republican form of government. Real liberty is not found in the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. If we incline too much to democracy we shall soon shoot into a monarchy, or some other form of a dictatorship." Hamilton, in the last letter he ever wrote, warned that "our real disease…is DEMOCRACY."
Even Fox News has fallen into this pitcher plant of malaise for they are calling their election coverage “Democracy 2020.”
“I am a Republican, a black, dyed in the wool Republican, and I never intend to belong to any other party than the party of freedom and progress.” Frederick Douglass
“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.” Psalm 89:14 “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” Ezekiel 16:49
“Social” Justice is a hand up. It is liberation. It allows you to dream your dream. “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (Social justice is a commonly accepted term but it is non-Biblical. In the Bible it is just justice.)
True freedom comes through earning your stuff. “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8
Justice causes one to turn toward God as Provider who will supply all of our needs according to His riches in Glory - and for His purpose. .
It engenders the worship of the One True God.
And He never did say that His provision would not be spelled w.o.r.k. “...but those who work hard will prosper.” Proverbs 13:4 NLT
In a Republic freedom is guaranteed and initiative is encouraged. Our Founding Fathers who formed our Republican form of government had the foresight to see what would make this nation a great bastion of free-enterprise.
Contrary to what socialist would say this nation along with its plethora of humanitarian enterprises is the greatest benefactor this world has ever seen.
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Socialism is a hand-out - or a hand down. It is oppressive - bondage - enslavement. It steals your dream. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;...” It creates despondent dependency from which there seems to be no escape.
Free stuff is not freedom. It creates a form of serfdom to the supposed benefactor from which true freedom can never be attained.
Socialism is ‘a turning away from the living God to worship idols; that this results in giving to the idols—“forces” within the creation—a power over humans and the world that was rightfully that of genuine humans; and that this leads to a slavery, which is ultimately the rule of death itself, the corruption and destruction of the good world made by the Creator.’ Wright, N. T.. The Day the Revolution Began (p. 86). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.
It is the worship of the creature (idolatry) rather than the Creator Who is Blessed forever.
“Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.” 2 Thessalonians 3:2
In a democracy freedom is forfeited and enterprise is quashed. Thus we have “democratic socialism.” For democracy is the breeding ground of socialism - it was abhorred by our Founding Fathers.
Socialism is a facade - hiding the true intent of its supposed adherents. “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; John 12:5-6
