NORTHERN STYLE NEWSWATCH No. 25
CREDO
` Therefore, holy brothers, partake in the heavenly calling '

We have written a series of articles under the title of `Newswatch' over a period of time, looking at `current affairs' through the lens of Scripture, and we completed the last part of the series with the opening verses of the third chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes, this being central to our thinking: `To everything there is a season'. In it we set out the Hebraic understanding of the title `Koheleth', usually translated as `the Teacher' or `the Preacher', both of which fail to give a true understanding of the meaning of this important book. We linked this to an extract from a Jewish Targum which says that Solomon knew by the Holy Spirit's prompting that upon his death his kingdom would be rent in two and in the course of time his people would be scattered and taken out of their land. This understanding presented him with a paradox because he also knew of God's covenanted promise to His people, and so towards the end of his reign Solomon called his people to an assembly to seek understanding of this seeming paradox. This background gives us an understanding that the words of the Koheleth were not spoken to an assembly for them to listen to an account of the failures of his life as king of Israel, but were a heartfelt seeking after God in what seemed to be an impossible situation.

Turning to the opening verses of chapter 3 we read that `to everything there is a season'. There then follows a listing of 28 seasons, but with the wording set out in spaces (seasons) indicating the numerical name of `David'. With this in mind we sought to bring out the Scriptural message that man's seasons . . his efforts to serve God . . would one day be brought to an end and be followed by God's Season - David's Greater Son, the Lord Jesus! With this we felt it right to draw to an end that series of Newswatches and watch and wait and pray, with certainty that the `next season' would be a distinct work of God. We have not changed our opinion since that last Newswatch - indeed, there is now even more urgency to gain understanding than when we completed that series. What follows should therefore be considered to be no more than a seeking for the same wisdom that the Koheleth sought in an earlier time for God's people. Those who now `assemble' seek to understand the paradox that is with us today, for what lies ahead does seem to need our KOHELETH to assemble His people in order to gain wisdom, for in our own timespan we see `the end of time' spoken of by the prophets rapidly approaching - with many saying, like David, when fleeing from his son Absalom: (Psalm 3:1)

" O, LORD, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me. "

Over the long years men called into leadership of His people have faced this same problem: Moses faced Pharoah's chariot knowing the promises of God, He led his people through the Sea and `sang the Song of the LORD'.

The servants of the king of Israel saw that armies `with horses and chariots had surrounded the city'. But Elisha answered them: `Do not be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them . . LORD, open their eyes that they may see'.

Jeremiah - who knew, by the word of the LORD which he had to speak, what lay just ahead through the devastating cruelty of Nebuchadnezzar's armies - bought the field at Anathoth because he knew `that this was the word of the LORD'.

Habakkuk `saw the tents of Cushan in distress, and the dwellings of Midian in anguish' and `his heart pounded and his lips quivered'. BUT he knew the promises of God for His people and that he could trust Him even in the most extreme of disasters, so he said: `The Sovereign LORD is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights'.

These, says Paul, are examples set out so that we who follow on can trust in the faithfulness of God to His Word, and we need not stop there but take our thoughts over to the New Testament times, to the Letter to the Hebrews (which will be central to this study). Once again God's people - this time His redeemed people, believers in the Messiah of Israel - faced death through the onslaught of the Roman armies advancing towards Jerusalem. There was also the probability of death from the hands of their fellow-Jews, for they were considered to be traitors and Law-breakers through their trust in the Messiah Jesus. The writer of the Letter speaks as directly into that time as did the Koheleth in Solomon's time, and together they speak into our contemporary time for there is much disarray and anxiety within the Body of Christ today. (We limit that anxiety to that part of the Body which resides in the West, and in particular in these offshore islands of Europe, the British Isles.)

Over the years many have spoken of sighting the emergence of the `Fourth Beast' that so terrified Daniel as being centered in the European Union. Many more voices have been raised in alarm at the growing power of the `religion' of that Fourth Beast, for the nations forming the centre core of the EU are predominantly Roman Catholic by persuasion. Within the voices raised there have been many lurid sensational commentaries, usually based on Foxes Book of Martyrs (which, incidentally, was first published as a political tool to help consolidate the emerging but still fragile Protestant nation states!). And yet we now see the disintegration not only of the `moral' power of Roman Catholicism but also of its financial power, which is being broken through law suits concerning the appalling paedophile scandals. Following the terrible events of September 11th with the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York, we now hear voices speaking of the spreading power of Islam in its onward rush to bring all of Europe, and in particular the British Isles, into submission (that, as we know, is the meaning of the word `Islam'), with Great Britain becoming an Islamic State. We would therefore suggest that the Letter to the Hebrews is very pertinent to us in our contemporary situation, and we do indeed need to hear the voice of our Koheleth calling us to an assembly to gain wisdom in the paradoxical situation in which we find ourselves! But before we look through the lens of Scripture in the Letter to the Hebrews we should first step back to bring in a more full picture of the times in which we live, for we need to bring into this historical setting the same message the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote!

Amongst those who hold to a `Dispensational' understanding of Scripture it has been recognised that there has been a parallel journey between the People (the nation) of Israel and the Church through the past two thousand years. This doctrine is Scripturally based upon the reality of the New Covenant, spoken of by God through Jeremiah (and Ezekiel): `When I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah'. In this `Church Age', says Paul in Romans, Gentile believers in the Messiah of God have been grafted - and Jewish believers regrafted - into the Olive Tree, which is Israel, and so together they `share in the nourishing sap from the olive root' - which is the Covenant given by God to Abraham. (This understanding is further expounded by Paul in his Epistles to the Galatian and Ephesian Churches.) With this understanding of a parallel journey, we can therefore look at the events outworking in Israel and know that in some similar way we will see the parallel outworking in the corporate life of the Church.

What parallel are we then looking for? In the mid 1980's Israel and the PLO agreed upon the Oslo Accord in a political effort to bring `Peace to the Middle East'. Israel agreed to the establishment of an independent Palestinian Authority IN THE LAND! It therefore `welcomed' into the heart of the nation an alien authority whose political wing had sworn to annihilate the State of Israel! In looking for the parallel to this we need look no further than the Toronto Experience and the Pensicola Brownsville movement - followed in this country by events in Holy Trinity Brompton and in Sunderland - events through which the `church' invited into its lifeblood, an `alien spirit', whose intention was to destroy the spiritual life of the Church. It was deliberately brought in by church leaders in order to `rekindle the fire' without discerning the spirit behind it. Now, however, covered over by the spread of Alpha Courses, it outworks its destructive power under the cover of a more subdued profile.

We now need to bring into this equasion what we have set out in earlier studies - a Probation Period which the Church has entered into. There is Scriptural evidence for such periods of time: Moses and the Hebrews journeyed for 40 years; the work undertaken by good King Josiah when the Book of the Law was found took 40 years; the Great Probation, as the Jewish Rabbis described it, was the 400 years between the Book of Malachi and John the Baptist. Later we see the same period of probation spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles - from the time Peter stood up in the Temple compound until the time of the rejection of their Messiah by the legal authorities in the presence of Paul, seen in Acts 28 - a period of time was allowed by the Lord wherein He tested (probated) the character of His people. Scripturally it always begins with a reviving of His people and then inevitably leads to the decline and falling away of the people as the long years unfold and the early fervour fades. It leads to captivity BUT from within His people God calls a remnant through whom He outworks His next move of the Holy Spirit. Keeping in mind the parallel journey of Israel and the Church, such a Probation Period commenced in Israel with the taking of East Jerusalem in 1967, making Jerusalem again `the eternal and undivided capital of Israel'. It corresponded with a world wide move of God which touched not only God's people - what we would now call the Charismatic Movement - but so unusual was this move that it embraced the world, the consequence of which has been seen in the emergence of a revival of other religions and cultures in the world scene as never experienced before. As this Probation Period has outworked itself in the religious life of not only the Church but also other religions, we have seen the emergence of `fundamentalism'. This has occurred not only in Islam and Hinduism, but the Church also has its share of fundamentalist preachers who are attempting to revive the Church with fearful condemnation, and sometimes downright aggression. But this will not achieve the desired end! The season that will next appear will be a season which God will initiate - and nothing will stand against Him!

From what we have set out it can be seen that we are moving into the last years of this Probation, with the probability that the next move of the Lord will be the last in this Dispensation, and we write these things so that `we will not be easily tossed about by every wind of doctrine' that will indeed blow. Those who speak of the rise of the terrifying power of Roman Catholicism - as seen in the probable religion of the Fourth Beast of Daniel, in the form of a developing European Union - may well be right. We need, however, to place it against the Word of God lest we take our eyes off the work that God will call His people into in these last days. There are now `leaders' in the Church who agree with the latest word that says these British Isles will become an Islamic State. Are there amongst those same leaders some who led their flocks into the Toronto Experience in all its delusion with such words of `wisdom' as `it will be alright if you eat the meat and spit out the bones', or, using a traffic light example, `you should approach with caution'? If there are, then we do indeed need to be aware of the dangers that confront us, but leaders raised up by God in similar circumstances saw the chariots of Pharaoh, saw the armies of Midian, but they believed and trusted in a faithful God who would deliver them if they continued to undertake what they had been called to do!

Returning to the parallel journey of Israel and the Church: The `Pretender to the Throne' in the recent contest for the position of leader of the Likud party in Israel (even though he did not win the contest this time) saw the answer to the `alien presence' in the Land and electioneered on the grounds of a total expulsion of the `Alien Authority'. Within the Body of Christ, those leaders who allowed and encouraged the alien spirit into the lifeblood of the Church need to seek an `election' through repentance and cutting themselves free from that spirit, and then lead their flocks out of the delusion which still has them in bondage and which ultimately seeks their destruction.

It is time to turn to our central Scripture, for there we believe we will hear the true voice of the Holy Spirit calling to His people - in spite of the array of demonic and natural powers that surround us - to prepare for His Season, in which He will sweep away His enemies and gather in a glorious harvest of precious souls. Although we only briefly mention the first two chapters of the Letter to the Hebrews they set the firm foundation for the opening verses of the 3rd chapter, in which lies our encouragement: (Hebrews 1:1-2)

" In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. "

In Hebrews 1 we see the Son of God, a heavenly Person, the radiance of God's Glory and verse 4 continues:

" So He became as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs'.

In Hebrews 2 we see the Son of Man, an earthly Person: (v9)

" But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. "

We see Him now in His finished work of `bringing many sons to glory', which is the triumphant cry of Paul when writing to the Ephesian church: (Ephesians 1:18-23)

" I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him who fills everything in every way. "

Paul continues in the second chapter of his Epistle to set out what has happened to those many sons of glory: (Ephesians 2:6-10)

" And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in HIs kindness to us. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works so that no-one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. "

We do not see here that either Paul or the writer to the Hebrews was concerned at the terrible dangers that lay all around them. Paul talks of us being `God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do'. The writer to the Hebrews continues in chapter 3 with the words: `Therefore, holy brothers, partakers in the heavenly calling'. You will find in this quotation a mixture of KJV and other translations for we consider the word `partakers' used here to have a more positive sound than the words `share in'. We are partakers . . we actively take part together in the Body in unison with its Head `the heavenly calling' which, Paul says, is the good works God prepared in advance for us to do.

The writer to the Hebrews continues: `Consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession'. We have commented many times previously on how our language has changed in its cultural meaning over the years. To our modern minds the word `profession' speaks of a group of people qualified in secular work to whom we might go for advice and assistance, expecting a higher standard than in some commercial areas. Our trusty dictionary gives this word a meaning of `a class of people who make an avowal, a declaration of intent to practice, to outwork the principles of their calling within a body of professionals'. This is an active confession, having within it a vitality which we confess we do not always see amongst many professionals today, concerned as they usually are with the advancement of their worldly station. As we `consider Jesus, our Apostle and high Priest', we are brought back to our heavenly calling, and therefore to an avowal to practice as a body of believers that to which we have been called - a profession - which cannot mean retreating into a religious laager through fear of those who oppose the proclamation of the Gospel of God. We can do no better than hear the words of our Apostle and High Priest: (Acts 1:8)

" But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. "

This, then, is what we are waiting for - the empowering work of the Holy Spirit - so that in a season of God's choice we shall `go and make disciples of all nations' as `partakers of the heavenly calling'. The outworking of this will depend on the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit in each person, and in each part of the Body who understands the times in which we live.

In closing we would mention what we understand to have happened in the hurricane winds that swept through this land in 1987. Many saw it as a judgement upon the nation. Be that as it may, we saw it in terms that the last time in recorded history such winds had blown in Britain was the year John Wesley was born. He, in God's season, was to be the vehicle for a mighty work of God that stopped the advance of the dreadful events which at that time were happening on the continent of Europe, and many sons were brought to glory! We also believe that in the heavenly winds of 1987 many `John Wesleys' were born of the Spirit, who even now are waiting for that Season of God to begin, those who understand their `heavenly calling'. In the first week of December 2002, on the very last page of a `Prophecy Magazine', there appeared a very small letter - in fact it was the last and the smallest of all the letters - informing the readers that on the exact day fifteen years later extremely strong winds once again caused widespread damage over the same area, and the question was asked: Is God warning His people again? We would ask: Is God speaking to His people that the fulness of His grace (seen in the number `15') is upon His people, those who see not `the chariots of Pharaoh' or `the hordes of Midianites' but who see their heavenly calling and look up to see God's Season that is almost upon us!

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For comment or for future Newswatch letters our e-mail address is:info@northernstyletrust.com

Our telephone No. is:(01493) 441891

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