Make Ready His House*

As we begin the message, it is our prayer that the Lord's house be established in this day: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established (kun - be fixed aright, to prepare, be ready) above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people...nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." (Isa. 2:1-2, excerpt). The Lord's mountain, where His house shall be established, is higher than all others. It is a house for all nations. The Book of Revelation says that the Kingdom of God is made up of those from every nation, kindred, tribe and tongue. The Law of God is not something that is to remain written on tablets of stone, but it is to be written in our hearts, and to go out from there to others. How is the house of God established according to Isaiah? He told Jacob (the nation of Israel) to walk in the light of the LORD, and not to walk in the ways of foreigners, practicing eastern ways, or soothsaying, like the ungodly, trusting in riches and armory instead of God, and having a land full of idols to which they bow (v. 5-8). "...therefore forgive them not. Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day." (v. 9-10). It is written again in scripture where men hide themselves in the rocks for fear of the LORD (see Lk. 23:28-31 and Rev. 6:15-17). In order to build His house on the mountain which is above all the hills, the LORD will bring low everything else that has exalted itself instead. We are not purposed to be like the ones who will have to hide themselves under rocks from His wrath, because we are not meant for the wrath of God. However, He calls us not to be conformed to this world, but transformed by the washing of the Word of God. The LORD spoke to Ezekiel the prophet out of His house. About His house, the LORD said: "...Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds...they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger. Now let them put away their whoredom...and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever." (Ezek. 43:6-9). The wicked doings of the house of Israel had defiled the house of God, and His holy name, which was in their midst. The LORD wanted the prophet to show them HIS house: "Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them. This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house." (v. 10-12). The house of the LORD was defiled by His own people, not others. However, God said, if the people of God would change their defiling ways, the house of the LORD would be established among them for ever. In another part of scripture, the LORD again told His prophet to show His people their transgressions: "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." (Isa. 58:1). God's house, as we have already read, has ordinances and rules, however, to many it is an offense when their sins are brought before them. The LORD told Isaiah that His people took delight in seeking Him as if they were a nation that did righteousness, not forsaking the ordinances of God V. 2), but He wanted them to know that their empty religious practices and fasts did not accomplish the purposes of God. The true and humble worship of God, He said, loosens the bands of wickedness, undoes the heavy burdens, frees those who are oppressed, and breaks every yoke, gives bread to the hungry, houses the poor and unwanted, and clothes the naked (v. 3-7). However, the LORD said that if His people would truly and sincerely seek Him in their fasting and worship, and not hide themselves from their own flesh, and its sins: "Then shall thy light break through as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward. Then thou shalt call, and the LORD shall answer...If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity...if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul...and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." (v. 7-11). Fountains of living water are to fill us, and flow out of our bellies, according to the Word of God. Isaiah also wrote: "...they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places...raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in." (v. 12). God also spoke through Isaiah about the disregard His people have for the Sabbath of the LORD, doing as they please, and speaking their own words instead. If His people will change their ways regarding the Sabbath of the LORD, and delight themselves in Him instead, He will cause them to ride upon the high places of the earth (v. 14). This is the pattern of the house that God is building. Today, the Church, instead, is embracing anything to bring people in. That is not the house of the LORD's ordinances. Are we making His house ready? Why aren't the lost being drawn to the house? Even a foreign king said that God had charged him to build His house in Jerusalem after it had been destroyed years before in an enemy attack by Nebuchadnezzar. King Cyrus of Persia, by royal decree, returned the holy vessels taken from the temple at that time, and ordered support to be given towards the rebuilding of God's house by those arround them, as well as by those whom God moved to do so. He did all this while officially proclaiming, "Who is there among you of all his (God's) people? his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem." (Ezra 1:1-8). The Apostle Peter also wrote of the building of the house of the LORD. He wrote to the believers in Christ: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:5). Jesus is the chief cornerstone of this spiritual house, a precious stone to us who believe, and a stumbling stone of offence to those who are disobedient, who also stumble on the Word of God. However, in the spiritual house of God in which we serve, we do so as "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar (purchased possession, acquisition, a preservation, a remnant reserved for one's self) people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." (v. 6-10). Being this called out people serving in the spiritual house of God, Peter wrote that we should lay aside all guile, hypocrisies, envies and evil speakings (v. 1), abstaining from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, and be of good works instead, which glorify God in the day of His visitation (v. 11-12). This is the same message brought to the people of God by the prophets, regarding the building of God's house, as we saw above. Each one of us has something that is needed to make ready God's house for all nations in these latter days, and God can use you. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 7/31/2022 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, theshroudofturin.org, and endtimeschool, also on Facebook.