A House Divided

 

The condition of our nation, of our people, even of the church, is one of division. Division is a tool that Lucifer used to separate one-third of the angels from God's Kingdom, and to separate Adam and Eve from God, their Creator. Jesus spoke of the desolation that results from division, its effect seen from the largest kingdom down to a single house:

"Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand."          Mt. 12:25

God's House is a house without division, standing forever. The first mention of "house" in scripture reflects His view of a united house:

"And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation."     Gen. 7:1

The command to Noah, whom the LORD saw as righteous, was to not only himself but to all his house, undivided. 

COME OUT/ENTER IN/SHUT IN

As the commandment to Noah said, Noah was to come from, or out of, something and enter into the ark:

"And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God (Elohim) had commanded him: and the LORD (YHWH) shut him in."       Gen. 7:16

God commanded it, and YHWH, the "Hand (Yod) Pierced By The Nail (Vaw)", shut them in.

Even out of a condition of division, the LORD calls us to come out, enter in, and be shut in.

Jesus tells the parable of the ten virgins who were divided: five were wise, having oil in their lamps, and five were foolish, being unprepared, having no oil. At midnight, signifying the end of an age, there was a cry made, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him,"

The five virgins who were prepared with oil in their lamps, "went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut."        Mt. 25:1-6, 10

This is the nature of the House of God. God is not just calling us to "come out" of something, but He is also calling us to "enter in" to His House. In Rev. 18:4, a voice from heaven commands God's people to "come out" of Mystery Babylon, so we will not partake of her sins, nor consequently receive her judgment plagues. These same people of God who were commanded to "come out" are now called "into" the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:8). Like Noah, they are seen by God as righteous, robed in their fine, clean, white linen. As you "come out", you "enter in" the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14-15), where your robes are washed clean by His blood. This is the place of the Father's House. Jesus, the Bridegroom, told us that He goes to His Father's House to prepare a place for us. This is the place we are being called to "enter in".

 

THE LAW OF THE HOUSE

 





God's House stands forever. It is not a House divided, and we cannot "enter in" to that House bringing those things that divide us from Him, or from each other. We cannot build our house of our own ways, and set it next to His House, and say we have "entered in". We must "come out" of that, leave it behind, put it away. We must repent of it:

"In their setting of their threshold by My thresholds, and their posts by My posts, and the wall between Me and them, 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 the carcases of their kings, far from Me, and I will dwell in the midst of them forever."      Ez. 43:8-9

God commands the law of His House. He shows us the true House, and what is necessary to "enter into" it:

"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 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 all the forms thereof, and all the laws 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."     Ez. 43:10-12

It is the humble man, the contrite repentant spirit, that "comes out" of that old place, and desires to "enter in" to the House of God. God's House is a holy House, a sanctuary in the time of trouble, and resurrection revival to those humble souls. The proud and the haughty will be looking for places to hide, sanctuaries to cover them for fear of the LORD and for the glory of His majesty, but those useless sanctuaries will not be in God's House:

"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"   Rev. 6:15-17

(Isa. 2:3, 10-11, Isa. 57:15, Ps. 27:4-5, Ps. 91:1, Rev. 7:14-15).

 



Jesus said, "If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."    Jn. 14:23

He also said, He "that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth", has opened a door that no man can shut. This open door is to the temple, the House of God. Those who overcome shall enter it, coming out of that divided house, the synagogue of Satan. He will be made a pillar of the Name, Ha Shem, in the Temple of God, and "he shall go no more out."  (Rev. 3:7-12).

Come out, and enter in.



Are You Ready To Come Out?

 

 

 

Jesus taught about a separation that must take place before the Son of Man would be revealed. It is a separation process directed by God. He pointed to examples of this in scripture:

"And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:

They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed."        Lk. 17:26-30

Not only did Jesus teach about a physical separation between those who belong to God and His righteousness and those who have rejected it, but also a separation from anything that might continue the connection between the two:

"In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his stuff is in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise, the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it."     v. 31-34

Jesus refers to Lot's wife as a warning to those who do not make a complete separation.
Twice, the angels, who were sent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, had to separate Lot from Sodom. Once when Lot tried to reason with, and make a compromise with the inhabitants of Sodom who demanded access to the angels in Lot's house. Their desire was to molest the angels. The men of Sodom accused Lot of being a sojourner in their city, who now thought he could judge them. This sounds very similar to attitudes found in our society today toward those who do not compromise the Word concerning sin. The angels physically grabbed Lot to pull him back into his house, and they shut the door (Gen. 19:10). After this separation, the angels blinded the inhabitants of Sodom.
The second separation occurred after the angels commanded Lot to hurry and get out of the city:
"...whomever you have in this city-take them out of this place!...lest you be consumed in the punishment of this city."    Gen 19:12



Yet, even after the urgency of this command, Lot lingered (v. 16). The angels took hold of Lot's hands, and those of his family, and brought him out, and set him outside the city. The angels told him to hurry, because they could not do anything until he arrived at a safe place (v. 22). From that nearby city, disregarding the angels' warning, Lot's wife looked back behind Lot as the destruction of Sodom began, and she became a pillar of salt (v. 26). Sometimes we also are reluctant to separate from the world and the possessions of the world when the call comes. We try to reason and compromise with unrighteousness. We linger, and look back at what is supposed to be left behind. We waver because others, like Lot's sons-in-law, laugh and treat the idea as a joke.  As Jesus said, "Remember Lot's wife."
As Jesus emphasized, the separation must be complete, with nothing compelling us to "look back", or return. In fact, the angels told Lot that God's plan of deliverance could not proceed until His people, Lot and his family, had separated themselves for their own safety. Jesus taught that it would be the same, when He is about to be revealed.
What allowed Lot to finally be physically separated from Sodom, was the fact that he was spiritually separated from it. He was a righteous man who was vexed and oppressed in his soul from day to day hearing and seeing the lawless deeds of Sodom (2 Pet. 2:8). Are we also vexed and tormented in our souls as we witness the Sodom around us, or have we adjusted to it and become "tolerant" of it? We need to get out of it, and separate from it in order for the deliverance of the LORD to take place, in order for the Son of Man to be revealed.

Isaiah talks about a strong city that opens its gates allowing the righteous nation who keeps the truth to enter in. They are kept in perfect peace because their minds and their trust are stayed on the LORD. His name is the desire of their souls. Their souls have sought Him by night, and their spirits have sought Him by early morning. They understand that the judgments of the LORD are not just to punish and destroy, but to reveal hidden evil and teach righteousness to the inhabitants of the world, thereby saving those who will receive it (Isa. 26:1-9). However, though they have prayed and feel that the time of deliverance is at hand, they do not see the deliverance of God until they have come out, and separated themselves:

"Come, My people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past. For behold, the LORD comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood(shed), and will no more cover her slain."      Isa. 26:20-21



This great deliverance that occurs upon the closing in, or separation of God's people, not only deals with the iniquity of bloodshed hidden by the earth, but also brings resurrection of the dead from the same earth:

 

"Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise.

Awake and sing you who dwell in the dust;

For your dew is like the dew of herbs,

And the earth shall cast out the dead."    Isa. 26:19

 

As Jesus told us in Lk. 17, the separation of God's people must come before God's deliverance is seen, and the Son of Man, seen above in Isaiah as The Resurrection, is revealed.

Scripture also describes the demonic stronghold of Babylon, which is drunk on the blood of the saints, and is the mother of all the abominations of the earth (Rev. 17:5-6). It will be judged, and the earth will be delivered from her. The earth will be delivered from the plagues of death, mourning, and famine which are contained within her (v. 8). As Jesus warned us in Lk. 17 not to even take the time to go back for our goods, all of Babylon's riches, luxuries, goods, precious objects, merchandise, all the things which are rich and splendid, even the bodies and souls of men belonging to her, will be destroyed with her:

"For in one hour such great riches came to nothing..."     Rev. 18:17
Some think Babylon is a false religious system, rather than a political/commercial power, perhaps even an apostate church, which opposes the true Church, the Bride of Christ. F.B. Meyer, commenting on this possibility said, "...the seat of the great apostasy. If that be the case, the merchandise described here does not refer to literal commerce, but to the carnal delights which are often permitted and fostered by false religious systems to win the adhesion of the worldly and unclean."

Many would say that an apostate church has indeed permitted, and even fostered carnality at its worst in order to draw souls with the promise that all is allowed and tolerated. This false religious system would also certainly prosper in a world where repentance is despised. Either way, as the time of this judgment and deliverance approaches, once again, the call goes out from heaven for the people of God to come out of her, and separate themselves from her:

"And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities."        Rev. 18:4-5

 

The time grows near, and the call is going out from heaven to the people of God saying, "Come out of her!"  Are you ready to come out?

*Note: Top photo: Lot's wife looks back
            Second photo: Lot's Wife Pillar, Mt. Sodom, Israel