The Voice of One Crying In the Wilderness

What is required of the church today is the same thing that has been required from the church from the very beginning; to repent and to come under the leadership of Jesus. It is not up to us to decide what is true or not, but to place our trust that Jesus' judgement is right. It is not up to us to formulate true love; its already been laid out for us. It is not up to us to correct others, but to point others to the One who holds all righteousness in His hands.

As the Bride of Christ, we must understand that this word is just as much for us than it is for the world, and indeed, it is entirely for us, for we are the ones who have responded to the voice of Jesus. Just as John the Baptist proclaimed repentance to all those who would receive his message, we must also realize that in order to fully come under the leadership of Jesus, we must repent. Without repentance, we cannot receive the One who is to come.

The way of the church is to reflect the way of Jesus, and when a church does not reflect the way of Jesus, than it has been cut off from the root of Jesus. This is a very real thing that is talked about over and over in the Word, and the more that we as the church try to brush this under the rug, the more pertinent it is that we understand the importance of abiding in Christ, for this surely is a sign that there is something to hide, to be ashamed of. This is an attempt to control Jesus, to establish for ourselves what is right and what is wrong, which is the story of the fall of mankind from the very beginning.

Jesus is the Tree of Life, present from the very beginning to the very end to beyond, and only through abiding in His Word can we be grafted in to His Vine, can we eat of His fruit. Apart from Him, there is no life. Apart from Him, there is surely death. All other roads, all other ways, lead straight to death, for they are cut off from the source of life. There is no middle ground, no gray area that covers those who wish to live but are not submitted to His authority. Everything either leads to life, or it leads to death. Everything is either helpful or harmful. The idea of harmless is a lie, the same lie, in fact, that the serpent spoke to Eve in the Garden of Eden, for God created all things and called them good. He said there was one thing that was bad, that they should not do, which was eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He didn't create everything and say that there were good things, that there were things that were kind of good, that there were neutral things, and then there were bad things. When He spoke of the fruit in the garden, He said all of it was good to eat, except the fruit of the one tree.

As a church, we must believe this. We must hold fast to the truth, to the Word of God, even in the midst of persecution, of being cursed and called names, of being labeled falsely, of being accused of being evil, the source of all the problems in the world, of being despised in the world around us, in the churches that claim to be part of the church, but that have cut themselves off from the Vine. We are not called to conform to the world, but we are called out of the world, to live in the world and apart from the world simultaneously. We are called to be set apart, holy as the One who called us out of darkness is holy, to proclaim His truth, no matter the cost to our own selves. He is our identity, He is the one who gives us our names, not the world.

He has already equipped us with all that we need to withstand the evil one, the son of perdition. His Word is a two edged sword against all deception. It is a lamp unto our feet and a light upon our path. What we need to do is start wielding it, to align ourselves with His Word, to run towards His truth with all that we have, not to bicker among ourselves about who is right, to manipulate His Word to fit our own understanding or desires, to justify ourselves just as we are, but to come into agreeance with Him.

We ought not be looking for ways to make our ideas fit with the Word, but bringing our thoughts in submission to the Word. Heaven is brought to earth when we align ourselves with heaven, not when we align heaven with earth. We must not try and take His place, for this is the same spirit that has been present from the beginning of the fall of mankind, the spirit that wishes to replace the true kingdom with a stolen kingdom, the same spirit that has set itself against Christ throughout all of human history.

He is calling all of us freely, and it is up to us how we respond to His calling. To choose His leadership is to choose His love, His life. To choose the leadership of this world is to choose the leadership of the fallen one, the one who promises life but can only deliver death, for no life resides in him. This is the calling that will unify the church, for as the church begins to gather around the leadership of the true Head, Jesus Christ, every part of the church that has replaced His Word with their own leadership will either be corrected and connected to Him or else they will fall away and be cast into the fire.

In this way, we need to start seeing the church as a unified body, and we need to begin gathering around Jesus's feet while we still can. It is not a matter of agreeing on theology or doctrine, it is a matter of agreeing with Jesus. He holds the words of life. He is the only One who can rightly judge right from wrong, and as such, we must come into agreeance with Him. To begin to see the church as a unified Body, gathering around the Head who is the Christ, is to step into the true identity of the church, the pure and spotless Bride.

The time for repentance is now. The time to align ourselves is now. The time to come under the authority and leadership of Jesus is now. Until the time of His return comes to pass, we must believe His word and prepare ourselves expediently for His return. Over and over He tells us to keep watch, to ready ourselves, to stay awake, for He is coming like a thief in the night to those who are not expecting Him. Do not wait until tomorrow to begin allowing Him to be Lord over your life. In even the smallest areas of our lives, whatever we submit to Him and allow Him to have preeminence over, He will prepare our hearts to receive Him. He is the source of our repentance and our reward.