My Time Has Come

My Time Has Come

Isaiah 59:20 "The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins," declares the LORD.

Zi·on - A place or religious community regarded as sacredly devoted to God. An idealized, harmonious community; utopia.

A utopia is a community or society possessing highly desirable or perfect qualities.

Jacob - "persevere with God"

Persevere - continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no prospect of success. To persist in or remain constant to a purpose, idea, or task in the face of obstacles or discouragement.

So as we look at this verse the description of “in Jacob” is having a persistent mannerism. To remain constant to a purpose, a task irregardless of the obstacles or discouragement.

What is this task? The repentance of sin or is it more than that?

2 Chronicles 6:24"When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and confess your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their fathers.

Here King Solomon prayed that God would forgive the children of Israel of their sins once they had turned back. He says in verse 24 that they needed to…confess your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple…

What is God’s name? When Moses asked him he said, “I Am that I Am”. Let’s look at the definition of this. Names of God, or Holy Names, describe a form of addressing God present in a monotheist notion of a singular God in liturgy or prayer.^[1] Prayer involving the name of God has become a part of both Western and Eastern monotheist spiritual practices. A number of traditions have lists of many names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of a Supreme Being.

Just as we have the knowledge of something, we cannot become wise unless we understand what we know. Now here in 2 Chronicles, Solomon uses the word, “confess” when speaking of God’s name.

A confession is a statement made by a person or a group of person acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would not prefer to keep hidden. 

So when we confess God’s name, we acknowledge Him, or in other words acknowledge what is hidden in our hearts. When we acknowledge God, we have to realize who we are as well. In 2 Chronicles, Solomon refers to Gods people as Israel.

Israel - God has striven, God has saved

Most people today believe that Israel is God’s chosen people. Well in a since they are once the name is defined, we get a better understanding of who these people are. Solomon used two terms here “Israel” and “temple”.

Temple - Something regarded as having within it a divine presence. The flat region on either side of the forehead.

Supplicate - To ask for humbly or earnestly, as by praying.

….praying and making supplication before you in this temple... This temple has two meanings, a place regarded as having a divine presence within it and the flat spot on our head. This flat spot on our heads is on both sides which is plural because we have two of them. This can be better expressed, in this passage of scripture by saying,...praying and making supplication, asking for humbly and earnestly before you between these two temples... Now what am I saying here? In between these two temples is an area to which we process things, it’s an area we call the brain.

Now let’s do some more studying to get a clear picture of this.  

At this particular time Israel is the chosen people of God because of Jacob and his father Isaac and Abraham.

Abraham - originally Abram, is the first of the three Patriarchs of Israel whose story is told in chapters 11–25 of the Book of Genesis.

Isaac - was offered as a sacrifice to God. The sacrifice was prevented at the last moment by divine intervention.

Jacob - Jacob wrestled with God and forced God to bless him, so God gave Jacob the new name of Israel (meaning `one who has striven with God')

            Striven: make great efforts to achieve or obtain something

The Patriarchs of the Bible, when narrowly defined, are Abraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac's son Jacob, also named Israel, the ancestor of the Israelites. These three figures are referred to collectively as the patriarchs of Judaism, and the period in which they lived is known as the patriarchal age. They play significant roles in Hebrew scripture during and following their lifetimes. They are used as a significant marker by God in revelations and promises, and continue to play important roles in the Abrahamic faiths. More widely, the term Patriarchs can be used to refer to the twenty ancestor-figures between Abraham and Adam. The first ten of these are called the Antediluvian patriarchs, because they came before the Flood. Judaism and Islam hold that the patriarchs and their primary wives – Sarah (wife of Abraham), Rebekah (wife of Isaac), and Leah and Rachel (the wives of Jacob) – (known as the Matriarchs), are entombed at Machpelah, a site held holy by Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

Let’s get a little focus here, the three patriarchs are the foundation of today’s church organization. They give the basis of how God wants his people to conduct ourselves.

Patriarch: a man who controls a family, group, or government.

Abraham, the first patriarch’s, faith in God made him the prototype of all believers, circumcised and uncircumcised. Abraham plays a role in three world religions: in Judaism, as the founder of the special covenant relationship between the Jewish people and God; for Christians, his faith made him the prototype of all believers; and for Mohammad, the prophet of Islam, Abraham’s belief separated "Islam", submission to God, from the Jewish Torah.   I mention these three religious groups because in today’s society these family members are still fighting amongst each other.

In Romans 4, Abraham's merit is less his obedience to the divine will than his faith in God's ultimate grace; this faith provides him the merit for God's having chosen him for the covenant, and the covenant becomes one of faith, not obedience.

Now let’s look at Isaac,   The early Christian church continued and developed the New Testament theme of Isaac as a type of Christ and the Church being both "the son of the promise" and the "father of the faithful". Tertullian draws a parallel between Isaac's bearing the wood for the sacrificial fire with Christ's carrying his cross and there was a general agreement that, while all the sacrifices of the Old Law were anticipations of that on Calvary, the sacrifice of Isaac was so "in a pre-eminent way"

 Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225 AD), was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy. Tertullian has been called "the father of Latin Christianity"^] and "the founder of Western theology." Though conservative, he did originate and advance new theology to the early Church. He is perhaps most famous for being the oldest extant Latin writer to use the term Trinity (Latin, trinitas), and giving the oldest extant formal exposition of a Trinitarian theology.

Jacob is somebody we all come to grips with, sort to speak, when we know that God is right there with us in our time of need or fear, we hold on to Him. Now Jacob, who’s name became Israel, had twelve boys who later became the names of the twelve tribes.  The children named in Genesis were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, daughter Dinah, Joseph, and Benjamin.^[

These twelve tribes had a blessed covenant over them which God had promised through Abraham. They lived their lives just like some of us do today, I’m blessed and because of that I’m better than you. We call the people who are not of our belief, sinners. But just as Israel forgot that the people they called sinners, were just like them, human beings, which are descendant of Adam. We forget that we are saved by grace, in which we are still sinners.

Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Romans 3:24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Romans 9:30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;

Romans 1:17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

Hebrews 10:38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."

We also forget that the things we did when we were, quote on quote, “sinners”; we should stop doing. Our lives are supposed to change and be in accordance with God’s purpose. 2 Chronicles 6:24"When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and confess your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple. We are defeated by the enemy due to our submission to sin. What is supposed to happen is we reject the sin that comes upon us, in other words, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil bears fruit that we are to understand not consume. Example, someone does something that makes you upset, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil bears the fruit of anger, our job is to analyze the situation so we can get a better understanding of why this person offended us. Another example, a young maiden comes in front of me as a man and is interested in me sexually. She gives me all the signs of me achieving the goal of laying her down. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil bears the fruit of lust, me being married, has to understand what is this young maidens true intentions. Believe it or not, from my experiences, these young ladies are just in search of agape. These young maidens are so used to love being shown to then in a sexual manner that they don’t understand what love truly is. It is my job to utilize, what I call “Satan’s way” and communicate with the woman. This always gets her a better understanding of who she’s dealing with and helps her get a better understanding of who she is.

Job 22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent

Isaiah 59:20 "The Redeemer will come to Zion, a sacred community devoted to God, to those in Jacob , to those persistent to the purpose of God, who repent of their sins," declares the LORD.

We all have an individual task to live for, but we all wonder what our task is. It starts with a foundation, Living for God’s Purpose. When we look at this, I see one factor, we all, as believers, need to get right with God and follow the example of Jesus Christ. This means every church that calls themselves a church. It begins with the individual person. It’s not the church facility that is making the problem in society today, it’s the individual person. We all individually have talents that God can use to benefit our Saviors purpose. I have to do things that will allow others to see the God within me, I have to be a reflection of The Almighty.

Jesus is regarded in today’s time to worship, but Christ said he came to be a servant. If we fill our hearts with just a simple worship, we lose focus of Christ. The word Christ means Anointed One. Christ our Savior is Anointed to be the One who demonstrates a way of life. His example was servitude. Although many of us hate the word servant, it is what we are to be. To be a Christian is to reflect servitude. God provides a service for us daily, the circle of life. Four seasons, the revolving earth, the pattern of the solar system, the creation of mankind, all play an important role in life. We are to reflect Gods image by being kind to the next man or woman, not allowing the fruits we see to hinder our reactions towards life. We have to rely on the fruits of the spirit to advance us in our Christian walk.

Jesus says in John 4:24, "God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." What some of us do today and considering worship is not. Churches have these morning services and call it worship service but what’s really going on. Well if we look at each individual person that comes to the service, that person has to be “in worship” in order for the service to be fulfilling. If I come to church, with a spirit of hate, deceit, anger, or strife, I can destroy the service. It takes each individual temple to maintain a daily worship, so when we assemble ourselves in a service, we can deflect any evil spirits that enter our service. Now when I, we have a daily worship with God, the truth is in us and the fruits we bear are fruits of the spirit.

Galatians 5:²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

God’s purpose for us is the reflection of Christ. We hear every day the argument about Christ; was he really God, his name is something else, what color was he, all this junk takes us out of the actual context; how he lived. Christ gave us the example of how to live our lives in accordance to God’s purpose. We need to prepare ourselves daily with the words of truth so when principalities come up against us we are equipped with the weapons to defeat these negative aspects. We don’t have to argue with people about the truth, but just make since of what is true.

We are today’s Israel, because Christ has made a great effort to achieve God’s presence in all of us. It’s up to us individually to accept this precious gift of Life and live it daily in accordance to truth. Our daily livelihood should reflect the presence of God in us, we call his name “The Holy Spirit”. Once we do this we now have the Trinity in us to make us whole, as in the beginning.