NOTES ON THE GLORY OF THE REBUILT CITY: POSTSCRIPT ON NEHEMIAH’S RESTORED WALLS & BULWARKS Part I

PART I:  THE WAY OF PEACE

SCRIPTURE. “In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.  Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” – ISAIAH 26:1-4, KJV

QUOTATIONS

“It’s because it’s the Beginning, and also the End. That was what she loved about the place where the water met the land. A Promise of something fresh, a suggestion that even if what is happening now is to be suffered, there is an end and a beginning.” – JACQUELINE WINSPEAR, ‘Messenger of Truth,’ 2007; edited

“It’s not about the ashes, for they tell a tale of what was. It’s about having a Vision sufficient to understand that the tale that lies among the ashes stands ready to build the Dream that will rise above the ashes.” – CRAIG D. LOUNSBROUGH, clinical therapist, author of ‘The Eight Page: A Christmas Journey,’ 2018; edited

“But thou shalt leave it all behind thee! It shall not cumber thy steps, as thou treadest along the forest-path; neither shalt thou freight the ship with it, if thou prefer to cross the sea. Leave this wreck and ruin here where it hath happened! Meddle no more with it! Begin all Anew! Hast thou exhausted possibility in the failure of this one trial? Not so! The future is yet full of trial and success. There is happiness to be enjoyed! There is good to be done! Exchange this false life of thine for a true one.” – NATHANAEL HAWTHORNE, ‘The Scarlet Letter,’ Chapter 17, 1850’ edited

  1. FIRST THOUGHTS

We have all of us been through so very much this past year, some vastly more than others. But here we are, standing still at the End of the one thing, and at the Entrance of an entirely New Thing – about which we know very little, to be honest.

The World is very different now. Businesses closing down. Children unable to go to school effectively anymore. A government still manned by a Madman whose biographer, Tony Schwartz, reports he wants to” inflict as much suffering” and do as much damage to the Republic as possible before he leaves office in January 2021. – cf. S. K. BURRIS, ‘Raw Story,’ December 10, 2020

If he leaves at all.

And Why has all this happened to us, beloved? Why has America suffered the most serious blows from COVID-19, having elected the worst possible leader at the very same time to inflict even greater injury to so many? To answer that question, you must completely Divest yourselves of all political ideological leanings, for they shall as surely fail here as they have in the past four, devastatingly destructive years.

DIVINE REBUKE. Here’s what the Lord says of such weighty matters, opened to me the early morning of December 4, 2020. We will spend some time with this, for Instruction and any future Hope.

“Collect your thoughts, yes, unbend yourselves [in submission and see if there is no sense of shame and no consciousness of sin left in you], O shameless nation [not desirous or desired]!

[The time for repentance is speeding by like chaff whirled before the wind!] Therefore consider, before God’s decree brings forth [the curse upon you], before the time [to repent] is gone like the drifting chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you—yes, before the day of the wrath of the Lord comes upon you!

Seek the Lord [inquire for Him, inquire of Him, and require Him as the foremost necessity of your life], all you humble of the land who have acted in compliance with His revealed will and have kept His commandments; seek righteousness, seek humility [inquire for them, require them as vital]. It may be you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.” – ZEPHANIAH 2:1-3, AMPC

  • VERSE 1. Gather yourselves around your current condition, Nation and Church that is shameless in its blindness to its heinous sins, with no awareness that it is in drastic need of Contrition. Full of itself, and no longer desired by the Lord, having cast Him off in a thousand ways of late, yet arrogantly still solicitous of God’s grace even in its desperately fallen state, having forfeited all claims to mercy. Shame! Shame!
  • VERSE 2. The hour is grown thin indeed, with the last throes of Childbirth ready to yield woes and judgments like none other to have ever come upon this Nation and her Church. Lightspeed now, the signal flares dwindle in the gathering gale, extinguishing each one after the other, leaving only traces of tiny sparks to light the way forward. His Fierce Anger kindled nearly full, the Day of your Calamities rapidly approaches, Babylon’s rage, Yahweh’s massive Displeasure about to be made known to all who still dare to defy Him.
  • VERSE 3. But to the humble and contrite, to the faithful Remnant who have kept Truth near no matter the challenges to it, though it cost you all, you are to Persevere all the more and Increase, adding to your numbers daily among those wise enough to join you. JOHN GILL WRITES: “In this time of Great Apostasy, there was a Remnant according to the election of grace, whom the Lord reserved for himself, and bestowed His grace upon; and it is for the sake of these that the general exhortations to Repentance and Reformation are given out, to whom alone they were to be useful, that they might be protected and preserved from the general ruin; for such as are here described are persons the Lord takes great notice of; He gives them more grace; He lifts them up when bowed down; He beautifies them with salvation; He feeds them to full satisfaction; He teaches them His ways, His mind and will; He dwells with them here, and will cause them to inherit the New Heaven and New Earth hereafter.”

IN SUM. “It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.” Gill concludes his powerful commentary: “Be hid, protected, and preserved, by the power and, providence of God,” having gained His Benefactions by unswerving Obedience to His Truth, despite the darkness and the dangers and the threats. 

So we stay at The Pivot still, for just a bit longer.

  1. TURNING THE CORNER

This phrase has become a favorite of the president’s concerning the Coronavirus Crisis now ‘Turning a corner’ toward much better prospects. And we would well wish it to be true in the wake of this brutal, savage pestilence, leaving a third of a million dead Americans and killing 3,000 per day as I write these words on December 10, 2020.

But the only ‘Real Corner’ to be turned is the one fired like a rifle shot to us from the pen of the PROPHET ZEPHANIAH: “The time for repentance is speeding by like chaff whirled before the wind!” (2:2). And is America and the Church yet listening, beloved? Are we any nearer today than we were months and years ago as God warned and warned and warned? No. No.

REPENT, OR DIE. So one last time, since the passage cited offered that there was ‘Still Time’ left to us to reverse course, though the Moment is disappearing before our very eyes, like mist vanishing under a warm sun. – Zephaniah 2:3

  • SEEK THE LORD. From the Hebrew word, ‘Baqash’ [בָּקַשׁ]: “To seek in order to find or secure; to aim at, practice; to strive after, worship as with fervent prayer; to enquire, make intense inquisition; to request urgently; to go in search or quest of; to look for; to search for by going from place to place; to solicit; to endeavor to find or gain by any means; to seek God, His name, or His face, ‘as the foremost necessity of your life;’ to ask for His favor, direction and assistance.”
  • OR HIS WRATH. From the Hebrew, ‘Aph’ [אַף]: “Nose, face, anger; to breathe out intense displeasure; in Hebrew tradition, the word is expressed in the appearance of the nostrils when Fierce Anger is being experienced; by analogy, a great wind; violent passion of the mind excited by a real or supposed injury; usually accompanied with a propensity to take vengeance, or to obtain satisfaction from the offending party; violent rage; vehement exasperation; indignation; just punishment of an offense or crime.”

THE CHOICE. As always, since the very Dawn of Time, Yahweh has held out Free Will as both a Gift and a Curse – depending on how we shall handle this titanic responsibility.  One would think that the Choice would be easy, but then we have the entire History of Man to argue otherwise.

So let’s take a closer look at God’s Wrath, to learn perhaps how best to regard it – and to honor it, especially inside the Doors of God’s Church, where it seems to be a topic completely Absent from our Sunday morning homilies.

  1. THE WRATH OF GOD

Writing for ‘Desiring God,’ Seminarian JOSEPH SCHEUMANN pens an excellent Primer on this important topic, “Five Truths About the Wrath of God” (November 4, 2014; edited). I note ‘Primer,’ since it appears necessary to get back to the most basic understanding possible of this long-forgotten part of the Divine Nature, about to reacquaint us with it, if I read this rightly.

Soon.

  1. GOD’S WRATH IS JUST. “It has become common for many to argue that the God of the Old Testament is a moral monster that is by no means worthy of worship. However, Biblical authors have no such problem. In fact, God’s Wrath is said to be in perfect accord with God’s Justice. Paul writes, ‘But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed’ (Romans 2:5). God’s Wrath, then, is in proportion to human sinfulness. Similarly, Proverbs 24:12 says, ‘If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?’ J.I. Packer summarizes: ‘God’s Wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil’ (Knowing God, 151).
  1. GOD’S WRATH IS TO BE FEARED. “God’s Wrath is to be feared because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). God’s Wrath is to be feared because we are justly condemned sinners apart from Christ (Romans 5:1). God’s Wrath is to be feared because He is powerful enough to do what He promises (Jeremiah 32:17). God’s Wrath is to be feared because God promises eternal punishment apart from Christ (Matthew 25:46).”
  1. GOD’S WRATH IS CONSISTENT IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. “It is common to think of the Old Testament God as mean, harsh, and wrath-filled, and the God of the New Testament as kind, patient, and loving. Neither of these portraits are representative of Scripture’s Teaching on the Wrath of God. We find immensely fearful descriptions of the Wrath of God in both the Old and the New Testament. Here are just a few examples: ‘Behold the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked’ (Jeremiah 30:23). ‘The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for His enemies’ (Nahum 1:2). ‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth’ (Romans 1:18). ‘From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty’ (Revelation 19:15).
  1. GOD’S WRATH IS HIS LOVE IN ACTION AGAINST SIN. “This is counter-intuitive, but hear me out. God is love, and God does all things for His glory (1 John 4:8; Romans 11:36). He loves His glory above all (and that is a good thing!). Therefore, God rules the world in such a way that brings Himself maximum glory. This means that God must act justly and judge sin (i.e., respond with Wrath), otherwise God would not be God. God’s love for His glory motivates His Wrath against sin. Admittedly, God’s love for His own glory is a most sobering reality for many and not good news for sinners. It is after all, ‘a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God’ (Hebrews 10:31).
  1. GOD’S WRATH IS SATISFIED IN CHRIST. “Here we have the Ultimate Good News: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’ (1 Timothy 1:15). Because of Christ, God can rightly call sinners justified (Romans 3:26). God has done what we could not do, and He has done what we didn’t deserve. Charles Wesley rightly exulted in this Good News. ‘And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour’s blood? Died he for me, who caused his pain! For me, who him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?’” 

THE CALL. Here He visits us again, face to face, heart to heart: ‘BE SEPARATE!’ from this world’s filth and corruptions and moral sleight of hand, as they spill forth daily from the Political Nation into our very own Sanctuaries.

So to this:

“Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one.” – MATTHEW 5:37, AMPC

“[For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].” JAMES 1:8, AMPC

“You cannot drink [both] the Lord’s cup and the cup of demons. You cannot share in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons [thereby becoming partners with them].” – 1 CORINTHIANS 10:21, AMP

“He who is not with Me [definitely on My side] is against Me, and he who does not [definitely] gather with Me and for My side scatters.” – MATTHEW 12:30, AMPC

POSTSCRIPT. And from that last Declaration from our King, one may conclude that ‘Those who Scatter shall themselves, become, in the Greek Text, ‘Good for nothing’ in the sight of Jesus, and scattered into outer darkness, ‘where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ – cf. MATTHEW 25:30

Do I have anyone’s attention yet, dear Pastors? Anyone at all? I cannot state it with greater blunt force honesty. Is anyone listening? How I wish and pray it were so, beloved. I do.

  1. THE TEACHING: SONG OF THE REMNANT

“In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.  Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” – ISAIAH 26:1-4, KJV

And now to that much happier, ‘New Song’ that the Lord shouts to His own True House, that priceless ‘Remainder’ that He always keeps out of the many who would dare refuse His love and grace and mighty deliverance. We now begin to conclude our discussion with the Very Best saved for the Very Last.

  • A STRONG CITY. Taken from the Hebrew word, ‘Oz’ [עֹז]: “Strength, might; force, security, majesty; that which prevails; God exerts it on behalf of His people; manifested in connection with the Ark; having physical passive power; having ability to bear or endure; firm; solid; as a constitution strong enough to bear the fatigues of a campaign; well-fortified; able to sustain attacks; not easily subdued or taken; as a strong fortress or town.”
  • OF WALLS & BULWARKS. From the Hebrew term, ‘Chomah’ [חוֹמָה]: “A mighty wall of security or protection; refers to a wall of a city, as with Nehemiah’s Wall surrounding Jerusalem; a citadel, fortress surrounding a new temple.” Also ‘Chel’ [חֵיל]: “A rampart; a surrounding wall of protection; outer and inner fortification; means power, strength, valor, military force, army, wealth, virtue, honesty.”
  • WHICH KEEPETH TRUTH. From the primary term, ‘Shamar’ [שָׁמַר], “To keep, watch, preserve, protect [one’s faithfulness to the truth]; have charge of, as with a garden; also, to keep one’s mouth and remain prudent of speech; to keep within bounds, restrain (from error); to hedge around, to guard at all costs [the truth being the sacred text]; to keep it safe and uncorrupted; thus to observe a Covenant with God; to beware of any attacks; to revere highly; to keep from false vanities [and reports].”
  • PERFECT PEACE. Having remained faithful to God and His Truth, these may now “enter in” to a perfect, Divine ‘Shalom’ [שָׁלוֹם]: “Completeness, soundness, welfare, peace; to be complete safe, uninjured; health, security, tranquility (despite circumstances); good condition, comfort, success; concord, friendship with God and His people; to live in harmony with God and His ways; deep contentment and a sense of temporal and eternal rest.”
  • EVERLASTING STRENGTH. From the Hebrew, ‘Tsur’ [צוּר]: “Rock, cliff; a great boulder as with a refuge; a rocky wall that is impervious to attack; a formidable block of stone; figurative of God; vehemence; force proceeding from motion and proportioned to it; firmness; solidity or toughness.” As with: “He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.” – Deuteronomy 32:4, NKJ

COMMENTARY. “That day, seems to mean when the New Testament Babylon shall be levelled with the ground. The unchangeable promise and covenant of the Lord are the Walls of the Church of God. The Gates of this City shall be open. Let sinners then be encouraged to join to the Lord. Thou wilt keep him in Peace: In perfect peace, inward peace, outward peace, peace with God, peace of conscience, peace at all times, in all events. Trust in the Lord for that peace, that portion, which will be forever. Whatever we trust to the world for, it will last only for a moment; but those who trust in God shall not only find in Him, but shall receive from Him, strength that will carry them to that blessedness which is forever. Let us then acknowledge Him in all our ways, and rely on Him in all trials.” – MATTHEW HENRY, ‘Exposition of the Old and New Testaments,’ 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

  1. SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

No matter what we may or may not think of our ongoing Medical-Political Juggernaut, we all agree that none of us quite knows what comes next. Not really. We do have access to prayerful study and reflection upon the Nation’s tortured course, but even at that, ‘we see through a darkened glass.’  – 1 Corinthians 13:12

THINGS WE DO KNOW. However, there are some Foundational Truths we know very well indeed, so now let’s focus on those.

  • GOD IS IN FULL CONTROL. This is our Anchor, not because we wish it were so, but because it is the Supreme Reality, the ‘Summum Bonum,’ the ‘Really Real’ that Dr. Francis Schaeffer often described as the Invincibility of Truth in the Universe. “It is the Lord Who goes before you; He will [march] with you; He will not fail you or let you go or forsake you; [let there be no cowardice or flinching, but] fear not, neither become broken [in spirit—depressed, dismayed, and unnerved with alarm].” – DEUTERONOMY 31:8, AMPC
  • THERE IS A PLAN. You hear me often mention Russell Kirk’s immensely important Thesis that there are ‘Roots of American Order’ (1974). In fact, that Taproot runs deeper still, for the entire Universe is gathered up in the very Mind and Magnificence of the Creator God who launched ‘The Plan’ countless Time-Epochs ago, that He Superintends moment to moment, despite our limited sense of the Chaos seemingly all around. “Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure and purpose.” – ISAIAH 46:10, AMPC
  • MAN CAN CHOOSE. I often reflect, sometimes cynically, that this Free Will thing is, well, a thing indeed. As mentioned earlier: Blessing or Curse, depending on how we wield this Instrument that is literally more powerful than all the nuclear arsenals devised by Man. God calls us to be Free, but oh, the agony of that! C.S. LEWIS wrote of it: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: Those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that Self-Choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.” – cf. ‘The Great Divorce,’ 1945; Galatians 5:13
  • WE ARE NEARING AN END. One need not be a theologian nor a political eschatologist to grasp the Immensity of our Present Moment, though it helps. By every judicious, scientific, Biblical and reasonable assessment, it is beyond dispute by now that the Nation and World are hurtling at light speed toward some ‘Eschaton’ – “The Final Event in the Divine Plan; the end of the world” as we know it. Again, while we don’t know the precise timing, we can Sense its Approach. “For at that time there will be a great tribulation (pressure, distress, oppression), such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will [again]. And if those days [of tribulation] had not been cut short, no human life would be saved; but for the sake of the elect (God’s chosen ones) those days will be shortened.” – MATTHEW 24:21-22, AMP
  • MAKE READY. So does the wise man see The Storm coming, and Makes Preparations for it. The fool does the opposite, and is caught unawares, whose lot is final destruction. So, what to do? (I) Fix your fealty to the Messiah in utter, life or death devotion to Him, by confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that He is the Resurrected Lord over all your life [Romans 10:9]. (II) Get your Household in Order, through prudent preparation. “So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, will be like a wise man [a far-sighted, practical, and sensible man] who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods and torrents came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” – cf. MATTHEW 7:24-25; Kelly, ‘The Sixth Seal,’ “Epilogue,” 2017, pp. 126-138

PASCAL’S WAGER. If you happen to be a classic Fence Sitter, whether a ‘Christian’ one, or a ‘Secular’ one, my counsel shall be the very same: Time to get off the fence! I mean, I mean, really? Best Argument to date I have ever read is from the pen of the French divine, Blaise Pascal, who in his splendid ‘Pensees’ (1657-1658) reasoned in this way to the Fence Sitters of the world.

“Pascal posed the following argument to show that belief in the Christian religion is rational: If the Christian God does not exist, the agnostic loses little by believing in him and gains correspondingly little by not believing. If the Christian God does exist, the agnostic gains eternal life by believing in him and loses an infinite good by not believing.” – EMILY RODRIGUEZ, editor, “Pascal’s Wager,” ‘Britannica,’ June 14, 2017

The one choice to REJECT The Wager is essentially bankrupt, since under no circumstances can you ‘gain’ a thing beyond what you already have. But to ACCEPT The Wager, you stand the very good ‘chance’ of Gaining God – and a meaningful life now, then eternal life with the Father of Lights. Goodness! Goodness! Take the bet!

CODA. Beloved, we truly are hurtling rapid fire now toward some Grand Conclusion, or Epic Shift of some sort, we know that’s true. Better to alleviate all the angst and fear and discord by Joining like-minded folk who truly Love God and will love and support you in the days ahead. 

Perhaps my favorite and most deeply comforting verse in the entire Bible is the one that follows, as I conclude. It is Wise Summary of all that has gone before here today, and I most affectionately comment it to you, to be followed to the Letter.

“‘For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call on Me and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear [your voice] and I will listen to you. Then [with a deep longing] you will seek Me and require Me [as a vital necessity] and [you will] find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.’” – JEREMIAH 29:11-13, AMP

KYLE M. YATES COMMENTS. “God’s Word to His people in the Day of Jeremiah is still His sure Word for men who have sinned and lost touch with the Infinite. No perfunctory gesture of interest can procure the rich Treasure that is more valuable than all gold. He is always available. His longing [still] is that all men may look to Him and live, His arms are always open in loving invitation to any who will [yet] turn to Him. It is just as true, however, that a diligent search is necessary. One who becomes conscious of his need, senses the satisfying Gift of God, and sets out to find Him can be sure of victory if he seeks with his whole heart. Cleansing, peace, joy, victory will be his at the hand of a loving God who delights to welcome His children home.” – ‘Preaching from the Prophets,’ 1953; edited

There shall never, ever be wiser and more loving counsel than this from the Old Prophet, especially for Times such as these, dear friend. Weary not yourself a day longer, but to bend a quiet knee toward Heaven, and take Him at His inviolable, all-consuming Word. Need I say it again, that Time is of the very essence, beloved. Don’t hesitate one moment more.

Ever you servant, DK

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