SPECIAL PRÉCIS ON OBEDIENCE: HE IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND FOREVER – (WITH VIDEO)

SCRIPTURE. “Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families (clans), by their fathers’ households, from thirty years old and upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle). This is the work and

responsibility of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle): the most holy things.’” – NUMBERS 4:1-4, AMP

KEY TERM: “WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY.” ‘Abodah’ [עֲבֹדַ֥ת]: “Refers to work of any kind, as with a bondservant of the Lord who is to labor and minister diligently on His behalf.” Also: “The service of a slave or captive of a Sovereign; most often a reference to the building of God’s House or body.” NOTE: “The Hebrew word ‘abodah’ primarily refers to work or service. It encompasses a range of activities from manual labor to religious service. In the context of the Old Testament, it often denotes the service of the Levites in the Tabernacle or Temple, as well as the labor of the Israelites in various capacities. ‘It can also imply worship, as service to God is seen as a form of worship.’”

QUOTATION. “When God used David’s sling, He needed David’s hand to swing it. When God builds a ministry, He needs somebody’s surrendered body to get the job done. You are important to the Lord, so keep your life pure: ‘A holy [and obedient] minister [servant] is an awful weapon in the hand of God.’” ― WARREN W. WIERSBE, On Being a Servant of God, 2007; edited

COMMENTARY. “The middle-aged men of the tribe of Levi, all from thirty years old to fifty, were to be employed in the service of the Tabernacle. The service of God requires the best of our strength, and the prime portion of our time, which cannot be better spent than to the honour of Him who is the First and Best. And the service of God should be done when we are most lively and active. Those do not consider this who put off repentance to old age and so leave the best work to be done in the worst time.” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

DK’S TAKE. When I first sensed I was to go to this passage for analysis and teaching, I said out loud upon my first glance at the Text: “Oh no, this cannot be what the Lord wants me to study!”Then after some more grumbling, I went back to prayer and was all the more clearly instructed to examine it.

The Title of this piece pretty much tells us why.

As I have said many times before, ever since MARTIN LUTHER declared “By faith, and faith alone!” the American Church has been on a seditious and rapidly accelerating obsession with divorcing CHRISTIAN DUTY from the Gospel with all its flaccid little might!

FAITH PLUS WORKS. I came across a superbly crafted and exquisitely accurate summary of The Answer to the so-called Faith-Works Dichotomy by DR. KEVIN DEYOUNG. He isSenior Pastor at Christ Covenant Church (Presbyterian) in Matthews, North Carolina. With a Ph.D. from the University of Leicester, he is also an associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte. 

Borrowing from James 2:26, he takes square aim at a desperately needed ‘Reconsideration of the original writings of Luther’ to correct the centuries-long doctrinal errors of the Western, primarily American Church. Here is his lucid Conclusion to a sermon dated March 21, 2021 titled,

“Wait, I Thought We Were Justified by Faith Alone.”

‘‘Faith without works is dead!’ And even though Luther famously had his suspicions about the Letter to James, Luther had no problem coming down with the same basic theology as James, and so I’ll give to Luther the last word from his preface to Romans:

‘O, it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this Faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing some good things incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done this, and it is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He gropes and looks around for faith and good works but knows neither what [true] Faith is nor what good works are, yet he talks and talks with many words about faith and good works.’”

A CHURCH WITHOUT RAILS. Because the American, primarily White Evangelical Church has done yeoman’s dark work for generations to destroy the theological requirement of Obedience to Obey Christ following salvation, we now enjoy the following CONSEQUENCES.

• THEOLOGY. “One very significant challenge with the Evangelical Church is that we have started losing our theological literacy. In other words, many self-proclaimed Evangelicals don’t know how to answer basic theological questions. According to the 2022 State of Theology survey by Ligonier Ministries, 56% of U.S. Evangelicals agree that ‘God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.’ 43% of Evangelicals agree that Jesus was not God, and 38% agree that religious belief is a matter of personal opinion rather than objective truth.” – JOSH MCDOWELL, “The Biggest Challenge for Christianity in 2025,” Blog, ret. Mar. 15, 2025; edited

• POLITICS. “As Christians, our Faith rightly informs our actions. However, we must remove Religion from the Political sphere. We must make it known that Right Wing demagoguery is not Christianity in action. If we don’t, Christianity may not survive the loud voices of a minority of its Christians. President Carter, Sunday school teacher and elder statesman, said it best, decades ago: ‘When a group of Christians try to implant through government our beliefs on others as superior, that subverts the basic Constitutional prohibition concerning Separation of Church and State. And when we try to use the federal government to intercede in religious affairs, it inherently weakens the unique character of Christ’s Kingdom.’ We allow politics and Christianity to comingle at our peril. Worse yet, we threaten both our Democracy and our Churches.” – REGINA NIPPERT, “Mixing Politics and Christianity is Killing the Church,” The Hill, May 29, 2015; edited

• TRUMPISM. “‘This is the World that Donald Trump seeks to Destroy. His ambition is to replace the International Rule of Law with the Law of the Jungle.’ Rather than a Global Order that constrains great power privilege, he envisions a regionalized one in which powerful nations pursue spheres of influence and throw their weight around, browbeating lesser actors (like Denmark and Panama, say). In this purely Transactional Vision, substantive Multilateralism yields to Bullying Bilateralism. There is no ambition to invest in World Order or standing international institutions, or any desire to nurture ‘Diffuse Reciprocity’—or expectations that the benefits of cooperation will balance out in the long run. Instead, every interaction is an opportunity for one-sided bargaining to improve America’s relative position against all others. This is a Dark Vision of the Future. Trump’s America First policies will accelerate the fragmentation of a tottering world order already beset by centrifugal forces—rising geopolitical competition, surging populist nationalism, stalled development, destabilizing technologies, and a deepening climate emergency.” – Dr. STEWART PATRICK, “The Death of the World  America Made,” Carnegie Endowment, Feb. 19, 2025; edited

THE CHURCH! Beloved, though I have said it (and yes, sometimes shouted it!) dozens of times, it is the White American Church that has led the way toward this abominable Betrayal of Christ and Canon. Beyond the brilliant yet limited secular analysis by Dr. Patrick, ‘the World seems to know more about what the Scriptures promise’in no uncertain and frankly tragic and terrifying terms what Donald Trump’s Impact on the Nation and the nations than we do!

A simple glance at an AI Overview (ret. Mar. 15, 2025) tells us vastly more than 10,000 American Churches about what is fully coming. “In Biblical Prophecy, the Antichrist is a figure who opposes Christ, seeks world domination, and is ultimately destroyed by Christ, leading to the End of the World [as we have known it] and the Last Judgment.”

In much more piercing prose is what JOHN THE APOSTLE described as What Lies Ahead for our present generation.

THE ESCHATON. “[As] I stood on the sandy beach, I saw a beast coming up out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads. On his horns he had ten royal crowns (diadems) and blasphemous titles (names) on his heads. And the beast that I saw resembled a leopard, but his feet were like those of a bear and his mouth was like that of a lion. And to him the dragon gave his [own] might and power and his [own] throne and great dominion.

And one of his heads seemed to have a deadly wound. But his death stroke was healed; and the whole earth went after the beast in amazement and admiration. They fell down and paid homage to the dragon, because he had bestowed on the beast all his dominion and authority; they also praised and worshiped the beast, exclaiming, Who is a match for the beast, and, Who can make war against him?

And the beast was given the power of speech, uttering boastful and blasphemous words, and he was given freedom to exert his authority and to exercise his will

during forty-two months (three and a half years). And he opened his mouth to speak slanders against God, blaspheming His name and His abode, [even vilifying] those who live in heaven.

He was further permitted to wage war on God’s holy people (the saints) and to overcome them. And power was given him to extend his authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation, And all the inhabitants of the earth will fall down in adoration and pay him homage, everyone whose name has not been recorded in the Book of Life of the Lamb that was slain [in sacrifice] from the foundation of the world.

If anyone is able to hear, let him listen: Whoever leads into captivity will himself go into captivity; if anyone slays with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Herein is [the call for] the patience and the faith and fidelity of the saints (God’s people).” – REVELATION 13:1-10, AMPC

COMMENTARY. Now then my friends, that’s a whole lot of Eschatology for the Newbies to this genre of Biblical Doctrine, so I turn to a writer from DR. JOHN PIPER’S Desiring God journal for some clarity. ‘And urgency!’ We are currently wading into these Deep Waters only ankle deep, beloved, but up to our waistlines soon.

In an excellent review of the Revelation 13 Passagetitled, “Where Is This World Headed?” (March 31, 2023; edited), economist, pastor and lay theologian COTY PINCKNEY explains the powerfully Prophetic Meaning of it to us all, “for such a time as this.”

• EVIL PREVAILS. “Revelation 13 describes a world in which evil powers rage. A Beast [Antichrist] rises out of the sea with ten horns, and a crown on each horn (thus indicative of the power of the State). ‘The whole earth marveled’ at the Beast (Revelation 13:3), thinking that its power is greater than any other. Indeed, it exercises authority ‘over every tribe and people and language and nation’ (Revelation 13:7); many respond by worshiping it. The Beast blasphemes God and makes war on any who don’t worship it, on God’s people, conquering them. A Second Beast [False Prophet] then arises out of the earth, performing miracles such as calling down fire from heaven, deceiving people (thus indicative of the power of False Religion). It instructs them to make an Image of the First Beast – and then gives breath to that image, causing it to speak and even to kill those who don’t worship it. Then people are given ‘A Mark’ identifying them as belonging to these Beasts – and only people with this Mark can buy or sell. Consider that world of Revelation 13. There are parallels with at least the trajectory of our world – but that world is far worse! ‘Where is God in such a setting?’”

• GOD SUPERINTENDS. “The Author of Revelation, JOHN, lets us know in Three Subtle Ways that God is very much in control, even as these evil forces seem all-powerful: (1) In verses 5, 7, and 15, John uses ‘Divine Passives’ to show God’s Sovereign Control over these evil forces. In Revelation 13:5, the First Beast ‘was allowed to exercise authority 42 months.’ Was allowed by whom? By God! Similarly, in Revelation 13:7, the First Beast ‘was allowed to make war on the saints.’ Was allowed by whom? By God! Yet again, in Revelation 13:15 the Second Beast ‘was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast.’ Was allowed by whom? By God! (2) The Beasts’ time is limited, according to Revelation 13:5. As Jesus says to those coming to arrest Him, ‘This is your hour, and the power of darkness’ (Luke 22:53). But Jesus Rose from the dead in just a few days, and that hour ended. ‘Just so, God limits the time that these beasts have power.’ (3) The Beasts come out of the sea and the earth. In Revelation 10:2, a mighty angel ‘set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land.’God is in control of the origin of both Beasts!

• CHRISTIAN DUTY. “God’s [true] people are not led astray by the Beasts. Yes, they suffer – they are attacked and conquered. But Revelation 13:8 tells us:‘All who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.’ If their names are in the Book of Life of the Lamb, they are secure. Thus Revelation 13:10 tells us, ‘Here is a call for the endurance and the faith of the saints.’ The World may appear to be under the control of evil forces – and those forces do indeed have much power. There will be persecution and murders; government authority and religious influence will be used against those following Jesus. ‘But God is in control. His people are secure. So we must ENDURE!’ Whatever the chaos, whatever the trials, whatever the tragedies – endure in Faith, endure in Joy, and endure in Confidence that, however things may appear, there is One Who reigns. For the Seventh Angel will blow his trumpet, and then loud voices in heaven will declare, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever’” (Revelation 11:15).”

CODA. In all of this Grand Story of Christ’s Divine Marriage to His Bride, there is a Single Charge to us that stands miles upon miles above all the rest: “REMAIN FAITHFUL!” Contrary to what we have been taught for generations in the American Church, that does not primarily mean to avoid all the bad habits that yes, we must overcome in our Journey with our King.

‘First and foremost is to SHOW our love by Keeping our Doctrines Pure and our minds and spirits cleansed from the oceans of Falsehoods prevailing at the End of Time. This, beloved, is our Prime Directive: To Walk in the Truth above all else, that they might know.’

JESUS of course said it both best and perfectly clearly:

“On that day [when that time comes] you will know for yourselves that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. The person who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [REALLY] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him [I will make Myself real to him].” – JOHN 14:20-21, AMP

It is that simple, beloved, but apparently that challenging. ‘You up for it, beloved, to take that Road Less Traveled?  Selah.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/5ooPYppwhOo