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...I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." 2Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. (Revelation 4:1-3)

Then a voice like a trumpet called out, “Come up here!”

I ask you, who wouldn’t tremble in their sandals or boots hearing that voice, seeing the door in Heaven standing wide open, and seeing God sitting on His throne in Heaven?

I tremble just thinking how cavalier people are today with God’s name and with the day He set aside for worshiping Him. Even Christians are having trouble with keeping their garments white.

Today, society is defining sin.

That isn’t new. The Jews added layer upon layer to the Law to keep a deep pad of protection so they would not accidently break the Law. A lot of good that did them. God as good as told them their hearts were as stone when He told them, “In that day I will give you tenderized hearts, and I will write my commands on your hearts.” (Deuteronomy 30:3-6) That was centuries before they were exiled to Babylon, before Christ was born and died and raised, and before the destruction of Jerusalem. God knew what they would do.

The trouble with Pharisees…

…was that they did not do anything with God’s rebuke. Matthew 23 wasn’t the first time they didn’t pay attention to God’s rebuke. If it wasn’t making motions of worship while having greed and murder in their heart, it was the painful distress of oppression they brought down on widows and orphans. God told them through all the prophets what would happen. Moses told them. Isaiah told them. Jeremiah told them. Habakkuk told them. Micah told them. But, Malachi, oh Malachi said it with the sting of a red hot zinger.

And now, O priests, this command is to you. 2If you will not hear, and if you will not set it on your heart to give glory to My name, says Jehovah of Hosts, then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. And indeed, I have cursed it, because you are not setting it on your heart. 3Behold, I am rebuking your seed, and I will spread dung on your faces, the dung of your solemn feasts; and one will lift you up to it. Malachi 2:1-3

I have so often wondered why the studiers and keepers of the law back then were so blind to the Grace that abounded in the Old Prophets. There was always hope offered, always a bright shining light: “Return to Me, and I will return to you, says Jehovah of Hosts.”

That just wasn’t good enough because Jesus came in an unexpected way. Oh my! Jesus focused on unexpected people. Oh my! This couldn’t possibly be the Messiah, because He didn’t come in purple robes with a built in crown. He was “common” looking. He was crucified that was one gigantic, flashing beacon that cried out, “This one is a sinner and worthy of death!” They supposed because society decreed that one crucified was actually guilty of sin, then Jesus was guilty. Of course, nothing is farther from the truth. But, they were focused on the external.

This was the crux of the problem with the Pharisees. They focused on the outside. They wore huge phylacteries and broaden the hems of their robes with tzit tzit (the tassel with blue cords that were wrapped 613 times for each command of God in the OT) that trailed behind them when they walked. They were so full of religious prejudice they burst with it, sloshing it all over those they had been entrusted to teach God’s Word and God’s ways. Oh, they mouthed platitudes correctly, but their actions were so far off the mark they didn’t even hit the white space of the target. God says it time and again, actions speak louder than words, and actions have a much more powerful punch. These hypocrites clung to a double standard, which is what Jesus warned against. “Listen to and do what they say, but do not do what they do,” and He called them whitewashed graves: clean on the outside, but full of filth on the inside.

Little did they read and connect the dots drawn in Isaiah that though He was sinless, He took the entire world’s sin upon Himself.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

Here is a solid truth. We have Pharisees that walk the halls of our churches today.

They are not good life examples. They have egos that bloat them to a ripe fatness that raises a stink and draws flies. They clamor for public attention. They have a destructive witness and are a Spiritual hindrance. Pharisees conform to the external only, and consistently refuse God’s rebuke. This is what locks a Pharisee into being a Pharisee as we think of them today. Because of all this, they missed hearing God’s call. They think they are saved, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

Just because we are Americans living in the Freedom bought by our forefathers’ blood and guts, we do not have the right to turn our backs on God’s will for our country. He laid out exactly how we are to go in our daily work and play, and how to know His will. He is quite explicit:

So say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: You eat on the blood, and you lift your eyes up to your idols, and you shed blood. And shall you possess the land? 26 You stand on your sword, and you each do abominations, defiling his neighbor's wife. And shall you possess the land? 27 Say this to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: As I live, do not those in the ruins fall by the sword? And I will give the one who is on the face of the field to the beasts to be eaten, and those in the forts and in the caves shall die by the plague. 28 For I shall make the land desolate and a waste, and the pride of her strength shall cease. And the heights of Israel shall be a waste that none will go through. 29 And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have made the land desolate and a waste because of all their abominations which they have done. Ezekiel 33:25

This is not a prophecy, but a done deal. You could read “Israel” as “United States” or “England” or “Germany” or “France”. Our country and our world is in this pickle barrel today because we Christians sit silently by while the squeaky wheel gets all the grease.

You know which wheels I’m talking about, too. The homosexuals, the adulterers, thieves, cheats, oppressors of the weak and innocent, murderers of infants, and the abortionists, and the evangelists who sing God’s word like angels on Sunday and live like the devil the rest of the week are all on the same playing field. Who was it that said that our God’s standards are so high that He considers lust as well as anger against a brother, equal to murder? How much more an abomination is it that we keep silent and watch it happen? Oww! That stomped on my toe…

So here it comes… you know what’s coming… here’s the million dollar question. What will Jesus find you doing when He shouts your name to “Come up here?”

"Bible verse and quote" from Jan Couns

Bible and Quote - February 25 - March 1