“But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40: 31)
The fact that one has not succeeded once for all against the enemies of God in one’s environment is not a sign of failure to overcome or that God’s grace is not working. In the 9th century BC, Elijah killed 450 prophets of Baal, but the enemies of Yahweh continued and were not completely defeated. In the 8th century B.C., Jonah called on the Ninevites to repent. They repented, but Assyria shortly thereafter attacked and conquered Israel and marched the population out of the land of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) and back to Assyria where they disappeared into history as the “ten lost tribes.” Jonah was annoyed with God because, this writer believes, he understood that he had led them to a repentance, but they still were going to attack and defeat his people, the Israelites. Thus, by saving them from total destruction, he was actually supporting the conquest of his own people. We must accept a certain amount of inscrutability in the callings of God on our lives, and go forward delighted with our assignments in His eternal plan.
Through these events where the enemies of God are defeated (but not totally defeated), we see that victories over God’s enemies are not final and not meant to be final. Neither Elijah nor Jonah should be faulted because they did not stop the continuing ASSAULTS UPON GOD’S PEOPLE. Nevertheless, we are still to stand up against false teachings, lies, and diabolical schemes and machinations. The way we do so, and the degree we do so requires godly wisdom and understanding. Thus we need to be transformed to the renewing of our minds to that which is the acceptable, good, and perfect will of God. (Romans 12: 2)
Paul argued against the Stoics and the Epicureans. He argued against the Gnostics and the Judaizers, but because they were not eliminated but exist until this very day does not mean Paul or other disciples of the Lord were failures. Decimating one’s foe in the here and now is not “proof” of victory. In fact, in the material world there is no “proof,” but we go forward in our walk serving and believing in Almighty God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — in fear and trembling by grace alone through faith alone. There is no manifest result that “proves” our faithfulness or success. Does having a mega-church prove the godliness of the pastor to be greater than the godliness of a church that has a very small membership and can barely meet its bills or survive in a hostile environment like many of the churches in Islamic and animistic cultures? Those churches with few members and meager resources often need the support and help of Voice of the Martyrs ministry to survive. Yet, their marginal existence and the suffering of their members suggests a spiritual victory that cannot be approached by successful suburban or urban churches in the USA.
If God is God why doesn’t He put a stop to specific philosophies, ideologies, or theologies that he clearly repudiates in the Scripture? Answer: it is an eternal battle between the redemptive power of Christ and His enemies, but the Lord has the eternal victory in that battle. Our strength is renewed not because we have a permanent victory on this Earth over the foes of our faith, but because we have fought the good fight of faith. Permanent victory for the individual of faith is only in the life to come. Earth will remain fallen until the Lord comes to reign for 1000 years. We are re-energized by being IN THE LORD, not by winning permanent unchanging victories over God’s enemies in the biological, sociological, or political sense of the word “victory.”
Was the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after WWII — which is considered by many a plan that was both wise and humane — really God’s plan for Europe and/or Japan? Or was it a plan to enrich certain corporate interests by the American taxpayers and to create dependence and power for American political and economic interests? Or was it a mixture of both bad and good motives. In other words, was it selfish at bottom or selfless as it was portrayed at the time and in textbooks to this very day? God, in His infinite patience has not revealed His judgment about this and other socio-political decisions. We have opinions, but that is all we can have.
The rebuilding of West Germany excited envy by East Germans that was purposely neglected by the USSR as a reminder of their defeat and of the terrible decisions that led to WWII and that defeat. But the high-rise buildings and prosperous face of West Germany put pressure on the atheist communists to relinquish their hold on East Germany, which they eventually did as communism as the official state political system and vicious atheistic quasi-religious system imploded. Christ, our Almighty Savior and Lord, was officially denounced by the USSR as being against the best interests of communist society. But the rotten Nazis, who were defeated by the USA and the USSR in an alliance made in hell, also rejected the Lordship of Christ and elevated the pagan German gods that exalted Teutonic ethno-centrism as equally worthy of worship as the eternal Creator of Heaven and Earth. And Germany was a largely Protestant country.
Overcoming the enemies of Christ during a brief historical period is not the same as a permanent and final victory over the enemies of Christ. However, a renewal of opposition using a different modus operandi than the previously defeated enemies of Christ should not engender discouragement, fear, disappointment, or weariness of purpose. Rather, this updating of the enemies of God is something we should expect until our Lord returns in power with the angelic hosts.
The Roman Catholic Church carried the Word of God and the doctrines of God for many centuries. But the Catholic Church became infected with sinful motives, ungodly doctrines, non-Biblical practices, and became identified with monarchic tyranny as its raison d’être. It adopted a works theology where the sacraments were claimed as essential aids to faith to bring fallen humanity to its heavenly home through the church. However, the sacraments, including a celibate priesthood, were not included in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In John 3:3, the Lord clearly said to Nicodemus, a curious rabbi who came to inquire about the views of Christ, “You must be born again.” Revealing this fundamental alternative to the doctrines and practices of the R.C. Church became the basis for a successful challenge by the Protestant rebellion.
The world, especially in the West, is clinging either to false Christian values in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches or to a diluted Protestant materialism. The essential born-again basis for a true faith in God seems to be losing traction as churches close and hysterical rock alternatives and materialistic doctrines have crept into the evangelical bride of Christ. But we are not discouraged any more than Elijah was after the Lord whispered to him that the fight will go on in a new phase even after the original 450 prophets were killed and their sacrifices rejected. The fight for the Lord just moved into a new phase. There is new phase after new phase…it is necessary until He comes again.
Photo: adventist.org
Jeffrey Ludwig
To read more articles by Jeffrey Ludwig click here.
