Greetings,
According to God’s plan as understood through the Holy Days, we are, at this time, in a new covenant Church period – that period between entering into a covenant with God and receiving His Holy Spirit and the time when Christ will return to this earth. It is the time of the firstfruits. “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18). We are between Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets. This is a very meaningful and significant time for those called and who enter into a covenant with God.
The apostle Paul addressed the importance to the Church in his letter to the Hebrews by reminding the members of that critical time in the life of the nation of Israel. God had miraculously freed them from the bondage of Egypt and led them on a journey to the land He had promised to Abraham’s descendents. Israel’s wilderness journey corresponds to the period of time the Church is in now. Numbers chapters 13 and 14 chronicle Israel’s approach to the land of promise. Spies sent into the land came back with evidence of a land “flowing with milk and honey” (Numbers 13:27). So they had God’s promises backed by hard evidence and yet they balked at going in to possess the land because of the stature of the inhabitants (v31-33). They simply lacked the faith to take God at His word. To God, their evil report and resultant murmuring was disobedience against Him (Hebrews 4:6). Living by faith is to take God at His word and act upon it – without requiring supporting physical evidence. As a result, an entire generation died in the wilderness and entrance to the land of inheritance was delayed by forty years (Hebrews 3:7-19).
Paul encourages the Church of this era not to repeat the same mistakes. We have a promise to enter His rest and we are to fear lest we fall short. Faith is an essential element of entering God’s rest. Paul clearly encourages us to build our faith upon the sure word of God. “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful … seeing then that we have a great High Priest … let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:11-16).
For those with eyes to see, world events are showing us that there is nothing in this physical world that we will be able to hold onto as a means of support. Solid institutions can crumble overnight, national alignments can fail quickly, the social order can invert in a very short period of time. Christ said that all these things must take place – heaven and earth will pass away – but the one thing that will not pass away are His words (Matthew 24:34-35). Our faith must be in His words.
Let us respond to Paul’s admonition to the Church in his letter to the Philippians. “Do all things without complaining and disputing (murmuring, grumbling as the Israelites did), that you may become blameless and harmless (innocent), children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation (the Today of Hebrews 3), among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life …” (Philippians 2:14-16). The new covenant Church period is a time of faith. World events are showing us the importance of developing that faith and trust in God and His word now.
Warm Regards,
Brian Orchard
