What is Christianity Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search

God's Servant Brings Justice to the Nations

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit on him: he shall bring forth judgment {justice} to the Gentiles {nations}. (Isaiah 42:1)

We have just discussed the fact that the Servant of the Lord must build up Zion before He can bring justice to the nations of the earth.

Notice the following passage from Matthew. Jesus was ministering to the people of Israel. He healed a man with a withered hand. Then great multitudes of the Israelites followed Him and He healed them all.

But observe the extraordinary significance that Matthew attached to the healing of the Israelites:

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment {justice} to the Gentiles {nations}. (Matthew 12:17,18)

Show justice to whom? To the nations ?

But these were Israelites!

The answer to this seeming contradiction is simple.

The delivering, healing, uplifting ministry of the Servant of the Lord will one day be directed toward the nations of the earth. But first it must be brought to the people of the Lord, to God's elect. As soon as the Lord's elect have been built up into trees of righteousness the Arm of the Lord will be extended to the nations.

The "justice" that the Church will bring to the peoples of the earth is described in the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 2:3 for example) and in the other Prophets as well (Psalms 67:1,2; Joel 2:32; Zechariah 14:16).

Many today are seeking to bring comfort and assurance to people, but God is willing to go a step further and bring justice to them. God looks upon people, such as the man with the withered hand, and God sees the unclean spirits that are keeping the man in this state of bondage. God's justice removes the weakness, pain, and disfigurement, assigning Satan to the regions of darkness, and bringing the individual into the light of God's Presence.

The nations of today are staggering about in blindness, drunkenness, in an agony of pain because they are ignorant of the moral principles that bring peace and healing. The Servant of the Lord, when He is brought to maturity, will release and teach all who will believe and be saved from destruction. This is the "justice" that God has promised to His creatures.

God desires to reach all mankind. God is not willing that any person be lost to His Kingdom. But first of all the Church must be revived into righteous conduct and fervent love of the Lord. How can the Church bring deliverance to the nations before the Church itself has been delivered?

To understand what it means for the Servant of the Lord to bring justice to the nations of the earth we first must be made aware of the relationship of the Church of Christ, of God's Israel, to the other peoples of the world.

The Christian Church, the elect of God, is the Body of Christ. It is the true Israel of God, the Body of the Servant of the Lord. The Church is a called-out group of people as was true of the nation of Israel under the old covenant.

The task of Israel, the Lord's elect, His saints, both Jewish and Gentile, always is to bear witness of the Person and will of God and also to bring the knowledge and blessings of God to the nations of the earth.

When we force a division between Israel of the old covenant and the so-called "Gentile Church" of the new covenant we obscure the role of the Church in bringing justice and truth to the nations of the earth.

There is no such thing as a "Gentile Church," a church of the nations. There is only Israel, the elect of God. Any Gentile who would become a part of Christ, of God's Servant, of the new covenant, must become a part of the true Israel. The new covenant is made only "with the house of Israel" (Hebrews 8:8).

God called out Israel, His elect people, both Jewish and Gentile by natural birth, from the nations of the earth in order to bless the nations through them. Every member of the Body of Christ is called out from the world so God may make him a blessing to the world.

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:18)

The meaning of the term church is called-out . Christians, whether Jewish or Gentile, have been called out by the Spirit of God from all other peoples on the earth, as was true of Abraham our father. God calls us out so that through us He may reveal Himself to mankind, bringing justice and truth to the nations of the earth. We of the elect are God's kings and priests and will rule throughout the ages to come.

The Church is the light of the world . The Church is the set of people who peculiarly are God's own possession, separated to God in order that the love, mercy, holiness, and power of the Lord may be revealed to all persons on the earth.

For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. (Isaiah 61:11)

God loves the peoples of the world. In fact, God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son as full payment for the sins of those who are cut off from Himself. God is not pleased that people are perishing in their ignorance of redemption, in anguish of spirit, soul, and body.

God does not work among men the way He does because He hates people but because He loves people and desires to save them from their cruel bondage to Satan. God is creating the Church, the Body of Christ, in order that salvation may be brought to the ends of the earth.

Because human beings are bound in sin, and God is utterly holy, people cannot draw near to Him. People are self-seeking, sinful, rebellious, stubborn, proud, disobedient. God cannot accept human pride and rebellion. No proud flesh can stand in His Presence.

Thus we have the "lonely" God. God loves His creatures but He cannot communicate His love and delivering power to them without destroying them in His wrath.

The death of Christ on the cross of Calvary reveals to us the love that God Almighty has for the people whom He has created. Let no man say that God does not care for him.

God's solution to the separation between Himself and His creatures is the creation of a witness, a living temple, a body, a servant who knows God and who also can communicate with human beings. The Servant of the Lord has one hand in God's hand and the other hand on mankind.

The Servant of the Lord is the hand and heart of God extended to the world. The justice, truth, and saving power of God are brought through the Church, through God's Israel, to every person who will receive His love and mercy.

The called-out Servant of the Lord is the Church of Christ, the Israel of God, the Wife of the Lamb. The members have been willing to work with the Holy Spirit in the destruction of sin and self-will from their own personalities. They have died to sin and self-centeredness, through the grace of God, and now are acceptable to God in Christ. Through them God will be able to bring eternal life and healing to the ends of the earth.

The Servant of the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ who is multiplied in the members of the Body of Christ.

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:18)

The blessings of God can come to the nations of the earth only through Christ. There is no other source of Divine help for people. It is the will of God that the Presence, love, and power of Christ come through the members of the Body of Christ.

As soon as Christ has been formed in the saints the Kingdom of God will come to the earth. In the present hour the Holy Spirit is adding people to the Church and also building up the spiritual quality of the Church.

When the Body of Christ attains the desired level of maturity and unity the Head of the Body will appear. Then God through Christ - Head and Body - will reach out to the nations of the earth. This is the Kingdom of God, of Heaven, that is at hand.

We must not, however, relegate the saving, healing power of Christ to the future coming of the Kingdom. It is God's will today for each member of the Body of Christ, each Christian believer, to prepare himself or herself to be a well of healing, delivering power through whom the Lord Jesus can touch and relieve the distressing circumstances of people everywhere.

We prepare ourselves by praying, studying the Scriptures, gathering together with fervent believers whenever possible, giving, serving, and continuing in all other aspects of Christian discipleship.

We are to pray for a greater portion of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Now is the season of the latter (harvest; spring) rain. To each person asking in faith will be given "grass in the field," that is, spiritual fruitfulness (Zechariah 10:1).

Today God is preparing His saints to receive an unprecedented power to bear witness. The fullness of the latter rain is at hand. The power and glory of the latter rain will prove to be the forerunner of the coming of Christ to set up His Kingdom on the earth. It is the Elijah-Elisha anointing to show the peoples of the earth the Kingdom that is at hand so they may be saved in that hour.

The latter-rain outpouring is symbolized by the two witnesses of Revelation, Chapter 11. Christ in and with the members of His Body (the two witnesses) will go forth in a double portion of the Spirit (the two olive trees) to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God for a testimony to every nation. The way of the Lord must be made straight.

When the testimony of power and glory has been completed there will be a season of intense spiritual darkness. The testimony of the anointed saints will be silenced in the large cities of the earth. The man of sin will rule. The Lord's people will be required to exist on the spiritual food they have stored up during the "seven good years" of revival that are upon us now.

Suddenly, at the darkest hour, Christ will appear with His saints and holy angels and destroy the man of sin.

At the coming of Christ the testimony of the saints once more will shine throughout the earth, but now in a quality and quantity of power and glory far more excellent than the latter-rain revival; although the present latter-rain revival is destined to exceed any revival of past history.

The nations are without justice in our day. They are governed spiritually by Satan and physically by politicians who are seeking their own glory, in many instances. They are bound in sin and they need someone who can set them free, who can bring the kind of Divine judgment upon Satan that will release people from their sins, making it possible for them to receive eternal life.

The peoples of the earth, and the entire realm of nature itself, are awaiting the unveiling of the sons of God.

For the earnest expectation of the creature {creation} waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19)

In the day Adam and Eve sinned they died and all nature died with them. Their bodies kept on breathing. The rivers kept on flowing. The trees continued to pass through the cycles of the seasons. But spiritual life, God's Presence, had left the creation.

The only true life is the Presence of God in Christ. Adam and Eve were driven from the Presence of God, from eternal Life. Adam and Eve, and all nature along with them, died in spirit, in soul, and in body.

All the creation is dead. The unsaved are dead in spirit, in soul, and in body. People are dead because they have no contact with Life, with Christ. The contact was lost because of disobedience to God's will.

As soon as someone accepts Christ he is received of God and his inner man becomes alive with the Life of Christ. The Spirit of God is eternal Life dwelling in him. But the believer's body continues in a state of death, as is true also of those who have not been born again. There is no eternal life in the believer's flesh (Romans 8:10).

At one time Adam and Eve and all of nature were alive with spiritual life as well as with the flow of chemicals necessary for their composition and activity. But sin entered and the eternal Life of God departed. The motion of the molecules continued. The various chemical, muscular, and electrical systems kept on operating. But these do not constitute life .

There is no life in atoms and molecules. Life does not consist of breathing, growing, and moving. Life is the knowledge and Presence of God. Life is in the Person of Christ.

Christ Is the Tree of Life. Christ is the Resurrection and the Life. Mankind cannot live apart from the Divine Word of Life.

In Christ there is eternal life, and that life is the only light of men, the only truth concerning the significance and purpose of all things and events.

When Jesus returns with His saints, the entire Christ of God - Head and Body - will go throughout the earth judging behavior and executing the vengeance of God against sin (Revelation 19:11). As lust and disobedience are being destroyed out of the heavens and the earth, spiritual life will return to the creation.

All the peoples left on the earth, and the entire realm of nature as well, will be touched by the Person of Christ dwelling in His saints. Paradise will return to the earth. Eden will be restored. The trees of the field will clap their hands and the hills will skip for joy. The nature of the fiercest of animals will be made harmless and innocent.

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. (Isaiah 11:6)

For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (Isaiah 55:12,13)

It is not God's will that the world of nature and the bodies of people be forces that lead us away from God. Rather, the Day is near at hand when nature and our bodies will lead us toward God rather than away from the Presence of God. In that Day the very rocks of the landscape will be praising God continually, reminding us of His Person, His will, His way, and His eternal purpose in Christ.

Because the creature {creation} itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:21)

God has ordained the Servant of the Lord as the One who will bring justice, truth, and deliverance to the nations of the earth.

In order to bring eternal life, righteousness, peace, and joy to the earth on the scale God intends, the Church must be brought to maturity and unity by receiving the Glory of the Lord. As soon as the Church has been made one in the Father through the Son, the whole world will believe that God has sent Christ.

And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles {nations}, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. (Isaiah 61:9)

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:23)

The prayer of Christ (above) shall be answered!

When the Servant of the Lord, who is the Temple of God, has been brought to the fullness of maturity and unity in Christ, God through the Servant will be able to wipe away the tears of the peoples of the earth.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God {which is the Church, the Servant of the Lord} is with men {with the nations of saved peoples of the earth}, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes {from the eyes of the members of the nations of the saved}; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things {that the nations have suffered since the fall of Adam and Eve} are passed away. (Revelation 21:3,4)

The preceding passage describes the coming to earth of Christ - Head and Body, for Christ is the "tabernacle of God." But the work begins today as individual Christians are able to receive the Spirit of the Lord and as the Church grows toward unity and maturity.

However, the emphasis of the Church Age is on bringing the members of the Body of Christ to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The nations cannot be delivered until the Body of Christ has been prepared according to God's standard.