Since all of this has been fulfilled, what then is our commission? Our commission is to wait for the Holy Spirit and allow Christ to work through his people.
Acts 15:14-17 Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. (15) And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, (16) After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: (17) That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
God has commissioned reorganization, building on the foundation. This temple is built out of gentiles, and jews, and those from all nations. The seed of Abraham, the true Israel. God is the builder through Jesus Christ.
Revelation 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
“What we want now is a reorganization. We want to begin at the foundation, and to build upon a different principle.” [Last Day Events, page 53]
There is a time for God’s people to reorganize. After the fall of ancient Babylon in the days of Daniel the prophet. God called his people out of Babylon, then finally back to Jerusalem. A call was made to rebuild the fallen temple. This call was made by God through his prophets which included Zechariah and Haggai. The Jews had stopped building because of a decree against them. But then following this a commandment was given by God himself.
NOT BY FORCE
“…FORCE IS THE LAST RESORT OF EVERY FALSE RELIGION…” (Ellen White 7BC 976)
But when God gave his decree for rebuilding the true temple in Zechariah 4. He said this:
Zec 4:6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
Again, I take you back to the decree given by Jesus “that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.”(Acts 1:4)
Not by force, but by the Spirit are we commissioned to share the truth. This principle should have been already recognized early on, however special emphasis must be placed upon it. There are always new believers who want authority, and they want to rule, and they want to dictate how they believe that we should suppress the voice of others who do not believe as we believe.
I bring you back again to where the apostles who were brought before the courts and counsels and the kings of the earth and told to stop preaching in that name.
Acts 5:28-29 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. (29) Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
But no matter the force used against them, if they were to stop preaching in that name that would have been to them to actually stop loving others. They could not stop. Following this some counsel was given to these men by Gamiliel. Counsel that has not been heeded by our Conference leaders who pursue others with their trademark lawsuits. Who continue to believe that the temple of God is established by force and suppression of the speech of others. Who believe it is established by “might” and “power”. The counsel to them who would use force to suppress others is thus:
Acts 5:34-39 Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space; (35) And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men. (36) For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. (37) After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. (38) And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: (39) But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
Force was the last resort. Shortly after this the apostles were teaching “daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”(Acts 5:42). By Acts Chapter 6 because these false builders could not stop them, they made up false witness against Stephen because of his teaching regarding the temple of God or God’s Church.(Acts 6:11-14) And these men resorted to stoning Stephen shortly afterwards who spoke out against the temple made with hands as well as their disbelief in the Son of God. (Acts 7:43-56) They had a false conception of God’s Church and the rock on which it was built. Stephen was stoned for preaching the truth about the church and the truth about these false builders.
I have seen some who have accepted much truth regarding God and His Son, yet trying to setup a similar tabernacle to that of the false builders in the time of the early church. They have tried to use force and suppression, but that is not the religion of Christ at all. That is the “last resort of every false religion” and it will “come to nought”.
Over and over again I see man trying to do the job of Christ, trying to uproot the tares from among us.(Matthew 13:38, 39). These men try to use courts, counsels, police, and kings of the earth to establish the kingdom of God. But it always comes “to nought”. Praise the Lord for that.
This book does not advocate setting up any organization of men, but rather allowing God through His Holy Spirit to guide us by his holy word in all things. Not going presumptuously ahead of the Holy Spirit, without the Holy Spirit, but tarrying until we receive the large outpouring of his gift. The outpouring of his latter rain. We have the message from God. And I pray for all who understand this outline to look again and see if you can see God’s Church.
Remember, that God has a Church, a heavenly, which is above, which is the mother of us all. (Heb 12:22-24, Gal 4:26)
I pray that this book gives us a clear view of who and what the Church is. We need to look a little higher.
“While I was praying at the family altar, the Holy Ghost fell upon me, and I seemed to be rising higher and higher, far above the dark world. I turned to look for the Advent people in the world, but could not find them, when a voice said to me, “Look again, and look a little higher.” At this I raised my eyes, and saw a straight and narrow path, cast up high above the world. On this path the Advent people were traveling to the city, which was at the farther end of the path. They had a bright light set up behind them at the beginning of the path, which an angel told me was the midnight cry. This light shone all along the path and gave light for their feet so that they might not stumble. If they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to the city, they were safe. But soon some grew weary, and said the city was a great way off, and they expected to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by raising His glorious right arm, and from His arm came a light which waved over the Advent band, and they shouted, “Alleluia!” Others rashly denied the light behind them and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out, leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and lost sight of the mark and of Jesus, and fell off the path down into the dark and wicked world below. Soon we heard the voice of God like many waters, which gave us the day and hour of Jesus’ coming. The living saints, 144,000 in number, knew and understood the voice, while the wicked thought it was thunder and an earthquake. When God spoke the time, He poured upon us the Holy Ghost, and our faces began to light up and shine with the glory of God, as Moses’ did when he came down from Mount Sinai. {Early Writings page 14}
Where do we go? – Home Churches – God’s Order
A grand priviledge that God has given us is that of gathering in our houses. The early Church did this same thing, and as we follow the pattern laid out for us by God realizing that there is nothing new under the sun, we will see the light on this matter.
Colossians 4:15 “ and the church which is in his house.”
Philemon 1:2 “, and to the church in thy house:”
1 Corinthians 16:19 “ the church that is in their house.”
Romans 16:5 “ the church that is in their house.”
The church is not the house, but the people in the house. And the church gathered in the house. The church has been gathering in homes and secluded places, rocks, caves, mountains, throughout the centuries. The remnant 7000 in Elijah’s day were hid in a cave.
We can go back to Adam and Eve, Enoch, Abraham, all of whom setup the family altar. We need to recognize that the General Conference is not the church, but it is a missionary field in which God will command us to go and share the words of this life. He is very careful however on just how his people are sent forth.
”You who profess to love God, take . . . Jesus with you wherever you go; and, like the patriarchs of old, erect an altar to the Lord wherever you pitch your tent. A reformation in this respect is needed,–a reformation that shall be deep and broad.”—(Ellen White Testimonies, vol. 5, pp. 320, 321)
The reformation is especially needed now since God has shown us “that neither young nor old should attend their meetings; for it is wrong to thus encourage them while they teach error that is a deadly poison to the soul and teach for doctrines the commandments of men.”(Ellen White, Early Writings page 124)
God is not Disorderly
We are not independent atoms, one believing this, one believing that, and everyone with their own individual message. If we rather than going forth presumptuously, will allow the Holy Spirit to teach us the present truth, then we can come into unity.
“I saw that we have no time to throw away in listening to fables. Our minds should not be thus diverted, but should be occupied with the present truth, and seeking wisdom that we may obtain a more thorough knowledge of our position, that with meekness we may be able to give a reason of our hope from the Scriptures.”(Early Writings page 125)
Order the Law of Heaven:
“We sought the Lord with earnest prayer that we might understand His will, and light was given by His Spirit that there must be order and thorough discipline in the church–that organization was essential. System and order are manifest in all the works of God throughout the universe. Order is the law of heaven, and it should be the law of God’s people on the earth.” (Ellen White TM 26)
The angels are unauthorized to work without order.
”Angels work harmoniously. Perfect order characterizes all their movements. The more closely we imitate the harmony and order of the angelic host, the more successful will be the efforts of these heavenly agents in our behalf. If we see no necessity for harmonious action, and are disorderly, undisciplined, and disorganized in our course of action, angels, who are thoroughly organized and move in perfect order, cannot work for us successfully. They turn away in grief, forthey are not authorized to bless confusion, distraction, and disorganization. All who desire the cooperation of the heavenly messengers must work in unison with them. Those who have the unction from on high will in all their efforts encourage order, discipline, and union of action, and then the angels of God can cooperate with them. But never, never will these heavenly messengers place their endorsement upon irregularity,disorganization, and disorder. All these evils are the result of Satan’s efforts to weaken our forces, to destroy our courage, and prevent successful action.”(Ellen White TM 28)
This is what is happening in our ranks today. Going into these meetings unauthorized by the Holy Spirit. It is disorder, and the disorder comes in misunderstanding the concepts and principles laid out by God in His word regarding who and what the Church is. The angels are not authorized to bless this confusion, distraction, and disorganization.
“If God has delivered us from such darkness and error, we should stand fast in the liberty wherewith He has set us free and rejoice in the truth. God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without being obliged to go; for unless He sends us to those meetings where error is forced home to the people by the power of the will, He will not keep us. The angels cease their watchful care over us, and we are left to the buffetings of the enemy, to be darkened and weakened by him and the power of his evil angels; and the light around us becomes contaminated with the darkness.”(Ellen White, Early Writings Page 124)
As we have read through the pages of this book, and as we gain a more thorough knowledge of our position. Let us pray to God for that power from on high whereby we might speak “the word of God with boldness”(Acts 4:31)
Then let us go forth with the unction of the Holy Spirit by his word given through his Holy angels and go “stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.”(Acts 5:19, 20).
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Next Chapter :15: Church of the Firstborn – The Name of God’s People
Book: God’s Church Organization – The House Built on the Rock
Chapters:
1: The Counterfeit Church Organization and the True Building
2: Reformers on the Church
3: Man Appoints a Head to the Organization
4: Foundation and Pillars of our Faith Changed
5: Deadliest Heresy in Seventh Day Adventism
6: God’s church is not confined to an Earthly organization
7: The True Seed of Abraham
8: The Elijah Message
9: Philadelphia – The 144,000
10: A Great Danger Right Before the Plagues are Poured Out
11: The Principles of Separation
12: Not to go and Listen to Error
13: Abomination and 25 Men A Prophecy by Ezekiel
14: Rebuilding That Which is Fallen – Reorganization
15: Church of the Firstborn – The Name of God’s People
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