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Coming Back Home

Many of us are playing the wrong game. Like a brother recently exclaimed to me, "You mean I could be so wrong all this time?!" One key problem of discipleship is not knowing where 'Home' is. We do not know what is normal. We live for years as Christians and still cannot clearly identify the marks of the Christian. Our minds are so enmeshed with the world's ideas that we cannot discern between the two. Or perhaps worse, we are not sure there is any difference.

1 Concerning the sons of Ammon. Thus says the LORD: "Does Israel have no sons? Or has he no heirs? Why then has Malcam taken possession of Gad And his people settled in its cities?
2 "Therefore behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "That I shall cause a trumpet blast of war to be heard Against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon; And it will become a desolate heap, And her towns will be set on fire. Then Israel will take possession of his possessors," Says the LORD.
(Jeremiah 49:1-2).

This passage from Jeremiah 49 is very clear about the need for God's people to be restored to their rightful territory. Gad was a tribe in northern Israel. She evidently had a neighboring enemy named Malcam from Ammon come by and swoop up its cities. The Gadite cities were then Ammonite cities. Home for the Gadites was a literal land with its cities. They evacuated, and more than likely, confusion slowly set in so that they began to lose their own identity.

We might be surprised as to why the Lord says in verse 1, "Does Israel have no sons? Or has he no heirs?" The Lord is not happy with the situation. After all, is it not God who has appointed and granted Gad their territory along with its cities?! God is revealing that the true problem is not whether Gad had any descendants to inherit the land. Often we need someone to point out what our real problem isn't.

Christians today have all the symptoms and excuses of the Gadites.

  • They are confused and lack confidence.
  • They often minimize the problem.
  • They cannot clearly identify what is normal.
  • They lost their sense of mission, which derives from their identity.
  • They tolerate the enemy to occupy what is rightfully theirs.
  • They do not expect any change soon.

Why Is it so difficult? 

I suppose the Christian tolerates the enemy on its territory because of plain ignorance. They have forgotten history. They haven't diligently studied God's Word to see what is right. This is not the whole problem, though. The Christian is also comfortable where he is. He doesn't want to change. Life is not easy or good, but at least it is familiar. In clear language, we must confess that sin has settled into God's people and they have accepted its claim on their lives. They are willing to tolerate the pain and anguish of defeat. This is the reason it is so hard to win back fallen people. Those who have given up are hard to move and motivate. Their hope is extinguished, and they can easily discourage others.

      							

      							Just think of it. Once the Gadites are driven from their land, it is very difficult to regain what they once had. Now they do not have the protection of the city walls and the blessing of good territory. God's people often give up. If a person does become a Christian, he has great enthusiasm for the Lord and His Word. If, however, he associates with the lukewarm, he will become lukewarm. If they have given up, then he will give up.  

      							

      							What eventually happens is that the whole loaf is leavened. The yeast has done its work. The whole dough is now impacted by the formerly small amount of yeast. If we cut off the infected part, the whole loaf will disappear!  We do not have much hope once we have fallen like the Gadites.

What can we do about our fallen state?

  • Notice
    If we have noticed the fall of formerly Christian peoples like Holland and UK and seen their end, then we are on the trail to realize that we are not home.
  • Dismay
    We must hate the present circumstances. We might not know exactly what is needed, but we know what we have is not normal. Just like the Gadites must get upset that they are treated as outcasts and another has stolen their land.
  • Repent
    We must accept our part for the failure. We can hide in the sins of others, but true change begins when we begin and be responsible for our own sins and acknowledge clearly the failure of those around us.
  • Pray
    We must pray that God would act. We need Him to work in our lives otherwise we ourselves will fall back (cf. Psalm 101). We must pray for others. They need God to awaken them.
  • Wait
    We are to wait for God to mightily work. We might on the one hand be like Jeremiah who never saw his generation change, but on the other hand we might be in the time of Josiah and the revival. We cannot stay still. By wait, we are active and alert.
  • Persevere
    Meantime, we must struggle in our pursuit of holiness. Although the mud pit might be deep and wide, we must take strides to reach the sides. We must refuse contentment, pleasure and entertainment. Instead, we must seek what is excellent, holy and good. Like the lost winter traveler, if he stops he dies. He must go on.

Behold the days are coming!

God, at some point, will step in. The issue is whether it will be with or without you and me. God is jealous for His people. He can't stand the enemy occupying and profiting from territory that is rightfully His people's. At some point, God will intervene and judge this enemy. He will win back the cities.

In verse 2, the Lord said, "Therefore behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "That I shall cause a trumpet blast of war to be heard Against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon; And it will become a desolate heap, And her towns will be set on fire." The enemy will be overcome. There is no doubt about it. In fact, we should realize that the enemy is not the enemy but ourselves! We ourselves will miss out if we do not take action and seek what is rightfully ours. God is not weak. The enemy is not strong. We are not prepared! We need not get preoccupied with the enemy's strength. Remember how God got upset with the spies when they came back with a preocuppation of the strength of the enemy. What God wanted was Joshua and Caleb's report on how great the land is. God wants to take us back home. Are we ready? Really? What disciplines in our lives will convince others that you live for God and not man?

Judgment is easy. The hard part is preparing our hearts. Otherwise, we will live with the sickening mentality in the cities we have regained! God is not waiting for further strength. He is not waiting for the enemy to be weaker! He overcame Babylon easily enough. God's judgment on us is if He does not capture our hearts with His vision and holiness.

Just think how many so-called Christians advocate that they can live in slavery and yet be God's people. Those who say that Jesus can be their Savior but not their Lord are toying with the Almighty Creator. They turn the glorious Gospel into a pit of vomit. The Gospel's power is that it takes people from their sin. Who would boast of power if no effectual change would take place in their lives? We are so content to tolerate all for the sake of toleration.

Move Over! I'm Coming

God then says, "Then Israel will take possession of his possessors," Says the LORD" God knows what He wants and what He will get. He did not make a land holy so that its enemies might occupy it. Nor did He make it holy for His people to fill it with evil. I trust that you, like me, have some great hatred for the impurity among God's people. We don't want things to stay the same. We are changing more like God. We want to come home. We are crying out to God to bring us home indeed. We want to see the powerful gospel transform our lives. We want bitterness to melt into love, worry to trust, anxiety to peace, selfishness to service.

We would do well to review the Lord's encounters with the seven churches in Revelation. In each, He asks His people to come home. He identifies problems that impede their movement and their consequences. But He also points out the glowing glory of those who turn from the world and embrace His direction and holiness.

Psalm 141:3-6

3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice deeds of wickedness With men who do iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies.
5 Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; It is oil upon the head; Do not let my head refuse it, for still my prayer is against their wicked deeds.

We see that the Psalmist was desperate in his desire to live righteously. He did not excuse himself of GOd's standards. He pleaded with God to keep his words. This would not only refer to bad things he might say but also to contracts he would agree upon. He sought a heart that did not make a preference for evil things. He did not want to draw closer to men who were willing to go counter to God's ways. He didn't even want to socialize with them, let alone his heart was stained. Lastly, we see that he was even willing to face the rebuke of the righteous to stay on the right path.

If the man after God's own heart prayed so, is it not even more true with our own hearts? May we come to a greater conviction of our desperate need for God to keep us in His holy path and to seek righteousness reproof from those righteous brothers around us.

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Psalm 101:3-4
3 I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me.
4 A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil.