“And Elijah came unto all the people,and said,
How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God,
follow him: but if Baal, then follow him” (I Kings 18:21).
As we have heard at OliveTreeConnections, Moses’ leading the Israelites to the Red Sea Crossing is comparable with where the Body of Christ is today in America. We are not only in a “Moses moment,” as many leaders are describing, but also an “Elijah moment” as referenced above. As we can see in the Hebrew Scriptures, when Moses spoke (Exod. 14:15) to the children of Israel and commanded them to go forward, they began their journey from one place to another. The Lord told Moses to lift up his rod and stretch out his hand over the sea. And it divided.
To divide means to separate into distinct parts. This is the concept I want to bring to our focus today. Believing the Word of God will cause us to travel from one place to another in our thinking (from glory to glory). Today, especially today, if we will focus on the Scriptures of God and not what the media is spewing out, we will remain separated from the lies and deception and dwell in a place of clear and specific understanding; we will remain in hope. God will not be mocked! I pray that we all rise up today, and tomorrow, and tomorrow…. in faith and wait for the LORD to move.
TWO DISTINCT PEOPLE WHO HOPE
There are two groups of people on earth who hope. One group consists of the worshipers of Christ (the believers) who live in the hope of God’s salvation and protection, and one group which consists of the lovers of evil.
I will begin with the hope of believers. All believers are called to hope. The Apostle Paul taught that for believers there is one Body, one Spirit, and one HOPE of our calling. (Eph. 4:4). Part of our calling is to stay in HOPE. To hope is to expect and wait for what we have been promised. “That is why waiting (hoping) does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting” (Rom. 8:22-25) (Message). We are actually saved by hope. (Rom. 8:24). The hope of God triumphs OVER all difficulties.
Abraham knew firsthand that God keeps His Word. He believed that God was the One who quickens the dead and calls those things which be not as THOUGH THEY WERE. (Rom. 4:17). I pray that our faith be restored today, right now in the Mighty God who (still) quickens the dead. Abraham is our model “Who against HOPE believed in hope” (Rom. 4:18). As we have made the decision to walk with God, we are immediately in an entirely different kingdom with an entirely different language and set of rules than those of non- believers. We must see as God sees, and as Abraham and Jesus did, endure contradictions along the path to the prize.
The other group of people who hope are best described as the wicked. The wicked hope in their worldly possessions (goods, power, fame, etc.) Job declared that if he had made gold his hope or if he had said to fine gold that it was his confidence, then he had committed an iniquity that was to be punished by a judge. (Job 31:24,28). The Book of Job states that the wicked will perish. “So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish: Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web” (Job. 8:13-14). The Book of Job further states that the hope of the wicked will be annihilated. “For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has gained, when God takes away his soul” (Job 27:8).
“Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor.5:11). It does not delight the LORD to destroy the wicked, but if men will not repent, God must stay true to His Word. I believe that in this and every moment, the LORD is giving men time to repent.
The Word of God repeatedly speaks that the expectation of the wicked will perish. I want to encourage all believers and especially those of OTC to “Cast NOT away therefore your confidence which has great recompence of reward” (Hebrews 10:35).
