@ 2024 Joseph Shulam
In the early 1990s i took a trip to Bulgaria.
Bulgaria is a country that Communistic Atheism has ravaged for 45 years. A whole generation has grown up without Bibles and any knowledge of God. Now, when Communism's obstruction has been released, people are flocking to anything that has a remote resemblance to Religion, Faith, or the Bible. It is always challenging and unfair to judge people's motives, but in this case, it was evident that many of the younger people had seen two things in Christianity.
The first thing they see in Christianity is the opposite of Communism.
The second thing they see in Christianity is a formula for prosperity in a material sense.
The "Church" represents the prosperous "West ." In years past, the Communists debased the "Church" with their propaganda and showed how corrupt and evil it was. Now, the people are seeking the "Church." They do not know what the Church should be, but they want the "Church." This is the secret of the significant revival happening in Eastern Europe. People do not know much about the Bible but understand that Christianity and the Church are their refuge.
In fact, the truth is that the Church should be a city of refuge, an oasis of freshness in a parched desert, a fortress in the midst of battle, a hospital for the healing of the soul, and a courtroom for those whose righters have been trampled by unrighteousness.
However, in most Western countries, the Church is a social club for the rich and mighty. In Israel, the Church is not quite as faulty as in other Western countries, but it is also not yet a city of refuge.
A Sefaradic Jewish Poet wrote these words, which are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in New York:
Give me your tired, Your poor,
Your huddled masses Yearning to breathe free.
The wretched refuse of your Teaming shore,
The homeless, Tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp Beside the Golden door. Emma Lazarus
This is what the Church should be and how the World should view the Lord's body. The essence of the Body of Christ is to be Noah's ark, a city of refuge for those who have sinned and in whose hot pursuit the devil is burning rubber, seeking to devour them.
HEB 6:17:
"Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail; 20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchisedec."
Let's concentrate a little on these verses. Please note the implications of verse 18. There are two "immutable" things. These are facts that God can not lie about.
The first of these two immutable things is that Yeshua has entered behind the veil and is at the right hand of God.
The second immutable thing that the writer to the Hebrews said is that Yeshua has been made a high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. Hallelujah! I mean, this is just great!!! For me, these two things would be the least possible to prove as immutable. Yet the Bible states that these are two things that are immutable and about which God can not lie.
In the above context, we find this statement about those who have fled for refuge: Why did we flee for shelter—"to lay hold upon the hope set before us"? In other words, we have gone to Yeshua the Messiah as a refuge to protect the hope that God has given us for the redemption of the World.
Look at Isaiah the prophet's version of this same promise:
ISA 4:5,6:
"And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense. 6 A n d there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, a place of refuge, and a cover from storm and rain.
The Lord will create a place of refuge and deliverance in Zion.
We don't have to worry about creating it; the Lord will make it! In fact, He is now creating this place of refuge in Jerusalem. The spiritual body of Yeshua, the Messiah, comes before the physical outworking in the land. Every picture, every architectural plan, and every program starts first in the spirit of a man, and only second does it put on concrete and steel.
Some might mistake what is happening today in Israel as the final scene - the physical rebuilding of the land of Israel. What is our situation now like? Is it like Isaiah 4, or shall we say more like
ISAIAH 28:15-17:
"Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place."
We are now more like Isaiah 28. By we, I mean the state of Israel and the Body of Christ.
We need to re-draw the blueprint according to God's master plan.
We need to live up to the concept that the Church is a place of refuge.
We are all refugees from the sin in our own lives.
We are all refugees from the distant and grotesque World, which has done all to wrench us from the will and love of the Creator of the World.
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