Nehemiah 4:14. And I made an inspection, and, being strengthened in heart, said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, “Be not afraid of them: remember the Lord, He who is great and fearful in power, and fight for your brothers, your sons and daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
Nehemiah surveys the strength of the enemies of the people who are rebuilding the city walls and realizes the truth about them…they outnumber his people dramatically. However, he knows that the Lord God has given him a task to complete and that mandate outweighs the strength of his enemy beyond measure. He goes on to provide outstanding leadership not only as an administrator, but also as a warrior and fellow laborer in renewing the strength of Jerusalem. Every stone laid on top of the next is one less toehold that the enemy of the Lord’s people has in the city where the name of the Lord is invested (2 Chronicles 6:6).
When believers in Jesus Christ are assembled spiritually, they are described by the apostle Peter (1 Peter 2:1-7) as being a house of living stones. The first stone among them and to which they conform (in time…no one has pre-creation credentials except Jesus—God Himself!) is the elect/tried/servant stone of Jesus Himself. Each stone that is laid in this building brings all of creation closer to the last day, the last moment: the invasion by the Lord God to save His people.
Calvinists like to make up fantasies about the end of time as though it will arrive because something nebulous they call the “Kingdom” will spring forth from their legalism and the forces of evil will melt away -- somehow. Jesus, they claim, will show up somehow and everyone gets to go home to the Garden of Eden… the garden has apparently been hidden away in Tibet or who knows where. Avalon? Ragnarok? Pahranagat Valley? Meanwhile, calvinists prefer not to bother about building walls by somehow winning souls for Jesus. They don’t seem to have much use for standing watch or fighting spiritual warfare against an enemy that has humanity’s destruction as its target; it must be that they consider humanity not worth fighting for…worth Jesus’ dying for – but that’s another story that only involves them and God’s top secret counsel. Apparently when one has his salvation ticket punched in advance and is thankful that God will let him in on reprobate hunting as a lifetime sport, then it is unnecessary to fight for brothers, sisters, children, wives, families, homes and homelands.
God created mankind so that He could ally us to Him in the warfare prescribed against Satan and evil. Some of mankind will get to “enjoy Him forever.” They have no hope to enjoy Him at all when they build their own mighty fortresses (Isaiah 28:14-18) and try to wait out the devices that the enemy has in store. The place to enlist with Jesus Christ and forsake spiritual evil is the cross. The cross was provided to humanity so that everyone can have hope in a relationship with God through Jesus. The cross was accepted by Jesus as the final crushing place of the living stone that is available to all of mankind. The cross was blessed by the Father as the place where the limitless supply of sin cleansing blood can be found by all.
Come to the cross.
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