We are not just in the last days... we are in the last hours of the last days.
From Genesis 3 to the end of Revelations - the Bible tells the story of God's perfect plan to restore the relationship that our sin shattered.
When God shut the door of the ark - He drew a clear line of seperation between what was devoted to destruction and what was blessed with salvation. On which side of the door are you?
The Bible clearly says that the end times will be like the days of Noah. The world was wicked in the days of Noah. Wickedness is a mild description of what's happening in the world these days. Regardless of our opinions, the world is testifying that we are indeed living in the end times.
Noah wasn't a perfect man, but he was obedient to God. Because of Noah's obedience - God's grace dealt with whatever sin might have seperated him from God.
If we say that it's all about grace and we don't have to do anything from our side. Then why was only Noah & his family saved? Why did the flood happen? If you argue that God's grace is enough for everyone without us having to live in obedience - then why was the world swept out? The grace train gets derailed & debunked with Noah's story alone. And many more times again in the Bible after Noah!
God's grace is free, YES! We cannot workout our own salvation, YES! We cannot buy a ticket to heaven with good works, YES!
BUT!
The Bible is VERY clear that when we love God, aka want to call ourselves Christians / believers / born again / chosen / set-apart - that requires something from our side! That something is called obedience!
The ark is a demonstration of the righteous being seperated from the unrighteous. The righteous are lifted up to safety (in the ark). And the unrighteous are destroyed.
When Yeshua returns - we will see the same happening. He will take the righteous with Him and He will destroy the unrighteous.
God had a blessing in store for Noah, but Noah had to build the ark (do something) to inherit that blessing.
Abba called Abraham to leave everything he knew behind and follow Him. We are no different today. When we chose to follow Yeshua, it means that we should be willing to give up everything for Him! (Luke 14:26-27)
Our love for Yeshua must be so great that it dims out our love everything else. We must be willing to give up / seperate ourselves from anything and everything that hinders us from serving Him!
God had a blessing in store for Abraham, but Abraham had to leave everything he knew behind (do something) to inherit that blessing.
Committing your life to God will cost you something. We will have to make hard decisions (do something). But the rewards (on earth & in eternity) that we will inherit when we are willing to seperate ourselves from our flesh, from worldliness and the things that keeps us from serving Him... those rewards will by far outweigh the temporary sorrow we might experience over the things we let go of!
Moses was raised by the Pharaoh's daughter. But he knew that he was a Hebrew. He could not just ignore his heritage. If Moses chose to stay in the comfort of the royal living - it's very unlikely that he would have been ready to answer God when God spoke to him through the burning bush. Moses had to leave the palace and be seperated from the life he knew in order for God to prepare him and release him into his calling!
God had a blessing in store for Moses, but Moses had to leave Egypt (do something) to inherit that blessing.
The same thing goes for us! Sometimes God has to seperate us from the things, faces, places, comforts, etc we know - so that He can prepare us to serve Him.
Through Moses, God seperated the entire Hebrew nation from Egypt! If God can use a kid who floated in a basket, who was supposed to be killed - to free an entire nation from oppression... Then there is no limit to what God can do with your life if you are willing to do your part!
God's people had been in hopeless bondage - just like we are today. But God seperated them from their captors / oppressors & gave them freedom. He will do the exact same thing for us today - if we do our part!
God pulled Israel out of Egypt. So that He could seperate the nation to serve Him and Him alone. No longer serving the idols of the Egyptians.
It was one thing to get the Israelites out of Egypt. But it was a completely different thing to get Egypt out of the Israelites. For many many years, the Israelites were exposed to the doctrine & customs of the Egyptians, idol worship & all kinds of abominal practices.
The same goes for us today. We are exposed to the world. The worldly doctrine & customs. We are in the world but not of the world. Just like the Israelites not only had to physically get out of Egypt, they also had to spiritually get Egypt out of them!
When we embark on a journey to follow Yeshua - it will seperation in the physical and spiritual realms. We must be willing to let go (physically & spiritually) anything and everything that's hindering us from following Yeshua with our whole hearts!
Each person in the Bible had to do something in order to follow God. Adam, Noah, Abraham (Old Testament), the disciples (New Testament), the list goes on and on...
What makes us think that God does not expect the same from us?
When Moses was on top of the mountain, the Israelites created a golden calf for themselves to worship. We all know the story.
When Moses came down the mountain and saw what the nation had done, he smashed the stone tables that God had just given him. But the story does not end there!
“then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi [the priestly tribe] gathered together to him. He said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Every man strap his sword on his thigh and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor [all who continue pagan worship].’ ” So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people [of Israel] were killed that day.”
Exodus 32:26-28
The incident with the golden calf was the last time we see idol worship of the full nation until after Moses & Joshua died.
When Moses called for someone to step up out of the mess - the Levites came forth. There was another seperation! The Levites became seperate from the rest of the Israelites. They were the ones who took the lead to serve Abba. Because they were the ones who was willing to act against even their own families when they were operating outside of Abba's instructions. That's why the tribe of Levi was chosen to serve as the priests of the nation!
True seperation has nothing to do with borders / race / gender or anything else. It all comes down to whether you are on the Lord's side or not. Are you seperated to God, or are you seperated to the world? Everyone is on one side OR the other - there is no middle ground.
You can't stand with one foot in the world and one foot
You can't dance at two weddings at the same time!
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