Four A Spirit Of Deep Sleep

Chapter Four

A Spirit Of Deep Sleep

The biblical account of Jonah’s story begins with this; “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh [the capital of Assyria] the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.’ But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” (Jonah 1:1-3/NASU)

Instead of obeying God’s command to go to Nineveh and cry out against it, Jonah “paid the fare” for a ship to Tarshish in an attempt to flee from His presence, which is impossible. He would soon learn that when choosing to flee from the calling of God there is always a price to pay. His sin would then affect all those who were near him.

The Bible continues, saying;

“The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep. So the captain approached him and said, ‘How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.’” (Jonah 1:4-6/NASU)

The storm of the Lord was so fierce that the ship was about to be destroyed. The strange thing in this is that Jonah was below deck, fast asleep. The 19

unbelievers in the ship, as well as myself, wondered how this could be at such an extremely tumultuous moment.

After they discovered through the casting of lots that the storm was because of Jonah, he confessed to them, saying, “on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” (Jonah 1:12/NASU)

Although this applies to an individual or a group, I see in this a picture of what our nation will go through because of the rebellion among God’s people. As a whole, the church in America has rejected her call from God to go out and warn others of God’s wrath in the day of the Lord that will soon occur.

We used to lead the world in sending out many missionaries to many different people groups. Now, the majority of the church sits back in a selfglorifying state of apathetic indifference, asleep in the hold. Unless they are soon awakened, their faith will be shipwrecked and they, along with those near them who they refused to warn, will perish.

During one of the low states of spirituality in Israel, the Lord raised up the prophet Isaiah to cry out against the rebellion of His people. At one point he declared something that applies to us today. He said;

“Be delayed and wait, Blind yourselves and be blind; They become drunk, but not with wine, they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, the seers.” (Isaiah 29:9-10/NASU)

In the Lord’s indictment against Jerusalem, He says that He will pour over them a spirit of “deep sleep,” shutting their eyes, meaning the prophets, and covering their heads, the seers, so that they could not understand the vision. Because of their rebellion against the Lord it would be hidden from them.

The Hebrew word we interpret in English as “deep sleep” is tardemah (tarday-maw'). It’s described as “a lethargy or trance.” Lethargy is defined as a lack of energy and enthusiasm, of abnormal drowsiness. It’s also described by Merriam-Webster as; “the quality or state of being lazy, sluggish, or indifferent.” This aptly describes the present spiritual condition of the church in America concerning our call from God.

The prophets, who are the eyes of the Body, have been shut in most denominations. Often, they are told they are not for today thereby blinding the Body of Christ. A preacher can give you a nice three point sermon looking back from today, but only the prophet is given the eyes to see what lies ahead through the word of the Lord.

The Lord continues in Isaiah with His rebuke of His people, saying;

“Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me

consists of tradition learned by rote, Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.” (Isaiah 29:13-14/NASU)

Jesus quoted this passage when He rebuked the Pharisees and scribes in Matthew 15:7-9, calling them hypocrites. Much of our reverence today in the church is of the same spirit. We too have become filled with religious traditions of worship that consist of rules taught by men. Like these religious leaders in Jesus’ day, the majority of the leadership in the church today have invalidated the word of God for the sake of their traditions (Matthew 15:6).

Invalidating The Word Of God

Biblically speaking, to invalidate God’s word is to render it void, to deprive it of force and authority. Useless traditions of man have caused it to be of no effect in the lives of those who remain in these congregations. The word of God makes no progress in those who are under these blind leaders. Jesus told His disciples;

“Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14/NASU)

In his letter to the believers in the city of Ephesus, Paul encourages them to be imitators of God in their walks. After warning them to not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but to even expose them, he then declares;

“Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14/NASU)

To awake is to arouse from sleep, from a lethargic state. The captain of the ship was used by God to do this with Jonah. I see a great shaking coming to our land by the Captain of the Lord of hosts (Joshua 5:13-15). It will be used to arouse the church in America from her spiritual slumber.

On the night of His arrest, Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane with His disciples to pray. He went a short distance away from them to be alone. After a time of fervent prayer, knowing what agony lie ahead for Him, He came back to the disciples and found them sleeping. He said to them something very similar that the captain of the ship said to Jonah;

"Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into

temptation." (Luke 22:46/NASU)

The Greek for “Get up” in this passage is defined as “to rise, to stand up.” It’s used of a physical change of position or posture. It can also refer to being raised up from death. This defines the midnight shout that is now being proclaimed by the Lord through His trusted servants to those who are sleeping in the church. We MUST be awakened from our lethargic posture before it’s too late.

To arise from the dead (in heart) is to stand up, or to make a stand by not participating with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, separating yourself from them lest you be separated with them when the Lord acts (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). When we do this, in an act of consecration unto the Lord, sanctifying Christ as Lord in our hearts (1 Peter 3:15), He will shine on us for others to see His light. Without this we, and they, will not see the Way of salvation in Christ. This is why we who have received Jesus Christ as our Messiah must be careful how we walk, not foolishly but to understand what the will of the Lord is in order to then do it (Ephesians 5:15-17).

The Lord’s salvation of His people draws near and many are sleeping. God in His mercy will use a great shaking in the world at the end of this age to awaken those that have become lazy in their Christian walks and been given over to the spirit of deep sleep through continued participation with the works of darkness. As Paul declared in his letter to the Romans;

“…it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” (Romans 13:11-14/NASU)

Removing The Bride To Be

There is another event, a hidden one of great joy that is taking place during the deep sleep that has blanketed the Body of Christ in America. The Bible reveals it for us in Genesis when God formed Eve, the first bride. It says;

“The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned [“to build, establish, construct, rebuild”] into a woman the rib

which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.” (Genesis 2:20-22/NASU)

While the Body of the second Adam, who is Christ, is in a deep sleep that has been induced by the Lord Himself, He has removed His chosen ones who, because of their love and devotion to Him, will be established as His Bride. Like Eve, they are in the process of being built up in Him and will be presented back to Him as His beloved. They will be His perfected Bride, the pure children of the One who bore them (Song of Solomon 6:9). Her unveiling to the world will be for the glory of her Heavenly Bridegroom.

God’s Life-givers

The Bible tells us that Adam gave his newly presented bride the name Eve which means “life-giver.” She would be the one who, once implanted with the seed of her husband, would be used to bring forth, through labor and hardship, new life on earth in the image of her husband (Genesis 3:16). This new birth is being painfully continued on earth through those who are also known by the second Adam as His life-givers.

John declares that Jesus’ life is the light of men;

“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” (John 1:4-9/NASU)

This life-giving light does not originate from man, but from God. Jesus said;

“I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12/NASU)

His light-bearing followers are sent into the darkness of the world to testify about His Son so that those living in darkness may see that Jesus Christ is the Messiah that was sent to all mankind for our salvation.

When we walk in disobedience, His light remains hidden from those who do not yet possess Him. This is why Jesus exhorts His followers, saying;

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16/NASU)

Indeed, church, WE are His light for the world that must not be hidden through careless neglect and spiritual laziness of heart. LET your light shine before mankind before the deep darkness engulfs them in the great and terrible Day of the Lord’s vengeance on all wickedness. They must see and understand through His witnesses that the Savior of the world gave Himself at Calvary for their salvation.

Chapter Five

The Daily Portion

It’s been said that we are what we eat, meaning if we eat unhealthy foods we will in all probability become an unhealthy person. If, on the other hand, we eat that which is good and healthy for our bodies we will be a much healthier person. It’s a matter of discipline and consistency.

The same can be said regarding what we feed our spirits. The health of our spiritual lives is determined upon that which we habitually partake of. Are we regularly feeding ourselves on the Bread of Life, or that which makes our hearts and minds obese and lethargic? In whose presence do we most often receive our daily meals, the Lord or the world? There is a wonderful picture of this revealed for us within the Old Testament.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem while his servants were besieging it. Israel had, once again, wandered from obedience to the Lord’s commands thereby removing their hedge of protection from their enemies. Jehoiachin, the young king of Judah, went out to Nebuchadnezzar in the third year of his reign and was taken captive. He was then led into a long period of exile in Babylon.

In the thirty-seventh year of his exile, the newly crowned king of Babylon, Evil-merodach (ev-eel' mer-o-dak'), the son of Nebuchadnezzar, released Jehoiachan from prison. It’s recorded that he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor above the other kings who were with him in Babylon. The Bible doesn’t tell us why this occurred but you have to wonder if the years of sitting in prison had softened the heart of Jehoiachan giving him favor from God with his enemies to the point where he would not only be released but receive his meals in the presence of the king of Babylon.

The Bible tells us that, after his release;

“Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes and had his meals in the king's presence regularly all the days of his life; and for his allowance [“a meal, a ration of food”], a regular allowance was given him by the king, a portion for 25

each day, all the days of his life.” (2 Kings 25:29-30/NASU)

Jehoiachan’s name means “Jehovah will establish.” This passage of Scripture is a picture of the way a Christian is established in Christ. The biblical definition of establish is, “to rise up, to stand up, to confirm, to be proven, to place firmly.” The establishing of the covenant, therefore, is a separation from the old way of life and a joining together with Christ in His new way. It is the proving of our faith, thereby firmly establishing us in Him, resulting in our rising up.

After turning to Christ with a repentant heart, we enter the sanctifying process of the Holy Spirit. This lifelong process of change removes our “prison clothes” that were gained when we were bound in sin without parole, to the garments of those who have been miraculously set free. The Bible guides us, explaining how to put off the garments of death and put on the righteous garment of Christ.

In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul gave the following exhortation in regards to the putting off of our prison clothes and putting on the Lord Jesus Christ;

“The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” (Romans 13:12-14/NASU)

In this process of change we learn that we are not just commanded by God to do something, but that He helps us in our areas of weakness through the available power of the Holy Spirit. In this manner of working together with Him by hearing and then doing we become dressed, spiritually speaking.

The issue a Christian struggles with is in learning that just because something is available doesn’t mean that it is automatically going to happen. We still have the right of choice to accept or reject His power that is now available to us. It is in choosing to do God’s will that the prison clothes are removed, establishing the covenant within us, and we become free indeed (John 8:36) which, by definition, is to be free in actuality rather than theory or doctrine.

In his letter to the church in Ephesus (also see Colossians 3:1-17), Paul spoke of this matter of laying aside the corrupt garments of our old way of life that held us in bondage and putting on what he referred to as “the new self.” He said;

“ …that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” (Ephesians 4:22-24/NASU)

As you can see we have been given a part, a responsibility of working together with the Holy Spirit in the changing of our spiritual garments.

Eating In The King’s Presence

As already stated, after changing out of his prison clothes, Jehoiachan, we are told;

“ …had his meals [“bread, food”] in the king's presence regularly all the days of his life; and for his allowance [“a meal, a ration of food”], a regular allowance was given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.” (2 Kings 25:29-30/NASU)

The Hebrew for “portion” is dabar (daw-baw'). It’s defined as “a word, a matter (as spoken of), a thing.” Our King has also set aside a daily ration of Himself, the Bread of Life, specifically for each one of His children. It is His specific life-sustaining word, His breath of life for every matter of our life, each and every day, that will establish His Kingdom within us, and our trust in Him.

Leonard Ravenhill once said, “Men give advice; God gives guidance.” This is where the church often fails today. We are more willingly to receive the advice of men that is void of the Spirit than we are to wait upon the Lord for His wisdom. The lack of discernment among the Body regarding who is speaking is an indication of what we have been feeding on.

Regarding the issue of maturity in Christ, the writer of Hebrews said the following;

“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:11-14/NIV)

Our dullness in hearing, in particular “the teaching about righteousness, ” is a result of our lack of putting into practice what we have already heard.

Like a child, an infant in Christ is one who is still feeding on milk (i.e. elementary truths) rather than “solid food” that a mature person would feed on. As with an adult versus a child, as we mature we are more aware and discerning of that which we hear. You and I graduate to more “meatier” subjects as we put into practice what we have already heard and, as a result, “grow up” in Christ.

The more we hear and disobey the harder it becomes to hear God’s voice. Disobedience creates separation from Him. Obviously, the closer you are to someone the easier it is to hear and understand what they’re saying. The prophet Isaiah declared;

“…the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him... Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it. ’” (Isaiah 30:18, 21/NIV)

If we truly desire to hear the word of the Lord as His sheep then we will learn that obedience results in our ability to listen with discernment.

Paul wrote that, according to the Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, the question is not if He is able to establish us in Himself (Romans 16:25), but are we willing? It is through our continued refusal to obey the Holy Spirit and take off the prison garment of sin that we, like Judas, excuse ourselves from the Lord’s table. Solomon declared;

“A man will not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will not be moved.” (Proverbs 12:3/NASU)

Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone

May we learn, with childlike dependence, to pray every day as Jesus taught us, saying; “Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:13/NASU) He will not reject our obedience to this humble prayer of dependency upon His daily guidance. You have to believe that He longs to converse with His children more than we do with Him.

Job 23:11-12 declares;

“My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.”(NIV)

Solomon, in confessing his heart’s desire, pleaded with the Lord;

“Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.” (Proverbs 30:7-8/NIV)

The good news is the Lord never gives His children day old bread. It’s fresh and alive each and every day for the spiritual nourishment of all those who would come and dine with Him. The daily bread of His presence is able to give us His life all the days of our lives. This is the only way for us to become Christ’ “life-givers” unto others. It is only through the victorious life of Christ that mankind is saved (John 1:4).

Jesus said;

“I am the bread of life… I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh [“body”]. ” (John 6:48, 51/NASU)

To partake of Him is to partake of His life-giving body that is for the salvation of the world. This life is not only for us, but is to also be given to others. His body of followers are, through obedience, to make visible His offer of life to those who are dying in their sin.

Jesus continued sharing about the life that comes through Himself, saying;

“As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:57-58/NASU)

Right after His baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. When He had fasted for forty days and nights He became hungry. It was then that the devil said to Him;

“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:3-4/NASU)

Jesus was quoting Moses who had warned the Israelites, right before

entering the Promised Land, to remember the ways through which God had led them in their wilderness journey of forty years. He said;

“He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:3/NASU)

Interestingly enough, both accounts of Jesus and the Israelites involved the wilderness and food as a test. The difference between them is that while Jesus remained faithful to the Father’s will rather than His human passions and desires (Galatians 5:23), the Israelites did not. Jesus stood firm, resisting the devil, and returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:14).

Those among the children of Israel who saw the power of God release them from the bondage of Egypt, and then rebelled against His leading in the wilderness, died in the corrupt power of their own spirit, never entering the Promised Land. They reveal to us that the promise alone of entering in wasn’t enough. It would require their working together with the Lord by not receiving His grace shown toward them in vain, which means without the desired effect of conformity by the Spirit to the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 6:1).

Removing The Daily Sacrifice/The Regular Allowance

We must understand that this lack of waiting before the Lord for our daily portion, our daily word from Him is an independent spirit that denies Jesus Christ as our Lord (i.e. lordship). It is the spirit of antichrist that desires to reign in the children of God, defiantly fighting against Christ’s lordship over us, grieving the Holy Spirit.

In essence, what we are saying when we do not eat daily from the King’s table is that we can walk this life in Christ without Him. What we soon learn is the absolute truth from Jesus that, “apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

In the Bible we are told that after Daniel’s vision of a ram and a goat, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to give him understanding (Daniel 8). The ram had two horns which represented the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat with a large horn between his eyes that came from the west, he was told, represented the kingdom of Greece.

When the male goat magnified himself after defeating the ram, his horn broke and four others grew in its place. Out of one of the four came another horn which started small but grew in power. I know there is a lot of symbolism in all this, but I want to point something out that I believe is

significant to our discussion.

Daniel says that the small horn, as it grew in power, magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host of heaven. It then removed the daily sacrifice from Him and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down (remember 2 Chron. 7:19-22 on p.8 which said “ …and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight…”). Paul refers to this same thing in 2 Thessalonians, chapter two.

He says in reference to the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction who opposes God and exalts himself that, “he takes his seat in the temple of God [which, today, is within His people], displaying himself as being God.” It is through the act of self-glorification within the hearts of God’s people that the place of His sanctuary within us is destroyed. We declare ourselves as lord when we choose to follow our will over God’s.

The Hebrew for daily sacrifice is the same word interpreted in English as the “regular allowance” in 2 Kings, chapter twenty five. This self-glorifying leader who presents himself in Daniel as God before the sheep is similar to many shepherds in the church today who lord their position over others.

Their doctrines teach that a daily ration of the Bread of Life and our daily sacrifice unto God is really not necessary after turning to Christ for you to be saved/delivered from the evil that desires to master you. Like the Pharisees, their authority originates from themselves instead of God. By their arrogance they are destroying the sheep of His pasture.

The evidence of their rebellion is the apathy in the Body of Christ that now plagues us. There is little concern for the necessity of Christ’s life being daily infused within us so as to keep us from the danger of becoming, as I said earlier, “twice dead” (Jude 12).

They give a false sense of security to those who resist the Lord’s reign over their daily life, telling them they have “Peace, peace” when there is none;

“They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’” (Jeremiah 23:17/NIV)

In other words, “You are secure in your salvation. You will be delivered from evil even though you walk in the stubbornness of your heart.” There will be much blood on their hands if they continue without repentance.

Our acceptance of falsehood has created a false sense of security within the majority of the church in America. There is very little understanding regarding the necessity of diligence in our Christian walk to “make certain about His calling and choosing you” (2 Peter 1:10).

Many are no longer concerned about Peter’s exhortation to “be diligent to be found by Him [Jesus Christ] in peace, spotless and blameless” so as to be

saved when the heavens and earth are destroyed by fire (2 Peter 3:10-15). A reverent fear of God and His judgment among His people is rare these days. The evidence is the low spiritual state of the church in America.

At the end of chapter eight Gabriel describes what the king, pictured by the small horn, will be like. He had started by telling Daniel that the vision he had been given pertained to “the time of the end” (Daniel 8:17). Gabriel stated that this self-centered, egotistical king will destroy mighty men and “the holy people. ” He continues by saying;

“He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure [a false sense of security], he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.” (Daniel 8:25/NIV)

Judging by the great falling away from the truth in our day, we appear to be close to this time of the end Gabriel referred to. May we all examine ourselves, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal the true condition of our hearts.

The only way for the church to be built up in Christ is through “the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. ” (Acts 9:31) Instead of a demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that people’s faith might rest on God, their faith, more often than not, rests on the wisdom of men.

The Lord will soon remove the hirelings that have led us into the spiritual wilderness we now find ourselves in, and will raise up shepherds with His heart. Currently, most are unknown because they do not attend man’s schools of dead religion and useless rituals. They may be unknown to man but the devil fears their appearing. He knows who speaks with the authority of God and who speaks on their own behalf.

Chapter Six

Alert And Sober Minded

To be awakened as a Christian is to become alert (watchful) and sober minded. You are cautious in regards to your Christian walk, being careful not to become slothful, indulging in sin with those who walk in darkness. This is particularly crucial in these last days before the return of Christ when He comes to deal with the wickedness on this earth. Paul said to the Thessalonian Christians;

“Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert [“to keep awake, to watch, i.e. give strict attention to”] and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on [“to enter into, get into, as in clothes”] the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11/NASU)

Paul compares this place of being slothful in our devotion to Christ to the darkness of night when most people do their sleeping and drinking. He exhorts us to be careful, living a life of self-control and obedience, putting on the provision of the Lord, His garment of salvation, so as to be ready for His 33

return.

The day of the Lord is a day of His wrath, a day of deep darkness that will cover the earth (Isaiah 60:2). Without the light of His word illuminating the way in which we should go, we will find ourselves dwelling in the dark, unable to see the path leading to our salvation. We are in the day of His mercy now. It is a door in the ark of His deliverance, though, that will not be open forever.

Forfeiting God’s Grace; Receiving It In Vain

After being in the stomach of the great fish for three days and three nights, Jonah repented. The Bible records his prayer for us. To be truthful I wonder why it took that long. You would have thought that this would have happened much sooner. Then again we are talking about a man who was also upset when the citizens of Nineveh repented. He would rather have seen God wipe them out. There was an obvious issue here regarding Jonah’s attitude towards these people. Humility does not appear to have been one of his strengths.

Toward the end of his prayer Jonah declared;

“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit [“to loosen, to leave, to forsake, to depart from, to let go”] the grace that could be theirs.” (Jonah 2:8/NIV)

The NKJV version of the Bible says; “Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy.”

Is this possible for New Testament believers to let go of their saving grace by the mercy of God? Many would say, “No, because the Lord said that He would never leave us or forsake us.” (I will discuss this further in Chapter Thirty Eight; Remaining In Christ.)

What if, though, we choose, through continued disobedience without repentance or the fear of the Lord, to leave and forsake (forfeit) Him, as the children of Israel often did? The Lord told faithless Judah; “And you will, even of yourself, let go [“to release, to let drop or loose or rest or fall”] of your inheritance that I gave you.” (Jeremiah 17:4/NASU) That which we, through our own stubbornness, have loosed on earth will then be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:19, 18:18). This is why the New Testament explicitly warns us in more than one place to “hold firmly” onto what we have heard and “received.”

Paul said to the church in Corinth that had received the gospel;

“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have

believed in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-2/NIV)

The phrase “hold firmly” is defined in the Greek as “to hold fast, to keep secure, to retain.” Thankfully, we are not commanded to do this by our own strength. The Holy Spirit is there to help us in our weakness. He is more than able to help us guard the “good deposit” within us (2 Timothy 1:12-14), if we will look to Him in our time of need.

Also, to believe “in vain” is defined as to believe “without reason or effect.” Remember, in an earlier discussion we read when Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day that had invalidated the word of God for the sake of their traditions (Matthew 15:6). We saw that to invalidate God’s word is to render it void, to deprive it of force and authority, resulting in it having no effect on people’s lives. Transformation is not automatic. It is a result of our working together obediently with the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 6:1).

So yes, by the authority of these verses, and many more (Hebrews 3:6, 14, 4:14, 10:23; Rev. 2:13, 3:11), it is possible to let go of God’s grace. Understanding the fallen nature of man and our tendency to drift away from the Lord is crucial in our walks with Him. As Paul revealed in his letters, the Holy Spirit is very patient with us, convicting us to repent and return when we sin, but we must understand that there is a line with God. His grace is not a license to continue in sin without repentance and should be treated with great respect lest we loose ourselves from it.

The truth of this matter, for those who still have ears to hear, should place the fear of the Lord in our hearts in order to keep us near Him, pursuing the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Knowing this, may we be on guard so that we may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from our “secure position.” (2 Peter 3:16-18/NIV)

A Second Chance

Having spent three days and three nights in the stomach of the fish, Jonah readily went where he was told to by God;

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.’ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days' walk. Then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk; and he cried out and said, ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’” (Jonah 3:1-4/NASU)

Often when God calls you to proclaim something in His name He will not

give you the full proclamation until you “arise and go.” The same thing happened to Moses. God told him that on his way back to Egypt He would teach him what to say and what to do (Exodus 4:12, 15). First, though, he had to get going.

The Hebrew for “overthrown” is haphak (haw-fak'). Its definition reveals something very interesting. It means “to turn, to overthrow, to overturn; by implication, to change, overturn, return, pervert.” We see through this that when God sends a message of coming judgment it comes with an offer to repent. His mercy is to let us know first before He acts. If we repent we’ll be spared, like Nineveh. If not we will suffer the consequences, no matter what we claim to be with our mouth.

The Proclamation

This part of the narrative is incredible to me. It shows the desired result of crying out against wickedness. The Bible states that after Jonah walked through Nineveh, declaring that God’s judgment would occur in forty days, that they miraculously repented and God relented;

“Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, ‘In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.’ When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way [see 2 Chron. 7:14], then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” (Jonah 3:5-10/NASU)

When an individual repents, they are forgiven and protected from God’s judgment. When a father repents, he and those under the covering of his home are protected. When the leader of a city or nation proclaims a fast for its citizens under their care to earnestly call upon God and to turn from their wicked ways, a much greater segment of the population, even a nation, can be spared. This has, in fact, been witnessed numerous times by our nation throughout our history.

America’s Previous National Proclamations

Due to the increasing resistance against their rule, England declared on June 12, 1775 that the American colonies would now be under martial law. In response, the Continental Congress, on July 20th recommended to Christians of all denominations to assemble for public humiliation, fasting and prayer. (America’s Providential History [APH], p. 142)

In response to a miraculous victory during our fight for independence, the Continental Congress again proclaimed a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to God. On October 17, 1777 British General Burgoyne was defeated by Colonial forces at Saratoga. In part of their national declaration, Congress made the following statement;

“Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God,… and it having pleased Him in His abundant mercy… to crown our arms with most signal success… it is therefore recommended… to set apart Thursday, the 18th of December, for solemn thanksgiving and praise… They [Continental Congress] recommended for everyone to confess their sins and humbly ask God, ‘through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance’ and thus He then would be able to pour out His blessings upon every aspect of the nation.” [APH, p.162-163]

At the beginning of America’s civil war, the South was enjoying phenomenal success in almost every major battle. This caused President Abraham Lincoln to seek God for the reasons why. He came to the understanding that our nation’s chief sins were slavery and pride which resulted in his issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. It declared all slaves to be free in the states that were still in rebellion as of January 1, 1863.

He then called for a national Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer throughout the North on April 30, 1863. In part of his proclamation he declared;

“…It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord… we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown; but we have forgotten God… we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with

unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.

It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, and confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” [APH, p.236-237]

Within two days of this national Day of Prayer, God intervened in an unexpected way. The great southern General Stonewall Jackson, who had never lost a battle, was accidently shot by his own troops. It would result in his left arm being amputated. On May 10, 1863, he died.

Soon afterward, the Battle of Gettysburg would take place, marking the turning point of the war, and the fall of the South. Without Jackson, and God’s assistance in their effort, they would soon be defeated.

There would be other governmental proclamations for our citizens to seek God in our nation’s critical moments, imploring us to humbly confess our sins and admit our dependence upon Him to intervene on our behalf. It has been awhile, but for the sake of many souls in need of salvation through that which we have begun to experience, we need it to occur once again.