Holiness Is Predetermined

“And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.” (Isa 1:25-27 AV)

Although this passage refers to the future reclamation of Israel, it needs be applied to our own nation and world!  There will come a time when Jesus returns to set up the kingdom promised to Israel’s forefathers.  Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, etc all looked for an eternal kingdom with the Messiah as king were righteousness would rule the kingdom.  This will come to pass.  Eventually.  The thing which Israel got wrong, and continues to get wrong is the nature of this kingdom.  It is righteousness.  They looked for a political kingdom.  They still do.  The other day, I read of hundreds of thousands of homosexuals marching in Jerusalem.  Who would have ever thought the holy city of God would sponsor or allow sodomites in their streets?  When Christ comes, there will be none of that!

The church is not that far behind.  Increasing so, there are professing Christians who accept all sorts of wicked behavior and try to justify it by distorting the scriptures.  From recreational use of alcohol and drugs, to fornication, to same-gender marriage, professing believers are at best, turning a blind eye to it.  At worst, accepting and even promoting it!

We need revival badly!  Like Israel, the church needs a purging.  It needs to get back to the clear and holy teachings of the word of God!  It needs to follow the laws and principles of the word of God while being a lighthouse to the lost world!  It needs to cleanse itself of the wickedness of the world.  God is not pleased.  This too is an eventuality.  When the church is raptured from the world, she will be cleansed!  Period.  No drunkenness.  No substance abuses.  No sodomy.  No filthiness of the world.  It will all be purged away.  Glory!  But she needs to strive in that direction every day and not wait for the LORD’s return!