The Fruitage of the Age

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Short Summary
The discourse reflects on the role of watchers who observe prophetic events without claiming the ability to predict or interpret them, emphasizing the importance of realigning one’s heart with God’s purposes during times of geopolitical turmoil, particularly in the Middle East. It discusses the necessity of understanding the divine plan of the ages and the evolving requirements for being considered God’s people, as illustrated by John the Baptist’s ministry, which called for a heart condition of repentance and genuine faith, rather than mere lineage or outward appearances. Ultimately, the speaker highlights that true alignment with God involves continuous reassessment of one’s heart in light of scriptural truths and the unfolding of prophecy, urging listeners to focus on developing a kingdom heart responsive to God’s will.

Long Summary
Summary of the Discourse:

Geopolitical Context: The talk is inspired by current events in the Middle East, which tie into prophetic viewpoints held by the speaker and the audience.

Role of Believers:
– The speaker emphasizes that members of the Church are not prophets with the ability to foresee future events.
– Rather than attempting to predict outcomes, believers are watchers observing how prophecies are fulfilled and aligning their hearts with God’s actions.

Understanding Prophecy:
– The importance lies in grasping the spirit and truth behind prophecies, not just the letter or text.
– The necessity for realignment is due to human prejudices related to ethnicity and temperament.
– Paul’s message in Colossians 1:13 highlights that believers have been translated into God’s kingdom, where their thoughts should align with kingdom principles rather than worldly perspectives.

Divine Plan of the Ages:
– The speaker introduces the framework of the divine plan, consisting of ages and dispensations that outline how God interacts with His people over time.
– Each dispensation comes with specific requirements, illustrated by the example of Abraham, who could only be a friend of God during the patriarchal age due to the restrictions of that time.

Reassessment Process:
– Observing current conflicts prompts a reassessment of what it means to be considered God’s people, especially concerning the natural seed of Abraham at the end of the Jewish age.
– The speaker poses questions about the requirements for being deemed God’s people and how these differ from those at the beginning of the age.

John the Baptist’s Role:
– The speaker references Luke 3, detailing John the Baptist’s prophetic ministry as crucial in preparing the hearts of the people for the Messiah.
– John is compared to Old Testament prophets and is shown to have a divine calling to prepare the way for Jesus.

Prophetic Message:
– John’s message included a call for repentance and highlighted the need for genuine heart readiness to receive Jesus.
– He emphasized that mere lineage or the claim of being Abraham’s descendants was insufficient; true children of God must demonstrate faith through actions.

Heart Condition:
– A recurring theme is the importance of heart condition over external identity. 1 Samuel 16:7 is referenced, noting that while man looks at outward appearances, God looks at the heart.
– John warns that without bearing good fruit, individuals risk judgment, as seen in Luke 3:9 where he states that every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down.

Examples of Required Behavior:
– The speaker discusses three examples from Luke 3, addressing how people should act in light of repentance:
Sharing with the needy (Luke 3:10-11).
Tax collectors must be honest and fair (Luke 3:12-13).
Soldiers should avoid extortion and be content (Luke 3:14).

Fulfillment of Prophecy:
– The discourse reflects on how John’s ministry and Jesus’ actions fulfilled Old Testament prophecies, particularly regarding the regathering of God’s people.
– The expectation of judgment is linked to the faithful versus the unfaithful.

Final Reflections:
– The speaker concludes that understanding prophecy requires humility and willingness to reassess personal views.
– Emphasis is placed on aligning hearts with God’s will, acknowledging that the journey of faith is ongoing and that God looks for hearts striving for alignment with Him.

Biblical References:
Colossians 1:13: Translated into God’s kingdom.
Luke 3: John the Baptist’s ministry and messages.
1 Samuel 16:7: God looking at the heart.
Luke 3:9: Judgment on unfruitful trees.

This discourse serves as both a theological reflection on the role of prophecy and a practical guide for believers on how to align their hearts with God’s purpose, especially during times of uncertainty and change.

Transcript

The idea for this talk came as a result of geopolitical events in the Middle East.

When events take place that are connected to a prophetic viewpoint that we hold, it is an opportunity for us to realign and reassess our position.

We realign by first acknowledging that we are not prophets. It is not given to the prospective members of the Church at this moment in time to foresee future events. On this we all agree. I would even say we are not even in a school of prophets in that it is not really given to us to interpret prophecy. Looking back over the years, I see time and time again when interpretations of events turned out to be incorrect.

Predictions of economic, political, social and religious trends and outcomes have always turned out differently than expected.

Instead of prophets, our scriptural role is watchers on a watchtower. We are merely observers. We are looking at events and seeing how prophecy is fulfilled, and the reason that we are given this role as watchers is so that we can realign our hearts with to what God is doing at the present time, and the ideal that we are trying to enter into is to fully enter into the necessity and justice of the time of trouble, while at the same time have hearts that are full of sympathy for the suffering and groaning creation.

As in all things, brethren, we know that the importance is not in the understanding of the letter or the text of a prophecy as much as we are to understand the Spirit, the truth behind it, and then align ourselves with that truth. The necessity for continued realignment is because we are in the flesh. We have prejudices of ethnicity, of temperament, and even our prophetic perspective. But to counterbalance this, all of us desire to have what we might term kingdom hearts. As the Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13.

We have been translated into God’s kingdom, where the thought is transplanted into God’s kingdom. We think along the lines of kingdom principles. While the present world does not operate on kingdom principles, consequently, our thinking will always be out of alignment with the world. It is impossible for us to take sides in a conflict because our side is not represented. Our side is God’s side, whose timing and methods are still hidden even from us.

We are waiting to see how these methods, according to his timing, will bring about the full establishment of the kingdom, drawing men’s hearts to himself. So that’s why we are observers, watchers, who are constantly realigning our hearts. The second part of this process is reassessment, and we are given a framework in which we can do this process, and that framework is the divine plan of the ages, which in its most pared down form is an understanding of dispensations, how God deals with his people throughout the ages, and throughout the ages are dispensations.

God sets forth requirements and restrictions with the people of that age. For example, during the patriarchal age, at the beginning of the second dispensation, the most that Abraham could ever be was a friend of God. As sonship was not yet dispensationally open. That was the restriction from the Scriptures. We do learn what was required of Abraham, the level of demonstrated faith that was necessary to attain even to this friendship.

The framework of the plan is our foundation for looking at prophecy. Because the restrictions and the requirements this foundation are clearly seen. Our understanding of prophecy must always yield to this framework, and that is what I call the process of reassessment, of prophetic understanding. So as I observe the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, I find myself in a process of reassessment and realignment.

And the question I constantly ask myself is, am I properly observing events using God’s perspective, using a kingdom heart? And so today, brethren, I would like to share with you just one aspect of my ongoing reassessment and realignment process.

I’d like to present a question to you today.

What were the requirements to be considered God’s people, the natural seed of Abraham at the end of the Jewish age? I’ll repeat that. What were the requirements to be considered God’s people, the natural seed of Abraham at the end of the Jewish age, and then consequently a follow up is what is still required today to be considered the natural seed in God’s eyes.

Now we all agree that God’s plan consists of ages and dispensations, and what is required of God’s people at the end of an age is much, much greater than what is required of them at the beginning of that age, and that is why there is a harvest at the end of each age. What is planted at the beginning of the age must grow and develop and mature, and the fruitage of the age is revealed in in the harvest.

So let’s turn to the last message exclusively given to God’s people at the end of the Jewish age during their harvest, and that is the message of John the Baptist as given in Luke chapter three. Luke chapter three.

We read in Luke chapter three, verse two, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. Let’s pause here and consider what this means. Sometimes we have the tendency to think that John the Baptist, being the cousin of Jesus was quick to discern Jesus role and mission. But this scripture is telling us that John had a prophetic calling from God. Like a prophet of old, like Jeremiah, like Isaiah, like Amos or Ezekiel, John was given prophetic utterances as a mouthpiece of Jehovah and in addition to prophetic utterance.

Reading on in verse three, and he went into all the region around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We see that just like Elijah, one of the early prophets, John did prophetic works among the people in an effort to turn their heart back to Jehovah. We remember that Jesus will say of John, he was a prophet. Yes, more than a prophet.

I tell you, among those born of women, there are none is greater than John, and so we must remember that it is by revelation, by divine authority, that John links his own work and ministry to that of the coming Messiah. He quotes Isaiah, chapter 40, verses 3 to 5, and applies part of that prophecy to himself and by implication, part of that prophecy to the Messiah Jesus, and this linkage is found in all four gospels, emphasizing the importance of this revelation. So let’s read Luke, chapter three, verses four to six, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah, the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

John has been given something unusual. Not a new prophecy, but a revealment of an existing prophecy of Isaiah. This prophecy utilizes a recurring image throughout the Book of Isaiah. It depicts a highway that the prophet saw to be built between Babylon and Jerusalem. It was to be used by the exiled people of Israel as they were being regathered back to the land where they once again would be God’s people and receive his blessings.

But as we know, no such literal highway was ever built. While Jewish people did return to the land of Israel following caravan routes, the Persian Empire did not invest in road construction. They did not smooth out the holes and bumps. They didn’t grade the rocky areas, they didn’t shore up the shifting sand dunes. In fact, when we think of all of the prophecies that were made about a return to the land after the captivity, none of them were fully fulfilled.

They were promised Ezekiel’s temple, a grand structure, instead rebuilt a temple that made the old men cry because it was so pitiful in its construction. They were promised a land of fruitfulness and prosperity.

But we read of want privation all throughout Ezra and Nehemiah. They were promised a restored kingdom led by a son of David, where all nations would come to its light.

But instead they were soon reconquered by Alexander the Great’s army.

Their regathering to the land was unattended by the blessings they had expected. Here in Luke 3. John, by prophetic utterance was telling the nation that their regathering back from their captivity and their present status in the land of Israel, even their temple, was but a shadowy fulfillment of their real, true, higher regathering under their Messiah. Only then would they be received back into a full relationship with God. So John the Baptist was preparing the hearts, men’s hearts at that time, so that they would be able to enter this way, this way back to a full relationship with God.

By the end of the Jewish age. There was only one way open to them to have that full relationship with God, and that is through their belief in the Messiah. The fulfillment of this highway through the desert leading to the promised land is Jesus and our Lord himself said in John 14, verse 6, I am the Way, the Truth and the life. No one, no one comes to the Father, except through me. The force of this picture upon the minds of the early church is evidenced as how they refer to themselves as those in the Way.

And this is seen throughout the book of Acts. Let’s just read the first example of this in Acts, chapter 9, verses 1 and 2, Acts 9:1:2. But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Let’s consider this concept. But even after the captivity had ended, the nation was still exiled from God. The work of Jesus in regathering God’s people is further illustrated as his work as a shepherd. His message was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel that he was gathering into his sheepfold. The Jews were living in the land, they were living under the law, but they were still considered lost, in need of regathering outsiders still in an exiled condition.

And why was this? It was because their hearts had never fully re embraced their covenant obligations. John the Baptist’s role was to bring them into a state of heart readiness in order to receive the gospel message. What was required first was that one needed to acknowledge that his or her heart was not right and in need of forgiveness in order to be able to come to a full relationship with God, and so the emphasis that we note within this regathering process is making ready the heart condition.

And brethren, I just want to step away from Luke 3 just for a minute. So there is no question in its secondary sense, I do apply Isaiah 40 to the regathering of the natural seed from their diaspora, culminating in a renewed relationship with God. But even in the secondary application of the Scripture, we must not forget that the true regathering involves the heart. A physical regathering should just be and outward evidence of the heart condition.

And I think this is further evidenced in that the nation of Israel is but the first of the world of mankind to be regathered back on a highway to God. As we Read in Isaiah 19, verses 23 and 24, Isaiah 19, 23 and 24, in that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians, and that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria a blessing in the midst of the earth.

So brethren, these images of a highway on which the regathered travel toward a renewed relationship toward God really represent the process of developing a proper heart condition leading to true worship, and these images are applicable to the Jewish age, to the Gospel age, and to the millennial age.

This heart condition should have been the fruitage of the Jewish age, and John the Baptist, while directing the minds of Israel to this requirement, also signaled that this fruitage was missing. Excuse me. As he says in Luke 3:7, 8, Luke 3, 7, 8, he said, therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, and we might add, to the majority, he said, you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, but to a much smaller group whose hearts had the potential to be regathered, he said, bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

In his role of preparing them for the way, John identifies the main problem with their heart condition, he says in Luke 3, 8, and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able of these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Even at the end of the Jewish age, the people considered themselves to be the chosen people of God, regardless of their hearts, regardless of how they acted.

And I think we need to pause and consider the implications of John’s prophetic warning. Their claim to be God’s chosen people was based on the immutability of the Abrahamic promise to Them. But God, through his promise prophetic mouthpiece, is telling them he can keep that promise in ways unknown to them, and this lesson, which should have been learned by the natural seed at the end of the Jewish age, is still the same today, and so today, brethren, as we consider who constitutes the natural seed of Abraham in God’s eyes, it is going to be much more than a passport and much more than a genetic test.

Man looks upon the outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart.

This absence of fruitage evoked a prophetic judgment upon that generation. John says in Luke 3, 9, even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. These trees, plural, representing individuals, are henceforth required to not only have faith in the Abrahamic promise, but also works demonstrating that faith. Otherwise their fate is not to be just cut down, but cast into the fire.

Their standing with God will be terminated.

And so today, as we consider who constitutes the natural seed of Israel in God’s eyes, the same fruitage is required.

So now we have seen John interpret Old Testament prophecy for the nation. We have seen him do a work of baptizing and preaching remission of sins. We have seen John identify the leading impediment to a right condition of heart. But this was not enough for this faithful, loving man of God, because he also taught the people on an individual basis how to achieve the fruitage that was required of them. Luke gives three examples of this individual council.

And what is particularly interesting about these three examples is that none of these lessons, none of these were lessons that were given at the beginning of the Jewish age. They were all lessons that should have been learned through the experiences that the people went through subsequent to the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. Let’s look at each of these examples in turn. Example number one, found in Luke, chapter three, verses 10 and 11, which says, and the crowds asked him, what then shall we do? And he answered them, whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none.

And whoever has food is to do likewise. Now, brethren, we know that the conditions of hunger and want did not exist at the beginning of the Jewish age. The Israelites were miraculously provided for with manna and even with quail. Their clothes and their shoes didn’t even wear out during their 40 years in the wilderness, and this idea for providing for those in need is not part of the law at Sinai.

Instead, if you were destitute, you went into voluntary servitude and waited for A jubilee year. But it was a lesson that was learned via their subsequent experiences. Lets turn to Isaiah 58.

This chapter is telling of a time when the nation of Israel, back from Babylonian captivity, back in the land, were not receiving the promised blessing of prosperity. They complained to the Lord saying, but we are keeping all the fasts marking each tragic event, the destruction of Jerusalem. But God says to them that the fasts have not developed the proper fruitage. As we Read in Isaiah 58, verses 6 and 7. Is not this the fast that I choose to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and to bring the homeless poor into your home when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh.

The lessons of these verses is that their own difficult experiences as a people were to broaden their hearts and sympathies. They were to identify with all those in distress and hunger and to recognize that they had an obligation to those in need. John the Baptist is reminding them that this is the fruitage that the Lord is looking for at the end of the Jewish age. Let’s look at example number two. In Luke 3, 12, 13 we read, tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, teacher, what shall we do?

And he said to them, collect no more than you are authorized to do.

Again we note that this was not a lesson to be learned at the beginning of the Jewish age. A general tax was not collected until the time of Solomon, and so there was no mention of this in the law at Sinai. Instead, it was a lesson to be learned via their subsequent experiences. Taxation under the Romans had a different character than taxation under the Israelite kings. The amount due to the Romans was paid up front by those holding the office of tax collector.

The tax collectors then went to the populace and collected monies to reimburse themselves, and this system, of course, opened the door to the tax collectors to collect more than the exact amount, and John the Baptist is reminding them of a heart condition that they should have developed, and I think the spirit of this lesson is beautifully illustrated by Nehemiah, who was the governor of Israel after the return from Babylon, and he was in charge of taxation for Persia and for his own administration, and we read of this in Nehemiah, chapter 5, verses 14 and 15.

Nehemiah 5, 14, 15. Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah from the 20th year to the 32nd year of Artaxerxes the king 12 years neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration 40 shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people, but I did not do so because of the fear of God.

The lesson here is twofold that any positions of authority were to be used for the benefit of others, and the other lesson was to guard against the temptation of greed. John the Baptist is reminding the tax collectors that this is the fruitage that the Lord was looking for at the end of the Jewish age. Let’s look at example number three. In Luke 3:14 we read Luke 3:14. Soldiers also asked him, and we what shall we do?

And he said to them, do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusations, and be content with your wages. Once again we note that this was a lesson that was not learned at the beginning of the Jewish age. As there was no standing army until the times of the kings, these Jewish soldiers were in the employ of the corrupt Herodian kings and carried out their orders. John the Baptist is pointing out to these soldiers who were in the habit of shaking down those in a less powerful position, that they had a personal responsibility to God and had to act better than their superiors. Because there were no professional soldiers at the beginning of the Jewish age, there are no specific restraints on their activities within the law at Sinai.

Instead, it was a lesson that was to be learned via their subsequent experiences, and we read of a similar scenario happening right before the destruction of Jerusalem by the princes or powerful men of Judah. In Ezekiel, chapter 22, verses 6 and 7 Ezekiel 22:67, we read, Behold the princes of Israel in you. Everyone according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood.

Father and mother are treated with contempt. In you the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you, and then jumping down to verses 12 to 16, in you they take bribes to shed blood and make gain of your neighbors by extortion. But me you have forgotten, declares the Lord God. Behold, I strike my hand at the dishonest gain that you have made and at the blood that has been in your midst.

Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will consume the uncleanness out of you, and you shall be profaned by your own doing in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

The lesson here is that the people were to learn and to recall the many instances of their history in which they were humiliated, oppressed, and cruelly treated, so that when they held the sword they were not to become militaristic, aggressive, merciless.

John the Baptist is reminding the soldiers that this is the fruitage that the Lord was looking for at the end of the Jewish age.

So, brethren, while these lessons while independent of the law at Sinai, these are lessons that should have been developed by the nation while under the law covenant. But it was not John the Baptist’s role to make manifest those who had developed fruitage and those who had not. Instead, that was the work of another one who was to come. As we read in Luke 3:15 17, as the people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ. John answered them all, saying, I baptize you with water.

But he who is mightier than I is coming the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. It was Jesus the Lord or owner of the harvest, who would reveal who was wheat and who was chaff, who had developed into fruitage, and who was just a husk of professions.

The true children of Abraham would be baptized with the Holy Spirit, whereas those who would no longer be categorized as the children of Abraham would experience the winnowing fan and the fire of trouble. We are not to think that those of a nation that rejected Jesus were merely reverted back to a status of God’s people, but just not members of the spiritual class.

And we are not to think that they would still have some claim to the promise. In thee and thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Jesus declared that that generation who rejected him would have a harder time in the day of judgment than the most idolatrous cities of the pagan world.

I think that when John the Baptist uttered this prophecy, he fully expected to witness its fulfillment. But when John was arrested and thrown into prison by King Herod Antipas, we read of an unexpected episode. We read in Luke 7:19, Luke 7:19, that John had sent two of his disciples to Jesus, asking him Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? I believe this was in response to Jesus not yet taking up the role of winnower and judge. John was not doubting the veracity of this prophecy that he had been given, and he was not doubting Jesus qualifications.

But he was sincerely asking if Jesus was going to be fulfilling this role or was he too just a precursor. Surprisingly, Jesus does not direct, does not directly answer this sincere question of John’s followers. Instead he says in Luke 7:22, and he answered them, go and tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind received their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up. The poor have good news preached to them.

In essence, Jesus points to other scriptural roles of the Messiah. These actions Jesus says, you have already seen.

This answer, however, is still somewhat mystifying. Was John to imply that all the work of the Messiah was to be found in Jesus, or is there something more to this answer? I think what is clear is that it was not given to John to know the details of God’s timeline in respect to Jesus and the nation, and yet it is clear that John did have the ability to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. To the extent that was given of John, more was not asked of him.

And for myself I find it very instructive how prophecy was fulfilled from our perspective. We look back and we see the harvest of the Jewish age and we are fully confident that Jesus did baptize with the Holy spirit at Pentecost. 37 years later, we see the destruction of the temple, the loss of Jewish political power and the dispersion of the people to all the nations roundabout, and consider that absolute proof that the threshing floor was made bare and the chaff was burnt with unquenchable fire.

But it is a legitimate question to ask how specifically, how was this specifically the Messiah’s doing? The fiery trouble began with the Roman Jewish war beginning in 66 AD. This was 33 years after Jesus death and resurrection. The war had nothing to do with Jesus teachings or with Christians for that matter. Instead, it started when the Jews staged protests against Roman taxation.

Yes, Jesus was in heaven in some sense overruling what was taking place on earth. But it is still different from his parresia where he actively engages in earth’s affairs. So the events of the end of the Jewish harvest are a far cry from what John the Baptist was expecting when he proclaimed, his fan is in his hand and he will winnow and he will Burn.

And I think this is a good reminder, brethren, that what looks obvious to us in prophecy, what the literal reading of the passage compels us to conclude, is not always how the prophecy is actually fulfilled. That is why we are watchers and observers of the fulfillment of prophecy and not foretellers returning to Jesus. Answer to John the Baptist’s question, are we to look for another? Jesus ends his message to John by saying in verse 23 of chapter 7, Blessed are all those who are not offended at me.

Brethren, we do not want our preconceived ideas of prophecy to become a stumbling block. We should not stake everything we have or belief in the Bible itself on what we consider at the time to be the obvious understanding of prophecy. We must embrace the necessity, as new creatures in earthen vessels, to reassess and realign.

With this Jesus message to John was over. We Learned in verse 24 that he waits until the messengers from John had left before turning to the crowds to speak to them of John. As we read in Luke 7:24, when John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. Jesus went on to indicate why they rejected John’s message and why they would reject Jesus. Here, John’s ministry ends.

His work of preparing the people’s hearts to be in a proper attitude to receive the message of the Messiah had reached its conclusion, and Jesus ministry comes into its fullness and it expands to include the invitation to become part of the kingdom of heaven.

So at this point in Luke chapter seven, at the end of the Jewish age, what are we left with? We’re left with two groups. The first are those who rejected John’s message. These are epitomized by the leaders of the people, the Sadducees in charge of the temple, the Pharisees with their strict oral teachings of the law, the doctors of the law that had become a hindrance to them, that their great learning had become a hindrance to them. These refused the baptism of John.

It was impossible for their hearts to accept Jesus, and so Jesus message to them is not one that holds out hope of them becoming his followers. His consistent message to this group throughout his ministry is of a coming judgment. They are not the children of Abraham. They are children of their father, the devil.

The other group that we see at this moment in time are those who did receive the baptism of John. These are the ones who felt the need of some form of repentance. They acknowledged that they were not right with God and they needed their Messiah to bring them back to God, and these are the crowds throughout Galilee and Judea who came to listen to Jesus, who were healed by Jesus, who proclaimed wonder and amazement at his miracles, and yet the vast majority of this group did not receive him, did not accept him.

Only a very small remnant of this group fully believed, fully believed on Jesus and were gathered into the Gospel age fold. Perhaps 120 in the upper room, 500 in Galilee, 3,000 on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, and a few thousand more during the exclusive favor to that nation. So perhaps 6,000 in total.

It is very sobering to think how few had the right heart condition to carry them forward to the Gospel age.

In this process of reassessment, for the first time I considered the whole ministry of John and I looked at it solely from the perspective of from the end of the Jewish age and not from the beginning of the Jewish age. It was impressed upon my mind how the promises of God are never automatic.

The promises can never be received without a measure of faith and the proper heart condition that God is looking for.

And as we apply these principles to our day, I am led to the realization that that the emphasis of the message comfort ye, comfort ye applies to my people. My people, God’s people, are those who learn the further bitter lessons of having their house cast off during this almost 2000 year diaspora. It is only this group whose hearts have been touched that will eventually be able to look upon him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him, and so, as observers, we are keenly interested in how God shapes world affairs in fulfillment of his word of prophecy, as well as how God shapes His people to embed his high standard upon their hearts.

This reassessment process is intended to have a work upon our own hearts, and of course I am very confident in the hearts of the brethren. Even when we have prophetic differences, our hearts, known and read of the Lord are pleasing and and acceptable to Him, and I take comfort in the fact that the Lord does not necessarily expect us to come up with all the right answers. What he wants are hearts that strive to align themselves with Him.

May the Lord add His blessing.

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