November 2019
For Such A Time As This
Esther 4:14 – “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
Recently I posted on the SRT Restorers page, the following prophetic comment given by Charles Spurgeon back in the 19th century. It is my claim that this is more relevant today, than it was back when he shared it. Here it is again.
“By prophetic vision I see gathering another opposition which will be as difficult to cope with as any that has gone before. I see mustering within the ranks of the church of God men who say they hate all creeds, meaning that they despise all truth, men who would fain be ministers amongst us and yet tread under foot all that we hold sacred, not teaching at first the fullness of their infidelity, but little by little gathering courage to vent their unbelief’s and heresies. Credo phobia is maddening many. They appear to fear lest they should believe anything, and to hope that there is something good to be found in atheism, or devil worship, — indeed in all religions except the only true one.” ~ Charles Spurgeon.
There is no doubt that the teachings of the Scriptures and founding principles of Christianity are under huge attack in the Western world at the moment. It is becoming increasingly unacceptable, to proclaim the ways of the Lord in any sphere of society. Truth is despised.
Does this mean Christianity will be defeated and collapse? No – that is never going to happen. God will raise up a standard. His Word and His ways will not be mocked or thwarted. Psalm 2 tells us that He sits in the heavens and laughs when such attempts are made on His Kingdom. However, the Psalmist reveals that He doesn’t laugh for long – He launches into action against those who rail against Him.
Knowing that to be the case the ball comes back into our court. If God is always going to be faithful to His Word and His people, our choice, like Esther’s, is whether we are going to be part of God’s action or whether we will withdraw to the sideline, choosing to keep the peace and maintain the favour of those who are opposing the way of the Lord.
In 2 Tim. 1:14 Paul instructs us to: Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.
If we succumb to this pressure, we will lose the treasure Christ died to bring us, both personally and in our societies. This is a time to stand fast, encourage one another daily and refuse to conform to the world’s system.
This will not be easy. Not only will we come under attack, but we will also be confronted by the fact that the counterfeits of the worlds system may well bring people out of some of the bondages. We will be accused of despising their “freedom.”
But the question is this – what life are they bringing these people into? All that is happening ultimately, is a transfer of bondages, not the embrace of freedom, and we owe it to society to offer it more than that.
This is not to say that we go out onto the streets and start a physical revolution. That is not the way of the Kingdom. We need to ask God what role He has assigned to us both personally and in our communities and seek to be faithful in that regard.
For some it will be intercessory prayer, others will seek to establish the way of the Lord in education, science, economics. Others will confront the situation in the political arena or in areas of poverty or in justice and law. Not everyone is confrontational – that is fine, but we all should be alarmed at what is happening around us today and asking God “what do you require from me today in order to see your ways upheld?”
One thing we need to make clear today, is that we are not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation (Rom 1:16) and our societies are in desperate need of salvation right now.
As the Israelites were guaranteed victory if they would engage in the battle in obedience to God, we have been guaranteed victory because Christ has already fought and won. We simply have to step into it.
Remember, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us (Rom 8:37).
Let us rise and shine, for our light certainly has come and the glory of the Lord is always upon His people for such times as this.
God bless you,
Bruce Billington