I’ve been working on this series a little while, meditating and pondering it.
The truth of our testimony to the world, both what it is and what it should be, is striking. The gap between them seems large and difficult to bridge, but I know that God will have a pure Bride for Himself. One that He will wash with the word.
But She will also make herself ready. She will respond to the call and come out of Babylon. She won’t talk about coming out of Babylon … she won’t preach about the Jezebel of the world … she will actually come out of Babylon and exorcise the Jezebel within her.
This purity will have ramifications in the world. On one hand, there is a rejection of the world that must take place. On the other hand, we are ministers of reconciliation to people within the world. It is a tense relationship. Without the testimony, however, very little reconciliation and redemption will take place.
The testimony of the Church is essential for the message of reconciliation. We learn in Revelation that the saints overcame the Devil by “the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto the death.” We talk a lot about the blood of the Lamb … but one out of three ain’t enough.
This purity also has ramifications for the Church. It means we must die to ourselves, to the things we want, to take the blood of the Lamb and become a radical witness to all around us who dare to see with different eyes. It will mean we have to continue to repent and change, to evolve into that pure Bride that will be spoken of by Christ: “Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.” This purity will force the world to make a decision, whether they want to or not. And they will make a decision. We will be persecuted and mocked and shamed.
It will ultimately look like we will lose. Which is why, in the realm of megachurches and people out to change the world and use God to get rich, this is the narrow way.
The following series is a quick look at what the Church should be known for, what Her testimony should be before a lost and dying world.
And at the end, we should all ask ourselves the following questions: “Is this true?” and, more importantly, “Will I do it?”
Let’s see.
Peace.