When Joshua was leading Israel across the Jordon River to possess their Promised Land, an angel appeared to him. Joshua asked the angel if he were for them (Israel) or for their enemies, and he replied, “Neither, but I have come as the captain of the hosts of the Lord” (see Joshua 5:14). This may seem confusing since Israel was God’s people, and they were being led by God to possess the land He had promised them. Why would His captain not be on their side? Because the Lord is not coming to take sides—He’s coming to take over.

All Scripture References are NAS unless indicated.

Newsweek Magazine recently boasted that Christianity in America was dead. This slap in the face to the church in America only served to wake her up. Many took the comment and held it up before the Lord as Hezekiah did with the boasts of the Assyrian general against the Lord. It is most encouraging to see so many Christians responding to the continuous assault from those who hate or reject God. Many Christians are arising to proclaim that this is not a post-Christian America, but a pre-Christian America, because we are going to have a revival in America that eclipses all others.

The church will begin to take on more of a military mentality in the coming times. We are called to be an army, and in many ways we will start to reflect this in a much more serious and focused demeanor in the leadership and the people. There is something about conflict that does focus our senses. We have been in a war against darkness of the most desperate kind for the whole history of the church, but not all seem to understand this or live as they would if they did understand it. This, too, will be changing as more of God’s people come to this understanding.

The church is going through a transition right now. The form of the church that has evolved through the last few centuries will not be able to survive the coming times. Like John the Baptist was honored by the Lord, we should honor the church of the past for all that it has accomplished. But another type of leadership is being raised up that we must now follow. One will decrease and one will increase.

As we are still discussing the important subject of church government, which will also become a pattern for the coming kingdom government, the first principle in establishing and maintaining true spiritual authority is keeping the Lord as the Head of the church. Even the most perfectly biblical form of church government can be used to supplant His headship if we do not keep this main thing the main thing.

This may seem like quite a diversion from our study of end time prophecies to be doing such an extensive study of the works of the flesh listed in Galatians 5:18-21.However, this understanding is essential if we are going to be prepared for the end times, or for today. It is far more important to be abiding in the Lord than just understanding what is going to happen in these times. It is only by abiding in Him so that we see with His eyes, hear with His ears, and begin to understand with His heart, that we can see and understand anything correctly, including biblical prophecies.

All of creation is a witness that it is fundamental to the nature of God to love diversity and creativity. He makes every snowflake different, every tree different, and every human being different. There are no two hills, streams, or lakes alike. This must cause us to ask another one of those ultimate questions: “If God so loves diversity and creativity, why is the church, which is supposed to be His representative on the earth, so boringly uniform?”

         The next verse in our study is Revelation 1:17:    

         And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last” (NKJV).