Passing Through The Cross
Written by Elinor Montgomery – emontgomery@cogeco.ca
May 27, 2002
What does it mean, ‘to pass through the cross’? The term can be correlated to the Passover, a word that suggests passing through and crossing over. The Passover is all about those two things. At the time of the final plague of Egypt, the children of Israel were told to place the blood of the lamb on the lintel and the doorposts, so that when the angel of death came to destroy the firstborn children of Egypt, he would pass over the houses protected by the blood. The firstborn of Israel would escape the coming night of the judgment of God. This was a time when the children of Israel came out of Egypt through the leading of God, and through faith in and obedience to Him. Moses was the spokesman for God, and the people listened to him and obeyed him. God said that this service of Passover was to be kept at the time when Israel would enter the land. God told the people what they were to tell their children about the service. They were to say that it was the sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered Israel. This took place at midnight.
Dear friends, this is the prophetic message for the salvation of Israel in the final judgment to come on the world for man’s turning to sin and rejecting God in the Garden of Eden, and for his continuous state of sin from that day henceforth to the end days. The midnight of man’s time of rejection is upon the world, the time when God is going to chain Satan and destroy as well, the harlot who rides the beast to her destruction.
The ordinance of the Passover was that no outsider should eat of it. A stranger or sojourner with Israel in the land was to be circumcised and was to become as a native of the land keeping the Passover. One law was to be for the native-born and for the stranger who sojourned among them. God’s message to Israel was to welcome the strangers among them in the land, but they must accept the law of God and the justice of His statutes. The foreigner in the land could worship as he so chose to do, but Israel was not to stumble and fall into the snare of acknowledging the foreign gods in the land. Israel had to make a choice between offending man and his false gods, or offending God by not declaring Him to be the one true God in the land. Which is it America, and which of the two are you choosing? How sad it is that she has never grasped the meaning of this message to Israel. America is called by God to not alter His law in the land, for the purpose of accommodating the gods of foreigners, by treating their gods as equals to the one true God. She is called to be a light to all the nations, as was her sister Israel called to be, by showing that her blessings of peace, prosperity and victory over the enemy, come only from her relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and from keeping the statutes of the Word, which was made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.
Who were the children of Israel? They were the armies of the Lord, and they were brought out according to their armies. This was the description of the nation as she came out of Egypt, and it is also the description of the saved, as they are removed from this world. Is this a description of the church? Is the church not called forth to be in the army of the Lord? The first command to Moses was to sanctify the firstborn of the womb as belonging to God. There shall be seven days of eating unleavened bread. There will be seven millennia that the true Israel shall reject the eating of the leavened bread, or shall reject sin. She shall choose to eat of the unleavened bread of heaven, which represents the absence of pride, the enemy of God that causes one to puff up with pride. Only Jesus can provide the perfect bread of life. The God of Israel that provided manna in the wilderness is the same God as the Lord Jesus who provided the bread of life, His flesh, and the water from the rock, the living water of life.
Who really is Israel? Israel is the one who has passed through the cross to enter the land on the other side of the river. Israel must cross through the piled up waters of this world to drink from the wells of living water provided by the Lord Himself. They were dug by others who had gone ahead, and then these same wells became the inheritance of Israel, so that she might drink from them. Only through the works of those who have gone before, has God prepared for us, so that we, in turn, might serve and prepare for others. God will take the works of the enemy intended for evil purposes and turn them around for the greater good of man.
Who is this nation that has come out of Egypt? Is not the testimony of Jesus the spirit of prophecy? If Jesus is the Word made flesh, is not the whole Word the spirit of prophecy? Therefore, does Israel not speak of the bride and the nations of the saved, according to the blessings of salvation spoken upon the tribes of Israel by Jacob, who will be taken out of the final judgment of God upon the world, in order to inherit the land or the kingdom? These are the sons of Abraham, and let us look to Jesus Himself to tell us who it is that shall pass through the cross as sons of Abraham, to become the inheritors of the land of Israel, or the Kingdom of Israel.
Jesus passed through the oldest and lowest city in the world, the city of Jericho, which was the chosen place of God, where Israel would challenge the enemy for possession of the land. The battle was the battle of the Lord’s and He gave to the people, the victory over the enemy. It was in this city centuries later, that the Lord met Zacchaeus who was a rich tax collector, and short of stature. He overcame all of these three obstacles, worldly riches, sinfulness, and lack of stature or character, to become a believer in Jesus and a child of God. In spite of these obstacles, Jesus saw the determination of this man to seek out closeness to Him, and to know the Lord through a first-hand experience. Jesus saw and recognized in Zacchaeus, an overcomer. The Lord told him something very important for everyone in these final days. He said to make haste, for the time was short and He must stay at the house of Zacchaeus. Today the time is short before the Lord calls us to come up hither, for we must first be Spirit filled, so that He might indwell our house, or our vessel the body. He must be at the center of our house, dwelling in our hearts. He wants to be sure that we are spirit-filled, for without such infilling, there can be no rebirth into sons of God. Our rebirth in the Spirit changing us into new creations allows us to be compared to the firstborn that opens the womb. They belong to the Lord.
It was the pattern of Zacchaeus that we all need to note. It was with haste and joy, or in other words, instant conversion, that brought a change in Zacchaeus, and then he followed change with action. He did not continue in his old ways. He chose repentance, restitution, restoration and the Lord, not grudgingly, but joyously giving to others, and giving back much more than he took. He became a giver and a mirror image of the Lord. That day, salvation came to Zacchaeus, as Jesus declared him to be a son of Abraham, in much the same way as He declares it to be so of all new, born-again creations, who also become sons of Abraham or true Israelites. Was this a son of Abraham by bloodline? Not on your life. This was a son of Abraham by the choices he made, to first seek to see and know Jesus, and then to make a change in his life that made him a servant of the Lord and not a servant of man. One gives, the other takes.
Jesus’ experience with Zacchaeus is a picture of His relationship with the true church of the end days, the Israel of the cross, with whom He wants to share His kingdom. Unless one chooses to place the blood of the lamb over one’s household or body, one may call oneself a Jew, but he shall be turned away and driven out from the Kingdom, as was Israel driven from the land. One may well seek entry by crying, “But we were the true sons of Abraham and possessed the land.” Jesus will reply, “I never knew you, be gone from the door to My Kingdom. Where is the blood over the entranceway and on the doorposts of your heart? The nation of rebellion, and the institutional church of rebellion, I never knew, but the believer and overcomer of both, I know. They shall cross through the cross, protected by the blood and enter on dry land to possess the Kingdom, free of the evil of seawaters. These are the true sons of Abraham. This is Israel.”
Luke 19:5 – Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.
The Power of Purity in a Nation
Written by Elinor Montgomery – emontgomery@cogeco.ca
September 07, 2010
The power of a nation under God rests solely upon her purity. It is not until they are put through the refining process that silver and gold become things of great value. God refers to Israel, His people and His nation, as being taken through this process of heating and melting down until He is left with a pure product.
“But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness (Malachi 3:2-3).”
Let us examine America, the nation under God, which is the only nation that can claim she is God’s people. Is she moving toward a pure state? Is she getting rid of imperfections and being pruned and polished to shine forth the light of liberty? Is she free of all coarseness? The process requires separation, conversion, treatment and storage in order to become a pure product containing the light, ready to go out to other nations. Will they like her? In all probability the other nations will hate her in the same way the world hated Jesus.
He is God who is the refining fire, though He uses the furnace of affliction to do the work. He will not allow His name to be profaned and He will not give His glory to another. The facts remain true regardless of the foolishness of men. He is the First and the Last; His hand has indeed laid the foundation of the earth, with His right hand stretching out the heavens, and when He calls they stand up together (see Isaiah 48:12-13).
What is the meaning of this for a nation under God? All such nonsense as evolution needs to be thrown out the windows of the classroom and be replaced with the truth of the Bible. When the impurity of the sixties poured in, the governments decided, all on their own and without the people’s say, to take out the truth and replace it with lies.
How was it possible that this could happen? It all happened for one reason and one reason only; the church of today became the Laodicean church, with her customers put on snooze control in the pews. False priests droned out their apostasy, while living an impure lifestyle, with church becoming merely their place of business.
No leadership, no leadership, no leadership with nothing but leaven, leaven and more leaven! Our Pharisees of today are more pharisaical than were the original ones. Their affliction appears to be incurable, which will result in their being separated and cast into the fire with the burning of the dross.
America has gone the route of Israel, which eventually faced the burning of her temples and, in her impurity, was driven from the land. Oh that she had heeded God’s commands! Then her peace would have been like a river and her righteousness like the waves of the sea. Her descendants would have been like the sand (as promised to Abraham) and her name would not be cut off and destroyed before an angry God, as is happening today (see Isaiah 48:18-19).
God is the Lord who taught us to profit and to be led in the way we should go (see Isaiah 48:17). But we would have none of it. We loved the cults like Israel before us. We said come and build your mosques and eastern temples in our land where you can worship your pagan gods and we will endorse them alongside of you. In fact, we will tell our God to move over to make room for the gods we honor in our harlotry.
And so God is warning us, “Go ahead, you little beasts as children of your father, the beast. I will give you what you want, which comes with the fire of burning. It comes with terrorism, war, killing and, worst of all, with the deception that evil is good and good is evil.
You will spit in the face of My Son Jesus, again, and you will allow Muslims to block your busy streets by giving them the right to bow to their pagan god, facing the East in front of their mosques. Sikh children will be allowed to wear swords to school but your children will not be allowed to wear crosses or symbols that point to Jesus. There will be no bowing to Jesus in the public square.”
Can you see, yet, why leaven fills the entire loaf and God warned at the time of the Exodus that there was to be no leaven eaten during Passover? It required a preparation in purity, with the blood on the doorpost, according to the command of the Lord.
There were only two possible outcomes to the Feast of Passover – one was salvation from death and the other was death itself. In fact, these are the two options for man and nations. There is life in the blood of Jesus, placed on the doorposts of men’s hearts, but without Him there is nothing but death for man and for nations.
You can clearly see multiculturalism is the brainchild of Satan and brings with it filth and impurity into the nation. Unless we get rid of it quickly, beginning immediately, then get ready for the refining furnace of God. He will burn it away, and you with it, when He comes in that day like a refiner’s fire and like the laundry soap, washing and cleaning us until we shine with His pure light (see Malachi 3:2).
When He comes near in judgment it will be as a witness against sorcery, witchcraft, adultery, perjury and the exploiting by wage earners of the widows and the fatherless. Involvement in such things caused America to lose her fear of what God could do to her. So she embraced the teaching of Secular Humanists, who taught self-esteem rather than God-esteem. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10).”
If we come through the refining fires, then we will cease to serve useless gods and self, to begin again to serve the one true God who rules over this nation, with pride in His name and gratitude for what He has done for us. With such purity comes power, and with that power comes the God-given strength to change a nation, which has gone mad. It is either purity and the power to make the nation live, or it is the alternative, whereby America will die never to rise from the ashes again.
“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the midst of a furnace; they have become dross from silver. Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the midst of a furnace, to blow fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst. As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have poured out My fury on you (Ezekiel 22:18-22).’”
“Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain. Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken. The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God (Ezekiel 22:26-31).