Judgement Must First Begain At The House Of God
Dawn Jones, Roanoke, VA
Catagory: Volume 2, Issue 3 and 4 March/April 2000
One of the traps that is easy to fall into in ministry is thinking that we have arrived! That God has placed his stamp of approval on our lives. We assume just because we're being used that God is pleased with our lives, and we are sinless.
We hear other people's problems and situations and develop the "thank God that's not me" attitude, much like the sinner and Pharisee who went up to the temple to pray, the sinner confessed his unworthiness, the Pharisee justified himself.
On Sunday morning, we sit on the platform or in our front row seats, looking pious. And when the altar call is given, or an invitation is made to come forward we leap forth to help, but when have you been to the altar?
God sends Evangelists and Prophets into our midst with a direct word from Him. As they deliver it, we say "Amen", thinking in our hearts, "that's for the congregation, not for me". When have you been to the altar?
We step up to pray for somebody else's problem, habit, lust, vice, etc. and we pray for our own needs. When have you been to the altar?
In the Old Testament, the priests were the first to come before the altar. They had to be right before God in order to make offerings and sacrifices for the people's sins. When the High Priest went into the Most Holy Place, he first had to make an offering for his own sins! Yet today, we are so presumptuous as to think that we can come to God in the office of Priest with all manner of filth on our hands and in our hearts, with no fear of Him! We actually dare to stand before God petitioning Him on behalf of others while we ourselves are steeped in sin! All that is not faith is sin. When have you been to the altar?
In the book of I Samuel, Eli, the High Priest had two sons: Hophni and Phineas who stood in the office of priests, but as the word said, they were "sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord".
Eli's sons would send their servants to literally take meat out of the seething pots before it was cooked. They would take the choicest parts of the meat, even before the fat was burnt. If the people refused them, they would take it by force.
The word goes on to say that Eli heard all his sons did to all Israel and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the congregation. I Samuel 2:22.
His only response to their sin was: why do you do all these things? I've heard all that you're doing, the people themselves tell me. What you're doing is wrong. Ye make the Lord's people to transgress. If a man wrongs another, God will mediate for him; but if a man wrongs the Lord, who shall intercede for him? I Samuel 2:25 Amp. When have you been to the altar?
Eli's sons didn't heed their father, and Eli did nothing about their behavior. God sent someone to warn Eli of the impending judgment. (Just like he sends people today to warn ministers at every level.) God said why then do you kick [trample upon, treat with contempt] my sacrifice and my offering which I have commanded, and honor your sons above me?
I Samuel 2:29-30. When have you been to the altar?
God also sent a message through a child named Samuel to say to Eli that He would judge Eli's house forever for the iniquity of his sons. They had made themselves vile, and Eli restrained them not. He promised that the iniquity of Eli's house "shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever (see I Samuel 3:13,14). When have you been to the altar?
God removed Eli and his sons from their place. Hophni, Phineas and Eli all died on the same day. And when Eli's pregnant daughter-in-law heard the news, she went into labor and named the child Ichabod - saying, "the glory is departed from Israel". When have you been to the altar?
And the Lord says to you: Woe unto you Hophnis and Phineas, sons of Belial who know not the Lord, Woe unto you Eli, you Bishops, and Pastors and Leaders, for you have not restrained nor removed your sons (your ministers) in their sins, but have allowed them to continue because you profit from their recklessness. Woe unto you!
God is not pleased, and He's passing out judgment! He told Samuel: And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house: and he shall walk before mine anointed forever, I Samuel 2.35. WHEN HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE ALTAR? God has an altar, the same one on which He sacrificed His Son. When was the last time you've been there? When was the last time you came for mercy? When did you come for forgiveness? When did you last come for the blood? When?
Some of you have been saved and been ministers for five years, some ten, some even twenty-five. And God said, "when did He last see you? " How long has it been since you've sought my face, to know my mind, and search my heart? Yeah, you have alienated yourself from me, and stood afar off, and have not lay at the feet of the Lord thy God. But know that now, even now I am cleaning my house, and raising a people who will be faithful to me, therefore come. Mourn, weep, pray and seek my mercy and forgiveness that you might be spared in the great separation.
- 1. Rend your hearts, not your garments and return to the Lord.
- 2. "Blow the trumpet in Zion: set apart a fast [a day of restraint and humility]; call a solemn assembly."
- 3. Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elderly, and children.
- 4. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep...let them say, "have pity and spare your people, O Lord, and give not your Heritage to reproach...Joel 2:13, 15-17
