Preservation for the righteous sake

And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.....
(Gen 18:26)

The privilege of friends is the ability not to hide anything for each other. The proof of Abraham’s status as a friend of God (Jam 2:23) was that the Lord shall not hide from him the thing that He will do (Gen 18:7). Friendship with God comes with responsibility. It not just about blessing, protection, healing but it is about sharing the same burdens. Do we share the same concerns as God do and talk with Him about it? If we don’t we have to seriously consider our relationship with the Lord.

We ask without answer to our prayers because we ask amiss (Jam 4:3). Our prayers can be polluted with things for self consumption and not God’s concerns. Instead of ‘bless the Lord, O, my soul’, it becomes ‘bless my soul, O, my Lord’. We do indeed need to be weaned from this attitude in being a child of God and dwell in the place where as His friends we know and we know that our Heavenly Father knows our needs (Matt 6:32, 33). That is the confidence a friend of God has, any lesser would be distrust. Jesus warns us that if we ask amiss we will lose our friendship with God and become no better than the heathens.

Notice that Abraham’s intercession was for the preservation of the righteous. It was for the righteous that didn’t bend their knees to baal that the nation was preserved despite the wickedness of Jezebel over the nation. The righteous are the ones that bend their knees to God, not fearing others but only fearing God.

Ye are the salt of the earth…….
(Mat 5:13)

In Lev 2:13 there is a commandment with regard to the covenant of salt. Salt is used to savor our food or in this case the sacrifice. Another important aspect is that salt is a preservative at time when refrigeration is non existent. When Jesus taught that we are the salt of the earth, He doesn’t mean that our existence make life more palatable for others, but rather to preserve our city and even our nation.

As the signs of the end times (read Matt 24, 2 Thess 2) are unfolding before our generation, our roles as salt of the earth become more crucial with the escalation of evil. God will preserve our city and nation for the sake of the righteous. At this time to how many of us will He say ‘Shall I hide from My friend that thing which I do’?

Hidden Manna

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, …..
(Rev 2:17a)

Pergamos was church which Jesus evaluated as a compromising church, discounting a need for separation. While we are to preach the gospel to all nations and show Christian charity to many, yet we are not to be of the world while dwelling in it. Similarly Jesus saved us from our sin not in our sin.
Though this church was faithful even unto death; yet Jesus Christ judged as having terrible flaws that requires a double edged sword to deal with. Separation is required. This is a sober reminder that faithfulness and determination to remain separated unto the Lord is important (1 Pet 2:9). Separation unto holiness is the reason why Jesus died to bring us the ultimate freedom from sin (Rom 6:22). This could mean that if we live like the world with all its views and values, the seed of sin has not been dealt with. That could explain why our lives yo-yo between righteousness and sin and victory is sparse and not continuous.

Christ blessing to those who overcome and willing to cross over out of compromise will have life from the hidden manna. It is so exclusive, hidden and precious that the Lord Himself will give.

But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
(John 2:24)

Jesus our Bread of Life (John 6:48) is One that doesn’t frivolously entrust Himself to empty professors of the faith. Men are fond of making claims but not living up to it because of the carnality inside that lacks Heavenly integrity. This could explain why this manna was hidden, exclusive and precious. After all why cast pearls to swine?

Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
(John 6:49)

How do we know that we are worthy to partake of this hidden manna? How come we can still 'die' while eating ‘manna’ of God’s Word? Jesus quoted Isaiah many times about seeing and not seeing, hearing and not hearing. We can claim to have received God’s Word, but has it become quick and powerful (Heb 4:12) to ‘slay’ the sin nature and rose from sin to live to God (Rom 6:11). As long as we continue to say things like ‘I can’t help it’ or ‘it’s my nature’ or whatever justification to commit sins, the sin nature still thrives in us. For sin that is alive is kept alive and grow as we feed it by committing sins. Are we trapped and going around in circles in the wilderness of sin? We need to get out of the wilderness to partake the hidden manna.

This hidden manna is the partaking of the life of Christ. If Christ lives in us, it is no longer we who live (Gal 2:20). Christ takes over our desires, fears and basically everything. It is the divinity of Christ in earthen vessels (2 Cor 4:7). The hidden manna when eaten prevents corruption. As long as we are continually corrupted by sin, then we have not eaten the hidden manna.