Son Of Man, 7/9/14

As I awoke this morning God was showing me things in the spiritual realm as is very common for me as I transition from sleep into consciousness. I again, as I told you not long ago, saw the King, the Lord Jesus Christ, on his throne surrounded by unapproachable light, terrifically brilliant. As I was seeing this image of him, the words came: Son of Man. This has awesome implications. Jesus reveals himself in many different roles and his function as the Son of Man is to judge sin and evil with righteousness. He is coming to reveal himself to the church as he never has before. He comes as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, fearsome and fierce, with holy violence against all the works of darkness:

1 John 3:8

... For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

John 5:26-27New King James Version (NKJV)

26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him AUTHORITY TO EXECUTE JUDGMENT also, because He is the SON OF MAN.

He does not come as the Lamb of God, meek and mild, laying down his life, he already did that, he does not have to do it again. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying he has changed and that he isn't still loving and gracious and kind, etc. What I am saying is that there is ALSO another aspect to his character that we need to understand. When Jesus went to the cross as the Lamb of God, he was still in the process of gaining authority to rule as a man. But after he was risen he said this:

Matthew 28:18

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

He now has authority, power and dominion over everything! He is THE overcoming King and he is not to be messed with! Not that he is bad or unkind or domineering but he is HOLY and he comes to drive sin out of us, his literal body in the earth: the church. He comes to deal with us, his church first and foremost:

1 Peter 4:17New King James Version (NKJV)

17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

There will be no resisting him as he comes and reveals himself to us this way. We will either repent(and ALL of us need to repent at least some, I most definitely include myself in this I assure you) in awesome holy fear of his overwhelmingly powerful presence or we will perish before him and be taken out of this world to the lowest level of heaven never again to have the chance to fulfill our destinies and achieve a higher level of heaven and be closer to him forever in his Kingdom. For those who choose this route, their first experience of heaven will be a place called "outer darkness"(which is NOT hell) where they will weep and gnash their teeth and repent for wasting their life and not giving themselves wholly to God, they will be in such misery that they will think they are in hell:

Matthew 25:30

And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Notice that Jesus called this person a "servant", proving that he was of the family of God. The sad a fact is that the majority of christians go to this place because they do not give their entire lives to God with a whole heart and allow him to direct their lives entirely according to his divine plan for theirs lives. Christians who go this route are held in outer darkness until they have repented adequately for wasting their lives and are then eventually brought into peace in Paradise, which is the lowest level of heaven.

Many are deceived right now in believing that God is some nicy-nice putz that they can push around and essentially tell him he has to be nice to them no matter how the live and treat him because he is love. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Our God is AWESOME and not to be trifled with. Many might say, "No that is the Old Testament God, we are in the New Covenant now" or "God does not judge any more since the cross" or some such confused and dangerous thinking. Let's look at what the New Testament/Covenant has to say about this:

Acts 2:42-43New King James Version (NKJV)

42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then FEAR came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Acts 5:1-10 gives the account of how Ananias and Sapphira conspired to try to deceive God and pretend to have given more of their property to the church than they really did. When they came before the apostle Peter, the Holy Spirit led him to pronounce judgment on them and they were struck dead on the spot:

Acts 5:5New King James Version (NKJV)

5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.

Acts 5:10-11New King James Version (NKJV)

10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. 11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

Notice that it says the FEAR came on BOTH the church and all who heard about this situation. That is a picture of a God who isn't playing with sin and he is the same today:

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

There is nothing nicy-nice about a God that strikes people dead and causes HOLY FEAR to spread through all who hear of his awesome deeds. This is not a God to try to push around and bend to our wills but one to be obeyed and submitted to in reverence and great humility. This also proves that any voice that tells you God does not judge any more is lying to you. No, friends, be not deceived, God is holy and makes no apology for his hatred of sin and evil and his determination to drive them out of his church and bring us into true holiness. He is a FEARSOME God, AWESOME beyond description. It is very important that we understand this aspect of his nature and humble ourselves before his awesome throne. Consider this from the word of God: in Luke 19:12-27 Jesus tells us a parable about himself, his, Kingdom and his rulership as Judge, at the end of the parable he says:

Luke 19:27

But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and SLAY THEM before me.’”

There is no meek and mild and turning the other cheek in that moment is there? No, this is a picture of the King in his capacity as Son of Man/Judge and it is very fearsome and not to be trifled with. Our God is an AWESOME God worthy of our utmost devotion and he is coming to clean up his church so it is very important that we do not deceive ourselves about his nature and continue to play with sin and fail to give ourselves to him WHOLEHEARTEDLY. God loves us, but let us not dare to presume that he is not an awesome God who is holy and does not compromise on matters of righteousness.

God bless you and may we all be found yielded to him and ready to come under his authority fully and be made right by the cleansing he is coming to do in his church. And if you do not know the Lord Jesus personally in a real spiritual, personal, heart to heart relationship with him as your Savior and King then please humble yourself before his awesome throne today and pray this Prayer To Receive Eternal Salvation and accept his sacrifice on the cross for you to wash away your sin and make you a new creation in Christ with eternal life and a calling to become a son of God and a little brother to Jesus(Rom. 8:29, Heb. 2:10) himself who is God in the flesh, King of all creation. If you are believer who has not given all to God then pray this Prayer Of Consecration and give him all of yourself.

God bless you.

-Steve Pursell, 7/9/14