Quote: “Power and blessing, victory and spiritual freshness are the portion of those who cleave to the Lord alone.” – H A Ironside. Therein lies the answer for anyone asking why Bible Christians will reject any philosophy or belief system that clashes with biblical revelation. They know if they embrace that which does clash with it, it won’t be long before they’ll embrace something else, then something else and something else! The result then? 1). They’ll no longer be cleaving to the Lord alone. 2). Loss of power. Loss of blessing. Loss of victory. Loss of spiritual freshness. Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven Psalm 119:89. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life John 6:63.
Everything God wants us to know for a life lived in power and blessing, victory and spiritual freshness, He has confined to the scriptures of the Bible. In real terms, that means He has nothing to say to us outside of the Bible. There’s no clearer picture of that reality when one undertakes some serious studies of the Hebrews or Jews of Old Testament scripture. We see there that God chose these people as His own, and among much else He intended for them, they were called to be the recipients of His power, blessing, victory and spiritual freshness. As a result, they were to be His witnesses of these things to the Gentile world so they too could become recipients of such. Why did God choose the Jews? He chose them for His glory, not for theirs.
Though there were already many nations and powerful kingdoms in the earth at the time, God chose the Jews for Himself when as yet they were few in number. In fact, first He covenanted with one man, Abraham, to father the race, with the blessings coming to them though his son, Isaac. For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples of the earth. The LORD did not set His love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers….. Deuteronomy 7:6-8.
Essentially, power and blessing, victory and spiritual freshness sum up the promises God made to the Jews; all of which would have been their glorious experience, had they met the one condition summing up all God’s commandments to them – cleave to the LORD alone. Biblical meaning of cleave: ”to cling, stay close, keep close, stick to, stick with, follow closely, join to, glue to.’ Had they cleaved, all thoughts of reliance upon human leaders and governments for their safety and provisions would have been abhorrent to them. This was abhorrent to the few who did cleave to God. In this context we could say obey is another word for cleave. If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures Job 36:11.
Some examples of God’s promises to the Jews if they cleaved to Him alone: rain in its season; highly productive and fruitful land; safety in the land; peace in the land; none to make them afraid; victory over all enemies; the favor of God upon them causing them to be fruitful and productive in life; God’s permanent dwelling among them. All of this backed up with God’s word of blessed assurance to them: I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright Leviticus 26:4-13. As a collective people, they failed to cleave to God and it cost them dearly!
The cost for not cleaving/disobeying God: fear and terror; wasting disease and fever; sorrow of heart; non-productive land; defeat by enemies; ruled over by hateful people; plagues; pestilence; children killed by wild beasts; destroyed livestock; 7-fold punishment for sins; famine; cities laid waste; land and homes overtaken by enemies; land left desolate; faintness of heart. Leviticus 26:14-39. When as a collective people they repented and turned back to God, power and blessing, victory and spiritual freshness again became their experience, but it was all short lived. With the passing of generations they had slipped further away from God; by the time the Lord Jesus Christ came on the scene the people as a nation wanted nothing to do with Him.
A systematic study of Bible prophecy clearly shows us God has not yet finished with Israel. His plans for the nation however, were put on hold when it finally rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as its Messiah, Savior and Redeemer. When it was clear to the Lord the people wanted nothing to do with Him, He said, “See! Your house (temple) is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ ” Luke 13:35. The time will come when they’ll say it – the time of Jacob’s trouble Jeremiah 30:7, otherwise known as the great tribulation Matthew 24:21. People tell us that time has come and gone. ‘Blessed is He who comes…’ is one evidence it has not.
Although as a nation God’s plans for Israel have been put on hold because of a failure to cleave to Him, not so, God’s plans overall. The message of power and blessing, victory and spiritual freshness was then entrusted to a remnant of Jewish believers, namely the disciples of Jesus Christ. New Testament Acts 2:1 introduces us to the Day of Pentecost. That Day was the beginning of the Church age. Quote: “The fact that God was going to form Jews and Gentiles alike into one body was never revealed in the Old Testament and forms the mystery of which Paul speaks in Ephesians 3:1-7; Romans 16:25-27; Colossians 1:26-29. The whole mystery program was not revealed until after the rejection of Christ by Israel.” – J Dwight Pentecost.
Jesus made mention of the coming church in Matthew 16:18, and although it was birthed on the Day Pentecost, it got under way in earnest when He called His people to proclaim His gospel message to the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name Acts 15:14. When God’s mystery program for the church is terminated, He will remove (rapture) it from the earth to heaven and He will then resume His program for Israel. Additional quote from J Dwight Pentecost: “This mystery concept of the church makes a pre-tribulation rapture necessary.” For Christians believing God has ceased all dealings with Israel and all has now been transferred to the church (an extremely common teaching), not so according to biblical revelation from both Testaments.
Paul, formerly called Saul, was one primary itinerant messenger called of the Lord to escalate the church. Jesus said he was, a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel Acts 9:15. Paul’s usual practice was to go to the Jews first in every region, town or city he entered, but when they rejected what he had to say, as most of them always did, he moved on to the Gentiles. Many of these were glad to learn that power and blessing, victory and spiritual freshness could be a daily reality for them if they met the Lord’s conditions by cleaving to Him. Up until then they had been “cleaving” to fornication, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, sodomy, thievery, covetousness, drunkenness, revelry, and the like!
Each Gentile new Christian of that day was fully aware he and she had never experienced any power in their life; or blessing, or victory, or spiritual freshness. Powerless and cursed, victims and spiritually stagnant – that was their deal! And nobody cared one iota about them until they encountered the Lord Jesus Christ and embraced His message. They knew what they were listening to and experiencing was more than religious chatter and gobbledygook! That’s why they made the decision to commit and cleave to Him. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage Galatians 5:1. Indeed, free from their sins, plus any and all religious slavery!
Power and blessing, victory and spiritual freshness; the offer of these is limited to nobody! But the Source of them are extremely limited – limited to the one God/Man only, Lord Jesus Christ. True, there are multitudes of religious and secular groups offering the same but they are bogus, everyone of them. “Qualify that statement,” somebody demands. Easy. Sin is what disqualifies us from experiencing them – sin we were born with and sin we have added to it. Jesus dealt with both once and for all when he went to the cross for us and rose again to life 3 days later. That’s the message of the gospel of Christ and it never changes! Repent (change direction; 180 degree turn), therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord Acts 3:19.