“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths…”
Micah 4:1-2a NKJV
On April 18, 1775 John Adams and John Hancock were at the home of Rev. Jonas Clarke, a Lexington pastor and militia leader. That same night Paul Revere, after receiving the lantern signal from the Old North Church, began his famous ride. He arrived at the pastors house to warn them of the approaching Redcoats. Hancock and Adams, two future founding fathers, asked Rev. Clarke if the men of the church were ready. Rev. Clarke responded,
“I have trained them for this very hour”.
The next morning, in what has anecdotally been described as the church parking lot, British Major Pitcairn shouted to an assembled regiment of Patriot Minutemen; “Disperse, ye villains, lay down your arms in the name of George the Sovereign King of England.” The immediate response of Rev. Jonas Clarke was:
“We recognize no Sovereign but God and no King but Jesus.”
One of the many amazing stories of how pastors and the Church played a prominent role in the founding of this nation. It also illustrates how when a nation is in trouble, people stream to the House of God.
I will never forget September 11, 2001, when the Twin Towers were brought down by Islamic Terrorists. That evening I opened up the doors of the church for people to gather and pray. Directly across the street from the church was an apartment complex which we had been trying to reach out to without much success. That evening, as the church lights were turned on and the doors unlocked, I watched as people walked out of the doors of their apartments and “streamed” to the church. It was so remarkable that I grabbed my oldest son and showed him the unusual sight and said, “This is what revival will probably look like”.
There is always much talk about the Church losing or maintaining its “relevancy”. It appears that much of the discussion revolves around how the “world” can better “identify” with the Church in order that it might somehow be helped by the Church. What ends up happening, I fear, is that the Church so identifies with the world that it becomes indistinguishable. We tend to “feed” off one another instead of “lead” the other.
The prophecy in Micah (above) as well as several other places in Scripture (Is.2:2, 60:1-3) indicates that there will come a moment when the “mountains” of the world will no longer provide answers, solutions, shelter, or “relevancy” to what is happening around them. There will indeed come a moment when the “kingdoms of this world” will collapse (Rev.11:15). And when that happens where will people turn?
Answer…The House of the Lord.
Not just any House…but those Pastors and Churches who, in the words of Jonas Clarke, “have trained their people for this very hour”. That is why the Christian believer must carefully weigh where they attach themselves with regards to their spiritual oversight. Are you asking the right questions for that all important hour? Fog machines won’t mean much when entire nations are groping in the “fog” of moral confusion. Lasers and lights will lose their luster when “gross darkness” descends and you need laser focus and divine light to find your way out. Stability is a virtue when all around you is “sinking sand”.
Pastors and Churches who understand objective truth and comprehensive Christianity may not be in vogue now, but they will be…soon. People are, very soon, going to be facing the onslaught of tyrannical governments and the bullying of sexual anarchists. God-fearing people who try to appease both will only find out their demands are insatiable. People are going to need courage, not compromise, to navigate the next 40 years. They are looking for moral certainty, not ambiguity, and something that actually works. They are looking for not just any house…but the House of the Lord.
If I were you…I would make sure I was in a “House” that was doing the relevant work of this hour…while there is yet time.
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