BREAKING, RULING AND DISCIPLING THE CHURCH
(week 35/09)
Olubi Johnson
In our last articles, we looked at the breaking, ruling and disciplining of the nations.
This week, we will examine the breaking, ruling and disciplining of the church.
God sees the church as a nation of people whose citizenship (Phil. 3.20) is in heaven even though they live here on earth:
1 Peter 2:9 ESV: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
John 17:14-16 ESV: I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (15) I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. (16) They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Now, just as God is going to break the natural nations, the first nation God is going to break, rule and disciple is the church. This is because judgement must begin at the house of God (1 Pet. 4.17) and since it is the church that is going to break, rule and disciple the other nations, the church herself must first be broken, ruled and discipled by the same rod of iron (Ps. 2.9; 110.2).
Psalms 2:6-9 MKJV: Yea, I have set My king on My holy hill, on Zion. (7) I will declare the decree of Jehovah. He has said to Me, You are My Son; today I have begotten You. (8) Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. (9) You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Psalms 110:2-3 MKJV: Jehovah shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion; rule in the midst of Your enemies. (3) Your people shall be willing in the day of Your power, in holy adornment from the womb of the morning: You have the dew of Your youth.
Now, when is God going to do this?
He will do it at the time of His coming in us: in the manifestation of His perfection and His fullness in us which is in this 3rd day and so is imminent any time now!
Malachi 3:1-2 ESV: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. (2) But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
2 Thessalonians 1:10 ESV: when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
To break the church, God is going to bring severe judgement on some of the leadership of the church that, like Saul, have been stubborn, rebellious and covetous (1 Sam. 15.23) by killing (Ex. 4.24, Dt.32:39) them physically (even though in His mercy some of them will still go to heaven but lose (1 Cor. 3.12-15) some of their reward).
Jeremiah 30:7-8 ESV: Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it. (8) “And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him.
Zechariah 13:7 ESV :”Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.
Hosea 6:5-7 ESV: Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. (6) For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (7) But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.
Hosea 5:7 ESV: They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.
Zechariah 11:8 MKJV: I also cut off three shepherds in one month; and my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also despised me.
The new moon represents the time of a new month and in this one month of the time of the Passover of Tabernacles God will cut off (or kill physically ,though not necessarily spiritually, three prominent leaders in the church in Nigeria: the land from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia (Zeph. 3.10) which the rivers divide (Is. 18.1, 7) from where the first of the first fruits (Rev. 14.4-5; Zeph. 3.13-17) of the perfect church will first manifest the glory of God.
Ezekiel 34:10 ESV: Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
In our article next week, we will see how God will ‘break’ the rest of the church after ‘breaking’ the bad leaders.
