THE WISDOM OF THE JUST
(week 48/11)
Olubi Johnson
Malachi 4:5-6 KJV: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: (6) And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Here we see Malachi prophesying of the coming of an end-time Elijah prophetic ministry that precedes the coming of the Lord.
This was fulfilled in John the Baptist preceding the first coming of the Lord Jesus in His apostolic messianic ministry; and it is now also, in the manifold wisdom of God, being fulfilled in a John the Baptist-Elijah prophetic ministry on the earth preceding the second coming of the Lord in the church in the perfection and fulness of Christ.
Now, whereas John the Baptist was just one prophet, the end-time John the Baptist-Elijah ministry is a company of prophets who have been on the earth since about 1900 when the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues was restored to the Church.
The purpose of this end-time Elijah ministry is shown in the angelic message given by Gabriel to Zacharias concerning his son John the Baptist, based on the prophetic Word given by Malachi about 400 years earlier in
Luke 1:17 KJV: And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Here the Lord, through Gabriel, tells us that the purpose of the preaching and teaching of the end-time Elijah ministry is to turn the hearts (or, the wills and desires) of the spiritual fathers in the church to their children: to care for them spiritually by ministry of the Word and prayer with travail (Gal. 4:19) to cause the Christ character to be formed in them.
This will in turn cause the hearts of the children to be turned to their fathers and the wisdom of the just. The Christians that obtain this wisdom of the just will be prepared for the coming of the Lord to His church in the perfection and fulness of Christ.
This preparation will make them vessels of honour, worthy to receive the ‘borrowed’ anointing of the Spirit without measure, manifesting the glory of God at their different levels of spiritual development.
2Timothy 2:21 KJV: If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.
It is vital to understand that until we have a ‘critical mass’ number of people who are prepared in this way for the coming of the Lord, the Lord will not come. Hence, we are instructed to ‘hasten the coming of the day of God’ in 2 Pet. 3: 12.
This means that we can hasten or delay the coming of the Lord, depending on how quickly the required number of us prepare ourselves for His coming by using the wisdom of the just.
Hence, this prophetic message at this time (1 Chr. 12:32) of the distress of the nations (Lk. 21:25-28).
This truth is shown in
Ephesians 4:12-13 KJV: For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (13) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
Now, the wisdom of the just is the wisdom that is needed to be just or righteous, or obedient.
Many Christians are willing to be obedient, but do not have the wisdom and so the power to be obedient:
Romans 7:18 AMP: For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]
The wisdom of the just will give us the wisdom and so the access to the power to do righteousness.
What then is this wisdom of the just?
The following scriptures capture the essence of this wisdom:
Deuteronomy 30:14 KJV: But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
Matthew 26:41 KJV: Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Galatians 5:16 KJV: This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Genesis 24:27 KJV: And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.
In our article next week, we will see in more detail from these scriptures the practical outworkings of the wisdom of the just.
