BY OLUROTIMI AJIBOWO
The Pharisees and the Sadducees at a time came to Jesus to
ask Him for a sign from heaven. Jesus’ response could not quite have been what
they expected. He answered, “You know how to discern the face of the sky, but
you cannot discern the signs of the times. Matt 16:3 NKJV. As people who
opposed and confronted Jesus in a bid to show themselves as people of
understanding, it was a scathing challenge and indictment.
While many in our land today are totally ignorant and
oblivious to the happenings as they seek the source of the next meal, scores of
others wish they knew the true mind of God in the face of the failure of
leadership, persecution and other matters that have befallen our nation, which
no one seems to be addressing. Painfully, nothing has been heard from most of
our Church leaders by way of articulating the mind of God and providing a
direction for the people of God apart from the usual assurances of peace. It is
as if we are back to the days of Eli when “the word of the Lord was rare in those days
(and) there was no widespread revelation”. 1 Sam 3:1NKJV
Prior to the recent elections, the mood in the nation had
reached fever pitch; it was obvious that a major section of the country aimed
at removing the incumbent through the ballot box while a yet major segment
believed that retaining him by all means was best for the nation.. At the time,
very few people urged others, especially those who were intercessors to focus
their energies more on God than those elections for bringing change in the
nation as more importantly, the direct words of God had come earlier that both
the greater and lesser evil had been rejected by Him. What would a righteous
Church be doing with any evil at all?
Nigeria is without doubt, one of the most blessed nations on
the planet. Yet, to the consternation of the world, its contraptions, arrested
development in the face of multifaceted blessings has been a puzzle to
Nigerians and foreigners alike. While Nigerians and the other nations of the
world see her endowments, what has not been as obvious to every Nigerian is the
prophetic destiny of the nation which have been announced across several
decades, through several anointed vessels of God within and outside Nigeria.
While Nigerians, in the last few years, have been going through the lowest ebb
of their national life, a faint ray of hope, which to many may seem
unbelievable, appears to be coalescing in the Spirit: the long awaited
prophetic utterances are priming for manifestation.
How can we be so sure? In the midst of the uncertainty and
cacophony of voices, resonating words from the Lord are piercing through and
those with discerning hearts can recognise it. While there is no preciseness
about the exact timing in all the utterances, everything points to the fact
that it is likely to be very soon. At the same time, the Lord has not left His
people in the dark as to the nature of His visitation and some of them are
corroborated by Scriptural patterns. This therefore takes me to the precise
words He revealed to me about the middle of last years and He reminded me as I
tried to bring forth His mind as people sought “What Next?”, after the election
results were announced.
Older people witnessed the boom that Nigeria went through
shortly after the Civil War as the price of oil skyrocketed. So abundant was
this boom that the then Head of State announced that spending the money was
Nigeria’s problem. It seemed the devil heard that statement and proceeded to
give Nigeria a spending assignment: within years, Nigeria hosted the entire
world to a bash of idolatry christened FESTAC ‘77. That was the beginning of
Nigeria’s downward spiral, setting the nation on the path of the judgment of
God, from which she has not recovered.
To help the nation out of the morass, a revival of sorts
broke out with Pentecostalism. The
fervour that this wave of the Spirit of God was purposed to birth was
repentance and a new commitment to God. The adherents soon took over the role
of interceding for the land and her many atrocities. That stayed God’s
judgment. What was more? The vibrancy of the worship and the delivery of the
Word captivated many and altogether, it became the fastest growing religious
phenomenon to hit the shores of Nigeria, capturing the imagination, hearts and
purses of millions across different denominations. Sadly, today, the advocate
Church has been enmeshed so terribly that both Church and nation are in need of
redemption.
What then is the Lord saying?
"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, even the
Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,"
says the Lord of hosts. Mal 3:1
NKJV
The first observation as one beholds these Scriptures, is
the location in the Bible. The third chapter of Malachi is well known for one
of its major themes, tithes and offerings. One wonders at the wisdom of the
Lord in placing the Scriptures under reference right above those that have to
do with tithes and offering. Has the Lord not deliberately by so doing brought
Himself a direct witness through the Word, concerning the lopsided preaching
that has been the bane of the Church?
Getting back to our text, we find the Lord assuring that He
is coming. In its first original context, the Scripture spoke concerning the
first coming of Jesus with John the Baptist as the immediate messenger. If
Jesus already came, is the Scripture applicable in our present circumstance?
Yes, and indeed so. In the exercise of His lordship over the earth, the Lord
intervenes as He pleases either to bring about righteousness or judgment, avail
the just cause of the oppressed, reveal Himself as the Soveriegn Lord and Owner
of the Universe (when men take Him for granted) or in response to prayers. The
introductory verse gives a few characteristics of the promised coming:
The first aspect of the coming begins with the revelation of
the first messenger who has two functions; to announce the coming of the Lord
and thus prepare the way for His coming. In Nigeria and across the nations of
the world, there has been no shortage of messengers announcing that God will be
visiting Nigeria very soon in His wrath.
The second aspect is that there must be seekers: a people
eagerly and expectantly waiting for His coming. When these two conditions are
fulfilled, there comes the revelation of the second Messenger, described as
“the Lord” and immediately after, also described as “the Messenger of the
Covenant”.
After this simple assurance, can we glean anything about the
nature of His coming and what it is all about? Further reading of the passage
provides the answer and throws the needed light:
"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 launderers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of
silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. Mal 3:2-3 NKJV
What confronts us immediately is a wake-up call, a question
to which whoever either expects His coming or has a likelihood of being alive
at His coming, needs to confront and provide an answer. The indication is that
He will not be coming to play games. As we see from the immediate Scriptures,
His first dealing will be with the Church in two dimensions: as “a
refiner’s fire” and as “a launderer’s soap”. What are the
implications?
Depending on who He meets and what He finds in each vessel,
His response will be in either of the two dimensions. Ordinarily, anyone knows
that washing as a launderer does, is a simpler and less painful process than
refining. Thus, it is one or the other of these processes that will be applied to
“the sons of Levi”, a metaphor for the Church. Why would the Lord come
to deal with the people who are His own in such a manner? The evidence
surrounds us overwhelmingly. The lamentation of David, the Psalmist of Israel,
accurately describes the depths to which we have fallen:
“This Mount Zion where You have dwelt. Lift up Your feet to the
perpetual desolations. The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary. Your
enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place; They set up their banners for
signs. They seem like men who lift up axes among the thick trees. And now they
break down its carved work, all at once, with axes and hammers.
They have set fire to Your sanctuary; They have defiled the dwelling
place of Your name to the ground. They
said in their hearts, "Let us destroy them altogether." They have
burned up all the meeting places of God in the land. We do not see our signs;
There is no longer any prophet; Nor is there any among us who knows how long. Ps 74:6-9 NKJV
The tale of the Church is one of desecration of the
sanctuary; the power, the apostolic miracles and the beauty, in many places,
are gone. All that remains is the humanism and excitement which do not make up
for the real thing. In many cathedrals, Satan is sitting right at the centre
and sin has become a way of life for many who name the Name of the Lord. Yet,
signboard after signboard adorns the streets and cities. The message has
changed and true prophecies have ebbed.
Why the refiner’s fire? Let’s look at Paul’s explanation to
the Corinthians:
According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master
builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one
take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that
which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation
with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the
Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will
test each one's work, of what sort it is.
If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a
reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be
saved, yet so as through fire.1
Cor 3:10-15 NKJV
Through Isaiah, the Lord says again:
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried and chosen
you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I do it [I
refrain and do not utterly destroy you]; for why should I permit My name to be
polluted and profaned [which it would be if the Lord completely destroyed His
chosen people]? And I will not give My glory to another [by permitting the
worshipers of idols to triumph over you]. Isa 48:10-11 AMP
Ezekiel gives us the perspective of the purpose:
As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted
in the midst of it, and you shall know, understand, and realize that I the Lord
have poured out My wrath upon you. Ezek
22:22 AMP
The refining is therefore supposed to be a wake-up call.
From the Scriptures, a logical deduction can be made that when the Lord comes,
one of His purposes would be to clean His temple. Jesus did this during His
earthly sojourn:
Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who
bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers
and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, "It is
written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a
'den of thieves.'" Matt 21:12-13 NKJV
This same Jesus is the One Who comes as the refiner’s fire
and as the launderer’s soap. What is the expected end in this case? We go back
to Malachi:
"Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the
Lord, As in the days of old, as in former years. Mal 3:4 NKJV
What is the contemporary relevance of these Scriptures and
how do they give us an understanding of what is to come? At a recent prayer
meeting, as we were about to pray for the nation, some strange words from the
camp of the adversary were dropped in my spirit: “Now we have got it (referring to the recent polls); it is the last
thing we have been waiting for; now we can do with them as we wish; even their
God had been unable to stop us”. Whoever reads, let him understand.
It immediately flashed in my mind that for this reason, we
will see the resumption of killings and more hostilities against Christians in
a short while. Based on the above Scriptures in reference, God will continue to
allow it until the Church cries out to Him. The result will be that the Church will
ultimately seek Him. It is only when the Church seeks Him as He desires will He
move to intervene. Remember the opening Scripture says, ”The Lord, whom you seek, shall
suddenly come into His temple” Mal
3:1
How then can the collateral damage from these assaults be
reduced? By everyone praying for mercy from God and each person calling upon
his family members, friends, pastor and everyone else they know to abandon the
strange life that has come upon the Church and seek the Lord according to His
ways. In the words of Isaiah:
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of
his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the
law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Isa 2:3 KJV
Someone will argue concerning the coming judgment and quote
the Scripture that says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous
man availeth much (Jas 5: 16b).
They can go on and further ask, “Will God not find such people like Elijah in
Nigeria?” To my mind, there are quite a number like that in Nigeria and it is
because of such people that God did not leave us to be totally plundered. The
challenge is that there is an additional lacuna. That lacuna is that God wants
to use Nigeria as the springboard for the gospel of the kingdom and Nigeria
cannot be used as it currently is for this purpose. There MUST be a turnaround.
Otherwise, the old structures will kill the new thing God is about to birth and
would not let it spring. This is the crux of the matter.
The Lord has led many people and groups on programmes of
repentance for the nation and God has heard our cries. This is the only thing
yet missing. If we have repented but go back to our ways and do not wholly turn
as His people to Him, His coming is bound to get us to do so. Through
Zechariah, God explains:
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them
as silver is refined and will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My
name, and I will hear and answer them. I will say, It is My people; and they
will say, The Lord is my God. Zech
13:9 AMP
This implies that at the turning up of the heat, God’s
people will call on Him appropriately. This is therefore the time to knock on
doors of Christians to arouse them in order to shorten the time of plunder. At
the end, the Lord will set about rekindling the worship of Himself “as in the
days of old, as in former years”. Simply put, there will be a return to true
worship and a turning to righteousness and righteous living.
Would He be coming for the Church alone? No; the passage
goes further, addressing the people who do not believe:
And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against
sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit
wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien —
because they do not fear Me," says the Lord of hosts. Mal 3:5 NKJV
While His coming brings purging in certain measures to those
who believe in Him, He will manifest judgment to those who do not believe. This
judgment will come swiftly to sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers, those who
exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away
aliens. Why? It will be because they do not fear God.
Look at the landscape of our nation: what category of listed
sins are not rampant in our society? Does our society give the due
consideration to pensioners? What of unpaid salaries running into months and
years? When you add corruption, bloodletting, human sacrifices, kidnapping, it
will not be too difficult to agree that we have done worse than Sodom and
Gomorrah.
Through Peter, the apostle, we understand that this aligns
with God’s consistent pattern of judgment:
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? Now, "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will
the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 1 Peter 4:17-18 NKJV
The purpose of this is not to activate fear. For comfort to
the righteous, the Bible says:
The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to
reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to
the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are
presumptuous, self-willed. 2
Peter 2:9-10 NKJV
We then understand that this is what will happen. The task
is that one and all, we endeavour to mend our ways by continuous repentance and
purification. When the call came to interceding Christians before the elections
to look alone on God, many did not understand. Now it is clear that only God
can bring about the deliverance of Nigeria and the fulfilment of His purposes
to the world. With judgment looming, how will our General Overseers, General
Superintendents, Pastor-Founders, orthodox and other denominational leaders be
reached to do the needful and avoid God’s wrath? How about the heathen that
have stood in contempt of the Lord? The Word reveals His counsel:
Woe to those [judges] who issue unrighteous decrees, and to the
magistrates who keep causing unjust and oppressive decisions to be recorded, to
turn aside the needy from justice and to make plunder of the rightful claims of
the poor of My people, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make
the fatherless their prey!
And what will you do in the day of visitation [of God's wrath], and in
the desolation which shall come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And
where will you deposit [for safekeeping] your wealth and with whom leave your
glory? Isa 10:1-3 AMP
He then speaks figuratively about the people sent on a
plundering (and persecuting) mission, the instrument of His visitation:
I send [the Assyrian] against a hypocritical and godless nation and
against the people of My wrath; I command him to take the spoil and to seize
the prey and to tread them down like the mire in the streets. However, this is
not his intention [nor is the Assyrian aware that he is doing this at My
bidding], neither does his mind so think and plan; but it is in his mind to
destroy and cut off many nations. Isa 10:6-7 AMP
Thereafter, the Assyrian begins to boast:
As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols [which were unable
to defend them,] whose graven images were more to be feared and dreaded and
more mighty than those of Jerusalem and of Samaria — Shall I not be able to do
to Jerusalem and her images as I have done to Samaria and her idols? [says the
Assyrian] Isa 10:10-11 AMP.
Anyone whose spiritual antenna is active should understand
the deeper meaning of what God is saying in the above Scriptures. To further
understand this, consider how, over the years they have copied everything
Christians do: vigils, white weddings, use of wedding rings, etc. The
‘Assyrians’ now believes they are better. However, when they finish the purpose
they were allowed to serve, God will begin with them:
Therefore when the Lord has completed all His work [of chastisement and
purification to be executed] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, it shall be that
He will inflict punishment on the fruit [the thoughts, words, and deeds] of the
stout and arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the haughtiness of his
pride.
For [the Assyrian king] has said, I have done it solely by the power of
my own hand and wisdom, for I have insight and understanding. I have removed
the boundaries of the peoples and have robbed their treasures; and like a bull
I have brought down those who sat on thrones and the inhabitants. And my hand
has found like a nest the wealth of the people; and as one gathers eggs that
are forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved
its wing, or that opened its mouth or chirped.
Does anyone see a similarity with the Nigerian situation:
the forceful dispossession and all? So the Lord asks:
Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it? Or shall the
saw magnify itself against him who wields it back and forth? As if a rod should
wield those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift itself up as if it
were not wood [but a man of God]! Isa 10:15 AMP
He follows up with an announcement of their judgment:
Therefore will the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send leanness among [the
Assyrian's] fat ones; and instead of his glory or under it He will kindle a
burning like the burning of fire. And the Light of Israel shall become a fire
and His Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour [the Assyrian's] thorns
and briers in one day. [The Lord] will consume the glory of the [Assyrian's]
forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and it shall be as when a
sick man pines away or a standard-bearer faints. And the remnant of the trees
of his forest shall be few, so that a child may make a list of them. Isa 10:16-19 AMP. By the time the Lord
finishes with them, their tribe will no longer be seen.
For the Church, from the same chapter where we began in the
book of Malachi, God issues precious, reassuring words. It is the same word
that God has for all who have been agonising, burdened and have also been
travailing for the turnaround of Nigeria and it had looked like God was not
hearing:
Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another;
and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written
before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who
thought on His name.
And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I
publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special
possession, My peculiar treasure). And I will spare them, as a man spares his
own son who serves him. Then shall you return and discern between the righteous
and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who does not serve Him. Mal 3:16-18 AMP
By the time the Lord shall be done, the horse and the rider
would have been drowned in God’s sea of vengeance while the testimony shall be
that the Lord has done great things, as it is written:
When the Lord shall restore the fortunes of His people, then Jacob (the
Church) shall rejoice and Israel (the nation) shall be glad. Ps 14:7 AMP. To God alone shall be the
glory! Amen.
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