Scripture: Exodus 3 v 1 - 5: "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."
In the middle of a bush in a flame of fire, the Angel of the Lord appeared. Who is the Angel of the Lord, also known as God? God is a Spirit, and the words Angel and Spirit are interchangeable. Like the Holy Spirit is also known as the Holy Ghost. These are extremely powerful Beings who don't have a physical body but our God created everything that we physically see.
Anyway Moses was fascinated by this great sight of a burning bush that was still a bush and not a pile of ash. Then God spoke to him by name and said, Don't come any closer, remove your shoes, because you are standing on Holy Ground.
Holy ground is not any kind of real estate, it is a spiritual place. Moses met God there for real, and so can we. We don't need the flaming bush or the Holy mountain, because the great I AM who met him there is alive in our hearts.
We stand before Him without our spiritual shoes when we acknowledge that we have no human rights to fight for. When we made Jesus our Lord and submitted to Him as new creations, we surrendered all to Him. Therefore we acknowledge Him above all Earthly kings and leaders.
Philippians 2 v 9 - 11: "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Every time His name is used as a curse word, the person cursing that name (unless they repent) will stand before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, on the Day of Judgment, and hear the dreaded words, I never knew you! Our passport into eternity is definitely based on Who you know on High.
Revelations 21 v 27: "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."
The only way our names get written in that Book is through being born again into the Kingdom of God and continuing to have a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ. No other way, no other religion, no other God. Not being self-righteous, nor attending church religiously all your life. There are millions of people sitting in churches around the globe who have never made a commitment to Jesus.
Some years ago I was preaching in an African township to a group of about 600 black people. It was before Nelson Mandela was released and I was the only white person in this meeting. Not a great place security wise in those days!
It's name was Katlehong and there was much unrest all around. You could hear the sound of gunfire all the time. I changed my well-prepared topic to Our Spiritual Weapons and immediately got their attention. I ended with an altar call to those who were willing to lay down their lives for Jesus. It was no "Come hither and get saved" message with sweet music in the background. It was stark reality if you lived in that place.
To my astonishment the entire room rose to commit their lives to Jesus and there was no room to even kneel down so we prayed standing on Holy Ground. There was weeping and true repentance going on. Afterwards an very old and wrinkled lady, who said she was 94 years old, told me that she had been in church all her life and had never been given a good enough reason to commit her life to Jesus till that day! What a day of rejoicing that was.
It illustrates how far the church has wandered from the true gospel and is no longer a sanctuary or even Holy Ground. How many candlesticks has Jesus removed as He said in Revelation 2 v 5: "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."
If we follow Jesus Christ, we must follow what He said and did, and will do, as truth. The above verse was one of 7 letters the resurrected and ascended Lamb of God dictated to the Apostle John while he was on Patmos. Each letter was to a different type of church. However, if the shoe fits we must wear it. When the candlestick is removed it means that the Light of Jesus has gone.
What are the first works? It is to preach the true gospel of salvation to convict sinners to be born again. To pray for healing, and deliverance, and to baptize converts in water and in the Holy Spirit. To edify the members of the Body of Christ, the Church. To keep all doctrines true to the Holy Bible.
If any church is lacking these things and is rather steeped in tradition, law, rules, elaborate costumes and costly buildings at the expense of truth, no amount of external frills will make it Holy Ground. I don't mind if half my readers indignantly abandon this blog, there might just be a 94 year old reading this who will get the right message.
This is not an easy ministry trying to make sheep happy all the time. There is an anointing upon me to be the voice of one crying in the wilderness to make straight the paths of the Lord before His return. It may not appeal to everyone but if people listen and understand the season we are living in right now, they will know that Jesus is on His way back to rescue us.
It's like the Titanic, this world is sinking fast, Jesus is commanding the rescue, the lifeboats are being lowered. Those who are truly His will get out safely. Those in broken boats (churches) will not make it unless immediate repairs are done.
Do you know why the High Priest who went into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement had bells attached to the hem of his garments and a rope around his ankle? If the Jewish atonement was not acceptable to God, the High Priest would die and no one dared enter. If the bells stopped ringing, the priest had stopped moving and they would pull his body out by rope!
Right now our High Priest, Jesus Christ, is very much alive and His sacrifice for the sins of every human was acceptable. The bells on His garments are ringing loud and clear. He is on His way back!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we are in awe of Your presence in our midst and knowing when we come before Your Throne that we are standing barefoot on Holy Ground. Father, we bow down and worship You and Your Son, Jesus, whose name is higher than any other name. In His name is our salvation for all eternity. Open our eyes to see Your splendour O God. In Jesus' name. Amen.
