Preached by Rev. Ed Brouwer at The Gathering Place, Osoyoos
Pulpit Series Volume 20 Issue 15 July 25th, 2010
I want to encourage you with this truth! Not only does the angel of the Lord encamp round about those that love Him.... there is a promised wall of protection through our Covenant in Jesus!
In Job 1:10 we read, “Satan answered the LORD, and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, his house and about all that he has?”
The devil could not touch Job or his household, or anything that belonged to Job because of the hedge around him.
The words HEDGE, SHIELD and WALL all mean the same thing in the Hebrew: to surround; to cover; to protect.
In Daniel 3 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and all the people were gathered before the image. They were commanded to fall down and worship the golden image at the sound of the music and whoever didn’t obey shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
In spite of the threatnings, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego disregarded the orders. So in a fit of rage, King Nebuchadnezzar commanded that they be brought before him. “I’ll give you one more chance. But If you don’t obey you shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”
The three Hebrews said, King Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need time to think about our answer - we’re not bowing! Our God is able to deliver us.
King Nebuchadnezzar lost it completely. He had them heat the furnace seven times hotter than normal. He commanded the most mighty men in his army to bind up the three Hebrews and cast them into the fiery furnace. However, the furnace was so hot, the heat killed the soldiers. As for the three Hebrews, they stepped into the midst of the burning furnace.
Suddenly the king cries out, “Did we not cast three men tied up into the fire? How is it I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, they are not hurt; and the fourth one is like the Son of God”
Now look at Zechariah 2:5! What does it say? Do you see it? “I the LORD, will be a wall of fire round about, and the glory in the midst.”
Not only is He a wall of fire around you, God Himself is the glory in our midst!
Thank God for His gracious presence! Not only were the three Hebrews thrown in....Christ was thrown in too!
God promises a wall of protection, a shield for those who walk in obedience to His Word.
In this late hour, the enemy has great wrath because he knows the hour is short. In his wrath, he has attacked the church with a great vengance.
Christian homes are breaking up, their children are backsliding and divorce is rampant - WHY?
Psalms 80:12-13 “But now, why have you broken down our hedges, so that all who pass may steal our fruit? The boar from the forest (the devil) devours us, and the wild animals (demonic powers) of the field feed on us.”
So many homes have the walls down. Yet, if there ever is a time that these walls are needed - it is now!
When you came to Jesus and gave Him your heart, He placed a wall around you! Now as fathers and mothers you have been given a covenant right - a wall of protection around your family members.
Many christians are easily dissatisfied with their life, their professions and their partners. They are constantly looking at the greener grass across the fence!
Many believers are constantly besieged by the enemy because their promised wall of protection is down! I beg of you, do not be led by your heart...but be led by His spirit!
We who walk by faith are spiritual Israel, God’s vineyard!
In Matthew 21:33 we read that “the first thing the owner of the vineyard did after he planted a vineyard was that he put a hedge completely around it!”
In Isaiah 5:3-6 The Lord speaks of all that he did for his vineyard; He had put a hedge around it - He had pruned it - He had watered it.... but the first thing to go when this vineyard became wild and unproductive was the hedge of protection!
Verse 5 says, “now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof.”
It was the continual refusal to obey
His call to repent.
The curse of the broken covenant is that everything will be left un-walled and the wild boar will plunder your life!
Jeremiah lamented over the results of the Israelites allowing their walls to be brought down.
“God’s people ate out of garbage bins - Women were eating their babies!” What happened?
Isaiah 5:3-6 “What more could I have done to cultivate a rich harvest? Why did my vineyard give me wild grapes when I expected sweet ones? Now this is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it. I will make it a wild place. I will not prune the vines or hoe the ground. I will let it be overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop n more rain on it.”
We give the enemy access by having
unrepentive hearts.
The wall is down right now! Ezekiel 38:9-12 “You and all your allies, a vast and awesome horde, will roll down on them like a storm and cover the land like a cloud. This is what the Sovereign lord says,: At that time evil thoughts will come to your mind and you will devise a wicked scheme. You will say, Israel is an unprotected land filled with unwalled villages! I will march against her and destroy these people who live in such confidence. I will go to those once-desolate cities that are again filled with people who have returned to from exile in many nations. I will capture vast amounts of plunder and take many slaves for the people are rich with cattle now and they think the whole world revolves around them.”
The enemy is given access!
This prophesy is being fulfilled right now, today!
Silver tongued false prophets speak words like “Peace, Peace, everything is beautiful.”
Several pastors we served under - one lost his mind, another is out of ministry, another had multiple adulterous relationships.
As the enemy plunders the Christian community, we wonder...what is going on?
· The walls are down.
· The lines are drawn.
· Canada is under divine judgement.
· Few families are on their knees.
· There is little repentance.
· And out of those who do follow God, far too few walk after Him with a full heart.
In spite of all of this - I am convinced that God
is able to restore our land and to get our walls
up so that the enemy can't rip us off again!
Jeremiah 31:33 “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; I will be their God and they shall be my people.”
Look at Revelation 21:9-12
“And there came to me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come here I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. (Who is that?) And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light [was] like a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.”
WHAT DID IT HAVE?
... And it had a wall great and high!
The devil can't get over it!
The devil can’t get under it!
And he can’t get around it!
And glory to God he can't go through it!
Not only is it a wall of fire around you, but God Himself is the glory in our midst! GLORY!
You may feel forsaken at times, but turn to Isaiah 49:14-16 Yet, Jerusalem says, The LORD has deserted us, the Lord has forgotten us. Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for a child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on my hand. Ever before me is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruin..”
May the Lord restore the walls around our lives - our homes - our marriages.
God is concerned about your walls. He is concerned about your children! As you walk in covenant with God, He will build the walls that have been torn down in your lives. He’ll restore all that has been stolen from you.
God may have pointed out things to you today that have caused the walls to be weakened.
· Unrepented sin
· Unforgiveness
· Not serving the Lord with Gladness!
Let’s Pray for God to have mercy on us, that He might restore the walls.
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