Dear End
Time Saints,
As we transition from this world
system into the Kingdom of God, we
experience genuine affliction. Jesus said,
“In the world you will have trouble, but
take heart, I have overcome the world.”
Trouble comes to us just because we belong
to a different realm than this world. Now,
however, the trouble is ratcheting up and we
need to prepare our hearts for what is upon
us. Get ready to be counted worthy to suffer
for Him very soon.
I know I
promised to write some more on the Song of
Songs, and I will, but this message of the
cry of the afflicted came very strongly
about a week ago when I was afflicted by
someone very close to me. I believe the Lord
said we all needed to heed the message and
set our hearts to properly respond to
affliction.
The Cry
of the Afflicted
I had
always assumed that the cry of the afflicted
was, “Help me.” “Mercy” “Rescue me. “
Afflict my tormentors.” Etc., etc. But this
past week as I was reading Psalm 9:11, 12,
everything changed. “Sing praises to the
Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the
nations what he has done. For he who avenges
blood remembers; he does not ignore the cry
of the afflicted.”
The Lord
God Almighty has enthroned His anointed one,
His Son Jesus, as King on the holy hill of
Zion. (Psalm 2:6ff.) We, His body on the
earth, proclaim among the nations what He
has done - how Jesus came as the Lamb of God
without blemish or defect and took all the
blemishes and defects of all people of all
time upon Himself. He triumphed over all
spiritual forces of evil, over all the power
of death, over the wrath of God, over all my
personal failures. He exploded from the
grave, bursting with life for all people.
This is His triumph, and this is what we
proclaim to the nations.
His blood
is perhaps the most powerful physical
substance in the entire universe. God is the
avenger of blood, and He came and shed His
own blood for us. He will avenge that blood.
That blood will prevail. “This is my blood
of the covenant, which is poured out for
many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Matt.26:28 The One enthroned in Zion, who
was despised and rejected by men, Who took
up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
was smitten by God and afflicted. He is the
ultimate afflicted one. His cry is the true
cry of the afflicted, “Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do.”
One of
the first fellow CHRISTians who was
afflicted in a similar manner was Stephen.
As the hurled stones began to break skin and
bone, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit.” Then the afflicted one “fell on his
knees and cried out, ’Lord, do not hold this
sin against them.’” Here is the echoing cry
of the ultimately afflicted one. Stephen was
conformed to that image.
Now we
represent Christ as His literal body on the
earth. In this world, we have trouble, but
He has overcome the world. We get afflicted
in the process and as the body of the
ultimate afflicted one, we too are to cry
out in our affliction, “Father, forgive
them.” And God our Father says, “My, my,
look how the afflicted cry out, I see My Son
in them.”
Forgive
our tormentors.
Forgive
our enemies.
Forgive
our slanderers.
Is anyone
up to such a task? Only one person can
respond in this way. But, He is the One who
lives in us, and whose life is our true
essence. May our Father hear His Son crying
out from us in all our afflictions, “Father,
forgive them. They don’t know what they are
doing.”
Love in
Christ,
Frank
