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This is a follow-up to last week’s “Except For Fornication.” In that study, we examined the Biblical instructions regarding when to leave one’s Church membership, to recognize that the Father has called a people outside of one’s current fellowship, and to seek the Bride in prayer and with an open mind. We saw that it is when the Church falls into a pattern described in the Book of Revelation as a Woman riding a Beast, that she has become an enemy of the Savior and, as sincere as the people within her may be, the voice of the Father calls them away from destruction, and into the safety of His flock. When a Church unites with human government, and particularly when it becomes a persecuting power, we may know with absolute certainty that the have “killed the Son” of the vineyard’s master, according to the parable in Matthew 21:33-41, and Yahweh has called another.
Yahweh calls another, because He will have His Son be married. Yahshua, as the Savior, is called the Bridegroom. This is the symbol used for the spiritual relationship that the Son has with the Redeemed, and it is a significant symbol, because we know that Scripturally, a marriage consists of a single Husband, and a single Bride. While polygamy was allowed in Old Testament times because of the world and its circumstances, in the beginning it was only one Bride, and in the end it will only be one Bride.
We read in the Book of Revelation, “And the Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him that heareth say, ‘Come.’ And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev 22:17) We see there one Spirit, and only one, calling the people to everlasting life. We see one Bride, and only one, calling the people to everlasting life. Anyone that hears the voice of the Bride, this verse says, is to join her in sending that message into the world. It is one message, and only one, that redeems mankind.
The message is not, “Your doctrines are wrong!” The message is not, “Repent of your misunderstandings before God will accept you!” The message is not even, really, “The Mark of The Beast is a Trademark Law!” These things are all true, and they are all important in their right place… but what is the message that the Spirit and the Bride have to shout to every soul? It is so simple it may be perfectly summed up in a single word: Come.
That’s it. It is an invitation to have what the saints have. It is a word, brethren, of welcome. There is no condemnation in the word “Come.” There is no criticism. There is no complexity. Remember, last week we saw that there was a simple explanation for the falling and calling of churches. Fornication, spiritual infidelity, taking the world as one’s husband instead of Christ, this is the breaking point of the divine covenant, and anyone can understand that. The message that the Spirit and the Church have, the only essence of the only Gospel message, is likewise so simple that anyone can understand it: Come.
We say, “Come and see.” We say, “Come and taste and see that Yahweh is good.” We say, “Come and hear the testimony of victory over sin… the song of Moses and the Lamb, (Rev 15:3) Law and Mercy, perfectly met together in the character of Christ.” There is no excuse for sin, for the Law is set in stone. But there is no guilt for sin, for the Law is set in our hearts to cause us to obey. And as for our old sins, the blood of Yahshua has purged it all away, and we are free to sing. Come and see.
This is the foundation of the New Covenant.
Last week we saw how Yahweh breaks already-broken covenants, but He does not leave His people to wander in solitary journeys, or little disconnected groups, after He has done so. Yes, at times, there has been more than one valid group of believers. Remember, polygamy was allowed for a while, because of the hardness of the human heart. And so we have the Sunday-keeping Reformers. We have the Methodists, and the Baptists, and the Millerites, and the Lutherans. We do not dishonor their memory; these people displayed great courage and spiritual discernment in rejecting the papacy. We do not dishonor their experience, their sincerity, or their love of Christ.
And yet, in these last days, we dare not take inspiration from their divided existence. It was allowed for a time, but it was never the first choice of our Father. It is not the experience to which the purified saints are called. The Scriptures have told us, in the beginning, there is one Groom and one Bride. In the end, the voice of a single Bride gives the Gospel message, that simple, inviting Gospel message, “Come.” Polygamy was allowed for a time, because it was the best humanity could understand of the New Covenant. For a time, a groom could have more than one woman. But that time is now past. It is the Harvest.
We read, “And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Mat 24:31) The angels gather “together” His elect – together, not into various groups one here, another there, believing this thing or that. They are “together,” and we know that this means more than just geographical nearness. This day, the prophecy of the angels sent into the earth to gather the harvest is fulfilled in your sight. We are doing it. You are called to do it. It is time now for unity, for the Third Angel to lead a single, harmonious people, to sing a single song to the world.
This week, I want to examine the nature of that together-ness, and so I have called the study, “The Two-Fold Covenant.”
Let’s read a key passage from last week: “And I took My staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break My covenant which I had made with all the people. And it was broken in that day; and so the poor of the flock that waited upon Me knew that it was the Word of Yahweh.” (Zech 11:10, 11)
A little later, we read, “Then I cut asunder Mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.” (Zech 11:14)
The two staves represent, among other things, the leadership and guidance that Yahweh has over His people. With these two tools of protection broken, the flock no longer has protection against false shepherds, against thieves and robbers. We read the unfortunate result of these broken staves, and the false shepherds that are allows to appear: “Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye; his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.” (Zech 11:17)
Why is it that when Yahweh breaks His Covenant with Israel due to their spiritual infidelity, He must break two staves? I want to look at that in some detail, but first, I find it remarkable and encouraging that the first passage reads, “the poor of the flock that waited upon Me knew that it was the Word of Yahweh.” This, to me, is a promise of a great blessing. The people who wait for Yahweh, the Adventists, the true Advent-believers, are not confused or dismayed by Yahweh’s actions in breaking His Covenant. They may feel sorrow. After all, Ezekiel 9:4 tells us that they “sigh and cry for all the abominations” that are done in Jerusalem. They are certainly not happy that Yahweh must break His Covenant in order to find a pure Bride for His Son… yet they understand. They see the principles that govern the divine marriage, and they are willing to go where the true Shepherd leads, even through ridicule, rejection, and persecution from their former brethren, and all manner of tribulation. They are sustained by the Father and Son, and they are not caught unawares.
I just wanted to point this out, that even though a calamity is being described, the fall of a nation, or a Church in the time of Christ, there is still good news for the people who are waiting for their Redeemer.
We return, then, to the question of why Yahweh must break two staffs in order to completely dissolve His covenant in order to call another. It would not be sufficient for Him to break only one, because the Covenant is, like the Father and Son, two that are one in spirit.
Everything about Yahweh, everything that He reveals to us, is the unity of two things in one. We have the Godhead itself. We have the marriage of a man and a woman, for which one without the other results in the death of the human race. We have faith and works, for which one without the other is dead and without hope. We have the Law and grace, which alone become either legalism or licentiousness… death in both cases. We have baptism into Christ, and also baptism into His Body, for which one without the other is a false doctrine. You cannot have Christ without His Church, and you certainly cannot have a legitimate Church without Christ. One without the other is not the true version of either, and again the result is death.
This is the same principle over, and over again. How can anyone miss it? From Genesis to Revelation, from Alpha to Omega, we read that Yahweh is love, and love – love is the thing that makes two into one.
When Yahweh made a covenant with Israel, He was making them One with Himself, and in order to do that, the Covenant must be of two aspects.
The first is Beauty. That is the name of the staff that represents the divine-to-human connection. We read, “And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.” (Exo 28:2)
“And let the beauty of Yahweh our God be upon us, and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it.” (Psalm 90:17)
“O worship Yahweh in the beauty of holiness; fear before Him, all the earth.” (Psalm 96:9)
The Beauty of Yahweh is His power within us. The priests that represented the Most High to Israel were dressed for glory and beauty. Holiness is beauty in the sight of our Father, and when He makes us holy through His own divine nature, we are made beautiful to the universe.
And here is something that I find a little sad… that verse in Zechariah, where Yahweh breaks the staff named “Beauty?” That is the last time that the word appears in the Bible, at least in the King James’ Version. It does not appear after Zechariah, and it does not appear anywhere in the New Testament. The word “beautiful” appears a few times in order to describe things, but beauty as its own concept is not found.
The second staff is called Bands, and it represents the connection between and among Yahweh’s People. In this case, it is the brotherhood between Israel and Judah. The word itself translated as “bands” is very interesting. According to the concordance it has four distinct meanings: a cord for binding, a cord for measuring, union, and then pain or destruction.
That last one, I think is used in a metaphorical sense. We read, “The sorrows [bindings] of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me.” (2Sam 22:6) It is about being united with one’s transgressions, and so we see the same basic idea underlying this idea… being tied to something. But it is true, it certainly may be true, that unity takes sacrifice, pain. Attempts at unity will cause sorrow, when we see the prayer of Christ in John 17 going unfulfilled in so many needful souls.
How about a cord for measuring? Several times the word is used to identify a coast, or a region of Israel. It is an area that can be measured, and it is associated with the inheritance… an area that can be measured, and apportioned out to the heirs. Our bonds, our unity, is a measure of our inheritance. That makes sense, doesn’t it?
We read, “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35) Let us not think of love as some mere sentimental feeling, some abstract concept, or anything less than active, visible, continuous, one-ness. This is the very love that makes the Father and Son One, perfectly united. This same idea is repeated with different words here: “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one Body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.” (Eph 4:2-4)
The Holy Spirit has bound these concepts together in the words of the apostle: love, unity, patience with one another, and the concept of a single, Spirit-filled Body of believers. This was written even before there were the various denominations that we see today; it is an eternal principle, and one made infinitely more important today than it was when Paul first wrote it. We read of “forbearing one another in love.” There is no way that could be interpreted as diverse Churches with different beliefs, goals, and ministries. That is coming together when there are differences and finding common ground, finding peace in the truth, not splitting apart over doctrines and personal grievances.
This is why it is written of the very foundation of all of Yahweh’s Covenants: “Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked Him a question, tempting Him, and saying, ‘Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ Yahshua said unto him, ‘Thou shalt love Yahweh thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Mat 22:35 – 40)
The Law, and every Covenant based upon that Law, is two-fold in its application and purpose… one part for Yahweh, and one part for our neighbors, our brethren.
Bands. It is a measure. It is a measure of our connection to the Savior, how connected we are to one another. It is a measure of our love for the Father, how much we love the brethren, and wish to be connected with them in spiritual unity.
A cord for binding, and a union. These two most basic meanings are, I believe, the most applicable here in Zechariah’s imagery. When Israel and Judah were one, Yahweh’s glory shone upon them. They were the example of spirituality to the nations around them. Visitors from all over the world, such as the Queen of Sheba, came and saw the blessings that the Israelites enjoyed during the reign of David and Solomon. But when the north and south were divided in the days of Solomon’s son, that was the end of the days of glory.
We read in that last verse from Zechariah the result of Bands being broken, of the brethren no longer abiding together in peace: “Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye; his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.” (Zech 11:17)
See how the false shepherd is described. A sword is upon his arm. The leaders of the forsaken flock become violent. They cast people out of their Churches for daring to violate their man-made creeds. The go to the law against the saints with they will not submit to their will. They rage like beasts, for beasts they have become, and their “right eye shall be utterly darkened.”
What does that mean?
“And He said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.” (Num 12:6)
“Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.” (Micah 3:6)
“But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Mat 6:23)
Please, understand this well… I have said it in several studies, and I say it again here. As much as we have the Scriptures, and the writings of the past that are divinely inspired, Yahweh does not leave His people without a living witness. Yahweh does not leave His people to wander without direction. His Spirit rests upon them, to bring them understanding where they differ in interpretation, to give them unity even when they disagree, to provide for them spiritual gifts, through dreams, and visions, and insight, and the call to go and preach the Word without fear of the consequences, even in foreign lands with strange tongues.
If your last prophet died over a century ago, consider these words carefully. The history of the Church is not long ago, and far away. The longer people go without evidences of love from Yahweh, the more the miracles of the past seem like fairy-tales, rather than the very real and very anticipated blessings of an all-powerful God upon His beloved People. Why should we expect anything less than this from Yahweh? Why should we not take Him at His word and expect the supernatural to be, for us, natural? As you believe, so it is unto you.
But for those with false shepherds, false Sanhedrin, false conferences, the sword is upon their arm, and they have no spiritual gifts, no supernatural vision. The staff of Bands is broken for them, and they have no love for their brethren. They desire no covenant with those who differ from them and reject their creeds, therefore they have no peace. With a lack of vision comes conflict. With a lack of the Spirit of Prophecy, the living and ongoing Spirit of Prophecy, they have no peace. With a lack of Covenant, they are without the Bridegroom.
And some may say, “Why must there be a Covenant? Can’t we just agree to fellowship together? Can’t we just agree to call each other Christians, and children of God? Can’t you support my ministry and I support yours? Why must it be so formal?”
Well, how does this request strike you, Christian? The love of your life, your beautiful and kind boyfriend or girlfriend says to you, “Why must there be a Covenant? Can’t we just agree to live together? Can’t we share a bed, and be intimate, and maybe even have children, without the formality? Why do we need a wedding ceremony to prove our love to the world?”
If you are a Bible-believing saint living under normal circumstances in a fairly civilized country, the idea will be repellent to you. The unity of a man and woman is not merely for the pleasure of the flesh or to satisfy the feelings. It is to glorify Yahweh in a multitude of ways, some obvious, and some that will not be obvious until you look back upon your life from the perspective of eternity.
Similarly, the unity involved in Church membership is not merely to satisfy a social need. Yes, there are obvious temporal benefits of Church membership, but there are also a multitude of blessings you receive from formal covenant with Yahweh’s people… healing for your soul, and rest for your spirit, that you may never even recognize until you are standing on that sea of glass. But when you look back, and see how it has benefitted you, and perhaps given you the very blessings you needed to perfect the character of Christ so that you are now experiencing life everlasting…
Then it will be a matter of sight. Now, it is a matter of faith. But it is not blind faith. Yahweh, who cannot lie, has told you about His Covenant, and His desire to be married to you in a formal, practical way… just as He has always done; with Israel, with the Church of the Apostles, and now in this last generation as well.
The love between brethren that the Bible describes is not some invisible, loose thing. We read, “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.” (Acts 2:46, 47)
That is not a description of an ecumenical experience, nor of a loose association of disconnected Churches. That is many congregations, but one Spirit and one Body. That is how it was in the beginning, one Bride for one Groom, and that is how it is at the end, one Bride for one Groom.
And you might say, “Where was the Church membership roll in ancient Israel? Aren’t you just stretching a symbol too far? Aren’t you just putting a modern spin on something that was only recorded in Heaven?”
Even if there were no physical roll of membership in ancient Israel, everything I have shared with you in this study would still stand, for as we get closer to Heaven, things on earth within the Church and things in the Divine Court will draw close and closer together in nature. We read, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Mat 6:10) And again, “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Mat 18:18)
But so that there should be no mistake, so that we may know from the Word of Yahweh that our Creator does not change His desires, or His ways, we read, “Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sack-clothes, and earth upon them. And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. […] And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it. Now those that sealed were…” (Neh 9:1, 2, 38, 10:1) and there followed a long list of names, the heads of families and representatives of Israel’s Tribes, and the various people that bound themselves to the Covenant of Yahweh, to be free from sin, and to walk according to His Law. The parallel here should be impossible to miss. This was the desire of Yahweh for His people in the beginning, and He is the same today as He was then.
Formality is important to our father. Everything with Him is done perfectly, decently, and in order. He knows that human beings need rituals, and tokens, and symbols. He gives us the Last Supper. He gives us the Marriage covenant as the foundation of our societies. He gives us baptism as a sign of entrance into His one, united Church. He gives us the Church membership covenant with its various natural and supernatural tokens of His love. These are all important for our understanding of His nature, and for our relationship with Him.
The Enemy, of course, wants none of this. He wants the people whom Yahweh is calling to be discouraged, suspicious, anti-social, isolated, and separated. Satan wants the saints to be all the things that Church membership prevents. He wants those calling themselves Christians to be in so much pain of spirit that they cannot effectively represent Christ. It is as if someone whose partner betrayed him saying, “I will never trust another ever again.” That is the pain speaking. That is the betrayal speaking, but the saints overcome even this. The saints live in eternal hope, in true agape, which “beareth all things,” learns from its mistakes, and moves ever onward in the perfect will of Yahweh.
We have a faith. We have a love. We have a Covenant of unity which, in these last days, is perfect loyalty to our Father, and perfect unity with our brethren, thus fulfilling the very foundation of the Law. We given tokens of that Covenant, perfect peace, victory over sin, a single unique name, and a perfect common purpose. Among all the people in the world, we are the most, and eternally, blessed. When the Spirit and the Bride say, “Come,” we are offering an invitation worth accepting.
For those who would like to see a Biblical exploration of Church membership beyond what we could possibly cover in a single morning together, I recommend a prayerful study of the book entitled A Sure Covenant.
David.
An Enduring Witness
“Complete union with Christ and with one another is absolutely necessary to the perfection of believers.” [MS182, 1905]
“To neglect or despise those whom God has appointed to bear the responsibilities of leadership in connection with the advancement of the truth, is to reject the means that He has ordained for the help, encouragement, and strength of His people. For any worker in the Lord’s cause to pass these by, and to think that his light must come through no other channel than directly from God, is to place himself in a position where he is liable to be deceived by the enemy and overthrown. The Lord in His wisdom has arranged that by means of the close relationship that should be maintained by all believers, Christian shall be united to Christian and church to church. Thus the human instrumentality will be enabled to co-operate with the divine. Every agency will be subordinate to the Holy Spirit, and all the believers will be united in an organized and well-directed effort to give to the world the glad tidings of the grace of God.” [Acts of The Apostles, p. 164]
“The proclamation of the gospel was to be world-wide in its extent, and the messengers of the cross could not hope to fulfill their important mission unless they should remain united in the bonds of Christian unity, and thus reveal to the world that they were one with Christ in God.” [Acts of The Apostles, p. 90]