The Kingdom of God was at its greatest during the reigns of David and Solomon, and the forty year reign of Solomon in peace from the surrounding nations pointed forward to the reign of the Greater than Solomon who will soon return to sit upon the throne of the restored and expanded Kingdom of his Father.
Solomon's Plague
But the reign of Solomon was also the beginning of the problems for Israel, for Solomon had many strange (foreign) wives that took him away from the worship of the one true God, but it was also a punishment for David's adultery with Bathsheba. The start of Solomon's reign saw the building of the temple in Jerusalem, that David had gathered many of the materials in preparation for, and its dedication by Solomon. In the inaugural prayer that was offered by Solomon he said (1 Kings 8:38-39) "What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house; Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men)". "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"So Solomon prayed for forgiveness for those of the people that recognised and repented of the "plague of their own heart", but in later years was not able to recognise the plague that was in his heart.
What could be described as the "plague of the heart"? With a moments thought for those who know their Bibles it is fairly obvious, "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). Note the language that is used, "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart" is the key phrase. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders" was the way that Jesus put it in Mark 7:21Mark 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,, but check the full passage from verse 18 to verse 23 (Mark 7:18-23Mark 7:18-23 18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; 19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? 20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.).
After Solomon's prayer of dedication Yahweh appeared unto him by night as recorded in 2 Chronicles 7:122 Chronicles 7:12 And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. and promised that Solomon's prayer had been heard. Just as Solomon's prayer had been heard then so was the promise; that when Yahweh's people turned from worshipping Him to worshipping other gods and subsequently repented of the evil they had done when they were punished, and turning back to the one true God then their prayer would also be heard and answered (vv. 14-162 Chronicles 7:14-16 14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 15 Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.). But if they repented not then the consequences described in vv. 19-222 Chronicles 7:19-22 19 But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; 20 Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. 21 And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and unto this house? 22 And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them. would result in their removal from Yahweh's land. From the history of the nation it is obvious that Israel were disobedient and did not turn back to their God when they were punished and warned of impending destruction, though Yahweh in love for His people warned them frequently "rising up early and sending" the prophets unto them. Yahweh kept His promise for He is faithful, unlike Israel who suffered for their wickedness and hard heartedness. So the plague that was started during the reign of Solomon continued throughout the history of both Israel and Judah, until the nation was removed from God's land by Nebuchadnezzar and never had another king to reign over them. In fact they strayed so far from their King that they eventually said "we have no king but Caesar" (John 19:15John 19:15 15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Cæsar.).
Israel in the Land
Under the Law of Moses when Israel came into the land of their inheritance and Yahweh had placed the "plague of leprosy" in a house then a specific course of action was proscribed in order to identify the problem, and subsequently perform either the reparations of the house or its destruction as the means of cleansing. Whatever the problem that the house suffered from that was termed the "plague of leprosy" the house had to be cleansed – no alternative was provided for under the Law. The Law that covered this problem is given in Leviticus 14:32-57Leviticus 14:32-57 32 This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get that which pertaineth to his cleansing. 33 ¶And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 34 When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; 35 And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house: 36 Then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house: 37 And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall; 38 Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days: 39 And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; 40 Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: 41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place: 42 And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house. 43 And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered; 44 Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. 46 Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even. 47 And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes. 48 And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. 49 And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: 50 And he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water: 51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: 52 And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: 53 But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean. 54 This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall, 55 And for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house, 56 And for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot: 57 To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy. , and concludes with the purpose of this law, and this is most important, "To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy".
So the whole purpose of the law of leprosy was to teach the people when something, a house, garment or some other item, was unclean or clean. Thus it is obvious that the item itself is of less importance than the lesson it was intended to teach. There may well have been very good health and safety reasons for the law concerning these items but as we have seen that was secondary to what it was intended to teach.
What could be clearer than that the house that was defiled by leprosy under the Law was a type of the ecclesia of Yahweh.
Why, then, was the intended teaching so important? When we consider the New Testament teaching regarding the ecclesia then it becomes clear. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 we read "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?", and in Ephesians 2:19-22 "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." What could be clearer than that the house that was defiled by leprosy under the Law was a type of the ecclesia of Yahweh.
If there was, or indeed is, therefore, anything in the ecclesia that is suspected of being leprous (a type in itself of sin and death) it must be thoroughly examined and if found to be a problem that would spread as a canker (gangrene) to the remainder of the body it was to be dealt with by the proscribed means of complete removal. Jesus warned his disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees and Paul warned both the Corinthian and Galatian ecclesias that "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump".
The Law of Leprosy
We shall now consider the instructions given in the Law concerning the leprosy that is found in a house. Firstly, Leviticus 14:34-36, "When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house: Then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house".
There are several items worthy of note in the above quotation that relate to our considerations:
That Yahweh would put the plague of leprosy in a house;
That the owner on noticing it was to report it to the priest;
That before the priest came to examine the house that it's contents were to be removed; and,
Subsequently the priest was to go in to see the house and the plague.
Apart from the sequence of events that were to occur the first point that needs to be considered is the initial one, why should Yahweh put the plague of leprosy in a house? For the same reason that Yahweh does anything in regard to the life of his servants, to test them and in so doing to strengthen their faith; for it is only by the things that we suffer that we shall develop our characters after that of the one who is the "captain of our salvation" who himself was made "perfect through sufferings" (Hebrews 2:10Hebrews 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.). Since we are far from perfect then we must also follow this same process of perfecting our characters. So the house owner was to be tested in his response and submission to the law of Yahweh. Interestingly it is the owner of the house that was to report the problem to the priest; the one responsible had to act.
Let us now consider the actions that the priest was to take under the Law of Moses, v. 37 "And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall: Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days: And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house;If… the problem was subsequently found to persist then the remedy was the destruction of the house Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is , and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place: And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house".
These actions are easily understood. The priest was to diagnose the problem and if indicated, ensure that the remedy was thoroughly carried out. The intended result being the removal of the problem from the house, and the house repaired with new materials.
If the house was treated as described but the problem was subsequently found to persist then the remedy was the destruction of the house as described in Lev 14:43-45Lev 14:43-45 43 And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered; 44 Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. ; it was to be demolished and all the materials removed to an "unclean place", which is likely to be where all the refuse from the city was disposed of.
The House of God
Solomon's building of the temple was a symbol of the building of the ecclesia, the called out ones, and its dedication to the service of Yahweh. In like manner the ecclesia today is the House of God, dedicated to His service as Peter states So the house of Yahweh, the ecclesia, as the antitype of the types and shadows we have been discussing must be as holy (separate) and free from any defilement as the types themselves."Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5). The apostle Paul also states the same on several occasions;
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" (I Corinthians 3:16-17);
"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (2 Corinthians 6:16); and again,
- "In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:21).
So the house of Yahweh, the ecclesia, as the antitype of the types and shadows we have been discussing must be as holy (separate) and free from any defilement as the types themselves. In fact it must be more so as the types are only figures pointing forward to the true. Any uncleanness identified in the ecclesia must be removed and the house rededicated to its holy (separate) service to Yahweh.
The Prophecy
So now let us bring these apparently unconnected threads together. We have the three items;
The temple that is representative of the ecclesia, as we have just shown;
The imagination of men's thoughts being only evil continually; and,
The law of leprosy in the wall of a house.
The Spirit brings the connections together in the prophecy of Ezekiel for us, so that we can see the intended meaning, which, as we saw earlier is "to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean".
The House of God was intended to be clean, that is undefiled. In order to achieve this situation and to maintain it, the way of worship was provided by God to Moses. If the method provided was not followed according to the commandments then the worship was unacceptable. The only acceptable form of worship was on God's terms, but Israel as a nation were unable to maintain the correct form of worship, often worshipping idols at the same time as they worshipped the true God.
"Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth."
In Ezekiel 8:9-12 we read of their idolatry in a vision given to the prophet "And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth." There are two specific points to note in these verses: firstly that the idols were portrayed upon the wall, just as the leprosy was evident in the walls of the house condemned by the priest; and, secondly, that it was done in the chambers of the imagery i.e. it was caused by their own imaginations that exuded from the thoughts of their hearts.
The consequences of this defilement, as well as others described in the early chapters of the prophecy, is that the glory of Yahweh is removed from the temple. "Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. "And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city."Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD's glory" (Ezekiel 10:3-4).
"Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above" (Ezekiel 10:18-19). Then in chapter 11 verse 23 the glory departs via the Mount of Olives "And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city."
So we see the progression of the glory of Yahweh as it leaves the temple in the visions given by the Spirit to Ezekiel. It moves from within the house to the threshold, then to the mountain on the east of Jerusalem via the east gate. This is quite probably the same route that Jesus and the disciples followed as they left Jerusalem together for the final time before his ascension to His Father's side. We know that Jesus the Messiah was the glory of God from John's Gospel "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14) and also in Hebrews 1:3 "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person", so Jesus as the glory of Yahweh departs in the same way (Acts 1:9-12Acts 1:9-12 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. 12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.). But the glory shall return, as Zechariah prophecies "and his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives" (Zechariah 14:4Zechariah 14:4 4 ¶And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.), and also as Ezekiel prophesied "Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east" (Ezekiel 43:1-4), and "Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face" (Ezekiel 44:4).
The saints must therefore be separate from anything that would defile them and obedient to the principles and commandments given in the Scriptures. If there is anything that defiles then the ecclesia is unclean and unholy.
The glory of God is therefore fully restored, and more, to the house of Yahweh as it was at Solomon's dedication of the original house. Yet in this prophecy we see the purpose of Yahweh revealed, which is to fill the earth with His glory by the establishment of the millennial reign of His son over all the earth "for the law shall go forth of Zion" (Micah 4:2Micah 4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.). At the same time "the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains" (Micah 4:1Micah 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.) indicating that the saints will be reigning over the nations. The house of Yahweh at this time will of course be holy, or separated unto Yahweh, for His special purpose of bringing the peoples of the world to a knowledge of Him and his plan of redemption in order to be a reflection of His character and a glory unto His holy name. The ecclesia of the saints in the time of their probation must also be holy as given in the following quotations from Peter; "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5), and "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9).
The saints must therefore be separate from anything that would defile them and obedient to the principles and commandments given in the Scriptures. If there is anything that defiles then the ecclesia is unclean and unholy.
Remember, how at the beginning we discussed the Law of Moses as given to deal with the leprosy in a house, and the actions that had to be taken by the priest to remove the leprosy; and also that leprosy is a symbol of sin? The Jewish nation was defiled as can be seen in the actions of the Priest, the head of the household of God, and were in accordance with the Law of Moses. In John 2:13-17John 2:13-17 13 ¶And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. 17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. is the record of the first inspection of the 'house' by the Priest at the beginning of his ministry. The second occasion at the end of his ministry is recorded in Luke 19:45-46Luke 19:45-46 45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; 46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.. So the house of Israel was inspected twice, and the house was cleansed by the removal of the defilement, yet even after the second cleansing the house remained defiled. The only course of action under the Law of Moses was that the unclean stones were all removed to an "unclean place": the type is easy to see; the defiled Israel was removed from the House of Yahweh in AD70 by the Roman armies to an unclean place amongst the nations. Thus the remainder of the ecclesia – the undefiled Jews and Gentiles that had accepted the Messiah – were holy, separate from the defilements of the world.
And because the nation was defiled the glory of Yahweh departed from the temple, going out from Jerusalem to the mountain on the east, before rising up to heaven as prophesied by Ezekiel as we saw in an earlier section. We are told in the Scriptures that the glory of God is Christ "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14), and similarly "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb. 1:3). When we consider the means by which the prophecy of Ezekiel described the removal of the glory of God from the temple and Jerusalem we see the same means described in the gospels when the Messiah ascended up to heaven following the forty days spent with his disciples after his crucifixion and resurrection.
The Lesson for the Ecclesia of Today
If you're a Christadelphian, baptised into the Truth as it is in Christ, then you have a responsibility of upholding that truth. A responsibility to ensure that the meeting that you belong to, ...you have a responsibility of upholding that truth. A responsibility to ensure that the meeting that you belong to, and your fellowship, are not following any "private interpretation" of scripture but that they adhere to and "earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints".and your fellowship, are not following any "private interpretation" of scripture but that they adhere to and "earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints".
So we understand that in the ecclesia those that are responsible for the condition of the house of Yahweh are the members. If the "leprosy" is with an individual meeting it is the members of the individual meeting that have to – are commanded to – act; if the "leprosy" exists in a fellowship it can only do so because the meeting(s) where the problem exists refuses to remove the offending situation from it's midst, and the other ecclesias in the fellowship accept the situation by refusing to act and therefore become "partakers of their sins". Then it is up to the brotherhood, and in particular the meetings in close proximity, to provide the remedy. Unless the correct action is taken to remove the uncleanness from the ecclesia or fellowship then the whole is defiled and ALL who refuse to condemn this situation and perform the corrective actions as instructed are condemned. If the error is not corrected then faithful brethren and sisters must remove themselves from the error or risk being condemned for accepting and condoning the error.
We saw earlier that Jesus inspected the house of Israel twice, and twice found it to be unclean, and that after the second inspection, in accordance with the Law of Moses the defiled, or unclean, stones were removed to a suitable place – one that was unclean.
We should be very careful in regard to our standing before Yahweh in this respect, "For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee" (Romans 11:21). Jesus will soon return to the earth to call the saints to judgement and we certainly do not want to be numbered amongst those who are not spared either before or at that day that we should not inherit that for which we have – or should have – strived so hard for, for we shall inherit that for which we truly desire. The defilements already current in the ecclesia are now so prevalent that the only possible course of action for the faithful is to withdraw themselves from fellowship with those in error according to the principles discussed and established from the Spirit WordIf we desire the things of the truth of Yahweh's Word being a "good and faithful servant" then we shall inherit the Kingdom, but if the things of the world then our inheritance will be the destruction that will come upon all them that look not for His coming.
The only action for the faihful brother or sister is to make sure that firstly you, then your ecclesia and your fellowship are not unclean and ready for destruction and removal to "an unclean place", which is the final destruction that will be meted out to all that defiles and offends. As we have discussed previously, in another article (The Reason for Heresy), the reason heresies are in the ecclesia is to try our faith in order to determine if we will be obedient to the principles of Yahweh's word. The defilements already current in the ecclesia (Christadelphia) are now so prevalent that the only possible course of action for the faithful is to withdraw themselves from fellowship with those in error according to the principles discussed and established from the Spirit Word in this article and others on Qodesh. "Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat" 1 Corinthians 5:8-11, KJV.