Can You Stand Alone The Wise Shall Understand Who are the wise? The wise are “they that turn many to righteousness.” (Daniel 12:3) Yes, we have our trials, our temptations, our tests that we go through. “… the wicked shall do wickedly.” Yes, that’s going to happen. “… but the wise shall understand. ” Do we understand what our Christianity is all about? Do we understand when we must take a stand for righteousness’ sake? Do you think that when the beast power begins to rise they are going to allow groups to exist with whom we can openly attend Sabbath services? Will the beast power allow that? People will have to stand alone. During the tribulation, standing for the Truth will be a matter of life or death. Will we be defenders of the faith down to the last man or woman? Jesus Christ says to each of us specifically, “If any come unto Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross…” Our faith is an individual thing. This is not about being independent Christians. We need each other. All of the Church brethren are essential to our faith and spiritual growth. We learn and mature together, but we are tested separately. Still the Church remains integral in our development. It is absolutely necessary. Jesus Christ’s one True Church was founded and exists primarily for our Christian development. It’s the “womb” in which we are to mature spiritually. The Church is necessary; but that does not negate the fact that we must be willing to stand alone, be tested alone, and be tried alone. Notice how this scripture says it so clearly, “…for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ… so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:10, 12) We are individually accountable to God. We learn collectively, but we are tested individually, just as we were in high school. We all studied the same classes together, but we had to qualify for graduation individually. It’s not what the group does; there will be no group amnesty! God does not work that way. In the Scriptures, we see many examples of standing alone in the face of trials and tests, but we do not find so many examples of Christian teamwork or group participation when the greatest trials came. We do try to be there as a group for a parent with a sick child. We do try to be there for brethren who have lost a loved one. There is a purpose for the Church – an extremely important purpose. We are all a part of the body of Christ, and each part is important to everyone’s spiritual welfare (1 Corinthians 12:7). But, by and large, we qualify for the Kingdom of God one-by-one. We repent individually. We build our faith, and we believe individually. We are tried and tested often in a very individual way. |
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