Only A Moment [of painful shame]
It is clearly stated in Scriptures that this day we are moving into is to be a day of mourning, of reflection, and even of shame:
Zech 12:10
10 "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. NKJV™
Ezek 36:32
32 Not for your sake do I do this," says the Lord God, "let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!" NKJV™
But, this period, which we cannot avoid, is not to be a lasting shame, because it is also written that we are to pass into a day of joy beyond belief, where there will be no more shame:
Zeph 3:11-13
11 In that day you shall not be shamed for any of your deeds
In which you transgress against Me;
For then I will take away from your midst
Those who rejoice in your pride,
And you shall no longer be haughty
In My holy mountain.
12 I will leave in your midst
A meek and humble people,
And they shall trust in the name of the Lord.
13 The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness
And speak no lies,
Nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth;
For they shall feed their flocks and lie down,
And no one shall make them afraid." NKJV™
Hidden within this passage is also another great promise from our Lord, and the ultimate completion of His great work upon our souls through it all, the method to His madness, so to speak: the humbling of His people, to make them a meek people, properly ready to inherit the earth:
Matt 5:5
5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth. NKJV™
We will mourn his day, and pass through a period of difficult to face issues; they will be painful to face, just as He said; but then, in only a short moment [in God’s terms that may mean a bit of time, surely we have learned by now], we will be comforted:
Matt 5:4
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted. NKJV™
Therefore, as we face this last great work our wise Lord is doing upon our souls, we must be patient, and wait upon Him, obediently enduring the pain of our shame for the joy which will soon enough come:
Zeph 3:8
8 "Therefore wait for Me," says the Lord,
"Until the day I rise up for plunder;
My determination is to gather the nations
To My assembly of kingdoms,
To pour on them My indignation,
All My fierce anger;
All the earth shall be devoured
With the fire of My jealousy. NKJV™
This is the difference between those truly of the Lord, and those who practice evil instead: both groups will enter into this fearful, terrible day of the Lord; but He will use the process to separate the sheep from the goats. His sheep will submit to His plan, justifying God in the whole process, and be humbled through the process, making us better in the end; but the "goats" will refuse to submit to His plan for them, and judgment will ensue.
Luke 7:29-30
29 And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John. 30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him. NKJV™
We must expect this shame to be uncomfortable; but also rest in the hope and promise of our Lord that it is a passing thing, for only a moment.
The shame and fears we must face are subtly foretold in John 8:1-12, in the scene with the adulteress woman:
John 8:4
4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. NKJV™
As with most of God’s Word, there is much to this passage. But, one thing to note is that she was caught in the very act. As such, it is quite possible she was dragged before Him naked, in her naked shame. That is why God placed that condition upon this scene; He is the Sovereign One, the Author. At the very least, there she was, before the eyes of all, in her sin, no longer secretly hidden. We must nakedly face the truth; and according to what is clearly written, it will be a little bit painful. The intent of our accuser is to get us killed in our sins; but the intent of our God is to end up blessing us, by accomplishing this great work upon our souls: I call it "the meeking out of His people." And, it will bring joy to our hearts beyond our wildest dreams.
Therefore, this is that pain of childbirth time, of which our Lord spoke, to prepare us for this day:
John 16:19-22
19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, "Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'? 20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21 A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. NKJV™
This is precisely the same process the great king Nebuchadnezzar experienced, as recorded in Daniel 4.
Dan 4:2
2 I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me.
NKJV™
This king had just suffered one of the most difficult passages of refining shame recorded in Scriptures. But his eventual joy was so full that he wanted to tell the whole world! These Scriptures are not here to simply encourage us when the chips are down; they are prophetic, and thus tell us what to expect in these days we are now entering. This prophetic side of all Scriptures is the part of Jesus [the Word of God] which we have totally underestimated, and is thoroughly studied out in The Promise Of The Resurrected Word study series.
Here are but a few passages which speak to this entire issue:
Rev 19:10
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." NKJV™
Jer 31:19
19 Surely, after my turning, I repented;
And after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh;
I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated,
Because I bore the reproach of my youth.' NKJV™
Ezek 16:63
63 that you may remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done," says the Lord God.'"
NKJV™
Mic 4:10
10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth,
O daughter of Zion,
Like a woman in birth pangs.
For now you shall go forth from the city,
You shall dwell in the field,
And to Babylon you shall go.
There you shall be delivered;
There the Lord will redeem you
From the hand of your enemies. NKJV™
1 Thess 5:2-6
2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. NKJV™
John 8:10-11
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?"
11 She said, "No one, Lord."
And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." NKJV™
Isa 13:8
8 And they will be afraid.
Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them;
They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;
They will be amazed at one another;
Their faces will be like flames. NKJV™
Gen 35:16
16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. And when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor. NKJV™
Don’t let your heart be like Jonah’s, and which drew the response from God that He ended with:
Jonah 4:1-4
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. 2 So he prayed to the Lord, and said, "Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!"
4 Then the Lord said, "Is it right for you to be angry?" NKJV™
Keep in mind that Jesus Himself noted that the sign of Jonah would be the only sign this adulterous generation would be shown.
Matt 12:39
39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. NKJV™
Jonah 4:9-11
9 Then God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?"
And he said, "It is right for me to be angry, even to death!"
10 But the Lord said, "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left — and much livestock?" NKJV™
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