The Sceptre of Righteousness
Once again it almost time for Flames of Fire and we look forward to meeting new friends and renewing our acquaintance with so many we have met in past years. It is so good to see that the Body of Christ is "alive and active". I use that phrase because last year the Lord inspired us take up the "sword" of Hebrews 4:12. The vision we were given of the sword coming out of a great light led us to produce the banner for the main stage. I prayed into it as I stitched that sword together, and wept as I felt the Lord penetrating into my life, between soul and spirit; for this all coincided with Brian's illness and the diagnosis of a tumour. But the Lord said that we were to trust Him, and our friends in Wales lifted up such a banner of prayer and praise. Now although man could do little to cure Brian he is well and we know that we live by God's grace.
This year He holds out a sceptre, the symbol of the King's authority; are we ready to approach the throne of grace and touch it? The theme of Flames of Fire is "Jesus King of Kings". We shall no doubt focus on this Kingship and examine our hearts to see if the throne is ready, but my meditations lead me to look at the sceptre and its significance.
The sceptre of the King is usually seen as a beautiful ornate golden rod. So would have been the sceptre that Xerxes held out to Queen Esther. But the sceptre of Psalm 2:9 is made of iron. This prophetic declaration of the rule of the Son should leave the nations in fear and trembling, but we are told to take refuge in Him that He might bless us. This is our Holy God and King, who holds out the sceptre of righteousness, seen clearly in Psalm 45:6, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your Kingdom." The psalm is a wedding song, written by one whose heart was stirred by the splendour and majesty of the King. This King is anointed with the oil of joy……….so how do we expect that to affect His subjects? And what of the royal bride? She is to forget the ways of the world, the house in which she grew up, for this King is enthralled by her beauty. He sees her as already made perfect. I move to the New Testament to focus this image on the Church. Hebrews Chapter 1 confirms that both Psalms, 2 and 45, are speaking of the Son, the King of Kings, so I can justifiably look to Ephesians 5 for that lovely picture of the bride. "He gave himself up for her to make her holy, he washed her and presented her radiant without spot, stain or wrinkle - holy and blameless in his sight"
As I read Hebrews 1 again I find another gem, the quote from Psalm 104, "He makes his angels winds, his servants Flames of Fire". It was this Psalm that led us to calling our conferences Flames of Fire, so I believe God is assuring us of the message that must be proclaimed to the Church and the World.
But before leaving this beautiful wedding scene I want to move to Revelation for there are three more references to the sceptre (Rev.2:27; 12:5; 19:15). Each time an iron sceptre, each time an indication of the impending wrath of God, for God will not be mocked. He will reign with a rod of iron and we need to recognise that He is a jealous God and will have His way. He longs to pour out his mercy and His love, but we have to come before Him in repentance and humility, even with fear and trembling at His holiness - so that we can rightly touch the sceptre that He is holding out, and stand up before Him.
As we have prayed together during this year we have been taken into Revelation on more than one occasion. We have looked at the coming King and the Bride, so let us make sure that we do all we can to be ready and make ourselves available for him to act. All will come about in His timing and through His grace.
This quarter we again have a full magazine and I trust that you will find encouragement and love in its pages. Phil Rees directs us to Mission and Brian Newsom reports on our extra General Meeting in May. This meeting was perhaps not as well attended as we had hoped but nevertheless those who were there found it extremely valuable, it caused us to look at our own attitudes to the world today. We didn't get to answer where ARM (Wales) was going or what we should do next so there is scope for more thoughts from the rest of you.
It is good to have input from Richard Copsey of the children's team, and I hope this will make some of you consider joining them. As we grow a Welsh team we acknowledge that future members are out there somewhere. Please look in the obvious place - i.e. in your churches.
You will be pleased to see that Bob Pitcher is back writing prose, he has a lot of good things to say as well as sing. His is the soul of a sensitive man who is not afraid to look at the way women are influenced by painful events.
And speaking of sensitivity we pray for our SOMA team off to Kenya in August. We welcome the message that Elizabeth Kamau has sent to SOMA and we allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit as we lift this mission to our Lord. May we do what God wants and not be tempted to do our own thing. Africa must hear the voice of God rather than the voice of the Western Church. If you could consider more financial support for this team please get in touch with us.
We are pleased that our Web page is now up and running. It is there mainly to advertise the conference and publish the magazine more widely, but new ideas are in the pipeline. We want only to glorify God and serve His Church.
We welcome those who are reading this from the web, please feel that you can contact us with your comments.
Copy for the next edition September 22nd can also be sent by email. editor@anglicanrenewalministries-wales.org.uk
Meanwhile enjoy the magazine.
Mary Newsom