THE IMPREGNABLE TOWER ... Book

THE IMPREGNABLE TOWER

Collision with Jesus Christ is calamitous.
Try the door!

Published by World Wide Web Witness Inc.

Preface

When fanatics decide to destroy people, and to throw away their own lives in the process, in the grip of some hatred, based on delusive religious propositions, unattested by logic, unfavoured by empirical evidence, ungoverned by God, but in obstructive opposition to His love, Gospel and Christ, then there is at times, and for a time, some sense of attainment. They destroy firstly their own bodies, secondly those of perhaps thousands more. In so doing, they give outlet to their rage or disillusion, but accomplish nothing constructive.

However, they may in anticipation, and their minders may in retrospect - indeed the latter is well attested in the case of bin Laden - relish the devastation caused, as if they had in some way constructed grandeur, made magnificence or devastated evil in their assault on such a mixed multitude of civilians, some of whom may indeed be the salt of the earth.

When the USA is the target, what is being hit ? It is a land of devils and saints, power and weakness, folly and wisdom, and certainly one moving moodily in many of its major religious institutions, away from the Biblical faith, to the point that they may make some sort of acknowledgement from government, as reputedly did the Queen in speaking of the same topic, of those who in fact defile and degrade the testimony of Jesus Christ, such as the Islamic religion (cf. More Marvels Ch. 4 and references therein). In such cases, there tends to be some sort of acclamation of these rebellions against the Lord, the only Saviour and Creator, as if the work of such false prophets had 'their own way' of finding goodness or truth or even God!

This, to the extent this is done, it represents an attack on another tower. Tolerance of error is intolerance of truth. Tolerance in kindness is one thing; toleration of error AS IF the truth is in the end, betrayal. It has had its famous specialists in the past. The present is scarcely any better.

But who is, or what, this Other Tower ? and in what way is it impregnable ?

We find it mentioned in Micah 4:8, where He is referred to as "You, O tower of the flock", and indeed as "the stronghold of the daughter of Zion" and to Him goes the "former dominion". This follows immediately the declaration that "The LORD will reign in Zion ...". But WHO is the LORD who will reign ? It is He noted in Psalm 102: 18-22, as follows:

"This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.
For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary;
From heaven the Lord viewed the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To release those appointed to death,
To declare the name of the Lord in Zion,
And His praise in Jerusalem,
When the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord."

But WHAT is written for the generation to come ? This, from the same Psalm, verses 12-17:

"But You, O Lord, shall endure forever,
And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.
You will arise and have mercy on Zion;
For the time to favor her,
Yes, the set time, has come.
For Your servants take pleasure in her stones,
And show favor to her dust.
So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord,
And all the kings of the earth Your glory.
For the Lord shall build up Zion;
He shall appear in His glory.
He shall regard the prayer of the destitute,
And shall not despise their prayer."

What then does the Lord do when He arises, has mercy on Zion, at the set time, to show all the nations His glory ? He builds up Zion, we read, appearing in glory, regarding the prayer of the destitute. Indeed, He heeds the groaning of the prisoner, and releases those appointed to death.

What however is "the set time" ? As noted in Daniel 9:24-27 and expounded in SMR pp. 886, it is that first for a death for the incarnate Lord, in human format, at around A.D. 30 in our current chronological terminology. Yet what does it mean in this, to give a "remembrance of Your name to all generations" ? The showing of His glory when in compassion He does such things, releasing from death is to in a setting so notorious in crime, so noble in sublime love and so precisely predicted in detail that it will uneffacable, impregnable, standing alone without twin on this earth, signifying the truth, just as the mushroom clouds signify the extent of man's depravity in seeking to destroy himself, his neighbour, or to defend himself from such destructions, in destructions which destroy the earth.

What else was this Tower of the Flock, sent for good and not for evil, to do in this special and dynamically effectual way ? As in Isaiah 52-53, He is sent to bear the iniquity of all whom He heals! What more ? Make intercession for the transgressors as there noted (53:12). What else ? Why, to be marred beyond human recognition (Isaiah 52:12-13), and sprinkle many nations! Sprinkle ?

Of course (see Questions and Answers 11), this is the routine method of exhibiting cleansing, using blood, in the Old Testament, the forerunner of water as the symbol when the BLOOD which was effectual, that of Christ, being once shed, was no more available! and so water was substituted. It signifies cleansing.

But where does it show such sprinkling of blood for cleansing ritual, before Christ came to shed His own ? Why, in Exodus 24:6-8, where it had in varying ways, this meaning relative to the Book of the Covenant, which it typified in its purity, exhibiting its force, to the altar, where it was offered or presented, as also to the people, whom it was to cover, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words."

Where does the cleansing meaning occur ? It is found naturally in references to sacrifices as such, relative to relevant sinful recipients. Where for example ? In Leviticus 4:1-20, 5:6, 9:6ff., 17:6-11 and in many such places. Where in the New Testament does it sum up such things ? It is to be found, for example in Hebrews 9:11-28. Does this show Christ as the fulfilment, as in Isaiah 52-53, 66:1-4, of these sacrificial symbols ? Yes it does, for in Hebrews 10:1ff. we find that

"the law having been a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually, year by year, make those who approach perfect",

and then in 10:14, it declares this: "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified", and again in 9:25ff.:

"Not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another - He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world, but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

That then is where and why He appeared, as Psalm 102 adumbrated, Isaiah 52-53 specified and Daniel 9 foretold with chronological exactitude.

It is then HE, the Tower of the Flock, for there is no other, who being the LORD Himself, and alone expressible as their Rock (Psalm 62:1-3) and their 'stronghold', notorious in so many psalms of David in this capacity, who is noted in Micah. In Micah's next chapter 5, we learn of His eternal existence with His Father, on the one side, and of His then coming, as incarnate in Bethlehem, the town itself still a scene of war, since both Muslim and Israel the State, have still rejected His identity, who He is, as scripturally so amply defined! (cf. Psalm 45, Hebrews 1, John 8:58, Isaiah 40, 48:16, Psalm 2 and see Joyful Jottings 21, 22, 23, 25).

To Him is coming the dominion, as also noted in Psalm 2! in terms most dramatic, emphatic and deadly to rebellion. (Cf. Joyful Jottings 21.)

However in vindicating the Jewish remnant (as in Isaiah 11:11, Romans 11), the Lord ultimately is dealing with those of the Jewish people who, like many - but far from all - of the Gentiles, have come to believe in Him (as in Zechariah 12:10), repenting of the sacrifice they executed not with love, but as State murder. How they have paid! How the Gentile nations are going to pay for their own sacrifice of the Biblical Christ, in this coming disingenuous admixture with Islam (when that seems to help, as now), and with other paganisms, using false prophecy of one kind or another as substitute or complement for Christ (as often also in organic evolution, cf. That Magnificent Rock Chs. 1 and 8, A Spiritual Potpourri Chs. 1-9, Wake Up World ... Chs. 4-5 etc.).

In the meantime, the Lord has brought back this Jewish people, or millions of them, as pre-announced in Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah (cf. The Biblical Workman Ch. 1, SMR Appendix A etc., Ch. 9 etc.), and caused them to have triumphant wars against vastly outnumbering hosts in 1948, 1967, 1973 and so on, as predicted in Zechariah 12, 14.

Many are those who ignoring the 'burdensome stone' prediction of Zechariah 12 for this period of restored Israel, nevertheless find it to be so: and these include the USA in one respect, and in other measures, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Egypt.

Many are those also, who ignoring what Christ Himself declared most directly of HIMSELF, the God who announces what He will do (Amos 3:7) and does it, try to fly their spiritual, theological, political or even military aircraft into His will, His word and His way: as if they could destroy Christ or His word, or since it is HIS word, both, in one impact, or two blows, as they destroyed the World Trade Centre's twin towers.

He however is impregnable. That is the same sort of thing as occurs when someone in some legal situations, is acquitted of a murder charge. You cannot retry him. There is here however an intrinsic power constantly exhibited as His word directs traffic in history, which cannot move away from it in anything at all! (cf. Answers to Questions Ch. 5, SMR pp. 973A).

Christ was, according to divine plan announced in detail a thousand years before it happened, and in exquisite detail some 700 years before, dated by Daniel some 600 years before, and murdered as pre-planned in the divine wisdom. He rose from the dead (Joyful Jottings 21, 25). This too was as pre-announced - it is unique, to have a murder 'victim' announced to the world, when the fact is not at the last, but at the first released that he is to be killed, and not only this, but why and when he will arise from the dead, and what it will all mean, and then to have every single aspect verified, none even remotely capable of exposure as wrong. It is yet more startling when, doing all things with perfect brilliance, the predicter completes the task in telling you what will come of it all in the end, the 'victim' joining in this prediction of consequences many times before His death. HIS removal left them vacant indeed (cf. Luke 23:28ff.).

This is the way with the Lord, and it is indeed in His own word, even in His whose love is unsurpassable, that the realities are not skipped. He did not skip the Cross, and judgment so necessary for truth, having been performed vicariously on Him, it falls no less heavily on those who reject His placement, design and salvation. Thus He declared of Himself in Matthew 21:44, as also exhibited in Luke 20:18:

"Whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whoever it falls, it will grind him to powder."

It is most unwise to play with towers.

The end is surging about our steps now, like flood waters always rising. The Tower of Truth, the Tower indeed of Glory, Jesus Christ, cannot now be touched at all. It is only the in supreme position as Word of God (Revelation 19, John 1), as King that He now comes. Two millenia have been time enough for the efforts to misuse, abuse, masquerade and parade in terms of the religion often ostensibly related to Him, but in fact related rather to human greed, arrogance and inflation; and for the efforts to dislodge what it really is, a religion of service and humility, of merciful divine salvation, of holiness and doctrine, dealing with the word of God, His directions, His validated and vindicated, His verified and cumulatively fulfilled words.

The Tower is Perennially Untouched, though flaming missiles seek to impact relentlessly upon it. And this ? It is because of hatred of God, of His word, of His ways, and because, on the other hand, He took the step of dying first, being as far as man could manage, destroyed in an impact on the Cross, but rebuilt in such summary style, according to precise arithmetical statements, in 3 days (cf. Matthew 16:23 and SMR Ch. 6), that it made mockery of the joint power of State and Region, of Rome and Israel (cf. SMR pp. 931ff.).

Death has no more dominion over Him. He broke it. That was a chief purpose of His coming (Hebrews 2): it involved power but justice also. He met the just claims of death for sinners by bearing them, and records pardon to those who accept His deliverance and return, in Him, to their Maker God, thus being saved by Him who as the angel told the shepherds, is a "Saviour, who is Christ the Lord". It was Peter told his adversaries, of that unique Saviour, Jesus the Christ, that "there is no other name under heaven given to man by which he must be saved" - Acts 4:11-12.

In this volume, we shall be keeping in mind, DV, this perspective of the indestructible, impregnable and glorious tower of Christ, unmarked by sin, unmarred by force since resurrected and vanquisher of death itself, the Christ who was made unrecognisably human in His sacrificial torment, in the loving interests of mercy, but who will bring to justice every rebel and every fraud which seeks to found himself or herself - indeed created being, whether angel or mankind - on what is not God. Israel did it, and suffered; Gentiles now do it more and more unabashedly, and suffer; and the climax is near. As Christ Himself declared, "unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be spared" - Matthew 24:22.

HE stands; the World Trade Centre fell, and though the savagery of that wantonry is despicable, it does show the world that it is merest folly to trust in itself, which could be destroyed by asteroid at any time; and indeed, Revelation 8:10-11 predicts partial destruction by such means, as the end comes breathless to its finishing line. The tower of vapour, predicted by Joel and cited by Peter at Pentecost, likewise has come. It is not so much a concrete tower to be attacked, as a signal of the attack of demonic power, madness among men, trifling as so often before but rarely with more volatility, with things they do not understand. Joel terms it a pillar of vapour or smoke. It is one of the most simple and final signals of the end, Jerusalem's return to Jewish rule being another (as in Luke 21:24 cf. SMR pp. 791ff.,810ff., 822ff., Appendix A ).

The ONLY TOWER which stands is the One who stood before the world was made (Micah 5:1-3), and will stand forever, whose words do not alter, but show the alterations needed in man if he too is to stand (Matthew 7:24-29), indicating that it is not in being statuesque that man may continue to stand, but in being repentant for ignoring or fighting the word of God (which being His, counts as His!), and in seeking pardon in the cross of Christ who died the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God (Luke 13:1-3, Galatians 3:1-13). The beauty of it is this, that He having died, dies no more (Revelation 1:18-19), and that those who come in faith and repentance to Him as He is, not imagined to be by this or that philosopher or false church, live forever with Him, the friendship never broken and the life eternal (John 6:50-54, 10:9,27-28).

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

EVIL ANTAGONISMS and ANCIENT HEALING

The Australian, February 7, 2002 et al.

Chapter 2

ESCAPE
from a wild bull is not
COWARDICE but WISE CONTINUANCE!

Chapter 3

Ditching Tradition and Admiring Truth
Towering Aloft

Chapter 4

TROUBLE BEFORE THE TOWER

Presidents and commoners
Towers of State and of Truth

Chapter 5