10. Salt of the earth.

The true Church is the ‘salt of the earth’ (Matthew 5:13) and as long as it remains on earth, the world will be preserved, no matter what the enemy is upto!
‘For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work ; but the one (Holy Spirit) who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.’ ( 2 Thessalonians 2:7)
The ‘secret power of lawlessness’ has been trying to establish the ‘new world order’, out of the chaos it orchestrates. Its agents were suspected to be behind the World wars and Revolutions that have been fought and are even thought to be behind some of the recent disasters and pandemics. If these happenings were the judgements of God, no righteous man would have perished and no wicked man would have escaped for ‘the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment until the day of judgement.’ ( 2Peter 2:9) Since we see no distinction being made between the two, these happenings are therefore not the judgements of God but rather natural calamities or manmade disasters which can affect both the righteous and the wicked alike. That was what Jesus had to say about the events that happened around him during his days on earth: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” ( Luke 13:2-5) So whether the happenings around us are natural or induced, they constitute the ‘birth pains’ Jesus spoke about : “There will be earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places …” (Luke 21:11) “All these are the beginning of birth pains.” ( Matthew 24:8) These birth pains will increase in frequency and strength as the time approaches. But until the Church is raptured, it stands in the way of total destruction of the world. Once the Church is raptured, the world will be vulnerable to the onslaught of Satan and the judgements of God will be unleashed against him and on those who worshipped the one God had condemned. “When he ( the Holy Spirit) comes he will convict the world of … judgement … because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” ( John 16:11) and “whoever does not believe stands condemned already.” ( John 3:18) But those who believe are the ‘salt of the earth’. Bible says that the LORD had made a ‘covenant of salt’ with the Levites. ‘It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord for both you and your offspring.’ (Numbers 18:19) Therefore they were reminded to add salt to all their offerings. ‘Do not leave the Salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.’ ( Leviticus 2:13) We who are ‘a royal priesthood’ (1 Peter 2 : 9) have been reminded to have salt in ourselves : ‘Salt is good but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have Salt in yourselves and be at peace with each other.’ ( Mark 9:50) It is time that the Church realises this truth about its ability to preserve the earth and stand its ground in the midst of this plague to bring about a great deliverance for which the Gentiles would thank the LORD, the God of heaven. Amen.