Michael Boldea

God In Exile

Exile: A prolonged, usually enforced absence from one's country or home. A person banished or living away; rejection by means of an act of banishing, or proscribing someone; forced to leave, or move out.

Exile, or banishment is nothing new. The custom or practice of exile has been around for thousands of years, and it may surprise some to learn that quite a large number of notable names have suffered the injustice of being banished or exiled. As far back as Seneca, the philosopher and statesman of the Roman Empire, to his contemporary Cicero, to more recent victims of exile such as John Calvin, and Thomas Becket, whenever someone was a nuisance, a thorn in the side of the great majority, yet too visible to simply kill off, they were exiled. Sent away, far from their homes these men were forced to live out the rest of their days on some island or far away nation, holding on to the fleeting hope that someday they might see their loved ones again.

It was an easy solution to a difficult problem. One couldn't simply kill a spiritual leader, a general, a respected philosopher, but such men could by no means be allowed to upturn the apple cart, to be the perpetual and proverbial fly in the ointment, stifling the plans of the ruling parties whenever the opportunity arose. No, something had to be done, and after what I assume was much trial and error they happened upon the idea of exile or banishment. As the saying goes, 'out of sight, out of mind.'

No matter how boorish, brazen, shameless and audacious those of the past might have been in exiling those whom they feared, and perhaps secretly envied, it was only recently that man has attempted the unprecedented; man has attempted to exile God Himself.

As much as I try to find a different descriptive, another explanation or definition of what has happened in today's modern Church, the only one that fits, the only one that makes sense is that we have effectively and successfully exiled God. We have exiled and banished Him from His own house. No, there was no need for a forcible removal. God will not terry where He is not welcome; God will not barge in and make himself at home if no one is willing to receive Him.

By our actions, active disobedience, and rejection of truth, we have succeeded in banishing God, relegating him to some far-flung corner of our conciseness where He can't interfere, where He can no longer rebuke sin, where He can no longer chastise and reprimand. He is there, somewhere, but His presence has no bearing on our decisions, on our conduct, on our actions, or our choices. Because we have exiled God, because we are no longer subject to His authority, His will, His word, and His standard the modern day church can readily justify anything and everything as being right and true, as being of the light when even the world can plainly see it is engrossed in the darkness.

Sure we still mention Him from time to time, when we want to rally the troops, or take up an extra special bonus offering, we will pronounce His name and twist His words to make them fit our own ideology, but other than those special occasions when we can use the nostalgia of past glories to elicit the right response from the sheep, we prefer to keep Him out of sight. He is too set in His ways, unwilling to bend or compromise, unwilling to be a bit more tolerant, to get along and play nice. So strict, but people don't respond to strict anymore, they like wiggle room, the shadows of the gray area, the ambiguous interpretation that gives more leeway to sin. The modern Pharisees know what the people like and they have no qualms about giving it to them. In their hearts they thought if only they could phrase their requests just right, coming up with new feasts for which to open one's wallet, and new gimmicks to part the sheep from their wool, if only they could make sacrifices, and bring burned offerings, God would overlook the sin, He would overlook the iniquity, He would overlook the bloodshed. If only there was enough money in the coffers, when the exiled King returned, He would not care where it came from, or if those claiming to be of His house brought glory or shame to His name.

Isaiah 1:10-15, "Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God you people of Gomorrah: 'To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?' says the Lord. 'I have had enough burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies – I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood."

In their all consuming hunger for power and prestige, some even thought if only in passing, that they could replace the exiled King, taking for themselves the glory that is rightfully His, reveling in the applause and adulation, reaping the harvest of excess from the hands of the penitent, innocent and faithful. With each passing year the King found Himself in exile, the parasitic hirelings and duplicitous Pharisees grew bolder and bolder, making grander and grander promises to those who assembled before them. Promising them a home was no longer good enough, they needed a palace; a car was for the servants, now they needed an airplane; and so it went until the consequences of their initial action began catching up with them. You see dear friend, you cannot turn your back on God and expect that there be no consequence. You cannot reject and attempt to banish Him and expect that He will not punish the disobedience and sin. God is infinitely patient, and some took the patience to mean indifference.

Zechariah 7:11-12, "But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit trough the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts."

Jeremiah 8:7-9, "Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the Lord. How can you say, 'we are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?' Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Behold they have rejected the word of the Lord; So what wisdom do they have?"

Now it seems these same wolves, these same Philistines and Pharisees who orchestrated and coordinated the attempted overthrow of the King, these same brazen men who wanted nothing to do with God for fear of the world seeing them in a bad light in case their association with Him was made known, are now turning to Him crying out for help. First they refused to heed the truth, they stopped their ears that they would not hear, they made their hearts like flint refusing to hear the words God had sent, they denied the most fundamental of Biblical truths, they compromised the most deeply held beliefs of the Church, they flirted shamelessly with the world and embraced the world's advances, and now they wonder why the wrath of God is ready to be poured out? Did you think there would be no consequence? Did you believe you could exile the King of Kings forever?

Even in the darkest hour, even though the King had been exiled, there were still those who remained faithful to Him. Though He might not have been welcome in His own churches, He was still on the throne, and those who remained faithful kept their gaze firmly planted on the horizon for His return. The shock and dismay the world showed at the events taking place did not surprise them or dismay them in similar fashion. They had read the King's letters to them, and knew what to expect. They had been warned beforehand of the calamities, the wars, the rumors of wars, the famines and the plagues, hey knew this was only the beginning, and far worse was on the horizon. No, it did not come as a shock, they were not despondent or dismayed, they did not react, they did not weep or murmur, they saw the events that were unfolding as a welcome relief because they knew, just a little while longer, and He would return.

With Love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.