Potential Ichabod in America: the Wall of Fire, Zech 2:4-5; Lifted on 9-11-01, Restoration Depends on Believers’ Spiritual Advance; “Client Nation, Arise!”

44-	He has provided us all that we need to discover Him, know Him, and serve Him.  When we learn his policies, His mandates, and His plan we acquire His glory into our souls.
45-	When we acquire the wisdom, confidence, and courage to apply these principles to our daily lives, we reflect the glory of God outwardly into the darkness of the devil’s world.
46-	This is how we glorify God and when we do He honors us with blessings and rewards in both time and eternity.
47-	This is the process and procedure that we must follow and ultimately achieve if the United States is to avoid the disgrace of encountering its own Ichabod: the glory is gone.
48-	The answer lies in positive volition, doctrine in streams of consciousness, and the power of the Holy Spirit functioning in the souls of those who gather in this place.
49-	When we do this we fulfill the root meaning of kavoth, to make weighty.  To honor God is to give him the weight due him, to acknowledge Him in His deity.
50-	And as we learned from the study of God’s dealings with Israel in the time of Eli the High Priest, this honor can be reciprocal:
1 Samuel 2:30 -	“Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, ‘I did indeed say that your house [ Eli’s ] and the house of your father [ Ithamar ] should walk before Me forever’; but now the Lord declares, ‘Far be it from Me—for those who honor [ db@K* kaveth  ] Me I will honor, and those who despise [ hz*B* baza: with contempt ] Me will be lightly esteemed [ ll^q* qalal: demoted ].’”
	56-	Too many who express contempt lead to national decline, but a growing number who express reciprocity will be honored by the restoration of a protective wall of fire around the entire country.
Zechariah 2:4 -	[NASB] ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of men and cattle within it.
v. 5 -	‘For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’
	57-	The phrase “wall of fire” actually refers to the protection provided by Jesus Christ of His client nation Israel.  
	58-	The phrase looks this way transliterated from the Hebrew:  va@ hm*oj / chomah esh /.  It is translated “a wall of fire.”
	59-	Chomah refers to a fortified wall around a city.  Its etymology goes back to an Old South Arabic word meaning “to protect” or “to defend.”  
	60-	In the metaphor of Zechariah 2:5 the Lord promises Jerusalem that He will personally protect her as if she were defended by an outer wall made of fire.
	61-	The word “fire” is va@ esh and is used figuratively for the Lord’s presence, e.g., the burning bush, the pillar of fire, or the Shekinah Glory.  It is also used figuratively as an instrument of divine power employed in the protection of His people.
	62-	In Zechariah 2:5 we see both applications.  First of all the Lord promises to be a divine wall of fire that consumes all who might challenge the peace of Jerusalem.  Secondly, He promises to be present in the capital city in the form of the Shekinah Glory.
	63-	The Lord’s promises to be a protective “wall of fire” and the “glory in the midst” [ dobK* kavoth ] of millennial Jerusalem may be used to describe divine protection and blessing for any client nation.
	64-	This very same concept can be used to illustrate divine protection of client nations in the Church Age.  The “wall of fire” is impenetrable unless the Lord Himself decides to lift its barrier of protection as a part of national discipline to a client nation in decline.
	65-	I submit that the Glory is literally “in the midst” of a client nation when enough believers have made the advance to the sophisticated spiritual life.
	66-	When this Pivot is strong then the Lord’s Glory resides with the client nation and His wall of fire cannot be penetrated by predator nations.
	67-	However, we have also learned that when the Pivot is weak, the glory remains among believers but the client nation becomes accountable to the cycles of discipline.  As the fourth cycle arrives there is the occupation of the land by predator nations.
	68-	This means that in order for this to occur the wall of fire must be lifted to allow the insurgents inside the gates.  We learned on September 11 that the Lord permitted the sons of Hagar to penetrate the defenses of Fortress America.
	69-	Such a circumstance is brought about by widespread rejection of establishment order by the general population and a loss of doctrinal order by believers.
	70-	The Lord will once again lower His wall of fire of protection around the United States of America if believers do their duty.
	71-	Believers in spiritual maturity must hold the high ground while the rest maintain the double-column advance by means of spiritual growth and reciprocity.
	72-	The glory of God is still among us in the form of His immutable Word.  Believers are privileged to inculcate that Word into their souls and become repositories of God’s glory.
	73-	It is in this way, and this way only, that our client nation can avoid its own twenty-first century Ichabod and refresh the colors of the national portrait for the next generation.
	74-	In the meantime we can be comforted by the promise of:
Psalm 33:10 -	The Lord frustrates the plans of nations; and neutralizes the conspiracy of people.

IV.	Client Nation, Arise!:
When I taught Prep School at Berachah I wrote a song that we often sang in assembly which I named “Client Nation, Arise!”  Its message challenges the believer to make Bible study priority one in his daily life.
This challenge was offered to sixth graders who today are in their thirties.  They are among those who should be carrying the colors of doctrine in silent preservation of this great nation.
Whether or not all are doing their duty I do not know, but I am certain that some are for I am aware of several who have continued to make the advance.  It is imperative that members of this congregation respond to its clarion call and also inculcate its principles into their children’s souls.
The music is from a march entitled “Up the Street” by Robert G. Morse and the lyric reads like this:
“Client Nation, Arise!”
(© 2008 by Joe Griffin.  All rights reserved.)
		(Verse)	O Client Nation, arise today;
			Seek Bible doctrine without delay!
			It is the key to prosperity
			And deliverance from the fray.
			The imputations of God unfurl
			Our grace support in the devil’s world,
			And hist’ry tells God’s severity
			To those harming His priceless pearl.
		(Chorus)	We are a mighty throng;
			We form the Pivot strong.
			Thus, Jesus Christ controls hist’ry:
			The God of integrity
			Preserving our liberty.
			We’ll fight to save our land!
			“Stand fast,” is God’s command.
			And this our rationale shall be:
			Through military vict’ry
			Is how the Lord keeps us free.
		(Verse)	A Client Nation to God implores
			Its sons to arm and prepare with swords;
			Yet, humble warriors by faith recall
			That the battle is still the Lord’s.
			And when the conflict is o’re and won;
			The foe is vanquished and on the run,
			We’ll then assemble here, one and all,
			And give credit to God the Son.
		(Chorus)	A wall of fire surrounds
			Where e’er the Word abounds;
			You guard the Truth, the Truth guards you;
			The justice of God imputes
			Maturity’s righteous fruits.
			And with our homes secure
			We’ll pause, you can be sure,
			And lift a cup of kindness to
			The Lord of the Armies: True,
			And to the red, white, and blue.
		(Verse)	So, Client Nation, arise and sing
			To Jesus Christ, our Lord and King;
			All who are free let your voices swell
			In hosannas of thanksgiving.
			For He has won us the victory;
			We’ll reign with Him in eternity;
			Hail! Jesus Christ, God of Israel
			And the Royal Family.