Around 1500 BC God called people of faith out of slavery to live free of the world’s two-class system. A second call to faith was renewed with the coming of Jesus Christ. Both historic responses to God’s guidance entered a functional demise as people became submissive to the rule of man.
Our Bible records these two calls to people of faith and their response. While the second call to experience the kingdom reign of God would never cease to be in the earth, another gathering of people of faith was prophesied. What is the third call to live in freedom?
Gathering People of Faith
This third call is noted as a gathering of the “scattered” people of faith. (a) [see end notes for all Scriptures] Jeremiah prophesied: “I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth…He who scattered Israel (people of faith) will gather…and keep…as a shepherd keeps his flock.” (b)
Once again, God was to gather people of faith to live as free people in natural places. Keep in mind, Scripture refers to Israel as those who seek to follow God’s insightful guidance. (c) This third call to respond to God’s guidance and to function as a nation was revealed in three incremental stages.
The delivering Reformation of the 1500s was a spiritual call that revealed people of faith could live free of perceptions that there is only one way to believe and worship. One declaration came from Martin Luther: “Every believer is a priest before God.” (d)
People begin to discover a spiritual, mental, and emotional release from the restricting oversight of official priests who regulated life and assumed to be mediators between God and man. Newly printed Bibles helped people begin to live, assemble, and worship free of the official religious order.
While people and nations broke away from the established religious order, an assurance of God’s favor in life remained a nagging question. People typically were told “do your best and at death you’ll find out.”
God was to gather people of faith to live as free people in natural places.
Great Awakenings
Then the Great Awakening Revivals of the early 1700s revealed sincere repentance allows us to feel God’s cleansing presence and know His favor is with us. As people found release from the relentless sense of condemnation and deteriorating mannerisms, they began living as “reborn from above.” (e)
Then the developing 13 colonies in the New World broke free of the ruling upper-class and became “One Nation under God,” similar to the 13 tribes of the first gathering of people of faith.
Emboldened with a new sense of 
purpose and the freedom to self-govern, democracy (rule of the people) was birthed into a republic (constitutional law), as a Democratic Republic. This freedom emboldened a prosperous middle class society, similar to the first 500 years of old Israel.
As people realized “God is with us,” they pursued with vigor the vision of freely living, worshiping, and prospering. The freedom allowed God to inspire many new conveniences, modes of travel, and ways of communication. Also, the quality of spiritual and natural life began improving everywhere.
This emerging prosperity created very prosperous middle class societies.
Research by British Economist Angus Maddison illustrated that until 1820, 94% of the world’s population lived in abject poverty. In 2015, however, only 9.6% remained in abject poverty. As people of faith prosper, everyone benefits, just as God promised our faithful father Abraham. (f)
Then in the early 1900s, Spirit Baptisms began revealing an insight that exceeds a “feeling and knowing.” Baptisms are times when the Spirit of God immerses us in His presence. These times can be overwhelming moments or quiet inspirational times when we receive and absorb insight, gifting, and anointing. These are experiences that invite us into more personal interactions with God.
The Reformation revealed faith in God is not restricted to one belief system or mode of worship. Great Awakening Revivals revealed that repentance brings a rebirth of awareness to feel and know we are forgiven. Spirit immersions revealed we can live daily in fellowship with God’s presence.
Spirit immersions revealed we can live daily in fellowship with God’s presence.
Ezekiel’s Vision
While these three historical stages are recognized as three moves of God, we seem to overlook their connective significance. The first phase brought deliverance from restricting and enslaving religious overlords. The second phase revealed an assurance of forgiveness, so we can live as reborn. The third phase revealed we can experience the presence of God often. The three phases progressively revealed God’s desire for our personal interaction with His abiding presence that is among us.
The Kingdom of God is functioning today as the enabling presence of God among us and in our midst. Again, the reign of God is not a perfect or utopian state, it is a developing reality. As we respond and become more Christ-like people, His presence with us becomes more evident.
The prophet Ezekiel shared a vision he saw that illustrated God’s voice producing three insightful actions: (g)
- The first directive was to “Call the scattered bones together,” giving them a cohesive purpose as connected bones.
- Then “Cover the bones with flesh,” showing God’s purpose involves natural life.
- Then God said: “Breathe the spirit of life into the valley,” to inspire and equip them spiritually and naturally as an army with the ability to fight and defend themselves.
Did you notice how God’s activities in Ezekiel’s vision relate to the revealing of the last 500 years? The Reformation revealed a response to God’s call to come together (bones). The Great Awakening Revivals revealed God’s purpose in our life includes natural experience (flesh). Spirit immersions invite us into a daily fellowship with the presence of God (spirit). Our heavenly Father is inclusive!
We may ask, what is the armor of God? Scripture instructs us to “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil (dividing accusations)…with truth… righteousness…the gospel of peace… faith…salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (h) The armor of people of faith are godly attitudes, expressions, and actions.
As individuals and gathering people, we can know and experience God within and without religious systems. As repentant people, in every society and nation, we can experience a rebirthing awareness of God’s forgiving favor and experience life enhancing immersions in His presence.
This call to faith really is to “whosoever will” in our various cultures and nations. One of our main problems today, as people of faith, is we hesitantly respond to God’s guidance because we fail to recognize how realistically His kingdom reign is actually functioning among our natural lives. Rather than wait for “a someday,” we want to wake-up and consciously partake of this reality.
- 1500 BC – God frees people to live under His guidance. Personal interaction is refused.
- 00 AD – God-in-Christ calls people of faith into personal interaction with God’s presence.
- 1500 AD – The Eternal One once again invites people of faith to live under His guidance.
Now, 500 years later, will we repeat history and submit to the enslaving captivity of the two-class system? The “freedom to live, worship and prosper with liberty and justice for all” is a God given vision!
As we respond and become more Christ-like people, His presence with us becomes more evident.
a) Isaiah 43:5-7; 56:8; b) Jeremiah 31:1, 8, 10; c) Romans 4:9-16; Galatians 3:6-9; d) Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:5, 9-10; e) John 3:3; Ephesians 2:1; f) Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:8; g) Ezekiel 37:1-14; h) Ephesians 6:11-17;
Keith Carroll, “The Relationship Guy”
Relational Gospel Founder
Created To Relate author