The Poor in the Land

The temple cannot be restored in Babylon. Twenty-five hundred years ago, when God determined it was time to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed in Jerusalem, He did not ask the captive Jews in Babylon to rebuild it in the land of their captivity. Zerubbabel and others had to leave Babylon and return to the land of Israel to restore temple worship.

Nearly thirty years ago, Bro. Lloyd Goodwin gave a message on the poor in the land. That message is still pertinent today, perhaps even more pertinent today than it was then. God’s people are to come out of Babylon, and come into the Body of Christ. We cannot become worldly now; we cannot become Babylonish now; we have to keep a fellowship intact that can receive our captive brethren when they come home to the land the Lord gave us when He established the church in the first century.

This is my version of Bro.Lloyd Goodwin’s message:

Babylon’s Wealth

We read of Judah going into Babylonian captivity in II Kings 24. Nebuchadnezzar took the best and the brightest Jews and carried them away as captives to Babylon. “And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.” II Kings 24:14. Only the poor were left in the land. “But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.” II Kings 25:12.

The princes, the well-favored, the wise and the skillful all went to Babylon. A few years later, they were able to look in Babylon for Jewish “Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace.” Daniel 1:4.

But the poor left in the land were under reproach. “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.” Nehemiah 1:4. The people of the nations paid little attention and gave scant respect to the poor Jews in the land of Israel. They had no temple, no walls of protection, no independence, no wealth, no ability, no resources. They merely got by, tending to the vines and sowing the seed.

Just as the natural city of Jerusalem, with its temple, and its God-ordained worship, were destroyed and carried away captive into Babylon; even so the early church and its spiritual order and truth was destroyed and everything of value was carried away into spiritual Babylon. By the end of the first century, and even before, there was a real threat that the temple (New Testament order and truth) was being destroyed.

Paul warned of a “falling away” from the truth. II Thessalonians 2:3. We wrote that the man of sin, the son of perdition would be revealed. Virtually every Protestant denomination understands that the man of sin is the Pope of Rome (or they used to understand this.) As the early church apostatized, the man of sin would sit in the “temple of God.” Verse 4. Everything of value that the early church possessed was taken into Babylonian captivity, some 1900 years ago.

Look at what Babylon has today. It has hospitals, orphanages, colleges and universities, great wealth, landmark cathedrals, men of renown, etc. The Body of Christ has none of these things. Even at our best, we cannot begin to match the resources of Babylon. We are the “poor in the land.” We are under reproach. The religious world pays little attention and gives scant respect to this fellowship.

What do we have in the Body of Christ? We have come a long way from the days of Elco and Olmstead, but compared to Babylon, we are still poor. Bro. William Sowders started in a potato house in Anna, Illinois. Many of our churches started in house meetings or in storefront missions on the other side of the railroad tracks – and we have come a long way. But again, compared to Babylon, we are poor. To the outside observer, we are still under reproach.

Yet, you find great men of God among the poor in the land. “Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. . .” Jeremiah 29:1.

In the land of the Body of Christ, there have been outstanding men of God for the last 90 years. Yet the poor of the land are outcasts: “they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.” Jeremiah 30:17. Today, the Body of Christ is not sought after.

Vinedressers and Husbandmen

Just as the poor in the land were vinedressers and husbandmen 2500 years ago, even so, the Body of Christ has been dressing the vine and shepherding the sheep in the Lord’s land. The people of the Lord were often referred to as the true vine in the scriptures. “Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.” Psalms 80:8-11.

Through His prophet, the Lord said: “Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein:” Isaiah 5:1-2. In another place, the Lord said to His people: “I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed.” Jeremiah 20:21.

This vine “was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.” Ezekiel 17:8. Several of the parables of Jesus dealt with Him hiring workers for His vineyard. See Matthew 20:1-16; 21:28; 21:33-41.

The poor in the land were also husbandmen. A husbandman is one who cultivates the ground; plows and plants and pulls weeds. Evidently the Babylonians disdained this occupation, but it has always been honorable among God’s people. See Genesis 9:20; 26:12, 14; 37:7, etc.

In the Body of Christ, we have tended to the Lord’s vine – His true people. And we have planted the seed of righteousness. The Apostle Paul wrote, “I have planted.” I Corinthians 3:6. Again, he said, “we have sown unto you spiritual things.” I Corinthians 9:11.

Restoration of Temple Worship

But revival and restoration is in the land of Israel – not in Babylon! “Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them. And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the Lord. And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.” Jeremiah 30:18-22.

That was Israel then; but today, the true church is the Israel of God. See Galatians 6:16. Temple worship, true worship, could not be restored in Babylon. The Jews could not build the temple in the land of captivity. “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” Psalms 137:1-4.

Even so, the true church, with New Testament order, power and message, cannot be restored in spiritual Babylon today. They cannot sing the Lord’s song there. Of Babylon, the Lord has said, “And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 51:26. There will be no restored church in Babylon. “Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed.” Verses 8-9.

Twenty-five centuries ago, Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah had to lead the captives out of Babylon and back to Jerusalem. Soon, there will be a voice from heaven crying, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:4. The captives must come out – into the Body of Christ. Here is where we can rebuild the temple!

The true church is a temple, a measured place. Revelation 11:1. In one New Testament reference to the church, the apostle wrote: “In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:21-22.

God’s children must come out of Babylon! They must come back to the land where we have always been. The false prophets in Babylon do not recognize our ministry; and it has always been that way. Shemaiah did not recognize the call of God on Jeremiah. See Jeremiah 29:24-29. Nonetheless, the “poor in the land” have held true to God. We are waiting for our captive brethren to come home, so we can rebuild the temple; a glorious church without spot and blemish. See Ephesians 5:27.

Yet, even while we have waited for them to come, the poor in the land have continued to find grace in the wilderness. “Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.” Jeremiah 31:2. For some 90 years, since God called Bro. William Sowders, we have found grace in the wilderness. But we are anxious for the temple to be rebuilt.

People are wrong if they think it isn’t time to restore temple worship. “Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” Haggai 1:2. The Lord answered that the people could not stay in ceiled houses, but should rise up and build. Verse 4. Today, someone should tell the captives not to dwell in the ceiled houses of organization.

The people in the land will shake Babylon. The glory of the latter church will be greater than that of the early church. “For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. . . The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.” Haggai 2:6-7,9.