The Hiding House
by Michael Oxentenko

There are many troubled hearts that have no place to hide because they do not know Jesus. If you are waiting to get right with God, you are playing with fire that you cannot control. We are living at the end of time, and the end is coming whether you're ready or not. Wake up, sleeping saint, and stand with Jesus Christ before the fire comes.

In the book of Revelation, the Bible pictures those who will gain victory over the Mark of the Beast, the image of the Beast, and the number and the name of the Beast standing on Mount Zion with the Lamb of God. "Then I looked, and lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads." Revelation 14:1 God's people stand on Mount Zion, God's holy house in the midst of a troubled world. In the Old Testament, Mount Zion was the place for the temple mount. The temple was chosen as a house of refuge, a hiding house, for Israel in times of darkness and danger. "May He send you help from the sanctuary, and give you support from Zion!" Psalm 20:2 God's people also stand with the Lamb and have the Father's name written on their foreheads. The picture of the saints standing on Mount Zion with the Lamb is set in the context of a war declared by the devil on all those who will stand true for Jesus Christ. "Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, and on those who keep the commandments of God and the bear the testimony of Jesus." Revelation 12:17

All of Satan's anger, effort and energy will be marshaled against those who will remain faithful to Jesus Christ. In the heat of battle, God's people will be surrounded by the armies of evil. They will flee into the holy mountain, and the last battle will be the battle for the hiding house that stands at the top of Mount Zion. Those who stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb have the Father's name written on their foreheads. It is the sign of their deliverance from the beast power. "For I will leave in the midst of you a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD." Zephaniah 3:12 They have the Father's name written on their foreheads because they seek refuge in the name of the LORD. That means the name of the LORD is the hiding house. Joel 2:31-32 describes how important the name of the LORD is for those who live at the end of time: "The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that all who call upon the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

The first time a man called on the name of the LORD in the Bible is found in Genesis 4:26: "To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of the LORD." As soon as people begin to call upon the name of the LORD, a book is written in for those who honor God's name. "This is the book of the generations of Adam." Genesis 5:1 There is no book in the Bible called the book of the generations of Cain. In Genesis 4, Cain had a son, who in turn had a son, and so on. But not one word says any of them ever lived. It is only after people call on the name of the LORD, that people begin to live after the fall. The only way to live is to call on the name of the LORD. If you want to stop existing and start living you have to call on the name of the LORD. Zephaniah said that God's name is a place of refuge for those who stand on Mount Zion. It is a hiding house for those who need a home who want to live and not die at the end.

God's name is the hiding house for all those who seek Him, and it is no accident that the name of the Father is firmly tied to the Sabbath day in the Bible. "And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to Him to love the name of the LORD, and to be His servants, every one who keeps the Sabbath, and does not profane it, and holds fast My covenant, these I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer." Isaiah 56:6-7 How is the Sabbath linked to the name that is a refuge and a sign of deliverance? The seventh day was when God finished His work. He blessed that day and made it holy. The first time in the Bible we have a finished work, rest, holiness, and blessedness, the name of the LORD is introduced immediately. The name LORD God, or Yahweh, is the Father's name, which means "I am here." This name appears for the first time in the Bible on the seventh day. If God's name is a place of refuge at the end of time, then it would logically follow that the Sabbath is important for everyone who calls on the name of the LORD to be saved at the end of time. The name of the LORD is the covenant name for God, and in Deuteronomy 4:13 we know that the covenant is the Ten Commandments. Whoever tries to change one of those commandments has attacked the name of LORD directly.

God has given us His name for life and power. God's name was first given in the Seventh day. It is directly connected to the moral law given at Sinai. But more than this, God's name comes to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the hiding place because God's name is found in Him. "Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are one. While I was with them, I kept them in Thy name, which Thou hast given Me; I have guarded them." John 17: 11-12 The name of the LORD is a hiding house for the assaulted soul. Call on the name of the LORD and be saved.

Friday, November 06, 2009