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People of The Living God |
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August 2021
WATCHMEN ON THE WALLS
“BE YE THEREFORE READY”
James Sanderson
One cannot read the four gospels without being impressed with the emphasis Jesus placed on the need of preparation. Directly and through various parables our Lord conveyed the message that only those who are ready will be able to abide the day of His coming. “And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (Luke 12:39-40). “…they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut” (Matt. 25:10). “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh…Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch” (Mark 13:35-37).
Unfortunately, even with all of these clear warnings from the very lips of the Son of God Himself, only a few will make it to the end. One of the greatest tragedies of this final hour is that most of humanity, including many Christians, will be completely unprepared for the coming of the Lord. “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved?” (Luke 13:23). Note carefully that the response Jesus gave to this most crucial question was particularly addressed to those who would live during the time of His coming. “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door…” (Luke 13:24-25). The prophet Isaiah, having been given a view of the consumption that God had decreed upon the whole earth, declared, “Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left” (Isa. 24:6). Only “a remnant shall be saved” (Rom. 10:27).
Why is it that only a few will make it to the end? Only a few will seriously evaluate the words of Jesus Christ and set themselves to make the necessary preparation. Only a precious few will be willing to put forth the supreme effort required of those who expect to endure until the end. Only a few will understand the urgency of the hour. In the verse previously quoted from Luke 13:24, Jesus said, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate…” The Greek word for strive is agonizomai from which the English language derives the word agonize. To strive is “to contend, struggle, with difficulties and dangers, to endeavor with strenuous zeal, to labor fervently. It doesn't take special spiritual discernment to see that most of the church world has little interest in laboring fervently and endeavoring strenuously in preparation for the coming of the Lord. The words of Jesus Christ fall on deaf ears as most people continue to conduct their daily lives and formulate their future plans as though all things continue as they have from the beginning of creation. The church is satisfied and secure in its present state, oblivious to the handwriting on the wall. “All those virgins slumbered and slept” (Matt. 25:5).
What will it take to awaken God's people (the virgins) from their state of sleep to a true comprehension of the urgency of the hour? In the natural, a sudden disturbance of any kind will usually jolt an individual out of sleep. One can only speculate as to what it will take to awaken the church. But it is certain that the church will awaken. “All those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.” God will bring forth conditions in the earth that will make it impossible for any Christian to remain in a state of sleep. Even now the cry has begun to go forth, “Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him.” As this cry becomes louder and louder in this critical hour, economic collapse, lawlessness, pestilences, plagues, tribulation, and the wrath of almighty God will cause every individual to realize that the end is truly at hand. Many will awaken to the awful fact that they are woefully unprepared for the Lord's coming. They will suddenly realize they have wasted valuable time on foolish pursuits that have no bearing upon eternity. At the last minute they will become serious about their walk with God. As they feverishly attempt to make the necessary preparation, they will find to their dismay that it is too late. “The foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are going out (margin). But the wise answered saying, Not so…but go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut” (Matt. 25:8-10).
God's People Need A Sense Of Urgency
Those who expect to be counted among the wise must begin to understand the urgency of this present hour and the necessity of redeeming the time. Many Christians believe that the coming of the Lord is imminent, that is, close at hand. Nevertheless, their daily lives testify that they really believe that He will come in the distant future. What would be the spiritual state of the individual who truly believes that the end of all things is at hand? We are not talking about a mental assent to a theological truth, but an actual realization that this is the last generation, the end of earth's history, the climax of God's program for humanity.
The individual who has begun to sense the urgency of this final hour will make some drastic alterations in the way he conducts his life. (1) Fasting and prayer will become an integral part of his life as he sees the need of drawing closer to God. (2) He will search the Word of God more diligently and prayerfully for a deeper understanding of God's requirements for those who expect to stand with the elect in these last days. (3) He will begin to set his priorities right as he evaluates present conditions in the light of eternity. An urgent person wants every minute to count for God. Those activities that occupy his time and keep him from pursuing a closer walk with the Lord will lose their attraction. The individual who truly believes that the end is at hand will find no satisfaction in the pleasures and entertainments of this life. He will gladly lay aside the many trivial pursuits and frivolous activities that occupy valuable time and keep him from entering the marriage feast. (4) An urgent Christian is a desperate Christian. He is desperately and earnestly concerned about making it to the end. In fact, he is so earnest in his walk that his attention is focused on only one purpose: being ready for the coming of his Lord. (5) The urgent person sees the sword of God's judgment coming upon a sin-loving world and is burdened to warn others of the coming calamities.
One cannot manufacture this urgency; however, he can certainly search the word of God and call on the Lord to grant to him a greater understanding of the lateness of the hour. The Lord will faithfully work in that individual's life to stir him to a greater burden of prayer.
The Urgency Of The Hour
What makes this final hour so urgent? It is important to understand that the coming of the Lord involves more than His breaking through the eastern sky to whisk the saints home to glory. The conditions that will prevail in these last days will try every man, including Christians, as at no other time in the history of the world. “As a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:35). The apostle Paul declared, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come” (II Tim. 3:1). The word perilous means “difficult, dangerous, furious, fierce, hard, hard to bear, troublesome, harsh, savage.” Berry's interlinear translates this word as violent. When the prophet Habakkuk was given a vision of the conditions that would prevail in this endtime, he exclaimed, “When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble” (Hab. 3:16). It may be that God's people need to have a view of the endtime that this prophet of God was given. The prophet Joel also declared, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand” (Joel 2:1). The need of an alarm indicates that God's people are asleep and must be awakened.
Our Lord Jesus Christ likened the day of His coming to the days of Noah. “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matt. 24:37-40). The word flood in Greek is “kataklusmos” (a deluge) from which the English language derives the word cataclysm. A cataclysm is any violent upheaval. In reality, our Lord Jesus Christ compared His coming to a worldwide cataclysm. This final hour will bring judgment and destruction on a scale unprecedented in the history of the world. “Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come” (Joel 1:15). The Bible declares that God will shake everything that can be shaken (Heb. 12:26-29). “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof” (Isa. 24:1). Not a single sphere of man's activity – social, political, economic, and religious – will escape the storms of this latter day.
The Bible records one particular cataclysm that will affect every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth in this endtime: the fall of Babylon. The eighteenth chapter of the book of Revelation vividly describes this awesome event. Babylon symbolically represents the whole world system that man has instituted through the inspiration of satan himself. This system is presently in total rebellion against God and the way of Jesus Christ. There does not exist a single political entity that can truly call itself Christian. “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication…” (Rev. 18:3). The sword of God's judgment is soon to fall upon this vile metropolis. “Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come” (Rev. 18:10).
All of humanity has placed its security and confidence in that ungodly system. Unfortunately, even most Christians have become satisfied with all that Babylon has to offer. The call to God's people in this present hour is “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:4). The total economic collapse of this monstrosity called Babylon is much closer than most want to admit. The present administration in the United States is running up the national debt as though there will be no consequences, printing money with no thought of inflation and the results of such careless spending.
Jesus also said that widespread lawlessness would characterize the last days. “And because iniquity (lawlessness) shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matt. 24:12). Violence has now become a way of life in America. Our cities are cauldrons of crime and bloodshed ready to boil over at the least provocation. What will happen when economic collapse strikes? Only tyranny and the rule of force will be able to maintain any semblance of order. Remember, too, that as the U.S. economy goes, so goes the economy of the rest of the world. This soon-coming economic crash will be experienced on a worldwide scale. With the ensuing political upheavals will come the loss of many freedoms that the Western world has so long enjoyed.
The church will then face the most severe persecution that it has ever faced in all of history. “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17). “The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me” (John 16:2-3). The word of God calls this period of time the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21).
In the midst of these conditions, God will accomplish a mighty sifting among His people. He will separate the wheat from the tares. The half-hearted, lukewarm professors will not make it. Those who have merely drifted along without seeking God will not stand. Only those who have put forth every effort to make their calling and election sure will enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb before the door is shut.
The purpose of this article is not to present an exact chronology of endtime events but to stir God's people to seek the Lord earnestly and diligently. The obligation to watch and be ready is a responsibility that rests upon every single Christian. “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36). The word watch literally means “to be sleepless, to keep awake.” An individual who is watching is constantly alert and on his guard. Sleeping Christians will not endure the difficulties and privations that they will have to face in this endtime. “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” (Rom. 13:11-12).
WHEN WRONGS ARE RIGHTED
J. Grant Swank
Corn. Records. Dollars
Could these objects cause tears? Yes, they could when the teen kneeling before me had stolen them. I had preached a sermon about Zacchaeus, pointing out that when he turned to Jesus, he made wrongs right by repaying the people from whom he had stolen. In fact, he overpaid to make sure his restitution was complete before God and man.
So, before me knelt a youth who was sobbing because of his thievery.
“I took corn from the farmer near my house. I slipped into his field and took it from the stalks.
“Then I stole records from my high school radio station. No one knows about this but me.
“I had a habit of taking money from trouser pockets at my community pool. The lockers were open, so I lifted what I wanted while the men were swimming.”
This litany of confession was interrupted by the repentant man’s crying. His heart was breaking because he knew he had broken God’s commandments.
How many nights had he gone to bed but not slept because of his guilty conscience? How many times had he wanted to stop stealing? How many days had he resolved to rectify the situation?
On that day the Holy Spirit showed him the only solution for his stealing – to come clean before Christ. He could be a modern Zacchaeus by turning over his all to Jesus and following through with his own personal restitution.
“The Bible assures us that if we confess our sins to Jesus, He will forgive everything,” I comforted him. “The Bible is God’s Word. Take the truth of it, believe it with all your heart, and then act upon it.”
He lifted blurred eyes toward me. What I had said was almost too good to be true. Could he actually experience God’s forgiveness for the wrongs he had committed?
Slowly, his head bent again as he pondered the Lord’s mercy. He was trying to take it all in – grace, forgiveness, a new start, making wrongs right. Finally, the tears subsided and his shoulders straightened.
“I believe what you have said because it is based on the Bible,” he eventually replied.
We prayed, thanking Jesus for the power to heal a broken heart; to give a new day in which he could turn from sin to salvation; for showing him that the clean conscience is the best conscience.
“What are we going to do this week?” I asked matter-of-factly.
“We are going to go see some people,” he answered confidently.
So, that week we visited a farmer, a school principal, and the administrator of the community pool. One by one the wrongs were righted, completing restitution. But, most importantly, in mending the past’s broken fences, new vistas of right living filled a young man’s future.
The next week was glorious. This youth testified to the congregation about the joy in his heart. What a difference seven days can make when lives are in the Lord’s leading!
I am certain that others in that church began to make amends, too, after witnessing the sincerity of this youngster who obeyed God.
That scene was more than 25 years ago when I was new to the ministry. But I have remembered it fondly, especially when preaching about salvation the Lord has reminded me not only to invite people to discover forgiveness for their sins but, also, to make restitution.
“Restitution?” someone asked me recently. The word meant nothing to him. He had never heard it. What a pleasure to define it for him, then to see his face light up with the biblical truth being applied to his own life.
When we follow through after receiving divine grace, salvation joy is rounded out. It is simply following in the steps of Zacchaeus by making practical moves to thank Christ for His mercy. Repentance and restitution give integrity to the message of grace.
I THANK YOU, LORD
Jeannine Hawkins
I thank you, Lord
You heard the plea
That came from deep inside of me
The sin and shame that was my own
You took it all and died alone.
I praise you, Lord
Mine was the blame
You knew the price and yet you came
From Heaven's throne to Calvary
My debt to pay, my soul to free.
I ask you, Lord
On bended knee
Take all the things that hinder me
Then fill me with Thy love divine
And all the glory shall be Thine.
1980
RAPTURE THEORY
Truth or Fable?
Harry R. Miller
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (ITim.4:1). But “preach the Word…for the time will come that they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (IITim.4:2-4).
One of the greatest fables of these last days is the fable of the “rapture.” In no other period of earth’s history could such an unscriptural doctrine be floated. There are literally “heaps” of teachers who are giving out this false hope and “other gospel” to the many who have itching ears (“They heap to themselves teachers”) (IITim.4:3).
The “great tribulation” is upon us and, as we enter the shadows of the day of trial, those who have a shallow Christian experience shrink in fear from the test and joyously accept the doctrine of escape. These are they of Matthew13:21: “Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.”
Little do the multitudes realize that “we MUST through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts14:22), and that “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (IITim.3:12).
None of the reformers of ages past ever believed in the rapture theory, or in any other doctrine of escape. They all believed that the way out was the way through. The three Hebrew children escaped the destruction of the fiery furnace by way of the furnace. Daniel escaped from destruction by the lions while he was in the lions’ den. Joseph was “delivered…out of all his afflictions” (Acts7:9,10), but we know that his “feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron; until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him” (Psalm105:18,19).
Revelation3:10 is often used to try to “prove” that there is to be a “rapture,” since the Lord said, in this verse, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” But nothing is said here of a “rapture”; neither can we infer from anything in this Scripture that there will be a “rapture.” The promise is to a certain class of people who have pleased the Lord with their conduct. (Notice that this promise is not given to every Tom, Dick, and Harry.) And the promise is that they are to be KEPT FROM. Kept HOW is not herein given. The method must be found in other places.
In the Greek language in which our Bible was originally written there are three prepositions for the English word FROM: “apo,” which means away from; “para,” which means from, but alongside of; and the third FROM, which is “ek”: this is the preposition which is used in Revelation3:10, and it means KEPT FROM, WHILE IN. So, you see, Revelation3:10 actually disproves the whole idea of the so-called rapture. Jesus prayed that we might be kept FROM the evil, but He also said (in the same verse) “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John17:15).
In IITimothy4:18, Paul said, “The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work.” He knew that the deliverance of the Lord was not by way of a “rapture,” but by way of trial, for in the 3rd chapter, the 11th verse he says, “Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.”
Paul learned to glory in trials, and to rejoice in tribulation, knowing that this “light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (IICor.4:17).
In Luke21:36 we find Scripture that is commonly misinterpreted by those who hold to the “rapture” theory: “pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”
Nothing is said in this verse of a “rapture,” either. Men were told to pray that they would be accounted worthy; that their faith would fail not; and that their integrity and steadfastness would carry them through. The rewards are not for those who escape the trials of the Christian life, but are given to those who OVERCOME.
Another idea used to support the rapture theory is taken from the following two Scriptures: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints” (Jude14); and Jesus said, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself” (John 14:3). It is stated by the theorists that He must first come FOR His saints before He can come WITH them. But let the Scriptures speak for themselves in explaining the identity of these SAINTS of Jude14.
“The Lord came from Sinai…with ten thousands of saints” (Deut.33:2). “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai” (Psalm68:17). “Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision” (Dan.8:13). Now it is certainly most apparent that these angels and saints are not men, but are heavenly beings.
The English word “saints,” recorded in Jude14, is taken from the Greek word “hagios,” which literally means: the holy. There are many proofs of this in the New Testament: “the holy angels with Him” (Matt.25:31); thou are “the Holy One of God” (Luke4:34); “the Holy Ghost” (Acts16:6); and many others, all translated from this same Greek word.
The Lord Jesus will return WITH hosts of angels (holy ones) FOR His saints, “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels” (IIThess.1:7).
Overcomers Must Endure
Paul, in speaking to the church at Thessalonica, said that “we ourselves glory in you…for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye ENDURE, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer” (IIThess.1:4,5).
They were worthy of the kingdom of God because they suffered for it, and in the suffering they became overcomers. Their steadfastness in faith was pleasing to the Creator; so Paul said, in connection with the coming of Jesus with all the holy angels, that he prayed always for them, that they would be counted “worthy of this calling” (verses 10,11).
Friends, remember “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (IPeter1:7). Before the cry goes up, “Behold the bridegroom cometh” (Matt.25:6), the bride will have to have “made herself ready” (Rev.19:7). And according to John the Baptist, Jesus has the fan in His hand, “and He will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matt.3:12).
It is said by those who advocate the rapture error that Christ will come and secretly catch away His bride into the heavenly places and there He and His saints will have the marriage supper: ALL this, of course, during the time of tribulation upon the earth.
Here, again, we can see the fallacy of this rapture fable, for Jesus gave us a parable which most certainly disproves a heavenly marriage supper: “Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests” (Matt.22:9,10).
Shall we believe that both “good” and “bad” people are raptured? Notice that both kinds are at the wedding, and one guest is even cast out (verse 13)! Were not all the people to be “changed, in a moment” (ICor.15:52), in order to be caught up in the air? Was the man who was cast out unchanged when they threw him out of heaven? Certainly, this doctrine presents many unsolvable problems.
According to the words of Jesus, in Matthew13, the tares are gathered FIRST (verse30): “gather ye together FIRST the tares, and bind them into bundles to burn them.” And verses 49 and 50: “So shall it be in the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.” When the time arrives for the separation of the saints and sinners, it is the sinners who will be dealt with FIRST; they certainly will not be raptured! But they will be SEVERED from God’s people.
No place in the Bible do we find any PROOF that the Lord will “rapture,” or catch away, His bride before He deals with the wicked. The bride will be hidden in the “day of trouble,” provided she is accounted worthy to escape all of these things. “Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast” (Isa.26:20).
“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time” (Rev.12:14).
“Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto Him, WHERE, Lord? And He said unto them, wheresoever the BODY is, thither will the eagles be gathered together” (Luke17:30-37).
The BODY of Jesus Christ is to be protected in the WILDERNESS during the day of trouble, and if you are accounted worthy, the Lord will reveal unto you where the Wilderness is, and you may join the remnant who “keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev.12:17).
After The Tribulation
“Immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days…he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt.24:29-31).
This trump, or trumpet (the words in the original are the same), that is blown AFTER the tribulation is over is THE LAST one to be blown, for at its sounding ALL are changed, and ALL in a moment of time: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (ICor.15:51,52).
There is no need for the blowing of many trumps for the dead after ALL of the dead have been raised! “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which ALL that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth” (John5:28,29). And how could any trump blow after THE LAST trump? There is a vast difference between “A” LAST, and “THE” LAST. A LAST may imply there are different series of trumps, and this trump was A last of one of this series, but when the Holy Ghost saith THE LAST, then we know definitely that there could never be another, after the sounding of this one.
Jesus Comes As A Thief
Just before the last vial of God’s wrath is poured out upon the wicked, the Lord of harvest gives His people this warning: “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame” (Rev.16:15).
Because Jesus is to come as a thief, it does not mean that He will come secretly, but that He will come suddenly, on an unprepared world. “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (IIPeter3:10).
Certainly, there will be nothing secret about the coming of the day of the Lord, yet the Scripture plainly declares that “It shall come as a thief.”
There cannot be anything secret about the coming of the Lord Jesus, for “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (IThess.4:16). “And every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him” (Rev.1:7). It is then that “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (IIThess.1:7,8). It is in this day of wrath “when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe” (verse 10).
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let NO MAN DECEIVE YOU by any means: for THAT DAY SHALL NOT COME EXCEPT there come a falling away FIRST, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (IIThess.2:1-3).
In spite of Paul’s warning, Christians are being deceived into thinking that we will be gathered into Christ before the man of sin is revealed. Surely such a doctrine is a doctrine of demons.
The End Of The World
“SEEING then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, LOOKING for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, LOOK for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (IIPeter3:11-13).
The END OF THE WORLD will come at the time of “the harvest”: “The harvest is the end of the world” (Matt.13:39); and in verse 49; “So shall it be at the end of the world.” The end of all things shall come upon this generation, according to the words of the Master, in Matthew24:34,35: “Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, TILL ALL THESE THINGS be fulfilled, HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY…”
Modern expositors have made void the words of Jesus. They say that this generation shall pass, and that a thousand years of earthly utopia shall follow before heaven and earth shall pass away.
Because of the misinterpretation of the 20th chapter of Revelation, many false doctrines are used to support one another. The greatest support to the error of the “rapture” is the doctrine of a “millennium,” or a thousand years of earthly supremacy for the Jewish nation.
In order to support their theories, the proponents of this doctrine hold to the literal or material interpretation of Revelation20, in spite of the fact that many other Scriptures flatly deny such a doctrine.
Jesus said He would raise the dead “AT THE LAST DAY” (John6:39,40,44,54). Martha also understood that this was the time of resurrection, for in speaking to Jesus about her dead brother, she said, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at THE LAST DAY” (John 11:24).
THE last day, like THE last trump, excludes the thought of there being any others that follow, for if any followed, this one could not be THE LAST. Good common sense and all the rules of grammar are ignored by many “modern” expositors in their endeavor to bring forth their “cunningly devised fables.”
Paul, in the 26th verse of the 15th chapter of ICorinthians, tells us that “THE LAST ENEMY that shall be destroyed is death,” and in verse54, “So when this…mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”
It is then that THE LAST TRUMP0 sounds (verse52). And according to the words of Jesus, this is THE LAST DAY and the END OF THE WORLD.
In IIPeter the 3rd chapter, verses 10-13, we have a perfect account of the world’s end: “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” The sum of these things is that when Jesus comes, He shall make a full end of both sin and sinners. The just and the unjust shall be judged and each rewarded according to his works. Then the Lord shall create new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness; and the former things shall not come into mind, for there Christ and His saints shall reign for ever and ever.
Even so, Come Lord Jesus, and make a full end of sin forever. Amen.
***WHEN**CHRIST**RETURNS***
THE LAST ENEMY shall have been subdued, (ICor. 15:26,54).
THE LAST TRUMPET shall have blown, (ICor.15:52).
THE LAST DAY shall have come, (John.6:40).
THE END OF THE WORLD will have been reached, (Matt.24:3; 13:39).
***THEN***
New heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, (IIPeter3:13).
A COMMON VISION
Alfred King
U.S. Olympic hammer thrower, Gwen Berry drew the attention of both critics and supporters alike when she disrespected the flag of the nation she was to represent. Berry turned away from the American Flag while “The Star-Spangled Banner” played and placed a T-shirt over her head, which read, “activist athlete.” Not only were her actions deplorable and disgraceful, but were those which should disqualify her as a representative of the United States. I question why anyone with such hatred for her country would even consider being a symbol of America’s greatness. Not only did Berry disgrace herself by disrespecting the Flag, she violated Rule 50, imposed upon all Olympic contenders by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Rule 50 prohibits all athletes from protests or demonstrations.
It is undeniable that America has racism within its boundaries and yet, overall, America is still the least racist nation in the world, and I would venture to say, the least racist in the history of nations. America is called, “the melting pot of the world”. Why? Because America has welcomed all nationalities for nearly 250 years, and still welcomes any who want to come legally, live freely, and obtain a better life for themselves and their families. People like Gwen Berry need to go to a nation where they can represent that nation with pride rather detest their country and disgrace themselves and the country they represent.
While I personally think it is disgraceful for athletes in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, etc. to protest while the National Anthem is sung, to do this at the Olympics is far more detestable. These athletes ascended to the place where they are because of the freedoms this country offers. They are wealthy and prosperous because of the freedoms they have had to pursue their dreams. Yet they spit in the face of the nation that has offered these freedoms. It’s not that America is perfect or ever has been, but it is still the best country in the world in which to live, and even the very poorest in this nation do not know the deprivation of many other countries. And most of the privations this country faces are the result of choices people make and not because opportunities are unavailable.
Representing The Kingdom Of God
While Gwen Berry’s actions are reprehensible, her actions are not the purpose for this article. Her behavior is the catalyst for us, who call ourselves Christians, to reflect upon and evaluate our dedication, respect, and commitment to God and His Word. Christians are citizens of a heavenly country, whose builder and maker is God, and we represent Christ and His kingdom. His word is our constitution and the cross upon which Jesus died is our banner. As God’s chosen people, we must honor our King as well as His kingdom by living according to His word and honor Him with daily worship and thanksgiving.
What prompted this article was a recent phone call I received in which the man made a statement that resonated in my heart. Paraphrasing: he stated that he had his own vision, a vision for his life, and his personal vision hindered him from catching God’s vision. When one decides to become a part of an organization (such as a church, or even more importantly, God’s family) he must set aside his own goals and ambitions and assume the vision of the organization to which he becomes a part. Therefore, as Christians we must place before our eyes God’s ultimate plan. His purpose must be our purpose, His vision, our vision, His desires, ours, His way, our way. As one song says, “my ambitions, plans, and wishes, at my feet in ashes lay.”
Considering this man’s statements, I ask myself: How much do I live my life for myself and how much do I live my life for God’s glory? Do I have God’s vision and live my life accordingly, or do I strive to fulfil my own personal ambitions? What is the crowning purpose and motivation for my life? These thoughts force me to reflect upon scripture and contemplate those virtues God truly desires to be in His church. When we think about the ultimate goal, that which God intends His people to obtain, we must consider the means by which that final goal is reached. The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1:26-27, “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:”
The Greater Call Of God
There are two aspects of this “hope of glory.” The mystery which was hid through the ages was made vividly clear to Paul by the Holy Spirit, and the first aspect of this mystery was that the blood of Jesus would cleanse one’s heart and make it possible for the Holy Spirit to come and abide within. This is a most wonderful and precious gift and is given when one is born again. The second part of this mystery is that God’s plan incorporates the means by which man can truly become like Jesus Christ. In other words, the call to every Christian is to put on Jesus Christ (Rom 13:14: “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”)
In his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul expresses a great yearning to possess something more than he had thus obtained. He clearly states that he had not yet gained all that Christ provided in His death and resurrection. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14). In verse twelve he announces that he had not “apprehended that for which he was apprehended.” Most of us today would feel we had really made progress if we were to obtain the stature of the Apostle Paul, but Paul reached for something beyond that which he had already obtained. He heard the call to come up higher. Placed before him was a higher goal. That goal was to become like Jesus Christ.
The Path To Perfection
The words written in the latter part of Romans are often dismissed by those who read only the first part. They love Paul’s teaching on God’s grace, but they draw back when they come to chapter twelve. The grace Paul writes about is the necessary means, or the essential gift, provided through Christ by which the bid to “go on to perfection” (Heb. 6:1) is possible and eventually reached. It takes grace to embrace what Paul proclaimed is essential for reaching the goal God has for you and me. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2). So, unlike many pastors today, Paul taught what Jesus taught in The Sermon the Mount: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt 5:48).
It seems that it is time the church sets her sites on that which God placed before her. Most Christians are taught that perfection is not possible. I guess Jesus was just “blowing smoke.” He didn’t really mean it. It is similar to when God told Adam not to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He was just “blowing smoke.”
Goals Essential In Reaching The Ultimate Goal
If one’s ultimate goal is to be like Christ, then he must walk in the path Jesus walked. It means taking up one’s cross and following Him. It means denying self, turning from many of the desires and appetites of the carnal nature, and crucifying the old man. This goal to which the church is called is not reached overnight. It is a process which takes time. God is dealing with men’s hearts. In Jeremiah 17:10 we are told how God is searching for those who will venture out into that path He designed whereby believers can be perfected. “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” God examines hearts to see how we will respond to truth. Will truth be accepted or rejected? There is a grave misunderstanding as to why men’s hearts are hardened. Pharaoh is always used as the example of how God hardens one’s heart. We are told that God arbitrarily hardened Pharaoh’s heart. This is not true. If it were, God would be a respecter of persons and, therefore, would not be a just God. Let’s see how Pharaoh’s heart was hardened so we can examine our own hearts to be sure we are not following Pharaoh instead of Christ.
Moses came before Pharaoh and performed the miracle God had told him to. Pharaoh’s magicians copied this miracle through their enchantments. The fact that Aaron’s serpent swallowed up the magician’s serpents did not phase Pharaoh. It was at this point that Pharaoh hardened his heart. (It is certain that Pharaoh had hardened his heart many times before Moses appeared before him in doing things he knew were wrong and rejecting those things he knew were right.) God was trying the reins of Pharaoh’s heart. How Pharaoh responded was a choice he made to the situation placed before him. Pharaoh chose to ignore God and God’s servant, thus hardening his heart. Pharaoh continued to harden his heart throughout the whole ordeal until his hardened heart destroyed him and the whole Egyptian army in the Red Sea. Death is where every hardened heart will end: but it will be in spiritual death.
Every day we make choices. We choose to live according to God’s word or to reject it and live according to our own desires. Every day we are either hardening our hearts or allowing it to be pliable by conforming to God’s word. Paul informs us that God’s law is written in every heart. “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another” (Rom. 2:14-15). That does not mean that every single aspect of God’s law is written in a sinner’s heart, but enough that the man can make the right choices if he will. It is in response to this inner voice of right and wrong that one’s heart is hardened or made pliable. Those who reject this inner voice and determine to do as they please very often end up in prison. They knew to do right but they chose to violate their own conscience. The same rule affects every person alive today, whether sinner or saint. We all make choices.
So, what do we learn? God is said to harden men’s hearts, but He does this by bringing about situations in men’s lives which require a choice on their part. The choice then affects the heart, very gradually shaping it. While it is said that God hardens hearts, it can also be said that God softens hearts. I know this from personal experience. God has softened my heart over the years. It’s not yet where I want it to be, but it’s certainly not what it once was. Praise God!
Returning now to our original thought, the choices we make must be in keeping with God’s word. Through faith every Christian must set his affections upon things above and not on the things of this world, which are temporal and fleeting. This is not forced nor coerced but is a choice we freely make. God will work with us, bringing into our path those things which will produce His divine objective. Scripture reveals that God’s divine plan involves presenting to Himself a glorious church, a church cleansed and purified, both by the cleansing power of the blood and also by the word of God. The word of God is a cleansing agent just as the blood of Jesus is. Paul, in speaking of the church, writes in Ephesians 5:26, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.”
The final goal is to become like Jesus. Every day we experience opportunities to turn from self, its desires, and demands, and allow God’s word to soften our hearts so He can mold us into the image of His dear Son (Rom. 8:29). Let the twenty-first century church join Paul and “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). Let us not turn away from the cross because we are ashamed of Christ. Let us not cover our faces when the Gospel is preached, but rather let us boldly say with Paul, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16)
THE FATHER’S PLAN
Harold Scullin
When the Heavenly Father explained His plan, the design for a family of glorified Sons and the details connected with this program, to the vast host of heavenly Beings, several things occurred in a very short period of time. Lucifer, the anointed Cherub, and one third of the angels rebelled (Rev. 12:4). “thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…I will be like the most high” (Isa. 14:13-14). “…thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezek. 28:13,14,15).
Sin had entered the universe.
The marvelous, holy, incomprehensible wisdom that was innately a part of the Father’s glorified Being provided an honorable and just solution. Such wisdom possesses all knowledge and comprehension in the area of intelligence, human and Divine.
In an article written by Brother Harry Miller he wrote concerning THE ATONEMENT, the Father’s answer to the urgent need of a SAVIOUR who would submit Himself to every demand required by justice, not only for salvation, but also the exoneration of the Heavenly Father:
“Perhaps no other Biblical subject or teaching portrays or describes the Nature of God, His Benevolence, His Selflessness, His Love, His Mercy, His Justice, His Omnipotence, His Omniscience, His Immortality, as the subject of the Atonement. So majestic is the Atonement in content that it transcends the capability of man to unfold its glories. Only the Holy Spirit is capable to touch that which is flesh and reveal, or make known, the meaning of the Atonement. Men can write in a very limited way that which they have received by the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit concerning this great truth.
“The Atonement, first of all, vindicates God in all of His wisdom, His plans, His works, and the exercise of His Will. This great display of the Nature of God exonerates Him in that it completely clears Him from all accusations, past, present, and future. The Atonement demonstrates and shows that God was just and right in all of His plans and the many expressions of His wisdom. There is no question in the intelligence of the angels of the Lord or in that great host of fallen angels and Satan but THAT GOD IS ABSOLUTELY JUST AND RIGHT IN THE MANIFESTATION of all His works. If this were not so, His enemies would not hesitate to accuse Him of injustice. The Scripture states that “every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:11; Rom. 14:11). The Atonement will show the word of God to be immutable and incorruptible.”
The Atonement bridged an impassable gulf between the Lord God of heaven and earth and finite and rebellious man. Though men may desire to please God or to be reconciled to God, in himself he can do nothing that will satisfy the demands of love, mercy and justice or his own guilty conscience, so that he can find peace with the Creator God. Man has reasoned that he must do something to appease God, an angry God. Civilized and uncivilized people have offered up sacrifices, human and animal; severe forms of penance have been entered into; others have offered a few grains of rice or some flowers. In each case, the sacrifice was offered to make an atonement, to make expiation for their sins, to please God. These people are convinced that God is angry with them, and this is their way to gain His favor. Contrast the purpose of the Atonement – “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…” “the JUST for the unjust.” The purpose of the Atonement is to reconcile fallen, lost man. Jesus “The Lamb of God” offered Himself as a ransom, took upon Himself our sins, became sin for us, that we might be reconciled to the Father.
Such a plan is not only JUST and IMPARTIAL in its function, but also provides a way whereby weak man can walk and serve the Living God and please Him, morally, spiritually and intellectually.
In the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross through the shedding of His blood, He took His blood and entered into the house of the strong man (the devil) and He spoiled (made powerless) the Devil (Matt. 12:29). Today, the servants of Jesus Christ have complete authority and power over the powers of darkness and evil (Rev. 12:7-11; Luke 10:18-20).
Provision has been made through the Atonement for every child of God to have an intimate relationship with Jesus. It is possible for those who will surrender their will to the will of Jesus 100%, to have the Holy Spirit lead and guide their lives. You can have communication with the Throne of God. Actually, what happened to the early church of God in the Book of Acts is possible for the people of God today.
The Atonement made possible this relationship with Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the angelic host in the realm of glory.