END TIME ERROR

DANIEL’S SEVENTY WEEKS AND THE THIRD TEMPLE. In my last post, I stated that there are two errors that are shaping much of the end time teaching in our churches. Let’s remember that Satan is the ‘father of lies’ and is a deceiver. Ever since the resurrection he has known that his days of control over the earth are coming to an end. The best he can do is to prolong them. This he does by veiling the eyes of God’s people to the truth. One of those errors is what is known as ‘Daniel’s seventieth week’ i.e. that there is a period of seven years that God has reserved for dealings with the Jews. Christians will be taken out of the Earth during or before that time. Thus instead of being God’s agents of restoration in the Earth, many Christians are looking to escape from it.

In the time of Daniel, God’s people were in exile in Babylon because of their repeated rebellion against Him. The angel Gabriel came to Daniel with a message that gave Israel another chance. They would return to their Land and rebuild their temple in preparation for Messiah the Prince. The prophecy would commence with a command to restore Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, known later as the second temple or Ezra’s temple.

In this prophecy God tells Daniel:-

           

“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.” Daniel 9:24

The ‘weeks’ in the prophecy are weeks of years, so a week is seven years. According to this wrong teaching, only 69 weeks have been fulfilled and there is another week or seven years to go. They teach that between the 69^th and 70^th week, God has inserted the Church Age. When the Church is ‘raptured’ out, then comes the 70th ‘week’ of God’s dealings with Israel during the great tribulation. They believe that all the promises contained in vs. 24 have not yet been fulfilled.

Coupled with this idea of a 70^th ‘week’ yet to come is, what I believe is a MIS-interpretation of Daniel 9:27

 ”Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;

but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.”

This interpretation goes like this: - ‘He’ in the sentence refers to the Antichrist. He makes a peace pact with Israel. After three and a half years, ‘in the middle of the week,’ he breaks the covenant and stops the sacrifices at the temple. From this they reason that a third Temple will have been built. This supposedly happens during the last ‘week’ or seven years of the prophecy given to Daniel, and will be a time of God’s special dealings with Israel – a time of great tribulation. Meanwhile Christians will be ‘raptured’ out to escape the tribulation and there is much speculation about whether this will be ‘pre-trib,’  ‘mid-trib,’ or ‘post-trib.’ This is the popular end time teaching in many evangelical and Pentecostal churches. It is a firmly held and rarely questioned belief, passed on from one generation to the next.

  The truth is that the seventy weeks were seventy consecutive weeks as you would normally expect. If God was intending to insert a long period of at least 2,000 years between the 69^th and 70^th week, one would expect some indication of it in the Scriptures. There is none. The ‘He’ in vs. 27 refers to Christ not the Antichrist. The seventieth ‘week’ was the week which included Jesus’s ministry. After 3 and a half years of ministry, In the ‘middle of the week,’ Jesus brought an end to the need for animal sacrifices, by making the one perfect sacrifice for all time. By His ministry and sacrificial death on the Cross He confirmed or strengthened the Abrahamic covenant, “The covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ,” (Galatians 3:17) and in so doing, He fulfilled all the promises contained in vs 24. God has only one answer for this world’s condition, and that is the Cross of Christ. Anything that He is going to do was accomplished there. It is a finished work. We just haven’t understood the full extent of all that the Cross and resurrection has achieved. In these last days of the Church Age, God will bring revelation on the finished work of Christ which will cause the Church to rise up in Kingdom authority.

Jesus moved with a sense of purpose. He understood the plan of Redemption and worked within the will of the Father. He often said, “it is not time yet” or “My time is not yet come,” (e.g. John 7:6), because He was working to the plan. He said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”(Matthew 15:24). When He sent the disciples out He told them to go only to Israel. (Matthew 10:5:6) That is because the work of redemption had to be first demonstrated in Israel, the pattern and priestly and prophetic nation. During that seventieth ‘week,’ Jesus taught the principles of the Kingdom; He was crucified and resurrected; the Holy Spirit was poured out and the infant Church established. Then and only then, the word came to take the gospel to the Gentiles. (Acts 10) and Paul, who was to be the apostle to the Gentiles, was called and commissioned. The seventy weeks had been completed. There is no ‘seventieth week’ to be yet fulfilled.

When we see that, we can see that this teaching which occupies so much of our thinking about the end time is wrong. We can stop looking for an Antichrist to make and then break a pact with the Jews and stop watching for the third temple; it is not part of God’s plan. The third temple as far as God is concerned is the Living Temple which Christ is building as in Ephesians 2:21:22. The Jews may or may not build another temple but it is not a marker for a seven year count down to the 2^nd Coming, preceded by the ‘Rapture’ pre, or mid ‘trib.’ Jesus is not planning to snatch His people out of the world but to cause them to rise up in Victory over the forces of darkness which keep the world in bondage. 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 [the ‘rapture’ scripture] is about the manner of the 2^nd Coming, when the Church will be caught up to meet the Lord and escort Him back to the throne.

On the night He was betrayed Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for His disciples-

“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” John 17:15

God told Daniel that some end time truth is sealed until the time of the end; (Daniel 12:9) but about 200 years ago, there were those who went ahead of the Spirit and put together an end time scenario which doesn’t leave a lot of room for the Holy Spirit to bring revelation on the real plan of God for the Church. Getting raptured out any moment may sound exciting but what God really has for the Church is even more exciting.

Very soon a ‘Joshua’ generation will arise in the Earth that will bring down the ‘gates of Hell.’ [Mat 16:17,18] This is what God has been working towards since the promise in the Garden that the Seed of the Woman will crush the Serpent’s head. (Genesis 3:15).Christ and the Church is that Seed. This Seed is also the Seed of Abraham which will possess the gate of his enemies and be a blessing to the whole earth. (Genesis 22:17, 18)(Galatians 3:16, 29) If you belong to Jesus then you are part of this Overcoming Seed. Jesus has done all the work and is now seated at the Father’s right hand ‘waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.’ Hebrews 10:13. That’s our job!

A generation of the Seed of Abraham and the Seed of the Woman will rise up to our full potential in Christ. This is ‘Elijah’ that Jesus said would come and ‘restore all things’ before His 2^nd Coming. [Matthew 17:11]. In Acts 3:21 it says that the heavens must retain Jesus “until the times of the ‘restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” This will happen any time from now to 2027. How I know that is for another time

The days ahead are days of the restoration of all things which God has been working towards for millennia. These are exciting times.  “Christ in you is the hope of glory.”

TIME FOR ACTION

  TIME FOR ACTION
Most Christians would be aware that things have changed and changed very quickly and not for the best. What to do about it? While some are endeavouring to stand against the tide of anti-God activity, others see the downward trend as a sign that Jesus is coming to ‘rapture’ them shortly and take them out of the mess. People are looking for answers. They need to understand just what is going on. We need a Biblical worldview.  How does God see things?

First of all we need to understand who we are. How many know that Christians are the Seed of Abraham? What difference  does that make?
Let the Bible speak:-
“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed” who is Christ.”  Galatians 3:16
“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29

There is One Seed and that Seed is Christ AND the Church.- Jesus and His Church are the Seed of Abraham, and we inherit all the promises made to Abraham.  Abraham had physical seed through Isaac and spiritual seed through Christ. To the physical seed God gave the Land of Canaan, which they had to possess; To the spiritual Seed, God gave the Earth.
“For the promise that he would be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Romans 4:13

That’s us! We are heir of the world. We also have to possess our inheritance. The journey of Israel from slaves in the kingdom of darkness to conquerors possessing the Promised Land is a template for how the Church will possess their inheritance. Israel had to possess the Land, bring down the strongholds of the enemy and establish the rule of God, i.e. the Kingdom. Our inheritance is occupied by satanic forces with their entrenched strongholds.
“We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”    1 John 5:19

During the temptation of Christ, Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and boasted that they were his. This is still the case. That’s why we have a messed up world. Jesus removed his authority over the world by bearing all the sins of the world. Authority over the earth now belongs to the Seed of Abraham but Satan still operates illegally. Jesus has done all the work but we have to enforce His victory in the Earth till the satanic strongholds crumble.
This is a spiritual war against spiritual enemies:-

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12
A generation of the physical seed of Abraham rose up under Joshua and claimed the Land of Canaan. Eventually the Kingdom was established under Solomon, son of David and the glory of God filled the temple.

This current generation is the Joshua generation. This is the generation destined to rise up and liberate the earth from the clutches of the wicked one. Since the resurrection he has been waiting in fear and trembling, knowing that his days are numbered. All he could do was exercise his only remaining powers, to deceive and accuse, to keep the Seed of Abraham from rising up and claiming the Earth for the Kingdom. He does this by blinding our spiritual eyes to spiritual realities. He is also quite happy to let us believe in wrong teaching about the end times; anything but the truth. Wrong teaching has bred an apathetic Church, just waiting to be raptured out any moment now; when what we are supposed to be doing is getting on the offensive against the enemy.

Jesus said that He would build His Church and the gates of Hell would not stand against it.
Time to wake up Church! It’s not just about taking us to Heaven when we die; it is about bringing back the King and the Kingdom to rule over our Earth. The Earth is our inheritance; the Kingdom of God ‘on Earth as it is in Heaven’ is our Promised Land. But we have to claim it. The Hosts of Heaven are waiting to do battle with us. The Victory is ours! Amen

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SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS?

There has been some excitement recently about a star event which seems to be depicting a significant birth which is due to happen in September 2017. I have heard three different interpretations of what this birth is so far. Signs in the heavens were promised and they can confirm what the Word is saying though I hasten to say that truth is gleaned from the Word of God not primarily from astronomy. So I would give yet another interpretation of this Star birth as it seems to confirm what the Word has revealed to me as I have studied it for nearly half a century now.

Revelation 12 records signs in the heavens which show the birth of a Man Child who brings about the downfall of the devil. This is surely the fulfilment of the promise in Genesis 3:15 about a coming Deliverer who will crush the Serpent’s head. A lot of Christians quite naturally believed that this Child is Jesus, and some say that the Woman is Israel; but there are certain things about the  Revelation 12 Scripture that don’t fit this interpretation.  E.g. Revelation is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave Him to show His servants – things which must shortly take place.” So it depicts things which were future to the time it was given; and therefore, as Jesus is the One who is giving the revelation, it would not be depicting the birth of the Saviour.

So, who is the Child and who is the Woman? These are questions which Christians have wrestled with for a long time. It is a mistake to take Revelation too literally. It is too big for that. Mostly it depicts systems, companies of people or beings, and movements in the realm of the Spirit. I believe that both the Woman and the Child are companies of people.

This Woman has been travailing since the Fall to produce the Seed destined to crush the Serpent’s head and thus reverse the effects of the Fall.  No doubt Mother Eve hoped that Cain would be the promised deliverer. Is Israel the Woman? This is what Isaiah wrote of Judah [26:17,18]

“As a woman with child is in pain and cries out in her pangs, when she draws near the time of her delivery, so have we been in Your sight, O Lord. We have been with child, we have been in pain; we have, as it were, brought forth wind; we have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.”

It goes on to promise that deliverance would come with a resurrection. The purpose of all the travail is to accomplish deliverance in the earth. Israel did not accomplish deliverance in the Earth but they did produce the Messiah, Who would make it all possible because of His death and resurrection.

So again we consider:- who is the Child of Revelation 12 who was to come at the time of its writing? Is this birth still to happen? Is that what is being depicted in the star sign that is causing a lot of speculation lately?

The key to unlocking the Book is in the types of the Old Testament. In His redemptive dealings with Israel, God has shown His plan for the redemption of the world.  What He has done in the physical in the natural descendants of Abraham, He does in the spiritual through the spiritual descendants of Abraham ‘who is the father of us all.’[Romans 4:16] As Isaac and all who came from him were considered to be the son of God; [Exodus 4:22] so Jesus and all who come from Him are God’s Son. [Galatians 3:16, 29] Christ and His Church are One; they cannot be separated. This is a vital truth and we need to understand all of its implications. We are the Seed of Abraham and the promised Seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15, destined to crush the head of the Serpent and end his devastation of the earth. This is a huge study and I have written about it in my books.[The Other Bible Code and End Time Insights]

The Bible is about much more than taking you to heaven when you die; it’s about reclaiming the earth for the Kingdom of God. The promise He made in Eden after the Fall, was that the Seed of the Woman would crush the Serpent’s head. Thus the Promised Seed would liberate the Earth from the Serpent’s influence. The Bible tells us that “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” [1 John 5:19]. That is why this Earth is in such a mess.  During the temptation, Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and boasted that they belonged to him. Jesus did not dispute this claim but set about making a way to reclaim the Earth. Through His substitutionary death on the Cross, Jesus brought us out from under the control of the Serpent and gave us Kingdom authority. We are now of the promised Seed along with Jesus and every Christian of every age.

The Seed of the Woman was to come through the line of Abraham. God gave Abraham physical seed through Isaac;-  the Nation of Israel. The land of Canaan was their inheritance.  Likewise, Abraham’s spiritual Seed was Christ and all who came from Him – the Church. Their inheritance is the earth. [Romans 4:13] Most Christians know that Jesus is the fulfilment of the Passover Lamb which brought deliverance from bondage to Israel: Jesus the Lamb of God brought us out of bondage in the kingdom of darkness. Most Christians understand that. What they usually fail to do is to follow the Type through to its conclusion. The redeemed slaves became an army of conquerors who routed the inhabitants of the Promised Land and possessed it for the Kingdom. That is to be the destiny of the Church. As we follow the history of Israel through we find that it was a generation of Israel, the Joshua generation, that finally conquered the enemy and possessed their inheritance, -  the Promised Land. That sets the pattern for the Church. It is a generation of spiritual Israel [the Church] that will overcome the Serpent and possess the earth for God. This is the generation of Overcomers which God has been working towards since Eden. Jesus said ‘I will build My church and the gates of hell will not stand against it.’ [Matthew 16;18] The Church is destined to rise up and overthrow the reign of the Serpent and usher in the Kingdom of God. Anything less than total victory for the Church in the earth, comes short of that for which Jesus agonised on the Cross.

It is the manifestation of this generation of Overcomers which I believe is being depicted in the Heavens. John the Revelator, saw it played out in the heavens. In Revelation 12 we see the Woman travailing to give birth; the Dragon waiting to devour the Child; the Child caught up to the throne of God from thence to exercise power over the nations. God’s plan is ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’ This is ‘the mystery which has been hidden from ages and generations, but now is made manifest.’ [Colossians 1:26].

Our legal position in Christ is to be seated ‘together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’ [Ephesians 2:6] It is a position which the Church has yet to take up. We have in our hands the spiritual authority which will bring down the Serpent’s rule and liberate the earth. Remember that Revelation 12 is not about a literal catching up to the throne, it is a spiritual rising up in the realm of the Spirit, into the Kingdom authority that Jesus died to give us.

 Israel’s victory was delayed because they did not really understand the greatness of their deliverance. The Church has yet to see just what the Cross has achieved. Everything necessary has been done and Christ is seated at the right hand of God waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool.  [Hebrews 10:12,13]The end time Church will come into a deeper revelation of the Cross which will cause them to rise up in victory over the enemy. It is a revelation shown in the Type of the Tabernacle, on the Day of Atonement. All Christians have Outer Court revelation of the Cross; some have an ongoing revelation available in the Holy Place: but on the Day of Atonement the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies. That is where God is taking those who will be Overcomers with ‘power over the nations’ into the fullness of truth and the Glory of God. The long travail is almost over and deliverance for the Earth will be accomplished.

The Woman is the people of faith of all ages travailing to bring forth deliverance to the Earth; the Child is the end time Overcomers who will cause Satan’s  fall from the place of authority which he has occupied illegally since the Cross and Resurrection. Jesus took authority over the earth from him and gave it to His Church. The birth of the Overcomers will take place ‘about 2,000’ years after Jesus emerged from the Wilderness and began His ministry, bringing down the strongholds of the devil. How I know that is another study.  Is this the Birth that is happening in the heavens in September 2017? Allowing that our calendar is not totally in line with the Jewish calendar, it could very well be so.

This is a very abbreviated sketch of what is a complex study; but it is an awesome truth and one which the Church will enter into shortly. I pray that you will seek the revelation of the Holy Spirit as you ponder these things. [Ephesians 1:15-19]

ABRAHAM

  Physical Seed:  Isaac and all in him – the Nation of Israel. Their inheritance [which they have to possess] The Land of Canaan  The hosts of Heaven waiting to do battle with them. Joshua 5:13-15

Spiritual Seed: Jesus and all in Him. [Galatians 3:16,29] Their inheritance [which they have to possess]– the Earth [Romans 4:13] The hosts of heaven waiting to do battle with them. Rev. 12:7-9

 

 

POSSESSING THE LAND

“But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.”            Numbers 14:21

 

Tucked away in the book of Numbers, a book that is often passed over, is this vow of God that the time is coming then His glory will fill the Earth. The prospect of seeing this come to pass should fill the heart of every Christian with joy and longing.  What is overlooked is the significance of where and when and under what circumstances this vow was made.

Israel was at the border of the Promised Land, having been led by the Cloud of the Spirit through the Wilderness. Their destiny was to possess the Land and establish the Kingdom. Twelve men were sent in to spy out the Land. The report of the majority was that it was indeed a good Land, but it was occupied by giants in walled cities. The Land was impregnable!

 Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, reminded the people that God had given them the Land for their inheritance and He was with them. They couldn’t fail. Israel choose to believe the negative report and incurred God’s anger by refusing to enter the Land. Moses interceded for Israel and God pardoned them. It was then that He made the vow. In effect He said:-

“You won’t possess the Land, but one day a generation will arise who will. It is then that My glory will fill the Earth.”  [My paraphrase vs 21-31]  God’s glory filling the earth is dependent upon the people of God possessing the Land. The ultimate fulfilment of this promise still lies ahead.

The promises of God belong to the Seed of Abraham. The patriarch had physical Seed –   Isaac and his descendants; and he had spiritual Seed – all those in Christ. [Read Galatians 3:16, 29.] These scriptures are pivotal to our understanding of the role of the Church in these end times. They tell us that Abraham’s Seed is One but many.  Isaac and Israel together are the physical Seed. [God called them His Son. “Israel is My son My firstborn” Exodus 4:20]. Christ and His Church are the spiritual Seed of Abraham.

To the physical Seed of Abraham, God gave the Land of Canaan for an inheritance; to the spiritual Seed, He gave the Earth. “For the promise that he would be heir of the world, was not given to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Romans 4:13. This is probably a revelation to most Christians. For many years we thought of the Promised Land as Heaven. This is reflected in the many songs that speak of ‘crossing Jordan’ as dying. However the whole Salvation scenario is about reclaiming the Earth for the Kingdom of God. We lost Heaven on Earth at the Fall when Adam transferred his allegiance from God to Satan: Now ‘the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.’ 1 John 5:19. At the Cross Jesus removed Satan’s authority from all who trust in Him and regained the title deeds of the Earth for redeemed Man.  It is legally ours, but like the land of Canaan, we have to possess it.

Israel’s journey to and possession of their inheritance is a type or a map, showing us how the spiritual Seed will possess their inheritance. It is then that the glory of God will fill the Earth just as He vowed.

After many years in the Wilderness, a generation arose in Israel who, under Joshua, finally crossed Jordan and conquered the Land. When Solomon, son of David, sat on the throne, the Land was prosperous, the great golden temple was built and Israel came under the rule and blessing of Almighty. This is a faint earthly picture of what it the Earth will be when the Kingdom comes. All that was lost at the Fall will be restored, and King Jesus will sit on the throne.

The end time generation of Overcomers is soon to rise in the Earth. The battle of the ages for possession of the Earth will be fought and won on the battlefield of prayer and through proclamation of the Gospel and the heavenly hosts will join the fray just as they did at Jericho. Then Hell’s strongholds will crumble; Creation will be restored and the Kingdom of God will come ‘on Earth as it is in Heaven.’ AMEN

 

THE RAPTURE RUMOUR

The following is from my new book "Endtime Insights - The Cloud Moves on", soon to be published. As it could be a bit long for a blog, I will do it in two or three parts.

          There’s a rumour of a “Rapture” about to happen any minute now. The trumpet will sound and all the Christians, those alive and the resurrected dead in Christ, will be whisked away to the bliss of Heaven, and the world will degenerate into utter Godlessness under an antichrist.

 

          Now I confess that the thought of an imminent Rapture has a great deal of appeal. Who wouldn’t want to go to Heaven and leave this mess behind with all of its pain and uncertainty, its injustice? A lot of other people think so too. Millions of dollars are made on DVDs, TV series and books which feed the rumour, telling of the horrors that await those “left behind.”

 

          At the turn of the century as the new millennium approached, there was a fever of excitement. We were told by popular tele-evangelists that there was only a “sliver of time” left before it would all happen. As millions suddenly disappeared, planes, trains and cars would go haywire and crash if the driver happened to be a Christian. Then all those raptured would enjoy a big celebration in Heaven while the people of the world, including all their unsaved loved ones would serve the antichrist on Earth or else!

 

          I bought it all once – for about ten years. I thought it was the most exciting thing that could ever happen and of course, like all Christians, I wanted to see Jesus. I even dreamed about it and when I read that Enoch was raptured by faith (Hebrews 11:5), I wondered how could one work up enough faith to be raptured. Here I come Lord! I had much to learn. There were some things that didn’t quite gel in this teaching, like Revelation 4:1 being the Rapture of the Church, but after all I was only a comparatively new Christian and others must know better than I.

 

          Then I heard a tape by a favourite teacher of the Word called Bob Mumford. He said that he had all his charts drawn up – Antichrist, Rapture, Marriage Supper of the Lamb etc, he had it all worked out, then he had a shattering revelation after which he burned all his charts because he realised that it’s not going to happen like that.  I was intrigued and I wanted to know more. Bob didn’t elaborate, but I gathered it had a lot to do with the types of the Old Testament which was a favourite subject of mine, so I set myself to see what he had seen. It took some time, but the pieces began to fall into place and I saw that the Lord was taking the Church toward a destination in the Earth. I saw that the glory of the Lord filling the Earth was dependant on the people of God possessing the Promised Land. (Numbers 14:21) I came to understand that this was about reclaiming the Earth for God - recovering our lost inheritance.

 

          I wrote a rather long manuscript of a parallel study of the three main Types but something wasn’t quite right towards the end. I was resorting to works. The Lord said “Learn more of My Grace.” When I had the revelation of the meaning of the rent veil and the finished work of Christ the last piece fell into place and I saw the whole picture.

I can now say unequivocally that there is NOT going to be a rapture at any minute now. Burn your charts, seek the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to show you. Exciting things ARE about to happen even more exciting than a rapture. The Church is going to rise up in the power and glory of the risen Lord and bring in the Kingdom. Then the Lord will return to take up His throne.

          The prophetic picture of this great event is seen in Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on that last Passover:- He descended from the Mt of Olives with His retinue of disciples plus others from the surrounding villages. The crowds in Jerusalem went out to meet Him because that’s the way a king was welcomed into a city. Then together they all escorted Him back into Jerusalem. Even so at the Second Coming, the Lord will return with ten thousands of His saints and “we who are alive and remain” shall be caught up together with the resurrected saints to go out to meet the King and escort Him back to the throne. That’s the Rapture of the Church – at the time of His Coming. When the Lord of Glory enters this Earth’s atmosphere, everything will come alive and Creation will be renewed. (Romans 8:19 – 23) Yes there is going to be great conflict ahead but we will be ready and we will win. Am I saying that we’re going to be here for the “Tribulation?” No! I’m saying that we’re going to be here for the Glory and the Victory.

 

          When it comes to end-times, there is a lot of talk or debate about whether there will be a “pre-trib” or “post-trib” Rapture, the main concern for some seems to be whether they will go through the anticipated Tribulation or not.  But I wonder if that is supposed to be the focus for the Christian. Should it not be rather “Have we finished the job Jesus gave us to do?”

 

“....make disciples of all the nations....teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you:”Matthew 28:19,20

 

          There are at least 50 nations in the world which are less than 5% Christian. The Chinese “Back to Jerusalem” movement is dedicated to doing all they can to finish the job, pledging their lives to it. Of them it could be said “....they loved not their lives to the death”

(Revelation 12:11) They believe that Jesus won’t come back until the Great Commission is completed. If all the Church was like minded, and if all the energy and resources that go on preaching an imminent Rapture, went into prayer for the nations and working together to evangelize them, we would be a lot closer to His coming.

           

          It is asserted that Jesus will rapture the Church out before the tribulation, because we are “not appointed to wrath” and it is true that those in Jesus do not come under the judgement of God for sin, but when God sent judgement upon Egypt, where were His people?  They were still in the land and God looked after them.  He didn’t have to evacuate them first in order to judge Egypt. In the judgement of Noah’s day, the people of God were kept safe in the Ark which is a type of Christ. It was the others who were “taken away” in judgement. Noah and his family came through the Flood and inherited the Earth – a very different Earth, cleansed by the Flood.

 

          It matters a great deal what we believe about end-times. God’s will is accomplished through His people. If we don’t have a vision for taking the Earth for God, then it won’t happen. Christians who believe in an imminent rapture tend to opt out of involvement in the world. In the meanwhile satan is having a heyday. Abortion, same sex marriage, euthanasia drugs, lawlessness, all kinds of godlessness is on the increase with very little opposition from the Church. Preachers need to be inspiring their congregations to stand up and be counted and make a difference. This is God’s world and Jesus said “Occupy till I come.” We are assured of victory if only we will fight. This is a battle which has to be fought on many fronts. Rapture-at-any-moment makes for popular exciting teaching, but is it right?  I don’t think so. Rather it tends to immobilize the Church. We are supposed to be the Army of God. We are supposed to wage spiritual warfare for the nations and also to stand up for the principles of the kingdom here in the Earth.

 

          It is often said that nothing remains to happen before Jesus comes again. Here are a few things that haven’t happened yet:-

         

          * The Church has to complete the Great Commission.(Matthew 28:18-20). This is on the basis of the fact that all authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to Jesus.That authority has been delegated to the Church to exercise in His Name to bring down the strongholds of the enemy and to set the Earth free.

 

          * Elijah must come first and restore all things. (Read Matthew 17 1-13) This is not a literal return of the Prophet Elijah, but the Spirit that rested upon Elijah coming upon the end time Church to challenge the powers of darkness and turn the world back to God. John’s arrival on the stage of history was a partial fulfilment of this prophecy. “Elijah” prepares the way for the 2^nd Coming of Christ just as the Spirit of Elijah resting on John prepared the way for His 1^st coming. According to Acts 3:21, the heavens must retain Jesus until the time of the restoration of all things. I have written about Elijah more fully in “The Other Bible Code.”

 

          * The Church must rise “to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13) and become “a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing …holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27) The Word says that it will. It certainly hasn’t happened yet. But it will!

 

          * The Church has to demolish the gates of Hell. Jesus said:

          “I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

          (Matthew 16:18)

 

          Our understanding of this Scripture in the past has been that the Church will stand against any attack of the enemy. We are the ones valiantly holding the fort till Jesus comes. However in warfare do gates attack or are they attacked? Our position has usually been defensive when we should be on the offensive. We are here to bring down the strongholds of the enemy and the gates of hell will not stand against us. Jesus is building a victorious Church which will obliterate hell’s intrusion into the Earth. This is in line with the promise God made to Abraham

          “..thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.”  Genesis 22:17 KJV

 

          Abraham’s seed after the natural did just that. The journey to and possession of the Promised Land is a type or prophetic picture of the Church enforcing Christ’s victory over satan and establishing the Kingdom in the Earth.

 

          I have written about this further in the section in this book “Reclaiming the Earth for God” and also in my other books, “The Fall of the Gates of Hell” and “The Other Bible Code.”

                                      --oOo--

          So the Word shows that there is much to happen yet before the return of Christ; however it will be a quick work once we get the vision.“The ploughman shall overtake the reaper.” (Amos 9:13) This will be our finest hour!

           Studying the Types show that they lead to Victory and Glory for the Church and to a great harvest. They don’t accommodate a runaway Church. Moreover the Word says that all things in heaven and earth have been reconciled to God by the blood of the Cross of Christ. (Colossians 1:19,20) This has yet to be brought into manifestation.

 

           Some people have endeavoured to fit the Rapture into the Types, e.g. Joshua taking the people into the Promised Land is a picture of Jesus taking the raptured saints into Heaven etc: But to arrive at the true meaning of a Type we have to look carefully at what was being portrayed. Going into the Promised Land involved warfare and overcoming the enemy. Is that how we get into Heaven? The Promised Land, as I’ve shown elsewhere is not a picture of Heaven. We don’t have to fight to get in there. It is a picture of the Earth which we have to possess for the Kingdom. That is what we have to fight for; that is what the Great Commission is all about – making all the nations Jesus disciples.

 

          The Types are to be fulfilled in the Church in the Earth. It is regrettable to say the least that people accept the Rapture- at -any -moment teaching without question and then fit all other end time teaching around it. It has become a “sacred cow” not open to question. This kind of teaching closes people’s minds to what the Spirit is trying to show the churches. The more it is promoted, the longer it will be before Jesus returns.

 

          In God’s plan for the Church as shown in the Types, the Church is still on the wrong side of Jordan. The ministries in the Church should be preparing the saints to be warriors with a vision to take the Land for God, not trying to make them more comfortable in the wilderness as so many preachers and teachers are doing. Out in the wilderness the people complained and grumbled because things weren’t just as they wanted them to be. e.g. they complained about the daily diet of manna, but if they’d just gotten on with the assignment they’d been given, they could have been feeding on milk and honey and all the fat of the Land. If we “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” i.e. get on with our assignment of bringing in the Kingdom, then all the things we have prayed and longed for and more, will be ours.

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