(tm) It is now that the Lord comes to His elect.

It is now that the Lord comes to His elect.

It is now that the spiritual power of the resurrection is to be grasped (Philippians 3:10,11). It is now that the Day of the Lord dawns in our hearts (II Peter 1:19; Revelation 2:28). He who has an ear to hear and eyes to see always will know of the Lord’s working. He who waits for these events to happen to him will not be prepared and will have his portion with the unbelievers.

Let us consider the following verse:

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3)

"I will come again, and receive you unto myself."

The context of John 14:3, which is verses 2-23 of the fourteenth chapter, suggests that verse three is not referring to the worldwide appearing of the Lord but to the coming of Jesus to the individual believer.

Notice, for example:

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John 14:18)

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23)

Compare John 14:3,18,23:

"I will come again, and receive you unto myself."

"I will come to you."

"We will come unto him."

We shall appear with the Lord in His historical, kingdom-wide coming to the world (I Thessalonians 4:17; Revelation 1:7) only if we previously have experienced His coming to us in the personal fulfillment of the last three feasts.

The Lord Jesus will appear to the individual believer before He reveals Himself to the world.

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. (John 14:21)

How will Christ reveal Himself to the individual believer but not to the world?

Judas asked this question (verse 22), and the Lord Jesus answered him:

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23)

The Scripture declares plainly that there is a coming of Christ (with the Father, who always dwells in Christ) to the individual believer, and also a kingdom-wide coming of Christ, at the last trumpet, to take to Himself His Kingdom (Revelation 11:15).

We believe that the personal fulfillments of the Blowing of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement already have begun. Those believers who are seeking the Lord with their whole heart are finding that God is judging them. Every thought, every word, every action is being tried by fire.

Every aspect of our personality that cannot survive the fire of God is being burned away and the new Life of Christ is being born in its stead.

The personal fulfillment of the Day of Atonement in us as an individual is the reconciling of us to God through Christ. Even though by faith we have applied the Passover blood of the cross, have repented and been baptized in water, have been born again, and have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, we still have not been reconciled perfectly to God’s Person and will. The most superficial observation of the ranks of Christendom will demonstrate this fact.

Today the Lord Jesus is coming to us in the personal fulfillment of the Blowing of Trumpets for the purpose of announcing and commencing the reconciling of us to Himself (and to God) perfectly and completely. Christ alone is the Builder of the house of God ("on this rock I will build my church"). Jesus is coming to us to construct us as the house of God.

Christ is the true and only High Priest over the house of God. His attitude toward His churches is described in Revelation, Chapters One through Three.

As we read these three chapters carefully we can see that Christ is not entirely complimentary. He is looking at His churches with His eyes of fire, pointing out to us that He has not found our works perfect before God.

Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. (Revelation 3:2)

Christ does not praise the churches for their profession of faith in Himself. He rebukes them sternly. He comes to the churches to judge the house of God. Christ appears to the churches to "purify the sons of Levi" (Malachi 3:3). His fan is in His hand as He purges His threshing floor (Matthew 3:12). He has come to reconcile the saints to God.

Christ, the High Priest of God, brings the Day of Atonement to the elect in individual fulfillment prior to His rule during the thousand-year period. The revealing of our worldliness, lusts, and self-seeking makes it necessary for us to pray continually for strength to walk in victory with the Lord. This season of repentance and humiliation can prove to be the greatest crisis of our discipleship.

If we emerge victorious from the rigors of the Day of Atonement we will be brought into the marvelous inheritance that accompanies the spiritual fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles. We will enter the rest of God. The rewards to the overcomer are given to the faithful individual, never to the churches as a whole. The promises are to "him" who overcomes.

In Matthew 21:4-14 we see the pattern of the culminating works of redemption:

The Blowing of Trumpets—the coming of the King.

The Day of Atonement—the cleansing of God’s house.

First, we have the coming of the King:

Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. (Matthew 21:5)

Then, the cleansing of God’s house:

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. (Matthew 21:12,13)

There is only one eternal house of God, and that is Christ—Head and Body. Christ is standing today at the door of each Christian heart. If we hear His voice and open the door He will come in to us and will dine with us.

When Christ comes into our personality He discovers that "moneychangers" are operating in our heart. He drives them out. No man can serve God and money. It is time for judgment to begin in the house of God.

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