A Season of Preparation
A Season of Preparation
But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:29)
Remember Lot's wife. (Luke 17:32)
A Season of Preparation
The Coming of Christ to Separate the Wise From the Foolish
The Coming of Christ to Take Away Our Sins
The Coming of Christ to Teach His People To Live by His Life
The Coming of Christ to Examine What We Have Done With His Treasures
The Coming of Christ To Catch Up His Prepared People to Himself
The Coming of Christ at the End of the World to the People of the Nations.
A Season of Preparation </p> The present season of preparation will include four comings of Christ. These comings will not be visible to the world, only to those believers who are obeying the commands of Christ.
Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:19)
The coming of Christ to separate the wise from the foolish; to take away our sins; to teach His people to live by His Life; and to examine what we have done with His treasures; have as their purpose to prepare and qualify us for His coming to catch up His prepared people to Himself.
There may be two facts presented here that may arrest the attention of most Christian believers.
First, that preparation is needed if we are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. It probably is true that the general idea today is that if we once accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, no further preparation is needed.
This idea is based on the idea that the purpose of the catching up is to bring us to Heaven so we will not be harmed by Antichrist or the Great Tribulation.
The purpose of the catching up is not to bring us to Heaven. This is not accurate. Rather, the shout, the voice of the Archangel, and the trumpet of God, will announce the beginning of the Battle of Armageddon.
Those Christian believers who have taken full advantage of the present season of preparation, will be caught up so they can become part of the great army of saints and angels that is ready to descend and install the Kingdom of God, the doing of God's will, on the earth.
This is not a "secret rapture." Hardly that! I is the beginning of the Day of the Lord.
When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets , have the whole army give a loud shout ; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in. (Joshua 6:5)
This is a secret rapture? This is the attack of Armageddon!
One can see that if the catching up of the believers is so they can join the army of saints and army of angels and proceed to attack the forces of wickedness in the earth, they will need to participate in the Divine interventions that are taking place in the present hour and will continue until the Lord Jesus is satisfied that each participant is fully prepared for their role in this great invasion.
The purpose of Christ's six comings is to create a Kingdom that will prevent another rebellion of His creatures. Everything that has occurred throughout the history of the world has been a reaction to the original rebellion of Satan and his angels, and Eve and Adam.
There have been numerous sub-purposes, such as the creation of an unblemished Bride for the Lamb, brothers for God's Son, and sons in God's image. I have listed these sub-purposes in other writings.
The first coming is sort of a screening. Its purpose is to separate the wise from the foolish. Since Christ is coming to set up His Kingdom is at hand, and He will bring His army of believers with Him, this is no place for lazy, foolish, Christian people.
The Coming of Christ to Separate the Wise From the Foolish
This separation is pointed out in the parable of the virgins. Five of whom were wise. The remaining five were foolish. Their foolishness was revealed in their lack of foresight in storing oil for their lamp.
Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out." "No," they replied, "there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves."
But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. Later the others also came. "Lord, Lord," they said, "open the door for us!" But he replied, "Truly I tell you, I don't know you." (Matthew 25:7-12)
So much for the unscriptural doctrine of "once saved, always saved."
It is one matter for us to say we know the Lord. It is a different matter for the Lord Jesus to know us. The parable of the virgins reveals that everyone who has "accepted Christ" may not actually have come to Christ but merely believed in a religious formula.
Christ will receive everyone who comes to Him, if they actually come to Him with the intention of setting aside their own life that they might obey Him.
Much of today's Christian teaching is preventing the believers from making preparation for the soon coming of Jesus. They are not storing up the prayer and Bible reading that will keep their light shining in the dark hours that are ahead of us in America.
One of the worst offenders is the doctrine of the "rapture." Christians are being taught that there is no need for them to be concerned about the future because they will be in Heaven. This is a lie.
Noah and his family went through the flood safely because they had spent many years obeying the Lord by building an ark. If they had been careless, as so many believers are today, they all would have drowned along with the animals.
Another doctrine that contributes to the carelessness of today's believers is the concept that grace is preventing God from seeing their behavior. We ought to know better than to believe God would make it possible for us to please Him and at the same time to be committing sin.
The "grace" teaching of today is a destructive lie.
Another lie that contributes to the foolishness of today's Christian people is the concept that once we have made a profession of faith in Christ we cannot be lost. But the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians of Galatia that if they continued in the sins of the flesh they would not inherit the Kingdom of God.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:190-21 )
Did you ever hear the above passage emphasized by a preacher?
Next Part Probably not.