At some point the nations of the earth will attack Jerusalem.
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First, according to our understanding, Russia (or some other country of the north) will attack the nation of Israel. Five-sixths of this unfortunate army will be slain by the Lord on the mountains of Israel.
And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: (Ezekiel 39:2)
At a later time, the nations of the earth under the leadership of Antichrist will once again come up against Jerusalem and successfully invade the nation. Then Christ, and the members of His Body with Him, will return from Heaven and wage war against the forces of Antichrist, utterly destroying them.
. . . and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. (Zechariah 14:5)
The all-powerful Son of David will overcome the enemy and then be crowned King on the Throne of David in Jerusalem.
The Light of God will be seen on Israel. All the surviving nations of the earth will realize it is the Lord God who has sent Christ. They then will come and bring their wealth to Jerusalem.
Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. (Isaiah 60:11)
We understand, therefore, that through Christ the nation of Israel will understand it is the chosen nation of God. The citizens of the nation of Israel will realize, because of the Presence and deeds of Christ, that they are God’s people.
In addition to reconciling to God the nation of Israel there will come also a deep work of reconciliation to God in the hearts of the members of God’s Church, beginning with the firstfruits of His Bride and extending finally to the entire Bride of the Lamb. The Bride of the Lamb is the new Jerusalem—the holy city destined to rule the nations of the saved on the new earth throughout the ages of unending ages.
The deep work of reconciling the firstfruits to Jesus has begun now. It is the spiritual fulfillment of the Judaic Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement has commenced. It will continue until the Lord returns to earth and then operate throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age.
We Christians need to be reconciled to God. We believe in Jesus but we also love the world, sin, and our self-will. We are not fully reconciled to God until the world, sin, and self-will have been driven from our personality. The Lord accomplishes this reconciliation largely by suffering, by a baptism of fire.
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. (Isaiah 4:4)
Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; (I Peter 4:1)
When the work of atonement, of reconciliation, has been concluded, all saved persons will have been reconciled to God. Not all persons will be saved but allsaved persons will be reconciled to God.
The work of reconciliation, the spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, makes it possible for us to move on to the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles. The spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles is the settling down to rest of the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit in the personality of the human being. All saved people will experience the reconciliation and the indwelling but not all to the same extent. There will be the hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold.
The time of the hundredfold reconciliation and indwelling has begun now. It is God through Christ saying to the firstfruits of the Bride, "You are My people."
The work of reconciliation and indwelling beginning now with the firstfruits is a romance, a love affair. It is passionate, intense, unique to the individual. It is described in the Song of Solomon.
The principal persons of the Song of Solomon are as follows: the Shepherd, representing the Lord Jesus; the Shulamite, portraying the firstfruits, the "choice one" of her mother; King Solomon, representing the Christian church organizations; the daughters of Jerusalem, speaking of the various peoples who are part of God’s household.
The love of the Shepherd for the Shulamite is passionate, as we have said. There is an element of Divinity and an element of humanity in the relationship. It is not, of course, biologic. The passion of it, the intensity of it, far surpasses anything biologic love could sustain.
The firstfruits are being courted by the Lord Jesus. Can you hear His voice? If you can, He is telling you, you belong to Him; He loves you with a great love; He desires that you give all your attention to Him. No matter what takes place on the earth there will be a banqueting table spread for you.
In your heart there is a chamber in which Jesus desires to meet with you—with you. He is asking you to leave all with which you are familiar and go with Him wherever He leads you. He is making you an eternal part of Himself. The church world will continue with its business affairs but He and you will have your honeymoon among the stars.
Listen to His voice. Spend time with Him. Love Him. Let Him be the focus of your thoughts, the object of your desires. Jesus is coming now to claim the firstfruits of His Bride. You can answer His call if you choose to do so but everything else must be surrendered to Him. You cannot cling to one person, one thing, one circumstance. He wants you, and you alone.
He is ready to sacrifice His individuality in order to be eternally one with you. Are you ready to sacrifice your individuality, your right to be yourself, to go where you please, to do what you please, in order to be eternally one with Him?
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