But when will it take place?
But when will it take place?
I know the Lord Jesus said that when we are one in Him and the Father that the world will know that He has come from the Father.
This could be it, I suppose.
Just think about it. Heavy spiritual (perhaps physical) darkness covers the earth and the nations.
At the same time, the Glory of God can be seen resting on Christ and His Body, the Royal Priesthood.
When Jesus returns it will be at the head of the army of saints and angels. They will confront and destroy the armies of Antichrist. Antichrist and the False Prophet will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. Satan will be confined in the Bottomless Pit.
Then the Lord and His warriors will go throughout the earth, as described in the Book of Joel, destroying all the institutions of Antichrist.
Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste—nothing escapes them. (Joel 2:3)
It reminds us of, "When they shall cry 'peace and safety,' then sudden destruction."
Will the wicked be slain at this time? It does not say so, but it seems reasonable they will be.
My opinion is that this act of devastation is to prepare the nations of the earth for the thousand-year reign of Christ and His saints.
Perhaps it is at the conclusion of this period of devastation, while spiritual and physical darkness are covering the earth and its peoples, that the Glory of God will cover His saints.
Then the people who have been spared during the onslaught of Joel's army will come to that light. Christ, from His place of authority in the city of Jerusalem, will organize the populations of the earth into manageable states (not like the huge, unmanageable countries we have today), and place over them His saints as kings and other governing officials.
I am offering this as a suggestion to explain Isaiah 60:1-3. How do you feel about this?
This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. (Isaiah 2:1-4)
As I have written in other places, the Law and the Word of the Lord already have gone out from Zion and from Jerusalem. They are the Sermon on the Mount, found in the Book of Matthew, Chapters 5-7.
The Sins of the Flesh
I have mentioned previously the importance of walking closely with the Lord Jesus in the present hour. Included in the current phase of redemption is complete release from the bondages of sin, and the growth of Christ in us until we are life-giving spirits.
I think the Spirit is saying that days of great danger are coming, along with severe persecution of Christian people. If we are to stand in Christ and help other people in their time of need, we will have to be closer to the Lord than most of us are in the present hour.
We truly are in a time of great opportunities in the Kingdom, and also great danger—the danger of being deceived, for one thing. God has given us a period of time to prepare ourselves spiritually. If we do not, our future will be grim indeed!
I have been writing for some forty years, examining traditional teachings to see if they really are based in the Scriptures.
One doctrine that I believe has been quite destructive, and certainly unscriptural, is the interpretation of Paul's statements about grace and faith to mean that while it is necessary that we "believe in Christ," whatever that means, it is not critically necessary that we obey Him or His Apostles.
How ridiculous! It must be evident to any intelligent person that obeying Christ is more important than "believing in Him."
We are "saved by grace," it is said, meaning that while we ought to obey God, His commandments are such that it is impossible for us to put them into practice. As a result, we do not hear much preaching about confessing and turning away from sinful practices.
Fortunately, the Bible does not agree with that point of view.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. (Colossians 3:5-8)
Now, I believe that you can read as well as I can. Tell me, what are we to do with sexual immorality, according to the Apostle Paul?
Are we to excuse it on the basis of grace?
Are we to put it to death?
How do we put it to death? By confessing it as sin and asking Christ to remove it from us, according to Romans 8:13 and I John 1:9.
Sin has three phases: guilt, cravings, and practice. When we say Christ removed our sins, nailing them to His cross, do we mean we are never tempted to sin? We know that is not the case.
What then has been nailed to the cross? Our guilt.
Is Colossians 3:5 (above) referring to guilt or of the practice of sin? Since we know Christ has forgiven the guilt by His death on the cross, the Apostle Paul, in Colossians 3:5, must have been speaking about the practice of adultery and fornication. Would you agree with that?
Did Christ come to the earth to forgive or to destroy the works of the devil?
Next Part He came to do both, didn't He?