The Heart of the Bride of the Lamb.

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There are any number of current doctrines that divide the Church into two or more groups. Some hold that the sons of God are different from the Church; or the brothers of Christ are different from the sons of God; or Christ has a Jewish bride and a Gentile bride; or the sons of God are different from the bride because the sons are male and the bride is female.

The truth is, there is only one Church, one Bride of the Lamb, one Olive Tree, one elect of God, one Kingdom of God, one Seed of Abraham, one new Man. Any other point of view brings confusion.

(8/19/2007) First I want to establish that while there are members of the Church who have a higher rank than others in the Kingdom, there is only one Church. In its glorified form it is the new Jerusalem, the holy city. All of God’s elect, whether Jewish or Gentile by physical birth, are part of the new Jerusalem, of the governing priesthood.

Having settled this as an eternal fact, we can speak about the heart of the Bride of the Lamb.

In Ephesians 5:27 we see that the Church is to be without blemish. Yet, each of the seven churches of the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation is blemished.

In Revelation 19:7,8 we read about the Bride of the Lamb who has made herself ready. After a thousand years passes, we read, in Revelation, Chapters Twenty-one and Twenty-two of the Bride of the Lamb who has not made herself ready but has been made ready by others.

It would seem at first that there are two different brides. But there are not. The Bride of Revelation 19:7,8 is a firstfruits of the entire Bride, not another Bride.

So we see that there is a Church within the Church, but only one Church in the end. the new Jerusalem.

And let me say right now that when Christ appears, the entire Church, all the believers in Christ will not be resurrected and then ascend to meet the Lord in the air. Most Christians are not nearly ready to descend with Christ and establish the Kingdom of God on the earth by violence. Only a small part of the entire Church will be ready for resurrection when Christ next comes. The majority will be raised later, after the thousand years Kingdom Age has been completed, according to my understanding at this time.

For six thousand years God has permitted mankind to follow its own will. As we can see, the result has been unbelievable chaos, insanity, injustice, torment, frustration, remorse, untimely death, which continue to the present hour.

All this will change with the return of Jesus. He along with the members of His army will enforce God’s will in the earth with the rod of iron that has been formed in their personalities. No person from then on, for eternity, will be able to decide the course of his or her life, to exercise his or her self-will. God’s will shall be enforced throughout the earth.

The will of people to resist God will be crushed, broken to pieces, as the Scripture declares. God’s will shall be done in the earth in everyone’s life, whether or not he agrees with it.

The result of the enforcement of God’s will shall be that people love God with all their heart and their neighbour as themselves. Love, joy, and peace, instead of hatred, murder, misery, and torment will prevail everywhere when God’s will is done.

The Old Testament, particularly the Psalms, tells of the time when God comes to judge the earth. Satan has caused the Christian people to believe that God’s solution to the sin of man is to carry people to Heaven. This is not what the Scriptures teach. The Scriptures teach that God is going to come and establish His Kingdom, His way, on the earth.

And this precisely is why the entire group of believers is not going to be resurrected, ascend to meet Christ, and then descend on the white war stallions. The church people, the Christian believers, are not competent to govern the nations. They are self-willed, rebellious, disobedient, casual, lukewarm individuals, for the most part. Any observant pastor can tell you that.

How then can such an undisciplined mob of church members rule over the nations of the earth. This concept is ridiculous!

Let us speak of reality. Christ always has a remnant of believers in the earth, found in the many churches, who really have denied themselves; who really have taken up their cross; who really are following Christ at all times. For them to live is Christ. To die is gain, because they have put their treasures in Heaven.

They, and only they, are the ones who will be raised from the dead, ascend, and then descend with the Lord to establish God’s way on the earth. This is sensible and scriptural. This actually is going to take place.

I cannot tell you how soon the Lord will return. It may be a hundred or more years from now. In the meanwhile Christ is looking for soldiers for His army. They must be obedient to death. They must suffer hardship without complaining. They absolutely must count all as loss in order to increase their knowledge of Christ.

This is the New Testament standard. God does not lie. It is he or she who overcomes the obstacles and enemies of this world who will inherit the "all things" of God.

I know Satan is telling God’s people this is not so. You will not surely be denied the blessings of the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation even though you do not lead a cross-carrying life."

But I tell you, and warn you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, that every word of the New Testament shall come to pass as written. Only those who have been fervent disciples of Christ will be raised when Christ appears, then ascend, and then descend to work with Him in establishing God’s Kingdom on the earth.

You indeed can meet the standard Paul outlined in the third chapter of the Book of Philippians. But you will have to be far more fervent, far more diligent, than is true of most American believers of today.

It is only such believers who are the heart of the Bride of the Lamb. And they shall dance with Him in the heights of Zion when the world is in flames.

God loves the remainder of His elect, and they shall experience love, joy, and peace for eternity. But it is the heart of the Bride, the warriors of the cross, who will bring into being and maintain that new world of love, joy, and peace, just as King David and his warriors made possible the prosperity of the reign of Solomon.

At night the subject was the importance of living the victorious life in Christ, and what it means "to overcome."

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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