Things to Think About
Things to Think About
It appears that evil is filling our country, the United States of America. There is the lying and foolishness of the governing bodies. There are public demonstrations of nakedness, and some of the entertainers are immersed in moral filth.
The acquisition of more money than we actually need has become an act of idolatry. Violence is taking place in many cities because of racism. The practice of abortion on demand is enough in itself to bring the judgment of God upon us. Sodomy is rampant.
Additional moral and physical chaos are on the horizon. To a great extent we have left the Lord Jesus, and His protection is being removed from us.
Each one of us must seek Christ for himself or herself if we are to save ourselves and those who hear us throughout the coming troubles. It is possible to live in safety though a thousand fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand. But in order for this to be true of us, we must be interacting with the Lord Jesus continually, day and night.
It is not enough to "accept Christ," unless we are receiving Christ every moment of every day. We must be abiding in Christ, living in Christ, continually opening to Him that we may dine on His body and blood. Only then will we and our loved ones survive the coming days in America.
The body and blood of Christ are given to us in the spirit realm every time we resist evil and choose to do the will of God.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. (Revelation 2:17)
A few thoughts have occurred to me that are not as commonly known as one could wish. They may help orient us to the days of sorrow that may be at hand for us.
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (Matthew 24:1,2)
Notice that the disciples were seeing a marvelous temple, and Jesus was beholding a ruin. How could this be?
It was because Jesus always lives in the prophetic realm. Each one of us needs to learn to live in the prophetic realm if we are to survive. How do we do this? By continually living in the Presence of Christ no matter what else we may be doing during the day and night.
We pray without ceasing. We keep looking to Jesus for His guidance in all that we are doing. This may seem impossible to the immature believer, but it is not. It is a matter of setting ourselves each day to bring at least one small part of our activities under the supervision of Jesus. Little by little we will be able to increase the activities that we are bringing to Jesus until every aspect of our being and doing is accomplished in the Presence of the Lord.
This is how we learn to live in the prophetic realm such that we do not see matters only as the world observes them but also as God sees them. You can do it if you put your mind to it and don't quit. Living in the prophetic realm will help you and your loved ones to survive in the days ahead.
It is my point of view that the "Jesus did it all," lawless-grace rapture teaching of our day may well be the most destructive of all errors to enter Christian preaching and thinking.
I have written much about how unscriptural the current "grace" teaching actually is. Instead of recognizing that grace was Paul's explanation of how and why we are free from the Law of Moses, we have turned it into a device by which we are excused from obeying Christ.
"We go to Heaven by grace," it is taught, when the great portion of the New Testament has to do with godly behavior, with behavior that is of the image of God—the original Divine fiat. The doctrine of lawless grace is not included in the New Testament, as anyone can discover by making a list of the major teachings of the New Testament.
I have written so much about the unscriptural lie that the "grace" teaching is that I will not treat it further in this brief essay. As far as our goal being eternal residence in Heaven, or a Gentile kingdom in Heaven, this concept is wildly unscriptural. Read the New Testament and see if I am correct in this.
I have written much also about the unscriptural idea of a "rapture" of the Christian Church to Heaven, whether at the beginning, middle, or end of the Great Tribulation. I would like to add a thought or two about the "rapture."
The notion that everyone who "accepts Christ" is about to be carried to Heaven to avoid being harmed by the Great Tribulation is not scriptural.
If I am hearing the Spirit of God correctly, He is maintaining that because of the sin and self-will being practiced in the world including the United States, a time of Divine judgment is on the horizon. There shall be chaos and moral and physical horrors beyond our imagination at this time.
The New Testament commands us to arm ourselves with a mind to suffer; to prepare ourselves to stand in the evil day. But the unscriptural doctrine of the "rapture," that Christians are not called upon to suffer, is preventing the Christian people, at least in America, from taking seriously the admonitions of the New Testament to prepare themselves to stand in the evil day. Therefore they are not ready to stand during the trouble on the horizon.
If today's Christian ministers were hearing from the Lord Jesus concerning the Divine judgment to come, they would be preparing their congregations to draw ever closer to Jesus, to learn to live by His Life so they can stand and help others to stand during the evil time. But they are not doing this. They are lulling their hearers to sleep by telling them that they are "saved by grace" and there is no need to be concerned about the bondages of sin that afflict them.
Furthermore, they declare to the itching ears: "God loves you too much to permit you to suffer and is ready to carry you up willy-nilly to Paradise where you will recline comfortably in air-conditioned comfort in your mansion, doing nothing of significance for eternity."
Given the character of the American people, it is no wonder such preachers have large churches!
But what about the Christians of history. Did they suffer? Does God love us more than He did them? Does the Bible teach that the worldly believers of the twenty-first century are more precious to Him than the martyrs of old?
And how about the Christians in Africa in our day who are being butchered by their rulers or by Muslims. Does God love American Christians more than He does them?
A Christian preacher of our day who, in spite of what I have just mentioned, continues to tell his or her congregation that God never will permit American Christians to suffer, is a person without integrity, from my point of view. I think when such false shepherds die they will go to be with the congregations whom they have deceived.
Let us consider for a moment the unscriptural doctrine of the "rapture."
The Greek term used commonly for "coming" in the New Testament is parousia .
Parousia (pair-oo-see-ah) is a Greek word meaning "arrival," "presence," or "coming." It is employed in Matthew 24:3 "What shall be the sign of thy COMING"; and in First and Second Thessalonians "We which are alive and remain unto the COMING of the Lord."
Because parousia is the only term used for "coming," in First and Second Thessalonians, we know that Paul, in First Thessalonians 4:13, is not referring to a special, secret appearing of the Lord but to the coming of Christ described in Matthew, Chapter 24:3.
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy PAROUSIAS, and of the end of the world? (Matthew 24:3)
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the PAROUSIAN of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (I Thessalonians 4:15)
If the Spirit of God had meant for us to view First Thessalonians 4:15 as a special secret appearing of Christ, He would not have used the same Greek term as that employed in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew!
I know that some teachers are presenting the idea that Daniel's "seventieth week" is the time of the Great Tribulation, and that the Christians will be caught up to Heaven at the beginning of this seven-year period and then return at the end of the period.
The truth is, the prophetic "week" is divided into halves. The first half of the week is the period of the unprecedented revival mentioned in Matthew 24.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14)
The second half of the week is the time of the rule of Antichrist and the resulting Great Tribulation.
When the seven-year period has been concluded, the Christian witness shall be revived. Christ shall appear. The Christians who have been living a victorious life in Christ shall be resurrected in their bodies. Then they and the victorious saints of history shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. From there they shall descend and establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth.
This is the parousia.
The teaching that there are two parousias of Christ, one at the beginning of the seven-year period in which the Church is caught up to Heaven, and then one at the end when the Church descends with Christ to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth, not only is unscriptural, it is unrealistic.
And to which parousia is Matthew 24 referring?
Are the people who have been reclining in their comfortable mansions then going to be ready to mount the white war stallions with Christ and descend to confront the armies of Antichrist and the accompanying demons?
I do not believe they would be happy with that idea; and that may be the reason their man-pleasing teachers emphasize their being caught up and not their return.
Would their period of rest in their mansions prepare them for the battle of Har Magedon , and then for the cleansing of the earth in preparation for the rule of Christ over the nations? Will they have the scepter of iron righteousness created in them with which to govern the people of the nations, who have been accustomed to living in their self-will?
The idea is preposterous.
So is the doctrine that presents a Gentile kingdom in Heaven and a Jewish kingdom on the earth. To my knowledge, the Bible never speaks of two kingdoms, only of the one Kingdom of God that will come to us from Heaven.
We pray, "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on the earth as it is in Heaven." Are we Gentiles praying for a Jewish kingdom to come to the earth while we reside in Heaven, doing nothing of significance, and governing no one? Is this not ridiculous?
All of this mythology has come about because the Christian believers are seeking a way to please God without keeping the commands of Christ.
The reason there is so much theologic error in our day is that Bible teachers are attempting to remove the demands of discipleship and make the way to the Kingdom easy.
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (II Thessalonians 2:10-12)
Whenever we seek to make the time of our probation on the earth a pleasant experience, avoiding the seasons of difficulty and pain, we open ourselves to deception. We must bear our cross patiently after Christ, accepting our imprisonments without complaining, if we wish to hear the truth from Him who alone is Faithful and True.
So when the Christian ministers of the Gospel of the Kingdom lull their listeners to sleep with their doctrines of lawless grace, the "rapture," and how God wants us to be rich in worldly goods, they are revealing that they are in deception.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:7,8)
The last days, those in which we are living, will be a time of sorrow. This shall become increasingly clear in the future. We need to accept this. The sorrow will cleanse us spiritually if we will keep praying and asking Christ to help us fulfill our role as His witness.
Please keep in mind that the Lord is answering the question of His disciples.
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? (Matthew 24:3)
Notice that Christ did not say, "But you have no need to worry because I am going to appear and remove you from every pain and problem."
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. (Matthew 24:9)
From the passage above, would you conclude that Christ actually was saying this to His disciples, informing them that they are going to suffer afflictions?
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Matthew 24:12)
As I see it, during the first half of the prophetic week of years, the Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached throughout the world. I believe this to be the revival that is described symbolically in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation as the ministry of two witnesses (the Lord Jesus Christ bearing witness from within His victorious saints and working with them, just as the Father bore witness from within Christ and was working with Him).
In the middle of the week of years, the powerful Spirit of Prophecy will be withdrawn from the saints. That which prevents the full revelation of Antichrist will be removed. Then those who bore the endtime testimony will be forced to hide away in remote areas of the earth.
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. (Revelation 12:14)
A time and times and half a time is three and one-half years, one-half of a week of years.
Because of the power of the testimony, it may be true that during that period, most people on the earth will have "accepted Christ." But as soon as the unprecedented anointing is lifted, sin will become prevalent, just as it is today, and the love of the majority of the recent converts will grow cold.
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. The second half of the week of years, whether a symbolic or literal time period, will be one of great trouble for the godly; but those who stay with Christ until God is ready to put an end to Antichrist shall be saved.
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:27)
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Matthew 10:22)
"He who endures to the end shall be saved." One can understand from this fact that the teaching of today, that once we "accept Christ" we are saved for eternity no matter how we behave after our initial profession, is unscriptural. In order to be saved we have to endure numerous difficult, sometimes painful, testings and resist the temptations to sin offered to us by Satan.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14)
The "end" that is coming is the reign of Antichrist, when the Gospel cannot be preached in the cities of the earth.
Such is the revival of unprecedented power that is reserved for the last day.
Notice that it is the original Gospel of the Kingdom that shall be preached in the last days; not the gospel of Heaven that is being preached commonly in our day. The Gospel of the Kingdom requires righteous behavior, whereas the gospel of Heaven invites us to wait until we die so we can go to our mansion in Heaven; meanwhile, God sees us through Christ so it does not matter if we sin.
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand). (Matthew 24:15)
It is my understanding that the abomination of desolation is the statue of a man standing on a pinnacle of the Temple, the same place where Satan put Jesus at the time of the third temptation .
The third temptation is that of man's willingness to act without hearing from God. True faith occurs as we are willing to become totally helpless, leaning on the Lord Jesus and looking to Him for everything we think, say, and do.
Here is the reason why the history of the earth is one of a huge insane asylum: we insist on living our life apart from Christ.
Christ was helpless apart from the Father. He said, "I can do nothing of Myself, but only what I see the Father do."
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. (John 5:19)
The Father did not reveal to Christ that Christ should jump from the pinnacle of the Temple, so He refused to do so.
How often do Christians attempt to do the Lord's work without hearing from Christ?
And so Antichrist, in an act of defiance, will place the statue of a man on that same place on the Temple, to remind people that man is to be his own god and follow his self-will. Self-will is the heart of Satan and of Antichrist, and of most people on the earth, including Christian people.
That ruler will have a firm agreement with many people for seven years, and when half this time is past, he will put an end to sacrifices and offerings. The awful horror will be placed on the highest point of the temple and will remain there until the one who put it there meets the end which God has prepared for him. (Daniel 9:27—Good News Bible in Today's English Version)
Notice the following:
And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence. (Luke 4:9)
The "awful horror" is, of course, the abomination of desolation (or that makes desolate).
The installing of the statue of a man on the wing of the Temple represents the worst of all human conditions—the self-will of people---their willingness to pursue their own life apart from Christ. This is the spirit of Antichrist, and it always creates desolation, just as it is doing in our day in America and in the rest of the world.
It is this self-will that shall bring about the Great Tribulation.
Notice the following comments:
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:16-22)
Now remember, the Lord is answering the questions of His disciples, all Jews at that time, concerning His coming and the end of the age.
Would you agree, then, that Christ is implying that His elect will go through the Great Tribulation, and He is cautioning them concerning this period of trouble?
Many Bible scholars of today will insist that, yes, Jews will go through the Great Tribulation but the Gentile Christians will be taking their ease in Heaven while the Jews face Antichrist. Isn't this an abominable teaching?
These scholars have never read that Paul said the Christian Church is one body, whether the participant is Jewish or Gentile by physical birth.
There is no difference in the Kingdom of God between a Jewish believer in Christ and a Gentile believer in Christ. Until it is clear in the mind of the Christians that Jews and Gentiles are the one Seed of Abraham, and that there is but one Olive Tree, the Bible teachers never will understand the Divine plan or the oracles of the Hebrew Prophets.
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. (Ephesians 2:15)
The Christian Church, the Body of Christ, either is one new Man or it is not. If there is a difference between a Jewish Christian and a Gentile Christian in the one Kingdom of God, then there is an error in the sacred text.
So when the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to His disciples about His parousia and the end of the age, He is speaking to you and to me.
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:27)
There shall be no secret appearing of the Lord Jesus to catch away carnal Gentile "believers." The Lord Jesus warned us concerning "secret" comings. Rather, there shall be one parousia , and it shall be as the shining of lightning, accompanied by a shout, the voice of the chief angel and the trumpet of God. This is the announcement of the battle of Har Magedon , not a secret withdrawal of defeated believers who are afraid of Antichrist!
For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. (Matthew 24:28)
The carcass is the slain Lamb. The eagles are those who live by His body and blood.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. (Matthew 24:29)
When shall Christ come? Immediately after the Great Tribulation, as it states above!
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30)
Does this sound to you like a secret coming? It doesn't to me either.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31)
Please keep in mind that when the Lord comes He will bring with Him all of His elect, that is, all of those who have been faithful to the end of their lives. Many of these will have been in Heaven with the Lord for thousands of years. They shall descend to the earth and take up their bodies, and then be clothed with incorruptible life.
The company of the elect on the earth who are qualified and competent to participate in this first resurrection from the dead, and are alive at His appearing, will be transformed and caught up with all of the saints to meet the Lord in the air.
This is the gathering together to Christ, of which the Apostle Paul spoke.
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming [parousias] of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him. (II Thessalonians 2:1)
"And by our gathering unto Him."
But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming [parousia] of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. (Matthew 24:37-40)
Here is where we Americans need to be careful. We are eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and many are not preparing themselves for the return of Jesus. It is business as usual.
The people of Sodom went about their business meanwhile, not realizing the significance of Lot leaving, if they even were aware of it. However, when Lot and his family left Sodom, destruction fell upon the cities of the plain. Lot and his family were spared.
So it shall be in the parousia . Those who are ready to go to meet the Lord will be removed from their location, transformed, and then caught up to be with Christ. Then the wrath of God will fall on the earth in preparation for the battle of Har Magedon.
But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:29)
We can see from this that the preaching of two parousias , one at the beginning of the seven-year period, and then one at the end, is not scriptural. The moment the one parousia occurs, and the victorious saints are called to be with Christ, Divine judgment will fall on the earth—not seven years later!
The Lord Jesus gave us some words of advice. When the Lord appears, we are to go to meet Him immediately. We do not wait until the football game is over, or the television play we are watching is finished.
Obviously we will be tempted to return to our house, if we are away from it, to take care of our belongings and to lock our doors.
But that moment of hesitation might be just enough to keep us from entering the Kingdom.
Remember Lot's wife. Just one look back at the neighborhood was enough to destroy her.
We must prepare ourselves today for such readiness. We must live always with the consciousness that we are dead and our life is hidden with Christ in God. If we seek to save our life we will lose it. If we lose our life in Christ, counting ourselves as nothing and Christ as everything, we shall preserve our life.
I do not say we shall not be harmed physically. But if we are living in daily interaction with the Lord Jesus, we shall pass from the earth while we are serving God in His Temple, and continue to do so for eternity.
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. (John 11:25)
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. (Luke 17:30-33)
This brings us to the seventh chapter of the Book of Revelation. Here we notice a description of the multitudes of believers who have come out of the Great Tribulation. Remember, this will take place prior to the appearing of the Lord Jesus.
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. (Revelation 7:9)
It may be true that many people of this "great multitude" had received Christ during the first half of the week, when the Gospel of the Kingdom was preached to every nation for a witness.
They were standing before the very Throne of God and before the Lamb. They had washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb until they were radiantly white, by confessing the sins that the Spirit pointed out to them and renouncing them with the help of Christ.
They held palms in their hands, signifying that they were worshiping God.
I would like to point out that this is to take place in our life today. We are to stand before the Lord, worshiping Him as we wash our robes. Then, when we pass from this world, we will continue to be standing before the Lord and worshiping Him. (He who lives and believes in Me shall never die.)
I believe this continuity of life holds true for each person when he or she dies. We will continue to live in the spirit world as we have lived on the earth. We will be placed with people like ourselves. If we have ignored Christ while living on the earth, we will continue to ignore Christ when we enter the spirit world.
If we have a good heart and want to be taught the Bible, it will take place after we die.
If we have been living in sin while on earth, rebelling against Christ, this will continue after we die, and we will be placed with similar people—perhaps in Hell itself.
There may be no surprises when we die. The kind of life we are living now, the type of people we associate with, will continue when we die. Why should it change?
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:13,14)
Literally, came out of The Great Tribulation.
Perhaps the sufferings of the Great Tribulation encouraged them to confess and turn away from their sins. Suffering causes us to turn away from sin. This understanding is needed very greatly by Christians in our country in the present hour.
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; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. (I Peter 4:1,2)
It may be true that the sufferings of the Great Tribulation will cause the Christian ministers to cease preaching "Jesus did it all," lawless grace and the unscriptural "rapture," and to admonish their congregations to turn away from sin and live a righteous, holy, life sternly obedient to Jesus Christ.
Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. (Revelation 7:15)
If we are faithful today in serving God day and night, He shall dwell among us. Then no matter what takes place in the future, we and our loved ones shall be safe.
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. (Luke 21:34-36)
I think the expression "that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" has been used to teach that Christians will not suffer like everyone else but shall be carried to Heaven, where they shall stand before Christ.
Since what the believers are to escape from is surfeiting, drunkenness, and the cares of this life, according to the passage above, I do not believe this verse should be interpreted to mean we will escape from trouble.
Notice that we will not escape from trouble:
And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. (Luke 21:16-18)
"Some of you shall they cause to be put to death."
And as far as standing before the Lord is concerned, we can do that now on the earth as readily as in Heaven. In fact, we should be standing before the Lord now if we expect to stand before Him when we die and go to Heaven.
And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. (I Kings 17:1)
And Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day. (I Kings 18:15)
And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. (II Kings 3:14)
But he said, As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused. (II Kings 5:16)
As I mentioned previously, it is my point of view that the two witnesses, of the eleventh chapter of Revelation, are Christ, the one Witness, and the victorious saints, the other witness. Christ, the one Witness will be bearing witness from within the victorious saints, in whom He will be dwelling, and working with them.
The Father and Christ were two Witnesses, although the Father, who was dwelling in Christ and accompanying Him, could not be seen.
So Christ and the saints, in Revelation 11, will be standing before the Father, even though they are bearing witness on the earth.
These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. (Revelation 11:4)
I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. (John 8:18)
And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (Mark 16:20)
If I am not mistaken, there will be a tremendous worldwide outpouring of the Spirit of God in the near future. I think it not unlikely that this unprecedented renewal, in which the Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached to every nation for a witness, will evolve into the terrifying miracles of the ministry of the two witnesses, of Revelation, Chapter Eleven.
In any case, I think we shall see the Glory of Christ in the midst of all sorts of trouble. Where sin abounds, grace shall much more abound.
We always must keep in mind that Christ has authority over all flesh. Absolutely nothing shall occur in the world apart from His express will.
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. (Isaiah 61:11)
The passage above shall take place, after the coming uproars, and then all shall be well.