|
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. (Revelation 3:21) |
|
The Lord says He will rebuke and chasten those whom He loves. When He does this some believers get angry at God. Wrong response! When we are rebuked by the Lord we are to repent fervently. To be angry with God is to prove there is deep rebellion and lawlessness in our personality. |
|
We are not to faint in dismay when Jesus rebukes us for our sin and carelessness. This is only a sign He loves us. |
|
The Lord is standing at the door of the hearts of Christians. We have our church thing and now we are facing something else. Christ Himself is asking for entrance into our personality. |
|
He is ready to eat and drink with us. The food is His flesh and the drink is His blood. We are married to the Lamb by eating the Lamb and drinking His blood. |
|
One time the Lord had a revival going thousands of people. Then He left them and started out to hike across the lake. |
|
He had multiplied food for them. Free lunch. Great! "The rabbi can teach whatever He wants. The bread and fish were the best I've ever tasted." |
|
The next morning guess what happened? They got hungry again so here they came. |
|
They didn't want to act crude and ask for more food so they came up with, "Why Master, when did you get here?" |
|
Jesus didn't even bother to answer. |
|
Then Jesus forsook all the principles of church growth. He deliberately began to teach things He knew would drive away all but the most sincere. |
|
This is good to do every once in a while. It gets rid of the dead wood. |
|
Now came the greatest backdoor revival in history. The free-lunch crowd left by the thousands. I've held some backdoor revivals in my time but this was on the grand scale. |
|
Not enough people left to make the mortgage payments. |
|
Did He have to say, "Eat My flesh and drink My blood"? Oy! |
|
Of all the things to speak to the Orthodox. No wonder they left! |
|
"Will you also go?" |
|
Peter said, "You can preach whatever you like. You are the only show in town. I'm staying with you." |
|
When we have the attitude that no matter what takes place we're betting on Jesus, then we pass from the ranks of the called to the smaller company of the chosen. |
|
I guess Jesus never studied the principles of church growth. |
|
When you talk about eating the flesh of Christ and drinking His blood you may offend many of today's believers. They can go for the Communion service but that's far enough. (It was too far for the free-lunch congregation.) |
|
But the true Christian can't get enough of the body and blood of the Lord. He wants to eat Christ's flesh continually and drink His blood. He desires to live by Christ as Christ lives by the Father. The talk about mansions in Heaven and acres of diamonds makes him sick. He wants Christ! |
|
When we Christians let Christ into us and live by His body and blood we soon find strength and joy in driving King Self from the throne of our personality. Then the Father and Christ come and sit on that throne. |
|
After a while, when the Lord is sure of our obedience, He permits us to get back on the throne that is in us. Now there are three of us on the throne of our personality the Father, the Son, and us. |
|
You always get everything of worth back, but only after it has died and been raised again in Christ. |
|
The greatest reward of all is offered to the worst of all churches. But notice the supreme wisdom and humor of God! To the church of the "rights" of people, the miserable humans who think the universe owes them everything they desire, the opportunity is given to surrender all of their rights to another, to God. |
|
After they have learned to enjoy being the slave of God they are permitted back on the throne. Neat, huh? |
|
|
|
And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. (Revelation 7:4) |
|
As we have stated previously, the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation are of extreme importance and should be read and taught often. |
|
These two chapters reveal how Christ views the churches on earth. The members of the Christian churches are divided into two groups. There are the majority who are having problems with their dedication to the Lord. Then there are the minority who are serving God with a pure heart. It is the minority who are the true saints, the ones who will be resurrected from the dead when the Lord appears from Heaven. |
|
It is our point of view that the rewards to the overcomer are steps toward the first resurrection from the dead. |
|
We have explained previously that there shall be two resurrections from the dead, one at the beginning of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, when the Lord returns, and one at the end when all the dead appear before the great white throne. |
|
The first resurrection must be attained. At the second resurrection everyone who did not attain the first resurrection will be resurrected, some to eternal life and some to judgment. There is no need to attain the second resurrection. Our body will come forth from its place of interment whether we want this or not. |
|
The Apostle Paul was seeking to attain the first resurrection, the out-resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:11). |
|
The rewards to the overcomer are increments of relationship to Christ, authority, and ability that give the saint eligibility and competence to rise in the first resurrection. These are the members of the royal priesthood. Each one must be authorized to rule and able to rule. |
|
The steps toward the first resurrection begin with eating of the tree of life and culminate in our position with Christ in His throne. |
|
We see the overcomers eight times in the Book of Revelation. |
|
First they appear as the one hundred forty-four thousand who are sealed (Revelation 7:4). |
|
Second they appear as one of the two lampstands (Revelation 11:4). |
|
Third they appear as the firstfruits to God and the Lamb (Revelation 14:1). |
|
Fourth they appear as the Son, the male Child, who is caught up to God and to His throne (Revelation 12:5). |
|
Fifth they appear standing on the sea of glass and singing the song of Moses (Revelation 4:6; 15:2). |
|
Sixth they appear as the firstfruits of the Bride of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7). |
|
Seventh they appear as the army of the Lord (Revelation 19:14). |
|
Eighth they appear as the resurrected royal priesthood (Revelation 20:4-6). |
|
In their first appearance the true saints are sealed before the messengers of God harm the sea and the trees. We notice during the blowing of the trumpets that when the heavy woes begin, with the fifth trumpet, those who are sealed are exempt from the punishment. |
|
Joseph and Ephraim are treated as one of the twelve tribes because they represent the Gentile stick in the Lord's hand. Ephraim is the father of many nations, not just of the Jews. |
|
The tribe of Dan is omitted because this is not merely a literal list of the Jews. If it were, one of the twelve tribes would not be omitted. The omission of Dan (meaning "judging") signifies that the overcomers have been judged before the resurrection. |
|
To be continued. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. (Revelation 14:1) |
|
The concept that the overcomers are being judged in advance is important to understand. Those who are following the Lord closely are being judged now. We have passed Pentecost and are moving into the Day of Atonement, to speak symbolically. |
|
You may have noticed that God is bringing sins to your attention that you thought were long gone out of your life. Here you are, a Christian for twenty years, filled with the Spirit, and now the Spirit is dealing with you concerning sin. |
|
Exactly! You are right on target. Confess the sin, turn away from it, and God will forgive you. It is an eternal judgment. You will not hear about it again unless you keep doing it. |
|
The one hundred forty-four thousand are not part of the multitude of believers who wash their robes during the great tribulation. Rather they are the bond-servants of God serving Him with a perfect heart. They already have been judged so "Dan" is not mentioned. |
|
You can be one of these if you wish, but you had better get busy and start serving the Lord like you mean it. |
|
Then we see the victorious saints as one of the two lampstands of Revelation, Chapter Eleven. The other Lampstand is Christ. |
|
The churches are as seven lampstands in the first three chapters of Revelation. Now the saints drawn from the seven churches appear as one witnessing lampstand. |
|
The victorious saints are portrayed as a Son, a male child, in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation. The birth of the male child illustrates the travail of spirit and soul we undergo as Christ is formed in us. When with the help of the Spirit of God we finally break through the weights that would prevent us from attaining victory we have a stronger sense of being risen with Christ than ever before. From now on our experience becomes more that of maintaining what was born in intense prayer and dedication than it is one of continually struggling to gain victory. |
|
The goal of the victorious saint is to live always in Christ at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. As He is, so are we in this world. |
|
The next time we see the overcomers they are standing on Mount Zion. This is particularly important. Zion was the location of the Ark of the Covenant when the remainder of the Tabernacle was at the high place of Gibeon. This prophetic portrayal means a warlike remnant of the Church will rule with Christ during the thousand-year Kingdom Age. |
|
Several major symbols of the Old Testament, not the least of which is the story of Gideon, tell of a remnant taken from the Church in order to gain victory over the enemy. Later the remainder of Israel (God's elect) will share the spoils. |
|
The description of God's firstfruits in the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation shows several things about the overcomers these who have the Father's name written in their forehead. One is they are not in spiritual bondage to anyone except Christ. Another is there is no guile in their mouth, which is a mark of spiritual maturity. |
|
Yet another distinguishing characteristic is they follow the Lamb wherever He goes. We see this also in I Thessalonians: "So shall we ever be with the Lord." |
|
When we see the overcomers again they are standing on the sea of glass, perhaps that same sea of clear glass that is before the rainbow throne. These are the victorious saints and they possess throne authority. There is fire in the sea of glass because it is time for the wrath of God to be exercised wrath smoldering since it first came into Satan's heart to rebel against the Father. |
|
They are singing the song of Moses and also the song of the Lamb. This signifies they are the fruit of all the covenants of God. |
|
To be continued. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. (Revelation 15:2) |
|
There is this about God's victorious saints, His conquerors, and we need to note it carefully: They give glory to God in all situations! |
|
We are near the time when men will rise up and declare God is unjust in His treatment of mankind and His treatment of Satan and his followers. But God's victorious saints are on God's side, like Levi of old. |
|
"God is just," they declare. "God and God alone is righteous. No matter how Satan suffers or mankind suffers or the members of the Church suffer, God and God alone is righteous!" |
|
Can you say that and mean it? You are going to see much suffering and bloodshed in the days to come. Could you serve as one of the saints who pours out the vials of the wrath of God? Or are you filled with the Antichrist spirit of human sympathy? |
|
Do you care how God feels or are you man-centered? |
|
It has been given to the saints to judge mankind and the angels as well. The true servants of the Lord learn to not judge according to what they see and hear with their eyes and ears but what they see and hear from God. |
|
To judge according to what we see and hear, or people tell us, is a common weakness of the believers. Satan takes advantage of our weakness and the first thing you know we are gossiping about a fellow Christian or slandering him or her. This is how Satan tears down the work of God. |
|
Get your emotions in tow! Don't run around with some opinion about a person until you hear from God. Better to pray about people than to talk about them. |
|
This is a big, big problem in Christian circles. |
|
Those who will sit in the throne with Christ and judge the nations will be victorious saints who have learned to wait until they hear from God before they form an opinion about anyone or anything. |
|
Then the overcomers are seen as a firstfruits of the Bride. They are robed in their righteous deeds the righteous behavior that always proceeds from those in whom Christ is formed and dwelling. |
|
When Christ returns the firstfruits will follow Him as an army along with the army of angels. |
|
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14) |
|
The last time we see the overcomers they are seated on the thrones of glory (Revelation 20:4). They have been raised in the first resurrection. They are poised for the onset of the thousand-year Kingdom Age. |
|
They are blessed and holy. |
|
No books are opened because "Dan" is not present. The second death has no authority over them. They have been judged and delivered previously. |
|
Anyone can be an overcomer! Christians have been drowning in water that is only to their waist. They have been taught that no one can please God, that while they are in the world they have to sin. |
|
Satan is running a bluff on us. |
|
All it takes to be an overcomer right now is to look up to God and offer to do His will as He gives you wisdom and strength. |
|
Presto! You are an overcomer. Just keep on doing that every five minutes for eternity. |
|
All the good stuff we have talked about will be yours if you will look to Christ. |
|
Satan will try to scare you away, telling you God will demand some awful thing of you. This is not true. God will never require anything of you that is not in your best interests. Have faith in God. Put your trust in Him. |
|
You can do it. |
|
Good sailing to you as you launch out on the wonderful course that will lead you at last to the rainbow throne. You will be eternally glad you made this choice. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. (Daniel 9:24) |
|
There are three major aspects of sin. The first is guilt. The second is power or compulsion. The third is presence. |
|
Salvation is deliverance from the guilt, power, and presence of sin. |
|
When we Christians think of the future, whether it be residence in Heaven, or life on the new earth in the Holy City, or service with Christ on this earth during the thousand-year Kingdom Age, we assume sin no longer is present with us. |
|
Although we have come to trust in grace (interpreted only as forgiveness) during our life on earth, if we think about it we would not want to live in Paradise, in the new Jerusalem, or on the earth during the Millennium, if we and those around us still are behaving in a sinful manner but were forgiven by grace. |
|
How would you like to live in Paradise or in the new Jerusalem if people still were envious, spiteful, angry, jealous, lustful, slanderous, covetous, as they are today in the Christian churches? Suppose you were told it doesn't matter how people behave because God has forgiven us by grace? How would you feel then? |
|
What if you were given a beautiful, large mansion to live in but the people were angry, spiteful, and treacherous as they are today in the churches? Is this part of your hope for the future? |
|
If you will take a little while to consider this problem seriously you may find you are assuming that not only the guilt but also the urges and presence of sin have been dealt with somehow. You hope that sin can never enter Heaven not even your sin. Am I correct? |
|
If so, then salvation must include deliverance from the guilt, power, and presence of sin if it is to produce the kind of world we desire to live in. |
|
Even if no death or trouble followed sin, the true saint in his or her heart does not wish to live in a sinful environment. |
|
Christians understand that the guilt of our sin was taken care of on the cross of Calvary. The message of forgiveness through the atoning blood of Christ has been preached and taught to the ends of the earth. |
|
However there is a problem with today's preaching concerning the guilt of our sin. It is that the message of deliverance from guilt, if it is to be presented according to the Bible standard, should always be accompanied by a demand for the most sincere, vigorous repentance. Very often the forgiveness is emphasized today but not the vigorous repentance. |
|
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. (Acts 3:19) |
|
The lack of emphasis on thorough repentance may account at least in part for the moral weakness and confusion so evident in the churches. |
|
The power and presence of sin are another matter. It appears that the Christian preachers and teachers have come to believe that salvation is primarily forgiveness. If such were the case the new covenant would not be any more effective in dealing with the problem of sin than was true of the Law of Moses. |
|
We must always keep in mind, if we would understand the plan of redemption, that it operates primarily for God's benefit. God has a problem. His creation is in rebellion. God's solution is to create sons in the image of Christ who are able, because of their mature character, to sit as judges and rulers over the creation. |
|
If every person on earth were forgiven his sins it still would not solve God's problem in any manner. But one individual who presses forward in Christ until he is in the moral image of Christ and at rest in God's will, is a definite part of the solution to God's problem. (from Eternal Judgment) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5) |
|
The longer I live the more I come to believe that God has written the Bible so that if your heart is wrong you will believe the wrong thing. This is why Jesus spoke in parables so people wouldn't understand Him and be saved. Does this run against the grain of your humanistic thinking? |
|
And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. (Luke 8:10) |
|
If you want to understand the Bible and get it straight then look to Jesus, take up your cross, and follow Him. Buy the truth and don't sell it. God sends delusion on those who do not love the truth and they end up believing a lie. |
|
Evangelical teaching in several aspects is a lie. This is because the believers are not carrying their cross behind Jesus. They are proud, smug, complacent. Therefore the truth is hidden from them. |
|
Let's look at Romans 4:5. If you want to see a verse that can be messed up, this is the one. |
|
It is said there are three ways to do anything, the right way, the wrong way, and the Navy way. I don't know what the Navy does with Romans 4:5 (having been in the Marine Corps I know they must do something with it) but I know what we are doing with it today and it's the wrong way. |
|
There are two ways you can approach this verse. |
|
One is as follows: the Christian salvation consists of belief in the atoning (forgiving) blood of the Lord Jesus. We are to do nothing but believe in the atonement made on Calvary on behalf of the ungodly. If we will do this God ascribes righteousness to us. |
|
This is the manner in which the verse is interpreted today. The multitude of verses in the Old and New Testaments that exhort us to righteous conduct are viewed as nice, "Christian" things we should do but they are not absolutely tied in to our salvation. We believe in the atoning blood and so God ascribes righteousness to us. |
|
In fact, there is an implication in Romans 4:5 that God is pleased when we refuse to do anything and just believe He justifies the ungodly. Naked belief is seen to be the best kind of faith, the faith that pleases God and brings righteousness to us. |
|
Let all Evangelicals say Amen! |
|
However there is another way of interpreting this verse, one that does not leave most of the pages of the New Testament in the trash. It is that Paul is talking to Jews and telling them they do not have to earn righteousness by keeping the Law of Moses (or the tenets of any other religion for that matter). |
|
Paul is not saying that people can walk in moral filth and please God by believing that Christ died for the ungodly. Rather the concept is that God has given Christ to us as the means of pleasing God and this new path to righteousness supersedes the Law of Moses. |
|
The contrast is between Moses and Christ, not between living righteously and living in moral filth and rebellion against God. |
|
To be continued. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) |
|
All intelligent people will be able to see the difference between the two interpretations of Romans 4:5. One approach is the idea we can continue in ungodly behavior and be viewed as righteous on the basis of our belief in the atonement. The other approach is interpreting Romans 4:5 as an integral part of Paul's entire argument in the first part of Romans concerning the replacing of Moses with Christ. |
|
God's will for man is that he live righteously, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. This goal never, never, never changes one whit. Romans 4:5 is not stating that righteous behavior no longer is required if we are to please God. Romans 4:5 is maintaining that belief in Christ takes the place of attempting to earn righteousness by observing the statutes of Moses. |
|
Now, I said all intelligent people can understand that the goal of God's dealing with man remains unchanged and Romans 4:5 is speaking of a change in approach to the one unchanging goal. Viewing the verse as a change from Moses to Christ, while maintaining the same goal, is certainly not the same as understanding the verse to mean we are to do nothing but believe, and it doesn't matter how we behave! |
|
Now that you understand the two interpretations of the verse, the choice you make as to which viewpoint you choose to believe reveals clearly what is in your heart, the kind of person you are. If you choose to believe God justifies the ungodly, on the basis of their belief in Christ's atonement, so they may continue in ungodliness without angering God, you have a wicked heart. Let's face it. You have a wicked heart. It is your heart you must deal with, because this verse is worded in such a manner you can fasten on it and from it deduce that the remainder of the New Testament is somewhat irrelevant. |
|
To those who love God in their heart, knowing He has not given us a covenant that overlooks much less endorses ungodly behavior, let us point you to the sixth chapter of the Book of Romans. There you will find the Apostle Paul shaking off his back those who would use his teaching of Divine grace to mean we should sin so grace may abound. |
|
In the sixth chapter of the Book of Romans Paul states several times that if the Christian, having been baptized in water, then permits himself to be the slave of sinful behavior, he will die spiritually. If the Christian, having been baptized in water, then becomes the slave of righteous behavior, he will live spiritually. |
|
Check it out! |
|
What is the resolution? The resolution between freedom from the Law of Moses and the all-important growth in righteous behavior is stated as follows: "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I am living. But it is not I who am living but Christ who is living in me. The life I now am living in my body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." |
|
When this is true of you, when you have submitted your natural man to crucifixion, when it is Christ who is living in you and revealing in your personality the moral purity of God, as was true of the Apostle Paul, and the life you now are living you are doing so by faith in Jesus, then you can come and tell us how marvelous it is you don't have to earn the approval of God because He has declared you righteous apart from the observance of any religious ritual. |
|
The Bible is known as the "good Book." When it doesn't make people good it is being misunderstood. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
