The Daily Word of Righteousness

Being With the Lord, continued

They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers. (Revelation 17:14—NIV)

Who will be with Christ during the conflict?

Those who will be with the Lord forever have been called by Divine election; have been chosen because of their devotion to the Lord; and have been proven faithful over many long years of denial, remaining patiently in the various prisons and circumstances in which they are placed.

We mentioned before that if we are to appear with Christ, He must have become our life. We must have chosen to be crucified with Christ and to live by Him, in Him, with Him, in all matters great and small.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4—NIV)

And notice:

I have commanded my holy ones; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath—those who rejoice in my triumph. (Isaiah 13:3—NIV)

We must be holy if we are to be part of the victorious army. Remember Achan! We cannot live an unholy life and be part of the army of the Lord. We would cause it to go down to defeat.

We are learning to fight today. It is today that God is teaching our hands to war. We demonstrate today if we are going to be one of Jesus' mighty men, riding with Him to victory over every enemy.

It is ridiculous to suppose that if we cannot overcome the enemy today we will be invited to ride with Christ at His coming. This is totally unrealistic, totally unscriptural.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones To judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 1:14,15—NIV)

Again we see the accent on holiness. By the way, those who are judged, if you will read the context, are the wicked people in the churches!

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21—NIV)

The creation is not waiting for the children of God but the sons of God. Those who release the creation in the coming battle are mature saints. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The sons of God have been led by the Spirit to put to death the deeds of their body. Therefore they have been made competent by experience to deal victoriously with the enemy.

The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?" (Isaiah 33:14—NIV)

First Thessalonians says those who are raised from the dead and caught up to meet the Lord in the air will be "with the Lord forever."

But Isaiah asks, "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?"

To be continued.