If we guard the Word of Christ's patience, walking patiently after Him, not seeking our own desires, our own life, but only the will of God, Christ will guard us so we are not deceived during the testings that even now are at the door.

It can be observed that those who are thus guarded are not the individuals who make a doctrinally correct statement concerning the atonement or the resurrection of the Lord but those who have followed Him patiently. Spiritual protection in the last days depends on our patient obedience to the Lord.

The protection is not from the great tribulation but from the hour of testing, that is, from the abundance of lawlessness that causes the great tribulation. We must be careful to distinguish between the hour of testing and the great tribulation. Tribulation always purifies the believers.

The problem is not tribulation it is the abundance of lawlessness and sin filling the earth today. The Christians already have been overcome, not by tribulation but by sin. It is the abundance of lawlessness that will cause worldwide desolation and the great tribulation.

Let us be among the saints who serve the Lord faithfully, diligently, and consistently. Only in this manner can we escape the spiritual dangers of earth's midnight hour.

The closing days of the Church Age will be a time of reaping. The wheat and the tares will have come to maturity. The Lord will gather His wheat into His barn but the wicked will be bound over to the fire.

The Lord will receive to Himself His firstfruits, His Bride. The sealed remnant are His firstfruits (Leviticus 23:10—the barley wave offering), marking the beginning of the harvest of the earth. They are that "cake of barley bread," Gideon and his three hundred, so to speak, who are the first to put the enemy to flight (Judges 7:13,14).

Then will come the harvesting of the Lord's wheat—the great multitude of the blood-washed taken from every nation under the heaven.

And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. (Revelation 14:14-16)

The one "like unto the Son of man" is the Lord Jesus, who has come to gather the fruit of the earth. The fruit of the earth consists of the great multitude of the faithful who have refused to worship the Antichrist. Their names are in the Lamb's Book of Life. They have chosen death rather than to worship someone or some thing other than the true God. Therefore God will bring them up to His throne and bless them forever.

To be continued.