The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Kingdom of God Is at Hand, #25

But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:15,16)

The purpose of the ministries of the Body of Christ is the building of the saints into the Head, Christ. This is how the second Lampstand is formed.

The purpose of the witness of the two Lampstands (Christ and His Body) is to prepare the nations for the coming of Christ from Heaven to rule the earth. The testimony of Christ in the Church is a witness to all nations.

The purpose of the Christian ministry is to give eternal life to those whom the Father has chosen to bring to Christ, and also to build up in the most holy faith the members of the Body of Christ.

But the purpose of the two witnesses of the eleventh chapter of Revelation, the ministry of sackcloth and plagues, is to bear witness to all the nations of the world a tremendously powerful and effective witness of the immediate coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth.

There are many Old Testament passages that refer to the events surrounding the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth. We cannot be too specific concerning the time scheduling of these climactic spiritual happenings because the Hebrew Prophets did not speak in clearly outlined sequences. The Prophets tend to describe a wide tapestry they beheld in the Spirit without strict reference to the precise order of the events.

Therefore we must limit ourselves to the general nature of the day of image and union and of the supremely powerful testimony that will usher in the day of image and union.

We think it is clear in the Scriptures that before He returns in the clouds the Lord Jesus will reveal through the Christian Church what soon will be hurtling earthward in unrelenting power from Heaven. The two witnesses will embody in themselves the power and life of the coming Kingdom Age. Also, the two witnesses will be the mold in which the thousand-year Kingdom Age will be developed.

The true nature of the thousand-year period, the Day of the Lord, is entering now into the disciples as a "day star." The day star (Christ—II Peter 1:19) heralds the worldwide Day of the Lord that is to follow.

It is not that we have resurrected bodies in the present hour or that the curse already has been lifted from the earth. It is not true that the sons of God are being revealed now. These blessings will come with the return of the Lord in glory. But the essence of the thousand-year Kingdom Age is the exalting of the Lord Jesus Christ to supreme lordship, and that can and must take place in the disciples today.

To be continued.