Submitted by: Achaicus | View Member Profile | View Other Posts
Created: 3/26/2010
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It is good to look ahead at what is to come, for it gives us something to hold on to that we might stay the course. Jesus said while he was here "I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." John 15:15. After He returned to his Father, the Holy Spirit became the tutor in truth and is available to us today. I have seen in studying that God loves to provide memory aids and uses simple everyday things to point to the greater. He has set the week ended by the sabbath to remind us of our work, and to point to the time we will know him completely.
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-11. "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people." Exodus 31:12-14. "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it." Isaiah 58:13, 14.
"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 2 Peter 3:8.
God knew that we are limited and would get lost in his great time frame of six thousand years to complete the work of redemption adorned with a thousand year sabbath. Every seven days is repeated the reminder that in God's time the work will be completed and we will be with him. Our work is both the weekly round of duties and the eternal preparation for that long awaited sabbath of a thousand years when we will know Him face to face and heart to heart. With the weekly cycle pointing to a time when we will know him, the sabbath, the only way we are able to keep it as God desires is with Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. As God has worked for almost 6 thousand years in preparation for that great sabbath, so we also who desire Him must diligently seek to honor the sabbath day by completing our work each week. Jesus states plainly "If ye love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15. A love relationship is what this is all about.
Again we return to the relationship story from the Jewish culture. The father keeps track and oversees the progress of his son's preparation and building. Only when all is complete will he release his son to go get his bride. The bride that waits may know that time is getting close, but only the father knows the exact time. When that time is come, then the groom begins the trip to collect his bride. This often is a procession by night with the family and friends of the groom coming along to gather the bride to the place prepared for her. Let us begin with the bible study at the moment the word from the Heavenly Father has been spoken to release our Beloved.
"At that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book." Daniel 12:1. "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." Revelation 22:11. "Thus saith the Lord: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. ... All faces are turned into paleness. Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it." Jeremiah 30:5-7.
Use now your time wisely to store up the oil of the Holy Spirit. Only as we learn of God by walking with him will we have laid up stores in our heart against that day. Let us pray for the strength Job had who spoke of his trouble: "Oh that I knew where I might find Him! that I might come even to his seat! I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments." "Will He plead against me with his great power? No; but He would put strength in me." "Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him: On the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him: He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him: But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." Job 23:3-4, 6, 8-10. Even as Job had poor counselors that tried to make him see where he erred, we will have those that know us scoff and mock our faithfulness and prayers. Still others like Job's wife who told him: "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die."; will try to get us to give up the truth that we have held dear and go after the easy way out which ends in destruction.
Study the truth, nay dig in the bible like a starving man looking for food, for in the last days we will not have anything else but that which we have put in our minds. "...Seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD's anger." Zephaniah 2:3
"There shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. . . . Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth; behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 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 24:24-27
"Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands." Isaiah 49:14-16. The Lord of hosts has said: "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye." Zechariah 2:8. "The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul." "He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Psalms 121:5-7; 91:3-10.
"Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him? . . . I tell you that He will avenge them speedily." Luke 18:7, 8
"Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." Revelation 3:11
"Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book." R. 22:7
"And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." R. 22:12
"And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21:27 "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." Revelation 1:7
"Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Isaiah 52:1, Isaiah 26:19, 1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:17
"And have hope toward God .... that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Acts 24:15 Revelation 20:6, 5.
"But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness." Leviticus 16:10 "I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season." Revelation 20:1-3
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Revelation 20:4
Once the procession returned with the bride to the place prepared for her, the terms of the betrothal agreement are reviewed. Then the couple were given time alone, traditionally a week. After that time, which included biblically knowing each other, the wedding feast was held.
We are given the opportunity to review and see for ourselves the dealings God has done with us and all those we have questions about. Tears will be wiped away, and at the end of the thousand years we will all know without question that God is just. We will look on the heart of God, just as he has looked at ours. Then when we are secure in Him, He deals with those that did not put on the wedding garment God offered.
And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. Zechariah 14:4
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Revelation 21:9, 10
Then the rest of the dead are brought forth "unto the resurrection of damnation", and Satan is "loosed a little season." John 5:29, Revelation 20:3. "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Revelation 20:12. All will acknowledge the justice of God's dealing with them, "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:10-11. This does not change their heart, but is the only response possible in the face of irrefutable evidence.
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 4:1-3
"I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away." Revelation 21:1.
Glory be to the Lamb and His kingdom forever and ever, Amen.
