THE BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE

THE BOOK OF REMBRANCE

                “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another and the Lord gave attention and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name.  ”And they will be Mine”, says the Lord of Hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. So you will again distinguish between the righteous and they wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. Mal. 3:16-18

                “Be on guard that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life that the day comes on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of the earth. But keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that are about to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:34-36.

                “And all who dwell on the earth will worship him (the Antichrist) every one whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.” Rev. 13:8

                “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds.” Rev. 20:12

                “He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life and I will confess his name before My father and before His angels.” Rev. 3:5

                I don’t think we know all there is to know about the judgment, or what the books really are, or how to make sure our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. All I know for sure is that I want my name written in the Lamb’s book of life. I want His FOB (The Holy Spirit) in my pocket when I come to the pearly gates. I want to be found with the Spirit of Christ fully functional in my life; for as the scripture says: “…and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” Romans 8:8, 9.

                The typical answer about our salvation these days is that we are saved apart from our works by what Jesus did for us and that is true, but there are elements to our faith that require a response. There are elements to our relationship with Jesus that require our cooperation, our obedience, our faith and our steadfastness. For instance as it says above in Rev. 3:5: He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life…” What does it mean to overcome and why is it said here that we must overcome in order to be clothed in white garments?

                Rev. 12:11 says that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony, but my question is this: Is the blood of the Lamb a sort of talisman or a good luck charm that we wear around our neck like a St. Christopher’s medal, or must that blood, like our own physical blood, become the very functioning essence of our lives? The life is in the blood and without blood we die. Blood in our bodies brings in Oxygen and nutrients and takes away waste products. In spiritual terms then the blood of Christ brings in the Holy Spirit and takes away our sins in a way that makes it possible to stand clean before the Lord. Are we really using the blood of Christ to both purify and empower our lives? The same is true of Grace. Is Grace a cover all insurance policy, or is it a power working inside of us to transform our lives?

                Bonnie and I take communion together nearly every morning so that this covenant in His blood has become very real to us. The Lord is deadly serious about His covenant. He is ever faithful to keep it and His life’s blood proves it. But He also lets us know when we are not keeping our part of it. He wants us to be wise virgins with plenty of oil. He wants us to be like Philadelphia and not like Laodicea. For this we must apply His blood to our lives daily and to walk by faith in Him even as Abraham and Sarah walked.

                For a long time now I have seen parallels between Philadelphia and Laodicea and the wise and foolish virgins. Like the wise virgins, Philadelphia has an open door. But like the foolish virgins who are counselled to buy oil from those who sell, Laodicea is counselled to buy gold tried in the fire. They were turned away from the wedding feast. In my way of thinking neither the foolish virgins nor the Laodiceans are eternally lost. There would be no point in counselling them to buy gold tried in the fire if there was no hope for them… likewise for those who are counselled to buy oil.

                Those who believe in a pre-trib rapture tend to put all Christians into one grouping and they all get raptured before the tribulation comes. There is no distinction between Philadelphia and Laodicea… no distinction between wise or foolish virgins. Keep in mind that all of the ten virgins are believers who started out with lamps filled with oil, but as the Lord delays His coming, the foolish virgins run out of oil just as we see Christians falling away from the faith right now. Likewise the people of Laodicea are also believers who have become lukewarm and about to be spit out. They will have to be purified by fire.

                One of my favorite teachers, Neville Johnson reminds us that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a one- time gift. It must be renewed day by day. It makes all the difference between being a wise virgin or a foolish virgin who has run out of oil. We must be renewed every morning and it’s not because God’s Spirit leaks out of us, but rather that we tend to leave it behind and to begin to walk in the flesh again. Paul comments on this in Galatians 3:3 saying: “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

                Likewise, those who believe in a post- tribulation rapture also put everyone into one basket, making both the Bride of Christ who has been faithful to Him throughout her life to suffer along with those who chose to live in the flesh and to only maintain a casual relationship.

                According to Revelation 12; who is the devil going to hate in the last days? Who is he going to make war with? Is it not with those who keep the commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus? Are not those who live in obedience going to become a threat to Satan’s very kingdom? Is it not the true church that is preventing his global takeover? We have oil and that oil fuels our lamps and our lamps prevent the darkness from winning. Even a small candle in a pitch dark cave changes everything.

                This brings me to the three harvests celebrated in Israel during the year: What are the qualities that God is looking for in His people and how will He produce those qualities in us?

BARLEY HARVEST: The first harvest in the spring was the Barley harvest and it was this grain that was used as a wave sheaf offering before the Lord. It was this Barley harvest wave sheaf that the High Priest was waving before the Lord at the exact time of Christ’s resurrection.  Even as Jesus was presenting Himself to the Father as first fruits of the harvest to come, the priest was waving the wave sheaf before the Lord in the temple.

WHEAT HARVEST: This was the second harvest of the year and took place at the time of Pentecost. This harvest was celebrated with leavened bread rather than unleavened bread and indicated that there was a mixture. There was still leaven in the life that must be baked out. There were both wheat and tares in this group. This harvest must separate the wheat from the tars and separate the wheat from its chaff.

                Now the difference between the Barley harvest and the Wheat harvest is that Barley is easily removed from its chaff. It is winnowed and a gentle breeze can blow the chaff away. This would correspond to the person who has surrendered his life completely to the Lord. He has been living in close relationship with the Lord and is preparing for the marriage. He is easily separated from his flesh and the gentle wind of the Holy Spirit is enough to remove the chaff. These would take part in the first resurrection and be taken to the marriage supper of the Lamb just like the wise virgins who entered the wedding feast.

                Wheat, on the other hand, must be threshed. This is a more violent thrashing action to force the wheat out from the chaff. These would correspond to those who must buy gold tried in the fire. They must go through at least the first half of the tribulation and they must be tested by the Mark of the Beast. If they remain faithful, they will be saved. They may be killed for their faith, but they will be saved. “Be faithful unto death and I will give thee the crown of life.” Rev. 2:10.  Is the gospel being preached like this anymore? Jesus says that we must keep alert at all times, praying in order that we may be counted worthy to escape all these things.” (The events of the tribulation)

                There are Christians who will not be ready for the marriage supper. Their lamps will not be filled with oil. They will have to go through at least part of the tribulation in order to be refined and purified. They will have to purchase oil form those who sell. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when they realize that they must pay with their lives, that which Jesus had so willingly paid for them. But they had never applied His blood to their lives. They had never lived by His Spirit and His Word. They had been Christians in name only. Now the chaff must be removed from their lives the hard way.

                The Gospel just isn’t being preached like this anymore. Therefore we have millions of casual Christians; living after the flesh, never crucified with Christ, never dead to self and the world, never discipled… presuming that all is okay. After all, we are saved by grace. Just come to the altar once and you’re in. The problem is the Bible doesn’t read that way. We have tough choices to make in this life. Marriage is a commitment to the One. Marriage changes everything. Life becomes centered on the One. Faces flushed with love and joy, we just can’t stop talking about Him. He has become our everything.

                There is a third harvest in the fall known as the grape harvest. We see these in Revelation .20:4. Every one of them has been beheaded for his faith and they are not caught up to meet the Lord in the air.   Instead, they come to life at around the same time as Jesus is returning to earth with His saints, (His Bride) in Revelation 19. They are included in the first resurrection even though they are raised later at the end of the tribulation. They have been purified through suffering and the offering of their lives rather than to worship the Beast. The chaff has finally been removed from them.

                We have not well understood what Jesus meant when He said that He is the Author and Finisher of our faith, or that what He has begun in us He will finish. We have never stopped to realize that He will take us through whatever it takes in order to make us sanctified and holy. No one can enter His kingdom as long as he has blemishes, spots or wrinkles. We are talking eternity here and Jesus cannot afford to allow seeds of evil to enter into that eternity. One way or the other we must become like Him.

                Now if we will be pliable in the Lord’s hands… if we will surrender to the Holy Spirit and to the Word and walk by faith in Him, we will be part of the Barley harvest. But if we are stubborn and want our own way and if we walk after the flesh rather than after the Spirit, we will have to be threshed and the chaff forced from our lives. And when it says that He is able to save to the uttermost… He is saying that He will do whatever it takes. If need be He will take you all the way to the grape harvest in which the juice must be literally stomped out and the grapes… crushed to bring forth the wine.

                This grape harvest sounds a lot like 1 Cor. 5:5 to me where Paul says of the man caught in incest and refusing to repent: “I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Now there is a thought for you. Those in the grape harvest may not receive resurrection bodies and only their spirit will be saved? Interesting.  Paul talks about being in the third heaven and not knowing whether he was there in the body or only in the spirit. Hebrews 12:11 speaks of those in heaven as being the church of the first-born as well as the spirits of righteous men made perfect. We let many things slide by us because they don’t fit our current understanding or our traditions or doctrines.

                I don’t know for sure if these three harvests are the way it is, but it sure looks like it to me. All of the elements are there in the Bible and in the Feasts of the Lord. It is up to us just which part of the harvest we will be a part of, based upon how hard it is to remove the chaff from us and us from the chaff. People balk at the idea of having a second chance, but it isn’t like that. It is more like having a reserve parachute and then discovering that it is designed to open on impact. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth as carnal believers discover that what Jesus had offered them so freely, they must now pay for with their lives.

                If you look at the book of Revelation with fresh eyes, you will see various groups of redeemed peoples in heaven; some have been at the wedding feast and they are returning with Jesus, still another group is made up of those who have been through great tribulation and then there is yet another group in which all have been beheaded. They miss the rapture altogether, but come alive to reign with Christ during His earthly millennium as per Rev. 20:4.

                 The good news is that Jesus was literally crushed, bruised and broken for our transgressions and that means He paid the price for the hardest cases that will ever come to Him. Meanwhile it would be to our advantage to surrender to Him now…to come to know and love Him as one who is anticipating marriage… How blessed is the one who will willingly follow and obey Him… who will lay down his life and take up his cross and follow after Yeshua even as he is called.

                “And a voice came from the throne saying, “Give praise to our God all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him the small and the great.” And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And He said to me, “Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” Rev. 19:5-9. This crowd is from the Barley harvest, the wise virgins at the marriage feast in heaven.

                There is another group mentioned as well in Revelation 7:13 – 17. They are the huge crowd that no one can number and the angel said: “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” These are the huge crowd of those who have come out of the second harvest, the wheat harvest. They have come through great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. These are spoken of in Daniel 12:10 as the ones who will be purged, purified and refined. Is it not possible that these that we call tribulation saints are none other than the wheat harvest?

                There is a definite picture being painted in scripture that is no longer being included in our preaching of the Gospel. It is a picture that tells us that the marriage supper of the Lamb is not for Casual Christians. It is not for those who just get saved and then do their own thing for the rest of their lives. The Bride is one that has courted the Lord and Loved Him and known Him. She has plenty of oil in her lamp and she has surrendered to the Lord’s work in her life. She is waiting for Him and longing for His appearing.

                Which group you fit into is up to you. Just like a marriage here on earth, you can either make it heaven or hell. You can be faithful and grow in your relationship with each other or you can let the oil run out and end up in divorce. We live in a covenant relationship with Jesus. In this covenant relationship He has done all of the important stuff and He continues to do all of the important stuff, but He can’t do it without us. He can’t be a faithful Bridegroom to us if we are out dating other suiters. The history of Israel shows us that. We must commit. We must say yes and mean it. We must make the tough choices between flesh and spirit. The reason we don’t come into judgment later is because we are allowing God to judge us daily now. We are preparing for marriage. We are making sure that our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

                Don’t let your oil run out. Keep it full. Keep it alive. Keep your lamp fed with the Word of God and lit by the fires of the Holy Spirit. We don’t win this race by the works of the flesh, but by the oil of His Holy Spirit and His blood freely applied to our lives. He is preparing us as a Bride adorned for her Husband.  

                I fear that many Christians are being told today that it is okay to be Laodicea… it is okay to be a foolish virgin… we will all get there just the same. But that’s because they have abandoned the study of Bible prophecy. They have been rocked gently into the sleep of presumption. They are no longer preparing for the wedding. Don’t be one of them.

                Neither the works of the Law nor the works of the flesh can save us, but the blood of Christ and His Holy Spirit must be fully functioning in our lives, for the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. Romans 1:16 .