IT'S THAT SIMPLE

IT’S THAT SIMPLE

                “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:31

                I was recently asked if people have to know and understand all of this prophecy stuff in order to be saved. My answer was “No.” Salvation is not based upon knowing Bible prophecy. It is based upon knowing and believing in Jesus. The thief on the cross was able to do nothing but acknowledge that Jesus was innocent. He didn’t even say the sinner’s prayer. There was no time for formalities. So he simply said to Jesus:  Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” And Jesus gasped out in the throes of death: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

                Likewise when the Jailer asked the disciples what he must do to be saved, they answered: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:31. And even as Moses put a brazen serpent on a pole as a cure for snake bite; the people only needed to look at it by faith and to live. John 3:14

                So why is the Bible made up of about 2/3 prophecy either fulfilled or waiting to be fulfilled? Why was it that Jesus fulfilled every prophecy and type and shadow concerning Himself in all the scriptures and again we may ask: Why is Jesus second coming outlined with even more prophecies than was His first coming?

                When it comes to Bible prophecy we get it all turned around. We get it all wrong. We forget that God considers us to be more than servants. He has adopted us as sons and daughters whom He is preparing to share the throne with Him. As such He has taken us into His confidence. He is sharing His agenda with us… telling us what to watch for and how to prepare.

                If we don’t know our heavenly Father, then we suspect that He is threatening us, scaring us, forcing us into submission. From that reason alone I suspect that most of the church in the world today doesn’t know the Lord at all. They have only created a caricature of Him in which they leave out all of the stuff they don’t like. They want a Santa Claus, not a King… not a Judge that will put an end to sin and suffering… not a God who wants to make them into sons and daughters so that He can share His glory with them.

                I think that it is mighty wonderful that God has taken us into His confidence. He is teaching us how to recognize the signs of His coming… and about 90% of the church is saying: “I don’t want to hear all of that stuff.”

                What does this tell us about the condition of the church? Are we not just like Israel of old, ready to stone the prophets that were warning them?

                Recently Dr. Reagan of Lion and Lamb ministries asked a pastor why he didn’t teach Bible prophecy. The Pastor answered that Bible prophecy is irrelevant and that he had all he could deal with in divorces and drug additions and alcoholism and family disputes and such. So Dr. Reagan answered back: “If you would preach the soon coming of Christ and point out to them the closeness of His return, them many of the problems you have to deal with would fall away if people knew how close we are to the end... People need incentive. They need to know that we are headed somewhere… that there is a purpose toward which we are racing. There are 2 ways in which time is short. 1. We are not promised tomorrow. And 2. The signs of His coming point to His imminent return. We are on the brink of eternity.

                Paul said to Timothy: “For I am being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to ALL WHO HAVE LOVED HIS APPEARING..” 2 Tim. 4:6-8.

                You see, Paul knew some things about his death. He called it a departure.  To the Philippians Paul explained that at his death we would depart and be with Christ. To him, dying was a gain and not a loss. He was ready to go and preferred to go, but he was also willing to stay on for the sake of the people. Phil. 1:21-24. But he also knew another fact. He knew that he would not receive His glorified body until the resurrection, at the rapture, the catching away of the Bride, when we will all receive our glorified bodies at the same time. 1 Cor. 15:50-58.

                But how did Paul know all of this “stuff.” He knew it by revelation from God. He knew other things as well. For when the Thessalonians came to him asking concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus and our gathering to Him, he was able to tell them that the day of the Lord would not come until the apostasy comes first and the man of sin, the lawless one (the antichrist) be revealed who will take his seat in the temple of God, displaying Himself as God.

                But many Christians completely ignore what Paul said here. In fact they have made it one of their cardinal doctrines of imminence in which no signs must be fulfilled before Jesus comes to gather us to Him. But Paul told them that there would be a great apostasy or falling away and that this falling away would clear the way for the antichrist to come onto the scene.

                So we will be here to see the arrival of the antichrist and we will be here to see him take his seat in the temple of God while claiming to be God and that is the event that Jesus gave us in Mt. 24:15, which He referred to as the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION spoken of by Daniel the prophet.”

                Well friends, the temple in Israel is ready to be built. Just 2 or 3 days ago they dedicated the stone altar that will be used for animal sacrifices. They have the Ark of the Covenant and all the furniture. They have the priesthood. They even have the Red Heifer that must be used as a sacrifice to cleanse the temple. I watched the ceremony myself. It was very low key so as not to stir up the ire of the Muslims or even the animal rights activists. So rather than sacrificing a live animal at this point, they simply laid some meat on the altar.

                This and many other events should be huge news in the churches! The temple is about to be built into which the antichrist will come to commit the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION         and that means we are just weeks or months away from the tribulation. But most of the church sleeps on unaware because they have placed very little value on the fact that God has taken us into His confidence so that we could participate with Him in His world ending agenda.

                Jesus is about to return and most of the virgins are sleeping and many have no oil in their lamps simply because they no longer believe that the Holy Spirit is active in the world and in the church today. Many are not even waiting for the return of Jesus Christ.

                They have made the Holy Spirit a figurehead, a mascot, a name they invoke on formal occasions, even as they refuse to live by His power or walk by His guidance. The Holy Spirit has been relegated to the past… active at Pentecost, but dying away with the Apostles. DO WE REALLY THINK THAT OUR FATHER WOULD HAVE SUCH AN INSIPID PLAN AS THIS? DO WE REALLY THINK THAT GOD JUMP STARTED THE CHURCH AND THEN ABANDONED US TO FIGURE OUT THE LAST DAYS ALONE AND WITHOUT POWER?               

No, in fact we are told that the glory of the latter house will be greater than the first. The church is going to finish with a mighty outpouring of Holy Spirit power to bring in an unprecedented harvest.

                Speaking of the last days remnant people Daniel said: “And those WHO HAVE INSIGHT will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” Dan. 12:3. Then the angel told Daniel to seal up the book until the end of time. Many will go back and forth and knowledge will increase. Dan. 12:4.

                Today knowledge doubles about every 6 months and global travel is like no other time in history. For those who are watching; the signs of His coming are everywhere. And for those who appreciate being sons and daughters of God with whom He shares His confidence… we can have deep insight into how all of this is unfolding and we can prepare our hearts to meet the Lord.

                Frankly, I am astonished at the church’s lack of interest in Bible prophecy. Prophecy is God’s calling card.  People find it threatening simply because they aren’t ready and they don’t want to get ready. They don’t want to know God’s agenda, because they have agendas of their own. That part about dying to self and then living only to serve the Lord has somehow escaped their notice.

                Today we teach each other to take charge of our own lives and to do it all for “Me.” I am entitled… I deserve a break today… I deserve to have it my way.

                Galatians 2:20 is far from most people’s lips and far from their hearts and they do not know that very soon, God will “shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” Heb. 12:26.

                “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” Heb. 12:28, 29.

                Today most Christians avoid also the subject of sanctification and holy living. And yet, we are told that without sanctification no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14. In fact there is a huge exodus going on in the church today as the fundamentals of the Gospel are being trampled underfoot as people make whatever compromises necessary to find a place of favor in the coming global kingdom of the antichrist.

                They ignore all Bible prophecy with a flick of the wrist not realizing that it is the very thing that could have rescued them from certain destruction. God did not give us Bible prophecy to scare us, but to prepare us for His coming. It will be a messy affair as two kingdoms collide and fight to the death.

                “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” Rom. 8:37

                “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony and they did not love their life even to death.” Rev 12:11.

                “And it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them; and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, (The Antichrist) everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.”  Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. “Rev. 13:7, 8, 10b.

                We are much closer to the end than most Christians think… and because they are unaware of the times, many feel no particular urgency, or desire to live sanctified lives. But according to the Tabernacle, design we must be sanctified before we can be glorified. We are justified in the outer court. Sanctified in the Holy Place and glorified in the Most Holy Place and this glorification corresponds with the Feast of Tabernacles.

“He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22

                Salvation is infinitely simple and yet infinitely impossible. Flesh and blood cannot gain us even one inch towards heaven. It is all done by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit and the washing and regeneration of the word. IF we cannot tolerate the Word and we don’t believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, then how are we to be saved?

                “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. “ Romans 8:14

                “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” Romans 8:19

                Do you know when and how the sons of God will be revealed? It will be when we are transfigured just like Jesus was transfigured before His disciples.  It will be when the glory of the Lord rises upon us and we pass from mortal beings of flesh into immortal and glorified beings in the image of Christ.

                We can’t even imagine what we will be, but this we do know. We will be like Him. It has forever been God’s plan that we will share His glory. Jesus said in John 17:22: “And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one just as We are one.”