Monday, December 21, 2009

Prophecy Digest: Revelation 1B -Chuck Missler

Chuck Missler

Video

Revelation One B

Propehcy Digest

This material was brought to you by Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity. Last Call Digest, is a ministry of Michael James Stone, volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. It is an aggragate of Christian Material selected to Bless you and Prepare you for each and every day you read them. May God Bless You as You Do!! Reading these Devotions will help you to prepare daily for life, living, and your Lord. You will hear God Speak To You thru them.  Jesus  is Coming Very Soon.

Last Generation (Gen 2012)

Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity, operates by you, with you, and for you. “Freely you have received, freely give”  Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can, anyway you can. You will be blessed if you do.  ProphecyDigest@michaeljamesstone.com

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Prophecy Digest: Revelation One -Chuck Smith (Vid)

Revelation One

Video Study

Chuck Smith

http://media.calvarychapel.com/twft/video/C4647.mp4

Propehcy Digest

This material was brought to you by Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity. Last Call Digest, is a ministry of Michael James Stone, volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. It is an aggragate of Christian Material selected to Bless you and Prepare you for each and every day you read them. May God Bless You as You Do!! Reading these Devotions will help you to prepare daily for life, living, and your Lord. You will hear God Speak To You thru them.  Jesus  is Coming Very Soon.

Last Generation (Gen 2012)

Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity, operates by you, with you, and for you. “Freely you have received, freely give”  Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can, anyway you can. You will be blessed if you do.  ProphecyDigest@michaeljamesstone.com

Posted via email from Prophecy Digest-"The Last Generation"

Prophecy Digest: The Coming Of The 7th Day -Matt Leasher

The Coming Of The 7th Day

By Matt Leasher


  

The book of Genesis records that God created everything in six days and then on the seventh day He rested.  Why did it take God six days to create everything and why did He need to rest on the seventh? After all, He is God.  I’m sure He could have spun the universe into existence in the blink of an eye without needing any rest afterwards.  Being a believer of the Bible as being the infallible truthful Word of God, I do believe that He did it as it is written but I also believe that God does things for a reason.

 

In 2 Peter 3:8 it says, “But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”  And in Psalm 90:4 it also says, “For a thousand years in Your sight, are like yesterday when it is past”.  These statements are in the Bible for a reason, but for what and why?  Could it be that God’s procedure of creation is also a foreshadow of His plan and timetable for man’s destiny? 

 

While there exists much scientific evidence of the earth being much older than 6,000 years this can still be true in light of the scriptures.  There is what is called the gap theory. Meaning that scripture does not tell us how much time may have existed between verses 1 and 2 in Genesis.  Verse 1 being, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Verse 2 being, “the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep”.  The theory suggests there could be thousands of years between those two verses.  Then starting in verse 3 God begins to count the days and what He creates within those days. Of course this does suggest that man has only roamed this earth for 6,000 years and leads us to the debate of evolution, which is a topic for another time.  For this study lets just stick to scripture and what God is telling us.

 

So the question remains, why does God tell us in His Word that He created the earth and the life within, as we know it, in six days and rested on the seventh?  Could the beginning be a harbinger of the end? After all, the Lord does declare in Isaiah 46:9-10, “remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done.”  The book of Isaiah is a fantastic resource for hearing the words of the Lord directly as many chapters reveal the Lord speaking in the first person.  Here He is telling us that He declares the end from the beginning.   We are given another hint that the end is determined from the beginning in Ecclesiastes 1:9, That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”  Jesus also tells us in Revelation that He is the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end.  

 

To understand this concept it requires circular thinking and an understanding of  “prophetic time”.  Prophetic time moves in a circle and in cycles.  When you come to the end of a circular cycle you are back at the beginning.  When 60 seconds is up you start over and begin counting the next 60 seconds.  You don’t come to the end of 60 seconds and say “Ok, now what?” Rather, you get a minute out of it and then start counting minutes while the 60 second cycle is still rotating within the minute and then so on with an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade, a century, a millennia and so on.  Cycles within cycles that never stop moving.  If you were to remove or add 1 single second from within those cycles all of time would be thrown off and the divine order of things would be disrupted.  Interesting how the last few words in the Bible are of Jesus warning us not to add or take away from the words which are written in this book.  If the Bible is a prophetic book declaring the destiny of our existence from beginning to end, (which I firmly believe it is), then surely every word in it must be there for a reason and like the divine cycles of time, cannot be tampered with.

 

Based on Isaiah 46:9-10 we can conclude that God reveals the end of things by encoding them in the beginning of things and that the future is hidden in the past.  But why the big secret, why not tell us things straight up so that we can be warned clearly without doubt.  First of all, God loves us and would not leave us unwarned, nor would he deceive us with riddles.  Just take a look at what He is saying in Isaiah 48:16, “Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was I was there.”  This is a clear indication that He is not hiding anything from us.   Its all in His Word.  All we have to do it is pick it up and read it and not try to rely on our own understandings.

 

So if a thousand years with the Lord is as one day perhaps the Lord is telling us that the six days of creation are representative of the 6,000 years of man’s existence in a sin cursed world and the seventh day of rest is the 1000 year millennium of Christ’s reign on earth after He returns, spoken of in Revelation 20.  (Ironically the 1000 years of Jesus’ earthly kingdom are mentioned six times in Revelation 20).  The last 1000 years being the “day of rest” as sin will have been wiped off the face of the earth and Jesus will reside as King of Kings and show the earth what it will be like to live in true peace and harmony, …hence, a day (or thousand years) of rest!

 

If this theory is true then that would mean from Adam to the birth of Jesus would have been the first 4,000 years and from Christ’s first advent to His second coming is the remaining 2,000 years which is the time that we are currently living in which is referred to as “the Church Age” or the “Age of Grace”. That being the case that would also mean that the remaining 2,000 years are almost up!  There are even several references from scripture telling us of this 2,000 year period and its closure. These references are almost always in regards to the re-birth of Israel and the Jewish people. The land and the people that God has remarkably preserved throughout the ages specifically for His return! Lets examine them keeping in mind that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years.

 

In Exodus 19:11 the Lord tells Moses to consecrate the people for 2 days and on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.  This is very representative of the 2,000 year, (or 2 days), “age of grace” that we currently live in before the Lord returns to be “in our sight”.

 

In Hosea 6:2 it says, “after two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight”.  This is in regards to Israel.  We have seen with our very eyes the beginning of Israel’s revival with Israel becoming a nation again in 1948.  No other nation in history has ever been eliminated out of existence and come back into existence but miraculously Israel has done it twice!  (The first being in the Book of Ezra after King Cyrus allowed them to return to their land after 70 years of captivity in Babylon).   Jesus also gave us a prophetical sign of this coming to pass when He cursed the fig tree after entering Jerusalem saying “Let no fruit grow on you ever again”, (Matthew 21:19). Immediately the fig tree withered away.  The fig tree of course is representative of Israel, (see Hosea 9:10).  Then in Mark 13:28-31, Jesus tells us to learn the parable of the Fig Tree to understand when we are close to the end of the age.  He says, “when its branch has become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also when you see these things happening, know that it is right at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”  Now when a fruit tree begins to bear leaves in the spring that means that the fruit is soon to blossom on it in the summer.  Israel becoming a nation again in 1948 was the Fig tree bearing its leaves but Jesus said it would never again bear fruit!  Furthermore, the generation that sees this happen will not pass away.  A generation according to Psalm 90:10 is 70 years or 80 if by strength.  Lets do the math here.  1948 plus 70 brings us to 2018. If by strength we are graced with an extra 10 years then we are looking at 2028 at the latest for the return of the Lord. Either way, it will be in our lifetime!  Even though Jesus said we will not know the day or the hour, He did say that we will know when it is right at the door!

 

Now even though Israel is a nation again the Jews for the most part still reject Jesus as the Messiah and live under the Old Law. However, in recent years many Jews in Israel are converting and becoming what is known as Messianic Jews, or “completed Jews” and are accepting and realizing Christ as the Messiah and as their Savior.  This conversion of the Jews cannot fully take place until Jesus returns and is in their presence.  So the fact that so many are now starting to convert is a stark sign that He is coming very soon.  Preparations for the coming third temple that He will reside in are also well underway as well.  This can be observed at http://www.templeinstitute.org/main.htm

 

Another symbolic sign of the 2,000 year age of grace that we live in is in John 11 where Jesus waits 2 days before going to raise Lazarus from the dead.  This is symbolic of the 2,000 years before Jesus returns and raises His faithful from the dead at the Rapture.

 

In Matthew 17 we see the account of the Transfiguration. Where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up to a mountain and is transfigured in front of them in their presence. His face shined like the sun and His clothes became white as the light and Moses and Elijah appeared with Him speaking to Him and the Father spoke from the clouds announcing Jesus as His Son.  This was no doubt a preview to the three apostles of the glory of what His appearance will be like at His second coming.  But what is most noteworthy about this account is that in verse 1 it says, “after six days Jesus took Peter, James and John up on a high mountain...”.  If this was a preview of His glory at His second coming than it happened after 6 days!  Just like the creation theory. 

 

The Transfiguration event also parallels the description of the rapture in Thessalonians 4:16-17:

 

“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

 

Similarly, at the Transfiguration, Moses represents the dead in Christ because he experienced death. Elijah represents those who are alive at the time of the Rapture because he never experienced death, (see 2 Kings 2:11).  They, the dead and the alive, join Jesus and are transformed. Also the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints are together during this event as represented by Moses, Elijah and the three apostles. Although they are not in the air, they are on a “high mountain”.  A cloud envelopes them and they are “with the Lord in the clouds”.  Lastly the voice of God is heard and we know from other scriptures that the voice of God is like the sound of a trumpet. (See Exodus 19:19, Revelation 1:10 and Revelation 4:1).  So the Transfiguration appears to be a rehearsal for the Rapture!

 

Now getting back to the creation theory and the 7th Day. Not only does God rest on 7th day but the Bible also shows us that God measures time in sevens with rest for His people always being on the 7th day. In the Old Testament the Jews were commanded to work 6 days and always rest on the 7th, that being the Sabbath.  Passover lasts for seven days with the last day, (the 7th) being a day of rest.  Then the 7th week after Passover comes another day of rest known as the Feast of Weeks (a.k.a. Pentecost).  In the 7th month on the Hebrew calendar there are 3 feasts of rest. They are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kipper and the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles). Every 7th year was a year of rest for the land where in Exodus 23:11 the Lord says to leave the land unplowed and unused.  Then every 49th year, (7 x 7), comes a year of Jubilee (see Leviticus 25:8-17), which is a year of rest for the land and also liberty for all people including the servants and workers.

 

So in conclusion we can see that the Lord has provided us with several clear, prime examples of the timing of His coming.  All we have to do is examine how it all began.  There is something to be revealed from the beginning. Even Genesis and Revelation parallel each other.  In Genesis the world began with man dwelling with God in paradise until sin cursed the world.  In Revelation Jesus will return and bring the world back to a land of perfection and rid the curse of sin from the land providing a glorious day of rest for us all!

 

Come Lord Jesus!

Propehcy Digest

This material was brought to you by Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity. Last Call Digest, is a ministry of Michael James Stone, volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. It is an aggragate of Christian Material selected to Bless you and Prepare you for each and every day you read them. May God Bless You as You Do!! Reading these Devotions will help you to prepare daily for life, living, and your Lord. You will hear God Speak To You thru them.  Jesus  is Coming Very Soon.

Last Generation (Gen 2012)

Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity, operates by you, with you, and for you. “Freely you have received, freely give”  Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can, anyway you can. You will be blessed if you do.  ProphecyDigest@michaeljamesstone.com

Posted via email from Prophecy Digest-"The Last Generation"

Prophecy Digest: Seven Letters To Seven Churches, Part 2 -Jack Kelley

Revelation 2 And 3 ... Seven Letters To Seven Churches, Part 2

by Jack Kelley

As the Roman Empire grew in prominence, Rome soon became the world's center for the practices and traditions of the Babylonian pagan religion. Pergamum slowly faded from the scene, but the mixed marriage of Christianity and Paganism begun there has produced four offspring, Roman Catholics (Thyatira), Main Line Protestants (Sardis), Evangelicals including Pentecostals and Charismatics (Philadelphia) and the Apostate Church (Laodicea). All are alive on Earth today.

To the Church in Thyatira

"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: Thyatira means continual sacrifice. (In the Catholic Church, the Lord is still on the cross, and they believe that the communion wafer becomes His actual body and blood as it's consumed.) It's the first letter with a future in view, which led me to the conclusion that the earlier three churches are gone. It's also the first whose members are divided into two categories, the saved and the unsaved.

(Title) These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. It couldn't be clearer. While born of the Virgin, the One speaking to them with fire in His eyes is to be addressed as the Son of God, not of Mary.

(Commendation) I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. The Catholic Church is known for its efforts in bringing mercy and compassion, as well as the Gospel, to God's children.

(Criticism) Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. The title "Queen of Heaven" by which many Catholics refer to Mary, was first used of Semeramis, wife of Nimrod the founder of Babylon, and mother of Tammuz. Semeramis declared herself a goddess, claimed that Tammuz was born of a supernatural conception involving the Sun god, and began the first counterfeit religion, a mother-child cult.

According to legend, while out hunting one day Tammuz was killed by a wild animal. Semeramis mourned for 40 days at the end of which Tammuz was raised from the dead. A celibate priesthood was formed and the chief priest was declared infallible. The 40 day mourning (now called Lent), the Yule log, evergreen tree, mistletoe and hot cross buns were all used in rituals commemorating the event, and the mother-child cult was begun.

Later the Romans adapted these to the death and re-birth of the Sun at the winter solstice, but in the 4th century the traditions surrounding Semeramis and Tammuz were attributed to Mary and Jesus and came almost unchanged into Catholicism, where they remain to this day.

Semeramis is symbolically called Jezebel in the letter, leading people away from the truth into idolatry. But the real Jezebel is also in view here. She was a daughter of the King of Phonecia, a pagan princess best known for her advice to her Israelite husband King Ahab on how to obtain a vineyard he wanted. She brought trumped up charges against the vineyard's owner, hired witnesses to bear false testimony, and had him convicted and executed. Then she confiscated the vineyard in the name of the King. Centuries later the Catholic Church would obtain much of its wealth in the same way. Fortunes beyond measure were gained during these inquisitions.

Jezebel was also the patron of the 400 priests of Baal who Elijah slew on Mt. Carmel. The Lord views idolatry as infidelity and Jezebel had encouraged the worship of Baal, leading the people into spiritual adultery. The many saints to whom some Catholics pray, and the sacramental works they must perform to attain and keep their salvation are not scriptural and deny the sufficiency of the cross. For these reasons the Catholic Church is often called the "plus religion." Jesus plus Mary. Grace plus works. The Scripture plus tradition. Giving glory for the works of God to anyone else is spiritual adultery, and subjects the giver to severe punishment.

(Admonition) So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. Those who insist upon being judged by their works will be granted their wish. Sadly the emphasis on these religious works has clouded the true message of the gospel to the extent that some life-long Catholics never come to know the Lord on a personal basis. The Lord will judge them according to the motives of their hearts. Are their good works performed out of gratitude for the free gift of salvation He offers, or they done in a futile effort to earn it on their own?

(Call) Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): Only hold on to what you have until I come. Others will have seen through the layers of traditions and works and saints and rituals and found the face of the Lord looking back at them. Those who do and cling tenaciously to Him will have their reward.

(Promise) To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—'He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery— just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star. They'll join Him on His throne as co-regent of the universe, the Bride of Christ, His beloved church.

We're not in the church because of the pew we occupy, or the name over the door, or the good works we do. We're in the church because we've believed by faith that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Cor 15:3-4)

(Challenge) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Even after we're saved by Grace, we all have our lists of do's and don'ts. We derive our self- image as a believer from our adherence to this list, judging others by how well they keep our commandments. When we fail, we fall back on God's grace, but we don't really feel good about ourselves until we're obeying our list again and we always insist upon justice for everyone else who fails. We forget that grace plus works equals works. The two are like oil and water, they don't mix. To the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. (Romans 4:5)

The only negative experience we had in our entire visit to the sites of the seven churches in Turkey took place in Thyatira, called Akhisar today. After a friendly and helpful guard opened the site where the church once stood for us and gave us material that explained what we were looking at, we left to find some lunch thinking how pleasant our time there had been. Down the street, we spotted an open-air shop where a vendor was selling the barbecued chicken sandwiches that are so popular in Turkey, and that we had come to enjoy as well.

Waiting for our sandwiches, we were approached by a man who appeared to hold some position of authority. His manner was most unfriendly, and his questions conveyed an air of suspicion. We left there quickly wondering if he was a policeman, a government agent, or an official from a religion unfriendly to Christians. Driving away we also discovered our food was not edible. The chicken was bad, as if the innards hadn’t been removed before cooking. Re-reading the letter to Thyatira we were struck by the contrasts between good and evil, in the letter and in our visit.

The Kingdom Parable that resembles the Letter to Thyatira is the Parable of the Leaven where a woman wrongly mixed leaven into three measures of meal. Leaven, or yeast, always symbolizes sin and traditionally three measures of meal is the fellowship offering. (Sin in the fellowship. Get it?) Paul's letter to the Galatians fits too and can be summed up in the first three verses of chapter 3. You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?

To the Church in Sardis

"To the angel of the church in Sardis write: Sardis means remnant. As He did in the Letter to Thyatira, the Lord distinguishes between the lost and the saved (the remnant) in Sardis. The church in Sardis represents the Protestant Reformation. When Luther and others led the way out of Catholicism, it was in search of truth. The Catholics had distorted God's word into something it was never intended to be, adding to the Scriptures and imposing heavy spiritual burdens on their followers.

The call of the reformation was "Sola fides (only through faith), sola gratia (Only by grace), solus Christus (only with Christ), and sola Scriptura (Only His Word)."

(Title) These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. The Lord reminds the Church in Sardis just Who is writing to them. He is the Giver of the Holy Spirit, and the Guardian of the angel who shepherds them.

(Criticism) I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Jesus told the woman at the well, "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:24) In their quest for the truth, the Protestants neglected the things of the Spirit and for several hundred years almost never heard the rustlings of the Ruach Elohim (Spirit of God) in their midst. When the Great Awakening of the late 1800's and early 1900's brought the Gifts of the Spirit into the open again, they rejected the idea, giving birth first to the Pentecostal and then the Charismatic movements.

(Admonition) Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. When the German School of Higher Criticism invaded their seminaries with its godless theories about the "real" authorship of the Bible and the Modern Rationalists they spawned explained away its miracles, there was no Spiritual discernment to resist them. And so, having earlier rejected the Spirit, they now lost the Truth as well.

(Call) Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. As is the case in Thyatira, there remains but a remnant who are saved. The rest, having worked so hard to make God small enough to fit in their minds, now find Him too small to meet their needs. They will be among the most surprised to find themselves left behind as End Times events unfold. (Notice, the Lord doesn't promise to come for them, but to them.)

(Promise) He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. But to the believing remnant He will bring the white robes of the righteousness that comes by faith, and will be pleased to introduce them to His Father as members of God's Forever Family.

(Challenge) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. There are two extremes in Christianity. The dead orthodoxy of main line Protestantism, and the "zeal without knowledge" of Charismania. Too great a focus on either will cause the loss of both spirit and truth.

The most significant site in Sardis today is the huge abandoned synagogue and gymnasium (school). As I stood there I was reminded how the protestant church has abandoned its Jewish roots and ignores the Old Testament, even doubting its veracity. Having learned what the Lord did from their New Testament but not understanding why He did it because they've never read the Old, they’ve lost the last of the meaning that once validated their theology. It's become form without substance.

The Parable of the Treasure in the Field describes the Church in Sardis. Upon discovering buried treasure in a vacant field, the Lord bought the whole field just to get the treasure. For God so loved the (whole) world that He gave His only son, that who so ever believed ... The pardon purchased with His blood is available to everyone in Sardis, but only a remnant will accept it. Paul's Letter to the Romans, the "Gospel according to Paul" is his contribution to our understanding.

These two children defined Christianity until the 1800’s when the Lord again did a remarkable thing and the Church was born again in the 3rd child of Pergamus. More next time.

Propehcy Digest

This material was brought to you by Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity. Last Call Digest, is a ministry of Michael James Stone, volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. It is an aggragate of Christian Material selected to Bless you and Prepare you for each and every day you read them. May God Bless You as You Do!! Reading these Devotions will help you to prepare daily for life, living, and your Lord. You will hear God Speak To You thru them.  Jesus  is Coming Very Soon.

Last Generation (Gen 2012)

Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity, operates by you, with you, and for you. “Freely you have received, freely give”  Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can, anyway you can. You will be blessed if you do.  ProphecyDigest@michaeljamesstone.com

Posted via email from Prophecy Digest-"The Last Generation"

Prophecy Digest: The Second Coming of Christ -Billy Sunday

The Second Coming of Christ
By Billy Sunday

"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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words"   (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18).

THE MEETING here mentioned is to be the greatest meeting the Bible tells us anything about. There have been some wonderful meetings, but never has there been one to compare with this. It was a wonderful meeting the children of Israel had on the shore of the Red Sea, after Pharaoh's pursuing host had been destroyed in the angry waters, and Miriam, the prophetess, with her timbrel, led the people in singing, "Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea" (Exod. 15:21).

And it was another great meeting they had at the foot of Mount Sinai, when the Law of God was given to them amid thunders and lightnings and fire and smoke.

That was a great meeting, too, on Mount Carmel, when Elijah, the sturdy Tishbite, defied the prophets of Bal; and that was a great meeting where David danced before the Ark of God, as it was home into Jerusalem. It was a great meeting when Solomon dedicated the temple, and the glory of the Lord came upon the people, and those were great meetings that were held on the banks of the Jordan when Jerusalem and all Judea went out to hear the man who dressed in camel's hair and wore a linen girdle, and lived on locusts and wild honey.

It was a wonderful meeting when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, and another when He fed the multitude with five loaves and two fishes. And that was a great meeting on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit came like a rushing mighty wind, and under Peter's preaching about three thousand were converted.

All these were great meetings, and any number of others have been held, both in former times and in our own day. Those were great meetings in the early days of Methodism, when Wesley and Whitefield preached to great multitudes in the fields. Those were great meetings when multitudes were flocking to hear Finney and Moody; and great meetings have since been held by other great evangelists all around the world. But no meeting has ever been held anywhere or in any time that could begin to compare in importance with the greatest of all meetings that is to be held in the air, when our Lord comes to make up His jewels.

That meeting is the one for which all others have been preparing the way. It will be the crowning meeting of all history. The purpose of all that has been done in this world up to the present time has been to prepare for that great meeting in the air.

From Adam, mankind has been marching step by step up a grand stairway leading direct to that meeting in the air. The call of Abraham was one step toward it, and Jacob and his twelve sons were another. Joseph ruling Egypt was another; the deliverance under Moses another; the conquest of Canaan under Joshua another, and so on with every event in sacred history. It was for this Jesus suffered on the Cross to make atonement for sin. It was for this He arose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, where he took His place at the right hand of the Father. It was for this the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, and it was for this that Churches have been organized and missionaries sent to the ends of the earth.

These things have all been done to prepare the way, and lead up to the meeting which is so graphically described in the text. It was for this meeting God made His plans before He laid the foundations of the earth, and it was of this meeting He was thinking before the morning stars sang together.

We are not told when Jesus will come, but we are told that His coming is sure, and we are charged to watch for it.

Anybody who says that he knows when Jesus is coming is a liar. When they say that they know when He is coming they lie.

Only Jesus and the Father know when the Savior is coming again. Yet the Church today shows as little concern about His coming again as His disciples did about His going away. All this is fully in accord with Peter: "There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts, saying, Where is the promise of His coming, for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning until now?" (2 Pet. 3:3-4).

Jesus not only foretold His going away, but charged His followers to expect His return, and be ready for it: "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as Ye think not the Son of Man cometh" (Matt. 24:42-44).

Jesus said: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; then shall the end come" (Matt. 24:14).

Before I started to Preach in Omaha God knew the names of every man, woman and child who would be saved as a result Of my preaching - If God didn't know that, He wouldn't be God. And God knew all about the fools who wouldn't be saved, and He knew that all of Omaha wouldn't be saved. I tell you that God is pretty wise to who are going to Hell and who are going to Heaven - The sooner you get that through your head and don't try to sidestep Jesus, the sooner the devil will let go the stranglehold he has upon most of you.

There is not a nation on the face of the earth that has not had the Gospel preached within its bounds. The second coming of Christ is the emphatic doctrine of the New Testament. It is mentioned and referred to more than 350 times, and yet the majority of Church members never heard a sermon on the subject; that is the reason they think so little of looking into the matter themselves.

The Church makes much of Baptism, but in all of Paul's epistles Baptism is only mentioned or referred to thirteen times, while the return of the Lord is mentioned fifty times. This certainly shows which he considered the most important. McCheyne, the great Scotch preacher, once said to some of his friends: "Do you think Christ will come back tonight?" One after another they said: "I think not." Then he solemnly repeated: "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the son of man cometh" (Matt. 24:42-44). With such admonitions as this, what right have we to be unconcerned about it and say, as many preachers do, "It is nothing to me; I take no interest in the subject, whatever." Who would care to travel on a train where the engineer would never read his orders? Who would ride on a ship where the captain never looked at the compass? You may call it rubbish, but the disciples called it the "blessed hope."

"Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say" If Jesus had said: "I will not return for 2,000 years," nobody would have begun to took for Him before the time was near, but He expects his followers to be always looking for His return. Just as Simeon and Anna watched and waited for His coming, so we should be watching and waiting for His return.

It is not enough to say, "Oh, I'm a Christian; I'm all right." We are not all right unless we obey the command to watch, for it is certainly as much of a command to look for the coming of the Lord as it is to keep the Sabbath holy. Nothing else will do so much to keep us right where we should be in our religious experience. Knowing that the bank examiner may drop in at any moment keeps many a cashier from becoming dishonest. We should purify the Church that it may be the proper Bride to meet the Lord in the air. How pure is the Church today? How pure are the Church members? How pure are the Preachers?

I suppose there would be a mighty scramble to get right with God if you all found out that Jesus was going to return tonight. It wouldn't make any difference to Jesus if you had to do the right thing just because He turned up unexpectedly. You would have to prove to Him that you were on the level with Him, and although you might all be baptized, sprinkled and immersed, there would be nothing doing in the salvation line if you didn't play square with the Lord.

This old world is going to wake up some morning and find that all good men and women have beaten it, and she'll rub her eyes when she finds out that the Lord has been here on the job and taken his own with Him.

Every time I preach and every time you do personal work, I feel that we are helping to bring about the second coming of the Lord, and it sets my bones on fire when I think that the last man or woman need only be saved before this campaign is over in order that the Lord may come. That is my incentive to do the work I am doing. It is my hope that, before I finish here, the Church will be purified as a Bride, ready to meet Jesus, the Bridegroom, in the air.

A little more than twenty years ago Mr. Moody called a convention of Christian workers to meet in Chicago, and that convention was in session there in Moody's church for two months, and out of it came the great Bible institute.

The daily program was to spend the forenoon at the church in prayer and Bible study, and the afternoon and evening in doing practical Christian work.

A man who was my assistant some years ago attended that convention. He told me that one day Mr. Moody asked him to go down among the anarchists, in the hard parts Of Chicago, and hold a meeting there.

"Do the best you can," said Moody, "and some night I'll come down and help you."

My friend said that promise was a continual incentive to him to keep up his courage and do his very best. He didn't know when Mr. Moody would come, and so he looked for him every night, and the harder time he had, the harder he hoped and looked.

This shows how the constant expectation of the coming Of Jesus will inspire and encourage us.

A great many say: "I believe the Millennium will come first, then Christ will come at the end Of it." What people think has nothing to do with it, but what God says has everything to do with it.

Many have missed railroad trains because they believed they would come at a time that did not correspond with the official time card. You will see God's time card if you carefully read the Bible. Not a word can be found in the Bible that gives the slightest hope for the millennium before the return of Christ - but you can find plenty of verses that tell you to look for the coming of the Lord first.

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As we look back over the 2,000 years since Christ, how far we seem to be away from the time when the will of God shall be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Every edition of the press seems to make it clear that the devil is still having his way. Look at the reign of wickedness in our great cities in both high life and low. No college has ever yet made a Saint or ever will. Education may improve conditions, but it can never change or cleanse the heart. Look at the lukewarmness and indifference in the Churches everywhere and see what many of them are compelled to resort to in order to keep from going under. See to what schemes and dodges and foolishness some preachers have to resort to to get anybody to go and hear them.

There can be no millennium until Jesus comes; it is His presence that makes the millennium. You might as well talk of daylight not coming until the sun goes down. The millennium cannot begin until Satan has been bound in the pit. Nothing is more certain than that the glory of God shall cover the earth, but it will be after Jesus comes.

Many have an idea the world will grow better and better until the coming of the millennium, and everybody will be converted, and you hear that stuff preached, but the Bible does not teach any such trash.

On the day before the flood there were no doubt many people who were sincere in thinking that the world was growing better, and yet it was so hopelessly wicked that God had to destroy it. Some of the men who married into the family of Lot may have made the same claim for Sodom, only a day or two before its destruction; no doubt Lot's wife was of the same opinion. On the day before the Crucifixion there were men in Jerusalem who undoubtedly agreed with each other that the world was growing better. The world will grow worse and worse. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

"Even thus shall it be in the day when the son of man is revealed" (Luke 17:27-30). Lawlessness, vice and crime will increase; Communism, nihilism, anarchy, adultery, divorce, graft, all will continue to grow until they will finally ripen into the anti-Christ.

Many think and preach that the millennium will be brought about by the increase of knowledge, culture, great discoveries, such as the gasoline engine, automobile, electricity, radium, liquefied air, wireless telegraphy, airships, etc. These have nothing to do with bringing the millennium. It is the personal reign of Christ that brings the millennium. Those who have been the greatest blessing to the world were filled with this hope and preached it.

The word of God was vitiated and neutralized by the traditions of men when Jesus first came, and that is very largely the trouble in present times. Instead of going to the Bible to find out what God says, the Preacher is too apt to go to his books, to see what the great men of his Church have to say about it, and all their preaching and teaching take its color from the glasses the rabbis wear, just as was the case in the time of Jesus.

The fact that Jesus was not recognized by the high-up authorities, but was rejected and crucified as an impostor, shows what a dangerous and deadly thing it is to accept the traditions of men rather than what God says about things.

Too many who are now masters in Israel are as much in the dark as Nicodemus was. The truth is no harder to get at than corn on the cob, if we will first strip off the husk and shell it. We need to depend more upon the Holy Spirit and less upon our libraries if we would preach so that those who hear us will also hear the voice of God in our message. It is not what Doctor This or Professor That has to say about it that settles the question, and settles it right, but who reads the Word. What does the Bible say about it? And what we need to do is to take the Bible as it reads, not as some big man says it means.

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Big men have been mistaken about vital things just about as often as little ones. The safest pilot is not the one who wears the biggest hat, but the one who knows the channel the best. We should let the Bible speak to us just as God means it should, without distorting it by the prejudices and vagaries of those who are always trying to put their own camel into it and strain out somebody else's gnat.

It is high time for Christians to interpret unfulfilled prophecies by the light of prophecies already fulfilled.
The curses on the Jews were brought to pass literally - so also will be the blessings.
The scattering was literal; so also will be the gatherings.
The pulling down of Zion was literal; so also must be the building up.
The rejection of Israel was literal; and so also must be the restoration.

The first coming of Christ was literal, visible and personal, and what right has anybody to conclude that His second coming will be altogether spiritual? If His first advent was with a real body, why not the same with His second coming?

When Jesus first came the smallest predictions were fulfilled to the very letter; and should this not teach us to expect that the same will be true when He comes again? There are very many more prophecies concerning His second coming than His first, and does not this mean that God wants to give us the most favorable opportunity possible to prepare for it? If the humility and shame of Christ at His first coming were literal and visible, should not His second coming in power and glory be also literal and visible?

What right have we to say that the words Judah, Zion, Israel and Jerusalem ever mean anything but literal Judah, Zion, Israel and Jerusalem? Some one has called attention to the fact that there are only two or three places in the whole New Testament where such names are used in what may be called a spiritual or figurative way. Jerusalem occurs eighty times, and in every case is unquestionably literal, except when the opposite is clearly indicated by such qualifying terms as "Heavenly," "new" or "holy." Jew occurs a hundred times, and only four are ambiguous. Israel and Israelite occur forty times, and all literal, Judah and Judea about twenty times, and literal in every case.

John Bunyan was once studying the passage foretelling that the feet of the Lord should stand on the Mount of Olives, and he thus reasoned: "Some commentators say that the Mount of Olives means the heart of the believer; that it is only a figurative expression, and means that the Lord will reign in the heart of the believer, and the Holy Spirit will dwell there, But I don't think it means that at all. I just think it means the Mount of Olives, two miles from Jerusalem, on the east."

And that is why the Lord could use the poor tinker so marvelously, even when he was shut up in Bedford jail.

While face to face with them, Jesus taught His disciples to be in constant expectation of His early return, and they so understood Him and lived accordingly. They preached the doctrine and taught it in their epistles, every one of them. Certainly, if anybody ever understood the Lord correctly, it was the men whom He personally trained to do that very thing, that they might hand the truth he gave them down to us. If they failed to understand him, what hope is there that anybody else may do so?

Jesus is going to come and reveal Himself to the members of His body at the very moment when the last soul is saved necessary to complete that body - for the body of Christ must consist of a certain number of souls, or it never could be completed. If it were an infinite number it would be an endless task, and Jesus would never return, for He can no more come with His Heavenly body than He could come the first time without a human body. It is the completion of the body of Christ, therefore, that will bring Him, and this shows how we may help and hasten his coming.

"Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of the God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat" (2 Pet. 3:12).

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Every time we do personal work or try to get anybody saved, we may be doing something that will bring the coming of the Lord. Instead of being discouraged by looking about us and seeing what a small prospect there is of the whole world being converted, it will set our bones on fire to think that perhaps the last man needed to complete the Lord's body and bring Jesus back to earth may be converted this very day. That gives us something definite and tangible to work for, and hope for, don't you see? Colonel Clark, the founder of the Pacific Garden mission in Chicago, put in six nights out of every seven at the mission as long as he lived. One day somebody said to him:

"Colonel, why don't you take some rest? You are killing yourself by sticking to that mission so close. Why don't you take a vacation and go away somewhere and rest?"

"I can't do it, brother," answered the colonel. "I could never do that, for every time I start for the mission, I think, maybe the last man may be saved in our little meeting tonight, and the Lord will come; and I wouldn't miss being at my post for anything in the world. When Jesus comes I want to be right where he expects me to be."

The Bible very clearly makes known the great truth that God's purpose for this dispensation is the completing of the Body of Christ. He is not trying to save the world now; that is to be the work of the next dispensation. Here is the scripture for it:

"God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. (The body of Christ.) And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written. After this I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David (the Jewish nation) which is fallen down (scattered and no longer being used)- and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set them that the residue of men might seek after the Lord (through their missionary efforts)" (Acts 15:14-17).

That is the present dispensation, and that is what God is doing now. There is nothing said here about the conversion of the world, but it is made clear that a people is being chosen, and much Scripture might be quoted to show that the people so referred to will constitute the body of Christ.

Throughout this dispensation the Lord has been working among the Gentiles (those not belonging to the Jewish nation), and this shows the purpose for which he has been working. There is no thought expressed there of the Millennium.

"And to this agree the words of the Prophets (about God's purpose in gathering a chosen People from the Gentiles). As it is written (and that means what God says). After this (after the number of People to be chosen from the Gentiles has been I will return (to direct dealing with Israel) and build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down"(Acts 15:15_16).

What does that mean? What does it mean for a house to be fallen down? Certainly that it cannot longer be used as a house while in that condition. Read the prophecy of Amos, from which this is taken, and see why it is that God is through with Israel until He has taken from the Gentiles the people for His name. (To bear His name, to glorify His name.)

The mission of the Church - the Bride of Christ, or Body of Christ is to get ready to meet the Bridegroom. When the Body of Christ is completed He will reveal Himself to the members who are alive and in this world at that time, and at the same moment they will be caught up to meet those who have gone on before in the air, and from that moment they are forever with the Lord.

The Body of Christ will be composed of believers from every race and nation on earth. That is why the Gospel must first be preached as a witness to every nation. Not from every dispensation. It had its beginning on the day of Pentecost and will be complete at the time of the meeting in the air, which is called the Rapture. For He is now preparing, perfecting and completing the Church - the Body of Christ, the Bride who is to meet the Lord in the air, and be with Him forevermore.

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These different members will be found, one here and another there, and gathered together from all parts of the world, and the moment the last one is saved Christ will be revealed - not to the world, but to his Church - His Bride - just as the electric light blazes out when the last condition is fulfilled. At that time Christ will not be revealed to the whole world, but only to the individual members of His Body who may be alive and here at that time.

There remains no prophecy to be fulfilled. There is not a nation where the Gospel has not been preached. So Christ must be waiting for the completion of the body of believers.

When the Rapture comes it will come in the twinkle of an eye. Those who have died in the Lord will be resurrected, and they, with the believers who are alive, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. When the Rapture comes it will come in the twinkling of an eye, and will be altogether unexpected except by those who have been searching the prophecies and are looking for it, just as Simeon and Anna and the wise men were looking for Jesus at His first coming. After it has occurred there will be an army of Church members and Preachers who will not know that it has come, because they are not members of the Lord's Body; for the Lord will not at that time be seen by any except those who have been caught up to meet Him in the air.

The remainder of the world will not know that He has been here, and they will not know what has become of the missing ones. They will seem to have disappeared in all kinds of unaccountable ways, unless their earthly bodies shall be left behind them, as the linen clothes of Jesus were left in the tomb. But things will soon settle back into their old condition, and the world go on its way, as did Sodom after Lot was taken out of it.

The notion that people have about the second coming of Christ is that when He comes the Judgment Day will also come, and that the world will come to an end. This idea is unscriptural and shows how little the Bible has been searched to find and make known the real truth by those who are leaders and teachers in the church. Business will go on and governments will go on as now. After Jesus comes and takes the believers out of the world, then takes place the great Tribulation, a description of which you will find later on. At the close of the Tribulation the Lord will return, bringing with Him His saintly members of His Body, to begin His Millennium reign. Then He will reveal himself to the Jews. They will accept Him as their long rejected Messiah. Then the millennium will begin - the devil will be cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years; nations will be born in a day, through the missionary efforts of the Jews.

When the Jews accept Jesus Christ and bring to Him all their wonderful energy and intelligence, oh, this world will grow as it has never grown before! Nations will be born in a day.

The Jews have always been full of energy in business, as no other people, and when they become ambassadors for Christ there will be no lukewarmness or indifference. Either before or during the Tribulation the Jews will have been restored to the holy land, rebuilding their Temple and restoring the Jewish worship.

Also during the tribulation the antiChrist will come, most likely in the person of some great king. It is supposed that he will be a personal incarnation of the devil, just as Jesus was an incarnation of God. He will go to Jerusalem, and there do great signs and wonders, by which he will so delude the chosen people that they will accept him as their Messiah, and pay him divine honors in the Temple. It will be during this that Jesus will return and destroy him by the brightness of His coming, "And then shall the wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming, even of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders" (2 Thess. 2:8-9).

The devil has got some of you so close to Hell that you can smell the fumes. He's no loafer. He's been working for 6,000 years, and he was never laid up with appendicitis nor tonsillitis, nor the grip.

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In the Lord's coming there are to be two distinct phases - His coming for the members of His Body, and revelation to them at the time of the Rapture, or taking up into the air, and His coming with the members of His Body at the close of the Tribulation, when He is revealed to the Jews and destroys the antiChrist.

Overlooking these two phases has put some people in confusion about the order of events, just as the failure to distinguish between the prophecies pertaining to the first and second coming confused the Jews, and caused them to reject Jesus, through what they supposed to be His failure to fulfill prophecy.

Yes, Christ will come in person, and will destroy the antiChrist. The seat of his power will be Jerusalem. This is literal and not figurative.

The visible Church will be left here, strong in members and organization. It will probably make a great show of missionary activity, but will have no more power against the principalities and powers of evil than did the disciples who missed the Mount of Transfiguration have over the demons that were tormenting the little boy.

In a worldly way it will appear to be in a very prosperous condition, rich in property and elegant buildings; but here is a picture of what it will be after the salt of the earth has been taken out of it: "This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection; truce breakers, false accusers, inconsistent, fierce, dcspisers of those that are good; traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof" (2 Tim. 3:1-5).

Did you ever know a time in all history when the world was worse than it is now? People are passing up the Church and the Prayer Meeting for the theater, the leg show and the movies. Oh, Lord, how we need someone to cry aloud, "Return to God."

Bear in mind that this has no reference to the Turks, the heathen in Africa or the people in the slums; but that it is a description of the rank and file of the Church, after the Lord has come and taken His Body out of the world. For notice that it is said that these people have a form of godliness which means that they are professors of religion. They are not avowed infidels or atheists, but professed believers.

Let us consider, in the first place, something of what it may mean to have a part in that meeting in the air:

1. Well, the most glorious thing about it is that if we are there we shall be members of the Body of Jesus Christ. It will mean that we are members of the royal family of the universe; that we are kings and princes who are to sit on the throne and reign with Jesus, and that we shall be with Him forevermore, never to be separated from him again. And this will mean that we shall be the most exalted beings in all the universe, for who could be higher than the sons of God or the Bride of our Lord?

We are living in the most important part of the world's history. Great heaven! I don't see how anyone can fail to be inspired.

It is an awful thing to miss being a part of the Body of Christ because you're too big a fool to be a Christian. You would rather play bridge. Well, then, go to the devil, if that's the way you want to live. I can't stop you.

Whenever I remember I'm a part of the Body of Christ, a member of the royal family, I just want to shout "Hallelujah." In talking to men God must, of course, use the language of men, but He can only put into our words just a little of what He would tell us. A very little looking into the matter, however, will show that He has used the most expressive words in our language to show how near and precious is to be our relationship to Him. In fact, He has used about all the words we have that could be used for that purpose, as members of His Body, His Bride and sons of God.

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If we are so fortunate as to have a part in that meeting in the air, it will mean that we are among the most fortunate of all the sons of men, and that we have lived in the most blessed of all times for men to live, for only those are eligible to membership in the Body of Christ who live in the present dispensation.

Moses and David and Isaiah and Jeremiah had no such chance as we have, for the Body of Christ had its beginning at Pentecost. Neither will those who live after the Rapture have an opportunity, for the Body will then be complete and the door closed forever, as it was in the faces of the foolish virgins. Jesus said of John the Baptist that he was the greatest of all prophets, but that the least in the kingdom of God was greater than he. What an awful thing it would be, then, to have such a glorious opportunity and miss it! Others will know the joys of great salvation, for the world will be saved during the Millennium (the next dispensation), and the knowledge of the glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, but the people of that day will have no place in the Body of Christ; they cannot become members of the royal family. They will be loyal subjects of the king.

That is why Paul could say, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:16).

There is a vast difference between a son of King George and a subject of Great Britain. The smallest babe of royal blood is greater than the greatest man in the kingdom.

2. If we have a place in that meeting in the air it will mean that we are like Christ, for "when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

The true child of God is always longing to be like his Master, and this heart yearning is the sure prophecy of what we shall then be. It will also mean that we shall nevermore be separated from Him. The devil will never again have power to separate us from Him for a single moment, and wherever He is, there shall we be also. The fact that Jesus is to be here during the Millennium would be proof conclusive that we shall be here with Him, even if there were no other Scripture for it.

3. For some that meeting will mean that they reached it without having to pass through death, for it is to be composed of those who have gone before, and those who are still living at that time. Some who are born into this world are never to die, and we may hope to be of that elect number.

The Christian has no business to be looking for death. It is his right to hope to live forever, and instead of expecting to go to the grave, he should be looking for the coming of his Lord and the meeting in the air.

4. It will also mean that we shall then have bodies that will remain young forever. Pains and aches, gray hair, wrinkles and feebleness will never again be known. Listen to this: "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed. 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 (no longer subject to age or decay), and we shall be changed (into His likeness)" (1 Cor. 15:51-52). And it will come in the twinkling of an eye - in a moment - and that moment will be what all time was made for.

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In that moment some will give up old age to be young forever. Others will go from beds of pain upon which they may have lain prostrate for years. Others, from the most grinding poverty, will spring to eternal wealth. Some will go from burdens from which they expected no relief save death. From what tribulations and troubles and afflictions will not that moment be a deliverance, and how the angels will begin to crowd the battlements of Heaven upon that glad meeting when they know it is about to come! In a moment! In the twinkling of an eye!

"Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly," ought to be the daily prayer of every Christian heart, And yet as we look about us now, and see how the devil seems to be having his way as much as ever, it looks as if that great time would never come.

But you can't tell by appearances. An hour before the tidal wave comes there is nothing to indicate that it will ever come. Nobody dreamed of an earthquake ten minutes before San Francisco began to rock and tumble.

Some time ago the President touched a golden key in the White House and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the acres of machinery at the great Seattle exposition, on the other side of the country, were in motion, and countless flags began to fly in the breeze; and that's the way the Lord will come.

Just that quick! Quicker than a clock can tick! Quicker than lightning can flash! Ten minutes before the President touched the golden key it looked as if the machinery would never start, but when the right moment arrived it was going. "Therefore, be ye ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the son of man cometh." God's clock is never behind the smallest fraction of a second.

All signs point to the great event, some of which seemed to me to be:
(a) Radical tendency to depart from the Christian life.
(b) Prophecies fulfilled - the gospel has been preached in every nation.
(c) The world-wide expectancy of his coming.
(d) Revival among the Jews. They are flocking to Jerusalem.
(e) The political unrest.
(f) Extreme views on questions of government.
(g) Concentration of wealth in the hands of the few,

5. If we have a part in that meeting it will mean that we shall be here in this world with the Lord during the Millennium - a thousand years -with the devil chained and cast out - not a saloon, gambling hell or brothel in the world, and everything just as we want it. Hear this: "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 loose a little season."

"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 worshiped 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."

"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection."

"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" (Rev.20: 3-6).

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6. To have part in that meeting will be to meet those who have gone on before - fathers and mothers and other loved ones. Think of how glorious and blessed that will be, and there will doubtless be infinite surprises that the Lord will have in store for us, "For it hath not entered into the heart of man the things that the Lord hath prepared for them that love him."

7. Think of the delight of meeting and continuing with the other members of the Lord's Body, who will then be as dear to us as the apple of our own eye. Think of being intimate with Peter, James and John, Andrew, Philip and the others, and of hearing from them again and again all the incidents they witnessed in the life of Jesus. Think of being more intimate with Paul and Silas and Mark and Luke and Timothy, and the Saints who were in Caesar's household, than we are with our very best friends now. Think of knowing Mary, the mother of Jesus, as well as You know your own mother, and of having her intimate friends, Martha and Mary Magdalene, and the unknown disciples who on the first Easter morning walked with their risen Lord on the way to Emmaus! Think of talking with Zacchaeus and Blind Bartimeus, the daughter of Jairus, and the wild man out of whom the legion of devils were cast. And the blind man in the ninth chapter of John how good - it will be to shake hands with him and tell him some of the good things, we have so often thought about his courage.

And Joseph of Arimathaea, Nicodemus and the boy who had the five loaves and two fishes. And the blind woman who touched the hem of His garment; the widow who gave the two mites and the Philippian jailer who got the old time religion in an unmistakable way; the first leper who was cleansed, and all the rest. How much we shall miss, if we miss that meeting in the air.

8. Think of how glorious it will be to live for a thousand years in this world with our blessed Master and be closely associated with Him: with bodies that will not wear out or grow old, always in perfect health, and with faculties for enjoyment a thousand times higher than we possess now. The millennium will be the greatest time ever known, for it will be the golden age of man. Poverty, sickness, war and pestilence will be unknown. There will be no devil to cause human suffering and woe.

Then think of the delight of coming back into this world, where we have had so much trouble and hardship and poverty and sickness, to live under such glorious circumstances as will then prevail.

A man told a friend of mine that when {he was} a boy he footed it for nearly a hundred miles over the old National road. It was in August, the weather hot and dusty, and the boy penniless, homeless and disheartened. He had on a pair of cowhide shoes, and his feet became so sore that over much of the way he could only hobble along in great pain.

A little while ago he went over the same road in an elegant automobile, and he never so enjoyed a ride in his life. The weather was fine and he had nothing to do but sit there and drink in the beauty of the day, and think of how much better off he was than when he went limping over the same road, a poor, helpless, sore footed boy.

Well, it will be something like that with us in the millennium, perhaps, only vastly more glorious when we come back to have a good time here.

9. It will also mean to be richly rewarded for all we have ever done or suffered for the Lord. Near the close of his hard and strenuous life, Paul said: "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them that love His appearing" (2 Tim. 4:8).

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Prophecy Digest: The Things Which Thou Hast Seen -Clarence Larkin

I. The Things Which Thou Hast Seen

THE VISION.

"I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the Isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the SPIRIT on the LORD'S DAY, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a Trumpet, saying, I am ALPHA and OMEGA, the FIRST and the LAST: and, What thou SEEST, write in a book, and send it unto the Seven Churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw

SEVEN GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS;

and in the midst of the Seven Candlesticks one like unto the

SON OF MAN,

clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps (breast) with a golden girdle. His Head and his Hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His Eyes were as a flame of fire; and His Feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His Voice as the sound of many waters. And He had in His Right Hand "Seven Stars"; and out of His Mouth went a sharp two edged Sword; and His Countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His Right Hand upon me, saying unto me, "Fear not; I am the FIRST and the LAST: I am He that LIVETH, and WAS DEAD; and behold, I am ALIVE FOR EVERMORE, AMEN; and have the KEYS of HELL (Hades, the Underworld), and of DEATH (the Grave). Write the things which thou hast SEEN, and the things which ARE, and the things which shall be HEREAFTER (after these); the Mystery of the 'Seven Stars' which thou sawest in my right hand, and the 'Seven Golden Candlesticks.' The 'Seven Stars' are the ANGELS (Messengers) of the 'Seven Churches': and the 'Seven Candlesticks' which thou sawest are the SEVEN CHURCHES."

Revelation 1:9-20.

The Apostle John addresses the Churches as their brother and companion in TRIBULATION. This does not mean "The Great Tribulation," for that is not for the Church but for Israel, and is still future. When John wrote the Book of Revelation in A. D. 95-96 the Christians were undergoing a persecution under the Roman Emperor Domitian, and as a result of this persecution John had been banished to the Isle of Patmos, a small, rocky island in the Aegean Sea 30 miles off the west coast of Asia Minor, and opposite the city of Ephesus. John was pastor of the Church at Ephesus at the time of his banishment, and it was to that Church that the first Message to the Seven Churches was addressed. John was banished for "the Word of God, and his testimony to Jesus Christ."

He tells us that he was "in the Spirit on the LORD'S DAY." There has been much confusion as to what is meant here by the "Lord's Day." Some hold that the "First Day of the Week" or the Christian Sabbath is meant, others that John meant the "Day of the Lord."

Both the Old and the New Testament speak of the "Day of the Lord." Isa. 2:12, Joel 1:15, 2:1, 3:14, Ezek. 13:5, Malachi 4:5, Acts 2:20, 2. Cor. 1:14, 1. Thess. 5:2, 2. Pet. 3:10. The term applies to the "Day of the Lord's Return" and includes both the Tribulation and the Millennium. See the Chart on the Prophetic Days of Scripture. The Christian Sabbath was never called the "LORD'S DAY" until after the Book of Revelation was written and got its name from that source. It is always called in the Gospels and Epistles the "First Day of the Week."

It is hardly likely that John could have been caught up as Paul was into the Third Heaven and seen and heard all that he describes in the Book of Revelation on one Sabbath Day, and as the Book from chapter 5 is a description of the things that are to come to pass in the "DAY OF THE LORD," what better understanding of the "LORD'S DAY" can we have than that John was projected by the Holy Spirit across the centuries into the "DAY OF THE LORD" and had visualized to him the things that shall come to pass in that day. This is the rational solution of the question. See the Chart, John's Patmos Vision.

When John thus found himself in the "Day of the Lord" he heard behind him a great voice, as of a trumpet, which said--"I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last," and the repetition of the statement in verses 17 and 18, with the added words--"I am He that Liveth, and WAS DEAD; and behold, I am ALIVE FOR EVERMORE, AMEN; and have the keys of Hell (Hades, the Underworld), and of Death (the Grave)," identifies the speaker as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. John had his back turned to the speaker, and when he turned around he saw one like unto the

SON OF MAN

standing in the midst of "Seven Candlesticks." "LAMPSTANDS" is a better translation and is so given in the margin of our Bibles. A candlestick requires a light such as a candle, which is self-consuming, while a "Lampstand" is for the support of a lamp whose wick instead of burning away is fed from the oil within. In the Scriptures oil is emblematic of the Holy Spirit, and as Jesus Himself interprets the "Lampstands" as meaning the Seven Churches to whom He was about to send messages, we see that Jesus looks upon the churches as not the LIGHT, but simply the "LIGHT HOLDER." From the fact that Jesus speaks of "Stars" and "Lampstands" it is clear that we are living in the NIGHT of this Dispensation, for "stars" and "lampstands" belong to the night.


The Prophetic Days of Scripture
Enlarged view

THE VISION OF THE GLORIFIED SON OF MAN.

The Vision that John saw was that of the GLORIFIED "SON OF MAN." When Jesus ascended He took up with Him His HUMANITY, and we now have in the Glory the MAN Christ Jesus. 1. Tim. 2:5. When Jesus was on the earth He was, as the "Son of Man," a PROPHET, now as the "Son of Man" in Glory He is a Priest, and when He comes again it will be as the "Son of Man" to reign as KING.

While Jesus is now a High Priest in heaven, John did not see Him engaged in any High Priestly work. While He was clothed in a High Priestly robe, there was no mitre upon His head, nor

Kingly Crown. The description of Him is more that of a JUDGE. This is confirmatory evidence that John was transported into the "Day of the Lord," and that his vision of Christ is as Christ shall appear after His High Priestly work is finished and before He assumes His Kingly Office. This is seen in that He was girded about the breasts, and not around the waist. The High Priest was girded around the waist, signifying service, but a girdle or sash over the shoulder and around the breasts is an insignia of the Magisterial Office. This is still further revealed when we study the

SEVENFOLD GLORY OF HIS PERSON.

1. HIS "HEAD AND HIS HAIR."

His "Head" and "Hair" were "WHITE LIKE WOOL," as "WHITE AS SNOW." Here there is a correspondence to the "Snow White Wig" worn by English judges. This description of Christ reminds us of Daniel's vision of the "ANCIENT OF DAYS," "whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the PURE WOOL." Dan. 7:9. Daniel refers three times to the "Ancient Of Days." In Chap. 7:13, he distinguishes between the "Son of Man" and the "Ancient of Days," but in verses 9 and 22 he associates the "Ancient of Days" with a "Throne of Judgment," and as God the Father has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22), and the Father and the Son are one, the title "Ancient Of Days" is used interchangeably. And as the title "Ancient of Days" is applied to the "Son of Man" (Christ) at the time He assumes the Judgeship (Dan. 7:9-10), which is not until after the Rapture of the Church, we have here additional corroborative proof that John's Vision belongs to the "Day of the Lord." The "White Hair" of the Son of Man refers to His ANTIQUITY, to His patriarchal dignity, not that His hair was made white by age, for the Eternal never grows old, but it bespeaks wisdom and experience, and the venerableness of His character.

2. HIS EYES.

'"His Eyes were a FLAME OF FIRE." Those eyes that had often been dimmed with human tears, and that wept at the grave of Lazarus, are here pictured as burning with an "OMNISCIENT FLAME." How often when on the earth those eyes read the inner-most thoughts of men, and even soldiers quailed before His soul penetrating gaze, so when He sits as the Judge of men all things will be NAKED and OPEN before Him.

3. HIS FEET.

"His Feet like unto fine BRASS, as if they BURNED IN A FURNACE." In that day those feet that trod the Via Dolorosa of suffering will be like unto INCANDESCENT BRASS, that shall tread and crush Antichrist and Satan when He comes to "Tread the WINE-PRESS of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." Rev. 19:15.

4. HIS VOICE.

"His Voice as the SOUND OF MANY WATERS." There is nothing more melodious or musical than the babbling brook, or more thunderous than the rush of the cataract over the falls, and there is nothing more fearful to the criminal than the words of the Judge as he passes sentence; but how terrifying will be the sentence when with a strong voice the Son of Man shall say in the Judgment Day, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels." Matt. 25:41.

5. HIS HAND.
"In His Right Hand SEVEN STARS."

We are told in verse 20, that the "Seven Stars" stand for the "ANGELS" of the "Seven Churches." These "Angels" are not angelic beings but the Messengers or Ministers of the churches. What a beautiful and solemn lesson is taught here. It is that the ministers of Christ derive their power and office from Him, and that He holds them in His hand. If they are false to Him, no one can deliver them from His power, and if they are true and loyal, no one can touch or molest, or do them harm.

6. HIS MOUTH.

"Out of His Mouth went a SHARP TWO-EDGED SWORD." While the "Sword of the Spirit" is the "Word of God" (Eph. 6:17), and the "Word of God" is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any TWO-EDGED SWORD, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow (the body), (Heb. 4:12), that is not the sword meant here.

The "Sword of the Spirit" is the Holy Spirit's SWORD, and He alone wields it. The sword meant here is the Sword of the Son of Man (Christ), and it is the "SWORD OF JUSTICE," for the Son of Man, out of whose mouth this sword comes, is the "White Horse Rider" of Rev. 19:11-15, "out of whose mouth goeth a SHARP SWORD, that with it He should smite the nations." And that sword, like the "Sword of the Spirit" will be TWO-EDGED also, for the protection of His people, and the destruction of His enemies. This is still further proof that John's vision of Christ was as He shall appear in the "DAY OF THE LORD."

7. HIS COUNTENANCE.

"His Countenance was as the SUN SHINETH IN HIS STRENGTH." This recalls to our memory His appearance on the Mount of Transfiguration when "His Face did shine AS THE SUN," Matt. 17:2. And we read of the New Jerusalem that the inhabitants thereof have no need of the SUN, for the LAMB is the Light thereof. Rev. 21:23. And when we recall that the Prophet Malachi tells us that when Jesus comes back He will be the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (Malachi 4:2), we see that John's vision of the Son of Man was as He shall appear at the Second Stage of His Return, the "Revelation." Thus we have in John's "Seven-Fold" description of the person of the "Glorified Son of Man" circumstantial or indirect evidence that John saw his vision of the Son of Man, not on a Sabbath Day (or the "Lord's Day" as we now call it), but was projected by the Holy Spirit forward into the "Day of the Lord" and saw Him as He will appear then as the Judge, and the coming "SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS."

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