Are We in The Very Last Moments?
I believe the answer to that question is yes. How long will it be? I don’t know. But I have a new understanding of what the Holy Spirit has revealed to us in the Word. With a close look we can see something. I know that it is widely understood that Jesus said even the Son of Man knew not the day nor the hour but only His Father in Heaven knew.
But He knows now. This is why: Jesus did lay down some of His omniscience while He was here in the flesh. At the time He said that, He did not know. But when He returned to His glory He knew…He is God; the fullness of God…He knows.
Beginning with that thought, I am going to add here something that was really all tied together for me just the day before yesterday. It is a pretty solemn and serious message and I am not writing it as doctrine but I strongly believe that the scriptures paint a clear picture of what I am going to say. The day before yesterday was the first day of Rosh Hashana or Feast of Trumpets. I woke very early and knew that God wanted to speak something to my heart.
This book has been finished for a very long time now but because of what I believe God showed me, I am pressed to add it here at the end. It is a message that I kept coming to from the very moment I started writing this book. It was something I did not want to think about so I avoided it in the book. I hint to it but really that is all.
Well…I want to just come out with it and connect all the scriptures that seem to me to tie a knot of truth that I just can’t untie. I keep coming back to the realization that it has to be what the Word is saying. I realize that it is going to sound weird for a minute. But then just look at all the scriptures and maybe it will become evident that what I am saying is not without merit and may in fact be true.
I believe that God is sending out a very specific message today to entice and even warn the body of Christ to “Awaken to Righteousness”. He has given messages of righteousness to countless believers through out every generation. Well, I think this generation is different, and very special. I think we may be the raptured generation.
This book is meant to encourage fullness in Christ. I know that God gave it to me because I never would have known any of this on my own. The way the book unfolded still has me totally amazed and dazed. He unfolded it to me and I really put forth very little effort other than obeying and writing what I was shown in the Word and tying scriptures together to form this message of entire sanctification.
The Word says that God’s desire for the believer is that they would become fully sanctified (spirit, soul and body). The Word also teaches that entire sanctification comes through death to self-rule while alive or through physical death. All saved people will be sanctified fully but some will be sanctified fully while alive and in this life. This is fullness in Christ. There must be a crucifixion with Christ. Crucifixion means a death must occur; either death by letting go of my life which is self-rule, or death by physical death.
This generation is unique in this respect: Jesus will return for His bride in the rapture and there will be three groups of people when He does. One group will be saved and sanctified (the righteous, those who did not love their lives…self-rule). Those who think that righteousness is automatically given to us at salvation, consider all the scriptures I have mentioned that lead us to another conclusion and then look at these two ideas. We are told to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness…we seek His righteousness. Also, remember that righteousness is spoken of as a fruit that is produced after we have come to faith. The second group will be saved and not sanctified (not in His fullness yet). The third group will be the unsaved.
This is what I see will happen based on the Word and I will get into the scriptures after I have said what I think must happen. The dead in Christ rise first. They are all sanctified. There will be those in this group who died to self-rule while alive and were sanctified before physical death, and those who never were sanctified while alive but were sanctified by their physical death. Sanctification requires death; either while alive or through actual death…both accomplish it. “He that is dead is freed from sin” (Romans 6:7). The one who is free from sin has entered entire sanctification. Self-rule is the cause of all sin; both the fleshly sin of the body and the hidden sin of self-rights.
Then the next group to be caught up with Christ at the rapture (remember we who are alive will not precede those who are dead in Christ) will be those who did die to self-rule while alive (the sanctified, or righteous). Then the unthinkable happens I believe. The saved but still serving self at the time of His catching us up will be cast into the Great Tribulation with the unbelievers. They are saved and will be sanctified but because they refused to do it while they had the chance, they will be martyred during the Great Tribulation for their faith. They are the beheaded saints.
I know that the 144,000 Jews are taken to a safe place until Christ comes but the others who were saved but not sanctified before Christ caught up the church will have to experience a death just like every other believer ever has in order to be sanctified or considered righteous or holy. The flesh must be killed one way or another to be purified. How can we explain Revelation 6:11? It is very strange. Listen: The Tribulation saints who have been beheaded are under the altar and are crying out to God concerning the avenging of their blood. They are told to rest a while until their “fellow servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” What!!! Why do they have to be killed as their brethren were? I am thinking that it is because they must be sanctified by death in order to enter Heaven. So it is with us. This generation is different. There is no time to be sanctified. They have only what is left of seven years before Christ returns to slay the wicked and then gather the elect (144,000 Jews) so they must be killed to be sanctified…death sanctifies. Maybe some believers will die to self-rule during this time and they will not be beheaded; I have not been taught anything about this by the Lord yet. The scripture is kind-of open here.
The 144,000 are different. I haven’t studied that much yet but there is a reason for it. I have some ideas but won’t get into that here. I’ll study that topic as the Spirit of God leads me. They are different because the church has been formed and now God is dealing with the Nation of Israel and completing the 70 weeks of judgment that began with the king Cyrus’ decree to rebuild the Temple after the 70 years of Babylonian captivity. But there is more to it than that. I understand the situation and place of Israel during the 70th week but why they are hidden for 3 and a half years and remain untouched I don’t know. Why is it that they are not also beheaded like the Tribulation Saints?
That is a basic outline of what I heard two days ago as I sat silently before the Lord on the morning of the day that would be Feast of Trumpets at sundown. I won’t get into it here but I believe like many have said that the rapture could happen on this feast day. Study that for yourself; it is fascinating for sure. I know what you’re thinking…”She’s date setting!” No, I’m not. Even though this could be the day, we can’t ever know for sure until it’s done, right? Also, look at Revelation 3:3: “If you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief and you will not know the hour I will come upon you.” Now this infers very specifically that if we are watching we will know the hour!!! Very cool stuff. Please study the feasts. They tell the story of the gospel.
I believe we are in the generation where holiness and righteousness are hard to find and not welcome in the church as a whole. I see a great falling away of some of those who started to follow Christ. This is why God is speaking this message so fervently for the last day generation. Just look at the churches in Revelation just before the rapture. Jesus said He would spew some of them out and into the Great Tribulation if they did not repent and come to Him fully. I think this is what will happen at the rapture and is what I just mentioned. I believe the Word teaches us that the righteous (sanctified) will go only; those who, like Enoch, walk with God. They are the believers who loved not their lives unto death and therefore gained fullness in Christ. The saved but lukewarm will be spewed into the Tribulation period with the unbelievers where they will have to go through death to be done with sin. He is talking to a group that is called the church remember. Some of them are believers.
Now as I was hearing this message, all these scriptures came pouring into my head and winding together like twine forming a truth that I had suspected was the case from the beginning of the book. Two truths that came to me are these: 1 Corinthians 7:14 says that the unbelieving husband or wife is sanctified by their spouse (who is sanctified) and their children are made holy. To be holy is to be sanctified.
Now the idea that a sanctified believer who is raptured today will leave behind a spouse and children is unbearable to think of. The Great Tribulation is terrifying to think of. But the scriptures say something about this: The spouse of an unbeliever will be sanctified, and one righteous parent makes their children holy. To be holy in the Lord's sight is the same as being sanctified. So I believe that anyone sanctified who has an unbelieving spouse and children will cause their spouse and children to be considered holy unto the Lord and they will also be raptured. Look a little further down in 1 Corinthians 7:16: Paul says that "Who knows...maybe we will save our unbelieving spouse?" He uses the wife here but the other scriptures tell us that this applies to wife and husband...we get truth by searching the WHOLE word of God and not just one verse.
Another scripture I am thinking of that bolsters this same idea is found in Matthew 5:16 where Jesus says this: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” Think about that…if we are doers of the Word and not just speakers of the Word, then we are considered sanctified, right? The single-minded believer is a doer of the Word. The spouse who lives the Word before her husband will sanctify him. This verse in Matthew says it. If we will do the Word, we will lead those watching to glorify God. It is the double-minded believer who may turn others away from Christ because they see little or no truth lived out through the believer’s life. Also, think of the verses in Matthew that tell us that whatever resides in a man’s heart comes forth out of his mouth. As a man thinks in his heart so is he (Proverbs 23:7).
This makes sense. We are told in 1 Peter 3 that believing wives just may win their unbelieving husbands by their holy conversation (to have holy conversation, we must have a holy and purified heart...I think this is a sanctified wife here). It takes several scriptures to explain the notion that a sanctified believer does indeed sanctify his or her spouse and also this makes their children holy. "Otherwise" the scriptures say, "the children would be unclean." So God makes a special provision here. He will open the eyes of the blind by way of a sanctified believer's life. Now this could also mean that the spouse and children of the sanctified believer may have to be sanctified through the Tribulation, I don’t know.
But let’s look again at a fabulously complete and descriptive portion of scripture in the gospel of John. I am sure I have already referenced this but if I haven’t then here is the thought for the first time. Jesus is telling the disciples here in John 12:23-26 that He must die if eternal life is to be given to those who would believe on the Son of God. He says that unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains one seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds. How beautifully descriptive this analogy is to dying to self-rule and how it is patterned after the crucifixion.
We know that abiding in Christ and being crucified (dying to self-rule) are the same. Well, Jesus says that only an abiding believer can produce fruit. Jesus is saying the same thing here with the kernel of wheat. Believers are called wheat, remember? We are either wheat (believers) or chaff (non-believers).
Think of the parable of the talents too. The same message is being spoken there as well. The foolish servant has only the talent (just one seed) to give to the Master when He returns. The wise servants have many talents (many seeds) to present to the Mater at His return. The foolish servant represents the saved but not sanctified who produced nothing for the Kingdom…no fruit. They brought themselves and that is it…the wheat remained just one seed. But the wise servants represent the sanctified believer who did die to self-rule and therefore produced much fruit because he was a kernel of wheat that fell to the ground and died.
Jesus clarifies in verse 25that He is also talking about the believers. Some will die to self-rule by losing their lives and other believers will save their lives by hanging on to self-rule and lose life.
All of this is to reinforce the possibility that a wife can sanctify her husband and children by being that kernel of wheat that falls to the ground and dies whereby producing many seeds.
There are dozens of scriptures to show that what I am saying is a real and strong possibility, but I will mention just a few. I have mentioned all of these already but want to look at a few more a little closer. Hebrews 11:5 says that Enoch was taken and did not see death because he walked with God and he pleased God. He was sanctified. To walk with God and to please God refer to being sanctified…walking in the fear of the Lord. He is a picture of the raptured church.
Hebrews 12:10 says that God chastens His children for our profit, so that we might be partakers of His holiness. I show in the book how sanctification only comes through affliction which kills the flesh and leads to death to self-rule. He says here that very thing; that refining leads to holiness. We are not considered holy until self-rule is dethroned in us through death to self-rights. This is brought about through affliction where self-will or self-rule is cut-off; circumcised.
Hebrews 12:11 says that this chastening yields (produces) the peaceable fruit of righteousness. In other words, we don’t automatically dwell in Christ’s righteousness at salvation (I argued this extensively already). We walk the walk of salvation and allow God to refine us and purify our hearts by affliction and crushing. This yields the fruit of righteousness because it allows Christ to be fully formed in us.
Remember that righteousness is attributed to us by way of faith, but this is sanctified faith and not saving faith. Abraham believed God; he was single-minded. Nehemiah honors Abraham in 9:7 and says that God found Abram’s heart faithful before God. He walked in purity of heart towards God and not according to his own self-will. Nehemiah also notes that God changed his name, or gave him a new name. So He found Abram’s heart faithful toward God and changed his name. Very interesting.
Hebrews 12:14 says that We should follow peace with all men, and holiness: without which no man will see the Lord. I see that those alive at the rapture who have not entered into sanctification and thereby been declared holy before the Lord because self is dethroned, will not see the Lord. Remember it is the pure in heart who will see God. Every eye shall see Him at the Second Coming but not at the rapture…remember He comes as a thief in the night and those who aren’t watching won’t even know what hit the world…but those who are watching and loving His appearing will see Him and hear Him too…and magnificently will be caught up to Him as the bride!
Lastly, let’s look at the ten virgins again. The five wise virgins have to be the sanctified; the pure in heart, don’t they? They are ready; they are filled with the fullness of Christ and have been expecting Him because they have the Mind of Christ. They are wise. They have the wisdom of the full Mind of Christ. They have spent their walk watching and waiting for His return and separate from the world and self-rule. Remember that those in Revelation 3:3 were warned that they should not be caught unwatchful or they would not know the hour that Jesus would come upon them…this is a definite connection to the 10 virgin parable.
The wise virgins walk in the light. Remember the seven-stemmed lamp in the tabernacle that was lit fully and was not allowed to go out? Is this represented here in this parable of the wise and foolish virgins? Their lamps don’t go out because they have the oil in their vessels. They walk in the light as He is in the light. The Spirit can’t be quenched in the life of a sanctified believer… is this represented here with the wise virgins whose lamps don’t go out? Think about it for a minute; I think there is a very probable connection. Remember the scriptures that proved in my mind that the sanctified (wise because they have the Mind of Christ) believers can never lose the Mind of Christ or be depleted in any way of the fullness of the Spirit of God? They don’t walk in the flesh any longer. Remember the scripture where God says He has sanctified this house and His eyes (meaning mind) and heart are there perpetually? The five foolish virgins are not prepared. They do not have the full Mind of Christ. They can quench the Spirit because they have never had all seven stems of the Mind of Christ lit. They are virgins (saved) but still ruled by self and have not known Christ’s fullness by dying to self. They are not walking in the light because they have run out of it (we can quench the Spirit if we are not sanctified). They will not go with Him when He comes for His bride. It is too late for them. Remember that the door is shut and they are shut out.
The bride of Christ is a select group. The foolish virgins are not cast into outer darkness, notice. That is because they ARE saved. They will have to go through the Great Tribulation to be purified because they never let go of self-rule while waiting for Christ; they were foolish, lazy, rebellious. Did they do what seemed right in their own eyes rather than obey to the point of bloodshed the admonishment to be done with sin and the flesh? Where they were compromisers? Did they scoff at holiness? Did they say they loved Christ but did not let Him rule their lives? Were they double-minded? Remember that they have to go searching for oil (searching for the pearl of great price?) but they waited too long and it is too late for them. The wise virgins had already, before this, sought out and bought the oil for their vessels. They lived their lives in a state of constant preparedness. Can we liken this to the treasure in a field? They knew what was in the field and bought it? The foolish virgins also knew what was in the field but did not buy it.
I want to look at a group of believers in Song of Songs. I am not being dogmatic about this but believe that what I see has merit. I believe as I said earlier that this book is the book of sanctification. We have a picture of not only Jesus and the church but deeper still, of Jesus and the individual believer. Who are the daughters of Jerusalem? I used to think this was Israel. But I don’t think so. I believe they are the same as the foolish virgins who never died to self-rule. Look at them. They are also called virgins…a very dear and affectionate as well as descriptive title. They also belong to Christ but not in the same way or to the same abandon that the bride does. Notice that they are always adoring the Lover (Jesus)…but from afar. They swoon over Him but that is as far it goes for them. They will not draw near. They almost seem to be enamored more with the feelings they get by looking at Him than they are truly desirous of Him. The bride is different. She represents the wise virgins. Remember there is a period of immature adoration on her part too, but it doesn’t last. She comes to her senses and realizes that her Lover is more precious than anything and she is therefore willing to be bruised and battered in the city just to GET Him. Then her veil is removed…remember? It is removed by those who beat her. Interesting. The bride enters the marriage chamber. She is taken to the banqueting house with Him but the daughters of Jerusalem are not.
Listen: Only the bride sits at the feast table with Him. She sends forth the scent of Lavender (spikenard) to her Beloved because of her worship. Her love is pure therefore she is a sweet and very costly fragrance unto the Lord. Notice also that their bed is green…their union produces fruit; life (remember that only an abiding, sanctified believer produces fruit for the Kingdom). He is overcome by her beauty. He tells her that her beauty is fairest of all. He says that as a lily is among thorns, so is she among the daughters of Jerusalem (I believe this is a comparison between believers who are abandoned to Christ and lukewarm believers who only want something from Him and therefore adore Him from afar).
Remember what I said earlier about believers today who refuse the rod of suffering and only want prosperity and wellness and pleasantries…these are the daughters of Jerusalem I believe. She abides under His shadow with great delight and has tasted that the Lord is good. The daughters of Jerusalem though enchanted by the Beloved and even called virgins, have not come close enough to truly taste that the Lord is good. They are precious to Him we can see because they are spoken of with affection and they do have first hand knowledge of Him. But they are indeed foolish because they have gazed upon Him from a distance. Look at the interesting parallels among this book, the virgin parable and the Kingdom treasure parables: Only the bride goes out and gives all she has to find her Beloved. The daughters of Jerusalem are absent when she does this. They are just like the foolish virgins who don’t go searching until it is too late. Doesn’t this connect also to the Kingdom treasure parables? The man pays all he has to get the field with the treasure and the pearl of great price.
Now I’ll finish this comparison with an amazing connection between Song of Songs and the rapture of the abandoned believers. In chapter two, after the bride has become lovesick (sanctified) for her Beloved and entered the marriage chamber, He says this to her alone, and not to the daughters of Jerusalem: “Rise up, My love, My fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past and the rain is over and gone” (Song of Songs 2:10-11). He then continues on in verses 12-14 declaring that it is time to come away with Him. The flowers have bloomed, the fig tree has put forth her fruit (remember the parable of the fig tree blooming meaning that the rapture is at hand) and the grapes are ripe for the picking (remember the grapes being ready for the sickle in Revelation 14 meaning the end is at hand). Look back at verse 10 before she is caught away with Him…He speaks. He calls her. In verse 8 we see that the bride exclaims “The voice of my Beloved! Behold He comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.” Remember that Jesus will call His bride up with Him. His voice will sound as a trumpet calling His own to Himself and to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Remember earlier I mentioned that chapter two is a conclusion and then we see that chapter 3 and on fill in the details of what has already been stated. It is interesting that the daughters of Jerusalem ask the bride to know what she sees in her Beloved that they don’t see. At last in chapter six we see that they do ask the bride if they may seek Him with her. Now doesn’t this also continue to parallel the virgin parable? The foolish virgins will eventually be purified in heart so they can see Him. But they must enter the Great Tribulation period to see…to be purified (only the pure in heart will see God.
The bride knew to do it while He was drawing her…she gave all she had to get to Him. She went through the agony of purification in the city remember, to have her veil removed so she could see (her flesh removed through suffering). The daughters of Jerusalem, (if they are the same as the foolish virgins and the lukewarm believers who will not allow God to sanctify them before the rapture) at the end realize that they also want only Him and that now they must seek Him as she did…and they do! In chapter 3 verse 10 we see that the King’s chariot was constructed in all its parts “with love for the daughters of Jerusalem.” This word for love here can mean: God’s love toward His people. That is what I love. It is inferred that the daughters of Jerusalem do ultimately come fully to Him. They do belong to Him remember. But now it is too late to be the bride. They will have a glorious but different relationship with the Beloved because they did not listen to His call as the bride did.
If the daughters of Jerusalem do represent lukewarm believers then we can see why they cannot see what the bride sees. God has sent leanness into their souls! Remember the Israelites again with me in the dessert who refused the rod of affliction that God was using to purify them and instead longed for meat…they lusted for comfort and pleasures and not God. The believers today who are only interested in that which tickles the ears and pleases the flesh…sensual things…are lukewarm and I believe are represented by the daughters of Jerusalem. If these two groups are the same, then they cannot see Christ because they refuse to be purified; to be rid of self-rule so that they also can be filled with Christ’s beauty. The King’s pleasure with the bride is that she looks like Christ through and through! The daughters of Jerusalem are still filled with self-rights and self-rule. Notice another very interesting thing: I think the daughters of Jerusalem finally want to “SEE” Jesus because they have seen His beauty in the bride.
We see another reference to the King’s pleasure with the bride. In chapter 6 we see that the Beloved is speaking of the bride’s beauty. Again He says that there are queens, concubines and virgins without number but that she is the undefiled one and fairer than all. She is so fair that the daughters desire her company and admire her beauty (verse 9). It has to be that they see the glory of the Lord shining through her. She is highly favored by the King because she is undefiled. Remember how Peter and Paul strongly exhort us to be undefiled, pure and blameless at His coming. This is why. Jesus wants every one of His own to be the bride. It is up to us to determine who we will be.
The daughters of Jerusalem, just like the foolish virgins and the lukewarm believers, miss an opportunity equally given to them to be the bride of Christ. Notice again how they also admire, as they have all through the book of Song of Songs, the bride in her splendor. Her beauty is something they long to see. In Song of Songs 6:13 they call to her to return just so they can look upon her beauty.
We can look to a portion of curious scripture in the Psalms that I have already mentioned and possibly see a connection. Psalm 45 speaks of Jesus as King and exalts His beauty and majesty as King. But then something strange happens. As most prophetic scriptures, we can see a double meaning here. Look at how the King is praised! His garments also smell of myrrh and spices just like the Beloved in Song of Songs. He is greatly to be praised and worshipped. Then we see that the King’s daughter is all glorious within. I believe this is the bride. And she is also so beautiful like her Beloved that the virgins greatly desire her company. Her glorious beauty comes from Christ alone. The bride (she is called the King’s daughter but I believe she is also the bride…remember that in Song of Songs she is called many endearing terms by her Beloved, like ‘My sister, My spouse’) brings the virgins into her beloved’s company and they follow her with great rejoicing into the King’s palace to praise and worship Him. I could be wrong but I believe the Holy Spirit has revealed this connection to me; for many reasons and not just what I have written. I think the comparison is incredible and could have merit and is maybe even a warning to believers who know the Lord from a distance.
The prophet Zephaniah, speaking of the Last Days says this: “Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth; which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be that you will be hid in the Day of the LORD’s anger.” Zephaniah is talking about the church who will be hidden from the wrath of God during the Great Tribulation period. But he has a funny way of saying it. He is telling believers to seek the LORD, to seek righteousness and meekness because maybe they will be spared from the trouble. Is he telling us that not all of the church will be spared from the Tribulation, but that the righteous and meek will be? He seems to say just what Jesus says in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins.
Look at what Jesus warns in Luke 21:35-36: He says that a snare is coming upon all who dwell on the face of the earth in the last days. Then He says that we should watch and pray that we would be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass. The things that are coming to pass are mentioned earlier in chapter 21 and refer to the wrath of God poured out during the Great Tribulation. At the beginning of chapter 21, Jesus mentions the destruction of Jerusalem that was going to come in 70 A.D. but then He breaks into last day prophecy. But it is believers who are told to watch and pray that they would be accounted worthy to escape this wrath during the Great Tribulation. Just like the foolish virgins, some believers won’t be walking with Christ in fullness at His return for His bride and won’t be caught up with Him.
Look at something very interesting with me: In Song of Songs 8:10 we see that the bride says that she is a wall and her breasts like towers. She says, “then was I in His eyes as one that found favor”. The bride is talking about who she is now that she has given herself fully to her Beloved. Now look at a scripture that will solidify what I am trying to say I see here: Proverbs 25:28 says that, “He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.” If the bride in her sanctified position in Christ is a wall then she must have control over her spirit (she has willed to choose God’s will in spirit, soul and body). In other words, she has aligned her will totally with God’s…she is not susceptible to self-rule any longer because the Holy Spirit reigns in her life. She is not a city with broken walls (one who is ruled by right-to-self and therefore enslaved to sin and self-rule…there are breeches; broken places where sin and self penetrate her being and cause a divided mind) but is rather a wall herself with breasts as towers, meaning that the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit flows from her person because she is totally ruled by her Beloved. She is a fruit producer because she has died to self-rule and has become the kernel of wheat Jesus spoke of that dies and produces many seeds. His will is now her will because she wants it that way and has seen the beauty and glory of it. Notice that a wall imparts strength like a bulwark or a fortress.
Look at Song of Songs 6:4: The Beloved is speaking of the bride’s attributes and says that she is not only beautiful but that she is “terrible” as an army with banners. This same word is used elsewhere to describe God’s righteousness and it means “formidable”. Just one verse down we see that she is so beautiful that she has overcome her Beloved…He asks her to look away because He is overcome by her beauty. We know this is the bride who is spoken of here because He continues on and compares her to queens, concubines and virgins. She has become pure and blameless in His sight.
I think I mentioned this verse already but it is so terrifying that I have to mention it again. Look…Peter says this to believers when he tells them that they should be looking for the new Heavens and new earth: He first admonishes believers to see that we dwell in righteousness (2 Peter 3:13). Then in verse 14 he says this: “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless.” Please receive this as a terrible warning. Peter is talking to the beloved…they are saved. Then he says that those wanting to go with Christ when He comes for the bride to take her to the marriage supper should dwell in righteousness. He says we should be diligent which means we must make great effort to be found this way. So we see clearly that just because we are saved doesn’t automatically mean we will escape the wrath to come during the Great Tribulation. We must pray and make sure we will escape, by dwelling in righteousness…which is only possible if we have the full Mind of Christ.
Then Peter repeats what Paul has said about entire sanctification. He says that we need to be found by Him to be without spot and blameless. Paul said that at His return we need to be fully sanctified and therefore preserved blameless. Remember that this really is directed specifically, in my estimation, to the raptured generation of believers…which I believe we are. Remember that death sanctifies. Those who have died as believers have been freed from sin. They will precede those sanctified and alive and will rise up from the grave to Christ in the air. Those of us who are alive, saved and have not died to self-rule are the foolish virgins and will not participate in the wedding feast of the Lamb. The foolish virgins will have to enter the Great Tribulation period to die to sin and self-rule.
Even Daniel tells us this clearly. In chapter 11 it is the Lord who is telling Daniel about the events of the final days before His return. In verse 10 the Lord is telling Daniel that many will enter this period called the Great Tribulation in order to be purified and made white, and tried. I believe they will enter this time because they happened to be alive and part of the last generation but not in Christ’s fullness when He came for His church…the faithful ones like Enoch; the ones who walked with God with their whole hearts at His return for His bride.
Look at this statement by Isaiah: In chapter 57:15 he records God’s voice as He says, ”For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, Whose name is holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who also is of a contrite and humble spirit…”
This is the heaviest thing I have ever thought of and I tremble as I write it. But I can’t silence all of the scriptures that are pointing me to this possibility. Has the church erroneously thought that just because we are saved that we are “set” so to speak and will also go with the raptured church? Has the wrong teaching that says, as soon as we are saved we have been crucified with Christ, contributed to this dangerously complacent idea? Remember that death sanctifies so this terrible warning is directed mainly to those who are saved, alive but not sanctified when He returns at the rapture…a very unique generation of people. I think the answer to that question is yes.
Look at 2 Timothy 4:8: Paul says that a special crown awaits him in Heaven, but not only him. He says that a crown of righteousness awaits those who love His appearing. The word for love here is agapeo and in this context can mean “beloved”. Interesting. But if we look at this verse in light of the parable of the 10 virgins, are those who love His appearing the wise virgins?
I will close with this thought that I mentioned earlier: Fullness in Christ is available to all equally. The only thing that keeps us from being purified right now is the love of worldliness and self-rule…deliberate rebellion. If we long for Him only, He will sanctify us. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 remember is the verse that says God wants the whole spirit, soul and body sanctified at His coming. The verse ends with these five comforting words: “And He will do it.” So we know that if we are willing…He will do it now.
2 Timothy 2:19 says that the Lord knows those who are His and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness. Look at this again: “He will do it.” Indeed He will sanctify every believer. Because without sanctification, no one can see God, so He will sanctify every saved child. The question is just when and how will He have to do it? We can submit now. We can be sanctified at our physical death (Romans 6-7), when we are freed from the body of sin and death. Or, if we are alive, saved but not walking with God at His return for His church, we will be “purified and made white and tried” through the Great Tribulation period. It is the believer’s choice. This is why Jesus says He has sanctified the believer. One way or the other, the believer must be sanctified.
Remember those saints in Hebrews who chose to suffer so that they would receive a better resurrection! Will we also choose to suffer so that we will receive a better resurrection…the one that happens at the rapture of the church? If we will die to self-rule now, we will be part of this glorious resurrection and the door will not be shut on us but we will be invited in to be part of the blessed marriage supper of the Lamb.
I could be wrong but will end with a reference to a curious chapter in the gospels. In Luke 14 we see Jesus exhorting the Pharisees to humble themselves in the sight of God. He references a wedding supper twice (I believe the second one in Luke is the same wedding feast parable in Matthew 22). In the first parable Jesus warns them to take the lower room rather than the higher (reminds me of thinking soberly of ourselves…not too high and not too low). In the second feast, the self-wise and self-absorbed decline the invitation but the lowly come. Then Jesus ends the account of the second feast by saying: “For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste My supper.”
So we see that not all the called will enter into the wedding feast…only the small and humble. The others, though called, were self-absorbed and therefore shut-out. In Matthew 22 we see that at the feast a man is found present without a wedding garment (white raiment symbolizing purity in Christ). He is identified as “friend” and then cast-out because he is not properly dressed in the purity of Christ.
Peter warns us in 1 John 2:28 to abide in Him so that when He appears we shall not be ashamed. He goes on in chapter 3:2-3 to comfort us with this truth: “…it does not yet appear what we shall be; but when He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is”. Then he says this: “And every man that has this hope in him will purify himself even as Christ is pure”.
“Many are called but few are chosen.” Seek Him today and then pursue Him with all your heart soul and mind. Purify yourself now even as He is pure and be ready when He comes to get His bride…He is at the doorstep.
THE END,
REALLY
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