The Falling Away - Part 3
The "falling away" prophesied by Jesus and the disciples is not describing what unbelievers will do, it is describing what will happen in the Church...Jesus' own Body… in the hour of history we live in. You won't hear much about this in the Church right now, because it doesn't preach very well, but it is essential we understand one of the main themes of the end time trouble and the promises that come with it.
God works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Even the falling away...one of the worst events in the history of Jesus' Body… will result in the greatest event in Jesus' Bride's history, because the falling away is EXACTLY what will produce a pure and spotless Bride!
Right now, the bride is pretty wrinkly and spotty, but Jesus is not giving up on the Church! We are not supposed to give up on the Church either. We are supposed to contend for Jesus’ Church to be a pure and spotless Bride. She will be, and anyone who agrees with Jesus’ plan to get a pure and spotless Bride will BE a part of that pure and spotless Bride. To agree with the plan, you must KNOW the plan. If you don’t understand why Jesus is doing what He is doing, the very plan meant to purify and de-spot the Bride will likely offend you. This is PART OF THE PLAN! Stay with me, and I will explain what I mean.
Jesus has a perfect plan to help the Bride "make herself ready." The plan is most clearly seen in Revelation, although important information about the plan has been sown into the word from Genesis to Jude. You have to understand the whole counsel of scripture to really grasp what is emerging in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Revelation is the story of a wedding, and like any good Bride, Jesus' spouse is going to look her most stunning just before the wedding takes place! She makes herself ready, but Jesus is going to give her the perfect conditions to get ready...Jesus is giving his Bride the dressing room, the curling iron, and the brush, and His true spouse is going to choose to enter into the process and use the tools He has given her! Those who are in the Church for selfish motivations…anything less than to be as much like her Groom as possible…will risk falling away and abandoning their salvation because of offense and fear. This reality is by design. This is a hard word.
The Bride does the readying:
Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
But Jesus is also involved by giving the Bride the Spirit and the Word… to not just endure the end time events, but to become beautiful through them!
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
I am not sure how you do laundry, but at my house, we find the clothes get cleaner by washing them, not fooling ourselves by mixing the dirty with the clean and “declaring” them clean, despite the stains and stink! Just like you would clean up any white clothing, the Bride is going to become pure and spotless not by mixing the dirty with the pure, but by REMOVING THROUGH AGITATION IN THE PERFECT CONDITIONS the dark spots and the things that make her stink.
When I (I mean Samantha, I am not allowed to operate the dryer anymore) wash my clothes, I put them in the washing machine (end time events perfectly designed to agitate), add some strong soap (the Word of God), some hot water (the Holy Spirit), then I let the machine do its work as the clothes agitate against each other, cleaning themselves by the action of putting them in close proximity in just the right conditions. This is what the Bible calls the “tribulation”...but the process is only half done. Once those clothes are clean, I throw them in the dryer and turn on the heat (Great Tribulation), and the whole load dries out together clean and smelling nice. Then with a lot more heat, I iron my shirts, getting all the wrinkles out. When it is all done, I have some clothes I delight in wearing. This is exactly the process Jesus has selected to get a pure and spotless Bride.
Jesus said "you think peace is going to get the promised Bride? No, not peace, but instead division!" Actually, it is division by agitation. This is intense. You must understand this plan to protect your heart from offense in this hour. Just hearing the plan begins the process of purification, because it forces a choice: do I ignore the plan despite the hundreds of verses that support, do I oppose those who declare the truth because it makes me uncomfortable, trying hard to shut up those speaking it out, or do I humble myself and start talking to Jesus about this truth, sorting it out for myself?
Jesus is going to let the light agitate the darkness, with the intention of the darkness either agreeing with the light or falling away…Just like you would wash your clothes. This is an end time reality:
Luke 12:49-53 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
This has ALWAYS been God's plan. God is refining the whole earth to drive evil off the planet. That is what is required for God to come back into His garden. Otherwise, His brightness would destroy the garden. God is mostly interested right now in coming home. Life doesn’t happen on planet earth…real life…until God’s light is shining here again. Right now we are stuck with the dim light of the sun, but Jesus is preparing the earth to receive a much brighter life source again. Anything dark will be destroyed by his appearing. Anything white will be glorified at His appearing!
Jesus didn't die so we could stay weak and dirty while He is bright and shining. He paid the price that we would have the grace to get bright and shining, too...not by laying together in the dirty laundry basket calling ourselves clean by being creepily kind about the stains and stink, but by drawing on the Spirit and the Word to overcome darkness and have victory in the events designed to judge sin and illuminate righteousness!
David understood this reality. The man after God’s own heart knew exactly what God was all about 2,000 years before Jesus started the washing machine. Psalm 101, written 3,000 years ago, is all about the falling away in our generation. Look at this Psalm. David was looking way forward anticipating the hours before the arrival of the Groom back on planet earth:
Psalms 101:1-8 I will sing of mercy and justice; To You, O Lord , I will sing praises. I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure. My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land, That I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord .
I am going to sum up this profound Psalm by David in my own words to convey what I see here:
I am watching what I do, how I live, and what I rejoice in, because I am longing for your return, God. I am especially careful in my own house…your house…God. I don’t let the wicked stuff go unchecked there, God, because I am committed to my heart being pure and the hearts of those you love being safe. I watch what the people around me are doing…especially the ones who claim to know you and love you like I do. I am seriously going to fight against wickedness by being careful who I run with. I am not going to wink, smile, and overlook wickedness in my house…your house…God. For the slanderers, I am going to destroy their place by exposing them. As for the proud and haughty, I am not going to pretend we are friends. Instead, I am going to look for people faithful to truth. Those are the ones I will let come close to me in friendship and in service. Those trying to completely follow you…they are the ones I am going to partner with, not those who pretend to love you but are clearly only doing what makes them more comfortable, or look more important or good. I am going to destroy the influence of the liars…cut them off before they grow too tall, by speaking the truth to them.
This is intense, but this is exactly what Jesus is releasing into His Church in this hour all over the globe. It has always been God’s plan that this reality, which started in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, would mature in our day. The first coming of Jesus, which marked the "conception" of the Day of the Lord, was when Jesus sowed this truth into the earth. The second coming of Jesus will mark the “delivery” of the Day of the Lord, when the fruit that came from what Jesus first sowed will be harvested. The harvest process and the birth process are the two main analogies in the Bible to describe the events that span from Acts 2 until our generation. Numerous times the Bible describes the process God has selected to renew all things as being like the birth of a baby:
Romans 8:22-23 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
John 16:20-22 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.
Right now truth is emerging, just like a baby is born. The truth was planted like a seed in Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago, and it has been growing in the earth all this time. Right now the fruit of truth, called a pure and spotless Bride, is about to be delivered. Delivery is intense. What happens in the secret place of the tummy for 9 months gets all wild, crazy, exciting, frightful, painful, and joyful all in the span of a few weeks culminating in the worst and best moment ever. This is what Jesus described His coming like. This is really simple. You don’t need to be a theologian to get this. Mom’s and dad’s who have watched birth go down are way more qualified to understand the end times than the greatest Bible scholar who is unwilling to humble himself and just take the main and plain meaning of the Bible.
Truth is light, and light is being delivered…growing stronger and stronger…louder and louder…as it’s full emergence draws near. Light is OFFENSIVE to darkness, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Jesus’ Bride-to-be has a lot of dark spots still. Though light is what was planted by Jesus when He commissioned His Bride to go enforce His victory from Jerusalem outward to the ends of the earth, the enemy has planted darkness among the light.
Both the light and the dark has been maturing for 2,000 years. We got some real good stuff in the field and some real bad stuff in the field, and it is all growing in CLOSE proximity. This is what the parable of the wheat and the tares is all about.
It is important to understand the specific nature of the end time parables. Much can be learned from this simple analogy Jesus used. It contains a ton of information about why the falling away must happen!
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” …
… ” Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
This is a parable about the Church. The whole parable is about the close proximity of the sons of the evil one to the sons of the kingdom…so close their roots are right there mingling together. This is MOSTLY a parable about people that go to Church together. Many misunderstand this parable to extend back to Adam and Eve and make it an encouragement to believers and a warning to unbelievers. The Bible is a warning to believers. Unbelievers do not believe in God or believe the Bible is true. We are the warning to unbelievers. Jesus says this parable starts with the Son of Man sowing the good seed. Jesus was sowing the seed as he even told this parable.
Jesus lays out the scenario perfectly. God give us eyes to see! The field is the world..where we live. The harvest is the end of the age…the hour WE live in. The angels are the reapers. They are not plucking people by their hair off the earth. We must understand the nature of the partnership between angels and mankind as God’s government in the earth.
The angels are the ones assigned to the nations and over the resources of the earth. Good and bad angels are “wrestling” based on the intercession of the people, and the events that are culminating with that wrestling are producing the reaping. This has always worked this way, and it is driving the whole earth to the last days. Just like birth, this process intensifies…more interaction between mankind and angles will be the result. This will reap the harvest!
Look at what Daniel learned of this partnership between man and angles, and the wrestling that resulted in end time truth emerging:
Daniel 10:12-14 Then he said to me, "Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come."
The end time events are entirely driven by mankind interceding and partnering with angels, and that is what “swings the sickle” of reaping:
Revelation 7:2-3 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."
Revelation 8:3-5 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.
This concept of mankind offering prayers of intercession that move angels more and more…day and night…David called it singing in Psalm 101 because that is how Israel mostly prayed in David’s day…. is the primary reality of the pure and spotless Bride becoming pure and spotless. God is orchestrating trouble in the earth, and those who agree with Him know His plan and start doing their part, which is interceding in wholehearted love for God as their primary activity, which spills over into going out from the places of intercession and being the answers to their own prayers, as angels partner with the intercessors and open doors for us to love neighbors as we love ourselves.
Mark 12:28-34 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?" Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'HEAR, O ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE. AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these." So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." But after that no one dared question Him.
These are the two greatest commandments that will draw everyone who wants it nearer and nearer to the kingdom, and it actually starts with gathering together in unity and praying and singing together. This is exactly what David hired 24,000 people to get started in his day, called the Tabernacle of David, which released the greatest prophetic explosion of light in the darkness, recorded in the Psalms, the earth had seen to that point. THIS is what Jesus is rebuilding all over the globe for our day as a safe place…a barn, so to speak, as the intensity of the events increase:
Amos 9:9-12 "For I will give the command and will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost. But all the sinners will die by the sword—all those who say, 'Nothing bad will happen to us.' "In that day I will restore the fallen house of David. I will repair its damaged walls. From the ruins I will rebuild it and restore its former glory. And Israel will possess what is left of Edom and all the nations I have called to be Mine. " The LORD has spoken, and He will do these things.
God has told His people that His plan is a harvest plan…to “shake everything that can be shaken.” This refers to the threshing process in the time of harvest. The threshers take the grain and the stuff that gets caught up with it, then they throw the whole lot into the air and let the wind separate the good wheat from the junk, which has less weight to it. A wind of trouble, orchestrated by God, has already started blowing in a noticeable way. More intensity is coming.
This trouble, called tribulation, meant to refine the harvest, is offensive to those in the Body of Christ who do not understand the plan. Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) that this reality would create the conditions of the falling away. Now is the time to find out the answer and declare the truth within the house…like David said…so that as many as possible will be steady through the harvest season and gathered into the barns. Many oppose this message because it offends them. They are mostly more worried about what other people might think than they are worried about absolutely understanding what the Bible says about Jesus plans and humbly agreeing with them. They have their own plans for greatness they don’t want anything interrupting. God isn’t interested in the plans of men. He calls our plans rebellion if they don’t match His. The revelation of truth will expose the motivations and the strengths of everyone first in the house of God, and then later outside the house of God. How can God be just in judging the nations if His own house cannot stand in the same light? That is why tribulation starts in His house.
1 Peter 4:17-19 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now "IF THE RIGHTEOUS ONE IS SCARCELY SAVED, WHERE WILL THE UNGODLY AND THE SINNER APPEAR?" Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.
God works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Even the falling away...one of the worst events in the history of Jesus' Body… will result in the greatest event in Jesus' Bride's history, because the falling away is EXACTLY what will produce a pure and spotless Bride!
Right now, the bride is pretty wrinkly and spotty, but Jesus is not giving up on the Church! We are not supposed to give up on the Church either. We are supposed to contend for Jesus’ Church to be a pure and spotless Bride. She will be, and anyone who agrees with Jesus’ plan to get a pure and spotless Bride will BE a part of that pure and spotless Bride. To agree with the plan, you must KNOW the plan. If you don’t understand why Jesus is doing what He is doing, the very plan meant to purify and de-spot the Bride will likely offend you. This is PART OF THE PLAN! Stay with me, and I will explain what I mean.
Jesus has a perfect plan to help the Bride "make herself ready." The plan is most clearly seen in Revelation, although important information about the plan has been sown into the word from Genesis to Jude. You have to understand the whole counsel of scripture to really grasp what is emerging in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Revelation is the story of a wedding, and like any good Bride, Jesus' spouse is going to look her most stunning just before the wedding takes place! She makes herself ready, but Jesus is going to give her the perfect conditions to get ready...Jesus is giving his Bride the dressing room, the curling iron, and the brush, and His true spouse is going to choose to enter into the process and use the tools He has given her! Those who are in the Church for selfish motivations…anything less than to be as much like her Groom as possible…will risk falling away and abandoning their salvation because of offense and fear. This reality is by design. This is a hard word.
The Bride does the readying:
Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
But Jesus is also involved by giving the Bride the Spirit and the Word… to not just endure the end time events, but to become beautiful through them!
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
I am not sure how you do laundry, but at my house, we find the clothes get cleaner by washing them, not fooling ourselves by mixing the dirty with the clean and “declaring” them clean, despite the stains and stink! Just like you would clean up any white clothing, the Bride is going to become pure and spotless not by mixing the dirty with the pure, but by REMOVING THROUGH AGITATION IN THE PERFECT CONDITIONS the dark spots and the things that make her stink.
When I (I mean Samantha, I am not allowed to operate the dryer anymore) wash my clothes, I put them in the washing machine (end time events perfectly designed to agitate), add some strong soap (the Word of God), some hot water (the Holy Spirit), then I let the machine do its work as the clothes agitate against each other, cleaning themselves by the action of putting them in close proximity in just the right conditions. This is what the Bible calls the “tribulation”...but the process is only half done. Once those clothes are clean, I throw them in the dryer and turn on the heat (Great Tribulation), and the whole load dries out together clean and smelling nice. Then with a lot more heat, I iron my shirts, getting all the wrinkles out. When it is all done, I have some clothes I delight in wearing. This is exactly the process Jesus has selected to get a pure and spotless Bride.
Jesus said "you think peace is going to get the promised Bride? No, not peace, but instead division!" Actually, it is division by agitation. This is intense. You must understand this plan to protect your heart from offense in this hour. Just hearing the plan begins the process of purification, because it forces a choice: do I ignore the plan despite the hundreds of verses that support, do I oppose those who declare the truth because it makes me uncomfortable, trying hard to shut up those speaking it out, or do I humble myself and start talking to Jesus about this truth, sorting it out for myself?
Jesus is going to let the light agitate the darkness, with the intention of the darkness either agreeing with the light or falling away…Just like you would wash your clothes. This is an end time reality:
Luke 12:49-53 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
This has ALWAYS been God's plan. God is refining the whole earth to drive evil off the planet. That is what is required for God to come back into His garden. Otherwise, His brightness would destroy the garden. God is mostly interested right now in coming home. Life doesn’t happen on planet earth…real life…until God’s light is shining here again. Right now we are stuck with the dim light of the sun, but Jesus is preparing the earth to receive a much brighter life source again. Anything dark will be destroyed by his appearing. Anything white will be glorified at His appearing!
Jesus didn't die so we could stay weak and dirty while He is bright and shining. He paid the price that we would have the grace to get bright and shining, too...not by laying together in the dirty laundry basket calling ourselves clean by being creepily kind about the stains and stink, but by drawing on the Spirit and the Word to overcome darkness and have victory in the events designed to judge sin and illuminate righteousness!
David understood this reality. The man after God’s own heart knew exactly what God was all about 2,000 years before Jesus started the washing machine. Psalm 101, written 3,000 years ago, is all about the falling away in our generation. Look at this Psalm. David was looking way forward anticipating the hours before the arrival of the Groom back on planet earth:
Psalms 101:1-8 I will sing of mercy and justice; To You, O Lord , I will sing praises. I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure. My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land, That I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord .
I am going to sum up this profound Psalm by David in my own words to convey what I see here:
I am watching what I do, how I live, and what I rejoice in, because I am longing for your return, God. I am especially careful in my own house…your house…God. I don’t let the wicked stuff go unchecked there, God, because I am committed to my heart being pure and the hearts of those you love being safe. I watch what the people around me are doing…especially the ones who claim to know you and love you like I do. I am seriously going to fight against wickedness by being careful who I run with. I am not going to wink, smile, and overlook wickedness in my house…your house…God. For the slanderers, I am going to destroy their place by exposing them. As for the proud and haughty, I am not going to pretend we are friends. Instead, I am going to look for people faithful to truth. Those are the ones I will let come close to me in friendship and in service. Those trying to completely follow you…they are the ones I am going to partner with, not those who pretend to love you but are clearly only doing what makes them more comfortable, or look more important or good. I am going to destroy the influence of the liars…cut them off before they grow too tall, by speaking the truth to them.
This is intense, but this is exactly what Jesus is releasing into His Church in this hour all over the globe. It has always been God’s plan that this reality, which started in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, would mature in our day. The first coming of Jesus, which marked the "conception" of the Day of the Lord, was when Jesus sowed this truth into the earth. The second coming of Jesus will mark the “delivery” of the Day of the Lord, when the fruit that came from what Jesus first sowed will be harvested. The harvest process and the birth process are the two main analogies in the Bible to describe the events that span from Acts 2 until our generation. Numerous times the Bible describes the process God has selected to renew all things as being like the birth of a baby:
Romans 8:22-23 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
John 16:20-22 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.
Right now truth is emerging, just like a baby is born. The truth was planted like a seed in Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago, and it has been growing in the earth all this time. Right now the fruit of truth, called a pure and spotless Bride, is about to be delivered. Delivery is intense. What happens in the secret place of the tummy for 9 months gets all wild, crazy, exciting, frightful, painful, and joyful all in the span of a few weeks culminating in the worst and best moment ever. This is what Jesus described His coming like. This is really simple. You don’t need to be a theologian to get this. Mom’s and dad’s who have watched birth go down are way more qualified to understand the end times than the greatest Bible scholar who is unwilling to humble himself and just take the main and plain meaning of the Bible.
Truth is light, and light is being delivered…growing stronger and stronger…louder and louder…as it’s full emergence draws near. Light is OFFENSIVE to darkness, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Jesus’ Bride-to-be has a lot of dark spots still. Though light is what was planted by Jesus when He commissioned His Bride to go enforce His victory from Jerusalem outward to the ends of the earth, the enemy has planted darkness among the light.
Both the light and the dark has been maturing for 2,000 years. We got some real good stuff in the field and some real bad stuff in the field, and it is all growing in CLOSE proximity. This is what the parable of the wheat and the tares is all about.
It is important to understand the specific nature of the end time parables. Much can be learned from this simple analogy Jesus used. It contains a ton of information about why the falling away must happen!
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” …
… ” Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
This is a parable about the Church. The whole parable is about the close proximity of the sons of the evil one to the sons of the kingdom…so close their roots are right there mingling together. This is MOSTLY a parable about people that go to Church together. Many misunderstand this parable to extend back to Adam and Eve and make it an encouragement to believers and a warning to unbelievers. The Bible is a warning to believers. Unbelievers do not believe in God or believe the Bible is true. We are the warning to unbelievers. Jesus says this parable starts with the Son of Man sowing the good seed. Jesus was sowing the seed as he even told this parable.
Jesus lays out the scenario perfectly. God give us eyes to see! The field is the world..where we live. The harvest is the end of the age…the hour WE live in. The angels are the reapers. They are not plucking people by their hair off the earth. We must understand the nature of the partnership between angels and mankind as God’s government in the earth.
The angels are the ones assigned to the nations and over the resources of the earth. Good and bad angels are “wrestling” based on the intercession of the people, and the events that are culminating with that wrestling are producing the reaping. This has always worked this way, and it is driving the whole earth to the last days. Just like birth, this process intensifies…more interaction between mankind and angles will be the result. This will reap the harvest!
Look at what Daniel learned of this partnership between man and angles, and the wrestling that resulted in end time truth emerging:
Daniel 10:12-14 Then he said to me, "Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come."
The end time events are entirely driven by mankind interceding and partnering with angels, and that is what “swings the sickle” of reaping:
Revelation 7:2-3 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."
Revelation 8:3-5 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.
This concept of mankind offering prayers of intercession that move angels more and more…day and night…David called it singing in Psalm 101 because that is how Israel mostly prayed in David’s day…. is the primary reality of the pure and spotless Bride becoming pure and spotless. God is orchestrating trouble in the earth, and those who agree with Him know His plan and start doing their part, which is interceding in wholehearted love for God as their primary activity, which spills over into going out from the places of intercession and being the answers to their own prayers, as angels partner with the intercessors and open doors for us to love neighbors as we love ourselves.
Mark 12:28-34 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?" Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'HEAR, O ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE. AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these." So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." But after that no one dared question Him.
These are the two greatest commandments that will draw everyone who wants it nearer and nearer to the kingdom, and it actually starts with gathering together in unity and praying and singing together. This is exactly what David hired 24,000 people to get started in his day, called the Tabernacle of David, which released the greatest prophetic explosion of light in the darkness, recorded in the Psalms, the earth had seen to that point. THIS is what Jesus is rebuilding all over the globe for our day as a safe place…a barn, so to speak, as the intensity of the events increase:
Amos 9:9-12 "For I will give the command and will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost. But all the sinners will die by the sword—all those who say, 'Nothing bad will happen to us.' "In that day I will restore the fallen house of David. I will repair its damaged walls. From the ruins I will rebuild it and restore its former glory. And Israel will possess what is left of Edom and all the nations I have called to be Mine. " The LORD has spoken, and He will do these things.
God has told His people that His plan is a harvest plan…to “shake everything that can be shaken.” This refers to the threshing process in the time of harvest. The threshers take the grain and the stuff that gets caught up with it, then they throw the whole lot into the air and let the wind separate the good wheat from the junk, which has less weight to it. A wind of trouble, orchestrated by God, has already started blowing in a noticeable way. More intensity is coming.
This trouble, called tribulation, meant to refine the harvest, is offensive to those in the Body of Christ who do not understand the plan. Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) that this reality would create the conditions of the falling away. Now is the time to find out the answer and declare the truth within the house…like David said…so that as many as possible will be steady through the harvest season and gathered into the barns. Many oppose this message because it offends them. They are mostly more worried about what other people might think than they are worried about absolutely understanding what the Bible says about Jesus plans and humbly agreeing with them. They have their own plans for greatness they don’t want anything interrupting. God isn’t interested in the plans of men. He calls our plans rebellion if they don’t match His. The revelation of truth will expose the motivations and the strengths of everyone first in the house of God, and then later outside the house of God. How can God be just in judging the nations if His own house cannot stand in the same light? That is why tribulation starts in His house.
1 Peter 4:17-19 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now "IF THE RIGHTEOUS ONE IS SCARCELY SAVED, WHERE WILL THE UNGODLY AND THE SINNER APPEAR?" Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.
Comments
Post a Comment
I appreciate your comments.