Even so, come Lord
Right now, God’s people are at a crossroads. There are many voices in the land… “go this way”…”this is what the Lord is doing”… “this is what the Lord is saying.” Which voice is right? Who knows the plans the Lord has laid for this hour?
I have an opinion. You have an opinion. If we collected 50 people who have chosen Jesus as their savior and asked them what the Lord would have us focus on today, we would probably get 10 different answers…maybe even 50.
BUT, this dynamic is changing. As the world becomes more intense, it will drive more and more people into a united decision BEFORE the return of Jesus.
Joel 3:9-15 Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up. 10 Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, 'I am strong.' " 11 Assemble and come, all you nations, And gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD. 12 "Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow— For their wickedness is great." 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness.
This decision is entirely related to believing in the wisdom and strength of mankind to produce good life in the garden BEFORE Jesus returns vs. those who claim that peace and safety is impossible UNTIL HE returns, and that very process of His return REQUIRES a response to get ready to meet great glory with clean hands and pure hearts.
In a practical sense…especially within the Church in this hour, one way this “valley of decision”…or narrowing reality of the choice before us… is expressed is in the question of the hour: is the Lord saying “peace and safety…good times are ahead” or is the Lord saying “repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand”? The more intense things get, the more intensely people will crowd around these two opinions. It is very important to understand what the Lord says about the events at hand.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-9 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Paul is pleading with the believers to not CHOOSE wrath that isn’t appointed to them. The way you AVOID wrath that is going to touch the world is to agree with Paul that “peace and safety” come AFTER Jesus returns and that what is required is to separate, be sanctified, from what the world is saying and doing by believing, doing, and saying what the WORD is saying..as unpopular as it may be…in LOVE.
THIS is the process that actually incrementally releases peace and safety in agreement with Jesus’ return. When this process is done correctly, the world should hate you, but also find your words appealing to the hidden desire for truth knit into the heart and some will choose truth. This is what Jesus prayed for you and me:
John 17:13-21 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. 20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
What Jesus prayed for his friends is a very disruptive reality…it will cause much agitation, first in the Church and then in the world. Jesus is getting a pure and spotless Bride. She gets clean by the agitation of the promised events, mixed with the soap of the word and the hot water of the Spirit…just like you wash stuff:
Ephesians 5:25-32 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 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. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 "FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH." 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
The cleansing that is so disruptive is all to prepare for a wedding! Weddings are intense. If you have ever gotten married, you know what I mean. They are a glorious promise, but they mix two families and agitate them together, the future before the couple is weighty…a lot is on the line…which adds to the pressure, and the covenant is resisted by satan.
Weddings are great AND terrible. Do you know what to expect? If you don’t, you are very likely to be offended. Right now the decision between believing in peace or trouble is really a satanic setup to get a bunch of people offended…with JESUS! His coming produces OFFENSE…even in the midst of the miraculous glory happening! Oh Lord, help us! The offense comes from false expectations:
Matthew 11:3-6 and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" 4 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."
Jesus warned that His second coming would be marked by offense, then betrayal, literal murder within the Church, and then false prophets would ramp up filling the vacuum confusion will leave in its wake:
Matthew 24:8-14 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
This is why the false messages of “breakthrough” without repentance, unity without sanctification (being separated together around the word in the midst of rejection by the world), glory without tribulation, and Jesus without judgment are SO dangerous:
Jeremiah 14:10-16 Thus says the LORD to this people: "Thus they have loved to wander; They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, And punish their sins." 11 Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for this people, for their good. 12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence." 13 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.' " 14 And the LORD said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. 15 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land'—'By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! 16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; they will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.'
A lot of the prophets of this generation LIE IN HIS NAME. This was promised for 1,000’s of years. Do you watch for it? Do you know what to watch for? One of them main things to watch for is the promise of peace BEFORE the return of Jesus. Jesus is returning in a VERY defined process. The true prophetic message is one of getting ready to endure trouble and that glorious endurance will prepare first a Bride, and the a planet, to receive Jesus.
Over and over God warned about prophets prophesying peace and safety when trouble was coming. There is not one warning in the Bible to prophets warning of trouble when peace and safety are coming…
For thousands of years our generation has been prophesied to. Do you see the old testament as prophesying to you? It is! Do we know what those prophecies are? Many of the prophecies concerning the generation that witnesses the Lord’s return are literally thousands of years old. Along the way they have seen partial fulfillment… a down payment of the future fullness… like a crop growing in a field first fruits, but not the harvest. Even the Acts 2 outpouring was only the beginning of what is to come in full:
Acts 2:15-17 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 'AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, SAYS GOD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS.
Paul clarified this after the outpouring:
Romans 8:22-23 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 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.
None of the prophecies concerning the judgment of the age of sin, the judgment of Israel, or the coming of the Messiah as king of kings have been fully fulfilled…none of them. So this is the question we should all ask of the Lord and also of each other: what is coming?
What is coming is the giving of mankind over to their desire. The lifting of the hand of restraint from the latent desire in man’s heart. This will unlock the fullness of every prophecy…both the promises and the warnings:
2 Thessalonians 2:6-11 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
God judges the earth by giving the people of the earth what they want. That is why it is so important to put restraints on what we want.
Right now, much of the world is trying to convince everyone to simply go after their wants… but the Lord has warned for thousands of years to literally deny the flesh…restraint what it wants… so that your spirit is free to get what IT wants.
If you don’t have a paradigm for where things are going, then you have little incentive to restrain the flesh…not just the appetites of the body, but also the fallen desires of the mind, will and emotions. Not everything you want is a good thing to want. For centuries God has hampered and restrained the most dark of desires. But this is changing…you are in the hour very dark desires will be realized. You see it, right? Murder, theft, lust, delusion, rebellion …these are being unrestrained in this hour. Everyone is getting what they want… everyone is being given over to the leadership they want. This is incredibly bad news for the world in the short, and VERY good news for the Garden in the long term. Some want Jesus’ leadership, and that desire will outshine every dark desire, but the PROCESS of this happening is very painful. Revelation of what is coming is what causes us to put on restraint:
Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.
So, what IS the process that is going to release, and then judge, for good or bad, every desire? It is described most CONCISELY in the 22 Chapters of the Book of Revelation….but it spans literally every book of the Bible. Revelation is the harvest the rest of the word has been growing.
What will it take to release desire and then demonstrate to all of creation the difference between GOOD desire and EVIL desire? Remember, that is the fruit mankind ate and the fruit that is being dealt with in the story the Bible is telling. Mankind ate the fruit and is going to have to deal with the reality of THAT knowledge. What will it take to deal with that fruit? The answer to this is clear: 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and 7 bowls….21 incremental steps of released desire and the death and glory that release will produce. It is the lifting of restraint that will make the people of the earth that want the good light glow with bright glory, and the people of the earth that still want evil burn in that same light.
GLORY IS TRIBULATION. They are the same thing seen from two different perspectives of desire.
Jesus is returning…that means infinitely bright light is coming back into the garden so it can live. You MUST get ready for that reality:
1 Timothy 6:11-16 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, 15 which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
The Bible is telling ONE story. And that story has a conclusion. The Bible isn’t a cookbook for how to have a good life now. It isn’t a dictionary of spiritual terms, or an accounting of ancient history. It is telling the story of the repair of a marriage, and it ends with a wedding…the rejoining of what man separated in Genesis 3. No one who loves their spouse would settle for having someone pick them up on the day of their wedding and drop them off at the ceremony unprepared… wearing the same things they have always worn, thinking the same things they have always thought… someone truly in love looks forward to the day of the wedding and does all they can to be ready for that day.
Am I ready? No… not even close. Even so, come Lord…help me be ready.
Revelation 22:19-21 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. 20 He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
I have an opinion. You have an opinion. If we collected 50 people who have chosen Jesus as their savior and asked them what the Lord would have us focus on today, we would probably get 10 different answers…maybe even 50.
BUT, this dynamic is changing. As the world becomes more intense, it will drive more and more people into a united decision BEFORE the return of Jesus.
Joel 3:9-15 Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up. 10 Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, 'I am strong.' " 11 Assemble and come, all you nations, And gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD. 12 "Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow— For their wickedness is great." 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness.
This decision is entirely related to believing in the wisdom and strength of mankind to produce good life in the garden BEFORE Jesus returns vs. those who claim that peace and safety is impossible UNTIL HE returns, and that very process of His return REQUIRES a response to get ready to meet great glory with clean hands and pure hearts.
In a practical sense…especially within the Church in this hour, one way this “valley of decision”…or narrowing reality of the choice before us… is expressed is in the question of the hour: is the Lord saying “peace and safety…good times are ahead” or is the Lord saying “repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand”? The more intense things get, the more intensely people will crowd around these two opinions. It is very important to understand what the Lord says about the events at hand.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-9 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Paul is pleading with the believers to not CHOOSE wrath that isn’t appointed to them. The way you AVOID wrath that is going to touch the world is to agree with Paul that “peace and safety” come AFTER Jesus returns and that what is required is to separate, be sanctified, from what the world is saying and doing by believing, doing, and saying what the WORD is saying..as unpopular as it may be…in LOVE.
THIS is the process that actually incrementally releases peace and safety in agreement with Jesus’ return. When this process is done correctly, the world should hate you, but also find your words appealing to the hidden desire for truth knit into the heart and some will choose truth. This is what Jesus prayed for you and me:
John 17:13-21 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. 20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
What Jesus prayed for his friends is a very disruptive reality…it will cause much agitation, first in the Church and then in the world. Jesus is getting a pure and spotless Bride. She gets clean by the agitation of the promised events, mixed with the soap of the word and the hot water of the Spirit…just like you wash stuff:
Ephesians 5:25-32 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 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. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 "FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH." 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
The cleansing that is so disruptive is all to prepare for a wedding! Weddings are intense. If you have ever gotten married, you know what I mean. They are a glorious promise, but they mix two families and agitate them together, the future before the couple is weighty…a lot is on the line…which adds to the pressure, and the covenant is resisted by satan.
Weddings are great AND terrible. Do you know what to expect? If you don’t, you are very likely to be offended. Right now the decision between believing in peace or trouble is really a satanic setup to get a bunch of people offended…with JESUS! His coming produces OFFENSE…even in the midst of the miraculous glory happening! Oh Lord, help us! The offense comes from false expectations:
Matthew 11:3-6 and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" 4 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."
Jesus warned that His second coming would be marked by offense, then betrayal, literal murder within the Church, and then false prophets would ramp up filling the vacuum confusion will leave in its wake:
Matthew 24:8-14 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
This is why the false messages of “breakthrough” without repentance, unity without sanctification (being separated together around the word in the midst of rejection by the world), glory without tribulation, and Jesus without judgment are SO dangerous:
Jeremiah 14:10-16 Thus says the LORD to this people: "Thus they have loved to wander; They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, And punish their sins." 11 Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for this people, for their good. 12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence." 13 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.' " 14 And the LORD said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. 15 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land'—'By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! 16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; they will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.'
A lot of the prophets of this generation LIE IN HIS NAME. This was promised for 1,000’s of years. Do you watch for it? Do you know what to watch for? One of them main things to watch for is the promise of peace BEFORE the return of Jesus. Jesus is returning in a VERY defined process. The true prophetic message is one of getting ready to endure trouble and that glorious endurance will prepare first a Bride, and the a planet, to receive Jesus.
Over and over God warned about prophets prophesying peace and safety when trouble was coming. There is not one warning in the Bible to prophets warning of trouble when peace and safety are coming…
For thousands of years our generation has been prophesied to. Do you see the old testament as prophesying to you? It is! Do we know what those prophecies are? Many of the prophecies concerning the generation that witnesses the Lord’s return are literally thousands of years old. Along the way they have seen partial fulfillment… a down payment of the future fullness… like a crop growing in a field first fruits, but not the harvest. Even the Acts 2 outpouring was only the beginning of what is to come in full:
Acts 2:15-17 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 'AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, SAYS GOD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS.
Paul clarified this after the outpouring:
Romans 8:22-23 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 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.
None of the prophecies concerning the judgment of the age of sin, the judgment of Israel, or the coming of the Messiah as king of kings have been fully fulfilled…none of them. So this is the question we should all ask of the Lord and also of each other: what is coming?
What is coming is the giving of mankind over to their desire. The lifting of the hand of restraint from the latent desire in man’s heart. This will unlock the fullness of every prophecy…both the promises and the warnings:
2 Thessalonians 2:6-11 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
God judges the earth by giving the people of the earth what they want. That is why it is so important to put restraints on what we want.
Right now, much of the world is trying to convince everyone to simply go after their wants… but the Lord has warned for thousands of years to literally deny the flesh…restraint what it wants… so that your spirit is free to get what IT wants.
If you don’t have a paradigm for where things are going, then you have little incentive to restrain the flesh…not just the appetites of the body, but also the fallen desires of the mind, will and emotions. Not everything you want is a good thing to want. For centuries God has hampered and restrained the most dark of desires. But this is changing…you are in the hour very dark desires will be realized. You see it, right? Murder, theft, lust, delusion, rebellion …these are being unrestrained in this hour. Everyone is getting what they want… everyone is being given over to the leadership they want. This is incredibly bad news for the world in the short, and VERY good news for the Garden in the long term. Some want Jesus’ leadership, and that desire will outshine every dark desire, but the PROCESS of this happening is very painful. Revelation of what is coming is what causes us to put on restraint:
Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.
So, what IS the process that is going to release, and then judge, for good or bad, every desire? It is described most CONCISELY in the 22 Chapters of the Book of Revelation….but it spans literally every book of the Bible. Revelation is the harvest the rest of the word has been growing.
What will it take to release desire and then demonstrate to all of creation the difference between GOOD desire and EVIL desire? Remember, that is the fruit mankind ate and the fruit that is being dealt with in the story the Bible is telling. Mankind ate the fruit and is going to have to deal with the reality of THAT knowledge. What will it take to deal with that fruit? The answer to this is clear: 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and 7 bowls….21 incremental steps of released desire and the death and glory that release will produce. It is the lifting of restraint that will make the people of the earth that want the good light glow with bright glory, and the people of the earth that still want evil burn in that same light.
GLORY IS TRIBULATION. They are the same thing seen from two different perspectives of desire.
Jesus is returning…that means infinitely bright light is coming back into the garden so it can live. You MUST get ready for that reality:
1 Timothy 6:11-16 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, 15 which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
The Bible is telling ONE story. And that story has a conclusion. The Bible isn’t a cookbook for how to have a good life now. It isn’t a dictionary of spiritual terms, or an accounting of ancient history. It is telling the story of the repair of a marriage, and it ends with a wedding…the rejoining of what man separated in Genesis 3. No one who loves their spouse would settle for having someone pick them up on the day of their wedding and drop them off at the ceremony unprepared… wearing the same things they have always worn, thinking the same things they have always thought… someone truly in love looks forward to the day of the wedding and does all they can to be ready for that day.
Am I ready? No… not even close. Even so, come Lord…help me be ready.
Revelation 22:19-21 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. 20 He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
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