Preparation For Return
This is Jesus' plan to prepare the earth for His return:
Isaiah 59:18-19 According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, Fury to His adversaries, Recompense to His enemies; The coastlands He will fully repay. So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.
Here are two extremes: Judgment of the enemy AND the "lifting up" a standard against "him." Who is him? The enemy...the antichrist and all those who have chosen him. The standard raised up against "him" is the Pure and Spotless Bride! Both the Bride and the enemy will be present until the end.
The antichrist has a standard of his own. Right now he is raising it up against the Church. Globally, he is actually raising up a standard more interesting to people than the Church. The antichrist's standard (and I believe he is about to reveal himself soon, years not decades) is "man-based power." The Bible says the antichrist is the poster child for a humanistic social-justice remaking of the earth. He is going to, by sheer force of diplomacy and logic and political maneuvering, make peace in Israel, save the world from near economic collapse (that he silently helped cause), redistribute wealth to the poor, and unite many people around tolerance, political correctness, and a dilution of loyalty to any one God. Loyalty to Jesus will not be a part of his plans, even though Jesus created this man, and owns all the resources this man is promising everyone else.
Opposite of God, the antichrist trades power for loyalty, as a rule. This makes him the world's final and most prolific champion for the re-distribution of wealth. The Bible says this in no less than 5 separate places, but this is the gist of the heart of antichrist:
Daniel 11:24 He shall enter peaceably, even into the richest places of the province; and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers: he shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil, and riches; and he shall devise his plans against the strongholds, but only for a time.
Daniel 11:39 Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.
"Dividing the land" for his own political gain...This is a standard the world is very interested in right now. The Church...the Bride...is supposed to be providing for the poor and increasing equity in the earth as a witness of Jesus' heart, but the antichrist will offer a harlot instead of a Bride. He will sell the world a substitute that promises the same things the Bride is supposed to be doing, but without loyalty to the groom...Jesus. This will be the last great attempt at a socialistic/communist remaking of the earth. It is actually well under way right now.
Remarkably, less than 60 years ago, being a socialist or communist in the US was grounds for being thrown in jail and put on trial nationally (remember McCarthy?). Now, promising the country collectivism is one of the most popular political platforms in our country. Many people want the "rich" to pay more, and our politicians are trading promises of other people's wealth for your vote. The Bible promises the antichrist's politics will be very popular, and we can see that in the earth right now. Along with this shoving God out of the center of making the earth good, comes all the things we would expect with an absence of God: demonized arts, media, culture...an increase in theft and random acts of murder, a scarcity of resources and a consolidation of power in a few elites. It always happens this way! Nazi Germany, Stalin, Mao, Castro...the old news will be the new news one last time. This is what the Bible says: sin and unrighteousness will mature in full in the last 7 years before Jesus returns. But this "lesser standard" will begin collapsing 3.5 years before Jesus returns. This is judgment being released: God giving people what they want and all the implications that really go with making man's plans (which are really satan's plans) your strength.
BUT, at the same time, the Bride is going to mature in righteousness in the last 7 years! By living in agreement with God, coming out of what the rest of the world is doing...going hard after God...the Bride will grow in unity and holiness. The Sermon on the Mount is the foundation of this last move of God in His people. This is Jesus' plan: The Bride will be purified by either being completely devoted to chasing after Jesus, or being washed away in the intensity. This is the sifting, the great falling away Paul talked about in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, that will result in a pure and spotless Bride.
The ready Bride will be rooted and grounded on truth. She will have gotten used to fasting regularly, giving her money and time away extravagantly, forgiving those who resist her, not loving her life even to the point of death... so that as all things are shaken, only those who have chosen purity and spotlessness...who have already died to this world...will stand firm. The antichrist has nothing to take from you if you have already given it all up voluntarily:
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Jesus said the wheat, those choosing righteousness, and the tares...those in agreement with unrighteousness...will BOTH mature to fullness at the end of the age, then the tares will be weeded out and burned, and the wheat will be gathered into (raptured into) God's "barn" (his presence). This IS how it will happen. This is Jesus' plan. It is completely knowable and equally intense.
Jesus said to "be ready." This plan is so intense that people who don't intentionally know and follow the Joel 2 plan to "get ready" stand a huge chance of falling away. This is because the antichrist will use every "loyalty"...every reliance people have on the current world system...every comfort we have come to call "success" here...every lesser pleasure...as a tool to pull people into agreement with his plan to resist God. The comfort is going away, and when it does, many casual believers WILL be offended:
Matthew 24:10-13 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43 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.” ’..... ” 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!
Jesus said the wheat is staying in place until the end, and the tares are gathered out first. This agrees with every other place this idea is described in the Bible. That is why the Sermon on the Mount and the Book of Revelation both offer the same promise of blessing:
Revelation 1:3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
Matthew 5:19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus' plan is clear and knowable. As the Bride dies to the lesser pleasures God is going to fascinate her with the superior pleasure of being in His presence more and more...night and day...
Amos 9:10-11 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’ “On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old;
Isaiah 59:18-19 According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, Fury to His adversaries, Recompense to His enemies; The coastlands He will fully repay. So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.
Here are two extremes: Judgment of the enemy AND the "lifting up" a standard against "him." Who is him? The enemy...the antichrist and all those who have chosen him. The standard raised up against "him" is the Pure and Spotless Bride! Both the Bride and the enemy will be present until the end.
The antichrist has a standard of his own. Right now he is raising it up against the Church. Globally, he is actually raising up a standard more interesting to people than the Church. The antichrist's standard (and I believe he is about to reveal himself soon, years not decades) is "man-based power." The Bible says the antichrist is the poster child for a humanistic social-justice remaking of the earth. He is going to, by sheer force of diplomacy and logic and political maneuvering, make peace in Israel, save the world from near economic collapse (that he silently helped cause), redistribute wealth to the poor, and unite many people around tolerance, political correctness, and a dilution of loyalty to any one God. Loyalty to Jesus will not be a part of his plans, even though Jesus created this man, and owns all the resources this man is promising everyone else.
Opposite of God, the antichrist trades power for loyalty, as a rule. This makes him the world's final and most prolific champion for the re-distribution of wealth. The Bible says this in no less than 5 separate places, but this is the gist of the heart of antichrist:
Daniel 11:24 He shall enter peaceably, even into the richest places of the province; and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers: he shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil, and riches; and he shall devise his plans against the strongholds, but only for a time.
Daniel 11:39 Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.
"Dividing the land" for his own political gain...This is a standard the world is very interested in right now. The Church...the Bride...is supposed to be providing for the poor and increasing equity in the earth as a witness of Jesus' heart, but the antichrist will offer a harlot instead of a Bride. He will sell the world a substitute that promises the same things the Bride is supposed to be doing, but without loyalty to the groom...Jesus. This will be the last great attempt at a socialistic/communist remaking of the earth. It is actually well under way right now.
Remarkably, less than 60 years ago, being a socialist or communist in the US was grounds for being thrown in jail and put on trial nationally (remember McCarthy?). Now, promising the country collectivism is one of the most popular political platforms in our country. Many people want the "rich" to pay more, and our politicians are trading promises of other people's wealth for your vote. The Bible promises the antichrist's politics will be very popular, and we can see that in the earth right now. Along with this shoving God out of the center of making the earth good, comes all the things we would expect with an absence of God: demonized arts, media, culture...an increase in theft and random acts of murder, a scarcity of resources and a consolidation of power in a few elites. It always happens this way! Nazi Germany, Stalin, Mao, Castro...the old news will be the new news one last time. This is what the Bible says: sin and unrighteousness will mature in full in the last 7 years before Jesus returns. But this "lesser standard" will begin collapsing 3.5 years before Jesus returns. This is judgment being released: God giving people what they want and all the implications that really go with making man's plans (which are really satan's plans) your strength.
BUT, at the same time, the Bride is going to mature in righteousness in the last 7 years! By living in agreement with God, coming out of what the rest of the world is doing...going hard after God...the Bride will grow in unity and holiness. The Sermon on the Mount is the foundation of this last move of God in His people. This is Jesus' plan: The Bride will be purified by either being completely devoted to chasing after Jesus, or being washed away in the intensity. This is the sifting, the great falling away Paul talked about in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, that will result in a pure and spotless Bride.
The ready Bride will be rooted and grounded on truth. She will have gotten used to fasting regularly, giving her money and time away extravagantly, forgiving those who resist her, not loving her life even to the point of death... so that as all things are shaken, only those who have chosen purity and spotlessness...who have already died to this world...will stand firm. The antichrist has nothing to take from you if you have already given it all up voluntarily:
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Jesus said the wheat, those choosing righteousness, and the tares...those in agreement with unrighteousness...will BOTH mature to fullness at the end of the age, then the tares will be weeded out and burned, and the wheat will be gathered into (raptured into) God's "barn" (his presence). This IS how it will happen. This is Jesus' plan. It is completely knowable and equally intense.
Jesus said to "be ready." This plan is so intense that people who don't intentionally know and follow the Joel 2 plan to "get ready" stand a huge chance of falling away. This is because the antichrist will use every "loyalty"...every reliance people have on the current world system...every comfort we have come to call "success" here...every lesser pleasure...as a tool to pull people into agreement with his plan to resist God. The comfort is going away, and when it does, many casual believers WILL be offended:
Matthew 24:10-13 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43 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.” ’..... ” 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!
Jesus said the wheat is staying in place until the end, and the tares are gathered out first. This agrees with every other place this idea is described in the Bible. That is why the Sermon on the Mount and the Book of Revelation both offer the same promise of blessing:
Revelation 1:3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
Matthew 5:19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus' plan is clear and knowable. As the Bride dies to the lesser pleasures God is going to fascinate her with the superior pleasure of being in His presence more and more...night and day...
Amos 9:10-11 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’ “On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old;
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