tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31687838045306874342024-02-20T07:35:15.279-08:00growandknowTRUST AND BELIEVE HIM.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.comBlogger843125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-90274230176031483652015-08-05T15:57:00.000-07:002015-08-05T15:57:02.389-07:00Knowing and Growing In Grace... A Life Long Journey<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I started blogging about God and His Word in 2008, after I could find no one around me who wanted to discuss things like God and His Word. By going back in time in my blog posts you can actually see how I knew, and have grown on this subject. You can read some things back in 2008 that I no longer believe. I would like to ask you, if you come across this site, to go on over to my latest blog.<br />
This is what I have learned since 2008. I now use this growandknowblogspot.com to introduce people<br />
To my latest understanding in my life long journey of knowing and growing.<br />
It is a wonderful thing to grow in grace and knowledge. Come on over and join me...<br />
I have joyfully discussed God and His Word with about 50,000 people around the world<br />
With my blogs, and I have made many wonderful friends in Christ Jesus. If you are saved and a BELIVER, don't worry. Just keep seeking truth in His Word and proving all things with it. Keep on growing in grace and knowledge. Christ will sort out and remove all false things we believe and replace it with His Truth at the Beama. See ya there in Glory. Amen<br />
Sincerely,<br />
In Christ Jesus<br />
Your brother Mark<br />
<br />
Come to<br />
appearinglorytimeline.blogspot.com<br />
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Knowing and<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-56454437599023784552014-09-08T14:22:00.002-07:002014-09-08T14:22:39.256-07:00A Letter From Grampy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A letter from Grampy,<br />
When I was a child, I thought like a child. As a child, I went about life care free. I played and<br />
looked around me in ignorant bliss, without a care in the world. My brother and I<br />
were adopted, but I can still remember, clear as day, my great Aunt Gaga lifting me up on her knee and reading to me out of the Bible. She read to me the story of Noah and the flood.<br />
That stuck with me and God was real to me, even as a small child. As for Gaga reading to me From the Bible, I am so grateful.<br />
When we were children, we took much for granted in life. We just sort of went with the FLOW in life around us. At the time, we did not have much choice, did we? Most, sort of stick with what ever lot life gives us. If ones family is Catholic, or Mormon or of little faith at all, or even Muslim, most sort of just get busy going through life and accept what ever they see in religion around them as right. Sadly, one grows up and most likely decides to go on doing the same as their family did in the area of TRADITION and RELIGION.<br />
Without our knowing it, God has a plan for each of us to discover Him. This process is on going, and may take longer for some then it does for others. For most people, they appear to be quite happy going with the FLOW of TRADITIONS around them. They may look around them a bit and begin to WONDER about things. Maybe, after a while, begin to ask a few questions when they see something weird or strange to them. Most of the time they do not get clear and straight answers to those questions, either from their parents or from the pastors later on.<br />
As for me, two things were stamped by God into my being that have helped me move more and more into the direction God was CALLING me into. Number one, that He EXISTED and number two, that the Bible was the INSTRUCTION book for me to learn about Him.<br />
Early on, thankfully, that was a gift to me from God, that has more and more directed my paths around me. The Scripture formed the basis for me as to what I believe and believed in the past.<br />
As a young adult, having finished my first college degree, and starting out in life with a young family, I was very hungry for TRUTH about God. As an adult, I really wanted to know the answer to many things about the traditions I saw around me in life. My wife and I went to<br />
church together in a Lutheran assembly. We both served as youth leaders in the church<br />
for several years. As I received teaching from this church and looked around at some of its teachings, many things just did not seem RIGHT to me. In fact, many things were strange to me and just did not add up right to me. I would soon learn from other relatives, that there were different ways of thinking about what TRADITIONS we should follow. I would even get in the mail all sorts of things that I wondered about. So many traditions and so many different ways of thinking about those traditions. It seemed like I was not getting any real answers that made good since to me.<br />
Finally one day, I sort of through up my hands and I asked God in the most sincere prayer to Him up to that point in my life.....<br />
I asked God to REVEAL TRUTH to me about Him. If He was really real, I asked Him to show me.<br />
I asked Him to give me TRUE WISDOM about Him.<br />
At that point in my life, God began to answer that prayer. It was not answered right a way.<br />
God started me on a wonderful journey that I discovered will last me a life time.....<br />
and beyond into the AGES a head.<br />
I soon discovered that to be true to what God was revealing to me, I would have to buck the systems around me. I discovered that I would have to make hard choices about traditions around me that were not always pleasing to those around me in my family or job areas.<br />
God has continued to lead me on into His WORD, sorting out and answering more and more about God and what is TRUTH.<br />
I soon discovered that, for the most part, most people around me were quite happy with<br />
just going with the FLOW. They were not really interested in learning about any wonderful nuggets of truth I might discover along the path of life. I was given a great hunger to discover TRUTH.<br />
Since most people around me were not interested in talking about traditions around them and the things about God, in 2008, I decided to reach out in the COSMOS to who ever would be INTERESTED in listening on the World Wide Web. I started a blog to pass on nuggets of knowledge about God I would be growing in.<br />
I first began to post information about the RAPTURE that I was discovering on my journey<br />
to UNDERSTAND that topic. I had just finished reading all the novels called "LEFT BHIND".<br />
I discovered to my surprise, that this topic was quite controversial to most BELIEVERS.<br />
Over time, and looking at all sides of the issue, I have finally sorted out the THINGS THAT<br />
DIFFER in Scripture about that issue and now KNOW when and just whom the RAPTURE<br />
Is for.<br />
I have discovered a great truth, also. Hind sight is twenty twenty.<br />
My first blog was called "growandknow.blogspot.com"<br />
It takes much time and tireless EFFORT, much prayer, and hard work to DISCOVER TRUTH!<br />
If one was to start with my first post and read on through all my posts in order,<br />
one will discover great information on my journey that were pieces of a puzzle leading to truth. The knowledge God is revealing in SCRIPTURE is vast and it is deep.<br />
It is so vast and takes so much time to cover, that we soon discover that as we develop<br />
KNOWLEDGE about a topic at certain points, we are (not always far enough along)<br />
on our quest at any given time, to see enough pieces of the puzzle to get a clear view of the truth on that topic. There is nothing wrong with saying that we are not yet sure about certain areas or topics of study. We are learning to sort out in Scripture, THINGS THAT DIFFER. We are learning that if we really want to know the truth about any given area of study in SCRIPTURE, we must do as the Scripture says as we dig and seek out its nuggets of truth.<br />
1. Prove all things.<br />
2. Get all the facts before giving an answer.<br />
3. Learn to find the context of any given Scripture .<br />
All scripture is for us to grow in knowledge, but not all Scripture is ADDRESSED to us<br />
directly. Example..... Scripture might say to go out and sacrifice an animal to God.<br />
But, that does not mean God is telling you in this AGE OF GRACE to go out and<br />
do the same.<br />
The above being said, you will discover that my blog posts are a record of my incomplete<br />
journeys on discovering the truth on any given topic, rather it be on the RAPTURE,<br />
on The second Coming Parousia, life and death, immortal life, eternity, ages, the APPEARING, RIGHT DIVISION, churches, Israel,God, Salvation, etc, etc......<br />
That is why what I posted in my first month of posting articles in 2008, may or not<br />
be what I feel is more complete truth on an area I posted yesterday.<br />
In my quest for TRUTH, I soon discovered I needed to start a new blog.<br />
My second blog is called<br />
"fathernowisee.blogspot.com"<br />
At the time I started my second blog, through hindsight, I did not yet know<br />
I did not yet see ALL....<br />
And now I know it will take a life time of continually searching out, proving all things,<br />
looking at both sides of an issue, all sides of an issue, searching the deep depths of Scripture, learning the more you know, maybe even the less you know as yet.<br />
My third blog I started was after I went through and out of MID-ACTS, after discovering<br />
Paul and his wonderful revelations directly from God, after Christ being raised to heaven<br />
AT THE RIGHT HAND of God. I discovering a vital part of knowing TRUTH in Scripture,<br />
that being RIGHTLY DIVIDING Scripture.<br />
My third blog on my lifetime journey in discovering TRUTH is called....<br />
"appearinglorytimeline.blogspot.com"<br />
May I suggest a few wonderful topics that are vitally important on a journey to seeking out<br />
TRUTH in Scripture:<br />
Study Replacement Theology, RIGHT DIVISION, the two ministries of Paul before and after the book of Acts, Grace, Salvation, life and death, resurrection as apposed to perishing.<br />
Number one thing to do is STRIVE not only to BELIEVE in God,<br />
but to most of all, BELIEVE GOD...! The TRADITIONS of MEN will lead you away from truth, not to IT! Grace and peace to you and God Bless you.<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Your brother Mark<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-15484306800750662272014-08-24T07:14:00.001-07:002014-08-24T07:14:21.066-07:00Paul<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The story of Paul, leading right up to the Church Age today....<br />
Enjoy....<br />
<br />
http://www.plainerwords.com/artman2/publish/2013/The_Apostle_Paul_s_Autobiography.shtml<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-61090575614522313452014-06-28T08:48:00.001-07:002014-06-28T08:48:17.488-07:00Formerly Mid Acts - NOW ACTS 28: Is the creation of 2Cor.5:17 and the new creature of Gals.6, the creation of the one new man found in Ephesians 2?<a href="http://midactsdisp.blogspot.com/2013/12/is-creation-of-2cor517-and-new-creature.html?m=1">Formerly Mid Acts - NOW ACTS 28: Is the creation of 2Cor.5:17 and the new creature of Gals.6, the creation of the one new man found in Ephesians 2?</a><br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkQU49RbLr53uNrLTpNN0EygbqRJJyOarYZN82bY8lIBvsS-QuAzdWUz18t32kZgPujLZyMDvzpB9_9IGLbN454xiIJDbvLTtpsc0j4QbLgQcU5xJkSW4cHfTdszUeGxBcN8KTkaF5HNM/s1600/bible+key.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkQU49RbLr53uNrLTpNN0EygbqRJJyOarYZN82bY8lIBvsS-QuAzdWUz18t32kZgPujLZyMDvzpB9_9IGLbN454xiIJDbvLTtpsc0j4QbLgQcU5xJkSW4cHfTdszUeGxBcN8KTkaF5HNM/s1600/bible+key.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-38745525969344905402014-06-26T12:15:00.002-07:002014-06-26T12:15:23.654-07:00Ok...Just When Did Our Church Age Begin?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="fcg"><span class="fwb" style="font-weight: bold;"><a class="profileLink" data-ft="{"tn":"l"}" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1104327831" href="https://www.facebook.com/YourBrotherMark" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Mark Phillips</a></span> added 3 new photos.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When did the Church begin?<br />There are three main views as to when the Church which Christ is head<br />Began. Probably over 95 percent of believers are confused on this issue, and fail to rightly divide the Scripture to determine what things belong to Israel and what things belong to the Church in our age. That 95 percent fails to see that Acts 2 did not begin the Church today, but was prophecy taking place for the Jewish believers<br />called the Church of a God in the book of Acts.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The second group of believers try to see the difference in Paul's messages to the Kingdom Church of a God and the Church today. Most of these believers believe the Church today started around Acts 9-13. They believe that through out the book of Acts, Paul moved gradually away from the Gospel for the earthly Kingdom Church of a God and finally preached only to the Gentiles. The following is a general article that outlines their belief as to when the Church for our age began. Unfortunately, they fail to see that all through the entire book of Acts, Paul's hope was entirely in line with the earthly hope of the Jewish kingdom Church. One can read in Acts many times through out Acts, in Paul's very own words, stating how his hope was of his father Abraham. It was not until Paul's last effort to get through to the Jewish leaders to accept their Messiah, that they refused to believe and God cut them off calling them "not my people " in Acts 28:28.<br /><a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gracetruth.co.uk%2FBacknumbers%2FVol%252045%2520No%25201.pdf&h=dAQH9k9nV&enc=AZOoegAi0ruhwmB8g9SCuiwpaeb0ShTrHbdj6-RO9Uqv-T68LisZLF8CxB-GF_HNULudsQfgDTwAYLEABrY6KgOj4SPJGKzzqW-gXToVUjnQZG6NgAXNprutw9tstawaQG604ILoK0igCOAG6I4fRWs1&s=1" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.gracetruth.co.uk/Backnumbers/Vol%2045%20No%201.pdf</a><br />It was not until after Israel was cut off from God for the time being, in Acts 28:28, that God revealed to Paul in Prison about a new Creation, the Church which Jesus is the head. Finally One New Man, where both Gentile and Jewish believers are equal in stature. We finally read about this mystery that was finally revealed to Paul for the first time in history. It was a secret hid in the mind of a God and not revealed in the Old Testament or in prophecy about God's church for our age. Our Church age did not begin until after Acts 28:28.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When Did the Church of the One Body Begin?</span></div>
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We believe the passage in Acts 28:28-31 is when the Apostle Paul declares to the Jewish leadership that the final opportunity for their acceptance of Jesus as Christ is over. From that point on the message for the plan of salvation is now authorized to be sent from the Gentiles, apart from Israel. Prior to this point in scripture, salvation was always either through or with the Jew. At this point the nation of Israel has been put on hold but will be still receive the promises and blessings made to them through Abraham in the future (when Elijah restores the revealed plan of God). However, for the first time in scripture, Paul declares that whosoever will accept Christ, they become a member of the body of Christ where Christ is the head. This is now the beginning of the church which is of His body which has its own calling, blessings, and inheritance separate from Israel. To explain this “hidden plan”, Paul then begins to write the final 7 books in scripture, chronologically (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Titus, Philemon, 1 and 2 Timothy.) The reason we describe this calling as the hidden purpose is that it was hidden in God, before the foundation of the world and not revealed until Paul was told to do so in Ephesians 3:9. The primary name given to us by the Apostle Paul for the special body of truth during this timeframe is called “The Mystery” (Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:25-26) and it is our calling for today. There are several positions in Christendom on when the Church of the One Body began. Those would be in Acts 2, Acts 9, Acts 13, and Acts 28. We obviously claim it was after the announcement Paul made in Act 28:28.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-56236504880854073802014-02-23T12:27:00.003-08:002014-02-23T12:27:52.582-08:00Rapture or Appearing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Gathering</span> Together Or Manifestation?</span></span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">These are the hopes respectively of the dispensation of promise and the mystery. The gathering together (some say rapture) concerns an earth people, who here on the earth expect the coming of the King. Among those who go out to meet Him at His coming are the five wise virgins; the foolish ones not being ready, miss it. The manifestation concerns those whose citizenship is in the heavens, who are seated with Christ at the right hand of God. The manifestation is to be in the heaven of the heavens and to the principalities and powers there. Those who take part in it are those who are there, those whose life is hid with Christ in God.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So the gathering together is for earth-dwellers; and the manifestation is for heaven-dwellers. The gathering together was not a secret hid in God from ages and generations. This resurrection and the change that is a part of it are revealed from the Book of Genesis and throughout the Scriptures. <span class="tt" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Hebrews 11:10</span> clearly tells us that Abraham looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. On that day, when the Lord comes to meet them in the air, the dead in Christ will be resurrected and the faithful ones who are alive will live forever, that is, be changed (<span class="tt" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">1 Cor. 15:52</span>). But the Truth that there would be a people that should have a resurrection in glory and be manifested with Christ the Head was not known to other ages and generations till revealed by the Apostle Paul after <span class="tt" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Acts 28:28</span> (see <span class="tt" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Eph. 3:4-5</span>) .</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the gathering, the believers are caught up (<span class="tt" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">1 Thes. 4:16-17</span>) to the air (not heaven) to meet the Lord as He comes to take over the kingdoms of this earth and rule on the throne of His father David. When Satan is cast out and his angels with him, then the steadfast believers will meet Christ in the air where they will rule and reign with Him as their reward for their faithful stand. All, the guests and the virgins will then return with Him to the earth where a marriage supper will be observed and the King will take over His rule on the earth. At one time the people of Israel were invited to this marriage, but they refused the invitation and even killed some of the servants who gave it. But a day is coming when other servants (angels) will come and gather scattered Israel from the highways (among the nations) and bring them to the supper. These are the nation, a nation born in a day, who will bring forth the fruits of the kingdom, taking the place of those rejected. These are earth-dwellers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But the manifestation does not pertain to the earth and those that dwell in it. Christ will emerge from the Shekinah glory to be manifested (seen) in the heaven of heavens and it is promised that when He is manifested, then His Church which is His body will be manifested with Him. The members, both living and dead, are there in purpose and potential as their lives are hid with Christ in God and will continue there till their resurrection and manifestation in that place (<span class="tt" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Col. 3:1-4</span>). Nowhere do we find any of these will be resurrected here on the earth and then have to be transported to heaven for they are seated in Christ Jesus in the heaven of heavens now.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Share With Others</span></h4>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-84470851469697364892014-02-21T20:15:00.001-08:002014-02-21T20:15:57.742-08:00Day of Christ Not Day of Lord<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">With the dawning of </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">the Day of Christ, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">there will be an unbelievable </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">restoration of all things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> During the Day of Christ,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> all mankind will be </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Spiritually Illuminated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> a. Psalm 22:27-28.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> b. Psalm 25:8-9.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> c. Psalm 33:8.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> d. Psalm 67:7.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> e. Psalm 76:8.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> f. Psalm 97:4,6.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> g. Luke 17:24.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> h. Psalm 98:1-3.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> i. Isaiah 52:10.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> j. Luke 3:5-6.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> "Why doesn’t God do something?"</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">"If God exists, why doesn’t He act."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Biblical answer</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> to all such questions </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and statements is ....</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> GOD IS GOING </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">TO INTERVENE....</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He speaks of a time</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> when: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Evildoers shall be cut off"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> (Psa. 37:9)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is when the enemy </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">comes in like a flood </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">that the Spirit of the Lord </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">lifts up a standard against him </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">(Isa. 59:19). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The result of this ...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">divine action will be </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">that men shall fear </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">the name of the Lord </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">from the west to the east.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Col 3:4 </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When Christ, who is our life, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">shall be manifested, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">then shall ye also </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">with him be manifested in glory. (RV)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When the Lord is manifested</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> in the heavenly places, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">the world will be morally, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">spiritually and physically dark </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and in that darkened day </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">a light will blaze forth, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">our Lord shall be visible </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and “every eye shall see Him”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The heavens will be peeled back </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and they will see Him </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">sitting on the right hand of God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This “appearing” of our Lord and Head </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">is far above the clouds, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and the air of 1 Thess.4. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is before He begins </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">His descent to the earth. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the day; in the moment </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">our Lord is manifested </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">on the right hand of God,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> we shall be there in our seats </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">manifested with Him. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">What an honor, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">what a moment of unimaginable joy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Let each one of us </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">set our affection </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“where Christ is sitting </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">at the right hand of God”, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">for there, in front of God’s face, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">we have been raised </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and seated to “appear with Him”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That moment of His appearing </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">is when our hope will be realized.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In Ephesians we read </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">of the wonderful new hope </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">set before us believers today;</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eph 2:1 And He has made you alive, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">who were once dead </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in trespasses and sins,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eph 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">for His great love with which He loved us</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eph 2:5 (even when </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">we were dead in sins) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">has made us alive together with Christ </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">(by grace you are saved),</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Eph 2:6 and In Ephesians we read </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">of the wonderful new hope </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">set before us believers today;</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 13.8px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 13.8px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eph 2:1 And He has made you alive, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">who were once dead </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in trespasses and sins,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eph 2:4 But God, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">who is rich in mercy, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">for His great love </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">with which He loved us</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eph 2:5 (even when </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">we were dead in sins)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> has made us alive </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">together with Christ </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">(by grace you are saved),</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Eph 2:6 and has raised us up </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">together and made us sit </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">together in the heavenlies </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in Christ Jesus,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eph 2:7 so that in the ages </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">to come He might show </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">the exceeding riches of His grace </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in His kindness toward us </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">through Christ Jesus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">God has declared that we </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">have been quickened (made alive) </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in Christ, we have been raised together, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and seated together in the heavenlies </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in Christ, exactly the same place </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">where Christ has been raised </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and seated at the Father’s right hand, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">see Ephesians 1:19-21. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There, where Christ is seated </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">above all of the heavenly </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">rulers and authorities, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">is our glorious inheritance </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in front of God’s face. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There our blessings are located </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and there we are the heirs of God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Is it any wonder </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Paul brings this wonderful section </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">to a close with these verses;</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eph 2:8 For by grace you are saved </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">through faith, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and that not of yourselves, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">it is the gift of God,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eph 2:9 not of works, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">lest anyone should boast </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">has raised us up together </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and made us sit together </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eph 2:7 so that in the ages to come </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He might show the exceeding riches </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">of His grace in His kindness </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">toward us through Christ Jesus.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">God has declared that we have </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">been quickened (made alive) </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in Christ, we have been raised together, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and seated together in the heavenlies </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in Christ, exactly the same place </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">where Christ has been raised </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and seated at the Father’s right hand, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">see Ephesians 1:19-21. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There, where Christ is seated </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">above all of the heavenly </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">rulers and authorities, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">is our glorious inheritance </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in front of God’s face. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There our blessings are located </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and there we are the heirs of God. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Is it any wonder </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Paul brings this wonderful section </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">to a close with these verses;</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eph 2:8 For by grace you are saved </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">through faith, and that not of yourselves, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">it is the gift of God,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eph 2:9 not of works, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">lest anyone should boast.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Since God’s Word says we, in Christ, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">have been raised and seated </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in the heavenlies where Christ </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">is seated at the right hand of God, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">exactly when will we literally </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">be seated there </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in the heavenlies or heavenly places? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In other words, when will </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">our hope become sight? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When will our faith be realized? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When will God’s Word </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">regarding us come to pass? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When will we be seated there </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in our wonderful new bodies </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“fashioned like His glorious body”? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">What is the timing of our hope?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The answer to this</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> is found in Colossians 3:1-4 </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">which flows wonderfully </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">onwards from Ephesians 2; </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Col 3:1 If then (or since,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> if does not always mean doubt) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">you were raised with Christ, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">seek those things which are above, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">where Christ is sitting </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">at the right hand of God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Col 3:2 Be mindful </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">of things above,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> not on things on the earth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Col 3:3 For you died, and your life </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">has been hidden with Christ in God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Col 3:4 When Christ </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">our Life is revealed, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">then you also will be revealed </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">with Him in glory.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here we are clearly told </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">that “WHEN” our Lord, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Head is revealed, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“THEN” we, the Church which is His Body, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">will also be revealed “WITH HIM”. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That is the timing of our hope; </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">the revealing of our Lord. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here are one or two other versions:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">seek those things which are above, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">where Christ sitteth </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">on the right hand of God.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Col 3:2 Set your affection </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">on things above,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> not on things on the earth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Col 3:3 For ye are dead, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and your life is </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">hid with Christ in God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">with him in glory. (KJV)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">PLAINER WORDS …THE DAY OF JESUS CHRIST</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:19-21).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Apostle Peter, in Acts 3:19-21, was divinely enabled to speak concerning “the times of refreshing” which is to come from the presence of the Lord. He was talking about the “restitution of all things” which was, perhaps, the major theme of the Hebrew Bible because he stated that God spoke about it “by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” In Paul's writings, he was inspired to refer to this future time as the Day of Christ. This term is grossly misunderstood by most Bible students. Failure to “see” its’ significance results in misunderstanding the plot of the Bible. The Lord Jesus Himself spoke about His Coming Day, but most Christians are unaware of Him having a Day. We’re not talking about a twenty-four hour day but a period of time marked by the Supremacy of Christ in all matters—the Day of Christ.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Lord Jesus told the Pharisees in John 8:56; “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad.” Jesus Christ said that Abraham saw (i.e. perceived) His Day. How did Abraham “see” His Day? God revealed Christ’s Day to him; hence, Abraham saw the Day, by faith, and was “glad.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Notice Paul's references to the Day of Jesus Christ:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">1 Cor 1:8. “Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">1 Cor 5:5. “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">2 Cor 1:14. “As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are our’s in the day of the Lord Jesus.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Phil 1:6. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Phil 1:10. “That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ:”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Phil 2:16. “Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Day of Christ begins with the appearing (the epiphaneia) and kingdom (basileia ) of Jesus Christ (2 Tim.4:1) and the blazing forth of the glory of the great God, even our Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). This is when the hope of the calling of the Mystery is realized. This is when our faith gives way to sight. This is the next event on God's prophetic clock. This is when Christ Jesus, in His role as the Head of the high calling, convenes [calls into session] His Ecclesia (Church) which is His Body. As the Great Convoker, He, alone, calls His Ecclesia into session. This marks His assumption of sovereignty over the nations. Those who have been memberd into “the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” will either be raised out from among the dead, or will be changed from mortal to immortal, and will take their place, or station, in His Government.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">For two-thousand years, Christ has silently been building His Ecclesia (Church). Ever since Acts 28, He has been calling and choosing those who are to be revealed as members of this present body of believers who are to be “called on high.” He is silently calling and building His Ecclesia on the grounds of Present Truth. The religious Christian world is unaware of this. Most Christians believe He is active in building the visible church, and they are unaware that the visible church is the work and contrivance of men.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Lord is building upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, “In Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In Whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph.2:21-22). The hope of the present calling will be realized when 2 Timothy 4:1 and Titus 2:13 take place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Most all Bible commentaries squeeze Truth which is related to the Kingdom of God into the Millennium. To do so, overlooks one of the great dispensations found in all of Scripture; the dispensation of the Kingdom of God. This dispensation is referred to as:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The latter days (Jer.23:20; 30:24; Dan.2:28; 10:14. Hos.3:5).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The last days (Gen.49:1; Isa.2:2; Mic.4:1; Acts 2:17). These must not be confused with the “last days” (2 Tim. 3:1) of this present dispensation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">My Day, as previously pointed out in John 8:56.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The regeneration as found in Matthew 19:28. Regeneration means to generate again. This speaks of the restoration of the earth and mankind to their pristine state as it existed before the Flood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The times of refreshing; Peter uses this expression in Acts 3:19 to highlight one aspect of the Kingdom of God when it comes. The refreshing times speaks of the “curse” being lifted which is intimately associated with the “manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19) and mankind being delivered from “the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The times of restitution of all things, Peter declares in Acts 3:21, was a subject that all of God’s holy prophets spoke about “since the world began.” Literally, it is the “times of the restoration of all things.” The Lord Jesus Christ mentioned the fact that Elijah truly shall come first and restore all things (Matt. 17:11). This fact makes this restoration to precede the Second Coming of Christ.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Concurrently with the many events taking place when Christ Jesus assumes sovereignty over mankind and the nations, the Holy Spirit (the Comforter) will actively and aggressively restrain evil (John 16:7-13). People who sin will die for their own sin (Jer. 31:30). The Spirit will hinder transgressions because man’s conscience will have been quickened (made alive).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Day of Christ is synonymous with all of the above, including the Kingdom of God, and comes before the tribulation and the second coming (Parousia) of Christ.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">During the Day of Christ, heaven and earth will be governed by Christ Jesus from His heavenly Throne. This dispensation is set in contrast to the Millennium or the Day of the Lord. To say the two are the same is to say that “one-plus-one equals one.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Most all Christians realize that the Day of the Lord (i.e. the Tribulation and the Millennium) begins with revolution, bloodshed and violence which will be an unprecedented event in all of human history. The Old Testament has a lot to say about this Day—the Day of the LORD. Isaiah speaks about the Lord's imposition upon the world of His Millennial Rule; “For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with wrath, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord will be many” (Isa. 66:15-16).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Psalm 50:3 says; “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: A fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him.” Psalm 97:3; “A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about.” These verses relate to Jesus Christ Personally returning to earth to put an end to the nations’ revolt against His Rule from heaven (2 Thess. 2:1-12).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When the Kingdom of God comes to Israel, it comes silently, “without observation” (Lu.17:22). It will not come suddenly or dramatically. Its’ coming is likened; “as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear” (Mk. 4:26-28). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When the Kingdom comes, it comes without calamity with no harm being done to anyone. Notice a much overlooked passage; “He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory” (Matt.12:19-20). Matthew quotes from Isaiah 42:1-4 which informs us that the Kingdom (i.e., God’s Government) begins with the Gentile nations. Israel will not be a nation at this time. They will still be scattered, or dispersed, among the nations. While ruling over the nations, the Lord begins His work of re-gathering the Jews. Over time, He leads them back to the Promised Land ─as believers. No unbelieving Jew will be brought back to Palestine; no, not one! The unbelieving will remain scattered among the nations. [This brings up the question; ‘What about the Israel that now is?’ All we’ll say for now is; the present Israel is not of God’s doing. When He brings them back, there will be no disputes regarding borders or whose land it is].</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezk.20:38).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">If words have any meaning, then we must conclude that something begins silently, mysteriously, without observation, without strife, without Christ being heard, and without damage being inflicted. On the other hand, something else begins (i.e. the Lord’s Day) with a colossal display of vengeance, wrath, and cataclysmic punishment which will be openly displayed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is a contradiction to insist that the two descriptions relate to the beginning of the same event. In plainer words, the Prophetic Word informs us that there is coming the Day of Christ which is another term for the coming Kingdom of God. We are met with a non-Scriptural term, The Millennium, which relates to the 1000 year reign of Christ upon the earth. The Biblical term for this is the Day of the Lord. It is essential to distinguish between the two. The Holy Spirit does. We should do so, also.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">If we force all truths connected to the Day of Christ into the Day of the Lord, the result is utter confusion. Not only that, but we rob the Lord Jesus Christ of His Day of Exaltation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">During the Day of Christ, He will draw, or compel, all men unto Himself. He will be exalted from the earth as every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord to the Glory of God the Father. His Day begins with His “appearing and Kingdom,” and He begins to judge the quick and the dead. (2 Tim.4:1). This is when the glory of the great God, even Jesus Christ our Savior, blazes forth (Titus 2:13). Isaiah speaks of this event in 40:5; “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” and at the same time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">What is seen is the glory of the LORD, not the LORD descending from Heaven; to this, Numbers 14:21 agrees; “But truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.” When the Kingdom comes, “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters covers the sea” (Hab.2:14). The Psalmist says; “And blessed be His glorious Name forever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory” (72:19). The world will experience the revealing of His Glory without Christ Jesus leaving His Heavenly Throne. The shining forth of the glory of God takes place before the Day of the LORD. It is noted in Isaiah's vision that the seraphim see Christ's Day and say; “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Hosts: the earth is full of His glory.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">During the Day of Christ, the “times of refreshing comes from the presence of the LORD.” All things are rejuvenated while the Heavens retain Christ (Acts 3:19-21). The pristine, pre-Noah flood conditions will be re-created (Isa. 65:17; 66:22).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When the Day of Christ begins, all of mankind will be enlightened by the Holy Spirit and realize that Jesus Christ is LORD! Christ will begin His benevolent rule of the world. Then, He will begin converting His ancient people, Israel. Read Ezekiel 20:23-33, and notice how the Lord begins a work in their hearts and will lead them back into the Holy Land as a Christ-believing people. As the Day of Christ draws to a close, the restraints of the Spirit are gradually withdrawn.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then, there comes a “falling away” from the enlightenment. Apostasy will set in which leads to the rise of the man of sin. Satan deceives the world except for the elect. Nations conspire against the rule of Christ's Government and desire to overthrow His rule (Ps. 2). Because of the revolt, the Lord sends a strong delusion so that most people should believe “the Lie.” The Great Tribulation begins. The “abomination of desolation” takes place in the re-built Temple. The Lord Jesus returns and destroys the Wicked One with the brightness of His coming, and He condemns all who chose to believe not the truth and had pleasure in unrighteousness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This ends the Day of Christ, and the Day of the LORD begins. The Great Tribulation ends with the Parousia [the Second Coming] of Christ (1Thess. 4:16).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Satan will be bound and is cast into the bottomless pit. Christ will rule the nations “with a rod of iron;” sitting upon the Throne of David in Jerusalem for 1000 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Lord Jesus Christ rules and governs the world from Heaven during the Day of Christ. But, He rules the world from Jerusalem during the Day of the Lord.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">~END~</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Plainer Words Online</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Tom L. Ballinger</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">No. 156</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">August 9, 2006</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">PLAINER WORDS …THE DAY OF JESUS CHRIST</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:19-21).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Apostle Peter, in Acts 3:19-21, was divinely enabled to speak concerning “the times of refreshing” which is to come from the presence of the Lord. He was talking about the “restitution of all things” which was, perhaps, the major theme of the Hebrew Bible because he stated that God spoke about it “by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” In Paul's writings, he was inspired to refer to this future time as the Day of Christ. This term is grossly misunderstood by most Bible students. Failure to “see” its’ significance results in misunderstanding the plot of the Bible. The Lord Jesus Himself spoke about His Coming Day, but most Christians are unaware of Him having a Day. We’re not talking about a twenty-four hour day but a period of time marked by the Supremacy of Christ in all matters—the Day of Christ.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Lord Jesus told the Pharisees in John 8:56; “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad.” Jesus Christ said that Abraham saw (i.e. perceived) His Day. How did Abraham “see” His Day? God revealed Christ’s Day to him; hence, Abraham saw the Day, by faith, and was “glad.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Notice Paul's references to the Day of Jesus Christ:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">1 Cor 1:8. “Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">1 Cor 5:5. “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">2 Cor 1:14. “As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are our’s in the day of the Lord Jesus.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Phil 1:6. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Phil 1:10. “That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ:”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Phil 2:16. “Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Day of Christ begins with the appearing (the epiphaneia) and kingdom (basileia ) of Jesus Christ (2 Tim.4:1) and the blazing forth of the glory of the great God, even our Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). This is when the hope of the calling of the Mystery is realized. This is when our faith gives way to sight. This is the next event on God's prophetic clock. This is when Christ Jesus, in His role as the Head of the high calling, convenes [calls into session] His Ecclesia (Church) which is His Body. As the Great Convoker, He, alone, calls His Ecclesia into session. This marks His assumption of sovereignty over the nations. Those who have been memberd into “the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” will either be raised out from among the dead, or will be changed from mortal to immortal, and will take their place, or station, in His Government.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">For two-thousand years, Christ has silently been building His Ecclesia (Church). Ever since Acts 28, He has been calling and choosing those who are to be revealed as members of this present body of believers who are to be “called on high.” He is silently calling and building His Ecclesia on the grounds of Present Truth. The religious Christian world is unaware of this. Most Christians believe He is active in building the visible church, and they are unaware that the visible church is the work and contrivance of men.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Lord is building upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, “In Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In Whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph.2:21-22). The hope of the present calling will be realized when 2 Timothy 4:1 and Titus 2:13 take place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Most all Bible commentaries squeeze Truth which is related to the Kingdom of God into the Millennium. To do so, overlooks one of the great dispensations found in all of Scripture; the dispensation of the Kingdom of God. This dispensation is referred to as:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The latter days (Jer.23:20; 30:24; Dan.2:28; 10:14. Hos.3:5).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The last days (Gen.49:1; Isa.2:2; Mic.4:1; Acts 2:17). These must not be confused with the “last days” (2 Tim. 3:1) of this present dispensation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">My Day, as previously pointed out in John 8:56.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The regeneration as found in Matthew 19:28. Regeneration means to generate again. This speaks of the restoration of the earth and mankind to their pristine state as it existed before the Flood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The times of refreshing; Peter uses this expression in Acts 3:19 to highlight one aspect of the Kingdom of God when it comes. The refreshing times speaks of the “curse” being lifted which is intimately associated with the “manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19) and mankind being delivered from “the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The times of restitution of all things, Peter declares in Acts 3:21, was a subject that all of God’s holy prophets spoke about “since the world began.” Literally, it is the “times of the restoration of all things.” The Lord Jesus Christ mentioned the fact that Elijah truly shall come first and restore all things (Matt. 17:11). This fact makes this restoration to precede the Second Coming of Christ.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Concurrently with the many events taking place when Christ Jesus assumes sovereignty over mankind and the nations, the Holy Spirit (the Comforter) will actively and aggressively restrain evil (John 16:7-13). People who sin will die for their own sin (Jer. 31:30). The Spirit will hinder transgressions because man’s conscience will have been quickened (made alive).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Day of Christ is synonymous with all of the above, including the Kingdom of God, and comes before the tribulation and the second coming (Parousia) of Christ.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">During the Day of Christ, heaven and earth will be governed by Christ Jesus from His heavenly Throne. This dispensation is set in contrast to the Millennium or the Day of the Lord. To say the two are the same is to say that “one-plus-one equals one.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Most all Christians realize that the Day of the Lord (i.e. the Tribulation and the Millennium) begins with revolution, bloodshed and violence which will be an unprecedented event in all of human history. The Old Testament has a lot to say about this Day—the Day of the LORD. Isaiah speaks about the Lord's imposition upon the world of His Millennial Rule; “For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with wrath, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord will be many” (Isa. 66:15-16).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Psalm 50:3 says; “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: A fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him.” Psalm 97:3; “A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about.” These verses relate to Jesus Christ Personally returning to earth to put an end to the nations’ revolt against His Rule from heaven (2 Thess. 2:1-12).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When the Kingdom of God comes to Israel, it comes silently, “without observation” (Lu.17:22). It will not come suddenly or dramatically. Its’ coming is likened; “as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear” (Mk. 4:26-28). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When the Kingdom comes, it comes without calamity with no harm being done to anyone. Notice a much overlooked passage; “He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory” (Matt.12:19-20). Matthew quotes from Isaiah 42:1-4 which informs us that the Kingdom (i.e., God’s Government) begins with the Gentile nations. Israel will not be a nation at this time. They will still be scattered, or dispersed, among the nations. While ruling over the nations, the Lord begins His work of re-gathering the Jews. Over time, He leads them back to the Promised Land ─as believers. No unbelieving Jew will be brought back to Palestine; no, not one! The unbelieving will remain scattered among the nations. [This brings up the question; ‘What about the Israel that now is?’ All we’ll say for now is; the present Israel is not of God’s doing. When He brings them back, there will be no disputes regarding borders or whose land it is].</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezk.20:38).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">If words have any meaning, then we must conclude that something begins silently, mysteriously, without observation, without strife, without Christ being heard, and without damage being inflicted. On the other hand, something else begins (i.e. the Lord’s Day) with a colossal display of vengeance, wrath, and cataclysmic punishment which will be openly displayed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is a contradiction to insist that the two descriptions relate to the beginning of the same event. In plainer words, the Prophetic Word informs us that there is coming the Day of Christ which is another term for the coming Kingdom of God. We are met with a non-Scriptural term, The Millennium, which relates to the 1000 year reign of Christ upon the earth. The Biblical term for this is the Day of the Lord. It is essential to distinguish between the two. The Holy Spirit does. We should do so, also.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">If we force all truths connected to the Day of Christ into the Day of the Lord, the result is utter confusion. Not only that, but we rob the Lord Jesus Christ of His Day of Exaltation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">During the Day of Christ, He will draw, or compel, all men unto Himself. He will be exalted from the earth as every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord to the Glory of God the Father. His Day begins with His “appearing and Kingdom,” and He begins to judge the quick and the dead. (2 Tim.4:1). This is when the glory of the great God, even Jesus Christ our Savior, blazes forth (Titus 2:13). Isaiah speaks of this event in 40:5; “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” and at the same time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">What is seen is the glory of the LORD, not the LORD descending from Heaven; to this, Numbers 14:21 agrees; “But truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.” When the Kingdom comes, “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters covers the sea” (Hab.2:14). The Psalmist says; “And blessed be His glorious Name forever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory” (72:19). The world will experience the revealing of His Glory without Christ Jesus leaving His Heavenly Throne. The shining forth of the glory of God takes place before the Day of the LORD. It is noted in Isaiah's vision that the seraphim see Christ's Day and say; “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Hosts: the earth is full of His glory.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">During the Day of Christ, the “times of refreshing comes from the presence of the LORD.” All things are rejuvenated while the Heavens retain Christ (Acts 3:19-21). The pristine, pre-Noah flood conditions will be re-created (Isa. 65:17; 66:22).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When the Day of Christ begins, all of mankind will be enlightened by the Holy Spirit and realize that Jesus Christ is LORD! Christ will begin His benevolent rule of the world. Then, He will begin converting His ancient people, Israel. Read Ezekiel 20:23-33, and notice how the Lord begins a work in their hearts and will lead them back into the Holy Land as a Christ-believing people. As the Day of Christ draws to a close, the restraints of the Spirit are gradually withdrawn.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then, there comes a “falling away” from the enlightenment. Apostasy will set in which leads to the rise of the man of sin. Satan deceives the world except for the elect. Nations conspire against the rule of Christ's Government and desire to overthrow His rule (Ps. 2). Because of the revolt, the Lord sends a strong delusion so that most people should believe “the Lie.” The Great Tribulation begins. The “abomination of desolation” takes place in the re-built Temple. The Lord Jesus returns and destroys the Wicked One with the brightness of His coming, and He condemns all who chose to believe not the truth and had pleasure in unrighteousness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This ends the Day of Christ, and the Day of the LORD begins. The Great Tribulation ends with the Parousia [the Second Coming] of Christ (1Thess. 4:16).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Satan will be bound and is cast into the bottomless pit. Christ will rule the nations “with a rod of iron;” sitting upon the Throne of David in Jerusalem for 1000 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Lord Jesus Christ rules and governs the world from Heaven during the Day of Christ. But, He rules the world from Jerusalem during the Day of the Lord.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">~END~</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-179344620622116372014-02-08T06:05:00.000-08:002014-02-08T06:05:42.183-08:00A Testimony In Christ Jesus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My Testimony<br />
<br />
I praise God for leading me on a journey that has led me<br />
to understand what God is doing today.<br />
Many years ago in my first year after graduating from college, the days of Noah, God led me to desire to know Him. I really wanted to know if God was real and I asked God to give me wisdom to know and understand God.<br />
That journey has led me closer and closer to Him. He led me through<br />
areas that taught me not only about Him, but various factions that hold the world captive to this very day. That wisdom I asked for, did not come instantly. God knew that the web of darkness the world is trapped in, is so vast, it would take time and experience, as He brought me out of it. It takes time to see and hear a little, here and there a little, and recognize what I was in ..... and to compare the counterfeit with the REAL thing.<br />
To make a long story short, I really desired to grow and know in that wisdom of God. It took my whole life until the pieces of the grand puzzle have come together in His Manifold Wisdom, that He has revealed to me and the Church Which Is His Body today. It indeed is like a great mystery that was hidden from me for a long time. Only God can make it understandable via His Holy Spirit. I guess you can call me a seeker of truth. Back at the beginning of my journey, I was not finding it (TRUTH) in orthodox Christendom. There were very many questions and things I saw being done that did not make since to me. That is why I cried out to God for answers and His Wisdom.<br />
God started me out with at least one foundational belief to hold onto, that He knew was most important. That belief was that the answers I was seeking, were to be found in His Word the Scriptures.<br />
In and around the year 2005, I was introduced to the fictional series of books called...."LEFT BEHIND". I became fascinated with the idea of the<br />
RATURE. I found that most of orthodoxy did not believe in this Rapture, as<br />
Shown in the "LEFT BEHIND" book series. This study led me into seeing some very big pieces of the grand picture of things, that I did not even know that existed. I studied into what the orthodoxy believed to be true. Topics to be understood such as Covenant Theology, Replacement Theology, Amillennialism.<br />
I found that most around me in life, were just not interested in studying about God and seeking truth. I found myself quite alone, at least, in the journey seeking Truth. For some unknown reason to me at the time, God had placed into me a desire to share what ever nuggets of truth I would find. I knew that men needed to choose to believe God and His Gospel of Salvation, the Finished Work of God on the cross.<br />
God put the idea in my head to start a blog to reach out to the world. Nobody around me desired to hear me talk about such nuggets of truth, so I would reach out to strangers. I told myself that if even one person out there was led to Salvation because of something they read in my blog, it would be worth it at the BEMA. The blog I started in 2008, is called....<br />
growandknow.blogspot.com . You can still go there and read sort of a documentation of my early studies into the Rapture and other topics God led me to study. I realized that I was not a great writer, so I decided I would post articles I found in my blog that I felt to be leading me closer to ..."TRUTH" . The first post I made was about understanding the Rapture. I was convinced at the time, that the Pre-Trib Rapure was the correct understanding of that topic. But, oh, that was just the beginning of some new and wonderful nuggets I was to uncover.<br />
I made many friends when I delved into this topic. ( I was to discover as time went on, the more truth I would learn,....THE MORE I WOULD HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN KEEPING THOSE FRIENDS OR KEEPING GOD'S TRUTH...........! For some reason my new blog remained in the top 20 of over 2500 Christian blogs for about 3 years. God led me one day to look into a topic called "HYPER DISPENSATIONALISM".<br />
There were many things in this study that I discovered were great nuggets of truth.<br />
First of all, I discovered Paul, and how significant to my journey of seeking truth were his writings....<br />
I discovered that Paul was used by God to introduce wonderful new revelations of truth for us after Christ Jesus was resurrected back to a God the Father, at His Right Hand in a Glory.<br />
During this journey of discovering Truth, I was still mixed up as to what is the Truth for us today. I was yet to be introduced into a very important nugget of truth.....<br />
"Right Division" of God's Word. At this time in the journey, I believed "Mid-Acts" DISPENSATIONAL truth, and that the Church began when Paul was converted on the Road to Damascus.... , but.....<br />
I had not yet been taught what it means to correctly cut what was for Israel and what is for us Gentiles today.<br />
Finally God led me to understand the truth about who the Rapture is for and to whom it is not for, and when it will occur in God's Timeline of events listed in Scripture. God led me to study Acts and read what actually happened in that very unique period of time in history and the Bible. I was shown by God's Holy Spirit that successive new revelations were revealed to Paul. I discovered that he was<br />
"SENT" as a messenger, an "APOSTLE" with a two-fold ministry. A ministry that was first sent to the Jews. This we find all the way through Acts to the end of Acts.<br />
God was first giving the Jews an opportunity to recognize their Messiah all through the book of Acts via Paul, pleading with them as one of their own, under the law and a fellow Jew. At the end of Acts, the Jewish leaders rejected Christ Jesus as their Messiah. Paul pronounced that what the prophets spoke of in Isaiah, that they would hear but not hear and see with their eyes and not see..... But now the truth would be sent via Paul with the second part of his ministry to the nations.<br />
Israel, in a nut shell, was rejected as God's people. They were divorced from God.<br />
They were temporarily set aside as a nation to be of no more of significance then any other nation, until the time they will recognize their Messiah in the future plan of God.<br />
I have now been introduced to a great "MYSTERY". This mystery is unique in the mysteries mentioned in Scripture before it. This "MYSTERY" was completely hid in God, not Scripture, until the fulness of time until it was revealed to Paul in prison near the end if his life. It is a gospel beyond and unique to the Gospel of Salvation.<br />
It is yet another very good news for us today about the "UNSEARCHABLE RICHES<br />
OF GOD"..... You can now join me in my journey in my new blog...<br />
appearinglorytimeline.blogspot.com<br />
<br />
May God continue to open your eyes to His wonderful Manifold Wisdom .....<br />
In TRUTH for us today... Grace and peace and great joy in searching out what is true for you today .....<br />
"18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."<br />
Very Sincerely,<br />
Your brother in Christ Jesus<br />
Mark<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-9494632765945478192014-01-23T16:28:00.001-08:002014-01-23T16:28:04.654-08:00The Secret Mystery Hid In God<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The Great Secret Mystery of the unsearchable riches of God just waiting for you to claim.....<div>
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Copy and paste the link below to unlock the secret of your future of all heavenly blessings.</div>
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This is only for believers in the Son of God.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-7471124719553096012014-01-01T21:00:00.000-08:002014-01-01T21:00:17.271-08:00The Body of Christ Which He Is The Head<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-family: Palatino, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 26px;">"THE MYSTERY" A Corporate Body, i.e., The Body of Christ<br />
This is a body of believers wherein Christ is the head -- the one who is all and in all. [Note in Eph. 4:6b that the Father also is in all, and in Eph. 1:13, so is the Holy Spirit!]<br />
It is a body wherein no nation has any advantage - no religious system has any advantage and no individual, whether bond or free, has any advantage. (Col. 3:11).<br />
This body was created, historically, post-Acts, but elected "Before the foundation (overthrow) of the world." (Eph. 1:4): a paradox - outwardly - chosen from The Revealed Plan "since or from the foundation (overthrow) of the world" (Matt. 13:35), but secretly to fulfill God's "Hidden Purpose" (Eph. 1:4). In other words, we have an election from within the elect (Eph.2:10). Hence, considering all things historically, "The Mystery" is a parenthesis in The Revealed Plan, but when seen from God's ultimate purpose (see Eph. 1:9, 10; 3:11), it is vice versa.<br />
When you think about it, it is rather humorous. The Greek word, "poiema" translated "workmanship" (Eph. 2:10), means "poem" or "poetry." As confusing as this may seem, the called-out (the corporate body of Christ, so to speak) is the Most High's "poetry." To me, and perhaps to the Creator Himself, this is just a wee bit of heaven's humor.<br />
Even so, whether humor or not, the present calling is a secret calling of our Lord in sovereign grace. Thus we are, as it were, an ambassador without portfolio (II Tim. 1:9); therefore, not a legal authority, but rather a Spirit-energized testimony of His grace.<br />
IT IS AXIOMATIC "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18). The capstone of all visions reaches its zenith in the dispensation (or stewardship, Greek word, oikonomia, or literally, "law of the house") of The Mystery, i.e., the sacred secret of Christ. This adjunct to the dispensation of grace (Eph. 3:1-3), given the Apostle Paul to complete the Word of God, has been and still remains the superlative vision which could, and would, dispel the darkness that overshadows 20th Century Christendom. Note the following difficulty.<br />
A set of circumstances, not dissimilar to now, was when Paul (some 19 centuries ago) expressed his personal musings, writing, "I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart...for Israel" (Rom. 9:1-4). Less than ten years later, the nation of Israel rejected their own scriptural promises and the fuller revelation of the Mystery. Even those who did receive Christ still clung to the New Covenant, etc., and turned away from Paul and the superlative visions of the Mystery (II Tim.1:15). Not only so, their zeal for the things of Circumcision demonstrates their influence in the early church council of 300 -325 A.D. (See our paper, " 'The Mystery' - God's Sacred Secret to Complete the Word of God.")<br />
The outcome from the traditions of those times reminds one of Laban's guile, when Jacob, who labored for "Rachel," discovered he had received "Leah." Please do not read into this anymore than is said. Otherwise, the point will be overridden.<br />
In any case, Paul at this point had become a prisoner of Jesus Christ and began to write in a time of rejection and other adversities. What did he write? "Rejoice, be anxious for nothing." Results -- the peace of God which passes all understanding was the Apostle Paul's (Phil. 4:4-7).<br />
Now, let us consider the things which differ about our subject matter: the corporate body of Christ from within the Mystery as opposed to the body of Christ in the Acts Period ( a time when the New Covenant was offered to Israel). We make a major point of the distinctions, because to treat these two as synonymous compounds the already existing error.<br />
Our comments on the corporate body, along with the scriptures, Eph. 4:14-16; Col. 3:11, declare and demonstrate an equality not found in the descriptions of the body in I Cor. 12. When you read from the prophets concerning the fulfillment of that body, you will discover that the Gentiles are actually second-class citizens (humanly speaking), even though they seem to be satisfied (Isaiah Chapters 60 and 61, Jer. 31:31-37). Whereas, the members of the corporate body are already exalted to the place where Christ is now seated: far above all principalities and powers, etc. (Eph. 1:20-23; 2:6,etc).<br />
Moreover, in the body of the New Covenant, its head has eyes and ears in its membership. In the corporate body, Christ, the Head, is ALL -- period! When you think about it, the most outstanding vision of the New Covenant body is in the Holy City New Jerusalem (Rev. 21 and 22). Please observe, even here the Gentile must come into that city through one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Whereas in the corporate body, only ONE WAY, through CHRIST, into blessing is ever even hinted! (I Tim. 2:5)<br />
Lastly -- Fruit is Fruit -- but you should never confuse apples with some other fruit. Hence, it is written: "where there is no vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18)! It is therefore required to rightly divide (cut) the Word of God!<br />
Pray about it!<br />
Mac.<br />
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Colossians 2:8.<br />
C. E. McLain 11/13/87</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-30447586599377797762013-12-03T18:43:00.001-08:002013-12-03T18:43:33.541-08:00Know Your God and Savior The First and The Last<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="userContent" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Who is your Savior and God...<br />The First and The Last....?<br />Take a few moments to see Who<br />Scripture says is your Savior and God....<br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.knowinggodintheword.org%2Faudio.html&h=WAQFmkWRp&s=1" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.knowinggodintheword.org/audio.html</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-1039007491182287812013-12-02T15:51:00.003-08:002013-12-02T15:51:38.992-08:00Power of God's Spirit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The Spirit of God will play a bigger factor in the future then you might have known....<br />
Use the link below to listen to a Bible study on this topic...<br />
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<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AppearInGloryTimeline/~3/JpuZJdD_63Y/the-power-of-holy-spirit-when-poured.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email" name="1" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">The Power of The Holy Spirit When Poured Out On All Flesh</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br />When God sends His Spirit a Second time, much will start to turn around....!<br />This will happen BEFORE the Great Day of The Lord and the Second Coming...<br />Go to this link and SEE.....!<br /><br /><a href="http://ia600404.us.archive.org/6/items/pa_archa/PA008-The-Return-of-the-Holy-Spirit-Part1.mp3" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors="true">http://ia600404.us.archive.org/6/items/pa_archa/PA008-The-Return-of-the-Holy-Spirit-Part1.mp3</a></span></div>
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The Mystery in Ephesians - Tom Ballinger</div>
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"All scripturegiven by inspiration of God andprofitable for doctrine,for reproof for correction, andfor instruction in righteousness.'' (2 Tim. 3:16)</div>
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The Mystery in Ephesians</div>
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Tom Ballinger </div>
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INTRODUCTION</div>
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This epistle was written from a Roman prison by the Apostle Paul around 64 A.D. It was written to the saints at Ephesus, and to "The faithful in Christ Jesus" anywhere. The truth contained in this epistle is the most profound truth in all the Word of God. It is the loftiest truth in the Scripture where there is no room for anything but PRAISE and PEACE from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The "Mystery'' is here revealed. It had been kept secret since the world began; not made known to the sons of men (3:5); hidden in God (3:9)., never revealed in the Scriptures, but made known to the Apostle Paul by means of a special revelation (3:3). The great "Mystery'' (i.e. the secret), is that of the Church of the "One Body'' (2:16) with Christ Jesus revealed as its Head. It concerns the "one new man'' (2: 15), (i.e. "a perfect man'') (4:1 3). It makes known a sphere of blessing "Far above all heavens'' (4:10) which had never been the subject of man's delight. But now it is made known that God has an election out of the earth that was chosen in Christ before the world began ( 1 :4). This calling is destined to occupy the heavenly places where Christ is now enthroned and seated at The Father's Own Right Hand. Those who have received the "adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself'' ( l :5) will one day be received up into glory "far above all principality and power'' ( l :21). and there to enjoy the inconceivable glory. Truth contained in this epistle is immeasurably higher than the glorious truth concerning the Kingdom.</div>
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This company of believers has already been blessed with "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places'' (1 :3). They are viewed as having been quickened, raised, and exalted together with Him. The Church of the One Body is the only company and calling of God's redeemed that is said to be "To the praise of the glory of His grace.''</div>
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Paul is given a revelation of such a nature that man and all his religion find no place for forms and ceremonies. We learn in the Ephesian Epistle that God is concerned with His own purpose. His own will, His own Son and His own inheritance.</div>
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Ephesians is for those who have enlightened eyes that they may see the revelation of the Mystery. This epistle is considered "strong meat" of the Word. It is certainly for those who have grown in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is written for those who are faithful (i.e.full of faith). It is impossible for those who still hold to ritual, rites, form and ceremony to grasp the truth recorded here. It is for those who have passed on from types and shadows and symbols. It concerns the realm of the spirit where full grown men of God are to live, even while they are tabernacling in the flesh. As the Lord Jesus Christ grants wisdom and revelation in the Word of Truth, full grown, mature men of God are to grow accustomed to seeing the things that are invisible, as they begin to move in mind, heart, and spirit among the invisible and eternal things.</div>
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This Ephesian Epistle was written after the landmark of Acts 28:28 was reached. The dispensational boundary line was crossed at Acts 28:28 and Israel's hope was left behind, unfilled and set aside. The churches which had been established during the Book of Acts found that the miraculous had ceased. Signs, wonders, and miracles were no longer the order of the day, but rather SILENCE. Perhaps the most awesome and far-reaching pronouncement made since the angels heralded the birth of Christ was made in a Roman prison when the Apostle Paul solemnly pronounced Israel's blindness in Acts 28. For with his pronouncement in Acts 28:28, Kingdom truth ended abruptly. Ephesians explains God's purpose and silence during this present age. Shortly after Paul made known to the Christians that the Lord is no longer dealing on Kingdom grounds but rather on the basis of the Mystery, they turned from him and the new revelation. Before Paul is martyred he testifies that all they that are in Asia be turned away from him (2 Tim. l :15), and all have forsaken him (2 Tim. 4:16). Most evidently, the majority of Christians in Paul's own day failed to acknowledge the landmark of Acts 28, as they do today. They took truth made known after Israel was set aside and read it back into those epistles Paul wrote before he knew the Mystery.</div>
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Paul told Timothy that as a workman that needeth not be ashamed, he must rightly divide the Word of Truth (2 Tim. 2: l 5). That is, he must differentiate between those epistles written during the age of the miraculous and those written after. This we will do as we set forth below the two sets of epistles. Recognize that the Apostle had two ministries - one during the Acts period and the other after the Acts period ended.</div>
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Ministry During the Acts Period</div>
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Past Dispensation</div>
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Galatians-Hebrews</div>
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1&2 Thessalonians</div>
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1&2 Corinthians</div>
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Romans<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ministry During the Post Acts Period</div>
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Present Dispensation</div>
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Ephesians-Colossians</div>
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Philippians</div>
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Titus-Philemon</div>
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1&2 Timothy</div>
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Present Truth is found in those epistles written after Israel was set aside. When Paul ceased being BOUND FOR ISRAEL'S HOPE and became A PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE GENTILES, he received a new and fresh revelation.</div>
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The epistles written by Paul after the Acts 28 crisis are seven in number. Five are written from prison and two are written between the Roman imprisonment recorded in Acts 28 and the imprisonment that ended in his death. Charles H. Welch gives a good outline of the seven epistles in his work entitled, "Heavenly places'' which we will set forth below.</div>
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A.Ephesians<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The dispensation of the Mystery made known to and through the Apostle, as the prisoner of Jesus Christ.</div>
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B. Philippians<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bishops and Deacons; Prize of the high calling; Work out . . . salvation; Try the things that differ.</div>
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C. Colossians<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The dispensation of the Mystery, and similar teaching to Ephesians with warning added concerning the prize. Personal exhibition of truth.</div>
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D. Philemon<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
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Teaching having personal regard to individual servants with respect to work of administration while the new teaching was being established.</div>
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A. 1 Timothy<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
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The Mystery of Godliness; Bishops and Deacons appointed; Special instructions in view of the great dispensational change.</div>
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B. Titus<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
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Bishops appointed to maintain the truth against Judaistic opposition. The truth which is after godliness.</div>
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C. 2 Timothy<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
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No Bishops or Deacons; Intensely individual. The Crown; Right Division; Opposers of the Truth.</div>
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THE SALUTATION</div>
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"PauI, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the FAITHFUL in Christ Jesus.. Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. '' 1 .1-2.</div>
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The Apostle Paul is the writer of this epistle and he says so in the salutation of the letter. Paul is writing this to the saved at Ephesus. AIl the saved are saints; "saints'' means set apart ones. You don't wait until after you are dead for some church to make you a saint. This epistle is of necessity addressed to the saved and not only that, it is addressed to the FAITHFUL. There is a big difference between being a saint and being a FAITHFUL saint. Remember that all the saved are "Saints'' but not all the saints are "FAITHFUL''. The word FAITHFUL means "believing what God has said.''</div>
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This letter is addressed to the saints , but more in particular to the ones who will believe the latest revelation from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You have many people who are saints but don't believe the latest revelation that we have from God. The Lord would have us understand and believe the latest TRUTH we have from Him. A FAITHFUL saint believes the latest report that he has heard from God. Now "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing (cometh) BY THE WORD OF GOD." (Rom. 10:17).</div>
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The Apostle Paul, as the "prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles'', has a special revelation that is connected with him as the Lord's prisoner. This special revelation given to Paul after Israel is set aside is called Paul's "prison ministry.'' It is while he is in prison that the RISEN-ASCENDED- GLORIFIED Lord Jesus Christ gives the latest revelation to Paul the Apostle. HE reveals to him a most carefully hidden secret. This secret, called "the Mystery'', has been hid in God. God the Father had kept a secret and had not made it known until He gave it to Paul the prisoner by special revelation. Paul calls this special revelation "the testimony of the Lord's prisoner'' in 2 Tim. 1:8. He tells Timothy not to be ashamed of this testimony. In PLAINER WORDS, the testimony for PRESENT TRUTH is to be found in the epistles written BY PAUL THE PRISONER, not Paul the free man. However don't misunderstand.</div>
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"All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,for reproof for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.'' (2 Tim. 3:16)</div>
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Present truth for the church which is "His body the fullness of Him that filleth all in all'' is found in this peculiar cluster of epistles we call the prison epistles. The FAITHFUL believe what is heard from God, not just that which is written for other ages and dispensations but those who believe that which was written by the Lord's prisoner. The PRISONER of the Lord is the chosen vessel to make known God's secret purpose. It is in the epistle to the Ephesians that this secret, the Mystery, is made known. The high truth concerning the Church of the One Body is explained and revealed here. The FAITHFUL recognize Paul's distinctive ministry as the great revelator of God's secret purpose. That is, the purpose that God had planned before the world began, before any promises were made to any of the "fathers''. It is only the faithful who will believe PRESENT TRUTH. That's why Paul addresses this to the saints at Ephesus and the FAITHFUL IN CHRIST JESUS.</div>
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As he always does, he bestows the blessings of "Grace, and peace'' to the readers of this epistle. Grace is, of course, the main characteristic of Paul's ministry. In Eph. 3:2, Paul says that "the dispensation of the GRACE OF GOD is given me to you-ward''. So, since God's administration of HIS program of GRACE was given to Paul to explain, it is natural that Paul opens his epistles with that famous salutation of his - GRACE BE TO YOU AND PEACE from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. You might notice that Grace and Peace has God the Father as the originator and source and this GRACE and PEACE comes through and flows out from The Lord Jesus Christ. There is no grace or peace apart from being in Christ. The unsaved have no peace with God; they are at enmity with God, but after being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1). Those that have peace with God can also have the peace of God (Phi1. 4:7).</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-87349364801277482032013-03-13T19:08:00.003-07:002013-03-13T19:08:38.335-07:00After The Present Age Of Grace<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After The Present Age of Grace </div>
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<a href="http://www.godstruthforall.com/" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0" x-apple-data-detectors="true">www.godstruthforall.com</a></div>
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The last recorded event of divine history, with the exception of Paul writing his last seven epistles, is the record found in Acts 28:25-28 of the Apostle Paul judicial pronouncement of Israel’s blindness. Since that time, for over 2,000 years, there has been no fulfillment of prophecy. Prophetically, it is as if time has stood still. The chief characteristic of this present administration could be summed up in the phrase—THE SILENCE OF GOD. During this present interlude, He has not spoken, nor has He inspired any writings. He is not actively engaged in the affairs of mankind. He does not mete out punishment upon the wicked, nor does He reward the righteous. However, He is active in administering a magnificent attribute of His, which is GRACE! However, the time is running-out on the “Clock-of-Grace.”</div>
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When the current Administration of Grace ends, Christ Jesus will bring about a New World Order which will be centered in the Kingdom of God. He will usher in a Divine arrangement in which every wrong will be made right. He will begin repopulating the world in which every human being will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father (Phil. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://1" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" x-apple-data-detectors="true">2:11</a>). This repopulation will be achieved, mostly, by means of resurrection of the righteous dead as well as “depopulation” of the living wicked who fail to submit to God’s Government and righteous rule. This is not referring to the “rapture” or “2nd Coming.”</div>
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The present kingdom of darkness will be replaced by the Kingdom of God’s Dear Son when Christ judges the living and the dead (II Tim. 4:1). This is the next prophetic scriptural event which is to occur in which Christendom seems to unashamedly ignore.</div>
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“I am conjuring you in the sight of God and Christ Jesus, Who is about to be judging the living and the dead, in accord with His advent (Epiphaneia) and His kingdom (basileia)”</div>
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2 Timothy 4:1 clearly, and unambiguously, sets forth the fact that Christ Jesus begins to review, among the dead, everyone who has ever lived, from Adam until the Appearing (epipahniea) takes place. By this review, critique, or more correctly, by this adjudication, He will determine who will qualify to live during His Kingdom Reign and who will continue to remain dead until the great white throne judgment. This determination will also be made among all of the living at that time this event is to occur. Only those who He deems worthy will enter the Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God. And, concerning the dead, only those who He deems worthy will live again in resurrection during this time. As I’ve said, the dead who are rejected remain dead until later judgment. One such example of a believer who would remain dead would be the malefactor who requested of Jesus to “remember me in your kingdom”. Because the kingdom had not been available to Gentiles until the door was opened to Cornelius, Jesus promise him a place in “paradise”. I believe this “paradise” to be the new heaven and earth of Revelation 21 NOT the new heaven and earth of the restoration of Israel (Isaiah 65 &66). Seeourstudy“TheNewHeavenandNewEarth”underthe“KingdomofGodStudies”</div>
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Those among the “living” who are unbelieving and, otherwise, disqualified will not be permitted to live under this New World Order. Thus, the Appearing/advent and Kingdom will bring about an evil-free planet-earth.</div>
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However, over time, as the earth’s population generates offspring, Satan will begin to produce his spiritual progeny from among some of the original inhabitants. Thus, he sows “tares” among the “wheat,” (see the Parable in Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) and our study “A Misunderstood Parable” on the “Kingdom of God Studies” section of our site.</div>
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We will focus on how God repopulates the earth by means of resurrections when He begins to judge the living and the dead at His Appearing and His Kingdom. The context of this repopulation is found in 1 Corinthians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://2" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2" x-apple-data-detectors="true">15:20-23</a>.</div>
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“20 But now is CHRIST risen from the dead, and become THE FIRSTFRUITS of them that slept.</div>
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21”For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.</div>
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22 “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.</div>
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23 “But every man in his own order: CHRIST the FIRSTFRUITS (those sleeping); afterward they that are Christ's at his Parousia or appearing.</div>
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In verse twenty, the Apostle Paul uses “the firstfruit” as a figure from the Law of Moses and applies it to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ therefore verse twenty addresses the resurrection of Christ. In many other translations, Christ becoming “the firstfruits” (plural) of them that slept” seems peculiar to the English ear; inasmuch as, His resurrection was singular, not plural, as “firstfruits” would seem to indicate. Other “fruits” were not raised from the dead along with Him. The Concordant Translation clarifies this point in vs. 20 but completely confuses the matter of the “each in his own class” of vs. 23.</div>
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His resurrection was the “first of its kind.” The rest of its kind will come about when “every man [is vivified] in his own order” as verse twenty-three states. The idea of Christ’s resurrection being the first of its kind is substantiated by the Old Testament phrase, “the first of the firstfruits.”</div>
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“The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God.” (Exodus <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://3" x-apple-data-detectors-result="3" x-apple-data-detectors="true">23:19</a>; & 34:26).</div>
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According to Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, the word translated as “first” is the Hebrew word, “re’shiyth,” which means, “the first of its kind.” This certainly describes the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as found in verse 20</div>
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The crucial point to understand is that the rest of the “firstfruits” were left asleep, or in the state of death when the Lord Jesus was raised. These are to be Christ’s firstfruits of verse 23 who will be the “firstfruits” of resurrection when the Pre-Parousia/Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God is ushered in.</div>
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So, we have established the fact that verse 20 deals with the resurrection of Christ Himself. What most people miss, is the fact that there are TWO CLASSES of resurrections mentioned in verse 23. They are separate and distinct. Neither of them have a reference to the resurrection of Jesus Christ since He had already been mentioned in verse 20 as being raised as “the first of the Firstfruits.” So let’s examine verse 23.</div>
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The subject of verse 23 is dealing with “Yet each [man] in his own class”</div>
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Class 1: “Christ the firstfruits”: This class of resurrections are those who are sleeping and raised each in his own class or order.</div>
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Class 2: Are “thereupon [those who are] Christ’s in His presence (Parousia) at the conclusion of the Pre- Millennial Kingdom era who are most likely the martyrs of the tribulation period.</div>
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“Each man” certainly does not apply to the Lord Jesus. He is not included. It refers to each man who is to be made alive and who will live during the Kingdom. Some translations say “each man in his own order”. The word for “order” is “tagma” (NT:5001). According to Thayer’s Lexicon, tagma is a military term “for a body of soldiers, a corps, hence, a band, troop, class.</div>
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Paul specifies several distinct bands, or classes of those raised from the dead in 1 Corinthians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://4" x-apple-data-detectors-result="4" x-apple-data-detectors="true">15:23</a>. Jesus Christ cannot be in this “class.” Therefore, to equate “Christ the firstfruit” as Christ’s Own resurrection is not logically consistent with the meaning of the text. However, this is the standard interpretation of “Christ the firstfruits” in verse 23.</div>
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The Interlinear Bible – New Testament discloses that the word, “the,” was not in the Greek text. It was added by the translators. If the phrase was literally translated, it would read, “Christ firstfruit.”</div>
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TWO CLASSIFICATIONS OF RESURRECTIONS</div>
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“Christ’s firstfruits,” is not raised all at once. When the Kingdom comes, every man who qualifies to be raised in resurrection will be made alive in his own order. Every man will belong to a God reckoned “class.” The Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary states that the Greek for “order” is “rank,” or “regiment.” So, according to this commentary, it will be “Every man in his own rank, or regiment.” This begins an orderly succession of resurrections as if in military precision. It will not be a general resurrection, but it will be each man in his own order, or rank, or regiment, or troop. They will live under the Government of the Lord Jesus Christ as He rules from heaven. Therefore, we see that there will be a series of resurrections. How many? We are not told. Over how long a period of time will this class of resurrections continue? We are not told this either. But, the “Firstfruits Classification” of resurrections will be early-on in the Kingdom of God. See endnotes [1]</div>
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The second classification is ─ those who are Christ’s at His Parousia [2nd Coming]. Their resurrection will be at the conclusion of the Kingdom—that is, the Consummation of the Kingdom when Christ will be physically <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0898438); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">“present” on the earth during the 1,000 years.</span></div>
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Of course, when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, the Ecclesia, which is His Body was not yet revealed or in view. The truth of the present administration of the Secret as outlined in Ephesians and Colossians had been concealed in God from the eons and generations. For the sake of this study, we will not consider our relationship to the resurrections, as found here in detail, other than to say that we will be changed, or made alive as per Philippians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://5" x-apple-data-detectors-result="5" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:11</a> as we relate to a prior, or out-resurrection—exanastasis. Listen to my audio entitled “Is The Resurrection of Today’s Calling Unique.”</div>
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The believers to whom Paul wrote during the Acts of the Apostles understood many things which present day dispensationalists don’t. One thing being; they knew what their hope was. Their expectation was the coming of the Kingdom of God, not the Parousia of Jesus Christ (the 2nd Coming). He will not return until long after His Kingdom has been established in the earth and Israel is established as a great nation over all the earth. The next line will illustrate the two Classes of resurrections.</div>
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Each in his own order ─── Interval during the Kingdom ─── Christ’s at His Parousia</div>
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The consummation of the Kingdom (Matthew 24:3) will be the return of Jesus Christ (i.e. the Parousia). Then, the “afterward” of 1 Corinthians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://6" x-apple-data-detectors-result="6" x-apple-data-detectors="true">15:23</a> comes into play; “thereupon those who are Christ’s at His Presence (Parousia).</div>
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“Thereupon” means after a long duration of time under the rule of Jesus Christ FROM HEAVEN, He will vivify those who were martyred “in Christ” during the Kingdom era. This occurs when He returns {i.e., His Parousia]. Those who will die “in Christ” during the Kingdom era will be the ones who will have suffered martyrdom at the hands of the warring rebels, to wit, the forces of the anti-christ. The martyr’s loved ones’ who are “surviving” should sorrow not because their loved ones will rise, again, at the Parousia of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://7" x-apple-data-detectors-result="7" x-apple-data-detectors="true">4:15-17</a>).</div>
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“For this we are saying to you by the word of the Lord, that we, THE LIVING, who are SURVIVING to the presence (Parousia) of the Lord, should by no means outstrip those who are put to repose (martyrs) for the Lord Himself will be descending from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the Chief Messenger, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead (martyrs) in Christ shall be rising first, Thereupon we, the living who are SURVIVING, shall at the same time be snatched away together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And thus shall we always be together with the Lord."</div>
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Think about this for a moment. If the “each in his own class” resurrections of I Corinthians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://8" x-apple-data-detectors-result="8" x-apple-data-detectors="true">15:23</a> doesn’t occur well before the "2nd coming", then when will “each man” be made alive in “his own class”? These classes (plural) have to be before the “presence” or 2nd Coming. There is nothing in the Bible to suggest that 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, or 1 Thessalonians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://9" x-apple-data-detectors-result="9" x-apple-data-detectors="true">4:16</a> refer to an ORDERLY SUCCESSION of resurrections at Christ’s Parousia. In fact, 1 Corinthians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://10" x-apple-data-detectors-result="10" x-apple-data-detectors="true">15:52</a> says that it will be in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. This is only 1 of the multiple “classes”.</div>
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1 Thessalonians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://11" x-apple-data-detectors-result="11" x-apple-data-detectors="true">4:16-17</a> and I Corinthians 15:51-52 describe the same resurrection “at His presence”</div>
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I Thessalonians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://12" x-apple-data-detectors-result="12" x-apple-data-detectors="true">4:16-17</a> “For the Lord Himself will be descending from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the Chief Messenger, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead (martyrs) in Christ shall be rising first, Thereupon we, the living who are SURVIVING, shall at the same time be snatched away together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And thus shall we always be together with the Lord."</div>
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I Cor. 15:51-52 “Lo! a secret to you am I telling! We all, indeed, shall not be put to repose, yet we all shall be changed, in an instant, in the twinkle of an eye, at the last trump. For He will be trumpeting, and the dead will be roused incorruptible, and we shall be changed."</div>
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The above two verses do not describe every man being made alive, in his own order, as 1 Corinthians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://13" x-apple-data-detectors-result="13" x-apple-data-detectors="true">15:23</a> does.</div>
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In this 1 Corinthians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://14" x-apple-data-detectors-result="14" x-apple-data-detectors="true">15:20-23</a>, we have a historical account (verse 20) of Christ Himself being raised out-from- among the dead in 29 A. D. Then, we have a prophetic mention of the resurrections of “Christ’s anointed firstfruits,” then, many years “thereupon,” “they that are Christ’s at His Coming [Parousia],” verse 23. Think about it, if the expectation of today is a resurrection of Christ’s “2nd Coming” as Christendom supposes, then when did the “each in his own order” occur?</div>
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All of this has been said in order to point out that, according to God’s Word, there will be Pre-Parousia resurrections which will repopulate the earth for the Kingdom of God. The Ecclesia, which is His Body (Eph. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://15" x-apple-data-detectors-result="15" x-apple-data-detectors="true">1:22-23</a>), will not be part of the each in his own class resurrections of Christ’s Firstfruits, even though some teachers think so. We will be graced with a prior and more excellent resurrection, that is, one that is more noble in distinction and character than that of the Firstfruits Resurrection of previous administrations and dispensations of God. (The resurrections of the present Ecclesia of His body will be associated with Paul’s resurrection as mentioned in Philippians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://16" x-apple-data-detectors-result="16" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:11</a>).</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-91143232580452205462013-02-24T07:17:00.003-08:002013-02-24T07:17:38.086-08:00Appear In Glory<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Friday, August 25, 2006<br /><br />PLAINER WORDS … SLEEPING CHRISTIANS AWAKE!<br /><br />“But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: ‘Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’” (Eph. 5:13-14) NIV.<br /><br />We believe it is high time for Christians to face the facts of Scripture. The next MAJOR PROPHETIC EPISODE to take place is “His Appearing and His Kingdom” (2 Tim. 4:1). Evangelical Christians of all stripes, and this includes dispensationalists, have clung to the false claim that the 2nd Coming of Christ is the next event on the Biblical calendar. O sleeper, arise, and Christ shall give you light.<br /><br />The word, “appearing,” is from the Greek word “epiphaneia.” The Holy Spirit searched the words of man and selected “epiphaneia” to describe the event that will end the Dispensation of the Mystery. Now, if that is the word the Spirit of Truth chose to use in Holy Writ to explain to us how the “Age of Grace” is to end, then we should acknowledge it. When this present dispensation ends, we, the members of the Church over which Christ Jesus is the Head, will enter into our inheritance and glory. The idea of His “Epiphaneia” (His Appearing) should be forefront in our hearts and minds. Why? Because, if we LOVE HIS APPEARING (EPIPHANEIA), the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will give us, along with Paul, “a crown of righteousness” (2 Tim. 4:8) on the Day of His Epiphany.<br /><br />There is not an English word equivalent to the Greek word—“Epiphaneia.” The Greeks believed in their “mythological” gods. The other day we counted one-hundred-six of their gods, by name, as they were listed on a website. The Greeks believed the gods to be active in the affairs of men. The Greeks believed that the gods would, at certain times, “miraculously” come down from heaven to help them; they called this intervention an “EPIPHANEIA.” This word is translated as “APPEARING” in our Bible.<br /><br />The Apostle Paul solemnly warned us that in the “last days” of the Dispensation of the Mystery, “perilous times shall come” (2 Tim. 3:1). The world will be supernaturally delivered from the perilous, fierce, and dangerous times by the Appearing” (“Epiphaneia”) of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. Not by His 2nd Coming, this comes approximately 700 years after His “Epiphaneia.”<br /><br />Our English word, “Epiphany,” comes from the Greek, “Epiphaneia.”<br /><br />The rescue of the world from the “perilous times” ushers in the “Kingdom of God.” The Lord Jesus Christ will then reign over the earth from Heaven’s Throne for hundreds of years [perhaps, as many as seven-hundred years].<br /><br />It will be after the long duration of the Pre-Parousia Kingdom of God that the faithful in the world will begin to look for, and anticipate, the PROMISED COMING of Christ. This Coming is the “Parousia” of Christ. The “Parousia” is the word used for the 2nd Coming of Christ. He comes to earth to be present on the Throne of David in Jerusalem and to rule and reign for one-thousand years.<br /><br />Various lexicons and dictionaries have the following to say about the word, “epiphaneia:” it carries with it the meaning of a “blazing forth for a favorable intervention on behalf of man.” When the Greeks believed that the gods intervened on their behalf, they termed the event as an “Epiphaneia;” hence, an “Appearing.” One lexicon says, “the help-bringing appearing of gods.” Another says, “a miraculous interposition of God in behalf of His people.” Another states, “…this grand word was constantly employed to set forth these gracious appearances of higher powers in aid of men.”<br /><br />In this light, a number of “Epiphanies” took place during the Book of Acts. Notice the Divine intervention in Acts 5:19-20, “But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them [the apostles] forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.”<br /><br />Then, there was the Divine intervention in Acts 9 when the Lord Jesus appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road which resulted in his conversion or illumination. This was truly an extraordinary Epiphany.<br /><br />Consider another Epiphany where we read in Acts 14:8-18 that Barnabas and Paul were in<br />Lystra. There was a man, who was a cripple from birth, listening to Paul testify. Paul noticed the man and commanded him: “Stand upright on thy feet.” The crippled man “leaped and walked” (v.10). When all of the people saw what Paul had done, “they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycanonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men” (v.11). It was an Epiphany (Epiphaneia) to those who witnessed the event because they imagined that the gods had favorably intervened on their behalf. In fact, they named Barnabas, “Jupiter,” and Paul, “Mercury.” Then, they set about to offer sacrifices to show their devotion to Barnabas and Paul.<br /><br />Christian “sleepers” are comfortable believing that the FAR OFF “Parousia” of Christ is the next prophecy to be fulfilled. Will the sleepers’ folly “be manifest unto all men,” as was the folly of Jannes and Jambres (2 Tim. 3:7)? I’m afraid so!<br /><br />The Christian world is certainly not expecting a sudden and dramatic intervention by Jesus Christ Who will deliver the world from its corruption, delusion, and deception.<br /><br />“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the quick and the dead at His Appearing (Epiphaneia) and His Kingdom;” (2 Tim. 4:1).<br /><br />This brings us (the Church, Which is His Body) into our inheritance and signals the inauguration of the Kingdom of God as indicated by Ephesians 5:5.<br /><br />Believers will be delivered from suffering persecution at the hands of evil men and seducers who shall grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Tim. 3:13). The Epiphany will be a sudden, dramatic, and colossal liberation of mankind, as well as, creation (Rom. 8:22).<br /><br />“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious Appearing (Epiphaneia) of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” (Titus 2:13).<br /><br />The following cannot be stated often enough. It must be repeated over-and-over-again. The Dispensation of the Mystery ends when Jesus Christ suddenly and spectacularly intervenes in a blaze of glory on behalf of mankind; this is the Epiphany ─ the one we live looking for. It ushers in the Kingdom of God. This blazing forth is the unveiling of Christ Jesus (this is not His 2nd Coming). This event can happen at any moment; no prophecy needs to be fulfilled. It will come suddenly, dramatically, and God will make it plain to every human being upon earth, tribesmen in the jungle, professors and students of the great universities, and Hindus and Muslims exactly Who Jesus Christ is, and what He is, in the estimation of God, the Father. This is the knowledge which God will force upon every man; so-much-so that it becomes standard knowledge for mankind.<br /><br />The Epiphany, Christ’s favorable intervention, results in everyone, the living and the dead, confessing that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10-11, Rom. 14:19, Isa. 45:23). It is the signal for the Church, which is His Body to officially convene. We, as members of His High Calling, will have our vile bodies fashioned like unto His glorious body. With this transformation, we will assume our appointed stations of exalted service in the majestic Dynasty of Christ Jesus as He begins to govern the world from His Heavenly Throne.<br /><br />“Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise” (Eph. 5:14-15).<br /><br />The wise walk differentiating between the Epiphany and the Parousia. Let’s be wise walkers, not foolish sleepers!<br /><br /><br />Tom L. Ballinger<br /></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-16026133520185903952013-01-13T11:19:00.001-08:002013-01-13T11:19:14.821-08:00Does The Believer Go Right To Heaven At Death?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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THE DYING MALEFACTOR - The Interpretation of Luke <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://0" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0" x-apple-data-detectors="true">23:43</a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0898438); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">In order to conform to the accuracy of Scripture, this study has been given the title of "The Dying Malefactor," and not "The Dying Thief" as he is commonly designated in song and sermon. There are very good Biblical reasons for believing that five men died at Calvary on the day our Lord was crucified: two thieves, two malefactors, and the man Christ Jesus. Medieval painters did not want to crowd their pictures, so two were eliminated from the crucifixion scene, and this more than anything else has led to the view that only two others were crucified with our Lord. However, if any should disagree and think that only two others died that day, I will not press my view. I will simply warn them that there are numerous discrepancies and difficulties to be faced if they hold to the traditional theory. The Companion Bible (Bullinger) deals with this matter in a masterful way in Appendix No. 164. I refer all objectors to this excellent treatise.</span></div>
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Since the number who died at Calvary is not the subject of this study we can pass over this question for now. The deaths of the others, whether two or four, have no direct relationship to us, but the death of One did. We know and believe "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3). But we must not ignore the fact that a certain important dialogue took place on that day when one of the malefactors turned to the Lord Jesus and said: "Lord remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom," and to this request he received the assuring answer: "Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise" (Luke <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://1" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" x-apple-data-detectors="true">23:43</a>).</div>
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The reader is asked to note that the passage above has been quoted and punctuated exactly as it appears in the King James Version. Throughout the history of Christendom millions have come upon this passage, done some rough and ready reckoning in regard to this statement, then come to the crude conclusion that the Lord told this dying malefactor that on that very day he would be with Him in heaven. Following this line of thought these conclusions are projected and enlarged to make them say that when a forgiven one dies he is instantly ushered into the presence of God in the place called heaven. However, this deduction is reached without any consideration at all being given to plain and forceful statements made in Scripture which would flatly contradict and set aside such a conclusion.</div>
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For example, the Lord Jesus emphatically declared: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matt. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://2" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2" x-apple-data-detectors="true">12:40</a>). Since it is my firm belief, and I judge that most believers will agree, that this prophecy was fulfilled to the letter in the time between the Lord’s death and His resurrection from the state of death, then for three days and three nights He was "in the heart of the earth" and not in paradise or in heaven. Therefore, if one believes the fact declared in Matt. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://3" x-apple-data-detectors-result="3" x-apple-data-detectors="true">12:40</a>, he cannot believe that our Lord at the moment of His death "took the malefactor by the hand and led him into the presence of God in heaven," as some are inclined to describe it.</div>
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The plain declaration of Scripture forces me to believe that our Lord was in "the heart of the earth" from the moment of His death until the moment when God raised Him from the dead. However, we must not think of "the heart of the earth" as being a place somewhere inside of this planet. "In the heart of" is in Scripture a figure of speech, an idiom, which means to be one with a thing, a part of it, the same as it, or identified with it. In fact this is what happens to anyone that dies. It is even as the Lord said to Adam: "For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://4" x-apple-data-detectors-result="4" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:19</a>). Therefore, when we read in Scripture that Christ died, that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day, let us stand ready to believe this without hesitation (1 Cor. 15:3).</div>
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It should also be noted that after His resurrection the Lord Jesus declared to Mary Magdalene that He had not yet ascended to His Father (John <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://5" x-apple-data-detectors-result="5" x-apple-data-detectors="true">20:17</a>). Then she was told to go to His brethren and say to them: "I ascend unto My Father, and to your Father; and to My God, and your God." And yet if we accept the reading as it stands in the KJV, He would be with His Father that day "in the paradise." The definite article is in the Greek.</div>
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Facts such as these which are pertinent and plain demand that the careful student who has a love for the truth should explore every possible facet and seek diligently for the true meaning of the promise made by our Lord to the dying malefactor. And if the search is honest, we must admit the possibility that the Lord did not say and did not mean that the malefactor would be in "the paradise" with Him on that very day.</div>
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In response to the above statement, some are sure to cry out: "But, how can these words have any other meaning?" Those who ask this question fail to realize that in the Greek language in which the New Testament was written there were no punctuation marks — no periods, no commas, no question marks, or any other such sign that are so familiar and important in all that we write today. Therefore all punctuation marks in the Bible must be inserted by the translator and thus they are a matter of interpretation and not of translation. In the passage we are considering the meaning of our Lord’s promise depends entirely on the placement of the comma. If it is placed before the words "today" it can only mean that the Lord and the malefactor would be present together in "the paradise" on that day. But if we place it after the words "today" it means that the words were spoken on that day, but no definite time is set as to when they would be together.</div>
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Of course there are those who declare that our Lord would not have said, "I say unto you today;" for if the Lord said anything at all it was evident to all who heard that He was saying it then and there, on that day, and they did not need to be told this. My personal friend Harry A. Ironside belabored this point to the extreme and found much pleasure in laying it upon any who suggested that the comma belonged after the words "today." I do not believe he ever considered how the words "this day" or "today" were used throughout the Old Testament. These words were a Hebraism which were used regularly on occasions when the matter declared was exceedingly solemn and important. Here we have one Hebrew, the Lord Jesus, speaking to another Hebrew, using an idiom that was common to both. We will consider some pertinent examples.</div>
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"Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart" Deu.4:39.</div>
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"Thou shalt keep therefore His statutes, and His commandments which I command thee this day." Deu. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://6" x-apple-data-detectors-result="6" x-apple-data-detectors="true">4:40</a>.</div>
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"Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, which I command thee this day, to do them." Deu. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://7" x-apple-data-detectors-result="7" x-apple-data-detectors="true">7:11</a>.</div>
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"All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe and do" Deu. 8:1.</div>
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"I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish" Deu. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://8" x-apple-data-detectors-result="8" x-apple-data-detectors="true">8:19</a>.</div>
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"Which I command thee this day." Deu. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://9" x-apple-data-detectors-result="9" x-apple-data-detectors="true">10:13</a>.</div>
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"Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse." Deu.11:26.</div>
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"Therefore I command thee this thing today" Deu. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://10" x-apple-data-detectors-result="10" x-apple-data-detectors="true">15:15</a>.</div>
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"Wherefore I take you to record this day" Acts <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://11" x-apple-data-detectors-result="11" x-apple-data-detectors="true">20:26</a>.</div>
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"I shall answer for myself this day." Acts 26:2.</div>
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It is vain therefore for men to argue that our Lord would not have said, "Verily I say unto you today," and have been speaking of the day on which the words were spoken. The same idiom is found too many times in the inspired Old Testament for anyone to say that our Lord would have been using "a vain and foolish platitude" as a recent writer has declared. This idiom has its parallel in almost every language. I recently heard one man say to another: "I am telling you right now that you will regret it if you take this step."</div>
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It has not been my purpose in this study to deal with the meaning of paradise. The word means a garden in the sense of a formal garden, a park. When the Lord caused the dry land to appear as recorded in Gen. 1:9-12 it seems that the land mass was designated as Eden in contrast with the planet which was called Earth. In Genesis 2:8 we are told that the Lord God planted a garden (a paradise) eastward in Eden and there He put the man whom He had formed. In Gen. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://12" x-apple-data-detectors-result="12" x-apple-data-detectors="true">2:15</a> we are further told that "The Lord God took the man, and put him in the garden (paradise) of Eden to dress it and keep it." Many centuries later we are told: "For the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden (paradise) of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody" (Isa.51:3).</div>
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The word paradise has numerous applications. It is applied to the new earth which follows the Kingdom of God and the thousand years of Christ’s personal presence. This is the paradise to which Paul was caught away and which he equated with the third heaven, which are:-</div>
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the heavens of old,</div>
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the heavens which are now, and</div>
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the new heavens (2 Peter 3:5-13).</div>
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However, the context of Luke <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://13" x-apple-data-detectors-result="13" x-apple-data-detectors="true">23:43</a> relates the paradise promised there to the kingdom of Christ. The request of the malefactor was: "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." And in answer the Lord promised him a place with Him in the paradise of His kingdom, the one spoken of in Isa. 51:3, even the land of Israel, in that day when the joy of the whole earth will be mount Zion.</div>
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Let us ever remember that on the blackest day the universe has ever known, on the day when even His beloved disciples had forsaken Him, when one had betrayed Him and another had denied Him three times with an oath, yet on that day one man had faith enough in Him to make a request in regard to the future. Yes, on that black day, the darkest the world had ever known, our Lord said to the malefactor:</div>
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Verily, I say unto you TODAY, thou shalt be with Me in paradise."</div>
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<a href="http://freespace.virgin.net/geo.morris/sb104.htm" x-apple-data-detectors-result="14" x-apple-data-detectors="true">http://freespace.virgin.net/geo.morris/sb104.htm</a><div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-90783134507131364452013-01-05T20:14:00.003-08:002013-01-05T20:17:17.342-08:00God Will Have Divine Intervention<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<pre style="margin-left: 100px; margin-right: 100px;"><span style="color: #669900;"><b><span style="color: #669900; font-family: Mistral; font-size: x-large;">Divine Intervention Promised</span></b></span></pre>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">We have a definite promise from God that "when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him" (Isa. 59:19). The result of this divine invasion of the earth by the Spirit of God will be that men will fear the Name of the Lord from the west to the east.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">If there ever were a time in human history when the enemies of truth, righteousness, and Godliness have come in like a flood, it is the time in which we now live. In view of this abounding iniquity, those who believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God have every right to believe that God will intervene, inject Himself into the flow of history, and turn that flow unto Himself. This is our hope; this is our only hope; this is the last best hope of mankind. God will not fail. He will do what He has promised.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">One of the great lost truths of the Bible is that God has the most definite plans to invade the earth by His Spirit, to occupy the earth by His Spirit, and to establish and maintain His order upon the earth by means of His Spirit. The first of these is declared in Isa. 59:19. The second is stated in Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17. The third is declared in John 16:7-8.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">All this is accomplished through Jesus Christ during His present session at the right hand of God in heaven. His enemies become His footstool while He is there (Heb. 1:13). It is the Spirit of the Lord that lifts up a standard against the forces of evil. This is done by a word from the Lord in heaven that in substance declares to all wicked men, "Stop — you shall go no further" (2 Tim. 3:9). God has promised to break the strength of evil and wicked men (Psa. 10:15), and to bring the wickedness of the wicked to an end (Psa. 7:9). These are remarkable promises, and it is a tragedy that very few know anything about them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">The promise of God that He will pour out of His Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17) is one so great that it staggers the imagination. Very few who claim to believe what God says are able to bring themselves to believe this specific statement. Nevertheless, this is the way that God will invade the earth by His Spirit and occupy the earth by His Spirit. When this promise becomes a reality, then the great promise of Christ that the Spirit of God, acting as an Advocate (one positioned alongside to advise), will make the facts known to the world in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:7-8). It is then that a man will hear a voice behind him saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it, when he turns to the right hand, and when he turns to the left" (Isa. 30:21).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">We can only pity those who see no work of God ahead for mankind except the blackness of tribulation and an imaginary Armageddon. God has made great and wonderful promises. These will be fulfilled to the letter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;"><i><b>Otis Q. Sellers</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><a href="http://freespace.virgin.net/geo.morris/one-a-day.htm"><span style="color: maroon;">Return to ONE-a-DAY INDEX</span></a></span></b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-12187582979084350642012-12-21T07:36:00.002-08:002012-12-21T07:36:47.588-08:00Peace on Earth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><u><span style="color: blue; font-size: 26pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Plainer Words Online<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>By<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Tom L. Ballinger<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">December 18, 2012<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">PLAINER WORDS ON … <span style="color: red;">PEACE ON EARTH, </span><span style="color: green;">GOOD WILL TOWARD MAN<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>“<b>A</b>nd <i>there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone <span> </span>round about them: and they were sore afraid.<span> </span>And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.<span> </span>For unto you is born this day in the city of<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">David</st1:city></st1:place> a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.<span> </span>And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men</i>”(Luke 2:8-14).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>This passage of Scripture is largely ignored except at Christmas time. There are, however, profound truths embodied in the message delivered to the shepherds, beyond the fact that the Savior is born in the City of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">David</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>Encapsulated in the good tidings that were announced to the shepherds with great joy, it was “for all people,” not just for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>. It was for every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue.<span> </span>After the initial announcement of the Angel of the Lord concerning the birth of the Savior, suddenly, there appeared a multitude of heavenly hosts (angels) saying, “<b><span style="color: blue;">Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men</span>.”</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>This is the first New Testament announcement of the coming <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Kingdom</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">God</st1:placename></st1:place>. The Angel of the Lord and the multitude of heavenly hosts proclaimed the time in which the Lord, alone, would be exalted. The coming Day [the Day of Christ] will be when every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil.2:10-11). This refers to the time when the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Kingdom</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">God</st1:placename></st1:place> becomes a reality in the earth.<span> </span>The disciples were told to pray for this event, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt.6:10). This magnificent Day follows the present Dispensation of Grace.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>When the Kingdom comes, Christ will assume sovereignty over the earth and will begin His manifest reign over the nations, and the affairs of mankind.<span> </span>His Kingdom in the earth is not, now, in place.<span> </span>However, one day it will be a reality.<span> </span>When His will is done on the earth, there will be “<b><span style="color: blue;">peace on earth</span></b>.”<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>Isaiah speaks of this peace in Verse 4 of Chapter 2, “And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, <b><span style="color: blue;">neither shall they learn war any more</span>.”</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>Micah says the same in 4:3; “And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,<b> <span style="color: blue;">neither shall they learn war any more</span>."</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>When the Kingdom comes, there will be “peace on earth.” Weapon systems will be destroyed. “Defense” contractors will turn their production facilities into that of producing plows and tractors. Military academies will be closed. Nations will no longer teach how to wage war. Universal peace will be the order of the day.<span> </span>For two-thousand years, God has been displaying His grace to the world. He has not been exercising His government, or His judgments in the world. He has been dispensing Grace.<span> </span>Wrongs will, one day, be addressed when His Kingdom comes. During the Dispensation of the Grace of God, He is not, overtly, manifesting His “good will toward men.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>When the Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God actually comes into being in the earth, all mankind will know, without a doubt, that He is dispensing “good will toward men.” Acts <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://1" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:19-21</a> says, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,<span style="color: red;"> </span><b><span style="color: blue;">when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord</span>;</b> And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive <b><span style="color: blue;">until the times of restitution of all things</span>, </b>which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”<span> </span>This tells us refreshing times, that is to say, exhilarating, invigorating, stimulating, and healthy times shall come from the presence or Face of the Lord, and all things shall be restored.<span> </span>The world will be restored to a holy and happy state. It could be said; <st1:place w:st="on">Paradise</st1:place> will be restored.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>Hunger and starvation will disappear. To this, the Prophets agree. God will cause the desert to rejoice, and “blossom like the rose” (Isa.35:1-2). Water shall break out in the wildernesses, and “streams in the desert” (Isa.35:6).<span> </span>When the Lord exerts His regenerating power in the earth, the earth will yield her increase (Ezk.34:27).<span> </span>Psalm 85:12 says, “Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span><span> </span>In the astonishing passage of Amos <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://3" x-apple-data-detectors-result="3" x-apple-data-detectors="true">9:13</a>, there is further evidence of God’s “good will toward men:” “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD,<b> <span style="color: blue;">that the plowman shall</span></b><span style="color: blue;"> <b>over-take the reaper</b></span>, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the <span> </span>hills shall melt.” In plainer words, the earth will yield her increase year around. Food stuffs will abound.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>The animal kingdom will undergo a radical change as God demonstrates His “good will toward men.” Isaiah 11:6: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid [young goat]: and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;<span style="color: blue;"> <b>and a little child shall lead them</b></span>.”<span> </span>The lion, in the Day of Christ, shall eat straw like the ox, and poisonous snakes and reptiles will no longer be a threat (Isa.11:6-7).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>Physical handicaps, birth defects, sicknesses, diseases, and plagues will disappear from the earth. Excellent health will be the standard. The blind shall see. The deaf shall hear. The tongue of the dumb shall sing. The crippled shall leap like a deer (Isa.35:5-6). Psalm 67:2 speaks of these benefits as, “<b><span style="color: blue;">Thy saving health among all nations</span></b>.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>Sorrows and sighing “shall flee away” (Isa.35:10). “..<span style="color: blue;">.<b>and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard... nor the voice of crying</b></span><b>”<span style="color: red;"> </span></b>(Isa.65:19).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>Another benefit for mankind will be that God will instantly answer prayer, “And it shall come to pass, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isa.65:24).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span><span> </span>“Good will” from God “toward men” will, also, be demonstrated during the times of “restitution of all things,” by Divine guidance and direction being given to men, “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isa.30:21).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span><span> </span>Mankind’s life span shall be greatly increased, much like that of the people prior to the universal flood of Noah's time. Isa.65:20-22:<span> </span>“There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old <span> </span>man that hath not filled his days:<b> <span style="color: blue;">for the child shall die</span></b><span style="color: blue;"> <b>an hundred years old</b></span>; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed... They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: <b><span style="color: blue;">for as the days of a tree are the days of my</span></b><span style="color: blue;"> <b>people</b></span>, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands” (Isa.65:21-22).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span><span> </span>These are the blessings of Heaven which mankind will enjoy upon the earth, when the Lord Jesus Christ begins to “judge the quick and the dead at His Appearing and Kingdom” <span> </span>(2 Tim. 4:1).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>The good news of the coming Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God is that the Lord Jesus Christ will bring all of His resources to bear for the benefit of mankind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>The Christmas message will really be meaningful to those whose trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who live, “<b><span style="color: blue;">Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ</span></b>” (Titus <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://6" x-apple-data-detectors-result="6" x-apple-data-detectors="true">2:13</a>). When this happens, <b>it will truly be peace on earth and the Lord will truly show good will toward men</b>. Today, He shows only grace toward men. Thankfully, He is dispensing Grace, not Judgment. If it were judgment, Ephesians 2:8 would not be available to us; “<b><span style="color: blue;">For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast</span></b>.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">(This Christmas essay by Tom Ballinger was first issued on Wednesday, November 19, 2003).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><b><span style="color: red; font-size: 16pt;">WE WISH YOU A</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> <span style="color: #339966;">MERRY CHRISTMAS</span><span style="color: lime;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Tom and Gloria Ballinger<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The Web site for our Bible Studies is: </span><a href="http://www.plainerwords.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman;">www.Plainerwords.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-33281103746140067192012-12-16T13:04:00.002-08:002012-12-16T13:04:48.762-08:00Judgement By Fire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0898438); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">Judgment by fire. God's spiritual fire is for cleansing......</span></div>
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by Phillip Raper on Monday, June 6, 2011 at 7:49pm ·</div>
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Believers are being tried and judged BY FIRE according to HOW we are living. What fire? God's fire. God's "CONSUMING [spiritual] FIRE" (Heb. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://1" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" x-apple-data-detectors="true">12:29</a>)! God is SPIRIT and likewise His fire is SPIRIT. I have never heard a minister or teacher preach on the good and beneficial side of God's FIRE. Fire is usually portrayed as bringing about pain, evil, and destruction. Since God is GOOD (Luke <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://2" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2" x-apple-data-detectors="true">18:19</a>), and God is SPIRIT (John <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://3" x-apple-data-detectors-result="3" x-apple-data-detectors="true">4:24</a>), and God is INVISIBLE (Col. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://4" x-apple-data-detectors-result="4" x-apple-data-detectors="true">1:15</a>), why does the church teach the world that God as a CONSUMING FIRE (Heb. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://5" x-apple-data-detectors-result="5" x-apple-data-detectors="true">12:29</a>) is visible and not invisible, literal and not spiritual, and bad rather than good?</div>
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For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones [valuable traits of Godly spiritual character] wood, hay, stubble [carnal traits of no value]; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because IT SHALL BE REVEALED BY FIRE; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is" 1 Cor. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://6" x-apple-data-detectors-result="6" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:10</a></div>
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Every thought, every word, and every deed that proceeds out of the heart and mind of man is his "WORKS." And every thought, every word, and every deed of man will come into the judgment of Almighty God's "CONSUMING FIRE." Notice that it is both our things of great value: "gold, silver, precious stones," and our things of no value: "wood, hay, stubble" that are tried in the fire, God's Consuming Fire. Every person possesses knowledge, therefore, every person is a combination of both good and evil (for knowledge can only be a combination of both good and evil knowledge).</div>
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"Now if any man build upon this [spiritual] foundation [Christ] gold, silver, precious stones [godly character traits], wood, hay, stubble [carnal character traits]; Every man's work [thoughts, words, and deeds] shall be made manifest [become known, come to light]: for the day shall declare it [make it evident], because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is" (I Cor. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://7" x-apple-data-detectors-result="7" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:12-13</a>).</div>
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The fire in these verses is no more literal than are the gold or stubble suggested as building materials. People do not construct large buildings out of gold, neither do they set them on fire after completion to see how well they will fare. This is all figurative and symbolic language to instruct us in much higher spiritual development. We are not literaI gardens of God neither are we literal buildings of God. But we are like gardens in certain ways—we are to produce good spiritual fruit. We are like buildings in certain ways—we are to be a spiritual dwelling place for God. We have works that are like gold and silver in certain ways—we have thoughts, words, and deeds of good and lasting value. We also have carnal and evil works—bad thoughts, crass words, and evil deeds that are of no lasting value and are only fit for destruction. Only God's SPIRITUAL FIRE can burn away spiritual wickedness and evils of the heart.</div>
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All of these material items are used as symbols of spiritual things. Therefore, of necessity, the fire that tries these material symbols is also SPIRITUAL. It is not possible to burn up with fire an inanimate character flaw without burning up the person who harbors it. Likewise, it is not possible to purge and purify the good qualities of character in a person with literal fire without burning up the individual that possesses them. But spiritual fire, God's all consuming, purging and purifying fire is perfectly suited to do just that. This trying and purging is not always pleasant, however, it is not a torture chamber either. Does this fire harm the physical person being purged in this fire? No, our merciful and graceful loving God and Father does not eternally torture humanity IN fire, but rather eternally saves humanity BY fire.</div>
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Let's read it and rejoice:</div>
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"Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but HE HIMSELF SHALL BE SAVED; YET SO AS BY FIRE" (1 Cor. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://8" x-apple-data-detectors-result="8" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:13-15</a>).</div>
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NO ONE is tortured, killed, or annihilated in this fire! This fire of God SAVES people who go through it! There is salvation BY means of this fire. This fire is part of God's judgment and grace!</div>
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So 1 Cor. 3 cannot completely answer all that is contained within its verses without the aid of the ONLY other such Scripture in the Bible, Rev. 20. And Rev. 20 cannot completely answer all that is contained within its verses without the aid of the ONLY other such Scripture in the Bible, 1 Cor. 3!</div>
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Paul tells us in 1 Cor. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://9" x-apple-data-detectors-result="9" x-apple-data-detectors="true">2: 12-13</a> that,</div>
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"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might KNOW THE THINGS that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak [in only twelve more verses Paul Himself speaks of just such spiritual things concerning the judgment of men's works in fire] not in the words which man's wisdom teaches [not the same physical torture in physical fire taught by the foolish understanding of the church] but which the Holy Spirit teaches; COMPARING [OR MATCHING] SPIRITUAL THINGS WITH SPIRITUAL."</div>
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By comparing these two spiritually matched Scriptures with one another we can come to the truth of God's intention for BOTH of these fires that judge and try EVERY MAN'S WORK in their own order.</div>
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The fire of 1 Cor. 3 accomplishes the very same thing as the fire of Rev. 20 accomplishes. Both of these fires are symbolic. Literal fire does not burn up inanimate flaws (wood, straw and stubble) of human character. But AS literal fire does burn up literal wood, straw and stubble, SO ALSO does God's spiritual fire burn up human character flaws. We are not told of this "wood, straw and stubble" in the lake of fire, nor of the "gold, silver and precious stones." We learn from I Cor. 3 that this is the case with the lake of fire also because these two sets of Scripture are the ONLY spiritual match in the entirety of the Bible. And just as we learn new things and additional things about the lake of fire in 1 Cor. 3, we also learn something new and different in Rev. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://10" x-apple-data-detectors-result="10" x-apple-data-detectors="true">20:10</a> that is not mentioned in 1 Cor. 3.</div>
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In this lake of fire of Rev. 20 we find a most unusual thing--brimstone. BRIMSTONE? OH NO! NOT BRIMSTONE! Isn't this lake of fire going to be painful enough without adding "brimstone?" First we learn from Christendom that the non-believers and wicked will be tortured for all eternity in literal white-hot fire, and now we read in the Scriptures that there is going to be BRIMSTONE in this lake of fire! Whose idea is it to add brimstone to this fire? Is this a cruel curse from Satan? That doesn't seem plausible seeing that this is GOD'S WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT, and not Satan's BLACK THRONE JUDGMENT. But why then would God be putting this cursed brimstone into this fire? Wait a minute... Maybe the brimstone isn't a cruel curse from God, but rather a marvelous blessing. Is that possible? With God all things are possible.</div>
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What is brimstone anyway? Everything in the book of Revelation is "signified" (SYMBOLIZED). We know that there is literal fire and there is spiritual fire; and there is literal brimstone, but is there also spiritual brimstone? Ask any nominal Christian why there is brimstone in the lake of fire, and he will probably tell you that it is there to make the fire hotter and more painful. Oh really? Is there something about brimstone that is caustic to the skin that would cause great pain? Does brimstone somehow cause fire to burn hotter and hotter? Does brimstone make the flesh hotter? Or is it corrosive material that eats away at the skin and flesh thus causing even more intense insane pain. The very sound of the word brimstone has come to represent something Satanic. Nothing could be further or diametric opposite from reality. Look up the word "brimstone" in any dictionary and you will find it defined as "sulfur." Brimstone is sulfur. What then are the properties and uses of sulfur? I have known the Scriptural meaning and uses of sulfur for a long time, but I had never looked up the word sulfur in my Encyclopedia Britannica before—what a revelation.</div>
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SULFUR: "It is often called brimstone (burning stone) and ignited sulfur is mentioned in the earlier records of many countries as having been used for religious ceremonies, for PURIFYING (fumigating) buildings and for bleaching cloth" (Encyclopedia Britannica, page 536d). Gee, I wonder if spiritual brimstone might be used to PURIFY and fumigate people and bleach their darkened hearts to a bright white? Under the caption: "Methods of Production—Ancient producers described their method of obtaining sulfur from its ore as PURIFICATION BY FIRE" (Page 537a)."Purification by fire." That sounds very Biblical. Does God "purify" good and wonderful things by "fire?" Yes, He does: The WORDS of the Lord are pure words: as silver [silver? Isn't the silver qualities of our character also tried in 'fire,' I Cor. 3:12-13?] tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" (Psalm 12:6). Now we all know that the very "words" of God are not burned in a literal fire. But "AS" silver is tried in literal fire, so SPIRITUALLY God's words are tried in spiritual fire.</div>
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But surely, according to what we have been told by doomsday prophets of eternal hell, sulfur must cause great torturing pain when brought into contact with human skin, and wouldn't the smell alone be enough to suffocate all in its presence? Continuing: "Physical Properties—Sulfur is TASTELESS and ODORLESS. IT HAS NO ACTION ON THE SKIN" (Page 537d)!</div>
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So maybe it's just the heat that is intensified by the use of sulfur, and that is its purpose in the lake of fire—to increase the intensity of the fire's heat to cause more insane pain? Continuing: "Physical Properties—Sulfur is A POOR CONDUCTOR OF BOTH HEAT and electricity..." (Page 538a)! Imagine that—a POOR CONDUCTOR OF HEAT! Theoretically, if God were to put enough brimstone into the lake of fire it would protect those in the fire like an asbestos suit! Are you beginning to see the sheer folly in the church's teaching that the lake of fire and brimstone are literal? I sure hope so.</div>
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Let me give you some scriptural use of figurative fire.</div>
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"His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were as a flame of FIRE" (Rev. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://11" x-apple-data-detectors-result="11" x-apple-data-detectors="true">1:14</a>). </div>
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"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes though it be tarried with FIRE, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:7).</div>
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"And the tongue is a FIRE..." (James 3:6).</div>
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"And of the angels He says, Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of FIRE" (Heb. 1:7).</div>
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"Every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by FIRE; and the FIRE shall try every man's work of what sort it is" (1 Cor. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://12" x-apple-data-detectors-result="12" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:13</a>).</div>
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"For our God is a consuming FIRE" (Heb. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://13" x-apple-data-detectors-result="13" x-apple-data-detectors="true">12:29</a>).</div>
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"Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing you shall heap coals of FIRE on his head" (Rom. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://14" x-apple-data-detectors-result="14" x-apple-data-detectors="true">12:20</a>).</div>
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"John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I comes, the latchet of Whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with FIRE" (Luke <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://15" x-apple-data-detectors-result="15" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:16</a>).</div>
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"For EVERY ONE shall be salted with FIRE, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt" (Mark <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://16" x-apple-data-detectors-result="16" x-apple-data-detectors="true">9:49</a>).</div>
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"But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appears? For He is like a REFINER'S FIRE, and like fullers' SOAP" (Malachi 3:2).</div>
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"...for all the earth shall be devoured with the FIRE of my jealousy" (Zeph. 3:8).</div>
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"For in My jealousy and in the FIRE of My wrath have I spoken" (Ezek. 38;19).</div>
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"From above has He sent FIRE into my bones..." (Lamentations <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://17" x-apple-data-detectors-result="17" x-apple-data-detectors="true">1:13</a>).</div>
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"Is not My word like as a FIRE? saith the Lord" (Jer. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://18" x-apple-data-detectors-result="18" x-apple-data-detectors="true">23:29</a>).</div>
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"Who makes His angels spirits; His ministers a flaming FIRE" (Psalm 104:4).</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-11238666025850657492012-11-26T16:22:00.003-08:002012-11-26T16:22:43.650-08:00God Has A Better Plan Then Traditions of Men<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a data-ft="{"tn":";"}" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1104327831" href="https://www.facebook.com/YourBrotherMark" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Mark Phillips</a></div>
</h5>
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<span class="userContent">God has a much better plan to end this present evil age....<br />You do not have to believe it...,but just for you to Know.....<br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fappearinglorytimeline.blogspot.com%2F2012%2F11%2Fwhat-to-look-for-next-not-being-taught.html&h=eAQEfdJ25AQE7_ft_GNkehYm5QNSaf64nEoujoSSWqYCyXw&s=1" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span>http://</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span><span>appearinglorytimeline.blogspot.</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span><span>com/2012/11/</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span><span>what-to-look-for-next-not-being</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>-taught.html</a></span></div>
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<strong>Appear In Glory Timeline: What To Look For Next Not Being Taught</strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-64050468830622868392012-11-23T15:29:00.003-08:002012-11-23T15:29:24.000-08:00Christ Remains in Heaven Until.....WHAT?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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PLAINER WORDS ONLINE …</div>
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THE TIMES OF REFRESHING</div>
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By Tom L. Ballinger</div>
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We sincerely believe that the truths set forth in this issue of Plainer Words presents the most significant Dispensational Truth which we have ever written. The writing may not be the most erudite, or scholarly, but it brings to light truth that has been deliberately papered over, hid, obscured, or ignored by Bible teachers of great reputation. Those who have attempted to let this truth see the light of day have been vilified, denigrated, slandered, and maligned. This understanding is the key to Dispensational Truth; regardless of who says it is not. We have written about this several times, but because of its’ momentous importance, we considered it not to be grievous (Philippians 3:1) to write about it again.</div>
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“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://0" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:19-21</a>).</div>
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This passage of Scripture suffers from commentators failing to report what the verses actually state. Instead, they teach doctrine that is not contained in the text.</div>
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To begin with, the Scripture does not say that if Israel repented and be converted, their sins would be blotted out.</div>
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It does not say: their sins would be forgiven when they repented.</div>
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It does not say: that Christ would return to earth if they repented.</div>
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It does not say: that the Kingdom would be restored to Israel if they repented.</div>
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Noticing what it does not say, let's look at the positive side of what the Apostle Peter actually said.</div>
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Peter was addressing the men of Israel in Jerusalem when he exhorted them to "repent ye therefore, and be converted." This was what must be done in order “that your sins be blotted out.” The blotting out of sins was not to occur at the time of repentance and conversion, but rather, “when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” The word, “times,” means “age ―a part of a duration distinct from other parts, or the measured, or measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exist or continues; an occasion, the point or period when something occurs.”</div>
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Peter was saying; there is coming an age, or a measured period of time, in which a condition will exist, and something will occur which he referred to as the “times of refreshing.” When these “times” come, that is when their sins were to be blotted out.</div>
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“Times of refreshing” can be amplified to mean an exhilarating age which is opposite of the present world condition in which the whole world is held in bondage under the curse. The Apostle Paul referred to these “times” in Romans 8;</div>
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“Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (vs.21-23).</div>
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The “glorious liberty” Paul spoke of was a reference to the “times of refreshing.”</div>
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The Amplified New Testament renders; “times of refreshing—of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air” which is in contrast to creation’s present state of groaning and travailing in pain.</div>
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It must be pointed out that Peter did not explain what the restoration (i.e. restitution) of all things was because his audience understood, fully, what he was referring to. They had been raised on the writings of the Prophets; consequently, its’ nature was not unfolded. The idea of a restoration of the world had its’ origin in the preaching of the Old Testament prophets. Their faith in the unique position and mission of Israel, as the chosen people of God, inspired in them the conviction that the destruction of the nation would eventually be followed by a restoration under conditions that would insure the realization of the original, divine purpose.</div>
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The Jews to whom Peter was speaking knew the “restitution of all things” meant a re-creation of the world which would restore it to an Eden-like, pre-flood, condition with the curse removed. Christians raised on John <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://1" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:16</a> cannot really appreciate Peter’s announcement until they, too, understand, like the Jews of old, what Peter was talking about. We plan to point this out.</div>
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Notice what comes from the presence of the Lord: an age, or an eon, or a duration of time which is to be refreshing. It doesn't say that Christ comes from the presence of the Lord. </div>
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Peter went on to say, “And He will send Jesus Christ, which was preached unto you,” but notice what is almost always overlooked; “Whom the heaven must receive [or retain] until....” We have seen no Commentary that comments on the fact that the heaven must retain Christ until something takes place. The silence is deafening. Christendom teaches that when Christ comes at His Second Advent, He ushers in the “times of refreshing.” But, this is not what Peter said. Let us not be guilty of putting words into Peter's mouth. Keep in mind that every word Peter spoke were the words God gave him to speak (Matt. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://2" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2" x-apple-data-detectors="true">10:19-20</a>, 1 Thess. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://3" x-apple-data-detectors-result="3" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:13</a>. 2 Cor.13:3). The Apostle Peter was the authority, and he said in plainer words; "If you repent and be converted, your sins will be blotted out when the times of refreshing comes from the face of the Lord. And yes, He will send Jesus Christ, Whom the heaven must receive or retain until...” Christ remains there until … something is accomplished. This is not Second Coming truth. This is not millennial truth—this is pre-millennial truth concerning the Kingdom of God.</div>
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Christ will remain in the heaven when the refreshing times are ushered in. </div>
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Take note that the word, “until,” is a functional word used to indicate continuance (as of an action or condition) to a specified time. Christ remains in the heavens “until,” that is to say, during a specified time while an action, or condition, is continuing. The action, or condition, is the restitution of all things. If the words which the Holy Spirit inspired are to mean anything, then, there is no way the Lord Jesus Christ can return until all things are restored. “Restitution” means; “The act of recovering a former state or posture, the putting the world in a holy and happy state. Acts 3:” (Webster's 1828 Dictionary). The former state of the world refers to the pre-flood conditions of the earth and the cosmos. The world will be restored to its’ former, pristine order while Christ remains in heaven. No wonder the commentaries leave out the God-inspired phrase, “Whom the heaven must receive until.” This inspired phrase, spoken by Peter, doesn’t fit in their theology, so they ignore it as though it wasn’t spoken at all.</div>
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“Whom the heaven must receive until the restitution of all things…” Here, an Ellipsis must be supplied in order to get the true sense of the passage.</div>
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An Ellipsis is a figure of speech, and it is the omission of one or more words that are to be obviously understood, but must be supplied in order to make a construction grammatically complete. In the book, “Figures of Speech,” Dr. E. W. Bullinger says; “Figures involving omission, the Ellipsis, the figure is a peculiar form given to a passage when a word or words are omitted; words which are necessary for the grammar, but are not necessary for the sense. The law of syntax may be legitimately broken by an Ellipsis. The omission arises not from the want of thought or lack of care or from accident, but from design in order that we may not stop to think of, or lay stress on, the word omitted, but may dwell on the other words which are thus emphasized by omission.”</div>
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“Whom the heaven must receive until the restitution of all things …” are the words the Lord would have us dwell on which are emphasized by the omission of the words which are to be mentally supplied, “is accomplished.” The Ellipsis is: “is accomplished;” that is to say; “until the restitution of all things [is accomplished].” </div>
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Three periods ( … ) in English grammar indicates to the reader that an Ellipsis occurs in the text. In the Greek, there is no such punctuation. However, we have supplied the three periods to denote the Ellipsis; “...which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” All of God's prophets spoke about the age, or eon, or period of time in which there would be a renewal of all things, and it takes place while the Lord Jesus remains in heaven. The New Testament term for this is “the Kingdom of God.”</div>
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To speak of the refreshing times and the restitution of all things being associated with and taking place at the Second Coming (i.e. the Parousia) of Christ, makes the Word of God of none effect! The Second Coming (i.e. the Parousia) is the consummation of the Kingdom of God; not the beginning (see Matthew 24:3).</div>
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At this point, it might be necessary to say that if there be anyone reading these lines who is among that number who believe only such things as are generally believed and taught, there is no use for them to read further in this study. Far too many Christians are in a class with the Pharisees of old who asked concerning Christ: “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him?” (John <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://4" x-apple-data-detectors-result="4" x-apple-data-detectors="true">7:48</a>). The fact that none admitted believing on Him was sufficient reason for no one to believe on Him. If the recognized leaders don’t believe certain things, then, there is no reason for the common man even to consider the things they don’t believe.</div>
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The Scripture demands that there be a time and framework for “the times of refreshing;” the next magnificent work to take place. However, Christendom, by its’ interpretation, is denying God the opportunity to display this restoration while Christ remains in Heaven. </div>
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The Lord Jesus makes reference to the restitution of all things when He said to the apostles, “Verily I say unto you That ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory [in heaven], ye shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt.19:28). The word, “regeneration.” is the Greek word, palingenessia, which means re-creation. In plainer words, the Lord said; “You apostles that have followed Me, when the times of re-creation comes you will sit upon twelve thrones [i.e. seats of authority] as judges of the twelve tribes of Israel.</div>
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The apostles will be on the twelve thrones in Israel in the regeneration while the Lord Jesus Christ sits upon His Throne of glory in the Heavens. He is not referencing to the Throne of David. Psalm 11:4; “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men.” The LORD’s Throne will be in heaven during the “times of refreshing.” </div>
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“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision: (Psalm 2:4).</div>
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“The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all” (Psalm 103:19).</div>
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“Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?” (Isaiah 66:1).</div>
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These four verses “are as clear as a bell.” They inform us where the Throne of Jesus Christ will be during “the times of refreshing.” It will be HEAVEN; NOT EARTH. The big difference most people miss is the question; “upon whose throne does the Lord Jesus Christ sit when He returns to earth to reign for 1000 years?” The answer is; the Throne of David! (Isaiah 9:7; Jeremiah 29:16). Christ remains in Heaven while the re-creation is accomplished. This re-creation is not that of Revelation 21, or 2 Peter <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://5" x-apple-data-detectors-result="5" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:13</a>, but it is the one Isaiah mentions in chapter 65, verse 17; “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” This is the restitution of all things mentioned by Peter in Acts 3. </div>
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Notice what follows in Isaiah 65:18 22; “But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” This is not millennial truth—it is pre-millennial.</div>
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Here, it is noted that sorrows disappear from the world scene. Longevity of life is restored; like, before the Flood.</div>
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According to Isaiah 35:1-2, the restitution of all things results in, “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom like a rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebannon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.” </div>
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Isaiah spoke of this pre-millennial restoration, again, in chapter 41:18-20, “I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.” </div>
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Isaiah foretold of conditions during the times of restitution; Isaiah 11:6 9, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”</div>
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How magnificent this will be when the world is full of the knowledge of the LORD.</div>
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The “times of refreshing” and "restitution of all things" begins when 2 Timothy 4:1 becomes a reality; “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing (epiphany) and His kingdom.”</div>
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The Second Advent (i.e. Parousia) of Jesus Christ does not have to take place for the restoration, i.e. the restitution, to be accomplished. In fact, the Bible says He is to remain in heaven while the re-creation is completed. This fact, alone, should cause one to question the pre-millennial dispensationalists’ fixation that the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ are imminent.</div>
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Two, signal events occur when Christ's epiphany ensues; (1) He establishes His world-wide governmental sovereignty (i.e. His Kingdom), and (2) He begins to adjudge among the living and the dead who will qualify to live under His imperial Government and enjoy the benefits of the re-creation.</div>
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<a href="http://Plainerwords.com/" x-apple-data-detectors-result="7" x-apple-data-detectors="true">Plainerwords.com</a></div>
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More news on this truth here:</div>
<a href="http://godstruthforall.com/audio/library1/A_Truth_Not_To_Be_Ignored.mp3" x-apple-data-detectors-result="8" x-apple-data-detectors="true">http://godstruthforall.com/audio/library1/A_Truth_Not_To_Be_Ignored.mp3</a><div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-82565150673413268202012-10-31T11:52:00.002-07:002012-10-31T11:52:17.456-07:00Exceeding Above All In Grace<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><u><span style="color: blue; font-size: 26pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Plainer Words Online<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span> </span>By<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Tom L. Ballinger<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">October 28, 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><i>Plainer Words</i><b> </b>since 1968<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">PLAINER WORDS ONLINE … FOCUS ON EPHESIANS<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Part 4<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">“<i>That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus</i>” (Ephesians 2:7).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The Apostle Paul informs the “saints” that, in part, the reason they were quickened together with Christ, raised together with Christ, and seated together with Him was in order for Him to show “<i>the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us …throughout the ages to come</i>.” Throughout the ages to come, “world without end;” one of the principal purposes of the Church over which Christ Jesus is the Head is to be a living demonstration of God’s Grace. <b><u><span style="color: #993366;">The Church, which is His Body will be known as the supreme endowment of the exceeding riches of His GRACE!<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Being the Called of the Ekklesia of the “Mystery,” we are truly THE ENDOWED—“<i>But unto <b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">every one of us is given grace</span></b> <b>according to the measure of the gift of Christ</b></i>” <span> </span>(Eph. 4:7).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">The grace which is to be manifested is said to be “exceeding.” Exceeding means: “going beyond; surpassing; excelling; out doing.” Therefore, the grace to be shown goes beyond, or surpasses the powers of human language to describe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">The word, “exceeding,” is used three times by Paul in this epistle:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">“<i>The <b>exceeding greatness</b> of his power to usward who believe</i>” (Eph. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://1" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" x-apple-data-detectors="true">1:19</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">“<i>He might shew the <b>exceeding riches</b> of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus</i>” (Eph. 3:7).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">“<i>Now unto him that is able to do <b>exceeding abundantly above all</b></i>” (Eph. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://2" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:20</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Paul has set forth truths which lead us to the point of being able to describe the grace involved.<span> </span>The believer has been told that “<i>in times past,</i>” he lived according to the <span> </span>course of this world and by his very nature were “<i>the children of wrath, even as others</i>.” “<b><i>But God</i></b>” intervened, for He loved the believer with a very great love and quickened him together with Christ. Therefore, by grace, He saved all who believed the latest report from God. This showed the “exceeding riches of His GRACE in His kindness toward us” in the eons to come.<span> </span>This is a description of all of us who have believed “the revelation” which was given exclusively to Paul who was the appointed to be the Preacher, and the Teacher, and the Apostle to the Gentiles (2 Tim.1:11).</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">AGES TO COME<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">The expression, “ages to come,” is very interesting to those who have been membered into the Church over which Christ Jesus is the Head. This expression of “ages” is noted as appearing three times in Ephesians:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">“<i>That in <b>the ages to come</b> He might shew</i>” (Eph. 2:7).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">“<i>Which in <b>other ages</b> was not made known</i>” (Eph. 3:5).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">“<i>Unto Him be glory in the Church…throughout <b>all ages</b>, world without end</i>” (Eph.3:21).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">These are enumerated, only, to point out that “ages” refers to a particular period of time, as distinguished from others, or that it refers to the people who lived in a particular period; hence, a generation. Ephesians 2:7 has reference to particular periods of time in distinction from the present period. Ephesians 3:5 and <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://3" x-apple-data-detectors-result="3" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:21</a>refer to generations, not to ages, as such. This was pointed out to validate that the Bible recognizes different times and dispensations. There will be future ages and dispensations, as there were past ages and dispensations. This logically means that future generations will follow this one—the Dispensation of the Grace of God. We can identify four dispensations that follow the Grace Dispensation:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">●<span> </span>The Day of Jesus Christ</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">●<span> </span>The Day of the Lord</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">●<span> </span>The Day of God</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">●<span> </span>The “Fulness of Times”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">The majority of Christians, as far as their hope is concerned, have taken all of the promises that God has made and have applied them to themselves. As Paul said, “I would not have you to be ignorant brethren;” if you appropriate for yourself promises made to another, that is stealing. “Thou shalt not steal.” This indicates they claim all the blessings for themselves. They fail to consider that each of God’s “Callings” have different “Hopes.” Each Hope has its own promises and blessings. They have failed to heed Peter’s instruction which is, also, applicable to our dispensation—make your Calling and Election sure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">“<i>Wherefore the rather, brethren, <b><span style="color: #993366;">give <u>diligence</u> to make your calling and election sure</span></b>: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall</i>” (2 Peter <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://4" x-apple-data-detectors-result="4" x-apple-data-detectors="true">1:10</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">If a Christian is serious about “his faith,” he should “give diligence” to make sure he knows what is the Calling to which he belongs. If one is to exercise “due diligence” in acquiring a business or a piece of property, it would seem that “due diligence” would, likewise, be of paramount importance “to make your calling and election sure.” <span> </span>As a Christian, to make certain you know what is the hope to which God has called you <span> </span>(Eph. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://5" x-apple-data-detectors-result="5" x-apple-data-detectors="true">1:18</a>)—GIVE DUE DILIGENCE! This requires intensive labor in the Word. But, this may seem like some foreign language to some Christians who are simply satisfied to be “saved.” And, all they hope for is to die and go to heaven. This reply has been heard many, many times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">But, some Christians are more advanced; they recognize Pentecost; the Lord’s Supper; Saul of Tarsus’ conversion; they recognize Saul, also called Paul, turned to the Gentiles; they imagine they see the Lord gradually turning from the Jew to the Gentile during the Acts Period; and they see Paul taking the place of Peter as the prominent Apostle. Some even “see” the church beginning at Pentecost; others “see” it beginning at Acts <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://6" x-apple-data-detectors-result="6" x-apple-data-detectors="true">9 with Saul’s </a><st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on"><a href="x-apple-data-detectors://6" x-apple-data-detectors-result="6" x-apple-data-detectors="true">Damascus Road</a></st1:address></st1:street> experience. Still, others “see” the church beginning when Paul first turned to the Gentiles in Acts 13, as some seem to strain at a gnat and “see” the church beginning at Acts 18, or even Acts 22. To these people, the church-is-the-church-is-the church; and “we are living in the church age.” They are unable, or unwilling to distinguish between “the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Church</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">God</st1:placename></st1:place>” and “the Church, which is His Body.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">This lack of discernment disenfranchises the Church, which is His Body in the mind of those who are unable to “rightly divide.” This impreciseness robs God of the great demonstration of His matchless grace and kindness to be shown to “<b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">US</span></b>” through Christ Jesus in the “ages to come.” It, also, robs the Church over which Christ Jesus is the Head of all of its glory, and its members of all the exceeding riches of His Grace. It steals away the splendor of His glory which we will be clothed with when He appears, and not only all of these, but also, it robs us of our place and authority in the Administration of our Lord Jesus Christ. These thoughts, by God’s grace, should bring about a reason to “give diligence to make your calling and election sure.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Many of those who embrace “rightly dividing the Word of Truth” like to use the popular phrase that members of the Church, which is His Body will be “trophies of God’s Grace in the ages to come.” There is infinitely more to our Calling than just being on a shelf as a Trophy of His Grace.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Those of us who have made our Calling and Election sure will find that during <b><span style="color: blue;">The Day of Christ,</span></b> we will be engaged as Ministers in the Government of Jesus Christ. As pointed out in Part 3 of this study, the work we will be called upon to do will be of great consequence. We will be divinely equipped to execute our assignment. It will be during this lengthy Dispensation (estimated to be approximately 700 years) that we will be called upon “to earn our stripes,” or said in another military term, “to get our wings.” The Day of Christ will be the “proving grounds” for our next divinely appointed assignment in the age to come—The Day of the Lord.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">As the “Trophies of God’s Grace,” we don’t deny “<i>That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus</i>” (Eph. 2:7). But, over and above us being His show-piece of Grace, we must acknowledge that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:7). The “good works” which we are to perform will be when He transforms our bodies (meaning, “our old man”) so that we will be likened to the glorious body of Jesus Christ (Phil. <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://7" x-apple-data-detectors-result="7" x-apple-data-detectors="true">3:21</a>). Then, every trace and affect of the Adamic curse will be left behind, either in the grave, or with the change from mortal to immortal. Our change, as His new creation, is beyond my ability to fully grasp or explain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">When the Church over which Christ is the Head is manifested with Him, then, will His “<i>kindness toward us through Christ Jesus</i>” be realized in full measure by the heavenly Principalities and Powers. This “<i>shew</i>” of<span> </span>“<i>the riches of His grace</i>” and “<i>His kindness toward us</i>” will be obvious when we are installed in a position of His Government as being seated together with Christ “far above all” of the heavenly aristocracy. “Far above all” (Ephesians <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://8" x-apple-data-detectors-result="8" x-apple-data-detectors="true">1:21</a> refers to our station, or our ranking in God’s Organizational Chart<i>, </i>or to be more precise—His Pre-Millennial Organization). <span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">(To be continued)</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">PLAINER WORDS<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-21852968408904733852012-10-19T10:30:00.001-07:002012-10-19T10:30:27.588-07:00God's Truth For Today - His Highest Calling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Truth For Today</h1>
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The Epistle to the Ephesians was written from a Roman prison by the Apostle Paul around 64 A.D. It was written to the saints at Ephesus and to “the faithful in Christ Jesus” anywhere. The truth contained in this epistle is the most profound truth in all the Word of God. It is the loftiest truth in the Scripture where there is no room for anything but PRAISE and PEACE from God the Father, even our Lord Jesus Christ. The “Mystery” is, here, revealed. It had been kept secret since the world began; not made known to the sons of men (Eph. 3:5); it had been hidden in God (Eph. 3:9); never revealed in the Scriptures until it was made known to the Apostle Paul by means of a special revelation (Eph. 3:3).</div>
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The great “Secret” of Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians is that God gave Christ to be the Head over all things to the Ecclesia which is His Body, the complement of the One (Jesus) completing the all in all. (Eph. 1:22-23). The “all in all” I believe to be that time in the far future when God is illuminating and dwelling among men (Rev. 21:3 and 22:5). This “Secret” concerns the “one new man” (Eph. 2: 15); “a perfect and mature man” (Eph. 4:13). Jesus Christ, as the Head of the Church, has been raised and highly exalted among the heavenly oligarchy (Eph. 1:20-21), and seats us together with Christ among the heavenlies (Eph. 1:20; 2:6). This was not the hope or calling of previous dispensations but now, after Acts 28, it is made known that God has an election out of the earth that was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), to whom God will’s to make know (Eph. 1:27), which Secret was concealed from the eons and generations (Col. 1:26), “yet now was made manifest” (Eph. 1:26). This calling is predestined to have authority to “head up all BOTH that which is in the HEAVENS AND THE EARTH” (Eph. 1:10), over all the heavenly rulers (Eph. 4:10). It is for those who He “in love designating us beforehand for the place of a son for Him through Christ Jesus; in accord with the delight of His will” (Eph. l:5). The ecclesia of His Body will one day, be manifested with Christ in glory (Col 3:4. The truths of God’s administration of the Secret was untraceable until revealed to Paul (Eph. 1:8-9). The epistle to the Ephesians and Colossians are immeasurably higher in dignity, and nobler in character than the glorious positions the Twelve Apostles will enjoy, as rulers, judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel during Christ’s reign throughout the Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God.</div>
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This company of believers called in the administration of the “Secret” have already been blessed with “all spiritual blessings among the heavenly rulers [principalities and powers]” (Eph. 1:3). This calling is viewed as having been vivified, raised, and exalted together with Christ. The Church, which is His Body is the only company and calling of God’s redeemed which is said to be ” for the laud of His glory, who are pre-expectant in the Christ.”” (Eph. 1:12). The “pre-expectant” Paul is referring to here are those who were believing during the Acts period into the new dispensation of God’s grace for you, the nations (Eph. 3:1).</div>
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Paul is given a revelation of such a nature that man and all his religion find no place for forms and ceremonies. We learn in the Ephesians Epistle that God is concerned with His own purpose. His Own will, His Own Son, and His Own inheritance, to wit, the Church over which Christ Jesus is the Head.</div>
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Ephesians is for those who have enlightened eyes that they may see the revelation of the “Secret.” This epistle is considered as “strong meat” of the Word. It is, certainly, for those who have grown in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is written for those who are faithful (i.e., full of faith). It is impossible for those who still hold to rituals, rites, forms, and ceremonies to grasp the truth recorded here. It is for those who have passed on from types and shadows and symbols. It concerns the realm of the spirit where full-grown men of God are to live, even while they are tabernacling in the flesh. As the Lord Jesus Christ grants wisdom and revelation in the Word of Truth, full-grown, mature men of God are to grow accustomed to seeing the things that are invisible, as they begin to move in mind, heart, and spirit among the invisible and eternal things.</div>
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The Epistle to the Ephesians was written after the landmark of Acts 28:28 was reached. The dispensational boundary line was crossed when Acts ended, and Israel’s hope was left behind, unfilled and set aside. The churches which had been established during the Book of Acts found that the miraculous had ceased. Signs, wonders, and miracles were no longer the order of the day, but rather, SILENCE. Perhaps, the most awesome and far-reaching pronouncement made, since the angels heralded the birth of Christ, was made in a Roman prison by the Apostle Paul when he solemnly pronounced Israel’s blindness in Acts 28. For, with his pronouncement in Acts 28:28, the “<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">at hand</strong>” Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God Truth ended abruptly. Ephesians explains God’s purpose and silence during this present era. God’s present purpose in his administration of grace is to write into the history of His long dealings with mankind, a complete record of the grace and demonstration of His character. By contrast we can say that He is not, at this time, demonstrating His power, majesty, justice or judgment. He is demonstrating His grace. This is one of His present purposes in “man’s day”.</div>
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Shortly after Paul made known to the Christians that the Lord is no longer dealing on the grounds of “Israel’s hope,” but rather, on the basis of the “Secret,” they turned away from him and the new revelation. Before Paul was martyred, he testified that;</div>
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“A<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ll they that are in Asia be turned away from him (2 Tim. l :15)</em></strong>, <strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and all have forsaken him (2 Tim. 4:16).</em></strong></div>
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Most evidently, the majority of Christians in Paul’s own day failed to acknowledge the landmark of Acts 28, as they do today. They took truth made known after Israel was set aside and read it back into the epistles Paul wrote before the “Secret” was revealed to him.</div>
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Paul told Timothy that as a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, he must rightly divide the Word of Truth (2 Tim. 2: l 5). That is, he must differentiate between those epistles written during the age of the miraculous and those written afterward. This, we will do as we set forth, below, the two sets of epistles. Recognize that the Apostle Paul had two ministries ─ one, during the Acts period and the other, after the Acts period ended.</div>
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<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Ministry During the Acts Period</span> ─ The Past Dispensation<br />Galatians-Hebrews<br />1 & 2 Thessalonians<br />1 & 2 Corinthians<br />Romans</div>
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<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Ministry During the Post-Acts Period</span> ─ The Present Dispensation<br />Ephesians-Colossians<br />Philippians<br />Titus-Philemon<br />1 & 2 Timothy</div>
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Present Truth is found in these epistles written after Israel was set aside. When Paul ceased being BOUND FOR ISRAEL’S HOPE and became A PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE GENTILES, he received a new and fresh revelation.</div>
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The epistles written by Paul, after the Acts 28 crisis, are seven in number. Five are written from prison, and two are written between the Roman imprisonment, recorded in Acts 28, and the imprisonment that ended in his death.</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">PAUL’S SALUTATION</strong></div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“PauI, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the FAITHFUL in Christ Jesus: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ” </em>(Ephesians 1:1-2)<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">.</em></div>
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The Apostle Paul is the writer of this epistle, and he says so in the salutation of the letter. Paul is writing this to the believing saints at Ephesus. AIl the saved are Saints; “saints” means set apart ones. You don’t wait until after you are dead for some church to make you a Saint. This epistle is, of necessity, addressed to the saved and not only that, it is addressed to the FAITHFUL. There is a big difference between being a Saint and being a FAITHFUL Saint. Remember that all the saved are “Saints,” but not all the Saints are “FAITHFUL.” The word, FAITHFUL, means “believing all that God has said.”</div>
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This letter is addressed to the Saints but, more in particular, to the ones who will believe the latest revelation from our Lord Jesus Christ. You have many people who are Saints but don’t believe the latest revelation that we have from God. The Lord would have us understand and believe the latest TRUTH we have from Him. A FAITHFUL Saint believes the latest report that he has heard from God. Now, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing (cometh) BY THE WORD OF GOD” (Rom. 10:17).</div>
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The Apostle Paul, as the “prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles,” has a special revelation that is connected with him as the Lord’s prisoner. This special revelation, given to Paul after Israel is set aside, is called Paul’s “prison ministry.” It is while he is in prison that the RISEN—ASCENDED– GLORIFIED Lord Jesus Christ gives the latest revelation to Paul the Apostle. He reveals to him a most carefully hidden secret. As stated before, this Secret had been “hid in God.” God had kept a secret, and it had not been made known until He gave it to Paul the prisoner, by special revelation. Paul calls this special revelation to him, “the testimony of the Lord’s prisoner” in 2 Timothy 1:8. He tells Timothy not to be ashamed of this testimony. The testimony for PRESENT TRUTH is to be found in the epistles written BY PAUL, THE PRISONER, not Paul, the free man. However, don’t misunderstand:</div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“All scripture</em> is<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> given by inspiration of God and</em> is<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> profitable for doctrine, for reproof for correction, and for instruction in righteousness” </em>(2 Tim. 3:16).</div>
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Present Truth for the Ecclesia or Church, which is “His Body, the complement of the One completing the all in all” is found in this peculiar cluster of epistles which we call the Prison Epistles. The FAITHFUL believe what is heard from God, not just what is written for other ages and dispensations, but to those who believe that which was written by the Lord’s prisoner. The PRISONER of the Lord is the chosen vessel to make known God’s secret purpose. It is in the Epistle to the Ephesians (and to the Colossians) that this secret is made known. The high truth concerning the Church of the One Body/His Body, is explained and revealed here. The FAITHFUL recognize Paul’s distinctive ministry as the great revelator of God’s secret purpose; that is, the purpose that God had planned before the world began, before any promises were made to any of the “fathers.” It is only the Faithful who will believe PRESENT TRUTH. That is why Paul addresses this to the Saints at Ephesus and the FAITHFUL IN CHRIST JESUS.</div>
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As he always does, Paul bestows the blessings of “Grace and Peace” to the readers of this epistle. Grace is, of course, the main characteristic of Paul’s ministry. In Ephesians 3:2, Paul says that “<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the dispensation of the GRACE OF GOD is given me to you-ward</strong>.” So, since God’s administration of GRACE was given to Paul to explain, it is natural that Paul opens his epistles with that famous salutation of his– GRACE BE TO YOU AND PEACE from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. You might notice that Grace and Peace has God the Father as the Originator and Source, and this GRACE and PEACE comes through and flows out from The Lord Jesus Christ. There is no grace or peace apart from being in Christ. The unsaved have no peace with God; they are at enmity with God, but after being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1). Those that have peace with God can, also, have <strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the peace of God</strong>(Phi1. 4:7).</div>
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If you have not made peace with God, your next move is to make Him your personal Savior. If your heart stirred, consider this to be the work of God’s Holy Spirit. Why not purposely decide that you will believe in God. Confess that you will from this moment forward be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? Let this be your confession of faith in Him, and let your first confession of faith be the most important one. Your confession here and now is private and should be the one you make to God, and to Him alone. Public declarations can come later, and they should follow, but your private confession of faith in Jesus Christ should be your personal experience with God. As you read and study God’s Word, ask Him to reaveal His knowledge to you. As you do, trust the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth.<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </em></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-43832515997246433722012-10-15T15:15:00.004-07:002012-10-15T15:15:56.921-07:00Before The Great and Terrible Day of The Lord<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: navy; font-size: medium;">SEED & BREAD<br /><br />Number 111<br /><br />BEFORE THE DAY OF THE LORD<br /></span>(Originally published 10 Aug. 79)</div>
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<br /><br />As background material for this study I would like for all to read once again Issue No. 54, "Four Great Days," and Issue No. 110, "The Lord’s Day in Rev. 1:10."<br /><br />Those who follow the Darby-Scofield system of prophetic interpretation, also known as the dispensational-premillenial school, put great emphasis on the coming of the day of the Lord in their written and spoken messages, especially so in the popular fast-selling books on prophecy which are so ubiquitous today. They, as a rule, begin the day of the Lord with the second coming of Jesus Christ, although many start it seven years before with what they call "the rapture." They put great emphasis upon the terrors of this seven-year period, seldom failing to quote Isa. 13:9-11:<br /><br />* "Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath, and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of the heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible."<br /><br />This is a very popular passage with many self-styled "evangelical" preachers today, who believe it is their duty to scare people into making a decision for Christ. They find such passages to be very useful tools, especially when elaborated with accompanying dramatics, histrionics, and the dogmatic matching of Biblical prophecies with current events. Part of the orchestration of evangelistic services is to time the invitation for people to "come to Christ" at the same moment they have been seized by a paroxysm of fear concerning the terrors of the day of the Lord. This opportunistic exploiting of people’s anxieties merits the severest condemnation.<br /><br />However, one thing that is apparent concerning these heralds of coming doom, these proclaimers of "Armageddon Now", is that they ignore altogether that the glorious day of Christ (Phil. 1:6,10; 2:16) precedes the day of the Lord, and none of them have anything to say about those marvelous divine activities which God’s Word explicitly says will take place before the great and notable day of the Lord comes. These are ignored, disdained, and passed over as if they were unworthy of any consideration. And it is quite plain that this is done because the recognition of them would throw the proverbial monkey wrench into almost all prophetic schemes and time tables.<br /><br />No certain event is revealed in Scripture that will mark the beginning of the day of the Lord. It comes "as a thief in the night" (2 Peter 3:10). Its time period will be a reality the moment that God removes the last of the restraints that He placed upon mankind during the time period of His government. Once again all nations are permitted to walk after their own ways, and this will make possible the divine testing of all who have lived under and enjoyed the rich blessings of the kingdom of God. In the day of the Lord we find such events as the emergence of the man of sin (2 Thess. 2:3), the final week of Israel’s seventy weeks (seven years) as prophesied by Daniel (9:27), the desecration of the temple of God (Matt. 24:15), the great tribulation, the short time of God’s vengeance, the second coming of Jesus Christ, His 1000 year parousia (personal presence), the binding of Satan for a thousand years, the "little season," the great white throne judgment, and the purging of the earth by fire to make way for the day of God. However, certain great events must precede all events that are related to the day of the Lord.<br /><br />The first of these is the appearance and the successful ministry of Elijah the Prophet. This is expressly declared in Mal. 4:5-6:<br /><br />* "Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."<br /><br />The meaning of certain statements in this great promise are admittedly obscure, but its primary message is quite plain. We are told that before "the great and dreadful day of the Lord" comes, Elijah the prophet will be sent to the people of Israel, and he will do a work of vast importance and of such nature that it will remove any need for the Lord smiting the earth with a curse. Our Lord enlarged upon and further explained this great work when He said to His disciples: "Elias (Elijah) truly shall first come and restore all things" (Matt. 17:11).<br /><br />There is great consolation in the fact that before the first vision in the book of Revelation is fulfilled, Elijah the prophet will have appeared, and he will restore man’s lost understanding of the divine idioms, signs, and figures used throughout this prophecy. The world will know what every word in Revelation means before any man is called upon to face the things revealed in it. We thank God for this.<br /><br />If the man of faith will take God at His word and think in harmony with the truth declared in Mal. 4:5-6 and Matt. 17:11, no belief will be possible than that there is to be a period of beneficent and benevolent divine activity before the day of the Lord, and this will be achieved by God working through Elijah the prophet. All this will be in the day of Christ and under the kingdom of God. This is enough in itself to demonstrate that there will be a period of divine government before the second coming and the personal presence of Jesus Christ. Having dealt with "The Mission of Elijah" in Issue No. 91, the foregoing comments should be sufficient for this study.<br /><br />Another positive statement of things that must take place before the great and notable day of the Lord comes is so immense and magnificent that it serves well as a challenge to all who do take God at His word and think accordingly. It is a real test of submission and faith.<br /><br />* "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men (presbuteros—elders) shall dream dreams: And on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy: And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come." Acts 2:17-20.<br /><br />In this passage we find two definite time elements that enclose the promises made in it. "It shall come to pass in the last days . . . before the great and notable day of the Lord come." To find out what "the last days" are, we will need to read Isa. 2:2-4 and Micah 4:1-8. In these passages we will find that the conditions described are those that will characterize the earth when God governs. The Acts passage is quoted from Joel and is Hebrew in character which explains why "last" here means "resultant," or as The Cambridge Bible declares its literal meaning to be "in the sequel of the days." There are at least ten specific prophecies, each one a promise of good, listed in Acts 2:17-20, all of which will be fulfilled to the letter in the last days, and before the great and notable (epiphanE—manifest) day of the Lord comes. No more positive words could be used to describe a time of divine activity before the fulfillment of the prophecies in Revelation begin.<br /><br />One can only be amused at the vain struggles of those who try to stultify this passage, to make it say less than what it does, or to make it mean something different from what the Spirit has said. Since these words were spoken to "Ye men of Judea," we are told that this limits "all flesh" to Israel. Preposterous! One may as well say that since Gen. 6:13 was spoken to Noah, that "all flesh" meant only him.<br /><br />Then we are told that verses 19 and 20 describe the great tribulation. If this is so, then the great tribulation is something that comes before the scenes of Revelation. And this would create two "great tribulations;" one before the day of the Lord and one in the day of the Lord. They link these two verses with Rev. 6:12, never stopping to think that one of these events precedes the day of the Lord, and the other happens in it. They cannot be the same event.<br /><br />Such struggles against God’s truth reveal a lack of submission to His Word. May we meet the test of believing what God has said here and recognize in this passage a description of divine activity, benevolent and beneficent in its character that comes before the day of the Lord and precedes all events described in Revelation. This will call for a new concept of the last book of the Bible, and could make obsolete every commentary on this oracle of God. But, may we be equal to this also!<br /><br />God’s future program for Israel and for the nations is first blessing followed by testing. The first great testing will come only after God has governed long. (See Issue No. 40). When God sees fit to remove all restraints and permits men again to walk after their own way, the true righteousness of the majority will be demonstrated and the hypocrisy of a minority will be revealed. This will result in an uprising against God on the part of some, and this is the revolt that must come before the day of the Lord (not the day of Christ as in KJV). We read of this rebellion in 2 Thess. 2:1-3, which I will literally translate as follows:<br /><br />* Now we request you, brethren, in view of the personal presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him, that you be not quickly shaken from your mind nor be alarmed, either by spirit, or by word, or by a letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord is present. Let no one deceive you by any means: for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs, and the man of lawlessness be unveiled, the son of destruction.<br /><br />The word translated "falling away" (KJV) here, and which I have translated "rebellion" is apostasia, which Septuagint usage demonstrates means a revolt. A record of this revolt is found in Psalms 2 and 83, and is spoken of as the rebellion in this passage.<br /><br />Thus, the Word of God sets forth positive facts that indicate a period of divine activity that is no part of God’s present administration of grace, but must precede the day of the Lord. All prophetic systems leave no time for this. The question we now face is whether we will preserve our traditions or come to grips with the Word of God.</div>
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<br /><br /><a href="http://www.heavendwellers.com/sb_otis_sellers_library.htm">INDEX</a><br /><br />Issue no. 111<br /> </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168783804530687434.post-71966796844480706022012-09-20T20:11:00.001-07:002012-09-20T20:11:38.043-07:00A Higher Calling and Hope From Paul<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="userContent">Plainer Words Online<br />By<br />Tom L. Ballinger<br /><br />June 16, 2012<br /><br />Plainer Words since 1968<br /><br />PLAINER WORDS ON… ENLIGHTENMENT – GOD’S SPECIAL GIFT<br /><br />Part 1<br /><br />INTRODUCTION<br /><br />The “ambassador in bonds,” the Apostle Paul, while in a Roman prison, had heard of the saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ of the Ephesians. This was probably in the 62nd year of our Lord. The boundary line of Acts 28 was crossed. The Pentecostal Dispensation was left behind and so was the “hope of Israel.” Paul writes Ephesians and unfolds the “great secret” of the Dispensation of the Grace of God. He writes about a sacred Truth in which Jews and Gentiles were being “called-out” to form the “Church, which is His Body.” This Church is to be “to the praise of the glory of His grace” throughout the ages, world-without-end.<br /><br />The riches of God’s grace are so superlative that it is incomprehensible, even to saints who have been begotten by the Spirit (John 3:6). In order for the saint to “see” the glorious Truth of this Mystery, the Lord must impart a special heavenly gift – SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT. In order for the saved to comprehend the exclusive revelation given to Paul, the prisoner of the Lord, concerning Christ Who is “the Head of the Church, which His Body, the fullness of God.” Paul is so pleased with what he has heard regarding the saints at Ephesus, he writes:<br /><br />“Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may GIVE UNTO YOU the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:15-17).<br /><br />THE EYES OF UDERSTANDING BEING ENLIGHTENED<br /><br />“For we know not what we should pray for as we ought.” Many use this part of Romans 8:26 as their excuse for not knowing how to pray. However, Romans 8:26 has reference to praying for infirmities. There are, at least, 33 recorded prayers of the Apostle Paul which were written for our learning. We ought to know how to pray. Paul’s epistles are full of typical prayers which should be studied. By doing so, we should learn how to pray as we ought. Our subject will be set before our mind and eyes as we look at a case in point—Ephesians 1:18-19.<br /><br />“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.”<br /><br />Look at this prayer of Paul’s and notice that it is, basically, divided into two parts: (1) that He may GIVE and, (2 ) that you may KNOW. The order is to be observed. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, must give before the believer may know. God must grant the believer:<br /><br />a. The Spirit of wisdom and revelation (Vs. 17)<br />b. The knowledge of Him (Vs. 17)<br />c. The “eyes of understanding” enlightened (Vs. 18)<br /><br />Unless God grants the above, the believer will never get to know what follows. No amount of study, no amount of reading, no amount of prayer, no amount of education will bring an individual to the point where he is able to comprehend, or discern the truths associated with the Calling of the Church over which Christ Jesus is the Head. It must be emphasized that in order for any believer to see [i.e., to perceive] the uniqueness and glory of this Calling, it requires God giving Divine Light upon these truths. The first fourteen verses of this epistle make known a most profound truth regarding the Calling of the Church of The Mystery. These truths are just mere doctrine until such time as God sheds the light of revelation upon them in the heart of the believer. When God gives the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation,” the Truth of the Mystery grips the heart of the believer. Then, he begins to “see” the glory of the Calling. What is more, he, then, begins to “see” the glories of Christ Jesus.<br /><br />Paul’s concern, in this prayer, is that others may be given the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ. Also, that they would have the “eyes” of their understanding enlightened to the truths embodied in the Mystery. When Divine intervention takes place, then, the believer MAY KNOW:<br /><br />a. What is the Hope of His Calling (Vs. 18)<br />b. What is the riches of His Inheritance (Vs. 18)<br />c. What is the greatness of His Power (Vs. 19)<br /><br />When the “eyes” of our understanding are Divinely illuminated, we are in a position to get to know “what is the Hope of His Calling.”<br /><br />“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His Calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18).<br /><br />This tells us that, apart from Spiritual enlightenment, we are UNABLE TO KNOW what is the Hope of God’s Present Calling. The reason is that the “eyes of understanding” must be enlightened. When the enlightenment is given, THEN the believer is enabled to distinguish between the various Callings of God. If one does not have this Spiritual discernment to distinguish between the different Callings, it is impossible for him to KNOW WHAT IS THE HOPE of GOD’S CALLING. Keep in mind that it is His Calling, not ours, or yours, or mine—IT IS HIS CALLING.<br /><br />CALLING<br /><br />The New Testament word, “calling,” is used to denote a Divine invitation, or summon to embrace a particular salvation which entails marvelous benefits. Those who respond become members of that Calling which was sent out, usually, by the preaching of the Gospel message for that dispensational time. In plainer words, those who embrace the Gospel become members of a “called out group.” The “called out group” is denominated as being a “church,” for a church means, “a called out company or assembly.” It is Scripturally correct to say that the word, “calling,” is a word used by the Spirit of God to make known Dispensational Truth.<br /><br />“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:28).<br /><br />“For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:” (1 Corinthians 1:26).<br /><br />“Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called” (1 Corinthians 7:20).<br /><br />“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling …” (Ephesians 1:18).<br /><br />“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;” (Ephesians 4:4).<br /><br />“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).<br /><br />“Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling …” (2 Thessalonians 1:11).<br /><br />“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Timothy 1:9).<br /><br />“…partakers of the heavenly calling” (Hebrews 3:1).<br /><br />“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure:” (2 Peter 1:10).<br /><br />These ten references can be “rightly divided” into three Callings. We will not so divide them, but we will set forth three headings which they would be classified under:<br /><br />1. The Calling of Israel (“the church in the wilderness” ─ Acts 7:38).<br />2. The Calling of the Church of God ─ (Acts 2 through Acts 28).<br />3. The Calling of the Church of the Mystery (the “high calling of God” for today Phil.3:14).<br /><br />To believe that Callings No. 2 and No. 3 are the same is an elementary mistake in First Grade arithmetic. We have shown that there are three Callings considered. Not two. Most all of Christendom makes this fundamental mistake, teaching that the Church of God and the Church of the Mystery are the same. The Acts Period Calling is different than today’s Calling of the Church of the Mystery. Of course, this mistake is not the result of a low IQ: but the result of not having been enlightened by the Spirit of God—which is to say, their “eyes of understanding” have not been illuminated.<br /><br />The Calling of the Church of God began in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. It ran its course from Acts 2 to Acts 28. This Calling was, exclusively, Jewish until Acts 10. In Acts 10, the Apostle Peter opened the door to the Church of God Calling to a Gentile; Cornelius and his whole household. From Acts 10 until the end of “The Acts of the Apostles,” believing Gentiles became incorporated into this Calling. However, they did not have all of the privileges that the Jewish member did.<br /><br />During the Acts Period, Gentiles who believed Pentecostal Truth were “grafted in” to this Calling. The grafting in was the effort “to provoke [unbelieving] Israel to jealousy” (Romans 11:11). The believing Gentiles were considered to be a “wild olive tree” (Romans 11:17) grafted into “a good olive tree”—that being the Israel of God (Romans 11:24). This grafting-in, Paul wrote, was “contrary to nature” (Romans 11:24). This grafting-in was supposed to provoke Israel to emulate the faith of the Gentiles. Instead of emulating the faith of the Gentiles, it caused their hearts to be hardened and “waxed gross, and their ears dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed” (Acts 28:27).<br /><br />Resultant upon this, the Apostle Paul said in Acts 28:28, “Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and they will hear it” (Acts 28:28). This verse ought to “ring in the ears” of Christians. This is a landmark in all of Christendom. This was a Dispensational Boundary Line, drawn in the Bible, separating the Acts Period Calling from the Calling of The Mystery. With the pronouncement in Acts 28:28, the purposes of the Calling of the Church of God were suspended and set in abeyance.<br /><br />Paul wrote seven letters to the Church of God. They were: Hebrews, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans.<br /><br />With the shocking announcement in Acts 28:28, those with enlightened understanding see the Biblical Road Sign which says in bold capital letters:<br /><br />LEAVING BEHIND ALL PROPHESIED TERRITORY<br />NOW ENTERING UNPROPHESIED TERRITORY<br /><br />Christians who have not experienced having the eyes of their understanding enlightened miss this Signpost and drive into this New Territory, bringing with them baggage from the past Dispensation. When the border is crossed, we find in the New Territory, “a form of sound words” (2 Timothy 1:13) – Paul’s Prison Epistles – which are replete with newer terminology than that which was used, descriptively, in order to make manifest truth relating to the Church of God. One such description, or figure is that the present Calling is likened to ONE NEW MAN (Ephesians 2:15). The new nature of the regenerated member of the Church of the “One New Man” is no longer referred to as a “new creature” (2 Corinthian 5:17) as was the Acts Period believer. But, NOW, our new nature is referred to as our “NEW MAN” (Ephesians 4:24 & Colossians 3:10). In these two verses, we are told “to put on the new man”—like putting on a suit of clothes—to wit, our Spiritual Apparel.<br /><br />Those who cannot see the Dispensational Boundary Line of Acts 28 are unable to appreciate the importance of God’s Present Purpose. This truth is of paramount importance. Upon this, hinges all Present Truth. It is here, at Acts 28, that the Pentecostal Dispensation ended, and the Dispensation of the Grace of God begins.<br /><br />On this side of the Border, the post-Acts Period, a new Calling is being formed—the Calling of the Church over which Christ Jesus is the Head (Ephesians 1:22-23). As members of the Church over which Christ is the Head, we are told:<br /><br />“Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13).<br /><br />These “sound words” are found in Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Titus, 1 & 2 Timothy, and Philemon.<br /><br />When these two Callings are recognized as being different, confusion disappears and, then we can advance to become “a perfect man:”<br /><br />“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect [mature] man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).<br /><br />Only when we rightly divide the Calling of the “Church of God” and the “Church, which is His Body” (Ephesians 1:22-23), can progress be made in understanding the Hope of His Calling.<br /><br />(To be continued)<br /><br /><br /><br />Plainer Words Online<br />By<br />Tom L. Ballinger<br /><br />June 27, 2012<br /><br />Plainer Words since 1968<br /><br />PLAINER WORDS ON… ENLIGHTENMENT – THE SPECIAL GIFT OF GOD<br /><br />Part 2<br /><br />“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the HOPE OF HIS CALLING, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18).<br /><br />Before we look at the “hope,” let’s recognize that in Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17-19, he refers to the Calling as God’s. It is “His Calling.” The reason being, that it is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ Who “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings among heaven’s elite in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). It was God Who chose us “in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). It was Him Who “predestinated us unto the adoption” (Eph. 1:5). It was He Who “hath made us accepted in the Beloved [Christ]” (Eph. 1:6). This Calling originated in the Heart of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who is the Source of all blessings “according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself” (Eph. 1:9). Therefore, it is “His Calling.” We, as members of His Calling, can only refer to it as “ours,” only in the sense that it refers to our walk. Doctrinally, it is “His Calling;” practically, it is “our calling.”<br /><br />Notice that the section of Ephesians which deals with the practical out-working of Truth is in Chapters 4, 5, and 6.<br /><br />“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation [calling] wherewith ye are called … even as ye are called in ONE HOPE of your calling” (Eph. 4:1, 4).<br /><br />It is “your” calling, or “our” calling as it relates to our response to this Truth. Only as we are “enlightened” to see that it is the Father’s Calling, can we endeavor to walk worthy of “our” calling.<br /><br />THE HOPE<br /><br />It has been emphasized that in order to see “what is the Hope of His Calling,” enlightened understanding is a prerequisite. As many Christians make an elementary mistake in confusing the “callings,” they, also, compound the problem by making an additional error by insisting that the “three” hopes are really just “two.”Believers who have not had the “eyes of their understanding enlightened” are in a hopeless tangle because they are unable to distinguish “what is the Hope of [God’s] Calling.” They, erroneously, believe that the Hope, set-forth in the Epistles written during the Acts Period, is the same as the Hope of the Prison Epistles.<br /><br />Many folks who have seen some additional Truth shed on Acts 2 have moved on to a belief in what, today, is referred to as “the Mid-Acts Position.” This popular Grace<br />Position still falls short of the mark of “the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). They find trouble getting out of the Acts Period Dispensation with its epistles looking for “the Hope of Israel.” The “Hope of Israel” was set aside at Acts 28:28.<br /><br />The word, “hope,” means as it relates to Biblical ideas; “ ( 2 ) Confidence in a future event; the highest degree of well founded expectation of good; as a hope founded on God’s gracious promises, a Scriptural sense” (Webster’s 1828).<br /><br />The sure ground for the Biblical expectation is God’s Promise. However, the hypocrite’s expectation is based upon supposition, or the wrongly divided Word.<br /><br />“…and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish: Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web” (Job 8:13-14).<br /><br />Here, the hypocrite places trust in a hope founded upon the thin threads of a spider’s web. He does have an expectation, but its foundation is flimsy, having no sure substance.<br /><br />Noah Webster’s definition of “Hope” is further said to be; ”( 3 ) That which gives: or that which furnishes ground for expectation. The hope of Israel’s Messiah. …the LORD will be the hope of His people … (Joel 3:16); ( 4 ) An opinion or belief not amounting to certainty, but grounded on substantial evidence.”<br /><br />So, we can see that “hope” carries with it the idea of expectation and gives joy and pleasure. Of course, a misplaced hope, while it may give pleasure, will not be realized, and it can be said that it will “perish.”<br /><br />“When a wicked man dieth, his expectation [hope] shall perish: and the hope of the unjust men perisheth” (Prov. 11:7).<br /><br />But, if the Hope is based upon the Word of God and is rightly applied, it stands upon a firm foundation. However, all hopes in the Word are not the same. The “Hope of Israel” (Jer.14:18, Acts 28:20) was based upon promises God made to the fathers of Israel. You will note in the following verses that Paul declares to Agrippa:<br /><br />“And now I stand and am judged for the HOPE of the promise made of God unto our fathers: Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, HOPE to come. For which Hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews” (Acts 26:6-7).<br /><br />Here, it is noted that the Hope, in view, is that which was based upon a promise. It was a specific promise made by God unto the Fathers of Israel. This Hope cannot possibly be confused with the ONE HOPE of the Church of the ONE BODY (Eph. 4:4)! The promise was clearly to the “twelve tribes” of Israel.<br /><br />We will not make any attempt to fully cover the doctrines which surround the Scriptural word, “hope.” Other than saying; a Biblical “hope is based upon a specific promise God made to a particular Calling. Each Calling is different.<br /><br />There are at least three distinct Callings revealed in the Scriptures—the Calling of the Wilderness Church, the Calling of the New Testament Church, and the Calling of the Church, which is His Body*.<br /><br />• The Calling of the Church, which is His Body (Eph.1:23) is not a New Testament Calling. Its Truth is revealed after the New Covenant Church of God [Acts 2 to Acts 28] was set aside. Or, said another way in plainer words, today’s Present Truth is Gentile-ward (Eph. 3:1-2) and is not Covenant Truth. See Romans 9:4-5 which points out, forthrightly, that the “covenants” and the “promises” belonged to Israel—not to the Gentiles. Saved Gentiles who were incorporated into the New Testament Church of God had a standing as foreign-born residents and were forbidden from holding any office in God’s Governing Body that existed during the Acts Period. Gentile Christians only had the rights of an alien in the “Israel of God.”<br /><br />Now, the question arises; “What is the Hope of the special Calling of the Church over which Christ Jesus is the Head?” It should be understood that each of God’s callings has had its own specific promise relating to its Hope.<br /><br />There are two Callings mentioned in New Testament Truths. Those being, the Calling of Israel, referred to as “the Church in the Wilderness” (Acts 7:38). God called-out Israel in Exodus 19:3, 17. The Hope of its Calling was to be given the Land of Promise to possess and to become a Kingdom of Priests.<br /><br />The other was the Calling of the Church of God. Its beginning was in Matthew 16:18, and it was on the world-scene until the end of “The Acts of the Apostles.” Many refer to this church as “the New Testament Church.” It was the church which was called-out during New Testament times. But, this is not a term used by the Holy Spirit as He inspired the New Testament writers. This Calling looked for the “Restitution of all things” (cf. Acts 3:19-21) as its Hope. This Hope was, also, referred to as “the Times of Refreshing” (Acts 3:19). This Hope will usher-in the Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God. This Hope will probably last at least 700 years—then, the Lord allows apostasy and rebellion to take place. A rebellion against the Government of Jesus Christ occurs. The Antichrist will make war against Israel. This war ends with THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. The “Parousia” of Christ brings, to a close, His Pre-Millennial Kingdom.<br /><br />The Hope of the Church over which Christ Jesus is the Head has a prior Hope to that of the Church of God. The Hope of the Church of God is not difficult to “see.” All Acts Period believers were endowed with “Spiritual gifts” (1 Cor. 12:1). These super-natural gifts of the Holy Spirit empowered all believers to understand the Hope of their Calling.<br /><br />With these Biblical facts presented, it is apparent that there is a difference between the two Callings, which is to say, the Calling of the Church of God and the Calling over which Christ Jesus is the Head (Eph. 1:22-23). Many Christians do not see the difference between the Hopes of the two Callings. In order to “see” the Hope of the latter Calling, it takes spiritual discernment which is granted only by the “Father of glory.”<br /><br />“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Eph. 1:17).<br /><br />Today, those who fail to “see” have not had “the eyes of their understanding enlightened.” In plainer words, they are “blind”—spiritually, that is! I recall at the 1977 Gulf Coast Bible Conference in Mobile, Alabama, we had Oscar Baker who I referred to, in those days, as the “Dean of Dispensational Truth,” as one of the speakers. During a break between speakers, a man started to engage Brother Baker in a conversation by saying, “You know, Mr. Baker, I just don’t see the Hope of the Mystery.”<br /><br />Brother Baker, in his inimitable way, smiled warmly at the man and said, “Maybe it’s because you are blind.” Only Brother Baker could reply as he did without causing an uproar. Mr. Baker’s study explained the difference between the two Hopes. And, the brother just couldn’t “get it.”<br /><br />All of the explanations in the world will not enlighten, nor will the most eloquent teacher enlighten. All of man’s illustrations and skilled oratory WILL NEVER make Christians see “what is the Hope of His Calling.” Only as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory” grants the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation” to individuals, will they be able to “know what is “the Hope of His Calling.” This illumination is “of the Lord.” It is not in our hands! We cannot make others “see.” If we are faithful in presenting Truth for Today, the Lord may choose to use the witness and testimony of an earthen vessel to remove the veil of this Calling, so others may SEE the Glorious Hope of the Calling over which Christ Jesus is the Head.<br />(To be continued)<br /><br /><br />Plainer Words Online<br />By<br />Tom L. Ballinger<br /><br />July 11, 2012<br /><br />Plainer Words since 1968<br /><br />PLAINER WORDS … ENLIGHTENMENT – THE SPECIAL GIFT OF GOD<br /><br />Part 3<br /><br />Our salvation is a most precious Gift of God—“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the Gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).<br /><br />Being saved by Grace is, indeed, the Gift of God. We are not saved by good works. But, it ought to be understood that, for want of a better terminology, there is a “General Calling.” It encompasses all persons who have ever exercised a measure of “saving faith,” whatever it might be—perhaps, only God knows.<br /><br />It would include those who have, through patient persistence in well-doing, seeked glory, honor, and immortality. God will give eternal life (Romans 2:7). Old Testament saints will be regenerated and, in addition, it would certainly include those who believed in John 3:16 through the end of the Present Dispensation. A full development of this can be found in “Plainer Words … He Who Does Good.” It’s posted on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.Plainerwords.com&h=kAQGL9-SsAQECYy8qfwQkT9ciADMGlOoe-HggxzATY75-Dg&s=1" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.Plainerwords.com</a>. Those who will comprise this “General Calling” will live again. Their resurrection, or change will be associated with those who see age-abiding life in the Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God according to 1 Corinthians 15:22-23a; “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order.”<br /><br />But, “the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14) has special accoutrements which are over and above those of the “General Calling.” The Calling of the Church over which Christ Jesus is the Head will be the most prominent, the most prestigious, and the most noble of all of His Callings.<br /><br />The Church of God (Acts 20:28), also known as “the Body of Christ,” will be made up of Pentecostal and Mid-Acts believers. They will find the realization of their Hope hundreds of years before the Coming (Parousia) of Christ. They will be in that number who will be “Christ’s firstfruits” (1 Cor. 15:23b). (A full development of this is found in “Plainer Words … Every Man in His Own Order” <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.Plainerwords.com&h=rAQFFfEEeAQGnFAtTKtW9m34ptRES8C9LsDsWDwuWPWliqw&s=1" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.Plainerwords.com</a>). They will populate the earth during the Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God.<br /><br />The “Hope” of the present Dispensation is still before us as we study Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17-19. The Hope of the present Calling is not discernable apart from God’s Special Gift being granted to Christians—SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT.<br /><br />Many who are reading this find that their spiritual eyes are becoming foggy. It seemed so simple when every believer was just looking for the rapture and the 2nd Coming of Christ. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to explain the Believer’s different Hopes, and I’ve watched as their eyes began to glaze over. Their unspoken words were, “I don’t see it.” I knew they didn’t see it. It wasn’t because my explanation was inadequate. It was because the Lord had not seen fit, at THAT time, to grant unto them the “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of their understanding hadn’t been enlightened so that they could SEE WHAT IS THE HOPE OF HIS CALLING.”<br /><br />Dear friends, the joy is unspeakable when the scales fall from their spiritual eyes, and they exclaim—I SEE IT! I SEE IT! When the saint sees it, you can be sure that THE GIFT OF GOD—ENLIGHTENMENT just kicked in.<br /><br />I have had folks ask, “Tom, why hadn’t I seen it before? It is so clear!” I didn’t have to answer. They knew it was because the time was NOW for the Lord to open their understanding so that they could say—I see it!<br /><br />If you can say, “I see it,” then, this will not perplex you. The “Hope of His Calling” will be realized at the “day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). The Day of Redemption will be our DAY of EXANASTASIS (Phil. 3:11), which is to say, our prior resurrection. In plainer words, our resurrection is the first Calling to be raised out-from-among the dead, or to be changed (Phil. 3:21) from mortal to immortal. We’ll be resurrected, or changed before the Twelve Apostles will be. Yes, even before Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Methuselah. Before Elijah, and Elisha. Before Joseph, Gideon, Rahab (the harlot), Samson, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob; yes, even before Moses, David, Samuel and the Prophets.<br /><br />Another Gift of God’s enlightenment for us will be found in Colossians;<br /><br />“Even the Mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but NOW is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this Mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the Hope of Glory” (Col. 1:26-27).<br /><br />Lest we repeat ourselves, you need to notice Colossians 3:1-4, for this, also, shows that it is HOPE which produces Godly living.<br /><br />“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in Glory” (Col. 3:1-4).<br /><br />Enlightened “eyes of understanding” are essential to know what is the Hope of His Calling. The member of the Church of the One Body can only walk worthy of the Calling if he knows what it is. That is why so much stress is placed upon knowing what is the “Hope of our Calling.” If one fails to “see” what it is, it is, absolutely, impossible for him to walk worthy of the Calling. Failure to walk worthy results in the loss of a reward!<br /><br />Our worthy walk must be in harmony with our Calling. If we merge the Hope of the Church of God with the Church of the One Body; thus, making it a jumble, we neither win the prize of either Calling. Many Christians endeavor to follow all of the Apostle Paul’s doctrines. They see a difference in his Acts-Period-Mission with his After-Acts-Mission. But, they foolishly attempt to make the After-Acts-Mission as just an advancement of the Acts-Period-Mission. They do not have the enlightened eyes of understanding. If they did, it would be clear that the Apostle Paul had two Ministries.<br /><br />One of these was during the time covered by “The Acts of the Apostles,” and the second one was after he ceased being bound for Israel’s Hope (Acts 28:20) and became a Prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles (Eph.3:1), which is to say, in order to receive the revelation of the Mystery. It was during this second ministry that Paul conducted his Ambassadorship in bonds, and the Embassy in which he worked was a Prison. He was an Ambassador in bonds (Eph.6;20) in a Roman Prison. In their Prison, the Roman Government did not realize that Paul was conducting the Governmental Business of Jesus Christ. Nor, did they realize they were protecting Paul from his enemies. Neither were they cognizant of the fact that as the Apostle [Messenger] to the Nations [Ethnos], he was sending forth Divine Government Communiqués—while he was bound. These Godly Communiqués, as written, were —the Word of God, his Prison Epistles—Paul was bound, but his Communiqués were not (2 Tim. 2:9).<br /><br />CONCLUSION<br /><br />Enlightened Understanding sees that when the Acts Period ended, so did Israel’s Hope. Her Hope was set in abeyance, and Paul, as the Prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ, received a new and fresh revelation—the Revelation of the Mystery. The revelation of this Grand Secret brings to light a New Calling—the Church over which Christ Jesus is the Head. Christ, in Spirit, is NOW among the Gentiles and is their Hope of Glory (Col. 1:27). In the sense of Colossians 1:27 during the Acts Period, He was NEVER AMONG THE GENTILES.<br /><br />Ever since Acts 28:31, the Ascended Jesus Christ has been calling-out individuals, a select group of believers, to make up the Body (The Eccelesia) over which He is the Head. He, as the Head, is the Source Who supplies His fullness to fill all things everywhere (Eph. 1:22-23). Many are called but straddle the fence between Mid-Acts and Acts 28. As long as they halt between the two, they ARE NOT CHOSEN!<br /><br />In our eager effort to make our calling and election sure, we rightly divide and try the things that differ.<br /><br />~~THE END~~</span></div>
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