We are living in the days of final preparation. In heaven, in hell and on earth, tremendous activity is erupting as all of creation anticipates the culmination of man’s history.
If the Holy Spirit were to pull the scales from our eyes, we believers would be both joyful and horrified at what we would see. We would cry out “What is going on? Why is everyone rushing about so determined, so intense? What’s in the wind? What is about to happen?”
If the veil separating the physical and the spiritual could be lifted for a moment, what a sight we would behold! Everywhere we looked, we would see preparations taking place. God is busily PREPARING. The ANGELS are busily PREPARING. Hell is busy PREPARING. During the six days of creation God PREPARED. And now, at the CLOSE of this AGE, He is diligently preparing for the END.
The Apostle John was allowed through a vision to behold all this heavenly activity. And what he saw was a revelation of Jesus and His final preparation, a prophecy of end-time happenings. When Jesus appeared to John in this vision, His eyes were on fire. His feet were like burning brass. His hair was white like wool. His voice as the sound of many waters. His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength! He is CONQUEROR. He is KING. He is JUDGE.
Saints, it is time to deal with Jezebel spirits, lukewarmness, false teachings, fornication– time to remove all stumbling blocks. For John, in Revelation, was told that what he would see “must shortly come to pass” (22:6)
He saw incredible movements, comings and goings, great and shattering commands. Just as if he were seated in the war council of the High Command.
HERE IS SOME OF WHAT HE SAW:
Warring Angels coming out of the Temple of God, having in their power the seven last plagues. They are “girded” for action. Another angel is flying in the midst of heaven with the everlasting Gospel to preach to every nation. That angel cries with a loud voice: “for the hour of His judgment is come.” Another cries: “Babylon is fallen.” (14:6-8)
Right on schedule, one angel after another will blow a trumpet and set off unthinkable wrath! (Read Revelation 9:6; 14-18)
What formidable revelations of things to come. John saw them all. But he also witnessed the grand preparation for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!
Let mankind go on eating and drinking, making merry. Let everyone say “Where is the promise of His coming? for… all things continue as they were from the beginning.” (2 Pet 3:4) Still God prepares. Still heaven moves on toward the final judgment.
Listen with your spirit to these words: satan knows his time is short, for he has come down to the earth. This planet is the final battleground. he has prepared all his forces, and his strategy is underway. All of hell is one big satanic operations network! Principalities and powers of darkness are at work now around the clock, with no rest or relaxing. They are raging throughout the whole earth, preparing to set up their own kingdom with their own economic system, their own messiah, their own religion. Their drive to kill and destroy is being directed by the devil himself.
In the kingdom of darkness there is not one lazy, unemployed demon. They all have intensity and devotion to their cause. All their powers and abilities are given to overthrowing the kingdom of God. satan’s army is not asleep or lukewarm to their master! Scripture describes satan as one who “walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Pet 5:8) he and his hordes possess people, oppress people, and suppress people… they do not rest from their toil night or day! The main message in hell being sounded now, at this moment is a life and death call to war: “Time is short, work while you can!”
The point I am making is this: While all heaven and hell have been put on alert, and everywhere in the spiritual realm the preparations are furious for the final hour, millions of Christians are fast asleep! The disciples slept through the Lord’s agony in the garden, and not much has changed today. They were NOT PREPARED. They slept and they forsook the Lord and fled. I want to close with THREE WARNINGS:
FIRST, do not conform to the world. The Bible says: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” (1 Jn 2:15). Things… our possessions can tie us into the world. While heaven and hell prepare for war, we go shopping. Eternal values are at stake, the end of all things is “at hand” and we are busy playing with our toys. Our wallets are out of control. We are clothes hogs. We wallow in our possessions. We say that God can have it all at any time, but then we race off to find things that are bigger and better. We spend more time at the shopping mall than we do in the prayer closet with God.
The Church is not separating itself from the world, rather it is digging in. With our TV’s and VCR’s, our conveniences, the “good life.” There is little or no DESPERATION among Christians for God and for self-discipline. Jesus said that we would “Give account” for every word spoken! Then we must also give account for all our idle time and wasted money as well. Beloved, we, you, and I, will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and GIVE ACCOUNT.
SECOND, it seems that most believers are becoming less and less excited about the coming of Jesus. To many Christians today, this world is not a sinking ship, not a planet reserved for fire and destruction, but rather a gigantic pleasure island filled with all the niceties that stroke the flesh. The messages heard in most churches today lack the URGENCY for PREPARATION for the coming of Jesus. The “new gospel” being preached today says that Jesus comes only to the heart. And that His Second Coming is a special revelation to the mind. He appears only to the inner man!
Old-Time Fundamental, Bible-Believing, sin-hating, devil-stomping Christians are hard to find. They have been inoculated with the world serum. Liberal theology has elevated the Mind over the Spirit and the Head over the Heart. Careless, costless Christianity has become a tasteless influence in the earth. The Salt has lost its savor. The Lamp has lost its light. “Beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness…” (2 Pet 3:17). Professional Pulpiteers will chip away at the glorious Truth of His Coming and get you to look for an earthly kingdom. And if you look eagerly for His Appearing, you will be labeled an escapist.
The Message of the Coming of Christ is a message of Comfort and I comfort YOU with it EVEN NOW!
FINALLY, don’t get stuck in Babylon! Babylon is falling! That merchandising world of greed and selfishness is collapsing. Babylon represents a spirit of greed– a spirit so powerful, so evil and so driving that it says: “People don’t count.” “All that counts is the bottom line on the balance sheet.” In the day that is coming, merchants will weep, not for the multitudes who are burning in a holocaust, but because their money machine is gone. The spirit of greed is not only on Wall Street, but also sweeping society in general… even the Church. Saints, curb your appetites. Enough is enough! Get off the Babylonian greed-mill. Shake off the spirit that lusts for riches and more and more things!
What an awesome preparation is taking place. Jesus wants me with Him! Since the day He left this earth, He has been preparing for my coming to meet Him in heaven. Thank God for one more great preparation! Jesus said: “I go to prepare a place for you… I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also…” (Jn 14:2-3) HE IS PREPARING FOR ME, and I, in turn, DESIRE TO PREPARE FOR HIM!
What’s next? The Bible is very plain about the events that will take place at the close of this age. If we know the Word, we will know what is going to happen. If we are aware of the Eternal Purpose of God, we will know what to expect and when to expect it. God never intended for His children to be ignorant of His End-Time plan. Now, if you do not care, you will not know. If you are lazy and carnally minded, you will not know. If you are caught up in the world system, you will not know. If you are bound up in religious bondage and dead doctrine, you will not know. However, you can know, and you will know if you open your heart to the Holy Spirit right now.
First, we are living in the End-Time. There is no doubt about this. Look at what the Bible says concerning events that will be taking place at the time Jesus comes again. (See overhead) From what I can determine from the Bible, there is not ONE PROPHECY left to be fulfilled before Jesus Comes Again. His appearance is IMMINENT.
The NEXT EVENT will be Jesus coming in the clouds to take His Church out of the earth. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up (harpadzo) together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord…” 1 Thes 4: 16-17.
“Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come…” Mat 24:40-42
This is referred to as the Rapture of the Church. It is a “catching away” or a “snatching away” of all true Believers from the earth at a time when it is least expected. It will be worldwide, and it will be sudden. It will be blessed for those who are saved, and it will be tragic for those who are lost. According to the Bible, the Saved who have died and gone to be with Jesus will be reunited with their bodies and they shall “rise first” and then those of us who are alive and remain shall be taken up together with them in the air. Suddenly, all the Christians will be gone from the earth.
Suddenly, all Christian influence will be removed from the earth. Suddenly, all the church buildings and facilities of True Believers will be vacant and empty. Godly men and Godly women and Godly young people will ALL BE GONE. Mothers will leave unbelieving children. Daddys will leave unbelieving children. Brothers will leave unbelieving brothers. Sisters will leave unbelieving sisters. Families will be divided. Friends will be separated. Only those who are READY will be taken. Those who are living in disobedience, in rebellion, in open sin… those who are luke-warm and lazy will be left. The True Christians will all be gone.
No one left on earth but the lost, the backslidden, the unbelieving, the skeptic… “the lawless and disobedient, the ungodly, the sinner, the unholy, the profane, murderers, manslayers, whoremongers, those that defile themselves with mankind, kidnappers, liars and perjurers…” (1 Tim 1:9-10) All goodness will be gone. All love will be gone. All kindness will be gone. All compassion will be gone.
The CHURCH will be GONE, and the world will be left to the powers of hell and destruction. Antichrist will emerge and begin to rule, and millions will be tortured, persecuted, abused, murdered, and martyred. There will be another holocaust… but this one will be world-wide, and it will cause blood to run in every street in every city in every nation on the earth. Demon forces will be loosed on earth and suffering will be supernatural. These events are plainly detailed in the Book of Revelation, Chapters 6 through 18. After the Rapture, there will be NO ESCAPE.
The suffering and torment that will be experienced by those who are left behind is indescribable. Men will cry for the mountains to fall on them and for the earth to swallow them up… they will scream for death, but death will not come. “…and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand?…” Rev 6: 15-17.
This is called the Time of Tribulation. And it will last for a period of 7 years. For 7 years the antichrist will reign, and the earth will be ruled by demon forces. There will be a continual series of Judgments… seven seal judgments, 7 vial judgments and 7 trumpet judgments… Millions will die as this 7-year period of Tribulation ends with the Battle of all battles… the Battle of Armageddon. “And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.” (184 miles) Rev 14:17-20. See also Rev 19: 11-21.
While these events are taking place on earth during the 7 years of Tribulation, those of us who were Caught Up at the Rapture will be in heaven with Jesus. We will be preparing for the Millennium. We will be getting ready to return to earth with Jesus and to rule with Him for 1000 years. There are two events that will take place in heaven while antichrist is ruling on earth.
First, we will go with Jesus to the Judgment Seat of Christ. It is here that all Believers will be rewarded according to their faithfulness while they lived on earth. We must each stand individually before Jesus and answer to Him regarding our conduct on earth. “For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels and then He shall reward every man according to his works…” Mat 16:27 “…for we shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So, then every one of us shall give account of himself to God…” Rom 14: 10-12 “For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad…” 2 Cor 4:10. “And, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be…” Rev 22: 12.
It is here that we will be rewarded and receive our crowns which will be laid at Jesus’ feet. It may be a time of great rejoicing and it could be a time of great regret. We will be judged and rewarded according to our works. We are not saved by our works, but we will be rewarded according to our works. The rewards we receive and the crowns we are given will be cast at the feet of Jesus as we honor Him and worship Him. It will be all that we have to GIVE to Him.
Next, we will accompany Jesus and all the Saints of all the ages to the Marriage Feast or Marriage Supper of the Lamb. “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God…” Rev 19: 7-9.
Now, the choice is YOURS TODAY. Which will it be, Tribulation or Triumph? Suffering or the Marriage Supper? If you could miss the wrath of God that will be poured out without mixture… surely you would. If you could instead be guaranteed a place at the Marriage Supper, I know you would accept. I am sent by God to make you an offer. I am His messenger (angel) to give you that invitation. What will it be? What will you do? God extends to you a request for your presence… will you accept?
dickbraswell 