Category: rapture

Twice-Guilty Thieves #6

Friday, January 18, 2013

“For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face” (2 Corinthians 11:20 KJV).

Beloved, take today’s Scripture to heart, lest religion take your heart so they can take from you!

Today’s “name it and claim it” preachers instruct us to claim Israel’s verses for healing and material wealth. Did this work for our Apostle Paul and other members of the Church the Body of Christ?

Paul described his life: “In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:27; cf. 1 Corinthians 4:11-13; 2 Corinthians 6:4,5). He knew what it was to “be full and be hungry, to abound and to suffer need” (Philippians 4:12). Consider the Macedonian Christians who knew “deep poverty” (2 Corinthians 8:2). Paul begged God for deliverance three times regarding his troubles, and yet they continued (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Verse 10: “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” Which “name it and claim it” preacher quotes those passages?! None! (They ignore them because they are not conducive to funding.)

Rather than temporary physical healing, as God promised Israel, today in the Dispensation of Grace, the Lord promises us everlasting spiritual healing. We have forgiveness of sins in and through Christ (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14). At the rapture, we Christians will be eternally delivered from these bodies of sickness and death, and we will receive new glorified bodies (Romans 8:18-25; 1 Corinthians 15:51-55; 2 Corinthians 5:1-5; Philippians 3:20,21). We are already “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). Everything God can give us, He did so the moment we trusted Christ as our personal Saviour. We did not work for those blessings; Jesus Christ did!

Dear reader, let not religion take advantage of you by (mis)using Israel’s verse to gain the purse (today’s Scripture). Stand by faith in your identity in Christ, and be not moved. Do not confuse yourself with Israel.

Aging Grace-fully

Friday, November 30, 2012

“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16 KJV).

As the aging process degrades our physical bodies, let us allow God’s grace to “renew” our minds.

I just heard people share their anxiety about their aging physical bodies. They loathe their gray hairs, sagging skin, and wrinkles, and do whatever they can to “look younger.” They are not focusing on the things of eternal importance, for they probably never have trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. All they think about is the here and now, failing to understand that there is more to life than this physical dimension.

In one recent year, Americans spent $10 billion (!) on cosmetic surgeries. These efforts to slow down and even reverse aging and its effects are futile. Death and elderliness will still come. Beloved, no matter what we do to these physical bodies, they will still age, and short of the Lord’s coming, they will die. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). These are “vile bodies” affected by sin, and thus they must die (Philippians 3:21). They cannot enter heaven.

Thankfully, one day (the rapture), these physical bodies will be redeemed from death (Romans 8:23): we Christians will receive new bodies “eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5). As a dear brother in Christ always states, “In heaven, there will be no [from head to toe] baldness, bifocals, bridgework, bulges, and bunions!” Yes, we have those here, but be not depressed. We will not be here in this sin-cursed world forever. We are not bound forever in these limited (and weakening) bodies.

Today’s Scripture shows us that this physical body—the “outward man”—will ultimately die, and give way to a new glorified body. What we need to focus on is the “inward man,” our soul and spirit. We will leave these physical bodies behind, but we will take with us our spiritual bodies. When we daily study and believe the King James Bible rightly divided, it will “renew” and strengthen our souls, the bodies that count for eternity. And thus, we will age “grace-fully.” 🙂

One Little Nation With a Big God #3

Saturday, November 17, 2012

“Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud” (Psalm 94:2 KJV).

Israel’s enemies are persecuting and destroying her, and today’s Scripture is her plea for JEHOVAH to shew Himself!

For the past 4,000 years—ever since her beginning with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the nation Israel has been harassed, oppressed, and mistreated by the Gentile world. This is partly due to her sins and God’s chastisement (Leviticus 26:31-39; Deuteronomy 28:48-53). Moreover, it is also due to Satan seeking to wipe out Israel (for in doing so, prophecy and God’s purpose and plan for the earth would be abolished).

Even today, little Israel battles her enemies to retain what small amount of real estate she has. Is not Israel God’s “chosen people?” Then, why has God not gotten rid of Israel’s opponents? Actually, God has temporarily set aside the nation Israel, and her program that operated in “time past” is paused: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25). When God is finished forming the Body of Christ, He will return to Israel, and then He will take care of her enemies.

After our Dispensation of Grace terminates with the rapture, and the Church the Body of Christ is removed from earth, Israel will experience “one week” (seven years; Daniel 9:27) of God’s wrath, during which He will separate believing Jews from unbelieving Jews (Zechariah 12:8,9). Also, the satanic antichrist will be ruling the world, and he will persecute believing Israel. His religious leader, the “false prophet,” will gather the armies of the world, in hopes of annihilating Israel (Revelation 16:13-16). In this last great battle, Armageddon, Gentile armies will assemble in Israel, eagerly waiting to defeat her once and for all (Revelation 19:18,19; cf. Psalm 83:1-4).

However, these haughty Gentile armies are unaware that the “judge of the earth” has left heaven’s glory, and He is rapidly nearing planet earth, to “render a reward to the proud….”

Tabernacle

Friday, November 9, 2012

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1 KJV).

This body of flesh and blood will be “dissolved” one day, but the Bible teaches a new, glorified body will replace it.

Genesis 2:7 describes the three-fold division of a human: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground [physical body], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [spirit]; and man became a living soul [soul].” Our visible, physical body houses our invisible soul and spirit. Originally, that physical body was to last forever. But, when sin entered the world, it became subject to death (when the soul and spirit leave the physical body). Hence, our physical body is a “tabernacle” (tent), a temporary abode that must be resurrected one day.

The oldest Bible book asserts, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms [maggots] destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God;” (Job 19:25,26). Yes, short of the Lord’s coming, this physical body will die and “sleep in the dust of the earth” (Daniel 12:2). Nevertheless, the Lord will awaken its remains, and return the spiritual body to it (the bodily resurrection of John 5:28,29).

When we stand before the caskets of Christian loved ones, and observe their lifeless bodies, we take comfort that they are not really there, for their soul and spirit are with God in the third heaven. Their “tabernacle” is empty, and for the Christian, “to be absent from the body, [is] to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). At the rapture, they will receive a new glorified body like unto Jesus Christ’s resurrected body, and then we Christians who are alive and remain will receive our glorified bodies (1 Corinthians 15:49-56; Philippians 3:20,21; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Finally, all Christians will be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, to forever be with Him.

This body is not here to stay…. it is a “tabernacle.”

A Departed Saint

Saturday, October 20, 2012

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13 KJV).

Beloved, our deceased loved ones in Christ are not lost forever!

With the recent passing of a dear saint, who I personally knew and referenced in a previous devotional, today’s Scripture is of great solace. God does not want us to be “ignorant” (uninformed) about those who have died in Christ. We members of the Church the Body of Christ have hope in Christ, a hope that non-Christians do not have.

While a vast distance separates us from the dearly departed Christians, some of whom we have not seen in many years or decades, there is a glorious prospect that we shall see them again, as if they never parted from us. Yes, their physical bodies are “asleep,” but they will one day be wakened, reunited with their souls and spirits.

As soon as the Church the Body of Christ is complete, our Dispensation of Grace will terminate with the “rapture” (derived from the Latin word translated “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17). Jesus Christ will leave heaven, bringing with Him the souls of the Christians who have died: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him” (verse 14).

Christ will stand “in the air,” and from there, He will resurrect the physical bodies of deceased Christians and place their souls back into their bodies (verse 16). Then He will transform the physical bodies of us Christians who are alive. Both dead and living Christians will then “be caught up together… in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (verses 17,18). All members of the Body of Christ will meet each other… for the very first time!

We mourn their loss, but we have hope: our loved ones who are dead in Christ are still in Christ, and if we are in Christ, we shall see them again, and be with them forever with the Lord. 🙂

-IN MEMORIAM-
Mrs. B. P. R.
June 23, 1936 – October 15, 2012

My Kingdom is Not of This World? #1

Sunday, September 23, 2012

“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36 KJV).

What did Jesus mean when He spoke today’s Scripture?

Within Christendom, there is a strange doctrine that, because Jesus Christ’s kingdom has never been established literally, visibly, and physically on earth, it must have been a “spiritual kingdom,” an invisible kingdom “in the hearts of men.” Today’s Scripture is often twisted to promote this warped theology. Such nonsense is the result of a failure to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), a negligence to understand and believe the Bible dispensationally.

“JESUS… shall reign over the house of Jacob [Israel] for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:33). Did this ever happen? No. Jesus Christ came to earth and left 2,000 years ago as Israel’s rejected King: He never did rule Israel, for Israel declared in John 19:15: “We have no king but Caesar!” So, how can Luke 1:33 say Jesus Christ will rule Israel “for ever?”

Dispensational Bible study relieves us of confusion and consternation. Luke 1:33 is to be taken literally, but it is to be believed dispensationally. Israel’s prophetic (kingdom) program, the program to which Luke 1:33 belongs, is currently suspended. God is not restoring the earth’s governments today. Instead, He is forming the Church the Body of Christ, a heavenly people whom He will use to restore the heavenly governments in the ages to come (see Colossians 1:16-20).

While our Dispensation of Grace is operating, Israel’s kingdom program is delayed. Once our dispensation ends (at the rapture), then God will resume Israel’s program and Christ will return at His Second Coming to fulfill Luke 1:33 (establishing His literal, physical, visible earthly kingdom).

Returning to today’s Scripture, what then did Jesus mean there? His kingdom is a literal, physical, visible kingdom, so how is it “not of this world?” We will study the Scriptures for the answer.

The Patient Waiting for Christ

Saturday, September 22, 2012

“And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5 KJV).

Saints, we must patiently wait for the Lord to come and take us home!

In today’s Scripture, the Apostle Paul reminds the Thessalonian believers—and us—that the Lord will “direct” (guide) our hearts, our innermost beings, “into the love of God” and “into the patient waiting for Christ.” These two doctrines are crucial to the Christian life.

“The love of God [Christ]” “constraineth” (motivates, empowers) us so that our lives are pleasing to God (2 Corinthians 5:14,15). But our Christian lives are not only meant to be experienced here on earth: in eternity future, Christ’s life in us will be lived in the heavenly places!

“The patient waiting for Christ” means we are to be patiently waiting for the day when Jesus Christ will rapture us, the Church that is His Body. (Sadly, absurd modern “bibles,” including NKJV, pervert “patient waiting for Christ” to read “the patience [or perseverance] of Christ,” thus cleverly denying the rapture!)

As our King James Bible declares, we are not simply exercising Christ’s patience; we are patiently waiting for Christ to come get us (there is a major difference). While we who have trusted in Jesus Christ alone as Saviour often earnestly pray for Him to hurriedly return to rescue us from this nasty, miserable world, that is not patience. 🙂 The actual purpose of the rapture—“our gathering together unto [Christ]” (2 Thessalonians 2:1)—is to remove us from earth so God can inaugurate us into our governmental positions in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6,7; Colossians 1:16,17).

We patiently wait for our Lord Jesus Christ. He is still extending His grace and mercy to mankind. As long as there are still (lost) people willing to trust Him, our Dispensation of Grace will continue to operate. It will be terminated when no one else wants to trust Christ alone as their personal Saviour. Be patient, saints! 🙂

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

A Perpetual Marriage

Friday, September 21, 2012

“And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD” (Hosea 2:19,20 KJV).

The nation Israel is engaged to the LORD, but the wedding is postponed….

In the context of today’s Scripture, the LORD is sending the prophet Hosea, who preached circa 785–725 B.C., to warn Israel of His impending judgment. “For [Israel] hath committed great whoredom, in departing from the LORD” (Hosea 1:2). Pagan idol worship abounds in Israel, and it has for centuries. Spiritually, Israel is “playing the harlot” (Hosea 2:5): she was the LORD’s wife, but now she is an adulterous wife by worshipping other gods.

God’s wrath came on apostate Israel! Eventually, the Assyrians captured and deported Israel’s ten northern tribes (722 B.C.), and the Babylonians captured and deported Israel’s two southern tribes (606–586 B.C.). From the time of these deportations to our present-day, the Jews are scattered worldwide, still waiting for their Messiah to come the first time and rescue them (sadly, they are blinded, unaware that their Messiah, Jesus, came 2,000 years ago).

But today’s Scripture is a gleam of hope for Israel: after God would judge her, He would restore her to Himself (Christ’s Second Coming to establish Israel’s kingdom). After our Dispensation of Grace ends (rapture), God will return to dealing with Israel, and she will be saved (Romans 11:25-29; cf. Hosea 2:23). Peter writes to future Israel: “which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God…” (1 Peter 2:10). Had God not interrupted Israel’s program with our dispensation, Israel would already be married to the LORD!

Israel was unfaithful to God, but never has God been unfaithful to Israel. At Christ’s Second Coming, He will fulfill His promise (today’s Scripture) to Israel. Via the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:8-13), Israel will be rejoined to the LORD, forgiven of all her sins. She will be married to the LORD forever, living with Him in her Promised Land forever (Isaiah chapters 61 and 62). Wow!

To Be (For All Eternity)

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

“Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8 KJV).

As I celebrate my 24th birthday today, we remember that the axiom, “You only live once,” is true… eternally true….

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). According to this verse, we humans have a visible physical body, made of the elements of the earth’s crust, and an invisible spiritual body.

Our soul and spirit—the “real” us—cannot be seen, but they reside in a visible tabernacle (tent), our physical bodies. The soul is our will, our emotions, and our heart (not the muscle of flesh, but our innermost being, what we use to believe God’s Word; see Romans 10:10). “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24a), so He communicates with and educates us by means of His indwelling Holy Spirit connecting with our spirit, our mind, and enlightening us once we meditate on His Word (1 Corinthians 2:12; Ephesians 4:23).

In today’s Scripture, the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul explains that we believers, upon physical death, still exist: “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” Physical death is not the end—the human soul and spirit continue, saved and lost alike. When we who have trusted Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour, physically die, our souls and spirits go to be with the Lord in the third heaven, and we remain there until the rapture, when we all receive new glorified physical bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). However, when those who do not trust Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour, physically die, their soul and spirit literally wake up in hell’s torments, and eventually the everlasting lake of fire (Luke 16:22b,23).

Saved, or lost, you only live once… and that life is for all eternity….

Israel’s Three Prophetic Baptisms #7

Monday, July 16, 2012

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:” (Matthew 3:11 KJV).

Do we in the Dispensation of Grace have any relation to the three baptisms of today’s Scripture?

BAPTISM #3: THE FIRE BAPTISM

Whether or not the Church the Body of Christ will go through God’s wrath—that is, part of or all of the seven-year Tribulation and Second Coming of Christ—is a third confused issue in Christendom. Will we believers in Christ experience the “fire baptism?”

The above confusion regarding the doctrine of the fire baptism is immediately dispelled when we, “Study to shew [ourselves] approved unto God, [workmen] that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). When we study God’s Word dispensationally, we understand that all of the Bible is for us, but not all of the Bible is to us or about us.

We are the Church the Body of Christ, so we must be careful to never confuse ourselves with the nation Israel (which the professing “Church” has done for almost 2,000 years!). All this talk in religion about “a mid-Trib rapture or post-Trib rapture” is predicated on the false presumption that the Tribulation belongs in our dispensation.

The seven-year Tribulation and Christ’s Second Coming (the “fire baptism”) do not belong in our dispensation: There is “one baptism” for our Dispensation of Grace (Ephesians 4:5). What is it? “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…” (1 Corinthians 12:13). In Christ, God has saved us from His wrath (Romans 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:13,14). When someone places his or her faith in Jesus Christ alone as personal Saviour, the Holy Spirit baptizes that person into the Body of Christ. God has no controversy with us, the Church the Body of Christ. Christ Jesus suffered God’s wrath on our behalf: we have been “delivered from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).