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  1. What Were the 7 Words Jesus Spoke on the Cross?

    The 7 Words Jesus Spoke on the Cross

    On the cross, our Lord spoke seven words, which were: (1) “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”—forgive on the basis of atonement; (2) “To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise”—the teaching out of redemption; (3) “Behold, thy mother,” Jesus had said to John—signifying that all who are born of God become one family, and this is due to the work of redemption; (4) “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”—He who knew no sin was made sin for us; (5) “I thirst”—for the wrath of God was on Him; (6) “It is finished”—He cried with a loud voice that it was done, indicating by this that the work of redemption was finished; and (7) “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit”—He gave up or dismissed his spirit, which meant that though men could crucify Him they themselves could not put Him to death. He himself gave up His own life.

    The veil is now rent; otherwise, no man could ever draw near to God. Man of old could enter into the holy place, but never the holiest of all except for the high priest who in type represented the Great High Priest (Jesus) who was to come. It is God who has rent the veil; thus the way to God is opened. Because Christ died, I now can live. Because He lives, I may enter into glory.
  2. The Restraint and Constraint of Intution

    And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there. Acts 20.22.
    As the human body has its senses, so the human spirit has its sensing too. We call this sensing of the spirit "intuition," for it comes directly from the spirit. For instance, we may be contemplating doing a certain thing. It appears quite reasonable, we like it, and we decide to go ahead. Yet somehow within us is a heavy, oppressive, unspeakable sensing which seems to oppose what our mind has thought, our emotion has embraced, and our will has decided. It seems to tell us that this thing should not be done. This is the restraint of intuition.

    Or take another yet opposite example. A certain thing may be unreasonable, contrary to our delight, and very much against our will. But for some unknown reason there is within us a kind of constraint, urge or encouragement for us to do it. If we do, we will feel comfortable inside. This is the constraint of intuition.
  3. Do You Think You Will Be Raptured Before the Tribulation?

    Do You Think You Will be Raptured Before the Tribulation Just Because You Are Saved?

    On that day of first rapture, there "shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left" (Matt. 24.40). Both of them are Christians working for the Lord.

    Both male and female qualify for the first rapture. "Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left" (v.41).

    Which one will be taken at the first rapture and which one will be left to pass through the Tribulation to be raptured at the last trumpet? "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come" (v.42). Whomever is watchful shall be raptured "before the throne" in heaven (Rev. 7.9) prior to the start of the Tribulation's first trumpet (8.7ff) at the beginning of the seven years.

    Are all Christians watchful? Of course not. Many if not most Christians are tied down to the world like a balloon unwilling to be released. They lie on a bed of fornication spiritually speaking, hardly living as sojourners in the world.

    Some question whether both are Christians. Yet it is emphasized "your Lord doth come" to indicate you are a Christian but that if you are not watchful, you shall be left to pass through the time of testing. Though you can't lose eternal life as my brother or sister in Christ, for the Bible is clear those who are born-again "they shall never perish" (John 10.28), you can quite easily not be taken up to the throne to stand before Jesus when the Tribulation starts. Better you be aware of this now! This is what Paul was preeminently concerned with to receive the reward of returning with Christ.

    My concern is presuming you are not ready to be raptured alive on Sept. 14, 2015 on Feast of Trumpets (the Tribulation is from Sept. 14, 2015 to Aug. 7, 2022), I'd like to know how will you respond to a couple million that have vanished on that day (not including you)? Will you accuse them of being a "fake rapture," acting like Satan that great accuser accusing the brethren day and night (Rev. 12.10)? Or will you realize what I have told you that if you were not ready, still loving the world too much, that God did not consider you worthy at that time because you were unwilling to overcometh.

    All Christians overcometh, but not all Christians overcome at the same time. There are advanced parties ...
    Categories
    Separate Rapture
  4. Raptured Alive

    Raptured Alive

    We know that at the return of the Lord Jesus many will be raptured alive. This is the last way of overcoming death. Both 1 Corinthians 15.51-52 and 1 Thessalonians 4.14-17 discuss this way. We realize there is no set date for the Lord’s coming. He could have come at any time during the past twenty centuries. Hence believers always could cherish the hope of being raptured without passing through the grave. Since the coming of the Lord Jesus is currently much nearer than before, our hope of being raptured alive is greater than that of our predecessors. We do not wish to say too much, but these few words we can safely affirm; namely, should the Lord Jesus come in our time, would we not want to be living so as to be raptured alive? If so, then we must overcome death, not letting ourselves die before our appointed hour so that we may be raptured alive. According to the prophecy of Scripture, some believers shall be raptured without going through death. To be thus raptured constitutes one more kind of victory over death. As long as we remain alive on earth we cannot deny we may be the ones to be so raptured. Should we not therefore be prepared to overcome death completely?

    Perhaps we will die; nonetheless, we are not necessarily under any obligation so to do. The words the Lord Jesus variously proclaimed make this teaching crystal clear. On the one hand our Lord asserted: "he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6.54). On the other hand, yet on the same occasion, Jesus also affirmed this: "This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever" (v.58). What the Lord is saying is that among those who believe in Him, some will die and be raised up while others will not pass through death at all.

    The Lord Jesus expressed this view at the death of Lazarus: "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die" (John 11.25-26). Here the Lord is not only the resurrection but also the life. However, most of us believe Him as the resurrection, yet forget that He also is the life. We readily admit He will raise us up after we die, but do we equally acknowledge that He, because He is our life, is able to keep us alive? The Lord Jesus explains to us His two ...
    Categories
    Spiritual Warfare
  5. Responsibility of Elders

    Their Responsibilities

    It is the responsibility of every saved man to serve the Lord according to his capacity and in his own sphere. God did not appoint elders to do the work on behalf of their brethren; after the appointment of elders, as before, it is still the brethren’s duty and privilege to serve the Lord. Elders are also called “bishops” (Acts 20.28; Titus 1.5,7). The term “elder” relates to their person; the term “bishop” to their work. “Bishop” means “overseer,” and an overseer is not one who works instead of others, but one who supervises others as they work. God intended that every Christian should be a “Christian worker,” and He appointed some to take the oversight of the work so that it might be carried on efficiently. It was never His thought that the majority of the believers should devote themselves exclusively to secular affairs and leave the church matters to a group of spiritual specialists. This point cannot be overemphasized. Elders are not a group of men who contract to do the church work on behalf of its members; they are only the head-men who superintend affairs. It is their business to encourage the backward and restrain the forward ones, never doing the work instead of them, but simply directing them in the doing of it.

    The responsibility of an elder relates to matters temporal and spiritual. They are appointed to “rule,” and also to “instruct” and “shepherd.” “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in the word and in teaching” (1 Tim. 5.17). “Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according unto God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5.2,3).

    The Word of God uses the term “rule” in connection with the responsibilities of an elder. The ordering of church government, the management of business affairs and the care of material things, are all under their control. But we must remember that a scriptural church does not consist of an active and a passive group of brethren, the former controlling the latter, and the latter simply submitting to their control, or the former bearing all the burden whilst the latter settle down in ease to enjoy the ...
  6. 1040 Days of Sacrifice + 1260 Days of Desolation

    by , 10-23-2010 at 05:33 PM (Being Accounted Ready (Matt. 24.40-42, Luke 21.36, Rev. 3.10) Before the Tribulation 2023 - 2030)
    Within Premillennialism Futurism (Christian eschatology) affirm that the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14 have not yet occurred and refer to the future sacerdotal rites of a yet future Third Temple to be built during Daniel's Prophecy of Seventy Weeks - which also is yet future. The "reign of the Beast" (See: Abomination of Desolation) commences at the mid-point of Daniel's Prophecy of Seventy Weeks and thus ensues in "days" (as in the "evening and morning" (Daniel 8:14)) the 1290 days of "desolations" or "abominations" (Daniel 12:12). These "desolations" or "the host to be trampled underfoot" (Daniel 8:13) must be calculated by adding the days of the "daily sacrifices" in a restored Third Temple, yet future, to the "days of desolation" or 1010 (days of sacrifice) + 1290 (days of desolations) = 2300 days: "'How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?' and he said to me, 'For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.'" These eschatologists conclude that the Prophecy of Seventy Weeks is directed to Jews in a regathered Israel in the "latter days" ("Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city" - Daniel 9:24).

    From the 1260th day to the 1290th day is 30 days more after Jesus returns. Jesus casts His judgment over the nations for those 30 days more. After which time, 45 days more are needed to the 1335th day set up Israel as the center of all nations. If the 2300 days is to the 1260th day (not to the 1290th), then the Temple would be completed 1040 rather than 1010 days before the Great Tribulation starts. There would be an adjustment to the common thinking:
    250 Days (From the commencement of Daniel's 70th Week - Period of Rebuilding the Third Temple) + 1010 Days (Period of Sacrifices) to the "Middle of the Week"and the "Abomination of Desolation" + 1290 Days of "Desolations" (Daniel 12:11) (which is equal to 2300 days - i.e., 1010+1290=2300 Days - which is 30 days beyond the conclusion of Daniel's 70th Week) + 45 Days or unto the 1335th Day (i.e., the period of the "judgment of the nations" and of the "unveiling of Messiah to National Israel" - Daniel 12:12)- total numbers of "days" involved: 250+1010+1290+45=2595
    ...
    Categories
    Tribulation Period
  7. Knowing God's Will and the Condition of the Mind

    by , 10-20-2010 at 03:46 PM (Faithful Follower of Jesus)
    Knowing Gods Will

    God’s guidance does not always come to us directly; it is sometimes indirect. In direct guidance the Spirit of God moves in our spirit and so enables us to know His will. If our mind is attentive to the movement in the spirit we shall easily understand the will of God. But in the various affairs of life God does not necessarily tell us many things directly. There may be many needs of which we as men are aware. What should we do about these conscious needs? We may be invited to work somewhere or something else may suddenly happen. Such matters as these obviously are not sponsored directly by our spirit, for they come to us from other people. Our mind sees the urgency of solving these problems, yet our spirit is unresponsive. How may we experience the guidance of God in such a situation? Well, when we encounter something of this kind, we must with our mind ask God to lead us in the spirit. By so doing we are experiencing the indirect guidance of God. This is the moment the mind must assist the spirit. When one notices his spirit is inactive he should exercise his mind. It is not necessary for it to assist if the spirit is exuding its thought incessantly: only as the spirit remains silent must the mind fill the gap for it.

    In such circumstances the believer should exercise his mind by pondering this unsolved matter before God. Although such prayer and consideration emerge from his mind, before long his spirit will collaborate in the prayer and consideration. His spirit which he did not sense before he now begins to sense, and soon the Holy Spirit will be found leading him in his spirit. We should never sit back because of a lack of early movement therein. Rather should we use the mind to “scoop up” our spirit and activate it to help us know whether or not this matter is of God.

    The Principle Governing the Activity of the Spirit

    In our spiritual experience the operation of the mind is indispensable. Unlike the ocean tide, the spirit is not filled by spontaneous comings and goings. For it to be filled we must comply with the conditions for its filling. This is where the mind assumes its responsibility: to set in motion what the spirit will soon carry forward by itself. If we endlessly wait for the permeation of the spirit we shall be disappointed. On the other hand we should not too highly esteem the work of the mind. By this time ...
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