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Jude 14,15 Jesus Returns with Ten Thousand of His Saints

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Published on 05-15-2011 10:11 AM Number of Views: 13714

Since Adam let's say there will be 50 billion souls that have lived up to the moment of the return of Christ, 250 billion more souls during the millennial kingdom, and the New City will contain at most 1 billion souls to fit comfortably the space provided in Revelation 21 of 1379 x 1379 miles. So that's a savings ratio of 1 in 300 souls.

I also assume that only about 1/7th of those saved will return with Christ to reign during the 1000 years because only 1 of the 7 churches in Rev. 2 & 3 is an overcomer church. So 1 in 300 of 50 billion is about 170 million. 1/7th of 170M is about 24 million souls. However, this conflicts with Jude 14,15.

"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 14,15).

Do you see? If only 10,000 return with Jesus which is 1/7th of those thusfar saved then the total saved would be 70,000 not 170 million.

Even if "ten thousands" meant tens of the thousands, at most that number would be less than 100,000, otherwise it would read "hundreds of thousands." So the upper boundary of these figures could be as much as 10 times the calculations I have provided here, but the total saved would still be at most 1 billion.

There is also "144,000" virgin firstfruits (Rev. 14.1-5) which is a class of believers in the total number of overcomers these past 2000 years. How do we reconcile this number with only 70,000 saves thusfar since Adam? One might say the 144,000 virgin firstfruits span the entire time from Christ's first coming to His second coming. This is a very special class of believers that are closest to Christ.

Based on this clear word of Scripture, the savings ratio prior to the return of Christ is 70,000/50 billion ~ 1 in 700,000 souls. During the millennium another 999,030,000 would be saved for a total of 1 billion. The savings ratio during the millennium, thus, would be 999,070,000/250 billion souls = 1 in 250.

And if only 7 billion are alive today when Jesus returns and the savings ratio is 1 in 700,000 that's only 10,000 Christians alive today. Of those 10,000, only about 1/7th would be first raptured-about 1400 souls-since the first rapture is according to readiness (Matt. 24.40-42, Luke 21.36, Rev. 3.10). Isn't that amazing? Only about 1400 souls would be ready to be received "before the throne" (Rev. 7.9) before the first trumpet of the Tribulation starts (8.7ff).

As you can see the savings ratio dramatically increases with the presence of Jesus. I suspect the savings ratio was less than 1 in 700,000 souls prior to Christ, then 1 in 700,000 during the dispensation of grace, then drops down to 1 in 250 during the millennial kingdom.

Of course, I could be wrong somewhere in this analysis, but if Jesus only returns with 10,000 of His saints as Jude said, we can be confident though I may be off on the exact numbers, the principle of what I have just said remains true. The message, therefore, people will be greatly surprised how low the savings ratio actually is.

Today 100 people attend on Sunday a congregation and another meeting, 1000 people attend a church gathering. The implication of the savings ratio is it is likely none of them are saved. Perhaps at most one is saved.

Lord, if I have erred in this message, please correct me so that I may speak and do your will. Let one of your saints correct me in what I have said because what I have said seems perfectly reasonable and seems to fit your approval.

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Are Jesus' Claims Unique Among the Religions of the World?

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Parture

Published on 04-30-2011 01:48 PM Number of Views: 2582

Categories:
Primary Verses

Are Jesus' Claims Unique Among the Religions of the World?
by Gary R. Habermas (with some changes by Troy Brooks)

God is by nature totally apart from His creation. Humans do not reach godhood. In the Bhagavad-Gita (Hindu text), however, the process of enlightenment can be attained by those who return to the Godhead and achieve their own divinity (see 18:46-68). In a certain sense, all persons have divine natures in many cults in Christendom and other religions.

Jesus claimed dual titles of divinity. Particularly, He said He was both the Son of God and the Son of Man.

Jesus said, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him" (Matt. 11.27). If only Jesus can reveal the Father then Jesus must be in the Godhead logically speaking.

Jesus said, "But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house" (Mark 2.10-11). Only Jesus can forgive sins and perform miraculous healing.

He spoke of His Father in familiar ways ("Lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping," Mark 13.36) and even claimed to forgive sins, for which He was charged with blasphemy because in doing so He was claiming to be God.

"When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?" (Mark 2.5-7)

In perhaps the clearest indication of His claims about Himself, when the high priest asked Jesus if He was the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus plainly declared that He was. Then He further asserted that He was also the Son of Man who would co-reign on God the Father's throne and come on the clouds of judgment. The high priest pronounced these claims as blasphemy.

"But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death" (Mark 16.61-64). Imagine that! Condemning our Creator to death? How evil. But do not think those who simply state Jesus never existed or was not God are any less reviling. They are just more cunning in their hostility. God knows their hearts.

These sayings of Jesus were recorded by the original disciples or close associates in ...

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Can a Person be Sanctified by Trying to Keep the Law?

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everstill

Published on 04-30-2011 11:39 AM Number of Views: 1239

Categories:
Consecration and Breaking

We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Romans 3.28.

The concepts towards the law in today’s church are of two opposite kinds:

(1) People are saved by grace and not by keeping the law; but to attain sanctification we must keep the law.

(2) Again, people are saved by grace and not by keeping the law; and hence we need not keep the law after we are saved, though we do keep the commandment of grace.

The latter concept is correct. The gist of the Letter to the Romans is that no sinner can be justified by the works of the law; while the theme of the Letter to the Galatians is that no saved person can be sanctified by the works of the law.

These two letters have sufficiently proven that neither justification nor sanctification comes by the works of the law. ...

The Deliverance of the Cross

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Churchwork

Published on 04-25-2011 04:24 PM Number of Views: 2021

Categories:
Dividing Spirit, Soul, Body

The Deliverance of the Cross

Upon reciting many deeds of the flesh in his Galatian letter, the Apostle Paul then points out that “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5.24). Here is deliverance. Is it not strange that what concerns the believer vastly differs from what concerns God? The former is concerned with “the works of the flesh” (Gal. 5.19), that is, with the varying sins of the flesh. He is occupied with today’s anger, tomorrow’s jealousy, or the day after tomorrow’s strife. The believer mourns over a particular sin and longs for victory over it. Yet all these sins are but fruits from the same tree. While plucking one fruit (actually one cannot pick off any), out crops another. One after another they grow, giving him no chance for victory. On the other hand God is concerned not with the works of the flesh but with “the flesh” itself (Gal. 5.24). Had the tree been put to death, would there be any need to fear lest it bear fruit? The believer busily makes plans to handle sins—which are the fruits, while forgetting to deal with the flesh itself—which is the root. No wonder that before he can clear up one sin, another has burst forth. We must therefore deal today with the source of sin.

Babes in Christ need to appropriate the deeper meaning of the cross, for they are still carnal. The aim of God is to crucify the believer’s old man with Christ with the result that they who belong to Christ “have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Bear in mind that it is the flesh together with its powerful passions and desires that has been crucified. As the sinner was regenerated and redeemed from his sins through the cross, so now the carnal babe in Christ must be delivered from the rule of the flesh by the same cross so that he can walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. Thereafter it will not be long before he becomes a spiritual Christian.

Here we find the contrast between the fall of man and the operation of the cross. The salvation provided by the latter is just the remedy for the former. How fitting indeed they are to each other. Firstly, Christ died on the cross for the sinner to remit his sin. A holy God could now righteously forgive him. But secondly, the sinner as well died on the cross with Christ so that he might not be controlled any longer by his flesh. Only this can enable man’s spirit to regain its proper rule, make the body its outward servant and the soul its intermediary. In this way the spirit, the soul, and the body are restored to their original position before the fall. If we are ignorant of the meaning of the death herein described we shall not be delivered. May the Holy Spirit be our Revealer.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus” refers to every believer in the Lord. All who have believed Him and are born anew belong to Him. The deciding factor ...

Man's Spirit is Dead to God

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Finestwheat

Published on 04-09-2011 12:06 AM Number of Views: 2310

Categories:
The Fall of Man

Adam lived by the breath of life becoming spirit in him. By the spirit he sensed God, knew God’s voice, and communed with God. He had a very keen awareness of God. But after his fall his spirit died.

When God spoke to Adam at the first He said, “in the day that you eat of it (the fruit of the tree of good and evil) you shall die” (Gen. 2.17). Adam and Eve nevertheless continued on for hundreds of years after eating the forbidden fruit. This obviously indicates that the death God foretold was not physical. Adam’s death began in his spirit.

What really is death? According to its scientific definition, death is “the cessation of communication with environment.” Death of the spirit is the cessation of its communication with God. Death of the body is the cutting off of communication between spirit and body. So when we say the spirit is dead it does not imply there is no more spirit; we simply mean the spirit has lost its sensitivity towards God and thus is dead to Him. The exact situation is that the spirit is incapacitated, unable to commune with God. To illustrate. A dumb person has a mouth and lungs but something is wrong with his vocal cords and he is powerless to speak. So far as human language is concerned his mouth may be considered dead. Similarly Adam’s spirit died because of his disobedience to God. He still had his spirit, yet it was dead to God for it had lost its spiritual instinct. It is still so; sin has destroyed the spirit’s keen intuitive knowledge of God and rendered man spiritually dead. He may be religious, moral, learned, capable, strong and wise, but he is dead to God. He may even talk about God, reason about God and preach God, but he is still dead to Him. Man is not able to hear or to sense the voice of God’s Spirit. Consequently in the New Testament God often refers to those who are living in the flesh as dead.

The Difference Between God's Uncreated Life and the Holy Spirit Indwelling

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Churchwork

Published on 04-01-2011 09:51 AM Number of Views: 2838

Categories:
Dividing Spirit, Soul, Body

Which Do You Think is the Correct Interpretation (Simpler Version)
of This Phrase on Page 24, Vol. 1 of The Spiritual Man?
"Entrance of the uncreated life of God into man"

“And Jehovah God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2.7 ASV). When God first created man He formed him of dust from the ground, and then breathed “the breath of life” into his nostrils. As soon as the breath of life, which became man’s spirit, came into contact with man’s body, the soul was produced. Hence the soul is the combination of man’s body and spirit. The Scriptures therefore call man “a living soul.” The breath of life became man’s spirit; that is, the principle of life within him. The Lord Jesus tells us “it is the spirit that gives life” (John 6.63). This breath of life comes from the Lord of Creation. However, we must not confuse man’s spirit with God’s Holy Spirit. The latter differs from our human spirit. Romans 8.16 demonstrates their difference by declaring that “it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” The original of the word “life” in “breath of life” is chay and is in the plural. This may refer to the fact that the inbreathing of God produced a twofold life, soulical and spiritual. When the inbreathing of God entered man’s body it became the spirit of man; but when the spirit reacted with the body the soul was produced. This explains the source of our spiritual and soulical lives. We must recognize, though, that this spirit is not God’s Own life, for “the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33.4). It is not the entrance of the uncreated life of God into man, neither is it that life of God which we receive at regeneration. What we receive at new birth is God’s Own life as typified by the tree of life. But our human spirit, though permanently existing, is void of “eternal life.”

Option A:

We must recognize, though, that this spirit is not God’s Own life [THE HOLY SPIRIT], for “the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33.4). It is not the entrance of the uncreated life of God into man [GOD BREATHING HIS LIFE INTO MAN TO CREATE A LIVING SOUL], neither is it that life of God which we receive at regeneration [ETERNAL LIFE]. What we receive at new birth is God’s Own life [SAME ETERNAL LIFE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT] as typified by the tree of life. But our human spirit, though permanently existing, is void of “eternal life.”

Option B:

We must recognize, though, that this spirit is not God’s Own life [THE HOLY SPIRIT], for “the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33.4). It is not the entrance of the uncreated life of God into man [GIVING MAN ETERNAL LIFE], neither is it that life of God which we receive at regeneration [HIS INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT]. What we receive at new birth is God’s Own

...

What is the Fruit of the Spirit of Love, Joy and Peace?

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Faithful

Published on 03-31-2011 08:04 AM Number of Views: 1419

Categories:
Consecration and Breaking

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace . . . Galatians 5.22

In examining the fruits of the Holy Spirit—which express Christian witness—we shall readily see that they are none other than selfless acts. What is love? Love is loving others without thinking of self. What is joy? It is looking at God in spite of self. Patience is despising one’s own hardship. Peace is disregarding one’s loss. Gentleness is overlooking one’s rights. Humility is forgetting one’s merits. Temperance is the self under control. And faithfulness is self-restraint. As we examine every Christian virtue, we will discern that other than being delivered from self or being forgetful of self, a believer has no other virtue. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is determined by one principle alone: the losing of self totally.

I have been a Nazirite unto God from my mother’s womb; if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. Judges 16.17

Samson was a man who was full of power. The source of his power was in his hair. And as soon as his hair was shaved, Samson’s power was lost. What was there about his hair to make him powerful? This hair of Samson’s, we must remember, was the hair of a Nazirite. And a Nazirite in Bible times was one who was fully consecrated to God. And hence all real spiritual powers derived from the measure of one’s consecration to the Lord. If our consecration is superficial, we shall be like a paralyzed person who has no power. But if our consecration to God is absolute, we will find the power. Therefore, no matter how and where we seek, we must be mindful continually that power is conditional upon man’s consecration.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves. 2 Corinthians 4.7

Do not think that there is very little in the earthen vessel, which metaphor Paul uses to refer to our physical body. We learn from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian believers that there is a tremendous treasure in our earthen vessels. But do we actually believe it? God’s children ought to know what they have obtained at the moment of new birth. It may have taken only a minute to have received the Lord and been born again but it will need thirty or forty years beyond that moment to discover what each received in that one precious moment. No child of God can fully know on earth the extent of what God has given him at the moment of regeneration. Nevertheless, blessed are those who know somewhat more.