Day of Christ

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. 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). 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. 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.” 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). 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 nation’s revolt against His Rule from heaven (2 Thess. 2:1-12). 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). 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]. “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). 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.” 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). 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.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The Testimony of a Your Brother Mark

My Testimony

I praise God for leading me on a journey that has led me
to understand what God is doing today.
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.
That journey has led me closer and closer to Him. He led me through
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.
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.
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.
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
RATURE. I found that most of orthodoxy did not believe in this Rapture, as
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.
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.
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....
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.
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".
There were many things in this study that I discovered were great nuggets of truth.
First of all, I discovered Paul, and how significant to my journey of seeking truth were his writings....
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.
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.....
"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.....
I had not yet been taught what it means to correctly cut what was for Israel and what is for us Gentiles today.
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
"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.
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.
Israel, in a nut shell, was rejected as God's people. They were divorced from God.
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.
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.
It is yet another very good news for us today about the "UNSEARCHABLE RICHES
OF GOD"..... You can now join me in my journey in my new blog...
appearinglorytimeline.blogspot.com

May God continue to open your eyes to His wonderful Manifold Wisdom .....
In TRUTH for us today... Grace and peace and great joy in searching out what is true for you today .....
"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."
Very Sincerely,
Your brother in Christ Jesus
Mark

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