Restoring the Vision of the End Times Church

A Visionary Look at the Victorious End-times Church Walking as Jesus Walked

by Vernon L. Kuenzi

© Copyright 2001 Restoring the Vision of the End-times Church

My desire is to make this material readily available on the internet to be freely copied, shared, distributed, and used by the Body of Christ within honorable copyright limitations

Part 1: Restoring The Vision

● Chapter 1: Is Another Book Necessary?

● Chapter 2: A Glorious Call; A Grand Plan!

● Chapter 3: Daniel's Visions of the Cross

● Chapter 4: Identifying the Church in Revelation

● Chapter 5: Matthew 24...To the Present-day Church?

● Chapter 6: A Theology of Suffering

● Chapter 7: Restoring the Stolen Vision

● Chapter 8: Follow Me!

Part 2: Timing and Sequence of Key Events

● Chapter 9: The Timing and Sequence of Key Events

● Chapter 10: Logic Trains of Rapture Timing

Part 3: Identification of Key Groups

● Chapter 11: Who are the Two Witnesses?

● Chapter 12: Who are the Woman and Her Children?

● Chapter 13: Who are the 144,000(s)?

● Chapter 14: Who is the Bride?

● Chapter 15: Holiness and Victory  

Chapter 1

Is Another Book Necessary?

I believe another book is necessary --- one that calls the Church to endurance rather than early rapture. There is little current material in Christian bookstores calling for endurance to the end of the age, but Jesus said to His disciples that those who endure to the end will be saved. That implies that those who do not endure will not be saved. The very end of the age is upon us, and those of us in the Church who are confused over this issue may be in danger of stumbling and even falling away rather than enduring. This grieves me, and I offer this book to the saints with the hope and prayer that hearts may be encouraged and faith may be strengthened, so that we may each finish the race that Jesus has called us to run.

At That Time Many Will Fall Away . . .

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved (Matthew 24:7-13).

Jesus is warning His disciples of a sequence of events at the very end of the age which He compares to birth pains of increasing intensity, during which they will be persecuted and put to death and hated by all nations. These are His words about what lies ahead for His disciples. Those of us who are His disciples and who are alive at the end of this age should expect to see these things. His word settles it. Even though He warned us, many will fall away and the love of most will grow cold. Even though it sounds like a time of desperate hopelessness, it will not be, because a birth is not an event of hopelessness but of expectation and joy. The process, however, is not painless.

Whenever a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she remembers the anguish no more, for joy that a child has been born into the world (John 16:21).

Jesus did not give these warnings to frighten and discourage us, but rather to warn and encourage us so that we do not stumble and fall away when these inevitable events do come. He has set before us the joy of being birthed as the children of God, but we must endure the birthing process. It was for the joy that lay ahead that Jesus endured the cross. This must also be our attitude as we enter the very end of this age.

Behold, I have told you in advance (Matthew 24:25).

These things I have spoken to you, that you may be kept from stumbling (John 16:1).

I offer this book to prepare and encourage my brothers and sisters to endure a time of birthing that, if not anticipated and understood, could result in stumbling and even falling away. I want to share what I believe the Holy Spirit is revealing about these times and their purpose in God’s plan for His Church. A birthing as the children of God is in view, and it is a birthing that will result in eternal joy for the saints who endure the temporary --- but necessary --- birth pains.

Not Gloom and Doom but Joy!

This message is a wake-up call to the Church, but it is not an alarm of gloom and doom. It is a message of restoring vision that has been stolen by the enemy. It is a message of God’s love. God so loves each of us that He desires to birth us into a bride without spot or wrinkle before Jesus returns. Even though our physical births were not events of gloom and doom, they were restrictive, violent, and even bloody events that we as ignorant babes would probably not have chosen had we the choice. The womb was a warm and comfortable place and we would have chosen to remain there in relative comfort and leave well enough alone.

The Church finds herself in this condition as the very end of the age draws near. We are beginning to see and experience the increasing pressures of the birthing process, but we are confused and are seeking a way to avoid it. Paul wrote that the whole creation is groaning, as in the pains of childbirth, for the revealing of the sons of God. He described his own agonizing, as in pains of childbirth, until Christ would be formed in the Galatians. It is the birth of the saints into the likeness of Jesus that is in view in these Scriptures, and we must allow provision at the end of the age for our promised births as the children of God, even though it means enduring the temporary discomfort of birth pains.

A Scriptural Prophetic Teaching

This book is a scriptural prophetic teaching of the glorious call and destiny of the Church at the end of this age. The intent is to identify misleading doctrine and eliminate confusion which might cause saints to stumble and even fall away when these birth pains come. It is also to present what Scripture indicates are the reasons for the majority of the Church to be on earth at the very end of the age in order to fulfill a glorious calling. It is a common-sense teaching centered on the cross and based on the plain and simple truth of Scripture. I believe that a good portion of it has been illuminated by the Holy Spirit. I consider myself more the delivering postman than the author of this teaching. I am the author, however, of anything that is not of the Holy Spirit. My unsophisticated role in end-times theology could be compared to the role of the child in the crowd in Aesop’s fable who cried out, "But the king has no clothes on!" The plain and simple teachings of Jesus about the end of the age have suffered immeasurably by teachings of men that are not in line with what He taught.

If it’s Not Biblical, it’s Not Here

Nothing will be presented here that is unscriptural or adds to or subtracts anything from existing Scripture. The issues brought forth will only underscore and illuminate what has already been written. The points that will be presented are prophetic only in that they seek to illuminate existing Scripture based on what I sense the Holy Spirit is freshly revealing. Everything that the Church needs to know about the end of the age in order to endure and emerge victorious has already been given in the Scriptures. We need to study and understand and believe it.

Fresh Insight into Existing Scriptures

Daniel was told that at the end of the age there would be increased understanding of his prophetic visions and dreams. We should expect increased prophetic clarity as the age draws to a close, but we should also anticipate increased prophetic deception as the enemy seeks to stumble the Church on her path to victory. Jesus’ first warning to His disciples concerning the end of the age was to beware of deception.

Although the Holy Spirit is giving fresh insight regarding the walk of the Church at the end of the age, this insight is typically at odds with most current end-times Christian literature. Of the multitude of current books dealing with end-times events, only a few place the Church on earth during the final years of the age. Even fewer provide insight into the reasons she is being left on earth and the crucial role she will play in God’s eternal plan to restore His creation.

The Church cannot understand and fulfill a major prophetic role on earth at the end of the age if she has no vision to be here. We will study Scriptures which clearly place the Church on earth during the final three and one-half years of the age. We will also study Scriptures which reveal the reasons why she must remain on earth in order to fulfill her glorious prophetic destiny. Rapture timing will become clear as a result of studying these Scriptures and gaining understanding of the destiny to which the Church is called. Rapture timing will be found to be a function of the Church’s role on earth and not a cause of it. We will see that the timing of the rapture is not a servant of our personal interests, but of God’s eternal glory.

Beware of False Prophetic Voices

We are cautioned that there will be many deceiving voices and false prophets speaking forth at the end of the age. Where there are true prophetic voices, there will always be false ones, even as amidst wheat there will always be tares. We must be as the Bereans, who were commended by Paul as more noble because they judged his words by the Scriptures. This must be more than an intellectual textbook search for facts, as the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. We must rely upon the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth or we shall surely be deceived. If you do not find this word verified by Scripture and quickened to you personally by the Holy Spirit, you have no reason to believe it.

The voice that spoke through Peter and suggested to Jesus that He need not go to His cross is the same voice speaking through men today and advising the Church that she need not endure to the end of this age and go to her cross. We seem to think that we have already arrived concerning God’s ultimate purpose for His Church on earth. But many of the same reasons Jesus chose to endure His cross in order to overcome Satan apply equally to His Church. Satan does not want the Church to fulfill her destiny on earth at the end of this age any more than He wanted Jesus to fulfill His destiny, because his ultimate defeat depends upon both destinies being fulfilled.

It is not conclusive to compile a list of what Bible scholars think about this matter, for most hold different opinions. Truth is not established by vote. Truth about any matter is what God says about it. Personal agendas and doctrines must be set aside, and the Holy Spirit must be solely relied upon to lead us into the truth of what Scripture says about the role of the Church at the end of the age.

We will find that what men teach and what Scripture teaches are often different. But we must decide now that this will not add arms to a battle between believers of different end-times doctrinal beliefs. Our battle is to be against the evil rulers and authorities in heavenly places. Our attack must be on the deception and not on the saints. Doctrine and understanding of the end-times will not move us into or out of the Kingdom of God, but our teachings must not lead the saints along a path which could cause them to stumble and possibly fall away.

A Deceptive Trap

I believe that the Church is being set up for such a stumbling and falling away by teachings which insist that these Scriptures of warning do not apply. These teachings insist that the true Church will have been removed from the earth before these events take place. That is contrary to the plain wording of Scripture. Such teachings unwittingly set a trap in which many saints will be confused and shaken when they find themselves in the midst of events they neither expected nor prepared for. They will be in danger of falling away rather than enduring to the end to which Jesus said we must endure. Jesus would not have warned His disciples to endure to the end of the age in order to be saved if that were not the primary call of the saints alive at the end of the age. Scripture must not be altered to fit our preferred doctrines. Our doctrines must conform to Scripture and, if necessary, be revised until they do.

These seeds of deception have already produced bad fruit. Confusion and difference of opinion, and even apathy among believers, as to the destiny of the Church is common. Some believe they will be momentarily raptured out while others believe they will stay on earth to be victorious and do mighty things. Others believe the point is not important because whatever will happen, will happen. But Paul said, regarding the timing of such events, "Do not be deceived in any way." He taught that the issue of timing was of crucial importance, and he went on to carefully describe the timing and nature of end-time events to the church at Thessalonica so that they would not stumble when difficult times came. Paul noted in 2 Timothy 2:18 that false teachings regarding the timing of the resurrection had already upset the faith of some. This is proof that proper understanding of the timing of events is important.

Scripture suggests it will be so at the end of this age. False teachings about the timing of the resurrection will result in the upsetting of the faith of many, and many will fall away, spiritually unprepared to endure what must be endured.

Many of us are firmly entrenched in the belief of a rapture which will exclude all of us from the times of turmoil and testing at the end of the age. The teaching of Jesus that "Those who endure to the end will be saved" should prompt serious questioning and re-evaluation of that belief. We must search our hearts for hidden motives that overrule the simple truth of His words. The end that Jesus is referring to is the end of this age. Jesus also taught that the harvest would take place at the end of the age. That harvest, as described near the end of Revelation Chapter 14, takes place after a specific time of three and one-half years of great tribulation during which believers in Jesus are encouraged to maintain their faith and perseverance. The harvest at the end of this age takes place after the great tribulation, not before. We must understand that the Bible clearly teaches that It is after the great tribulation of those days that Jesus sends His angels to gather His elect.

Many saints have no vision of being on earth at the end of this age and are banking on an early rapture before the events take place which are described in the prophetic Scriptures of Daniel, Matthew, and Revelation. They are being deceived, however, if they believe that Jesus’ warnings to His disciples do not apply to His disciples alive at the end of the age. Any teaching which removes the Church from these Scriptures removes the Church from earth during the most crucial period of her prophetic, earthly destiny.

Satan has Stolen and Twisted the Vision

Scripture says that without vision, people perish (Proverbs 29:18 KJV). If the Church is without vision of her calling at the end of the age, how can she survive to fulfill that calling? If she has been stripped of the vision of the need to endure to the end of the age, how can she endure? In the same voice as Peter we cry, "No way, Lord!" when confronted with the idea of having to endure through tribulation birth pains at the end of the age.

Are we willing to consider a restoration of vision that may violate our doctrinal beliefs and fleshly preferences? You can be assured that Satan has tried to steal and twist that vision, for the outcome of the vision is to see him defeated and crushed underfoot (Romans 16:20). He apparently understands the vision better than we do. He is fighting for his survival, and his only hope is to keep the Church deceived and unaware of her calling, because once the Church grasps her calling and rises to embrace it, he is finished.

We Christians have chosen to turn away from the centrality of the cross and the things of God and have turned to the things of men. We have refused to appropriate the vision of God for His Church at the end of the age, which is that He has created all things in order to demonstrate His wisdom through the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, and that this is His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus (see Ephesians 3:9-11).

Much current end-times doctrine teaches that the next event on the prophetic calendar is the rapture of the Church. This doctrine teaches that we need only hang on until this event, which could be any day now. I believe this is a deception from the pit of hell designed to prevent the Church from fulfilling her glorious prophetic destiny on earth at the end of the age --- a destiny which is to overcome Satan while being conformed to the likeness of Jesus. We are destined to be overcomers, but Satan would have us think otherwise. God has created all things in order to demonstrate His wisdom through His Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, and those rulers and authorities will do everything in their power and authority to see that the Church does not fulfill this glorious call.

The Nature of the Deception

A. W. Tozer said somewhere in his writings that the more crucial an issue concerning the Church, the more likely the enemy will inject deception and lies into that issue. A perfect example of this is the confusion and controversy surrounding the issue of the destiny of the Church at the end of the age, particularly the rapture issue. We only need to look at the rapture controversy to see the fingerprints of Satan all over it.

Suppose you are presented with two opposing doctrines such as the pre-tribulation rapture scenario and a conflicting one which maintains that the rapture will take place at the harvest at the end of the age. This is a crucial issue, and according to A. W. Tozer’s logic, we can conclude that one of these scenarios is either wrong or at least more incorrect than the other. That’s just common sense. If one of them is wrong, then we can safely say that Satan is behind it, for Satan is the deceiver, and any important doctrine which concerns the Church and his defeat will be attacked and perverted.

Which scenario is the most probable deception --- the one which says the Church will be here during the great tribulation but she is not, or the one which says the Church will not be here but she is? Which one is a trap? Which one has the fingerprints of the deceiver all over it? I would much rather find myself raptured out earlier than expected than to find myself entering a time of great tribulation I neither expected nor prepared for. Wouldn’t you?

I don’t see a problem with being over prepared, but for the sake of discussion, let’s assume that all this concern about going through the tribulation is unnecessary and we find ourselves suddenly raptured. I will be elated, even at the expense of having to revise my doctrinal beliefs. I will not stumble and fall away. But what if the rapture doesn’t take place until near the end of the last three and one-half years of the age, and we are not prepared to persevere and endure because we have been taught otherwise? The seriousness of doctrinal error is much greater in the latter case. I believe this automatically suggests the place where Satan has set his trap.

We Can’t Call the Good News the Bad News

What a tragedy it will be to interpret the events of these times as the wrath of God, when in fact they will be evidence that we are in the process of being birthed and revealed as His sons and daughters. We must not take the good news of Scripture and call it the bad news. We must divide Scripture rightly and embrace the Church’s glorious calling and destiny at the end of this age. Our spiritual survival depends on our understanding of these things. We will be in danger of perishing from lack of knowledge and vision if we find ourselves caught up in events at the end of the age for which we have no knowledge and vision. We must understand and be prepared!

BE NOT DECEIVED!

This is a warning cry to the Church to "BE NOT DECEIVED" in the days ahead due to a lack of knowledge and vision. We must not be shaken when the world around us begins to teeter and crumble. We must not be shaken when famine, pestilence, warfare, and persecution move in ever closer. We must not think, "Why am I not raptured?" when these events begin to touch our comfortable and sheltered lives. We instead need to welcome them as the beginnings of birth pains which will result in our births into transfigured glory.

This message especially needs to be heard by a complacent and unsuspecting Western Church, because we will be in the greatest danger of falling away when these times of birth pains come to violate our doctrines and upset our sheltered lives.

There Seems to be Provision to Escape . . . through Maturity

There seems to be provision spoken of in Scripture to escape the time of testing that is coming. However, Scripture suggests that relatively few will be found ready and worthy for that escape. There is a group which shows up in heaven at the beginning of Revelation 14 who are identified as first fruits of the harvest. These seem to be those who have matured early. They are described as blameless with no lie in their mouths. But how many stalks of wheat can be held in a hand and waved before the Lord relative to the number of grains of the entire harvest? This is only a first-fruits company, not the majority of the saints. The majority of the saints are called to endure until the harvest at the end of Revelation 14, and that harvest comes after a period of three and one-half years in which the saints are counseled to persevere and not lose their faith in Jesus. It doesn’t matter whether these turn out to be saints who have come to faith during the tribulation, or saints who have missed a prior rapture, or saints who are awaiting a rapture that still hasn’t come; they are called to persevere and endure to the end.

A Great Multitude of Saints Identified in Great Tribulation!

Those disciples alive as the age ends will very likely be us and/or our children. Scripture clearly identifies a great multitude of saints "that no one could count" in the midst of great tribulation at the end of the age. We obviously won’t all escape via a pre-tribulation rapture even if there is one. Perhaps these are those who have missed a prior rapture, but regardless, they are the majority of the Church alive at the end of the age, for it is a great multitude which no one could count who emerge victorious from the great tribulation in Revelation 7:9. Scripture does not identify those who will be raptured as a great multitude which no one could count, but rather as "those of us who are alive and remain" (1 Thessalonians 4:15), as if these may be a minority rather than a majority.

Teachings which reassure the Church-at-large of an escape from tribulation through rapture are not accurately representing the plain and simple truth of Jesus’ teachings and warnings. Scripture indicates that the majority of the Church, made up of the harvest described at the end of Revelation 14 along with the great multitude of Revelation 7, is going to experience great tribulation to the extent needed to purify and make her worthy of the Kingdom of God. This great multitude of saints from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues who come out of the great tribulation, having washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb, must have been in the great tribulation in order to be coming out of it. Washed robes made white in the Blood of the Lamb imply a process of purification. Would any of us want to skip that process if it is required to make us worthy of the Kingdom of God? Scripture clearly gives the reasons why God is allowing a large portion of the Church to remain on earth up to the end of the age. The reasons are to overcome Satan while being purified and made like Jesus. When we understand the glory to which the Church is called, a Church-majority pre-tribulation rapture will seem terribly inconsistent with that call.

The Path that Jesus Walked

Jesus said that in this world we would have tribulation, but not to fear because He has overcome the world. We who are His Church are destined to be victorious over Satan by the Blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and by loving not our lives unto death (Revelation 12:11). God will crush Satan beneath our feet (Romans 16:20). The Church will be victorious! But the path to victory will be along the path that Jesus walked. As He was treated, so we should expect to be treated. Jesus has given us His power and authority to gain this victory, but we can appropriate it only by walking in faith. There is not one way for Him and another way for us, although Satan would have us believe there is. Jesus said, "Follow Me!" Satan will always try to lure us onto other paths.

The Flesh Will Resist the Path that Jesus Walked

The flesh is constantly at war with the spirit. Few relish the thought of suffering, even for a worthy cause. It is natural for us to seek a path of comfort and escape from trials, but God knows what is best for His people because He is the Designer of the transformation process. His pattern with His children has always been to transform them by directing their steps along the path that Jesus walked. We are called to embrace the cross, not flee from it. The most formative times in our lives are during times of trial. This is painful for the flesh to hear, but it is God’s way. God has chosen to bring restoration to His creation through a process likened to birthing. As a consequence of the fall, birthing involves birth pains. Though the process may be painful, we must look through the pain to the joy beyond. It was for the joy beyond the pain that Jesus endured the cross. The promises of eternal life and reward to the seven churches in the book of Revelation are for the overcomers, not for the cowardly and unbelieving.

God’s Love Letter to His Church

The book of Revelation has been described as God’s love letter to His Church, because it outlines God’s loving plan to conform us to the likeness of His Son. We might question the events described as demonstrating God’s love, but we must remember that our Father is bringing forth His transformed children out of a fallen creation. Satan will be overcome and crushed underfoot in the process. The glory of a new creation lies ahead. The process is a birthing, accompanied by necessary birth pains, which reflects the outworking of God’s love for His children and their redemption from a fallen state.

An Invitation to Reconsider . . .

I challenge and invite you to take another look at the Scriptures which deal with the plan of God for His Church at the end of the age. I invite you to take yet another look at the Scriptures which deal with the timing of the rapture. It’s one thing if the Church won’t be here during the birthing process at the end of the age, but it’s quite another thing if the Church will be here and these birth pains are hers. We need to seek to understand as much as God has given us in His Scriptures regarding the destiny of His Church.

If God’s perfect plan is to take us through such a birthing process, we don’t want to be as ignorant babes in the womb who cry out, "No way, Lord!" We need to consent to God’s plan for His Church at the end of this age, whatever it is.

Remember, this is not going to be a message of gloom and doom, but one of joy and glory. We may not see it that way, because our thoughts about restoration are not always God’s thoughts. We must have our minds renewed to align with the eternal purposes of God so that we can endure temporal birth pains for the eternal joy set before us. There is Someone Who has walked this way before Who said, "Follow Me!" It is His own death and resurrection that Jesus compared in John 16:21 to the joyous birth of a child.

It is my prayer that through study of these Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will lead you into a deeper understanding of the call of the Church at the end of the age. It is my prayer that this book will help and encourage those who might otherwise believe that the true Church will not be on the earth at the end of the age. It is my prayer that many will be strengthened and encouraged to stand when the inevitable prophesied shakings and testings come. It is my prayer that the faith of many will be strengthened by perceiving the glory to which the Church is called amidst and through the tribulation birth pains which lie ahead. And it is my prayer that our Father may be glorified by a Church who says "Yes!" to His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus which is to demonstrate His wisdom through the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places  

Chapter 2

A Glorious Call; a Grand Plan!

The Glory of God must be the Church’s Priority

There is a higher vision than early rapture for the Church as we approach the end of this age, and that is the plan of God for His Church that will demonstrate His wisdom in the sight of all creation to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. That plan demands that the Church rise to the full stature that Jesus provided for by the shedding of His priceless blood. This is not about us but about Him. The motives of our desperately wicked, fleshly hearts are always self-serving. We must be given new spiritual hearts. The humanism which has often seeped into our motives must be thrown out and replaced with a love for the glory of God. The motive of our new hearts will be for the glory of God and that the Lamb may receive His just reward for the price He has paid to redeem us. The Church of Jesus Christ was created to glorify and please her Creator.

"Father, lead us in the ways that will please Your heart."

God Created All Things in Order that . . .

When we seek out the eternal plan of God for His Church, no more revealing and awesome Scriptures can be found than Ephesians 3:8-12. In these amazing verses God reveals that He created all things in order to demonstrate His wisdom through the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. He will be glorified through and before His creation.

To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, WHO CREATED ALL THINGS; IN ORDER THAT the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known THROUGH THE CHURCH to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. THIS WAS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE ETERNAL PURPOSE WHICH HE CARRIED OUT IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him (Ephesians 3:8-12).

We believe that God created all things. But have we ever considered that He did so with the specific intent of demonstrating His wisdom through the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places? That should prostrate us on our faces in awe. How is the Church going to do that? Has the Church already finished the demonstration of God’s wisdom or is there yet a glorious future fulfillment?

What is the fullness of the eternal purpose spoken of here to be carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord? It is much more than to redeem fallen man for his own sake. Important as that might seem to us, Ephesians 3:8-12 suggests that the redemption of man serves a much higher purpose which has as its final end the glory of God.

Jesus Appeared for what Purpose?

The Son of God appeared for THIS purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).

This would seem to be the main aspect of the eternal purpose carried out in Christ Jesus in which the redemption of man serves in a supporting role. We were created to assist in destroying the works of the devil. We must be cautious in placing priorities on God’s plans, but the Bible suggests that the Church’s primary purpose on earth has to do with destroying the works of the devil. Ultimately that will glorify the Father in that His wisdom will be demonstrated through the Church before all creation.

The question continually arises as to why God has allowed evil to flourish on the earth when He could have easily wiped it out at any time. God is more powerful than Satan. It’s no contest. So why this delay? Jesus legally overcame Satan on the cross as a man in order that man could gain the victory over Satan! Scripture reveals that the eternal purpose of God, which He carried out in Christ Jesus, is to demonstrate His wisdom through the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Man gave authority over the earth away through his sin. Man has gained that authority back through the righteous sacrifice of Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 defines the wisdom of God as the cross of Jesus Christ. That demonstration of God’s wisdom was first modeled by how His Son lived and died while here on earth. The Bible indicates that the wisdom of God, as the cross of Jesus Christ, demonstrated first through His Son two thousand years ago, will again be demonstrated through the corporate body of His Son at the end of this age.

We must understand that God has elected to use His Church to defeat Satan. He has left evil on the earth for the Church to overcome. God sent Jesus to destroy the works of the devil by redeeming a people who would, in the power and authority of His name, defeat Satan by His blood, by the word of their testimony, and by loving not their lives unto death (Revelation 12:11). That is the wisdom of the cross that God will demonstrate through the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This is the glorious calling the Church must embrace. God will be glorified by His Church on earth through the process of the Church defeating Satan by the wisdom of the cross, and we must understand this as our primary earthly calling and the very reason for which we were created. Making disciples of all nations is part of that calling. However, making disciples of all nations is not for the sake of the nations, it is for the glory of God and for the Lamb Who will receive the full reward for the price He has paid.

It is questionable how much of God’s wisdom of the cross the Church has demonstrated to date. There have always been individual saints and groups of saints throughout the age who have risen to this calling, but the Church-at-large cannot facilitate the fullness of that demonstration until she becomes corporately more like Jesus. She will become corporately more like Jesus when Jesus lives more corporately through her. Scripture indicates that it is not until the Spirit is poured out in fullness during the last three and one-half years of the age that the Church corporately is lifted up by grace to the level needed to fulfill this ultimate calling.

A Glorious Call; A Grand Plan!

I believe the Holy Spirit is saying that during the last three and one-half years of this age a portion of the Church will walk on earth as Jesus walked . Even as Jesus’ time of public ministry in the power and authority of the fullness of the Holy Spirit was three and one-half years, so Scripture indicates that the Church will walk in the fullness of His power and authority for that identical length of time. Many in this last-days Church will be called to lay down their lives even as He laid down His life. This will be their path to victory, for it is the Church’s destiny to overcome Satan by the Blood of the Lamb, the word of her testimony, and by loving not her life unto death. This is dramatically demonstrated by the victorious life, death, and resurrection of the Lord’s two witnesses of Revelation Chapter 11.

Scripture is clear that a large portion of the Church will be on earth during the last three and one-half years of this age, specifically to engage the enemy of our souls in the great final battle between light and darkness. The great tribulation of the last three and one-half years is the final and deciding battle of the ongoing war between Satan and the saints. If Satan can get the Church confused on this issue, he will have won half of the final battle before it begins. Many who are called to be faithful soldiers in the end-times army of God will be in danger of falling away because they will be confused and shaken when they find themselves in the midst of a war they never expected. Now is the time of our spiritual bootcamp. We must be preparing now. We must acquire vision and understanding of our glorious and victorious calling.

The Church was Created for this Most Crucial of Times

It is during this most crucial of times that the final and deciding battle in the war between good and evil will be waged. It makes no sense to think that the Church will not be around for this final battle, when it is for this final battle that the Church was created. To miss this point is to miss the very reason why God created His Church! But we have missed it and have catered to more comfortable agendas while setting aside the eternal purposes of God. We have established doctrinal positions which ignore the plain and simple truth of the Bible.

Satan will be delighted when many fall away during great tribulation because they are unprepared and faithless, having taken as their spiritual food doctrines which have no place for such a scenario.

What we decide by vote is not doctrinal truth. God will do what He said He would do, and in the process He will be glorified through His Church. The question for each of us is which side will we choose? There are two sides and two eternal destinies. We must choose wisely and be willing to pay the price. The path to victory is the path that Jesus walked by way of the cross.

Overcomers by Being Overcome

Scripture indicates that the Church will be victorious and will crush Satan underfoot.

And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet (Romans 16:20).

However, Scripture further indicates that the path to victory will be by the Church allowing herself to be physically overcome, even as Jesus allowed Himself to be physically overcome on the cross. We will find that the book of Daniel portrays the saints as being victorious and receiving the Kingdom for eternity, but clearly through the process of being physically overcome. This seeming paradox of overcoming by being overcome is the essence of the mystery of the cross.

God Is Going to Do It Again!

It seems as if God is going to do it again! He has already once demonstrated His wisdom of the cross through His Son. He is going to demonstrate His wisdom of the cross again through the corporate body of His Son. Such is the reason for which the Church, and all other things as well, were created. This is the eternal purpose which He chose to carry out in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is the reason why Jesus came as a man to die on the cross.

Perhaps we can now understand more clearly why Jesus rejoiced when He envisioned Satan falling like lightning from heaven. He had just seen His fledgling Church demonstrate the day of small beginnings in His Father’s ultimate plan to crush Satan underfoot. No wonder Jesus rejoiced. His purpose in coming was to defeat the works of Satan, and He was seeing the beginning of the working out of that perfect plan. The Son’s heart was thrilled, for He surely sensed the good pleasure of His Father.

And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight" (Luke 10:18-21).

The Church’s Calling is to Fulfill this Destiny While on Earth

A Church-majority, pre-tribulation rapture does not fit into this scenario. It is a great multitude that no one could count who are identified in Revelation Chapter 7 as emerging victoriously from great tribulation. It is through the Church on earth that God will demonstrate His wisdom to the devil and his angels. Satan has tried and continues to try to distort this truth for his own purposes.

We need to seek God’s purposes for our lives and understand the reason for which we, who are alive at the end of this age, were created. Perhaps we were created for such a time as this. We were created to be overcomers, conformed to the likeness of Jesus while crushing Satan underfoot by the wisdom of the cross. Let us seek not only to understand but to embrace the purposes of God for His Church at the end of this age.

Not When but Why? Although rapture timing is a hot issue in current end-times Christian literature, our primary concern at the end of this age is not whether the rapture will be pre-tribulation, post-tribulation, mid-tribulation, pan-tribulation, or pre-wrath. Our concern should be how God will maximize His glory through His Church brought to full stature in His Son. If the Church’s presence on earth at the end of the age is involved in that glorification, then the Church should expect and desire to be here. God has established His Church and her destiny on earth in accordance with His eternal purpose, which is to demonstrate His wisdom through her to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This is the foundational truth on which our end-times doctrine regarding the Church should rest.

"Father, let this understanding sink deep into our spirits and ignite the revelation of Your individual calling for each of us. Lead us on to victory in the power and authority of Jesus’ name to Your everlasting Glory! May we glorify You by our lives and deaths in the outworking of Your eternal plan. Father, have Your way with us, vessels of clay astonishingly designed to glorify You by allowing the demonstration of Your wisdom of the cross through us."  

Chapter 3

Daniel’s Visions of the Cross

As the Waters of Mystery Recede, the Cross is Revealed

As the waters of mystery recede, the highest peaks of revelatory truth are first to emerge. What the Bible reveals at first is always of foundational importance to all that follows. The dreams and visions given the prophet Daniel are the highest peaks of revelatory truth regarding the destiny of the saints. No additional future revelation ever diminishes their relative height and importance, but only reveals their base to a broader extent. These initial truths reveal the primary destiny and calling of the saints at the end of the age, and must be kept as the basis of our understanding of all that follows as the destiny of the saints becomes further clarified in the book of Revelation.

The content of the prophetic dreams and visions of Daniel has been taught by some as applicable only to the literal nation of Israel and not to the Church. It is true that the people described in Daniel’s revelations are not referred to as the Church, but rather as the saints of the Highest One, your people, or the holy people. Even in the book of Revelation, groups of people are frequently referred to as saints and not identified by the term church. However, these groups in Revelation can be identified as the Church based on their relationship to Jesus Christ. The book of Daniel does not identify these groups of people based on their relationship to Jesus. Therefore, Daniel’s dreams and visions must be interpreted in the light of further insight given in the book of Revelation and other New Testament Scriptures in order to apply them to the Church.

We will see that the saints and your people and the holy people of Daniel’s dreams and visions match exactly the saints in the book of Revelation. The period of time in view in both books is the final three and one-half years of the age. The book of Revelation clearly identifies these saints as followers of Jesus Christ. This must be understood in order to apply the critical foundational prophecies of Daniel to the Church and not consider them as applicable only to literal Israel. Daniel understood the saints and your people and the holy people to be the Jewish people. He was right, but his understanding was limited to the Jewish portion of the eventual one-new-man company known as the Church which would consist of both Jewish and Gentile believers.

Daniel’s Dreams and Visions

Daniel received a succession of dreams and visions crucial to our understanding of the destiny of the Church. He had difficulty comprehending this because of the measured extent of the revelation given him, and because he could only process it with his Old Testament theology. The revelations he received were so staggering to his understanding that at one point he became ill. He was looking forward in time and seeing the Church of Jesus Christ at the end of the age, specifically during the last three and one-half years of the age. He had no knowledge of a future Church or of a suffering Savior. Yet his dreams and visions are a clear prophetic picture of the destiny of the Church at the end of the age.

Each succeeding dream or vision builds upon previous revelations even as the book of Revelation builds upon the book of Daniel. The information given by all of these prophetic revelations needs to be pieced together in order to build an accurate picture regarding the destiny of the Church. Any piece of the puzzle left out or misapplied will result in an incomplete and inaccurate picture. Daniel was specifically told that he would not understand the things he was shown, but that he was to write them down to be preserved for --- and understood by --- a people alive at the time of the end.

Daniel’s Little Book is Now Open!

One of the strongest impressions that I ever received from the Holy Spirit regarding the study of these prophetic Scriptures concerned the little book of Daniel 12. The Holy Spirit seemed to say that the little book in Daniel 12, ordered sealed up until the time of the end, is the same little book that reappears opened in the hands of the angel in Revelation 10:2. The description of the last three and one-half years of the age, which was the topic of discussion of Daniel 12, is again the topic of discussion following the opening of the little book in Revelation 10. When the visions of Daniel and John are combined, a complete picture of the destiny of the Church at the end of the age emerges.

Daniel’s Vision in the First Year of Belshazzar

Daniel Chapter 7 describes a vision involving a succession of four strange beasts which represent empires.

These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come (Daniel 7:17-18).

The outcome of this vision is that the saints of the Highest One will one day receive the Kingdom and possess it forever, for all ages to come. These verses describing the first vision of Daniel are foundational to all that follows. Nothing is said to Daniel about who these saints are or how this comes to pass. This is the first revelatory peak to emerge as the waters of mystery recede.

Daniel asked for additional insight and was given further revelation regarding the beast empires and the saints.

I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom (Daniel 7:21-22).

And he [the little horn] will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times and half a time [three and one- half years]. But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him (Daniel 7:25-27).

Notice that this additional revelation adds details indicating that the saints will be warred against, that they will be worn down, and that they will be given into the hand of a "little horn" (commonly understood to be the antichrist) for a period of three and one-half years. Nevertheless, they will emerge victorious. This is a crucial additional piece of data regarding the prophetic destiny of the saints at the end of the age. The saints will be victorious, but that path to victory will be through a process of being warred against and worn down. This is the second revelatory peak to emerge as the waters of mystery continue to recede.

Daniel’s Vision in the Third Year of Belshazzar

Daniel received additional revelation in this vision indicating that the holy people would not only be warred against and worn down, but that they would be destroyed.

And his [the antichrist’s] power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will; he will destroy mighty men and the holy people (Daniel 8:24).

Daniel’s Vision in the Third Year of Cyrus

Chapters 10 through 12 reveal Daniel’s last vision concerning the saints at the end of the age.

And I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time [three and one-half years]; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed. As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, "My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?" And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Many will be purged, purified and refined; but the wicked will act wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand" (Daniel 12:7-10).

The age will end in a specific period of three and one-half years during which the power of the holy people will be shattered. These holy people are the same people previously referred to as the saints. They are warred against, worn down, shattered, and destroyed --- yet emerge victorious as recipients of the Kingdom. It is the process of being purged, purified, and refined that has transformed these saints, who have been warred against, into the holy people. That is the essence of the destiny of the saints portrayed in the book of Daniel.

The New Testament, and most specifically the book of Revelation, builds upon these foundational revelations and applies them clearly to the Church on earth at the end of the age. But nowhere else is the path of victory for the Church so clearly described as in the book of Daniel, where it is described as a process of being physically destroyed. The first two peaks are further revealed as the waters of mystery continue to recede, and the contents of the little book, reopened in the book of Revelation, are exposed.

The Saints of Daniel are the Saints of Revelation

The third revelatory peak to emerge, as Daniel’s little book is opened in Revelation Chapter 10, is that the saints of Daniel and the saints of Revelation are one and the same. They are destined to be physically destroyed for the express purpose of overcoming Satan thereby demonstrating God’s wisdom through the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

And there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies; and authority to act for forty-two months [three and one-half years] was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. And it was given to him [the antichrist] to make war with the saints and to overcome them; and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints (Revelation 13:5-10).

The Saints of Daniel and Revelation are the Church

The fourth peak to emerge from the waters of mystery is that the saints of Daniel are not only the saints of Revelation, but that they are the Church of Jesus Christ. The identity of the saints of Daniel is forever settled by their relationship with Jesus as revealed in the following verses:

And another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb"...Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’" "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them" (Revelation 14:9-10,12-13).

The Mystery and Paradox of the Cross The mystery of the cross was revealed to Daniel, although he did not understand what he had seen and heard. He had no historical pattern in which a people could be victorious through a process of being worn down, shattered, and destroyed. And yet he was given a revelation of a holy people at the end of the age who are ultimately victorious through such a process --- a process that he could only understand as total defeat. It suggests the appearance of total defeat that Jesus must have displayed as He hung shattered and destroyed on the cross.

This is a glimpse of the Church at the end of the age walking the path that Jesus walked. It may be as confusing and disconcerting to us as it was to Daniel, even though Daniel’s little book has been reopened for our reading. However, much of our current theology and teaching avoids the foundational truths of the cross. Some will disassociate those saints who are overcome at the end of the age from those in the seven churches in Revelation who are called to be overcomers. The essence of the cross, however, is that one overcomes by laying down one’s life, sometimes physically. Those saints who are physically overcome are the same saints who do spiritually overcome.

I Heard but Could not Understand

Daniel was staggered to the point of illness by these revelations. The Church must understand that she will be victorious, but her path to victory at the very end of the age, as mapped out in the book of Daniel, involves her physical destruction. Such a destiny seems bitter to us and impossible to swallow. Do we also hear but fail to understand?

We will never be able to embrace this destiny without the mind of Christ. Only for the joy set before us, in valid eternal perspective, will we be able to accept and endure these things. The cross of Christ is the wisdom of God because God established it as His wisdom; it does not depend on our understanding or lack of it. He said it; that settles it. Pray that we may have our minds renewed to understand this awesome destiny and that God may give us the grace to both embrace it and endure.

Living Out the Sermon on the Mount

This is a living demonstration of the theology of the Sermon on the Mount. It is the life that Jesus lived. It is the wisdom of the cross. Wasn’t His path to victory through allowing Himself to be physically overcome? The churches in Revelation are counseled to be overcomers, yet the paths of some of the overcomers in the church of Smyrna clearly led to being physically overcome (martyred). There is no inconsistency with the overcomers also being overcome. We must, however, differentiate between being spiritually overcome and being physically overcome. The definition of being spiritually overcome would involve falling away and receiving the mark of the beast. We must not be overcome in that manner.

Although it appears a paradox, it is not a paradox in light of the wisdom of God, which is the wisdom of the cross. What makes it a paradox in our minds is that we often think with the minds of men, as Peter did , when in honest good intention he counseled Jesus not to go to the cross. The wisdom of man, which is diametrically opposed to the wisdom of God, is that we overcome by striking back and by vindicating ourselves. But the wisdom of God is the cross of Christ, whereby Jesus allowed Himself to be overcome in the flesh to the point of death. He never struck back. He never opened His mouth to vindicate Himself. In this manner, He won the victory. We are called to do the same and to again demonstrate the wisdom of the cross. This is the wisdom that God will demonstrate through the Church. It will overcome evil and re-establish righteous rule over all of creation for eternity.

The paradox of the conflict is revealed by balancing two separate verses from the book of Revelation.

And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death (Revelation 12:11).

And it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them; and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him (Revelation 13:7).

The him in these verses is Satan, or his antichrist. The they and the them are the saints who are the Church. The saints are both overcome and overcomers through the same event.

Holy and Powerful

There are two additional points which reveal that the saints of Daniel are the Church. Notice from the context of Daniel 12:7 that the saints at the end of the age are holy and powerful, even though they are warred against and overcome. Who or what must be the source of the holiness and power of these saints? Can there be any source of holiness and power at the end of the age other than Jesus? We know that Satan is powerful, but he is not holy. The combination of holiness and power can only be supplied by Jesus Christ. The only way these saints can be holy and powerful is if Jesus is living in them and exhibiting His holiness and power through them. These must be the Church. We should not be surprised, therefore, to find these same saints identified in the book of Revelation as the Church of Jesus Christ.

Recipients of the Kingdom

The second point is that these saints of Daniel are recipients of the Kingdom. With the benefit of the New Testament, we understand that followers of Jesus will receive the Kingdom. Therefore, these saints in view at the end of the age must also be followers of Jesus.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32).

Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him (James 2:5)?

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:28-29).

And turning His gaze on His disciples, He began to say, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20).

The foundational truth revealed in Daniel is that the Church will be victorious and receive the Kingdom through the process of being warred against and worn down and overcome. Nowhere do we read of the option of escape from this process. If there is an option of escape, perhaps it will be revealed further along. For now we have to understand that this call is primary. It is equally as primary for the Church at the end of the age as it was for Jesus --- for all but one of the same reasons, as we shall see.

There is a strong natural tendency to identify ourselves with a group that is protected and exempt from the onslaught of Satan during the great tribulation. And in a sense we are exempt, because Jesus prayed that we would be kept safe from the evil one. However, being kept safe in that context has nothing to do with preserving our physical lives. God is more concerned with our billions of years in eternity than with our seventy years of earthly life, and so should we be concerned. The safety that Jesus is referring to is in the context of spiritual safety, not physical safety. The martyrs in Smyrna are told that they will not be hurt by the second death. Their first death is not of eternal consequence, but their potential second one is. Jesus said in Luke 21:16-18 that some of us will be put to death, but not a hair of our heads would perish. The primary call of the saints as described in the book of Daniel is physical destruction. The two foundational truths regarding the walk of the Church at the end of the age are that she will be victorious and receive the Kingdom, but through the process of being physically overcome to the extent of being shattered and destroyed.

Regardless of the validity of exceptions to this primary call, it is a multitude so great that no one could count them that emerges victorious from the great tribulation in Revelation 7. We will see that the logical sequence and context of events identify these as martyred saints, not raptured ones.

When Jesus said "Follow Me," He was not inviting us to the presidential suite of the King David Hotel. He was inviting us to join Him in reproach and death outside the camp. If the nature of our call is significantly different than this, why were the foundational apostles, with the possible exception of John, martyred even as their Lord was? It is said that the Church was birthed through the blood of the martyrs. Apparently the Church will grow to maturity as well through the blood of the martyrs, for we will see that it is the death of the saints at the end of the age that ushers in the time when the bride is at last declared ready.

Demonstration of the Mystery

This scenario is most clearly demonstrated by the life, death, and subsequent resurrection of the two witnesses of Revelation Chapter 11. They are said to be overcome, but they are classic examples of those who do overcome as a consequence of allowing themselves to be overcome. These two witnesses are witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ, and represent the Church at peak power and authority. They are holy and powerful. Yet they are warred against, overcome, and killed. Three and one-half days later they are resurrected to heaven. This is a snapshot of victory after being overcome! This is a demonstration of overcoming after being overcome! Saints, may all of our destinies be so glorious!  

Chapter 4

Identifying the Church in Revelation

We have seen how Daniel received a series of visions, each building upon the previous, and yet he could not understand what it all meant, for he was given only a portion of the overall picture. He was told that the words he had received were to be concealed and sealed up until the end-time. We are now in that end-time and have the benefit of New Testament Scripture, including John’s visions in the book of Revelation. The little book that was sealed up in Daniel Chapter 12 until the time of the end is now open in the hands of the angel in Revelation Chapter 10. The events of the last three and one-half years of the age regarding the calling and destiny of the Church are revealed for our understanding.

However, many teach that the Church is not in view in Revelation Chapters 5 through 19 because the word church is nowhere to be found. Conclusions are drawn that the Church must have been raptured before the events described in these chapters take place. But is that what the Bible really teaches?

Are the Saints in Revelation Chapters 5 through 19 the Church?

It is not necessary that the actual word church be found in Revelation Chapters 5 through 19 to keep from identifying the people groups described as the Church. There are descriptions in these chapters of groups who follow the Lamb wherever He goes, who are dressed in white robes standing before the throne, who stand before their Lord, and who follow the commandments of God and believe in Jesus Christ. People are the Church based on their relationship to Jesus Christ, regardless of whether they are called the saints, the elect, the multitudes, or whatever --- regardless of rapture timing.

Chapters 5 through 19 of the book of Revelation clearly identify the Church on earth in the midst of the events described and could not be any clearer short of using the actual word church. I fear that this is one of those times in which we are seeking support of our established doctrines rather than the simple truth of Scripture. We don’t want to see the Church in these chapters because it wouldn’t fit in with our beliefs. The book of Revelation is written to the Church, for the Church, and about the Church, and the content of Chapters 5 through 19 is the very heart of the prophetic destiny of the Church on earth at the end of the age. We may not like it, but that doesn’t change it. We must adapt doctrine to Scripture, not vice versa.

The companion teaching along this line is that the twenty-four elders described in Revelation 4:4 are the Church raptured before the tribulation begins. Notice, however, that these twenty-four elders continue to exist as a separate group of twenty-four individuals, even when the various factions of the Church assemble themselves in heaven up to and including Chapter 19. If these twenty-four elders represent the Church, they certainly do not represent the bulk of the Church. They are twenty-four individuals, not a multitude that no one could count. We must not designate a specific group as the Church where it is not clearly identified, while at the same time ignoring it where it is clearly identified.

Relationship with Jesus Identifies Us as the Church

The Church is plainly described in Revelation Chapters 5 through 19, but not by the word church. The following various groups are identified as portions of the Church because of their clear relationship to Jesus Christ.

• Under the altar at the fifth seal in Chapter 6, we see the souls of those who have been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had maintained. This identifies them as a portion of the Church. The word of God is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the testimony of Jesus Christ that gets people in trouble, just as Jesus said it would. • At the sixth seal in Chapter 7, we find a great multitude, so vast that no one could count them, appearing in heaven having come out of the great tribulation. They are identified as having washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. These are obviously a portion of the Church.

• The two witnesses of Chapter 11, who prophesy standing before the Lord of the earth and are described as lying dead in the streets of the great city where also their Lord was crucified and are then taken up to heaven, are obviously part of the Church.

• The saints of Chapter 14, whom the beast wars against and who are encouraged to keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus, are obviously part of the Church.

• Those harvested at the end of Chapter 14, who are heard in heaven singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb having emerged victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, are obviously part of the Church.

All of these groups are found in Chapters 5 through 19, and they all fit descriptions of portions of the Church based on their relationship to Jesus Christ. The bride is revealed in Chapter 19, having made herself ready at last. She didn’t just jump there from Chapter 5. She has been implicitly involved in the purification and refining processes mentioned in Chapters 5 through 19. The white linen she is clothed in is described as the righteous acts of the saints. She is, at least in part, made up of those saints who have just emerged victorious from the great tribulation.

The Church is found everywhere in the book of Revelation. She achieves bride status as she is purified by the crucible of events during the last three and one-half years of the age. Jesus is coming back for a bride without spot or wrinkle, and one of the purposes of the great tribulation is clearly portrayed as helping to establish that purity. Logically then, our only hope of escape from these times is to be found without spot or wrinkle before these times begin.

To the Churches, for the Churches

John to the seven churches . . . (Revelation 1:4).

I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches (Revelation 22:16).

These things are written to the Churches and for the Churches. It is to the Churches that the book of Revelation was written. It is for the Churches that the book of Revelation was written. It is about the Churches that the book of Revelation was written. God will demonstrate His wisdom through the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This description of the destiny and calling of the Church is what Chapters 5 through 19 of the book of Revelation are all about.

God will be glorified by His Church --- on earth --- through the events at the end of this age, and we must come into agreement with His plan as clearly defined by these Scriptures. The heart of the walk of the Church is contained in these chapters, and to remove the Church from them is to pull the vision for the Church out of Scripture and discard it. It is in Chapters 5 through 19 that we find described the process for the victory of the saints over Satan. It is in Chapters 5 through 19 that we find the witness of the Church in its finest hour and the completion of the great commission to take the gospel to the entire world. Yes, we find great tribulation there. But in that great tribulation we see the purification process that results in the emergence of the bride, having made herself ready. I hope you grasp how crucial this portion of the book of Revelation is to the call and destiny of the Church at the end of the age. I fear that only Satan’s best interests are served by removing the Church from what is described in these chapters. I believe it would be good to prayerfully consider our Lord’s words of warning given in Revelation 22:18-19 regarding taking away from or adding anything to these Scriptures.

A Deception must be Called a Deception

These are hard words. I am sometimes tempted to edit them out or soften them because I know some will be offended by them. But I believe they are appropriate. My motive is to wake up saints who might otherwise be led unprepared into a situation at the end of this age which could cause them to stumble and fall away. The salvation of a soul is worth more than the risk of offending someone by violating their doctrinal beliefs.

Any terminology that calls a real deception less than a deception is in itself a deception. Paul used the term deception regarding false teaching on the timing of the day of the Lord, and Jesus turned to Peter and identified Satan as the voice urging Him not to go to the cross. Satan is the deceiver, and it is Satan who is behind any false teaching regarding the role of the Church at the end of the age. Hence I choose to call any teaching, which does not identify the Church in Revelation Chapters 5 through 19, a deception from the enemy designed to deceive the saints and keep them from fulfilling their glorious destiny at the end of the age --- that is to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus and to see Satan crushed underfoot. Any teaching which detracts from what Scripture says regarding this process can only be in the best interests of the enemy of our souls.

However, I want to re-emphasize that this is not intended in any way to be an attack on the saints who teach, and who have taught, the pre-tribulation doctrine. It is an attack on the doctrine itself which does not agree with the common-sense teaching of Scripture. Many great men of God have believed in and taught this pre-tribulation doctrine and continue to teach it. We only see what we have been given to see. Believing in or teaching a pre-tribulation rapture will not bar anyone from entering the eternal city. We will be barred from the eternal city, however, if we fail to endure because we believed a false teaching and fell to the temptation to receive the mark of the beast. Therefore, let us be aware of the potential danger in the pre-tribulation teaching which could impact our very salvation. We are counseled to be wise as serpents while gentle as doves.

The pre-tribulation teaching does have an element of truth in it, because we will see that the Bible teaches that holiness and maturity does keep some of the Church from the hour of testing. However, the commonly taught rapture of all believers before tribulation starts is just not accurate. Furthermore, Scripture teaches that the rapture is not at the beginning of the final seven years of the age. We must understand that God is going to use great tribulation to transform His saints into the likeness of Jesus. Some will not have to be purified in that crucible, but Scripture indicates that most of the Church who are alive at the end of the age will require this purification. It is a great multitude that no one could count who emerge victoriously from the great tribulation in Revelation 7:14.

"Father, would You have mercy on all of us who attempt to teach these things, and would You lead us in Your ways, granting us wisdom and revelation to help the saints rather than hinder them. Father, would You bring to nothing all the attempts of the enemy to deceive the Church in these areas, and would You give wisdom and revelation to the Church to see these matters as You see them? In Jesus’ name, we ask this, for Your glory, and for the sake of the saints who will be alive at the end of the age."  

Chapter 5

Matthew 24 . . . to the Present-day Church?

Comfortable but False Reassurances

Christian bookstores are plentifully supplied with reassuring books that Matthew 24 does not apply to the true Church, and that a rapture will remove the true Church prior to the events described. Those who are not the true Church, or those who come to Christ after the rapture, will be left behind to suffer and endure these persecutions.

Jesus taught otherwise. He taught His disciples that as He was hated by the world, so they would be hated, and that as He was persecuted, so they would be persecuted. He told them that an hour was coming when those who killed them would think that they were offering God a service. He told His disciples that He was telling them these things specifically so that they would not stumble when these things happened. He told His disciples that those who endured to the end would be saved. He did not even mention an optional plan.

YOU will Experience these Things

We have just understood from studying Daniel that the primary calling of the Church at the end of the age is to overcome Satan by allowing herself to be physically overcome, even as Jesus allowed Himself to be physically overcome. The birth pains described in Matthew 24 are part of that process. When Peter, James, John, and Andrew questioned Jesus privately about when the temple would be destroyed, what would be the sign of His coming, and what would be the sign of the end of the age, He answered them in terms that uneducated fishermen could understand. He warned them not to be misled by false Christs. He warned them not to be alarmed by wars, famines, and earthquakes, but that these things were the beginning of birth pangs.

He warned that they would be delivered to tribulation, would be killed, and would be hated by all nations on account of His name. He warned about a great falling away, the arising of many false prophets who would lead many astray, and the increase of lawlessness which would cause most people’s love to grow cold. And He told them to their faces that YOU will experience these things.

See to it that no one misleads YOU. And YOU will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that YOU are not frightened . . . Then they will deliver YOU to tribulation, and will kill YOU, and YOU will be hated by all nations on account of my name . . . Therefore when YOU see the abomination of desolation . . .

They are Jesus’ most serious warnings to His disciples about what they should expect at the end of the age. These warnings were not spoken to the multitudes, but privately to His disciples. It would be a serious mistake for any of His disciples to ignore or misapply such warnings. The enemy of our souls would of course love to see that happen. And that is exactly what he has attempted with the development and distribution of teachings that say that we will all be raptured before these events of Matthew 24 take place. Jesus did not say that His Church would be raptured before these events take place. As we have seen, He said:

But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved (Matthew 24:13).

If there were another path which would preclude the majority of the Church alive at the end of the age from experiencing these things, wouldn’t Jesus have told the foundational apostles of His Church? He didn’t mention how to escape these things, but how to endure them. These are Jesus’ teachings about what His Churches should expect, specifically applicable to the Church at the end of the age. Nevertheless, the Church relies on teachings saying we won’t have to endure to the end of the age because a rapture could occur any day now. Jesus goes on to state that the end would come only after the gospel had been preached world-wide, and only after a great tribulation which would eliminate all life on earth unless it was cut short. Only then did He say:

and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other (Matthew 24:30-31).

Who are the Elect?

Who exactly is Jesus warning and who are these elect that will be gathered? Are they only Jewish because the first disciples were Jewish, and because mention is made in Verse 16 of those in Judea? Or are these things written and applicable to the entire Church, Jewish and Gentile, in addition to His contemporary Jewish disciples? Could there be a prior rapture that Jesus didn’t mention that makes all of this irrelevant to the present-day Church?

The plain sense of the wording of Scripture is that Matthew 24 is written and applicable to all of Jesus’ disciples, the elect/chosen Jews and Gentiles throughout the age. Those specific elect living at the end of the age should plan to endure to the harvest at the end of the age in order to be saved.

It is for the sake of these elect mentioned in Matthew 24 Verses 22, 24, and 31, that the great tribulation will be cut short. It is these elect that Satan is trying to deceive because it is these elect who will fully demonstrate God’s purpose for the Church on earth at the end of the age. It is these elect left alive who will be gathered by Jesus’ angels after the end of the great tribulation.

And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short (Matthew 24:22).

And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other (Matthew 24:31).

Chosen and elect are of the same Greek root and apply to the entire born-again Church at the end of the age. This is clear when other Scriptures speaking of the chosen and elect are considered.

And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He shortened the days (Mark 13:20).

For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory (2 Timothy 2:10).

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance (1 Peter 1:1-2 NIV).

These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful (Revelation 17:14).

What then? That which Israel is seeking for, it has not obtained, BUT those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened (Romans 11:7).

Scriptures dealing with the elect and the chosen consistently portray them as the redeemed Jewish and Gentile remnant Church and clearly distinguish them from literal Israel. It is to these elect, Jesus’ disciples, that the warnings of Matthew 24 apply. It is not Biblical to teach that these Scriptures do not apply to the present-day Church. Jesus’ obvious intent is that these warnings be applied to the Churches throughout the age, for He provides warnings specifically applicable to His contemporaries as well as those elect/chosen who would be alive at the end of the age. His first warning to them was a warning to not be misled.

And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ’, and will mislead many" (Matthew 24:4-5).

All believers who have ears to hear will find His words applicable to them. "See to it that no one misleads YOU." Who is it that has been led astray recently in direct fulfillment of this prophecy? Who is it that has followed false Christs to cultic deaths all over the world? Were they literal Jews, or were they contemporary believers of all nationalities being led astray by false teachers in the name of Christ?

Are Other Parts of Matthew also "Inapplicable" to the Church?

Jesus spent His public ministry teaching and demonstrating to His disciples how to carry on His work. The beatitudes and the parables and the great commission and all of His teachings were directed specifically to His disciples. Is there any teaching of Jesus to His disciples which does not apply to the Churches throughout the age?

Why should the present-day Church assume that the rest of the book of Matthew is applicable to them if Matthew 24 is not? Why have we assumed that the beatitudes and the great commission are applicable to the Church if Matthew 24 is not?

Some of our doctrine needs changing. We should start listening to what Jesus said. After Matthew 24 comes Matthew 25, and the Church takes it right up as applicable. Finally, in Matthew 28:16-20, after His resurrection and appearance to His disciples in Galilee, Jesus gives to His disciples, still Jews, the great commission to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. And of course the Church has taken this, rightly so, as a word to the Church, even though the YOU to whom He was speaking is the same audience as the YOU to whom He was speaking in Matthew 24. Notice that in the context of the great commission, He said He would be with them until the end of the age.

We can’t pick and choose Scriptures like that. Disciples are disciples, whether they are Jew or Gentile and of one century or another. These warnings to the disciples at Jerusalem are timeless and applicable to the entire Church age. Jesus was clearly addressing both His contemporaries and those who would be alive at the end of the age.

Jesus’ First Warning: "Do not be Deceived!"

If we fall for this deception, we will have played into the hands of the enemy and ignored Jesus’ most crucial end-time warnings. I pray that you sense the work of the deceiver in this. I pray that you see that this is exactly what the enemy of our souls would have us believe. Do not be led into this trap. The obvious spin-off of the Church not heeding these warnings will be great numbers stumbling and falling away when the truth becomes obvious. Do not let yourself be deceived!

Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved (Matthew 24:9-13).

We are all called to follow Jesus, not to avoid the path He walked. The closer we study Scriptures relevant to the end of the age, the closer we see that the walk of the Church parallels the walk of Jesus. There is not one way for Him and another for us. The devil would like us to think so, but he is a liar and a deceiver. The devil says to lay down our crosses, and Jesus says to pick up our crosses and follow Him. Who will we listen to?

Whoever They are, They are Full of the Holy Spirit

The Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24 is also portrayed in Mark 13 and Luke 21. To get a fuller understanding of who the elect are in Matthew 24, we should look at all three gospel narratives, or we will be basing our conclusions on less information than what God has given us.

For nation will arise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. And when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all on account of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved (Mark 13:8-13).

Whoever it is that Jesus is talking to and calling You in this discourse and encouraging to endure to the end of the age, they are mouthpieces for the Holy Spirit. At the time Jesus was speaking, those who would be flogged in the synagogues would of course be His Jewish disciples who had changed their beliefs to incorporate Jesus as their Messiah, as there were yet no Gentiles in the Church. And they were full of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was Jewish and His first disciples were Jewish, but these words are applicable to His future disciples of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.

Testimonies before governors and kings imply the preaching of the gospel to all nations. The commission to carry the gospel to all nations has been picked up by a Church which is largely Gentile, and it is clearly in context with the preaching of the gospel to all nations that this persecution will also apply. They will be hated by all nations on account of the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ disciples, whether they are Jewish or Gentile, are called to endure to the end. The first Christians were hated on account of the name of Jesus Christ, and Christians today are also hated on account of the name of Jesus Christ, and Christians during the great tribulation will be more hated on account of the name of Jesus Christ. That hatred is intensifying daily and is obvious to anyone who is following the tribulations of the persecuted Church. These are wide-range prophecies which exclude none of the Church but incorporate His disciples throughout the age.

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you . . . These things I have spoken to you, that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. And these things they will do, because they have not known the Father, or Me. But these things I have spoken to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them (John 15:18-19, 16:1-4).

Notice that Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, that you may be kept from stumbling." We must understand that these warnings are to Jesus’ followers, to His disciples, to you and me if we are His disciples. Jesus is warning us so that we will not stumble when these things come! It is potentially devastating to teach that these warnings are not applicable to the current Church. It is a setup from the pit of hell! If Jesus gave these warnings to preclude His disciples from stumbling, and yet the present-day Church believes these warnings need not apply, they are treading on dangerous ground. Many will stumble and fall away --- a great number of them --- when they find themselves in tribulation they neither expect nor understand nor for which they are prepared. Sadly, that is what Jesus said would happen.

This is not a casual point of doctrinal discussion. It may be the issue that determines whether we as believers endure to the end or fall away. Notice how closely Jesus’ prophetic words to His disciples were fulfilled in the persecution and martyrdom of Stephen, the first of His disciples to die for their faith and a model for the Church thereafter. Acts Chapters 6 and 7 prove that Jesus’ words are directed to His Church. Everything that Jesus said His disciples should expect happened to Stephen.

The Proof of Applicability is Before Our Eyes

We need not speculate whether Matthew 24 applies or not to the present-day Church. Jesus’ prophetic words to His disciples are being fulfilled in the persecutions and martyrdoms of Christians world-wide at this very moment and to an increasing degree. Any hesitancy in applying Matthew 24 to the present-day Church should fade away as we observe the persecution already falling. A well-known international ministry which deals with the persecuted Church recently reported that of the nominally two billion world-wide who claim to be Christian, two-thirds of that number were already, as of 1998, being persecuted or directly threatened with persecution. The numbers are growing, not lessening. Jesus’ prophecies will come true. We in the Western Church may be able to bury our heads in the sand a little longer, but we will soon be forced to wake up. I just read a newsletter yesterday telling of a Chinese pastor in the house Church movement who is burning prosperity doctrine literature supplied by the Western Church because it is inapplicable, and even worse, misleading.

How devastating it is that current Christian authors are still proclaiming that Matthew 24 does not apply to the present-day Church. The Chinese house Church movement is in serious tribulation now and has been for years! May God have mercy on us for not more properly warning them. The true Church has been in tribulation since it was birthed! But we’re no threat to Satan with our lukewarm escapist teachings. No wonder he doesn’t bother us!

Nate Krupp, the publisher of this book, relates that in 1976 Corrie ten Boom personally shared with him that the Chinese Christians had been taught a pre-tribulation rapture. When the Communist take-over came in 1949-50, many believers fell away. The Christian leaders of China later confessed to Corrie ten Boom that they had taught their congregations wrongly, and repented of their teaching. This testimony indicates that the pre-tribulation teaching has been evaluated in one of the world's largest harvest-fields, and has been found lacking. It does not witness to reality during times of persecution, and becomes a stumbling stone to the saints who believe it.

The wisdom of men does not establish truth. Jesus is truth and what He said is truth. The hope of the Church is to escape God’s wrath, not to escape all tribulation. Tribulation is designed to purify and refine us and make us worthy of the Kingdom of God. We should not seek to short-circuit the process designed to refine us into the likeness of Jesus. Yet we wail in our wombs, having swallowed Satan’s lies, and rage against the thought of the very birth pangs that are intended to birth us into the sons of God for which all creation is waiting.

The problem with sheep is that they can easily be led astray. We have been sold a false expectation by the enemy of our souls. We are being fed from poisonous pastures of false doctrine. The Church is being set up for a great falling away because we do not understand and we have no vision.

Reason or Revelation?

I was recently reading a book which was a compilation of various author’s reasons why they believe in the pre-tribulation rapture. The passages used to defend the pre-tribulation position were the very same as others would use to defend other positions. This was discouraging. These were scholars with seminary degrees and knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. People are going to pay attention to them merely because of their credentials. We would be much better served by ignorant fisherman who know Jesus Christ.

Not all of us are Greek scholars able to follow, or interested in following, teachings that hang extensive doctrinal conclusions on the tense of a verb --- or even worse --- on arguments of silence. Somehow I don’t think Peter and John were either. I have followed too many of these teachings which were based on motive rather than a search for truth. Refuting each point would take volumes. My spirit and mind both tell me it’s all an intricate deception, but that’s easy to say. Where’s the proof that it’s a deception? It’s not going to be settled by compiling the opinions of men and making a list of all the points on one side versus those on the other and coming to a jury decision. That’s not how truth is arrived at. Arguing along that line would just add fuel to a foolish fire. The truth will come to us by the only way truth can come, by revelation of the Scriptures brought to life by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth.

Let the Holy Spirit Lead You

Matthew 24:13 reads, "But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved." If I say that these are Jesus’ words to His disciples alive at the end of the age, those of pre-tribulation position will insist otherwise. They will insist that this is speaking of the Jews or those who have come to faith during the tribulation, for the true Church has already been raptured out. Although that disturbs me, what can I say to you that would be of any use? I have tried to use logic. I have said something like, "Why, then, in all the rest of the book of Matthew, when Jesus is speaking to His disciples, is it assumed He is speaking to all of His disciples throughout the age? For instance, the great commission, the beatitudes, the parables, etc., are never considered as exclusively for the Jews, but for His followers throughout the age. Why then is Matthew 24 held by pre-tribulation advocates as referring to Jews and not the Church? And where is the evidence of a prior rapture?" And we could argue back and forth. And where would that leave you? Don’t believe me. Believe Jesus. Don’t let a man interpret Jesus’ words to you. Let the Holy Spirit do that. God will often speak through a man --- but so will Satan --- sometimes in the next breath. Peter demonstrated that for us.

The point of this is that in one way or another, Jesus is going to have to tell you whether the warnings of Matthew 24 are for you or not. The Holy Spirit must lead you into the truth of this. And it must be the Holy Spirit’s voice that you hear, not the voice of the enemy. Jesus’ first words to His disciple’s questions regarding the end of the age were, "See to it that no one misleads you." Men will mislead you. The Holy Spirit will not. Get alone with Him and settle this thing the only way it can be settled, with revelation directly from Him. Let Him quicken to you whether these warnings of Jesus apply to you or not. We are far too used to listening to the teachings of men which are not in line with the teachings of the written word confirmed by the Holy Spirit.

"Father, once again I pray to bind the efforts of the enemy to deceive us in these critical areas. I pray that all who read these Scriptures yet one more time would be quickened by the Holy Spirit to the truth contained therein. I pray that our preferences and motives would not override the still small voice of conviction that applies these Scriptures as You would have them applied. Father, we desperately need Your wisdom and revelation to keep from being deceived. I ask this in the name of Jesus, Whose appearance we long for and Whose glory we seek in these days at the very end of the age. May Your wisdom be demonstrated through a Church who says ‘Yes!’ to Your plan for us on earth up until the time we are rescued from wrath."