Holiness In Relation To The End Times

IN RELATION TO THE END TIMES BY IRENE MCGOUGH

Copyright © 2009

Disciples of Jesus Ministry

http://www.discipleofjesussite.com

John 14 1“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2“In My Father’s house are many

mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also These are among the most comforting words in all of the Scriptures for Jesus gives us the promise of His return.. He spoke these words to His disciples, and they apply to us as they are a promise to the bride of Christ. Jesus tells us of a peace, a place, and a promise. He begins with the comforting exhortation: do not be troubled; be at peace. Our peace is based on our belief in God and the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that we can trust Him fully and completely and that gives us a peace upon which we can build our lives. Secondly, Jesus spoke of a place. He has promised to prepare for us a place where we will have eternal fellowship with Him. Finally, we as Christians have His personal promise that He is returning for us. .Isn’t it wonderful! As we have received Him, He is coming to receive us. We should look forward to that day in expectation, preparing ourselves for it, for “everyone who has this hope . . . purifies himself” (1 John 3:3). Do you know that this same chapter John 14 tells us about the coming of the Holy Spirit? John 14:26“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 1 Corinthians 15. 51Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on

immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory The verses in 1Corinthians 15 tell us that Jesus will return in a twinkling of an eye. We shall not all sleep, that means not all believers will die. Those who are alive when the Lord returns will be transported as it were out of here. But whether we have died or are still alive, we shall all be changed. We shall receive our glorified bodies. The last trumpet mentioned here is the one which will occur at the rapture when Christ our Lord calls His saints home.

When a believer dies, he is “present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). To die is to “be with Christ,” a position which Paul speaks of as “gain” and as being “far better” (Phil. 1:21, 23). This wouldn’t be true if the soul were sleeping! When you as a believer die your soul goes to be with the Lord but you are not given your glorified body until the rapture. 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 13But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Chapter 5 1But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 11Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. The dead in Christ shall rise first, and those who have been dead for thousands of years will bodily resurrect to meet with their Saviour in the air. Then, millions of living believers will someday reach heaven without dying. Their bodies will be miraculously transformed into glorified ones as they are transferred from earth to the presence of the Lord. I believe wholeheartedly that the rapture is coming soon. Israel has been a nation again since 1948. There is an increase in earthquakes, wars, a move towards one world religion, all that’s happening in

Europe and so much centred around the Middle East. Matthew 24:34“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. The generation referred to in the Olivet Discourse is I believe the generation at the time of the restoration of the land of Israel. It’s not clear how long a generation is though. A lot of folks have speculated 70 years, or maybe a 100 years, but we don’t know when. Matthew 24:42“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43“But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. The word rapture comes from the Latin translation of the phrase ( rapturo) . The Greek word used here was harpazomeaning to snatch up suddenly without warning. Throughout the Bible clouds are representative of the divine glory .We are going to be caught up in the clouds, oh, what a glorious day that’s going to be. The thief in the night heightens the element of surprise for unbelievers in the day of the Lord. Paul possibly taught the Thessalonians the words of the Lord Jesus himself concerning that day; Jesus had also called it “the coming of the Son of man” and had said that the time was unknown to the angels of heaven and to Himself. Jesus had alluded to the flood in the time of Noah and the fact that the people were completely surprised and swept away by the flood. You know the world out there are going to be taken by complete surprise, the folks in Noah’s day probably though he was a mad eccentric little man and paid no heed, but people are going to disappear, many will speculate as to what has happened,

believing it to be aliens snatching people away and there will be lots of confusion on that day. I am going to take a quick look at the other verses in those chapters in Thessalonians because they apply to us as Christians and our current responsibilities before the Lord. 1 Thessalonianans 4:1Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; .......7For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. 9But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; 11that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing. 1 Thessalonians 5:12And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. 14Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. 15See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. 16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise prophecies. 21Test all things; hold fast what is good.

22Abstain from every form of evil. 23Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

Do you know that each of the passages concerning the rapture are surrounded by calls for us to be watchful and waiting, they call us to holiness? They call us to walk in the Spirit, to love one another, to be watchful and sober, we are to flee from the temptations of this world. We are to look towards his coming. There is even an aspect concerning the Lord’s Supper which aside from remembering the cross work of Christ we are to look forward, for we participate of the elements until he comes, when our Lord will once again participate of the elements at the marriage supper of the Lamb, when we as the ‘bride’ the church shall participate with Him. What a day that’s going to be! People wonder what heaven will be like, much speculation goes on , but do you realize that we as believer’s are actually going to spend eternity with the Lord. What a wonderful glorious hope we have. I firmly believe that the rapture will take place prior to the seven year tribulation period, for we are told in chapter 4 that we are appointed not to wrath and we also can see that the Lord will come for His Saints as ‘a thief in the night’ or as in a ‘twinkling of the eye.’ Also 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2, is clear in telling us that the restrainer will no longer be there during the Tribulation. The restrainer mentioned here I believe, is clearly the Holy Spirit. . 2Thessalonians 2: 7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with

the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. The man of lawlessness is the Antichrist. Folks who are left behind will be sent a strong delusion. During the first three and a half years of the tribulation the Antichrist will appear to be a good man, restoring the world which is hedged into confusion after the disappearance of the saints. I am not going to look properly into the tribulation period here but during the first half of the tribulation the seven seals will be opened and the seven trumpet judgments will take place, earthquakes, volcanoes will erupt. vegetation will be burned up in one third of the earth, possible meteorites hitting the earth, polluted waters, darkness covering the world , a third of the earths light from the sun moon and stars will be taken away causing severe hardship, a plague of locusts, the army of two hundred thousand horsemen will be released, demonic forces sent by Satan allowed freedom now since the restrainer the Holy Spirit is no longer there. That brings us to half way in the tribulation period the seventh trumpet is sounded to herald in the second part of the tribulation and there is worse to come. The seven vial judgments will be poured out and the religious Babylon will be destroyed. People will not be able to buy or sell during that day if they do not take the mark of the beast 666. I believe the vermiform chip is at least a precursor of if not the technology that will be used for the mark of the beast. Revelation ch7: 9ff tells us that there will be a great soul harvest during the tribulation period, not all will accept the mark of the beast. You can read about this for yourselves in Revelation chapters 5-11.

Revelation is virtually a closed book to many Christians and to me that is sad. Revelation ch1:3 tells us that there is a blessing for those who read the words of this prophecy. Now can’t we see the urgency here, Jesus could come back at any time and there are so many folks in need of a Saviour. I for one wouldn’t like to be one of those left behind on that day. We need to reach out now, no waiting for us to reach full maturity. Jesus is coming, are we ready, are we waiting, are we busy sharing the gospel, are we living in hope and expectancy, do we love our brothers and sisters as we should, are we moving towards holiness? Let’s give the Holy Spirit full sway in all areas of our lives for only then can the rain fall, the rivers flow, the mountains tremble. CAUGHT UP I'm going to keep looking up; For I know that day is coming soon; That day when with the Lamb I'll sup; Oh, what a glorious Wedding Feast; On that day when the bridegroom calls me, Face to face with my Saviour I will be; Hallelujah, for that day is coming soon; I'll be caught up with Christ in the air.

Irene McGough Copyright © 2009

Disciples of Jesus Ministry