Not of Darkness
Once you are saved and understand that we are eternally secure in Christ, it's important that as believers we come to also understand our identity in Christ. (Studying the book of Romans verse-by-verse will give you this very important foundational grace doctrine.)
We are now the adopted sons of God. In fact, the scriptures tell us that we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ! We are seated with Christ in the Heavenly places.
Rom 8:17 KJV -
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Eph 2:6 KJV -
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
As God's dearly beloved, Paul reminds believers (who were being swayed away from sound grace and rapture doctrine) that we are NOT children of darkness.
1 Thess 5:5 "Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness."
What does Paul mean by this? The children of light and of the day are all believers, known as the church the Body of Christ. The children of night and darkness will be unbelievers, after the rapture has taken place and the 7 year tribulation begins. These people will be subject to God's wrath, never having believed the Gospel during the dispensation of grace. Israel as a nation specifically has been blinded for over 2,000 years now since their program was put on hold (Read the book of acts and the book of romans chapters 9 and 10 to understand the dispensational changes; also, individual Jews can still be saved today but they are saved into the Body of Christ and not into the kingdom program), but the tribulation will "wake up" a remnant of Jews who eventually become believers during that time (some Gentiles will also be saved). In fact, our pre-tribulation rapture might be the thing that causes some Jews to become believers! They will see that God's word is true, Jesus Christ is God and our Saviour and that he kept his promises to us, therefore he will also keep his promises to them. But it will also mean that they will have to go through the tribulation period. So, they must read and study the Bible rightly divided to understand what they will go through and how to get through it. And oh boy, what a difficult time that will be especially for Jewish believers. If you think that people hate Jews today, sadly it will be far worse for them especially for the beleving Jews during the tribulation period.
Because we are not of darkness, we do not have to fear God's wrath and we certainly aren't looking to see if the anti-christ will appear. But for those left behind, they will have to face God's wrath, plus Satan's wrath and will have to deal with the anti-christ and false prophet. The Lord Jesus Christ said that this time will be the worst time in the history of the world. Think about that. There was the evil, violent world with giants right before the flood and then the worldwide flood itself. Israel also went through horrible times in the past including slavery in Egypt, the Babylonian takeover among other things. Even in our current dispensation, there have been many wars, including world wars and various plaques and natural disasters too. And the 7 year tribulation will be far worse than all of that! That will be a time of DARKNESS.
Matthew 24:21
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
Plus, there will literally be a time of utter darkness on the whole earth towards the end of the tribulation period right before the Lord Jesus Christ appears in glory and power!
Rev 16:10 KJV -
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Zep 1:15 KJV -
15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
Amo 5:20 KJV -
20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
Amo 5:18 KJV -
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
Joel 2:31 KJV -
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Mat 24:29-30 KJV -
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory.
Believers in the dispensation of grace do experience persecution and suffering on earth now (especially as we live godly), but we are NOT saved to experience THE tribulation period which will be far worse than any other time in the history of the earth, which begins sometime after our dispensation ends. Part of our salvation includes being saved from that horrible time.
Why does God change dispensations?
Today, in the dispensation of the grace of God, God is forming the church the Body of Christ to fill the heavenly places. The purpose for this is to reconcile the heavenly places unto God and for Christ to have the preeminence over the heavenly places (he will also reconcile the earth unto himself and Christ will have preeminence over the earth as well when Israel's program is fulfilled).
Col 1:20 KJV -
20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Col 1:18 KJV -
18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Why? Because Satan led a satanic rebellion in the heavenly places.
Isa 14:12 KJV -
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
2Pe 2:4 KJV -
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
Mat 25:41 KJV -
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Satan doesn't exist anymore in the 3rd Heaven where God's throne is, but he does reside in the 2nd heaven and he even dwells upon the earth.
Eph 2:2 KJV -
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
2Co 4:4 KJV -
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
In the 2nd heaven exists governmental positions of power just like here on earth. This includes:
• Thrones
• Principalities
• Powers
• Mights
• Dominions
• Every name that is named
Eph 1:21 KJV -
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 6:12 KJV -
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 3:10 KJV -
10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Col 1:16 KJV -
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him,
Just like we have believers and unbelievers on earth, the heavenly places has fallen angels as well as holy angels. But, after the rapture and the believers judgment seat of Christ, the heavens will be changed in that ALL fallen angels are cast down to the earth during the tribulation period [eventually they will end up in the lake of fire for eternity too] and the church the Body of Christ then fills those heavenly places. We take over those positions of power there. Today while we are here on the earth we are training for our future when we will reign up there. We suffer now while we are on the earth as ambassadors for Christ, but then in the future we will have glory in the heavenly places. As we fill those positions of power in God's heavenly government, it is Christ and His word living in and through us that gives us those positions. So, while we are here on earth, we need to mature spiritually and help other believers to also be edified in sound grace doctrine so that we are properly trained for our coming heavenly careers. You can think of God's word rightly divided as being our curriculum, and our application of it while we are here on earth as our "hands on training".
When the church the Body of Christ has enough properly edified believers to fill all of those positions of power in the heavens, especially the higher positions, then the rapture might occur!
God designed the different dispensations for a purpose which is to save as many people (as many as are willing to believe) as possible and for God to reconcile the heavens and the earth unto himself, giving Christ the preeminence over all things.
Col 1:18 KJV -
18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
God will end the dispensation of grace and then restart Israel's prophetic program. When he does that, it may also partially be due to the world becoming increasingly rejectful of God's grace in our current mystery program. People today are becoming increasingly rejectful of the grace message and even any kind of biblical teachings in general (this is called having a reprobate mind). Apostasy in the church will also be great (it already is, but might get even worse!). Yet, at the same time, there is and will be a small remnant of believers who rightly divide the word of truth, understand grace living and are gaining higher positions of authority for our next life in the heavens. The more we allow Christ to live in and through us, the more we suffer while here, but the more we suffer here for Godly living, the more glory we will have in heaven and the higher positions we will attain in God's heavenly government. God will then end our program by rapturing believers out, and then he will pour out his wrath on an unbelieving world.
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