What is our Hope?
From Acts 24: Paul said, “But this I confess unto you, that after the way which they call heresy, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets: and I have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust (:14-15)
What is our hope? Is it in governments or leaders? Is it in churches or organizations? I hope that you can realize that we are subjected to frustration on purpose… by God himself, so that he will get the greater glory later on after HE cleans up all the mess that man has attempted. “God has subjected (consigned ) ALL to disobedience so that he may have mercy upon ALL.” The reason we even have history or time is to play out the grand scheme of God’s great rescue plan, and trust me, we are not totally there yet, even though we can enter in and “see” or understand the kingdom among us. We wait…. Christ will reign “until”…
Our hope is a bit different than that of the general public who do not intimately know our great savior.. We are his elect… those that come out from the brainwashed crowd and start changing our thinking, and experiencing abundant life. (“Repentance” or metanoia, is a changing of the guard in our brain (heart)) to where we start to “see the kingdom of Heaven”. We enter into God’s rest/ enter into the kingdom ahead of all of the rest of God’s children who don’t know him yet. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he….
So God is calling his elect to go ahead of the rest of his children…. Eventually, no one will be left behind… Jesus, our elder brother went first, as a servant of all, laying down his life for his friends… Now he calls those of us he has chosen to have faith in this age, to awaken, and to start changing the world around us.. making a difference, and sharing God’s great love with all we sense are open to the good news.
Those who stay stuck in religion (similar to the Pharisees of Jesus’ day) may not see the kingdom of heaven until a future age (aionios). He warned the Pharisees that they would not be forgiven in 2 ages… the present age, and the age to come… NOTE: He didn’t say they would never be forgiven, as some versions falsely mislead us… We know this is not the case, since Paul tells us that “God was in Christ, reconciling the WORLD to himself, NOT counting men’s sins against them. Please note that Love endures forever, mercy endures forever, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, etc…
All these type of verses let us rest in the fact that God is not done with the Pharisees. They will go through God’s purging, purifying love-fire! I think of the Hebrew children in Daniel who were in the fire, but didn’t get burnt. The angels in Elisha’s day’s who were riding in chariots of fire, but of course the angels were not burned. etc… The Lake of Fire has got to be good for all who go through it. Brimstone (sulfur) is known in biblical times as a purifying agent.
Now the Elect of God will be gathered together at Christ’s appearing in the clouds… He will appear in the clouds, with a great SHOUT (to wake the dead in Christ) and the Voice of an Archangel (Michael) and sounding of a Trumpet (to call those still alive who are in intimate relationship with Papa through his Son). This is the time of the “Coming” in clouds of glory, His Glorious Appearing, and of the first resurrection (as contrasted to the second resurrection for all those who still will need to be shaken in their thinking.) Those who follow after the millennial reign of Christ, will be told to “go away, for Christ didn’t “know intimately” into an aionios (age) period of time of cleansing their thought patterns.
It is God’s kindness, not hell, that leads us to repentance (change of mind). This word aionios has so sadly been translated as “forever” several times in scripture… 2 of these times, they are back to back, as in the verse that says” Forever and ever”…. really if they were consistent, it would be rendered “forever and another forever”… Now listen to the spirit translate these same thoughts instead of demonic influence….. “The smoke of their torment (actually a testing such as gold is tested in heating process) ascended for an undetermined amount of time”. Truly this would be a pleasing aroma to God to see the cleansing, purifying process occur… “No more pain, nor sorrow” will be the end result of God’s allowing his Son to reign until the end of the “ages” (aionios) time periods. Eventually, there will be no more resistance to Christ’s rule…. Death and Hades (not hell) will be cast into “The Lake of Fire”.
The last enemy to be defeated is death itself. What brings death? Hamartia (“sin” or more properly it is wrong perceptions and thinking patterns that are leading men to evil deeds… When hamartia is done away with, then death will not be needed anymore. Then Christ will hand the kingdom over to his Father, so that God will be ALL IN ALL!
Why did God allow all of this deception to get into our church systems and various translations of his word? I think it may be to get us to dig a little deeper, and see if his ecclessia will really love the way he wants us to. “And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make (mold you) into a free person.” Are you free when you are in fear of hell? Hell no! (pun intended) Of course a God who said he hated even the thought of sacrificing babies on the hot arms of Baal/Moloch (in Jeremiah 32) would of course not be a God who could be trusted if he would then turn against his ideals and morals laid down in the OT scriptures. God cannot change his moral character/ HIS NAME.
God tells us that he wants us to forgive our enemies, do good to our enemies, only meet out an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, so how in the world could he go against his “Love that never fails” and “Love that never ceases” and “mercy that triumphs over judgement”, etc… Ain’t God trying to tell us “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” for a very good reason? … If left alone to our evil brainwashed (blinded eyes) thinking, we would probably all wish very much ill on all of our enemies. Love triumphs over all. Let’s let God be the judge. Love, love, love….
Then someday in the future, God will send his Christ the second time, where every eye will see him, and he will catch up the dead in Christ first, and catch the rest of us who are still alive who are in Christ, and so we will ever be with the Lord. Then shall so many scriptures in the Old Testament be fulfilled… Paul said that he only told them of what the scriptures and the Holy prophets of old had foretold, similar to what Jesus told the two disciples on the road to Emmaus… They said after the Lord disappeared, “Did not our hearts burn within us?”
The scriptures tell us that this will all happen at the “last trump”… the final 7th trumpet that is sounded during the book of Revelation’s time of great tribulation. Thessalonians tells us “Let no man deceive you, for that DAY will not come until there come a great apostasy, and the “man of sin” be revealed.” What DAY? The DAY OF THE LORD spoken of by so many prophets. How long will this DAY be? From what I see in scriptures, I think that a thousand year reign of Christ will begin at that age (time period). Then at the end of this reign, there will be a time of rebellion and war, and God will destroy the armies surrounding the city of God.. only to be cleaned up/purified/ reconciled… It is all by Papa’s design.. He has chosen certain one’s in this age to know the truth of who they are… “Forgiven/ Justified / Righteous / Holy…. Romans 4:5 says “God justifies the wicked.” Others are chosen to learn these great truths at a much later time or in another age..
There are those who are influenced to believe that all of scriptures are already fulfilled somehow in the 40 years after the death of Christ, at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
There are those who are influenced to believe that all of scriptures are already fulfilled somehow in the 40 years after the death of Christ, at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
The Greek word for this “generation” is talking about a genealogical group or a “perverse and wicked” generation… and is not talking about a 40 year period as some think it refers to… “This race of wicked/perverse people will not pass away until all shall be fulfilled spoken of It by the prophets….talking about he Jewish nation who failed to see Christ as their Messiah. I’m sure each of you out there can do the research in all of the Gospels where this word is used and you will see what I am saying to be true.
“All Israel will be saved” as in Romans 11:26, and there were over one million Jews who were actually destroyed in 70 AD…. “The liberator will come”…. and he will liberate, not destroy! Listen to Romans 11:26, which is a quote from Zachariah of OT …. “And in this way ALL Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Liberator will come from Zion; He will turn away godlessness from Jacob. And this will be My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” It talks of the whole nation looking upon the one whom they had pierced and mourning as for an only son. They will finally “see the light” of the glorious gospel in the end of the tribulation period, when Christ comes again the second time. They will be driven to jealousy by seeing the Gentiles that have come to faith… God finally takes the blinders off of their eyes that he had kept blinded for so long.
It is all a part of his grand plan to save ALL.
“And I, if I be lifted up from the Earth, will drag (draw) ALL men unto me. I can only imagine how glorious that DAY of the Lord will be, when finally every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess willingly. Hearts will have been healed, delivered, and set free from blindness. No more rapes, no more murders, no more theft, no more lies, no more corruption, no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow, and the dead raised to life, and death finally done away with. I’m certainly looking forward to that kind of fulfillment of all of scriptures of Old and New Testament. Please take the time to read 1 Cor 15 again and do your own research…
“Every eye shall see him” and “as the lightning that flashes across the sky from the East to the West” and is surely very highly visible, his coming will be very visible, very loud with a shout, and with the very last trumpet of Revelation …
“Maranantha! Even so, come Lord Jesus!” 🕎