Greetings.
I pray you are healthy and taking care of yourself during these unusual times.
Personal Note
This post explains some of the “theology” of the last days.
As I was drafting this post, I felt a new level of sobriety of the impact, and the weight, of what’s up ahead.
This is a story of real people; real people who have hopes and dreams, families, children, aspirations for a future, who will be facing the unprecedented in their generation.
This is about lives, and all that goes into the story of who a person becomes.
Writing this post is bittersweet.
Sweet to have the revelation of God and what’s up ahead for the Church and the bride.
Bitter to know vast multitudes hang in the balance, and the great upheaval and shaking that is on the horizon.
We need to stay close and cling to Jesus more than ever.
It is not with joy I share what I have been taught and learned of the end times.
And it is not a pleasure to write about what’s up ahead for those who fall away, or the lost who reject the salvation so dearly purchased for them by the Lord.
It is vitally important we have an understanding of what the Word says and accept the Lord’s invitation to be prepared and made a new creation by him; to stand the test of time and offer life to those he brings our way.
But it is not a joy or pleasure to know the heartrending challenges many will face in the future.
Jesus did not talk about the end times until the last.
I wonder how the apostle John felt after receiving the revelation of Jesus Christ?
Was he in agony over the Church?
The book of Revelation is first and foremost about the love of God and his invitation to receive Christ and become a new creation.
It recounts (prophesies) 2,000 years of church history (the seven churches) – of God laboring with man to “birth” him into a new creation, the likeness of Jesus.
Yes, the judgments of God are prominent in the book. But they are given in increasing measures in hope some would choose Christ.
There will be a great harvest in the days ahead, and I pray all of us, if we live to see that day, will be included in that number.
Finally, I want to know and be known; to love and receive love.
To have the knowledge of the last days without wisdom and love is to no avail.
Let’s study to show ourselves worthy of the treasure of Jesus Christ and be known for our love.
Your wounds and brokenness are the pathway to the love of Christ.
He’s looking for people just like you and me.
****
I had planned to write one final pass on the story of the church, the bride’s journey, as foretold and described in creation, history, and in the New Testament.
Instead, I plan to do a few posts on the scriptural support for the coming end time revival and ministry of the last day bride.
I don’t know how close we are to this event – how far the bride is from the fullness and stature of Christ.
I do know this event is foretold in Scripture, and unlikely to be many generations in the future, knowing what we know today of God’s calendar.
God has a calendar. And he will accomplish his plans and purposes in the story of the church, you and me, in the time he’s allotted for his work among his sons and daughters.
The end time ministry/revival will be unparalleled in its breath and scope having global outreach and impact.
An unprecedented manifestation of the Spirit of God in the final days of the Church, followed by the imminent demise of Satan’s kingdom.
The great harvest, the final move of God in the church era, will be a compelling demonstration and expression of God’s grace and love for the lost; his cry to come to him while it is still day.
It will be a time of great “sweetness” and “bitterness;” an outcry from the bride to the lost and those asleep to come into the safety of the kingdom before the groundswell of hell opens up.
Only those who have been prepared by the Lord will be able to minister and offer life because of the intensity of the hour and the manifestation of his Spirit under the mantle of his commission.
Be encouraged. What is impossible for us is possible for God – a good place to be!
It will complete and fulfill the ministry Jesus was cut off from finishing – the “70th week” prophesied by Daniel, more on that later.
Note:
When Jesus said it is finished at Calvary, he was not referring to the completion of the gospel, but to his personal baptism and ministry to Israel.
Israel, having rejected him, released the gospel to the Gentiles to complete and fulfill it in their lives, eventually preparing the way for Israel to be reunited to God in the Millennium.
****
Presently, we are deep in the Philadelphia church age, and the Philadelphia “people group,” whoever they may be and wherever they come from, will experience the manifestation of Christ in his bride in the last and final revival.
Scriptural Support for the End Time Move of God in the Church Era
Please note, this is a “brief” (to say the least) writing on this subject. Hopefully, the limited references here will stimulate your own discovery.
Revelation Chapter 12
“She gave birth to a son, a male child, who ‘will rule all nations with an iron scepter.’ And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.” (NIV, Revelation 12:5)
Understanding Chapter 12 is critical to understanding the book of Revelation. It is the climax of the Church and the beginning transition to a new era. It binds the book together as one story.
It captures the final campaign of Jesus in the Church, gathering one last bride; releasing him to initiate one last offering of salvation before he ushers in the Millennium.
It is the closing years of the church era, on the precipice of the Great Tribulation (i.e., the opening of the seals, followed by the sounding of the trumpets/plagues, etc.).
Revelation 12 includes the great falling away (2 Thessalonians 2:3, the Dragon’s tail snaring a third of the stars) preceding the last great revival. (See my last post about the falling away.)
Chapter 12 is not recounting the story of Mary and the birth of Jesus. Nor is it referring to Israel and the birth of Christ. Nor to the seven hills of Rome. Nor to a third of the angels following Satan in his rebellion.
Note:
The revelation of the Lord to John reveals a David and Goliath picture of a nondescript woman, pregnant, in the presence of overwhelming evil hell bent on killing her child – the church at large, pregnant with the bride, in the presence of the crowned “seventh” world kingdom.
Understanding her, the child, and the adversary they face, a seemingly impossible situation, is critically important to understanding the closing days of the church era and the glorious, and violent, transition to the Millennium.
Jesus will use his bride to bring a deathblow to the Antichrist world system and he will shepherd his remaining church through the time of the “seals.”
****
The book of Revelation captures the revelation of Jesus throughout the New Testament church age.
It culminates in the deathblows to the “seventh” world kingdom before the Tribulation and the final and “eighth” world kingdom during the Tribulation.
Chapter 12 provides a panoramic view of the upheaval in Christendom in the last days of the Philadelphia church era; a brief look at the Laodiceans who miss the bride (the pregnant woman), the great falling away by the deception of the dragon, the birth and rapture of the bride, the impact of her ministry – one being the casting out of Satan from heaven, and the resulting persecution of the woman in the wilderness for 3 ½ years – the time of the “seals.”
In terms of Scriptures, Revelation 12 covers the latter part of the Philadelphia church age (Revelation 3:7), through the beginning of Chapter Eight (the end of the “seals”).
Note:
Revelation Chapters Four and Five are pictures of the raptured bride, i.e., the living creatures, in heaven, the precursor to the opening of the “seals.”
The seals cannot be opened until the church era is completed and fulfilled in the end time ministry of the bride.
And the end time ministry of the bride will not come until she is brought to maturity in the school of God in the era in which the seventh world Antichrist kingdom is crowned, i.e., active and functioning yet hidden from the non-discerning.
In the fullness of time, God will raise up a people in the final chapter of the Church to bring a fatal wound to the Dragon before the out translation of the bride.
Revelation Chapter 13 contains the details of the persecution of the woman in the wilderness – the first half of the Tribulation – 3 ½ years, the time of the “seals.”
Revelation Chapter Seven is an interlude between the “seals” (the first half) and the “trumpets/plagues” (the last half) of the Tribulation.
Chapter Seven also gives testimony to those who have given their lives for the Lord during the time of the “seals.”
The two witnesses of Revelation Chapter 11, though observed in the midst of the “trumpets,” is considered by many to actually occur during the first 3 ½ years of the Tribulation.
****
The great tragedy of Chapter 12 is the woman’s lack of preparation and spiritual blindness to the danger standing before her, and the casting down of her brothers and sisters into the hands of the enemy.
Remember, the great apostasy occurs before the end time ministry and revival.
Hopefully, some of those who fall away will be rescued and regain Christ.
It is only the grace of God, the multitude of her numbers in all facets of society, and the upheaval it would cause in his dominion, that keeps the Dragon from killing the pregnant woman.
Remember in Chapter 12, the face of the Dragon is largely hidden and disguised within the Antichrist world system, distinguished by the use of his tail to ensnare.
The church at large will sense danger but not be alarmed enough to prepare.
The revelation of the bride and her ministry will “reveal” the Antichrist system – the light of God from her will reveal the hidden darkness and make evil visible.
The true nature of the Antichrist world kingdom is not revealed and unleashed in its fullness and fury until the “eighth” head is crowned for a short season – after the end time revival, rapture of the bride, and casting out of Satan. (Revelation Chapters 12, 13, and 17)
Note:
Though the church at large in the last years of the New Testament period fails to heed the call of the gospel to forsake all other lovers for Christ – to be “fathered” by God – Christ does not forsake her.
She will enter the wilderness and receive fathering, though, albeit, it will be under more difficult and trying circumstances.
The flood did not come until after the Ark was prepared and Noah preached, offering an open door, to the lost.
Jerusalem was not laid waste until after the gospel was given audience and opportunity to save as many as would come.
And so, it will at the end of time. The gospel will go out one last time.
****
Other than the hidden work God is doing inside of the woman, she is no threat to the Antichrist world system.
But what she carries in her womb is.
And that is being protected by God.
Satan knows the Scriptures and what’s at stake.
What is it about the last days – the great banquet the Antichrist world system has to offer – that will be so appealing and attractive many will be ensnared by its coils and possibly lose out?
What is it about the last days many will choose the safety, comfort, and temporal pleasures of this world, and forsake the offer of being fathered by God into Sonship?
The picture of Revelation 12 is one of tremendous struggle; a life and death battle for rule and dominion over the hearts and minds of men and women, saved and unsaved.
Though the Antichrist world system has its eyes set on the church, the pregnant woman, desiring to kill the bride as soon as she is born, she is hidden in the womb.
In the darkness of the womb, God’s light is forming a child once again he will use for his glory.
Once birthed, she will learn the ways of the kingdom and the workings of the enemy, and be protected and preserved in her journey to the fullness and stature of Christ.
She will apprehend what Christ apprehended her for – intimate fellowship and union with the Son of God. The second Adam, as the Scripture calls Christ, will have his last day bride, his Eve.
Note:
The Scripture uses the term “son,” “male child,” to describe her child because, whether male or female, we are all destined to be conformed to the likeness of the Son of God (Romans 8:18 – 30).)
Paul’s letter to the Philippian Church, Christ’s sixth parable of the pearl of great price (Matthew 13), and the Philadelphia Church age are pictures of the bride at different parts of her journey.
Paul’s letter to the Colossian Church, and the Laodicean Church age, are pictures of the Church at large, the pregnant woman in the last years of the Church.
Christ’s seventh parable of the net (Matthew 13), and Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians give us an inside look at the atmosphere and environment of the last days, the first and second revealing of the Antichrist, reaching inside the Tribulation.
****
The context is clear. An immature and pregnant woman is before “… an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads.” (NIV, Revelation 12:3)
The seventh world Antichrist kingdom pictured in Chapter 12 has 10 powerful influential people (or cohorts) working behind the scenes with the lawlessness one.
This is the first revealing of the Antichrist. Though there will be persecution and severe tests and trials under the dominion of the first revealing, it is nothing like the exposure of his true nature in all its fullness and fury in the second and final revealing of Chapter 13.
As noted, the pregnant woman represents the Laodicean Church age at the end of time.
She’s protected, loved, and cared for by the Lord, though, for whatever reason, she is not prepared for the journey she is about to face.
She’s covered with the righteousness of Christ (sun), standing on the promises of the Old Covenant, works oriented (moon), and crowned with the testimony (stars) of the influential in the Church, past and present.
Compare her to the “living creatures” – a picture of the bride (Revelation Chapter 4, a heavenly picture of the bride after the rapture) – and you’ll see the sharp contrast.
Note:
I’ve written in prior posts the symbolism represented by the lion, ox, man, and eagle – attributes of Christ imparted to the saints throughout the ages and in particular to the last day bride.
The lion representing kingly authority, ruling and reigning with Christ. The ox, bond servant of the Lord.
The man, priestly ministry, offering the reconciling work of Christ to the saved and lost. And the eagle, the prophetic ministry and revelation for the body of Christ.
No one person can apprehend all Christ is, it’s a body of believers reflecting the life and light of Jesus.
****
Instead of the pregnant woman having her own testimony of the resurrected power of Christ, she’s crowned with the testimony of those who have gone before her and those held up as “stars,” influential, of her era.
She has not experienced the fullness of the new creation and entered into sonship (been taken by Christ), from being “fathered by man to being fathered by God.”
Neither of these are exclusive of the other, but there is a change in “orientation,” where one predominates in the latter stages of growth and maturity.
Sadly, the spiritual darkness invested in the Antichrist seventh world kingdom deceives, takes captive hearts and minds of some of the influential stars.
The depth of deception they find themselves trapped in, and the looming darkness and power of the Antichrist kingdom, will not be apparent until the light and life of Christ shines forth from the bride in revival.
Absent being prepared and taken by Christ, like the five wise virgins, revelations like this on a grand scale only come about by revival.
Nothing less will shine the glorious light of Christ.
Note:
The great falling away (2 Thessalonians 2:3), may be attributed to a host of factors mentioned in numerous scriptural accounts.
These are Christians, who are caught in the snare of the evil one and captured.
For whatever reason, the mystery of Christ, the heart of the gospel, has not taken root and produced Christ likeness.
****
Instead of her displaying the attributes of Christ, like the living creatures, her appearance is nondescript.
She is crowned, robed, and standing on the foundation Christ laid at the beginning of the Church Era, 2,000 years ago.
She’s neglected, for whatever reason, the heart of the gospel, having insufficient oil for her lamp, she finds herself unprepared to face an enemy unlike she has ever witnessed.
She’s standing on the moon; she has no light of herself.
She’s clothed with Christ’s righteousness; she has not apprehended the righteousness Jesus has for her in wholeness – body, soul, and spirit, by putting to death the deeds of the body, made alive in spirit. (Romans 8:10 versus 8:11)
She’s crowned with the testimony of the pioneers of the faith, past and present; but lacks the pioneering testimony of her own journey in the deep well of God’s Spirit.
She does not know the story of God, the history of the Church, the intense work of the Spirit in her generation, nor the time-frame of the calendar of God.
Her lamp is about to run out of oil.
Again, she is loved, protected, and cherished by Christ, but has not allowed him, (did not open the door when he knocked), to take her to the fullness of what he had for her.
She will grow and gain some of what she missed in the press of spiritual warfare to come.
She will flee into the wilderness during the opening salvos of the tribulation and gain her own testimony of the saving power of Christ in the face of persecution, washing her robes “… white in the blood of the Lamb…” (NIV, Revelation 7:14)
Note:
The sun, moon, and stars, are representative of the establishment of the Church, a symbol of the Church age, and the passing of the Old Covenant.
The moon, Old Covenant, has no light of itself except the shining of the New Testament, Christ, on it.
The stars are the testimony of the Old Covenant saints who pioneered the path we navigate in times of darkness.
And of course, Christ is the fulfillment of the “type,” the “sun” representing the source and well-being of our spiritual life.
They were made on the fourth day.
In Bible history, beginning with Adam, the fourth millennial period began with King David and ended with the birth of Christ.
In Malachi Chapter 4 the coming Messiah is referred to as the “… sun of righteousness …” (NIV, Malachi 4:2)
Christ came at the end of the fourth millennial dispensation from Adam, separating the old from the new, setting the foundation for the fifth and sixth millennial dispensations – the New Testament Church age of which we are near the end.
****
Instead of her having a new name written on her – the name of her God, the name of the city of her God, and Christ’s name – the completed bride of Philadelphia – she wears a crown bearing the testimony of others.
Despite her condition, the Lord conceives and births out of the Church, from among the wise virgins, those he can mature and bring to the fullness of his salvation (Ephesians 4:13).
The child she births will be an instrument of Christ’s glory one last time to a lost and dying world.
Untold multitudes will come into the kingdom at the revelation of Christ in and through his end time bride.
The manifestation of Christ in his last day bride will be profound, unimaginable, and unprecedented. How do we know this?
Because of the impact it has, and the utter savagery and ruthlessness that follows the bride’s ministry.
****
It is not God’s will anyone should perish. The Lord has labored throughout the New Testament era to compel and capture as many as would come into the kingdom of God.
Yes, Jesus labors among you and me today for our salvation.
He’s wooing, inviting, and urging as many as possible to come into the kingdom he’s inherited from his father.
The invitation is 2,000 years old and is as new today as it was then.
Christ is knocking on the door of the hearts of untold multitudes right now to receive their permission to come in and sup with them.
Maybe you’re one he’s wanting to take into the deeper things of God.
Maybe he’s wanting to baptize you into yet greater richness and fullness.
Maybe you believe your time and opportunity for the deeper things of Christ have come and gone – too much water under the bridge and too many sins and wounds, been there, done that.
Until you take your last breath, Jesus has not left you.
He is wherever you might find yourself right now – hot, cold, lukewarm, or otherwise – waiting for your permission to redeem and refresh you once again in him.
It’s time to say yes to Jesus (again and again) and pay whatever price it takes to fill your lamp with oil.
The kindness of God is waiting to shower you with his delight and love, and a new revelation of what the Father is really like.
Now more than ever we need the healing and restoration of the broken and wounded places of our lives.
Considering the era, the lateness of the hour, how much of our lives we’ve devoted to the appetites and desires of the world, temporal pleasures, securities, and others – how much more urgent and important is it to permit Christ to invest himself in you and me.
Maybe life, work, or ministry has exhausted and burned you out. Jesus desires to bring you to a place of rest and peace in him.
It requires his intervention into the deep areas of our lives.
It requires his washing of our wounds and sins with the grace and love of God.
The offer before us is life, freedom from brokenness and wounds.
Freedom to love and be loved, to know and be known.
Freedom to know our Savior personally and intimately.
We owe it to ourselves to receive all we can before crossing the great threshold into the heavenly kingdom.
Jesus is offering much in this late hour of the church. Let’s receive everything we can from him.
****
Back to the impact of the bride.
We know the ministry of the bride and revival it brings has an unprecedented impact, at least as far as moves of God have gone, because the seventh head of the Dragon is wounded, receives a deathblow, for a season.
The ministry of the bride is so great, the world system is so disrupted, it is deemed a fatal blow.
If you think that’s impossible then look at what one little virus has done to the global community right now.
The Antichrist system will reel under the weight of the presence of Christ and those in Christ in the last day ministry and revival.
Note:
The birthing of Pentecost in the 20th century, the Azusa Street Revival, spread around the world in a matter of a few years.
Many of us are, in a sense, the descendants of Azusa.
Azusa will pale in comparison to the intensity, depth, and scope of the end time revival.
The last day outreach and expression of Christ will come after years of maturing the bride, and arise quickly.
Azusa restored the second Jewish feast to the Church, Pentecost.
A final feast remains to be fulfilled, the Feast of Tabernacles.
Jesus fulfilled all three feasts in his own personal journey. It appears some of the apostles who authored the New Testament did as well.
The end time bride will fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles one last time, in her personal journey, and offer the fruit of her journey, life in Christ, to many.
****
Following this one last great revival, the ingathering of multitudes, the beast is resurrected, “One of the heads of the beast seem to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.” (NIV, Revelation 13:3)
Revelation Chapter 17 describes the event of the wounding a different way, “They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.” (NIV, Revelation 17:10 – 11)
Basically, what this is saying is Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo/Persia, and Greece, are the five fallen kingdoms. Rome is the world kingdom at the time of John’s writing (the sixth), and there is one yet to come, (the seventh, before the Tribulation) and, an eighth for a short season (during the Tribulation).
Note: The book of Daniel gives detail and perspective of the kingdoms beginning with Babylon and ending with the last world kingdom. There is much literature on this available.
The seventh kingdom, will be in place and crowned years before the ministry of the bride.
Its’ tentacles and reach exist today. How mature is speculative.
The focus in Scripture is the Church and the bride, and should be our focus.
The manifestation of Christ in his bride in the last days is so extraordinary, unusual, and pervasive, it impacts the world system in an unprecedented way.
The final word is yet to be spoken by Jesus.
More to come, blessings, Drake
(NIV) Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblical, Inc.™
