Good day. It is the afternoon of July, 17, 2019, a rainy day in Seattle as I begin writing this post. We are having an unusual summer, at least it seems that way.

Typically, it is warm and sunny this time of year. Recently, however, we’ve had more than our fair share of summer showers and cloudy days. Maybe, it’s a sign of spiritual rain to come upon the dry and weary souls of Seattle. One can only hope.

I have insight to share in this post and the ones to follow you do not want to miss.

I hope you’ve been following my series. Jesus, is here, now, in the midst of the church, doing a profound work in the body of Christ. A rich and deep work surpassing past “moves of God.”

Increase of Darkness and Hidden Work of Righteousness

This should not be surprising, given the acceleration of evil as we draw closer to the end of the New Testament period and approach the beginning of the chaotic and ultimately violent transition to the Millennium.

The Saints of God will need as much cleansing and healing as possible to navigate the path Christ has for his church in these, the latter of the last days.

It will take everything Christ can do in our hearts and lives for you and me to rise above the flood waters of evil coming upon this world, which will crash and rage against the seawall of the church at its appointed time.

Jesus has surprises for the approaching darkness and stratagems of the enemy. Surprises you and I want to be a part of and not miss.

There is a unique work of the Holy Spirit in our generation. Not unlike periods in the past where God prepared his children to transition from one dispensation to another. Scripture and typology repeatedly point to and bear this out.

The degree and depth of the move of the Spirit points to a unique and special work Jesus is doing today. You see it in para-church ministries. You see it in the lives of Christians who are experiencing connection and union with Christ at a level that surpasses previous generations.

My Writing, This Series

My heart is to present to you what I and many others are experiencing (at different levels) in Christ. The revelation of Christ in grace, personally, in deep intimacy, fellowship, and growing connection and union – the heart of the New Testament and the plan of God.

The Lord is “taking” many unto himself for cleansing and healing that you, me, and they may be made whole, body, soul, and spirit. This is the “coming” of the Lord so frequently mentioned in Scripture. This is Christ’s personal commitment to prepare and make ready a bride.

This is not about the “Second Coming of Christ,” – the establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth following the tribulation. That is a certainty and will come to pass at some future time, the Millennial rule of Christ and the saints.

Rather, the coming of the Lord I’m writing about (referred to throughout the New Testament), is where Christ “takes” his son or daughter unto himself and initiates the journey of cleansing and healing. This is the journey Peter began in the Gospel of John Chapter 21, (see Parts 5 and 8 in this series) and which Peter refers to, among other places, in 1 Peter 1:2 and 1:13.

In short, this is the process of Jesus baptizing you and me in the baptism he authored and pioneered, making us like unto himself, a new creation – cleaning and healing deep wounds, sins and brokenness, from the inside out.

Change  

There are many types and patterns in Scripture pointing to unprecedented and unimaginable change on the horizon for both the world and the church.

Which means unprecedented change may be knocking on your door awaiting your response. How will you respond when Christ knocks on your door for greater intimacy and connection with you?

If you’re a student of history and have knowledge of the moves of God since the time of Luther, especially revivals and intimacy the Lord has brought to the church over the last hundred years, you may, like me, believe we’re likely on the cusp of yet deeper experiences in Christ.

Depending where one is in their journey with Christ, scarcity and famine may precede your deeper experience in Jesus. He may use this to bring you to him. God uses wilderness times to draw us toward and deeper in him, more dependent and connected, that he might prepare us for the next phase of the journey, which is crossing Jordan into Canaan’s land.

Rest assured, if Christ chooses to bring you into his stable of revelation and grace, and begins a deep healing and cleansing work in your life, he will most assuredly provide you with everything you need even though others, in the church at large, maybe going through a time of scarcity and famine.

Change can come quickly and suddenly. And it appears to be increasing as the culture and world around us become more integrated and inter-connected.

An example. Leaders and nations saw a growing and accelerating menace, an intensifying darkness in the years preceding the outbreak of World War II.

When the United States was attacked and entered the war, things changed dramatically in the lives and routines of American citizens. People’s lives were upended, rationing became the norm, and uncertainty and anxiety held sway over the hearts and minds of the nation.

Changes greater than those are on the horizon for you and me and/or the generations soon to follow.

Noah and His Generation

Those who lived at the time of Noah faced such a period. People were living an extraordinary long period of time before the flood, hundreds of years. And with expectancy came all the plans and hopes of what their future would look like through the increase of possessions and descendants, among others.

Can you imagine planning for a future you expect to last hundreds of years? Can you imagine what it was like to speculate – I will have such and such, and will be well provided and cared for through the riches and treasures I will amass over my lifetime?

Can you imagine the planning and determination to execute what you hope to happen over the hundreds of years you plan to live?

This was what Noah and others faced.

Can you imagine the obstacles and hardness of heart Noah most likely faced, preaching a coming flood, destruction, and cessation of all they hold dear?

And one final thought. Can you imagine what it would be like to contemplate the termination of your family line after hundreds of years of heritage and possibly hundreds of children and grandchildren?

It is within this environment and culture Noah, a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), is told to prepare an ark to save him and his family.

Peter writes in 1 Peter 3:19 – 20, “19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits – 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,” (NIV)

(The “he” in verse 19 is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ going to and preaching to the “spirits in prison,” who disobeyed.)

Let’s look at some of the typology in the events preceding the Flood and see how they may pertain to the 21^st century.

Noah is a type of Christ and secondarily a type of you and me who are “made ready” for the Lord during our pilgrimage (Matthew 24:37 – 51; Matthew 25:10; John 21:18; 1 Peter 1:13 and 1:17), hold firm in our time of conviction (Hebrews 3:14), learning obedience by the things which we suffer (Hebrews 5:7 – 8; 1 Peter Chapter 4).

Noah is also a type of those waiting for the bridegroom, the virgins with oil, who are taken in and made “ready” for the wedding, along with the criers. (Matthew 25:10)

There are always criers, calling others to be made ready, forerunners, calling other forerunners.

There are always the “John the Baptists,” criers, calling for leaders, those who will be chosen by Christ and made ready at his “coming,” “revealing,” “appearing,” taken deep in Jesus like Peter.

But what about the disobedient – those who lived lives outside the realm of grace Noah and his family walked in, and, for whatever reason, did not heed the call of Noah in sufficient time to prepare for the flood?

The disobedient may also be a type of us, who may be in the early stages of Christianity, or either unaware or uninterested in the deeper things of Christ, who are called by Christ but not yet chosen by him for deep intimacy, cleansing and healing, connection and union.

There is a difference in the stages of Christian growth and maturity, relationship with Christ. It is not based on works, but a relationship based on intimacy, delight and receipt of care and grace. Works has no claims to intimacy and love.

Romans 8:10, says, “But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.” (NIV)

In contrast, Romans 8:11, says, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” (NIV)

There is a difference among Christians. The Church of Philadelphia and Laodicea bear witness to that. The living creatures and bride in contrast to those who must give their life in the tribulation bear witness to that. And the virgins without oil and the virgins with oil, in contrast to the criers and one another, bear witness.

The disobedient at the time of Noah may be a type of those who give their life as a martyrs’ during the tribulation, the five virgins without oil, and like the Israelites of old who died in the wilderness.

Those who have the promise of God preached to them, have time to respond, but for whatever reason, do not respond to the call of God to prepare.

Those, who, for whatever reason, are not chosen by God for a deep work of the Spirit, may ultimately be saved, but not through the preferred plan of God, the “rest” he has for those who are taken into the deep things of Christ.

Their body is dead because of sin but their spirit is alive because of Christ.

They do not respond to the heart of the gospel, they are unaware or untaught, ignorant of the deeper things of God, and so, in the time of Noah the “disobedient” (spirits in prison) die in the flood, or, in the time of the tribulation, the second revealing of Antichrist, they must give their life for the gospel.

The disobedient are a type of those who die in the wilderness – who do not hold firm in conviction, die in body but ultimately raised in spirit (saved). A type of those who do not overcome sin in the body to be renewed in spirit – the baptism of Jesus Christ.

The spirits in prison maybe those who moved toward the mark and fell short. They do not appear to be those who Peter would label as “sinners” and “ungodly.”

When Noah fulfilled his measure of faith, he condemned the world and the flood ensued. In other words, when Noah reached maturity in the things of God, evidenced by completion of the ark, his dispensation would end and those prepared, made ready, would hasten with him through the flood.

Those on the same journey, but further behind, could not fulfill the promises God had for them, there was insufficient time – they missed the escape – though ultimately saved in spirit, like Israel in the wilderness and the Saints in the tribulation.

They died a horrible death, but a new body awaits them in heaven.

We have only so much time.

Thankfully, there is still time to prepare for whatever calling and place Jesus has waiting just for you and me.

Much more to come on this topic in the next post. 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.™