Greetings again.

Someday, people in the Millennium (the true Millennial’s) will look back at the history of the Church, Israel, and the ancients, and think,

“It’s so clear in Scripture, the plan of God pictured and framed in the creation account, an unfolding plan of sons and daughters maturing, becoming intimate with their Creator, through the ages, starting with Adam and Eve (Psalm 78:2, Matthew 13:35, 1 Corinthians 2:6 – 16, 1 Peter 1:10 – 12),

the prophecies concerning God’s plan to make men and women into the likeness of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, foretold from the beginning, by “types” (Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, etc.), by the prophets of old, and holy writ,

the pioneering faith and obedience of Christ, putting to death the hostility of his flesh, made alive in spirit – his baptism, his journey, clearly reported and represented in Scripture – confirmed by his words, conduct, and ministry (Romans 6:10, Ephesians 2:14 – 16 see an interlinear, Hebrews 5:8 – 9),

the Son of God, the second Adam, firstborn, first – fruit, of God’s new creation – “… the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…” (NIV, Hebrews 1:3),

that he was the open door through which men and women were to follow, to be born anew and filled with the Holy Spirit of God,

and, to respond to the call of God to experience Christ in his fullness – to be made like him – to be taken by Christ on the path he pioneered, baptized with his baptismal journey, rising to walk in new life,

(Mark 10:38 – 39, John 10:10, 21:18; Romans 6:3 – 4, 1 Corinthians 4:5, Colossians 3:4, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:13),

men and women cleansed, healed, and restored by the love and grace of God in the personal revelation of Jesus Christ,

made new, body, soul, and spirit, in his likeness, birthed from Christ into Christ,

the apostles and servants of Christ – e.g., Paul, Peter, John, James, and Jude – giving testimony in their letters to the ‘testimony of faith and obedience Christ pioneered,’ fulfilling the design and plan of Scripture for his life and their life,

they becoming a habitation for the Lord, a bride, without spot, blemish, or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:25 – 27),

heralding a journey available to all men and women in the sound of the gospel,

the call, design, plan and pattern, so clearly described in Scripture.”

The Millennial’s will beg the question, “Why did men and women following Christ’s advent struggle with Scripture – the invitation and journey foretold and demonstrated by Christ and others?”

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And how could so many at the time of Christ not see the Messiah in their midst?

What is it about the human heart, family traditions and history, sins and wounds, that blinded many in Palestine from receiving the testimony of hundreds healed by an itinerant preacher?

A man, who healed lepers, demonized, blind, lame, and even raising the dead who “stink”. No small task.

And what is it about the testimonies of millions today, who’ve been changed by the power of Jesus Christ, many turn a deaf ear?

What is it about the power of generational sin, establishing a “well-worn path at birth” for the newborn to embrace offenses and wounds, judging those who offend and those who fail to protect, producing an “in-kind” practiced way of living?

Why is the Church of Jesus Christ not filled with thousands upon thousands of prayer ministers, counselors, and warriors, ministering to the millions of Christians who need healing and restoration deep within their body, soul, and spirit?

Where is the Army of God believers so desperately need in this hour?

Certainly, spiritual warfare is reaching new levels of cunning and craftiness as more and more darkness is embraced and as the clock ticks down for our enemy.

Now, more than ever, believers need to embrace the healing and restoring power of Christ – to be wrapped in the love and care of God, the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord has labored for decades preparing a body of specialists in and out of churches as resources for healing his sons and daughters.

No matter how mature or experienced we think we may be, we are all assaulted, in one form or another, in the flesh, to the susceptibilities of being overtaken, missing the fullness of God’s call to healing and restoration.

But his plan includes provision for even these possibilities, i.e., to be taken by him into a deep place of grace and intimacy, a personal and committed plan of healing and restoration, personally overseen and accomplished by the Lord.

A plan so profound it is reserved for the oversight of the Lord.

(After all, we herald a personal relationship with God as one of the “selling points” of Christianity. As Jesus begins a deep work, we truly experience what it means to have a personal and intimate relationship with our Lord.)

This is no small matter. A plan far beyond being born again and filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

A plan into intimacy, connection, and union with Christ.

Because of the depth of healing we need, the hidden darkness in the secret places of our lives, and our natural inclination to flee exposure, God unveils a plan of grace so deep and rich in Christ, we move toward him, and not away from him, as he reveals his nature deep within us.  

Today, there is an unprecedented move of the Holy Spirit to usher men and women into a place of grace beyond what one could imagine or think.

The Feast of Tabernacles, to use an Old Covenant term, a “type,” of walking in the resurrection life in the New Covenant, the heart and soul of the “matured” Philadelphia church age, is unfolding today on a grand scale in the body of Christ, unlike any time in recent history, or, for that matter, in church history.

Jesus is here, now, in this generation of people groups, to offer himself once again as the healing balm of Gilead to the wounded and broken places in your heart and mine.

Let’s make every effort to apprehend what Christ apprehended us for; to petition God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, to take us to the deep places of his grace in the revelation of Christ, that his healing work in our lives would continue unabated – resurrection life in the midst of being cleansed and healed – a bride being adorned for her husband.

Let’s be someone the Millennial’s look back and say, “They apprehended what Christ apprehended them for.”

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Back to the Pondering of the True Millennial’s

Noah

The Millennial’s will also look back at history and say, wow, “How could mankind fall so far, God saves the animals, even to the extent of including them in the covenant with Noah after the flood, but brings an end to men and women, his most precious creation, those granted the privilege of union with him?

How could hearts and minds become so impenetrable, bound up in layers upon layers of wounds and brokenness, unpersuaded, unteachable, and unmoved by the anointing upon Noah’s life?

What hindered their hearts from receiving God’s invitation through Noah to turn from darkness to light and prepare for a new season in God?

Surely, they witnessed the change in Noah’s life, the overwhelming consumption of his heart with the command of God to build an ark for the saving of he and his family?

The evidence was all around them – a new Noah, a new direction, and a massive vessel being built before their eyes.

The tremendous sacrifices of Noah – wealth, future, time, and commitment to the voice of God.

Surely, the ancients must’ve pondered the work of God in their midst. And yet…

To those on the outside of God and the work of God, the things of God seem radical and out of touch with reality, because their “clarity” is rooted in the affairs of this world – a preponderance for the temporal pleasures of this life.

The old was passing and the new was coming. That happens when God shows up.

How could the ancients miss the upheaval in Noah’s life, his family, and the 360° turn in his attitude, goals, plans, and activities?

Noah died a death unlike any in his day. In a way, he was a forerunner to dying to sin to walk in newness of life.

Everything in his life became second to apprehending the treasure God placed before him – the promise of life for he and his family in a new land.

It was a long journey for Noah, change did not come easily or quickly.

But in stages and intensity as his heart embraced God’s adventure and destination for him and his family as the years passed into decades, and decades into a century.

Jesus said the last days, all the days after his ascension, are like the days of Noah.

How much more are the days like Noah as we get closer to the Millennium?

As Noah’s appetites and desires shifted more and more towards the Lord, the mystery of God working in his life, Noah grew more confident and trusting in the goodness and promises of God, his unchanging nature, and the certainty of his proclamation, to personally intervene and carry those who’ve prepared into a new land, and, to bring to an end those who continue to birth generations into greater and greater brokenness.  

God’s love for men and women will not allow them to continue to birth generation after generation of children into brokenness, becoming increasingly hardened to the goodness of God, eventually unreachable.

Like us, the Millennial’s will be puzzled why no one responded to Noah’s call and opportunity to save their life and become a forerunner, a “type” of Christ while the day was still light.

I cannot help but believe, God was waiting with open arms to embrace any who would turn from death to life and heed Noah’s preaching. (2 Peter 2:5)

Why would God anoint Noah to preach if there was not the slightest chance some would turn from darkness and into the glorious light of his love?

When revival finally broke out before the flood, evidenced by the call to the animal kingdom, they responded to the call of God to seek safety in the ark prepared for them as well.

I find it tragic, lower creatures, the animal kingdom, became a testimony of God’s goodness and love, and not men and women God created to be cherished and precious above all his creation.

The spiritual kingdom we wrestle has but one goal, our ultimate  demise. It is time for us to run wholeheartedly into the embrace of Christ for our safety and salvation.

He will teach us to war and how to tread on serpents and scorpions, in him and him alone. He has come to fight for you and me, and, to teach us the skills of war.

Interestingly, God partly intervened in the affairs of Nineveh because it had many animals as well. (Jonah 4:11).

Jesus talked about how his heavenly father provides for the animal kingdom.

Animals are not robots, but obeyed the instincts God put within them.

Imagine the surprise of the populace as the lesser of God’s creation responded to his call and sought safety in the embrace of the ark – the outward visible manifestation of the outstretched arms of God.

Noah, and the circumstances surrounding Noah, his ministry, journey, and call to righteousness, is a “type” of the end time, birth, maturity, and ministry of the bride in the midst of spiritual darkness in high places on the precipice of destruction.

As an all new moves of God, there are unprecedented surprises up ahead for the Church and the bride as it was for Noah and the ancients, for those who lived at the time of Christ, and many other times in history, where God birthed something new and moved his people into a new place in him.

Note:

I’ve written about this before, many believe, according to 1 Peter Chapter 3, some of the ancients cried out to God in the rising waters of the flood and gained eternal life. Christ appeared to them not to bring condemnation but salvation even though they failed to be a “type” of Christ as Noah.

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Isaiah

Over and over again in history people groups found themselves in relatively the same situation as was facing the ancients during Noah’s ministry.

Isaiah, over 1,500 years later, speaks of something similar when those in darkness take no notice of the death of the righteous.

Isaiah says, “The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.” (NIV, Isaiah 57:1 – 2)

The death Isaiah refers to may apply to physical death, the escape from evil it brings, but, more aptly, the heart of the Scripture refers to “the death to the lower nature found in turning to light from darkness – from seeking the things of the world to seeking Christ.”

Isaiah is talking about turning from the works of the lower nature to faith in God – a death to the deeds of the body, being made alive anew in body and spirit – a truly new creation in God.

King David experienced this in a measure (Psalm 16), and Christ in its fullness.

This is the resurrection life Jesus purchased for you and me.

Isaiah was a type of Christ, and his call as a forerunner of Christ, was to preach and prophesy the new creative work of the coming Messiah as well as to turn the hearts of Israel from darkness back to their God.

Though Noah, Isaiah, and all the other “greats” of the old could not apprehend the fullness of Christ in their lives, they tasted the goodness of Christ and were “types” pointing to the fullness to come.

The Millennial’s will look back and see this pattern of the call to righteousness in the face of impending calamity over and over again through the history of Israel, Judah, and their kings.

Israel

And then of course, the true Millennial’s will ponder the big question, “Why did so many at the time of Christ not know the time of their visitation?”

“How could the evidence in his ministry, unprecedented miracles confirming his words, coupled with prophecies concerning a coming Messiah – in close proximity to the “time” allotted by Daniel – not be embraced?”

“How could they miss the thread of so many prophecies coming together in a nicely woven garment wrapped around a man called Jesus?”

So many prophecies literally falling like rain from the sky.

Why did so many people miss so many markers pointing to Christ?

God labored for 4,000 years to bring everything together, to bless his people with his Son, and to usher them in to bridal relationship with him and their Lord, and yet….

The fruit of Christ was there for the picking and yet many let the fruit wither and rot on the tree of life.

How could the “chosen ones” “light of the world” “to whom the word of God was entrusted” miss their Messiah, face the destruction of their beloved homeland, Jerusalem, and be ushered into 2,000 years of Gentile history, missing Christ, their bridegroom, and the open door to the Millennium right then?

They could’ve had 3,000 years of ruler-ship under the Messiah!

Note:

The creation account, from which all other calendars derive, accommodates a 3,000 or 1,000 millennial rule of Christ.

Creation day four, after the fall of Adam, was set in stone as the millennial day Christ would come and give Israel an opportunity to usher in the Millennium right then and there.

I’ve already written about this in a number of posts how the creation of the sun, moon, and stars, on the fourth day of creation, “typify” the separation of the old and new covenants, the advent of the Messiah, and the testimony of the Saints, in numerous ways, as well as much more.

Creation days numbers five and six, the typology represented in those creation accounts, could apply as well to Israel’s reign over the Gentiles under the Lordship of Christ – both Israel and the Gentiles growing and maturing to the fullness of Christ together over the next 2,000 or so years.

I’m planning to do a complete post bringing together the creation account and other accounts foretelling the progression to the fullness of Christ pictured in God’s creative acts from the beginning.

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Church History

Then, tragically, the Millennial’s turn their gaze toward the 2,000 years of church history, and ask,

“How could Christians in the last days, having 6,000 years of Scripture, neglect to understand the plan of God to make men and women into the likeness of Christ, his offer of healing and restoration – a bride adorned for her husband?”

“Why did many fail to prepare for the Lord’s “coming” to take them unto himself, and make them into the bride he so desires?”

“How come so many missed the “ark” of the bride, instead, driven into the wilderness of the Antichrist world kingdom, unveiled and unleashed?

“How come so many failed to heed Christ’s invitation decades after decades to be adorned as a bride prepared for her bridegroom?

“How come so many failed to take Christ’s unprecedented offer, to be fathered by God, and partake of his baptism?”

And finally, the Millennial’s, will ask, “Why was the Church so confused about the nature of Christ, his personal journey, his battle with the hostility in his own flesh, and the necessity of taking men and women on a personal journey with him – in the wilderness – for connection, intimacy, and union?”

Hope

So where does this leave you and me?

Where would we be without hope?

The world, the enemy, our flesh, and the law of sin, are set against us, but wait, Christ trumps them all.

Yes, the mysterious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is beyond anything we can imagine or think.

Jesus, is here, now, preparing a bride from the four corners of the earth, from all people groups, who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness and the fullness of the new creation in Christ.

The mystery of the gospel is at work today in unprecedented ways.

Jesus is not going to leave you and me as orphans and defenseless.

No, he is preparing something very special that will catch the world off guard, and usher many into the presence of God.

The mystery of the gospel is at work forming the young child in the womb of the church.

And the greatest part of the mystery, is, it is still unfolding with opportunities for you and me to be part of the greatest story ever told.

You may think you’re out of the race, you’re all done, you don’t have a heart to seek and follow after Christ, it’s too late, too many sins, too many wounds, etc.

But, God.

Jesus is not intimidated by what we believe about ourselves or who we think we’ve become, he “knows” what we can become in him.

He knows what we can become with the right amount of nurture and fathering.

I counsel, refuse to count yourself out of the story and plan of God no matter how old you are or anything else.

You may feel or believe there’s not enough time, for whatever reasons, left for Jesus.

I believe if Jesus were here, he might respond by saying something like this,

“‘All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’” (NIV, Matthew 11:27 – 30)

Jesus knows you better than you do, and he knows what you can be in him.

He knows the resources he can bring your way to leapfrog you from one level to another.

He knows the complexity of the things and changes he desires for you will take time.

Christianity is not survival of the fittest, nor the strength of the strongest, nor those who appear to have it all together and everything they need.

No, it is for the wounded and broken, those trapped in sinful passions and desires, those needing help in restoring their identity and destiny in wholeness and righteousness.

I close with an account Jesus gave regarding those who labored all day in the field and those who came and worked the few final hours of the day.

In Matthew Chapter 20 Jesus gives an account where laborers who worked all day receive the same compensation as those who worked only a few hours.

All got paid the same amount because, in the spiritual economy of God, all of us deserve separation from God because of our sins, it is only by grace we are invited into the plan of God, to the likeness of Christ.

There will be those who come to the fullness and stature of Christ, in God’s way of determination, in the closing hours of the church, who are ushered into the bride, while others, journeyed for decades for the work of God to be done in their life.

It’s a work of God and not of man or woman, and his work will be quick in the closing hours of the church.

“‘For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.’” (NIV, Romans 9:28)

“The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” (NIV, 1 Peter 4:7 – 8)

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.™