Prophecy - 32

Jesus said-


Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.


The year 1844 - 167 years ago. Is 167 years a long time? In some respects it is, right? It's about 2 and 1/2 average lifetimes, if 66 was about the average lifespan.


As a child I can remember my great grandmother who was born in the late 1800's she married my great grandfather who was born in 1876- 135 years ago he was born. He married in 1904, had children- my grandfather- born in 1910 who had my mother born in 1938 who then had me born in 1963. We all have histories comparable to this and truly 167 years can seem like a long time - but it's not in the grand scheme of things. When we think of 2300 years then 167 doesn't seem like a whole lot of years does it? So when people say - Where is the Lord, why does He delay- they are not thinking prophetically-


Luk 12:45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
Luk 12:46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.


The Lord does NOT delay and we cannot believe that He does. Our Lord is longsuffering, not sadistic!


2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.


He would that we would ALL come to repentance. He wants us to be His, to love Him, to be loved by Him and so much evil goes on and on in the heart of man. When all who would be saved have decided to love the Lord with all their hearts and be loved by Him, saved by Him, then He will have no choice but to close probation for the human race. The judging will be over. The Sanctuary cleansed- God's people forgiven and cleansed able to join Him in the air to be His forever more, immortal, to live with Him eternally in His righteousness.


Right now we are living in probationary time- but there WILL come a time when probation is closed and we are still living. Remember yesterday we had this verse in our study-


1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.


We which are ALIVE and REMAIN. There will be those who are not dead who will never taste death, who never have part in the second death.


Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.


Knowing some will be living when probation closes for them means understanding that time does run out on people. Without a doubt all probation ends for the dead when they die - because they can never from then on find grace, find forgiveness, find righteousness in Christ. The dead know nothing.


We know prophetically there are many things that take place before our Lord returns. We are given many signs and we are told to watch. We are given prophecy and expected to study. If that 2300 years drew to a close in 1844 and a new phase in history was begun drawing us one step closer to our Lord's return, then PRAISE GOD! No, we do not have an exact date but you can count on the reality of our Savior returning.


We are studying the judgment in connection with all this because at some point between 1844 and the time our Savior returns that Sanctuary will be fully cleansed, and that means - 'He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. ' Rev 22:11


We can choose to ignore all prophecy and just hope for the best, or we can watch as our Savior instructed us to watch so that we are NOT taken unaware, so that we are NOT caught off guard as the greatest deception we can ever imagine takes place and deceives all but a very few of the billions of people alive today.


More tomorrow by the grace of God, more in-depth studying, studying that we cannot blow off as unimportant. We make choices all the time, we have to choose to seek the knowledge the Lord has for us, we must watch and pray always!


By the grace of our Lord and Savior!


Amen!