276
T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
there is going to be a great fire in this c.ity next week, bu t I am going to keep you out of it” ; I am sure she would not th ink th a t I would allow h er to be in a little of it a t first and th en tak e her o u t a fte r she had been well singed. There would be little peace in such an understand ing of my promise. B u t to go back to th e words of John th e B ap tist in Matt. 3:11-12 R. V. “ I indeed baptise you in w ater unto repent ance, b u t He th a t cometh afte r me is m ightier th a n I, whose shoes I am not w orthy to b ear: He shall baptise you in th e Holy Spirit and in fire: whose fan is in His hand, and He will th o r oughly cleanse H is th resh ing floor; and He will g ath er H is w heat into th e g ar n er, b u t th e chaff He will bu rn up w ith unquenchable fire.” Notice th a t Christ w ill do fou r things, in th is age, accord ing to th e passage. 1— He will baptise disciples in the Holy Spirit and fire. 2— —He will separate believers unto H imself— “H is fan is in His h and .” 3— He will tak e believers to be w ith H imself in th e glory.—-“He will g ather th e w heat into th e g arn e r.” 4 — He will destroy th e wicked in judgm ent.— “He will bu rn up th e chaff w ith unquenchable fire.” Jesu s began th e Church age by bap tizing believers in th e Holy Spirit a t Pentecost. He has continued to cleanse and sep arate believers from th e world du ring all these 1900 years. He will ta k e th e tru e church to Himself, we believe, in th e n ear fu tu re. Then afte r th e rap tu re of th e church, th e fires of judgment will burn up the ungodly chaff of humanity. If you have ever noticed a harvest scene, you have watched w ith in terest th e cu tting of th e grain, th e separating of th e wheat, th en it is hauled away in g reat wagons to th e graneries. A fter it is well ou t of th e way th e chaff is destroyed. God will never leave the tru e believers ( “ the finest of the
w heat” ) here in th is world to be destroyed w ith the chaff. Again in Acts, 1:6-7, th e disciples asked Jesu s if He was to resto re the Kingdom to Israel in th e ir day. He replied th a t it was no t for them to know “times or seasons.” And Paul in 1 Thess. 5:1* told the Thessalonians th a t it was no t needful for them to know “ tim es and seasons.” Now why was it not needful for Christians to know “ times and seasons?” Because dates are for earth ly Israel. All of h er his to ry has been p rew ritten w ith the dates. They are plain in the fulfilled prophecies concerning h er past. All of Isra el’s movements in th e fu tu re can be traced in accuracy when th e event arrives th a t gives us th e first date. Now th e church does no t need these dates for she will no t be h ere when they begin. And the G reat T ribu lation does not begin un til the dates of Israel begin, therefo re, Jesu s and Paxil said, the Christians did no t need to know “ times or seasons.” Then again in 1 Thess. 5:9 we are told th a t “God has n o t appointed us unto w rath, b u t unto obtaining of sal vation th rough our Lord Jesu s Christ, who dies for us th a t, w hether we wake or sleep, we should» live together w ith H im .” The w rath in th is passage evi dently has reference to th e G reat T ribu lation, th e period of God’s righteous w rath displayed in a series of Judg ments b rough t upon m ankind because of th e ir unbelief a t th e close of th is age. P au l says, Christians are not appointed to th is w rath, b u t our appointm ent is to a rap tu re, a salvation from it. Then he goes on to say, th a t w hether we are alive or dead we shall not be here to meet these aw ful scenes. F o r having died our sp irits will be w ith Christ— “Absent from th e body and p resen t w ith th e Lord.” B u t God has so planned it for H is children, who tru s t H im during th is age of unbelief, th a t no t only th e ir souls shall escape th is G reat T ribulation, b u t also th e ir
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker