ness” will be created as the eternal abode of the saints. In the light of this tremendous prophetic revelation of future events, the message of God to the world in this hour is one of solemn warning of judgment to come. There is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ, and there is no hope of deliverance from Divine wrath for anyone who fails to receive Him in faith as Lord and Saviour. In view of the impending consumma tion of the ages, the appeal to the world to receive Christ was never more urgent. The prophetic Scriptures likewise give an impelling call to the church of God to press on in its task of evangelizing every kindred, tongue, and nation. In a day of closing doors to gospel witness, many op portunities still exist to bring the message of salvation to millions of Jews and Gentiles who have never heard. The time is short. Multi tudes have not yet heard. The church should rise in this hour as never before to respond to today’s Macedonian call. The miracle of the preservation and present re-establishment of the nation of Israel should encourage world Jewry to give serious consid eration to receiving Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Saviour. While the sovereign Divine purpose of God to regather the nation Israel and establish them in the mil lennial kingdom will certainly be fulfilled, the present urgency re mains for individuals to receive salvation in Christ and thus escape the tragic sufferings of the prophe sied “ time of Jacob’s trouble.” Now is the accepted time to «receive Jesus Christ and be saved. END.
We believe in the personal and imminent coming of Christ for His church when the dead in Christ will be raised and living believers will be translated to meet the Lord in the air. The church will then be judged for rewards, joined to Christ the Bridegroom in the figure of marriage, and remain forever with the Lord. We believe that following the coming of Christ for the church, the closing events of the Times of the Gentiles and the 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy will be fulfilled on earth. This period will be char acterized by fearful Divine judg ments upon the wicked world. The great tribulation, the predicted time of Jacob’s trouble, will be ful filled in the second half of Daniel’s 70th week and will be abruptly terminated by the coming back of Christ to the earth to deliver His people. At the return of the Lord with His saints and holy angels, Satan will be bound, the millennial king dom will be established and Christ will reign on the throne of David for 1,000 years. In His righteous government He will bring peace and justice to the earth, purge out the wicked, bless the righteous, and regather and restore His ancient people Israel. At the end of the millennial reign, Satan will be loosed to de ceive the nations. Many who were born in the millennium will follow Satan in rebellion against the King and will be destroyed by fire from heaven. The unsaved dead will be raised, judged at the great white throne and cast into the Lake of Fire. A new heaven and a new earth “wherein dwelleth righteous
ings and the expression of our in nermost faith to our fellow-Chris- tians everywhere and to all men and women who have ears to hear. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament have a message which is relevant to our times, and we affirm our faith in their full verbal inspiration and Divine infallibility and authority. In these Scriptures is revealed the sovereign plan of God in relation to the Gentile nations, the people of Israel, and the church of God, a plan which is being worked out in history and shall have its culmina tion at the second coming of Christ. We believe that the crowning revelation of this inspired Book is the gospel of the grace of God in His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who in the fullness of time became incarnate by the miracle of virgin birth, lived on earth a sinless life, suffered and died upon the cross as our Divine substitute, rose again bodily from the grave, ascended into heaven to sit at the Father’s own right hand until the clock of prophecy strikes the unrevealed hour of His coming for the church. All who believe this glorious gospel have eternal life as the free gift of God, complete deliverance from the penalty of sin, and shall not come into judgment but have passed from death unto life. We believe that Christ is the Head of the church which is His body, composed of all true believers from Pentecost to the rapture. This Divine program for the church, the calling out from Jews and Gentiles a people for His name, is distinct from His prophetic program for the nation of Israel and does not fulfill Israel’s millennial hope.
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OCTOBER 1956
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