Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. (Song of Solomon 8:5)
The "singles" will not accept the concept that the Bride is being chastened. They will quickly withdraw themselves from the Lord's holy fire and will join with those who find their strength and help in their fellow man. "Togetherness" is the cry of the "singles." But the Bride is being guided into the "wilderness" in order to perfect her relationship to her Lord.
The Lord will employ persecution to remove the "singles" from the true Wife of the Lamb. The Bride always is ready to suffer and die for the Lord. The spiritual "singles" look for what the Lord will do for them, how they can profit from bearing His name. When persecution and offenses arise the "singles" will find it convenient to set aside the name of Jesus for a season.
It appears to us that there are true saints in all the Christian denominations. They love the Lord Jesus above their particular group. They belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are married to Him. They hear His voice. They are His Bride, His Body, His true Church, His holy city, His Zion, His true Israel.
Today the wheat and the tares are mixed together in the Kingdom of God. We know, therefore, that Christ will not come at the present moment. The way of the Lord has not been prepared. The holy and the filthy are joined together in the Lord's churches.
The Wife of the Lamb is called to be without blemish. She is the "only one of her mother." She is fairer than all. Her beauty brings the greatest joy to the heart of Christ.
It is not so today. There are "spots" on us and among us. They must be removed.
The Divine fire that even now is coming upon us will test every man's work to reveal of what sort it is. Only that which can live in Jesus, who is the consuming Fire of God, will survive. The wood, hay, and straw will be burned.
God has many devices for reducing the ranks of His "Gideon's army." After God removes the greater part of His Church He will refine the remnant who remain until they are perfect in His sight:
And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. (Zechariah 13:8,9)
The time is at hand for the removal from the Kingdom of God of those who profess faith in Christ but are unwilling to be married to Him. They are workers of iniquity, of lawlessness. The name of Christ is on their lips but their heart is in the world.
I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. (Revelation 2:9)
They are accustomed to the ways of the Christian churches and regard themselves as true servants of God. They say they are "Jews" but they actually are of the synagogue of Satan. They do not know God. The Spirit of Christ is not abounding in them. In the days that are upon us the spiritual "singles" will not be able to stand. The love of Christ is not in them.
All of us need to take heed to our soul. Are we truly in Christ? Are we married to Him? Or are we stagnating spiritually, waiting for the false hope of the "rapture" so we can be carried off to Heaven to live in a mansion and wear golden slippers?
The true saints are beginning to know in their spirits that the "rapture into Heaven" teaching is false. It is not found in the Scriptures. The "rapture" teaching appeals to those who are not married to Christ because it is just one more way in which they can obtain comfort and pleasure without having to live a righteous, holy, and sternly obedient cross-carrying life.
Those who hold to the hope of flying away to Heaven fail to grasp the concept of the Gospel of the Kingdom, that is, the return of Christ and His saints to bring release to the prisoners of the earth. The desire for comfort obscures the need to take the Kingdom, and leaves Satan to inherit Christ's inheritance-the earth and its peoples (Psalms 2:8; Daniel 7:14,22; Romans 8:19).
The Lord is speaking to His true saints today, to those who are married to Christ, to those who walk each day in the fervent love of Jesus, who meet together with other fervent Christians and talk about their first love, which is the Lord Jesus. They are God's jewels and He knows them by name.
There is coming, as we have stated, a shaking of the earth and the heaven (Hebrews 12:26). In fact, the shaking has commenced already. Many experienced Christians are discovering that they are being tested by fire to an extent they never thought would take place.
Only those who are living in Jesus, who are married to Him, will be able to stand in the days ahead. Judgment is upon us. It has begun with the house of God (Ezekiel 9:6).
The way of the Lord has not been made straight as yet. The tares and the wheat are mingled together. It is not possible for the righteous to shine in the Kingdom of their Father because there are "things that offend" in the hearts of the righteous and there are those who "do iniquity" grouped together with the righteous.
It is time now for the messengers of God to separate the tares from the wheat. First, the sin and rebellion must be removed from the saints. Then the lawless people must be removed from among the saints. God has the wisdom and the power sufficient for the removal of the false Christians, the "single" Christians, from among the true Christians.
To be continued.
Copyright © 2013 Trumpet Ministries Inc.
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