Thursday, August 18, 2011

Revelation of the Future NOW

Sometime in the future…


The earth is corrupt.  Streets are strewn with garbage.  Prostitutes wait, available on every street corner.  Strip-clubs and seedy bars exist next to mansions of governors and leaders, even within them.  Hate crimes, for skin color or just sheer anger, occur every day, every-where.  Children are abused, used, and abandoned.  People follow the Religion of Self – seeking only to satisfy their stomach and cravings.  And, they worship a man for his “miraculous signs.”  This man, however, holds humanity in captivity, for he is a beast:  violent, manipulative, and possessed.  His exists to destroy lives and souls, and hunts those who will not surrender to the mark of his following, “666.”  Those who do not give their lives over to this beast receive persecution; they cannot eat, for they are not allowed to buy food.  They are mocked, spit on, and murdered.  There is no free voice in the world, for the beast’s word stands as the supreme authority.  Darkness hovers over the earth as the beast speaks the orders of the abyss – he serves satan. 
At the height of humanities’ orgies, violence, abuse, and sinful revelries, the entire planet literally boils with evil blackness; and, all creation is in upheaval, the seas roaring, the ground rolling, the core spewing upwards. Without warning, the sky splits open and light pierces through, as if two large hands peel back the curtains of darkness cloaking the earth.  Evil cringes, blind and afraid.  Descending from the heavens on this carpet of light appears an army.  The soldiers perch atop white horses, and wear linen weaved in white, at its cleanest and finest quality.  Leading the charge gallops the fearful sight of One who causes humanity to tremble, and creation to rejoice.  He comes upon a giant horse so white it gleams, with muscles rippling and hooves pounding with power.  The Rider is resplendent:  His face brilliant as the sun, feet glowing like bronze in a furnace, eyes blazing with fire.  Upon His head He wears many crowns – the crowns of the nations.  Like the rest of His army, He wears a white robe, but around His chest a gold sash marks His royalty and dripping from the linen is red liquid – blood.  The blood is His own, which He gave for the sins of humanity so that they could be clothed in white like His army, but now this blood comes with another purpose – to bring justice upon those who mocked the sacrifice and refused its substitution for their sins.  The Rider has many names:  Faithful, True, Word of God; and, sewn into His robe as well as tattooed into the skin of his thigh in bold letters is the Name which He rides forth in authority with – KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.   He is Christ, the returning Messiah, coming to bring justice to the earth, and rule with that faithful, true and just Hand.  

The beast of the earth, his armies, and all his followers that served him as if
he was king, gather – a pale formation in opposition to the blazing brightness of the army of heaven.  All the strength of humanities’ evil becomes miniscule before the power of Christ.  The sides charge towards eachother, and out of the Rider’s mouth comes a sword glinting with razor sharpness.  With this sword comes all the Word’s of God, all the prophecies of His justice and victory; the voice speaking forth the Word thunders.  The Rider’s words pound like all the rushing waterfalls of the earth reverberating to the ground at one time, and they pierce the army of the beast straight through – slicing their very joints and marrow like a million daggers.  Instant death.  Not so for the beast and his main leader; they are captured and thrown by the King of Kings into the depths of the universe, the very fiery pit boiling with every evil imaginable which torments and burns souls for eternity.  Later, satan himself follows the sentence of his followers, and sin is terminated…forever.
 Justice is served to the earth. The clouds of corruption dissipate, and the abused creation collapses to be replaced by a new, glorious, and perfect earth connected indefinitely with heaven. The light of the Rider in White, now upon His throne, brings splendor to everything and everyone, never again to be touched by tears, pain, or dark.  The King rules in a new city with all His faithfulness – a city glowing.  Every kind of gem is inlaid in the walls, streets shine of gold, waters sparkle like crystal, and gardens so green they appear as emerald, with fruit of every kind available.  Everywhere you go, people are singing and dancing, praising and rejoicing…never a negative word or cry to be heard.  Zinging through the very air is holiness and reverence.   The people are pure.  Perfect.  And in constant contentment as they live their lives in unity, respect, love, and relationship before and with their King, their Lord, and their GOD…forever. (Revelations 1:13-16; 19:11 – 22:5)

This is the future. 
The real future. 
It’s not some hypothetical, sci-fi flick I am re-enacting a scene from, but it comes straight from the scriptures (go read it yourself!  It’s incredible).  I tell the story of the future of the earth to remind myself, and others, of the power of this Jesus I talk of so much.  He is not just Jesus, but He is Jesus CHRIST – Christ means “anointed,” or “anointed one” in the original Hebraic text.  He is anointed by the Spirit of God to ride forth and bring Justice, and fight against evil in this world!  And he glows, blazes, shines with the brilliance of this cause!  He is not tame, clean cut, or small…He is fierce. 

Certainly this reality gives me confidence, knowing I serve a God who’s not just beautiful, loving, and gentle, but He is just, a warrior for what’s right and true. 
But there is more: 
the future impacts our now.
 This battle starts now. 
There are aspects of Christ the Rider and Warrior that we are to display.  You see, our battle against this evil force occurs daily, and we ARE a part of the heavenly army.  This is going to blow your mind…

That Spirit of glory and fierce power that anoints Jesus lives within us!  Romans 8:11 says that the Spirit that was in Jesus is now within us; and “He has anointed us” (2 Corinthians 1:21) while we’re on this earth to do His work.  Like the armies of heaven, we are clothed in this splendor – “He has clothed me in garments of salvation and arrayed me in robes of His righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10). One thing of note is that, through Him, we have not a touch of red upon our garments and no blood marking their purity; He has removed the scarlet stains (Isaiah 1:18) and taken them upon Himself.  He wears our sins.  We have been given the right and privilege to have faces filled with radiance (Psalms 34:5) and we receive from Him “white clothes to wear” (Revelations 3:18) because HE TOOK THE SHAME AND SIN.  So, my first point is to honor this.  Do not choose to put back on the garments or face of shame when He gave everything so that He may clothe you in brilliance and anoint you with power.  Live to part the clouds of darkness as you walk in this holiness.  In HIM, in the power of His Spirit, the forces of satan tremble before you. 

Secondly, the weapon of the Rider also has been granted for you to wield; for the Rider is called “Word of God,” and what comes out of His mouth, the sharp sword, symbolizes this Word.  We have been given the sword as well; it’s called the Bible – “for the word of God is alive and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).  I believe that when Christ, the returning Messiah, uses the Word it literally pierces people like a sword, for this is what is said to destroy the armies of the beast in Revelation.  However, for us, the sword has this effect in the spiritual realm.  We are commanded to TAKE IT UP – “take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).  Today, we are entrusted with the sword of Christ; we are charged with the mission to penetrate sin with the Word’s truth – even to set free souls from the clutches of evil spirits, as it says that the sword has the power to divide soul and spirit.  Do not ignore the weapon that Christ Himself uses (even Jesus in the wilderness used the Word to fight satan)…begin to use it daily!

This future is going to happen –
and we have a profound effect on this future.  We are, after all, “Christ’s ambassadors” (I Corinthians 5:20) on the earth.  Before any battle, ambassadors are sent to negotiate peace, and minimize damage.  We have a message for the people of this world to surrender now to Jesus and accept the garments’ of His army; the less who have to suffer with the beast’s fate, the better.

Our mission is profound.
Our covering and weapon is anointed.
Our leader is resplendent.
Our future is secure through Him.








…but, there are those who’s futures are still burning with turmoil, and there is time still for them to join the army of heaven, before final Justice rides in in His Fearsome Glory to demolish sin for eternity.    

ALL OF CREATION IS CRYING OUT FOR US TO STEP UP AND BATTLE NOW WITH THE LIGHT AND TRUTH BESTOWED WITHIN AND UPON US. (Romans 8:22-25)

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