December 11, 2002, re-edited November 28, 2005
Today I was thinking about the next two coming Heavenly events and how close they probably are. And yet, lately in the churches we seldom get excited about what God has in store.
I feel like when I was a little child. It was 1956 and I was nine years old. Disneyland had just opened. I had watched the Disney show every week. I had seen the plans, the pictures of the construction and felt the excitement.
When my parents decided to take us to Disneyland I could hardly wait. My insides were vibrating with excitement. I remember when I walked in the gates, looked up at Mickey Mouse's face portrayed in flowers in the rise holding up the Disneyland train station and that real steam locomotive. Then I walked under the bridge and out onto Main Street U.S.A. It was as if I had left earth and gone to some kind of other world.
But Disneyland was a mirage. What is coming from God is no mirage! It will very probably be in my life time. Probably in the next few years or less. Oh, I could be wrong. But I know that it was 2,000 years from Adam and Eve to the Flood. It was another 2,000 years from the Flood until baby Jesus was laid in the Manger. Now it has been 2,000 years since the Manger. That's 6,000 years. Let me tell you why I believe there is only about 1,000 years left before new heavens and a new earth.
Many of God's true people believe that when the Bible teaches that a day is like a thousand years to God that this gives us a key to understanding God's time table of history.
They believe that each day of creation represents a thousand years of history that would transpire on earth. And they believe that the Seventh Day, the day of God's rest is a shadow of the Thousand years when God will rest with HIS people on earth.
They believe that we are standing very close to the threshold of the thousand years of peace, when Jesus will physically reign in Jerusalem over planet Earth. There will be a Temple and Christ will have HIS throne in what we know as the Holy of Holies. HE will rule the entire planet from that throne room.
But, before that comes to pass there will be the Escape of the purified believers to Glory, to Heaven. There they will enjoy seven years of feasting at the marriage of Jesus to HIS Bride, the church. This will be the greatest celebration that has ever occurred in all time and space. Oh, there will be garments of praise, shimmerings and glimmerings of glorious ecstasy. Hallelujah!!
At the same time on earth an equally opposite condition will exist. It will be the most terrible time in all human history, the Tribulation. It is a period when evil takes over, bears it's awful fruit and makes an attempt to prove that darkness can rule well.
When evil reaches full fruit and is about to consume everything, including itself, then the holy angels and the purified church will come back to Earth with Jesus on HIS white horse, as He comes to root out the devil and all the evil hoards. Satan will have had his chance to make evil work on earth. And evil in full fruit will still be a failure. Satan will be locked in Hell for a thousand years. The Beastly one-world dictator and the False Prophet will be thrown bodily into the Lake of Fire. Millions of holy angels will descend to earth and remove every evil person, every evil establishment and the earth will be cleansed. Christ will set up HIS glorious Kingdom, right here on earth, to show that holiness and purity and righteousness makes a perfect world. And there will be no more war among nations. All weapons will be melted down to become tools for peace.
Friends, we are very, very, very, very, very, close to these events. And yet, we are not vibrating with excitement. We are so consumed with just getting through another day.
But, as I've been praying and seeking the Lord HE has been showing me that it is just a bit longer. Just a little bit longer that we must stand up for righteousness in a dark world. The changing of the guard is coming. There is going to be a different world here, maybe in only as many years as you have fingers on your hands.
Read about it in your Bible. Read Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Isaiah, Revelation. Don't get depressed. Get excited. There's a great day coming, for the pure in heart. Yes, the awful time of Tribulation awaits the world just before the goodness. But if you live holy you won't be here to see that. So concentrate on living each day as if it were your last day on earth. Get filled with the Holy Ghost!
Get holy! Get pure! Get close to Jesus. Seek HIS face. Seek God. Don't miss the Marriage Supper, the Rapture and then you will return as a part of HIS mighty army to the Thousand years of glory. And after that God is going to have a new earth and new heavens and things beyond our little minds. But we will always be with HIM, our wonderful Lord!
clint