Published in 2010 in “Crucified Getting the Mind Of Christ”
I have a serious thought here and it is not doctrine of any kind but my spirit is wondering about this and I want to present it and ask my reader to consider it and check to see if it falls in line with Scripture. Here is what I believe will most likely happen. If indeed we are the last generation of the church to be gathered and if indeed the believing but not sanctified believers will be spewed into the great tribulation. To be made sure, then I believe many saved but not sanctified believers will be brought to physical death just before his return for the bride.
I think natural disasters, illnesses, pestilences in wars, etc. Will be used to accomplish this.
These, I believe, will be precursors to the events in Matthew 24… Birth pains. It is happening in the news as we speak.
[I am going to reiterate here, as I am recording this, during this pandemic in March 2020, that these are excerpts that I wrote in 2010, in my book Crucified].
The natural disasters around the world right now are unprecedented in all of history. And we know that those who are are losing their lives in these disasters are both believers and nonbelievers… This has always been the case. It has always been the case but I believe the frequency and intensity of these events will accomplish this. “Blessed are the dead he die in the Lord”.
I think that God wants to spare as many of his precious children as He can from entering this time. It will be a time of unthinkable horror. He would rather them die of illnesses and the like to be sanctified and than to see them sanctified through this horrifying period that the word is probably about to enter. This is just my suspicion… It is no more than that; I wonder if it could be so. I think it is reasonable enough to consider. I am not saying that any believer who dies in these last days is not sanctified… Not at all. It may just be there time to go; but my point remains.
In first Corinthians 7:14, Paul says that the unbelieving husband or wife is sanctified by their spouse (who is sanctified) and their children are made holy. To be holy is to be sanctified. Now the idea that a sanctified believer who is raptured today will leave behind a spouse and children is unbearable to think of. But the Scriptures say something about this: the spouse of a believer will be sanctified, and one righteous parent makes their children holy. To be holy in the Lord’s sight is the same as being sanctified. So I believe that anyone sanctified who has an unbelieving spouse and children will cause their spouse and children to be considered holy unto the the Lord.
Look a little further down in first Corinthians 7:16: Paul says that “who knows… Maybe we will save our unbelieving spouse?” He uses the wife here but the other Scriptures tell us that this applies to wife and husband… We get truth by searching the WHOLE word of God and not just one verse.
Another scripture I am thinking of that bolsters the same idea is found in Matthew 5:16 where Jesus says this: “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven”. Think about that… if we are doers of the word and not just speakers of the word, then we are considered to sanctified, right? The single minded believer is a doer of the word. The spouse who lives the word before her husband will sanctify him. This verse in Matthew says it. If we will do the word, we will lead those watching to glorify God. It is the double minded believer who may turn others away from Christ because they see little or no truth lived out through the believer’s life. Also, think of the verses in Matthew that tell us that whatever resides in a man’s heart comes forth out of his mouth. As a man thinks in his heart so is he (Proverbs 23:7).
This makes sense. We are told in 1 Peter 3 that believing wives just may win their unbelieving husbands by there holy conversation (includes behavior) to have holy conversation, we must have a holy and purified heart… I think this is a sanctified life here. It takes several scriptures to explain the notion that a sanctified believer does indeed sanctify his or her spouse and also this makes their children holy. Otherwise the scripture say, the children would be unclean. So God makes a special provision here. He will Open the eyes of the blind by way of a sanctified believers life. Remember how Lydia was pursuing the one true God so God opened her heart to receive Christ. Now this could also mean that the spouse and the children of the same divide the lever may have to be certified through the great tribulation, I don’t know. But remember that he will sanctify every believer somehow. This Hass to be the case. We are saved through sanctification.
But let’s look again at a fabulously complete and descriptive portion of scripture in the Gospel of John. I have already referenced this but here it is again: Jesus is telling the disciples here in John 12:23-26 that He must die if eternal life is to be given to those who would believe on the Son of God. He says that unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains one seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. How beautifully descriptive this analogy is to dying to self rule and how it is patterned after the crucifixion. We know that if we are to abide in Christ, then we must first be crucified with Christ, we must die to self rule. Well, Jesus says that only an abiding believer can produce fruit. Jesus is saying the same thing here with the kernel of wheat. Believers are called wheat, remember? We are either wheat (believers) or chaff (nonbelievers).
more next time from Crucified, Getting the Mind of Christ…