You might say, “What about the sanctified then…who go up with the Lord…are they not blessed?” Yes! They died in the Lord by dying to self-rule. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.
How can we explain Revelation 6:11? It is very strange. Listen: the tribulation Saints, who have been beheaded under the altar, are crying out to God concerning the avenging of their blood. They are told to rest a while until their fellow servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. What! Why do they have to be killed as their brethren where? I am thinking, like I said before, that it is because they must be sanctified by death in order to enter Heaven. Without a pure heart, no one can see God. So it is with us. “Blessed are the dead that died in the Lord.”
maybe some believers will die to self rule during this time and they will not be beheaded; I don’t see any hint of that idea taught anywhere in the word, however. There is also something to learn about the fact that the tribulation saints are under the altar. This speaks of them as offering themselves to God as pure… We can look back at the offerings in Leviticus and see a pattern (Lev. 4:7). Remember that all things offered upon God‘s altar must be pure. We can also make a connection between Abel’s blood crying out to God and the tribulation saints crying out to him. They are now an acceptable offering to God… Pure. The flesh has been cut off. There is a pattern here and it does relate to the fact that they are beheaded.
The 144,000 are different. They are different because the church has been formed. This may be evidence that only the nation of Israel is saved during this period and the beheaded saints are those who had believed before the tribulation but we’re not sanctified. At this point, God is dealing with the nation of Israel and completing the 70 weeks of judgment that begin with king Cyrus’ decree to rebuild Jerusalem after the 70 years of Babylonian captivity. They are hidden for 3 1/2 years because God supernaturally preserves them as His wrath is being poured out on the wicked. This is clearly a literal hiding in a literal location. Israel is not raptured here.
I believe we are in the generation where holiness and righteousness are hard to find and not welcome in the church as a whole. I see a great falling away of some of those who started to follow Christ. This is why God is speaking this message so fervently for the last day generation. Just look again at the churches in Revelation just before the rapture. He says to the Laodecian church that their lukewarmness will get them spewed out of his mouth. The scripture does not say that these are unsaved but that they are Luke warm. Jesus says they are naked. Now go way back to Ezekiel 16 where he said that Israel, though she was betrothed to Him, was an infant who was naked. He did not clothe her and cover her nakedness until she was mature and ready for love. He is chastening the Laodiceans and remember… He says that He only chastens those whom He loves… His sheep. I think this is what will happen at the rapture and is what I just mentioned.
I believe the word teaches us that the righteous, (the sanctified), will go only; those who, like Enoch, walk with God. They are the believers who loved not their own lives onto death and therefore gained fullness in Christ. They, like Abel, gave a sacrifice that cost them something (remember the pearl of great price). Those who won’t die to self-rule can be likened to Cane. They do not bring the first fruits of the flock. They bring offerings to God, but these offerings are inferior because they do not require death… Blood, crucifixion (resist sin to the point of bloodshed). The saved but lukewarm will be spewed into the great tribulation with the unbelievers where they will have to go through death to be done with sin. He is talking to a group that is called the church, remember. Some of them are believers. This death is not an atoning death. Only the death of Christ could accomplish salvation. This is death to self rule. It is the pearl of great price that they would not pay while they had the chance, so now they will pay it. But they will gain the great treasure for paying it.
more next time…