The End Times

Why Is This Word for the Church?

God reveals His purpose and will to those who are capable of obeying and experiencing those riches of His glory. The simple knowledge of facts and experiences of others do not make us partakers of His promises. The "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" has to be experienced by each of us in an individual way. Each one of us must know the Lord and must have the capacity to live and experience Him in a real and continuous way. We are the possession of the Lord, and in this way we must walk, expressing His true image in this world. "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (1 John 2:6). Therefore, when God reveals His purpose and will, He does it so that we can obey Him by faith.

Why is this word of the end times for the church, if she will not go through the Great Tribulation? God chose the church for a great mission: to spread the gospel and to bring understanding of His purpose and will to all people. Ephesians 3:9-11 says, "and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." Therefore, it is the church which must have a full understanding of all future events, in order to teach and proclaim them in a sound and clear way. He who loves God and walks in His will can know and understand the mysteries of God, since they are understood not through human intelligence or ability, but by the revelation of God through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority" (John 7:17).

The book of Revelation was written for the church. "John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come..." "What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia..." "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Revelation 1:4, 11, 2:7). Therefore, all members of the church have the responsibility to understand and keep this word of God. "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near." "Then he said to me, ‘These words are faithful and true.' And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. ‘Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book'" (Revelation 1:3, 22:6-7).

In addition to this, in the last two chapters of Revelation we find one of the most wonderful and glorious pictures of God's final purpose, the full union (wedding) of the Lord Jesus with His bride, the church. With this final event, God fulfills His goal for mankind as He states it in Ephesians 1:9-12: "having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory." How great and wonderful is the plan of God for us! Amen.

Next: A Whole Panorama of God's Plan