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Christian Chronicles, June 2003 - Volume 6, Issue 90
| The
Editor's Pen | Perspectives | Mid-East Update | Fruit of the Vine
| Ezekiel: Aligning the Nations | What?
Where? When? Why? |
| Fruitful Laboring | Exuberance
Abounds | Gold, Silver &
Precious Stones |
The deadline is rapidly approaching, and little has been done toward the production of this month’s issue of CC. Much prayer and quiet consideration has been given to the theme of the June edition, but until now, we have been unable to decide between “Treasure in Heaven” and “The Prophet Ezekiel” as this month’s primary focus. As we approach the end of the Church Age, it is certainly appropriate to consider the treasure we have laid up in heaven, seeing that the end of the age finds us standing at the judgment seat of Christ, where the coffers we have filled with gold, silver and precious stones in our earthly ministries will be ours by sight and not by faith alone. It is immediately following the rapture of the Church that we receive our heavenly treasure, as we join our Husband in celebration of our everlasting redemption.
At the same time, the prophet Ezekiel makes the most startling predictions, and all the more when they are compared to the headlines in newspapers around the world today. The attitudes of various peoples in their relation to Israel as the time of the end approaches are described in such plain language that their relevance becomes immediately chilling. Even in the “peace” process, the nations and peoples are moving rapidly and ignorantly toward the gravest error mankind has ever made, the final and “ultimate” partitioning of the land that God gave to Abraham. There will be a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement one day, probably sooner rather than later, and when those nations that Ezekiel spoke of have completed the things that are prophesied of them, well, let us rejoice that we will be in heaven, enjoying the fruits of our earthly labors, and not suffering the judgment of God
The center article will present the highlights of some of Ezekiel’s prophecies, and the rest will speak of that heavenly treasure.
With both the Palestinians and the Israelis agreeing to accept the “Road Map for Peace” put forth by Bush and three allies, everything seemed rosy for a brief period. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas stated publicly that he felt certain he could negotiate a cease-fire with Hamas, the militant group responsible for many of the suicide bombings in Israel, and that the peace process could go forward.
Hamas leader, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, however, denied that such a cease-fire was possible, vowing to continue the armed struggle until Israel no longer exists. According to Reuters News Service on June 10, al-Rantissi said,
“We will maintain our jihad (holy struggle) and resistance until we kick out every single criminal Zionist from our land," Rantissi told al-Jazeera television by telephone from Gaza's Shifa Hospital. "Killing me will not give them security.”
This statement came after Israeli helicopter forces struck the vehicle al-Rantissi was riding in. Seven missiles were fired from two helicopter gunships. Al-Rantissi was wounded in the attack but not killed. Israel’s position is that anyone who seeks their destruction is an enemy in a declared war, and is a legitimate target. It was not until after Hamas declared publicly that it would not engage in a cease-fire, no matter the agreements made by Prime Minister Abbas, that Israel determined to take out the head of the militant organization most devoted to the destruction of Israel.
Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas called the strike a “terrorist act" and a "terrible deterioration" of the peace efforts, according to the Jerusalem Post on June 10. Israeli officials said that Israel would continue to fight terrorism since the Palestinian Authority has ruled out force as a means of stopping the attacks on Israel. The Palestinians did not address the two separate attacks launched by Hamas on Israel two days earlier in which five Israelis were killed.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, in an address to the Israeli Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, went to the heart of the matter by saying that Yasser Arafat would have to be expelled in the near future. It is believed by all that it is the Palestinian leader himself who orders the continuing violence. Arafat has not been included in any negotiations, and has been snubbed by visiting American diplomats for more than a year because he steadfastly refuses to order Hamas and other violent groups to put down their weapons and allow the Palestinians to engage in diplomacy as a solution to the thorny problems of the troubled Middle East. Israel has long refused to negotiate with Arafat, whom they consider to be untrustworthy and insincere in matters concerning Israel’s right to exist. When the United States government joined Israel in her boycott of Arafat, the world pretty much joined in that effort, relegating Arafat to irrelevance in the peace process. He finally agreed to name Mahmoud Abbas Prime Minister, but it is widely believed that Arafat continues to work behind the scenes to stir up the militant groups and to support their continuing attacks on Israel, despite the Prime Minister’s determination to quell the violence. However, because of political considerations, Abbas does not feel that he is able to bring military or police forces to bear against Hamas or other groups.
As of this writing, the world is all worked up, fearing that the Palestinians attacks and the Israeli retaliation will scuttle the peace talks. But this process has been ongoing since Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visited Jerusalem in the late seventies, and has survived many attempts to kill it. It is unlikely that the current violence will have any lasting effect on the process. Since both sides have publicly declared their support for Mr. Bush’s “Road Map for Peace,” it is not probable that militant minorities will long thwart the will of the great majority of the Palestinian people who desire to live in peace at last in a homeland of their own.
The peace process will go forward, overcoming such obstacles as it must on the road that Bush has mapped, until all sides believe that they have reached a point where greater advantage cannot be gained through negotiation. Then there will be agreement. If this treaty is the treaty that inaugurates the tribulation period, the Church will be raptured before the treaty is ratified. Christians ought not be discouraged when the peace process is temporarily stalled. The prophet Daniel has declared that there will be a false peace.
Love compels the Christian to bear witness of God’s grace. The thought of another human being dying unsaved is distressing to Christians, especially because of the love of God indwelling the saints. There is, however, another compelling reason to minister to the lost.
Paul, thanking the Philippian Christians for supporting his ministry financially, said, “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account” (4:17). As Paul went about his missionary work, he was fulfilling his ministry. Leading souls to the Lord. Teaching others so that they were equipped for the same work. Admonishing the saints everywhere, all with the goal in mind of fruitful labors that would bring rewards at the judgment seat of Christ (Phil 3:14). Everything in Paul’s life revolved around being fruitful himself, and in training and teaching others so that they would be fruitful. Every bit of treasure that Paul laid up in heaven for himself was laid up also for the Philippians and the many others who also supported Paul in his ministry. And all the rewards for the labors of service that those others performed was also credited to Paul’s account in heaven. Ministry never wears a single face. It is the fruit of the labors of many, orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. Those Christians who are active in their own ministries, and those who participate in the ministries of others who are active, all lay up treasures in heaven against the Day when our works are judged.
Fruitfulness begins with a heart that is willing and eager to get the brilliant light of the word of reconciliation to a sin-darkened world. There are many ways to serve God, but like Paul, in order to be fruitful, our works must be directed toward the spreading of the Gospel, whether through personal testimony to the lost, or participation in those ministries that both preach and teach the word of reconciliation. Fruitfulness should characterize every ministry.
for prophecy never came
by the will of man,
but holy men of God
Spoke
as they were moved
by the Holy Spirit.
(2 Pet 1:21)
M
any Christians are afraid of prophecy. They don’t like to study it, because they are unsure of their theological ground, or they believe that it all ends badly, even catastrophically, and their hearts rebel against it. For some, it seems too complex. Non-Christians will often brush off testimony concerning prophecy very brusquely. There are some eternal facts that they simply prefer not to know. What you don’t know can’t hurt you, eh? Oh, but indeed, it can. Everyone wants to know the future, but few will venture to that place where alone the future is revealed to us. Someone once said, “The future is now.” It was probably some cute advertising jingle or slogan, and its full importance was limited to whatever bauble was being dangled before us at the time. The fullest implications of “The future is now” are not understood until one begins to study his Bible with an eye to the prophets and the headlines.Of course, many “experts” will stretch the very tiniest detail into the most convoluted web of proof that his version of the Scriptures is coming true today. One must be careful in studying prophecy, not to be turned aside by every “sensationalist” notion that springs to mind. Nevertheless, there are some things that are abundantly clear concerning certain areas of the Middle East — very specific attitudes of very specific nations and peoples toward Israel as the climax of the ages is ushered in by a time of judgment and tribulation preceding the return of the Lord of Glory to establish His throne in Jerusalem. Ezekiel is a wonderful resource for understanding the roles of the various Middle Eastern peoples and nations at the end of this age, as they enter the tribulation period.
We shall explore a bit of Ezekiel in the center article. But there is another little-discussed avenue of prophecy, and that is the treasure that the saints are to lay up in heaven. We shall see that heavenly treasure meant almost everything to the Apostle Paul, excepting only his desire to see his Savior with his own eyes, and to serve Him sinlessly forever. Prophecy, for the Christian, is not a scary thing at all. The next event on the prophetic horizon is the rapture of the Church. That event is called “the blessed hope” (Tit 2:13). It is that moment when time and eternity come together in our bodily translation, and we immediately receive our reward, that treasure we have laid up in heaven. The first thing on our heavenly agenda is the judgment seat of Christ, or Bema. Here our works are judged. Sin is not the issue at all, but the works that we have done in fulfilling our personal ministries comprise the weight of our reward. We will be visited with those opportunities we had for service to God in our earthly walk that we did not meet. For those failures to serve, we will suffer the loss of some measure of the reward that might have been ours had we availed ourselves of the opportunities for service that God provided. Nevertheless, the judgment seat of Christ will be a time of rejoicing and celebration, the first gathering of all the Church Age saints in one place at the same time since the Age began. And this gathering shall center around the throne of our Lord and Groom, around the throne of God, from whence will be dispensed such treasure as we cannot imagine.
It is important to understand these things, for they dramatically alter the way we approach our lives today. Knowing that the rapture must surely be upon us, that we are treading the hallways of the last days of this Age — these things enlarge our hope and our faith, impacting heavily upon our personal ministries. Therefore, we are happy to provide in this issue, a discussion of heavenly treasure, but also a look at how neatly prophecy overlays the current geo-political stage. By seeing how geo-political events are aligning themselves with the words of the prophets, we begin to see that the events that are to follow shortly on the heels of the rapture are shaping up at an accelerating pace. The prophetic puzzle is coming together rapidly on the stage we call Earth.
The world is largely unaware of the approaching events, and is determined to remain unaware. There are things that it adamantly refuses to examine, and these are those things that mark the fulfillment of the prophecies. The move toward peace in the Middle East is steam-rolling ahead now, and the partitioning of the land that God gave to Abraham and his descendants is almost fully agreed upon by the “many” who will enter into a covenant of “peace.” The ratification of that treaty in the Israeli Knesset will mark the beginning of the tribulation period. Before that ratification occurs, all Church Age saints will be raised from their graves, living Christians will be translated, and we will leave the earth with our Lord, to stand at the throne and receive our heavenly treasure! We watch with bated breath, praying that this upcoming covenant will be the one that follows the rapture of the Church.
W
hat riches of hope we find in the pages of Ezekiel’s writings! Our Father has not left us without real and visible and tangible reasons to hope that we might be that generation that lives at the rapture of the Church. Paul tells us that we will know the times and the seasons of the rapture of the Church (1 Th 5:1-6). The question is, “By what means shall we know the times and the seasons?” Many suppose that it will be through some mystical means that we will recognize the season, as if God shall supernaturally put it in our minds like He did to the prophets of old. That position is inconsistent with one of the basic principles of Christianity, that His Word is now complete, and any understanding we may have of spiritual or prophetic matters must come from there. We shall know the times and the seasons because the Word of God tells us what conditions will obtain on the earth in those days.Never before in the history of the world have the objective circumstances been “right” for the events that follow the rapture. The national alliances were not right, no Gentile nation had arisen that could exert its will anywhere in the world, opposed or unopposed. For many centuries, Israel was not even in the land. Certain conditions must apply on the geo-political stage before the tribulation period begins. As we begin to see those circumstances coalesce on the world stage, centered primarily in the Middle East, we can know that the tribulation period is very near. The rapture of the Church is nearer in time than the tribulation period is, for the former precedes the latter. If the tribulation is close, the rapture is closer. We shall see that the tribulation period is close indeed.
Each of the prophets give rich details that the others do not, forming a comprehensive overview of the world stage at the time of the tribulation period. Ezekiel, in particular, identifies certain peoples and nations, and he gives us insights into their attitudes toward Israel, their actions and their aims. Then he gives us God’s resolution in the case of each nation. In the prophet Joel, God said that the primary reason that the Gentiles are included in this time of trouble is that they willingly and knowingly partitioned the land that God gave to Abraham, and to his son Isaac, and then to Jacob, and then to David, and his Son forever. By seeing what Ezekiel says of the various peoples of that region, we can see that every nation that is mentioned is already fulfilling the main flower of his prophecy. If Daniel is the key that unlocks the Book of Revelation, Ezekiel is that prophet who shows us the times and the seasons in undeniable fashion. If Jeremiah weeps, Ezekiel rejoices in the restoration of Israel and the reign of her Messiah. He sternly declares the fate of those nations that oppose Israel, even as he defines their hearts and minds by their deeds. From the things he tells us, we can examine the times and the seasons in which we live, and be encouraged to seek ever more diligently to lay up heavenly treasure against the Day when our rewards shall be meted out. Let us examine the stage and see if conditions are ripe for Middle East peace, for that is surely the key that unlocks the storehouses of the wrath of God. Let us all be vigilant and strong!
The first twenty-four chapters of Ezekiel’s writings are filled with God’s stern warnings of judgment upon Israel. He excoriates them for their faithlessness and their infidelity and their mercenary maltreatment of their poor. Throughout those long and dreadful chapters, he also, however, holds out the promise of eventual restoration, both to the land and to the good graces of her God. Israel is still God’s chosen people, and He will not leave them destitute forever. His Word is very clear in that matter, and it will yet come to pass. First, however, Israel must be brought low. She must become so desperate that she finds no other choice but to turn to the approaching Lamb whom she slaughtered and accept Him as her Messiah. She will not do so willingly because of her pride and her faith in the reasonings of man. But do so she shall. Israel will accept Christ at His Second Coming. That event concludes the time of Jacob’s trouble, when Israel is judged. One of the primary reasons for the tribulation occurring in the first place is to bring Israel to her knees. The first twenty-four chapters of Ezekiel deal with that process.
The next fifteen chapters deal with, among other things, prophecies concerning the nations. Obviously, we lack space to provide a full exposition of these important chapters, but we shall examine enough to prove to any candid mind that the days of these prophecies are at hand. Our readers surely know by now that many of the nations referred to in the Scriptures no longer exist. Babylon, for example, existed in the land that we now call Iraq. Persia is modern-day Iran. Cush is Ethiopia, Put is Libya, and so on. By exploring what the Bible has to say about the peoples of these regions, about their actions toward Israel and their attitudes toward God’s chosen people, we can compare what the modern inhabitants of those places are saying and doing, and come to some understanding of roughly where we are in the prophetic scheme of things. We can study times and seasons.
While there will be a peace treaty signed and ratified, and while the governments of those nations will, for the sake of commerce, be engaged in some “legal” way, the old resentments will remain. Even at the time of this writing, on the day before Bush goes to the summit with the Palestinians and Israel, the Palestinians are angling to ensure that some four million displaced Palestinians be granted the right to return to Israel, where they lost their homes in the creation of the nation of Israel. The clear reason for the Palestinians’ insistence upon this clause in the treaty is so that Israel will have more Palestinians than Jews, so that it cannot be called a Jewish state. Not only will Israel not be a Jewish state, but it will, in effect and in fact, become a Palestinian state, in which the Palestinians can always outvote the Jews. The heart that hates the people of God remains in them, and they resist and attempt to suppress in every way that they can (and still be accepted as viable in the civilized world) the Jewish people and the state of Israel.
Of course, Gaza was one of five major cities in Philistia, and this Gaza of old was located in what is today the Gaza Strip, on the Mediterranean coast, home today to the Palestinians. Consider the indictment that God brings against the people of Philistia:
Thus says the Lord God: “Because the Philistines dealt vengefully and took vengeance with a spiteful heart, to destroy because of the old hatred... (Ezek 25:15).
Governments make their long-range plans, and then they sell their plans to the populace over a period of time, until it becomes politically possible to accomplish their aims. There will be a Middle East peace treaty, and probably some Middle Eastern version of the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA), probably with the acronym of MEFTA. But those old sibling resentments still fester and boil just beneath the surface in the hearts of the people. The invasion of Israel by Russia (Ezek 38-39) near the mid-point of the tribulation will be intended to exploit that old hatred, causing the Arab peoples to rise up against their rulers, making alliances with Russia, and giving Russia control of the Mideast oil supply. That will be Russia’s aim, and it will fail. One need only compare a modern map with an ancient map to discover that the nations that are to be allied with Gog are those very nations which today are aligned with Russia politically. The salient fact here, however, is that the old hatred between the Arabs and the Jews still exists, despite any treaties that may be signed. Israel’s enemies, even in times of “peace,” will constantly be seeking ways to eliminate her. Just as they are trying to do so in the opening stages of the latest negotiations for peace.
Another portion of the “Road Map for Peace” deals with the City of Jerusalem, ancient capital of Israel. Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister of Israel, was willing to cede much of that holy city to the Palestinians, but the Palestinians rejected it because it did not give them as much control over Jerusalem as they wanted. In truth, the Palestinians want all of Jerusalem, and will not be satisfied until they have a clear and firm opening through which they can eventually push Israel into the Mediterranean Sea. They are willing to have a nation called Israel beside them, but they are completely unwilling to have that state be or become a Jewish state. The right of return of the exiled Palestinians is a central point of the Palestinian negotiating position. Their suicide bombers have been trying for decades to destroy Israel and, as of this writing, have not agreed to cease that activity. The people of the land of Philistia are doing precisely as Ezekiel predicted, and the judgment that befalls them will be commensurate with the offense. Israel belongs to God, and God is not going to lose this fight. Still, Ishmael's ancient hatred remains.
Moab occupied lands that today are the southwest Jordan, north and east of the Arabah, beside the Salt Sea. Ezekiel said of the hearts of these people,
Because Moab and Seir say, “Look! The house of Judah is like all the nations... (Ezek 2:58)
The public position of Jordan is that Israel is no different in character or nature than any other nation, and they must bend to the will of the world if they are to be accepted. Unfortunately, what the Arabs want is for Israel to bend to the Arabian will. The Palestinians have elected a new Prime Minister in the reformation process that they hope will lead to a peace treaty with Israel. The Jordanians, and other Arab leaders, while sort of recognizing the democratic process in the Palestinian territories, have not given the new Prime Minister the kind of Arab backing he needs in order to rein in the violence there. The Jordanians and others do not believe that Israel has any “Divine” right to the land that the Bible gives to her. Nothing special or holy about Israel. That is the attitude. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that they believe that Israel has less right to political considerations than the Palestinians.
Jordan has a treaty with Israel already. It is a two-party covenant, not involving other Arab states. However, whenever there is conflict between Israel and some Arab state, Jordan either remains neutral or sides with the Arab state. The people of Jordan supported Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War. They also did in the second war with Iraq. For that matter, so did the Palestinians, demonstrating in the streets in both Jordan and Gaza and the West Bank. Ezekiel wrote of the people of Ammon, that ancient city, now the capital of Jordan:
Because you said, “Aha!” against my sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity... (Ezek 25:3)
For nearly nineteen centuries, no nation could take vengeance on Israel, for Israel did not exist. While it is certainly true that these prophecies were fulfilled historically, like so very much of prophecy, these passages have both a near and a far view— a partial fulfillment in the prophet’s day or shortly thereafter, and a more complete fulfillment in the last days. This is proven by the use of the term, “the Day of the Lord” in 30:3.
Hear also these words of the prophet Ezekiel concerning what is now Jordan, written hundreds of years before Christ:
Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced in heart with all your disdain for the land of Israel... (25:6)
The Jordanians danced in the streets, revealing their hearts toward Israel.
Ezekiel says of Elam:
There is Elam and all her multitude... Who caused their terror in the land of the living... Though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet they shall bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit (Ezek 32: 24-25).
And where is Elam? It lay in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains, in southwesternmost Iran, who, along with Syria, are the greatest purveyors of terror in the Middle East today.
Who are the nations that are to be aligned with Gog in their mid-tribulation invasion of Israel? Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Turkey. While Turkey is still officially an ally of the United States, she sided with Russia and France in Mr. Bush’s latest foray into Iraq. Persia, as noted earlier is modern Iran. That Oriental nation is certainly more aligned with Russia than with the U.S. Libya and Ethiopia are also aligned with the former Northern empire. The stage is set for the events of the tribulation period.
The greatest sign of the times: The ongoing negotiating process for peace in the Middle East. Whether or not these negotiations will lead to that treaty which inaugurates the seventieth week of Daniel remains to be seen. However, with the geo-political stage so conformed to the prophecies concerning the end times and the onset of the tribulation, and with the peace process occupying the forefront of the political consciousness of every “important” nation on the planet, it should certainly give every Christian pause to consider where we are, and what obligations accrue to us because we are such a privileged generation. With the United States taking the lead in the peace process, serving as broker to all, we have the mightiest nation on the globe serving in the role that it must play if the prophets be right. It is profoundly important that the central issue in these negotiations is the partitioning of the land, recreating, as it were, Philistia. The strain between Russia and the U.S. and Turkey and the U.S. in the War in Iraq was also stirring from a prophetic perspective.
The thing about these prophecies is that one need not pull isolated incidents out of the news and attempt to fit them into some prophetic scheme. Rather, the things that are prophesied tend to characterize those peoples of whom they were written. That is, the things prophesied are not things that happen one time, but they are the things that these people do as a matter of custom. We are witnessing today the things prophesied so very long ago, and which shall have such an effect upon every Christian personally as to change him from mortal to immortal. From temporal to eternal. From earth to heaven and back again! These ought not be the days of our complacency, but the bride of Christ ought to be straightening her skirts and focusing on the upcoming meeting with her Groom.
What incalculable bliss it will be to be able to stand before the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, in impeccable holiness, able at last to serve sinlessly, selflessly, doing His will perfectly. What joy it will be to see His face and to hear His voice. What glory, what beauty! What blessedness to stand at the judgment seat and see the fruit that we each have borne, to hear our great God say, “Well done!” What glory then to reign with Him over the earth, our crowns representing the vast treasures laid up in our names.
We do not work for our salvation at all. It is a free gift, the grace of God manifest in the blood shed at Calvary. We are saved because Christ paid the penalty for our individual sins on the cross. But we are indeed given an incentive to work in this life for spiritual gain. That is, God is just to reward us for our labors on His behalf. Paul sought to increase that treasure daily. Oh, did he not call those to whom he ministered, “my joy and crown” (Phil 4:1; see also 1 Th 2:19)? We cannot measure the gold, silver and precious stones that are held in our heavenly accounts, but the value of a single soul is to God as high as His own Son’s life blood, so that we might have some appreciation of the scope of our treasure in heaven.
As we watch the world stage and study the words of prophecy, we begin to see how rapidly everything seems to be accelerating toward that climactic moment when we shall literally “go to our reward,” and the world will be plunged into the darkness and despair of Divine judgment. There is no message more important to the lost than the message of the cross, the marvelous grace of a loving God. But for those already saved, there is no message more important than the imminence of the rapture of the Church. We are near the time when we shall meet our Lord in the air, and there is not a Christian alive who does not need to be seriously laying up heavenly treasure. There are prayer ministries that everyone can engage in, preaching, teaching, evangelizing the lost, support of fruitful ministries, counseling, administration — there are all of the gifts of the Spirit to be exercised if we wish to bear the fruits of the Spirit, whereby we may each and all lay up vast treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also!
What is that “treasure in heaven?” When do we receive it? Where are we when we receive it? And why is God giving us treasure in the first place?
What great riches shall be the working Christian’s! But what is it made of? Why do we need it? Will it be useful to us? The Bible is not precisely clear as to the nature of the treasure, but Paul likens it to gold, silver and precious stones (1 Cor 9-14). In other places, he calls it a crown (1 Cor 9:24-25; 2 Tim 4:7-8). Of course, we know that our crowns represent the offices that we will hold as we reign with Him in the Kingdom Age. A crown without a domain would be senseless. An earthly king wears a crown, but it is not composed of the vast wealth that he has. Rather, his crown represents the strength of his holdings, whether he rules over a tiny nation or a vast one. It is not always the richest man who rules, but what king is not tremendously wealthy? Our crowns represent the treasure we have laid up in heaven, but they are not the treasure itself, but symbols of wealth and power and authority. Those who have laid up the most treasure will certainly have the greater power and authority in Christ’s Kingdom. Paul told the Philippians that they were his crown (Phil 4:1). He also told the Thessalonian Christians the same thing (1 Th 2:19). To Timothy, he spoke of the crown of righteousness. James and John spoke of the crown of life (Jas 1:12; Rev 2:10). Peter speaks of a crown of glory (1 Pet 5:4).
We do not know exactly what the treasure is, nor how a person can be a crown, but we can know assuredly that our treasure revolves around the sort of crown we are given, and that our receipt of it has to do with the labors that we do in this life and in this age. The crown will assuredly be a real crown, and the heavenly treasure will certainly be treasure of an order of which we cannot even conceive today. If it were not so, Jesus would not have said, “Lay up treasure in heaven… for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”
What is the occasion on which we will receive this treasure, and where shall we be when we receive it? Must we live in such poverty in this life? Is our treasure in heaven in reverse proportion to our poverty now? Sometimes it seems that way. Sometimes one almost desperately hopes that it will prove to be so. But it is not necessarily so. There are many reasons why a person might be poor in this life that have nothing to do with heavenly treasure. Folly comes to mind. On the other hand, if one is stricken with poverty because of service to God, he can pretty much rest assured that he is laying up such depth of heavenly riches as no earthly proportion can compare, in reverse or otherwise.
When? Immediately following the rapture. Not having been there, we cannot tell you exactly what the scene or the order of events will be, but it seems from the Scriptures that the judgment seat of Christ occurs in the air immediately after the rapture of the Church, prior to our ascent into heaven itself (Mt 16:27; 1 Cor 3:8; Rev 22:12). It is the last reference that implies that the judgment seat will occur before our ascent, for He brings His reward with Him. The judgment seat of Christ is not a thing to be feared at all by the Christian. It is called, in Greek, the “bema.” In the ancient Olympics, the bema was the place where the victorious athletes went to receive their laurel wreaths; their “crowns.” Our crowns are of far more durable stuff, and we receive them at our own “bema.” It will be a time of rejoicing and celebration, though we are also said to suffer the loss of the reward for the labors we were given but did not perform. Nevertheless, let us labor now, that we might suffer less then, and rejoice more.
And why would God offer us rewards anyway? Have you ever stopped to wonder why God would reward our labors? Isn’t salvation itself sufficient reward? Shouldn’t we be so grateful just to be saved that we would work all our lives to repay God? Well, maybe we should be that grateful, but we wouldn’t be. Besides, we do not “owe” God anything for our salvation. It is a free gift. If we are working to “repay Him for that gift, then it ceases to be a gift as much as it would not be a gift if we worked to receive it in the first place.
God knows His children. He knows our nature and our character, and He knows that we’ll work to receive something, but we won’t do much otherwise. But doesn’t it cheapen our labors if we are only working to receive treasure? Paul didn’t think so (Phil 3:12-14). As one reads through his epistles with the rewards of the Christian in mind, he finds that Paul was very interested indeed in receiving the rewards for his labors. He was even interested in seeing those to whom he ministered also working hard in their own ministries, knowing that the treasure they laid up in heaven were adding to his coffers as well. The Apostle Paul was very much interested in rewards and crowns, and spent his days and nights in pursuit of it. My friends, God wants you to want that treasure. More importantly, He wants you to have that treasure. If He didn’t, then Jesus would not have commanded us to lay it up in heaven. If our treasure is all earthly treasure (or even mostly earthly treasure), our hearts will be oriented toward earthly things and concerns. But when we begin to lay up treasure in heaven, our hearts turn heavenward, and we serve with a renewed and more diligent heart.
Do not be misled. We are not rewarded for being “good.” There is no reward for what we cannot do, and none of us can be good. But God can use us as we are, and He will if we will only allow Him to. All of Paul’s writings on the subject, taken together, reveal that we are rewarded for those acts of Christian ministry, no matter the form they take, whether through evangelism, preaching, teaching, giving, or what have you. Praying for others is a great way to lay up treasure, and you can do it lying in bed if you choose to do so. The point is, our rewards come from spiritual activity, not from attempting to live sinlessly. There is no reward for that because it ends in failure. It is high time to open our Bibles and study and pray and serve. Boxcars of rubies await. Gold, silver and precious stones are yours.
Do all things without
complaining and disputing,
that you may become blameless and harmless,
children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you shine as lights in the world,
holding fast the word of life,
so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or
labored in vain” (Phil 2:14-16)
Paul was not afraid to admit to the Philippians that he was concerned about his reward at the judgment seat of Christ, which occurs at the very instant of the onset of the “Day of Christ.” He wanted those fruitful Christians to become ever more fruitful, knowing that he would be rewarded for all their fruit. He wanted those folks to be out in the world shining their light, the word of life, to those sin-darkened souls who constituted that crooked and perverse generation of which he spoke.
The theme of Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians is “Practical Christian Living.” Many expositors focus on the love that Paul had for those Christians in particular, for love is the fuel that drives all fruitful Christian service. That is indeed a major topic in the letter. However, Paul’s intention in writing that letter was to let the Philippians know that, despite persecution and the loss of earthly goods and honors, they could have the same attitude that Christ had when He emptied Himself of His preincarnate glory, humbling Himself in obedience. But there is another thread (among many) that runs throughout the epistle, and that is the reward that Christians receive for their labors in the Lord (1:19-27; 3:7-14; 4:15-17). Indeed, throughout all of his epistles, the reward we receive at the judgment seat of Christ is a recurring theme. It was always on Paul’s mind, and it is clear that it was a large motivating force in his thinking.
Every Christian today ought to be so aware of his heavenly account that he seeks daily to enlarge it. We must pray (Jas 2:10) that God will make us useful and fruitful if we expect to be useful and fruitful. Throughout the pages of the New Testament, we are urged to be watchful for the imminent return of the Groom for His bride. The only hope anyone has in this life is the hope of the rapture. Those who are not born again do not have even this hope, and are completely hopeless. But when we see Him, His reward will be with Him, and we are to seek that reward as steadfastly as the Apostle Paul did. When that is our goal, and our constant hope, earthly trials diminish in significance, and we are able to deal with our problems from a spiritual perspective. Faith, hope and love; these are the three elements in all Christian service. Without faith, we have no hope. Without hope, we have no love, for if there is no heaven and no reward, then it is every man for himself. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. Misery does not love; it hates. May our reward be that carrot that keeps us moving ever forward in our Christian service!
It is hard to contain the joy. The devil diverts us in a thousand ways every day, but when our hearts focus on the events looming large on the spiritual horizon, our hopes soar, our fears and worries diminish, and we deal with the vicissitudes of life from the standpoint of faith rather than worry. Everything temporal begins to have less of reality than everything eternal. When we attempt to understand our place on the great span of time, we see that we cannot be far from the end of the Church Age. There is only one generation of men, from Adam’s day forward until today, that will not taste death. Everyone dies. Everyone, that is, except that generation of Christians who are alive at the time of the rapture of the Church. What a profound and rare privilege it is to be numbered among those who will be translated from mortal to immortal without ever dying! May it be so for all of us.
Even more compelling than the things that will happen to us at the rapture and beyond is the fact of the presence of the Lord in glory. The Lord of Glory will be visibly present among us. We will see His great glory, know His love in ways that we cannot even conceive of today, and at last gain a clearer perspective on the omniscience of His providence to the saints and to all creation. It is the same Lord whose glory will rise over Jerusalem like the sun as He enters the city to ascend the throne of His earthly Kingdom. The focus of our hearts will not be toward self in those days, but toward Him, as it ought to be today.
The end has been written from times of old, and the world is marching headlong and headstrong toward the fulfillment of the words of the prophets. It is astounding that the world should be so completely conformed to the prophesied political order, and yet, not have the slightest awareness of that remarkable fact. No advisor to any leader in all the world is seeing the geo-political stage from a Biblical perspective. Like a thief in the night… But that Day shall not come upon the Church like a thief. It is the Church, and only the Church, in all the world that reads the Bible with understanding and perception and discernment.
While we cannot set dates or make specific predictions as to the chronology, we can certainly say with great conviction that the rapture of the Church seems to be drawing very near indeed, given the state of the world and its actions. It is both right and proper that we should see these things, living out the end of the Age with expectation and greater and more diligent service to God. Our hearts should be focused on rejoicing and ministry, because the Day is rapidly approaching when we shall be rewarded for our labors. Every Christian ought to be enthralled with the approaching realization of “the blessed hope” and eagerly seek to lay up treasure in heaven. Christianity is not about “behavior,” but about “service.” It is high time to become watchful for things to come.
Gold, Silver & Precious Stones
There is a stirring of the heart when one sees treasure chests delivered from the depths of the sea and displayed for public viewing. Something visceral in us moves us when we consider the “luck” of the men and women who have risked vast fortunes on the chance to discover an old sunken ship. When they are successful, and we see troves of gold bars and silver and jewels, our minds are at least momentarily rapt. We want it for ourselves. Envy fills our souls, if only for a moment. Our minds recognize those things as genuine treasures.
Let us not forget that “fervent heat” (2 Pet 3:10-12). All the elements will melt with fervent heat. Why, then, do we have such strong reactions when we see these things? Oh, there is a reason, and it isn’t pretty. It is because we do not seek that heavenly treasure, but every earthly treasure. That is the state of our hearts. It is faithlessness; enmity toward God, the lust of the flesh, and the love of the things in the world (Rom 8:7; 1 Jn 2:15,16). If we held in our hearts the great truth that all the elements will melt with fervent heat, our hearts would turn to that everlasting treasure, and we would be content; nay, even contemptuous of earthly riches, knowing their end, and knowing what awaits those faithful souls who seek that heavenly treasures from the hand of a loving Husband.
In Matthew 6, Jesus commands:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth… (v. 19)
And ,
… lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… (v.20)
Because,
… where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (v. 21)
The first is a negative command: “Do not…” The second is a positive command: “Lay up…” Jesus knew that our human hearts are selfish, and so, He commands us to seek that heavenly treasure. He tells us that it is not only possible, but commanded, that we should lay in store for ourselves in heaven such gold, silver and precious stones as will not perish nor become corrupt nor be stolen, but will be treasure to which the richest earthly cargo could not compare. Jesus says, in effect, since your hearts are going to lust, let them lust for that heavenly treasure, for then you will serve Me as shining lights in a dark, sin-laden world (Mt 6: 24).
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