This post will explain some of those matters that will be addressed on our websites, but those issues are going to have to wait a while because it is more expedient that the Church receive this information first without having to search for it. This post is also very timely to Pentecost.
You should find it exciting as we address several issues because it is as a result of all that we have experienced (witnessed) that God is now revealing more to us. As we go through these things that God is clarifying and magnifying for us, try to consider how God has used our experience(s) to increase our ability to more fully grasp why and how we have been molded as we have. Experience can be an incredibly powerful teacher, and God is using this to reveal greater understanding. This process, that would have taken many years and has now been shortened dramatically, has brought about understanding with deep spiritual insight and a much greater measure of faith.
There are always those who find fault and seek to discredit God’s servants, and undoubtedly, some will also foolishly recount their misunderstanding of “no man knows the day or the hour” of Christ’s return. They would still be wrong. God is not at this time giving me a specific year to announce, but He will. Yet for the Church, He wouldn’t even need to give that specific date now, as the Church will know well in advance when Christ is coming — to the “day” and to the “hour” because of truths God has revealed to the church.
Someone was recently heard saying, “Why does he (me) have to set dates?” The simple answer is that it has been God’s will. All prophecy will come to pass, but it may also change along the way in both timing and magnitude if God reveals He has changed it or has not yet revealed all the truth in a matter. Not everything that God says in matters of prophecy for the future is written in stone, for God can and does change His mind, and when God does so He also reveals that to (through) His prophets.
There are Biblical accounts of those who have prayed and even fasted before God in order to seek Him and ask that He change an event that was to come to pass (prophecy). Isaiah told King Hezekiah that he was to get his house in order because he was about to die. After Hezekiah sought God in prayer, God told Isaiah to return to Hezekiah and tell him that he would be given 15 more years of life. Yet it later states that Hezekiah did not render according to that benefit that God had shown him. Instead, Hezekiah’s heart became lifted up with pride and God then sent the prophets Isaiah and Micah to tell of the destruction He was then going to bring upon Judah and Jerusalem. “Not withstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Eternal did not come upon them (Judah and Jerusalem) in the days of Hezekiah” (2 Chr. 32:26).
Another well-known account is that of Jonah who was sent to Nineveh to tell them God was going to destroy them within 40 days for all their evil, but the people repented and fasted before God. “God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God changed His mind of the destruction that He had said He would do unto them, and He did not” (Jonah 3:10).
As God molds His way of life within those who desire that and if they yield to that process then who is it that can stand before the Eternal God and tell Him what He can give or cannot give unto His own Church? Can God change what (or to a degree of what) He says through His prophets? Whenever God changes, or reveals a specific purpose, or a greater truth in any matter, especially about prophecy, He will reveal it through His apostles and/or prophets. That is exactly how God has always led and worked with His Church. Truth, however, never changes, but it is clarified and magnified to God’s people as He leads His people farther and farther out of error and into greater unity and oneness with His word — His truth.
Having said all this, if the exact year of Christ’s return is not given before hand, it will most assuredly be known once the events of the Second Trumpet occur and are made manifest to the entire world. Then the exact day and hour will be known as God has revealed it through two great truths concerning this matter. First, it is that Christ will return on the Day of Pentecost. So God’s Church is still moving forward, just as we did last year, from Pentecost to Pentecost.
The second great truth regarding this matter, which will be discussed more in this post, is that there are two periods of time with the same name — ”The Day of the Lord.” We, as God’s Church, have just finished experiencing the first one, and the one that follows is the one in which the Second Trumpet will become physically manifest, with that “Day of the Lord” then ending with the Seventh Trumpet on the beginning of Pentecost. That will be according to Jerusalem time, and not only will that exact day be known well in advance, but the hour and the very minute.
Sealing of the 144,000
As a result of all that we have experienced in this past year, God is now clarifying more concerning the 1335-day count in the Book of Daniel. He could not have revealed more than what we were given leading up to the Feast of Trumpets on September 30, 2008 because of what the church would first have to “experience” in his creation process. At this time, God gave us to know that the count and the sealing of the 144,000 began on this day. So God is now giving us more. Pay close attention to what you now read as God is clarifying much about this account.
The Feast of Trumpets 2008 was the day for the beginning of the final sealing for those who would be included in the final count of the 144,000 who will come with Jesus Christ to set up the reign of the Kingdom of God on earth. The 144,000 will reign with Jesus Christ, and the reign of Satan will no longer exist over the earth.
This process of sealing all those remaining who would be added in order to fulfill the complete count of 144,000 began on that Trumpets of 2008, but was not completed until Pentecost of 2012. Some were sealed on that day of Trumpets 2008, while others were sealed throughout the following 1335 days, including the very last day. During that period of time and into the period of “final witness,” some would still be tried and tested to determine the final individuals who were yet to be added to this specific count of those who would reign with Christ.
Throughout this period of time, as individuals were tried and tested, some were sealed, and others were judged that they would continue living (physically) on into the Millennium to continue serving God during that time. Yet a few others were judged that they should not live into the Millennium due to their response to God regarding those trials and tests. These will be among the 7,000 “mentioned by name” who are not to enter that new age as described in Revelation.
This period of 1335 days ended on Pentecost 2012. That day was a momentous time in God’s great plan and so much so that we (God’s Church) had believed this would be the day of Christ’s return, but God had more that He was going to perform and reveal that must first be fulfilled. God’s Church has always believed Jesus Christ would return at the end of the 3 1/2 years spoken of in the Book of Daniel and at the end of the corresponding time of God’s two witnesses. God had not yet revealed that there was more to follow that must first be fulfilled before Christ’s coming.
Pentecost 2012 was indeed a momentous day in God’s great plan because it revealed a process that had now become complete in the first great phase of God’s “new creation” of fulfilling His work of preparing 144,000 people over a 6,000 year period of time. All these people through time had now been made ready to reign in the Millennium. The completion of this process of all who have been made ready to reign with Christ and have waited in faith for the promise of God’s Kingdom are spoken of in the Book of Daniel. By the day of Pentecost of 2012, all 144,000 had been sealed and God’s Kingdom had been made ready to reign. “Blessed is he who waits and comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty fifth day” (Dan. 12:12).
However, before the day of Christ’s reign with the 144,000 can come, there are two other great periods of timing in God’s plan that must first be fulfilled. These events are referred to by the same name — the Day of the Lord. Both are “prophetic days” that are an actual year in length and both run from an annual holy day of Pentecost to the following Pentecost.
The first “Day of the Lord” was from Pentecost of 2012 to the Pentecost of May 19, 2013. This prophetic day was all about God’s Church and not about the world. We (God’s Church) had first believed that this Day of the Lord was about the world, which would mean that upon its completion, Jesus Christ would return. We believed that Christ would return after the 1335 days of Daniel’s prophecy and after the related period of the “final witness” of God’s two witnesses. But on that day of Pentecost (May 27, 2012), God revealed to His Church that we had entered a new period of time called the “Day of the Lord.”
At that time, God did not reveal that there were two separate days of the prophetic Day of the Lord. Since God’s Church had no such knowledge of another prophetic day with the same name that was about the Church, we believed it was the one about the world, which was the only one we knew anything about. We knew that the “Day of the Lord” about this world would end with Christ’s return. So God’s Church believed that the prophetic Day of the Lord from Pentecost of 2012 to Pentecost of 2013 was about God’s final judgment on this world. Before that “day” was over, God revealed that this particular Day of the Lord was about His Church and that the one about the world was yet to follow. It is at the end of the prophetic day concerning this world that Christ will return.
The Church’s Day of the Lord
The “day” following the 1335 days of Daniel’s prophecy is the first of two “prophetic days” that are each an actual year in time. This first day that is about God’s Church is also referred to in prophecy as the “year of recompense (retribution)” and as the “day of the Lord’s (Eternal’s) vengeance.” Yet these same terms are used far more often in reference to God’s relationship with this world and only a very few instances relate to God’s relationship to the Church.
Because of this, the use of these terms are indeed a two-edged sword, for one concerns God’s judgment in His relationship with the world and His punishment that is the result of that judgment. In the case of the world, the Day of the Lord (Eternal) is about God’s retribution, recompense, and vengeance upon unrepentant mankind in the year it is executed.
These same terms, although used only a few times in this context, are in regards to God’s relationship with His Church and His judgment to recompense and avenge (translated as vengeance, but also carries the definition of avenge) His people. The word translated as recompense means retribution, as to repay in the sense of “punishment” for evil that has been done, or to “reward” for good that has been done. In this case concerning God’s Church, this involves both consequences, depending upon whom it was that was judged.
In the “Day of the Eternal” that was about God’s Church from Pentecost of 2012 to Pentecost of 2013, the judgment of God had been “executed” upon God’s Church. In this case, it was primarily to give “reward” to His people (to be received both now and in the future) for the good being done (through God in them). This period of the execution of God’s judgment followed 3 1/2 years of witness the Church lived, which reflected 6,000 years of man’s response and attitude toward God. That spiritual response to God is primarily revealed in the treatment of God’s own people by the world. It should also be noted, as it has always been through time, that not all who have been called can stand in such times of opposition against themselves. They choose the easy way of self instead of yielding to God to live his way of life. That inability to fully yield to God continuing in them always reflects one’s true relationship with God, as it is only through Him that each person can stand.
So how was this first prophetic day a blessing and reward to God’s people? In the thinking of the world and of Satan, it is ironic, but it is by going through great trials of adversity and refining through fire (trial) that we can actually grow faster spiritually and be tried and proven in greater (growing) faith. This process has been covered in recent posts. We were blessed and rewarded beyond measure because of what we experienced in the time of witness and of our holding to God’s truth. As a whole, we have been made many times stronger and blessed (rewarded) with greater spiritual character, strength, and resolve that was molded (created) in us. This does not account for how God will reward His people once the Millennium has been established, which is far beyond what we can know at this time. Those things (future rewards) have now been set if we simply continue in the faith.
Hidden in the midst of scriptures about God’s judgment to come upon this world and the punishment He will unleash upon it is a verse that is dual in fulfillment, as one leads to the fulfillment of the other. It is a progressive revelation similar to the revelations given in Joel that are all about the complete fulfillment of the “Day of the Lord.” Although focusing on the final prophetic day that ushers in the age of God’s Kingdom on earth, these verses in Joel are even referred to on Pentecost in 31 AD as being partially fulfilled in the beginning process that was being experienced at that time by God’s spirit being poured out upon all flesh. It was not yet happening upon all flesh, but was leading to that time as a progressive and continuing process of God’s new creation of Elohim.
This scripture being mentioned that has remained hidden and is dual in fulfillment is in the midst of the Book of Isaiah: “For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion” (Is. 34:8). Although this verse has been quoted in the past, it has only been partially grasped. God is now revealing its duality.
The “day” of the Lord’s vengeance is both a simple statement that it is God’s “time” to avenge His people as well as a “time” to pour out vengeance upon the world for rejecting Him and His people. It speaks of a year of “recompenses,” as it is about a literal year of recompense for His Church that followed their experience of living the “final witness” to this world — about this world. It is also about a literal year of recompense that will follow that is upon this world. That year of recompense for the world is for the evil it has lived by always rejecting God and is the result of God’s final judgment based on 6,000 years of human history and magnified with final judgment in the time of the final witness of 3 1/2 years.
Controversy of Zion
Judgment carried out (executed) upon God’s Church in the year of recompense and vengeance from God was based on the final witness of 3 1/2 years that God’s people lived. It is about God’s ability to create Zion — to live in His people in order to transform them into Elohim. It is a battle that has been waged for so long as Satan and the demonic world first rebelled over the news of Zion — God’s future creation — Elohim. That battle over the controversy of Zion has also been waged with mankind for the past 6,000 years and has now become fully established by mature testimony over 3 1/2 years of God’s final witness, which also includes the final sealing of the 144,000.
The sequence of events have now been more fully illuminated to God’s people concerning Christ’s coming, revealing God’s work and purpose for doing everything as He has. God could not reveal everything about specific timing before hand as it would not have produced the same results of transformation and the production (creation) of strong standing faith as it has. If we had known in the beginning of the 1335 days what we do now, it would not have produced what it did and most would not have survived spiritually to this day. Instead, the spirit of Laodicea would have been awakened, come to life, and would have destroyed most in God’s church.
What is next? We have experienced the 3 1/2 years of God’s final witness upon which God’s final judgment regarding the Church and the world is based. That judgment is being carried out as He is avenging Himself upon Satan and the demonic world. God’s ability to avenge was manifested through infallible truth that has been revealed through Satan’s failure to destroy the Church over the five-month period when he was given power to deliver torment upon it. This also revealed God’s great power to create Elohim at a time of strong adversarial attacks in this continuing controversy over Zion. This was also an avenging victory against what Satan had done during the apostasy. The apostasy took place in God’s Church because it was weak through sin and not as a direct result of Satan’s power and ability of his own. This first “Day of the Lord” ended on Pentecost of 2013.
So what is next? The second (last) “Day of the Eternal” will follow. This will be God’s time to execute His final judgment of vengeance and recompense on a pride-filled world as well as binding Satan and the demonic world for 1,000 years. “For the day of the Eternal of hosts will be upon everyone who is proud and lofty (self-elevated), and upon everyone who is lifted up, and they shall be brought low” (Is. 2:12). As mentioned before, we look to the physical manifestation of the Second Trumpet which will reveal that final time. God has given us incredibly important dates in time (though we haven’t been given all understanding of them before they occurred) and every one of them has been prophetic in fulfillment about bringing His Kingdom to reign on this earth and about the day of Christ’s coming.
As we go forward, God will continue to reveal more as He magnifies and clarifies what He is working in and through our lives. Just as it has already partly been covered in this post, there is no need to now give the “year” of Christ’s coming. We do know the day and the hour and we may even know the year. But just as it was in the beginning before our “final witness” actually began when we were not to discuss or reveal the second witness, this too is not to be given. Most in the Church knew who that witness was because God had revealed it plainly to them by His spirit and what had been given through sermons to that time that were inspired by Him.
In a very short time, God will more fully reveal why He is not making the “year” public as the controversy of Zion is still being waged. As God’s Church moves forward, we are still moving from Pentecost to Pentecost.
The Church of God - Preparing for the Kingdom of God