My confession before the last trumpet blows
April 27, 2008 - email from The Open Scroll email list - Click here to subscribe
Greetings!
First, I want to apologize where I have been harsh and judgmental. I am a hypocrite. I have pointed to Babylon and condemned the mixture of truth and error, yet my own work and my own heart remains such a mixture. I have condemned the state of being lukewarm, yet this is often my condition. I'll spare you the whole laundry list. I don't seek to be excused, just forgiven. Please forgive me. Pray for me. Yet, even in the awareness of my present condition, I can only hope the Lord will have mercy on me and grant me grace to move ahead. In this season of foot washing, I take encouragement that I have been a full participant, washing as well as being washed. I take it to mean that we are at least bathed, and that gives me hope that perhaps those of us who stumble may yet be found completely clean at His coming.
Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head." 10) Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you."
John 13:9-10
This is not an admission that I have given up on expectations for the Bride Theft and judgment of the church in this season. I continue to look to Monday for the fulfillment of the appointed coming of the Bridegroom to steal His Bride, to receive her unto Himself. The last day of the Feast begins today at sundown. The blowing of the last trumpet that announces the close of the Feast is the one I look to for the signal, tomorrow.
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51) Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
52) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53) For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54) But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.
55) "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?"
56) The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;
57) but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58) Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:50-58
The last trumpet blown at a Feast signals that the Feast has ended, and, it is my hope that, this year, it is the long awaited announcement that the Feast is fulfilled! If indeed it is as I hope, the Bride Theft resurrection and subsequent judgment of the church will then occur. It seems rather surreal to sit here at the keyboard and rather casually type those words. The possibility that the time has finally arrived is really overwhelming. We've seen a number of earthquakes recently, which are, as they used to be called, acts of God. I think time for the big one has come.
In running a race to win, as we are commanded to do in this life, there is always some strategy to be considered. When we see the finish line and the checkered flag waving, or, as when the countdown clock in a timed athletic competition is counting down the final moments, there is a heightened drama to the event. Actions that have a small chance for success a competitor would be foolish to attempt at any other point in the race or game then becomes the intelligent choice. If there were no strategy in the Lord's economy, would there be a plan? Why would we be commanded to watch for signs of the Lord's coming if our response to seeing them and interpreting their meaning counted for nothing? In a relay race, one leg is run and then the baton (or mantle, spiritually) is passed to another. There is heightened drama at these points of transition as well as at the end. I believe this is one perspective of our present situation as we are poised to pass the mantle. This is the pattern of Elijah and Elisha. Run well on this leg, and don't drop the mantle, friends! From another perspective I feel is equally valid, if we are merely done preparing to run our leg, we await the receipt of the mantle to begin, and we pick up the pace accordingly. If you perceive this is the end of your leg of the race, finish well! There is nothing past that we can change. Look ahead, focus, and run to win. This may be the time to sprint to the finish, to throw that "Hail Mary" pass! Don't act in your own initiative, but, as the Lord directs. If it comes to be, in reality, only the first half of the game, we will certainly look pretty foolish making the low-odds move. Yet, in the Lord's great mercy, we may live to have another opportunity when the proper time does come. The other side of that argument seems worse, to me, personally. If the end has come and we did not perceive it, and did not take the actions appropriate for the closing moments of the competition, we will surely lose, with no further opportunity to affect the outcome. The transitional seasons in the Lord's plan seem to me to be seasons with potential for relatively greater reward and consequence. I have looked foolish in the past, yet I can't deny the logic I just shared with you. If I have been deceived and am wrong about what I write here, I'll suffer the consequences. And, heaped on that, I'll reap the consequences for misleading the Lord's sheep and being a stumbling block. That may mean severe consequences for me, yet it is a risk I am compelled to take. This is honest, as I see it. Weigh all things for yourself. Please take it to the Lord in prayer and do as He would have you do. I'm a hypocrite. I'm often deceived. But, I have tried not to withhold from you what I believe I have received that is of value. As I sometimes say and should probably say more often: Eat the fish and spit out the bones.
Help us Lord in this hour to discern your voice and to honor you with obedience, to pay the debt of love, the love you so richly and freely have given us, for which you deserve all our praise and our complete devotion and worship.
Bob Schlenker
TheOpenScroll.com