Lord, as we come to Thee this morning, it is a marvelous, beautiful day, and we thank You for it. Lord, we thank You for Your creation. We thank You, Lord, for the marvelous works that You have done in this earth.
But more than that, we thank You for the great sacrifice of Calvary’s cross, Lord, that we might have eternal life: life that is real, life that will outlast time, a life that will go on in glory and in union and in purpose with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, we thank You this day that this life that we live today is just temporal in nature. And, Lord, there is a great hope and a great future that lies ahead for Your children. Lord, it is our heart that we might enter into it fully.
It is our heart today, Lord Jesus, that we might respond to the mighty grace of God, and that You would have Your will done in our lives, individually and corporately, that one day the glory of God might be manifest throughout this earth.
Lord, we worship Thee. We ask Your blessing upon this time this morning. We ask for Your anointing, Lord, to be able to share Your Word by the Holy Spirit and, Lord, to be able to hear and receive it by Your grace. This we ask in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Well, in these past months, I have been speaking on this matter of sonship. As I began, you know, my heart was—and still is—for our young people, the young saints in the Lord, and for us older ones as well.
But, you know, my initial burden was with the younger ones because so much lies ahead of them. And I do not want them to miss what God has in store for them. Yet, as I have been sharing on this, I have realized that it does not matter what age we are. The Lord is so gracious that He can do in a moment a work that, for others, may take a lifetime.
So we should not give up hope, even if we are older, on this matter of sonship. Sonship is basically being a part of the Father’s business. We have been called in as sons.
Today, what is on my heart? Well, let me do a brief review. I will try to be brief.
I have shared on this matter of sonship, and the initial sharing was out of the life of Joshua. It was a challenge to sonship: to become sons, to be about the Father’s business.
Secondly, I shared on consecration out of the life of Samuel. If we are to be the sons of God, we must live a consecrated life before the Lord—daily consecration.
Then I shared on the matter of communion out of the life of David. As you read the Psalms, you realize David was one who was obviously in constant communion and fellowship with the Lord.
Then I shared on this matter of conscience, our conscience before the Lord, out of the life of Daniel. Then there was the matter of calling that we have in Jesus Christ, using the life of Jeremiah.
There are four callings in the Word of God—and maybe more—but I know there are four very critical callings that we need to enter into as sons of God in order to come to God’s full will and purpose for our lives.
Today, I want to share what would be considered the climax—coming to the climax of things for the sons of God. Actually, the climax is really the real beginning, as we will see later.
There will be a day, in Isaiah, when the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, the leopard and the kid, and the calf and the young lion. They will all lie down together in peace.
It also says in Micah that there will be a day when men will turn their swords into plowshares, to plow and to do good instead of evil.
Then we have this marvelous Scripture, and we will share on it a little later, out of Romans 8, starting with the nineteenth verse. It says the whole creature—all of creation—is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.
It says, as a matter of fact, that creation is in travail and is groaning within, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. It also goes on to say that the creature itself, the creation that we live in, has been subjected to vanity because of the fall of man.
When man fell, the nature of the enemy, unfortunately, came into Adam and Eve. Along with that, not only did man become subject to vanity, but the whole creation entered into death.
A vain life is living a life without God. A vain life is a life where you take things into your own hands and say, “I am going to live for myself, and I do not need God.” That is a life of vanity.
As we see, a life of vanity ends in death. Death came in not only to man, but this whole creation entered into death. It has all been subject to death because of the fall of man, because man decided that he wanted to live for himself. He wanted to be about his own business and not the Lord’s business.
So this matter of sonship is very critical to bringing in that age, or that period, when all creation will be set free into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
Brothers and sisters, that lies ahead of us. Today, what is on my heart is that we need to take up our responsibility in sonship, that we might come to that day when the sons of God will be manifest.
That will be the kickoff event for the Lord’s return and for the bringing in of the kingdom age—the thousand years called the millennium. It is also referred to as the marriage supper of the Lamb.
The Word says, “Blessed are they who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb,” meaning that all are not called. Brothers and sisters, if you really see in the Word of God, all Christians may not even be at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
We see, though, that in the New Jerusalem, in the new city at the end of the thousand years, all are included. But this thousand years of the kingdom age, when the lion will lie down with the lamb and creation will be set free from its bondage, will be a glorious time.
Our Lord Jesus Christ will come and reign on this earth in righteousness. It will be a glorious time, and He will fulfill all the prophecies and promises made to the nation of Israel and made to His people—to us.
A thousand years, and then the work will be finally completed. We will see the New Jerusalem coming down as a bride. The earth will be purified by fire, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and we will be with Christ. Everyone will finally be brought to the glory of the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, we who are called into sonship need to know that this kingdom age can be referred to as the period of reward for Christians.
Because of the theology that we have carried, and because of the reaction to the Catholic Church down through the ages, this matter of grace was almost obliterated from the earth. During the Reformation, the Lord brought back justification by faith, and we saw that it was grace.
Any time we refer now to this matter of responsibility or works, people say, “Well, you are getting away from this matter of grace.” That can be the furthest thing from the truth.
Whatever works you do that will manifest God’s glory and God’s will are only because of the grace of God in your life. All that is not of grace will be burned in the day of judgment. So really, it is still all grace, but we are responsible.
Let us turn to Ephesians 1:5.
In Ephesians 1:5, we see the privilege given in this matter of the sons of God—our sonship. Just prior to that, the verses speak of our position in Christ. But then, in verse 5, we see our privilege:
Having marked us out beforehand—or having predestined us—for adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace.
Let me read it again:
Having marked us out beforehand, or having predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself.
This word adoption means sonship. In other words, we have been marked out to have a place in the Father’s business.
We have gotten away from this, I guess, in these days of big business. But it used to be that most sons followed in the footsteps of their fathers. They would go into apprenticeship and training, and they would learn the father’s business.
There would come a day when the father would say, “You finally arrived at this place that we have to refer to as sonship, where you are responsible. Now I am going to hold you accountable for your place as a son in the father’s business.”
That is what we are talking about here in Ephesians 1:5. He has brought us in. He has adopted us.
What does it mean? Well, actually, God has a Father-Son business. God is the Father, and Jesus Christ is the Elder Son. He is the oldest Son, and He is the One upon whom the Father has put most of the responsibility of the business.
He has been called to carry out the work of the business. We know that our Lord Jesus has been faithful to His Father.
But, brothers and sisters, it is through the work of this Elder Son—through His hard work, through His sacrifice on Calvary’s cross—that we have been brought in as children and marked out to become sons in the Father’s business.
I want to emphasize one little thought. It says that we have been marked out beforehand for our sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself.
To Himself. In other words, the Father is not just cranking out sons to serve Him. It is to Himself. It is very personal. It is an intimate relationship.
The Father looks at us and fully accepts us as His own through Jesus Christ. He accepts us into full sonship.
We need to understand that there are many angels, multitudes of angels, who serve God. That alone is a glorious and great privilege.
But, brothers and sisters, I wish the Holy Spirit could impact us with the fact that, when He decided that He was going to have many sons for His business, He did not just create more angels—servants.
He created sons for Himself, for an intimate relationship that apparently the angels are not privileged to. We are created in His image.
When the Lord thought of man, He had such a marvelous, glorious plan for man: sons to Himself, not more angels.
I guess the angels must stand in awe when they observe us. I have to say this even for myself: how we have not really realized how precious we are to the Father.
He has some marvelous plans for us all, but it is all about His business. How much of our life is about His business—what we have been called to?
The Father wanted many sons after His Son Jesus Christ. The Elder Son has been faithful in God’s work, and He has made it possible that the Father could have many sons.
Through the blood of Christ, we are so privileged that it says we will be joint heirs with Christ. Joint heirs with Christ.
The angels are not going to be joint heirs. They will still have the privilege of serving.
I went up to Old Rag Mountain yesterday. My oldest boy was about twelve years old, which made it about twenty-three or twenty-four years ago. We rather innocently took a trip up to Old Rag Mountain. We heard it was a place you could go up and just enjoy, so we started trekking up Old Rag Mountain. Seven hours later, we got down.
If you ever want to go to Old Rag, it is a marvelous climb, but you should be young and healthy. We went back up there yesterday mainly just to see the fall and the turning of the trees, and it was beautiful up there. It was marvelous.
What a marvelous thing it was, and how privileged I felt just to be able to enjoy God’s creation. But the point I wanted to make was that, on the way up there, there were some marvelous, beautiful homes on these rolling hills.
It was all green and plush, and then, of course, the fall trees were all in color. I said, “Man, this is glorious.” Those people who live in those big, grand houses have children, and their children are going to end up inheriting those farms.
That is nothing compared to what we have been called to in our inheritance, brothers and sisters. We are going to be joint heirs with Jesus over the new creation.
What an honor and what a privilege. But God is determined that, in this period that is called time, He is going to train us and prepare us, that we might be full, mature sons prepared to carry out the Father’s business.
To do that, we have to be in training now. That is where we are today: joint heirs with Jesus.
The kingdom age—the millennium period—is, I want to say, an age of reward.
In this age of grace, where we appreciate so much the marvelous grace of God, we have lost the sense of responsibility. We say, “Well, it is all grace. I cannot really do much, and if I do not do well, I will just be forgiven, and everything is okay.”
Unfortunately, that is what has happened. During the Reformation, justification by faith came back, and that was marvelous; it set us all free.
But from that time on, people have been very careful when we talk about this matter of reward. They say, “No, that is works.” But there is a period of reward, and that is during the kingdom age.
Many will be rewarded and will be allowed to reign and rule with Christ even before the New Jerusalem is brought in. God has prepared this age for His matured sons to reign and rule with Him during that period, when the lion will lie down with the lamb and all creation will be set free.
He has created us, brothers and sisters, that we might be a part of all that. He does not want us to miss it.
I watch my son with his son, who is now twenty months old. He does not want his son to miss out on anything. Just as all of us did, you know, he wants him to learn this and learn that. Actually, most of his life and his wife’s life now center around bringing up their son.
Well, the Father—a lot of His thought is toward His sons—that we too might grow up into maturity and become responsible sons in the Father’s business.
In Revelation 2:26, it says:
He who overcomes and keeps My works to the end, to him will I give authority over the nations.
They will reign and rule with Christ over the nations during the millennium period.
The real thing on my heart is this matter of responsibility as sons, and to enter into what God has called us to.
Those who overcome are those who will take up their responsibility and will subject themselves to Christ as their Head. They will be those who follow the Holy Spirit and obey the Holy Spirit.
As we talked about the wise virgins the last time I spoke, they are the ones who had extra oil. They got that oil because of obedience to the Holy Spirit.
They are the ones who trade with their talents. Remember, I shared on the talents. They are the ones who doubled their talents because they were taking an active interest in the Father’s business through the talents that had been given to them. They are rewarded. They are told, “Enter into the joy of the Lord.”
That should tell us something. The unfaithful servant, the one who just buried his talent, was not allowed to enter into the joy of the Lord.
What does that mean? Basically, it means it is all about trading and serving. You just will not have the privilege of serving the Lord during the millennium period. You will not have that joy. You will miss out on it.
If you look at the parable of the pounds, the mina, the Lord gave each one a pound apiece. One servant turned that pound into ten; another one turned it into five, and so forth. But one just buried his.
There is a difference between those two parables. In the parable of the pounds, or the mina, they all got the same amount. They all got the same thing. It speaks of grace. We all have the grace of God, and God does not divide out grace in portions.
We all are open and have the capability of entering into the full grace of God. One multiplied it to ten, and He says, “Okay, you will rule over ten cities.” You know when that is going to happen: during the millennium period.
Another increased it to five. It is the grace of God in your life. How much are we taking advantage of the grace of God and growing in Christ Jesus, allowing the cross to work in our lives to cancel out all that is of the flesh, of man, and of ourselves, and allowing the life of the Lord to come forth?
The talents are a little different in that they are according to measure. We all have different abilities and capabilities, and the Lord gives us talents. They are measured. In other words, each one has a talent to varying degrees. Some have one, two, three, or four talents.
That is a gift that God gives us, a spiritual gift that we should be utilizing and increasing.
In both those parables, there were consequences to the servant. As a matter of fact, the Lord called them a slothful and wicked servant. They were not allowed to enter into the joy of the Lord.
In fact, it says, “You will be in darkness.” Now, a lot of people want to know what this darkness is. I do not know what it is, but I know it is not being allowed to serve in the kingdom age.
My sense is that you will not be able to experience the light of His glory during that time.
There are consequences to us not taking up our responsibility. But that is not where my heart is. My heart is not on the consequences, because God’s intention is for every child to become a son and to enter into his place in the Father’s business.
His intention is that we be faithful, exercise the talents, exercise the grace of God in our lives, and go on to full growth and maturity.
As a matter of fact, it is not only an individual calling, but a corporate one. In Ephesians 4:13, it says, “Until we all come to a full-grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
That means no one person can ever come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We should realize that. It is the body that will be the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
We find out that we are not only in union with the Head, but with one another. This full-grown man will be the stature of the fullness of Christ. This matter of sonship is a great responsibility and a great privilege: to be able to reign and rule with Christ.
Brothers and sisters, as I thought about this, I realized that this matter of sonship has to be a response of love for the Lord, not duty.
If you are going to enter into the Father’s business as sons, which we are marked out for, our motive will have to be love—love of the Father and the Elder Son. That will have to be our motive. That is what God is looking for.
Yes, we will make mistakes, just like any son does in the father’s business. But if we are true sons in love, we will learn from the Father. We will learn from the Elder Son. We will allow Him to correct us. We will allow Him to discipline us.
In fact, we will count it an honor and a privilege to be disciplined by Him because we know He loves us, and we love Him.
But if we lack in love toward our Lord Jesus, our attitude might be that of those who consider it a duty, rebel against it, and fight it.
Like I said, brothers and sisters, one day we will all be brought to glory. All the sons will be there. But some will miss out on the privilege of that millennium period of reigning and ruling with Christ.
In Romans 14:10, it says we all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
What is the judgment seat of Christ about, brothers and sisters? It is about reward. He says we will be rewarded according to our works. Interesting, isn’t it? He says all that is not of Christ will be burned; all the wood, hay, and stubble will be burned.
The judgment seat of Christ is not the great white throne judgment. The great white throne judgment is reserved for those unbelievers, for those who have rejected Christ.
During the millennium period, those who have lived through that millennium period will have to be judged also according to their response to the King.
So we are not talking about eternal life. The judgment seat of Christ is a family gathering where the Lord will gather His own together, and He will question us.
“What did you do with your talent? What did you do with the grace of God that I bestowed upon you—the life that I gave to you, this eternal life, this life with all the potential that it has? What did you do?”
Was there increase? Where is the extra oil?
It is a serious thing, brothers and sisters. We will all be evaluated.
Because we have accepted Christ, we have eternal life, and that is marvelous. But the Lord wants His children to grow up into sonship, and He will evaluate us.
The question we have to ask ourselves is, are we ready for the judgment seat of Christ? I would only say, if anybody could answer me, “Yes,” I would suggest that you pray.
We have heard before that we should live in the light of the judgment seat of Christ. What does that mean, brothers and sisters? It means that one day we know the Father is going to evaluate us as sons, and we need to be about His business.
We need to be growing, allowing the life of the Lord to grow in us, encouraging one another, and strengthening one another in Christ. We have to be pressing on in the Father’s business.
We cannot be passive.
My concern this morning, for myself and for others, is that you go through one day with all the little busy things you have to do, and the Father’s business is in the background. You go through another day, and the Father’s business is in the background.
Somehow or other, you just never get around to the Father’s business.
Let me say it this way: I do not think there is any greater business. There is no business with any greater reward than the Father’s business. We cannot be passive. We cannot be passing.
Let us look at Romans 8.
Romans 8, verse 19. Yours will read a little bit different. This is the Darby:
For the anxious looking of the creature expects the revelation, or the manifestation, of the sons of God.
For the creature has been made subject to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of Him who has subjected the same, in hope,
That the creature itself also shall be set free from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans together and travails in pain even until now.
And not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we ourselves groan, awaiting adoption, that is, the redemption of our body.
I will just read Isaiah 11:6-10, or part of it, so we will not have to look it up:
The wolf will dwell with the lamb;
The leopard shall lie down with the kid;
And the calf and the young lion and the fatling will lie down together.
And Micah 4:3 says that the nations will turn their swords into plowshares.
Now let us read Revelation 12.
The manifestation of the sons of God. Revelation 12, starting with verse 1:
And I saw a great sign in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
And she was with child, and she cried in travail, and in pain to bring forth.
And another sign was seen in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.
And his tail draws a third part of the stars of heaven, and he cast them to the earth.
And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, in order that, when she brought forth, he might devour her child.
And she brought forth a male son, who shall shepherd all the nations with an iron rod.
And her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has there a place prepared of God, that they should nourish her for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels went to war; and the dragon fought, and his angels fought, and he prevailed not, nor was their place found any more in heaven.
And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole habitable world. He was cast out to the earth, and his angels were cast with him.
And I heard a great voice, saying, “Now has come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren has been cast out, who accused them before God day and night.
And they have overcome him by reason of the blood of the Lamb, and by reason of the word of their testimony, and have not loved their life even unto death.
Therefore be full of delight, heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great rage, knowing he has but a short time.”
The manifestation of the sons of God.
When Adam and Eve fell, it says they fell into vanity. As I have shared already, a vain life is a life without God—a life living the way you want to. God was no longer the center, and without purpose, a wildness entered into man.
This evil nature, this wild nature, entered into man. But it entered not only into man, but into the creation itself.
We remember that it was very shortly after Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel, that Cain became jealous of Abel and Cain slew Abel. That wildness had entered into man.
We remember the animal kingdom. The animals in the garden were at peace with one another. But now, as we see today, the animals have a wildness in them. They devour one another. There is a fear of man in them, and the wildness is there.
Even in the plant kingdom, there is wildness. We know that in the garden there were no weeds, no thorns. But now we have weeds and thorns. A wildness, a corruption, has entered even into the plant kingdom.
The atmosphere, where the enemy is now located with all of his host around the earth, has been corrupted as well.
Remember, in the garden it said that the dew would come up and water the garden. But it got so bad by the time of Noah that there was a great flood. Ever since, the atmosphere has been full of tornadoes and hurricanes.
That was not there in the beginning, brothers and sisters, as far as I can tell. So the atmosphere itself became corrupted. The earth—volcanoes, earthquakes, and so forth—has been affected as well.
The Lord Himself said that these things would increase as the time drew near. We know today that there are far more earthquakes than there have been in past years. There is far more turmoil in the earth itself than has ever been in the past.
But one day this creation will be reconciled. Christ has been called to reconcile everything. One day even the creation will be reconciled. It will be brought into peace. It will be set free from its vanity.
The prophecy tells of that day when the lion and the lamb will be able to lie down together. It says children will be able to play on the nest of the asp, which is a poisonous snake.
When will this be, brothers and sisters? When will this day be? Well, the creature knows. The creation knows. Unfortunately, man, the most intelligent being, has no sense of this.
But the creation knows. When winter is about to start—I saw a flock of geese yesterday headed south—God’s creation knows. The creature knows.
We see the birds flying south. The trees begin to turn, and they drop their leaves, preparing for winter, to be dormant and to use the least amount of energy as possible.
We know the bear fattens himself up just prior to winter and will hibernate. I always thought I wanted to be a bear. But no, seriously, I mean, that is great—they just sleep off the winter.
But the creature knows. It has a sensing of time.
The squirrels—you have seen how busy they are these days. Boy, they are after the acorns. We have a tree that has acorns at our house. Man, they are storing them up. They know something is coming. They know winter is on the way.
When will it be? When will this day be? Brothers and sisters, the day of peace that the whole creation is looking for is when the kingdom age begins.
The kickoff event, so to speak—what will start the chain of events that will bring in the kingdom age—is the manifestation of the sons of God. That will be the kickoff event, and not long after that, the Lord will return.
Man in his natural state has lost his sense of God. He has lost his sense of time because he is not interested in the Father’s business.
Many today, unbelievers in this world, have no sense of the coming of the Lord. They do not have it.
But thank God, man will not be left in vanity forever, neither will this creation.
My concern, brothers and sisters, is that not only does the unbelieving world have no sense of the time in which we live, but even Christianity today has so little sense of the judgment seat of Christ, the coming of the Lord, and the kingdom age.
Christ will reign and rule here for a thousand years. Israel will be His earthly nation, along with other nations. We will not go into all of that today.
But it has been through the work of the Elder Son. He overcame Calvary, self, sin, the devil, and the world. He has made it possible that we might receive His life—eternal life—the life that is of the family, that is eternal in nature: God’s family.
Brothers and sisters, when you are saved, you need to know that you are complete in Christ.
It is just like a baby. When my grandson was born, I was very thankful he had ten toes and ten fingers. He had little eyes—could not open them—but he had little eyes. He did not have any hair, though. It took a little while for the hair to come.
But all I am saying is that, as a newborn babe, he was complete. All the parts were there. All the life of the man was there in this little baby.
But this baby has to go through a transition. It has to go through a growing period. It has to go through a maturing period. He has to become a man.
Would it not be sad if my grandson stayed a child the rest of his life? It is not right. We want our children to grow up, to become men and women—mature, responsible, able to take care of themselves, able to be about the Father’s business on their own.
Well, the Lord Jesus Christ has made us complete. When we accept Jesus Christ, we receive that life, and that life is complete. But that life has to grow.
It only grows when we respond to the grace of God in our lives daily. The Lord suggests this or that through the Holy Spirit, and we begin to respond, and we begin to grow.
We begin to find out that there is much in us that is not the life of Christ, and that has to go. Brothers and sisters, this has all been designed by God for us to mature.
He has left the sinful nature in us, and we will have that wildness until we too are set free in our bodies. The glorified body that we will receive will not have that sin nature in it, and we will be set free as well.
But until that day, we have this evil, and God is using that. Do you not see that God uses the things in you that are against God in order to strengthen His own life? His life has to overcome.
His life in you has to overcome, and it is by grace that it overcomes. It has to overcome its draw to the world. That life in you has to overcome that natural desire for the world and the things of the world, and to live life the way you want to.
It has to overcome that selfish nature that is in you. It has to overcome the desire to live for yourself and become within you the desire to live for God.
It has to overcome the desire to sin. There is pleasure in sin for a season. It has to overcome the assaults of the enemy.
It says he accuses the brethren before God day and night. He accuses you day and night, brothers and sisters. You have to overcome him.
That is the way the life in us is strengthened. Is not God’s wisdom far above our own, to bring us to mature sons?
He wants us to live a useful life in Him.
As we grow in Christ, one of the great revelations that we finally learn as Christians is that it is no longer about us, but it is about Him.
Not only do we come into union of life with God, we come into union of purpose as well. We begin to see that God has a purpose. God has a plan. We need to be about His business.
That is sonship. It is for Him and His purpose.
Even our Christian growth—I know I went through a period where I was very sensitive to this matter of personal Christian growth. In a sense, we should always be aware that we need to be growing. If we are not growing, we are dying.
You cannot be neutral or passive about that. If you are not growing, you are dying.
But there was a period in my life when it was all about me growing spiritually. You know, that is the fleshly way of looking at it.
It is not about me. It is about the Father. It is about His business. That is why I need to grow. I need to grow because I love Him, and I want to serve Him.
I want to be a part of His business and what He is doing, because that is what eternity is about.
Give me a few minutes, and I will try to wrap it up.
Revelation 12, if you read that in connection with the verses that I have shared this morning, you will see that there is a kickoff event. That will be the event that begins to transition us into the kingdom age.
It is a manifestation of the sons of God: those who have matured, those who have accepted the work of Christ in their lives, those who are willing to grow, to trade in the Father’s business, to have Christ as their Head, and to subject themselves to Him.
They are willing to serve alongside their brothers and sisters, that there might be a full-grown man in Christ. Brothers and sisters, I propose to you that that is the man child—the sons of God.
In Revelation 12, we see the woman, the dragon, the man child, and the throne—key things in that chapter.
The dragon is pretty well described. It says he is the ancient one, Satan the devil. Those stars of heaven are a third of the angels.
But who is this woman?
There are four women in the Bible that are representative of what Christ is after and are types of the church.
The first one is Eve herself. Through Eve, we see God’s purpose. We see what God’s heart is for His Son to have a bride.
God said to Adam, “It is not good for you to be alone, Adam. You need a bride. You need a helpmate.” What did He do? From the side of Adam, He took something—some say a rib, but I do not know; you do not really know—but He took something from the side of Adam.
He built the woman from Adam, out of Adam. The woman was built as a helpmate for Adam. There we see, in the very beginning of the Book, God’s purpose for His Son to have this helpmate.
Then we have, in Ephesians 5:25, another woman, whom I call the mystery woman.
It says that we should love our wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify her and wash her with the water of the Word, that she might be clean and without spot or wrinkle.
That is the church during what is referred to as the age of grace—the church age—all the way up to this event we are talking about. It is the helpmate, the one who is to become the helpmate of Christ.
How did this woman come about? Christ, on the cross of Calvary, had a soldier thrust a spear into His side. It said blood and water came out of His side.
Brothers and sisters, the blood is for the forgiveness of our sins, that we might be acceptable to God, that through Jesus Christ we might become children of God—sons of God.
The water is the life of Christ, the actual eternal life of Christ poured out to us. That is how the woman is built. She came forth out of Christ.
So we see this mystery woman in Ephesians 5 represents the church being matured through the age of grace.
In Revelation, we see the fourth woman. The fourth woman is the New Jerusalem.
I am going back to three. That is okay, John, I got you. You cannot do four unless you have done three. I am going to take the artist approach today. We go to four first.
The fourth woman is the glorious New Jerusalem, coming out of heaven, adorned as a bride for her husband. That is the completed church. The woman is complete. There is no spot or wrinkle. She has finally been made perfect.
So who is the third woman? It is this woman in Revelation 12.
She represents the church at the end of this age, the end of the age of grace. She is the transition one to the kingdom age, right before Christ returns. That is what this woman is a type of.
We see, interestingly enough, that the dragon is not too concerned about the woman. But he is greatly concerned about the man child.
The woman is adorned with the glory of the sun. In other words, all the riches of Christ have been poured out on His church. It should be a glorious church, but it is not. It is weak. It is divided. It is not a glorious church.
The dragon is not that concerned because she has no power to really affect him or deal with him. But he is greatly concerned about this man child.
He realizes that as soon as the man child comes forth, he is at an end—his end is near. He is concerned, and he is waiting, it says, to devour this man child.
But when the man child is brought forth, it is immediately raptured to the throne—immediately raptured to the throne.
Brothers and sisters, these are those within the church who have overcome. They are the ones who have become mature sons in the Father’s business.
They are the ones who have traded with their talents, who have allowed the mina that has been given to them, the pound that has been given to them—the pound of grace—to increase.
These are those who have purchased extra oil through obedience to the Holy Spirit.
Later it says it speaks of the brethren overcoming, so we know they are brethren. We know they are brethren in the church.
Now, I want to say something. I have got to say this this morning. There was, and there still may be, a group called the Sons of God who think, unfortunately, that they actually become deity. They formed a special group. This is not that. I can tell you for sure.
In fact, the sons of God are not identified until they actually come forth in the rapture.
The Lord said at the end, speaking of those who are saved and unsaved, the tares and the wheat—the tares are the unsaved; the wheat are the saved, the Christians—“Let them grow together, and at the end, at the harvest, I will separate the two: the tares from the wheat.”
Brothers and sisters, it is similar in the church. At this time, out of the church, some brothers and sisters who have really matured in Christ will be raptured.
They will become the vanguard that will break through this atmosphere, which is Satan’s territory right now, this atmosphere around the earth. They will break through the atmosphere through to the throne.
Just to give you an overall picture: they will go; they will be raptured to the throne.
When they make it to the throne, they have basically broken through the enemy’s territory and his stronghold. Because of that, when they make it to the throne, the angels themselves will rise up, with Michael the archangel as their leader, and they will war against Satan and his angels.
They will be cast down to the earth.
Christ will come from the throne to the cloud. He will still be hidden. That is when He says, “I will come as a thief in the night.”
Then there will be the judgment seat of Christ. On the earth, there will be the great tribulation.
All will be raptured at that time. The dead in Christ first, and then those who are alive and remain—the remaining Christians—will be raptured. We will go through this period of the judgment seat of Christ.
But the great tribulation has been going on for a while. If you track it out, what is happening at the judgment seat of Christ is that the wrath of God, the bowls of the wrath of God, are being poured out in judgment.
There is a great tribulation up until that point, but it is during the middle part of that tribulation that the judgment of God will be poured out. All of the church will be before the Lord, before the judgment of God.
I just want to be clear on that. Even though there will be a lot of terrible things preceding even the judgment of God, I do not want us to get too caught up in events.
Then the Lord will break through the clouds. He will come as lightning in the sky. He will come down to the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives will split in two by an earthquake, I guess.
I think a third of the nation of Israel will escape. There will be the battle of Armageddon. At the end of the battle of Armageddon, the Lord will come and wipe them out.
Satan will be chained for a thousand years, and we will enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Those who enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb will be those who have made it to the throne.
The judgment seat of Christ will determine who will enter into that thousand years with Him, who will have the joy of serving with the Lord during that thousand years.
For the rest, it speaks of, obviously, a lack of joy, a lack of being able to serve the Lord during that period. He talks about being cut asunder, talks about some very serious things, gnashing of teeth.
I really think the gnashing of teeth will come because we will really see what we have missed.
Let me end by saying this.
One day, in Matthew 24, He says two will be in the field, gathering; one will be taken and one left. Two will be at the mill grinding; one taken, one left. Two asleep; one taken, one left.
Two is a number of the church. But I wonder where even the Christian world will be. One day some Christians are going to disappear without knowing why or anything else.
That is the manifestation of the sons of God. It is the beginning of the Parousia, of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me say this, brothers and sisters: entering into sonship is not an option for a Christian. It is not optional.
The consequences are too great. It is not optional. We cannot just live our lives the way we want to, as if it is an option we have because God is gracious and will forgive us.
God’s plan is for us to reign and rule with Him in the millennium. Are we going to miss that opportunity? That is the age of reward.
I am concerned for myself and others that we are often caught up with the cares of this life, as the Bible says, with the surfeiting of this world—in other words, just being overindulgent in the things of the world.
The cares of life have increased intensely. I have lived through them. I am still living in them. I understand that.
But the Word of God says that these who made it through—the vanguard, the man child—overcame because of the blood of the Lamb. They were not perfect.
They overcame because, when they did mess up before the Lord, they went to Him and asked for forgiveness and for the blood of Jesus Christ to cover them.
All that is not confessed and under the blood will be brought out at the judgment seat of Christ. So far better that we clear up these things today.
But these are ones who understand how precious that blood is and actually take advantage of the blood of Christ. I do not mean advantage in a negative way; I mean in a positive way.
They overcome by the word of their testimony. In other words, their life is a testimony, and therefore their words have weight because their whole life is a testimony.
They are not afraid to die. In other words, it is the soul life that has to be dealt with. It is the “I,” the “me.” They are not afraid to give that up for the sake of the Lord.
Lord, we come today. Lord, You have a marvelous, marvelous plan for Your sons.
I want to thank You, first of all, as we are together today, Lord, for that little special phrase that says we have been adopted unto sons through Christ unto Yourself.
What a marvelous, marvelous privilege. Lord, I know You are anxiously looking for us to become sons—matured sons, sons that can exercise Your Word, sons that understand the power of the blood, sons that live a life that is faithful to Thee.
Lord, forgive us, because we know we have fallen short of Your plan. We have fallen short; we have hindered Your disciplining work in our lives. Lord, forgive us for that.
But, Lord, today instill in us this sense of the time in which we live: the time of Your soon return, the time of the manifestation of the sons of God.
Lord, we want to be a part of that vanguard, not because we want to be proud, but because, Lord, we love You, and we love what You want.
Lord, do a work of grace in us as You have never done before. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.