The Closing Age of Grace: Last Chance Not Only for Believers

From a prophetic standpoint, the Age of Grace (or the Dispensation of Grace, as Clarence Larkin calls it) appears to be coming to a close.  For unbelievers, this means that there is little time left to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and receive the gift of eternal life (For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16).

But the closing of the Age of Grace has significant ramifications for believers, too.  The fear of the Lord should be upon us.  If we need to repent for sins that we have committed in the body, we should do so.  If we are not allowing the Lord to work through us, we should do so.  God is a God of love, but He is also a God of judgment.  Unfortunately, we don’t hear much about that these days.

Scripture tells us that all believers will stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:10: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad

Romans 14:10: we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

The only difference between those who have already died in Christ — and those of us who will be raptured when Jesus meets us in a cloud in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) — is that we will be fortunate enough to avoid the sting of death.  But all of our works will undergo the test of fire at the judgment seat.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15:  According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 

I confess that the thought of standing before the Lord tomorrow sobers me.  I already know that many of my works will not withstand the test of fire.  The late Pastor Gary Whipple, who preached about Kingdom truths for believers, once said that he believed that most of us will have a combination of works.  That brings me great comfort.

We always want to think that we have more time.  But do we?  If you do not believe in Jesus Christ, I pray that you will accept him as your Savior right now.  If you are a believer, I pray that you (and I) will allow Christ Jesus to work through us every moment that we have left on this fallen earth.

While there are many professed believers who promise me that I can have my best life now, or that I need to find my purpose, I pray that I will have a little more time to die to self-will and allow the Lord to perform His great works through me.

Hosea: A Type for Christ or God’s Bride?

I was listening to my audio bible and heard a passage from Hosea 3:1-9 that sounded like a type for Christ:

The Lord said to me, “Go, show love to your wife again, even though she loves another man and continually commits adultery.  Likewise, the Lord loves the Israelites although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.” So I paid fifteen shekels of silver and about seven bushels of barley to purchase her.

Hosea means “help” or “salvation” and the prophet does appear to speak to God’s love for us by sending His Son to die for us on the cross in Hosea 6:1-3:

Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.  After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.  Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

Upon further study, however, I think that Hosea is a type for God’s relationship to His eventual wife: Israel. 

Looking at Hosea’s life, we learn that God instructed Hosea to marry a prostitute.  He chose Gomer, who was not faithful to him.  God chose Israel to be His bride, which has also been unfaithful in its covenant with the Lord.  So one could say that God also chose a harlot.

When we look at the names of Hosea and Gomer’s children, their firstborn was named Jezreel, which means God sows.  The second child was a daughter named Lo-Ruhamah, which means no pity or no mercy.  Their third child, Lo-Ammi, means not my people.  That sounds an awful lot like God’s long-suffering relationship with Israel, which turned to worship Baal and not the Lord.

Hosea is such a beautiful story because despite God’s judgment, it also typifies God’s love for Israel.  Hosea speaks to the day when Israel will finally repent and be welcomed back into the arms of her long-awaiting Husband.

Therefore, behold, I will allure her [Israel] and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly and to her heart.  There I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor [troubling] to be for her a door of hope and expectation. And she shall sing there and respond as in the days of her youth and as at the time when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that you will call Me Ishi [my Husband], and you shall no more call Me Baali [my Baal].  For I will take away the names of Baalim [the Baals] out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned or seriously remembered by their name. (Hosea 2:14-17, Amplified Bible).

Quoteworthy: Testing The Spirits (1 John 4:1-7)

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  

This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.   

They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
 
We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. 

This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.