Revelation 3:20-22, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."
Now there is a great deal of confusion over this verse because so many personal workers use it in personal evangelism as though Jesus were at the heart's door of every sinner knocking for admission. It would then be said that if the sinner opened the door, the Lord would come in. But this verse is not talking to individual sinners. This whole message has a summation as does every message in every age. In verse 22 it says, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the CHURCHES." So this is the message to the church of the last age. This is the condition of the Laodicean church as its end nears. It is not a personal message to one person; it is the Spirit telling us where Jesus is. CHRIST HAS LEFT THE CHURCH. Is this not the logical result or end if the Word is put aside for creed, the Holy Spirit deposed for popes, bishops, presidents, counselors, etc., and the Saviour set aside for a works program, or church joining, or some type of conformity to a church system? What more can be done against Him? This is the apostasy! This is the falling away! This is the open door to antichrist, for if One came in His Father's Name (Jesus) and was not received, but rejected, then there will come another with his own name (liar, a pretender) and him they will receive, John 5:43. The man of sin, that son of perdition will take over.
Matthew 24, mentions signs in the heavens concerning this last day just before Jesus comes. I wonder if you noticed such a sign recently fulfilled as to portray the very truth we have been discussing. That truth is that Jesus has been steadily pushed aside until in the last age He is pushed outside the church. Recall that in the first age it was almost a full orbed church of truth. Yet there was a little error called the deeds of the Nicolaitanes that kept the circle from being full. Then in the next age more darkness crept in until the ball of light glowed less, and darkness covered more of the circle. In the third age it was eclipsed still more, and in the fourth age which was the Dark Ages, the light had all but gone. Now think on this. The church shines in the reflected light of Christ. He is the SUN. The church is the MOON. Thus this orb of light is the moon. It had decreased from almost a full moon in the first age, to a sliver in the fourth age. But in the fifth age it began to grow. In the sixth it took a great step of growth forward. In part of the seventh age it was still growing, when suddenly it stopped short, and waned to almost a nothingness, so that instead of light it was the blackness of apostasy, and at the end of the age it had ceased to shine for darkness had taken over. Christ was now outside the church. Here is the sign in the sky. The last eclipse of the moon was a total eclipse. It waned to a total darkness in seven stages. In the seventh stage, the total darkness came as the Pope of Rome (Paul the Sixth) went to Palestine to make a holy tour of Jerusalem. He was the first pope to ever go to Jerusalem. The pope is named Paul the Sixth. Paul was the first messenger and this man goes by that name. Notice it is the sixth, or the number of man. This is more than a coincidence. And when he went to Jerusalem, the moon or the church went into total darkness. This is it. This is the end. This generation shall not pass away until all be fulfilled. Even so Lord Jesus, come quickly!
Now we can see why there were two vines, one true and one false. Now we can see why Abraham had two sons, one after the flesh (the persecuted Isaac) and one after promise. Now we can see how that out of the same parents two boys came forth as twins, one knowing and loving the things of God, and the other knowing much of the same truth, but not of the same Spirit, and hence persecuted the child that was elect. God did not reprobate for the sake of reprobation. He reprobated for the sake of the elect. ELECT CANNOT persecute elect. ELECT CANNOT harm elect. It is the reprobates that persecute and destroy the elect. Oh, those reprobates are religious. They are smart. They are of the Cain line, the serpent seed. They build their Babels, they build their cities, they build their empires, and all the while calling on God. They hate the true seed, and they will do all they can, (even in the Name of the Lord) to destroy God's elect ones. But they are needed. "What is the chaff to the wheat?" No chaff, no wheat. But at the end, what happens to the chaff? It is burned with fire un-quenchable. And the wheat? Where is it? It is gathered in His garner. It is where He is.
Oh elect of God, beware. Study closely. Be careful. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Rely upon God and be strong in His might. Your adversary, the devil, is even now going about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Watch unto prayer and be steadfast. This is the end time. Both the true and false vine are coming into maturity, but before the wheat matures, those ripened tares must be bound for the burning. See, they are all joining the World Council Of Churches. That is the binding. Soon the garnering of the wheat will come. But right now the two spirits are at work in two vines. Come out from among the tares. Start to overcome that you may be considered praiseworthy for your Lord, and fit to reign and rule with Him.
Revelation 3:21, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne."
Now what are we to overcome? That is the normal question to ask here. But that is not the actual thought of this verse for it is not so much WHAT we are to overcome but HOW we are to overcome. Now this is logical, for does it matter much WHAT we are to overcome as long as we know HOW we can overcome?
A quick look at those Scriptures which involve the Lord Jesus overcoming will bring out the truth of this proposition. In Matthew 4, wherein Jesus is tempted of the devil, He overcame the personal temptations of Satan by the Word, and by the Word only. In each of the three major trials that corresponded exactly to the temptation of the Garden of Eden, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, Jesus overcame by the Word. Eve fell to the personal temptation of Satan by failing to use the Word. Adam fell in direct disobedience to the Word. But Jesus overcame by the Word. And right now, let me say that this is the only way to be an overcomer, also it is the only way that you can know if you are overcoming, because that Word CAN'T fail.
Now notice again how Jesus overcame the world systems of religion. When He was repeatedly badgered by the theologians of His day, He constantly applied the Word. He spake only what the Father gave Him to speak. There was not a time when the world was not utterly confused by His wisdom for it was the wisdom of God.
In his own personal life, contending with Himself, He overcame by obedience to the Word of God. In Hebrews 5:7 it says, "Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him That was able to save Him from death and was heard in that He feared: Though He were a Son, Yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." What was He obedient to? The Word of God.
Now then, there will not be one person who will sit in the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ unless he has been living that Word. Your prayers, your fastings, your repentances - no matter what you present to God - none of that will gain you the privilege of sitting in that throne. It will be granted only to the WORD Bride. As the throne of the king is shared with the queen because she is united to him, so only they who are of that Word even as He is of that Word will share that throne.
Remember we have shown clearly all through the ages that even as Adam and Eve fell because they left the Word, so the Ephesian Age fell by turning slightly from the Word, until with every age continuing to turn away, we have a final repudiation of the Word by the World Church system. This Laodicean Age ends in a blackout of the Word, thereby causing a departure of the Lord from the midst. He stands outside calling to His own who follow Him by obedience to the Word. After a short and powerful demonstration of the Spirit this little hunted and persecuted group will go to be with Jesus.
This age is the last of the seven church ages. What began in the first or Ephesian Age must and will come to full fruition and harvest in the last or Laodicean Age. The two vines will yield their final fruit. The two spirits will terminate their manifestation in each of their final destinations. The sowing, the watering, the growing is all over. Summer is ended. The sickle is now thrust into the harvest.
In verses 15 to 18 which we have just studied lies the true picture of the ripened false vine, false spirit, false church people. "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear: and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." No words ever spelled out a more bitter denunciation, and no proud and arrogant religious people ever deserved it more. Yet in verse 21, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne," we find the true vine, true Spirit, true Church people exalted to the very throne of God with the highest compliment ever paid to a humble, steadfast Spiritual group.
The words of John the Baptist who so accurately set forth the Christ in relationship to the true and false church now comes to pass. Matthew 3:11-12, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He That cometh after me is mightier than I, Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with un-quenchable fire." Christ, the Great Harvester, is now reaping the fruit of the earth. He gathers the wheat into the garner by coming for His own and receiving them forever unto Himself. Then He returns to destroy the wicked with fire un-quenchable.
The mystery of the tares and wheat of Matthew 13:24-30, is now also fulfilled. "Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into My barn."
The wheat and the tares, which from the first age until now have grown side by side, are harvested. What Nicaea set out to accomplish has finally come to pass. With all the might of organization the false church turns from any vestige of truth and with political might reinforces herself with state backing and sets out to eradicate forever the true believer. But just when she is about to accomplish her cowardly plot the wheat is gathered into the garner. No longer will the wheat and tares grow side by side. No longer will the tares receive of the blessing of God because of the presence of the wheat, for the wheat will be gone and the wrath of God will be poured out in the sixth seal which will end in the utter destruction of the wicked.
Now I said a moment ago that the false vine came into full fruition in this age. Her fruit would mature and ripen. That is correct. This evilspirited church, full of iniquity, will be revealed as the mustard seed that grew into a tree wherein lodged the fouls of the air. At her head will be the antichrist, the mystery of iniquity. All this is true. And if this is true, then it must also be true that the Bride Church will mature, and her ripeness shall be an identification with her Lord by means of the Word, and her Head Who will come to her is the Mystery of Godliness, Which indeed is Christ. And as the false church with all cunning and diabolical power made up of political force, physical force and demons of darkness come against this true vine, the true vine with the fullness of the Spirit and the Word will do the very acts of power that Jesus did. Then as she nears her Headstone, becoming like Him through the Word, Jesus will come that the bride and Groom may be forever united as one.
Already the visible manifestations of what I have been telling you are seen all around us. The ecumenical move of the tares is factual. But also it is a fact that the prophet for the last age must be bringing forth a message from God that will forerun the second coming of the Lord, for by his message will the hearts of the children be turned back to the Pentecostal fathers, and with the restoration of the Word will come the restoration of the power.
What crucial times are these in which we live. How careful we must be that we remain true to this Word and not take from it or add to it, for he who would speak where God has not spoken makes Him a liar. What I have particularly in mind is this: About the turn of the century the hunger for God that was generated in the Philadelphian Age brought a cry for the Spirit of God. And when the cry was answered by God sending forth manifestation in tongues, interpretation and prophecy, a group immediately, and most contrary to the Word, drew up a doctrine that tongues was the evidence of being baptized with the Holy Ghost. Tongues were far from evidence. They were manifestation, but not evidence. The falsity of the doctrine can not only be seen by a lack of Scripture to substantiate it, but those who subscribed to the doctrine immediately organized on the basis of the doctrine, proving that they were not in the truth as they would have people believe. Oh, it looked good. It looked like the return of Pentecost. But it proved it wasn't. It could not be, for it organized. That is death, not life. It looked so close to the real that multitudes were deceived. Now if it wasn't the genuine, what was it? It was the husk, the chaff. In the green, soft sheath-form it looked like it was the real thing. But as one can go into the field and see what looks exactly like wheat and yet is only the husk, (for the wheat seed has not yet formed) so this was but the soft shell that looked like the real grain yet to come. The original wheat seed of Pentecost was to come back in the last age. It had been buried at Nicaea. It sent up a shoot at Sardis. It grew a tassel at Philadelphia, and it was to mature at Laodicea. But it could not be back to the original until the Word was restored. The prophet had not yet come upon the scene. But now according to the time wherein we stand in the Laodicean Age, the `Prophet-messenger' of Revelation 10:7 must already be in the land. Once more "Thus saith the Lord" must be here, ready to be manifested with infallible vindication. Thus is the True Seed already maturing, and THEN THE HARVEST.
Harvest time. Yes, harvest time. The two vines that grew together and intertwined their branches are now to be separated. The fruits of those vines which were at such variance will be gathered into separate garners. The two spirits will go to their separate destinations. Now it is time to heed the final call that comes only to the Wheat Bride, `Come out of her My people that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye (wheat) receive not her (tares) plagues (the great tribulation of the sixth seal and Matthew 24).
Revelation 3:22, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."
This is the LAST warning. There will not be another. The throne room has been set up. The twelve foundations have been laid. The streets of gold have been paved. The gates of gigantic pearls are raised and hinged. Like a pyramid she stands so fair and glorious. The heavenly beings who have prepared her watch breathlessly, for she glistens and shines with a glory that is unearthly. Every facet of her beauty tells a story of amazing grace and Jesus' love. She is a city prepared for a prepared people. She awaits only for her inhabitants, and soon they will throng her streets with joy. Yes, it is the last call. The Spirit will not speak in another age. The ages are over.
But thank God, at this moment, this age is not over. He is yet crying. And His cry is not only in the spiritual ears of men by His Spirit, but once again a prophet is in the land. Once more God will reveal the truth as He did to Paul. In the days of the seventh messenger, in the days of the Laodicean Age, its messenger will reveal the mysteries of God as revealed to Paul. He will speak out, and those who receive that prophet in his own name will receive the beneficent effect of that prophet's ministry. And they that hear him will be blessed and become part of that bride of the last day who are mentioned in Revelation 22:17, "The Spirit and the bride say come." The corn of wheat (the Bride Wheat) that fell into the ground at Nicaea has come back to original Word Grain again. Praise God forever. Yes, listen to the authenticated prophet of God who appears in this last age. What he says from God, the bride will say. The Spirit and the prophet and the bride will be saying the same thing. And what they will say will have already been said in the Word. They are saying it now, "Come out from among her now and be ye separate." The cry has gone out. The cry is going out. How long will the voice cry? We do not know, but one thing we do know, it won't be long, for this is the last age.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. The Spirit has spoken.The setting sun is about to fade into eternity for the church ages. Then it will be all over. Then it will be too late to come. But if somewhere in this series God has dealt with you by His Spirit, may you even now turn to Him in repentance and give your life to Him that by His Spirit He may give you eternal life.7ch051.htm