Hello John and Doves !
 

TO BOB D. AND DOVES RE:  FIRSTFRUITS

Sorry I have been resting from the strenuous studies.   But you know you need a rest when you dream of a large computer screen and then wake up to find your hand on a coaster on the bedside table and clicking it like a mouse !   ROFLOL !

Here is a note, not a study

Bob, your notes were very enriching and encouraging to all of us who await the Lord and His glory to be revealed to us.   And I agree with all that you say.   It has also intrigued me that so many Christians including myself have had a most distressing time in the last couple of years.   Meanwhile those people I know who are lukewarm and do not look for His return have prospered in the most amazing ways, that is, in worldly acquisitions etc.   It occurred to me that this was beyond what one could attribute to probability alone, for the deck has been so stacked against us who wait for Him it seems.    One of the reasons for this is that we have indeed turned our back on the world and the things of the world, and since the world "loves its own", we are thus excluded from the goodies.   Also, each church addressed by our Lord just before the "open door" and "trumpet voice"  experienced by John (who calls himself our "fellow - sufferer, and brother").   Thus what happens to him in the book of Revelation, we will also see / experience.   This does not diminish my opinion that John will definitely be one of the elders and far above my station should I make it there, for I simply cannot  identify myself among the favorites or most beloved of Christ but will just be so full of joy to make it at all........
      We have to look elsewhere to find out about this "suffering" that seems to have befallen so many Godly Christians of late.   First of all, and I will try to be general in these observations without quoting scripture, for then I may end up with that night-stand mouse again !
      Looking at Ruth.   She was "prepared", and steadily worked to gather the sheaves, the gleanings left for her.   These gleanings are indeed the scriptures which have been left to us by those Jews who went before.  She "beat out" the gleanings.  We study to find ourselves approved, rightly dividing the Word, which is a form of beating out the chaff to arrive at the truth.
      Ruth was also "judged" by Boaz.   She "found favor" with him while she was in the field, then at midnight (our bema seat judgment?), Boaz reckoned her to be a very fine woman indeed who did not run after other young men, rich or poor (other doctrines).
      I am sure that Ruth was not pampered and comfortable in the "world" as she worked so hard.  Neither have we been the last couple years as we work to find favor in the Lord's sight, studying the scriptures and sorting them out.
      As Bob pointed out, there is a sifting process that takes place before presenting the firstfruits, especially at Pentecost, where the flour has to be the "finest" for the loaves of bread, and also I read once that the actual process requires five siftings, ever finer.   Five siftings of grace.   This sifting removes from us the lingering chaff and impurities, making us ever more "pure" and Peter said we who await His coming do indeed set our minds to make ourselves (or rather to be made by the Lord) more pure, as we can do nothing by ourselves.  This flour is then made into loaves and baked in the fire.   So are we, in the refinement trials which we face prior to His coming.
      We are told that the Holy Spirit was given to us in part, as a down payment on that greater which was to come.   If this down payment was made on Pentecost, would not the "closing" be also on Pentecost?
      I still hold out hope for the 40th day Ascension-Day arrival of the Lord "the same way He was taken from us".    And, mind you, between the ascension day and the day of Pentecost, the deciples were left alone, without Christ bodily on earth, or the Holy Spirit.   They waited together for the promise of power from on high,  during these ten days.   Is this the ten days of tribulation warned about to the church of Smyrna in the book of Revelation?
      The next shadow of suffering before exaltation would be Job.   During Job's suffering he drew ever closer to God as the suffering increased.  That is what happens to us during our sufferings.    Throughout the book of Job, we find him trying to "justify" himself,  and at the end of the book he finds himself vile in the sight of God, and humbles himself, to receive the grace and justification which only God can give to us.   We cannot justify ourselves, although we may try.   It occurred to me while I was reading this book once during one of my many trials, that Job's three friends could very well have been Job himself in his own flesh, soul (conscience)  and spririt (heart).   So I re-read the book and sure enough, there you see where we accuse ourselves, make excuses, yet return to a convicting of the conscience, then saying hey wait I'm not THAT bad, etc., etc., until we give up and turn up at the feet of Jesus and His cross, like Job did.   Then God justifies us.   This is His gift.
      Another shadow of preparation (sifting) is shown by the preparation of the potential brides for Ahasueras, the king who chose Esther as bride.  For one year these candidates were taken into the royal house and prepared by the eunichs to stand before the king.   The first six months involved the use of myrhh.   This is the spice which represents death, the burial spice of our Lord.   During this time we die to the world and the flesh.  The second six months involved baths and perfumes, getting ready to present before the king.    Ruth also went through this with her bathing, anointing and dressing.
      Another bride preparation can be seen in Rebekkah, who when Abraham's servant (the Holy Spirit) sought her out, was given gifts (down payment) and shown all the riches of Isaac (the later fulfillment of the Holy Spirit's full gifts).   She was asked whether she would go "now", the next morning, or whether she would wait ten days as her family had wanted.   She chose to go "now".    Is this the ten days of tribulation that Smyrna is warned about?    Do we make the same decision?   Go now? (Ascension Day), or later? (Pentecost?)   Just a thought.
      I have read the many Dove letters which are appeals for prayer for so many troubling things which have come into their lives, being the illness of a loved one, loss of job, financial problems etc.   I pray for each and every one, and for all Christian brethren throughout the world who suffer in their various sufferings.
      We are told that we will suffer in the world.   We are told that this suffering will make us "like Him", so that we may also be glorified in Him when that day comes.    As the world continues to indulge in its carnival of entertainment, riches and debauchery, and the church continues to preach its prosperity gospel, this truly believing remnant suffers.
      Remember that Christ said to the Philadelphia church, "ye have a little strength".   This is a small, but sincere church, which hang on His words alone.   And they suffer now in these days before He comes.   But even in their sufferings these brethren continue to rely on Him and do not deny His Name.
      It is not long before He comes.   I also agree with Bob that the fall festivals somehow do not seem right to me as a rapture fulfillment.   They are the "judgment" feasts.   Jesus said He was at the door, when He mentioned that the fig tree and all the trees indicated that "summer" was near.   Not that summer was ending as in the fall, but that summer was near.    We have until June 21 to wait for a spring rapture.    In the meantime, whenever He does come, we will still be in the preparation process.
      The wind of the Spirit comes and goes as Jesus said it would be for those who are born again.   And indeed, we sometimes get mighty winds of the Spirit, and sometimes a quieting down, which seems to have taken place more lately.   Another rush of the mighty wind of the Spirit will soon come again------one can see this wind of the Spirit on the Doves site, with rushes of spiritual expectation etc., and then a quieting down...........I have noticed this over the years.....
      Meanwhile may we all be made right for Him, whatever it will take.   May we be taken out of the world with no world in us.   May we hear Him every day and fulfill the giving of the manna.  May we rest from our trials so that our joy may begin.   May we love the brethren with God's love and not a feigned goodie-goodie counterfeit.    May we see the "good" in every single thing that God does for us and to us, even the chastisement.  May we examine ourselves and confess each sin so that they don't come as a witness against us at the bema judgment.
      Blessings to all of you in Christ, from your sister, Arlene