Dear John and Doves,John, thank you for this great Christian Forum and all the hard work you do to KEEP it Great for Christ's sake.Concerning the Rapture, the Lord has seen fit to place in His body, those that can inspire faith in many of us to Keep Looking Up!Some warn us of "dates" to be watchful for.........We rejoice that God is using many devoted Saints to KEEP alive our WATCHFULNESS.Oh yes, I believe it's of God because the devil sure doesn't want us watching for Jesus and living Holy for Him!We know from the study of God's Word that without faith we cannot please Him, for WHAT is NOT of Faith is sin.And that means the Rapture also.The Realization of our soon Life with Christ gives us Hope!The "KNOWING" that He will Rapture us SOON is unbelievable JOY!The ineffable God, He who is Incapable of being expressed, chose us in Christ Jesus! He made a WAY to communicate to us that He WANTS us all to HIMSELF!The Bible says, “Rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). A couple of verses later it says, “. . . in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (v. 18). “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).
Sometimes it is not easy to rejoice or to give praise to the Lord, but that does not change the command.
“It is God’s will that we find joy in prayer in Christ Jesus in every condition of life,” writes A. T. Robertson. There are no circumstances in the Christian's life where he cannot give thanks. God works everything together for good for those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).
“Rejoice . . . pray . . . give thanks” is God’s will for every believer in every situation.
The Rapture is a "mystery" to MOST, but NOT to All! Psalm 25:14 The LORD confides in those who fear him!
Agape! YSIC Sandy B.
The difficulties and mysteries of Scripture
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law." Deuteronomy 29:28
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts--neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth--so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts!" Isaiah 55:8-9
The difficulties and mysteries of Scripture, necessarily result from the relations between God and man:
God the infinite--man the finite;
God the holy--man the sinner;
God a Spirit--man a creature of flesh and blood;
God in Heaven--man on earth;
God inhabiting eternity--and man the creature of a day;
God the Sovereign of the universe--and man the tiny, puny rebel to His throne.
Mark these contrasts--measure their diversity. The very statement of them shows how impossible it is for man to be able to fully comprehend God or His dealings.
The question was asked of old, "Who, by searching, can find out God? Who can find out the Almighty?" And Solomon, the wisest of men, declared, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter." For if man knew as much as God--he must have the mind of God and the wisdom of God!
For eighteen hundred years the mind of man, with its measuring lines--has been endeavoring to fully understand God and His ways, and compute the measurements of His great truths--and yet they are no nearer the solution now, than when first revealed. There they stand in the firmament of theology, the great unresolvable nebulae of revelation; and no magnifying power of man's optics, and no space-penetrating power of man's devising--can unfold those mysteries, which at once challenge and test, the faith of man.
There can be no revelation of God which is free from mysteries--because human language cannot embody celestial thoughts and modes of divine existence. And the human mind could not comprehend terms and phrases which would truly reflect the person, glory, and work of the Almighty.
Divine thoughts, before they can be taken into our minds, have to be diluted into human words.
Divine things have to be symbolized to us, by human or earthly types.
And divine beings have to be described to us, by terms borrowed from human existences and of purely earthly signification.
Hence, in the process of translation, dilution, and illustration--no one attribute of God, no one truth of God--can be fully revealed and understood.
We can only see the earthly side and the earthly terminus--the heavenly side and the heavenly starting-point, are all beyond our reach--far away out of sight! And there we must be content to let it be, ever standing with our eyes upturned to Jesus, holding in one hand the great doctrines of revealed truth, and in the other the precious assurances:
"What I am doing, you do not understand now; but you shall know hereafter." John 13:7
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12"Fair Use for Discussion and Educational Purpose"~ ~ ~ ~ ~