HASTENING HIS COMING 2
(week 43/01)
Olubi Johnson
The Dawning of the great and terrible day of the Lord
In our last article we said that the September 11th terrorist attack on the US marked the beginning of the season of His coming in us and the dawning the great and terrible day of the Lord.
The purpose of this message is to alert us to dress up spiritually for this season. We must put on the whole armour of God, now and having done all to stand, stand in this evil day.
In this article we will see why the September 11th attack marked the beginning of the dawning of the day of the Lord and how to hasten His coming in us in this season.
The September 11th terrorist attack on the US announced to whole world that the great and terrible day of the Lord was dawning on human history.
It is instructive to note that the day of the Lord is the 3rd. millennium from Christ. In fact the day of the Lord started about 6 years ago since Christ was born about 4 B.C. and not 0 B.C. So the midnight hour of the day of the Lord was about 1995/6, so by divine revelation, taking 1 year to represent 1 hour, 2001/2 is about 5.00-6.00 am: the time of the dawning of the day of the Lord
This day is called the great and terrible day of the Lord because it will be a great day of glory for the spiritual Christian typified by gold, silver and precious stones and a terrible day for carnal Christians typified by wood and earth.
Joel 2:11 (KJV): And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
Malachi 3:1-3 (KJV): Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
1 Cor 3:11-15 (KJV): 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.
The coming of the Lord in us will be like a refining fire in the Church, which is His temple. His coming in us will be sudden and only those who are watching and praying, walking in the spirit, putting on the whole armour of God, will be able to endure or stand in this great and terrible day. The carnal Christian typified by wood, hay and stubble may go to heaven but will suffer the loss of the reward experiencing the fullness of Christ. Many will die physically prematurely, even though their spirits will be saved. Indeed it will be a terrible day for the carnal Christian.
In fact the scripture reveals that two-thirds of the church will be cut off and die and the remaining one third that are gold and silver will be purged and refined by the fire or tribulation the Lord will allow to come to His Church.
Zechariah 13:7-9 (KJV): Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
The terrorist attack of September 11 marked the beginning of this tribulation (this is not the great tribulation spoken of in Matthew 24, rather this is a time of trouble and difficulty that God is allowing to awake the Church to rise and shine and by supernatural power overcome terrorism and fanatical Islam in this day and hour). God will use this tribulation to refine and perfect His Church so that she can shine and truly be a light to the world in this dark hour.
Isaiah 60:1-3 (NIV): “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Hastening the day of His coming in us
We are now in the season of His coming in us but the manifestation of His glory in us as it was in the Lord Jesus Christ has not yet occurred. Furthermore we do not know the day or hour in which it will occur but there are things we can and must to do to hasten that day and hour.
2 Peter 3:12 (KJV): Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2 Peter 3:12 (NIV): as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
Ephesians 5:16 (KJV): Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
We must recognize that what we do or do not do can either hasten or delay His coming in us.
In fact God will hold us Christians accountable for the blood of those who die during this season of trouble, because of our sins of omission that delayed His coming in us, which coming with its attendant revival, would have saved some those people from premature physical death.
Ezek 3:18 (KJV): When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
We must see more than ever before that indeed the whole of creation and in particular the human race is groaning and waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Romans 8:19 (NIV): The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.
Isaiah 25:9 (KJV): And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
To hasten His coming in us in this season we must be diligent in spiritual things:
2 Peter 3:14 (KJV): Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
1 Timothy 6:14 (KJV): That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
1 Timothy 6:14-15 (NIV): to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time— God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
This does not mean we have to be perfect in conduct, but it does mean that we must be quick to confess, repent and forsake any sins in our lives, maintaining a diligent prayer life and walk in the spirit. (See our articles on the fear of the Lord, Keys of the Kingdom and Obedience by the Spirit for more details) By doing this we will keep ourselves without spot and blameless before God and so hasten His coming in us.
His coming in us: a spiritual atomic explosion
The coming of Christ in us, the Church, in the fullness of His glory and power, like it was in Jesus’ earthly ministry, will be like a spiritual atomic explosion.
For this to happen God must have a ‘critical mass’ of what you might call ‘radioactive’ Christians on the earth.
In a physical atom bomb you must have a critical mass of radioactive material to cause a chain reaction that will lead to an atomic explosion. If one has radioactive material that is less than the critical mass the chain reaction will fizzle out and not lead to an explosion.
In the same way God must have a ‘critical mass’ or number of ‘spiritually radioactive Christians’ to start a spiritual chain reaction to cause this spiritual atomic explosion.
This truth is typified in the fact that God will not release His judgements in the great tribulation until the 144,000 ‘radioactive’ Christian Israelites have been sealed in their foreheads.
Revelation 7:3-4 (KJV): Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Revelation 7:1-5 (KJV):
And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
Of course this does not mean that the critical mass or number Christians required at this time is 144,000 since this is just a type or shadow, however the principle is the same.
At this point in time, God certainly has many ‘radioactive’ Christians but obviously not enough yet to cause an explosion.
The purpose of this article, the fire of tribulation as started and demonstrated by the terrorist attack of September 11, and many other messages from God’s servants all over the globe is to recruit and train more and more ‘radioactive’ Christians until we get the required explosion.
Every Christian who hears this message needs to make the necessary decisions, disciplines and adjustments in his life to become as it were a ‘radioactive’ Christian and thus hasten the day of His coming in us in this season of His coming in us.
