12/24/11
Greetings,
The New Year is right around the corner! What’s more, tomorrow is Christmas. Believe it or not this is the fifty-second BRIDE email on the topic of unity. This will also be the last. I will be taking a week off and BRIDE emails will resume beginning the first Saturday of 2012. The topic of the coming year will be spiritual warfare. We will discuss what it means, what’s involved, and most importantly how to exercise the victory that we have in Jesus Christ. If you have friends, family, or acquaintances that you believe will benefit from learning about spiritual warfare please send me their email addresses so that I can add them to the recipient list! With all that is coming upon the earth, it is time for the body of Christ to arise as the powerhouse that God has appointed us to be.
With that said, I was asked an interesting question recently. A friend of mine asked me what perspective the body of Christ should have in regards to the last days. This was a good question because many perspectives have been suggested by various sources. Some have said that we should simply focus on being “rapture ready.” This means we should be saved and prepared to vanish at any time so that we don’t have to deal with all of the negative things coming upon the earth. Another perspective suggests that we should be prepared to hide in caves, under rocks, or in holes in the ground. Some have even suggested that Jesus won’t come back until the whole world becomes Christian, so we should just keep evangelizing the lost.
All of these suggestions have reasons for embracing them, but I am not convinced that any of these are the final say as it pertains to what perspective we should assume. As God has opened my eyes to His unfolding plan I have realized that He has a grand, awe-inspiring agenda prepared for the last days. In light of this, one passage in particular gives us a blunt glimpse of the plan that God has. The book of Daniel actually tells us what we will be doing in the last days. When we stop and consider what is truly being said it begins to reveal what kind of perspective we really should be embracing.
“…but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)
In order to understand the ramifications of this brief passage we must establish its timeframe. Believe it or not, the timeframe for this comment is the coming antichrist’s rule. This season will reveal the greatest evil ever released upon the earth. In spite of the darkest season history will ever record and without concern for the seemingly impossible circumstances under which they will be operating—the Christians of the last days that know their God will be strong and do exploits.
There is nothing impossible for the true people of God because we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). We are not looking forward to evacuation, but to a glorious mission. However, we must know our God. These people of Daniel 11:32 will have become the answer to the following prayer of Jesus:
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word (the testimony of the first apostles); That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are.” (John 17:20-22)
The implications of this prayer are staggering beyond the imagination. Jesus is essentially praying for everyone that will ever believe upon His name. However, what He prays for them is nothing short of bewildering. He prays that they will be one in the same way that He and the Father are one. There is no unity as powerful as the unity of the Godhead. Jesus prays that the church will achieve the same unity that He shares with the Father. (This unity is manifested trans-dimensionally which is why Jesus says that the unity will manifest “in us”). This unity will allow for the saints to be strong and execute great exploits in the face of the antichrist agenda.
Jesus goes on and declares that the activation of this unity among the saints will cause the world to believe in Him. This means that the result of unity is a massive harvest of souls—a side-effect of the strength and exploits of the last day saints. Jesus also speaks about His glory. Some people think that God will not share His glory. This is not what the Bible says. The Bible says that God will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 42:8). However, He will share His glory with those found in Him. The very glory of Jesus has been given to the church. Jesus says that He has given His glory to the church that we might become one in Him. This glory will empower unity, strength and great exploits in the last days.
Unity is inseparable from the coming moves of God. As I have said before, unity is not an end in and of itself. Unity is necessary in order to achieve the things that God has planned for the last days. Moreover, I am not speaking of a counterfeit unity based around a globalist agenda. This is a false unity and it is a counterfeit and a means of control. There is only one true unity and that is unity based on the common goal of coming to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). As the year winds to a close, let us keep in mind that Jesus has more prepared for us than we can imagine. Let us together press on towards the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14)!
Discussion
1. What perspective regarding the last days have you embraced until this point?
2. What perspective regarding the last days does Daniel 11:32 suggest we should embrace?
3. When Jesus prays for the unity of the church, what kind of unity does He pray for?
4. What are some of the most powerful lessons in reference to unity in the body of Christ that you have learned in the past year?
5. Do you have any suggestions that will allow me to improve these letters in the coming year? (Feel free to email me the answer to this question)
