Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. 1 Timothy 5:24.The work of the investigative judgment and the blotting out of sins is to be accomplished before the second advent of the Lord. Since the dead are to be judged out of the things written in the books, it is impossible that the sins of men should be blotted out until after the judgment at which their cases are to be investigated…. When the investigative judgment closes, Christ will come, and His reward will be with Him to give to every man as his work shall be.All are to be judged according to the things written in the books, and to be rewarded as their works have been. This judgment does not take place at death.
In the typical service the high priest, having made the atonement for Israel, came forth and blessed the congregation. So Christ, at the close of His work as mediator, will appear, “without sin unto salvation,” to bless His waiting people with eternal life. As the priest, in removing the sins from the sanctuary, confessed them upon the head of the scapegoat, so Christ will place all these sins upon Satan, the originator and instigator of sin. The scapegoat, bearing the sins of Israel, was sent away “unto a land not inhabited;” so Satan, bearing the guilt of all the sins which he has caused God’s people to commit, will be for a thousand years confined to the earth, which will then be desolate, without inhabitant, and he will at last suffer the full penalty of sin in the fires that shall destroy all the wicked.
A few, yes, only a few, of the vast number who people the earth will be saved unto life eternal, while the masses who have not perfected their souls in obeying the truth will be appointed to the second death.
While the sins of penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God’s people upon earth.
The Faith I Live By p. 213
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Prayer Requests
—-update—Good news. Phil had many many people praying for him and the drs found nothing wrong with his heart. they are thinking maybe acid reflux. Thanks for all your prayers! Vickie
—-We fear my granddaughter’s is in great danger. She has a form of autism… and she left a letter in middle of the night 9/17/18 and is flying to New Delhi (landing in Hong Kong in a couple of hours) to meet a man she met on Facebook. From all information we have we believe it is very likely human traffic ring that has brainwashed her. Pattie
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Dear Friends,
One year, around 1900, the conditions were right in Pennsylvania for an extra amount of poisonous snakes to survive. They were everywhere. Many people were bitten, which, in those long-ago days, was usually fatal. People were getting desperate. They were killing snakes “right and left” and still there were more.
One day, my grandfather, Edwin Harmon, who was about a teen at the time, took his rifle and walked along the river to practice his marksmanship. Large trees grew on each side of the river. Their branches hung over and nearly touched the water. My grandfather saw many snakes along the way. As he came around a bend in the river, what he saw amazed him. There was an old, abandoned, wooden tower of some sort standing at the water’s edge. Countless numbers of snakes were slithering out of the glassless windows and onto the nearby trees. The place was literally writhing with snakes.
Deciding to use them as targets, he began to fire. Soon dead snakes were falling into the water. Over and over again he killed the snakes, but it seemed that the more he killed, the more there were. He was amazed. Finally, he tired of his little target practicing “game” and went home. Yet, the memory of that experience would stay with him forever.
The Bible speaks of a serpent more deadly than those poisonous snakes that my grandfather shot. It tells us of a serpent that we are helpless to conquer in our own power. John speaks of him, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Rev 12:9 This old serpent goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8) Indeed, it is the very serpent Eve listened to in the Garden. (Gen 3)
When the Children of Israel were wandering in the desert, they murmured against God many times. Often they had to be punished in order for them to turn from their rebellion. In one of those rebellious times, their Great Protector withdrew His protection and there came “fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” Num 21:6-9
Looking at a brass replica of the serpents that were causing all of their trouble seemed a very strange thing to do. There must have been some who refused to look and as many as refused, died from the venom. How many there are today who do the same. In God’s Holy Word, we find the way of salvation, yet how few there are who will “look and live.”
When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, Jesus used this very experience to help this member of the Sanhedren understand His coming sacrifice. He explained, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:14-17
That serpent on the pole represented Jesus, Who would come and die for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2) We, as they, must have faith to look “unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb 12:2
May we look in faith to God’s Great Provision that we may be healed from the serpent’s bite of sin. May we accept His free offer of grace while there is yet time. May we share His good news of salvation with those around us, that they, too, may look and live.
Rose