Hi there,
So this is not to harp on about the falling away - I am not trying to say you should feel convicted about the times. What this is, is just a recognition, that the falling away actually serves a purpose, according to God's counsel. Just as the anti-Christ is not without purpose (that the Devil be burdened with the sins of men), so the falling away, just short of the appearing of the anti-Christ, has a purpose.
The Bible says "if they had known who they were crucifying, they would not have allowed it" the subtext being that 'then no one would be saved (but Jesus)'; a similar thing can be said of the falling away: that is, if the falling away did not come, people might mistake the Church to be responsible for an answer to the anti-Christ and his "mark" - that the Church should rescue the remnant - even though God was working out a greater Spirit, through the Holy Spirit; that the surrender of the Holy Spirit would save the Nations.
The Holy Spirit's nation, would be saved, but none of the other nations, would share in it and the rule of the Holy Spirit would grow to be a target of the Devil, instead of an example. If the Nations knew this, they would storm Israel and demand their rulers be heeded - so that the final end of Israel would be distraught and unbeckoning (to the faithful of the world). When the world has experience of the Holy Spirit's rule, how ever, they will see the failings of their own ways, that they are lost without someone coming to save them - in effect saying "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" instead of "it is a favour to God if we kill them" since they will not be able to find God, without the help of Christ.
And Christ will help, either way: He does not hold the falling away against the Church, but rather welcomes those who endure to the end, for the sake of the trial that tests all the peoples of the World. It was never His intention to forget where we have fallen - remember that He said in Revelation, to "remember where you have fallen", He by no means forgets the Church that fell. We should comfort each other with these words at this time, lest we develop the idea that the "World" was 'right' and our time has come and gone, before we can show faith in Christ. Again, this is God's doing, we should not be ashamed of the Church falling away.
I hope you can see that there will be a returning to the Lord, as He returns to us - in this - for He will return (whatever state the Church is in, at the time!)!
So this is not to harp on about the falling away - I am not trying to say you should feel convicted about the times. What this is, is just a recognition, that the falling away actually serves a purpose, according to God's counsel. Just as the anti-Christ is not without purpose (that the Devil be burdened with the sins of men), so the falling away, just short of the appearing of the anti-Christ, has a purpose.
The Bible says "if they had known who they were crucifying, they would not have allowed it" the subtext being that 'then no one would be saved (but Jesus)'; a similar thing can be said of the falling away: that is, if the falling away did not come, people might mistake the Church to be responsible for an answer to the anti-Christ and his "mark" - that the Church should rescue the remnant - even though God was working out a greater Spirit, through the Holy Spirit; that the surrender of the Holy Spirit would save the Nations.
The Holy Spirit's nation, would be saved, but none of the other nations, would share in it and the rule of the Holy Spirit would grow to be a target of the Devil, instead of an example. If the Nations knew this, they would storm Israel and demand their rulers be heeded - so that the final end of Israel would be distraught and unbeckoning (to the faithful of the world). When the world has experience of the Holy Spirit's rule, how ever, they will see the failings of their own ways, that they are lost without someone coming to save them - in effect saying "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" instead of "it is a favour to God if we kill them" since they will not be able to find God, without the help of Christ.
And Christ will help, either way: He does not hold the falling away against the Church, but rather welcomes those who endure to the end, for the sake of the trial that tests all the peoples of the World. It was never His intention to forget where we have fallen - remember that He said in Revelation, to "remember where you have fallen", He by no means forgets the Church that fell. We should comfort each other with these words at this time, lest we develop the idea that the "World" was 'right' and our time has come and gone, before we can show faith in Christ. Again, this is God's doing, we should not be ashamed of the Church falling away.
I hope you can see that there will be a returning to the Lord, as He returns to us - in this - for He will return (whatever state the Church is in, at the time!)!
