The Threshing Floor

The Threshing Floor

By

Eddy Lewis

SMASHWORDS EDITION

*******

Published by

Eddy Lewis

The Threshing Floor

Copyright 2014 Eddy Lewis

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All scripture passages are taken from the Bible Gateway website of which the New King James translation was used unless otherwise noted that the New American Standard Bible was used:

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

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The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by Jay P. Green Sr. was utilized in this book for establishing original word meaning and their proper context usage. The Four Volume Edition Copyright 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1984 Second Edition 1985. I.S.B.N. I-878442-00-7- Complete Four Volume Bible

Table of Contents

Cover Photo Theme - Matthew 16:2–3

Introduction

Chapter 1 - The Body of Christ

Chapter 2 - The Bride of Christ

Chapter 3 - Marriage of the Lamb

Chapter 4 - The Appearing and Return of the Lord

Chapter 5 - Identifying the Servants of God

Chapter 6 - Tears of the Saints

Chapter 7 - The Commissioning of the Servants of God

Chapter 8 - In the Third Day

Chapter 9 - Daniel’s Seventy Weeks

Chapter 10 - Identifying the Seventh Beast

Chapter 11 - Mystery Babylon and the Ten Kings

Chapter 12 - World War Three and the Battles of the Nations

Chapter 13 - Stand Fast in the Faith

Chapter 14 - A Command Given, an Escape Offered

Introduction

It has never been my heart’s desire to write a book and especially one on the topic of prophecy. However as a result of a short, heartfelt prayer some years ago, I felt the Lord prodding me to start seeking answers to that prayer and writing what I found. In that prayer I asked that the Lord would make end-time events understandable to His saints who are seeking insight into what will take place at the end of this age. Secondly I asked that His people would know and understand what would be required of them to faithfully stand for the Lord during the end time. This book is directed towards those who have already made a profession of faith in the atoning blood of Christ.

At first when I felt the Lord asking me to go and write a book I felt totally inadequate for such a task. Through a number of events in my life the Lord finally persuaded me to start this daunting task. This passage found in 1 Corinthians 1:26–29 helped me to understand how it could be that God could use me for a task such as this.

²⁶ For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. ²⁷ But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; ²⁸ and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, ²⁹ that no flesh should glory in His presence.

A second truth that I came to understand is that the Lord is faithful to equip those that He calls for a specific task so as to benefit the rest of the saints of Christ as revealed in Ephesians 4:11-12: ¹¹ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

There are several principles that I have closely followed on this journey of faith as I have searched the Scriptures for the answers to my prayer in the writing of this book. The first key for finding a clearer understanding to the mysteries of scripture is found in James 1:5: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. I have only found greater insight when I have searched through the Scriptures, prayed for understanding and then patiently waited for my Lord’s answers to various questions. The second key to gaining greater insight into God’s word is to be obedient to what I have already understood. The third principle in asking for greater understanding is not only for my own benefit, but also in order that my brothers and sisters in Christ will be ministered to by what has been revealed to me.

I will say up front that I do not have all of the answers to the deep subjects in Scripture, for we all know in part and see in part. Each of us is given a measure of understanding as it pleases the Lord (1 Corinthians 13:9). You must rely on the Spirit of the Lord to reveal His word to you as you personally meet God on your search of His perfect will for you. Therefore, be careful to test all that I have written in this book with all of Scripture.

The things written in this book reveal my faith journey as I have followed the instructions of 1 Thessalonians 5:21: Test all things; hold fast what is good. This is sometimes a painful discipline to follow as it will at times require one to cast aside those long-held false beliefs that we were comfortable with.

There was a time when I blindly adopted the teaching of three well known theologians without a second thought. You may have heard their names, Fat, Dumb and Happy. Their names really describe how I was attempting to ignore the inaccuracy of my own theological understanding for my own comfort. What I discovered was I had adopted beliefs of others that sounded logical without testing those teachings against all of scripture. As a result I had a set of beliefs that often clashed with each other and were biblically unsound. One of the goals for writing this book is to challenge you, the reader, to test your views and beliefs against the truth of Scripture. This process will cause us to step out of our comfort zone and rely on our Lord for answers. There will be times when we must sacrifice long held beliefs in order to hear and understand the word of God. This process is scary and uncomfortable, however it is greatly rewarding.

Often times the topic of prophecy is not brought up in order to avoid contentions over a perceived nonessential topic. However, we are repeatedly warned in scripture to watch and be ready for our Lord’s return. With this in mind, I have attempted to answer in what manner we are to watch and be ready for our Lord’s return at all times. With greater understanding comes the responsibility of warning others of our Lord’s soon return for their own good.

I would like to share some promises from Scripture that tell us that we will be given great insight into our Lord’s return if we will but ask. Our Lord will not leave us uninformed or unequipped for this task of being His watchmen that He has called us to.

When we as Christians walk in obedience to Christ’s instructions we are then given great promises by our Lord. One of those key promises with conditions for that promise is found in John 15:14–15: You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

When Jesus was here in the flesh walking on this earth He made known everything He would do in the future concerning His kingdom and how we are to follow Him. After He returned to heaven He sent us the Holy Spirit with a great promise to us in John 16:12–15 for understanding all things to come:

¹² I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

We are called into an ongoing relationship with our Lord where we continually seek, ask and knock in order to understand our Lord’s perfect will for our lives. This instruction is given to us in Luke 11:9–10. ⁹ So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

The tense in which the Greek words are used here are to keep asking, keep seeking and keep knocking. We are to be in an ongoing relationship with our Lord where we meet Him on an intimate level as we seek to understand the instructions of His Word. The Greek word used here for knock is that of a polite knocking as on a friend’s door. Jesus instructs us to be persistent with our requests to God as recorded in Luke 11:5–8 and 18:1–5. In Proverbs chapter 2 we are told to seek wisdom, understanding and discernment as we would search for silver and hidden treasure. I would advise you to seek deeper insight and answers to your questions from our Lord. God is always faithful to answer our prayers in His own perfect timing. We must wait patiently while remaining in fellowship with our Lord to be able to hear His answers to our questions.

Next we must be clean and separated from sin in our walk with God. We must be single minded in our obedience to God in order to draw close to him as James 4:8 instructs: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded."

My challenge to you as well as myself is to be active and not passive in our search to understand what is to come in the days ahead. When we know the Scriptures we will be able to quickly identify the signs of the end times as they approach.

There are three rules I follow when interpreting hard-to-understand imagery found throughout Scripture. The first rule I follow is that of set precedent. The ways in which prophecies of the past have been fulfilled indicate how prophecies of the future will be fulfilled. Secondly I follow clear principles taught in Scripture. That is to say, the clear teachings of Scripture cannot be contradicted by our interpretation of biblical imagery. The third rule is to always see the events of prophetic imagery as a fulfillment of past promises in God’s Word. For example, the imagery of events taking place in the book of Revelation is a fulfillment of promises given in that book and other books of the Bible by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. When I see a description of a hard-to-understand event taking place in Scripture, I go back through the Bible looking for a past promise from God that is fulfilled in that event.

It is with this understanding in mind that I challenge you, the reader, to read this book. It is my prayer that God will use this book in part to help bring understanding to His chosen saints so that they will be equipped to endure the days of trial ahead. The following passage in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 would be my prayer for you as we journey through these turbulent times: "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The theme of this book is reflective of its title. We are approaching the time of harvest when the Lord will return and separate the wheat from the chaff, the true believers from the hypocrites and nonbelievers. We are given the command to watch! I invite you to come along for a very challenging journey of discovery through the Scriptures.

Chapter 1

The Body of Christ

What is in a name? In biblical times, the one who received the name had his very nature defined by the one who gave the name. This was the case when our Lord called his Church the Body of Christ in New Testament Scripture. In the Old Testament, the woman represents the Israelite tribes and their relationship to God revealed throughout Scripture. For example, Isaiah 54:6 says, ’For the Lord has called you, like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused,’ says your God.

Simply put, a name gives us an image to help in our understanding of who someone is in relation to the one who gave the name. This is called imagery. The Bible is filled with imagery. We, as the reader, must be careful to connect the proper image to the correct name. Failing to do so will result in a great deal of confusion when it comes to understanding the message of the Scriptures.

There are, however, a number of occasions where God gives someone a new name. Here are several examples recorded for us in Scripture: in Genesis 17:5, Abram is changed to Abraham; in Genesis 17:15, Sarai is changed to Sarah; and also in Genesis 32:28, Jacob is changed to Israel. It is important to note that a promise or blessing from God always accompanied the name change. With this in mind, let us take a closer look at the name, imagery, and promises to Christ’s Church, called the Body.

Let us start by defining from Scripture, who it is that makes up the Body of Christ, and how we relate to Christ and to one another.

Ephesians 1:22–23 says: And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

This passage clearly identifies the Church as being the Body of Christ. This was a new concept including the Gentiles who had not been revealed before the time of Christ.

Ephesians 3:3–6: ³ How that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.

Paul continues to explain in Ephesians chapter 4:11–16, how we are to function as individuals with our spiritual gifts within the Body. This is how we are to relate to and work with one another. We are further reminded that Christ is the head of his Body of believers which shows that we, as members of His Body, are to follow His commands.

¹¹ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴ that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵ but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ-¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11–16)

The next passage found in Ephesians 5:23–32 uses a metaphor to describe the believers’ relationship to their Savior, Jesus Christ. This passage can be a bit misleading depending on which translation is used. This is because there is a poor choice of words used in various translations. Read and compare where references are made to the Church and the Body. In the KJV, the word used to refer to the Body of Christ is "it. In newer Bible translations, they use she or her instead of it" as a pronoun in reference to the Church and the Body. This Greek pronoun can correctly be translated as any of the above depending on the context of the passage. However, if we fail to correctly understand the proper context, then the word "she" may cause us to think that this passage gives strong evidence for the Bride of Christ being the current day Church when in fact the translation reflects a theological bias. The New King James Version states:

²³ For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

²⁴ Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

²⁶ That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

²⁷ That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

²⁸ So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

²⁹ For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

³⁰ For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

³¹ For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

³² This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

New American Standard Bible

²³ For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.

²⁴ But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

²⁶ so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

²⁷ that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

²⁸ So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;

²⁹ for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,

³⁰ because we are members of His body.

³¹ FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME