The Time is Fulfilled
By Pastor Hal Mayer
Dear Friends,
Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry once again. Right now, we are living in the last moments earth’s history. We need to understand how the basic prophecies in Daniel were fulfilled and how they led to our present situation. All of the prophecies regarding the 70 weeks and the 2300 days were fulfilled exactly as prophesied, and as a complete package. And it’s actually very interesting to see how God has given those prophecies to help us understand that He is consistent, reliable, and dependable, as well as omnipotent. That’s very important. And we should not be fearful as we try to understand those prophecies. He has given them for our benefit. They’re not so complicated that we cannot understand them easily. So, let’s begin with prayer.
Our Father in heaven, You have given us so much. You have told us when major events are going to happen through Bible prophecy. It’s very systematic. The Bible unfolds to us the keys to understand Your will and Your purposes toward humanity. Please join us today and help us understand the important prophecies of Your Kingdom. You have told us that those who search the scriptures will be given the answers to many mysteries that are found in the Bible, and they will understand and know how to interpret the prophecies. Please grant us Your Holy Spirit to teach us today. In Jesus name, amen.
Let us open our Bibles to the book of Isaiah 42:16.
“I will bring the blind but a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.”
This scripture tells us that God is the one who reveals truth and light to His people. We are blind because of sin. And we are in darkness without the Spirit of God to enlighten us. We will go our own crooked ways if we are not guided by heaven. And He will make the important things straight and clear for us so we won’t be deceived if we search the scriptures diligently. It’s a wonderful assurance that He will not forsake us.
When man sinned nearly 6000 years ago, it caused separation between himself and God. The gulf became so wide, so deep and so high, that it was impossible for man to span the distance and restore the broken connection. The Kingdom of God was unreachable and far away from us. The kingdom of this world was ruled by a despot. And humanity was in bondage to sin. He was destined for eternal death and destruction. There would be no hope.
The separation between the family of God and the family of man was so broad that nothing short of divine intervention could restore the link. Only the Prince of Life alone could defeat the prince of death. Only the Kingdom of Light could rout the kingdom of darkness. It would be a dangerous mission. God loved man so much that He would go to extreme measures to redeem him and restore him to his original state. Heaven would risk all, everything to save man. It was all or nothing. If Christ failed in His mission, even the throne of God would be in jeopardy. Satan would exalt and say that he was right all along. There would be so much at stake. And all the angels of heaven anxiously waited for 4000 years. Would Christ be successful in overcoming evil?
Jesus made a very interesting statement in Mark 1:15. He said with joy, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.”
What did He mean? Did He mean that He would set up God’s Kingdom on earth? That’s what the disciples thought. Their minds were so focused with what they had been taught for so many years that it was very hard for them to understand this mystery. They thought that He was going to set up a temporal kingdom and rule from the Throne of David and overthrow the Romans. They built their thinking on a false premise and ended up believing a false conclusion.
Christ did not set up His kingdom on earth. There was no physical, or literal conflict with the powers of darkness, or with the Romans, or with the Jewish system of government. Christ never intended to set up His kingdom on earth prior to His second coming, either at that time or at any subsequent time, including our own. So, what did Christ mean by what He said?
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Actually, Christ was referring to an important prophecy. The time prophecy of Daniel 9 which extended to the time of Messiah the Prince. Let’s read it starting with verse 24.
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”
Wow, there’s a lot happening there. Jesus was going to make an “end of sin.” That means He was going to deal with the cause, not just the symptoms. He was going to limit the enemy’s power over humanity. He was going to make a way that men and women could escape the enemy’s power and live righteous lives in this present world. He was going to make a reality of something that was only previously a promise. He was going to reconcile man with God. This was the greatest moment in history!
But I want to focus on the time period of the prophecy for a few moments. In Bible prophecy there is a principle that a symbolic day equals a literal year. Let’s notice what was going on when that principle was laid down. First let’s turn to Numbers 14. We will start reading with verse 26. The 10 spies had just returned from the land of Canaan. They reported that it was too difficult for the Israelites to overcome. Joshua and Caleb were the only dissenters. They defended God’s plan and reported that they were well able to overcome them because they had God on their side. But the Israelites would not believe them. They looked at their human weakness and did not think that the power of God was enough to overcome their enemies. So, they set about the stone Joshua and Caleb. By the way, note that church members were persecuting other church members who obeyed God. They were going to cancel those that did not agree with the prevailing narrative. Does that sound familiar? And it got very dangerous. The Lord had to step in and intervene. Let us begin reading the account of how God responded, all the way to verse 35.
“And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”
So, because of the rebellion of God’s people, they were going to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. The 10 spies had been in Canaan spying out the land for 40 days. God made it clear that the way to interpret time prophecy was a symbolic day for a literal year. While many of us take this for granted, we have to explain this to people who don’t know our message. We had better understand it well enough to explain it to someone else. There is example in the Ezekiel 4:6.
Ezekiel was told to act out his prophecy. He was the prophet that God used to prophecy against Israel and Judah because of their wicked ways by illustrations. And he did it by acting out symbolically what God was going to do literally if Israel and Judah did not repent and turn from their evil ways. Let’s read Ezekiel 4 from the first verse until the eighth verse.
“Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem: And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about. Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year. Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it. And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.”
So Ezekiel had to lie on his left side for 390 days representing 390 years. He then had to lay on his right side for 40 days representing 40 years. He must have been very tired of lying on his side for all that time. But God had a purpose in it. Ezekiel was to show that Israel was to be punished for its iniquity for 390 years and the Judah was going to be punished for its iniquity for 40 years. Obviously, the iniquity of Israel was much worse than the iniquity of Judah, though both of them were involved.
This is a principle that can be used to unlock time prophecies across all scripture. It is one of God’s ways in which He deals with man. Every day in a time prophecy refers to a year. When the time referred to is obviously literal time, it is not to be taken as prophetic time, but as literal. But if it is obviously symbolic time then it is to be understood as prophetic time. Also, a prophetic week is seven prophetic days and therefore represents seven years. So, coming back to Daniel’s prophecy, 70 weeks equals 490 days or years.
This was the “time fulfilled” that Jesus was talking about. Notice the next verse from Daniel 9:25.
“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”
That was a two-fold prophecy about rebuilding Jerusalem, and also giving the time when Christ would come as the Messiah. “Seven weeks, and three score and two weeks,” is how much? That’s 69 weeks. Remember, it’s weeks of years. So, it represents 483 years.
The 70-week Prophecy is divided into three important sections. The first section, or seven weeks, refers to 49 years. From the time of Artaxerxes final decree to restore and build Jerusalem in 457 BC, it would take them 49 years to complete the construction of the wall and the streets of the city.
I say “final decree” because it was the third and last decree. The first decree was given by Cyrus in 537 BC. The second decree was given by Darius I soon after 520 BC and it confirmed the decree issued by Cyrus. These two decrees could not be fulfilled because they weren’t funded. Provision was not made for their completion. Jerusalem could not be rebuilt without adequate funds. But Artaxerxes found a way to fund his decree in 457 BC. From this date, begins the 70-week prophecy; the first seven weeks of years, or 49 years, was dedicated to the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall and streets just as the prophecy says. But it was also done in troublous times. Nehemiah had to tell the workers that they should have their tool in one hand and their sword in the other. No doubt this slowed the work down considerably. But it was completed when the 49 years of the prophecy were over.
Then 62 weeks, or 434 years refers to the time between the end of the rebuilding of Jerusalem until Jesus was anointed as the Messiah, which would be the beginning of the 70th week. Let’s confirm this from Daniel 9:26.
“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”
Notice that the prophecy says “after” the 62 weeks. This means that during the 70th week of this prophecy, Christ’s ministry on earth would occur. Jesus would start His ministry to save fallen man and make the promise a reality during that last week of the 70-week prophecy. There were quite a few significant events that took place. The 70th week was a powerful and significant week. All heaven was focused on that one last week. Bible prophecy is talking about real-world things that happened and that will happen.
When Jesus said the “time is fulfilled,” He was referring to the conclusion of the 69 weeks. That prophecy was now over and completed. The one who was the subject of the prophecy had come just as the prophecy said he would. And when He said, “the Kingdom of God is at hand,” He was talking about the last week, the 70th week and onward. Jesus comprehended the full meaning of this prophecy. So, let’s think about it.
What was/is the kingdom that was at hand? It was the Kingdom of Grace, not the Kingdom of Glory, as many have misunderstood. Like the disciples, there are many today who want to have a kingdom of glory before its time. Anyone can come as they are to the Throne of Grace to receive help. What is a throne? A throne symbolizes a kingdom. This is the Throne of Grace, so we are in the Kingdom of Grace. And that means abundant mercy. Don’t misunderstand which kingdom we are living in.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but” have abundant mercy and in the end “have everlasting life.”
That’s John 3:16 with my paraphrase.
The ministry of Christ began with His anointing in the autumn of AD 27. The words “cut off” in the prophecy refers to the violent crucifixion of Christ. That occurred in the spring of AD 31, 3½ years later. The verse also describes the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the sanctuary in AD 70. The destruction of Jerusalem is not a part of the 70th week of the prophecy. Nevertheless, the events that led to the destruction of Jerusalem were rooted in this week. Specifically, they are the crucifixion of Christ and the Jewish rejection of the gospel. Both the city and the temple were destroyed by a devastating flood of Romans who overwhelmed the city. The angel further describes this 70th week in verse 27.
“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
Up until that last week in the prophecy, man could, by faith in the promise, receive eternal life, but it could not be confirmed until Jesus’ death which would make it reality. Jesus had promised to man that the time would come when He would make restitution and restore man to his personal and unbroken communion with God. But it was only based on a promise, the promise of His sacrifice. Until that promise was fulfilled, it was not a reality. The confirming of the covenant with many for one week is the everlasting covenant where Christ’s death would establish the way of salvation in reality, making the promise a reality. Now salvation was assured, confirmed to all who accepted the promise and complied with the conditions, as well as to all those who would become Christ’s followers in the future. Since the fall of Adam, for 4000 years, it was only a promise that had given man any hope at all.
Incidentally, Bible prophecies are a series of promises. And since they are from God they are as certain to happen as the sun is going to come up tomorrow morning. The sun may not come up, though that isn’t likely. But Jesus’ prophecies are more certain than the earth’s continual and unstoppable orbit around the sun.
In the midst of the week, Jesus would be crucified and the sacrifice and oblation would cease. The type would meet antitype. The sacrifices and oblations were no longer necessary. But notice the connection with the destruction of Jerusalem. Christ’s death at the hands of wicked Jewish leaders combined with the Roman state, would bring on the desolation of Jerusalem with all its horrors and atrocities that were inflicted on the Jewish nation by the Romans in AD 70.
This was the pivotal moment in all of human history. But notice that the covenant was only made with many, but not all. This indicates that not all will be saved. Only those who comply with the conditions of the covenant that Christ himself laid down can we be saved. And there is a final note in that verse to Satan himself.
“And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
This is not the same desolation to the city and to the temple referred to previously in the verse. It refers to the final the destruction of Satan, the enemy of Christ and of all mankind. That which had been decided and prophesied and promised about Satan when Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden would become a reality also.
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
That’s Genesis 3:15. It was at the cross that the deadly blow was given to Satan. But it is also referring to the end of the millennium when Satan is destroyed and finally eliminated from the universe. That part is still a promise of the future. But it’s a prophetic certainty that his personal destruction will be accomplished as well.
Jesus came right on time, exactly as prophesied and promised. Remember He was the one who made the prophecy, or the promise, so He would be the one to fulfill it. Humanity had hope. The angels anxiously waited for this promise to be fulfilled because they wanted to be part of bringing the Kingdom of heaven down to men to reunite him with God.
Heaven would come down to men and restore the relationships that were so badly broken by sin. The Kingdom of heaven could come down to man and could actuality make him righteous again. Jesus would make the promise a reality. And it has a real-world implications. Man can now be forgiven of his sins and also forsake them by the power of Christ.
That distance between heaven and man is now spanned. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that was prophesied many years before, Jesus has stood in the huge gap and reconnected the family of earth with the family of heaven. Now there is no need for a separation. Only by choice does man keep himself separate from God. And sadly, we have so much of that today.
Many evangelicals interpret these prophecies as being related to Antiochus Epiphanies. But the time prophecies chronologically don’t line up when they do that. But if we understand the prophecy as referring to the Messiah coming to His earthly ministry and death, it perfectly lines up and it is consistent and systematic. Everything falls into place in a coherent way. When you understand how to interpret these time prophecies you have in your possession a key that unlocks any confusion. And this is very important.
Now let’s look at the bigger picture. There is a very large prophecy of which the 70 weeks is only a small, though vital part. The vision of the 70 weeks of Daniel 9 follows the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14. The 70 weeks is actually an explanation of the first 490 years of the 2300-year prophecy. Let’s read Daniel 8:14.
“And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”
Daniel didn’t understand this prophecy. He was studying the book of Jeremiah. That in itself is an amazing study. But Daniel says that he wanted to know the meaning of this prophecy of Daniel 8:14. What did this all mean? 2300 years is a long time for God’s people to be in Babylon he thought. Let’s read the next three verses. Daniel 8:15-17.
“And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. So, he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.”
Apparently, Jesus instructed the angel Gabriel to make Daniel understand the vision of Daniel 8:14. So Gabriel came and explained some of it to Daniel. He showed him the two he goats. Daniel was so astonished by this vision that he fainted and was sick for some days. He went back to those writings of Jeremiah to see if there was something he had missed, or that would clarify what he was trying to understand. Gabriel clarified that the 2300-day prophecy was not referring to the Babylonian captivity of Israel but that it is a prophecy that goes all the way to the time of the end. Daniel Chapter 9 is an explanation of part of the 2300-day prophecy. Let’s read about it from Daniel 9:2.
“In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”
Daniel understood from what he read that God had appointed 70 years for His people to be in Babylon. But he was still confused. What was the 2300 days about? That vision represented a very long time. So, Daniel set his face toward Jerusalem and pled with God to forgive his sin and the sin of his people and have mercy on them. Then the angel Gabriel came again to him in order to explain in more detail things which he had seen. Gabriel then gives him the 70-week prophecy.
The 70-week prophecy starts at the same time as the 2300-day prophecy and represents the first 490 years. This time period has to do exclusively with the Jewish dispensation. But after that time was fulfilled, the Christian dispensation covered the rest of the period. During most of that period God’s church had to go through the very dark period of terrible Papal persecution that lasted 1260 of those years. Incidentally, the papacy was never God’s church. Many people don’t understand that. Of the remaining 1810 years of the prophecy until 1844, there was 504 years while the papacy arose to strengthened herself. That was followed by 1260 years of papal religious and civil domination which pushed the true church underground and “into the wilderness,” as promised in another time prophecy. Then in 1798 the papal persecution officially ended and 46 years later the sanctuary cleansing began, as well as the “time of the end,” and the second advent movement.
The sanctuary cleansing has to do with how God plans to eradicate sin. In the typical sanctuary service in Jerusalem, the sinner would bring his lamb to the sanctuary and before he was sacrificed the sins would be transferred to the lamb. That lamb represents Christ the sin bearer. Then the sins were transferred to the sanctuary by the sprinkling of the blood of the lamb. But once each year, at the end of the sanctuary year there was the cleansing of the sanctuary or the Day of Atonement. This day was the most solemn day of the typical services. The sins would be symbolically transferred to the scapegoat, and he would be led out of the camp of Israel and into the wilderness to die. This whole ceremony was carried out until the time of Christ when the temple curtain was rent in two from top to bottom.
The scapegoat represented Satan. Jesus transfers to Satan, the antitypical scapegoat, all the sins that have been placed on Himself and on the sanctuary by repentant sinners of all ages. Then the enemy will be burned with fire and destroyed forever. What a day that will be! That’s what the cleansing of the sanctuary means for the salvation process.
There is another important point that I want you to get today. The 2300-day prophecy links the first advent of Christ with the second. There is a systematic, prophetic connection between them. Both were, and are built on a unified, cohesive prophecy. One aspect was completely fulfilled while the other aspect is still being fulfilled. It may seem obvious to us, but it’s not to most people. The reason is because false prophecy and every kind of speculation is floating around. But when you see the cohesiveness and the systematic understanding that these prophetic periods give us, you get a clear picture that the Bible as a whole is persuasive, consistent and powerful and could not have been written without a divine hand guiding the process.
But there’s something else about the 2300-day prophecy that I would like to share. The first 70 weeks or 490 years is when the typical sanctuary with its sacrifices and its ceremonies were active. Christ met them and fulfilled them by His life and death. They all pointed to the heavenly sanctuary which is the antitype. The 1810 years after the first part of the prophecy was fulfilled, was the time during which Jesus was ministering in the Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. When a man sinned, he could come to Christ in repentance and be forgiven. When he sinned again, he could come to Christ again in repentance and be forgiven. God was so merciful. A man could come in repentance over and over again and be forgiven over and over again. That is a simplified explanation of the way it worked during the Holy Place ministry of Christ.
When the time of Christ’s Most Holy Place ministry began in 1844, Jesus moved from the Holy Place into the Most Holy Place. His ministry in the Holy Place was now over. People still needed forgiveness when they were repentant for sin. But now the level of His work expanded to meet the light of the knowledge that He was pleased to give at that time to the second advent believers and to us. That light was the message of His power to give man victory over the enemy and over sin completely. At that point, those who had been given the light and still remained in the Holy Place experience, however, did not have Christ as their leader. Christ was in the Most Holy Place. His people had to follow Him there. Yes, there was still forgiveness for sin. But now there was an expanded experience which Jesus promised to give those who followed Him to the Most Holy Place. That experience would be an overcoming experience, and they would defeat the devil and his deceptions.
There is an interesting account in Early Writings, pages 55 and 56. It describes what happens to those who remain in the Holy Place when Christ is in the Most Holy Place. Listen.
“I saw the Father rise from the throne, and in a flaming chariot go into the holy of holies within the veil, and sit down. Then Jesus rose up from the throne, and the most of those who were bowed down arose with Him… Those who arose when Jesus did, kept their eyes fixed on Him as He left the throne and led them out a little way… Then a cloudy chariot, with wheels like flaming fire, surrounded by angels, came to where Jesus was. He stepped into the chariot and was borne to the holiest, where the Father sat. There I beheld Jesus, a great High Priest, standing before the Father… Those who rose up with Jesus would send up their faith to Him in the holiest, and pray, “My Father, give us Thy Spirit.” Then Jesus would breathe upon them the Holy Ghost. In that breath was light, power, and much love, joy, and peace.
“I turned to look at the company who were still bowed before the throne; they did not know that Jesus had left it. Satan appeared to be by the throne, trying to carry on the work of God. I saw them look up to the throne, and pray, “Father, give us Thy Spirit.” Satan would then breathe upon them an unholy influence; in it there was light and much power, but no sweet love, joy, and peace. Satan’s object was to keep them deceived and to draw back and deceive God’s children.”
The great controversy is about whether or not we can become like Christ, our great High Priest, and be free of sin. And of course, we can’t on our own. But with Christ’s power a man can be like Him. This could not have been achieved before the Holy Place ministry of Christ because God had not given men all the light that was necessary. But Satan has argued that it’s impossible that man could live in harmony with God’s law all the time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. So, at the end of time Jesus will show our great adversary that it is possible with His power to overcome every one his temptations.
All those people living during the 1810 years of the Holy Place ministry of Christ can be saved in the Kingdom of heaven as repentant, forgiven sinners. They will have some things to learn, of course. The privilege that we have now, during the Most Holy Place ministry of Christ, is to draw on His power to overcome every besetting sin and every temptation and live loyally in obedience to His law all the time. The enemy has been forced to concede that some individuals occasionally can live holy lives. But he has challenged Christ that a whole group of people cannot do it. And the Most Holy Place ministry of Christ is His answer to Satan that indeed a group of people living at the time of the end, when temptations and perversions and distractions are at their worst; that He can have a group of people who are so loyal to Him, that they will live holy lives in the midst of all the darkness and evil around them.
That is the beauty of the Most Holy Place ministry of Christ. Those holy lives will be imbued with the Holy Spirit in the latter rain and will be so powerful that they will shock the whole world and bring it to a decision point.
We are given the awesome privilege of becoming overcomers and to proclaim the soon coming of the Lord the second time, not as the man of sorrows, but as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is coming to establish His Kingdom of Glory. The unbroken chain of the 2300-day prophecy reveals that He is the center of both the parts of it, of the Messiah part and the coming king part. The first and the last. The alpha and Omega, as it were.
That chain of prophecy assures us that the remnant people have been given a message and a mission. Our work is to be holy vessels for the Holy Spirit and to place before the world the message that Jesus is coming soon and urge them to prepare their lives for the great consummation. So now, what should be our attitude toward God? Hebrews 4:16 puts it in an interesting way.
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Because of the Most Holy Place ministry of Christ, we have confidence that we can actually receive salvation. And we can actually be overcomers through Christ and be fitted for heaven. This is our personal mission as well as our message to proclaim. There is nothing stopping us but our own choices. We now have a hope that is based on reality not just a promise. Though that promise was certain, it was only a promise. Now we have the certainty, the assurance that it is an anchor of soul. Let’s read it from Hebrews 6:19
“Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.”
The experience of living with Christ every day and overcoming as He overcame, using His power is an amazing opportunity. When we enter into that which is within the veil, we enter the experience of the Most Holy Place. The Most Holy Place represents both the time we’re living in as well as the experience that we are to have.
People who don’t have hope, have darkness and depression, and they often express their experience in ways that are evil. They celebrate death and darkness. You can see it all around us. They carry skeletons around with them on their cars. They put occult symbols on their tattoos. They revel in violence and evil and darkness. But Jesus holds out bright hope for everyone. Jesus said in Mark 1:15, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Jesus set up His Kingdom in this world. It’s not a worldly Kingdom. It’s not an earthly power. Jesus’ kingdom is a kingdom of the heart. He wants to first rule in our hearts. Heaven will simply be the fruition of what’s really in our hearts.
But today He says the same to us. The time prophecies have been fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus is about to come the second time and bring with Him the Kingdom of Glory. Get ready. Be vigilant. Be diligent. Follow Jesus. Enter the Most Holy Place. Don’t fall for the deception that you cannot overcome your sins. Jesus has promised that He will give you power to resist the enemy and utterly defeat him. Dedicate your life fully to Him and His will. And bring your life into harmony with heaven.
The Kingdom of God has come down to men, and man is lifted up to God. Isn’t that wonderful! We don’t have to wallow in sin. We can be freed from sin to live a life that is in harmony with God while we are on this earth.
May God make heaven real to us right here, right now. Let us be grateful for what He has done for us. Let us thank Him each day for another opportunity to show His love to humanity that is painfully, and oh so desperately separated from God.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, please come into our hearts and take over our lives and give us victory over the enemy. We plead with You to send Your Holy Spirit to us today and make us overcomers. We really cannot wait until this evil world is finished. All the time prophecies have been fulfilled. The time is at hand. The Kingdom of God is ready to come to this earth. Now it’s a matter of Christ making up His jewels for His Kingdom in these last days. So please, help us we pray. We come boldly to the Throne of Grace at this time to seek forgiveness for our sins, but also for a new experience, the Most Holy Place experience. Please grant us this we pray, in Jesus name, amen.