12/07/21
(Isaiah 3:13 KJ) The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.
David had prophesied that the Lord would “sit” at His Father's right hand, until His Father made the enemies of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, His footstool:
(Psalms 110:1 KJ) (A Psalm of David.) The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
And that is exactly what the Lord Jesus did after His resurrection; He ascended to the Father in heaven and sat down at the Father's right hand. At Pentecost, Peter referred to this as having been fulfilled and said:
(Acts 2:32,33 KJ) This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
(33) Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
The Lord Jesus was now, after His death and resurrection from the dead, now ‘sitting’ at His Father's right hand.
But, all of the sudden, at the stoning of Stephen:
…………..………..JESUS STOOD
And when the Lord Jesus stands, it's
………….…………JUDGMENT TIME
After having murdered John the Baptist, and Jesus Christ, Israel stoned Stephen, “a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,” (Acts 6:5 KJ). In so doing, Israel had rejected the Father who had sent John; they murdered God's Son, and they did the same to Stephen, a man filled with the Holy Ghost. But notice what Stephen saw as they were about to Kill him:
(Acts 7:55,56 KJ) But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
(56) And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
…….…..”The Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”
When they stoned Stephen who had just indicted Israel for killing the Son of God (Acts 7 KJ), Stephen looked up and saw the heavens opened,…i.e., Stephen saw the skies above him part, and he saw space part, and he saw above space…
….and he saw Jesus Christ not sitting anymore. Stephen saw the Lord…..
“STANDING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.”
…..But David had said that the Lord would “sit” at the Father's right hand (Psalms 110:1 KJ)… “ until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” And after His resurrection the Lord Jesus did sit at His Father's right hand. So, then, why is the Lord Jesus Christ now ‘standing’ as they murder Stephen, which happened approximately 1 year after Jesus’ ascension? Remember, Jesus had been sitting at His Father's right hand.
It was the “last days”
It was time for the world to be judged
(Psalms 82:8 KJ) Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
(Psalms 9:19 KJ) Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.
(Psalms 68:1 KJ) (To the chief Musician, A Psalm or Song of David.) Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.
(Isaiah 3:13 KJ) The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.
The prophet Joel had predicted that the Spirit of God would be poured out, which happened at Pentecost, but that God's wrath would also follow:
(Joel 2:29-31 KJ) And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. (30) And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. (31) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
………..God, indeed, did pour out of His precious Holy Spirit just as Joel and John the Baptist said that He would. Hear John the Baptist prophesy that Jesus Christ would baptize the believers in Israel with the Holy Ghost:
(Matthew 3:11 KJ) I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
This was fulfilled at Pentecost in (Acts 2:1-4 KJ). But…..what about the other things Joel and John the Baptist prophesied…i.e., the Lord Jesus baptizing with “fire”……”wonders in the heavens and in the earth,”….the “blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.”….the sun being turned into darkness and the moon into blood….etc. How come those things have not been fulfilled yet? God poured out His Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and when Stephen was stoned a year after the cross the Lord Jesus was ‘standing,’ thus, according to the Scriptures, (Isa 3:13 KJ) it was time for the Lord to judge. So, why didn't He?
The Lord Jesus sat back down at His Father's right hand (Col 3:1 KJ) and started His “mystery” program, His interruption of His plan and purpose for the earth, i.e., His ruling of the earth through His earthly kingdom nation of Israel (Mt 6:9-13 KJ), etc., and to start His secret/mystery program (Eph 3 KJ), for the heavenly places vested in His Church…a.k.a. the Body of Christ.
But this “grace” (Church/heavenly) period of time that God interrupted His “prophetic” (Israel/earthly) program for the earth with, etc., is about to end…. And it will…..suddenly:
…”In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” (see: 1 Cor 15:52 KJ)…when the church is taken off the earth and God restarts His earthly program of ruling the heavens and the earth through His kingdom nation of Israel, i.e., believers in Jesus Christ who descend from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The books of (Hebrews - Revelation) deal explicitly with 🇮🇱 Israel in the final seven years before the Lord Jesus returns. In fact, those books are specifically directed at the “12 tribes” of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, ….for example, note who James is writing his book to:
(James 1:1 KJ) James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
…..”to the twelve tribes”
You ever wonder who ‘Hebrews’ is directed at? The “last days” (Heb 1:2 KJ) and the “throne” and “kingdom” (verse 8) are all about Israel's program on the earth, not the church, which will be located in the heavenlies (Eph 1:3; 2:6 KJ).
Recall earlier that the Lord Jesus sat back down after He had stood at the stoning of Stephen. And that when the Lord Jesus raptures the church to be with Him in (1 Cor 15:52 f.f. - King James), He will have ‘stood’ again, because we meet Him “in the air” (1 Thess 4:17 KJ).
Note this: Those in the church will individually appear at the judgment “seat” of Christ after the rapture (2 Cor 5:10 KJ). So, after the rapture, the Lord judges the church from His judgment seat in the heavenlies. At some point after that, and before the Lord Jesus returns with His armies to judge the world (Rev 19:14 KJ), He will ‘stand’ again. Watch what James says…and remember, He is speaking to the “twelve tribes” of Israel:
(James 5:9 KJ) Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
…behold, the judge STANDETH before the door.
(Peter had earlier said to Cornelius that Jesus Christ was appointed by the Father to be the judge of quick and dead - see: Acts 10:42 KJ.)
In (James 5:9 KJ) the Lord Jesus is ‘standing’ again, just as He did when Stephen was stoned. But at that time, the Lord Jesus sat back down at the Father's right hand and started the “grace” dispensation (Eph 3 KJ) that He gave to Paul to give to the world. God has been saving anyone and everyone who will simply and truly love God by trusting in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, for their justification before God, and by believing the gospel/good news, by which we are saved…i.e, the death, buriel and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for their permanent forgiveness, from God, for all of their sins and transgressions against Him. (See the gospel/good news 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; see also: Romans 5:9 KJ).
In sum: The precious Lord Jesus Christ is about to STAND again. His 2,000 year interruption of His judgment against the wicked (Jude 14,15 KJ) will itself be interrupted…..by Him. And it will suddenly be….
JUDGMENT TIME
Notice also, how the Lord Jesus stoops down and rises(STANDS) twice in dealing with the accusers of the woman in (John 8 KJ). It may well be that one of the things that Jesus wrote in the dirt was something along the lines of (Isa 3:13). He wrote in the dirt and then STOOD....and pronounced judgment.
Note also, that the Lord Jesus wrote on the ground with His finger......The "finger of God" is a reference to the Holy Spirit of God:
The Lord Jesus said:
(Luke 11:20 KJ) But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
(Matthew 12:28 KJ) But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.